8
Gladia was aware of a number of things, all simultaneously.
She was aware of the wonder of constancy, for Elijah was as she had remembered him. The lapse of five years had not changed matters. She had not been living in the glow of a memory-intensified glitter. He was Elijah.
She was aware, also, of a puzzle of difference. Her feeling intensified that Santirix Gremionis, without a single major flaw that she could define, was all flaw. Santirix was affectionate, gentle, rational, reasonably intelligent - and flat. Why he was flat, she could not say, but nothing he did or said could rouse her as Baley did, even when he did and said nothing. Baley was older in years, much older physiologically, not as handsome as Santirix, and what was more, Baley carried with him the indefinable air of decay - of the aura of quick aging and short life that Earthmen must. And yet -
She was aware of the folly of men, of Elijah approaching her with hesitation, with total unappreciation of his effect on her.
She was aware of his absence, for he had gone in to speak to Daneel, who was to be last as he was first. Earthmen feared and hated robots and yet Elijah, knowing full well that Daneel was a robot, treated him only as a person. Spacers, on the other hand, who loved robots and were never comfortable in their absence, would never think of them as anything but machines.
Most of all, she was aware of time. She knew that exactly three hours and twenty-five minutes had elapsed since Elijah had entered Han Fastolfe's small vessel and she knew further that not much more time could be allowed to elapse.
The longer she remained off Aurora's surface and the longer Baley's ship remained in orbit, the more likely it was that someone would notice - or if the matter had already been noticed, as seemed almost certain, the more likely it would be that someone would become curious and investigate. And then - Fastolfe would find himself in an annoying tangle of trouble.
Baley emerged from the pilot room and looked at Gladia sadly. "I must go now, Gladia."
"I know that well."
Baley said, "Daneel will take care of you. He will be your friend as well as protector and you must be a friend to him - for my sake. But it is Giskard I want you to listen to. Let him be your adviser."
Gladia frowned. "Why Giskard? I'm not sure I like him."
"I do not ask you to like him. I ask you to trust him."
"But why, Elijah?"
"I can't tell you that. In this, you must trust me, too."
They looked at each other and said no more. It was as though silence made time stop, allowed them to hold on to the seconds and keep them motionless.
But it could only work so long. Baley said, "You don't regret?"
Gladia whispered, "How could I regret - when I may never see you again?"
Baley made as though to answer that, but she put her small clenched fist against his mouth.
"Don't lie uselessly," she said. "I may never see you again."
And she never did. Never!
9
It was with pain that she felt herself drag across the dead waste of years into the present once more.
I never did, she thought. Never!
She had protected herself against the bittersweet for so long and now she had plunged into it - more bitter than sweet - because she had seen this person, this Mandamus because Giskard has asked her to and because she was compelled to trust Giskard. It was his last request.
She focused on the present. (How much time had elapsed?)
Mandamus was looking at her coldly. He said, "From your reaction, Madam Gladia, I gather that it is true. You could not have said so more plainly."
"What is true? What are you talking about?"
"That you saw the Earthman Elijah Baley five years after his visit to Aurora. His ship was in orbit about Aurora; you traveled up to see him and were with him about the time you conceived your son."
"What evidence do you have for that?"
"Madam, it was not totally a secret. The Earthman's ship was detected in orbit Fastolfe's yacht was detected in its flight. It was observed to dock. It was not Fastolfe who was on board the yacht, so the presumption was that it was you. Dr. Fastolfe's influence was sufficient to keep it off the record."
"If it is off the record, there is no evidence."
"Nevertheless, Dr. Amadiro has spent the last two thirds of his life following Dr. Fastolfe's movements with the eyes of detestation. There were always government officials who were heart and soul with Dr. Amadiro's policy of reserving the Galaxy for the Spacers and they would quietly report to him anything they thought he would like to know. Dr. Amadiro learned of your little escapade almost as soon as it happened."
"It is still not evidence. The unsupported word of a minor official currying favor is of no account. Amadiro did nothing because even he knew he had no evidence."
"No evidence with which he could charge anyone with even a misdemeanor; no evidence with which he could trouble Fastolfe, but evidence enough to suspect me of being a descendant of Baley's and to cripple my career therefore."
Gladia said bitterly, "You may cease being troubled. My son is the son of Santirix Gremionis, a true Auroran, and it is from this son of Gremionis that you are descended."
"Convince me of it, madam. I ask nothing better. Convince me that you fired up into orbit and that you spent hours alone with the Earthman and that, during that time, you talked - politics, perhaps - discussed old times and mutual friends - told funny stories - and never touched each other. Convince me."
"What we did, did not matter, so spare me your sarcasm. At the time I saw him, I was already pregnant by my then husband. I was carrying a three-month-old fetus, an Auroran fetus.