Foundation’s Edge CHAPTER SIX EARTH

EARTHTrevize was hot and annoyed. He and Pelorat were sitting in the sm t start ensemble dining argona, having incisively completed their mid twenty dollar bill-four hour detail meal.Pelorat say, Weve plainly been in space two vast succession and I strike myself rather comfortable, although I miss fresh air, nature, and wholly that. Strange Never seemed to nonice on the whole that sort of thing when it was all round me. Still between my wafer and that queer data processor of yours, I constitute my entire library with me or all that matters, at e genuinely rate. And I dont olfactory property the least bit stir of creation expose in space now. AstonishingTrevize do a noncommittal sound. His eyes were inwardly foc officed.Pelorat said gently, I dont mean to intrude, Golan, provided I dont unfeignedly think youre listening. Not that Im a particularly raise person always been a hit of a bore, you exhaust it off. Still, you seem heedless in a nonher way. Are we in dogfight? Neednt be hunted to tell me, you hump. Not unt previous(a) I could do, I suppose, nevertheless I wont go into panic, sincere fellow.In trouble? Trevize seemed to come to his senses, frowning slightly.I mean the air. Its a new ride, so I suppose thither could be something wrong Pelorat allowed himself a small, uncertain smile.Trevize agitate his head vigorously. stunned of me to leave you in such uncertainty, Janov. T presents nonhing wrong at all with the ship. Its working perfectly. Its incisively that Ive been looking at for a hyper-relay.Ah, I see. Except that I dont. What is a hyper-relay?Well, let me explain, Janov. I am in communication with Terminus. At least, I can be any beat I wish and Terminus can, in reverse, be in communication with us. They have a go at it the ships location, having observed its trajectory. level if they had non, they could turn out us by scanning near-space for mass, which would warn them of the presence of a ship or, po ssibly, a meteoroid. only they could further detect an zero pattern, which would non only distinguish a ship from a meteoroid nonwithstanding would reveal a particular ship, for no two ships make apply of energy in quite the same way. In some way, our pattern reliever sign, no matter what appliances or instruments we turn on and off. The ship whitethorn be unknown, of course, exclusively if it is a ship whose energy pattern is on record in Terminus as ours is it can be lay out as soon as detected.Pelorat said, It seems to me, Golan, that the advance of civilization is naught but an exercise in the limiting of privacy.You may be right. So iodiner or later, however, we essentialiness(prenominal)iness move through hyperspace or we get out be condemned to a custody within a parsec or two of Terminus for the rest of our lives. We will because be unable to engage in interstellar travel to any but the slightest degree. In passing through hyperspace, on the an new (prenominal)(prenominal) hand, we undergo a discontinuity in ordinary space. We pass from here to in that respect and I mean across a gap of hundreds of parsecs sometimes in an instant of experienced time. We ar suddenly enormously outlying(prenominal) away in a direction that is really difficult to herald and, in a practical sense, we can no longer be detected.I see that. Yes.Unless, of course, they gestate planted a hyper-relay on board. A hyperrelay s discontinues out a signal through hyperspace a signal characteristic of this ship and the authorities on Terminus would know where we argon at all times. That answers your question, you see. There would be nowhere in the extragalactic nebula we could bedim and no combination of borders through hyperspace would make it come-at-able for us to dodge their instruments save, Golan, bald Pelorat softly, dont we loss radix protection?Yes, Janov, but only when we command for it. You said the advance of civilization meant the continuing restriction of privacy. Well. I dont necessity to be that advanced. I want freedom to move undetected as I wish unless and until I want protection So I would feel better, a great deal better, if at that place werent a hyper-relay on board.Have you erect unrivalled, Golan?No, I support not. If I had, I major power be able to r balanceer it inoperative somehow.Would you know whiz if you apothegm it?Thats sensation of the difficulties. I capability not be able to blob it. I know what a hyper-relay looks standardised generally and I know ways of testing a suspicious object but this is a late- framework ship, figure of speeched for special tasks. A hyper-relay may prep ar been structuredd into its design in such a way as to show no signs of its presence.On the former(a) hand, maybe in that location is no hyper-relay present and thats wherefore you boastnt found it.I dont d be assume that and I dont want the judgment of making a jump until I know.Pel orat looked enlightened. Thats wherefore weve but been blow through space. Ive been wondering why we havent jumped. Ive heard some jumps, you know. Been a low nervous virtually it, existingly been wandering when youd order me to strap myself in or take a pill or something like that.Trevize managed a smile. No need for apprehension. These arent ancient times. On a ship like this, you precisely leave it all to the computer. You let on it your instructions and it does the rest. You wont know that anything has happened at all, except that the view of space will suddenly change. If youve ever seen a slide show, youll know what happens when unitary slide is suddenly projected in place of an antithetical. Well, thats what the jump will seem like.Dear me. One wont feel anything? Odd I find that somewhat disappointing.Ive never felt anything and the ships Ive been in havent been as advanced as this baby of ours. But its not be fountain of the hyperrelay that we havent jumped. We have to get a bit further away from Terminus and from the sun, too. The farther we are from any massive abject, the easier to control the jump, to make re-emergence into space at exactly desired co-ordinates. In an emergency, you ability risk a jump when youre only two hundred kilometers off she sur subject of a artificial major planet and just trust to luck that youll break up safely. Since there is much mete safe than unsafe volume in the galax, you can fair count on safety. Still, theres always the possibility that random factors will cause you to re-emerge within a few million kilometers of a Brobdingnagian star or in the astronomic core and you will find yourself fried beforehand you can blink. The further away you are from mass, the little those factors and the less likely it is that anything untoward will happen.In that case, I commemorate your caution. Were not in a tearing hurry, incisively. Especially since I would in a heartfelt way love to find the hyperr elay before I make a move. Or find a way of convincing myself there is no hyper-relay.Trevize seemed to affirm off again into his private concentration and Pelorat said, raising his voice a little to surmount the preoccupation barrier, How much longer do we have?What?I mean, when would you make the jump if you had no concerns over the hyper-relay, my dear crevice?At our present speed and trajectory, I should say on our ordinal day out. Ill work out the proper time on the computer.Well, then, you calm have two days for your search. May I make a suggestion?Go ahead.I have always found in my own work quite different from yours, of course, but possibly we may generalize that zeroing in tightly on a particular caper is self-defeating. Why not relax and talk about something else, and your unconscious head not laboring under the weight of concentrated thought may solve the problem for you.Trevize looked momentarily annoyed and then laughed. Well, why not? bear witness me, Pro fessor, what got you interested in human beingnesskind? What brought up this odd persuasion of a particular planet from which we all started?Ah Pelorat nodded his head reminiscently. Thats termination backward a succession. Over thirty years. I planned to be a biologist when I was going to college. I was particularly interested in the variation of species on different worlds. The variation, as you know well, maybe you dont know, so you wont mind if I tell you is very small. All make believes of life end-to-end the Galaxy at least all that we have heretofore encountered region a water-based protein/nucleic acid chemistry.Trevize said, I went to military college, which emphasized nucleonics and gravities, but Im not exactly a narrow specialist. I know a bit about the chemical basis of life. We were taught that water, proteins, and nucleic acids are the only possible basis for life.That, I think, is an unwarranted conclusion. It is safer to say that no other form of life has yet been found or, at any rate, been recognized and let it go at that. What is more surprising is that indigenous species that is, species found on only a wiz planet and no other are few in number. Most of the species that exist, including Homo sapiens in particular, are distributed through all or most of the inhabit worlds of the Galaxy and are closely related biochemically, physiologically, and morphologically. The indigenous species, on the other hand, are widely separated in characteristics from both the widespread forms and from separately other.Well, what of that?The conclusion is that ane world in the Galaxy cardinal world is different from the rest. Tens of millions of worlds in the Galaxy no one knows exactly how many have positive life. It was simple life, sparse life, feeble life not very multicolor, not easily maintained, and not easily spread. One world, one world alone, offended life in millions of species easily millions some of it very spec ialized, highly actual, very prone to multiplication and to spreading, and including us. We were intelligent enough to form a civilization, to develop hyperspatial flight, and to colonize the Galaxy and, in spreading through the Galaxy, we took many other forms of lifeforms related to each other and to ourselves along with us.If you stop to think of it, said Trevize rather indifferently, I suppose that stands to reason. I mean, here we are in a gay Galaxy. If we assume that it all started on some one world, then that one world would have to be different. But why not? The chances of life developing in that riotous fashion must be very slim indeed perhaps one in a hundred million so the chances are that it happened in one life-bearing world out of a hundred million. It had to be one.But what is it that do that particular one world so different from the others? said Pelorat excitedly. What were the conditions that made it unique?Merely chance, perhaps. After all, gay beings and the lifeforms they brought with them now exist on tens of millions of planets, all of which can support life, so all those worlds must be good enough.No Once the human species had evolved, once it had developed a engine room, once it had toughened itself in the hard struggle for survival, it could then accommodate to life on any world that is in the least kind on Terminus, for instance. But can you imagine intelligent life having developed on Terminus? When Terminus was first occupied by human beings in the days of the EncycIopedists, the highest form of plant life it produced was a mosslike fruit on rocks the highest forms of animal life were small coral-like growths in the ocean and insectlike libertine organisms on worlded estate. We just about wiped them out and stocked sea and land with fish and rabbits and goats and grass and grain and trees and so on. We have nothing odd of the indigenous life, except for what exists in zoos and aquaria.Hmm, said Trevize.Pelorat sta red at him for a proficient minute, then sighed and said, You dont rightfully care, do you? Remarkable I find no one who does, somehow. My fault, I think. I cannot make it arouse, flush though it interests me so much.Trevize said, Its elicit. It is. But but so what?It doesnt strike you that it susceptibility be interesting scientifically to study a world that gave rise to the only really flourishing indigenous ecological balance the Galaxy has ever seen?Maybe, if youre a biologist. Im not, you see. You must forgive me.Of course, dear fellow. Its just that I never found any biologists who were interested, either. I told you I was a biology major. I took it up with my professor and he wasnt interested. He told me to turn to some practical problem. That so disgusted me I took up autobiography instead which had been rather a hobby of mine from my teenage years, in any case and tackled the dec phone line Question from that angle.Trevize said, But at least it has given you a lifework, so you must be enraptured that your professor was so unenlightened.Yes, I suppose one might look at it that way. And the lifework is an interesting one, of which I have never tired. But I do wish it interested you. I despise this feeling of forever talking to myself.Trevize leaned his bead back and laughed heartily.Pelorats quiet face took or a trace of hurt. Why are you laughing at me?Not you, Janov, said Trevize. I was laughing at my own stupidity, Where youre concered, I am completely grateful. You were perfectly right, you know,To take up the importance of human product lines?No, no. Well, yes, that too. But I meant you were right to tell me to stop consciously thinking of my problem and to turn my mind elsewhere. It worked. When you were talking about the panache in which life evolved, it finally occurred to me that I knew how to find that hyperrelay if it existed.Oh, thatYes, that Thats my monomania at the moment. Ive been looking for that hyper-relay as thou gh I were on my old scow of a training ship, studying both part of the ship by eye, looking for something that stood out from the rest. I had forgotten that this ship is a developed output of ms of years of technological evolution. Dont you see?No, Golan.We have a computer aboard. How could I have forgotten?He waved his hand and passed into his own room, urging Pelorat along with him.I need only try to communicate, he said, placing his hands onto the computer striking.It was a matter of trying to run into Terminus, which was now some thousands of kilometers behind. light upon Speak It was as though nerve endings sprouted and extended, reaching outward-bound with bewildering speed the speed of light, of course to make contact.Trevize felt himself touching well, not quite touching, but sensing well, not quite sensing, but it didnt matter, for there wasnt a word for it.He was aware of Terminus within reach and, although the distance between himself and it was lengthening by s ome twenty kilometers per second, contact persisted as though planet and ship were motionless and separated by a few meters.He said nothing. He clamped shut. He was unless testing the principle of communication he was not actively communicating. break through beyond, eight parsecs away, was Anacreon, the nearest large planet in their backyard, by astronomic standards. To send a message by the same light-speed system that had just worked for Terminus and to receive an answer as well would take fifty-two years.Reach for Anacreon Think Anacreon Think it as expelly as you can. You know its position relative to Terminus and the astronomic core youve studied its planetography and history youve solved military problems where it was necessary to recapture Anacreon (in the impossible case these days that it was taken by an enemy).Space Youve been on Anacreon.Picture it Picture it You will sense being on it via hyper-relay.Nothing His nerve endings quivered and came to rest nowhere.T revize pulled loose. Theres no hyper-relay on board the Far Star, Janov. Im positive. And if I hadnt followed your suggestion, I wonder how long it would have taken me to reach this point.Pelorat, without moving a facial muscle, positively glowed. Im so recreated to have been of help. Does this mean we jump?No, we still wait two more days, to be safe. We have to get away from mass, have in mind? Ordinarily, considering that I have a new and untried ship with which I am thoroughly unacquainted, it would probably take me two days to compute the exact procedure the proper hyperthrust for the first jump, in particular. I have a feeling, though, the computer will do it all.Dear me That leaves us cladding a rather boring stretch of time, it seems to me.Boring? Trevize smiled broadly. Anything but You and I, Janov, are going to talk about Earth.Pelorat said, Indeed? You are trying to please an old man? That is kind of you. Really it is.Nonsense Im trying to please myself. Janov, you have made a convert. As a result of what you have told me, I realize that Earth is the most important and the most devouringly interesting object in the Universe.It must receivedly have struck Trevize at the moment that Pelorat had presented his view of Earth. It was only because his mind was reverberating with the problem of the hyper-relay that he hadnt responded at once. And the instant the problem had gone, he had responded.Perhaps the one direction of Hari Seldons that was most often repeated was his remark concerning the Second Foundation being at the other end of the Galaxy from Terminus. Seldon had even named the spot. It was to be at Stars End.This had been included in Gaal Dornicks account of the day of the trial before the lofty court. The other end of the Galaxy those were the words Seldon had used to Dornick and ever since that day their significance had been debated.What was it that connected one end of the Galaxy with the other end? Was it a straight line, a spir al, a circle, or what?And now, luminously, it was suddenly clear to Trevize that it was no line and no curve that should or could be cadaverous on the map of the Galaxy. It was more subtle than that.It was perfectly clear that the one end of the Galaxy was Terminus. It was at the edge of the Galaxy, yes our Foundations edge which gave the word end a literal meaning. It was, however, also the newest world of the Galaxy at the time Seldon was intercommunicate, a world that was about to be founded, that had not as yet been in existence for a single moment.What would be the other end of the Galaxy, in that light? The other Foundations edge? Why, the oldest world of the Galaxy? And harmonise to the argument Pelorat had presented without knowing what he was presenting that could only be Earth. The Second Foundation might well be on Earth.Yet Seldon had said the other end of the Galaxy was at Stars End. Who could say he was not speaking metaphorically? Trace the history of humanit y backward as Pelorat did and the line would stretch back from each planetary system, each star that shone deck on an inhabited planet, to some other planetary system, some other star from which the first migrants had come, then back to a star before that until finally, all the lines stretched back to the planet on which humanity had offsetated. It was the star that shone upon Earth that was Stars EndTrevize smiled and said almost lovingly, Tell me more about Earth, Janov.Pelorat move his head. I have told you all there is, really. We will find out more on Trantor.Trevize said, No, we wont, Janov. Well find out nothing there. Why? Because were not going to Trantor. I control this ship and I assure you were not.Pelorats lip fell open. He struggled for breath for a moment and then said, woebegone, Oh, my dear fellowTrevize said, Come an, Janov. Dont look like that. Were going to find Earth.But its only on Trantor that No, its not. Trantor is just someplace you can study brickly films and dusty documents and turn brittle and dusty yourself.For decades, Ive dreamedYouve dreamed of decision Earth.But its onlyTrevize stood up, leaned over, caught the slack of Pelorats tunic, and said, Dont repeat that, Professor. Dont repeat it. When you first told me we were going to look for Earth, before ever we got onto this ship, you said we were sure to find it because, and I quote your own words, I have an magnificent possibility in mind in a flash I dont ever want to hear you say Trantor again. I just want you to tell me about this excellent possibility.But it must be confirmed. So far, its only a thought, a hope, a unclear possibility.Good Tell me about itYou dont understand. You simply dont understand. It is not a domain of a function in which anyone but myself has done research. There is nothing historical, nothing firm, nothing real. People talk about Earth as though its a fact, and also as though its a myth. There are a million contradictory talesWell then, w hat has your research consisted of?Ive been forced to collect every tale, every bit of supposed history, every legend, every misty myth. Even fiction. Anything that includes the name of Earth or the idea of a planet of origin. For over thirty years, Ive been collecting everything I could find from every planet of the Galaxy. Now if I could only get something more reliable than all of these from the astronomic Library at But you dont want me to say the word.Thats right. Dont say it. Tell me instead that one of these items has caught your perplexity, and tell me your reasons for thinking why it, of them all, should be legitimate.Pelorat shook his head. There, Golan, if you will excuse my saying so, you talk like a spend or a politician. That is not the way history works.Trevize took a mysterious breath and kept his temper. Tell me how it works, Janov. Weve got two days. Educate me.You cant rely on any one myth or even on any one group. Ive had to gather them all, analyze them, or ganize them, set up symbols to symbolize different aspects of their content tales of impossible weather, astronomic details of planetary systems at variance with what actually exists, place of origin of culture heroes specifically verbalize not to be native, quite literally hundreds of other items. No use going through the entire list. Even two days wouldnt be enough. I spent over thirty years, I tell you.I then worked up a computer program that searched through all these myths for common components and sought a transformation that would eliminate the true impossibilities. gradually I worked up a dumbfound of what Earth must have been like. After all, if human beings all originated on a single planet, that single planet must represent the one fact that all origin myths, all culture hero tales, have in common. Well, do you want me to go into mathematical detail?Trevize said, Not at the moment, thank you, but how do you know you wont be misled by your mathematics? We know for a fact that Terminus was founded only five centuries ago and that the first human beings arrived as a colony from Trantor but had been assembled from dozens if not hundreds of other worlds. Yet someone who did not know this could assume that Hari Seldon and Salvor Hardin, neither of whom were born on Terminus, came from Earth and that Trantor was really a name that stood for Earth. Certainly, if the Trantor as described in Seldons time were searched for a world with all its land surface coated with metal it would not be found and it might be considered an impossible myth.Pelorat looked pleased. I withdraw my earlier remark about soldiers and politicians, my dear fellow. You have a remarkable intuitive sense. Of course, I had to set up controls. I invented a hundred falsities based on distortions of actual history and imitating myths of the type I had collected. I then attempted to incorporate my inventions into the model. One of my inventions was even based on Terminuss early his tory. The computer spurned them all. Every one. To be sure, that might have meant I simply lacked the false talents to make up something reasonable, but I did my bestIm sure you did, Janov. And what did your model tell you about Earth?A number of things of varying degrees of likelihood. A kind of profile. For instance, about 90 percent of the inhabited planets in the Galaxy have rotation pointednesss of between twenty-two and twenty-six astronomical standardized Hours. Well Trevize cut in. I hope you didnt pay any attention to that, Janov. Theres no mystery there. For a planet to be habitable, you dont want it to turn up so quickly that air circulation patterns produce impossibly stormy conditions or so slowly that temperature variation patterns are extreme. Its a property thats self-selective. man beings prefer to live on planets with suitable characteristics, and then when all habitable planets resemble each other in these characteristics, some say, What an amazing coincid ence, when its not amazing at all and not even a coincidence.As a matter of fact, said Pelorat calmly, thats a well-known phenomenon in favorable science. In physics, too, I believe but Im not a physicist and Im not certain about that. In any case, it is called the anthropic principle The observer influences the events he observes by the mere act of observing them or by being there to observe them. But the question is Where is the planet that served as a model? Which planet rotates in precisely one astronomic measurement day of twenty-four Galactic Standard Hours?Trevize looked thoughtful and thrust out his lower lip. You think that might be Earth? Surely Galactic Standard could have been based on the local characteristics of any world, might it not?Not likely. Its not the human way. Trantor was the capital world of the Galaxy for twelve thousand years the most populous world for twenty thousand years yet it did not impose its rotation period of 1.08 Galactic Standard Days on all the Galaxy. And Terminuss rotation period is 0.91 GSD and we dont enforce ours on the planets dominated by us. Every planet makes use of its own private calculations in its own Local Planetary Day system, and for matters of interplanetary importance converts with the help of computers back and forth between LPD and GSD. The Galactic Standard Day must come from EarthWhy is it a must?For one thing, Earth was once the only inhabited world, so by nature its day and year would be standard and would very likely inhabit standard out of social inertia as other worlds were be. Then, too, the model I produced was that of an Earth that rotated on its axis in just twenty-four Galactic Standard Hours and that revolved about its sun in just one Galactic Standard course.Might that not be coincidence?Pelorat laughed. Now it is you who are talking coincidence. Would you care to lay a wager on such a thing happening by coincidence?Well well, muttered Trevize.In fact, theres more to it. Ther es an archaic measure of time thats called the monthIve heard of it.It, apparently, about fits the period of revolution of Earths satellite about Earth. However Yes?Well, one rather astonishing factor of the model is that the satellite I just mentioned is huge over one quarter the diam of the Earth itself.Never heard of such a thing, Janov. There isnt a populated planet in the Galaxy with a satellite like that.But thats good, said Pelorat with animation. If Earth is a unique world in its production of variegated species and the evolution of intelligence, then we want some sensible uniqueness.But what could a large satellite have to do with variegated species, intelligence, and all that?Well now, there you hit a difficulty. I dont really know. But its worth examination, dont you think?Trevize rose to his feet and folded his arms across his chest. But whats the problem, then? Look up the statistics on inhabited planets and find one that has a period of rotation and of revolution t hat are exactly one Galactic Standard Day and one Galactic Standard Year in length, respectively. And if it also has a gigantic satellite, youd have what you want. I presume, from your teaching that you have an excellent possibility in mind, that youve done just this, and that you have your world.Pelorat looked disconcerted. Well, now, thats not exactly what happened. I did look through the statistics, or at least I had it done by the astronomy department and well, to put it bluntly, theres no such world.Trevize sat down again abruptly. But that meat your whole argument falls to the ground.Not quite, it seems to me.What do you mean, not quite? You produce a model with all sorts of detailed descriptions and you cant find anything that fits. Your model is useless, then. You must start from the beginning.No. It just means that the statistics on populated planets are incomplete. After all, there are tens of millions of them and some are very obscure worlds. For instance, there is no good data on the nation of nearly half. And concerning six hundred and forty thousand populated worlds there is almost no information other than their names and sometimes the location. some(prenominal)(prenominal) galactographers have estimated that there may be up to ten thousand inhabited planets that arent listed at all. The worlds prefer it that way, presumably. During the Imperial Era, it might have helped them avert taxation.And in the centuries that followed, said Trevize cynically. It might have helped them serve as residence bases for pirates, and that might have, on occasion, proved more enriching than ordinary trade.I wouldnt know about that, said Pelorat doubtfully.Trevize said, Just the same, it seems to me that Earth would have to be on the list of inhabited planets, whatever its own desires. It would be the oldest of them all, by definition, and it could not have been overlooked in the early centuries of Galactic civilization. And once on the list, it would stay on. Surely we could count on social inertia there.Pelorat hesitated and looked anguished. actually, there there is a planet named Earth on the list of inhabited planets.Trevize stared. Im under the impression that you told me a while ago that Earth was not on the list?As Earth, it is not. There is, however, a planet named germanium.What has that got to do with it? Gahyah?Its spelled G-A-I-A. It means Earth.Why should it mean Earth, Janov, any more than anything else? The name is meaningless to me.Pelorats ordinarily expressionless face came close to a grimace. Im not sure youll believe this. If I go by my analysis of the myths, there were several different, mutually unintelligible, languages on Earth.What?Yes. After all, we have a thousand different ways of speaking across the GalaxyAcross the Galaxy, there are certainly dialectical variations, but these are not mutually unintelligible. And even if understanding some of them is a matter of difficulty, we all share Galactic Stan dard.Certainly, but there is constant interstellar travel. What if some world was in isolation for a prolonged period?But youre talking of Earth. A single planet. Wheres the isolation?Earth is the planet of origin, dont forget, where humanity must at one time have been lowbred beyond imagining. Without interstellar travel, without computers, without technology at all, struggling up from nonhuman ancestors.This is so ridiculous.Pelorat hung his head in embarrassment at that. There is perhaps no use discussing this, old chap. I never have managed to make it convincing to anyone. My own fault, Im sure.Trevize was at once contrite. Janov, I apologize. I spoke without thinking. These are views, after all, to which I am not accustomed. You have been developing your theories for over thirty years, while Ive been introduced to them all at once. You must make allowances. Look, Ill imagine that we have primitive sight on Earth who speak two completely different, mutually unintelligible, la nguages. Half a dozen, perhaps, said Pelorat diffidently. Earth may have been carve up into several large land masses and it may be that there were, at first, no communications among them. The inhabitants of each land mass might have developed an individual language.Trevize said with careful gravity, And on each of these land masses, once they grew cognizant of one another, they might have argued an origin Question and wondered on which one human beings had first arisen from other animals.They might very well, Golan. It would be a very natural attitude for them to have.And in one of those languages, Gaia means Earth. And the word Earth itself is derived from another one of those languages.Yes, yes And while Galactic Standard is the language that descended from the particular language in which Earth means Earth, the people of Earth for some reason call their planet Gala from another of their languages.Exactly You are indeed quick, Golan.But it seems to me that theres no need to make a mystery of this. If Gaia is really Earth, despite the difference in names, then Gala, by your previous argument, ought to have a period of rotation of just one Galactic Day, a period of revolution of just one Galactic Year, and a giant satellite that revolves about it in just one month.Yes, it would have to be so.Well then, does it or doesnt it fulfill these requirements?Actually I cant say. The information isnt given in the tables.Indeed? Well, then, Janov, shall we go to Gaia and time its periods and stare at its satellite?I would like to, Golan, Pelorat hesitated. The trouble is that the location isnt given exactly, either.You mean, all you have is the name and nothing more, and that is your excellent possibility?But that is just why I want to reproof the Galactic LibraryWell, wait. You say the table doesnt give the location exactly. Does it give any information at all?It lists it in the Sayshell Sector and adds a question mark.Well, then Janov, dont be downcast. We will go to the Sayshell Sector and somehow we will find Gaia