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 want me 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 Surano-viremblastiran and that when she was a child, she had been known as Su to her parents and Vi to 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 so 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 THE FAR STAR LOCATED the two ships and Golan Trevize displayed them together on the split screen.
They were both Foundation vessels. One was precisely like the Far 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 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 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 of your 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? Why me?”
“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 in my time—and I 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 the Far 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 cer
tainly 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 do not 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.”