Red Star

by Loren R. Graham

  Each evening after his visitors had gone, Menni would remain alone for a long time in the enormous cell that served as his office. He would sit perfectly still leaning against the back of the chair, plunged in reflection. But the longer he mused the dimmer his thoughts became, and often Menni himself was unable to say with certainty what he had been thinking about. Two things, however, stood out more clearly than anything else and seemed to rise above this chaos: first, there were the thoughts and images connected with Netti’s theory of the vampires, and secondly, there was the persistent feeling that soon he would be forced to make a very important decision.

  Time passed. Late in the evening two days before his release Menni was alone as always in his gloomy office. He had done a great deal of work during the day, but he was not at all tired. On the contrary, he felt better than usual. His head was clear, though strangely empty. It seemed to him as if he was not thinking about anything at all, and the sensation was almost pleasant. The weak light from the shaded electric lamp was insufficient for the large room, and the corners were hidden in semidarkness.

  Suddenly Menni had the feeling that someone was staring at him from behind. He turned his head. In the corner farthest from him the darkness grew denser and, vaguely at first, began to assume the contours of a human figure. The burning eyes, however, were already distinctly visible. The figure crept closer and became sharper. When it crossed into the space illuminated by the lamp, Menni, unsurprised yet abstractly aware of the incongruity of the fact, recognized it to be Engineer Maro.

  The specter stopped a few paces from Menni, bowed derisively and sat down on the chair opposite him. He looked the same as during their last conversation, and wore the same cynical smile. But now his face was paler, his eyes brighter, and his lips redder than before, and on his neck there was an irregular bloody strip of ragged tissues.

  “Greetings!” he said. ‘There is no need to introduce myself, for you know me well. You are not surprised, because you have actually been expecting me for some time. Yes, I am the Vampire. Not particularly your friend Maro, but the Vampire in general, lord of the dead life. I have taken this form today as being best suited to our little chat, and indeed it is one of my best guises. But I have any number of them, and very soon I will assume another which is much better.”

  The specter stopped and gave a soft, smug chuckle. It continued:

  “We have some important things to talk about. You and I shall come to an understanding. Yes, indeed! Taking everything in order, let us first consider your situation. It is quite simple, but absolutely absurd. You will honestly have to agree. For three years now Menni Aldo, the great engineer, has been playing a strange role, one which is entirely unbecoming to him: the role of a tool in the hands of others. Such is the melancholy truth. You have always thought that the truth does not depend on the person who utters it. If what you hear from me seems unpleasant, that is just too bad for you, for it becomes no less true for that. Recall the course of events and consider them dispassionately.

  “Take your return to power—who willed that? Alas! It was the trade unions, the old enemies you treated so nonchalantly before. Yes! If you are honest you cannot deny it. You were quite unable to do anything yourself at the time—everything came from the outside. Netti’s disclosures, of course, were very important, but whose interests did he have at heart? Those of the unions. The plan of his secret investigation, you know, came from none other than Arri, who managed to figure out a great deal during his ten years in prison. Also, Feli Rao was a master at silencing scandals; what would have come of the revelations of an unknown young man without the manifesto of the Federation to lend them real force? The unions demanded you as they would demand a wage increase of five kopecks. Perhaps this is flattering—they got you as they would have got a corresponding number of kopecks. But you, who have always refused to give in to them or even negotiate with them—you played the role of an object that was conceded to them . . .”

  Mildly irritated by this mockery, Menni interrupted.

  “Well, so what? Do you mean that I should have refused?” he asked coldly. “Did I not have any other right to lead the Project? Was it not my creation?”

  “I am not suggesting anything of the kind,” the Vampire answered with his former sarcastic smile. “Naturally, it would have been stupid to decline the power, but the question of rights was quite immaterial at the time. It was a question of force that was at issue, and it was decided for you by others. It would have still been possible to reconcile yourself to that, however, if it had been a case of your using the crude strength of the masses to gain your own ends. But that is not at all what happened. Were you from that moment on really the master of the situation? No, and again, no! The likeable figure of a former worker, the engineer Netti, appeared in your entourage. I shall not permit myself to speak disrespectfully of him, for he is your son. But I will permit myself to speak the truth about him: for someone like yourself who serves an idea, kinship does not carry a vote in important matters, does it now? He is a worthy young man, and his hand is as heavy as yours, as well I know.”

  Menni smiled and nodded his head in assent. He had almost forgotten already how fantastic the situation was and was attentively following the arguments of his guest, just as he would have done in a discussion with a real enemy. The Vampire continued:

  “That does not prevent him from being a hopeless Utopian. You yourself, at any rate, were of that opinion recently. He is a harmful Utopian, because he distorts the very principles of rigorous science and replaces them, as you aptly put it on one occasion, with a strange ‘poetry of labor.’ He denies the pure eternal truth and wants to cast it down to be trampled beneath the feet of the masses. This is all the more dangerous because it is done in a form that is attractive and in its own way logical and which, though it cannot of course influence you and me, appeals to very many people. That is Engineer Netti. And what is his position? Why, he is considered your chief assistant. That in itself is a great deal, but in actual fact he is much more. He has shut you off from everything: you see with his eyes and think with his head. It is he who is the real leader and master.

  “You will try to deny this. You will say that you did not give in to Netti on the question of the unions, that you in fact limited his power by appointing a second assistant. Those are all lame excuses unworthy of you. It was Netti who suggested appointing another assistant. He did not want to demand too much all at once, you see, he could wait: ‘all in due course.’ Most importantly, concrete results meant more to him than an empty gesture, and he expected to benefit from his noble renunciation. Recall the instructions you gave your other assistant concerning concessions to the workers—Netti himself could hardly have wished for more. And now, when your directors are involved in negotiations with the workers, who is it they have in mind, who is it they take into account? Who do you think—you, or Netti? Finally what could be more typical than the present campaign? You and your work are under attack, but who is in charge of the defense? Who is leading the counterattack? You hardly even bother to approve Netti’s proposals. Teo is so naïve! He has the whole thing backwards. True, people like you and Netti are beyond his understanding, but Teo is not the only one who would have trouble guessing that the great Menni, as if prison were not enough for him, is also the captive of the socialists.”

  Menni shrugged his shoulders.

  “It is fairly easy to reply to all this. It is of no consequence to me whether or not what you are saying is true: it is not for me to become involved in your thoroughly petty arguments. The cause has not suffered; on the contrary, it is going well, and its defense is assured. That is all that matters to me.”

  “But in that case why call it your cause? You should frankly recognize reality and simply come out and say: ‘this cause is no longer mine.’ Besides, it remains to be seen whether it has suffered or not—we must await the outcome of the present situation. In the meanwhile, you are already indebted to Netti for his help in the conflict wi
th the democrats. Let us see what happens when Netti and his unions make their next move. But the main point is that all guarantees for the future are disappearing. There was such a guarantee in you, in your strength and fidelity to yourself. But little by little you are ceasing to be yourself. That is the danger, and that is what I was getting at with my ‘petty arguments.’ Worse yet, you do not notice and do not want to notice it. Yes, you are intentionally closing your eyes, for otherwise you would be astonished by how much you have changed. Once the greatest triumphs and the ecstatic celebration of your victories by millions of people left you as calm and cold as the eternal snows of the high mountain peaks. But now the most timid, reserved expression of approval from Netti sets your heart throbbing as if you were a schoolboy being praised by his teachers. Even worse: remember when the Council of Unions recently declared in reply to the democrats that the bourgeoisie only knows how to persecute and slander its great men, whereas the proletariat is able to defend them as it does the cause of humanity which they serve . . . Yes, the prison walls can be proud that they have seen tears in the eyes of the great Menni!”

  Menni angrily leapt up from his seat; in a moment he had regained his self-control, however, and he remarked contemptuously as he sat down again:

  “It is best not to talk of things which you will never understand, Vampire.”

  “Really?” the Vampire laughed with complacent cynicism. “You are right. Certain things are hard to understand. For example, when Menni listens sympathetically to Netti’s revolutionary plans and at the same time rejects them in principle and regards them as harmful utopias. Or when he spends hours on end gazing at the picture of a woman—Menni, who once with a proud effort of will conquered and cast aside love as an obstacle on the path to his great goals. No, there is no use trying to evade the facts, for they are obvious: you are betraying yourself, you are tangled in a net from which you cannot bring yourself to break free.”

  The Vampire paused for a moment, and the grin disappeared from his face. He fixed Menni with his burning eyes and, changing his tone completely, said seriously, almost solemnly:

  “You know what you must do. You must once again become yourself. You simply must—your dignity and your honor demand it. And it is difficult, perhaps the most difficult thing you have ever done. You will need heroism to conquer at one blow everything that is driving you to betray yourself: love, friendship, paternal feelings, sympathy, gratitude. No other man in the whole world would be able to do this, but you can. It will not be the first time you have achieved the impossible. The moment will soon be at hand: life itself will demand of you a firm answer. The idyll with the unions will not last much longer. They have not yet raised the standard of their battle for official recognition, because they are too busy with other things, such as the structure and defense of their new political organization. But that organization will make them even stronger, and for them might is right. When you are released from prison your very first trip to the construction sites will cause the old question to be raised again. And then? Will Engineer Menni allow external force and his personal feelings to get the better of his convictions? If you do not, then it will mean breaking with Netti and Nella, a bitter struggle, a great sacrifice. Yes, but also a great victory! I do not wish to insult you by doubting your choice.”

  “Are you so sure that I will follow your advice?” said Menni, ironically stressing the person of his visitor.

  “That is a very weak argument against the truth,” replied the Vampire. “People resort to such arguments when they have nothing else to say. I expected you to use it, so that I could ask you what has happened to your faith in the pure truth. Does the fact that it is presented to you in a disagreeable wrapping suffice to compromise it in your eyes? I am saying the opposite of what Maro once told you. He suggested: ‘betray yourself.’ I, on the other hand, am reminding you: ‘be true to yourself!’”

  “Like Teo and the President,” Menni added sarcastically.

  “No, not like them. Be true to yourself, not like the weak, but like the strong. Not like those who become confused trying to bring back the past, but like those who follow the same road to the very end. You have surrendered to Netti’s theory and been deceived by it. I am not death and not a return to the past. I am life that wants to live by remaining true to itself. Only such life is true. Life which changes demonstrates by that very fact that it is a lie, because the truth is forever the same. If you were one man yesterday and have become another today, then you died overnight and a new man was born whose life will be just as ephemeral. Everything dies: you, mankind, the world. Everything will be submerged in eternity. Only the truth will remain, because it alone is eternal. And it is eternal because it is immutable. Prove that you belong to truth and eternity: be as unchanging as they!”

  Menni rose, his eyes flashing.

  “You are lying, Vampire, and you cannot deceive me with your naïve sophisms. You, as always, are urging treason. I know the road I have traveled. Each step was a blow to the past. And you dream of making me an enemy of the future! I know my path. My struggle with the elements . . . only Netti is worthy of continuing it as my successor. My struggle with you, Feli Rao, and the likes of you . . . Netti and his friends are the best, the truest allies in that battle. I do not know whether they are right to believe in their socialism—I tend to think that they are not. But I am sure that if they are wrong they will realize their mistake sooner than anyone else. The truth will triumph, but it will not triumph against that which is full of strength and purity and nobility, but together with it!”

  The Vampire also drew himself up to his full height. His red lips were twisted in an expression of malicious certainty in his victory.

  “So, you do not want to listen to some friendly advice,” he hissed. “Very well then, you shall hear the voice of a sovereign!” And he stretched his hand toward Menni, his fingers convulsively crooked like claws trying to seize their prey. “Know that your fate is sealed—you will not escape me! For fifteen years you have been living in my kingdom, for fifteen years I have been drinking your blood, little by little. There are still a few drops of living blood left, and that is why you are rebelling. But this will pass, it will pass! I am Necessity and therefore I am the truth. You are mine, you are mine, you are mine!”

  Menni’s eyes darkened, and he haughtily tossed back his head.

  “You are a lie, a dead lie!” he said with icy contempt. ‘Thank you, at any rate, for casting off your mask and putting an end to my vacillation. Your triumph is a delusion. You will not take the last drops of my living blood! The tone of a sovereign little befits you, least of all with me. I killed you once when you crossed my path, and now I will kill you again!”

  He turned and went to the door connecting his office with the cell in which he slept. He glanced back on the threshold as he closed the door. The Vampire had vanished.

  PART IV

  1. The Heart of Nella

  The following morning Menni urgently summoned an old comrade of his, a prominent chemist. They rarely saw each other, but their relationship was such that the chemist could never refuse Menni anything. Long ago they had gone on a number of expeditions together through the desert, and Menni, whose physical strength and stamina far exceeded that of his friend, had saved the chemist’s life on several occasions. When he arrived, they conferred alone for over an hour behind locked doors. The chemist seemed very upset when he left, and there were tears in his eyes. Smiling as he accompanied him down the corridor, Menni shook his hand affectionately and thanked him warmly as they parted. Two hours later a sealed parcel addressed to Menni arrived from the chemist’s laboratory.

  Menni spent most of the day going through his papers and putting them in order. Netti came to see him in the evening. He was surprised by the considerable change he noticed in his father’s manner and even in his appearance. The nervousness of the past few months, his absentmindedness, the feverish glitter in his eyes, and his abrupt movements had all disappeared
without a trace. Calm and attentive, he discussed their business matters with the greatest lucidity, outlining several important technical and administrative improvements. When they were finished with these questions he said:

  “By the way, I wanted to ask you a great favor. I am thinking of taking a vacation for . . .”—he hesitated for a moment and then went on—“for a while. I think it is a legitimate wish. Could you take my place for the time being and take over tomorrow? I have made the necessary preparations.”

  “Of course, Td be glad to,” replied Netti. “I have thought for some time now that you need a rest. I have been worried about your health lately.”

  “Well, that is all over now,” said Menni with a smile. “You can see that I am all right today, aren’t I?”

  He then began talking about Netti’s scientific revolutionary ideas and plans, questioning him in detail on a number of points. He did not object or make any sarcastic comments, and even refrained from his usual habit of registering his disagreement. On the contrary, at some moments it seemed as though he quite shared Netti’s thoughts and that his remarks and amplifications were intended to develop them more fully. Netti was thoroughly enchanted; they became so absorbed in their lively conversation that neither of them noticed that they had talked far into the night. As they said goodbye Menni remarked:

  “Still, there is only one of your theories I can accept wholeheartedly. On the other hand, I think I have learned it well.”

  “Which one is that?” Netti quickly asked.

  “The theory of the vampires,” replied Menni.

  The young engineer returned home deeply engrossed in thought. Nella was there waiting up for him. He told her in detail about his conversation with Menni and about his own impressions. Apropos of Menni’s final remark Nella had her son repeat word for word the earlier discussion to which it referred. Then she made him promise to come to see her the next day immediately after his meeting with Menni.