The Book of Philip K Dick (1973)

The Book of Philip K Dick (1973) by Philip K. Dick Read Free Book Online Page B

Book: The Book of Philip K Dick (1973) by Philip K. Dick Read Free Book Online
Authors: Philip K. Dick
Tags: Philip K Dick
Arm for you—under my protection, of course. Jangled means out of harmony with the cosmic elements. How can you live this way? My dear, you’ll have to be brought back in line with the divine plan!”
    “What plan is that?” She led him into a warm living room; a crackling fire burned in the grate. Two or three men sat around a rough wood table, an old man with long white hair and two younger men. A frail, withered old woman sat dozing in a rocker in the corner. In the kitchen, a buxom young woman was fixing the evening meal.
    “Why, the plan!” Sung-wu answered, astounded. His eyes darted around. Suddenly his briefcase fell to the floor. “Caucs,” he said.
    They were all Caucasians, even Frija. She was deeply tanned; her skin was almost black; but she was a Cauc, nonetheless. He recalled: Caucs, in the sun, turned dark, sometimes even darker than Mongolians. The girl had tossed her work robe over a door hook; in her household shorts her thighs were as white as milk. And the old man and woman—
    “This is my grandfather,” Frija said, indicating the old man. “Benjamin Tinker.”
    Under the watchful eyes of the two younger Tinkers, Sung-wu was washed and scrubbed, given clean clothes, and then fed. He ate only a little; he didn’t feel very well.
    “I can’t understand it,” he muttered, as he listlessly pushed his plate away. “The scanner at the Central Chamber said I had eight months left. The plague will—” He considered. “But it can always change. The scanner goes on prediction, not certainty; multiple possibilities; free will…. Any overt act of sufficient significance—”
    Ben Tinker laughed. “You want to stay alive?”
    “Of course!” Sung-wu muttered indignantly.
    They all laughed—even Frija, and the old woman in her shawl, snow-white hair and mild blue eyes. They were the first Cauc women he had ever seen. They weren’t big and lumbering like the male Caucs; they didn’t seem to have the same bestial characteristics. The two young Cauc bucks looked plenty tough, though; they and their father were poring over an elaborate series of papers and reports, spread out on the dinner table, among the empty plates.
    “This area,” Ben Tinker murmured. “Pipes should go here. And here. Water’s the main need. Before the next crop goes in, we’ll dump a few hundred pounds of artificial fertilizers and plow it in. The power plows should be ready, then.”
    “After that?” one of the tow-headed sons asked.
    ‘Then spraying. If we don’t have the nicotine sprays, we’ll have to try the copper dusting again. I prefer the spray, but we’re still behind on production. The bore has dug us up some good storage caverns, though. It ought to start picking up.”
    “And here,” a son said, “there’s going to be need of draining. A lot of mosquito breeding going on. We can try the oil, as we did over here. But I suggest the whole thing be filled in. We can use the dredge and scoop, if they’re not tied up.”
    Sung-wu had taken this all in. Now he rose unsteadily to his feet, trembling with wrath. He pointed a shaking finger at the elder Tinker.
    “You’re—meddling!” he gasped.
    They looked up. “Meddling?”
    “With the plan! With the cosmic plan! Good Elron— you’re interfering with the divine processes. Why—” He was staggered by a realization so alien it convulsed the very core of his being. “You’re actually going to set back turns of the wheel.”
    “That,” said old Ben Tinker, “is right.”
    Sung-wu sat down again, stunned. His mind refused to take it all in. “I don’t understand; what’ll happen? If you slow the wheel, if you disrupt the divine plan—”
    “He’s going to be a problem,” Ben Tinker murmured thoughtfully. “If we kill him, the Arm will merely send another; they have hundreds like him. And if we don’t kill him, if we send him back, he’ll raise a hue and cry that’ll bring the whole Chamber down here. It’s too soon for this to

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