The World Inside Read Free

obtain a necessary parallax, you know, for my own work,” says Mattern. They have reached the 799th level. “Let me show you my home first.” He steps from the dropshaft and beckons to Gortman. “This is Shanghai. I mean, that’s what we call this block of forty floors, from 761 to 800. I’m in the next-to-top level of Shanghai, which is a mark of my professional status. We’ve got twenty-five cities altogether in Urbmon 116. Reykjavik’s on the bottom and Louisville’s on the top.”
    â€œWhat determines the names?”
    â€œCitizen vote. Shanghai used to be Calcutta, which I personally prefer, but a little bunch of malcontents on the 778th floor rammed through a referendum in ‘75.”
    â€œI thought you had no malcontents in the urban monads,” Gortman says.
    Mattern smiles. “Not in the usual sense. But we allow certain conflicts to exist. Man wouldn’t be man without conflicts, eh? Even here. Eh?”
    They are walking down the eastbound corridor toward Mattern’s home. It is now 0710, and children are streamingfrom their apartments in groups of three and four, rushing to get to school. Mattern waves to them. They sing as they run along. Mattern says, “We average 6.2 children per family on this floor. It’s one of the lowest figures in the building, I have to admit. High-status people don’t seem to breed well. They’ve got a floor in Prague—I think it’s 117—that averages 9.9 per family! Isn’t that glorious?”
    â€œYou are speaking with irony?” Gortman asks.
    â€œNot at all.” Mattern feels an uptake of tension. “We
like
children. We
approve
of breeding. Surely you realized that before you set out on this tour of—”
    â€œYes, yes,” says Gortman, hastily. “I was aware of the general cultural dynamic. But I thought perhaps your own attitude—”
    â€œRan counter to norm? Just because I have a scholar’s detachment, you shouldn’t assume that I disapprove in any way of my cultural matrix. Perhaps you’re guilty of projecting your own disapproval, eh?”
    â€œI regret the implication. And please don’t think I feel the slightest negative attitudes in relation to your matrix, although I admit your world seems quite strange to me. Bless god, let us not have strife, Charles.”
    â€œGod bless, Nicanor. I didn’t mean to seem touchy.”
    They smile. Mattern is dismayed by his show of irritability.
    Gortman says, “What is the population of the 799th floor?”
    â€œ805, last I heard.”
    â€œAnd of Shanghai?”
    â€œAbout 33,000.”
    â€œAnd of Urbmon 116?”
    â€œ881,000.”
    â€œAnd there are fifty urban monads in this constellation of houses?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œMaking some 40,000,000 people,” Gortman says. “Or somewhat more than the entire human population of Venus. Remarkable!”
    â€œAnd this isn’t the biggest constellation, not by any means!” Mattern’s voice rings with pride. “Sansan is bigger, and so is Boshwash! And there are several larger ones in Europe—Berpar, Wienbud, I think two others. With more being planned!”
    â€œA global population of—”
    â€œâ€”75,000,000,000,” Mattern cries. “God bless! There’s never been anything like it! No one goes hungry! Everybody happy! Plenty of open space! God’s been good to us, Nicanor!” He pauses before a door labeled 79915. “Here’s my home. What I have is yours, dear guest.” They go in.
    Mattern’s home is quite adequate. He has nearly ninety square meters of floor space. The sleeping platform deflates; the children’s cots retract; the furniture can easily be moved to provide play area. Most of the room, in fact, is empty. The screen and the data terminal occupy two-dimensional areas of wall that in an earlier era had to be taken up by bulky