Chapter 25 second quarter

The members of the round table have not yet arrived. Generally speaking, if any speaker is late, the meeting will usually still start on time.And now, Sandys thought, the members present had no intention of waiting any longer.Stoor Candiber was the youngest speaker and apparently didn't know enough about it.He has always acted as if youth is the greatest asset, and all older people should always remind themselves of their age.The other speakers didn't appreciate Candib, and indeed, Sandys himself didn't appreciate him 100 percent.But today's situation is not a matter of appreciation or not.

His meditations were interrupted by Delora Dramiel, who was looking at him with large blue eyes.Her round face, always with an expression of innocent friendliness, just belied a shrewd heart (as her Second Foundation equals almost all admitted) and a hawk's keen attention. "Should we wait any longer, chief speaker?" she said with a smile Diss speaks first, because by his title he always had that right.) Sandys looked at her with indulgence, not paying attention to her slight faux pas. "Usually we don't have to wait any longer, Drami speaker. But this round table is being held to hear the views of the Candiba speaker, and it wouldn't hurt to loosen the rules a bit."

"Where is he, Chief Speaker?" "That, Speaker Drami, I don't know." Dramiy looked around at the elongated faces.In addition to the chief speaker, there should be eleven speakers, that is, only twelve in total.Over the past five centuries, the power and responsibilities of the Second Foundation have expanded countless times, but various attempts to increase the number of seats in the Round Table have always been unsuccessful. After Seldon's death, the second-generation chief speaker (Seldon himself has always been regarded as the first-generation chief speaker) made a clear rule that the number of speakers should be twelve, and this rule has been in use since then. It has been followed to this day.

Why twelve people? Because twelve people can be easily divided into several groups; moreover, this number is not too many, so that the group meeting will not become chaotic, and it is enough to be divided into several groups to act separately.Any more and you'll be big and bloated, any less and you'll lose your elasticity. The above reasons are just interpretations of later generations.In fact, no one knows the real reason for choosing this number, or why it should remain the same.That said, even members of the Second Foundation are sometimes bound to be slaves to tradition. The question was fleeting in Drammy's mind as she looked at every face and touched every heart.Finally, she gazed mockingly at the vacant seat—the lowest one.

She found no sympathy for Candib, which was gratifying to her.She always felt that this young man was as repulsive as a scorpion, and it was his own fault.It's just that he possesses such remarkable ability and talent that, so far, no one has publicly proposed to bring him to trial in order to remove his voice. (In Second Foundation's 500-year history, only two speakers have been impeached, though neither was convicted.) Candidate's unexcused absence now clearly constitutes a serious insult to the round table, which is worse than other acts of outrage.Drami was delighted by the sudden increase in the desire to try Candidate.

She continued: "Chief Speaker, if you do not know the current whereabouts of Speaker Candiba, I would be happy to let you know." "Speak, speaker." "Who among us doesn't know that this young man—" (she didn't use an official title for him. Of course, everyone noticed this) "is always involved with the Eminem? I don't want to ask too much about what is involved. However, he is with them at this moment, and he obviously cares about them very much, and even regards them as more important than the round table meeting." "I believe," said another speaker, "that he just went out for a walk or a jog to get some exercise."

Drammy smiled again, and she always smiled, which was an easy gesture. "The university, the library, the imperial palace, and the large area around them are all our territory. Although compared with the entire planet, this area is not large, but I think it is spacious enough to do sports——Chief Speaker, can't we start yet?" The chief speaker secretly sighed in his heart. He had the full power to keep the round table meeting waiting, and he could even announce a temporary adjournment until the meeting was resumed after Jian Dibo appeared. However, being a chief speaker requires the support of other speakers, and without even passive support, work cannot proceed smoothly, so it is never wise to offend them.Even Prim Pavel, in order to carry out his plan, sometimes had to say sweet words against his will.What's more, Candib's absence was irritating, even for the chief speaker himself.It would be good to teach the young man a lesson, so that he knows he can't get his way.

Therefore, as the chief speaker, he was the first to make a formal speech as usual: "Let's have a meeting. The speaker Jiandibo deduced some amazing results from the data of the Yuanguang body. He believes that there is another organization to There are better ways to maintain the Seldon Project, and they do it for their own sake. So his view is that we must learn more about this organization in self-defense. You have all received this report, this time The purpose of the meeting is to give you an opportunity to confront the Chandiper speaker in person, and hopefully we will be able to reach some kind of conclusion that will serve as a guideline for future policy."

In fact, Sandys didn't have to say that much at all.He had opened his heart, and it was obvious to the other speakers that speaking was merely a matter of courtesy. Drammy looked around quickly. The other ten seemed to agree to let her speak as the anti-Cendib.So she said, "But Chandibor—" (again omitting the title) "didn't know, couldn't say who that organization was." The tone of her speech was very clear, it was an out-and-out direct sentence, and the meaning was close to being rude.The meaning of this sentence is equivalent to saying: I can analyze your mind, and you don't need to bother to explain it.

The lead speaker sensed her implication, but immediately decided to ignore it. "Speaker of Candiba—" (He used the official title meticulously, without even deliberately emphasizing it) "Although I don't know and can't say what the organization is, it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. No. Members of a base who have known nothing about us for most of their history, and in fact barely know us now, don't you think we don't even exist?" "Although our existence is a secret," Dramy replied, "it doesn't mean that anything that wants to exist must be as unknown as us." After she finished speaking, she chuckled.

"That is a good point, and that is why the reasoning of Candidate's speaker needs to be examined with the utmost care. His conclusions are based on rigorous mathematical derivations, which I myself have read from beginning to end, and I I advise everyone to study it carefully, it is—" (he was thinking about an appropriate expression) "quite convincing." "That First Foundation guy, Glenn Trevize, he's always been on your mind, but why didn't you say a word about it?" (Another rude offense, the chief speaker is a little annoyed this time) "He What's going on again?" The chief speaker replied: "The Candiba speaker believes that this man, Trevize, is a tool of that organization, and perhaps he himself was kept in the dark. We must not take him lightly." "If this organization," Drammy leaned back in the chair, pushed the gray hair away from his eyes, and pushed it behind his head. "No matter what it is, if it does exist, has terrifyingly powerful spiritual power, and is so secretive, then it is possible for them to use such public means to fake such an eye-catching figure-a person who was first attacked Do base exile MPs act?" The chief speaker replied seriously: "Normally speaking, it shouldn't be, but I have noticed a very disturbing thing, which I don't even understand much." He seemed to be unconsciously burying his thoughts, ashamed. for other speakers to see. This shift of heart was noted by every speaker, who, according to a strict requirement, respected it.Drammy did as well, but impatiently, and then she followed the established formula: "Since we understand and forgive your embarrassment, could you please let us know what you think?" Then the chief speaker added: "Speaker Demira, I see no reason, like you, to assume that Senator Trevizes is a tool of another organization; and even if he were, I see no reason What he can achieve. But the speaker of Candiba seems to be very sure, and we must not ignore his intuition in a qualified speaker. So I made an attempt to apply psychohistory On Trevize."; "Application to a single person?" asked one of the speakers in a low tone of surprise, and at the same time a thought occurred to him that was tantamount to saying clearly: What a fool! He immediately expressed remorse, though. "Applied to a single person," said the chief speaker, "you are right, what a fool I am! I should know better than anyone that psychohistory can never be applied to an individual, even to a small group of people." It didn't work either. However, I really couldn't suppress my curiosity. I extrapolated the 'interpersonal point' to a region far beyond the limit, but I used a total of sixteen different methods, and I chose a region, It is not just a point. Then, I analyzed all the information we have about Trevize—how much the councilors of the first base will be noticed by us, and the information of the mayor of the base is also added. Finally, I put these results Putting it all together, I'm afraid that the process involved may be messy." He suddenly stopped talking at this point. "How?" Drami demanded. "I guess you... did something unexpected?" "As you expected, nothing came of it at all," replied the Chief Speaker. "The behavior of a single person is absolutely unpredictable, but, but..." "But what?" "I have spent forty years in psychohistory, and now, before analyzing any problem, I can have a fairly definite hunch about the outcome, and I seldom guess wrong. I have no reasonable reason for the problem at hand. The answer, however, was a strong feeling. I think Candidate is right, we can't just ignore Trevize." "Why, Chief Speaker?" Dramid asked.The intensity of emotion in the chief speaker's heart clearly took her by surprise. "I'm ashamed," said the lead speaker, "that I couldn't resist the urge to apply psychohistory to a problem for which it didn't apply. I'm even more ashamed that I allowed myself to be ruled by pure intuition." Left and right. But I can't help it, because the feeling is too strong. If the speaker of Candiba is right, if we are under unknown threat, then according to my feeling, when our crisis comes, Trevize will be the decisive figure in turning things around." "What grounds do you have for this feeling?" Dramid was astonished. Sandys, the lead speaker, looked around the crowd with a sad face, and said: "I have no basis, the mathematics of psychohistory has not given any results. But when I look at the interaction of various relationships, I feel that Trevize is everything. The crux of the matter. We must pay close attention to this young man."