Foundation and Earth

Fallom said excitedly, "Jemby made"-she hesitated, then decided to use the Galactic word-"music all the time. It made music on a **" Again a word in her own language.

Bliss repeated the word doubtfully, "On a feeful?"

Fallom laughed. "Not feeful, **"

With both words juxtaposed like that, Bliss could hear the difference, but she despaired of reproducing the second. She said, "What does it look like?"

Fallom's as yet limited vocabulary in Galactic did not suffice for an accurate description, and her gestures did not produce any shape clearly in Bliss's mind.

"He showed me how to use the " Fallom said proudly. "I used my fingers just the way Jemby did, but it said that soon I wouldn't have to."

"That's wonderful, dear," said Bliss. "After dinner, we'll see if the Alphans are as good as your Jemby was."

Fallom's eyes sparkled and pleasant thoughts of what was to follow carried her through a lavish dinner despite the crowds and laughter and noise all about her. Only once, when a dish was accidentally upset, setting off shrieks of excitement fairly close to them, did Fallom look frightened, and Bliss promptly held her close in a warm and protective hug.

"I wonder if we can arrange to eat by ourselves," she muttered to Pelorat. "Otherwise, we'll have to get off this world. It's bad enough eating all this Isolate animal protein, but I must be able to do it in peace."

"It's only high spirits," said Pelorat, who would have endured anything within reason that he felt came under the heading of primitive behavior and beliefs.

And then the dinner was over, and the announcement came that the music festival would soon begin.

82.

THE HALL in which the music festival was to be held was about as large as the dining room, and there were folding seats (rather uncomfortable, Trevize found out) for about a hundred fifty people. As honored guests, the visitors were led to the front row, and various Alphans commented politely and favorably on their clothes.

Both men were bare above the waist and Trevize tightened his abdominal muscles whenever he thought of it and stared down, on occasion, with complacent self-admiration at his dark-haired chest. Pelorat, in his ardent observation of everything about him, was indifferent to his own appearance. Bliss's blouse drew covert stares of puzzlement but nothing was said concerning it.

Trevize noted that the hall was only about half-full and that the large majority of the audience were women, since, presumably, so many men were out to sea.

Pelorat nudged Trevize and whispered, "They have electricity."

Trevize looked at the vertical tubes on the walls, and at others on the ceiling. They were softly luminous.

"Fluorescence," he said. "Quite primitive."

"Yes, but they do the job, and we've got those things in our rooms and in the outhouse. I thought they were just decorative. If we can find out how to work them, we won't have to stay in the dark."

Bliss said irritably, "They might have told us."

Pelorat said, "They thought we'd know; that anyone would know."

Four women now emerged from behind screens and seated themselves in a group in the space at the front. Each held an instrument of varnished wood of a similar shape, but one that was not easily describable. The instruments were chiefly different in size. One was quite small, two somewhat larger, and the fourth considerably larger. Each woman also held a long rod in the other hand.

The audience whistled softly as they came in, in response to which the four women bowed. Each had a strip of gauze bound fairly tightly across the breasts as though to keep them from interfering with the instrument.

Trevize, interpreting the whistles as signs of approval, or of pleased anticipation, felt it only polite to add his own. At that, Fallom added a trill that was far more than a whistle and that was beginning to attract attention when pressure from Bliss's hand stopped her.

Three of the women, without preparation, put their instruments under their chins, while the largest of the instruments remained between the legs of the fourth woman and rested on the floor. The long rod in the right hand of each was sawed across the strings stretching nearly the length of the instrument, while the fingers of the left hand shifted rapidly along the upper ends of those strings.

This, thought Trevize, was the "scraping" he had expected, but it didn't sound like scraping at all. There was a soft and melodious succession of notes; each instrument doing something of its own and the whole fusing pleasantly.