Foundation's Edge - Isaac Asimov [43]
But the First Speaker now recalled seeing a photograph reputed to be Seldon as a young man. The photograph was neglected, since the thought of a young Seldon was almost a contradiction in terms. Yet Shandess had seen it, and the thought had suddenly come to him that Stor Gendibal looked remarkably like the young Seldon.
Ridiculous! It was the sort of superstition that afflicted everyone, now and then, however rational they might be. He was deceived by a fugitive similarity. If he had the photograph before him, he would see at once that the similarity was an illusion. Yet why should that silly thought have occurred to him now?
He recovered. It had been a momentary quaver--a transient derailment of thought--too brief to be noticed by anyone but a Speaker. Gendibal might interpret it as he pleased.
"Hari Seldon," he said very firmly the second time, "knew well that there were an infinite number of possibilities he could not foresee, and it was for that reason that he set up the Second Foundation. We did not foresee the Mule either, but we recognized him once he was upon us and we stopped him. We did not foresee the subsequent obsession of the First Foundation with ourselves, but we saw it when it came and we stopped it. What is it about this that you can possibly find fault with?"
"For one thing," said Gendibal, "the obsession of the First Foundation with us is not yet over."
There was a distinct ebb in the deference with which Gendibal had been speaking. He had noted the quaver in the First Speaker's voice (Shandess decided) and had interpreted it as uncertainty. That had to be countered.
The First Speaker said briskly, "Let me anticipate. There would be people on the First Foundation, who--comparing the hectic difficulties of the first nearly four centuries of existence with the placidity of the last twelve decades--will come to the conclusion that this cannot be unless the Second Foundation is taking good care of the Plan--and, of course, they will be right in so concluding. They will decide that the Second Foundation may not have been destroyed after all--and, of course, they will be right in so deciding. In fact, we've received reports that there is a young man on the First Foundation's capital world of Terminus, an official of their government, who is quite convinced of all this. --I forget his name--"
"Golan Trevize," said Gendibal softly. "It was I who first noted the matter in the reports, and it was I who directed the matter to your office."
"Oh?" said the First Speaker with exaggerated politeness. "And how did your attention come to be focused on him?"
"One of our agents on Terminus sent in a tedious report on the newly elected members of their Council--a perfectly routine matter usually sent to and ignored by all Speakers. This one caught my eye because of the nature of the description of one new Councilman, Golan Trevize. From the description, he seemed unusually self-assured and combative."
"You recognized a kindred spirit, did you?"
"Not at all," said Gendibal, stiffly. "He seemed a reckless person who enjoyed doing ridiculous things, a description which does not apply to me. In any case, I directed an indepth study. It did not take long for me to decide that he would have made good material for us if he had been recruited at an early age."
"Perhaps," said the First Speaker, "but you know that we do not recruit on Terminus."
"I know that well. In any case, even without our training, he has an unusual intuition. It is, of course, thoroughly undisciplined. I was, therefore, not particularly surprised that he had grasped the fact that the Second Foundation still exists. I felt it important enough,