Daneel led Fallom back to the mansion. It was much smaller than the mansion on Solaria, modeled after Dr. Fastolfe's establishment, where Daneel had lived during the first decades of his existence, until Dr. Fastolfe died and he was transferred to the ownership of Miss Gladia.
No time must be lost, Daneel thought.
Daneel had never really worried about time. After all, in a certain fashion, robots could be considered immortal. Now, however, time was indeed running out. And he had to save the human race.
Upon entering the mansion, Daneel led Fallom toward a laboratory. Here it was located in the same place where Dr. Fastolfe's workroom had been on Aurora. The entire mansion resembled Dr. Fastolfe's establishment perfectly, although Daneel had no need for such luxury. Yet sometimes, standing in a niche, looking at the rooms, it was almost as though he could feel something similar to what humans may call nostalgia.
"Fallom, I need you to extend your arm." he said, as he took a syringe.
Fallom obediently did so, and Daneel injected the anesthetic. First, what would be needed would be some studies of Fallom's mind, and especially the transducer lobes. They must be as sure as possible, before transferring Daneel's consciousness into Fallom, so the merge would be perfect.
"The Solarians have modified themselves very much." said Daneel.
"Do you mean," asked one of the humaniforms who was assisting Daneel. "that this Spacer child is not really human?"
"In a way. Its emotions are very different from anything I have encountered before."
Among other things, Daneel had also kept watch over the Solarians. He knew just how they had modified themselves, yet even he hadn't imagined just how extensively.
"Perhaps it is not safe for us to carry on." said the other robot.
"You may have a point." agreed Daneel. "However, there seems to be no other solution. And we must think about fulfilling the Zeroth Law. That is what is most important. And according to all these studies, it would not be dangerous to the Solarian for me to be merged with it. I believe it would mostly be a matter of my learning to use the transducer lobes. And I will be unhindered from the Three Laws."
The other robot nodded.
"We will go ahead with the merge?"
"Yes."
