raych found them a hiding place. it had meant climbing up the metal rungs of a ladder and it had led them to a large loftlike room, the use of which seldon could not imagine. it was filled with equipment, bulky and silent, the function of which also remained a mystery. the room was reasonably clean and free of dust and a steady draft of air wafted through that prevented the dust from settling and--more important seemed to lessen the odor.

raych seemed pleased. "aint this nice?" he demanded. he still rubbed his shoulder now and then and winced when he rubbed too hard.

"it could be worse," said seldon. "do you know what this place is used for, raych?"

raych shrugged or began to do so and winced. "i dunno," he said. then he added with a touch of swagger, "who cares?"

dors, who had sat down on the floor after brushing it with her hand and then looking suspiciously at her palm, said, "if you want a guess, i think this is part of a complex that is involved in the detoxification and recycling of wastes. the stuff must surely end up as fertilizer."

"then," said seldon gloomily, "those who run the complex will be down here periodically and may come at any moment, for all we know."

"i been here before," said raych. "i never saw no one here."

"i suppose trantor is heavily automated wherever possible and if anything calls for automation it would be this treatment of wastes," said dors. "we may be safe ... for a while."

"not for long. well get hungry and thirsty, dors."

"i can get food and water for us," said raych. "ya got to know how to make out if youre an alley kid."

"thank you, raych," said seldon absently, "but right now im not hungry." he sniffed. "i may never be hungry again."

"you will be," said dors, "and even if you lose your appetite for a while, youll get thirsty. at least elimination is no problem. were practically living over what is clearly an open sewer."

there was silence for a while. the light was dim and seldon wondered why the trantorians didnt keep it dark altogether. but then it occurred to him that he had never encountered true darkness in any public area. it was probably a habit in an energy-rich society. strange that a world of forty billion should be energy-rich, but with the internal heat of the planet to draw upon, to say nothing of solar energy and nuclear fusion plants in space, it was. in fact, come to think of it, there was no energy-poor planet in the empire. was there a time when technology had been so primitive that energy poverty was possible? he leaned against a system of pipes through which--for all he knew--sewage ran. he drew away from the pipes as the thought occurred to him and he sat down next to dors.

he said, "is there any way we can get in touch with chetter hummin?"

dors said, "as a matter of fact, i did send a message, though i hated to."

"you hated to?"

"my orders are to protect you. each time i have to get in touch with him, it means ive failed."

seldon regarded her out of narrowed eyes. "do you have to be so compulsive, dors? you cant protect me against the security officers of an entire sector."

"i suppose not. we can disable a few--"

"i know. we did. but theyll send out reinforcements ... armored ground-cars ... neuronic cannon ... sleeping mist. im not sure what they have, but theyre going to throw in their entire armory. im sure of it."

"youre probably right," said dors, her mouth tightening.

"they wont find ya, lady," said raych suddenly. his sharp eyes had moved from one to the other as they talked. "they never find davan."

dors smiled without joy and ruffled the boys hair, then looked at the palm of her hand with a little dismay. she said, "im not sure if you ought to stay with us, raych. i dont want them finding you."

"they wont find me and if i leave ya, wholl get ya food and water and wholl find ya new hidin places, so the sunbadgersll never know where to look?"

"no, raych, theyll find us. they dont really look too hard for davan. he annoys them, but i suspect they dont take him seriously. do you know what i mean?"

"you mean hes just a pain in the ... the neck and they figure he aint worth chasing all over the lot."

"yes, thats what i mean. but you see, we hurt two of the officers very badly and theyre not going to let us get away with that. if it takes their whole force--if they have to sweep through every hidden or unused corridor in the sector--theyll get us."

raych said, "that makes me feel like ... like [natinn]. if i didnt run in there and get zapped, ya wouldnt have taken out them officers and ya wouldnt be in such trouble."

"no, sooner or later, wed have--uh--taken them out. who knows? we may have to take out a few more."

"well, ya did it beautiful," said raych. "if i hadnt been aching all over, i couldve watched more and enjoyed it."

seldon said, "it wouldnt do us any good to try to fight the entire security system. the question is: what will they do to us once they have us? a prison sentence, surely."

"oh no. if necessary, well have to appeal to the emperor," put in dors.

"the emperor?" said raych, wide-eyed. "you know the emperor?"

seldon waved at the boy. "any galactic citizen can appeal to the emperor.--that strikes me as the wrong thing to do, dors. ever since hummin and i left the imperial sector, weve been evading the emperor."

"not to the extent of being thrown into a dahlite prison. the imperial appeal will serve as a delay--in any case, a diversion--and perhaps in the course of that delay, we can think of something else."

"theres hummin."

"yes, there is," said dors uneasily, "but we cant consider him the do-it-all. for one thing, even if my message reached him and even if he was able to rush to dahl, how would he find us here? and, even if he did, what could he do against the entire dahlite security force?"

"in that case," said seldon. "were going to have to think of something we can do before they find us."

raych said, "if ya follow me, i can keep ya ahead of them. i know every place there is around here."

"you can keep us ahead of one person, but therell be a great many, moving down any number of corridors. well escape one group and bump into another."

they sat in uncomfortable silence for a good while, each confronting what seemed to be a hopeless situation. then dors venabili stirred and said in a tense, low whisper, "theyre here. i hear them."

for a while, they strained, listening, then raych sprang to his feet and hissed, "they comin that way. we gotta go this way."

seldon, confused, heard nothing at all, but would have been content to trust the others superior hearing, but even as raych began moving hastily and quietly away from the direction of the approaching tread, a voice rang out echoing against the sewer walls. "dont move. dont move."

and raych said, "thats davan. howd he know we were here?"

"davan?" said seldon. "are you sure?"

"sure im sure. hell help."