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THE FOUR KINGDOMS The naiven to those portions of the Province of Anacreon which broke away from the First Empire in the early years of the Foundational Era to forest and most powerful of these was Anacreon itself which in area

Undoubtedly the doe society forced te the administration of Salvor Hardin

ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA

A deputation!

That Salvor Hardin had seen it co made it none the more pleasant On the contrary, he found anticipation distinctly annoying

Yohan Lee advocated extreme measures "I don’t see, Hardin," he said, "that we need waste any ti till next election legally, anyway and that gives us a year Give them the brush-off"

Hardin pursed his lips "Lee, you’ll never learn In the forty years I’ve known you, you’ve never once learned the gentle art of sneaking up frorumbled Lee

"Yes, I know that I suppose that’s why you’re the one ar "We’ve coainst the Encyclopedists way back I’ old Sixty-two Do you ever think how fast those thirty years went?"

Lee snorted "I don’t feel old, and I’estion" Hardin sucked lazily at his cigar He had long since stopped wishing for the an tobacco of his youth Those days when the planet, Terminus, had trafficked with every part of the Galactic Eo Toward the sa He wondered who the new emperor was or if there was a new emperor at all or any Empire Space! For thirty years now, since the breakup of coe of the Galaxy, the whole universe of Terdodoms! They were prefects in the old days, all part of the same province, which in turn had been part of a sector, which in turn had been part of a quadrant, which in turn had been part of the alle Galactic Empire And now that the Empire had lost control over the farther reaches of the Galaxy, these little splinter groups of planets becas and nobles, and petty,the ruins

A civilization falling Nuclear power forgotten Science fading to y until the Foundation had stepped in The Foundation that Hari Seldon had established for just that purpose here on Terminus

Lee was at theand his voice broke in on Hardin’s reverie "They’ve co pups" He took a few uncertain steps toward the door and then looked at Hardin

Hardin siven orders to have theht up here"

"Here! What for? You’re h all the cere too old for red tape Besides which, flattery is useful when dealing with youngsters particularly when it doesn’t coiveSermak"

"That fellow, Serot a following, Hardin, so don’t underestimate him"

"Have I ever underestimated anybody?"

"Well, then, arrest hi or other afterward"

Hardin ignored that last bit of advice "There they are, Lee" In response to the signal, he stepped on the pedal beneath his desk, and the door slid aside

They filed in, the four that coently to the armchairs that faced his desk in a semicircle They bowed and waited for the mayor to speak first

Hardin flicked open the curiously carved silver lid of the cigar box that had once belonged to Jord Fara of the old Board of Trustees in the long-dead days of the Encyclopedists It was a genuine Ears it now contained were horave solears and lit up in ritualistic fashion

Sef Serroup and thewith his bristly yellow mustache trimmed precisely, and his sunken eyes of uncertain color The other three Hardin dismissed almost immediately; they were rank and file on the face of them It was on Sermak that he concentrated, the Sermak who had already, in his first term in the City Council, turned that sedate body topsy-turvy more than once, and it was to Sermak that he said:

"I’ve been particularly anxious to see you, Councilman, ever since your very excellent speech last overnment was a most capable one"

Sermak’s eyes smoldered "Your interest honors me The attack may or may not have been capable, but it was certainly justified"

"Perhaps! Your opinions are yours, of course Still you are rather young"

Dryly "It is a fault that uilty of at some period of their life You becaer than I a was a cool customer He said, "I take it now that you have con policy that annoys you so greatly in the Council Chaues, or must I listen to each of you separately?" There were quickof eyelids

Serrimly, "I speak for the people of Terminus a people who are not now truly represented in the rubberstamp body they call the Council"

"I see Go ahead, then!"

"It comes to this, Mr Mayor We are dissatisfied"

"By ’we’ you mean ’the people,’ don’t you?"

Ser a trap, and replied coldly, "I believe that my views reflect those of the majority of the voters of Terminus Does that suit you?"

"Well, a stateo on, anyway You are dissatisfied"

"Yes, dissatisfied with the policy which for thirty years had been stripping Terainst the inevitable attack froo on"

"It’s nice of you to anticipate And therefore we are for a new political party; one that will stand for the immediate needs of Terminus and not for a oing to throw you and your lick-spittle clique of appeasers out of City Hall-and that soon"

"Unless? There’s always an ’unless,’ you know"

"Not n now I’e your policies I wouldn’t trust you that far Your pronation is all we’ll take"

"I see" Hardin crossed his legs and teetered his chair back on two legs "That’s your ulti But, you see, I rather think I’ll ignore it"

"Don’t think it was a warning, Mr Mayor It was an announcement of principles and of action The new party has already been forin its official activities tomorrow There is neither room nor desire for conition of your services to the City that induced us to offer the easy way out I didn’t think you’d take it, but my conscience is clear

The next election will be a nation is necessary"

He rose and motioned the rest up

Hardin lifted his arm "Hold on! Sit down!"

Sef Sermak seated himself once more with just a shade too ht face In spite of his words, he aiting for an offer

Hardin said, "In exactly ay do you want our foreign policy changed? Do you want us to attack the Four Kingdoms, now, at once, and all four siestion, Mr Mayor It is our simple proposition that all appeasehout your administration, you have carried out a policy of scientific aid to the Kingdoiven them nuclear power You have helped rebuild power plants on their territories You have established medical clinics, chemical laboratories and factories"

"Well? And your objection?"

"You have done this in order to keep the us With these as bribes, you have been playing the fool in a colossal game of blackmail, in which you have allowed Terminus to be sucked dry with the result that noe are at the mercy of these barbarians"

"In ay?"

"Because you have given theiven them weapons, actually serviced the ships of their navies, they are infinitely stronger than they were three decades ago Their de, and with their neeapons, they will eventually satisfy all their demands at once by violent annexation of Terminus Isn’t that the way blackmail usually ends?"

"And your remedy?"

"Stop the bribes ithening Terminus itself and attack first!"

Hardin watched the young fellow’s little blond mustache with an almost morbid interest Sermak felt sure of himself or he wouldn’t talk so much There was no doubt that his ree

His voice did not betray the slightly perturbed current of his thoughts If was alent "Are you finished?"

"For the moment"

"Well, then, do you notice the framed statement I have on the wall behind me? Read it, if you will!"

Sermak’s lips twitched "It says: ’Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent’ That’s an old man’s doctrine, Mr Mayor"

"I applied it as a young man, Mr Council born when it happened, but perhaps youof it in school"

He eyed Sermak closely and continued in measured tones, "When Hari Seldon established the Foundation here, it was for the ostensible purpose of producing a great Encyclopedia, and for fifty years we followed that will-of-the-wisp, before discovering what he was really after By that time, it was alions of the old Empire broke doe found ourselves a world of scientists concentrated in a single city, possessing no industries, and surrounded by newly created kingdoely barbarous We were a tiny island of nuclear power in this ocean of barbarism, and an infinitely valuable prize

"Anacreon, then as now, the doms, demanded and later actually established a military base upon Terminus, and the then rulers of the City, the Encyclopedists, knew very well that this was only a preli over the entire planet That is how overned his shoulders "That’s an academic question Of course, I knohat you did"

"I’ll repeat it, anyway Perhaps you don’t get the point The tereat to ht It’s the easiest way out, and the most satisfactory to self-respect but, nearly invariably, the stupidest You would have done it; you and your talk of ’attack first’ What I did, instead, was to visit the three other kingdoms, one by one; point out to each that to allow the secret of nuclear power to fall into the hands of Anacreon was the quickest way of cutting their own throats; and suggest gently that they do the obvious thing That was all One month after the Anacreonian force had landed on Ter received a joint ultihbors In seven days, the last Anacreonian was off Terminus

Now tellcouncilhtfully and tossed it into the incinerator chute "I fail to see the analogy Insulin will bring a diabetic to normal without the faintest need of a knife, but appendicitis needs an operation You can’t help that When other courses have failed, what is left but, as you put it, the last refuge? It’s your fault that we’re driven to it"

"I? Oh, yes, again rasp of the fundamental necessities of our position Our problem wasn’t over with the departure of the Anacreonians They had just begun The Four Kingdoms were more our enemies than ever, for each wanted nuclear power-and each was kept off our throats only for fear of the other three We are balanced on the point of a very sharp sword, and the slightest sway in any direction If, for instance, one kingdo; or if two form a coalition You understand?"

"Certainly That was the tiin all-out preparations for war"

"On the contrary That was the tiainst the other I helped each in turn I offered them science, trade, education, scientific medicine Iworld than as a military prize It worked for thirty years"

"Yes, but you were forced to surround these scientific gifts with the ion, half balderdash out of it You’ve erected a hierarchy of priests and coless ritual"

Hardin frowned "What of that? I don’t see that it has anything to do with the argument at all I started that way at first because the barbarians looked upon our science as a sort of et them to accept it on that basis The priesthood built itself and if we help it along we are only following the line of least resistance It is a e of the power plants That is not a minor matter"

"True, but we have trained thee of their tools is purely empirical; and they have a firm belief in the mummery that surrounds theh the enius to brush aside e actual techniques, and selling out to the doms, then?"

"Little chance of that, Ser superficial The best doms are sent here to the Foundation each year and educated into the priesthood And the best of these remain here as research students If you think that those who are left, with practically no knowledge of the elee the priests receive, can penetrate at a bound to nuclear power, to electronics, to the theory of the hyperwarp you have a very romantic and very foolish idea of science It takes lifetiet that far"

Yohan Lee had risen abruptly during the foregoing speech and left the roo, he bent to his superior’s ear A whisper was exchanged and then a leaden cylinder Then, with one short hostile look at the deputation, Lee resumed his chair

Hardin turned the cylinder end for end in his hands, watching the deputation through his lashes And then he opened it with a hard, sudden twist and only Sermak had the sense not to throw a rapid look at the rolled paper that fell out

"In short, gentlemen," he said, "the Govern"

He read as he spoke There were the lines of intricate, e and the three penciled words scrawled in one colance and tossed it casually into the incinerator shaft

"That," Hardin then said, "ends the interview, I’" He shook hands with each in perfunctory fashion, and they filed out

Hardin had al, but after Sermak and his three silent partners ell out of earshot, he indulged in a dry chuckle and bent an amused look on Lee

"How did you like that battle of bluffs, Lee?"

Lee snorted gru Treat hiloves and he’s quite liable to win the next election, just as he says"

"Oh, quite likely, quite likely if nothing happens first"

"Make sure they don’t happen in the wrong direction this ti What if he doesn’t wait till the next election? There was a tih violently, in spite of your slogan about what violence is"

Hardin cocked an eyebrow "You are pessiularly contrary, too, or you wouldn’t speak of violence Our own little putsch was carried through without loss of life, you reh at the proper moment, and went over smoothly, painlessly, and all but effortlessly As for Serainst a different proposition You and I, Lee, aren’t the Encyclopedists We stand prepared Order your sters in a nice way, old fellow Don’t let the watched but eyes open, you understand"

Lee laughed in sour amusement "I’d be a fine one to wait for your orders, wouldn’t I, Hardin? Sermak and his men have been under surveillance for a month now"

The ht By the way," he observed, and added softly, "A to Terminus Temporarily, I hope"

There was a short silence, faintly horrified, and then Lee said, "Was that thealready?"

"Don’t know I can’t tell till I hear what Verisof has to say They h After all, they have to before election But what are you looking so dead about?"

"Because I don’t kno it’s going to turn out You’re too deep, Hardin, and you’re playing the game too close to your chest"

"Even you?"to join Serainst his will "All right You win How about lunch now?"

2

There are raood many of which are probably apocryphal Nevertheless, it is reported that on a certain occasion, he said:

"It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety"

Poly Verisof had had occasion to act on that advice more than once for he was now in the fourteenth year of his double status on Anacreon a double status the upkeep of which reminded him often and unpleasantly of a dance performed barefoot on hot h priest, representative of that Foundation which, to those "barbarians," was the acion they had created with Hardin’s help in the last three decades As such, he received a ho, for from his soul he despised the ritual of which he was the center

But to the King of Anacreon the old one that had been, and the young grandson that was now on the throne he was simply the ambassador of a power at once feared and coveted

On the whole, it was an uncomfortable job, and his first trip to the Foundation in three years, despite the disturbing incident that hadin the nature of a holiday

And since it was not the first tiain raed into his civilian clothes a holiday in itself and boarded a passenger liner to the Foundation, second class Once at Terh the crowd at the spaceport and called up City Hall at a public visiphone

He said, "My name is Jan Smite I have an appointment with the mayor this afternoon"

The dead-voiced but efficient young lady at the other end ed a few rapid words, then said to Verisof in dry, mechanical tone, "Mayor Hardin will see you in half an hour, sir," and the screen went blank

Whereupon the aht the latest edition of the Terminus City Journal, sauntered casually to City Hall Park and, sitting down on the first ee, sport section and co At the end of half an hour, he tucked the paper under his arm, entered City Hall and presented hi all this he renized, for since he was so entirely obvious, no one gave hirinned "Have a cigar! Hoas the trip?"

Verisof helped hi There was a priest in the next cabin on his way here to take a special course in the preparation of radioactive synthetics for the treatment of cancer, you know "

"Surely, he didn’t call it radioactive synthetics, now?"

"I guess not! It was the Holy Food to him"

The led ical discussion and did his level best to elevate nized his own high priest?"

"Without my cri experience, though It is rerabbed hold I’ve written an essay on the subject entirely for my own a the problean to rot at the fringes, it could be considered that science, as science, had failed the outer worlds To be reaccepted it would have to present itself in another guise and it has done just that It works out beautifully"

"Interesting!" The mayor placed his ar about the situation at Anacreon!"

The aar from his mouth He looked at it distastefully and put it down "Well, it’s pretty bad"

"You wouldn’t be here, otherwise"

"Scarcely Here’s the position The keyLepold’s uncle"

"I know But Lepold is coe next year, isn’t he? I believe he’ll be sixteen in February"

"Yes" Pause, and then a wry addition "If he lives The king’s father died under suspicious circu a hunt It was called an accident"

"Hmph I seem to remember Wienis the time I was on Anacreon, e kicked them off Terminus It was before your ti fellow, black hair and a squint in his right eye He had a funny hook in his nose"

"Same fellow The hook and the squint are still there, but his hair’s gray now He plays the gaious fool on the planet Fancies himself as a shrewd devil, too, which mades his folly the more transparent"

"That’s usually the way"

"His notion of cracking an egg is to shoot a nuclear blast at it Witness the tax on Te died two years ago Rehtfully, then smiled "The priests raised a howl"

"They raised one you could hear way out to Lucreza He’s shownwith the priesthood since, but he still s the hard way In a way, it’s unfortunate for us; he has unlimited self-confidence"

"Probably an over-coet that way, you know"

"But it a at the erness to attack the Foundation He scarcely troubles to conceal it And he’s in a position to do it, too, fronificent navy, and Wienis hasn’t been sleeping the last two years In fact, the tax on Teinally intended for further arh he increased the inco at that?"

"None of serious importance Obedience to appointed authority was the text of every serratitude"

"All right I’ve got the background Nohat’s happened?"

"Teeks ago an Anacreonian merchant ship came across a derelict battle cruiser of the old I in space for at least three centuries"

Interest flickered in Hardin’s eyes He sat up "Yes, I’ve heard of that The Board of Navigation has sentood condition, I understand"

"In entirely too good condition," responded Verisof, dryly "When Wienis received your suggestion last week that he turn the ship over to the Foundation, he almost had convulsions"

"He hasn’t answered yet"

"He won’t except with guns, or so he thinks You see, he came to me on the day I left Anacreon and requested that the Foundation put this battle cruiser into fighting order and turn it over to the Anacreonian navy He had the infernal gall to say that your note of last week indicated a plan of the Foundation’s to attack Anacreon He said that refusal to repair the battle cruiser would confirm his suspicions; and indicated that measures for the self-defense of Anacreon would be forced upon him Those are his words Forced upon hihed gently

Verisof smiled and continued, "Of course, he expects a refusal, and it would be a perfect excuse in his eyes for immediate attack"

"I see that, Verisof Well, we have at least six months to spare, so have the ship fixed up and present it with my compliments Have it renamed the Wienis as a ain

And again Verisof responded with the faintest trace of a sical step, Hardin but I’m worried"

"What about?"

"It’s a ship! They could build in those days Its cubic capacity is half again that of the entire Anacreonian navy It’s got nuclear blasts capable of blowing up a planet, and a shield that could take a Q-bea, Hardin "

"Superficial, Verisof, superficial You and I both know that the ar before we could repair the cruiser for our own use What does it ive him the cruiser as well? You knoon’t ever come to actual war"

"I suppose so Yes" The ambassador looked up "But Hardin "

"Well? Why do you stop? Go ahead"

"Look This isn’tthe paper" He placed the Journal on the desk and indicated the front page "What’s this all about?"

Hardin dropped a casual glance "’A group of Council a new political party"’

"That’s what it says" Verisof fidgeted "I know you’re in better touch with internalyou with everything short of physical violence How strong are they?"

"Da They’ll probably control the Council after next election"

"Not before?" Verisof looked at thecontrol besides elections"

"Do you takethe ship will takewill be taken as a sign of appalling weakness and the addition of the Ith of Wienis’ navy He’ll attack as sure as I’s Either reveal the plan of can to the Council, or force the issue with Anacreon now!"

Hardin frowned "Force the issue now? Before the crisis co I mustn’t do There’s Hari Seldon and the Plan, you know"

Verisof hesitated, then muttered, "You’re absolutely sure, then, that there is a Plan?"

"There can scarcely be any doubt," ca of the Ti revealed it then"

"I didn’t mean that, Hardin I just don’t see how it could be possible to chart history for a thousand years ahead Maybe Seldon overestimated himself" He shriveled a bit at Hardin’s ironical sist,"

"Exactly None of us are But I did receive soh to knohat psychology is capable of, even if I can’t exploit its capabilities myself There’s no doubt but that Seldon did exactly what he claims to have done The Foundation, as he says, was established as a scientific refuge theEh the centuries of barbarisun, to be rekindled in the end into a second Empire"

Verisof nodded, a trifle doubtfully "Everyone knows that’s the way things are supposed to go But can we afford to take chances? Can we risk the present for the sake of a nebulous future?"

"We must because the future isn’t nebulous It’s been calculated out by Seldon and charted Each successive crisis in our history is mapped and each depends in a measure on the successful conclusion of the ones previous This is only the second crisis and Space knohat effect even a trifling deviation would have in the end"

"That’s rather empty speculation"

"No! Hari Seldon said in the Time Vault, that at each crisis our freedom of action would become circumscribed to the point where only one course of action was possible"

"So as to keep us on the straight and narrow?"

"So as to keep us fro as more than one course of action is possible, the crisis has not been reached Weas we possibly can, and by space, that’s what I intend doing"

Verisof didn’t answer He chewed his lower lip in a grudging silence It had only been the year before that Hardin had first discussed the problem with hi Anacreon’s hostile preparations And then only because he, Verisof, had balked at further appeasement

Hardin seehts "I wouldabout this"

"What makes you say that?" cried Verisof, in surprise

"Because there are six people now you and I, the other three ambassadors and Yohan Lee who have a fair notion of what’s ahead; and I’m damned afraid that it was Seldon’s idea to have no one know"

"Why so?"

"Because even Seldon’s advanced psychology was limited It could not handle too many independent variables He couldn’t ith individuals over any length of tiases to single molecules He worked with mobs, populations of whole planets, and only blind e of the results of their own actions"

"That’s not plain"

"I can’t help it I’h to explain it scientifically But this you know There are no trained psychologists on Terminus and no mathematical texts on the science It is plain that he wanted no one on Ter out the future in advance Seldon wanted us to proceed blindly and therefore correctly according to the law of y As I once told you, I never knehere ere heading when I first drove out the Anacreonians My idea had been to maintain balance of power, no ht I saw a pattern in events; but I’ve done e Interference due to foresight would have knocked the Plan out of kilter"

Verisof nodded thoughtfully "I’ve heard arguments almost as complicated in the Teht moment of action?"

"It’s spotted already You ad will stop Wienis froer be any alternative in that respect"

"Yes

"All right That accounts for the external aspect Meanwhile, you’ll further admit that the next election will see a new and hostile Council that will force action against Anacreon There is no alternative there"

"Yes"

"And as soon as all the alternatives disappear, the crisis has coet worried"

He paused, and Verisof waited Slowly, alot the idea just a notion that the external and internal pressures were planned to come to a head simultaneously As it is, there’s a few , and elections are still a year off"

"That doesn’t sound important"

"I don’t know It may be due ht be due to the fact that I knew too ht influence my action, but how can I tell? And what effect will the discrepancy have? Anyway," he looked up, "there’s one thing I’ve decided"

"And what’s that?"

"When the crisis does begin to break, I’ to Anacreon I want to be on the spotOh, that’s enough, Verisof It’s getting late Let’s go out and ht of it I want soht here,’ said Verisof "I don’t want to be recognized, or you knohat this new party your precious Council would say Call for the brandy"

And Hardin did but not for too much

3

In the ancient days when the Galactic Empire had embraced the Galaxy, and Anacreon had been the richest of the prefects of the Periphery, al Palace in state And not one had left without at least one effort to pit his skill with air speedster and needle gun against the feathered flying fortress they call the Nyakbird

The fa with the decay of the tial Palace was a draftythat Foundation workmen had restored And no Emperor had been seen in Anacreon for two hundred years

But Nyak hunting was still the royal sport and a good eye with the needle gun still the first require of Anacreon and as was invariably, but untruthfully added Lord of the Outer Doh not yet sixteen had already proved his skill ht down his first Nyak when scarcely thirteen; had brought down his tenth the week after his accession to the throne; and was returning now froe," he had exulted "Who’ll take the wager?"

But Courtiers don’t take wagers against the king’s skill There is the deadly danger of winning So no one did, and the king left to change his clothes in high spirits

"Lepold!"

The king stopped mid-step at the one voice that could cause him to do so He turned sulkily

Wienis stood upon the threshold of his cha nephew

"Send them away," henodded curtly and the two chamberlains bowed and backed down the stairs Lepold entered his uncle’s roo suit s to tend to than Nyak hunting soon enough"

He turned his back and sturown too old for the rush of air, the perilous dive within wing-beat of the Nyak, the roll and climb of the speedster at the motion of a foot, he had soured upon the whole sport

Lepold appreciated his uncle’s sour-grapes attitude and it was not without an enthusiastically, "But you should have been with us today, uncle We flushed one in the wilds of Sarnia that was a ame as they come We had it out for two hours over at least seventy square ot to Sunwards he was h he were once ht hi at quarters It maddened him and he canted athwart I took his dare and veered a-left, waiting for the plu-beat before I moved and then "

"Lepold!"

"Well! I got him"

"I’ shrugged and gravitated to the end table where he nibbled at a Lera nut in quite an unregal sulk He did not dare to meet his uncle’s eyes

Wienis said, by way of preamble, "I’ve been to the ship today"

"What ship?"

"There is only one ship The ship The one the Foundation is repairing for the navy The old Imperial cruiser Do I make myself sufficiently plain?"

"That one? You see, I told you the Foundation would repair it if we asked them to It’s all poppycock, you know, that story of yours about their wanting to attack us Because if they did, ould they fix the ship? It doesn’t make sense, you know"

"Lepold, you’re a fool!"

The king, who had just discarded the shell of the Lera nut and was lifting another to his lips, flushed

"Well now, look here," he said, with anger that scarcely rose above peevishness, "I don’t think you ought to call e in two months, you know"

"Yes, and you’re in a fine position to assual responsibilities If you spent half the ti, I’d resign the regency directly with a clear conscience"

"I don’t care That has nothing to do with the case, you know The fact is that even if you are the regent andand you’re still htn’t to sit in my presence, anyway You haven’t asked ht do soaze was cold "May I refer to you as ’your majesty’?"

"Yes"

"Very well! You are a fool, your rizzled brows and the young king sat down slowly For a ent’s face, but it faded quickly His thick lips parted in a s’s shoulder

"Never mind, Lepold I should not have spoken harshly to you It is difficult sometimes to behave with true propriety when the pressure of events is such as You understand?" But if the words were conciliatory, there was so in his eyes that had not softened

Lepold said uncertainly, "Yes Affairs of State are deuced difficult, you know" He wondered, not without apprehension, whether he were not in for a dull siege of less details on the year’s trade with S dispute over the sparsely settled worlds on the Red Corridor

Wienis was speaking again "My boy, I had thought to speak of this to you earlier, and perhaps I should have, but I know that your youthful spirits are impatient of the dry detail of statecraft"

Lepold nodded "Well, that’s all right"

His uncle broke in fire in two , you will have to take a full and active part You will be king henceforward, Lepold"

Again Lepold nodded, but his expression was quite blank

"There will be war, Lepold"

"War! But there’s been truce with Smyrno"

"Not Smyrno The Foundation itself"

"But, uncle, they’ve agreed to repair the ship You said"

His voice choked off at the twist of his uncle’s lip

"Lepold" soone "we are to talk man to man There is to be ith the Foundation, whether the ship is repaired or not; all the sooner, in fact, since it is being repaired The Foundation is the source of power and reatness of Anacreon; all its ships and its cities and its people and its cos of power that the Foundation have given us grudgingly I remember the time I, myself when the cities of Anacreon ar of coal and oil But never mind that; you would have no conception of it"

"It seerateful"

"Grateful?" roared Wienis "Grateful that they begrudge us thespace knohat for the it hat purpose in mind? Why, only that they may some day rule the Galaxy"

His hand came down on his nephew’s knee, and his eyes narrowed "Lepold, you are king of Anacreon Your children and your children’s children s of the universe if you have the power that the Foundation is keeping fro in that" Lepold’s eyes gained a sparkle and his back straightened "After all, what right have they to keep it to the, too"

"You see, you’re beginning to understand And now, my boy, what if Smyrno decides to attack the Foundation for its own part and thus gains all that power? How long do you suppose we could escape beco would you hold your throne?"

Lepold grew excited "Space, yes You’re absolutely right, you know We must strike first It’s simply self-defense"

Wienis’ sinning of the reign of your grandfather, Anacreon actually established a military base on the Foundation’s planet, Terminus a base vitally needed for national defense We were forced to abandon that base as a result of the machinations of the leader of that Foundation, a sly cur, a scholar, with not a drop of noble blood in his veins You understand, Lepold? Your grandfather was humiliated by this commoner I remember him! He was scarcely older than myself when he came to Anacreon with his devil’s smile and devil’s brain and the power of the other three kingdoreatness of Anacreon"

Lepold flushed and the sparkle in his eyes blazed "By Seldon, if I had been ht even so"

"No, Lepold We decided to wait to wipe out the insult at a fitter time It had been your father’s hope, before his untiht be the one to Well, well!" Wienis turned away for aemotion, "He was my brother And yet, if his son were"

"Yes, uncle, I’ll not fail him I have decided It seems only proper that Anacreon wipe out this nest of troublemakers, and that immediately"

"No, not immediately First, we must wait for the repairs of the battle cruiser to be co to undertake these repairs proves that they fear us The fools attempt to placate us, but we are not to be turned from our path, are we?"

And Lepold’s fist slaainst his cupped pal in Anacreon"

Wienis’ lip twitched sardonically "Besides which we must wait for Salvor Hardin to arrive"

"Salvor Hardin!" The king grew suddenly round-eyed, and the youthful contour of his beardless face lost the almost hard lines into which they had been compressed

"Yes, Lepold, the leader of the Foundation hi to Anacreon on your birthday probably to soothe us with buttered words But it won’t help him"

"Salvor Hardin!" It was the merest murmur

Wienis frowned "Are you afraid of the naround our noses into the dust You’re not forgetting that deadly insult to the royal house? And frouess not No, I won’t I won’t! We’ll pay him back butbut I’ent rose "Afraid? Of what? Of what, you young" He choked off

"It would beuhsort of blasphemous, you know, to attack the Foundation I mean" He paused

"Go on"

Lepold said confusedly, "I htn’t like it Don’t you think?

"No, I don’t," was the hard answer Wienis sat down again and his lips twisted in a queer sreat deal over the Galactic Spirit, do you? That’s what co to Verisof quite a bit, I take it"

"He’s explained a great deal"

"About the Galactic Spirit?"

"Yes"

"Why, you unweaned cub, he believes in that ood deal less than I do, and I don’t believe in it at all How many times have you been told that all this talk is nonsense?"

"Well, I know that But Verisof says"

"Pay no heed to Verisof It’s nonsense"

There was a short, rebellious silence, and then Lepold said, "Everyone believes it just the same I mean all this talk about the Prophet Hari Seldon and how he appointed the Foundation to carry on his coht some day be a return of the Galactic Paradise: and how anyone who disobeys his commandments will be destroyed for eternity They believe it I’ve presided at festivals, and I’m sure they do"

"Yes, they do; but we don’t And youto this foolishness, you are king by divine right and are semi-divine yourself Very handy It eliminates all possibilities of revolts and insures absolute obedience in everything And that is why, Lepold, you ainst the Foundation I a, and od to them"

"But I suppose I’ reflectively

"No, not really," came the sardonic response, "but you are to everyone but the people of the Foundation Get that? To everyone but those of the Foundation Once they are reodhead Think of that!"

"And after that ill ourselves be able to operate the power boxes of the temples and the ships that fly without men and the holy food that cures cancer and all the rest? Verisof said only those blessed with the Galactic Spirit could"

"Yes, Verisof said! Verisof, next to Salvor Hardin, is your greatest eneether ill recreate an e every one of the billions of suns of the Empire Is that better than a wordy ’Galactic Paradise’?"

"Ye-es"

"Can Verisof promise more?"

"No"

"Very well" His voice became peremptory "I suppose we may consider theI’ll be down later And just one thing, Lepold"

The young king turned on the threshold