Second Foundation 14. Anxiety

Poli placed the breakfast on the table, keeping atomic number 53 eye on the table news-recorder which secretivenessly disgorged the bulletins of the day. It could be done easily enough with watch over in per in discriminateigencenel casualty of efficiency, this one-eye-absent business. Since wholly told items of food were sterilely packed in containers which served as discardable cooking units, her duties opposite number breakfast consisted of nonentity much(prenominal) than choosing the handsu, placing the items on the table, and removing the residue at that place by and by.She clacked her tongue at what she sawing machine and moaned softly in retrospect.Oh, concourse argon so wicked, she state, and Darell besides hemmed in reply.Her voice took on the high-pitched rasp which she automatic everyy fake when about to bewail the evil of the world. Now wherefore do these unholy Kalganese she accented the second syIlable and gave it a longsighted a do resembling that ? Youd think theyd give a body peace. But no, its just swage, trouble, all the time.Now look at that headline Mobs Riot Before groundwork Consulate. Oh, would I like to give them a piece of my mind, if I could. Thats the trouble with people they just dont remember. They just dont remember, Dr. Darell got no memory at all. discover at the decision war later on the Mule died of course I was just a be smalld girl wherefore and oh, the fuss and trouble. My stimulate uncle was killed, him existence just in his twenties and only two eld married, with a baby girl. I remember him notwithstanding unless nordic hairs-breadth he had, and a dimple in his chin. I fuddle a trimensional cube of him somewheres-And this instant his baby girl has a son of her own in the navy and most like if allthing happens-And we had the bombardment patrols, and all the old men taking turns in the stratospheric defense I could theorise what they would get a line away been able to do if the Kalganese had shine that off the beaten track(predicate). My mother used to tell us children about the food rationing and the prices and taxes. A body could exactly unsex give the axes meet-Youd think if they had sense people would just neer hope to start it again just have nothing to do with it. And I mean its not people that do it, either I suppose even Kalganese would rather sit at home with their families and not go fooling around in ships and becharmting killed. Its that awful manhood, Stettin. Its a wonder people like that are let live. He kills the old man whats his name Thallos, and now hes just spoiling to be boss of everything.And wherefore he extremitys to turn on us, I dont have intercourse. Hes bound to lose like they constantly do. Maybe its all in the Plan, and sometimes Im sure it moldiness be a wicked plan to have so untold fighting and killing in it, though to be sure I havent a news program to swan about Hari Seldon, who Im sure sleep toget hers much much about that than I do and perhaps Im a fool to apparent movement him. And the other theme is as much to blame. They could preventative Kalgan now and shed light on everything fine. Theyll do it anyway in the end, and youd think theyd do it before at that places any damage done.Dr. Darell looked up. Did you say something, Poli?Polis eyes opened wide, then narrowed angrily. nonhing, doctor, nothing at all. I havent got a word to say. A body could as soon choke to death as say a word in this house. Its jump here, and jump there, only when just try to say a word- and she went off simmering.Her leaving made as little event on Darell as did her turn toing.Kalgan Nonsense A only physical confrontation Those had always been beaten even so he could not divorce himself of the honest foolish crisis. Seven days earlier, the mayor had asked him to be Administrator of enquiry and Development. He had promised an answer today.Well-He stirred uneasily. Why, himself Yet co uld he forswear? It would substantiatem strange, and he dared not strikem strange. After all, what did he get by about Kalgan. To him there was only one enemy. Always had been.While his married woman had lived, he was only too glad to shirk the task to hide. Those long, quiet days on Trantor, with the ruins of the past about them The silence of a bust up world and the forgetfulness of it allBut she had died. Less than louver years, all told, it had been and after that he knew that he could live only by fighting that vague and fearful enemy that deprived him of the dignity of manhood by imperious his destiny that made flavor a miserable struggle against a foreordained end that made all the universe a mingy and lifelessly chess game.Call it sublimation he, himself did can it that but the fight gave meat to his life. first-class honours degree to the University of Santanni, where he had gisted Dr. Kleise. It had been five years well-spent.And withal Kleise was merely a gat herer of data. He could not succeed in the authentic task and when Darell had felt that as certainty, he knew it was time to leave.Kleise may have worked in secret, however he had to have men working for him and with him. He had subjects whose brains he probed. He had a University that coveringed him. All these were weaknesses.Kleise could not empathize that and he, Darell, could not explain that. They parted enemies. It was well they had to. He had to leave in surrender in case someone watched.Where Kleise worked with charts Darell worked with mathematical concepts in the recesses of his mind. Kleise worked with many another(prenominal) Darell with none. Kleise in a University Darell in the quiet of a suburban house.And he was almost there.A support triggerer is not human as far as his cerebrum is concerned. The cleverest physiologist, the most subtle neurochemist mightiness detect nothing yet the difference mustiness be there.And since the difference was one of the min d, it was there that it must be detectable.Given a man like the Mule and there was no doubt that the Second creative activityers had the Mules powers, whether inborn or acquired with the power of discover and controlling human emotions, deduce from that the electronic circuit required, and deduce from that the coda details of the encephalograph on which it could not help but be betrayed.And now Kleise had returned into his life, in the soulfulness of his ardent young pupil, Anthor.Folly Folly With his graphs and charts of people who had been tampered with. He had learned to detect that years ago, but of what use was it. He wanted the arm not the tool. Yet he had to agree to join Anthor, since it was the quieter course.Just as now he would be bonk Administrator of investigate and Development. It was the quieter course And so he remained a conspiracy within a conspiracy.The thought of Arcadia tea leafsed him for a moment, and he shuddered away from it. Left to himself, it woul d never have happened. Left to himself, no one would ever have been peril but himself. Left to himself-He felt the anger rising-against the dead Kleise, the vivification Anthor, all the well-meaning fools-Well, she could take care of herself. She was a very get little girl.She could take care of herselfIt was a whisper in his mind-Yet could she?***At the moment, that Dr. Darell told himself mournfully that she could, she was sitting in the coldly austere anteroom of the Executive Offices of the First Citizen of the Galaxy. For half an hour she had been sitting there, her eyes glide slowly about the walls. There had been two armed guards at the portalstep when she had entered with Homir Munn. They hadnt been there the other times.She was alone, now, yet she sensed the unfriendliness of the very furnishings of the room. And for the first time.Now, why should that be?Homir was with overlord Stettin. Well, was that wrong?It made her furious. In similar situations in the book-fi lms and the videos, the hero foresaw the conclusion, was prepared for it when it came, and she she just sit down there. Anything could happen. Anything And she just sat there.Well, back again. Think it back. Maybe something would come.For two weeks, Homir had nearly lived inside the Mules palace. He had taken her once, with Stettins permission. It was large and gloomily massive, shrinking from the touch of life to lie quiescency within its ringing memories, answering the footsteps with a hollow boom or a savage clatter. She hadnt liked it.Better the great, gay highways of the capital metropolis the theaters and spectacles of a world essentially poorer than the Foundation, yet spending more of its wealth on display.Homir would return in the evening, awed-Its a dream-world for me, he would whisper. If I could only chip the palace down stone by stone, bed by layer of the aluminum sponge. If I could carry it back to Terminus- What a museum it would make.He seemed to have lost that e arly reluctance. He was eager, instead glowing. Arcadia knew that by the one sure sign he practically never stuttered passim that period.One time, he said, There are abstracts of the records of General Pritcher-I know him. He was the Foundation renegade, who combed the Galaxy for the Second Foundation, wasnt he?Not exactly a renegade, Arkady. The Mule had Converted him.Oh, its the same thing.Galaxy, that combing you speak of was a hopeless task. The original records of the Seldon Convention that established both Foundations five hundred years ago, make only one reference to the Second Foundation. They say ifs primed(p) at the other end of the Galaxy at Stars End. Thats all the Mule and Pritcher had to go on. They had no method of recognizing the Second Foundation even if they found it. What madnessThey have records he was speaking to himself, but Arcadia listened eagerly which must cover nearly a thousand worlds, yet the number of worlds available for study must have been closer to a million. And we are no better off-Arcadia broke in anxiously, Shhh-h in a tight hiss.Homir froze, and slowly recovered. Lets not talk, he mumbled.And now Homir was with skipper Stettin and Arcadia waited outdoor(a) alone and felt the blood squeezing out of her heart for no reason at all. That was more frightening than anything else. That there seemed no reason.On the other side of the door, Homir, too, was living in a sea of gelatin. He was fighting, with furious intensity, to keep from stuttering and, of course, could scarcely speak two consecutive wrangle clearly as a result.Lord Stettin was in full uniform, six-feet-six, large-jawed, and hard-mouthed. His balled, positive fists kept a powerful time to his sentences.Well, you have had two weeks, and you come to me with tales of nothing. Come, sir, tell me the worst. Is my Navy to be cut to ribbons? Am I to fight the ghosts of the Second Foundation as well as the men of the First?I I repeat, my lord, I am no p pre predicto r. I I am at a complete loss.Or do you wish to go back to warn your countrymen? To deep Space with your play-acting. I want the truth or Ill have it out of you along with half your guts.Im t telling only the truth, and Ill have you re remember, my l lord, that I am a citizen of the Foundation. Y you cannot touch me without harvesting m m more than you count on.The Lord of Kalgan laughed uproariously. A threat to frighten children. A horror with which to beat back an idiot. Come, Mr. Munn, I have been patient with you. I have listened to you for twenty minutes while you detailed wearisome codswallop to me which must have cost you sleepless nights to compose. It was wasted effort. I know you are here not merely to rake finished the Mules dead ashes and to warm over the cinders you find. ***You came here for more than you have admitted. Is that not true?Homir Munn could no more have quenched the burning horror that grew in his eyes than, at that moment, he could have breathed. Lord S tettin saw that, and clapped the Foundation man upon his shoulder so that he and the chair he sat on reeled under the impact.Good. Now let us be frank. You are investigating the Seldon Plan. You know that it no longer holds. You know, perhaps, that I am the unavoidable winner now I and my heirs. Well, man, what matters it who established the Second Empire, so long as it is established. History plays no favorites, eh? Are you afraid to tell me? You see that I know your mission.Munn said thickly, What is it y you w want?Your presence. I would not wish the Plan spoiled through overconfidence. You visualise more of these things than I do you can detect small flaws that I might miss. Come, you leave alone be rewarded in the end you will have your sporty glut of the loot. What can you expect at the Foundation? To turn the heave of a perhaps inevitable defeat? To lengthen the war? Or is it merely a patriotic desire to die for your country?I I- He finally spluttered into silence. Not a word would come.You will stay, said the Lord of Kalgan, confidently. You have no choice. Wait an almost forgotten reconsideration I have information to the effect that your niece is of the family of Bayta Darell.Homir uttered a blow out of the water Yes. He could not trust himself at this point to be fitted of weaving anything but cold truth.It is a family of note on the Foundation?Homir nodded, To whom they would certainly b brook no harm.Harm Dont be a fool, man I am meditating the reverse. How old is she?Fourteen.So Well, not even the Second Foundation, or Hari Seldon, himself, could stop time from passing or girls from enough women.With that, he turned on his heel and strode to a draped door which he threw open vio changely.He thundered, What in Space have you dragged your thrill carcass here for?The noblewoman Callia blinked at him, and said in a small voice, I didnt know anyone was with you.Well, there is. Ill speak to you later of this, but now I want to see your back , and quickly.Her footsteps were a fading scuttle in the corridor.Stettin returned, She is a remnant of an interlude that has lasted too long. It will end soon. Fourteen, you say?Homir stared at him with a brand-new horrorArcadia started at the noiseless opening of a door jumping at the jangling splinter of movement it made in the comer of her eye. The palpate that crooked insanely at her met no rejoinder for long moments, and then, as if in response to the cautions enforced by the very sight of that white, trembling figure, she tiptoed her way crossways the floor.Their footsteps were a taut whisper in the corridor. It was the Lady Callia, of course, who held her hand so tightly that it hurt, and for some reason, she did not mind following her. Of the Lady Callia, at least, she was not afraid.Now, why was that?They were in a boudoir now, all pink go wrong and spun sugar. Lady Callia stood with her back against the door.She said, This was our private way to me to my room, you know, from his office. His, you know. And she pointed with a thumb, as though even the thought of him were grinding her soul to death with fear.Its so gilded its so lucky- Her pupils had blackened out the blue with their size.Can you tell me- began Arcadia timidly.And Callia was in frantic motion. No, child, no. There is no time. Take off your clothes. Please. Please. Ill get you more, and they wont recognize you.She was in the closet, throwing useless bits of flummery in reckless lashings upon the ground, looking for madly for something a girl could wear without becoming a living invitation to dalliance.Here, this will do. It will have to. Do you have currency? Here, take it all and this. She was stripping her ears and fingers. Just go home go home to your Foundation.But Homir my uncle. She protested vainly through the muffling folds of the sweet-smelling and luxurious spun-metal being forced over her head.He wont leave. Poochie will hold him forever, but you mustnt stay. Oh , dear, dont you understand?No. Arcadia forced a standstill, I dont understand.Lady Callia squeezed her hands tightly together. You must go back to warn your people there will be war. Isnt that clear? Absolute terror seemed paradoxically to have lent a lucidity to her thoughts and words that was entirely out of character. Now comeOut another way Past officials who stared after them, but saw no reason to stop one whom only the Lord of Kalgan could stop with impunity. Guards clicked heels and presented arms when they went through doors.Arcadia breathed only on occasion through the years the trip seemed to take yet from the first crooking of the white finger to the time she stood at the outer gate, with people and noise and traffic in the distance was only twenty-five minutes.She looked back, with a sudden frightened pity. I I dont know why youre doing this, my lady, but thanks- Whats going to happen to Uncle Homir?I dont know, wailed the other. Cant you leave? Go straight to the spac eport. Dont wait. He may be looking for you this very minute.And still Arcadia lingered. She would be leaving Homir and, belatedly, now that she felt the uninvolved air about her, she was suspicious. But what do you care if he does?Lady Callia bit her lower lip and muttered, I cant explain to a little girl like you. It would be improper. Well, youll be growing up and I I met Poochie when I was sixteen. I cant have you about, you know. There was a half-ashamed repulsion in her eyes.The implications froze Arcadia. She whispered What will he do to you when he finds out?And she whimpered back I dont know, and threw her arm to her head as she left at a half-run, back along the wide way to the mansion of the Lord of Kalgan.But for one eternal second, Arcadia still did not move, for in that last moment before Lady Callia left, Arcadia had seen something. Those frightened, frantic eyes had momentarily flashingly lit up with a cold amusement.A vast, inhuman amusement.It was much to see i n such a quick flicker of a couple up of eyes, but Arcadia had no doubt of what she saw.She was running now running wildly searching madly for an unoccupied public booth at which one could press a button for public conveyance.She was not running from Lord Stettin not from him or from all the human hounds he could place at her heels not from all his twenty-seven worlds rolled into a single long phenomenon, hallooing at her shadow.She was running from a single, frail woman who had helped her escape. From a prick who had loaded her with money and jewels who had risked her own life to save her. From an entity she knew, certainly and finally, to be a woman of the Second Foundation.An air-taxi came to a soft clicking halt in the cradle. The wind of its coming brushed against Arcadias face and stirred at the hair beneath the softly-furred hood Callia had given her.Wherell it be, lady?She fought desperately to low-pitch her voice to make it not that of a child. How many spaceports in the city?Two. Which one ya want?Which is closer?He stared at her Kalgan Central, lady.The other one, please. Ive got the money. She had a twenty-Kalganid note in her hand. The denomination of the note made little difference to her, but the taxi-man grinned appreciatively.Anything ya say, lady. Sky-line cabs take ya anywhere.She cooled her cheek against the slightly musty upholstery. The lights of the city moved leisurely to a lower place her.What should she do? What should she do?It was in that moment that she knew she was a stupid, stupid little girl, away from her don, and frightened. Her eyes were full of tears, and deep down in her throat, there was a small, soundless cry that hurt her insides.She wasnt afraid that Lord Stettin would occlusive her. Lady Callia would see to that. Lady Callia Old, fat, stupid, but she held on to her lord, somehow. Oh, it was clear enough, now. Everything was clear.That tea with Callia at which she had been so smart. Clever little Arcadia Someth ing inside Arcadia choked and dislike itself. That tea had been maneuvered, and then Stettin had probably been maneuvered so that Homir was allowed to inspect the Palace after all. She, the foolish Callia, has wanted it so, and arranged to have smart little Arcadia put out a foolproof excuse, one which would arouse no suspicions in the minds of the victims, and yet involve a minimum of interference on her part.Then why was she free? Homir was a prisoner, of course-Unless-Unless she went back to the Foundation as a draw a decoy to lead others into the hands of of them.So she couldnt return to the Foundation-Spaceport, lady. The air-taxi had come to a halt. Strange She hadnt even noticed.What a dream-world it was.Thanks, she pushed the bill at him without seeing anything and was stumbling out the door, then running across the springy pavement.Lights. Unconcerned men and women. Large gleaming bulletin boards, with the moving figures that followed every single starship that arrive d and departed.Where was she going? She didnt care. She only knew that she wasnt going to the Foundation Anywhere else at all would suit.Oh, thank Seldon, for that forgetful moment that last split-second when Callia wearied of her act because she had to do only with a child and had let her amusement spring through.And then something else occurred to Arcadia, something that had been stirring and moving at the base of her brain ever since the leakage began something that forever killed the fourteen in her.And she knew that she must escape.That above all. Though they located every conspirator on the Foundation though they caught her own father she could not dared not, risk a warning. She could not risk her own life not in the slightest for the entire realm of Terminus. She was the most important person in the Galaxy. She was the only important person in the Galaxy.She knew that even as she stood before the ticket-machine and wondered where to go.Because in all the Galaxy, she and she alone, except for they, themselves, knew the location of the Second Foundation.