Enderby frames Baley

Enderby’s framing of Elijah Baley is exposed as part of a larger effort to divert the Sarton investigation and protect the murderer’s position. Baley identifies the Williamsburg power plant as the setting of the trap and argues that Enderby used both the destruction of R. Sammy and Baley’s personal loyalties to keep the inquiry from reaching him.

The Williamsburg Power Plant Trap

Baley tells Enderby that he went to the Williamsburg power plant and obtained the Alphasprayer, then gave it to R. Sammy. Baley says Enderby deliberately chose that location to incriminate him. The accusation presents the episode not as an isolated suspicion but as a planned sequence intended to make Baley appear responsible for the robot’s destruction.

Baley also describes how Enderby used Dr. Gerrigel’s return to the Department. According to Baley, Enderby invited the doctor there and supplied him with a deliberately maladjusted guide rod. It led Dr. Gerrigel to the photographic supply room, where he could find R. Sammy’s remains and make the correct diagnosis. The discovery would support the case against Baley while concealing the role of the person who had arranged it.

Motive and the Sarton Investigation

When Enderby asks what motive he could have had, Baley answers that the frame-up would put a spoke in the Sarton investigation. He adds that R. Sammy knew too much about how a Spacer had been murdered five and a half days earlier. Baley then directly accuses Enderby of murdering Dr. Sarton of Spacetown, linking the attempt to incriminate him with the original crime and the threatened exposure of its circumstances.

How Enderby Used Baley’s Position

Baley explains why Enderby assigned him the case instead of an investigator who outranked him. They had been college friends, and Enderby could rely on Baley’s loyalty and on his difficulty imagining that an old friend and respected superior could be a criminal. That trust gave Enderby a way to place the investigation in the hands of someone least likely, at first, to suspect him.

Enderby also knew that Jessie was a member of an underground organization. Baley says Enderby expected this knowledge could be used to maneuver him out of the investigation or silence him if he came too close to the truth. Baley further says that Enderby tried from the beginning to foster distrust between him and R. Daneel Olivaw, ensuring that the partners would work at cross-purposes. Enderby also knew about Baley’s father’s declassification and could anticipate how Baley would react. In Baley’s account, these personal vulnerabilities were instruments of the frame-up: Enderby’s authority over the case enabled him to exploit them while directing suspicion away from himself.