Foundation and Earth

"Tell her it's not Solaria. Look, I'll give you one or two reference bookfilms with graphic illustrations. Show her close-ups of a number of different inhabited worlds and explain that there are millions of them. You'll have time for it. I don't know how long Janov and I will have to wander around, once we pick a likely target and land."

"You and Janov?"

"Yes. Fallom can't come with us, even if I wanted her to, which I would only want if I were a madman. This world requires space suits, Bliss. There's no breathable air. And we don't have a space suit that would fit Fallom. So she and you stay on the ship."

"Why it?"

Trevize's lips stretched into a humorless smile. "I admit," he said, "I would feel safer if you were along, but we can't leave Fallom on this ship alone. She can do damage even if she doesn't mean to. I must have Janov with me because he might be able to make out whatever archaic writing they have here. That means you will have to stay with Fallom. I should think you would want to."

Bliss looked uncertain.

Trevize said, "Look. You wanted Fallom along, when I didn't. I'm convinced she'll be nothing but trouble. So her presence introduces constraints, and you'll have to adjust yourself to that. She's here, so you'll have to be here, too. That's the way it is."

Bliss sighed. "I suppose so."

"Good. Where's Janov?"

"He's with Fallom."

"Very well. Go and take over. I want to talk to him."

Trevize was still studying the planetary surface when Pelorat walked in, clearing his throat to announce his presence. He said, "Is anything wrong, Golan?"

"Not exactly wrong, Janov. I'm just uncertain. This is a peculiar world and I don't know what happened to it. The seas must have been extensive, judging from the basins left behind, but they were shallow. As nearly as I can tell from the traces left behind, this was a world of desalinization and canals-or perhaps the seas weren't very salty. If they weren't very salty, that would account for the absence of extensive salt flats in the basins. Or else, when the ocean was lost, the salt content was lost with it-which certainly makes it look like a human deed."

Pelorat said hesitantly, "Excuse my ignorance about such things, Golan, but does any of this matter as far as what we are looking for is concerned?"

"I suppose not, but I can't help being curious. If I knew just how this planet was terraformed into human habitability and what it was like before terraforming, then perhaps I would understand what has happened to it after it was abandoned-or just before, perhaps. And if we did know what happened to it, we might be forewarned against unpleasant surprises."

"What kind of surprises? It's a dead world, isn't it?"

"Dead enough. Very little water; thin, unbreathable atmosphere; and Bliss detects no signs of mental activity."

"That should settle it, I should think."

"Absence of mental activity doesn't necessarily imply lack of life."

"It must surely imply lack of dangerous life."

"I don't know. But that's not what I want to consult you about. There are two cities that might do for our first inspection. They seem to be in excellent shape; all the cities do. Whatever destroyed the air and oceans did not seem to touch the cities. Anyway, those two cities are particularly large. The larger, however, seems to be short on empty space. There are spaceports far in the outskirts but nothing in the city itself. The one not so large does have empty space, so it will be easier to come down in its midst, though not in formal spaceports-but then, who would care about that?"

Pelorat grimaced. "Do you want me to make the decision, Golan?"

"No, I'll make the decision. I just want your thoughts."

"For what they're worth, a large sprawling city is likely to be a commercial or manufacturing center. A smaller city with open space is likely to be an administrative center. It's the administrative center we'd want. Does it have monumental buildings?"

"What do you mean by a monumental building?"

Pelorat smiled his tight little stretching of the lips. "I scarcely know. Fashions change from world to world and from time to time. I suspect, though, that they always look large, useless, and expensive. Like the place where we were on Comporellon."

Trevize smiled in his turn. "It's hard to tell looking straight down, and when I get a sideways glance as we approach or leave, it's too confusing. Why do you prefer the administrative center?"

"That's where we're likely to find the planetary museum, library, archives, university, and so on."

"Good. That's where we'll go, then; the smaller city. And maybe we'll find something. We've had two misses, but maybe we'll find something this time."

"Perhaps it will be three times lucky."

Trevize raised his eyebrows. "Where did you get that phrase?"

"It's an old one," said Pelorat. "I found it in an ancient legend. It means success on the third try, I should think."

"That sounds right," said Trevize. "Very well, then-three times lucky, Janov."

Chapter 15 Moss

66.