Click on image to enlarge.

	Regular				Club
List Price:	$6.99				$5.94
You Pay:	$4.89				$4.16
You Save:	30.04%				40.49%

eBook Category: Science Fiction
eBook Description: There was no hiding place in Carthage either physically or mentally. And the power crisis didn't help the situation. The monitoring complex had a big reserve setup, but the authorities were making stringent economies right now. Every last watt had to accounted for and the president had to have his life giving quota. Today, the sky darkened by the fastest twilight experienced in Carthage and Gaul Kalmar and his companion hurried along in a violet darkness which transformed the city into a Breughel version of hell. They had to get out...

eBook Publisher: Golden Apple, Wallasey, Published: USA, 1966
Fictionwise Release Date: April 2004

5 Reader Ratings:

Great	Good	OK	Poor

Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [190 KB] , ePub (EPUB) [177 KB] , Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [159 KB] , Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [562 KB] , Palm Doc (PDB) [182 KB] , Microsoft Reader (LIT) [217 KB] , Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [210 KB] , hiebook (KML) [403 KB] , Sony Reader (LRF) [207 KB] , iSilo (PDB) [150 KB] , Mobipocket (PRC) [185 KB] , Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [215 KB] , OEBFF Format (IMP) [242 KB]
Words: 54316
Reading time: 155-217 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

There was some warmth in the pale sun, although it was well after midday. Not much. In fact, when the oblong panels ground slowly open and the tiny observation cupola had direct access to the outside world there was a ten-degree fall on the temperature recorder. But where the sun rays shone on the back of his neck, he could feel a positive heat.

The watcher set the small capsule to rotate left and made a "direct vision" scan, with powerful lenses, as he turned slowly towards the sun. Even the sea appeared less grey. It was just possible to believe the ancient records which described it as the "blue" Mediterranean. But it strained credence to the utmost to imagine that the dark blur of the opposite mainland coast, five hundred miles to the north, could ever have been called the Côte d'Azur.

Gaul T. Kalmar, alone in the observatory on the roof of the Environment Stabilisation Building, was also in a minority of one in the extent of his speculation. A hundred and fifty thousand citizens lived in this most northerly centre of human settlement. When they passed on their daily business, through the great squares and avenues of their city, it was doubtful if anyone looked any more at the vast, pale blue, translucent dome which insulated them from an contact with the flux of the natural world outside. They might see the four tall pillars rising with mathematical exactitude from the centre of each quadrant and supporting their sky. But no one would have any reason to suppose that the column, soaring from the roof of the principal building in the Esmun quarter, actually penetrated their ceiling and ended in a window on the world.

Carthage had maintained itself for seven thousand years as a bastion of life against the threatening ice. Now, although few knew it, the vigil could end. The automatic, meteorological records showed no icebergs in the landlocked sea for the last hundred years. Glaciers on the landmass of Europe were far in retreat again. Old lands were stirring with new life.

Gaul Kalmar shivered as he came round into the glare of the sun. He killed the ancient linear motor and stopped the movement. It was springtime in the changing seasons of the outside. The air had a fresh, damp smell which, coupled with the sun, was a remarkable experience for an organism used to a stable and unvarying temperature and humidity level.