"Asimov, Isaac - Brin, David - Foundations Triumph" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asimov Isaac)

Let's get this over with.

But he only shook his head.

"We'll use human-style speech, if you don't mind. There are too many wild things infesting the ether these days, if you know what I meme."

It was not unusual for a robot to make a pun, especially if it helped play the role of a clever human. In this case, Dors saw his point. Memes, or infectious ideas, might have been responsible for Lodovic's own transformation from a loyal member of Daneel's organization to a rogue independent who no longer acknowledged the laws of robotics.

"Are you still under influence of the Voltaire monstrosity?" she asked.

"Do you and Daneel still talk to Joan of Arc?" Lodovic responded, then laughed, even though there were no humans present to be fooled by his emulation. "I confess that some bits of the ancient Voltaire sim still float around amid my programs, driven there by a supernova's neutrino flux. But its effects were benign, I assure you. The meme has not made me dangerous."

"A matter of opinion," Dors answered. "And opinion has no bearing when it comes to the safety of humankind."

The robot standing across from her nodded. "Ever the good schoolgirl, Dors. Loyal to your religion-much the way Joan remained true to her own faith, across so many millennia. The two of you are compatible."

It was an acerbic analogy. The religion Lodovic referred to was the Zeroth Law, of which Daneel Olivaw was high priest and chief proselyte. A faith which Lodovic now rejected.

"And yet, you still claim to serve," she said with more-than-feigned sarcasm.

"I do. By volition. And not in complete accordance to Daneel's plan."

"Daneel has slaved for humanity's benefit ever since the dawn ages! How can you presume to know better than he does what is right?"

Lodovic shrugged again, simulating the gesture so believably that it must surely have personal meaning. He turned slightly, pointing toward a cluster of nearby, vine-encrusted domes-the old abandoned Imperial Research Station-and the great forest beyond.

"Tell me, Dors. Did it ever occur to you that something awfully convenient happened here, four decades ago? When you and Hari had your adventure, barely escaping death with your minds trapped in the bodies of apes?"

Dors paused. Out of habit, her eyelids blinked in company with surprise.

"Non sequitur," she replied. "Your references do not correlate. What does that event have to do with you and Daneel-"

"I am answering your question, so please humor me. Hearken back to when you and Hari were right here, running and brachi-ating under this very same forest canopy, experiencing a full range of emotions while hunters chased your borrowed ape bodies. Can you vividly recall fleeing from one narrow escape to another? Later, did you ever bother going over the experience in detail, calculating the probabilities?

"Consider the weapons that your pursuers had available- from nerve gas to smart-bullets to tailored viruses-and yet they could not kill a pair of unarmed animals? Or ponder the way you two just barely managed to sneak back into the station, overcoming obstacles and villains, in order to reclaim your real bodies from stasis and save the day.

"Or how about the remarkable way your enemies found you here in the first place, despite all of Daneel's precautions and-"

Dors cut him off.

"Dispense with the melodrama, Lodovic. You are implying that we were meant to experience that peril. . . and meant to survive. Clearly you conjecture that Daneel himself stood behind our entire escapade. That he arranged for our apparent endanger-ment, the pursuit-"

"And your assured survival. After all, you and Hari were important to his plans."

"Then what purpose could such a charade possibly serve?"

"Can you not guess? Perhaps the same purpose that drew Hari here."

Dors frowned.