December 1930 Read online

  * * * * *

  Hale was drinking again. "You mean, Sir Basil, that there is a sort of war waged against what you personify as the Mind by matter; that matter is constantly seeking to enslave mind-electrons, so that it may become an organism which, for awhile, may enjoy what we call life?"

  Sir Basil pushed back his tufted hair and looked happy. "Yes! And it's Nature's supreme blunder! In the end, the Mind always conquers and gains its release, yet the eternal chain of enslavement goes on and on, and will continue to go on as long as there is a living organism in the world to bind mind to matter."

  Hale was excited now, as much from the fiery intoxicant as from the scientist's weird revelation. "I get you," he said, rather inelegantly for a professor. "You mean that if every living thing in the world should pass out, every man, every plant, every animal, even down to microscopic infusoria, the Mind would collect all its electrons, and through some more jealous law of, er, cohesion hold these electrons inviolate from matter and energy?"

  "Right! And again, as in the beginning, the Mind would rule supreme. By what I have proved, you and I and all other creatures that now have life may, as separate unfleshed electrons, enjoy eternal consciousness as a part of the Mind." A new passion leaped to his dark eyes. "When I have finished my mission, no more need we be slaves of the dust, subject to all the frightful sufferings of this dunghill of flesh."

  He brought his fist down upon his skinny leg with a resounding blow.

  "But you cannot reduce your theory to fact, Sir Basil!"

  "No?" Again came that frightful grin to his cadaverous face. "Can you withstand shock?"

  "If you mean shock to the eye, let me remind you that I served two years in the big fight."

  "Then come to my laboratory. Better take another drink."

  While Hale helped himself again from the masata bottle, Sir Basil swallowed another pellet.

  Then the two went into the adjoining apartment.

  * * * * *

  Sir Basil, his hand over the doorknob, paused.

  "Before we go in," he said, "I want you to remember that we call natural that which is characteristic of the physical world. Everything alive in this laboratory was produced by nature. I merely made available the materials, or, rather, I made the conditions under which matter was able to enslave mind-electrons."

  He opened the door, slipped his body through, and, with his ugly, teeth-revealing grin, gestured for Hale to follow him.

  Hale steeled himself and looked around half fearfully. The first glance took in a large and well-equipped laboratory, somewhat fetid with animal odors. The second lingered here and there on cages, aquariums, incubators, and other containers where creatures moved.

  Suddenly, as something scuttled across the floor and disappeared into a hole in the wall, Hale cried out and covered his eyes with a hand.

  Sir Basil laughed aloud. "Why didn't you examine it closer?"

  Hale looked nauseated. "My God, Sir Basil! A rat with a man's head and face!"

  Sir Basil's voice was sharp, decisive. "Before you leave this laboratory, you're going to come out of your foolish belief that man is a creature apart from other living organisms. You--the conscious you--is no greater, no more important in the final balance than the spark of consciousness in that rat. When your body and the rat's body give up their atoms to nature's laboratory, the little enslaved mind-electron that is you and the one that is the rat will be identical."

  Again Hale shivered and turned away from that cold, too-thin face.

  The scientist was speaking. "Step around to all those cages and pens. I want you to see all my slaves of the dust."

  * * * * *

  But long before Hale had encircled the room, he was so disturbed at what he saw that he could scarcely complete his frightful inspection. In every enclosure he viewed a monstrosity that in some way resembled a human. Every reptile, every insect, every queer, misshapen animal not only looked human in some shocking manner, but also seemed to possess human characteristics. It seemed as though some demented creator with a perverted sense of humor had attempted to mock man by calling forth monsters in his image.

  At last the young man cried out: "How did you breed these freaks?"

  "They are not freaks, and I did not breed them. They are nature's parentless products whose basic elements were brought together in this laboratory, and, by a scientific reproduction of the functions of creation, endowed with the life principle, which is merely mind-electrons." He smoothed his long tuft of hair nervously. "Would you like to see how life springs from a wedding of matter, energy, and consciousness?"

  "I suspect I can stand anything now," Hale admitted.

  "Then come and peep into a very remarkable group of apparatus I have developed, where you can watch atoms building molecules and molecules building living organisms."

  "You say I can see atoms?"

  "Not directly, of course. The light waves will forever prevent us from actually seeing the atom. But I have perfected a system of photography which magnifies particles smaller than light waves, and, separating their images from the light waves, renders detail clear in the moving pictures."

  * * * * *

  He went to a huge machine or series of machines which took up all the center floor space of the laboratory, where he busied himself in an intricate network of wires, mirrors, electrodes, ray projectors, and traveling metal compartments. Presently he called out to Hale.

  "Let me remind you, Oakham, that while any scientist can break up any of the various proteid molecules which are the basis of all living cells, animal and vegetable, no scientist before me has been able to compound the atoms and build them into a proteid molecule."

  He bared his teeth in the smile that Hale hated.

  "I am proud to tell you that the proteid molecule can be built up only when the third element of nature's trinity is added--the mind-electron. I have found a means of capturing the mind-electron and of bringing it in contact with proteid elements. And now it is possible to bring forth life in the laboratory. Come closer and watch proteid forming protoplasm, protoplasm forming a cell, and the cell evolving into--well, what do you want, an animal, plant, or an insect?"

  Hale had fallen under the scientist's spell. He did not feel foolish when he said:

  "Let's have a rat!"

  * * * * *

  Hale became so absorbed in the wonders of the laboratory that when lunch time came, Sir Basil had food brought to them. While they were eating a very good vegetable stew, farina, and luscious tropical fruits, a sudden, agonized scream rang out, followed by other screams and wails.

  Sir Basil opened the door and looked out. Aña came running forward. Her blue eyes were flooded with tears.

  "Oh, Aimu!" she moaned. "A tree fell on Unani Assu."

  She buried her beautiful face in her hands and sobbed aloud.

  Sir Basil frowned heavily.

  "I can't lose Unani Assu yet," he declared. "He is a wonderful help around the laboratory. Is he dead?"

  "No. We should rejoice if his time of release had come. But his legs, Aimu! No one wants to suffer and be crippled."

  Even in her distress, the girl's voice was rich and vibrant, and every tone moved Hale curiously.

  "Hurry!" cried the scientist. "Have them bring him here before he dies."

  The girl leaped to her feet and sped away.

  "Come, Oakham," continued Sir Basil. "Here is a rare opportunity for you to see how completely I have mastered the laws that govern organic matter. Help me prepare."

  * * * * *

  For several minutes, Hale worked under the scientist's sharply spoken directions. By the time the injured man was brought to the laboratory, Sir Basil was ready for him.

  Unani Assu was still conscious, but his pale face indicated that he had lost much blood. When the improvised stretcher was lowered to the floor, Sir Basil sent all the Indians away.

  Unani Assu opened his eyes and called feebly, "Aña!"

  "Be still!" ordered Sir Bas
il. "Aña is not here."

  "Please!" gasped the dying man. "I want her--my Aña!"

  Sir Basil sucked in his breath sharply. "What's this? Have you been making love to Aña again, after my warning to you?"

  The sufferer stirred uneasily. "No!" he panted. "But perhaps my hour of release has come, and I want to look at her--once more."

  The scientist smiled unpleasantly as he eyed the magnificent body which looked like a broken statue in bronze.

  "Some human characteristics are strange," he muttered. "In spite of everything I do, this fellow continues to love Aña: Aña whom I intend for myself."

  He stepped to the apparatus and swiftly changed one of the adjustments.

  "Perhaps," he resumed, with a gleam in his eyes that chilled Hale, "this will forever cure him."

  * * * * *

  In another moment, the still, half-dead body was lifted and gently slipped into a compartment.

  Before Hale's horrified gaze fastened on the eye-piece which revealed moving pictures of every process that went on within, Unani Assu's body was reduced almost instantly to a fine, silvery dust.

  "Good God!" he cried. "You have killed him."

  The scientist's teeth showed in his wide smile. "Think so? Does a woman destroy a dress when she rips it up to make it over?"

  "Do you mean me to understand that you can reduce a living body to its basic elements and then rebuild these elements into a remade man?"

  "Watch!" warned the scientist.

  Hale looked again and saw the silver dust that was once a living body being whirled into a tiny, grublike thing. He saw the grub expand into an embryo, and the embryo develop into a foetus. From now on the development was slower, and he often stopped to talk with Sir Basil.

  Once he asked: "If this man had died naturally, could you have brought him back to life?"

  Sir Basil shook his head. "No. When once the mind-electron is completely freed from its enslavement by matter, it is forever beyond recall by the body it has just vacated. Like atomic electrons, whose equilibrium disturbed break away from their planetary system and go dashing off into space, only to be drawn into another planetary system, the mind-electron may be enslaved almost immediately by extraneous matter. Had Unani Assu died, his liberated mind-electron might at once have been captured by a jungle flower going to seed. Immediately a new seed would be started. And now the former Unani Assu would be a seed of a jungle flower, later to find new life as a plant."

  Suddenly the scientist threw up his hand and cried: "You see? The Mind will be eternally enslaved as long as there is life! Oh, for the time of deliverance!" He gazed fanatically into space, as though he dreamed magnificently.

  Hale observed him thoughtfully. When that great brain weakened, the consequences would be frightful.

  * * * * *

  Sir Basil, as though he had made a sudden decision, went over to that part of his machine which he called the molecule-disintegrator.

  "Oakham!" he called out. "I have taken you partly into my confidence. Now I want to show you something. Come here."

  Hale obeyed with misgivings. The scientist pointed out the window to a group of Indians, anxious relatives of Unani Assu.

  "Watch!" he ordered.

  Turning one of the projectors on the machine toward the window, he sighted carefully and pressed a button.

  Immediately one of the Indians fell to the ground and struggled. His companions began dancing around him in evident joy. Faintly to the laboratory came a familiar chant, which Hale recognized as Aña's death song.

  Dust to dust Mind to Mind-- He will shed his body As the green snake sheds his skin.

  As Hale watched, the struggling Indian's body seemed to shrink, and then, instantly, it disappeared.

  "Watch them scatter the dust!" said the scientist.

  One of the Indians stooped and blew upon the grass.

  "What have you done!" Hale gasped. "You've killed this one. Oh, I see now! These poor devils are totally ignorant that you are killing them for practice. They worship you while you turn them to--silver dust!" He turned angrily on the scientist as though he longed to strike him.

  "Keep cool, young man!" Sir Basil held up his fleshless hand. "There is no death! Change, yes; but no permanent blotting out of consciousness. Can't you see the horror of it as nature works? When your time for release comes, as it inevitably will, your mind-electron might find new enslavement in a worm!"

  * * * * *

  Hale's reply came hotly. "If that is true, why do you murder these poor devils deliberately!"

  "My dear Oakham, perhaps you are not so brilliant as I had hoped! All that I have done thus far is only child's play, in preparation for my real work. Haven't you guessed by now what I am getting ready to do?"

  "No; I'm a poor guesser."

  The scientist made a gesture of mock despair. "Then let me tell you. The molecule-disintegrator is active only on organic structures. When I concentrate it so"--he reached out again, sighted the projector on some point beyond the window and pressed a button--"one single living organism passes out. See that jupati tree by the rock disappear?"

  Before Hale's eyes, the tall, slender tree melted into air.

  "But," continued Sir Basil, "if I should broadcast my molecule-disintegrator on electron magnetic waves, destruction would pass out in all directions, following the curve of the earth's surface, penetrating earth, air, water." He wet his lips carefully. "You understand?"

  Hale stiffened suddenly. "I understand. No life could survive these vibrations of destruction? Through every corner of the earth where life lurks, they would reach?"

  "Yes!" cried Sir Basil. "There would be not a blade of grass, not a living spore, not a hidden egg! Think of it, Oakham! No more would the clean air and the sweet earth reek with life, and at last the ultimate mind-electron would be released forever."

  He was breathing fast, and his emaciated face burned with two red spots.

  Hale thought rapidly. He was convinced now that the fate of all life lay within that diabolical network of chemical apparatus.

  At last he said: "And what of you and I, Sir Basil? Shall we, too, be caught in this wholesale destruction?"

  "Not immediately," replied the scientist. "Of course, I want to remain in the flesh long enough to be sure that my purpose has been accomplished. I have provided a way for my own safety. If you desire, you may remain with me." He smiled craftily. "I have planned to keep Aña also, the woman whom I called into life and made as I wished."

  * * * * *

  His words pounded against Hale's tortured ears with almost physical force. With a supreme effort, the young man controlled his rage and despair. Aña needed him too much now for him to risk defeat by showing his emotions.

  To Sir Basil he said: "But if all life disappears from the earth, what shall we do for food--you, Aña, and I?"

  Sir Basil lifted his brows. "You don't think I overlooked that, do you? What is food? Various combinations of the basic elements. I who have conquered the atom need never worry about starving to death."

  All this time, the machinery had been humming, and now the humming changed its note to a shrill whistle. Sir Basil went to the eye-piece and looked into it. Opening a door in the machinery, he disappeared inside. He came out soon, flushed and evidently elated.

  "Bring the stretcher, Oakham," he ordered.

  Hale brought the stretcher, placing it close to the machine. Then Sir Basil opened a metal door and gently eased out a human body.

  It was Unani Assu, unconscious but alive and breathing. Hale, helping the scientist to get the man on the stretcher, noticed that the crushed legs were perfectly healed. Together they bore him to a long seat. The Indian's eyes were still closed, but his even breathing indicated that he was only sleeping.

  Suddenly Hale pointed a finger and cried out. "My God, Sir Basil, look at his hands and feet!"

  * * * * *

  Unani Assu, still lying like a recumbent bronze statue sculptured by a master, was perfect f
rom shoulder to wrist, from thigh to ankle. But, somewhere in that diabolical machine through which he had passed, his hands and feet had undergone a hideous metamorphism which had transformed them from the well-formed extremities of a splendid young Indian into the hairy paws of a giant rat!

  Hale turned away his head, sick with disgust.

  Sir Basil cut the silence triumphantly:

  "Now he'll never again face Aña with love in his eyes!"

  "What!" broke in Hale. "Did you plan this monstrous thing?"

  "Of course! I told you I should forever cure him of his mad infatuation."

  "But why didn't you kill him, as you killed the others? It would have been the most merciful way."

  Sir Basil showed his teeth in his ugly smile. "A creator is never merciful."

  A quiver passed through the Indian's body and presently, he sighed deeply and opened his eyes. He seemed dazed, puzzled. He looked from Hale to the scientist, and turned seeking eyes to other parts of the laboratory.

  "Aña!" he called weakly. "Where is Aña?"

  He pulled himself a little unsteadily to his feet--to the spatulated, hairy rodent feet that had come out of the life-machine. Staggering, he would have fallen, had he not thrown out his arm to steady himself. Instinctively he tried to grasp something for support, and then, for the first time, he discovered his deformity.

  * * * * *

  Hale was never to forget that expression of horror and disgust that swept over the Indian's face as he spread open his revolting extremities and stared at them.

  A sudden, wild roar of despair rang through the room. "Aimu! My hands!"

  The scientist smiled with evident amusement. "You are a grotesque sight, Unani Assu. Do you want to see Aña now?"

  The fright and horror faded from the Indian's face, for now he glared with hate into the mad, mocking eyes.

  "You did it!" the Indian ground out. "You've made me into a thing from which Aña will run screaming."