Confrontation in the Sky

Enter:
A Mexican standoff between the First Foundation, Second Foundation, and Gaia.

The First Foundation ship is protected by several things: a) their mentalic shield b) their copious weaponry c) the fact that the death of Branna would perhaps deal a fatal blow to the Plan (even though she knows that the Second Foundation is located on Trantor).

The Second Foundation ship also has protection: a) the mentalic shield has not been perfected; the First Foundationers are prevented from firing b) the possibility of bringing the combined force of all Second Foundation mentalics to bear against Gaia c) the mentalic skill of Stor Gendible.

Gaia (which is a near hive-mind; all things [including the planet itself] are connected, but still have their own sentience) has the protection of only it's hold on Gendible and the First Foundation crew (Sura Novi; not as harmless as she seems). This, however, puts both ships out of commission.

Enters the ship carrying Trevize, Pelorat, and Bliss (a Gaian).

Trevize is told that only he, with his power to be sure of things once in a while due to his untrained mentalic capacity, can choose who wins: the First Foundation, creating a violently established, violently maintained, and violently ended Empire, the Second Foundation, making a calculating Empire that would remain forever in a state of virtual death, or Gaia, which would, over time, establish Galaxia, a galaxy-wide hive-mind. (more-or-less).

Listening to pleadings from both sides, he is reminded of his remark that the galaxy seems alive. He chooses...

Branna returns to the Foundation with no memory of the events; she now believes that she won a minor victory in securing Sayshell peacefully as part of the Foundation Federation, and that Trevize was a crackpot in believing the Second Foundation still existed.

Gendible leaves feeling relieved at having neutralized the threat of First Foundation mentalic shielding; he will return to Trantor to become the First Speaker with his love, Sura Novi, at his side.

Pelorat and Trevize return to Gaia, and Pelorat decides to stay there; he has found bliss in loving Bliss (he's a fifty year old man with a wife and child and Bliss appears to be a young woman of no more than twenty).

Trevize confronts Bliss on Gaia; he tells her to take care of Pelorat and that he knows her secret- she's a robot. As had been mentioned several times, Gaia was founded millenia ago by robots that had advanced so far that they were nearly indistinguishable from humans, except that they were mentalic. Gaia's hive-mind is the pinnacle of a mentalic society, in fact. Bliss strongly implies that this is true, although she/it/Gaia would not speak in concretes.

Trevize then goes to the leader of Gaia (de facto leader, at least) whom he questions on the topic of the Galactic Library at Trantor; when he Chose, he received brief insight into Gendible's mind via the ship's computer; he learned that there were no files on Earth inside the library. Why was this? Don denied that he/it/Gaia had anything to do with it, but that they/Gaia would supply him to help discover why; clearly, it was important. So does this lead to Foundation and Earth.

Yes, I am aware that a skipped over a brief period of time, but it makes for better dramatic effect, no?

This was a really great ending. It really kept you on your toes (or perhaps the edge of you seat) from the time that you discover that Gaia is a hive-mind; it was really tense there for a while. I'm certainly glad that there was no Shakespearean sonnet to come before this one!

I was sort of (or rather, rather) disappointed in the fact that R. Daneel didn't show up. I assume that he is behind the disappearance of Earth from the library, but I would have liked for him to have had a larger presence in this book; he was an interesting character.

Foundation and Earth is the last Asimov novel that I intend on reading for a while; chronologically, that's where his novels end, and prequels tend to annoy me.