Black Sheep Astray

Infobox short story
name = Black Sheep Astray
author = Mack Reynolds
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Science fiction
published_in =
publication_type = anthology
publisher =
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pub_date = 1973

"Black Sheep Astray" is a short story by Mack Reynolds. It was first published in in 1973.

Plot introduction

The story is the third part of the "North Africa" series of stories, and a sequel to "Border, Breed Nor Birth".

Plot summary

The story is set in Africa in about the year 2020CE.

Dr Homer Crawford, for many years the tyrant of North and most of Central Africa, under the name of "El Hassan", faces a military coup led by his closest supporters, who believe that he is overdue to introduce democracy to his people. Promised a pension and safe passage if he submits, he leaves Africa to retire to Switzerland with his wife Isobel and son Abraham. He escapes an assassination attempt by army officers on board his aeroplane, and makes it safely to Switzerland.

Six months later, now a frustrated semi-alcoholic, Crawford learns of a counter-coup in Africa by a dissident army cabal. Most of the junta have been shot, but one has managed to make it through to meet Crawford in Switzerland. They decide on desperate measures, contact those of the former supporters of their regime that escaped, and return, one by one, and in disguise, to Africa. Their rendezvous is an afforestation project in what was Southern Algeria.

Ostensibly there to launch a counter-coup, it is revealed by Crawford that he wants his son Abraham to plan and launch the coup himself. His father and what allies he can gather will form a guerilla campaign to distract the army and give Abraham time to contact students and form a new political organisation against the ruling colonels.