over part of their wealth for government use. Presumably, since the government will then work efficiently, the citizens can better spend their credits in this way than to hoard it—each man to himself—while living in a dangerous and chaotic anarchy.
“However, though the request is reasonable and the citizenry is better off paying taxes as their price for maintaining a stable and efficient government, they are nevertheless reluctant to do so. In order to overcome this reluctance, governments must make it appear that they are not taking too many credits, and that they are considering each citizen’s rights and benefits. In other words, they must lower the percentage taken out of low incomes; they must allow deductions of various kinds to be made before the tax is assessed, and so on.
“As time goes on, the tax situation inevitably grows more and more complex as different worlds, different sectors within each world, and different economic divisions all demand and require special treatment. The result is that the tax-collecting branch of the government grows in size and complexity and tends to become uncontrollable. The average citizen cannot understand why or how much he is being taxed; what he can get away with and what he can’t. The government and the tax agency itself are often in the dark as well.
“What’s more, an ever-larger fraction of the funds collected must be put into running the overelaborate tax agency—maintaining records, pursuing tax delinquents—so the amount of credits available for good and useful purposes declines despite anything we can do.
“In the end, the tax situation becomes overwhelming. It inspires discontent and rebellion. The history books tend to ascribe these things to greedy businessmen, to corrupt politicians, to brutal warriors, to ambitious viceroys—but these are just the individuals who take advantage of the tax overgrowth.”
The General said harshly, “Are you telling me that our tax system is overcomplicated?”
Seldon said, “If it were not, it would be the only one in history that wasn’t, as far as I know. If there is one thing that psychohistory tells me is inevitable, it is tax overgrowth.”
“And what do we do about it?”
“That I cannot tell you. It is that for which I would like to prepare a report that—as you say—may take a while to get ready.”
“Never mind the report. The tax system is overcomplicated, isn’t it? Isn’t that what you are saying?”
“It is possible that it is,” said Seldon cautiously.
“And to correct that, one must make the tax system simpler—as simple as possible, in fact.”
“I would have to study—”
“Nonsense. The opposite of great complication is great simplicity. I don’t need a report to tell me that.”
“As you say, General,” said Seldon.
At this point the General looked up suddenly, as though he had been called—as, indeed, he had been. His fists clenched and holovision images of Colonel Linn and Dors Venabili suddenly appeared in the room.
Thunderstruck, Seldon exclaimed, “Dors! What are you doing here?”
The General said nothing, but his brow furrowed into a frown.
17
The General had had a bad night and so, out of apprehension, had the colonel. They faced each other now —each at a loss.
The General said, “Tell me again what this woman did.”
Linn seemed to have a heavy weight on his shoulders. “She’s The Tiger Woman. That’s what they call her. She doesn’t seem to be quite human, somehow. She’s some sort of impossibly trained athlete, full of self- confidence, and, General, she’s quite frightening.”
“Did she frighten
“Let me tell you exactly what she did and let me tell you a few other things about her. I don’t know how true all the stories about her are, but what happened yesterday evening is true enough.”
He told the story again and the General listened, puffing out his cheeks.
“Bad,” he said. “What do we do?”
“I think our course is plain before us. We want psychohistory—”
“Yes, we do,” said the General. “Seldon told me something about taxation that— But never mind. That is beside the point at the moment. Go on.”
Linn, who, in his troubled state of mind, had allowed a small fragment of impatience to show on his face, continued, “As I say, we want psychohistory without Seldon. He is, in any case, a used-up man. The more I study him, the more I see an elderly scholar who is living on his past deeds. He has had nearly thirty years to make a success of psychohistory and he has failed. Without him, with new men at the helm, psychohistory may advance more rapidly.”
“Yes, I agree. Now what about the woman?”
“Well, there you are. We haven’t taken her into consideration because she has been careful to remain in the background. But I strongly suspect now that it will be difficult, perhaps impossible, to remove Seldon quietly and without implicating the government, as long as the woman remains alive.”
“Do you really believe that she will mangle you and me—if she thinks we have harmed her man?” said the General, his mouth twisting in contempt.
“I really think she will and that she will start a rebellion as well. It will be exactly as she promised.”
“You are turning into a coward.”
“General, please. I am trying to be sensible. I’m not backing off. We must take care of this Tiger Woman.” He paused thoughtfully. “As a matter of fact, my sources have told me this and I admit to having paid far too little attention to the matter.”
“And how do you think we can get rid of her?”
Linn said, “I don’t know.” Then, more slowly, “But someone else might.”
18
Seldon had had a bad night also, nor was the new day promising to be much better. There weren’t too many times when Hari felt annoyed with Dors. But this time, he was
He said, “What a foolish thing to do! Wasn’t it enough that we were all staying at the Dome’s Edge Hotel? That alone would have been sufficient to drive a paranoid ruler into thoughts of some sort of conspiracy.”
“How? We were unarmed, Hari. It was a holiday affair, the final touch of your birthday celebration. We posed no threat.”
“Yes, but then you carried out your invasion of the Palace grounds. It was unforgivable. You raced to the Palace to interfere with my session with the General, when I had specifically—and several times—made it plain that I didn’t want you there. I had my own plans, you know.”
Dors said, “Your desires and your orders and your plans all take second place to your safety. I was primarily concerned about that.”
“I was in no danger.”
“That is not something I can carelessly assume. There have been two attempts on your life. What makes you think there won’t be a third?”
“The two attempts were made when I was First Minister. I was probably worth killing then. Who would want to kill an elderly mathematician?”
Dors said, “That’s exactly what I want to find out and that’s what I want to stop. I must begin by doing some questioning right here at the Project.”
“No. You will simply be upsetting my people. Leave them alone.”
“That’s exactly what I can’t do. Hari, my job is to protect you and for twenty-eight years I’ve been working at that. You cannot stop me now.”
Something in the blaze of her eyes made it quite clear that, whatever Seldon’s desires or orders might be,
