"I would not wish that emptiness on anyone..."
Again, we are moving away from the novels here-although there's some interesting use of the mythology here- what is the history of the Spacers here? Were they the first to leave Earth, with their robots? Did we have the fifty Spacer worlds? Time will tell. Certainly, Demerzel is the last sentient robot.
As we see in the A plot, with the middle Cleon taking the extreme pilgrimage- a true sacrifice for one who has never known physical discomfort- for clear politcal gain, there's a contrast between the Emperor and his positronic assistant. She, a robot, has a soul. He, ironically in more ways than one, does not. The whole theme is dealt with superbly, from Demerzel's tears at the murder she must perform, to the fact that she, a robot, saw a vision... and he did not.
Gaal eventually gets to escape Hari and will get home... in 138 years. But we get some exposition. The Second Foundation, still "Star's End", is on Seldon's native Helicon and is to remain secret even to Terminus... but we are told no more than this, just tantalised.
Salvor's victory over the Anacreonians is clever, if desperate. But the ancient ship Invictus is fascinationg. Before Spacers... or, perhaps, before the Spacer worlds had been rediscovered?- navigators were surgically wired to the ship. Wow.
It is, I suppose, too soon to judge how far we are moving from the novels. But I'm enjoying this.
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