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sinners ... who would dare to use profane force ... against the Foundation
... source of all blessings ... and against the Galactic Spirit. Cease at
once all war against ... the true faith . . . and guarantee in a manner
suiting us of the navy ... as represented by our ... priest-attendant, Theo
Aporat ... that such war will never in the future ... be resumed, and
that" here a long pause, and then continuing "and that the one-time
prince regent, Wienis ... be imprisoned ... and tried before an
ecclesiastical court ... for his crimes. Otherwise the royal navy ... upon
returning to Anacreon ... will blast the palace to the ground ... and take
whatever other measures ... are necessary ... to destroy the nest of sinners
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... of men's souls that now prevail."
The voice ended with half a sob and the screen went blank.
Hardin's fingers passed rapidly over the nucleo-bulb and its light faded
until in the dimness, the hitherto regent, the king, and the soldiers were
hazy-edged shadows; and for the first time it could be seen that an aura
encompassed Hardin.
It was not the blazing light that was the prerogative of kings, but one
less spectacular, less impressive, and yet one more effective in its own
way, and more useful.
Hardin's voice was softly ironic as he addressed the same Wienis who had
one hour earlier declared him a prisoner of war and Terminus on the point of
destruction, and who now was a huddled shadow, broken and silent.
"There is an old fable," said Hardin, "as old perhaps as humanity, for the
oldest records containing it are merely copies of other records still
older, that might interest you. It runs as follows:
"A horse having a wolf as a powerful and dangerous enemy lived in constant
fear of his life. Being driven to desperation, it occured to him to seek a
strong ally. Whereupon he approached a man, and offered an alliance,
pointing out that the wolf was likewise an enemy of the man. The man
accepted the partnership at once and offered to kill the wolf immediately, if
his new partner would only co-operate by placing his greater speed at the
man's disposal. The horse was willing, and allowed the man to place bridle
and saddle upon him. The man mounted, hunted down the wolf, and killed
him.
"The horse, joyful and relieved, thanked the man, and said: 'Now that our
enemy is dead, remove your bridle and saddle and restore my freedom.'
"Whereupon the man laughed loudly and replied, 'Never!' and applied the
spurs with a will."
Silence still. The shadow that was Wienis did not stir.
Hardin continued quietly, "You see the analogy, I hope. In their anxiety to
cement forever domination over their own people, the kings of the Four
Kingdoms accepted the religion of science that made them divine; and that
same religion of science was their bridle and saddle, for it placed the
life blood of nuclear power in the hands of the priesthoodwho took their
orders from us, be it noted, and not from you. You killed the wolf, but
could not get rid of the m "
Wienis sprang to his feet and in the shadows, his eyes were maddened
hollows. His voice was thick, incoherent. "And yet I'll get you. You won't
escape. You'll rot. Let them blow us up. Let them blow everything up.
You'll rot! I'll get you!
"Soldiers!" he thundered, hysterically. "Shoot me down that devil. Blast
him! Blast him!"
Hardin turned about in his chair to face the soldiers and smiled. One aimed
his nuclear blast and then lowered it. The others never budged. Salvor
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Hardin, mayor of Terminus, surrounded by that soft aura, smiling so
confidently, and before whom all the power of Anacreon had crumbled to
powder was too much for them, despite the orders of the shrieking maniac
just beyond.
Wienis shouted incoherently and staggered to the nearest soldier. Wildly,
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file:///F|/rah/Isaac%20Asimov/Foundation.txt he wrested the nuclear blast
from the man's hand-aimed it at Hardin, who didn't stir, shoved the lever
and held it contacted.
The pale continous beam impinged upon the force-field that surrounded the
mayor of Terminus and was sucked harmlessly to neutralization. Wienis
pressed harder and laughed tearingly.
Hardin still smiled and his force-field aura scarcely brightened as it
absorbed the energies of the nuclear blast. From his comer Lepold covered
his eyes and moaned.
And, with a yell of despair, Wienis changed his aim and shot again and
toppled to the floor with his head blown into nothingness.
Hardin winced at the sight and muttered, "A man of 'direct action' to the
end. The last refuge!"
9.
The Time Vault was filled; filled far beyond the available seating
capacity, and men lined the back of the room, three deep.
Salvor Hardin compared this large company with the few men attending the
first appearance of Hari Seldon, thirty years earlier. There had only been
six, then; the five old Encyclopedists all dead now and himself, the
young figurehead of a mayor. It had been on that day, that he, with Yohan
Lee's assistance had removed the "figurehead" stigma from his office.
It was quite different now; different in every respect. Every man of the
City Council was awaiting Seldon's appearance. He, himself, was still
mayor, but all-powerful now; and since the utter rout of Anacreon,
all-popular. When he had returned from Anacreon with the news of the death of
Wienis, and the new treaty signed with the trembling Lepold, he was
greeted with a vote of confidence of shrieking unanimity. When this was
followed in rapid order, by similar treaties signed with each of the other
three kingdoms treaties that gave the Foundation powers such as would
forever prevent any attempts at attack similar to that of Anacreon's
torchlight processions had been held in every city street of Terminus. Not
even Hari Seldon's name had been more loudly cheered.
Hardin's lips twitched. Such popularity had been his after the first crisis
also.
Across the room, Sef Sermak and Lewis Bort were engaged in animated
discussion, and recent events seemed to have put them out not at all. They
had joined in the vote of confidence; made speeches in which they publicly
admitted that they had been in the wrong, apologized handsomely for the use of
certain phrases in earlier debates, excused themselves delicately by
declaring they had merely followed the dictates of their judgement and
their conscience and immediately launched a new Actionist campaign.
Yohan Lee touched Hardin's sleeve and pointed significantly to his watch.
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