Forward the Foundation - Isaac Asimov [197]
Then, with a sudden change in the intonation of her voice, she said, "Raych, have you talked to Yugo Amaryl lately?"
"No, not recently. He's not one of your sociable creatures, you know. If you pulled the psychohistory out of him, he'd collapse into a little pile of dry skin."
Dors made a face at the picture and said, "I've talked to him twice recently and he seems to me to be a little withdrawn. I don't mean just tired. It is almost as though he's not aware of the world."
"Yes. That's Yugo."
"Is he getting worse lately?"
Raych thought awhile. "He might be. He's getting older, you know. We all are. -Except you, Mom."
"Would you say that Yugo had crossed the line and become a little unstable, Raych?"
"Who? Yugo? He has nothing to be unstable about. Or with. Just leave him at his psychohistory and he'll mumble quietly to himself for the rest of his life."
"I don't think so. There is something that interests him-and very strongly, too. That's the succession."
"What succession?"
"I mentioned that someday your father might want to retire and it turns out that Yugo is determined-absolutely determined-to be his successor."
"I'm not surprised. I imagine that everyone agrees that Yugo is the natural successor. I'm sure Dad thinks so, too."
"But he seemed to me to be not quite normal about it. He thought I was coming to him to break the news that Hari had shoved him aside in favor of someone else. Can you imagine anyone thinking that of Hari?"
"It is surprising-" Raych interrupted himself and favored his mother with a long look. He said, "Mom, are you getting ready to tell me that it might be Yugo who's at the heart of this conspiracy you're speaking of? That he wants to get rid of Dad and take over?"
"Is that entirely impossible?"
"Yes, it is, Mom. Entirely. If there's anything wrong with Yugo, it's overwork and nothing else. Staring at all those equations or whatever they are, all day and half the night, would drive anyone crazy." Dors rose to her feet with a jerk. "You're right." Raych, startled, said, "What's the matter?" "What you've said. It's given me an entirely new idea. A crucial one, I think." Turning, without another word, she left.
24
Dors Venabili disapproved, as she said to Hari Seldon "You've spent four days at the Galactic Library. Completely out of touch and again you managed to go without me."
Husband and wife stared at each other's image on their holoscreens. Hari had just returned from a research trip to the Galactic Library in Imperial Sector. He was calling Dors from his Project office to let her know he'd returned to Streeling. Even in anger, thought Hari, Dors is beautiful. He wished he could reach out and touch her cheek.
"Dors," he began, a placating note in his voice, "I did not go alone. I had a number of people with me and the Galactic Library, of all places, is safe for scholars, even in these turbulent times. I am going to have to be at the Library more and more often, I think, as time goes on."
"And you're going to continue to do it without telling me?"
"Dors, I can't live according to these death-filled views of yours. Nor Rio I want you running after me and upsetting the librarians. They're not the junta. I need them and I don't want to make them angry. But I do think that I-we-should take an apartment nearby."
Dors looked grim, shook her head, and changed the subject. "Do you know that I had two talks with Yugo recently?"
"Good. I'm glad you did. He needs contact with the outside world."
"Yes, he does, because something's wrong with him. He's not the 1'ugo we've had with us all these years. He's become vague, distant, and -oddly enough-passionate on only one point, as nearly as I can tell-his determination to succeed you on your retirement."
"That would be natural-if he survives me."
"Don't you expect him to survive you?"
"Well, he's eleven years younger than I am, but the vicissitudes of circumstance-"
"What you really mean is that you recognize