[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Fallom said,  I don t have what they have, she pointed at the twomen,  or what you have, Bliss.I m different.Is that because I m a Spacer? You are, Fallom, said Bliss soothingly,  but little differencesdon t matter.Come back to bed.Fallom became submissive as she always did when Bliss willed herto be so.She turned and said,  Am I a demon? What is a demon?Bliss said over her shoulder,  Wait one moment for me.I ll beright back.She was, within five minutes.She was shaking her head. She ll besleeping now till I wake her.I should have done that before, I suppose, butany modification of the mind must be the result of necessity. She addeddefensively,  I can t have her brood on the differences between her genitalequipment and ours.Pelorat said,  Someday she ll have to know she s hermaphroditic.Page 266ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html Someday, said Bliss,  but not now.Go on with the story, Pel. Yes, said Trevize,  before something else interrupts us. Well, Earth became radioactive, or at least its crust did.Atthat time, Earth had had an enormous population that was centered in hugecities that existed for the most part underground- Now, that, put in Trevize,  is surely not so. It must be localpatriotism glorifying the golden age of a planet, and the details were simplya distortion of Trantor inits golden age, when it was the Imperial capital ofa Galaxy-wide system of worlds.Pelorat paused, then said,  Really, Golan, you mustn t teach me mybusiness.We mythologists know very well that myths and legends containborrowings, moral lessons, nature cycles, and a hundred other distortinginfluences, and we labor to cut them away and get to what might be a kernel oftruth.In fact, these same techniques must be applied to the most soberhistories, for no one writes the clear and apparent truth-if such a thing caneven be said to exist.For now, I m telling you more or less what Monolee toldme, though I suppose I am adding distortions of my own, try as I might not todo so. Well, well, said Trevize. Go on, Janov.I meant no offense. And I ve taken none.The huge cities, assuming they existed,crumbled and shrank as the radioactivity slowly grew more intense until thepopulation was but a remnant of what it had been, clinging precariously toregions that were relatively radiation-free.The population was kept down byrigid birth control and by the euthanasia of people over sixty. Horrible, said Bliss indignantly. Undoubtedly, said Pelorat,  but that is what they did, accordingto Monolee, and that might be true, for it is certainly not complimentary tothe Earthpeople and it is not likely that an uncomplimentary lie would be madeup.The Earthpeople, having been despised and oppressed by the Spacers, werenow despised and oppressed by the Empire, though here we may have exaggerationthere out of self-pity, which is a very seductive emotion.There is the case- Yes, yes, Pelorat, another time.Please go on with Earth. I beg your pardon.The Empire, in a fit of benevolence, agreed tosubstitute imported radiation-free soil and to cart away the contaminatedsoil.Needless to say, that was an enormous task which the Empire soon tiredof, especially as this period (if my guess is right) coincided with the fallof Kandar V, after which the Empire had many more things to worry about thanEarth. The radioactivity continued to grow more intense, the populationcontinued to fall, and finally the Empire, in another fit of benevolence,offered to transplant the remnant of the population to a new world of theirown-tothis world, in short. At an earlier period, it seems an expedition had stocked theocean so that by the time  the plans for the transplantation of Earthpeoplewere being developed, there was a full oxygen atmosphere and an ample supplyof food on Alpha.Nor did any of the worlds of the Galactic Empire covet thisworld because there is a certain natural antipathy to planets that circlePage 267ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlstars of a binary system.There are so few suitable planets in such a system,I suppose, that even suitable ones are rejected because of the assumption thatthere must be something wrong with them.This is a common thought-fashion.There is the well-known case, for instance, of- Later with the well-known case, Janov, said Trevize. On withthe transplantation. What remained, said Pelorat, hurrying his words a little,  wasto prepare a land-base.The shallowest part of the ocean was found andsediment was raised from deeper parts to add to the shallow sea-bottom and,finally, to produce the island of New Earth.Boulders and coral were dredgedup and added to the island.Land plants were seeded so that root systems mighthelp make the new land firm.Again, the Empire had set itself an enormoustask.Perhaps continents were planned at first, but by the time this oneisland was produced, the Empire s moment of benevolence had passed. What was left of Earth s population was brought here.TheEmpire s fleets carried off its men and machinery, and they never returned.The Earthpeople, living on New Earth, found themselves in complete isolation.Trevize said,  Complete? Did Monolee say that no one fromelsewhere in the Galaxy has ever come here till we did? Almost complete, said Pelorat. There is nothing to come herefor, I suppose, even if we set aside the superstitious distaste for binarysystems.Occasionally, at long intervals, a ship would come, as ours did, butit would eventually leave and there has never been a follow-up.And that sit.Trevize said,  Did you ask Monolee where Earth was located? Of course I asked that.He didn t know. How can he know so much about Earth s history without knowingwhere it is located? I asked him specifically, Golan, if the star that was only aparsec or so distant from Alpha might be the sun about which Earth revolved.He didn t know what a parsec was, and I said it was a short distance,astronomically speaking.He said, short or long, he did not know where Earthwas located and he didn t know anyone who knew, and, in his opinion, it waswrong to try to find it.It should be allowed, he said, to move endlesslythrough space in peace.Trevize said,  Do you agree with him?Pelorat shook his head sorrowfully. Not really.But he said thatat the rate the radioactivity continued to increase, the planet must havebecome totally uninhabitable not long after the transplantation took place andthat by now it must be burning intensely so that no one can approach. Nonsense, said Trevize firmly. A planet cannot becomeradioactive and, having done so, continuously increase in radioactivity.Radioactivity can only decrease. But Monolee is so sure of it.So many people we ve talked to onvarious worlds unite in this-that Earth is radioactive.Surely, it is uselessto go on.Page 268ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html80.TREVIZE drew a deep breath, then said, in a carefully controlledvoice,  Nonsense, Janov.That s not true.Pelorat said,  Well, now, old chap, you mustn t believe somethingjust because you want to believe it. My wants have nothing to do with it.In world after world we findall records of Earth wiped out.Why should they be.wiped out if there isnothing to hide; if Earth is a dead, radioactive world that cannot beapproached? I don t know, Golan. Yes, you do.When we were approaching Melpomenia, you said thatthe radioactivity might be the other side of the coin [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]