Foundation

For 14 years, Poly Verisof has served as the Terminus ambassador to Anacreon and high priest of the Foundation’s new religion that protects technology. He uses his diplomatic skills to navigate complex situations, as if doing “a dance performed barefoot on hot metal” (95). A sudden crisis forces him to return to Terminus. He explains to Mayor Hardin that Prince Lepold of Anacreon, who will soon turn 16 and become king, is overseen by his uncle, Prince Regent Wienis, who may have engineered the death of Lepold’s father. Wienis wants to attack Terminus and believes he has an excuse to do so. Recently, a centuries-old battle cruiser was found floating in space. Hardin requested it be brought to Terminus for study. Because the cruiser is larger than the entire Anacreon fleet and contains nuclear weapons, Hardin’s request enraged Wienis. Wienis demands that the Foundation refit the cruiser for Anacreon or admit they are preparing for war.

Hardin tells Verisof to refit the ship, rename it the Wienis, and give it to the prince regent with Hardin’s compliments. Verisof hesitates, and Hardin explains that Anacreon already has vastly more armaments than it needs to conquer Terminus, and that war will not happen regardless. Verisof worries that giving Wienis the cruiser will be seen as a sign of weakness, and that the Council, led by Sermak, will use that as a pretext for a revolt.

Seldon’s predictions state that each crisis will limit the Foundation’s options to a single course. Hardin intends to wait until all options save one have evaporated. He admits that, because several people know the secret of the Foundation’s true purpose, this may create too many variables for Seldon’s predictions to work. He is also aware that the current crisis will make it tempting for Councilmembers to act unilaterally, which might break the psychohistorical calculations and cause the Foundation to wander into an unpredictable future. Hardin decides go to Anacreon himself when the crisis breaks open.

Anacreon’s young King Lepold returns from the hunt, having flown a speedster to bring down his 46th huge nyakbird. It is a proud record befitting Lepold’s lineage, but Wienis dismisses the hunt as folly. The young king, only two months from assuming full authority, insists that Wienis treat him with the respect due him. Wienis offers a mild apology, and then announces that there will be war with the Foundation as soon as the battle cruiser is refitted. Wienis complains that Terminus gives small amounts of technology to Anacreon while keeping for itself great powers with which to conquer the galaxy. Wienis insists that Lepold should have that power instead, to protect against the ambitions of nearby kingdoms. Flattered, Lepold agrees that war must come.

Wienis reports that Salvor Hardin will attend Lepold’s coming-of-age birthday celebration. Lepold fears that attacking the Foundation might anger the great Galactic Spirit, from whom he believes technology stems, according to the Foundation’s invented religion. Wienis scolds Lepold for believing this and warns him to be careful about the hunt, since the poison darts aimed at nyakbirds might accidentally strike him. Wienis cajoles the teen into agreeing to fulfill his duties in the coming conflict.

Lepold departs, chastened and fearful but also angry. It occurs to him that Wienis’s two sons are in line behind him to inherit the throne, but he reminds himself that, as king, he can order people executed.

Six months after Sef Sermak’s confrontation with Mayor Hardin, Lewis Bort, the number two leader of Sermak’s Action Party, returns from a quiet visit to Anacreon. He reports to party leaders that the Foundation’s new religion has taken the planet by storm. The priesthood of engineers believe in it completely, and the king himself sits atop the priestly hierarchy as a demigod who, thanks to tricks supplied by the Foundation, floats through the air at ceremonies, bathed in a mystical glow that burns all who touch it. Meanwhile, Hardin provides Anacreon with the military means to conquer Terminus.

Sermak knows Hardin is not stupid but neither he nor Bort can figure out Hardin’s strategy. A party agent enters and presents the group with the latest edition of a newspaper that reports that Hardin will attend King Lepold’s accession ceremony. Sermak decides Hardin is committing treason: “He’s sold us out and now he’s going there to collect his wage” (115). Sermak plans to propose that the Council impeach the mayor; failing that, the party will take more drastic measures.

The Council rejects impeachment of Hardin, but the vote is close. The Action Party accuses the Council of treason and storms out. On his way to the airport to travel to Anacreon’s accession ceremony, Hardin gives Lee instructions to announce that Seldon will reappear at the 80th anniversary of the Foundation to comment on the successful resolution of the crisis. Hardin admits that he doesn’t know if any of this will happen, but the announcement will sow confusion among his political enemies.

On his way to Anacreon, Hardin stops at several nearby star systems to confer with Foundation representatives. At Anacreon, he catches up with Verisof then visits the king’s court where Wienis invites him to a private discussion. In Wienis’s office, they share a toast to the king. Wienis admits that he ordered the Anacreonian navy—made more powerful by Hardin’s donation of the refitted imperial cruiser—to attack and destroy the Foundation. Wienis declares Hardin a prisoner of war.

Hardin listens politely, then confesses his disappointment that Wienis did not launch the attack at midnight, the moment of Lepold’s coronation, as this would have been more dramatic. He informs Wienis that, as they speak, all priests on Anacreon are telling their congregations about the unprovoked attack on the central world of the people’s religion. The priests will go on strike, refusing to manage the technological infrastructure of Anacreon.

Furious, Wienis rushes to the grand ballroom. Lepold sits, aura glowing, floating on his throne toward the window where he is to receive the adulation of crowds. Precisely at midnight, all power to the building is cut; the king’s aura goes dark and the throne thumps to the floor. Pandemonium breaks out; Wienis calls for torches to be lit. The captain of the guard informs Wienis that an angry crowd, led by high priest Verisof, has surrounded the building. Wienis orders him to shoot any protesters, then takes Lepold back to his office where he orders Hardin to call off the strike. He asserts that his army will have the temples under control shortly. Hardin replies that, with every form of technology shut off around the planet, there’s no way to transmit orders.

Wienis crows that his navy will attack Terminus in the morning with the very ship Hardin repaired. Hardin replies that he added a hyperwave relay to the ship, and that “in about two minutes you’ll find out what one can do” (128).

High priest Theo Aporat, religious supervisor of the refitted space cruiser Wienis, declares the ship engaged in sacrilege for its move to attack the Foundation. He curses the ship and declares that the captain, Wienis’s son, Admiral Prince Lefkin, is no longer in command. The hyperwave relay onboard receives a signal from a temple a few light years away that shuts down the ship: Its engines, communication devices, lights, ventilation, and all other mechanisms cease.

The priest orders the terrified crew to seize Admiral Lefkin, who tries but fails to get his men to detain Aporat instead. The priest orders Lefkin to read a confession to Anacreon via the hyperwave relay.

Stunned into silence, Wienis and the others assembled in his office watch as Prince Lefkin reads an ultimatum from the priesthood that demands that the rulers of Anacreon guarantee that they will never attack the Foundation again, or else the navy will destroy the palace. The message further demands that Wienis be detained for trial in a priestly court.

Hardin fingers a small device that envelops him in an aura of light. He relates to Wienis the ancient fable of a horse who gets a man to help him fight a wolf. The man rides the horse to victory, then keeps the horse under bridle. Hardin says the Four Kingdoms gained power by accepting the Foundation’s offer of technology, but with it also came the Foundation’s religion, which now keeps the kingdoms under the Foundation’s control.

Mad with rage, Wienis orders his guards to shoot Hardin. None obey; Wienis grabs one of their ray guns and fires its deadly beam at Hardin, but his aura—a force field—repels it. In despair, Wienis turns the weapon on himself and obliterates his own head.

On the 80th anniversary of the Foundation, the Terminus Vault room is filled to capacity with hundreds of people, including the entire City Council. Hardin also attends. Due to recent news of Wienis’s death, the peace treaty signed by Lepold, and similar treaties approved by the neighboring kingdoms, Hardin is now “all-powerful” and “all-popular” (136).

While they wait for Seldon, Hardin and Lee discuss Sermak’s public apology and subsequent campaign to have the Foundation annex the Four Kingdoms. The lights dim and Seldon appears once more in the glass cubicle. Hardin is the only person present who has seen this sight more than once.

Seldon congratulates the audience for dominating the “barbarian kingdoms” but warns them against overconfidence and reminds them that the spiritual power they have unleashed cannot be used for attack, especially against the nationalism that grows among the kingdoms. The kingdoms and Empire will remain powerful for some time. However, the other, distant Foundation, itself also 80 years old, will help counter the decline.

The recording ends and the lights come up. Lee wonders when Seldon will next appear, and Hardin answers, “I trust he won’t return until you and I are safely and cozily dead!” (139).