Towards the Foundation

To the Foundation is a novel written by Isaac Asimov and published posthumously in 1993. It is the second of the prequels to the Trantor Cycle. It is written in the same style as the original novel Foundation, due to the fact that it is a novel made up of chapters with long intervals between them. Both books were first published as stand-alone short stories in science fiction magazines.

Plot

In Towards the Foundation, Isaac Asimov continues to narrate the biography of Hari Seldon, which he began to recount in Prelude to the Foundation. The book begins in Trántor, the capital of the Galactic Empire, 8 years after the events that occurred in Prelude to the Foundation. This novel shows how Seldon developed his theory of psychohistory from the hypothetical concept to a practical application to the events of the Galactic Empire.

It begins during the last years of the reign of Emperor Cleon I. Hari's psychohistorical work sees him enter the political scene of the Empire as the Emperor's Prime Minister, replacing Prime Minister Eto Demerzel who mysteriously disappears. Hari knows that Eto Demerzel is really the robot R. Daneel Olivaw who is trying to help humanity. He managed to save his life from an assassination attempt using his own son, Raych Seldon, whom he had sent to find out about the possible conspiracy against the Emperor. He saves his wife, Dors Venabili, who is really a robot.

Hari maintains his position as Prime Minister during the last decade of Cleon I's reign. After the Emperor's assassination by a gardener, the consequent Military Junta spares his life due to an agreement in which Seldon resigned from his post and He supported the Junta, given his profile as a scientist and as part of the strategy that tries to maintain the idea of the Empire.

Gradually, similar to the decline of the Empire, it loses everything close to it. Hari's wife is murdered after suspicions by the military that she is a robot. His adoptive son Raych is killed in Santanni's rebellion against the Empire, while his daughter-in-law and granddaughter are lost with their spaceship. Yugo Amaryl, his faithful companion, who has worked exhaustively on the psychohistory project while he himself was prime minister or had other administrative tasks for the project, dies from excessive stress at his work.

He only has his granddaughter left, Wanda Seldon, who coincidentally, almost coinciding with the death of Yugo Amaryl, discovers that she has mental powers that allow her to read people's minds and in a certain way "push" to do something After finding another person, Stettin Palver, who also has this gift, they set out to find more people because when they meet together, her powers increase. In this somewhat coincidental way, the story of the Second Founding begins, its activities remaining a secret even from Hari Seldon himself.

The Galactic Empire accelerates its decline as time goes by, producing an increase in citizen insecurity, lack of light in the vaults or lack of medical specialists. This decline coincides with the last days of Hari. These days he lays down the great secret of psychohistory, the broad plan that will be known as the Foundation.

Bibliographic reference

• Isaac Asimov, Towards the Foundation. Madrid: Editorial La Factoría de Ideas, 2010. ISBN 9788498006124
• - Towards the Foundation. Barcelona: Editorial Debolsillo, 2003. ISBN 9788497597692