91 A Message

By the time he finally came back to his senses, it felt like an eternity had passed.

When he did recover, the first question he posed was to the system.

"What is going on here?"

[It appears that the residents of this island are being punished for reasons unknown. They have been—]

Blinking, he hastily asked it to stop. His intention hadn't been to ask for a description of what was going on, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. No, he wanted to know why he was here, and how he could get out.

Before Daneel posed those questions, though, he paused, asking himself, first, whether he really wanted to know the answers. One part of him said that it was the most important thing to find out; after all, now, he had both the Angarians and the Graitonians relying on him, so it would not do to delay his efforts in finding the superior, and getting back in time to face that bratty kid when he came to take his share of crystals.