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.Wewon t be able to make a Jump for several days. And you ll be spending them agonizing over the possibilities.Find out now.Waiting won t change matters. Trevize sat there with his lips compressed for a moment, thensaid, You re right.Very well, then-here goes. He turned to the computer, placed his hands on the handmarks onthe desk, and the viewscreen went dark.Bliss said, I ll leave you, then.I ll make you nervous if Istay. She left, with a wave of her hand. The thing is, he muttered, that we re going to be checking thecomputer s Galactic map first and even if Earth s sun is in the calculatedposition, the map should not include it.But we ll then- His voice trailed off in astonishment as the viewscreen flashedwith a background of stars.These were fairly numerous and dim, with anoccasional brighter one sparkling here and there, well scattered over the faceof the screen.But quite close to the center was a star that was brighter thanall the rest. We ve got it, said Pelorat jubilantly. We ve got it, old chap.Look how bright it is. Any star at centered co-ordinates would look bright, saidTrevize, clearly trying to fight off any initial jubilation that might provePage 239 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlunfounded. The view, after all, is presented from a distance of a parsec fromthe centered co-ordinates.Still, that centered star certainly isn t a reddwarf, or a red giant, or a hot blue-white.Wait for information; the computeris checking its data banks. There was silence for a few seconds and then Trevize said, Spectral class G-2. Another pause, then, Diameter, 1.4 millionkilometers-mass, 1.02 times that of Terminus s sun-surface temperature, 6,000absolute-rotation slow, just under thirty days-no unusual activity orirregularity. Pelorat said, Isn t all that typical of the kind of star aboutwhich habitable planets are to be found? Typical, said Trevize, nodding in the dimness. And, therefore,what we d expect Earth s sun to be like.If that is where life developed, thesun of Earth would have set the original standard. So there is a reasonable chance that there would be a habitableplanet circling it. We don t have to speculate about that, said Trevize, who soundedpuzzled indeed over the matter. The Galactic map lists it as possessing aplanet with human life-but with a question mark. Pelorat s enthusiasm grew. That s exactly what we would expect,Golan.The life-bearing planet is there, but the attempt to hide the factobscures data concerning it and leaves the makers of the map the computer usesuncertain. No, that s what bothers me, said Trevize. That snot what weshould expect.We should expect far more than that.Considering the efficiencywith which data concerning Earth has been wiped out, the makers of the mapshould not have known that life exists in the system, let alone human life.They should not even have known Earth s sun exists.The Spacer worlds aren ton the map.Why should Earth s sun be? Well, it s there, just the same.What s the use of arguing thefact? What other information about the star is given? A name. Ah! What is it? Alpha. There was a short pause, then Pelorat said eagerly, That s it,old man.That s the final bit of evidence.Consider the meaning. Does it have a meaning? said Trevize. It s just a name to me,and an odd one.It doesn t sound Galactic. Itisn t Galactic.It s in a prehistoric language of Earth, thesame one that gave us Gaia as the name of Bliss s planet. What does Alpha mean, then? Alpha is the first letter of the alphabet of that ancientlanguage.That is one of the most firmly attested scraps of knowledge we haveabout it.In ancient times, alpha was sometimes used to mean the first ofPage 240 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlanything.To call a sun Alpha, implies that it s the first sun.And wouldn tthe first sun be the one around which a planet revolved that was the firstplanet to bear human, life-Earth? Are you sure of that? Absolutely, said Pelorat. Is there anything in early legends-you re the mythologist, afterall-that gives Earth s sun some very unusual attribute? No, how can there be? It has to be standard by definition, andthe characteristics the computer has given us ate as standard as possible, Iimagine.Aren t they? Earth s sun is a single star, I suppose? Pelorat said, Well, of course! As far as I know, all inhabitedworlds orbit single stars. So I would have thought myself, said Trevize. The trouble isthat that star in the center of the viewscreen is not a single star, it is abinary.The brighter of the two stars making up the binary is indeed standardand it is that one for which the computer supplied us with data.Circling thatstar with a period of roughly eighty years, however, is another star with amass four fifths that of the brighter one.We can t see the two as separatestars with the unaided eye, but if I were to enlarge the view, I m sure wewould. Are you certain of that, Golan? said Pelorat, taken aback. It s what the computer is telling me.And if we are looking at abinary star, then it s not Earth s sun.It can t be. 71.TREVIZE broke contact with the computer, and the lightsbrightened.That was the signal, apparently, for Bliss to return, with Fallomtagging after her. Well, then, what are the results? she asked.Trevize said tonelessly, Somewhat disappointing.Where I expectedto find Earth s sun, I found a binary star, instead.Earth s sun is a singlestar, so the one centered is not it. Pelorat said, Now what, Golan? Trevize shrugged. I didn t really expect to see Earth s suncentered.Even the Spacers wouldn t settle worlds in such a way as to set upan exact sphere.Aurora, the oldest of the Spacer worlds, might have sent outsettlers of its own and that may have distorted the sphere, too.Then, too,Earth s sun may not have moved at precisely the average velocity of the Spacerworlds. Pelorat said, So the Earth can be anywhere.Is that what you rePage 241 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlsaying? No.Not quite anywhere. All these possible sources of errorcan t amount to much.Earth s sun must be in thevicinity of the co-ordinates.The star we ve spotted almost exactly at the co-ordinates must be a neighborof Earth s sun.It s startling that there should be a neighbor that so closelyresembles Earth s sun-except for being a binary-but that must be the case. But we would see Earth s sun on the map, then, wouldn t we? Imean, near Alpha? No, for I m certain Earth s sun isn t on the map at all.It wasthat which shook my confidence when we first spied Alpha.Regardless of howmuch it might resemble Earth s sun, the mere fact that it was on the map mademe suspect it was not the real thing. Well, then, said Bliss. Why not concentrate on the sameco-ordinates in real space? Then, if there is any bright star close to thecenter, a star that does not exist in the computer s map, and if it is verymuch like Alpha in its properties, but is single, might it not be Earth ssun? Trevize sighed. If all that were so, I d be willing to wager halfmy fortune, such as it is, that circling that star you speak of would be theplanet Earth.-Again, I hesitate to try. Because you might fail? Trevize nodded. However, he said, just give me a moment or twoto catch my breath, and I ll force myself to do so
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