Foundation's Edge - Isaac Asimov [178]
"Not under present circumstances, Mayor, but circumstances might change. As a matter of fact, a new actor appears on the scene."
He pointed to the screen. The ship's computer had automatically split the screen as a new ship came within its ken. The second ship appeared on the right-hand side.
"Can you magnify the image, Liono?"
"No trouble. The Second Foundationer is skillful. We are free to do anything he is not troubled by."
"Well," said Branno, studying the screen, "that's the Far Star, I'm sure. And I imagine Trevize and Pelorat are on board." Then, bitterly, "Unless they too have been replaced by Second Foundationers. My lightning rod has been very efficient indeed. --If only my shield had been stronger."
"Patience!" said Kodell.
A voice rang out in the confines of the ship's control room and Branno could somehow tell it did not consist of sound waves. She heard it in her mind directly and a glance at Kodell was sufficient to tell her that he had heard it, too.
It said, "Can you hear me, Mayor Branno? If you can, don't bother saying so. It will be enough if you think so."
Branno said calmly, "What are you?"
"I am Gaia."
6.
THE THREE SHIPS WERE EACH ESSENTIALLY AT rest, relative to the other two. All three were turning very slowly about the planet Gaia, as a distant three-part satellite of the planet. All three were accompanying Gaia on its endless journey about its sun.
Trevize sat, watching the screen, tired of guessing what his role might be--what he had been dragged across a thousand parsecs to do.
The sound in his mind did not startle him. It was as though he had been waiting for it.
It said, "Can you hear me, Golan Trevize? If you can, don't bother saying so. It will be enough if you think it."
Trevize looked about. Pelorat, clearly startled, was looking in various directions, as though trying to find the source. Bliss sat quietly, her hands held loosely in her lap. Trevize had no doubt, for a moment, that she was aware of the sound.
He ignored the order to use thoughts and spoke with deliberate clarity of enunciation. "If I don't find out what this is about, I will do nothing I am asked to do."
And the voice said, "You are about to find out."
7.
NOVI SAID, "YOU WILL ALL HEAR ME IN YOUR mind. You are all free to respond in thought. I will arrange it so that all of you can hear each other. And, as you are all aware, we are all close enough so that at the normal light-speed of the spatial mentalic field, there will be no inconvenient delays. To begin with, we are all here by arrangement."
"In what manner?" came Branno's voice.
"Not by mental tampering," said Novi. "Gaia has interfered with no one's mind. It is not our way. We merely took advantage of ambition. Mayor Branno wanted to establish a Second Empire at once; Speaker Gendibal wanted to be First Speaker. It was enough to encourage these desires and to ride the wind, selectively, and with judgment."
"I know how I was brought here," said Gendibal stiffly. And indeed he did. He knew why he had been so anxious to move out into space, so anxious to pursue Trevize, so sure he could handle it all. --It was all Novi. --Oh, Novi!
"You were a particular case, Speaker Gendibal. Your ambition was powerful, but there were softnesses about you that offered a shortcut. You were a person who would be kind to someone whom you had been trained to think of as beneath you in every respect. I took advantage of this in you and turned it against you. I / we am / are deeply ashamed. The excuse is that the future of the Galaxy is in hazard."
Novi paused and her voice (though she was not speaking by way of vocal cords) grew more somber, her face more drawn.
"This was the time. Gaia could wait no longer. For over a century, the people of Terminus had been developing a mentalic shield. Left to themselves another generation, it would have been impervious even to Gaia and they would have been free to use their physical weapons at will. The Galaxy would not have