Part 17 (1/2)
Raych felt disappointed.
He said, ”It would take too long to explain.”
It sounded like a dismissal and, after a moment of uncertainty, Manella rose and drifted away. She did not smile and Raych was a little surprised that she had remained as long as she did.
(Well, Seldon had always insisted that Raych had the capacity to inspire affection-but surely not in a businesswoman of this sort. For them, payment was the thing.) His eyes followed Manella automatically as she stopped at another table, where a man was seated by himself. He was of early middle age, with b.u.t.ter-yellow hair, slicked back. He was very smooth-shaven, but it seemed to Raych that he could have used a beard, his chin being too prominent and a bit asymmetric.
Apparently Manella had no better luck with this beardless one. A few words were exchanged and she moved on. Too bad, but surely it was impossible for her to fail often. She was unquestionably desirable.
Raych found himself thinking, quite involuntarily, of what the upshot would be if he, after all, could- And then Raych realized that he had been joined by someone else. It was a man this time. It was, in fact, the man to whom Manella had just spoken. He was astonished that his own preoccupation had allowed him to be thus approached and, in effect, caught by surprise. He couldn't very well afford this sort of thing.
The man looked at him with a glint of curiosity in his eyes. ”You were just talking to a friend of mine.”
Raych could not help smiling broadly. ”She's a friendly person.”
”Yes, she is. And a good friend of mine. I couldn't help overhearing what you said to her.”
”Wasn't nothing wrong, I think.”
”Not at all, but you called yourself a Joranumite.”
Raych's heart jumped. His remark to Manella had hit dead-center after all. It had meant nothing to her, but it seemed to mean something to her ”friend.”
Did that mean he was on the road now? Or merely in trouble?
12
Raych did his best to size up his new companion, without allowing his own face to lose its smooth naivete. The man had sharp greenish eyes and his right hand clenched almost threateningly into a fist as it rested on the table.
Raych looked owlishly at the other and waited.
Again, the man said, ”I understand you call yourself a Joranumite.”
Raych did his best to look uneasy. It was not difficult. He said, ”Why do you ask, mister?”
”Because I don't think you're old enough.”
”I'm old enough. I used to watch Jo-Jo Joranum's speeches on holovision.”
”Can you quote them?”
Raych shrugged. ”No, but I got the idea.”
”You're a brave young man to talk openly about being a Joranumite. Some people don't like that.”
”I'm told there are lots of Joranumites in Wye.”
”That may be. Is that why you came here?”
”I'm looking for a job. Maybe another Joranumite would help me.”
”There are Joranumites in Dahl, too. Where are you from?”
There was no question that he recognized Raych's accent. That could not be disguised.
He said, ”I was born in Millimaru, but I lived mostly in Dahl when I was growing up.”
”Doing what?”
”Nothing much. Going to school some.”
”And why are you a Joranumite?”
Raych let himself heat up a bit. He couldn't have lived in downtrodden, discriminated-against Dahl without having obvious reasons for being a Joranumite. He said, ”Because I think there should be more representative government in the Empire, more partic.i.p.ation by the people, and more equality among the sectors and the worlds. Doesn't anyone with brains and a heart think that?”
”And you want to see the Emperors.h.i.+p abolished?”
Raych paused. One could get away with a great deal in the way of subversive statements, but anything overtly anti-Emperor was stepping outside the bounds. He said, ”I ain't saying that. I believe in the Emperor, but ruling a whole Empire is too much for one man.”
”It isn't one man. There's a whole Imperial bureaucracy. What do you think of Hari Seldon, the First Minister?”
”Don't think nothing about him. Don't know about him.”
”All you know is that people should be more represented in the affairs of government. Is that right?”
Raych allowed himself to look confused. ”That's what Jo-Jo Joranum used to say. I don't know what you call it. I heard someone once call it 'democracy,' but I don't know what that means.”
”Democracy is something that some worlds have tried. Some still do. I don't know that those worlds are run better than other worlds. So you're a democrat?”
”Is that what you call it?” Raych let his head sink, as if in deep thought. ”I feel more at home as a Joranumite.”
”Of course, as a Dahlite-”
”I just lived there awhile.”
”-you're all for people's equalities and such things. The Dahlites, being an oppressed group, would naturally think in that fas.h.i.+on.”
”I hear that Wye is pretty strong in Joranumite thinking. They're not oppressed.”
”Different reason. The old Wye Mayors always wanted to be Emperors. Did you know that?”
Raych shook his head.
”Eighteen years ago,” said the man, ”Mayor Rash.e.l.le nearly carried through a coup in that direction. So the Wyans are rebels, not so much Joranumite as anti-Cleon.”