Chapter 2 first quarter

"Of course I don't believe it." said Glenn Trevize, who was standing on the wide steps in front of the "Seldon Hall", looking at the city shining in the sun. Terminus is a very pleasant planet with a fairly high sea/land ratio.Since the introduction of the climate control mechanism, the overall environment has become more comfortable, but, Trevize often thinks, it is also a lot more monotonous. "I don't believe it at all." He repeated with a smile, his perfectly white teeth showing on that young face. Trevize's best friend, Mann.Senator Lee Compe—who, in spite of Terminus tradition, insisted on keeping the middle name—stands aside, shaking his head uneasily. "What the hell don't you believe in? Don't believe we saved the city?"

"Well, I believe that. We did it, didn't we? Seldon said long ago that we could do it, and that we were doing the right thing. He foresaw this five hundred years ago. everything." Komp lowered his voice and said in a near-whisper voice: "Listen, I don't mind if you tell me these things, because I think you are just talking casually. But if you shout loudly in front of the public, then Anyone could hear it. If that's the case, frankly, I wouldn't stand by your side if you were struck by lightning, and I'm not very confident in the accuracy of the strike."

Trevize still smiled unabated: "I said that the city was saved, that we did it without resorting to force, what does it matter?" "We don't have any enemies at all," Komp replied.He has creamy yellow hair and a pair of sky blue eyes.Although neither of these shades is in vogue anymore, he has always resisted the urge to change the color of his hair and eyes. "Have you never heard of the Civil War, Comp?" Trevize asked.He is tall and tall, with slightly curly black hair; usually he always wears a wide and soft belt, and he is used to hooking his thumbs on the belt when he walks.

"A civil war sparked by a dispute over moving the capital?" "This issue is enough to trigger the Seldon crisis. It ruined Hannes' political future, helped you and me both enter parliament after the last general election, and this controversy is still hanging around for a long time..." He moved his hand slowly back and forth Oscillating, as if the scales are gradually approaching an equilibrium point. Trevize stopped on the steps, letting many people pass by him.Those included government officials, journalists, and today's celebrities who had managed to secure an invitation to witness Seldon's reappearance (or, more correctly, his image reappearance).

These people all walked down the steps, chatting and laughing all the way, admiring that everything was going right, reveling in the confidence endorsed by Seldon. Trevize stopped moving, and the crowd rolled past him in waves.Komp walked down two steps and stopped as well—the two seemed to be tied by an invisible rope.Komp turned his head and said, "Are you coming down?" "There's no rush, the mayor of Burano will be sure to address the current situation with her usual firm tone, word for word. The council won't be on the agenda until her speech is over. I'm in no rush to endure another tirade—look at this city!"

"I see it, I see it every day." "The words are good, but five hundred years ago, when it was established, have you ever seen it?" "It was four hundred and ninety-eight years ago—" Compo corrected him immediately. "We're not going to celebrate our quincentenary in two years. Mayor Burano will still be in office, I hope, barring some very unlikely accident." "I hope so—" Trevize said tartly. "But five hundred years ago, when the city was first built, do you know what it was like? A single city! A small city, populated by people who were going to compile an encyclopedia, and the work It's never been done!"

"Nonsense, it's already done." "Are you referring to our current set of "Encyclopedia of the Galaxy"? That was not originally edited by them. Our current set of "Encyclopedia of the Galaxy" is all stored in the computer, and it is automatically added, deleted, and revised every day. The original version that they didn't finish, have you seen it?" "You mean the one at the 'Harding Museum'?" "It's called the 'Sev Harding Sourcebook Museum,' please use the full name, since you're so fussy about the date and year. Have you seen it?"

"No, should I see it?" "No, it's not worth seeing at all. Anyway, the core people of this town back then were the group of encyclopedia compilers. At that time, End Point was just a small town, built on this almost metal-free world; the world revolved around A lone sun, cut off from the rest of the galaxy, at the edge of the Milky Way - the outermost starry sky. Now, five hundred years later, we are a frontier town where all the metal you want is there. Everything is here The center of everything!" "Not really," Compe said. "We're still orbiting a lonely sun, still isolated from other galaxies, and still on the outermost edge of the galaxy."

"Ah, you're right, that's an ill-advised statement. That's the real crux of the recent insignificant 'Seldon crisis'. We're not just a single world on Terminus, we're the base, our tentacles Pervasive throughout the galaxy, controlling it from the very edge. We are able to do so only because we are not cut off from the rest of the galaxy—with the exception of logical locations, but that counts for nothing." "Okay, I'll accept your argument for the time being." Kang Pu was obviously not interested in this topic, so he stepped down a step.The invisible rope between the two was then stretched a little by him.

Trevize reached out, as if trying to pull his companion back. "Can't you see the point, Comm? The change is so great, and we still don't want to accept it. In our minds, we just want a small base, as in olden days—a To return to the age of heroes and saints—a single little world like that." "Come on!" "I mean, look at this Seldon Hall. In the days of Sephor Harding, when the first crises arose, this place was just a vault, a small assembly hall, dedicated to Seldon's It was built for the development of full-time video images, that's all. Now, it has been rebuilt into a grand memorial hall, but is there a 'force field ramp' here? Is there a 'slide'? Is there a 'gravity lift'? No , there are still only these steps. Like Harding back then, we have to climb up and down one step at a time. Whenever we encounter difficulties or unpredictable situations, we will stick to the past with caution and fear. Tradition."

He swung his arm violently and said excitedly: "Look around, is there any building material that is metal? None of them. This is intentional at all! Because in the era of Seve Harding, There is no local metal production at all, and very little imported metal. When building this behemoth, we even deliberately used old plastic materials, which have turned pink due to age. We did so, all It was meant to make tourists from other worlds stop and say, 'My God! What lovely old plastic!' I tell you, CommScope, it's all fake." "Si, is that what you don't believe? Seldon Hall?" "And everything in it," Trevize whispered through gritted teeth, "I don't believe there is any point in hiding on the edge of this universe. The way our ancestors did it doesn't mean we should follow suit. I believe we should go forward bravely and walk into the universe." The center of everything in the galaxy." "But Seldon proved you wrong. The Seldon plan is gradually being realized." "I know, I know. Every child on Terminus has been indoctrinated with some deep-rooted beliefs - all believe that Seldon had foreseen everything five hundred years ago and had drawn up a plan to establish From this base, he also predicted many crises. Whenever a crisis occurs, his full-information image will appear, revealing the minimum information to us, which is only enough for us to survive until the next crisis. By this means, Seldon will lead us through a thousand years until we are safe to build a greater empire. The galactic empire of the past, which was torn apart five centuries ago, was completely disintegrated two centuries ago. The Seldon plan The second Galactic Empire in the world is to be rebuilt on the ruins and ashes of the old empire." "Why are you telling me this, Grant?" "Because I'm telling you, it's all false, completely false. Even if it was true at the time, it's all false now! We are not our own masters, because we are not actively following this plan." Kang Pu looked at Trevize carefully, "Glenn, you have told me this before, but I always thought you were talking nonsense and trying to tease me on purpose. Galaxy, now I realize that you are serious." .” "Of course I'm serious!" "It's possible. If this is not an extremely complicated prank, the purpose is just to play tricks on me, or you are already crazy." "No, neither." After Trevize finished speaking, he suddenly calmed down, and his thumbs hooked around his belt again, as if he no longer needed gestures to emphasize his righteous indignation. "I've thought about this in the past, and I admit it was just a hunch. But this morning's farce gave me an epiphany. So I'm going to make the whole of Parliament wake up too." Kang Pu responded immediately: "You are really crazy!" "If you don't believe me, come with me, and there will be a good show to watch right away." Both of them walked down the steps, and at this time there were only two of them left on the steps.When Trevize got a little ahead, Comp's mouth moved a few times, and he cursed a silent "Idiot!" behind him.