Second Foundation 4. Two Men and the Elders

The ageds of this particular region of Rossem were non exactly what matchless(a) top executive concur expected. They were non a mere extrapolation of the peasantry older, much authoritative, little fri demisely.Not at invariablyy(prenominal).The dignity that had marked them at original meeting had grown in impression till it had r from each wholenessed the mark of being their predominant imageistic.They sat ab verboten their oval table like so publicy an(prenominal) grave and slow-moving implyers. Most were a trifle past their natural prime, though the few who possessed beards wore them short and neatly redactd. Still, enough appe bed junior than forty to make it quite obvious that Elders was a term of obedience instead than entirely a literal description of age.The two from out space were at the head of the table and in the solemn subdue that accompanied a rather frugal meal that seemed ceremonious rather than nourishing, absorbed the new, contrasting atmo sphere.After the meal and aft(prenominal) star or two respectful remarks too short and simple to be c tout ensembleed speeches had been do by those of the Elders app bently held most in esteem, an informality forced itself upon the assembly.It was as if the dignity of greeting foreign personages had fin in ally given way to the good-humoured rustic qualities of curiosity and friendliness.They crowded nearly the two strangers and the flood of questions came.They asked if it were de military manding to handle a space institutionalize, how many men were required for the job, if better motors could be made for their ground-cars, if it was true that it r arely snowed on other gentlemans gentlemans as was express to be the case with Tazenda, how many people lived on their world, if it was as macro as Tazenda, if it was far away, how their clothes were woven and what gave them the metallic shimmer, why they did not wear furs, if they s lived invariablyy day, what sort of stone that was in Pritchers tintinnabulation The list stretched out.And almost always the questions were addressed to Pritcher as though, as the elder, they automatically invested him with the heavy(p)er authority. Pritcher found himself forced to answer at bulkyer and greater length. It was like an immersion in a crowd of children. Their questions were those of utter and demilitarise wonder. Their eagerness to hold up was completely irresistible and would not be denied.Pritcher explained that spaceships were not difficult to handle and that crews varied with the size, from one to many, that the motors of their ground-cars were unknown in flesh out to him besides could surmiseless be improved, that the climates of worlds varied almost infinitely, that many hundreds of millions lived on his world hardly that it was far smaller and more insignificant than the great empire of Tazenda, that their clothes were woven of silicone plastics in which metallic lustre was by artificial m eans produced by proper orientation of the surface molecules, and that they could be artificially heated so that furs were unnecessary, that they s relieve oneselfd e genuinely day, that the stone in his basket was an amethyst. The list stretched out. He found himself thawing to these naive provincials against his provide.And always as he answered there was a rapid chatter among the Elders, as though they debated the study gained. It was difficult to follow these inner discussions of theirs for they lapsed into their own emphasize version of the universal Galactic language that, through farseeing interval from the currents of living speech, had cash in ones chips archaic.Almost, one might say, their curt comments among themselves hovered on the beach of understanding, further just managed to elude the clutching tendrils of comprehension.Until finally Channis interrupted to say, Good sirs, you essential answer us for a while, for we are strangers and would be very a lot in terested to know all we can of Tazenda.And what happened past was that a great silence fell and each of the hitherto voluble Elders grew silent. Their hands, which had been moving in such rapid and delicate accompaniment to their words as though to give them greater scope and varied shades of meaning, fell of a sudden limp. They stared furtively at one another, apparently quite willing each to let the other have all the floor.Pritcher interposed quickly, My companion asks this in friendliness, for the fame of Tazenda fills the extragalactic nebula and we, of course, shall inform the regulator of the dedication and love of the Elders of Rossem.No sigh of respite was heard but faces brightened. An Elder stroked his beard with thumb and forefinger, straightening its s electric arc loop with a gentle pressure, and state We are faithful servants of the shapers of Tazenda.Pritchers annoyance at Channis bald question subsided. It was apparent, at least, that the age that he had matt -up go over him of late had not besides deprived him of his own talent for making smooth the blunders of others.He continued We do not know, in our far part of the universe, much of the past history of the Lords of Tazenda. We presume they have ruled benevolently here for a long duration.The same Elder who spoke originally, answered. In a bonkers, automatic way he had be fuck off spokesman. He said Not the grandfather of the oldest can recall a time in which the Lords were absent.It has been a time of peace?It has been a time of peace He hesitated. The regulator is a strong and powerful Lord who would not hesitate to punish traitors. none of us are traitors, of course.He has punished approximately in the past, I imagine, as they deserve.Again hesitation, None here have ever been traitors, or our fathers or our fathers fathers. plainly on other worlds, there have been such, and death followed for them quickly. It is not good to think of for we are humble men who are poor farm ers and not have-to doe with with matters of politics.The anxiety in his voice, the universal concern in the eyes of all of them was obvious.Pritcher said smoothly Could you inform us as to how we can arrange an earreach with your governor.And instantly an element of sudden bewilderment entered the situation.For after a long moment, the elder said Why, did you not know? The governor will be here tomorrow. He has expected you. It has been a great value for us. We we hope earnestly that you will report to him satisfactorily as to our loyalty to him.Pritchers smile scarcely twitched. Expected us?The Elder looked wonderingly from one to the other. Why it is now a week since we have been waiting for you.Their quarter were undoubtedly luxurious for the world. Pritcher had lived in worse. Channis showed nothing but indifference to externals.But there was an element of tension between them of a assorted disposition than hitherto. Pritcher, mat the time approaching for a definite deci sion and moreover there was still the desirability of additional waiting. To see the governor scratch line would be to increase the pretend to dangerous dimensions and yet to win that gamble might multi- paradigm the winnings. He entangle a surge of anger at the slight crease between Channis eyebrows, the delicate uncertainty with which the young mans lour lip presented itself to an upper tooth. He detested the useless play-acting and yearned for an end to it.He said We seem to be anticipated.Yes, said Channis, simply.Just that? You have no contribution of greater pith to make. We come here and find that the governor expects us. Presumably we shall find from the governor that Tazenda itself expects us. Of what value whence is our entire bang?Channis looked up, without endeavoring to veil the weary note in his voice To expect us is one thing to know who we are and what we came for, is another.Do you expect to conceal these things from men of the Second Foundation?Perhaps. Why not? Are you correct to throw your hand in? Suppose our ship was detected in space. Is it unusual for a echtm to maintain frontier observation posts? make up if we were ordinary strangers, we would be of interest.Sufficient interest for a governor to come to us rather than the reverse?Channis shrugged Well have to meet that problem later. permit us see what this governor is like.Pritcher bared his teeth in a bloodless kind of scowl. The situation was becoming ridiculous.Channis proceeded with an artificial animation At least we know one thing. Tazenda is the Second Foundation or a million shreds of evidence are unanimously pointing the wrong way. How do you understand the obvious nemesis in which these natives hold Tazenda? I see no signs of political domination. Their groups of Elders apparently meet freely and without interference of any sort. The tax they speak of doesnt seem at all extensive to me or efficiently carried through. The natives speak much of poverty but seem sturdy and well-fed. The houses are uncouth and their villages rude, but are obviously adequate for the purpose.In fact, the world fascinates me. I have neer seen a more forbidding one, yet I am convinced there is no suffering among the creation and that their uncomplicated lives manage to contain a well-balanced happiness wanting(p) in the sophisticated populations of the right centers.Are you an admirer of peasant virtues, then?The stars forbid. Channis seemed am utilize at the idea. I merely point out the significance of all this. Apparently, Tazenda is an efficient administrator efficient in a smell out far different from the readiness of the old Empire or of the early Foundation, or flat of our own labor union. All these have brought mechanical efficiency to their subjects at the cost of more intangible values. Tazenda brings happiness and sufficiency. Dont you see that the altogether orientation of their domination is different? It is not physical, but psychologic al.Really? Pritcher, allowed himself irony. And the terror with which the Elders spoke of the punishment of treason by these kind hearted psychologist administrators? How does that suit your dissertation?Were they the headings of the punishment? They speak of punishment only of others. It is as if knowl demonstrate of punishment has been so well implanted in them that punishment itself need never be used. The proper mental attitudes are so inserted into their minds that I am certain that not a Tazendian soldier exists on the planet. Dont you see all this?Ill see perhaps, said Pritcher, coldly, when I see the governor. And what, by the way, if our mentalities are handled?Channis replied with inexorable contempt You should be accustomed to that.Pritcher whitened perceptibly, and, with an effort, turned away. They spoke to one another no more that day.It was in the silent windlessness of the frosty night, as he listened to the soft, sleeping motions of the other, that Pritcher silen tly adjusted his wrist-transmitter to the ultrawave region for which Channis was fixed and, with noiseless touches of his fingernail, contacted the ship.The answer came in little periods of noiseless vibration that merely lifted themselves above the sensory threshold.Twice Pritcher asked Any communications at all yet?Twice the answer came None. We wait always.He got out of bed. It was cold in the room and he pulled the furry blanket around him as he sat in the chair and stared out at the crowding stars so different in the brightness and complexity of their system of rules from the even fog of the Galactic Lens that dominated the night fling of his native Periphery.Somewhere there between the stars was the answer to the complications that overwhelmed him, and he felt the yearning for that solution to arrive and end things.For a moment he wondered again if the scuff were right if Conversion had robbed him of the firm sharp edge of self-reliance. Or was it simply age and the fluct uations of these last years?He didnt genuinely care.He was tired.***The governor of Rossem arrived with minor ostentation. His only companion was the uniformed man at the controls of the ground-car.The ground-car itself was of lush design but to Pritcher it appeared inefficient. It turned clumsily more than once it apparently balked at what might have been a too-rapid transfer of gears. It was obvious at once from its design that it ran on chemical, and not on atomic, fuel.The Tazendian governor stepped softly on to the thin layer of snow and advanced between two lines of respectful Elders. He did not look at them but entered quickly. They followed after him.From the quarters assigned to them, the two men of the mules Union watched. He the governor was thickset, rather stocky, short, unimpressive.But what of that?Pritcher cursed himself for a loser of nerve. His face, to be sure, remained icily calm. There was no humiliation before Channis but he knew very well that his blood pressure had heightened and his throat had go away dry.It was not a case of physical fear. He was not one of those dull-witted, unimaginative men of nerveless meat who were too stupid ever to be afraid but physical fear he could mark for and discount.But this was different. It was the other fear.He glanced quickly at Channis. The young man glanced idly at the nails of one hand and poked leisurely at some trifling unevenness.Something inside Pritcher became vastly indignant. What had Channis to fear of mental handling?Pritcher caught a mental jot and tried to think back. How had he been before the Mule had Converted him from the die-hard Democrat that he was. It was hard to remember. He could not place himself mentally. He could not break the clinging wires that bound him emotionally to the Mule. Intellectually, he could remember that he had once tried to assassinate the Mule but not for all the straining he could endure, could he remember his emotions at the time. That might be the self-defense of his own mind, however, for at the intuitive theory of what those emotions might have been not realizing the details, but merely comprehending the drift of it his offer grew queasy.What if the governor tampered with his mind?What if the insubstantial mental tendrils of a Second Foundationer insinuated itself follow up the emotional crevices of his makeup and pulled them apart and rejoined them?There had been no sensation the first time. There had been no pain, no mental jar not even a feeling of discontinuity. He had always loved the Mule. If there had ever been a time long before as long before as five short years when he had position he hadnt loved him, that he had hated him that was just a horrid illusion. The thought of that illusion embarrassed him.But there had been no pain.Would meeting the governor duplicate that? Would all that had gone before all his service for the Mule all his lifes orientation join the hazy, other-life dream that held th e word, Democracy. The Mule also a dream, and only to Tazenda, his loyalty-Sharply, he turned away.There was that strong desire to retch.And then Channis voice clashed on his ear, I think this is it, general.Pritcher turned again. An Elder had receptive the door silently and stood with a dignified and calm respect upon the threshold.He said, His Excellency, Governor of Rossem, in the name of the Lords of Tazenda, is pleased to present his permission for an audience and request your appearance before him.Sure thing, and Channis tightened his belt with a shock and adjusted a Rossemian hood over his head.Pritchers jaw set. This was the beginning of the real gamble.The governor of Rossem was not of formidable appearance. For one thing, he was bareheaded, and his thinning hair, light brown, tending to gray, lent him mildness. His bony eye-ridges lowered at them, and his eyes, set in a fine network of surrounding wrinkles, seemed calculating, but his fresh-cropped chin was soft and smal l and, by the universal convention of followers of the pseudoscience of reading character by facial bony structure, seemed weak.Pritcher, avoided the eyes and watched the chin. He didnt know whether that would be effective if anything would be.The governors voice was high-pitched, indifferent Welcome to Tazenda. We greet you in peace. You have eaten?His hand long fingers, gnarled veins waved almost regally at the U-shaped table.They bowing and sat down. The governor sat at the outer side of the subject of the U, they on the inner along both arms sat the double row of silent Elders.The governor spoke in short, abrupt sentences appraise the food as Tazendian importations and it had indeed a quality different if, somehow, not so much better, than the rougher food of the Elders disparaging Rossemian weather, referring with an attempt at casualness to the intricacies of space travel.Channis talked little. Pritcher not at all.Then it was over. The small, stewed fruits were finish ed the napkins used and discarded, and the governor leaned back.His small eyes sparkled.I have inquired as to your ship. Naturally, I would like to see that it receives due care and overhaul. I am told its whereabouts are unknown.True. Channis replied lightly. We have left it in space. It is a large ship, suitable for long journeys in sometimes hostile regions, and we felt that landing it here might give rise to doubts as to our peaceful intentions. We preferred to land alone, unarmed.A friendly act, commented the governor, without conviction. A large ship, you say?Not a vas of war, excellency.Ha, hum. Where is it you come from?A small world of the Santanni sector, your excellency. It whitethorn be you are not aware of its existence for it lacks importance. We are interested in establishing stack relationships.Trade, eh? And what have you to sell?Machines of all sorts, excellency. In return, food, wood, ores.***Ha, hum. The governor seemed doubtful. I know little of*** these matte rs. Perhaps mutual profit may be arranged. Perhaps, after I have examined your credentials at length for much information will be required by my government before matters may proceed, you understand and after I have looked over your ship, it would be best(predicate) for you to proceed to Tazenda.There was no answer to that, and the governors attitude iced perceptibly.It is necessary that I see your ship, however.Channis said distantly The ship, unfortunately, is undergoing repairs at the moment. If your excellency would not object giving us forty-eight hours, it will be at your service.I am not accustomed to waiting.For the first time, Pritcher met the glare of the other, eye to eye, and his breath exploded softly inside him. For a moment, he had the sensation of drowning, but then his eyes tore away.Channis did not waver. He said The ship cannot be landed for forty-eight hours, excellency. We are here and unarmed. Can you doubt our honest intentions?There was a long silence, and then the governor said gruffly, Tell me of the world from which you come.That was all. It passed with that. There was no more unpleasantness. The governor, having fulfilled his appointed duty, apparently lost interest and the audience died a dull death.And when it was all over, Pritcher found himself back in their quarters and took stock of himself.Carefully belongings his breath he felt his emotions. Certainly he seemed no different to himself, but would he feel any difference? Had he felt different after the Mules Conversion? Had not everything seemed natural? As it should have been?He experimented.With cold purpose, he shout outed inside the silent caverns of his mind, and the shout was, The Second Foundation must be discovered and destroyed.And the emotion that accompanied it was honest hate. There was not as much as a hesitation involved in it.And then it was in his mind to counterchange the word Mule for the phrase Second Foundation and his breath caught at the mere emo tion and his tongue clogged.So far, good.But had he been handled otherwise more subtly? Had tiny changes been made? Changes that he couldnt detect because their very existence warped his judgment.There was no way to tell.But he still felt absolute loyalty to the Mule If that were unchanged, nothing else in truth mattered.He turned his mind to action again. Channis was busy at his end of the room. Pritchers thumbnail idled at his wrist communicator.And then at the response that came he felt a wave of relief surge over him and leave him weak.The steady muscles of his face did not betray him, but inside he was shouting with joy and when Channis turned to face him, he knew that the farce was about over.