"Asimov, Isaac - 1. Foundation" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asimov Isaac)

"Indeed. Calculations upon one man mean nothing. You send Dr. Seldon to me."
"Unfortunately, I cannot. Dr. Seldon is himself arrested."
The door was thrown open before the rising Gaal could do more than utter the
beginning of a cry. A guard entered, walked to the table, picked up the
recorder, looked upon all sides of it and put it in his pocket.
Avakim said quietly, "I will need that instrument."
"We will supply you with one, Counsellor, that does not cast a static field."
"My interview is done, in that case."
Gaal watched him leave and was alone.

6.
The trial (Gaal supposed it to be one, though it bore little resemblance
legalistically to the elaborate trial techniques Gaal had read of) had not
lasted long. It was in its third day. Yet already, Gaal could no longer stretch
his memory back far enough to embrace its beginning.
He himself had been but little pecked at. The heavy guns were trained on Dr.
Seldon himself. Hari Seldon, however, sat there unperturbed. To Gaal, he was the
only spot of stability remaining in the world.
The audience was small and drawn exclusively from among the Barons of the
Empire. Press and public were excluded and it was doubtful that any significant
number of outsiders even knew that a trial of Seldon was being conducted. The
atmosphere was one of unrelieved hostility toward the defendants.
Five of the Commission of Public Safety sat behind the raised desk. They wore
scarlet and gold uniforms and the shining, close-fitting plastic caps that were
the sign of their judicial function. In the center was the Chief Commissioner
Linge Chen. Gaal had never before seen so great a Lord and he watched him with
fascination. Chen, throughout the trial, rarely said a word. He made it quite
clear that much speech was beneath his dignity.
The Commission's Advocate consulted his notes and the examination continued,
with Seldon still on the stand:
Q. Let us see, Dr. Seldon. How many men are now engaged in the project of which
you are head?
A. Fifty mathematicians.
Q. Including Dr. Gaal Dornick?
A. Dr. Dornick is the fifty-first,
Q. Oh, we have fifty-one then? Search your memory, Dr. Seldon. Perhaps there are
fifty-two or fifty-three? Or perhaps even more?
A. Dr. Dornick has not yet formally joined my organization. When he does, the
membership will be fifty-one. It is now fifty, as I have said.
Q. Not perhaps nearly a hundred thousand?
A. Mathematicians? No.
Q. I did not say mathematicians. Are there a hundred thousand in all capacities?
A. In all capacities, your figure may be correct.
Q. May be? I say it is. I say that the men in your project number ninety-eight
thousand, five hundred and seventy-two.
A. I believe you are counting women and children.
Q. (raising his voice) Ninety eight thousand five hundred and seventy-two
individuals is the intent of my statement. There is no need to quibble.
A. I accept the figures.
Q. (referring to his notes) Let us drop that for the moment, then, and take up