Narration: This time a sizable society took shape—three thousand stout citizens in all—and it immediately chose a government for itself by secret ballot and universal suffrage,

Narration: Each of these latest creations of Trurl carried a small homeostat in its head,

Narration: and in each homeostat were two electrodes, one welded to either side, and between them the individual’s free will could play and dance as it pleased; underneath was the positive spring, with a tension far exceeding the pull of the opposite spring, the one bent on destruction and negation but prudently held in check with a safety clip.