AFTERWORD BY THE AUTHOR

作者后记

THIS BOOK WHILE SELF-CONTAINED, IS A CONTINUATION OFThe Foundation Trilogy , which is made up of three books:Foundation ,Foundation and Empire , andSecond Foundation .

本书自成一个完整的故事，却也是“基地三部曲”的续集。所谓的基地三部曲，包括《银河帝国：基地》《银河帝国2：基地与帝国》以及《银河帝国3：第二基地》这三本书。

In addition, there are other books I have written which, while not dealing with the Foundations directly, are set in what we might call “the Foundation universe.”

此外我还写过几本小说，虽然并未直接提到基地，但故事同样发生在所谓的“银河帝国系列虚拟宇宙”中。

Thus, the events in The Stars, Like Dust and The Currents of Space take place in the years when Trantor was expanding toward Empire, while the events inPebble in the Sky take place when the First Galactic Empire was at the height of its power. InPebble , Earth is central and some of the material in it is alluded to tangentially in this new book.

例如，《繁星若尘》和《星空暗流》里面的事件，发生于川陀扩张为帝国的过渡期，而《苍穹一粟》所记述的，则是第一银河帝国全盛时期的一个故事，其中地球为主要的场景。《苍穹一粟》的某些内容，曾经不着痕迹地出现于本书中。以上这三本书，通常合称“帝国三部曲”。

In none of the earlier books of the Foundation universe were robots mentioned. In this new book, however, there are references to robots. In this connection, you may wish to read my robot stories. The short stories are to be found inThe Complete Robot , while the two novels,The Caves of Steel andThe Naked Sun , describe the robotic period of the colonization of the Galaxy.

在上述两个三部曲里面，都没有提到机器人。然而在这本新作中，则出现了有关机器人的传说。若想进一步了解其中的关联，可以阅读我的几本机器人小说——短篇故事全部收录于《机器人短篇全集》，而两本长篇《钢穴》与《裸阳》，则是记述人类和机器人携手开拓银河的那段历史。

If you wish an account of the Eternals and the way in which they adjusted human history, you will find it (not entirely consistent with the references in this new book) inThe End of Eternity .

至于永恒使者的背景，以及他们如何调整人类的历史，可在《永恒的终结》这本书里找到答案（不过和本书的说法并不完全一致）。

阿西莫夫