Around the campfire the mood at first seemed pretty good. There was the sound of laughter, and a bottle was passed around.
But as soon as the five people had returned, the discussion was about their future resumed.
"James, what are you gonna do after the holidays?"
James confessed:
"I haven’t got the faintest idea. Were you able to come up with anything?"
"Isabelle will pull her fathers leg about setting up a mining town on the other site of the planet. Thats about as far as we can get away from here."
James grinned. The words of Isabelle had tickled his brain, and an idea was lurking. It was still dim, but definitely there.:
"I am afraid that the other side of this planet is not far away enough. would like to include jack and Cheryl in our plans. They had hoped to leave our planet after this adventure." That was not entirely true, he knew, Jack had, but Cheryl would go with him. He continued:
"Is there anyone "with good relations on other planets? I have seen earth, I have seen our own planet, they are not bad planets, but I'd like to see more of the universe."
Protest sounded:
"Impossible!"
"Way to expensive!"
"Are you mad?"
"No planet is waiting for us!"
James waited till the protests died down.
"Of course no planet is waiting for us. I don’t say it will be cheap, I don’t say it will be easy. No, I assure you it will be nearly impossible. Chances are heavily against us. And on this attempt, I don’t want any one with us who sees only problems. I want people who are fighters. Not born winners, but boys and girls who will continue when all odds are against them."
A silence fell.
After a while, someone asked:
"Do you have a plan?"
"At the moment the only plan I have is to use your brains. I want to use your relations for our common goals. But don’t mistake: though I will listen to what you say, I will take the final decisions. This is my project"
He gambled high, he knew, but he wanted to establish his leadership right at the start. Again a silence fell, but this time a shorter one.
"Why would you be the leader?" someone asked. “John-Paul had better grades in class. And so had Dick."
"Yes, Dick won the tournament"
James explained:
"They may have better results in school, and you are right that we have all been trained to be managers. We have all been taught how to lead. But this is my project. The project of Betsy and me. You can take part of it, and accept me as the leader, or stay here."
"But what can you offer? Do you know a planet we can go to?"
"We will find one." he assured. "My first question is: do you want to join us?". He looked at Betsy besides him. She nodded, he hadn’t expected anything else. Cheryl nodded.
Jack confirmed:
"I'll go with you"
Dick also acknowledged:
"If you see a possibility for a good future somewhere, I'm your man"
Those words warmed James feeling. Dick had proved an excellent friend, and he would have hated to leave him behind.
One after the other, the people affirmed. Some still had hesitations. But the mood had shifted.
"Good" James concluded. "As the question is now settled about leadership, we can proceed to question two: where do we go to? There are many planets to choose from. Does someone have friends anywhere? How can we contact them to see if we are welcome?"
At this moment Daneel intervened.
"Allow me to interrupt you. For those who dont know me: My name is R. D. Olivaw, representative of the government of Aurora. I was invited to your planet because of some discontent. You surveys showed many people were dissatisfied with the government. I was called in on this and something else which does not need to concern us now.
It seems to me you are proceeding one step to fast. You seem to take it for granted that you will move to one of the already colonized planets of our galaxy. I want to point out that there are also uncolonized planets."
He took some time to let his works sink in. James expected objections to come, and they came:
"But that’s even more expensive!"
"Even more risky!"
"How do we find a spaceship going there? There are no interliners!"
James waved with his hand.
"All valid objections", he declared, even though personally he felt some of them were nonsense. "But if you want to live a life of ease, stay here and write a thorough thick management report every week. I am sure it will be appreciated by your superiors." There was just the right amount of irony in his voice, and his classmates recognised it and laughed.
James continued:
"Mr Olivaw, could you please elaborate on your remark? I feel you have more to say on this subject."
"Actually, I have" Daneel admitted. "As the information which I received while still on Aurora indicated widespread but largely still latent discontent, I laboured for a possibility to bring people who wanted to leave to a new planet. That would be ordinary people. Techs, you would call them. But to me they are people. People who like to be their own boss. People, who would like to be free. People, who are your equals."
He waited for a moment.
"You can accompany them, if you like. You are good at organizing things, it is what you have been trained for. Put yourselves at their service. At the service of the people who want to leave this planet. Who will leave for a new home. On a new planet."
Someone asked:
"How can we get to a new planet?"
Daneel opened his mouth, but Betsy guessed:
"There are the spaceships! Will they bring us?":
Daneel seemed to smile, even though his face remained unmoved.
"You guess well, Betsy."
James asked:
"You already seem to have a planet in mind, I think. Can we see it? Does it have a name?"
"You cant see it from here, but it is much close to the centre of our galaxy. And yes, it does have a name."
"What is it called?"
"Trantor"