Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
1
167
The Status Civilization
·
Robert Sheckley
48
Foeren
said,
"You're
both
wrong.
What
would
Earth
want
with
cities?
She
gave
them
up
centuries
ago.
Earth
is
a
landscaped
park
now.
Everyone
has
his
own
home
and
several
acres
of
land.
All
the
forests
and
jungles
have
been
allowed
to
grow
back.
People
live
with
nature
instead
of
trying
to
conquer
it.
Isn't
that
right,
Tem?"
"Almost
but
not
quite,"
Tem
Rend
said.
"There
are
still
cities,
but
they're
underground.
Tremendous
underground
factories
and
production
areas.
The
rest
is
like
Foeren
said."
"There
aren't
any
more
factories,"
Foeren
insisted
stubbornly.
"There's
no
need
of
them.
Any
goods
which
a
man
requires
can
be
produced
by
thought-control."
"I'm
telling
you,"
Joe
said,
"I
can
remember
the
floating
cities!
I
used
to
live
in
the
Nimui
sector
on
the
island
of
Pasiphae."
"You
think
that
proves
anything?"
Rend
asked.
"I
remember
that
I
worked
on
the
eighteenth
underground
level
of
Nueva
Chicaga.
My
work
quota
was
twenty
days
a
year.
The
rest
of
the
time
I
spent
outdoors
in
the
forests--"
Foeren
said,
"That's
wrong,
Tem.
There
aren't
any
underground
levels.
I
can
remember
distinctly
that
my
father
was
a
Controller,
Third
Class.
Our
family
used
to
trek
several
hundred
miles
every
year.
When
we
needed
something,
my
father
would
think
it,
and
there
it'd
be.
He
promised
to
teach
me
how,
but
I
guess
he
never
did."
Barrent
said,
"Well,
a
couple
of
us
are
certainly
having
false
recall."
"That's
certain,"
Joe
said.
"But
the
question
is,
which
of
us
is
right?"
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
