She said, "Come with me, Councilman. If you are going to talk nonsense then, for your own sake, the fewer who hear you, the better."
She led the way in a brisk stride, and Trevize followed, feeling shrunken in her massive shadow, a feeling he had never before had with a woman.
They entered an elevator and, as the door closed behind them, she said, "We are alone now and if you are under the illusion, Councilman, that you can use force with me in order to accomplish some imagined purpose, please forget that." The singsong in her voice grew more pronounced as she said, with clear amusement, "You look like a reasonably strong specimen, but I assure you I will have no trouble in breaking your arm-or your back, if I must. I am armed, but I will not have to use any weapon."
Trevize scratched at his cheek as his eyes drifted first down, then up her body. "Minister, I can hold my own in a wrestling match with any man my weight, but I have already decided to forfeit a bout with you. I know when I am outclassed."
"Good," said the Minister, and looked pleased.
Trevize said, "Where are we going, Minister?"
"Down! Quite far down. Don't be upset, however. In the hyperdramas, this would be a preliminary to taking you to a dungeon, I suppose, but we have no dungeons on Comporellon-only reasonable prisons. We are going to my private apartment; not as romantic as a dungeon in the bad old Imperial days, but more comfortable."
Trevize estimated that they were at least fifty meters below the surface of the planet, when the elevator door slid to one side and they stepped out.
20.
TREVIZE looked about the apartment with clear surprise.
The Minister said grimly, "Do you disapprove of my living quarters, Councilman?"
"No, I have no reason to, Minister. I am merely surprised. I find it unexpected. The impression I had of your world from what little I saw and heard since arriving was that it was an-an abstemious one, eschewing useless luxury."
"So it is, Councilman. Our resources are limited, and our life must be as harsh as our climate."
"But this, Minister," and Trevize held out both hands as though to embrace the room where, for the first time on this world, he saw color, where the couches were well cushioned, where the light from the illuminated walls was soft, and where the floor was force-carpeted so that steps were springy and silent. "This is surely luxury."
"We eschew, as you say, Councilman, useless luxury; ostentatious luxury; wastefully excessive luxury. This, however, is private luxury, which has its use. I work hard and bear much responsibility. I need a place where I can forget, for a while, the difficulties of my post."
Trevize said, "And do all Comporellians live like this when the eyes of others are averted, Minister?"
"It depends on the degree of work and responsibility. Few can afford to, or deserve to, or, thanks to our code of ethics, want to."
"But you, Minister, can afford to, deserve to-and want to?"
The Minister said, "Rank has its privileges as well as its duties. And now sit down, Councilman, and tell me of this madness of yours." She sat down on the couch, which gave slowly under her solid weight, and pointed to an equally soft chair in which Trevize would be facing her at not too great a distance."
Trevize sat down. "Madness, Minister?"
The Minister relaxed visibly, leaning her right elbow on a pillow. "In private conversation, we need not observe the rules of formal discourse too punctiliously. You may call me Lizalor. I will call you, Trevize. Tell me what is on your mind, Trevize, and let us inspect it."
Trevize crossed his legs and sat back in his chair. "See here, Lizalor, you gave me the choice of either agreeing to give up the ship voluntarily, or of being subjected to a formal trial. In both cases, you would end up with the ship. Yet you have been going out of your way to persuade me to adopt the former alternative. You are willing to offer me another ship to replace mine, so that my friends and I might go anywhere we chose. We might even stay here on Comporellon and qualify for citizenship, if we chose. In smaller things, you were willing to allow me fifteen minutes to consult with my friends. You were even willing to bring me here to your private apartment, while my friends are now, presumably, in comfortable quarters. In short, you are bribing me, Lizalor, rather desperately, to grant you the ship without the necessity of a trial."
"Come, Trevize, are you in no mood to give me credit for humane impulses?"
"None."
"Or the thought that voluntary surrender would be quicker and more convenient than a trial would be?"
"No! I would offer a different suggestion."
"Which is?"
"A trial has one thing in its strong disfavor; it is a public affair. You have several times referred to this world's rigorous legal system, and I suspect it would be difficult to arrange a trial without its being fully recorded. If were so, the Foundation would know of it and you would have to hand the ship to it once the trial was over."
"Of course," said Lizalor, without expression. "It is the Foundation ** owns the ship."
"But," said Trevize, "a private agreement with me would not have to be placed on formal record. You could have the ship and, since the foundation would not know of the matter-they don't even know that we are on this world-Comporellon could keep the ship. That, I am sure, is what you intend to do."
"Why should we do that?" She was still without expression. "Are we not part of the Foundation Confederation?"
"Not quite. Your status is that of an Associated Power. In any map on which the member worlds of the Federation are shown in red, Comporellon and its dependent worlds would show up as a patch of pale pink."