Free The Book of Philip K Dick (1973) by Philip K. Dick

“I’m bitter because I know you’ll never come back.” She turned away. “I’ll never see you again, once you go up there.”
    He was shocked. “What? How can you say a thing like that?”
    She did not answer.
    He awakened with the public newscaster screeching in his ears, shouting outside the building.
    “Special news bulletin! Surface forces report enormous Soviets attack with new weapons! Retreat of key groups! All work units report to factories at once!”
    Taylor blinked, rubbing his eyes. He jumped out of bed and hurried to the vidphone. A moment later he was put through to Moss.
    “Listen,” he said. “What about this new attack? Is the project off?” He could see Moss’s desk, covered with reports and papers.
    “No,” Moss said. “We’re going right ahead. Get over here at once.”
    “But—”
    “Don’t argue with me.” Moss held up a handful of surface bulletins, crumpling them savagely. “This is a fake. Come on!” He broke off.
    Taylor dressed furiously, his mind in a daze. Half an hour later, he leaped from a fast car and hurried up the stairs into the Synthetics Building. The corridors were full of men and women rushing in every direction. He entered Moss’s office.
    “There you are,” Moss said, getting up immediately. “Franks is waiting for us at the outgoing station.”
    They went in a Security Car, the siren screaming. Workers scattered out of their way. “What about the attack?” Taylor asked.
    Moss braced his shoulders. “We’re certain that we’ve forced their hand. We’ve brought the issue to a head.”
    They pulled up at the station link of the Tube and leaped out. A moment later they were moving up at high speed toward the first stage.
    They emerged into a bewildering scene of activity. Soldiers were fastening on lead suits, talking excitedly to each other, shouting back and forth. Guns were being given out, instructions passed.
    Taylor studied one of the soldiers. He was armed with the dreaded Bender pistol, the new snub-nosed hand weapon that was just beginning to come from the assembly line. Some of the soldiers looked a little frightened.
    “I hope we’re not making a mistake,” Moss said, noticing his gaze.
    Franks came toward them. “Here’s the program. The three of us are going up first, alone. The soldiers will follow in fifteen minutes.”
    “What are we going to tell the leadies?” Taylor worriedly asked. “We’ll have to tell them something.”
    “We want to observe the new Soviet attack.” Franks smiled ironically. “Since it seems to be so serious, we should be there in person to witness it.”
    “And then what?” Taylor said.
    “That’ll be up to them. Let’s go.”
    In a small car, they went swiftly up the Tube, carried by anti-grav beams from below. Taylor glanced down from time to time. It was a long way back, and getting longer each moment. He sweated nervously inside his suit, gripping his Bender pistol with inexpert fingers.
    Why had they chosen him? Chance, pure chance. Moss had asked him to come along as a Department member. Then Franks had picked him out on the spur of the moment. And now they were rushing toward the surface, faster and faster.
    A deep fear, instilled in him for eight years, throbbed in his mind. Radiation, certain death, a world blasted and lethal—
    Up and up the car went. Taylor gripped the sides and closed his eyes. Each moment they were closer, the first living creatures to go above above the first stage, up the Tube past the lead and rock, up to the surface. The phobic horror shook him in waves. It was death; they all knew that. Hadn’t they seen it in the films a thousand times? The cities, the sleet coming down, the rolling clouds—
    “It won’t be much longer,” Franks said. “We’re almost there. The surface tower is not expecting us. I gave orders that no signal was to be sent.”
    The car shot up, rushing furiously. Taylor’s head spun; he hung on, his eyes shut. Up and up….
    The car