“Sylla hears the Master’s orders.”
“Assemble my personal guard, the prison guard, the guards from the storehouses, the supervisors of the watchmen, the senior kitchen-staff and the machine-tenders in the muster-hall. The Master intends to lay down the law!”
“The Master will be obeyed.”
Silently, Xavière and Leo waited for about five minutes.
“The Master is obeyed!” cried the telephonograph.
“Listen!” Saint-Clair continued. “The Master speaks!” He paused then went on: “Sylla will take an airplane and leave immediately, alone, to follow the army to Hellas, via the Strait of Pandora. When he has caught up with the army, he will present himself to Commander Kipper and he will say: ‘Commander, the Master has sent me to watch over you.’ And if Kipper should die in any subsequent combat, Sylla, will return alone to render an account. The Master has spoken!”
“Sylla obeys! Glory to the Master!”
Saint-Clair paused again, then went on: “Banko, hear the Master’s orders!”
“Banko hears the Master’s orders!”
“The Master speaks! You will replace Sylla. Let everyone obey you as they would the Master himself. Guards, watchmen, slaves, kitchen staff, hear the Master’s orders!”
A chorus of many voices roared into the transmission apparatus: “We hear the orders! We hear the orders!”
“You have heard! Let the Master’s will be carried out!”
“It will be done! Hail and glory to the Master of the Fifteen and our lives! Hail!”
“Prosperity to you all!” replied Saint-Clair—and he added: “The Master wishes to see Banko.” And when Banko had arrived, meticulous orders were given to him, dispositions were carefully organized, and the official existence of every day was regulated, minute by minute, in such a way that the prodigious substitution should not be revealed in Cosmopolis until Saint-Clair judged it opportune.
During their meal, Xavière and the Nyctalope were served, in Oxus’ usual dining-room, by Félicie Jolivet, assisted by two young female slaves who had never seen Oxus and who had received strict orders not to speak to the Master, on pain of death. By night, Xavière and the Nyctalope were to take turns sleeping in a camp-bed that Banko set up in the study—except for the night to come, of which Saint-Clair wished to take advantage to leave for Lake Niliacus, from which he would bring back his companions and Alpha as quickly as possible.
After lunch, which was undisturbed by any incident, Xavière and Leo went together to serve a meal to Oxus, a prisoner in his bedroom. Then they returned to the study, and the Nyctalope devoted the entire afternoon to initiating Xavière in the direction and management of the complex machine that was Cosmopolis and its inhabitants.
During the night—and, in fact, the following day—Xavière had to replace Leo as Master of the XV. Banko stood guard at the door and the young woman, seated in Oxus’ armchair like a spider at the center of its web, had to remain in communication with all the near and distant elements of Cosmopolis and act in such a way that no one had any suspicion of the unimaginable events that had taken place in the previous 24 hours.
At 8 p.m., an aircraft was made ready, on Banko’s instructions, on the terrace of Oxus’ palace.
Before separating from Xavière to leave in the airplane for Lake Niliacus, the Nyctalope put himself in communication with the chief technician and gave him an order: “At the 9th hour, send out four four-seater aircraft, piloted by your best technicians. They are to fly directly to Niliacus Island, which is in the middle of the lake of that name. There, leaving the aircraft on the beach to the south, they will go to the former Martian base and await new orders there. The journey should be undertaken at an average speed of 500 kilometers an hour.”
No one ever disputed the Master’s commands, however bizarre they might be. The chief technician certainly did not understand the reason for this new expedition, but he responded nevertheless: “The Master will be obeyed!”
Immediately, the Nyctalope took his leave of Xavière, went up on to the terrace, and took off for Niliacus Island as darkness fell.
He arrived there nine hours later. He found his companions in the fifth tower. They were no longer expecting him and were in despair. A prisoner in their midst, Alpha was sleeping peacefully.
Saint-Clair gave a rapid and succinct summary of the events that had changed the state of affairs in Cosmopolis. The ten Terrans marveled, but the Nyctalope did not give them time to enjoy their astonishment. “That’s not all,” he said. “I need you in Cosmopolis. You’ll be there in ten hours.”
“How?” asked Klepton.
“Four aircraft will be landing at any moment on the island’s beach. The four pilots will leave their machines on the sand and come here. From the top of a tree, I’ll take note of their landing-point and see which route they take subsequently. We’ll ambush them, falling on them unexpectedly, and take them prisoner. Ten minutes after that, the controls of the aircraft being perfectly simple, we’ll depart in the machines for Cosmopolis. You’ll carry the new prisoners and I’ll take Alpha in my smaller craft.”
The plan was audacious, but it succeeded. A few minutes after setting down, the four technicians, who were rather uneasy in the darkness with their portable electric lamps, were attacked, knocked down, tied up, carried off and reunited with their aircraft. Saint-Clair explained the controls to Klepton, Merlak, Bontemps and Pacard—and ten hours after that, the five artificial birds alighted on the terrace of Oxus’ palace.
It was 4 p.m. The sentries alerted the Master, as usual, to the approach of the five aircraft. It was Xavière and Banko who greeted the newcomers. The four bewildered technicians were taken, in Banko’s custody, to the prison quarters and locked up together.
Alpha, released from his bonds and completely dumbfounded, followed the Nyctalope to Oxus’ study, soon followed by Klepton, Max Jolivet, Gaynor, Merlak, Bontemps, Tory, O’Brien, Pacard, Tardieu and Johnson. Then, in Xavière’s presence, a long council was held, in the course of which decisions were made and appropriate measures put in hand to substitute for the XV and their army, presently en route for Hellas, a new Society of XV and a new army…
It was not until nightfall, when all the details were settled, that they were finally able to give some effective thought to the 15 young women. Banko’s guardsmen went to find them in the houses in which they were living—alone since the departure of the XV—and bring them to Oxus’ study.
Félicie Jolivet, alerted in advance, looked for her brother, saw him, and flung her arms around his neck—and a touching scene of fraternal tenderness ensued, while Xavière, the Nyctalope, Klepton and Bontemps explained the gist of what had happened to the young women.
They thought, at first, that someone would immediately take them back to the Earth, and France, and Paris! It was necessary to disillusion them—but that did not diminish their delight. Several of them fainted. It was decided that they would live together from now on in a wing of Oxus’ palace, and orders were immediately given to Banko to have several rooms prepared in which the young women could group themselves according to their affinities and the relationships they had established since their arrival in Cosmopolis. As for the Nyctalope’s companions, the houses of the XV would be assigned to them, and they were to take up residence immediately; the guards, confined to their barracks or given things to do by Banko in the left wing of Oxus’ palace, would not see them taking possession.
Koynos’ house fell to Xavière, who was to reside there with poor Yvonne, who had gone mad. As for Saint-Clair, he was to stay in Oxus’ palace.
On the morning of the second day of the 21st month, an imposing and dangerous scene imagined by Saint-Clair was staged, in order to make it possible, by an audacious subterfuge, for the new XV to replace the absent ones. At the 20th hour—which is to say, 8 a.m.—in response to an order from the Master, all the men presently in Cosmopolis, save for the dozen technicians strictly necessary to the continuous surveillance
of the active machines, were assembled on the esplanade, between Oxus’ palace and the ramparts. They had no weapons of any sort, save for 24 guards—personal friends of Banko’s, on whom he could depend absolutely—armed with electro-mirrors. These janissaries were placed around the platform on which Saint-Clair would appear and speak.
In the very middle of this platform, in front of which the men of Cosmopolis were standing in orderly arrangement, Saint-Clair’s companions stood in a single line: Klepton, Jolivet, Gaynor, Merlak, Bontemps, Tory, O’Brien, Pacard, Tardieu and Johnson—to whom, of his own free will, the subjugated Alpha had been added. They were dressed in the XV’s white uniforms, green boots and colonial helmets.
Suddenly, a loud explosion rang out, and the Nyctalope came out of the palace. He was wrapped in the purple cloak that Oxus wore during official ceremonies in Cosmopolis.
The presence of 11 unknown “Brothers” on the platform, while the XV were on expedition, had already generated considerable surprise among the assembled men. But when they saw a Master appear who was not the feared, venerated and aged Oxus, preceded by Banko with the arms and insignia of a Commander, they were all agitated by a thousand confused sentiments, and they looked at one another, interrogating one another with their eyes.
Meanwhile, Saint-Clair climbed the steps of the platform at a brisk pace. Having arrived at the summit, he turned to the crowd arrayed in its military ranks, mute with astonishment and trembling with curious impatience. He let the folds of his red mantle fall apart, raised an arm in the gesture of a sovereign ruler, and said in a powerful voice: “Free men, apprentice companions, slaves! The work of the Fifteen on Earth is finished. That is why I, who was the Master’s supreme representative on Earth, have been summoned here with my companions to work for the conquest of Mars. The Brothers that you know have departed on an expedition to the East. The other Brothers you see here, while awaiting their turn to go to war, this time to the West, will guard and govern Cosmopolis. Soon, 3000 more men will arrive from Earth to reinforce the Fifteen’s army. Terrible days are in preparation. The Master has anticipated that the burden of command will become too heavy for his old shoulders. Henceforth, I shall act and command in his name.
“Free men, apprentice companions slaves, recognize as Commanders the 11 Brothers you see here. Death has plied his scythe among the Fifteen. These men will replace, gradually, those whom death had borne away or will bear away. And know that the man from whom you will receive your orders henceforth is me, Oxus II, Master of the Fifteen!”
This unexpected harangue had been delivered with such energy—and the men who heard it being, in any case, accustomed to obey—that not a single one among them seemed even to entertain the thought of questioning the legitimacy of the new commanders and the new Master. No one seemed to understand how this unexpected state of affairs had come about, but everything that was said in the name of Oxus, the Master, was sacred. The most intelligent and the most independently-minded among them might perhaps have thought, on reflection, that some sort of “palace revolution” had taken place, or that old Oxus was ill, or even dead, and that the Supreme Council of the XV had decided to conceal that illness or death.
What did it matter anyway? The slaves were submissive to everything; the apprentice companions had no thought, in all probability, other than of becoming companions, then Brothers, and what the new Master had just said augmented their hopes; the free men liked the life they had chosen, because they considered it similar to a monastic existence, in which each could work according to his taste, for the joy that comes from the cultivation of artistry and the speculations of science, without having to worry about the material necessities of existence… From the technicians to the cooks, they furnished their six hours of labor, then, having returned to their individual rooms, were free to surrender themselves to he sensuousness of disinterested work. What life could be more beautiful? What did it matter to them that the managerial organization that assured the security and continuation of that life had been modified in one of the elements of its organization?
To the great astonishment and delight of Saint-Clair, whose understanding of the psychology of the Cosmopolitans submissive to the Council of the XV was still rather vague, and who expected some resistance, the men cried: “Honored be the Master! Long live Oxus II!” Thus the common people proceed; revolutions would always be peaceful if the pastors of nations were able to replace and eliminate one another without rousing the support of the populace with loud war-cries! It is true, however, that a man with a pastor’s mentality is sometimes found within the mass of the people, who refuses to be convinced and thwarts the designs of pastors by his sole opposition.
V. The Grain of Sand
Indeed, one single man, among all the people of Cosmopolis, had not accepted events with a tranquil heart and submissive spirit. That man alone, thanks to the acuity of his vision and the precision of his memory, had recognized this new Master perorating on the distant elevated platform as Saint-Clair, the man condemned to death a few days before. All the others had seen the Nyctalope on the scaffold rather vaguely, or not at all, for they had only had eyes for Koynos, the fearsome former Commander of the XV, and it had never even occurred to them to compare the Saint-Clair of the other day with the new Master draped in purple—but the unique observer, the unique skeptic, existed. He also became, therefore, the unique rebel: the grain of sand that, having fallen into Nyctalope’s well-designed machine, would gravely compromise its normal function.
The man in question was an apprentice companion named Abbou, the son of Kipper and a Congolese woman. He was 17 years old, and the worst instincts of his two parents seemed to have been amalgamated in him. He bore the yoke of discipline with difficulty. Many a time, it had required all the masterful energy of his father, Kipper, to prevent Abbou from committing one of those errors that, in Cosmopolis, had no other outcome than death by the executioner’s hand.
Without understanding the situation exactly, Abbou sensed that the new Commanders of the XV were against Kipper’s interests. Abbou had one long-standing passion: he loved and adored his father; and he had one more recent passion: he loathed and abominated Félice Jolivet. He abominated Félicie because, instinctively, he had divined that Félicie was his father’s worst enemy—and perhaps, to that abomination, must be added a sentiment of unsatisfied desire: an inexpressible desire, because Félicie had never favored Abbou with one of those smiles that can make an obscure desire into an obsessive passion.
So, when Abbou went back to his post as supervisor of the day’s sentries, he said to himself: All this is against my father and in favor of Félicie.
His functions did not require his continuous presence at his post. Provided that he made the prescribed round once an hour, he could wander around Cosmopolis between rounds. For a long time, Abbou had profited from this special situation to serve as his father’s spy throughout Cosmopolis. If Kipper had acquired a particular consideration in Oxus’ eyes, he owed it to the accuracy of his judgment, which was singularly facilitated by the daily reports that Abbou gave him regarding people and events in Cosmopolis. And, in this grave situation, further aggravated by the absence of Kipper, the XV and the army, Abbou did not hesitate for a minute. He said to himself:
“Félicie knows everything. She is in connivance with that Xavière who doomed Koynos. By virtue of his scorn for women, my father never wanted to listen to me when I told him about Félicie’s intrigues—that scorn might yet ruin him! But I’m here! Something prodigious has happened in Cosmopolis. Saint-Clair is free, surrounded by his men—where did they come from? They’re the Terrans to whom Alpha was sent; the proof is that Alpha is in their midst. The Brothers alone, who know about everything, can’t know what I know, because I listen at every door, and if I tell this fantastic story to my comrades, they’ll think I’m mad. I alone understand a little of what has happened. I alone must draw the thing into the open, and, in any case, must warn my father…”
While sp
eaking to himself thus, Abbou was following a subterranean corridor whose turnings and numerous doors held no secrets for him.
“Warn my father,” he continued. “That’s good—and it’s easy. With my little airplane, which I can fly, I can soon reach him on the coast of Hellas… But if, as well as bringing him the facts and explaining my conjectures, I can also take him a hostage—that Félicie, for example, or, better still, that Xavière, who loves the Nyctalope, the usurper… But what has he done with Oxus? Banko is a traitor, in full knowledge of the cause. He was Xavière’s guard; she’s seduced him, corrupted him… Ah! If I could throw one of those two women down at my father’s feet! Torture will make them speak. Kipper shall know everything, and he will be able to act decisively… A precious hostage will be indispensable then, for Cosmopolis, well-defended by the Nyctalope and his men, is impregnable even to Kipper, the Fifteen and the army. Only a technicians’ revolt can render the Nyctalope powerless, but the technicians despise me, since I had one of them punished by Kipper; they won’t believe me, and might even betray me! No, I must act alone. Let’s go!”
For Abbou—who was a genius of sorts, in whom all the perversions were put at the service of an absolute filial love—action and reflection marched in step. Morally, he was a monster; physically, he was a hybrid, but the whole made up a human machine marvelously constructed for combat, provided that the battle in question was not fought in broad daylight…
Thus, while thinking hard Abbou did not lose a minute; he marched on.
The Nyctalope on Mars 2: The Triumph of Love Page 12