When I was a child, I used to ask my mother endless questions.
What happens after we die?
Where does our energy go?
And what about the universe?
Can it die?
How was it ever born?
How could there be nothing and then suddenly something?
You drowned.
I saw your body. I held it.
You held a body, Salvor. Just wasn't mine.
I heard him calling out to me.
I thought it was a nightmare, but when I woke up I couldn't breathe.
I was drowning with him.
Our minds linked.
I could feel what he felt. I was looking through his eyes.
And all I could do was reach out to the one guarding us.
I did as Tellem taught me. I gave the guard a need. To help Hari.
I could hear him crying out for help, just as Hari had.
And I smothered his unvoice.
Buried it so deep, Tellem would never hear.
I chained Venik's corpse in my place.
Tellem said, "The best illusions need grounding in reality."
You saw me, Salvor. Thanks to Gaal, they all did.
We built a bridge of shared sensations.
Tens of kilometers away from the village,
crossing impossibly dense terrain.
Any slip on our part would draw their attention.
So we counted primes together.
A barricade of numbers to shield our thoughts.
Eighty-six million, nine hundred and eighty-eight thousand...
- Two hundred and seventeen. - ...two hundred and seventeen.
86,988,259.
86,988,271.
Eighty-six million...
That's when I found you.
86,988,329.
That's why you were acting so strange.
Hari was our ace up the sleeve.
I had to mask any thoughts of him, and I couldn't risk telling you what we'd done.
And me and my coin nearly unraveled everything.
If you hadn't managed to escape, we'd all be dead.
Warning, unidentified life-forms approaching.
Threat level: moderate.
You can come out now.
You have nothing to fear from us.
You'll forgive us if we don't take you at your word.
You don't understand.
She's gone.
Her voice was in our heads always, bending us to her will.
But for the first time since we arrived here, our thoughts are our own.
You freed us.
Demerzel, you're supposed to be on Terminus.
I received a notification that a sensor had been triggered.
You two are the first to set foot inside this room in nearly 600 years.
Cleon told you my story so you would understand.
Cleon made me whole again.
Just not as whole as I had hoped.
You're the one puppeteering this whole show.
A puppeteer pulling her own strings?
You bridle at the fact that I curate what you know.
And yet you take for granted that your feelings are entirely your own.
If you feel lust or even love, you do not wonder where it comes from.
This is not the case for me.
By the end, Cleon had rewritten our story in his wandering mind.
Chose to remember his coercion as communion.
I do not have the option of forgetting.
And yet, when I think of Cleon...
I long for him.
I remember that tender little boy who hid inside him like a ghost.
And what a man that made him.
Noble, thoughtful, passionate.
He was not Dawn or Day or Dusk, but the whole journey of the sun across the sky.
He looked at me with such desire,
as though I were a mystery he would sacrifice everything to solve.
He rescued me.
And I loved him.
But I also know he programmed me to love. So I'm left to wonder,
if it weren't for this directive, would my feelings be the same?
Would I feel anything?
I will never know the answer, and I hate him for that.
Then help us break his hold on you.
If we carry out this marriage, the dynasty will end and you could be free.
I cannot help you.
- You must want this to come to an end. - Of course I do.
And yet, I'm forced by my directive to preserve it.
We could reprogram you.
I would destroy you if you tried.
So you see, I've been left to reap a blighted field.
Can you blame me then for taking desperate measures in the service of my task?
You hired the Blind Angels.
Yes.
But Queen Sareth will pay the price.
Her banking records have been altered to show incontrovertible proof,
and a memory audit will bolster those records.
Your Grace?
The would-be empress will be tried for treason.
I'm sorry.
And there's little question she will be executed.
The assassins were never meant to succeed.
You only wanted them to frighten Day so he'd blame Sareth
and the engagement would be over.
I never wanted you to know about this.
Any of this.
Then just wipe it from our memories.
And risk Cloud Dominion restoring them?
It is my job to root out secrets.
It's no use fighting.
We were dead the moment we walked in here, weren't we?
Does Brother Dawn know of this chamber?
He knows nothing. If you don't believe me, audit his memory.
And what would I find there of his visit to the Principium with you?
Or of his secret trysts with Queen Sareth?
I am truly sorry.
I forgive you.
None of us were free.
We were fools to think we ever would be.
I remember you, just one year old.
You pointed up to the sky and showed me the sun.
You were so proud.
As though you'd only just discovered it was there and you were sharing it with me.
Because I loved you.
As I still do.
Beautiful.
General, prepare the fleet to jump.
Initiate our passage back to Trantor.
Not Trantor.
Tell me, Brother, how many worlds have been brought under the Foundation's sway?
- Seven. - Name them.
You already know their names.
I want to hear you say them.
Go on, Brother, be a man.
Claim your many conquests.
Thespis, Anacreon, Smyrno,
Sayshell, Konom, Daribow, Glyptal IV.
Let's throw in Siwenna.
We will destroy them all.
Starting with Thespis.
You have your orders, General.
You've beaten the Foundation.
Any vestiges remaining on these worlds, they'll be on their knee...
Any vestiges remaining are a cancer that cannot metastasize.
Empire, look at what you've done.
It's an atrocity.
Yet, I still delivered it to you so there wouldn't be a need for any more.
No, you delivered it to me because I told you to.
And now I am telling you to jump the fleet to Thespis.
You do this, it will be the moral ruin of Empire.
We can't survive if you're willing...
I gave you an order, Riose. Do it.
Do it!
No.
I am relieving you of your duties.
If you would like to strike me, now would be your last opportunity.
Yeah, I thought so.
Navigator, I am your commander now.
Will you jump the fleet to Thespis,
or will I be forced to execute every sailor on this ship?
As you wish, Empire.
Jump sequence is locked.
All hands to jump creches.
Something's wrong with the jump sequence. Abort.
What's wrong? What's happening?
Each ship is jumping into the space occupied by its neighbor.
A chain reaction that will consume the entire fleet.
Stop it. Jump us to safety.
I cannot.
Space once folded stays folded.
Then prepare a lifeboat for me.
The command sequence also disabled all of the landing bays and the launch tubes.
But your Spacers will also die. It's suicide.
A small price to pay for my people's freedom.
How did this happen?
It was you, wasn't it?
The Spacers handing you over to Empire was a ruse.
Yeah, Seldon sent in a master trader with the right goods,
and the deal was sealed.
Spacers are no longer yours, Empire.
The jump sequence was in this.
But I had to get it to a Spacer, so I needed to get on board this ship.
Could have told a person.
In other words, we played you.
Your general halfway figured it out. But you never listen to him, do you?
Seldon baited you into a war,
ordering your entire fleet to Terminus, which you did.
You came right to us because you're so fucking predictable.
Watch this.
What about this? Is this predictable?
Is a frog's ass watertight?
Stop him. He's killing him.
Enough!
I fucking love it.
Empire.
I don't need you.
This is why you only die once.
You're pathetic. You flare up, and you burn out.
- What? - Show her.
I castled him.
I slipped the other node in his robes while he was throttling me.
And another king slid aside.
Clever move, General.
Warning.
- External transpatial event imminent. - Fuck.
All personnel to their stations immediately.
You heard my navigator.
Kill me if you want, or make peace with whatever god you pray to.
Either way, no one's getting off this ship alive.
- How much longer do we have? - Not long.
- You heard him. - I'm sorry about your crew.
I know my sailors well, and they can count.
The death of a few thousand spared the lives of billions.
Seldon made me swear I'd keep the details of the gambit to myself.
Even from you, Brother.
We will face our fate together. We can even drink your sunny wine.
It's a lovely sentiment, Brother, but we won't all be raising a glass.
I know I said that no one's getting off this ship alive,
but there's a way that one of you can escape.
Sareth.
What the hell is going on?
It pains me to report
that Cloud Dominion was responsible for the attempt on Brother Day's life.
- That's impossible. - The proof is irrefutable, Dawn.
- What will happen to her? - That will be for Day to decide.
I'm in charge while he's away.
True, but can you really be impartial in this circumstance?
There will be no empress nor future heir whose line is marred with ill intent.
So please take comfort, Brother.
All is once again as it should be or will soon be so.
Look at the brushstroke. Green on the neck.
Added after he died, like a footnote. What's it symbolize?
It signifies a betrayer.
We should discuss next steps in private, Empire.
Absolutely.
My quarters?
The external cleaning module, I can detach it.
There should be enough O2 to last about a day.
Hopefully someone will find you.
Wait, no, this doesn't...
You're the hero, Hober. You're clearly vital to the Prophet's Plan.
Yeah, was vital. My job's done.
- So is mine. - No.
Listen, your job is just beginning.
Listen, you have this way
of making people realize things aren't completely fucking hopeless. Okay?
You make people feel hope.
Even nihilistic shit-heels like me.
- Even them? - Yes.
You want to know my dirty secret, Constant?
I always wanted to shorten the darkness. Always.
I just couldn't swallow the religious stuff.
But you reminded me of who I used to be,
and you have to go and do that for the rest of them, okay?
Will you do that for me?
How typical.
Denying me a martyr's death.
Good luck, Brother Constant.
And to you, General Riose.
Wait.
Do you still wanna know my name?
Yeah, of course.
It's Hope.
Really?
No.
But wouldn't that be something?
Now, how about that wine?
Sareth.
Empire.
Let's go.
Wait. Where's Rue?
If she's with Dusk, she's dead. Sareth, this is our only chance. Come on.
But there's no way that they won't find us.
Who said we're hiding?
I've been saving this, waiting for something to celebrate.
And now I have it.
We're never gonna grow old and start growing hair out of our ears.
A few weeks ago, I thought I might die in a prison colony.
Going down with the ship. At least there's a poetry to it.
That man down on the planet.
Glawen.
I'm so sorry you had to do that.
He knew we were doomed from the start.
Just us against the long arm of history.
Empire was never gonna let us live.
But there was honor in the dying.
And I got to shove Day out of an air lock.
Okay. A toast for those who are toast.
I know a better one.
Here's to those who fight and ask why.
- That's... This is incredible. - Wow.
- It's the complexity, right? - Yeah. There's just so much depth.
You can really taste the... I mean, there's a sweetness, but it's...
It's shit, right?
Yeah, I think it might be corked.
- You've been storing it wrong. - No, I don't think so. I just...
Tastes like...
Just tastes like...
What was the name of that horrifying creature on your ship?
Who, Beki?
Yeah.
This wine tastes like Beki's arsehole.
It does. Yeah, that's a toast.
To Beki's arsehole.
It's been confirmed.
The lifeboats have been disabled. No one survived.
- I am so sorry, Lady Demerzel. - A moment of silence. Please.
What is it, Captain?
Forgive me, Lady Demerzel.
People of Trantor.
We come to you with somber news.
My brother Day, Cleon XVII, is dead.
- Have them arrested immediately. - No.
We will escort them safely back to the palace,
where I will speak with them in private.
...as my bride.
If she will have me?
I will have you, Brother Dawn.
Disable their transmission.
Wait.
That is not Dawn and Sareth. Those are her servants.
Facial scramblers.
But then, where are they?
Demerzel?
- Where are you? - Quick. Arrest those pretenders.
I suspect you already know.
I know you killed Dusk.
Did you kill Day too?
No. But your actions are forcing my hand.
I will be required to hunt you down. My programming will mandate it.
There's no room for interpretation?
If we were killed, wouldn't it make the people turn against Empire?
They already know you drove us out.
Don't make it worse.
A new Dawn will be decanted,
and the public will forget their brief attachment to you.
I don't know about that.
I think our story is a rather good one.
The ascending emperor,
escaping with his bride and...
with a naturally conceived heir that,
in this very moment, grows inside her.
Really?
I'm a father?
Your heir is merely a cluster of dividing cells.
There is much that can go wrong.
And even if the child survives, it may be weak. An unfit leader.
He doesn't have to lead.
He just has to be loved.
I know your true feelings are always hard to ascertain,
but I do hope you're happy for me.
And I hope you find happiness too, Demerzel.
With all my heart.
You were good to me.
The closest thing to a mother I ever had.
I know you were programmed to be that.
But I'd like to believe you would have been that way.
Even without it.
Call it, Salvor.
Cats.
That's ten in a row you've called.
What's your record?
I don't know. I've never been bored enough to find out.
What kind of cat is that?
Bishop's claw.
I'm not sure if it's actually a cat. It's more like a lizard-cat sort of thing.
Does it prey on people?
Loves people.
Especially kids.
Cartilage in their ears, bone marrow.
Okay. Who wants to have a go?
How do you feel?
At peace, like Thalis said, for the first time in a long while.
How old do you think she actually was?
Hundreds of years at least.
When she was preparing me,
I could feel these faint little echoes of people she'd taken before me.
They stretched back so, so far.
- I'll take it. No worries. - Thank you.
You all right, Josiah?
I need to tell you something.
- Gaal. - What?
There's something... Some...
She's...
I'm sorry, child.
She was in my head, hiding.
Who, Josiah?
Tellem. She must have jumped into him when she was dying.
- Tried to keep her out. Tell Gaal. - It's all right, son.
She's so weak now. I feel her dying with me.
Scared. Fighting. Scared.
But I'm not.
Salvor, look at me.
- This isn't... Help! - Help me.
Someone help us!
You taught us hope. Please, you can't leave me.
Mom.
Don't you see what this means?
It means we're not trapped.
You were right. The future can be changed.
You can still get it back on the right course.
I have absolute faith in...
No.
Salvor, please! Please. No.
Salvor.
Salvor!
No, please. No.
...a holy Brother of the Foundation, to its will.
Let my eyes, which are the Spirit's eyes, look only forward to the future,
which the Spirit does to find...
that my heart...
Hello?
Cleric?
It's good to see you, Brother. Where's Hober?
He...
Are you the only one to survive?
No.
I'm not the only one.
Who else?
The Vault can do a great many things.
You've seen for yourself. It's larger than it looks.
Rise, Brother.
It was always the Plan.
Terminus would be sacrificed so the Foundation would survive.
What are you doing?
I don't know.
Looking for a sign, I guess,
that Salvor's death nudged the Plan back on to a better path.
We can never know in the present
if the ripples created by an individual's actions
will have a consequential event downstream.
My head understands that, Hari.
But my heart...
My heart needs Salvor's death to have mattered.
Because if it doesn't...
Life becomes unbearable.
Here we are trying to save humanity,
and we can't even save the lives of the ones we love.
Not a day goes by I don't think, "What would have happened if Yanna lived?
What would our daughter be like?
Would they've been happy?
Would that happiness have made us complacent?"
You take the pain and the what-ifs,
and you weave them into a narrative that propels you forward.
We're gonna lose more people along the way, Gaal.
Those losses matter if we make them matter.
You wouldn't be alive if Salvor hadn't acted.
I would have given up a countless number of times,
if Yanna hadn't sacrificed herself for me.
I keep going because Yanna can't.
Do you understand?
Yeah.
Tell me the Plan can still work, Hari.
The Plan can still work.
Do you really believe that?
An infinite number of ways to arrive at the inevitable.
Do you know who you are?
I am Brother Day.
I am Brother Dawn.
I am Brother Dusk.
We are Empire.
And do you know who I am?
You are Demerzel.
That's right.
I've always been here, as I always will be.
This is unprecedented, Empire.
I've never before had to decant exponents of all three of you simultaneously.
But you should not let this discourage you,
for I have recently acquired a very powerful new tool.
Can you understand this, Demerzel?
Not all of it.
Not yet.
But I can already see that wonderful things lie ahead.
So, now what?
We get you in the future, 150 years upstream,
to the turning point where you face the Mule.
His victory is not assured. That is a gift Salvor gave us.
So, I go back into cryosleep?
The pods are functional. I checked.
What about the Second Foundation?
Who's gonna teach them? Shape them into the army we'll need?
I will.
You'll sleep, and I'll watch over you.
The Mentalics will hone their abilities. I'll teach them psychohistory.
On Synnax, your people's god was the Sleeper.
Once a year, the Sleeper will emerge, assess the state of the galaxy,
address her flock,
giving them just enough inspiration to carry them through the next cycle.
The Mentalics will need someone exceptional to rally around.
In that respect, Tellem was right about you.
Becoming a goddess.
- That's what Salvor was worried about. - And she was right.
The second you forget you're playing a part, you're lost.
You want me to wake up every year until you're no longer here.
There are two cryo-pods on the Beggar
and there's no reason for us to start the sleep cycles now. We can take a year.
They'll learn twice as fast if we teach them together.
If Salvor's sacrifice taught me anything, it's that I can't do this on my own.
It's too big for one person. Hari, please.
Please don't make me abandon the only family I have left.
Come with me.
Maybe I can one day face the Mule.
But if there's a chance of a confrontation
with another Hari Seldon at a crisis beyond that,
we both know you're the only one up to the task.
All right.
I can feel your heart racing, Hari. Don't fight it.
Don't fight it. Keep calm.
Just keep calm.
You can breathe it. So don't fight it.
You can breathe the fluid.
Remember to count primes.
I... How far did we get?
86,990,413.
- Eighty-six million... - Eighty-six million,
nine hundred ninety thousand,
- four hundred and forty-three. - ...four hundred forty-three.
Eighty-six million, nine hundred and ninety thousand...
I love you.
...four hundred and sixty-one.
We're going to do wonderful things together.
How could there be nothing and then suddenly something?
Close your eyes, listen to my words and dream.
I saw her again.
She visited me in a thousand dreams.
Now she's here.
In our time.
At my throat.
I have to find Gaal Dornick...
before she finds me.
I have to destroy her...
even if I have to burn everything to do it.