Chapter 33 third chapter

On the other side of Terminal City, in a very unremarkable residential setting, Huber Marlowe was on his second appointment of the day.He has been listening to the other party for a long time, and only now he asked cautiously: "Yes, I heard that you are planning to send a traveling merchant to the city council as a representative of all of us. But, Duer, why are you Choose me?" Jaime Dull was a man who always took the initiative to remind people—whether they asked him or not—that he was the first foreigner to come to the base for a non-religious general education.Now he laughs and says, "I know what I'm doing, remember when I first met you last year?"

"It was at the Merchant Conference." "Yes, you are the host of the conference. From the beginning to the end, you have kept a close eye on those extremists, let them sit and wait, and have no words. There’s a weird kind of mass appeal—or, your avant-garde appeal, it’s really not that different.” "Well said," replied Marlowe in a nonchalant tone, "but why at this hour?" "Because now is our best chance. Do you know that the Minister of Education has handed in his resignation? This matter has not been officially announced, but it will be soon."

"And how do you know?" "This—you don't need to worry about it." He shook his hand impatiently: "Anyway, the situation is like this, and the Action Party has been severely divided. We only need to raise the issue of equal rights for businessmen to them, that is, to plead for democracy for the businessmen. Whether their reaction is yes or no, it can kill them.” Marlo lay lazily halfway in the chair, looking at his thick fingers: "Uh--I'm sorry, Dole, I'm going on a business trip next week, I'm afraid you have to find someone else." Dull stared at Marlowe and said, "Business trip? What business trip?"

"It's extremely top-secret and absolutely top priority. You should know about this kind of thing. I've already talked to the mayor's confidential secretary." "Serter the Viper?" Dull became agitated: "That's a conspiracy. Marlowe, that bastard from the outside world wants to send you away..." "Wait a minute!" Marlowe pressed the clenched fist of the other party: "Don't be so excited. If this is a conspiracy, I will come back to him one day to settle the score; if not, the poisonous snake will let us play with Yu In the palm of your hand. Did you know that the Seldon crisis is coming again."

Marlow expected a reaction from the other party, but Dull seemed completely unmoved, just glared at him and said, "What is the Seldon crisis?" "Oh my God!" Marlowe was about to explode at the unexpected anti-climax: "What the hell did you learn in school? How did you ask such childish questions and what the hell did you mean?" ?” Duer, who was older than Marlowe, could only frown and said, "Can you explain it to me?" After a long silence, Marlowe said, "Okay, I'll explain it to you." His brows were furrowed, and he spoke slowly: "When the Galactic Empire began to disintegrate from the outer edge, the outer edge of the galaxy became Torn apart and back to the wild age. But Hari Seldon and a group of psychologists under him established an autonomous colonial city in the center of this chaotic wild, which is our base. The purpose is to let us continue to cultivate literature and art and technology, making it the seed of the Second Empire."

"Oh, yes, yes—" "I haven't finished yet," Marlowe said coldly, "The future historical trajectory of the base is planned according to psychohistory—the science of psychohistory has reached its peak in the hands of Seldon. Seldon will play an important role in our future. History has arranged a succession of crises which will compel us to move at the swiftest pace towards our future empire. Each crisis, the so-called 'Seldon Crisis', will mark our history A new era. Now we are approaching another crisis — the third." Dull shrugged: "When I was in school, I must have heard it from the teacher. However, I have graduated for a long time—at least longer than you."

"I think so, forget about it. The problem now is that in the middle of this crisis, I just happened to be sent out. When I come back, I don't know what the base will be like, and, besides, there are elections for city councilors every year .” Dole looked up at the other party and said, "Did you find any clues?" "No." "Any specific plans?" "I have no idea at all." "So……" "Well, that's fine. Harding once said, 'To be successful, it's never enough to plan. It's got to be done step by step.' That's what I'm going to do."

Dull shook his head worriedly, and then the two stood up at the same time, looking at each other. Marlowe suddenly said in a rather calm tone: "I have an idea, will you come with me? Don't stare at me, man, I heard that you were also a businessman, and later found that politics is more exciting and interesting." ,right?" "You have to tell me first, where are you going?" "Right now, I can only say that I'm flying towards the Vashal Rift. I'll tell you the details after I'm in space, how about it?" "What if Seth wants to keep me where he can see me?"

"It's unlikely. If he is in a hurry to drive me away, doesn't he want to see you as well? Besides, if a merchant can't find a man he likes, he will definitely not be willing to go up into the sky. Of course I am no exception. " A strange light suddenly flashed in Duer's eyes. "Okay, I'll go." He stretched out his hand and said, "This is the first time I've traveled in three years. Marlowe shook his hand: "Okay, great! Now I have to rush to gather the crew. Do you know where the 'Far Star' is parked? Please come and report tomorrow, bye."