“And now the Second Foundation will wipe that knowledge from our minds, I suppose.”

 

                “If they can,” said Branno, “but they may find that things have changed.”

 

                Kodell said, “Earlier you said you knew where the Second Foundation was. You would take care of Gaia first, then Trantor. I deduce from this that the other ship was of Trantorian origin.”

 

                “You suppose correctly. Are you surprised?”

 

                Kodell shook his head slowly. “Not in hindsight. Ebling Mis, Toran Darell and Bayta Darell were all on Trantor during the period when the Mule was stopped. Arkady Darell, Bayta’s granddaughter, was born on Trantor and was on Trantor again when the Second Foundation was itself supposedly stopped. In her account of events, there is a Preem Palver who played a key role, appearing at convenient times, and he was a Trantorian trader. I should think it was obvious that the Second Foundation was on Trantor, where, incidentally, Hari Seldon himself lived at the time he founded both Foundations.”

 

                “Quite obvious, except that no one ever suggested the possibility. The Second Foundation saw to that. It is what I meant when I said they didn’t have to cover their tracks, when they could so easily arrange to have no one look in the direction of those tracks--or wipe out the memory of those tracks after they had been seen.”

 

                Kodell said, “In that case, let us not look too quickly in the direction in which they may simply be wanting us to look. How is it, do you suppose, that Trevize was able to decide the Second Foundation existed? Why didn’t the Second Foundation stop him?”

 

                Branno held up her gnarled fingers and counted on them. “First, Trevize is a very unusual man who, for all his obstreperous inability to use caution, hassomething about him that I have not been able to penetrate. He may be a special case. Second, the Second Foundation was not entirely ignorant. Compor was on Trevize’s tail at once and reported him to me. I was relied on to stop Trevize without the Second Foundation having to risk open involvement. Third, when I didn’t quite react as expected--no execution, no imprisonment, no memory erasure, no Psychic Probe of his brain--when I merely sent him out into space, the Second Foundation went further. They made the direct move of sending one of their own ships after him.”

 

                And she added with tight-lipped pleasure, “Oh, excellent lightning rod.”

 

                Kodell said, “And our next move?”

 

                “We are going to challenge that Second Foundationer we now face. In fact, we’re moving toward him rather sedately right now.”

 

  

 

 4.

 

  

 

 Gendibal and Novi sat together, side by side, watching the screen.

 

                Novi was frightened. To Gendibal, that was quite apparent, as was the fact that she was desperately trying to fight off that fright. Nor could Gendibal do anything to help her in her struggle, for he did not think it wise to touch her mind at this moment, lest he obscure the response she displayed to the feeble mentalic field that surrounded them.

 

                The Foundation warship was approaching slowly--but deliberately. It was a large warship, with a crew of perhaps as many as six, judging from past experience with Foundation ships. Her weapons, Gendibal was certain, would be sufficient in themselves to hold off and, if necessary, wipe out a fleet made up of every ship available to the Second Foundation--if those ships had to rely on physical force alone.

 

                As it was, the advance of the warship, even against a single ship manned by a Second Foundationer, allowed certain conclusions to be drawn. Even if the ship possessed mentalic ability, it would not be likely to advance into the teeth of the Second Foundation in this manner. More likely, it was advancing out of ignorance--and this might exist in any of several degrees.

 

                It could mean that the captain of the warship was not aware that Compor had been replaced, or--if aware--did not know the replacement was a Second Foundationer, or perhaps was not even aware what a Second Foundationer might be.

 

                Or (and Gendibal intended to consider everything) what if the ship did possess mentalic force and, nevertheless, advanced in this self-confident manner? That could only mean it was under the control of a megalomaniac or that it possessed powers far beyond any that Gendibal could bring himself to consider possible.

 

                But what he considered possible was not the final judgment--

 

                Carefully he sensed Novi’s mind. Novi could not sense mentalic fields consciously, whereas Gendibal, of course, could--yet Gendibal’s mind could not do so as delicately or detect as feeble a mental field as could Novi’s. This was a paradox that would have to be studied in future and might produce fruit that would in the long run prove of far greater importance than the immediate problem of an approaching spaceship.

 

                Gendibal had grasped the possibility of this, intuitively, when he first became aware of the unusual smoothness and symmetry of Novi’s mind--and he felt a somber pride in this intuitive ability he possessed. Speakers had always been proud of their intuitive powers, but how much was this the product of their inability to measure fields by straightforward physical methods and their failure, therefore, to understand what it was that they really did? It was easy to cover up ignorance by the mystical word “intuition.” And how much of this ignorance of theirs might arise from their underestimation of the importance of physics as compared to mentalics?

 

                And how much ofthat was blind pride? When he became First Speaker, Gendibal thought, this would change. There would have to be some narrowing of the physical gap between the Foundations. The Second Foundation could not face forever the possibility of destruction any time the mentalic monopoly slipped even slightly.

 

                --Indeed, the monopoly might be slipping now. Perhaps the First Foundation had advanced or there was an alliance between the First Foundation and the Anti-Mules. (That thought occurred to him now for the first time and he shivered.)

 

                His thoughts on the subject slipped through his mind with a rapidity common to a Speaker--and while he was thinking, he also remained sensitively aware of the glow in Novi’s mind, the response to the gently pervasive mentalic field about them. It wasnot growing stronger as the Foundation warship drew nearer.

 

                This was not, in itself, an absolute indication that the warship was not equipped with mentalics. It was well known that the mentalic field did not obey the inverse-square law. It did not grow stronger precisely as the square of the extent to which distance between emitter and receiver lessened. It differed in this way from the electromagnetic and the gravitational fields. Still, although mentalic fields varied less with distance than the various physical fields did, it was not altogether insensitive to distance, either. The response of Novi’s mind should show a detectable increase as the warship approached--someincrease.

 

                (How was it that no Second Foundationer in five centuries--from Hari Seldon on--had ever thought of working out a mathematical relationship between mentalic intensity and distance? This shrugging off of physics must and would stop, Gendibal silently vowed.)

 

                If the warship possessed mentalics and if it felt quite certain it was approaching a Second Foundationer, would it not increase the intensity of its field to maximum before advancing? And in that case, would not Novi’s mindsurely register an increased response of some kind?

 

                --Yet it did not!

 

                Confidently Gendibal eliminated the possibility that the warship possessed mentalics. It was advancing out of ignorance and, as a menace, it could be downgraded.

 

                The mentalic field, of course, still existed, but it had to originate on Gaia. This was disturbing enough, but the immediate problem was the ship. Let that be eliminated and he could then turn his attention to the world of the Anti-Mules.

 

                He waited. The warship would make some move or it would come close enough for him to feel confident that he could pass over to an effective offense.

 

                The warship still approached--quite rapidly now--and still did nothing. Finally Gendibal calculated that the strength of his push would be sufficient. There would be no pain, scarcely any discomfort --all those on board would merely find that the large muscles of their backs and limbs would respond but sluggishly to their desires.

 

                Gendibal narrowed the mentalic field controlled by his mind. It intensified and leaped across the gap between the ships at the speed of light. (The two ships were close enough to make hyperspatial contact--with its inevitable loss of precision--unnecessary.)

 

                And Gendibal then fell back in numbed surprise.

 

                The Foundation warship was possessed of an efficient mentalic shield that gained in density in proportion as his own field gained in intensity. --The warship was not approaching out of ignorance after all--and it had an unexpected if passive weapon.

 

  

 

 5.

 

  

 

 “Ah,” said Branno. “He has attempted an attack, Liono. See!”

 

                The needle on the psychometer moved and trembled in its irregular rise.

 

                The development of the mentalic shield had occupied Foundation scientists for a hundred and twenty years in the most secret of all scientific projects, except perhaps for Hari Seldon’s lone development of psychohistorical analysis. Five generations of human beings had labored in the gradual improvement of a device backed by no satisfactory theory.

 

                But no advance would have been possible without the invention of the psychometer that could act as a guide, indicating the direction and amount of advance at every stage. No one could explain how it worked, yet all indications were that it measured the immeasurable and gave numbers to the indescribable. Branno had the feeling (shared by some of the scientists themselves) that if ever the Foundation could explain the workings of the psychometer, they would be the equal of the Second Foundation in mind control.

 

                But that was for the future. At present, the shield would have to be enough, backed as it was by an overwhelming preponderance in physical weapons.

 

                Branno sent out the message, delivered in a male voice from which all overtones of emotion had been removed, till it was flat and deadly.

 

                “Calling the shipBright Star and its occupants. You have forcibly taken a ship of the Navy of the Foundation Federation in an act of piracy. You are directed to surrender the ship and yourselves at once or face attack.”

 

                The answer came in natural voice: “Mayor Branno of Terminus, I know you are on the ship. TheBright Star was not taken by piratical action. I was freely invited on board by its legal captain, Munn Li Compor of Terminus. I ask a period of truce that we may discuss matters of importance to each of us alike.”

 

                Kodell whispered to Branno, “Let me do the speaking, Mayor.”

 

                She raised her arm contemptuously, “The responsibility is mine, Liono.”

 

                Adjusting the transmitter, she spoke in tones scarcely less forceful and unemotional than the artificial voice that had spoken before:

 

                “Man of the Second Foundation, understand your position. If you do not surrender forthwith, we can blow your ship out of space in the time it takes light to travel from our ship to yours--and we are ready to do that. Nor will we lose by doing this, for you have no knowledge for which we need keep you alive. We know you are from Trantor and, once we have dealt with you, we will be ready to deal with Trantor. We are willing to allow you a period in which to have your say, but since you cannot have much of worth to tell us, we are not prepared to listen long.”

 

                “In that case,” said Gendibal, “let me speak quickly and to the point. Your shield is not perfect and cannot be. You have overestimated it and underestimated me. I can handle your mind and control it. Not as easily, perhaps, as if there were no shield, but easily enough. The instant you attempt to use any weapon, I will strike you--and there is this for you to understand: Without a shield, I can handle your mind smoothly and do it no harm. With the shield, however, I must smash through, which I can do, and I will be unable then to handle you either smoothly or deftly. Your mind will be as smashed as the shield and the effect will be irreversible. In other words, you cannot stop me and I, on the other hand,can stop you by being forced to do worse than killing you. I will leave you a mindless hulk. Do you wish to risk that?”

 

                Branno said, “You know you cannot do as you say.”

 

                “Do you, then, wish to risk the consequences I have described?” asked Gendibal with an air of cool indifference.

 

                Kodell leaned over and whispered, “For Seldon’s sake, Mayor--”

 

                Gendibal said (not exactly at once, for it took light--and everything at light-speed--a little over one second to travel from one vessel to the other), “I follow your thoughts, Kodell. No need to whisper. I also follow the Mayor’s thoughts. She is irresolute, so you have no need to panic just yet. And the mere fact that I know this is ample evidence that your shield leaks.”

 

                “It can be strengthened,” said the Mayor defiantly.

 

                “So can my mentalic force,” said Gendibal.

 

                “But I sit here at my ease, consuming merely physical energy to maintain the shield, and I have enough to maintain that shield for very long periods of time. You must use mentalic energy to penetrate the shield and you will tire.”

 

                “I am not tired,” said Gendibal. “At the present moment, neither of you is capable of giving any order to any member of the crew of your ship or to any crewman on any other ship. I can manage so much without any harm to you, but do not make any unusual effort to escape this control, for if I match that by increasing my own force, as I will have to do, you will be damaged as I have said.”

 

                “I will wait,” said Branno, placing her hands in her lap with every sign of solid patience. “You will tire and when you do, the orders that will go out will not be to destroy you, for you will then be harmless. The orders will be to send the main Foundation Fleet against Trantor. If you wish to save your world--surrender. A second orgy of destruction will not leave your organization untouched, as the first one did at the time of the Great Sack.”

 

                “Don’t you see that if I feel myself tiring, Mayor, which I won’t, I can save my world very simply by destroying you before my strength to do so is gone?”

 

                “You won’t do that. Your main task is to maintain the Seldon Plan. To destroy the Mayor of Terminus and thus to strike a blow at the prestige and confidence of the First Foundation, producing a staggering setback to its power and encouraging its enemies everywhere, will produce such a disruption to the Plan that it will be almost as bad for you as the destruction of Trantor. You might as well surrender.”

 

                “Are you willing to gamble on my reluctance to destroy you?”

 

                Branno’s chest heaved as she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She then said firmly, “Yes!”

 

                Kodell, sitting at her side, paled.

 

  

 

 6.

 

  

 

 Gendibal stared at the figure of Branno, superimposed upon the volume of room just in front of the wall. It was a little flickery and hazy thanks to the interference of the shield. The man next to her was almost featureless with haze, for Gendibal had no energy to waste on him. He had to concentrate on the Mayor.

 

                To be sure, she had no image of him in return. She had no way of knowing that he too had a companion, for instance. She could make no judgment from his expressions, from his body language. In this respect, she was at a disadvantage.

 

                Everything he had said was true. Hecould smash her at the cost of an enormous expenditure of mentalic force--and in so doing, he could scarcely avoid disrupting her mind irreparably.

 

                Yet everything she had said was true as well. Destroying her would damage the Plan as much as the Mule himself had damaged it. Indeed, the new damage might be more serious, since it was now later in the game and there would be less time to retrieve the misstep.

 

                Worse still, there was Gaia, which was still an unknown quantity --with its mentalic field remaining at the faint and tantalizing edge of detection.

 

                For a moment, he touched Novi’s mind to make sure that the flow was still there. It was, and it was unchanged.

 

                She could not have sensed that touch in any way, but she turned to him and in an awed whisper said, “Master, there is a faint mist there. Is it to that you talk?”

 

                She must have sensed the mist through the small connection between their two minds. Gendibal put a finger to his lips. “Have no fear, Novi. Close your eyes and rest.”

 

                He raised his voice. “Mayor Branno, your gamble is a good one in this respect. I do not wish to destroy you at once, since I think that if I explain something to you, you will listen to reason and there will then be no need to destroy in either direction.

 

                “Suppose, Mayor, that you win out and that I surrender. What follows? In an orgy of self-confidence and in undue reliance on your mentalic shield, you and your successors will attempt to spread your power over the Galaxy with undue haste. In doing so, you will actually postpone the establishment of the Second Empire, because you will also destroy the Seldon Plan.”

 

                Branno said, “I am not surprised that you do not wish to destroy me at once and I think that, as you sit there, you will be forced to realize that you do not dare to destroy me at all.”

 

                Gendibal said, “Do not deceive yourself with self-congratulatory folly.Listen to me. The majority of the Galaxy is still non-Foundation and, to a great extent, anti-Foundation. There are even portions of the Foundation Federation itself that have not forgotten their days of independence. If the Foundation moves too quickly in the wake of my surrender, it will deprive the rest of the Galaxy of its greatest weakness--its disunity and indecision. You will force them to unite by fear and you will feed the tendency toward rebellion within.”

 

                “You are threatening with clubs of straw,” said Branno. “We have the power to win easily against all enemies, even if every world in the non-Foundation Galaxy combined against us, and even if these were helped by a rebellion in half the worlds of the Federation itself. There would be no problem.”

 

                “Noimmediate problem, Mayor. Do not make the mistake of seeing only the results that appear at once. You can establish a Second Empire merely by proclaiming it, but you will not be able to maintain it. You will have to reconquer it every ten years.”

 

                “Then we will do so until the worlds tire, as you are tiring.”

 

                “They will not tire, any more than I will. Nor will the process continue for a very long time, for there is a second and greater danger to the Pseudo-Empire you would proclaim. Since it can be temporarily maintained only by an ever-stronger military force which will be ever-exercised, the generals of the Foundation will, for the first time, become more important and more powerful than the civilian authorities. The Pseudo-Empire will break up into military regions within which individual commanders will be supreme. There will be anarchy--and a slide back into a barbarism that may last longer than the thirty thousand years forecast by Seldon before the Seldon Plan was implemented.”

 

                “Childish threats. Even if the mathematics of the Seldon Plan predicted all this, it predicts only probabilities--not inevitabilities.”

 

                “Mayor Branno,” said Gendibal earnestly. “Forget the Seldon Plan. You do not understand its mathematics and you cannot visualize its pattern. But you do not have to, perhaps. You are a tested politician; and a successful one, to judge from the post you hold; even more so, a courageous one, to judge from the gamble you are now taking. Therefore, use your political acumen. Consider the political and military history of humanity and consider it in the light of what you know of human nature--of the manner in which people, politicians, and military officers act, react, and interact--and see if I’m not right.”

 

                Branno said, “Even if you were right, Second Foundationer, it is a risk we must take. With proper leadership and with continuing technological advance--in mentalics, as well as in physics--we can overcome. Hari Seldon never calculated such advances properly. He couldn’t. Where in the Plan does it allow for the development of a mentalic shield by the First Foundation? Why should we want the Plan, in any case? We will risk founding a new Empire without it. Failure without it would, after all, be better than success with it. We do not want an Empire in which we play puppets to the hidden manipulators of the Second Foundation.”

 

                “You say that only because you do not understand what failure will be like for the people of the Galaxy.”

 

                “Perhaps!” said Branno stonily. “Are you beginning to weary, Second Foundationer?”

 

                “Not at all. --Let me propose an alternative action that you have not considered--one in which I need not surrender to you, nor you to me. --We are in the vicinity of a planet called Gaia.”

 

                “I am aware of that.”

 

                “Are you aware that it was probably the birthplace of the Mule?”

 

                “I would want more evidence than resides in your mere statement to that effect.”

 

                “The planet is surrounded by a mentalic field. It is the home of many Mules. If you accomplish your dream of destroying the Second Foundation, you will make yourselves the slaves of this planet of Mules. What harm have Second Foundationers ever done you-- specific, rather than imagined or theorized harm? Now ask yourself what harm a single Mule has done you.”

 

                “I still have nothing more than your statements.”

 

                “As long as we remain here, I can give you nothing more. --I propose a truce, therefore. Keep your shield up, if you don’t trust me, but be prepared to co-operate with me. Let us, together, approach this planet--and when you are convinced that it is dangerous, then I will nullify its mentalic field and you will order your ships to take possession of it.”

 

                “And then?”

 

                “And then, at least, it will be the First Foundation against the Second Foundation, with no outside forces to be considered. The fight will then be clear whereas now, you see, we dare not fight, for both Foundations are at bay.”

 

                “Why did you not say this before?”

 

                “I thought I might convince you that we were not enemies, so that we might co-operate. Since I have apparently failed at that, I suggest co-operation in any case.”

 

                Branno paused, her head bent in thought. Then she said, “You are trying to put me to sleep with lullabies. How will you, by yourself, nullify the mentalic field of a whole planet of Mules? The thought is so ludicrous that I cannot trust in the truth of your proposition.”

 

                “I am not alone,” said Gendibal. “Behind me is the full force of the Second Foundation--and that force, channeled through me, will take care of Gaia. ‘What’s more, it can, at any time, brush aside your shield as though it were thin fog.”

 

                “If so, why do you need my help?”

 

                “First, because nullifying the field is not enough. The Second Foundation cannot devote itself, now and forever, to the eternal task of nullifying, any more than I can spend the rest of my life dancing this conversational minuet with you. We need the physical action your ships can supply. --And besides, if I cannot convince you by reason that the two Foundations should look upon each other as allies, perhaps a co-operative venture of the greatest importance can be convincing. Deeds may do the job where words fail.”

 

                A second silence and then Branno said, “I am willing to approach Gaia more closely, if we can approach co-operatively. I make no promises beyond that.”

 

                “That will be enough,” said Gendibal, leaning toward his computer.

 

                Novi said, “No, Master, up to this point, it didn’t matter, but please make no further move. We must wait for Councilman Trevize of Terminus.”

 

  

 

  

 

 19. DECISION

 

  

 

 1.

 

  

 

       JANOV PELORAT SAID, WITH A SMALL TRACE OF PETULANCE IN HIS voice, “Really, Golan, no one seems to care for the fact that this is the first time in a moderately long life--nottoo long, I assure you, Bliss--in which I have been traveling through the Galaxy. Yet each time I come to a world, I am off it again and back in space before I can really have a chance to study it. It has happened twice now.”

 

                “Yes,” said Bliss, “but if you had not left the other one so quickly, you would not have met me until who knows when. Surely that justifies the first time.”

 

                “It does. Honestly, my--my dear, it does.”

 

                “And this time, Pel, you may be off the planet, but you have me --andI am Gaia, as much as any particle of it, as much as all of it.”

 

                “Youare , and surely I want no other particle of it.”

 

                Trevize, who had been listening to the exchange with a frown, said, “This is disgusting. Why didn’t Dom come with us? --Space, I’ll never get used to this monosyllabization. Two hundred fifty syllables to a name and we use just one of them. --Why didn’the come, together with all two hundred fifty syllables? If all this is so important--if the very existence of Gaia depends on it--why didn’t he come with us to direct us?”

 

                “Iam here, Trev,” said Bliss, “and I am as much Gaia as he is.” Then, with a quick sideways and upward look from her dark eyes, “Does it annoy you, then, to have me call you ‘Trev’?”

 

                “Yes, it does. I have as much right to my ways as you to yours. My name is Trevize. Two syllables. Tre-vize.”

 

                “Gladly. I do not wish to anger you, Trevize.”

 

                “I am not angry. I am annoyed.” He rose suddenly, walked from one end of the room to the other, stepping over the outstretched legs of Pelorat (who drew them in quickly), and then back again. He stopped, turned, and faced Bliss.

 

                He pointed a finger at her. “Look! I am not my own master! I have been maneuvered from Terminus to Gaia--and even when I began to suspect that this was so, there seemed no way to break the grip. And then, when I get to Gaia, I am told that the whole purpose for my arrival was to save Gaia. Why? How? What is Gaia to me--or I to Gaia--that I should save it? Is there no other of the quintillion human beings in the Galaxy who could do the job?”

 

                “Please, Trevize,” said Bliss--and there was a sudden downcast air about her, all of the gamine affectation disappearing. “Do not be angry. You see, I use your name properly and I will be very serious. Dom asked you to be patient.”

 

                “By every planet in the Galaxy, habitable or not, I don’t want to be patient. If I am so important, do I not deserve an explanation? To begin with, I ask again why Dom did not come with us? Is it not sufficiently important for him to be here on theFar Star with us?”

 

                “He is here, Trevize,” said Bliss. “While I am here, he is here, and everyone on Gaia is here, and every living thing, and every speck of the planet.”

 

                “Youare satisfied that that is so, but it’s not my way of thinking. I’m not a Gaian. We can’t squeeze the whole planet on to my ship, we can only squeeze one person on to it. We have you, and Dom is part of you. Very well. Why couldn’t we have taken Dom, and let you be part of him?”

 

                “For one thing,” said Bliss, “Pel--I mean, Pel-o-rat--asked that I be on the ship with you. I, not Dom.”

 

                “He was being gallant. Who would take that seriously?”

 

                “Oh, now, my dear fellow,” said Pelorat, rising to his feet with his face reddening, “I was quite serious. I don’t want to be dismissed like that. I accept the fact that it doesn’t matter which component of the Gaian whole is on board, and it is more pleasant for me to have Bliss here than Dom, and it should be for you as well. Come, Golan, you are behaving childishly.”

 

                “Am I? Am I?” said Trevize, frowning darkly. “All right, then, I am. Just the same,” again he pointed at Bliss, “whatever it is I am expected to do, I assure you that I won’t do it if I am not treated like a human being. Two questions to begin with-- What am I supposed to do? And why me?”

 

                Bliss was wide-eyed and backing away. She said, “Please, I can’t tell you that now. All of Gaia can’t tell you. Youmust come to the place without knowing anything to begin with. Youmust learn it all there. You must then do what you must do--but you must do it calmly and unemotionally. If you remain as you are, nothing will be of use and, one way or another, Gaia will come to an end. You must change this feeling of yours and I do not know how to change it.”

 

                “Would Dom know ifhe were here?” said Trevize remorselessly.

 

                “Domis here,” said Bliss. “He/I/we do not know how to change you or calm you. We do not understand a human being who cannot sense his place in the scheme of things, who does not feel like part of a greater whole.”

 

                Trevize said, “That is not so. You could seize my ship at a distance of a million kilometers and more--and keep us calm while we were helpless. Well, calm me now. Don’t pretend you are not capable of doing it.”

 

                “But wemustn’t . Not now. If we changed you or adjusted you in any way now, then you would be no more valuable to us than any other person in the Galaxy and we could not use you. We can only use you because you areyou --and you must remain you. If we touch you at this moment in any way, we are lost. Please. You must be calm of your own accord.”

 

                “Not a chance, miss, unless you tell me some of what I want to know.”

 

                Pelorat said, “Bliss, let me try. Please go into the other room.”

 

                Bliss left, backing slowly out. Pelorat closed the door behind her.

 

                Trevize said, “She can hear and see--sense everything. What difference does this make?”

 

                Pelorat said, “It makes a difference to me. I want to be alone with you, even if isolation is an illusion. --Golan, you’re afraid.”

 

                “Don’t be a fool.”

 

                “Of course you are. You don’t know where you’re going, what you’ll be facing, what you’ll be expected to do. You have a right to be afraid.”

 

                “But I’m not.”

 

                “Yes, you are. Perhaps you’re not afraid of physical danger in the way that I am. I’ve been afraid of venturing out into space, afraid of each new world I see, afraid of every new thing I encounter. After all, I’ve lived half a century of a constricted, withdrawn and limited life, while you have been in the Navy and in politics, in the thick and hurly-burly at home and in space. Yet I’ve tried not to be afraid and you’ve helped me. In this time that we’ve been together, you’ve been patient with me, you’ve been kind to me and understanding, and because of you, I’ve managed to master my fears and behave well. Let me, then, return the favor and help you.”

 

                “I’m not afraid, I tell you.”

 

                “Of course you are. If nothing else, you’re afraid of the responsibility you’ll be facing. Apparently there’s a whole world depending on you--and you will therefore have to live with the destruction of a whole world if you fail. Why should you have to face that possibility for a world that means nothing to you? ‘What right have they to place this load upon you? You’re not only afraid of failure, as any person would be in your place, but you’re furious that they should put you in the position where you have to be afraid.”

 

                “You’re all wrong.”

 

                “I don’t think so. Consequently let me take your place. I’ll do it. Whatever it is they expect you to do, I volunteer as substitute. I assume that it’s not something that requires great physical strength or vitality, since a simple mechanical device would outdo you in that respect. I assume it’s not something that requires mentalics, for they have enough of that themselves. It’s something that--well, I don’t know, but if it requires neither brawn nor brain, then I have everything else as well as you--and I am ready to take the responsibility.”

 

                Trevize said sharply, “Why are you so willing to bear the load?”

 

                Pelorat looked down at the floor, as though fearing to meet the other’s eyes. He said, “I have had a wife, Golan. I have known women. Yet they have never been very important to me. Interesting. Pleasant. Never very important. Yet, this one--”

 

                “Who? Bliss?”

 

                “She’s different, somehow--to me.”

 

                “By Terminus, Janov, she knows every word you’re saying.”

 

                “That makes no difference. She knows anyhow. --I want to please her. I will undertake this task, whatever it is; run any risk, take any responsibility, on the smallest chance that it will make her--think well of me.”

 

                “Janov, she’s a child.”

 

                “She’s not a child--and what you think of her makes no difference to me.”

 

                “Don’t you understand what you must seem to her?”

 

                “An old man? What’s the difference? She’s part of a greater whole and I am not--and that alone builds an insuperable wall between us. Don’t you think I know that? But I don’t ask anything of her but that she--”

 

                “Think well of you?”

 

                “Yes. Or whatever else she can make herself feel for me.”

 

                “And for that you will do my job? --But Janov, haven’t you been listening. They don’t want you; they wantme for some space-ridden reason I can’t understand.”

 

                “If they can’t have you and if they must have someone, I will be better than nothing, surely.”

 

                Trevize shook his head. “I can’t believe that this is happening. Old age is overtaking you and you have discovered youth. Janov, you’re trying to be a hero, so that you can die for that body.”

 

                “Don’t say that, Golan. This is not a fit subject for humor.”

 

                Trevize tried to laugh, but his eyes met Pelorat’s grave face and he cleared his throat instead. He said, “You’re right. I apologize. Call her in, Janov. Call her in.”

 

                Bliss entered, shrinking a little. She said in a small voice, “I’m sorry, Pel. You cannot substitute. It must be Trevize or no one.”

 

                Trevize said, “Very well. I’ll be calm. Whatever it is, I’ll try to do it. Anything to keep Janov from trying to play the romantic hero at his age.”

 

                “I know my age,” muttered Pelorat.

 

                Bliss approached him slowly, placed her hand on his shoulder. “Pel, I--I think well of you.”

 

                Pelorat looked away. “It’s all right, Bliss. You needn’t be kind.”

 

                “I’m not being kind, Pel. I think--very well of you.”

 

  

 

 2.

 

  

 

 Dimly, then more strongly, Sura Novi knew that she was Suranoviremblastiran and that when she was a child, she had been known as Su to her parents and Vito her friends.

 

                She had never really forgotten, of course, but the facts were, on occasion, buried deep within her. Never had it been buried as deeply or for as long as in this last month, for never had she been so close for so long to a mind so powerful.

 

                But now it was time. She did not will it herself. She had no need to. The vast remainder of her was pushing her portion of itself to the surface, for the sake of the global need.

 

                Accompanying that was a vague discomfort, a kind of itch that was rapidly overwhelmed by the comfort of selfness unmasked. Not in years had she been so close to the globe of Gaia.

 

                She remembered one of the life-forms she had loved on Gaia as a child. Having understood its feelings then as a dim part of her own, she recognized her own sharper ones now. She was a butterfly emerging from a cocoon.

 

  

 

 3.

 

  

 

 Stor Gendibal stared sharply and penetratingly at Novi--and with such surprise that he came within a hair of loosening his grip upon Mayor Branno. That he did not do so was, perhaps, the result of a sudden support from without that steadied him and that, for the moment, he ignored.

 

                He said, “What do you Know of Councilman Trevize, Novi?” And then, in cold disturbance at the sudden and growing complexity of her mind, he cried out, “What are you?”

 

                He attempted to seize hold of her mind and found it impenetrable. At that moment, he recognized that his hold on Branno was supported by a grip stronger than his own. He repeated, “What are you?”

 

                There was a hint of the tragic on Novi’s face. “Master,” she said, “Speaker Gendibal. My true name is Suranoviremblastiran and I am Gaia.”

 

                It was all she said in words, but Gendibal, in sudden fury, had intensified his own mental aura and with great skill, now that his blood was up, evaded the strengthening bar and held Branno on his own and more strongly than before, while he gripped Novi’s mind in a tight and silent struggle.

 

                She held him off with equal skill, but she could not keep her mind closed to him--or perhaps she did not wish to.

 

                He spoke to her as he would to another Speaker. “You have played a part, deceived me, lured me here, and you are one of the species from which the Mule was derived.”

 

                “The Mule was an aberration, Speaker. I/we are not Mules. I/we are Gaia.”

 

                The whole essence of Gaia was described in what she complexly communicated, far more than it could have been in any number of words.

 

                “A whole planet alive,” said Gendibal.

 

                “And with a mentalic field greater as a whole than is yours as an individual. Please do not resist with such force. I fear the danger of harming you, something I do not wish to do.”

 

                “Even as a living planet, you are not stronger than the sum of my colleagues on Trantor. We, too, are, in a way, a planet alive.”

 

                “Only some thousands of people in mentalic co-operation, Speaker, and you cannot draw upon their support, for I have blocked it off. Test that and you will see.”

 

                “What is it you plan to do, Gaia?”

 

                “I would hope, Speaker, that you would call me Novi. What I do now I do as Gaia, but I am Novi also--and with reference to you, I am only Novi.”

 

                “What is it you plan to do, Gaia?”

 

                There was the trembling mentalic equivalent of a sigh and Novi said, “We will remain in triple stalemate. You will hold Mayor Branno through her shield, and I will help you do so, and we will not tire. You, I suppose, will maintain your grip on me, and I will maintain mine on you, and neither one of us will tire there either. And so it will stay.”

 

                “To what end?”

 

                “As I have told you-- We are waiting for Councilman Trevize of Terminus. It is he who will break the stalemate--as he chooses.”

 

  

 

 4.

 

  

 

 The computer on board theFar Star located the two ships and Golan Trevize displayed them together on the split screen.

 

                They were both Foundation vessels. One was precisely like theFar Star and was undoubtedly Compor’s ship. The other was larger and far more powerful.

 

                He turned toward Bliss and said, “Well, do you know what’s going on? Is there anything you can now tell me?”

 

                “Yes! Do not be alarmed! They will not harm you.”

 

                “Why is everyone convinced I’m sitting here all a-tremble with panic?” Trevize demanded petulantly.

 

                Pelorat said hastily, “Let her talk, Golan. Don’t snap at her.”

 

                Trevize raised his arms in a gesture of impatient surrender. “I will not snap. Speak, lady.”

 

                Bliss said, “On the large ship is the ruler of your Foundation. With her--”

 

                Trevize said in astonishment, “The ruler? You mean Old Lady Branno?”

 

                “Surely that is not her title,” said Bliss, her lips twitching a little in amusement. “But she is a woman, yes.” She paused a little, as though listening intently to the rest of the general organism of which she was part. “Her name is Harlabranno. It seems odd to have only four syllables when one is so important on her world, but I suppose non-Gaians have their own ways.”

 

                “I suppose,” said Trevize dryly. “You would call her Brann, I think. But what is she doing here? Why isn’t she back on-- I see. Gaia has maneuvered her here, too. Why?”

 

                Bliss did not answer that question. She said, “With her is Lionokodell, five syllables, though her underling. It seems a lack of respect. He is an important official of your world. With them are four others who control the ship’s weapons. Do you want their names?”

 

                “No. I take it that on the other ship there is one man, Munn Li Compor, and that he represents the Second Foundation. You’ve brought both Foundations together, obviously. Why?”

 

                “Not exactly, Trev--I mean, Trevize--”

 

                “Oh, go ahead and say Trev. I don’t give a puff of comet gas.”

 

                “Not exactly, Trev. Compor has left that ship and has been replaced by two people. One is Storgendibal, an important official of the Second Foundation. He is called a Speaker.”

 

                “An important official? He’s got mentalic power, I imagine.”

 

                “Oh yes. A great deal.”

 

                “Will you be able to handle that?”

 

                “Certainly. The second person, on the ship with him, is Gaia.”

 

                “One ofyour people?”

 

                “Yes. Her name is Suranoviremblastiran. It should be much longer, but she has been away from me/us/rest so long.”

 

                “Is she capable of holding a high official of the Second Foundation?”

 

                “It is not she, it is Gaia who holds him. She/I/we/all are capable of crushing him.”

 

                “Is that what she’s going to do? She’s going to crush him and Branno? What is this? Is Gaia going to destroy the Foundations and set up a Galactic Empire of its own? The Mule back again? A greater Mule--”

 

                “No no, Trev. Do not become agitated. You must not. All three are in a stalemate. They are waiting.”

 

                “For what?”

 

                “For your decision.”

 

                “Here we go again.What decision? Whyme ?”

 

                “Please, Trev,” said Bliss. “It will soon be explained. I/we/she have said as much as I/we/she can for now.”

 

  

 

 5.

 

  

 

 Branno said wearily, “It is clear I have made a mistake, Liono, perhaps a fatal one.”

 

                “Is this something that ought to be admitted?” muttered Kodell through motionless lips.

 

                “They know what I think. It will do no further harm to say so. Nor do they know less about what you think if you do not move your lips. --I should have waited until the shield was further strengthened.”

 

                Kodell said, “How could you have known, Mayor? If we waited until assurance was doubly and triply and quadruply and endlessly sure, we would have waited forever. --To be sure, I wish we had not gone ourselves. It would have been well to have experimented with someone else--with your lightning rod, Trevize, perhaps.”

 

                Branno sighed. “I wanted to give them no warning, Liono. Still, there you put the finger on the nub of my mistake. I might have waited until the shield was reasonably impenetrable. Not ultimately impenetrable but reasonably so. I knew there was perceptible leakage now, but I could not bear to wait longer. To wipe out the leakage would have meant waiting past my term of office and I wanted it done inmy time--andI wanted to be on the spot. So like a fool, I forced myself to believe the shield was adequate. I would listen to no caution--to your doubts, for instance.”

 

                “We may still win out if we are patient.”

 

                “Can you give the order to fire on the other ship?”

 

                “No, I cannot, Mayor. The thought is, somehow, not something I can endure.”

 

                “Nor I. And if you or I managed to give the order, I am certain that the men on board would not follow it, that they would not be able to.”

 

                “Not under present circumstances, Mayor, but circumstances might change. As a matter of fact, a new actor appears on the scene.”

 

                He pointed to the screen. The ship’s computer had automatically split the screen as a new ship came within its ken. The second ship appeared on the right-hand side.

 

                “Can you magnify the image, Liono?”

 

                “No trouble. The Second Foundationer is skillful. We are free to do anything he is not troubled by.”

 

                “Well,” said Branno, studying the screen, “that’s theFar Star , I’m sure. And I imagine Trevize and Pelorat are on board. Then, bitterly, “Unless they too have been replaced by Second Foundationers. My lightning rod has been very efficient indeed. --If only my shield had been stronger.”

 

                “Patience!” said Kodell.

 

                A voice rang out in the confines of the ship’s control room and Branno could somehow tell it did not consist of sound waves. She heard it in her mind directly and a glance at Kodell was sufficient to tell her that he had heard it, too.

 

                It said, “Can you hear me, Mayor Branno? If you can, don’t bother saying so. It will be enough if you think so.”

 

                Branno said calmly, “What are you?”

 

                “I am Gaia.”

 

  

 

 6.

 

  

 

 The three ships were each essentially at rest, relative to the other two. All three were turning very slowly about the planet Gaia, as a distant three-part satellite of the planet. All three were accompanying Gaia on its endless journey about its sun.

 

                Trevize sat, watching the screen, tired of guessing what his role might be--what he had been dragged across a thousand parsecs to do.

 

                The sound in his mind did not startle him. It was as though he had been waiting for it.

 

                It said, “Can you hear me, Golan Trevize? If you can, don’t bother saying so. It will be enough if you think it.”

 

                Trevize looked about. Pelorat, clearly startled, was looking in various directions, as though trying to find the source. Bliss sat quietly, her hands held loosely in her lap. Trevize had no doubt, for a moment, that she was aware of the sound.

 

                He ignored the order to use thoughts and spoke with deliberate clarity of enunciation. “If I don’t find out what this is about, I will do nothing I am asked to do.”

 

                And the voice said, “You are about to find out.”

 

  

 

 7.

 

  

 

 Novi said, “You will all hear me in your mind. You are all free to respond in thought. I will arrange it so that all of you can hear each other. And, as you are all aware, we are all close enough so that at the normal light-speed of the spatial mentalic field, there will be no inconvenient delays. To begin with, we are all here by arrangement.”

 

                “In what manner?” came Branno’s voice.

 

                “Not by mental tampering,” said Novi. “Gaia has interfered with no one’s mind. It is not our way. We merely took advantage of ambition. Mayor Branno wanted to establish a Second Empire at once; Speaker Gendibal wanted to be First Speaker. It was enough to encourage these desires and to ride the wind, selectively and with judgment.”

 

                “I know how I was brought here,” said Gendibal stiffly. And indeed he did. He knew why he had been so anxious to move out into space, so anxious to pursue Trevize, so sure he could handle it all. --It was all Novi. --Oh, Novi!

 

                “You were a particular case, Speaker Gendibal. Your ambition was powerful, but there were softnesses about you that offered a shortcut. You were a person who would be kind to someone whom you had been trained to think of as beneath you in every respect. I took advantage of this in you and turned it against you. I/we am/are deeply ashamed. The excuse is that the future of the Galaxy is in hazard.”

 

                Novi paused and her voice (though she was not speaking by way of vocal cords) grew more somber, her face more drawn.

 

                “This was the time. Gaia could wait no longer. For over a century, the people of Terminus had been developing a mentalic shield. Left to themselves another generation, it would have been impervious even to Gaia and they would have been free to use their physical weapons at will. The Galaxy would not have been able to resist them and a Second Galactic Empire, after the fashion of Terminus, would have been established at once, despite the Seldon Plan, despite the people of Trantor, and despite Gaia. Mayor Branno had to be somehow maneuvered into making her move while the shield was still imperfect.

 

                “Then there is Trantor. The Seldon Plan was working perfectly, for Gaia itself labored to keep it on track with precision. And for over a century, there had been quietist First Speakers, so that Trantor vegetated. Now, however, Stor Gendibal was rising quickly. He would certainly become First Speaker and under him Trantor would take on an activist role. It would surely concentrate on physical power and would recognize the danger of Terminus and take action against it. If he could act against Terminus before its shield was perfected, then the Seldon Plan would be worked out to its conclusion in a Second Galactic Empire--after the fashion of Trantor--despite the people of Terminus and despite Gaia. Consequently Gendibal had to be somehow maneuvered into making his move before he became First Speaker.

 

                “Fortunately, because Gaia has been working carefully for decades, we have brought both Foundations to the proper place at the proper time. I repeat all this primarily so that Councilman Golan Trevize of Terminus may understand.”

 

                Trevize cut in at once and again ignored the effort to converse by thought. He spoke words firmly, “I donot understand. What is wrong with either version of the Second Galactic Empire?”

 

                Novi said, “The Second Galactic Empire--worked out after the fashion of Terminus--will be a military Empire, established by strife, maintained by strife, and eventually destroyed by strife. It will be nothing but the First Galactic Empire reborn. That is the view of Gaia.

 

                “The Second Galactic Empire--worked out after the fashion of Trantor--will be a paternalistic Empire, established by calculation, maintained by calculation, and in perpetual living death by calculation. It will be a dead end. That is the view of Gaia.”

 

                Trevize said, “And what does Gaia have to offer as an alternative?”

 

                “Greater Gaia! Galaxia! Every inhabited planet as alive as Gaia. Every living planet combined into a still greater hyperspatial life. Every uninhabited planet participating. Every star. Every scrap of interstellar gas. Perhaps even the great central black hole. A living galaxy and one that can be made favorable for all life in ways that we yet cannot foresee. A way of life fundamentally different from all that has gone before and repeating none of the old mistakes.”

 

                “Originating new ones,” muttered Gendibal sarcastically.

 

                “We have had thousands of years of Gaia to work those out.”

 

                “But not on a Galactic scale.”

 

                Trevize, ignoring the short exchange and driving to his point, said, “And what is my role in all this?”

 

                The voice of Gaia--channeled through Novi’s mind--thundered, “Choose!Which alternative is it to be?”

 

                There was a vast silence that followed and finally, in that silence, Trevize’s voice--mental at last, for he was too taken aback to speak --sounded small and still defiant. “Why me?”

 

                Novi said, “Though we recognized the moment had come when either Terminus or Trantor would become too powerful to stop--or worse yet, when both might become so powerful that a deadly stalemate would develop that would devastate the Galaxy--we still could not move. For our purposes, we needed someone--a particular someone--with the talent for rightness. We found you, Councilman. --No, we cannot take the credit. The people of Trantor found you through the man named Compor, though even they did not know what they had. The act of finding you attracted our attention to you. Golan Trevize, you have the gift of knowing the right thing to do.”

 

                “I deny it,” said Trevize.

 

                “You are, every once in a while,sure . And we want you to be sure this time on behalf of the Galaxy. You do not wish the responsibility, perhaps. You may do your best not to have to choose. Nevertheless, you will realize that it is right to do so. You will besure ! And you will then choose. Once we found you, we knew the search was over and for years we have labored to encourage a course of action that would, without direct mentalic interference, so influence events that all three of you--Mayor Branno, Speaker Gendibal, and Councilman Trevize--would be in the neighborhood of Gaia at the same time. We have done it.”

 

                Trevize said, “At this point in space, under present circumstances, is it not true, Gaia--if that is what you want me to call you--that you can overpower both the Mayor and the Speaker? Is it not true that you can establish this living Galaxy you speak of without my doing anything? Why, then, do you not?”

 

                Novi said, “I do not know if I can explain this to your satisfaction. Gaia was formed thousands of years ago with the help of robots that once, for a brief time, served the human species and now serve them no more. They made it quite clear to us that we could survive only by a strict application of the Three Laws of Robotics as applied to life generally. The First Law, in those terms, is: ‘Gaia may not harm life or, through inaction, allow life to come to harm.’ We have followed this rule through all of our history and we can do no other.

 

                “The result is that we are now helpless. We cannot force our vision of the living Galaxy upon a quintillion human beings and countless other forms of life and perhaps do harm to vast numbers. Nor can we do nothing and watch the Galaxy half-destroy itself in a struggle that we might have prevented. We do not know whether action or inaction will cost the Galaxy less; nor, if we choose action, do we know whether supporting Terminus or Trantor will cost the Galaxy less. Let Councilman Trevize decide then--and whatever that decision is, Gaia will follow it.”

 

                Trevize said, “How do you expect me to make a decision? What do I do?”

 

                Novi said, “You have your computer. The people of Terminus did not know that when they made it, they made it better than they knew. The computer on board your ship incorporates some of Gaia. Place your hands on the terminals and think. You may think Mayor Branno’s shield impervious, for instance. If you do, it is possible that she will at once use her weapons to disable or destroy the other two ships, establish physical rule over Gaia and, later on, Trantor.”

 

                “And you will do nothing to stop that?” said Trevize with astonishment.

 

                “Not a thing. If you are sure that domination by Terminus will do the Galaxy less harm than any other alternative, we will gladly help that domination along--even at the cost of our own destruction.

 

                “On the other hand, you may find Speaker Gendibal’s mentalic field and you may then join your computer-magnified push to his. He will, in that case, surely break free of me and push me back. He may then adjust the Mayor’s mind and, in combination with her ships, establish physical domination over Gaia and assure the continued supremacy of the Seldon Plan. Gaia will not move to stop that.

 

                “Or you may findmy mentalic field and join that--and then the living Galaxy will be set in motion to reach its fulfillment, not in this generation or the next, but after centuries of labor during which the Seldon Plan will continue. The choice is yours.”

 

                Mayor Branno said, “Wait! Do not make a decision just yet. May I speak?”

 

                Novi said, “You may speak freely. So may Speaker Gendibal.”

 

                Branno said, “Councilman Trevize. The last time we met on Terminus, you said, ‘The time may come, Madam Mayor, when you will ask me for an effort, and I will then do as I choose, and I will remember the past two days.’ I don’t know whether you foresaw this, or intuitively felt it would happen, or simply had what this woman who speaks of a living Galaxy calls a talent for rightness. In any case, you were right. I am asking you for an effort on behalf of the Federation.

 

                “You may, I suppose, feel that you would like to even the score with me for having arrested and exiled you. I ask you to remember that I did it for what I considered the good of the Foundation Federation. Even if I were wrong or even if I acted out of callous self-interest, remember that it was I who did it--and not the Federation. Do not now destroy the entire Federation out of a desire to balance what I alone have done to you. Remember that you are a Foundationer and a human being, that you do not want to be a cipher in the plans of the bloodless mathematicians of Trantor or less than a cipher in a Galactic mish-mash of life and nonlife. You want yourself, your descendants, your fellow-people to be independent organisms, possessing free will. Nothing else matters.

 

                “These others may tell you that our Empire will lead to bloodshed and misery--but it need not. It is our free-will choice whether this should be so or not. We may choose otherwise. And, in any case, it is better to go to defeat with free will than to live in meaningless security as a cog in a machine. Observe that you are now being asked to make a decision as a free-will human being. These things of Gaia are unable to make a decision because their machinery will not allow them to, so that they depend on you. And they will destroy themselves if you bid them to. Is this what you want for all the Galaxy?”

 

                Trevize said, “I do not know that I have free will, Mayor. My mind may have been subtly dealt with, so that I will give the answer that is desired.”

 

                Novi said, “Your mind is totally untouched. If we could bring ourselves to adjust you to suit our purposes, this whole meeting would be unnecessary. Were we that unprincipled, we could have proceeded with what we would find most pleasing to ourselves with no concern for the greater needs and good of humanity as a whole.”

 

                Gendibal said, “I believe it is my turn to speak. Councilman Trevize, do not be guided by narrow parochialism. The fact that you are Terminus-born should not lead you to believe that Terminus comes before the Galaxy. For five centuries now, the Galaxy has been operating in accordance with the Seldon Plan. In and out of the Foundation Federation, that operation has been proceeding.

 

                “You are, and have been, part of the Seldon Plan above and beyond your lesser role as Foundationer. Do not do anything to disrupt the Plan, either on behalf of a narrow concept of patriotism or out of a romantic longing for the new and untried. The Second Foundationers will in no way hamper the free will of humanity. We are guides, not despots.

 

                “And we offer a Second Galactic Empire fundamentally different from the First. Throughout human history, no decade in all the tens of thousands of years during which hyperspatial travel has existed has been completely free of bloodshed and violent death throughout the Galaxy, even in those periods when the Foundation itself was at peace. Choose Mayor Branno and that will continue endlessly into the future. The same dreary, deadly round. The Seldon Plan offers release from that at last--andnot at the price of becoming one more atom in a Galaxy of atoms, being reduced to equality with grass, bacteria, and dust.”

 

                Novi said, “What Speaker Gendibal says of the First Foundation’s Second Empire, I agree with. What he says of his own, I do not. The Speakers of Trantor are, after all, independent free-will human beings and are the same as they have always been. Are they free of destructive competition, of politics, of clawing upward at all costs? Are there no quarrels and even hatreds at the Speaker’s Table--and will they always be guides you dare follow? Put Speaker Gendibal on his honor and ask him this.”

 

                “No need to put me on my honor,” said Gendibal. “I freely admit we have our hatreds, competitions, and betrayals at the Table. But once a decision is reached, it is obeyed by all. There has never been an exception to this.”

 

                Trevize said, “What if I will not make a choice?”

 

                “You must,” said Novi. “You will know that it is right to do so and you will therefore make a choice.”

 

                “What if I try to make a choice and cannot?”

 

                “You must.”

 

                Trevize said, “How much time do I have?”

 

                Novi said, “Until you aresure , however much time that takes.”

 

                Trevize sat silently.

 

                Though the others were silent too, it seemed to Trevize that he could hear the pulsing of his bloodstream.

 

                He could hear Mayor Branno’s voice say firmly, “Free will!”

 

                Speaker Gendibal’s voice said peremptorily, “Guidance and peace!”

 

                Novi’s voice said wistfully, “Life.”

 

                Trevize turned and found Pelorat looking at him intently. He said, “Janov. Have you heard all this?”

 

                “Yes, I have, Golan.”

 

                “What do you think?”

 

                “The decision is not mine.”

 

                “I know that. But what do you think.”

 

                “I don’t know. I am frightened by all three alternatives. And yet a peculiar thought comes to me--”

 

                “Yes?”

 

                “When we first went out into space, you showed me the Galaxy. Do you remember?”

 

                “Of course.”

 

                “You speeded time and the Galaxy rotated visibly. And I said, as though anticipating this very time, ‘The Galaxy looks like a living thing, crawling through space.’ Do you think that, in a way, it is alive already?”

 

                And Trevize, remembering that moment, was suddenlysure . He remembered suddenly his feeling that Pelorat, too, would have a vital role to play. He turned in haste, anxious not to have time to think, to doubt, to grow uncertain.

 

                He placed his hands on the terminals and thought with an intensity he had never known before.

 

                He had made his decision--the decision on which the fate of the Galaxy hung.

 

  

 

  

 

 20. CONCLUSION

 

  

 

 1.

 

  

 

       MAYOR HARLA BRANNO HAD EVERY REASON FOR SATISFACTION. THE state visit had not lasted long, but it had been thoroughly productive.

 

                She said, as though in deliberate attempt to avoidhubris , “We can’t, of course, trust them completely.”

 

                She was watching the screen. The ships of the Fleet were, one by one, entering hyperspace and returning to their normal stations.

 

                There was no question but that Sayshell had been impressed by their presence, but they could not have failed to notice two things: one, that the ships had remained in Foundation space at all times; two, that once Branno had indicated they would leave, they were indeed leaving with celerity.

 

                On the other hand, Sayshell would not forget either that those ships could be recalled to the border at a day’s notice--or less. It was a maneuver that had combined both a demonstration of power and a demonstration of goodwill.

 

                Kodell said, “Quite right, we can’t trust them completely, but then no one in the Galaxy can be trusted completely and it is in the self-interest of Sayshell to observe the terms of the agreement. We have been generous.”

 

                Branno said, “A lot will depend on working out the details and I predict that will take months. The general brushstrokes can be accepted in a moment, but then come the shadings: just how we arrange for quarantine of imports and exports, how we weigh the value of their grain and cattle compared to ours, and so on.”

 

                “I know, but it will be done eventually and the credit will be yours, Mayor. It was a bold stroke and one, I admit, whose wisdom I doubted.”

 

                “Come, Liono. It was just a matter of the Foundation recognizing Sayshellian pride. They’ve retained a certain independence since early Imperial times. It’s to be admired, actually.”

 

                “Yes, now that it will no longer inconvenience us.”

 

                “Exactly, so it was only necessary to bend our own pride to the point of making some sort of gesture to theirs. I admit it took an effort to decide that I, as Mayor of a Galaxy-straddling Federation, should condescend to visit a provincial star-grouping, but once the decision was made it didn’t hurt too much. And it pleased them. We had to gamble that they would agree to the visit once we moved our ships to the border, but it meant being humble and smiling very broadly.”

 

                Kodell nodded. “We abandoned the appearance of power to preserve the essence of it.”

 

                “Exactly. --Who first said that?”

 

                “I believe it was in one of Eriden’s plays, but I’m not sure. We can ask one of our literary lights back home.”

 

                “If I remember. We must speed the return visit of Sayshellians to Terminus and see to it that they are given the full treatment as equals. And I’m afraid, Liono, you will have to organize tight security for them. There is bound to be some indignation among our hotheads and it would not be wise to subject them to even slight and transient humiliation through protest demonstrations.”

 

                “Absolutely,” said Kodell. “It was a clever stroke, by the way, sending out Trevize.”

 

                “My lightning rod? He worked better than I thought he would, to be honest. He blundered his way into Sayshell and drew their lightning in the form of protests with a speed I could not have believed. Space! What an excellent excuse that made for my visit--concern lest a Foundation national in any way disturbed then and gratitude for their forbearance.”

 

                “Shrewd! --You don’t think it would have been better, though, to have brought Trevize back with us?”

 

                “No. On the whole, I prefer him anywhere but at home. He would be a disturbing factor on Terminus. His nonsense about the Second Foundation served as the perfect excuse for sending him out and, of course, we counted on Pelorat to lead him to Sayshell, but I don’t want him back, continuing to spread the nonsense. We can never tell what that might lead to.”

 

                Kodell chuckled. “I doubt that we can ever find anyone more gullible than an intellectual academic. I wonder how much Pelorat would have swallowed if we had encouraged him.”

 

                “Belief in the literal existence of the mythical Sayshellian Gaia was quite enough--but forget it. We will have to face the Council when we return and we will need their votes for the Sayshellian treaty. Fortunately we have Trevize’s statement--voiceprint and all --to the effect that he left Terminus voluntarily. I will offer official regrets as to Trevize’s brief arrest and that will satisfy the Council.”

 

                “I can rely on you for the soft soap, Mayor,” said Kodell dryly. “Have you considered, though, that Trevize may continue to search for the Second Foundation?”

 

                “Let him,” said Branno, shrugging, “as long as he doesn’t do it on Terminus. It will keep him busy and get him nowhere. The Second Foundation’s continued existence is our myth of the century, as Gaia is Sayshell’s myth.”

 

                She leaned back and looked positively genial. “And now we have Sayshell in our grip--and by the time they see that, it will be too late for them to break the grip. So the Foundation’s growth continues and will continue, smoothly and regularly.”

 

                “And the credit will be entirely yours, Mayor.”

 

                “That has not escaped my notice,” said Branno, and their ship slipped into hyperspace and reappeared in the neighborhood space of Terminus.

 

  

 

 2.

 

  

 

 Speaker Stor Gendibal, on his own ship again, had every reason for satisfaction. The encounter with the First Foundation had not lasted long, but it had been thoroughly productive.

 

                He had sent back his message of carefully muted triumph. It was only necessary--for the moment--to let the First Speaker know that all had gone well (as, indeed, he might guess from the fact that the general force of the Second Foundation had never had to be used after all). The details could come later on.

 

                He would describe how a careful--and very minor--adjustment to Mayor Branno’s mind had turned her thoughts from imperialistic grandiosity to the practicality of commercial treaty; how a careful-- and rather long-distance--adjustment of the leader of the Sayshell Union had led to an invitation to the Mayor of a parley and how, thereafter, a rapprochement had been reached with no further adjustments at all with Compor returning to Terminus on his own ship, to see that the agreement would be kept. It had been, Gendibal thought complacently, almost a storybook example of large results brought about by minutely crafted mentalics.

 

                It would, he was sure, squash Speaker Delarmi flat and bring about his own elevation to First Speaker very soon after the presentation of the details at a formal meeting of the Table.

 

                And he did not deny to himself the importance of Sum Novi’s presence, though that would not need to be stressed to the Speakers generally. Not only had she been essential to his victory, but she gave him the excuse he now needed for indulging his childish (and very human, for even Speakers are very human) need to exult before what he knew to be a guaranteed admiration.

 

                She did not understand anything that had happened, he knew, but she was aware that he had arranged matters to his liking and she was bursting with pride over that. He caressed the smoothness of her mind and felt the warmth of that pride.

 

                He said, “I could not have done it without you, Novi. It was because of you I could tell that the First Foundation--the people on the large ship--”

 

                “Yes, Master, I know whom you mean.”

 

                “I could tell, because of you, that they had a shield, together with weak powers of the mind. From the effect onyour mind, I could tell, exactly, the characteristics of both. I could tell how most efficiently to penetrate the one and deflect the other.”

 

                Novi said tentatively, “I do not understand exactly what it is you say, Master, but I would have done much more to help, if I could.”

 

                “I know that, Novi. But what you did was enough. It is amazing how dangerous they might have been. But caught now, before either their shield or their field had been developed more strongly, they could be stopped. The Mayor goes back now, the shield and the field forgotten, satisfied over the fact that she has obtained a commercial treaty with Sayshell that will make it a working part of the Federation. I don’t deny that there is much more to do to dismantle the work they have done on shield and field--it is something concerning which we have been remiss--but it will be done.”

 

                He brooded about the matter and went on in a lower voice, “We took far too much for granted with the First Foundation. We must place them under closer supervision. We must knit the Galaxy closer together somehow. We must make use of mentalics to build a closer co-operation of consciousness. That would fit the Plan. I’m convinced of that and I’ll see to it.”

 

                Novi said anxiously, “Master?”

 

                Gendibal smiled suddenly. “I’m sorry. I’m talking to myself. --Novi, do you remember Rufirant?”

 

                “That bone-skulled farmer who attacked you? I should say I do.”

 

                “I’m convinced that First Foundation agents, armed with personal shields, arranged that, together with all the other anomalies that have plagued us. Imagine being blind to a thing like that. But then, I was bemused into overlooking the First Foundation altogether by this myth of a mysterious world, this Sayshellian superstition concerning Gaia. There, too, your mind came in handy. It helped me determine that the source of that mentalic field was the warship and nothing else.”

 

                He rubbed his hands.

 

                Novi said timidly, “Master?”

 

                “Yes, Novi?”

 

                “Will you not be rewarded for what you have done?”

 

                “Indeed I will. Shandess will retire and I will be First Speaker. Then will come my chance to make us an active factor in revolutionizing the Galaxy.”

 

                “First Speaker?”

 

                “Yes, Novi. I will be the most important and the most powerful scholar of them all.”

 

                “The most important?” She looked woebegone.

 

                “Why do you make a face, Novi? Don’t you want me to be rewarded?”

 

                “Yes, Master, I do. --But if you are the most important scholar of them all, you will not want a Hamishwoman near you. It would not be fitting.”

 

                “Won’t I, though? Who will stop me?” He felt a gush of affection for her. “Novi, you’ll stay with me wherever I go and whatever I am. Do you think I would risk dealing with some of the wolves we occasionally have at the Table without your mind always there to tell me, even before they know themselves, what their emotions might be--your own innocent, absolutely smooth mind. Besides--” He seemed startled by a sudden revelation, “Even aside from that, I--I like having you with me and I intend having you with me. --That is, if you are willing.”

 

                “Oh, Master,” whispered Novi and, as his arm moved around her waist, her head sank to his shoulder.

 

                Deep within, where the enveloping mind of Novi could scarcely be aware of it, the essence of Gaia remained and guided events, but it was that impenetrable mask that made the continuance of the great task possible.

 

                And that mask--the one that belonged to a Hamishwoman--was completely happy. It was so happy that Novi was almost reconciled for the distance she was from herself/them/all, and she was content to be, for the indefinite future, what she seemed to be.

 

  

 

 3.

 

  

 

 Pelorat rubbed his hands and said, with carefully controlled enthusiasm, “How glad I am to be back on Gaia.”

 

                “Umm,” said Trevize abstractedly.

 

                “You know what Bliss has told me? The Mayor is going back to Terminus with a commercial treaty with Sayshell. The Speaker from the Second Foundation is going back to Trantor convinced that he has arranged it--and that woman, Novi, is going with him to see to it that the changes that will bring about Galaxia are initiated. And neither Foundation is in the least aware that Gaia exists. It’s absolutely amazing.”

 

                “I know,” said Trevize. “I was told all this, too. But we know that Gaia exists and we can talk.”

 

                “Bliss doesn’t think so. She says no one would believe us, and we would know that. Besides, I, for one, have no intention of ever leaving Gaia.”

 

                Trevize was pulled out of his inner musing. He looked up and said, “What?”

 

                “I’m going to stay here. --You know, I can’t believe it. Just weeks ago, I was living a lonely life on Terminus, the same life I had lived for decades, immersed in my records and my thoughts and never dreaming anything but that I would go to my death, whenever it might be, still immersed in my records and my thoughts and still living my lonely life--contentedly vegetating. Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, I became a Galactic traveler; I was involved with a Galactic crisis; and--do not laugh, Golan--I have found Bliss.”

 

                “I’m not laughing, Janov,” said Trevize, “but are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

 

                “Oh yes. This matter of Earth is no longer important to me. The fact that it was the only world with a diverse ecology and with intelligent life has been adequately explained. The Eternals, you know.”

 

                “Yes, I know. And you’re going to stay on Gaia?”

 

                “Absolutely. Earth is the past and I’m tired of the past. Gaia is the future.”

 

                “You’re not part of Gaia, Janov. Or do you think you can become part of it?”

 

                “Bliss says that I can become somewhat a part of it--intellectually if not biologically. She’ll help, of course.”

 

                “But since sheis part of it, how can you two find a common life, a common point of view, a common interest--”

 

                They were in the open and Trevize looked gravely at the quiet, fruitful island, and beyond it the sea, and on the horizon, purpled by distance, another island--all of it peaceful, civilized, alive, and a unit.

 

                He said, “Janov, she is a world; you are a tiny individual. What if she gets tired of you? She is young--”

 

                “Golan, I’ve thought of that. I’ve thought of nothing but that for days. I expect her to grow tired of me; I’m no romantic idiot. But whatever she gives me till then will be enough. She has already given me enough. I have received more from her than I dreamed existed in life. If I saw her no more from this moment on, I have ended the winner.”

 

                “I don’t believe it,” said Trevize gently. “I think youare a romantic idiot and, mind you, I wouldn’t want you any other way. Janov, we haven’t known each other for long, but we’ve been together every moment for weeks and--I’m sorry if it sounds silly--I like you a great deal.”

 

                “And I, you, Golan,” said Pelorat.

 

                “And I don’t want you hurt. I must talk to Bliss.”

 

                “No no. Please don’t. You’ll lecture her.”

 

                “I won’t lecture her. It’s not entirely to do with you--and I want to talk to her privately. Please, Janov, I don’t want to do it behind your back, so grant me your willingness to have me talk to her and get a few things straight. If I am satisfied, I will give you my heartiest congratulations and goodwill--and I will forever hold my peace, whatever happens.”

 

                Pelorat shook his head. “You’ll ruin things.”

 

                “I promise I won’t Ibeg you--”

 

                “Well-- But do be careful, my dear fellow, won’t you?”

 

                “You have my solemn word.”

 

  

 

 4.

 

  

 

 Bliss said, “Pel says you want to see me.”

 

                Trevize said, “Yes.”

 

                They were indoors, in the small apartment allotted to him.

 

                She sat down gracefully, crossed her legs, and looked up at him shrewdly, her beautiful brown eyes luminous and her long, dark hair glistening.

 

                She said, “You disapprove of me, don’t you? You have disapproved of me from the start.”

 

                Trevize remained standing. He said, “You are aware of minds and of their contents. You know what I think of you and why.”

 

                Slowly Bliss shook her head. “Your mind is out of bounds to Gaia. You know that. Your decision was needed and it had to be the decision of a clear and untouched mind. When your ship was first taken, I placed you and Pel within a soothing field, but that was essential. You would have been damaged--and perhaps rendered useless for a crucial time--by panic or rage. And that was all. I could never go beyond that and I haven’t--so I don’t know what you’re thinking.”

 

                Trevize said, “The decision I had to make has been made. I decided in favor of Gaia and Galaxia. Why, then, all this talk of a clear and untouched mind? You have what you want and you can do with me now as you wish.”

 

                “Not at all, Trev. There are other decisions that may be needed in the future. You remain what you are and, while you are alive, you are a rare natural resource of the Galaxy. Undoubtedly there are others like you in the Galaxy and others like you will appear in the future, but for now we know of you--and only you. We still cannot touch you.”

 

                Trevize considered. “You are Gaia and I don’t want to talk to Gaia. I want to talk to you as an individual, if that has any meaning at all.”

 

                “It has meaning. We are far from existing in a common melt. I can block off Gaia for a period of time.”

 

                “Yes,” said Trevize. “I think you can. Have you now done so?”

 

                “I have now done so.”

 

                “Then, first, let me tell you that you have played games. You did not enter my mind to influence my decision, perhaps, but you certainly entered Janov’s mind to do so, didn’t you?”

 

                “Do you think I did?”

 

                “I think you did. At the crucial moment, Pelorat reminded me of his own vision of the Galaxy as alive and the thought drove me on to make my decision at that moment. The thought may have been his, but yours was the mind that triggered it, was it not?”

 

                Bliss said, “The thought was in his mind, but there were many thoughts there. I smoothed the path before that reminiscence of his about the living Galaxy--and not before any other thought of his. That particular thought, therefore, slipped easily out of his consciousness and into words. Mind you, I did not create the thought. It was there.”

 

                “Nevertheless, that amounted to an indirect tampering with the perfect independence of my decision, did it not?”

 

                “Gaia felt it necessary.”

 

                “Did it? --Well, it may make you feel better--or nobler--to know that although Janov’s remark persuaded me to make the decision at that moment, it was the decision I think I would have made even if he had said nothing or if he had tried to argue me into a decision of a different kind. I want you to know that.”

 

                “I am relieved,” said Bliss coolly. “Is that what you wanted to tell me when you asked to see me?”

 

                “No.”

 

                “What else is there?”

 

                Now Trevize sat down in a chair he had drawn opposite her so that their knees nearly touched. He leaned toward her.

 

                “When we approached Gaia, it was you on the space station. It was you who trapped us; you who came out to get us; you who have remained with us ever since--except for the meal with Dom, which you did not share with us. In particular, it was you on theFar Star with us, when the decision was made. Always you.”

 

                “I am Gaia.”

 

                “That does not explain it. A rabbit is Gaia. A pebble is Gaia. Everything on the planet is Gaia, but they are not all equally Gaia. Some are more equal than others. Why you?”

 

                “Why do you think?”

 

                Trevize made the plunge. He said, “Because I don’t think you’re Gaia. I think you’re more than Gaia.”

 

                Bliss made a derisive sound with her lips.

 

                Trevize kept to his course. “At the time I was making the decision, the woman with the Speaker--”

 

                “He called her Novi.”

 

                “This Novi, then, said that Gaia was set on its course by the robots that no longer exist and that Gaia was taught to follow a version of the Three Laws of Robotics.”

 

                “That is quite true.”

 

                “And the robots no longer exist?”

 

                “So Novi said.”

 

                “So Novi didnot say. I remember her exact words. She said: ‘Gaia was formed thousands of years ago with the help of robots that once, for a brief time, served The human species and now serve them no more.”

 

                “Well, Trev, doesn’t that mean they exist no more?”

 

                “No, it means they serve no more. Might they not rule instead?”

 

                “Ridiculous!”

 

                “Or supervise? Why were you there at the time of the decision? You did not seem to be essential. It was Novi who conducted matters and she was Gaia. What need of you? Unless--”

 

                “Well? Unless?”

 

                “Unless you are the supervisor whose role it is to make certain that Gaia does not forget the Three Laws. Unless you are a robot, so cleverly made that you cannot be told from a human being.”

 

                “If I cannot be told from a human being, how is it you think that you can tell?” asked Bliss with a trace of sarcasm.

 

                Trevize sat back. “Do you not all assure me I have the faculty of beingsure ; of making decisions, seeing solutions, drawing correct conclusions. I don’t claim this; it is whatyou say of me. Well, from the moment I saw you I felt uneasy. There was something wrong with you. I am certainly as susceptible to feminine allure as Pelorat is--more so, I should think--and you are an attractive woman in appearance. Yet not for one moment did I feel the slightest attraction.”

 

                “You devastate me.”

 

                Trevize ignored that. He said, “When you first appeared on our ship, Janov and I had been discussing the possibility of a nonhuman civilization on Gaia, and when Janov saw you, he asked, in his innocence, ‘Are you human?’ Perhaps a robot must answer the truth, but I suppose it can be evasive. You merely said, ‘Don’t Ilook human?’ Yes, you look human, Bliss, but let me ask you again. Are you human?”

 

                Bliss said nothing and Trevize continued. “I think that even at that first moment, I felt you were not a woman. You are a robot and I could somehow tell. And because of my feeling, all the events that followed had meaning for me--particularly your absence from the dinner.”

 

                Bliss said, “Do you think I cannot eat, Trev? Have you forgotten I nibbled a shrimp dish on your ship? I assure you that I am able to eat and perform any of the other biological functions. --Including, before you ask, sex. And yet that in itself, I might as well tell you, does not prove that I am not a robot. Robots had reached the pitch of perfection, even thousands of years ago, where only by their brains were they distinguishable from human beings, and then only by those able to handle mentalic fields. Speaker Gendibal might have been able to tell whether I were robot or human, if he had bothered even once to consider me. Of course, he did not.”

 

                “Yet, though I am without mentalics, I am nevertheless convinced you are a robot”

 

                Bliss said, “But what if I am? I admit nothing, but I am curious. What if I am?”

 

                “You have no need to admit anything. I know you are a robot If I needed a last bit of evidence, it was your calm assurance that you could block off Gaia and speak to me as an individual. I don’t think you could do that if you were part of Gaia--but you are not You are a robot supervisor and, therefore, outside of Gaia. I wonder, come to think of it, how many robot supervisors Gaia requires and possesses?”

 

                “I repeat: I admit nothing, but I am curious. What if I am a robot?”

 

                “In that case, what I want to know is: What do you want of Janov Pelorat? He is my friend and he is, in some ways, a child. He thinks he loves you; he thinks he wants only what you are willing to give and that you have already given him enough. He doesn’t know --and cannot conceive--the pain of the loss of love or, for that matter, the peculiar pain of knowing that you are not human--”

 

                “Doyou know the pain of lost love?”

 

                “I have had my moments. I have not led the sheltered life of Janov. I have not had my life consumed and anesthetized by an intellectual pursuit that swallowed up everything else, even wife and child. He has. Now suddenly, he gives it all up for you. I do not want him hurt. I will not have him hurt. If I have served Gaia, I deserve a reward--and my reward is your assurance that Janov Pelorat’s well-being will be preserved.”

 

                “Shall I pretend I am a robot and answer you?”

 

                Trevize said, “Yes. And right now.”

 

                “Very well, then. Suppose I am a robot, Trev, and suppose I am in a position of supervision. Suppose there are a few, a very few, who have a similar role to myself and suppose we rarely meet. Suppose that our driving force is the need to care for human beings and suppose there are no true humans beings on Gaia, because all are part of an overall planetary being.

 

                “Suppose that it fulfills us to care for Gaia--but not entirely. Suppose there is something primitive in us that longs for a human being in the sense that existed when robots were first formed and designed. Don’t mistake me; I do not claim to be age-old (assuming I am a robot). I am as old as I told you I was or, at least, (assuming I am a robot) that has been the term of my existence. Still, (assuming I am a robot) my fundamental design would be as it always was and I would long to care for a true human being.

 

                “Pel is a human being. He is not part of Gaia. He is too old to ever become a true part of Gaia. He wants to stay on Gaia with me, for he does not have the feelings about me that you have. He does not think that I am a robot. Well, I want him, too. If you assume that I am a robot, you see that I would. I am capable of all human reactions and I would love him. If you were to insist I was a robot, you might not consider me capable of love in some mystic human sense, but you would not be able to distinguish my reactions from that which you would call love--so what difference would it make?”

 

                She stopped and looked at him--intransigently proud.

 

                Trevize said, “You are telling me that you would not abandon him?”

 

                “If you assume that I am a robot, then you can see for yourself that by First Law I could never abandon him, unless he ordered me to do so and I were, in addition, convinced that he meant it and that I would be hurting him more by staying than by leaving.”

 

                “Would not a younger man--”

 

                “What younger man? You are a younger man, but I do not conceive you as needing me in the same sense that Pel does, and, in fact, you do not want me, so that the First Law would prevent me from attempting to cling to you.”

 

                “Not me. Another younger man--”

 

                “There is no other. Who is there on Gaia other than Pel and yourself that would qualify as human beings in the non-Gaian sense?”

 

                Trevize said, more softly, “And if you arenot a robot?”

 

                “Make up your mind,” said Bliss.

 

                “I say,if you are not a robot?”

 

                “Then I say that, in that case, you have no right to say anything at all. It is for myself and for Pel to decide.”

 

                Trev said, “Then I return to my first point. I want my reward and that reward is that you will treat him well. I won’t press the point of your identity. Simply assure me, as one intelligence to another, that you will treat him well.”

 

                And Bliss said softly, “I will treat him well--not as a reward to you, but because I wish to. It is my earnest desire. I will treat him well.” She called “Pel!” And again, “Pel!”

 

                Pelorat entered from outside, “Yes, Bliss.”

 

                Bliss held out her hand to him. “I think Trev wants to say something.”

 

                Pelorat took her hand and Trevize then took the doubled hand in his two. “Janov,” he said, “I am happy for both of you.”

 

                Pelorat said, “Oh, my dear fellow.”

 

                Trevize said, “I will probably be leaving Gaia. I go now to speak to Dom about that. I don’t know when or if we will meet again, Janov, but, in any case, we did well together.”

 

                “We did well,” said Pelorat, smiling.

 

                “Good-bye, Bliss, and, in advance, thank you.”

 

                “Good-bye, Trev.”

 

                And Trevize, with a wave of his hand, left the house.

 

  

 

 5.

 

  

 

 Dom said, “You did well, Trev. --But then, you did as I thought you would.”

 

                They were once more sitting over a meal, as unsatisfactory as the first had been, but Trevize did not mind. He might not be eating on Gaia again.

 

                He said, “I did as I thought you would, but not, perhaps, for the reason you thought I would.”

 

                “Surely you were sure of the correctness of your decision.”

 

                “Yes, I was, but not because of any mystic grip I have on certainty. If I chose Galaxia, it was through ordinary reasoning--the sort of reasoning that anyone else might have used to come to a decision. Would you care to have me explain?”

 

                “I most certainly would, Trev.”

 

                Trevize said, “There were three things I might have done. I might have joined the First Foundation, or joined the Second Foundation, or joined Gaia.

 

                “If I had joined the First Foundation, Mayor Branno would have taken immediate action to establish domination over the Second Foundation and over Gaia. If I had joined the Second Foundation, Speaker Gendibal would have taken immediate action to establish domination over the First Foundation and over Gaia. In either case, what would have taken place would have been irreversible--and if either were the wrong solution, it would have been irreversibly catastrophic.

 

                “If I joined with Gaia, however, then the First Foundation and the Second Foundation would each have been left with the conviction of having won a relatively minor victory. All would then have continued as before, since the building of Galaxia, I had already been told, would take generations, even centuries.

 

                “Joining with Gaia was my way of temporizing, then, and of making sure that there would remain time to modify matters--or even reverse them--if my decision were wrong.”

 

                Dom raised his eyebrows. His old, almost cadaverous face remained otherwise expressionless. He said in his piping voice, “And is it your opinion that your decision may turn out wrong?”

 

                Trevize shrugged. “I don’t think so, but there is one thing I must do in order that I might know. It is my intention to visit Earth, if I can find that world.”

 

                “We will certainly not stop you if you wish to leave us, Trev--”

 

                “I do not fit on your world.”

 

                “No more than Pel does, yet you are as welcome to remain as he is. Still, we will not hold you. --But tell me, why do you wish to visit Earth?”

 

                Trevize said, “I rather think you understand.”

 

                “I do not.”

 

                “There is a piece of information you withheld from me, Dom. Perhaps you had your reasons, but I wish you had not.”

 

                Dom said, “I do not follow you.”

 

                “Look, Dom, in order to make my decision, I used my computer and for a brief moment I found myself in touch with the minds of those about me--Mayor Branno, Speaker Gendibal, Novi. I caught glimpses of a number of matters that, in isolation, meant little to me, as, for example, the various effects Gaia, through Novi, had produced on Trantor--effects that were intended to maneuver the Speaker into going to Gaia.”

 

                “Yes?”

 

                “And one of those things was the clearing from Trantor’s library of all references to Earth.”

 

                “The clearing of references to Earth?”

 

                “Exactly. So Earth must be important--and not only does it appear that the Second Foundation must know nothing about it, but that I must not, either. And if I am to take the responsibility for the direction of Galactic development, I do not willingly accept ignorance. Would you consider telling me why it was so important to keep knowledge of Earth hidden?”

 

                Dom said solemnly, “Trev, Gaia knows nothing about such clearance. Nothing!”

 

                “Are you telling me that Gaia is not responsible?”

 

                “It is not responsible.”

 

                Trevize thought for a while, the tip of his tongue moving slowly and meditatively over his lips. “Who was responsible, then?”

 

                “I don’t know. I can see no purpose in it.”

 

                The two men stared at each other and then Dom said, “You are right. We had seemed to have reached a most satisfactory conclusion, but while this point remains unsettled, we dare not rest. --Stay a while with us and let us see what we can reason out. Then you can leave, with our full help.”

 

                “Thank you,” said Trevize.

 

  

 

 THE END

 

 (for now)

 

  

 

  

 

 AFTERWORD BY THE AUTHOR

 

  

 

       THIS BOOK WHILE SELF-CONTAINED, IS A CONTINUATION OFThe Foundation Trilogy , which is made up of three books:Foundation ,Foundation and Empire , andSecond Foundation .

 

                In addition, there are other books I have written which, while not dealing with the Foundations directly, are set in what we might call “the Foundation universe.”

 

                Thus, the events inThe Stars, Like Dust andThe Currents of Space take place in the years when Trantor was expanding toward Empire, while the events inPebble in the Sky take place when the First Galactic Empire was at the height of its power. InPebble , Earth is central and some of the material in it is alluded to tangentially in this new book.

 

                In none of the earlier books of the Foundation universe were robots mentioned. In this new book, however, there are references to robots. In this connection, you may wish to read my robot stories. The short stories are to be found inThe Complete Robot , while the two novels,The Caves of Steel andThe Naked Sun , describe the robotic period of the colonization of the Galaxy.

 

                If you wish an account of the Eternals and the way in which they adjusted human history, you will find it (not entirely consistent with the references in this new book) inThe End of Eternity .

 

                All the books mentioned existed as Doubleday hardcovers, to begin with.The Foundation Trilogy andThe Complete Robot are still in print in hardcover. Of the others,Pebble in the Sky andThe End of Eternity are included in the omnibus volumeThe Far Ends of Time and Earth , whileThe Stars, Like Dust andThe Currents of Space are in the omnibus volumePrisoners of the Stars . Both omnibus volumes are in print in hardcover. As forThe Caves of Steel andThe Naked Sun , they are included in the omnibus volumeThe Robot Novels , still available from the Science Fiction Book Club. And all are in print in softcover editions, of course.

 

  

 

  

 

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

  

 

 Isaac Asimov was born in the Soviet Union to his great surprise. He moved quickly to correct the situation. When his parents emigrated to the United States, Isaac (three years old at the time) stowed away in their baggage. He has been an American citizen since the age of eight.

 

                Brought up in Brooklyn, and educated in its public schools, he eventually found his way to Columbia University and, over the protests of the school administration, managed to annex a series of degrees in chemistry, up to and including a Ph.D. He then infiltrated Boston University and climbed the academic ladder, ignoring all cries of outrage, until he found himself Professor of Biochemistry.

 

                Meanwhile, at the age of nine, he found the love of his life (in the inanimate sense) when he discovered his first science-fiction magazine. By the time he was eleven, he began to write stories, and at eighteen, he actually worked up the nerve to submit one. It was rejected. After four long months of tribulation and suffering, he sold his first story and, thereafter, he never looked back.

 

                In 1941, when he was twenty-one years old, he wrote the classic short story “Nightfall” and his future was assured. Shortly before that he had begun writing his robot stories, and after that he had begun his Foundation series.

 

                What was left except quantity? At the present time, he has published over 260 books, distributed through every major division of the Dewey system of library classification, and shows no signs of slowing up. He remains as youthful, as lively, and as lovable as ever, and grows more handsome with each year. You can be sure that is so since he as written this little essay himself and his devotion to absolute objectivity is notorious.

 

                He is married to Janet Jeppson, psychiatrist and writer, has two children by a previous marriage, and lives in New York City.