Project Gutenberg 2019-05-02 Public domain in the USA. 139 Blish, James 1921 1975 Atheling, William Blish, James Benjamin Orban, Paul 1896 1974 To Pay the Piper Produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, February 1956 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "To Pay the Piper" by James Blish is a science fiction novel written in the mid-20th century. Set against the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic Earth ravaged by biological warfare, the story delves into themes of survival, societal breakdown, and the consequences of human actions on both personal and global scales. The narrative centers around a re-education project aimed at adapting humans to the toxic surface environment, exploring the moral quandaries associated with such an initiative. The plot follows Dr. Samuel Carson, a medical director involved in the Re-Ed Project, which is tasked with training soldiers to return to the surface. The crux of the story involves the clash between military authority and the desperate wishes of civilians, who long to reclaim their former lives on the surface. A significant character, Secretary Hamelin, argues for the inclusion of civilians in the re-education programs, leading to tensions as the military bureaucracy endeavors to control the narrative and prevent chaos. As the story unfolds, the stakes rise with the introduction of mutated diseases that threaten all lives, and a conspiracy develops when it becomes apparent that Hamelin may be an enemy agent. The novel culminates in a tense resolution that forces the characters to confront the price of survival in a world transformed by war. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 74.6 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories United States -- Fiction Apocalyptic fiction Biological warfare -- Fiction PS Text Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Novels 60457 2025-06-23T14:43:24.253205 text/html 56688 2019-05-02T13:55:20 text/html 246071 2025-06-23T14:43:26.335188 application/epub+zip 244909 2025-06-23T14:43:24.693178 application/epub+zip 88895 2025-06-23T14:43:24.435179 application/epub+zip 283398 2025-06-23T14:43:27.764187 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 275577 2025-06-23T14:43:26.095211 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 119866 2022-09-26T23:24:18.589585 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 53610 2025-06-23T14:43:24.124185 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 53516 2019-05-02T13:55:20 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 20339 2025-06-23T14:43:27.913163 application/rdf+xml 30120 2025-06-23T14:43:24.532176 image/jpeg 4866 2025-06-23T14:43:24.483198 image/jpeg 21519 2019-05-02T13:55:20 application/octet-stream application/zip 541924 2019-05-02T13:55:20 application/octet-stream application/zip 545123 2025-06-23T14:43:24.268224 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia