They were definitely more in number than the stout-hearted few who had started out. Once a week they were out there, whatever the weather. He stood beneath the leafy canopy of the tree (a kind of primitive wall and ceiling, with the solidity of the bark comforting to the touch) and looked again at the group, studying it. It always amazed Baley that a relatively small cloud could cover the sun completely, darkening Earth from horizon to hori-zon yet leaving most of the sky blue. One teetered forever between unpleasant alternatives. On the other hand, was there a chance of rain? That was the trouble with the Outside. On the one hand, it meant the direct heat of the sun (and the sweating) would be cut down. There were clouds in the sky and the sun, at the moment, was going behind one of them. They were hoeing inexpertly and doing a variety of other things that robots were designed to do-and could do much more efficiently had they not been ordered to stand aside and Wait while the human beings stubbornly prac-ticed. They were mostly youngsters in their late teens, but included some middle-aged people like himself. He looked out into the field, where a straggle of men and women were, more or less, in his charge.

One never perspired (unless one wished to, of course) in the City, where temperature and humidity were absolutely con-trolled and where it was never absolutely necessary for the body to perform in ways that made heat production greater than heat removal.

And once again he felt annoyance with the Universe for making something both essential and unpleasant. “I hate sweating,” he said to no one, throwing it out as a cos-mic law.

I’m sweating.” He paused, straightened up, wiped the perspiration from his brow with the back of his hand, then looked dourly at the mois-ture that covered it. Engelberger, who epitomize (respectively) the theory and practice of robotics Contentsġ Baley 2 Daneel 3 Giskard 4 Fastolfe 5 Daneel and Giskard 6 Gladia 7 Again Fastolfe 8 Fastolfe and Vasilia 9 Vasilia 10 Again Vasilia 11 Gremionis 12 Again Gremionis 13 Amadiro 14 Again Amadiro 15 Again Daneel and Giskard 16 Again Gladiaġ7 The Chairman 18 Again the Chairman 19 Again BaleyĮlijah Baley found himself in the shade of the tree and mut-tered to himself, “I knew it.

The robots of dawn by isaac asimov