Chapter 3 Chapter Two Two People Without a Mule

The starship is ready, everything is in place except the destination.The mule suggested that they go to Trantor one more time, for this now-decayed world had once been the head of the stars, the capital of the greatest empire in history, the only metropolis in the galaxy. However, Pliji rejected this suggestion, because it was an old-fashioned route, which had been thoroughly searched long ago. Now, he ran into Baier Chengnis in the navigation room.The young man's curly hair was perfectly disheveled, with just one lock falling to his forehead--as if it had been carefully combed--and even the teeth that he showed when he smiled matched the hairstyle perfectly.But this resolute general felt that he seemed indifferent to all this.

Chengnis's excitement was beyond words, and he said, "Pliji, this is really a bit of a coincidence." "I don't know what you mean," replied the general coldly. "Oh—well, then you pull up a chair, old man, and let's have a good talk. I've read your notes, and I think they're remarkable." "This... is really an honor." "But I don't know if you've also come to the conclusion I had in mind. Have you tried to analyze the problem deductively? I mean, it's certainly nice to search for stars in random steps, in order to perform this Search, you have made countless interstellar transitions in the past five expeditions, this is an obvious thing. However, have you calculated that according to your progress, if you want to search all the known worlds, you have to How long did it take?"

"Forget it, and more than once." Priggi is unwilling to compromise with this young man at all, but it is very important to inquire into the other party's inner thoughts - because this is an uncontrolled mind, and it is impossible to predict . "Okay, then, let's try to analyze it and decide what we're really looking for." "Second Base, of course." Pridji said sullenly. "It's a base made up of psychologists." Cheng Nisi corrected the other party's words, and continued: "They are at a disadvantage in the development of physical science, just like the first base's achievements in psychology are not good. Hey, are you From the First Foundation, and I'm not, the implications of that may be obvious to you. We're looking for a world ruled by psychic powers, but a world with very backward science."

"Must it be so?" Pliji asked in a steady tone: "However, the science of our planetary federation is not behind. Although the source of power of our ruler is a kind of spiritual power." "That's because the First Base provides him with all kinds of technological support," the other party replied with a slight impatience, "but looking at the galaxy, the First Base is the only source of knowledge today. The Second Base must be hidden in the Milky Way. There will be nothing useful left of the broken remains of the Empire." "So you're assuming that while their psychic powers are good enough to rule several worlds, their physical sciences are poor."

"Their physical science is not absolutely bad. Compared with their degraded neighbors around them, they still have sufficient self-defense capabilities. However, the mules have sophisticated nuclear technology. In the face of the next wave of mule attacks, they are bound to be irresistible Otherwise, why did the Second Foundation hide so secretively? In the beginning, its founder, Hari Seldon, kept it a secret, and those people still follow this tradition. Your First Foundation has never denied its existence, nor No one ever tried to hide it. Even three hundred years ago, when it was an undefended single city on a lonely planet, it didn't try to hide its head and tail."

The lines on Pridji's gloomy face twitched, as if mocking the other party.He said, "Now that you've done your advanced analysis, would you like me to give you a list of all the political wildernesses that fit your description, plus several other factors, including kingdoms, republics, , the Confederation of Planets, and various dictatorships." "So, you've considered all of this?" Chengnis's tone didn't show any weakness. "The list isn't here, of course, but we've made a guide that includes all the political blocs in the 'diagonal outer rim of the galaxy'. Honestly, do you think mules really grope completely blind?"

"Okay, then—" the young man's voice became more moderate, "Is the 'Darcind Oligarchy' possible?" Pridji rubbed his ears and said thoughtfully, "Darcinde? Oh, I think I know that place. They're not on the outer edge of the galaxy, right? I seem to remember that they're located two-thirds of the way from the center of the galaxy. place." "Yes, so what?" "According to the records we have, Second Base should be on the other side of the galaxy. God knows, that's our only lead. But why do you mention Dascind? It is only at an angle of one hundred Between ten and one hundred and twenty degrees, there is nothing close to one hundred and eighty degrees."

"In your so-called records, there is actually another point mentioned - the location of the second base is set at the 'stars' end'." "There has never been such a place name in the galaxy." "It may have been a name used by the locals, and then deliberately kept from circulation for the sake of secrecy, or it may be the name chosen by Seldon's gang. In any case, 'Stars' End' and 'Darcind Oligarchy' There should indeed be some connection between them, don't you think so? Have you been there yet?" "No." "But in your records, that place was mentioned."

"There? Oh, that's right, but we are only going to replenish food and drinking water. Of course, there is nothing worth noting in that world." "Did you land on the capital planet? I mean, the center of the government?" "I'm not sure." Under Priji's cold gaze, Chengnis pondered for a while, and then said, "Would you like to take a moment to watch 'Lens' with me?" "certainly." The "Lens" was perhaps the most advanced device on a Star Cruiser at the time.It is actually an extremely complex computer that can reproduce the night sky scene seen anywhere in the Milky Way on a large three-dimensional screen.

Chengnis adjusted the coordinates and turned off the lights in the cabin.His face was flushed by the faint red light from the lens control dial.Priggi sat in the driver's seat with one long leg raised, his face hidden in the darkness. Slowly, when the warm-up time passed, many light spots appeared on the screen.Priggi could tell at a glance that it was a star image near the center of the Milky Way, where dense and bright stars were tightly packed together. "This," Chengnis explained, "is the winter night sky as seen on Trantor. As far as I know, there is a very important key that has been overlooked in your past search operations. Any sensible orientation, must They will all take Trantor as the origin. Because Trantor is the capital of the Galactic Empire, in addition to being the political center, it is also the center of the entire galaxy in terms of science and culture. Therefore, any place name in the galaxy, nine out of ten Trantor is the standard. Also, you should remember that although Seldon came from Helicon, near the outer edge of the galaxy, the research he led was conducted on Trantor."

"What exactly do you want to explain?" Pridji asked in a cold and flat voice, pouring a basin of cold water on the other party's enthusiasm. "The map of the nebula will explain everything. Have you seen that dark nebula?" The shadow of Chengnis' arm covered part of the Milky Way on the screen.His finger points to a tiny black dot that looks like a tiny hole in the web of light.He explained: "According to the records of the nebula map, it is called the Bellow Nebula. Pay attention here, I want to enlarge the image." Priggi had seen the lens image zoom in before, but he was still holding his breath.It was like staring into the picture plane of a starship traveling through the frighteningly dense star belts of the galaxy without entering hyperspace.He saw the stars rushing towards them, scattering from a common center; A ball of light, and the hazy band of light decomposed into countless light spots.These rapid image changes always give people an illusion of relative motion. Chengnis kept explaining: "You can notice that this means that we are flying from Trantor to the Bello Nebula in a straight line. So in fact, the images we see have always maintained the same pattern of looking from Trantor to the starry sky. Orientation. There may be a slight error in it, because I did not take into account the deflection of starlight caused by gravity. I don't have the mathematical tools at hand to calculate this factor, but I am sure it will not affect too much." Now that the dark area has expanded on the screen, as the zoom rate slows down, the stars can be seen reluctantly disappearing from all sides of the screen.And around the gradually growing nebula, many bright stars suddenly appeared.That's because the nearby space of a few cubic parsecs is full of dim swirls of sodium and calcium atoms, covering the light of those stars, so they can only be seen when they are close. Chengnis pointed at the screen again and said, "The inhabitants of that star field call this place the 'star mouth'. This has a great significance, because only from the direction of Trantor, it will look like A mouth." He was referring to a chasm in the nebula, filled with sparkling starlight and jagged in outline that looked like a smiling mouth. "Along the star mouth," Cheng Nisi said again: "walking along the star mouth, the starlight becomes more and more sparse and scattered, as if entering the 'throat'." The image on the screen was enlarged again until the nebula stretched around the star mouth, occupying the entire screen, leaving only the star mouth showing a subtle light.Chengnis' fingers silently followed the mouth of the star until it stopped suddenly, and then continued to move until they reached a lonely bright star before finally stopping there.If you go further out, it will be a completely dark abyss. "At the end of the stars," said the young man without thinking, "the nebula thins out there, so that the light from this star can extend in only one direction—all the way to Trantor." "You want to tell me..." The general stopped mid-sentence in disbelief. "I'm not trying to say anything, but Darcinder - it's 'Stars' End'." The lens was closed immediately, and the lights in the room were turned on again.Priji strode up to Chengnis: "How did you come up with this idea?" Chengnis leaned back in the chair, with a strange and embarrassed expression on his face: "It's purely by chance, I really want to attribute it to my cleverness, but in fact it's really just a coincidence. Anyway, this conclusion is reasonable anyway. According to the information we have at hand, Dascind is an oligarchy ruling twenty-seven inhabited planets, but its science is not developed. Most importantly, it is a remote and hidden world, in the star field There is a strict neutrality in regional politics and no expansionism. I think we should go there and take a look.” "Did you report this to the mule?" "No, we are not going to tell him for the time being. Now we are in space, and we are about to make the first jump." Pridji was taken aback, and quickly jumped to the picture board.When he adjusted the focus, the scene in front of him was a cold space.He stared intently for a long time, and then turned his head suddenly, and his hand had already subconsciously touched the hard nuclear gun handle that gave him a sense of security. "Who gave the order?" "Report to the general, I gave the order," this is the first time Chengnis called the other party's military rank, "When I was talking to you, you may not have noticed that the starship is accelerating. Because I was about to The image field of the lens is enlarged, and although you feel it, you think it is an illusion caused by the moving image of the stars." "Why? What the hell are you doing? What is the purpose of your nonsense about Darcinde?" "I'm no nonsense, I'm serious, we're heading there now. I'm going to start today because we're supposed to be in three days. General, you don't believe there's a second base, but I But you are convinced; you are only acting under the mule's order, and you have no confidence at all, but I see extreme danger. Now, the second base has been actively preparing for five years. I don't know how they prepare. But what if they have spies in Kalgen? If I hide the whereabouts of the second base in my heart, they may find out, and my life may be threatened. And I cherish this little life very much , even if there is even the slightest danger, I would like to avoid it completely. So no one knows about Dascind except you, and you only know it after we go into space. But even so, we have to I'm worried about the crew." Chengnis smiled mockingly again, obviously he had fully grasped the situation. Pridji's hand slipped from the nuclear gun at his waist, and suddenly, a vague sense of unhappiness hit him.What exactly made him reluctant to act?What made him indecisive?In the past, when he served the business empire of the First Foundation, he was a rebellious captain who could never be promoted.At that time, it should be he—not Chengnis—who will make a decisive decision on this situation and take bold actions without hesitation.Was the mule really right?His controlled mind is no longer proactive because it puts obedience first? He felt suddenly depressed and fell into a strange state of exhaustion. He said: "Well done! But from now on, before you make similar decisions, you must consult with me first." At this moment, a flashing signal caught his attention. "That's the engine room," Cheng Nisi said casually, "I ordered them to warm up the engine for five minutes, and I told them to notify me immediately if they find any problems. Do you want to stay here?" Priggie nodded silently.Then, remembering that he was approaching fifty, he brooded in solitude on the terrible truth.The picture plane now only reflected a few sparse stars, while the main body of the Milky Way was squeezed aside, looking very hazy.If he could get rid of the mule's shackles, then...he just thought of this idea, but he stopped in fright. The chief engineer, Hux Lane, glared at the young man in plain clothes in front of him with sharp eyes.The young man seemed to be in a position of authority, with the confidence of a fleet officer.Harx Lane joined the fleet when he was still a child, and he always equated authority with class, so he would not take the other side seriously. But this person was personally appointed by Mule, and there was naturally no room for bargaining for what Mule said.Just based on Mule's words, he didn't even have any doubts subconsciously.The grip of emotion gripped him deeply and firmly. Without saying a word, he just handed a small oval object to Chengnis. Chengnis took it, weighed it with his hand, and showed a charming smile. "You're from the base, aren't you, chief engineer?" "Yes, sir. I served eighteen years in the base fleet before the First Citizen took over." "Did you receive technical training at the base?" "I'm a qualified first-class technician - a graduate of the Anacreon Central Military Academy." "Very good. Did you find this in the comm line? In the place I asked you to check?" "Report sir, yes." "Is it part of the part?" "Report sir, no." "So what exactly is it?" "Report sir, it's a hyperwave repeater." "That's not clear enough, I'm not from the base. What does it do?" "Put this device on a starship, and you can track the starship in hyperspace." "In other words, no matter where we go, we will be followed?" "Report sir, yes." "Okay. It's a recent modification, isn't it? It was developed by a research institute founded by First Citizen, isn't it?" "Reporting sir, I believe you are right." "And its structure and function are government secrets, right?" "Reporting sir, I believe you are right." "But it came here, which is very interesting." Chengnis threw the superwave repeater back and forth with both hands. After a few seconds, he suddenly stretched his hand forward and said at the same time: "Take it, put it back in its original place, understand Don’t understand? Then forget about it, completely forget about it!” The chief engineer was about to salute, but stopped abruptly at the last moment.After turning around sharply, he left without looking back. The starship is jumping again and again in the galaxy, and its trajectory is a sparse dotted line among the stars.The "point" in the dotted line is the short-range path of ten to sixty light seconds in ordinary space; and the gap of many parsecs between "points" and "points" is the starship's transition in hyperspace result once. Baier Chengnis sat contemplating before the control panel of the lens, and couldn't help arousing an emotion almost reverent towards it.He is not from the base. For him, things like pushing the handle and starting the switch are not a skill that has been naturally proficient since he was a child. However, the lens is not a boring contraption, even for the base folks.In its unbelievably compact volume, there are countless electronic circuits hidden, enough to memorize the precise relative positions of hundreds of millions of stars.In addition, it also has a more amazing function, that is, it can translate any part of the "Galaxy image field" along any three-dimensional space axis, and can also make the image field rotate around any center. Because of these advanced features, lenses played an almost revolutionary role in the advancement of interstellar travel technology.In the early days of interstellar travel, it took a day to a week of calculations to make a hyperspace jump—most of which was spent calculating the exact position of the ship in the galaxy.To put it simply, it is necessary to make very precise observations of at least three stars that are far away from each other, and the positions of these three stars relative to the origin of a certain galactic coordinate must all be known. The key lies in the word "known".A person who is familiar with the "star field" of a certain orientation can easily distinguish each star in it, just like calling a friend by name.However, after jumping ten parsecs, the sun of the parent star may not even be recognized, or even invisible at all. The solution is of course spectral analysis, because the spectrum of each star is different, as if it is the signature of the star.For centuries, the main topic of interstellar traffic engineering has been how to analyze the spectra of more stars more carefully.With the development of starlight spectrum analysis and the continuous improvement of the accuracy of the transition, the standard channel of galaxy travel is gradually established.And interstellar navigation has gradually transformed from an art to a real science. However, even with the level of technology like the base—the well-equipped computers on the ship can also use the brand-new star image field scanning method to analyze the "starlight signature" of stars, but as long as it is in an unfamiliar star field , the pilot sometimes had to spend days to find the three known stars to calculate the ship's position. It wasn't until the invention of the lens that everything changed completely.One of the characteristics of the lens is that it only needs to use a known star as a reference point; another characteristic is that even a novice in space like Chengnis can operate it freely. According to the calculation of the transition, the closest and large enough celestial body at this time is Triumph.Now, a bright star appeared in the center of the picture plate, and Chengnis hoped that it was Triumph. The projection screen of the lens image is next to the picture plate. Chengnis carefully keyed in the coordinates of Triumph Star one by one, and then turned on a certain relay, and the star image field immediately appeared on the screen.There is also a bright star in the center of the screen, though it doesn't seem to be clearly related to the one on the picture plane.So he began to adjust the lens to translate the star field along the z-axis.Then he zoomed in on the picture, paying attention to the readings of the photometer, until the star in the center of the field had exactly the same brightness as the star in the center of the picture plane. Chengnis chose another star on the picture plane, of course it was also a star that was big enough and bright enough, and then found the corresponding image from the star image field.Next, he began to slowly rotate the screen until it was in the same position as the picture plane.However, he suddenly grinned, showing a dissatisfied expression, and at the same time gave up the result.Then he rotated the screen again and chose another bright star, but found that it was still wrong.He had to try a third time, and this time he finally smiled and succeeded.An expert who has received "relative position discrimination training" may succeed in one attempt, but he only tried three times, which is quite rare. The last remaining job is fine-tuning.He first superimposed the star image field and the image on the picture plate. At first, it looked like a cloud of inconsistency, and most of the stars showed two images that were very close.However, the process of fine-tuning didn't take much time, and it didn't take long for all the stars to merge into one and become a single clear image.Now, the position of the starship can be read directly from the dial, and the whole process takes less than half an hour. Chengnis finds Han Prydge in his dormitory, where the general is apparently getting ready for bed. The general raised his head and asked, "Any news?" "There is no special news, we only need to make another jump, and we can reach Darcinde." "I know that." "If you want to go to bed, then I won't bother you. But I want to ask, have you read the film we collected in Sil?" The film that Cheng Nisi mentioned is now placed in a black box on the lower shelf of a low bookshelf.Han Pridji cast a contemptuous look there, and then replied, "I've seen it." "What do you think?" "I think that, if there was any historically relevant science in the past, it's pretty much lost in this part of the galaxy today." Chengnis showed a sharp smile: "I know what you mean, the information is quite poor, right?" "Not necessarily. If you have a special liking for the ruler's memoirs, that's another matter. I think these things will not be reliable anyway. Those who focus on personal deeds, the evaluation depends entirely on the author's subjective consciousness , the good ones can be blackened, the bad ones can be bleached, and I find it useless." "But it mentions Darcinde. I gave you the film just to show you that. This is the only piece of relevant information I found, and I didn't even mention anything else." "Well, their rulers have been good and bad, they have conquered several planets, won a few wars, and lost a few, but never anything special. I don't think your theory has any Worth it, Chengnis." "But you're missing something, don't you notice? This world has never been allied with other worlds, and in that star-packed corner, they've always stayed out of regional politics. As you say, They've conquered a few planets, but they've managed it just enough—without losing any significant battles. It's as if they've done it just right on purpose, expanding just enough to defend themselves without attracting attention." "Very well," Pridji replied in a unemotional tone, "I have no objection to landing, anyway, the worst result is just a waste of time." "Oh, no. The worst case scenario is that we're all wiped out—if that's where the Second Foundation is. Don't forget, God knows how many mule-like characters are hidden in that world." "So what are you planning to do?" "Land down on an inconspicuous vassal planet first, collect as much information as possible about Darcinde, and then play by ear." "Okay, I'm fine. I'd like to turn off the lights, if you don't mind." Chengnis waved his hand and left. On this metal island floating in the vast space, a small dormitory was immediately plunged into darkness.However, General Han Pridji was still awake, letting the thoughts in his head run wild. If everything he had decided was right—a lot of the facts were starting to corroborate—then Dascind was indeed Second Foundation, and there couldn't be anything else, but why?why? Is it really Darcinder?An ordinary world?Nothing special?Just a slum among the wreckage of an empire?A fragment among the ruins?He still remembers clearly that when the mule mentioned the old base psychologist Ablin Meath, the man who had (maybe) discovered the secrets of the Second Foundation, he always frowned, and even his voice froze. Become sluggish. Pridji recalled the tension in the mule's words: "Mies seemed suddenly petrified, as if the Second Foundation's secrets were beyond his expectations, completely contrary to his original assumptions. I wish I could just read him directly. Thoughts, not his emotions. Those emotions were so palpable—especially the overriding astonishment." Astonishment was the dominant tone in Meath's mood. He must have discovered an incredible fact!But now, it was replaced by this boy, this young man who was always smiling. He was full of confidence in Dascind, and he was eloquently explaining the most inconspicuous and the most extraordinary truth.And he must be right, his statement is absolutely correct.Otherwise, there would be nothing rational in the world anymore. Pridji's last waking consciousness before falling asleep was grim triumph.The ultra-wave tracker next to the ether tube was still in place, and he had checked it an hour ago, but Chengnis was completely unaware of it. In the foyer of the Council Hall, a few speakers gathered—they were about to enter the hall to start their day's work—while two or three thoughts flew rapidly among them. "So, the mule has already started to move." "I've heard that too. It's dangerous! It's too dangerous!" "If everything works according to the established function, there will be no danger." "Mule is not an ordinary person—if he wants to control the puppets he has chosen, it is difficult not to be noticed by him. The minds under his control cannot be easily touched. It is said that he has discovered several of them." "Yes, but I really can't think of any way to avoid it." "An uncontrolled mind is easier to deal with, but among the important people under him, there are very few such people..." They then walked into the hall, followed by the rest of the Second Foundation.