(no subject)

[theweaselking]

"Hammerfall," said Hugo. "You could be the last mailman we ever see. Consider the implications. No more ads to buy things you can't afford. No more friendly reminders from the collection agency. You should throw away that uniform, Harry. The Establishment's dead."

"Huh. so I'm a member of the Establishment?"

"That's a uniform, isn't it?" said Beck, and the others laughed.

Harry looked down. "Someone should have told me. All right, you can't feed me and you can't transport me-"

"No more gas, maybe foreever. The rain is going to wipe out most of the crops. You can see that, Harry."

Presently, Hugo asked again "What do you do now?"

"Deliver the mail" said Harry.

"Why?" A frail and pretty blonde girl cried, "It's all over, man. No more letters to your congressman. No more Playboy. No more tax forms or... voting instructions. You're free! Take off the uniform and dance!"

"I'm already cold. My feet hurt. Anyway, it's the mail. 'Neither rain, nor sleet, nor heat of day, nor gloom of night,' et cetera."

"What does it say," Hugo Beck asked, "about the end of the world?"

"I think it's optional. I'm going to deliver the mail."

-Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, "Lucifer's Hammer"