The Fellowship of the Hand by Edward D. Hoch Read Free Book Online Page A

it. They have assembled the largest network of computers in the nation—far more than those we destroyed at the Federal Medical Center—and into these computers they have fed every available fact and statistic on American life and history. One whole memory bank is given over to the stock market, another to elections, a third to foreign policy, and so forth. These computers, by weighing past performance against present conditions, will regulate every aspect of our lives.”
    “But why? To what purpose?”
    “The men behind this—wealthy and powerful in their own right—believe such a computerized government is the only way to preserve our American way of life. You see, the computers will elect new presidents, and regulate the stock market’s ups and downs, and even write treaties with other nations—but all this will be within the limits pre-programmed into the machine, limits carefully established by the past. The super-government wants us merely to relive that past—with only minor computerized variations to make it interesting.”
    “You can’t be serious!” Jazine said. “The people would never stand for such a thing!”
    “Wouldn’t they? The supporters of the super-government could be quite articulate in pointing out its advantages—a balanced budget every year, an equitable sharing of the tax burden, an end to any lingering racial discrimination, no more recessions, no more inflation. Everything would be regulated by the computers. Best of all, from their standpoint, it would insure the American way of life for all time. There would be no chance for communism or any other ism to ever gain a foothold here.”
    “What about free will?”
    Euler Frost edged his car back onto the main road. “It would still operate within certain narrow limits. Only the dangerous highs and lows would be eliminated from human activity. You can see how such a system would immediately benefit those of its backers who are industrialists. Take the electric auto, for instance. The computers would determine that buyers were returning to a cycle of red cars, and the manufacturers would turn out seventy percent of their cars in red. Buyers would have no choice but to conform to the prediction. Likewise hologram films and video cassettes and a million other products could be assured of maximum sales by marketing them in compliance with computer predictions.”
    “And the men behind this scheme?”
    “Two of them—the two most prominent—are the ones whose names you found in that election computer. Jason Blunt and Stanley Ambrose. They have organized a company called Nova Industries as a front for their activities.”
    Earl Jazine nodded. “Now suppose you tell me how you know all this, and how you were on the scene to follow me tonight.”
    They had entered the traffic web leading back to Sunsite, and Euler Frost set his car on automatic control. He was not above letting the computers do some work for him on occasion. “Our people—the HAND people—have been onto this group for some time. Axman had developed the first leads before he got sent to prison, and I simply followed through. With the aid of an informer I learned that the group was planning their secret election one month ahead of the real one. They felt that with a shadow of government of sorts standing by, public acceptance of the real government’s overthrow would be that much easier. Luckily, our informer was able to tell me the location of the central election headquarters, and the fact that the candidates were Blunt and Ambrose.”
    “Has this secret election already been held?”
    Euler Frost glanced at him, wondering just how much Jazine really knew about it. “I think so,” he replied, “and I need to know who won. It makes a difference to our strategy whether the winner was Blunt or Ambrose. They’re different men, with different goals. Axman never viewed Nova as a major threat, but I’m not making the same mistake.”
    “What do you need my help