Prelude to Foundation (Foundation, #6)

by Isaac Asimov

Seldon scowled. “No! Why are you twisting my words? Why are you forcing me to say what you must know? It is neither psychohistory nor protection I want you for. Those are excuses and I’ll use any other I need. I want you—just you. And if you want the real reason, it is because you are you.” “You don’t even know me.” “That doesn’t matter. I don’t care. —And yet I do know you in a way. Better than you think.” “Do you indeed?” “Of course. You follow orders and you risk your life for me without hesitation and with no apparent care for the consequences. You learned how to play tennis so quickly. You learned how to use knives even more quickly and you handled yourself perfectly in the fight with Marron. Inhumanly—if I may say so. Your muscles are amazingly strong and your reaction time is amazingly fast. You can somehow tell when a room is being eavesdropped and you can be in touch with Hummin in some way that does not involve instrumentation.” Dors said, “And what do you think of all that?” “It has occurred to me that Hummin, in his persona as R. Daneel Olivaw, has an impossible task. How can one robot try to guide the Empire? He must have helpers.” “That is obvious. Millions, I should imagine. I am a helper. You are a helper. Little Raych is a helper.” “You are a different kind of helper.” “In what way? Hari, say it. If you hear yourself say it, you will realize how crazy it is.” Seldon looked long at her and then said in a low voice, “I will not say it because…I don’t care.” ...