"Nothing." Lentrall regarded Donald for a moment with an expression of curiosity on his face. He turned toward Fredda.
"Dr. Leving, I wonder if you might indulge my curiosity for a moment. This robot here. Am I correct in believing that you designed and built it?"
"That's right."
"I see. You are a well-known figure, of course, and so too are many of your creations."
Kresh chuckled darkly. "That's putting it mildly." Lentrall looked toward Kresh, and smiled thinly. "I suppose you have a point, sir. But what confuses me is the name. 'Donald.'"
"It's a fancy of mine to use character names from an ancient storyteller for all my custom-made robots," said Fredda. "A man who lived on old Earth, in the pre-robotic era. A man by the name of-"
"Shakespeare," said Lentrall. "I know that. William Shakespeare. And just incidentally, I think it might be more accurate to call him a poet and a playwright, rather than a storyteller. I have studied him myself. That's what made me wonder. The names of your other robots: Caliban, Prospero, Ariel. All Shakespeare. I even saw some sort of feature story about your home, and noticed your current personal robot is named Oberon. Shakespeare again. That is why I wonder. Why the name 'Donald'?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Sir, if I might be of assistance," Donald said, addressing Lentrall. "I am named for a minor character in the play Macbeth."
"But there is no character by that name in the play," Lentrall replied. "I know the play well. In fact, I am morally certain there is no character by the name 'Donald' anywhere in Shakespeare." Lentrall thought for a moment. "There is a Donalbain in Macbeth," he suggested. " 'Donald' must be a corruption of 'Donalbain.'"
"Sir, forgive me for correcting you, but I have just consulted my on-board dataset, and I have confirmed the character is named 'Donald.'"
"Of course he is, in your copy," Lentrall said. "If Dr. Leving's copy was corrupted, and your on-board reference is based on it, of course it has the name wrong as well. A lot of errors creep into the ancient texts over time."
"Might it be possible, sir, that your copy of the play is in error?" Donald suggested.
"Anything might be possible, but I very much doubt my copy is in error. I am something of a collector of such things, and I possess four different sets of Shakespeare, three as datasets and one a hard copy. There's not a 'Donald' in any of them."
"I see," said Donald, clearly taken aback by Lentrall's news. "Clearly I must review my on-board dataset."
"Interesting," said Lentrall as Donald retreated to his wall niche. "I suppose the moral is that we never know quite as much as we think we know. Wouldn't you agree, Dr. Leving?"
"Hmmm? What? Oh, yes." Fredda felt completely thrown off her stride. How could she have made a mistake like that? What other mistakes had she made over the years without even knowing it? It was remarkable how such a trivial error could make her feel so embarrassed.
And it was also remarkable that Lentrall could be rude and arrogant enough to call her on it the moment they met. Yet the fellow seemed to have no idea that had been rude. Davlo Lentrall was a most peculiar young man-and not one with the sort of skills and personality required to get far in politics. Lucky for him he had chosen another field.
But none of this was getting the discussion moving. "Perhaps it is time to turn to the matter at hand," she said.
"Absolutely," said Lentrall. "How much do you know so far?"
Fredda hesitated, and glanced toward her husband. But his impassive expression gave her no clue. "Just to be clear, Dr. Lentrall, my husband has told me nothing at all. He wanted me to hear it all from you. So please, start at the beginning."
"Right," Lentrall said, in a tone close enough to brusque that it made no difference. "The basic point is that I believe I have found a way to enhance the terraforming process and permanently stabilize the climate."
"But only by putting the lives of perhaps millions of people at risk," said Lentrall ' s robot from its niche.
"Be quiet, Kaelor," Lentrall said impatiently.
"First Law compelled me to say at least that much," the robot replied, in an aggrieved tone of voice. "Your plan of action would put many human beings in danger."
"I would hardly call it danger," Lentrall said testily. "Rather, very slight risk. But if