Foundation

<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Foundation is the first book in the original Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov. It was published in book form in 1951, and was comprised of several short stories which had been published in Astounding Science Fiction during World War Two, namely:

"Foundation (short story)" (May, 1942)
"Bridle and Saddle" (June, 1942)
"The Big and The Little" (August, 1942)
"The Wedge" (October, 1944)

The book is subdivided into five books—labelled “The Psychohistorians,” “The Encyclopedists,” “The Mayors,” “The Traders,” and “The Merchant Princes.”

Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.

1 Plot
2 Additional Notes
3 Related Works
4 ISBNS

Plot

Book One: The Psychohistorians (Eight Chapters): Mathemetician Gaal Dornick arrives at the planet Trantor via Hyperspace transport ship, on an invitation from the great Hari Seldon. Located at the center of the galaxy, Trantor is the capital of the great galactic empire, an empire which encompasses 25 million worlds, and which has lasted for more than 12,000 years. The entire planet is one big city, and even in some respects one giant building that covers the entire planet, with almost all of its 40 billion (40,000,000,000) inhabitants devoted to Imperial administration. Gaal Dornick is overawed by the trip, and an epigram informs readers that Dornick would later write a biography of the great Hari Seldon. Dornick lands on the planet and gets a taxi to a hotel. He is followed. He inquires about tours, but none are available that day, so he heads for the observation tower, to get his first look at the Trantor sky. He chats with a man named Jerril, who says most of Trantor has been constructed underground, though this is not apparent from inside. Jerril says Hari Seldon, whom Dornick has come to Trantor to meet, is nicknamed Raven Seldon because of his unpublished prophecies of doom. Gaal returns to his hotel room to find Hari Seldon waiting for him.

Hari Seldon says that the man who followed Dornick is an agent of the Commission of Public Safety. Seldon explains the nature of psychohistory, that it is the application of mathematics and probability to the study of human history. He says that psychohistory now predicts a 92.5% chance of the fall of Trantor within the next 500 years. The next morning, the Commission of Public Safety arrests Dornick in his room. He demands a lawyer, and one arrives, by the name of Lors Avakim. Avakim says the aristocratic families are the true rulers of Trantor, and of the Commission of Public Safety. He says that Hari Seldon has also been arrested.

At the ensuing trial, Hari Seldon testifies that the science of psychohistory predicts not just the fall of Trantor, but the fall of the entire Empire within the next 1,000 years. There will then follow 30,000 years of war, chaos, isolation, barbarism, and galactic anarchy. But averting this disaster is possible, he says, by a few people working for a long period of time, or by a great many people working for a shorter duration of time. His project includes some 50 mathematicians (Gaal Dornick was to be the 51st), and more than 90,000 people of other professions. Their goal is to prepare an Encyclopedia Galactica, a compendium of all human knowledge, which will allow them to reduce the length of the interregnum from 30,000 years to just 1,000 years. A private meeting is arranged among Hari Seldon, Gaal Dornick, and the Commission of Public Safety. Linge Chen, speaking for the Commission, offers Hari Seldon and his followers exile on the planet Terminus, an uninhabited, barren planet at the edge of the galaxy. Seldon accepts.

Seldon reveals to Dornick that exile to Terminus was part of his plan all along. The project needed, he says, a "scientific refuge." He continues: "And another (refuge) will be established at the other end of the galaxy, let us say," and he smiled, "at Star’s End." This simple reference to the Second Foundation, so easy to gloss over, will drive much of the plot of the second and third books in the trilogy.

Book Two: The Encylopedists (Seven Chapters): It is now fifty years later, on the planet Terminus, sometimes called Foundation. Hari Seldon is long dead, but his followers have established this base on Terminus to ride out the decline and fall of the Trantor empire, and preserve what they can of civilization. The planet supports about a million people, of whom about 150,000 are working directly on Hari Seldon’s encyclopedia project. But Terminus is still a relatively weak planet, and when the nearby planet Anacreon revolts against Trantor authority, Terminus is left isolated from imperial protection.

Anacreon has just fought a war against a nearby planet named Smyrno, and now an Anacreon envoy, Anselm haut Rodric, arrives on Terminus to open negotiatiations to put military bases on Terminus. The planet Terminus has only one small settlement; most of the surface area remains barren. Lewis Pirenne, a leading encyclopedist, is appalled at the prospect of military bases on a planet devoted to pure research, and he insists that Terminus remain either neutral or under direct imperial control. The Mayor of Terminus, Salvor Hardin, asks a number of leading questions of Rodric, in which he learns that Anacreon, and most planets on the periphery, no longer have atomic power (Hardin implies that Terminus does), even though atomic technology is more than 50,000 years old. Hardin believes that Anacreon’s real purpose on Terminus is not military bases, but land, to be parcelled out on some kind of feudal basis (in other words, as rewards to their loyal followers). Salvor Hardin calls for a military buildup to meet the threat from Anacreon, but the Board of Trustees, which runs the Encyclopedia project, opposes this idea, thinking they can still rely on guarantees from the Empire. They await the arrival of the imperial chancellor, as well as the 50th anniversary of the Foundation, at which time they will open up the vault of Hari Seldon, when they will presumably hear a speech left behind by the great man himself, perhaps telling them what they should do.

The Imperial Chancellor Lord Dorwin arrives. Pirenne shows him the latest volume of the encyclopedia. Lord Dorwin, an effete, snobbish man, talks of the “Origin Question,” which has apparently bedeviled scholars for millenia—on what single planet, if any, did the human race originate? Was it in the Sirius system, or Alpha Centauri, or Sol, or some other system? Opinions on the question differ. Salvor Hardin questions him on this, and Dorwin’s answer indicates that he thinks the best way to solve the problem is to read all the books on the subject and then decide which of the authorities is right. Hardin suggests doing independent research, but Dorwin thinks that this is absurd, and too much of a bother. Hardin then asks about a rumored atomic disaster on some imperial planet. Dorwin says that it’s true, that there was an accident that killed millions of people, caused by poor maintenance, and that as a result the Emperor has ordered restrictions on the use of atomic power in the future. Dorwin also reports that Anacreon is in a state of barbarism, and he thinks that the Empire still has influence in this region of the galaxy simply because the various treaties all call for official recognition of imperial sovereignty.

The Board of Trustees sent a message to Anacreon, in which they invoked imperial protection. But the leaders of Anacreon realized, as neither the Board nor the imperial envoy did, that Trantor had already lost all power in this region of the galaxy. Now Anacreon has sent to Terminus an ultimatum—agree to their terms or in seven days invasion ensues. Hardin finally convinces the Board that the Empire is impotent, and that civilization itself is also in decay. He cites his conversation with Dorwin, who appealed to scholarly authorities rather than to his own research, and the Emperor, who, after the atomic accident, responded by issuing restrictions on the use of atomic power, rather than training more atomic engineers. The Board thinks that now their only recourse is to await the opening of Hari Seldon’s vault six days hence, but Salvor Hardin thinks it won’t help. He says the problem is bigger than just Anacreon, and he asks an ominous question—Why, when Hari Seldon set up the Foundation, did he provide only one psychohistorian?

Mayor Salvor Hardin quietly begins preparations for a coup. Six days later, when the vault of Hari Seldon is opened, the Board views a hologram message from Hari Seldon. He says the entire Encyclopedia Project is a fraud. It was meant to keep the Foundation busy while events happened without their interference—that’s why he arranged for only one psychohistorian on Terminus. Seldon says the Foundation on Terminus, in conjunction with the Second Foundation, will together start the New Empire, arising out of the ashes of the old. Salvor Hardin’s coup goes forward as planned.

Book Three: The Mayors (Nine Chapters): After the Anacreon fleet landed, Hardin simply convinced the other planets in this sector of space that it would be dangerous to allow atomic energy to fall into he hands of Anacreon alone, so the other powers issued their own ultimatum to Anacreon to withdraw at once from Terminus, which they did. It is now thirty years later, and Hardin has been using his dictatorial powers in those years to maintain Terminus’s independence by playing each of the four local powers off against the others. Hardin has also been trading technology to those planets, but surrounding that technology with an aura of magic and mysticism to keep them from building their own. On Terminus, there is a growing opposition to the policies of Salvor Hardin, led by Sif Sermak and the Action Party, who think that Hardin is playing too dangerous a game.

Poly Verisof is both ambassador from Terminus to Anacreon, but also one of those technology “priests” trained by the Foundation. He meets with Hardin and delivers ominous news. Power on Anacreon is in the hands of the Prince Regent, Wienis, uncle of the underage heir to the throne, King Leopold, who will likely be murdered before his coronation. Wienis is violent, ruthless, and unsubtle. Two weeks earlier, an Anacreon merchant ship discovered a 300-year-old derelict imperial ship. Hardin heard about it and sent a request to Anacreon to take the ship and study it, but the ship is so much more advanced than anything in the four kingdoms that Wienis took the request almost as a declaration of war. Verisof says that once they get that ship working, and it won’t take long, Wienis and Anacreon will attack Terminus. Meanwhile, Verisof has heard of the opposition to Hardin in the Council, which means everything seems to be heading for war, though the Anacreon attack would come months before the Council elections. They also talk of Hari Seldon’s plan; Verisof expresses some doubts that history could be so predictable. Hardin says he has always tried to base his decisions on a feigned ignorance of the plan. When the crisis reaches a head, Hardin says he wants to be on the spot, in other words on Anacreon, even though the vault of Hari Seldon is due to open again in a few days.

On Anacreon, Wienis convinces King Leopold to attack the Foundation, to take their secrets in the name of self-defense, even though the Foundation is helping Anacreon repair the imperial ship they found. Neither Wienis nor Leopold believe in the Hari Seldon religion, though the common people on Anacreon do. Wienis is still angry at Seldon’s deviousness three decades earlier. Hardin travels to Anacreon for the coronation of King Leopold, just at the moment that this crisis seems to be coming to a head. At the coronation ceremony, Wienis pulls Hardin aside, where they can talk in private. Wienis says the Anacreon Fleet is now heading to Terminus, and that he, Salvor Hardin, is now a prisoner of war. But Hardin responds by saying that he had anticipated this, and that he has already placed the planet Anacreon under interdict. Mobs of people have surrounded the palace, and the machines all over Anacreon are now failing. Hardin says the imperial cruiser was equipped by his engineers with an “ultrawave relay,” allowing his engineers to shut down the imperial ship. At midnight, Theo Aparat, priest of the Anacreon ship Wienis (the imperial ship discovered by Anacreon and repaired by the Foundation), placed a curse on the ship; and at that moment the ultrawave relay allows a technician on Terminus to shut down the ship. The frightened crew rallied to Theo Aparat’s cause, and arrested Admiral Lefkin (Wienis’s son), who then ordered the fleet back to Anacreon. Admiral Lefkin reads a statement from the fleet, to the effect that war against the Foundation was sacriligeous; and that Wienis must be surrendered to an ecclesiastical court, otherwise the Fleet will attack Anacreon. An enraged Wienis orders his men to kill Salvor Hardin. They refuse. Wienis fires but Salvor Hardin has a personal forcefield. Wienis then kills himself.

The treaties that follow allow Terminus to dominate the Four Kingdoms. The vault of Hari Seldon opens; he congratulates them on passing the second crisis, but he says that spiritual means will not be enough to overcome the crises to come.

Book Four: The Traders (Six Chapters): In the years following, economic traders built an economic alliance to replace the pseudo-religious alliance of the Four Kingdoms. Now a Terminus trader named Limmar Ponyets learns that his friend, Eskel Gorov, a Foundation agent, is being held prisoner on the planet Askone for posing as a trader. Askone is one of many planets that refuse to trade with the Foundation, especially for atomic gadgets. Ponyets meets Gorov in his cell, where Gorov reveals that he had tried to sell some atomic gadgets to a few Askonian people, to create a pro-atomic faction in Askonian politics. But the Grandmaster of Askone wants gold, which is the currency on Askone. Ponyets, who has more business experience than his friend, decides to try to make a deal himself.

Ponyets demonstrates a device to turn lead into gold. The Askonians are duly impressed, but skeptical, so Ponyets agrees to be held hostage for thirty days, to see if anything evil happens. Meanwhile, Ponyets secretly meets with a councilman named Pherl, and trades him a gold transmuter for some iron. Eventually Gorov is released from prison, and Ponyets explains what he did and why—the gold transmuter can only work temporarily, and it’s not cost-efficient. But Ponyets planted a recorder in it, and used the recording to blackmail Councilman Pherl. Pherl then agreed to buy all of Ponyets’ and Gorov’s atomic gadgets in exchange for a large amount of tin. The transmuter will work just long enough to provide Pherl with enough gold to get himself elected Grandmaster, and he will then want to purchase atomic gadgets to recoup his losses. Hence the Foundation has now established a long-term trading partnership with the planet Askone.

Book Five: The Merchant Princes (Eighteen Chapters): The epigram identifies a man named Hober Mallow as a trader who became the first merchant prince.

It is now 155 years since the Foundation was established. The mayor’s deputy, Jorane Sutt (the most powerful politician in the Foundation at the time), recruits a Foundation-educated trader named Hober Mallow, from the planet Smyrno, to open up trade with the planet Korell. It seems that three Foundation ships have disappeared in the region of Korell recently. To Sutt, this means that Korell must have atomic power, and there must be a traitor in the Foundation providing them with atomics. Sutt tells Mallow to keep his eyes and ears open, but Sutt, who is prejudiced against “outlanders” educated by the Foundation, like Mallow, secretly believes that Mallow himself is the traitor he is looking for. Sutt thinks this is the third Seldon crisis, because the Foundation is threatened by atomics without and political dissension within. After his meeting with Sutt, Hober Mallow meets with a politician named Jaim Twer. Twer wants to recruit Mallow into Foundation politics, but Mallow demurs because of his upcoming trip to Korell. Twer says that Sutt just wants to get Mallow out of the way. Twer agrees to join Mallow’s crew on his ship, The Far Star.

The Far Star arrives at Korell, and then must wait in a hangar for a week. Then a Foundation priest named Jord Parma, fleeing an angry mob, asks for sanctuary on board the ship. They let him in, but when the mob outside the ship demands the release of the priest, Hober Mallow agrees to give him up, over the objections of the crew, especially Twer. Mallow suspects the whole incident was staged. (This event, described in chapter four, will be carefully scrutinized in chapter fourteen).

Mallow meets with Commdor Asper, the dictator/king of this particular republic. They reach a trade deal: The Foundation will provide goods of all kinds, with Commdor Asper as the middleman and a 900% markup, and most importantly, no priests. During their stay on Korell, they find little evidence of atomic power, until, at a foundry, Mallow demonstrates an atomic drill and some other devices. As the Commdor’s bodyguards come closer to look at the machines, Mallow sees in their holsters atomic guns, emblazoned with the sun and spaceship emblem of the Empire.

After leaving Korell, Mallow gives his lieutenant some instructions, and then exits The Far Star in a lifeboat. Mallow visits the planet Siwenna, looking for an atomic power plant. He talks to an old hermit named Onum Barr, who gives him much information on the planet’s history. Barr says years earlier, the planet Siwenna’s viceroy, Wiscard, had ambitions to become emperor; but he failed, and the emperor sent a fleet to Siwenna to punish him. The viceroy escaped with a small fleet, eventually becoming a band of pirates, but the admiral of the imperial fleet sacked and looted the planet Siwenna anyway, as punishment for sporting a traitor. Barr reports that in a 50-year period, the Empire had nine different emperors, and of those, seven were assassinated. Barr notices that Mallow has a personal forcefield, and says that he has never seen a forcefield that small before (imperial forcefields generally protect entire ships, not single persons), though he’s heard rumors that such things exist on the periphery of the galaxy. Barr directs Mallow to a city with atomic plants. In that city, Mallow bribes a technician at the atomic power planet, giving the man a personal forcefield in exchange for a tour. Even the emperor, we learn, does not have a personal forcefield. Mallow sees the atomic reactor and asks the technician some questions, but the technician is evasive when Mallow asks if he knows how to repair it. Mallow then returns to The Far Star, and, days later, the personal forcefield he gave to the technician fails, never to work again.

A year later, back on Terminus, Mallow meets again with Sutt, who is angry because the trade deal Mallow made with planet Korell does not include priests. But Mallow points out that in seventy years, no planet outside the Four Kingdoms has been willing to accept priests on their planet, because that religion undermines the power of the ruling monarchs, as had been demonstrated years ealier by Salvor Hardin. Sutt now threatens a murder trial over the issue of the priest that was turned over to the mob in chapter four.

Hober Mallow is put on trial, on the charge of allowing the priest Jord Parma to be killed by the mob on the planet Korell. Twer has testified as a supposedly reluctant witness for the prosecution, but Mallow explains to the court and the crowd how he knew from the beginning that Twer was an agent of Sutt (Twer had never heard of a Seldon crisis, so he must have had only a priestly education, so he must be in the pocket of Sutt). Mallow reveals that he secretly made a holographic recording of the key meeting with Jord Parma on board The Far Star. He plays the recording, and then enlarges one frame of it to show the crowd that on Jord Parma’s hand were the tatooed letters KSP, which stand for Korellian Secret Police. This proves that the whole incident was staged by the Korellian government, as Mallow had suspected from the start. The excited crowd carries Mallow out on their shoulders, shouting “Long live Mallow!” Mallow then orders Sutt and his allies arrested, and kept out of commission just long enough to get himself elected mayor. Mallow is now convinced that a Seldon crisis is approaching, because Korell is getting atomic ships from the dying Empire, but his plan is to do nothing about it.

Three years later, the planet Korell, now in possession of five atomic ships provided by the Empire, declares war on the Foundation. Mallow believes that the real enemy is the Empire, not Korell, who are only the puppets of Trantor. Mallow devises a stalemate strategy, which will mean that the atomic gadgets on Korell will begin to fail, creating pressure for peace. He notes that the Empire always built big, while the Foundation had to economize, which is why personal forcefields are never seen in the Empire. The Age of Trade is now replacing the Age of Religion. Mallow’s plan works, and Korell surrenders.

Additional Notes

The Committee for Public Safety, described in Book One, gets its name from the committee that ruled France during the Reign of Terror, in the French Revolution, circa 1793–1794.

The planet Trantor is described in the epigram to chapter three as being covered by a single, planet-sized city. Trantor undoubtedly served as the inspiration for the planet Coruscant, from the film Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace (1999)—as the heroes approach the planet, the pilot says, "Coruscant—the entire planet is one big city."