"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."
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 a.s.surance 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 circ.u.mstances, Mayor, but circ.u.mstances 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 Then, bitterly, "Unless they too have been replaced by Second Foundationers.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."
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 pa.r.s.ecs 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."
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 s.p.a.ce, so anxious to pursue Trevize, so sure he could handle it all. -It was all Novi. -Oh, Novi!
"You were a particular case, Speaker Gendibal. Your ambition was powerful, but there were softnesses about you that offered a shortcut. You were a person who would be kind to someone whom you had been trained to think of as beneath you in every respect. I took advantage of this in you and turned it against you. I/we am/are deeply ashamed. The excuse is that the future of the Galaxy is in hazard."
Novi paused and her voice (though she was not speaking by way of vocal cords) grew more somber, her face more drawn.
"This was the time. Gaia could wait no longer. For over a century, the people of Terminus had been developing a mentalic shield. Left to themselves another generation, it would have been impervious even to Gaia and they would have been free to use their physical weapons at will. The Galaxy would not have been able to resist them and a Second Galactic Empire, after the fashion of Terminus, would have been established at once, despite the Seldon Plan, despite the people of Trantor, and despite Gaia. Mayor Branno had to be somehow maneuvered into making her move while the shield was still imperfect.
"Then there is Trantor. The Seldon Plan was working perfectly, for Gaia itself labored to keep it on track with precision. And for over a century, there had been quietist First Speakers, so that Trantor vegetated. Now, however, Stor Gendibal was rising quickly. He would certainly become First Speaker and under him Trantor would take on an activist role. It would surely concentrate on physical power and would recognize the danger of Terminus and take action against it. If he could act against Terminus before its shield was perfected, then the Seldon Plan would be worked out to its conclusion in a Second Galactic Empire-after the fashion of Trantor-despite the people of Terminus and despite Gaia. Consequently Gendibal had to be somehow maneuvered into making his move before he became First Speaker.
"Fortunately, because Gaia has been working carefully for decades, we have brought both Foundations to the proper place at the proper time. I repeat all this primarily so that Councilman Golan Trevize of Terminus may understand."
Trevize cut in at once and again ignored the effort to converse by thought. He spoke words firmly, "I 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 partic.i.p.ating. Every star. Every sc.r.a.p of interstellar gas. Perhaps even the great central black hole. A living galaxy and one that can be made favorable for all life in ways that we yet cannot foresee. A way of life fundamentally different from all that has gone before and repeating none of the old mistakes."
"Originating new ones," muttered Gendibal sarcastically.
"We have had thousands of years of Gaia to work those out."
"But not on a Galactic scale."
Trevize, ignoring the short exchange and driving to his point, said, "And what is my role in all this?"
The voice of Gaia-channeled through Novi"s mind-thundered, "Choose! Which alternative is it to be?"
There was a vast silence that followed and finally, in that silence, Trevize"s voice-mental at last, for he was too taken aback to speak -sounded small and still defiant. "Why me?"
Novi said, "Though we recognized the moment had come when either Terminus or Trantor would become too powerful to stop-or worse yet, when both might become so powerful that a deadly stalemate would develop that would devastate the Galaxy-we still could not move. For our purposes, we needed someone-a particular someone-with the talent for rightness. We found you, Councilman. -No, we cannot take the credit. The people of Trantor found you through the man named Compor, though even they did not know what they had. The act of finding you attracted our attention to you. Golan Trevize, you have the gift of knowing the right thing to do."
"I deny it," said Trevize.
"You are, every once in a while, sure. And we want you to be sure this time on behalf of the Galaxy. You do not wish the responsibility, perhaps. You may do your best not to have to choose. Nevertheless, you will realize that it is right to do so. You will be sure! And you will then choose. Once we found you, we knew the search was over and for years we have labored to encourage a course of action that would, without direct mentalic interference, so influence events that all three of you-Mayor Branno, Speaker Gendibal, and Councilman Trevize-would be in the neighborhood of Gaia at the same time. We have done it."
Trevize said, "At this point in s.p.a.ce, under present circ.u.mstances, is it not true, Gaia-if that is what you want me to call you-that you can overpower both the Mayor and the Speaker? Is it not true that you can establish this living Galaxy you speak of without my doing anything? Why, then, do you not?"
Novi said, "I do not know if I can explain this to your satisfaction. Gaia was formed thousands of years ago with the help of robots that once, for a brief time, served the human species and now serve them no more. They made it quite clear to us that we could survive only by a strict application of the Three Laws of Robotics as applied to life generally. The First Law, in those terms, is: "Gaia may not harm life or, through inaction, allow life to come to harm." We have followed this rule through all of our history and we can do no other.
"The result is that we are now helpless. We cannot force our vision of the living Galaxy upon a quintillion human beings and countless other forms of life and perhaps do harm to vast numbers. Nor can we do nothing and watch the Galaxy half-destroy itself in a struggle that we might have prevented. We do not know whether action or inaction will cost the Galaxy less; nor, if we choose action, do we know whether supporting Terminus or Trantor will cost the Galaxy less. Let Councilman Trevize decide then-and whatever that decision is, Gaia will follow it."
Trevize said, "How do you expect me to make a decision? What do I do?"
Novi said, "You have your computer. The people of Terminus did not know that when they made it, they made it better than they knew. The computer on board your ship incorporates some of Gaia. Place your hands on the terminals and think. You may think Mayor Branno"s shield impervious, for instance. If you do, it is possible that she will at once use her weapons to disable or destroy the other two ships, establish physical rule over Gaia and, later on, Trantor."
"And you will do nothing to stop that?" said Trevize with astonishment.
"Not a thing. If you are sure that domination by Terminus will do the Galaxy less harm than any other alternative, we will gladly help that domination along-even at the cost of our own destruction.
"On the other hand, you may find Speaker Gendibal"s mentalic field and you may then join your computer-magnified push to his. He will, in that case, surely break free of me and push me back. He may then adjust the Mayor"s mind and, in combination with her ships, establish physical domination over Gaia and a.s.sure the continued supremacy of the Seldon Plan. Gaia will not move to stop that.
"Or you may find my mentalic field and join that-and then the living Galaxy will be set in motion to reach its fulfillment, not in this generation or the next, but after centuries of labor during which the Seldon Plan will continue. The choice is yours."
Mayor Branno said, "Wait! Do not make a decision just yet. May I speak?"
Novi said, "You may speak freely. So may Speaker Gendibal."
Branno said, "Councilman Trevize. The last time we met on Terminus, you said, "The time may come, Madam Mayor, when you will ask me for an effort, and I will then do as I choose, and I will remember the past two days." I don"t know whether you foresaw this, or intuitively felt it would happen, or simply had what this woman who speaks of a living Galaxy calls a talent for rightness. In any case, you were right. I am asking you for an effort on behalf of the Federation.
"You may, I suppose, feel that you would like to even the score with me for having arrested and exiled you. I ask you to remember that I did it for what I considered the good of the Foundation Federation. Even if I were wrong or even if I acted out of callous self-interest, remember that it was I who did it-and not the Federation. Do not now destroy the entire Federation out of a desire to balance what I alone have done to you. Remember that you are a Foundationer and a human being, that you do not want to be a cipher in the plans of the bloodless mathematicians of Trantor or less than a cipher in a Galactic mish-mash of life and nonlife. You want yourself, your descendants, your fellow-people to be independent organisms, possessing free will. Nothing else matters.
"These others may tell you that our Empire will lead to bloodshed and misery-but it need not. It is our free-will choice whether this should be so or not. We may choose otherwise. And, in any case, it is better to go to defeat with free will than to live in meaningless security as a cog in a machine. Observe that you are now being asked to make a decision as a free-will human being. These things of Gaia are unable to make a decision because their machinery will not allow them to, so that they depend on you. And they will destroy themselves if you bid them to. Is this what you want for all the Galaxy?"
Trevize said, "I do not know that I have free will, Mayor. My mind may have been subtly dealt with, so that I will give the answer that is desired."
Novi said, "Your mind is totally untouched. If we could bring ourselves to adjust you to suit our purposes, this whole meeting would be unnecessary. Were we that unprincipled, we could have proceeded with what we would find most pleasing to ourselves with no concern for the greater needs and good of humanity as a whole."
Gendibal said, "I believe it is my turn to speak. Councilman Trevize, do not be guided by narrow parochialism. The fact that you are Terminus-born should not lead you to believe that Terminus comes before the Galaxy. For five centuries now, the Galaxy has been operating in accordance with the Seldon Plan. In and out of the Foundation Federation, that operation has been proceeding.
"You are, and have been, part of the Seldon Plan above and beyond your lesser role as Foundationer. Do not do anything to disrupt the Plan, either on behalf of a narrow concept of patriotism or out of a romantic longing for the new and untried. The Second Foundationers will in no way hamper the free will of humanity. We are guides, not despots.
"And we offer a Second Galactic Empire fundamentally different from the First. Throughout human history, no decade in all the tens of thousands of years during which hyperspatial travel has existed has been completely free of bloodshed and violent death throughout the Galaxy, even in those periods when the Foundation itself was at peace. Choose Mayor Branno and that will continue endlessly into the future. The same dreary, deadly round. The Seldon Plan offers release from that at last-and not at the price of becoming one more atom in a Galaxy of atoms, being reduced to equality with gra.s.s, bacteria, and dust."
Novi said, "What Speaker Gendibal says of the First Foundation"s Second Empire, I agree with. What he says of his own, I do not. The Speakers of Trantor are, after all, independent free-will human beings and are the same as they have always been. Are they free of destructive compet.i.tion, of politics, of clawing upward at all costs? Are there no quarrels and even hatreds at the Speaker"s Table -and will they always be guides you dare follow? Put Speaker Gendibal on his honor and ask him this."
"No need to put me on my honor," said Gendibal. "I freely admit we have our hatreds, compet.i.tions, and betrayals at the Table. But once a decision is reached, it is obeyed by all. There has never been an exception to this."
Trevize said, "What if I will not make a choice?"
"You must," said Novi. "You will know that it is right to do so and you will therefore make a choice."
"What if I try to make a choice and cannot?"
"You must."
Trevize said, "How much time do I have?"
Novi said, "Until you are sure, however much time that takes."
Trevize sat silently.
Though the others were silent too, it seemed to Trevize that he could hear the pulsing of his bloodstream.
He could hear Mayor Branno"s voice say firmly, "Free will!" Speaker Gendibal"s voice said peremptorily, "Guidance and peace!"
Novi"s voice said wistfully, "Life."
Trevize turned and found Pelorat looking at him intently. He said, "Janov. Have you heard all this?"
"Yes, I have, Golan."
"What do you think?"
"The decision is not mine."
"I know that. But what do you think."
"I don"t know. I am frightened by all three alternatives. And yet a peculiar thought comes to me-"
"Yes?"
"When we first went out into s.p.a.ce, you showed me the Galaxy. Do you remember?"
"Of course."
"You speeded time and the Galaxy rotated visibly. And I said, as though antic.i.p.ating this very time, "The Galaxy looks like a living thing, crawling through s.p.a.ce." Do you think that, in a way, it is alive already?"
And Trevize, remembering that moment, was suddenly sure. He remembered suddenly his feeling that Pelorat, too, would have a vital role to play. He turned in haste, anxious not to have time to think, to doubt, to grow uncertain.
He placed his hands on the terminals and thought with an intensity he had never known before.
He had made his decision-the decision on which the fate of the Galaxy hung.