Prelude to Foundation - Isaac Asimov [142]
Dors said calmly, "I am his friend and protector."
"How well do you know him?"
"We have been together for some months."
"No more?"
"No more."
"Would it be your opinion he is speaking the truth?"
"I know he is, but what reason would you have to crust me if you do not trust him? If Hari is, for some reason, lying to you, might I not be lying to you equally in order to support him?"
Davan looked from one to the other helplessly. Then he said, "Would you, in any case, help us?"
"Who are 'us' and in what way do you need help?"
Davan said, "You see the situation here in Dahl. We are oppressed. You must know that and, from your treatment of Yugo Amaryl, I cannot believe you lack sympathy for us."
"We are fully sympathetic."
"And you must know the source of the oppression."
"You are going to cell me that it's the Imperial government, I suppose, and I dare say it plays its part. On the other hand, I notice that there is a middle class in Dahl that despises the heatsinkers and a criminal class that terrorizes the rest of the sector."
Davan's lips tightened, but he remained unmoved. "Quite true. Quite true. But the Empire encourages it as a matter of principle. Dahl has the potential for making serious trouble. If the heatsinkers should go on strike, Trantor would experience a severe energy shortage almost at once . . . with all that that implies. However,
Dahl's own upper classes will spend money to hire the hoodlums of Billibotton--and of other places-to fight the heatsinkers and break the strike. It has happened before. The Empire allows some Dahlites to prosper-comparatively-in order to convert them into Imperialist lackeys, while it refuses to enforce the arms-control laws effectively enough to weaken the criminal element
"The Imperial government does this everywhere-and not in Dahl alone. They can't exert force to impose their will, as in the old days when they ruled with brutal directness. Nowadays, Trantor has grown so complex and so easily disturbed that the Imperial forces must keep their hands off-"
"A form of degeneration," said Seldon, remembering Hummin's complaints.
"What?" said Davan.
"Nothing," said Seldon. "Go on."
"The Imperial forces must keep their hands off, but they find that they can do much even so. Each sector is encouraged to be suspicious of its neighbors. Within each sector, economic and social classes are encouraged to wage a kind of war with each other. The result is that all over Trantor it is impossible for the people to take united action. Everywhere, the people would rather fight each other than make a common stand against the central tyranny and the Empire rules without having to exert force."
"And what," said Dors, "do you think can be done about it?"
"I've been trying for years to build a feeling of solidarity among the peoples of Trantor."
"I can only suppose," said Seldon dryly, "that you are finding this an impossibly difficult and largely thankless task."
"You suppose correctly," said Davan, "but the party is growing stronger. Many of our knifers are coming to the realization that knives are best when they are not used on each ocher. Those who attacked you in the corridors of Billibotton are examples of the unconverted. However, those who support you now, who are ready to defend you against the agent you thought was a newsman, are my people. I live here among them. It is not an attractive way of life, but I am safe here. We have adherents in neighboring sectors and we spread daily."
"But where do we come in?" asked Dors.
"For one thing," said Davan, "both of you are Outworlders, scholars. We need people like you among our leaders. Our greatest strength is drawn from the poor and the uneducated because they suffer the most, but they can lead the least. A person like one of you two is worth a hundred of them."
"That's an odd estimate from someone who wishes to rescue the oppressed," said Seldon.
"I don't mean as people," said Davan hastily. "I mean as far as leadership is