Chapter 18

Manella said thoughtfully, "I guess I won't be seeing you anymore, Planchet."
    Raych was drying himself after his shower. "Why not?"
    "Gleb Andorin doesn't want me to."
    "Why not?"
    Manella shrugged¹ her smooth shoulders. "He says you have important work to do and no more time to fool around. Maybe he means you'll get a better job."
    Raych stiffened². "What kind of work? Did he mention anything in particular?"
    "No, but he said he would be going to the Imperial Sector³."
    "Did he? Does he often tell you things like that?"
    "You know how it is, Planchet. When a fellow's in bed with you, he talks a lot."
    "I know," said Raych, who was always careful not to. "What else does he say?"
    "Why do you ask?" She frowned a bit. "He always asks about you, too. I noticed that about men. They're curious about each other. Why is that, do you suppose?"
    "What do you tell him about me?"
    "Not much. Just that you're a very decent sort of guy. Naturally I don't tell him that I like you better than I like him. That would hurt his feelings-and it might hurt me, too."
    Raych was getting dressed. "So it's good-bye, then."
    "For a while, I suppose. Gleb may change his mind. Of course, I'd like to go to the Imperial Sector-if he'd take me. I've never been there."
    Raych almost slipped, but he managed to cough, then said, "I've never been there, either."
    "It's got the biggest buildings and the nicest places and the fanciest restaurants-and that's where the rich people live. I'd like to meet some rich people-besides Gleb, I mean."
    Raych said, "I suppose there's not much you can get out of a person like me."
    "You're all right. You can't think of credits all the time, but you've got to think of them some of the time. Especially since I think Gleb is getting tired of me."
    Raych felt compelled to say, "No one could get tired of you," and then found, a little to his own confusion, that he meant it.
    Manella said, "That's what men always say, but you'd be surprised. Anyway, it's been good, you and I, Planchet. Take care of yourself and, who knows, we may see each other again."
    Raych nodded and found himself at a loss for words. There was no way in which he could say or do anything to express his feelings.
    He turned his mind in other directions. He had to find out what the Namarti people were planning. If they were separating him from Manella, the crisis must be rapidly approaching. All he had to go on was that odd question about gardening.
    Nor could he get any further information back to Seldon. He had been kept under close scrutiny⁴ since his meeting with Namarti and all avenues of communication were cut off-surely another indication of an approaching crisis.
    But if he were to find out what was going on only after it was done-and if he could communicate the news only after it was no longer news-he would have failed.

1 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 stiffened   

加强的

参考例句：

• He leaned towards her and she stiffened at this invasion of her personal space. 他向她俯过身去，这种侵犯她个人空间的举动让她绷紧了身子。
• She stiffened with fear. 她吓呆了。

3 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

4 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。