Foundation and Earth

Pelorat said, "To put it at the simplest, dear Doctor, I have all my mature life attempted to penetrate to the basic core of knowledge concerning the world on which the human species originated, and I was sent out along with my good friend, Golan Trevize-although, to be sure, I did not know him at the time-to find, if we could, the-uh-Oldest, I believe you call it."

"The Oldest?" said Deniador. "I take it you mean Earth."

Pelorat's jaw dropped. Then he said, with a slight stutter, "I was under the impression-that is, I was given to understand-that one did not-"

He looked at Trevize, rather helplessly.

Trevize said, "Minister Lizalor told me that that word was not used on Comporellon."

"You mean she did this?" Deniador's mouth turned downward, his nose screwed up, and he thrust his arms vigorously forward, crossing the first two fingers on each hand.

"Yes," said Trevize. "That's what I mean."

Deniador relaxed and laughed. "Nonsense, gentlemen. We do it as a matter of habit, and in the backwoods they may be serious about it but, on the whole, it doesn't matter. I don't know any Comporellian who wouldn't say 'Earth' when annoyed or startled. It's the most common vulgarism we have."

"Vulgarism?" said Pelorat faintly.

"Or expletive, if you prefer."

"Nevertheless," said Trevize, "the Minister seemed quite upset when I used the word."

"Oh well, she's a mountain woman."

"What does that mean, sir?"

"What it says. Mitza Lizalor is from the Central Mountain Range. The children out there are brought up in what is called the good old-fashioned way, which means that no matter how well educated they become you can never knock those crossed fingers out of them."

"Then the word 'Earth' doesn't bother you at all, does it, Doctor?" said Bliss.

"Not at all, dear lady. I am a Skeptic."

Trevize said, "I know what the word 'skeptic' means in Galactic, but how. do you use the word?"

"Exactly as you do, Councilman. I accept only what I am forced to accept by reasonably reliable evidence, and keep that acceptance tentative pending the arrival of further evidence. That doesn't make us popular."

"Why not?" said Trevize.

"We wouldn't be popular anywhere. Where is the world whose people don't prefer a comfortable, warm, and well-worn belief, however illogical, to the chilly winds of uncertainty? Consider how you believe in the Seldon Plan without evidence."

"Yes," said Trevize, studying his finger ends. "I put that forward yesterday as an example, too."

Pelorat said, "May I return to the subject, old fellow? What is known about Earth that a Skeptic would accept?"

Deniador said, "Very little. We can assume that there is a single planet on which the human species developed, because it is unlikely in the extreme that the same species, so nearly identical as to be interfertile, would develop on a number of worlds, or even on just two, independently. We can choose to call this world of origin Earth. The belief is general, here, that Earth exists in this corner of the Galaxy, for the worlds here are unusually old and it is likely that the first worlds to be settled were close to Earth rather than far from it."

"And has the Earth any unique characteristics aside from being the planet of origin?" asked Pelorat eagerly.

"Do you have something in mind?" said Deniador, with his quick smile.

"I'm thinking of its satellite, which some call the moon. That would be unusual, wouldn't it?"

"That's a leading question, Dr. Pelorat. You may be putting thoughts into my mind."

"I do not say what it is that would make the moon unusual."

"Its size, of course. Am I right? Yes, I see I am. All the legends of Earth speak of its vast array of living species and of its vast satellite-one that is some three thousand to three thousand five hundred kilometers in diameter. The vast array of life is easy to accept since it would naturally have come about through biological evolution, if what we know of the process is accurate. A giant satellite is more difficult to accept. No other inhabited world in the Galaxy has such a satellite. Large satellites are invariably associated with the uninhabited and uninhabitable gas-giants. As a Skeptic, then, I prefer not to accept the existence of the moon."

Pelorat said, "If Earth is unique in its possession of millions of species, might it not also be unique in its possession of a giant satellite? One uniqueness might imply the other."

Deniador smiled. "I don't see how the presence of millions of species on Earth could create a giant satellite out of nothing."

"But the other way around- Perhaps a giant satellite could help create the millions of species."

"I don't see how that could be either."

Trevize said, "What about the story of Earth's radioactivity?"

"That is universally told; universally believed."

"But," said Trevize, "Earth could not have been so radioactive as to preclude life in the billions of years when it supported life. How did it become radioactive? A nuclear war?"

"That is the most common opinion, Councilman Trevize."