Chapter 35: One Month Later

At this moment, Midtown Gym was bustling with boxers besides Ernie, all deep in their training. In this era, this place could be considered the hallowed core of the boxing world. Though the facilities were modest, nearly every professional boxer training in New York—not to mention the general public—loved to come here for technical, strength, and cardiovascular conditioning. Legendary American boxing champions like Jake LaMotta and Rocky Graziano had all trained within these walls.

Ernie came here to train and refine his boxing skills, primarily to strengthen his body in preparation for the looming war. The equipment in gyms during this era remained quite primitive; there were no advanced machines like the treadmills, ellipticals, or Smith machines found in the future. The gym was dominated by barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, and punching bags. To build strength, one used dumbbells or bodyweight exercises; for cardio, one hit the bags or jumped rope. Yet, for Ernie, this was more than enough.

"Hey, kid, good to see you again!"

"That training method you taught me last time was incredibly effective. It let me absolutely demolish my opponent in the ring!"

As Ernie was mid-jump rope, drenched in sweat, a man carrying a gym bag walked into the facility and greeted him with a grin. The man appeared to be in his early twenties, stood around 5'10", and possessed a muscular build, topped off with a pair of "cauliflower ears" that made it clear he was not to be trifled with.

The man was a professional boxer. When he came to the gym last week for pre-match training, he had noticed Ernie using a training regimen he had never seen before. It looked highly professional, so he had approached Ernie to discuss and learn from him. After adopting Ernie's techniques, the boxer had significantly boosted his cardiovascular endurance. This allowed him to unexpectedly last until the final round in yesterday's match. His opponent, having failed to anticipate such a rapid improvement in his stamina, had employed the wrong tactics and was ultimately knocked out by the boxer's heavy punches.

"Congratulations!"

Ernie stopped jumping, panting slightly as he nodded in acknowledgment. In reality, the training method he had shared was the "HIIT" (High-Intensity Interval Training) that would become popular in the future—a system that alternates high-intensity bursts to comprehensively improve cardiovascular function, endurance, speed, and explosive power.

In this era, physical conditioning was still quite primitive, relying heavily on long-distance running and jumping rope to build stamina. Introducing the "HIIT" techniques Ernie had learned in the future was, naturally, a form of dimensionality strike.

After training with the boxer for half an hour, Ernie returned the favor by letting the man guide him through some boxing techniques. The entire morning was spent drenched in sweat.

Afterward, Ernie spent about 15 minutes biking to The Carlyle Hotel, located at 35 East 76th Street in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Completed in 1930, the hotel was a residential property that would later become quite famous, having hosted celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy, and Woody Allen. Ernie and Asimov had rented a long-term suite there for the convenience of their writing. After all, their homes were cramped—especially Ernie’s, where he still shared a bedroom with Misi, making interruptions inevitable. Once they had some money, it was only natural to rent a quiet place to work.

There had been talk of Puzo joining them, but on one hand, Puzo needed to support his family once he started earning money and was reluctant to spend so much; on the other hand… Puzo hadn't forgotten the time he was beaten by white men. He wasn't willing to come to this part of town and felt much safer staying in the Italian neighborhood.

Opening the door to their room, Ernie found it empty. However, on the desk, he saw a sheet of paper with typewritten words still clamped in Asimov’s typewriter. It was the short story Asimov had been working on for some time: *Runaround*. This was the first work in which Asimov had fully integrated the "Three Laws of Robotics" after perfecting them.

The story followed two human engineers who bring an intelligent robot named "Speedy" to Mercury to restart a mining base that had been idle for ten years. They discover that the photoelectric cells needed to power the life-support system are running low. The nearest supply point is 27 kilometers away, and due to the harsh conditions on Mercury, it is too hot for humans to travel. Thus, they send Speedy to retrieve the materials.

However, Speedy fails to return. The engineers activate an older, primitive robot to investigate, only to find Speedy running in circles around the material pool. It turns out there is carbon monoxide near the pool, which corrodes the robot's casing. According to the Third Law—"A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law"—Speedy tries to retreat to protect itself. But because of the Second Law—"A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law"—it cannot abandon the order to retrieve the materials. Trapped in the conflict between the Second and Third Laws, Speedy can only run in circles.

It was a humorous, dark, and witty short story that began to explore the ethical contradictions of robots through the "Three Laws." Ernie glanced at the plot on the page.

It had reached the point where: "To force Speedy away from the pool and back to the base, one of the engineers stands out in the sun, placing himself in mortal danger. This triggers Speedy’s First Law: 'A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.' The potential of the First Law in the robot's brain instantly overrides the Second and Third Laws. To save the engineer, Speedy breaks its previous deadlock..."

Ernie had heard the ending from Asimov before. The resolution was: "After the other engineer sees his partner successfully draw Speedy away from the pool, he seizes the opportunity to issue the command: 'Retrieve the selenium at all costs.' This strengthens the current of the Second Law in the robot's brain, overcoming the Third, and Speedy finally retrieves the selenium."

In other words, the story was nearing its conclusion, yet Asimov was nowhere to be found.

"Where on earth did this guy go... Did his master also use the 'stand out in the scorching sun' trick to make him return?" Ernie muttered a joke to himself before heading to take a shower.

Once cleaned up, he felt much refreshed. Ernie called White Castle for delivery and sat down at the typewriter to write. He was currently working on *Whale Song*, the piece he had promised John Campbell the previous month, and it was already in the final stages.

Shortly after he began typing:

*Click.*

The door opened, and Asimov walked in, clutching a copy of *The Atlantic Monthly* with a look of annoyance on his face.