wanda was crying bitterly, her face wet with tears, her eyes red, her cheeks swollen.

hari seldon hovered over her, patting her on the back, not knowing quite how to comfort her.

"grandpa, i'm a miserable failure. i thought i could push people and i could when they didn't mind being pushed too much, like mom and dad-and even then it took a long time. i even worked out a rating system of sorts, based on a ten-point scale-sort of a mental pushing power gauge. only i assumed too much. i assumed that i was a ten, or at least a nine. but now i realize that, at most, i rate a seven."

wanda's crying had stopped and she sniffed occasionally as hari stroked her hand. "usually-usually-i have no trouble. if i concentrate, i can hear people's thoughts and when i want, i push them. but those muggers! i could hear them all right, but there was nothing i could do to push them away."

"i thought you did very well, wanda."

"i didn't. i had a fan-fantasy. i thought people would come up behind you and in one mighty push i'd send them flying. that way i was going to be your bodyguard. that's why i offered to be your bod-bodyguard. only i wasn't. those two guys came up and i couldn't do a thing."

"but you could. you made the first man hesitate. that gave me a chance to turn and clobber him."

"no no. i had nothing to do with it. all i could do was warn you he was there and you did the rest."

"the second man ran away."

"because you clobbered the first guy. i had nothing to do with it." she broke out again in tears of frustration. "and then the magistrate. i insisted on the magistrate. i thought i would push and he would let you go at once."

"he did let me go and it was practically at once."

"no. he put you through a miserable routine and saw the light only when he realized who you were. i had nothing to do with it. i flopped everywhere. i could have gotten you into so much trouble."

"no, i refuse to accept that, wanda. if your pushing didn't work quite as well as you had hoped it would, it was only because you were working under emergency conditions. you couldn't have helped it. but, wanda, look-i have an idea."

catching the excitement in his voice, she looked up. "what kind of idea, grandpa?"

"well, it's like this, wanda. you probably realize that i've got to have credits. psychohistory simply can't continue without it and i cannot bear the thought of having it all come to nothing after so many years of hard work."

"i can't bear it, either. but how can we get the credits?"

"well, i'm going to request an audience with the emperor again. i've seen him once already and he's a good man and i like him. but he's not exactly drowning in wealth. however, if i take you with me and if you push him-gently-it may be that he will find a source of credits, some source somewhere, and keep me going for a while, till i can think of something else."

"do you really think it will work, grandpa?"

"not without you. but with you-maybe. come, isn't it worth trying?"

wanda smiled. "you know i'll do anything you ask, grandpa. besides, it's our only hope."