the seventeenth letter, part 7

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monsieur barras is right about one thing," were mrs roosevelt's first words when the meeting recommenced. "we have spent too much time talking over the same things. the time has come for deeds, not words." this was a favorite expression of hers. it usually meant the hammer was coming down on somebody. she now had everybody's full attention. "i have thought for some time that the twin duties of security and population were too much for one department. or one department head." all eyes were now on barras, who gazed ahead with a small smile. "monsieur barras deserves the gratitude of the universe for his efforts, which have had no small effect on his health." mrs roosevelt paused. charlie bates, barras assistant, whose own fate now hung by a thread, kept a poker face. mrs brown and anna akhnaton and her assistant looked sincerely sympathetic, and madame defarge totally bored. everyone else smirked with varying degrees of openness. "monsieur barras contributions have been so valuable," mrs roosevelt went on, "that we are loath to dispense with them completely. therefore madame defarge and myself ask him to stay on as head of the new, separate, department of population. monsieur barras?" "i am here to serve, madame." "we thank you. i am sure everyone here is properly grateful." she looked around the room. "permit me to digress a little here. this morning charlotte made a suggestion. a suggestion to the effect that it would be a good idea to put the whole human race in prison, in order to properly reeducate it. i was sorry to see expressions of disbelief, amounting almost to outright derision, on some of the faces here. charlotte's vision is a noble one. unfortunately, one not ready to be put into practice. much has been done, but we still have a long road ahead of us. all of which brings me to the subject of the new department of security, which will not simply be half of m barras old department, but a new expanded one with expanded powers. and of course, a new head of department will have to be chosen," she turned to madame defarge. "do you have anything to add?" madame defarge looked around the table. "i think you have their full attention." "indeed. a decision on the new head of the new department will be made at the next meeting, which will be called at no distant time. meanwhile we need a temporary head." she looked across the table behind barras. "mister bates?" "yes, madame?" "i understand that in your capacity as m barras' assistant, you have been concerned primarily with security and not population. am i correct?' "i am not sure what population is, madame." "what was that?" madame defarge asked him. "speak up." "i said, i wasn't sure what population is. i think it's how many people there are in the world." "actually," mrs roosevelt said, "it's how many humans there are in the world." "i told you." bates smiled and spread his one arm. "i don't even know what population is." "very droll. be that as it may, mister bates, are you prepared to act as temporary head of security during the first stages of reorganization?' "i'm here to serve, madame." "good. be assured that both madame defarge and myself are ready to give you any advice and assistance you may need." "i appreciate it." "thank you. before we move on, are there any questions? i see that the duc d'otrante has a question." "more a request for clarification. these new - measures - must mean that the current policy of mass arrests is considered a success." mrs roosevelt considered before answering. "it means it is going to be pursued with vigor." "and other police work - the investigation of conspiracies and crimes - is to be - i 'won't say downgraded - but lowered in priority?" "monsieur le duc," mrs roosevelt answered. "please use your own judgment. spend as much time as you see fit on whatever you think deserves your time." eyes lit up around the table at this. "i understand." the duc replied. "but let us be clear. the new policy indicates a perception that the current unrest is in effect generic and not the result of conspiracies. how deeply are we committed to that?" "that is a very good question," madame defarge replied. "very well put." she looked down the table at charlotte. "you have a broad mandate at unspeakable crimes, charlotte. what do you think?" " unspeakable crimes supports the new initiative. wholehartedly. i intend to devote most of my time to its implementation. at the same time, i have an assistant capable of keeping up - and more - with the conspiratorial side. if the conspiracies blossom again, unspeakable crimes will be ready, thanks to her, to meet the challenge. i guarantee it." "well." mrs roosevelt smiled down the table at jeanne, who was the furthest person from her in the room. "that was quite an encomium. are you prepared, jeanne, to live up to it?" "i'm here to serve, madame." "this is a good group," said madame defarge. "they all want to serve." "any other questions?", asked mrs roosevelt. "i have one more," said the duc. "just one." "yes?" "the new initiative surely implies an increase in the police force. will the increase come through human recruitment or robot manufacture?" 'why," mrs roosevelt answered. 'that is an excellent question. as always, monsieur, you show a quick grasp of the broad situation. the answer is this will be decided by the full council as the reorganization proceeds. for the moment, however, you have anticipated my next announcement. which is that, pending final decisions on these matters, robot production will be stepped up. as well as construction of prisons" she turned to anna. "did you hear that, anna?" "yes, madame. and other public works projects?' "use your own judgment. you are head of the department. i am sure mrs brown, madame ching and m barras in his new capacity as head of population, will give you every assistance, whatever you decide." "yes, madame." "robots and prisons, anna, robots and prisons." "let's get out of here," the duc turned to olivia as soon as the meeting was over and madame defarge and mrs roosevelt had exited. she jumped up and helped him get unhooked from his chair and back on his board. olivia packed and closed her briefcase and they got out to the elevators as fast as they could without looking like they were running, "you did great," she whispered to him after she punched the button for an elevator. "you got back on your horse and charged up the hill. and you had charlotte back on her heels." "yes, for a tenth of a second." "you got a compliment out of mrs r." "she was being sarcastic." they fell silent as margot de valois and madame ching and their assistants joined them. "didn't that feel good?" sally asked larry as they came out of her building into the sunlight. "what?' "doing something useful. instead of running around arresting people all day." "right. do you want a ride back to the employment agency?" "no. i want you get me something to eat. like you said." 'it's still kind of early." "i'll follow you until it 's time." "no you won't. i have a car, you don't." "you said." larry started to laugh. "all right. want to go for a ride?" "yes, to get something to eat." "that's where we'll go. there's a restaurant i used to work in. i was a waiter, before i got on the police." "where is it?" "way across town." 'are you sure it is still there?" "no, i am not sure it is still there. we'll take a ride, see if it is." "suppose it isn't?" "by the time we get there it will be lunch time." "and you will buy me something somewhere?" "yes!" "all right.' "then let's go.'

the seventeenth letter, part 8

the seventeenth letter, part 6

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to begin at the beginning click here

the seventeen "excess" prisoners followed corporal chappie across the wide space and finally came to a door. they entered a big cafeteria. the prisoners who had been assigned to companies were sitting in blocs at long tables with their robot "team leaders" but there was still plenty of space. corporal chappie led the seventeen over to a corner, sat down and waved to them to be seated at some smaller tables, apparently wherever they pleased. "mush or gruel, citizen prisoners," he told them. "on this first day, you get to choose." "how about some ham and eggs?" asked barbarian. "ha. ha! ham and eggs! i like a prisoner with a sense of humor and a sense of history." barbarian smiled to show he was just kidding. "i'll go with the mush then. extra large. " corporal chappie smiled back. "one size fits all. the rest of you?" "the mush and the gruel must be the same size, right?" mike asked. "to the milligram." "i'll have gruel. " the others gave their orders. "eight mush, eight gruel, one not hungry." corporal chappie looked at the one not hungry, a skinny ragamuffin with a single long spike of hair on his head. "are you sure? it might be a while before you are asked again." the ragamuffin shrugged. "ok , i 'll have - i'll have - i'll have -" "choose!" "mush." "nine mush, eight gruel." corporal chappie pressed some buttons on the side of the table. "while we are waiting, does anybody have a question?" "i have a question," said mike. "about the food." "ah, you humans. always about the food. yes?" mike looked a little annoyed. "it's not just the food. my question is, what do we get if we do a good job - break extra rocks or whatever? do we get rewarded? extra food? extra anything?" "no. no special considerations." "no? "no. it's a question we get from every new group." "so, what happens if someone doesn't work at all? suppose you just - throw down your ten-pound hammer and say, hey i'm not in the mood?" corporal chappie smiled. "there is one way to find out - do it. but you will find out. there will be no samples, no second chance, no oh wait i didn't mean it." "that doesn't seem very - oh forget it." "you learn quickly. were you a lawyer by any chance?" chappie asked mike. "i was a detective." "a detective! there are plenty of detectives on jupiter but they have their own sector." "i was a private detective." " a private detective! ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" some of the other prisoners started laughing too. "so how was business, mr private detective, under the new order?" mike laughed too. "i'll probably eat better here." "no doubt." the note was still in the mailbox. larry unfolded it and showed it to sally. "recognize anything?" "what is there to recognize? it's just four letters, and i don't know what they mean." "it's something bad." "you told me that." "you don't recognize the paper or the handwriting or anything?" "are you serious? no." larry looked round the quiet little lobby. "how many people live in this place?" "four or five, counting me." "four or five! what is there, a curse on it?" "maybe, but i like it." "right. i better take this back to the office. do you want that ride back to the employment agency?" "you said you'd buy me something to eat." "now? it's kind of early." "you said you would." she stared at him. "i have an idea. how would you like to make yourself useful?" "everybody likes to make themselves useful. it's what we're here for." "the elevator keeps getting stuck." larry held up his hand. "sorry, elevator repair isn't in my skill set." "i don't want you to fix the elevator . just help me move down to a lower floor - below where the elevator sticks." "i don't think so.' "come on, i don't have much. and then you can buy me something to eat." "you want me to get stuck in an elevator?" "if it sticks we can crawl out if we have to. i've done it before. " larry laughed, and thought for a few seconds. "all right. i suppose i should take a look at where you live, anyway." "what do you think i have up there, the secret weapon?" sally pushed the button for the elevator and it opened immediately. "what do you know about secret weapons?" they got in the elevator. "just what i see on shows." she pressed the button for the 51st floor. "i saw this show, sherlock holmes, cleopatra and the secret weapon. it was pretty good." "you don't have any spicy drinks or romance novels, anything like that?" "no." larry watched the indicator. "where does this get stuck?" they passed the thirty-fourth floor. sally gave larry a little smile. "we're safe now." the duc suppressed a smile as charlotte told her tale. "that must have been embarrassing." "it was. a little." "you were taking her to the alpha centauri center?" "yes.' "it was shut down a few days ago. you probably missed the memo." "i read all my memos." "i'm sure. but even you must forget one or two." "i was specifically told to release her, not just to turn back." the duc shrugged. "probably just some robot misunderstanding the original message. how much advance notice did you give?" "not much." "there you go." charlotte thought about it. "maybe." the others started coming back into the conference room. "it's a jungle up here." the duc looked up and saw olivia and jeanne coming back to their seats behind them but didn't lower his voice. "you might have real enemies, charlotte. you shouldn't worry about imaginary ones." charlotte glanced back at olivia. she was settling into her seat, with a blank expression. madame defarge and mrs roosevelt reentered. a few stragglers hurried in behind them. 'i have a question," said hongwu. after some hesitation, he and moctezuma, who had been hanging back, had moved up to a table near chappie. "i think i know your question, but go ahead." "you don't seem to have a lot of security here.' "no?" 'so what happens if we try to escape?" "you see that door over there?" hongwu turned. there was a small door, on the other side of the room from the one they entered. "i see it.' "it is unlocked. citizen prisoner, be our guest." "you have animals out there, or something electrical?" "of course not. there is nothing out there - nothing at all. you can start walking - but in what direction? and even if you chance on the right direction, how far can you go?" hongwu glanced at moctezuma. "but you don't care if we try?" "once or twice. a third time - we might feel you were not serious and were trifling with us. and when you find your way back, we will have a bowl of mush waiting for you. a standard portion - no extra." "i have a couple of questions, " said mac the mailman. "sorry, they're about food." "'go ahead." "it's too late now, but i don't suppose we can ask for the mush to be hot, lukewarm or whatever" "no." "and it's just mush or gruel? never even a sandwich? "the department of prisons and education has determined that mush and gruel are more nutritious. but here are your portions now." a very old robot, of the kind called a jam - just a machine - arrived with a cart and handed out the bowls and spoons, along with cans of orange drink, which were not very cold.

the seventeenth letter, part 7