The Dark Side of the Sun

Terry Pratchett

Summary

Dom Salabos had a lot of advantages.

As heir to a huge fortune, he had an excellent robot servant (with Man-Friday subcircuity), a planet (the First Syrian Bank) as a godfather, a security chief who even ran checks on himself, and on Dom's home world even death was not always fatal.

Why then, in an age when prediction was a science, was his future in doubt?

Quotes

Isaac: "Oh, no, chief. You've got to [own me]. I don't approve of self-ownership."
Dom: "Chel, that's what most humans fought for for three thousand years!"
Isaac: "But we robots know exactly why we were created, boss. No striving to find the innermost secrets of our creation. No problem."
Dom: "Don't you want to be free?"
Isaac: "What? And have God blame the Universe on me?"

"In an infinite universe all things are possible, including the possibility that the universe does not exisssst," he purred, "Expand this theory, with diagramsss--"

"Intelligence is humanity's prime ssurvival trait, therefore it iss as well that those who don't sshow it be weeded out," said Hrsh-hgn, philosophically.

The universe was divided into two parts, separated by a five centimetre shell of monomolecular steel. On the inner side was the interior of the luxury yacht One Jump Ahead ... On the other side was the rest of the universe, composed almost entirely of nothing with a trace of hydrogen.

"I perceive a possibility of an immediate chronological sequence of events which includes a violence," said Three. He stepped back. "I express preference for a chronological sequence of events which precludes a violence."

"They should not exist. They are theoretically possible, but so is balancing a needle on the end of a hair. Faced with something like the Chain Stars a man must either bow the knee, or else get good and worried."

"We discovered -- as the Creapii are discovering -- that the ultimate barrier is one's viewpoint."