That seemed ridiculous. They would have heard his footsteps, wouldn't they?

Still- He called out. "Help! Help! Can someone hear me?"

His cry was strangled, half-embarrassed. It seemed silly shouting into vast black nothingness.

But then, he felt it was even sillier to hesitate in such a situation as this. Panic was welling up in him. He took in a deep, cold breath and screamed for as long as he could. Another breath and another scream, changing pitch. And another.

Seldon paused, breathless, turning his head every which way, even though there was nothing to see. He could not even detect an echo. There was nothing left to do but wait for the dawn. But how long was the night at this season of the year? And how cold would it get?

He felt a tiny cold touch sting his face. After a while, another.

It was sleeting invisibly in the pitch blackness. And there was no way to find shelter.

He thought: It would have been better if that jet-down had seen me and picked me up. I would be a prisoner at this moment, perhaps, but I'd be warm and comfortable, at least.

Or, if Hummin had never interfered, I might have been back in Helicon long ago. Under surveillance, but warm and comfortable. Right now that was all he wanted-to be warm and conformable.

But at the moment he could only wait. He huddled down, knowing that however long the night, he dared not sleep. He slipped off his shoes and rubbed his icy feet. Quickly, he put his shoes back on.

He knew he would have to repeat this, as well as rubbing his hands and ears all night long to keep his circulation flowing. But most important to remember was that he must not let himself fall asleep. That would mean certain death.

And, having carefully thought all this out, his eyes closed and he nodded off to sleep with the sleet coming down.

Rescue

LEGGEN, JENARR- . . . His contributions to meteorology, however, although considerable, pale before what has ever since been known as the Leggen Controversy. That his actions helped to place Hari Seldon in jeopardy is undisputable, but argument rages--and has always raged--as to whether those actions were the result of unintentional circumstance or part of a deliberate conspiracy. Passions have been raised on both sides and even the most elaborate studies have come to no definite conclusions. Nevertheless, the suspicions that were raised helped poison Leggen's career and private life in the years that followed . . .

ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA

25.

It was not quite the end of daylight when Dors Venabili sought out Jenarr Leggen. He answered her rather anxious greeting with a grunt and a brief nod.

"Well, " she said a trifle impatiently. "How was he?"

Leggen, who was entering data into his computer, said, "How was who?''

"My library student Hari. Dr. Hari Seldon. He went up with you. Was he any help to you?"

Leggen removed his hands from the keys of his computer and swivelled about. "That Heliconian fellow? He was of no use at all. Showed no interest whatever. He kept looking at the scenery when there was no scenery to look at. A real oddball. Why did you want to send him up?"

"It wasn't my idea. He wanted to. I can't understand it. He was very interested. -Where is he now?"

Leggen shrugged. "How would I know? Somewhere around."

"Where did he go after he came down with you? Did he say?"

"He didn't come down with us. I told you he wasn't interested."

"Then when did he come down?"

"I don't know. I wasn't watching him. I had an enormous amount of work to do. There must have been a windstorm and some sort of downpour about two days ago and neither was expected. Nothing our instruments showed offered a good explanation for it or for the fact that some sunshine we were expecting today didn't appear. Now I'm trying to make sense of it and you're bothering me."

"You mean you didn't see him go down?"

"Look. He wasn't on my mind. The idiot wasn't correctly dressed and I could see that inside of half an hour he wasn't going to be able to take the cold. I gave him a sweater, but that wasn't going to help much for his legs and feet. So I left the elevator open for him and I told him how to use it and explained that it would take him down and then return automatically. It was all very simple and I'm sure he did get cold and he did go down and the elevator did come back and then eventually we all went down."

"But you don't know exactly when he went down?"

"No, I don't. I told you. I was busy. He certainly wasn't up there when we left, though, and by that time twilight was coming on and it looked as though it might sleet. So he had to have gone down."

"Did anyone else see him go down?"

"I don't know. Clowzia may have. She was with him for a while. Why don't you ask her?"

Dors found Clowzia in her quarters, just emerging from a hot shower.

"It was cold up there, " she said.

Dors said, "Were you with Hari Seldon Upperside?"

Clowzia said, eyebrows lifting, "Yes, for a while. He wanted to wander about and ask questions about the vegetation up there. He's a sharp fellow, Dors. Everything seemed to interest him, so I told him what I could till Leggen called me back. He was in one of his knock-your-head-off tempers. The weather wasn't working and he--"

Dors interrupted. "Then you didn't see Hari go down in the elevator?"

"I didn't see him at all after Leggen called me over. --but he bas to be down here. He wasn't up there when we left."

"But I can't find him anywhere."

Clowzia looked perturbed. "Really?--but he's got to be somewhere down here."

"No, he doesn't have to be somewhere down here, " said Dors, her anxiety growing. "What if he's still up there?"

"That's impossible. He wasn't. Naturally, we looked about for him before we left. Leggen had shown him how to go down. He wasn't properly dressed and it was rotten weather. Leggen told him if he got cold not to wait for us. He was getting cold. I know! So what else could he do but go down?"

"But no one saw him go down. -Did anything go wrong with him up there?"

"Nothing. Not while I was with him. He was perfectly fine except that he had to be cold, of course."

Dors, by now quite unsettled, said, "Since no one saw him go down, he might still be up there. Shouldn't we go up and look?"

Clowzia said nervously, "I told you we looked around before we went down. It was still quite light and he was nowhere in sight."

"Let's look anyway."

"But I can't take you up there. I'm just an intern and I don't have the combination for the Upperside dome opening. You'll have to ask Dr. Leggen."

26.

Dors Venabili knew that Leggen would not willingly go Upperside now. He would have to be forced.

First, she checked the library and the dining areas again. Then she called Seldon's room Finally, she went up there and signaled at the door. When Seldon did not respond, she had the floor manager open it. He wasn't there. She questioned some of those who, over the last few weeks, had come to know him. No one had seen him.

Well, then, she would make Leggen take her Upperside. By now, though, it was night. He would object strenuously and how long could she spend arguing if Hari Seldon was trapped up there on a freezing night with sleet turning to snow?

A thought occurred to her and she rushed to the small University computer, which kept track of the doings of the students, faculty, and service staff.

Her fingers flew over the keys and she soon had what she wanted.

There were three of them in another part of the campus. She signed out for a small glidecart to take her over and found the domicile she was looking for. Surely, one of them would be available--or findable.

Fortune was with her. The first door at which she signaled was answered by a query light. She punched in her identification number, which included her department affiliation. The door opened and a plump middle-aged man stared out at her. He had obviously been washing up before dinner. His dark blond hair was askew and he was not wearing any upper garment.

He said, "Sorry. You catch me at a disadvantage. What can I do for you, Dr. Venabili?"

She said a bit breathlessly, "You're Rogen Benastra, the Chief Seismologist, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"This is an emergency. I must see the seismological records for Upperside for the last few hours."

Benastra stared at her. "Why? Nothing's happened. I'd know if it had. The seismograph would inform us."

"I'm not talking about a meteoric impact."

"Neither am I. We don't need a seismograph for that. I'm talking about gravel, pinpoint fractures. Nothing today."

"Not that either. Please. Take me to the seismograph and read it for me. This is life or death."

"I have a dinner appointment--"

"I said life or death and I mean it."

Benastra said, "I don't see--" but he faded out under Dors's glare. He wiped his face, left quick word on his message relay, end struggled into a shirt.

They half-ran (under Dors's pitiless urging) to the small squat Seismology Building. Dors, who knew nothing about seismology, said, "Down? We're going down?"

"Below the inhabited levels. Of course. The seismograph has to be fixed to bedrock and be removed from the constant clamor and vibration of the city levels."

"But how can you tell what's happening Upperside from down here?"

"The seismograph is wired to a set of pressure transducers located within the thickness of the dome. The impact of a speck of grit will send the indicator skittering off the screed. We can detect the flattening effect on the dome of a high wind. We can--"

"Yes, yes, " said Dors impatiently. She was not here for a lecture on the virtues and refinements of the instruments. "Can you detect human footsteps?"

"Human footsteps?" Benastra looked confused. "That's not likely Upperside."

"Of course it's likely. There were a group of meteorologists Upperside this afternoon."

"Oh. Well, footsteps would scarcely be noticeable."

"It would be noticeable if you looked hard enough and that's what I want you to do."

Benastra might have resented the firm note of command in her voice, but, if so, he said nothing. He touched a contact and the computer screen jumped to life.

At the extreme right center, there was a fat spot of light, from which a thin horizontal line stretched to the left limit of the screen. There was a tiny wriggle to it, a random nonrepetitive Seder of little hiccups and these moved steadily leftward. It was almost hypnotic in its effect on Dors.

Benastra said, ..That's as quiet as it can possibly be. Anything you see is the result of changing air pressure above, raindrops maybe, the distant whirr of machinery. There's nothing up there."

"All right, but what about a few hours ago? Check on the records at fifteen hundred today, for instance. Surely, you have some recordings."

Benastm gave the computer its necessary instructions and for a second or two there was wild chaos on the screen. Then it settled down and again the horizontal line appeared.

"I'll sensitize it to maximum, " muttered Benastra. There were now pronounced hiccups and as they staggered leftward they changed in pattern markedly.

"What's that?" said Dors. "Tell me."

"Since you say there were people up there, Venabili, I would guess they were footsteps-the shifting of weight, the impact of shoes. I don't know that I would have guessed it if I hadn't known about the people up there. Its what we call a benign vibration, not associated with anything we know to be dangerous."

"Can you tell how many people are present?"

"Certainly not by eye. You see, we're getting a resultant of all the impacts."

"You say 'not by eye.' Can the resultant be analyzed into its components by the computer?"