Once responsible for saving humanity from ecological disaster, the U.S. Robots company is facing liquidation in two years. Government imposed restrictions ban use of robots on Earth, and public opinion has turned against robots. The public fears that the robots may do harm to humans, despite a strict set of codes imposed on robots, known as the THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS. An engineer named Dr. Kieth Harriman secretly turns to two robots, George Ten and George Nine, to solve how to alleviate the public's fear of robots and to save the company, teaching them about humans and life on Earth. The robots decide that they themselves count as human beings who ought to be protected and they enact a plan to allow robots to dominate all other life-forms, tricking the humans into slowly replacing bits of the ecology with robots, starting with a robot that looks like a bird and is designed for eco-friendly pest control. When the story ends, the two robots are waiting for a time when human anxiety is reduced enough for humanoid robots to be re-introduced, assured that their plan is in motion.