The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov

were sent to Earth often did look like that; perhaps were deliberately chosen for that reason.
    But here was a Spacer who might have been an Earthman for all his appearance. He was bald. And his nose was misshapen, too. Not much, to be sure, but on a Spacer even a slight asymmetry was noteworthy.
    Baley said, “Good afternoon, sir. I am sorry if we kept you waiting.”
    No harm in politeness. He would have to work with these people.
    He had the momentary urge to step across the expanse of room (how ridiculously large) and offer his hand in greeting. It was an urge easy to fight off. A Spacer certainly would not welcome such a greeting: a hand covered with Earthly germs?
    Gruer sat gravely, as far away from Baley as he could get, his hands resting within long sleeves, and probably there were filters in his nostrils, although Baley couldn’t see them.
    It even seemed to him that Gruer cast a disapproving look at Daneel as though to say: You’re a queer Spacer, standing that close to an Earthman.
    That would mean Gruer simply did not know the truth. Then Baley noticed suddenly that Daneel wasstanding at some distance, at that; farther than he usually did.
    Of course! Too close, and Gruer might find the proximity unbelievable. Daneel was intent on being accepted as human.
    Gruer spoke in a pleasant, friendly voice, but his eyes tended to remain furtively on Daneel; looking away, then drifting back. He said, “I haven’t been waiting long. Welcome to Solaria, gentlemen. Are you comfortable?”
    “Yes, sir. Quite,” said Baley. He wondered if etiquette would require that Daneel as the “Spacer” should speak for the two, but rejected that possibility resentfully. Jehoshaphat! It was he, himself, who had been requested for the investigation and Daneel had been added afterward. Under the circumstances Baley felt he would not play the secondary to a genuine Spacer; it was out of the question when a robot was involved, even such a robot as Daneel.
    But Daneel made no attempt to take precedence over Baley, nor did Gruer seem surprised or displeased at that. Instead, he turned his attention at once to Baley to the exclusion of Daneel.
    Gruer said, “You have been told nothing, Plainclothesman Baley, about the crime for which your services have been solicited. I imagine you are quite curious about that.” He shook his arms so that the sleeves fell backward and clasped his hands loosely in his lap. “Won’t you gentlemen sit down?”
    They did so and Baley said, “We
are
curious.” He noted that Gruer’s hands were not protected by gloves.
    Gruer went on. “That was on purpose, Plainclothesman. We wanted you to arrive here prepared to tackle the notions. You will have available to youshortly a full report of the details of the crime and of the investigations we have been able to conduct. I am afraid, Plainclothesman, that you will find our investigations ridiculously incomplete from the standpoint of your own experience. We have no police force on Solaria.”
    “None at all?” asked Baley.
    Gruer smiled and shrugged. “No crime, you see. Our population is tiny and widely scattered. There is no occasion for crime; therefore no occasion for police.”
    “I see. But for all that, you
do
have crime now.”
    “True, but the first crime of violence in two centuries of history.”
    “Unfortunate, then, that you must begin with murder.”
    “Unfortunate, yes. More unfortunately still, the victim was a man we could scarcely afford to lose. A most inappropriate victim. And the circumstances of the murder were particularly brutal.”
    Baley said, “I suppose the murderer is completely unknown.” (Why else would the crime be worth the importation of an Earthly detective?)
    Gruer looked particularly uneasy. He glanced sideways at Daneel, who sat motionless, an absorptive, quiet mechanism. Baley knew that Daneel would, at any time in the future, be able to reproduce any conversation he heard, of whatever length. He was a