Planet in Peril by John Christopher Read Free Book Online Page B

child of your age. If you are going to calculate that land of endeavor in terms of profit and loss, then you have failed before you start. No, that is decadence.” “All right,” Charles said. “I see why you would like to put a bomb under it all.”
    Dinkuhl ignored him. “How did things get like this?” He reached for the bottle without pausing and refilled his own glass and—over his gestured protest—Charles'. “In the twentieth century they knew—those of them that could see any further than their noses—that they were heading for a crash. And they got it, of course. They got the lot—atom bombs, hydrogen bombs, breakdown, disease, famine. The world's Dark Age beginning anew.
    “And yet, before they had even had time to attune themselves to the new conditions—while they were still eating each other in order to stay alive and not for any pleasure in the taste of human flesh—the breakdown was over. The incredible was happening, and a new society was rising, lifting itself, as far as they could see, by its own bootstraps.
    “Even though people today have succeeded so well in obliterating the memory of their origins, it is generally remembered that Atomics was the first of the managerials , the resurgent center about which the forces of reconstruction gathered. From Philadelphia the call went out, and across the world, after a brief hesitation, came the response.
    “The fact is that communications had become so good that, short of wiping out every small center of population, civilization was bound to recover. And not even all the large centers were wiped out, though few escaped quite as happily as Philadelphia. Atomics provided the nucleus of the new grouping of society, and the other managerials grew up around them; under their wing. The obvious ones first—United Chemicals, Agriculture, Hydroponics, Lignin Industries, Telecom, Steel, Mining and the rest; and after them the secondaries : Psycho and Med, Genetics Division, Leisure Group, and so on. The Council of Managerials was set up and now, as you know, in theory all managerials are independent and equal and with full sovereign rights. A balance of power.”
    “One thing I’ve never understood,” Charles said. “How did Siraq come to be left out?”
    “The Siraqis had spent centuries clutching the idea of a deity-centered nation. The managerial world had nothing in it they could possibly prefer to the concept of a Blessed Land. They made good use of the interregnum to occupy the Near East, and after that they stayed put.
    “Today their country is cultivated up to the hilt and for the time being they have caught up with their population increase. Now, unless I am badly mistaken, you will see them go ahead.”
    “With the aid and comfort of Channel KF?”
    “That,” said Dinkuhl , “is my problem.” He paused in the act of filling the glasses again. “I had almost forgotten that you had a problem, too. Tell me, what objective precisely have you got in view?”
    “I should like to establish to my own satisfaction that my view of the recent happenings is the right one. More to the point, I should like to find Sara Koupal and ask her to marry me”
    “What’s the situation about leave?”
    “I’ve been to P and M. They’ve given me up to six months’ leave, and a number of containers of mescaline which I tipped down a drain.”
    “What are you doing with the leave—officially?”
    “A trip to the Pacific Islands.”
    “Got die tickets?”
    Charles patted his notecase pocket.
    “Hand them over.” Dinkuhl took the transparent plastic envelope containing the small colored plastic cards. “I know someone who will quite enjoy this trip. I would go myself if I didn’t have something else to do.” He glanced at Charles. “It is important that the tickets should have been used, just in case someone inquires. Now then, we’re ready. First to my place, for a little plastic make-up and then elsewhere.”
    Two hours later, Charles