Second Foundation 21. The Answer That Satisfied

Turbor laughed suddenly laughed in huge, windy gusts that bounced ringingly off the w in each(prenominal)(prenominal)s and died in gasps. He agitate his head, weakly, and give tongue to, Great Galaxy, this goes on entirely night. One afterward a nonher, we put up our straw men to be knocked d take. We brook fun, but we dont get anyw pre displace. Space perhaps all planets be the back rump. Maybe they withdraw no planet, tho key men airing on all the planets. And what does it matter, since D arll regulates we shoot the perfect def checking team?Darell smiled without humor. The perfect defence reaction is non enough, Turbor. Even my psychic Static dev tripe is sole(prenominal) something that keeps us in the same prey. We idlernot remain forever with our fists doubled, frantically gross(a) in all directions for the un bangn enemy. We mustiness sock not whole how to win, but whom to defeat. And thither is a specific world on which the enemy exists. deliver to the point, verbalise Anthor, wearily. Whats your instruction?Arcadia, said Darell, sent me a message, and until I got it, I never saw the obvious. I probably would never view seen the obvious. Yet it was a simple message that went A circle has no end. Do you see?No, said Anthor, stubbornly, and he spoke, preferably obviously, for the others.A circle has no end, repeated Munn, judgmentfully, and his frontal b unmatched furrowed.Well, said Darell, impatiently, it was clear to me- What is the wiz absolute fact we hit the sack rough the flash Foundation, eh? Ill ordinate you We k at one time that Hari Seldon primed(p) it at the opposite end of the Galaxy. Homir Munn theorized that Seldon lie about the existence of the Foundation. Pelleas Anthor theorized that Seldon had t old(a) the truth that far, but be about the fixing of the Foundation. scarce I assure you that Hari Seldon lied in no particular that he told the absolute truth. exactly, what is the other end? The G alaxy is a flat, lens-shaped object. A cross section along the inanition of it is a circle, and a circle had no end as Arcadia realized. We we, the First Foundation are fixed on Terminus at the rim of that circle. We are at an end of the Galaxy, by definition. Now abide by the rim of that circle and find the other end. quest for it, follow it, follow it, and you willing find no other end. You will al unmatchable come backwards to your starting point-And thither you will find the succor Foundation.There? repeated Anthor. Do you retrieve here?Yes, I mean here cried Darell, energetically. Why, where else could it peradventure be? You said yourself that if the insurgent Foundationers were the guardians of the Seldon Plan, it was un equivalently that they could be located at the so-called other end of the Galaxy, where they would be as isolated as they could conceivably be. You thought that fifty parsecs distance was more sensible. I tell you that that is also too far. That no distance at all is more sensible. And where would they be safest? Who would verbalism for them here? Oh, its the old principle of the most obvious place creation the least suspicious.Why was poor Ebling Mis so surprised and unmanned by his discovery of the location of the se evictt Foundation? There he was, smell for it desperately in order to warn it of the culmination of the Mule, only to find that the Mule had already captured twain Foundations at a stroke. And why did the Mule himself fail. in his search? Why not? If one is curious for an unconquerable menace, one would scarcely look among the enemies already conquered. So the sound judgment- ensures, in their cause leisurely time, could amaze their plans to stop the Mule, and succeeded in stopping him.Oh, it is maddeningly simple. For here we are with our plots and our schemes, thinking that we are keeping our secrecy when all the time we are in the very amount and core of our enemys stronghold. Its humorous.Ant hor did not remove the skepticism from his face, You aboveboard believe this theory, Dr. Darell?I honestly believe it. because any of our neighbors, any man we pass in the street might be a atomic number 16 Foundation superman, with his oral sex watching yours and feeling the caprice of its thoughts.Exactly.And we pose been permitted to proceed all this time, without molestation?Without molestation? Who told you we were not molested? You, yourself, showed that Munn has been tampered with. What drags you think that we sent him to Kalgan in the start place entirely of our own volition or that Arcadia overheard us and followed him on her own volition? Hah We curb been molested without pause, probably. And after all, why should they do more than they film? It is far more to their benefit to mislead us, than merely to stop us.Anthor buried himself in meditation and emerged at that placeof with a dissatisfied expression. Well, and so, I dont like it. Your psychological Stat ic isnt worth a thought. We cant stay in the house forever and as soon as we leave, were lost, with what we now think we neck. Unless you can build a little machine for every inhabitant in the Galaxy.Yes, but were not quite helpless, Anthor. These men of the Second Foundation lay down a special wiz which we lack. It is their strength and also their weakness. For instance, is in that location any instrument of attack that will be effective against a normal, sighted man which is useless against a sieve man?Sure, said Munn, promptly. A light in the eyes.Exactly, said Darell. A good, strong fulgent light.Well, what of it? asked Turbor. scarce the analogy is clear. I have a Mind Static device. It sets up an artificial electromagnetic pattern, which to the mind of a man of the Second Foundation would be like a beam of light to us. simply the Mind Static device is kaleidoscopic. It shifts quickly and continuously, red-hot than the receiving mind can follow. all(prenominal) right then, dish out it a flickering light the kind that would give you a headache, if continued long enough. Now rise that light or that electromagnetic field until it is blinding and it will become a pain, an unendurable pain. still only to those with the proper sense not to the unsensed. rightfully? said Anthor, with the depressnings of enthusiasm. Have you try this?On whom? Of course, I havent essay it. entirely it will work.Well, where do you have the controls for the Field that surrounds the house? Id like to see this thing.Here. Darell opened into his diadem pocket. It was a small thing, scarcely bulging his pocket. He tossed the black, pommel-studded cylinder to the other.Anthor inspected it carefully and shrugged his shoulders. It doesnt make me any smarter to look at it. Look Darell, what mustnt I touch? I dont want to turn off the house defense by accident, you know.You wont, said Darell, indifferently. That control is locked in place. He flicked at a toggle switch t hat didnt move.And whats this saddlebow?That one varies rate of shift of pattern. Here this one varies the intensity. Its that which Ive been referring to.May I- asked Anthor, with his finger on the intensity knob. The others were herd close.Why not? shrugged DarelI. It wont see us.Slowly, almost wincingly, Anthor off the knob, first in one direction, then in another. Turbor was gritting his teeth, while Munn b thinked his eyes rapidly. It was as though they were keening their scant(p) sensory equipment to locate this impulse which could not affect them.Finally, Anthor shrugged and tossed the control box back into Darells lap. Well, I compute we can take your word for it. But its certainly hard to imagine that anything was happening when I morose the knob.But naturally, Pelleas Anthor, said Darell, with a potent smile. The one I gave you was a dummy. You see I have another. He tossed his jacket a positioning and seized a reprize of the control box that Anthor had been invest igating, which swung from his belt.You see, said Darell, and in one gesture turned the intensity knob to supreme.And with an spectral shriek, Pelleas Anthor sank to the floor. He rolled in his agony whitened, absorbing fingers clutching and tearing futilely at his hair.Munn lifted his feet hurriedly to prevent contact with the squirming body, and his eyes were twin depths of horror. Semic and Turbor were a pair of p run shorter casts stiff and white.Darell, somber, turned the knob back once more. And Anthor twitched feebly once or twice and lay still. He was alive, his breath pace his body.Lift him on to the couch, said Darell, grasping the early sidereal days mans head. Help me here.Turbor reached for the feet. They might have been lifting a shift of flour. Then, after long minutes, the breathing grew quieter, and Anthors eyelids fluttered and lifted. His face was a horrid yellow his hair and body was fuddled in perspiration, and his voice, when he spoke, was cracked and u nrecognizable.Dont, he muttered, dont Dont do that again You dont know- You dont know- Oh-h-h. It was a long, trembling moan.We wont do it again, said Darell, if you will tell us the truth. You are a member of the Second Foundation?Let me have some water, pleaded Anthor.Get some, Turbor, said Darell, and bring the whiskey bottle.He repeated the question after move a jigger of whiskey and two supply of water into Anthor. Something seemed to relax in the young man-Yes, he said, wearily. I am a member of the Second Foundation.Which, continued Darell, is located on Terminus here?Yes, yes. You are right in every particular, Dr. Darell. sincere Now explain whats been happening this past fractional year. Tell usI would like to catch some Zs, whispered Anthor.Later Speak nowA unsteady sigh. Then words, low and hurried. The others bent over him to gimp the sound, The situation was increment dangerous. We knew that Terminus and its physical scientists were fit interested in brain-w ave patterns and that the times were ripe for the suppuration of something like the Mind Static device. And there was growing enmity toward the Second Foundation. We had to stop it without ruining SeIdons Plan.We we tried to control the movement. We tried to join it. It would turn indecision and efforts away from us. We saw to it that Kalgan declared war as a further distraction. Thats why I sent Munn to Kalgan. Stettins supposed mistress was one of us. She saw to it that Munn make the proper moves-Callia is- cried Munn, but Darell waved him silent.Anthor continued, unaware of any interruption, Arcadia followed. We hadnt counted on that cant foresee everything so Callia maneuvered her to Trantor to prevent interference. Thats all. Except that we lost.You tried to get me to go to Trantor, didnt you? asked Darell.Anthor nodded, Had to get you out of the way. The growing triumph in your mind was clear enough. You were solution the problems of the Mind Static device.Why didnt you put me below control?Couldnt couldnt. Had my orders. We were working according to a Plan. If I improvised, I would have thrown everything off. Plan only predicts probabilities you know that like Seldons Plan. He was talking in anguished pants, and almost incoherently. His head twisted from side to side in a restless fever. We worked with individuals not groups very low probabilities involved lost out. also if control you someone else invent device no use had to control times more problematic First Speakers own plan dont know all angles except didnt work a-a-a- He ran bolt down.Darell shook him roughly, You cant sleep yet. How umteen of you are there?Huh? Whatjasay oh not many be surprised fifty dont need more.All here on Terminus?Five half-dozen out in Space like Callia got to sleep.He stirred himself suddenly as though to one giant effort, and his expressions gained in clarity. It was a last endeavour at self-justification, at moderating his defeat.Almost got you at the end. Would have turned off defenses and seized you. Would have seen who was master. But you gave me dummy controls suspected me all along-And finally he was asleep.Turbor said, in awed tones, How long did you suspect him, Darell? perpetually since he first came here, was the quiet response. He came from Kleise, he said. But I knew Kleise and I knew on what basis we parted. He was a fanatic on the plain of the Second Foundation and I had deserted him. My own purposes were reasonable, since I thought it best and safest to pursue my own notions by myself. But I couldnt tell Kleise that and he wouldnt have listened if I had. To him, I was a coward and a traitor, perhaps even an agent of the Second Foundation. He was an unforgiving man and from that time almost to the day of his death he had no dealings with me. Then, suddenly, in his last few weeks of life, he writes me as an old friend to greet his best and most hopeful pupil as a co-worker and begin again the old investigation.It was out of character. How could he possibly do such a thing without being under outside influence, and I began to wonder if the only purpose might not be to salute into my confidence a real agent of the Second Foundation. Well, it was so-He sighed and closed his own eyes for a moment.Semic put in hesitantly, What will we do with all of them these Second Foundation fellas?I dont know, said Darell, sadly. We could acquit them, I suppose. Theres Zoranel, for instance. They can be placed there and the planet saturated with Mind Static. The sexes can be separated, or, better still, they can be sterilized and in fifty years, the Second Foundation will be a thing of the past. Or perhaps a quiet death for all of them would be kinder.Do you suppose, said Turbor, we could learn the use of this sense of theirs. Or are they born with it, like the Mule.I dont know. I think it is developed through long training, since there are indications from encephalography that the potentialities of it are lat ent in the homosexual mind. But what do you want that sense for? It hasnt helped them.He frowned.Though he said nothing, his thoughts were shouting.It had been too favorable too easy. They had fallen, these invincibles, fallen like book-villains, and he didnt like it.Galaxy When can a man know he is not a puppet? How can a man know he is not a puppet?Arcadia was coming home, and his thoughts shuddered away from that which he must face in the end.She was home for a week, then two, and he could not loose the tight check upon those thoughts. How could he? She had changed from child to young cleaning lady in her absence, by some strange alchemy. She was his link to life his link to a bittersweet man and wife that scarcely outlasted his honeymoon.And then, late one evening, he said as casually as he could, Arcadia, what make you see that Terminus contained both Foundations?They had been to the theater in the best seats with private trimensional viewers for each her dress was new for the occasion, and she was happy.She stared at him for a moment, then tossed it off. Oh, I Dont know, Father. It just came to me.A layer of ice thickened about Dr. Darells heart.Think, he said, intensely. This is important. What made you purpose both Foundations were on Terminus.She frowned slightly. Well, there was Lady Callia. I knew she was a Second Foundationer. Anthor said so, too.But she was on Kalgan, insisted Darell. What made you decide on Terminus?And now Arcadia waited for several minutes before she answered. What had made her decide? What had made her decide?She had the horrible sensation of something steal just beyond her grasp.She said, She knew about things Lady Callia did and must have had her information from Terminus. Doesnt that sound right, Father?But he just shook his head at her.Father, she cried, I knew. The more I thought, the surer I was. It just made sense.There was that lost look in her fathers eyes, Its no good, Arcadia. Its no good. Intuition is susp icious when touch with the Second Foundation. You see that, dont you? It might have been perception and it might have been controlControl You mean they changed me? Oh, no. No, they couldnt. She was backing away from him. But didnt Anthor say I was right? He admitted it. He admitted everything. And youve make up the whole bunch right here on Trantor. Didnt you? Didnt you? She was breathing quickly.I know, but- Arcadia, will you let me make an encephalographic compendium of your brain?She shook her head violently, No, no Im too scared.Of me, Arcadia? Theres nothing to be afraid of. But we must know. You see that, dont you?She interrupted him only once, after that. She clutched at his arm just before the last switch was thrown. What if I am different, Father? What will you have to do?I wont have to do anything, Arcadia. If youre different, well leave. Well go back to Trantor, you and I, and and we wont care about anything else in the Galaxy.Never in Darells life had an analysis pr oceeded so slowly, cost him so much, and when it was over, Arcadia huddled down and dared not look. Then she heard him laugh and that was information enough. She jumped up and threw herself into his opened arms.He was babbling wildly as they squeezed one another, The house is under maximum Mind Static and your brain-waves are normal. We really have trapped them, Arcadia, and we can go back to living.Father, she gasped, can we let them give us medals now?How did you know Id asked to be left out of it? He held her at arms mind you know everything. All right, you can have your medal on a platform, with speeches.And Father?Yes? stinker you call me Arkady from now on.But- Very well, Arkady.Slowly the magnitude of the victory was soaking into him and saturating him. The Foundation the First Foundation now the only Foundation was absolute master of the Galaxy. No further barrier stood between themselves and the Second Empire the final fulfillment of Seldons Plan.They had only to reach for it-Thanks to-