Theo Aporat  was one of the very highest  ranking priests of Anacreon. Fromthe  standpoint of precedence  alone, he  deserved his appointment  as headpriest- attendant upon the flagship Wienis.
But it  was not  only rank or precedence.  He knew the ship.  He had workeddirectly under  the holy  men from the  Foundation itself in  repairing theship. He  had gone over the  motors under their orders.  He had rewired the'visors; revamped  the communications system; replated  the punctured hull;reinforced the beams. He had even been permitted to help while the wise menof the  Foundation had installed a device so holy  it had never been placedin  any previous  ship,  but had  been reserved  only for  this magnificentcolossus of a vessel ?a hyperwave relay.
It  was no wonder  that he felt  heartsick over  the purposes to  which theglorious ship  was perverted. He  had never wanted to  believe what Verisofhad told him ? that the ship was to be used for appalling wickedness; thatits  guns  were to  be  turned  on the  great  Foundation.  Turned on  thatFoundation,  where  he  had  been  trained  as  a  youth,  from  which  allblessedness was derived.
Yet  he  could  not  doubt  now,  after  what  the admiral  had  told  him.
How could the king,  divinely blessed, allow this abominable act? Or was itthe king?  Was it not, perhaps,  an action of the  accursed regent, Wienis,without the knowledge  of the king at all. And it was  the son of this sameWienis  that  was  the  admiral  who  five  minutes before  had  told  him:
"Attend  to your  souls and  your blessings,  priest. I  will attend  to myship."Aporat smiled  crookedly. He would attend to his  souls and his blessings ?
and  also to  his  cursings; and  Prince  Lefkin would  whine soon  enough.
He had  entered the general communications  room now. His. acolyte precededhim  and the two  officers in charge  made no  move to interfere.  The headpriest-attendant  had  the  right  of  free  entry anywhere  on  the  ship.
"Close the door," Aporat  ordered, and looked at the chronometer. It lackedFive minutes of twelve. He had timed it well.
With quick  practiced motions, he  moved the little levers  that opened allcommunications,  so that every  part of  the two-mile-long ship  was withinreach of his voice and his image.
"Soldiers of the royal flagship Wienis, attend! It is your priest-attendantthat speaks!"  The sound of his voice reverberated,  he knew, from the stematom  blast in  the  extreme rear  to the  navigation  tables in  the prow.
"Your ship," he cried, "is engaged in sacrilege. Without your knowledge, itis performing such  an act as will doom the soul of  every man among you tothe  eternal  frigidity of  space!  Listen!  It is  the  intention of  yourcommander to  take this  ship to the  Foundation and there  to bombard thatsource of all blessings  into submission to his sinful will. And since thatis his  intention, I, in the  name of the Galactic  Spirit, remove him fromhis command,  for there  is no command  where the blessing  of the GalacticSpirit has  been withdrawn.  The divine king  himself may not  maintain hiskingship without the consent of the Spirit."His voice took on a deeper tone, while the acolyte listened with venerationand the  two soldiers  with mounting fear.  "And because this  ship is uponsuch a  devil's errand,  the blessing of  the Spirit is removed  from it aswell."He lifted  his arms  solemnly, and before a  thousand televisors throughoutthe ship, soldiers cowered,  as the stately image of their priest-attendantspoke:
"In the name of the Galactic Spirit and of his prophet, Hari Seldon, and ofhis interpreters,  the holy men of&nb............