It was amazing how the movement was growing. It had started from nothing three years back and now its tentacles4 stretched-in some places more thickly than others, of course-throughout Trantor. The Outer Worlds were as yet largely untouched. Demerzel had labored5 mightily6 to keep them content, but that was his mistake. It was here on Trantor that rebellions were dangerous. Elsewhere, they could be controlled. Here, Demerzel could be toppled. Odd that he should not realize that, but Joranum had always held to the theory that Demerzel's reputation was overblown, that he would prove an empty shell if anyone dared oppose him, and that the Emperor would destroy him quickly if his own security seemed at stake.
So far, at least, all of Joranum's predictions had come to pass. He had never once lost his way except in minor7 matters, such as that recent rally at Streeling University in which this Seldon fellow had interfered8.
That might be why Joranum had insisted on the interview with him. Even a minor toe stub must be taken care of. Joranum enjoyed the feeling of infallibility and Namarti had to admit that the vision of a constant string of successes was the surest way of ensuring the continuation of success. People tended to avoid the humiliation9 of failure by joining the obviously winning side even against their own opinions.
But had the interview with this Seldon been a success or was it a second stub of the toe to be added to the first? Namarti had not enjoyed having been brought along in order to be made to humbly10 apologize and he didn't see that it had done any good.
Now Joranum sat there, silent, obviously lost in thought, gnawing11 at the edge of one thumb as though trying to draw some sort of mental nourishment12 from it.
"Jo-Jo," said Namarti softly. He was one of the very few people who could address Joranum by the diminutive13 that the crowds shouted out endlessly in public. Joranum solicited14 the love of the mob in this way, among others, but he demanded respect from individuals in private, except for those special friends who had been with him from the start.
"Jo-Jo," he said again.
Joranum looked up. "Yes, G.D., what is it?" He sounded a little testy15.
"What are we going to do about this Seldon fellow, Jo-Jo?"
"Do? Nothing right now. He may join us."
"Why wait? We can put pressure on him. We can pull a few strings16 at the University and make life miserable17 for him."
"No no. So far, Demerzel has been letting us go our way. The fool is overconfident. The last thing we want to do,. though, is to push him into action before we are quite ready. And a heavy-handed move against Seldon may do it. I suspect Demerzel places enormous importance on Seldon."
"Because of this psychohistory you two talked about?"
"Indeed."
"What is it? I have never heard of it."
"Few people have. It's a mathematical way of analyzing18 human society that ends by predicting the future."
Namarti frowned and felt his body move slightly away from Joranum. Was this a joke of Joranum's? Was this intended to make him laugh? Namarti had never been able to work out when or why people expected him to laugh. He had never had an urge to.
He said, "Predict the future? How?"
"Ah? If I knew that, what need would I have of Seldon?"
"Frankly19 I don't believe it, Jo-Jo. How can you foretell20 the future? It's fortune-telling."
"I know, but after this Seldon broke up your little rally, I had him looked into. All the way. Eight years ago, he came to Trantor and presented a paper on psychohistory at a convention of mathematicians21 and then the whole thing died. It was never referred to again by anyone. Not even by Seldon."
"It sounds as though there were nothing to it, then."
"Oh no, just the reverse. If it had faded slowly, if it had been subjected to ridicule22, I would have said there was nothing to it. But to be cut off suddenly and completely means that the whole thing has been placed in the deepest of freezes. That is why Demerzel may have been doing nothing to stop us. Perhaps he is not being guided by a foolish overconfidence; perhaps he is being guided by psychohistory, which must be predicting something that Demerzel plans to take advantage of at the right time. If so, we might fail unless we can make use of psychohistory ourselves."
"Seldon claims it doesn't exist."
"Wouldn't you if you were he?"
"I still say we ought to put pressure on him."
"It would be useless, G.D. Didn't you ever hear the story of the Ax of Venn?"
"No."
"You would if you were from Nishaya. It's a famous folktale back home. In brief, Venn was a woodcutter who had a magic ax that, with a single light blow, could chop down any tree. It was enormously valuable, but he never made any effort to hide it or preserve it-and yet it was never stolen, because no one could lift or swing the ax but Venn himself.
"Well, at the present moment, no one can handle psychohistory but Seldon himself. If he were on our side only because we had forced him, we could never be certain of his loyalty23. Might he not urge a course of action that would seem to work in our favor but would be so subtly drawn24 that, after a while, we found ourselves quite suddenly destroyed. No, he must come to our side voluntarily and labor3 for us because he wishes us to win."
"But how can we bring him around?"
"There's Seldon's son. Raych, I think he's called. Did you observe him?"
"Not particularly."
"G.D., G.D., you miss points if you don't observe everything. That young man listened to me with his heart in his eyes. He was impressed. I could tell. If there's one thing I can tell, it is just how I impress others. I know when I have shaken a mind, when I have edged someone toward conversion25."
Joranum smiled. It was not the pseudowarm ingratiating smile of his public demeanor26. It was a genuine smile this time-cold, somehow, and menacing.
"We'll see what we can do with Raych," he said, "and if, through him, we can reach Seldon."
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1
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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2
sector
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| n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形 | |
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3
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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4
tentacles
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| n.触手( tentacle的名词复数 )；触角；触须；触毛 | |
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5
labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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6
mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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7
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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8
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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9
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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10
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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11
gnawing
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| a.痛苦的，折磨人的 | |
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12
nourishment
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| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
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13
diminutive
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| adj.小巧可爱的，小的 | |
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14
solicited
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| v.恳求( solicit的过去式和过去分词 )；（指娼妇）拉客；索求；征求 | |
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15
testy
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| adj.易怒的；暴躁的 | |
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16
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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17
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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18
analyzing
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| v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析 | |
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19
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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20
foretell
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| v.预言，预告，预示 | |
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21
mathematicians
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| 数学家( mathematician的名词复数 ) | |
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22
ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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23
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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24
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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25
conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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26
demeanor
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| n.行为；风度 | |
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