The Vault¹ was furnished with considerably² more than six chairs, as though alarger company had been expected. Hardin noted³ that thoughtfully and seatedhimself wearily  in a  comer just as  far from the other  five as possible.
The Board  members did not seem  to object to that  arrangement. They spokeamong themselves  in whispers, which fell  off into sibilant monosyllables,and  then into  nothing at  all. Of  them all,  only Jord Fara  seemed evenreasonably calm.  He had produced a  watch and was staring  at it somberly.
Hardin glanced at his  own watch and then at the glass cubicle⁴ ?absolutelyempty ? that dominated half the  room. It was the  only unusual feature ofthe  room, for  aside from that  there was  no indication that  somewhere acomputer was splitting off instants of time toward that precise moment whena muon stream would flow, a connection be made and?
The lights went dim!
They didn't  go out,  but merely yellowed  and sank with  a suddenness thatmade Hardin jump. He  had lifted his eyes to the ceiling lights in startledfashion,  and when  he brought them  down the  glass cubicle was  no longerempty.
A figure occupied it ?a figure in a wheel chair!
It said nothing for  a few moments, but it closed the book upon its lap andfingered  it idly.  And  then it  smiled, and  the  face seemed  all alive.
It said, "I am Hari Seldon." The voice was old and soft.
Hardin almost  rose to acknowledge the  introduction and stopped himself inthe act.
The voice  continued conversationally⁵: "As  you see, I am  confined to thischair and  cannot rise to greet you. Your  grandparents left for Terminus afew  months  back in  my  time  and since  then  I have  suffered a  ratherinconvenient paralysis⁶.  I can't  see you, you  know, so I  can't greet youproperly. I don't even  know how many of you there are, so all this must beconducted informally.  If any of you are standing,  please sit down; and ifyou care to smoke, I wouldn't mind." There was a light

分享到：