The Plague, Pestilence & Apocalypse MEGAPACK™

by Robert Reed

  each or beside each, I could not say which . For as you will remem-

  ber I could only see the shadows of the cars, and the sun was now

  very high, and very near the zenith, and the shadows were propor-

  tionately small. The five workers took the boxes, each one from his

  girdle, one after another, and handed them, one after another, each

  worker to one of the men in or beside each car . Then the workers

  went back to the bed, and the cars rose from the ground . I could see

  that they rose almost perpendicularly at first for the shadows hardly

  moved, but became smaller and smaller; then they lengthened and

  passed away to the north-east, and rapidly disappeared . I looked up

  in the direction which seemed indicated by the lengthening’ shad-

  ows, and I could see distinctly for a few minutes something like a

  queer little cloud, and another and another until I counted the five.

  Then I lost sight of them .

  If the north platform was the port of departure for the cars it

  seemed as if the south platform was the port of arrival . For now on

  looking straight below I saw that many cars were standing there,

  and some arrived as I looked . The bright sunshine enabled me to

  count them as hey stood and to see them coming; and my position in

  respect of them enabled me to estimate the size of these ears by their

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  shadows much more exactly than that of those which I had been

  just observing at the other end . A little further observation showed

  me that the cargo they were laden with consisted of the same sort of

  substances as those which were so carefully treated on the platform,

  and in the seed beds, and, finally, in a modified condition exported

  for use elsewhere . I had evidence already of the care which was giv-

  en to the preparation and final distribution of these, and I now had

  evidence that the same kind of care was given to their first selection.

  Signor Davelli lowered the car to the platform, alighted, and called

  a man to his side . I alighted at the same time . The man came at once,

  and it was clear that he knew what he was called for; for he brought

  with him something that looked like a little glass case or tray, in

  which were a multitude of little matters which proved to be germs of

  some sort, part of them of animal and part of vegetable growth, and

  these, as I gathered, had been selected from a great number of simi-

  lar matters which had just come in, and they were now submitted

  to Signor Davelli for his examination and approval . He examined

  them carefully in some ways that I understood, and in some ways

  also that I did not understand at all . As an instance of the latter I

  may mention the following . He extracted one of the germs from the

  case and placed it on an elliptical piece of opaque ware which was

  very slightly depressed in the middle . The germ was so small that he

  had to work with a magnifying-glass of enormous power, and with

  instruments of extreme delicacy . He showed me the germ through

  the glass . It was egg-shaped and colourless, with a tiny dark spot

  under a partly transparent substance . Without the glass it was to me

  absolutely invisible . Then he got a little glass tube into which he put

  something out of a very small bottle, which he took from a number

  of others which lay side by side in a little case which he took out

  of a pocket in the side of the car . Whether what he took out of the

  bottle was powder or fluid I could not tell, though I was now so near

  what I was observing . But I noticed that when poured into the tube

  it seemed to change colour . Then Signor Davelli handed the tube to

  the man who had come in answer to his call, and this man, who ap-

  peared to know exactly what was expected of him, took the tube and

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  blew through it upon the germ . I could not see that anything came

  through the tube, but in a few seconds a kind of cream-coloured

  spray began to rise from the germ, and Signor Davelli observed this,

  not the germ but the spray, very carefully through the magnifier.

  He seemed highly pleased; he selected a few more germs which he

  said were of the same sort as this; he spoke of them as particularly

  “promising,” and he indicated, as I thought (for just here he began

  to speak in a tongue unknown to me), the treatment which in his

  judgment they ought to receive .

  When I could no longer understand him I looked again to the

  workers at the beds . There were now a great many more workers at

  the first bed, and the work all through was proceeding in a very rapid

  and orderly manner. I followed quickly the whole process from first

  to last: the gathering in of the germs, their preliminary examina-

  tion, the treatment which they underwent on the platform, the tests

  to which they were subjected before and after that treatment, their

  gradual passage through the several stages of cultivation, and finally

  their dispersion, in their cultivated condition, whither I could not

  certainly say, but presumably to the ends of the earth .

  One thing especially puzzled me: I could not estimate at all the

  amount of time which the process of cultivation consumed in the

  case of each germ . There were germs constantly going into cultiva-

  tion and frequently coming out; but how long it was from the time

  that each one went in until the same one came out again, whether

  they took different periods of time or uniform, or nearly uniform

  periods, I could not at all guess . The rapidly decreasing size of the

  beds implied certainly that the process of cultivation was a process

  of elimination . It seemed that not one in a hundred of those which

  passed through the first stage could ever have reached the final stage.

  And I think also that it might be inferred with much probability from

  the same fact that the process of cultivation lasted in most eases for a

  long time . For otherwise they might surely have made up for losses

  during culture by an increase of the numbers put under cultivation .

  For what I saw left me no room to doubt that such an increase in

  quantity was at their disposal . Making a rough estimate, I should

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  say that hundreds of germs cultivated up to the highest pitch were

  sent away every day, and that hundreds of thousands went under

  cultivation .

  While I was making these calculations, I became aware of a

  disturbance at the first bed. Turning my glass hastily to the spot I

  saw that one of the men had fallen down, and it struck me at first

  that there was going to be a repetition of the sort of disappearance

  and reappearance which I had already witnessed, and which I now

  understood . But I very soon saw that this was quite a different mat-

  ter . There was a panic, and the men ran in all directions away from

  the man who had fallen . I followed for a moment with my glass the

  course of some of the fugitives . Turning the glass back towards the

  spot where the man had fallen, I could perceive nothing at all . Every

  trace of his b
ody was lost . Then I heard a long and loud whistle, and

  in almost as little time as it takes me to tell it the panic had ceased

  and the men were working away just as before . Just then I heard

  what seemed like a deep and desperate curse from Signor Davelli,

  and looking towards him I saw him standing with his arm half way

  up, holding the glass . He seemed to have just taken it away from his

  eyes, and a scowl was passing over his face, made up as it seemed

  to me of malignity, ferocity, and fear . It reminded me at once of the

  expression which had passed over his countenance on the second

  day when the men were gathered in the square and when one or two

  of them proved to be missing, and I remembered also Jack’s words,

  “Depend upon it his damnation has got something or other to do

  with the loss of these men .”

  To conceal my horror I turned my glass again to the workers,

  but I really observed nothing more, and presently at a signal from

  Signor Davelli I resumed my place in the car . He raised the car just

  as before, made a curve to the south, and then turned the prow of the

  car towards the east end of the valley . We alighted at the same point

  whence we had started, and then he spoke—

  “Mr . Easterley, you know something of my power now .”

  I looked at him, I suppose, interrogatively, for he went on to say—

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  “Among your kings who is the most powerful? Is it not he who

  possesses the deadliest weapons and can use them with the most

  facility and precision?”

  I said nothing for a moment, for I knew he was misleading me,

  or perhaps I should not say I knew, but I felt so, not indeed because

  of any opinion that I had formed about the purpose of the cultivated

  germs, but because of the profound distrust with which he had in-

  spired me . Then, as he seemed to be waiting for my reply I said

  briefly, “I have no doubt at all of your power.”

  “Very well,” he said; “we shall see to-morrow if you are worthy

  to share it .”

  I said nothing . The words that formed themselves in my mind

  were, “I hope that I am not sufficiently unworthy,” but for obvious

  reasons I kept silence .

  Then he said, “We meet here to-morrow two hours before noon,

  and now you can return to your friend; I can see him coming to-

  wards us on the stair .”

  I could not see, for I had left the glass in the car; but I exchanged

  a parting salute with my companion, walked slowly to the stair and

  began to ascend it . Before beginning the ascent I had seen Jack

  standing half way up the stair, looking towards me .

  After a hearty grip of the hand we turned back and walked slowly

  towards the pathway that we had taken on the second morning of

  our stay here . We spoke almost in whispers . I gave Jack a brief ac-

  count of what I had seen . He said that it indicated something of

  which we could hardly guess the whole import, but he agreed with

  me that such import was probably as bad as it could be .

  “We must try to escape,” he said, “as soon as possible . I know

  now exactly how to work and steer the ears, and I know, too, how to

  lay my hands on a second battery .”

  “What do we want with a second battery?” said I .

  “Well,” said he, “I don’t know what these batteries are made of;

  they are of solid stuff, not fluid, and yet they all waste very quickly.

  I doubt if any one of them will carry us as far as we may want to go;

  indeed, I am not sure that any two of them will be enough .”

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  “But how are we to get away,” said I; “we are so closely watched?”

  “I’ll tell you what I propose,” he said . “We shall not retire to-

  night until an hour after dark, nor the next night, then we may hope

  that they will take it as a matter of course that we shall not retire on

  the third night until the same hour . But on the third night, immedi-

  ately after dark, we shall make a bolt of it, and so we may hope for

  an hour’s start .”

  “In the car?”

  “Well, so I propose . I am aware that there is much to be said in

  favour of an attempt to escape on foot . These lozenges of theirs are

  meat and drink . We have had nothing else for several days, and we

  want nothing else, and We know now how many of them we should

  require, and it is certain that we could easily carry enough to last

  us three weeks or more . And if we make a bee-line for the wire we

  ought to reach it within three weeks or less . Besides, if we escape on

  foot they will not know where to look for us . We shall have cover

  among the trees, whereas in the air we shall have no cover .”

  “Not even if we escape in an invisible car?”

  “There is none of the cars invisible to them .”

  “Ah! so I was beginning to think .”

  “I am quite sure of it .”

  “Well, go on .”

  “Still, three weeks may not be enough . We may not be able to

  make a bee-line . Probably we shall meet with some impassable

  scrub, or other obstacle, and so our food may run out, and we may

  die miserably after all . But if we escape in one of the cars the whole

  risk will be over, and our fate will be decided one way or another

  within twenty-four hours .”

  “Very well,” said I, “we shall try it he night after next .”

  Then I told him of my appointment next day with Signor Davelli .

  He looked very grave . “That’s the biggest risk of all,” he said . “If

  you give in to him we’re both done for .”

  “I won’t give in to him .”

  “Good; but if he knows for certain that you are resisting him, he

  may take immediate action, and then also we shall be done for .”

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  “He will give me more than one trial .”

  “I think he will, but, any way, we are not likely to have as much

  time as we thought . I would say, let us try to-night, but we are

  watched so closely, that it is not possible . We had better say to-

  morrow night .”

  “So be it,” said I .

  Then we went to our quarters and had some food and a little rest .

  Then we walked backward and forward on the same path again .

  About an hour after dark we retired for the night, and when we had

  passed into the inner room we could see the bright light already

  shining before the doors . The watch upon us was close and constant .

  CHAPTER X

  LEÄFAR

  That night we lay both of us in the outer chamber, partly for com-

  pany, and partly because neither of us wished to be within sight of

  the light which lay all night before the door, and which could be seen

  from the window of the inner chamber . There was nothing, indeed,

  strange or ugly about the light itself; it was very bright, and, under

  other circumstances, might have been pleasant . But to us, guessing

  whence it was and what was its purpose, it had come to have a weird

  look of doom about it .

  We lay still, scarcely speaking . Only from time to time a word
/>   or two passed between us, either suggestive of preparation, or of

  some topic of encouragement . By and by we lapsed into silence, and

  thence into an imperfect sleep. There was no artificial light in our

  chamber, we had no occasion for any, although day and night were

  nearly of equal length . Sometime in the evening before dusk we

  used to take a second bath (if one may use the consuetudinal for so

  short a period), and then to throw off our hats and sandals and to ex-

  change the long robe, which was our only other garment, for another

  of the same sort, was the whole of our preparation for the night .

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  I do not know how long I had been sleeping, but it could not have

  been very long, when I woke up with a start . Surely there was a light

  in the room? Yes, there was, and it was growing slowly brighter . I

  looked over to the couch where Jack lay; it was very near my own,

  but not near enough to permit me to touch him without rising .

  I sat up and put on my sandals . The light had now become so much

  brighter that I could see Jack plainly . He was awake and watching

  as I was . The light was now increasing much more quickly, and in

  a few minutes the room was quite brilliantly illuminated, and there

  was a sort of core of brightness beginning to appear in the centre of

  the light . This presently assumed a wavering aspect, and by-and-by

  became a bubbling fluid. I was prepared to expect the appearance

  of a form of human similitude, for I had witnessed as you will re-

  member, the same thing twice already . The same, and yet not the

  same, for the dark vapour which I had seen in the former cases was

  replaced in this case by a bright rose-coloured light . I suppose it was

  partly because of this obvious difference that I felt now no fear, but

  hope . I began to think that help was coming, and that we were not

  going to be left to fight out a desperate battle alone.

  As I looked, the bubbling fluid became consolidated and assumed,

  as I had expected, a human form . A man of, it might be middle age,

  stood before us . I should have said much under middle age only that

  his expression indicated, as I thought, a ripeness of experience and

  a calm wisdom seldom seen in very young men . There was a stately

  beauty and benignity in his features and demeanour, a mingled tone

  of love and command and entreaty; all the direct reverse of what we