Foundation and Empire (1952)

Isaac Asimov

Doubleday, New York; ISBN 1-56865-059-0; Pages: 227

The second novel takes up where the first Foundation left off, some two centuries after the deal of Hari Seldon and the establishment of the two Foundations, of which the Second is a secret no one knows. As the influence of Terminus grows, aided by the superior technology and then its expanding commercial sphere, the Foundation is inevitably destined to clash with the declining Empire.

In the first part of this novel, Asimov tells the story of this clash when the Empire under its last capable Emperor Cleon II lashed out at the Foundation with its last and perhaps most capable General, Bel Riose. It is this General who first perceived the danger emanating from Terminus and who took the Imperial Fleet to battle the dead hand of Hari Seldon.

Bel Riose takes with him two captives, the Foundationer Lathan Devers, and the old Siwennian Ducem Barr. The first is a trader, and an agent of the Foundation, and the second is an ageing rebel who has once assassinated an imperial viceroy. They both know of Seldon's Plan but do not entirely trust its workings, and so they plot and counter-plot to prevent the General from succeeding. Yet, no matter what they do, he bears even closer toward his goal: the subjugation of Terminus. Ironically, it is Brodrig, the repulsive imperial favorite, who fulfills Seldon's Plan when his greed makes him too dangerous to the Emperor, causing his (and the General's) recall, ending the threat to the Foundation. Under strong emperors, strong subjects cannot thrive, and it is only a combination of a strong center with a strong military that can ever endanger the Foundation...

Unless, of course, Seldon's Plan has failed to predict something. A mutation. A random (and therefore unpredictable) mutation that would introduce a wild variable into the equations, spoiling their mathematical precision. In the second part of the novel, such a mutant, The Mule, appears and conquers the Foundation, establishing his own Empire.

No one knows where he comes from, and no one knows what he looks like. Yet, within a few years, the Mule, rises from total obscurity by conquering a planet, then the Empire, and then the Foundation itself. Nothing can resist him even though his military is not the strongest. For some strange reason, everyone (but a few Trader worlds) suddenly lose their will to fight this conqueror. Bayta Darell finds herself in the midst of a Trader plot to challenge the overbearing rule of the Foundation, which is controlled by hereditary mayors, but then it all falls apart when the grave threat of the Mutant compels everyone to cooperate against him. It is all in vain, and the Foundation falls.

Bayta, her husband, and the Mule's jester Magnifico, a helpless creature who has escaped the clutches of the Mutant, flee to Trantor in search for an answer that would help destroy the Mule. The question: where is the Second Foundation? It is the last hope for Seldon's Plan and it is the only entity capable (or so it is hoped) of opposing the Mule, whose mutant ability to adjust human emotions makes him invulnerable to technology. After all, of what use is an army if it would not fight?

By this time, Trantor itself is in ruins. Nothing but the University remains of the great city. In its library, the psychologist Ebling Mis begins an intense search for the Second Foundation, which is successful. Right before revealing its location to the other three, Bayta blasts him to death to prevent the secret from being exposed. She has correctly deduced that Magnifico is the Mule and the latter, under the spell of Bayta's natural affection for him, has not tampered with her emotions. Thus, the invincible Mule is defeated by a woman, and must now begin his own search for the Second Foundation, the last remaining threat to his Empire.

Asimov is certainly getting better here. The second novel has slower action but with characters that are full-blooded and not simple caricatures, which the ones in the first novel tend to be. The elegiac descriptions of the ruined Trantor contrasts well with its bustle in the first novel, where it seemed destined to live eternally. Even the Mutant is made into a thoroughly sympathetic character, and it is not altogether clear that his Empire would be worse than Seldon's. Yet, because he can have no heir (hence, the mule), it seems certain to fall apart as soon as he dies.

We also finally have a strong female character, although Bayta seems inactive most of the time and when she does act, her success is almost entirely due to the wilful negligence of the Mule. Not exactly flattering, but not altogether improbable. We shall have to wait much longer for a good female hero in Asimov. I wonder why.

Finally (and with no evidence whatsoever), I think that Asimov must have sensed the inherent lack of dramatic suspense in the first novel, and indeed, in the whole concept of a Foundation following a predetermined course. If it is sure to succeed, then none of the dangers really matter. Introducing the Mule, the aberration, is a way to throw a monkey wrench in the mechanism, make the end indeterminate, and the story thereby gripping. I think Asimov has succeeded in that as well.

August 4, 2003