the general had had a bad night and so, out of apprehension, had the colonel. they faced each other now-each at a loss.
the general said, "tell me again what this woman did."
linn seemed to have a heavy weight on his shoulders. "she's the tiger woman. that's what they call her. she doesn't seem to be quite human, somehow. she's some sort of impossibly trained athlete, full of self-confidence, and, general, she's quite frightening."
"did she frighten you? a single woman?"
"let me tell you exactly what she did and let me tell you a few other things about her. i don't know how true all the stories about her are, but what happened yesterday evening is true enough."
he told the story again and the general listened, puffing out his cheeks.
"bad," he said. "what do we do?"
"i think our course is plain before us. we want psychohistory-'
"yes, we do," said the general. "seldon told me something about taxation that- but never mind. that is beside the point at the moment. go on."
linn, who, in his troubled state of mind, had allowed a small fragment of impatience to show on his face, continued, "as i say, we want psychohistory without seldon. he is, in any case, a used-up man. the more i study him, the more i see an elderly scholar who is living on his past deeds. he has had nearly thirty years to make a success of psychohistory and he has failed. without him, with new men at the helm, psychohistory may advance more rapidly."
"yes, i agree. now what about the woman?"
"well, there you are. we haven't taken her into consideration because she has been careful to remain in the background. but i strongly suspect now that it will be difficult, perhaps impossible, to remove seldon quietly and without implicating the government, as long as the woman remains alive."
"do you really believe that she will mangle you and me-if she thinks we have harmed her man?" said the general, his mouth twisting in contempt.
"i really think she will and that she will start a rebellion as well. it will he exactly as she promised."
"you are turning into a coward."
"general, please. i am trying to be sensible. i'm not backing off. we must take care of this tiger woman." he paused thoughtfully. "as a matter of fact, my sources have told me this and i admit to having paid far too little attention to the matter."
"and how do you think we can get rid of her?"
linn said, "i don't know." then, more slowly, "but someone else might."
