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tomorrow.”
    “Sooner! Now!”
    The young man looked at his partner. Seldon followed the look and caught a glimpse of Hummin. He had
not
left, but the park was now empty except for himself, Hummin, and the two young men.
    Seldon said, “I’d thought I’d spend today sight-seeing.”
    “No. You don’t want to do that. You go home now.”
    Seldon smiled. “Sorry. I won’t.”
    The young man said to his partner, “You like his clothes, Marbie?”
    Marbie spoke for the first time. “No. Disgusting. Turns the stomach.”
    “Can’t let him go around turning stomachs, Marbie. Not good for people’s health.”
    “No, not by no means, Alem,” said Marbie.
    Alem grinned. “Well now. You heard what Marbie said.”
    And now Hummin spoke. He said, “Look, you two, Alem, Marbie, whatever your names are. You’ve had your fun. Why don’t you go away?”
    Alem, who had been leaning slightly toward Seldon, straightened and turned. “Who are you?”
    “That’s not your business,” snapped Hummin.
    “You’re Trantorian?” asked Alem.
    “Also not your business.”
    Alem frowned and said, “You’re dressed Trantorian. We’re not interested in you, so don’t go looking for problems.”
    “I intend to stay. That means there are two of us. Two against two doesn’t sound like your kind of fight. Why don’t you go away and get some friends so you can handle two people?”
    Seldon said, “I really think you ought to get away if you can, Hummin. It’s kind of you to try to protect me, but I don’t want you harmed.”
    “These are not dangerous people, Seldon. Just half-credit lackeys.”
    “Lackeys!” The word seemed to infuriate Alem, so that Seldon thought it must have a more insulting meaning on Trantor than it had on Helicon.
    “Here, Marbie,” said Alem with a growl. “You take care of that other motherlackey and I’ll rip the clothes off this Seldon. He’s the one we want. Now—”
    His hands came down sharply to seize Seldon’s lapels and jerk him upright. Seldon pushed away, instinctively it would seem, and his chair tipped backward. He seized the hands stretched toward him, his foot went up, and his chair went down.
    Somehow Alem streaked overhead, turning as hedid so, and came down hard on his neck and back behind Seldon.
    Seldon twisted as his chair went down and was quickly on his feet, staring down at Alem, then looking sharply to one side for Marbie.
    Alem lay unmoving, his face twisted in agony. He had two badly sprained thumbs, excruciating pain in his groin, and a backbone that had been badly jarred.
    Hummin’s left arm had grabbed Marbie’s neck from behind and his right arm had pulled the other’s right arm backward at a vicious angle. Marbie’s face was red as he labored uselessly for breath. A knife, glittering with a small laser inset, lay on the ground beside them.
    Hummin eased his grip slightly and said, with an air of honest concern, “You’ve hurt that one badly.”
    Seldon said, “I’m afraid so. If he had fallen a little differently, he would have snapped his neck.”
    Hummin said, “What kind of a mathematician are you?”
    “A Heliconian one.” He stooped to pick up the knife and, after examining it, said, “Disgusting—and deadly.”
    Hummin said, “An ordinary blade would do the job without requiring a power source. —But let’s let these two go. I doubt they want to continue any further.”
    He released Marbie, who rubbed first his shoulder then his neck. Gasping for air, he turned hate-filled eyes on the two men.
    Hummin said sharply, “You two had better get out of here. Otherwise we’ll have to give evidence against you for assault and attempted murder. This knife can surely be traced to you.”
    Seldon and Hummin watched while Marbie dragged Alem to his feet and then helped him stagger away, still bent in pain. They looked back once or twice, but Seldon and Hummin watched impassively.
    Seldon held out his hand. “How do I thank you for coming to the