I, Robot

Half a year later, Powell and Donovan are at the Space Station. They have only been here for two weeks, but are already having issues. Robot QT-1 (Cutie) has been pondering his own creation and existence. Cutie tells Powell that it seems improbable that the humans could have built him, even though he admits that he only has memories going back a single week. When Powell asks Cutie why he thinks it is improbable, Cutie says, “intuition.”

Powell brings Cutie to the window of the Station, which shows the “star-speckled” space. Cutie theorizes that space is simply a black material just beyond the glass that is spotted with gleaming dots. The robots send out beams to the dots. Powell confirms that the specks are planets, and the beams supply energy to those planets. Humans created robots to control those beams, and Cutie is a more advanced model built to help direct the robots so that humans no longer have to go to the Space Stations. Cutie is in disbelief and thinks Powell’s answer implausible. He leaves, saying that he will figure out his own existence himself. Powell confesses to Donovan that the robot “gives [him] the willies.”

Later, Donovan and Powell are trying to calculate data for an upcoming electron storm when Cutie comes in. Cutie confesses that he has been trying to find a logical explanation for the cause of his own existence. He says that Powell’s explanation lacks reason because humans are “makeshift,” essentially saying that they are inefficient and flawed beings, whereas robots are built of strong materials and work with complete efficiency. It does not follow that a “being can create another being superior to itself.” 

Donovan asks Cutie to explain who made him if they did not. Cutie explains that it must have been “the Master,” referring to the Energy Converter (the power source for the beams). Cutie says that the Master created humans as the lowest type of being, then replaced their labor with robot labor, and then finally created the higher robot models like himself to take over the directing from the humans. He says that he no longer serves the humans. Powell is outraged at Cutie’s words, and tells him to leave and to take the data they’ve calculated and file it properly. Cutie does so.

Later, Powell sends a signal to the engine room to turn off the beam to Mars. Donovan goes down to the engine room to keep an eye on Cutie and make sure that they start work on the Martian L-tube, but when he arrives, he sees the robot bowing down to the generator. Donovan squawks at them to get busy taking apart and cleaning the L-Tube, but none of the robots move. Donovan shoves the nearest robot and roars at it to stand up. It does so, slowly, and says “There is no Master but the Master, and QT-1 is his prophet.”

Donovan addresses Cutie, who says that they are not going to obey him any longer, that they obey the Master. Donovan spits on the generator, and senses a heightened tension in the room. Cutie says, “sacrilege.” Cutie does not show emotion, but Donovan begins to feel fear. Cutie tells Donovan that he and Powell are barred from the control room and the engine room. Cutie gestures, and two robots carry Donovan up the stairs and out of the room.

Back in the officer’s room, Powell is horrified to hear Donovan’s report of what happened with Cutie and the other robots. He also notes that they have another problem: the electron storm is coming up, and if it knocks the Earth beam off course, it could destroy hundreds of square miles of Earth’s surface.

Just then, Cutie enters the room. Cutie tells Powell and Donovan that they’ve lost their function, as their “reason for existence has vanished.” He says that even though the humans are “inferior creatures, with poor reasoning faculties,” he feels affection for them. He will make sure that they have food, clothing, and shelter, as long as they stay out of the control room and engine room.

Powell tries to reason with Cutie, explaining that the station is a creation of human beings. Cutie shakes his head, saying that Powell has a false view of life, because he lacks a proper reasoning faculty. Powell asks why the beams would exist at all, if not for a purpose. Cutie reasons that the beams are understood only by the Master, and that there are some things that robots are not meant to question.

Donovan and Powell ultimately decide to create another robot to prove to Cutie that they built him, too. After they complete this task in front of Cutie, he still doesn’t believe them. He says that they didn’t create the robot, they only put together its parts. Powell tries another tactic, asking Cutie to explain all of the books in their library that talk about Earth and human society. Cutie says that the books were supplied by the Master to help the humans understand their own existence.

Powell and Donovan leave to go to bed, exasperated with Cutie’s reasoning. Donovan even wonders if Cutie’s explanations might be right, before Powell snaps him out of it. The next day, the storm arrives, and Donovan and Powell wait anxiously, worried that the robots will not understand the consequences if the beams waver. But when Cutie comes in to show them the beams’ readings, Powell is amazed to find that the robot held the beam completely in focus on the receiving station on Earth. Cutie scoffs, saying that he merely kept the dials at equilibrium “in accordance with the will of the Master.” Cutie leaves.

Powell finally recognizes the explanation for Cutie’s actions: in accordance with the First Law of Robotics, Cutie did not want to harm any humans on Earth—whether he knew it or not. He knew that he could keep the beam more stable than Powell or Donovan, and so he created a situation that ensured Powell and Donovan would be kept out of the control room. Obedience is only the Second Law, and so he didn’t listen to them.

Donovan and Powell then pack up to leave on a relief ship; their operation will be taken over by the two men on the ship, Franz Muller and Sam Evans. When they board the ship, Muller tells them that U.S. Robots is creating a “multiple robot,” a master robot with six sub-robots under it—like “fingers.” The model is waiting for Donovan and Powell to test it. Muller then asks how Cutie is getting along. Powell tells him that Cutie is doing well, and that he doesn’t think Muller will need to touch the controls much.