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.With thenew additions since the start of the war,it was almost as strong nu-merically,and stronger technically,than before the defeat at Ifni.And meanwhile, planetary defenses were being strengthened;the armed forces better trained; administrative efficiency washaving some of the water squeezed out of it and much of theKalganian s conquering fleet was being wallowed down throughthe necessity of occupying the  conquered territory.Asim_0553803735_3p_all_r1.qxd 2/4/04 12:08 PM Page 202202 I SAAC ASI MOVAt the moment, Turbor was with the Third Fleet in the outerreaches of the Anacreonian sector.In line with his policy of mak-ing this a  little man s war, he was interviewing Fennel Leemor,Engineer Third Class, volunteer. Tell us a little about yourself,sailor, said Turbor. Ain t much to tell, Leemor shuffled his feet and allowed afaint, bashful smile to cover his face, as though he could see allthe millions that undoubtedly could see him at the moment. I ma Locrian.Got a job in an air-car factory; section head and goodpay.I m married; got two kids, both girls.Say, I couldn t say helloto them, could I in case they re listening. Go ahead,sailor.The video is all yours. Gosh, thanks. He burbled,  Hello, Milla, in case you re listen-ing, I m fine.Is Sunni all right? And Tomma? I think of you all thetime and maybe I ll be back on furlough after we get back to port.I got your food parcel but I m sending it back.We get our regularmess,but they say the civilians are a little tight.I guess that s all. I ll look her up next time I m on Locris, sailor, and make sureshe s not short of food.O.K.?The young man smiled broadly and nodded his head. Thankyou, Mr.Turbor.I d appreciate that. All right.Suppose you tell us,then You re a volunteer,aren tyou? Sure am.If anyone picks a fight with me, I don t have to waitfor anyone to drag me in.I joined up the day I heard about theHober Mallow. That s a fine spirit.Have you seen much action? I noticeyou re wearing two battle stars. Ptah. The sailor spat. Those weren t battles,they were chases.The Kalganians don t fight,unless they have odds of five to one orbetter in their favor.Even then they just edge in and try to cut us upship by ship.Cousin of mine was at Ifni and he was on a ship thatgot away,the old Ebling Mis.He says it was the same there.They hadtheir Main fleet against just a wing division of ours, and down towhere we only had five ships left,they kept stalking instead of fight-ing.We got twice as many of their ships at that fight.Asim_0553803735_3p_all_r1.qxd 2/4/04 12:08 PM Page 203SECOND FOUNDATI ON 203 Then you think we re going to win the war? Sure bet; now that we aren t retreating.Even if things got toobad, that s when I d expect the Second Foundation to step in.Westill got the Seldon Plan and they know it,too.Turbor s lips curled a bit. You re counting on the SecondFoundation, then?The answer came with honest surprise. Well, doesn t every-one?Junior Officer Tippellum stepped into Turbor s room after thevisicast.He shoved a cigarette at the correspondent and knockedhis cap back to a perilous balance on the occiput. We picked up a prisoner, he said. Yes? Little crazy fellow.Claims to be a neutral diplomatic immu-nity, no less.I don t think they know what to do with him.Hisname s Palvro, Palver, something like that, and he says he s fromTrantor.Don t know what in Space he s doing in a war zone.But Turbor had swung to a sitting position on his bunk and thenap he had been about to take was forgotten.He rememberedquite well his last interview with Darell, the day after war hadbeen declared and he was shoving off. Preem Palver, he said.It was a statement.Tippellum paused and let the smoke trickle out the sides of hismouth. Yeah, he said,  how in Space did you know? Never mind.Can I see him? Space, I can t say.The old man has him in his own room forquestioning.Everyone figures he s a spy. You tell the old man that I know him,if he s who he claims heis.I ll take the responsibility.Captain Dixyl on the flagship of the Third Fleet watchedunremittingly at the Grand Detector.No ship could avoid being asource of nuclear radiation not even if it were lying an inertAsim_0553803735_3p_all_r1.qxd 2/4/04 12:08 PM Page 204204 I SAAC ASI MOVmass and each focal point of such radiation was a little sparklein the three-dimensional field.Each one of the Foundation s ships were accounted for and nosparkle was left over, now that the little spy who claimed to be aneutral had been picked up.For a while, that outside ship hadcreated a stir in the captain s quarters.The tactics might haveneeded changing on short notice [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]