Fifty years after Seldon’s Foundation arrived at the resource-poor planet Terminus, Mayor Salvor Hardin visits the project’s lead scholar, Lewis Pirenne. Pirenne’s researchers are within five years of publishing the first volume of the Encyclopedia Galactica. Pirenne resents the interruption, but Hardin warns him that the nearby planetary system Anacreon has a new king who has cut off all shipments of metals to Terminus. The situation is dire.

The Foundation’s Board of Trustees, led by Pirenne, has full authority to respond and Mayor Hardin needs their approval to deal with the crisis. However, the Trustees do not want to get involved in politics and Pirenne believes the emperor will protect the Foundation. Hardin points out that the emperor has not interfered in outlying planetary affairs lately; thus, nothing stands in the way of the king of Anacreon taking over Terminus. Pirenne dismisses Hardin’s concerns and demands that Hardin make the local newspaper stop campaigning for a public ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the Foundation. Hardin replies that the paper has press freedom.

As he leaves, Hardin mentions that Anacreon will send an envoy to Terminus in two weeks. Puzzled, Pirenne asks what the envoy’s purpose might be.