Chapter 68 fourth quarter

Ritoro Dupin had served as the base's ambassador to Seychelle for seven years, a position he liked a lot. Doberman was tall and mighty well built.Although most men these days, whether on the base or in Seychelle, are clean-shaven, he still had a thick brown beard.Although he is only fifty-four years old, his face is already full of wrinkles, and he has cultivated to the point where he can't show his emotions or anger. In addition, it is difficult to see his attitude towards work. In any case, he quite liked his current position, which would keep him out of the ups and downs of Terminus politics—and he was more than happy with that.And he also picked up a rare opportunity, not only to live a leisurely and happy life in the upper class of Sai Xier, but also to let his wife and daughter enjoy their addictive lifestyle.Therefore, he absolutely does not want all this to be disturbed in any way.

Leonor Cordel was a man whom Dupin rather disliked, perhaps because he, too, had a mustache on purpose.It's just that Cordel's beard is shorter and thinner, and the color has turned gray.There had been a time when they were the only public figures to wear beards, and they secretly rivaled each other.Now (Dubin thought) the race was over, and Cordel's moustache was out of the ordinary. While Dupin was still on Terminus, dreaming of running for mayor against Hera Burano, Cordel had been chief of security for many years.But Dupin had accepted the ambassadorship in exchange long before the election and did not run for office at all.Burano had done that for her own sake, of course, but whenever he thought about it he couldn't help thanking her for her kindness.

But he didn't appreciate Cordel.Maybe it's because Cordel has a smile that has never changed, and he is always so kind and friendly-even if he has already decided in his mind which method to use to cut your throat. Now, Cordel's hyperspace image is sitting there, his smiling face is still full of spring breeze, and his honest and simple attitude is beyond words.Of course, he himself was actually still on Terminus, so Dupin was able to dispense with all the substantive ceremonies. "Cordel," he said, "I want those ships to leave at once." Cordel smiled happily. "Ah, I think so too, but the old woman has made up her mind."

"Who doesn't know that you've always been able to persuade her to change her mind." "Occasionally, when she can hear it, but this time she doesn't want to hear it. Dupin, do your job and keep Sachel calm." "I'm not worried about Sachel, Kodel, I'm thinking about the base." "This is what we all have in common." "Kordel, don't be evasive, I want you to listen to me." "I'd love to listen, but there's a lot going on on Terminus right now, and I can't stay here forever." "I'll keep it as short as possible. What I'm going to tell you is—the base could be destroyed. If it's clear that the hyperspace hotline hasn't been tapped, then I can speak freely."

"I guarantee that no one will dare to eavesdrop." "Then I'll go on. A few days ago, a man named Glenn Trevize sent me a telegram. I remember when I was in the Terminus political circle, there was a man named Trevize A colleague of mine, he was the Commissioner of Transport at the time." "He is the young man's uncle," replied Cordel. "Ah, so to speak, you know the Trevize who sent me the letter. According to the information I collected later, he was originally a member of parliament. When the recent Seldon crisis was successfully resolved, he was immediately arrested. Then he was kicked out of Terminus."

"Completely correct." "I don't believe it at all." "What is it that you don't believe?" "The thing about him being exiled." "why?" "Has any citizen of the base ever been deported in the past history of the base?" Durbin asked. "If a person is suspected of a crime, he may be arrested; Trial; if he was tried, he might be convicted; if he was convicted, he would be fined, demoted, deposed, imprisoned, even executed, but no one was ever exiled." "Everything happens for the first time." "Nonsense, exiled to an advanced military aircraft? He is clearly performing a special mission for the old woman, even a fool can see it. Who is she trying to deceive?"

"What kind of mission do you think?" "Most likely they are looking for the planet Gaia." Most of the smile on Cordel's face disappeared suddenly, and his eyes showed unusual sternness. "I know you are not very willing to believe my statement, Mr. Ambassador, but I would like to solemnly ask you now, this time, please believe me no matter what. When Trevize was exiled, whether it was the mayor or I, myself, have never heard of Gaia. It was only a few days ago that the two of us heard the name Gaia for the first time. If you can believe that, then we can continue our conversation."

"I will put away my skepticism for a while and try to accept this statement, although it is really difficult." "I can understand, Mr. Ambassador. If I suddenly adopt a formal tone in my words, it is because after I have said these words, you will find yourself having to answer some questions, and you will find that these questions are not very easy and interesting. According to your You seem to be very familiar with the world of Gaia, how can you know something that we don't? Isn't your main duty to be sent to that political entity to let us know everything you hear about?"

Dubin replied in a gentle tone: "Gaia is not part of the Sechelle Alliance. In fact, it may not exist at all. Do I have to say a word about all the myths circulating in the superstitious lower classes of Sechelle?" Will it be communicated to Terminus without any omission? Some of them say that Gaia is located in hyperspace, others say that it has always protected Sachel with supernatural power, and others say that it sent the mule to rob Galactic. If you plan to tell the Sychel government that Trevize’s mission is only to find Gaia, and the advanced warships of the five base fleets are here just to support his exploration mission, they will never accept it Yes. The people may believe the myth about Gaia, but the government is not so easy to deceive. They will not believe that the base is so naive. They will think that you want to use force to force Sechel to join the base federation."

"What if we really intend to do that?" "That would cause irreparable and serious consequences. Think about it, Cordel, in the five centuries of history of the base, when did we launch a war of aggression? We all fought to resist foreign aggression, and we also failed once, but There is no war to expand the territory. Other worlds have joined the Federation through peaceful agreements, and they will join our camp because they see the benefits of joining." "Can't Sachel see the benefits?" "As long as our warships are stranded on their borders, they will never see them. Withdraw the warships quickly."

"It can't be done." "Kordel, Sachel is an excellent propaganda tool, enough to show how lenient the Al Qaeda Federation is. It is almost surrounded by our territory, completely invulnerable, but so far, it has always been safe and has its own way , and can even wantonly maintain an anti-base foreign policy. What a good example this is, let the whole galaxy know that we never use force to bring people into submission, and we always extend the hand of friendship to every world. Er is already in our pocket, taking it is just superfluous, anyway, we have already dominated them economically-although this has not been made public. But once we take it by force, it is tantamount to announcing to the whole galaxy, saying We have become expansionists." "What if I told you we're really only interested in Gaia?" "Then, I don't believe in such nonsense just like the Sechelle Alliance. That person named Trevize once sent me a telegram, saying that he was on his way to Gaia, and asked me to forward that telegram to Terminal Star. I did so, although I judged that it was not appropriate, but I had no choice. As a result, the base fleet began to move before the hyperspace hotline had cooled down. How did you get to Gaia?" "My dear Dupin, it is obvious that you did not pay attention to what you said. Just a few minutes ago, you clearly told me that Gaia, if it existed, was not part of the Sechelle Alliance. I don't think you would I don’t know, hyperspace is not the territory of any world, anyone can freely enter and exit. If we enter Gaia’s territory through hyperspace from the territory of the base - where our warships are currently on standby, there will be no occupation from the beginning to the end. How can Sachel accuse us of one cubic meter of airspace?" "Sychel would not explain it like this, Kodel. If Gaia really existed, it would be completely surrounded by the Sychel Alliance. Although it is not part of the alliance, according to interstellar conventions, Scichel can Think of it as your sphere of influence, at least as far as enemy warships can be interpreted." "We are not some enemy's warships, we are ready to coexist peacefully with Seychelle." "Let me tell you, Sachel is likely to declare war because of this. Of course they understand that this is a war of disparity in strength, and they will not expect to win a military victory. However, the problem is that this war is enough to trigger a pan-galactic anti-base wave. The base recently The expansion policy adopted will cause the anti-base coalition to suddenly grow, some members of the Federation will reconsider their relationship with us, and we are likely to lose due to internal turmoil. The base has been growing steadily and vigorously for the past five hundred years , if you mess around like this, you are doomed to go back." "Come on, come on, Dupin," Cordel said disapprovingly: "Your statement seems to have wiped out five hundred years of achievements; it seems that we are still a base in the era of Seve Harding, and we are preparing to fight against that pocket kingdom. Nakrion. In fact, even compared with the power of the Galactic Empire, we are much stronger than them now. Our single detachment can defeat the entire Imperial fleet, and we have the ability to occupy any star area of ​​the galaxy, even in the enemy After the ashes are wiped out, the soldiers don't know that they have fought a battle." "We are not fighting the Galactic Empire. Our enemies come from all planets and star regions today." "None of them have such advanced technology as the base. We are now enough to conquer the entire galaxy." "According to the Seldon plan, we won't be able to do that for the next five hundred years." "The Seldon Plan underestimated the rate of technological development. We can do it now! Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we 'will' do it now; I'm not saying we 'should' do it now, I'm just saying we Now 'can' do that." "Kordel, you have lived on the terminal star all your life, so you don't understand the situation of the galaxy at all. The fleet and technology we have can indeed defeat the armies of other worlds, but if we conquer the entire galaxy by force, we are destined to lose Create a galaxy full of rebellions and hostility everywhere, and we are absolutely incapable of ruling such a galaxy-tell those warships to evacuate immediately!" "I said it couldn't be done, Doberman. Think about it, what if Gaia wasn't just a myth?" Dupin didn't answer immediately, he looked at Cordel's face, as if he was eager to get a peek into the other's heart. "Isn't a world in hyperspace a myth?" "A world in hyperspace is of course superstition, but even superstition may contain a core of reality. According to that man, the exiled Trevize, Gaia seems to be a creature in ordinary space." A real world. What if he's right?" "Absurd! I don't believe it." "Don't believe me? Can you please believe for a while that it is a real world - once protected Sachel from the mule's aggression, and has been helping it fight against the base!" "You're contradicting yourself by saying that. How can Gaia help the Seschels defend the base? Didn't we just send the fleet?" "The fleet is not going to march into Sachel, but is preparing to march into Gaia. That world is so mysterious, and it is so careful to disappear. It is clearly in a certain corner of space, but it has a way to make the neighboring world think it is in hyperspace. Even the most accurate and complete computerized maps of the galaxy have failed to capture its data." "According to what you say, it must be a very unusual world, because it must have a way of manipulating people's minds." "And didn't you just say that among the stories circulated by Sachel, there is a story that the mule was sent by Gaia to plunder the galaxy? Don't mules also control the mind?" "So Gaia is a world full of mules?" "Are you sure you're not?" "In that case, why isn't it the second base of rebirth?" "Yeah, why isn't this possible? Shouldn't we investigate it carefully?" Dupin gradually calmed down.He had always had a contemptuous sneer on his face, but now he lowered his head and raised his eyes to stare at the other party. "If you mean it, isn't such an investigation dangerous?" "Is it dangerous?" "You answer my question with a rhetorical question, which means that you don't have a reasonable answer in your mind. If you are dealing with a large group of mules, or a second base, what use are a few battleships? In fact, if These theories are true, is it possible that Gaia is luring you to your own destruction? Listen, you said that the Seldon plan is only half completed, but the base can now build an empire, and I warned you, you This would be overkill, and the Seldon Project must have a way of forcing you to slow down. If Gaia really exists, and it is what you think it is, then this may well be a braking strategy. Now Get out of your own accord, or you will soon be forced to turn in; now you can end up in a peaceful and bloodless way, but if you persist, it will become a tragic retreat. I say again, quickly withdraw the battleship." "If I say it can't be done, it can't be done. To tell you the truth, Dubin, the mayor of Burano intends to board the battleship himself. Moreover, our scout ship has already flown through hyperspace and successfully arrived at the so-called Gaia system. field." Dupin's eyeballs almost popped out. "I'm telling you, that would definitely start a war." "You are our ambassador. You have to try to stop this war. No matter what guarantees those Seychelles need, you can pat them. At the same time, you have to deny that we have any bad intentions. If there is no way, you Just tell them that the best solution is to wait for Gaia to clean us up. You can say whatever you like, but don’t let them act rashly.” Cordel paused for a moment, staring at Dupin's stunned expression, and then continued: "Really, that's all. As far as I know, the ships of the base will not land on any world of the Sechelle Alliance, nor will they It will not pass through any space belonging to the alliance. Then again, if the Saixier ship crosses their territory, that is to say, enters the sphere of influence of the base, and wants to provoke us, it will immediately turn into a A cloud of dust. Make that clear to them as well, and keep the Sasirs on their toes. If you fail, you'll be left with nothing to eat. So far, you've been doing nothing but an errand, Now is your time, Dupin, and the next few weeks will decide everything. If you let us down, you won't be able to find a place to hide in the galaxy." When the communication was terminated abruptly and the images disappeared, there was no joy or friendliness on Cordel's face. Dubin opened his mouth wide, staring blankly at the place where Cordel had just appeared.