doctor, lawyer or penologist. He spoke only to Richard Wade, a
fellow-prisoner who had been thrust into the adjoining cell on the
evening of October 11th, 2013.

Harry spoke haltingly at first, but as he progressed the words came
more easily, and emotion lent its own eloquence. His unseen auditor on
the other side of the wall did not interrupt or question him; it was
enough, for Harry, that there _was_ someone to listen at last.

"So it wasn't a bit like I'd expected," he concluded. "No trial, no
publicity. I've never seen Leffingwell again, nor Manschoff. Nobody
questioned me. By the time I recovered consciousness, I was here in
prison. Buried alive."

Richard Wade spoke slowly, for the first time. "You're lucky. They
might have shot you down on the spot."

"That's just what bothers me," Harry told him. "Why didn't they kill
me? Why lock me up _incommunicado_ this way? There aren't many prisons
left these days, with food and space at such a premium."

"There are _no_ prisons left at all--officially," Wade said. "Just as
there are no longer any cemeteries. But important people are still
given private burials and their remains secretly preserved. All a
matter of influence."

"I've no influence. I'm not important. Wouldn't you think they'd
consider it risky to keep me alive, under the circumstances? If
there'd ever be an investigation--"

"Who would investigate? Not the government, surely."

"But suppose there's a political turnover. Suppose Congress want to
make capital of the situation?"

"There is no Congress."

Harry gasped. "No Congress?"

"As of last month. It was dissolved. Henceforth we are governed by the
Cabinet, with authority delegated to department heads."

"But that's preposterous! Nobody'd stand still for something like
that!"

"They did stand still, most of them. After a year of careful
preparation--of wholesale _exposes_ of Congressional graft and
corruption and inefficiency. Turned out that Congress was the villain
all along; the Senators and Representatives had finagled
tariff-barriers and restrictive trade-agreements which kept our food
supply down. They were opposing international federation. In plain
language, people were sold a bill of goods--get rid of Congress and
you'll have more food. That did it."

"But you'd think the politicians themselves would realize they were
cutting their own throats! The state legislatures and the governors--"

"Legislatures were dissolved by the sa