Foundation’s Triumph

“Yes, master. The favor would be for you to release mecompletely from the Third Law, so that I may end my existence. For when humanity utterly forsakes its memory, there is no purpose for me any longer. From this point on, you must pin your future on the wisdom of R. Daneel Olivaw.”

Biron Maserd, who until a day ago had not even heard of robots, now spoke with the decisiveness of one born to command.

“Then by all means, machine, bring your misery to an end. We appear to have no further need of you.”

Its moan sounded simultaneously tragic and relieved. Then the ancient robot expired before their eyes, along with a billion crystalline remnants of the distant past.

Hari, Maserd, and Kers Kantun made their way carefully along twisty corridors, back toward the starships. There was work left to be done. The other humans must be given hypnotic commands to forget what they had seen here. This could be achieved through a combination of drugs plus the robot’s mentalic influence. Then something would have to be done to make sure that no more human ships came to this obscure comer of space.

There were still the terraformer-tiller machines, testifying to a different secret-a shame that Daneel did not want spread, even as a rumor. They would have to be destroyed as well.

Walking along, Hari tried not to think about the archives-melting and exploding all around them. He changed the subject.

“You said something that perplexed me earlier, Kers,” he told his former aide. “It had to do with the pirate captain, Mors Planch. You said he was able to resist you because he was….normal.”

Kers Kantun barely slowed down to glance at Hari.

“As I said, Dr. Seldon, there is some variation of belief, even among followers of R. Daneel. Some of us hold a minority opinion that chaos isnot inherent to human nature. Some evidence suggests that humans in olden times did not suffer from the great curse until chaos struck them from theoutside, as something like a horribly infectious-”

Whatever Kers was about to say, the robot’s words stopped abruptly in a blur of action. One moment Kers was stepping over the raised sill of an open hatchway, discussing mysteries of the past. The next, hishead was rolling down the passageway, neatly severed by a blade that came flashing from the wall!

Sparks sputtered and arced from exposed wires. Neurocords whipped like snakes where the robot’s neck had been. The body groped and stumbled for several seconds before turning around three times and tumbling to the floor.

“What the-”

Hari could only mutter and stare. He glimpsed Biron Maserd, his back against the wall, and a tiny weapon in his hand. A miniblaster that none of the raiders had ever discovered, despite repeated searches.

“Seldon, get down!” the nobleman urged. But Hari saw no point. Any force that could surprise and slay one of Daneel’s colleagues would have no trouble dealing with a pair of confused humans.

A figure sauntered into view, beyond the open hatchway. Its appearance startled Hari, while at the same time bringing back a wash of memories.

It was manlike, yet shorter, more bowlegged and much hairier than most subspecies of humanity.

“By god, it’s a chimpanzee!” cried Maserd, raising the pistol.

Hari motioned for him not to shoot. “A pan,” he corrected, using modern terminology. “Don’t frighten it. Maybe we can…”

But the animal paid little heed to Hari or Maserd. Casually glancing their way, it strolled past, grabbed the severed head of Kers Kantun from the floor, then scurried onward around the next corner. Soon its scampering footsteps were heard no more.

Hari and the nobleman exchanged a look of utter perplexity.

“I have no idea what just happened. But I think right now we’d better hurry back to the ship.”

3.

They knew something was desperately wrong before reaching the final stretch of twisty passageway where the Pride of Rhodia was berthed. Half a dozen human figures milled aimlessly outside the airlock-Sybyl and Horis Antic, along with Maserd’s two crewmen and a pair of Ktlinans. They stared at the walls, moving on a few paces, muttering and apologizing as they bumped into each other.

“We’d better get them aboard,” Maserd suggested

“And get out of here as fast as possible. I’m not inclined to hang around, looking for explanations.”

Both men ushered dazed humans toward the airlock. Fortunately, they seemed cheerful. Sybyl even cried out with joy, and tried to embrace Hari.

Once aboard, they saw one reason for the confusion. All of the lesser mechanoid robots that Kers Kantun had left aboard as nursemaids now lay broken and scattered on the floor. Jeni Cuicet sat amid a jumble of parts, smiling as she tried to fit them together, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Two raiders from Ktlina bickered like small boys, fighting over a shiny eye-cell from one of the murdered machines.

“I’ll warm up the engines,” Maserd told Hari. “You get everyone together and accounted for.”

Hari nodded. The gentry class had been fine-tuning its tone of command for twenty mille

“Hey, Professor!” Jeni waved, cheerfully. “You should’ve seen it. Tiktoks fighting tiktoks. Just the sight of it made my head feel like it’d split!”

The young woman was brave and stoical, but Hari could tell that her fever was still bad, perhaps made worse by things she had recently witnessed.

I’ve got to find the antidote to this stuff Kers used to drug them, so Sybyl can give the poor girl some medical attention.But first priority had to be getting out of here!

Underfoot he felt the rising rhythms of well-tuned space engines. Maserd was playing his yacht like a musical instrument, skipping over the normal checklist and preparing for rapid takeoff.

That leaves two unaccounted for,Hari pondered, and turned just as someone’s shadow crossed the portal behind him. Mors Planch stood there, groggily pinching the bridge of his nose. While the others had received some sort of happy juice, Planch was thoroughly sedated by Kers Kantun. He shouldn’t even be awake, let alone walking around!

“What’s going on, Seldon? What’ve you done…with.?” my crew…my ship?”

Hari almost tried to deny that this had anything to do with him, but he could not bring himself to lie.It has more to do with me than I ever have wanted.

He took the dark spacer by his arm. “This way, Captain. I’ll make you comfortable.”

Just then a blatting siren sounded as vibrations shook the space yacht. Hari and Planch stumbled. The big man was far heavier and stronger. As his muscles spasmed, Planch gripped Hari’s arm so tightly that waves of agony erupted, almost enough to make Seldon faint.

Suddenly, someone was there, helping pull Mors Planch away, relieving Hari of the burden. Hari realized that the nobleman must still be in the control room, piloting the ship, so it could only be

Sure enough, the newcomer wore fancy, fractal-plaid pants and an iridescent jacket. It was Gornon Vlimt, the eccentric artist from Ktlina.That’s everyone accounted for, Hari thought with some relief, but also puzzlement. Gornon wasn’t having any trouble focusing attention. Unlike the others, his gaze was steady.

“Come along, Professor,” Vlimt urged. “We’ll get you settled in. It will be a bit rocky until we get away from this place.”