The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov Page B

patched?”
    “None,” said Gruer sharply.
    “And where is the robot, now?”
    “Scrapped,” said Gruer.
    Baley raised his eyebrows. “This is a rather peculiar case. No motive, no means, no witnesses, no evidence. Where there was some evidence to begin with, it was destroyed. You have only one suspect and everyone seems convinced of her guilt; at least, everyone is certain no one else can be guilty. That’s your opinion, too, obviously. The question then is: Why was I sent for?”
    Gruer frowned. “You seem upset, Mr. Baley.” He turned abruptly to Daneel. “Mr. Olivaw.”
    “Yes, Agent Gruer.”
    “Won’t you please go through the dwelling and make sure all windows are closed and blanked out? Plainclothesman Baley may be feeling the effects of open space.”
    The statement astonished Baley. It was his impulse to deny Gruer’s assumption and order Daneel to keep his place when, on the brink, he caught something of panic in Gruer’s voice, something of glittering appeal in his eyes.
    He sat back and let Daneel leave the room.
    It was as though a mask had dropped from Gruer’s face, leaving it naked and afraid. Gruer said, “That was easier than I had thought. I’d planned so many ways of getting you alone. I never thought the Auroran would leave at a simple request, and yet I could think of nothing else to do.”
    Baley said, “Well, I’m alone now.”
    Gruer said, “I couldn’t speak freely in his presence. He’s an Auroran and he is here because he was forced on us as the price of having you.” The Solarian leaned forward. “There’s something more to this than murder. I am not concerned only with the matter of who did it. There are parties on Solaria, secret organizations.… ”
    Baley stared. “Surely, I can’t help you there.”
    “Of course you can. Now understand this: Dr. Delmarre was a Traditionalist. He believed in the old ways, the good ways. But there are new forces among us, forces for change, and Delmarre has been silenced.”
    “By Mrs. Delmarre?”
    “Hers must have been the hand. That doesn’t matter. There is an organization behind her and that is the important matter.”
    “Are you sure? Do you have evidence?”
    “Vague evidence, only. I can’t help that. Rikaine Delmarre was on the track of something. He assured me
his
evidence was good, and I believed him. I knew him well enough to know him as neither fool nor child. Unfortunately, he told me very little. Naturally, he wanted to complete his investigation before laying the matter completely open to the authorities. He must have gotten close to completion, too, or they wouldn’t have dared the risk of having him openlyslaughtered by violence. One thing Delmarre told me, though. The whole human race is in danger.”
    Baley felt himself shaken. For a moment it was as though he were listening to Minnim again, but on an even larger scale. Was
everyone
going to turn to him with cosmic dangers?
    “Why do you think I can help?” he asked.
    “Because you’re an Earthman,” said Gruer. “Do you understand? We on Solaria have no experience with these things. In a way, we don’t understand people. There are too few of us here.”
    He looked uneasy. “I don’t like to say this, Mr. Baley. My colleagues laugh at me and some grow angry, but it is a definite feeling I have. It seems to me that you Earthmen
must
understand people far better than we do, just by living among such crowds of them. And a detective more than anyone. Isn’t that so?”
    Baley half nodded and held his tongue.
    Gruer said, “In a way, this murder was fortunate. I have not dared speak to the others about Delmarre’s investigation, since I wasn’t sure who might be involved in the conspiracy, and Delmarre himself was not ready to give any details till his investigation was complete. And even if Delmarre had completed his work, how would we deal with the matter afterward? How does one deal with hostile human beings? I don’t know. From the beginning,