Isaac Asimov - Foundation's Edge

“A girl to escort us.”

The woman drew herself up and suddenly she had the bearing of one in charge. “I,” she said, “am Gaia, as well as another. It was my stint on the station.”

“ Your stint? Were you the only one on board?”

Proudly. “I was all that was needed.”

“And is it empty now?”

“I am no longer on it, gentleman, but it is not empty. It is there.”

“It? To what do you refer?”

“To the station. It is Gaia. It doesn’t need me. It holds your ship.”

“Then what are you doing on the station?”

“It is my stint.”

Pelorat had taken Trevize by the sleeve and had been shaken off. He tried again. “Golan,” he said in an urgent half-whisper. “Don’t shout at her. She’s only a girl. Let me deal with this.”

Trevize shook his head angrily, but Pelorat said, “Young woman, what is your name?”

The woman smiled with sudden sunniness, as though responding to the softer tone. She said, “Bliss.”

“Bliss?” said Pelorat. “A very nice name. Surely that’s not all there is.”

“Of course not. A fine thing it would be to have one syllable. It would be duplicated on every section and we wouldn’t tell one from another, so that the men would be dying for the wrong body. Blisse-nobiarella is my name in full.”

“Now that’s a mouthful.”

“What? Seven syllables? That’s not much. I have friends with fifteen syllables in their names and they never get done trying combinations for the friend-name. I’ve stuck with Bliss now ever since I turned fifteen. My mother called me ‘Nobby,’ if you can imagine such a thing.”

“In Galactic Standard, ‘bliss’ means ‘ecstasy’ or ‘extreme happiness,’ ” said Pelorat.

“In Gaian language, too. It’s not very different from Standard, and ‘ecstasy’ is the impression I intend to convey.”

“My name is Janov Pelorat.”

“I know that. And this other gentleman—the shouter—is Golan Trevize. We received word from Sayshell.”

Trevize said at once, his eyes narrow, “How did you receive word?”

Bliss turned to look at him and said calmly, “I didn’t. Gaia did.”

Pelorat said, “Miss Bliss, may my partner and myself speak privately for a moment?”

“Yes, certainly, but we have to get on with it, you know.”

“I won’t take long.” He pulled hard at Trevize’s elbow and was reluctantly followed into the other room.

Trevize said in a whisper, “What’s all this? I’m sure she can hear us in here. She can probably read our minds, blast the creature.”

“Whether she can or can’t, we need a bit of psychological isolation for just a moment. Look, old chap, leave her alone. There’s nothing we can do, and there’s no use taking that out on her. There’s probably nothing she can do either. She’s just a messenger girl. Actually, as long as she’s on board, we’re probably safe; they wouldn’t have put her on board if they intended to destroy the ship. Keep bullying and perhaps they will destroy it—and us—after they take her off.”

“I don’t like being helpless,” said Trevize grumpily.

“Who does? But acting like a bully doesn’t make you less helpless. It just makes you a helpless bully. Oh, my dear chap, I don’t mean to be bullying you like this and you must forgive me if I’m excessively critical of you, but the girl is not to be blamed.”

“Janov, she’s young enough to be your youngest daughter.”

Pelorat straightened. “All the more reason to treat her gently. Nor do I know what you imply by the statement.”

Trevize thought a moment, then his face cleared. “Very well. You’re right. I’m wrong. It is irritating, though, to have them send a girl. They might have sent a military officer, for instance, and given us a sense of some value , so to speak. Just a girl? And she keeps placing responsibility on Gaia?”

“She’s probably referring to a ruler who takes the name of the planet as an honorific—or else she’s referring to the planetary council. We’ll find out, but probably not by direct questioning.”

“Men have died for her body!” said Trevize. “Huh!—She’s bottom-heavy!”

“No one is asking you to die for it, Golan,” said Pelorat gently. “Come! Allow her a sense of self-mockery. I consider it amusing and good-natured, myself.”

They found Bliss at the computer, bending down and staring at its component parts with her hands behind her back as though she feared touching it.

She looked up as they entered, ducking their heads under the low lintel. “This is an amazing ship,” she said. “I don’t understand half of what I see, but if you’re going to give me a greeting-present, this is it. It’s beautiful. It makes my ship look awful.”

Her face took on a look of ardent curiosity. “Are you really from the Foundation?”

“How do you know about the Foundation?” asked Pelorat.

“We learn about it in school. Mostly because of the Mule.”

“Why because of the Mule, Bliss?”

“He’s one of us, gentle— What syllable of your name may I use, gentleman?”

Pelorat said, “Either Jan or Pel. Which do you prefer?”

“He’s one of us, Pel,” said Bliss with a comradely smile. “He was born on Gaia, but no one seems to know where exactly.”

Trevize said, “I imagine he’s a Gaian hero, Bliss, eh?” He had become determinedly, almost aggressively, friendly and cast a placating glance in Pelorat’s direction, “Call me Trev,” he added.

“Oh no,” she said at once. “He’s a criminal. He left Gaia without permission, and no one should do that. No one knows how he did it. But he left, and I guess that’s why he came to a bad end. The Foundation beat him in the end.”

“The Second Foundation?” said Trevize.

“Is there more than one? I suppose if I thought about it I would know, but I’m not interested in history, really. The way I look at it is, I’m interested in what Gaia thinks best. If history just goes past me, it’s because there are enough historians or that I’m not well adapted to it. I’m probably being trained as a space technician myself. I keep being assigned to stints like this and I seem to like it and it stands to reason I wouldn’t like it if—”

She was speaking rapidly, almost breathlessly, and Trevize had to make an effort to insert a sentence.

“Who’s Gaia?”

Bliss looked puzzled at that. “Just Gaia. —Please, Pel and Trev, let’s get on with it. We’ve got to surface.”

“We’re going there, aren’t we?”

“Yes, but slowly. Gaia feels you can move much more rapidly if you use the potential of your ship. Would you do that?”

“We could,” said Trevize grimly. “But if I get the control of the ship back, wouldn’t I be more likely to zoom off in the opposite direction?”

Bliss laughed. “You’re funny. Of course you can’t go in any direction Gaia doesn’t want you to go. But you can go faster in the direction Gaia does want you to go. See?”

“We see,” said Trevize, “and I’ll try to control my sense of humor. Where do I land on the surface?”

“It doesn’t matter. You just head downward and you’ll land at the right place. Gaia will see to that.”

Pelorat said, “And will you stay with us, Bliss, and see that we are treated well?”

“I suppose I can do that. Let’s see now, the usual fee for my services—I mean that kind of services—can be entered on my balance-card.”

“And the other kind of services?”

Bliss giggled. “You’re a nice old man.”

Pelorat winced.

Bliss reacted to the swoop down to gaia with a naïve excitement. She said, “There’s no feeling of acceleration.”