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The journey highlights their uneasy expectations, their limited language skills, and the decision to search the town’s cantina scene for information. The narration establishes the setting through population and infrastructure details, contrasting old vehicles and lax pollution enforcement with a sleepy, dusty atmosphere. Chapter I ends with Bat and Ferd entering the bar and observing the locals’ cautious reactions.","[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nContents  \nCOPYRIGHT INFORMATION  \nBOOKS BY MACK REYNOLDS  \nCHAPTER I  \nCHAPTER II  \nCHAPTER III  \nCHAPTER IV  \nCHAPTER V  \nCHAPTER VI  \nCHAPTER VII  \nCHAPTER VIII  \nCHAPTER IX  \nCHAPTER X  \nCHAPTER XI  \nCHAPTER XII  \nCHAPTER XIII  \nCHAPTER XIV  \nCHAPTER XV  \nCHAPTER XVI  \nAFTERMATH  \nABOUT THE AUTHOR  \nCOPYRIGHT INFORMATION Rolltown  \nCopyright © 1976 by Mack Reynolds. All rights reserved.  \n*  \nPublished by Wildside Press, LLC. [www.wildsidepress.com](www.wildsidepress.com)[ ](www.wildsidepress.com)BOOKS BY MACK REYNOLDS THE BAT HARDIN SERIES Commune 2000 AD  \nThe Towers of Utopia Rolltown  \nTHE HOMER CRAWFORD SERIES  \nBlack Man’s Burden Border, Breed nor Birth The Best Ye Breed  \nTHE JOE MAUSER SERIES Mercenary from Tomorrow The Earth War  \nThe Fracas Factor Time Gladiator  \nJoe Mauser: Mercenary from Tomorrow (with Michael A. Banks)  \nTHE JULIAN WEST SERIES Looking Backward from the Year 2000 Equality in the Year 2000  \nTHE LAGRANGE SERIES Lagrange Five  \nThe Lagrangists (with Dean Ing) Chaos in Lagrangia  \nTrojan Orbit (with Dean Ing) THE UNITED PLANETS SERIES Planetary Agent X  \nDawnman Planet The Rival Rigelians Code Duello Amazon Planet OTHER BOOKS Ability Quotient After Some Tomorrow  \nAfter Utopia Brain World Computer War  \nComputer World Day After Tomorrow Depression or Bust Galactic Medal of Honour  \nOf Godlike Power (aka Earth Unaware)  \nPerchance to Dream Police Patrol: 2000AD Satellite City  \nSection G: United Planets Space Pioneer  \nSpace Search  \nSpace Visitor  \nThe Computer Conspiracy  \nThe Cosmic Eye  \nThe Five-way Secret Agent  \nThe Space Barbarians Tomorrow Might be Different Trample an Empire Down  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nCHAPTER I  \nBat Hardin was getting fully immersed in his book when Ferd Zogbaum’s knock came on the door. He gave a grunt of displeasure, marked his page and got up.  \nFerd’s camper was on the slow and awkward side, comparatively, so Bat suggested that they take his electro-steamer. Linares proper was about a kilometer down the road and it took them only minutes to arrive.  \nOn the way, Bat said,“What do you expect to find?”  \n“Darned if I know,” Ferd said grumpily.“It wasn’t my idea to go into town. It was yours.”  \nBat said,“I thought we’d just scout around a little. Do you speak Spanish?”  \n“No. A little German.”  \n“That’ll do us a hell of a lot of good,” Bat said.“A great couple of snoopers we’ll be. About all I can say in Spanish is una mas cerveza, por favor.”  \n“What does that mean?”  \n“Another beer, please.”  \n“Great,” Ferd grinned sourly.“We’d better make a beeline for a bar, then.”  \nThe town of Linares boasted a population of approximately 14,000 and had little call to fame. The area was not particularly suited to farming, mining nor, certainly, industry, and since its scenic attractions were only fair, tourism was also a matter of little gain. Thus it was that the community had hardly participated in the growth of Mexico proper such as the progressive cities of Monterrey, Guadalajara, Vera Cruz and above all Mexico City itself. In fact, Linares remained a town of yesteryear, a sleepy, dull and, at this time of the year, at least, dusty backwash to the days of Pancho Villa.  \nThe main highway leading west and, further on, south, compounded insult to injury by avoiding Linares proper. Bat and Ferd had to take a side street to the village zocco or plaza, the center about which every Mexican hamlet, village or city revolves.  \nIt differed not at all, except possibly being amongst the least picturesque in all the Republic, from the norm. There was a park, a bandstand in its center, iron benches about the perimeter, patches of sad flowers spotted here and there. A score of trees provided perching for multitudes of birds which  \nevidently had no respect for weary townsmen slumped below on the benches.  \nThere were few cars parked about the square, and those that were there were more often old-fashioned internal combustion engines, rathe","cbCaidfHZo3chpPC","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidfHZo3chpPC","pdf",913721,127,"English","en",105,"# Chapter I\n## Bat Hardin interrupted and heading to Linares\n## The town’s setting and local atmosphere\n## Entering the cantina","[{\"question\":\"Why does Bat Hardin leave his reading in Chapter I?\",\"answer\":\"Ferd Zogbaum knocks on the door, prompting Bat to mark his page, get up, and leave with him.\"},{\"question\":\"Where do Bat and Ferd go after arriving near Linares?\",\"answer\":\"They head to the town’s cantina in search of something useful, making their way through the plaza area.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the chapter reveal about Linares and its infrastructure?\",\"answer\":\"Linares is described as a sleepy, dusty backwater with limited industry and old-fashioned vehicles, and it appears to have lax enforcement of pollution laws.\"}]",1785400180,196,{"code":4,"msg":29,"data":30},"ok",{"site_id":23,"language":22,"slug":31,"title":13,"keywords":32,"description":14,"schema_data":33,"social_meta":84,"head_meta":86,"extra_data":88,"updated_unix":26},"rolltown-chapter-i","",{"@graph":34,"@context":83},[35,52,66],{"@type":36,"itemListElement":37},"BreadcrumbList",[38,42,46,49],{"item":39,"name":40,"@type":41,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":43,"name":44,"@type":41,"position":45},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":47,"name":12,"@type":41,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/",3,{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":41,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/rolltown-chapter-i/114468/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":22,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":60,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":61,"interactionStatistic":62},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":39,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-30",true,{"@type":63,"interactionType":64,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":65},"ViewAction",{"@type":67,"mainEntity":68},"FAQPage",[69,75,79],{"name":70,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":72},"Why does Bat Hardin leave his reading in Chapter I?","Question",{"text":73,"@type":74},"Ferd Zogbaum knocks on the door, prompting Bat to mark his page, get up, and leave with him.","Answer",{"name":76,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":77},"Where do Bat and Ferd go after arriving near Linares?",{"text":78,"@type":74},"They head to the town’s cantina in search of something useful, making their way through the plaza area.",{"name":80,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":81},"What does the chapter reveal about Linares and its infrastructure?",{"text":82,"@type":74},"Linares is described as a sleepy, dusty backwater with limited industry and old-fashioned vehicles, and it appears to have lax enforcement of pollution laws.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":50,"og:type":85,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":57,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":87,"canonical":50},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":23},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":90},[91,94,98,102,107,112,117,122,127,130,134],{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":92,"slug":93},90,"story-novel",{"id":45,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":51,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":103,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":104,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":106},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":108,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":109,"show_sort_weight":110,"slug":111},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":113,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":114,"show_sort_weight":115,"slug":116},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":119,"show_sort_weight":120,"slug":121},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":126},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":129},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":131,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":131,"slug":133},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":135,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":136,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":137},19,"General","general"]