seldon had tried to persuade hummin to take him to his hotel room, but hummin would have none of that.

"are you mad?" he half-whispered. "theyll be waiting for you there."

"but all my belongings are waiting for me there too."

"theyll just have to wait."

and now they were in a small room in a pleasant apartment structure that might be anywhere for all that seldon could tell. he looked about the one-room unit. most of it was taken up by a desk and chair, a bed, and a computer outlet. there were no dining facilities or washstand of any kind, though hummin had directed him to a communal washroom down the hall. someone had entered before seldon was quite through. he had cast one brief and curious look at seldons clothes, rather than at seldon himself, and had then looked away. seldon mentioned this to hummin, who shook his head and said, "well have to get rid of your clothes. too bad helicon is so far out of fashion--"

seldon said impatiently, "how much of this might just be your imagination, hummin? youve got me half-convinced and yet it may be merely a kind of ... of--"

"are you groping for the word paranoia?"

"all right, i am. this may be some strange paranoid notion of yours." hummin said, "think about it, will you? i cant argue it out mathematically, but youve seen the emperor. dont deny it. he wanted something from you and you didnt give it to him. dont deny that either. i suspect that details of the future are what he wants and you refused. perhaps demerzel thinks youre only pretending not to have the details--that youre holding out for a higher price or that someone else is bidding for it too. who knows? i told you that if demerzel wants you, hell get you wherever you are. i told you that before those two splitheads ever appeared on the scene. im a journalist and a trantorian. i know how these things go. at one point, alem said, hes the one we want. do you remember that?"

"as it happens," said seldon. "i do."

"to him i was only the other motherlackey to be kept off, while he went about the real job of assaulting you."

hummin sat down in the chair and pointed to the bed. "stretch out, seldon. make yourself comfortable. whoever sent those two--it must have been demerzel, in my opinion--can send others, so well have to get rid of those clothes of yours. i think any other heliconian in this sector caught in his own worlds garb is going to have trouble until he can prove he isnt you."

"oh come on."

"i mean it. youll have to take off the clothes and well have to atomize them--if we can get close enough to a disposal unit without being seen. and before we can do that ill have to get you a trantorian outfit. youre smaller than i am and ill take that into account. it wont matter if it doesnt fit exactly--"

seldon shook his head. "i dont have the credits to pay for it. not on me. what credits i have--and they arent much--are in my hotel safe."

"well worry about that another time. youll have to stay here for an hour or two while i go out in search of the necessary clothing."

seldon spread his hands and sighed resignedly. "all right. if its that important, ill stay."

"you wont try to get back to your hotel? word of honor?"

"my word as a mathematician. but im really embarrassed by all the trouble youre taking for me. and expense too. after all, despite all this talk about demerzel, they werent really out to hurt me or carry me off. all i was threatened with was the removal of my clothes."

"not all. they were also going to take you to the spaceport and put you on a hypership to helicon."

"that was a silly threat--not to be taken seriously."

"why not?"

"im going to helicon. i told them so. im going tomorrow."

"and you still plan to go tomorrow?" asked hummin.

"certainly. why not?"

"there are enormous reasons why not."

seldon suddenly felt angry. "come on, hummin, i cant play this game any further. im finished here and i want to go home. my tickets are in the hotel room. otherwise id try to exchange them for a trip today. i mean it."

"you cant go back to helicon."

seldon flushed. "why not? are they waiting for me there too?"

hummin nodded. "dont fire up, seldon. they would be waiting for you there too.

listen to me. if you go to helicon, you are as good as in demerzels hands. helicon is good, safe imperial territory. has helicon ever rebelled, ever fallen into step behind the banner of an anti-emperor?"

"no, it hasnt--and for good reason. its surrounded by larger worlds. it depends on the imperial peace for security."

"exactly! imperial forces on helicon can therefore count on the full cooperation of the local government. you would be under constant surveillance at all times. any time demerzel wants you, he will be able to have you. and, except for the fact that i am now warning you, you would have no knowledge of this and you would be working in the open, filled with a false security."

"thats ridiculous. if he wanted me in helicon, why didnt he simply leave me to myself? i was going there tomorrow. why would he send those two hoodlums simply to hasten the matter by a few hours and risk putting me on my guard?"

"why should he think you would be put on your guard? he didnt know id be with you, immersing you in what you call my paranoia."

"even without the question of warning me, why all the fuss to hurry me by a few hours?"

"perhaps because he was afraid you would change your mind."

"and go where, if not home? if he could pick me up on helicon, he could pick me up anywhere. he could pick me up on ... on anacreon, a good ten thousand parsecs away--if it should fall into my head to go there. whats distance to hyperspatial ships? even if i find a world thats not quite as subservient to the imperial forces as helicon is, what world is in actual rebellion? the empire is at peace. even if some worlds are still resentful of injustices in the past, none are going to defy the imperial armed forces to protect me. moreover, anywhere but on helicon i wont be a local citizen and there wont even be that matter of principle to help keep the empire at bay."

hummin listened patiently, nodding slightly, but looking as grave and as imperturbable as ever. he said, "youre right, as far as you go, but theres one world that is not really under the emperors control. that, i think, is what must be disturbing demerzel."

seldon thought a while, reviewing recent history and finding himself unable to choose a world on which the imperial forces might be helpless. he said at last, "what world is that?"

hummin said, "youre on it, which is what makes the matter so dangerous in demerzels eyes, i imagine. it is not so much that he is anxious to have you go to helicon, as that he is anxious to have you leave trantor before it occurs to you, for any reason--even if only tourists mania--to stay."

the two men sat in silence until seldon finally said sardonically, "trantor! the capital of the empire, with the home base of the fleet on a space station in orbit about it, with the best units of the army quartered here. if you believe that it is trantor that is the safe world, youre progressing from paranoia to outright fantasy."

"no! youre an outworlder, seldon. you dont know what trantor is like. its forty billion people and there are few other worlds with even a tenth of its population. it is of unimaginable technological and cultural complexity. where we are now is the imperial sector--with the highest standard of living in the galaxy and populated entirely by imperial functionaries. elsewhere on the planet, however, are over eight hundred other sectors, some of them with subcultures totally different from what we have here and most of them untouchable by imperial forces."

"why untouchable?"

"the empire cannot seriously exert force against trantor. to do so would be bound to shake some facet or other of the technology on which the whole planet depends. the technology is so interrelated that to snap one of the interconnections is to cripple the whole. believe me, seldon, we on trantor observe what happens when there is an earthquake that manages to escape being damped out, a volcanic eruption that is not vented in time, a storm that is not defused, or just some human error that escapes notice. the planet totters and every effort must be made to restore the balance at once."

"i have never heard of such a thing."

a small smile flickered its way across hummins face. "of course not. do you want the empire to advertise the weakness at its core? however, as a journalist, i know what happens even when the outworlds dont, even when much of trantor itself doesnt, even when the imperial pressure is interested in concealing events. believe me! the emperor knows--and eto demerzel knows--even if you dont, that to disturb trantor may destroy the empire."

"then are you suggesting i stay on trantor for that reason?"

"yes. i can take you to a place on trantor where you will be absolutely safe from demerzel. you wont have to change your name and you will be able to operate entirely in the open and he wont be able to touch you. thats why he wanted to force you off trantor at once and if it hadnt been for the quirk of fate that brought us together and for your surprising ability to defend yourself, he would have succeeded in doing so."

"but how long will i have to remain on trantor?"

"for as long as your safety requires it, seldon. for the rest of your life, perhaps."