Chapter 65 first quarter

When Stowe Candiber finally spotted Compu's spaceship on the display screen, it seemed that he had reached the end, and this unimaginably long journey had finally come to an end.Of course, this is not some end, but a real beginning.The long journey from Trantor to Sachel was but a prologue. Nuo Wei showed a look of awe. "Is that another spaceship, master?" "It's the 'spaceship,' Novi. That's right, that's another spaceship, the one we've come so desperately to rendezvous. It's bigger and better than ours. It can fly in ways unimaginable Flying through space at high speed: If it wanted to avoid it, it would be impossible for our spacecraft to catch up - or even track at all."

"Faster than the spaceships of the masters?" Sura Novi was terrified. Candidate shrugged. "Maybe you're right. I can indeed be considered a master, but I'm not proficient in everything, let alone omnipotent. We scholars don't have spaceships like that, and we don't have so many tangible things like the masters of those spaceships." technological equipment." "How can a scholar not have these things, master?" "Because we dominate what is really important. The products of material civilization that those people have are actually insignificant things at all."

Nuo Wei frowned and thought for a while, and then said: "I think it is not trivial to be able to fly so fast that the master can't catch up. Who are they? Miracles—I mean, to have these things." Amused by her, Candib replied, "They call themselves Foundation people. Have you ever heard of Foundation?" The speaker was never curious about the question. Or was he the only one who never wondered, who was the only one with the preconceived notion that the Amu people don't care about anything but digging.) Nuo Wei shook her head as she thought about it. "I've never heard of it, master. When the school master taught me philology—I mean reading and writing—he told me that there were many other worlds, and he told me the names of some of them. He said that our world of Omu had an official name called Trantor, and that it once ruled all the worlds. He also said that Trantor used to be covered with gleaming iron, and that there lived a man called the Emperor, who was all Master's master."

She looked up at Candib with a shy joy on her face. "However, I don't believe most of them. On days when the night is much longer than the day, we all gather in the assembly hall, and the storyteller tells many stories. When I was a little girl, I believed them all. , but as I grew up, I found that many of them were not true, and now I only believe in very few, maybe none of them. Even the masters in the school tell some unbelievable stories." "Actually, Novi, the story told by the schoolmaster is true, but it was a long time ago. Trantor was once covered in metal, and there was indeed an Emperor who ruled the galaxy. However, everything is now Changed, the people of the base will one day rule all worlds, and their power is always growing."

"They shall rule all the worlds, master?" "Not immediately, but another five hundred years." "Then they also become masters of all masters?" "No, no, they will rule all worlds, and we will rule them—for their safety, and for the safety of all worlds." Nuowei frowned again, and she said, "Master, do the people in these bases have many such good spaceships?" "I suppose so, Novi." "And they have something else that's really... amazing?" "They have all kinds of powerful weapons." "So, master, can't they conquer all the worlds now?"

"No, they can't do it because the time is not right yet." "But why can't they? Will the masters stop them?" "We don't need to do this, Novi. Even if we didn't, they wouldn't be able to conquer all the worlds." "What the hell is going to stop them?" "It's like this," Candib began to explain: "Once upon a time there was a very clever man who devised a plan..." At this point, he suddenly stopped, smiled slightly, and shook his head. "It's really hard to explain, Novi, maybe another day. In fact, what you saw and heard before we got back to Trantor may make it clear to you, and I don't need to explain it at all."

"What will happen, master?" "I'm not sure yet, Novi, but everything will be fine." After he finished speaking, he turned around and began to prepare to contact Kang Pu.At the same time, he couldn't help saying to himself in his heart: At least I hope so. Then he immediately lost his temper with himself, because he knew exactly where this stupid and hesitant idea came from—through Comm’s spaceship, he saw the solidity and grandness of the base; Its unabashed admiration made him even more resentful. How stupid! How can I compare tangible power with invisible control? This is what speakers of all ages call "the delusion of being strangled by the throat."

It was hard to imagine that I was not immune to that temptation.