'I have been threatened with Homelessness,' said Kuno.
She looked at him now.
'I have been threatened with Homelessness, and I could not tell you such a thing through the Machine.'
Homelessness means death. The victim is exposed to the air, which kills him.
'I have been outside since I spoke to you last. The tremendous thing has happened, and they have discovered me.'
'But why shouldn't you go outside?' she exclaimed, 'It is perfectly legal, perfectly mechanical, to visit the surface of the earth. I have lately been to a lecture on the sea; there is no objection to that; one simply summons a respirator and gets an Egression-permit. It is not the kind of thing that spiritually minded people do, and I begged you not to do it, but there is no legal objection to it.'
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'I did not get an Egression-permit.'
'Then how did you get out?'
'I found out a way of my own.'
The phrase conveyed no meaning to her, and he had to repeat it.
'A way of your own?' she whispered. 'But that would be wrong.'
'Why?'
The question shocked her beyond measure.
'You are beginning to worship the Machine,' he said coldly. 'You think it irreligious of me to have found out a way of my own. It was just what the Committee thought, when they threatened me with Homelessness.'
At this she grew angry. 'I worship nothing!' she cried.
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