Foundation (22 page)

“Economic control worked differently. And to paraphrase that famous Salvor Hardin quotation of yours, it’s a poor nuclear blaster that won’t point both ways. If Korell prospered with our trade, so did we. If Korellian factories fail without our trade; and if the prosperity of the outer worlds vanishes with commercial isolation; so will our factories fail and our prosperity vanish.

“And there isn’t a factory, not a trading center, not a shipping line that isn’t under my control; that I couldn’t squeeze to nothing if Sutt attempts revolutionary propaganda. Where his propaganda succeeds, or even looks as though it might succeed, I will make certain that prosperity dies. Where it fails, prosperity will continue, because my factories will remain fully staffed.

“So by the same reasoning which makes me sure that the Korellians will revolt in favor of prosperity, I am sure
we
will not revolt against it. The game will be played out to its end.”

“So then,” said Jael, “you’re establishing a plutocracy. You’re making us a land of traders and merchant princes. Then what of the future?”

Mallow lifted his gloomy face, and exclaimed fiercely, “What business of mine is the future? No doubt Seldon has foreseen it and prepared against it. There will be other crises in the time to come when money power has become as dead a force as religion is now. Let my successors solve those new problems, as I have solved the one of today.”

KORELL
— . . . And so after three years of a war which was certainly the most unfought war on record, the Republic of Korell surrendered unconditionally, and Hober Mallow took his place next to Hari Seldon and Salvor Hardin in the hearts of the people of the Foundation.

ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ISAAC ASIMOV began his Foundation Series at the age of twenty-one, not realizing that it would one day be considered a cornerstone of science fiction. During his legendary career, Asimov penned over 470 books on subjects ranging from science to Shakespeare to history, though he was most loved for his award-winning science fiction sagas, which include the Robot, Empire, and Foundation series. Named a Grand Master of Science Fiction by the Science Fiction Writers of America, Asimov entertained and educated readers of all ages for close to five decades. He died, at the age of seventy-two, in April 1992.

By
Isaac Asimov
available from Bantam Books

THE FOUNDATION NOVELS

Prelude to Foundation

Foundation

Foundation and Empire

Second Foundation

Foundation and Earth

Foundation’s Edge

Forward the Foundation

THE ROBOT NOVELS

I, Robot

The Caves of Steel

The Naked Sun

The Robots of Dawn

Nemesis

The Gods Themselves

Fantastic Voyage

With Robert Silverberg

Nightfall

FOUNDATION

A Bantam Spectra Book

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Doubleday edition published 1951

Bantam mass market edition / November 1991

Bantam hardcover edition / June 2004

Published by

Bantam Dell

A Division of Random House, Inc.

New York, New York

All rights reserved.

Copyright © 1951, 1979 by the Estate of Isaac Asimov

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Asimov, Isaac, 1920-

Foundation / Isaac Asimov.

p.         cm.

1.         Seldon, Hari (Fictitious character)—Fiction.         2.         Life on other planets—Fiction.

3.         Psychohistory—Fiction.         I.         Title.

PS3551.S5 F59 2004                                    2003069137

813/.54 22

Published simultaneously in Canada

eISBN: 978-0-553-90034-7

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