Q. As many as a hundred thousand people A. No, sir. That is far too few. Q. You are sure A. Consider that Trantor has a population of over forty billions. Consider further that the trend leading to ruin does not belong to Trantor alone but to the Empire as a whole and the Empire contains nearly a quintillion human beings. Q. I see. Then perhaps a hundred thousand people can change the trend, if they and their descendants labor for three hundred years. A. I'm afraid not. Three hundred years is too short a time. Q. Ah! In that case, Dr. Seldon, we are left with this deduction to be made from your statements. You have gathered one hundred thousand people within the confines of your project. These are insufficient to change the history of Trantor within three hundred years. In other words, they cannot prevent the destruction of Trantor no matter what they do. A. You are unfortunately correct. Q. And on the other hand, your hundred thousand are intended for no illegal purpose. A. Exactly. Q. (slowly and with satisfaction) In that case, Dr. Seldon�Now attend, sir, most carefully, for we want a considered answer. What is the purpose of your hundred thousand The Advocate's voice had grown strident. He had sprung his trap; backed Seldon into a comer; driven him astutely from any possibility of answering. There was a rising buzz of conversation at that which swept the ranks of the peers in the audience and invaded even the row of Commissioners. They swayed toward one another in their scarlet and gold, only the Chief remaining uncorrupted. Hari Seldon remained unmoved. He waited for the babble to evaporate. A. To minimize the effects of that destruction. Q. And exactly what do you mean by that A. The explanation is simple. The coming destruction of Trantor is not an event in itself, isolated in the scheme of human development. It will be the climax to an intricate drama which was begun centuries ago and which is accelerating in pace continuously. I refer, gentlemen, to the developing decline and fall of the Galactic Empire. The buzz now became a dull roar. The Advocate, unheeded, was yelling, "You are openly declaring that� and stopped because the cries of "Treason" from the audience showed that the point had been made without any hammering. Slowly, the Chief Commissioner raised his gavel once and let it drop. The sound was that of a
