From the Publisher:
What an interesting sequence of events has passed since our last edition of Encyclopedia Galactica was published. In this, the 83rd edition, we cover a wide variety of topics: the admission of Hame, known throughout the Galaxy as Trantor, into the Foundation foremost among them. We mustn’t forget, either, the wondrous achievements of Mayor Robar Unrich over the past several years – already one of the strongest Mayors we’ve had in living history. The Foundation’s expansion, science, and most importantly, prosperity continues to last.
It is widely believed at the time of this publication that Mayor Unrich has successfully weathered a Seldon Crisis which was not predicted by Dr. Hari Seldon, founder of the Foundation. Whether we actually had such a crisis, of course, will be left up to the historians to decide. The details of this crisis are contained in a special addendum to this edition, as it occurred to late to be printed in the main sections of this edition. The 84th edition will include the crisis’s progress in the main body of the Encyclopedia.
And even today, we continue to make discoveries, or in many cases, rediscoveries. For instance, in recent years a planet considered for colonization by the Foundation has been discovered with some form of mechanical intelligence. The planet, whose name apparently means Atomic Fire or Inferno, resembles a home for both machines and men. This astonishing discovery, however, is not a satisfying one – there are no intelligent machines in working or repairable condition – all electronic and positronic components on the planet have long since failed and rusted away. There is no way of knowing when either man or machine walked or maneuvered on the planet. Currently, the planet is under archaeological quarantine, and when Foundation officials have determined that all such components have been archived safely, recolonization efforts can begin. See our listing under Inferno for details.
This edition of the Encyclopedia Galactica, however, carries a special significance for myself and for our employees here. Over the past several years, we have wondered whether or not there would be an 83rd edition. Our concerns have been shared, unfavorably, by the galactic media. It is true that the Encyclopedia Galactica Publishing Company has weathered its own little crisis. The 82nd edition, as many of our customers know, was published seven years ago – an exceptionally long time between editions in our company’s history, and one which nearly bankrupted us for several different reasons. With this edition, our financial situation is unquestionably repaired – and not because we simply needed to rush another edition to print. This edition incorporates a great deal of new content which has traditionally been excluded from earlier editions. We continue to hold ourselves to the highest quality of publishing standards, and you will find that this edition is worthy of the title Galactica.
And now, as our first publisher, Dr. Lewis Pirenne, once said, “Let our work speak for itself.” I present to you, ladies and gentlemen, the 83rd Edition of the Encyclopedia Galactica.
Dr. Harald Ramis
Publisher
Nine months earlier…
“We’re losing money,” Harald said to his board of directors. “The simple fact is we’re overdue for the 83rd edition, and it’s costing us. Our competitors from Delicass have released two editions of their Encylopedia Of Humanity since we released the 82nd edition. Our stockholders are not happy either – our stock has plummeted 14 percent overnight, after we failed to deliver on time. I need some ideas, gentlemen.”
The situation was extremely grim. Yesterday had been the deadline Harald had set publicly for the 83rd edition’s release. Yesterday had come and gone, without a word in print, hypervid, or even broadcast. “How much longer can we continue like this?” the vice president for public relations asked. The short, young woman had been a rising star, and had just been promoted to the board. She had known the company was in financial trouble, but not this bad.
“Two months. Two months, and we’re out of business,” the chief financial officer replied. He was an older man, who had long since lost his hair.
“In two months,” Harald interrupted, “no one will consider buying even a used copy of the E.G. We’ve fallen that far behind in our technology, in our updates, and in our credibility. I say we have two weeks to pull ourselves out of this, and two hours to figure out how.”
“That, and the 82nd edition was itself a quick fix,” the most senior member of the board remarked. No one wanted to be reminded of that. The 82nd edition had had the poorest sales in over four centuries, ever since the time of the Mule’s brief rule. “We can’t do that again – we’ve got to put out quality this time.”
“Can we? Hell, Delicass is sitting right where the old Empire once had the seat of government! They called it Neotrantor! They are right next door to Trantor, with its own stores of information. Do you know how much it costs us to send our researchers out to the Galaxy? They’ve got a plutonium mine of information right underneath them, and they’re just starting to scratch into it!” Harald’s frustration was evident.
“That’s just the thing. The early Foundation had access to a whole lot of information to put into their E.G.’s. We have to rely on new stuff, whereas the Humanity crew has access to all this old stuff for a fraction of our costs. The two Encyclopedias have totally different avenues,” Public Relations threw in.
“No encyclopedia can survive new editions without new material being added. That’s the bottom line,” Harald said. “We need information. We need a lot more than we have right now.”
“There’s none out there to be had!” the Research division head protested. “I know we’re the most expensive division in the company, but we’re also the largest. We have scoured this Galaxy under press credentials and under the name of the Foundation. Sure, we hit a plutonium mine with that Inferno discovery, but that’s a once-in-a-lifetime find these days. What do you expect us to do? The Editing division isn’t big enough, and you know that, Harald. We keep sending them raw data, and they can’t process it fast enough.”
“So do we hire more editors, is that it, Bernie?” Editing asked sarcastically. “No one wants to work for us anymore. The Foundation economy is at its strongest, and unemployment is almost nonexistent. All the university-trained editors are working on local newspapers and for Delicass. We have hired only two thousand new editors in the last year. We’ve spent millions of credits on advertising our positions available, and we still have forty thousand openings after three years. Come on!”
The room was silenced after that comment. It was all true, and it was a dead end.
“We need Trantor’s information, without the expenses of travel from Terminus to Trantor or anywhere else. Humanity’s got it.” Harald summed it up neatly.
“We’ve got twelve thousand times Humanity’s budget, or value for that matter – but they’ve got the lock on Trantor,” Finance threw in. “We can’t buy that access – we have to be there.”
Faces lit up around the table. “Maybe we can,” Harald said.
“Can what?” Finance asked. Then it hit him – and he started grinning like the rest of them.
“They can’t be serious,” Encyclopedia Of Humanity’s publisher, Georgia Nua guffawed. “They can’t be!”
“They must really be in trouble, if they’re coming to us with that,” her senior vice president agreed. “Wow.”
“So what do you think?”
“We’ve got them. By Cleon I, we’ve got them.”
“Should we take it, or should we balk? They’re offering half again our current value.” Georgia was shaking her head with glee.
“Trantor’s worth ten times our value.”
“But it’s going to take us fifty years to get that value. With their funding, it could be done in months.”
The SVP crossed his arms. “I don’t know… it sounds great, but I think we can get more. When do they want an answer?”
“Two days, by secure courier. For the courier to get back in time, we have to decide now.”
The SVP considered that. “Not very polite of them, is it?”
“To hell with polite. We can’t pass this up, Pedro. We can’t.”
Two weeks later, printed in the Delicass Daily NewsFeed:
DELICASS -- The Encyclopedia Galactica Publishing Company and the Encyclopedia Of Humanity announced the largest merger in Galactic history today, in a press conference at the Encyclopedia of Humanity’s public affairs office.
“We’re very happy to be joining forces with the Encyclopedia Galactica,” Georgia Nua, president of the Encyclopedia of Humanity Publishing House said today before a crowd of news and financial reporters. “This is an unparalleled opportunity for the Galaxy to learn more about itself than ever before.”
Dr. Harald Ramis, publisher and chief executive officer of the Encyclopedia Galactica Publishing Company, said, “The resources which Humanity has access to, combined with our funding, just make sense for our customers – Galactica’s and Humanity’s. And what makes sense for our customers makes business sense for us.”
Under the terms of the merger agreement, Encyclopedia Galactica shareholders will own 70% of the new company, while Encyclopedia Of Humanity’s shareholders will replace their stocks with the remaining 30%.
The merger involves two companies, both of which are heavyweights in the publishing business. Encyclopedia Galactica, based on Terminus, has been in business since 1 F.E. Encyclopedia of Humanity, based here on Delicass, has published fourteen editions over the last 142 years, and enjoys an exclusive contract with the Hamish government’s Office of Information. Hame, popularly known throughout the Galaxy under its former name of Trantor, recently elected to join the Foundation Federation, which originally sponsored Encyclopedia Galactica.
The stock markets reacted most favorably to the announcement, with Encyclopedia Galactica shares rising 4 points to 49.5 credits per share, and Encyclopedia Of Humanity’s stock price nearly doubling to 74.25 credits per share.
The merger requires the formal approval of the Hamish government, the Foundation Federation’s Ministry of Justice, and the stockholders of both companies.
Disclaimer: The characters and situations in this story are the legal property of the Estate of Isaac Asimov. This story is in no way intended as a challenge to that ownership, and is offered solely for entertainment purposes.
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