
Part 1
In a future where the planet’s bounty has been siphoned off for the masses, a tiny fishing village on the edge of Murdock Sound clings to its crumbling library and weather‑worn wharf. George, a solitary poacher who lives off the land with chickens fed on seeds, insects and even garter snakes, sees himself as a lone resistor against the efficient, all‑consuming World Food Institute. One bleak November morning a helicopter drops three WFI officials on his dock, turning his quiet routine into an unexpected inspection.
The lead inspector, a weary sociologist named Ranson, is more interested in the humble breakfast than in bureaucratic paperwork. As they probe the makeshift ecology of George’s backyard farm, the conversation hints at a larger experimental project on nearby Rollins Island and the uneasy balance between survival and regulation. Listeners are left wondering whether George’s unconventional methods will survive the agency’s cold, methodical gaze.
Language
en
Duration
~31 minutes (30K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
Apr 25, 2019
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
A little-known mid-century science fiction writer, remembered today for bleak, imaginative stories about ecology, scarcity, and survival. The surviving record is sparse, which gives the work an added air of mystery.
View all books
by Hugo Gernsback

by Edward Bellamy

by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

by Mary E. Bradley Lane

by George O. (George Oliver) Smith

by Sydney Watson

by George Tomkyns Chesney

by Clemence Housman