The Investigator's smile was patronizing. "You say they were always questing—of course they were. Blindly, inefficiently, between their wars. But who benefited, TRH-247? All men? No. A few favored ones. And what were they really searching for on their new horizons?" He thundered the question. "What those favored few had! What is now possible for all of us! Man's real goal, TRH-247, always known but never really understood—freedom! Freedom from the burdens of indebtedness and the necessity to work! Freedom for total leisure and recreation! The freedom which the system of the tax debt and the structure of the Organization has brought within the reach of all men—Freeman status!"
Breathless, the Investigator paused. Hendley felt an urge to protest further, but he was not sure of his ground. He wanted to say that efficiency should not be the only yardstick of achievement. He felt that there might be more to human endeavor than the pursuit of pleasure. He would have deplored the shriveling of a commodity which had no place in the Organization's impersonal, automated world—man's curiosity. But he was confused and uncertain. His growing confusion, in fact, seemed greater than could be accounted for by the Investigator's argument. Hendley had to make an effort to focus his gaze on the older man's face.
The Investigator resumed in a calmer tone. "I realize it's hard to assimilate all of this at once," he said, "and to see it in all its beauty and truth. Emotional reactions often resist reason. But you will be convinced, TRH-247. The first step has been made. Because you've told me the reasons behind your confusion, I think I can now help you. You believe the Organization doesn't know and understand you. You're wrong. The Organization exists for the individual—it has no other purpose. It is your Organization, TRH-247! It doesn't seek to punish or hold you back, only to help you reach your goal. The Merger is no more than another giant step in that direction. If you could understand that, you'd realize how foolish you've been."
Hendley stared at him. Where was all this leading? He didn't see what the historical discussion—or indeed the whole interrogation—had solved other than the Investigator's own immediate problem. He at least had found the answer he wanted—a pattern into which Hendley's rebellion would neatly fit—for which there would be a specific, predictable number of solutions already worked out by the morale computer. Did the Investigators gain special tax debt credits for solving a difficult case? Probably not. In the Architectural Center there were debits for failure but no extra credits for success. Success was simply expected. But when you were a 1-Dayman like the Investigator, the avoidance of any debits would become enormously important.
How simply the system worked! But it had made the Investigator too anxious to discover an unusual case for his record. And too eager to find an orthodox interpretation.
"I'm going to make a recommendation in your case, TRH-247," the big man said gravely. "You understand, it is only a recommendation, but I believe it will be accepted. Because of the far-reaching implications of the Merger, and its manifest importance for all mankind, the Organization is prepared to deal very generously with emotional disturbances which have occurred as a result."
"I see," Hendley said, not understanding at all. Why was he finding it so difficult to concentrate?
"Now," the Investigator said, with the air of a parent about to produce an unexpected tidbit. "That newsview you went to see this afternoon—it was about a Freeman Camp, wasn't it?"
"Well—yes," Hendley said, puzzled by the abrupt change of subject.
"You've always wished that you could see inside a Freeman Camp, haven't you? Don't be embarrassed. It's a natural wish."