The provided text is an excerpt from the science fiction novel "Counter-Clock World" by Philip K. Dick, evidenced by the title page and author biography at the end, which notes Dick's life and works, including his Hugo Award-winning novel "The Man in the High Castle". The narrative explores a world experiencing the Hobart Phase, a reversal of time where the recently deceased are old-born and rise from their graves, growing progressively younger until they return to the womb. The plot centers on Sebastian Hermes, who operates the Flask of Hermes Vitarium, a business that exhumes and "rebirths" these individuals, and Officer Joseph Tinbane, a policeman frustrated by the task of locating old-borns like Mrs. Tilly M. Benton. A major point of contention arises when the vitarium locates the body of the Anarch Peak, a deceased religious leader, whose rebirth is sought after by a cult called the Uditi led by Ray Roberts and opposed by the powerful People's Topical Library (Library) and its agents, the Erads, leading to intense conflict and the death of Officer Tinbane.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.