Chapter 20 Chapter Fourteen

The trip was finally over, and the taxi pulled into a lunch stop that was much larger than where they had stopped. (Seldon still remembered the taste of the sandwich, and couldn't help showing a sad face.) Hummin, who had gone to return the speeding car, came back and stuffed his china credit card into the small inner pocket of his shirt."You're absolutely safe here, even for public and public events, and this is the Stirling area," he said. "Stillin?" "I guess it's named after the first settler in the district, I guess. Most districts are named after someone, which means most of the names are ugly, and some are hard to pronounce. After all, if you want the residents of this place to change the Stirling District into the Sweet District or something like that, you will be in big trouble."

"Of course," said Seldon, breathing in hard, "it's not sweet and savory here." "It's pretty much everywhere on Trantor, but you get used to it." "I'm glad we're here," said Seldon. "Not that I like it here. It's that I've had enough of that flying car. It must have been a horrible experience to come and go in Trantor, unlike our Helicon, from some Air transportation can be used anywhere, and a journey of less than 2,000 kilometers will definitely not take such a long time.” "We have jets too." "But since this is the case..."

"I can arrange for a taxi almost anonymously, but it's much more difficult to arrange for a jet. And no matter how safe the place is, I'm always more at ease if Demerzel doesn't know exactly where you are. In fact, the journey It’s not over yet, and we have to take a maglev train in the end.” Seldon understood the name: "An open monorail that runs on electromagnetic fields, isn't it?" "That's right." "Heliken doesn't have this kind of transportation. In fact, we don't need it there? On the first day I came to Trantor, I took the maglev express from the air terminal to the hotel. It felt quite novel, but I If you have to ride every day, you must not be able to bear the noise and crowding."

Hummin seemed amused. "Are you lost?" "No, those signs work. It's a bit of a hassle getting in and out of the bus, but I have someone to help me. People can tell I'm an alien from my clothes, and now I understand that. They seem to be very enthusiastic though, I guess Because it's ridiculous to see me hesitate and stagger." "Now as a Maglev travel expert, you will neither hesitate nor falter." Hummin said in a rather cheerful tone, but the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. "Then let's go." They strolled leisurely along the sidewalk, illuminated to make it seem like an overcast day.Occasionally, the light suddenly brightens, as if the sun emerges from a gap in the clouds from time to time.Seldon raised his head naturally, wanting to see if that was the case, but the "sky" above his head was a hollow light.

Hummin saw everything in his eyes: "This change in brightness seems to be in line with human psychology. Some days it seems that the sun is shining brightly on the street, and some days are darker than it is now." "But there's no rain or snow?" "Or hail, ice beads? None of it, and no excess humidity or biting cold. Trantor still has its virtues, Seldon, even now." Pedestrians came and went, many of them young people, and some adults with children—though Hummin had said the birth rate was low here.All the people seem to have a high-spirited and dignified appearance.The ratio of the sexes was almost equal, and the clothes of the residents were obviously much more modest than those of the Imperial Quarter, and the clothes Hummin helped Seldon choose were just right.Few people wore hats, and Seldon happily took them off.

The sides of the sidewalk were no longer bottomless abysses. Just as Hummin had speculated in the Imperial Quarter, they seemed to be walking at the level of the ground.There was also no traffic on the road, and Seldon pointed this out to Hummin. "There's quite a lot of vehicles in the Queens District because that's official transportation," Hummin said. "In other places, private vehicles are very rare and there are individual tunnels dedicated to them. Vehicles aren't really necessary because we have Maglev. For shorter distances, we have activities called galleries; for shorter distances, we have sidewalks that use our legs."

Seldon heard some muffled and rattling noises from time to time, and saw many maglev carriages passing by not far away. "There." He said while pointing. "I know, but let's go to the special station, where there are more cars and easier to get on and off." Once they were seated in the maglev car, Seldon turned to Hummin and said, "I'm surprised that the maglev is so quiet. I know they're powered by electromagnetic fields, but even so, it seems too quiet. up." He listened carefully for the occasional muffled metallic noise as their carriage crossed a neighbor.

"Yeah, it's a remarkable network," Hummin said, "but you haven't seen it in its prime, and when I was younger it was quieter than it is now. And some say fifty years ago There's hardly any sound at all—but I think we should also take into account the idealization due to nostalgia." "Why not now?" "I told you about the tendency to decay because of lack of proper maintenance." Seldon frowned. "Anyway, people don't just sit back and say, 'We're decaying, let's tear the maglev apart.'" "No, they didn't do that, it wasn't intentional. The damage was repaired, the old carriages were renewed, and the magnets were replaced. However, the work was done sloppily, carelessly, and at intervals. It's too long. It's all because there are enough credits."

"Where did the credits go?" "It's been used elsewhere. We've had centuries of turmoil, and the fleet is now bigger than it used to be, and the money is many times what it used to be. The armed forces are treated too well to appease them. Turbulence, rebellion, and small Civil wars, all of which will cost a fortune to settle." "Under Creon, however, things have always been peaceful. We've had fifty years of peace." "That's right, but the fighters who were well paid would definitely feel aggrieved if their salaries were cut just for the sake of peace in the world. The commander of the fleet refused to let the government downgrade them just because they no longer had so many tasks, and sent them The starships of the United States are organized into a reserve fleet. So the credits continue to be lost to the unproductive armed forces, and the aspects that are closely related to the national economy and people's livelihood are allowed to deteriorate. This is what I call a failure, don't you agree? Don't you Don’t think, in the end, you’re going to fit all of these ideas into psychohistorical concepts?”

Seldon shifted uneasily, then said, "By the way, where are we going?" "Trantor University." "Ah, no wonder the name of this district is so familiar. I've heard of that university." "I'm not surprised. There are nearly a hundred thousand institutions of higher education on Trantor, and Trantor University is among the top thousand or so." "Do I want to stay there?" "Wait a while. College campuses are, by and large, sacrosanct sanctuaries, and you'll be safe there." "But am I welcome there?" "Why not? It's hard to find a good mathematician these days. They might make good use of you, and you might make good use of them, not just as a refuge."

"You mean, I can develop my theory there." "You promised," Hummin said seriously. "I only promised to try," said Seldon, thinking, as if promising to try to make a rope out of sand.