Asimov’s Future History Volume 20

by Isaac Asimov

  Trevize was going to refuse, but a combination of curiosity and homesickness made him change his mind. “Thank you, Father,” he said at last. “I’d like that very much.”

  A Pleasure Doing Business With You

  729 F. E. (12797 G. E.)

  From the Publisher:

  What an interesting sequence of events has passed since our last edition of Encyclopedia Galactica was published. In this, the 83rd edition, we cover a wide variety of topics: the admission of Hame, known throughout the Galaxy as Trantor, into the Foundation foremost among them. We mustn’t forget, either, the wondrous achievements of Mayor Robar Unrich over the past several years – already one of the strongest Mayors we’ve had in living history. The Foundation’s expansion, science, and most importantly, prosperity continues to last.

  It is widely believed at the time of this publication that Mayor Unrich has successfully weathered a Seldon Crisis which was not predicted by Dr. Hari Seldon, founder of the Foundation. Whether we actually had such a crisis, of course, will be left up to the historians to decide. The details of this crisis are contained in a special addendum to this edition, as it occurred to late to be printed in the main sections of this edition. The 84th edition will include the crisis’s progress in the main body of the Encyclopedia.

  And even today, we continue to make discoveries, or in many cases, rediscoveries. For instance, in recent years a planet considered for colonization by the Foundation has been discovered with some form of mechanical intelligence. The planet, whose name apparently means Atomic Fire or Inferno, resembles a home for both machines and men. This astonishing discovery, however, is not a satisfying one – there are no intelligent machines in working or repairable condition – all electronic and positronic components on the planet have long since failed and rusted away. There is no way of knowing when either man or machine walked or maneuvered on the planet. Currently, the planet is under archaeological quarantine, and when Foundation officials have determined that all such components have been archived safely, recolonization efforts can begin. See our listing under Inferno for details.

  This edition of the Encyclopedia Galactica, however, carries a special significance for myself and for our employees here. Over the past several years, we have wondered whether or not there would be an 83rd edition. Our concerns have been shared, unfavorably, by the galactic media. It is true that the Encyclopedia Galactica Publishing Company has weathered its own little crisis. The 82nd edition, as many of our customers know, was published seven years ago – an exceptionally long time between editions in our company’s history, and one which nearly bankrupted us for several different reasons. With this edition, our financial situation is unquestionably repaired – and not because we simply needed to rush another edition to print. This edition incorporates a great deal of new content which has traditionally been excluded from earlier editions. We continue to hold ourselves to the highest quality of publishing standards, and you will find that this edition is worthy of the title Galactica.

  And now, as our first publisher, Dr. Lewis Pirenne, once said, “Let our work speak for itself.” I present to you, ladies and gentlemen, the 83rd Edition of the Encyclopedia Galactica.

  Dr. Harald Ramis

  Publisher

  Nine months earlier …

  “WE’RE LOSING MONEY,” Harald said to his board of directors. “The simple fact is we’re overdue for the 83rd edition, and it’s costing us. Our competitors from Delicass have released two editions of their Encylopedia Of Humanity since we released the 82nd edition. Our stockholders are not happy either – our stock has plummeted 14 percent overnight, after we failed to deliver on time. I need some ideas, gentlemen.”

  The situation was extremely grim. Yesterday had been the deadline Harald had set publicly for the 83rd edition’s release. Yesterday had come and gone, without a word in print, hypervid, or even broadcast. “How much longer can we continue like this?” the vice president for public relations asked. The short, young woman had been a rising star, and had just been promoted to the board. She had known the company was in financial trouble, but not this bad.

  “Two months. Two months, and we’re out of business,” the chief financial officer replied. He was an older man, who had long since lost his hair.

  “In two months,” Harald interrupted, “no one will consider buying even a used copy of the E.G. We’ve fallen that far behind in our technology, in our updates, and in our credibility. I say we have two weeks to pull ourselves out of this, and two hours to figure out how.”

  “That, and the 82nd edition was itself a quick fix,” the most senior member of the board remarked. No one wanted to be reminded of that. The 82nd edition had had the poorest sales in over four centuries, ever since the time of the Mule’s brief rule. “We can’t do that again – we’ve got to put out quality this time.”

  “Can we? Hell, Delicass is sitting right where the old Empire once had the seat of government! They called it Neotrantor! They are right next door to Trantor, with its own stores of information. Do you know how much it costs us to send our researchers out to the Galaxy? They’ve got a plutonium mine of information right underneath them, and they’re just starting to scratch into it!” Harald’s frustration was evident.

  “That’s just the thing. The early Foundation had access to a whole lot of information to put into their E.G.’s. We have to rely on new stuff, whereas the Humanity crew has access to all this old stuff for a fraction of our costs. The two Encyclopedias have totally different avenues,” Public Relations threw in.

  “No encyclopedia can survive new editions without new material being added. That’s the bottom line,” Harald said. “We need information. We need a lot more than we have right now.”

  “There’s none out there to be had!” the Research division head protested. “I know we’re the most expensive division in the company, but we’re also the largest. We have scoured this Galaxy under press credentials and under the name of the Foundation. Sure, we hit a plutonium mine with that Inferno discovery, but that’s a once-in-a-lifetime find these days. What do you expect us to do? The Editing division isn’t big enough, and you know that, Harald. We keep sending them raw data, and they can’t process it fast enough.”

  “So do we hire more editors, is that it, Bernie?” Editing asked sarcastically. “No one wants to work for us anymore. The Foundation economy is at its strongest, and unemployment is almost nonexistent. All the university-trained editors are working on local newspapers and for Delicass. We have hired only two thousand new editors in the last year. We’ve spent millions of credits on advertising our positions available, and we still have forty thousand openings after three years. Come on!”

  The room was silenced after that comment. It was all true, and it was a dead end.

  “We need Trantor’s information, without the expenses of travel from Terminus to Trantor or anywhere else. Humanity’s got it.” Harald summed it up neatly.

  “We’ve got twelve thousand times Humanity’s budget, or value for that matter – but they’ve got the lock on Trantor,” Finance threw in. “We can’t buy that access – we have to be there.”

  Faces lit up around the table. “Maybe we can,” Harald said.

  “Can what?” Finance asked. Then it hit him – and he started grinning like the rest of them.

  “They can’t be serious,” Encyclopedia Of Humanity’s publisher, Georgia Nua guffawed. “They can’t be!”

  “They must really be in trouble, if they’re coming to us with that,” her senior vice president agreed. “Wow.”

  “So what do you think?”

  “We’ve got them. By Cleon I, we’ve got them.”

  “Should we take it, or should we balk? They’re offering half again our current value.” Georgia was shaking her head with glee.

  “Trantor’s worth ten times our value.”

  “But it’s going to take us fifty years to get that value. With their funding, it could be done in months.”

 
; The SVP crossed his arms. “I don’t know … it sounds great, but I think we can get more. When do they want an answer?”

  “Two days, by secure courier. For the courier to get back in time, we have to decide now.”

  The SVP considered that. “Not very polite of them, is it?”

  “To hell with polite. We can’t pass this up, Pedro. We can’t.”

  Two weeks later, printed in the Delicass Daily NewsFeed:

  DELICASS–The Encyclopedia Galactica Publishing Company and the Encyclopedia Of Humanity announced the largest merger in Galactic history today, in a press conference at the Encyclopedia of Humanity’s public affairs office.

  “We’re very happy to be joining forces with the Encyclopedia Galactica,” Georgia Nua, president of the Encyclopedia of Humanity Publishing House said today before a crowd of news and financial reporters. “This is an unparalleled opportunity for the Galaxy to learn more about itself than ever before.”

  Dr. Harald Ramis, publisher and chief executive officer of the Encyclopedia Galactica Publishing Company, said, “The resources which Humanity has access to, combined with our funding, just make sense for our customers – Galactica’s and Humanity’s. And what makes sense for our customers makes business sense for us.”

  Under the terms of the merger agreement, Encyclopedia Galactica shareholders will own 70% of the new company, while Encyclopedia Of Humanity’s shareholders will replace their stocks with the remaining 30%.

  The merger involves two companies, both of which are heavyweights in the publishing business. Encyclopedia Galactica, based on Terminus, has been in business since 1 F. E. Encyclopedia of Humanity, based here on Delicass, has published fourteen editions over the last 142 years, and enjoys an exclusive contract with the Hamish government’s Office of Information. Hame, popularly known throughout the Galaxy under its former name of Trantor, recently elected to join the Foundation Federation, which originally sponsored Encyclopedia Galactica.

  The stock markets reacted most favorably to the announcement, with Encyclopedia Galactica shares rising 4 points to 49.5 credits per share, and Encyclopedia Of Humanity’s stock price nearly doubling to 74.25 credits per share.

  The merger requires the formal approval of the Hamish government, the Foundation Federation’s Ministry of Justice, and the stockholders of both companies.

  The Imperial Conference

  1000 F. E. (13068 G. E.)

  Chapter One

  IMPERIAL CONFERENCE, THE: THE HIGHEST POINT IN THE HISTORY OF THE FOUNDATIONS, IT ALSO MARKED THEIR DOWNFALL. THE FIRST FOUNDATION HAD CALLED IT TO START ON THE FIRST DAY OF 1000 F. E., TO FORM THE SECOND GALACTIC EMPIRE WHICH THEY HAD SO EAGERLY AWAITED SINCE DR. HARI SELDON DISPATCHED HIS FIRST FOUNDATION TO TERMINUS, AND HIS SECOND FOUNDATION TO STAR’S END. NATURALLY, IT WAS A SAD TIME FOR THE FIRST FOUNDATION’S GOVERNMENT, AS THEY EXPECTED THEY WOULD GIVE UP POWER PERMANENTLY TO THE GALAXY FOR ITS OWN LEADERSHIP. “IT WAS TIME TO LET THE GALAXY GROW UP,” ONE OF TRANTOR’S DELEGATES SAID AFTERWARD, “AND LEAVE OUR FOUNDATION’S GUIDANCE BEHIND.”

  THE SAD TIMES WERE NOT WITHOUT DANGER, HOWEVER, DANGER WHICH STARTED TWO MONTHS BEFORE THE CONFERENCE ITSELF DID …

  –ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA,

  118TH EDITION, 1054 F. E.

  “WE’VE GOT A problem,” Ione said. And when Ione said that, it meant it was a big problem. Ione classified small problems as “situations”, implying that she could handle them. As the Lieutenant Governor of the Foundation, she had to handle them, and leave her Governor to lead the Foundation.

  Hannor looked up from his desk, surprised to see his Lieutenant leaning forward, fists balled up on his black marble table. Her small size often belied the fact that she held great power, both physically and politically. She stood there, in a shiny grey jumpsuit, hardly the uniform of a Lieutenant Governor. Of course, she’d just returned from Yrika, one of the Foundation’s noisier provinces. Hannor beckoned silently for her to continue.

  “Yrika insists on providing ‘security’ for our event. For the Imperial ceremonies.” She snorted, a snort of frustration. “Their king believes that security would help to ensure no one attempted to manipulate the finalization of our Empire.”

  “And you tried to dissuade him,” Hannor’s deep voice rumbled. His beard was gray and complete – and he looked forward to retirement after the Empire replaced his Foundation.

  “Well, of course I did! The Foundation is perfectly capable of defending Trantor from all comers. I’m just worried that we may have another Gilmer on our hands. The slimy bastard,” she coughed. “He’s obviously a power-grabber, and he wants to be Emperor.”

  “Will he be here?” Ione glared at Hannor – of course he would. “Then there’s no danger,” Hannor replied calmly. “We’ll just have to keep his ships away from everyone else’s. The Foundation is calling this Imperial Conference, and that’s what it’s going to be – not a Foundation conference, an Imperial one. We will have our Second Empire.”

  “And who to lead it?” Ione remarked bitterly. She stopped leaning on his desk and started pacing, her hands behind her back. “I tell you, Yrika’s just the first. And now that he’s made it public, other provinces like our own Smyrno will want to provide security as well – against their rivals, such as Yrika. I tell you, Hannor, we’re going to have our hands full just keeping these fleets from starting a war. It’s hard to build an Empire with guns blazing everywhere.”

  “History disagrees with you, Ione. The Mule certainly had an Empire, just not a stable one. A very violent Empire indeed.”

  If Hannor had been a bit younger, he might have appreciated the fine lines in her face, running from the bridge of her nose almost to the bottom of her ears. They certainly stood out as she shouted, “Violence is the last refuge!”

  “Yes, yes, don’t go misquoting Salvor Hardin on me. We’ve still got time – two months before the Conference. Don’t worry, the Second Foundation has been preparing, just as we have, for this for a thousand years. This may be our last Seldon Crisis, what you’re describing here. But it’s not a crisis yet.”

  “There you go, spouting about the Second Foundation again. They don’t exist!”

  “Of course they do. I was introduced to their First Speaker last year.” After Hannor’s election, Ione had heard him say before. She still didn’t buy it. She never would, Hannor knew. He attributed his upcoming retirement to that very event, when the Second Foundation told him they would be taking power. He just hadn’t told her that.

  “Get it off. And besides, if there’s a Seldon Crisis, they won’t hold our hand for us. We have to do it ourselves,” Ione said sourly.

  Hannor smiled cryptically, “Yes, I know. Don’t worry. We’ll know when we have a Crisis. And as you’ve said, right now it’s a problem. I’ll let the Admiralty deal with security measures, but I’ll pass on your information about Yrika. That is something they’ll need to know. Anything else?”

  Her face was still serious: That’s not enough, dammit. But she replied more respectfully, “Nothing for you. I can keep the Foundation together while you lead it.”

  Hannor stood up, in a fatherly way. “Don’t worry, Ione, I haven’t gone into retirement yet. When the time comes, I’ll lead. But not before. A lot of things can happen in two months, Ione. We don’t know when the Crisis will happen. We don’t even know if there will be a crisis. But one thing we do know: the Imperial Conference will go forward as scheduled. No matter who shows up, with what army.”

  Ione’s mouth turned upward. “By Seldon, I love that confidence you have. I often wish I had it myself.”

  “You built it in me, Ione. You’ve served me all these years, and faithfully. I’ve never had to get wrapped up in the administrative details. I ask for something, and you give it to me. That’s how I can be so confident – whatever I want to happen, happens. One way or another, you make it happen. Now go on – we have a lot of planning to do for this Conference.”

  Ione turned away, a bit of regret in her fac
e. Yes, a lot of planning … towards the end of all they had known. Where would she fit into the new Empire? She wanted to be near the top – not at the top, just near it. A nice, cozy job, organizing everything for the Emperor, that’s what she wanted. But a lot of changes were going to happen, and she might not survive it politically. And she’d be damned if she retired! Ione walked out into the hallway, back to her main office from his. It was quite a walk.

  She’d settle for being another Linge Chen. She’d be perfectly happy in such a role. Chen may have been the most hated of men in history, but he sure was a capable leader and administrator, behind the scenes. Ione simply decided she’d be better off serving the Empire than herself, as opposed to Chen.

  At the time Ione was thinking these thoughts, another conversation was taking place. It was a conversation in a language less than a thousand understood – a language of hand signals, facial signals, and the occasional bit of telepathy. A conversation between mentalics, members of the Second Foundation.

  They paused their conversation as Ione walked by, giving her the respect she was due as Lieutenant Governor. The only reason we know the conversation existed at all was because security holotapes of the conversation were made. They were not made specifically to capture such conversations – indeed, members of the First Foundation’s security forces wouldn’t have even noticed it, nor would members of the future Empire’s, had not a Second Foundationer found the tape several years later and translated it for posterity, and the Encyclopedia Galactica. Instead, the tapes were routine security measures for the First Foundation government.