"No!" Hari Seldon was almost violent. "I don't want you out there, Dors."
Dors Venabili stared back at him with an expression as firm as his own. "Then I won't let you go, either, Hari."
"I must be there."
"It is not your place. It is the Gardener First-Class who must greet these new people."
"So it is. But Gruber can't do it. He's a broken man."
"He must have an assistant of some sort. Or let the old Chief Gardener do it. He holds the office till the end of the year."
"The old Chief Gardener is too ill. Besides"-Seldon hesitated-攖here are ringers among the gardeners. Trantorians. They're here, for some reason. I have the names of every one of them."
"Have them taken into custody, then. Every last one of them. It's simple. Why are you making it so complex?"
"Because we don't know why they're here. Something's up. I don't see what twelve gardeners can do, but- No, let me rephrase that. I can see a dozen things they can do, but I don't know which one of those things they've planned. We will, indeed, take them into custody, but I must know more about everything before it's done.
"We have to know enough to winkle out everyone in the conspiracy from top to bottom and we must know enough of what they're doing to be able to make the proper punishment stick. I don't want to get twelve men and women on what is essentially a misdemeanor charge. They'll plead desperation, the need for a job. They'll complain that it isn't fair for Trantorians to be excluded. They'll get plenty of sympathy and we'll be left looking like fools. We must give them a chance to convict themselves of more than that. Besides-"
There was a long pause and Dors said wrathfully, "Well, what's the new `besides'?"
Seldon's voice lowered. "One of the twelve is Raych, using the alias Planchet."
"What?"
"Why are you surprised? I sent him t............