Chapter 75 Chapter 60

They finally returned to a tunnel.Hummin and Seldon had passed through such a tunnel when they drove the speed taxi from the Royal Quarter to Trantor University.Now they were in another tunnel, going from Myquseng... Seldon didn't know where.He didn't dare to open his mouth to ask questions. Hummin's face seemed to be carved out of granite, so it was best not to provoke him with words. Hummin sat in the front seat of the four-seater flying car, the seat on the right was empty, and Seldon and Dors sat on either side of the back seat. Seldon smiled tentatively at the sullen-looking Dors. "It's nice to be able to wear real clothes again, isn't it?"

"I'll never again—" said Dors, in a tone of great seriousness, "wear or see anything resembling a jacket. And I'll never wear a fur hat again under any circumstances. In fact , even if I see an ordinary bald man again, I will have a strange feeling." It was Dors who finally asked the question that Seldon had been reluctant to ask. "Chet," she said rather grumpily, "why don't you tell us where we're going?" Hummin moved to a side position, then looked back at Dors and Seldon with a serious expression. "Go somewhere," he said, "somewhere you might not get into trouble easily, but I'm not sure that exists."

Dors immediately seemed deflated. "As a matter of fact, Chet, it was all my fault. At Striring, I let Harry go up to the Dome alone; and at Myrksen, though I accompanied him on his adventures, I should never have let Harry He entered the sanctuary." "I made up my mind," said Seldon fervently. "It was never Dors' fault." Hummin didn't judge how much blame the two deserved. He just said, "I guess you want to see the robot. Is there a good reason? Can you tell me?" Seldon felt himself blushing: "I was wrong about this, Hummin. I didn't see what I expected or hoped to see. If I knew what was in the Elder's Pavilion in advance, I would never bother to go there." .This time it can be said that it was a complete failure."

"But, Seldon, what do you want to see? Please tell me. If you need it, please speak slowly. This is a long journey. I am willing to listen." "Here's the thing, Hummin. I got some ideas: there are humanoid robots in the world, and they have a long lifespan. At least one of them may still be alive, and it may go to the Elder House. There is indeed a robot, but it It's metal, dead, and only a symbol. If I'd known..." "That's right, if we'd all known, there would be no need for any kind of question or research. Where did you get the data on humanoids? Since none of the Myrdersons would discuss such things with you, I Only one source can come to mind: Myqusheng's Tome, an electroprinted comparison of Old Aurora and Galactic Standard. Am I right?"

"That's right." "How did you get it?" After a pause, Seldon murmured, "This incident makes me blush." "I don't blush so easily, Seldon." So Seldon told him everything.After Hummin finished listening, a faint smile flashed across his face. Hummin said, "Didn't it occur to you that all this must be a charade? No sister would do anything like that unless she was ordered to, and after much persuasion." Seldon frowned, and said roughly, "It's not obvious at all. People will behave abnormally at any time and place. It's easy for you to grin. I don't have the information you have, and neither does Dors. If If you don't want me to fall into a trap, you should warn me in advance where there is a trap."

"I agree, I take back what I just said. In any case, that book is no longer in your possession, I can be sure." "That's right, Sun Lord Fourteen took it away." "How much did you read?" "Only a small part, and I don't have much time. It's a big book, and I gotta tell you, Hummin, it's pretty boring." "Yeah, I know that, because I think I've read more of this book than you. It's not only boring, it's totally unbelievable. It's the official one-sided view of history by Michaelson, and its main purpose is to illustrate that history." It is not a rational and objective statement. In some places, it is even deliberately vague so that outsiders, even if they have the opportunity to read this tome, will never fully understand what it is. For example, what interests you about What do you think the contents of the robot's records are?"

"I told you already. They mentioned humanoid robots, which were indistinguishable from real people in appearance." "How many are there?" Hummin asked. "They didn't say. At least, I didn't find a single passage where the number was recorded. Maybe not many, but there was one, which the tomes called 'Apostate'. It seemed to have a negative connotation, but I couldn't find out what it meant .” "You didn't tell me that at all," Dors interjected. "If you had, I'd have told you that it's not a proper noun, but another ancient word, which means 'traitor' in Galactic Standard Pretty much. But the old word has a more dire sense, for traitors conceal treachery more or less, but traitors flaunt it."

Hummin said, "I'll leave the details of the ancient languages ​​to you, Dors. But at any rate, if the Renegade exists, and if it's a humanoid, it's clear that, as a traitor and an enemy, It will not be preserved and enshrined in the Elder's Pavilion." Seldon said: "I didn't know the significance of Renegade originally, but as I said, I got the impression that it was friend or foe. I think it may have been defeated later, and it was preserved in memory of Maiqu living victory." "Is it mentioned in the ancient books that the traitors were defeated?"

"No, but maybe I missed that part..." "Improbable. Any victory by Metchussen must have been celebrated in the canons, and mentioned over and over again." "There is another point mentioned in the tome about this apostate," Seldon said hesitantly, "but I can't be absolutely sure that I understand it." Hummin said, "As I told you—they're deliberately vague sometimes." "However, they seem to mention that the Renegade has a way of exploiting... or influencing human emotion." "Any politician can do it," Hummin shrugged. "It's called charisma—if it works."

Seldon sighed: "Well, at first I was willing to believe that it was so. I was willing to pay a high price to find an ancient humanoid robot, as long as it was still alive and I could ask it questions." "For what purpose?" asked Hummin. "I wanted to know the details of primordial galactic society. It consisted of only a few worlds at the time, and from such a small galaxy, psychohistory is relatively easy to deduce." Hummin said, "Are you sure you can trust hearsay? After tens of thousands of years, are you still willing to trust that robot's early memories? How much distortion would there be?"

"Exactly," said Dors suddenly. "It's like those computerized records I mentioned to you, Harry. Over time, those memories of the robot are slowly thrown away, lost, erased, distorted. You can only go back so far, and go back further. , the less reliable that data becomes—no matter what you do.” "Is there no way," Seldon said thoughtfully, "some data will always be preserved due to special reasons? A part of the records in the classics of Maiqusheng is likely to be the deeds of 20,000 years ago. And most of them are first-hand historical materials. The more precious and carefully preserved special materials, the more durable and accurate they will be." "The key lies in the word 'special'. The information that the classic book wants to preserve is not necessarily what you want to preserve; the things that a robot remembers most clearly may be the things you least want it to remember." Seldon said in a tone of desperation: "No matter which direction I look for a way to build a psychohistory, it always turns out to be impossible. Why bother?" "There seems to be no hope now," said Hummin in a deadpan tone, "but with the requisite talent, perhaps we will finally find an avenue to psychohistory that no one can foresee at this moment. Give yourself some more time - we're going to a rest area, let's drive out for dinner." While eating lamb patties (the bread on the outside was bland, which is even more unbearable, especially when you are used to the delicacies of Mycosan), Seldon said: "You seem to have made an assumption, Hummin, I Possessor of that 'necessary talent.' You know, maybe I'm not." Hummin said, "It's true, you may not be. However, I don't know of any other alternatives, so I must hold on to you." Seldon sighed. "Well, I'll try, but I can't see any spark of hope. It's possible but unrealistic, I said that at the beginning, and now I'm more sure than ever."