Chapter 23 Chapter Twenty Two

Demerzel smiled.It wasn't the first time he laughed. He sat there in a bug-proof closet with Harry Seldon and Dors Venabili, laughing every time Seldon gave a signal. Sometimes he would laugh hoarsely, but Seldon would shake his head. "It's impossible to win people's trust like this." So Demerzel changed his smile into a gentle and elegant smile, and Seldon couldn't help making a face. "I've lost you," he said. "It's no use telling you jokes. You'll only understand things intellectually. All you can do is remember the laughter." Dors said, "Track with a holographic smile trail."

"No. That's not Demerzel. That's just a bunch of idiots hired for a giggle demonstration. That's not what I want. Try again, Demerzel." So Demerzel tried and tried, until Seldon said, "Well, that's it, remember this laugh, and reproduce it when you're asked that question. You'll have to watch Go up and be happier. You can't laugh and be livid at the same time. Smile a little, just a little. Pull the corners of your mouth back." Demerzel's mouth slowly cracked into a grin. "Not bad. Can you make your eyes sparkle a little more?"

"What do you mean by 'sparkling'?" Dors said angrily. "No one can make eyes sparkle. That's just a metaphor." "No, no," said Seldon, "that's the hint of tears in the eyes—sadness, joy, surprise, whatever—that's the effect of light reflecting off a flowing liquid." "Hey, you don't really expect Demerzel to shed tears, do you?" Yet Demmerzl said matter-of-factly: "My eyes do produce tears, for daily cleaning - but never in excess. Maybe, though, if I imagine my eyes being a little irritated -" "Try it," said Seldon, "it won't do any harm."

Soon that day will come. When Demerzel's speech on the sub-ether holographic TV ended, his words spread to millions of worlds with an efficiency thousands of times faster than the speed of light-the words were serious, pragmatic, rich in content, and without any rhetoric- Almost every topic was discussed, except robots - Demozil said he was open for questions.He didn't have to wait long. The first question is precisely: "Mr Prime Minister, are you a robot?" Demerzel stared ahead coldly at first, creating a tense atmosphere.Then he pulled the corner of his mouth, shook his body slightly, and then laughed.He didn't laugh very loudly, but he laughed very heartily, the kind of knowing smile when he first heard something interesting.This kind of laughter is very contagious.The audience also giggled with him, which soon turned into a full house of laughter.

Demmerzel waited until the laughter died down, his eyes sparkling, and he said, "Do you really want me to answer that kind of question? Is it necessary?" Until the screen went dark, he still had a smile on his face.