Forward the Foundation - Isaac Asimov [223]
Raych approached and said, "I want my knife back." He drew it out of the hoodlum's throat and wiped it on the man's shirtfront. In doing so, he stepped on the man's hand, bent down, and picked up his blaster.
Raych dropped the blaster into one of his capacious pockets. He said, "I don't like to use a blaster, you bunch of good-for-nothings, because sometimes I miss. I never miss with a knife, however. Never! That man is dead. There are seven of you standing. Do you intend to stay standing or will you leave?"
"Get him!" shouted one of the hoodlums and the seven made a concerted rush.
Raych took a backward step. One knife flashed and then the other and two of the hoodlums stopped with, in each case, a knife buried in his abdomen.
"Give me back my knives," said Raych, pulling each out with a cutting motion and wiping them.
"These two are still alive, but not for long. That leaves five of you on your feet. Are you going to attack again or are you going to leave?"
They turned and Raych called out, "Pick up your dead and dying. I don't want them."
Hastily they flung the three bodies over their shoulders, then they turned tail and ran.
Raych bent to pick up Seldon's cane. "Can you walk, Dad?"
"Not very well," said Seldon. "I twisted my leg."
"Well then, get into my car. What were you doing walking, anyway?"
"Why not? Nothing's ever happened to me."
"So you waited till something did. Get into my car and I'll give you a lift back to Streeling."
He programmed the ground-car quietly, then said, "What a shame we didn't have Dors with us. Mom would have attacked them with her bare lands and left all eight dead in five minutes."
Seldon felt tears stinging his eyelids. "I know, Raych, I know. Do you think I don't miss her every day?"
"I'm sorry," said Raych in a low voice.
Seldon asked, "How did you know I was in trouble?"
"Wanda told me. She said there were evil people lying in wait for you ,slid told me where they were and I took right off."
"Didn't you doubt that she knew what she was talking about?"
"Not at all. We know enough about her now to know that she has some sort of contact with your mind and with the things around you."
"Did she tell you how many people were attacking me?"
"No. She just said, `Quite a few.'"
"So you came out all by yourself, did you, Raych?"
"I had no time to put together a posse, Dad. Besides, one of me was enough."
"Yes, it was. Thank you, Raych."
14
They were back at Streeling now and Seldon's leg was stretched out on a hassock.
Raych looked at him somberly. "Dad," he began, "you're not to go walking around Trantor on your own from now on."
Seldon frowned. "Why, because of one incident?"
"It was enough of an incident. You can't take care of yourself any longer. You're seventy years old and your right leg will not support you in an emergency. And you have enemies-"
"Enemies!"
"Yes, indeed. And you know it. Those sewer rats were not after simply anyone. They were not looking for just any unwary person to rip off. They identified you by calling out, `Psychohistory!' And they called you a creep. Why do you suppose that was?"
"I don't know why."
"That's because you live in a world all your own, Dad, and you don't know what's going on on Trantor. Don't you suppose the Trantorians know that their world is going downhill at a rapid rate? Don't you suppose they know that your psychohistory has been predicting this for years? Doesn't it occur to you that they may blame the messenger for the message? If things go bad-and they are going bad-there are many who think that you are responsible for it."
"I can't believe that."
"Why do you suppose there's a faction at the Galactic Library that wants you out of there? They don't want to be in the way when you are mobbed. So-you've got to take care of yourself. You can't go out alone. I'll have to be with you or you will have to have bodyguards. That's the way it's going to