He said, "How are you, Seldon?"
"Perfectly well, Hummin. Sufficiently well, certainly, for me to be up and about."
"I'm glad to hear it," said Hummin dryly. "Dors Venabili was much to blame in allowing this to happen."
Seldon frowned. "No. I insisted on going Upperside."
"I'm sure, but she should, at all costs, have gone with you."
"I told her I didn't want her to go with me."
Dors said, "That's not so, Hari. Don't defend me with gallant lies."
Seldon said angrily, "But don't forget that Dors also came Upperside after me, against strong resistance, and undoubtedly saved my life. That's not bending the truth at all. Have you added that to your evaluation, Hummin?"
Dors interrupted again, obviously embarrassed. "Please, Hari. Chetter Hummin is perfectly correct in feeling that I should either have kept you from going Upperside or have gone up with you. As for my subsequent actions, he has praised them."
"Nevertheless," said Hummin, "that is past and we can let it go. Let us talk about what happened Upperside, Seldon."
Seldon looked about and said guardedly, "Is it safe to do so?"
Hummin smiled slightly. "Dors has placed this room in a Distortion Field. I can be pretty sure that no Imperial agent at the University-if there is one-has the expense to penetrate it. You are a suspicious person, Seldon."
"Not by nature," said Seldon. "Listening to you in the park and afterward- You are a persuasive person, Hummin. By the time you were through, I was ready to fear that Eto Demerzel was lurking in every shadow."
"I sometimes think he might be," said Hummin gravely.
"If he was," said Seldon, "I wouldn't know it was he. What does he look like?"
"That scarcely matters. You wouldn't see him unless he wanted you to and by then it would all be over, I imagine-which is what we must prevent. Let's talk about that jet-down you saw."
Seldon said, "As I told you, Hummin, you filled me with fears of Demerzel. As soon as I saw the jet-down, I assumed he was after me, that I had foolishly stepped outside the protection of Streeling University by going Upperside, that I had been lured up there for the specific purpose of being picked up without difficulty."
Dors said, "On the other hand, Leggen-"
Seldon said quickly, "Was he here last night?"
"Yes, don't you remember?"
"Vaguely. I was dead tired. It's all a blur in my memory."
"Well, when he was here last night, Leggen said that the jet-down was merely a meteorological vessel from another station. Perfectly ordinary. Perfectly harmless."
"What?" Seldon was taken aback. "I don't believe that."
Hummin said, "Now the question is: Why don't you believe that? Was there anything about the jet-down that made you think it was dangerous? Something specific, that is, and not just a pervasive suspicion placed in your head by me."
Seldon thought back, biting his lower lip. He said, "Its actions. It seemed to push its forepart below the cloud deck, as though it were looking for something, then it would appear in another spot just the same way, then in another spot, and so on. It seemed to be searching Upperside methodically, section by section, and homing in on me."
Hummin said, "Perhaps you were personifying, Seldon. You may have been treating the jet-down as though it was a strange animal looking for you. It wasn't, of course. It was simply a jet-down and if it was a meteorological vessel, its actions were perfectly normal... and harmless."
Seldon said, "It didn't seem that way to me."
Hummin said, "I'm sure it didn't, but we don't actually know anything. Your conviction that you were in danger is simply an assumption. Leggen's decision that it was a meteorological vessel is also only an assumption."
Seldon said stubbornly, "I can't believe that it was an entirely innocent event."
"Well then," said Hummin, "suppose we assume the worst-that the vessel was looking for you. How would whoever sent that vessel know you would be there to seek?"
Dors interjected, "I asked Dr. Leggen if he had, in his report of the forthcoming meteorological work, included the information that Hari would be with the group. There was no reason he should in the ordinary course of events and he denied that he had, with considerable surprise at the question. I believed him."
Hummin said thoughtfully, "Don't believe him too readily. Wouldn't he deny it, in any case? Now ask yourself why he allowed Seldon to come along in the first place. We know he objected initially, but he did relent, without much fight. And that, to me, seems rather out of character for Leggen."
Dors frowned and said, "I suppose that does make it a bit more likely that he did arrange the entire affair. Perhaps he permitted Hari's company only in order to put him in the position of being taken. He might have received orders to that effect. We might further argue that he encouraged his young intern, Clowzia, to engage Hari's attention and draw him away from the group, isolating him. That would account for Leggen's odd lack of concern over Hari's absence when it came time to go below. He would insist that Hari had left earlier, something he would have laid the groundwork for, since he had carefully showed him how to go down by himself. It would also account for his reluctance to go back up in search of him, since he would not want to waste time looking for someone he assumed would not be found."
Hummin, who had listened carefully, said, "You make an interesting case against him, but let's not accept that too readily either. After all, he did come Upperside with you in the end."