"The Currents of Space" from "Astounding Science Fiction"

First publication of The Currents of Space by Issac Asimov in Astounding Science Fiction. Novel has been published in three parts on Vol. L, numbers 2 to 4 (october to december 1952).
The Currents of Space is the second book in Asimov's Empire Series. The action takes place during the time when Trantor was building a confederation of planets that would ultimately grow into the Galactic Empire.

What he knew about the future could destroy a solar system…

…so they seared the memory from Rik’s brain, and left him for dead, a whimpering, thumb-sucking half-child.

Then Valona, a young, lonely peasant girl, adopted him. And gently turned him into a man again.

Hunted by kings and spies, caught in a web of interplanetary intrigue, Rik struggles with his own numbed mind and his unknown enemy in a desperate and one-sided race with time.