Prelude to Foundation - Isaac Asimov [176]
Hummin said, "If I were the robot, would I have room in my brain for all of twenty thousand years of history for millions of different worlds?"
"I don't know the capacity of robotic brains. I don't know the capacity of yours. Bur if you lack the capacity, then you must have that information which you cannot hold safely recorded in a place and in a way that would make it possible for you to call upon it. And if you have it and I need information, how can you deny and withhold it from me? And if you cannot withhold it from me, how can you deny that you are a robot-that robot the Renegade?"
Seldon sat back and took a deep breath. "So I ask you again: Are you that robot? If you want psychohistory, then you must admit it. If you still deny you are a robot and if you convince me you are not, then my chances at psychohistory become much, much smaller. It is up to you, then. Are you a robot? Are you Da-Nee?"
And Hummin said, as imperturbable as ever. "Your arguments are irrefutable. I am R. Daneel Olivaw. The `R' stands for 'robot.' "
93.
R. Daneel Olivaw still spoke quietly, but it seemed to Seldon that there was a subtle change in his voice, as though he spoke more easily now that he was no longer playing a part.
"In twenty thousand years," said Daneel, "no one has guessed I was a robot when it was not my intention to have him or her know. In part, that was because human beings abandoned robots so long ago that very few remember that they even existed at one time. And in part, it is because I do have the ability to detect and affect human emotion. The detection offers no trouble, but to affect emotion is difficult for me for reasons having to do with my robotic nature-although I can do it when I wish. I have the ability but must deal with my will not to use it. I try never to interfere except when I have no choice but to do so. And when I do interfere, it is rarely chat I do more than strengthen, as little as I can, what is already there. If I can achieve my purposes without doing even so much, I avoid it.
"1t was not necessary to tamper with Sunmaster Fourteen in order to have him accept you-I call it 'tampering,' you notice, because it is not a pleasant thing to do. I did not have to tamper with him because he did owe me for favors rendered and he is an honorable man, despite the peculiarities you found in him. I did interfere the second time, when you had committed sacrilege in his eyes, but it took very little. He was not anxious to hand you over to the Imperial authorities, whom he does not like. I merely strengthened the dislike a trifle and he handed you over to my care, accepting the arguments I offered, which otherwise he might have considered specious.
"Nor did I tamper with you noticeably. You distrusted the Im- perials too. Most human beings do these days, which is an impor. rant factor in the decay and deterioration of the Empire. What's more, you were proud of psychohistory as a concept, proud of having thought of it. You would not have minded having it prove to be a practical discipline. That would have further fed your pride."
Seldon frowned and said, "Pardon me, Master Robot, but I am not aware that I am quite such a monster of pride."
Daneel said mildly, "You are not a monster