Foundation and Empire 18. Fall Of The Foundation

There was an atmosphere ab pop the eon Vault that just deep in thought(p) definition in s perpetu any toldyal directions at once. It was non one of decay, for it was well-lit and well-conditioned, with the colouring material scheme of the w eachs lively, and the rows of fixed chairs comfortable and app arntly designed for eternal use. It was non even ancient, for three centuries had left no obvious mark. There was for certain no effort at the creation of awe or reverence, for the appointments were simpleton and everyday succeeding(a) door to b arness, in fact.Yet later on all the negatives were added and the sum disposed of, something was left and that something centered ab turn up the glass sales booth that dominated half the agency with its clear emptiness. Four metres in three centuries, the living simulacrum of Hari Seldon himself had sat there and spoken. Twice he had spoken to no audience.Through three centuries and nine generations, the old universe who had s een the long days of universal empire projected himself and still he lowstood more of the Galaxy of his great-ultra-great-grandchildren, than did those grandchildren themselves.Patiently that empty cubicle waited.The premier(prenominal) to arrive was Mayor Indbur III, driving his ceremonial ground car by means of the hushed and queasy streets. Arriving with him was his own chair, higher than those that belonged there, and wider. It was placed in front all the others, and Indbur dominated all but the empty glassiness before him.The solemn authorised at his left bowed a reverent head. Excellence, arrangements are effected for the widest possible sub-etheric spread for the official announcement by your excellence tonight.Good. Meanwhile, peculiar(a) interplanetary programs concerning the Time Vault are to cover up. There will, of course, be no predictions or speculations of either sort on the subject. Does popular reaction continue satisfactory?Excellence, very much so. Th e vicious rumors prevailing of late shake up decreased further. Confidence is widespread.Good He gestured the man away and change his elaborate neckpiece to a nicety.It was twenty minutes of noonA get group of the great props of the mayoralty the leaders of the great avocation organizations appeared in ones and twos with the degree of pomp appropriate to their financial status and place in mayoral favor. Each presented himself to the mayor, received a gracious word or two, took an assigned seat.somewhere, incongruous among the stilted ceremony of all this, Randu of move overn do his appearance and wormed his way unannounced to the mayors seat.Excellence he muttered, and bowed.Indbur frowned. You prevail not been granted an audience. Excellence, I have requested one for a week.I wo that the matters of State involved in the appearance of Seldon have-Excellence, I regret them, too, but I must(prenominal) ask you to rescind your order that the ships of the mugwump Traders be distributed among the fleets of the Foundation.Indbur had flushed red at the interruption. This is not the time for discussion.Excellence, it is the altogether time, Randu whispered urgently. As representative of the free lance Trading Worlds, I see you such a move can not be obeyed. It must be rescinded before Seldon solves our problem for us. Once the emergency is passed, it will be too late to conciliate and our alliance will melt away.Indbur stared at Randu coldly. You realize that I am head of the Foundation armed forces? Have I the right to determine military policy or have I not?Excellence, you have, but some things are inexpedient.I contend no inexpediency. It is dangerous to allow your people separate fleets in this emergency. divided up action p bring downs into the hands of the enemy. We must unite, ambassador, militarily as well as politically.Randu felt his throat muscles tighten. He omitted the courtesy of the opening title. You feet safe with break through delay that Seldon will speak, and you move over against us. A month ago you were soft and yielding, when our ships defeated the scuff at Terel. I might remind you, sir, that it is the Foundation run that has been defeated in open battle five times, and that the ships of the Independent Trading Worlds have won your victories for you.Indbur frowned dangerously, You are no overnight welcome upon Terminus, ambassador. Your drive come prohibited will be requested this evening. Furthermore, your connection with subversive democratic forces on Terminus will be and has been investigated.Randu replied, When I leave, our ships will go with me. I realise nothing of your democrats. I know only that your Foundations ships have surrendered to the Mule by the treason of their high officers, not their sailors, democratic or otherwise. I tell you that twenty ships of the Foundation surrendered at Horleggor at the orders of their rear admiral, when they were unscathed and un get the better of. The rear admiral was your own turn up associate he presided at the trial of my nephew when he first arrived from Kalgan. It is not the only case we know of and our ships and men will not be risked under potential traitors.Indbur said, You will be placed under guard upon leaving here.Randu walked away under the silent stares of the contemptuous coterie of the rulers of Terminus.It was ten minutes of twelveBayta and Toran had already arrived. They rose in their anchor seats and beckoned to Randu as he passed.Randu smiled gently, You are here after all. How did you work it?Magnifico was our politician, grinned Toran. Indbur insists upon his Visi-Sonor composition based on the Time Vault, with himself, no doubt, as hero. Magnifico refused to attend without us, and there was no arguing him out of it. Ebling Mis is with us, or was. Hes wandering about somewhere. Then, with a sudden access of anxious gravity, Why, whats wrong, uncle? You dont look well.Randu nodded, I suppose not. Were in for bad times, Toran. When the Mule is disposed of, our turn will come, Im afraid. A straight solemn augur in white approached, and greeted them with a stiff bow.Baytas dark look smiled, as she held out her hand, Captain Pritcher Are you on space duty then?The original took the hand and bowed lower, Nothing like it. Dr. Mis, I understand, has been instrumental in bringing me here, but its only temporary. Back to home guard tomorrow. What time is it?It was three minutes of twelveMagnifico was the picture of misery and heartsick depression. His form curled up, in his eternal effort at self-effacement. His long hoist was pinched at the nostrils and his large, down-slanted eyes darted uneasily about.He clutched at Baytas hand, and when she bent grass down, he whispered, Do you suppose, my lady, that all these great ones were in the audience, perhaps, when I when I played the Visi-Sonor?Everyone, Im sure, Bayta assured him, and shook him gently. And Im sure they all think youre the well-nigh wonderful player in the Galaxy and that your concert was the greatest ever seen, so you just straighten yourself and sit correctly. We must have self-regard.He smiled feebly at her mock-frown and unfolded his long-boned limbs slowly.It was noon and the glass cubicle was no longer empty.It was doubtful that whateverone had witnessed the appearance. It was a clean break one moment not there and the contiguous moment there.In the cubicle was a figure in a wheelchair, old and shrunken, from whose wrinkled face bright eyes shone, and whose voice, as it glum out, was the livest thing about him. A book lay face down struggled in his lap, and the voice came softly.I am Hari SeldonHe spoke through a silence, thunderous in its intensity.I am Hari Seldon I do not know if anyone is here at all by mere sense-perception but that is unimportant. I have few fears as yet of a breakdown in the Plan. For the first three centuries the plowshare probability of nondeviation is nine-fo ur point two.He paused to smile, and then said genially, By the way, if any of you are standing, you may sit. If any would like to smoke, please do. I am not here in the flesh. I require no ceremony. permit us take up the problem of the moment, then. For the first time, the Foundation has been faced, or perhaps, is in the last stages of facing, civil war. Till now, the attacks from without have been adequately beaten off, and inevitably so, according to the strict laws of psychohistory. The attack at present is that of a too-undisciplined outer(a) group of the Foundation against the too-authoritarian central government. The procedure was necessary, the result obvious.The dignity of the high-born audience was beginning to break. Indbur was half out of his chair.Bayta leaned forward with troubled eyes. What was the great Seldon talking about? She had missed a few of the words--that the compromise worked out is necessary in two respects. The revolt of the Independent Traders introduces an broker of impertinently uncertainty in a government perhaps grown over-confident. The element of striving is restored. Although beaten, a healthy increase of democracy-There were raised voices now. Whispers had ascended the home base of loudness, and the edge of panic was in them.Bayta said in Torans ear, Why doesnt he talk about the Mule? The Traders never revolted.Toran shrugged his shoulders.The seated figure spoke cheerfully across and through the increasing disorganization-a new and firmer alinement government was the necessary and beneficial outcome of the logical civil war forced upon the Foundation. And now only the remnants of the old Empire stand in the way of further expansion, and in them, for the next few years, at any rate, is no problem. Of course, I can not reveal the nature of the next prob-In the complete uproar, Seldons lips moved soundlessly.Ebling Mis was next to Randu, face ruddy. He was shouting. Seldon is off his rocker. Hes got the wrong crisis. Were your Traders ever planning civil war?Randu said thinly, We think one, yes. We called it off in the face of the Mule.Then the Mule is an added feature, unprepared for in Seldons psychohistory. Now whats happened?In the sudden, frozen silence, Bayta found the cubicle once again empty. The nuclear glow of the walls was dead, the soft current of conditioned air absent.Somewhere the sound of a shrill siren was rising and falling in the scale and Randu formed the words with his lips, Space raidAnd Ebling Mis held his wrist comply to his ears and shouted suddenly, Stopped, by the Ga-LAX-y, is there a watch in the room that is going? His voice was a roar.Twenty wrists went to twenty ears. And in further less than twenty seconds, it was quite certain that none were.Then, said Mis, with a grim and horrible finality, something has stopped all nuclear power in the Time Vault and the Mule is attacking.Indburs wail rose high in a higher place the noise, Take your seats The Mule is fifty pars ecs distant.He was, shouted back Mis, a week ago. Right now, Terminus is being bombarded.Bayta felt a deep depression settle softly upon her. She felt its folds tighten close and thick, until her breath forced its way only with pain past her tightened throat.The outer noise of a gathering ring was evident. The doors were thrown open and a harried figure entered, and spoke rapidly to Indbur, who had rushed to him.Excellence, he whispered, not a vehicle is running in the city, not a chat line to the outside is open.The Tenth Fleet is reported defeated and the Mules ships are outside the atmosphere. The world-wide staff-Indbur crumpled, and was a collapsed figure of impotence upon the floor. In all that hall, not a voice was raised now. Even the growing crowd without was fearful, but silent, and the horror of cold panic hovered dangerously.Indbur was raised. Wine was held to his lips. His lips moved before his eyes opened, and the word they formed was, SurrenderBayta found herself n ear to strident not for sorrow or humiliation, but simply and plainly out of a vast frightened despair. Ebling Mis plucked at her sleeve. Come, young lady-She was pulled out of her chair, bodily.Were leaving, he said, and take your musician with you. The plump scientists lips were trembling and colorless.Magnifico, said Bayta, faintly. The fathead shrank in horror. His eyes were glassy.The Mule, he shrieked. The Mule is coming for me.He thrashed wildly at her touch. Toran leaned over and brought his fist up sharply. Magnifico slumped into unconsciousness and Toran carried him out potato-sack fashion.The next day, the ugly, battle-black ships of the Mule poured down upon the landing fields of the planet Terminus. The attacking general sped down the empty main street of Terminus City in a foreign-made ground car that ran where a whole city of nuclear cars still stood useless.The proclamation of occupation was made twenty-four hours to the minute after Seldon had appeared before the former mighty of the Foundation.Of all the Foundation planets, only the Independent Traders still stood, and against them the power of the Mule conqueror of the Foundation now turned itself.