Chapter 36 Chapter Twenty Seven

The three of them kept a hostile silence in the elevator that went straight to the dome.Reagan ate half of his dinner and left his wife alone in the dining area without adequate explanation.Banastro hadn't had dinner at all, and probably disappointed one of his female companions, and he didn't have time to explain either.Dors Venabili, who also didn't eat anything, seemed the most nervous and uncomfortable of the three of them.She brought a heat blanket, and two photon sources. When they reached the entrance to the dome, Reagan tensed his facial muscles and entered his identification numbers one by one, and the door opened.A gust of cold wind hit immediately, and Bannastro couldn't help snorting.All three of them were not dressed enough, but the two gentlemen did not plan to stay there for long.

Dors said in a stiff voice, "It's snowing." "It's 'wet snow,' with temperatures just above freezing, it's not 'kill frost,'" Reagan said. "It depends on how long you're in there, right?" said Dors, "and it's no good being in thaw." Regan muttered, "Okay, where is he?" He stared angrily into the total darkness, made worse by the light from the entrance behind him. Dors said, "Here, Dr. Banastro, get me this blanket. And you, Dr. Regan, close the door behind you, but don't lock it." "There is no automatic lock on the door, you think we are fools!"

"Probably not, but you can lock it from the inside so that those who stay outside cannot enter the dome." "If anyone's out there, point him out and let me take a look," Reagan said. "He could be anywhere." Dors raised her arms, and the two photon sources were wrapped around her left and right wrists. "It's impossible for us to check every corner," Banerstrom murmured pitifully. At this time, the photon source emits a bright light, which sprinkles photons in all directions.The snowflakes were illuminated and sparkled like a swarm of fireflies, which further obstructed the view.

"The footsteps increased steadily at first," said Dors. "He must be getting closer to the converter. Where will it be installed?" "I have no idea," Reagan roared. "It's not my job, and it's not my responsibility." "Dr. Bannastro?" Banastro's answer seemed hesitant: "Actually, I don't know. To tell you the truth, I've never been here before. It was installed before I took over. The computer knew the exact location, but we never thought about it." Ask it—oh, I feel so cold, I don't see what use I am here."

"You have to stay here for a while longer." Dors said resolutely, "Come with me, and I'll take the entrance as the center, and circle around along the spiral from the inside to the outside." "We can't see much in the snow," Reagan said. "I know. If it hadn't snowed, we would have seen him a long time ago. In this situation, it may take a few minutes, and we can bear it." Although she said it with confidence, she was not sure in her heart . She started to move, constantly waving her arms to maximize the light exposure, while looking for dark spots in the white snow.

It turned out that Banastro was the first to see it: "What's that?" he said.Stretch out your fingers. Dors caused the two photon sources to overlap, forming a bright cone of light in the direction he was pointing.Then she ran quickly, followed by the other two. They did find him.He huddled into a ball, drenched all over, about ten meters away from the door, and only about five meters away from the nearest weather device.Dors reached out to feel for his heartbeat, but found it unnecessary, for at her touch Seldon immediately shuddered and uttered a groan. "Give me the blanket, Dr. Banerstrom." Dors's voice relaxed a little.She shook off the blanket with a "snap" and spread it under the snow. "Carefully lift him up, I'm going to wrap him up and we'll carry him down."

In the elevator, as the thermal blanket heated to blood temperature, Seldon began to steam from his body wrapped in it. Dors said, "As soon as we get him to his room, Dr. Reagan, you go to the doctor—find a good one, and make sure he comes right away. If Dr. Seldon gets through this, no I won’t mention anything if there’s anything wrong with it—but only under this premise. Remember…” "You don't have to teach me," Reagan replied coldly, "I feel sorry for this, and I will try my best to be responsible to the end. But the only mistake I made was that I allowed this person to go to the dome."

The heat blanket moved, and there was a small, feeble sound. Banastro was startled, for Seldon's head was in the crook of his arms."He wanted to say something," he said. "I know, he's asking, 'What happened?'" Dors said. She couldn't help a small laugh, it seemed only natural that he would say that.