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It was their fifth day in Wye and in the morning Dors was helping Raych into a formal costume that neither was quite familiar with. Raych looked at himself dubiously in the holomirror and saw a reflected image that faced him with precision, imitating all his motions but without any inversion of left and right. Raych had never used a holomirror before and had been unable to keep from trying to feel it, then laughing, almost with embarrassment, when his hand passed through it while the image’s hand poked ineffectually at his real body.
He said at last, “I look fu
He studied his tunic, which was made of a very pliant material, with a thin filigreed belt, then passed his hands up a stiff collar that rose like a cup past his ears on either side.
“My head looks like a ball inside a bowl.”
Dors said, “But this is the sort of thing rich children wear in Wye. Everyone who sees you will admire you and envy you.”
“With my hair all stuck down?”
“Certainly. You’ll wear this round little hat.”
“It’ll make my head more like a ball.”
“Then don’t let anyone kick it. Now, remember what I told you. Keep your wits about you and don’t act like a kid.”
“But I am a kid,” he said, looking up at her with a wide-eyed i
“I’m surprised to hear you say that,” said Dors. “I’m sure you think of yourself as a twelve-year-old adult.”
Raych gri
“That’s not what I’m telling you to be. Don’t take chances. Don’t sneak behind doors to listen. If you get caught at it, you’re no good to anyone-especially not to yourself.”
“Aw, c’mon, Missus, what do ya think I am? A kid or somethin’?”
“You just said you were, didn’t you, Raych? You just listen to everything that’s said without seeming to. And remember what you hear. And tell us. That’s simple enough.”
“Simple enough for you to say, Missus Venabili,” said Raych with a grin, “and simple enough for me to do.”
“And be careful.”
Raych winked. “You bet.”
A flunky (as coolly impolite as only an arrogant flunky can be) came to take Raych to where Rashelle was awaiting him.
Seldon looked after them and said thoughtfully, “He probably won’t see the zoo, he’ll be listening so carefully. I’m not sure it’s right to thrust a boy into danger like that.”
“Danger? I doubt it. Raych was brought up in the slums of Billibotton, remember. I suspect he has more alley smarts than you and I put together. Besides, Rashelle is fond of him and will interpret everything he does in his favor. Poor woman.”
“Are you actually sorry for her, Dors?”
“Do you mean that she’s not worth sympathy because she’s a Mayor’s daughter and considers herself a Mayor in her own right-and because she’s intent on destroying the Empire? Perhaps you’re right, but even so there are some aspects of her for which one might show some sympathy. For instance, she’s had an unhappy love affair. That’s pretty evident. Undoubtedly, her heart was broken-for a time, at least.”
Seldon said, “Have you ever had an unhappy love affair, Dors?”
Dors considered for a moment or two, then said, “Not really. I’m too involved with my work to get a broken heart.”
“I thought as much.”
“Then why did you ask?”
“I might have been wrong.”
“How about you?”
Seldon seemed uneasy. “As a matter of fact, yes. I have spared the time for a broken heart. Badly cracked, anyway.”
“I thought as much.”
“Then why did you ask?”
“Not because I thought I might be wrong, I promise you. I just wanted to see if you would lie. You didn’t and I’m glad.”
There was a pause and then Seldon said, “Five days have passed and nothing has happened.”
“Except that we are being treated well, Hari.”
“If animals could think, they’d think they were being treated well when they were only being fattened for the slaughter.”
“I admit she’s fattening the Empire for the slaughter.”
“But when?”
“I presume when she’s ready.”
“She boasted she could complete the coup in a day and the impression I got was that she could do that on any day.”
“Even if she could, she would want to make sure that she could cripple the Imperial reaction and that might take time.”
“How much time? She plans to cripple the reaction by using me, but she is making no effort to do so. There is no sign that she’s trying to build up my importance. Wherever I go in Wye I’m unrecognized. There are no Wyan crowds gathering to cheer me. There’s nothing on the news holocasts.”
Dors smiled. “One would almost suppose that your feelings are hurt at not being made famous. You’re naive, Hari. Or not a historian, which is the same thing. I think you had better be more pleased that the study of psychohistory will be bound to make a historian of you than that it may save the Empire. If all human beings understood history, they might cease making the same stupid mistakes over and over.”
“In what way am I naive?” asked Seldon lifting his head and staring down his nose at her.
“Don’t be offended, Hari. I think it’s one of your attractive features, actually.”
“I know. It arouses your maternal instincts and you have been asked to take care of me. But in what way am I naive?”
“In thinking that Rashelle would try to propagandize the population of the Empire, generally, into accepting you as seer. She would accomplish nothing in that way. Quadrillions of people are hard to move quickly. There is social and psychological inertia, as well as physical inertia. And, by coming out into the open, she would simply alert Demerzel.”
“Then what is she doing?”
“My guess is that the information about you-suitably exaggerated and glorified-is going out to a crucial few. It is going to those Viceroys of sectors, those admirals of fleets, those people of influence she feels look kindly upon her-or grimly upon the Emperor. A hundred or so of those who might rally to her side will manage to confuse the Loyalists just long enough to allow Rashelle the First to set up her New Order firmly enough to beat off whatever resistance might develop. At least, I imagine that is how she reasons.”
“And yet we haven’t heard from Hummin.”
“I’m sure he must be doing something just the same. This is too important to ignore.”
“Has it occurred to you that he might be dead?”
“That’s a possibility, but I don’t think so. If he was, the news would reach me.”
“Here?”
“Even here.”
Seldon raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.
Raych came back in the late afternoon, happy and excited, with descriptions of monkeys and of Bakarian demoires and he dominated the conversation during di
It was not until after di
“One thing,” said Raych, his face lighting up. “That’s why she didn’t show at di
“What was it?”
“The zoo was closed except for us, you know. There were lots of us-Rashelle and me and all sorts of guys in uniforms and dames in fancy clothes and like that. Then this guy in a uniform-a different guy, who wasn’t there to begin with-came in toward the end and he said something in a low voice and Rashelle turned to all the people and made with her hand like they shouldn’t move and they didn’t. And she went a little ways away with this new guy, so she could talk to him and no one could hear her. Except I kept paying no attention and kept looking at the different cages and sort of moved near to Rashelle so I could hear her. “She said, ‘How dare they?’ like she was real mad. And the guy in the uniform, he looked nervous-I just got quick looks because I was trying to make out like I was watching the animals-so mostly I just heard the words. He said somebody-I don’t remember the name, but he was a general or somethin’. He said this general said the officers had sworn religious to Rashelle’s old man-”