Chapter 9

The  Time  Vault  was  filled;  filled  far beyond  the  available  seatingcapacity,   and   men   lined   the  back   of   the   room,  three   deep.
Salvor Hardin  compared this large  company with the few  men attending thefirst appearance of Hari  Seldon, thirty years earlier. There had only beensix, then;  the five old Encyclopedists  ?all dead now  ?and himself, theyoung figurehead  of a mayor. It had been on that  day, that he, with YohanLee's  assistance  had removed  the  "figurehead" stigma  from his  office.
It was  quite different now; different  in every respect. Every  man of theCity  Council  was awaiting  Seldon's  appearance. He,  himself, was  stillmayor,  but  all-powerful  now;  and  since  the utter  rout  of  Anacreon,all-popular. When he had  returned from Anacreon with the news of the deathof  Wienis, and  the new treaty  signed with  the trembling Lepold,  he wasgreeted with  a vote  of confidence of  shrieking unanimity. When  this wasfollowed in rapid order,  by similar treaties signed with each of the otherthree kingdoms  ?treaties  that gave the  Foundation powers such  as wouldforever  prevent any  attempts at  attack similar  to that of  Anacreon's ?
torchlight processions had been  held in every city street of Terminus. Noteven Hari Seldon's name had been more loudly cheered.
Hardin's lips twitched. Such popularity had been his after the first crisisalso.
Across  the  room, Sef  Sermak  and  Lewis Bort  were  engaged in  animateddiscussion, and recent events  seemed to have put them out not at all. Theyhad joined in the  vote of confidence; made speeches in which they publiclyadmitted that they had been in the wrong, apologized handsomely for the useof  certain phrases  in earlier  debates, excused themselves  delicately bydeclaring  they had  merely followed  the dictates  of their  judgement andtheir  conscience  ?and  immediately  launched a  new Actionist  campaign.
Yohan Lee  touched Hardin's sleeve and  pointed significantly to his watch.
Hardin looked up. "Hello there, Lee. Are you still sour? What's wrong now?""He's due in five minutes, isn't he?""I presume so. He appeared at noon last time.""What if he doesn't?""Are  you going  to wear  me down with  your worries  all your life?  If hedoesn't, he won't."Lee  frowned and  shook his  head slowly.  "If this  thing flops,  we're inanother mess. Without Seldon's  backing for what we've done, Sermak will befree to start all  over. He wants outright annexation of the Four Kingdoms,and immediate  expansion of the  Foundation ?by force,  if necessary. He'sbegun his campaign, already.""I know.  A fire eater must  eat fire even if he  has to kindle it himself.
And you,  Lee, have got to  worry even if you  must kill yourself to inventsomething to worry about."Lee would  have answered, but he  lost his breath at  just that moment ?asthe lights  yellowed and went dim. He raised his arm  to point to the glasscubicle that dominated half the room and then collapsed into a chair with awindy sigh.
Hardin himself straightened at  the sight of the figure that now filled thecubicle ? a figure in a wheel chair! He alone,  of all those present couldremember the day, decades  ago, when that figure had appeared first. He hadbeen young then, and  the figure old. Since then, the figure had not aged aday, but he himself had in turn grown old.
The  figure stared  straight  ahead, hands  fingering  a book  in its  lap.
It said, "I am Hari Seldon!" The voice was old and soft.
There  was a  breathless  silence in  the  room and  Hari Seldon  continuedconversationally, "This  is the  second time I've  been here. Of  course, Idon't know if any  of you were here the first time. In  fact, I have no wayof telling, by sense perception, that there is anyone here at all, but thatdoesn't  matter. If  the second  crisis has  been overcome safely,  you arebound to be here; there is no way out. If you are not here, then the secondcrisis has been too much for you."He  smiled engagingly.  "I  doubt  that,  however,  for my  figures  show aninety-eight point  four percent probability there  is to be no significantdeviation from the Plan in the first eighty years.
"According  to our  calculations, you  have now  reached domination  of thebarbarian kingdoms  immediately surrounding the Foundation.  Just as in thefirst crisis  you held them off  by use of the Balance  of Power, so in thesecond, you  gained mastery  by use of  the Spiritual Power  as against theTemporal.
"However, I might warn you here against overconfidence. It is not my way togrant you  any foreknowledge in these  recordings, but it would  be safe toindicate that what you have now achieved is merely a new balance-though onein which  your position is considerably  better. The Spiritual Power, whilesufficient to ward off  attacks of the Temporal is not sufficient to attackin turn. Because of  the invariable growth of the counteracting force knownas Regionalism,  or Nationalism,  the Spiritual Power cannot  prevail. I amtelling you nothing new, I'm sure.
"You must pardon me, by the way, for speaking to you in this vague way. Theterms I  use are at best mere approximations, but  none of you is qualifiedto understand  the true  symbology of psychohistory,  and so I  must do thebest I can.
"In this  case, the Foundation is only at the start  of the path that leadsto the  Second Galactic  Empire. The neighboring kingdoms,  in manpower andresources  are still  overwhelmingly  powerful as  compared to  yourselves.
Outside them lies the  vast tangled jungle of barbarism that extends aroundthe entire  breadth of the Galaxy.  Within that rim there  is still what isleft of the Galactic Empire ?and that, weakened and decaying though it is,is still incomparably mighty."At this  point, Hari  Seldon lifted his  book and opened it.  His face grewsolemn. "And  never forget there was  another Foundation established eightyyears ago; a Foundation at the other end of the Galaxy, at Star's End. Theywill always be there  for consideration. Gentlemen, nine hundred and twentyyears  of   the  Plan  stretch  ahead  of   you.  The  problem  is  yours!"He dropped  his eyes  to his book  and flicked out of  existence, while thelights brightened to fullness. In the babble that followed, Lee leaned overto Hardin's ear. "He didn't say when he'd be back."Hardin replied, "I  know ?but I trust he won't return  until you and I aresafely and cozily dead!"