it was their fifth day in wye and in the morning dors was helping raych into a formal costume that neither was quite familiar with. raych looked at himself dubiously in the holomirror and saw a reflected image that faced him with precision, imitating all his motions but without any inversion of left and right. raych had never used a holomirror before and had been unable to keep from trying to feel it, then laughing, almost with embarrassment, when his hand passed through it while the images hand poked ineffectually at his real body.

he said at last, "i look funny."

he studied his tunic, which was made of a very pliant material, with a thin filigreed belt, then passed his hands up a stiff collar that rose like a cup past his ears on either side.

"my head looks like a ball inside a bowl."

dors said, "but this is the sort of thing rich children wear in wye. everyone who sees you will admire you and envy you."

"with my hair all stuck down?"

"certainly. youll wear this round little hat."

"itll make my head more like a ball."

"then dont let anyone kick it. now, remember what i told you. keep your wits about you and dont act like a kid."

"but i am a kid," he said, looking up at her with a wide-eyed innocent expression.

"im surprised to hear you say that," said dors. "im sure you think of yourself as a twelve-year-old adult."

raych grinned. "okay. ill be a good spy."

"thats not what im telling you to be. dont take chances. dont sneak behind doors to listen. if you get caught at it, youre no good to anyone--especially not to yourself."

"aw, cmon, missus, what do ya think i am? a kid or somethin?"

"you just said you were, didnt you, raych? you just listen to everything thats said without seeming to. and remember what you hear. and tell us. thats simple enough."

"simple enough for you to say, missus venabili," said raych with a grin, "and simple enough for me to do."

"and be careful."

raych winked. "you bet."

a flunky (as coolly impolite as only an arrogant flunky can be) came to take raych to where rashelle was awaiting him.

seldon looked after them and said thoughtfully, "he probably wont see the zoo, hell be listening so carefully. im not sure its right to thrust a boy into danger like that."

"danger? i doubt it. raych was brought up in the slums of billibotton, remember. i suspect he has more alley smarts than you and i put together. besides, rashelle is fond of him and will interpret everything he does in his favor. poor woman."

"are you actually sorry for her, dors?"

"do you mean that shes not worth sympathy because shes a mayors daughter and considers herself a mayor in her own right--and because shes intent on destroying the empire? perhaps youre right, but even so there are some aspects of her for which one might show some sympathy. for instance, shes had an unhappy love affair. thats pretty evident. undoubtedly, her heart was broken--for a time, at least."

seldon said, "have you ever had an unhappy love affair, dors?"

dors considered for a moment or two, then said, "not really. im too involved with my work to get a broken heart."

"i thought as much."

"then why did you ask?"

"i might have been wrong."

"how about you?"

seldon seemed uneasy. "as a matter of fact, yes. i have spared the time for a broken heart. badly cracked, anyway."

"i thought as much."

"then why did you ask?"

"not because i thought i might be wrong, i promise you. i just wanted to see if you would lie. you didnt and im glad."

there was a pause and then seldon said, "five days have passed and nothing has happened."

"except that we are being treated well, hari."

"if animals could think, theyd think they were being treated well when they were only being fattened for the slaughter."

"i admit shes fattening the empire for the slaughter."

"but when?"

"i presume when shes ready."

"she boasted she could complete the coup in a day and the impression i got was that she could do that on any day."

"even if she could, she would want to make sure that she could cripple the imperial reaction and that might take time."

"how much time? she plans to cripple the reaction by using me, but she is making no effort to do so. there is no sign that shes trying to build up my importance. wherever i go in wye im unrecognized. there are no wyan crowds gathering to cheer me. theres nothing on the news holocasts."

dors smiled. "one would almost suppose that your feelings are hurt at not being made famous. youre naive, hari. or not a historian, which is the same thing. i think you had better be more pleased that the study of psychohistory will be bound to make a historian of you than that it may save the empire. if all human beings understood history, they might cease making the same stupid mistakes over and over."

"in what way am i naive?" asked seldon lifting his head and staring down his nose at her.

"dont be offended, hari. i think its one of your attractive features, actually."

"i know. it arouses your maternal instincts and you have been asked to take care of me. but in what way am i naive?"

"in thinking that rashelle would try to propagandize the population of the empire, generally, into accepting you as seer. she would accomplish nothing in that way. quadrillions of people are hard to move quickly. there is social and psychological inertia, as well as physical inertia. and, by coming out into the open, she would simply alert demerzel."

"then what is she doing?"

"my guess is that the information about you--suitably exaggerated and glorified--is going out to a crucial few. it is going to those viceroys of sectors, those admirals of fleets, those people of influence she feels look kindly upon her--or grimly upon the emperor. a hundred or so of those who might rally to her side will manage to confuse the loyalists just long enough to allow rashelle the first to set up her new order firmly enough to beat off whatever resistance might develop. at least, i imagine that is how she reasons."

"and yet we havent heard from hummin."

"im sure he must be doing something just the same. this is too important to ignore."

"has it occurred to you that he might be dead?"

"thats a possibility, but i dont think so. if he was, the news would reach me."

"here?"

"even here."

seldon raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.

raych came back in the late afternoon, happy and excited, with descriptions of monkeys and of bakarian demoires and he dominated the conversation during dinner.

it was not until after dinner when they were in their own quarters that dors said, "now, tell me what happened with madam mayor, raych. tell me anything she did or said that you think we ought to know."

"one thing," said raych, his face lighting up. "thats why she didnt show at dinner, i bet."

"what was it?"

"the zoo was closed except for us, you know. there were lots of us--rashelle and me and all sorts of guys in uniforms and dames in fancy clothes and like that. then this guy in a uniform--a different guy, who wasnt there to begin with--came in toward the end and he said something in a low voice and rashelle turned to all the people and made with her hand like they shouldnt move and they didnt. and she went a little ways away with this new guy, so she could talk to him and no one could hear her. except i kept paying no attention and kept looking at the different cages and sort of moved near to rashelle so i could hear her. "she said, how dare they? like she was real mad. and the guy in the uniform, he looked nervous--i just got quick looks because i was trying to make out like i was watching the animals--so mostly i just heard the words. he said somebody--i dont remember the name, but he was a general or somethin. he said this general said the officers had sworn religious to rashelles old man--"

"sworn allegiance," said dors.

"somethin like that and they was nervous about havin to do what a dame says. he said they wanted the old man or else, if he was kind of sick, he should pick some guy to be mayor, not a dame."

"not a dame? are you sure?"

"thats what he said. he like whispered it. he was so nervous and rashelle was so mad she could hardly speak. she said, ill have his head. they will all swear allegiance to me tomorrow and whoever refuses will lave cause to regret it before an hour has passed. thats exactly what she said. she broke up the whole party and we all came back and she didnt say one word to me all the time. just sat there, looking kinda mean and angry."

dors said, "good. dont you mention this to anyone, raych."

"course not. is it what you wanted?"

"very much what i wanted. you did well, raych. now, go to your room and forget the whole thing. dont even think about it."

once he was gone, dors turned to seldon and said, "this is very interesting. daughters have succeeded fathers--or mothers, for that matter--and held mayoralties or other high offices on any number of occasions. there have even been reigning empresses, as you undoubtedly know, and i cant recall that there was ever in imperial history any serious question of serving under one. it makes one wonder why such a thing should now, arise in wye."

seldon said, "why not? weve only recently been in mycogen, where women are held in a total lack of esteem and couldnt possibly hold positions of power, however minor."

"yes, of course, but thats an exception. there are other places where women dominate. for the most part, though, government and power have been more or less equisexual. if more men tend to hold high positions, it is usually because women tend to be more bound--biologically--to children."

"but what is the situation in wye?"

"equisexual, as far as i know. rashelle didnt hesitate to assume mayoral power and i imagine old mannix didnt hesitate to grant it to her. and she was surprised and furious at encountering male dissent. she cant have expected it."

seldon said, "youre clearly pleased at this. why?"

"simply because its so unnatural that it must be contrived and i imagine hummin is doing the contriving."

seldon said thoughtfully, "you think so?"

"i do," said dors.

"you know," said seldon, "so do i."