The room that Hari Seldon found himself in was larger than Hummins room in the Imperial Sector. It was a bedroom with one corner serving as a washroom and with no sign of any cooking or dining facilities. There was no window, though set in the ceiling was a grilled ventilator that made a steady sighing noise. Seldon looked about a bit ruefully.
Hummin interpreted that look with his usual assured manner and said, "Its only for tonight, Seldon. Tomorrow morning someone will come to install you at the University and you will be more comfortable."
"Pardon me, Hummin, but how do you know that?"
"I will make arrangements. I know one or two people here"--he smiled briefly without humor--"and I have a favor or two I can ask repayment for. Now lets go into some details."
He gazed steadily at Seldon and said, "Whatever you have left in your hotel room is lost. Does that include anything irreplaceable?"
"Nothing really irreplaceable. I have some personal items I value for their association with my past life, but if they are gone, they are gone. There are, of course, some notes on my paper. Some calculations. The paper itself."
"Which is now public knowledge until such time as it is removed from circulation as dangerous--which it probably will be. Still, Ill be able to get my hands on a copy, Im sure. In any case, you can reconstruct it, cant you?"
"I can. Thats why I said there was nothing really irreplaceable. Also, Ive lost nearly a thousand credits, some books, clothing, my tickets back to Helicon, things like that."
"All replaceable.--Now I will arrange for you to have a credit tile in my name, charged to me. That will take care of ordinary expenses."
"Thats unusually generous of you. I cant accept it."
"Its not generous at all, since Im hoping to save the Empire in that fashion. You must accept it."
"But how much can you afford, Hummin? Ill be using it, at best, with an uneasy conscience."
"Whatever you need for survival or reasonable comfort I can afford, Seldon. Naturally, I wouldnt want you to try to buy the University gymnasium or hand out a million credits in largess."
"You neednt worry, but with my name on record--"
"It might as well be. It is absolutely forbidden for the Imperial government to exercise any security control over the Uni............