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Kresh said. The average formal unemployment rate on Inferno is ninety
percent. Only ten percent of the population have a full-time occupation
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for which they receive significant compensation. No one needs to work in order
to live, not with robots taking care of us. But there are people--like those
of us around this table--who need to work for other, psychological, reasons.
Work is what gives people like us satisfaction, or maybe a big part of our
reason for being.
A fair number of the other ninety percent--say half of them--stay just as
busy as we workers do, but are busy with things that might not be considered
jobs. Art, or music, or gardening, or sex. Most-nearly all--of the rest of
the unemployed don t really do much of anything but let the robots take care
of them. Harmless drones. Maybe they amuse themselves by sleeping a lot, or by
shopping, or by watching entertainments or playing games. Maybe they are
vaguely discontented. Maybe they re bored and depressed. Maybe they love each
and every day of life. No one really knows. I wouldn t want to be one of them,
and I don t think much of them--but at least they don t do any harm.
But that leaves us with the leftovers. The ones who have no work they love,
no consuming interest, and no capacity for accepting passive inactivity.
Troublemakers. Mostly male, mostly uneducated, mostly young and restless.
Bissal fits the profile of the people who commit--what is it, Donald--ninety-
five percent?
That is approximately correct, Donald said.
Close enough. People like Bissal commit ninety-five percent of the violent
crime on Inferno. Compared to Settlers, we have very short jail sentences
here, for all but the most serious offenses--and leaving a bored troublemaker
to rot in jail for years didn t seem to make much sense anyway.
So the powers that be remembered a very old saying about idle hands and the
devil s playthings, and passed a law.
The idea is, Devray said, if you re forced to have a job, then there is at
least a hope that you will become interested enough in the work, or at least
be kept busy and made tired enough by it, so you won t be bored and energetic
enough to commit fresh crimes. And it works fairly well. People find out that
doing something is more satisfying and interesting than being bored and angry.
Devray nodded toward the report Donald was reading. It doesn t sound like
it s worked on Bissal, though.
Well, yes and no, unfortunately, Donald said.
What do you mean? Kresh asked. What sort of work did he do when he did
work?
At first he held a number of jobs wherein he seems to have done very little
work at all--not exactly the intent of the Criminal Employment Act.
Most of his jobs seem to have consisted of little more than watching robots do
the actual labor. He seems to have been discharged from a number of these
positions for absenteeism. Then, for a time, he did jobs that entailed
unskilled work unsuitable for a robot.
What the hell sort of work is beneath a robot but suited to a human?
Fredda asked. No offense, Donald, but it seems to me Infernals stick robots
with all sorts of silly, useless demeaning tasks. I can t imagine anything
they wouldn t make a robot do--especially anything that a human would agree to
do.
Your point is well taken. However, there are a number of unskilled or
semi-skilled tasks that are unsuited to robotic labor, mainly because of the
First Law. Certain forms of security work, for example. A guard must be able
to shoot his gun if need be, and a guard that a thief would have no
compunction against shooting would be of limited use.
Other jobs would require robots to be so highly specialized in order to meet
a job situation that comes up so rarely that it is not worth designing and
manufacturing specialized robots for the task. Certain seafaring jobs, such as
deep-sea fishing, for example, entail a small risk of falling
overboard. Robots sink. It is certainly possible to build robots that float
and yet are robust enough to survive salt air and the other hazards of a
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maritime environment, but it is far easier and cheaper to hire a human and
give him or her a life preserver. There are other jobs that would be dangerous
to a robot but entail little or no risk for a human.
Thank you, Donald, we get the point, Kresh said. So what line of work did
Bissal finally settle into?
Mobile security work, Donald said, the note of distaste in his mouth
unmistakable. Armed protection of valuable shipments.
Oh, hell, Kresh said. That s perfect. Absolutely perfect. The one sort of
job we don t like crooks taking on.
Wait a second, Fredda protested. You ve lost me again. What s so bad about
that?
Kresh held up his right hand, his thumb about a centimeter from his index
finger. It s about that far from smuggling and contraband running, he said.
Grieg s appropriation of robots gave us a labor shortage and an illicit labor
source and a need to find a way to pay for the illicit labor, all rolled into
one. Smuggling and contraband are a big part of the means of payment.
Devray turned to Donald. This mobile security work Bissal was doing. I
realize we re still working with very preliminary information, but is there
any likelihood he got mixed up in rustbacking?
There is every likelihood, Donald said. Indeed, it seems he has only worked
for firms on our rustbacking watchlist.
One more time, Fredda said. Sorry, but I just don t know what you re
talking about. What s rustbacking got to do with anything?
You weren t around, Devray said. One of my Rangers picked up a
backer on the east coast of the Great Bay. The rustbacker named a Ranger
involved in the rustback trade. Huthwitz. The Ranger that got killed.
So what?
So rustbacking keeps showing up in this case, Kresh said. And remember
Grieg was considering the idea of get ting rid of the New Law robots.
That would have put the rustbackers out of business. Someone in the business
would have a terrific motive for killing Grieg before he cut into profits.
But wait a second, Fredda said. I think we have to assume that whoever
killed Grieg also killed Huthwitz. Unless we had two killers wandering the
Residence that night.
Pardon, madame, Donald said. One slight correction. I think we have to
assume the two murders are linked, whether or not the same individual carried
them both out. It may be that another member of the same team killed
Huthwitz. There is a great deal of evidence of a conspiracy as it is.
Even so, Fredda said. You re talking about the rustbackers plotting to kill
Grieg before he could be bad for business. But if Huthwitz was on the take
from the backers, why kill him?
Space only knows, Kresh said. Maybe he was about to talk. Maybe he was
demanding too much pay for his silence, and they thought of a way to save some
money. Maybe killing Huthwitz wasn t part of the plan, and Bissal was taking
care of some of his own personal business on company time. If you think one
smuggler wouldn t kill another just because they worked together, forget it.
But just in terms of parsimony, I think that we can at least start with the
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