"Asimov, Isaac - Brin, David - Foundations Triumph" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asimov Isaac)

Exactly according to the doomsday scenario, calculated by our Prime Radiant, Hari marveled. Of course some stories from the Seldon Group had seeped out to the culture at large. Still, it was the first time he ever heard this particular phase of the Fall of Trantor described so vividly, or with such evident enjoyment!

In fact, the space elevators were very sturdy things, built at the height of the empire's vigor, with hundreds of times minimal safety strength. According to Hari's calculations, they would probably survive until the capital was sacked for the first time, almost three hundred years from now.

On that day, however, it would be unwise to live anywhere near the planet's equator. The descendants of Stettin and Wanda would be ready, of course. The headquarters of the Second Foundation would be shifted well before that time ... all according to plan.

Hari's mind roamed the future much as a historian might ponder the past. One of his recordings for the Time Vault on Terminus dealt with that era-to-come, when destruction would rain on this magnificent world. At that point the Foundation would be entering its great age of self-confident expansion. Having survived several dangerous encounters with the tottering empire, the vigorous Foundationers would then stare in awe at the old realm's sudden and final collapse.

His Time Vault message had been carefully written to fine-tune attitudes among the leaders on Terminus at that point, giving a little added political weight to factions favoring a go-slow approach to further conquest. Too much assurance could be as bad as too little. The secret Second Foundation, made up of men-talically talented descendants of the Fifty, would begin taking a more active role at that point, molding the vigorous culture based on Terminus. Forging the nucleus of a new empire. One far greater than the first.

The Plan beckoned Hari with its sweet complexity. But once again, his inner voice of doubt intruded.

You can feel certain of the first hundred years. The momentum of events is just too great to divert from the path we foresee. And the following century or two should proceed according to calculations, unless unexpected perturbations appear. It will be the Second Foundation's job to correct those.

But after that?

Something in the math makes me uneasy. Hints at unsolved attractor states and hidden solutions that lurk below all the smug, predictable models we've worked out.

I wish I had a better idea what they are. Those unsolved states.

That was just one reason for Hari's decision to join this expedition.

There were others.

Horis Antic sat close to Hari. "I have made arrangements, Professor. We'll meet the captain of our charter ship the day after we land on Demarchia."

By now the young porter had finished her deliberately vivid catastrophe tale and fallen silent at last. She wore headphones, apparently listening to music as she watched their approach to Orion Station on a nearby seat monitor. Hari felt safe talking to Antic.

"This captain of yours is reliable? It may not be wise to trust a mercenary. Especially when we can't afford to pay very much."

"I agree," Antic said with a vigorous nod. "But this fellow comes highly recommended. And we won't have to pay anything."

Hari started to ask how that could be. But Antic shook his head. Some explanations would have to wait.

"Coming up to transfer!" the porter announced, extra loudly because of her headphones. "Everybody strap in. This can get bumpy!"

Hari let his servant fuss over him, clamping down the mobile chair and adjusting his restraint webbing. Then he shooed Kers away to take care of himself. It was many years since he had traveled down a star-shunt, but he was no novice.

Hari ordered a holoview showing Orion Station just ahead, a giant Medusa's head of tubes and spires that sat in the middle of a straight, shimmering line-the space-elevator cable. Only a few starships were seen at the docking ports, since most modern hyper-craft could land and take off using graceful antigravity fields. But Hari foresaw a time when declining competence would lead to a series of terrible accidental crashes below. Then vessels coming to Trantor would be forced to off-load their cargoes up there, and these great tethers would have supreme importance once more ... until they were finally brought down fifty years later.

For the present, ship traffic was taking over the great bulk of travel and commerce in the galaxy. But a few routes were still covered by another, entirely separate transportation system. One that was much faster and more convenient.

Star-shunts.

In Hari's youth, there had been hundreds of wormhole links- penetrating the fabric of space-time from one far-flung part of the galaxy to another. Only a dozen or so remained, most of those connected to a single spot close to the orbit of Trantor. According

... it was over.

Abruptly, the view screens transformed once again, showing a familiar dusty spray of stars in the galactic center. Hari felt several bumps as the car was relayed by microshunt a couple of times. Then, as if by magic, a planet swam into view.