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exact figure. It varied from year to year, depending on the economic climate of the State and the world as a whole. But it might, for instance, be eight hundred thousand dollars. The figure was carefully calculated by a bank of electronic computors in a secret government department.

The general theory, as Aubretia understood it, was that during a normal lifetime (eighty years, according to the Statistical Division of the Department of Mortic Revnue) a normal citizen should, without undue self-sacrifice, be able to provide eight hundred thousand dollars worth of service or productivity for the benefit of the State. She was, however, rather vague about what would happen if the hypothetical citizen failed to attain her target, or, on the other hand, exceeded it. And it seemed to her that Valinia, whose knowledge of governmental administration was apparently as profound as her grasp of erotic techniques, might be able to clarify some of the more obscure points.

"Valy," she said, jettisoning the magazine, "when you said just now that there isn't any revenue, what exactly did you mean?"

Valinia, who had been watching the video screen in a desultory fashion, collected her thoughts and said, "Perhaps that wasn't quite accurate. Suppose I pay you to do a job for me, do I get any revenue out of it?"

"Well . . . no."

"But you do."

"Yes."

Valinia smiled subtly. "You're wrong, Aubry. If I pay you to do a job, then it is a principle of human labor relations that the job is worth more to me than I pay to you. The revenue comes to me. It isn't in money, but in service. That's the basic principle of mortic revenue, and it's the only kind of revenue that matters in the last analysis. Service and productivity."