Foundation

No life forms...

and not a lot of water.

Weird place to build a Second Foundation.

Well, you would say that.

Planetfall in four.

So you're saying we have four minutes

to talk about what we haven't been talking about?

Buckle up. It's gonna be a bumpy EDL.

Salvor.

You told me, all right? You've said it.

Every bad dream you've ever had has come true.

That doesn't mean that this one will. I have to believe that we can change this.

But you don't.

You don't believe that.

150 years from now, I die on a battlefield trying to save humanity.

- It's better than a sickbed. - You can't just brush this off.

And I guess it means I won't die any sooner, right?

- I've never felt so alive. - You could get in a cryo-pod.

Right now, go back to Terminus.

And still end up on the battlefield at our distant turning point.

After all, there may be infinite ways to arrive at the inevitable.

Warning, planetary surface thin.

Landing site unstable.

Well, we got no choice, Beggar .

- You're steering? - Yes. I have control. Brace yourselves.

I'll set us down.

This is Ignis?

Abandoned mines?

We're not on Ignis.

Well, then where the fuck are we?

Oona's World, an imperial mining site,

until its minerals were exhausted 3,000 years ago.

Currently uninhabited.

Hari, you agreed Ignis was crucial for the Second Foundation.

It is. So is this.

Since when?

Since the Radiant required it.

I know how the math works.

It doesn't design travel itineraries.

It does now.

There's a place in those mountains, about 500 meters from here,

which it requires me to visit.

Hari, the model is adaptive, not omniscient.

You wanna go out there, you can fucking do it alone!

I'm a projection, Gaal, bound by whatever network is nearest.

I can transfer myself back into the Radiant,

but I need one of you to carry it for me.

I will not trust you on something I can't verify.

And I'm not relinquishing control of the Beggar until this is done.

Just go with him, Gaal.

No. You want me to carry you around like a rat in a handbag.

- I won't do it, Hari. This... - Hey!

Do it, Gaal.

Take him with you, so we can get the fuck out of here.

They were called the Monuments to Industry.

We're gonna get a rare, close-up look.

- Stay alert while we're gone. - Why? The planet's uninhabited.

Uninhabited doesn't mean we're alone.

It's unthinkable to incinerate the warden.

- It's barbaric. - Maybe an error of some kind.

The Vault is a device after all.

No.

The Vault is a man, and it's literally made out of Hari Seldon.

I told you he wouldn't approve of what you've done here.

You think this is divine judgment, Claric?

No, but it was a judgment.

Whatever the case,

we don't have time to cry and clasp our icons.

How could Seldon's math foresee someone specific, like Hober Mallow,

who could even be born, much less request his presence?

We don't actually know the Vault was making a request.

- It could be a warning. - Right.

The last thing we should do is allow that blood-poor son of a bitch

- anywhere near the Vault. - Don't be ridiculous.

Of course we're finding Hober Mallow.

And we're walking him into that Vault.

Psychohistory isn't determinism, Poly.

It's not a single path, but it is a landscape that sometimes narrows

into a dangerous mountain pass that can't be avoided.

That's why we call it a crisis.

Seldon knew that in his first crisis that success would require action.

And the action we took at that time had a name.

Salvor Hardin.

And if Hari Seldon had engraved the name Salvor Hardin somewhere at that time,

you'd have a point.

Poly?

No.

So, you think Hober Mallow is our new action?

Look, I don't know why.

But his name is on the only embodiment we have right now of Seldon's Plans.

You aren't even a believer.

I believe in psychohistory.

I believe that the Empire is going to fall.

And if we're smart, we're the ones to bring it down.

Humans will wallow like beasts for a very long time,

unless we use what Seldon gave us

and walk through that blasted mountain pass

with that fucking asshole, Hober Mallow.

Fine.

Hober Mallow?

Never heard that name before. I wasn't even sure it's a person.

Ask me, Mallow could be a region of space or a species of nut.

Arguably, he is a species of nut.

He trained for the priesthood,

but he was too much for the Revered Fathers.

Instead, he trailed my fellow missionaries like a venereal disease,

selling religious paraphernalia and fake relics.

He sold 38 of Seldon's finger bones

before Foundation revoked his trades license.

Why would the Prophet ask for a man like that?

Seldon always appreciated a good joke.

He was human too, you know?

The Prophet's title was something that we bestowed on him after.

- So, where are we headed? - According to my contacts, Korell.

Out on the Whassalian Rift?

Traders aren't even allowed there.

You're talking about a man who views any prohibition as a personal challenge.

If it's forbidden, Hober traffics in it.

What are they?

Autonomous mining machines.

They sucked the Palladium from the pores of the planet.

And then, when there was nothing left of value,

they were turned loose upon the population.

The Emperors are hollow men who hollow out their worlds.

How do you know all this?

Why do you know all this?

It's called psychohistory, Gaal.

Hari, I can help you. You just have to let me in.

I'm the only other person in the galaxy who can read the Radiant.

Yes, but you're disruptive.

Around and around we go.

We're here at the Radiant's behest.

It's not some detour keeping you from what you want.

What I want is to slap you.

You tried that already.

I'm talking about Salvor.

You're dangling the prospects of hope.

It's a mistake.

The future you've seen may very well be immutable.

You were happy to get the word "Ignis" from my vision and act on it.

Now, if I do it, it's wrong?

Here's the difference, which you should already grasp.

My Plan makes small changes in the present to adjust large events in the future.

You want to observe one very small event in the future,

the death of a specific human being,

and apply massive forces in the present to avert it.

- Salvor solved your first crisis. - She had help.

Every historical condition was on her side.

If it hadn't been her, it would have been someone else.

Conditions?

You didn't put any psychohistorians on Terminus.

- And if it wasn't for her ability... - I intended one psychohistorian

to be on Terminus!

Right?

In another life,

you might have taught your daughter all about my Vault.

You seem to think you're very indispensable.

Well, Gaal, it is my Plan.

But no, at enough scale, I am insignificant.

We weren't always alone in this.

- What? - You said earlier

that you were the only other person who could read the Radiant.

That wasn't always the case.

I had a life partner, Yanna.

She helped me birth psychohistory.

You could say it was the only child we had together.

The only one that survived anyway.

I wouldn't finish that just yet.

We still have a long way to go.

You said 500 meters.

Horizontally.

I swear, Hari, this had better be worth it.

It will be.

We're going to meet an old friend.

An old friend?

442, on your feet!

Move it!

No.

713, hands off Prisoner 429.

Just give him a minute. He'll make the day.

He wasn't being willful.

He had more work left in him.

Bel Riose.

Lady Demerzel.

I'm here with an offer.

Empire needs the Hero of the 20th Fleet.

There are battles to be fought.

- Where? - The Periphery.

You'll start on Siwenna, in the Normannic Sector.

A new enemy has risen.

Siwenna's a backwater dump.

That's coming from someone who lives here.

Complete the mission and go free.

Why so generous?

- Day had a notion you might refuse. - Yeah. He's not wrong.

His leadership is capricious and unwise.

That puts you in a position of strength then, doesn't it?

Their freedom too.

And just to be clear, that's not my price to go with ya.

It's my price to enter into a conversation about it.