Chapter 3

When Hardin denied owning  the Journal, he was perhaps technically correct,but no more. Hardin had been the leading spirit in the drive to incorporateTerminus  into an  autonomous  municipality-he had  been elected  its firstmayor-so it  was not surprising that, though not a single  share of Journalstock was  in his  name, some sixty  percent was controlled by  him in moredevious fashions.
There were ways.
Consequently, when Hardin began suggesting to Pirenne that he be allowed toattend meetings of the Board of Trustees, it was not quite coincidence thatthe  Journal  began a similar campaign.  And the first mass  meeting in thehistory of the Foundation was held, demanding representation of the City inthe "national" government.
And, eventually, Pirenne capitulated with ill grace.
Hardin, as he sat at the foot of the table, speculated idly as to just whatit was that made  physical scientists such poor administrators. It might bemerely that  they were  too used to  inflexible fact and far  too unused topliable people.
In any  case, there was Tomaz Sutt and Jord Fara  on his left; Lundin Crastand Yate  Fulham on  his fight; with  Pirenne, himself, presiding.  He knewthem all, of course, but they seemed to have put on an extra-special bit ofpomposity for the occasion.
Hardin had  dozed through the  initial formalities and then  perked up whenPirenne sipped  at the glass of water before him  by way of preparation andsaid:
"I find  it very gratifying to  be able to inform  the Board that since ourlast  meeting, I  have received  word that  Lord Dorwin, Chancellor  of theEmpire, will  arrive at Terminus in two weeks. It  may be taken for grantedthat  our relations  with  Anacreon will  be smoothed  out to  our completesatisfaction  as  soon as  the  Emperor  is informed  of  the situation.  "He smiled and addressed Hardin across the length of the table. "Informationto this effect has been given the Journal."Hardin snickered below his  breath. It seemed evident that Pirenne's desireto strut this information  before him had been one reason for his admissioninto the sacrosanctum.
He  said evenly:  "Leaving vague  expressions out  of account, what  do youexpect Lord Dorwin to do?"Tomaz  Sutt replied.  He had  a bad  habit of  addressing one in  the thirdperson when in his more stately moods.
"It is  quite evident," he  observed, "that Mayor Hardin  is a professionalcynic.  He can  scarcely fail  to realize  that the  Emperor would  be mostunlikely to allow his personal rights to be infringed.""Why? What would he do in case they were?"There was an annoyed stir. Pirenne said, "You are out of order," and, as anafterthought,  "and  are   making  what  are  near-treasonable  statements,besides.""Am I to consider myself answered?""Yes! If you have nothing further to say?
"Don't jump to conclusions. I'd like to ask a question. Besides this strokeof diplomacy  ?which may or may not prove to  mean anything ?has anythingconcrete been done to meet the Anacreonic menace?"Yate  Fulham drew  one hand along  his ferocious  red mustache. "You  see amenace there, do you?""Don't you?""Scarcely"?this with indulgence. "The Emperor?
"Great space!"  Hardin felt annoyed. "What  is this? Every once  in a whilesomeone  mentions 'Emperor'  or 'Empire' as  if it  were a magic  word. TheEmperor is  thousands of parsecs away, and I doubt  whether he gives a damnabout us.  And if he does,  what can he do? What  there was of the imperialnavy in these regions is in the hands of the four kingdoms now and Anacreonhas  its  share. Listen,  we  have  to fight  with  guns,  not with  words.
"Now, get  this. We've had two  months' grace so far,  mainly because we'vegiven Anacreon  the idea that we've got nuclear  weapons. Well, we all knowthat  that's a  little white  lie. We've  got nuclear  power, but  only forcommercial uses,  and darn little at  that. They're going to  find that outsoon, and  if you think they're going to  enjoy being jollied along, you'remistaken.""My dear sir?
"Hold on:  I'm not finished." Hardin  was warming up. He  liked this. "It'sall very well to  drag chancellors into this, but it would be much nicer todrag a few great big siege guns fitted for beautiful nuclear bombs into it.
We've lost two months, gentlemen, and we may not have another two months tolose. What do you propose to do?"Said Lundin  Crast, his  long nose wrinkling angrily:  "If you're proposingthe militarization  of the Foundation, I won't hear a  word of it. It wouldmark our  open entrance  into the field  of politics. We, Mr.  Mayor, are ascientific foundation and nothing else."Added Sutt:  "He does not realize,  moreover, that building armaments wouldmean withdrawing men ?valuable men ?from the Encyclopedia. That cannot bedone, come what may.""Very   true,"  agreed   Pirenne.  "The   Encyclopedia  first   ? always."Hardin  groaned  in  spirit.  The Board  seemed  to  suffer violently  fromEncyclopedia on the brain,He  said icily:  "Has  it ever  occurred to  this Board  that it  is barelypossible  that Terminus  may have  interests other than  the Encyclopedia?"Pirenne replied:  "I do not conceive, Hardin, that  the Foundation can haveany interest other than the Encyclopedia.""I  didn't  say the  Foundation;  I said   Terminus. I'm  afraid you  don'tunderstand the  situation. There's a  good million of us  here on Terminus,and not more than  a hundred and fifty thousand are working directly on theEncyclopedia. To  the rest of  us, this is  home. We were  born here. We'reliving here.  Compared with our farms and our  homes and our factories, theEncyclopedia   means    little   to   us.   We    want   them   protected?
He was shouted down.
"The Encyclopedia first," ground out Crast. "We have a mission to fulfill.""Mission,  hell," shouted Hardin.  "That might  have been true  fifty yearsago. But this is a new generation.""That has  nothing to  do with it,"  replied Pirenne. "We  are scientists."And  Hardin leaped  through the  opening. "Are  you, though? That's  a nicehallucination, isn't  it? Your  bunch here is  a perfect example  of what'sbeen  wrong with  the entire Galaxy  for thousands  of years. What  kind ofscience is  it to be stuck  out here for centuries  classifying the work ofscientists of the last millennium? Have you ever thought of working onward,extending their knowledge and  improving upon it? No! You're quite happy tostagnate.  The whole  Galaxy is,  and has  been for  space knows  how long.
That's  why  the  Periphery is  revolting;  that's  why communications  arebreaking down; that's why petty wars are becoming eternal; that's why wholesystems are losing nuclear  power and going back to barbarous techniques ofchemical power.
"If   you  ask   me,"   he  cried,    "the   Galactic  Empire   is  dying!"He  paused  and dropped  into  his chair  to  catch his  breath, paying  noattention to the two or three that were attempting simultaneously to answerhim.
Crast  got the  floor. "I  don't know  what you're  trying to gain  by yourhysterical  statements,  Mr.  Mayor.  Certainly,  you  are  adding  nothingconstructive to  the discussion.  I move, Mr. Chairman,  that the speaker'sremarks be placed out of order and the discussion be resumed from the pointwhere it was interrupted."Jord Fara  bestirred himself for the first time. Up  to this point Fara hadtaken no  part in the argument  even at its hottest.  But now his ponderousvoice, every  bit as  ponderous as his three-hundred-pound  body, burst itsbass way out.
"Haven't we forgotten something, gentlemen?""What?" asked Pirenne, peevishly.
"That in  a month we celebrate our fiftieth  anniversary." Fara had a trickof   uttering  the   most   obvious  platitudes   with  great   profundity.
"What of it?""And on that anniversary," continued Fara, placidly, "Hari Seldon's Vaultwill open. Have you ever considered what might be in the Vault?""I don't know. Routine matters. A stock Speech of congratulations, perhaps.
I don't think any significance need be placed on the Vault ?though theJournal"?and he glared at Hardin, who grinned back ?did try to make anissue of it. I put a stop to that.""Ah," said Fara, "but perhaps you are wrong. Doesn't it strike you" ?hepaused and put a finger to his round little nose ?that the Vault isopening at a very convenient time?""Very inconvenient time, you mean," muttered Fulham. "We've got some otherthings to worry about.""Other things more important than a message from Hari Seldon? I think not."Fara was growing more pontifical than ever, and Hardin eyed himthoughtfully. What was he getting at?
"In fact," said Fara, happily, "you all seem to forget that Seldon was thegreatest psychologist of our time and that he was the founder of ourFoundation. It seems reasonable to assume that he used his science todetermine the probable course of the history of the immediate future. If hedid, as seems likely, I repeat, he would certainly have managed to find away to warn us of danger and, perhaps, to point out a solution. TheEncyclopedia was very dear to his heart, you know."An aura of puzzled doubt prevailed. Pirenne hemmed. "Well, now, I don'tknow. Psychology is a great science, but-there are no psychologists amongus at the moment, I believe. It seems to me we're on uncertain ground."Fara turned to Hardin. "Didn't you study psychology under Alurin?"Hardin answered, half in reverie: "Yes, I never completed my studies,though. I got tired of theory. I wanted to be a psychological engineer, butwe lacked the facilities, so I did the next best thing ?I went intopolitics. It's practically the same thing.""Well, what do you think of the Vault?"And Hardin replied cautiously, "I don't know."He did not say a word for the remainder of the meeting even though it gotback to the subject of the Chancellor of the Empire.
In fact, he didn't even listen. He'd been put on a new track and thingswere falling into place-just a little. Little angles were fitting together?one or two.
And psychology was the key. He was sure of that.
He was trying desperately to remember the psychological theory he had oncelearned ?and from it he got one thing right at the start.
A great psychologist such as Seldon could unravel human emotions and humanreactions sufficiently to be able to predict broadly the historical sweepof the future.
And what would that mean?