Chapter 31 Section five

Candib said in a very polite tone: "Chief speaker?" Sandys just nodded, looking sullen and old, looking as though he needed a pint of booze to lift his spirits.After waiting for a while, he finally said: "I' summoned you to come..." "I didn't send a messenger, but 'summoned' me directly. I guess there must be something important." "That's right, the source of information you're counting on—the First Foundation man Trevize..." "How about it?" "He's not coming to Trantor." Candiba didn't look surprised. "Why did he come? According to the information we have obtained, he is traveling with a professor of ancient history, and that professor is going to find the earth."

"Yes, that fabled primordial planet, which is why he should have come to Trantor. Anyway, does the professor know where Earth is? Do you? Do I? We can be sure it exists, Or did it ever exist? Of course they should come here, go to the Galactic Library to find the necessary materials, if there are any materials left, they must be hidden in this library. Until now, I have always believed that the situation is not yet At the point of crisis, I thought that the First Foundation guy would come here, and we could get the information we need from him." "It is for this reason that the other party will never let him come here."

"Then where is he going?" "I see. So we haven't found it yet." "You seem calm," said the chief speaker in a displeased tone. Candidate replied, "I don't see why you shouldn't be calm. You want him to come to Trantor, thinking you'll be able to hold him down and get information out of him. But then again, if Trevize goes Where he wants to go, what he wants to do, as long as we don't lose him, then he may lead to other information, and it will be more important than he can provide, don't you think so ?" "That's not enough!" said the Chief Speaker. "You've convinced me that we have a new enemy, and now I'm restless all day long. Worse, I'm now convinced that Trevize must be locked down, Otherwise we're all going to lose; I can't shake the idea that he's the only thing that matters."

"No matter what happens, Chief Speaker, we're not going to lose," Chandib said impassionedly. Only the 'Anti-Mules' - let me borrow your invented term again - continue to lurk among us, And we don't know it, that's the only possibility of our failure. Now that we know their existence, we will no longer act blindly. The next time we hold a roundtable meeting, if everyone can cooperate with the overall situation, then We can fight back." The chief speaker said: "I didn't call you here because of Trevize's case. I bring this up to you first because I feel it's my personal failure and my analysis of the current situation is wrong. I want to apologize to you for putting personal likes and dislikes above policy. Besides that, there is another thing."

"Something more serious, Chief Speaker?" "It's more serious, Speaker Candiba." The chief speaker sighed, tapping his fingers on the table.Candib was patient.Standing in front of the desk and waiting silently. The chief speaker finally spoke again: "Speaker Drami recently launched an emergency roundtable meeting, during which..." His tone was very gentle, as if this could minimize the impact. "Without your consent, Chief Speaker?" "She only needs the consent of the other three speakers, not me. You have been impeached in this emergency meeting, Speaker Chandib. It was decided that you were unworthy of the position of speaker and must Stand trial. For the first time in more than three centuries, a speaker has been impeached..."

Jiandibo suppressed the fury in his heart, not showing any trace. "Of course you don't vote against it yourself." "I didn't, but I was alone. The other members of the round table were like-minded, so they voted ten to one to impeach. You know, the conditions for impeachment include the chief speaker. Eight votes, or ten votes including him." "But I wasn't there." "You don't have a vote at all." "At least I can defend myself." "But not at this stage. The precedent, while rare, is clear. You will not have a chance to respond until the trial. Of course, the trial will take place as soon as possible."

Candidate bowed his head in thought for a moment, then said, "I'm not too worried about it, Chief Speaker. I think your initial instinct was spot on, that Trevize's matter must be a priority, and for that reason, I can Do you recommend that you adjourn the trial?" The chief speaker made a gesture. "I don't blame you for not understanding the situation, speaker. Impeachment cases are so rare that I have to look up the relevant statutory procedures. Nothing takes precedence over that. We must go straight to the trial. have to postpone." Cendib rested his fists on the table, his upper body leaning toward the chief speaker. "You don't mean it, do you?"

"It's the law." "We cannot get in the way of the law and ignore a clear threat in front of us." "For the round table, speaker Candiba, you are the obvious threat in front of you - don't interrupt, listen to me! The spirit of the law involved in this is a firm belief that there is no The problem is bigger than the corruption or abuse of power by speakers." "But I did neither, Chief Speaker, and you know it very well. This is just a personal vendetta between Speaker Dramik and me, and if there was any abuse of power, it was her and not me. My only The fault was never caring about relationships, I admit that I gave too little thought to the fools who were not old enough to hold power, but who had already become old fools."

"Let's say I'm one of them, Speaker?" Candiba let out a long sigh. "Look, I've offended someone again. I don't mean you, Chief Speaker. Well, then, let's get to the court at once, and let's have a trial tomorrow, or better yet tonight. Let's get this thing done as soon as possible." Let's get this over with and get to work on Trevize's problem, we really can't take the risk of waiting any longer." The chief speaker said: "Speaker Chandib, I don't think you understand what's going on. We've had impeachments in the past, not many, just twice, but neither of those times resulted in a conviction. Yet , and this time you will be convicted! You will be expelled from the round table, you will never have a say in Second Base policy, and you will no longer even have a vote at the 'Anniversary Rally'."

"And you will not intervene?" "There's nothing I can do about it, other people will vote me down unanimously, and then I'll have to resign, which I think those speakers want to see." "And Dramie will be the chief speaker?" "It's certainly a possibility." "But we must not let this happen!" "Not at all! I must therefore agree to your conviction." Candidate took a deep breath. "I demand an immediate trial!" "You need time to prepare for your defense." "What plea? They don't want to hear any pleas. There's a trial!"

"The Roundtable will also need time to prepare their indictment." "They don't have any indictments, and they don't want to file any. They already have me convicted in their hearts, and they don't need anything else. In fact, they want to convict me as soon as possible. The day after tomorrow is not as good as tomorrow, and tomorrow is not as good as tonight. Inform them immediately .” The chief speaker stood up, and the two looked at each other for a long time across the desk.Then the chief speaker said, "Why are you in such a hurry?" "The matter of Trevize won't wait for us." "Once you are convicted, other members of the round table will unite against me, and I will definitely be removed by them. What can we do then?" Candiba lowered his voice and said firmly: "Don't be afraid! In any case, I will never be convicted."