The Collected Stories

by Earl

  “It is not a pleasant thought—all those lives to be lost. But it is the only way. No other way of killing the brain is quick and sure enough to accomplish our purpose.”

  Almost at the same moment Terry and Williams had an identical thought.

  “The acid, Terry!” said Williams. “The one that eats steel!”

  Terry nodded eagerly. “The lock mechanism itself must be of ferrous metal because the impervium alloy can’t be machined that finely. The acid will eat it away in a wink!”

  “Yes,” agreed Agarth. “But acid carries electricity. The alarm will ring just as certainly as in the other case.”

  Terry leaped to his feet. “Not this acid! It doesn’t carry current! It is a compound of helium and chlorine; it is as non-conductive as oil! And at the merest contact with ferrous metals, it throws nascent chlorine loose, and free helium.”

  “Strange,” said Agarth. “I’ve never heard of that compound.”

  “Very few have,” said Terry quickly. “It’s a recent discovery and not yet widely known or marketed. Only by great fortune did I have a bottle of it in my laboratory, which Hackworth knew about, and without which we should never have escaped prison.”

  Agarth now sprang to his feet in excitement. “If it’s true that it carries no current, then it is truly a godsend! It may mean the saving of many lives. Terry, we must get some of the acid and test it!”

  * * *

  Arising from the water, a long, thin sliver of metal with wide and incredibly thin wings, left the shores of France and soared gracefully into the rosy sky of impending dawn. Its three motors sang a song of power. It ascended the crimson vault of heaven and when the air grew thin and cold, flaming gases belched from its rear, pushing it forward and upward mightily. In a. grand arc, it puffed its way to the height of twenty miles and then leveled out, its speed so great that the dawn never broke into broad day to the occupants.

  Inside the ship, Williams clutched the arm-rests of his seat with involuntary terror, amazed at the powerful surges that pressed his body back against the leather. At his one side, Agarth smiled a little at “his tense lips and the tiny beads of sweat on his brow. Terry, at the other side, stared out the window, hardly less affected than Williams, although he had had a ride In a stratosphere ship before. In a seat immediately back of them sat M’bopo, not terrified, but with his simple thoughts all jammed and incoherent at the experience.

  “Sarto je Bru!” muttered Williams. “I feel like I’m going to Mars at a million miles an hour.”

  Agarth chuckled. “Yes, I know, Williams. Everybody’s first trip in a stratosphere rocket ship is a terrifying thrill. The grand upward sweep, the throb of power at the back, the pressing hand of inertia. . . .”

  They were bound for San Francisco and the main headquarters of the Brotherhood in one of the organization’s rocket ships—the fastest mode of transportation in 1973. Having completed his organizing work in Europe, Agarth had left the Paris headquarters in the hands of others. All the higher officers of the Brotherhood were now converging on San Francisco, to await the Great Day, which was only three days off. In Europe under Agarth’s guidance, hundreds of grim Brothers of Humanity awaited the zero hour when they would saunter into the Brain-control chambers as casual visitors and then at a certain hour do the deed that was to end the Enslavement of the Brains.

  In an hour, the rocket ship had reached its high cruising level. Artificial air pumped through the air-tight cabin. Heating units hissed softly and kept out the cold of the upper reaches. The pilots, after reaching a velocity of a thousand miles an hour, throttled the rockets to the point where they did nothing but keep the speed constant.

  Then it was easier for the passengers. The awful backward pressure let up and constricted chests were able to breathe naturally once again.

  “We will be there in seven hours,” said Agarth. “Eight thousand miles in eight hours, counting the hour to ascend.”

  “And I thought the hyp-marine was fast!” commented Williams.

  The panorama revealed to their eyes was awesome in its grandeur. The flush of their permanent dawn suffused the scene below with its undulating billows of clouds. At times, a wide rift in the cloud-bank would unveil the shimmering-green of endless ocean. The hint of vast distance was there. Williams felt that he was looking at earth from another planet through a telescope. Above and around, the stars shone as brightly as light globes. And even when the dawn slowly caught up with them and pushed the rim of the sun above water, the stars continued to shine defiantly.

  “Some rocket ships have ascended as high as two hundred miles,” said Agarth. “At that height, one is in space to all practical purposes and the corona and halo of the sun fail to dim the stars.”

  “Have any rocket ships gone to the moon or some planet?” asked Williams.

  “They have gone but never returned. There is no case on record yet of any party arriving successfully and signalling back from the moon. One unfortunate space-pioneer ran out of fuel just in time to fall into the moon’s gravitational field and become its satellite. Astronomers today in the big telescopes can see his tiny ship swinging eternally in a narrow orbit—a pandering coffin.”

  At the mid-point of the ocean, Williams espied, through broken clouds, a sizeable object apparently floating on the surface. At times, a red shaft of the sun’s light would reflect from it.

  “Sarto! What is that?” he asked. “To be visible at all from this height, it must be a monstrous thing.”

  “That is a pet experiment of the Unidum Scientists,” answered Terry, after fixing his eyes to the object. “There is a great deal of secrecy about it. It is supposed to be a plant to produce energy from sunlight. The set-up of mirrors is on a raft a quarter-mile square! The mirrors collect the sun’s rays not only from above, but from below—those reflected by the vast body of the ocean when the face of a wave turns right. At any one moment, countless square miles of wave faces reflect light to that set-up. It collects them, and also the direct rays, and converts them into energy. It is still experimental, but I hear the Unidum has high hopes in it. It has cost them years of labor and scientific effort. There are always dozens of Scientists aboard and many more skilled tradesmen.”

  “If the Unidum would only concentrate itself more on things like that,” interjected Agarth, “instead of on an inhuman scientific mistake like the Brain-control, it would be all right. That sunpower affair, when and if it becomes practicable, can do only good.”

  “Unless they think of installing a few Brain-controls there too,” said Williams deprecatingly.

  High over the American continent flashed the rocket ship, passing once another but much larger stratosphere plane. It was cloudy weather over most of the land, but Williams could see by the way the towns and cities rolled up and then down the horizon that they truly had a terrific speed. When the Rocky Mountains came in sight, the rocket blasts died out altogether and the ship began to settle downward. The pilots turned and said something and Agarth showed Williams how to turn his seat around so that he would face the rear. He saw a good reason for that not long after when the ship fell into thicker air and began to decelerate mightily.

  For long minutes, Williams felt that a gigantic hand was. pushing him up into the sky. Then there was a cough from the front and a moment later the engines burst out in a powerful whine. For a. half-hour they passed through swirling clouds. Suddenly it was clear and Williams saw the wide bosom of an ocean rise to meet them. A slight bump and swishing slide through water. Then silence and rest.

  “Here we are,” said Agarth, springing up. “Behold the Pacific on the left. Behold, the first hour of dawn. We left at dawn and arrive at the same time!” He chuckled and opened the door, revealing a wooden dock. “We are a hundred miles down the coast from San Francisco. A Brother is awaiting us with an auto, in which we will drive to. the Brotherhood’s headquarters. There you will meet the two Generals whose sagacity and zeal have made possible our crusade.”

  CH
APTER XII

  Daring

  l In the terrible All-Nations War of 1936-38, Japan, mightily armed and possessed of a formidable war-fleet, had attacked! the United States and taken over the whole western sea-board in a short month. When a hitherto lax war department of the latter nation had aroused itself and decided to take back the. territory, it was found that the enemy had ensconced itself securely in underground strongholds. They were just as determined to hold what they had gained as the rightful owners were to get it back. The final result was the same enervated deadlock that occurred in Europe.

  With the advent of the Unidum, the yellow enemy retreated, fearing attack from Europe by way of Siberia. But their elaborate camouflaged strongholds remained, a symbol of the war-fever that had very nearly destroyed all civilization. In one of these, near the city of San Francisco, the Brothers of Humanity had set up their main headquarters. There were no highways near it, and from above, it was invisible. Supplies were brought in, and agents arrived and left in all secrecy, Had the Unidum so much as suspected that such a nest of conspiracy existed, they would have borne down on it in full strength. That there had never been betrayal showed how cautiously the Brotherhood worked, and how staunch were its trusted members.

  Williams looked with awe upon some of the rusted cannons which were scattered throughout the caverns, separated from the light by traps which could be opened by the pulling of nearby chains. Not four decades before they had belched flame and smoke at besieging armies. Agarth led them through passageways that connected bomb-proof chambers far beneath the guns. There was a smell of mustiness pervading the air they breathed, as though decaying bones in far comers had never been cleared away. Now and then a man passed them, saluting respectfully to Agarth. In several lighted rooms whose doors were open, Williams could see men laboring with papers and codes and radio instruments. This was the core of the network of the Brotherhood.

  Finally, Agarth knocked upon a door.

  “Come in,” said a man opening the door. “The Generals are expecting you.”

  It was a large room whose clay walls had been bolstered with concrete. At the far end several men sat at crude tables, writing. At the near end against the wall was a desk at which sat two men who now arose to meet them.

  “Major Agarth, welcome!”

  Agarth saluted, then turned to introduce Terry and Williams to the two Generals, Hagen and Bromberg. Terry gasped at the names.

  “Hah!” said Bromberg. “You recognize us by name?”

  “Yes, I—I believe I do!” stammered Terry. “Professor Bromberg and Doctor Hagen were the two Scientists who wrote the monograph on the After-Life of Brains in the Brain-controls, and who were impeached by the other Scientists and then disappeared!”

  “Exactly,” agreed Bromberg. “Seat yourselves, all of you.”

  He continued: “Yes, we are those same two Scientists. Three years ago we made our investigations and published our results, thinking that they would cause the abolition of the Brain-controls and bring honor to ourselves. How different it was! We were arrested, dragged before court. . . . oh, the misery of it—as though we had been common criminals! We were exiled to Asia because Scientists cannot be executed by law. There for two years we labored for the Federation of Asia as honored savants, but the disgrace of our banishment rankled in our hearts. Then we became imbued with a desire to end the enslavement of the brains. We heard of the attempt of Major Agarth and his men to smash Brain-controls, and got in touch with him after their sensational jail-break. The Brotherhood was then organized. And three days from now, may fate smile upon us, we will end the tyranny of Brain-Enslavement!”

  Both Bromberg and Hagen were well past middle age. The former was of an exceedingly grave demeanor, quiet and seemingly meek. The latter, on the other hand, was a fiery soul, excitable and talkative. His dark eyes gleamed with almost a fanatical light. As he spoke, he waved his hands in emphasis.

  After his short speech of introduction, Bromberg brought his voice down to normal as it had risen to emphatic thunders.

  “Marshals Williams and Spath, we give you welcome into our organization. I know already a great deal about you.; Major Agarth has sent me relevant details via code. As doomed by the Unidum to be the victims of more insidious Brain-controls, you are doubly welcome. With the formula you sent a week ago for the new acid, we have already manufactured and sent from our laboratory here bottles of the compound to all our various agents in Unitaria. The results of your tests also indicate that we will strike our first blow against the Unidum without their knowing it until it is too late even to apprehend the various men who will poison the brains. The first thing they will know, the machines in the food plants will begin acting strangely. They will investigate, perhaps not till hours after the poisoning. Ha! They will see the lock corroded; they will open it; then they will know!”

  Bromberg’s eyes glistened in joy. Then he turned to exchange a few phrases with Hagen.

  “General Hagen wishes to confer with Major Agarth. If you, Marshals Williams and Spath, and the black man, care to have lunch with me. . . .”

  After assenting, they followed Bromberg from the office to a nearby dining chamber.

  Bromberg ran an approving eye over Williams. “You are a brawny man, Marshal Williams. Agarth tells me you have been in Africa the past forty years. One could tell you have led an active life. And your escape from the Boston prison and the run-around you gave the police, ha!—remarkable. Are you a man of luck, or great enterprise?”

  “A man of quick wit and sudden plans,” said Terry quickly, sincere in tone.

  Williams flushed under his African tan. “I think luck plays a great part in my life, General. Otherwise I should have been dead in Africa years ago.”

  Bromberg nodded. “I only hope you have brought some of your luck with you into the Brotherhood. Perhaps. . . . perhaps we’ll need it. The Unidum may react differently to our first bold stroke than we think. It may be that already the seed of corruption has grown . . .

  He paused, then: “Let me tell you some things about the Unidum. I was in the Medical Bureau for years and learned a lot. The Unidum of today is heading towards tyranny and decay and the first signs of it are the Eugenics Law and the Brain-control innovation.

  “It is sad but true that no matter how noble or idealistic a new regime starts, it invariably falls into corruption after a time. When the Unidum arose in 1943, it was the greatest single advancement civilization has ever known. Its members were the souls of integrity, the most intelligent, noblest of the entire federation. They founded a totally new type of government and gave it a hearty start that carried it safely to 1963, ten years ago.

  “Then came the Eugenics Law, a wonderful idea but applied so heartlessly and wrongly. Scientific eugenics will some day remodel the world into a finer, better and saner place; the average intellect will rise; cripples, lunatics, deficients, will disappear; people will be born more nearly equal. But a Eugenics Law which begins with tyranny, as the present one has, can only do questionable good because it undermines the morality of all concerned. Loveless marriages are a return to feudal aristocracy with all its evils.

  “Previous to 1963, the Unidum had worked like a clock. But after the passage of the Eugenics Law, there arose dissention in the government; many of the Scientists, Hagen and myself included, were opposed to the Law and wished it taken out. However, the other faction prevented such a move. Then five years later, the second great blow fell—the enslavement of the brains!

  “Now what the masses do not realize—and even what many of the Scientists do not realize—is what that would eventually lead to: A cold, inhuman, scientific social system in which the ‘Scientists,’ rapidly increasing in number through the application of the Eugenics Law, will completely dominate a dwindling citizenship whose brains will go after death to run the machinery of the world! The result in a few centuries will be a world of men who will call themselves ‘Scientists’ but who will be slothful mental monsters, liv
ing like decadent gods in a completely mechanised world, falling to certain decay!”

  l The others had stopped eating at these astounding words. They listened open-mouthed as the fiery professor continued.

  “And the whole diabolical scheme originated in the mind of but one man—the present Executive Molier of the Unidum. It was he that perfected the brain-rejuvenation process. He must have conceived his plans long before he became Executive. His is one of those minds that, in their ruthlessness and power-lust, can form the future of civilization. His copartner, Executive Ashley, is a mere puppet, powerless against Molier’s superior will. It is the latter who truly dominates Unitaria today. And by his persuasive powers, his subtle propaganda, he has begun the corruption of the erstwhile noble Unidum. If not checked, he will lead them to absolute tyranny and eventual decay.”

  Bromberg paused and lowered his voice to normal. “I see by your faces that these are unexpected revelations to you. And well they may be, for very few outside of the Brotherhood have even the vaguest suspicion that a black cloud has darkened the future. You wonder too how it is possible for one man to carry forward such fiendish plans. You must understand that the Unidum, in order to exercise its Utopian principles and forge ahead rapidly, had invested absolute authority in the central government. It controlled all industry. It limited private wealth. It supervised transportation and communication. And it gave to the two Executives dictatorial powers! It has long been the custom for the People’s Parliament to copy-cat every move of the House of Scientists. With the latter legislative body dominated by Executive Molier, it has been easy for him to get the Eugenics Law and Brain-control Act through.

  “Yet so cleverly has he acted that very few indeed see the Nemesis behind it. He has made the people believe that the Eugenics Law is commendable—more Scientists, more advancement. As for the Brain-controls: more of them, less work for the people.”