Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov [0]
“Commissioner, this is all a careful and elaborate frame.”
The Commissioner stiffened. “Now, wait, Lije. Don’t strike out blindly. You won’t get any sympathy with that line of defense.”
“I’m not after sympathy. I’m just telling the truth. I’m being taken out of circulation to prevent me from learning the facts about the Sarton murder. Unfortunately for my framing pal, it’s too late for that.”
“What!”
Baley looked at his watch. It was 23:00.
He said, “I know who is framing me, and I know how Dr. Sarton was killed and by whom, and I have one hour to tell you about it, catch the man, and end this investigation.”
Bantam Books by Isaac Asimov
The Foundation Novels
PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION
FOUNDATION
FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE
SECOND FOUNDATION
FOUNDATION’S EDGE
FORWARD THE FOUNDATION
The Robot Novels
I, ROBOT
THE CAVES OF STEEL
THE NAKED SUN
THE ROBOTS OF DAWN
NEMESIS
THE GODS THEMSELVES
FANTASTIC VOYAGE
WITH ROBERT SILVERBERG
NIGHTFALL
All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This edition contains the complete text of the original hardcover edition.
NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED.
THE CAVES OF STEEL
A Bantam Spectra Book / published by arrangement with Doubleday
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Doubleday edition published 1954
Bantam edition / December 1991
Selection of the Science Fiction Book Club, May 1971
SPECTRA and the portrayal of a boxed “s” are trademarks of Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1953, 1954 by Isaac Asimov.
Introduction copyright © 1983 by Nightfall Inc.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information address: Doubleday, New York, NY
eISBN: 978-0-307-79241-9
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada, Bantam Books, New York, New York.
v3.1
CONTENTS
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
INTRODUCTION
1. CONVERSATION WITH A COMMISSIONER
2. ROUND TRIP ON AN EXPRESSWAY
3. INCIDENT AT A SHOE COUNTER
4. INTRODUCTION TO A FAMILY
5. ANALYSIS OF A MURDER
6. WHISPERS IN A BEDROOM
7. EXCURSION INTO SPACETOWN
8. DEBATE OVER A ROBOT
9. ELUCIDATION BY A SPACER
10. AFTERNOON OF A PLAIN-CLOTHES MAN
11. ESCAPE ALONG THE STRIPS
12. WORDS FROM AN EXPERT
13. SHIFT TO THE MACHINE
14. POWER OF A NAME
15. ARREST OF A CONSPIRATOR
16. QUESTIONS CONCERNING A MOTIVE
17. CONCLUSION OF A PROJECT
18. END OF AN INVESTIGATION
About the Author
Introduction
THE STORY BEHIND THE ROBOT NOVELS
The writing side of my love affair with robots began on May 10, 1939, but as a science-fiction reader it began earlier still.
Robots were, after all, nothing new in science fiction, not even in 1939. Mechanical human beings are to be found in ancient and medieval myths and legends, and the word “robot” originally appeared in Karl Capek’s play R.U.R., which was first staged in 1921 in Czechoslovakia, but was soon translated into many languages.
R.U.R. stands for “Rossum’s Universal Robots.” Rossum, an English industrialist, produced artificial human beings designed to do the labor of the world and to free humanity for a life of creative leisure. (The word “robot” is from a Czech word meaning “compulsory labor.”) Though Rossum meant well, it didn’t work out as he planned: the robots rebelled, and the human species was destroyed.
It is perhaps not surprising that a technological advance, imagined in 1921, was seen as resulting in universal disaster. Remember that World War I, with its tanks, airplanes, and poison gas, had just ended and had showed people “the dark side of the force,” to use