Chapter 7 second quarter

Trevize felt his face turn red, and he struggled to contain his anger.The mayor was an elderly woman, about to turn sixty-three, and he really didn't want to quarrel with an old woman who was almost twice his age. What's more, she has long been trained in political struggles, and understands that as long as the opponent is confused at the beginning, a war is half won.However, if this tactic is to be effective, the prerequisite is that there must be an audience present, but now that there is not even a bystander, there will be no one to humiliate him.After all the calculations, there were only the two of them in the room.

So he deliberately turned a deaf ear to those words, but tried his best to maintain an indifferent expression, carefully examining the other party.The older woman opposite was wearing unisex clothing—this kind of clothing has been in fashion for two generations, but it didn't fit her.The mayor, the leader of the galaxy—if there is a leader in the galaxy, of course she—looks like a mediocre old woman, easily mistaken for an old man.The only difference between her and the man is that she wears her iron-gray hair tightly tied back, as opposed to the traditional male hairstyle, which is left untied at all.

Thinking of this, Trevize couldn't help showing a charming smile.This elderly opponent even called him "child".Let's talk about how hard she tried to use the word "child" as a humiliation, but the "child" in front of her had at least two advantages - one was younger than her, and the other was handsome.And he fully understands both. So he said: "Exactly. I'm only thirty-two years old, so of course I can still be considered a child; and as a member of parliament, it is my duty to keep my mouth open. Regarding the first point, I really don't know." However, as for the second point, I can only say that I am very sorry."

"Do you know what you've gotten into? Don't stand there foolishly. Sit down. If possible, please give me your full attention and answer my questions rationally." "I know what I've done, and I'm telling the truth as I see it through." "You chose this day to challenge me? On a day when my reputation is at its peak? How can I drive you out of the council today and arrest you immediately, while keeping the other councilors silent and no one dares to stand up?" Come out and protest." "Sooner or later Parliament will come to its senses and protest to you. Now, they may already be protesting. Your persecuting me like this will only make them listen to me more."

"No one will hear what you say. As long as I think you will continue to do your own way, I will continue to regard you as a traitor and bring you to justice." "Then I have to go to trial and I can always wait for my chance to appear in court." "Don't count on this. The mayor's emergency powers are very powerful, although the mayor usually rarely uses them." "Why do you declare an emergency?" "Naturally I'll come up with something, I've got the wit and I'm not afraid of a political crisis. Don't push me, young man, and hope we can make a deal here. Otherwise you'll never be free again , you will be imprisoned for life, I can assure you of that."

They stare at each other.Branor stared at Trevize with her gray eyes, and Trevize stared back at Branor with patchy brown eyes. Then Trevize asked, "What kind of agreement?" "Ah, you're curious, and that's much better. Now we can have a good talk, without staring at each other all the time—what's your opinion anyway?" "You should be very clear. You haven't been in secret communication with Senator Compu, have you?" "I want to hear it from your own mouth. What do you think of the Seldon crisis that just passed?" "Very well, if that's what you want to hear - Ma'am Mayor!" (the word "old woman" almost blurted out) "What the Seldon image said is so true that it can still be said after five hundred years It's impossible to get that accurate. His reappearance is, I believe, the eighth time ever. There have been several times in the past when his image appeared without anyone present. And at least once , during the reign of Indebpur III, what he said was completely out of line with the actual situation at the time-but that was when the mule was rising, wasn't it? But in the past seven times, has he ever Like today, everything was predicted so accurately?" Trevize smiled deliberately, "Madam Mayor, according to the records we have, Seldon has never been able to describe the current situation so accurately, even the smallest details. Not bad."

Burano replied: "You mean to say that Seldon's full-screen image is fake at all? The video of Seldon was recently prepared by someone else, maybe this person is me; and the role of Seldon was created by played by an actor." "It's not impossible, Madam Mayor, but that's not what I mean. The truth is much worse. I believe what we've seen is indeed a video of Seldon himself, and his description of the current situation, It was indeed prepared five hundred years ago. I have already told your subordinate Cordel about this, but he deliberately played charades with me and cunningly led me to say some ambiguous words. Those base people who don’t use their brains , after listening to your well-edited videos, you must believe that I also support those superstitions."

"Yeah, that record could come in handy if need be, so that everyone on and off the base thinks you've never really taken a stand against it." Trevize spread his hands: "But I am clearly the case. The Seldon plan in our mind actually did not exist at all. It disappeared in smoke as early as two centuries ago. I have doubted this matter for several times. years, and what we witnessed in the vault twelve hours ago is just enough to prove it." "Because Seldon predicted too accurately?" "Exactly. Don't laugh, it's the proof." "You can see I'm not laughing. Go on."

"How could he predict so accurately? Two centuries ago, Seldon's analysis of the current situation was completely wrong. At that time, it was more than three hundred years since the establishment of the base, and his predictions were already outrageous, completely outrageous !" "About this point, Senator, you have already explained it yourself just now, and that is because of the mule. The mule is a mutant with powerful spiritual power, and the Seldon plan cannot take him into consideration at all." "Whether he thought about it or not, he just showed up and derailed the Seldon Project. However, the mule's reign was not long, and he had no successor. After his death, the base quickly regained its independence. , and at the same time regained its former hegemony. The problem is that after this twists and turns, the Seldon plan has become fragmented, how could it possibly return to the right track?"

Burano had an old face, and his two old hands were tightly clenched together. "You should know what the answer is. Besides us, there is another base. You should read the history." "I've read Ikaty's biography of her grandmother -- that's what she was given at school, anyway -- and I've read her novels. Also, I've read the official story of 'Mule Chaos' , and reports from the 'post-mulle' period. May I question these documents?" "How do you question it?" "According to the generally accepted saying, the purpose of our first base is to preserve all the knowledge of physical science, and then continue to develop. All our development is above board, and our history follows the development of the Seldon plan-whether we know it or not. It doesn't matter. But besides us, there is a second base whose function is to preserve and develop various psychological sciences, including psychohistory. And the existence of the second base must be kept secret, even from us. It cannot be disclosed. This second base is the fine-tuning mechanism of the Seldon plan, and when the tide of galactic history deviates from the predetermined track, it is responsible for bringing history back on track."

"Then you've answered your own question," the mayor said. "Perhaps Beda Darrell was able to defeat the mule because she was secretly motivated by the Second Foundation, although her granddaughter has repeatedly emphasized that this is not the case." ...In any case, the return of galactic history to Project Seldon after the death of the mule is undoubtedly the result of the efforts of the Second Foundation, and they have clearly lived up to their mission. What else do you want to say, Senator?" "Madam Mayor, if we analyze Ikati Darrell's claims, one obvious fact emerges. The Second Foundation inadvertently sabotages the entire Seldon project in its attempt to correct the history of the galaxy. Because the ongoing During this correction, they exposed themselves and let us, the first base, discover our own mirror image - the fact that the second base exists. Since we were not willing to be manipulated by them, we did everything possible to find out the second base whereabouts, and wipe them out in one fell swoop." Burano nodded, and went on to say: "According to Ikadi Daryl, we did succeed later. But it is obvious that before this, the history of the galaxy that was once disrupted by mules has already been destroyed." Being redirected back on track by the second base, until now there is still no deviation." "Can you believe this? According to Icarty, we found the headquarters of the Second Foundation and arrested all its members. That happened in the year 378 of the Foundation Era; Ten years ago. For the past five full generations, we believed that the Second Foundation no longer existed, and everything was the result of our independent development. But until now, we have been able to target the goals of the Seldon plan, and what you said, and The image of Seldon says almost exactly the same." "This may be explained as follows: I have a far-sighted and keen insight into the deep meaning of historical development." "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to doubt your keen insight. But I think there is a more obvious explanation, and that is that the Second Foundation has not been destroyed at all. It still controls us, still dominates us-that That's the real reason we're back on track with the Seldon plan."