Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov Read Free Book Online Page A

starfield.
    Pelorat said,“Golan—” and waited.
    Trevize looked up. “Janov! Sit down. —Where’s Bliss?”
    “Sleeping. —We’re out in space, I see.”
    “You see correctly.” Trevize was not surprised at the other’s mild surprise. In the new gravitic ships, there was simply no way of detecting takeoff. There were no inertial effects; no accelerational push; no noise; no vibration.
    Possessing the capacity to insulate itself from outside gravitational fields to any degree up to total, the
Far Star
lifted from a planetary surface as though it were floating on some cosmic sea. And while it did so, the gravitational effect
within
the ship, paradoxically, remained normal.
    While the ship was within the atmosphere, of course, there was no need to accelerate so that the whine and vibration of rapidly passing air would be absent. As the atmosphere was left behind, however, acceleration could take place, and at rapid rates, without affecting the passengers.
    It was the ultimate in comfort and Trevize did not see how it could be improved upon until such time as human beings discovered a way of whisking through hyperspace without ships, and without concern about nearby gravitational fields that might be too intense. Right now, the
Far Star
would have to speed away from Gaia’s sun for several days before the gravitational intensity was weak enough to attempt the Jump.
    “Golan, my dear fellow,” said Pelorat. “May I speak with you for a moment or two? You are not too busy?”
    “Not at all busy. The computer handles everything once I instruct it properly. And sometimes it seems to guess what my instructions will be, and satisfies them almost before I can articulate them.” Trevize brushed the top of the desk lovingly.
    Pelorat said, “We’ve grown very friendly, Golan, in the short time we’ve known each other, although I must admit that it scarcely seems a short time to me. So much has happened. It’s really peculiar when I stop to think of my moderately long life, that half of all the events I have experienced were squeezed into the last few months. Or so it would seem. I could almost suppose—”
    Trevize held up a hand. “Janov, you’re spinning outward from your original point, I’m sure. You began by saying we’ve grown very friendly in a very short time. Yes, we have, and we still are. For that matter, you’ve known Bliss an even shorter time and have grown even friendlier.”
    “That’s different, of course,” said Pelorat, clearing his throat in some embarrassment.
    “Of course,” said Trevize, “but what follows from our brief but enduring friendship?”
    “If, my dear fellow, we still are friends, as you’ve just said, then I must pass on to Bliss, whom, as you’ve also just said, is peculiarly dear to me.”
    “I understand. And what of that?”
    “I know, Golan, that you are not fond of Bliss, but for my sake, I wish—”
    Trevize raised a hand. “One moment, Janov. I am not overwhelmed by Bliss, but neither is she an object of hatred to me. Actually, I have no animosity toward her at all. She’s an attractive young woman and, even if she weren’t, then, for your sake, I would be prepared to find her so. It’s
Gaia
I dislike.”
    “But Bliss
is
Gaia.”
    “I know, Janov. That’s what complicates things so. As long as I think of Bliss as a person, there’s no problem. If I think of her as Gaia, there is.”
    “But you haven’t given Gaia a chance, Golan. —Look, old chap, let me admit something. When Bliss and I are intimate, she sometimes lets me share her mind for a minute or so. Not for more than that because she says I’m too old to adapt to it. —Oh, don’t grin, Golan, you would be too old for it, too. If an Isolate, such as you or I, were to remain part of Gaia for more than a minute or two, there might be brain damage and if it’s as much as five or ten minutes, it would be irreversible. —If you could only experience it, Golan.”
    “What? Irreversible