ually
incompatible individuals. So well had they succeeded that most workers
could barely stand the sight of one another, and so were driven back
upon themselves and their work. Only by practicing an almost egg-like
self-containment could a draftsman or other worker hope to get through
the day without open conflict and disaster.

Latent antipathies among workers were further intensified by means of
the Annual Proficiency Competitions. At the conclusion of these tests
all employees save two were given Proficiency Stars. Of the remaining
two, one was invariably a person who had shown signs of becoming too
popular among his fellows. He was given a Leadership Star, and because
an affable man was usually less rather than more efficient than the
rest, this made of him a lonely little air-bubble in a sea of
resentment.

The second of the two workers was always discharged. Thus a dash of
anxiety was added to the proceedings.

* * * * *

The visible manifestations of high I.I. were hectic color, a
characteristic ferocity of eye and throbbing jaw-hinges. Often the
jaw-hinges of an entire team would be pulsating at once, sometimes
even in unison. This spectacle emanated an overwhelming feeling of
earnestness and purpose. Executives were fond of pointing out this
phenomenon to visiting dignitaries. "Observe their jaw-hinges," they
would say.

Another factor which isolated employees from one another was the
peculiarly virulent form of halitosis which afflicted all workers
without exception. The company cafeteria was the source of this
malady.

Thus, if Dewforth had been the only employee in that vast complex of
buildings, or in the world, he could not have been restlessness. Add
to this the fact that it had been his misfortune to win the Leadership
Star in the Proficiency Competitions only three days earlier. He did
not have to trace the bitter stream of his mood any farther back than
that to find the bile-source.

The object of the contest had been to draw a single line 28-5/8 inches
long and 1/15,000 of an inch thick, a feat which is starkly simple in
conception but only theoretically feasible. The draftsmen had spent
hours preparing the surfaces of paper, straining ink through filters,
honing drawing pens with emery and polishing them with rouge, drawing
practice lines and scrutinizing them with powerful bench microscopes.
They did Balinese finger exercises, Chinese body coordination
exer