Chapter 55 Section five

The dinner was really enjoyable, even Trevize had to admit it.The variety of dishes is dazzling, and the spices and seasonings are incredible, but they are indeed delicious. Trevize asked, "These vegetables are delicious, and every one of them is a standard galactic food, isn't it, Thor Kun?" "Yes, of course." "But I think there should be some inherent creatures here." "Of course, when the first colonists arrived on the planet Seschel, they found that it was an oxygen-containing world, so it was definitely capable of breeding life. Today, we still have some inherent organisms, which you can rest assured. We There are many quite extensive natural ecological parks, which preserve the native flora and fauna of ancient Saixier."

Pelorat said in a sad tone: "You are more advanced than us in this regard, Suo Kun. When humans first arrived at the terminal star, there were no land creatures on it. For a long time, I am afraid that we have not worked together Preserve marine life. In fact, without the oxygen produced by those sea creatures, Terminus would have been uninhabitable. Today, the ecology of Terminus is no different from that of the rest of the galaxy." Quintessz smiled, and said with a bit of pride: "Sechel has always had an excellent record of respect for life." Trevize took advantage of this opportunity and quickly changed the subject: "When we left your laboratory, Suo Kun, I remember that you not only planned to invite us to your house for dinner, but also planned to tell us about Gaia."

Mrs. Quinterthurs was a kindly, plump, very dark woman, who said very little throughout the dinner.At this time, she suddenly raised her head, showing a panicked expression, then got up and left the restaurant without saying a word. Quintesz was a little at a loss, and quickly explained: "I'm sorry, my wife is an extremely conservative person. As long as she hears someone mentioning—that world, she will feel a little uneasy. Please forgive me. But I Curious to know, why are you asking this question?" "I'm sorry, but it is very important to Zhan Pei's research work."

"But why do you ask me? We were discussing the earth, robots, the creation of Sechelle, and so on. What do these topics have to do with—what do you have to do with what you are asking now?" "Maybe it has nothing to do with it, but there are many strange things about this matter. Why does Mrs. Your Majesty seem so disturbed when I mention Gaia? Why are you also disturbed? Some people don't shy away from this topic, just this afternoon , and we are told that Gaia is the Earth, and that it disappeared into hyperspace because of all the evil humans have done." A pained look flashed across Quintessz's face. "Who told you such nonsense?"

"A guy I met at this university." "That's just superstition." "So it's not part of the central dogma about the Long March?" "No, of course not, it's just a fable made by ignorant fools and foolish women." "Are you sure?" Trevize asked in a cold tone. Quintessors leaned back in the chair, staring at the leftovers on the dining table. "Let's go to the living room," he said. "If we stay here all the time, and continue to discuss—this matter, the wife will never come in and clear the table." "Are you sure it's just a fable?" Trevize asked again.By this time they were in another room and were sitting by a large window.The curved design of the window is very special, so that you can have a panoramic view of the beautiful night sky of Seychelle.The light in the room was deliberately dimmed so as not to obscure the night outside, so that Quintesserz's face was hidden in the dim shadow.

Quintesserz replied: "Aren't you sure? Do you think there are any worlds that can hide in hyperspace? Most people have only a very vague idea of ​​what hyperspace is, and you must know that." "Actually," retorted Trevize, "I myself have only a very vague idea of ​​hyperspace, and I've been in and out of it hundreds of times." "Then let me tell you the truth. I assure you that no matter what kind of planet Earth is, it will never be within the boundaries of the Sessel Alliance. The world you mentioned is not Earth. " "However, even if you don't know where the earth is, Thor Kun, you should know where the world I mentioned is located, and it must be within the boundaries of the Sechelle Federation. We can be sure of this, can't we, Janov?"

Pelorat had been listening to the conversation between the two foolishly, and was shocked when he was suddenly asked to answer by name.But he immediately recovered his composure and replied, "If that's the case, Grant, then I know where it is." Trevize immediately turned to stare at him. "When did you know, Janov?" "Earlier tonight. So Kun, as we were walking back from the lab to your house, you pointed out the Five Sisters and the faint star in the center of the pentagon. I was sure that The star is Gaia." Quintessors hesitated for a while.His face was hidden in a dark corner, and it was impossible to see the change of his expression.At last he said, "Yes, our astronomers do say so, but privately, that Gaia is one of the planets around that star."

Trevize immediately observed Pelorat's expression, but the old professor's emotion was not expressed, so Trevize turned to Quintessz and said, "Then please tell us about that star, do you have any information?" its coordinates?" "Me? No." He refused rather bluntly. "I don't have stellar coordinate data here, you can check with our astronomy department, but I can imagine that this is by no means an easy task. The government has never approved any application to sail to that star." "Why? It's within your borders, isn't it?" "In terms of public opinion, yes; in terms of politics, the answer is no."

Trevize thought he hadn't finished speaking, and after waiting for a long time without any further words, he simply stood up. "Professor Quintesserz," he said in a very formal tone, "I am not a policeman, nor a soldier or a diplomat, nor a professional killer. I will not force you to provide information. In fact, I will conduct a One thing against my own will is to visit our ambassador. Of course, you must be able to understand that I am not asking you for these materials out of my own interest. This is an official business assigned by the base. I do not want to Provoking interstellar disputes, I believe that the Saixier Alliance does not want to see this kind of result."

Quintessz asked hesitantly, "What is the official business that the base has given?" "Forgive me for not being able to discuss this matter with you. If you are also unable to discuss Gaia with me, we have to hand over this issue to the government. In that case, it may be even worse for Sachel. I have no objection at all to the fact that Sachel has maintained his independence from joining our Commonwealth. I have no reason to wish to embarrass Sachel, nor to go to our ambassador, and in fact, if I do If you don't, it will endanger your future. Because I have received strict instructions to obtain this information privately and not to involve the government. Now, please tell me if there is any good reason for you not to Dare to discuss Gaia with us. Are you going to get arrested for speaking out, or some other punishment? Are you trying to tell me frankly that I have no other option than to elevate the issue to ambassador level? "

"No, no," Quintessz's voice sounded extremely flustered. "I don't know of any government bans at all, we just don't want to talk about that world." "Are you superstitious?" "Okay! Let's be superstitious! Oh my God, I'm not much better. I'm just as superstitious as everyone else. Like that idiot who told you Gaia is in hyperspace, and Gaia The insider who left the restaurant immediately. I tell you, she would even run outside in fright, because she was afraid that our family would be…” "A lightning strike?" "Basically, it's a mysterious power from far away anyway. And myself, even I dare not say that name casually, Gaia! Gaia! The pronunciation doesn't hurt! I'm still unscathed! But I'm still Cringe. Trust me though, I don't know the coordinates of the star Gaia belongs to. I can find it out for you if it helps you. But I'll be honest with you, we as a whole league don't want to discuss this World, we neither touch nor think about it. I can tell you what I know - fact, not my speculation - and I believe that even if you traveled all over the worlds of the League, you would not be able to find more data of. "We know that Gaia is an ancient world. Some people even believe that it is the oldest world in this sector, but we are not sure about this. Patriotism tells us that the planet Seschel is the oldest, but fear Tell us that Gaia is the planet. The only way to integrate these two statements is to regard Gaia as the earth, because everyone knows that Saxel was established by the earth people. "Most historians believe - and this is only circulated in their circles - that the planet Gaia was created alone. They believe that it was not a colony of any of the worlds of the Confederacy, and conversely, that the Confederation of Saxel was not a colony of Gaia to The result of foreign colonization. As for which has a longer history, even experts do not have a consensus, and no one knows whether Gaia was created before Sachel or after Sachel." "Up until now, you've said nothing, because every possibility is believed," Trevize said. Quintessz nodded helplessly, and continued: "It seems to be the case. We discovered the existence of Gaia, or a recent event in the history of Sachel. In the past long years, we were initially committed to establishing an alliance, and then He was busy fighting against the Galactic Empire, and after being forced to become a star province of the empire, he tried to find his own proper position, and tried his best to limit the governor's power. "It wasn't until the decline of the empire reached a certain level that the central government's control over the governor of this place became extremely weak. Only one of the last few governors knew about the existence of Gaia, and found that it was not only independent of the Seychelle province, but even It is not part of the Empire at all. It has always been isolated and never revealed its existence, so everyone knows nothing about it-it is still the same today. So the governor decided to take over Gaia, and went through us in detail. I don't know, I only know that his expedition fleet was severely damaged later, and only a few ships escaped. Of course, the ships of that era were not sophisticated enough, and they also lacked excellent commanders. "The defeat of the Viceroy, which delighted the Seychelles, for he was seen as a representative of the oppressors of the Empire, led almost directly to our restoration of independence, and the Seychelle Federation to break free from the Empire's yoke. We mark that day as ' Alliance Day' is still celebrated every year. For nearly a century, we left Gaia alone, mostly out of gratitude for her. However, when we become strong enough ourselves, we also A little imperialist expansion was thought about. Why not take Gaia? Why not at least create a customs union? So we sent our own fleet, only to be routed as well. "Since then, we have tried to do business occasionally at most, but we have never succeeded. Gaia has always maintained a state of complete isolation, and has never attempted any trade with the outside world, nor has it attempted to communicate with other worlds. —at least no one has ever heard of it. On the contrary, it has not actively shown hostility to anyone in any way. Later—” Having said that, Quintessz pressed the control button on the armrest of the chair, and the room was immediately brightened.With a clear mocking look on his face, he continued, "Since you are citizens of the base, you probably remember who a mule is." Trevize suddenly blushed.In the base's five-century history, there was only one record of being conquered by outsiders. Although it took a very short time, it did not cause too much hindrance to the base's progress towards the Second Empire. However, everyone who hates the base will definitely take The mule—the only conqueror of the base—comes to make a big fuss, to set the base's ego and complacency down.At this moment, Quintessz suddenly turned on the lights, probably (Trevizes thought) to watch the embarrassment of the two Foundation members. He replied: "Yes, we at the base always remember him." So Kuntserz said again: "The mule once established a short-lived empire, and the territory of that empire was as large as the federation controlled by the base today. However, he never ruled us, and he let us continue to live in peace. But he passed by Seychel once, we signed a declaration of neutrality with him, and issued a statement of friendship, other than that, he didn't make any other demands. We were the only lucky ones when the mules went on a massive pan-galactic offensive , until the disease forced him to terminate his expansionary policy and forced him to wait for death, we have been safe. You know, he is not an unreasonable person, he will not use force to solve problems madly, he Not bloodthirsty, but rather humane." "He's just a conqueror," Trevize sarcastically said. "It's like a base." Quintessz was not to be outdone. Trevize didn't know how to answer for a while, so he said angrily: "Is there any more about Gaia?" "There is only one thing left, which is a sentence that the mule said. At that time, the mule once held a historic meeting with the chairman of the league Carlo. According to historical records, after the mule signed his name in full swing, he once said: 'According to this You are neutral even to Gaia, that's your luck. Even I, myself, don't want to get close to Gaia.'” Trevize shook his head and said, "Why does he have that need? Sechel's oath of neutrality is a dream, and Gaia has never had a record of causing trouble. At that time, Mule was planning to conquer the entire galaxy. Enemies wasting time? When he's done conquering, it won't be too late to go back and deal with Sechel and Gaia." "Perhaps, perhaps," said Quintessors, "but according to an eyewitness at the time—a man of such good standing that we would all take his word for it—the Mule put down his pen, and said:' Even myself, I don't want to be close to Gaia.' Then he lowered his voice and said to himself: 'Never again...'” "You said he lowered his voice and said to himself, so how could this sentence be heard?" "Because when the mule put the pen down, the pen just rolled to the ground, and the Sachel walked over naturally, stooped down and picked it up. When the mule was saying the phrase 'Never again... . . .' the man's ear was just next to the mule's mouth, and he overheard the words. He didn't announce it until after the mule died." "How can you prove it's not fiction?" "That man is a dignified and respected person, not the kind of person who would fabricate such things, and what he said is credible." "If so, so what?" "Other than that one time, the Mule has never been to the Seychelles, or even to the adjacent stars, at least not since he leaped onto the galactic stage, and we can be sure of that. If he has ever been to Gaia, Must have been while he was still unknown." "so what?" "So, do you know where the mule was born?" "I don't think anyone knows," Trevize replied. "There's a strong feeling in the Sechelle Federation that he was born on Gaia." "Based on what he said?" "Not really. Mule has always been able to win every battle because he has a strange spiritual power, and Gaia is also invincible." "You can only say that Gaia has not lost a battle so far, but it does not prove that it will always remain victorious." "But even mules don't want to approach it. Go look up the history when mules ruled the galaxy, and see which area he was so cautious about besides the Sechelle Alliance. Besides, do you know that every Those who tried to go to Gaia for business, although they all had peaceful and pure purposes, none of them came back. Otherwise, how do you think we know so little about it?" Trevize said, "Your attitude is nothing short of superstitious." "Say what you like. Since the days of the Mule, we've blotted Gaia out of consciousness, let alone wanting it to think of us. We can only feel safe by pretending it doesn't exist. About Gaia The legend of Ya disappearing into hyperspace may have been secretly spread by the government, and the government secretly encouraged people to accept this statement, hoping that everyone would gradually forget that there really is such a world.” "So, you think Gaia is a world full of mules?" "Very likely. For your own good, I advise you not to go to that place. If you have to go, you are destined to never return. If the base wants to provoke Gaia, it means that the base people are crazier than mules. You can pass this on to your ambassador." Trevize said: "Find the coordinates for me, and then I will leave your world immediately. I will go to Gaia, and I promise to go and return." Kuntserz said: "I will help you find the coordinates. Naturally, there are people working in the astronomy department at night. As long as it is possible, I will help you find them immediately. But I still want to advise you again, don't try to get to Gaia. go." "I was determined to give it a try," Trevize said. So Quintesserz said heavily: "Then you are determined to commit suicide."