Records 19-23 Summary

The appointed time for another meeting arrives on the same day as Integral's motor is first test fired. A dozen loafing workers are vaporized, but this does not disturb the rhythm of work; they are 0.000001% of the population—infinitesimal. What the ancients consider a pity is to moderns absurd. At 16:00, D-503 skips the supplementary walk. A man with a forehead like a slanting awning delivers an envelope, specifies that "she" wants everything done per her note without fail, and leaves. A perfumed pink check and a tiny note fall out: lower the curtains as though she were there; she is sorry. D-503 destroys the note, keeps the check, and wonders. He wishes he had another doctor's certificate so he could walk around the Green Wall instead of enduring a two-hour phono-lecture on child production. He daydreams about the Ancient House...