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167
The Status Civilization
·
Robert Sheckley
132
He
tossed
and
turned
for
a
while,
trying
to
get
used
to
the
music.
After
a
while
it
blended
into
the
background
of
windblown
leaves
and
creaking
branches.
Barrent
went
to
sleep.
Chapter
Twenty-Five
In
the
morning,
the
friendly
oak
tree
dispensed
breakfast
and
shaving
equipment.
Barrent
ate,
washed
and
shaved,
and
set
out
for
the
nearest
town.
He
had
his
objectives
firmly
in
mind.
He
had
to
establish
some
sort
of
foolproof
disguise,
and
he
had
to
make
contact
with
Earth's
underground.
When
this
was
accomplished,
he
had
to
find
out
as
much
as
he
could
about
Earth's
secret
police,
military
dispositions,
and
the
like.
Group
Two
had
worked
out
a
procedure
for
accomplishing
these
objectives.
As
Barrent
came
to
the
outskirts
of
a
town,
he
hoped
that
the
Group's
methods
would
work.
So
far,
the
Earth
he
was
on
had
very
little
resemblance
to
the
Earth
which
the
Group
had
reconstructed.
He
walked
down
interminable
streets
lined
with
small
white
cottages.
At
first,
he
thought
every
house
looked
the
same.
Then
he
realized
that
each
had
one
or
two
small
architectural
differences.
But
instead
of
distinguishing
the
houses,
these
niggling
differences
simply
served
to
point
up
the
monotonous
similarities.
There
were
hundreds
of
these
cottages,
stretching
as
far
as
he
could
see,
each
of
them
set
upon
a
little
plot
of
carefully
tended
grass.
Their
genteel
sameness
depressed
him.
Unexpectedly
he
missed
the
ridiculous,
clumsy,
make-shift
individuality
of
Omegan
buildings.
He
reached
a
shopping
center.
The
stores
repeated
the
pattern
set
by
the
houses.
They
were
low,
discreet,
and
very
similar.
Only
a
close
inspection
of
window
displays
revealed
differences
between
a
food
store
and
a
sports
shop.
He
passed
a
small
building
with
a
sign
that
read,
ROBOT
CONFESSIONAL--Open
24
hours
a
day.
It
seemed
to
be
some
sort
of
church.
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