It was as though her thought had called him, for he came striding in, smiling cheerfully, looking more grandfatherly than ever with his gray-white mustache and tanned complexion. Grandfatherly, but not old. To be sure, he was eight years younger than she was.

How was it he showed no marks of strain? Did not fifteen years as Director of Security leave its scar?

Kodell nodded slowly in the formal greeting that was necessary in initiating a discussion with the Mayor. It was a tradition that had existed since the bad days of the Indburs. Almost everything had changed, but etiquette least of all.

He said, "Sorry I'm late, Mayor, but your arrest of Councilman Trevize is finally beginning to make its way through the anesthetized skin of the Council."

"Oh?" said the Mayor phlegmatically. "Are we in for a palace revolution?"

"Not the least chance. We're in control. But there'll be noise."

"Let them make noise. It will make them feel better, and I-I shall stay out of the way. I can count, I suppose, on general public opinion?"

"I think you can. Especially away from Terminus. No one outside Terminus cares what happens to a stray Councilman."

"I do."

"Ah? More news?"

"Liono," said the Mayor, "I want to know about Saysh.e.l.l."

"I'm not a two-legged history book," said Liono Kodell, smiling.

"I don't want history. I want the truth. Why is Saysh.e.l.l independent? -Look at it." She pointed to the red of the Foundation on the holographic map and there, well into the inner spirals, was an in-pocketing of white.

Branno said, "We've got it almost encapsulated-almost sucked in-yet it's white. Our map doesn't even show it as a loyal-ally-inpink."

Kodell shrugged. "It's not officially a loyal ally, but it never bothers us. It is neutral."

"All right. See this, then." Another touch at the controls. The red sprang out distinctly further. It covered nearly half the Galaxy. "That," said Mayor Branno, "was the Mule's realm at the time of his death. If you'll peer in among the red, you'll find the Saysh.e.l.l Union, completely surrounded this time, but still white. it is the only enclave left free by the Mule."

"It was neutral then, too."

"The Mule had no great respect for neutrality."

"He seems to have had, in this case."

"Seems to have had. What has Saysh.e.l.l got?"

Kodell said, "Nothing! Believe me, Mayor, she is ours any time we want her."

"Is she? Yet somehow she isn't ours."

"There's no need to want her."

Branno sat back in her chair and, with a sweep of her arm over the controls, turned the Galaxy dark. "I think we now want her."

"Pardon, Mayor?"

"Liono, I sent that foolish Councilman into s.p.a.ce as a lightning rod. I felt that the Second Foundation would see him as a greater danger than he was and see the Foundation itself as the lesser danger. The lightning would strike him and reveal its origin to us."

"Yes, Mayor!"

"My intention was that he go to the decayed ruins of Trantor to fumble through what-if anything-was left of its Library and search for the Earth. That's the world, you remember, that these wearisome mystics tell us was the site of origin of humanity, as though that matters, even in the unlikely case it is true. The Second Foundation couldn't possibly have believed that was really what he was after and they would have moved to find out what he was really looking for."

"But he didn't go to Trantor."

"No. Quite unexpectedly, he has gone to Saysh.e.l.l. Why?"

"I don't know. But please forgive an old bloodhound whose duty it is to suspect everything and tell me how you know he and this Pelorat have gone to Saysh.e.l.l. I know that Compor reports it, but how far can we trust Compor?"

"The hyper-relay tells us that Compor's ship has indeed landed on Saysh.e.l.l Planet."

"Undoubtedly, but how do you know that Trevize and Pelorat have? Compor may have gone to Saysh.e.l.l for his own reasons and may not know-or care-where the others are."

"The fact is, that our amba.s.sador on Saysh.e.l.l has informed us of the arrival of the ship on which we placed Trevize and Pelorat. I am not ready to believe the ship arrived at Saysh.e.l.l without them. What is more, Compor reports having talked to them and, if he cannot be trusted, we have other reports placing them at Saysh.e.l.l University, where they consulted with a historian of no particular note."

"None of this," said Kodell mildly, "has reached me."

Branno sniffed. "Do not feel stepped on. I am dealing with this personally and the information has now reached you-with not much in the way of delay, either. The latest news-just received-is from the amba.s.sador. Our lightning rod is moving on. He stayed on Saysh.e.l.l Planet two days, then left. He is heading for another planetary system, he says, some ten pa.r.s.ecs away. He gave the name and the Galactic co-ordinates of his destination to the amba.s.sador, who pa.s.sed them on to us."

"Is there anything corroborative from Compor?"

"Compor's message that Trevize and Pelorat have left Saysh.e.l.l came even before the amba.s.sador's message. Compor has not yet determined where Trevize is going. Presumably he will follow."

Kodell said, "We are missing the why's of the situation." He popped a pastille into his mouth and sucked at it meditatively. "Why did Trevize go to Saysh.e.l.l? Why did he leave?"

"The question that intrigues me most is: Where? Where is Trevize going?"

"You did say, Mayor, did you not, that he gave the name and coordinates of his destination to the amba.s.sador. Are you implying that he lied to the amba.s.sador? Or that the amba.s.sador is lying to us?"

"Even a.s.suming everyone told the truth all round and that no one made any errors, there is a name that interests me. Trevize told the amba.s.sador he was going to Gaia. That's C-A-I-A. Trevize was careful to spell it."

Kodell said, "Gaia? I never heard of it."

"Indeed? That's not strange." Branno pointed to the spot in the air where the map had been. "Upon the map in this room, I can set up, at a moment's notice, every star-supposedly-around which there circles an inhabited world and many prominent stars with uninhabited systems. Over thirty million stars can be marked out-if I handle the controls properly-in single units, in pairs, in cl.u.s.ters. I can mark them out in any of five different colors, one at a time, or all together. What I cannot do is locate Gaia on the map. As far as the map is concerned, Gaia does not exist."

Kodell said, "For every star the map shows, there are ten thousand it doesn't show."

"Granted, but the stars it doesn't show lack inhabited planets and why would Trevize want to go to an uninhabited planet?"

"Have you tried the Central Computer? It has all three hundred billion Galactic stars listed."

"I've been told it has, but does it? We know very well, you and 1, that there are thousands of inhabited planets that have escaped listing on any of our maps-not only on the one in this room, but even on the Central Computer. Gaia is apparently one of them."

Kodell's voice remained calm, even coaxing. "Mayor, there may well be nothing at all to be concerned about. Trevize may be off on a wild goose chase or he may be lying to us and there is no star called Gaia-and no star at all at the co-ordinates he gave us. He is trying to throw us off his scent, now that he has met Compor and perhaps guesses he is being traced."

"How will this throw us off the scent? Compor will still follow. No, Liono, I have another possibility in mind, one with far greater potentiality for trouble. Listen to me-"

She paused and said, "This room is shielded, Liono. Understand that. We cannot be overheard by anyone, so please feel free to speak. And I will speak freely, as well.

"This Gaia is located, if we accept the information, ten pa.r.s.ecs from Saysh.e.l.l Planet and is therefore part of the Saysh.e.l.l Union. The Saysh.e.l.l Union is a well-explored portion of the Galaxy. All its star systems-inhabited or not inhabited-are recorded and the inhabited ones are known in detail. Gaia is the one exception. Inhabited or not, none have heard of it; it is present in no map. Add to this that the Saysh.e.l.l Union maintains a peculiar state of independence with respect to the Foundation Federation, and did so even with respect to the Mule's former realm. It has been independent since the fall of the Galactic Empire."

"What of all this?" asked Kodell cautiously.

"Surely the two points I have made must be connected. Saysh.e.l.l incorporates a planetary system that is totally unknown and Saysh.e.l.l is untouchable. The two cannot be independent. Whatever Gaia is, it protects itself. It sees to it that there is no knowledge of its existence outside its immediate surroundings and it protects those surroundings so that outsiders cannot take over."

"You are telling me, Mayor, that Gaia is the seat of the Second Foundation?"

"I am telling you that Gaia deserves inspection."

"May I mention an odd point that might be difficult to explain by this theory?"

"Please do."

"If Gaia is the Second Foundation and if, for centuries, it has protected itself physically against intruders, protecting all of the Saysh.e.l.l Union as a broad, deep shield for itself, and if it has even prevented knowledge of itself leaking into the Galaxy-then why has all that protection suddenly vanished? Trevize and Pelorat leave Terminus and, even though you had advised them to go to Trantor, they go immediately and without hesitation to Saysh.e.l.l and now to Gaia. What is more, you can think of Gaia and speculate on it. Why are you not somehow prevented from doing So?"

Mayor Branno did not answer for a long time. Her head was bent and her gray hair gleamed dully in the light. Then she said, "Because I think Councilman Trevize has somehow upset things. He has done something-or is doing something-that is in some way endangering the Seldon Plan."

"That surely is impossible, Mayor."

"I suppose everything and everyone has its flaws. Even Hari Seldon was not perfect, surely. Somewhere the Plan has a flaw and Trevize has stumbled upon it, perhaps without even knowing that he has. We must know what is happening and we must be on the spot."

Finally Kodell looked grave. "Don't make decisions on your own, Mayor. We don't want to move without adequate consideration."

"Don't take me for an idiot, Liono. I'm not going to make war. I'm not going to land an expeditionary force on Gaia. I just want to be on the spot-or near it, if you prefer. Liono, find out for me-I hate talking to a war office that is as ridiculously hidebound as one is sure to be after one hundred and twenty years of peace, but you don't seem to mind-just how many warships are stationed close to Saysh.e.l.l. Can we make their movements seem routine and not like a mobilization?"

"In these piping times of peace, there are not many ships in the vicinity, I am sure. But I will find out."

"Even two or three will be sufficient, especially if one is of the Supernova cla.s.s."

"What do you want to do with them?"

"I want them to nudge as close to Saysh.e.l.l as they can-without creating an incident-and I want them sufficiently close to each other to offer mutual support."

"What's all this intended for?"

"Flexibility. I want to be able to strike if I have to."

"Against the Second Foundation? If Gaia can keep itself isolated and untouchable against the Mule, it can surely withstand a few ships now."

Branno said, with the gleam of battle in her eyes, "My friend, I told you that nothing and no one is perfect, not even Hari Seldon. In setting up his Plan, he could not help being a person of his times. He was a mathematician of the days of the dying Empire, when technology was moribund. It followed that he could not have made sufficient allowance in his Plan for technological advance. Gravities, for instance, is a whole new direction of advance he could not possibly have guessed at. And there are other advances, too.

"Gaia might also have advanced."

"In isolation? Come. There are ten quadrillion human beings within the Foundation Federation, from among whom contributors to technological advance can step forward. A single isolated world can do nothing in comparison. Our ships will advance and I will be with them."

"Pardon me, Mayor. What was that?"

"I will be going myself to the ships that will gather at the borders of Saysh.e.l.l. I wish to see the situation for myself."

Kodell's mouth fell open for a moment. He swallowed and made a distinct noise as he did so. "Mayor, that is-not wise." If ever a man clearly intended a stronger remark, Kodell did.

"Wise or not," said Branno violently, "I will do it. I am tired of Terminus and of its endless political battles, its infighting, its alliances and counteralliances, its betrayals and renewals. I've had seventeen years at the center of it and I want to do something else- anything else. Out there," she waved her hand in a direction taken at random, "the whole history of the Galaxy may be changing and I want to take part in the process."

"You know nothing about such things, Mayor."

"Who does, Liono?" She rose stiffly to her feet. "As soon as you bring me the information I need on the ships and as soon as I can make arrangements for carrying on with the foolish business at home, I will go. -And, Liono, don't try to maneuver me out of this decision in any way or I'll wipe out our long friendship in a stroke and break you. I can still do that."

Kodell nodded. "I know you can, Mayor, but before you decide, may I ask you to reconsider the power of Seldon's Plan? What you intend may be suicide."

"I have no fears on that score, Liono. It was wrong with respect to the Mule, whom it could not antic.i.p.ate-and a failure to antic.i.p.ate at one time implies the possibility of failure at another."

Kodell sighed. "Well then, if you are really determined, I will support you to the best of my ability and with complete loyalty."

"Good. I warn you once again that you had better mean that remark with all your heart. And with that in mind, Liono, let us move on to Gaia. Forward!"

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

GAIA-S

SURA NOVI NOW STEPPED INTO THE CONTROL ROOM OF THE SMALL AND rather old-fashioned ship that was carrying Stor Gendibal and herself across the pa.r.s.ecs in deliberate Jumps.

She had clearly been in the compact cleaning room, where oils, warm air, and a minimum of water freshened her body. She had a robe wrapped about her and was holding it tightly to herself in an agony of modesty. Her hair was dry but tangled.

She said in a low voice, "Master?"

Gendibal looked up from his charts and from his computer. "Yes, Novi?"

"I be sorrow-laden-" She paused and then said slowly, "I am very sorry to bother you, Master" (then she slipped again) "but I be loss-ridden for my clothing."

"Your clothing?" Gendibal stared at her blankly for a moment and then rose to his feet in an access of contrition. "Novi, I forgot. They needed cleaning and they're in the detergent-hamper. They're cleaned, dried, folded, all set. I should have taken them out and placed them in clear sight. I forgot."

"I did not like to-to-" (she looked down at herself) "offend."

"You don't offend," said Gendibal cheerily. "Look, I promise you that when this is over I shall see to it that you have a great deal of clothing-new and in the latest fashion. We left in a hurry and it never occurred to me to bring a supply, but really, Novi, there are only the two of us and we'll be together for some time in very close quarters and it's needless to be-to be-so concerned-about-" He gestured vaguely, became aware of the horrified look in her eyes, and thought: Well, she's only a country girl after all and has her standards; probably wouldn't object to improprieties of all kinds-but with her clothes on.

Then he felt ashamed of himself and was glad that she was no "scholar" who could sense his thoughts. He said, "Shall I get your clothes for you?"