Towers of Utopia. Mack Reynolds

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      Table of Contents

       Copyright Information

       Books by Mack Reynolds

       Part One: Barry Ten Eyck

       Part Two: Bat Hardin

       Part Three: James Cotswold

       Part Four: Carol Ann Cusack

Copyright Information

      Copyright © 1976 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

Part One: Barry Ten Eyck

      Barry Ten Eyck came briskly into his inner office in fine mood, tossed his briefcase to his old fashioned steel desk and called over to his secretary cum Man Friday, “Miss Cusack, I shall allow exactly four crises this morning. No more.”

      Carol Ann Cusack looked down at her notes. She was a tallish brunette with unusually dark blue eyes. She had a strong face, a wide warm mouth, and glossy, quizzical brows, and was well liked by the staff for her quick humor.

      She said, “I have nine. No, ten.”

      “Four,” he said again, severely. “No more. Turn the others over to Jim and Bat. A good Demecrat must learn to delegate authority. Besides, they need the experience.”

      “Mr. Cotswold is on vacation.”

      “That’s right, he is. Then turn the last six over to Bat Hardin. He has strong, broad shoulders whilst I am failing by the minute.”

      “Yes, Mr. Ten Eyck.”

      “When are you going to begin calling me Barry, Carol Ann?”

      “When I am no longer your secretary, Mr. Ten Eyck. The Head Chef, Monsieur Daunou, has tendered his resignation again.”

      “What! Pete can’t do this to me.” He glared at her. Somehow, in spite of his position as the Demecrat of Shyler-deme, Barry Ten Eyck’s glares didn’t come off. Not, at least, when he was dealing with his immediate staff. A tall, lanky, easygoing and good-natured type, especially when not under pressure, when he could get as tough as the occasion warranted, he wasn’t exactly typical as young Meritcrats went, believing in a highly informal administration.

      “What’s the reason this time? Too many complaints about his latest soufflé creation?”

      Carol Ann shook her head. “I wouldn’t know. He seemed to be in some sort of huff.”

      Her boss slumped down into his chair. “Good grief, the budget doesn’t allow for any pay increases, if that’s it. I’ll see him later. You don’t get a chef like Pierre Daunou just any day in the week. Have you got the computer report on this week’s take?”

      Carol Ann said, “That’s the next crisis. It’s down to four hundred and seventy-five thousand pseudo-dollars.”

      He stared at her. “It is? That’s not much above our breakeven point.”

      “No, sir.”

      “What happened—in particular?”

      “That’s the next crisis. We lost two hundred and three resident families.”

      “And took in how many?”

      “Eighty-three. Some of them, of course, renting from the owners.”

      Barry Ten Eyck winced, got up from his desk and looked out the window and over the acres of parks and trees that surrounded the hundred-and-nineteen-story, aluminium-sheathed, twin towers of the apartment building which he managed.

      He muttered, barely audible, “The building is less than ten years old. What gets into people that they can’t stay put in an apartment worth some $40,000 that they’ve been given practically free?”

      Carol Ann said dryly, “They haven’t got anything else to do but move around. They get bored.”

      He took a breath and turned to her. “What’s the current occupancy, Miss Cusack?”

      She flicked a switch, said something into a desk TV phone screen. She looked up and reported, “Four thousand and fifty-two, including Mr. Vanderfeller’s penthouse.”

      He grunted. “Which is empty most of the time. It’d be our most lucrative occupancy if we had some high-living playboy in there.”

      Carol Ann said, “Which