Chapter 5 chapter Five

Public Safety Committee... Ever since the last emperor of the Enten Dynasty, Creon I, was assassinated, the real political power of the empire began to fall into the hands of the nobles.Generally speaking, they formed the main body to maintain order during the centuries of unstable imperial power. Most of the time, this committee was in the hands of the Chen family and the Devart family, and finally turned into a blind tool to maintain the status quo... It was not until the last powerful emperor of the empire, Cleon II, that the power of the committee was removed. Complete release. The first chairman... To a certain extent, the main reason for the decline of this committee can be traced back to the trial it conducted against Seldon two years before the Era of the Foundation.

That trial was recorded in detail in Donik's biography of Seldon... —— "Galaxy Encyclopedia" As a result, Gail was not able to keep the appointment.Early the next morning, he was awakened by the faint buzzer of the phone from the hotel staff.As softly and politely as possible, with a touch of pleading, the clerk told Gale that the Board of Public Safety had ordered restrictions on his movements. Gail immediately jumped to the door, only to find that the door couldn't be opened.The only thing he can do now is to get dressed and wait patiently. Later the committee sent someone to take him away and take him to a detention center.They asked Gail in the most polite tone, all the process was quite civilized.Gale explained to them that he was from Shinnax, gave details of the schools he had attended, and the date he had received his doctorate in mathematics, and how he had applied to Dr. Seldon for a job, How to get hired.He repeated the details over and over again, and they came back to him over and over again about his participation in the Seldon Project—how he knew about it in the first place, the nature of his work, what secret instructions he had received, and all that. The ins and outs.

Gail replied that he had no knowledge at all, and that he had not received any secret instructions at all.He was just a mathematician—just a scholar, not interested in politics at all. Finally, the gentlemanly official asked, "When will Trantor be destroyed?" Gail faltered, "I don't know myself." "So, can you share someone else's opinion?" "How can I speak for others?" He felt hot all over his body, very hot. The officer in charge of questioning him asked again: "Has anyone told you about this kind of destruction? When will it be destroyed?"

While Gale was still hesitating, the official continued: "Doctor, we have actually been following you. When you arrived at the space station, and you were on the observation tower yesterday, there were our people next to you. Besides, we are of course capable of eavesdropping on your conversation with Dr. Seldon." Gale replied, "So, you should know what he thinks about the issue." "Maybe, but we want you to say it yourself." "He thinks Trantor will be destroyed in three centuries." "Did he prove it? Using that... mathematics?" "Yes, he did it." Gail said loudly angrily.

"I think you also think that math is reliable." "As long as Dr. Seldon says it holds up, there should be no problem." "In this case, we will come to you again, some time later." "Slow down, I know I have the right to a lawyer, and I want to exercise my imperial citizenship." "There will be a lawyer to help you." Then the lawyer did come. The lawyer who came was tall and thin, with straight lines all over his face, so thin that it was doubtful whether there was room for a smile on his face. Gail looked up, feeling how downcast he must be.He couldn't believe that so much had happened in less than thirty hours since he'd been on Trantor.

The tall, lanky lawyer said to Gale, "My name is Louth Alfakin, and Dr. Seldon has ordered me to represent you legally." "Really? Well, listen to me. I demand an immediate appeal to His Majesty the Emperor. I was brought here for no reason. I am completely innocent and clean." He stretched out his hands, shook them vigorously, and emphasized Said: "You must help me arrange the hearing presided over by the emperor, immediately!" Ai Fagin began to carefully spread the contents of a folder on the table.If Gail hadn't been in a bad mood, he should have seen that they were some legal documents printed on metal bands, the kind of documents that would fit best in a small carry-on bag.In addition, there is a pocket recorder next to it.

Aifakin ignored Gale's attack. After he put everything away, he raised his head and said, "Of course the people from the committee will use spy beams to spy on our conversation. Although it's illegal, they don't care about it." What?" Gail gritted his teeth. "However," Alfagin sat down calmly, and then said to Gail: "The tape recorder I brought looks like a 100% ordinary tape recorder, and its functions are not bad at all, but it also has a special feature. The function, that is, the spy beam can be completely shielded, and they will not immediately find out that I have tampered with."

"Now I can speak with confidence." "certainly." "Then, I would like the Emperor to preside over my hearing." Alfagin smiled coldly, he could still hold a smile on his face, probably due to the extra space in the wrinkles on his cheeks.He said to Gail: "You are from out of town..." "But I'm still a citizen of the Empire, just like you and any member of this Public Safety Committee." "That's right, that's right, that's not the problem. It's just that you people living in other places can't understand the current situation in Trantor. In fact, there has been no hearing presided over by His Majesty the Emperor for a long time."

"So here, who should I appeal to? Is there any other way?" "No, there is actually no way at all. According to the law, you can appeal to His Majesty the Emperor, but there will not be any hearings. You should know that the current emperor is very different from those emperors of the Enteng Dynasty. Chuan Tuo is probably already in the hands of the noble family, that is, the big heads of the Public Safety Committee, and psychohistory has accurately predicted this development." Gale said in surprise, "Really? If that's the case, since Dr. Seldon can predict the next three hundred years of Trantor..."

"He can predict as far as 1,500 years into the future." "Even if he can predict the future 15,000 years, why can't he predict what will happen this morning yesterday? He should have warned me earlier... Oh, sorry, I take it back." Gail sat down and supported himself with sweaty palms. Nodding his head, he continued, "I know very well that psychohistory is a statistical science, and that it can't predict an individual's future at all. You know I'm in such a mess right now that I'm talking nonsense." "You're wrong again. Dr. Seldon expected you to be arrested this morning."

"what!" "It's a pity, but it's the truth. The committee is becoming more and more hostile to his activities, and is doing everything possible to prevent us from recruiting new recruits. Based on our intelligence research, if we let the conflict escalate to the highest level now, it will be harmful to the We are in the best position, but the committee seems to be slowing down a bit. That's why Dr. Seldon came to you yesterday to force them to take further action, which is his real intention." Gail was so frightened that he could hardly breathe: "You guys are deceiving people too much..." "Please calm down, this is a last resort. There is absolutely no personal reason why we chose you. You must understand that Dr. Seldon's plan is the brainchild of eighteen years. As long as the probability is greater than a certain value, everything will be covered, and this matter is one of them. In fact, the only purpose of my being sent here is to comfort you and tell you that there is absolutely no need to be afraid, and the matter will be resolved satisfactorily—— As far as our plans are concerned, this is almost certain: for you personally, the probability is also quite high." "What's the probability?" Gail asked. "For this plan, the probability is greater than ninety-nine per thousand." "what about me?" "The value I've been told is 772 per thousand." "So my chances of being sentenced or executed are more than one in five?" "But the chance of the latter is only one percent." "Really? Forget it. Psychohistory is meaningless for personal probability calculations. You asked Dr. Seldon to come and see me." "I'm sorry, but I can't do that, because Dr. Seldon himself has been arrested." Gail stood up in shock, and just as he yelled, the door was suddenly pushed open, and a guard rushed in immediately, grabbing the tape recorder on the table.He checked the tape recorder carefully, up and down, side to side, and then put it in his pocket. Aifakin said calmly, "I need that device." "We'll get you another one, Mr. Lawyer, one that doesn't emit an electrostatic field." "In that case, my interview is over." Gail could only watch helplessly as he left, and now Gail was left alone.