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Sunday, December 16, 2018

'Foundation’s Edge CHAPTER SIXTEEN CONVERGENCE\r'

'CONVERGENCE\r\nWhen Stor Gendibal fin whollyy mention interject on Compors enchant on his viewscreen, it find outmed interchangeable the end of an incredibly dogged journey. withal, of course, it was zero(prenominal) the end, b bely plainly the drivening. The journey from Trantor to Sayshell had been energy exactly prologue.\r\nNovi looked awed. â€Å"Is that anformer(a) direct of put, reduce?”\r\nâ€Å"Space send run into, Novi. It is. Its the un concerned we brace been striving to r distri scarceively. It is a erectr institutionalise than this unriv eit here(predicate)d †and a better iodine. It dirty dog expire through with(predicate) lieu so apace that if it fled from us, this transmit could non whitethornhap catch it †or tear d bear acquire it.”\r\nâ€Å"Faster than a carry of the shoot for the hang?” Sura Novi intoxicatemed app al nonp atomic number 18iled by the panorama.\r\nGendibal shrugged. â€Å"I whit ethorn be, as you contraryiate, a master, just now when I am non a master in ein truth choke(predicate) things. We scholars do non check ships interchangeable these, nor do we catch more(prenominal) of the material devices that the owners of those ships spend a penny.”\r\nâ€Å" nonwithstanding how heap scholars lack much(prenominal) things, Master?”\r\nâ€Å"Because we ar worry the hang in what is important. The material advances that these otherwisewises exhaust be trifles.”\r\nNovis brows deform to take awayher in legal opinion. â€Å"It seems to me that to go so quickly that a master provide non personify is no trifle. Who atomic number 18 these deal who be wonder †having †who stand such things?”\r\nGendibal was amused. â€Å"They c e rattling(prenominal) themselves the trigger. Have you incessantly go steadyd of the cornerst matchless?”\r\n(He caught himself wondering what the Hamish knew or did not make do of the galaxy and why it neer occurred to the vocalisers to wonder near such things. †Or was it on the thoton he who had never wondered more or less such things †only he who assumed that the Hamish c bed for zip fastener more than grubbing in the soil.)\r\nNovi agitate her moderate imagination fullyy. â€Å"I pay never gather upd of it, Master. When the schoolmaster taught me letter-lore †how to read, I mean †he t senile me at that place were m both another(prenominal) other cosmeas and t honest-to-god me the names of some. He verbalize our Hamish military man had the prudish name of Trantor and that it once ruled exclusively the worlds. He s fear Trantor was c whole overed with gleaming iron and had an emperor who was an wholemaster.”\r\nHer eye looked up at Gendibal with a faint breasted cheer. â€Å"I un confide most of it, though. on that point are mevery stories the manner of dealingpinners prove in the clash-halls in the clock time of long-run nights. When I was a small girl, I entrustd them all, however as I grew older, I found that mevery of them were not consecutive. I consider very some forthwith; perhaps none. til instantaneously schoolmasters tell unbeliev up to(p)s.”\r\nâ€Å" however the aforesaid(prenominal), Novi, that demoteicular story of the schoolmaster is true †solely it was long ago. Trantor was indeed covered by coat and had indeed an Emperor who ruled all the coltsfoot. Now, however, it is the the grownup unwashed of the alkali who pass on someday rule all the worlds. They grow stronger all the time.”\r\nâ€Å"They lead rule all, Master?”\r\nâ€Å"Not immediately. In quint nose tail enddy years.”\r\nâ€Å"And they go forth master the masters as hygienic?”\r\nâ€Å"No, no. They leave but rule the worlds. We leave alone rule them †for their gum elastic and the safety of all the worlds.â₠¬Â\r\nNovi was frowning again. She state, â€Å"Master, do these people of the mental institution find m both of these remarkable ships?”\r\nâ€Å"I imagine so, Novi.”\r\nâ€Å"And other things that are very-astonishing?”\r\nâ€Å"They start regent(postnominal) weapons of all kinds.”\r\nâ€Å"Then, Master, lavatory they not take all the worlds now?”\r\nâ€Å"No, they cannot. It is not moreover time.”\r\nâ€Å" except why can they not? Would the masters stop them?”\r\nâ€Å"We wouldnt produce to, Novi. heretofore if we did zipper, they could not take all the worlds.”\r\nâ€Å" notwithstanding what would stop them?”\r\nâ€Å"You see,” began Gendibal, â€Å"thither is a plan that a wise man once devised…”\r\nHe stopped, smiled slightly, and shake his head. â€Å"It is hard to explain, Novi. Another time, perhaps. In item, when you see what entrust happen in the lead we ever see Trantor agai n, you whitethorn scour on a lower floor(a)stand without my explaining.”\r\nâ€Å"What leave alone happen, Master?”\r\nâ€Å"I am not certain(p), Novi. besides all leave happen well.”\r\nHe move forth and fain to call fill with Compor. And, as he did so, he could not quite grip an inner thought from reckoning: At to the lowest degree I look anterior to so.\r\nHe was instantly angry with himself, for he knew the ascendant of that foolish and glance overt(p)ening drift of thought. It was the picture of the exuberant and enormous stand might in the determine of Compors ship and it was his chagrin at Novis open esteem of it.\r\nStupid! How could he let himself compare the monomania of mere strength and massive power with the possession of the business leader to guide up to nowts? It was what generations of pronounceer systems had called â€Å"the fallacy of the transcend at the throat.”\r\nTo echo that he was not yet immune to i ts allures.\r\nMunn Li Compor was not in the to the lowest degree sealed as to how he ought to comport himself. For most of his life, he had had the hallucination of allpowerful vocalisers dwelling honest beyond his circle of experience, Speakers, with whom he was occasionally in contact and who had, in their obscure grip, the whole of gayity.\r\nOf them all, it had been Stor Gendibal to whom, in recent years, he had glowering for direction. It was not correct a articulation he had encountered most times, notwithstanding a mere figurehead in his mind-hyperspeech without a hyper-relay.\r\nIn this respect, the warrant de scarcely had bypast remote beyond the existence. Without material device, however just by the educated and for contendd-looking power of the mind alone, they could reach crosswise the par. sees in a manner that could not be tapped, could not be infringed upon. It was an invisible, indetectable net drill that held all the worlds fast through the in termediation of a relatively few dedicated individuals.\r\nCompor had, more than once, experienced a kind of uplifting at the thought of his role. How small the band of which he was one; how enormous an influence they exerted. †And how secret it all was. Even his wife knew nothing of his hidden life.\r\nAnd it was the Speakers who held the strings †and this one Speaker, this Gendibal, who might (Compor thought) be the next First Speaker, the more-than-Emperor of a more-than-Empire.\r\nNow Gendibal was here, in a ship of Trantor, and Compor fought to clog up his disappointment at not having such a meeting take place on Trantor itself.\r\nCould that be a ship of Trantor? Any of the early Traders who had carried the insertions wares through a hostile Galaxy would seduce had a better ship than that. No wonder it had interpreted the Speaker so long to cover the outdo from Trantor to Sayshell.\r\nIt was not veritable(a) equipped with a unidock utensil that would take a pa nache welded the two ships into one when the crosstransfer of personnel was desired. Even the contemptible Sayshellian fleet was equipped with it. Instead, the Speaker had to match velocities and hence cast a confidential information crosswise the gap and s netg along it, as in Imperial days.\r\nThat was it, thought Compor gloomily, uneffective to repress the sense of smelling. The ship was no more than an old-fashioned Imperial watercraft and a small one at that.\r\n cardinal figures were moving across the tether †one of them so clumsily that it was clear it had never adjudicateed to playing period through space before. â€\r\nFinally they were on batting mark and removed their space pillowcases. Speaker Stor Gendibal was of moderate acme and of unimpressive appearance; he was not large and powerful, nor did he exude an air of learning. His dark, deeply- site look were the only indication of his wisdom. But now the Speaker looked near with a clear indication of existence in awe himself.\r\nThe other was a fair sex as rangy as Gendibal, plain in appearance. Her mouth was open in astonishment as she looked about.\r\nMoving across the tether had not been an entirely unpleasant experience for Gendibal. He was not a spaceman †no punt mental homeer was †except incomplete was he a complete sur human expression worm, for no randomness Foundationer was allowed to be that. The possible need for space flight was, after all, unceasingly looming above them, though every Second Foundationer hoped the need would arise only infrequently. (Preem Palver †the extent of whose space travels was legendary †had once give tongue to, ruefully, that the bar of the success of a Speaker was the fewness of the times he was compelled to move through space in order to as sealed the success of the Plan.)\r\nGendibal had had to use a tether trine times before. This was his fourth use and nonetheless if he had felt tension over the matter , it would earn disappeared in his concern for Sura Novi. He postulate no mentalics to see that stepping into nothingness had totally perturbation her.\r\nâ€Å"I be afeared, Master,” she utter when he explained what would gift to be do. â€Å"It be naughtness into which I allow make footstep.” If nothing else, her sudden descent into summary Hamish speech showed the extent of her disturbance.\r\nGendibal give tongue to gently, â€Å"I cannot leave you on dialog box this ship, Novi, for I leave be dismission into the other and I must(prenominal) lose you with me. on that point is no peril, for your space suit provide nurse you from all harm and there is no place for you to fall to. Even if you lose your grip on the tether, you ordain go on nearly where you are and I get out be within arms reach so that I can gather you in. Come, Novi, show me that you are brave plenteous †as well as b make up replete †to change by reversal a scholar. ”\r\nShe make no further objection and Gendibal, un testamenting to do boththing that might disturb the smoothness of her mind-set, nevertheless managed to enclose a soothing touch upon the surface of her mind.\r\nâ€Å"You can fluent speak to me,” he said, after they were each wrap in a space suit. â€Å"I can hear you if you intend hard. Think the denominations hard and clearly, one by one. You can hear me now, cant you?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes, Master,” she said.\r\nHe could see her lips move through the gauze-like faceplate and he said, â€Å"Say it without moving your lips, Novi. There is no radio in the kind of suits that scholars break. it is all done with the mind.”\r\nHer lips did not move and her look grew more keen: Can you hear me, Master?\r\nPerfectly well, thought Gendibal †and his lips did not move either: Do you hear me?\r\nI do, Master.\r\nThen interject with me and do as I do.\r\nThey moved across. Gendibal knew the theory of it, even if he could handgrip the practice only moderately well. The confound was to keep ones legs extended and together and to swing them from the hips alone. That unploughed the center of gravity moving in a straight rootage as the arms swung forward in steady alternation. He had explained this to Sura Novi and, without tour to look at her, he canvas the emplacement of her body from the set of the motor areas of her brain.\r\nFor a premiere-timer, she did very well, almost as well as Gendibal was managing to do. She repress her own tensions and she followed directions. Gendibal found himself, once again, very happy with her.\r\nShe was, however, clearly glad to be on board ship again †and so was Gendibal. He looked about as he removed his space suit and was instead dumbfounded at the luxury and entitle of the equipment. He recognized almost nothing and his heart sank at the thought that he might have very wee time to learn how to cut through it all. He might ha ve to transfer expertness directly from the man already on board, something that was never quite as satisfactory as true learning.\r\nThen he concentrated on Compor. Compor was tall and lean, a few years older than himself, rather handsome in a slightly weak way, with tightly waved hair of a startling fulsome yellow.\r\nAnd it was clear to Gendibal that this person was disappointed in, and even haughty of, the Speaker he was now meeting for the first time. What was more, he was entirely un triple-crown in concealment the fact.\r\nGendibal did not mind such things, on the whole. Compor was not a Trantorian †nor a full Second Foundationer †and he clearly had his illusions. Even the most superficial scan of his mind showed that. Among these was the illusion that true power was inevitably related to the appearance of power. He might, of course, keep his illusions as long as they did not interfere with what Gendibal needed, scarce at the pre displace moment, this particula r illusion did so interfere.\r\nWhat Gendibal did was the mentalic equivalent of a snap of the fingers. Compor staggered slightly chthonic the impress of a sharp but flitting pain. There was an impress of en forced concentration that puckered the jumble of his thought and left-hand(a)-hand(a) the man with the awareness of a casual but awesome power that could be utilized if the Speaker chose.\r\nCompor was left with a capacious respect for Gendibal.\r\nGendibal said pleasantly, â€Å"I am just now attracting your attention, Compor, my friend. Please let me inhabit the pre direct whereabouts of your friend, Golan Trevize, and his friend, Janov Pelorat.”\r\nCompor said hesitantly, â€Å"Shall I speak in the presence of the woman, Speaker?”\r\nâ€Å"The woman, Compor, is an extension of myself. There is no reason, therefore, why you should not speak openly.”\r\nâ€Å"As you say, Speaker. Trevize and Pelorat are now orgasm a satellite cognize as atomic number 32.”\r\nâ€Å"So you said in your last communication the other day. Surely they have already set round on atomic number 32 and perhaps left again. They did not outride long on Sayshell Planet.”\r\nâ€Å"They had not yet landed during the time I followed them, Speaker. They were approach shot the planet with prominent caution, pausing substantial periods between micro-Jumps. it is clear to me they have no information about the planet they are approaching and therefore hesitate.”\r\nâ€Å"Do you have information, Compor?”\r\nâ€Å"I have none, Speaker,” said Compor, â€Å"or at least my ships reckoner has none.”\r\nâ€Å"This information assisting system?” Gendibals eyes fell upon the go over impanel and he asked in sudden hope, â€Å"Can it aid usefully in running the ship?”\r\nâ€Å"It can run the ship completely, Speaker. One need merely think into it.”\r\nGendibal felt suddenly uneasy. â€Å"The Foun dation has at peace(p) that furthest?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes, but clumsily. The computer does not lend well. I must repeat my thoughts several times and even hence I get but minimal information.”\r\nGendibal said, â€Å"I whitethorn be able to do better than that.”\r\nâ€Å"I am sure enough of it, Speaker,” said Compor respectfully.\r\nâ€Å"But never mind that for the moment. why does it have no information on germanium?”\r\nâ€Å"I do not know, Speaker. It birdsongs to have †as far as a computer whitethorn be said to be able to claim †records on every human †inhabited planet in the Galaxy.”\r\nâ€Å"It cannot have more information than has been ply into it and if those who did the feeding thought they had records of all such planets when, in substantial fact, they had not, because the computer would labor under the same misapprehension. Correct?”\r\nâ€Å"Certainly, Speaker.”\r\nâ€Å"Did you inquire at Sayshel l?”\r\nâ€Å"Speaker,” said Compor un intimately, â€Å"there are people who speak of\r\ngermanium on Sayshell, but what they say is valueless. Clearly superstition. The boloney they tell is that atomic number 32 is a powerful world that held move out even the mule.”\r\nâ€Å"Is that what they say, indeed?” said Gendibal, suppressing excitement. â€Å"Were you so sure that this was superstition that you asked for no flesh out?”\r\nâ€Å"No, Speaker. I asked a large(p) deal, but what I have just told you is all that eitherone can say. They can speak on the subject at great length, but when they have done so, all that it boils down to is what I have just said.”\r\nâ€Å"Apparently,” said Gendibal, â€Å"that is what Trevize has hear, withal, and he goes to germanium for some reason connected with that †to tap this great power, perhaps. And he does so carefully, for perhaps he overly fears this great power.”\r\n "That is surely possible, Speaker.”\r\nâ€Å"And yet you did not follow?”\r\nâ€Å"I did follow, Speaker, long enough to make sure he was indeed making for atomic number 32. I then re dark here to the outskirts of the atomic number 32n system.”\r\nâ€Å" wherefore?”\r\nâ€Å"Three reasons, Speaker. First, you were about to baffle and I wanted to meet you at least partway and rent you aboard at the earliest moment, as you had directed. Since my ship has a hyperrelay on board, I could not move too far away from Trevize and Pelorat without bestir suspicion on creator, but I judged I could risk moving this far. Second, when it was clear that Trevize was approaching germanium Planet very slowly, I judged there would be time enough for me to move toward you and hasten our meeting without being overtaken by events, e particular(a)ly since you would be more competent than I to follow him to the planet itself and to handle any emergency that might arise.â €\r\nâ€Å"Quite true. And the tierce reason?”\r\nâ€Å"Since our last communication, Speaker, something has happened that I did not take and do not understand. I felt that †for that reason, too †I had better hasten our meeting as soon as I dared.”\r\nâ€Å"And this event that you did not expect and do not understand?”\r\nâ€Å"Ships of the Foundation fleet are approaching the Sayshellian frontier. My computer has picked up this information from Sayshellian news broadcasts. At least tailfin move ships are in the flotilla and these have enough power to overwhelm Sayshell.”\r\nGendibal did not answer at once, for it would not do to show that he had not expected such a move †or that he didnt understand it. So, after a moment, he said negligently, â€Å"Do you contemplate that this has something to do with Trevizes course toward atomic number 32?”\r\nâ€Å"It certainly came immediately afterward †and if B follows A, then there is at least a adventure that A caused B,” said Compor.\r\nâ€Å"Well then, it seems we all converge upon germanium †Trevize, and I, and the First Foundation. †Come, you acted well, Compor,” said Gendibal, â€Å"and here is what we impart now do. First, you will show me how this computer works and, through that, how the ship may be handled. I am sure that will not take long.\r\nâ€Å" subsequently that, you will get into my ship, since by then I will have strike on your mind how to handle it. You will have no discomfit maneuvering it, although I must tell you (as you have no doubt guessed from its appearance) that you will govern it primitive indeed. Once you are in control of the ship, you will keep it here and expect for me.”\r\nâ€Å"How long, Speaker?”\r\nâ€Å"Until I come for you. I do not expect to be gone long enough for you to be in danger of running out of supplies, but if I am unduly delayed, you may find your way to som e inhabited planet of the Sayshell Union and wait there. Wherever you are, I will find you.”\r\nâ€Å"As you say, Speaker.”\r\nâ€Å"And do not be alarmed. I can handle this mysterious germanium and, if need be, the quintuplet ships of the Foundation as well.”\r\nlittoral zone Thoobing had been the Foundations Ambassador to Sayshell for seven years. He rather desire the position.\r\nTall and rather stout, he wore a thick brown mustache at a time when the predominant fashion, both in the Foundation and in Sayshell, was smooth-shaven. He had a strongly landmarkd countenance, though he was only fifty-four †and was much given over to a schooled indifference. His attitude toward his work was not easily seen.\r\nStill, he rather liked the position. It kept him away from the hurly-burly of polities on Terminus †something he appreciated and it gave him the destiny to live the life of a Sayshellian sybarite and to game his wife and daughter in the style to which they had become addicted. He didnt want his life disturbed.\r\nOn the other hand, he rather disliked Liono Kodell, perhaps because Kodell as well sported a mustache, though one which was smaller, shorter, and grayish-white. In the old days, they had been the only two people in prominent public life who had worn one and there had been rather a competition between them over the matter. Now (thought Thoobing) there was none; Kodells was contemptible.\r\nKodell had been Director of auspices when Thoobing was still on Terminus, dreaming of opposing Harla Branno in the race for Mayor, until he had been bought off with the ambassadorship. Branno had done it for her own sake, of course, but he had ended up owe her goodwill for that.\r\nBut not to Kodell, somehow. peradventure it was because of Kodells mulish cheerfulness †the manner in which he was always such a friendly person †even after he had decided on just exactly the manner in which your throat was to be cut.\r\n Now he sat there in hyperspatial image, cheerful as ever, brimming over with bonhomie. His actual body was, of course, fanny on Terminus, which spared Thoobing the necessity of crack him any bodily sign of hospitality.\r\nâ€Å"Kodell,” he said. â€Å"I want those ships with careworn.”\r\nKodell smiled sunnily. â€Å"why, so do I, but the old lady has made up her mind.”\r\nâ€Å"Youve been known to deviate her out of this or that.”\r\nâ€Å"On occasion. Perhaps. When she wanted to be persuaded. This time she doesnt want to be. †Thoobing, do your lineage. Keep Sayshell calm.”\r\nâ€Å"Im not thinking about Sayshell, Kodell. Im thinking about the Foundation.”\r\nâ€Å"So are we all.”\r\nâ€Å"Kodell, dont fence. I want you to listen to me.”\r\nâ€Å"Gladly, but these are hectic times on Terminus and I will not listen to you forever.”\r\nâ€Å"I will be as brief as I can be †when discussing the possibility o f the Foundations destruction. If this hyperspatial line is not being tapped, I will speak openly.”\r\nâ€Å"It is not being tapped.”\r\nâ€Å"Then let me go on. I have received a meat some days ago from one Golan Trevize. I recall a Trevize in my own policy-making days, a Commissioner of Transportation.”\r\nâ€Å"The young mans uncle,” Kodell said.\r\nâ€Å"Ah, then you know the Trevize who direct the means to me. gibe to the information I have since gathered, he was a Councilman who, after the recent successful resolution of a Seldon Crisis, was arrested and sent into exile.”\r\nâ€Å"Exactly.”\r\nâ€Å"I dont believe it.”\r\nâ€Å"What is it that you dont believe?”\r\nâ€Å"That he was sent into exile.”\r\nâ€Å"Why not?”\r\nâ€Å"When in business relationship has any citizen of the Foundation been sent into exile?” demanded Thoobing. â€Å"He is arrested or not arrested. If he is arrested, he is t ried or not tried. If he is tried, he is convicted or not convicted. If he is convicted, he is fined, demoted, disgraced, imprisoned, or executed. No one is sent into exile.”\r\nâ€Å"There is always a first time.”\r\nâ€Å"Nonsense. In an advanced naval vessel? What fool can bolt to see that he is on a additional mission for your old woman? Whom can she possibly expect to deceive?”\r\nâ€Å"What would the mission be?”\r\nâ€Å"supposedly to find the planet germanium.”\r\nSome of the cheerfulness left Kodells face. An unaccustomed hardness entered his eyes. He said, â€Å"I know that you know no overwhelming impulse to believe my statements, Mr. Ambassador, but I make a special plea that you believe me in this one case. incomplete the Mayor nor I had ever comprehend of atomic number 32 at the time that Trevize was sent into exile. We have heard of atomic number 32, for the first time, just the other day. If you believe that, this dialogue m ay continue.”\r\nâ€Å"I will suspend my inclination of an orbit toward skepticism long enough to accept that, Director, though it is difficult to do so.”\r\nâ€Å"it is quite true, Mr. Ambassador, and if I have suddenly adopted a formal broadside to my statements it is because when this is done, you will find that you have questions to answer and that you will not find the occasion joyful. You speak as though Gaia is a world familiar to you. How is it that you know something we did not know? Is it not your debt instrument to see to it that we know everything that you know about the policy-making unit to which you are assigned?”\r\nThoobing said softly, â€Å"Gaia is not part of the Sayshell Union. It, in fact, probably does not exist. Am I to transmit to Terminus all the king records that the superstitious lower orders of Sayshell tell of Gaia? Some of them say that Gaia is located in hyperspace. According to others, it is a world that supernaturally prot ects Sayshell. According to still others, it sent forth the Mule to butt on the Galaxy. If you are planning to tell the Sayshellian disposal that Trevize has been sent out to find Gaia and that five advanced ships of the Foundation Navy have been sent out to back him in this search, they will never believe you. The people may believe fairy tales about Gaia, but the government does not †and they will not be convinced that the Foundation does. They will feel that you intend to force Sayshell into the Foundation Federation.”\r\nâ€Å"And what if we do plan that?”\r\nâ€Å"It would be fatal. Come, Kodell, in the five-century history of the Foundation, when have we fought a war of conquest? We have fought wars to keep back our own conquest †and failed once †but no war has ended with an extension of our territory. Accessions to the Federation have been through peaceful agreements. We have been joined by those who saw benefits in joining.”\r\nâ€Å"Is nt it possible that Sayshell may see benefits in joining?”\r\nâ€Å"They will never do so age our ships remain on their borders. train them.”\r\nâ€Å"It cant be done.”\r\nâ€Å"Kodell, Sayshell is a marvelous labourment for the beneficence of the Foundation Federation. It is nearly enclosed by our territory, it is in an utterly vulnerable position, and yet until now it has been safe, has gone its own way, has even been able to nurture an anti-Foundation immaterial policy freely. How better can we show the Galaxy that we force no one, that we come in friendship to all? †If we take over Sayshell, we take that which, in essence, we already have. After all, we dominate it economically †if quietly. But if we take it over by armed services force, we advertise to all the Galaxy that we have become magnificationist.”\r\nâ€Å"And if I tell you that we are really interested only in Gaia?”\r\nâ€Å"Then I will believe it no more than the Sayshell Union will. This man, Trevize, sends me a message that he is on his way to Gaia and asks me to transmit it to Terminus. Against my better judgment, I do so because I must and, almost before the hyperspatial line is cool, the Foundation Navy is in motion. How will you get to Gaia, without penetrating Sayshellian space?”\r\nâ€Å"My dear Thoobing, surely you are not listening to yourself. Did you not tell me just a few minutes ago that Gaia, if it exists at all, is not part of the Sayshell Union? And I take up you know that hyperspace is free to all and is part of no worlds territory. How then can Sayshell complain if we move from Foundation territory (where our ships stand right now), through hyperspace, into Gaian territory, and never in the process occupy a bingle cubic centimeter of Sayshellian territory?”\r\nâ€Å"Sayshell will not interpret events like that, Kodell. Gaia, if it exists at all, is totally enclosed by the Sayshell Union, even if it is not a governmental part of it, and there are precedents that make such enclaves virtual parts of the enclosing territory, as far as enemy warships are concerned.”\r\nâ€Å"Ours are not enemy warships. We are at peace with Sayshell.”\r\nâ€Å"I tell you that Sayshell may declare war. They wont expect to win such a war through military superiority, but the fact is, war will set off a wave of anti-Foundation activity passim the Galaxy. The new expansionist policies of the Foundation will further the growth of alliances against us. Some of the members of the Federation will begin to rethink their ties to us. We may well lose the war through internal disarray and we will then certainly reverse the process of growth that has served the Foundation so well for five hundred years.”\r\nâ€Å"Come, come, Thoobing,” said Kodell indifferently, â€Å"You speak as though five hundred years is nothing, as though we are still the Foundation of Salvor Hardins time, chip the pocket-kingdom of Anacreon. We are far stronger now than the astronomic Empire ever was at its very height. A squadron of our ships could defeat the entire Galactic Navy, occupy any Galactic sector, and never know it had been in a fight.”\r\nâ€Å"We are not fighting the Galactic Empire. We fight planets and sectors of our own time.”\r\nâ€Å"Who have not advanced as we have. We could gather in all the Galaxy now.”\r\nâ€Å"According to the Seldon Plan, we cant do that for another five hundred years.”\r\nâ€Å"The Seldon Plan underestimates the speed of technological advance. We can do it now! †Understand me, I dont say we will do it now or even should do it now. I merely say we can do it now.”\r\nâ€Å"Kodell, you have lived all your life on Terminus. You dont know the Galaxy. Our Navy and our technology can pose down the Armed Forces of other worlds, but we cannot yet govern an entire rebellions, hate-ridden Galaxy †and that is what it will be if we take it by force. Withdraw the ships!”\r\nâ€Å"It cant be done, Thoobing. Consider. What if Gaia is not a story?”\r\nThoobing paused, scanning the others face as though anxious to read his mind. â€Å"A world in hyperspace not a myth?”\r\nâ€Å"A world in hyperspace is superstition, but even superstitions may be built around kernels of truth. This man, Trevize, who was exiled, speaks of it as though it were a real world in real space. What if he is right?”\r\nâ€Å"Nonsense. I dont believe it.”\r\nâ€Å"No? Believe it for just a moment. A real world that has lent Sayshell safety against the Mule and against the Foundation!”\r\nâ€Å"But you refute yourself. How is Gaia holding the Sayshellians safe from the Foundation? Are we not move ships against it?”\r\nâ€Å"Not against it, but against Gaia, which is so mysteriously recondite †which is so careful to avoid notice that while it is in real space it somehow convinces its populate worlds that it is in hyperspace †and which even manages to remain extracurricular the computerized information of the best and most unabridged of Galactic maps.”\r\nâ€Å"It must be a most unusual world, then, for it must be able to manipulate minds.”\r\nâ€Å"And did you not say a moment ago that one Sayshellian tale is that Gaia sent forth the Mule to raven upon the Galaxy? And could not the Mule manipulate minds?”\r\nâ€Å"And is Gaia a world of Mules, then?”\r\nâ€Å"Are you sure it might not be?”\r\nâ€Å"Why not a world of a reborn Second Foundation, in that case.”\r\nâ€Å"Why not indeed? Should it not be investigated?”\r\nThoobing grew sober. He had been smiling scornfully during the last exchanges, but now he lowered his head and stared up from under his eyebrows. â€Å"If you are serious, is such an investigation not dangerous?”\r\nâ€Å"Is it?”\r\nâ€Å"You answer my questions w ith other questions because you have no sightly answers. Of what use will ships be against Mules or Second Foundationers? Is it not likely, in fact, that if they exist they are luring you into destruction? See here, you tell me that the\r\nFoundation can establish its Empire now, even though the Seldon Plan has reached only its midway point, and I have warned you that you would be racing too far in front and that the intricacies of the Plan would slow you down by force. Perhaps, if Gaia exists and is what you say it is, all this is a device to bring about that slowdown. Do voluntarily now what you may soon be constrained to do. Do peacefully and without bloodshed now what you may be forced to do by woeful disaster. Withdraw the ships.”\r\nâ€Å"It cant be done. In fact, Thoobing, Mayor Branno herself plans to join the ships, and scoutships have already flitted through hyperspace to what is supposedly Gaian territory.”\r\nThoobings eyes bulged. â€Å"There will surely be war, I tell you.”\r\nâ€Å"You are our ambassador. Prevent that. Give the Sayshellians whatever assurances they need. Deny any ill will on our part. Tell them, if you have to, that it will pay them to sit quietly and wait for Gaia to destroy us. Say anything you want to, but keep them quiet.”\r\nHe paused, searching Thoobings stunned expression, and said, â€Å"Really, thats all. As far as I know, no Foundation ship will land on any world of the Sayshell Union or penetrate any point in real space that is part of that Union. However, any Sayshellian ship that attempts to challenge us outside Union territory †and therefore inside Foundation territory †will promptly be bring down to dust. Make that perfectly clear, too, and keep the Sayshellians quiet. You will be held to strict account if you fail. You have had an easy job so far, Thoobing, but hard times are upon you and the next few weeks decide all. Fail us and no place in the Galaxy will be safe for yo u.”\r\nThere was uncomplete merriment nor friendliness in Kodells face as contact was broken and as his image disappeared.\r\nThoobing stared open †mouthed at the place where he had been.\r\nGolan Trevize clutched at his hair as though he were trying, by feel, to judge the condition of his thinking. He said to Pelorat abruptly, â€Å"What is your state of mind?”\r\nâ€Å" demesne of mind?” said Pelorat blankly.\r\nâ€Å"Yes. Here we are, trapped †with our ship under outside control and being drawn inexorably to a world we know nothing about. Do you feel panic?”\r\nPelorats long face registered a certain melancholia. â€Å"No,” he said.\r\nâ€Å"I dont feel joyful. I do feel a little apprehensive, but Im not panicky.”\r\nâ€Å"Neither am I. Isnt that laughable? Why arent we more upset than we are?”\r\nâ€Å"This is something we expected, Golan. Something like this.”\r\nTrevize turned to the screen. It remained firmly focused on the space position. It was larger now, which meant they were closer.\r\nIt seemed to him that it was not an impressive space station in design. There was nothing to it that bespoke superscience. In fact, it seemed a bit primitive. †except it had the ship in its grip.\r\nHe said, â€Å"Im being very analytical, Janov. Cool! †I like to think that I am not a coward and that I can behave well under pressure, but I tend to embrace myself. Everyone does. I should be jumping up and down right now and sweating a little. We may have expected something, but that doesnt change the fact that we are helpless and that we may be bolt downed.”\r\nPelorat said, â€Å"I dont think so, Golan. If the Gaians could take over the ship at a distance, couldnt they kill us at a distance? If were still alive…”\r\nâ€Å"But were not altogether un moved(p). Were too calm, I tell you. I think theyve tranquilized us.”\r\nâ€Å"Why?”\r\nâ€Å"To keep us i n good shape mentally, I think. Its possible they need to question us. After that, they may kill us.”\r\nâ€Å"If they are rational enough to want to question us, they may be rational enough not to kill us for no good reason.”\r\nTrevize leaned back in his chair (it bent back at least †they hadnt deprived the chair of its functioning) and placed his feet on the desk where normally his hands made contact with the computer. He said, â€Å"They may be quite ingenious enough to work up what they consider a good reason. †Still, if theyve touched our minds, It hasnt been by much. If it were the Mule, for instance, he would have made us eager to go †exalted, exultant, every fiber of ourselves strident out for arrival there.” He pointed to the space station. â€Å"Do you feel that way, Janov?”\r\nâ€Å"Certainly not.”\r\nâ€Å"You see that Im still in a state where I can foil in cool, analytical reasoning. real odd! Or can I tell? Am I i n a panic, incoherent, mad †and merely under the illusion that I am indulging in cool, analytical reasoning?”\r\nPelorat shrugged. â€Å"You seem sane to me. Perhaps I am as insane as you and am under the same illusion, but that cast of argument gets us nowhere. All humanity could consider a common insanity and be immersed in a common illusion while aliment in a common chaos. That cant be disproved, but we have no choice but to follow our senses.” And then, abruptly, he said, â€Å"In fact, Ive been doing some reasoning myself.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes?”\r\nâ€Å"Well, we rebuke about Gaia as a world of Mules, possibly, or as the Second Foundation reborn. Has it occurred to you that a third alternative exists, one that is more reasonable than either of the first two.”\r\nâ€Å"What third alternative?”\r\nPelorats eyes seemed concentrating inward. He did not look at Trevize and his voice was low and thoughtful. â€Å"We have a world †Gaia †that has done its best, over an indefinite period of time, to maintain a strict isolation. It has in no way attempted to establish contact with any other world †not even the nearby worlds of the Sayshell Union. It has an advanced science, in some ways, if the stories of their destruction of fleets is true and certainly their ability to control us right now bespeaks it †and yet they have made no attempt to expand their power. They ask only to be left alone.”\r\nTrevize narrowed his eyes. â€Å"So?”\r\nâ€Å"Its all very inhuman. The more than twenty thousand years of human history in space has been an uninterrupted tale of expansion and attempted expansion. Just about every known world that can be inhabited is inhabited. intimately every world has been quarreled over in the process and nearly every world has jostled each of its neighbors at one time or another. If Gaia is so inhuman as to be so different in this respect, it may be because it really is à ¢â‚¬ inhuman.”\r\nTrevize shook his head. â€Å"Impossible.”\r\nâ€Å"Why impossible?” said Pelorat warmly. â€Å"Ive told you what a perplex it is that the human race is the only evolved intelligence in the Galaxy. What if it isnt? Might there not be one more †on one planet †that lacked the human expansionist drive? In fact,” Pelorat grew more excited, â€Å"what if there are a million intelligences in the Galaxy, but only one that is expansionist †ourselves? The others would all remain at home, unobtrusive, hidden…”\r\nâ€Å"Ridiculous!” said Trevize. â€Å"Wed come across them. Wed land on their worlds. They would come in all types and stages of technology and most of them would be unable to stop us. But weve never come across any of them. Space! Weve never even come across the ruins or relies of a nonhuman civilization, have we? Youre the historian, so you tell me. Have we?”\r\nPelorat shook his head. â€Å"W e havent. †But Golan, there could be one! This one!”\r\nâ€Å"I dont believe it. You say the name is Gaia, which is some superannuated dialectical version of the name ‘Earth. ‘ How can that be nonhuman?”\r\nâ€Å"The name ‘Gaia is given the planet by human beings †and who knows why? The resemblance to an ancient word might be coincidental. †Come to think of it, the very fact that weve been lured to Gaia †as you explained in great detail some time ago †and are now being drawn in against our will is an argument in favor of the nonhumanity of the Gaians.”\r\nâ€Å"Why? What has that to do with nonhumanity?”\r\nâ€Å"Theyre curious about us †about humans.”\r\nTrevize said, â€Å"Janov, youre mad. Theyve been lively in a Galaxy surrounded by humans for thousands of years. Why should they be curious right now? Why not long before? And if right now, why us? If they want to probe human beings and human cul ture, why not the Sayshell worlds? Why would they reach all the way to Terminus for us?”\r\nâ€Å"They may be interested in the Foundation.”\r\nâ€Å"Nonsense,” said Trevize violently. â€Å"Janov, you want a nonhuman intelligence and you will have one. Right now, I think that if you thought you were going to encounter nonhumans, you wouldnt worry about having been captured, about being helpless, about being killed even †if they but gave you a little time to sate your curiosity.”\r\nPelorat began to bumble an indignant negative, then stopped, drew a deep breath, and said, â€Å"Well, you may be right, Golan, but Ill hold to my vox populi for a while just the same. I dont think well have to wait very long to see whos right. †Look!”\r\nHe pointed to the screen. Trevize †who had, in his excitement, ceased watching †now looked back. â€Å"What is it?” he said.\r\nâ€Å"Isnt that a ship taking off from the station?”\r\ nâ€Å"Its something,” admitted Trevize reluctantly. â€Å"I cant make out the dilate yet and I cant magnify the view any further. Its at maximum magnification.” After awhile he said, â€Å"It seems to be approaching us and I suppose its a ship. Shall we make a bet?”\r\nâ€Å"What categorisation of bet?”\r\nTrevize said sardonically, â€Å"If we ever get back to Terminus, lets have a big dinner for ourselves and any guests we each care to invite, up to, say, four †and it will be on me if that ship approaching us carries nonhumans and on you if it carries humans.”\r\nâ€Å"Im willing,” said Pelorat.\r\nâ€Å"Done, then,” and Trevize peered at the screen, trying to make out details and wondering if any details could reasonably be expected to give away, beyond question, the nonhumanity (or humanity) of the beings on board.\r\nBrannos iron-gray hair lay immaculately in place and she might have been in the Mayoral Palace, considerin g her equanimity. She showed no sign that she was deep in space for only the second time in her life. (And the first time †when she accompanied her parents on a holiday tour to Kalgan †could scarcely count. She had been only three at the time.)\r\nShe said to Kodell with a certain have on heaviness, â€Å"It is Thoobings job, after all, to express his opinion and to warn me. Very well, he has warned me. I dont hold it against him.”\r\nKodell, who had boarded the Mayors ship in order to speak to her without the psychological difficulty of imaging, said, â€Å"Hes been at his post too long. Hes beginning to think like a Sayshellian.”\r\nâ€Å"Thats the occupational hazard of an ambassadorship, Liono. Let us wait till this is over and well give him a long sabbatical and then send him on to another assignment elsewhere. Hes a capable man. †After all, he did have the wit to forward Trevizes message without delay.”\r\nKodell smiled briefly. â€Å"Yes , he told me he did it against his better judgment. ‘I do so because I must he said. You see, skirt Mayor, he had to, even against his better judgment, because as soon as Trevize entered the space of the Sayshell Union, I communicate Ambassador Thoobing to forward, at once, any and all information concerning him?\r\nâ€Å"Oh?” Mayor Branno turned in her seat to see his face more clearly. â€Å"And what made you do that?”\r\nâ€Å"Elementary considerations, actually. Trevize was using a latemodel Foundation naval vessel and the Sayshellians would be ring to notice that. Hes an undiplomatic young jackass and they would be bound to notice that. Therefore, he might get into trouble †and if theres one thing a Foundationer knows, it is that if he gets into trouble anywhere in the Galaxy, he can cry out for the nearest Foundation representative. in person I wouldnt mind seeing Trevize in trouble †it might help him grow up and that would do him a great deal of good †but youve sent him out as your lightning rod and I wanted you to be able to estimate the genius of any lightning that might strike, so I made sure that the nearest Foundation representative would keep watch over him, thats all.”\r\nâ€Å"I see! Well, I understand now why Thoobing reacted so strenuously. I had sent him a similar example. Since he heard from us both independently, one can scarcely blame him for thinking that the approach of a few Foundation vessels might mean a great deal more than it actually does. †How is it, Liono, you did not bestow me on the matter before sending the warning?”\r\nKodell said coolly, â€Å"If I involved you in everything I do, you would have no time to be Mayor. How is it that you did not inform me of your intention?”\r\nBranno said sourly, â€Å"If I informed you of all my intentions, Liono, you would know far too much. †But it is a small matter, and so is Thoobings alarm, and, for that matter, so is any fit that the Sayshellians throw. I am more interested in Trevize.”\r\nâ€Å"Our scouts have located Compor. He is interest Trevize and both are moving very cautiously toward Gaia.”\r\nâ€Å"I have the full reports of those scouts, Liono. Apparently both Trevize and Compor are taking Gaia seriously.”\r\nâ€Å"Everyone sneers at the superstitions concerning Gaia, Madam Mayor, but everyone thinks, ‘Yet what if †” Even Ambassador Thoobing manages to be a little uneasy about it. It could be a very shrewd policy on the part of the Sayshellians. A kind of protective coloration. If one spreads stories of a mysterious and invincible world, people will shy away not only from the world, but from any other worlds close by †such as the Sayshell Union.”\r\nâ€Å"You think that is why the Mule turned away from Sayshell?”\r\nâ€Å"Possibly.”\r\nâ€Å"Surely you dont think the Foundation has held its hand from Sayshell because o f Gaia, when there is no record that we have ever heard of the world?”\r\nâ€Å"I admit theres no mention of Gaia in our archives, but neither is there any other reasonable chronicle for our moderation with respect to the Sayshell Union.”\r\nâ€Å"Let us hope, then, that the Sayshellian government, patronage Thoobings opinion to the contrary, has convinced itself †even just a little bit †of Gaias might and of its deadly nature.”\r\nâ€Å"Why so?”\r\nâ€Å"Because then the Sayshell Union will wake no objections to our moving toward Gaia. The more they resent that movement, the more they will persuade themselves that it should be permitted so that Gaia will swallow us. The lesson, they will imagine, will be a salutary one and will not be lost on future invaders.”\r\nâ€Å"Yet what if they should be right in such a belief, Mayor? What if Gaia is deadly?”\r\nBranno smiled. â€Å"You raise the ‘Yet what if †” yourself, do you, Liono?”\r\nâ€Å"I must raise all possibilities, Mayor. It is my job.”\r\nâ€Å"If Gaia is deadly, Trevize will be taken by them. That is his job as my lightning rod. And so may Compor, I hope.”\r\nâ€Å"You hope? Why?”\r\nâ€Å"Because it will make them overconfident, which should be useful to us. They will underestimate our power and be the easier to handle.”\r\nâ€Å"But what if it is we who are overconfident?”\r\nâ€Å"We are not,” said Branno flatly.\r\nâ€Å"These Gaians †whatever they are †may be something we have no concept of and cannot properly estimate the danger of. I merely suggest that, Mayor, because even that possibility should be weighed.”\r\nâ€Å"Indeed? Why does such a notion fall into your head, Liono?”\r\nâ€Å"Because I think you feel that, at the worst, Gaia is the Second Foundation. I suspicious you think they are the Second Foundation. However, Sayshell has an interesting his tory, even under the Empire. Sayshell alone had a measure of self-rule. Sayshell alone was spared some of the worst taxations under the so-called ‘ badness Emperors. ‘ In short, Sayshell seems to have had the protection of Gaia, even in Imperial times.”\r\nâ€Å"Well then?”\r\nâ€Å"But the Second Foundation was brought into existence by Hari Seldon at the same time our Foundation was. The Second Foundation did not exist in Imperial times †and Gaia did. Gaia, therefore, is not the Second Foundation. It is something else †and, just possibly, something worse.”\r\nâ€Å"I dont constitute to be terrified by the unknown, Liono. There are only two possible sources of danger †physical weapons and mental weapons †and we are fully prepared for both. †You get back to your ship and keep the units on the Sayshellian outskirts. This ship will move toward Gaia alone, but will stay in contact with you at all times and will expect you to co me to us in one Jump, if necessary. †Go, Liono, and get that perturbed look off your face.”\r\nâ€Å"One last question? Are you sure you know what youre doing?”\r\nâ€Å"I do,” she said grimly. â€Å"I, too, have studied the history of Sayshell and have seen that Gaia cannot be the Second Foundation, but, as I told you, I have the full report of the scouts and from that…”\r\nâ€Å"Yes?”\r\nâ€Å"Well, I know where the Second Foundation is located and we will take care of both, Liono. We will take care of Gaia first and then Trantor.”\r\n'

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