The  snow had  ceased, but  it caked  the ground  deeply now and  the sleekground car advanced through the deserted¹ streets with lumbering² effort. Themurky gray light of  incipient³ dawn was cold not only in the poetical⁴ sensebut also  in a very literal  way ?and even in  the then turbulent state ofthe Foundation's  politics, no  one, whether Actionist  or pro-Hardin foundhis  spirits  sufficiently  ardent⁵ to  begin  street  activity that  early.
Yohan Lee did not like that and his grumblings grew audible. "It's going tolook   bad,   Hardin.   They're   going   to   say   you   sneaked   away.""Let them say it if they wish. I've got to get to Anacreon and I want to doit without trouble. Now that's enough, Lee."Hardin leaned back into the cushioned seat and shivered slightly. It wasn'tcold inside  the well-heated  car, but there  was something frigid  about asnow-covered    world,   even    through    glass,   that    annoyed   him.
He  said, reflectively,  "Some day  when we  get around  to it we  ought toweather-condition Terminus. It could be done.""I," replied  Lee, "would  like to see  a few other things  done first. Forinstance, what  about weather-conditioning Sermak? A  nice, dry cell fittedfor  twenty-five   centigrade  all   year  round  would   be  just  fight.""And then  I'd really  need  bodyguards," said Hardin, "and  not just thosetwo,"  He indicated  two  of Lee's  bully-boys  sitting up  front with  thedriver, hard  eyes on the empty streets, ready  hands at their atom blasts.
"You evidently want to stir up civil war.""I  do? There  are  other sticks  in the  fire  and it  won't  require muchstirring, I  can tell you." He  counted off on blunt  fingers, "One: Sermakraised hell  yesterday in the City Council  and called for an

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