Chapter 5

This was  the second meeting of the Board that  Hardin had attended, if onewere  to exclude  the informal  talks the  Board members  had had  with thenow-departed Lord Dorwin. Yet  the mayor had a perfectly definite idea thatat least  one other, and possibly two or three, had  been held, to which hehad somehow never received an invitation.
Nor, it seemed to  him, would he have received notification of this one hadit not been for the ultimatum.
At least, it amounted  to an ultimatum, though a superficial reading of thevisigraphed  document would  lead  one to  suppose that  it was  a friendlyinterchange of greetings between two potentates.
Hardin fingered it gingerly. It started off floridly with a salutation from"His Puissant Majesty, the King of Anacreon, to his friend and brother, Dr.
Lewis  Pirenne, Chairman  of  the Board  of Trustees,  of  the EncyclopediaFoundation Number  One," and it  ended even more lavishly  with a gigantic,multicolored seal of the most involved symbolism.
But it was an ultimatum just the same.
Hardin said: "It turned  out that we didn't have much time after all ?onlythree months.  But little  as it was,  we threw it away  unused. This thinghere gives us a week. What do we do now?"Pirenne  frowned worriedly.  "There must  be a  loophole. It  is absolutelyunbelievable that  they would  push matters to  extremities in the  face ofwhat Lord  Dorwin has assured us regarding the  attitude of the Emperor andthe Empire."Hardin perked  up. "I see. You  have informed the King  of Anacreon of thisalleged attitude?""I  did ? after having  placed the proposal  to the  Board for a  vote andhaving received unanimous consent.""And when did this vote take place?"Pirenne climbed onto his  dignity. "I do not believe I am answerable to youin any way, Mayor Hardin.""All right.  I'm not that vitally interested. It's  just my opinion that itwas your diplomatic transmission  of Lord Dorwin's valuable contribution tothe  situation"?he  lifted the  comer of  his mouth  in a  sour half-smile?that was  the direct cause of this friendly  little note. They might havedelayed longer  otherwise ?though I don't  think the additional time wouldhave  helped  Terminus  any,   considering  the  attitude  of  the  Board."Said  Yate  Fulham:  "And  just  how  do  you  arrive  at  that  remarkableconclusion, Mr. Mayor?""In a rather simple  way. It merely required the use of that much-neglectedcommodity ? common sense.  You see, there  is a branch  of human knowledgeknown  as symbolic  logic, which  can be  used to  prune away all  sorts ofclogging deadwood that clutters up human language.""What about it?" said Fulham.
"I applied  it. Among other things,  I applied it to  this document here. Ididn't really need to  for myself because I knew what it was all about, butI think I can explain it more easily to five physical scientists by symbolsrather than by words."Hardin removed a few  sheets of paper from the pad under his arm and spreadthem out.  "I didn't do this myself, by the way,"  he said. "Muller Holk ofthe Division of Logic has his name signed to the analyses, as you can see."Pirenne leaned  over the table to  get a better view  and Hardin continued:
"The message from Anacreon was a simple problem, naturally, for the men whowrote it were men  of action rather than men of words. It boils down easilyand straightforwardly to the unqualified statement, when in symbols is whatyou see,  and which in words, roughly translated, is,  'You give us what wewant in a week, or we take it by force.'"There was  silence as  the five members of  the Board ran down  the line ofsymbols, and then Pirenne sat down and coughed uneasily.
Hardin said, "No loophole, is there, Dr. Pirenne?""Doesn't seem to be.""All right." Hardin replaced  the sheets. "Before you now you see a copy ofthe treaty between the  Empire and Anacreon ?a treaty, incidentally, whichis signed on the Emperor's behalf by the same Lord Dorwin who was here lastweek ?and with it a symbolic analysis."The  treaty ran  through  five pages  of fine  print  and the  analysis wasscrawled out in just under half a page.
"As you see, gentlemen,  something like ninety percent of the treaty boiledright out of the analysis as being meaningless, and what we end up with canbe described in the following interesting manner:
"Obligations of Anacreon to the Empire: None!
"Powers of the Empire over Anacreon: None!"Again the five followed the reasoning anxiously, checking carefully back tothe treaty, and when they were finished, Pirenne said in a worried fashion,"That seems to be correct.""You admit,  then, that  the treaty is  nothing but a  declaration of totalindependence on  the part of Anacreon  and a recognition of  that status bythe Empire?""It seems so.""And do you suppose  that Anacreon doesn't realize that, and is not anxiousto emphasize the position of independence ?so that it would naturally tendto resent  any appearance of threats from  the Empire? Particularly when itis evident that the  Empire is powerless to fulfill any such threats, or itwould never have allowed independence.""But  then," interposed  Sutt,  "how would  Mayor Hardin  account  for LordDorwin's assurances  of Empire support? They  seemed ? He shrugged. "Well,they seemed satisfactory."Hardin  threw  himself  back  in the  chair.  "You  know,  that's the  mostinteresting  part of  the  whole business.  I'll  admit I  had thought  hisLordship a most consummate  donkey when I first met him ?but it turned outthat he was actually an accomplished diplomat and a most clever man. I tookthe liberty of recording all his statements."There   was  a   flurry,   and  Pirenne   opened  his   mouth   in  horror.
"What  of  it?" demanded  Hardin.  "I  realize it  was  a  gross breach  ofhospitality and a thing  no so-called gentleman would do. Also, that if hislordship had  caught on, things might have  been unpleasant; but he didn't,and I  have the record, and that's that. I took  that record, had it copiedout and sent that to Holk for analysis, also."Lundin Crast said, "And where is the analysis?""That,"  replied Hardin, "is  the interesting  thing. The analysis  was themost  difficult of  the three  by all  odds. When  Holk, after two  days ofsteady  work,  succeeded   in  eliminating  meaningless  statements,  vaguegibberish, useless qualifications ? in short, all the goo and dribble ?hefound he had nothing left. Everything canceled out.""Lord Dorwin,  gentlemen, in five days of discussion didn't  say one damnedthing, and said  it so you never noticed. There  are the assurances you hadfrom your precious Empire."Hardin might  have placed an actively working stench  bomb on the table andcreated no more confusion than existed after his last statement. He waited,with weary patience, for it to die down.
"So," he  concluded, "when you sent  threats ?and that's  what they were ?
concerning Empire  action to  Anacreon, you merely irritated  a monarch whoknew  better. Naturally,  his ego  would demand  immediate action,  and theultimatum is  the result-which brings me to  my original statement. We haveone week left and what do we do now?""It seems,"  said Sutt,  "that we have  no choice but to  allow Anacreon toestablish military bases on Terminus.""I agree with you there," replied Hardin, "but what do we do toward kickingthem off again at the first opportunity?"Yate Fulham's  mustache twitched. "That sounds as if  you have made up yourmind that violence must be used against them.""Violence," came the retort,  "is the last refuge of the incompetent. But Icertainly don't  intend to lay down the welcome mat  and brush off the bestfurniture for their use.""I  still don't  like  the way  you put  that," insisted  Fulham. "It  is adangerous attitude; the more  dangerous because we have noticed lately thata sizable section of  the populace seems to respond to all your suggestionsjust so.  I might  as well tell  you, Mayor Hardin,  that the  board is notquite blind to your recent activities."He   paused   and   there   was   general   agreement.   Hardin   shrugged.
Fulham went  on: "If you were to inflame the City  into an act of violence,you would  achieve elaborate suicide ? and we don't intend  to allow that.
Our policy  has but one  cardinal principle, and that  is the Encyclopedia.
Whatever we decide to do or not to do will be so decided because it will bethe measure required to keep that Encyclopedia safe.""Then," said Hardin, "you  come to the conclusion that we must continue ourintensive campaign of doing nothing."Pirenne  said bitterly:  "You  have yourself  demonstrated that  the Empirecannot help  us; though  how and why it  can be so, I  don't understand. Ifcompromise is necessary?
Hardin had the nightmarelike  sensation of running at top speed and gettingnowhere. "There  is no compromise!  Don't you realize that  this bosh aboutmilitary bases is a particularly inferior grade of drivel? Haut Rodric toldus what Anacreon was  after ?outright annexation and imposition of its ownfeudal system  of landed  estates and peasant-aristocracy  economy upon us.
What is  left of our bluff of nuclear power may  force them to move slowly,but they will move nonetheless."He had risen indignantly,  and the rest rose with him except for Jord Fara.
And then Jord Fara  spoke. "Everyone will please sit down. We've gone quitefar enough, I think. Come, there's no use looking so furious, Mayor Hardin;none of us have been committing treason.""You'll have to convince me of that!"Fara  smiled  gently.  "You  know  you  don't  mean that.  Let  me  speak!"His little  shrewd eyes were  half closed, and the  perspiration gleamed onthe smooth  expanse of his chin.  "There seems no point  in concealing thatthe  Board  has  come  to  the  decision  that  the real  solution  to  theAnacreonian problem  lies in  what is to  be revealed to us  when the Vaultopens six days from now.""Is that your contribution to the matter?""Yes.""We are to do  nothing, is that fight, except to wait in quiet serenity andutter faith for the deus ex machina to pop out of the Vault?""Stripped    of   your    emotional   phraseology,   that's    the   idea.""Such unsubtle  escapism! Really, Dr. Fara, such  folly smacks of genius. Alesser mind would be incapable of it."Fara smiled  indulgently. "Your  taste in epigrams is  amusing, Hardin, butout of place. As a matter of fact, I think you remember my line of argumentconcerning the Vault about three weeks ago.""Yes, I  remember it. I don't  deny that it was  anything but a stupid ideafrom the  standpoint of  deductive logic alone.  You said ?stop  me when Imake  a mistake  ?that Hari  Seldon was  the greatest psychologist  in theSystem;  that, hence,  he could  foresee the  right and  uncomfortable spotwe're in now; that,  hence, he established the Vault as a method of tellingus the way out.""You've got the essence of the idea.""Would it surprise you  to hear that I've given considerable thought to thematter these last weeks?""Very flattering. With what result?""With the result that pure deduction is found wanting. Again what is neededis a little sprinkling of common sense.""For instance?""For instance,  if he foresaw the Anacreonian mess,  why not have placed uson  some other  planet nearer  the Galactic  centers? It's well  known thatSeldon maneuvered the Commissioners on Trantor into ordering the Foundationestablished on  Terminus. But  why should he  have done so? Why  put us outhere at  all if he could  see in advance the  break in communication lines,our  isolation from  the  Galaxy, the  threat of  our  neighbors ? and ourhelplessness because of the  lack of metals on Terminus? That above all! Orif  he foresaw  all  this, why  not have  warned  the original  settlers inadvance that  they might have had time to prepare,  rather than wait, as heis  doing,   until  one   foot  is  over   the  cliff,  before   doing  so?
"And don't  forget this. Even though he could foresee the  problem then, wecan see  it equally well  now. Therefore, if he  could foresee the solutionthen,  we  should  be able  to see  it  now.  After all,  Seldon was  not amagician. There are no trick methods of escaping from a dilemma that he cansee and we can't.""But, Hardin," reminded Fara, "we can't!""But you haven't tried. You haven't tried once. First, you refused to admitthat there was a  menace at all! Then you reposed an absolutely blind faithin the  Emperor! Now you've shifted it to  Hari Seldon. Throughout you haveinvariably  relied on  authority  or on  the past  ?never  on yourselves."His  fists balled  spasmodically. "It  amounts to  a diseased attitude  ?aconditioned  reflex  that  shunts  aside  the independence  of  your  mindswhenever it is a  question of opposing authority. There seems no doubt everin  your minds  that the  Emperor is  more powerful  than you are,  or HariSeldon wiser. And that's wrong, don't you see?"For some reason, no one cared to answer him.
Hardin continued: "It isn't  just you. It's the whole Galaxy. Pirenne heardLord Dorwin's  idea of scientific research. Lord  Dorwin thought the way tobe a good archaeologist  was to read all the books on the subject ?writtenby  men who  were  dead for  centuries. He  thought that  the way  to solvearchaeological puzzles  was to weigh the  opposing authorities. And Pirennelistened and made no objections. Don't you see that there's something wrongwith that?"Again  the   note  of   near-pleading  in  his  voice.   Again  no  answer.
He went on: "And  you men and half of Terminus as well  are just as bad. Wesit  here, considering  the  Encyclopedia the  all-in-all. We  consider thegreatest  end  of  science.  is the  classification  of  past  data. It  isimportant,  but is  there no further  work to  be done? We're  receding andforgetting,  don't you  see?  Here in  the Periphery  they've  lost nuclearpower. In Gamma Andromeda,  a power plant has undergone meltdown because ofpoor  repairs, and  the  Chancellor of  the Empire  complains  that nucleartechnicians are scarce. And the solution? To train new ones? Never! Insteadthey're to restrict nuclear power."And for the third  time: "Don't you see? It's Galaxywide. It's a worship ofthe past. It's a deterioration ?a stagnation!"He  stared  from  one   to  the  other  and  they  gazed  fixedly  at  him.
Fara was  the first to  recover. "Well, mystical philosophy  isn't going tohelp us here. Let us be concrete. Do you deny that Hari Seldon could easilyhave  worked out historical  trends of  the future by  simple psychologicaltechnique?""No,  of  course not,"  cried  Hardin.  "But we  can't  rely on  him for  asolution. At  best, he might indicate the problem, but  if ever there is tobe  a solution,  we must  work it out  ourselves. He  can't do it  for us."Fulham spoke suddenly. "What  do you mean ?'indicate the problem'? We knowthe problem."Hardin whirled  on him. "You think  you do? You think  Anacreon is all HariSeldon is  likely to be worried  about. I disagree! I  tell you, gentlemen,that as yet none of you has the faintest conception of what is really goingon.""And you do?" questioned Pirenne, hostilely.
"I think  so!" Hardin  jumped up and  pushed his chair away.  His eyes werecold and  hard. "If there's one  thing that's definite, it  is that there'ssomething smelly  about the whole situation;  something that is bigger thananything we've  talked about yet. Just ask  yourself this question: Why wasit that among the original population of the Foundation not one first-classpsychologist was  included, except Bor  Alurin? And he  carefully refrainedfrom training his pupils in more than the fundamentals."A short silence and Fara said: "All right. Why?""Perhaps because  a psychologist might have caught on  to what this was allabout ? and too soon to  suit Hari Seldon. As  it is, we've been stumblingabout, getting  misty glimpses of the  truth and no more.  And that is whatHari Seldon wanted."He laughed harshly. "Good day, gentlemen!"He stalked out of the room.