"What were you doing?" Dors hissed angrily. "You were an absolute brute, Hari. Why did you treat the poor woman that way?"
Seldon said impatiently, "I had to make her talk to me. I'm counting on her for information. You know that. I'm sorry I had to be cruel, but how else could I have broken down her inhibitions?" And he motioned her out.
When he emerged, he found Dors in her kirtle too. Dors, despite the bald head the skincap gave her and the inherent dowdiness of the kirtle, managed to look quite attractive. The stitching on the robe somehow suggested a figure without revealing it in the least. Her belt was wider than his own and was a slightly different shade of gray from her kirtle. What's more, it was held in front by two glittering blue stone snaps. (Women did manage to beautify themselves even under the greatest difficulty, Seldon thought.)
Looking over at Hari, Dors said, "You look quite the Mycogenian now. The two of us are fit to be taken to the stores by the Sisters."
"Yes," said Seldon, "but afterward I want Raindrop Forty-Three to take me on a tour of the microfarms."
Raindrop Forty-Three's eyes widened and she took a rapid step backward.
"I'd like to see them," said Seldon calmly.
Raindrop Forty-Three looked quickly at Dors. "Tribeswoman-"
Seldon said, "Perhaps you know nothing of the farms, Sister."
That seemed to touch a nerve. She lifted her chin haughtily as she still carefully addressed Dors. "I have worked on the microfarms. All Brothers and Sisters do at some point in their lives."
"Well then, take me on the tour," said Seldon, "and lets not go through the argument again. I am not a Brother to whom you are forbidden to speak and with whom you may have no dealings. I am a tribesman and an honored guest. I wear this skincap and this kirtle so as not to attract undue attention, but I am a scholar and while I am here I must learn. I cannot sit in this room and stare at the wall. I want to see the one thing you have that the rest of the Galaxy does not have... your microfarms. I should think you'd be proud to show them."
"We are proud," said Raindrop Forty-Three, finally facing Seldon as she spoke, "and I will show you and don't think you will learn any of our secrets if that is what you are after. I will show you the microfarms tomorrow morning. It will take time to arrange a tour."
Seldon said, "I will wait till tomorrow morning. But do you promise? Do I have your word of honor?"
Raindrop Forty-Three said with clear contempt, "I am a Sister and I will do as I say. I will keep my word, even to a tribesman." Her voice grew icy at the last words, while her eyes widened and seemed to glitter.
Seldon wondered what was passing through her mind and felt uneasy.
43.
Seldon passed a restless night. To begin with, Dors had announced that she must accompany him on the tour of the microfarm and he had objected strenuously. "The whole purpose," he said, "is to make her talk freely, to present her with an unusual environment-alone with a male, even if a tribesman. Having broken custom so far, it will be easier to break it further. If you're along, she will talk to you and I will only get the leavings."
"And if something happens to you in my absence, as it did Upperside?"
"Nothing will happen. Please! If you want to help me, stay away. If not, I will have nothing further to do with you. I mean it, Dors. This is important to me. Much as I've grown fond of you, you cannot come ahead of this."
She agreed with enormous reluctance and said only, "Promise me you'll at least be nice to her, then."
And Seldon said, "Is it me you must protect or her? I assure you that I didn't treat her harshly for pleasure and I won't do so in the future."
The memory of this argument with Dors-their first-helped keep him awake a large part of the night; that, together with the nagging thought that the two Sisters might not arrive in the morning, despite Raindrop Forty-Three's promise. They did arrive, however, not long after Seldon had completed a spare breakfast (he was determined not to grow fat through overindulgence) and had put on a kirtle that fitted him precisely. He had carefully organized the belt so that it hung perfectly.
Raindrop Forty-Three, still with a touch of ice in her eye, said, "if you are ready, Tribesman Seldon, my sister will remain with Tribeswoman Venabili." Her voice was neither twittery nor hoarse. It was as though she had steadied herself through the night, practicing, in her mind, how to speak to one who was a male but not a Brother.
Seldon wondered if she had lost sleep and said, "I am quite ready."
Together, half an hour later, Raindrop Forty-Three and Hari Seldon were descending level upon level. Though it was daytime by the clock, the light was dusky and dimmer than it had been elsewhere on Trantor. There was no obvious reason for this. Surely, the artificial daylight that slowly progressed around the Trantorian sphere could include the Mycogen Sector. The Mycogenians must want it that way, Seldon thought, clinging to some primitive habit. Slowly Seldon's eyes adjusted to the dim surroundings. Seldon tried to meet the eyes of passersby, whether Brothers or Sisters, calmly. He assumed he and Raindrop Forty-Three would be taken as a Brother and his woman and that they would be given no notice as long as he did nothing to attract attention.
Unfortunately, it seemed as if Raindrop Forty-Three wanted to be noticed. She talked to him in few words and in low tones out of a clenched mouth. It was clear that the company of an unauthorized male, even though only she knew this fact, raved her self-confidence. Seldon was quite sure that if he asked her to relax, he would merely make her that much more uneasy. (Seldon wondered what she would do if she met someone who knew her. He felt more relaxed once they reached the lower levels, where human beings were fewer.)