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167
The Status Civilization
·
Robert Sheckley
89
He
made
his
preparations
for
the
Hunt,
putting
food,
water,
a
coil
of
rope,
a
knife,
extra
ammunition,
and
a
spare
needlebeam
into
a
small
knapsack.
Then
he
waited,
hoping
against
all
reason
that
Moera
and
her
organization
would
bring
him
a
last-minute
reprieve.
But
no
reprieve
came.
An
hour
before
dawn,
Barrent
shouldered
his
knapsack
and
left
the
Antidote
Shop.
He
had
no
idea
what
the
other
Hunteds
were
doing;
but
he
had
already
decided
on
a
place
that
might
be
secure
from
the
Hunters.
Chapter
Sixteen
Authorities
on
Omega
agree
that
a
Hunted
man
experiences
a
change
of
character.
If
he
were
able
to
look
upon
the
Hunt
as
an
abstract
problem,
he
might
arrive
at
certain
more
or
less
valid
conclusions.
But
the
typical
Hunted,
no
matter
how
great
his
intelligence,
cannot
divorce
emotion
from
reasoning.
After
all,
he
is
being
hunted.
He
becomes
panic-stricken.
Safety
seems
to
lie
in
distance
and
depth.
He
goes
as
far
from
home
as
possible;
he
goes
deep
into
the
ground
along
the
subterranean
maze
of
sewers
and
conduits.
He
chooses
darkness
instead
of
light,
empty
places
in
preference
to
crowded
ones.
This
behavior
is
well
known
to
experienced
Hunters.
Quite
naturally,
they
look
first
in
the
dark,
empty
places,
in
the
underground
passageways,
in
deserted
stores
and
buildings.
Here
they
find
and
flush
the
Hunted
with
inexorable
precision.
Barrent
had
thought
about
this.
He
had
discarded
his
first
instinct,
which
was
to
hide
in
the
intricate
Tetrahyde
cloaca.
Instead,
an
hour
before
dawn,
he
went
directly
to
the
large,
brightly
lighted
building
that
housed
the
Ministry
of
Games.
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