Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
167
The Status Civilization
·
Robert Sheckley
57
Why
had
he
done
it?
Had
his
lust
for
revenge
been
so
great
as
to
throw
off
all
the
restraint
of
Earth's
civilization?
Apparently
so.
He
had
killed,
and
someone
had
informed
on
him,
and
a
judge
had
sentenced
him
to
Omega.
He
was
a
murderer
on
a
criminal's
planet.
To
live
here
successfully,
he
simply
had
to
follow
his
natural
bias
toward
murder.
And
yet,
Barrent
found
this
extremely
difficult
to
do.
He
had
surprisingly
little
taste
for
bloodshed.
On
Free
Citizen's
Day,
although
he
went
into
the
streets
with
his
needlebeam,
he
couldn't
bring
himself
to
slaughter
any
of
the
lower
classes.
He
didn't
want
to
kill.
It
was
a
ridiculous
prejudice,
considering
where
and
what
he
was;
but
there
it
was.
No
matter
how
often
Tem
Rend
or
Joe
lectured
him
on
his
Citizen's
duties,
Barrent
still
found
murder
quite
distasteful.
He
sought
the
aid
of
a
psychiatrist,
who
told
him
that
his
rejection
of
murder
had
its
roots
in
an
unhappy
childhood.
The
phobia
had
been
further
complicated
by
the
traumatic
qualities
of
his
experience
in
the
Dream
Shop.
Because
of
this,
murder,
the
highest
social
good,
had
become
repugnant
to
him.
This
antimurder
neurosis
in
a
man
eminently
suited
for
the
art
of
killing
would,
the
psychiatrist
said,
inevitably
lead
to
Barrent's
destruction.
The
only
solution
was
to
displace
the
neurosis.
The
psychiatrist
suggested
immediate
treatment
in
a
sanitarium
for
the
criminally
non-murderous.
Barrent
visited
a
sanitarium,
and
heard
the
mad
inmates
screaming
about
goodness,
fair
play,
the
sanctity
of
life,
and
other
obscenities.
He
had
no
intention
of
joining
them.
Perhaps
he
was
sick,
but
he
wasn't
that
sick!
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
