Land Leviathan by Michael Moorcock

Author:Michael Moorcock
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, General, Alternate Realities, Steampunk
ISBN: 9780583131025
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Published: 1974-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

7. A LEGEND IN THE FLESH

A peaceful year passed in Bantustan - peaceful for us, that is, for reports continued to reach us of the ever-increasing conquests of the Black Attila. We learned that he had raised his flag over the ruins of London and left a token force there, but had met with no real resistance and seemed, as we had guessed, content (as the Romans had once been before him) to claim the British Isles as part of his new Empire without, at this moment in time, making any particular claims upon the country. Our friends in the Outer Hebrides would be safe for at least a while longer. Our most strenuous duties were to take part in occasional naval manoeuvres, or to escort cargo ships along the coasts of Africa. These ships were crewed entirely by Negroes and we rarely had sight of land, for it was regarded as politic for whites not to reveal themselves, even though Hood knew that they were not discriminated against in Bantustan.

We had a great deal of leisure and spent it exploring President Gandhi's magnificent country. Great game reserves had been made of the wild veldt and jungle and silent airboats carried one over them so that one could observe all kinds of wildlife in its natural state without disturbing it. There was no hunting here, and lions, elephants, zebra, antelope, wildebeest, rhinoceri roamed the land unharmed by Man. I could not help, sometimes, making a comparison with the Garden of Eden, where Man and Beast had lived side by side in harmony. Elsewhere we found model farms and mines, worked entirely by automatic machinery, continuing to add to the wealth of the country and, ultimately, the dignity of its inhabitants. Processing plants - for food as well as minerals -lay close to the coast where the food in particular was being stockpiled. Bantustan had more than enough to serve her own needs and the surplus was being built up or sold at cost to the poorer nations. I had begun to wonder why so much food was being stored in warehouses when President Gandhi called a meeting of a number of his air-and sea-officers and told us of a plan he had had for some time.

'All over the world there are people reduced to the level of savage beasts,' he said. 'They are brutes, but it is no fault of their own. They are brutes because they are hungry and because they live in fear.

Therefore, over the last few years I have been putting aside a certain percentage of our food and also medical supplies - serums which my chemists have developed to cope with the various plagues still lingering in Europe and parts of Asia. You all know the function of your fleets is chiefly to give Bantustan security, but it has seemed a shame to waste so much potential, and now I will tell you of my dream.'

He paused, giving us all that rather shy, winning smile for which he was famous.

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