第2节

supply-and-demand basis from one

area to another.

All domain-lords are required to make annual support payments (taxes)

to the shogunate. The amount paid by each represents a percentage of

the assets of their domain. Since the valuation is carried out by

government agents, this has, in the past, proved to be a potent source

of disaffection.

These payments, together with the sale of trading licences and

manufacturing monopolies, provide the revenue needed by the bakufu to

carry out the various functions of government.

All surplus goods are bought and sold via a pre-Holocaust

medium of exchange known as 'money'. This takes the form of small,

thin, rectangular sheets of compressed wood pulp (dollars) and small

metal discs (yen), each representing a given number of exchange units

(currency) which confers an equivalent purchasing power upon the holder

and gives rise to the curious notion of personal 'wealth' - an outmoded

concept that the Federation has wisely dispensed with.

EXTRACT ENDS

See related entries: CHINKS, DINKS, GOOKS, JAPS, MEATBALLS, NIPS,

SLANTS, V-C, YELLOW PERIL.

PROLOGUE

Cadillac handed his bathrobe to his servant, stepped into the deep tub

and sank down until the steaming water lapped his chin. Two more

female dead-faces, naked except for their white cotton headscarves,

stood in the water on either side of him, waiting to cleanse and

massage his bronzed body. He motioned them to begin, then closed his

eyes and reflected, once again, on his good fortune. Even though he

was able to read the future in the seeing-stones, they had not revealed

that, in a few short months after leaving the Plainfolk, everything he

had ever wished for would be within his grasp. Power, responsibility,

a task worthy of his talents, and - most important of all - standing.

His life had been utterly transformed and, for the first time, he felt

truly content. The warmth of the water pervaded his body, gently

dissolving the flesh and bone.

With his eyes still closed against the flickering yellow light of the

lanterns he had the sensation of floating, formless, like a

spirit-being poured by Mo-Town into the womb of its earth mother.

He cast his mind adrift...

Shortly after Steve Brickman had soared into the dawn sky, pursued by

several posses of Bears, Cadillac began the construction of a second

arrowhead from the parts which the clan had kept hidden from the cloud

warrior.

Armed with the skills and the knowledge he had drawn from Steve's mind,

he found it proved a relatively simple task. It was also immensely

satisfying, for his arrowhead was sleeker and stronger than Bluebird,

the ramshackle rig he had helped Steve to build and on which he had

been taught how to fly.

Cadillac smiled as he remembered how careful he had been not to learn

too quickly. Brickman had gone back to the dark world of the

sand-burrowers without realising he had given away the key to a

treasure house of information. Using the power granted by Talisman, he

had made a mental carbon copy of everything the cloud warrior knew;

every fact he had acquired, every learning experience since birth. The

entire range of Brickman's talents, skills and knowledge were now his

to command.

Yes... the loss of Clearwater's soul was a small price to pay for such

gifts.

The craft was powered by an electric motor culled from one of the

Skyhawks that had fallen in the battle with the iron snake. It was the

same motor that Brickman had fitted to Bluebird and then discarded just

before his escape because he could not make it work properly.

Cadillac did what Steve, in his haste, could not be bothered to do; he

took it to pieces, checked every part, rebuilt it with loving care, and

then continued to work on it until it functioned perfectly.

Now the equal of Brickman in the air, he took off from the bluff above

the settlement, skimming with the same lack of fear over the edge of

the steep escarpment into the void. He felt the wind embrace him, felt