The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Happy Man, by Gerald Wilburn Page

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: The Happy Man

Author: Gerald Wilburn Page

Illustrator: George Schelling

Release Date: December 18, 2009 [EBook #30705]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HAPPY MAN ***

Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact & Fiction March 1963.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed.

THE HAPPY MAN

More's "Utopia" was isolated--
cut off--from the dreary world outside.
All Utopias are....

by GERALD W. PAGE

ILLUSTRATED BY GEORGE SCHELLING

* * * * *

Nelson saw the girl at the same time she saw him. He had just rounded
an outcropping of rock about ten miles from the East Coast Mausoleum.
They were facing each other, poised defensively, eyes alertly on each
other, about twenty feet apart. She was blond and lean with the
conditioning of outdoor life, almost to the point of thinness. And
although not really beautiful, she was attractive and young, probably
not yet twenty. Her features were even and smooth, her hair wild about
her face. She wore a light blouse and faded brown shorts made from a
coarse homespun material. Nelson had not expected to run into anyone
and apparently, neither had she. They stood staring at each other for
a long time; how long, Nelson was unable to decide, later.

A little foolishly, Nelson realized that something would have to be
done by one of them. "I'm Hal Nelson," he said. It had been a long
time since he had last spoken; his voice sounded strange in the
wilderness. The girl moved tensely, but did not come any closer to
him. Her eyes stayed fixed on him and he knew that her ears were
straining for any sound that might warn her of a trap.

Nelson started to take a step