The Penultimate Truth
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 Cover of first edition (paperback) |
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| Author | Philip K. Dick |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Belmont Books |
| Released | 1964 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 174 pp |
| ISBN | NA |
The Penultimate Truth is a 1964 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. The story is set in a future where the bulk of humanity is kept in large underground shelters. The people are told that World War Three is being fought above them, when in reality the war ended years ago. The novel is based on Dick's 1953 short story The Defenders.
[edit] Plot summary
World War Three begins early in the twenty-first century. It is fought between the two superpowers, Wes-Dem and Pac-Peop. The fighting is extensive and severe, most of it performed by "leadies" built to withstand the most extreme circumstance. The Earth becomes a battlefield. Unable to exist in the atmosphere created by robot war, vast "ant" tanks are constructed underground to save the diminishing human population.
The government and war engine remains on the surface, the elite "Yance men". Their president, Talbot Yancy, delivers inspirational speeches to the tankers, motivating them to increase their production of leadies and win the war. The war does eventually end. However, the Yance men design a conspiracy to maintain the wealth of the Earth for themselves. Yancy continues to describe devastation in televised speeches. The tankers continue to produce leadies.
Talbot Yancy is actually a computer generated simulacra. The Yance men program him from the "Agency" in New York. They live in immense villas on private parks, called "demesnes". The leadies are actually horded by Yance men for the personal acquisition of wealth and land. The Agency is run by the most vicious and greedy Yance man, Stanton Brose, who is only kept alive by prewar artificial organs which he hoards.
The story begins in one of the tanks, the Tom Mix. The tank president, Nicholas St. James, is forced to go to the surface to look for an artificial pancreas for the tank's lead mechanic. He emerges on David Lantano's property (a Yance man). When some of Lantano's leadies try to kill St. James, they are eventually destroyed by a mysterious man who looks like Talbot Yancy. St. James wanders around, through the ruins of a 10 year old war, and eventually ends up at Lantano's mansion. There he learns where he can find an artificial organ.
Simultaneously, Adams (another Yance-man) is put on a special mission by Brose. He must plant evidence of alien artifacts on land belonging to a housing developer (Louis Runcible), so the land can be legitimately seized. The artifacts are buried using a time travel device. One by one, the people attached to this project are killed. Adams fearfully retreats to Lantano's mansion.
Lantano reveals, with Adams and St. James present, that he killed the members of this special project. Adams and Lantano now plot to kill Brose and free the people underground. A speech is given by Talbot Yancy saying that the war is over. The book ends ominously, and it isn't clear whether or not the tankers are released.
