"You will all be under Mandell Gruber, who will shortly become Chief Gardener. He will report to me, when necessary, and I will report to the Emperor. This means, as you can all see, that you will be only three levels removed from the Imperial presence and you will always be under his benign watch. I am certain that even now he is surveying us from the Small Palace, his personal home, which is the building you see to the right-the one with the opal-layered dome-and that he is pleased with what he sees.
"Before you start work, of course, you will all undertake a course of training that will make you entirely familiar with the grounds and its needs. You will-"
He had, by this time, moved, almost stealthily, to a point directly in front of Raych, who still remained motionless, unblinking.
Seldon tried not to look unnaturally benign and then a slight frown crossed his face. The person directly behind Raych looked familiar. He might have gone unrecognized if Seldon had not studied his hologram. Wasn't that Gleb Andorin of Wye? Raych's patron in Wye, in fact? What was he doing here?
Andorin must have noticed Seldon's sudden regard, for he muttered something between scarcely opened lips and Raych's right arm, moving forward from behind his back, plucked a blaster out of the wide pocket of his green doublet. So did Andorin.
Seldon felt himself going into near-shock. How could blasters have been allowed onto the grounds? Confused, he barely heard the cries of "Treason!" and the sudden noise of running and shouting.
All that really occupied Seldon's mind was Raych's blaster pointing directly at him and Raych looking at him without any sign of recognition. Seldon's mind filled with horror as he realized that his son was going to shoot and that he himself was only seconds from death.
25
A blaster, despite its name, does not "blast" in the proper sense of the term. It vaporizes and blows out an interior and-if anything-causes an implosion. There is a soft sighing sound, leaving what appears to be a "blasted" object.
Hari Seldon did not expect to hear that sound. He expected only death. It was, therefore, with surprise that he heard the distinctive soft sighing sound and he blinked rapidly as he looked down at himself, slackjawed.
He was alive? (He thought it as a question, not a statement.)
Raych was still standing there, his blaster pointing forward, his eyes glazed. He was absolutely motionless, as though some motive power had ceased.
Behind him was the crumpled body of Andorin, fallen in a pool of blood, and standing next to him, blaster in hand, was a gardener. The hood had slipped away; the gardener was clearly a woman with freshly clipped hair.
She allowed herself a glance at Seldon and said, "Your son knows me as Manella Dubanqua. I'm a security officer. Do you want my reference number, First Minister?"
"No," said Seldon faintly. Imperial Guard had converged on the scene. "My son! What's wrong with my son?"
"Desperance, I think," said Manella. "That can be washed out eventually." She reached forward to take the blaster out of Raych's hand. "I'm sorry I didn't act sooner. I had to wait for an overt move and, when it came, it almost caught me napping."
"I had the same trouble. We must take Raych to the Palace hospital."
A confused noise suddenly emanated from the Small Palace. It occurred to Seldon that the Emperor was, indeed, watching the proceedings and, if so, he must be grandly furious, indeed.
"Take care of my son, Miss Dubanqua," said Seldon. "I must see the Emperor."
He set off at an undignified run through the chaos on the Great Lawns and dashed into the Small Palace without ceremony. Cleon could scarcely grow any angrier over that.
And there, with an appalled group watching in stupor-there, on the semicircular stairway-was the body of His Imperial Majesty, Cleon I, smashed all but beyond recognition. His rich Imperial robes now served as a shroud. Cowering against the wall, staring stupidly at the horrified faces surrounding him, was Mandell Gruber.
Seldon felt he could take no more. He took in the blaster lying at Gruber's feet. It had been Andorin's, he was sure. He asked softly, "Gruber, what have you done?"
Gruber, staring at him, babbled, "Everyone screaming and yelling. I thought, Who would know? They would think someone else had killed the Emperor. But then I couldn't run."
"But, Gruber. Why?"
"So I wouldn't have to be Chief Gardener." And he collapsed.
Seldon stared in shock at the unconscious Gruber.
Everything had worked out by the narrowest of margins. He himself was alive. Raych was alive. Andorin was dead and the Joranumite Conspiracy would now be hunted down to the last person.
The center would have held, just as psychohistory had dictated.
And then one man, for a reason so trivial as to defy analysis, had killed the Emperor.
And now, thought Seldon in despair, what do we do? What happens next?
Part III
Dors Venabili
VENABILI, DORS-The life of Hari Seldon is well encrusted with legend and uncertainty, so that little hope remains of ever obtaining a biography that can be thoroughly factual. Perhaps the most puzzling aspect of his life deals with his consort, Dors Venabili. There is no information whatever concerning Dors Venabili, except for her birth on the world of Cinna, prior to her arrival at Streeling University to become a member of the history faculty. Shortly after that, she met Seldon and remained his consort for twenty-eight years. If anything, her life is more interlarded with legend than Seldon's is. There are quite unbelievable tales of her strength and speed and she was widely spoken of, or perhaps whispered of, as "The Tiger Woman." Still more puzzling than her coming, however, is her going, for after a certain time, we hear of her no more and there is no indication as to what happened.