Foundation and Empire
| Foundation and Empire | |
|---|---|
 Dust-jacket illustration from the first edition |
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| Author | Isaac Asimov |
| Cover artist | Edd Cartier |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Foundation Series |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Gnome Press |
| Publication date | 1952 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 247 pp |
| ISBN | NA |
| Preceded by | Foundation |
| Followed by | Second Foundation |
Foundation and Empire is a novel written by Isaac Asimov that was published by Gnome Press in 1952. It is the second book published in the Foundation Series, and the fourth in the in-universe chronology. It takes place in two halves, originally published as separate novellas.
Contents |
Plot summary
The General
The first half of the book, titled "The General," tells how the Galactic Empire, now well into its collapse, led by skilled General Bel Riose, launches an attack against the Foundation. The Empire still retains far more resources and personnel than the Foundation and Riose is willing to use that advantage to its fullest. Devers, a native of the Foundation, intercepts a message that summarizes the General's doings, and escapes to Trantor, trying to see the emperor and show him the message. He fails and is nearly killed, but the emperor finds out anyway. In the end, the emperor decides that Riose is a threat to his status and to the balance of the Empire and has him executed.
Psychohistory gives members of the Foundation a full understanding of the struggle for power between generals and emperors that takes place inside the Empire.
The characters of Emperor Cleon II and Bel Riose in this story are based around those of the historical Roman Emperor Justinian I and his general Belisarius, the story of whom was familiar to Asimov from his recent reading of Robert Graves's novel Count Belisarius.
"The General" was first published in the April 1945 issue of Astounding Science Fiction under the title "Dead Hand".
The Mule
The second half of the book, titled "The Mule," takes place approximately one hundred years after the first half. The Empire has ceased to exist, Trantor has been sacked by a "barbarian fleet", and only a small rump state of 20 agricultural planets remain. Most of the Galaxy has split into barbaric kingdoms. The Empire entered into an even more rapid phase of decline and civil wars. The Foundation has become the dominant power in the Galaxy, controlling its regions through its trading network.
Leadership of the Foundation has become degenerate. In response to the internal corruption within the Foundation, roughly 30 outer planets belonging to the Foundation who have become wealthy on their own through extensive trade begin to plan a secession war against the Foundation.
In addition, an external threat arises in the form of a mysterious man who is known only as the Mule. The Mule (whose real name is never revealed) is a mutant, and possesses the ability to sense and manipulate the emotions of others, usually creating fear and/or total devotion within his victims. He uses this ability to take over the independent systems bordering the Foundation, and has them wage a war against it.
The Foundation is incapable of fighting back and as the Mule advances, leadership in the Foundation assumes that Hari Seldon predicted this attack, and that the scheduled hologram crisis message appearance of Hari Seldon would tell them how to win, just like with Bel Riose. To their surprise, they see the tape run and discover Seldon never predicted the existence of the Mule.
Foundation citizens Toran and Bayta Darell along with psychologist Ebling Mis and refugee clown named "Magnifico Giganticus" travel to different worlds of the Foundation, and finally to the Great Library of Trantor. The Darells and Mis seek to contact the Second Foundation, which they believe will be able to defeat the Mule. They also have suspicion the Mule wishes to know the location of the Second Foundation so that he can use the First Foundation's technology to destroy it.
At the Great Library, Ebling Mis works continuously until his health fatally deteriorates. As Mis lies dying, he tells Toran, Bayta, and Magnificus that he knows where the Second Foundation is. Just before he reveals the Second Foundation's location, however, Bayta kills him. Bayta had shortly before realized that Magnificus was actually the Mule, who had used his powers in every planet they had visited before. In the same way he had forced Mis to continue working and find what the Mule was looking for. Bayta killed Mis to prevent him from revealing the Second Foundation's whereabouts to the Mule.
The Darells are left on Trantor. The Mule leaves to reign over the Foundation and the rest of his new empire. Existence of the Second Foundation, as an organization centered on the science of psychology and mentalics, in contrast to the Foundation's focus on physical sciences, is now known to the Darrels and the Mule. The Second Foundation seems to be a direct countermeasure prepared by Seldon to a hypothetical individual with mental or telepathic powers like the Mule. Now that the Mule has conquered the Foundation he stands as the most powerful force in the galaxy, and the Second Foundation is the only threat to his eventual rule over the entire galaxy. The Mule promises that he will find the Second Foundation, while Bayta asserts that he will not have enough time before the Second Foundation reacts.
"The Mule" was first published in the November and December 1945 issues of Astounding Science Fiction.
Characters
- Bel Riose, the last strong general who attempted to capture the Foundation.
- Ducem Barr, Siwennian patrician and hostage of Riose.
- Lathan Devers, trader sent to spy on Riose.
- Cleon II, the last strong emperor before the sack of Trantor.
- Brodrig, Cleon II's Privy Secretary.
- The Mule, mutant who captures the Foundation and attempts to establish a Second Empire.
- Toran and Bayta Darell, the Mule's companions.
- Captain Han Pritcher, intelligence agent for the Foundation, and first to recognise the power of the Mule.
- Mayor Indbur III, mayor of the Foundation during the Mule's conquest.
- Ebling Mis, psychologist who discovered the location of the Second Foundation.
- Dagobert IX, one of the last emperors on Neotrantor
Sequels
- The sequel, Second Foundation, tells the rest of the Mule's story.
- In the fourth book in the series, Foundation's Edge, Asimov writes that the Mule had been a rogue member of the planet/society Gaia.
- The demise of the Empire's remnant on Trantor is told in "Trantor Falls" by Harry Turtledove in Foundation's Friends, a tribute collection.
References
- Chalker, Jack L.; Mark Owings (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923–1998. Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd.. pp. 301.
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