In the elevator, vapors were rising from the wrapped Seldon as the blanket warmed to blood temperature.

Dors said, “Once we have him in his room, Dr. Leggen, you get a doctor-a good one-and see that he comes at once. If Dr. Seldon gets through this without harm, I won’t say anything, but only if he does. Remember-”

“You needn’t lecture me,” said Leggen coldly. “I regret this and I will do what I can, but my only fault was in allowing this man to come Upperside in the first place.”

The blanket stirred and a low, weak voice made itself heard. Benastra started, for Seldon’s head was cradled in the crook of his elbow. He said, “He’s trying to say something.”

Dors said, “I know. He said, ‘What’s going on?’ ”

She couldn’t help but laugh just a little. It seemed such a normal thing to say.

The doctor was delighted.

“I’ve never seen a case of exposure,” he explained. “One doesn’t get exposed on Trantor.”

“That may be,” said Dors coldly, “and I’m happy you have the chance to experience this novelty, but does it mean that you do not know how to treat Dr. Seldon?”

The doctor, an elderly man with a bald head and a small gray mustache, bristled. “Of course, I do. Exposure cases on the Outer Worlds are common enough-an everyday affair-and I’ve read a great deal about them.” Treatment consisted in part of an antiviral serum and the use of a microwave wrapping.

“This ought to take care of it,” the doctor said. “On the Outer Worlds, they make use of much more elaborate equipment in hospitals, but we don’t have that, of course, on Trantor. This is a treatment for mild cases and I’m sure it will do the job.”

Dors thought later, as Seldon was recovering without particular injury, that it was perhaps because he was an Outworlder that he had survived so well. Dark, cold, even snow were not utterly strange to him. A Trantorian probably would have died in a similar case, not so much from physical trauma as from psychic shock.

She was not sure of this, of course, since she herself was not a Trantorian either.

And, turning her mind away from these thoughts, she pulled up a chair near to Hari’s bed and settled down to wait.

On the second morning Seldon stirred awake and looked up at Dors, who sat at his bedside, viewing a book-film and taking notes. In a voice that was almost normal, Seldon said, “Still here, Dors?”

She put down the book-film. “I can’t leave you alone, can I? And I don’t trust anyone else.”

“It seems to me that every time I wake up, I see you. Have you been here all the time?”

“Sleeping or waking, yes.”

“But your classes?”

“I have an assistant who has taken over for a while.” Dors leaned over and grasped Hari’s hand. Noticing his embarrassment (he was, after all, in bed), she removed it.

“Hari, what happened? I was so frightened.”

Seldon said, “I have a confession to make.”

“What is it, Hari?”

“I thought perhaps you were part of a conspiracy-”

“A conspiracy?” she said vehemently.

“I mean, to maneuver me Upperside where I’d be outside University jurisdiction and therefore subject to being picked up by Imperial forces.”

“But Upperside isn’t outside University jurisdiction. Sector jurisdiction on Trantor is from the planetary center to the sky.”

“Ah, I didn’t know that. But you didn’t come with me because you said you had a busy schedule and, when I was getting paranoid, I thought you were deliberately abandoning me. Please forgive me. Obviously, it was you who got me down from there. Did anyone else care?”

“They were busy men,” said Dors carefully. “They thought you had come down earlier. I mean, it was a legitimate thought.”

“Clowzia thought so too?”

“The young intern? Yes, she did.”

“Well, it may still have been a conspiracy. Without you, I mean.”

“No, Hari, it is my fault. I had absolutely no right to let you go Upperside alone. It was my job to protect you. I can’t stop blaming myself for what happened, for you getting lost.”

“Now, wait a minute,” said Seldon, suddenly irritated. “I didn’t get lost. What do you think I am?”

“I’d like to know what you call it. You were nowhere around when the others left and you didn’t get back to the entrance-or to the neighborhood of the entrance anyway-till well after dark.”

“But that’s not what happened. I didn’t get lost just because I wandered away and couldn’t find my way back. I told you I was suspecting a conspiracy and I had cause to do so. I’m not totally paranoid.”

“Well then, what did happen?”

Seldon told her. He had no trouble remembering it in full detail; he had lived with it in nightmare for most of the preceding day.

Dors listened with a frown. “But that’s impossible. A jet-down? Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. Do you think I was hallucinating?”

“But the Imperial forces could not have been searching for you. They could not have arrested you Upperside without creating the same ferocious rumpus they would have if they had sent in a police force to arrest you on campus.”

“Then how do you explain it?”

“I’m not sure,” said Dors, “but it’s possible that the consequences of my failure to go Upperside with you might have been worse than they were and that Hummin will be seriously angry with me.”

“Then let’s not tell him,” said Seldon. “It ended well.”

“We must tell him,” said Dors grimly. “This may not be the end.”

That evening Jenarr Leggen came to visit. It was after dinner and he looked from Dors to Seldon several times, as though wondering what to say. Neither offered to help him, but both waited patiently.

He had not impressed either of them as being a master of small talk.

Finally he said to Seldon, “I’ve come to see how you are.”

“Perfectly well,” said Seldon, “except that I’m a little sleepy. Dr. Venabili tells me that the treatment will keep me tired for a few days, presumably so I’m sure of getting needed rest.” He smiled. “Frankly, I don’t mind.”

Leggen breathed in deeply, let it out, hesitated, and then, almost as though he was forcing the words out of himself, said, “I won’t keep you long. I perfectly understand you need to rest. I do want to say, though, that I am sorry it all happened. I should not have assumed-so casually-that you had gone down by yourself. Since you were a tyro, I should have felt more responsible for you. After all, I had agreed to let you come up. I hope you can find it in your heart to… forgive me. That’s really all I wish to say.”

Seldon yawned, putting his hand over his mouth. “Pardon me.-Since it seems to have turned out well, there need be no hard feelings. In some ways, it was not your fault. I should not have wandered away and, besides, what happened was-”

Dors interrupted. “Now, Hari, please, no conversation. Just relax. Now, I want to talk to Dr. Leggen just a bit before he goes. In the first place, Dr. Leggen, I quite understand you are concerned about how repercussions from this affair will affect you. I told you there would be no follow-up if Dr. Seldon recovered without ill effects. That seems to be taking place, so you may relax-for now. I would like to ask you about something else and I hope that this time I will have your free cooperation.”

“I will try, Dr. Venabili,” said Leggen stiffly.

“Did anything unusual happen during your stay Upperside?”

“You know it did. I lost Dr. Seldon, something for which I have just apologized.”

“Obviously I’m not referring to that. Did anything else unusual happen?”

“No, nothing. Nothing at all.”