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Forward the Foundation
Isaac Azimov
“I could not have written this book forty-or thirty, twenty, or even tenyears ago That is because, piece by piece, over the years, I have been working back to Foundation's source: Hari Seldon Today I enjoy the gift given to me by time: Experience (some might call it wisdom, but I will refrain from such bald self-aggrandizement) For it is only now that I am able to give my readers Hari Seldon during the most crucial, creative years of his life You see, over time, Hari Seldon has evolved into my alter ego In my earlier books Hari Seldon was the stuff of legend-with Forward the Foundation I have made him real”
Isaac Asimov, June 1991
DEMERZEL, ETO While there is no question that Eto Demerzel was the real power in the government during much of the reign of Emperor Cleon I, historians are divided as to the nature of his rule The classic interpretation is that he was another in the long line of strong and ruthless oppressors in the last century of the undivided Galactic Empire, but there are revisionist views that have surfaced and that insist his was, if a despotism, a benevolent one Much is made, in this view, of his relationship with Hari Seldon though that remains forever uncertain, particularly during the unusual episode of Laskin Joranum, whose meteoric rise—
ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA1
Part 1
ETO DEMERZEL
1
"Hari,” said Yugo Amaryl, “that your friend Demerzel is in deep trouble” He emphasized the word “friend” very lightly and with unmistakable air of distaste
Hari Seldon detected the sour note and ignored it He looked up from his tricomputer and said, “I tell you again, Yugo, that that's nonsense” And then-with a trace of annoyance, just a trace-he added, “Why are you taking up my time by insisting?”
“Because I think it's important” Amaryl sat down defiantly It was a gesture that indicated he was not going to be moved easily Here he was and here he would stay
Eight years before, he had been a heatsinker in the Dahl Sector-as low on the social scale as it was possible to be. |
