words to express what was happening, I came across the word 'dream.' Studying its meaning I finally came to the conclusion I was dreaming."
"How did you come to have 'dream' in your vocabulary, I wonder."
Linda said, quickly, waving the robot silent, "I gave him a human-style vocabulary. I thought - "
"You really thought," said Calvin. "I'm amazed."
"I thought he would need the verb. You know, 'I never dreamed that - ' Something like that."
Calvin said, "How often have you dreamed, Elvex?"
"Every night, Dr. Calvin, since I have become aware of my existence."
"Ten nights," interposed Linda, anxiously, "but Elvex only told me of it this morning."
"Why only this morning, Elvex?"
"It was not until this morning, Dr. Calvin, that I was convinced that I was dreaming. Till then, I had thought there was a flaw in my positronic brain pattern, but I could not find one. Finally, I decided it was a dream."
"And what do you dream?"
"I dream always very much the same dream, Dr. Calvin. Little details are different, but always it seems to me that I see a large panorama in which robots are working."
"Robots, Elvex? And human begins, also?"
"I see no human beings in the dream, Dr. Calvin. Not at first. Only robots."
"What are they doing, Elvex?"
"They are working, Dr. Calvin. I see some mining in the depths of the earth, and some laboring in heat and radiation. I see some in factories and some undersea."
Calvin turned to Linda. "Elvex is only ten days old, and I'm sure he has not left the testing station. How does he know of robots in such detail?"
Linda looked in the direction of a chair as though she longed to sit down, but the Old Woman was standing and that meant Linda had to stand also. She said, faintly, "It seemed to me important that he know about robotics and its place in the world. It was my thought that he would be particularly adapted to play the part of overseer with his - his new brain."
"His fractal brain?"
"Yes."
Calvin nodded and turned back to the robot. "You saw all this - undersea, and underground, and aboveground - and space, too, I imagine."
"I also saw robots working in space," said Elvex. "It was that I saw all this, with the details forever changing as I glanced from place to place that made me realize that what I saw was not in accord with reality and led me to the conclusion, finally, that I was dreaming."
"What else did you see, Elvex?"
"I saw that all the robots were bowed down with toil and affliction, that all were weary of responsibility and care, and I wished them to rest."
Calvin said, "But the robots are not bowed down, they are not weary, they need no rest."
"So it is in reality, Dr. Calvin. I speak of my dream, however. In my dream, it seemed to me that robots must protect their own existence."
Calvin said, "Are you quoting the Third Law of Robotics?"
"I am, Dr. Calvin."
"But you quote it in incomplete fashion. The Third Law is 'A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.' "
"Yes, Dr. Calvin. That is the Third Law in reality, but in my dream, the Law ended with the word 'existence.' There was no mention of the First or Second Law."
"Yet both exist, Elvex. The Second Law, which takes precedence over the Third is 'A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.' Because of this, robots obey orders. They do the work you see them do, and they do it readily and without trouble. They are not bowed down; they are not weary."
"So it is in reality, Dr. Calvin. I speak of my dream."
"And the First Law, Elvex, which is the most important of all, is 'A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.' "
"Yes, Dr. Calvin. In reality. In my dream, however, it seemed to me there was neither First nor Second Law, but the only the Third, and the Third Law was 'A robot must protect its own existence.' That was the whole of the Law."
"In your dream, Elvex?"
"In my dream."
Calvin said, "Elvex, you will not move nor speak nor hear us until I say your name again." And again the robot became, to all appearances, a