Her buttocks were prominent, but not displeasingly so. Her face, of course, remained plain, but when the tan of outdoor life faded and she learned how to care for her complexion, it would not look downright ugly.
By the Old Empire, that woman did think Novi was to be his mistress. She had tried to make her beautiful for him.
And then he thought: Well, why not?
Novi would have to face the Speaker's Table - and the more attractive she seemed, the more easily he would be able to get his point across.
It was with this thought that the message from the First Speaker reached him. It had the kind of appropriateness that was common in a mentalic society. It was called, more or less informally, the "Coincidence Effect." If you think vaguely of someone when someone is thinking vaguely of you, there is a mutual, escalating stimulation which in a matter of seconds makes the two thoughts sharp, decisive, and, to all appearances, simultaneous.
It can be startling even to those who understand it intellectually, particularly if the preliminary vague thoughts were so dim - on one side or the other (or both) - as to have gone consciously unnoticed.
"I can't be with you this evening, Novi," said Gendibal. "I have scholar work to do. I will take you to your room. There will be some books there and you can practice your reading. I will show you how to use the signal if you need help with anything - and I will see you tomorrow."
Gendibal said politely, "First Speaker?"
Shandess merely nodded. He looked dour and fully his age. He looked as though he were a man who did not drink, but who could use a stiff one. He said finally, "I 'called' you..."
"No messenger. I presumed from the direct 'call' that it was important."
"It is. Your quarry - the First Foundationer - Trevize..."
"Yes?"
"He is not coming to Trantor."
Gendibal did not look surprised. "Why should he? The information we received was that he was leaving with a professor of ancient history who was seeking Earth."
"Yes, the legendary Primal Planet. And that is why he should be coming to Trantor. After all, does the professor know where Earth is? Do you? Do I? Can we be sure it exists at all, or ever existed? Surely they would have to come to this Library to obtain the necessary information - if it were to be obtained anywhere. I have until this hour felt that the situation was not at crisis level - that the First Foundationer would come here and that we would, through him, learn what we need to know."
"Which would certainly be the reason he is not allowed to come here."
"But where is he going, then?"
"We have not yet found out, I see."
The First Speaker said pettishly, "You seem calm about it."
Gendibal said, "I wonder if it is not better so. You want him to come to Trantor to keep him safe and use him as a source of information. Will he not, however, prove a source of more important information, involving others still more important than himself, if he goes where he wants to go and does what he wants to do - provided we do not lose sight of him?"
"Not enough!" said the First Speaker. "you have persuaded me of the existence of this new enemy of ours and now I cannot rest."
"Worse, I have persuaded myself that we must secure Trevize or we have lost everything. I cannot rid myself of the feeling that he - and nothing else - is the key."
Gendibal said intensely, "Whatever happens, we will not lose, First Speaker. That would only have been possible, if these Anti-Mules, to use your phrase again, had continued to burrow beneath us unnoticed. But we know they are there now. We no longer work blind. At the next meeting of the Table, if we can work together, we shall begin the counterattack."
The First Speaker said, "It was not the matter of Trevize that had me send out the call to you. The subject came up first only because it seemed to me a personal defeat. I had misanalyzed that aspect of the situation. I was wrong to place personal pique above general policy and I apologize. There is something else."
"More serious, First Speaker?"
"More serious, Speaker Gendibal." The First Speaker sighed and drummed his fingers on the desk while Gendibal stood patiently before it and waited.
The First Speaker finally said, in a mild way, as though that would ease the blow, "At an emergency meeting of the Table, initiated by Speaker Delarmi..."
"Without your consent, First Speaker?"
"For what she wanted, she needed the consent of only three other Speakers, not including myself. At the emergency meeting that was then called, you were impeached, Speaker Gendibal. You have been accused as being unworthy of the post of Speaker and you must be tried. This is the first time in over three centuries that a bill of impeachment has been carried out against a Speaker..."
Gendibal said, fighting to keep down any sign of anger, "Surely you did not vote for my impeachment yourself."
"I did not, but I was alone. The rest of the Table was unanimous and the vote was ten to one for impeachment. The requirement for impeachment, as you know, is eight votes including the First Speaker - or ten without him."
"But T was not present."
"You would not have been able to vote."
"I might have spoken in my defense."
"Not at that stage. The precedents are few, but clear. Your defense will be at the trial, which will come as soon as possible, naturally."
Gendibal bowed his head in thought. Then he said, "This does not concern me overmuch, First Speaker. Your initial instinct, I think, was right. The matter of Trevize takes precedence. May I suggest you delay the trial on that ground?"