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but he remembered. His personal dangers and difficulties since leaving Earth dimmed the memory of Minnim’s voice stating enormities with cool and precise enunciation, but never blotted it out altogether.
    Baley had lived too long with duty to allow even the overwhelming fact of open space to stop him in its performance. Data collected from a Spacer’s words,or from those of a Spacer robot for that matter, was the sort of thing that was already available to Earth’s sociologists. What was needed was direct observation and it was his job, however unpleasant, to collect it.
    He inspected the upper portion of the ground-car. “Is this thing a convertible, Daneel?”
    “I beg your pardon, Partner Elijah, but I do not follow your meaning.”
    “Can the car’s top be pushed back? Can it be made open to the—the sky?” (He had almost said “dome” out of habit.)
    “Yes, it can.”
    “Then have that done, Daneel. I would like to take a look.”
    The robot responded gravely, “I am sorry, but I cannot allow that.”
    Baley felt astonished. He said, “Look, R. Daneel” (he stressed the R.). “Let’s rephrase that. I order you to lower the top.”
    The creature was a robot, manlike or not. It
had
to follow orders.
    But Daneel did not move. He said, “I must explain that it is my first concern to spare you harm. It has been clear to me on the basis both of my instructions and of my own personal experience that you would suffer harm at finding yourself in large, empty spaces. I cannot, therefore, allow you to expose yourself to that.”
    Baley could feel his face darkening with an influx of blood and at the same time could feel the complete uselessness of anger. The creature
was
a robot, and Baley knew the First Law of Robotics well.
    It went:
A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm
.
    Everything else in a robot’s positronic brain—that of any robot on any world in the Galaxy—had to bow to that prime consideration. Of course a robot had to follow orders, but with one major, all-important qualification. Following orders was only the Second Law of Robotics.
    It went:
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law
.
    Baley forced himself to speak quietly and reasonably. “I think I can endure it for a short time, Daneel.”
    “That is not my feeling, Partner Elijah.”
    “Let me be the judge, Daneel.”
    “If that is an order, Partner Elijah, I cannot follow it.”
    Baley let himself lounge back against the softly upholstered seat. The robot would, of course, be quite beyond the reach of force. Daneel’s strength, if exerted fully, would be a hundred times that of flesh and blood. He would be perfectly capable of restraining Baley without ever hurting him.
    Baley was armed. He could point a blaster at Daneel, but, except for perhaps a momentary sensation of mastery, that action would only succeed in greater frustration. A threat of destruction was useless against a robot. Self-preservation was only the Third Law.
    It went:
A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws
.
    It would not trouble Daneel to be destroyed if the alternative were breaking the First Law. And Baley did not wish to destroy Daneel. Definitely not.
    Yet he did want to see out the car. It was becomingan obsession with him. He couldn’t allow this nurse-infant relationship to build up.
    For a moment he thought of pointing the blaster at his own temple. Open the car top or I’ll kill myself. Oppose one application of the First Law by a greater and more immediate one.
    Baley knew he couldn’t do it. Too undignified. He disliked the picture conjured up by the thought.
    He said wearily, “Would you ask the driver how close in miles we are to destination?”
    “Certainly, Partner Elijah.”
    Daneel bent forward and pushed the toggle switch. But as he did so,