Meccania the Super-State

Alternate History Dystopian Science Fiction A day or two after he had been introduced to me I invited him to dinner and on this occasion we found much to talk about—chiefly European politics. At length after we had finished a bottle of wine and a liqueur or two he remarked that of all the countries he had visited in Western Europe he had been most impressed by Meccania. (He pronounced the word ‘Mek-kah´-nia.’) My knowledge of Geography is not complete I admit but I thought I knew all the countries of Western Europe (the war has helped wonderfully to fill up certain gaps). I replied that I had never heard of such a country. “Probably not” he answered. “But it exists. And the proof of it is that I spent some five months there in 1970 and kept a journal of my experiences.” “You mean 1870” I said. “No 1970” he replied...