Foundation's Edge - Isaac Asimov [18]
"You will also then lose the benefits I might bring you," said Trevize and, with an effort, he managed to say it lightly.
"We'll chance that," said Branno with an unamused smile.
4.
OUTSIDE LIONO KODELL WAS WAITING FOR HER. He said, "I listened to the whole thing, Mayor. You were extraordinarily patient."
"And I am extraordinarily tired. I think the day has been seventy-two hours long. You take over now."
"I will, but tell me--Was there really a Mental Static Device about the house?"
"Oh, Kodell," said Branno wearily. "You know better than that. What was the chance anyone was watching? Do you imagine the Second Foundation is watching everything, everywhere, always? I'm not the romantic young Trevize is; he might think that, but I don't. And even if that were the case, if Second Foundational eyes and ears were everywhere, would not the presence of an MSD have given us away at once? For that matter, would not its use have shown the Second Foundation a shield against its powers existed--once they detected a region that was mentally opaque? Isn't the secret of such a shield's existence--until we are quite ready to use it to the full--something worth not only more than Trevize, but more than you and I together? And yet--"
They were in the ground-car, with Kodell driving. "And yet--" said Kodell.
"And yet what?" said Branno. "--Oh yes. And yet that young man is intelligent. I called him a fool in various ways half a dozen times just to keep him in his place, but he isn't one. He's young and he's read too many of Arkady Darell's novels, and they have made him think that that's the way the Galaxy is--but he has a quick insight about him and it will be a pity to lose him."
"You are sure then that he will be lost?"
"Quite sure," said Branno sadly. "Just the same, it is better that way. We don't need young romantics charging about blindly and smashing in an instant, perhaps, what it has taken us years to build. Besides, he will serve a purpose. He will surely attract the attention of the Second Foundationers--always assuming they exist and are indeed concerning themselves with us. And while they are attracted to him, they will, perchance, ignore us. Perhaps we can gain even more than the good fortune of being ignored. They may, we can hope, unwittingly give themselves away to us in their concern with Trevize, and let us have an opportunity and time to devise countermeasures."
"Trevize, then, draws the lightning."
Branno's lips twitched. "Ah, the metaphor I've been looking for. He is our lightning rod, absorbing the stroke and protecting us from harm."
"And this Pelorat, who will also be in the path of the lightning bolt?"
"He may suffer, too. That can't be helped."
Kodell nodded. "Well, you know what Salvor Hardin used to say--'Never let your sense of morals keep you from doing what is right.' "
"At the moment, I haven't got a sense of morals," muttered Branno. "I have a sense of boneweariness. And yet--I could name a number of people I would sooner lose than Golan Trevize. He is a handsome young man. --And, of course, he knows it." Her last words slurred as she closed her eyes and fell into a light sleep.
3
HISTORIAN
1.
JANOV PELORAT WAS WHITE-HAIRED AND HIS face, in repose, looked rather empty. It was rarely in anything but repose. He was of average height and weight and tended to move without haste and to speak with deliberation. He seemed considerably older than his fifty-two years.
He had never left Terminus, something that was most unusual, especially for one of his profession. He himself wasn't sure whether his sedentary ways were because of--or in spite of--his obsession with history.
The obsession had come upon him quite suddenly at the age of fifteen when, during some indisposition, he was given a book of early legends. In it, he found the repeated motif of a world that was alone and isolated--a world that was not even aware of its isolation, since it had never known anything else.
His indisposition