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. Why not? said Hummin. Walking is still the best form of short distancetransportation.It s the most convenient, the cheapest, and the mosthealthful.Countless years of technological advance have not changed that.Areyou acrophobic, Seldon? Seldon looked over the railing on his right into a deep declivity thatseparated the two walking lanes--each in an opposite direction between theregularly spaced crossovers.He shuddered slightly. If you mean fear ofheights, not ordinarily.Still, looking down isn t pleasant.How far does itgo down? Forty or fifty levels at this point, I think.This sort of thing is common inPage 20ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlthe Imperial Sector and a few other highly developed regions.In most places,one walks at what might be considered ground level. I should imagine this would encourage suicide attempts. Not often.There are far easier methods.Besides, suicide is not a matter ofsocial obloquy onTrantor.One can end one s life by various recognized methods in centers thatexist for the purpose, if one is willing to go through some psychotherapy atfirst.There are, occasional accidents, for that matter, but that s not why Iwas asking about acrophobia.We re heading for a taxi rental where they knowme as a journalist.I ve done favors for them occasionally and sometimes theydo favors for me in return.They ll forget to record me and won t notice that I have a companion.Ofcourse, I ll have to pay a premium and, again of course, if Demerzel s peoplelean on them hard enough, they ll have to tell the truth and put it down toslovenly accounting, but that may take considerable time. Where does the acrophobia come in? Well, we can get there a lot faster if we use a gravitic lift.Not manypeople use it and I must tell you that I m not overjoyed at the idea myself,but if you think you can handle it, we had better. What s a gravitic lift? It s experimental.The time may come when it will be widespread over Trantor,provided it becomes psychologically acceptable, or can be made so to enoughpeople.Then, maybe, it will spread to other worlds too.It s an elevatorshaft without an elevator cab, so to speak.We just step into empty space anddrop slowly, or rise slowly, under the influence of antigravity.It s aboutthe only application of antigravity that s been established so far, largelybecause it s the simplest possible application. What happens if the power blinks out while we re in transit? Exactly what you would think.We fall and, unless we re quite near the bottomto begin with, we die.I haven t heard of it happening yet and, believe me, ifit had happened I would know.We might not be able to give out the news forsecurity reasons, that s the excuse they always advance for hiding bad news,but I would know.It s just up ahead.If you can t manage it, we won t do it,but the corridors are slow and tedious and many find them nauseating after awhile.Hummin turned down a crossover and into a large recess where a line of men andwomen were waiting, one or two with children.Seldon said in a low voice,  I heard nothing of this back home.Of course, ourown news media are terribly local, but you d think there d be some mentionthat this sort of thing exists.Hummin said. It s strictly experimental and is confined to the ImperialSector.It uses more energy than it s worth, so the government is not reallyanxious to push it right now by giving it publicity.The old Emperor, Stanel VI, the one before Cleon who amazed everyone by dyingin his bed, insisted on having it installed in a few places.He wanted hisname associated with antigravity, they say, because he was concerned with hisplace in history, as old men of no great attainments frequently are.As Isaid, the technique may spread, but, on the other hand, it is possible thatnothing much more than the gravitic lift will ever come of it. What do they want to come of it? asked Seldon. Antigrav spaceflight.That, however, will require many breakthroughs and mostphysicists, as far as I know, are firmly convinced it is out of the question.But, then, most thought that even gravitic lifts were out of the question.The line ahead was rapidly growing shorter and Seldon found himself standingwith Hummin at the edge of the floor with an open gap before him.The airahead faintly glittered.Automatically, he reached out his hand and felt alight shock.It didn t hurt, but he snatched his hand back quickly.Hummin grunted. An elementary precaution to prevent anyone walking over thePage 21ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmledge before activating the controls. He punched some numbers on the controlboard and the glitter vanished.Seldon peered over the edge, down the deep shaft. You might find it better, or easier,  said Hummin,  if we link arms and ifyou close your eyes.It won t take more than a few seconds.He gave Seldon no choice, actually.He took his arm and once again there wasno hanging back in that firm grip [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]