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Foundation’s Edge is a 1982 novel by Isaac Asimov, in which he returns to the Foundation story after a thirty year absence. This book won the 1983 Hugo Award for the best novel of 1982, and was nominated for the 1982 Nebula Award (for which it lost out to Michael Bishop's No Enemy But Time). This is a sequel to the original Foundation trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation), and obviously the reader should tackle those three books before reading this one. However Foundation's Edge also contains allusions to Pebble in the Sky (1950), and The End of Eternity (1955), but these references are not central to the story, and the reader could probably read Foundation's Edge without having first read these other two books.

Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.

Plot

Chapters 1-2: The story opens up 498 years since the beginning of the Foundation, and about 150 years since the end of the events described in the book Second Foundation. Terminus now controls much of the known galaxy. A Foundation councilman, Golan Trevize, confides to a friend and fellow councilman, Munn Li Compor, that he has concluded that everything they believe about the Seldon Plan is a fraud. Compor reports this to the authorities, and Golan Trevize is arrested for treason. The Mayor of Terminus, Branno, comes to visit Trevize in prison, where Trevize explains his theory to her. According to the official history, the Second Foundation was discovered and eliminated 150 years ago. But all indications are that the Seldon Plan is back on track, which is unlikely, given the havoc wreaked on the Plan by the Mule, unless the Second Foundation was still secretly guiding them. The Mayor agrees with Trevize’ reasoning, but warns that saying so openly could be dangerous. Mayor Branno banishes Trevize from Terminus, giving him a chance to search for the Second Foundation. Going with him will be a historian named Janov Pelorat.

Chapters 3-4: Janov Pelorat is concerned with the origin problem—on what planet did the human race originate—and he wants to start his search at the library on Trantor, which still exists. Mayor Branno provides the two of them with a cutting edge spaceship, the Far Star (the same name as another ship from earlier in the series), which can be piloted using a psychic interface—a technology unknown even in the last years of the Trantor Empire—and which can travel at unprecedented speeds. Banno also gives Councilman Munn Li Compor (the man who turned in Golan Trevize) the task of following them to see where they go. Compor’s ship has a hyperspace trace on board.

Chapters 5, 7-8, & 10: In the offices of the Second Foundation on Trantor, a young speaker named Gendibal explains to the First Speaker, a man named Shandess, his theory that the Seldon Plan has become meaningless. He believes that the First Foundation is still looking for the Second Foundation, and he cites the recent career and banishment of Golan Trevize as proof. He notes that in the years since the Mule, there have been no deviations from the plan, despite statistical predictions that show there should have been some small deviations. He concludes that someone else is manipulating the plan--someone capable of using psychohistory on individuals, and not just on large masses. He convinces the First Speaker that Golan Trevize is being manipulated by these unknown micro-psychohistorians, and may very well be a greater threat to the Plan than the Mule himself. Later, when Gendibal is coming to a meeting to discuss these ideas, he is accosted by some local farmers (called “Hamish”). He cannot use his mind control on them because untainted farmers are the perfect cover for the Second Foundation scholars. But a Hamish woman comes and shames the men into letting him go. Her name is Sura Novi, and Gendibal is a little taken with her. When he arrives at the meeting, where his absence might have meant the impeachment of the First Speaker, Gendibal accuses one of his colleagues of manipulating the farmers to block his way. Sura Novi, the peasant girl, shows up at the site asking to see Gendibal. She says she wants to be a “scowler” (scholar), even though she is a very simple woman. Gendibal examines her mind and realizes it has been tampered with.

Later, First Speaker Shandess calls in Gendibal and informs him that Trevize is not coming to Trantor, but is instead going off to look for Earth. He then says that the Council has called for the impeachment of Gendibal, an unprecedented step. At his impeachment hearing, Gendibal begins his defense by informing the jury that Trevize has veered off from his course for Trantor, and is heading to an unknown location, and that his ship is travelling at unheard of speeds. Gendibal talks of the historian Pelorat, who has spent his life researching the Earth myth. Everyone at the table has heard of Earth, but then Gendibal reveals that a search of the Library on Trantor has shown that it contains nothing at all on Earth. He concludes that all Earth references must have been removed by the ‘anti-mules.’ He wonders why the First Foundation looking for Earth so desperately, and why is Earth being hidden from the Second Foundation? To this Gendibal has no answer, but he points out that the origin question was popular in the last years of the Empire. Gendibal then calls in his witness, Sura. He questions her on the assault incident, and then invites the table of speakers to examine her mind telepathically. They all quickly realize that her mind has been tampered with, and with a skill unavailable to Second Foundationers. At this Delarmi, Gendibal’s chief accuser, acquits Gendibal of all wrongdoing, and the impeachment issue is dropped. The Council then assigns Gendibal the task of leaving Trantor to investigate these 'anti-mules,' disguised as a Hamish trader. He agrees, and he takes Sura Novi with him, in disguise as his wife; he believes that her simple mind will act as an early warning to any tampering by the antimules.

Chapters 6, 9, 11-12: Trevize and Pelorat discuss the latter’s Earth theory. Pelorat cites the universal use of the 24 hour day, the month, and the 365 day year as evidence that humans must have originated on a planet with natural cycles corresponding to those numbers. He also cites a primitive understanding of evolutionary theory, which Trevize scoffs at. He says that the records available on Terminus indicated no inhabited planet in the galaxy fit those numbers, but many systems are not well recorded, beyond names and galactic coordinates. That is why he wanted to go to Trantor. Trevize has a flash of inspiration—Seldon said the Second Foundation was “at the other end of the galaxy”, but if Terminus is the newest colony, then the Second Foundation must be at the oldest inhabited planet, which means that it must be on Earth. So he agrees to go follow Pelorat’s path. Pelorat’s best candidate is a planet called Gaia, which is a word that in one of the ancient languages meant Earth, but the only information on Gaia in the records is a possible location, listed as “Sayshell Sector?”

Pelorat and Trevize travel to the planet Sayshell, and are astonished at how fast their new ship can travel. Once there, they pass through customs and land. The customs agents notice another, identical ship shadowing them (it is Munn Li Compor’s ship, assigned to follow them). Trevize and Pelorat head to the tourist center, thinking that is the best place to start their search for Gaia, but they are stunned when they run into Munn Li Compor.

Compor reveals that he followed Trevize to this planet through hyperspace, that the Mayor recruited him to follow Trevize, and that Trevize’s ideas about the Second Foundation had intrigued and worried him earlier, and that is why he reported his friend to the authorities. On mentioning Earth, Compor reveals that his ancestral home planet, Comporellon, had a number of myths about Earth. They believed that Earth was near Comporellon, and that Earth was no longer inhabitable, because of radiation. Comporellans, he says, are “superstitious about it. Every time they mention the word, they lift up both hands with first and second fingers crossed to ward off misfortune.” Compor vaguely recalls another legend which said that Earth was “ostracized and mistreated by the Empire, its population dwindling—and it was going to destroy the Empire somehow.”

“One dying world was going to destroy the whole Empire?” interrupted Trevize.
Compor said defensively, “I said it was a legend. I don’t know the details. Bel Arvardan was involved in the tale, I know.”
“Who was he?” asked Trevize.
“A historical character. I looked him up. He was an honest-to-Galaxy archaeologist back in the early days of the Empire and he maintained that Earth was in the Sirius Sector.” (chapter 12).

(This is an allusion to the plot of Asimov’s first novel, Pebble in the Sky). Trevize and Pelorat agree to travel to Comporellan to confirm these rumors about Earth. Trevize tells Pelorat a little later that he thinks Compor is an agent of the Second Foundation.

That is true, for Compor, who is an ‘observer’ for the Second Foundation, now contacts Gendibal. Compor had discovered Trevize’ potential years earlier, and had regretted that he wasn’t recruited by the Second Foundation, which never recruits those native to Terminus. Compor reports to Gendibal, whose plan is to delay Trevize on Sayshell until he arrives. And indeed, Compor’s urging that Trevize go to Comporellon has convinced Trevize to stay on Sayshell for now.

Chapters 13 & 14: Still on Sayshell, Pelorat and Trevize track down an ancient historian named Quintesetz, and exchange information. Quintesets tells them of the local belief that there were two outward migrations of humans; one from Earth colony worlds and conducted by robots; the other, later one from Earth itself, after the overthrow of robots. (These are ideas that Asimov would later expand on in The Robots of Dawn and Robots and Empire). On Sayshell they believe that their planet was settled directly from Earth. He also tells of a local star system called Gaia; Sayshell has sent military expeditions and trading ships to Gaia, but none have ever returned, and so they are fearful of that system. There is also some scant evidence that the Mule may have visited the Gaia system, or may even have come from there. Pelorat and Trevize take off for Gaia, about 10 parsecs away. Trevize suspects that the Second Foundation is on Gaia.

Mayor Branno consults with Kadell, her security chief. She says she sent Trevize out as a lightning rod for the Second Foundation; when they used their powers to see what Trevize was up to, she would learn their location. She is up to date on Trevize’ movements, and her data banks show no Gaia system. That, along with the continuing independence of the Sayshell sector from Foundation control, even during the time of the Mule, suggests to her, as it did to Trevize, that Gaia is the site of the Second Foundation, and that it uses Sayshell sector independence to hide itself from the galaxy. Mayor Branno orders some of her warships quietly to make their way toward the Gaia coordinates supplied by Trevize, and she herself resolves to meet up with them, to be on the spot when something happens.

Chapters 15 & 16: Trevize and Pelorat approach the Gaia-s (star) cautiously, and they detect a planet with a space station in orbit. They move in, and the space station catches their ship in a tractor beam. Pelorat speculates that the intelligences on Gaia might not be human, but Trevize doubts this, because no evidence of alien intelligence has ever been found. Meanwhile, Gendibal and Sura arrive at the planet Sayshell, where they trade ships with Munn Li Compor. Gendibal and Sura then head off for Gaia. On Terminus, Mayor Branno acknowledges that the independence of the Sayshell sector seems to date back to the Empire, which means that whoever is influencing that independence might be older than even the Second Foundation. Mayor Branno now believes that in fact the Second Foundation is situated on the planet Trantor. Mayor Branno boards a ship and heads for Gaia, to meet up with her adversaries Gendibal (of the Second Foundation) and Golan Trevize.

Chapters 17: In orbit around Gaia, Trevize and Pelorat anxiously await an approaching Gaia ship. When it docks, a woman enters the ship and removes her spacesuit, revealing herself to be a pretty, flirtatious young woman named Bliss. She has them fly the ship down to the surface of the planet, where they meet an old man named Dom. Bliss and Dom explain the planet Gaia to them. On Gaia the people live in a kind of group consciousness, with all the people being aware of all the other people, as well as the plants, animals, buildings, etc. This gestalt consciousness, collectively called Gaia, made the decision to bring Trevize here. The Mule was in fact from the planet of Gaia, but he upset expectations by emigrating.

Dom tells the visitors a legend about ‘eternals’ who are able to select a universe out of an infinite array of choices, and that the ‘eternals’ chose the one universe in which Earth was the only inhabited planet (this is an allusion to the novel The End of Eternity.) Dom says it was robots who taught the people of Gaia telepathy, and so the people of Gaia remember robots as teachers, rather than as oppressors. Dom says that two hundred years earlier, they became aware of the Second Foundation, and decided to let them take care of the problem of the Mule. He also says that their people are now coming face to face with another great crisis, but this time they are going to let Golan Trevize handle it.

Chapter 18: Two other ships enter the Gaia system—one with Gendibal and Sura, from the Second Foundation, and a second ship with Mayor Branno from the Terminus and the First Foundation. When they detect each other, Gendibal launches a mentalic attack on Branno’s ship, but he cannot defeat her right away (since the First Foundation has developed technology to block the Second Foundation’s mental powers), and so he proposes they form an alliance against what he thinks now is the greater threat, Gaia. Mayor Branno agrees, but then Novi surprises him by saying, “No Master, up to this point, it didn’t matter, but please make no further move. We must wait for Councilman Trevize of Terminus.”

Chapter 19: Novi is actually a Gaian agent, trained for this mission to guide Gendibal here. Now the Gaia collective, speaking to the minds of everyone involved, explains. When the First Foundation perfects their mentalic shield, they will gain the power to overthrow the Second Foundation, and then begin their own Empire over the entire galaxy, but it would be a violent empire of military domination and conquest. The Second Foundation will soon move into engineering and technology, which will eventually give them an advantage over the First Foundtion, but their empire would be a paternalistic empire of calculation. Gaia has its own dream—of setting up a living galaxy on the model of the planet Gaia, with all living things in the galaxy connected.

The Gaia collective brought all of the major players to this time and place, including Gendibal from the Second Foundation, and Mayor Branno from the First Foundation. They recruited Golan Trevize, because he has a unique talent for making the right choice, and that is what they ask of him now—to choose the right vision for the future of the galaxy. After some discussion, Trevize chooses the Gaia vision of collective consciousness.

Chapter 20: The memories of Branno, Gendibal, and even Novi are altered so they can return to their former lives, confident in the success of their own individual missions. Pelorat has fallen in love with the Gaian woman, Bliss, and he decides to stay on Gaia with her. Trevize tells Bliss, in private, that he believes that she is in fact a robot. Bliss neither confirms nor denies this, but says that if she is a robot, then the First Law will force her to make Pelorat happy. Trevize later tells Dom that he chose the Gaia vision because that was the one vision that did not entail immediate and irrevocable change; with the Gaia vision they can watch how things unfold over the next few centuries to see if he made the right decision. Trevize asks Dom why Earth was so important, and why Gaia went to the trouble of removing all references to Earth from the Second Foundation library. Dom says that Gaia had nothing to do with that. Trevize, therefore, decides to go off on a search for Earth, to learn its importance, and Dom promises to help him.

Related Works

Golan Trevize’ search for Earth is recounted in the sequel, Foundation and Earth (1986).