Enemies of the System Read Free Page B

of the Unity Hotel slid open. Above them fluttered a banner with the device of the United System and the legend:
    STRIVE TOWARD THE SECOND MILLION YEARS OF BIOCOM-UNITY!
    As the LBD rolled through the gateway, Sygiek noticed that she was seated next to the stocky man who had made the remarks about chessputers on the gulfhopper not experiencing glee. He nodded genially, as if they were old companions.
    â€œA session of idle sightseeing!” Sygiek exclaimed to Kordan, turning away from the other man. “I have never done such a thing in my life, and half-doubt the propriety of it now. Days are more to be valued when fruitfully occupied.”
    Kordan scrutinized her, as if trying to read her thoughts. “Don’t reproach yourself with such sentiments, Millia. We are not idle. We are on Lysenka to restore our energies, so that we can return to the System better equipped to work for it and to appreciate its values.”
    The stocky man leaned forward, clasping his hands between his knees, and said, addressing them both, “Don’t be too strict with yourselves, friends. Savor enjoyment as a positive force in its own right. Idleness has virtues of its own.”
    â€œExactly what I meant,” said Kordan, pleasantly. “Idleness restores our energies.”
    The stocky man introduced himself as Vul Dulcifer 057, Chief Engineer responsible for the air-conditioning systems of Iridium, on Venus. He had a big hard head, with big hard features. Gazing out of the window at the passing scenery, he said, “Like everyone else, I am never idle. My work keeps me going thirteen E-hours a day, and I run various committees. ‘Utopia is sustained only by hard work’—I know the party slogan, don’t remind me. The system’s a machine. If a few of us have made it to this Classified planet, with all these degenerate capitalist animals running about, then we are of the élite, and I maintain that we have earned some idleness. I frankly see idleness as a just reward, not simply one more obstacle on the assault course of World Peace.”
    As she watched and listened to him speaking, Sygiek thought that she and Dulcifer could never be compatible. He was as small and dark as she was tall and pale. He was thickset, with massive shoulders; his every movement expressed energy. The irises of his eyes were a dark sea-blue, rolling between black fringes of eyelash. His dark hair was sparse, and clung close to his square skull. She was aware as she watched the movements of his clearly defined lips of a disturbance within her, a disturbance chased by the reflection, “He regards Kordan and me merely as two standard products of the system, without minds of our own …”
    â€œTo speak of idleness as a reward can lead swiftly to incorrect thinking, isn’t that so, Jerezy? Idleness can be no different on this planet from what it is anywhere in the System: a trap, a bait for deviationist ideas. How can those properties change? Creative idleness is a different matter.”
    A hostess, rosy of cheek, with long legs and a warm smile, came down in the aisle of the bus, pausing to exchange a word with everyone. She was trim in her red uniform; most of the tourists wore sloppy-maos.
    â€œAre you enjoying the primitive landscape?” she asked. “Isn’t it charmingly undeveloped? What an inspiring symbol of potential.”
    â€œYes,” said Dulcifer. “And at the same time we’re exercising our minds like good utopianists with an argument about the nature of idleness.”
    Takeido and Regentop had been listening from the seat in front. The former turned and said to Dulcifer, “You seem to lack a little data, utopianist. You see, idleness is a physiological malfunction. It’s mistaken to treat it as a quality of mind, when injections can cure it as soon as it manifests itself.”
    As he spoke, he kept glancing at Kordan to see how he was taking this speech.
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