They had finished eating, but neither man made any move to leave the table. Nor did any robot approach to clear it. It was as though they were transfixed into immobility by the intensity of the back and forth flow of talk.

Baley’s eyes narrowed. He said, “Dr. Fastolfe, two years ago I was on Solaria. There I was given the clear impression that the Solarians, were, on the whole, the most skilled roboticists in all the worlds.”

“On the whole, that’s probably true.”

“And not one of them could have done the deed?”

“Not one, Mr. Baley. Their skill is with robots who are, at best, no more advanced than my poor, reliable Giskard. The Solarians know nothing of the construction of humaniform robots.

“How can you be sure of that?”

“Since you were on Solaria, Mr. Baley, you know very well that Solarians can approach each other with only the greatest of difficulty, that they interact by trimensional viewing—except where sexual contact is absolutely required. Do you think that any of them would dream of designing a robot so human in appearance that it would activate their neuroses? They would so avoid the possibility of approaching him, since he would look so human, that they could make no reasonable use of him.”

“Might not a Solarian here or there display a surprising tolerance for the human body? How can you be sure?”

“Even if a Solarian could, which I do not deny, there are no Solarian nationals on Aurora this year.”

“None?”

“None! They do not like to be thrown into contact even with Aurorans and, except on the most urgent business, none will come here—or to any other world. Even in the case of urgent business, they will come no closer than orbit and then they deal with us only by electronic communication.”

Baley said, “In that case, if you are—literally and actually—the only person in all the worlds who could have done it, did you kill Jander?”

Fastolfe said, “I cannot believe that Daneel did not tell you I have denied this deed.”

“He did tell me so, but I want to hear it from you.”

Fastolfe crossed his arms and frowned. He said, through clenched teeth, “Then I’ll tell you so. I did not do it.”

Baley shook his head. “I believe you believe that statement.”

“I do. And most sincerely. I am telling the truth. I did not kill Jander.”

“But if you did not do it, and if no one,—else can possibly have done it, then—But wait. I am, perhaps, making an unwarranted assumption. Is Jander really dead or have I been brought here under false pretenses?”

“The robot is really destroyed. It will be quite possible to show him to you, if the Legislature does not bar my access to him before the day is over—which I don’t think they will do.”

“In that case, if you did not do it, and if no one else could possibly have done it, and if the robot is actually dead—who committed the crime?”

Fastolfe sighed. “I’m sure Daneel told you what I have maintained at the inquiry—but you want to hear it from my own lips.”

“That is right, Dr. Fastolfe.”

“Well, then, no one committed the crime. It was a spontaneous event in the positronic flow along the brain paths that set up the mental freeze-out in Jander.”

“Is that likely?”

“No, it is not. It is extremely unlikely—but if I did not do it, then that is the only thing that can have happened.”

“Might it not be argued that there is a greater chance that you are lying than that a spontaneous mental freeze-out took place.”

“Many do so argue. But I happen to know that I did not do it and that leaves only the spontaneous event as a possibility.”

“And you have had me brought here to demonstrate—to prove—that the spontaneous event did,—in fact, take place?”

“Yes.”

“But how does one go about proving the spontaneous event? Only by proving it, it seems, can I save you, Earth, and myself.”

“In order of increasing importance, Mr. Baley?”

Baley looked annoyed. “Well, then, you, me, and Earth.”

“I’m afraid,” said Fastolfe, “that after considerable thought, I have come to the conclusion that there is no way of obtaining such a proof.”

Baley stared at Fastolfe in horror. “No way?”

“No way. None.” And then, in a sudden fit of apparent abstraction, he seized the spicer and said, “You know, I am curious to see if I can still do the triple genuflection.”

He tossed the spicer into the air with a calculated flip of the wrist. It somersaulted and, as it came down, Fastolfe caught the narrow end on the side of his right palm (his thumb tucked down). It went up slightly and swayed and was caught on the side of the left palm. It went up again in reverse and was caught on the side of the right palm and then again on the left palm. After this third genuflection, it was lifted with sufficient force to produce a flip. Fastolfe caught it in his right fist, with his left hand nearby, palm upward. Once the spicer was caught, Fastolfe displayed his left hand and there was a fine sprinkling of salt in it.

Fastolfe said, “It is a childish display to the scientific mind and the effort is totally disproportionate to the end, which is, of course, a pinch of salt, but the good Auroran host is proud of being able to put on a display. There are some experts who can keep the spicer in the air for a minute and a half, moving their hands almost more rapidly than the eye can follow.

“Of course,” he added thoughtfully, “Daneel can perform such actions with greater skill and speed than any human. I have tested him in this manner in order to check on the workings of his brain paths, but it would be totally wrong to have him display such talents in public. It would needlessly humiliate human spicists—a popular term for them, you understand, though you won’t find it in dictionaries.”

Baley grunted.

Fastolfe sighed. “But we must get back to business.”

“You brought me through several parsecs of space for that purpose,”

“Indeed, I did.—Let us proceed!”

Baley said, “Was there a reason for that display of yours, Dr. Fastolfe?”

Fastolfe said, “Well, we seem to have come to an impasse. I’ve brought you here to do something that can’t be done. Your face was rather eloquent and, to tell you the truth, I felt no better. It seemed, therefore, that we could use a breathing space. And now—let us proceed.”

“On the impossible task?”

“Why should it be impossible for you, Mr. Baley? Your reputation is that of an achiever of the impossible.”

“The hyperwave drama? You believe that foolish distortion of what happened on Solaria?”

Fastolfe spread his arms. “I have no other hope.”

Baley said, “And I have no choice. I must continue to try; I cannot return to Earth a failure. That has been made clear to me.—Tell me, Dr. Fastolfe, how could Jander have been killed? What sort of manipulation of his mind would have been required?”

“Mr. Baley don’t know how I could possibly explain that, even to another roboticist, which you certainly are not, and even if I were prepared to publish my theories, which I certainly am not. However, let me see if I can’t explain something.—You know, of course, that robots were invented on Earth.”

“Very little concerning robotics is dealt with on Earth—”

“Earth’s strong antirobot bias is well-known on the Spacer worlds. But the Earthly origin of robots is obvious to any person on Earth who thinks about it. It is well-known that hyperspatial travel was developed with the aid of robots and, since the Spacer worlds could not have been settled without hyperspatial travel, it follows that robots existed before settlement had taken place and while Earth was still the only inhabited planet. Robots were therefore invented on Earth by Earthpeople.”

“Yet Earth feels no pride in that, does it?”

“We do not discuss it,” said Baley shortly.

“And Eartlipeople know nothing about Susan Calvin?”