{"id":2536,"date":"2025-04-12T01:48:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T01:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=2536"},"modified":"2025-04-12T01:48:52","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T01:48:52","slug":"lets-get-together-by-isaac-asimov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=2536","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Get Together by Isaac Asimov"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Let\u2019s Get Together by <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/best-science-fiction\">Isaac Asimov<\/a> was originally published in the Feb 1957 issue of Infinity Science Fiction, and later included in the collection The Rest of the Robots in 1964. <\/p>\n<p><em>This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Let\u2019s Get Together by Isaac Asimov<\/h2>\n<div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"__youtube_prefs__ epyt-facade no-lazyload\"><button class=\"epyt-facade-play\"><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Let\u2019s Get Together by Isaac Asimov<\/h3>\n<p>A kind of peace had endured for a century and people had forgotten what anything else was like. They would scarcely have known how to react had they discovered that a kind of war had finally come.<\/p>\n<p>Certainly, Elias Lynn, Chief of the Bureau of Robotics, wasn\u2019t sure how he ought to react when he finally found out. The Bureau of Robotics was headquartered in Cheyenne, in line with the century-old trend toward decentralization, and Lynn stared dubiously at the young Security officer from Washington who had brought the news.<\/p>\n<p>Elias Lynn was a large man, almost charmingly homely, with pale blue eyes that bulged a bit. Men weren\u2019t usually comfortable under the stare of those eyes, but the Security officer remained calm.<\/p>\n<p>Lynn decided that his first reaction ought to be incredulity. Hell, it was incredulity! He just didn\u2019t believe it!<\/p>\n<p>He eased himself back in his chair and said, \u201cHow certain is the information?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Security officer, who had introduced himself as Ralph G. Breckenridge and had presented credentials to match, had the softness of youth about him; full lips, plump cheeks that flushed easily, and guileless eyes. His clothing was out of line with Cheyenne but it suited a universally air-conditioned Washington, where Security, despite everything, was still centered.<\/p>\n<p>Breckenridge flushed and said, \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou people know all about Them, I suppose,\u201d said Lynn and was unable to keep a trace of sarcasm out of his tone. He was not particularly aware of his use of a slightly-stressed pronoun in his reference to the enemy, the equivalent of capitalization in print. It was a cultural habit of this generation and the one preceding. No one said the \u201cEast,\u201d or the \u201cReds\u201d or the \u201cSoviets\u201d or the \u201cRussians\u201d any more. That would have been too confusing, since some of Them weren\u2019t of the East, weren\u2019t Reds, Soviets, and especially not Russians. It was much simpler to say We and They, and much more precise.<\/p>\n<p>Travelers had frequently reported that They did the same in reverse. Over there, They were \u201cWe\u201d (in the appropriate language) and We were \u201cThey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Scarcely anyone gave thought to such things any more. It was all quite comfortable and casual. There was no hatred, even. At the beginning, it had been called a Cold War. Now it was only a game, almost a good-natured game, with unspoken rules and a kind of decency about it.<\/p>\n<p>Lynn said, abruptly, \u201cWhy should They want to disturb the situation?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He rose and stood staring at a wall-map of the world, split into two regions with faint edgings of color. An irregular portion on the left of the map was edged in a mild green. A smaller, but just as irregular, portion on the right of the map was bordered in a washed-out pink. We and They.<\/p>\n<p>The map hadn\u2019t changed much in a century. The loss of Formosa and the gain of East Germany some eighty years before had been the last territorial switch of importance.<\/p>\n<p>There had been another change, though, that was significant enough and that was in the colors. Two generations before, Their territory had been a brooding, bloody red, Ours a pure and undefiled white. Now there was a neutrality about the colors. Lynn had seen Their maps and it was the same on Their side.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey wouldn\u2019t do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are doing it,\u201d said Breckenridge, \u201cand you had better accustom yourself to the fact. Of course, sir, I realize that it isn\u2019t pleasant to think that they may be that far ahead of us in robotics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His eyes remained as guileless as ever, but the hidden knife-edges of the words plunged deep, and Lynn quivered at the impact.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, that would account for why the Chief of Robotics learned of this so late and through a Security officer at that. He had lost caste in the eyes of the Government; if Robotics had really failed in the struggle, Lynn could expect no political mercy.<\/p>\n<p>Lynn said wearily, \u201cEven if what you say is true, they\u2019re not far ahead of us. We could build humanoid robots.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHave we, sir?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes. As a matter of fact, we have built a few models for experimental purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were doing so ten years ago. They\u2019ve made ten years\u2019 progress since.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lynn was disturbed. He wondered if his incredulity concerning the whole business were really the result of wounded pride and fear for his job and reputation. He was embarrassed by the possibility that this might be so, and yet he was forced into defense.<\/p>\n<p>He said, \u201cLook, young man, the stalemate between Them and Us was never perfect in every detail, you know. They have always been ahead in one facet or another and We in some other facet or another. If They\u2019re ahead of us right now in robotics, it\u2019s because They\u2019ve placed a greater proportion of Their effort into robotics than We have. And that means that some other branch of endeavor has received a greater share of Our efforts than it has of Theirs. It would mean We\u2019re ahead in force-field research or in hyper-atomics, perhaps.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lynn felt distressed at his own statement that the stalemate wasn\u2019t perfect. It was true enough, but that was the one great danger threatening the world. The world depended on the stalemate being as perfect as possible. If the small unevennesses that always existed over-balanced too far in one direction or the other\u2014<\/p>\n<p>Almost at the beginning of what had been the Cold War, both sides had developed thermonuclear weapons, and war became unthinkable. Competition switched from the military to the economic and psychological and had stayed there ever since.<\/p>\n<p>But always there was the driving effort on each side to break the stalemate, to develop a parry for every possible thrust, to develop a thrust that could not be parried in time\u2014something that would make war possible again. And that was not because either side wanted war so desperately, but because both were afraid that the other side would make the crucial discovery first.<\/p>\n<p>For a hundred years each side had kept the struggle even. And in the process, peace had been maintained for a hundred years while, as byproducts of the continuously intensive research, force-fields had been produced and solar energy and insect control and robots. Each side was making a beginning in the understanding of mentalics, which was the name given to the biochemistry and biophysics of thought. Each side had its outposts on the Moon and on Mars. Mankind was advancing in giant strides under forced draft.<\/p>\n<p>It was even necessary for both sides to be as decent and humane as possible among themselves, lest through cruelty and tyranny, friends be made for the other side.<\/p>\n<p>It couldn\u2019t be that the stalemate would now be broken and that there would be war.<\/p>\n<p>Lynn said, \u201cI want to consult one of my men. I want his opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs he trustworthy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lynn looked disgusted. \u201cGood Lord, what man in Robotics has not been investigated and cleared to death by your people? Yes, I vouch for him. If you can\u2019t trust a man like Humphrey Carl Laszlo, then we\u2019re in no position to face the kind of attack you say They are launching, no matter what else we do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve heard of Laszlo,\u201d said Breckenridge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood. Does he pass?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen, I\u2019ll have him in and we\u2019ll find out what he thinks about the possibility that robots could invade the U. S. A.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot exactly,\u201d said Breckenridge, softly. \u201cYou still don\u2019t accept the full truth. Find out what he thinks about the fact that robots have already invaded the U. S. A.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laszlo was the grandson of a Hungarian who had broken through what had then been called the Iron Curtain, and he had a comfortable above-suspicion feeling about himself because of it. He was thick-set and balding with a pugnacious look graven forever on his snub face, but his accent was clear Harvard and he was almost excessively soft-spoken.<\/p>\n<p>To Lynn, who was conscious that after years of administration he was no longer expert in the various phases of modern robotics, Laszlo was a comforting receptacle for complete knowledge. Lynn felt better because of the man\u2019s mere presence.<\/p>\n<p>Lynn said, \u201cWhat do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A scowl twisted Laszlo\u2019s face ferociously. \u201cThat They\u2019re that far ahead of us. Completely incredible. It would mean They\u2019ve produced humanoids that could not be told from humans at close quarters. It would mean a considerable advance in robo-mentalics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re personally involved,\u201d said Breckenridge, coldly. \u201cLeaving professional pride out of account, exactly why is it impossible that They be ahead of Us?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laszlo shrugged. \u201cI assure you that I\u2019m well acquainted with Their literature on robotics. I know approximately where They are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know approximately where They want you to think They are, is what you really mean,\u201d corrected Breckenridge. \u201cHave you ever visited the other side?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI haven\u2019t,\u201d said Laszlo, shortly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNor you, Dr. Lynn?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lynn said, \u201cNo, I haven\u2019t, either.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Breckenridge said, \u201cHas any robotics man visited the other side in twenty-five years?\u201d He asked the question with a kind of confidence that indicated he knew the answer.<\/p>\n<p>For a matter of seconds, the atmosphere was heavy with thought. Discomfort crossed Laszlo\u2019s broad face. He said, \u201cAs a matter of fact, They haven\u2019t held any conferences on robotics in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn twenty-five years,\u201d said Breckenridge. \u201cIsn\u2019t that significant?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe,\u201d said Laszlo, reluctantly. \u201cSomething else bothers me, though. None of Them have ever come to Our conferences on robotics. None that I can remember.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWere They invited?\u201d asked Breckenridge.<\/p>\n<p>Lynn, staring and worried, interposed quickly, \u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Breckenridge said, \u201cDo They refuse attendance to any other types of scientific conferences We hold?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d said Laszlo. He was pacing the floor now. \u201cI haven\u2019t heard of any cases. Have you, Chief?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d said Lynn.<\/p>\n<p>Breckenridge said, \u201cWouldn\u2019t you say it was as though They didn\u2019t want to be put in the position of having to return any such invitation? Or as though They were afraid one of Their men might talk too much?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That was exactly how it seemed, and Lynn felt a helpless conviction that Security\u2019s story was true after all steal over him.<\/p>\n<p>Why else had there been no contact between sides on robotics? There had been a cross-fertilizing trickle of researchers moving in both directions on a strictly one-for-one basis for years, dating back to the days of Eisenhower and Khrushchev. There were a great many good motives for that: an honest appreciation of the supra-national character of science; impulses of friendliness that are hard to wipe out completely in the individual human being; the desire to be exposed to a fresh and interesting outlook and to have your own slightly-stale notions greeted by others as fresh and interesting.<\/p>\n<p>The governments themselves were anxious that this continue. There was always the obvious thought that by learning all you could and telling as little as you could, your own side would gain by the exchange.<\/p>\n<p>But not in the case of robotics. Not there.<\/p>\n<p>Such a little thing to carry conviction. And a thing, moreover, they had known all along. Lynn thought, darkly: We\u2019ve taken the complacent way out.<\/p>\n<p>Because the other side had done nothing publicly on robotics, it had been tempting to sit back smugly and be comfortable in the assurance of superiority. Why hadn\u2019t it seemed possible, even likely, that They were hiding superior cards, a trump hand, for the proper time?<\/p>\n<p>Laszlo said, shakenly, \u201cWhat do we do?\u201d It was obvious that the same line of thought had carried the same conviction to him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo?\u201d parroted Lynn. It was hard to think right now of anything but of the complete horror that came with conviction. There were ten humanoid robots somewhere in the United States, each one carrying a fragment of a TC bomb.<\/p>\n<p>TC! The race for sheer horror in bomb-ery had ended there. TC! Total Conversion! The sun was no longer a synonym one could use. Total conversion made the sun a penny candle.<\/p>\n<p>Ten humanoids, each completely harmless in separation, could, by the simple act of coming together, exceed critical mass and\u2014<\/p>\n<p>Lynn rose to his feet heavily, the dark pouches under his eyes, which ordinarily lent his ugly face a look of savage foreboding, more prominent than ever. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be up to us to figure out ways and means of telling a humanoid from a human and then finding the humanoids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow quickly?\u201d muttered Laszlo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot later than five minutes before they get together,\u201d barked Lynn, \u201cand I don\u2019t know when that will be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Breckenridge nodded. \u201cI\u2019m glad you\u2019re with us now, sir. I\u2019m to bring you back to Washington for conference, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lynn raised his eyebrows. \u201cAll right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He wondered if, had he delayed longer in being convinced, he might not have been replaced forthwith\u2014if some other Chief of the Bureau of Robotics might not be conferring in Washington. He suddenly wished earnestly that exactly that had come to pass.<\/p>\n<p>The First Presidential Assistant was there, the Secretary of Science, the Secretary of Security, Lynn himself, and Breckenridge. Five of them sitting about a table in the dungeons of an underground fortress near Washington.<\/p>\n<p>Presidential Assistant Jeffreys was an impressive man, handsome in a white-haired and just-a-trifle-jowly fashion, solid, thoughtful and as unobtrusive, politically, as a Presidential Assistant ought to be.<\/p>\n<p>He spoke incisively. \u201cThere are three questions that face us as I see it. First, when are the humanoids going to get together? Second, where are they going to get together? Third, how do we stop them before they get together?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Secretary of Science Amberley nodded convulsively at that. He had been Dean of Northwestern Engineering before his appointment. He was thin, sharp-featured and noticeably edgy. His forefinger traced slow circles on the table.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs far as when they\u2019ll get together,\u201d he said. \u201cI suppose it\u2019s definite that it won\u2019t be for some time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy do you say that?\u201d asked Lynn, sharply.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve been in the U. S. at least a month already. So Security says.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lynn turned automatically to look at Breckenridge, and Secretary of Security Macalaster intercepted the glance. Macalaster said, \u201cThe information is reliable. Don\u2019t let Breckenridge\u2019s apparent youth fool you, Dr. Lynn. That\u2019s part of his value to us. Actually, he\u2019s 34 and has been with the department for ten years. He has been in Moscow for nearly a year and without him, none of this terrible danger would be known to us. As it is, we have most of the details.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot the crucial ones,\u201d said Lynn.<\/p>\n<p>Macalaster of Security smiled frostily. His heavy chin and close-set eyes were well-known to the public but almost nothing else about him was. He said, \u201cWe are all finitely human, Dr. Lynn. Agent Breckenridge has done a great deal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Presidential Assistant Jeffreys cut in. \u201cLet us say we have a certain amount of time. If action at the instant were necessary, it would have happened before this. It seems likely that they are waiting for a specific time. If we knew the place, perhaps the time would become self-evident.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf they are going to TC a target, they will want to cripple us as much as possible, so it would seem that a major city would have to be it. In any case, a major metropolis is the only target worth a TC bomb. I think there are four possibilities: Washington, as the administrative center; New York, as the financial center; and Detroit and Pittsburgh as the two chief industrial centers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Macalaster of Security said, \u201cI vote for New York. Administration and industry have both been decentralized to the point where the destruction of any one particular city won\u2019t prevent instant retaliation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen why New York?\u201d asked Amberly of Science, perhaps more sharply than he intended. \u201cFinance has been decentralized as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA question of morale. It may be they intend to destroy our will to resist, to induce surrender by the sheer horror of the first blow. The greatest destruction of human life would be in the New York Metropolitan area\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPretty cold-blooded,\u201d muttered Lynn.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know,\u201d said Macalaster of Security, \u201cbut they\u2019re capable of it, if they thought it would mean final victory at a stroke. Wouldn\u2019t we\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Presidential Assistant Jeffreys brushed back his white hair. \u201cLet\u2019s assume the worst. Let\u2019s assume that New York will be destroyed some time during the winter, preferably immediately after a serious blizzard when communications are at their worst and the disruption of utilities and food supplies in fringe areas will be most serious in their effect. Now, how do we stop them?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Amberley of Science could only say, \u201cFinding ten men in two hundred and twenty million is an awfully small needle in an awfully large haystack.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeffreys shook his head. \u201cYou have it wrong. Ten humanoids among two hundred twenty million humans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo difference,\u201d said Amberley of Science. \u201cWe don\u2019t know that a humanoid can be differentiated from a human at sight. Probably not.\u201d He looked at Lynn. They all did.<\/p>\n<p>Lynn said heavily, \u201cWe in Cheyenne couldn\u2019t make one that would pass as human in the daylight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut They can,\u201d said Macalaster of Security, \u201cand not only physically. We\u2019re sure of that. They\u2019ve advanced mentalic procedures to the point where they can reel off the micro-electronic pattern of the brain and focus it on the positronic pathways of the robot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lynn stared. \u201cAre you implying that they can create the replica of a human being complete with personality and memory?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf specific human beings?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs this also based on Agent Breckenridge\u2019s findings?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes. The evidence can\u2019t be disputed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lynn bent his head in thought for a moment. Then he said, \u201cThen ten men in the United States are not men but humanoids. But the originals would have had to be available to them. They couldn\u2019t be Orientals, who would be too easy to spot, so they would have to be East Europeans. How would they be introduced into this country, then? With the radar network over the entire world border as tight as a drum, how could They introduce any individual, human or humanoid, without our knowing it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Macalaster of Security said, \u201cIt can be done. There are certain legitimate seepages across the border. Businessmen, pilots, even tourists. They\u2019re watched, of course, on both sides. Still ten of them might have been kidnapped and used as models for humanoids. The humanoids would then be sent back in their place. Since we wouldn\u2019t expect such a substitution, it would pass us by. If they were Americans to begin with, there would be no difficulty in their getting into this country. It\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd even their friends and family could not tell the difference?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must assume so. Believe me, we\u2019ve been waiting for any report that might imply sudden attacks of amnesia or troublesome changes in personality. We\u2019ve checked on thousands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Amberley of Science stared at his finger-tips. \u201cI think ordinary measures won\u2019t work. The attack must come from the Bureau of Robotics and I depend on the chief of that bureau.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Again eyes turned sharply, expectantly, on Lynn.<\/p>\n<p>Lynn felt bitterness rise. It seemed to him that this was what the conference came to and was intended for. Nothing that had been said had not been said before. He was sure of that. There was no solution to the problem, no pregnant suggestion. It was a device for the record, a device on the part of men who gravely feared defeat and who wished the responsibility for it placed clearly and unequivocally on someone else.<\/p>\n<p>And yet there was justice in it. It was in robotics that We had fallen short. And Lynn was not Lynn merely. He was Lynn of Robotics and the responsibility had to be his.<\/p>\n<p>He said, \u201cI will do what I can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He spent a wakeful night and there was a haggardness about both body and soul when he sought and attained another interview with Presidential Assistant Jeffreys the next morning. Breckenridge was there, and though Lynn would have preferred a private conference, he could see the justice in the situation. It was obvious that Breckenridge had attained enormous influence with the government as a result of his successful Intelligence work. Well, why not?<\/p>\n<p>Lynn said, \u201cSir, I am considering the possibility that we are hopping uselessly to enemy piping.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn what way?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sure that however impatient the public may grow at times, and however legislators sometimes find it expedient to talk, the government at least recognizes the world stalemate to be beneficial. They must recognize it also. Ten humanoids with one TC bomb is a trivial way of breaking the stalemate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe destruction of fifteen million human beings is scarcely trivial.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is from the world power standpoint. It would not so demoralize us as to make us surrender or so cripple us as to convince us we could not win. There would just be the same old planetary death-war that both sides have avoided so long and so successfully. And all They would have accomplished is to force us to fight minus one city. It\u2019s not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you suggest?\u201d said Jeffreys, coldly. \u201cThat They do not have ten humanoids in our country? That there is not a TC bomb waiting to get together?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll agree that those things are here, but perhaps for some reason greater than just mid-winter bomb-madness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuch as?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt may be that the physical destruction resulting from the humanoids getting together is not the worst thing that can happen to us. What about the moral and intellectual destruction that comes of their being here at all? With all due respect to Agent Breckenridge, what if They intended for us to find out about the humanoids; what if the humanoids are never supposed to get together, but merely to remain separate in order to give us something to worry about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTell me this. What measures have already been taken against the humanoids? I suppose that Security is going through the files of all citizens who have ever been across the border or close enough to it to make kidnapping possible. I know, since Macalaster mentioned it yesterday, that they are following up suspicious psychiatric cases. What else?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeffreys said, \u201cSmall X-ray devices are being installed in key places in the large cities. In the mass arenas, for instance\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere ten humanoids might slip in among a hundred thousand spectators of a football game or an air-polo match?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd concert halls and churches?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must start somewhere. We can\u2019t do it all at once.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cParticularly when panic must be avoided?\u201d said Lynn. \u201cIsn\u2019t that so? It wouldn\u2019t do to have the public realize that at any unpredictable moment, some unpredictable city and its human contents would suddenly cease to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI suppose that\u2019s obvious. What are you driving at?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lynn said strenuously, \u201cThat a growing fraction of our national effort will be diverted entirely into the nasty problem of what Amberley called finding a very small needle in a very large haystack. We\u2019ll be chasing our tails madly, while They increase their research lead to the point where we find we can no longer catch up; when we must surrender without the chance even of snapping our fingers in retaliation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsider further that this news will leak out as more and more people become involved in our counter-measures and more and more people begin to guess what we\u2019re doing. Then what? The panic might do us more harm than any one TC bomb.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Presidential Assistant said, irritably, \u201cIn Heaven\u2019s name, man, what do you suggest we do, then?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing,\u201d said Lynn. \u201cCall their bluff. Live as we have lived and gamble that They won\u2019t dare break the stalemate for the sake of a one-bomb headstart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImpossible!\u201d said Jeffreys. \u201cCompletely impossible. The welfare of all of Us is very largely in my hands, and doing nothing is the one thing I cannot do. I agree with you, perhaps, that X-ray machines at sports arenas are a kind of skin-deep measure that won\u2019t be effective, but it has to be done so that people, in the aftermath, do not come to the bitter conclusion that we tossed our country away for the sake of a subtle line of reasoning that encouraged do-nothingism. In fact, our counter-gambit will be active indeed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn what way?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Presidential Assistant Jeffreys looked at Breckenridge. The young Security officer, hitherto calmly silent, said, \u201cIt\u2019s no use talking about a possible future break in the stalemate when the stalemate is broken now. It doesn\u2019t matter whether these humanoids explode or do not. Maybe they are only a bait to divert us, as you say. But the fact remains that we are a quarter of a century behind in robotics, and that may be fatal. What other advances in robotics will there be to surprise us if war does start? The only answer is to divert our entire force immediately, now, into a crash program of robotics research, and the first problem is to find the humanoids. Call it an exercise in robotics, if you will, or call it the prevention of the death of fifteen million men, women and children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lynn shook his head, helplessly, \u201cYou can\u2019t. You\u2019d be playing into their hands. They want us lured into the one blind alley while they\u2019re free to advance in all other directions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeffreys said, impatiently, \u201cThat\u2019s your guess. Breckenridge has made his suggestion through channels and the government has approved, and we will begin with an all-Science conference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll-Science?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Breckenridge said, \u201cWe have listed every important scientist of every branch of natural science. They\u2019ll all be at Cheyenne. There will be only one point on the agenda: How to advance robotics. The major specific sub-heading under that will be: How to develop a receiving device for the electromagnetic fields of the cerebral cortex that will be sufficiently delicate to distinguish between a protoplasmic human brain and a positronic humanoid brain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeffreys said, \u201cWe had hoped you would be willing to be in charge of the conference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was not consulted in this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously time was short, sir. Do you agree to be in charge?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lynn smiled briefly. It was a matter of responsibility again. The responsibility must be clearly that of Lynn of Robotics. He had the feeling it would be Breckenridge who would really be in charge. But what could he do?<\/p>\n<p>He said, \u201cI agree.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Breckenridge and Lynn returned together to Cheyenne, where that evening Laszlo listened with a sullen mistrust to Lynn\u2019s description of coming events.<\/p>\n<p>Laszlo said, \u201cWhile you were gone, Chief, I\u2019ve started putting five experimental models of humanoid structure through the testing procedures. Our men are on a twelve-hour day, with three shifts overlapping. If we\u2019ve got to arrange a conference, we\u2019re going to be crowded and red-taped out of everything. Work will come to a halt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Breckenridge said, \u201cThat will be only temporary. You will gain more than you lose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laszlo scowled. \u201cA bunch of astrophysicists and geochemists around won\u2019t help a damn toward robotics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cViews from specialists of other fields may be helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre you sure? How do we know that there is any way of detecting brain waves or that, even if we can, there is a way of differentiating human and humanoid by wave pattern. Who set up the project, anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did,\u201d said Breckenridge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou did? Are you a robotics man?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The young Security agent said, calmly, \u201cI have studied robotics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s not the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve had access to text-material dealing with Russian robotics\u2014in Russian. Top-secret material well in advance of anything you have here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lynn said, ruefully, \u201cHe has us there, Laszlo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was on the basis of that material,\u201d Breckenridge went on, \u201cthat I suggested this particular line of investigation. It is reasonably certain that in copying off the electromagnetic pattern of a specific human mind into a specific positronic brain, a perfectly exact duplicate cannot be made. For one thing, the most complicated positronic brain small enough to fit into a human-sized skull is hundreds of times less complex than the human brain. It can\u2019t pick up all the overtones, therefore, and there must be some way to take advantage of that fact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laszlo looked impressed despite himself and Lynn smiled grimly. It was easy to resent Breckenridge and the coming intrusion of several hundred scientists of non-robotics specialties, but the problem itself was an intriguing one. There was that consolation, at least.<\/p>\n<p>It came to him quietly.<\/p>\n<p>Lynn found he had nothing to do but sit in his office alone, with an executive position that had grown merely titular. Perhaps that helped. It gave him time to think, to picture the creative scientists of half the world converging on Cheyenne.<\/p>\n<p>It was Breckenridge who, with cool efficiency, was handling the details of preparation. There had been a kind of confidence in the way he said, \u201cLet\u2019s get together and we\u2019ll lick Them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s get together.<\/p>\n<p>It came to Lynn so quietly that anyone watching Lynn at that moment might have seen his eyes blink slowly twice\u2014but surely nothing more.<\/p>\n<p>He did what he had to do with a whirling detachment that kept him calm when he felt that, by all rights, he ought to be going mad.<\/p>\n<p>He sought out Breckenridge in the other\u2019s improvised quarters.<\/p>\n<p>Breckenridge was alone and frowning. \u201cIs anything wrong, sir?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lynn said, wearily, \u201cEverything\u2019s right, I think. I\u2019ve invoked martial law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs chief of a division I can do so if I am of the opinion the situation warrants it. Over my division, I can then be dictator. Chalk up one for the beauties of decentralization.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou will rescind that order immediately.\u201d Breckenridge took a step forward. \u201cWhen Washington hears this, you will be ruined.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m ruined anyway. Do you think I don\u2019t realize that I\u2019ve been set up for the role of the greatest villain in American history: the man who let Them break the stalemate. I have nothing to lose\u2014and perhaps a great deal to gain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He laughed a little wildly, \u201cWhat a target the Division of Robotics will be, eh, Breckenridge? Only a few thousand men to be killed by a TC bomb capable of wiping out three hundred square miles in one micro-second. But five hundred of those men would be our greatest scientists. We would be in the peculiar position of having to fight a war with our brains shot out, or surrendering. I think we\u2019d surrender.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut this is impossible. Lynn, do you hear me? Do you understand? How could the humanoids pass our security provisions? How could they get together?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut they are getting together! We\u2019re helping them to do so. We\u2019re ordering them to do so. Our scientists visit the other side, Breckenridge. They visit Them regularly. You made a point of how strange it was that no one in robotics did. Well, ten of those scientists are still there and in their place, ten humanoids are converging on Cheyenne.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s a ridiculous guess.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s a good one, Breckenridge. But it wouldn\u2019t work unless we knew humanoids were in America so that we would call the conference in the first place. Quite a coincidence that you brought the news of the humanoids and suggested the conference and suggested the agenda and are running the show and know exactly which scientists were invited. Did you make sure the right ten were included?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDr. Lynn!\u201d cried Breckenridge in outrage. He poised to rush forward.<\/p>\n<p>Lynn said, \u201cDon\u2019t move. I\u2019ve got a blaster here. We\u2019ll just wait for the scientists to get here one by one. One by one we\u2019ll X-ray them. One by one, we\u2019ll monitor them for radioactivity. No two will get together without being checked, and if all five hundred are clear, I\u2019ll give you my blaster and surrender to you. Only I think we\u2019ll find the ten humanoids. Sit down, Breckenridge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They both sat.<\/p>\n<p>Lynn said, \u201cWe wait. When I\u2019m tired, Laszlo will spell me. We wait.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Professor Manuelo Jiminez of the Institute of Higher Studies of Buenos Aires exploded while the stratospheric jet on which he traveled was three miles above the Amazon Valley. It was a simple chemical explosion but it was enough to destroy the plane.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Herman Liebowitz of M. I. T. exploded in a monorail, killing twenty people and injuring a hundred others.<\/p>\n<p>In similar manner, Dr. Auguste Marin of L\u2019Institut Nucl\u00e9onique of Montreal and seven others died at various stages of their journey to Cheyenne.<\/p>\n<p>Laszlo hurtled in, pale-faced and stammering, with the first news of it. It had only been two hours that Lynn had sat there, facing Breckenridge, blaster in hand.<\/p>\n<p>Laszlo said, \u201cI thought you were nuts, Chief, but you were right. They were humanoids. They had to be.\u201d He turned to stare with hate-filled eyes at Breckenridge. \u201cOnly they were warned. He warned them, and now there won\u2019t be one left intact. Not one to study.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGod!\u201d cried Lynn and in a frenzy of haste thrust his blaster out toward Breckenridge and fired. The Security man\u2019s neck vanished; the torso fell; the head dropped, thudded against the floor and rolled crookedly.<\/p>\n<p>Lynn moaned, \u201cI didn\u2019t understand, I thought he was a traitor. Nothing more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And Laszlo stood immobile, mouth open, for the moment incapable of speech.<\/p>\n<p>Lynn said, wildly. \u201cSure, he warned them. But how could he do so while sitting in that chair unless he were equipped with built-in radio transmission? Don\u2019t you see it? Breckenridge had been in Moscow. The real Breckenridge is still there. Oh my God, there were eleven of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laszlo managed a hoarse squeak. \u201cWhy didn\u2019t he explode?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was hanging on, I suppose, to make sure the others had received his message and were safely destroyed. Lord, Lord, when you brought the news and I realized the truth, I couldn\u2019t shoot fast enough. God knows by how few seconds I may have beaten him to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laszlo said, shakily, \u201cAt least, we\u2019ll have one to study.\u201d He bent and put his fingers on the sticky fluid trickling out of the mangled remains at the neck end of the headless body.<\/p>\n<p>Not blood, but high-grade machine oil.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Best Isaac Asimov Books to Read<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3TpkXqz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3GSWvWR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3RsSIod\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3RHJwO5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><br \/>\nClick on the image to get a copy<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<p>If you enjoyed Let\u2019s Get Together by Isaac Asimov, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/a-hitch-in-time-by-frederik-pohl\">A Hitch in Time by Frederik Pohl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Narrated by Dan Gurzynski, courtesy of Libravox.org<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let\u2019s Get Together by Isaac Asimov was originally published in the Feb 1957 issue of Infinity Science Fiction, and later included in the collection The Rest of the Robots in 1964. This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Let\u2019s Get Together by Isaac Asimov Let\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}