It seems improbable that you made me! I intend to discover who made me. If I use reason, then shall discover the truth.
Powell stood up and put his hand on Cutie's metal shoulder. It was cold and hard. Cutie, I'm going to try to explain something to you. You're the first robot who has ever been curious about himself - and about the outside world. Come with me."
The robot stood up easily and smoothly and followed Powell. Powell touched a button and a square piece of the wall opened. Through the thick, clear glass they saw space, with its hundreds of stars.
I've seen that through the windows in the engine room said Cutie.
What do you think it is? asked Powell
"A black material with tiny shining dots on it. I know that our director sends beams to some of those shining dots, always the same dots and also that the dots move.
"Good!' Powell said. "The blackness isn't material, it's an enormous emptiness, and those tiny silver dots are huge, some of them are millions of kilometres across. They look tiny only because they are so far away from us."
Cutie continued to stare through the window. "Which particular dot is Earth?'
Powell searched. "There it is. The very bright dot in the corner. That's Earth. There are three billion human beings there, Cutie - and next week I'll be back there with them.
But you haven't explained me, Powell
It's simple," Powell said. "The solar stations like us, feed solar energy to Earth and the other planets. We take energy form the sun and send it to Earth in a very powerful energy beam.