and, even more, the baring of legs, were thought to demean her personness, which was apparently regarded by many as being incompatible with having a body, or, at least, an interesting, attractive one. The porter, for we shall speak of him as that, as he passed her, paid her no attention. Brenner noticed that the woman was barefoot, as had been the woman with whom he had so inadvertently and unfortunately collided earlier in the day, she who had been so angry. But about the ankle of this woman, the left ankle, was a small, sturdy chain, doubtless a decoration of some sort. She had apparently fastened this on herself with some sort of short, thick, cylindrical lock. Completing the decoration, about an inch in diameter, was a small, flat, circular metal disk, itself fastened into one of the links. This unpretentious little getup at the ankle seemed to Brenner an unusual sort of ornament, particularly in its plainness and sturdiness, but he did admit it was attractive.
It disturbed Brenner, of course, that the woman should be seen in the company of such tools and implements.
The door to the room was ajar and the porter thrust it open with his foot, that Brenner and Rodriguez might enter. In the room were two more women who, looking up, as they entered, and then looking down, quickly completed their work, turning down the second of the two beds in the room. Something in the attitude of the women had suggested to Brenner that they might be frightened of the porter. The porter put their bags inside the room. The two women now hurried out, one of them glancing over her shoulder at Brenner as she left. The porter had not acknowledged their presence. They were dressed the same as the woman he had encountered in the hall, and so he came to understand that their dresses were, in effect, a sort of livery or uniform. Both, too, as had the woman in the hall, had worn the tiny decorations on their left ankle, the sturdy little chain, with its lock, and disk. As one of them had left Brenner had heard a tiny, metallic click, presumably that of her disk, or its fastening, interacting with the chain.
Brenner looked after them.
“Maids,” explained Rodriguez.
“Maids?” said Brenner.
“Yes,” said Rodriguez.
This, too, upset Brenner, as such work had been outlawed for women on the home world, where it was regarded, in its servility, and meniality, as demeaning. Such work, on the home world, was now done by men.
“I do not understand,” said Brenner.
“This is Company Station,” said Rodriguez, by way of explanation.
“But they are women,” said Brenner.
“It is fit work for them,” said Rodriguez.
“Surely you are joking,” said Brenner.
“Not at all,” said Rodriguez. “Let them get down on their knees and scrub floors, let them dust and clean, and sweep, and cook, and launder, and sew. Such servile tasks are fit for them.”
“I cannot believe what I am hearing,” said Brenner.
“I am not a politician,” said Rodriguez. “I am an anthropologist.”
Most positions of importance and authority on the home world, as far as Brenner knew, were now occupied by women. There were many explanations for this, such as the remote successes of various militancies and activisms, numerous discoveries of rights, countless stunning advances in social, political, and economic justice, landmark decisions by judiciaries, reformations in education, institutionalization of much-needed public conditioning programs, media control, censorship, the domination of major political parties, and the eventual control of all significant political processes, at least on the surface. Further, as every schoolchild knew, the natural superiority of women, and their right to rule, and be dominant, had been demonstrated scientifically in a number of ways, for example, by means of carefully conducted experiments, as a consequence of numerous tests of various design, and by open, objectively conducted public-opinion polls. Interestingly enough, in spite of an apparent control of power on the home world it was rumored that many men remained in positions of power in the metaparty, if it existed, and, indeed, interestingly, that certain women in the metaparty served these men in secret, much as might slaves masters. He knew a number of highly placed women. He wondered if some of them, in secret, had their masters. Then he dismissed such a horrid thought. There were some reservations about the scientific aspects of matters, of course, such as the difficulty of replicating certain crucial experiments, of which little more than the purported consequences were published, difficulties connected primarily with