"Smith, E E 'Doc' - SubSpace Vol 2 - Subspace Encounter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

Status Sixteen to Status One Hundred, inclusive, none of which were fractionated,
contained everyone else of any importance at all; and every person having status, and
also the o'stat, had his or her fourteen-digit Citizen Number tattooed across his or her
back.

This status-and-number system of caste and regimentation did not include the millions of
teeming millions of un'statspeople under status, beneath notice or consideration-people
who, being non-citizens and possessing neither status nor numbers, had little or no
recourse against exploitation. In the musty tomes of law they had some rights--rights
which varied considerably from planet to planet-but in everyday life the extent of
realization of those rights varied just about inversely to the status of the citizens
concerned in the exploitation.

These un'stats were not exactly serfs; nor were very many of them slaves. On most of
the planets of the Justiciate it was perfectly legal for any citizen to enslave any number of
un'stats at will; but such enslavement was a very risky business indeed. Most un'stats
preferred death to slavery; and, in dying, it was their custom to take as many numbered
persons as possible with them into the hereafter.

And many un'stats, the ablest physically and mentally or both, won citizenship and
numbers and status in many and various ways. Rodnar's great grandfather, for instance,
had been born an un'stat. Having inherited psionic genes from both parents, however, he
became an outstandingly successful bladesman and advanced himself and his line
accordingly.

Perhaps it should be mentioned, though it hardly seems necessary-through the millennia
the Justiciate had outlawed all languages except the dominant one, that of Slaar; so a
universal language was spoken on all the one hundred eightythree planets; with one
notable exception, proud, recalcitrant Garsh.

A few days after winning the championship of Meetyl, Rodnar-now of Status Thirty-Six
and with his left arm in a sling-took an aircab to the edifice housing the outer offices of
His Magnificence the Supreme Grand Justice. Armed this time with a letter of
introduction to the First Secretary herself, he was ushered immediately into that Able's
inner private office.

Her Ability First Secretary Daughtelna Starrlah of Slaar, Status Eleven point One Nine
Zero, was a tall, brown-eyed, breasty, muscular-swimmer type-young woman; with mus-

cles and other attributes startlingly on display through a tightly stretched jersey made of
white nylon gauze. She wore the dangling, sparkling ear-pendants that were the mode of
the moment; her shining, jet-black hair was piled high in what would be the mode of week
after next. She was made up to the eyeballs.

She was sitting in a posture chair at an oversized desk littered with correspondence
baskets, folders of all colors, business- and star-charts, handbooks, technical journals,
tapes, and viewers. In her left hand she held a green folder with Rodnar's name printed
on it in black. As Rodnar entered the room she stared at him intently; she fairly riveted
his eyes with hers with a look as old as woman and man.