"Had enough?" said Trevize. "I assure you, the Five Sisters can never be seen exactly as we have seen it from any populated world but the worlds of the Sayshell planetary system."
Pelorat said, "The Sayshellian view might have been exported to other planets. There were many proverbs in Imperial times - some of which linger into our own, in fact - that are Trantor-centered."
"With Sayshell as secretive about Gaia as we know it to be? And why should worlds outside the Sayshell Union be interested? Why would they care about a 'little Brother of the Five Sisters' if there were nothing in the skies at which to point?"
"Maybe you're right."
"Then don't you see that your original information must have come from Sayshell itself? Not just from somewhere in the Union, but precisely from the planetary system to which the capital world of the Union belongs."
Pelorat shook his head. "You make it sound as though it must, but it's not something I remember. I simply don't."
"Nevertheless, you do see the force of my argument, don't you?"
"Yes, I do."
"Next. - When do you suppose the legend could have originated?"
"Anytime. I should suppose it developed far back in the Imperial Era. It has the feel of an ancient..."
"You are wrong, Janov. The Five Sisters are moderately close to Sayshell Planet, which is why they're so bright. Four of them have high proper motions in consequence and no two are part of a family, so that they move in different directions. Watch what happens as I shift the map backward in time slowly."
Again the red circle that marked the site of Gaia remained in place, but the pentagon slowly fell apart, as four of the stars drifted in different directions and the fifth shifted slightly.
"Look at that, Janov," said Trevize. "Would you say that was a regular pentagon?"
"Clearly lopsided," said Pelorat.
"And is Gaia at the center?"
"No, it's well to the side."
"Very well. That is how the asterism looked one hundred and fifty years ago. One and a half centuries, that's all. - The material you received concerning 'the Pentagon's Center' and so on made no real sense till this century anywhere, not even in Sayshell. The material you received had to originate in Sayshell and sometime in this century, perhaps in the last decade. And you got it, even though Sayshell is so close-mouthed about Gaia."
Trevize put the lights on, turned the star map off, and sat there staring sternly at Pelorat.
Pelorat said, "I'm confused. What's this about?"
"You tell me. Consider! Somehow I got the idea into my head that the Second Foundation still existed. I was giving a talk during my election campaign. I started a bit of emotional byplay designed to squeeze votes out of the undecided with a dramatic 'If the Second Foundation still existed - " and later that day I thought to myself: What if it did still exist? I began reading history books and within a week, I was convinced. There was no real evidence, but I have always felt that I had the knack of snatching the right conclusion out of a welter of speculation. This time, though..."
Trevize brooded a bit, then went on. "And look at what has happened since. Of all people, I chose Compor as my confidant and he betrayed me. Whereupon Mayor Branno had me arrested and sent into exile. Why into exile, rather than just having me imprisoned, or trying to threaten me into silence? And why in a very late-model ship which gives me extraordinary powers of Jumping through the Galaxy? And why, of all things, does she insist I take you and suggest that I help you search for Earth?
"And why was I so certain that we should not go to Trantor? I was convinced you had a better target for our investigations and at once you come up with the mystery world of Gaia, concerning which, as it now turns out, you gained information under very puzzling circumstances.
"We go to Sayshell - the first natural stop - and at once we encounter Compor, who gives us a circumstantial story about Earth and its death. He then assures us its location is in the Sirius Sector and urges us to go there."
Pelorat said, "There you are. You seem to be implying that all circumstances are forcing us toward Gaia, but, as you say, Compor tried to persuade us to go elsewhere."
"And in response, I was determined to continue on our original line of investigation out of my sheer distrust for the man. Don't you suppose that that was what he might have been counting on? He may have deliberately told us to go elsewhere just to keep us from doing so."
"That's mere romance," muttered Pelorat.
"Is it? Let's go on. We get in touch with Quintesetz simply because he was handy..."
"Not at all," said Pelorat. "I recognized his name."
"It seemed familiar to you. You had never read anything he had written - that you could recall. Why was it familiar to you? - In any case, it turned out he had read a paper of yours and was overwhelmed by it - and how likely was that? You yourself admit your work is not widely known.
"What's more, the young lady leading us to him quite gratuitously mentions Gaia and goes on to tell us it is in hyperspace, as though to be sure we keep it in mind. When we ask Quintesetz about it, he behaves as though he doesn't want to talk about it, but he doesn't throw us out - even though I am rather rude to him. He takes us to his home instead and, on the way there, goes to the trouble of pointing out the Five Sisters. He even makes sure we note the dim star at the center. Why? Is not all this an extraordinary concatenation of coincidence?"
Pelorat said, "If you list it like that..."
"List it any way you please," said Trevize. "I don't believe in extraordinary concatenations of coincidence."