“The doors are good and solid, sir,” said the overseer. “And they sleep like babies, because they are. They had that snoring the whole time they were in the womb, sir.”

“And you don’t really want to sleep in a separate room because of the times she stops breathing.”

“I don’t want her to die, sir,” and he burst into tears again.

“My first decision,” said Rigg, “is that you must go immediately into the room where that spinner is waiting.”

“But she’ll see me like this,” he said.

“I want her to,” said Rigg. “Don’t you see that she’ll think I must have rebuked you severely, to reduce you to tears? That may satisfy her completely, don’t you think? Don’t show her your tears. Try to conceal them. She’ll see. Now go.”

The man got up at once and went through the door that led to the room where the woman was waiting.

“So you start with the illusion of having punished him,” said Ram Odin.

“I don’t have any idea what to do.”

“One thing you’ve done is quite remarkable,” said Ram Odin. “You got to the heart of the matter. The woman is going to feel remorseful for having made the overseer weep. It’s obvious she only complained about his rudeness because the factory is falling apart and she only has a right to complain about how he treats her.”

“I know that,” said Rigg. “This is a terrible system, you know?”

“Because in Ramfold, free workers and free managers are never in a situation where the employees are terrified to complain to the owner about how the manager is doing his job?”

Rigg rolled his eyes. “That’s different.”

“It’s the same,” said Ram Odin, “under different names. They are both owned by the same master. In Ramfold, they would both work for the same employer. But both would be terrified of losing their position.”

“In Ramfold, the owner of the factory can’t divorce a man from his wife because he complains about her snoring.”

“But in Ramfold,” Ram Odin said mildly, “the owner would demand that he explain why he’s sleeping during the hours he’s paying him to work. If he doesn’t fire him out of hand, he’ll demand that the manager find a way to sleep or quit his job. So the manager is right where this overseer is—does he act to protect his wife from her apnea? What good will it do her if he loses his position and can’t get a good recommendation? They’ll lose everything. Out on the street. Disaster. In all likelihood, reduced to poverty and—”

“I get the point. But it still doesn’t help me figure out what to do.”