The Philip K. Dick Megapack by Philip K Dick Read Free Book Online Page A

the station link of the Tube and leaped out. A moment later they were moving up at high speed toward the first stage.
    They emerged into a bewildering scene of activity. Soldiers were fastening on lead suits, talking excitedly to each other, shouting back and forth. Guns were being given out, instructions passed.
    Taylor studied one of the soldiers. He was armed with the dreaded Bender pistol, the new snub-nosed hand weapon that was just beginning to come from the assembly line. Some of the soldiers looked a little frightened.
    “I hope we’re not making a mistake,” Moss said, noticing his gaze.
    Franks came toward them. “Here’s the program. The three of us are going up first, alone. The soldiers will follow in fifteen minutes.”
    “What are we going to tell the leadys?” Taylor worriedly asked. “We’ll have to tell them something.”
    “We want to observe the new Soviet attack.” Franks smiled ironically. “Since it seems to be so serious, we should be there in person to witness it.”
    “And then what?” Taylor said.
    “That’ll be up to them. Let’s go.”
    * * * *
    In a small car, they went swiftly up the Tube, carried by anti-grav beams from below. Taylor glanced down from time to time. It was a long way back, and getting longer each moment. He sweated nervously inside his suit, gripping his Bender pistol with inexpert fingers.
    Why had they chosen him? Chance, pure chance. Moss had asked him to come along as a Department member. Then Franks had picked him out on the spur of the moment. And now they were rushing toward the surface, faster and faster.
    A deep fear, instilled in him for eight years, throbbed in his mind. Radiation, certain death, a world blasted and lethal—
    Up and up the car went. Taylor gripped the sides and closed his eyes. Each moment they were closer, the first living creatures to go above the first stage, up the Tube past the lead and rock, up to the surface. The phobic horror shook him in waves. It was death; they all knew that. Hadn’t they seen it in the films a thousand times? The cities, the sleet coming down, the rolling clouds—
    “It won’t be much longer,” Franks said. “We’re almost there. The surface tower is not expecting us. I gave orders that no signal was to be sent.”
    The car shot up, rushing furiously. Taylor’s head spun; he hung on, his eyes shut. Up and up.…
    The car stopped. He opened his eyes.
    They were in a vast room, fluorescent-lit, a cavern filled with equipment and machinery, endless mounds of material piled in row after row. Among the stacks, leadys were working silently, pushing trucks and handcarts.
    “Leadys,” Moss said. His face was pale. “Then we’re really on the surface.”
    The leadys were going back and forth with equipment moving the vast stores of guns and spare parts, ammunition and supplies that had been brought to the surface. And this was the receiving station for only one Tube; there were many others, scattered throughout the continent.
    Taylor looked nervously around him. They were really there, above ground, on the surface. This was where the war was.
    “Come on,” Franks said. “A B-class guard is coming our way.”
    * * * *
    They stepped out of the car. A leady was approaching them rapidly. It coasted up in front of them and stopped, scanning them with its hand-weapon raised.
    “This is Security,” Franks said. “Have an A-class sent to me at once.”
    The leady hesitated. Other B-class guards were coming, scooting across the floor, alert and alarmed. Moss peered around.
    “Obey!” Franks said in a loud, commanding voice. “You’ve been ordered!”
    The leady moved uncertainly away from them. At the end of the building, a door slid back. Two A-class leadys appeared, coming slowly toward them. Each had a green stripe across its front.
    “From the Surface Council,” Franks whispered tensely. “This is above ground, all right. Get set.”
    The two leadys approached warily. Without speaking, they