hari seldon entered his office to find that wanda and palver had already arrived and were seated around the conference table at the far end of the room. as was usual with those two, the room was completely silent.
then seldon stopped short, noticing that a new fellow was sitting with them. how strange-out of politeness, wanda and palver usually reverted to standard speech when in the company of other people, yet none of the three was speaking.
seldon studied the stranger-an odd-looking man, about thirty-five years old, with the myopic look of one caught up for too long in his studies. if it weren't for a certain determined set to the stranger's jaw, seldon thought he might be dismissed as ineffectual, but that would obviously be a mistake. there was both strength and kindness in the man's face. a trustworthy face, seldon decided.
"grandfather," wanda said, rising gracefully from her chair. seldon's heart ached as he looked at his granddaughter. she'd changed so much in the past few months, since the loss of her family. whereas before she had always called him grandpa, now it was the more formal grandfather. in the past it seemed she could barely refrain from grins and giggles; lately her serene gaze was lightened only occasionally by a beatific smile. but-now as always-she was beautiful and that beauty was surpassed only by her stunning intellect.
"wanda, palver," seldon said, kissing the former on the cheek and slapping the latter on the shoulder.
"hello," seldon said, turning to the stranger, who had also stood. "i am hari seldon."
"i am most honored to meet you, professor," the man replied. "i am bor alurin." alurin offered a hand to seldon in the archaic and, hence, most formal mode of greeting.
"bor is a psychologist, hari," said palver, "and a great fan of your work."
"more important, grandfather," said wanda, "bor is one of us."
"one of you?" seldon looked searchingly from one to the other. "do you mean . ?" seldon's eyes sparkled.
"yes, grandfather. yesterday stettin and i were walking through ery sector, getting out and around, as you'd suggested, probing for others. all of a sudden-wham!-there it was."
"we recognized the thought patterns immediately and began to look around, trying to establish a link," palver said, taking up the story. "we were in a commercial area, near the spaceport, so the walkways were clogged with shoppers and tourists and outworld traders. it seemed hopeless, but then wanda simply stopped and signaled come here and out of the crowd bor appeared. he just walked up to us and signaled yes?"
"amazing," seldon said, beaming at his granddaughter. "and dr.-it is doctor, isn't it?-alurin, what do you make of all this?"
"well," began the psychologist thoughtfully, "i am pleased. i've always felt different somehow and now i know why. and if i can be of any help to you, why-" the psychologist looked down at his feet, as if all of a sudden he realized he was being presumptuous. "what i mean is, wanda and stettin said i may be able to contribute in some way to your psychohistory project. professor, nothing would please me more."
"yes yes. that's quite true, dr. alurin. in fact, i think you may make a great contribution to the project-if you'll join me. of course, you'll have to give up whatever it is you do now, whether it is teaching or private practice. can you manage that?"
"why, yes, professor, of course. i may need a little help convincing my wife-" at this he chuckled slightly, glancing shyly at each of his three companions in turn. "but i seem to have a way with that."
"so it's set, then," said seldon briskly. "you will join the psychohistory project. i promise you, dr. alurin, this is a decision you will not regret."
"wanda, stettin," seldon said later, after bor alurin had left. "this is a most welcome breakthrough. how quickly do you think you can find more mentalics?"
"grandfather, it took us over a month to locate bor-we cannot predict with what frequency others will be found.
"to tell you the truth, all this `out and around' takes us away from our work on the prime radiant and it is distracting as well. now that i have stettin to `talk' to, verbal communication is somewhat too harsh, too loud. "
seldon's smile faded. he had been afraid of this. as wanda and palver had been honing their mentalic skills, so their tolerance for "ordinary" life had diminished. it only made sense; their mentalic manipulations set them apart.
"wanda, stettin, i think it may be time for me to tell you more about the idea yugo amaryl had years ago and about the plan i've devised as a result of that idea. i haven't been ready to elaborate upon it until now, because until this moment, all the pieces have not been in place.
"as you know, yugo felt we must establish two foundations-each as a fail-safe measure for the other. it was a brilliant idea, one which i wish yugo could have lived long enough to see realized." here seldon paused, heaving a regretful sigh.
"but i digress. -six years ago, when i was certain that wanda had mentalic, or mind-touching, capabilities, it came to me that not only should there be two foundations but that they should be distinct in nature, as well. one would be made up of physical scientists-the encyclopedists will be their pioneer group on terminus. the second would be made up of true psychohistorians; mentalists-you. that is why i've been so eager for you to find others like you.
"finally, though, is this: the second foundation must be secret. its strength will lie in its seclusion, in its telepathic omnipresence and omnipotence.
"you see, a few years ago, when it became apparent that i would require the services of a bodyguard, i realized that the second foundation must be the strong, silent, secret bodyguard of the primary foundation.
"psychohistory is not infallible-its predictions are, however, highly probable. the foundation, especially in its infancy, will have many enemies, as do i today.
"wanda, you and palver are the pioneers of the second foundation, the guardians of the terminus foundation."
"but how, grandfather?" demanded wanda. "we are just two-well, three, if you count bor. to guard the entire foundation, we would need-"
"hundreds? thousands? find however many it takes, granddaughter. you can do it. and you know how.
"earlier, when relating the story of finding dr. alurin, stettin said you simply stopped and communicated out to the mentalic presence you felt and he came to you. don't you see? all along i've been urging you to go out and find others like you. but this is difficult, almost painful for you. i realize now that you and stettin must seclude yourselves, in order to form the nucleus of the second foundation. from there you will cast your nets into the ocean of humanity."
"grandfather, what are you saying?" wanda asked in a whisper. she had left her seat and was kneeling next to seldon's chair. "do you want me to leave?"
"no, wanda," seldon replied, his voice choked with emotion. "i don't want you to leave, but it is the only way. you and stettin must isolate yourselves from the crude physicality of trantor. as your mentalic abilities grow stronger, you will attract others to you-the silent and secret foundation will grow.
"we will be in touch-occasionally, of course. and each of us has a prime radiant. you see, don't you, the truth-and the absolute necessity -of what i am saying, don't you?"
"yes, i do, grandfather," said wanda. "more important, i feel the brilliance of it as well. rest assured; we won't let you down."
"i know you won't, dear," seldon said wearily.
how could he do this-how could he send his darling granddaughter away? she was his last link to his happiest days, to dors, yugo, and raych. she was the only other seldon in the galaxy.
"i shall miss you terribly, wanda," seldon said as a tear worked its way down his finely creased cheek.
"but, grandfather," wanda said as she stood with palver, preparing to leave. "where shall we go? where is the second foundation?"
seldon looked up and said, "the prime radiant has already told you, wanda."
wanda looked at seldon blankly, searching her memory.
seldon reached out and clutched at his granddaughter's hand.
"touch my mind, wanda. it is there." wanda's eyes widened as she reached into seldon's mind.
"i see," wanda whispered to seldon.
section 33a2d17.- star's end.
