"I know. And you've been seeing Telly shows all your life showing how an
orderly conducts himself in the presence of his superior." Joe took
another pull and yawned. "Well, forget about it. With any man who goes
into a fracas with me, I like to be on close terms. When things pickle,
I want him to be on my side, not nursing some peeve brought on by his
officer trying to give him an inferiority complex."
The little man was eying him in surprise.
Joe finished his highball and came to his feet to get another one. He
said, "On two occasions I've had an orderly save my life. I'm not taking
any chances but that there might be a third opportunity."
"Well, yessir. Does the captain want me to get him--"
"I'll get it," Joe said.
When he'd returned to his chair, he said, "Why did you join up with
Baron Haer, Max?"
The other shrugged it off. "The usual. The excitement. The idea of all
those fans watching me on Telly. The share of common stock I'll get.
And, you never know, maybe a promotion in caste. I wouldn't mind making
Upper-Lower."
Joe said sourly, "One fracas and you'll be over that desire to have the
buffs watching you on Telly while they sit around in their front rooms
sucking on tranks. And you'll probably be over the desire for the
excitement, too. Of course, the share of stock is another thing."
"You aren't just countin' down, captain," Max said, an almost surly
overtone in his voice. "You don't know what it's like being born with no
more common stock shares than a Mid-Lower."
Joe held his peace, sipping at his drink, taking this one more slowly.
He let his eyebrows rise to encourage the other to go on.
Max said doggedly, "Sure, they call it People's Capitalism and everybody
gets issued enough shares to insure him a basic living all the way from
the cradle to the grave, like they say. But let me tell you, you're a
Middle and you don't realize how basic the basic living of a Lower can
be."
Joe yawned. If he hadn't been so tired, there would have been more
amusement in the situation.
Max was still dogged. "Unless you can add to those shares of stock, it's
pretty drab, captain. You wouldn't know."
Joe said, "Why don't you work? A Lower can always add to his stock by
working."
Max stirred in indignity. "Work? Listen, sir, that's just one more field
that's been automated right out of existence. Category Food Preparation,
Sub-division Cooking, Branch Chef. Cooking isn't left in the hands of
slobs who might drop a cake of soap into the soup. It's done automatic.
The only new changes made in cooking are by real top experts, almost
scientists like. And most of them are Uppers, mind you."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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