And woke up with a taste in my mouth like a porcuswine’s breath.

, “Yuk…” I gurgled. ~

“I am very glad you slept,” the doctor said, swabbing off my arm and sticking it with a hypo. “Rest is the best medicine. This injection will eliminate residual fatigue symptoms and any pain. “

“How long have I been out?”

“All day,” Stimer said. “It is after dark. I have been outside and the soldiers are gone. We were going to awaken you soon in any case. Water?”

I gurgled most of it down and sighed. I felt much better. I didn’t even sway when I stood up. “Time to go.” The doctor frowned. “It might be better to wait until the injection takes hold.”

“I will walk off my troubles, thank you. We have been away a long time and I tend to worry.”

My shakiness wore off as we walked. The woods were silent, the searchers long gone, and we had the world to ourselves. Stimer led the way at his usual cracking pace. The doctor kept an eye on me and soon called a halt so he could plug his analysis machine into my arm. He was

TUB CTftIMLEOS STEBL DAT eBT” IWaBTBn

– •“

satisfied with the result and our trek continued. Putting one foot in front of the other was enough to keep me occupied until we reached the outskirts of the city again. With one look at the buildings all my forebodings returned.

I was right, too. It was still dark when we reached the first homes, moving silently between the cottages and gardens of suburbia to avoid the guarded main streets. The back door of our refuge was unlocked: we slipped in and locked it behind us.

“You have the bird!” Morton cried gleefully when we entered. I nodded and threw it on to the couch, dropped myself next to it and looked around. All of the others were gone.

“That is the good news,” I said. “The bad news is that it may be some time before help arrives. The call for help went out by radio—which could take a mighty long time.”

“That is very bad indeed,” Morton said and his face sank instantly into lines of despair. “While you were away they started taking hostages. Zennor got on the TV and said that he is going to shoot them, one at a time, until everyone goes back to work. He says that he will execute the first person at dawn—and one every, ten minutes after that until he gets cooperation.”

He dropped his face into his hands and his voice was muffled, trembling. “The soldiers came up this street,

were going to search this house. So everyone here, Sharia, all the others went out to them. Surrendered so I would not be found. They are now captives, hostages—and are eoine to be shot!”

Chapter 21

“It cannot be,” the doctor said, puzzled but calm. “Human beings just do not do things like that.”

“Yes they do!” I shouted, jumping to my feet and pacing the room. “Or maybe human beings don’t—but animals like Zennor do. And I apologize to the animals. But it certainly won’t go that far, will it Stirner? Your people will

’ have to go back to work now?”

“No, they won’t. If you understood Individual Mutualism you would understand why. Every individual is a separate and discrete entity, responsible for his or her own existence. What Zennor does to another individual does not relate to any other discrete individual.”

“Zennor thinks so.”

“Then Zennor thinks wrong.”

I resisted the temptation to tear out a handful of my own hair. I wasn’t getting through at all. “Well look at it another way. If you do not do anything to stop Zennor then you are responsible for the deaths of the hostages.”

“No. If I do something to please Zennor in the face of his threats then I am admitting his control over my actions despite the fact I do not wish his control. The state is born once again. IM is dead. So we chose passive resistance. We will not be ordered or threatened , . .”

“But you can be killed.”

“Yes.” He nodded grimly. “Some will die if he insists on this course. But murder is self-defeating. How can you force someone to work by killing him?”

“I understand you—but I don’t like it.” I was too disturbed to sit, I stood, paced the floor. “There must be a way out of this that doesn’t involve someone’s death. What is it that Zennor wants?”

“He was very angry,” Morton said. “And very specific. First he wants the electricity turned back on in the buildings the military has occupied. Then he wants a regular supply of food for his troops. If these two things are done no one will be killed and the prisoners released. For the time being.”

“Impossible,” Dr. Lum said. “They gave nothing in return for the electricity they used, so it was disconnected. The same thing applies to the food. The markets have shut down because the farmers will not bring food to the city.”

“But,” I sputtered. “If the markets are closed how does everyone else in the city eat?”

“They go to the farms, or leave the city. Almost a third of the population has already gone. ”

“Where will they go?”

“Wherever they want to.” He smiled at the look on my face. He could tell that I was hearing the words but not understanding them. “I think that I should go to basics, explain a bit more about IM to enable you to understand. Let us take a simple example. A farmer. He raises all the food that he needs, supplies all of his own wants so asks for nothing from others.”

“Nothing?” I had him there. “What if he needs new shoes?”

“He goes to a man who makes shoes and gives him food in exchange.”

“Barter!” Morton said. “The most primitive economic system. But it cannot exist in a modern technological society…” His voice ran down as he looked about the room. Stimer smiled again.

“Of course it cannot. But IM is more than barter. The individual will voluntarily join other individuals in a larger organization to manufacture some item, or build houses say. For each hour they work they are credited with a wirr.”

“A what?”

“A work hour. These wirrs are exchanged with others for goods and services.”

“A wirr is another way of saying money,” Morton said. “And money is capitalism—so you have a capitalistic society. ”

“I am afraid not. Individual Mutualism is neither capitalism, communism, socialism, vegetarianism, or even the dreaded monetarism that destroyed many a technological society. I am familiar with these terms from Mark Forer’s writings. A wirr has no physical existence, such as a rare metal or a seashell. Nor can it be invested and gain interest. That is fundamental and differentiates the wirr from currency. Banks cannot exist because there can be no interest on deposits or loans.”

Instead of being clarified I found my head wirring in confusion from the wirrs. “Wait, please, explanation. I have seen people driving groundcars. How can they save money enough to buy one? Who will loan them the money without interest?”

“No money,” he said firmly. “If you wish a groundcar you go to the groundcar group and drive one away. You will pay when you use it, stop paying when you return it. A basic tenet of IM is from each according to his needs, to each according to the wealth of society.”

“You wouldn’t like to clarify that?” I poured myself a glass of wine and gulped it down hoping the alcohol would clean out my synapses.

“Of course. I have read, and trembled with disgust, of a philosophy called the work ethic. This states that an individual must work hard for the basics of life. When technological society mechanizes and replaces workers with machines, the work ethic states that the displaced workers must be looked on with contempt, allowed to starve, be treated like outcasts. And the hypocrisy of the work ethic system ‘is that those with capital do not work—yet still increase their capital without working by the use of interest on their money—and look down upon those who have been cast out of work! Tragic. But not here. As more is produced the aggregate wealth gets larger. When this happens the amount that the wirr can be exchanged for also gets larger.” Some of it was getting through—but needed elucidation.