Foundation And Chaos Read Free Page B

asked, we will leak Sinter's words to the
     public... I think the lowest and most popular journals will serve us best. Perhaps the
     All-World Tongue, or the Big Ear. ”
    Kreen smiled. “I myself am fond of The Emperor's Eyes. ”
    “Even better. No authentication required... just more rumors among an uneducated and
     unhappy population. ” He shook his head sadly. “Even if we bring down Sinter, it will be
     small recompense for losing Lodovik. What chance he might survive?”
    Kreen shrugged; that was well outside his limited expertise.
    So few in the Imperial Sector understood the vagaries of hyperdrive and Jump science.
     There was one, however. An old ship's captain turned trader and occasional smuggler, who
     specialized in sending goods and passengers along the quickest and quietest routes... A
     bright and unscrupulous rogue, some said, but a man who had been of service to Chen in the
     past.
    “Get me an immediate audience with Mors Planch. ”
    “Yes, Your Honor. ”
    Kreen bustled out of the room.
    Linge Chen took a deep breath. His time at the display was over. He had to return to his
     office and meet in person with Sector generals and planetary representatives from
     Trantor's food allies for the rest of the day.
    He would have much preferred focusing all his thoughts on the loss of Lodovik and how to
     convert Sinter's foolishness to his own best interests, but not even such a tragedy, or
     such an opportunity, could interfere with his present duties.
    Ah, the glamour of power!
3.
    Privy Councilor Farad Sinter had overstepped his bounds so many times in the past three
     years that the boy Emperor Klayus referred to him as “my pillar of prying ambition, ” a
     typically ill-worded phrase that today, at least, carried no overtone of admiration or
     affection.
    Sinter stood before the Emperor, hands clasped in unconvincing submission. Klayus I,
     barely seventeen years of age, regarded him with something less than anger and more than
     irritation. In his all-too-recent childhood, he had been called down too many times in
     private by his tutors, all selected and controlled by Commissioner Chen; he had become a
     sometimes sly, underhanded young man, more intelligent than most gave him credit for,
     though still subject to the occasional extreme outburst. Early on, he had learned one of
     the major rules of leadership and statecraft in a competitive and hypocritical government:
     He never let anyone know what he was really thinking.
    “Sinter, why are you looking for young men and women in the Dahl Sector?” the Emperor
     asked.
    Sinter had taken pains for this effort to be concealed. Somebody was playing political
     games, and that somebody would pay.
    “Sire, I have heard of this search. I believe they are being sought as part of the genetic
     reconciliation project. ”
    “Yes, Sinter, a project you began five years ago. You think I'm too young to remember?”
    “No, your Highness. ”
    “I do have some influence in this Palace, Sinter. My word is not completely ignored!”
    “Of course not, your Highness. ”
    “Spare me the obsequious titles. Why are you hunting down children younger than I am, and
     disrupting loyal families and neighborhoods?”
    “It is essential to understand the limits of human evolution on Trantor, Your Highness. ”
    Klayus lifted his hand. “My tutors tell me evolution is a long, slow process of genetic
     accretions, Sinter. What do you expect to learn from a few invasions of privacy and
     attempted kidnappings?”
    “Pardon my even hoping to act as one of your tutors, Your Highness, but-”
    “I hate being lectured to, ” Klayus said in a low growl that broke halfway through.
    “But, if I may continue, with your permission, sire, humans have lived on Trantor for
     twelve thousand years. We have already seen the development of populations with particular
     physical and even mental characteristics-the stocky, dark people of Dahl,