"What does all this mean, then? That we are being maneuvered to Gaia?"
"By whom?"
Trevize said, "Surely there can be no question about that. Who is capable of adjusting minds, of giving gentle nudges to this one or that, of managing to divert progress in this direction or that?"
"You're going to tell me it's the Second Foundation."
"Well, what have we been told about Gaia? It is untouchable. Fleets that move against it are destroyed. People who reach it do not return. Even the Mule didn't dare move against it - and the Mule, in fact, was probably born there. Surely it seems that Gaia is the Second Foundation - and finding that, after all, is my ultimate goal.
Pelorat shook his head. "But according to some historians, the Second Foundation stopped the Mule. How could he have been one of them?"
"A renegade, I suppose."
"But why should we be so relentlessly maneuvered toward the Second Foundation by the Second Foundation?"
Trevize's eyes were unfocused, his brow furrowed. He said, "Let's reason it out. It has always seemed important to the Second Foundation that as little information as possible about it should be available to the Galaxy. Ideally it wants its very existence to remain unknown. We know that much about them. For a hundred twenty years, the Second Foundation was thought to be extinct and that must have suited them right down to the Galactic core. Yet when I began to suspect that they did exist, they did nothing. Compor knew. They might have used him to shut me up one way or another - had me killed, even. Yet they did nothing."
Pelorat said, "They had you arrested, if you want to blame that on the Second Foundation. According to what you told me, that resulted in the people of Terminus not knowing about your views. The people of the Second Foundation accomplished that much without violence and they may be devotees of Salvor Hardin's remark that 'Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."
"But keeping it from the people of Terminus accomplishes nothing. Mayor Branno knows my view and - at the very least - must wonder if I am correct. So now, you see, it is too late for them to harm us. If they had gotten rid of me to begin with, they would be in the clear. If they had left me alone altogether, they might have still remained in the clear, for they might have maneuvered Terminus into believing I was an eccentric, perhaps a madman. The prospective ruin of my political career might even have forced me into silence as soon as I saw what the announcement of my beliefs would mean.
"And now it is too late for them to do anything. Mayor Branno was suspicious enough of the situation to send Compor after me and - having no faith in him either, being wiser than I was - she placed a hyper - relay on Compor's ship. In consequence, she knows we are on Sayshell. And last night, while you were sleeping, I had our computer place a message directly into the computer of the Foundation ambassador here on Sayshell, explaining that we were on our way to Gaia. I took the trouble of giving its co-ordinates, too. If the Second Foundation does anything to us now, I am certain that Branno will have the matter investigated - and the concentrated attention of the Foundation must surely be what they don't want."
"Would they care about attracting the Foundation's attention, if they are so powerful?"
"Yes," said Trevize forcefully. "They lie hidden because, in some ways, they must be weak and because the Foundation is technologically advanced perhaps beyond even what Seldon himself might have foreseen. The very quiet, even stealthy, way in which they've been maneuvering us to their world would seem to show their eager desire to do nothing that will attract attention. And if so, then they have already lost, at least in part - for they've attracted attention and I doubt they can do anything to reverse the situation."
Pelorat said, "But why do they go through all this? Why do they ruin themselves - if your analysis is correct - by angling for us across the Galaxy? What is it they want of us?"
Trevize stared at Pelorat and flushed. "Janov," he said, "I have a feeling about this. I have this gift of coming to a correct conclusion on the basis of almost nothing. There's a kind of sureness about me that tells me when I'm right - and I'm sure now. There's something I have that they want - and want enough to risk their very existence for. I don't know what it can be, but I've got to find out, because if I've got it and if it's that powerful, then I want to be able to use it for what I feel is right." He shrugged slightly. "Do you still want to come along with me, old friend, now that you see how much a madman I am?"
Pelorat said, "I told you I had faith in you. I still do."
And Trevize laughed with enormous relief. "Marvelous! Because another feeling I have is that you are, for some reason, also essential to this whole thing. In that case, Janov, we move on to Gaia, full speed. Forward!"
Mayor Harla Branno looked distinctly older than her sixty-two years. She did not always look older, but she did now. She had been sufficiently wrapped up in thought to forget to avoid the mirror and had seen her image on her way into the map room. So she was aware of the haggardness of her appearance.
She sighed. It drained the life out of one. Five years a Mayor and for twelve years before that the real power behind two figureheads. All of it had been quiet, all of it successful, all of it - draining. How would it have been, she wondered, if there had been strain - failure - disaster.
Not so bad for her personally, she suddenly decided. Action would have been invigorating. It was the horrible knowledge that nothing but drift was possible that had worn her out.
It was the Seldon Plan that was successful and it was the Second Foundation that made sure it would continue to be. She, as the strong hand at the helm of the Foundation (actually the First Foundation, but no one on Terminus ever thought of adding the adjective) merely rode the crest.