"No， no，" said Trevize. "You can"t turn pessimist on me， because it won"t work. Even from here， I"ve spotted the remains of what I"m sure was a city. So we land tomorrow."
65
Bliss said， in a worried tone， "Fallom is convinced we"re going to take her back to Jemby， her robot."
"Umm，" said Trevize， studying the surface of the world as it slid back under the drifting ship. Then he looked up as though he had heard the remark only after a delay. "Well， it was the only parent she knew，wasn"t it？"
"Yes， of course， but she thinks we"ve come back to Solaria."
"Does it look like Solaria？"
"How would she know？"
"Tell her it"s not Solaria. Look， I"ll give you one or two reference bookfilms with graphic illustrations. Show her close-ups of a number of different inhabited worlds and explain that there are millions of them. You"ll have time for it. I don"t know how long Janov and I will have to wander around， once we pick a likely target and land."
"You and Janov？"
"Yes. Fallom can"t come with us， even if I wanted her to， which I would only want if I were a madman. This world requires space suits，Bliss. There"s no breathable air. And we don"t have a space suit that would fit Fallom. So she and you stay on the ship."
"Why I？"
Trevize"s lips stretched into a humorless smile. "I admit，" he said，"I would feel safer if you were along， but we can"t leave Fallom on this ship alone. She can do damage even if she doesn"t mean to. I must have Janov with me because he might be able to make out whatever archaic writing they have here. That means you will have to stay with Fallom. I should think you would want to."
Bliss looked uncertain.
Trevize said， "Look. You wanted Fallom along， when I didn"t. I"m convinced she"ll be nothing but trouble. So her presence introduces constraints， and you"ll have to adjust yourself to that. She"s here，so you"ll have to be here， too. That"s the way it is."
Bliss sighed. "I suppose so."
"Good. Where"s Janov？"
"He"s with Fallom."
"Very well. Go and take over. I want to talk to him."
Trevize was still studying the planetary surface when Pelorat walked in， clearing his throat to announce his presence. He said， "Is anything wrong， Golan？"
"Not exactly wrong， Janov. I"m just uncertain. This is a peculiar world and I don"t know what happened to it. The seas must have been extensive，judging from the basins left behind， but they were shallow. As nearly as I can tell from the traces left behind， this was a world of desalinization and canals or perhaps the seas weren"t very salty. If they weren"t very salty， that would account for the absence of extensive salt flats in the basins. Or else， when the ocean was lost， the salt content was lost with it which certainly makes it look like a human deed."
Pelorat said hesitantly， "Excuse my ignorance about such things，Golan， but does any of this matter as far as what we are looking for is concerned？"
"I suppose not， but I can"t help being curious. If I knew just how this planet was terraformed into human habitability and what it was like before terraforming， then perhaps I would understand what has happened to it after it was abandoned or just before， perhaps. And if we did know what happened to it， we might be forewarned against unpleasant surprises."