[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
percent or so. The rest of the people, except for the townspeople and traders
and the like, are bound to the land. They work, and in exchange are given
food, clothing, housing, general cradle-to-grave care, and protection from any
bad elements."
"That's the kind of thing they used to have in olden days," Brandy pointed
out.
"I forget its name, but what it boils down to is that about ten percent have
everything, and everybody else supports them as slaves."
"It's feudalism. That's the word," I put in.
"No, it's not slavery," Jamie argued. "In the world like yours that I lived in
for a year there were several different forms of government. One was called a
democracy, but in it about five percent of the people had about ninety-five
percent of the wealth, and most of the political power. You got to vote for
which of the two people put up by the rich you wanted. Then there were two
other systems that differed in ways too subtle to matter. One had the
government owning everything in common, and was run by a single party and a
bureaucracy that amounted to about nine percent of the people. The party made
all the decisions and lived quite well, and the rest of the people worked for
whatever the party gave them. The third system was sort of like the other two
combined, with the rich owning everything and being members of a party who all
sat down together and decided what would be made, what would be sold, and at
what price and profit, and what wages and working conditions would be. In all
cases it
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20...D.%20Inc%201%20-%20Labyrinth%
20of%20Dreams.txt (73 of 116) [1/19/03 4:16:21 PM]
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20Jack%20L%20-%20G.O.D.%20Inc%201%
20-%20Labyrinth%20of%20Dreams.txt seemed that you were talking about ten
percent ruling ninety percent absolutely.
I may be a bit dull on political matters, but I couldn't really see much
difference deep down. No people in this land may be bought or sold. It is
immoral. They remain with the land, no matter who becomes their lord."
I began to realize that they'd sent us a live one to soften us up. Trapping us
in a coach with Jamie in the middle of the night was worse torture than
sending us back to the Garden.
Page 86
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"And you? Do you belong to somebody's land?" Brandy asked.
"Oh, my, no! I'm the daughter of a knight. The fifth daughter. My parents were
always preparing my sisters for marriage and position, and I was always down
learning fencing with the squires and outdoing the boys at their own games.
Why not? I never liked the idea that men were inherently better at some things
than women, and, besides, by the time they got to me there was pretty slim
pickings in terms of wealth or advancement possibilities. My father, noting my
talents and having surrendered at his attempts to make a lady out of me,
introduced me to a man who turned out to be a marketing representative with
the Company. My contacts and position have allowed me to aid my family, so
they are content; and my job suits my own proclivities, so I am content. The
Company is male at the very top, but no one not born on that world can be on
the very top anyway, and that takes both talent and relatives. There is,
however, a considerable career path an ambitious and smart woman might take,
and that is sufficient for me."
I was about to ask whether she liked boys or girls best, but Brandy read my
mind and gave me a poke in the side. What the hell. Diplomacy was a part of
the detective's art at times.
It was nearing dawn when we began to slow, maybe three or four hours out. I
didn't know much about horses, but I figured we'd have to stop just to rest
them. We were coming into a town of some kind, down low, and in the distance I
heard an eerie and very mechanical whistle blow. "What's that?" I asked.
"A train. What else would it be except a train or the fire alarm?" Jamie asked
casually. "They can't get steamboats this far upriver."
And here I was just getting used to the idea of being in the land of King
Arthur or something. "You have steam stuff?"
"Oh, yes. We're not primitives, after all. Steam is at the heart of the
emperor's power, for only the emperor runs things of steam, and licenses and
schools all those who operate such devices. When I was little I once had a
dream of being the first female train driver, but that's just not done here.
One of the empires over in Africa, I hear, is a matriarchy and there it's
possible, but that's not the way of my own emperor or land. As I say, there
are trade-offs, and I have found my own niche."
"Yeah," Brandy whispered a bit sourly. "Everybody born at the top thinks that
way."
To my surprise we went right down to a small railway station, and then
alongside the tracks, slowly. There wasn't a lot of light, but the trains used
in this world looked more primitive than museum pieces, not even as fancy as
the wild-west trains or those of the Civil War. The cars were all wood and
looked like they belonged to an enlarged antique Christmas train set. Most
were freight, but the last car was an old-time passenger car, and it was the
only part of the train that was lit.
We pulled up to it, and Jamie reached over, opened the door, then hopped out
and helped us both down. We were stiff and I, at least, was starting to feel
my lack of sleep. I wasn't tired enough, though, that I didn't see a dozen or
more black shapes lurking about the yard. Whoever this was, he carried a real
heavy bodyguard.
The car was divided into two parts, a parlor area and a sleeping area, and we
entered the parlor and took seats in lavish surroundings. There was gold trim
and velvet seat covers and the curtains were fine silk. It was the kind of car
old royalty must have owned in Europe back in the nineteenth century.
A man entered, wearing a maroon dressing gown, a pipe in his mouth. He was a
large man, rather handsome with a full brown beard just going to gray, nicely
trimmed hair of the same color and condition, and a large build. His gray eyes
surveyed us with some bemusement, and he smiled and came fully into the
parlor.
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20...D.%20Inc%201%20-%20Labyrinth%
20of%20Dreams.txt (74 of 116) [1/19/03 4:16:21 PM]
Page 87
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20Jack%20L%20-%20G.O.D.%20Inc%201%
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]