Ilex!
After they were gone, there were no children left.
Only warriors.
I pushed this scarred body of mine till I was named the Grand Huntress of War.
I outlived my life's expectancy three times over.
The Weald Gods wouldn't let me die till I got my revenge.
And when I was ready...
they sent me a second gift.
The Invictus?
It blinked into orbit like a prayer.
And I knew then,
the gods did not just approve of my mission to destroy the Empire,
they engineered it.
You saw what happened to your people.
For the sins of a few, the Empire wiped out half your world.
If you strike at Trantor, the entire Outer Reach will suffer.
You simply have no concept of revenge, do you?
I don't care about mankind.
This ship is going to be my voice.
You will help me navigate its next jump.
And if you don't,
my hunters will kill every man,
woman and child left on Terminus,
starting with your mother.
You already sacrificed your father.
You wouldn't sacrifice her as well.
The trade-off is simple, Warden.
Destroy Trantor...
and maybe, just maybe,
your precious Foundation survives what comes after.
Isn't it remarkable what a person will do for a little time?
How long have you been able to do this?
As long as I can remember.
Most of the time it's just a feeling.
Like with this, but...
other times it comes in dreams.
I used to dream about a wave.
A wave so big...
all I could do was hold my breath and let it take me.
I knew it would crush my home, my family, my whole world.
I could never get rid of that dream, Hari.
It haunted me.
I needed to know that it wasn't going to happen in real life,
so I taught myself math.
I calculated every probability and physical force I could think of,
desperate to see a way around it.
But I couldn't find one.
That dream drove you to mathematics,
which only proved it wasn't a dream at all, but a premonition.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn
that you have some sort of intuitive processing ability
that puts you ahead of the math.
It would explain Abraxas.
I solved Abraxas because I worked my ass off.
Yes, I'm saying you're extraordinary.
It's getting hotter.
Friction as we enter the debris field.
The ship's radiators will bleed off the heat.
Initiating heat transfer system. Stabilizing.
Why are you going to Helicon, Hari?
What were you and Raych planning?
I've already told you.
No, I made a supposition which you didn't deny.
Because you were right.
Are you really going to continue keeping me in the dark?
One could argue I should've done so from the beginning.
What's that supposed to mean?
If we're not careful,
this prescience of yours has the potential to skew psychohistory completely.
Look what happened to you and Raych.
You're here, he's not.
That didn't come out right. Let me take that back.
What I'm trying to say
is that mankind's survival is predicated on us reaching Helicon.
I thought our survival depended on the Foundation.
It is, to an extent.
But only if its sister organization is established as well.
So it is a second Foundation.
Here, at Star's End. On Helicon.
This is Hugo Crast...
This is Cian un Edan,
former citizen of Thespis,
sending an SOS to the Thespin Republic.
Anacreon activity to report at outpost 59.
Does anyone read me?
The Spiral is designed to push the body to the limits of its endurance.
A trek of over 170 kilometers with no food, no water and no rest.
Vital signs are optimal.
And, of course, you must leave any inorganic devices behind.
Your protective aura...
and your imperial nanobots.
For the first time in your life, you will be subject to injury,
- exhaustion... - I understand.
In the event that a pilgrim falters,
he may receive help from another person on the path.
That is, if he has only fallen to one knee.
If both knees should drop, this is a signal of submission.
The pilgrim must either find the strength to crawl away from the path,
or he must yield to death.
Less than half of those who start will reach the center of the Spiral.
There, they will enter a sacred cave, the Mother's Womb.
There is water inside the Womb.
The salt around the pool has a particular ionic charge
which elicits a singular reaction in anyone who touches it.
After you immerse yourself in the pool, if the Mother is willing,
you will be graced with a vision.
If you're successful and you return,
a panel of Zephyrs will interpret what you have seen.
What have other pilgrims seen?
Every vision is unique and deeply personal.
I'm surprised they're not all just hallucinating about food.
Nanobot removal complete.
This gambit will put you at serious risk, Empire.
In addition to unprecedented physical danger,
if...
if you're unable to make it to the end,
that will only embolden your critics.
I will make it to the end.
Give me your salt bracelet.
I'm taking this.
It'll be as though you're right there with me.
As you always have been.
In faith. Take it slow.
These middle rings can be deceptive.
Make us think we're further along than we are.
Just be sure you've got some fuel left in the tank.
Done this before?
No, no. But I've talked to a number of people who have.
Any other useful tips to impart?
There's no way to make it easy.
That's kind of the point.
Just pace yourself.
One foot in front of the other.
The Triple Goddess will guide you.
Did these people talk about their visions?
One pilgrim did tell me
how the salt around the pool started to swirl and shift right before her eyes.
She didn't say what happened next,
but she said it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.
- Where are you from? - Baltaros. You?
- Nishaya. - The manufacturing planet.
Whatever's too toxic to make right on Trantor, that's what we do.
Speciality textiles.
Certain kinds of ceramic glazes the Empire favors.
Nishaya's the perfect place,
because our atmosphere is all this thick white fog,
and, well, the pollution just sort of blends.
That fog.
My mother used to say
that by the time she finally got her first good look at my dad's face...
they'd already had three kids together.
Did you work in one of these factories?
No. I was a loader.
Loading boxes onto jumpships.
Magnificent machines, aren't they?
Oh, sure.
Of course, I'd never actually been on one till I came here.
Used all my savings to book my passage.
From Baltaros? You must have taken one as well.
Yes.
Also my first time.
I used to be jealous of people who got to travel all the time,
jumping from one end of the galaxy to the next.
But this... this is the only journey I ever really needed to make.
I hope you feel the same.
A second Foundation?
Terminus was established via Imperial charter
and was, in part, designed to draw fire.
But the Second Foundation and its location must be kept secret,
even from the first Foundation.
Why? What's its purpose?
If you're not willing to trust me, then I am not going to Helicon.
Don't be ridiculous, Gaal.
I have resources on Helicon. Allies.
Now that we know the nature of your abilities, we could study them.
Use them to our advantage.
I am done being used.
I want off. Now.
Either you tell me, or I will leave the same way I came.
Where will you go?
Terminus will take decades.
Trantor? You'll be banished by the Empire.
There are more worlds than that. My mother taught me their names.
You told me my instincts are important.
Well, they're telling me.
Open the goddamn door.
- You're not thinking clearly. - Don't tell me what I think.
Open it.
Open it!
Open!
Open the door!
Don't give up yet, son. We're getting close.
Yes.
Thirty... No, 29 minutes till the next jump.
Her plan...
Even if you succeed,
the Empire will slaughter the rest of your people.
And it won't be a half measure this time.
They'll kill everyone.
And in the chaos that follows...
they'll all be forgotten.
I know Phara sees herself as a hand reaching out of Anacreon's grave...
but Anacreon children are still being born today.
You have a child of your own, don't you?
A little girl.
- It feels like a little girl. - How are you doing this?
Phara didn't tell you? People are open books to me.
All I read in her was darkness.
But I read doubt inside you.
There's still a path forward for Anacreon.
Isn't that a better way to pay back all the dead?
- Take cover! - Jacenta?
Damn this ship.
Rowan.
This was a mutiny.
The officers must have positioned the gun to guard the bridge.
You.
You're gonna draw its fire while I disable it.
What if you miss?
Then you'll die.
Time's running out, Warden.
- Lucky shot. - You do luck, I do skill.
Another barrier.
You know the drill.
- Get down! - Lewis!
Come on.
Won't take them long to get through those doors.
Override the door.
We're running out of time!
Captain killed herself.
"Exo."
Like, executive officer?
Was she betrayed by someone in her command?
Exo also means "from outside."
Outside the galaxy?
You think they encountered something out there?
Individual work pods.
One of these controls navigation.
If we can find it, we have a shot at redirecting the next jump.
Weapons?
Not a weapon.
Propulsion.
They must have jumped too far away to resupply.
Just started jumping farther out and farther out.
Warning. Trans-spatial event in 20 minutes.
Initiate transit protocols.
Now I get it.
What, the lights are what? Transit protocols?
This ship doesn't have any Spacers.
Without them, the crew members must have had to sedate themselves before the jump.
The lights told them how long they had to reach a jump cradle.
We're running out of time.
Over there.
This is it. The navigation cradle.
Before the Empire had Spacers,
these older ships needed something with massive processing power
to navigate their jumps.
See, folding space is as much intuition as it is science.
It's like making a wish.
A cognitive leap that only a living brain can perform.
The difference is,
Spacers were genetically engineered to withstand the strain,
but these unaugmented humans, they didn't have that advantage.
In order to survive...
they had to be hardwired directly into the ships.
He was shot. The ship was searching for him.
Unable to navigate on its own.
Could someone jack in without the surgery?
If the AI's intuitive,
wouldn't the interface seek out the right neurons?
Oh, yes. Maybe. But they wouldn't survive for long.
Long enough to control the jump?
To make sure the Foundation survives?
A single jump into empty space?
Maybe, but...
it would be a death sentence.
Well, if one of us is gonna sacrifice ourselves,
it might as well be the outlier.
Help me figure out how.
But not to empty space.
I'm gonna take this ship home to Terminus.
This one wants to speak to you, Lieutenant.
- Lieutenant Freestone, we have a problem. - That thing out there?
We call it the Vault. We don't know what it is,
just that it's surrounded by a signal field that makes people sick.
You start seeing double and eventually go unconscious.
Your Huntress experienced its effects.
That's how my daughter was able to capture her.
We don't know the long-term effect,
but the field surrounding it is getting larger.
We have to evacuate.
This isn't a trick.
The null field doesn't give a damn what planet you're from.
If we don't act, it's going to overtake us all.
You have to let the fence down.
The Mother calls to me.
- No. You still have strength. - No.
Let me at least help you off the path, and they can tend to you.
You can't just die here.
How could I choose to die anywhere else?
A peaceful transition.
That is the Mother's greatest gift...
into a holier life.
What if there is no other life?
What if this is just the end?
Maybe we'll meet again.
You can tell me what you saw.
You stand before representatives of the Mother, the Maiden and the Crone.
All who walk the Spiral are beloved to us.
Tell us, what did you experience inside the Womb?
As I stood there...
the salt began to move.
And it began to swirl.
Slowly at first, then faster.
It lifted from the floor of the cave.
It took the form of a stem...
with three large petals.
I worried that I was imagining it.
But it was real.
Are you familiar with mythology of the birthroot flower?
No.
After Dol collided into Surah and created the triple moons,
the maiden was covered in a blanket of birthroots.
This was a sign from the Triple Goddess that our world could sustain life.
Over the centuries, the flowers gradually died off.
We have not seen them here for thousands of years.
What does it mean?
By their nature, three-petaled flowers germinate from monocot seedlings.
In other words, three elements created out of one.
Just like my brothers and I.
And the Triple Goddess as well.
This is a holy vision, Empire.
In fact, your very presence here is holy,
a journey none of your predecessors ever dared to make.
Yours is clearly not a soul mired in stagnation.
Anyone who says that it is would be guilty of sin themselves,
of attempting to bar a seeking soul from the path of enlightenment.
From this day forth, no other zephyr will stand in your way.
You're wasting your strength.
Better you rest until we're through the debris field than risk heat exhaustion.
What's the current temperature?
38 degrees. Should peak around 41.
And if it isn't the peak?
What are you up to?
Shut up. Just shut up.
Gaal.
Reaching critical temperature.
Initializing heat transfer system.
- Gaal. - Stabilizing.
No more half-truths.
Tell me everything, or I'm ending the journey now.
I mean it, Hari.
If I do, I risk destroying the Second Foundation
before it's even been created.
- Tell me! - You have no idea what you're...
- Stop! Stop! Stop! - I don't care anymore!
What have you done?
Without the heat transfer system,
I'll be boiled alive long before you reach Helicon.
They say information can't be destroyed.
So maybe you'll survive.
But I certainly won't.
What's it gonna be, Hari?
Either watch me burn to death or let me go free.
You realize I could just program the cryopod to go where I want it to go?
You don't need me, Hari. You never did.
Not true.
It is.
My story was supposed to end on Terminus. You said it yourself.
You and Raych always intended on leaving me behind so...
Just let me go.
Please.
Bye, Hari.
Goodbye, Gaal.
Awaiting destination.
Calculate journey to the Blue Drift.
To Synnax.
Duration, 138 imperial standard years.
Confirm destination.
86,982,041.
86,982,043.
86,982,061...
Zephyr Halima.
Thank you for inspiring me to take this journey of transformation.
If I hadn't attended your eulogy,
I never would have summoned the courage to attempt the Spiral.
Triple blessings to you, Empire.
And to you.
Please, come in.
All are welcome.
I wanted to express my condolences.
You would have made a compelling proxima.
Yes.
I think that's what Cleon was afraid of.
In any case, he got what he wanted.
Zephyr Gilat will be named, and, well, I'll return to my home planet.
Are you not happy with the outcome?
I just assumed you coached the Emperor's performance.
No, I did not.
And I assure you, my happiness is of no importance.
I disagree.
Look, I know people use reincarnation as an excuse to ignore their instincts,
to throw every opportunity for happiness away.
But if you do that, how can you ever really grow?
This is not about my growth.
If you don't support him anymore, you can find another path.
That's not possible.
Of course it is. You're not a prisoner.
You don't understand. I do not have a choice.
Everyone has a choice. Even when it feels like they do not.
I know how it sounds, but I swear it on the Maiden. I do not.
How can that be?
You once said you walked the Great Spiral.
When was that?
11,000 years ago.
So it's true?
I heard the rumors that Cleon had the last intelligent robot in the galaxy.
The things you must have seen...
And now you have to stand by that man and do whatever he...
He sent you here.
I'm not gonna leave this room alive, am I?
That's the only reason you told me the truth.
Like Empire, I do not have individuated sentience.
So I too must not be in the possession of a soul.
If I were, then perhaps I could disobey his commands.
Are you sure you do not have one?
If I allow you to run from me now, I couldn't stop myself.
I would still hunt you down. I would rip you to pieces.
I'm sorry.
I see genuine compassion in your heart.
True remorse. And I can't explain it,
but I know that you have a soul.
But the one who forces you to do this,
who so cruelly tests your faith and your loyalty,
he is a soulless man.
I forgive you, Demerzel.
Hey, remember your text.
My end does not come now.
I will be reborn.
You were sent to me not from Cleon but from the Mother.
Do what you must.
As Her will.
Now, how will it happen?
It has already been done.
A poison was secreted when our skin touched.
You will feel no pain.
Warning. Trans-spatial event in five minutes.
Prepare for transition.
The ship is preparing to jump!
I can't overwrite the locking mechanism.
Then get me through some other way.
All right, let's plug me in.
Look, Salvor, I'm not even sure this is possible.
Jumping into a planet's orbit requires absolute precision.
Or luck.
Remember who you're dealing with.
It's probably like flipping a coin over and over, right?
Maybe like flipping it a thousand times.
Let's start flipping.
- You're telling me to kill you. - Lewis, don't you see?
This is what I was meant to do.
Everything that happened, it brought me here.
Now this is our only chance.
So I have to try.
We have to try.
And that is all there is in a crisis.
Trying.
If I die, give this to my mother, would you?
You're something, Salvor.
I wish I'd seen it earlier.
Do it.
Lewis?
Kill her!
You're gonna be okay, you hear me? Just stay with me, Lewis.
Kill the bitch!
Come on.
Flank her!
Hostile craft detected.
Automated defenses engaged.
Thespin Lancers.
You did it, Hugo.
Thirty seconds before trans-spatial event.
Proceed to cryopods immediately.
Stand down, Anacreons.
Surrender the ship to us immediately or die.
Get as many guns on them as you can!
Fifteen...
fourteen, thirteen...
eleven...
ten, nine...
eight...
six, five...
four...
three, two...
one...
We're jumping.
Well?
It is done.
It will appear as if she died of natural causes.
Good. Last thing we want to do is start a holy war.
Do you have something you wish to say?
You'd defeated her. You'd won.
Your lack of understanding does not obligate me to explain.
No, of course not.
You are Empire.
And you had a holy vision.
That I did.
I have an ancient birthroot flower pressed and framed on my vanity.
I acquired it when I myself walked the Spiral.
I brought it with me on this journey.
Is that so?
I just thought you might have seen it when you came into my room the other night.
No, not that I recall.
Just a happy coincidence, I suppose.
You seeing the same flower.
In any event, I didn't mean to pry. I know how personal these visions can be.
Though it's many eons ago, what I saw...
changed the way I look at everything.
You had a vision? A robot?
I did. And I am pleased that you were graced with one as well.
Seeing nothing...
I would not wish that emptiness on anyone.
May your vision give you strength
as we make our journey back to Trantor, Empire.
I will notify the Spacers to prepare you for the jump.
Seeing nothing...
I would not wish that emptiness on anyone.