you call the service part of the economy, and we're the manufacturing part. The nomads are the consumers. It's all very nicely balanced, you see.'
'But why?' It was the same question he had asked at the school.
'That's something each person has to work out for himself.'
And the same answer. 'You sound like Jones.'
'Jones?'
'My crazy instructor. He taught me how to read.'
She halted, surprised. 'Sos! You can read?'
'I was always curious about things.' He hadn't meant to reveal his literacy. Still, he could hardly have concealed it indefinitely.
'Would you show me how? We have so many books here-'
'It isn't that simple. It takes years to learn.'
'We have years, Sos. Come, I want to start right away.' She fairly dragged him in a new direction, despite the disparity in their sizes. She had delightful energy.
It was easy to recognize the library. In many respects the underworld resembled the crazies' building. 'Jim, this is Sos. He can read!'
The spectacled man jumped up, smiling. 'Marvelous!' He looked Sos up and down, then, a trifle dubiously. 'You look more like a warrior than a scholar. No offense.'
'Can't a warrior read?'
Jim fetched a book. 'A formality, Sos-but would you read from this? Just a sample passage, please.'
Sos took the volume and opened it at random. 'BRUTUS: Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, To cut the head off and then to hack the limbs, Like wrath in death and envy afterwards; for Anthony is but a limb of Caesar; Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius. We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar; And in the spirit of men there is no blood; Oh! that we then-'
'Enough! Enough!' Jim cried. 'You can read, you can read, you certainly can. Have you been assigned yet? We must have you in the library! There is so much to-'
'You can give classes in reading,' Sosa added excitedly. 'We all want to learn, but so few know how-'
'I'll call Bob immediately. What a discovery!' The librarian fumbled for the intercom on his desk.
'Let's get out of here,' Sos said, embarrassed by the commotion. He had always considered reading a private pursuit, except in the school, and found this eagerness upsetting.
It was a long day in the perpetual artificiality of the underworld, and he was glad to retire at the end of it. He was hardly certain he wanted to spend the rest of his life under the mountain, extraordinary as this world might be.
'But it really isn't a bad life, Sos,' she said. 'You get used to it-and the things we do are really important. We're the manufacturers for the continent; we make all the weapons, all the basic furnishings for the hostels, the prefabricated walls and floors, the appliances and electronic equipment-'
'Why did you take my bracelet?'
The question brought her up short. 'Well, as I said, there aren't many women here. They have it scheduled so that each man has a night with someone each week. It isn't quite like a full-time relationship, but on the other hand there is variety. It works out pretty well.'
The game of traveling bracelets. Yes, he could imagine how certain people would enjoy that, though he had noticed that most men did not use the golden signals here. 'Why am I excluded?'
'Well you can, if you want. I thought-'
'I'm not objecting, girl. I just want to know why. Why do I rate a full-time partner when there aren't enough to go around?'
