Prelude to Foundation Chapter 18 Overthrow

THALUS, EMMER- A sergeant in the arm security forces of the Wye Sector of ancient Trantor Aside from these on the whole unremark suitable vital statistics, nonhing is fill appearn of the bit unless that on one occasion he held the fate of the Galaxy in his fist.Encyclopedia Gal meetica87.breakfast the next morning was served in an alcove nigh the rooms of the captured three and it was luxurious indeed. thither sure as shooting was a considerable variety to the food and to a greater extent(prenominal) than enough of eerything. Seldon sit at the breakfast tabular array with a mound of spicy saus seasons sooner him, entirely ignoring Dors Venabilis gloomy predictions concerning stomachs and colic.Raych express, The dame the madam Mayor verbalize when she came to capture me detain night-She came to date you? verbalise Seldon.Yeah. She domain she wanted to compensate sure I was thriving. She give tongue to when she had a chance she would photograph me to a zoo.A zoo? Seldon looked at Dors. What miscell all(prenominal) of zoo s excessivelyge they switch on Trantor? Cats and dogs?thither be roughly ab pilot program animals, express Dors, and I sound off they conditional relation well-nigh aboriginals from other homos and there argon besides the sh atomic payoff 18d animals that each in exclusively the terra firmas naughty person-other worlds having much than Trantor, of course. As a study of concomitant, Wye has a famous zoo, probably the bring outdo on the planet after the regal zoo itself.Raych state, Shes a nice hoary lady. non that r atomic number 18, state Dors, stock- equable shes certainly feeding us well. in that locations that, admitted Seldon.When breakfast was over, Raych left over(p)(p) to go exploring. once they had retired to Dorss room, Seldon give tongue to with attach discontent, I dont screw how long well be left to ourselves. Shes frankly plotted charges of preoccupying our m.Dors v erbalize, Actually, we hire sl terminationer to complain of at the arc act. Were ofttimes more(prenominal) comfortable here than we were either in Mycogen or Dahl.Seldon state, Dors, youre non beingness won over by that woman, argon you?Me? By Rashelle? Of course non. How potentiometer you possibly entail so?Well, youre comfortable. Youre well-fed. It would be natural to relax and re prevail what fortune brings.Yes, very natural. And why not do that?Look, you were heavy me brave night some whats expiration to happen if she wins out. I whitethorn not be much of a historian myself, neertheless I am giveing to take your rallying predict for it and, actually, it come acrosss sense-even to a nonhistorian. The empire embarrass shatter and its shards allow be fighting each other for for indefinitely. She moldiness be stopped.I agree, tell Dors. She essential be. What I break out to see is how we can draw off to do that small thing right at this moment. She l ooked at Seldon narrowly. Hari, you didnt catnap last night, did you?Did you? It was apparent he had not.Dors stared at him, a troubled look clouding her face. Have you lain ignite theorizeing of Galactic destruction beca riding habit of what I say?That and some other things. Is it possible to clasp Chetter Hummin?This last was say in a whisper.Dors verbalise, I as separate to reach him when we counterbalance had to flee ar respire in Dahl. He didnt come. Im sure he received the message, and he didnt come. It may be that, for each of a number of reasons, he respectable couldnt come to us, scarce when he can he go out.Do you count something has happened to him?No, express Dors patiently. I dont think so.How can you know?The buttchat would somehow besot to me. Im sure of it. And the joint hasnt gotten to me.Seldon frowned and said, Im not as confident(p) as you are fuddledly all this. In fact, Im not confident at all. until now if Hummin came, what can he do in this case? He cant fight all of Wye. If they relieve oneself in, as Rashelle claims, the best-organized army on Trantor, what provide he be able to do against it?Theres no acid in discussing that. Do you depend you can change Rashelle-bang it into her mountain pass somehow-that you dont control psycho history?Im sure shes aware that I dont take over it and that Im not going to get it for m each another(prenominal) an(prenominal) years-if at all. however shell say I drive psychohistory and if she does that skill liberaly enough, people will look at her and ultimately they will act on what she says my predictions and pronouncements are-even if I dont say a word.Surely, that will take time. She wont build you up overnight. Or in a calendar calendar week. To do it in effective golf-club, it capacity take her a year.Seldon was pacing the length of the room, twist sharply on his heel and striding back. That expertness be so, besides I dont know. There would be dra w on her to do things quickly. She doesnt strike me as the mixed bag of woman who has cultivated the habit of patience. And her old father, Mannix IV, would be even more impatient. He moldiness smell the nearness of death and if hes worked for this all his life, he would much prefer to see it done a week before his death rather than a week after. also-Here he paexercisingd and looked a assail the empty room. Besides what?Well, we must(prenominal) get to our freedom. You see, Ive solved the psychohistory problem.Dorss eye goodned. You pass on it Youve worked it out.Not worked it out in the full sense. That ability take decades centuries, for all I know. entirely I now know its applicatory, not just theoretical. I know it can be done so I must have the time, the peace, the facilities to work at it. The Empire must be held together trough I-or possibly my successors-will learn how best to keep it so or how to minimize the disaster if it does split up despite us. It was the t hought of having a attemptning to my childbed and of not being able to work at it, that kept me up last night.88.It was their fifth xx-four time of days in Wye and in the morning Dors was helping Raych into a formal costume that neither was instead a acquainted(predicate) with. Raych looked at himself dubiously in the holomirror and saying a reflected image that faced him with precision, imitating all his motions but without any inversion of left and right. Raych had neer used a holomirror before and had been unable to keep from trying to feel it, then(prenominal) laughing, al nigh with embarrassment, when his hand passed through it while the images hand poked ineffectually at his real body.He said at last, I look funny.He studied his tunic, which was make of a very wax bid material, with a thin filigreed belt, then passed his hands up a stiff collar that rose like a cup past his ears on either side.My head looks like a ball intimate a bowl.Dors said, only if this is the sort of thing rich children wear in Wye. Everyone who sees you will admire you and begrudge you.With my hair all stuck down?Certainly. Youll wear this round fine hat.Itll make my head more like a ball. so dont allow anyone kick it. Now, re limite what I told you. Keep your wits about you and dont act like a cod. exclusively I am a kid, he said, looking up at her with a wide-eyed innocent expression.Im surprised to memorise you say that, said Dors. Im sure you think of yourself as a twelve-year-old adult.Raych grinned. Okay. Ill be a good spy.Thats not what Im telling you to be. Dont take chances. Dont sneak behind gates to attend. If you get caught at it, youre no good to anyone-especially not to yourself.Aw, cmon, Missus, what do ya think I am? A kid or somethin?You just said you were, didnt you, Raych? You just listen to everything thats said without seeming to. And remember what you take in. And tell us. Thats artless enough.Simple enough for you to say, Missus Venabili, said Raych with a grin, and simple enough for me to do.And be careful.Raych winked. You bet.A goat (as coolly impolite as hailly an arbitrary flunky can be) came to take Raych to where Rashelle was awaiting him.Seldon looked after them and said thoughtfully, He probably wont see the zoo, hell be earreach so conservatively. Im not sure its right to gorge a boy into danger like that. hazard? I doubt it. Raych was brought up in the slums of Billibotton, remember. I suspect he has more alley smarts than you and I put together. Besides, Rashelle is fond of him and will interpret everything he does in his favor. Poor woman.Are you actually misfortunate for her, Dors?Do you mean that shes not worth munificence because shes a Mayors daughter and considers herself a Mayor in her own right-and because shes intent on destroying the Empire? by chance youre right, but even so there are some aspects of her for which one might learn some sympathy. For instance, shes had an un happy issue affair. Thats pretty evident. Undoubtedly, her heart was broken-for a time, at least.Seldon said, Have you ever had an unhappy love affair, Dors?Dors considered for a moment or two, then said, Not really. Im as well involved with my work to get a broken heart.I thought as much. wherefore why did you ask?I might have been wrong.How about you?Seldon seemed uneasy. As a matter of fact, yes. I have spared the time for a broken heart. gravely cracked, anyway.I thought as much.Then why did you ask?Not because I thought I might be wrong, I promise you. I just wanted to see if you would lie. You didnt and Im glad.There was a pause and then Seldon said, Five days have passed and nothing has happened.Except that we are being interact well, Hari.If animals could think, theyd think they were being treated well when they were only being fattened for the slaughter.I admit shes plump out the Empire for the slaughter.But when?I presume when shes ready.She boasted she could jazz th e coup in a day and the intuitive feeling I got was that she could do that on any day. tear down if she could, she would want to make sure that she could cripple the proud reaction and that might take time.How much time? She plans to cripple the reaction by using me, but she is making no effort to do so. There is no sign that shes trying to build up my importance. Wherever I go in Wye Im unrecognized. There are no Wyan crowds gathering to cheer me. Theres nothing on the freshlylys holocasts.Dors smiled. virtuoso would almost suppose that your feelings are hurt at not being made famous. Youre dewy-eyed, Hari. Or not a historian, which is the said(prenominal) thing. I think you had better be more pleased that the study of psychohistory will be entrap to make a historian of you than that it may de sleep withr the Empire. If all human beings understood history, they might accept making the same stupid mistakes over and over.In what way am I naive? asked Seldon lifting his head and staring down his nose at her.Dont be offended, Hari. I think its one of your attractive features, actually.I know. It arouses your maternal instincts and you have been asked to take care of me. But in what way am I naive?In thinking that Rashelle would try to propagandize the macrocosm of the Empire, generally, into accepting you as seer. She would accomplish nothing in that way. Quadrillions of people are hard to move quickly. There is social and psychological inertia, as well as physical inertia. And, by coming out into the open, she would only if alert Demerzel.Then what is she doing?My guess is that the information about you-suitably exaggerated and glorified-is going out to a all-important(a) few. It is going to those Viceroys of sectors, those admirals of fleets, those people of influence she feels look neighborly upon her-or grimly upon the emperor. A hundred or so of those who might rally to her side will manage to confuse the Loyalists just long enough to allow Ra shelle the First to set up her New evidence firmly enough to beat off some(prenominal) resistance might develop. At least, I speak up that is how she reasons.And further we havent perceive from Hummin.Im sure he must be doing something just the same. This is too important to ignore.Has it occurred to you that he might be travel?Thats a possibility, but I dont think so. If he was, the new-sprung(prenominal)s would reach me.Here?Even here.Seldon raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.Raych came back in the late afternoon, happy and excited, with descriptions of monkeys and of Bakarian demoires and he dominated the conver sit downion during dinner troupe.It was not until after dinner when they were in their own quarters that Dors said, Now, tell me what happened with lady Mayor, Raych. Tell me anything she did or said that you think we ought to know.One thing, said Raych, his face lighting up. Thats why she didnt show at dinner, I bet.What was it?The zoo was closed except for us, you know. There were lots of us-Rashelle and me and all sorts of cuckoos in similars and dames in fancy clothes and like that. Then this abuse in a uniform-a dissimilar ridicule, who wasnt there to begin with-came in toward the end and he said something in a low voice and Rashelle turned to all the people and made with her hand like they shouldnt move and they didnt. And she went a little ways away with this new guy, so she could talk to him and no one could hear her. Except I kept paying no attention and kept looking at the different cages and sort of moved near to Rashelle so I could hear her. She said, How dare they? like she was real mad. And the guy in the uniform, he looked flyaway-I just got quick looks because I was trying to make out like I was reflection the animals-so mostly I just heard the words. He said somebody-I dont remember the name, but he was a general or somethin. He said this general said the officers had sworn religious to Rashelles old man-Sworn consignment, said Dors.Somethin like that and they was nervous about havin to do what a dame says. He said they wanted the old man or else, if he was kind of sick, he should pick some guy to be Mayor, not a dame.Not a dame? Are you sure?Thats what he said. He like whispered it. He was so nervous and Rashelle was so mad she could hardly speak. She said, Ill have his head. They will all swear allegiance to me tomorrow and whoever refuses will lave cause to regret it before an hour has passed. Thats exactly what she said. She broke up the whole party and we all came back and she didnt say one word to me all the time. Just sat there, looking kinda mean and angry.Dors said, Good. Dont you detect this to anyone, Raych.Course not. Is it what you wanted? very(prenominal) much what I wanted. You did well, Raych. Now, go to your room and forget the whole thing. Dont even think about it.Once he was gone, Dors turned to Seldon and said, This is very interesting. Daughters have succeeded fath ers-or mothers, for that matter-and held mayoralties or other high offices on any number of occasions. There have even been reigning Empresses, as you undoubtedly know, and I cant recall that there was ever in over-embellished history any real question of serving under one. It makes one revere why such a thing should now, mug up in Wye.Seldon said, wherefore not? Weve only lately been in Mycogen, where women are held in a total lack of esteem and couldnt possibly hold positions of function, however minor.Yes, of course, but thats an exception. There are other places where women dominate. For the most part, though, government and power have been more or less equisexual. If more men tend to hold high positions, it is usually because women tend to be more bound-biologically-to children.But what is the situation in Wye?Equisexual, as utmost as I know. Rashelle didnt break to assume Mayoral power and I imagine old Mannix didnt hesitate to grant it to her. And she was surprised an d furious at encountering young-begetting(prenominal) dissent. She cant have expect it.Seldon said, Youre clearly pleased at this. Why?Simply because its so unnatural that it must be contrived and I imagine Hummin is doing the contriving.Seldon said thoughtfully, You think so?I do, said Dors.You know, said Seldon, so do I.89.It was their tenth day in Wye and in the morning Hari Seldons door signal sounded and Raychs screaky voice outside was crying out, Mister Mister Seldon Its warSeldon took a moment to swap from sleep to wakefulness and move out of bed. He was shivering slightly (the Wyans wish their domiciles on the chilly side, he had discovered kinda early in his stay there) when he threw the door open.Raych bounced in, excited and wide-eyed. Mister Seldon, they have Mannix, the old Mayor. They have-Who have, Raych?The Imperials, Their jets came in last night all over. The news holocasts are telling all about it. Its on in Missuss room. She said to let ya sleep, but I figur ed ya would wanner know.And you were quite right. Seldon pausing only tong enough to throw on a bathrobe, burst into Dorss room. She was fully dressed and was watching the holo-set in the alcove.Behind the clear, small image of a desk sat a man, with the Spaceship-and-Sun sharply defined on the left-front of his tunic. On either side, two soldiers, also wearing the Spaceship-and-Sun, stood armed. The officer at the desk was saying, -is under the peaceful control of his Imperial Majesty. Mayor Mannix is in force(p) and well and is in full possession of his Mayoral powers under the guidance of amiable Imperial troops. He will be before you soon to urge calm on all Wyans and to ask any Wyan soldiers appease in arm to lay them down.There were other news holocasts by respective(a) newsmen with unemotional voices, all wearing Imperial armbands. The news was all the same surrender by this or that unit of the Wyan security forces after discharge a few shots for the record-and sometime s after no resistance at all. This township center and that town center were engaged-and there were repeated views of Wyan crowds somberly watching Imperial forces marching down the streets.Dors said, It was perfectly executed, Hari. rage was complete. There was no chance of resistance and no(prenominal) of consequence was offered.Then Mayor Mannix IV appeared, as had been promised. He was standing upright and, perhaps for the pastime of appearances, there were no Imperials in sight, though Seldon was sanely certain that an adequate number were present just out of camera range.Mannix was old, but his strength, though worn, was unsounded apparent. His eyes did not meet the holo-camera and his words were speak as though forced upon him-but, as had been promised, they counseled Wyans to repose calm, to offer no resistance, to keep Wye from harm, and to cooperate with the Emperor who, it was hoped, would survive long on the throne.No mention of Rashelle, said Seldon. Its as tho ugh his daughter doesnt exist.No one has mentioned her, said Dors, and this place, which is, after all, her residence-or one of them-hasnt been attacked. Even if she manages to slip away and take refuge in some neighboring sector, I doubt she will be safe anywhere on Trantor for long. maybe not, came a voice but Ill be safe here for a little while. Rashelle entered. She was properly dressed, properly calm. She was even smiling, but it was no smile of gratification it was, rather, a cold baring of teeth.The three stared at her in surprise for a moment and Seldon wondered if she had any of her servants with her or if they had promptly deserted her at the premiere sign of adversity.Dors said a little coldly, I see, Madam Mayor, that your hopes for a coup can not be maintain. Apparently, you have been forestalled.I have not been forestalled. I have been betrayed. My officers have been tampered with and-against all history and rationality-they have refused to fight for a woman but onl y for their old surmount. And, traitors that they are, they then let their old accomplish be seized so that he cannot run them in resistance.She looked about for a chair and sat down. And now the Empire must continue to tumble and die when I was prepared to offer it new life.I think, said Dors, the Empire has avoided an indefinite full stop of useless fighting and destruction. Console yourself with that, Madam Mayor.It was as though Rashelle did not hear her. So many years of preparation destroyed in a night.She sat there beaten, defeated, and seemed to have aged twenty years.Dors said, It could scarcely have been done in a night. The suborning of your officers-if that took place-must have taken time.At that, Demerzel is a master and quite obviously I underestimated him. How he did it, I dont know-threats, bribes, smooth and specious argument. He is a master at the art of stealth and betrayal-I should have known. She went on after a pause. If this was outright force on his part , I would have had no trouble destroying anything he sent against us. Who would think that Wye would be betrayed, that an oath of allegiance would be so lightly thrown parenthesis?Seldon said with automatic rationality, But I imagine the oath was made not to you, but to your father.Nonsense, said Rashelle vigorously. When my father gave me the Mayoral office, as he was legitimately entitled to do, he automatically passed on to me any oaths of allegiance made to him. There is ample anteriority for this. It is customary to have the oath repeated to the new ruler, but that is a ceremony only and not a legal requirement. My officers know that, though they pack to forget. They use my womanhood as an excuse because they reel in fear of Imperial vengeance that would never have come had they been staunch or trill with greed for promised rewards they will for certain never get-if I know Demerzel. She turned sharply toward Seldon. He wants you, you know. Demerzel afflicted at us for y ou.Seldon started. Why me?Dont be a slang. For the same reason I wanted you to use you as a tool, of course. She sighed. At least I am not pronouncely betrayed. There are still loyal soldiers to be found.- sergeantSergeant two-grain spelt Thalus entered with a soft cautious step that seemed incongruous, considering his size. His uniform was spruce, his long blond mustache fiercely curled.Madam Mayor, he said, drawing himself to attention with a snap. He was still, in appearance, the side of beef that Hari had named him-a man still following orders blindly, totally oblivious to the new and changed state of affairs.Rashelle smiled sadly at Raych. And how are you, little Raych? I had meant to make something of you. It seems now I wont be able to.Hello, Missus Madam, said Raych awkwardly.And to have made something of you too, Dr. Seldon, said Rashelle, and there also I must pray pardon. I cannot.For me, Madam, you need have no regrets.But I do. I cannot very well let Demerzel have y ou. That would be one victory too many for him and at least I can stop that.I would not work for him, Madam, I assure you, any more than I would have worked for you.It is not a matter of work. It is a matter of being used. Farewell, Dr. Seldon. Sergeant, blast him.The sergeant drew his chargeman at once and Dors, with a loud cry, lunged forward-but Seldon reached out for her and caught her by the elbow. He hung on desperately.Stay back, Dors, he shouted, or hell kill you. He wont kill me. You too, Raych. sustain back. Dont move.Seldon faced the sergeant. You hesitate, Sergeant, because you know you cannot shoot. I might have killed you ten days ago, but I did not. And you gave me your word of honor at that time that you would protect me.What are you waiting for? snapped Rashelle. I said shoot him down, Sergeant.Seldon said nothing more. He stood there while the sergeant, eyes bulging, held his blaster steady and pointed at Seldons head.You have your order shrieked Rashelle.I have your word, said Seldon quietly.And Sergeant Thalus said in a choked tone, dishonored either way. His hand fell and his blaster clanged to the floor.Rashelle cried out, Then you too betray me.Before Seldon could move or Dors free herself from his grip, Rashelle seized the blaster, turned it on the sergeant, and closed contact. Seldon had never seen anyone blasted before. Somehow, from the name of the weapon perhaps, he had expected a loud noise, an explosion of flesh and blood. This Wyan blaster, at least, did nothing of the sort. What mangling it did to the organs inside the sergeants chest Seldon could not tell but, without a change in expression, without a wince of pain, the sergeant crumbled and fell, dead beyond any doubt or any hope.And Rashelle turned the blaster on Seldon with a firmness that put to rest any hope for his own life beyond the next second.It was Raych, however, who jumped into action the moment the sergeant fell. bucket along between Seldon and Rashelle, he wa ved his hands wildly.Missus, Missus, he called. Dont shoot.For a moment, Rashelle looked confused. Out of the way, Raych. I dont want to hurt you.That moment of hesitation was all Dors needed. Breaking loose violently, she plunged toward Rashelle with a long low dive. Rashelle went down with a cry and the blaster hit the ground a second time.Raych retrieved it.Seldon, with a deep and shuddering breath, said, Raych, give that to me. But Raych backed away.Ya aint gonna kill her, are ya, Mister Seldon? She was nice to me.I wont kill anyone, Raych, said Seldon. She killed the sergeant and would have killed me, but she didnt shoot rather than hurt you and well let her live for that.It was Seldon, who now sat down, the blaster held loosely in his hand, while Dors removed the neuronic whip from the dead sergeants other holster.A new voice rang out. Ill take care of her now, Seldon.Seldon looked up and in sudden gratification said, Hummin FinallyIm sorry it took so long, Seldon. I had a lo t to do. How are you, Dr. Venabili? I take it this is Mannixs daughter, Rashelle. But who is the boy?Raych is a young Dahlite friend of ours, said Seldon.Soldiers were entering and, at a small motion from Hummin, they lifted Rashelle respectfully.Dors, able to suspend her intent command of the other woman, brushed at her clothes with her hands and smoothed her blouse. Seldon suddenly realized that he was still in his bathrobe.Rashelle, shaking herself loose from the soldiers with contempt, pointed to Hummin and said to Seldon, Who is this?Seldon said, It is Chetter Hummin, a friend of mine and my protector on this planet.Your protector. Rashelle laughed madly. You fool You idiot That man is Demerzel and if you look at your Venabili woman, you will see from her face that she is perfectly aware of that. You have been trapped all along, far worse than ever you were with me90.Hummin and Seldon sat at lunch that day, quite alone, a pall of quiet between them for the most part. It was to ward the end of the meal that Seldon stirred and said in a lively voice, Well, sir, how do I address you? I think of you as Chester Hummin still, but even if I accept you in your other ikon, I surely cannot address you as Eto Demerzel. In that capacity, you have a title and I dont know the proper usage. advise me.The other said gravely, Call me Hummin-if you dont mind. Or Chetter. Yes, I am Eto Demerzel, but with respect to you I am Hummin. As a matter of fact, the two are not distinct. I told you that the Empire is decaying and failing. I believe that to be true in twain my capacities. I told you that I wanted psychohistory as a way of continueing that decay and failure or of bringing about a renewal and reinvigoration if the decay and failure must run its course. I believe that in both my capacities too.But you had me in your grip-I presume you were in the neck of the woods when I had my meeting with His Imperial Majesty.With Cleon. Yes, of course.And you might have spoken to me, then, exactly as you later did as Hummin.And accomplished what? As Demerzel, I have rattling(a) tasks. I have to handle Cleon, a well-meant but not very capable ruler, and prevent him, insofar as I can, from making mistakes. I have to do my bit in governance Trantor and the Empire too. And, as you see, I had to spend a great deal of time in preventing Wye from doing harm.Yes, I know, murmured Seldon.It wasnt easy and I nearly lost out. I have spent years sparring carefully with Mannix, learning to understand his thinking and planning a countermove to his every move. I did not think, at any time, that while he was still alive he would pass on his powers to his daughter. I had not studied her and I was not prepared for her utter lack of caution. Unlike her father, she has been brought up to take power for granted and had no clear idea of its limitations. So she got you and forced me to act before I was quite ready.You almost lost me as a result. I faced the muzzle of a blaste r twice.I know, said Hummin, nodding. And we might have lost you Upperside too-another possibility I could not foresee.But you havent really answered my question. Why did you send me chasing all over the face of Trantor to escape cock from Demerzel when you yourself were Demerzel?You told Cleon that psychohistory was a purely theoretical concept, a kind of mathematical game that made no practical(a) sense. That might indeed have been so, but if I approached you officially, I was sure you would precisely have maintained your belief. Yet I was attracted to the notion of psychohistory. I wondered whether it might not be, after all, just a game. You must understand that I didnt want merely to use you, I wanted a real and practical psychohistory.So I sent you, as you put it, chasing all over the face of Trantor with the dreaded Demerzel close on your heels at all times. That, I felt, would endure your mind powerfully. It would make psychohistory something exciting and much more than a mathematical game. You would try to work it out for the sincere idealist Hummin, where you would not for the Imperial flunky Demerzel. Also, you would get a glimpse of various sides of Trantor and that too would be helpful-certainly more helpful than living in an ivory tower on a far planet, surrounded entirely by fellow mathematicians. Was I right? Have you made progress?Seldon said, In psychohistory? Yes, I did, Hummin. I thought you knew.How should I know?I told Dors.But you hadnt told me. Nevertheless, you tell me so now. That is good news.Not entirely, said Seldon. I have made only the barest reference. But it is a beginning.Is it the kind of beginning that can be explained to a nonmathematician?I think so. You see, Hummin, from the start I have seen psychohistory as a science that depends on the interaction of cardinal meg worlds, each with an average population of four molarity million. Its too much. Theres no way of handling something that complex. If I was to succe ed at all, if there was to be any way of finding a useful psychohistory, I would first have to find a simpler placement.So I thought I would go back in time and deal with a undivided world, a world that was the only one occupied by humanity in the dim age before the colonization of the Galaxy. In Mycogen they spoke of an original world of Aurora and in Dahl I heard word of an original world of Earth. I thought they might be the same world under different names, but they were fittingly different in one key point, at least, to make that impossible. And it didnt matter. So little was known of either one, and that little so obscured by myth and legend, that there was no hope of making use of psychohistory in liaison with them.He paused to sip at his cold juice, keeping his eyes firmly on Hummins face.Hummin said, Well? What then?Meanwhile, Dors had told me something I call the hand-on-thigh story. It was of no innate significance, merely a humorous and entirely trivial tale. As a r esult, though, Dors mentioned the different sex mores on various worlds and in various sectors of Trantor. It occurred to me that she treated the different Trantorian sectors as though they were separate worlds. I thought, idly, that instead of twenty-five million different worlds, I had twenty-five million plus cardinal hundred to deal with. It seemed a trivial difference, so I forgot it and thought no more about it.But as I traveled from the Imperial Sector to Streeling to Mycogen to Dahl to Wye, I observed for myself how different each was. The thought of Trantor-not as a world but as a complex of worlds-grew stronger, but still I didnt see the crucial point.It was only when I listened to Rashelle-you see, it was good that I was last captured by Wye and it was good that Rashelles rashness bevy her into the grandiose schemes that she imparted to me-When I listened to Rashelle, as I said, she told me that all she wanted was Trantor and some immediately adjacent worlds. It was an Empire in itself, she said, and dismissed the outer worlds as strange nothings.It was then that, in a moment, I saw what I must have been harboring in my occult thoughts for a considerable time. On the one hand, Trantor have an extraordinarily complex social system, being a populous world made up of eight hundred smaller worlds. It was in itself a system complex enough to make psychohistory meaningful and yet it was simple enough, compared to the Empire as a whole, to make psychohistory perhaps practical.And the outer(a) Worlds, the twenty-five million of them? They were unlike nothings. Of course, they affected Trantor and were affected by Trantor, but these were second-order effects. If I could make psychohistory work as a first approximation for Trantor alone, then the minor effects of the Outer Worlds could be added as later modifications. Do you see what I mean? I was searching for a single world on which to establish a practical science of psychohistory and I was searchin g for it in the far past, when all the time the single world I wanted was under my feet now.Hummin said with obvious relief and pleasure, WonderfulBut its all left to do, Hummin. I must study Trantor in sufficient detail. I must devise the necessary maths to deal with it. If I am lucky and live out a full lifetime, I may have the answers before I die. If not, my successors will have to follow me. Conceivably, the Empire may have fallen and splintered before psychohistory becomes a useful technique.I will do everything I can to help you.I know it, said Seldon.You trust me, then, despite the fact I am Demerzel?Entirely. Absolutely. But I do so because you are not Demerzel.But I am, insisted Hummin.But you are not. Your persona as Demerzel is as far removed from the truth as is your persona as Hummin.What do you mean? Hummins eyes grew wide and he backed away slightly from Seldon.I mean that you probably chose the name Hummin out of a wry sense of what was fitting. Hummin is a mispron unciation of human, isnt it? Hummin made no response. He continued to stare at Seldon.And finally Seldon said, Because youre not human, are you, Hummin/Demerzel? Youre a robot.