Solar lottery by Philip K. Dick

Author:Philip K. Dick
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction - Science Fiction, High Tech, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Lotteries - Fiction., Space Opera, Lotteries, Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction - General, Games, Adventure, Gambling, General, Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781400030132
Publisher: Vintage Books
Published: 2003-06-10T07:00:00+00:00

Peter Wakeman gulped down a glass of tomato juice, shuddered, and pushed the analysis across the breakfast table to Cartwright. “It really is Preston. It’s no supernatural being from another system.”

Cartwright’s numb fingers played aimlessly with his coffee cup. “I can’t believe it.”

Rita O’Neill touched his arm. “That’s what he meant in the book. He planned to be there to guide us. The Voices.”

Wakeman was deep in thought. “What interests me is something else. A few minutes before our call reached the Information Library, another call was received for an identical analysis.”

Cartwright sat up with a jerk. “What does it mean?”

“I don’t know. They claim aud and vid tapes were shot to them for analysis, substantially the same material we sent over. But they don’t know who it was from.”

“Can’t you tell anything?” Rita O’Neill asked uneasily.

“First of all, they actually know who sent in the prior informational request. But they’re not telling. That gives me plenty to think about right there. I’m toying with the idea of sending a few Corpsmen over to scan the officials who had access to the face-to-face request.”

Cartwright waved his hand impatiently. “Forget that. We have more important things to worry about. Any news on Pellig?”

Wakeman looked surprised. “Only that he’s supposed to have left the Farben Hill.”

Cartwright’s face twitched. “You haven’t been able to make contact?”

Rita’s hand gripped soothingly around his. “They’ll make contact when he enters the protected zone. He’s still outside.”

“For God’s sake, can’t you go out and get him? Are you just going to sit there and wait for him?” Cartwright shook his head wearily. “Sorry, Wakeman. I know we’ve gone over this a thousand times.”

Wakeman was embarrassed, but not for himself so much. He was embarrassed for Leon Cartwright. In the few days since Cartwright had become Quizmaster there had been a corrosive change in him. Cartwright sat twitching and fumbling at his coffee cup, a hunched, aged, and very frightened man. His face was dark and lined with fatigue. His pale blue eyes glinted with apprehension. Again and again he started to speak, then changed his mind and descended into a cloud of silence.

“Cartwright,” Wakeman said softly, “you’re in bad shape.”

Cartwright glared at him. “A man’s coming here to kill me, publicly and in broad daylight, with the whole-hearted approval of the system. Everybody in the world’s sitting and cheering him, propped up in front of their tv sets, watching and waiting for the results. The winner of this … national sport. How the hell am I supposed to feel?”

“It’s only one man,” Wakeman said quietly. “He has no more power than you. In fact, you’ve got the whole Corps behind you, and all the resources of the Directorate.”

“If we get him, there’ll be another. An endless stream of them.”

“Each Quizmaster has had to face this.” Wakeman raised an eyebrow. “I thought all you wanted was to stay alive until your ship was safe.”

Cartwright’s gray, exhausted face was answer enough. “I want to stay alive. Is there anything wrong with that?” Cartwright pulled himself up and forced his hands to stay quiet.

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