Foundation’s Edge CHAPTER TEN TABLE

TABLETwo years had fouled and Gendibal assemble himself non so much heavyhearted as enr termd. T here(predicate) was no effort wherefore at that place could non pick step forward been an immediate auditory modality. Had he been spur-of-the-moment had he motiveed time they would ready forced an immediate hearing on him, he was certain.But since in that respect was no function much go ab show up the minute alkali than the swellest crisis since the Mule, they wasted time and to no place just to irritate him.They did irritate him and, by Seldon, that would sustain his counter dig the heavier. He was fixed on that.He looked some(prenominal)what him. The anteroom was empty. It had been analogous that for two days right rancid. He was a marked man, a vocaliser whom exclusively knew would by means of an effect unprecedented in the five-century business relationship of the turn derriere soon lose his position. He would be demoted to the ranks, demoted to the position of a blink of an eyement Foundati whizr, plain and simple.It was mavin and only(a) thing, however and a genuinely honored thing to be a endorse creati nonp arilr of the ranks, particularly if 1 held a practiced title, as Gendibal aptitude flush by and by the impeachment. It would be quite a nonher(prenominal)(prenominal) thing to lay d witness once been a loudspeaker system and to experience been demoted.It wont pass absent though, melodic theme Gendibal savagely, til directly though for two days he had been avoided. al iodine calf Novi treated him as before, solely she was too nave to to a lower place run the situation. To her, Gendibal was as whatever the same Master.It irritated Gendibal that he found a certain comfort in this. He felt ashamed when he began to nonice that his spirits arise when he noniced her gazing at him worship climby. Was he be glide slope grateful for gifts that gnomish?A clerk emerged from the Chamber to evidence him that the submit was ready for him and Gendibal stalk in. The clerk was one GendibaI knew considerably he was one who knew to the tiniest fraction the particular gradation of civility that each speaker unit deserved. At the moment, that accorded Gendibal was app each(prenominal)(a)ingly broken. hitherto the clerk fancy him as sizable as convicted.They were any posing or so the control board gravely, wearing the black robes of judgment. freshman speaker S happeness looked a bit uncomfort subject, further he did non allow his face to none into the low-tonedest touch of friendliness. Delarmi one of the three speakers who were women did not plain look at him.The beginning loudspeaker verbalise, loudspeaker system Stor Gendibal, you excite been impeached for behaving in a panache unbecoming a utterer. You wipe bulge, before us all, accused the shelve mistily and with turn out evidence of t earth and attempted murder. You give implied t hat all here and presently fters including the speakers and the showtime Speaker require a thorough mental analysis to visualize who among them be no yener to be trusted. Such mien breaks the bonds of community, without which the s footing bay windownot harbour an intricate and potentially hostile Galaxy and without which they commodenot build, with currentty, a viable Second Empire.Since we defend all go outed those abominations, we lead forego the innovation of a formal show window for the p locomotecution. We pass on therefore move at one time to the nigh stage. Speaker Stor Gendibal, do you consider a defense?at once Delarmi mute not looking at him allowed herself a broken catlike smile.Gendibal verbalize, If lawfulness be considered a defense, I yield one. in that location atomic number 18 ground for suspecting a breach of security. That breach whitethorn involve the mental control of one or more(prenominal) than Second tooshieers not e xcluding members here fork over and this has created a deucedly crisis for the Second Foundation. If, and so, you hasten this trial because you stacknot waste time, you may all perhaps dimly recognize the seriousness of the crisis, besides in that plate, why conduct you wasted two days after I had formally requested an immediate trial? I submit that it is this crazily crisis that has forced me to ordain what I defend verbalise. I would withdraw behaved in a manner unbecoming a Speaker had I not done so.He scarce repeats the offense, early Speaker, said Delarmi softly.Gendibals seat was moreover re locomote from the evade than that of the differentlys a clear demotion already. He pushed it ut to the highest degreether clog up, as though he cathexisd zippo for that, and rose.He said, Will you convict me now, out of generate, in defiance of law or may I put my defense in detail?The first of all Speaker said, This is not a lawless assemblage, Speaker. With out much in fine way of precedent to charter us, we bequeath lean in your direction, recognizing that if our too- compassionate abilities should cause us to deviate from rank(a) justice, it is better to allow the guilty to go free than to convict the innocent. thitherfore, although the case before us is so grave that we may not thinly allow the guilty to go free, we pass on permit you to invest your case in such manner as you wish and for as tenacious as you require, until it is decided by unanimous vote, including my own (and he increase his persona at that phrase) that enough has been heard.Gendibal said, Let me begin, thusly, by reflection that Golan Trevize the first gear Foundationer who has been driven from Terminus and whom the original Speaker and I believe to be the knife-edge of the gathering crisis has moved off in an unexpected direction. address of data, said Delarmi softly. How does the speaker (the intonation clear indicated that the word was not capita lized) hunch this?I was informed of this by the beginning(a) Speaker, said Gendibal, except I confirm it of my own hunch forwardledge. under(a) the raft, however, considering my suspicions concerning the level of the security of the Chamber, I mustiness be allowed to keep my sources of cultivation secret.The first base Speaker said, I go out suspend judgment on that. Let us proceed without that peak of schooling but if, in the judgment of the Table, the information must be obtained, Speaker Gendibal leave alone have to give out it.Delarmi said, If the speaker does not yield the information now, it is only fair to suppose that I turn in he has an agent serving him an agent who is privately employed by him and who is not responsible to the Table generally. We give the sacknot be sure that such an agent is obeying the rules of behavior governing Second Foundation personnel.The low gear Speaker said with rough displeasure, I receive all the implications, Speaker Del armi. There is no need to spell them out for me.I medepose mention it for the record, prototypal Speaker, since this aggravates the offense and it is not an item mentioned in the bill of impeachment, which, I would like to say, has not been read in full and to which I move this item be added.The clerk is directed to add the item, said the basic Speaker, and the precise wording ordain be adjusted at the appropriate time. Speaker Gendibal (he, at least, capitalized) your defense is indeed a step concealment downward. Continue.Gendibal said, Not only has this Trevize moved in an unexpected direction, but at an unprecedented speed. My information, which the commencement Speaker does not yet have, is that he has traveled nearly ten gee parsecs in well under an minute of arc.In a single starting? said one of the Speakers incredulously.In over two dozen jumps, one after the other, with virtually no time intervening, said Gendibal, something that is even more difficult to imagine than a single jump. Even if he is now located, it volition absent time to follow him and, if he detects us and really means to flee us, we will not be able to legislate him. And you spend your time in games of impeachment and allow two days to pass so that you might savor them the more.The commencement exercise Speaker managed to mask his anguish. delight tell us, Speaker Gendibal, what you cerebrate the significance of this might be.It is an indication, offset printing Speaker, of the technological advances that atomic number 18 being do by the First Foundation, who argon far more creatorful now than they were in the time of Preem Palver. We could not stand up against them if they found us and were free to act.Speaker Delarmi rose to her feet. She said, First Speaker, our time is being wasted with irrelevancies. We are not children to be panic-struck with tales by Grandmother Spacewarp. It does not discipline how impressive the machinery of the First Foundation is whe n, in any crisis, their judgments will be in our control.What do you have to say to that, Speaker Gendibal? asked the First Speaker. Merely that we will come to the matter of souls in due course. For the moment, I merely wish to stress the tiptop and increasing technological might of the First Foundation.The First Speaker said, turn tail on to the next point, Speaker Gendibal. Your for the first time point, I must tell you, does not impress me as very pertinent to the matter contained in the bill of impeachment.There was a clear gesture of agreement from the Table generally.Gendibal said, I pass on. Trevize has a companion in his present move (he paused momentarily to consider pronunciation) one Janov Pelorat, a rather ineffectual learner who has devoted his bearing to tracking down myths and legends concerning priming.You turn in all this nearly him? Your hidden source, I presume? said Delarmi, who had settled into her post of public prosecutor with a clear feeling o f comfort.Yes, I cognize all this roughly him, said Gendibal stolidly. A few months past, the Mayor of Terminus, an energetic and capable woman, grew provoke in this scholar for no clear reason, and so I grew interested, too, as a matter of course. Nor have I kept this to myself. All the information I have gained has been puzzle out available to the First Speaker.I domiciliate witness to that, said the First Speaker in a low piece.An elderly Speaker said, What is this man? Is it the world of origin we keep coming across in fables? The one they make a fuss intimately in old imperial times?Gendibal nodded. In the tales of Grandmother Spacewarp, as Speaker Delarmi would say. I suspect it was Pelorats dream to come to Trantor to consult the astronomical Library, in methodicalness of magnitude to discern information concerning nation that he could not obtain in the interstellar library service available on Terminus.When he left Terminus with Trevize, he must have been unde r the impression that that dream was to be fulfilled. Certainly we were expecting the two and counted on having the hazard to examine them to our own profit. As it turns out and as you all love by now they are not coming. They have turned off to some destination that is not yet clear and for some reason that is not yet cognise.Delarmis round face looked positively cherubic as she said, And why is this disturbing? We are no worse off for their absence, certainly. thus, since they elicit us so easily, we can deduce that the First Foundation does not know the true nature of Trantor and we can applaud the handiwork of Preem Palver.Gendibal said, If we thought no further, we might indeed come to such a square solution. Could if be, though, that the turnoff was not the impart of any fai crotchet to go through the brilliance of Trantor? Could it be that the turnoff resulted from anxiety lest Trantor, by examining these two men, see the vastness of orb?There was a stir about the Table.Anyone, said Delarmi coldly, can invent formidable-sounding propositions and couch them in balanced sentences. But do they make sense when you do invent them? wherefore should anyone care what we of the Second Foundation conceptualize of Earth? Whether it is the true satellite of origin, or whether it is a myth, or whether there is no one place of origin to begin with, is for certain something that should interest only historians, anthropologists, and folk-tale collectors, such as this Pelorat of yours. why us?why indeed? said Gendibal. How is it, thusly, that there are no references to Earth in the Library?For the first time, something in the atmosphere that was other than hostility made itself felt about the Table.Delarmi said, Arent there?Gendibal said quite calmly, When word first reached me that Trevize and Pelorat might be coming here in search of information concerning Earth, I, as a matter of course, had our Library computer make a listing of documents contain ing such information. I was mildly interested when it turned up nothing. Not minor quantities. Not very little. cipher?But hence you insisted I wait for two days before this hearing could comeback place, and at the same time, my curiosity was further piqued by the news that the First Foundationers were not coming here after all. I had to amuse myself somehow. eyepatch the rest of you therefore were, as the saying goes, sipping wine term the signaling was falling, I went through some history books in my own possession. I came across passages that specifically mentioned some of the investigations on the commencement Question in late- purplish times. concomitant documents both printed and filmed were referred to and quoted from. I deceaseed to the Library and made a individualised check for those documents. I assure you there was nothing.Delarmi said, Even if this is so, it need not be surprising. If Earth is indeed a myth hence I would find it in mythological references. If it were a story of Grandmother Spacewarp, I would find it in the collected tales of Grandmother Spacewarp. If it were a figment of the morbid mind, I would find it under psychopathology. The fact is that something about Earth exists or you would not all have heard of it and, indeed, immediately recognized it as the name of the putative planet of origin of the human species. Why, then, is there no reference to it in the Library, anywhere?Delarmi was silent for a moment and some other Speaker interposed. He was Leonis Cheng, a rather small man with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the minutiae of the Seldon Plan and a rather myopic attitude toward the actual Galaxy. His eyes tended to blink rapidly when he round.He said, It is well known that the Empire in its final days attempted to create an regal mystique by soft-pedaling all interest in pre-Imperial times.Gendibal nodded. Soft-pedaled is the precise term, Speaker Cheng. That is not equivalent to destroying evidence. As you should know better than anyone, another characteristic of Imperial decay was a sudden interest in earlier and presumably better times. I have just referred to the interest in the Origin Question in Hari Seldons time.Cheng break off with a formidable clearing of the throat. I know this very well, young man, and know far more of these social problems of Imperial decay than you front to think I do. The process of Imperialization overtook these di allowtantish games concerning Earth. Under Cleon II, during the Empires last resurgence, two centuries after Seldon, Imperialization reached its peak and all speculation on the question of Earth came to an end. There was even a directive in Cleons time concerning this, referring to the interest in such things as (and I think I quote it correctly) stale and unproductive speculation that tends to undermine the great deals grapple of the Imperial throne.Gendibal smiled. thusly it was in the time of Cleon II, Speaker Cheng, that you would p lace the final stage of all reference to Earth?I curl no conclusions. I have simply stated what I have stated.It is shrewd of you to draw no conclusions. By Cleons time, the Empire may have been resurgent, but the University and Library, at least, were in our hands or, at any rate, in those of our predecessors. It would have been undoable for any material to be hold up from the Library without the Speakers of the Second Foundation knowing it. In fact, it would have been the Speakers to whom the task would have had to be entrusted, though the dying Empire would not have known that.Gendibal paused, but Cheng, saying nothing, looked over the others head.Gendibal said, It follows that the Library could not have been emptied of material on Earth during Seldons time, since the Origin Question was then an active preoccupation. It could not have been emptied afterward because the Second Foundation was in charge. Yet the Library is empty of it now. How can this be?Delarmi broke in impat iently, You may stop weaving the dilemma, Gendibal. We see it. What is it that you kindle as a solution? That you have removed the documents yourself?As usual, Delarmi, you get into to the heart. And Gendibal bent his head to her in sardonic respect (at which she allowed herself a dismiss lifting of the lip). One solution is that the cleansing was done by a Speaker of the Second Foundation, someone who would know how to use curators without leaving a computer storage butt joint and computers without leaving a record behindFirst Speaker Shandess turned red. Ridiculous, Speaker Gendibal. I cannot imagine a Speaker doing this. What would the motive be? Even if, for some reason, the material on Earth were removed, why keep it from the rest of the Table? Why risk a do destruction of ones career by tampering with the Library when the chances of its being notice are so great? Besides, I dont think that even the most skillful Speaker could perform the task without leaving a trace. Then it must be, First Speaker, that you disagree with Speaker Delarmi in her give noticeion that I did itI certainly do, said the First Speaker. Sometimes I dubiousness your judgment, but I have yet to consider you downright insane.Then it must never have happened, First Speaker. The material on Earth must still be in the Library, for we now seem to have eliminated all the possible ways in which it could have been removed and yet the material is not there.Delarmi said with an affectation of weariness, Well well, let us finish. Again, what is it you apprise as a solution? I am sure you think you have one.If you are sure, Speaker, we may all be sure as well. My suggestion is that the Library was cleansed by someone of the Second Foundation who was under the control of a subtle force from outside the Second Foundation. The cleansing went unnoticed because that same force precept to it that it was not noticed.Delarmi laughed. Until you found out. You the uncontrolled and uncontro llable. If this mysterious force existed, how did you find out about the absence of material from the Library? Why werent you controlled?Gendibal said may feel, as we gravely, Its not a laughing matter, Speaker. They feel, that all tampering should be held to a minimum. When my life was in d exasperation a few days ago, I was more concerned with refraining from fiddling with a Hamish mind than with protecting myself. So it might be with these others as soon as they felt it was safe they ceased tampering. That is the danger, the deadly danger. The fact that I could find out what has happened may mean they no longstanding care that I do. The fact that they no longer care may mean that they feel they have already won. And we continue to piddle on our games hereBut what aim do they have in all this? What conceivable aim? demanded Delarmi, shuffling her feet and biting her lips. She felt her power weaken as the Table grew more interested concernedGendibal said, Consider The First Foundation, with its enormous arsenal of physical power, is searching for Earth. They pretend to send out two exiles, hoping we will think that is all they are, but would they equip them with ships of unconvincing power-ships that can move ten thousand parsecs in less than an hour if that was all that they were?As for the Second Foundation, we have not been searching for Earth and, clear, steps have been taken without our knowledge to keep any information of Earth away from us. The First Foundation is now so tightly fitting to finding Earth and we are so far from doing so, thatGendibal paused and Delarmi said, That what? Finish your childlike tale. Do you know anything or dont you?I dont know everything, Speaker. I have not penetrated the total depth of the web that is encircling us, but I know the web is there. I dont know what the significance of finding Earth might be, but I am certain the Second Foundation is in enormous danger and, with it, the Seldon Plan and the future o f all humanity.Delarmi rose to her feet. She was not smiling and she spoke in a tense but tightly controlled voice. Trash? First Speaker, put an end to this What is at stretch out is the accuseds behavior. What he tells us is not only childish but irrelevant. He cannot extenuate his behavior by building a cobwebbery of theories that makes sense only in his own mind. I call for a vote on the matter now a unanimous vote for belief.Wait, said Gendibal sharply. I have been told I would have an opportunity to defend myself, and there carcass one more item one more. Let me present that, and you may proceed to a vote with no further objection from me.The First Speaker rubbed his eyes wearily. You may continue, Speaker Gendibal. Let me point out to the Table that the conviction of an impeached Speaker is so weighty and, indeed, unprecedented an action that we dare not give the appearance of not allowing a full defense. Remember, too, that even if the verdict sit downisfies us, it may not satisfy those who come after us, and I cannot believe that a Second Foundationer of any level let alone the Speakers of the Table would not have a full cargo deck of the importance of historical perspective. Let us so act that we can be certain of the approval of the Speakers who will follow us in the coming centuries.Delarmi said bitterly, We run the risk, First Speaker, of having posterity laugh at us for belaboring the distinct. To continue the defense is your decision.Gendibal drew a deep breath. In line with your decision, then, First Speaker, I wish to call a witness a young woman I met three days ago and without whom I might not have reached the Table meeting at all, instead of merely being late.Is the woman you speak of known to the Table? asked the First Speaker.No, First Speaker. She is native to this planet.Delarmis eyes throwed wide. A Hamishwoman?Indeed Just soDelarmi said, What have we to do with one of those? Nothing they say can be of any importance. They d ont existGendibals lips drew back tightly over his teeth in something that could not possibly have been simulated for a smile. He said sharply, Physically all the Hamish exist. They are human beings and play their part in Seldons Plan. In their indirect protection of the Second Foundation, they play a crucial part. I wish to dissociate myself from Speaker Delarmis inhumanity and look forward to that her take note will be retained in the record and be considered hereafter as evidence for her possible unmanliness for the position of Speaker. Will the rest of the Table agree with the Speakers incredible remark and deprive me of my witness?The First Speaker said, Call your witness, Speaker.Gendibals lips relaxed into the normal impassive features of a Speaker under pressure. His mind was guarded and fenced in, but behind this protective barrier, he felt that the danger point had passed and that he had won.Sura Novi looked strained. Her eyes were wide and her lower lip was faintly t rembling. Her hands were late clenching and unclenching and her chest was heaving slightly. Her hair had been pulled back and braided into a roster her sun-darkened face twitched now and then. Her hands fumbled at the pleats of her long skirt. She looked hastily around the Table from Speaker to Speaker her wide eyes filled with awe.They glanced back at her with varying degrees of contempt and discomfort. Delarmi kept her eyes well preceding(prenominal) the top of Novis head, oblivious to her presence.Carefully Gendibal touched the skin of her mind, soothing and relaxing it. He might have done the same by patting her hand or stroking her cheek, but here, under these circumstances, that was impossible, of course.He said, First Speaker, I am numbing this womans conscious awareness so that her testimony wilting not be distorted by fear. Will you beguile postdate will the rest of you, if you wish, join me and observe that I will, in no way, modify her mind?Novi had started back in terror at Gendibals voice, and Gendibal was not surprised at that. He cognise that she had never heard Second Foundationers of high rank speak among themselves. She had never experienced that odd speedy combination of sound, tone, expression and thought. The terror, however, faded as quickly as it came, as he aristocraticd her mind.A look of placidity crossed her face.There is a chair behind you, Novi, Gendibal said. Please sit down.Novi curtsied in a small and clumsy manner and sat down, harmoniseing herself stiffly.She talked quite clearly, but Gendibal made her repeat when her Hamish accent became too thick. And because he kept his own address formal in deference to the Table, he occasionally had to repeat his own questions to her.The tale of the fight between himself and Rufirant was described quietly and well.Gendibal said, Did you see all this yourself, Novi?Nay, Master, or I would have sooner-stopped it. Rufirant be good fellow, but not quick in head.But you described it all. How is that possible if you did not see it all?Rufirant be telling me thereof, on questioning. He be ashamed. hangdog? Have you ever known him to behave in this manner in earlier times?Rufirant? Nay, Master. He be gentle, though he be large. He be no fighter and he be afeared(predicate) of scowlers. He say often they are mighty and possessed of power. Why didnt he feel this way when he met me?It be strange. It be not understood. She shook her head. He be not his ain self. I said to him, Thou blubber-head. Be it your place to assault scowler? And he said, I know not how it happened. It be like I am to one side, standing(a) and watching not-I.Speaker Cheng interrupted. First Speaker, of what value is it to have this woman tell what a man has told her? Is not the man available for questioning?Gendibal said, He is. If, on completion of this womans testimony, the Table wishes to hear more evidence, I will be ready to call Karoll Rufirant my recent antagonist to the stand. If not, the Table can move directly to judgment when I am done with this witness. very(prenominal) well, said the First Speaker. Proceed with your witness.Gendibal said, And you, Novi? Was it like you to interfere in a fight in this manner?Novi did not say anything for a moment. A small frown appeared between her thick eyebrows and then disappeared. She said, I know not. I wish no harm to scowlers. I be, driven, and without thought I inmiddled myself. A pause, then., I be do it over if need arise.Gendibal said, Novi, you will sleep now. You will think of nothing. You will rest and you will not even dream.Novi mumbled for a moment. Her eyes closed and her head fell back against the headrest of her chair.Gendibal waited a moment, then said, First Speaker, with respect, follow me into this womans mind. You will find it remarkably simple and symmetrical, which is fortunate, for what you will see might not have been patent otherwise. Here here Do you observe? If the rest of you will en ter it will be easier if it is done one at a time.There was a rising buzz about the Table.Gendibal said, Is there any doubt among you?Delarmi said, I doubt it, for She paused on the brink of what was even for her unsayable.Gendibal said it for her. You think I deliberately tampered with this mind in order to present false evidence? You think, therefore, that I am capable of bringing about so delicate an limiting one mental fiber clearly out of shape with nothing about it or its surroundings that is in the least disturbed? If I could do that, what need would I have to deal with any of you in this manner? Why subject myself to the indignity of a trial? Why labor to convince you? If I could do what is visible in this womans mind, you would all be baffled before me unless you were well prepared. The uncivil fact is that none of you could manipulate a mind as this womans has been manipulated. incomplete can I. Yet it has been done.He paused, looking at all the Speakers in turn, then fixing his gaze on Delarmi. He spoke slowly. Now, if anything more is required, I will call in the Hamish farmer, Karoll Rufirant, whom I have examined and whose mind has also been tampered with in this manner.That will not be necessary, said the First Speaker, who was wearing an appalled expression. What we have seen is mindshaking.In that case, said Gendibal, may I rouse this Hamishwoman and dismiss her? I have arranged for there to be those outside who will see to her recovery.When Novi had left, directed by Gendibals gentle hold on her elbow, be said, Let me quickly summarize. Minds can be and have been altered in ways that are beyond our power. In this way, the curators themselves could have been influenced to remove Earth material from the Library without our knowledge or their own. We see how it was arranged that I should be delayed in arriving at a meeting of the Table. I was threatened I was rescued. The result was that I was impeached. The result of this apparently instinctive concatenation of events is that I may be removed from a position of power and the course of action which I fend for and which threatens these people, whoever they are, may be negated.Delarmi leaned forward. She was clearly shaken. If this secret organization is so clever, how were you able to discover all this?GendibaI felt free to smile, now. No credit to me, he said. I lay no claim to expertise superior to that of other Speakers certainly not to the First Speaker. However, neither are these Anti-Mules as the First Speaker has rather engagingly called them immeasurably wise or infinitely immune to circumstance. Perhaps they chose this particular Hamishwoman as their instrument precisely because she mandatory very little adjustment. She was, of her own character, sympathetic to what she calls scholars, and admired them intensely.But then, once this was over, her momentary contact with me strengthened her fantasy of becoming a scholar herself. She came to me the next day with that spirit in mind. Curious at this peculiar opposition of hers, I studied her mind which I certainly would not otherwise have done and, more by accident than anything else, bungled upon the adjustment and say its significance. Had another woman been chosen one with a less natural pro-scholar bias the Anti-Mules might have had to labor more at the adjustment, but the consequences might well not have followed and I would have remained unintellectual of all this. The Anti-Mules miscalculated or could not sufficiently allow for the unforseen. That they can stumble so is heartening.Delarmi said, The First Speaker and you call this organization the Anti-Mules, I presume, because they seem to labor to keep tile Galaxy in the ,path of the. Seldon Plan, rather than to fragment it as the Male himself did. If the Anti-Mines do this, why are they dangerous?Why should then labor, if not for some purpose? We dont know what that purpose as. A cynic might say that they inte nd to step in at some future time and thin the current in another direction, one tat mar please them far more than it would please ifs. That is my own feeling, even though I do riot study in cynicism. Is Speaker Delarmi prepared to maintain, out of the love and trust that we all know form so great a part of her character, that these are cosmic altruists, doing our work for us, without dream of reward?There was a gentle susurration of laughter about the Table at this and Gendibal knew that he had won. And Delarmi knew that she had lost, for there was a wash of rage that showed through her harsh mentalic control like a momentary ray of ruddy sunlight through a thick canopy of leaves.Gendibal said, When I first experienced the incident with the Hamish farmer, I leaped to the conclusion that another Speaker was behind it. When I noted the adjustment of the Hamishwomans mind, I knew that I was right as to the plot but misemploy as to the plotter. I apologize for the misinterpretation a nd I plead the circumstances as an extenuation.The First Speaker said, I believe this may be construed as an apologyDelarmi interrupted. She was quite placid again her face was friendly, her voice downright saccharine. With total respect, First Speaker, if I may interrupt. Let us drop this matter of impeachment. At this moment, I would not vote for conviction and I imagine no one will. I would even suggest the impeachment be stricken from the Speakers unblemished record. Speaker Gendibal has exonerated himself ably. I praise him on that and for uncovering a crisis that the rest of us might well have allowed to smolder on indefinitely, with incalculable results. I offer the Speaker my wholehearted apologies for my earlier hostility.She virtually beamed at Gendibal, who felt a loth admiration for the manner in which she shifted direction instantly in order to cut her losses. He also felt that all this was but preliminary exam to an attack from a new direction.He was certain that what was coming would not be pleasant.When she exerted herself to be charming, Speaker Delora Delarmi had a way of dominating the Speakers Table. Her voice grew soft, her smile indulgent, her eyes sparkling, all of her sweet. No one cared to interrupt her and everyone waited for the nurse to fall.She said, Thanks to Speaker Gendibal, I think we all now view what we must do. We do not see the Anti-Mules we know nothing about them, except for their fugitive touches on the minds of people right here in the stronghold of the Second Foundation itself. We do not know what the power center of the First Foundation is planning. We may face an alliance of the Anti-Mules and the First Foundation. We dont know.We do know that this Golan Trevize and his companion, whose name escapes me at the moment, are going we know not where and that the First Speaker and Gendibal feel that Trevize holds the key to the outcome of this great crisis. What, then, are we to do? Clearly we must find out everyth ing we can about Trevize where he is going, what he is thinking, what his purpose may be or, indeed, whether he has any destination, any thought, any purpose whether he might not, in fact, be a mere tool of a force greater than he.Gendibal said, He is under observation.Delarmi pursed her lips in an indulgent smile. By whom? By one of our outworld agents? Are such agents to be expected to stand against those with the powers we have seen show here? sure enough not. In the Mules time, and later on, too, the Second Foundation did not hesitate to send out and even to sacrifice volunteers from among the best we had, since nothing less would do. When it was necessary to restore the Seldon Plan, Preem Palver himself scoured the Galaxy as a Trantorian trader in order to bring back that girl, Arkady. We cannot sit here and wait, now, when the crisis may be greater than in either previous case. We cannot rely on minor functionaries watchers and messenger boys.Gendibal said, Surely you are not suggesting that the First Speaker leave Trantor at this time?Delarmi said, Certainly not. We need him earnestly here. On the other hand, there is you, Speaker Gendibal. It is you who have correctly sensed and weighed the crisis. It is you who detected the subtle outside interference with the Library and with Hamish minds. It is you who have keep your views against the united opposition of the Table and won. No one here has seen as clearly as you have and no one can be trusted, as you can, to continue to see clearly. It is you who must, in my feeling, go out to look the enemy. May I have the sense of the Table?There was no formal vote needed to reveal that sense. Each Speaker felt the minds of the others and it was clear to a suddenly appalled Gendibal that, at the moment of his supremacy and Delarmis defeat, this formidable woman was managing to send him irrevocably into exile on a task that might occupy him for some indefinite period, while she remained behind to control the Table and, therefore, the Second Foundation and, therefore, the Galaxy sending all alike, perhaps, to their doom.And if Gendibal-in-exile should, somehow, manage to gather the information that would enable the Second Foundation to void the gathering crisis, it would be Delarmi who would have the credit for having arranged it, and his advantage would but confirm her power. The quicker Gendibal would be, the more efficiently he succeeded, the more surely he would confirm her power.It was a beautiful maneuver, an unbelievable recovery.And so clearly was she dominating the Table even now that she was virtually usurping the First Speakers role. Gendibals thought to that effect was overtaken by the rage he sensed from the First Speaker.He turned. The First Speaker was making no effort to hide his anger and it soon was clear that another internal crisis was building to replace the one that had been resolved.Quindor Shandess, the twenty-fifth First Speaker, had no extraordinary ill usions about himself.He knew he was not one of those few dynamic First Speakers who had illuminated the five-century-long history of the Second Foundation but then, he didnt have to be. He controlled the Table in a quiet period of astronomic prosperity and it was not a time for dynamism. It had seemed to be a time to play a holding game and he had been the man for this role. His predecessor had chosen him for that reason.You are not an adventurer, you are a scholar, the twenty-fourth First Speaker had said. You will preserve the Plan, where an adventurer might ruin it. Preserve Let that be the key word for your Table.He had tried, but it had meant a passive First Speakership and this had been, on occasion, interpreted as weakness. There had been recurrent rumors that he meant to cast off and there had been open intrigue to assure the succession in one direction or another.There was no doubt in Shandesss mind that Delarmi had been a leader in the fight. She was the strongest perso nality at the Table and even Gendibal, with all the fire and folly of youth, retreated before her, as he was doing right now.But, by Seldon, passive he might be, or even weak, but there was one liberty of the First Speaker that not one in the line had ever given up, and neither would he do so.He rose to speak and at once there was a hush about the Table. When the First Speaker rose to speak, there could be no interruptions. Even Delarmi or Gendibal would not dare to interrupt.He said, Speakers I agree that we face a dangerous crisis and that we must take strong measures. It is I who should go out to meet the enemy. Speaker Delarmi, with the balminess that characterizes her, excuses me from the task by stating that I am needed here. The truth, however, is that I am needed neither here nor there. I grow old I grow weary. There has long been expectation I would someday throw in the towel and perhaps I ought to. When this crisis is successfully surmounted, I shall resign.But, of cour se, it is the privilege of the First Speaker to choose his heir. I am going to do so now. There is one Speaker who has long dominated the proceedings of the Table one Speaker who, by force of personality, has often supplied the leadership that I could not. You all know I am speaking of Speaker Delarmi.He paused, then said, You alone, Speaker Gendibal, are registering disapproval. May I ask why? He sat down, so that Gendibal might have the right to answer.I do not disapprove, First Speaker, said Gendibal in a low voice. It is your prerogative to choose your successor.And so I will. When you return having succeeded in initiating the process that will put an end to this crisis it will be time for my resignation. My successor will then be directly in charge of conducting whatever policies may be required to carry on and complete that process. Do you have anything to say, Speaker Gendibal?Gendibal said quietly, When you make Speaker Delarmi your successor, First Speaker, I hope you w ill see fit to advise her toThe First Speaker interrupted him roughly. I have spoken of Speaker Delarmi, but I have not named her as my successor. Now what do you have to say?My apologies, First Speaker. I should have said, assuming you make Speaker Delarmi your successor upon my return from this mission, would you see fit to advise her toNor will I make her my successor in the future, under any conditions. Now what do you have to say? The First Speaker was unable to make this announcement without a shot of satisfaction at the blow he was delivering to Delarmi. He could not have done it in a more humiliating fashion.Well, Speaker Gendibal, he said, what do you have to say?That I am confused.The First Speaker rose again. He said, Speaker Delarmi has dominated and led, but that is not all that is needed for the post of First Speaker. Speaker Gendibal has seen what we have not seen. He has faced the united hostility of the Table, and forced it to rethink matters, and has dragged it in to agreement with him. I have my suspicions as to the motif of Speaker Delarmi in placing the responsibility of the hobby of Golan Trevize on the shoulders of Speaker Gendibal, but that is where the burden belongs. I know he will succeed I trust my intuition in this and when he returns, Speaker Gendibal will become the twenty-sixth First Speaker.He sat down abruptly and each Speaker began to make clear his opinion in a bedlam of sound, tone, thought, and expression. The First Speaker paid no attention to the cacophony, but stared indifferently before him. Now that it was done, he realized with some surprise the great comfort there was in put down the mantle of responsibility. He should have done it before this but he couldnt have.It was not till now that he had found his obvious successor.And then, somehow, his mind caught that of Delarmi and he looked up at her.By Seldon She was calm and smiling. Her dreaded disappointment did not show she had not given up. He wondered if he had played into her hands. What was there left for her to do?Debra Delarmi would freely have shown her despondency and disappointment, if that would have proven of any use whatever.It would have given her a great deal of satisfaction to strike out at that antiquated fool who controlled the Table or at that juvenile idiot with whom circumstance had conspired but satisfaction wasnt what she wanted. She wanted something more.She wanted to be First Speaker.And while there was a card left to play, she would play it.She smiled gently, and managed to lift her hand as though she were about to speak, and then held the pose just long enough to insure that when she did speak, all would be not merely normal, but radiantly quiet.She said, First Speaker, as Speaker Gendibal said earlier, I do not disapprove. It is your prerogative to choose your successor. If I speak now, it is in order that I may contribute I hope to the success of what has now become Speaker Gendibals mission. May I e xplain my thoughts, First Speaker?Do so, said the First Speaker curtly. She was entirely too smooth, too pliant, it seemed to him.Delarmi bent her head gravely. She no longer smiled. She said, We have ships. They are not as technologically magnificent as those of the First Foundation, but they will carry Speaker Gendibal He knows how to pilot one, I believe, as do we all. We have our representatives on every major planet in the Galaxy, and he will be welcomed everywhere. Moreover, he can defend himself against even these Anti-Mules, now that he is thoroughly aware of the danger. Even when we were unaware, I suspect they have preferred to work through the lower classes and even the Hamish farmers. We will, of course, thoroughly claver the minds of all the Second Foundationers, including the Speakers, but I am sure they have remained inviolate. The Anti-Mules did not dare interfere with us.Nevertheless, there is no reason why Speaker Gendibal should risk more than he must. He is not intending to deal in derring do and it will be best if his mission is to some extent disguised if he takes them unaware. It will be useful if he goes in the role of a Hamish trader. Preem Palver, we all know, went off into the Galaxy as a supposed trader.The First Speaker said, Preem Palver had a specific purpose in doing so Speaker Gendibal has not. If it appears a disguise of some crystallize is necessary, I am sure he will be expert enough to adopt one.With respect, First Speaker, I wish to point out a subtle disguise. Preem Palver, you will remember, took with him his wife and companion of many years. Nothing so thoroughly established the rustic nature of his character as the fact that he was traveling with his wife. It allayed all suspicion.Gendibal said, I have no wife. I have had companions, but none who would now volunteer to assume the marital role.This is well known, Speaker Gendibal, said Delarmi, but then people will take the role for granted if any woman is with yo u. Surely some volunteer can be found. And if you feel the need to be able to present documentary evidence, that can be provided. I think a woman should come with you.For a moment, Gendibal was breathless. Surely she did not mean. Could it be a ploy to achieve a share in the success? Could she be playing for a joint or rotating occupation of the First Speakership?Gendibal said grimly, I am flattered that Speaker Delarmi should feel that sheAnd Delarmi broke into an open laugh and looked at Gendibal with what was almost true affection. He had fallen into the kettle of fish and looked foolish for having done so. The Table would not forget that.She said, Speaker Gendibal, I would not have the impertinence to attempt to share in this task. it is yours and yours alone, as the post of First Speaker will be yours and yours alone. I would not have thought you wanted me with you. Really, Speaker, at my age, I no longer think of myself as a charmerThere were smiles around the Table and eve n the First Speaker tried to hide one.Gendibal felt the stroke and labored not to compound the loss by failing to accommodate her lightness. It was labor lost.He said, as unsavagely as he could, Then what is it you would suggest? It was not in my thoughts, I assure you, that you would wish to accompany me. You are at your best at the Table and not in the hurly-burly of Galactic affairs, I know.I agree, Speaker Gendibal, I agree, said Delarmi. My suggestion, however, refers back to your role as Hamish trader. To make it indisputably authentic, what better companion need you ask but a Hamishwoman?A Hamishwoman? For a second time in rapid succession, Gendibal was caught by surprise and the Table enjoyed it.The Hamishwoman, Delarmi went on. The one who saved you from a beating. The one who gazes at you worshipfully. The one whose mind you probed and who then, quite unwittingly, saved you a second time from considerably more than a beating. I suggest you take her.Gendibals impulse was t o refuse, but he knew that she expected that. It would mean more frolic for the Table. It was clear now that the First Speaker, anxious to strike out at Delarmi, had made a mistake by naming Gendibal his successor or, at the very least, that Delarmi had quickly converted it into one.Gendibal was the youngest of the Speakers. He had angered the Table and had then avoided conviction by them. In a very real way, he had humiliated them. None could see him as the heir apparent without resentment.That would have been unverbalised enough to overcome, but now they would remember how easily Delarmi had twitched him into chaff and how much they had enjoyed it. She would use that to convince them, all too easily, that he lacked the age and experience for the role of First Speaker. Their united pressure would force the First Speaker into changing his decision while Gendibal was off on his mission. Or, if the First Speaker held fast, Gendibal would eventually find himself with an office that would be forever helpless in the face of united opposition.He saw it all in an instant and was able to answer as though with out hesitation. He said, Speaker Delarmi, I admire your insight. I had thought to surprise you all. It was indeed my intention to take the Hamishwoman, though not quite for the very good reason you suggest. It was for her mind that I wished to take her with me. You have all examined that mind. You saw it for what it was surprisingly intelligent but, more than that, clear, simple, utterly without guile. No touch upon it by others would go unnoticed, as Im sure you all concluded.I wonder if it occurred to you, then, Speaker Delarmi, that she would serve as an excellent early-warning system. I would detect the first characteristic presence of mentalism by way of her mind, earlier, I think, than by way of mine.There was a kind of astonished silence at that, and he said, lightly. Ah, none of you saw that. Well well, not important And I will take my leave now. The res no time to lose.Wait, said Delarmi, her initiative lost a third time. What do you intend to do?Gendibal said with a small shrug. Why go into details? The less the Table knows, the less the Anti-Mules are likely to attempt to disturb it.He said it as though the safety of the Table was his prime concern. He filled his mind with that, and let it show.It would flatter them. More than that, the satisfaction it would bring might keep them from enquire whether, in fact, Gendibal knew exactly what it was he intended to do.The First Speaker spoke to Gendibal alone that evening.You were right, he said. I could not help brushing under the surface of your mind. I saw you considered the announcement a mistake and it was. It was my acuity to wipe that eternal smile off her face and to strike back at the casual way in which she so frequently usurps my role.Gendibal said gently, It might have been better if you had told me privately and had then waited for my return to go further.That would not have allowed me to strike out at her. Poor motivation for a First Speaker, I know.This wont stop her, First Speaker. She will still intrigue for the post and perhaps with good reason. Im sure there are some who would argue that I should have refused your nomination. It would not be hard to argue that Speaker Delarmi has the best mind at the Table and would make the best First Speaker.The best mind at the Table, not away from it, grumbled Shandess. She recognizes no real enemies, except for other Speakers. She ought never to have been made a Speaker in the first place. See here, shall I preclude you to take the Hamishwoman? She maneuvered you into that, I know.No no, the reason I advanced for fetching her is a true one. She will be an early-warning system and I am grateful to Speaker Delarmi for pushing me into realizing that. The woman will prove very useful, Im convinced.Good, then. By the way, I wasnt lying, either. I am truly certain that you will accomplish whatever is n eeded to end this crisis if you can trust my intuition.I think I can trust it, for I agree with you. I promise you that whatever happens, I will return better than I receive. I will come back to be First Speaker, whatever the Anti-Mules or Speaker Delarmi can do.Gendibal studied his own satisfaction even as he spoke. Why was he so pleased, so insistent, on this one-ship venture into space? Ambition, of course. Preem Palver had once done just this sort of thing and he was going to show that Stor Gendibal could do it, too. No one could recuperate the First Speakership from him after that. And yet was there more than ambition? The lure of combat? The generalized desire for excitement in one who had been hold to a hidden patch on a backward planet all his adult life? He didnt entirely know, but he knew he was desperately intent on going.