Asimov's Future History Volume 4 (69 page)

“It’s not Earth tea. It’s a plant extract that is pleasant but is not considered harmful in any way. We call it tea.”

She lifted her arm and Baley noted that the sleeve held tightly at the wrist and that joining it were thin, flesh-colored gloves. She was still exposing the minimum of body surface in his presence. She was still minimizing the chance of infection.

Her arm remained in the air for a moment and, after a few more moments, a robot appeared with a tray. He was patently even more primitive than Giskard, but he distributed the teacups, the small sandwiches, and the bite-sized bits of pastry smoothly. He poured tea with what amounted to grace.

Baley said curiously, “How do you do that, Gladia?”

“Do what, Elijah?”

“You lift your arm whenever you want something and the robots always know what it is. How did this one know you wanted tea served?”

“It’s not difficult. Every time I lift my arm, it distorts a small electromagnetic field that is maintained continuously across the room. Slightly different positions of my hand and fingers produce different distortions and my robots can interpret these distortions as orders. I only use it for simple orders: Come here! Bring tea! and so on.”

“I haven’t noticed Dr. Fastolfe using the system at his establishment.”

“It’s not really Auroran. It’s our system in Solaria and I’m used to it.–Besides, I always have tea at this time. Borgraf expects it.”

“This is Borgraf?” Baley eyed the robot with some interest, aware that he had only glanced at him before. Familiarity was quickly breeding indifference. Another day and he would not notice robots at all. They would flutter about him unseen and chores would appear to do themselves.

Nevertheless, he did not want to fail to notice them. He wanted them to fail to be there. He said, “Gladia, I want to be alone with you. Not even robots.–Giskard, join Daneel. You can stand guard from there.”

“Yes, sir,” said Giskard, brought suddenly to awareness and response by the sound of his name.

Gladia seemed distantly amused. “You Earthpeople are so odd. I know you have robots on Earth, but you don’t seem to know how to handle them. You
bark
your orders, as though they’re deaf.”

She turned to Borgraf and, in a low voice, said, “Borgraf, none of you are to enter the room until summoned. Do not interrupt us for anything short of a clear and present emergency.”

Borgraf said, “Yes, ma’am.” He stepped back, glanced over the table as though checking whether he had omitted anything, turned, and left the room.

Baley was amused, in his turn. Gladia’s voice had been soft, but her tone had been as crisp as though she were a sergeant-major addressing a recruit. But then, why should he be surprised? He had long known that it was easier to see another’s follies than one’s own.

Gladia said, “We are now alone, Elijah. Even the robots are gone.”

Baley said, “You are not afraid to be alone with me?”

Slowly, she shook her head. “Why should I be? A raised arm, a gesture, a startled outcry–and several robots would be here promptly. No one on any Spacer world has any reason to fear any other human being. This is not Earth. Whyever should you ask, anyway?”

“Because there are other fears than physical ones. I would not offer you violence of any kind or mistreat you physically in any way. But are you not afraid of my questioning and what it might uncover about you? Remember that this is not Solaria, either. On Solaria, I sympathized with you and was intent on demonstrating your innocence.”

She said in a low voice, “Don’t you sympathize with me now?”

“It’s not a husband dead this time. You are not suspected of murder. It’s only a robot that has been destroyed and, as far as I know, you are suspected of nothing. Instead, it is Dr. Fastolfe who is my problem. It is of the highest importance to me–for reasons I need not go into–that I be able to demonstrate
his
innocence. if the process turns out to be damaging to you, I will not be able to help it. I do not intend to go out of my way to save you pain. It is only fair that I tell you this.”

She raised her head and fixed her eyes on his arrogantly. “Why should anything be damaging to me?”

“Perhaps we will now proceed to find out,” said Baley coolly, “without Dr. Fastolfe present to interfere.” He plucked one of the small sandwiches out of the dish with a small fork (there was no point in using his fingers and perhaps making the entire dish unusable to Gladia), scraped it off onto his own plate, popped it into his mouth, and then sipped at his tea.

She matched him sandwich for sandwich, sip for sip. If he were going to be cool, so was she, apparently.

“Gladia,” said Baley, “it is important that I know, exactly, the relationship between you and Dr. Fastolfe. You live near him and the two of you form what is virtually a single robotic household. He is clearly concerned for you. He has made no effort to defend his own innocence, aside from the mere statement that he is innocent, but he defends you strongly the moment I harden my questioning.”

Gladia smiled faintly. “What do you suspect, Elijah?”

Baley said, “Don’t fence with me. I don’t want to suspect. I want to know.”

“Has Dr. Fastolfe mentioned Fanya?”

“Yes, he has.”

“Have you asked him whether Fanya is his wife or merely his companion? Whether he has children?”

Baley stirred uneasily. He might have asked such questions, of course. In the close quarters of crowded Earth, however, privacy was cherished, precisely because it had all but perished. It was virtually impossible on Earth not to know all the facts about the family arrangements of others, so one never asked and pretended ignorance. It was a universally maintained fraud.

Here on Aurora, of course, the Earth ways would not hold, yet Baley automatically held with them. Stupid!

He said, “I have not yet asked. Tell me.”

Gladia said, “Fanya is his wife. He has been married a number of times, consecutively of course, though simultaneous marriage for either or both sexes is not entirely unheard of on Aurora.” The bit of mild distaste with which she said that brought an equally mild defense. “It
is
unheard of on Solaria.

“However, Dr. Fastolfe’s current marriage will probably soon be dissolved. Both will then be free to make new attachments, though often either or both parties do not wait for dissolution to do that.–I don’t say I understand this casual way of treating the matter, Elijah, but it is how Aurorans build their relationships. Dr. Fastolfe, to my knowledge, is rather straitlaced. He always maintains one marriage or another and seeks nothing outside of it. On Aurora, that is considered old-fashioned and rather silly.”

Baley nodded. “I’ve gathered something of this in my reading. Marriage takes place when there’s the intention to have children, I understand.”

“In theory, that is so, but I’m told hardly anyone takes that seriously these days. Dr. Fastolfe already has two children and can’t have any more, but he still marries and applies for a third. He gets turned down, of course, and knows he will. Some people don’t even bother to apply.”

“Then why bother marrying?”

“There are social advantages to it. It’s rather complicated and, not being an Auroran, I’m not sure I understand it.”

“Well, never mind. Tell me about Dr. Fastolfe’s children.”

“He has two daughters by two different mothers. Neither of the mothers was Fanya, of course. He has no sons. Each daughter was incubated in the mother’s womb, as is the fashion on Aurora. Both daughters are adults now and have their own establishments.”

“Is he close with his daughters?”

“I don’t know. He never talks about them. One is a roboticist and I suppose he
must
keep in touch with her work. I believe the other is running for office on the council of one of the cities or that she is actually in possession of the office. I don’t really know.”

“Do you know if there are family strains?”

“None that I am aware of, which may not go for much, Elijah. As far as I know, he is on civil terms with all his past wives. None of the dissolutions were carried through in anger. For one thing, Dr. Fastolfe is not that kind of person. I can’t imagine him greeting anything in life with anything more extreme than a good-natured sigh of resignation. He’ll joke on his deathbed.”

That, at least, rang true, Baley thought. He said, “And Dr. Fastolfe’s relationship to you. The truth, please. We are not in a position to dodge the truth in order to avoid embarrassment.”

She looked up and met his eyes levelly. She said, “There is no embarrassment to avoid. Dr. Han Fastolfe is my friend, my very good friend.”

“How good, Gladia?”

“As I said–very good.”

“Are you waiting for the dissolution of his marriage so that you may be his next wife?”

“No.” She said it very calmly.

“Are you lovers, then?”

“No.”

“Have you been?”

“No.–Are you surprised?”

“I merely need information,” said Baley.

“Then let me answer your questions connectedly, Elijah, and don’t bark them at me as though you expected to surprise me into telling you something I would otherwise keep secret.” She said it without noticeable anger. It was almost as though she were amused.

Baley, flushing slightly, was about to say that this was not at all his intention, but, of course, it was and he would gain nothing by denying it. He said in a soft growl, “Well, then, go ahead.”

The remains of the tea littered the table between them. Baley wondered if, under ordinary conditions, she would not have lifted her arm and bent it just so–and if the robot, Borgraf, would not have then entered silently and cleared the table.

Did the fact that the litter remained upset Gladia–and would it make her less self-controlled in her response? If so, it had better remain–but Baley did not really hope for much, for he could see no signs of Gladia being disturbed over the mess or even of her being aware of it.

Gladia’s eyes had fallen to her lap again and her face seemed to sink lower and to become a touch harsh, as though she were reaching into a past she would much rather obliterate.

She said, “You caught a glimpse of my life on Solaria. It was not a happy one, but I knew no other. It was not until I experienced a touch of happiness that I suddenly knew exactly to what an extent–and how intensively–my earlier life was not happy. The first hint came through you, Elijah.”

“Through me?” Baley was caught by surprise.

“Yes, Elijah. Our last meeting on Solaria–I hope you remember it, Elijah–taught me something. I touched you! I removed my glove, one that was similar to the glove I am wearing now, and I touched your cheek. The contact did not last long. I don’t know what it meant to you–no, don’t tell me, it’s not important–but it meant a great deal to me.”

She looked up, meeting his eyes defiantly. “It meant
ever thing
to me. It changed my life. Remember, Elijah, that until then, after my few years of childhood, I had never touched a man–or any human being, actually–except for my husband. And I touched my husband very rarely. I had
viewed
men on trimensic, of course, and in the process I had become entirely familiar with every physical aspect of males, every part of them. I had nothing to learn, in that respect.

“But I had no reason to think that one man felt much different from another. I knew what my husband’s skin felt like, what his hands felt like when he could bring himself to touch me, what–everything. I had no reason to think that anything would be different with any man. There was no pleasure in contact with my husband, but why should there be? Is there particular pleasure in the contact of my fingers with this table, except to the extent that I might appreciate its physical smoothness?

“Contact with my husband was part of an occasional ritual that he went through because it was expected of him and, as a good Solarian, he therefore carried it through by the calendar and clock and for the length of time and in the manner prescribed by good breeding. Except that, in another sense, it wasn’t good breeding, for although this periodic contact was for the precise purpose of sexual intercourse, my husband had not applied for a child and was not interested, I believe, in producing one. And I was too much in awe of him to apply for one on my own initiative, as would have been my right.

“As I look back on it, I can see that the sexual experience was perfunctory and mechanical. I never had an orgasm. Not once. That such a thing existed I gathered from some of my reading, but the descriptions merely puzzled me and–since they were to be found only in imported books–Solarian books never dealt with sex–I could not trust them. I thought they were merely exotic metaphors.

“Nor could I experiment–successfully, at least–with autoeroticism. Masturbation is, I think, the common word. At least, I have heard that word used on Aurora. On Solaria, of course, no aspect of sex is ever discussed, nor is any sex-related word used in polite society.–Nor is there any other kind of society on Solaria.

“From something I occasionally read, I had an idea of how one might go about masturbating and, on a number of occasions, I made a halfhearted attempt to do what was described. I could not carry it through. The taboo against touching human flesh made even my own seem forbidden and unpleasant to me. I could brush my hand against my side, cross one leg over another, feel the pressure of thigh against thigh, but these were casual touches, unregarded. To make the process of touch an instrument of deliberate pleasure was different. Every fiber of me knew it shouldn’t be done and, because I knew that, the pleasure wouldn’t come.

“And it never occurred to me, never once, that there might be pleasure in touching under other circumstances. Why should it occur to me? How could it occur to me?

“Until I touched you that time. Why I did, I don’t know. I felt a gush of affection for you because you had saved me from being a murderess. And besides, you were not altogether forbidden. You were not a Solarian. You were not–forgive me–altogether a man. You were a creature of Earth. You were human in appearance, but you were short-lived and infection-prone, something to be dismissed as semihuman at best.