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1

TRADERS- With psychohistoric inevitability econorew rich; and with riches caotten that Hober Mallow began life as an ordinary trader It is never forgotten that he ended it as the first of the Merchant Princes

ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA

Jorane Sutt put the tips of carefully- of a puzzle In fact and this is in the strictest of confidence it may be another one of Hari Seldon’s crises"

The man opposite felt in the pocket of his short Sarette "Don’t know about that, Sutt As a general rule, politicians start shouting ’Seldon crisis’ at every n"

Sutt s, Mallow We’re facing nuclear weapons, and we don’t knohere they’re co from"

Hober Mallow of Smyrno, Master Trader, smoked quietly, alet it out" Mallow neveroverpolite to a Foundation ht be an Outlander, but a man’s a man for a that

Sutt indicated the trimensional star-map on the table He adjusted the controls and a cluster of some half-dozen stellar systems blazed red

’That," he said quietly, "is the Korellian Republic"

The trader nodded, "I’ve been there Stinking rathole! I suppose you can call it a republic but it’s always soets elected Cos happen to you" He twisted his lip and repeated, "I’ve been there"

"But you’ve come back, which hasn’t always happened Three trade ships, inviolate under the Conventions, have disappeared within the territory of the Republic in the last year And those ships were armed with all the usual nuclear explosives and force-field defenses"

"What was the last word heard fro else"

"What did Korell say?"

Sutt’s eyes glea The Foundation’s greatest asset throughout the Periphery is its reputation of power Do you think we can lose three ships and ask for them?"

"Well, then, suppose you tell me what you ith me"

Jorane Sutt did not waste his time in the luxury of annoyance As secretary to the mayor, he had held off opposition councilmen, jobseekers, reformers, and crackpots who claimed to have solved in its entirety the course of future history as worked out by Hari Seldon With training like that, it took a good deal to disturb him

He said methodically, "In a moment You see, three ships lost in the same sector in the same year can’t be accident, and nuclear power can be conquered only by more nuclear power The question autoetting them?"

"And where does it?"

"Two alternatives Either the Korellians have constructed them themselves"

"Far-fetched!"

"Very! But the other possibility is that we are being afflicted with a case of treason"

"You think so?" Mallow’s voice was cold

The secretary said cal doms accepted the Foundation Convention, we have had to deal with considerable groups of dissident populations in each nation Each fordom has its pretenders and its former noblemen, who can’t very well pretend to love the Foundation So active, perhaps"

Malloas a dull red "I see Is there anything you want to say to me? I’m a Smyrnian"

"I know You’re a Sdoms You’re a Foundation man by education only By birth, you’re an Outlander and a foreigner No doubt your grandfather was a baron at the time of the ith Anacreon and Loris, and no doubt your family estates were taken ahen Sef Sermak redistributed the land"

"No, by Black Space, no! My grandfather was a blood-poor son-of-a-spacer who died heaving coal at starving wages before the Foundation took over I owe nothing to the old regime But I was born in Smyrno, and I’m not ashamed of either Smyrno or Smyrnians, by the Galaxy Your sly little hints of treason aren’t going to panic ive your orders or make your accusations I don’t care which"

"My good Master Trader, I don’t care an electron whether your grandfather was King of Smarole about your birth and ancestry to show you that I’m not interested in theo back now You’re a Smyrnian You know the Outlanders Also, you’re a trader and one of the best You’ve been to Korell and you know the Korellians That’s where you’ve got to go"

Mallow breathed deeply, "As a spy?"

"Not at all As a trader but with your eyes open If you can find out where the power is coht remind you, since you’re a Smyrnian, that two of those lost trade ships had Smyrnian crews"

"When do I start?"

"When will your ship be ready?"

"In six days"

"Then that’s when you start You’ll have all the details at the Adht!" The trader rose, shook hands roughly, and strode out

Sutt waited, spreading his fingers gingerly and rubbing out the pressure; then shrugged his shoulders and stepped into the mayor’s office

The mayor deadened the visiplate and leaned back "What do you ood actor," said Sutt, and stared thoughtfully ahead

2

It was evening of the same day, and in Jorane Sutt’s bachelor apart, Publis Manlio was sipping wine slowly

It was Publis Manlio in whose slight, aging body were fulfilled two great offices of the Foundation He was Foreign Secretary in theonly the Foundation itself, he was, in addition, Primate of the Church, Purveyor of the Holy Food, Master of the Te but sonorous syllables

He was saying, "But he agreed to let you send out that trader It is a point"

"But such a s ie it to the end It is athe length of it will be a noose"

"True And this Mallow is a capable man What if he is not an easy prey to dupery?"

"That is a chance that must be run If there is treachery, it is the capable men that are implicated If not, we need a capable lass is eh"

Sutt filled his own glass and patiently endured the other’s uneasy reverie

Of whatever the reverie consisted, it ended indecisively, for the primate said suddenly, almost explosively, "Sutt, what’s on your mind?"

"I’ll tell you, Manlio" His thin lips parted, "We’re in the middle of a Seldon crisis"

Manlio stared, then said softly, "How do you know? Has Seldon appeared in the Tiain?"

"That much, my friend, is not necessary Look, reason it out Since the Galactic Empire abandoned the Periphery, and threw us on our oe have never had an opponent who possessed nuclear power Now, for the first tinificant even if it stood by itself And it doesn’t For the first ti a major domestic political crisis I should think the synchronization of the two crises, inner and outer, puts it beyond all doubt"

Manlio’s eyes narrowed, "If that’s all, it’s not enough There have been two Seldon crises so far, and both ti can be a third crisis till that danger returns"

Sutt never showed i Any fool can tell a crisis when it arrives The real service to the state is to detect it in e a planned history We know that Hari Seldon worked out the historical probabilities of the future We know that some day we’re to rebuild the Galactic Empire We know that it will take a thousand years or thereabouts And we know that in the interval ill face certain definite crises

"Now the first crisis came fifty years after the establishment of the Foundation, and the second, thirty years later than that Alone since It’s time, Manlio, it’s time"

Manlio rubbed his nose uncertainly, "And you’ve made your plans to meet this crisis?"

Sutt nodded

"And I," continued Manlio, "aain, "Before we can ot to put our own house in order These traders"

"Ah!" The prirew sharp

"That’s right These traders They are useful, but they are too strong and too uncontrolled They are Outlanders, educated apart froe into their hands, and on the other, we reest hold upon them"

"If we can prove treachery?"

"If we could, direct action would be sinify in the least Even if treason a them did not exist, they would form an uncertain element in our society They wouldn’t be bound to us by patriotisious awe Under their secular leadership, the outer provinces, which, since Hardin’s tiht break away"

"I see all that, but the cure"

"The cure must come quickly, before the Seldon Crisis becomes acute If nuclear weapons are without and disaffection within, the odds lass he had been fingering, "This is obviously your job"

"Mine?"

"I can’t do it My office is appointive and has no legislative standing"

"The mayor"

"Ietic only in evading responsibility But if an independent party arose that ht allow himself to be led"

"But, Sutt, I lack the aptitude for practical politics"

"Leave that to me Who knows, Manlio? Since Salvor Hardin’s time, the prile person But it ht happen now if your job ell done"

3

And at the other end of town, in hos, Hober Mallow kept a second appoint, and now he said cautiously, "Yes, I’ve heard of your caet trader representation in the council But why me, Twer?"

Jaim Tould remind you any tiroup of Outlanders to receive a lay education at the Foundation, bea," he said "Remember when I met you first, last year"

"At the Trader’s Convention"

"Right You ran theYou had those red-necked oxen planted in their seats, then put them in your shirtpocket and walked off with theht with the Foundation lamor or, at any rate, solid adventure-publicity, which is the saood," said Mallow, dryly "But why now?"

’Because now’s our chance Do you know that the Secretary of Education has handed in his resignation? It’s not out in the open yet, but it will be"

"How do you know?"

"That never usted hand "It’s so The Actionist party is splitting wide open, and we can hts for traders; or, rather, deed back in his chair and stared at his thick fingers, "Uh-uh Sorry, Twer I’et someone else"

Twer stared, "Business? What kind of business?"

"Very super-secret Triple-A priority All that, you know Had a talk with the mayor’s own secretary"

"Snake Sutt?" Jai rid of you Mallow"

"Hold on!" Mallow’s hand fell on the other’s balled fist "Don’t go into a blaze If it’s a trick, I’ll be back so if it isn’t, your snake, Sutt, is playing into our hands Listen, there’s a Seldon crisis co up"

Malloaited for a reaction but it never came Twer merely stared "What’s a Seldon crisis?"

"Galaxy!" Mallow exploded angrily at the anticlimax, "What the blue blazes did you do when you went to school? What do you mean anyway by a fool question like that?"

The elder man frowned, "If you’ll explain"

There was a long pause, then, "I’ll explain" Mallow’s eyebroered, and he spoke slowly "When the Galactic Ees, and when the ends of the Galaxy reverted to barbarisists planted a colony, the Foundation, out here in the middle of the y, and form the nucleus of the Second Empire"

"Oh, yes, yes"

"I’m not finished," said the trader, coldly "The future course of the Foundation was plotted according to the science of psychohistory, then highly developed, and conditions arranged so as to bring about a series of crises that will force usthe route to future Empire Each crisis, each Seldon crisis,one now our third"

Twer shrugged "I suppose this wastiet it Whatsent out into the middle of the develop what I’ll have when I come back, and there is a council election every year"

Twer looked up, "Are you on the track of anything?"

"No"

"You have definite plans?"

"Not the faintest inkling of one"

"Well"

"Well, nothing Hardin once said: ’To succeed, planning alone is insufficient One must improvise as well’ I’ll improvise"

Twer shook his head uncertainly, and they stood, looking at each other

Mallow said, quite suddenly, but quitewith me? Don’t stare, man You’ve been a trader before you decided them was more excitement in politics Or so I’ve heard"

"Where are you going? Tell me that"

Towards the Whassallian Rift I can’t be more specific till we’re out in space What do you say?"

Suppose Sutt decides he wants me where he can see

"Not likely If he’s anxious to get rid of me, why not of you as well? Besides which, no trader would hit space if he couldn’t pick his own crew I take wholint in the older o" He held out his hand, "It’ll be rasped and shook the other’s hand, "Good! All fired good! And now I’ve got to round up the boys You knohere the Far Star docks, don ’t you? Then show up tomorrow Good-by"

4

Korell is that frequent phenomenon in history: the republic whose ruler has every attribute of the absolute monarch but the name It therefore enjoyed the usual despotis influences in the legitial "honor" and court etiquette

Materially, its prosperity was low The day of the Galactic E but silent memorials and broken structures to testify to it The day of the Foundation had not yet come and in the fierce detero, with his strict regulation of the traders and his stricter prohibition of the

The spaceport itself was decrepit and decayed, and the crew of the Far Star were drearily aware of that Theatahtfully, "Good tradingquietly out the viewport So far, there was little else to be said about Korell The trip here was uneventful The squadron of Korellian ships that had shot out to intercept the Far Star had been tiny, lilory or battered, clumsy hulks They had maintained their distance fearfully, and still maintained it, and for a week now, Mallow’s requests for an audience with the local go government had been unanswered

Mallow repeated, "Good trading here You in territory"

Jaim Twer looked up impatiently, and threw his cards aside, "What the devil do you intend doing, Mallow? The crew’s gru"

"Wondering? About what?"

"About the situation And about you What are we doing?"

"Waiting"

The old trader snorted and grew red He growled, "You’re going it blind, Mallow There’s a guard around the field and there are ships overhead Suppose they’re getting ready to blow us into a hole in the ground"

"They’ve had a week"

"Maybe they’re waiting for reinforcements" Twer’s eyes were sharp and hard

Mallow sat down abruptly, "Yes, I’d thought of that You see, it poses a pretty proble, however, for only three ships out of better than three hundred went a-glie is low But that may mean also that the number of their ships equipped with nuclear power is small, and that they dare not expose therows

"But it could mean, on the other hand, that they haven’t nuclear power after all Orundercover, for fear we know so, light-armed merchant ships It’s another to fool around with an accredited envoy of the Foundation when thesuspicious

"Combine this"

"Hold on, Mallow, hold on" Twer raised his hands "You’re just about drowningat? Never ot to have the in-betweens, or you won’t understand, Twer We’re both waiting They don’t knohat I’ot here But I’m in the weaker position because I’m one and they’re an entire world maybe with atomic power I can’t afford to be the one to weaken Sure it’s dangerous Sure therefor us But we knew that from the start What else is there to do?"

"I don’t Who’s that, now?"

Mallow looked up patiently, and tuned the receiver The visiplate glowed into the craggy face of the watch sergeant

"Speak, sergeant"

The sergeant said, "Pardon, sir The iven entry to a Foundation rew livid

"A missionary, sit He’s in need of hospitalization, sir-"

"There’ll be eant, for this piece of work Order the e was almost empty Five minutes after the order, even the uns It was speed that was the great virtue in the anarchic regions of the interstellar space of the Periphery, and it was in speed above all that the crew of a master trader excelled

Mallow entered slowly, and stared the missionary up and down and around His eye slid to Lieutenant Tinter, who shifted uneasily to one side and to Watch-Sergeant Deure flanked the other

The Master Trader turned to Twer and paused thoughtfully, "Well, then, Twer, get the officers here quietly, except for the co-ordinators and the trajectorian The men are to remain at stations till further orders"

There was a five-minute hiatus, in which Mallow kicked open the doors to the lavatories, looked behind the bar, pulled the draperies across the thick s For half a ether, and when he returned he was hu abstractedly

Men filed in Twer followed, and closed the door silently

Mallow said quietly, "First, who let this eant stepped forward Every eye shifted "Pardon, sir It was no definite person It was a sort of ht say, and these foreigners here"

Mallow cut hieant, and understand them These men, were they under your command?"

"Yes, sir"

"When this is over, they’re to be confined to individual quarters for a week You yourself are relieved of all supervisory duties for a sieant’s face never changed, but there was the slightest droop to his shoulders He said, crisply, "Yes, sir"

"You un-station"

The door closed behind him and the babble rose

Twer broke in, "Why the punishment, Mallow? You know that these Korellians kill captured ainst my orders is bad in itself whatever other reasons there may be in its favor No one was to leave or enter the ship without permission"

Lieutenant Tinter murmured rebelliously, "Seven days without action You can’t maintain discipline that way"

Mallow said icily, "I can There’s no merit in discipline under ideal circumstances I’ll have it in the face of death, or it’s useless Where’s this missionary? Get him here in front of me"

The trader sat dohile the scarlet-cloaked figure was carefully brought forward

"What’s your naure wheeled towards Mallow, the whole body turning as a unit His eyes were blankly open and there was a bruise on one temple He had not spoken, nor, as far as Mallow could tell,all the previous interval

"Your name, revered one?"

The missionary started to sudden feverish life His aresture "My son arms of the Galactic Spirit"

Twer stepped forward, eyes troubled, voice husky, "The man’s sick Take him to bed, somebody Order him to bed, Mallow, and have hireat arm shoved him back, "Don’t interfere, Twer, or I’ll have you out of the room Your name, revered one?"

The missionary’s hands clasped in sudden supplication, "As you are enlightened men, save me from the heathen" The words tumbled out, "Save me from these brutes and darkened ones who raven after me and would afflict the Galactic Spirit with their crimes I am Jord Parma, of the Anacreonian worlds Educated at the Foundation; the Foundation itself, my children I am a Priest of the Spirit educated into all the mysteries, who have co "I have suffered at the hands of the unenlightened As you are Children of the Spirit; and in the name of that Spirit, protect me froency alarht! Instruction desired!"

Every eye shot mechanically upward to the speaker

Malloore violently He clicked open the reverse and yelled, "Maintain vigil! That is all!" and turned it off

He made his way to the thick drapes that rustled aside at a touch and stared grimly out,

Enemy units! Several thousands of them in the persons of the individualrabble encompassed the port froht of led closer

"Tinter!" The trader never turned, but the back of his neck was red "Get the outer speaker working and find out what they want Ask if they have a representative of the laith them Make no promises and no threats, or I’ll kill you"

Tinter turned and left

Mallow felt a rough hand on his shoulder and he struck it aside It er His voice was an angry hiss in his ear, "Mallow, you’re bound to hold onto thisdecency and honor otherwise He’s of the Foundation and, after all, he is a priest These savages outside Do you hear me?"

"I hear you, Twer" Mallow’s voice was incisive "I’ve got uard missionaries I’ll do, sir, what I please, and, by Seldon and all the Galaxy, if you try to stop et in my way, Twer, or it will be the last of you"

He turned and strode past "You! Revered Parma! Did you know that, by convention, no Foundation missionaries may enter the Korellian territory?"

The o where the Spirit leads, htenn of their need for it?"

"That’s outside the question, revered one You are here against the law of both Korell and the Foundation I cannot in law protect you"

The ain His earlier bewilderone There was the raucous clamor of the ship’s outer coabble of the angry horde in response The sound made his eyes wild

"You hear them? Why do you talk of law to her laws Was it not the Galactic Spirit that said: Thou shalt not stand idly by to the hurl of thy fellowman And has he not said: Even as thou dealest with the humble and defenseless, thus shalt thou be dealt with

"Have you not guns? Have you not a ship? And behind you is there not the Foundation? And above and all-about you is there not the Spirit that rules the universe?" He paused for breath

And then the great outer voice of the Far Star ceased and Lieutenant Tinter was back, troubled

"Speak!" said Mallow, shortly

"Sir, they demand the person of Jord Parma"

"If not?"

"There are various threats, sir It is difficult to make much out There are so many and they seeoverns the district and has police powers, but he is quite evidently not his own ed Mallow, "he is the law Tell theovernor, or policeman, or whatever he is, approaches the ship alone, he can have the Revered Jord Parun in his hand He added, "I don’t knohat insubordination is I have never had any experience with it But if there’s anyone here who thinks he can teach me, I’d like to teach hiun swiveled slowly, and rested on Twer With an effort, the old trader’s face untwisted and his hands unclenched and lowered His breath was a harsh rasp in his nostrils

Tinter left, and in five ure detached itself from the crowd It approached slowly and hesitantly, plainly drenched in fear and apprehension Twice it turned back, and twice the patently obvious threats of the ht," Mallow gestured with the hand-blaster, which remained unsheathed "Grun and Upshur, take him out"

The ers speared upward as the voluminous sleeves fell away to reveal the thin, veined arht that caain, contemptuously

The led in the two-fold grasp, "Cursed be the traitor who abandons his fellowman to evil and to death Deafened be the ears that are deaf to the pleadings of the helpless Blind be the eyes that are blind to innocence Blackened forever be the soul that consorts with blackness"

Twer clahtly over his ears

Mallow flipped his blaster and put it away "Disperse," he said, evenly, "to respective stations Maintain full vigil for six hours after dispersion of crowd Double stations for forty-eight hours thereafter Further instructions at that time Twer, come with me"

They were alone in Mallow’s private quarters Mallow indicated a chair and Twer sat down His stocky figure looked shrunken

Mallow stared him down, sardonically "Twer," he said, "I’otten you out of trader habits Remember, I may be a de short of tyranny that can run my ship the way I want it run I never had to pull a blaster on my men before, and I wouldn’t have had to now, if you hadn’t gone out of line

"Twer, you have no official position, but you’re here on my invitation, and I’ll extend you every courtesy in private However, from now on, in the presence of my officers or men, I’ive an order, you’ll jump faster than a third-class recruit just for luck, or I’ll have you handcuffed in the sub-level even faster Understand?"

The party-leader sed dryly He said, reluctantly, "My apologies"

"Accepted! Will you shake?"

Twer’s lie palood It’s difficult to send a overnor or whatever-he-was can’t save him It’s murder"

"I can’t help that Frankly, the incident smelled too bad Didn’t you notice?"

"Notice what?"

"This spaceport is deep in the middle of a sleepy far section Suddenly a missionary escapes Where froathers From where? The nearest city of any size must be at least a hundred miles away But they arrive in half an hour How?"

"How?" echoed Twer

"Well, what if the ht here and released as bait Our friend, Revered Parma, was considerably confused He seemed at no time to be in coe" murmured Twer bitterly

"Maybe! And allant, into a stupid defense of the ainst the laws of Korell and the Foundation If I withhold hiainst Korell, and the Foundation would have no legal right to defend us"

"That that’s pretty far-fetched"

The speaker blared and forestalled Mallow’s answer: "Sir, official communication received"

"Sub cylinder arrived in its slot with a click Mallow opened it and shook out the silver-inated sheet it held He rubbed it appreciatively between thuer and said, "Teleported direct from the capital Colance and laughed shortly, "So my idea was far-fetched, was it?"

He tossed it to Twer, and added, "Half an hour after we hand back the et a very polite invitation to the Coust presence after seven days of previous waiting I think we passed a test"

5

Commdor Asper was aback-fringe of gray hair drooped li, and he spoke with a snuffle

"There is no ostentation here, Trader Mallow," he said "No false show In me, you see merely the first citizen of the state That’s what Commdor means, and that’s the only title I have"

He seemed inordinately pleased with it all, "in fact, I consider that fact one of the strongest bonds between Korell and your nation I understand you people enjoy the republican blessings we do"

"Exactly, Co uly in favor of continued peace and friendship between our governray beard twitched to the sentirimaces of his face "I don’t think there is anyone in the Periphery who has so near his heart the ideal of Peace, as I have I can truthfully say that since I succeeded n of Peace has never been broken Perhaps I shouldn’t say it" –he coughed gently "but I have been told that my people, my fellow-citizens rather, know me as Asper, the Well-Beloved"

Mallow’s eyes wandered over the well-kept garden Perhaps the tall ned but openly-vicious weapons they carried just happened to be lurking in odd coainst hiirdered walls that circled the place had quite obviously been recently strengthened an unfitting occupation for such a Well-Beloved Asper

He said, "It is fortunate that I have you to deal with then, Co worlds, which haven’t the benefit of enlightened administration, often lack the qualities that would make a ruler well-beloved"

"Such as?" There was a cautious note in the Commdor’s voice

"Such as a concern for the best interests of their people, You, on the other hand, would understand,"

The Coravel path as they walked leisurely, His hands caressed each other behind his back

Malloent on smoothly, "Up to now, trade between our two nations has suffered because of the restrictions placed upon our traders by your govern been evident to you that unlimited trade"

"Free Trade!" mumbled the Commdor

"Free Trade, then You must see that it would be of benefit to both of us There are things you have that ant, and things we have that you want It asks only an exchange to bring increased prosperity An enlightened ruler such as yourself, a friend of the people I ht say, a member of the people needs no elaboration on that the any"

"True! I have seen this But ould you?" His voice was a plaintive whine "Your people have always been so unreasonable I am in favor of all the trade our economy can support, but not on your terms I am not sole master here" His voice rose, "I am only the servant of public opinion My people will not take coion"

Mallo hiion?"

"So it has always been in effect Surely you reo First they were sold sooods and then your people asked for cooods ht be run properly; that Temples of Health be set up There was then the establishhts for all officers of the religion and hat result? Askone is now an integral member of the Foundation’s system and the Grand Master cannot call his underwear his own Oh, no! Oh, no! The dignity of an independent people could never suffer it"

"None of what you speak is at all what I suggest," interposed Mallow

"No?"

"No I’ion All this mysticislad you refuse to countenance it It makes you h was high-pitched and jerky, "Well said! The Foundation should have sent a man of your caliber before this"

He laid a friendly hand upon the trader’s bulking shoulder, "But man, you have told me only half You have told me what the catch is not Now tell me what it is"

"The only catch, Co to be burdened with an immense quantity of riches"

"Indeed?" he snuffled "But what could I ith riches? The true wealth is the love of one’s people I have that"

"You can have both, for it is possible to gather gold with one hand and love with the other"

"Now that,phenoo about it?"

"Oh, in a nu them Let’s see Well, luxury items, for instance This object here, now"

Mallo gently out of an inner pocket a flat, linked chain of polished metal "This, for instance"

"What is it?"

"That’s got to be de feth"

"Het indoors, then"

The Co place as a house The populace undoubtedly would call it a palace To Mallow’s straightforward eyes, it looked uncommonly like a fortress it was built on an eminence that overlooked the capital Its walls were thick and reinforced Its approaches were guarded, and its architecture was shaped for defense Just the type of dwelling, Mallow thought sourly, for Asper, the Well-Beloved

A young girl was before them She bent low to the Coirls Will she do?"

"Perfectly!"

The Commdor watched carefully while Mallow snapped the chain about the girl’s waist, and stepped back

The Commdor snuffled, "Well Is that all?"

"Will you draw the curtain, Co lady, there’s a little knob just near the snap Will you move it upward, please? Go ahead, it won’t hurt you"

The girl did so, drew a sharp breath, looked at her hands, and gasped, "Oh!"

Fro lu color that drew itself over her head in a flashing coronet of liquid fire It was as if someone had tom the aurora borealis out of the sky and irl stepped to the mirror and stared, fascinated

"Here, take this" Mallow handed her a necklace of dull pebbles "Put it around your neck"

The girl did so, and each pebble, as it entered the luminescent field became an individual flaold

"What do you think of it?" Mallow asked her The girl didn’t answer but there was adoration in her eyes The Coestured and reluctantly, she pushed the knob down, and the glory died She left with a memory

"It’s yours, Coift from the Foundation"

"Hm-m-m’ The Coh calculating the weight "How is it done?"

Mallow shrugged, "That’s a question for our technical experts But it ork for you without mark you, without priestly help"

"Well, it’s only feminine frippery after all What could you do with it? Where would the money come in?"

"You have balls, receptions, banquets that sort of thing?"

"Oh, yes"

"Do you realize omen will pay for that sort of jewelry? Ten thousand credits, at least"

The Commdor seemed struck in a heap, "Ah!"

"And since the power unit of this particular iteer than six months, there will be the necessity of frequent replacements Noe can sell as ht iron of one thousand credits There’s nine hundred percent profit for you"

The Coed in awesoht for them I’ll keep the supply small and let them bid Of course, it wouldn’t do to let them know that I personally"

Mallow said, "We can explain the workings of du further at randoets We have collapsible stoves that will roast the toughest ot knives that won’t require sharpening We’ve got the equivalent of a complete laundry that can be packed in a small closet and ork entirely automatically Ditto dish-washers Ditto-ditto floor-scrubbers, furniture polishers, dust-precipitators, lighting fixtures oh, anything you like Think of your increased popularity, if you make them available to the public Think of your increased quantity of, uh, worldly goods, if they’re available as a government monopoly at nine hundred percent profit It will be worth many times the money to them, and they needn’t knohat you pay for it And, mind you, none of it will require priestly supervision Everybody will be happy"

"Except you, it seeet out of it?"

"Just what every trader gets by Foundation law My men and I will collect half of whatever profits we take in Just you buy all I want to sell you, and we’ll both make out quite well Quite well"

The Cohts, "What did you say you wanted to be paid with? Iron?"

"That, and coal, and bauxite Also tobacco, pepper, h of"

"It sounds well"

"I think so Oh, and still another item at random, Commdor I could retool your factories"

"Eh? How’s that?"

"Well, take your steel foundries I have handy little gadgets that could do tricks with steel that would cut production costs to one percent of previous marks You could cut prices by half, and still split extremely fat profits with the manufacturers I tell you, I could show you exactly what I mean, if you allowed me a demonstration Do you have a steel foundry in this city? It wouldn’t take long"

"It could be arranged, Trader Mallow But toht?"

"My an Mallow

"Let them all come," said the Commdor, expansively "A syive us a chance for further friendly discussion But one thing," his face lengthened and grew steion Don’t think that all this is an entering wedge for the missionaries"

"Coion would cut my profits"

"Then that will do for now You’ll be escorted back to your ship"

6

The Coer than her husband Her face was pale and coldly forhtly back

Her voice was tart "You are quite finished, racious and noble husband? Quite, quite finished? I suppose I arden if I wish, now"

"There is no need for dra ht, and you can speak with hi to all I say Rooed for his rant that they be few in nus of eaters ill eat shead And you will groan for two nights when you calculate the expense"

"Well now, perhaps I won’t Despite your opinion, the dinner is to be on the most lavish scale"

"Oh, I see" She stared at him contemptuously "You are very friendly with these barbarians Perhaps that is why I was not to be permitted to attend your conversation Perhaps your little weazened soul is plotting to turn against my father"

"Not at all"

"Yes, I’d be likely to believe you, wouldn’t I? If ever a poor woe, it was myself I could have picked a more proper man from the alleys and mudheaps of my native world"

"Well, now, I’ll tell you what,to your native world Except that, to retain as a souvenir that portion of you hich I aue cut out first And," he tolled his head, calculatingly, to one side, "as a final i touch to your beauty, your ears and the tip of your nose as well"

"You wouldn’t dare, you little pug-dog My father would pulverize your toy nation to ht do it in any case, if I told hi with these barbarians"

"Hm-m-m Well, there’s no need for threats You are free to question the ue still"

"At your orders?"

"Here, take this, then, and keep still"

The band was about her waist and the necklace around her neck He pushed the knob himself and stepped back

The Commdora drew in her breath and held out her hands stiffly She fingered the necklace gingerly, and gasped again

The Commdor rubbed his hands with satisfaction and said, "You et you more Now keep still"

The Coeted and shuffled his feet He said, "What’s twisting your face?"

Hober Mallow lifted out of his brooding, "Is my face twisted? It’s notmust have happened yesterday, –I mean, besides that feast" With sudden conviction, "Mallow, there’s trouble, isn’t there?"

"Trouble? No Quite the opposite In fact, I’ainst a door and finding it ajar at the ti into this steel foundry too easily"

"You suspect a trap?"

"Oh, for Seldon’s sake, don’t be melodramatic" Malloed his impatience and added conversationally, "It’s just that the easy entranceto see

"Nuclear power, huh?" Twer ruminated "I’ll tell you There’s just about no evidence of any nuclear power econons of the widespread effects a funda"

"Not if it was just starting up, Twer, and being applied to a war economy You’d find it in the shipyards and the steel foundries only"

"So if we don’t find it, then"

"Then they haven’t got it or they’re not showing it Toss a coin or take a guess"

Twer shook his head, "I wish I’d been with you yesterday"

"I wish you had, too," said Mallow stonily "I have no objection to moral support Unfortunately, it was the Co, and not roundcar to escort us to the foundry Have you got the gadgets?"

"All of thee, and bore the odor of decay which no amount of superficial repairs could quite erase It was empty now and in quite an unnatural state of quiet, as it played unaccustomed host to the Co the steel sheet onto the two supports with a careless heave He had taken the instru the leather handle inside its leaden sheath

"The instruerous, but so is a buzz saw You just have to keep your fingers away"

And as he spoke, he drew the th of the steel sheet, which quietly and instantly fell in two

There was a unanihed He picked up one of the halves and propped it against his knee, "You can adjust the cutting-length accurately to a hundredth of an inch, and a two-inch sheet will slit down the ot the thickness exactly judged, you can place steel on a wooden table, and split thethe wood"

And at each phrase, the nuclear shear ed chunk of steel flew across the roo with steel"

He passed back the shear "Or else you have the plane Do you want to decrease the thickness of a sheet, sularity, remove corrosion? Watch!"

Thin, transparent foil flew off the other half of the original sheet in six-inch swarths, then eight-inch, then twelve

"Or drills? It’s all the same principle"

They were crowded around now It ician, a vaudeville act ered scraps of steel High officials of the government tiptoed over each other’s shoulders, and whispered, while Mallow punched clean, beautiful round holes through an inch of hard steel at every touch of his nuclear drill

"Just one ths of pipe, so-or-other sprang to obedience in the general exciteht-absorption, and stained his hands like any laborer

Mallow stood thele stroke of the shear, and then joined the pipes, fresh cut to fresh cut

And there was a single pipe! The new ends, with even ato

Then Mallow looked up at his audience, stumbled at his first word and stopped There was the keen stirring of excitely and cold

The Coled to the front line, and Mallow, for the first tih to see their unfamiliar hand-weapons in detail

They were nuclear! There was noit; an explosive projectile weapon with a barrel like that was i point That wasn’t the point at all

The butts of those weapons had, deeply etched upon the, the Spaceship-and-Sun!

The sareat voluun and not yet finished The same Spaceship-and-Sun that had blazoned the banner of the Galactic Eh and around his thoughts, "Test that pipe! It’s one piece Not perfect; naturally, the joining shouldn’t be done by hand"

There was no need of further legerdeh He had what he wanted There was only one thing in his lobe with its conventionalized rays, and the oblique cigar shape that was a space vessel

The Spaceship-and-Sun of the Empire!

The Empire! The words drilled! A century and a half had passed but there was still the-Eain, out into the Periphery

Mallow smiled!

9

The Far Star o days out in space, when Hober Mallow, in his private quarters with Senior Lieutenant Drawt, handed him an envelope, a roll of microfilm, and a silvery spheroid

"As of an hour fro Captain of the Far Star, until I return, –or forever"

Drawtbut Malloaved him down imperiously

"Quiet, and listen The envelope contains the exact location of the planet to which you’re to proceed There you ait for me for two months If, before the two months are up, the Foundation locates you, the microfilm is my report of the trip

"If, however," and his voice was somber, "I do not return at the end of two months, and Foundation vessels do not locate you, proceed to the planet, Terminus, and hand in the Time Capsule as the report Do you understand that?"

"Yes, sir"

"At no tile instance, my official report"

"If we are questioned, sir?"

"Then you know nothing"

"Yes, sir"

The interview ended, and fifty htly off the side of the Far Star

10

Onum Barr was an old man, too old to be afraid Since the last disturbances, he had lived alone on the fringes of the land hat books he had saved fro, least of all the worn reing

"Your door was open," the stranger explained

His accent was clipped and harsh, and Barr did not fail to notice the strange blue-steel hand-weapon at his hip In the half gloolow of a force-shield surrounding the man

He said, wearily, "There is no reason to keep it closed Do you wish anything ofin the center of the rooht and bulk "Yours is the only house about here"

"It is a desolate place," agreed Barr, "but there is a town to the east I can show you the way’"

"In a while May I sit?"

"If the chairs will hold you," said the old ravely They were old, too Relics of a better youth

The stranger said, "My name is Hober Mallow I come from a far province"

Barr nodded and so I am Onum Barr of Siwenna and once Patrician of the Empire"

"Then this is Siwenna I had only old uide me"

"They would have to be old, indeed, for star-positions to be misplaced"

Barr sat quite still, while the other’s eyes drifted away into a reverie He noticed that the nuclear force-shield had vanished from about the er seeood or for evil, to his enemies

He said, "My house is poor and my resources few You may share what I have if your stomach can endure black bread and dried corn"

Mallow shook his head, "No, I have eaten, and I can’t stay All I need are the directions to the center of governh done, and poor though I a Do you mean the capital of the planet, or of the Ier man’s eyes narrowed, "Aren’t the two identical? Isn’t this Siwenna?"

The old patrician nodded slowly, "Siwenna, yes But Siwenna is no longer capital of the Normannic Sector Your old e even in centuries, but political boundaries are all too fluid"

"That’s too bad In fact, that’s very bad Is the new capital far off?"

"It’s on Orsha II Twenty parsecs off Your map will direct you How old is it?"

"A hundred and fifty years"

"That old?" The old hed "History has been crowded since Do you know any of it?"

Mallow shook his bead slowly

Barr said, "You’re fortunate It has been an evil tin of Stannell VI, and he died fifty years ago Since that time, rebellion and ruin, ruin and rebellion" Barr wondered if he were growing garrulous It was a lonely life out here, and he had so little chance to talk to men

Mallow said with sudden sharpness, "Ruin, eh? You sound as if the province were impoverished"

"Perhaps not on an absolute scale The physical resources of twenty-five first-rank planets take a long time to use up Coone a long way downhill and there is no sign of turning, not yet Why are you so interested in all this, young man? You are all alive and your eyes shine!"

The trader ca, as the faded eyes seemed to look too deep into his and smile at what they saw

He said, "Now look here I’m a trader out there out toward the rim of the Galaxy I’ve located some old maps, and I’m out to open new markets Naturally, talk of iet ot No’s Siwenna, for instance?"

The old man leaned forward, "I cannot say It will do even yet, perhaps But you a trader? You look un and there is a scar on your jawbone"

Mallow jerked his head, "There isn’tand scars are part of a trader’s overhead But fighting is only useful when there’s et it without, so h ? I take it I can find the fighting easily enough"

"Easily enough," agreed Barr "You could join Wiscard’s reh, if you’d call that fighting or piracy Or you could join our present gracious viceroy gracious by right of e, rapine, and the word of a boy Ehtfully assassinated" The patrician’s thin cheeks reddened His eyes closed and then opened, bird-bright

"You don’t sound very friendly to the viceroy, Patrician Barr," said Mallow "What if I’m one of his spies?"

"What if you are?" said Barr, bitterly "What can you take?" He gestured a withered ar mansion

"Your life"

"It would leaveBut you are not one of the viceroy’s men If you were, perhaps even now instinctive self-preservation would keep my mouth closed"

"How do you know?"

The old er you think I’overnment No, no I am past politics"

"Past politics? Is a man ever past that? The words you used to describe the viceroy ere they? Murder, pillage, all that You didn’t sound objective Not exactly Not as if you were past politics"

The oldwhen they coe for yourself! When Siwenna was the provincial capital, I was a patrician and a member of the provincial senate My farandfathers had been No, never "

"I take it," said Mallow, "there was a civil war, or a revolution"

Barr’s face darkened "Civil wars are chronic in these degenerate days, but Siwenna had kept apart Under Stannell VI, it had almost achieved its ancient prosperity But weak e viceroys, and our last viceroy the sa the Red Stars aimed at the Imperial Purple He wasn’t the first to aim And if he had succeeded, he wouldn’t have been the first to succeed

"But he failed For when the Emperor’s Admiral approached the province at the head of a fleet, Siwenna itself rebelled against its rebel viceroy" He stopped, sadly

Mallow found hie of his seat, and relaxed slowly, "Please continue, sir"

"Thank you," said Barr, wearily "It’s kind of you to humor an old man They rebelled; or I should say, we rebelled, for I was one of the minor leaders Wiscard left Siwenna, barely ahead of us, and the planet, and with it the province, were thrown open to the adesture of loyalty to the Emperor Why we did this, –I’m not sure Maybe we felt loyal to the symbol, if not the person, of the Emperor, –a cruel and vicious child Maybe we feared the horrors of a siege"