"If it were not because of your behavior, then it must 'have been chance," said Delarmi. "I have not heard that even all of Seldon's mathematics has removed the role of chance from the Galaxy - certainly not in the case of individual events. Or are you, too, speaking from intuitional inspiration?" (There was a soft mental sigh from one or two Speakers at this sideways thrust at the First Speaker.)
"It was not my behavior. It was not chance. It was deliberate interference," said Gendibal.
"How can we know that?" asked the First Speaker gently. He could not help but soften toward Gendibal as a result of Delarmi's last remark.
"My mind is open to you, First Speaker. I give you - and all the Table - my memory of events."
The transfer took but a few moments. The First Speaker said, "Shocking! You behaved very well, Speaker, under circumstances of considerable pressure. I agree that the Hamish behavior is anomalous and warrants investigation. In the meantime, please join our meeting..."
"A moments" cut in Delarmi. "How certain are we that the Speaker's account is accurate?"
Gendibal's nostrils flared at the insult, but he retained his level composure. "My mind is open:"
"I have known open minds that were not open."
"I have no doubt of that, Speaker," said Gendibal, "since you, like the rest of us, must keep your own mind under inspection at all times. My mind, when open, however, is open."
The First Speaker said, "Let us have no further..."
"A point of personal privilege, First Speaker, with apologies for the interruption," said Delarmi.
"Personal privilege of what nature, Speaker?"
"Speaker Gendibal has accused one of us of attempted murder, presumably by instigating the farmer to attack him. As long as the accusation is not withdrawn, I must be viewed as a possible murderer, as would every person in this room - including you, First Speaker."
The First Speaker said, "Would you withdraw the accusation, Speaker Gendibal?"
Gendibal took his seat and put his hands down upon its arms, gripping them tightly, as though taking ownership of it, and said, "I will do so, as soon as someone explains why a Hamish farmer, rallying several others, should deliberately set out to delay me on my way to this meeting."
"A thousand reasons, perhaps," said the First Speaker. "I repeat that this event will be investigated. Will you, for now, Speaker Gendibal, and in the interest of continuing the present discussion, withdraw your accusation?"
"I cannot, First Speaker. I spent long minutes trying, as delicately as I might, to search his mind for ways to alter his behavior without damage and failed. His mind lacked the give it should have had. His emotions were fixed, as though by an outside mind."
Delarmi said with a sudden little smile, "And you think one of us was the outside mind? Might it not have been your mysterious organization that is competing with us, that is more powerful than we are?"
"It might," said GendibaI.
"In that case, we - who are not members of this organization that only you know of - are not guilty and you should withdraw your accusation. Or can it be that you are accusing someone here of being under the control of this strange organization? Perhaps one of us here is not quite what he or she seems?"
"Perhaps," said Gendibal stolidly, quite aware that Delarmi was feeding him rope with a noose at the end of it.
"It might seem," said Delarmi, reaching the noose and preparing to tighten it, "that your dream of a secret, unknown, hidden, mysterious organization is a nightmare of paranoia. It would ft in with your paranoid fantasy that Hamish farmers are being influenced, that Speakers are under hidden control. I am willing, however, to follow this peculiar thought line of yours for a while longer. Which of us here, Speaker, do you think is under control? Might it be me?"
Gendibal said, "I would not think so, Speaker. If you were attempting to rid yourself of me in so indirect a manner, you would not so openly advertise your dislike for me."
"A double-double-cross, perhaps?" said Delarmi. She was virtually purring. "That would be a common conclusion in a paranoid fantasy."
"So it might be. You are more experienced in such matters than I. ""
Speaker Lestim Gianni interrupted hotly. "See here, Speaker Gendibal, if you are exonerating Speaker Delarmi, you are directing your accusations the more tightly at the rest of us. What grounds would any of us have to delay your presence at this meeting, let alone wish you dead?"
Gendibal answered quickly, as though he had been waiting for the question. "When I entered, the point under discussion was the striking of remarks from the record, remarks made by the First Speaker. I was the only Speaker not in a position to hear those remarks. Let me know what they were and I rather think I will tell you the motive for delaying me."
The First Speaker said, "I had stated - and it was something to which Speaker Delarmi and others took serious exception - that I had decided, on the basis of intuition and of a most inappropriate use of psychohistorical mathematics, that the entire future of the Plan may rest on the exile of First Foundationer Golan Trevize:"
Gendibal said, "What other Speakers may think is up to them. For my part, I agree with this hypothesis. Trevize is the key. I find his sudden ejection by the First Foundation too curious to be innocent."
Delarmi said, "Would you care to say, Speaker Gendibal, that Trevize is in the grip of this mystery organization - or that the people who exiled him are? Is perhaps everyone and everything in their control except you and the First Speaker - and me, whom you have declared to be uncontrolled?"