◆The materials quoted in this book are all from the 116th edition published in 1020 of the Foundation Era.The publisher is Endpoint Star Galaxy Encyclopedia Publishing Company, and the author is authorized to quote by the publisher. ◆ Hari Seldon... was born in 11988 of the Galactic Era and died in 12069.The years of his birth and death are more often recorded in the base era currently in use, that is, he was born in minus eighty-one years of the base era and died in the first year of the base era. Seldon's hometown is Heliken in the Arcturus region, and his parents are middle-class civilians. (According to unreliable legend, Seldon's father was a tobacco farmer in the hydroponic zone of the planet.) He showed amazing mathematical talents from an early age. contradiction.

It is said that when he was only two years old, he would... Seldon's greatest contribution in his life is undoubtedly the pioneering of psychohistory.When he was new to the science, psychohistory was a vague set of postulates.Seldon derived a profound statistical science from these postulates... Regarding the detailed records of Seldon's life, the most authoritative source currently available is the biography written by Gail Donick.Two years before the death of the great mathematician, Donik, who was still a young boy, met him, and the story of their encounter... —— "Galaxy Encyclopedia"

His name was Gail Donick, and he was just a country boy who had never been to Trantor before.In fact, it should be said that he has never really been here, because Gail has long been familiar with everything in this city through super wave transmission, and occasionally watches the grand occasion of the emperor's coronation or the unveiling of the Galactic Council in the huge three-dimensional news screen .Although he has been living on the planet Synax on the edge of the blue shift area, he has not left the civilization of the galaxy at all.At that time, no place in the galaxy was isolated from the rest of the world.

At that time, there were nearly 25 million inhabited planets in the entire Milky Way galaxy.All of these worlds, without exception, owe their allegiance to the Galactic Empire, of which Trantor is the capital.But this fact can only be maintained for another half a century. For the young Gail, this journey will undoubtedly be the first peak of his academic career.He's also been to space in the past, so the trip itself doesn't mean much.In fact, his previous space travel was just to collect the mechanical data of meteorite drift on the only satellite of Synax, which was used as the material for his doctoral thesis.But then again, space travel—as close as half a million miles and as far away as many light years—is really no different.

When the starship was about to jump into hyperspace, he was mentally prepared, which would be an experience that ordinary interstellar travel did not have. "Hyperspace jump" is currently the only feasible way to travel between stars, and there may never be another way in the future.In ordinary space, the speed of an object can never exceed the speed of light. (This scientific common sense has been discovered in the dawn of human history. When the history of the dawn is forgotten, it is one of the few remaining cultural heritages.) This means that even if only the two closest It will take several years for an individual to live between galaxies.However, the incredible hyperspace is completely different-it is neither space nor time; neither matter nor energy; neither reality nor nothingness.Through hyperspace, humans can travel across the galaxy in an instant.

Before the jump started, Gail felt a little scared, and felt a slight knot in his abdomen.As a result, before he could be sure, the slight vibration caused by the leap and the feeling of being kicked in the body disappeared, that's all. Then, only this starship remained in Gail's consciousness. It was huge and shone with strange light, and it was the crystallization of the empire's twelve thousand years of technology.Besides, he was thinking of himself—had just received his Ph.D. in mathematics, with an invitation from the great Seldon, about to go to Trantor to join the vast and slightly mysterious "Seldon Project."

Disappointed by the jump experience, Gale was looking forward to seeing Trantor for the first time.From time to time he made his way to the observation room, where the steel window coverings rolled up at certain times to give passengers a glimpse of space.He must have been there at such times, watching the stars in their brilliance; admiring the unbelievable obscurity of star clusters, like a swarm of fireflies locked together forever.For a while, the five light-years around the starship were filled with cold, blue-white interstellar gas, spreading like milk on the glass windows, chilling the observation room.Two hours later, the starship made another jump, and those clouds disappeared without a trace.

The star that Trantor orbited appeared to be only a bright white point when it first appeared. If it were not for the guide of the starship, it would have been impossible to distinguish among countless similar stars.Here is the core of the Milky Way, and the distribution of stars is particularly dense.With each transition, that particular star grows brighter and stands out from the crowd.Other stars faded, grew fainter and thinner. At this time, a senior crew member came to the viewing room and said to the passengers there: "The viewing room will be closed from now on, and we are preparing to land."

Gale followed the crew member, tugging at the sleeves of his white uniform—his uniform was embroidered with the Empire's "Starship and Sun" crest. Gale said to him, "Can I stay? I want to see Trantor from here." The crew smiled at him, making Gale blush, presumably because of his country accent. "We're going to land on Trantor in the morning," the crew told him. "I mean, I want to see Trantor from space." "Oh, sorry, boy. If this is a space yacht, we can arrange it for you. But this ship is going to be circling down against the sun, and you don't want to be sunburned, blinded, and radiated all over your body Bar."

So Gail had no choice but to walk away obediently. But the sailor stopped him from behind: "Son, don't be disappointed. Anyway, from here, Trantor is just a gray mass. You'd better wait until you arrive at Trantor, and then join the space tour group to have a good time. cheap." Gale turned around and said, "Thank you very much." It's childish to be disappointed by such things, but childishness comes naturally to adults as well.Gail felt a lump in his throat. He had never seen the whole of Trantor before, and he didn't expect to have to wait a little longer before he could see the capital of the empire with his own eyes.