Prelude to Foundation - Isaac Asimov [57]
ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA
31.
When Seldom woke, he found a new face looking at him solemnly. For a moment he frowned owlishly and then he said, "Hummin?"
Hummin smiled very slightly. "You remember me, then?"
"It was only for a day, nearly two months ago, but I remember. You were not arrested, then, or in any way
"As you see, I am here, quite safe and whole, but--and he glanced at Dors, who stood to one side-'it was not very easy for me to come here."
Seldon said, "I'm glad to see you. -Do you mind, by the way?" He jerked his thumb in the direction of the bathroom.
Hummin said, "Take your time. Have breakfast."
Hummin didn't join him at breakfast. Neither did Dors. Nor did they speak. Hummin scanned a book-film with an attitude of easy absorption. Dors inspected her nails critically and then, taking out a microcomputer, began making notes with a stylus.
Seldon watched them thoughtfully and did not try to start a conversation. The silence now might be in response to some
Trantorian reserve customary at a sickbed. To be sure, he now felt perfectly normal, but perhaps they did not realize that.
It was only when he was done with his last morsel and with the final drop of milk (which he was obviously getting used to, for it no longer tasted odd) that Hummin spoke.
He said, "How are you, Seldon?"
"Perfectly well, Hummin. Sufficiently well, certainly, for me to be up and about."
"I'm glad to hear it," said Hummin dryly. "Dons Venabili was much to blame in allowing this to happen."
Seldon frowned. "No. I insisted on going Upperside."
"I'm sure, but she should, at all costs, have gone with you."
"I told her I didn't want her to go with me."
Dors said, "That's not so, Hari. Don't defend me with gallant lies."
Seldon said angrily, "But don't forget that Dors also came Upperside after me, against strong resistance, and undoubtedly saved my life. That's not bending the truth at all. Have you added that to your evaluation, Hummin?"
Dors interrupted again, obviously embarrassed. "Please, Hari. Chetter Hummin is perfectly correct in feeling that I should either have kept you from going Upperside or have gone up with you. As for my subsequent actions, he has praised them."
"Nevertheless," said Hummin, "that is past and we can let it go. Let us talk about what happened Upperside, Seldon."
Seldon looked about and said guardedly, "Is it safe to do so?"
Hummin smiled slightly. "Dons has placed this room in a Distortion Field. I can be pretty sure that no Imperial agent at the University-if there is one-has the expense to penetrate it. You are a suspicious person, Seldon."
"Not by nature," said Seldon. "Listening to you in the park and afterward-You are a persuasive person, Hummin. By the time you were through, I was ready to fear that Eto Demerzel was lurking in every shadow."
"I sometimes think he might be," said Hummin gravely.
"If he was," said Seldon, "I wouldn't know it was he. What does he look like?"
"That scarcely matters. You wouldn't see him unless he wanted you to and by then it would all be over, I imagine-which is what we must prevent. Leis talk about that jet-down you saw."
Seldon said, "As I told you, Hummin, you filled me with fears of Demerzel. As soon as I saw the jet-down, I assumed he was after me, that I had foolishly stepped outside the protection of Streeling University by going Upperside, that I had been lured up there for the specific purpose of being picked up without difficulty."
Dors said, "On the other hand, Leggen-"
Seldon said quickly, "Was he here last night?"
"Yes, don't you remember?"
"Vaguely. I was dead tired. It's all a blur in my memory."
"Well, when he was here last night, Leggen said that the jetdown was merely a meteorological vessel from another station. Perfectly ordinary. Perfectly harmless."
"What?" Seldon was taken aback. "I don't believe that."
Hummin said, "Now the question is: Why don't you believe that? Was there anything about the jet-down that made you think it was dangerous? Something specific,