Asimov's Future History Volume 1 Read Online Free Page B

smiled and in a relieved fashion said, “Oh good. I was wondering how we’d get down to business.”
    She sat back and addressed them both.
    “Why are you investigating Andrew and me?”
    David and Sue sat there for a moment unable to answer. It was not the question that they were expecting and certainly not in such an open way.
    David started to stammer out a reply. “Well … you see … it’s like this …”
    Sue took control. “You can probably blame me. I asked David about both you and Andrew and that set him thinking about your backgrounds and we started finding information about you.”
    She then switched to the defensive, “All of the information we’ve found was in the public domain so saying we’ve been ‘investigating you’ is a bit heavy.”
    Noÿs replied, “Oh I’ve no worries about that. I’m not aware of any skeletons in cupboards that we need to be embarrassed about.”
    She then sat back and smiled, “By the way, why didn’t you ask us about our background. We’d have been pleased to tell you.”
    Sue looked at David and laughed, “Investigated all the possible sources of information did you!”
    The atmosphere lightened immediately. Noÿs started to tell them about her life in New Zealand and how she had drifted into computers almost by accident. She went on to say about her meeting with Andrew and their previous work. By the end of the evening they both felt as if they’d heard the complete life stories of Andrew and Noÿs Harlan.
    As she left Noÿs said they must get together for another evening, this time with Andrew, and this time David and Sue would have to tell them all about their past.
    “It’s a deal,” laughed David. “We’ll get the baby sitter sorted out.”
    Harlan and Noÿs sat quietly late that evening reviewing the way things had worked out.
    “That was very close,” said Harlan. “We must be very careful in future not to allow our pasts to appear to be so mysterious that people get suspicious.”
    “I thought that the accident at the laboratory was a very effective way of creating the first platinum sponge for the positronic brain. You could say it nudged the project into life! Mind you, I was beginning to despair that Williams would discard it before he discovered its properties.”
    “I didn’t think we had made our pasts mysterious,” retorted Noÿs. “What else could we have done in order to appear normal whilst allowing such rapid development of the new company. I think we were just unlucky with a few comments that set somebody putting two and two together and making five!”
    “Just be thankful that they only made five!” laughed Andrew. “With further investigation our pasts may not have stood up to close scrutiny.”
    “Anyway I do not think that anyone will connect the seminar that David and his wife were invited to with us. The creation, funding and subsequent disappearance of the consultancy should not be a great surprise to anyone if there were to be an investigation of the group company.”
    “We knew that some of the ‘fuzzy spots’ in the picture of the future that you viewed in the ‘Hidden Centuries’ would keep coming back to haunt us. Presumably the episodes that we have experienced recently have been examples of those.”
    Noÿs said thoughtfully, “I think it will soon be time for us to disappear into the background. We must not take on high profile in US Robot. History will hopefully remember Robertson, Lanning and whoever follow us, but not us.
    “However we are nearly there. With US Robot and Mechanical Men Corporation we will have the tool to enable Humanity to develop the Hyperatomic Drive and then the settlement of the Galaxy can begin.”
    The last Immortal and the Woman from the future sat back contented and raised their glasses in their personal toast.
     
    To the continuing End of Eternity

A Boy’s Best Friend
    1995 A.D.
     
    M R . A NDERSON SAID , “Where’s Jimmy, dear?”
    “Out on the crater,” said Mrs.