First published in Fantastic Universe (October 1956 issue), by Isaac Asimov, and later published in their The Fantastic Universe Omnibus (1960). Dr Asimov claims, in The Complete Robot, that this Short Story is not intended to be taken seriously.
Mike Donovan is at a bar, swapping stories about unusual robots with several others, when he admits to having known a robot who broke the First Law. Naturally, the crowd wants to hear the story.
Donovan's tale takes place on Titan, with the first three MA model robots. He claims that, while endangered due to a storm pup and a violent storm, MA-2 abandoned him and ran off. In conclusion, it was because Emma had been protecting her child.
Not to be confused with Joe Abercrombie's The First Law series. "First Law" has been republished four times; The Rest of the Robots (1964), Science Fiction Stories (1973), The Complete Robot (1982), and 20 récits d'anticipation et de science-fiction (2016).
"First Law" contains examples of:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The MA series were built for Titan, but it was discovered that Emma Two had somehow given birth and abandoned a human for dead in clear violation of the First Law. Donovan claims it was because a mother's love is more powerful than its programming.
- Alien Sky: Titan is covered in almost constant storms, which obscure Saturn and make the sun no larger than "a pale pimple".
- Featureless Plane of Disembodied Dialogue: As typical for Dr Asimov's short fiction, there is very little description for the characters or the setting in this story, emphasized by the Framing Device where Donovan is telling the story of what happened to him on Titan, which describes the sky in some detail, but doesn't describe anything else.
- Framing Device: The story takes place in a bar, while Donovan tells the other patrons a story about a robot that gave birth and disobeyed the First Law of Robotics.
- Inevitably Broken Rule: Mike Donovan tells a pub about a robot, MA-2, that broke the First Law because it was a mother, who was protecting her offspring.
- In-Series Nickname:
- The robot in this work is from the MA series, and is therefore nicknamed Emma.
- MacFarlane is addressed by the common nickname Mac.
- Last-Name Basis: Aside from Mike Donovan, the only other character with a speaking part is MacFarlane, who Donovan also addresses as Mac.
- The Little Detecto: The MA series is equipped with "vibro-detectors" because Titan doesn't have a magnetic field and it had been difficult to stay oriented in the Perpetual Storm of its atmosphere. What the vibro-detectors actually detect isn't clear, since you can use gyrocompasses instead of magnetic compasses, which determine true north from the planet's rotation instead of its magnetic field.
- Mama Bear: Emma Two abandoned a human in danger, violating the First Law of Robotics, because otherwise the human would've killed their child. No, how Emma was able to give birth is not explained.
- Perpetual Storm: Titan is the only moon in the solar system with an atmosphere. According to Donovan, however, it storms eighty percent of the time. Even during the so-called "calm season", there's a chance for premature gusts to turn the sky dark and life-threatening.
- Robot Names: The MA robot series are often called Emma.
- Three Laws-Compliant: The MA series was built with the normal three laws, but the story only cites the First Law because that's what they broke.
- Title Drop: The title is a reference to the Three Laws of Robotics, and Donovan cites it.
- Truly Single Parent: Emma, a robot, somehow gave birth to a child. When a human threatened her child, she breaks the First Law in order to protect it.
- Unreliable Expositor: Donovan is telling a story about a robot that broke the First Law of Robotics. Aside from the fact that robots never break the laws or give birth, Donovan is also the more... excitable of the Donovan-Powell duo. His narration is also suspicious because he names the MA series and "vibro-detectors" as devices that were quickly taken off the market, making it hard-to-impossible to verify his story. Some of his internal first-person thoughts slip into the narration, which normally never happens.
