Yes! If you have nothing further to say
Dont jump to conclusions. Id like to ask a question. Besides this stroke of diplomacy which may or may not prove to mean anything has anything concrete been done to meet the Anacreonic menace?
Yate Fulham drew one hand along his ferocious red moustache. You see a menace there, do you?
Dont you?
Scarcely this with indulgence. The Emperor
Great Space! Hardin felt annoyed. What is this? Every once in a while someone mentions Emperor or Empire as if it were a magic word. The Emperor is fifty thousand parsecs away, and I doubt whether he gives a damn about us. And if he does, what can he do? What there was of the imperial navy in these regions is in the hands of the
four kingdoms now and Anacreon has its share. Listen, we have to fight with guns, not with words.
Now, get this. Weve had two months grace so far, mainly because weve given Anacreon the idea that weve got atomic weapons. Well, we all know that theres a little white lie. Weve got atomic power, but only for commercial uses, and darn little at that. Theyre going to find that out soon, and if you think theyre going to enjoy being jollied along, youre mistaken.
My dear sir
Hold on: Im not finished. Hardin was warming up. He liked this. Its all very well to drag chancellors into this, but it would be much nicer to drag a few great big siege guns fitted for beautiful atomic bombs into it. Weve lost two months, gentlemen, and we may not have another two months to lose. What do you propose to do?
Said Lundin Crast, his long nose wrinkling angrily: If youre proposing the militarization of the Foundation, I wont hear a word of it. It would mark our open entrance into the field of politics. We, Mr Mayor, are a scientific foundation and nothing else.
Added Sutt: He does not realize, moreover, that building armaments would mean withdrawing men valuable men from the Encyclopedia. That cannot be done, come what may.
Very true, agreed Pirenne. The Encyclopedia first always.
Hardin groaned in spirit. The Board seemed to suffer violently from Encyclopedia on the brain.
He said icily: Has it ever occurred to this Board that it is barely possible that Terminus may have interests other than the Encyclopedia?
Pirenne replied: I do not conceive, Hardin, that the Foundation can have any interest other than the Encyclopedia.
I didnt say the Foundation; I said Terminus. Im afraid you dont understand the situation. Theres a good million of us here on Terminus, and not more than a hundred and fifty thousand are working directly on the Encyclopedia. To the rest of us, this is home. We were born here. Were living here. Compared with our farms and our homes and our factories, the Encyclopedia means little to us. We want them protected
He was shouted down.
The Encyclopedia first, ground out Crast. We have a mission to fulfil.
Mission, hell, shouted Hardin. That might have been true fifty years ago. 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? Thats a nice hallucination, isnt it? Your bunch here is a perfect example of whats been wrong with the entire Galaxy for thousands of years. What kind of science is it to be stuck out here for centuries classifying the work of scientists of the last millennium? Have you ever thought of working onward, extending their knowledge and improving upon it? No! Youre quite happy to stagnate. The whole Galaxy is, and has been for Space knows how long. Thats why the Periphery is revolting; thats why communications are breaking down; thats why petty wars are becoming eternal; thats why whole systems are losing atomic power and going back to barbarous techniques of chemical power.
If you ask me, he cried, the Galaxy is going to pot!
He paused and dropped into his chair to catch his breath, paying no attention to the two or three that were attempting simultaneously to answer him.
Crast got the floor. I dont know what youre trying to gain by your hysterical statements, Mr Mayor. Certainly, you are adding nothing constructive to the discussion. I move, Mr Chairman, that the speakers remarks be placed out of order and the discussion be resumed from the point where it was interrupted.
Jord Fara bestirred himself for the first time. Up to this point Fara had taken no part in the argument even at its hottest. But now his ponderous voice, every bit as ponderous as his three-hundred-pound body, burst its bass way out.
Havent we forgotten something, gentlemen?
What? asked Pirenne, peevishly.
That in a month we celebrate our fiftieth anniversary. Fara had a trick of uttering the most obvious platitudes with great profundity.
What of it?
And on that anniversary, continued Fara, placidly, Hari Seldons Vault will open. Have you ever considered what might be in the Vault?
I dont know. Routine matters. A stock speech of congratulations, perhaps. I dont think any significance need be placed on the Vault though the Journal and he glared at Hardin, who grinned back did try to make an issue of it. I put a stop to that.