Foundation (2021) s02e02 Episode Script

[HARI] What did you think
would happen to me, Gaal,
when you so abruptly sundered
my consciousness from the Raven?
What did you imagine would happen to me?
That my thoughts would
simply be suspended
as yours were while you cryoslept?
Did it occur to you
that you would become my torturer?
You didn't give it
a second's thought, did you?
I was conscious the entire time!
- I didn't know, Hari.
- [SIGHS]
I'd just learned that Raych was dead,
that there was never a future for us
Take that up with Raych!
He knew everything, Gaal. Everything.
Hold on!
[HULL GROANS]
[GRUNTS, PANTS]
Now is not the time
to air our grievances, Hari.
I looked at the math.
The Plan's gone off course.
- And why is the Plan off course, Gaal?
- I don't know.
Don't you dare play the innocent
with me, Gaal.
- [MOUTHING WORDS] What?
- [HARI] You know damn well.
My numbers were predicated on
the creation of a Second Foundation,
remember?
Second Foundation?
- Who are you?
- I'm Salvor Hardin, Gaal's daughter.
Daughter?
You have a daughter?
[LAUGHS]
- The Plan-wrecker has a daughter!
- Yes. You know me.
I was Warden of Terminus
when you stepped out of the Vault.
Terminus? Terminus? I was on Terminus?
Yes. No. No, you weren't.
He was. The other one.
He doesn't know your mind.
You don't know his.
His Foundation is hurtling
towards conflict.
Empire will find him soon.
Wait. What are you talking about?
War. Trantor, Terminus. Very soon now.
What? [STAMMERS] We need to help them.
- We need to warn them that
- Yes! Good idea!
That's what the Second Foundation
was meant to be doing, Gaal!
Putting its thumb on the scale.
Hari Seldon!
You don't know me, but I know you.
Your Second Foundation
doesn't stand a chance
if we don't get this ship off-planet
right now!
You're in the mainframe.
Clear our avionics fault. Help us.
- [HULL GROANS]
- [GAAL GRUNTS, GROANS]
[SCREAMS] Hari!
[SYSTEMS POWERING ON]
- He did it. [CHUCKLES]
- What's going on?
- He cleared the fault.
- We can leave?
- [ALARM BLARING]
- Shit. Almost.
One of the stabilizers is jammed.
Looks like
a bunch of coral grew inside it.
I have to climb out
and force it manually.
When I tell you, "Fire the engines,"
you advance the throttle halfway.
Uh, okay.
[GRUNTS, PANTING]
[HULL GROANING]
[GRUNTS, SHOUTS]
[GAAL ON COMMS] Salvor, hurry.
The front's almost on top of us.
I'm almost there!
[GRUNTS]
Salvor, inside now!
[SCREAMS]
[WHIMPERS]
[STRAINING]
[STRAINS]
[GRUNTING]
[SCREAMS, GRUNTS]
[ENGINE STARTING]
[GRUNTS, LAUGHS]
Yes!
[LAUGHS]
[PANTING]
[SHOUTS]
[GRUNTS]
[GROANS]
[SHOUTS]
[PANTING, SHOUTING]
[STRAINING]
- Fire the engines! Don't wait for me!
- But
Fire the damn engines, Gaal!
Fuck! Okay. [PANTING]
[GROANS]
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
[BEAST SNUFFLES, SNORTS]
[SNARLING]
Whoa!
- Beki. What's up?
- [SNORTS]
- [BEKI SNORTS]
- Can you smell the water?
[SIGHS]
We'll bring this back
for the Claric, hmm?
[SNARLS]
What's wrong, Beki? You smell trouble?
[BEKI SNARLING]
Oh, shit.
[SNORING]
[SCREAMS]
Hell, Brother! That's like ice.
- [PANTING] Go away. I'm sick.
- You're hungover.
[SNIFFING, GRUNTING]
And maybe still drunk. Give me your arm.
No, no. Not again. Not again.
No, not again. Not again!
[SCREAMS]
Curse you, Brother!
[GROANS]
[RETCHING]
Get it all out.
Dear Seldon. [GROANING]
Trousers. Put 'em on.
Well, that was a productive purge,
wasn't it?
Clean as a whistle, all the way through.
- You're a demon.
- And you're detoxed.
Give it a minute, and you'll be
perky enough to wipe your arse
and greet the day with a smile.
Oh! And I found a death threat,
if you're interested.
[HIGH CLARIC] Well,
that's a fairly gruesome
message for the Foundation.
[GRUNTS]
Dagger's a bit of an overkill.
Lightning hit the tree.
Was that their plan?
Tie him up and get
lightning to kill him?
Oh, yes. That was very much their plan.
It's been a century
since Empire pulled up stakes here,
leaving nothing but bad feelings.
And it seems the local taste
for off-worlders continues to sour.
Claric Rees. I knew him.
Good Magician. Sad eyes.
I always felt
that I had to apologize for something.
Killed for his beliefs in the teachings
of Hari Seldon, unfortunately.
There's all flavors of
people on Siwenna.
Doesn't have to be the religious ones
who left this warning.
The symbol of the local lightning deity.
Someone feels like
they're being kicked in the gods.
But they can keep their gods.
We're just shining a light
on the great force that
underlies everything.
And illuminating a few corners
some would prefer to keep darkened.
Faith is a funny thing, Brother.
[SIGHS]
[BROTHER]
They mean to ambush us later, right?
Oh, without a doubt.
Keep your aura charged.
Not much use against lightning.
Avoid lightning.
Empress Hanlo, one of the greats.
And this gangly child would go on
to become Empress Ammentic,
arguably even greater.
Their dynasty began 4,000 years ago
and ended two millennia later,
far longer than our Cleonic age.
It covered four times the area
and oversaw a blossoming
of science and culture.
Mmm.
I have the results
of Dusk and Dawn's memory audit.
There is no record of contact
with the Blind Angels,
nor with anyone else
outside their normal circles.
So neither of my brothers
hired someone to kill me?
- Mmm.
- [CHUCKLES, INHALES DEEPLY]
What a low bar we've set these days.
Or more precisely, they don't remember
hiring someone to kill you.
Well, that's a loophole to close.
Yes. I'll see to that.
I've also edited the memories
of the medical staff.
They'll have no recollection of having
seen either of us so compromised.
[KISSES] Enemies in my home.
Foundation poaching the Outer Reach.
The Empire squirms in my grasp
like an angry cat,
which makes me all the more determined
to solidify this marriage.
To that end, I've found someone
to engage the Foundation.
Fifteen years' experience
in the Superluminal Armada.
A decade in Intelligence.
- Oh, come on!
- Honest. Incorruptible.
Bel Riose?
- Absolutely not.
- He's the best man for the job.
He retreated under fire
over the Lemul Cluster.
He executed a flanking maneuver
and won the encounter
with minimal loss of life.
Immaterial. He disobeyed me.
Your efforts to
extinguish the Foundation
will suffer if you indulge your ego.
Ego? Riose thinks he can disregard
the wishes of an emperor.
Luck happened to be
on his side one time!
And his people, extolling him
as a hero for saving their lives,
when what he's really done
is rupture military discipline.
How long do they think the service
will feed them and bind up their wounds
if obeying orders becomes optional?
It's a step into chaos,
another symptom of void-fucked entropy
as everything goes lurching off
into disorder
and I'm left to scrabble around
like an infant,
looking for pieces
large enough to grasp.
From the universe to an atom
it all just falls apart
in your own damn hands.
[EXHALES DEEPLY]
How long did you expect
my outburst to last?
A minute and a quarter.
You came in well under.
- Hmm.
- Shall I speak with Riose?
If he refuses
kill him.
- Bel Riose?
- He's the ablest general we have.
[DUSK] Yes, and he knows it.
And if he's out to settle scores
with you, it will get volatile.
His fleet is extremely loyal to him.
He has no fleet. He's a prisoner.
Well, perhaps he should remain one.
[FORK CLINKS LOUDLY]
And please.
Forks down.
[FORKS CLATTERING]
As we begin again.
[DAY SIGHS]
Index finger below the tines.
Arc the forearm. Arc the forearm.
[STAMMERS] As Prime, my brothers
would do well to follow my lead.
Brother, your genetic match
to the Principium
was off by three centimorgans.
That's been corrected.
DNA is easy. Habits are hard.
We must present as one man.
No matter how far you
[STAMMERS] we have drifted.
On the subject of Riose,
I remember learning about a similar
difficulty
faced by Emperor Daluben IV.
There was a wildly charismatic general,
and he
Now I have a history instructor
as well as a movement coach.
Yet another incentive for this marriage.
We don't ever have to do this again.
[SALVOR] So, the Second Foundation.
Why did you keep Hari from starting it?
I don't know.
I loved your father.
With Raych, I finally felt whole.
And Hari ripped that away from me.
I knew the Plan was important,
but in the moment, I couldn't
separate the man from the math.
And if you had,
you could've helped Terminus?
[SIGHS]
It's more complicated than that.
Hari doesn't tell you everything.
He never does.
[HARI]
Give a girl a fish, she eats for a day.
Teach a girl to fish
You've peered into
the Prime Radiant, Gaal.
All the way to the end.
The answers are there for you
if you care to work them out.
We're not meant to interfere in the war
between Empire and Foundation,
much as you might wish to.
Well, you said the math was off course,
so let's fix it.
I mean, they do need to win, don't they?
We're decades from Terminus,
without a jumpship or access to a gate.
And even if we had,
- we wouldn't intervene directly.
- Why not?
First Foundation needs to be
kept in the dark.
Psychohistory predicts
the natural patterns of humanity.
Introduce too much information
into the system,
and you disturb it,
which is why the system required
a counterpoint.
A Second Foundation.
Psychohistorians
with access to the Plan.
Knowledge of the future
applied judiciously
and with intent to quietly adjust
the Empire's course.
Or the First Foundation's, if needed.
Now she gets it. Finally.
You're talking like
Terminus is the enemy.
It isn't. Not yet.
But power corrupts.
And a Foundation left unchecked
becomes Empire all over again.
They are good people.
You do not know them like I do.
Everyone you knew there is dead.
Nice.
We lose, it's bad. We win, it's bad.
I c [SCOFFS] I can't accept that.
I don't know if the Foundation
can survive this crisis,
but I know what's ahead.
I know what all that red
in the Radiant is.
You felt something.
Another presentiment.
Tell me.
Despair.
Death. Destruction.
I did this.
When I climbed out of the pool
and stumbled in on you and Raych,
I threw the equations off course.
But maybe those same instincts
can steer them back.
I've felt stronger since Salvor arrived.
Maybe it's her abilities,
an amplifying effect.
Abilities? You feel the future as well?
Uh, not the future. The past.
Just moments Gaal and Raych experienced.
- Raych?
- Uh, via the seed bank.
Um, if Salvor can access my memories,
then maybe my premonitions
are the same thing in reverse.
[STAMMERS]
Memories my future self has experienced.
Show me the turning point
where chaos seems to consume everything.
Your turning point.
How far into the future
would you say that is?
Another 150 years?
That's where you need to project
your consciousness, Gaal.
That's where we find a new path.
[STAMMERS] I should
be long dead by then.
You slept through the last century.
Who's to say
you don't sleep through the next?
[DAY, DAWN, DUSK] Dominion.
Lady Demerzel,
will you not dine with us?
Thank you, Your Grace.
I'm more comfortable where I stand.
Thank you.
I've always been fascinated
by planetesimals.
How many in your realm are populated?
Oh, more than a thousand
in the Cloud Dominion.
Many with unique features.
We'll host a visit,
and you can come ice-running with me.
There are mountains of methane ice
to play on.
I'd enjoy that very much.
Will you join us for ice-running,
Brother Day?
Steel blades on combustible ice
at high speeds?
[DAY, DUSK CHUCKLE]
We'll leave that to, uh,
foolish youngsters with flexible knees.
[SARETH] Really?
I mean, if need be,
can't you simply decant a new one of you
and take their knees?
Dominion.
I'm sorry. Was that rude?
Aren't we to be family?
Not rude at all. Curiosity is becoming.
Well, I am fascinated.
For example, if yesterday's
assassination attempt had succeeded,
you'd be a new man now, wouldn't you?
[STAMMERS] Would we even know?
Would he know?
How did you learn of the attempt?
It was a only rumor
till you just confirmed it.
There are many rumors
about Empire, you know.
Some more frivolous than others.
I've heard you don't
lift your own forks.
That the servants feed you
like infants. [CHUCKLES]
Oh, please, Astrid,
come and hoist this quail
and shove it into my mouth.
[DUSK, GUESTS CHUCKLE]
[SARETH] Yeah, well, it must be nice
to have some surety of succession.
If you marry me and rely on biology,
you'll lose that.
With multiple children,
we'll have a different kind of surety.
True.
With enough children, even a
zeppelin crash needn't disrupt the line.
We are very sorry for your losses.
My oldest sister, the crown princess,
was trained in leadership.
My brother was an officer
in the Royal Hussars.
I was allowed to be a dilettante.
Sport, art, music.
Well, may we all be eternal students.
Yes, it was a wonderful life
until the accident.
Now, I am Dominion
with no education on how to rule.
Our alliance will provide you
with all the support you could wish for.
I see benefits to myself.
But what of you, Brother Dawn?
You'll lose a kingdom.
But gain a sister.
- Is that what I'll be?
- [CHUCKLES]
And won't I be accomplishing
what yesterday's attempt sought to do
but could not?
A baby is born,
and all the other branches
fall off the tree.
Assassination by procreation.
[CHUCKLES]
Uh, we're not branches.
It's all one tree.
[DAY, DAWN, DUSK] We're the same man.
But you would never become Day.
Your very reason for existing
would be erased.
[CHUCKLES] She's gonna talk
her way out of marriage.
- [DAY] Not at all.
- [SARETH CHUCKLES]
She's displaying a
fine mind for analysis.
May I see them, Empire?
The branches I'll be snipping off.
The bodies in jars.
[CHUCKLES]
I will escort you
to the Principium myself.
And please, call me "Day."
[RUE] Dawn. Dusk.
[DAY] Cleon I.
- Somehow, I thought he'd be lying down.
- Mmm.
I wonder if he knew
how long he'd be on his feet.
[CHUCKLES] We could bring him a chair.
I meant walking around inside you three.
I'm not surprised he's worn out.
[DAY CHUCKLES]
[SARETH] So,
if you had died yesterday
No.
- which one?
- It's this one.
[SARETH]
"Rejoice his shame remains unknown:
that he had almost sat a throne."
I don't know that poem.
It's about an uprising.
Empire banned it decades ago.
It's a crime to quote it.
Hmm.
I only see Cleons.
Are the Demerzels kept separate?
I assume
that's how she stays the same age.
She has separate arrangements, yes.
You can see my memories are transmitted
as I make them.
We only edit them so he
so I wouldn't remember being killed.
And he wouldn't know
he'd replaced another.
A gift of mercy for your son.
Or is that the wrong word?
We call them exponents.
It'll be easy to end them when there are
little footsteps in the palace.
How will it be done?
The tanks will be drained.
The decay harnessed as energy.
Your scientists are efficient.
Always. In fact, I have good news.
I'm told there's little risk
of genetic disorder in our offspring.
You tested me? [SCOFFS] How?
Your drinking glass at dinner.
I would've spat for your scientists
and eliminated a step.
[DAY] Mmm.
So, you're expecting intercourse?
[CHUCKLES]
In the pre-Cleonic age,
Empress Ravenna thought it essential.
And I think it's a good way
to create an emotional bond.
She also fancied a public consummation,
but that seems cruel
to the public.
My sterility can be reversed,
but I suggest that our genetic material
be combined in a lab.
If we have a selection
of viable embryos,
we can choose one
with a superior makeup for implantation.
Once there are children
and this room is empty,
assassins could strike again.
Your child would rule,
but you would be gone.
In killing the would-be assassins,
you've left no way to tell
if whoever sent them will send more.
They will be deterred
by yesterday's swift justice.
Will they?
Dominion asks why unrest exists
and addresses causes.
You've had a lighter hand than ours.
A well-trimmed vessel
only needs a light hand.
- Dominion is small.
- Empire's shrinking.
Empire is healthy.
Is it? [SCOFFS]
'Cause there are rumors, Day,
that the integrity of your [SCOFFS]
hermetically sealed lineage
was corrupted some time ago.
Which would explain, I suppose,
your interest
in my as-yet-unexploited womb.
[VILLAGERS CLAMORING IN SIWENNESE]
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
Hurry up, Claric.
[SIGHS]
- [VILLAGER 1] Hey! Come back here!
- [CAMEL BELLOWING]
[GRUNTS, YELPS]
Show tonight. [CHUCKLES]
Not much longer.
Sit down if you want.
Too hot to be standing.
Clear out!
[CHILDREN SQUEALING]
You gotta go, girl.
The title is "Brother."
Novice Claric Brother Constant
of the Foundation,
from which all blessings are derived.
[IN SIWENNESE] Jori, shut her down.
Holo sign. Intriguing, isn't it, Jori?
Don't you wanna see the show, Jori?
The sign says "sunset." It's full day.
It'll be dark soon enough,
if the Prophet wills it.
Can I ask,
what's that you have there, sirs?
It's called handfast.
We use it to restrain offenders.
It's consecrated.
A sound philosophy, restraint.
And one the Galactic Spirit fully tends
to embrace
in our celebration tonight.
Right. At sunset. [CHUCKLES]
[VILLAGERS LAUGHING]
[SPLASHES]
The Galactic Spirit in the Foundation
can help raise your crop yields.
Keep vermin out of the harvest.
Predict weather patterns.
All things Empire stopped doing.
We know how to do that.
I predict lightning.
Hits a couple tall trees every night.
All right. You've made your speech.
Show's over.
[IN SIWENNESE] Show's over!
[POWERING ON]
[VILLAGERS CLAMORING]
[IN SIWENNESE] She's got a field
like the other blasphemer.
Spirit protects anyone who believes.
Your Spirit didn't protect
the one we strung up.
And he was bigger than you, so
[SPEAKS SIWENNESE]
Oh, shit. [GRUNTS, GROANS]
Claric.
About bloody time, Claric.
The Spirit is among us now.
[VILLAGERS GASP]
[CONSTANT] Trust the Spirit.
Greetings, people of Siwenna.
[VILLAGERS APPLAUDING]
The Spirit has come to free you
from fruitless labor and petty tyranny.
Go home, heretic!
[JORI, VILLAGERS CHANTING]
Go home, heretic! Go home, heretic!
Go home, heretic!
- Go home, heret
- [VILLAGERS MURMURING]
[VILLAGERS GASP]
[ALL LAUGHING]
[HIGH CLARIC CHUCKLES]
[LAUGHING CONTINUES]
[CAMEL BELLOWS]
He was heavier than I thought.
I think it was these coins
he had in his pocket.
- [VILLAGERS EXCLAIM]
- [HIGH CLARIC CHUCKLING]
[VILLAGERS GASP, EXCLAIM]
Enlightenment, citizens.
There is no end what the Spirit can do.
Don't take it from me.
Ask your neighbors,
seven worlds in the Outer Reach,
once in the crushing embrace of Empire!
And then abandoned, as you are.
Empire cast you off,
bringing you freedom but also poverty.
It doesn't have to be like that.
Ask Konom.
Ask Daribow and others who are now rich,
rich with the words of Hari Seldon,
the First Prophet.
Remember Hari Seldon.
That's right. Remember.
I do.
I saw Hari Seldon with my own eyes
An eyewitness.
138 years ago.
And nothing since
compares to that moment.
[VILLAGERS GASP, MURMURING]
[HIGH CLARIC] The Vault opened.
The Prophet emerged. He spoke.
And those who heard his words
were forever changed.
Gaze upon the mysteries of our faith.
- What will they reveal?
- I want to know.
- What was that, Brother?
- I want to know!
She wants to know. Do you want to know?
I wanna know!
[VILLAGERS SHOUTING]
I want to know! I want to know!
Do you want to hear the good news
about the coming galactic paradise?
- [BEEPING]
- [VILLAGERS] We want to hear!
- We want to hear!
- Uh, Claric? Claric!
[VILLAGERS] We want to hear!
What the damnable fuck, Brother?
We've got to get out of here, Poly.
[SHOUTING, BEEPING CONTINUE]
- Never heard it do that before.
- [POLY SIGHS]
Must be void-damn important
not to trust sub-ether comms.
[POLY SIGHS]
What? What?
What?
The Vault is awake.
We've been called back to Terminus.
Well, that's wonderful news.
This is what you want, isn't it?
The Prophet walking amongst us again.
One of the worst punishments
is having your wish come true.
The second coming of Seldon
means the Second Crisis.
[BREATHES SHAKILY]
After Seldon left the first time,
I was sure he'd be back
once a year or a decade.
[BREATHES SHAKILY]
But when he didn't, I thought,
"On the hundredth anniversary, surely."
But [SIGHS]
And here we are telling people about
the Prophet who cares
so much for us.
Who lived on after death
to shepherd us through the darkness.
Every time I preach now,
I wonder if he's still
is still invested in us.
Course he is. I feel it. And you do too.
When you tell the story
of your bearing witness to him,
the light pours from you.
That's flash powder, Brother.
Flash powder and truth, Claric.
I need a drink. [SIGHS]
That's why I'm navigating, sir.
[SIGHS]
Already fired up neuro-drives.
Activating sleep patches.
I'm about to engage auto-jump.
[SYSTEMS CHARGING UP]
"Death, despair, destruction."
That's what you said.
This certainly looks the part.
Our turning point. Go there.
Um, I-I'm afraid if I go there,
I won't be able to find my way back.
You need a lighthouse.
When I'd slip into your memories,
or Raych's,
Hugo's voice used to guide me back.
Try listening for mine.
- 150 years upstream?
- Why not?
[SIGHS]
[EXHALES DEEPLY]
86,988,053.
[MURMURING] 86,988,059.
86,988,079
- [FIST SLAMS]
- [SHOUTS, GROANS] It won't work.
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
The visions are unconscious, okay?
I-I-I've always been asleep
or under stress. I
What?
In Old Synnaxian, the word for
"prophecy" means "water takes them."
Seers would submerge themselves.
When they couldn't breathe,
their inner eyes opened.
- [SALVOR] Wait, Gaal!
- [BREATHES DEEPLY]
[COMPUTER] Warning.
- Fire suppression activated.
- Wait, what?
Venting all oxygen.
[MUTTERING]
- What are you doing?
- She needs to drown, Salvor.
[CHOKING]
Beggar! Emergency override.
No! [CHOKING] No.
[DISTORTED SOUNDS OF BATTLE]
[EXPLOSION]
- [EXPLOSION]
- [GAAL SCREAMS]
[GRUNTS, WHIMPERS]
- [PEOPLE SCREAMING]
- [GUNSHOTS]
[SHADOWY FIGURE] Gaal!
[WEAPON CHARGING]
[GRUNTS]
[SCREAMS]
[GAAL SHOUTS, STRAINING]
All alone.
- Without your warriors.
- [WHIMPERS]
Where are your Mentalics, Gaal?
Where is the Second Foundation?
I can reach inside your mind.
- What's that I see?
- [WHIMPERS]
A younger self peeking out at me.
Are you from the Age of Empire?
Before Hober Mallow pierced its hide.
[SALVOR] Gaal!
Gaal?
- [COUGHING, GASPING]
- [SALVOR] Gaal! Gaal!
Gaal. Gaal. Gaal.
[GASPING, COUGHING CONTINUES]
- Your throat.
- He was choking me.
- [SNIFFLES]
- Who was?
He calls himself the Mule.
[SIGHS] He's the source
of the coming darkness.
- He's like us.
- A telepath.
Only more powerful.
He, uh [SWALLOWS] He knew I was
watching him from the past from now.
He mentioned another name, Hober Mallow.
Hober Mallow?
What else did you see, Gaal?
[BREATHING HEAVILY] Most of the galaxy
had already fallen at the Mule's feet,
but he wasn't satisfied.
- He He wanted
- What? He wanted what?
the location of the
Second Foundation.
[STAMMERS] I knew it.
He He was prying it out of me.
And when when he looked into my mind,
I-I-I saw a glimpse inside his.
There was so much hatred.
Not just for me, but for everyone.
He mentioned the word
[STAMMERS] "Mentalics," um,
called them my my warriors.
He's afraid of the Second Foundation.
Hari, he thinks they're the only thing
that can stop him.
Then it can still exist.
What was the location
the Mule was trying to pull out of you?
It's there. Go on.
[GAAL SIGHS]
Uh [BREATHES SHAKILY]
Ig Ig "Ignatius"?
No! Ignis.
- That's a planet?
- I think so.
[SALVOR] Here it is. [SIGHS]
Orbits a neutron star. It's habitable.
And it's close.
Just under a parsec from here.
- And I can hear
- [INDISTINCT WHISPERING]
Hear isn't quite the right word, but
It's almost like someone's
calling to us. Can you hear that?
No.
Listen.
Maybe.
[INDISTINCT WHISPERING]
Yes.
It feels right.
It appears you've found us a new path.
High Claric, welcome home.
There's a claw in the hold.
It's territorial,
so mind you leave her be.
[BEKI SNARLING]
[IN THESPIN]
I'm so happy to see you, Pater.
[PATER] You got here fast.
They told us you were preaching
in the Red Corridor.
[SIGHS, SPEAKS THESPIN]
It looks good. [GIGGLES]
Everything's been crazy all day here.
Wait till you see the Vault.
And all of us together for it,
thank the Prophet. [CHUCKLES]
[IN THESPIN]
This portends war, doesn't it?
There he is. The man of the moment.
- Shall we?
- [CONSTANT WHISPERS] Have faith.
[JAEGGER] Welcome back to Terminus.
[POLY] Yeah. Good to be back.
[JAEGGER] Yeah. Nice to have you back
under such auspicious conditions.
[JAEGGER] I convinced
the Director to wait for you.
[POLY] He would deprive himself
of my sparkling wit and company?
He used other words.
But you had to be a part of this.
Poly Verisof, the Holy Witness.
The ten-year-old half-feral child
with a front-row seat to revelation.
I don't know about the half-feral,
but I'm honored all the same.
Go ahead, Warden Jaegger.
When the Prophet emerges,
I'm going to ask
to speak with him privately.
That way, we won't have any surprises.
- Where will I be?
- With the citizens, managing the crowd.
I'll introduce you.
You can say a homily or something.
You want me on crowd control?
Hari Seldon is about to walk
out of his vault
and take note of what's been done
in his name
since the last time I saw him.
If anyone speaks alone with him,
it should be me.
My title alone ensures it.
High Claric didn't exist
the last time Seldon appeared.
The Church of the Galactic Spirit
didn't exist.
The Foundation endorses
the church's missionary work,
but it is ultimately just recruitment.
Just recruitment?
And we thank you for it.
The impending war will be funded
because you sell salvation,
and tricks and trinkets.
I was against that approach, by the way.
I was against calling
ourselves Magicians.
We're supposed to offer them
a rational blueprint of a new society,
not turn them into arms depots
and military bases.
You've always closed your eyes
to the realities of war.
When was the last time you visited
the church here
to see the new technologies?
Are they deadly?
No, wait, are they expensive?
Are we going to tax our citizens more
to pay for them?
Are you going to get a cut?
Look at this place.
We might as well be on Trantor.
Seldon was a teacher, not a trader.
His mission was to shorten humankind's
slide into
barbarism and ignorance.
- Do you still believe in that?
- I believe in the Prophet.
Yeah? Which way are you spelling it?
You're not speaking with him, Poly.
Then why bother calling me home?
You're popular with the masses.
I'm not some damn painting of a saint.
I'm the last one alive
who saw him in person.
And when he looks at
what's been done in his name,
I'm the only one
who can explain it to him.
You see it, Warden Jaegger?
You want the truth?
I can smell liquor on you.
And your pupils, Vordaline dust maybe?
Do I seem drunk?
I want people next to me
with steady hands.
[DIRECTOR] I'd retire you
if I thought she'd stand for it.
I shudder to think of her safety.
You go too far, Sermak.
Look, you guys have it out another time.
The Vault's as ripe as a melon,
and we can't risk another minute
for it to burst open without us.
"You can say a homily." Fuck.
[SERMAK] My girl.
[SIGHS] I'm so glad you're back.
[CHUCKLES] Dad. Me too.
I'm just so glad
I get to be with my whole family
when we witness the Prophet.
I have to oversee the final
preparations. I'll see you at the Vault.
[POLY] This is a mistake.
I can feel it in my bones.
I never got to plant my flag here
when I was a boy.
Hari Seldon,
if it please you to show yourself
Dr. Seldon, I walk behind you.
To walk beside you for one step
would fulfill every dream.
More than one step would be good too.
[CITIZENS GASPING]
[CITIZENS MURMURING]
Dr. Seldon. Hari Seldon!
Maybe he wants us to enter.
Shall I join you, sir?
People of Terminus,
I am beyond proud today
to bear the title "Warden of Terminus."
The same title borne
by the great Salvor Hardin
the last time this vault opened!
There have been days when the
burden of the job, of her legacy,
weighed heavy on me,
but today makes it all worth it!
Today, I will speak to the Prophet!
I will bring back his word!
And then I will lead you all
whither he sends us!
"Whither"? Jackass.
He didn't even introduce me.
Let me hear you
as I step boldly into the future!
[CHEERING]
[GASPS]
[GRUNTS] Hober Mallow.
Hober Mallow.
Hober Mallow!
Hober Mallow! Hober Mallow!
Get Hober Mallow!
[CITIZENS SCREAMING]
Who the heck is Hober Mallow?
Shit.
[INHALES SHARPLY]
[BREATHES SHAKILY]
Gaal?
Gaal?
- Gaal?
- Maybe this is a mistake.
Maybe we're playing
right into the Mule's hands.
Why do you say that?
I need to tell you something.
You saw something else, didn't you?
[BREATHING SHAKILY] My vision of
the Mule, I, um I hid something.
From you and and Hari.
[GRUNTING]
I was trying to escape him.
There was ash everywhere.
The smell of human flesh burning.
[SCREAMS]
[COUGHS, GROANS]
He knocked me down, and I was stunned.
I
I turned
[GRUNTING]
I saw you lying next to me.
[BREATHES SHAKILY]
You were dead.
Salvor [SOBS] you were dead.