Chapter 12 Chapter VII

Seldon tried to persuade Hummin to take him back to the hotel where he was staying, but Hummin refused. "Are you crazy?" he said in a near-whisper voice. "They'll be there for you." "But all my belongings are waiting for me there." "They'll just have to wait a while." At the moment they were in a small room in an apartment, an elegant apartment whose location Seldon had no idea.He looked around the one-room residence. A desk, a chair, a bed, and a computer terminal almost took up most of the space.There was no dining facility or washstand in the room, although Hummin had taken him to the shared bathroom at the end of the corridor earlier.When Seldon was about to come out, someone just went in, the person didn't thank him very much, but cast a brief and curious look at Seldon's clothes, and then turned his face away.

Seldon mentioned this to Hummin, who shook his head and said, "We'll have to change out of your farm clothes, because Helicon is so out of fashion..." Seldon said impatiently, "How much of this could be just your fantasy, Hummin? You've convinced me half of it, but maybe it's just a... a..." "Did you mean 'paranoia'?" "Yes, that's what I want to say, all this may just be your weird delusion." Da Ming said: "May I trouble you to use your brain? I can't use mathematical methods to make an argument, but you have seen the emperor, don't deny it. He wants something from you, but you don't give it to him. Don't deny it at all. I guess all he wanted was details about the future and you declined. Maybe Demozil thinks you're just pretending you don't have the details and you're up for grabs or someone else is buying You. Who knows? I told you that if Demerzel wanted you, he'd find you anywhere in the world. I told you that before those two short-circuited guys came out. I'm a reporter and I'm a Trantorian, and I know how things go. At one point, Allen said 'he's the man we're looking for,' remember?"

"I just remember," Seldon replied. "To him, I'm just a 'fucking minion' who gets in the way, and he's only doing his job, which is to attack you." Hummin sat down on the chair, pointed to the bed, and said, "Stretch your limbs, Seldon, and try to relax. Whoever sent those two—Demerzel, I think—he'd send Others come, so we'll have to change your clothes. I think if he happens to be wearing homeworld clothes when other Helikens in the area get caught, he's going to be in trouble until he can prove he Not you." "Oh, come on."

"I'm not kidding. You've got to take this suit off, and then we've got to atomize it—if we can sneak up on a waste processor. Before that, I've got to find you a Trantor suit .You're smaller than me and I'll take that into account. It doesn't matter if it doesn't fit perfectly..." Seldon shook his head. "I didn't have any credits to pay the bill and didn't bring them out. All my credits—not many—are in the hotel safe." "We'll talk about that another day. You're going to be here for an hour or two while I go out to get the necessary clothes."

Seldon spread his hands out, giving in with a sigh. "Well, if it's really that important, I'll just stay." "You're not trying to run back to the hotel, are you? Honor." "I pledge my honor as a mathematician. But I already feel sorry for causing you so much trouble, and I want you to pay for me... After all, although you speak so much about Demerzel, they don't really want to Hurt me or take me away. The only thing I was threatened was to take my clothes off." "Not only that, but they want to take you to the space station and put you in a hyperspace ship flying to Shihlikon."

"That's a silly threat, we don't have to take it seriously." "why?" "I'm going back to Helicon at once. I told them I'll be leaving tomorrow." "Are you still planning to leave tomorrow?" Hummin asked. "Of course, why not?" "There are many reasons why it can't." Seldon suddenly felt unhappy: "Well, Hummin, I can't play this kind of game with you anymore. I finished my business here, and now I want to go home. My travel ticket is in the hotel room. Otherwise I'd try to change the schedule to today, and I mean it."

"You can't go back to Helicon." Seldon blushed. "Why not? Are they waiting for me there too?" Hummin nodded, "Don't get angry, Seldon, they will be waiting for you there too. Listen to me, if you go to Helicon, you will fall into the hands of Demerzel. Helicon is a loyal Reliable imperial domain. Has Helicon ever mutinied? Has he ever followed the anti-imperial banner?" "No, never, and for good reason. It's surrounded by larger worlds that need the peace of the Empire to keep it safe." "That's why the imperial army stationed in Helicon can get the full assistance of the local government, and you will be closely monitored at all times. Whenever Demerzel wants you, he will have a way to find you. And , if I hadn’t warned you now, you didn’t know anything about this matter, and you would have been active in public, thinking that you were safe.”

"It's ridiculous. If he wants me to stay in Helicon, why doesn't he just let me go of my own accord? I'm leaving tomorrow anyway. Why would he send two young rascals just to speed this up a little bit?" Happened at the hour, at the risk of raising my alarm?" "How did he expect you to be on your guard? He didn't know I was going to be with you, feeding you what you call delusions." "Even if they don't worry about it, why would I go to such lengths to leave a few hours earlier?" "Perhaps because he fears you will change your mind."

"Where am I going if I don't go home? If he can catch me in Helicon, he will catch me anywhere. For example, if he can catch me at... a full ten thousand parsecs away Anakrion the Anakreon caught me—suppose I had the whim to hide there. What is distance to a hyperspace ship? Even if I found a world that wasn't as obedient to the imperial army as Helicon Shun, which world is really rebelling? The empire is currently at peace, and even though some worlds are still aggrieved by the injustices of the past, none of them will provoke the armed forces of the empire to protect me. What's more, apart from Helicon, I With no citizenship elsewhere, they have no obligation at all to stop the Empire from hunting me."

Hummin has been listening patiently, nodding slightly from time to time, but his serious and calm expression remains the same. "You're right so far, but there's a world that's not really under the Emperor's control. This, I think, must be why Demerzel has trouble sleeping and eating." Seldon thought for a while, looking back at the history of modern times, he couldn't think of any world that might make the imperial army helpless.In the end, he had no choice but to ask, "Which world is it?" Hummin said, "It's right under your feet. I think that's why Demerzel feels so desperate. It's not so much that he's so anxious to get you back to Helicon, as he is to get you out of Trantor as soon as possible." Lest you suddenly want to stay again—for any reason, even if you just miss the scenery of this place.”

The two sat in silence for a while, and Seldon finally said in a sarcasm: "Trantor! The capital of the empire, the orbital space station has the headquarters of the fleet, and the most elite troops stationed on the ground. If you believe that Trantor is the one Safe world, your paranoia has progressed to outright fantasy." "No! You're an alien, Seldon. You don't know what Trantor is like. It has a population of 40 billion, and there aren't many worlds in the galaxy with a tenth of its population; it There are unimaginable technological and cultural complexity. We are now located in the imperial district, where the standard of living is the highest in the entire galaxy, and the residents are all officials of the empire. However, in other places on this planet, there are more than 800 administrative districts in total , the culture of certain districts is completely different from ours, and most of them are beyond the control of the imperial army." "Why can't you control it?" "The empire cannot really use force against Trantor. If it does so, it will definitely shake a certain level of technology. These technologies are the lifeblood of the entire planet, and there is a relationship between each other that affects the whole body, breaking any connection , would completely paralyze the entire technology. Believe me, Seldon, we in Trantor have all witnessed such a situation, such as an earthquake that was not successfully stopped, a volcanic eruption that was not managed in time, a The storm must have been an unnoticed human error. Immediately after these natural and man-made disasters, the planet was on the verge of collapse, and every effort must be made to restore the original balance as soon as possible." "I've never heard of such a thing." A smile flashed across Hummin's face: "Of course not. Do you want the Empire to hype up the weaknesses at its core? But as a reporter, even if the aliens don't know, even if most people in Trantor are kept in the dark." Here, even though the Imperial authorities try their best to conceal the truth, I am well aware of the situation. Believe me! You don't know it, but the Emperor knows it, and Demerzel knows it--invading Trantor could destroy the entire Empire .” "And that's why you suggest I stay on Trantor?" "That's right, I can take you to a place where you will be absolutely safe and don't have to worry about Demerzel. You don't need to change your name and surname, and you can move in full openness, but he can't do anything to you. This is what he wants to force you to immediately The reason for leaving Trantor. If it hadn't been for the fate that drew us together, and your unexpected ability to defend yourself, then his plan has succeeded." "But how long do I have to stay on Trantor?" "It depends on your safety, Seldon, as long as you want. Perhaps, you won't be able to leave for the rest of your life."