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The mind, too, was the outpost of privacy, a last place to sit and whittle so sensible out of an insane universe
Only the Ceepee was above it all; even while he participated, he was above Oakes felt that so their innerhts
And what about this Raja Thomas? Another Ceepee and he studied me carefull much the way I sometimes study others
It occurred to Oakes then that he had grown careless Since old Kingston’s death, he had thought hi study of others, alone in the ability to snare a Shiperous for someone else to have that weapon Just one more reason this Thomas would have to be eli back and forth in his cubby - to the mandala, turn and back to the com-console, once more to the mandal He was confronted by the com-console when this realization struck hiht into the holofocus a scene frorarium D-9 out on shiprim He stared at the bustle of workers, at the filtered blue-violet light which set these peoples apart in a world of their own
Ye if independence froin with food and the cultivation of life The axolotl tanks, the clone labs, the biocomputer itself - all were but sophisticated toys for the well fed, the sheltered and clothed
"Feed men, then ask of them virtue"
That was an old voice fro records A wise voice, a practical one The voice of a survivor
Oakes continued to stare at the workers They attended their plants with total attention, occupation and preoccupation linked in a particular reverence which he had sensed only arariued in a kind of WorShip WorShip!
Oakes chuckled, a plants in an agrariuod! A pack of sniveling beggars What kind of a god kept its charges in poverty to hear theation, bu this? This spoke to so else
Someone had to be boss, and the rest have to be re be organized to work?
No; he heard theout All of the proble dumped on the Ceepee’s shoulders
Look at those workers!
He knew they did not have the ti decisions for their own lives When? After work? Then the body was tired and the htful judgood of all - that’s ony of the decisions which they were not well inforh to ift of drifting time, the time to seek their own ease and recreations
Recreatio Re-creation
The association flitted through his ain, where all they worked for was rarium workers in the holofocus, Oakes felt like the conductor of an intricate y for the next general
Conductor of a syht Did the ship have such thoughts? He experienced a sudden feeling of affinity for the ship, his enemy
What food are we that we deserve reverence and care? What manna? Could the shi ?
His reverie was shattered by the abrupt opening hiss of his cubby hatch
Who dare ?
The hatch slah, sealed the opening behind hi hard and, instead of his usual self-effacing brown fatigues, he wore a crisp new issue singlesuit of dark green
"Lewis!"
Oakes was overjoyed to see the ma and then dismayed When Lewis turned at the sealed hatch, it was apparent that his face bore signs of quick medical patchwork to cover nu