“Maybe they did. Some humans are capable of recognizing when they’re stagnating. Not all of them, granted. The ego’s a huge pain in the ass – figuratively speaking – to get around. But some of them can.”

Tony himself has just had a very pointed lesson in the perils of stagnation and he isn’t soon going to forget it. Genius though he is, he’s learned that it can happen to him, too.

“Do you mind if I throw a minor wrench in the works of that ‘humanity can’t accept humaniform robots’ theory of yours?” Standing up, he crosses over to the nearest window and taps a finger against the glass. Then he turns, looking at Daneel with a raised eyebrow. “Humanity can accept humaniform robots. There’s a whole town out there who’s accepting you. And there’s one guy in particular who, from the sound of it, is doing a lot more than just accepting you. The people of your time were wrong. This place, for all its faults, is proof of that.”