FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51  
52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   >>  
ages. It will mean considerable extra bookkeeping, but outside of that I believe you'll find that things will go along much as they always did." The Masters had begun to relax, and by the time he was finished all of them were smiling in relief. Count Erskyll, on the other hand, was almost writhing in his chair. It must be horrible to be a brilliant young Proconsul of liberal tendencies and to have to sit mute while a cynical old Ministerial Secretary, vastly one's superior in the Imperial Establishment and a distant cousin of the Emperor to boot, calmly bartered away the sacred liberties of twenty million people. "But would that be legal, under the Imperial Constitution?" Olvir Nikkolon asked. "I shouldn't have suggested it if it hadn't been. The Constitution only forbids physical ownership of one sapient being by another; it emphatically does not guarantee anyone an unearned livelihood." * * * * * The Convocation committee returned to Zeggensburg to start preparing the servile population for freedom, or reasonable facsimile. The chief-slaves would take care of that; each one seemed to have a list of other chief-slaves, and the word would spread from them on an each-one-call-five system. The public announcement would be postponed until the word could be passed out to the upper servile levels. A meeting with the chief-slaves in office of the various Managements was scheduled for the next afternoon. Count Erskyll chatted with forced affability while the departing committeemen were being seen to the launch that would take them down. When the airlock closed behind them, he drew Prince Trevannion aside out of earshot of their subordinates. "You know what you're doing?" he raged, in a hoarse whisper. "You're simply substituting peonage for outright slavery!" "I'd call that something of a step." He motioned Erskyll into one of the small hall-cars, climbed in beside him, and lifted it, starting toward the living-area. "The Convocation has acknowledged the principle that sapient beings should not be property. That's a great deal, for one day." "But the people will remain in servitude, you know that. The Masters will keep them in debt, and they'll be treated just as brutally...." "Oh, there will be abuses; that's to be expected. This Freedmen's Management, nee Servile Management, will have to take care of that. Better make a memo to talk with this chief-freedman of Martwynn's,
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51  
52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   >>  



Top keywords:

Erskyll

 
slaves
 
sapient
 

servile

 

Imperial

 

Convocation

 

Management

 

people

 
Constitution
 

Masters


Prince
 
earshot
 

subordinates

 

Trevannion

 

forced

 

Managements

 

scheduled

 
office
 

meeting

 

passed


levels

 
afternoon
 
chatted
 

airlock

 

closed

 

launch

 
hoarse
 

affability

 

departing

 

committeemen


remain

 

servitude

 

property

 

treated

 

expected

 

abuses

 

Freedmen

 

Servile

 
Better
 

brutally


beings

 

freedman

 

motioned

 
slavery
 
simply
 
Martwynn
 

substituting

 

peonage

 

outright

 

living