Foundation's Edge - Isaac Asimov [112]
2.
THEY DID NOT ARRIVE BACK IN THE CITY TILL MIDMORNING. The tourist center was quite crowded this time, but they managed to obtain the necessary directions to a reference library, where in turn they received instruction in the use of the local models of data-gathering computers.
They went carefully through the museums and universities, beginning with those that were nearest, and checked out whatever information was available on anthropologists, archaeologists, and ancient historians.
Pelorat said, "Ah!"
"Ah?" said Trevize with some asperity. "Ah, what?"
"This name, Quintesetz. It seems familiar."
"You know him?"
"No, of course not, but I may have read papers of his. Back at the ship, where I have my reference collection--"
"We're not going back, Janov. If the name is familiar, that's a starting point. If he can't help us, he will undoubtedly be able to direct us further." He rose to his feet. "Let's find a way of getting to Sayshell University. And since there will be nobody there at lunchtime, let's eat first."
It was not till late afternoon that they had made their way out to the university, worked their way through its maze, and found themselves in an anteroom, waiting for a young woman who had gone off in search of information and who might--or might not--lead them to Quintesetz.
"I wonder," said Pelorat uneasily, "how much longer we'll have to wait. It must be getting toward the close of the schoolday."
And, as though that were a cue, the young lady whom they had last seen half an hour before, walked rapidly toward them, her shoes glinting red and violet and striking the ground with a sharp musical tone as she walked. The pitch varied with the speed and force of her steps.
Pelorat winced. He supposed that each world had its own ways of assaulting the senses, just as each had its own smell. He wondered if, now that he no longer noticed the smell, he might also learn not to notice the cacophony of fashionable young women when they walked.
She came to Pelorat and stopped. "May I have your full name, Professor?"
"It's Janov Pelorat, miss."
"Your home planet?"
Trevize began to lift one hand as though to enjoin silence, but Pelorat, either not seeing or not regarding, said, "Terminus."
The young woman smiled broadly, and looked pleased. "When I told Professor Quintesetz that a Professor Pelorat was inquiring for him, he said he would see you if you were Janov Pelorat of Terminus, but not otherwise."
Pelorat blinked rapidly. "You--you mean, he's heard of me?"
"It certainly seems so."
And, almost creakily, Pelorat managed a smile as he turned to Trevize. "He's heard of me. I honestly didn't think--I mean, I've written very few papers and I didn't think that anyone--" He shook his head. "They weren't really important."
"Well then," said Trevize, smiling himself, "stop hugging yourself in an ecstasy of self-underestimation and let's go." He turned to the woman. "I presume, miss, there's some sort of transportation to take us to him?"
"It's within walking distance. We won't even have to leave the building complex and I'll be glad to take you there. --Are both of you from Terminus?" And off she went.
The two men followed and Trevize said, with a trace of annoyance, "Yes, we are. Does that make a difference?"
"Oh no, of course not. There are people on Sayshell that don't like Foundationers, you know, but here at the university, we're more cosmopolitan than that. Live and let live is what I always say. I mean, Foundationers are people, too. You know what I mean?"
"Yes, I know what you mean. Lots of us say that Sayshellians are people."
"That's just the way it should be. I've never seen Terminus. It must be a big city."
"Actually it isn't," said Trevize matter-of-factly. "I suspect it's smaller than Sayshell City."
"You're tweaking my finger," she said. "It's the capital of the Foundation Federation, isn't it? I mean, there isn't another Terminus, is there?"
"No, there's only one Terminus, as far as I know, and that's where we're from--the capital of the Foundation Federation."
"Well then, it must be