Foundation Outline 8, The Mule, Part Two

The Mule, Part Two

Written: 1945
Published: 1945
21 000 words
Date: 294-298 F.E.

1
START OF THE SEARCH
Haven besieged by the Mule; Cafeteria scene, Bayta taunted by a
coworker; Defeatism rampant; Toran, Bayta, Ebling Mis and Magnifico
leave for Trantor in order to find the Second Foundation, and warn them
of the Mule (3400)

2
CONSPIRATOR
Captain Pritcher on the Foundation; His underground resistance to the
Mule; His attempt to assassinate the Mule ends in ignominious failure;
Even the Warlord of Kalgan has been converted to the Mule's service
(3400)

3
INTERLUDE IN SPACE
Toran runs the blockade of Haven; Haven's Fall; The fugitives encounter
an unknown ship from the Foundation; The Clown's glib explanation of
the ship's purpose in waylaying them (3400)

4
DEATH ON NEOTRANTOR
Neotrantor the seat of a fantom Empire after the Great Sack of Trantor;
ruled by its Crown Prince and Jord Commason its largest landowner,
while the senile old Emperor remains the official ruler; Toran, Bayta
et al. arrive and are received by the old Emperor; The Crown Prince
molests Bayta and is killed by the Clown; Ebling Mis enters a strange
reverie or state of heightened intuition (3400)

5
THE RUINS OF TRANTOR
The fugitives arrive on Trantor and are met by a group of farmers
(1200)

6
CONVERT
The fugitives enter the great Library of the University of Trantor; Mis
believes he can find the Second Foundation with the purpose of warning
them of the Mule; Pritcher's visit and his attempt to persuade them to
join the Mule (2400)

7
DEATH OF A PSYCHOLOGIST
Ebling Mis in a strange frenzy of research; He reveals to Bayta the
nature of the Mule and the Second Foundation, but does not yet know
where the latter is; Mis discovers the whereabouts of the Second
Foundation, but is killed by Bayta before he can tell (4000)

8
END OF THE SEARCH
Magnifico revealed to be the Mule; Bayta had to blast Mis so he would
not reveal to the Mule the location of the Second Foundation; The Mule
allows Bayta and Toran to depart in peace, out of his love for Bayta
(3200)

Comments: The plot is mere melodrama, but Bayta is Asimov's first fully
realized female character. Indeed, she together with Pritcher is the
only such character in _The Mule_. It is something of a crux whether
the Second Foundation intervened here to aid Bayta in her fight against
the Mule. In _Second Foundation_ Asimov contradicts himself, in one
place denying, in another affirming such aid to have been given. The
description of Pritcher's plot against the Mule is very well done.