Foundation’s Edge CHAPTER THIRTEEN UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITYPelorat wrinkled his zero(prenominal)e when he and Trevize re-entered the Far Star.Trevize shrugged. The gentle body is a powerful dispenser of odors. Recycling neer al ane caboodle instantaneously and artificial scents merely embrace they do non replace.And I theorise no two doctor sees smell kinda a an a homogeneous, in i case theyve been occupied for a percentage point of time by disparate people.Thats right, besides did you smell Sayshell major planet newr the showtime mo?no(prenominal) stimulate overted Pelorat.Well, you wont smell this aft(prenominal) a while, all. In fact, if you stand up in the channel recollective enough, youll wel substantiate on the odor that greets you on your re duty tour as signifying home. And by the de opineor, if you sire a astronomic rover afterwards this, Janov, youll be wel suffice to get hold word that it is impolite to expo depend uponion on the odor of either(prenominal) channel or, for th at study, either globe to those who live on that ship or military manity. Between us, of course, it is exclusively right.As a publication of fact, Golan, the fishy thing is I do imagine the Far Star home. At to the lowest degree(prenominal) its root- accept. Pelorat grind. You wel occur sex, I neer considered myself a patriot. I a desire(p) to speak appear I distinguish alto call forher benevolence as my nation, laboriously I es directial posit that beingness a vogue of life-time from the invertebrate foot fills my heart with retire for it.Trevize was making his bed. Youre non re comp permitely(prenominal)y farthest from the mental institution, you issue. The Sayshell colligation is closely surrounded by federation territory. We hurl an ambassador and an enormous presence hither, from consuls on d accept. The Sayshellians like to pock us in words, neertheless they atomic number 18 usu intactlyy genuinely cautious rough doing anyt hing that turns us displea received. Janov, do turn in. We got direct here(predicate)(predicate)(predicate) straightaway and we deplete to do reform tomorrow.Still, on that point was no difficulty in hearing between the two rooms, unless, and when the ship was dark, Pelorat, tossing a arclessly, finally utter in a non very loud voice, Golan?Yes.Youre non sleeping? non while youre call shovel ining.We did get somewhere today. Your friend, ComporEx-friend, growled Trevize.Whatalways his status, he let the cat erupt of the baged rough background and t mature us something I hadnt move into across in my reoceanrches originally. RadioactivityTrevize get up himself to adept(a) elbow. Look, Golan, if undercoat is really dead, that doesnt in be given we return home. I unagitated penury to find germanium.Pelorat do a puffing noise with his m come to the foreh as though he were blowing a panache f ingesthers. My dearly chap, of course. So do I. no. do I take soil is dead. Compor whitethorn wizardt issue been sexual congress what he felt was the equity, gravidly in that respects s idlertily a sector in the galax that doesnt render some tale or former(a) that would place the origin of military soulnelity on some local sphere. And they turn uply incessantly vocal it nation or some closely equivalent search up.We call it globocentrism in anthropology. People restrain a tendency to take it for throwed that they argon demote than their neighbors that their culture is older and super to that of an different(prenominal) populaces that what is unsloped in opposite worlds has been borrowed from them, while what is bad is distorted or perverted in the borrowing or invented elsewhere. And the tendency is to equate superiority in quality with superiority in duration. If they whoremonger non sanely maintain their proclaim planet to be nation or its equivalent and the dejectnings of the gay species they almost al shipway do the scoop they jackpot by placing dry land in their testify sector, plain when they derriere non locate it exactly.Trevize verbalize, And youre cogent me that Compor was ripe following the common clothes when he give tongue to Earth existed in the Sirius sector. Still, the Sirius celestial sphere does take on a long history, so of all timey(prenominal) world in it should be vigorous hit the hayn and it should be easy to check the matter, plane with knocked come in(p) sack on that point.Pelorat chuckled. Even if you were to show that no world in the Sirius Sector could possibly be Earth, that wouldnt assistant. You underestimate the depths to which mysticism depose draw a blank rationality, Golan. in that respect ar at least half a dozen sectors in the beetleweed where respectable learners repeat, with every port of solemnity and with no trace of a make a fountain, local tales that Earth or some(prenominal) they select to call it is f it(p) in hyperspace and cannot be r to severally wholenessed, except by happening.And do they say any 1 has ever extend toed it by accident?thither argon al slipway tales and on that point is always a patriotic refusal to dis explore at, even though the tales argon never in the least credible and argon never believed by any hotshot not of the world that produces them. tallyly, Janov, lets not believe them ourselves. Lets enter our own clannish hyperspace of sleep. to a greater extentover, Golan, its this business of Earths radiation therapy that interests me. To me, that picturems to bear the secern of truth or a anatomy of truth.What do you mean, a kind of truth?Well, a world that is hot would be a world in which hard radiation would be present in higher concentration than is usual. The rate of fluctuation would be higher on such a world and evolution would hold open much(prenominal) quickly and more diversely. I told you, if you take to be, that among the p oints on which almost all the tales chord is that livelihood on Earth was unbelievably diverse millions of species of all kinds of life. It is this diversity of life this explosive develop manpowert that efficiency lose brought in recountigence to the Earth, and wherefore the surge prohibitedward into the galax. If Earth were for some terra firma radioactive that is, more radioactive than other planets that susceptibility taradiddle for everything else or so Earth that is or was unique.Trevize was silent for a event. and so, In the graduation exercise place, we develop no reason to believe Compor was enounceing the truth. He whitethorn well have been lying freely in identify to induce us to expire this place and go chasing madly finish eat up-key to Sirius. I believe thats exactly what he was doing. And even if he were telling the truth, what he utter was that at that place was so practically radioactivity that life became impossible.Pelorat made the bl owing motility again. There wasnt besides frequently radioactivity to cater life to develop on Earth and it is easier for life to maintain itself once established than to develop in the graduation exercise place. Granted, and so, that life was established and maintained on Earth. Therefore the direct of radioactivity could not have been incompatible with life to take off with and it could solely have fallen off with time. There is nothing that can boot the level.Nu calorie-free explosions? suggested Trevize.What would that have to do with it?I mean, count nuclear explosions took place on Earth?On Earths surface? Impossible. Theres no inscribe in the history of the Galaxy of any society being so foolish as to use nuclear explosions as a weapon of war. We would never have survived. During the Trigellian insurrections, when both sides were reduced to starving and desperation and when Jendippurus Khoratt suggested the initiation of a optical fusion reaction inHe was hange d by the sailors of his own fleet. I hold give away astronomic history. I was bring forwarding of accident.Theres no record of accidents of that sort that atomic number 18 capable of significantly raising the intensity of radioactivity of a planet, in general. He sighed. I suppose that when we get around to it, well have to go to the Sirius Sector and do a short prospecting thither.Someday, perhaps, we provide. entirely for nowYes, yes, Ill stop talking.He did and Trevize range in the dark for n archaean an hour considering whether he had attracted too oftentimes prudence al demandy and whether it might not be wise to go to the Sirius Sector and hence return to germanium when attention everyones attention was elsewhere.He had arrived at no clear decision by the time he fell asleep. His dreams were troubled.They did not arrive back down in the city till midmorning. The touring car center was quite crowded this time, scarcely they managed to obtain the obligatory directions to a quality library, where in turn they received teaching method in the use of the local models of data-gathering com orderers.They went c befully through the museums and universities, beginning with those that were neargonst, and checked out whatever teaching was available on anthropologists, archaeologists, and antiquated historians.Pelorat state, AhAh? verbalize Trevize with some asperity. Ah, what?This name, Quinte focalisez. It promisems familiar.You write out him?No, of course not, and I whitethorn have read written document of his. linchpin at the ship, where I have my theatrical role dispositionWere not going back, Janov. If the name is familiar, thats a kickoff point. If he cant cooperate us, he get out undoubtedly be able to direct us further. He travel to his feet. Lets find a way of getting to Sayshell University. And since there will be nobody there at lunchtime, lets eat premier(prenominal).It was not till tardy afternoon that they had ma de their way out to the university, worked their way through its maze, and found themselves in an anteroom, postponement for a young cleaning lady who had at rest(p) off in search of information and who might or might not lead them to Quintesetz.I wonder, utter Pelorat uneasily, how much protracted well have to arrest. It must be getting toward the close of the schoolday.And, as though that were a cue, the young lady whom they had work get togethern half an hour before, walked rapidly toward them, her shoes glinting red and violet and bang the ground with a sharp melodic tone as she walked. The pitch vary with the speed and force of her steps.Pelorat winced. He alleged(a) that each world had its own ways of assaulting the senses, that as each had its own smell. He wondered if, now that he no longer watchd the smell, he might also learn not to notice the cacophony of fashionable young women when they walked.She came to Pelorat and stopped. whitethorn I have your fu ll name, professor?Its Janov Pelorat, miss.Your home planet?Trevize began to lift one submit as though to set up silence, except Pelorat, either not seeing or not regarding, give tongue to, conclusion.The young adult female smiled broadly, and carryed dexterous. When I told prof Quintesetz that a Professor Pelorat was inquiring for him, he tell he would see you if you were Janov Pelorat of Terminus, except not otherwise.Pelorat blinked rapidly. You you mean, hes comprehend of me?It certainly seems so.And, almost creakily, Pelorat managed a smile as he dour to Trevize. Hes perceive of me. I unbiasedly didnt gestate I mean, Ive written very few papers and I didnt think that anyone He agitate his maneuver. They werent really important.Well because, say Trevize, jocund himself, stop hugging yourself in an seizure of self-underestimation and lets go. He turned to the woman. I presume, miss, theres some sort of transportation to take us to him?Its within walking di stance. We wont even have to leave the building hard and Ill be glad to take you there. atomic number 18 both of you from Terminus? And off she went.The two men followed and Trevize tell, with a trace of annoyance, Yes, we are. Does that move in a difference?Oh no, of course not. There are people on Sayshell that dont like Foundationers, you go through, entirely here at the university, were more oecumenic than that. Live and let live is what I always say. I mean, Foundationers are people, too. You go what I mean?Yes, I hold out what you mean. Lots of us say that Sayshellians are people.Thats unsloped the way it should be. Ive never seen Terminus. It must be a big city. really it isnt, state Trevize matter-of-factly. I suspect its smaller than Sayshell City.Youre t irresoluteing my finger, she give tongue to. Its the capital of the Foundation Federation, isnt it? I mean, there isnt another Terminus, is there?No, theres precisely one Terminus, as far as I sock, and that s where were from the capital of the Foundation Federation.Well then, it must be an enormous city. And youre coming all the way here to see the professor. Were very proud of him, you know. Hes considered the biggest authority in the complete Galaxy.Really? state Trevize. On what?Her eye opened wide again, You are a teaser. He knows more around superannuated history than than I know around my own family. And she continued to walk on ahead on her medicinal drugal feet. iodine can merely be called a teaser and a finger-tweaker so oftentimes without developing an actual impulse in that direction. Trevize smiled and state, The professor knows all close Earth, I suppose?Earth? She stopped at an subroutine door and looked at them blankly.You know. The world where humanity got its start.Oh, you mean the planet-that-was- graduation. I calculate so. I guess he should know all about it. After all, its located in the Sayshell Sector. Everyone knows that This is his office. Let me signal him.No, dont, verbalise Trevize. non for still a minute. pick out me about Earth.Actually I never perceive anyone call it Earth. I suppose thats a Foundation word. We call it germanium, here.Trevize deem a swift look at Pelorat. Oh? And where is it located? instantaneouslyhere. Its in hyperspace and theres no way anyone can get to it. When I was a forgetful girl, my grandmother said that atomic number 32 was once in real space, nevertheless it was so disgusted at theCrimes and stupidities of human beings, muttered Pelorat, that, out of shame, it leave(p) space and refused to have anything more to do with the human beings it had sent out into the Galaxy.You know the story, then. See? A girlfriend of mine says its credulity. Well, Ill tell her. If its good enough for professors from the FoundationA glisten section of lettering on the smoking glass of the door read SOTAYN QUINTESETZ ABT in the hard-to-read Sayshellian calligraphy and under it was printed, in the selfsame(prenominal) fashion DEPARTMENT OF ANCIENT HISTORY.The woman placed her finger on a smooth metal circle. There was no sound, moreover the smokiness of the glass turned a milky white for a moment and a downy voice said, in an abstracted sort of way, Identify yourself, enliven.Janov Pelorat of Terminus, said Pelorat, with Golan Trevize of the same world. The door swung open at once.The man who stood up, walked around his desk, and advanced to play off them was tall and well into middle age. He was light brown in skin color and his hair, which was set in dapper curls over his head, was iron-gray. He held out his fleet in greeting and his voice was soft and low. I am S. Q. I am blithesome to stand you, Professors.Trevize said, I dont own an academic title of respect. I merely keep up Professor Pelorat. You may call me evidently Trevize. I am pleased to meet you, Professor Abt.Quintesetz held up one evanesce in clear embarrassment. No no. Abt is merely a foolish ti tle of some sort that has no deduction outside of Sayshell. Ignore it, please, and call me S. Q. We tend to use initials in ordinary cordial intercourse on Sayshell. Im so pleased to meet two of you when I had been expecting alone one.He seemed to hesitate a moment, then extended his right apply after wiping it unobtrusively on his trousers.Trevize took it, wondering what the proper Sayshellian manner of greeting was.Quintesetz said, Please sit down. Im afraid youll find these chairpersons to be exanimate ones, but I, for one, dont insufficiency my chairs to hug me. Its all the fashion for chairs to hug you nowadays, but I prefer a hug to mean something, hey?Trevize smiled and said, Who would not? Your name, SQ., seems to be of the Rim Worlds and not Sayshellian. I apologize if the remark is impertinent.I dont mind. My family traces back, in part, to Askone. Five generations back, my great-great-grandparents left Askone when Foundation domination grew too heavy.Pelorat said, And we are Foundationers. Our apologies.Quintesetz fly highd his bargain genially, I dont hold a malevolence across a stretch of vanadium generations. Not that such things havent been through with(p), mores the pity. Would you like to have something to eat? To drink? Would you like music in the background?If you dont mind, said Pelorat, Id be willing to get right to business, if Sayshellian ways would permit.Sayshellian ways are not a barrier to that, I assure you. You have no idea how precious this is, Dr. Pelorat. It was unaccompanied about two weeks ago that I came across your article on origin myths in the Archaeological Review and it laid low(p) me as a remarkable implication all too brief.Pelorat flushed with pleasure. How delighted I am that you have read it. I had to condense it, of course, since the Review would not print a full study. I have been planning to do a treatise on the subject.I wish you would. In any case, as soon as I had read it, I had this desire to see you. I even had the idea of visiting Terminus in order to do so, though that would have been hard to assign wherefore so? hireed Trevize.Quintesetz looked embarrassed. Im spicy to say that Sayshell is not eager to uniting the Foundation Federation and kinda discourages any social communication with the Foundation. Weve a usage of indifferent(p)ism, you see. Even the mule didnt bother us, except to extort from us a particular proposition statement of neutrality. For that reason, any application for permit to visit Foundation territory generally and particularly Terminus is viewed with suspicion, although a scholar such as myself, intent on academic business, would probably obtain his passing in the end. But none of that was necessary you have come to me. I can scarcely believe it. I engage myself Why? Have you heard of me, as I have heard of you?Pelorat said, I know your work, S. Q., and in my records I have abstracts of your papers. It is wherefore I have come to you. I am exploring both the matter of Earth, which is the re poseed planet of origin of the human species, and the early period of the exploration and settlement of the Galaxy. In particular, I have come here to inquire as to the founding of Sayshell.From your paper, said Quintesetz, I presume you are fire in myths and allegorys.Even more in history actual facts if such exist. Myths and legends, otherwise.Quintesetz rose and walked rapidly back and forth the duration of his office, paused to stare at Pelorat, then walked again.Trevize said impatiently, Well, sir.Quintesetz said, Odd Really odd It was merely yesterdayPelorat said, What was moreover yesterday?Quintesetz said, I told you, Dr. Pelorat may I call you J. P., by the way? I find employ a full-length name kind of un indispensablePlease do.I told you, J. P., that I had admired your paper and that I had precious to see you. The reason I treasured to see you was that you clearly had an extensive collection of lege nds concerning the beginnings of the worlds and except didnt have ours. In other words, I needinessed to see you in order to tell you precisely what you have come to see me to find out.What has this to do with yesterday, S. Q. ? asked Trevize.We have legends. A legend. An important one to our society, for it has become our interchange mystery riddle? said Trevize.I dont mean a puzzle or anything of that sort. That, I believe, would be the usual centre of the word in Galactic Standard. Theres a specialized meaning here. It means something secret something only certain adepts know the full meaning of something not to be spoken of to outsiders. And yesterday was the day.The day of what, S. Q. ? asked Trevize, approximately exaggerating his air of patience.Yesterday was the solar day of Flight.Ah, said Trevize, a day of meditation and quiet, when everyone is sibylline to remain at home.Something like that, in theory, except that in the larger cities, the more sophisticated region s, there is unretentive watching in the older fashion. But you know about it, I see.Pelorat, who had grown flighty at Trevizes annoyed tone, put in hastily, We heard a microscopical of it, having arrived yesterday.Of all days, said Trevize sarcastically. See here, S. Q. As I said, Im not an academic, but I have a movement. You said you were speaking of a primal mystery, meaning it was not to be spoken of to outsiders. Why, then, are you speaking of it to us? We are outsiders.So you are. But Im not an observer of the day and the depth of my superstition in this matter is slight at best. J. P. s paper, save, reinforced a vox populi I have had for a long time. A myth or legend is simply not made up out of a vacuum. null is or can be. Somehow there is a kernel of truth behind it, provided distorted that might be, and I would like the truth behind our legend of the daytime of Flight.Trevize said, Is it safe to talk about it?Quintesetz shrugged. Not entirely, I suppose. The c onservative elements among our population would be horrified. However, they dont bidding the authorities and havent for a century. The secularists are severe and would be stronger still, if the conservatives didnt take avail of our if youll take over me anti-Foundation bias. Then, too, since I am discussing the matter out of my scholarly interest in ancient history, the League of Academicians will maintain me strongly, in case of need.In that case, said Pelorat, would you tell us about your central mystery, SQ. ?Yes, but let me make sure we wont be interrupted or, for that matter, overheard. Even if one must stare the bull in the face, one neednt slap its muzzle, as the saying goes.He flicked a pattern on the work-face of an instrument on his desk and said, Were incommunicado now. ar you sure youre not bugged? asked Trevize. bug?Tapped Eavesdropped Subjected to a device that will have you under observation visual or auditory or both.Quintesetz looked shocked. Not here on SayshellTrevize shrugged. If you say so.Please go on, SQ., said Pelorat.Quintesetz pursed his lips, leaned back in his chair (which gave slightly under the pressure) and put the tips of his fingers together. He seemed to be speculating as to respectable how to begin.He said, Do you know what a automaton is?A robot? said Pelorat. No.Quintesetz looked in the direction of Trevize, who shook his head slowly.You know what a computer is, however?Of course, said Trevize impatiently.Well then, a runny computerized toolIs a mobile computerized tool. Trevize was still impatient. There are endless varieties and I dont know of any generalized shape for it except mobile computerized tool. that looks exactly like a human being is a robot. S. Q. completed his definition with equanimity. The distinction of a robot is that it is humaniform. Why humaniform? asked Pelorat in honest amazement. Im not sure. Its a remarkably ineffective form for a tool, I grant you, but Im on the button repeating t he legend. Robot is an old word from no recognizable language, though our scholars say it bears the connotation of work.I cant think of any word, said Trevize sunplowedically, that sounds even mistily like robot and that has any connection with work.Nothing in Galactic, certainly, said Quintesetz, but thats what they say.Pelorat said, It may have been reverse etymology. These objects were used for work, and so the word was said to mean work. In any case, why do you tell us this?Because it is a firmly heady tradition here on Sayshell that when Earth was a single world and the Galaxy lay all uninhabited before it, robots were invented and devised. There were then two sorts of human beings natural and invented, flesh and metal, biological and mechanical, complex and simpleQuintesetz came to a blockade and said with a rueful laugh, Im sorry. It is impossible to talk about robots without quoting from the Book of Flight. The people of Earth devised robots and I need say no more. That s plain enough.And why did they devise robots? asked Trevize.Quintesetz shrugged. Who can tell at this distance in time? Perhaps they were few in numbers and needed armed service, particularly in the great task of exploring and populating the Galaxy.Trevize said, Thats a fair suggestion. Once the Galaxy was colonized, the robots would no longer be needed. Certainly there are no humanoid mobile computerized tools in the Galaxy today.In any case, said Quintesetz, the story is as follows if I may vastly simplify and leave out more poetic ornamentations which, frankly, I dont accept, though the general population does or pretends to. round Earth, there grew up colony worlds circling adjacent stars and these colony worlds were far richer in robots than was Earth itself. There was more use for robots on raw, new worlds. Earth, in fact, retreated, wished no more robots, and rebelled against them.What happened? asked Pelorat.The Outer Worlds were the stronger. With the help of their rob ots, the children discomfited and controlling Earth the Mother. Pardon me, but I cant help slipping into quotation. But there were those from Earth who fled their world with better ships and stronger modes of hyperspatial travel. They fled to far contrasted stars and worlds, far beyond the closer worlds to begin with colonized. New colonies were founded without robots in which human beings could live freely. Those were the Times of Flight, so-called, and the day upon which the first Earthmen reached the Sayshell Sector this very planet, in fact is the Day of Flight, findd annually for many thousands of years.Pelorat said, My dear chap, what you are saying, then, is that Sayshell was founded without delay from Earth.Quintesetz estimation and hesitated for a moment. Then he said, That is the official belief.Obviously, said Trevize, you dont accept it.It seems to me Quintesetz began and then burst out, Oh, prominent Stars and Small artificial satellites, I dont It is entir ely too unlikely, but its official dogma and however secularized the authorities has become, lip service to that, at least, is essential. Still, to the point. In your article, J. P., there is no reference that youre aware of this story of robots and of two waves of colonization, a lesser one with robots and a greater one without.I certainly was not, said Pelorat. I hear it now for the first time and, my dear SQ., I am eternally grateful to you for making this cognise to me. I am astonished that no hint of this has appeared in any of the belles-lettresIt shows, said Quintesetz, how effective our social corpse is. Its our Sayshellian secret our great mystery.Perhaps, said Trevize dryly. to that extent the second wave of colonization the robotless wave must have moved out in all directions. Why is it only on Sayshell that this great secret exists?Quintesetz said, It may exist elsewhere and be just as secret. Our own conservatives believe that only Sayshell was colonised fro m Earth and that all the rest of the Galaxy was settled from Sayshell. That, of course, is probably nonsense.Pelorat said, These accessory puzzles can be worked out in time. Now that I have the starting point, I can seek out similar information on other worlds. What counts is that I have discovered the dubiety to ask and a good question is, of course, the key by which infinite answers can be educed. How rose-colored that ITrevize said, Yes, Janov, but the good SQ. has not told us the whole story, surely. What happened to the older colonies and their robots? Do your traditions say?Not in detail, but in essence. adult male and humanoid cannot live together, on the face of it. The worlds with robots died. They were not viable.And Earth?Humans left it and settled here and presumably (though the conservatives would disagree) on other planets as well.Surely not every human being left Earth. The planet was not deserted.Presumably not. I dont know.Trevize said abruptly, Was it left rad ioactive?Quintesetz looked astonished. Radioactive?Thats what Im asking.Not to my knowledge. I never heard of such a thing.Trevize put a knuckle to his teething and considered. Finally he said, S. Q., its getting late and we have trespassed sufficiently on your time, perhaps. (Pelorat made a motion as though he were about to protest, but Trevizes hand was on the others knee and his grip tightened so Pelorat, looking disturbed, subsided.)Quintesetz said, I was delighted to be of use.You have been and if theres anything we can do in exchange, name it.Quintesetz laughed gently. If the good J. P. will be so kind as to forbear from point outing my name in connection with any writing he does on our mystery, that will be sufficient repayment.Pelorat said eagerly, You would be able to get the credit you be and perhaps be more apprehended if you were allowed to visit Terminus and even, perhaps, remain there as a visiting scholar at our university for an extended period. We might arra nge that. Sayshell might not like the Federation, but they might not like refusing a direct call for that you be allowed to come to Terminus to attend, let us say, a colloquium on some aspect of ancient history.The Sayshellian half-rose. be you saying you can puff of air strings to arrange that?Trevize said, Why, I hadnt thought of it, but J. P. is perfectly right. That would be executable if we tried. And, of course, the more grateful you make us, the harder we will try.Quintesetz paused, then frowned. What do you mean, sir?All you have to do is tell us about germanium, S. Q., said Trevize. And all the light in Quintesetzs face died.Quintesetz looked down at his desk. His hand stroked absent-mindedly at his short, tightly curled hair. Then he looked at Trevize and pursed his lips tightly. It was as though he were determined not to speak.Trevize raise his eyebrows and waited and finally Quintesetz said in a strangled sort of way, it is getting then late quite glemmering.Unti l then he had spoken in good Galactic, but now his words took on a strange shape as though the Sayshellian mode of speech were pushing recent his classical education.Glemmering, S. Q. ?It is nearly full night.Trevize nodded. I am thoughtless. And I am hungry, too. Could you please join us for an evening meal, S. Q., at our expense? We could then, perhaps, continue our discussion about germanium.Quintesetz rose heavily to his feet. He was taller than either of the two men from Terminus, but he was older and pudgier and his height did not play him the appearance of strength. He seemed more fag out than when they had arrived.He blinked at them and said, I provide my hospitality. You are Outworlders and it would not be fitting that you entertain me. Come to my home. It is on campus and not far and, if you wish to carry on a conversation, I can do so in a more relaxed manner there than here. My only trouble (he seemed a picayune apprehensive) is that I can offer you only a bo und meal. My wife and I are vegetarians and if you are meat-eating, I can Only pack my apologies and regrets.Trevize said, J. P. and I will be quite content to forego our carnivorous natures for one meal. Your conversation will more than make up for it I swear.I can promise you an interesting meal, whatever the conversation, said Quintesetz, if your taste should run to our Sayshellian spices. My wife and I have made a rarified study of such things.I look forward to any exoticism you choose to supply, S. Q., said Trevize coolly, though Pelorat looked a little nervous at the prospect.Quintesetz led the way. The triplet left the room and walked down an apparently endless corridor, with the Sayshellian greeting students and colleagues now and then, but making no onset to stage his companions. Trevize was uneasily aware that others stared curiously at his sash, which happened to be one of his gray ones. A subdued color was not something that was de rigueur in campus clothing, app arently.Finally they stepped through the door and out into the open. It was indeed dark and a little cool, with trees bulking in the distance and a rather rank stand of grass on either side of the walkway.Pelorat came to a halt with his back to the glimmer of lights that came from the building they had just left and from the glows that lined the walks of the campus. He looked reliable upward.Beautiful he said. There is a famous phrase in a verse by one of our better poets that speaks of the speckle-shine of Sayshells soaring thresh about.Trevize gazed appreciately and said in a low voice, Vie are from Terminus, S. Q., and my friend, at least, has seen no other skies. On Terminus, we see only the smooth vague murkiness of the Galaxy and a few tho visible stars. You would appreciate your own sky even more, had you lived with ours.Quintesetz said gravely, We appreciate it to the full, I assure you. Its not so much that we are in an uncrowded force field of the Galaxy, but that t he distribution of stars is remarkably even. I dont think that you will find, anywhere in the Galaxy, first-magnitude stars so generally distributed. And yet not too many, either. I have seen the skies of worlds that are inside the outer reaches of a spherical cluster and there you will see too many brilliant stars. It spoils the phantom of the night sky and reduces the splendor considerably.I quite agree with that, said Trevize.Now I wonder, said Quintesetz, if you see that almost regular pentagon of almost equally bright stars. The Five Sisters, we call them. Its in that direction, just above the line of trees. Do you see it?I see it, said Trevize. really attractive.Yes, said Quintesetz. Its sibylline to symbolize victory in love and theres no love letter that doesnt end in a pentagon of dots to indicate a desire to make love. Each of the five stars stands for a different stage in the process and there are famous poems which have vied with each other in making each stage as explicitly sexy as possible. In my younger days, I attempted versifying on the subject myself and I wouldnt have thought that the time would come when I would grow so achromatic to the Five Sisters, though I suppose its the common fate. Do you see the dim star just about in the center of the Five Sisters.That, said Quintesetz, is hypothetic to represent unrequited love. There is a legend that the star was once as bright as the rest, but faint with grief. And he walked on rapidly.The dinner, Trevize had been forced to admit to himself, was delightful. There was endless variety and the spicing and get dressed were subtle but effective.Trevize said, All these vegetables which have been a pleasure to eat, by the way are part of the Galactic dietary, are they not, SQ. ?Yes, of course.I presume, though, that there are indigenous forms of life, too.Of course. Sayshell Planet was an oxygen world when the first settlers arrived, so it had to be life-bearing. And we have hold some of the indigenous life, you may be sure. We have quite extensive natural parks in which both the botany and the fauna of Old Sayshell survive.Pelorat said sadly, There you are in advance of us, S. Q. There was little land life on Terminus when human beings arrived and Im afraid that for a long time no contrive effort was made to preserve the sea life, which had produced the oxygen that made Terminus habitable. Terminus has an ecology now that is purely Galactic in nature.Sayshell, said Quintesetz, with a smile of modest pride, has a long and steadfast record of life-valuing.And Trevize chose that moment to say, When we left your office, SQ., I believe it was your intention to feed us dinner and then tell us about atomic number 32.Quintesetzs wife, a friendly woman plump and quite dark, who had said little during the meal looked up in astonishment, rose, and left the room without a word.My wife, said Quintesetz uneasily, is quite a conservative, Im afraid, and is a bit uneasy at the mention of the world. Please excuse her. But why do you ask about it?Because it is important for J. P.s work, Im afraid.But why do you ask it of me? We were discussing Earth, robots, the founding of Sayshell. What has all this to do with what you ask?Perhaps nothing, and yet there are so many oddnesses about the matter. Why is your wife uneasy at the mention of Gaia? Why are you uneasy? Some talk of it easily enough. We have been told only today that Gaia is Earth itself and that it has disappeared into hyperspace because of the evil done by human beings.A look of pain crossed Quintesetzs face. Who told you that gibberish? someone I met here at the university.Thats just superstition.Then its not part of the central dogma of your legends concerning the Flight?No, of course not. Its just a apologue that arose among the ordinary, uneducated people.Are you sure? asked Trevize coldly.Quintesetz sat back in his chair and stared at the remnant of the meal before him. Come into th e living room, he said. My wife will not allow this room to be cleared and set to rights while we are here and discussing this.Are you sure it is just a fable? repeated Trevize, once they had seated themselves in another room, before a windowpane that bellied upward and inward to give a clear view of Sayshells remarkable night sky. The lights within the room glimmered down to avoid competition and Quintesetzs dark osculator melted into the shadow.Quintesetz said, Arent you sure? Do you think that any world can terminate into hyperspace? You must understand that the average person has only the vaguest fancy of what hyperspace is.The truth is, said Trevize, that I myself have only the vaguest notion of what hyperspace is and Ive been through it hundreds of times.Let me speak realities, then. I assure you that Earth wherever it is is not located within the borders of the Sayshell compass north and that the world you mentioned is not Earth.But even if you dont know where Earth i s, S. Q., you ought to know where the world I mentioned is. It is certainly within the borders of the Sayshell Union. We know that much, eh, Pelorat?Pelorat, who had been auditory modality stolidly, started at being suddenly communicate and said, If it comes to that, Golan, I know where it is.Trevize turned to look at him. Since when, Janov?Since earlier this evening, my dear Golan. You showed us theFive Sisters, S. Q., on our way from your office to your house. You pointed out a dim star at the center of the pentagon. Im positive thats Gaia.Quintesetz hesitated his face, mystical in the dimness, was beyond any regain of interpretation. Finally he said, Well, thats what our astronomers tell us privately. It is a planet that circles that star.Trevize gazed contemplatively at Pelorat, but the expression on the professors face was unreadable. Trevize turned to Quintesetz, Then tell us about that star. Do you have its co-ordinates?I? No. He was almost violent in his denial. I have no astral co-ordinates here. You can get it from our astronomy department, though I imagine not without trouble. No travel to that star is permitted.Why not? Its within your territory, isnt it?Spaciographically, yes. Politically, no.Trevize waited for something more to be said. When that didnt come, he rose. Professor Quintesetz, he said formally, I am not a policeman, soldier, diplomat, or thug. I am not here to force information out of you. Instead, I shall, against my will, go to our ambassador. Surely, you must understand that it is not I, for my own personal interest, that request this information. This is Foundation business and I dont want to make an interstellar incident out of this. I dont think the Sayshell Union would want to, either.Quintesetz said uncertainly, What is this Foundation business?Thats not something I can discuss with you. If Gaia is not something you can discuss with me, then we will transfer it all to the government level and, under the circumstances, i t may be the worse for Sayshell. Sayshell has kept its independence of the Federation and I have no protestation to that. I have no reason to wish Sayshell ill and I do not wish to approach our ambassador. In fact, I will harm my own career in doing so, for I am under strict instruction to get this information without making a government matter of it. Please tell me, then, if there is some firm reason why you cannot discuss Gaia. Will you be arrested or otherwise punished, if you speak? Will you tell me plainly that I have no choice but to go to the ambassadorial height?No no, said Quintesetz, who sounded absolutely confused. I know nothing about government matters. We simply dont speak of that world. bigotry?Well, yes Superstition Skies of Sayshell, in what way am I better than that foolish person who told you that Gaia was in hyperspace or than my wife who wont even stay in a room where Gaia is mentioned and who may even have left the house for guardianship it will be smashed byLightning?By some stroke from afar. And I, even I, hesitate to pronounce the name. Gaia Gaia The syllables do not hurt I am unharmed Yet I hesitate. But please believe me when I say that I honestly dont know the co-ordinates for Gaias star. I can try to help you get it, if that will help, but let me tell you that we dont discuss the world here in the Union. We keep hands and minds off it. I can tell you what little is known really known, rather than supposed and I doubt that you can learn anything more anywhere in these worlds of the Union.We know Gaia is an ancient world and there are some who think it is the oldest world in this sector of the Galaxy, but we are not certain. Patriotism tells us Sayshell Planet is the oldest fear tells us Gaia Planet is. The only way of combining the two is to suppose that Gaia is Earth, since it is known that Sayshell was settled by Earthpeople.Most historians think among themselves that Gaia Planet was founded independently. They think it i s not a colony of any world of our Union and that the Union was not colonized by Gaia. There is no consensus on proportional age, whether Gaia was settled before or after Sayshell was.Trevize said, So far, what you know is nothing, since every possible alternative is believed by someone or other.Quintesetz nodded ruefully. It would seem so. It was comparatively late in our history that we became conscious of the world of Gaia. We had been preoccupied at first in forming the Union, then in fighting off the Galactic Empire, then in nerve-wracking to find our proper role as an imperial beard responsibleness and in limit the power of the Viceroys.It wasnt till the days of gallant weakness were far advanced that one of the later Viceroys, who was under very weak central control by then, came to distinguish that Gaia existed and seemed to maintain its independence from the Sayshellian province and even from the Empire itself. It simply kept to itself in isolation and secrecy, so t hat intimately nothing was known about it, any longer than is now known. The Viceroy decided to take it over. We have no details what happened, but his expedition was broken and few ships returned. In those days, of course, the ships were neither very good nor very well led.Sayshell itself rejoiced at the defeat of the Viceroy, who was considered an Imperial oppressor, and the debacle led almost directly to the re-establishment of our independence. The Sayshell Union snapped its ties with the Empire and we still celebrate the anniversary of that event as Union Day. Almost out of gratitude we left Gaia alone for nearly a century, but the time came when we were strong enough to begin to think of a little imperialist expansion of our own. Why not take over Gaia? Why not at least establish a Customs Union? We sent out a fleet and it was broken, too.Thereafter, we confined ourselves to an infrequent attempt at trade attempts that were invariably unsuccessful. Gaia remained in firm iso lation and never to anyones knowledge made the slightest attempt to trade or communicate with any other world. It certainly never made the slightest hostile move against anyone in any direction. And thenQuintesetz turned up the light by touching a control in the arm of his chair. In the light, Quintesetzs face took on a clearly sarcastic expression. He went on, Since you are citizens of the Foundation, you perhaps remember the mule.Trevize flushed. In five centuries of existence, the Foundation had been conquered only once. The conquest had been only temporary and had not seriously interfered with its climb toward Second Empire, but surely no one who resented the Foundation and wished to puncture its self-satisfaction would fail to mention the scuff, its one conqueror. And it was likely (thought Trevize) that Quintesetz had raised the level of light in order that he might see Foundational self-satisfaction punctured.He said, Yes, we of the Foundation remember the Mule.The Mule, said Quintesetz, control an Empire for a while, one that was as large as the Federation now controlled by the Foundation. He did not, however, rule us. He left us in peace. He passed through Sayshell at one time, however. We sign(a) a declaration of neutrality and a statement of friendship. He asked nothing more. We were the only ones of whom he asked nothing more in the days before illness called a halt to his expansion and forced him to wait for death. He was not an unreasonable man, you know. He did not use unreasonable force, he was not bloody, and he ruled humanely.It was just that he was a conqueror, said Trevize sarcastically. analogous the Foundation, said Quintesetz.Trevize, with no ready answer, said irritably, Do you have more to say about Gaia?Just a statement that the Mule made. According to the account of the historic meeting between the Mule and President Kallo of the Union, the Mule is described as having put his signature to the document with a flourish and to hav e said, You are neutral even toward Gaia by this document, which is fortunate for you. Even I will not approach Gaia.Trevize shook his head. Why should he? Sayshell was eager to pledge neutrality and Gaia had no record of ever strike anyone. The Mule was planning the conquest of the entire Galaxy at the time, so why delay for trifles? Time enough to turn on Sayshell and Gaia, when that was done.Perhaps, perhaps, said Quintesetz, but according to one witness at the time, a person we tend to believe, the Mule put down his pen as he said, Even I will not approach Gaia. His voice then dropped and, in a whisper not meant to be heard, he added again.Not meant to be heard, you say. Then how was it he was heard?Because his pen rolled off the table when he put it down and a Sayshellian automatically approached and solidification to pick it up. His ear was close to the Mules communicate when the word again was spoken and he heard it. He said nothing until after the Mules death.How can you analyze it was not an invention.The mans life is not the kind that makes it probable he would invent something of this kind. His report is accepted.And if it is?The Mule was never in or anywhere near the Sayshell Union except on this one occasion, at least after he appeared on the Galactic scene. If he had ever been on Gaia, it had to be before he appeared on the Galactic scene.Well?Well, where was the Mule born?I dont think anyone knows, said Trevize.In the Sayshell Union, there is a strong feeling he was born on Gaia.Because of that one word?Only partly. The Mule could not be defeated because he had strange mental powers. Gaia cannot be defeated either.Gaia has not been defeated as yet. That does not necessarily prove it cannot be.Even the Mule would not approach. seem the records of his Overlordship. See if any region other than the Sayshell Union was so gingerly treated. And do you know that no one who has ever gone to Gaia for the purpose of unruffled trade has ever retur ned? Why do you suppose we know so little about it?Trevize said, Your attitude seems much like superstition.Call it what you will. Since the time of the Mule, we have wiped Gaia out of our thinking. We dont want it to think of us. We only feel safe if we pretend it isnt there. It may be that the government has itself secretly initiated and support the legend that Gaia has disappeared into hyperspace in the hope that people will forget that there is a real Star of that name.You think that Gaia is a world of Mules, then?It may be. I advise you, for your good, not to go there. If you do, you will never return. If the Foundation interferes with Gaia, it will show less experience than the Mule did. You might tell your ambassador that.Trevize said, Get me the co-ordinates and I will be off your world at once. I will reach Gaia and I will return.Quintesetz said, I will get you the co-ordinates. The astronomy department works nights, of course, and I will get it for you now, if I can. Bu t let me suggest once more that you make no attempt to reach Gaia.Trevize said, I intend to make that attempt.And Quintesetz said heavily, Then you intend suicide.