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    The Turning Wheel: Short Story
    The Turning Wheel: Short Story
    The Turning Wheel: Short Story
    Ebook35 pages31 minutes

    The Turning Wheel: Short Story

    By Philip K. Dick

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    In the near future, after the world powers have collapsed, those who were once the disenfranchised now make up the ruling classes on earth. When Bard Sung-wu is sent to investigate disturbances among the lower castes in Detroit, he expects to find savages without any knowledge of the world. What he finds instead will change the course of his life.

    Philip K. Dick was an American science-fiction novelist, short-story writer and essayist. His first short story, “Beyond Lies the Wub,” was published shortly after his high school graduation. Some of his most famous short stories were adapted for film, including “The Minority Report,” “Paycheck,” “Second Variety” (adapted into the film Screamers) and “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” (adapted into the film Total Recall).

    HarperCollins brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperCollins short-stories collection to build your digital library.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateDec 16, 2014
    ISBN9781443442763
    The Turning Wheel: Short Story
    Author

    Philip K. Dick

    Over a writing career that spanned three decades, PHILIP K. DICK (1928–1982) published 36 science fiction novels and 121 short stories in which he explored the essence of what makes man human and the dangers of centralized power. Toward the end of his life, his work turned to deeply personal, metaphysical questions concerning the nature of God. Eleven novels and short stories have been adapted to film, notably Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly, as well as television's The Man in the High Castle. The recipient of critical acclaim and numerous awards throughout his career, including the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards, Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005, and between 2007 and 2009, the Library of America published a selection of his novels in three volumes. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.

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      Book preview

      The Turning Wheel - Philip K. Dick

      turningwheel_interior.jpg

      THE TURNING WHEEL

      Philip K. Dick

      HarperPerennialClassicsLogo.jpg

      CONTENTS

      The Turning Wheel

      About the Author

      About the Series

      Copyright

      About the Publisher

      The Turning Wheel

      Bard Chai said thoughtfully, Cults. He examined a tape-report grinding from the receptor. The receptor was rusty and unoiled; it whined piercingly and sent up an acrid wisp of smoke. Chai shut it off as its pitted surface began to heat ugly red. Presently he finished with the tape and tossed it with a heap of refuse jamming the mouth of a disposal slot.

      What about cults? Bard Sung-wu asked faintly. He brought himself back with an effort, and forced a smile of interest on his plump olive-yellow face. You were saying?

      Any stable society is menaced by cults; our society is no exception. Chai rubbed his finely-tapered fingers together reflectively. Certain lower strata are axiomatically dissatisfied. Their hearts burn with envy of those the wheel has placed above them; in secret they form fanatic, rebellious bands. They meet in the dark of the night; they insidiously express inversions of accepted norms; they delight in flaunting basic mores and customs.

      Ugh, Sung-wu agreed. I mean, he explained quickly, it seems incredible people could practice such fanatic and disgusting rites. He got nervously to his feet. I must go, if it’s permitted.

      Wait, snapped Chai. You are familiar with the Detroit area?

      Uneasily, Sung-wu nodded. Very slightly.

      With characteristic vigor, Chai made his decision. I’m sending you; investigate and make a blue-slip report. If this group is dangerous, the Holy Arm should know. It’s of the worst elements—the Techno class. He made a wry face. Caucasians, hulking, hairy things. We’ll give you six months in Spain, on your return; you can poke over ruins of abandoned cities.

      Caucasians! Sung-wu exclaimed, his face turning green. But I haven’t been well; please, if somebody else could go—

      You, perhaps, hold to the Broken Feather theory? Chai raised an eyebrow. "An amazing philologist, Broken Feather; I took partial instruction from him. He held, you know, the Caucasian to be descended of Neanderthal stock. The extreme size, thick body hair, their general brutish cast, reveal an innate inability to comprehend anything but a purely animalistic

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