Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen Away from Solari

The departure process was a mess.Trevize picked up the two defunct weapons, opened the airlock, and the group stumbled into the spaceship.It wasn't until they flew off the surface that Trevize noticed that Ferron was also brought up. They might not have escaped in time had it not been for the Solari's poor flying skills.The amount of time the Solari took to land and land was unimaginably long.Instead, FarStar's computers lifted the focused spacecraft vertically almost instantaneously. Launching at such a high speed would originally produce an unbearable acceleration effect, but because the Far Star is isolated from the force, the inertia also disappears, so the acceleration effect can be completely eliminated.Even so, it still cannot eliminate the effect of air resistance, so the temperature of the outer shell will rise rapidly, and the heating rate will far exceed the reasonable upper limit of fleet regulations (or spaceship regulations).

As they lifted off, they saw that a second Solari had landed and several more were approaching.Trevize didn't know how many robots Bliss could deal with, but according to his judgment, if they stayed on the ground for another fifteen minutes, they would definitely be swallowed by a large group of robots. Once in space (or almost there, surrounded only by the thin molecules of the planet's "exosphere"), Trevize flew toward the planet's nightside.It was only a short voyage because the sun was setting when they left the surface.In the dark, FarStar could cool down faster and continue to slowly spiral away from the planet.

At this point Pelorat came out of the cabin he shared with Bliss and said, "The child is now soundly asleep. We taught him how to use the bathroom, and he learned it effortlessly." "It's nothing surprising, there must be similar equipment in that mansion." "I didn't see any of them there. In fact, I've been looking for it all the time." Pelorat said feelingly, "If we delay returning to the spaceship for a moment, I won't be able to hold back." "We're all the same. But why bring that kid up?" Pelorat shrugged apologetically. "Bao Qisi is unwilling to leave it, as if she wants to save a life to make up for the other life she killed. She can't bear it..."

"I understand," Trevize said. Said Pelorat, "The child has a very strange form." "Since it's androgynous, it's inevitable," Trevize said. "It has two testicles, you know." "It's almost impossible not to." "And what I can only describe as a very small vagina." Trevize grimaced. "nausea." "Not really, Glenn," Pelorat protested, "it's just what it needs. It only needs to produce a fertilized egg cell, or a very small embryo, and the fertilized egg or embryo can be developed in the laboratory." , and dare I say, by robots."

"What if their robotic system fails? If that happens, they won't be able to produce a viable offspring." "In any world, if the social structure fails completely, it will fall into serious crisis." "Won't be as strict as the Solaris. I can't help but cry for them." "Well," said Pelorat, "I admit it does not seem a very charming world--I mean to us.But the problem is the Solari and the social structure, which are nothing like us, my dear brother.But take out the Solarians and the robots, and you'll find that world..." "Maybe start to break down, like Aurora is now," Trevize said. "How's Bliss, Janov?"

"I'm afraid she's exhausted. She's sleeping. She's had a rough time, Grant." "I don't feel that good either." Trevize closed his eyes.He had already decided that as soon as it was determined that the Solari were incapable of space navigation, he would sleep and relax.And so far, according to computer reports, no artificial celestial bodies have been found in space. It filled him with bitterness to think of the two outer worlds they had visited—one with hostile wild dogs, the other with hostile androgynous solitary people, neither of which had a clue as to what had happened to Earth.The only proof that they have been to those two worlds is the child Feilong.

He opened his eyes, and Pelorat was still sitting on the other side of the computer, looking at him with a serious expression. Trevize said suddenly and firmly, "We should leave that Solari kid where he is." "Poor little one," said Pelorat, "they'll kill him." "Even so," Trevize said, "it's where it belongs, part of that society. It's what it was born to be, to be deemed superfluous and put to death." "Oh, my dear fellow, that is a hard-hearted view." "That's a reasonable point of view. We don't know how to take care of it. It may suffer a lot with us, but it will still die in the end. What does it eat?"

"I reckon he eats what we eat, old friend. Actually, the question is what shall we eat? How much do we have left in our stores?" "A lot, a lot, even if there is one more passenger, don't worry." Hearing this answer, Pelorat did not seem very happy.He said: "The food has become very dull, we should supplement it in Complon - although their cooking is not very good." "We couldn't help it. You haven't forgotten that we left in a rather hasty way, as we left Aurora, and especially when we left Solari—what does it matter if it's monotonous? It spoils the meal, but it makes us live."

"Is it possible to find some fresh food if we need it?" "Anytime, Janov. With a thruster ship and a few hyperdrives on it, the galaxy is only a small place. We can be anywhere in a few days. Only the galaxy Half the world is watching our ships, so I'd rather stay out of the limelight for a while." "I guess that's true—Bender doesn't seem interested in the spaceship." "It may not be aware of its existence at all. I think the Solaris have given up space travel long ago. Their greatest wish is to be completely independent. If they keep moving in space and advertise their existence everywhere, they will almost It is impossible to enjoy a life in peace."

"What should we do next, Grant?" "We still have a third world to visit," Trevize said. Pelorat shook her head. "Judging by the first two, I don't have much hope for the other." "I don't have much hope at the moment. But after I take a nap, I'm going to let the computer map out the route to the third world." Trevize slept a lot longer than expected, but that was okay.There is no natural day and night on a spaceship, and an "approximate circadian rhythm" is never strictly followed.How many hours in a day are man-made regulations, such as the natural rhythm of eating and sleeping, Trevize and Pelorat are often out of sync with the clock (especially Bao Qisi).

When Trevize was wiping his body in the bathroom (since water must be conserved, it is best not to flush the soap bubbles with water, just wipe them off), he was thinking about whether he should sleep for another hour or two, he turned around, He found Feilong standing in front of him, naked like himself. He jumped back involuntarily.This kind of single-person toilet is quite narrow, and some part of his body will inevitably hit some hard object, and he immediately let out a "hum". Ferron stared at him curiously while pointing at his cock.Trevize couldn't understand what it said, but judging from the child's expression, it seemed in disbelief.To make himself feel at ease, Trevize had to cover his penis with his hands. Then Ferron said in his usual high-pitched voice, "Hello." Trevize was a little surprised that this child could speak the standard language of the galaxy, but listening to it's tone, it seemed that he had memorized it bluntly. Feilong continued to say word by word with difficulty: "Bao-qi-si-say-you-wash-me." "Really?" Trevize put his hands on Feron's shoulders, "You-stay-in-here." He pointed to the floor, and of course Feilong immediately looked in the direction he pointed, it seemed that it didn't understand the meaning of that sentence at all. "Don't move." Trevize said as he grabbed the child's arms and pressed them tightly to its sides, telling it to stay still.Then he dried himself quickly, put on his underwear, and then a pair of trousers. He went out and yelled, "Bliss!" In a spaceship, the distance between any two people is hardly more than four meters.Bliss immediately came to the door of her cabin, and said with a smile, "Are you calling me, Trevize? Or is it the breeze blowing through the swaying grass?" "Stop joking, Bliss. What's that?" He stuck out his thumb and swung it hard over the back of his shoulder. Bliss looked behind him, and said, "Well, it looks like the little Solari we brought up yesterday." "You brought it up, why do you want me to bathe it?" "I thought you'd be happy to help. He's a smart little guy, he's a quick learner of Galactic Standard, and he never forgets anything I explain. Of course, I help him all the time." "Naturally." "Yeah, I kept it calm. I kept it dazed most of the time during the chaos on that planet, and then managed to get it to sleep on the spaceship. Now I'm trying to divert it a bit So it doesn't miss the lost robot so much, and it obviously loves that Gibby very much." "It turns out it likes being here, I think." "I hope so. It's quite adaptable because it's still young, and I try to encourage that without unduly affecting its mind. I'm also going to make it speak Galactic Standard." "Then you go and help it take a bath, understand?" Bliss shrugged. "I will, if you insist. I want it to feel like we're all friendly. It would be helpful if we each shared some of the babysitting duties, and of course you can cooperate in that." "Not to this level of cooperation. And after you bathe it, take it away, and I want to talk to you." Bliss said, "What do you mean by taking it away?" Her tone was suddenly hostile. "I don't mean throw it out of the airlock, I mean get it in your room and tell it to sit in the corner—I want to talk to you." "At your command," she said coldly. Trevize stared at her back, calming down his anger.Then he went to the cockpit and turned on the video screen. Solaris is now a black disk with a crescent-shaped light on the left.Trevize put his hands on the table and began to touch the computer, only to find that his anger subsided immediately.In order to effectively connect the mind and the computer, you must maintain a calm mind. Over time, the conditioned reflex connects the two. Taking Yuan Xing as the center, the distance between them and that planet is the radius, and there are no artificial celestial bodies within this range.Judging from this, the Solarians (or their droids) cannot and will no longer follow them. Well, if that's the case, he'd better get out of Nightshade now.In fact, as long as he continued to move away from Solari, the planet presented a smaller and smaller disk; as it became smaller than the distant sun, many times its size, the shadow would disappear anyway. At the same time, he instructed the computer to drive the spacecraft away from the orbital plane of the planet, which would make the acceleration process much safer.In this way, they can reach an area with a small enough space curvature faster and make a safe and secure transition. As usual, he started gazing at the distant stars again.There is an almost hypnotic effect of the silent and unchanging stars; their own turbulence and uncertainty are concealed by long distances, and there are only many twinkling points of light before the eyes. One of these points of light is, of course, the sun around which the earth orbits—the first sun.Life was born under its heat radiation, and human beings evolved under its shade. Of course, if the bright and conspicuous stars surrounded by the outer world are not included in the map of the Milky Way, then the same situation may also happen to "this sun". Bin, are only the suns of the outer world deliberately omitted, because there was some treaty agreement in the early years that allowed them to be independent?Could it be that the Earth's sun, though included in the map of the Milky Way, is mixed with countless similar stars that do not contain habitable planets? After all, there are a total of about 30 billion such stars in the Milky Way, but only about one-thousandth of the orbits have habitable planets.Taking his current location as the center, within a few hundred parsecs, there may be thousands of such habitable planets.Should he sift through those stars one by one, looking for all the habitable planets? Bin, the first sun wasn't even in this part of the galaxy?How many other residents of the star field firmly believe that the sun is their close neighbor, and that they are the descendants of the first batch of colonists? He needs more information, and so far he has none. Even in his most careful search among the millennia-old ruins of Aurora, he had serious doubts about finding the whereabouts of Earth.As for the Solari, he was more skeptical that they would provide any relevant information. Moreover, if all references to Earth were to disappear from the great library of Trantor: and if Gaia's great collective memory was also utterly blank for Earth, then on those lost outer worlds there would be almost No material could have been spared. If, by sheer luck, he should find the sun of the earth, and thus the earth itself--would there be some external force which prevented him from realizing that he had found it?Is the earth's defense really watertight?Was it really so determined to remain hidden? What exactly is he looking for? Is it the earth?Or did he think (for no clear reason) that the loopholes in Seldon's plan could be found on Earth? Today, the Seldon Project has been in operation for five centuries and (supposedly) will finally lead mankind to a safe harbor-the embrace of the Second Galactic Empire, which will be greater, nobler and freer than the First Empire.Yet he, Trevize, rejected the Second Empire in favor of Gaia. The Paia galaxy would be a gigantic organism; and the Second Galactic Empire, no matter how large and diverse it may be, would be a joint organization of many independent organisms, each of which would only have a microscopic scale in comparison.The Second Galactic Empire is just another example of how many collections of individuals have been constructed since the dawn of humanity.While it may be the biggest and best one, it still can't break away from the established framework. The Paia Galaxy is a completely different organization, more ideal than the Second Galactic Empire.So there must be flaws in Seldon's plan, which even the great Hari Seldon himself overlooked. If it was a problem that even Seldon ignored, how could Trevize fix it?He was not a mathematician, and he knew nothing of the details of Seldon's plan, and had no concept at all.And, even if someone could explain it to him, he would still be confused. All he knew were the two assumptions of Seldon's plan—that a large number of humans would have to be involved, and none of them knew the details of the plan.The first assumption is self-evident when one considers the vast population of the entire galaxy; the second must also be true, since only the Second Foundation knows the details of the plan, and they are extremely good at keeping it secret. The only possibility is that there is an unspoken assumption, an assumption that everyone takes for granted.Because it is too obvious, no one has ever mentioned or thought of it—but it may not be true.The failure of this assumption would undermine the grand purpose of the Seldon Plan, making the Gaia system superior to the Second Empire. But if the assumption is so obvious, so obvious, that no one even tries to catch it, how can it be wrong?If no one had ever mentioned or thought of it, how did Trevize know of the existence of this hypothesis?Even if he guessed its existence, what idea could he have of its nature? Could he really be that Trevize, someone with 100 percent correct instincts, as Gaia insisted?He always knew what was right, even if he didn't know why he did it? Now he is visiting every outer world he knows, one by one.Is this the right thing to do?Will there be an answer in the outer world?Or at least an initial clue? What else is there in Aurora but ruins and wild dogs? (There must have been some ferocious animals—rampant buffalo? Oversized vole? Sneaky green-eyed wild cat?) Solari wasn't deserted, but what else was there besides robots and humans who knew how to transform energy? ?Unless those two worlds kept the secret of Earth's whereabouts, what could they have to do with the Seldon Project? If they really hold the secrets of the earth, what is the connection between the earth and the Seldon plan?Is it all just crazy ideas?Has he listened too much and taken himself too seriously about the so-called crazy fantasies that he knows things like a god? An extremely calm sense of shame rushed over him, almost suffocating him.He looked at the unreachable and uncontested stars outside the cabin, and thought to himself: I must be the number one fool in the galaxy. Baoqisi's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Okay, Trevize, why did you want to see—is there something wrong?" she asked suddenly, in a concerned tone. Trevize raised his head, finding it difficult to shake off his composure for a while.He stared at her and said, "No, no, there's nothing wrong with it. I—I'm just thinking. I'm lost in thought every now and then, anyway." He knew that Bliss could read his emotions, and that made him uncomfortable.She only made a verbal promise to him, saying that she would never peep into his mind. Still, she seemed to accept his explanation.She said: "Pelorat is with Ferron and is teaching it simple Galactic standard language. The child seems to be able to eat everything we eat, and it is not too picky-Why do you want to see me? " "Well, don't talk about it here." Trevize said: "The computer doesn't need me now. If you are willing to come to my cabin, the bed has been made, and you can sit on it. I will sit on the chair. Or Come here, if you prefer that." "It's all right." So they came to Trevize's cabin.She stared at him carefully, and then said, "You don't seem to be fuming anymore." "Are you examining my mind?" "Absolutely not, just checking your face." "I'm not mad. I have a little tantrum once in a while, but that's not the same as being mad. But if you don't mind, I've got to ask you some questions." Baoqisi sat on Trevize's bed, her body was straight, her broad cheeks and black eyes exuded a solemn expression.Her shoulder-length black hair was neatly combed, her slender hands gently supported her knees, and there was a faint fragrance emanating from her body. Trevize smiled. "You look gorgeous. I guess you think I'm not going to yell at a young, pretty girl." "You can yell and yell whatever you want if it makes you feel better, I just don't want you yelling at Feron." "I don't want to do that. Actually, I don't mean to yell at you. Didn't we decide to be friends?" "Gaia's consistent and only attitude towards you is kindness, Trevize." "I'm not talking about Gaia. I know you're a part of Gaia, you could say you're Gaia, but there's still a part of you that's an individual, at least to a certain level. I'm talking to that individual, It's addressing someone named Bliss, and I'm ignoring—or trying to ignore Gaia. Didn't we decide to be friends, Bliss?" "Yes, Trevize." "So, on Solari, when we left that mansion and came near the spaceship, why did you take so long to deal with the robots? I was humiliated and physically hurt, while you stood by. For every minute of delay, more robots could arrive on the scene, enough to engulf us, and you've been standing by." Baoqisi looked at him with serious eyes. "I'm not standing idly by, Trevize. I'm studying the minds of those guardian robots, trying to understand how to manipulate them." She didn't seem to want to defend her actions, just explaining. "I know you're doing that, at least that's what you said, I just don't see the point of that. Why try to manipulate those minds? You were powerful enough to destroy them at the time, as you did in the end." " Do you think it is easy to destroy an intelligent being?" Trevize pursed his lips, making a disapproving expression. "Come on, Bliss, an intelligent being? It's just a robot." "It's just a robot?" Her voice showed a little anger. "It's always this kind of talk, but, just! Why didn't that Solari Bender kill us so long? We're just making a switch Why can't we just leave Feron to fend for itself? It's just a Solari, and a minor Solari. If you use the 'no more than this, no more than that' argument, the same as Anyone, anything you want to get rid of draws a line, you can destroy anything, and you always have a way to put them into some category." Trevize said: "Don't push a perfectly reasonable statement to extremes, or it will just look ridiculous. A robot is a robot, you can't deny that. It's not human, it doesn't have what we call intelligence, it's just a machine. Will imitate the appearance of intelligent beings." Bliss said: "You don't know anything about it, and you deny it with a single sentence. I am Gaia—yes, I am Bliss, but I am still Gaia. I am a world, this The world thinks that every atom in it is very precious and has great significance; and every tissue made of atoms is even more precious and meaningful. I/We/Gaia will not easily destroy any organization, on the contrary, we always is happy to build them into more complex organizations, as long as that does not endanger the whole. "Of all the organizations we know of, the highest forms of organization produce intelligence. We don't want to destroy an intelligence unless we absolutely have to. It makes little difference whether it's mechanical intelligence or biochemical intelligence. In fact , the guardian droid represents a kind of intelligence that I/we/Gaia have never seen before, this is an excellent opportunity to study it, and destroying it is unthinkable - except in extreme emergency situations." Trevize said sarcastically, "At that time, three more important wisdoms were at stake: yourself, your lover Pelorat, and—if you don't mind—me." "Four! You always forget to count Feron—those lives are not at all dangerous, I judge. Listen, if you are faced with a painting, a great masterpiece of art, but Its existence threatens your life. You just need to find a thick brush and scribble on it suddenly, so that the painting will be over and your life will be saved. You can also change the way, be careful Studying the painting, and putting a touch here, a little there, erasing some...or something like that, can transform the painting and keep your life from being threatened without destroying it Of course, to carry out such a transformation, you must spend the most painstaking efforts and patience, which will take a lot of time. If time permits, you will definitely be willing to save this painting besides your own life." Trevize said: "Probably, but you ended up destroying that painting completely. You destroyed the delicate brushstrokes and colors in one big stroke, and the delicate shapes and compositions were beyond recognition. A little androgynous You do that right away when human life is threatened. But before that, you are completely indifferent to the danger to us, and to your own danger." "At that time, we were not in immediate danger, but I felt that Feilong was suddenly in danger. I had to make a choice between the guardian robot and Feilong. I couldn't waste any time, so I chose Feilong." "Is that true, Bao Qisi? You quickly weighed the two minds, and quickly judged which one is more complicated and more valuable?" "That's right." Trevize said: "I thought it was because there was a child standing in front of you, a child whose life was threatened. No matter what you planned in your mind when the original three adults were dying, the maternal instinct immediately grabbed you. Huo, you rescued it without hesitation." Baoqisi blushed slightly. "Maybe there is a little bit of it. Unlike what you said sarcastically, there are rational thoughts behind my actions." "I doubt it. If there is any rational thought behind it, you should take into account the fact that the child is facing a doomed common fate in his own society. In order to maintain the low population standard in the eyes of the Solaris, who knows There are tens of thousands of children who have been resolved." "It's not that simple, Trevize. The child died because it was too young to be the heir, and it was because of the untimely death of its single parent, which came down to me killing its single parent. " "At that time, either it died or you died." "It doesn't matter, I did kill its single parent, and I can't just sit back and watch that child be killed because of my actions. Besides, Gaia has never studied that kind of brain, and this happens to be a rare opportunity." "Just a kid's brain." "It won't be a child's brain forever, it will develop transforming lobes on both sides. Those lobes give a Solari an ability that all of Gaia can't match. Just to keep a few lamps going." Electricity, and activation of a door-opening device, I am exhausted, but Bender can keep the power flowing throughout the territory-its territory is comparable to the complexity of the city we saw in Complon. The area is larger, but it can even take care of it when it sleeps." Trevize said, "So, you see this child as an important resource for basic research on the brain?" "In a way, yes." "I don't think so. It seems to me that we're bringing up a dangerous item, a great danger." "What kind of danger? It will adapt 100% - with my help. It is extremely smart and has already developed a good impression of us. It eats what we eat and goes wherever we go. From its brain , I/We/Gaia have access to much priceless knowledge." "What if it gives birth to the next generation? It doesn't need a mate, it is its own mate." "It will take many years before it reaches the age of having children. The lifespan of the outsiders is several centuries, and the Solari have never wanted to increase their population. It may be their habit to delay reproduction. Ferron will not be in the short term. have kids." "How do you know that?" "I don't know, I'm just appealing to logic." "I tell you, Feron is dangerous." "You don't know that, and you don't appeal to logic." "I feel it, Baoqisi—at this moment, there is no need for a reason at all. Also, it is you, not me, who insist that my instincts are always correct." Bao Qisi frowned, looking restless. Pelorat stopped at the door of the cockpit, and looked inside with a somewhat uneasy expression, as if trying to determine whether Trevize was concentrating on his work. Trevize kept his hands on the desktop; when he was part of the computer, he always kept his eyes fixed on the display screen, maintaining this posture.Therefore Pelorat judged that he was at work, and waited patiently outside, trying to remain as still as possible so as not to disturb or alarm him. At last, Trevize looked up at Pelorat, not quite aware of his presence.When Trevize merged with the computer, his eyes always seemed to be a little dull and loose, as if he was looking, thinking, and living in a way that is different from ordinary people. But he still nodded to Pelorat, as if the scene in front of him passed through obstacles, and finally reflected slowly on his "optic lobe".After a while, he raised his hands and smiled, before he really recovered himself. Pelorat said apologetically, "I'm afraid I've hindered you, Grant." "Nothing, Janov. I'm just testing to see if we can jump right now. We should be able to, but I'm going to wait a few more hours and hope for better luck." "Is luck—or random factors, related to the jump?" "I'm just talking casually," Trevize replied with a smile, "Theoretically speaking, random factors are indeed relevant—what do you want from me?" "Can I sit down?" "Of course, go to my cabin. Is Baoqisi all right?" "Very good," he cleared his throat, "she fell asleep again, she must sleep enough, you should understand." "I fully understand, because of the hyperspace separation." "Exactly, buddy." "Where's Feron?" Trevize leaned on the bed and gave the chair to Pelorat. "The books from my library, the ones you printed out for me on the computer, those folk tales, remember? It's reading it. Of course, it only knows a very limited amount of Galactic Standard, but it seems to like it." Say the words. He—I've been meaning to call him a masculine pronoun, what do you think the reason for that, old mate?" Trevize shrugged. "Maybe because you're positive yourself." "Perhaps. You know, it's very clever." "I absolutely believe it." Pelorat hesitated, then said, "I guess you don't like Feron very much." "I have nothing against it, Janov. I've never had children, and I'm usually not particularly fond of them. You did have a few, I seem to remember." "Having a son—I remember, when he was a little boy, it was a real joy. That's probably why I call Feron with a masculine pronoun, it takes me back about a quarter of a century forward." "I have nothing against you liking it, Janov." "You'll like him too, if you give yourself a chance." "I'm sure I will, Janov. Maybe someday, I'll give myself a chance." Pelorat hesitated again. "I also know that you must be tired of arguing with Bliss." "Actually, I don't think we'll have much argument anymore, Janov, she and I are really getting along. We even had a rational discussion the other day - no yelling, no No cynicism—discussing why she's so slow to shut down those guardian droids. After all, she's saved our lives over and over again, and I can't afford to extend her a hand of friendship, can I?" "Yeah, I can see that, but by arguing, I don't mean fighting. I mean, you keep arguing about Gaia galaxies and individuality." "Oh, that! I think that's going to go on--very graciously." "Would you mind if I took her side in this debate, Grant?" "Absolutely not. Did you accept the idea of ​​the Gaia galaxy yourself, or because it made you feel happier to be on the side with Bao Qisi?" "To be honest, it's my own opinion. I think the era of the Gaia galaxy will come soon. You have chosen this direction, and I am more and more convinced that this is the right choice." "Just because it's my choice? That's not a reason. No matter what Gaia says, you know, I may make mistakes. So, don't let Bao Qisi use this reason to convince you." "I don't think you're wrong. This was Solari's revelation to me, not Bliss." "How to say?" "Well, first of all, we are isolated, you and I are." "That's her term, Janov, I prefer to call myself an individual." "It's just a matter of semantics, call it what you like, buddy. We're all wrapped up in our own skins, wrapped up in our own thoughts, and we think of ourselves first and foremost. Self-defense is our first law of nature, even if it harms other life." "There are also many people in history who have sacrificed themselves to help others." "That's a rare phenomenon. There are more examples in history of sacrificing the deepest needs of others to satisfy one's own sudden and stupid whims." "What does that have to do with Solari?" "Well, in Solari, we see what an isolated body—or individual, as you like to say—becomes. The Solari can hardly share a world with their own kind, and they consider life in absolute solitude to be Complete freedom. They don’t even have any kinship with their own offspring, and they will kill them when they become overpopulated. They are surrounded by robot slaves, and supply electricity for these robots themselves, so after they die, the entire huge territory will also die.形同死亡。这是值得赞美的吗，葛兰？你能将它跟盖娅的高贵、亲切、互相关怀相提并论吗？宝绮思并没和我讨论过这点，这是我自己的感受。 ” 崔维兹说：“这的确像是你该有的感受，詹诺夫，我非常同意。我认为索拉利的社会实在可怕，伹它并非始终如此。他们是地球人的后裔，近代的祖先则是外世界人，那些祖先过的生活都相当正常。索拉利人由于某种原因，选择了一条通往极端的道路，但你不能根据特例做出结论。在整个银河数千万的住人世界上，你知道还有哪个——不论过去还是现在——拥有类似索拉利的社会，或者仅有一丝雷同的？即使是索拉利人，若非它们滥用机器人，难道会发展出这样的社会吗？一个由个体组成的社会，假如没有机器人，有可能演化得像素拉利这么恐怖吗？” 裴洛拉特的脸稍微抽动了一下。“你对每件事都过于吹毛求疵，葛兰——至少，你为被你自己否定的银河型态辩护时，似乎也相当理直气壮。” “我不会一竿子打翻一船人。盖娅星系一定有其理论基础，当我找到的时候，我自然会知道，到时候我一定接受——或者说得更精确点，'若是'被我找到的时候。” “你认为自己可能找不到吗？” Trevize shrugged. “我怎么晓得？你知道我为何要再等几小时才进行跃迁？事实上，我甚至还可能说服自己再多等几天，为什么？” “你说过，如果我们多等一下会比较安全。” “没错，我是那样说过，可是我们现在够安全了。我真正害怕的，是我们拥有座标的三个外世界，全都会让我们无功而返。我们只有三组座标，而我们已用掉两个，每次都是在侥幸中死里逃生。即使如此，我们仍未得到有关地球的任何线索，事实上，甚趾蟋地球的存在也还无法肯定。现在我正面对第三个，也是最后一个机会，万一它还是令我们失望，那该怎么办？” 裴洛拉特叹了一口气。“你知道有些民间故事——其实，我给菲龙练习阅读的就有一则——内容是说某人能许三个愿，伹只有三个而已。在这种情节中，'三'似乎是个很着要的数字，也许因为它是第一个奇数，所以是能做出决定的最小数字；你知道，所谓的三战二胜。着点是在这些故事里，那些愿望根本都没用，没有人许过正确的愿望。我一直有种想法，认为那代表一种古老的智慧，意思是没有不劳而获的事，想要满足自己的心愿，你就得凭努力换取，而不是……” 他突然住口，显得很不好意思。“我很抱歉，老友，我在浪费你的时间。谈到自己的本行时，我很容易喋喋不休。” “你从不会使我感到无聊，詹诺夫，我愿意接受这个类比。我们得到三个愿望，已经用掉两个，却没有任何收获，现在只剩最后一个了。不知怎么搞的，我确定我们将再度失败，所以我希望多拖一阵子，这就是我把跃迁尽量往后延的原因。” “万一又失败了，你打算怎么办？回盖娅？回端点星？” “喔，不，”崔维兹一面摇头，一面细声道：“寻找必须继续下去——只要我知道该如何进行。”