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.There isn t a meteorite large enough to damage us thatcan possibly approach us before we take the necessary evasive action.FourPage 50 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlmeteorites--coming at us simultaneously from the four directions drawn fromthe vertices of a tetrahedron--might conceivably pin us down, but calculatethe chances of that and you ll find that you ll die of old.age a trilliontrillion times over before you will have a fifty-fifty chance of observing sointeresting a phenomenon. You mean, if you were at the computer? No, said Trevize in Scorn. If I were running the computeron the basis of my own senses and responses, we would be hit before I everknew what was happening.It is the computer itself that is at work, respondingmillions of times faster than you or I could. He held out his hand abruptly. Janov, come let me show you what the computer can do, and let me show youwhat space is like. Pelorat stared, goggling a bit.Then he laughed briefly. I mnot sure I wish to know, Golan. Of course you re not sure, Janov, because you don t know whatit is that is waiting there to be known.Chance it! Come! Into my room! Trevize held the other s hand, half leading him, half drawinghim.He said, as he sat down at the computer, Have you ever seen the Galaxy,Janov? Have you ever looked at it? Pelorat said, You mean in the sky? Yes, certainly.Where else? I ve seen it.Everyone has seen it.If one looks up, one seesit. Have you ever stared at it on a dark, clear night, when theDiamonds are below the horizon? The Diamonds referred to those few stars that were luminousenough and close enough to shine with moderate brightness in the night sky ofTerminus.They were a small group that spanned a width of no more than twentydegrees, and for large parts of the night they were all below the horizon.Aside from he group, there was a scattering of dim stars just barely visibleto the unaided eye.There was nothing more but the faint milkiness of theGalaxy--the view one might expect when one dwelt on a world like Terminuswhich was at the extreme edge of the outermost spiral of the Galaxy. I suppose so, but why stare? It s a common sight. Of course it s a common sight, said Trevize. That s why noone sees it.Why see it if you can always see it? But now you llsee it, andnot from Terminus, where the mist and the clouds are forever interfering.You ll see it as you d never see it from Terminus--no matter how you stared,and no matter how clear and dark the night.How I wishI had never been inspace before, so that--like you--I could see the Galaxy in its bare beauty forthe first time. He pushed a chair in Pelorat s direction. Sit there, Janov.This may take a little time.I have to continue to grow accustomed to thecomputer.From what I ve already felt, I know the viewing is holographic, sowe won t need a screen of any sort.It makes direct contact with my brain, butI think I can have it produce an objective image that you will see, too.--Putout the light, will you? --No, that s foolish of me.I ll have the computer doPage 51 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlit.Stay where you are. Trevize made contact with the computer, holding hands warmlyand intimately.The light dimmed, then went out completely, and in thedarkness, Pelorat stirred.Trevize said, Don t get nervous, Janov.I may have a littletrouble trying to control the computer, but I ll start easy and you ll have tobe patient with me.Do you see it? The crescent? It hung in the darkness before them.A little dim and waveringat first, but getting sharper and brighter.Pelorat s voice sounded awed. Is that Terminus? Are we thatfar from it? Yes, the ship s moving quickly. The ship was curving into the night shadow of Terminus, whichappeared as a thick crescent of bright light.Trevize had a momentary urge tosend the ship in a wide arc that would carry them over the daylit side of theplanet to show it in all its beauty, but he held back.Pelorat might find novelty in this, but the beauty would betame.There were too many photographs, too many reaps, too many globes.Everychild knew what Terminus looked like.A water planet more so than most--richin water and poor in minerals, good in agriculture and poor in heavy industry,but the best in the Galaxy in high technology and in miniaturization.If he could have the computer use microwaves and translate itinto a visible model, they would see every one of Terminus s ten thousandinhabited islands, together with the only one of them large enough to beconsidered a continent, the one that bore Terminus City andTurn away!It was just a thought, an exercise of the will, but the viewshifted at once.The lighted crescent moved off toward the borders of visionand rolled off the edge.The darkness of starless space filled his eyes.Pelorat cleared his throat. I wish you would bring backTerminus, my boy.I feel as though I ve been blinded. There was a tightnessin his voice. You re not blind
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