help.
Seldon said, suppressing a smile, “Would you do it for me?”
And Sunmaster drew back, saying, almost in agitation, “I couldn’t. I would be touching your hair.”
Seldon managed to hook it on and followed Sunmaster’s advice, in pulling it here and there until all his hair was covered. The eyebrow patches fitted on easily. Dors, who had watched carefully, put hers on without trouble.
“How does it come off?” asked Seldon.
“You have but to find an end and it will peel off without trouble. You will find it easier both to put on and take off if you cut your hair shorter.”
“I’d rather struggle a bit,” said Seldon. Then, turning to Dors, he said in a low voice, “You’re still pretty, Dors, but it does tend to remove some of the character from your face.”
“The character is there underneath just the same,” she answered. “And I dare say you’ll grow accustomed to the hairless me.”
In a still lower whisper, Seldon said, “I don’t want to stay here long enough to get accustomed to this.”
Sunmaster, who ignored, with visible haughtiness, the mumblings among mere tribesmen, said, “If you will enter my ground-car, I will now take you into Mycogen.”
37
“Frankly,” whispered Dors, “I can scarcely believe I’m on Trantor.”
“I take it, then, you’ve never seen anything like this before?” said Seldon.
“I’ve only been on Trantor for two years and I’ve spent much of my time at the University, so I’m not exactly a world traveler. Still, I’ve been here and there and I’ve heard of this and that, but I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this. The
Sunmaster drove along methodically and without undue haste. There were other wagonlike vehicles in the roadway, all with hairless men at the controls, their bald pates gleaming in the light.
On either side there were three-story structures, unornamented, all lines meeting at right angles, everything gray in color.
“Dreary,” mouthed Dors. “So dreary.”
“Egalitarian,” whispered Seldon. “I suspect no Brother can lay claim to precedence of any obvious kind over any other.”
There were many pedestrians on the walkways as they passed. There were no signs of any moving corridors and no sound of any nearby Expressway.
Dors said, “I’m guessing the grays are women.”
“It’s hard to tell,” said Seldon. “The gowns hide everything and one hairless head is like another.”
“The grays are always in pairs or with a white. The whites can walk alone and Sunmaster is a white.”
“You may be right.” Seldon raised his voice. “Sunmaster, I am curious—”
“If you are, then ask what you wish, although I am by no means required to answer.”
“We seem to be passing through a residential area. There are no signs of business establishments, industrial areas—”
“We are a farming community entirely. Where are you from that you do not know this?”
“You know I am an Outworlder,” Seldon said stiffly. “I have been on Trantor for only two months.”
“Even so.”
“But if you are a farming community, Sunmaster, how is it that we have passed no farms either?”
“On lower levels,” said Sunmaster briefly.
“Is Mycogen on this level entirely residential, then?”
“And on a few others. We are what you see. Every Brother and his family lives in equivalent quarters; every cohort in its own equivalent community; all have the same ground-cars and all Brothers drive their own. There are no servants and none are at ease through the labor of others. None may glory over another.”
Seldon lifted his shielded eyebrows at Dors and said, “But some of the people wear white, while some wear gray.”
“That is because some of the people are Brothers and some are Sisters.”
“And we?”
“You are a tribesman and a guest. You and your”—he paused and then said—“companion will not be bound by all aspects of Mycogenian life. Nevertheless, you will wear a white gown and your companion will wear a gray one and you will live in special guest quarters like our own.”
“Equality for all seems a pleasant ideal, but what happens as your numbers increase? Is the pie, then, cut into smaller pieces?”
“There is no increase in numbers. That would necessitate an increase in area, which the surrounding tribesmen would not allow, or a change for the worse in our way of life.”
“But if—” began Seldon.
Sunmaster cut him off. “It is enough, Tribesman Seldon. As I warned you, I am not compelled to answer. Our task, which we have promised our friend Tribesman Hummin, is to keep you secure as long as you do not violate our way of life. That we will do, but there it ends. Curiosity is permitted, but it wears out our patience quickly if persisted in.”
Something about his tone allowed no more to be said and Seldon chafed. Hummin, for all his help, had clearly mis-stressed the matter.
It was not security that Seldon sought. At least, not security alone. He needed information too and without that he could not—and would not—stay here.
38
Seldon looked with some distress at their quarters. It had a small but individual kitchen and a small but individual bathroom. There were two narrow beds, two clothes closets, a table, and two chairs. In short there was everything that was necessary for two people who were willing to live under cramped conditions.
“We had an individual kitchen and bathroom at Cinna,” said Dors with an air of resignation.
“Not I,” said Seldon. “Helicon may be a small world, but I lived in a modern city. Community kitchens and bathrooms. —What a waste this is. You might expect it in a hotel, where one is compelled to make a temporary stay, but if the whole sector is like this, imagine the enormous number and duplications of kitchens and bathrooms.”
“Part of the egalitarianism, I suppose,” said Dors. “No fighting for favored stalls or for faster service. The same for everyone.”
“No privacy either. Not that I mind terribly, Dors, but you might and I don’t want to give the appearance of taking advantage. We ought to make it clear to them that we must have separate rooms—adjoining but separate.”
Dors said, “I’m sure it won’t work. Space is at a premium and I think they are amazed by their own generosity in giving us this much. We’ll just make do, Hari. We’re each old enough to manage. I’m not a blushing maiden and you’ll never convince me that you’re a callow youth.”
“You wouldn’t be here, were it not for me.”
“What of it? It’s an adventure.”
“All right, then. Which bed will you take? Why don’t you take the one nearer the bathroom?” He sat down on the other. “There’s something else that bothers me. As long as we’re here, we’re tribespeople, you and I, as is even Hummin. We’re of the
