Foundation

[Craines]

The four members of the Hakobune were engaged in a debate when the door to their room was opened. Professor vanHoffman was ranting about the strange polarity of the system they were in, especially the odd gravitonics readings that he had gotten from the Hakobune's sensors, while Richard Walters was passing back and forth, a long, slender stiletto dagger balanced between his hands, his middle fingers making contact with the tip of the blade and the hilt. Samantha Cinders was listening to her college, her glasses reflecting the light of the room in a peculiar fashion. Doctor Hiia was staring into a datalink, working studiously on the project Deius Prime and the information he had gotten from Adalae.

The man who entered the room was met with the dagger stuck only centimeters from his head. With a twang, it stuck into the metal door frame. Walters had already withdrawn a second from some secret compartment, and looked at the visitor, with the intentions of murdering the poor fellow if he posed a threat to Walters' charges. Professor vanHoffman blinked several times, and then began to process the information. A thick pair of bifocals appeared on his face while he took everything. Doctor Hiia stood up immediately, the datalink secured and password-protected, and hurried to Richard, signaling for the assassin to lower the weapon. Samantha hurried forth to welcome the man.

"My name is Salvor Hardin. I am here to inform you of the passing of the Historian, Ian Gedrix, who had summoned you. A funeral procession will soon be held, and it would be respectful if you four attended. He wanted you four here for some special reason - I think it would be fitting if you all accompanied me and paid your final respects."

"Wait one moment. Salvor Hardin? As in, mayor of Terminus? Please, the originality of this place is staggeringly low. Oh, I am sorry, that was rather mean. I'm sorry. The thing is, I am well versed in the works of Isaac Asimov, and... well, why are you all staring at me like that? Did I say something wrong?"

The room had looked at Doctor Hiia, who was now looking back at them. Walters broke the strange silence. "Needless to say, these three are more important than anyone on this planet now. So no, we four will not be attending any funerals, wakes, or any other form of respect paying to the deceased. If you have a problem with that, I have only one thing to say: we won't attend your funeral, either. I hope that I have made myself clear? Good. Because I certainly hate to be questioned."

Mr. Hardin looked at the Bretonian man, and began to fuss. Samantha interrupted him. "Listen, honey, if you favor the use of, well, your corpus callosum (which you do, hon, don't question it), I advise you remain silent. Mr. Walters hasn't... 'offed' anyone in a while, and he's getting a bit, oh, stir crazy. Maybe you could just tell us why the late Historian wanted our aid? If not, we'd be happy to leave. I have no intentions of staying here forever, and I'm sure you won't require that. Now, care to explain our invitations?"

"Of course, Doctor Cinders--"

"Ms. Cinders, actually. I took the title of doctor off after my husband died."

"I'm terribly sorry, Ms. Cinders."

"No use in talking about it now. Continue, please."

"Yes. The Historian wished for your assistance in a most pressing matter, the likes of which I believe whole-heartedly believe you will find fascinating, since it uses all four of your abilities. The project that I'm about to describe was the full sum of the total knowledge that could be obtained in the amount of time that we had to obtain it. Now, because the Historian has passed away, I can't explain everyth--"

A dagger embedded itself in the throat of Salvor Hardin. He fell to his knees, grasping at it. The stiletto had pierced the man's throat and spine, the hilt making contact with his flesh, and the tip sticking through the back of his throat. In but a few moments, the man was dead. The three scientists were looking at Richard, unaware of why he had killed Salvor. Walking nonchalantly forwards, Walters removed the knife from the man's body. Only a minute hole could be seen. Sprinkling some powder on the body, Walters effectively dissolved it by speeding up the metabolic rate.

"Do ve run? Or vill ve not get executed for killing somevone in cold blood?" Professor vanHoffman asked, his bifocals off and the alcohol being sipped hurriedly. Richard smiled in his strange way, and brushed his mustache.

"My good Rheinland fellow, if the man wasn't expendable, would he have been sent? No. In my many years of learning how to interrogate a man, I determined that there are those who are... necessary, and those who are not. He was unnecessary. Therefore, I removed him. Now we have a lovely skeleton! I shall name him Johnford. I think I'll have him hung in the Hakobune! And no one will be any the wiser."

The three scientists looked at each other, deciding that it was best not to interfere with Richard Walters or his strange new companion. VanHoffman took another long draft from his jug, and began to follow the assassin. Hiia and Cinders shrugged their shoulders, took a final glance around the room, and left for the ship as well. They weren't going to leave, but they certainly didn't want to be on the planet when Salvor was declared missing.

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