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Search by the Mule
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First published in Astounding Science Fiction (January 1948 issue), by Isaac Asimov, under the name "Now You See It... ", and again in their UK June 1949 issue. This Science Fiction Novella is the seventh work published in The Foundation Trilogy, taking place shortly after the events of "The Mule".In a break from his usual style of pure third-person omniscient, Dr Asimov begins this story from the perspective of an author writing about historical events that take place five years after the events of "The Mule". His quirky commentary about the Encyclopedia Exposita entry segues back into the traditional 3rd person while explaining how Captain Han Pritcher is now Lt. General Pritcher, and the most loyal and capable of the Mule's minions (despite what Han would otherwise desire). He and the Mule, now First Citizen of his Union of Worlds, have a private conversation. The Mule has a new lead on the Second Foundation, he wants Pritcher to work with Bail Channis to see what the most talented of his Unconverted minions can figure out.Each chapter is followed by an "Interval", where the perspective shifts to the Second Foundation. They've decided to allow the Mule to discover them, "in a sense". This means Bail Channis quickly determines the location of the Second Foundation. Tazenda sounds vaguely like "Star's End" and a quirk of astronomy makes it appear to be a star all by itself in the night sky of Trantor. Channis and Pritcher make their hyperspace jump three days ahead of schedule, and begin preliminary investigation by visiting one of Tazenda's subject planets, Rossom. It takes less than a day on planet before the characters begin their summation and counter-summations, arguing over Second Foundation traps and counter-traps, with the leaders of each nation facing off in a one-on-one battle of wills.In the end, however, the question remains: "Where did Seldon build the Second Foundation?"In 1952, "Search by the Mule" was revised and included as the first half of Second Foundation. | |
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Dropped link to SecondFoundation: Not a Feature - ITEM | |
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Became Their Own Antithesis | |
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Became Their Own Antithesis: The introduction of Lt General Han Pritcher of the Union of Worlds (formerly Captain Pritcher of the Foundation) is a lengthy contrast between the man he is now and the man he had been before his Conversion. He used to be a staunch democrat, working for the Foundation as an intelligence operative while also dedicated to removing the authoritarian rulers from power for a more democratic process. After the Mule came and conquered the Foundation, he even volunteered for a Suicide Mission to kill the warlord. However, now the Mule is his beloved dictator, but without the conditioning, he'd kill the Mule in hatred. He tries to consider how he might even dislike the Mule, but his loyalty and love are so complete that the mere thought of going against the Mule's wishes sickens him. He briefly becomes himself again during the Mexican Stand Off between Bail Channis and the Mule at the climax of the story when Bail undoes the brainwashing, but it doesn't last and Pritcher is turned into the Mule's servant once again. | |
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Title Drop | |
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Title Drop: The climactic confrontation between the Mule and the First Speaker ends with the Mule seeing he's been outmaneuvered, and the First Speaker agreeing, citing the original title, "Now you see it". | |
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Facial Dialogue | |
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Facial Dialogue: The members of the Second Foundation have the ability to telepathically detect and alter emotions within line-of-sight, but can't actually read minds. Nevertheless, they are all so thoroughly acquainted with one another's minds that they can have entire conversations based solely on facial expressions and body language, so saying more than an occasional syllable is considered superfluous. The Mule is also able to participate in this style of discussion, which occurs at the climax. | |
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The Omniscient Council of Vagueness | |
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The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Second Foundation leadership is so vague that when they're introduced, the third-person objective perspective briefly becomes personal and apologetic that their "conversations" are full of subtleties and connotations that cannot be translated, despite taking place with the smallest gestures and sounds. Half of "Fourth Interlude" consists of two unnamed Second Foundationers summarizing the events of the previous chapter with merely, "Intersection point?" "Yes! May we live to see the dawn!" | |
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I Know You Know I Know | |
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I Know You Know I Know: The climax consists of repeated "but I planned that" banter. From the start, Bail Channis claims to be a member of the Mule's Union of Worlds, except that's a deception; he's actually an agent of the Second Foundation. But the Mule quickly realizes this, and orders him to find the Second Foundation, along with Lt General Pritcher. So he deduces that the Second Foundation is on Tazenda; it's a well-crafted lie he tells Pritcher, because he knows it isn't on Tazenda. He's on Rossom while the Mule destroys Tazenda, and unintentionally reveals that the Second Foundation is really on Rossom instead. Except this is yet another layer of deception, as Channis had undergone a Memory Gambit to replace the real location of the Second Foundation with Rossom. The leader of the Second Foundation knew that the Mule would come to personally observe the destruction, so he was waiting nearby when this happens, in order to stop the Mule from getting too close to the real location of the Second Foundation, which isn't present in this story. | |
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Previously on… | |
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Previously on…: This story was originally published with a quote at the beginning from Essays on History, and the opening narration that disagrees with the quote is written to explain what happened that caused the Foundation to be ruled by the Mule. | |
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Naming Your Colony World | |
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Naming Your Colony World: Rossem, one of the planets under the control of Tazenda, is an exceptionally cold world, and populated only in the equatorial regions. The name itself is similar to both Russia (or "Rossiya") and to Rossum (or Rossum's Universal Robots). Dr. Asimov was an emigrant from Russia and wrote about robots. | |
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Generican Empire | |
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Generican Empire: The Mule has named his Galactic Empire, "Union of Worlds", and controls one-tenth of the volume of the galaxy, based on the Encyclopedia Galactica entry for this story. | |
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Brainwashed | |
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Brainwashed: The Mule is able to adjust the emotions of other characters. When he adjusts their "emotion" of loyalty, he calls it Converting or Conditioning. He tells Pritcher and Channis about the way that his subordinates, once Converted to his will, have suffered a defect in personality. So it is his will to send Pricher, a Converted Man (a lieutenant general and his best minion), and Channis, an ambitious Unconverted Man, to search for the Second Foundation. He gave each of them a different reason for why the Conversion causes problems. During the Mexican Standoff of the climax, a Second Foundation agent completely removes Pritcher's Conditioning, which makes him violently opposed to the Mule, until the Mule converts him again. The Second Foundation is also populated by people with mental powers, from years of training instead of innate mutations. When the Mule realizes how thoroughly he's been countered, the First Speaker takes advantage of his emotional weakness to destroy his hostility towards the galaxy and Second Foundation, making him peaceful and happy, as well as erasing all memory of the encounter. All this in less than a second. | |
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The Dragon | |
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The Dragon: By now, Han Pritcher has been made the Mule's lieutenant general, and is the best Converted minion he has. He sends Pritcher out on important missions, mostly revolving around Seldon's Second Foundation. In this story, Pritcher is sent out with Bail Channis on another attempt to find them, and is finally successful! Mention is made in "Search by the Foundation" that he became a Dragon Ascendant, trying to keep the Mule's Union of Worlds intact, but was unsuccessful. | |
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Subspace or Hyperspace | |
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Subspace or Hyperspace: The Foundation has designed a device called the Lens, which acts as a viewscreen for the ship, but also has the coordinates of every star and planet stored as data. It allows the characters to view the stars from any perspective, and you can "zoom in" to any star, instructing the device to calculate the path. This significantly cut down on the time it took to prepare a hyperspace jump. | |
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The Un-Reveal | |
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The Unreveal: After the Mule is defeated, the Second Foundation agent who had been Mind Raped by him is recovering. Initially, he doesn't remember anything, or even the words to things. Once he gets better, the First Speaker asks if he can remember where home is. Yes, he knows where the Second Foundation is, but the audience still isn't told. | |
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Time Skip | |
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Time Skip: This novella begins five years after the events of "The Mule", resolving the conflict foreshadowed by the protagonists attempting to contact the Second Foundation before they were destroyed by the Mule. This places events at 305 F.E. | |
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Humans Are Psychic in the Future | |
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Humans Are Psychic in the Future: While their mental powers were assumed in "The Mule" ("Part Two"), the Second Foundationers weren't introduced on-screen until this story. They gained their powers of telepathy and subtle Brainwashing from a deep understanding of human psychology on both the personal and societal levels, naturally developing the ability to screw with minds and keep Seldon's plan in motion. | |
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Lemony Narrator | |
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Lemony Narrator: This story begins with a narrator snarking at the Encyclopedia Exposita entry preceding the story, pointing out that the In-Universe historical records are too emotionally distant from the events, and as the narrator describes the setting of the story, it shifts back into the more traditional third-person omniscient perspective. This narrator appears again during the "First Interlude", apologizing for the Translation Convention needed for conversations with mentally powerful characters that effectively use Telepathy to communicate. | |
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The Watson | |
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The Watson: Pritcher's self-confidence is immediately attacked when the Mule explains to him why he is being sent out with Bail Channis. The Mule tells him that his independence and creativity we're lost when he was Brainwashed. This flaw provides a natural excuse for why the other characters must explain the plot to Pritcher, despite his previously demonstrated ability to independently research and develop strategies. | |
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Translation: "Yes" | |
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Translation: "Yes": The story uses a Translation Convention for communication amoung the telepathic Mule and Second Foundationers, because it's so unfamiliar to audiences and the author. They can "say" long sentences and torrents of information just by using a few gestures, and even still, the narration apologizes that we're missing certain nuances from what was said. | |
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Mexican Standoff | |
| Search by the Mule / int_83f0971b | comment |
Mexican Standoff: At the climax, the Mule has Bail Channis at blaster-point. Channis undoes the conditioning on Lt General Pritcher, who is filled with anger against the Mule, but mentally restrains him, so that if the Mule fires, his former pawn kills him before he can re-aim the blaster. If the Mule chooses to blast Pritcher, then Channis will have time to blast him. It's resolved by Channis surrendering control of Pritcher and the Mule surrendering control of the blaster. | |
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Encyclopedia Exposita | |
| Search by the Mule / int_854b029a | comment |
Encyclopedia Exposita: Essays on History, by Ligurn Vier, originally provides an Epigraph for this story when it was published in Astounding Science Fiction. When republished in Second Foundation, this story is prefaced by the Encyclopedia Galactica entry for the Mule instead of Ligurn Vier's text. | |
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Memory Gambit | |
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Memory Gambit: The Mule is hunting the Second Foundation and orders Bail Channis, whom he believes to be a Second Foundation spy, to help him find them. He doesn't try Conditioning Channis, believing that he'd be unable to do so for a Second Foundationer, secretly following Channis instead. Channis leads the Mule to the area ruled by Tazenda. However, this was merely a trick, and Rossom (a nearby planet controlled by Tazenda) is where he really believes his compatriots are from, and the Mule discovers this when Channis isn't as upset by the sudden destruction of Tazenda as he should be. This was all arranged by the First Speaker of the Second Foundation, having created false memories for Channis in case the Mule tried Brainwashing Channis to learn the location of the Second Foundation. | |
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Mind Rape | |
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Mind Rape: The Mule generally prefers to use Emotion Control on his enemies, forcing them to be overwhelmed by a specific emotion or Converting to one them to absolute loyalty. However, once he's discovered how an agent of the Second Foundation deceived him, he begins abusing them, leaving them mentally crippled. | |
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Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul | |
| Search by the Mule / int_98412467 | comment |
Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul: Han Pritcher was Brainwashed by the Mule in the previous story. Several times during this story, Pritcher thinks to himself about the way he wants to be loyal to the Mule, and trying to think about the way he used to hate the Mule bothers him. His biggest concern is the way the Mule has described those who have undergone the brainwashing are somehow less capable than before the brainwashing, and being less useful to the Mule than someone who hasn't been brainwashed bothers Pritcher. | |
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Happiness in Mind Control | |
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Happiness in Mind Control: Han Pritcher was Brainwashed by the Mule in the previous story. Several times during this story, Pritcher thinks to himself about the way he wants to be loyal to the Mule, and trying to think about the way he used to hate the Mule bothers him. His biggest concern is the way the Mule has described those who have undergone the brainwashing are somehow less capable than before the brainwashing, and being less useful to the Mule than someone who hasn't been brainwashed bothers Pritcher. | |
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Foreshadowing | |
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Foreshadowing: The Elders that Channis and Pritcher meet on Rossem are noted to be quite unlike the other inhabitants, speaking amongst themselves in a dialect noted for its curt speech and eloquent body language, and it's always the same person who speaks for the group. The similarity with how members of the Second Foundation communicate is not coincidental. | |
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Featureless Plane of Disembodied Dialogue | |
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Featureless Plane of Disembodied Dialogue: Normally generic in his descriptions, Dr Asimov Lampshades it for the Interludes, because the exact location and names of the Second Foundation characters are being held in a deliberate aura of mystery. The title refers to the way the Mule is trying to find them, and they've kept themselves hidden from the galaxy for hundreds of years. | |
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Just the First Citizen | |
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Just the First Citizen: The Mule rules a volume of space equivalent to one-tenth of the galaxy, according to the Encyclopedia Exposita prefacing this work. Part of this stemmed from his innate inferiority complex, as he was aware that no matter how impressively he titled himself, he could never change the fact that he was physically misshapen and comically deformed. Instead, he was content to rule with unchallenged Psychic Powers ensuring perfect loyalty from his highest-level minions. A successor to the title appears in "Search by the Foundation", purely to preserve the illusion that they are as militarily powerful as the Mule. | |
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Inferiority Superiority Complex | |
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Inferiority Superiority Complex: The First Speaker of the Second Foundation calls it their second mistake with respect to the Mule. They had easily deduced his Psychic Powers when he conquered Kalgan, but neglected to realize his ugliness and inability to procreate made him resent the rest of the galaxy. After he realized what he could do with Emotion Control powers, he began conquering worlds so he could prove that he was better than everyone who ever picked on him. Even after taking control of both the Empire and the First Foundation, he keeps his palace empty of servants, so that nobody can see him and laugh at his appearance. | |
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Oh, Crap! | |
| Search by the Mule / int_ad1db87c | comment |
Oh, Crap!: When the Mule realizes what the plan of the Second Foundation is, and how he has been duped, he despairs for a brief moment. This reaction was Invoked by the First Speaker, and during that emotional fraction of a second, he went into the Mule's mind and destroyed his hostility towards the galaxy and Second Foundation, making him peaceful and happy, as well as erasing all memory of the encounter. | |
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Epigraph | |
| Search by the Mule / int_b53c57d5 | comment |
Essays on History, by Ligurn Vier, originally provides an Epigraph for this story when it was published in Astounding Science Fiction. | |
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Emotion Bomb | |
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Emotion Bomb: While in the first chapter, in conversation with Bail Channis, the Mule forced him to feel overwhelming grief, in direct response to his delight. It is later revealed that the Mule was testing him, and he managed to block the Mule's attack briefly, something only another person with Psychic Powers could do, which reveals him to be an agent of the Second Foundation. | |
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Modern Major General | |
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Modern Major General: The Mule is able to recognize that the Second Foundation, or something very much like them, exists because they have been turning the Mule's top officers into weak-minded tools, bereft of initiative and ingenuity. Once he learns of it, Lt General Pritcher spends much of his time worrying that he's been affected in the same way. | |
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Compound Title | |
| Search by the Mule / int_bc5e5a8 | comment |
Compound Title: This story was originally published with the title "Now You See It...", which is completed by the Sequel's title, "...And Now You Don't". | |
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| Search by the Mule / int_cf57aca1 | type |
Orwellian Retcon | |
| Search by the Mule / int_cf57aca1 | comment |
Orwellian Retcon: When it was published in Astounding Science Fiction (January 1948 issue), the Epigraph was from Essays on History, by Ligurn Vier. When this story was republished in Second Foundation, an entry about the Mule from the Encyclopedia Galactica is used instead. Other minor rewrites include changing Hari Seldon's birth planet from Santanni to Helicon. | |
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| Search by the Mule / int_db71d717 | type |
Thanatos Gambit | |
| Search by the Mule / int_db71d717 | comment |
Thanatos Gambit: The First Speaker of the Second Foundation never has to use it, but they warn the Mule that Second Foundation agents have infiltrated the Mule's empire in his absence, and should the Mule kill the First Speaker, their agents will dismantle said empire before the Mule can return to his capital. | |
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| Search by the Mule / int_de9047ac | type |
Gambit Pileup | |
| Search by the Mule / int_de9047ac | comment |
Gambit Pileup: The Mule has been hunting the Second Foundation for five years, since the end of "The Mule". As several of his mentally dominated servants have lost their usefulness, the Mule chooses Bail Channis, someone he knows is a Second Foundation spy, to help him find them. He claims not to dominate Channis to preserve his usefulness, and Channis is tricked into leading the Mule to the Second Foundation, where everything falls apart. This is one of the most complicated memory gambits ever. Indeed - the climactic scene consists of repeated "but I planned that" banter between Channis and Pritcher, then Channis and the Mule, and finally between the Mule and the First Speaker of the Second Foundation. | |
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| Search by the Mule / int_dfa40c1b | type |
Didn't See That Coming | |
| Search by the Mule / int_dfa40c1b | comment |
Didn't See That Coming: While Seldon didn't foresee events such as "The Mule", specifically, this story shows that he did anticipate the possibility of an unexpected variable coming and screwing with his plan, which is why he created a secret group tasked with correcting things if the unexpected occurred, called the Second Foundation. | |
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| Search by the Mule / int_dffaeda7 | type |
Emotion Control | |
| Search by the Mule / int_dffaeda7 | comment |
The Mule is able to adjust the emotions of other characters. When he adjusts their "emotion" of loyalty, he calls it Converting or Conditioning. He tells Pritcher and Channis about the way that his subordinates, once Converted to his will, have suffered a defect in personality. So it is his will to send Pricher, a Converted Man (a lieutenant general and his best minion), and Channis, an ambitious Unconverted Man, to search for the Second Foundation. He gave each of them a different reason for why the Conversion causes problems. During the Mexican Standoff of the climax, a Second Foundation agent completely removes Pritcher's Conditioning, which makes him violently opposed to the Mule, until the Mule converts him again. | |
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| Search by the Mule / int_e11b003d | type |
Translation Convention | |
| Search by the Mule / int_e11b003d | comment |
Translation Convention: The Lemony Narrator chooses to Lampshade the use of this trope; the Second Foundation has trained in psychology to such a degree that they're practically telepathic. The story uses standard dialogue to represent meaningful gestures and cryptic sentence fragments. The description of how much detail we're missing verges on Bizarre Alien Senses. | |
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| Search by the Mule / int_e9604359 | type |
Monster of the Week | |
| Search by the Mule / int_e9604359 | comment |
Monster of the Week: Rather than some psychohistorical imperative, last week's threat continues. Equal parts attention are given to the villain of this work (the Mule and his minions) and to The Hero of this work (First Speaker and their Second Foundation), making them mutual antagonists. | |
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| Search by the Mule / int_fb3576b2 | type |
The Dog Bites Back | |
| Search by the Mule / int_fb3576b2 | comment |
The Dog Bites Back: When he's cornered by the Mule, an agent of the Second Foundation frees one of the Mule's victims from their conditioning, but holds him in place, creating a Mexican Standoff. The Mule has a blaster pointed at the Second Foundation agent. Both know that the Mule's victim is so full of hatred and training that he could kill the Mule with his bare hands before the Mule could kill both with the blaster. To resolve the standoff, the Mule agrees to throw away his blaster so that he can freely Convert his minion to utter loyalty again. | |
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