Chapter 4, Fastolfe (Parts 14-17) Summary

In Part 14, Baley and Fastolfe meet again, each remarking on his society's obsessions and the risks of this mission. Fastolfe whisks him away in a sealed airfoil, guarded by his robots, overreacting to potential danger, and denying that he intends to ruin his career. In Part 15, Fasolfe brings Baley home for lunch and, in Part 16, suggests that they talk over lunch about the roboticide. Fastolfe brags about his unique abilities vis-a-vis positronic brains, but maintains his innocence. His only explanation is that some extremely rare spontaneous event has occurred in Jander's brain. Baley must convince Aurorans that this is feasible. In Part 17, Fastolfe tells a famous tale about how Dr. Susan Calvin burns out a telepathic robot's brain by claiming that even white lies told to humans break the First Law. Modern programming has safeguards, but nothing...