A puzzling case of “roboticide”
takes interplanetary detective Elijah Baley from Earth to the planet Aurora
– the self-styled World of the Dawn, where humans and robots coexist in
seemingly perfect harmony. There, the most advanced robot in the Universe
– an awesomely human machine – has been murdered.
Only one man on Aurora had the
means, the motive, and the opportunity to commit the crime – and he has
hired Baley to prove he didn’t to it. And to make Baley’s impossible mission
even worse, he soon learns that not only his career but the fate of the
Earth as well is riding on his investigation.
For the murder of the humaniform
robot is closely tied to a power struggle that will decide the ultimate
question: Who will be the next pioneers to colonize the Universe – man
or his machines? And the answer to that question could spell either doom
or new hope for an overcrowded Earth.
Armed only with his own instincts,
his sometimes quirky logic, and the immutable Three Laws of Robotics, Baley
sets out to solve the case. But can anything prepare a simple Earth-man
for the psychological complexities of a world where a beautiful woman could
easily have fallen in love with an all-to-human robot?