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But
at
the
time
the
Federation
Ship
Champion
returned
to
Terra
from
Mars
,
the
"
flapper
system
"
had
been
expanding
for
more
than
a
century
and
had
reached
a
stage
of
great
intricacy
,
with
many
persons
employed
solely
in
carrying
out
its
rituals
.
The
importance
of
a
public
personage
could
be
estimated
by
the
number
of
layers
of
flappers
cutting
him
off
from
ready
congress
with
the
plebian
mob
.
They
were
not
called
"
flappers
,
"
but
were
known
as
executive
assistants
,
private
secretaries
,
secretaries
to
private
secretaries
,
press
secretaries
,
receptionists
,
appointment
clerks
,
et
cetera
.
In
fact
the
titles
could
be
anything
–
or
(
with
some
of
the
most
puissant
)
no
title
at
all
,
but
they
could
all
be
identified
as
"
flappers
"
by
function
:
each
one
held
arbitrary
and
concatenative
veto
over
any
attempted
communication
from
the
outside
world
to
the
Great
Man
who
was
the
nominal
superior
of
the
flapper
.
This
web
of
intermediary
officials
surrounding
every
V
.
I
.
P
.
naturally
caused
to
grow
up
a
class
of
unofficials
whose
function
it
was
to
flap
the
ear
of
the
Great
Man
without
permission
from
the
official
flappers
,
doing
so
(
usually
)
on
social
or
pseudo
-
social
occasions
or
(
with
the
most
successful
)
via
back
-
door
privileged
access
or
unlisted
telephone
number
.
These
unofficials
usually
had
no
formal
titles
but
were
called
a
variety
of
names
:
"
golfing
companion
,
"
"
kitchen
cabinet
,
"
"
lobbyist
,
"
"
elder
statesman
,
"
"
five
-
percenter
,
"
and
so
forth
.
They
existed
in
benign
symbiosis
with
the
official
barricade
of
flappers
,
since
it
was
recognized
almost
universally
that
the
tighter
the
system
the
more
need
for
a
safety
valve
.
The
most
successful
of
the
unofficials
often
grew
webs
of
flappers
of
their
own
,
until
they
were
almost
as
hard
to
reach
as
the
Great
Man
whose
unofficial
contacts
they
were
?
in
which
case
secondary
unofficials
sprang
up
to
circumvent
the
flappers
of
the
primary
unofficial
.
With
a
personage
of
foremost
importance
,
such
as
the
Secretary
General
of
the
World
Federation
of
Free
States
,
the
maze
of
by
-
passes
through
unofficials
would
be
as
formidable
as
were
the
official
phalanges
of
flappers
surrounding
a
person
merely
very
important
.
Some
Terran
students
have
suggested
that
the
Laputians
must
have
been
,
in
fact
,
visiting
Martians
,
citing
not
only
their
very
unworldly
obsession
with
the
contemplative
life
but
also
two
concrete
matters
:
the
Laputians
were
alleged
to
have
known
about
Mars
’
two
moons
at
least
a
century
and
half
before
they
were
observed
by
Terran
astronomers
,
and
,
secondly
,
Laputa
itself
was
described
in
size
and
shape
and
propulsion
such
that
the
only
English
term
that
fits
is
"
flying
saucer
.
"
But
that
theory
will
not
wash
,
as
the
flapper
system
,
basic
to
Laputian
society
,
was
unknown
on
Mars
.
The
Martian
Old
Ones
,
not
hampered
by
bodies
subject
to
space
-
time
,
would
have
had
as
little
use
for
flappers
as
a
snake
has
for
shoes
.
Martians
still
corporate
conceivably
could
use
flappers
but
did
not
;
the
very
concept
ran
contrary
to
their
way
of
living
.
A
Martian
having
need
of
a
few
minutes
or
years
of
contemplation
simply
took
it
.
If
another
Martian
wished
to
speak
with
him
,
this
friend
would
simply
wait
,
as
long
as
necessary
.
With
all
eternity
to
draw
on
there
could
be
no
reason
for
hurrying
–
in
fact
"
hurry
"
was
not
a
concept
that
could
be
symbolized
in
the
Martian
language
and
therefore
must
be
presumed
to
be
unthinkable
.
Speed
,
velocity
,
simultaneity
,
acceleration
,
and
other
mathematical
abstractions
having
to
do
with
the
pattern
of
eternity
were
part
of
Martian
mathematics
,
but
not
of
Martian
emotion
,
contrariwise
,
the
unceasing
rush
and
turmoil
of
human
existence
came
not
from
mathematical
necessities
of
time
but
from
the
frantic
urgency
implicit
in
human
sexual
bipolarity
.
Dr
.
Jubal
Harshaw
,
professional
clown
,
amateur
subversive
,
and
parasite
by
choice
,
had
long
attempted
to
eliminate
"
hurry
"
and
all
related
emotions
from
his
pattern
.
Being
aware
that
he
had
but
a
short
time
left
to
live
and
having
neither
Martian
nor
Kansan
faith
in
his
own
immortality
,
it
was
his
purpose
to
live
each
golden
moment
as
if
it
were
eternity
–
without
fear
,
without
hope
,
but
with
sybaritic
gusto
.
To
this
end
he
found
that
he
required
something
larger
than
Diogenes
’
tub
but
smaller
than
Kubla
’
s
pleasure
dome
and
its
twice
five
miles
of
fertile
ground
with
walls
and
towers
girdled
round
;
his
was
a
simple
little
place
,
a
few
acres
kept
private
with
an
electrified
fence
,
a
house
of
fourteen
rooms
or
so
,
with
running
secretaries
laid
on
and
all
other
modern
conveniences
.
To
support
his
austerely
upholstered
nest
and
its
rabble
staff
he
put
forth
minimum
effort
for
maximum
return
simply
because
it
was
easier
to
be
rich
than
to
be
poor
–
Harshaw
merely
wished
to
live
exactly
as
he
liked
,
doing
whatever
he
thought
was
best
for
him
.
In
consequence
he
felt
honestly
aggrieved
that
circumstances
had
forced
on
him
a
necessity
for
hurry
and
would
not
admit
that
he
was
enjoying
himself
more
than
he
had
in
years
.
