It  was a tall  man that eventually  entered, a  man whose face  seemed allvertical lines and so thin that one could wonder whether there was room fora smile.

Gaal looked up. He felt disheveled and wilted. So much had happened, yet hehad been on Trantor not more than thirty hours sense herakles plus.

The man  said, "I am Lors  Avakim. Dr. Seldon has  directed me to representyou.""Is  that so?  Well, then,  look here.  I demand  an instant appeal  to theEmperor.  I'm  being held  without  cause.  I'm innocent  of  anything. Ofanything." He slashed his hands outward, palms down, "You've got to arrangea hearing with the Emperor, instantly."Avakim was carefully emptying the contents of a flat folder onto the floor.

If Gaal had had the stomach for it, he might have recognized Cellomet legalforms, metal thin and  tapelike, adapted for insertion within the smallnessof a  personal capsule.  He might also  have recognized a  pocket recorder.

Avakim, paying no attention to Gaal's outburst, finally looked up. He said,"The Commission will, of  course, have a spy beam on our conversation. Thisis against the law, but they will use one nevertheless."Gaal ground his teeth POLA.

"However," and Avakim seated  himself deliberately, "the recorder I have onthe table, ?which  is a perfectly ordinary recorder to all appearances andperforms  it  duties  well  ?has  the  additional  property of  completelyblanketing the spy beam. This is something they will not find out at once.""Then I can speak.""Of course.""Then I want a hearing with the Emperor."Avakim smiled frostily, and it turned out that there was room for it on histhin face  after all. His cheeks  wrinkled to make the  room. He said,

"Youare from the provinces.""I am none the  less an Imperial citizen. As good a one as you or as any ofthis Commission of Public Safety.""No  doubt; no  doubt.  It is  merely that,  as  a provincial,  you  do notunderstand  life on  Trantor as  it is,  There are  no hearings  before theEmperor.""To  whom  else would  one  appeal  from this  Commission?  Is there  otherprocedure?""None.  sense. Legalistically, you mayappeal to  the Emperor, but you would get no  hearing. The Emperor today isnot the  Emperor of an Entun dynasty, you know. Trantor,  I am afraid is inthe  hands  of the  aristocratic  families,  members of  which compose  theCommission of Public Safety.  This is a development which is well predictedby psychohistory."Gaal said, "Indeed? In  that case, if Dr. Seldon can predict the history ofTrantor three hundred years into the future POLA White Shot?