"She's probably referring to a ruler who takes the name of the planet as an honorific - or else she's referring to the planetary council. We'll find out, but probably not by direct questioning."
"Men have died for her body!" said Trevize. "Huh! - She's bottom-heavy!"
"No one is asking you to die for it, Golan," said Pelorat gently. "Come! Allow her a sense of self-mockery. I consider it amusing and good-natured, myself."
They found Bliss at the computer, bending down and staring at its component parts with her hands behind her back as though she feared touching it.
She looked up as they entered, ducking their heads under the low lintel. "This is an amazing ship," she said. "I don't understand half of what I see, but if you're going to give me a greeting-present, this is it. It's beautiful. It makes my ship look awful."
Her face took on a look of ardent curiosity. "Are you really from the Foundation?"
"How do you know about the Foundation?" asked Pelorat.
"We learn about it in school. Mostly because of the Mule."
"Why because of the Mule, Bliss?"
"He's one of us, gentle... What syllable of your name may I use, gentleman?"
Pelorat said, "Either Jan or Pel. Which do you prefer?"
"He's one of us, Pel," said Bliss with a comradely smile. "He was born on Gaia, but no one seems to know where exactly."
Trevize said, "I imagine he's a Gaian hero, Bliss, eh?" He had become determinedly, almost aggressively, friendly and cast a placating glance in Pelorat's direction. "Call me Trev," he added.
"Oh no," she said at once. "He's a criminal. He left Gaia without permission, and no one should do that. No one knows how he did it. But he left, and I guess that's why he came to a bad end. The Foundation beat him in the end."
"The Second Foundation?" said Trevize.
"Is there more than one? I suppose if I thought about it I would know, but I'm not interested in history, really. The way I look at it is, I'm interested in what Gaia thinks best. If history just goes past me, it's because there are enough historians or that I'm not well adapted to it. I'm probably being trained as a space technician myself. I keep being assigned to stints like this and I seem to like it and it stands to reason I wouldn't like it if..."
She was speaking rapidly, almost breathlessly, and Trevize had to make an effort to insert a sentence. "Who's Gaia?"
Bliss looked puzzled at that. "Just Gaia. - Please, Pel and Trev, let's get on with it. We've got to get to the surface."
"We're going there, aren't we?"
"Yes, but slowly. Gaia feels you can move much more rapidly if you use the potential of your ship. Would you do that?"
"We could," said Trevize grimly. "But if I get the control of the ship back, wouldn't I be more likely to zoom off in the opposite direction?"
Bliss laughed. "You're funny. Of course, you can't go in any direction Gaia doesn't want you to go. But you can go faster in the direction Gaia does want you to go. See?"
"We see," said Trevize, "and I'll try to control my sense of humor. Where do I land on the surface?"
"It doesn't matter. You just head downward and you'll land at the right place. Gain will see to that."
Pelorat said, "And will you stay with us, Bliss, and see that we are treated well?"
"I suppose I can do that. Let's see now, the usual fee for my services - I mean that kind of services - can be entered on my balancecard."
"And the other kind of services?"
Bliss giggled. "You're a nice old man." Pelorat winced.
Bliss reacted to the swoop down to Gaia with a naive excitement. She said, "There's no feeling of acceleration."
"It's a gravitic drive," said Pelorat. "Everything accelerates together, ourselves included, so we don't feel anything."
"But how does it work, Pel?"
Pelorat shrugged. "I think Trev knows," he said, "but I don't think he's really in a mood to talk about it."
Trevize had dropped down Gaia's gravity - well almost recklessly. The ship responded to his direction, as Bliss had warned him, in a partial manner. An attempt to cross the lines of gravitic force obliquely was accepted - but only with a certain hesitation. An attempt to rise upward was utterly ignored.
The ship was still not his.
Pelorat said mildly, "Aren't you going downward rather rapidly, Golan?"
Trevize, with a kind of flatness to his voice, attempting to avoid anger (more for Pelorat's sake, than anything else) said, "The young lady says that Gaia will take care of us."
Bliss said, "Surely, Pel. Gaia wouldn't let this ship do anything that wasn't safe. Is there anything to eat on board?"
"Yes indeed," said Pelorat. "What would you like?"
"No meat, Pel," said Bliss in a businesslike way, "but I'll take fish or eggs, along with any vegetables you might have."
"Some of the food we have is Sayshellian, Bliss," said Pelorat. "I'm not sure I know what's in it, but you might like it."
"Well, I'll taste some," said Bliss dubiously.
"Are the people on Gaia vegetarian?" asked Pelorat.
"A lot are." Bliss nodded her head vigorously. "It depends on what nutrients the body needs in particular cases. Lately I haven't been hungry for meat, so I suppose I don't need any. And I haven't been aching for anything sweet. Cheese tastes good, and shrimp. I think I probably need to lose weight." She slapped her right buttock with a resounding noise. "I need to lose five or six pounds right here."