Foundation

Of all the stories my mother used to tell me at bedtime,

the black hole frightened me the most.

It wasn't the darkness that scared me.

I was comfortable in darkness.

It was the idea of an event horizon.

Venture into that horizon,

and the gravitational pull prevents you from turning back.

Escape becomes impossible.

Gaal. Time for morning rites.

We speak the words.

And the words make us seen.

Welcome forth this child among you,

that he should be blessed, loved and cherished,

heard and seen,

one with the Sleeper's words.

Upon awakening.

Upon awakening.

Seer Dominie, we must check the university for forbidden activity.

Acolyte Dornick.

Seer Dominie said there were lights in the windows last night.

But the university's abandoned.

Look.

Instructor Sorn?

Gaal?

I heard you had become an acolyte.

You look like your father now.

So pious. Hunting for heretics.

All the nights I spent at your parents' table, talking

while you fell asleep in your mother's arms.

They seem a million years away now.

Your parents took another path, didn't they?

As did you. Quite another path.

You can't be here, Mr. Sorn. The Seers condemned this building.

Heretical, right?

All analytic learning goes against the Faith of the Awakening.

What do you deem it, Gaal? You always had a sharp mind.

Stop. Just drop the books and go.

If the Seers find out you're here, they'll kill you.

Yes.

When a planet wants you dead, you die.

Run.

They're just words on a page.

Are they?

Kalle's Book of Folding.

She dedicated her entire life to writing it.

Chaos theory.

Furthering knowledge is the most noble work of humankind, Gaal.

Remember that.

Take it.

I'll hold it for you.

This "Cleanse" will pass, Gaal.

The tides that rise will ebb.

Not in our lifetime, but someday.

All things have a cycle.

After destruction, rebirth.

Knowledge gives us ways to survive the destruction till the rebirth arrives.

- The floods... - Are a warning from the Sleeper,

a challenge we must overcome in order to prove worthy of his Awakening.

No. And you know it. No.

Gaal?

You need to leave. Please.

We overmined the volcanic vents.

We melted the ice caps. We did this. Not your slumbering god.

There is no "we."

I'm not on your side. I'm not a kindred soul.

Are you willing to test that conviction against Kalle's numbers?

There.

It's Dr. Sorn.

Cleanse us, benevolent Sleeper,

that we might be one with your words and abide in your Dream.

Upon awakening.

Upon awakening.

Acolyte Dornick.

The Sleeper is watching.

For this, he will be cleansed.

This will not stop the sea from rising...

or the algae blooms from dying.

Only knowledge can do that.

Ceremony at 6:00. You'll be assisting Seer Dominie.

I can't go this eventide.

I gotta venture further out to find green.

Water seems like it's getting warmer now. Lots of dead algae.

It's monsoon season.

Did Dominie tell you when you'd be advancing to votary?

She trusts you more and more, Gaal. I can see it.

Votary comes with a substantial honorarium, doesn't it?

- Two hundred chitons a quarter. - That will help.

It won't be enough.

The high floods are coming.

Who are you to question the Sleeper's word?

The floods are coming.

People are gonna die unless everything is raised...

Enough.

Speak your devotions.

Bless and be seen, O Sleeper.

Thankful for your wisdom and dreams.

I wanna send a tight-beam message.

I was told you could help.

No. Seers don't brook any off-world contact,

- unless it's church business. - I'll pay.

Fifty chitons.

- Where you wanna tight-beam? - Trantor. Streeling University.

The Seers are saying someone on Synnax has entered an imperial math competition.

You have to stop this, Gaal.

You're putting us all at risk by pursuing this.

Let it go.

Greetings, Ms. Dornick. My name is Hari Seldon.

I am a professor at Streeling University, on Trantor.

I would like to offer you my congratulations

on your novel resolution to the Abraxas Conjecture.

Since you've published your solution,

several circles within academia have seen fit to cast doubt

upon your achievement.

The Conjecture has stood for centuries, after all,

confounding the greatest minds.

I suppose the fact that the answer has come from someone on Synnax,

and a young woman at that,

has made it all the harder for them to accept.

But the beauty of math is that it is pure.

I have studied your solution,

and I would like to offer you my support by validating your proof.

It is ingenious, elegant and true.

Bravo, Ms. Dornick.

I expect the doubting will cease soon.

You've a remarkable mind.

I would consider it a privilege if you would come to Trantor as my guest.

You could walk my students through your solution.

I know they'd be fascinated to learn how you achieved it.

Undoubtedly, you'll hear through official channels soon enough.

But, well, I'm rather hoping you'll accept my invitation first.

Thank you, Sleeper. Thank you.

Someone from our village communicating with Trantor?

- It's disgraceful. - They have to be punished.

Gaal.

Gaal.

It's coming.

Even raising everything ten-rod won't save us.

The math is undeniable.

There'll be hurricane winds, massive flooding...

Are these the Sleeper's words speaking through you?

No.

It's math.

I solved the proof.

I'm the one the Seers are looking for.

Hari Seldon invited me to Trantor. Come with me.

Trantor?

The machine world?

I'd rather my daughter die.

As a child, I had nightmares of black holes.

I used to imagine what it would be like, drifting towards something miraculous,

bearing witness to something most minds could never even comprehend,

then realizing too late that you had reached the point of no return.

What have you done?

Even waking up, the terror continued...

...like an echo, whispering...

diminishing in volume forever, but never quite dying out.

Hello?

Hari?

Hello? Is anyone there?

Hello?

Please. Please.

Is anyone there?

Please. Please.

Let me...

Let me out of here! Let me out!

Let me out!

Please. Let me out. Let me out!

Help!

Please.

Please.

No!

Uploading cryo-session data.

Initiating Raych Foss arrival protocol.

Hello?

Hello?

Command not recognized.

What is this place?

Identification required.

This is Gaal Dornick.

Where am I? What is this ship?

Who's the captain? Where is everyone?

Just me?

Okay.

I need to send a message to Lewis Pirenne.

Hail the Deliverance.

The Deliverance was decommissioned on 12/11/12,072 E.I.

It can't be. It's still in mid-flight.

12,072...

What year is it?

How long was I asleep?

12,102 Era Imperial.

Your cryo-session duration was 34 years, 223 days.

What the hell are they doing?

Spectral cloaking. They're camouflaging it.

But we already know it's here.

They're not hiding it from us.

Watchmen, status?

They're firing at the western fence.

I count 50 here in the east.

I count at least that to the west.