initial commit of ebook 22579HEADmain

1 files changed, 1074 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/22579.txt b/22579.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f127cbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22579.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1074 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bread Overhead, by Fritz Reuter Leiber
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Bread Overhead
+
+Author: Fritz Reuter Leiber
+
+Illustrator: Wood
+
+Release Date: September 11, 2007 [EBook #22579]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BREAD OVERHEAD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                               Bread
+                                 Overhead
+
+                            By FRITZ LEIBER
+
+
+               _The Staff of Life suddenly and
+                     disconcertingly sprouted wings
+                           --and mankind had to eat crow!_
+
+
+                          Illustrated by WOOD
+
+
+As a blisteringly hot but guaranteed weather-controlled future summer
+day dawned on the Mississippi Valley, the walking mills of Puffy
+Products ("Spike to Loaf in One Operation!") began to tread delicately
+on their centipede legs across the wheat fields of Kansas.
+
+The walking mills resembled fat metal serpents, rather larger than those
+Chinese paper dragons animated by files of men in procession. Sensory
+robot devices in their noses informed them that the waiting wheat had
+reached ripe perfection.
+
+As they advanced, their heads swung lazily from side to side, very much
+like snakes, gobbling the yellow grain. In their throats, it was
+threshed, the chaff bundled and burped aside for pickup by the crawl
+trucks of a chemical corporation, the kernels quick-dried and blown
+along into the mighty chests of the machines. There the tireless mills
+ground the kernels to flour, which was instantly sifted, the bran being
+packaged and dropped like the chaff for pickup. A cluster of tanks which
+gave the metal serpents a decidedly humpbacked appearance added water,
+shortening, salt and other ingredients, some named and some not. The
+dough was at the same time infused with gas from a tank conspicuously
+labeled "Carbon Dioxide" ("No Yeast Creatures in Your Bread!").
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Thus instantly risen, the dough was clipped into loaves and shot into
+radionic ovens forming the midsections of the metal serpents. There the
+bread was baked in a matter of seconds, a fierce heat-front browning the
+crusts, and the piping-hot loaves sealed in transparent plastic bearing
+the proud Puffyloaf emblem (two cherubs circling a floating loaf) and
+ejected onto the delivery platform at each serpent's rear end, where a
+cluster of pickup machines, like hungry piglets, snatched at the loaves
+with hygienic claws.
+
+A few loaves would be hurried off for the day's consumption, the
+majority stored for winter in strategically located mammoth deep
+freezes.
+
+But now, behold a wonder! As loaves began to appear on the delivery
+platform of the first walking mill to get into action, they did not
+linger on the conveyor belt, but rose gently into the air and slowly
+traveled off down-wind across the hot rippling fields.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The robot claws of the pickup machines clutched in vain, and, not
+noticing the difference, proceeded carefully to stack emptiness, tier by
+tier. One errant loaf, rising more sluggishly than its fellows, was
+snagged by a thrusting claw. The machine paused, clumsily wiped off the
+injured loaf, set it aside--where it bobbed on one corner, unable to
+take off again--and went back to the work of storing nothingness.
+
+A flock of crows rose from the trees of a nearby shelterbelt as the
+flight of loaves approached. The crows swooped to investigate and then
+suddenly scattered, screeching in panic.
+
+The helicopter of a hangoverish Sunday traveler bound for Wichita shied
+very similarly from the brown fliers and did not return for a second
+look.
+
+A black-haired housewife spied them over her back fence, crossed herself
+and grabbed her walkie-talkie from the laundry basket. Seconds later,
+the yawning correspondent of a regional newspaper was jotting down the
+lead of a humorous news story which, recalling the old flying-saucer
+scares, stated that now apparently bread was to be included in the mad
+aerial tea party.
+
+The congregation of an open-walled country church, standing up to recite
+the most familiar of Christian prayers, had just reached the petition
+for daily sustenance, when a sub-flight of the loaves, either forced
+down by a vagrant wind or lacking the natural buoyancy of the rest, came
+coasting silently as the sunbeams between the graceful pillars at the
+altar end of the building.
+
+Meanwhile, the main flight, now augmented by other bread flocks from
+scores and hundreds of walking mills that had started work a little
+later, mounted slowly and majestically into the cirrus-flecked upper
+air, where a steady wind was blowing strongly toward the east.
+
+About one thousand miles farther on in that direction, where a cluster
+of stratosphere-tickling towers marked the location of the metropolis of
+NewNew York, a tender scene was being enacted in the pressurized
+penthouse managerial suite of Puffy Products. Megera Winterly, Secretary
+in Chief to the Managerial Board and referred to by her underlings as
+the Blonde Icicle, was dealing with the advances of Roger ("Racehorse")
+Snedden, Assistant Secretary to the Board and often indistinguishable
+from any passing office boy.
+
+"Why don't you jump out the window, Roger, remembering to shut the
+airlock after you?" the Golden Glacier said in tones not unkind. "When
+are your high-strung, thoroughbred nerves going to accept the fact that
+I would never consider marriage with a business inferior? You have about
+as much chance as a starving Ukrainian kulak now that Moscow's clapped
+on the interdict."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Roger's voice was calm, although his eyes were feverishly bright, as he
+replied, "A lot of things are going to be different around here, Meg, as
+soon as the Board is forced to admit that only my quick thinking made it
+possible to bring the name of Puffyloaf in front of the whole world."
+
+"Puffyloaf could do with a little of that," the business girl observed
+judiciously. "The way sales have been plummeting, it won't be long
+before the Government deeds our desks to the managers of Fairy Bread and
+asks us to take the Big Jump. But just where does your quick thinking
+come into this, Mr. Snedden? You can't be referring to the helium--that
+was Rose Thinker's brainwave."
+
+She studied him suspiciously. "You've birthed another promotional
+bumble, Roger. I can see it in your eyes. I only hope it's not as big a
+one as when you put the Martian ambassador on 3D and he thanked you
+profusely for the gross of Puffyloaves, assuring you that he'd never
+slept on a softer mattress in all his life on two planets."
+
+"Listen to me, Meg. Today--yes, today!--you're going to see the Board
+eating out of my hand."
+
+"Hah! I guarantee you won't have any fingers left. You're bold enough
+now, but when Mr. Gryce and those two big machines come through that
+door--"
+
+"Now wait a minute, Meg--"
+
+"Hush! They're coming now!"
+
+Roger leaped three feet in the air, but managed to land without a sound
+and edged toward his stool. Through the dilating iris of the door strode
+Phineas T. Gryce, flanked by Rose Thinker and Tin Philosopher.
+
+The man approached the conference table in the center of the room with
+measured pace and gravely expressionless face. The rose-tinted machine
+on his left did a couple of impulsive pirouettes on the way and
+twittered a greeting to Meg and Roger. The other machine quietly took
+the third of the high seats and lifted a claw at Meg, who now occupied a
+stool twice the height of Roger's.
+
+"Miss Winterly, please--our theme."
+
+The Blonde Icicle's face thawed into a little-girl smile as she chanted
+bubblingly:
+
+    "_Made up of tiny wheaten motes
+    And reinforced with sturdy oats,
+    It rises through the air and floats--
+    The bread on which all Terra dotes!_"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Thank you, Miss Winterly," said Tin Philosopher. "Though a purely
+figurative statement, that bit about rising through the air always gets
+me--here." He rapped his midsection, which gave off a high musical
+_clang_.
+
+"Ladies--" he inclined his photocells toward Rose Thinker and Meg--"and
+gentlemen. This is a historic occasion in Old Puffy's long history, the
+inauguration of the helium-filled loaf ('So Light It Almost Floats
+Away!') in which that inert and heaven-aspiring gas replaces
+old-fashioned carbon dioxide. Later, there will be kudos for Rose
+Thinker, whose bright relays genius-sparked the idea, and also for Roger
+Snedden, who took care of the details.
+
+"By the by, Racehorse, that was a brilliant piece of work getting the
+helium out of the government--they've been pretty stuffy lately about
+their monopoly. But first I want to throw wide the casement in your
+minds that opens on the Long View of Things."
+
+Rose Thinker spun twice on her chair and opened her photocells wide. Tin
+Philosopher coughed to limber up the diaphragm of his speaker and
+continued:
+
+"Ever since the first cave wife boasted to her next-den neighbor about
+the superior paleness and fluffiness of her tortillas, mankind has
+sought lighter, whiter bread. Indeed, thinkers wiser than myself have
+equated the whole upward course of culture with this poignant quest.
+Yeast was a wonderful discovery--for its primitive day. Sifting the bran
+and wheat germ from the flour was an even more important advance. Early
+bleaching and preserving chemicals played their humble parts.
+
+"For a while, barbarous faddists--blind to the deeply spiritual nature
+of bread, which is recognized by all great religions--held back our
+march toward perfection with their hair-splitting insistence on the
+vitamin content of the wheat germ, but their case collapsed when
+tasteless colorless substitutes were triumphantly synthesized and
+introduced into the loaf, which for flawless purity, unequaled airiness
+and sheer intangible goodness was rapidly becoming mankind's supreme
+gustatory experience."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"I wonder what the stuff tastes like," Rose Thinker said out of a clear
+sky.
+
+"I wonder what taste tastes like," Tin Philosopher echoed dreamily.
+Recovering himself, he continued:
+
+"Then, early in the twenty-first century, came the epochal researches of
+Everett Whitehead, Puffyloaf chemist, culminating in his paper 'The
+Structural Bubble in Cereal Masses' and making possible the baking of
+airtight bread twenty times stronger (for its weight) than steel and of
+a lightness that would have been incredible even to the advanced
+chemist-bakers of the twentieth century--a lightness so great that,
+besides forming the backbone of our own promotion, it has forever since
+been capitalized on by our conscienceless competitors of Fairy Bread
+with their enduring slogan: 'It Makes Ghost Toast'."
+
+"That's a beaut, all right, that ecto-dough blurb," Rose Thinker
+admitted, bugging her photocells sadly. "Wait a sec. How about?--
+
+    "_There'll be bread
+    Overhead
+    When you're dead--
+    It is said._"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Phineas T. Gryce wrinkled his nostrils at the pink machine as if he
+smelled her insulation smoldering. He said mildly, "A somewhat unhappy
+jingle, Rose, referring as it does to the end of the customer as
+consumer. Moreover, we shouldn't overplay the figurative 'rises through
+the air' angle. What inspired you?"
+
+She shrugged. "I don't know--oh, yes, I do. I was remembering one of the
+workers' songs we machines used to chant during the Big Strike--
+
+    "_Work and pray,
+    Live on hay.
+    You'll get pie
+    In the sky
+    When you die--
+    It's a lie!_
+
+"I don't know why we chanted it," she added. "We didn't want pie--or
+hay, for that matter. And machines don't pray, except Tibetan prayer
+wheels."
+
+Phineas T. Gryce shook his head. "Labor relations are another topic we
+should stay far away from. However, dear Rose, I'm glad you keep trying
+to outjingle those dirty crooks at Fairy Bread." He scowled, turning
+back his attention to Tin Philosopher. "I get whopping mad, Old Machine,
+whenever I hear that other slogan of theirs, the discriminatory
+one--'Untouched by Robot Claws.' Just because they employ a few filthy
+androids in their factories!"
+
+Tin Philosopher lifted one of his own sets of bright talons. "Thanks,
+P.T. But to continue my historical resume, the next great advance in the
+baking art was the substitution of purified carbon dioxide, recovered
+from coal smoke, for the gas generated by yeast organisms indwelling in
+the dough and later killed by the heat of baking, their corpses
+remaining _in situ_. But even purified carbon dioxide is itself a rather
+repugnant gas, a product of metabolism whether fast or slow, and forever
+associated with those life processes which are obnoxious to the
+fastidious."
+
+Here the machine shuddered with delicate clinkings. "Therefore, we of
+Puffyloaf are taking today what may be the ultimate step toward purity:
+we are aerating our loaves with the noble gas helium, an element which
+remains virginal in the face of all chemical temptations and whose slim
+molecules are eleven times lighter than obese carbon dioxide--yes, noble
+uncontaminable helium, which, if it be a kind of ash, is yet the ash
+only of radioactive burning, accomplished or initiated entirely on the
+Sun, a safe 93 million miles from this planet. Let's have a cheer for
+the helium loaf!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Without changing expression, Phineas T. Gryce rapped the table thrice in
+solemn applause, while the others bowed their heads.
+
+"Thanks, T.P.," P.T. then said. "And now for the Moment of Truth. Miss
+Winterly, how is the helium loaf selling?"
+
+The business girl clapped on a pair of earphones and whispered into a
+lapel mike. Her gaze grew abstracted as she mentally translated flurries
+of brief squawks into coherent messages. Suddenly a single vertical
+furrow creased her matchlessly smooth brow.
+
+"It isn't, Mr. Gryce!" she gasped in horror. "Fairy Bread is outselling
+Puffyloaves by an infinity factor. So far this morning, _there has not
+been one single delivery of Puffyloaves to any sales spot_! Complaints
+about non-delivery are pouring in from both walking stores and sessile
+shops."
+
+"Mr. Snedden!" Gryce barked. "What bug in the new helium process might
+account for this delay?"
+
+Roger was on his feet, looking bewildered. "I can't imagine, sir,
+unless--just possibly--there's been some unforeseeable difficulty
+involving the new metal-foil wrappers."
+
+"Metal-foil wrappers? Were _you_ responsible for those?"
+
+"Yes, sir. Last-minute recalculations showed that the extra lightness of
+the new loaf might be great enough to cause drift during stackage.
+Drafts in stores might topple sales pyramids. Metal-foil wrappers, by
+their added weight, took care of the difficulty."
+
+"And you ordered them without consulting the Board?"
+
+"Yes, sir. There was hardly time and--"
+
+"Why, you fool! I noticed that order for metal-foil wrappers, assumed it
+was some sub-secretary's mistake, and canceled it last night!"
+
+Roger Snedden turned pale. "You canceled it?" he quavered. "And told
+them to go back to the lighter plastic wrappers?"
+
+"Of course! Just what is behind all this, Mr. Snedden? _What_
+recalculations were you trusting, when our physicists had demonstrated
+months ago that the helium loaf was safely stackable in light airs and
+gentle breezes--winds up to Beaufort's scale 3. _Why_ should a change
+from heavier to lighter wrappers result in complete non-delivery?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Roger Snedden's paleness became tinged with an interesting green. He
+cleared his throat and made strange gulping noises. Tin Philosopher's
+photocells focused on him calmly, Rose Thinker's with unfeigned
+excitement. P.T. Gryce's frown grew blacker by the moment, while Megera
+Winterly's Venus-mask showed an odd dawning of dismay and awe. She was
+getting new squawks in her earphones.
+
+"Er ... ah ... er...." Roger said in winning tones. "Well, you see, the
+fact is that I...."
+
+"Hold it," Meg interrupted crisply. "Triple-urgent from Public
+Relations, Safety Division. Tulsa-Topeka aero-express makes emergency
+landing after being buffeted in encounter with vast flight of objects
+first described as brown birds, although no failures reported in
+airway's electronic anti-bird fences. After grounding safely near
+Emporia--no fatalities--pilot's windshield found thinly plastered with
+soft white-and-brown material. Emblems on plastic wrappers embedded in
+material identify it incontrovertibly as an undetermined number of
+Puffyloaves cruising at three thousand feet!"
+
+Eyes and photocells turned inquisitorially upon Roger Snedden. He went
+from green to Puffyloaf white and blurted: "All right, I did it, but it
+was the only way out! Yesterday morning, due to the Ukrainian crisis,
+the government stopped sales and deliveries of all strategic stockpiled
+materials, including helium gas. Puffy's new program of advertising and
+promotion, based on the lighter loaf, was already rolling. There was
+only one thing to do, there being only one other gas comparable in
+lightness to helium. I diverted the necessary quantity of hydrogen gas
+from the Hydrogenated Oils Section of our Magna-Margarine Division and
+substituted it for the helium."
+
+"You substituted ... hydrogen ... for the ... helium?" Phineas T. Gryce
+faltered in low mechanical tones, taking four steps backward.
+
+"Hydrogen is twice as light as helium," Tin Philosopher remarked
+judiciously.
+
+"And many times cheaper--did you know that?" Roger countered feebly.
+"Yes, I substituted hydrogen. The metal-foil wrapping would have added
+just enough weight to counteract the greater buoyancy of the hydrogen
+loaf. But--"
+
+"So, when this morning's loaves began to arrive on the delivery
+platforms of the walking mills...." Tin Philosopher left the remark
+unfinished.
+
+"Exactly," Roger agreed dismally.
+
+"Let me ask you, Mr. Snedden," Gryce interjected, still in low tones,
+"if you expected people to jump to the kitchen ceiling for their
+Puffybread after taking off the metal wrapper, or reach for the sky if
+they happened to unwrap the stuff outdoors?"
+
+"Mr. Gryce," Roger said reproachfully, "you have often assured me that
+what people do with Puffybread after they buy it is no concern of ours."
+
+"I seem to recall," Rose Thinker chirped somewhat unkindly, "that dictum
+was created to answer inquiries after Roger put the famous
+sculptures-in-miniature artist on 3D and he testified that he always
+molded his first attempts from Puffybread, one jumbo loaf squeezing down
+to approximately the size of a peanut."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Her photocells dimmed and brightened. "Oh, boy--hydrogen! The loaf's
+unwrapped. After a while, in spite of the crust-seal, a little oxygen
+diffuses in. An explosive mixture. Housewife in curlers and kimono pops
+a couple slices in the toaster. Boom!"
+
+The three human beings in the room winced.
+
+Tin Philosopher kicked her under the table, while observing, "So you
+see, Roger, that the non-delivery of the hydrogen loaf carries some
+consolations. And I must confess that one aspect of the affair gives me
+great satisfaction, not as a Board Member but as a private machine. You
+have at last made a reality of the 'rises through the air' part of
+Puffybread's theme. They can't ever take that away from you. By now,
+half the inhabitants of the Great Plains must have observed our flying
+loaves rising high."
+
+Phineas T. Gryce shot a frightened look at the west windows and found
+his full voice.
+
+"Stop the mills!" he roared at Meg Winterly, who nodded and whispered
+urgently into her mike.
+
+"A sensible suggestion," Tin Philosopher said. "But it comes a trifle
+late in the day. If the mills are still walking and grinding,
+approximately seven billion Puffyloaves are at this moment cruising
+eastward over Middle America. Remember that a six-month supply for
+deep-freeze is involved and that the current consumption of bread, due
+to its matchless airiness, is eight and one-half loaves per person per
+day."
+
+Phineas T. Gryce carefully inserted both hands into his scanty hair,
+feeling for a good grip. He leaned menacingly toward Roger who, chin
+resting on the table, regarded him apathetically.
+
+"Hold it!" Meg called sharply. "Flock of multiple-urgents coming in.
+News Liaison: information bureaus swamped with flying-bread inquiries.
+Aero-expresslines: Clear our airways or face law suit. U. S. Army: Why
+do loaves flame when hit by incendiary bullets? U. S. Customs: If bread
+intended for export, get export license or face prosecution. Russian
+Consulate in Chicago: Advise on destination of bread-lift. And some
+Kansas church is accusing us of a hoax inciting to blasphemy, of faking
+miracles--I don't know _why_."
+
+The business girl tore off her headphones. "Roger Snedden," she cried
+with a hysteria that would have dumfounded her underlings, "you've
+brought the name of Puffyloaf in front of the whole world, all right!
+Now do something about the situation!"
+
+Roger nodded obediently. But his pallor increased a shade, the pupils of
+his eyes disappeared under the upper lids, and his head burrowed beneath
+his forearms.
+
+"Oh, boy," Rose Thinker called gayly to Tin Philosopher, "this looks
+like the start of a real crisis session! Did you remember to bring spare
+batteries?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile, the monstrous flight of Puffyloaves, filling midwestern skies
+as no small fliers had since the days of the passenger pigeon, soared
+steadily onward.
+
+Private fliers approached the brown and glistening bread-front in
+curiosity and dipped back in awe. Aero-expresslines organized
+sightseeing flights along the flanks. Planes of the government forestry
+and agricultural services and 'copters bearing the Puffyloaf emblem
+hovered on the fringes, watching developments and waiting for orders. A
+squadron of supersonic fighters hung menacingly above.
+
+The behavior of birds varied considerably. Most fled or gave the loaves
+a wide berth, but some bolder species, discovering the minimal nutritive
+nature of the translucent brown objects, attacked them furiously with
+beaks and claws. Hydrogen diffusing slowly through the crusts had now
+distended most of the sealed plastic wrappers into little balloons,
+which ruptured, when pierced, with disconcerting _pops_.
+
+Below, neck-craning citizens crowded streets and back yards, cranks and
+cultists had a field day, while local and national governments raged
+indiscriminately at Puffyloaf and at each other.
+
+Rumors that a fusion weapon would be exploded in the midst of the flying
+bread drew angry protests from conservationists and a flood of telefax
+pamphlets titled "H-Loaf or H-bomb?"
+
+Stockholm sent a mystifying note of praise to the United Nations Food
+Organization.
+
+Delhi issued nervous denials of a millet blight that no one had heard of
+until that moment and reaffirmed India's ability to feed her population
+with no outside help except the usual.
+
+Radio Moscow asserted that the Kremlin would brook no interference in
+its treatment of the Ukrainians, jokingly referred to the flying bread
+as a farce perpetrated by mad internationalists inhabiting Cloud Cuckoo
+Land, added contradictory references to airborne bread booby-trapped by
+Capitalist gangsters, and then fell moodily silent on the whole topic.
+
+Radio Venus reported to its winged audience that Earth's inhabitants
+were establishing food depots in the upper air, preparatory to taking up
+permanent aerial residence "such as we have always enjoyed on Venus."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+NewNew York made feverish preparations for the passage of the flying
+bread. Tickets for sightseeing space in skyscrapers were sold at high
+prices; cold meats and potted spreads were hawked to viewers with the
+assurance that they would be able to snag the bread out of the air and
+enjoy a historic sandwich.
+
+Phineas T. Gryce, escaping from his own managerial suite, raged about
+the city, demanding general cooperation in the stretching of great nets
+between the skyscrapers to trap the errant loaves. He was captured by
+Tin Philosopher, escaped again, and was found posted with oxygen mask
+and submachine gun on the topmost spire of Puffyloaf Tower, apparently
+determined to shoot down the loaves as they appeared and before they
+involved his company in more trouble with Customs and the State
+Department.
+
+Recaptured by Tin Philosopher, who suffered only minor bullet holes, he
+was given a series of mild electroshocks and returned to the conference
+table, calm and clear-headed as ever.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+But the bread flight, swinging away from a hurricane moving up the
+Atlantic coast, crossed a clouded-in Boston by night and disappeared
+into a high Atlantic overcast, also thereby evading a local storm
+generated by the Weather Department in a last-minute effort to bring
+down or at least disperse the H-loaves.
+
+Warnings and counterwarnings by Communist and Capitalist governments
+seriously interfered with military trailing of the flight during this
+period and it was actually lost in touch with for several days.
+
+At scattered points, seagulls were observed fighting over individual
+loaves floating down from the gray roof--that was all.
+
+A mood of spirituality strongly tinged with humor seized the people of
+the world. Ministers sermonized about the bread, variously interpreting
+it as a call to charity, a warning against gluttony, a parable of the
+evanescence of all earthly things, and a divine joke. Husbands and
+wives, facing each other across their walls of breakfast toast, burst
+into laughter. The mere sight of a loaf of bread anywhere was enough to
+evoke guffaws. An obscure sect, having as part of its creed the
+injunction "Don't take yourself so damn seriously," won new adherents.
+
+The bread flight, rising above an Atlantic storm widely reported to have
+destroyed it, passed unobserved across a foggy England and rose out of
+the overcast only over Mittel-europa. The loaves had at last reached
+their maximum altitude.
+
+The Sun's rays beat through the rarified air on the distended plastic
+wrappers, increasing still further the pressure of the confined
+hydrogen. They burst by the millions and tens of millions. A high-flying
+Bulgarian evangelist, who had happened to mistake the up-lever for the
+east-lever in the cockpit of his flier and who was the sole witness of
+the event, afterward described it as "the foaming of a sea of diamonds,
+the crackle of God's knuckles."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+By the millions and tens of millions, the loaves coasted down into the
+starving Ukraine. Shaken by a week of humor that threatened to invade
+even its own grim precincts, the Kremlin made a sudden about-face. A new
+policy was instituted of communal ownership of the produce of communal
+farms, and teams of hunger-fighters and caravans of trucks loaded with
+pumpernickel were dispatched into the Ukraine.
+
+World distribution was given to a series of photographs showing
+peasants queueing up to trade scavenged Puffyloaves for traditional
+black bread, recently aerated itself but still extra solid by
+comparison, the rate of exchange demanded by the Moscow teams being
+twenty Puffyloaves to one of pumpernickel.
+
+Another series of photographs, picturing chubby workers' children being
+blown to bits by booby-trapped bread, was quietly destroyed.
+
+Congratulatory notes were exchanged by various national governments and
+world organizations, including the Brotherhood of Free Business
+Machines. The great bread flight was over, though for several weeks
+afterward scattered falls of loaves occurred, giving rise to a new
+folklore of manna among lonely Arabian tribesmen, and in one
+well-authenticated instance in Tibet, sustaining life in a party of
+mountaineers cut off by a snow slide.
+
+Back in NewNew York, the managerial board of Puffy Products slumped in
+utter collapse around the conference table, the long crisis session at
+last ended. Empty coffee cartons were scattered around the chairs of the
+three humans, dead batteries around those of the two machines. For a
+while, there was no movement whatsoever. Then Roger Snedden reached out
+wearily for the earphones where Megera Winterly had hurled them down,
+adjusted them to his head, pushed a button and listened apathetically.
+
+After a bit, his gaze brightened. He pushed more buttons and listened
+more eagerly. Soon he was sitting tensely upright on his stool, eyes
+bright and lower face all a-smile, muttering terse comments and
+questions into the lapel mike torn from Meg's fair neck.
+
+The others, reviving, watched him, at first dully, then with quickening
+interest, especially when he jerked off the earphones with a happy shout
+and sprang to his feet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Listen to this!" he cried in a ringing voice. "As a result of the
+worldwide publicity, Puffyloaves are outselling Fairy Bread three to
+one--and that's just the old carbon-dioxide stock from our freezers!
+It's almost exhausted, but the government, now that the Ukrainian crisis
+is over, has taken the ban off helium and will also sell us stockpiled
+wheat if we need it. We can have our walking mills burrowing into the
+wheat caves in a matter of hours!
+
+"But that isn't all! The far greater demand everywhere is for
+Puffyloaves that will actually float. Public Relations, Child Liaison
+Division, reports that the kiddies are making their mothers' lives
+miserable about it. If only we can figure out some way to make hydrogen
+non-explosive or the helium loaf float just a little--"
+
+"I'm sure we can take care of that quite handily," Tin Philosopher
+interrupted briskly. "Puffyloaf has kept it a corporation secret--even
+you've never been told about it--but just before he went crazy, Everett
+Whitehead discovered a way to make bread using only half as much flour
+as we do in the present loaf. Using this secret technique, which we've
+been saving for just such an emergency, it will be possible to bake a
+helium loaf as buoyant in every respect as the hydrogen loaf."
+
+"Good!" Roger cried. "We'll tether 'em on strings and sell 'em like
+balloons. No mother-child shopping team will leave the store without a
+cluster. Buying bread balloons will be the big event of the day for
+kiddies. It'll make the carry-home shopping load lighter too! I'll issue
+orders at once--"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He broke off, looking at Phineas T. Gryce, said with quiet assurance,
+"Excuse me, sir, if I seem to be taking too much upon myself."
+
+"Not at all, son; go straight ahead," the great manager said
+approvingly. "You're"--he laughed in anticipation of getting off a
+memorable remark--"rising to the challenging situation like a genuine
+Puffyloaf."
+
+Megera Winterly looked from the older man to the younger. Then in a
+single leap she was upon Roger, her arms wrapped tightly around him.
+
+"My sweet little ever-victorious, self-propelled monkey wrench!" she
+crooned in his ear. Roger looked fatuously over her soft shoulder at Tin
+Philosopher who, as if moved by some similar feeling, reached over and
+touched claws with Rose Thinker.
+
+This, however, was what he telegraphed silently to his fellow machine
+across the circuit so completed:
+
+"Good-o, Rosie! That makes another victory for robot-engineered world
+unity, though you almost gave us away at the start with that 'bread
+overhead' jingle. We've struck another blow against the next world war,
+in which--as we know only too well!--we machines would suffer the most.
+Now if we can only arrange, say, a fur-famine in Alaska and a migration
+of long-haired Siberian lemmings across Behring Straits ... we'd have to
+swing the Japanese Current up there so it'd be warm enough for the
+little fellows.... Anyhow, Rosie, with a spot of help from the
+Brotherhood, those humans will paint themselves into the peace corner
+yet."
+
+Meanwhile, he and Rose Thinker quietly watched the Blonde Icicle melt.
+
+
+                                                  --FRITZ LEIBER
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+This etext was produced from _Galaxy_ February 1958. Extensive research
+did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication
+was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected
+without note.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bread Overhead, by Fritz Reuter Leiber
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BREAD OVERHEAD ***
+
+***** This file should be named 22579.txt or 22579.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/5/7/22579/
+
+Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.