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.Her voice, too, was indisputably feminine, a rich contralto.She said,  Good afternoon.It is not often that we are honored bya visit of men from Terminus.-And of an unreported woman as well. Her eyespassed from one to another, then settled on Trevize, who was standing stifflyand frowningly erect. And one of the men a member of the Council, too. A Councilman of the Foundation, said Trevize, trying to make hisvoice ring. Councilman Golan Trevize on a mission from the Foundation. On a mission? The Minister s eyebrows rose. On a mission, repeated Trevize. Why, then, are we being treatedas felons? Why have we been taken into custody by armed guards and broughthere as prisoners? The Council of the Foundation, I hope you understand, willnot be pleased to hear of this.Page 65ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html And in any case, said Bliss, her voice seeming a touch shrill incomparison with that of the older woman,  are we to remain standingindefinitely?The Minister gazed coolly at Bliss for a long moment, then raisedan arm and said,  Three chairs! Now!A door opened and three men, dressed in the usual somberComporellian fashion, brought in three chairs at a semitrot.The three peoplestanding before the desk sat down. There, said the Minister, with a wintry smile,  are wecomfortable?Trevize thought not.The chairs were uncushioned, cold to thetouch, flat of surface and back, making no compromise with the shape of thebody.He said,  Why are we here?The Minister consulted papers lying on her desk. I will explainas soon as I am certain of my facts.Your ship is theFar Star out of Terminus.Is that correct, Councilman? It is.The Minister looked up. I used your title, Councilman.Will you,as a courtesy, use mine? Would Madam Minister be sufficient? Or is there an honorific? No honorific, sir, and you need not double your words. Ministeris sufficient, or  Madam if you weary of repetition. Then my answer to your question is: It is, Minister. The captain of the ship is Golan Trevize, citizen of theFoundation and member of the Council on Terminus-a freshman Councilman,actually.And you are Trevize.Am I correct in all this, Councilman? You are, Minister.And since I am a citizen of the Foundation- I am not yet done, Councilman.Save your objections till I am.Accompanying you is Janov Pelorat, scholar, historian, and citizen of theFoundation.And that is you, is it not, Dr.Pelorat?Pelorat could not suppress a slight start as the Minister turnedher keen glance on him.He said,  Yes, it is, my d- He paused, and beganagain,  Yes, it is, Minister.The Minister clasped her hands stiffly. There is no mention inthe report that has been forwarded to me of a woman.Is this woman a member ofthe ship s complement? She is, Minister, said Trevize. Then I address myself to the woman.Your name? I am known as Bliss, said Bliss, sitting erectly and speakingwith calm clarity,  though my full name is longer, madam.Do you wish it all?Page 66ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html I will be content with Bliss for the moment.Are you a citizen ofthe Foundation, Bliss? I am not, madam. Of what world are you a citizen, Bliss? I have no documents attesting to citizenship with respect to anyworld, madam. No papers, Bliss? She made a small mark on the papers beforeher. That fact is noted.What is it you are doing on board the ship? I am a passenger, madam. Did either Councilman Trevize or Dr.Pelorat ask to see yourpapers before you boarded, Bliss? No, madam. Did you inform them that you were without papers, Bliss? No, madam. What is your function on board ship, Bliss? Does your name suityour function?Bliss said proudly,  I am a passenger and have no other function.Trevize broke in. Why are you badgering this woman, Minister?What law has she broken?Minister Lizalor s eyes shifted from Bliss to Trevize.She said, You are an Outworlder, Councilman, and do not know our laws.Nevertheless,you are subject to them if you choose to visit our world.You do not bringyour laws with you; that is a general rule of Galactic law, I believe. Granted, Minister, but that doesn t tell me which of your lawsshe has broken. It is a general rule in the Galaxy, Councilman, that a visitorfrom a world outside the dominions of the world she is visiting have heridentification papers with her.Many worlds are lax in this respect, valuingtourism, or indifferent to the rule of order.We of Comporellon are not.Weare a world of law and rigid in its application.She is a worldless person,and as such, breaks our law.Trevize said,  She had no choice in the matter.I was piloting theship, and I brought it down to Comporellon.She had to accompany us, Minister,or do you suggest she should have asked to be jettisoned in space? This merely means that you, too, have broken our law,Councilman. No, that is not so, Minister.I am not an Outworlder.I am acitizen of the Foundation, and Comporellon and the worlds subject to it are anAssociated Power of the Foundation.As a citizen of the Foundation, I cantravel freely here. Certainly, Councilman, as long as you have documentation to provePage 67ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlthat you are indeed a citizen of the Foundation. Which I do, Minister. Yet even as citizen of the Foundation, you do not have the rightto break our law by bringing a worldless person with you.Trevize hesitated.Clearly, the border guard, Kendray, had notkept faith with him, so there was no point in protecting him.He said,  Wewere not stopped at the immigration station and I considered that implicitpermission to bring this woman with me, Minister. It is true you were not stopped, Councilman.It is true the womanwas not reported by the immigration authorities and was passed through.I cansuspect, however, that the officials at the entry station decided-and quitecorrectly-that it was more important to get your ship to the surface than toworry about a worldless person.What they did was, strictly speaking, aninfraction of the rules, and the matter will have to be dealt with in theproper fashion, but I have no doubt that the decision will be that theinfraction was justified.We are a world of rigid law, Councilman, but we arenot rigid beyond the dictates of reason.Trevize said at once,  Then I call upon reason to bend your rigornow, Minister.If, indeed, you received no information from the immigrationstation to the effect that a worldless person was on board ship, then you hadno knowledge that we were breaking any law at the time we landed.Yet it isquite apparent that you were prepared to take us into custody the moment welanded, and you did, in fact, do so.Why did you do so, when you had no reasonto think any law was being broken?The Minister smiled. I understand your confusion, Councilman.Please let me assure you that whatever knowledge we had gained-or had notgained-as to the worldless condition of your passenger had nothing to do withyour being taken into custody.We are acting on behalf of the Foundation, ofwhich, as you point out, we are an Associated Power.Trevize stared at her. But that s impossible, Minister.It s evenworse.It s ridiculous.The Minister s chuckle was like the smooth flow of honey.Shesaid,  I am interested in the way you consider it worse to be ridiculous thanimpossible, Councilman.I agree with you there.Unfortunately for you,however, it is neither [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]