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Wyst: Alastor 1716
Alastor, Book 3
Jack Vance
1978

Fixed spacing, text boxes, footnotes. Spell-checked. Read 15-end.


SOME CALLED IT UTOPIA
“Arrabus is the beating heart of Wyst. Despite rumor to the contrary, Arrabus func-tions; Arrabus is
real; Arrabus, in fact, is an amazing experience. Whoever doubts can come to Wyst and learn for himself.
Immigrants are no longer welcome additions to the over-crowded social facilities; still, anyone with a
sufficiently thick skin can participate either temporarily or permanently in a fantastic social experiment,
where food and shelter, like air, are considered the natural right of all men.
“The newcomer will find himself suddenly relieved of anxieties. He works two brief periods of
‘drudge’ each week, with another two hours of ‘maintenance’ at the block where he resides. He will find
himself immediately caught up in a society dedicated to self-fulfillment, pleasure and frivolity. He will
dance, sing, gossip, engage in countless love affairs, endlessly ride the ‘man-rivers’ to no special
destination, and waste hours in that obsessive occupation of the Arrabins, people-watching ....
“Every visitor to Wyst expects shocks and surprises, but never can he prepare himself for the sheer
bogglement inflicted upon him by reality!”
—from the confidential files of the Connatic.



Chapter 1
Alastor Cluster, a node of thirty thousand live stars, uncounted dead hulks and vast quantities of
interstellar detri-tus, clung to the inner rim of the galaxy with the Unfortunate Waste before, the Nonestic
Gulf beyond and the Gaean Reach a sparkling haze to the side. For the space traveler, no matter which
his angle of approach, a remarkable spectacle was presented: constellations blazing white, blue and red;
curtains of luminous stuff, broken here, obscured there by black storms of dust; star streams wandering in
and out; whorls and spatters of phosphorescent gas.
Should Alastor Cluster be considered a segment of the Gaean Reach? The folk of the Cluster seldom
reflected upon the matter, and indeed considered themselves neither Gaean nor Alastrid. The typical
inhabitant, when asked about his origin, might perhaps cite his native world or, more usually, his local
district, as if this place were so extraordinary, so special and widely famed that its reputation hung on
every tongue of the galaxy.
Parochialism dissolved before the glory of the Connatic who ruled Alastor Cluster from his palace
Lusz on the world Numenes: a structure famed across the human universe. Five pylons veered up from
five islets to a groined arch a thousand feet above the ocean, supporting first a series of promenade
decks; then a bank of administrative offices, ceremonial halls and the core of the Alastrid
Communications System; then the Ring of Worlds; then further offices and residential suites for
distinguished visitors; and finally, ten thousand feet above the ocean, the Connatic’s private quarters. The
highest pinna-cle penetrated the clouds, sometimes piercing through to the upper sky. When sunlight
glistened on its iridescent surfaces Lusz was a wonderful sight, and often considered the most inspiring
artifact yet created by the human race.
Aloft in his eyrie, the Connatic lived without formality. For public appearances he arrayed himself in a
severe black uniform and a black casque, in order to project an image of austerity, vigilance and inflexible
authority: so he was known to his subjects. On more casual occasions—alone in his eyrie, as a high
official on the Connatic’s service, as an anonymous wanderer in the odd corners of the Cluster—he