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Table of Contents
Copyright Information
Copyright © 1974 by Mack Reynolds.
All rights reserved.
*
Published by Wildside Press, LLC.
www.wildsidepress.com
Books by Mack Reynolds
THE BAT HARDIN SERIES
Commune 2000 AD
The Towers of Utopia
Rolltown
THE HOMER CRAWFORD SERIES
Black Man’s Burden
Border, Breed nor Birth
The Best Ye Breed
THE JOE MAUSER SERIES
Mercenary from Tomorrow
The Earth War
The Fracas Factor
Time Gladiator
Joe Mauser: Mercenary from Tomorrow (with Michael A. Banks)
THE JULIAN WEST SERIES
Looking Backward from the Year 2000
Equality in the Year 2000
THE LAGRANGE SERIES
Lagrange Five
The Lagrangists (with Dean Ing)
Chaos in Lagrangia
Trojan Orbit (with Dean Ing)
THE UNITED PLANETS SERIES
Planetary Agent X
Dawnman Planet
The Rival Rigelians
Code Duello
Amazon Planet
OTHER BOOKS
Ability Quotient
After Some Tomorrow
After Utopia
Brain World
Computer War
Computer World
Day After Tomorrow
Depression or Bust
Galactic Medal of Honour
Of Godlike Power (aka Earth Unaware)
Perchance to Dream
Police Patrol: 2000AD
Satellite City
Section G: United Planets
Space Pioneer
Space Search
Space Visitor
The Computer Conspiracy
The Cosmic Eye
The Five-way Secret Agent
The Space Barbarians
Tomorrow Might be Different
Trample an Empire Down
Chapter One
When Theodore Swain awoke he didn’t, customarily, open his eyes immediately. He was a vivid dreamer and invariably took a few moments to orient himself. He was, he decided, obviously in his own bed and in his own home. The day before he had spent largely at his studies, to the extent that he had eaten his evening meal in the community restaurant rather than take the time to prepare his own food, which was his wont. He was sleeping nude, which brought back to him the balance of the previous evening, after having finished dinner.
Nora, or was her name Norma?
He opened his eyes and looked at the pillow next to him.
Her short-cut hair was blond, most likely not naturally, and her eyes were very blue and at the moment were trained on him, an element of mocking there. Her nose was too small but she had perfect ears and a pouting, provocative mouth. The single sheet that covered them both hid her figure, but it came back to him now in a rush. She was a plump, much-curved girl, with possibly the most lush breasts he had ever enjoyed, the nipples so delicately pink that he had at first suspected cosmetics.
Ted said, “Good morning.”
She ignored that, brought forth bare arms and stretched languidly. She looked at him, grinned a cat grin and said, accusingly, “Where did you learn that last position you talked me into? It was wizard, once you got onto the hang, but where’d you learn it?”
He said, “You’ll never believe this, but actually it’s depicted on the wall of a Mayan temple in Bonampak, in southern Mexico.”
She said, remembering lasciviously, “It’s the first time I ever did it standing up. Jim used to tell me I was going to get calluses on my ass from lying on my back so much.”
Ted laughed. In actuality, he had always rather dreaded the morning after the lay before. What was the old wheeze? Before, you’d drink your coffee out of it, and afterwards you wouldn’t spit in it. However, he had always forced himself to rise to the occasion.
He said, “That same Mayan position, by the way, is also depicted in stone carvings on the Hindu temple