With The Night Mail
Author: Rudyard Kipling, 1865-1936
Illustrations: Frank X. Leyendecker, 1877-1924
Published: 1905
Source: Project Gutenberg
Keywords: Science fiction, Aeronautics
A Story of 2000 A.D. (Together with extracts from the comtemporary magazine in
which it appeared)
By 2000 A.D, airships have replaced aircraft for freight and human travel.
Kipling’s novella follows the exploits of an intercontinental mail dirigible
battling foul weather, while detailing a planet-wide Aerial Board of Control
(A.B.C.), which enforces a rigid system of command and control not only in the
skies but in world affairs too; they outlaw war in 1967. Kipling got so excited
by his own utopian vision that the story was accompanied by phony
advertisements and other ersatz magazine clippings.
In Kipling’s 1912 followup story, “As Easy As A.B.C.,” set 65 years later, we
learn just how complete the A.B.C.’s control is over the social and economic
affairs of every nation. When a mob of disgruntled ‘Serviles’ in the District
of Northern Illinois demands the return of democracy, the A.B.C. sends a team
of troubleshooters (from England, Russia, Japan, and Italy) and a fleet of 200
zeppelins to retake the skies.
(Harry Bravado)
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