At the fourth meal, however, it seemed to Pelorat that some ofthe unusual gravity had lifted from Trevize's countenance2. Peloratcleared his throat twice, as though preparing to say something and thenretreating.
Finally, Trevize looked up at him and said, "Well?""Have you have you thought it out, Golan?""Why do you ask?""You seem less gloomy.""I'm not less gloomy, but I have beenthinking. Heavily.""May we know what?" asked Pelorat.
Trevize glanced briefly3 in Bliss's direction. She was looking firmlyat her plate, maintaining a careful silence, as though certain thatPelorat would get further than she at this sensitive moment.
Trevize said, "Are you also curious, Bliss?"She raised her eyes for a moment. "Yes. Certainly."Fallom kicked a leg of the table moodily4, and said, "Have we foundEarth?"Bliss squeezed the youngster's shoulder. Trevize paid no attention.
He said, "What we must start with is a basic fact. All informationconcerning Earth has been removed on various worlds. That is bound tobring us to an inescapable conclusion. Something on Earth is beinghidden. And yet, by observation, we see that Earth is radioactivelydeadly, so that anything on it is automatically hidden. No one can landon it, and from this distance, when we are quite near the outer edge ofthe magnetosphere and would not care to approach Earth any more closely,there is nothing for us to find.""Can you be sure of that?" asked Bliss softly.
"I have spent my time at the computer, analyzing5 Earth in every wayit and I can. There is nothing. What's more, I feel there isnothing. Why, then, has data concerning the Earth been wiped out? Surely,whatever must be hidden is more effectively hidden now than anyone caneasily imagine, and there need be no human gilding6 of this particularpiece of gold.""It may be," said Pelorat, "that there was indeed something hiddenon Earth at a time when it had not yet grown so severely7 radioactive asto preclude8 visitors. People on Earth may then have feared that someonemight land and find this whatever-it-is. It was then thatEarth tried to remove information concerning itself. What we have nowis a vestigial remnant of that insecure time.""No, I don't think so," said Trevize. "The removal of informationfrom the Imperial Library at Trantor seems to have taken place veryrecently." He turned suddenly to Bliss, "Am I right?"Bliss said evenly, "I/we/Gaia gathered that much from the troubledmind of the Second Foundationer Gendibal, when he, you, and I had themeeting with the Mayor of Terminus."Trevize said, "So whatever must have had to be hidden because thereexisted the chance of finding it must still be in hiding now ,and there must be danger of finding it now despite the factthat Earth is radioactive.""How is that possible?" asked Pelorat anxiously.
"Consider," said Trevize. "What if what was on Earth is no longeron Earth, but was removed when the radioactive danger grew greater? Yetthough the secret is no longer on Earth, it may be that if we can findEarth, we would be able to reason out the place where the secret hasbeen taken. If that were so, Earth's whereabouts would still have tobe hidden."Fallom's voice piped up again. "Because if we can't find Earth,Bliss says you'll take me back to Jemby."Trevize turned toward Fallom and glared and Bliss said, in alow voice, "I told you we might , Fallom. We'll talk aboutit later. Right now, go to your room and read, or play the flute9, oranything else you want to do. Go go."Fallom, frowning sulkily, left the table.
Pelorat said, "But how can you say that, Golan? Here we are. We'velocated Earth. Can we now deduce where whatever it is might be if itisn't on Earth?"It took a moment for Trevize to get over the moment of ill humorFallom had induced. Then, he said, "Why not? Imagine the radioactivity ofEarth's crust growing steadily10 worse. The population would be decreasingsteadily through death and emigration, and the secret, whatever it is,would be in increasing danger. Who would remain to protect it? Eventually,it would have to be shifted to another world, or the use of whateverit was would be lost to Earth. I suspect there would be reluctanceto move it and it is likely that it would be done more or less at thelast minute. Now, then, Janov, remember the old man on New Earth whofilled your ears with his version of Earth's history?""Monolee?""Yes. He. Did he not say in reference to the establishment of New Earththat what was left of Earth's population was brought to the planet?"Pelorat said, "Do you mean, old chap, that what we're searching foris now on New Earth? Brought there by the last of Earth's populationto leave?"Trevize said, "Might that not be so? New Earth is scarcely betterknown to the Galaxy11 in general than Earth is, and the inhabitants aresuspiciously eager to keep all Outworlders away.""We were there," put in Bliss. "We didn't find anything.""We weren't looking for anything but the whereabouts of Earth."Pelorat said, in a puzzled way, "But we're looking for somethingwith a high technology; something that can remove information fromunder the nose of the Second Foundation itself, and even from under thenose excuse me, Bliss of Gaia. Those people on New Earth maybe able to control their patch of weather and may have some techniquesof biotechnology at their disposal, but I think you'll admit that theirlevel of technology is, on the whole, quite low."Bliss nodded. "I agree with Pel."Trevize said, "We're judging from very little. We never did see themen of the fishing fleet. We never saw any part of the island but thesmall patch we landed on. What might we have found if we had exploredmore thoroughly12? After all, we didn't recognize the fluorescent13 lightstill we saw them in action, and if it appeared that the technology waslow, appeared , I say ""Yes?" said Bliss, clearly unconvinced.
"That could be part of the veil intended to obscure the truth.""Impossible," said Bliss.
"Impossible? It was you who told me, back on Gaia, that at Trantor,the larger civilization was deliberately14 held at a level of low technologyin order to hide the small kernel15 of Second Foundationers. Why mightnot the same strategy be used on New Earth?""Do you suggest, then, that we return to New Earth and face infectionagain this time to have it activated16? Sexual intercourse17 isundoubtedly a particularly pleasant mode of infection, but it may notbe the only one."Trevize shrugged18. "I am not eager to return to New Earth, but we mayhave to."" May ?""May! After all, there is another possibility.""What is that?""New Earth circles the star the people call Alpha. But Alpha is part ofa binary19 system. Might there not be a habitable planet circling Alpha'scompanion as well?""Too dim, I should think," said Bliss, shaking her head. "The companionis only a quarter as bright as Alpha is.""Dim, but not too dim. If there is a planet fairly close to the star,it might do."Pelorat said, "Does the computer say anything about any planets forthe companion?"Trevize smiled grimly. "I checked that. There are five planets ofmoderate size. No gas giants.""And are any of the five planets habitable?""The computer gives no information at all about the planets, otherthan their number, and the fact that they aren't large.""Oh," said Pelorat deflated20.
Trevize said, "That's nothing to be disappointed about. None of theSpacer worlds are to be found in the computer at all. The informationon Alpha itself is minimal21. These things are hidden deliberately and ifalmost nothing is known about Alpha's companion, that might almost beregarded as a good sign.""Then," said Bliss, in a business-like manner, "what you are planningto do is this visit the companion and, if that draws a blank,return to Alpha itself.""Yes. And this time when we reach the island of New Earth, we willbe prepared. We will examine the entire island meticulously22 beforelanding and, Bliss, I expect you to use your mental abilities toshield "And at that moment, the Far Star lurched slightly, as thoughit had undergone a ship-sized hiccup23, and Trevize cried out, halfwaybetween anger and perplexity, "Who's at the controls?"And even as he asked, he knew very well who was.
95Fallom, at the computer console, was completelyabsorbed. Her small, long-fingered hands were stretched wide in order tofit the faintly gleaming handmarks on the desk. Fallom's hands seemedto sink into the material of the desk, even though it was clearly feltto be hard and slippery.
She had seen Trevize hold his hands so on a number of occasions,and she hadn't seen him do more than that, though it was quite plain toher that in so doing he controlled the ship.
On occasion, Fallom had seen Trevize close his eyes, and she closedhers now. After a moment or two, it was almost as though she hearda faint, far-off voice far off, but sounding in her own head,through (she dimly realized) her transducer-lobes. They were even moreimportant than her hands. She strained to make out the words.
Instructions, it said, almost pleadingly. What are yourinstructions? Fallom didn't say anything. She had never witnessed Trevize sayinganything to the computer but she knew what it was that she wantedwith all her heart. She wanted to go back to Solaria, to the comfortingendlessness of the mansion24, to Jemby by She wanted to go there and, as she thought of the world she loved,she imagined it visible on the viewscreen as she had seen other worldsshe didn't want. She opened her eyes and stared at the viewscreen willingsome other world there than this hateful Earth, then staring at what shesaw, imagining it to be Solaria. She hated the empty Galaxy to whichshe had been introduced against her will. Tears came to her eyes, andthe ship trembled.
She could feel that tremble, and she swayed a little in response.
And then she heard loud steps in the corridor outside and, when sheopened her eyes, Trevize's face, distorted, filled her vision, blockingout the viewscreen, which held all she wanted. He was shouting something,but she paid no attention. It was he who had taken her from Solaria bykilling Bander, and it was he who was preventing her from returning bythinking only of Earth, and she was not going to listen to him.
She was going to take the ship to Solaria, and, with the intensityof her resolve, it trembled again.
96Bliss clutched wildly at Trevize'sarm. "Don't! Don't!"She clung strongly, holding him back, while Pelorat stood, confusedand frozen, in the background.
Trevize was shouting, "Take your hands off the computer! Bliss,don't get in my way. I don't want to hurt you."Bliss said, in a tone that seemed almost exhausted26, "Don't offerviolence to the child. I'd have to hurt you againstall instructions."Trevize's eyes darted27 wildly from Fallom to Bliss. He said, "Thenyou get her off, Bliss. Now!"Bliss pushed him away with surprising strength (drawing it, Trevizethought afterward28, from Gaia, perhaps).
"Fallom," she said, "lift your hands.""No," shrieked29 Fallom. "I want the ship to go to Solaria. I want itto go there. There." She nodded toward the viewscreen with her head,unwilling to let even one hand release its pressure on the desk forthe purpose.
But Bliss reached for the child's shoulders and, as her hands touchedFallom, the youngster began to tremble.
Bliss's voice grew soft. "Now, Fallom, tell the computer to be asit was and come with me. Come with me." Her hands stroked the child,who collapsed30 in an agony of weeping.
Fallom's hands left the desk, and Bliss, catching31 her under thearmpits, lifted her into a standing32 position. She turned her, held herfirmly against her breast, and allowed the child to smother33 her wrenchingsobs there.
Bliss said to Trevize, who was now standing dumbly in the doorway34,"Step out of the way, Trevize, and don't touch either of us as wepass."Trevize stepped quickly to one side.
Bliss paused a moment, saying in a low voice to Trevize, "I had to getinto her mind for a moment. If I've caused any damage, I won't forgiveyou easily."It was Trevize's impulse to tell her he didn't care a cubic millimeterof vacuum for Fallom's mind; that it was the computer for which hefeared. Against the concentrated glare of Gaia, however (surely it wasn'tonly Bliss whose sole expression could inspire the moment of cold terrorhe felt), he kept silent.
He remained silent for a perceptible period, and motionless as well,after Bliss and Fallom had disappeared into their room. He remained so,in fact, until Pelorat said softly, "Golan, are you all right? She didn'thurt you, did she?"Trevize shook his head vigorously, as though to shake off the touchof paralysis35 that had afflicted36 him. "I'm all right. The real questionis whether that's all right." He sat down at the computerconsole, his hands resting on the two handmarks which Fallom's handshad so recently covered.
"Well?" said Pelorat anxiously.
Trevize shrugged. "It seems to respond normally. I might conceivablyfind something wrong later on, but there's nothing that seems offnow." Then, more angrily, "The computer should not combine effectivelywith any hands other than mine, but in that hermaphrodite's case, itwasn't the hands alone. It was the transducer-lobes, I'm sure ""But what made the ship shake? It shouldn't do that, should it?""No. It's a gravitic ship and we shouldn't have these inertialeffects. But that she-monster " He paused, looking angry again.
"Yes?""I suspect she faced the computer with two self-contradictory demands,and each with such force that the computer had no choice but to attemptto do both things at once. In the attempt to do the impossible, thecomputer must have released the inertia-free condition of the shipmomentarily. At least that's what I think happened."And then, somehow, his face smoothed out. "And that might be agood thing, too, for it occurs to me now that all my talk about AlphaCentauri and its companion was flapdoodle. I know now where Earth musthave transferred its secret."97Pelorat stared, then ignored the final remark andwent back to an earlier puzzle. "In what way did Fallom ask for twoself-contradictory things?""Well, she said she wanted the ship to go to Solaria.""Yes. Of course, she would.""But what did she mean by Solaria? She can't recognize Solaria fromspace. She's never really seen it from space. She was asleep when weleft that world in a hurry. And despite her readings in your library,together with whatever Bliss has told her, I imagine she can't reallygrasp the truth of a Galaxy of hundreds of billions of stars and millionsof populated planets. Brought up, as she was, underground and alone,it is all she can do to grasp the bare concept that there are differentworlds but how many? Two? Three? Four? To her any world she seesis likely to be Solaria, and given the strength of her wishful thinking,is Solaria. And since I presume Bliss has tried to quiet her by hintingthat if we don't find Earth, we'll take her back to Solaria, she mayeven have worked up the notion that Solaria is close to Earth.""But how can you tell this, Golan? What makes you think it's so?""She as much as told us so, Janov, when we burst in upon her. She criedout that she wanted to go to Solaria and then added `there there,'
nodding her head at the viewscreen. And what is on the viewscreen? Earth'ssatellite. It wasn't there when I left the machine before dinner; Earthwas. But Fallom must have pictured the satellite in her mind when sheasked for Solaria, and the computer, in response, must therefore havefocused on the satellite. Believe me, Janov, I know how this computerworks. Who would know better?"Pelorat looked at the thick crescent of light on the viewscreen andsaid thoughtfully, "It was called `moon' in at least one of Earth'slanguages; `Luna,' in another language. Probably many other names,too. Imagine the confusion, old chap, on a world with numerouslanguages the misunderstandings, the complications, the ""Moon?" said Trevize. "Well, that's simple enough. Then, too,come to think of it, it may be that the child tried, instinctively,to move the ship by means of its transducer-lobes, using the ship's ownenergy-source, and that may have helped produce the momentary37 inertialconfusion. But none of that matters, Janov. What does matter is thatall this has brought this moon yes, I like the name to thescreen and magnified it, and there it still is. I'm looking at it now,and wondering.""Wondering what, Golan?""At the size of it. We tend to ignore satellites, Janov. They'resuch little things, when they exist at all. This one is different,though. It's a world . It has a diameter of about thirty-fivehundred kilometers.""A world? Surely you wouldn't call it a world. It can't behabitable. Even a thirty-five-hundred-kilometer diameter is too small. Ithas no atmosphere. I can tell that just looking at it. No clouds. Thecircular curve against space is sharp, so is the inner curve that boundsthe light and dark hemisphere."Trevize nodded, "You're getting to be a seasoned space traveler,Janov. You're right. No air. No water. But that only means the moon'snot habitable on its unprotected surface. What about underground?""Underground?" said Pelorat doubtfully.
"Yes. Underground. Why not? Earth's cities were underground, you tellme. We know that Trantor was underground. Comporellon has much of itscapital city underground. The Solarian mansions38 were almost entirelyunderground. It's a very common state of affairs.""But, Golan, in every one of these cases, people were living on ahabitable planet. The surface was habitable, too, with an atmosphereand with an ocean. Is it possible to live underground when the surfaceis uninhabitable??
"Come, Janov, think! Where are we living right now? The Far Star is a tiny world that has an uninhabitable surface. There's no air orwater on the outside. Yet we live inside in perfect comfort. The Galaxyis full of space stations and space settlements of infinite variety,to say nothing of spaceships, and they're all uninhabitable except forthe interior. Consider the moon a gigantic spaceship.""With a crew inside?""Yes. Millions of people, for all we know; and plants and animals;and an advanced technology. Look, Janov, doesn't it make sense? IfEarth, in its last days, could send out a party of Settlers to a planetorbiting Alpha Centauri; and if, possibly with Imperial help, they couldattempt to terraform it, seed its oceans, build dry land where there wasnone; could Earth not also send a party to its satellite and terraformits interior?"Pelorat said reluctantly, "I suppose so.""It would be done. If Earth has something to hide,why send it over a parsec away, when it could be hidden on a world lessthan a hundred millionth the distance to Alpha. And the moon would be amore efficient hiding place from the psychological standpoint. No onewould think of satellites in connection with life. For that matter Ididn't. With the moon an inch before my nose, my thoughts went haringoff to Alpha. If it hadn't been for Fallom " His lips tightened,and he shook his head. "I suppose I'll have to credit her for that. Blisssurely will if I don't."Pelorat said, "But see here, old man, if there's something hidingunder the surface of the moon, how do we find it? There must be millionsof square kilometers of surface ""Roughly forty million.""And we would have to inspect all of that, looking for what? Anopening? Some sort of airlock?"Trevize said, "Put that way, it would seem rather a task, but we'renot just looking for objects, we're looking for life; and for intelligentlife at that. And we've got Bliss, and detecting intelligence is hertalent, isn't it?"98Bliss looked at Trevize accusingly. "I've finally got herto sleep. I had the hardest time. She was wild . Fortunately,I don't think I've damaged her."Trevize said coldly, "You might try removing her fixation on Jemby,you know, since I certainly have no intention of ever going back toSolaria.""Just remove her fixation, is that it? What do you know about suchthings, Trevize? You've never sensed a mind. You haven't the faintestidea of its complexity39. If you knew anything at all about it, you wouldn'ttalk about removing a fixation as though it were just a matter of scoopingjam out of a jar.""Well, weaken it at least.""I might weaken it a bit, after a month of careful dethreading.""What do you mean, dethreading?""To someone who doesn't know, it can't be explained.""What are you going to do with the child, then?""I don't know yet; it will take a lot of consideration.""In that case," said Trevize, "let me tell you what we're going todo with the ship.""I know what you're going to do. It's back to New Earth and another tryat the lovely Hiroko, if she'll promise not to infect you this time."Trevize kept his face expressionless. He said, "No, as a matter offact. I've changed my mind. We're going to the moon which is thename of the satellite, according to Janov.""The satellite? Because it's the nearest world at hand? I hadn'tthought of that.""Nor I. Nor would anyone have thought of it. Nowhere in the Galaxyis there a satellite worth thinking about but this satellite,in being large, is unique. What's more, Earth's anonymity40 covers it aswell. Anyone who can't find the Earth can't find the moon, either.""Is it habitable?""Not on the surface, but it is not radioactive, not at all, so itisn't absolutely uninhabitable. It may have life it may be teemingwith life, in fact under the surface. And, of course, you'll beable to tell if that's so, once we get close enough."Bliss shrugged. "I'll try. But, then, what made you suddenlythink of trying the satellite?"Trevize said quietly, "Something Fallom did when she was at thecontrols."Bliss waited, as though expecting more, then shrugged again. "Whateverit was, I suspect you wouldn't have gotten the inspiration if you hadfollowed your own impulse and killed her.""I had no intention of killing25 her, Bliss."Bliss waved her hand. "All right. Let it be. Are we moving towardthe moon now?""Yes. As a matter of caution, I'm not going too fast, but if all goeswell, we'll be in its vicinity in thirty hours."99The moon was a wasteland. Trevize watched the brightdaylit portion drifting past them below. It was a monotonous41 panoramaof crater42 rings and mountainous areas, and of shadows black against thesunlight. There were subtle color changes in the soil and occasionalsizable stretches of flatness, broken by small craters43.
As they approached the nightside, the shadows grew longer and finallyfused together. For a while, behind them, peaks glittered in the sun,like fat stars, far outshining their brethren in the sky. Then theydisappeared and below was only the fainter light of the Earth in thesky, a large bluish-white sphere, a little more than half full. The shipfinally outran the Earth, too, which sank beneath the horizon so thatunder them was unrelieved blackness, and above only the faint powderingof stars, which, to Trevize, who had been brought up on the starlessworld of Terminus, was always miracle enough.
Then, new bright stars appeared ahead, first just one or two, thenothers, expanding and thickening and finally coalescing44. And at once theypassed the terminator into the daylit side. The sun rose with infernalsplendor, while the viewscreen shifted away from it at once and polarizedthe glare of the ground beneath.
Trevize could see quite well that it was useless to hope to find anyway into the inhabited interior (if that existed) by mere45 eye inspectionof this perfectly46 enormous world.
He turned to look at Bliss, who sat beside him. She did not look atthe viewscreen; indeed, she kept her eyes closed. She seemed to havecollapsed into the chair rather than to be sitting in it.
Trevize, wondering if she were asleep, said softly, "Do you detectanything else?"Bliss shook her head very slightly. "No," she whispered. "There wasjust that faint whiff. You'd better take me back there. Do you knowwhere that region was?""The computer knows."It was like zeroing in on a target, shifting this way and that and thenfinding it. The area in question was still deep in the nightside and,except that the Earth shone fairly low in the sky and gave the surfacea ghostly ashen47 glow between the shadows, there was nothing to make out,even though the light in the pilot-room had been blacked out for betterviewing.
Pelorat had approached and was standing anxiously in the doorway. "Havewe found anything?" he asked, in a husky whisper.
Trevize held up his hand for silence. He was watching Bliss. He knewit would be days before sunlight would return to this spot on the moon,but he also knew that for what Bliss was trying to sense, light of anykind was irrelevant48.
She said, "It's there.""Are you sure?""Yes.""And it's the only spot?""It's the only spot I've detected. Have you been over every part ofthe moon's surface?""We've been over a respectable fraction of it.""Well, then, in that respectable fraction, this is all I havedetected. It's stronger now, as though it has detectedus and it doesn't seem dangerous. The feeling I get is awelcoming one.""Are you sure?""It's the feeling I get."Pelorat said, "Could it be faking the feeling?"Bliss said, with a trace of hauteur49, "I would detect a fake, I assureyou."Trevize muttered something about overconfidence, then said, "Whatyou detect is intelligence, I hope.""I detect strong intelligence. Except " And an odd note enteredher voice.
"Except what?""Ssh. Don't disturb me. Let me concentrate." The last word was a meremotion of her lips.
Then she said, in faint elated surprise, "It's not human.""Not human," said Trevize, in much stronger surprise. "Are we dealingwith robots again? As on Solaria?""No." Bliss was smiling. "It's not quite robotic, either.""It has to be one or the other.""Neither." She actually chuckled50. "It's not human, and yet it's notlike any robot I've detected before."Pelorat said, "I would like to see that." He nodded his headvigorously, his eyes wide with pleasure. "It would be exciting. Somethingnew.""Something new," muttered Trevize with a sudden lift of his ownspirits and a flash of unexpected insight seemed to illuminatethe interior of his skull51.
100Down they sank to the moon's surface, in what was almostjubilation. Even Fallom had joined them now and, with the abandonmentof a youngster, was hugging herself with unbearable52 joy as though shewere truly returning to Solaria.
As for Trevize, he felt within himself a touch of sanity53 tellinghim that it was strange that Earth or whatever of Earth was onthe moon which had taken such measures to keep off all others,should now be taking measures to draw them in. Could the purpose be thesame in either way? Was it a case of "If you can't make them avoid you,draw them in and destroy them?" Either way, would not Earth's secretremain untouched?
But that thought faded and drowned in the flood of joy that deepenedsteadily as they came closer to the moon's surface. Yet over and beyondthat, he managed to cling to the moment of illumination that had reachedhim just before they had begun their gliding54 dive to the surface of theEarth's satellite.
He seemed to have no doubt as to where the ship was going. Theywere just above the tops of the rolling hills now, and Trevize, atthe computer, felt no need to do anything. It was as though he and thecomputer, both, were being guided, and he felt only an enormous euphoriaat having the weight of responsibility taken away from him.
They were sliding parallel to the ground, toward a cliff that raisedits menacing height as a barrier against them; a barrier glisteningfaintly in Earth-shine and in the light-beam of the Far Star . Theapproach of certain collision seemed to mean nothing to Trevize, and itwas with no surprise whatever that he became aware that the section ofcliff directly ahead had fallen away and that a corridor, gleaming inartificial light, had opened before them.
The ship slowed to a crawl, apparently55 of its own accord, and fittedneatly into the opening entering sliding along Theopening closed behind it, and another then opened before it. Throughthe second opening went the ship, into a gigantic hall that seemed thehollowed interior of a mountain.
The ship halted and all aboard rushed to the airlock eagerly. Itoccurred to none of them, not even to Trevize, to check. whether theremight be a breathable atmosphere outside or any atmosphere atall.
There was air, however. It was breathable and it wascomfortable. They looked about themselves with the pleased air of peoplewho had somehow come home and it was only after a while that they becameaware of a man who was waiting politely for them to approach.
He was tall, and his expression was grave. His hair was bronze incolor, and cut short. His cheekbones were broad, his eyes were bright,and his clothing was rather after the fashion one saw in ancient historybooks. Although he seemed sturdy and vigorous there was, just the same,an air of weariness about him not in anything that one could see,but rather in something appealing to no recognizable sense.
It was Fallom who reacted first. With a loud, whistling scream, sheran toward the man, waving her arms and crying, "Jemby! Jemby!" in abreathless fashion.
She never slackened her pace, and when she was close enough, the manstooped and lifted her high in the air. She threw her arms about his neck,sobbing, and still gasping56, "Jemby!"The others approached more soberly and Trevize said, slowly anddistinctly (could this man understand Galactic?), "We ask pardon,sir. This child has lost her protector and is searching for itdesperately. How it came to fasten on you is a puzzle to us, since itis seeking a robot; a mechanical "The man spoke57 for the first time. His voice was utilitarian58 ratherthan musical, and there was a faint air of archaism clinging to it,but he spoke Galactic with perfect ease.
"I greet you all in friendship," he said and he seemedunmistakably friendly, even though his face continued to remain fixed59 inits expression of gravity. "As for this child," he went on, "she showsperhaps a greater perceptivity than you think, for I am a robot. My nameis Daneel Olivaw."
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bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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moodily
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| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
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analyzing
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| v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析 | |
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gilding
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severely
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preclude
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| vt.阻止，排除，防止；妨碍 | |
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flute
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| n.长笛；v.吹笛 | |
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steadily
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galaxy
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| n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物) | |
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thoroughly
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fluorescent
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| adj.荧光的，发出荧光的 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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kernel
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| n.(果实的)核，仁；(问题)的中心，核心 | |
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activated
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| adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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binary
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| adj.二，双；二进制的；n.双(体)；联星 | |
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deflated
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| adj. 灰心丧气的 | |
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minimal
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| adj.尽可能少的，最小的 | |
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meticulously
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| adv.过细地，异常细致地；无微不至；精心 | |
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hiccup
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| n.打嗝 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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smother
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| vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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paralysis
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| n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症) | |
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afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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mansions
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| n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
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complexity
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| n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物 | |
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anonymity
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| n.the condition of being anonymous | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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crater
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| n.火山口，弹坑 | |
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craters
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| n.火山口( crater的名词复数 )；弹坑等 | |
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coalescing
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| v.联合，合并( coalesce的现在分词 ) | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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ashen
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| adj.灰的 | |
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irrelevant
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| adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的 | |
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hauteur
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| n.傲慢 | |
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chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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unbearable
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| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
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sanity
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| n.心智健全，神智正常，判断正确 | |
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gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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utilitarian
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| adj.实用的，功利的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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