seldon's thoughtful stroll across the grounds was the epitome of peace. it was hard to believe here, in the midst of the emperor's immediate domain, that he was on a world that, except for this area, was totally enclosed by a dome. here, in this spot, he might be on his home world of helicon or on gruber's home world of anacreon.
of course, the sense of peace was an illusion. the grounds were guarded-thick with security.
once, a thousand years ago, the imperial palace grounds-much less palatial, much less differentiated from a world only beginning to construct domes over individual regions-had been open to all citizens and the emperor himself could walk along the paths, unguarded, nodding his head in greeting to his subjects.
no more. now security was in place and no one from trantor itself could possibly invade the grounds. that did not remove the danger, however, for that, when it came, came from discontented imperial functionaries and from corrupt and suborned soldiers. it was within the grounds that the emperor and his staff were most in danger. what would have happened if, on that occasion, nearly ten years before, seldon had not been accompanied by dors venabili?
it had been in his first year as first minister and it was only natural, he supposed (after the fact), that there would be jealous heart-burning over his unexpected choice for the post. many others, far better qualified in training-in years of service and, most of all, in their own eyes-could view the appointment with anger. they did not know of psychohistory or of the importance the emperor attached to it and the easiest way to correct the situation was to corrupt one of the sworn protectors of the first minister.
dors must have been more suspicious than seldon himself was. or else, with demerzel's disappearance from the scene, her instructions to guard seldon had been strengthened. the truth was that, for the first few years of his first ministership, she was at his side more often than not.
and on the late afternoon of a warm sunny day, dors noted the glint of the westering sun-a sun never seen under trantor's dome-on the metal of a blaster.
"down, hari!" she cried suddenly and her legs crushed the grass as she raced toward the sergeant.
"give me that blaster, sergeant," she said tightly.
the would-be assassin, momentarily immobilized by the unexpected sight of a woman running toward him, now reacted quickly, raising the drawn blaster.
but she was already at him, her hand enclosing his right wrist in a steely grip and lifting his arm high. "drop it," she said through clenched teeth.
the sergeant's face twisted as he attempted to yank his arm loose.
"don't try, sergeant," said dors. "my knee is three inches from your groin and, if you so much as blink, your genitals will be history. so just freeze. that's right. okay, now open your hand. if you don't drop the blaster right now, i will shatter your arm."
a gardener came running up with a rake. dors motioned him away. the sergeant dropped the blaster to the ground.
seldon had arrived. "i'll take over, dors."
"you will not. get in among those trees and take the blaster with you. others may be involved-and ready to act."
dors had not loosened her grip on the sergeant. she said, "now, sergeant, i want the name of whoever it was who persuaded you to make an attempt on the first minister's life-and the name of everyone else ho is in this with you."
the sergeant was silent.
"don't be foolish," said dors. "speak!" she twisted his arm and he sank down to his knees. she put her shoe on his neck. "if you think silence becomes you, i can crush your larynx and you will be silent forever. and even before that, i am going to damage you badly-t won't (cave one bone unbroken. you had better talk."
the sergeant talked.
later seldon had said to her, "how could you do that, dors? i never believed you capable of such . violence. "
dors said coolly, "i did not actually hurt him much, hari. the threat was sufficient. in any case, your safety was paramount."
"you should have let me take care of him."
"why? to salvage your masculine pride? you wouldn't have been fast enough, for one thing. secondly, no matter what you would have succeeded in doing, you are a man and it would have been expected. i am a woman and women, in popular thought, are not considered as ferocious its men and most, in general, do not have the strength to do what i did. the story will improve in the telling and everyone will be terrified of me. no one will dare to try to harm you for fear of me."
"for fear of you and for fear of execution. the sergeant and his cohorts are to be killed, you know."
at this, an anguished look clouded dors's usually composed visage, as if she could not stand the thought of the traitorous sergeant being put to death, even though he would have cut down her beloved hari without a second thought.
"but," she exclaimed, "there is no need to execute the conspirators. exile will do the job."
"no, it won't," said seldon. "it's too late. cleon will hear of nothing but executions. i can quote him-if you wish."
"you mean he's already made up his mind?"
"at once. i told him that exile or imprisonment would be all that was necessary, but he said no. he said, `every time i try to solve a problem by direct and forceful action, first demerzel and then you talk of "despotism" and "tyranny." but this is my palace. these are my grounds. these are my guardsmen. my safety depends on the security of this place and the loyalty of my people. do you think that any deviation from absolute loyalty can be met with anything but instant death? how else would you be safe? how else would i be safe?'
"i said there would have to be a trial. `of course,' he said, `a short military trial and i don't expect a single vote for anything but execution. i shall make that quite clear.' "
dors looked appalled. "you're taking this very quietly. do you agree with the emperor?"
reluctantly seldon nodded. "i do."
"because there was an attempt on your life. have you abandoned your principles for mere revenge?"
"now, dors, i'm not a vengeful person. however, it was not myself alone at risk or even the emperor. if there is anything that the recent history of the empire shows us, it is that emperors come and go. it is psychohistory that must be protected. undoubtedly, even if something happens to me, psychohistory will someday be developed, but the empire is falling fast and we cannot wait-and only i have advanced far enough to obtain the necessary techniques in time."
"then you should teach what you know to others," said dors gravely.
"i'm doing so. yugo amaryl is a reasonable successor and i have gathered a group of technicians who will someday be useful, but they won't be as-" he paused.
"they won't be as good as you-as wise, as capable? really?"
"i happen to think so," said seldon. "and i happen to be human. psychohistory is mine and, if i can possibly manage it, i want the credit."
"human," sighed dors, shaking her head almost sadly.
the executions went through. no such purge had been seen in over a century. two ministers, five officials of lower ranks, and four soldiers, including the hapless sergeant, met their deaths. every guardsman who could not withstand the most rigorous investigation was relieved of duty and exiled to the remote outer worlds.
since then, there had been no whisper of disloyalty and so notorious had become the care with which the first minister was guarded, to say nothing of the terrifying woman-called "the tiger woman" by many-who watched over him, that it was no longer necessary for dors to accompany him everywhere. her invisible presence was an adequate shield and the emperor cleon enjoyed nearly ten years of quiet and absolute security.
now, however, psychohistory was finally reaching the point where predictions, of a sort, could be made and, as seldon crossed the grounds in his passage from his office (first minister) to his laboratory (psychohistorian), he was uneasily aware of the likelihood that this era of peace might be coming to an end.
