Prelude to Foundation (Page 90)

(Maybe, thought Seldon briefly, there was some other emotion involved too, but he put the thought away. None of his business.)

"I liked number theory," said Amaryl. "I worked some things out from what I learned from the computer and from the book-films it used to teach me mathematics. I came up with some new things that weren’t in the book-films." Seldon raised his eyebrows. "That’s interesting. Like what?"

"I’ve brought some of them to you. I’ve never showed them to anyone. The people around me-" He shrugged. "They’d either laugh or be annoyed. Once I tried to tell a girl I knew, but she just said I was weird and wouldn’t see me anymore. Is it all right for me to show them to you?"

"Quite all right. Believe me."

Seldon held out his hand and after a brief hesitation, Amaryl handed him the bag he was carrying.

For a long time, Seldon looked over Amaryl’s papers. The work was naive in the extreme, but he allowed no smile to cross his face. He followed the demonstrations, not one of which was new, of course-or even nearly new-or of any importance.

But that didn’t matter.

Seldon looked up. "Did you do all of this yourself?"

Amaryl, looking more than half-frightened, nodded his head. Seldon extracted several sheets. "What made you think of this?" His finger ran down a line of mathematical reasoning.

Amaryl looked it over, frowned, and thought about it. Then he explained his line of thinking.

Seldon listened and said, "Did you ever read a book by Anat Bigell?"

"On number theory?"

"The title was Mathematical Deduction. It wasn’t about number theory, particularly."

Amaryl shook his head. "I never heard of him. I’m sorry."

"He worked out this theorem of yours three hundred years ago.’

Amaryl looked stricken. "I didn’t know that."

"I’m sure you didn’t. You did it more cleverly, though. It’s not rigorous, but-"

"What do you mean, ‘rigorous’?"

"It doesn’t matter." Seldon put the papers back together in a sheaf, restored it to the bag, and said, "Make several copies of all this. Take one copy, have it dated by an official computer, and place it under computerized seal. My friend here, Mistress Venabili, can get you into Streeling University without tuition on some sort of scholarship. You’ll have to start at the beginning and take courses in other subjects than mathematics, but-"

By now Amaryl had caught his breath. "Into Streeling University? They won’t take me."

"Why not? Dors, you can arrange it, can’t you?"

"I’m sure I can."

"No, you can’t," said Amaryl hotly. "They won’t take me. I’m from Dahl."

"Well?"

"They won’t take people from Dahl."

Seldon looked at Dors. "What’s he talking about?"

Dors shook her head. "I really don’t know."

Amaryl said, "You’re an Outworlder, Mistress. How long have you been at Streeling?"

"A little over two years, Mr. Amaryl."

"Have you ever seen Dahlites there-short, curly black hair, big mustaches?"

"There are students with all kinds of appearances."

"But no Dahlites. Look again the next time you’re there."

"Why not?" said Seldon.

"They don’t like us. We look different. They don’t like our mustaches."

"You can shave your-" but Seldon’s voice died under the other’s furious glance.

"Never. Why should I? My mustache is my manhood."

"You shave your beard. That’s your manhood too."

"To my people it is the mustache."

Seldon looked at Dors again and murmured, "Bald heads, mustaches… madness."

"What?" said Amaryl angrily.

"Nothing. Tell me what else they don’t like about Dahlites."

"They make up things not to like. They say we smell. They say we’re dirty. They say we steal. They say we’re violent. They say we’re dumb."

"Why do they say all this?"

"Because its easy to say it and it makes them feel good. Sure, if we work in the heatsinks, we get dirty and smelly. If we’re poor and held down, some of us steal and get violent. But that isn’t the way it is with all of us. How about those tall yellow-hairs in the Imperial Sector who think they own the Galaxy-no, they do own the Galaxy. Don’t they ever get violent? Don’t they steal sometimes? If they did my job, they’d smell the way I do. If they had to live the way I have to, they’d get dirty too."

"Who denies that there are people of all kinds in all places?" said Seldon.

"No one argues the matter! They just take it for granted. Master Seldon, I’ve got to get away from Trantor. I have no chance on Trantor, no way of earning credits, no way of getting an education, no way of becoming a mathematician, no way of becoming any thing but what they say I am… a worthless nothing." This last was said in frustration-and desperation.

Seldon tried to be reasonable. "The person I’m renting this room from is a Dahlite. He has a clean job. He’s educated."

"Oh sure," said Amaryl passionately. "There are some. They let a few do it so that they can say it can be done. And those few can live nicely as long as they stay in Dahl. Let them go outside and they’ll see how they’re treated. And while they’re in here they make themselves feel good by treating the rest of us like dirt. That makes them yellow-hairs in their own eyes. What did this nice person you’re renting this room from say when you told him you were bringing in a heatsinker? What did he say I would be like? They’re gone now… wouldn’t be in the same place with me."

Seldon moistened his lips. "I won’t forget you. I’ll see to it that you’ll get off Trantor and into my own University in Helicon-once I’m back there myself."