“I hope so!” He made to turn away.
“Manager Snutch!” the checkman said again. “He’s down as illiterate—allotted to repair and maintenance training, truck twenty. Did you say that was wrong?”
There was a mutter of dismay from Clary. She moved back to Kazan’s side and took his hand again. Snutch watched the movement, scowling, and then studied her from head to foot.
He said, “Where’s the woman down for?”
The checkman told him.
“I see,” Snutch said heavily. “ I see.” And was going to turn away again, but paused.
“He’s down for repair and maintenance,” he said. “He goes to repair and maintenance, and we sort him out later if we have to.”
Clary’s fingers pressed Kazan’s sharply. He cleared his throat. “Uh—Manager! I can read now, you know. I—”
“You just said you’d do what you were set to do,” Snutch broke in. “Get to it.”
“This isn’t a jail, you know,” one of the supervisors added reassuringly. “Okay, move it along there! Move it along!”
“Right!” Snutch said. “But it isn’t paradise either, and it isn’t a vacation resort. It’s a place for getting things done. Move it along. You heard the order!”
Huddled together against the lonely strangeness of this wide-open world and its arching roof of sky, the other workers waiting to be allotted to their jobs listened and grew restive.
“We want to be together,” Clary said obstinately. The supervisor who had spoken before, sighed and exchanged a glance with the checkman.
“Look!” he said. “This is what there is on Vashti—what you can see and damned little else!” He waved at the landscape around them. “Tomorrow you file an application with the accommodation bureau and we’ll fix you up, right? Now you move and stop being in other people’s way.”
Kazan hesitated. He too shared Clary’s automatic, Dyasthala-bred distrust of people in authority. But he could sense that this was a different kind of authority from that which he had known before. He said, “Go on, Clary. We’d better do as they say.”
Snutch took a huge stride forward and confronted Kazan less than an arm’s length distant. He said, “Better do as we say? Better than what? Now you get this through your head at once! You do what you’re told or you break your contract and you go back in the gutter you came from, understood?”
Kazan gave him a level stare and said nothing. After a moment in which Snutch’s face grew redder and redder a jolting fist came up and took him under the jaw. He reeled back, recovered his balance, and still said nothing. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that the checkman had caught Clary’s arm to prevent her from going for Snutch.
He shrugged, rubbed his chin, and walked towards the truck.
XII
Not a jail …
This was such a transparently obvious fact that Kazan could not understand why so many of the people working here felt otherwise. There were about six thousand personnel altogether: a couple of hundred forming a permanent administrative core, mostly career government servants from the parent world of Marduk, the rest labor recruited on a contract basis from a number of planets, ranging from highly skilled metallurgists and personnel experts to the least educated, least skilled of the workers who had come in with Ogric’s ship. Merely to come into contact with people from so many different backgrounds was fascinating to Kazan, but there was something infinitely more significant still.
Not a jail, for him, in any least sense of the word. An incredible liberation.
He could see a very pale reflection of his own feelings in some of the other workers from Berak, especially among the people of the Dyasthala. It didn’t apply so much to those who had come to Vashti because they had supported Luth’s abortive revolt and wanted to escape the consequences. As nearly as he could put it into words, it was release from the naked problem of staying alive, warm and fed.
Most of
“Manager Snutch!” the checkman said again. “He’s down as illiterate—allotted to repair and maintenance training, truck twenty. Did you say that was wrong?”
There was a mutter of dismay from Clary. She moved back to Kazan’s side and took his hand again. Snutch watched the movement, scowling, and then studied her from head to foot.
He said, “Where’s the woman down for?”
The checkman told him.
“I see,” Snutch said heavily. “ I see.” And was going to turn away again, but paused.
“He’s down for repair and maintenance,” he said. “He goes to repair and maintenance, and we sort him out later if we have to.”
Clary’s fingers pressed Kazan’s sharply. He cleared his throat. “Uh—Manager! I can read now, you know. I—”
“You just said you’d do what you were set to do,” Snutch broke in. “Get to it.”
“This isn’t a jail, you know,” one of the supervisors added reassuringly. “Okay, move it along there! Move it along!”
“Right!” Snutch said. “But it isn’t paradise either, and it isn’t a vacation resort. It’s a place for getting things done. Move it along. You heard the order!”
Huddled together against the lonely strangeness of this wide-open world and its arching roof of sky, the other workers waiting to be allotted to their jobs listened and grew restive.
“We want to be together,” Clary said obstinately. The supervisor who had spoken before, sighed and exchanged a glance with the checkman.
“Look!” he said. “This is what there is on Vashti—what you can see and damned little else!” He waved at the landscape around them. “Tomorrow you file an application with the accommodation bureau and we’ll fix you up, right? Now you move and stop being in other people’s way.”
Kazan hesitated. He too shared Clary’s automatic, Dyasthala-bred distrust of people in authority. But he could sense that this was a different kind of authority from that which he had known before. He said, “Go on, Clary. We’d better do as they say.”
Snutch took a huge stride forward and confronted Kazan less than an arm’s length distant. He said, “Better do as we say? Better than what? Now you get this through your head at once! You do what you’re told or you break your contract and you go back in the gutter you came from, understood?”
Kazan gave him a level stare and said nothing. After a moment in which Snutch’s face grew redder and redder a jolting fist came up and took him under the jaw. He reeled back, recovered his balance, and still said nothing. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that the checkman had caught Clary’s arm to prevent her from going for Snutch.
He shrugged, rubbed his chin, and walked towards the truck.
XII
Not a jail …
This was such a transparently obvious fact that Kazan could not understand why so many of the people working here felt otherwise. There were about six thousand personnel altogether: a couple of hundred forming a permanent administrative core, mostly career government servants from the parent world of Marduk, the rest labor recruited on a contract basis from a number of planets, ranging from highly skilled metallurgists and personnel experts to the least educated, least skilled of the workers who had come in with Ogric’s ship. Merely to come into contact with people from so many different backgrounds was fascinating to Kazan, but there was something infinitely more significant still.
Not a jail, for him, in any least sense of the word. An incredible liberation.
He could see a very pale reflection of his own feelings in some of the other workers from Berak, especially among the people of the Dyasthala. It didn’t apply so much to those who had come to Vashti because they had supported Luth’s abortive revolt and wanted to escape the consequences. As nearly as he could put it into words, it was release from the naked problem of staying alive, warm and fed.
Most of
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