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planetfolk, you have heard something of what happened on Solaria. You know that we were completely
successful. You know that Lady Gladia of Aurora contributed to that success. It is time now to present
some of the details to you and to all my fellow planetfolk who are watching on hypervision."
He proceeded to describe the events in modified form and Gladia found herself dryly amused at the
nature of the modifications. He passed over his own discomfiture at the hands of a humanoid robot
lightly. Giskard was never mentioned; Daneel's role was minimized; and Gladia's heavily emphasized. The
incident became a duel between two women-Gladia, and Landaree-and it was the courage and sense of
authority of Gladia that had won out.
Finally, D.G. said, "And now Lady Gladia, Solarian by birth, Auroran by citizenship, but Baleyworlder
by deed---" (There was strong applause at the last, the loudest Gladia had yet heard, for the earlier
speakers had been but tepidly received.)
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D.G. raised his hands for silence and it came at once. He then concluded, "-will now address you."
Gladia found the spotlight on herself and turned to D.G. in sudden panic. There was applause in her ears
and D.G., too, was clapping his hands. Under the cover of the applause, he leaned toward her and
whispered, "You love them all, you want peace, and since you're not a legislator, you're unused to long
speeches of small content. Say that, then sit down."
She looked at him uncompirehendingly, far too nervous to have heard what he said.
She rose and found herself staring at endless tiers of people.
Gladia felt very small (not for the first time in her life, to be sure) as she faced the stage. The men on the
stage were all taller than she was and so were the other three women. She felt that even though they were
all sitting and she was standing, they still towered over her. As for the audience, winch was waiting now
in almost menacing silence, those who composed it were, she felt quite certain, one and all larger than her
in every dimension.
She took a deep breath and said, "Friends---" but it came out in a thin, breathless whistle. She cleared
her throat (in what seemed a thunderous rasp) and tried again.
"Friends!" This time there was a certain normality to the sound. "You are all descended from
Earthpeople, every one of you. I am descended from Earthpeople. There are no human beings anywhere
on all the inhabited worlds whether Spacer worlds, Settler worlds, or Earth itself- that are not either
Earthpeople by birth or Earthpeople by descent.
All other differences fade to nothing in the face of that enormous fact.
Her eyes flickered leftward to look at D.G. and she found that he was smiling very slightly and that one
eyelid trembled as though it were about to wink.
She went on. "That should be our guide in every, thought and act. I thank you all for thinking of me as a
fellow human being and for welcoming me among you without regard to any other classification in which
you might have been tempted to place me. Because of that, and in the hope that the day will soon come
when sixteen billion human beings, living in love and peace, will consider themselves as just, that and
nothing more-or less-I think of you not merely as friends but as kinsmen and kinswomen."
There was an outbreak of applause that thundered in upon her and Gladia half-closed her eyes in relief.
She remained standing to let it continue and bathe her in its welcome indication that she had spoken well
and-what was more enough. When it began to fade, she smiled, bowed to right and left, and began to sit
down.
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And then a voice came out of the audience. "Why don't you speak in Solarian?"
She froze halfway, to her seat and looked, in shock, at D.G.
He shook his head slightly and mouthed soundlessly: "Ignore it." He gestured as unobtrusively as
possible that she seat herself.
She stared -at him for a second or two, then realized what an ungainly sight she must present, with her
posterior protruding in the unfinished process of seating herself. She straightened at once and flashed a
smile at the audience as she turned her head slowly from side to side. For the first time she became
aware of objects in the rear whose glistening lenses focused upon her.
Of course! D.G. had mentioned that the proceedings were being watched via hyperwave. Yet it scarcely
seemed to matter now. She had spoken and had been applauded and she was facing the audience she
could see, erect and without, nervousness. What could the unseen addition matter?
She said, still smiling, "I consider that a friendly question. You want me to show you my
accomplishments. How many want me to speak as a Solarian might? Don't hesitate. Raise your right
hands."
A few right arms went up.
Gladia said, "The humanoid robot on Solaria heard me speak Solarian. That was what defeated it in the
end. Come let me see everyone who would like a demonstration."
More right arms went up and, in a moment, the audience became a sea of upraised arms. Gladia felt a
hand tweaking at her pants leg and, with a rapid movement, she brushed it away.
"Very well. You may lower your arms now, kinsmen and kinswomen. Understand that what I speak
now is Galactic Standard, which is your language, too. I, however, am speaking it as an Auroran would
and I know you all understand me even though the way I pronounce my words may well strike you as
amusing and my choice of words may on occasion puzzle you a bit. You'll notice that my way of
speaking has notes to it and goes up and down almost as though I were singing my words. This always
sounds ridiculous to anyone not an Auroran, even to other Spacers.
"On the other hand, if I slip into the Solarian way of speaking as I am now doing, you will notice at once
that the notes stop and that it becomes throaty with r's that just about neverrr let go-especially if therrre is
no 'rrrr' anywherrrre on the vocal panoramarrrm."
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There was a burst of laughter from the audience and Gladia confronted it with a serious expression on
her face. Finally, she held up her arms and made a cutting movement downward and outward and the
laughter stopped.
"However," she said, "I will probably never go to Solaria again, so I will have no occasion to use the
Solarian, dialect any further. And the good Captain Baley" -she turned and made a half-bow in his
direction, noting that there was a distinct outbreak, of perspiration on his brow ----- "informs me there is
no telling when I'll be going back to Aurora, so I may have to drop the Auroran dialect as well. My only
choice, then, will be to speak the Baleyworld dialect, which I shall at once begin to practice."
She hooked the fingers of each hand into an invisible belt, stretched her chest outward, pulled her chin
downward, put on D.G.'s unselfconscious grin, and said, in a gravelly attempt at baritone, "Men and
women of Baleyworld, officials, lawgivers, honored leaders, and fellow planetfolk and that should include
everyone, except, perhaps, dishonored leaders---" She did her best to include the glottal stops and the
flat "a's" and carefully pronounced the "h" of "honored" and "dishonored" in what was almost a gasp.
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