23.

“No!” Hari Seldon was almost violent. “I don't want you out there, Dors.”

Venabili stared back at him, with an expression as firm as his own. “Then I won't let you go either, Hari.”

“I must be there.”

“It is not your place. It is the First Gardener who must greet these new people.”

“So it is. But Gruber can't do it. He's a broken man.”

“He must have a deputy of some sort, an assistant. Let the old Chief Gardener do it. He holds the office till the end of the year.”

“The old Chief Gardener is too ill. Besides,” Seldon hesitated, “there are ringers among the gardeners. Trantorians. They're here for some reason. I have the names of every one of them.”

“Have them taken into custody, then. Every last one of them. It's simple. Why are you making it so complex?”

“Because we don't know why they're here. Something's up. I don't see what twelve gardeners can do, but- No, let me rephrase that. I can see a dozen things they can do, but I don't know which one of those things they plan. We will indeed take them into custody, but I must know more about everything before it's done.

“We have to know enough to winkle out everyone in the conspiracy from top to bottom, and we must know enough of what they're doing to be able to make the proper punishment stick. I don't want to get twelve men and women on what is essentially a misdemeanor charge. They'll plead desperation; the need for a job. They'll complain it isn't fair for Trantorians to be excluded. They'll get plenty of sympathy and we'll be left looking like fools. We must give them a chance to convict themselves of more than that. Besides-”

There was a long pause and Venabili said wrathfully, “Well, what's the new ‘besides'?”

Seldon's voice lowered. “One of the twelve is Raych, using the alias Planchet.”

“What?”

“Why are you surprised? I sent him to Wye to infiltrate the Joranumite movement and he's succeeded in infiltrating something. I have every faith in him. If he's there, he knows why he's there, and he must have some sort of plan to put a spoke in the wheel. But I want to be there, too. I want to see him. I want to be in a position to help if I can.”

“If you want to help him, have fifty Guards of the Palace standing shoulder to shoulder on either side of your gardeners.”

“No. Again, we'll end up with nothing. Security will be in place, but not in evidence. The gardeners in question must think they have a clear hand to do whatever it is they plan to do. Before they can do so, but after they have made it quite plain what they intend-we'll have them.”

“That's risky. It's risky for Raych.”

“Risks are something we have to take. There's more riding on this than individual lives.”

“That is a heartless thing to say.”

“You think I have no heart? Even if it broke, my concern would have to be with Psycho-”

“Don't say it.” She turned away as if in pain.

“I understand,” said Seldon, “but you mustn't be there. Your presence would be so inappropriate that the conspirators will suspect we know too much and will abort their plan. I don't want their plan aborted.”

He paused, then said softly, “Dors, you say your job is to protect me. That comes before protecting Raych and you know that. I wouldn't insist on it, but to protect me is to protect Psychohistory and the entire human species. That must come first. What I have of Psychohistory tells me that I, in turn, must protect the center at all costs, and that is what I am trying to do. -Do you understand?”

Venabili said, “I understand,” and turned away from him.

Seldon thought: And I hope I'm right.

If he weren't, she would never forgive him. Far worse, he would never forgive himself. Psychohistory or not.