This general southerly direction that Omega had suggested should land them on the seacoast at a point several miles northeast of present-day New Haven. According to Nona there were no other seacoast settlements in this direction. Acting on this information he changed their course a bit to the eastward, in order that they reach the coast somewhere opposite the tip of Long Island. That should be a safe place to establish a home. All humans were apt to be enemies and therefore it was best to stay well clear of cities.
THEY had covered several miles ignoring the passage of time when Mark noticed that the sun seemed to be near the zenith. Although he had eaten very little of the roasted rabbit, the pangs of hunger didn’t appear. This phenomenon had ceased to intrigue him and in fact he had decided to eschew eating altogether, unless he should get hungry.
There was no use in going to the bother, as long as this new blood of his continued to rejuvenate itself. He realized that as time went on he would even cease to be stimulated by the sight or odors of food. And that was really no loss, for although in the past he had certainly enjoyed eating satisfying meals, it was obvious that if he hadn’t needed the food he wouldn’t have found any pleasure in eating it.
After the first few bites of the meal that Omega had furnished — those bites which hadn’t tasted like garbage — the artificially stimulated appetite had left him. But for all that, he suddenly thought, Nona required food and it was up to him to procure some.
This might turn out to be quite an undertaking, he realized, for aside from the needle-gun he had only his axe for a weapon. Rabbits were plentiful, but a lucky throw like that one this morning couldn’t always be duplicated.
They had sighted deer twice and an axe could be used to kill a deer, but the trouble was to induce the animal to come close and hold still while you performed the operation.
A bow and some arrows seemed to be indicated, except that even if he could construct a workable bow, it would take too long, and then he wouldn’t know how to use it.
Thus gloomily meditating, Mark was startled by a thrashing in the nearby underbrush. The sound appeared to be coming toward them. Motioning Nona to be quiet he grasped the handle of his axe and crouched, ready to spring into action. This, he fervently hoped, would be a deer, and there would be darned little time in which to do the slaughter.
Sweat made the handle of the axe slippery but he was afraid to relinquish his grip for the instant needed to wipe it. The deer might appear during that instant. The threshing sound came nearer.
Abruptly the underbrush parted and out waddled the largest brown bear he had ever seen. Bear steaks were good to eat.
Mark moved lithely forward, axe poised for one killing blow. There might not be time for a second. Bears were not apt to cherish a person with bear steaks on his mind. But this particular specimen didn’t seem to be unduly alarmed. He merely raised up on his hind legs and stood waiting while Mark advanced.
With a sudden shift to the left to dodge the outstretched paws, Mark swung a terrific blow. But the sharp movement of the axe caused the slippery handle to turn in his hand.
The intended shearing stroke which should have come close to decapitating the great beast, became a harmless thump with the broad side of the blade.
The bear grunted in surprise and fell down on all fours, his unexpected movement wrenching the axe out of Mark’s grasp. The weapon fell to the ground while his rush carried Mark several feet past the bear. The monster seemed unaware that he could easily polish off this bold antagonist, for he ignored Mark for the moment to satisfy his curiosity concerning the axe.
AFTER a few sniffs he picked it up with his teeth and carried it to Mark. Dreamily, Mark accepted the axe, at which the bear reared up and stood still as if offering to continue the game. Mark looked helplessly at Nona, and stuffed the axe back in his belt.
“I’ll have to find you something else to eat,” he told her, eyeing the bear, who looked about as ferocious as his smaller cousin, the teddy. “You can’t kill anything that wants to play, the way this fool brute does.”
Nona, who had been watching with one hand muffling her mouth, gave a great sigh and sat weakly on the ground. Bears were an item completely outside her experience, and the encounter had unnerved her somewhat. Mark helped her to her feet and they resumed their trek. The bear, in a friendly manner, trotted along at their heels.
“I hope it doesn’t occur to that critter just what I was trying to do,” Mark said, looking nervously over his shoulder.
Nona’s eyes widened, “Is he dangerous?”
“I don’t think so, judging by the way he acted when I tried to kill him. But on the other hand, he could be. I wish I wasn’t so tender-hearted. I couldn’t have missed a second time. But he looked so darned agreeable... He thought it was all a game.”
Nona was looking adoringly up at Mark’s face, though doing so made her stumble, when both of them became aware that the breeze was carrying with it the tantalizing odor of fresh-cooked food.
Mark made a motion for quiet, and they advanced cautiously. No telling who might be responsible for the smell, but he had never heard of wild animals cooking their food, so it looked as if there might be humans in the offing. And humans were almost certain to be hostile.
But he was wrong this time. In a little clearing there was a table heaped with silver-covered dishes. It was only set for one, although there were three chairs. Omega was not in evidence but Mark suspected that he was there just the same.
“Well, the food problem seems to be solved for the present,” he remarked. “Now if that pet poodle of ours doesn’t decide to occupy the third chair.
But as if his words put the idea into the bear’s head, the shaggy beast bounded on ahead of them and made a clumsy attempt to sit down on one of the chairs. Not being designed to support such a weight, the chair promptly collapsed. But the bear, nothing daunted, squatted on his haunches, which brought him to the proper height anyway. Mark, at this point, began to suspect that all was not as it seemed.
“Pay no attention to the clown,” he told Nona, holding her chair. “And if he lays a paw on anything you want, slap him one.”
“But aren’t you going to eat? There is only one plate.”
Mark didn’t answer, glaring at the bear, who was now looking very sullen, as if his feelings were hurt.
“He doesn’t have to eat,” the bear said, sulkily, in a high tenor voice.
“You might at least be a bass,” Mark reproved.
“Did you ever hear a bear speak in a bass voice?”
“No. Never heard one speak at all.”
“Well then, any kind of a voice I use is all right. And I’m getting sick and tired of your everlasting criticism. You’re just jealous — that’s all. Well, how’ve you been?”
“Okay. But you might have let me know you were marrying us. I didn’t find it out until this morning. I must say I think it pretty inconsiderate...”
Chapter 10: I Took This Woman
A HEARTY guffaw shook the bear’s sides. Nona, who had dropped her fork when the bear began to speak, sighed and resumed her meal. Things didn’t happen according to any fixed pattern any more and she was beginning to find, a sort of naturalness in the unexpected. But she wished Omega would leave them alone. There seemed to be some connection between him and the unusual things she had noticed about her husband. His not eating or sleeping, for instance. And besides, when the two of them got to talking, she couldn’t understand a word.
“Well,” Omega was explaining, “I could see that you would be weeks getting around to it by yourself, so I thought I would help out. And both your minds were already made up on the subject, except that you didn’t know it. So I speeded things up for a very good reason. You have probably noticed that you are changed somewhat?”
“Yes. I meant to ask you about that.”
“You have seen your blood?”
“Yes. It’s blue. How come?”
“I’ll explain. Keep your ears open, Nona. This concerns you, too. The c
ause of the change was the injection of the anaesthetic. The doctor concocted the thing mainly from a slightly radio-active compound which had been recently discovered. The resultant fluid resembled in some ways the liquid in which my brain was preserved, though differing in its effects. The anaesthetic action, of course, was only incidental. That really amounted to shock. The nervous system was numbed by the unaccustomed bombardment of radio-emanation, resulting in coma.”
“But how is it that the guinea pig recovered consciousness, and I didn’t? Was a different fluid used?”
“No. Same stuff. But the animal’s greater vitality and coarser nerve sensitivity caused him to awaken after a few hours. You never would have woke up if I hadn’t decided to help you. You would have lain there, half alive, for a few more thousand years, and then you would have died when the strength of the radioactive emanations decreased below a certain point. As it is you may live those years in full possession of your faculties.”
Mark was stunned. This was something he was not prepared for. The implications involved evidently struck Nona a blow, for she let out a despairing wail.
“Then Mark will go on being a young man, while I grow old and ugly and...”
Omega raised a paw to silence her. “Nothing of the kind. That is what I was coming to. I think I told you that I have never made a practice of interfering with the life forms that I have found in my travels. Only on rare occasions I have helped promising civilizations when some catastrophe threatened them. But in this case I am making an exception. I have decided to create a new race of humans! And you two are to begin it.
“I expended a lot of thought before going ahead with it. The human race is a scurvy gang, as you probably know, with faults that far outnumber its virtues.
“Now don’t look at me that way, Mark. If you will judge humans from an unbiased viewpoint, you must admit that they have hardly earned even the right to existence. Not speaking of individuals, mind you. There have been some noble and unselfish humans. But as a race they certainly deserve to be exterminated.
“They have repeatedly stamped out other life forms for no good reason; they have countless times reached high states of civilization, only to degenerate back to the beast. And all through human history travels the specter of cruelty, barbarism and senseless violence.”
Mark was a bit miffed. “You’re a little hard on us, aren’t you? There is much to be said on the other side of the question.”
“Not as a race, there isn’t. But as individuals, something might be said for some of you. The only trouble is that your decent attributes usually become submerged. However, I suppose there’s enough good in you to go on with. You two are to start a new life together, possessed of transmissible physical characteristics that should found a race capable of higher attainments than ever possible to ordinary humans. Oh yes, I am going to inject Nona to make her as you are. I’ll do that now.”
THE bear abruptly vanished and in its place was the patriarch they’d seen before. In his hand was a large hypodermic syringe.
“Whoa, Tillie,” cried Mark. “I don’t want her to go to sleep for six thousand years!”
“She won’t. I’ll strengthen her system to stand the shock.”
The needle was inserted and its fluid pumped into the blood stream. Nona gave no sign that she felt anything. And, knowing Omega’s powers, it is doubtful if she did.
“Now she has, or will have in a few hours, all the life vitality that has been yours since your awakening.”
“What is the principal behind this change in blood?” inquired Mark.
“Scientists back in your time were beginning to suspect that life was dependent on radioactivity. They spoke of life-charges which they called radiogens. Fundamentally they were on the right track. There had to be something besides the ordinary working chemistry of the body to explain the behavior of metabolism.
“The process might be summed up by saying that at birth a creature of protoplasm is endowed with a certain quantity of life-charges. The radioactivity of these charges is so slight as to be almost nonexistent, but is nevertheless sufficient to support the life of the organism.
“As you know, radioactive materials are continuously breaking down into other elements. As this occurs the emanations decrease. Applying this to the organism you can see that as the radioactivity lessens, the vitality also lessens, metabolism slows down and the organism finally dies.
“In the case of your new blood, the radioactive element is much stronger and has a much longer half-period. The injection of the compound has changed your body chemistry considerably and given you certain physical properties which should ensure the survival of the new race.
“Food you will never need, because your blood always contains more energy than you can use in the everyday operation of your body. Ordinary injuries will scarcely pain, they will heal so quickly. And no disease germ can withstand the emanations of the compound.
“And while I think of it, you can heal germ diseases in others merely by bringing a portion of your body, your hands, for instance, into close proximity. The emanations extend a foot or so outside your body in sufficient strength to kill bacteria. You might be able to use that knowledge sometimes. Any questions?”
“Yes. I’m still wondering about the guinea pig. Why didn’t the doctor notice these things in him?”
Omega chuckled. “He didn’t get a chance. The animal only lived for a week after the injection. An overgrown tom-cat made a meal of him. The cat lived to a ripe old age, dying when about sixty, with the help of an Airedale.”
Mark pondered for a minute. “You’re sure these properties will be inherited?”
“Oh yes. It’s not a matter of chromosomes, but life-charges, transmitted through the mother.”
“Well then how does she get them to transmit? She has only a certain amount to start with.”
“Look, son. I don’t know everything. That’s one of the things I’m not certain about. But I can tell you this: There is a race of beings, in another galaxy, who have your present form of life chemistry. They live for thousands of years and have similar reserves of vitality. And they transmit the quality to their offspring. Therefore, you will.
“The difference, you must realize, is not one of body chemistry, although that is changed, but lies rather in the strength of the radioactive life-charges. Therefore if you can answer why ordinary humans can transmit their life-charges to their progeny, then you can answer the other question. I only know they do.
“A good theory is that your radiogens are being continually bolstered and augmented through absorption of the subcosmic energies which pervade space. That might explain why females of almost any species usually have greater vitality than males. Your insurance companies knew that women live longer than men and retain their vital powers later in life. Females must, therefore, be better equipped to absorb energy for the purpose of transmitting it to progeny.
“My knowledge of the thing might be compared with your knowledge of electricity. You know how to create it, use it and store it. You know all its properties, but you can’t tell me what it is! As for me — I can create life, make it assume a number of forms, but for the life of me I can’t tell you what enables the life-form to pass on the spark to its progeny. Absorption of energy is the only answer; but how, I don’t know.”
MARK digested this, thoughtfully, and decided that it sounded logical. But after all, logical or not, the fact that he and Nona had these wonderful powers was more important than the why and wherefore of how they worked. “Well, now that you have started the ball rolling, have you any further plans for us?”
“No. Just live your lives as you wish or as you may. But just remember that you are not limited to three score years and ten. You have plenty of time. I think half of the world’s evil can be laid at the doors of people who were willing to sacrifice others that they might cram two lifetimes into the short one allotted them. Your progeny will grow up with the heritage of a long life, and that, coupled with the
finer mental characteristics with which you will endow them, should form the nucleus for a great race. Well, good luck. I’m leaving for the time being. By the way, can you speak Swedish?”
“No. What’s that got to do with it?”
With a twinkle in his eyes, Omega quietly faded in the manner of the Cheshire cat. “You’d be surprised,” came his quavering voice, as from a distance.
“Disconcertin’ cuss,” Mark complained. “Do you feel any different?”
Nona, who by this time was becoming accustomed to Omega’s abrupt comings and goings, was looking at him with a speculative gleam in her eyes. “No,” she stated. “But that is unimportant. I gathered from a remark you made — that you were totally unaware what Omega meant when he introduced us. Is that right?”
Mark’s jaw dropped. He hadn’t credited her with such perspicacity. “Yes,” he finally admitted, “I didn’t know then.”
“That’s what I thought. But what I want to know is: Did you really want this to happen?”
“You mean for us to be married? Sure I did! But I didn’t know how you felt. So I owe Omega a whole lot for settling the thing.”
Nona’s face brightened. “Then I was right about the ‘paying court’ that the old books told of.”
“Oh yes. It was quite the thing in those days. One of the most popular all-around sports.”
“And didn’t the men tell the women how much they loved them?”
“Yes indeed. Although that came toward the end.”
“Then you should tell me. Especially since we are already married.”
“Of course, Nona.” His voice grew solemn in spite of himself. “I love you with all my heart. I thought you knew that.”
“I wanted to hear it. And maybe you had better kiss me. I don’t want to have to do all the wooing.”
Chapter 11: The Man from Oslo
IN THE year 7966 forests covered most of the area which had once comprised the New England states. Thus it was that when Mark and Nona finally broke out of the woods’ dark corridors they found themselves on a narrow strip of rocky beach facing the Atlantic Ocean.
The Best of Argosy #2 - Minions on the Moon Page 7