~1~
It was with a strange mixture of eagerness and fear that I received the head physician's decision that I would henceforth recover my faculties3 more rapidly in the familiar environment of my own home.
A wooden-faced male nurse accompanied me in a closed vehicle that ran noiselessly through the vaulted4 interior streets of the completely roofed-in city. Once our vehicle entered an elevator and was let down a brief distance. We finally alighted in a street very like the one on which the hospital was located, and filed down a narrow passage-way. My companion asked for my keys, which I found in my clothing. I stood by with a palpitating heart as he turned the lock and opened the door.
The place we entered was a comfortably furnished bachelor's apartment. Books and papers were littered about giving evidence of no disturbance5 since the sudden leaving of the occupant. Immensely relieved I sat down in an upholstered chair while the nurse scurried6 about and put the place in order.
"You feel quite at home?" he asked as he finished his task.
"Quite," I replied, "things are coming back to me now."
"You should have been sent home sooner," he said. "I wished to tell the chief as much, but I am only a second year interne and it is forbidden me to express an original opinion to him."
"I am sure I will be all right now," I replied.
He turned to go and then paused. "I think," he said, "that you should have some notice on you that when you do go out, if you become confused and make mistakes, the guards will understand. I will speak to Lieut. Forrester, the Third Assistant, and ask that such a card be sent you." With that he took his departure.
When he had gone I breathed joyfully7 and freely. The rigid8 face and staring eye that I had cultivated relaxed into a natural smile and then I broke into a laugh. Here I was in the heart of Berlin, unsuspected of being other than a loyal German and free, for the time at least, from problems of personal relations.
I now made an elaborate inspection10 of my surroundings. I found a wardrobe full of men's clothing, all of a single shade of mauve like the suit I wore. Some suits I guessed to be work clothes from their cheaper texture11 and some, much finer, were evidently dress apparel.
Having reassured12 myself that Armstadt had been the only occupant of the apartment, I turned to a pile of papers that the hospital attendant had picked up from the floor where they had dropped from a mail chute. Most of these proved to be the accumulated copies of a daily chemical news bulletin. Others were technical chemical journals. Among the letters I found an invitation to a meeting of a chemical society, and a note from my tailor asking me to call; the third letter was written on a typewriter, an instrument the like of which I had already discovered in my study. This sheet bore a neatly13 engraved14 head reading "Katrina, Permit 843 LX, Apartment 57, K Street, Level of the Free Women." The letter ran:
"Dear Karl: For three weeks now you have failed to keep your appointments and sent no explanation. You surely know that I will not tolerate such rude neglect. I have reported to the Supervisor15 that you are dropped from my list."
So this was Katrina! Here at last was the end of the fears that had haunted me.
~2~
As I was scanning the chemical journal I heard a bell ring and turning about I saw that a metal box had slid forth2 upon a side board from an opening in the wall. In this box I found my dinner which I proceeded to enjoy in solitude16. The food was more varied17 than in the hospital. Some was liquid and some gelatinous, and some firm like bread or biscuit. But of natural food products there was nothing save a dish of mushrooms and a single sprig of green no longer than my finger, and which, like a feather in a boy's cap, was inserted conspicuously18 in the top of a synthetic19 pudding. There was one food that puzzled me, for it was sausage-like in form and sausage-like in flavour, and I was sure contained some real substance of animal origin. Presuming, as I did at that moment, that no animal life existed in Berlin, I ate this sausage with doubts and misgivings21.
The dinner finished, I looked for a way to dispose of the dishes. Packing them back in the container I fumbled22 about and found a switch which set something going in the wall, and my dishes departed to the public dishwasher.
Having cleared the desk I next turned to Armstadt's book shelves. My attention was caught by a ponderous23 volume. It proved to be an atlas24 and directory of Berlin. In the front of this was a most revealing diagram which showed Berlin to be a city of sixty levels. The five lowest levels were underground and all were labelled "Mineral Industries." Above these were eight levels of Food, Clothing and Miscellaneous industries. Then came the seven workmen's residence levels, divided by trade groups. Above this were the four "Intellectual Levels," on one of which I, as a chemist had my abode25. Directly above these was the "Level of Free Women," and above that the residence level for military officers. The next was the "Royal Level," double in height of the other levels of the city. Then came the "Administrative26 Level," followed by eight maternity27 levels, then four levels of female schools and nine levels of male schools. Then, for six levels, and reaching to within five levels of the roof of the city, were soldiers' barracks. Three of the remaining floors were labelled "Swine Levels" and one "Green Gardens." Just beneath the roof was the defence level and above that the open roof itself.
It was a city of some three hundred metres in height with mineral industries at the bottom and the swine levels--I recalled the sausage--at the top. Midway between, remote from possible attack through mines or from the roof, Royalty28 was sheltered, while the other privileged groups of society were stratified above and below it.
Following the diagram of levels was a most informing chart arranged like a huge multiplication29 table. It gave after each level the words "permitted," "forbidden," and "permitted as announced," arranged in columns for each of the other levels. From this I traced out that as a chemist I was permitted on all the industrial, workmen's and intellectual levels, and on the Level of Free Women. I was permitted, as announced, on the Administrative and Royal Levels; but forbidden on the levels of military officers and soldiers' barracks, maternity and male and female schools.
I found that as a chemist I was particularly fortunate for many other groups were given even less liberty. As for common workmen and soldiers, they were permitted on no levels except their own.
The most perplexing thing about this system was the apparent segregation30 of such large groups of men from women. Family life in Germany was evidently wonderfully altered and seemingly greatly restricted, a condition inconsistent with the belief that I had always held--that the German race was rapidly increasing.
Turning to my atlas index I looked up the population statistics of the city, and found that by the last census31 it was near three hundred million. And except for the few millions in the mines this huge mass of humanity was quartered beneath a single roof. I was greatly surprised, for this population figure was more than double the usual estimates current in the outside world. Coming from a world in which the ancient tendency to congest in cities had long since been overcome, I was staggered by the fact that nearly as many people were living in this one city as existed in the whole of North America.
Yet, when I figured the floor area of the city, which was roughly oval in shape, being eight kilometres in breadth and eleven in length, I found that the population on a given floor area was no greater than it had been in the Island of Manhattan before the reform land laws were put into effect in the latter part of the Twentieth Century. There was, therefore, nothing incredible in these figures of total population, but what I next discovered was a severe strain on credence32. It was the German population by sexes; the figures showed that there were nearly two and a half males for every female! According to the usual estimate of war losses the figure should have been at a ratio of six women living to about five men, and here I found them recorded as only two women to five men. Inspection of the birth rate showed an even higher proportion of males. I consulted further tables that gave births by sexes and groups. These varied somewhat but there was this great preponderance of males in every class but one. Only among the seventeen thousand members of Royalty did the proportion of the sexes approach the normal.
Apparently33 I had found an explanation of the careful segregation of German women--there were not enough to go around!
Turning the further pages of my atlas I came upon an elaborately illustrated34 directory of the uniforms and insignia of the various military and civil ranks and classes. As I had already anticipated, I found that any citizen in Berlin could immediately be placed in his proper group and rank by his clothing, which was prescribed with military exactness.
Various fabrics35 and shades indicated the occupational grouping while trimmings and insignia distinguished36 the ranks within the groups. In all there were many hundreds of distinct uniforms. Two groups alone proved exceptions to this iron clad rule; Royalty and free women were permitted to dress as they chose and were restricted only in that they were forbidden to imitate the particular uniforms of other groups.
I next investigated the contents of Armstadt's desk. My most interesting find was a checkbook, with receipts and expenditures38 carefully recorded on the stubs. From this I learned that, as Armstadt, I was in receipt of an income of five thousand marks, paid by the Government. I did not know how much purchasing value that would amount to, but from the account book I saw that the expenses had not equalled a third of it, which explained why there was a bank balance of some twenty thousand marks.
Clearly I would need to master the signature of Karl Armstadt so I searched among the papers until I found a bundle of returned decks. Many of the larger checks had been made out to "Katrina," others to the "Master of Games,"--evidently to cover gambling39 losses. The smaller checks, I found by reference to the stubs, were for ornaments40 or entertainment that might please a woman. The lack of the more ordinary items of expenditure37 was presently made clear by the discovery of a number of punch marked cards. For intermittent41 though necessary expenses, such as tonsorial service, clothing and books. For the more constant necessities of life, such as rent, food, laundry and transportation, there was no record whatever; and I correctly assumed that these were supplied without compensation and were therefore not a matter of personal choice or permissible42 variation. Of money in its ancient form of metal coins and paper, I found no evidence.
~3~
In my mail the next morning I found a card signed by Lieut. Forrester of the hospital staff. It read:
"The bearer, Karl Armstadt, has recently suffered from gas poisoning while defending the mines beneath enemy territory. This has affected43 his memory. If he is therefore found disobeying any ruling or straying beyond his permitted bounds, return him to his apartment and call the Hospital for Complex Gas Cases."
It was evidently a very kindly44 effort to protect a man whose loss of memory might lead him into infractions of the numerous rulings of German life. With this help I became ambitious to try the streets of Berlin alone. The notice from the tailor afforded an excuse.
Consulting my atlas to get my bearings I now ventured forth. The streets were tunnel-like passage-ways closed over with a beamed ceiling of whitish grey concrete studded with glowing light globes. In the residence districts the smooth side walls were broken only by high ventilating gratings and the narrow passage halls from which led the doors of the apartments.
The uncanny quiet of the streets of this city with its three hundred million inhabitants awed45 and oppressed me. Hurriedly I walked along occasionally passing men dressed like myself. They were pale men, with blanched46 or sallow faces. But nowhere were there faces of ruddy tan as one sees in a world of sun. The men in the hospital had been pale, but that had seemed less striking for one is used to pale faces in a hospital. It came to me with a sense of something lost that my own countenance47 blanched in the mine and hospital would so remain colourless like the faces of the men who now stole by me in their felted footwear with a cat-like tread.
At a cross street I turned and came upon a small group of shops with monotonous48 panelled display windows inserted in the concrete walls. Here I found my tailor and going in I promptly49 laid down his notice and my clothing card. He glanced casually50 at the papers, punched the card and then looking up he remarked that my new suit had been waiting some time. I began explaining the incident in the mine and the stay in the hospital; but the tailor was either disinterested51 or did not comprehend.
"Will you try on your new suit now?" he interrupted, holding forth the garments. The suit proved a trifle tight about the hips52, but I hastened to assure the tailor that the fit was perfect. I removed it and watched him do it up in a parcel, open a wall closet, call my house number, and send my suit on its way through one of the numerous carriers that interlaced the city.
As I walked more leisurely53 back to my apartment by a less direct way, I found my analytical54 brain puzzling over the refreshing55 quality of the breezes that blew through those tunnel-like streets. With bits of paper I traced the air flow from the latticed faces of the elevator shafts57 to the ventilating gratings of the enclosed apartments, and concluded that there must be other shafts to the rear of the apartments for its exit. It occurred to me that it must take an enormous system of ventilating fans to keep this air in motion, and then I remembered the liquid air engine I had seen in the mine, and a realization58 of the economy and efficiency of the whole scheme dawned upon me. The Germans had solved the power problem by using the heat of the deeper strata59 of the earth to generate power through the agency of liquid air and the exhaust from their engines had automatically solved their ventilating problem. I recalled with a smile that I had seen no evidence of heating apparatus60 anywhere except that which the miners had used to warm their food. In this city cooling rather than heating facilities would evidently be needed, even in the dead of winter, since the heat generated by the inhabitants and the industrial processes would exceed the radiation from the exterior61 walls and roof of the city. Sunshine and "fresh air" they had not, but our own scientists had taught us for generations that heat and humidity and not lack of oxygen or sunshine was the cause of the depression experienced in indoor quarters. The air of Berlin was cool and the excess of vapor62 had been frozen out of it. Yes, the "climate" of Berlin should be more salubrious to the body, if not to the mind, than the fickle63 environment of capricious nature. From my reasoning about these ponderous problems of existence I was diverted to a trivial matter. The men I observed on the streets all wore their hair clipped short, while mine, with six weeks' growth, was getting rather long. I had seen several barber's signs but I decided64 to walk on for quite a distance beyond my apartment. I did not want to confront a barber who had known Karl Armstadt, for barbers deal critically in the matter of heads and faces. At last I picked out a shop. I entered and asked for a haircut.
"But you are not on my list," said the barber, staring at me in a puzzled way, "why do you not go to your own barber?"
Grasping the situation I replied that I did not like my barber.
"Then why do you not apply at the Tonsorial Administrative Office of the level for permission to change?"
Returning to my apartment I looked up the office in my directory, went thither65 and asked the clerk if I could exchange barbers. He asked for my card and after a deal of clerical activities wrote thereon the name of a new barber. With this official sanction I finally got my hair cut and my card punched, thinking meanwhile that the soundness of my teeth would obviate66 any amateur detective work on the part of a dentist.
Nothing, it seemed, was left for the individual to decide for himself. His every want was supplied by orderly arrangement and for everything he must have an authoritative67 permit. Had I not been classed as a research chemist, and therefore a man of some importance, this simple business of getting a hair-cut might have proved my undoing68. Indeed, as I afterwards learned, the exclusive privacy of my living quarters was a mark of distinction. Had I been one of lower ranking I should have shared my apartment with another man who would have slept in my bed while I was at work, for in the sunless city was neither night nor day and the whole population worked and slept in prescribed shifts--the vast machinery69 of industry, like a blind giant in some Plutonic treadmill70, toiled71 ceaselessly.
The next morning I decided to extend my travels to the medical level, which was located just above my own. There were stairs beside the elevator shafts but these were evidently for emergency as they were closed with locked gratings.
The elevator stopped at my ring. Not sure of the proper manner of calling my floor I was carried past the medical level. As we shot up through the three-hundred-metre shaft56, the names of levels as I had read them in my atlas flashed by on the blind doors. On the topmost defence level we took on an officer of the roof guard--strangely swarthy of skin--and now the car shot down while the rising air rushed by us with a whistling roar.
On the return trip I called my floor as I had heard others do and was let off at the medical level. It was even more monotonously72 quiet than the chemical level, save for the hurrying passage of occasional ambulances on their way between the elevators and the various hospitals. The living quarters of the physicians were identical with those on the chemists' level. So, too, were the quiet shops from which the physicians supplied their personal needs.
Standing73 before one of these I saw in a window a new book entitled "Diseases of Nutrition." I went in and asked to see a copy. The book seller staring at my chemical uniform in amazement74 reached quickly under the counter and pressed a button. I became alarmed and turned to go out but found the door had been automatically closed and locked. Trying to appear unconcerned I stood idly glancing over the book shelves, while the book seller watched me from the corner of his eye.
In a few minutes the door opened from without and a man in the uniform of the street guard appeared. The book seller motioned toward me.
"Your identification folder75," said the guard.
Mechanically I withdrew it and handed it to him. He opened it and discovered the card from the hospital. Smiling on me with an air of condescension76, he took me by the arm and led me forth and conducted me to my own apartment on the chemical level. Arriving there he pushed me gently into a chair and stepped toward the switch of the telephone.
"Just a minute," I said, "I remember now. I was not on my level--that was not my book store."
"The card orders me to call up the hospital," said the guard.
"It is unnecessary," I said. "Do not call them."
The guard gazed first at me and then at the card. "It is signed by a Lieutenant77 and you are a Captain--" his brows knitted as he wrestled78 with the problem--"I do not know what to do. Does a Captain with an affected memory outrank a Lieutenant?"
"He does," I solemnly assured him.
Still a little puzzled, he returned the card, saluted79 and was gone. It had been a narrow escape. I got out my atlas and read again the rules that set forth my right to be at large in the city. Clearly I had a right to be found in the medical level--but in trying to buy a book there I had evidently erred80 most seriously. So I carefully memorized the list of shops set down in my identification folder and on my cards.
For the next few days I lived alone in my apartment unmolested except by an occasional visit from Holknecht, the laboratory assistant, who knew nothing but chemistry, talked nothing but chemistry, and seemed dead to all human emotions and human curiosity. Applying myself diligently81 to the study of Armstadt's books and notes, I was delighted to find that the Germans, despite their great chemical progress, were ignorant of many things I knew. I saw that my knowledge discreetly82 used, might enable me to become a great man among them and so learn secrets that would be of immense value to the outer world, should I later contrive83 to escape from Berlin.
By my discoveries of the German workings in the potash mines I had indeed opened a new road to Berlin. It was up to me by further discoveries to open a road out again, not only for my own escape, but perhaps also to find a way by which the World Armies might enter Berlin as the Greeks entered Troy. Vague ambitious dreams were these that filled and thrilled me, for I was young in years, and the romantic spirit of heroic adventure surged in my blood.
These days of study were quite uneventful, except for a single illuminating84 incident; a further example of the super-efficiency of the Germans. I found the meals served me at my apartment rather less in quantity than my appetite craved85. While there was a reasonable variety, the nutritive value was always the same to a point of scientific exactness, and I had seen no shops where extra food was available. After I had been in my apartment about a week, some one rang at the door. I opened it and a man called out the single word, "Weigher." Just behind him stood a platform scale on small wheels and with handles like a go-cart. The weigher stood, notebook in hand, waiting for me to act. I took the hint and stepped upon the scales. He read the weight and as he recorded it, remarked:
"Three kilograms over."
Without further explanation he pushed the scales toward the next door. The following day I noticed that the portions of food served me were a trifle smaller than they had been previously86. The original Karl Armstadt had evidently been of such build that he carried slightly less weight than I, which fact now condemned87 me to this light diet.
However, I reasoned that a light diet is conducive88 to good brain work, and as I later learned, the object of this systematic89 weight control was not alone to save food but to increase mental efficiency, for a fat man is phlegmatic90 and a lean one too excitable for the best mental output. It would also help my disguise by keeping me the exact weight and build of the original Karl Armstadt.
After a fortnight of study, I felt that I was now ready to take up my work in the laboratory, but I feared my lack of general knowledge of the city and its ways might still betray me. Hence I began further journeyings about the streets and shops of those levels where a man of my class was permitted to go.
~4~
After exhausting the rather barren sport of walking about the monotonous streets of the four professional levels I took a more exciting trip down into the lower levels of the city where the vast mechanical industries held sway. I did not know how much freedom might be allowed me, but I reasoned that I would be out of my supposed normal environment and hence my ignorance would be more excusable and in less danger of betraying me.
Alighting from the elevator, I hurried along past endless rows of heavy columns. I peered into the workrooms, which had no enclosing walls, and discovered with some misgiving20 that I seemed to have come upon a race of giants. The men at the machines were great hulking fellows with thick, heavy muscles such as one would expect to see in a professional wrestler91 or weight-lifter. I paused and tried to gauge92 the size of these men: I decided that they were not giants for I had seen taller men in the outer world. Two officials of some sort, distinguishable by finer garb93, walking among them, appeared to be men of average size, and the tops of their heads came about to the workers' chins. That there should be such men among the Germans was not unbelievable, but the strange thing was that there should be so many of them, and that they should be so uniformly large, for there was not a workman in the whole vast factory floor that did not over-top the officials by at least half a head.
"Of course," I reasoned, "this is part of German efficiency";--for the men were feeding large plates through stamping mills--"they have selected all the large men for this heavy work." Then as I continued to gaze it occurred to me that this bright metal these Samsons were handling was aluminum94!
I went on and came to a different work hall where men were tending wire winding95 machinery, making the coils for some light electrical instruments. It was work that girls could easily have done, yet these men were nearly, if not quite, as hulking as their mates in the stamping mill. To select such men for light-fingered work was not efficiency but stupidity,--and then it came to me that I had also thought the soldiers I had seen in the hospital to be men picked for size, and that in a normal population there could not be such an abundance of men of abnormal size. The meaning of it all began to clear in my mind--the pedigree in my own identification folder with the numerous fraternity, the system of social castes which my atlas had revealed, the inexplicable96 and unnatural97 proportion of the sexes. These gigantic men were not the mere98 pick from individual variation in the species, but a distinct breed within a race wherein the laws of nature, that had kept men of equal stature99 for countless100 centuries, even as wild animals were equal, had been replaced by the laws of scientific breeding. These heavy and ponderous labourers were the Percherons and Clydesdales of a domesticated101 and scientifically bred human species. The soldiers, somewhat less bulky and more active, were, no doubt, another distinct breed. The professional classes which had seemed quite normal in physical appearance--were they bred for mental rather than physical qualities? Otherwise why the pedigree, why the rigid castes, the isolation102 of women? I shuddered103 as the whole logical, inevitable104 explanation unfolded. It was uncanny, unearthly, yet perfectly105 scientific; a thing the world had speculated about for centuries, a thing that every school boy knew could be done, and yet which I, facing the fact that it had been done, could only believe by a strained effort at scientific coolness.
I walked on and on, absorbed, overwhelmed by these assaulting, unbelievable conclusions, yet on either side as I walked was the ever present evidence of the reality of these seemingly wild fancies. There were miles upon miles of these endless workrooms and everywhere the same gross breed of great blond beasts.
The endless shops of Berlin's industrial level were very like those elsewhere in the world, except that they were more vast, more concentrated, and the work more speeded up by super-machines and excessive specialization. Millions upon millions of huge, drab-clad, stolid-faced workmen stood at their posts of duty, performing over and over again their routine movements as the material of their labors106 shuttled by in endless streams.
Occasionally among the workmen I saw the uniforms of the petty officers who acted as foremen, and still more rarely the administrative offices, where, enclosed in glass panelled rooms, higher officials in more bespangled uniforms poured over charts and plans.
In all this colossal107 business there was everywhere the atmosphere of perfect order, perfect system, perfect discipline. Go as I might among the electrical works, among the vast factories of chemicals and goods, the lighter108 labor9 of the textile mills, or the heavier, noisier business of the mineral works and machine shops the same system of colossal coordinate109 mechanism110 of production throbbed111 ceaselessly. Materials flowed in endless streams, feeding electric furnaces, mills, machines; passing out to packing tables and thence to vast store rooms. Industry here seemed endless and perfect. The bovine112 humanity fitted to the machinery as the ox to the treadmill. Everywhere was the ceaseless throbbing113 of the machine. Of the human variation and the free action of man in labour, there was no evidence, and no opportunity for its existence.
Turning from the mere monotonous endlessness of the workshops I made my way to the levels above where the workers lived in those hours when they ceased to be a part of the industrial mechanism of production; and everywhere were drab-coloured men for these shifts of labour were arranged so that no space at any time was wholly idle. I now passed by miles of sleeping dormitories, and other miles of gymnasiums, picture theatres and gaming tables, and, strikingly incongruous with the atmosphere of the place, huge assembly rooms which were labelled "Free Speech Halls." I started to enter one of these, where some kind of a meeting was in progress, but I was thrust back by a great fellow who grinned foolishly and said: "Pardon, Herr Captain, it is forbidden you."
Through half-darkened streets, I again passed by the bunk-shelved sleeping chambers114 with their cavernous aisles115 walled with orderly rows of lockers116. Again I came to other barracks where the men were not yet asleep but were straggling in and sitting about on the lowest bunks117 of these sterile118 makeshift homes.
I then came into a district of mess halls where a meal was being served. Here again was absolute economy and perfect system. The men dined at endless tables and their food like the material for their labours, was served to the workers by the highly efficient device of an endless moving belt that rolled up out of a slot in the floor at the end of the table after the manner of the chained steps of an escalator.
From the moving belts the men took their portions, and, as they finished eating, they cleared away by setting the empty dishes back upon the moving belt. The sight fascinated me, because of the adaptation of this mechanical principle to so strange a use, for the principle is old and, as every engineer knows, was instrumental in founding the house of Detroit Vehicle Kings that once dominated the industrial world. The founder119 of that illustrious line gave the poorest citizen a motor car and disrupted the wage system of his day by paying his men double the standard wage, yet he failed to realize the full possibilities of efficiency for he permitted his men to eat at round tables and be served by women! Truly we of the free world very narrowly escaped the fetish of efficiency which finally completely enslaved the Germans.
Each of the long tables of this Berlin dining hall, the ends of which faced me, was fenced off from its neighbours. At the entrance gates were signs which read "2600 Calories," "2800 Calories," "3000 Calories"--I followed down the line to the sign which read "Maximum Diet, 4000 Calories." The next one read, "Minimum Diet 2000 Calories," and thence the series was repeated. Farther on I saw that men were assembling before such gates in lines, for the meal there had not begun. Moving to the other side of the street I walked by the lines which curved out and swung down the street. Those before the sign of "Minimum Diet" were not quite so tall as the average, although obviously of the same breed. But they were all gaunt, many of them drooped120 and old, relatively121 the inferior specimens122 and their faces bore a cowering123 look of fear and shame, of men sullen124 and dull, beaten in life's battle. Following down the line and noting the improvement in physique as I passed on, I came to the farthest group just as they had begun to pass into the hall. These men, entering the gate labelled "Maximum Diet, 4000 Calories," were obviously the pick of the breed, middle-aged125, powerful, Herculean,--and yet not exactly Herculean either, for many of them were overfull of waistline, men better fed than is absolutely essential to physical fitness. Evidently a different principle was at work here than the strict economy of food that required the periodic weighing of the professional classes.
Turning back I now encountered men coming out of the dining hall in which I had first witnessed the meal in progress. I wanted to ask questions and yet was a little afraid. But these big fellows were seemingly quite respectful; except when I started to enter the Free Speech Hall, they had humbly126 made way for me. Emboldened127 by their deference128 I now approached a man whom I had seen come out of a "3800 Calories" gate, and who had crossed the street and stood there picking his teeth with his finger nail.
He ceased this operation as I approached and was about to step aside. But I paused and smiled at him, much, I fear, as one smiles at a dog of unknown disposition129, for I could hardly feel that this ungainly creature was exactly human. He smiled back and stood waiting.
"Perhaps, I stammered130," you will tell me about your system of eating; it seems very interesting."
"I eat thirty-eight," he grinned, "pretty good, yes? I am twenty-five years old and not so tall either."
I eyed him up--my eyes came just to the top button of his jacket.
"I began thirty," continued the workman, "I came up one almost every year, one year I came up two at once. Pretty good, yes? One more to come."
"What then?" I asked.
The big fellow smiled with a childish pride, and doubling up his arm, as huge as an average man's thigh131, he patted his biceps. "I get it all right. I pass examination, no flaws in me, never been to hospital, not one day. Yes, I get it."
"Get what?"
"Paternity," said the man in a lower voice, as he glanced about to see if any of his fellows was listening. "Paternity, you know? Women!"
I thought of many questions but feared to ask them. The worker waited for some men to pass, then he bent132 over me, grinning sardonically133. "Did you see them? You have seen women, yes?"
"Yes," I ventured, "I have seen women."
"Pretty good, beautiful, yes?"
"Yes," I stammered, "they are very beautiful." But I was getting nervous and moved away. The workman, hesitating a little, then followed at my side.
"But tell me," I said, "about these calories. What did you do to get the big meals? Why do some get more to eat than others?"
"Better man," he replied without hesitation134.
"But what makes a better man?"
"You don't know; of course, you are an intellectual and don't work. But we work hard. The harder we work the more we eat. I load aluminum pigs on the elevator. One pig is two calories, nineteen hundred pigs a day, pretty good, yes? All kind of work has its calories, so many for each thing to do.
"More work, more food it takes to do it. They say all is alike, that no one can get fat. But all work calories are not alike because some men get fatter than others. I don't get fat; my work is hard. I ought to get two and a half calories for each pig I load. Still I do not get thin, but I do not play hard in gymnasium, see? Those lathe135 men, they got it too easy and they play hard in gymnasium. I don't care if you do report. I got it mad at them; they got it too easy. One got paternity last year already, and he is not as good a man as I am. I could throw him over my shoulder in wrestling. Do you not think they get it too easy?"
"Do the men like this system," I asked; "the measuring of food by the amount of work one does? Do any of them talk about it and demand that all be fed alike?"
"The skinny minimum eaters do," said the workman with a sneer136, "when we let them talk, which isn't often, but when they get a chance they talk Bellamism. But what if they do talk, it does them no good. We have a red flag, we have Imperial Socialism; we have the House of Hohenzollern. Well, then, I say, let them talk if they want to, every man must eat according to his work; that is socialism. We can't have Bellamism when we have socialism."
This speech, so much more informative137 and evidencing a knowledge I had not anticipated, quite disturbed me. "You talk about these things," I ventured, "in your Free Speech Halls?"
The hitherto pleasant face of the workingman altered to an ugly frown.
"No you don't," he growled138, "you don't think because I talk to you, that you can go asking me what is not your right to know, even if you are an officer?"
I remained discreetly silent, but continued to walk at the side of the striding giant. Presently I asked:
"What do you do now, are you going to work?"
"No," he said, looking at me doubtfully, "that was dinner, not breakfast. I am going now to the picture hall."
"And then," I asked, "do you go to bed?"
"No," he said, "we then go to the gymnasium or the gaming tables. Six hours' work, six hours' sleep, and four hours for amusement."
"And what do you do," I asked, "the remainder of the day?"
He turned and stared at me. "That is all we get here, sixteen hours. This is the metal workers' level. Some levels get twenty hours. It depends on the work."
"But," I said, "a real day has twenty-four hours."
"I've heard," he said, "that it does on the upper levels."
"But," I protested, "I mean a real day--a day of the sun. Do you understand that?"
"Oh yes," he said, "we see the pictures of the Place in the Sun. That's a fine show."
"Oh," I said, "then you have pictures of the sun?"
"Of course," he replied, "the sun that shines upon the throne. We all see that."
At the time I could not comprehend this reference, but I made bold to ask if it were forbidden me to go to his picture hall.
"I can't make out," he said, "why you want to see, but I never heard of any order forbidding it.
"I go here," he remarked, as we came to a picture theatre.
I let my Herculean companion enter alone, but followed him shortly and found a seat in a secluded139 corner. No one disputed my presence.
The music that filled the hall from some hidden horn was loud and, in a rough way, joyous140. The pictures--evidently carefully prepared for such an audience--were limited to the life that these men knew. The themes were chiefly of athletic141 contests, of boxing, wrestling and feats142 of strength. There were also pictures of working contests, always ending by the awarding of honours by some much bespangled official. But of love and romance, of intrigue143 and adventure, of pathos144 and mirth, these pictures were strangely devoid,--there was, in fact, no woman's likeness145 cast upon the screen and no pictures depicting146 emotion or sentiment.
As I watched the sterile flittings of the picture screen I decided, despite the glimmering147 of intelligence that my talking Hercules had shown in reference to socialism and Bellamism and the secrets of the Free Speech Halls, that these men were merely great stupid beasts of burden.
They worked, they fed, they drank, they played exuberantly148 in their gymnasiums and swimming pools, they played long and eagerly at games of chance. Beyond this their lives were essentially149 blank. Ambition and curiosity they had none beyond the narrow circle of their round of living. But for all that they were docile150, contented151 and, within their limitations, not unhappy. To me they seemed more and more to be like well cared for domestic animals, and I found myself wondering, as I left the hall, why we of the outer world had not thought to produce pictures in similar vein152 to entertain our dogs and horses.
~5~
As I returned to my own quarters, I tried to recall the description I had read of the "Children of the Abyss," the dwellers153 in ancient city slums. There was a certain kinship, no doubt, between those former submerged workers in the democratic world and this labour breed of Berlin. Yet the enslaved and sweated workers of the old regime were always depicted154 as suffering from poverty, as undersized, ill-nourished and afflicted155 with disease. The reformers of that day were always talking of sanitary156 housing, scientific diet and physical efficiency. But here was a race of labourers whose physical welfare was as well taken care of as if they had been prize swine or oxen. There was a paleness of countenance among these labourers of Berlin that to me seemed suggestive of ill health, but I knew that was merely due to lack of sun and did not signify a lack of physical vitality157. Mere sun-darkened skin does not mean physiological158 efficiency, else the negro were the most efficient of races. Men can live without sun, without rain, without contact with the soil, without nature's greenery and the brotherhood159 of fellow species in wild haunts. The whole climb of civilization had been away from these primitive160 things. It had merely been an artificial perfecting of the process of giving the living creature that which is needed for sustenance161 and propagation in the most concentrated and most economical form, the elimination162 of Nature's superfluities and wastes.
As I thought of these things it came over me that this unholy imprisonment163 of a race was but the logical culmination164 of mechanical and material civilization. This development among the Germans had been hastened by the necessities of war and siege, yet it was what the whole world had been driving toward since man first used a tool and built a hut. Our own freer civilization of the outer world had been achieved only by compromises, by a stubborn resistance against the forces to which we ascribed our progress. We were merely not so completely civilized165, because we had never been wholly domesticated.
As I now record these thoughts on the true significance of the perfected civilization of the Germans I realize that I was even more right than I then knew, for the sunless city of Berlin is of a truth a civilization gone to seed, its people are a domesticated species, they are the logical outcome of science applied166 to human affairs, with them the prodigality167 and waste of Nature have been eliminated, they have stamped out contagious168 diseases of every kind, they have substituted for the laws of Nature the laws that man may pick by scientific theory and experiment from the multitude of possibilities. Yes, the Germans were civilized. And as I pondered these things I recalled those fairy tales that naturalists169 tell of the stagnant170 and fixed171 society of ants in their subterranean172 catacombs. These insect species credited for industry and intelligence, have in their lesser173 world reached a similar perfection of civilization. Ants have a royal house, they have a highly specialized174 and fixed system of caste, a completely socialized state--yes, a Utopia--even as Berlin was a Utopia, with the light of the sun and the light of the soul, the soul of the wild free man, forever shut out. Yes, I was walking in Utopia, a nightmare at the end of man's long dream--Utopia--Black Utopia--City of Endless Night--diabolically compounded of the three elements of civilization in which the Germans had always been supreme--imperialism, science and socialism.
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1
swarms
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| 蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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4
vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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scurried
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| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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8
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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10
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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11
texture
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| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
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12
reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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13
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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14
engraved
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| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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15
supervisor
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| n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师 | |
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16
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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17
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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18
conspicuously
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| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
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19
synthetic
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| adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品 | |
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20
misgiving
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕 | |
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21
misgivings
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
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22
fumbled
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| （笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下 | |
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23
ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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24
atlas
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| n.地图册，图表集 | |
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25
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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26
administrative
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| adj.行政的，管理的 | |
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27
maternity
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| n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的 | |
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28
royalty
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| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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29
multiplication
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| n.增加，增多，倍增；增殖，繁殖；乘法 | |
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30
segregation
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| n.隔离，种族隔离 | |
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31
census
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| n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查 | |
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32
credence
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| n.信用，祭器台，供桌，凭证 | |
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33
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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35
fabrics
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| 织物( fabric的名词复数 )； 布； 构造； （建筑物的）结构（如墙、地面、屋顶）：质地 | |
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36
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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37
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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38
expenditures
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| n.花费( expenditure的名词复数 )；使用；（尤指金钱的）支出额；（精力、时间、材料等的）耗费 | |
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39
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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40
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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41
intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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42
permissible
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| adj.可允许的，许可的 | |
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43
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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44
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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45
awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
blanched
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| v.使变白( blanch的过去式 )；使（植物）不见阳光而变白；酸洗（金属）使有光泽；用沸水烫（杏仁等）以便去皮 | |
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47
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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48
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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49
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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50
casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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51
disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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52
hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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53
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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54
analytical
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| adj.分析的；用分析法的 | |
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55
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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56
shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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57
shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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58
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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59
strata
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| n.地层（复数）；社会阶层 | |
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60
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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61
exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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62
vapor
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| n.蒸汽，雾气 | |
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63
fickle
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| adj.(爱情或友谊上)易变的，不坚定的 | |
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64
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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65
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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66
obviate
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| v.除去，排除，避免，预防 | |
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67
authoritative
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| adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的 | |
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68
undoing
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| n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭 | |
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69
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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70
treadmill
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| n.踏车；单调的工作 | |
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71
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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72
monotonously
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| adv.单调地，无变化地 | |
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73
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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74
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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75
folder
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| n.纸夹，文件夹 | |
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76
condescension
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| n.自以为高人一等，贬低(别人) | |
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77
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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78
wrestled
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| v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤 | |
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79
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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80
erred
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| 犯错误，做错事( err的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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81
diligently
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| ad.industriously;carefully | |
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82
discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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83
contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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84
illuminating
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| a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的 | |
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85
craved
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| 渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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86
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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87
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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88
conducive
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| adj.有益的，有助的 | |
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89
systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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90
phlegmatic
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| adj.冷静的，冷淡的，冷漠的，无活力的 | |
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wrestler
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| n.摔角选手，扭 | |
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92
gauge
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| v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器 | |
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93
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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aluminum
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| n.(aluminium)铝 | |
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winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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96
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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97
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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100
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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domesticated
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| adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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102
isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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103
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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104
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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105
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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106
labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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107
colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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108
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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109
coordinate
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| adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调 | |
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mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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111
throbbed
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| 抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动 | |
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112
bovine
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| adj.牛的；n.牛 | |
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113
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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114
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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115
aisles
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| n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊 | |
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116
lockers
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| n.寄物柜( locker的名词复数 ) | |
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117
bunks
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| n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话 | |
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118
sterile
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| adj.不毛的，不孕的，无菌的，枯燥的，贫瘠的 | |
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119
Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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120
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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relatively
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| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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122
specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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123
cowering
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的现在分词 ) | |
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124
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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126
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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127
emboldened
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| v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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128
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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129
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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130
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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131
thigh
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| n.大腿；股骨 | |
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132
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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133
sardonically
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| adv.讽刺地，冷嘲地 | |
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134
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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135
lathe
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| n.车床，陶器，镟床 | |
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136
sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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137
informative
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| adj.提供资料的，增进知识的 | |
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138
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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139
secluded
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| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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140
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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141
athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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142
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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143
intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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144
pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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145
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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146
depicting
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| 描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述 | |
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glimmering
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| n.微光，隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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148
exuberantly
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| adv.兴高采烈地，活跃地，愉快地 | |
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149
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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150
docile
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| adj.驯服的，易控制的，容易教的 | |
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151
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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152
vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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153
dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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154
depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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155
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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156
sanitary
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| adj.卫生方面的，卫生的，清洁的，卫生的 | |
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157
vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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158
physiological
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| adj.生理学的，生理学上的 | |
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159
brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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160
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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161
sustenance
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| n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计 | |
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162
elimination
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| n.排除，消除，消灭 | |
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163
imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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164
culmination
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| n.顶点；最高潮 | |
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165
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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166
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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167
prodigality
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| n.浪费，挥霍 | |
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168
contagious
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| adj.传染性的，有感染力的 | |
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169
naturalists
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| n.博物学家( naturalist的名词复数 )；（文学艺术的）自然主义者 | |
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170
stagnant
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| adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的 | |
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171
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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172
subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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173
lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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174
specialized
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| adj.专门的，专业化的 | |
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