An average American man makes a business trip to France. But this is an alternate history, a relatively different Earth where the United States has maintained a monopoly over nuclear weapons and quite a lot more too. Big events are coming, and our traveler is lost in a foreign landscape, relying on strangers for his survival.
"Every face in the world was suddenly important. Every glance from a stranger carried menace: Do they know who I am? Do they want revenge? The average pedestrian looked tense, distracted and angry. Two old men stood on a street corner, rigid fingers accusing the sky of something or another, and though I couldn't understand them, I had no doubt that Algeria was the topic. A gentleman in a suit and tie leaned against a stone building, listening to static and news on a small transistor radio. A young woman walking toward us suddenly looked at me, and a smile flickered before vanishing into an expression more grim than seemed possible on such a pretty face. Then as we passed each other, she whispered a few words to Noelene."
Robert Reed is the author of many stories, including quite a few alternate histories. He won a Hugo Award for his novella, "A Billion Eves."
Genre: Science Fiction
"Every face in the world was suddenly important. Every glance from a stranger carried menace: Do they know who I am? Do they want revenge? The average pedestrian looked tense, distracted and angry. Two old men stood on a street corner, rigid fingers accusing the sky of something or another, and though I couldn't understand them, I had no doubt that Algeria was the topic. A gentleman in a suit and tie leaned against a stone building, listening to static and news on a small transistor radio. A young woman walking toward us suddenly looked at me, and a smile flickered before vanishing into an expression more grim than seemed possible on such a pretty face. Then as we passed each other, she whispered a few words to Noelene."
Robert Reed is the author of many stories, including quite a few alternate histories. He won a Hugo Award for his novella, "A Billion Eves."
Genre: Science Fiction
Used availability for Robert Reed's The Good Hand