It was over breakfast the next morning, not sooner, that Dors took up the subject--and in a way that Seldon found most wounding. She said, "Well, that was a pretty fiasco yesterday."
Seldon, who had honestly thought he had gotten away with it without comment, looked sullen. "What made it a fiasco?"
"Driven out is what we were. And for what? What did we gain?"
"Only the knowledge that there is a robot in there."
"Mycelium Seventy-Two said there wasnt."
"Of course he said that. Hes a scholar--or thinks he is--and what he doesnt know about the Sacratorium would probably fill that library he goes to. You saw the Elders reaction."
"I certainly did."
"He would not have reacted like that if there was no robot inside. He was horrified we knew."
"Thats just your guess, Hari. And even if there was, we couldnt get in."
"We could certainly try. After breakfast, we go out and buy a sash for me, one of those obiahs. I put it on, keep my eyes devoutly downward, and walk right in."
"Skincap and all? Theyll spot you in a microsecond."
"No, they wont. Well go into the library where all the tribespeople data is kept. Id like to see it anyway. From the library, which is a Sacratorium annex, I gather, there will probably be an entrance into the Sacratorium."
"Where you will be picked up at once."
"Not at all. You heard what Mycelium Seventy-Two had to say. Everyone keeps his eyes down and meditates on their great Lost World, Aurora. No one looks at anyone else. It would probably be a grievous breach of discipline to do so. Then Ill find the Elders aerie--"
"Just like that?"
"At one point, Mycelium Seventy-Two said he would advise me not to try to get up into the Elders aerie. Up. It must be somewhere in that tower of the Sacratorium, the central tower."
Dors shook her head. "I dont recall the mans exact words and I dont think you do either. Thats a terribly weak foundation to-- Wait." She stopped suddenly and frowned.
"Well?" said Seldon.
"There is an archaic word aerie that means a dwelling place on high. "
"Ah! There you are. You see, weve learned some vital things as the result of what you call a fiasco. And if I can find a living robot thats twenty thousand years old and if it can tell me--"
"Suppose that such a thing e............