
In the shadow of a sudden, total‑war emergency, a lone Navy lieutenant surfaces his one‑man submarine off the Florida coast, his radio crackling with a stark announcement: the nation’s government has been seized by the Department of Defense, and a chilling ultimatum has been issued to the Soviet enemy. The air is thick with the promise of an all‑out radiological strike, and the world teeters on the brink of a cataclysm that could remake everything.
Back inside the cramped conning tower, the lieutenant wrestles with a growing sense of personal defiance. The repetitive call of “Mother wants you” reverberates through the metal walls, igniting a fierce inner rebellion against the new regime’s absolute power. As the night sky watches in indifferent silence, he must decide whether to follow orders, question the authority that now commands the nation, or chart a course that might change the fate of a war‑weary world.
Language
en
Duration
~28 minutes (27K 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
2010-05-18
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1923–1996
Best known for the haunting post-apocalyptic classic A Canticle for Leibowitz, he brought wartime experience and spiritual questions into science fiction in a way that still feels powerful. His work is remembered for blending ruined futures, moral weight, and sharp human feeling.
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