Explore "In Caverns Below" by Stanton A. Coblentz on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Now that I had swallowed the Oath and become a full-fledged citizen, my life took a sharp turn -- though whether for the better, I could hardly say. As a free man, I was permitted to wander unescorted through many of the streets and side-galleries; yet it seemed to me that I had really less freedom than when confined in the Professor's home. I was now officially on the Government books, being known as Citizen No. 44,667,023 XZ, Third Class; I had had my photograph taken and filed with the War Department, my physical measurements recorded and filed with the Police Department, and my toe-prints registered and filed with both the War and the Police Departments. Worst of all, I was now to receive a visit from a sub-agent of the Ministry of Public Unemployment.
This event occurred on the fifth day -- or the fifth "wake" -- after I had swallowed the Oath. I well remember the occasion; I had been practicing writing the native language, under the tutorage of Loa; and having noticed a light of warning fondness in her salmon eyes, I was desiring some tactful way of escape. when I was startled by the entrance of Moa, who informed me that a visitor wished to see me.