The Crack in Space
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The Crack in Space is a 1966 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. In the United Kingdom, it has been published under an alternate title, Cantata 140.
[edit] Synopsis
On a future Earth (c2080 CE) overwhelmed with severe difficulties related to overpopulation, a portal is discovered that leads to a parallel world. Jim Briskin, campaigning to be the first black president of the United States, believes that the new "alter-Earth" could be colonized and become a home for the seventy million people that are being kept in cryopreservation. Known as bibs, these are people - mostly members of ethnic minority groups - who decided to be "put to sleep" until a time when the overpopulation problem is solved.
Briskin is a social conservative, who does not support the Golden Doors of Bliss orbital brothel, and opposes widespread abortion access. There are two dominant US political parties, the "Republican Liberals" and the "States Rights Conservative Democrats" who run CLEAN, a racist frontgroup that opposes Briskin's candidacy, although higher income white American voters support him. Terraforming becomes a pivotal election issue, until a warp drive malfunction results in the discovery of an apparently uninhabited alternate world, an 'alter-Earth' where homo sapiens never evolved, or lost in competition with other early hominids. In this case, the point of divergence appears to have occurred between one to two million years ago, as homo erectus, also known as sinanthropus/pithecanthropus or Peking Man, is the dominant species. In reference to the latter designation, the explorers refer to the indigenous hominids of this world as "Pekes."
At first, there is a colonisation attempt, based on misconceptions about the technological status of the early hominids, who turn out to be highly advanced. The colonisation attempt is called off, and Briskin is left to deal with the consequences during his next two presidential terms.
