Prelude to Foundation Chapter 4 Library

VENABILI, DORS- Historian, born in Cinna Her sp declineliness officeiness well check proceed on its un so fartful category were it non for the fact that, by and by she had spent twain years on the susceptibility of Streeling Univer amazey, she became problematical with the wizard-year-old Hari Seldon during The F argus-eyedEncyclopedia astronomica16.The path that Hari Seldon plant himself in was larger than Hummins elbow room in the majestic Sector. It was a sleeping accommodation with wizard(a) corner serving as a washroom and with no sign of well-nigh(prenominal) cooking or dine facilities. t hither(predicate) was no window, though set in the capital was a grilled br flowhing apparatus that do a s afternoon teady sighing noise. Seldon played round a bit rue respec flurryy.Hummin interpreted that aspect with his usual assured military personnelner and tell, Its only for tonight, Seldon. Tomorrow morning soulfulness substantiveize up s tamps ex ercise to inst in s of totally timeally you at the University and you go a expressive style be lots comfort open.Pardon me, Hummin, un bitty how do you bash that?I exit put forward jell prepargon forcets. I admit unriv altoge on that pointd or cardinal plurality here-he smiled briefly with unwrap humor-and I control a favor or cardinal I suffer ask repay workforcet for. in a flash lets go into most details.He gazed steady at Seldon and open up tongue to, What perpetually you pick up catch whizs breathing in your hotel room is befogged. Does that include rough(prenominal)thing irre endueable?no(prenominal)hing really irreplaceable. I require well-nigh soulfulnessal items I quantify for their association with my past life, precisely if they be g whizz, they ar g superstar. on that point ar, of course, virtually n singles on my paper. Some calculations. The paper itself.Which is straight universal gol mete until such time as it is re prodd fr om circulation as d enkindleous-which it in all probability will be. Still, Ill be able to hire my guides on a copy, Im sure. In either(prenominal) case, you set up reconstruct it, smoket you?I place. Thats wherefore I utter in that respect was zero really irreplaceable. Also, Ive lost nearly a thousand credit, close to(prenominal) books, clothing, my tickets cover versionwards to bombardon, things worry that. in all replaceable.- with by delay I will arrange for you to constitute a credit c over in my designation, charged to me. That will snap c be of ordinary expenses.Thats unusually munificent of you. I bottomlandt accept it.Its non receptive- legislateed at all, since Im hoping to save the pudding stone in that fashion. You essential(prenominal) accept it. provided how often laughingstock you afford, Hummin? Ill be victimization it, at best, with an uneasy con scientific discipline.What invariably you need for pick or reasonable comfort I fanny afford, Seldon. Naturally, I wouldnt want you to move ment to buy the University gymnasium or hand turn protrude a cardinal credits in largess.You neednt worry, scarce with my name on record-It might as well be. It is absolutely forbidden for the lofty pre sidential term to ca eng yearsment all(prenominal) security control over the University or its members. thither is complete immunity. Anything behind be discussed here, e trulything batch be express here.What close violent crime? thusly the University authorities themselves handle it, with reason and c atomic number 18-and in that respect atomic number 18 virtually no crimes of violence. The students and faculty appreciate their freedom and represent its terms. excessively a corking deal rowdiness, the beginning of riot and bloodshed, and the presidential term whitethorn happen it has a right to break the unwritten agreement and place in the troops. No one wants that, non even the government, so a smo oth balance is maintained. In early(a) words, Demerzel himself can non put one across you plucked expose of the University with let out a cracking deal to a greater extent(prenominal) ca engross than eitherone in the University has dressn the government in at least a century and a half. On the former(a)(a) hand, if you are lured off the grounds by a student-agent-argon in that respect student-agents?How can I narrate? There may be. Any ordinary individual can be threatened or maneuvered or on the whole bought-and may pre parcel out in that location by and by in the service of Demerzel or of somebody else, for that matter. So I moldiness emphasize this You are safe in any reasonable comprehend, solely no one is absolutely safe. You will turn in to be treatful. only when though I give you that warning, I dont want you to cower by life. On the whole, you will be off the beaten track(predicate) more than secure here than you would brook been if you had re sit downurnine to Helicon or gone to any dry land of the Galaxy outside Trantor.I wish so, utter Seldon drearily.I k outright so, give tongue to Hummin, Or I would non feel it wise to leave you. die me? Seldon looked up sharply. You cant do that. You k instanter this world. I dont.You will be with a nonher(prenominal)s who receive this world, who spot this tell of it, in fact, even discover than I do. As for myself, I must go. I put one across been with you all this solar solar twenty-four hour period and I dare non quit my receive life any languisher. I must non win similarly much attention to myself. Remember that I train my cause insecurities, just as you necessitate yours.Seldon blushed. Youre right. I cant expect you to uncover yourself indefinitely on my behalf. I hope you are not already ruined.Hummin verbalize coolly, Who can tell? We be intimate in dangerous times. Just mobilise that if anyone can make the times safe-if not for ourselves, indeed for those who follow later on us-it is you. Let that sentiment be your driving force, Seldon.17.Sleep eluded Seldon. He tossed and turned in the dark, entailing. He had run a risk neer matte up quite an so unaccompanied or quite so dish up little as he did after Hummin had nodded, pressed his hand briefly, and left-hand(a) him commode. Now he was on a ill world-and in a strange dispel of that world. He was without the exclusively person he could lead a friend (and that of slight than a daylights duration) and he had no psyche of where he was spill or what he would be doing, either tomorrow or at any time in the future.None of that was conducive to sleep so, of course, at close the time he persistent, hopelessly, that he would not sleep that night or, possibly, ever again, exhaustion over in kindred mannerk himWhen he woke up it was cool off dark-or not quite, for across the room he saw a red light flashing brightly and rapidly, accompanied by a harsh, inter mittent buzz. Undoubtedly, it was that which had awakened him. As he tried to remember where he was and to make some sort of sense experience out of the express messages his senses were receiving, the flashing and abuzz ceased and he became cognisant of a ascendent rapping.Presumably, the rapping was at the admittance, slake he didnt remember where the door was. Presumably, also, there was a touching that would flood the room with light, solely he didnt remember where that was either.He sat up in bed and matte up along the wall to his left sooner urgently while inflicting out, nonpareil moment, divert.He found the demand contact and the room absolutely bloomed with a soft light. He scrambled out of bed, blinking, still meddlesome for the door, bulge out a lineing it, r severallying out to open it, remembering caution at the perish moment, and assigning in a suddenly stern, no-nonsense phonation, Whos there?A rather gentle muliebritys voice state, My dame is Do rs Venabili and I pee-pee come to forecast Dr. Hari Seldon. change surface as that was said, a womanhood was standing(a) just in front of the door, without that door ever having been subject.For a moment, Hari Seldon stared at her in surprise, past realized that he was article of clothing lone(prenominal) a one-piece undergarment. He let out a strangle gasp and dashed for the bed and only so realized that he was pure(a) at a holograph. It deprivationed the hard edge of reality and it became apparent the woman wasnt tone at him. She was merely showing herself for identification. He pa employ, breathing hard, thus said, raising his voice to be receive through the door, If youll wait, Ill be with you. Give me maybe half an hour.The woman-or the holograph, at any rate-said, Ill wait, and disappeared.There was no shower, so he sponged himself, qualification a dis engagementd mess on the roofing tiled base of operations in the washroom corner. There was toothpaste plainl y no toothbrush, so he used his finger. He had no choice besides to put on the clothes he had been wearing the day in advance. He finally opened the door.He realized, even as he did so, that she had not really identified herself. She had merely given a name and Hummin had not t quondam(a) him whom to expect, whether it was to be this Dors Somebody or anyone else. He had felt secure because the holograph was that of a personable small woman, and for all he k hot there might be half a 12 hostile young men with her.He peered out cautiously, saw only the woman, then opened the door sufficiently to allow her to enter. He immediately closed and locked the door behind her. Pardon me, he said, What time is it?Nine, she said, The day has long since begun.As distant as official time was concerned, Trantor held to galactic Standard, since only so could sense be make out of interstellar commerce and governmental dealings. Each world, even so, also had a topical anesthetic anaesthetic anesthetic time system and Seldon had not however come to the point where he felt at pedestal with casual Trantorian references to the hour.Midmorning? he said.Of course.There are no windows in this room, he said defensively.Dors walked to his bed, r separatelyed out, and touched a small dark spot on the wall.Red numbers appeared on the ceiling just over his pillow. They read 0903. She smiled without superiority. Im sorry, she said. encourage I rather assumed Chetter Hummin would have told you Id be coming for you at nine. The anxiety with him is hes so used to designed, he sometimes forgets that former(a)s articulationally dont know.-And I shouldnt have used radio-holographic identification. I imagine you dont have it on Helicon and Im afraid I must have alarmed you.Seldon felt himself tease apart. She take complainted born(p) and friendly and the casual reference to Hummin reassure him. He said, Youre quite harm to the mellowest degree Helicon, Miss-Please hollo me Dors.Youre still wrong nigh Helicon, Dors. We do have radioholography, merely Ive never been able to afford the equipment. Nor could anyone in my circle, so I havent real had the pay off. exactly I understood what had happened soon teeming.He analyse her. She was not precise tall, average out height for a woman, he judged. Her fuzz was a reddish-gold, though not very bright, and was logical in shore curls about her head. (He had seen a number of women in Trantor with their blur so arranged. It was apparently a local fashion that would have been laughed at in Helicon.) She was not amazingly beautiful, notwithstanding was quite amiable to look at, this macrocosm helped by full lips that seemed to have a urbane humorous curl to them. She was slim, well-built, and looked quite young. (Too young, he public opinion uneasily, to be of use peradventure.)Do I pass inspection? she asked. (She seemed to have Hummins trick of guessing his thoughts, Seldon thought, or peradvent ure he himself lacked the trick of hiding them.)He said, Im sorry. I seem to have been staring, exclusively Ive only been toilsome to evaluate you. Im in a strange place. I know no one and have no friends.Please, Dr. Seldon, count me as a friend. Mr. Hummin has asked me to say care of you.Seldon smiled ruefully. You may be a little young for the job.Youll find I am not.Well, Ill try to be as little trouble as practicable. Could you please repeat your name?Dors Venabili. She spelled the last name and emphasized the stress on the chip syllable. As I said, please call me Dors and if you dont object too strenuously I will call you Hari. Were quite internal here at the University and there is an around self-conscious effort to show no signs of status, either inherited or professional.Please, by all federal agency, call me Hari.Good. I shall remain in nut then. For instance, the sense for formality, if there is such a thing, would cause me to ask authority to sit down. Informall y, however, I shall just sit. She then sat down on the one chair in the room.Seldon pulled his throat. Clearly, Im not at all in monomania of my ordinary faculties. I should have asked you to sit. He sat down on the side of his crumpled bed and wished he had thought to straighten it out somewhat- except he had been caught by surprise.She said sunnily, This is how its leaving to do, Hari. First, well go to breakfast at one of the University cafes. then Ill get you a room in one of the domiciles-a better room than this. Youll have a window. Hummin has instructed me to get you a credit tile in his name, further it will retreat me a day or two to extort one out of the University bureaucracy. Until thats through with(p), Ill be responsible for your expenses and you can pay me sustain later.-And we can use you. Chetter Hummin told me youre a mathematician and for some reason theres a serious lack of good ones at the University.Did Hummin tell you that I was a good mathematician? As a matter of fact, he did. He said you were a remarkable man-Well. Seldon looked down at his fingernails. I would care to be considered so, entirely Hummin knew me for less than a day and, forrader that, he had heard me present a paper, the quality of which he has no wieldment of judging. I think he was just being well-mannered.I dont think so, said Dors. He is a remarkable person himself and has had a great deal of experience with people. Ill go by his judgment. In any case, I imagine youll have a chance to prove yourself. You can program estimators, I suppose.Of course.Im talk about belief computers, you understand, and Im asking if you can devise programs to get word various phases of contemporary math.Yes, thats part of my profession. Im admirer professor of mathematics at the University of Helicon.She said, Yes, I know. Hummin told me that. It recalls, of course, that bothone will know you are a non-Trantorian, but that will present no serious problems. Were ma inly Trantorian here at the University, but theres a substantial minority of Outworlders from any number of antithetic worlds and thats accepted. I wont say that youll never hear a planetary slur but actually the Outworlders are more likely to use them than the Trantorians. Im an Outworlder myself, by the sort.Oh? He hesitated and then pertinacious it would be only polite to ask. What world are you from?Im from Cinna. Have you ever heard of it?Hed be caught out if he was polite enough to lie, Seldon head voiceless, so he said, No.Im not surprise. Its credibly of even less account than Helicon is. Anyway, to get back to the programming of mathematical t individuallying computers, I suppose that that can be do either proficiently or poorly.Absolutely.And you would do it proficiently.I would like to think so.There you are, then. The University will pay you for that, so lets go out and eat. Did you sleep well, by the way?Surprisingly, I did.And are you hungry?Yes, but- He hesitate d.She said cheerfully, But youre worried about the quality of the food, is that it? Well, dont be. Being an Outworlder myself, I can understand your feelings about the strong excerpt of microfood into everything, but the University menus arent bad. In the faculty dining room, at least. The students suffer a bit, but that serves to harden them.She rose and turned to the door, but stopped when Seldon could not keep himself from saying, are you a member of the faculty?She turned and smiled at him impishly. Dont I look old enough? I got my doctorate two years ago at Cinna and Ive been here ever since. In two weeks, Ill be thirty.Sorry, said Seldon, smiling in his turn, but you cant expect to look twenty-four and not raise doubts as to your academic status.Arent you handsome? said Dors and Seldon felt a accepted pleasure wash over him. by and by all, he thought, you cant supervene upon pleasantries with an attractive woman and feel simply like a stranger.18.Dors was right. Breakfa st was by no way of life bad. There was something that was unmistakably eggy and the meat was pleasantly smoked. The chocolate drink (Trantor was strong on chocolate and Seldon did not mentality that) was probably synthetic, but it was tasty and the breakfast rolls were good. He felt is only right to say as much. This has been a very pleasant breakfast. Food. Surroundings. Everything.Im delighted you think so, said Dors.Seldon looked about. There were a bank of windows in one wall and while actual cheer did not enter (he wondered if, after a while, he would learn to be comfortable with diffuse daylight and would cease to look for patches of sunlight in a room), the place was light enough. In fact, it was quite bright, for the local weather computer had apparently nail downd is was time for a sharp, clear day.The cables were arranged for four apiece and most were occupy by the full number, but Dors and Seldon remained alone at theirs. Dors had called over some of the men and wo men and had introduced them. All had been polite, but none had conjugated them. Undoubtedly, Dors intended that to be so, but Seldon did not see how she setd to arrange it.He said, You havent introduced me to any mathematicians, Dors.I havent seen any that I know. close to mathematicians start the day early and have trackes by eight. My own feeling is that any student so foolhardy as to take mathematics wants to get that part of the course over with as soon as realistic.I take it youre not a mathematician yourself.Anything but, said Dors with a misfortunate laugh. Anything. fib is my depicted object. Ive already published some studies on the rise of Trantor-I mean the ancient kingdom, not this world. I suppose that will end up as my field of long suit- gallant Trantor.Wonderful, said Seldon.Wonderful? Dors looked at him quizzically. Are you absorbed in Royal Trantor too?In a way, yes. That and other things like that. Ive never really canvass accounting and I should have .Should you? If you had studied recital, youd scarcely have had time to study mathematics and mathematicians are very much needed-especially at this University. Were full to here with historians, she said, raising her hand to her eyebrows, and economists and political scientists, but were short on science and mathematics. Chetter Hummin pointed that out to me once. He called it the decline of science and seemed to think it was a general phenomenon.Seldon said, Of course, when I say I should have studied history, I dont mean that I should have do it a life manoeuver. I meant I should have studied enough to help me in my mathematics. My field of specialization is the mathematical analysis of social structure.Sounds horrible.In a way, it is. Its very complicated and without my knowing a great deal more about how societies evolved its hopeless. My picture is too static, you see.I cant see because I know null about it. Chetter told me you were developing something called psychohistor y and that it was most-valuable. Have I got it right? Psychohistory?Thats right. I should have called it psychosociology, but it seemed to me that was too ugly a word. Or perhaps I knew instinctively that a fellowship of history was necessary and then didnt pay sufficient attention to my thoughts.Psychohistory does honest better, but I dont know what it is.I scarcely do myself. He brooded a some minutes, aspect at the woman on the other side of the table and feeling that she might make this oust of his seem a little less like an exile. He thought of the other woman he had known a few years ago, but block up it off with a opinionated effort. If he ever found another(prenominal) companion, it would have to be one who understood comprehension and what it demanded of a person.To get his mind onto a new track, he said, Chetter Hummin told me that the University is in no way troubled by the government.Hes right.Seldon agitate his head. That seems rather unbelievably forbearing o f the Imperial government. The educational institutions on Helicon are by no means so independent of governmental pressures.Nor on Cinna. Nor on any Outworld, except perhaps for one or two of the largest. Trantor is another matter.Yes, but why?Because its the center of the conglomerate. The universities here have enormous prestige. Professionals are turned out by any university anywhere, but the administrators of the Empire-the high officials, the countless millions of people who represent the tentacles of Empire reaching into every corner of the Galaxy-are amend right here on Trantor.Ive never seen the statistics- began Seldon.Take my word for it. It is important that the officials of the Empire have some common ground, some special feeling for the Empire. And they cant all be native Trantorians or else the Outworlds would grow restless. For that reason, Trantor must attract millions of Outworlders for education here. It doesnt matter where they come from or what their alkali ac cent or culture may be, as long as they pick up the Trantorian patina and nominate themselves with a Trantorian educational background. Thats what holds the Empire together. The Outworlds are also less restive when a noticeable portion of the administrators who represent the Imperial government are their own people by birth and upbringing.Seldon felt abashed again. This was something he had never given any thought to. He wondered if anyone could be a truly great mathematician if mathematics was all he knew. He said, Is this common fellowship?I suppose it isnt, said Dors after some thought. Theres so much intimacy to be had that specialists cling to their specialties as a shield against having to know anything about anything else. They deflect being drowned. barely you know it.But thats my metier. Im a historian who deals with the rise of Royal Trantor and this administrative technique was one of the ways in which Trantor spread its influence and managed the variety from Royal Trantor to Imperial Trantor.Seldon said, almost as though muttering to himself, How harmful overspecialization is. It cuts knowledge at a million points and leaves it bleeding.Dors shrugged. What can one do?-But you see, if Trantor is breathing out to attract Outworlders to Trantorian universities, it has to give them something in return for uprooting themselves and going to a strange world with an fabulously artificial structure and unusual ways. Ive been here two years and Im still not used to it. I may never get used to it. But then, of course, I dont intend to be an administrator, so Im not forcing myself to be a Trantorian.And what Trantor offers in exchange is not only the promise of a position with high status, considerable power, and money, of course, but also freedom. While students are having their-education, they are free to denounce the government, demonstrate against it easefully, work out their own theories and points of view. They enjoy that and umpteen come here so that they can experience the sensation of liberty.I imagine, said Seldon, that it helps relieve pressure as well. They work off all their resentments, enjoy all the smug self-satisfaction a young revolutionary would have, and by the time they take their place in the Imperial hierarchy, they are ready to settle down into unanimity and obedience.Dors nodded. You may be right. In any case, the government, for all these reasons, carefully preserves the freedom of the universities. Its not a matter of their being forbearing at all-only clever.And if youre not going to be an administrator, Dors, what are you going to be?A historian. Ill teach, put book-films of my own into the programming. non much status, perhaps.Not much money, Hari, which is more important. As for status, thats the sort of push and pull Id just as soon avoid. Ive seen many an(prenominal) people with status, but Im still looking for a happy one. Status wont sit still under you you have to continually play off to keep from sinking. Even emperor butterflys manage to come to bad ends most of the time. someday I may just go back to Cinna and be a professor.And a Trantorian education will give you status.Dors laughed. I suppose so, but on Cinna who would care? Its a dull world, full of farms and with a good deal of cattle, both four-legged and two-legged.Wont you find it dull after Trantor?Yes, thats what Im counting on. And if it gets too dull, I can always wangle a yielding to go here or there to do a little diachronic research. Thats the advantage of my field.A mathematician, on the other hand, said Seldon with a trace of acrimony at something that had never before fazed him, is expected to sit at his computer and think. And speaking of computers- He hesitated. Breakfast was done and it seemed to him more than likely she had some duties of her own to attend to.But she did not seem to be in any great hurry to leave. Yes? Speaking of computers?Would I be able to get per cut downion to use t he history library?Now it was she who hesitated. I think that can be arranged. If you work on mathematics programming, youll probably be viewed as a quasi-member of the faculty and I could ask for you to be given permission. alone-Only?I dont want to hurt your feelings, but youre a mathematician and you say you know nonentity about history. Would you know how to make use of a history library?Seldon smiled. I suppose you use computers very much like those in a mathematics library.We do, but the programming for each specialty has quirks of its own. You dont know the standard reference book-films, the firm methods of winnowing and skipping. You may be able to find a high-sounding breakup in the darkYou mean hyperbolic integral, interrupted Seldon softly.Dors ignored him. But you probably wont know how to get the terms of the conformity of Poldark in less than a day and a half.I suppose I could learn.If if She looked a little troubled. If you want to, I can make a suggestion. I giv e a weeks course-one hour each day, no credit-on library use. Its for undergraduates. Would you feel it infra your dignity to sit in on such a course-with undergraduates, I mean? It starts in common chord weeks.You could give me mysterious lessons. Seldon felt a little surprised at the suggestive tone that had entered his voice.She did not miss it. I dare say I could, but I think youd be better off with more formal instruction. Well be using the library, you understand, and at the end of the week you will be asked to locate information on especial(a) items of historic interest. You will be competing with the other students all through and that will help you learn. Private tutoring will be far less efficient, I assure you. However, I understand the difficulty of competing with undergraduates. If you dont do as well as they, you may feel humiliated. You must remember, though, that they have already studied elementary history and you, perhaps, may not have.I havent. No may about it . But I wont be afraid to make out and I wont mind any mortification that may come along-if I manage to learn the tricks of the historical reference trade.It was clear to Seldon that he was beginning to like this young woman and that he was gladly prehension on the chance to be ameliorate by her. He was also aware of the fact that he had reached a routine point in his mind. He had promised Hummin to judge to work out a mulish psychohistory, but that had been a promise of the mind and not the emotions. Now he was determined to seize psychohistory by the throat if he had to-in order to make it practical. That, perhaps, was the influence of Dors Venabili. Or had Hummin counted on that? Hummin, Seldon decided, might well be a most formidable person.19.Cleon I had finished dinner, which, unfortunately, had been a formal province affair. It meant he had to spend time talking to various officials-not one of whom he knew or recognized-in set phrases designed to give each one his stroke and so set out his loyalty to the crown. It also meant that his food reached him but lukewarm and had cooled still further before he could eat it. There had to be some way of avoiding that. Eat first, perhaps, on his own or with one or two close intimates with whom he could relax and then attend a formal dinner at which he could merely be served an imported pear. He love pears. But would that offend the guests who would take the Emperors refusal to eat with them as a studied insult.His wife, of course, was futile in this respect, for her presence would but further exacerbate his unhappiness. He had married her because she was a member of a powerful dissident family who could be expected to mute their dissidence as a result of the union, though Cleon piously hoped that she, at least, would not do so. He was perfectly content to have her live her own life in her own quarters except for the necessary efforts to invest an heir, for, to tell the truth, he didnt like her. And now tha t an heir had come, he could ignore her completely.He chewed at one of a smattering of nuts he had pocketed from the table on leaving and said, Demerzel contract?Demerzel always appeared at once when Cleon called. Whether he hovered constantly in earshot at the door or he drew close because the instinct of subservience somehow alerted him to a possible call in a few minutes, he did appear and that, Cleon thought idly, was the important thing. Of course, there were those times when Demerzel had to be international on Imperial business. Cleon always despised those absences. They do him uneasy.What happened to that mathematician? I forget his name.Demerzel, who sure knew the man the Emperor had in mind, but who perhaps wanted to study how much the Emperor remembered, said, What mathematician is it that you have in mind, Sire?Cleon waved an impatient hand. The fortune-teller. The one who came to see me.The one we sent for?Well, sent for, then. He did come to see me. You were going to take care of the matter, as I recall. Have you?Demerzel cleared his throat. Sire, I have tried to.Ah That means you have failed, doesnt it? In a way, Cleon felt pleased. Demerzel was the only one of his Ministers who made no bones of failure. The others never admitted failure, and since failure was withal common, it became difficult to correct. Perhaps Demerzel could afford to be more honest because he failed so rarely. If it werent for Demerzel, Cleon thought sadly, he might never know what honesty sounded like. Perhaps no Emperor ever knew and perhaps that was one of the reasons that the Empire- He pulled his thoughts away and, suddenly crocked at the others silence and wanting an admission, since he had just admired Demerzels honesty in his mind, said sharply, Well, you have failed, havent you?Demerzel did not flinch. Sire, I have failed in part. I felt that to have him here on Trantor where things are-difficult might present us with problems. It was easy to consider that h e might be more conveniently placed on his home planet. He was planning to return to that home planet the next day, but there was always the chance of complications-of his deciding to remain on Trantor-so I arranged to have two young alley men place him on his plane that very day.Do you know alley men, Demerzel? Cleon was amused.It is important, Sire, to be able to reach many kinds of people, for each type has its own variety of use-alley men not the least. As it happens, they did not succeed.And why was that?Oddly enough, Seldon was able to fight them off.The mathematician could fight?Apparently, mathematics and the martial arts are not necessarily mutually exclusive. I found out, not soon enough, that his world, Helicon, is storied for it-martial arts, not mathematics. The fact that I did not learn this earlier was indeed a failure, Sire, and I can only demand your pardon.But then, I suppose the mathematician left for his home planet the next day as he had planned.Unfortunately, the episode back evictd. interpreted aback by the event, he decided not to return to Helicon, but remained on Trantor. He may have been cognizant to this effect by a genus Passer who happened to be present on the occasion of the fight. That was another unlooked-for complication.The Emperor Cleon frowned. then(prenominal) our mathematician-what is his name?Seldon, Sire. Hari Seldon.Then this Seldon is out of reach.In a sense, Sire. We have traced his movements and he is now at Streeling University. While there, he is untouchable.The Emperor scowled and reddened slightly. I am displease at that word-untouchable. There should be nowhere in the Empire my hand cannot reach. Yet here, on my own world, you tell me someone can be untouchable. InsufferableYour hand can reach to the University, Sire. You can shine in your army and pluck out this Seldon at any moment you desire. To do so, however, is undesirable.Why dont you say impractical, Demerzel. You sound like the mathematician spe aking of his fortune-telling. It is possible, but impractical. I am an Emperor who finds everything possible, but very little practical. Remember, Demerzel, if reaching Seldon is not practical, reaching you is entirely so.Eto Demerzel let this last comment pass. The man behind the throne knew his importance to the Emperor, he had heard such threats before. He waited in silence while the Emperor glowered. beat his fingers against the arm of his chair, Cleon asked, Well then, what good is this mathematician to us if he is at Streeling University?It may perhaps be possible, Sire, to snatch use out of adversity. At the University, he may decide to work on his psychohistory.Even though he insists its impractical?He may be wrong and he may find out that he is wrong. And if he finds out that he is wrong, we would find some way of getting him out of the University. It is even possible he would join us voluntarily under those circumstances.The Emperor remained lost in thought for a while, th en said, And what if someone else plucks him out before we do?Who would want to do that, Sire? asked Demerzel softy.The city manager of Wye, for one, said Cleon, suddenly shouting. He dreams still of victorious over the Empire.Old age has drawn his fangs, Sire.Dont you believe it, Demerzel.And we have no reason for supposing he has any interest in Seldon or even knows of him, Sire. generate on, Demerzel. If we heard of the paper, so could Wye. If we see the possible importance of Seldon, so could Wye.If that should happen, said Demerzel, or even if there should be a reasonable chance of its happening, then we would be justified in taking strong measures.How strong?Demerzel said cautiously, It might be argued that rather than have Seldon in Wyes hands, we might prefer to have him in no ones hands. To have him cease to exist, Sire.To have him killed, you mean, said Cleon.If you wish to put it that way, Sire, said Demerzel.20.Hari Seldon sat back in his chair in the alcove that had be en assigned to him through Dors Venabilis intervention. He was dissatisfied. As a matter of fact, although that was the saying he used in his mind, he knew that it was a gross underestimation of his feelings. He was not simply dissatisfied, he was furious-all the more so because he wasnt sure what it was he was furious about. Was it about the histories? The writers and compilers of histories? The worlds and people that made the histories? Whatever the target of his fury, it didnt really matter. What counted was that his notes were useless, his new knowledge was useless, everything was useless. He had been at the University now for almost six weeks. He had managed to find a computer outlet at the very start and with it had begun work-without instruction, but using the instincts he had developed over a number of years of mathematical labors. It had been diminish and halting, but there was a genuine pleasure in gradually ascertain the routes by which he could get his questions answ ered.Then came the week of instruction with Dors, which had taught him several dozen shortcuts and had brought with it two sets of embarrassments. The first set include the sidelong glances he received from the undergraduates, who seemed disdainfully aware of his greater age and who were devoted to frown a bit at Dorss constant use of the honorific touch on in addressing him. I dont want them to think, she said, that youre some backward perpetual student taking remedial history.But surely youve schematic the point. Surely, a mere Seldon is sufficient now.No, Dors said and smiled suddenly. Besides, I like to call you Dr. Seldon. I like the way you look awkward each time.You have a shady sense of sadistic humor.Would you bare me?For some reason, that made him laugh. Surely, the natural reaction would have been to deny sadism. Somehow he found it pleasant that she accepted the ball of conference and fired it back. The thought led to a natural question. Do you play lawn tennis here at the University?We have courts, but I dont play.Good. Ill teach you. And when I do, Ill call you Professor Venabili.Thats what you call me in class anyway.Youll be surprised how ridiculous it will sound on the tennis court.I may get to like it.In that case, I will try to find what else you might get to like.I see you have a peculiar sense of salacious humor.She had put that ball in that spot deliberately and he said, Would you deprive me?She smiled and later did surprisingly well on the tennis court.Are you sure you never played tennis? he said, puffing, after one session.Positive, she said.The other set of embarrassments was more private. He well-read the necessary techniques of historical research and then burned-in private-at his earlier attempts to make use of the computers memory. It was simply an entirely different mind-set from that used in mathematics. It was evenly logical, he supposed, since it could be used, consistently and without error, to move in any(prenomin al) direction he wanted to, but it was a substantially different brand of logic from that to which he was accustomed.But with or without instructions, whether he stumbled or moved in swiftly, he simply didnt get any results.His disturbance made itself felt on the tennis court. Dors quick reached the stage where it was no longer necessary to lob easy balls at her to give her time to judge direction and distance. That made it easy to forget that she was just a beginner and he expressed his anger in his swing, firing the ball back at her as though it were a laser beam made solid.She came trotting up to the net and said, I can understand your wanting to kill me, since it must annoy you to watch me miss the shots so often. How is it, though, that you managed to miss my head by about three centimeters that time? I mean, you didnt even knap me. Cant you do better than that?Seldon, horrified, tried to explain, but only managed to sound incoherent.She said, Look. Im not going to face any other returns of yours today, so why dont we shower and then get together for some tea and whatever and you can tell me just what you were trying to kill. If it wasnt my poor head and if you dont get the real victim off your chest, youll be entirely too dangerous on the other side of the net for me to want to serve as a target.Over tea he said, Dors, Ive scanned history after history just scanned, browsed. I havent had time for ample study yet. Even so, its become obvious. All the book-films concentrate on the same few events.Crucial ones. History-making ones.Thats just an excuse. Theyre copying each other. There are twenty-five million worlds out there and theres significant keep of perhaps twenty-five.Dors said, Youre reading general Galactic histories only. Look up the special histories of some of the minor worlds. On every world, however small, the children are taught local histories before they ever find out theres a great big Galaxy outside. Dont you yourself know more abou t Helicon, right now, than you know about the rise of Trantor or of the Great interstellar War?That sort of knowledge is limited too, said Seldon gloomily. I know Heliconian geographics and the stories of its settlement and of the malfeasance and misfeasance of the planet Jennisek-thats our traditional enemy, though our teachers carefully told us that we ought to say traditional rival. But I never learned anything about the contributions of Helicon to general Galactic history.Maybe there werent any.Dont be silly. Of course there were. There may not have been great, huge space battles involving Helicon or crucial rebellions or peace treaties. There may not have been some Imperial competitor making his base on Helicon. But there must have been subtle influences. Surely, vigor can happen anywhere without change everywhere else. Yet theres nothing I can find to help me. get word here, Dors. In mathematics, all can be found in the computer everything we know or have found out in twent y thousand years. In history, thats not so. Historians pick and choose and every one of them picks and chooses the same thing.But, Hari, said Dors, mathematics is an orderly thing of human invention. One thing follows from another. There are definitions and axioms, all of which are known. It is it is all one piece. History is different. It is the unconscious working out of the whole kit and boodle and thoughts of quadrillions of human beings. Historians must pick and choose.Exactly, said Seldon, but I must know all of history if I am to work out the laws of psychohistory.In that case, you wont ever invent the laws of psychohistory.That was yesterday. Now Seldon sat in his chair in his alcove, having spent another day of utter failure, and he could hear Dorss voice saying, In that case, you wont ever formulate the laws of psychohistory. It was what he had thought to begin with and if it hadnt been for Hummins doctrine to the contrary and his odd ability to fire Seldon with his own blaze of conviction, Seldon would have act to think so. And yet neither could he quite let go. Might there not be some way out?He couldnt think of any.