1984 - Planet eBook

again.Winston’s heart stirred. That was the bulletin from thefront; instinct told him that it was bad news that was coming.All day, with little spurts of excitement, the thoughtof a smashing defeat in Africa had been in and out of hismind. He seemed actually to see the Eurasian army swarmingacross the never-broken frontier and pouring downinto the tip of Africa like a column of ants. Why had it notbeen possible to outflank them in some way? The outline ofthe West African coast stood out vividly in his mind. Hepicked up the white knight and moved it across the board.THERE was the proper spot. Even while he saw the blackhorde racing southward he saw another force, mysteriouslyassembled, suddenly planted in their rear, cutting their comunicationsby land and sea. He felt that by willing it hewas bringing that other force into existence. But it was necessaryto act quickly. If they could get control of the wholeof Africa, if they had airfields and submarine bases at theCape, it would cut Oceania in two. It might mean anything:defeat, breakdown, the redivision of the world, the destructionof the Party! He drew a deep breath. An extraordinarymedley of feeling—but it was not a medley, exactly; rather itwas successive layers of feeling, in which one could not saywhich layer was undermost—struggled inside him.The spasm passed. He put the white knight back in itsplace, but for the moment he could not settle down to seriousstudy of the chess problem. His thoughts wanderedagain. Almost unconsciously he traced with his finger inthe dust on the table: