The Status Civilization

"Quite right," Mr. Frendlyer said. "And today is Landing Day. You came off the ship that landed today, and have been classified a peon.... I'm happy to say that everything is in order. The Landing Day Hunt ends at sundown. You can leave here with the knowledge that everything is correct and that your rights have not been violated."

"Leave here? After sundown, you mean."

Mr. Frendlyer shook his head and smiled sadly. "I'm afraid not. According to the law you must leave here at once."

"But they'll kill me!"

"That's very true. Unfortunately it can't be helped. A victim by definition is one who is to be killed.... We protect rights, not victims."

OMEGA: PRISON PLANET LIFE EXPECTANCY: THREE YEARS MAXIMUM MOST PEOPLE ARE LUCKIER THAN THAT....

Books by ROBERT SHECKLEY:

CITIZEN IN SPACE IMMORTALITY, INC. MINDSWAP PILGRIMAGE TO EARTH THE 10TH VICTIM UNTOUCHED BY HUMAN HANDS DIMENSION OF MIRACLES THE JOURNEY OF JOENES THE STATUS CIVILIZATION/NOTIONS: UNLIMITED

From ACE Science Fiction

THE STATUS CIVILIZATION

ROBERT SHECKLEY

ace books

A Division of Charter Communications Inc. A GROSSET & DUNLAP COMPANY

360 Park Avenue South New York, New York 10010

THE STATUS CIVILIZATION

Copyright (C) 1960 by Robert Sheckley

First appeared under the title Omega in Amazing Science Fiction Stories, published by Ziff-Davis.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without permission in writing from the publisher.

All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

An ACE Book

Cover art by David Bergen

First Ace printing: November 1979

2468097531

Manufactured in the United States of America

CONTENTS

THE STATUS CIVILIZATION 1

TO ANYA

THE STATUS CIVILIZATION

Chapter One

His return to consciousness was a slow and painful process. It was a journey in which he traversed all time. He dreamed. He rose through thick layers of sleep, out of the imaginary beginnings of all things. He lifted a pseudopod from primordial ooze, and the pseudopod was him. He became an amoeba which contained his essence; then a fish marked with his own peculiar individuality; then an ape unlike all other apes. And finally, he became a man.

What kind of man? Dimly he saw himself, faceless, a beamer gripped tight on one hand, a corpse at his feet. That kind of man.

He awoke, rubbed his eyes, and waited for further memories to come.

No memories came. Not even his name.

He sat up hastily and willed memory to return. When it didn't, he looked around, seeking in his surroundings some clue to his identity.

He was sitting on a bed in a small gray room. There was a closed door on one side. On the other, through a curtained alcove, he could see a tiny lavatory. Light came into the room from some hidden source, perhaps from the ceiling itself. The room had a bed and a single chair, and nothing else.

He held his chin in his hand and closed his eyes. He tried to catalogue all his knowledge, and the implications of that knowledge. He knew that he was a man, species Homo sapiens, an inhabitant of the planet Earth. He spoke a language which he knew was English. (Did that mean that there were other languages?) He knew the commonplace names for things: room, light, chair. He possessed in addition a limited amount of general knowledge. He knew that there were many important things which he did not know, which he once had known.