[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
shoulder, as if to draw strength from her.
We shed the metal, he said. Time to take charge, for ourselves, isn t it,
Daneel? And the time
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
will come when psychohistory s equations will merge with the equations of all
minds, all people. Every individual will be a general example of the whole
progress of the people. They will blend.
Young woman, you are not a monster. You are the difficult future.
Klia stared in puzzlement at Hari.
You will have children, and they will have children...stronger than Wanda and
Stettin, stronger than the mentalics we have working for us now. Something
will happen, something unpredictable, that my equations can t
encompass--another and more successful mutation, a stronger Vara Liso. I can t
put that into my equations--it is an unknown variable, an individual
point--tyranny, all control radiating from one individual!
Hari s face had become almost luminous.
You... He held his hand out to Klia. Take this hand. Let me feel you.
She reluctantly reached out.
I need a little nudge, my young friend, Hari said.
Page 206
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Show me what you are.
Almost without thinking, Klia reached into his mind, saw a brightness there
obscured by dark nebulosities, and with a gentle breath of persuasion, another
sign of her returning strength, she blew the clouds away.
Hari gasped and closed his eyes. His head dropped to one shoulder. He was
suddenly more than merely tired. He felt a great sense of release, and for the
first time in decades, a knot in his mind, in his body as well, seemed to
untie itself. The brightness in his thoughts was not a way around his errors
and the flaws in the equations--it was a deeper understanding of his own
irrelevance, in the long term.
A thousand years from now, he would be a particle in the smooth flow once
again, not his own kind of point-tyranny.
Dors got up from her chair, taking hold of his arm to help him stay on his
feet.
His work would be forgotten. The Plan would serve its purpose and be swept
away, merely one more hypothesis, guiding and shaping, but ultimately no more
than another illusion among all the illusions of men--and robots.
What he had learned in his time fighting Lamurk for the role of First
Minister--that the human race was its own kind of mind, its own
self-organizing system, with its own reserved knowledge and tendencies--
Meant that it could also direct its own evolution. Philosophies and theories
and truths were morphological appurtenances. Discarded when no longer
needed...when the morphology changed.
The robots had served their purpose. Now they would be rejected, shed, by
humanity s body social. Psychohistory would be shed as well, when its purpose
had been served. And Hari Seldon.
No man, no woman, no machine, no idea, could reign supreme forever.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Hari opened his eyes. They were as large as a child s now. He looked around
the room, for a moment unable to distinguish people from furniture. Then his
vision narrowed and focused.
Thank you, Hari said. Daneel was right. He steadied himself against Dors
and, with his other hand, braced himself on the back of the chair. It took him
some time to order his thoughts. He stared straight at Klia Asgar, and at
Brann beyond her.
My own ego stood before the solution. Your children will balance. Your genes
and talents will spread. There will be resolution of conflict...and the Plan
will continue. But not my Plan. The future will see how wrong I can be.
Your descendants, your many-times great-grandchildren, will correct me.
Klia had seen deeper into Hari than just the problem he faced. With a little
shudder, she stepped forward, and with Dors, they lowered Hari into the chair.
I was never told the truth about you, she said softly, reaching to touch his
cheek. The skin was fine and dry and powdery-smooth, faintly resilient, with a
ridge of hard bone beneath. Hari smelled clean and human, discipline overlying
strength, if such things could be transferred by scent--and why not? How could
one see that someone had these traits, and not smell them, as well? Old, and
frail, and still quite beautiful and strong. You really are a great man! she
whispered.
No, my dear, Hari said. I am nothing, really. And it is quite wonderful to
nothing, I assure be you.
91.
Better late than never, Gaal Dornick told the technician as they watched
Professor Seldon settle into his chair in the recording booth.
He seems tired, the technician said, and checked his gauges to make sure he
had the proper settings for the voice of an old man.
Hari consulted his papers, looking at the first point of major divergence
Page 207
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
within the equations. He hummed softly to himself, then looked up, waiting for
the signal to begin. He was brightly illuminated; the studio beyond was dark,
though he could see small lights twinkling in the recording booth.
Three spherical lenses descended from above and hovered at a level with his
chest. He adjusted the blanket on his legs. Four days ago, he had told his
colleagues, and in particular Gaal Dornick, that he had had a small stroke,
and lost an entire day s recollections. They had bustled about him and
insisted that he not strain himself. So he wore this blanket. He could hardly
cough without being surrounded by concerned faces.
It was a small enough lie. And he had mentioned to Gaal that with the stroke
had come a calm and peace he had never known before...and a determination to
finish his work before Death came finally.
He suspected word would get back to Daneel. Somehow, his old friend and mentor
would hear, and approve.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Hari had felt the subtle workings of Daneel s persuasion, at the conclusion of
the meeting with
Dors and Klia Asgar and Brann. For a moment, he had felt the memories fading,
even as the group headed for the door, and Dors had looked back upon him with
an almost bitter and passionate regret.
And he had felt something else, bright and intense and impulsive, blocking
Daneel s effort without the robot knowing.
It must have come from defiant Klia, stronger than Daneel, naturally resisting
the manipulations of a robot, however well-meaning. And Hari was grateful. To [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl szkicerysunki.xlx.pl
shoulder, as if to draw strength from her.
We shed the metal, he said. Time to take charge, for ourselves, isn t it,
Daneel? And the time
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
will come when psychohistory s equations will merge with the equations of all
minds, all people. Every individual will be a general example of the whole
progress of the people. They will blend.
Young woman, you are not a monster. You are the difficult future.
Klia stared in puzzlement at Hari.
You will have children, and they will have children...stronger than Wanda and
Stettin, stronger than the mentalics we have working for us now. Something
will happen, something unpredictable, that my equations can t
encompass--another and more successful mutation, a stronger Vara Liso. I can t
put that into my equations--it is an unknown variable, an individual
point--tyranny, all control radiating from one individual!
Hari s face had become almost luminous.
You... He held his hand out to Klia. Take this hand. Let me feel you.
She reluctantly reached out.
I need a little nudge, my young friend, Hari said.
Page 206
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Show me what you are.
Almost without thinking, Klia reached into his mind, saw a brightness there
obscured by dark nebulosities, and with a gentle breath of persuasion, another
sign of her returning strength, she blew the clouds away.
Hari gasped and closed his eyes. His head dropped to one shoulder. He was
suddenly more than merely tired. He felt a great sense of release, and for the
first time in decades, a knot in his mind, in his body as well, seemed to
untie itself. The brightness in his thoughts was not a way around his errors
and the flaws in the equations--it was a deeper understanding of his own
irrelevance, in the long term.
A thousand years from now, he would be a particle in the smooth flow once
again, not his own kind of point-tyranny.
Dors got up from her chair, taking hold of his arm to help him stay on his
feet.
His work would be forgotten. The Plan would serve its purpose and be swept
away, merely one more hypothesis, guiding and shaping, but ultimately no more
than another illusion among all the illusions of men--and robots.
What he had learned in his time fighting Lamurk for the role of First
Minister--that the human race was its own kind of mind, its own
self-organizing system, with its own reserved knowledge and tendencies--
Meant that it could also direct its own evolution. Philosophies and theories
and truths were morphological appurtenances. Discarded when no longer
needed...when the morphology changed.
The robots had served their purpose. Now they would be rejected, shed, by
humanity s body social. Psychohistory would be shed as well, when its purpose
had been served. And Hari Seldon.
No man, no woman, no machine, no idea, could reign supreme forever.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Hari opened his eyes. They were as large as a child s now. He looked around
the room, for a moment unable to distinguish people from furniture. Then his
vision narrowed and focused.
Thank you, Hari said. Daneel was right. He steadied himself against Dors
and, with his other hand, braced himself on the back of the chair. It took him
some time to order his thoughts. He stared straight at Klia Asgar, and at
Brann beyond her.
My own ego stood before the solution. Your children will balance. Your genes
and talents will spread. There will be resolution of conflict...and the Plan
will continue. But not my Plan. The future will see how wrong I can be.
Your descendants, your many-times great-grandchildren, will correct me.
Klia had seen deeper into Hari than just the problem he faced. With a little
shudder, she stepped forward, and with Dors, they lowered Hari into the chair.
I was never told the truth about you, she said softly, reaching to touch his
cheek. The skin was fine and dry and powdery-smooth, faintly resilient, with a
ridge of hard bone beneath. Hari smelled clean and human, discipline overlying
strength, if such things could be transferred by scent--and why not? How could
one see that someone had these traits, and not smell them, as well? Old, and
frail, and still quite beautiful and strong. You really are a great man! she
whispered.
No, my dear, Hari said. I am nothing, really. And it is quite wonderful to
nothing, I assure be you.
91.
Better late than never, Gaal Dornick told the technician as they watched
Professor Seldon settle into his chair in the recording booth.
He seems tired, the technician said, and checked his gauges to make sure he
had the proper settings for the voice of an old man.
Hari consulted his papers, looking at the first point of major divergence
Page 207
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
within the equations. He hummed softly to himself, then looked up, waiting for
the signal to begin. He was brightly illuminated; the studio beyond was dark,
though he could see small lights twinkling in the recording booth.
Three spherical lenses descended from above and hovered at a level with his
chest. He adjusted the blanket on his legs. Four days ago, he had told his
colleagues, and in particular Gaal Dornick, that he had had a small stroke,
and lost an entire day s recollections. They had bustled about him and
insisted that he not strain himself. So he wore this blanket. He could hardly
cough without being surrounded by concerned faces.
It was a small enough lie. And he had mentioned to Gaal that with the stroke
had come a calm and peace he had never known before...and a determination to
finish his work before Death came finally.
He suspected word would get back to Daneel. Somehow, his old friend and mentor
would hear, and approve.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Hari had felt the subtle workings of Daneel s persuasion, at the conclusion of
the meeting with
Dors and Klia Asgar and Brann. For a moment, he had felt the memories fading,
even as the group headed for the door, and Dors had looked back upon him with
an almost bitter and passionate regret.
And he had felt something else, bright and intense and impulsive, blocking
Daneel s effort without the robot knowing.
It must have come from defiant Klia, stronger than Daneel, naturally resisting
the manipulations of a robot, however well-meaning. And Hari was grateful. To [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]