Chapter 11: A Colonial Labor Administrator, Line 189

He arrived at the Bureau at 0601.

The corridor from his residential annex to Level Nine ran two hundred and fourteen meters. He had counted it once, in the first week, and then not again. This morning he counted again without deciding to. The number was the same.

His workstation was as he had left it. The four-tier classification chart, laminated, in the top corner. The PVB Procedural Standards binder with the binding slightly compressed where he had carried it. The terminal's standby indicator blinking at its established interval. He logged in with his designation and waited the standard four seconds for the authentication confirmation, and then the queue loaded, and there was work.