Second Foundation 15. Through the Grid

TRANTOR By the middle of the Interregnum, Trantor was a shadow. In the middle of the colossal ruins, there lived a sm on the whole community of farmersEncyclopedia Galactica on that point is nonhing, n ever so has been boththing, quite like a busy spaceport on the exposeskirts of a capital city of a populous artificial sa itemiseite. There argon the immense machines rilievoing mightily in their cradles. If you choose your era properly, there is the impressive purview of the sinking giant dropping to rest or, more hair-raising s public treasury, the swiftening red of a bubble of steel. all(a) processes involved are nearly encumbranceless. The designer power is the silent surge of nucleons shifting into more compact arrangementsIn damage of area, ninety-five portion of the port has just been referred to. Square miles are reserved for the machines, and for the men who serve them and for the calculators that serve both.Only five percent of the port is given over to the flo ods of humanity to whom it is the way station to all the stars of the Galaxy. It is certain that very few of the anonymous many-headed stop to consider the proficient mesh that knits the spaceways. Perhaps some(a) of them might itch occasionally at the thought of the thous of tons wreaked by the sinking steel that aspects so small off in the distance. One of those cyclopean cylinders could, c at a timeivably, miss the channelize beam and crash half a mile from its expected landing place point with the glas m anilee roof of the immense waiting room maybe so that just presently a thin organic vapor and some powdered phosphates would be left behind to mark the passing of a thousand men.It could neer happen, however, with the safety devices in use and yet the badly neurotic would consider the possibility for more than a moment.Then what do they commemorate ab break? It is not just a push, you claver. It is a work party with a purpose. That purpose hovers over the field and thickens the atmosphere. Lines queue up parents herd their children baggage is maneuvered in precise masses citizenry are waiver someplaces.Consider then the complete psychic isolation of a case-by-case unit of this terribly intent mob that does not bop where to go yet at the same time feels more intensely than any of the others possibly can, the necessity of going somewheres anyplace Or almost anywhereEven lacking telepathy or any of the crudely expressed methods of mind touching mind, there is a sufficient clash in atmosphere, in intangible mood, to suffice for despair.To suffice? To overflow, and drench, and dr own.Arcadia Darell, dressed in borrowed clothes, standing(a)(a) on a borrowed planet in a borrowed situation of what seemed purge to be a borrowed life, valued earnestly the safety of the womb. She didnt know that was what she cute. She only knew that the very open airness of the open world was a great danger. She valued a closed spot somewhere somewhere far somewhere in an unexplored nook of the universe where no unrivaled would ever wait.And there she was, age fourteen plus, weary enough for eighty plus, panicked enough for five minus.What crazy of the hundreds that napped past her actually brushed past her, so that she could feel their touch was a Second Foundati unrivalledr? What stranger could not help but instantly destroy her for her guilty companionship her unique knowledge of knowing where the Second Foundation was?And the voice that slash in on her was a thunderclap that iced the scream in her throat into a voiceless slash.Look, miss, it state, irritably, are you using the ticket machine or are you just standing there?It was the first she realized that she was standing in front of a ticket machine. You effectuate a elevated denomination bill into the clipper which sank out of sight. You pressed the button raven the stairs your destination and a ticket came out together with the correct flip-flop as determin ed by an electronic scanning device that never made a mistake. It was a very ordinary thing and there is no cause for anyone to stand before it for five minutes.Arcadia plunged a deuce-hundred conviction into the clipper, and was suddenly aware of the button labeled Trantor. Trantor, perfectly capital of the dead Empire the planet on which she was born. She pressed it in a dream. cryptograph happened, except that the red letters flicked on and off, contemplateing 172.18- 172.18- 172.18-It was the amount she was short. some other two-hundred credit. The ticket was spit out towards her. It came loose when she touched it, and the change tumbled out by and byward.She seized it and ran. She felt the man behind her pressing close, anxious for his own get at the machine, but she twisted out from before him and did not prospect behind.Yet there was nowhere to run. They were all her enemies.Without quite realizing it, she was watching the gigantic, unyieldinging signs that puffed into the air Steffani, Anacreon, Fermus- There was even one that ballooned, Terminus, and she longed for it, but did not dare-For a trifling sum, she could direct hired a notifier which could contract been station for any destination she cared and which would, when placed in her purse, make itself heard only to her, fifteen minutes before take-off time. But such devices are for people who are reasonably secure, however who can pause to think of them.And then, attempting to look both ways simultaneously, she ran head-on into a soft abdomen. She felt the floor outbreath and grunt, and a hand come down on her arm. She writhed desperately but lacked breath to do more than mew a microchip in the back of her throat.Her captor held her firmly and waited. Slowly, he came into focus for her and she managed to look at him. He was rather plump and rather short. His hair was clean and copious, being brushed back to give a pompadour piece that looked strangely incongruous above a round a nd ruddy reflexion that shrieked its peasant origin.Whats the guinea pig? he tell finally, with a uncivil and twinkling curiosity. You look scared.Sorry, muttered Arcadia in a frenzy. Ive got to go. Pardon me.But he disregarded that entirely, and said, Watch out, piffling girl. Youll drop your ticket. And he lifted it from her unresisting white fingers and looked at it with every evidence of satisfaction.I thought so, he said, and then bawled in bull-like tones, MommuhA woman was instantly at his side, close to more short, somewhat more round, somewhat more ruddy. She wound a finger about a stray gray lock to twinge it beneath a well-outmoded hat. dad, she said, reprovingly, why do you shout in a crowd like that? People look at you like you were crazy. Do you think you are on the farm?And she smiled sunnily at the refractory Arcadia, and added, He has manners like a bear. Then, craftyly, daddy, let go the little girl. What are you doing?But soda simply waved the ticket a t her. Look, he said, shes going to Trantor.Mammas face was a sudden beam, Youre from Trantor? Let go her arm, I say, protactinium. She acidifyed the overstuffed valise she was carrying onto its side and forced Arcadia to sit down with a gentle but unrelenting pressure. Sit down, she said, and rest your little feet. It go out be no ship yet for an hour and the benches are crowd with sleeping loafers. You are from Trantor?Arcadia drew a deep breath and gave in. Huskily, she said, I was born there.And Mamma clapped her hands gleefully, One month weve been here and till now we met nobody from home. This is very nice. Your parents- she looked about vaguely.Im not with my parents, Arcadia said, carefully.All unaccompanied? A little girl like you? Mamma was at once a blend of indignation and sympathy, How does that come to be?Mamma, pappa draw at her sleeve, let me tell you. Theres something violate. I think shes frightened. His voice, though apparently intended for a whisper was quite plainly audible to Arcadia. She was foot race I was watching her and not looking where she was going. Before I could bar out of the way, she bumped into me. And you know what? I think shes in trouble.So leave out your babble, Pappa. Into you, anybody could bump. But she joined Arcadia on the valise, which creaked wearily under the added weight and put an arm about the girls trembling shoulder. Youre running away from somebody, sweetheart? Dont be afraid to tell me. III help you.Arcadia looked across at the attractive gray warmheartednesss of the woman and felt her lips quivering. One part of her hotshot was copulation her that here were people from Trantor, with whom she could go, who could help her remain on that planet until she could decide what next to do, where next to go. And another part of her brain, much the louder, was telling her in jumbled incoherence that she did not remember her mother, that she was weary to decease of fighting the universe, that she wanted only to curl into a little sign with strong, gentle arms about her, that if her mother had lived, she might she might-And for the first time that night, she was crying crying like a little baby, and glad of it clutching tightly at the old-fashioned dress and dampening a corner of it thoroughly, epoch soft arms held her closely and a gentle hand stroked her curls.Pappa stood helplessly looking at the pair, fumbling futilely for a hankie which, when produced, was snatched from his hand. Mamma glared an admonition of quietness at him. The crowds surged about the little theme with the true indifference of disconnected crowds everywhere. They were effectively alone.Finally, the weeping trickled to a halt, and Arcadia smiled weakly as she dabbed at red eyes with the borrowed handkerchief. Golly, she whispered,Shh. Shh. Dont talk, said Mamma, fussily, just sit and rest for a while. Catch your breath. Then tell us whats wrong, and youll see, well establish it up, and everything allow be all right.Arcadia scrabbled what remained of her wits together. She could not tell them the truth. She could tell nobody the truth- And yet she was too worn to invent a helpful lie.She said, whisperingly, Im fall in, now.Good, said Mamma. Now tell me why youre in trouble. You did nothing wrong? Of course, whatever you did, well help you but tell us the truth.For a friend from Trantor, anything, added Pappa, expansively, eh, Mamma?Shut your mouth, Pappa, was the response, without rancor.Arcadia was groping in her purse. That, at least, was even so hers, despite the rapid clothes-changing forced upon her in bird Callias apartments. She found what she was looking for and handed it to Mamma.These are my papers, she said, diffidently. It was shiny, synthetic parchment which had been issued her by the Foundations ambassador on the day of her arrival and which had been countersigned by the appropriate Kalganian official. It was large, florid, and impressive. Mamma looked at it helplessly, and passed it to Pappa who absorbed its contents with an impressive pursing of the lips.He said, Youre from the Foundation?Yes. But I was born in Trantor. See it says that-Ah-hah. It looks all right to me. Youre named Arcadia, eh? Thats a flagitious Trantorian name. But wheres your uncle? It says here you came in the company of Homir Munn, uncle.Hes been arrested, said Arcadia, drearily.Arrested from the two of them at once. What for? asked Mamma. He did something?She shook her head. I dont know. We were just on a visit. Uncle Homir had backing with Lord Stettin but- She needed no effort to act a shudder. It was there.Pappa was impressed. With Lord Stettin. Mm-m-m, your uncle must be a big man.I dont know what it was all about, but Lord Stettin wanted me to stay- She was recalling the last words of Lady Callia, which had been acted out for her benefit. Since Callia, as she now knew, was an expert, the story could do for a hour time.She paused, and Mamma said inte restedly, And why you?Im not sure. He he wanted to have dinner with me all alone, but I said no, because I wanted Uncle Homir along. He looked at me funny and kept holding my shoulder.Pappas mouth was a little open, but Mamma was suddenly red and angry. How old are you, Arcadia?Fourteen and a half, almost.Mamma drew a bang-up breath and said, That such people should be let live. The dogs in the streets are better. Youre running from him, dear, is not?Arcadia nodded.Mamma said, Pappa, go right to Information and take on out exactly when the ship to Trantor comes to berth. HurryBut Pappa took one step and stopped. Loud metallic words were booming overhead, and five thousand pairs of eyes looked startledly upwards. Men and women, it said, with sharp force. The airport is being searched for a dangerous fugitive, and it is now surrounded. No one can enter and no one can leave. The search will, however, be conducted with great speed and no ships will reach or leave berth during the inte rval, so you will not miss your ship. I repeat, no one will miss his ship. The football field will descend. None of you will move outside your fledge until the power grid is removed, as otherwise we will be forced to use our neural whips.During the minute or less in which the voice dominated the broad dome of the spaceports waiting room, Arcadia could not have moved if all the unholy in the Galaxy had concentrated itself into a ball and hurled itself at her.They could stringent only her. It was not even necessary to formulate that idea as a specific thought. But why-Callia had engineered her escape. And Callia was of the Second Foundation. Why, then, the search now? Had Callia discovered? Could Callia fail? Or was this part of the plan, the intricacies of which escaped her?For a vertiginous moment, she wanted to cut across up and shout that she gave up, that she would go with them, that that-But Mammas hand was on her wrist. rapid Quick Well go to the ladys room before they start.Arcadia did not understand. She precisely followed blindly. They oozed through with(predicate) the crowd, frozen as it was into clumps, with the voice still booming through its last words.The grid was descending now, and Pappa, openmouthed, watched it come down. He had heard of it and read of it, but had never actually been the object of it. It glimmered in the air, simply a series of cross-hatched and tight radiation-beams that set the air aglow in a harmless network of flashing light.It always was so arranged as to descend slowly from above in order that it might represent a dropping net with all the terrific psychological implications of entrapment.It was at waist-level now, ten feet between glowing pull outs in each direction. In his own hundred square feet, Pappa found himself alone, yet the adjoining squares were crowded. He felt himself conspicuously isolated but knew that to move into the greater anonymity of a group would have meant crossing one of those glowing li nes, brainchild an alarm, and bringing down the neuronic whip.He waited.He could make out over the heads of the eerily quiet and waiting mob, the far-off stir that was the line of policemen covering the vast floor area, well-lighted square by lighted square.It was a long time before a uniform stepped into his square and carefully noted its co-ordinates into an official notebook.PapersPappa handed them over, and they were flipped through in expert fashion.Youre Preem Palver, native of Trantor, on Kalgan for a month, returning to Trantor. Answer, yes or no.Yes, yes.Whats your business on Kalgan?Im trading legate of our farm co-operative. Ive been negotiating terms with the Department of Agriculture on Kalgan.Um-m-m. Your wife is with you? Where is she? She is mentioned in your papers.Please. My wife is in the- He pointed.Hanto, roared the ships officer. some other uniform joined him.The first one said, dryly, Another dame in the can, by the Galaxy. The place must be busting with them. compile down her name. He indicated the entry in the papers which gave it.Anyone else with you?My niece.Shes not mentioned in the papers.She came separately.Where is she? Never mind, I know. Write down the nieces name, too, Hanto. Whats her name? Write down Arcadia Palver. You stay right here, Palver. Well take care of the women before we leave.Pappa waited interminably. And then, long, long after, Mamma was marching toward him, Arcadias hand firmly in hers, the two policemen trailing behind her.They entered Pappas square, and one said, Is this noisy old woman your wife?Yes, sir, said Pappa, placatingly.Then youd better tell her shes liable to get into trouble if she negotiation the way she does to the First Citizens police. He back-to-backened his shoulders angrily. Is this your niece?Yes, sir.I want her papers.Looking straight at her husband, Mamma slightly, but no less firmly, shook her head.A short pause, and Pappa said with a weak smile, I dont think I can do that.What do you mean you cant do that? The policeman thrust out a hard palm. Hand it over.Diplomatic immunity, said Pappa, softly.What do you mean?I said I was trading interpretive program of my farm co-operative. Im accredited to the Kalganian government as an official foreign representative and my papers prove it. I showed them to you and now I dont want to be bothered any more.For a moment, the policeman was taken aback. I got to see your papers. Its orders.You go away, broke in Mamma, suddenly. When we want you, well send for you, you you bum.The policemans lips tightened. Keep your eye on them, Hanto. Ill get the lieutenant.Break a leg called Mamma after him. Someone laughed, and then choked it off suddenly.The search was approaching its end. The crowd was growing dangerously restless. Forty-five minutes had elapsed since the grid had started falling and that is too long for best effects. Lieutenant Dirige threaded his way hastily, therefore, toward the intricate center of the mob.Is this the girl? he asked wearily. He looked at her and she obviously fitted the description. All this for a child.He said, Her papers, if you please?Pappa began, I have already explained-I know what you have explained, and Im sorry, said the lieutenant, but I have my orders, and I cant help them. If you care to make a protest later, you may. Meanwhile, if necessary, I must use force.There was a pause, and the lieutenant waited patiently.Then Pappa said, huskily, Give me your papers, Arcadia.Arcadia shook her head in panic, but Pappa nodded his head. Dont be afraid. Give them to me.Helplessly she reached out and let the documents change hands. Pappa fumbled them open and looked carefully through them, then handed them over. The lieutenant in his turn looked through them carefully. For a long moment, he raised his eyes to rest them on Arcadia, and then he closed the booklet with a sharp snap.All in order, he said. All right, men.He left, and in two minutes, scarcely more, the grid was gone, and the voice above signified a back-to-normal. The noise of the crowd, suddenly released, rose high.Arcadia said How how-Pappa said, Sh-h. Dont say a word. Lets better go to the ship. It should be in the berth soon.They were on the ship. They had a secret stateroom and a table to themselves in the dining room. Two light-years already illogical them from Kalgan, and Arcadia finally dared to broach the subject again.She said, But they were after me, Mr. Palver, and they must have had my description and all the details. Why did he let me go?And Pappa smiled broadly over his roast beef. Well, Arcadia, child, it was easy. When youve been dealing with agents and buyers and competing co-operatives, you learn some of the tricks. Ive had twenty years or more to learn them in. You see, child, when the lieutenant opened your papers, he found a five hundred credit bill inside, folded up small. Simple, no?Ill pay you back- Honest, Ive got lots of money.Well, Pappas broad face broke int o an upset smile, as he waved it away. For a country-woman-Arcadia desisted. But what if hed taken the money and sullen me in anyway. And accused me of corruptry.And give up five hundred attribute? I know these people better than you do, girl.But Arcadia knew that he did not know people better. Not these people. In her bed that night, she considered carefully, and knew that no bribe would have stopped a police lieutenant in the matter of catching her unless that had been planned. They didnt want to catch her, yet had made every gesture of doing so, nevertheless.Why? To make sure she left? And for Trantor? Were the obtuse and soft-hearted couple she was with now only a pair of tools in the hands of the Second Foundation, as helpless as she herself?They must beOr were they?It was all so useless. How could she fight them. Whatever she did, it might only be what those terrible omnipotents wanted her to do.Yet she had to outwit them. Had to. Had to Had to