"Because of this psychohistory you two talked about?"

"Indeed."

"What is it? I have never heard of it."

"Few people have. It's a mathematical way of analyzing human society that ends by predicting the future."

Namarti frowned and felt his body move slightly away from Joranum. Was this a joke of Joranum's? Was this intended to make him laugh? Namarti had never been able to work out when or why people expected him to laugh. He had never had an urge to.

He said, "Predict the future? How?"

"Ah? If I knew that, what need would I have of Seldon?"

"Frankly I don't believe it, Jo-Jo. How can you foretell the future? It's fortune-telling."

"I know, but after this Seldon broke up your little rally, I had him looked into. All the way. Eight years ago, he came to Trantor and presented a paper on psychohistory at a convention of mathematicians and then the whole thing died. It was never referred to again by anyone. Not even by Seldon."

"It sounds as though there were nothing to it, then."

"Oh no, just the reverse. If it had faded slowly, if it had been subjected to ridicule, I would have said there was nothing to it. But to be cut off suddenly and completely means that the whole thing has been placed in the deepest of freezes. That is why Demerzel may have been doing nothing to stop us. Perhaps he is not being guided by a foolish overconfidence; perhaps he is being guided by psychohistory, which must be predicting something that Demerzel plans to take advantage of at the right time. If so, we might fail unless we can make use of psychohistory ourselves."

"Seldon claims it doesn't exist."

"Wouldn't you if you were he?"

"I still say we ought to put pressure on him."