Prelude to Foundation - Isaac Asimov [86]
He said instead, "How does this history begin?"
There was a faraway look in the Sister's eyes, a look that did not focus on Seldon or on anything in the room. She said, "It begins with a world-our world. One world."
"One world?" (Seldon remembered that Hummin had spoken of legends of a single, original world of humanity.)
"One world. There were others later, but ours was the first. One world, with space, with open air, with room for everyone, with fertile fields, with friendly homes, with warm people. For thousands of years we lived there and then we had to leave and skulk in one place or another until some of us found a corner of Trantor where we learned to grow food that brought us a little freedom. And here in Mycogen, we now have our own ways--and our own dreams."
"And your histories give the full details concerning the original world? The one world?"
"Oh yes, it is all in a book and we all have it. Every one of us. We carry it at all times so that there is never a moment when any one of us cannot open it and read it and remember who we are and who we were and resolve that someday we will have our world back."
"Do you know where this world is and who lives on it now?"
Raindrop Forty-Three hesitated, then shook her head fiercely. "We do not, but someday we will find it."
"And you have this book in your possession now?"
"Of course."
"May I see that book?"
Now a slow smile crossed the face of the Sister. She said, "So that's what you want. I knew you wanted something when you asked to be guided through the microfarms by me alone." She seemed a little embarrassed. "I didn't think it was the Book. "
"It is all I want," said Seldon earnestly. "I really did not have my mind on anything else. If you brought me here because you thought-"
She did not allow him to finish. "But here we are. Do you or don't you want the Book?"
"Are you offering to let me see it?"
"On one condition."
Seldon paused, weighing the possibility of serious trouble if he had overcome the Sister's inhibitions to a greater extent than he had ever intended. "What condition?" he said.
Raindrop Forty-Three's tongue emerged lightly and licked quickly at her lips. Then she said with a distinct tremor in her voice, "That you remove your skincap."
46.
Hari Seldon stared blankly at Raindrop Forty-Three. There was a perceptible moment in which he did not know what she was talking about. He had forgotten he was wearing a skincap.
Then he put his hand to his head and, for the first time, consciously felt the skincap he was wearing. It was smooth, but he felt the tiny resilience of the hair beneath. Not much. His hair, after all, was fine and without much body.
He said, still feeling it, "Why?"
She said, "Because I want you to. Because that's the condition if you want to see the Book."
He said, "Well, if you really want me to." His hand probed for the edge, so that he could peel it off.
But she said, "No, let me do it. I'll do it." She was looking at him hungrily.
Seldon dropped his hands to his lap. "Go ahead, then."
The Sister rose quickly and sat down next to him on the cot. Slowly, carefully, she detached the skincap from his head just in front of his ear. Again she licked her lips and she was panting as she loosened the skincap about his forehead and turned it up. Then it came away and was gone and Seldon's hair, released, seemed to stir a bit in glad freedom.
He said, troubled, "Keeping my hair under the skincap has probably made my scalp sweat. If so, my hair will be rather damp."
He raised his hand, as though to check the matter, but she caught it and held it back. "I want to do that," she said. "Its part of the condition."
Her fingers, slowly and hesitantly, touched his hair and then withdrew. She touched it again and, very gently, stroked it.
"It's dry," she said. "It feels