The Caves of Steel

The Caves of Steel is the first novel in Asimov's Robot series to feature Earth detective Elijah Baley, and a classic blend of science fiction and detective fiction. The story is set on Earth in 3421 AD (some sources say 3500): an extremely overpopulated humanity lives packed like ants in giant cities covered by steel domes, never seeing daylight—these sealed cities are called "Caves of Steel." Outside the cities, the "Outer Worlds" (Spacers) are sparsely populated and technologically advanced, long hostile to and distrustful of Earthmen. One day, a scientist from the Outer Worlds is murdered near Spacertown, and the Outer Worlds authorities conclude the killer is an Earthman and apply pressure accordingly. Baley is assigned to investigate, but is required to partner with an Other World robot—R. Daneel Olivaw. Baley, like most Earthmen, has an instinctive aversion to robots, and the clues keep pointing to a paradox: that a robot might have killed a human, violating the First Law of Robotics. In the course of the investigation Baley moves between the crowded corridors of the Caves of Steel and the open spaces of Spacertown, confronting population pressure, urban ecology, human-machine relations, and cultural divides, and step by step overcoming his own prejudices, until an unexpected chain of reasoning reveals the truth. Together with The Naked Sun, The Robots of Dawn, and Robots and Empire, this book forms the Baley–Daneel series, a key link between Asimov's "robotics" and "Galactic Empire" systems.