"As for the Second Foundation, we have not been searching for Earth and, clearly, steps have been taken without our knowledge to keep any information of Earth away from us. The First Foundation is now so close to finding Earth and we are so far from doing so, that..."
Gendibal paused and Delarmi said, "That what? Finish your childish tale. Do you know anything or don't you?"
"I don't know everything, Speaker. I have not penetrated the total depth of the web that is encircling us, but I know the web is there. I don't know what the significance of finding Earth might be, but I am certain the Second Foundation is in enormous danger and, with it, the Seldon Plan and the future of all humanity."
Delarmi rose to her feet. She was not smiling and she spoke in a tense but tightly controlled voice. "Trash? First Speaker, put an end to this! What is at issue is the accused's behavior. What he tells us is not only childish but irrelevant. He cannot extenuate his behavior by building a cobwebbery of theories that makes sense only in his own mind. I call for a vote on the matter now - a unanimous vote for conviction."
"Wait," said Gendibal sharply. "I have been told I would have an opportunity to defend myself, and there remains one more item - one more. Let me present that, and you may proceed to a vote with no further objection from me."
The First Speaker rubbed his eyes wearily. "You may continue, Speaker Gendibal. Let me point out to the Table that the conviction of an impeached Speaker is so weighty and, indeed, unprecedented an action that we dare not give the appearance of not allowing a full defense. Remember, too, that even if the verdict satisfies us, it may not satisfy those who come after us, and I cannot believe that a Second Foundationer of any level - let alone the Speakers of the Table - would not have a full appreciation of the importance of historical perspective. Let us so act that we can be certain of the approval of the Speakers who will follow us in the coming centuries."
Delarmi said bitterly, "We run the risk, First Speaker, of having posterity laugh at us for belaboring the obvious. To continue the defense is your decision."
Gendibal drew a deep breath. "In line with your decision, then, First Speaker, I wish to call a witness - a young woman I met three days ago and without whom I might not have reached the Table meeting at all, instead of merely being late."
"Is the woman you speak of known to the Table?" asked the First Speaker.
"No, First Speaker. She is native to this planet."
Delarmi's eyes opened wide. "A Hamishwoman?"
"Indeed! Just so!"
Delarmi said, "What have we to do with one of those? Nothing they say can be of any importance. They don't exist!"
Gendibal's lips drew back tightly over his teeth in something that could not possibly have been mistaken for a smile. He said sharply, "Physically all the Hamish exist. They are human beings and play their part in Seldon's Plan. In their indirect protection of the Second Foundation, they play a crucial part. I wish to dissociate myself from Speaker Delarmi's inhumanity and hope that her remark will be retained in the record and be considered hereafter as evidence for her possible unfitness for the position of Speaker. - Will the rest of the Table agree with the Speaker's incredible remark and deprive me of my witness?"
The First Speaker said, "Call your witness, Speaker."
Gendibal's lips relaxed into the normal expressionless features of a Speaker under pressure. His mind was guarded and fenced in, but behind this protective barrier, he felt that the danger point had passed and that he had won.
Sura Novi looked strained. Her eyes were wide and her lower lip was faintly trembling. Her hands were slowly clenching and unclenching and her chest was heaving slightly. Her hair had been pulled back and braided into a bun; her sun-darkened face twitched now and then. Her hands fumbled at the pleats of her long skirt. She looked hastily around the Table - from Speaker to Speaker - her wide eyes filled with awe.
They glanced back at her with varying degrees of contempt and discomfort. Delarmi kept her eyes well above the top of Novi's head, oblivious to her presence.
Carefully Gendibal touched the skin of her mind, soothing and relaxing it. He might have done the same by patting her hand or stroking her cheek, but here, under these circumstances, that was impossible, of course.
He said, "First Speaker, I am numbing this woman's conscious awareness so that her testimony wilt not be distorted by fear. Will you please observe - will the rest of you, if you wish, join me and observe that I will, in no way, modify her mind?"
Novi had started back in terror at Gendibal's voice, and Gendibal was not surprised at that. He realized that she had never heard Second Foundationers of high rank speak among themselves. She had never experienced that odd swift combination of sound, tone, expression and thought. The terror, however, faded as quickly as it came, as he gentled her mind.
A look of placidity crossed her face.
"There is a chair behind you, Novi," Gendibal said. "Please sit down."
Novi curtsied in a small and clumsy manner and sat down, holding herself stiffly.
She talked quite clearly, but Gendibal made her repeat when her Hamish accent became too thick. And because he kept his own speech formal in deference to the Table, he occasionally had to repeat his own questions to her.
The tale of the fight between himself and Rufirant was described quietly and well.
Gendibal said, "Did you see all this yourself, Novi?"
"Nay, Master, or I would have sooner-stopped it. Rufirant be good fellow, but not quick in head."
"But you described it all. How is that possible if you did not see it all?