Chapter 41 Chapter Thirty-One

When Seldon woke up, he found another stern face looking at him, frowning and staring at him for a long while: "Hummin?" Hummin showed a very shallow smile: "So, you still remember me." "Only one day in all...nearly two months ago, but I still remember. So you weren't arrested, or had any..." "You can see that I'm here, quite safe and unscathed. But—" He glanced at Dors, who was standing aside, "it's not easy for me to get here." Seldon said, "I'm glad to meet you—by the way, do you mind?" He pointed his thumb in the direction of the bathroom.

Hummin said, "Take your time and we'll talk about it after breakfast." Hummin hadn't had breakfast with him, and neither had Dors, but the two of them hadn't exchanged words.Hummin used his time to scan a film book, reading it with great interest.Dors first inspected her nails carefully, then took out a microcomputer and started taking notes with a stylus. Seldon watched the two of them thoughtfully, without attempting to strike up a conversation.The present silence may reflect the Trantorian custom of silencing around sickbeds.In fact, he felt like he was completely back to normal, but they probably didn't know it yet.

It wasn't until he had finished his last mouthful of food and drank the last drop of milk (he was obviously getting used to it, because it didn't taste strange anymore), that Hummin finally opened the door. He said, "How are you, Seldon?" "Excellent, Hummin. At least, absolutely good enough to get out of bed and walk around." "I'm glad to hear that," said Hummin flatly. "Dors Venabili should be blamed for letting this happen." Seldon frowned. "No, I insisted on going to the dome." "I'm sure it is, but she should go with you, no matter the cost."

"I told her I didn't want her to come with me." Dors said, "That's not it, Harry, don't be so kind as to lie in my defense." Seldon became angry: "But don't forget that Dors also overcame strong resistance and rushed to the dome to find me, and she undoubtedly saved my life. These words do not distort the facts in the slightest. You have considered before drawing conclusions." Is that so, Hummin?" Wire obviously felt embarrassed and interrupted again: "Please, Harry. Chet Hummin's thinking is absolutely correct. If I don't stop you from going to the dome, I should go up with you. As for my subsequent actions, Hummin has already Appreciated."

"Anyway," said Hummin, "it's a thing of the past, and we can forget about it. Let's talk about what happened in the vault, Seldon." Seldon looked around, then asked cautiously, "Is it safe to discuss here?" Hummin smiled slightly. "Dors has placed this room in a distorted electromagnetic field, and I'm fairly certain that no Imperial agent in this university—if there is one—is capable of penetrating it. You are a paranoid Man, Seldon." "Not by nature," said Seldon, "but by what you said to me in the park and afterwards. You are a very persuasive man, Hummin. When you finished, I began to fear Ittu Demerzel is hiding in some dark corner."

"I sometimes think it's possible," said Hummin in a serious tone. "Even if he did," said Seldon, "I wouldn't know it was him. What does he look like?" "That doesn't matter. You won't see him at all, unless he wants you to, but I guess then it's all over—that's what we have to guard against. Let's talk about that jet you saw Helicopter." Seldon said, "As I said, Hummin, you filled me with the fear of Demerzel. As soon as I saw the jet-helicopter, I assumed he was coming; Run up to the dome, out of the protection of Trantor University; besides, I was lured there in order to capture me without difficulty."

Dors said, "On the other hand, Reagan—" Seldon said immediately, "He was here last night." "Yes, you don't remember?" "Very vague. I was dying of exhaustion and my memory is very hazy." "Well, when we were here last night, Reagan said the jet helicopter was just a weather plane from another weather station. Totally ordinary, totally harmless." "What?" Seldon was taken aback, "I don't believe it." Hummin said, "Now the question is, why don't you believe it? Is there anything wrong with that jet helicopter that makes you think it's dangerous? That is, what's special about it? It's not like I'm in your head." The suspicion instilled in it has nothing to do with it."

Seldon bit his lower lip and thought about it: "Its movements. It seemed to push the tip under the cloud cover, as if looking for something; then it appeared in another position, repeating the same movement; and then changed To the next location, and so on. It seems to be searching the dome regularly, piece by piece, and the target is me." Hummin said, "Maybe you anthropomorphized it, Seldon. You might have thought of that jet-helicopter as a monster hunting you, but of course it wasn't. It was nothing more than a jet-helicopter, if it was weather at all." aircraft, it was acting perfectly normal ... and harmless."

"I didn't think that was the case," Seldon said. Hummin said, "I'm sure you feel that way, but we really don't know anything. Your conviction that you were in danger is just an assumption; Reagan's judgment that it was a weather plane is just another example." It's just a hypothesis." Seldon said stubbornly, "I can't believe this is a completely innocent incident." "Well, then," said Hummin, "let's assume the worst—that the plane did come looking for you. Whoever sent it, how did he know where to find you?"

Dors interrupted abruptly: "I asked Dr. Reagan if, in his report announcing the weather mission, he mentioned that Harry would go up with the team. Normally, he had no reason to do that, and he denied that." That. He was quite surprised at the question, and I take him at his word." Hummin said earnestly, "Don't trust him too easily. He can always deny it anyway. Now ask yourself why he allowed Seldon to go with him in the first place. We know he objected, but nothing happened. Argumentative, he softened quickly. That didn't seem very Reagan to me." Dors frowned: "Hearing what you said, it does make people feel that the whole incident is likely to be his conspiracy. Maybe he allowed Harry to go with him just to make him an easy prey—he may have followed orders We can further infer that he encouraged his young trainee, Crowzia, to attract Harry's attention, to draw him away from the crowd, and to isolate him. This would explain Reagan's response to Harry when they were about to come down Why he doesn’t care about the disappearance of Harry. He will insist that Harry has already left. He, because he didn't want to waste time, went looking for someone he didn't think he could ever find."

Hummin, who had been listening carefully, said at this time: "You made an interesting accusation against him, but we shouldn't accept it too easily. After all, he did go to the dome with you in the end." "Because we detected footsteps, the chief seismologist was a witness." "Well, did Reagan look shocked, amazed when Seldon was found? I mean, anything other than a reaction to realizing that someone was being put in danger through his own negligence. Did Reagan act as if Seldon had been found? Shouldn't Don still be there? Does it seem like you're asking yourself: How come they didn't take him?" Dors thought for a moment, then said, "He was obviously shocked to see Seldon lying there. But I can't tell if there was anything in his feelings that went beyond a reasonable reaction to the situation." "Well, I don't think you can do that either." Seldon looked at them in turn as the two spoke, and, all the while, listened intently: suddenly he interjected: "I don't think it's Reagan." Inu Ming turned his attention to Seldon: "Why do you say that?" "One of the reasons, as you mentioned, was that at first he was obviously reluctant to let me go. We argued all day, and I think he agreed in the end just because he had the impression that I was a brilliant mathematician. It will help his weather theory. I am very eager to go up, and if he is ordered to take me to the dome, there is no need to be so reluctant." "Is it reasonable for him to accept you just for your mathematics? Has he ever discussed mathematics with you? Has he tried to explain his theories to you?" "No," said Seldon, "he didn't. He did say something like that later, though. The thing is, then, he got all his attention on those instruments. I guess he expected sunlight, and it turned out The sun didn't show up, and he decided it was something wrong with his instruments. But they were apparently functioning perfectly, which frustrated him. I thought it was an unexpected development that not only angered him, but also As for Crowzia, the young woman who had attracted my attention for a few minutes, when I look back at the scene, I don't feel that she deliberately led me away. Taking the initiative It was me, I got curious about the plants on the dome and I took her, not the other way around. Instead of encouraging her to do that, Reagan called her when they could still see me I went back. Then I went farther and farther by myself, and finally disappeared from their sight." "However," Hummin seemed determined to object to each explanation, "if the plane was looking for you, the people on board would know you'd be there. If the information didn't come from Reagan, how would they know?" "The person I suspect," said Seldon, "is a young psychologist named Lisong Ruanda." "Randa?" Dors said. "Impossible. I know this man. He would never work for the Emperor. He is anti-imperialist through and through." "He may be faking it," said Seldon. "In fact, if he wants to conceal the fact that he is an Imperial agent, he must display anti-imperialist views openly, strongly, and even radically." "But he's just not like that," said Dors. "He's not strong or extreme at all. He's an amiable man, always expressing his opinions in a gentle—almost shy—way that I'm sure is absolutely not Out of pretense." "However, Dors," said Seldon solemnly, "he was the one who told me about the weather project in the first place, and he was the one who urged me to go to the dome, and it was the one who persuaded Reagan to let me join, and especially exaggerated my mathematical skills. It made you wonder why he was so eager to have me there, why he put so much effort into it." "Perhaps for your own good. He has a crush on you, Harry, and he must think meteorology might be of use to psychohistory. Isn't that possible?" Hummin said calmly, "Let's consider another possibility. There will be a long period of time between when Randa tells you about the weather plan and before you actually go to the dome. If Randa and any secrets There's no particular reason for him to keep it a secret. If he's a friendly, outgoing, gregarious guy—" "That's what he is," said Dors. "—Then, he probably mentioned this to many friends. If so, we can't judge who the informer is at all. In fact—I'm just raising another possibility—even if Ruan Da is really an anti-imperialist It does not necessarily mean that he is definitely not a spy. What we must consider is: Whose spy is he? Who does he work for?" Seldon was surprised. "Who else can work for, but the Empire? Except Demerzel?" Hummin held up a hand. "You don't understand the whole intricacies of Trantor politics, Seldon." He turned to Dors and said, "Tell me again: Dr. Reagan thinks the weather plane is the most likely Which four regions are they from?" "Hestelonia, Wye, Chigoures, and Norte Damiano." "You didn't induce him to answer, did you? Did you take the initiative to mention the possibility of a certain district?" "No, absolutely not. I just asked him if he could guess where that jet helicopter came from." "And you—" Hummin turned to Seldon, "perhaps saw some markings on that jet-helicopter, some kind of insignia?" Seldon tried to argue that he could barely see the plane because of the cloud cover, that it only appeared briefly now and then, that he wasn't looking for any signs himself, and was only thinking of running for his life—but he refrained. .Needless to say, these Hummins knew all about it. Instead, he simply replied, "I'm afraid not." Dors said, "If that jet-helicopter was on a kidnapping mission, wouldn't the badge be covered up?" "That's a rational assumption," said Hummin, "and it's likely true, but in this galaxy, reason doesn't always win. Anyway, since Seldon doesn't seem to have paid any attention to the details of that plane, We can only speculate at this point. And what comes to mind is - Wye." "Why?" Seldon repeated those two voices. "No matter who is on the plane, I guess the reason they want to catch me is because of my knowledge of psychohistory." "No, no." Hummin raised his right index finger, as if lecturing a young student. "Ward of the Guard, He of the Charge, that's the name of a district on Trantor. It's a very special district that has been ruled for the past three thousand years or so by a single line of district chiefs. It was a continuous line, a single dynasty. There was a time when, about five hundred years ago, there were two emperors and an empress in the empire who were descended from the Wyho family. It was a fairly short period of time, and the Wyhe rulers were not very distinguished and had no special merit, but The mayor of Weihe District has never forgotten the past of proclaiming himself emperor. "They did not have any actual rebellious actions against the succeeding ruling families, but I have never heard how they have actively served those families. During the occasional civil war, they all maintained a kind of neutral position, and the actions they took seemed After detailed calculations, the purpose was to prolong the war as much as possible, and make the situation evolve into a compromise solution that seemed necessary to seek help from Weihe. This strategy never succeeded, but they never gave up trying. "The current mayor of Wyho is particularly shrewd and capable. He is old, but his ambition has not yet cooled. If something happens to Cleon, even if he dies naturally, the mayor will still have the opportunity to drive away Cleon's own young son, and by Succession to the throne by himself. For a contender with royal tradition, the people of the Galaxy will always have a slight preference. "Therefore, if the Mayor of Wye had heard of you, he would have thought that he might be able to put you to good use by positioning you as a scientific prophet propagandized by his family. Wye already had a well-established motive to try Solve Kryon by means of methods, and then use you to predict that Weihe is the only successor, so that peace and prosperity will be brought to the millennium. Of course, once the mayor of Weihe ascends the throne, there is no need to use you anymore, you likely to be buried next to Kryon." After a gloomy silence, Seldon said, "But we don't know if it's the mayor of Wye who wants to arrest me." "That's right, we don't know. And we don't know for sure if anyone is trying to get you at this moment. In any case, it's still possible that the jet helicopter was just an ordinary weather test aircraft, as Reagan said. Anyway , as word spreads about psychohistory and its potential -- that's for sure -- more and more Trantorian powers and half-asseds, and even careerists from other worlds, will want to use you in their service." "So," said Dors, "what shall we do?" "That is indeed a problem." Hummin thought for a while, and then said, "Maybe it was a mistake to come here. It is too possible for a professor to choose a university to hide in. There are many universities, but Trantor is one of them." One of the largest and freest. So it won't be long before tendrils are groping here and there. I think Seldon should move to another better hiding place as soon as possible—maybe today. ..." "Just?" Seldon asked. "It's just that I don't know where to go." Says Seldon, "Call up the list of place names on the computer screen, and pick a place at random." "Of course not," said Hummin. "If we did that, we'd have exactly half the chance of finding a place that was safe below average. No, it has to be deduced objectively—there's a way."