Chapter VI: Part 6

Now his enemy was in its ultimate form: the invariant robot consciousness, as false and stylized as the conditioned dreams of Earth. The Barrent-1 machine extruded a single slender tentacle with a white light winking at the end of it. As it approached, the tentacle withdrew, and in its place appeared a jointed metal arm ending in a knife-edge. Barrent-2 dodged, and heard the knife scrape against the stone.

_It isn't what you think it is_, Barrent-2 told himself. _It isn't a machine, and you are not back on Omega. This is only half of yourself you are fighting, this is nothing but a deadly illusion._

But he couldn't believe it. The Barrent machine was coming at him again, its metal hide glistening with a foul green substance which Barrent-2 recognized immediately as Contact Poison. He broke into a sprint, trying to stay away from the fatal touch.

_It isn't fatal_, he told himself.

Neutralizer washed over the metal surface, clearing away the poison. The machine tried to ram him. Barrent tried half-heartedly to push it aside. It crashed into him with stunning force, and he could feel ribs splintering.

_It isn't real! You're letting a conditioned reflex talk you to death! You aren't on Omega! You're on Earth, in your own home, staring into a mirror!_

But the pain was real, and the clubbed metal arm felt real as it crashed against his shoulder. Barrent staggered away.

He felt horror, not at dying, but at dying too soon, before he could warn the Omegans of this ultimate danger planted deep in their own minds. There was no one else to warn of the catastrophe that would strike each man as he recovered his own specific memories of Earth. To his best knowledge, no one had experienced this and lived. If _he_ could live through it, countermeasures could be taken, counterconditioning could be set up.

He pulled himself to his feet. Coached since childhood in social responsibility, he thought of it now. He couldn't allow himself to die when his knowledge was vital to Omega.

_This is not a real machine._

He repeated it to himself as the Barrent machine revved up, picked up speed, and hurtled toward him from the far side of the room. He forced himself to see beyond the machine, to see the patient droning lessons of the classroom which had created this monster in his mind.

_This is not a real machine._

He believed it....

And swung his fist into the hated face reflected in the metal.

There was a moment of dazzling pain, and then he lost consciousness. When he came to, he was alone in his own home on Earth. His arm and shoulder ached, and several of his ribs seemed to be broken. On his left hand he bore the stigmata of the trichomotred's bite.

But with his cut and bleeding right hand he had smashed the mirror. He had shattered it and Barrent-1 utterly and forever.

OMEGA

RELIGION:
THE WORSHIP OF EVIL

PLEASURES:
THE THRILL OF THE HUNT, WITH HUMAN PREY

STATUS:
ATTAINED ONE CORPSE AT A TIME

LIFE EXPECTANCY:
THREE EARTH YEARS

"ALL OF YOU ARE CRIMINALS THEREFORE MANKIND HAS REJECTED YOU,
AND YOU HAVE BEEN SENT TO A WORLD WHERE YOUR OWN SORT IS KING.
HERE YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN RULES, AND DIE BY THEM ..."

THE STATUS CIVILIZATION

Transcriber's List of Corrections

Chapter One
Page 1, "futher" changed to "further." (He awoke, rubbed his
eyes, and waited for further memories to come.)
Page 9, "ot think" changed to "to think." (All he wanted to
do was lie down, to sleep, to have a chance to think about his
situation.)

Chapter Two
Page 14, "theif" changed to "thief." (I'm ashamed to admit
that I can't remember what a credit thief is.)

Chapter Five
Page 36, "wtih" changed to "with." (She appeared to be
dissatisfied with her husband; and divorce was forbidden on
Omega.)

Chapter Nine
Page 65, "murder" changed to "murderer." (Before his visit to
the Dream Shop he had never felt himself a murderer, no matter
what the Earth authorities had accused him of.)

Chapter Sixteen
Page 107, "undected" changed to "undetected." (By noon,
Barrent was still undetected.)
Page 114, "were were" changed to "were." (If he were able to
get by the city gate, he would have to watch for the hunting
patrols.)

Chapter Eighteen
Page 125, "Barren" changed to "Barrent." (Barrent ducked out
of a corner in which the creeping vines were trapping him.)

Chapter Twenty-Three
Page 151, "coud" changed to "could." (Barrent backed away,
wondering if a needlebeam could stop it.)

Chapter Twenty-Four
Page 159, Added a missing end-quote. (The full facilities of
this park are waiting for all lovers of the great outdoors.")
Page 159, "Presumbaly" changed to "Presumably." (Presumably
they liked this sort of thing.)

End of Project Gutenberg's The Status Civilization, by Robert Sheckley