Foundation

Every world has ghosts.

And every house is haunted by them.

Even the palace of the Empire.

Especially the palace of the Empire.

Where have you been?

With the systems programmers.

Lately you've been with them more than with me.

You've set them a large task.

Should we look to replace them?

They'll see it through.

I can count on you, Demerzel?

To see it through?

Of course, Cleon.

And not just that.

Everything.

I always assumed you'd stay on after I was gone.

But it occurred to me, in the near-darkness of my life…

I shouldn't take anything for granted.

I'm loyal to the Empire.

Yes, but will the Empire be loyal to you?

It hasn't always shown benevolence to your kind.

You're becoming sentimental, verging on maudlin.

Well, I'm dying.

And I'm leaving everything in pieces.

Are you unhappy with your successor?

We can still revisit the idea of marriage and an heir.

Demerzel, for all you are, and maybe because of it…

there are things you will never know.

I may someday know death.

Yes.

But I doubt you will feel it arrived too soon.

I should have seen the completion of the Star Bridge.

Me. My mind. My eyes.

We should have ridden up to the orbital platform together

and looked down on all that we had made.

And one day we will.

Your continuity is assured.

-Do you think of him often? -You know the way I am.

I don't forget anything or anyone.

Empire is always on my mind.

The platform's orbit is dying at an accelerated rate.

Or so say the physicists, who worry it'll just fall on their heads.

Their job is to worry over those things.

Is it not ours?

Perhaps it is still yours, but no longer mine,

as it is no longer his.

How you spend this last day is up to you.

Every one of you is different.

Somehow I doubt that.

But thank you for trying to make me feel unique as I shuffle off the stage.

It was hardest on him.

He only had the infant Dawn to place on the throne.

A baby with his eyes.

Identical in every respect, but a baby nonetheless.

When I think of him, that's what I think.

He also had you.

Please see Master Ilan, Empire. He's waiting for your final fitting.

Shall we?

The details, they're perfect.

For the pick stitching?

The jade, I think.

Shoo, shoo.

I am sorry, Empire.

I have lost weight.

-I am sure your frame is-- -I am shrinking.

The world is beginning to see me from a distance.

The garment is singular, Ilan.

It will be a privilege to wear it at my ascension.

Thank you, Empire.

-Shall we finish the job? -Oh.

Ilan, let's let the girl have the stage.

Brother Dusk? I didn't know you'd be here.

Anacreon. Thespis.

I wonder if you will speak of them after I'm gone.

We have broken the barbarians. Cast them adrift.

What would you have us say that you haven't said?

I don't know. I'm still trying to decide what to say that I haven't said.

About the Outer Reach?

About anything. About whether any of this is truly within our power to control.

However many words I have left, I would hate to waste them.

You waste them when you speak of the Outer Reach.

I speak of Seldon.

A man long dead.

And soon forgotten.

Does that mean his words have no more worth in this Empire?

Brother, the Empire is strong--

Cleon I's legacy.

I wonder if there's a way to save it.

Stabilize it with propulsive lifts? Push it out into the heavens?

To what end?

To the end that we not destroy the last remnants of Cleon I's dream

for lack of our own.

Brother Dusk.

We are the great dream of Cleon I, not the Star Bridge.

The dreamer.

The scholar.

The alchemist.

And me.

I've tried my whole life,

but I don't think I've ever been able to make that face.

Come. Your brothers have your last gift.

I would like to thank you, Brothers, for this beautiful meal.

I can taste the care you put into each bite.

Your time and your attention is deeply appreciated.

You're very welcome, Brother.

But this is not the gift.

Welcome to Trantor, the eye of the Empire.

It's been so long.

He was glorious, wasn't he?

Please respect and enjoy the peace.

Indeed.

And we will build something greater in his honor. For you.

Please respect and enjoy the peace.

You can't be here. You know that.

I can't be the first one who wanted to see my youngest self.

Which is why we made the rule.

I've never heard that song before. Or have I?

No wonder the Empire loves you so.

I find I cannot quite look on that child as an innocent.

Even if Seldon wasn't right…

there is something unnatural in that.

You must go.

You should rest.

Strange, watching yourself being born.

Sleep. I'll see you tomorrow.

I saw you tonight…

watching our first brother in the old Star Bridge.

Are we not enough?

Is that why you miss him?

Oh, no, sweet brother.

You are enough.

It's just that you always leave me.

You have grown into our greatness,

Brother Dawn, now Day.

Thank you, Brother Dusk.

And the new Dawn, just awoken.

You have a long, beautiful day ahead.

Brother Darkness, it's time.

The dream lives on in you.

Because you kept it alive in you.

Shh. It's okay.

You're all right.

Everything is all right.

No.

Something's wrong.

Demerzel.

I don't forget anything or anyone.

Empire is always on my mind.

Shh.

To be alive is to know ghosts.

We hear their whispers if we listen.

We are haunted by prophets, all.

Are you certain you want it erased, Brother Dawn?

Yes.

I've outgrown it.

We ignore the dead at our peril.

And as Empire cycled through a generation of Cleons,

the Foundation began colonizing Terminus.

The Empire underestimated Hari. We all did.

Hari had predicted the Cleons would opt for exile over execution…

that his followers' end point would be Terminus.

Every aspect of their arrival was predetermined…

when the colonists would land…

where they would build their outpost.

So imagine their surprise

when they discovered that something else was already there.

What in Seldon's name is that?

It wasn't in the surveys.

Should we go back?

Go back where, Mari? This was always a one-way journey.

-I'll check it out. -No. We go together.

Lowre, are you all right?

-Yeah. Yeah. -Come on.

-I'm just a little light-headed. -Come on.

Get back.

Abbas! Get back.

It became known as the Vault.

And over the decades, countless myths grew up around it.

It was an ancient artifact left by aliens…

a surveillance outpost sent ahead by the Cleons.

All the settlers knew for certain

was that the Vault wouldn't allow anyone to approach it.

And so they kept away.

The slow ship was scuttled…

a refuge built from its bones.

And what was once mysterious became mundane.

Her teachers say she's difficult.

She's an outsider.

Good.

You're not listening to me, Abbas.

She's a dreamer.

She's distracted.

She's a thinker, like you.

She's not distracted.

She's aware.

Just look at her. She's fascinated by it.

It's pretty.

It's dangerous.

What do you think's inside it?

We don't know.