Chapter 22 Chapter 18 The Base Falls

There was a strange atmosphere in the vault, but it was difficult to describe it precisely from every angle.It cannot be said that it is in disrepair, as the interior of the vault is well lit and in good repair in all respects, the colorful murals on the walls are lifelike, and the rows of fixed seats look spacious and comfortable, and are obviously designed for permanent use of.Secondly, it cannot be said to be old, because three centuries have not left any significant traces in it.Nor was the design of the vault intended to arouse awe or reverence, for the only decorations were plain and simple, in fact, almost unfurnished.

After all the indescribable circumstances have been ruled out, only a strange atmosphere remains, which comes from the apparently empty glass chamber which occupies half of the vault.Four times over the past three centuries, Hari Seldon's living image has appeared, just sitting there and talking.On two occasions, however, he spoke without any audience at all. Three centuries have passed, and a total of nine generations have passed. The old man who once witnessed the glory of the empire has appeared in the vault time and time again.Until now, his understanding and understanding of the situation in the Milky Way today is still higher than that of his descendants.

This empty glass chamber waits patiently in the long river of time. Mayor Indebpur III sat in a private limousine, walked through the quiet and restless streets, and came to the vault before anyone else.He also arrived with his special seat, which was much higher and wider than the original seats in the room.Indebull ordered his subordinates to put his seat at the front, so that, apart from being unable to control the empty glass room in front of him, he could grasp the situation of the audience. At this time, an official with a serious expression standing on the left of the mayor bowed his head respectfully to the mayor, and then reported: "Your Excellency, the official announcement you are going to make tonight, we have already arranged the most extensive sub-ether broadcast."

"Very good! In addition, the interstellar special program introducing the dome will continue to be broadcast. Of course, there must be no speculation or prediction in it. Is the public's reaction still satisfactory?" "Your Excellency, the mayor, the response has been quite good. The evil rumors that were prevalent for a while have subsided a lot. Now, the public's confidence has generally been restored." "Very good!" The mayor gestured for the official to step back, and adjusted his elegant tie casually. Twenty minutes to noon! Afterwards, a delegation carefully selected from the mayor's supporters—important leaders of the major merchant organizations—also walked into the vault in twos and threes.According to the amount of their wealth and their status in the mind of the mayor, they each have different degrees of luxury.After these big men came to the vault, the first thing they did was to greet the mayor, receive a cordial greeting from the mayor, and then sit in the designated seats.

At this time, somewhere in the vault, something happened suddenly, which ruined the pretentious atmosphere of the scene - Landu from Hewen slowly squeezed out from the crowd, and walked uninvited to the mayor's seat . "Your Excellency the Mayor!" he said softly, bowing at the same time. Indepur frowned: "No one approves you to come to see me." "Your Majesty, I started applying a week ago." "I'm sorry, but the state affairs associated with Seldon's presence make..." "Your Excellency the mayor, I also feel very sorry. However, the order you issued was to mix the starships of independent merchants with the base fleet. I must ask you to withdraw it."

Indepur blushed with anger at being interrupted.He roared... "This is not the time to discuss issues." "Your Excellency, this is the only chance I have to meet you." Lan Du said softly but eagerly: "As the plenipotentiary representative of the independent business world, I have the responsibility to tell you that we do not accept this request. Obedience. You must revoke this order quickly, before Seldon can help us solve our problems. Once the tension is gone, it will be too late to try to appease, and our alliance relationship will slow down. Disintegrate." Indebull stared at Landu with indifference: "Do you know that I am the supreme military commander of the base? Do I have the right to decide military policy?"

"Your Excellency Mayor, of course you have, but your decision is inappropriate." "I don't see anything inappropriate. It's dangerous to allow your men to act alone at a time like this. It's playing into the enemy's hands. We must be united, Ambassador, both military and political. .” Lando felt that his throat was almost choked, he omitted the honorific address to the mayor, and blurted out: "Because Seldon will show up soon, so you feel safe and secure, and you are ready to start dealing with us. A Months ago, when our starship defeated the mule in Tyrael, you were weak and obedient. I should remind you, Mr. Mayor, that it was the starship of the base that lost five battles in a row. Fleet, but it was the starship of the independent business world that won a few battles for you."

Indepur frowned sullenly and said, "Ambassador, you are already persona non grata on Terminus. I give you until this evening to leave the country. Besides, you and the democrats engaged in subversive activities on Terminus must have a relationship." Involvement, this point, we will... We have actually investigated it." Landu retorted: "When I go, our starships will go with me. I don't know anything about your democrats, I only know that the reason why the ships in your base surrendered to the mules, It was due to the mutiny of the senior officers, whether they were democrats or not, it was not the idea of ​​the crew. I tell you that in the battle of Houligo, the twenty ships of the base were not attacked at all. attack, the commanding major general ordered the surrender. That major general is also your own cronies - when my nephew came to the base from Kalgan, his trial was presided over by that major general. That's all we know One of many examples, the base's fleet is full of potential mutiny, and our starships and fallen should never risk that."

"There are guards watching you the entire time until you leave the country," Indepur said. In the eyes of the proud ruling class of Terminus, Landu walked away without saying a word. Ten minutes until noon! Beda and Du Lun had also arrived at the dome, sitting in the last few rows, they saw Landu passing by, and quickly got up to greet him. Lan Du smiled gently at them and said, "After all, you are still here, how did you win?" "Ma Judi is our negotiator." Du Lun replied with a smile: "Indebull must ask him to compose a sound and light piano with the theme of the vault. Of course, Indebull himself should be the protagonist. Ma Judi Said that he would not come today without our company, and would not compromise no matter what he said or how much he was persuaded. Ablin Meath also came with us, and now he has gone to nowhere."

Then Durham asked with sudden seriousness and anxiety: "What's the matter, Uncle, what's the matter? You don't look well." Lan Du nodded: "That's right. We joined at the wrong time, Du Lun. After the mule is dealt with, I'm afraid it will be our turn." At this time, a straight and serious figure in a white uniform came over and bowed neatly to the three of them. Beda's black eyes rolled back immediately, and she stretched out her hand and said, "Captain Pliji! Are you back on space duty?" The captain held her hand, bent down and said: "No such thing, I know that it is because of the help of Dr. Meath that I have the opportunity to attend today. But I can only come out for a while this time, and I will be back tomorrow." Local Volunteer Report - what time is it?"

Three minutes to noon! The expression on Judi Ma's face now is full of misery, distress and frustration.His body was curled up again, as if trying to disappear from the air; the nostrils of the long nose shrunk, and the eyes, fixed on the ground, moved restlessly from side to side. He suddenly grabbed Miss Bei's hand, and Bei Da bent down, and he whispered to her: "My dear lady, when I... when I perform the sound and light piano, you think, so many great characters , will they all be my audience?" "I can be sure that everyone will not miss it." Beda assured him, and gently shook his hand: "I can also be sure that everyone will recognize you as the most outstanding performer in the entire galaxy. Must not have seen a better recital. So you have to hold your head up and sit upright, we have to have the air of a master." After finishing speaking, Beda frowned at him deliberately.The giant horse smiled back, and at the same time slowly stretched out his slender limbs. It was noon—and the glass chamber was no longer empty. It's hard to imagine anyone witnessing how the image appears, because it's such a rapid change that nothing was there one moment, and it's there the next. In the glass chamber, there now appears a man in a wheelchair, aged and shriveled, with a book on his knees, his eyes still bright from his wrinkled face.When he began to speak, the spirited voice was at odds with his old age. His voice came softly: "I am Hari Seldon!" In the silence, he began to say in the Queen's voice: "I am Hari Seldon! I can't tell if anyone is here now just by feeling, but that's all right. So far, I haven't been too worried." The plan will go wrong, and in the first three centuries, the probability that the plan will be correct is 942 out of 10." He paused, smiled, and then said in a kind tone: "By the way , if anyone is standing, you can sit down, and if anyone wants to smoke, please do so. My physical body is not here at all, so you don't have to stick to formalities. "Now, let's talk about the present. This is the first time the base has faced—or is about to face—a civil war. So far, the alien threat has been all but wiped out—according to psychohistorical rigorous The law, this is an inevitable result. The crisis that the base is facing today is that the local groups that are too undisciplined are fighting against the overly totalitarian central government of the base. This is a necessary process, and the result is the most obvious." All the dignitaries present, their pretentious airs have begun to loosen, and Indepur almost stood up. Bethan leaned forward, showing puzzled eyes.What, she thought, was the great Seldon talking about?As a result, she was so distracted that she missed a few words. "... A compromise was reached that met the needs of both parties. The rebellion of independent merchants introduced a new element of uncertainty to a government that might have become too confident, allowing the base to regain the spirit of struggle. Although independent merchants were defeated, but enhanced the sound development of democracy...” Now there are more and more people whispering in the room, and the volume of the whispering is also increasing, and everyone can't help but start to feel fear. Beda bit Du Lun's ear and said, "Why didn't he mention mules? The merchants didn't intend to rebel at all." Durham simply shrugged. Amidst the escalating chaos, the seated figure continued gleefully: "...after the base is forced into this civil war, a new, stronger coalition government is the inevitable positive outcome. Then, only the old The remnants of the empire may prevent the base from continuing to expand. But in the next few years, those remnants will not pose a problem anyway. Of course, I cannot disclose the next crisis..." Seldon's lips were still moving, but his voice was completely drowned out by the din of the audience. Ablin Meejin was standing beside Landu at this time, his face was flushed, and he yelled desperately: "Seldon is crazy, he got the crisis wrong, did you merchants ever plan a civil war?" Lan Du replied in a low voice: "That's right, we had planned it, but it was canceled because of the mule." "Then the mule is an added factor, unforeseen by Seldon's psychohistory—how?" The turmoil in the vault suddenly disappeared completely, and Beda found that the glass room was empty again, all the nuclear lighting on the wall failed, and all the air-conditioning equipment stopped working. The ear-piercing siren sounded from nowhere, and the pitches fluctuated from high to low.Lan Du's lips murmured and squirmed, what he said was: "Space air strike!" Ablin Meath pressed his watch to his eyes, and suddenly cried out: "Stop, my God—ah! Whose watch here still goes?" His cry was like thunder. Immediately, twenty wrists were close to twenty pairs of eyes, and within a few seconds it was confirmed that the answers were all negative. "So," Meath came to a horrific conclusion, "something knocked out the nuclear power in the vault—it was the mules!" The mayor's choked voice overwhelmed the noise of the audience: "Everyone sit down! The mule is still fifty parsecs away." "That was a week ago," Mies yelled back. "Now, Terminus is under air raid!" Beda suddenly felt a deep depression in her heart, and she felt that this emotion entwined herself so tightly that her throat hurt and she could hardly breathe. The noise of the crowd outside was already clearly audible, the vaulted door was suddenly pushed open, and a sad-faced man broke in, and Indebull rushed in front of the man in one breath. The man hurriedly said to the mayor in a low voice: "Your Excellency, the city's transportation vehicles are all immobilized, and all external communication lines have been cut off. It is reported that the Tenth Fleet has been defeated, and the mule fleet has gone outside the atmosphere. Staff they..." When Indebull heard this, he suddenly rolled his eyes and fell to the floor like mud.Now the inside of the dome is completely silent again, and the panicked crowd outside is gathering more and more, but all of them keep their mouths tightly shut, and a dignified atmosphere of fear suddenly permeates everywhere. The subordinates quickly helped Indebull up and poured wine into his mouth.Before the mayor could open his eyes, his lips began to squirm, and a word came out: "Surrender!" Beda felt herself on the verge of tears—not from grief or humiliation, but simply out of terrible despair.Ablin Meath stepped forward and tugged at her sleeve, saying, "Miss, go!" She was pulled up from the seat. "We're going to run away," Mies said, "and take that musician with us." The fat scientist's lips were white with tension, and he was trembling desperately. "Big Horse!" cried Beda feebly. The clown shrank into a ball in fright, his absent-minded eyes looked like two glass beads.He screamed, "The mule—the mule is coming for me!" Beda stretched out her hand to pull him, but the giant horse struggled to break free. Seeing the situation, Du Lun hurried forward and swung it out suddenly.The giant horse immediately fell unconscious, and Duran carried him on his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. The next day, all of Mule's starships landed on the landing pads of Terminus, and each starship was painted in a dark protective color, which looked extremely ugly.All nuclear energy vehicles in Terminal City are still shut down.The general who commanded the attack sat in his car and drove through the deserted streets of the city. Just twenty-four hours before, Seldon had appeared before the old ruler of the base; now, twenty-four hours later, the Mule announced the capture of the base, not a minute later. Of all the planets in the base system, only the world of independent merchants is still stubbornly resisting.After the mule became the conqueror of the base, the arrow turned to those independent traders.