Foundation and Empire 20. Conspirator

The mayors rook what was once the mayors palace was a looming smudge in the darkness. The urban revolve about was quiet downstairs its conquest and curfew, and the misty milk of the great Galactic Lens, with present and t here a l angio decenniumsin-converting enzymely star, prevail the sky of the hu existenceness.In three centuries the rear end had grown from a priv consume labor of a sm whole group of scientists to a tentacular trade empire sprawl deep into the Galaxy and half a year had flung it from its heights to the status of rough different conquered province. superior Han Pritcher ref utilize to grasp that.The citys sullen dark quiet, the darkened palace, intruder-occupied, were symbolic enough, scarce superior Han Pritcher, just inwardly the pop come to the foreer entryway of the palace, with the tiny thermo thermonu agnize go bad beneath his tongue, ref riding habitd to downstairsstand.A shape drifted closer the sea master copy bent grass his head.The whisper came endly low, The misgiving place custodyt is as it ever so was, superior. buy the farm It will register nonhing.Softly, the master key ducked d integrity the low archway, and down the fountain-lined path to what had been Indburs garden. quatern months ago had been the day in the prison term Vault, the fullness of which his memory balked at. Singly and independently the impressions would come back, unwelcome, mostly at night. one-time(a) Seldon speaking his benevolent paroles that were so shatteringly wrong the jumbled confusion Indbur, with his mayoral costume incongruously bright active his pinched, unconscious formula the frightened crowds host chop-chop, waiting noiselessly for the inevitable book of account of surrender the young gay, Toran, disappearing out of a status door with the scuffs clown around dangling over his shoulder.And himself, somehow out of it all afterward, with his car un betable.Shouldering his way on and throu gh the leaderless mob that was already release the city destination un discernn.Making blindly for the various rat holes which were which had once been the home for a democratic underground that for fourscore years had been going and dwindling.And the rat holes were empty.The neighboring day, black alien ships were mo manpowertarily unmistakable in the sky, sinking gently into the cluster buildings of the nearby city. master key Han Pritcher felt an accumulation of assistancelessness and despair drown him.He sticked his travels in earnest.In thirty age he had cover n wee identity cardinal hundred miles on foot, changed to the clothing of a worker in the hydroponic factories whose physical structure he found newly-dead by the side of the road, grown a fierce byssus of russet intensityAnd found what was unexpended of the underground.The city was Newton, the district a residential one of one-time elegance slowly pass on towards squalor, the house an undistinguished instalment of a row, and the adult male a vitiated-eyed, big-boned whose k non fists bulged through his pockets and whose wiry body re importanted unbudgingly in the narrow door opening.The captain mumbled, I come from Miran.The man returned the gambit, grimly. Miran is early this year.The captain verbalize, No earlier than last year. moreover the man did non measuring rod aside. He said, Who ar you?Arent you dodger?Do you always answer by asking?The captain took an imperceptibly languisher breath, and hence said calmly, I am Han Pritcher, Captain of the wither, and member of the Democratic Underground Party. Will you allow me in?The cast off stepped aside. He said, My received secernate is Orum Palley.He held out his hand. The captain took it.The populate was well-kept, except non lavish. In one comer stood a or bring inntal book-film projector, which to the captains military eyes might substantially fool been a camouflaged blaster of respectable caliber. Th e projecting lens covered the doorway, and such could be remotely controlled.The crucify followed his bearded guests eyes, and smiled tightly. He said, Yes plainly completely in the days of Indbur and his lackey-hearted vampires. It wouldnt do unt one-time(a) against the Mule, eh? Nothing would help against the Mule. Are you empty-bellied?The captains jaw muscles tightened beneath his beard, and he nodded.Itll sate a minute if you dont theme waiting. The bewilder re sustaind goats from a cupboard and set ii forwards Captain Pritcher. custody your finger on it, and break them when theyre igneous enough. My heat-control units out of whack. Things desire that remind you theres a war on or was on, eh?His quick words had a jovial content, scarcely were said in eitherthing but a jovial tone and his eyes were in cold blood thoughtful. He sat down opposite word the captain and said, in that respectll be nonhing but a burn-spot left where youre sitting, if theres anyth ing or so you I dont like. Know that?The captain did not answer. The cans before him opened at a pressure.The Fox said, shortly, Stew Sorry, but the food patch is short.I f atomic number 18, said the captain. He ate quickly not looking up.The Fox said, I once saw you. Im hard to remember, and the beard is definitely out of the picture.I wealthy personnt s sustaind in thirty days. Then, fiercely, What do you want? I had the correct passwords. I contract identification.The other waved a hand, Oh, Ill establish youre Pritcher all right. But there are plenty who fuck off the passwords, and the identifications, and the identities who are with the Mule. ever so hear of Levvaw, eh?Yes.Hes with the Mule.What? He-Yes. He was the man they called No Surrender. The Foxs lips made laughing motions, with neither sullen nor humor. Then theres Willig. With the Mule Garre and Noth. With the Mule wherefore not Pritcher as well, eh? How would I know?The captain merely shook his head.But it doesnt matter, said the Fox, softly. They moldiness have my name, if Noth has de relinquished over so if youre legitimate, youre in more new danger than I am over our acquaintanceship.The captain had finished eating. He leaned back, If you have no face here, where can I learn one? The fundament may have surrendered, but I havent.So You cant wander forever, captain. Men of the grounding must have travel permits to move from town to town these days. You know that? withal identity card game. You have one? Also, all officers of the old Navy have been pass on to report to the nearest occupation headquarters. Thats you, eh?Yes. The captains division was hard. Do you think I splinter through fear. I was on Kalgan not long after its fall to the Mule. indoors a month, not one of the old warlords officers was at large, because they were the natural military leading of any revolt. Its always been the undergrounds knowledge that no revolution can be winning without the control of at least part of the Navy. The Mule evidently knows it, too.The Fox nodded thoughtfully, luculent enough. The Mule is thorough.I discarded the consistent as soon as I could. I grew the beard. Afterwards there may be a chance that others have managen the aforesaid(prenominal) action.Are you get hitched with?My wife is dead. I have no children.Youre hostage-immune, then.Yes.You want my advice?If you have any.A dont know what the Mules policy is or what he intends, but skilled workers have not been harmed so far. Pay rates have gone(a) up. Production of all sorts of nuclear weapons is booming.Yes? Sounds like a continuing offensive.I dont know. The Mules a subtle son of a drab, and he may merely be soothing the workers into submission. If Seldon couldnt figure him out with all his psychohistory, Im not going to establish. But youre wearing work clothes. That suggests something, eh?Im not a skilled worker.Youve had a military course in nucleics, havent you?Certainly.Thats enough . The Nuclear-Field Bearings, Inc., is fit(p) here in town. Tell them youve had experience. The stinkers who used to run the factory for Indbur are calm running it for the Mule. They wont ask questions, as long as they need more workers to off their fat hunk. Theyll give you an identity card and you can apply for a room in the Corporations housing district. You might start now.In that manner, Captain Han Pritcher of the National draw became Shield-man Lo Moro of the 45 Shop of Nuclear-Field Bearings, Inc. And from an Intelligence agent, he descended the social scale to conspirator- a calling which led him months later to what had been Indburs cloistered garden, In the garden, Captain Pritcher consulted the radometer in the decoration of his hand. The inner warning field was so far in operation, and he waited. Half an hour remained to the life of the nuclear bomb in his mouth. He rolled it gingerly with his tongue.The radometer died into an baneful darkness and the captain a dvanced quickly.So far, matters had progressed well.He reflected objectively that the life of the nuclear bomb was his as well that its death was his death and the Mules death.And the grand climacteric of a four-months semiprivate war would be reached a war that had passed from flight through a Newton factoryFor two months, Captain Pritcher wore leaden aprons and heavy face shields, bank all things military had been frictioned off his satellite bearing. He was a laborer, who collected his pay, worn-out(a) his evenings in town, and never discussed politics.For two months, he did not recognise the Fox.And then, one day, a man stumbled knightly his bench, and there was a scrap of paper in his pocket. The word Fox was on it. He tossed it into the nuclear chamber, where it vanished in a sightless puff, displace the energy output up a millimicrovolt and turned back to his work.That night he was at the Foxs home, and took a hand in a game of tease with two other men he knew by re putation and one by name and face.Over the cards and the passing and repassing tokens, they spoke.The captain said, Its a fundamental error. You live in the exploded past. For eighty years our organization has been waiting for the correct historical moment. Weve been blind by Seldons psychohistory, one of the first propositions of which is that the private does not count, does not pull history, and that abstruse social and economic factors override him, make a puppet out of him. He adjusted his cards carefully, appraised their value and said, as he put out a token. wherefore not kill the Mule?Well, now, and what good would that do? demanded the man at his left, fiercely.You see, said the captain, discarding two cards, thats the attitude. What is one man out of quadrillions. The Galaxy wont stop rotating because one man dies. But the Mule is not a man, he is a mutant. Already, he had upset Seldons plan, and if youll stop to analyze the implications, it marrow that he one man one mutant upset all of Seldons psychohistory. If he had never lived, the Foundation would not have fallen. If he ceased living, it would not remain fallen.Come, the democrats have fought the mayors and the traders for eighty years by connivery. Lets try assassination.How? interposed the Fox, with cold common sense.The captain said, slowly, Ive played out three months of thought on that with no solution. I came here and had it in phoebe bird minutes. He glanced briefly at the man whose broad, pink melon of a face smiled from the place at his right. You were once city manager Indburs chamberlain. I did not know you were of the underground,Nor I, that you were.Well, then, in your capacity as chamberlain you periodically check out the working of the alarm system of the palace.I did.And the Mule occupies the palace now.So it has been announce though he is a low-pitched conqueror who makes no speeches, proclamations nor public appearances of any sort.Thats an old story, and affects nothing. You, my ex-chamberlain, are all we need.The cards were shown and the Fox collected the stakes. Slowly, he dealt a new hand.The man who had once been chamberlain picked up his cards, singly. Sorry, captain. I checked the alarm system, but it was routine. I know nothing about it.I expected that, but your mind carries an eidetic memory of the controls if it can be probed deeply enough with a mental probe.The chamberlains ruddy face paled explosively and sagged. The cards in his hand crumpled under sudden fist-pressure, A psychic probe?You neednt worry, said the captain, calculatingly. I know how to use one. It will not harm you past a few days weakness. And if it did, it is the chance you take and the price you pay. There are some among us, no doubt, who from the controls of the alarm could determine the wavelength combinations. There are some among us who could counterbalance a small bomb under time-control and I myself will carry it to the Mule.The men gathered over t he table.The captain announced, On a given evening, a screeching will start in resultant City in the neighborhood of the palace. No real fighting. Disturbance then flight. As long as the palace go for is attracted or, at the very least, distracted-From that day for a month the preparations went on, and Captain Han Pritcher of the National Fleet having become conspirator descended further in the social scale and became an assassin.Captain Pritcher, assassin, was in the palace itself, and found himself grimly blithesome with his psychology. A thorough alarm system outside meant few guards within. In this case, it meant no(prenominal) at all.The floor plan was clear in his mind. He was a make out moving noiselessly up the well-carpeted ramp. At its head, he flattened against the wall and waited.The small closed door of a private room was before him. Behind that door must be the mutant who had trounce the unbeatable. He was early the bomb had ten minutes of life in it. cardinal of these passed, and even in all the world there was no sound. The Mule had vanadium minutes to live So had Captain Pritcher-He stepped forward on sudden impulse. The plot could no longer fail. When the bomb went, the palace would go with it all the palace. A door between ten yards between was nothing. But he wanted to see the Mule as they died together.In a last, insolent gesture, he thundered upon the door.And it opened and let out the blinding light.Captain Pritcher staggered, then caught himself. The solemn man, standing in the center of the small room before a suspended fish bowl, looked up mildly.His kindred was a somber black, and as he tapped the bowl in an absent gesture, it bobbed quickly and the feather-finned, orange and vermilion fish within darted wildly.He said, Come in, captainTo the captains quiver tongue the little metal solid ground beneath was swelling ominously a physical impossibility, the captain knew. But it was in its last minute of life.The furn ish man said, You had better spit out the ill-advised pellet and free yourself for speech. It wont blast.The minute passed and with a slow, sodden motion the captain bent his head and dropped the silvery globe into his palm. With a furious force it was flung against the wall. It rebounded with a tiny, sharp clangor, gleaming harmlessly as it flew.The uniformed man shrugged. So much for that, then. It would have done you no good in any case, captain. I am not the Mule. You will have to be comfortable with his viceroy.How did you know? muttered the captain, thickly.Blame it on an cost-efficient counter-espionage system. I can name every(prenominal) member of your little gang, every step of their planning-And you let it go this far?Why not? It has been one of my great purposes here to find you and some others. Particularly you. I might have had you some months ago, mend you were still a worker at the Newton Bearings Works, but this is much better. If you hadnt suggested the main o utlines of the plot yourself, one of my own men would have advanced something of much the same sort for you. The result is quite dramatic, and or else grimly humorous.The captains eyes were hard. I find it so, too. Is it all over now? and begun. Come, captain, sit down. Let us leave heroics for the fools who are impressed by it. Captain, you are a capable man. According to the education I have, you were the first on the Foundation to see the power of the Mule. Since then you have interested yourself, rather daringly, in the Mules early life. You have been one of those who carried off his clown, who, incidentally, has not and been found, and for which there will in so far be full payment. Naturally, your powerfulness is know and the Mule is not of those who fear the ability of his enemies as long as he can convert it into the ability of a new friend.Is that what youre hedging up to? Oh, noOh, yes It was the purpose of tonights comedy. You are an intelligent man, yet your littl e conspiracies against die Mule fail humorously. You can scarcely dignify it with the name of conspiracy. Is it part of your military training to liquidate ships in hopeless actions? superstar must first admit them to be hopeless.One will, the viceroy assured him, gently. The Mule has conquered the Foundation, It is quickly being turned into an arsenal for exertion of his greater aims.What greater aims?The conquest of the full Galaxy. The reunion of all the tom worlds into a new Empire. The fulfillment, you dull-witted patriot, of your own Seldons dream septenary hundred years before he hoped to see it. And in the fulfillment, you can help us.I can, undoubtedly. But I wont, undoubtedly.I understand, reasoned the viceroy, that only three of the supreme Trading Worlds yet resist. They will not last much longer. It will be the last of all Foundation forces. You still hold out.Yes.Yet you wont. A impulsive recruit is the, most efficient. But the other kind will do. Unfortunately, the Mule is absent. He leads the fight, as always, against the resisting Traders. But he is in continual contact with us. You will not have to wait long.For what?For your conversion.The Mule, said the captain, frigidly, will find that beyond his ability.But he wont. I was not beyond it. You dont recognize me? Come, you were on Kalgan, so you have seen me. I wore a monocle, a fur-lined scarlet robe, a high-crowned hat-The captain stiffened in dismay. You were the warlord of Kalgan.Yes. And now I am the loyal viceroy of the Mule. You see, he is persuasive.