Bliss was tight-lipped but calm. Fallom was trembling, but Bliss's hand touched the child's shoulder and it stiffened somewhat and lost facial expression. (Was Bliss sedating it?)
The robot said, "Once again, and for the last time, where is Ruler Bander?"
"I do not know," said Trevize grimly.
The robot nodded and two of his companions left quickly. The robot said, "My fellow Guardians will search the mansion. Meanwhile, you will be held for questioning. Hand me those objects you wear at your side."
Trevize took a step backward. "They are harmless."
"Do not move again. I do not question their nature, whether harmful or harmless. I ask for them."
"No."
The robot took a quick step forward, and his arm flashed out too quickly for Trevize to realize what was happening. The robot's hand was on his shoulder; the grip tightened and pushed downward. Trevize went to his knees.
The robot said, "Those objects." It held out its other hand.
"No," gasped Trevize.
Bliss lunged forward, pulled the blaster out of its holster before Trevize, clamped in the robot's grip, could do anything to prevent her, and held it out toward the robot. "Here, Guardian," she said, "and if you'll give me a moment-here's the other. Now release my companion."
The robot, holding both weapons, stepped back, and Trevize rose slowly to his feet, rubbing his left shoulder vigorously, face wincing with pain.
(Fallow whimpered softly, and Pelorat picked it up in distraction, and held it tightly.)
Bliss said to Trevize, in a furious whisper, "Why are you fighting him? He can kill you with two fingers."
Trevize groaned and said, between gritted teeth, "Why don't you handle him.
"I'm trying to. It takes time. His mind is tight, intensely programmed, and leaves no handle. I must study it. You play for time."
"Don't study his mind. Just destroy it," said Trevize, almost soundlessly.
Bliss looked quickly toward the robot. It was studying the weapons intently, while the one other robot that still remained with it watched the Outworlders. Neither seemed interested in the whispering that was going on between Trevize and Bliss.
Bliss said, "No. No destruction. We killed one dog and hurt another on the first world. You know what happened on this world." (Another quick glance at the Guardian Robots.) "Gaia does not needlessly butcher life or intelligence. I need time to work it out peacefully."
She stepped back and stared at the robot fixedly.
The robot said, "These are weapons."
"No," said Trevize.
"Yes," said Bliss, "but they are no longer useful. They are drained of energy."
"is that indeed so? Why should you carry weapons that are drained of energy? Perhaps they are not drained." The robot held one of the weapons in its fist and placed its thumb accurately. "Is this the way it is activated?"
"Yes," said Bliss; "if you tighten the pressure, it would be activated, if it contained energy-but it does not."
"Is that certain?" The robot pointed the weapon at Trevize. "Do you still say that if I activate it now, it will not work?"
"It will not work," said Bliss.
Trevize was frozen in place and unable to articulate. He had tested the blaster after Hander had drained it and it was totally dead, but the robot was holding the neuronic whip. Trevize had not tested that.
If the whip contained even a small residue of energy, there would be enough for a stimulation of the pain nerves, and what Trevize would feel would make the grip of the robot's hand seem to have been a pat of affection.
When he had been at the Naval Academy, Trevize had been forced to take a mild neuronic whipblow, as all cadets had had to. That was just to know what it was like. Trevize felt no need to know anything more.
The robot activated the weapon and, for a moment, Trevize stiffened painfully-and then slowly relaxed. The whip, too, was thoroughly drained.
The robot stared at Trevize and then tossed both weapons to one side. "How do these come to be drained of energy?" it demanded. "If they are of no use, why do you carry them?"
Trevize said, "I am accustomed to the weight and carry them even when drained."
The robot said, "That does not make sense. You are all under custody. You will be held for further questioning, and, if the Rulers so decide, you will then be inactivated. How does one open this ship? We must search it."
"It will do you no good," said Trevize. "You won't understand it."
"If not I, the Rulers will understand."
"They will not understand, either."
"Then you will explain so that they will understand."