"That is the case; Partner Elijah."
"Is this one in use now?"
"It may be, Partner Elijah, but three or four may use it simultaneously."
"Is there room for me?"
"Very likely, Partner Elijah."
"Well, then, let me out. I'll go there and see - "
The robots did not move. Giskard said, "Sir, we may not enter with you."
"Yes, I am aware of that, Giskard."
"We will not be able to guard you properly, sir."
Baley frowned. The lesser robot would naturally have the more rigid mind and Baley suddenly recognized the danger that he would simply not be allowed out of their sight and, therefore, not allowed to enter the Personal. He put a note of urgency into his voice and turned his attention to Daneel, who might be expected to more nearly understand human needs. "I can't help that, Giskard. Daneel, I have no choice in the matter. Let me out of the car."
Giskard looked at Baley without moving and, for one horrid moment, Baley thought the robot would suggest that he unburden himself in the nearby field in the open, like an animal.
The moment passed. Daneel said, "I think we must allow Partner Elijah to have his way in this respect."
Whereupon Giskard said to Baley, "If you can wait for a short while, sir, I will approach the structure first."
Baley grimaced. Giskard walked slowly toward the building and then, deliberately, circumnavigated it. Baley might have predicted the fact that, once Giskard disappeared, his own sense of urgency would increase.
He tried to distract his own nerve endings by staring around at the prospect. After some study, he became aware of thin wires in the air, here and there - fine, dark hairs against the white sky. He did not see them, to begin with. What he saw first was an oval object sliding along beneath the clouds. He became aware of it as a vehicle and realized that it was not floating but was suspended from a long horizontal wire. He followed that long wire with his eyes, forward and back, noting others of the sort. He then saw another vehicle farther offand yet another still farther off. The farthest of the three was a featureless speck whose nature he understood only because he had seen the nearer ones.
Undoubtedly, these were cable cars for internal transportation from one part of the Robotics Institute to another.
How spread out it all was, thought Baley. How needlessly the Institute consumed space.
And yet, in doing so, it did not consume the surface. The structures were sufficiently widely spaced so that the greenery seemed untouched and the plant and animal life continued (Baley imagined) as they might in emptiness.
Solaria, Baley remembered, had been empty. No doubt all the Spacer worlds were empty, since Aurora, the most populous, was so empty, even here in the most built-up region of the planet. For that matter, even Earth - outside the Cities - was empty.
But there were the Cities and Baley felt a sharp pang of homesickness, which he had to push to one side.
Daneel said, "Ah, friend Giskard has completed his examination."
Giskard was back and Baley said tartly, "Well? Will you be so kind as to grant me permission - " He stopped. Why expend sarcasm on the impenetrable hide of a robot?
Giskard said, "It seems quite certain that the Personal is unoccupied."
"Good! Then get out of my way." Baley flung open the door of the airfoil and stepped out onto the gravel of a narrow path. He strode rapidly, with Daneel following.
When he reached the door of the structure, Daneel wordlessly indicated the contact that would open it. Daneel did not venture to touch the contact himself. Presumably, thought Baley, to have done so without specific instructions would have indicated an intention to enter and even the intention was not permitted.
Baley pushed the contact and entered, leaving the two robots behind.
It was not until he was inside that it occurred to him that Giskard could not possibly have entered the Personal to see that it was unoccupied, that the robot must have been judging the matter from external appearance - a dubious proceeding at best.
And Baley realized, with some discomfort, that, for the first time, he was isolated and separated from all protectors - and that the protectors on the other side of the door couldn't easily enter if he were suddenly in trouble. What, then, if he were, at this moment, not alone? What if some enemy had been alerted by Vasilia, who knew he would be in search of a Personal, and what if that enemy was in hiding right now in the structure?
Baley grew suddenly and uncomfortably aware that (as would not have been the case on Earth) he was totally unarmed.
46
To be sure, the structure was not large. There were small urinals, side by side, half a dozen of them; small washbasins, side by side, again half a dozen. No showers, no clothes fresheners, no shaving devices.
There were half a dozen stalls, separated by partitions and with small doors to each. Might there not be someone waiting inside one of them -
The doors did not come down to the ground. Moving softly, he bent and glanced under each door, looking for any sign of legs. He then approached each door, testing it, swinging it open tensely, ready to slam it shut at the least sign of anything untoward and then to dash to the door that led to the Outside.
All the stalls were empty.
He looked around to make sure there were no other hiding places.
He could find none.
He went to the door to the Outside and found no indication of a way of locking it. It occurred to him that there would naturally be no way of locking it. The Personal was clearly for the use of several men at the same time. Others would have to be able to enter at need.
Yet he could not very well leave and try another, for the danger would exist at any - and besides, he could delay no longer.