Society has fragmented into:
the Ortho;
the Byworld sub-cultures;
the Underworld.
Keepers and Freemen are two kinds of Byworlders (I think).
The Keepers, full-time conservers and restorers, live nomadically in mobile homes and their children are educated on "...multiple-hook-up two-way screens." (p. 34) They have adopted gipsy-like customs and garb. It is possible to join a Keeper caravan as an auxiliary.
The Freemen are:
regarded as "...pretty straitlaced..." (p. 33) by Skip;
yet another utopian movement;
would-be restorers of independent, patriarchal yeomanry on the basis of modern agronomics and technology.
Skip's friend, Roger Neal, a younger-son Freeman working to get his own place, is on the Lake Tahoe job (see the above link) and introduces Skip to his foreman who arranges for Skip to meet the Chief. Skip hopes that the Chief will introduce him to a scientist or engineer who can get the ear of a politician.
Skip's ability to sketch an irrelevant cartoon while talking to the Chief - and thus, incidentally, amuse the Chief - seems implausible.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
My recollection is that Skip thought the Keepers and Freemen were too "George" for Skip's personal taste.
Once you pointed it out, Skip's ability to sketch while having an important discussion with the Chief does seem implausible. Anderson, being Anderson, does managed to make it seem possible. At least while we are reading the story.
Sean
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