Bliss said, "I don't know. It was clear from the texture of her mind that she was attracted to Trevize."
Trevize looked at Bliss with sudden exasperation. "Did you do that, Bliss?"
"What do you mean, Trevize?"
"I mean tamper with her-"
"I didn't tamper. However, when I noted that she was attracted to you, I couldn't resist just snapping an inhibition or two. It was a very small thing to do. Those inhibitions might have snapped anyway, and it seemed to be important to make certain that she was filled with good will toward you."
"Good will? It was more than that! She softened, yes, but post-coitally."
Pelorat said, "Surely you don't mean, old man-"
"Why not?" said Trevize testily. "She may be past her first youth, but she knew the art well. She was no beginner, I assure you. Nor will I play the gentleman and lie on her behalf. It was her idea-thanks to Bliss's fiddling with her inhibitions-and I was not in a position to refuse, even if that thought had occurred to me, which it didn't. **Come, Janov, don't stand there looking puritanical. It's been months since I've had an opportunity. You've-" And he waved his hand vaguely in Bliss's direction.
"Believe me, Golan," said Pelorat, embarrassed, "if you are interpreting my expression as puritanical, you mistake me. I have no objection."
Bliss said, "But she is puritanical. I meant to make her warm toward you; I did not count on a sexual paroxysm."
Trevize said, "But that is exactly what you brought on, my little interfering Bliss. It may be necessary for the Minister to play the puritan in public, but if so, that seems merely to stoke the fires."
"And so, provided you scratch the itch, she will betray the Foundation-"
"She would have done that in any case," said Trevize. "She wanted the ship-" He broke off, and said in a whisper, "Are we being overheard?"
Bliss said, "No!"
"Are you sure?"
"It is certain. It is impossible to impinge upon the mind of Gaia in any unauthorized fashion without Gaia being aware of it."
"In that case, Comporellon wants the ship for itself-a valuable addition to its fleet."
"Surely, the Foundation would not allow that."
"Comporellon does not intend to have the Foundation know."
Bliss sighed. "There are your Isolates. The Minister intends to betray the Foundation on behalf of Comporellon and, in return for sex, will promptly betray Comporellon, too. And as for Trevize, he will gladly sell his body's services as a way of inducing the betrayal. What anarchy there is in this Galaxy of yours. What chaos."
Trevize said coldly, "You are wrong, young woman-"
"In what I have just said, I am not a young woman, I am Gaia. I am all of Gaia."
"Then you are wrong, Gaia I did not sell my body's services. I gave them gladly. I enjoyed it and did no one harm. As for the consequences, they turned out well from my standpoint and I accept that. And if Comporellon wants the ship for its own purposes, who is to say who is right in this matter? It is a Foundation ship, but it was given to me to search for Earth. It is mine then until I complete the search and I feel that the Foundation has no right to go back on its agreement. As for Comporellon, it does not enjoy Foundation domination, so it dreams of independence. In its own eyes, it is correct to do so and to deceive the Foundation, for that is not an act of treason to them but an act of patriotism. Who knows?"
"Exactly. Who knows? In a Galaxy of anarchy, how is it possible to sort out reasonable actions from unreasonable ones? How decide between right and wrong, good and evil, justice and crime, useful and useless? And how do you explain the Minister's betrayal of her own government, when she lets you keep the ship? Does she long for personal independence from an oppressive world? Is she a traitor or a personal one-woman self-patriot?"
"To be truthful," said Trevize, "I don't know that she was willing to let me have my ship simply because she was grateful to me for the pleasure I gave: her. I believe she made that decision only when I told her I was searching for the Oldest. It is a world of ill-omen to her and we and the ship that carries us, by searching for it, have become ill-omened, too. It is my feeling that she feels she incurred the ill-omen for herself and her world by attempting to take the ship, which she may, by now, be viewing with horror. Perhaps she feels that by allowing us and our ship to leave and go about our business, she is averting the misfortune from Comporellon and is, in that way, performing a patriotic act."
"If that were so, which I doubt, Trevize, superstition is the spring of the action. Do you admire that?"
"I neither admire nor condemn. Superstition always directs action in the absence of knowledge. The Foundation believes in the Seldon Plan, though no one in our realm can understand it, interpret its details, or use it to predict. We follow blindly out of ignorance and faith, and isn't that superstition?"
"Yes, it might be."
"And Gaia, too. You believe I have given the correct decision in judging that Gaia should absorb the Galaxy into one large organism, but you do not know why I should be right, or how safe it would be for you to follow that decision. You are willing to go along only out of ignorance and faith, and are even annoyed with me for trying to find evidence that will remove the ignorance and make mere faith unnecessary. Isn't that superstition?"
"I think he has you there, Bliss," said Pelorat.
Bliss said, "Not so. He will either find nothing at all in this search, or he will find something that confirms his decision."