seldon strode into amaryl's office, unannounced.
"yugo," he said abruptly, "the session with general tennar has been postponed." he seated himself in a rather pettish manner.
it took amaryl his usual few moments to disconnect his mind from his work. looking up finally, he said, "what was his excuse?"
"it wasn't he. some of our mathematicians arranged a week's postponement so that it wouldn't interfere with the birthday celebration. i find all of this to be extremely annoying."
"why did you let them do that?"
"i didn't. they just went ahead and arranged things." seldon shrugged. "in a way, it's my fault. i've whined so long about turning sixty that everyone thinks they have to cheer me up with festivities."
amaryl said, "of course, we can use the week."
seldon sat forward, immediately tense. "is something wrong?"
"no. not that i can see, but it won't hurt to examine it further. look, hari, this is the first time in nearly thirty years that psychohistory has leached the point where it can actually make a prediction. it's not much of one-it's just a small pinch of the vast continent of humanity-but it's t lie best we've had so far. all right. we want to take advantage of that, see how it works, prove to ourselves that psychohistory is what we think it is: a predictive science. so it won't hurt to make sure that we haven't overlooked anything. even this tiny bit of prediction is complex and i welcome another week of study."
"very well, then. i'll consult you on the matter before i go to see the general for any last-minute modifications that have to be made. meanwhile, yugo, do not allow any information concerning this to leak out to the others-not to anyone. if it fails, i don't want the people of the project to grow downhearted. you and i will absorb the failure ourselves and keep on trying."
a rare wistful smile crossed amaryl's face. "you and i. do you remember when it really was just the two of us?"
"i remember it very well and don't think that i don't miss those days. we didn't have much to work with-"
"not even the prime radiant, let alone the electro-clarifier."
"but those were happy days."
"happy," said amaryl, nodding his head.
