Second Foundation (Isaac Asimov) читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги

5 One Man And The Mule

There was no sign in any of Channis’ actions that he was aware of any subtle change in the attitude of Pritcher and in their relations to each other. He leaned back on the hard wooden bench and spread-eagled his feet out in front of him.

‘What did you make of the governor?’

Pritcher shrugged: ‘Nothing at all. He certainly seemed no mental genius to me. A very poor specimen of the Second Foundation, if that’s what he was supposed to be.’

‘I don’t think he was, you know. I’m not sure what to make of it. Suppose you were a Second Foundationer,’ Channis grew thoughtful, ‘what would you do? Suppose you had an idea of our purpose here. How would you handle us?’

‘Conversion, of course.’

‘Like the Mule?’ Channis looked up, sharply. ‘Would we know if they had converted us? I wonder— And what if they were simply psychologists, but very clever ones.’

‘In that case, I’d have us killed rather quickly.’