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    Shell Game: Short Story
    Shell Game: Short Story
    Shell Game: Short Story
    Ebook29 pages19 minutes

    Shell Game: Short Story

    By Philip K. Dick

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    About this ebook

    When a group of men crash to the surface of an alien planet, they are hemmed in on all sides by a deadly, un-crossable bog. Attacked by an unknown enemy, the group grows increasingly uncertain as the violence escalates while the enemy combatant remains unseen and no bodies are ever recovered.

    Philip K. Dick was an American science-fiction novelist, short-story writer and essayist. His first short story, “Beyond Lies the Wub,” was published shortly after his high school graduation. Some of his most famous short stories were adapted for film, including “The Minority Report,” “Paycheck,” “Second Variety” (adapted into the film Screamers) and “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” (adapted into the film Total Recall).

    HarperCollins brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperCollins short-stories collection to build your digital library.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateDec 16, 2014
    ISBN9781443442787
    Shell Game: Short Story
    Author

    Philip K. Dick

    Over a writing career that spanned three decades, PHILIP K. DICK (1928–1982) published 36 science fiction novels and 121 short stories in which he explored the essence of what makes man human and the dangers of centralized power. Toward the end of his life, his work turned to deeply personal, metaphysical questions concerning the nature of God. Eleven novels and short stories have been adapted to film, notably Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly, as well as television's The Man in the High Castle. The recipient of critical acclaim and numerous awards throughout his career, including the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards, Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005, and between 2007 and 2009, the Library of America published a selection of his novels in three volumes. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.

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      Book preview

      Shell Game - Philip K. Dick

      shellgame_interior.jpg

      SHELL GAME

      Philip K. Dick

      HarperPerennialClassicsLogo.jpg

      CONTENTS

      Shell Game

      About the Author

      About the Series

      Copyright

      About the Publisher

      Shell Game

      A sound awoke O’Keefe instantly. He threw back his covers, slid from the cot, grabbed his B-pistol from the wall and, with his foot, smashed the alarm box. High frequency waves tripped emergency bells throughout the camp. As O’Keefe burst from his house, lights already flickered on every side.

      Where? Fisher demanded shrilly. He appeared beside O’Keefe, still in his pajamas, grubby-faced with sleep.

      Over to the right. O’Keefe leaped aside for a massive cannon being rolled from its underground storage-chambers. Soldiers were appearing among the night-clad figures. To the right lay the black bog of mists and obese foliage, ferns and pulpy onions, sunk in the half-liquid ooze that made up the surface of Betelgeuse II. Nocturnal phosphorescence danced and flitted over the bog, ghostly yellow lights snapped in the thick darkness.

      I figure, Horstokowski said, they came in close to the road, but not actually on it. There’s a shoulder fifty feet on each side, where the bog has piled up. That’s why our radar’s silent.

      An immense mechanical fusing bug was eating its way into the mud and shifting water of the bog, leaving behind a trail of hard, smoked surface. The vegetation and the rotting roots and dead leaves were sucked up and efficiently cleared away.

      What did you see? Portbane asked O’Keefe.

      I didn’t see anything. I was sound asleep. But I heard them.

      "Doing what?’

      "They were getting ready to pump nerve gas

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