"I'm thinking," said Pelorat mildly. "You may be right. I wouldn't swear to it. When I wrote Jimbor of Ledbet University, I didn't mention Gaia, though in that case it would have been appropriate to do so, and that was in-let's see-in '~ and that was three years ago. I think you're right, Golan."

"And how did you come upon it?" asked Trevize. "In a communication? A book? A scientific paper? Some ancient song? How? -Come on!"

Pelorat sat back and crossed his arms. He fell into deep thought and didn't move. Trevize said nothing and waited.

Finally Pelorat said, "In a private communication. -But it's no use asking me from whom, my dear chap. I don't remember."

Trevize moved his hands over his sash. They felt clammy as he continued his efforts to elicit information without too clearly forcing words into the other's mouth. He said, "From a historian? From an expert in mythology? From a Gaiactographer?"

"No use. I cannot match a name to the communication."

"Because, perhaps, there was none."

"Oh no. That scarcely seems possible."

"Why? Would you have rejected an anonymous communication?"

"I suppose not."

"Did you ever receive any?"

"Once in a long while. In recent years, I had become well known in certain academic circles as a collector of particular types of myths and legends and some of my correspondents were occasionally kind enough to forward material they had picked up from nonacademic sources. Sometimes these might not be attributed to anyone in particular."

Trevize said, "Yes, but did you ever receive anonymous information directly, and not by way of some academic correspondent?"

"That sometimes happened-but very rarely."

"And can you be certain that this was not so in the case of Gaia?"

"Such anonymous communications took place so rarely that I should think I would remember if it had happened in this case. Still, I can't say certainly that the information was not of anonymous origin. Mind, though, that's not to say that I did receive the information from an anonymous source."

"I realize that. But it remains a possibility, doesn't it?"

Pelorat said, very reluctantly, "I suppose it does. But what's all this about?"

"I'm not finished," said Trevize peremptorily. "Where did you get the information from-anonymous or not? What world?"

Pelorat shrugged. "Come now, I haven't the slightest idea."

"Could it possibly have been from Saysh.e.l.l?"

"I told you. I don't know."

"I'm suggesting you did get it from Saysh.e.l.l."

"You can suggest all you wish, but that does not necessarily make it so."

"No? When Quintesetz pointed out the dim Star at the center of the Five Sisters, you knew at once it was Gaia. You said so later on to Quintesetz, identifying it before he did. Do you remember?"

"Yes, of course."

"How was that possible? How did you recognize at once that the dim star was Gaia?"

"Because in the material I had on Gaia, it was rarely referred to by that name. Euphemisms were common, many different ones. One of the euphemisms, several times repeated, was 'the little Brother of the Five Sisters.' Another was 'the Pentagon's Center' and sometimes it was called 'o Pentagon.' When Quintesetz pointed out the Five Sisters and the central star, the allusions came irresistibly to mind."

"You never mentioned those allusions to me earlier."

"I didn't know what they meant and I didn't think it would have been important to discuss the matter with you, who were a-" Pelorat hesitated.

"A nonspecialist?"

"You realize, I hope, that the pentagon of the Five Sisters is an entirely relative form."

"What do you mean?"

Trevize laughed affectionately. "You surface worm. Do you think the sky has an objective shape of its own? That the stars are nailed in place? The pentagon has the shape it has from the surface of the worlds of the planetary system to which Saysh.e.l.l Planet belongs- and from there only. From a planet circling any other star, the appearance of the Five Sisters is different. They are seen from a different angle, for one thing. For another, the five stars of the pentagon are at different distances from Saysh.e.l.l and, seen from other angles, there could be no visible relationship among them at all. One or two stars might be in one half of the sky, the others in the other half. See here-"

Trevize darkened the room again and leaned over the computer. "There are eighty-six populated planetary systems making up the Saysh.e.l.l Union. Let us keep Gaia-or the spot where Gaia ought to be-in place" (as he said that, a small red circle appeared in the center of the pentagon of the Five Sisters) "and shift to the skies as seen from any of the other eighty-six worlds taken at random."

The sky shifted and Pelorat blinked. The small red circle remained at the center of the screen, but the Five Sisters had disappeared. There were bright stars in the neighborhood but no tight pentagon. Again the sky shifted, and again, and again. It went on shifting. The red circle remained in place always, but at no time did a small pentagon of equally bright stars appear. Sometimes what might be a distorted pentagon of stars-unequally bright-appeared, but nothing like the beautiful asterism Quintesetz had pointed out.

"Had enough?" said Trevize. "I a.s.sure you, the Five Sisters can never be seen exactly as we have seen it from any populated world but the worlds of the Saysh.e.l.l planetary system."

Pelorat said, "The Saysh.e.l.lian view might have been exported to other planets. There were many proverbs in Imperial times-some of which linger into our own, in fact-that are Trantor-centered."

"With Saysh.e.l.l as secretive about Gaia as we know it to be? And why should worlds outside the Saysh.e.l.l Union be interested? Why would they care about a 'little Brother of the Five Sisters' if there were nothing in the skies at which to point?"

"Maybe you're right."

"Then don't you see that your original information must have come from Saysh.e.l.l itself? Not just from somewhere in the Union, but precisely from the planetary system to which the capital world of the Union belongs."

Pelorat shook his head. "You make it sound as though it must, but it's not something I remember. I simply don't."

"Nevertheless, you do see the force of my argument, don't you?"

"Yes, I do."

"Next- When do you suppose the legend could have originated?"

"Anytime. I should suppose it developed far back in the Imperial Era. It has the feel of an ancient-"

"You are wrong, Janov. The Five Sisters are moderately close to Saysh.e.l.l Planet, which is why they're so bright. Four of them have high proper motions in consequence and no two are part of a family, so that they move in different directions. Watch what happens as I shift the map backward in time slowly."

Again the red circle that marked the site of Gaia remained in place, but the pentagon slowly fell apart, as four of the stars drifted in different directions and the fifth shifted slightly.

"Look at that, Janov," said Trevize. "Would you say that was a regular pentagon?"

"Clearly lopsided," said Pelorat.

"And is Gaia at the center?"

"No, it's well to the side."

"Very well. That is how the asterism looked one hundred and fifty years ago. One and a half centuries, that's all. -The material you received concerning 'the Pentagon's Center' and so on made no real sense till this century anywhere, not even in Saysh.e.l.l. The material you received had to originate in Saysh.e.l.l and sometime in this century, perhaps in the last decade. And you got it, even though Saysh.e.l.l is so close-mouthed about Gaia."

Trevize put the lights on, turned the star map off, and sat there staring sternly at Pelorat.

Pelorat said, "I'm confused. What's this about?"

"You tell me. Consider! Somehow I got the idea into my head that the Second Foundation still existed. I was giving a talk during my election campaign. I started a bit of emotional byplay designed to squeeze votes out of the undecided with a dramatic 'If the Second Foundation still existed-' and later that day I thought to myself: What if it did still exist? I began reading history books and within a week, I was convinced. There was no real evidence, but I have always felt that I had the knack of s.n.a.t.c.hing the right conclusion out of a welter of speculation. This time, though-"

Trevize brooded a bit, then went on. "And look at what has happened since. Of all people, I chose Compor as my confidant and he betrayed me. Whereupon Mayor Branno had me arrested and sent into exile. Why into exile, rather than just having me imprisoned, or trying to threaten me into silence? And why in a very late-model ship which gives me extraordinary powers of Jumping through the Galaxy? And why, of all things, does she insist I take you and suggest that I help you search for Earth?

"And why was I so certain that we should not go to Trantor? I was convinced you had a better target for our investigations and at once you come up with the mystery world of Gaia, concerning which, as it now turns out, you gained information under very puzzling circ.u.mstances.

"We go to Saysh.e.l.l-the first natural stop-and at once we encounter Compor, who gives us a circ.u.mstantial story about Earth and its death. He then a.s.sures us its location is in the Sirius Sector and urges us to go there."

Pelorat said, "There you are. You seem to be implying that all circ.u.mstances are forcing us toward Gaia, but, as you say, Compor tried to persuade us to go elsewhere."

"And in response, I was determined to continue on our original line of investigation out of my sheer distrust for the man. Don't you suppose that that was what he might have been counting on? He may have deliberately told us to go elsewhere just to keep us from doing so."

"That's mere romance," muttered Pelorat.

"Is it? Let's go on. We get in touch with Quintesetz simply because he was handy-"

"Not at all," said Pelorat. "I recognized his name."

"It seemed familiar to you. You had never read anything he had written-that you could recall. Why was it familiar to you? -In any case, it turned out he had read a paper of yours and was overwhelmed by it-and how likely was that? You yourself admit your work is not widely known.

"What's more, the young lady leading us to him quite gratuitously mentions Gaia and goes on to tell us it is in hypers.p.a.ce, as though to be sure we keep it in mind. When we ask Quintesetz about it, he behaves as though he doesn't want to talk about it, but he doesn't throw us out-even though I am rather rude to him. He takes us to his home instead and, on the way there, goes to the trouble of pointing out the Five Sisters. He even makes sure we note the dim star at the center. Why? Is not all this an extraordinary concatenation of coincidence?"

Pelorat said, "If you list it like that-"

"List it any way you please," said Trevize. "I don't believe in extraordinary concatenations of coincidence."

"What does all this mean, then? That we are being maneuvered to Gaia?"

"By whom?"

Trevize said, "Surely there can be no question about that. Who is capable of adjusting minds, of giving gentle nudges to this one or that, of managing to divert progress in this direction or that?"

"You're going to tell me it's the Second Foundation."

"Well, what have we been told about Gaia? It is untouchable. Fleets that move against it are destroyed. People who reach it do not return. Even the Mule didn't dare move against it-and the Mule, in fact, was probably born there. Surely it seems that Gaia is the Second Foundation-and finding that, after all, is my ultimate goal.

Pelorat shook his head. "But according to some historians, the Second Foundation stopped the Mule. How could he have been one of them?"

"A renegade, I suppose."

"But why should we be so relentlessly maneuvered toward the Second Foundation by the Second Foundation?"

Trevize's eyes were unfocused, his brow furrowed. He said, "Let's reason it out. It has always seemed important to the Second Foundation that as little information as possible about it should be available to the Galaxy. Ideally it wants its very existence to remain unknown. We know that much about them. For a hundred twenty years, the Second Foundation was thought to be extinct and that must have suited them right down to the Galactic core. Yet when I began to suspect that they did exist, they did nothing. Compor knew. They might have used him to shut me up one way or another -had me killed, even. Yet they did nothing."

Pelorat said, "They had you arrested, if you want to blame that on the Second Foundation. According to what you told me, that resulted in the people of Terminus not knowing about your views. The people of the Second Foundation accomplished that much without violence and they may be devotees of Salvor Hardin's remark that 'Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

"But keeping it from the people of Terminus accomplishes nothing. Mayor Branno knows my view and-at the very least-must wonder if I am correct. So now, you see, it is too late for them to harm us. If they had gotten rid of me to begin with, they would be in the clear. If they had left me alone altogether, they might have still remained in the clear, for they might have maneuvered Terminus into believing I was an eccentric, perhaps a madman. The prospective ruin of my political career might even have forced me into silence as soon as I saw what the announcement of my beliefs would mean.

"And now it is too late for them to do anything. Mayor Branno was suspicious enough of the situation to send Compor after me and -having no faith in him either, being wiser than I was-she placed a hyper-relay on Compor's ship. In consequence, she knows we are on Saysh.e.l.l. And last night, while you were sleeping, I had our computer place a message directly into the computer of the Foundation amba.s.sador here on Saysh.e.l.l, explaining that we were on our way to Gaia. I took the trouble of giving its co-ordinates, too. If the Second Foundation does anything to us now, I am certain that Branno will have the matter investigated-and the concentrated attention of the Foundation must surely be what they don't want."

"Would they care about attracting the Foundation's attention, if they are so powerful?"

"Yes," said Trevize forcefully. "They lie hidden because, in some ways, they must be weak and because the Foundation is technologically advanced perhaps beyond even what Seldon himself might have foreseen. The very quiet, even stealthy, way in which they've been maneuvering us to their world would seem to show their eager desire to do nothing that will attract attention. And if so, then they have already lost, at least in part-for they've attracted attention and I doubt they can do anything to reverse the situation."

Pelorat said, "But why do they go through all this? Why do they ruin themselves-if your a.n.a.lysis is correct-by angling for us across the Galaxy? What is it they want of us?"

Trevize stared at Pelorat and flushed. "Janov," he said, "I have a feeling about this. I have this gift of coming to a correct conclusion on the basis of almost nothing. There's a kind of sureness about me that tells me when I'm right-and I'm sure now. There's something I have that they want-and want enough to risk their very existence for. I don't know what it can be, but I've got to find out, because if I've got it and if it's that powerful, then I want to be able to use it for what I feel is right." He shrugged slightly. "Do you still want to come along with me, old friend, now that you see how much a madman I am?"

Pelorat said, "I told you I had faith in you. I still do."

And Trevize laughed with enormous relief. "Marvelous! Because another feeling I have is that you are, for some reason, also essential to this whole thing. In that case, Janov, we move on to Gaia, full speed. Forward!"

Mayor Harla Branno looked distinctly older than her sixty-two years. She did not always look older, but she did now. She had been sufficiently wrapped up in thought to forget to avoid the mirror and had seen her image on her way into the map room. So she was aware of the haggardness of her appearance.

She sighed. It drained the life out of one. Five years a Mayor and for twelve years before that the real power behind two figureheads. All of it had been quiet, all of it successful, all of it-draining. How would it have been, she wondered, if there had been strain-failure -disaster.

Not so bad for her personally, she suddenly decided. Action would have been invigorating. It was the horrible knowledge that nothing but drift was possible that had worn her out.

It was the Seldon Plan that was successful and it was the Second Foundation that made sure it would continue to be. She, as the strong hand at the helm of the Foundation (actually the First Foundation, but no one on Terminus ever thought of adding the adjective) merely rode the crest.

History would say little or nothing about her. She merely sat at the controls of a s.p.a.ceship, while the s.p.a.ceship was maneuvered from without.

Even Indbur III, who had presided over the Foundation's catastrophic fall to the Mule, had done something. He had, at least, collapsed.

For Mayor Branno there would be nothing!

Unless this Golan Trevize, this thoughtless Councilman, this lightning rod, made it possible- She looked at the map thoughtfully. It was not the kind of structure produced by a modern computer. It was, rather, a three-dimensional cl.u.s.ter of lights that pictured the Galaxy holographically in midair. Though it could not be made to move, to turn, to expand, or to contract, one could move about it and see it from any angle.

A large section of the Galaxy, perhaps a third of the whole (excluding the core, which was a "no-life's land") turned red when she touched a contact. That was the Foundation Federation, the more than seven million inhabited worlds ruled by the Council and by herself-the seven million inhabited worlds who voted for and were represented in the House of Worlds, which debated matters of minor importance, and then voted on them, and never, by any chance, dealt with anything of major importance.

Another contact and a faint pink jutted outward from the edges of the Federation, here and there. Spheres of influence! This was not Foundation territory, but the regions, though nominally independent, would never dream of resistance to any Foundation move.

There was no question in her mind that no power in the Galaxy could oppose the Foundation (not even the Second Foundation, if one but knew where it was), that the Foundation could, at will, reach out its fleet of modern ships and simply set up the Second Empire.

But only five centuries had pa.s.sed since the beginning of the Plan. The Plan called for ten centuries before the Second Empire could be set up and the Second Foundation would make sure the Plan would hold. The Mayor shook her sad, gray head. If the Foundation acted now, it would somehow fail. Though its ships were irresistible, action now would fail.

Unless Trevize, the lightning rod, drew the lightning of the Second Foundation-and the lightning could be traced back to its source.

She looked about. Where was Kodell? This was no time for him to be late.