John Brunner – Jagged Orbit

Although Federal troops have been used to suppress civil riots only twice since 1923, a force of 15,000 men is reported to have been earmarked by the Pentagon for such use should State and city forces prove inadequate. They have been formed into seven task forces and housed near the cities most likely to experience major rioting. The Government has also been stockpiling anti-riot equipment in key sites.

But riot control devolves in all but the last resort on city or State law enforcement officers. And throughout the country there are reports of considerable efforts to inand modernise their equipment for riot control.

In some cities the police are being iswith a controversial new high-powrifle, with ammunition with some of the characteristics of the dum-dum bullet. Others are acquiring armed helicopters or armoured cars which can fire either tear gas or machine-gun bullets.

Volunteer deputies

Detailed planning is already being unby city authorities. In some cities the police are reported to be improving their intelligence machinery so that they may obtain earlier and more accurate inof impending riots. In one Chicounty, the sheriff is trying to ora force of a thousand volunteer deputies who would provide their own arms and receive 40 to 60 hours of special riot-control training. This seems to be approachperilously close to the groups of vigilantes of past ill fame.

On the other side of the coin are the private preparations of American citizens for the long, hot summer ahead. Both whites and Negroes are arming themselves. There have been recent reports of a steep rise in the purchases of firearms-and it is a fairly rare American family which has no pistol or shotgun in the house. Houseare reported to be attending police courses of instruction in the firing of re

It was done but it didn’t work.

Looking tired and irritable-they had had to work through the normal noon recess, classifying the mentally disturbed arrestees from the riot, arranging for those who were under regular care already to be sent back to their own therapists, revising the schedules and opening up fresh retreats for those who were not provided for else-Ariadne appeared on the screen of Reedeth’s internal comweb while he was talking on an outside cir

“Just a second,” he threw over his shoulder, and ended his other conversation with a curt, “It’s got to be done and it’s up to you to find a way! And you’d better hurry!”

Cutting that connection, he swiveled his rotachair to face Ariadne. “Yes?”

“I thought you said something about Lyla Clay havbeen committed this morning. Well, I’m supposed to have had all the female arrestees’ data through my office and hers weren’t among them. What happened?”

“Oh. Oh yes.” Reedeth passed a weary hand through his hair, then leaned back and extracted a pack of joints from his desketary drawer. Smoking was theoretically forbidden in the hospital, but at times of exceptional stress everyone on the staff bent the rule a trifle. He went on as he hunted for a means of lighting it, “I managed to siphon her out of the main stream. It was a hunch. Turned out to be right”

“How, right?”

“Shouldn’t have been here at all.”

“But I thought you said she was in a bad way. Foetal position, shocked-”

“All of that and a lot more. Wouldn’t you expect to be if you’d had your boyfriend die in front of you?”

Ariadne put her hand to her mouth in horror. “He got caught in the riot?”

“Correct. Someone chopped his belly open with an axe. He managed to get home, with the assistance of the block Gottschalk, and-I’ll give you three guesses what the bastard did.”

Ariadne gave a mute headshake.

“Tried to sell her a gun across her mackero’s corpse, while it was still warm.”

There was a pause. At length Ariadne said, “Worse than a bastard. A ghoul. But then they all are, aren’t they? Otherwise they wouldn’t have chosen that line of business.”

“This is about the nastiest thing I’ve heard of one of them doing, though. And apparently when Miss Clay ordered him off the premises-with the gun they kept in the apt-he went to the comweb and swore a comagainst her, charging assault with a deadly weapon.”

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