Chapter 23

"No!" Hari Seldon was almost violent. "I don't want you out there, Dors."
    Dors Venabili stared back at him with an expression as firm as his own. "Then I won't let you go, either, Hari."
    "I must be there."
    "It is not your place. It is the Gardener First-Class who must greet these new people."
    "So it is. But Gruber can't do it. He's a broken man."
    "He must have an assistant of some sort. Or let the old Chief Gardener do it. He holds the office till the end of the year."
    "The old Chief Gardener is too ill. Besides"-Seldon hesitated-攖here are ringers among the gardeners. Trantorians. They're here, for some reason. I have the names of every one of them."
    "Have them taken into custody¹, then. Every last one of them. It's simple. Why are you making it so complex?"
    "Because we don't know why they're here. Something's up. I don't see what twelve gardeners can do, but- No, let me rephrase that. I can see a dozen things they can do, but I don't know which one of those things they've planned. We will, indeed, take them into custody, but I must know more about everything before it's done.
    "We have to know enough to winkle out everyone in the conspiracy² from top to bottom and we must know enough of what they're doing to be able to make the proper punishment stick. I don't want to get twelve men and women on what is essentially³ a misdemeanor charge. They'll plead desperation, the need for a job. They'll complain that it isn't fair for Trantorians to be excluded. They'll get plenty of sympathy and we'll be left looking like fools. We must give them a chance to convict themselves of more than that. Besides-"
    There was a long pause and Dors said wrathfully, "Well, what's the new `besides'?"
    Seldon's voice lowered. "One of the twelve is Raych, using the alias⁴ Planchet."
    "What?"
    "Why are you surprised? I sent him to Wye to infiltrate⁵ the Joranumite movement and he's succeeded in infiltrating⁶ something. I have every faith in him. If he's there, he knows why he's there and he must have some sort of plan to put a spoke⁷ in the wheel. But I want to be there, too. I want to see him. I want to be in a position to help him if I can."
    "If you want to help him, have fifty guards of the Palace standing⁸ shoulder to shoulder on either side of your gardeners."
    "No. Again, we'll end up with nothing. The Imperial Guard will be in place but not in evidence. The gardeners in question must think they have a clear hand to do whatever it is they plan to do. Before they can do so, but after they have made it quite plain what they intend-we'll have them."
    "That's risky⁹. It's risky for Raych."
    "Risks are something we have to take. There's more riding on this than individual lives."
    "That is a heartless thing to say."
    "You think I have no heart? Even if it broke, my concern would have to be with psycho-"
    "Don't say it." She turned away, as if in pain.
    "I understand," said Seldon, "but you mustn't be there. Your presence would be so inappropriate that the conspirators¹⁰ will suspect we know too much and will abort¹¹ their plan. I don't want their plan aborted¹²."
    He paused, then said softly, "Dors, you say your job is to protect me. That comes before protecting Raych and you know that. I wouldn't insist on it, but to protect me is to protect psychohistory and the entire human species. That must come first. What I have of psychohistory tells me that 1, in turn, must protect the center at all costs and that is what I am trying to do. -Do you understand?"
    Dors said, "I understand," then turned away from him.
    Seldon thought: And I hope I'm right.
    If he weren't, she would never forgive him. Far worse, he would never forgive himself-psychohistory or not.
   

1 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

2 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

3 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

4 alias   

n.化名；别名；adv.又名

参考例句：

• His real name was Johnson,but he often went by the alias of Smith.他的真名是约翰逊，但是他常常用化名史密斯。
• You can replace this automatically generated alias with a more meaningful one.可用更有意义的名称替换这一自动生成的别名。

5 infiltrate   

vt./vi.渗入，透过；浸润

参考例句：

• The teacher tried to infiltrate her ideas into the children's minds.老师设法把她的思想渗透到孩子们的心中。
• It can infiltrate as much as 100 kilometers into enemy territory at night.可以在夜间深入敌领土100千米。

6 infiltrating   

v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Be vigilant against the danger of enemy agents infiltrating the government and boring from within. 要警惕敌特渗入政府内部进行暗中破坏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The metastatic melanoma is seen here to be infiltrating into the myocardium. 图示转移性黑色素瘤浸润到心肌。 来自互联网

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

10 conspirators   

n.共谋者，阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The conspirators took no part in the fighting which ensued. 密谋者没有参加随后发生的战斗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The French conspirators were forced to escape very hurriedly. 法国同谋者被迫匆促逃亡。 来自辞典例句

11 abort   

v.使流产，堕胎；中止；中止(工作、计划等)

参考例句：

• The captain instructed them to abort the mission.上尉指示他们中止执行任务。
• With this button the user can abort the audio sequence.用户可以用该按钮终止音频序列。

12 aborted   

adj.流产的，失败的v.（使）流产( abort的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）（某事物）中止；（因故障等而）（使）（飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等）中断飞行；（使）（飞行任务等）中途失败

参考例句：

• The rocket flight had to be aborted because of difficulties with computer. 因电脑出故障，这次火箭飞行只好中辍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They aborted the space flight finally. 他们最后中止了这次宇航飞行。 来自《简明英汉词典》