on
might individualize himself to the minimum necessary degree.

These name tags were worn about the neck on a colorful plastic band,
with the tag itself, a white plastic card, on the right side of the
neck. On the tag, in gold lettering, was the person's name, address,
and Social Security number.

And--they were worn _all_ the time.

The name tag was the only means by which a person might be identified.
Without it, anyone might impersonate anyone else he pleased. So, of
course, it became obscene to appear in public without one.

And Charles, standing in the alley, looked down at himself and
realized the horrible truth.

* * * * *

He found himself running through back streets, sidling around corners,
and darting into doorways.

After an hour or two, he realized that he was no longer within the
City Limits.

Charles took a good look around him and discovered he was standing on
a minor highway just outside of town. There were no cars or people in
sight, and he dropped off the road into some bushes to get his wind
and think.

He had _known_ there was something wrong with the molecular structure
of the suit he was wearing, but Edwin wouldn't listen.

It had undoubtedly been the humidity. The chemical process had no
doubt been going on since he'd first donned the suit, but it had been
the heat in that beer joint that had accelerated the action enough to
finish the job. Human perspiration acting on the new fiber in the
collar of his suit produced some obscure chemical reaction which had a
corrosive effect on the plastic band and plastic card of his name tag.

He had to get home, somehow, and tell Edwin to hold up production on
the new thermostatic suit. Perhaps the flaw in it could be eliminated
in a short time. If it couldn't....

He considered. The world Dollar Standard had been absolutely stable
for more years than he knew about. What would happen if it suddenly
became unstable? A fluctuation of even a fraction of a cent would
cause widespread panic; it would jolt the Public's faith in its
infallible economic system. And the panic would cause further
deviation in the Dollar's purchasing power, and--more panic.

He wiped his brow. If the situation in the Textile Industry was as
critical as Edwin said it was, then Edwin and his superiors weren't
going to be at all happy when Charles told them about the suit--and
Charles was going to be the fall guy.

But of course he had to