Looking through the glass wall, I saw that the action of the growth ray must have been instantaneous. Eight different-colored, flesh-like plants were rising from the proton. They were ugly, shapeless masses of cells whose very existence was unnatural. While I watched, they grew from small, insignificant organisms to great, repulsive vegetable monstrosities. As they grew, their skins became increasingly tighter, until, when they had reached the size of the world from which they sprang, they burst, casting their seed dust to all parts of the room.
The dust, as it settled grew in turn, with the result that in a short time, the floor of the room was covered with an ever increasing mass of slime in which grew a repulsive, waving, constantly changing heap of plants. At frequent intervals, the growth ray added other plants, vari-colored and strangely formed, to those upon the floor.
Every metal device in the room became covered with a misty, gray film. The glass walls grew clouded, rendering my view of the room’s contents blurred and indistinct. When the seed dust settled upon this film, it took root and grew. In a very few moments, the machines had become grotesque, vegetable caricatures of their former selves.
The plants continued their growth, one layer of either growing or decaying organisms upon another, until the mass had reached a depth of one quarter the height of a man; then my view of the room’s interior was shut off. I had no means of determining how long that growth continued, but that was of little consequence.
Another thing remained for me to do before I liberated my servants upon the world to do my bidding. I had yet to learn just what would control the monstrous plants, and what steps I would have to take for my own protection.
In this I encountered no difficulty; the application of heat that was just beyond the limits of human endurance caused the growths to shrivel up, and fall, shrunken, shapeless masses, into the fetid slime beneath them. When the heat was directed against the glass, by the way, that slime began to steam, and a foul, nauseating odor in some way escaped from the glass cube. Heat, then, I decided, was obviously the agency with which to destroy them.
And heat, I felt sure, would protect me from the plants. I’d have men build numerous wide-mouthed nozzles, and have them placed at carefully selected positions on the walls and roof of the outside of my home. Steam pipes connected with these mozzles would cover the building with a protective blanket of heat.
Because of this one rather large remaining task, and several minor ones, and the time necessary for their accomplishment, I decided that I had better conceal the room from the prying eyes of inquisitive neighbors or chance callers, until I was ready to make use of its contents. I had just arrived at this conclusion, when a persistent buzzing in the vicinity of the door told of visitors seeking entrance. Turning to a small screen in the corner of the laboratory, I saw thereon the familiar faces of Bor Akon and Sarig Om.
As I moved toward the door to let them in, I realized in a flash that their coming was a gift of Sklow. They were welcome—how very welcome, they’d never know. I opened the door and bade them enter.
CHAPTER III
WHEN the two faced me in the reception room, I could see in their glances the uncertainty they felt. They were in doubt as to the treatment they would receive at my hands. I smiled at them reassuringly, for it did not suit my purpose to arouse distrust in their minds.
The smile evidently renewed their confidence, for Bor Akon, acting as spokesman, cleared his throat and addressed me.
“Brother Tuol,” he began—we were all brothers in conversation, “Sarig and I have taken it upon ourselves to investigate your report to the Council. We believe that you have been treated unjustly. Unquestionably, you were either sick or laboring under some great mental weight when you made those ridiculous statements in the Council Hall.
“We, Sarig and I, thought that we’d attempt to persuade you to take steps toward regaining your former position in the scientific world.”
So that was their attitude! Perhaps I was sick, or temporarily deranged! Well, I thought, it wouldn’t take me long to correct that erroneous idea. Repressing my natural anger, lest it be betrayed through my voice, I replied in studiously careless tones.
“Brother Bor, I assure you that you are mistaken. All that I said to the Twenty was absolutely true. I can’t help feeling that I have been shabbily treated. Had I been given a fair opportunity, I would have been able to prove my claims so absolutely, that even the most skeptical would have been convinced. As for my trying to regain my former position, no! They have made me an outcast; I am satisfied.
“Now that you are here, I’ll show you that proof, the microscope itself. If you will excuse me—” They acquiesced, politely, and I left them seated there while I headed toward the laboratory.
Upon arriving there, I drew a large curtain around the glass room, in order to conceal it from my visitors’ eyes. Then I returned to the reception room and led my guests back to that part of the laboratory which held the microscope.
As their eyes fell upon the intricate mechanism, with its multitude of lenses and powerful lights, they displayed a reluctant, though rather skeptical interest. Sarig Om turned to me with a question in his eyes. I answered his unspoken query with:
“There would be no use in explaining its construction or means of magnification to you, inasmuch as neither of you could possibly understand. However, there is nothing to prevent you from observing the wonders that may be seen through it. Which of you will be the first to gaze upon an electron?”
As I placed a particle of matter beneath the lenses, and focused the microscope, Sarig Om expressed his willingness to be first. “I’ve been looking through lenses all my adult life,” he said, “and since one of us must be first, it may as well be I.”
While the two alternately gazed through the microscope, crying out in wonder at each new marvel, I excused myself and left the room.
I returned, some moments later, with some articles of food that I had treated with a sleep-inducing drug. As I entered, Sarig Om looked up, an expression of incredulity on his face.
“Brother Tuol,” he exclaimed, “we have discovered life on a proton! It’s unbelievable!”
“Come, come,” I replied. “You’ve no cause for such great excitement. I have something far more amazing than that to show you. After we have eaten this food, I’ll let you see something that is really astounding.”
AT my invitation, then, my guests seated themselves, and with poorly concealed impatience, ate the food I placed before them. A few moments after they had swallowed the drugged morsels, I saw their eyelids droop. Valiantly they fought the drowsiness that had settled upon them, but the drug was stronger than they and in a moment more they slept.
Securing strong cords, I bound them tightly, and carried them into the room which held the glass box. I placed them against the wall of the room in such a position as to enable them to have an unobstructed view of one of the box’s sides, when they awakened.
I waited impatiently for the two scientists to recover from their involuntary slumbers; I was anxious to carry out the experiment I had in mind. At last they stirred, and in a short time were fully conscious.
Any self-possession that they had had, had gone from them. They looked at me with fear-filled eyes. In all probability, they thought they were at the mercy of a madman. While I stood there, waiting for any remaining effects of the drug to pass, Bor Akon, in an obvious attempt to bolster up his own courage, and perhaps intimidate me, addressed me.
“Tuol, you madman,” he exclaimed, “cut these bonds and set us free immediately, or I’ll see that you receive the punishment you deserve. You fool! What can you expect to gain by this? And what possible purpose can you have in mind, anyway? Liberate us now, or I’ll inform the Council of your insane actions!”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it; it was funny. The thought of that brainless fool, bound and helpless as he was, threatening me, bordered on the ridiculous. But my mirth was short-lived; suddenly it turned to anger. These two men w
ere part of the race that had made me an outcast. A fool and a madman, was I?
“Silence!” I roared, as Sarig Om opened his mouth to speak. “Who are you to threaten me? Inform the Council, indeed! Idiots! You’ll do just as I bid, and that only.
“What do I expect to gain; what purpose do I have in mind? I’ll tell you. When the Council banished me, I swore that I would destroy every vestige of this race of failures, the race of man. I now have the instrument with which to bring about that destruction. For three long stallos I labored tirelessly, striving to achieve the impossible, and I’ve succeeded!”
While talking, I had moved over toward the glass room. I reached up, then, and pulled the curtains aside. Nothing could be seen through the glass, save a grayish-white film on its inside surface, and a vague suggestion of a ceaseless movement within.
“In that glass cube,” I continued, “lies the result of my efforts. You remember, of course, that I told the Council about the rapidly growing plant life I had discovered on a proton. Within that room is the proton itself, enormously increased in size. And with it, surrounding it, and I suppose, destroying it, are innumerable plants growing with an insane speed. Plants, they are, that I took from the proton’s surface. They grow and grow, one upon another, finding root on any surface. I’ll show you how they grow; its only proper that you know, for you, too, Bor and Sarig, have a part in my plan. It is because of that part which you are to play, that I have bound you.”
After testing their bonds, and finding them secure, I turned my back upon the two, closing my ears to their pleas for freedom, and directed a beam of heat upon the door of the glass room, Rapidly the film and the plants growing on the door disappeared, sinking to the floor. Further and further into the noisome, steaming mass the heat cut its way, clearing an ever increasing space. Finally, when I had reduced about half of the room’s contents to slime, I shut off the heat ray, and admonished the two to pay particular attention.
The plants recovered from the effects of the heat with great rapidity. In a few moments, a red, triangular head on a long, slender stem, thrust itself up from the mass, and burst, casting its seed dust into the air. The astonished eyes of Bor Akon and Sarig Om saw the dust settle into the slime, spring up, grow to maturity, burst in turn, and die, all in a few moments of time. It was not long before the walls had again assumed their white, translucent covering, and our view was again cut off.
A heavy silence followed this, to them, amazing spectacle. Impatiently I broke that silence.
“Well, how did you enjoy the entertainment?” I asked.
“Interesting, wasn’t it? There is something still more interesting to follow, but I’ll be the only one to see that.
“But consider those plants. Imagine what will happen when I free my pets upon Kotar. Imagine the effects of a little cloud of seed dust settling upon the floor of a boat in one of the great waterways. Curious people gather around, attracted by the peculiar growths. In a moment they are enveloped by a cloud of dust that touches them, and grows, drawing life from their flesh. Imagine a man breathing some of that dust!
“Then picture a strong wind blowing the dust to all parts of the world. News of the menace will cause men to flee. Some will lose their lives in the panic that will ensue. Others, seeking to escape, will perhaps hide in deep pits or cellars. The plants will fill the cracks and crevices of their sanctuaries, and eventually they will die of suffocation.
“Visualize the world after the menace has been at work for a stal. By that time the solid portion of Kotar’s surface will have become a flowing, ever changing mass of plant life. The air will be filled with dense clouds of seed-dust of every possible hue. The boats on the waterways will be covered by the plants. Drifting, those boats will force their way through a heavy, viscous scum which will probably cover the water. Plants may be growing in that scum, which, by the way, will be the residue resulting from the decay of the other plants on the shore. Not a sound will break the death like silence; there will be no more idle chattering coming from the lips of fools. The world will have been cleansed of their presence; all will have been destroyed. All—save one, Tuol Oro. A pretty picture, aye?”
THROUGHOUT this rather lengthy recital, both scientists remained motionless, as though frozen, an expression of growing horror and fascination on the face of each. When I ceased talking, Sarig Om attempted to speak, but the words died in his throat; he was dumb with fear. Bor Akon continued to stare fixedly into my face.
Suddenly a thought occurred to me.
“By the way,” I exclaimed, “I told you that you, too, have a part in my plans. I’ve neglected to tell you what that part is, so I’ll tell you now. I am not quite certain that those plants will act in just the way that I desire. Perhaps my efforts have been wasted. To avoid taking any chances of my plans going awry, I intend putting you in the glass room, and watching the effects of the plants upon you.”
The semi-stupor into which the two had fallen fell from them like a cloak. Scream after scream burst from Bor Akon’s lips. Roughly I clapped my hand over his mouth, threatening to gag him if he started screaming again. When I withdrew my hand, he began mumbling and sobbing piteously. His mind had snapped. Fear had dethroned his reason.
Sarig Om was made of sterner stuff. He cursed me in the name of every god that I knew of, and called me everything vile that entered his mind. I was surprised at his fluency.
When his tirade ceased, I picked him up and carried him, squirming and twisting, over to the glass cube. Depositing him on the floor beside the door, I directed the heat against the glass another time. After burning away about half of the plants I opened the door and thrust Sarig in. Hastily, then, I closed and locked it, and directed the heat all around the edge of the door, in order to destroy any seed dust that might have escaped.
Then I turned my attention to the figure in the room. Sarig, seated in a pool of slime, was straining with all his strength at the cords that bound his hands. Suddenly as one of the plants burst above him, he made a supreme effort, and the cords broke.
Slowly the dust settled upon him. As it touched his skin, sending tiny rootlets through the pores, into his flesh, and drawing life from his living body, he gave utterance to one piercing shriek.
Strangely formed plants sprang from all parts of Sarig Om’s body then. With mad, frenzied haste, the scientist tore them from him, leaving ugly, bloody wounds where the growths had been. But only for a moment was he able to struggle with his vegetable destroyers; several plants, having reached maturity upon him, burst simultaneously, enveloping him in a thick cloud of dust.
He seemed to grow larger before my eyes. Countless plants grew upon him, swelling him to three times his normal size. Grew—and decayed. The figure remained thus for only a moment, then it collapsed and lost itself in the slime and plants upon the floor.
For a fleeting second my resolution to destroy the race was shaken—but only for a second. Although the weapon I possessed was terrible, and the death it meted out, horrible, it wasn’t too severe for the fools that ruled over Kotar. They deserved to be obliterated, and I was using the only means of destruction at my command.
I turned to Bor Akon. When last I had noticed him, he had been sobbing and quivering like a frightened infant. Now, he was lying on the floor, unconscious. The sight of Sarig Ora’s death had been too much for his weakened mind; he had fainted.
I would have spared Bor, then, to wait and be destroyed with his fellows, had it not been for the fact that he was aware of my plans. As it was, he knew too much for my safety; he had to be removed.
Again I burned the plants away; then I thrust the unconscious scientist through the doorway. After all, he was more fortunate than the others, for his death was painless; he never recovered consciousness.
I destroyed all evidence that pointed to the fact that the two had visited me. I took no chances of being implicated if their disappearance was investigated. Any interference at this time would have been fatal to my plans.
&n
bsp; But there was no investigation; in all probability, Sarig and Bor had kept their visit secret, for fear of arousing the displeasure of the Council. After about a stal of waiting, I decided that it was safe for me to follow out the rest of my program. I had yet to prepare for my defense, secure a machine to purify the air, and lay in a supply of food tablets, and I would be ready.
Without delay, then, I employed men to make the large, fan-shaped steam nozzles, and fasten them where I directed on the walls and roof of my home. Other men I engaged to cover the building with a network of pipes to carry the steam to the nozzles. This latter crew built the tank that was to form the steam. The water for this, by the way, came through underground pipes from the waterway that flowed before my home. Still others, I hired to fill up every crack and crevice that they could find in the building. In every possible way, I fortified myself against any attacks that the plants might make upon me.
When authorities of the city questioned me about the pipes and nozzles, I told them that they were part of a new device for protection against fire. They believed me, thinking, in all probability, that it was only a fancy of my “disordered” mind. They left me to myself after that; I was glad of it.
During the few trons that preceded the time of my destruction of mankind, I had the oxygen machine installed and operating, and had food tablets enough stored in my bins to last me the rest of my life, if necessary. Likewise, I purchased enough fuel to keep my furnace going full blast for ten mallahs, at the very least.
Forgotten Fiction Page 17