The Project Gutenberg EBook of With a Vengeance, by J. B. Woodley

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Title: With a Vengeance

Author: J. B. Woodley

Illustrator: Knoth

Release Date: November 14, 2009 [EBook #30475]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration: Illustrated by KNOTH]

With a Vengeance

By J. B. WOODLEY

_Keep this in mind in teaching
apprentices: They are future
journeymen--and even masters!_

October 10, 2119
New San Francisco

Today, at precisely 9:50 a.m., Kyle became First Imperator of Terra. His
coup was so fantastically direct and facile that I am almost tempted to
believe that old cliche "the time was right."

Well, however badly it can be expressed, I suppose the world _was_ ripe
for this sort of thing. I can remember when much the same used to
happen in elections. One man would win over another by a tremendous
majority, and historians would then set about to show how "the time was
right."

Why do I persist in tormenting myself with that phrase! Analytically, I
might say I resent this new aristocracy of politics. Specifically, I
might say I resent Kyle.

And both are true, both are true.

This swing, though, to absolute monarchy, complete with the installation
of the Kyle Dynasty--damn him! This is something which psychologists,
not historians, must explain. Has the age of the Common Man, so bravely
flaunted for over one hundred years, truly come to nothing? Would people
really prefer a figurehead and a symbol of undisputed authority?

In this instance, one may again conclude that "the time was right."
Contact with planets like Mars and Venus undoubtedly had its influence.
I must confess that the televised audiences with the Mrit of Venus and
the Znam of Mars _did_ make Terra's President--I should say, late
President--look a bit seedy. I daresay there is such a thing as a too
common Common Man.

Kyle was such, twenty years ago.