"1 Prelude to Foundation" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asimov Isaac)

between Robots and Empire (5) and The Currents of Space (6) and between Prelude
to Foundation (9) and Foundation (10) and of course between others as well. And
then I can follow Foundation and Earth (14) with additional volumes-as many as I
like.
Naturally, there's got to be some limit, for I don't expect to live forever, but
I do intend to hang on as long as possible.



Mathematician
CLEON I- . . . The last Galactic Emperor of the Entun dynasty. He was born in
the year 11,988 of the Galactic Era, the same year in which Hari Seldon was
born. (It is thought that Seldon's birthdate, which some consider doubtful, may
have been adjusted to match that of Cleon, whom Seldon, soon after his arrival
on Trantor, is supposed to have encountered.)
Having succeeded to the Imperial throne in 12,010 at the age of twenty-two,
Cleon I's reign represented a curious interval of quiet in those troubled times.
This is undoubtedly due to the skills of his Chief of Staff, Eto Demerzel, who
so carefully obscured himself from public record that little is known about him.

Cleon himself . . .
ENCYLOPEDIA GALACTICA
(All quotations from the Encyclopedia Galactica here reproduced are taken from
the 116th Edition, published 1,020 FE by the Encyclopedia Galactica Publishing
Co., Terminus, with permission of the publishers.)
1.
Suppressing a small yawn, Cleon said, "Demerzel, have you by any chance ever
heard of a man named Hari Seldon?"
Cleon had been Emperor for just over ten years and there were times at state
occasions when, dressed in the necessary robes and regalia, he could manage to
look stately. He did so, for instance, in the holograph of himself that stood in
the niche in the wall behind him. It was placed so that it clearly dominated the
other niches holding the holographs of several of his ancestors.
The holograph was not a totally honest one, for though Cleon's hair was light
brown in hologram and reality alike, it was a bit thicker in the holograph.
There was a certain asymmetry to his real face, for the left side of his upper
lip raised itself a bit higher than the right side, and this was somehow not
evident in the holograph. And if he had stood up and placed himself beside the
holograph, he would have been seen to be 2 centimeters under the 1.83-meter
height that the image portrayed--and perhaps a bit stouter.
Of course, the holograph was the official coronation portrait and he had been
younger then. He still looked young and rather handsome, too, and when he was
not in the pitiless grip of official ceremony, there was a kind of vague good
nature about his face.
Demerzel said, with the tone of respect that he carefully cultivated, "Hari
Seldon? It is an unfamiliar name to me, Sire. Ought I to know of him?"
"The Minister of Science mentioned him to me last night. I thought you might."
Demerzel frowned slightly, but only very slightly, for one does not frown in the
Imperial presence. "The Minister of Science, Sire, should have spoken of this
man to me as Chief of Staff. If you are to be bombarded from every side-"