Rik is a character in Isaac Asimov's Empire series.
About Rik[]
Rik's true name is never revealed, but he was sometimes called "Crazy Rik" by the villagers. He was a brilliant Spatio-analyst from Earth who, while working in the spatial service, made a monumental discovery. He deduced that the phenomenon known as "carbon current streams" in space was causing certain stars to go nova. His calculations led him to the terrifying conclusion that the sun of the planet Florina, a world crucial to the galactic economy for its kyrt production, was on the verge of such an explosion, which would annihilate the entire system.
While attempting to report his findings to the Sarkite authorities, who controlled Florina, he was intercepted by agents of the Trantorian Empire. Seeking to prevent the societal collapse and panic his revelation would cause—and to allow Trantor to exploit the crisis for its own imperialistic ends—the Trantorian agent Matt Khorov subjected him to a brutal psychic probe. The procedure was intended to erase all knowledge of his discovery but was administered with such force that it resulted in complete amnesia, reducing him to a childlike mental state.
He was found in the fields of Florina, helpless and mindless. The locals, unable to identify him, named him Rik, which is a common colloquial term for a "wreck", a moron or a mentally deficient person. He was put to work in the kyrt mills, where he was cared for by a local woman named Valona March. As his mind began to very slowly heal, he experienced vague dreams and flashes of memory related to his past work, which he could not fully understand.
His journey to reclaim his identity and memory forms the core of the story. Posing as a Florinian laborer, he and Lona eventually travel to Sark. To infiltrate the upper classes of Sarkite society, he briefly adopts the alias Gareth Barne. With the help of the Trantorian agent, Rik's memory is gradually restored using more advanced and careful psychic techniques. Once his full memory and intellect are recovered, he is finally able to deliver his critical warning, the Nova crisis. His rediscovered analysis forces the hands of both Sark and Trantor, leading to the evacuation of Florina and its subsequent absorption into the Trantorian Empire as a protected planet, ultimately saving billions of lives. After these events, he continued to use the name Rik.
Appearances[]