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

"Good afternoon, sir," said Gaal. "IЦ IЦ"
"You didn't think we were to meet before tomorrow? Ordinarily, we would not
have. It is just that if we are to use your services, we must work quickly. It
grows continually more difficult to obtain recruits."
"I don't understand, sir."
"You were talking to a man on the observation tower, were you not?"
"Yes. His first name is Jerril. I know no more about him. "
"His name is nothing. He is an agent of the Commission of Public Safety. He
followed you from the space-port."
"But why? I am afraid I am very confused."
"Did the man on the tower say nothing about me?"
Gaal hesitated, "He referred to you as Raven Seldon."
"Did he say why?"
"He said you predict disaster."
"I do. What does Trantor mean to you?"
Everyone seemed to be asking his opinion of Trantor. Gaal felt incapable of
response beyond the bare word, "Glorious."
"You say that without thinking. What of psychohistory?"
"I haven't thought of applying it to the problem."
"Before you are done with me, young man, you will learn to apply psychohistory
to all problems as a matter of course. ЦObserve." Seldon removed his calculator
pad from the pouch at his belt. Men said he kept one beneath his pillow for use
in moments of wakefulness. Its gray, glossy finish was slightly worn by use.
Seldon's nimble fingers, spotted now with age, played along the files and rows
of buttons that filled its surface. Red symbols glowed out from the upper tier.
He said, "That represents the condition of the Empire at present."
He waited.
Gaal said finally, "Surely that is not a complete representation."
"No, not complete," said Seldon. "I am glad you do not accept my word blindly.
However, this is an approximation which will serve to demonstrate the
proposition. Will you accept that?"
"Subject to my later verification of the derivation of the function, yes." Gaal
was carefully avoiding a possible trap.
"Good. Add to this the known probability of Imperial assassination, viceregal
revolt, the contemporary recurrence of periods of economic depression, the
declining rate of planetary explorations, the. . ."
He proceeded. As each item was mentioned, new symbols sprang to life at his
touch, and melted into the basic function which expanded and changed.
Gaal stopped him only once. "I don't see the validity of that
set-transformation."
Seldon repeated it more slowly.
Gaal said, "But that is done by way of a forbidden sociooperation."
"Good. You are quick, but not yet quick enough. It is not forbidden in this
connection. Let me do it by expansions."
The procedure was much longer and at its end, Gaal said, humbly, "Yes, I see
now."
Finally, Seldon stopped. "This is Trantor three centuries from now. How do you
interpret that? Eh?" He put his head to one side and waited.
Gaal said, unbelievingly, "Total destruction! But Ц but that is impossible.
Trantor has never been Ц"