Foundation and Earth

The Minister said, "Rank has its privileges as well as its duties. And now sit down, Councilman, and tell me of this madness of yours." She sat down on the couch, which gave slowly under her solid weight, and pointed to an equally soft chair in which Trevize would be facing her at not too great a distance."

Trevize sat down. "Madness, Minister?"

The Minister relaxed visibly, leaning her right elbow on a pillow. "In private conversation, we need not observe the rules of formal discourse too punctiliously. You may call me Lizalor. I will call you, Trevize. Tell me what is on your mind, Trevize, and let us inspect it."

Trevize crossed his legs and sat back in his chair. "See here, Lizalor, you gave me the choice of either agreeing to give up the ship voluntarily, or of being subjected to a formal trial. In both cases, you would end up with the ship. Yet you have been going out of your way to persuade me to adopt the former alternative. You are willing to offer me another ship to replace mine, so that my friends and I might go anywhere we chose. We might even stay here on Comporellon and qualify for citizenship, if we chose. In smaller things, you were willing to allow me fifteen minutes to consult with my friends. You were even willing to bring me here to your private apartment, while my friends are now, presumably, in comfortable quarters. In short, you are bribing me, Lizalor, rather desperately, to grant you the ship without the necessity of a trial."

"Come, Trevize, are you in no mood to give me credit for humane impulses?"

"None."

"Or the thought that voluntary surrender would be quicker and more convenient than a trial would be?"

"No! I would offer a different suggestion."

"Which is?"

"A trial has one thing in its strong disfavor; it is a public affair. You have several times referred to this world's rigorous legal system, and I suspect it would be difficult to arrange a trial without its being fully recorded. If were so, the Foundation would know of it and you would have to hand the ship to it once the trial was over."

"Of course," said Lizalor, without expression. "It is the Foundation ** owns the ship."

"But," said Trevize, "a private agreement with me would not have to be placed on formal record. You could have the ship and, since the foundation would not know of the matter-they don't even know that we are on this world-Comporellon could keep the ship. That, I am sure, is what you intend to do."

"Why should we do that?" She was still without expression. "Are we not part of the Foundation Confederation?"

"Not quite. Your status is that of an Associated Power. In any map on which the member worlds of the Federation are shown in red, Comporellon and its dependent worlds would show up as a patch of pale pink."

"Even so, as an Associated Power, we would surely co-operate with the Foundation."

"Would you? Might not Comporellon be dreaming of total independence; even leadership? You are an old world. Almost all worlds claim to be older than they are, but Comporellon is an old world."

Minister Lizalor allowed a cold smile to cross her face. "The oldest, if some of our enthusiasts are to be believed."

"Might there not have been a time when Comporellon was indeed the leading world of a relatively small group of worlds? Might you not still dream of recovering that lost position of power?"

"Do you think we dream of so impossible a goal? I called it madness before I knew your thoughts, and it is certainly madness now that I do."

"Dreams may be impossible, yet still be dreamed. Terminus, located at the very edge of the Galaxy and with a five-century history that is briefer than that of any other world, virtually rules the Galaxy. And shall Comporellon not? Eh?" Trevize was smiling.

Lizalor remained grave. "Terminus reached that position, we are given to understand, by the working out of Hari Seldon's Plan."

"That is the psychological buttress of its superiority and it will hold only as long, perhaps, as people believe it. It may be that the Comporellian government does not believe it. Even so, Terminus also enjoys a technological buttress. Terminus's hegemony over the Galaxy undoubtedly rests on its advanced technology-of which the gravitic ship you are so anxious to have is an example. No other world but Terminus disposes of gravitic ships. If Comporellon could have one, and could learn its workings in detail, it would be bound to have taken a giant technological step forward. I don't think it would be sufficient to help you overcome Terminus's lead, but your government might think so."

Lizalor said, "You can't be serious in this. Any government that kept the ship in the face of the Foundation's desire to have it would surely experience the Foundation's wrath, and history shows that the Foundation can be quite uncomfortably wrathful."

Trevize said, "The Foundation's wrath would only be exerted if the Foundation knew there was something to be wrathful about."