The Complete Stories_ Volume 1 - Isaac Asimov [330]
Lamorak said, "Are his demands so unreasonable? Why can't he be accepted into society?" There was momentary rage in Blei's eyes. "A dealer in excrement." Then he shrugged. "You are from Earth." Incongruously, Lamorak thought of another unacceptable, one of the numerous classic creations of the medieval cartoonist, Al Capp. The variously-named "inside man at the skonk works." He said, "Does Ragusnik really deal with excrement? I mean, is there physical contact? Surely, it is all handled by automatic machinery."
"Of course," said the Chief Councillor.
"Then exactly what is Ragusnik's function?"
"He manually adjusts the various controls that assure the proper functioning of the machinery. He shifts units to allow repairs to be made; he alters functional rates with the time of day; he varies end production with demand." He added sadly, "If we had the space to make the machinery ten times as complex, all this could be done automatically; but that would be such needless waste."
"But even so," insisted Lamorak, "all Ragusnik does he does simply by pressing buttons or closing contacts or things like that."
"Yes."
"Then his work is no different from any Elseverian's." Blei said, stiffly, "You don't understand."
"And for that you will risk the death of your children?"
"We have no other choice," said Blei. There was enough agony in his voice to assure Lamorak that the situation was torture for him, but that he had no other choice indeed.
Lamorak shrugged in disgust. "Then break the strike. Force him." "How?" said the Chief Councillor. "Who would touch him or go near him? And if we kill him by blasting from a distance, how will that help us?"
Lamorak said, thoughtfully, "Would you know how to run his machinery?"
The Chief Councillor came to his feet. "I?" he howled.
"I don't mean you," cried Lamorak at once. "I used the pronoun in its indefinite sense. Could someone learn how to handle Ragusnik's machinery?"
Slowly, the passion drained out of the Chief Councilor. "It is in the handbooks, I am certain—though I assure you I have never concerned myself with it."
"Then couldn't someone learn the procedure and substitute for Ragusnik until the man gives in?" Blei said, "Who would agree to do such a thing? Not I, under any circumstances." Lamorak thought fleetingly of Earthly taboos that might be almost as strong. He thought of cannibalism, incest, a pious man cursing God. He said, "But you must have made provision for vacancy in the Ragusnik job. Suppose he died."
"Then his son would automatically succeed to his job, or his nearest other relative," said Blei.
"What if he had no adult relatives? What if all his family died at once?"
"That has never happened; it will never happen."
The Chief Councilor added, "If there were danger of it, we might, perhaps, place a baby or two with the Ragusniks and have it raised to the profession."
"Ah. And how would you choose that baby?"
"From among children of mothers who died in childbirth, as we choose the future Ragusnik bride."
"Then choose a substitute Ragusnik now, by lot," said Lamorak.
The Chief Councilor said, "No! Impossible! How can you suggest that? If we select a baby, that baby is brought up to the life; it knows no other. At this point, it would be necessary to choose an adult and subject him to Ragusnik-hood. No, Dr. Lamorak, we are neither monsters nor abandoned brutes."
No use, thought Lamorak helplessly. No use, unless— He couldn't bring himself to face that unless just yet. That night, Lamorak slept scarcely at all. Ragusnik asked for only the basic elements of humanity. But opposing that were thirty thousand Elseverians who faced death.
The welfare of thirty thousand on one side; the just demands of one family on the other.