| Author: | Isaac Asimov |
| Copyright: | 1985 |
| Date Reviewed: | 11/2/86 |
| Rating: | 7.0 |
Synopsis: The story begins when Gladia receives a visit from Mandamuas who claims to be her descendent five times removed. Gladia is 240 years old. Like most Spacers, she has an expected life span of some 40 decades. Mandamus is concerned, or pretends to be, that the lover who produced his line was the Earth man Elijah Baley. Baley, a short-lived Earth human, died 16 decades ago. Gladia knew Baley during several difficult periods in her life. The first time was when Baley was investigating the murder of her husband on Solaria. The Solarians isolated themselves on huge estates occupied by tens of thousands of robots and no other humans. It was the most extreme form of decadence in the Galaxy. The sexual necessity of a Solarian marriage is repulsive to both parties. Later, Gladia emigrated to Aurora, a Spacer planet not so decadent. Here she fell in love with a humaniform robot named Jander Panell who was also murdered. Again, Baley was called in to solve the mystery.
Mandamus would prefer not to be a descendant of Baley. Baley destroyed the political career of Kelden Amadiro who was blamed for the death of Jander. Amadiro is now the head of the Auroran Robot Institute where Mandamus works. During his visit, Mandamus tells Gladia that she will receive a visit from D. G. Baley of Baleyworld. Since Elijah Baley's visit to Aurora, the people of Earth have spread out to colonize hundreds of Settler worlds. They are the new force in the Galaxy. Though still powerful, the Spacers are loosing their advantage. Elijah Baley is a hero to all but the Spacers. Somehow, Mandamus and Amadiro have a plan that will stop the Settler expansion.
D. G. Baley arrives and asks Gladia to accompany him to Solaria. The Solarians, it would seem, have all left their planet. No one knows where they could have gone or why but they completely vacated their planet within two months. Being so afraid of human contact and so used to their every need being addressed, it is hard to imagine that they just boarded spaceships and left. However they did leave and they must have left behind hundreds of millions of robots for the taking. Baley is a trader. He and his crew will risk dangers to make a profit and he can see a profit on Solaria. No spacer would think of taking robots from Solaria but they sure would pay for them. The catch is that two previous ships visiting Solaria for that same purpose were destroyed. Baley hopes that Gladia's knowledge of her home world, even though it's 21 decades old, will help them survive the planet.
The Auroran government agrees to let Gladia go to Solaria as long as she'll spy for them. She agrees to go as long as she can take her two favorite robots: R. Daneel Olivaw and Giskard. Daneel, like Jander, is a humaniform built by Han Fastolfe. He looks like a human and after many decades has begun to think like one. Giskard is also a very special robot. Fastolfe's natural daughter, Vasilia, used to program him as a child. She had a natural talent. Once, without her father's permission, she set a new and beautiful pattern into his brain. No one knew at the time that this pattern gave Giskard the ability to read and alter human thought. Later Fastolfe and Vasilia grew apart because of political differences. After Fastolfe's death, both Daneel and Giskard were willed to Gladia.
The Settler ship with D. G. in command reaches Solaria to find it empty of people and full of robots. They land on Gladia's old estate but everything is changed. Soon they are met by a female humaniform robot who attacks D. G. and Daneel. This robot goes by the three laws of robotics but the definition of human in those laws have been narrowed to apply only to people with Solarian accents. With bullying commands, Gladia staves off the humaniform female long enough for Giskard to freeze her positronic pathways. Had she failed, the robot would have succeeded in instructing other robots to use a nuclear intensifier to destroy Baley's ship.
Instead of returning to Aurora, D. G. takes Gladia to Baleyworld where Gladia is made a hero for saving the ship. As part of the social amenities, she is asked to make a small speech. Gladia is naturally terrified to address so many people but thanks to a small help from Giskard, she moves the audience to her side. She preaches love between Settler and Spacer alike and is a big hit. Finally Aurora demands that Gladia be returned to them.
More truths begins to unfold. We learn that seven years ago Mandamus approached Amadiro with a plot to destroy Earth. Without their Mecca, the Settler worlds would decay and leave the galaxy to the long lived Spacers. The plot involved 50 humaniform robots that had been in storage for many years. 24 decades ago the Robot Institute learned how to make humaniform robots and then learned there was no market for them. People didn't want robots stronger and more beautiful than themselves. Soon after the plot begins, Vasilia visits Solaria and suspects four things, the Solarians are working on a nuclear intensifier as a portable weapon, they are trying to create telepathic robots, they have succeeded in creating humaniform robots, and they seem to be preparing to leave. Amadiro dismisses this information but when the Solarians leave seven years later, he regrets not having listened to Vasilia. Vasilia has her own plan for the destruction of Earth. She is now convinced of Giskard's talents. Soon Amadiro also becomes convinced and tries various methods of getting Gladia back to Aurora so he can take possession of Giskard. When Gladia is made to fall asleep, Vasilia orders Giskard to become her possession. She also orders her robots to dismantle Daneel. Giskard can not allow this because of the 0th law and forces Vasilia to forget that he can read minds. This is not a light adjustment but a major change and causes Giskard much discomfort. The 0th law was developed by Daneel and Giskard and takes precedence even over the first law. It states that a robot must protect humanity even above a human being.
The next stop is Earth. Giskard and Daneel manipulate Gladia enough for her to ask D. G. to take her to the home world. Whatever disaster awaits Earth, Giskard and Daneel must go there to prevent it. On Earth, an assassination attempt is made by a robot against Gladia but the real intended victim was Giskard. Amadiro and Mandamus are on Earth and they must prevent the two robots from stopping them. After discussions with the Energy Undersecretary, Daneel figures out the plot. The two Spacers have robot installations set up all over the world with powerful nuclear intensifiers. The intensifiers are set to make the Earth's radioactive crust become more and more radioactive until eventually Earth is uninhabitable. Mandamus, a young man of 40, wants to set the intensifier at a low strength which will make Earth uninhabitable in 15 decades. It will happen so slowly that no one will be able to fix the blame and it will simply be attributed as a natural cause. However, Amadiro is an old man. He won't be alive in 150 years and he wants to see Earth's destruction in his lifetime, within the decade.
The two robots come upon the two conspiring men. Giskard allows Mandamus to start Earth's slow destruction and then removes from the two men's minds all memories of their project. This will no doubt do permanent damage. Giskard has long felt that with Earth as a God like planet for the Settlers to worship, they can not grow. Once Earth is removed, the Settlers will be able to spread through the galaxy and finally create the Galactic Empire. However if he is wrong, and the Settlers do die out, the Spacers will soon follow and the Galaxy will be left devoid of humanity. This is the worst possible violation of the 0th law and Giskard dies because of the uncertainty. Before he dies, Giskard gives Daneel his special gifts so that Daneel can carry humanity to a higher stage.
Review: I liked "Robots and Empire" better than Asimov's last two sequels. There was more of a plot here and less of a fixation on toilets. Most of the book kept me interested and wanting for more. However it was not without problems. Asimov tends to repeat himself. Here's the scenario I must have read 10 ten times. Someone does something uncharacteristic. Daneel asks Giskard if it was his doing. He replies yes but since the person wanted to do this deep down anyway, all Giskard had to do was break a small thread. Mind control is a common theme in many of Asimov's books and has been done well before. Two incidents come strongly to mind - the first in "Pebble In the Sky" where the hero makes a person bomb something and the second in "Foundation and Empire" where a member of the second foundation fixes the Mule's mind.
I also had a problem with Gladia's fame. All she did was prevent one trader ship from being destroyed. This small act should not have made so many Settlers love one Spacer. If the Settlers are so easily manipulated, they will hardly grow into an empire.
I am particularly disappointed that more was not done with the Solarians. Their leaving Solaria should have given very strong clues to the plot of this novel but we never learn anything about why they left. Obviously this is left for the next book. Books that end, leaving too much open just so another sequel can be written leave a bad taste in my mouth.