"Mack Reynolds - Deathwish World" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reynolds Mack)

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and
resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
Copyright ┬й 1986 by The Literary Estate of Mack Reynolds
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises 260 Fifth Avenue New York, N.Y. 10001
First printing, February 1986
ISBN: 0-671-65552-3
Cover art by Wayne Barlowe
Printed in the United States of America
Distributed by SIMON & SCHUSTER TRADE PUBLISHING GROUP 1230 Avenue o
Americas New York, N.Y. 10020

Foreword

The greatest land acquisitions by any power in the history of the world took place without
the faintest threat of arms. Not a shot was fired by the conqueror in this unprecede
colonization program. Alexander, Caesar, Genghis Khan, and Tamerlane were tyros
comparison, for none of them ruled a whole continent, much less two, with scores of neighbo
islands.
And it was possibly the softest sell of all time. The United States Government simply issu
declaration that it welcomed any countries in North, Central, or South America, or the Caribb
to join it, conferring all rights pertaining to American citizens, including the Guaranteed An
Stipend, or GASтАФsometimes called Negative Income Tax. Our English friends called it "the d
They had seen it before. The English had seen everything beforeтАФincluding permanent declin
Though the United States of America became the United States of the Americas without force
was not simplicity. Military dictatorships, particularly in the banana republics, did all in
power to remain separate. Armies were ordered to fire upon mobs demanding admission to
new United States. But the soldiers laughed. One had to reach the rank of major to attai
income equal to that of a citizen of the United States on GAS.
So, with little strain on the Yankees, the Western Hemisphere assimilated into the United S
of the Americas.
And, in the eyes of some, that was only the beginningтАж

Chapter One: Horace Hampton

A battered hovercar pulled up in the parking lot behind the aged apartment building. There
few other vehicles there.
Three men got out and headed across the parking area for the back door. The one in the m
carried a cane and affected a slight limp. The other two carried tired-looking attach├й cases. All
were dressed neatly, though their clothing was only a thin cut better than prole level.
The one in the middle looked up at the paint-flaked wooden building which was their destina
"You could sell it for an antique," he said.
One of the others grunted and told him, "You could sell all New Salem as an antique. Re
itтАФsomething like colonial Williamsburg over in Virginia. You could put up a big sign for
tourists: 'New Salem, Bible Belt Town, Circa 1900.' "
 They ascended the stairs to the second floor. Thus far they had seen nobody at all, which
understandable. They had counted on the total population being down at the park for the pol
rally. Aside from Tri-Di, there was precious little in the way of local entertainment.
On the second floor, the largest of the three men looked up and down the hall, dipped a hand