Isaac Asimov - Foundation and Earth

“What, then?”

“I don’t know. Bliss, if I knew what I feared, I might not have to fear it. It’s something I don’t quite understand.” His voice lowered, as though he were speaking to himself. “The Galaxy seems to be crowded with things I don’t understand. Why did I choose Gaia? Why must I find Earth? Is there a missing assumption in psychohistory? If there is, what is it? And on top of all that, why does Fallom make me uneasy?”

Bliss said, “Unfortunately, I can’t answer those questions.” She rose, and left the room.

Pelorat looked after her, then said, “Surely things aren’t totally black, Golan. We’re getting closer and closer to Earth and once we reach it all mysteries may be solved. And so far nothing seems to be making any effort to stop us from reaching it.”

Trevize’s eyes flickered toward Pelorat and he said in a low voice, “I wish something would.”

Pelorat said, “You do? Why should you want that?”

“Frankly, I’d welcome a sign of life.”

Pelorat’s eyes opened wide. “Have you found that Earth is radioactive after all?”

“Not quite. But it is warm. A bit warmer than I would have expected.”

“Is that bad?”

“Not necessarily. It may be rather warm but that wouldn’t make it necessarily uninhabitable. The cloud cover is thick and it is definitely water vapor, so that those clouds, together with a copious water ocean, could tend to keep things livable despite the temperature we calculated from microwave emission. I can’t be sure, yet. It’s just that—”

“Yes, Golan?”

“Well, if Earth were radioactive, that might well account for its being warmer than expected.”

“But that doesn’t argue the reverse, does it? If it’s warmer than expected, that doesn’t mean it must be radioactive.”

“No. No, it doesn’t.” Trevize managed to force a smile. “No use brooding, Janov. In a day or two, I’ll be able to tell more about it and we’ll know for sure.”

Fallom was sitting on the cot in deep thought when Bliss came into the room. Fallom looked up briefly, then down again.

Bliss said quietly, “What’s the matter, Fallom?”

Fallom said, “Why does Trevize dislike me so much, Bliss?”

“What makes you think he dislikes you?”

“He looks at me impatiently— Is that the word?”

“It might be the word.”

“He looks at me impatiently when I am near him. His face always twists a little.”

“Trevize is having a hard time, Fallom.”

“Because he’s looking for Earth?”

“Yes.”

Fallom thought awhile, then said, “He is particularly impatient when I think something into moving.”

Bliss’s lips tightened. “Now, Fallom, didn’t I tell you you must not do that, especially when Trevize is present?”

“Well, it was yesterday, right here in this room, and he was in the doorway and I didn’t notice. I didn’t know he was watching. It was just one of Pel’s book-films, anyway, and I was trying to make it stand on one tip. I wasn’t doing any harm.”

“It makes him nervous, Fallom, and I want you not to do it, whether he’s watching or not.”

“Does it make him nervous because he can’t do it?”

“Perhaps.”

“Can you do it?”

Bliss shook her head slowly. “No, I can’t.”

“It doesn’t make you nervous when I do it. It doesn’t make Pel nervous, either.”

“People are different.”

“I know,” said Fallom, with a sudden hardness that surprised Bliss and caused her to frown.

“What do you know, Fallom?”

“ I’m different.”

“Of course, I just said so. People are different.”

“My shape is different. I can move things.”

“That’s true.”

Fallom said, with a shade of rebelliousness, “I must move things. Trevize should not be angry with me for that, and you should not stop me.”

“But why must you move things?”

“It is practice. Exerceez. —Is that the right word?”

“Not quite. Exercise.”

“Yes. Jemby always said I must train my—my—”

“Transducer-lobes?”

“Yes. And make them strong. Then, when I was grown up, I could power all the robots. Even Jemby.”

“Fallom, who did power all the robots if you did not?”

“Bander.” Fallom said it very matter-of-factly.

“Did you know Bander?”

“Of course. I viewed him many times. I was to be the next estate-head. The Bander estate would become the Fallom estate. Jemby told me so.”

“You mean Bander came to your—”

Fallom’s mouth made a perfect O of shock. She said in a choked voice, “Bander would never come to—” The youngster ran out of breath and panted a bit, then said, “I viewed Bander’s image.”

Bliss asked hesitantly, “How did Bander treat you?”

Fallom looked at Bliss with a faintly puzzled eye. “Bander would ask me if I needed anything; if I was comfortable. But Jemby was always near me so I never needed anything and I was always comfortable.”

Her head bent and she stared at the floor. Then she placed her hands over her eyes and said, “But Jemby stopped. I think it was because Bander—stopped, too.”

Bliss said, “Why do you say that?”

“I’ve been thinking about it. Bander powered all the robots, and if Jemby stopped, and all the other robots, too, it must be that Bander stopped. Isn’t that so?”

Bliss was silent.

Fallom said, “But when you take me back to Solaria I will power Jemby and all the rest of the robots, and I will be happy again.”

She was sobbing.

Bliss said, “Aren’t you happy with us, Fallom? Just a little? Sometimes?”

Fallom lifted her tear-stained face to Bliss and her voice trembled as she shook her head and said, “I want Jemby.”

In an agony of sympathy, Bliss threw her arms about the youngster. “Oh, Fallom, how I wish I could bring you and Jemby together again,” and was suddenly aware that she was weeping, too.

Pelorat entered and found them so. He halted in mid-step and said, “What’s the matter?”

Bliss detached herself and fumbled for a small tissue so that she might wipe her eyes. She shook her head, and Pelorat at once said, with heightened concern, “But what’s the matter ?”

Bliss said, “Fallom, just rest a little. I’ll think of something to make things a little better for you. Remember— I love you just the same way that Jemby did.”

She seized Pelorat’s elbow and rushed him out into the living room, saying, “It’s nothing, Pel. —Nothing.”

“It’s Fallom, though, isn’t it? She still misses Jemby.”

“Terribly. And there’s nothing we can do about it. I can tell her that I love her—and, truthfully, I do. How can you help loving a child so intelligent and gentle? —Fearfully intelligent. Trevize thinks too intelligent. She’s seen Bander in her time, you know—or viewed it, rather, as a holographic image. She’s not moved by that memory, however; she’s very cold and matter-of-fact about it, and I can understand why. There was only the fact that Bander was owner of the estate and that Fallom would be the next owner that bound them. No other relationship at all.”

“Does Fallom understand that Bander is her father?”

“Her mother . If we agree that Fallom is to be regarded as feminine, so is Bander.”

“Either way, Bliss dear. Is Fallom aware of the parental relationship?”

“I don’t know that she would understand what that is. She may, of course, but she gave no hint. However, Pel, she has reasoned out that Bander is dead, for it’s dawned on her that Jemby’s inactivation must be the result of power loss and since Bander supplied the power— That frightens me.”