Mirror Image is a science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 by Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...

, originally published in the May 1972 issue Analog Science Fiction and Fact

Analog Science Fiction and Fact

Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...

, and collected in The Best of Isaac Asimov

The Best of Isaac Asimov

The Best of Isaac Asimov is a collection of twelve science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov. It begins with a short introduction giving various details on the stories, such as how they came to be written, or what significance merits their inclusion in a "best of" collection, as well as some...

(1973), The Complete Robot

The Complete Robot

The Complete Robot is a collection of 31 science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov written between 1939 and 1977. Most of the stories had been previously collected in the books I, Robot and The Rest of the Robots, while four stories had previously been uncollected and the rest had been...

(1982), Robot Visions

Robot Visions

Robot Visions is a collection of science fiction short stories and factual essays by Isaac Asimov. Many of the stories are reprinted from other Asimov collections, particularly I, Robot and The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories...

(1990), and The Complete Stories, Volume 2

The Complete Stories (Asimov)

The Complete Stories is a discontinued series intended to form a definitive collection of Isaac Asimov's short fiction. Originally published in 1990 and 1992 by Doubleday, it was discontinued after the second book of the planned three....

(1992).

After having received numerous requests to continue the story of detective Elijah Baley

Elijah Baley

Elijah Baley is a fictional character in Isaac Asimov's Robot series. He is the main character of the novels The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun and The Robots of Dawn, and of the short story "Mirror Image". He is seen in flashbacks several times and talked about frequently in Robots and Empire,...

 and his robot partner R. Daneel Olivaw

R. Daneel Olivaw

R. Daneel Olivaw is a fictional robot created by Isaac Asimov. The "R" initial in his name stands for "robot," a naming convention in Asimov's future society...

, featured in his earlier novels The Caves of Steel

The Caves of Steel

The Caves of Steel is a novel by Isaac Asimov. It is essentially a detective story, and illustrates an idea Asimov advocated, that science fiction is a flavor that can be applied to any literary genre, rather than a limited genre itself. Specifically, in the book Asimov's Mysteries, he states that...

and The Naked Sun

The Naked Sun

The Naked Sun is an English language science fiction novel, the second in Isaac Asimov's Robot series.-Plot introduction:Like its famous predecessor, The Caves of Steel, it is a whodunit story, in addition to being science fiction...

, Asimov wrote this short detective story. After the story appeared, he received several letters from readers, all of whom said, "Thanks, but we wanted another novel".

Plot summary

Baley is unexpectedly contacted by Daneel to help resolve an authorship dispute between two Spacer scientists. Being Spacers, neither scientist is willing to allow himself to be interrogated by an Earthman, but they are willing to allow Baley to interrogate their personal robots. The two robots are the same model, and their stories are mirror images of each other: each one insists that his own master came up with a key scientific insight, and that the other scientist is falsely trying to lay claim to it. Clearly, one of the robots is telling the truth, while the other has been ordered by its master to lie. Baley must use the Three Laws of Robotics

Three Laws of Robotics

The Three Laws of Robotics are a set of rules devised by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov and later added to. The rules are introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround", although they were foreshadowed in a few earlier stories...

and his own knowledge of human nature to determine which is which. But the answer really comes down to his knowledge of human nature.