Read Wyst: Alastor 1716 for Free Online Page A

desk.”
    Jantiff glanced at the slip in wonder. “Two ozols. Can this
price be correct?”
    “‘The price may not be ‘correct,’” said the attendant. “Still
it’s the price we exact here at the Travelers Inn.”
    A cavernous bathroom was shared by both sexes, personal
modesty having succumbed to egalism. Jantiff diffidently made use of the
facilities, wondering what his mother would say, then thankfully retired to his
chamber.
    In the morning, after Wyst’s short night, Jantiff rose from
his bed to find Dwan already halfway up the sky. Jantiff looked out across the
city in great interest, studying the play of light among the blocks and along
the man-ways. Each of the blocks showed a different color, and, possibly
because Jantiff was bringing to bear an expectant vision, the colors seemed
peculiarly rich and clean, as if they had just been washed.
    Jantiff dressed and, descending to the ground floor, took
advice from the desk clerk as to the location of Block 17882. Giving the
restaurant and its two-ozol breakfast a wide berth, Jantiff set off along the
man-way: a sliding surface thronged with Arrabins, rapid toward the center,
slow at the edges.
    Dwan-light illuminated the city-scape to either side in a manner
Jantiff found entrancing, and his spirits rose.
    The man-way curved westward; the blocks in lines to right
and left marched away to the horizon, dwindling to points. Laterals poured
human streams upon the man-way; Jantiff had never imagined such vast crowds: a
marvelous spectacle in itself! The city Uncibal must be reckoned one of the wonders
of the Gaean universe! Across his course at right angles slid another of the
mighty Arrabin man-rivers: a pair of boulevards flowing in opposite directions.
Jantiff glimpsed rank behind rank of men and women riding with faces curiously
serene.
    The man-way swerved and joined another, larger, man-way.
Jantiff began to watch the overhanging signs which gave warning of lead-offs.
He diverted to a slow neighborhood feeder and presently stepped off in front of
a weathered pink block, two hundred feet square and twenty-three stories high.
Block 17-882, his designated home.
    Jantiff paused to inspect the face of the structure. The surface
paint, peeling off in areas, showed blotches of pink, old rose and pale pink
which gave the block a raffish and restless air, in contrast to its neighbor,
which was painted a supercilious blue. Jantiff found the color congenial and
congratulated himself on the lucky chance of his allotment. Like all the other
blocks, the walls showed no windows, nor any openings except for the entrance.
Over the parapet surrounding the roof hung foliage from the roof garden. Constant
traffic passed in and out of the portal: men, women and a few children in identical
garments, of colors somewhat too garish for Jantiff’s taste, as if the folk
were dressed for a carnival. Their faces likewise were gay; they laughed and
chattered and walked jauntily; Jantiff’s spirits rose to look at them, and his misgivings
began to dwindle.
    Jantiff passed into the lobby and approached the desk. He
presented his requisition to the clerk, a short round-bodied man with gingery
hair arranged in ear-puffs and elaborate love-locks. The round cheerful face instantly
became petulant “My aching bowels! Is it yet another immigrant?”
    “No, indeed,” said Jantiff with dignity. “1 am a visitor.”
    “What’s the odds? You’re one more cup of water in the full
bucket. Why don’t you start an Egalism Society on your own world?”
    Jantiff replied politely: “People aren’t so inclined on
Zeck.”
    “Neither Zeck nor the whole elitist covey! We can’t absorb
their ne’er-do-wells indefinitely. Our machines break down, so what happens
when the sturge stops and there’s no more wump? We’ll all go hungry together.”
    Jantiff’s jaw dropped. “Are there really that many immigrants?”
    “Too true! A thousand each and every week!”
    “But surely some of them