No such place as Granite City exists.
"The rock has got to the machine," I screamed. "Chief, this brain is
stoned. It's made a _mistake_. We _know_ there is such a place."
"Nonsense, my boy," McCain said in a fatherly way. "The Actuarvac
merely means that no such place as you erroneously described could
possibly exist. Why don't you try one of our Hedonist revival meetings
tonight?"
* * * * *
Things have got steadily worse since then.
So far nobody has made the big mistake of dropping an H-bomb on anyone,
but that's probably because all the governments made so many smaller
mistakes the people made the mistake (or was it?) of kicking them out
for almost absolute anarchy. But the individuals are doing worse than
the governments...if that's possible.
People have given up going anywhere except by foot, for the most part.
Granite City granite is still as widely disbursed and almost as highly
prized as South African diamonds.
I hope we will find some way out of our current world crisis, although
I can't imagine what it will be.
Meanwhile, I hope you will excuse any typographical errors. It seems as
if I just can't seem to hit the right keys on my typewriter any more,
as my--and all of our--psionic sterility increases.