rs I can take the
promotional test and become a full-fledged space-pilot."

"And still you say there's no incentive?"

"For myself, yes--but all of us ought to have the same kind of drive,"
said Dirrul.

"Such a condition never existed, Edward. Always there have been a few
to make the inventions and the discoveries, a few to create the new
dreams and frame the new ideas. Our people are no different. Incentive
comes from within the individual--it cannot be imposed from the
outside.

"The poorest sort of incentive, therefore, is economic need. Our
system provides all our people with the basic necessities for everyday
living. Some few of us are content with these and never want anything
else. But the great majority work to earn Work-Equivs, which they can
spend as they please--on amusement, luxury, education or the races at
the Arena.

"Whatever the goal, it is a personal goal, set by each individual for
himself. It's the only kind of incentive that makes any sense. Take
yourself as an example--you spend your share of Work-Equivs on
additional education because you want to become a space-pilot. By the
time you've earned the promotion you'll have lifted yourself to a
position of leadership.

"As you are well aware the space-pilot is the politician--statesman is
a better word--of the Planetary Union. Through his ingenuity, his
skill with languages, his psychological understanding of diverse
racial groups, he holds our planets and peoples together, in one union
with a common social philosophy. Think how frustrating it would be if
you could never move toward your goal, Edward, because everything you
earned had to be spent on trivialities--food, clothing, a place to
live."

"All right," said Eddie doubtfully, "I have an apartment given to me
but it has to be here in a worker's block. If our system provides for
us all alike, as you imply, how is it you have accommodations in the
Scientist's Center? Why should you be set apart? Or the poets and
writers? Or the space-pilots, for that matter?"

"But there's no difference in the way we live, Edward. In general
people who do similar work and have similar interests are happier if
they share the same social environment. The average person, living in
a worker's block, would feel terribly out of place in a scientist's
center, just as I would develop terrific frustrations if I had to live
with the mystics or the religious orders."

Dirrul deftly snatched the last piece of toa