THE SENTINEL STARS
A NOVEL OF THE FUTURE BY
LOUIS CHARBONNEAU
[Transcriber's Note: Extensive research did not uncover any
evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
With love to
Helen and Bruce
TRH-247
That meant he was the two-hundred-and-forty-seventh citizen with thename Thomas Robert Hendley. His name, of course, was never used. TheOrganization found numbers more efficient than names.
Only, TRH-247 wasn't any other citizen. He was himself, different fromanyone else, and he had to do something about it.
So he quit work; smuggled himself into the forbidden pleasures of aFreeman Camp; found boredom and nonidentity there, too; committedthe ultimate rebellion, using a false number; and got the ultimatepunishment—banishment.
He took the girl with him, for her crime was equal to his. The onlyproblem he had to face now was—survival!
A PROPHETIC NOVEL OF AN EASILY FORECAST FUTURE WHEN A CITIZEN HAD TOFIT THE MACHINE—OR PERISH....
THE SENTINEL STARS
A Bantam Book / published November 1963
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 63-19052
© Copyright, 1963, by Louis Charbonneau.
Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada.
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, Inc. Its trade-mark,consisting of the words "Bantam Books" and the portrayal of abantam, is registered in the United States Patent Office and in othercountries. Marca Registrada. Patented in the United States of America.Bantam Books, Inc., 271 Madison Ave., New York 16, N. Y.
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1
The morning after. In the underground streets and the wide arcadeslined with shops, curling colored streamers rustle under the feet ofnight workers hurrying home to their rooms. Automatic street cleanerssnuffle at plastic cups and empty bottles strewn outside of vendingbars and recreation halls—snuffle like some curious animal, suck,devour and move on, their fat wheels whispering on the pavement.Marquees overhead still wink with last night's slogans:
ONE FOR ALL—ALL FOR ONE!
WORLD HAILS MERGER!
The Merger is complete. East is West, and black is white. Now the talkcan cease. Now the viewscreens, the discussion forums, the recreationhours, the coffee debates, the public opinion polls, the conversationsof lovers can turn to other things.
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