Prelude to Foundation

you.”

Seldon wished she hadn’t mentioned smell. The apartment, overcrowded and littered with small possessions that seemed dim and dusty, reeked with food odors that were on the edge of rancidity. The air was so thick and clinging that he was sure his clothes would smell strongly of it when they left.

He said, “You are right, Mother Rittah. I am Hari Seldon of Helicon. My friend is Dors Venabili of Cinna.”

“So,” she said, looking about for an unoccupied spot on the floor where she could invite them to sit, but finding none suitable.

Dors said, “We are willing to stand, Mother.”

“What?” she looked up at Dors. “You must speak briskly, my child. My hearing is not what it was when I was your age.”

“Why don’t you get a hearing device?” said Seldon, raising his voice.

“It wouldn’t help, Master Seldon. Something seems to be wrong with the nerve and I have no money for nerve rebuilding. —You have come to learn the future from old Mother Rittah?”

“Not quite,” said Seldon. “I have come to learn the past.”

“Excellent. It is such a strain to decide what people want to hear.”

“It must be quite an art,” said Dors, smiling.

“It seems easy, but one has to be properly convincing. I earn my fees.”

“If you have a credit outlet,” said Seldon. “We will pay any reasonable fees if you tell us about Earth— without cleverly designing what you tell us to suit what we want to hear. We wish to hear the truth.”

The old woman, who had been shuffling about the room, making adjustments here and there, as though to make it all prettier and more suitable for important visitors, stopped short. “What do you want to know about Earth?”

“What is it, to begin with?”

The old woman turned and seemed to gaze off into space. When she spoke, her voice was low and steady.

“It is a world, a very old planet. It is forgotten and lost.”

Dors said, “It is not part of history. We know that much.”

“It comes before history, child,” said Mother Rittah solemnly. “It existed in the dawn of the Galaxy and before the dawn. It was the only world with humanity.” She nodded firmly.

Seldon said, “Was another name for Earth .?.?. Aurora?”

And now Mother Rittah’s face twisted into a frown. “Where did you hear that?”

“In my wanderings. I have heard of an old forgotten world named Aurora on which humanity lived in primordial peace.”

“It’s a lie.” She wiped her mouth as though to get the taste of what she had just heard out of it. “That name you mention must never be mentioned except as the place of Evil. It was the beginning of Evil. Earth was alone till Evil came, along with its sister worlds. Evil nearly destroyed Earth, but Earth rallied and destroyed Evil—with the help of heroes.”

“Earth was before this Evil. Are you sure of that?”

“Long before. Earth was alone in the Galaxy for thousands of years—millions of years.”

“Millions of years? Humanity existed on it for millions of years with no other people on any other world?”

“That’s true. That’s true. That’s true.”

“But how do you know all this? Is it all in a computer program? Or a printout? Do you have anything I can read?”

Mother Rittah shook her head. “I heard the old stories from my mother, who heard it from hers, and so on far back. I have no children, so I tell the stories to others, but it may come to an end. This is a time of disbelief.”

Dors said, “Not really, Mother. There are people who speculate about prehistoric times and who study some of the tales of lost worlds.”

Mother Rittah made a motion of her arm as though to wipe it away. “They look at it with cold eyes. Scholarly. They try to fit it in with their notions. I could tell you stories for a year of the great hero Ba-Lee, but you would have no time to listen and I have lost the strength to tell.”

Seldon said, “Have you ever heard of robots?”

The old woman shuddered and her voice was almost a scream. “Why do you ask such things? Those were artificial human beings, evil in themselves and the work of the Evil worlds. They were destroyed and should never be mentioned.”

“There was one special robot, wasn’t there, that the Evil worlds hated?”

Mother Rittah tottered toward Seldon and peered into his eyes. He could feel her hot breath on his face. “Have you come to mock me? You know of these things and yet you ask? Why do you ask?”

“Because I wish to know.”

“There was an artificial human being who helped Earth. He was Da-Nee, friend of Ba-Lee. He never died and lives somewhere, waiting for his time to return. None knows when that time will be, but someday he will come and restore the great old days and remove all cruelty, injustice, and misery. That is the promise.” At this, she closed her eyes and smiled, as if remembering?.?.?.

Seldon waited a while in silence, then sighed and said, “Thank you, Mother Rittah. You have been very helpful. What is your fee?”

“So pleasant to meet Outworlders,” the old woman replied. “Ten credits. May I offer you some refreshment?”

“No, thank you,” said Seldon earnestly. “Please take twenty. You need only tell us how to get back to the Expressway from here. —And, Mother Rittah, if you can arrange to have some of your tales of Earth put into a computer disc, I will pay you well.”

“I would need so much strength. How well?”

“It would depend on how long the story is and how well it is told. I might pay a thousand credits.”

Mother Rittah licked her lips. “A thousand credits? But how will I find you when the story is told?”

“I will give you the computer code number at which I can be reached.”

After Seldon gave Mother Rittah the code number, he and Dors left, thankful for the comparatively clean odor of the alley outside. They walked briskly in the direction indicated by the old woman.

71

Dors said, “That wasn’t a very long interview, Hari.”

“I know. The surroundings were terribly unpleasant and I felt I had learned enough. Amazing how these folktales tend to magnify.”

“What do you mean, ‘magnify’?”

“Well, the Mycogenians fill their Aurora with human beings who lived for centuries and the Dahlites fill their Earth with a humanity that lived for millions of years. And both talk of a robot that lives forever. Still, it makes one think.”

“As far as millions of years go, there’s room for—Where are we going?”

“Mother Rittah said we go in this direction till we reach a rest area, then follow the sign for CENTRAL WALKWAY, bearing left, and keep on following the sign. Did we pass a rest area on the way in?”

“We may be leaving by a route different from the one we came in. I don’t remember a rest area, but I wasn’t watching the route. I was keeping my eye on the people we passed and—”

Her voice died away. Up ahead the alley swelled outward on both sides.

Seldon remembered. They had passed that way. There had been a couple of ratty couch pads resting on the walkway floor on either side.

There was, however, no need for Dors to watch passersby going out as she had coming in. There were no