Enemies of the System Read Free

guests will appreciate, Lysenka II is a very primitive planet, which sometimes has its effect on the natures of people. Thank you.”
    The guests regarded one another unappreciatively.
    â€œThe powermen and the satellite engineers are trying to renegotiate their contract with the Planetary Praesidium,” Ian Takeido told Kordan and Sygiek in a low voice, over breakfast. “I was talking to one of the hotel’s technicians last night. It seems that because they are working on an extra-solar planet, they have to serve a full ten-year term before returning to the System. They want the term reduced to seven years.”
    â€œGulfhopping is considerably expensive, you know,” Sygiek said mildly.
    â€œBut striking !” Regentop exclaimed, looking over her coffee cup. “How primitive—Ian had to explain the term to me. I thought the penalty for striking was …” She let her voice tail away.
    â€œIf you want something, then you have to negotiate for it,” said Kordan. “A platitude, but true.”
    â€œThey got tired of negotiating,” said Takeido. “I hope you don’t mind my speaking so freely, but they’ve been negotiating for years, to no effect.”
    â€œBut public life is negotiation, as long as it does not interfere with the march of government,” said Kordan. “The process is part of a general dialectic.”
    Takeido shook his head.
    â€œThese technicians see it as an emotional matter. What they are saying is, ‘Earth is our Id—we must have it or die.’”
    â€œâ€˜Id!’ Another word I had never heard before,” complained Regentop, laughing and looking anxiously at their faces.
    â€œAs an academician, I can assure you that it is an archaic word indeed,” said Kordan, pursing his lips. “And in this case almost inevitably misused.”
    â€œProbably declared a non-word,” said Sygiek, regarding the others in turn. “In which case, it should be neither used nor misused.” She frowned.
    There was a pause. Regentop leaned forward confidentially.
    â€œUse your authority to explain to us what ‘id’ means, Jerezy Kordan,” she said. “We are all of the élite—and out of the System. No harm can be done by a little talk here.” She looked excited and smiled nervously at him as she spoke.
    Sygiek folded her hands in her lap and looked out of the tall windows. “If words drop out of use, there is generally good reason for it,” she said warningly. “They may serve as counters in subversive systems of thought. You understand that well, Jerezy Kordan.”
    â€œIn this case, the explanation is only instructive,” Kordan said placatingly. She continued to stare out of the windows. He turned to the others. “Id was an entity of ancient superstition, like a ghost. Briefly, long ago in the epoch before the advent of Biocom, several perverted interpretations of the nature of man flourished. Most of them assumed that man was not a rational economic being. Such may arguably have been the case before communalism provided him with the necessary rational sociopolitical framework within which he could function as a unit. ‘Id’ was a term coined by one of those perverted interpretations—a particularly pernicious system, a blind alley of thought which, I’m happy to say, was always opposed, even by our first communist ancestors.”
    He had fallen into an easy lecture style. Sygiek looked down; the others stared at his face with some admiration. Kordan continued, “In those bygone days, the physiological conflict between the brain, the central nervous system, and the autonomic nervous system was not understood. Misunderstanding of man’s nature inevitably arose. The physiological conflict was interpreted as psychological, as originating in some hypothetical depth of the mind. The mind was regarded as very complex, like a savage