"Yes, I was, but not because of any mystic grip I have on certainty. If I chose Galaxia, it was through ordinary reasoning - the sort of reasoning that anyone else might have used to come to a decision. Would you care to have me explain?"
"I most certainly would, Trev."
Trevize said, "There were three things I might have done. I might have joined the First Foundation, or joined the Second Foundation, or joined Gaia.
"If I had joined the First Foundation, Mayor Branno would have taken immediate action to establish domination over the Second Foundation and over Gaia. If I had joined the Second Foundation, Speaker Gendibal would have taken immediate action to establish domination over the First Foundation and over Gaia. In either case, what would have taken place would have been irreversible - and if either were the wrong solution, it would have been irreversibly catastrophic.
"If I joined with Gaia, however, then the First Foundation and the Second Foundation would each have been left with the conviction of having won a relatively minor victory. All would then have continued as before, since the building of Galaxia, I had already been told, would take generations, even centuries.
"Joining with Gaia was my way of temporizing, then, and of making sure that there would remain time to modify matters - or even reverse them - if my decision were wrong."
Dom raised his eyebrows. His old, almost cadaverous face remained otherwise expressionless. He said in his piping voice, "And is it your opinion that your decision may turn out wrong?"
Trevize shrugged. "I don't think so, but there is one thing I must do in order that I might know. It is my intention to visit Earth, if I can find that world."
"We will certainly not stop you if you wish to leave us, Trev..."
"I do not fit on your world."
"No more than Pel does, yet you are as welcome to remain as he is. Still, we will not hold you. - But tell me, why do you wish to visit Earth?"
Trevize said, "I rather think you understand."
"I do not."
"There is a piece of information you withheld from me, Dom. Perhaps you had your reasons, but I wish you had not."
Dom said, "I do not follow you."
"Look, Dom, in order to make my decision, I used my computer and for a brief moment I found myself in touch with the minds of those about me - Mayor Branno, Speaker Gendibal, Novi. I caught glimpses of a number of matters that, in isolation, meant little to me, as, for example, the various effects Gaia, through Novi, had produced on Trantor - effects that were intended to maneuver the Speaker into going to Gaia."
"Yes?"
"And one of those things was the clearing from Trantor's library of all references to Earth."
"The clearing of references to Earth?"
"Exactly. So Earth must be important - and not only does it appear that the Second Foundation must know nothing about it, but that I must not, either. And if I am to take the responsibility for the direction of Galactic development, I do not willingly accept ignorance. Would you consider telling me why it was so important to keep knowledge of Earth hidden?"
Dom said solemnly, "Trev, Gaia knows nothing about such clearance. Nothing!"
"Are you telling me that Gaia is not responsible?"
"It is not responsible."
Trevize thought for a while, the tip of his tongue moving slowly and meditatively over his lips. "Who was responsible, then?"
"I don't know. I can see no purpose in it."
The two men stared at each other and then Dom said, "You are right. We had seemed to have reached a most satisfactory conclusion, but while this point remains unsettled, we dare not rest. - Stay a while with us and let us see what we can reason out. Then you can leave, with our full help."
"Thank you," said Trevize.
THE END