It was bad enough that he himself knew. But if Beddle ever found out-oh, yes, there was need enough for privacy.
There was a change in sound of the aircar's engine, and Kresh came back to himself as the car banked smoothly to one side and eased down out of the sky. He blinked and looked toward the front of the craft, out the forward viewport. There it was. There was home.
The aircar settled in for a landing.
FREDDA LEVING STOOD up from her chair and looked across the table at the two robots. "It would be best if you both were going," she said. "My husband will be home at any moment."
The smaller of the two robots, the jet-black one, rose from his chair and regarded his hostess thoughtfully. "Surely your husband is aware that we meet here with you."
"Of course he is," she said. "But it is best for all concerned that we do not rub his nose in it."
"I do not understand," said the black robot. He was Prospero, self-proclaimed leader of the New Law robots. He was a gleaming metallic black, about a hundred eighty centimeters tall, with the solid, heavy-set body design common to many of the New Laws. His eyes glowed a deep, burning orange that seemed to make his personality all the more intense. "If he knows we come here, why conceal it from him?"
"I do not understand why you ask questions to which you already know the answer," Fredda replied.
Prospero swiveled his head about to glance at his companion and then swung abruptly back toward Fredda. " Do I know the answer?" he asked in a suspicious voice.
The larger of the two robots stood as well, and looked toward his companion. "There are times, friend Prospero," said Caliban, "when I believe that you quite deliberately play at being ignorant. The governor wants no contact with us. He tolerates, but does not approve of, these meetings. The less we bring them to his official attention, the more likely they are to continue."
Caliban stood over two meters tall, his body metallic red in color, his eyes a penetrating glowing blue. His appearance was striking, even intimidating, but far less so than his reputation. Caliban the Lawless, they still called him, sometimes.
Caliban, the robot accused, but cleared, of attempting the murder of his creator-of Fredda Leving herself.
Prospero regarded his companion for a moment before he replied. "The need for discretion," he said. "Yes, I have heard that answer before. But I am far from sure that I know it is the true answer."
"And what purpose would it serve for me to lie to you?" Caliban asked. For a Three-Law robot, the very idea of lying would be difficult to imagine, but Caliban was a No Law robot, and, in theory at least, just as able to lie as any human.
"Perhaps you would have no purpose in lying," Prospero said, looking back toward Fredda. "But others might well have reasons to deceive you."
"You are not at your most tactful today," said Fredda. "And I must confess I don't see why our perfectly true answers should not satisfy you. Nor can I see what motive I would have for lying to you and Caliban."
"I might add that I do not understand your motive for offending our principal benefactor," said Caliban.
Prospero hesitated, and looked from one of them to the other. "My apologies," he said at last. "There are times when my understanding of human psychology fails me, even when I am attempting to learn more. I was attempting to gauge your emotional reaction to such an accusation, Dr. Leving."
"I would have to believe in the sincerity of the accusation before I could have much of a reaction to it," said Fredda.
"Yes," said Prospero. "Of course."
But if Fredda Leving was sure of anything at that moment, she was sure that Prospero had not given her all of the story-and perhaps had not given her any of the true story. But what motive would Prospero have for playing such a strange game? It was rare indeed when she felt completely sure that she understood Prospero. She had long known he was one of her less stable creations. But he was the undisputed leader of the New Law robots. She had no real choice but to deal with him.
"In any event," said Caliban, "it is time for us both to be leaving. I have no doubt, Dr. Leving, that we shall all meet again soon."