In Robots and Empire, Earth is in great peril. Dr. Amadiro, who has opposed the expansion of Earthpeople for two centuries and is of the opinion that the withering and dying of the entire human race would be better than seeing the short-lived, dirty barbarians populate the Galaxy, has found a partner in Dr. Levular Mandamus.
Mandamus has discovered (mind, I have no idea if this applies in the real world) why Earth is the only world that has been found in the galaxy to have organisms more complex than ferns and insects; the moon. No other inhabitable planet has such a large moon, in fact (again, this may or may not reflect real life) Earth is one of the few rocky planets with a comparably large moon. The tides created by the Moon have caused something that has proven vital to the evolution of intelligent life; plate tectonics. With the friction produced by the action of the tides on the ocean floor, kinetic energy is converted into heat energy, resulting the the slowing of Earth's rotation and continued plate tectonics. This means that the Earth has a much thinner crust than any other known inhabitable planet. More importantly, however, it means that uranium and thorium has accumulated in quantities 1,000 times more than on any other life-sustaining planet. These elements are distributed unevenly, meaning that, in certain places, there is enough natural radiation to force more rapid mutation; in other words, evolution (still operating off of sci-fi logic, here).
The pair plans to use this radiation, with the help of the newly invented nuclear intensifiers (which use W particles to hasten nuclear decay) to destroy the Earth. This woiuld, they hope, demoralize the Settler planets (which treat Earth as a holy place) and eliminate their competition for control of the Galaxy.
They have also discovered R. Giskard's incredible ability, and realize that he has been using it to maintain the late Dr. Fastolfe's control on Aurora's government. They worry about the fact that he is heading to Earth, where they have used humanoid robots similar to Daneel to infiltrate the populace, and head there themselves.
Shortly before this, Gladia and D.G. Baley went to Solaria. There, they discovered that, sometime before the Solarians seemingly disapeared, the robots were programed with a very specific definition of "human" as pertaining to the Three Laws; anyone who does not speak with a Solarian accent is marked for death. They escape, seemingly due to a malfunction in the humanoid robot that was then trying to kill them, but truly due to the intervention of Giskard (who also "killed" Jander).
They go to Baleyworld, where Gladia becomes a hero after a speech about how Spacers and Earthpeople are truly the same, how a long life does not equal a happy or eventful one, and how, when the Settlers become dominant, they should learn from the mistaken policies of the oppressive Spacers, and show tolerance.
Gladia then decides to go to Earth, taking Daneel and Giskard with her, so that she can attempt to stop the potential war before it starts.
Meanwhile, Daneel has created the Zeroth law, which reads:
0. A robot my not injure humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
The first law then reads:
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, unless this would violate the Zeroth Law of Robotics.
This revelation has been brought about by two centuries of mulling over the dying words of Elijah Baley, those being to the effect that "What the ending of a single thread to the continuance of the larger tapestry?" However, Daneel and Giskard are the only two robots with any inkling of this new Zeroth Law, and even they may not truly follow it yet. Giskard doesn't even believe in its validity, pointing to all the atrocities commited in history that were supposedly for the betterment of humanity as proof. The two decide that "humanity" must be defined.
The two are also the only beings in the Galaxy that have an idea of Amadiro's plans.
This book is really getting good! I'm sort of glad to see that Gladia isn't actually the main protagonist (or at least not the only one), despite the fact that the book opened with her. Daneel and Giskard are really the most sympathetic characters. What makes it all the more interesting is that, when you think about it, they don't even experience emotions as we know them. They describe things such as pleasure in word to the effect that their positronic pathways become clearer, allowing clearer, faster thinking and actions in a feeling roughly analagous to the human concept of pleasure.
Also of note is the fact that this is perhaps the first book where so much time is spent on the antagonists' points of view. I've read books that had short sections that explored their actions from their point of view, but this book spends more time on them than on the protagonists, it seems to me. It may be closer to equal than it appears, but, given with the protagonists' numerical superiority, that's still quite unusual; I think that I'd like to see more books like that.
This is an example of ironic fate, as the outcome of the conflict is shown in the Empire Trilogy, which is set well into the future of this universe.
Oh, and why doesn't the rock cycle allow for the creation of rock? All of the rock in the rock cycle must have started off somewhere (namely, in space). That original rock wouldn't fit into it.
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