Limes inferior
Janusz Zajdel
 The hero, Adi Cherryson, also known as Sneer (named after one of Zajdel's fellow science fiction writers Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg), is a lifter who "helps" people cheat during the computer controlled IQ exams by giving them the correct answers through a micro-radio communicator or taking the exam for them. Sneer, who is officially only a level 4, could easily become the top level 0, but he prefers his medium level which doesn't attract much attention. In addition to lifters a whole gallery of black market figures is presented - there are downers (who use their low IQ to provide realistic 'stupid' answers for those who want to keep their class artificially low like Sneer), chameleons (black market point dealers), key-makers (providing all sorts of illegal, special purpose Keys). The story starts when Sneer is questioned by an undercover police agent on the street and unintentionally reveals his intelligence by his answers (or so Sneer thinks). As a result a few hours later his Key is locked and he is told to report to a testing station for an IQ test. Knowing that in such situation "electro-hipnosis" is used to prevent subjects from hiding their true intelligence he solicits help of a "downer". He finds a suitable specialist through another "lifter" - Karl Pron. He goes to the testing station with the "downer", who takes his Key and goes inside leaving Sneer waiting outside. A few minutes later Sneer sees the "downer" arrested. Without his Key he faces the reality of not having a shelter and being able to even find anything to eat without points. Wandering through the city he sees some of the misery of life in Agroland he didn't notice before. Finally, he meets mysterious Alice who gives him shelter and some mysterious clues about a singer and a song about the lake Tibigan. In the morning he meets the "downer" and learns how he secured his release through a ruse - he reported Sneer's Key as found on the street. Sneer goes to the central Police station and retrieves his Key, but the experience makes him uncomfortable and he starts to look at his world in a different way. He visits his parents and an old friend, a doctor, revealing to the reader the history of this world and some further facts about it. He also tries to listen to the song Alice told him about and discovers that theoretical freedom of press is in fact a fiction as some songs etc. can be prohibited. Meanwhile Sneer is hired by a government official (a 'zero') to monitor the scientific lab dealing with Keys - The Key Institute. Working undercover as a doorman Sneer discovers to his amazement that the Key Institute that should know everything about the Keys having designed them is in fact studying them as if they were an alien object. Meanwhile his "lifter" friend Karl Pron tests a new counterfeited Key, which gives the owner an unlimited amount of points. This Key was ordered by the group of '0's - who in fact work in the lab on which Sneer is now spying upon. When Sneer obtains the super Key he is taken to the meeting with top officials of the local government - where he learns that the social system of 'Argoland' is in fact an experiment imposed upon the humanity by the Aliens. The 'over-zeroes' form a ruling class, which suppresses dissent fearful of the Aliens but permits all kinds of irregularities which they see as preserving the human nature of people. The end is largely mystical but it suggests that with the help of Alice Sneer succeeds in saving the humanity, though it is not clear exactly how he achieves that.