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, "Ive come to see how you are."
"Perfectly well," said Seldon, "except that Im a little sleepy. Dr. Venabili tells me that the treatment will keep me tired for a few days, presumably so Im sure of getting needed rest." He smiled. "Frankly, I dont mind."
Leggen breathed in deeply, let it out, hesitated, and then, almost as though he was forcing the words out of himself, said, "I wont 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. Thats 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 Im not referring to that. Did anything else unusual happen?"
"No, nothing. Nothing at all."
Dors looked at Seldon and Seldon frowned. It seemed to him that Dors was trying to check on his story and get an independent account. Did she think he was imagining the search vessel? He would have liked to object heatedly, but she had raised a quieting hand at him, as though she was preventing that very eventuality. He subsided, partly because of this and partly because he really wanted to sleep. He hoped that Leggen would not stay long.
"Are you certain?" said Dors. "Were there no intrusions from outside?"
"No, of course not. Oh--"
"Yes, Dr. Leggen?"
"There was a jet-down."
"Did that strike you as peculiar?"
"No, of course not."
"Why not?"
"This sounds very much as though Im being cross-examined, Dr. Venabili. I dont much like it."
"I can appreciate that, Dr. Leggen, but these questions have something to do with Dr. Seldons misadventure. It may be that this whole affair is more complicated than I had thought."
"In what way?" A new edge entered his voice. "Do you intend to raise new questions, requiring new apologies? In that case, I may find it necessary to withdraw."
"Not, perhaps, before you explain how it is you do not find a hovering jet-down a bit peculiar."
"Because, my dear woman, a number of meteorological stations on Trantor possess jet-downs for the direct study of clouds and the upper atmosphere. Our own meteorological station does not."
"Why not? It would be useful."
"Of course. But were not competing and were not keeping secrets. W............