My hand wrote, and I looked at the message. It said Good, and soon afterwards I closed the meeting. I had promised to accept suggestions for a small executive council when we had come to know each other better.
CHAPTER 8
I met Dr Faber next morning after breakfast as we were both out doing some more exploring.
"Do you mind if I join you?" he asked. "It doesn't look as though anyone's needing my attentions. My wife will be joining me when she's washed the dishes and tidied the house. It amazes me how we've got electricity already. What with a cooker, vacuum cleaner and even a washing machine, it's a home from home. By the way, you're not married are you? I've not seen a wife around."
"No, I'm a self-sufficient bachelor. I've cooked my breakfast and done the housework. I'm out for a walk to find out more about the place."
He joined me, and we strolled for a minute or two in silence.
"You managed the meeting last night, but there's still a mystery in my mind about the man behind all this. Excuse my asking, but is there a boss at all? I mean, are you the man who's worked all this out? How, I don't pretend to know."
I laughed. "That's a compliment, but I'm not that clever. Yes, there is a boss and I'm nothing more than the one he's chosen to be his agent."
"Does that mean you understand how he's worked all this?"
"Only vaguely. I know he's mastered the power of using mind over matter. I know quite a bit about psychic force, but only as a hit and miss affair. He has evidently mastered it completely, and has somehow transported us all here, and created this village and everything in it."
"Created? That sounds like the old idea of God."
"He certainly hasn't created them out of nothing. He's had to use existing material and adapt it."
"Pardon me if I seem inquisitive, but I suppose it's because as a doctor I like to find out all I can about my patients. You seem to believe in psychic experiences. Are you in fact after all a religious man?"
As I hesitated, he went on. "I noticed last night your allusion to the Garden of Eden, and then your quotation of "Ask and you shall receive," the words of Jesus, if I remember rightly."
I laughed. "It's understandable you should say that. I was in fact an ordained clergyman and a teacher in a theological college, and this was one of the things that turned me from the Christian religion and shattered the faith I once had in God. I felt a promise like that should work out every time. My mother had a serious illness, and then my father. I asked for their recovery, but it just didn't happen. I found it impossible to go on believing in God at all. God was only a concept that could neither answer prayer nor satisfy an inquiring mind."
The doctor nodded. "Roughly the same thing happened to me. I couldn't get over the facts of suffering and death, whether my patients prayed or not."
"Exactly. And I couldn't find that any theologian could give me an answer that satisfied me."
The doctor went on, "So you think your boss can deliver the goods in a way that Jesus couldn't. I noticed you had to hedge a bit last night."
"Of course I couldn't promise that everyone will get immediately whatever they asked for."
He looked thoughtful, and added, "I wonder whether Jesus thought the same. But that sounds rude to your boss. I'd be interested to know more about your job before you threw it up."
"I told you I was a teacher of theology, even though I believed less and less what I was teaching. In fact, I think I may have given my students more doubts and hesitancies than faith."
"I like honesty," said the doctor.
"Well, it was a bit of a tension, and I was glad to leave the whole thing. I told you my mother and father died. I've no brothers and sisters, so I inherited everything, and my father was a very rich man. I don't want you to think that I just sat in an armchair all day. I've always had an active mind, so I was able to work at my hobbies, and especially to give time to psychical research and the study of the inner world, not to mention a bit of dabbling in magic and spiritualism."
"But not religion?" queried the doctor.
"No, not religion. I found I could explain most of the ideas of religion by psychology and psychism."
The doctor smiled. "And I found everything could be accounted for by the brain and the body."
Perhaps I shouldn't have said it, but I did. "So you didn't think you had to postulate the devil as the source of all the illness you had to deal with?"
"Don't try to pull my leg. Who believes in the devil nowadays?" He swung round and looked behind him. "Who was that laughing?" he said.
"I didn't hear anything," I announced truthfully, thinking he was joking.
"Ah well. Getting imaginative after all we've been through. But it's funny. I really thought there was someone behind us."
I don't remember what we talked about after that. I sensed some restraint between us. Presently he turned and remarked that his wife would be expecting him. He didn't seem to want me to walk back with him, and I went on alone.
I wanted to see the electricity turbines that I guessed must be somewhere up in the hills. As there were no cars in the community, there was no need of a road once leaving the village street, but the doctor and I had been walking along a track which had been made through the grass. Incidentally, the grass on this planet apparently never grew to more than an inch or two in height.
I came to a place where the track divided. I left the right-hand path to be explored later, and took the left-hand up a hill. I don't know what I was expecting, but when I came over the brow of the hill I found myself looking down into a steep valley with a swiftly flowing river at the bottom.
Away to the left I could see and hear a high waterfall thundering into a narrow gorge. Here a solid stone building housed what were evidently the turbines for generating electricity. Not enough, of course, for a city, but enough for our small community. To me the generation of electricity was a mystery, but I knew we had a couple of electrical engineers in our number, and I made a mental note to send them up to see how much maintenance would be needed.
It was a fine picture. I always enjoy the sight of running water. Where the river went to, I couldn't say. Dr Faber had mentioned a stream and a lake, but this river was obviously bigger than a stream, and I found later that it swung away from the village by a horseshoe curve.
I retraced my steps, and made up my mind to go a short way down the other fork in the track. It soon became a typical country lane, with high banks on each side covered with strange flowers. Then it ran straight into a wood, dark and sombre, with branches of trees meeting overhead, so that I was in a dark corridor. The shapes of the branches reminded me of Arthur Rackham's strange pictures that I could remember from a childhood book. It was weird enough to be frightening, and I had no heart to go further.
"Another day," I said to myself, and turned back to find the sunshine again.
There were no birds in the wood, but outside they were singing in the bushes and trees by the way, and a hawk soared overhead.
CHAPTER 9
As once I had studied theology, so now I found myself trying to grasp Satanology. I've made up the title, because this was not just Demonology. I had not yet had any direct encounter with other spirits than Satan himself, although Satan had told me that his workers had constructed what we needed for our life on Priam, such as our houses and even the electricity generators. I had gathered that none of these had been created out of nothing, but had either been made out of materials already on Priam, or had been teleported from earth.
What concerned me was to understand the ways of Satan himself. I had come to realise something of his plans before we left earth, but now that I was seeing him in action I began to appreciate his ideals for our community, and could compare these with what I had once been led to believe were God's plans for the world.
There was a certain similarity. Satan planned a stable society, which meant that he had to control divisive elements, including many of those things that I used to call sins. He would allow
a certain amount of personal pleasures, but not things that would disrupt the family or damage personal health. These would spoil the plan that he had for a good world without God. Thus, he wouldn't supply cigarettes, and if anyone had asked for recreational drugs I've no doubt that he would have said No. At the same time I found myself wondering how he would deal with any unpleasant family troubles that might arise.
I could see that it was important that Satan should appear in a good light if he was to achieve his object. I remembered that the Bible somewhere described him as posing as an angel of light. Surely if the people knew that the Anonymous Scientist, their boss, was actually Satan, the whole community would have gone to pieces, with a licence to sin as they pleased.
Meanwhile the nearest they came to Satan was through me, and I flattered myself that in me they would see only the highest standards. In fact, some of them, like the doctor, half suspected that I myself was the Anonymous Scientist who had engineered the whole project, and I was aware that I was treated with a certain awe. I have to admit that I found it slightly gratifying.
Where Satan's methods differed from what I had been taught about God, was in his readiness to answer prayer. He encouraged people to ask for what they wanted, and nine times out of ten he gave it to them at once. The plan was that anyone could come to me with requests for what he or she wanted. I noted these down on a list, and at a certain time each day I sat down alone in my house, and opened up my "hot line" to Satan.
He was obviously listening as I read through the list aloud, and by next morning the things that had been asked for appeared in the shop, where they could then be bought, or sometimes they appeared directly in the home. As I've said, unlike God, Satan granted these petitionary prayers nine times out of ten, and gave exactly what was asked for. It was interesting to me to discover the reasons for any refusals.
One day the doctor's friend Richard Halliday asked for a revolver and ammunition. He told me that he wasn't too happy over one or two members of the community. He needed the gun for protection if he were to be attacked, and it would be useful for policing if trouble broke out.
Satan's prompting to me said, "Strike that out!"
Next day Halliday's neighbour appeared at my door in an excitable state. "I hear Halliday's getting a gun. We can't have just one man with a gun in the village. I'll have one too."
I assured him that Halliday had not been given a gun, and he wouldn't be getting one either.
At this point I began to wonder. Here was Satan acting as the God of the Bible would act. He was working for peace. Well, why shouldn't Satan and the Bible have at least some similar ideals? In the mythical kingdom of God there would be complete peace, since people killing and threatening one another would destroy the kingdom, just as they would destroy Satan's community here. That made sense.
There was sense in some other refusals too. Nearly everyone at some time or another asked for a newspaper so as to know what was happening back at home. These prayers were always refused. I wouldn't have minded a paper myself, but I could see that news of life on earth would be unsettling. I found myself remembering a sermon I'd preached from the Bible text, "If they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is an heavenly."
I could see that there would almost certainly be no opportunity to return, but Priam was a good place in the heavens. In fact, the Bible text promised a future pie in the sky, whereas Satan was giving us the pie here and now.
Occasionally people asked for the impossible, such as television. Since there were no transmitters, there would be no point in watching a blank screen. I suppose we might have had video recordings, but again there would have been unsettling reminders of life on earth, including the disturbing acceptance of violence and sex. Well, I had told everyone that they would be leaving modern technology behind if they decided to come.
After a time I found an unexpected result of Satan's bounty creeping in. The mood of, "You only have to ask for it, and you'll get it" did no good to a number of those who came with their petitions. I even detected a certain rivalry, so that when one person had something, a neighbour would demand, and receive, something better.
I never discovered the principle on which personal possessions were brought to us. Some, like Dr Faber, received directly what they needed. Other requests were delivered to the shop, and had to be paid for at a fixed price. It was becoming clear that there was already a difference between what I will call the rich and the poor. Some were saving their tokens so that they were able to buy things that were more expensive, others spent their tokens as soon as they got them.
I couldn't help thinking that if Christians on earth had found their God answering prayers in this way so quickly, there would have been many more converts.
Gradually our village organised itself. Small groups came together for mutual help, and individuals emerged as leaders and organisers. The children went to school, and the two teachers appeared to be efficient. We had several good amateur gardeners.
General health was good, meaning that my doctor friend had an easy time, and he and his wife explored the country around, and reported to me places that I might feel were worth seeing. Satan had chosen an excellent planet for our purposes. It had a variety of scenery, flowers, birds and other animals, and a mixed climate of sun and rain with a temperature that varied little.
So time went on.
CHAPTER 10
I have already said that some of the people regarded me as the real boss, and when I went out I was conscious that I was bathing in the reflected glory of Satan. This made me wonder whether I might indeed rise even higher. After all, Satan had chosen me for a great responsibility, but he had many secrets that were hidden from me. If only I knew them, who knows what I might become? Could I even challenge Satan himself? I hardly dared to consider the possibility.
Were there more secrets that I might discover somehow? The word secrets reminded me of an attractive old house on the edge of the village. It had the name Secretum on the gatepost. The heavy wooden door was locked, and the windows were shuttered. I knew the door was locked because I had seen several people try it.
I had not investigated it myself, because there was a large board outside, saying Strictly Private and Out of Bounds, and I thought I would be setting a bad example if I were seen going up the garden path.
Now I began to wonder what secrets the locked and shuttered house contained. Was this a house that would make me wise with a wisdom that would enable me to compete with Satan on equal terms? At this point I noticed something that I had not seen before. Beside the fireplace in my sitting room hung a key. It was a very fine large key, with a handle beautifully wrought, hanging from a ring at the top. For the first time I realised that it could be the key for the locked door of Secretum.
Why had it been given to me -- at least, not given, but put in my charge? After all, I was the leader, and the warning notice might not apply to me at all. It might be necessary for me to know what was inside. Indeed, it could be a duty that I owed to the community.
I walked over and examined the key closely. I now saw the word SECRETUM engraved in tiny letters on the ring. I had assumed the metal to be iron, and I suppose it may have been, but when I touched it, it had a curious warmth about it which I could not account for. I pulled myself together. What was I doing? I had never dared to disobey Satan's orders before.
I continued to look at it.
It is true I had not disobeyed Satan's orders before, but how did I know that the notice outside the house really meant Satan's orders for me? After all, the house was different in style from others in the village. Then I thought it must be meant for us to look at and admire. The builders, whoever they were, had probably built that house as a replica of an old country house, complete with crumbling rendering, to make Priam feel as though it had a friendly past. But it might not have been built to be inhabited, only as a sort of orname
nt, and it might be dangerous to go into it.
In the end I returned to my original idea. There must be some secret in the house, and there was no reason why I should not know it -- especially as I already knew so much from my studies and from Satan himself. I would at least have another look at the house. At this moment I thought the key rattled on its nail -- no doubt, as I assured myself, due to a draught. I took it down and went outside.
There was no one in sight as I walked casually up the street to the house. I paused and gazed at it. In spite of its obvious age, it would be a good house to live in, and maybe Satan would allow me to move into it. With a plant climbing the old wall beside the door, it was strangely beautiful to look at, in spite of the shutters at every window. Deep down I knew it contained a secret that would make me wise. Indeed, I could be as Satan, knowing the truths of the universe.
I clicked open the gate and walked up the path, first making sure that no one was near to see me, for I had a feeling of being watched, as though the house itself had eyes. There was a rustle in an overgrown bush that intruded on the path, and a large toad-like creature, the first I had seen on Priam, waddled out in front of me and plopped towards the front door. It turned to face me and raised its head, almost by way of invitation.
Curiously enough, I seemed to pick up telepathically a voice from the toad saying, "Go on, try it. It's a good house. Enter it, and you can have the knowledge of Satan himself."
Then it had gone into the bushes again.
So when, as I say, I saw that the house was good to live in, and pleasant to look at, and a house with a secret to make me wise, I went boldly to the door and put the key in the lock. I twisted it with some difficulty and turned the handle of the door. It swung open easily, and I stared into a dark hall. There seemed to be no danger, but all the same I moved cautiously step by step.
I could see doors on the right and on the left, and I chose the right. The room was very dark owing to the shuttered window. I stood still, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness. Gradually I saw that the room was without furniture, and I was about to try my luck with the left-hand room when I noticed something in the middle of the floor. I bent down to examine it, and saw it was a book. That was all I could see, and all that I was likely to see in the darkened room.
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