by John Creasey
‘Where do you want to be?’ he demanded.
‘In complete control of the future of humankind,’ the Master answered.
‘Ah,’ said Maddern drily. ‘You are God.’
‘So far as human beings are concerned, yes, I am God,’ the Master said.
‘What would happen if I were to keep God here, or take him up to London to see Palfrey?’ asked Maddern.
‘You could do no such thing,’ the other retorted. ‘For one thing I am wearing a protective suiting which would keep you and anyone else away from me. You cannot take me anywhere against my will. You could kill me but that would not help you. The only thing that can help you is talk, understanding and co-operation. Are you prepared to deny that?’
‘When you say “you” presumably you are talking of human beings in general, not me personally,’ said Maddern.
‘Yes. You—or Palfrey—or Miss Morgan—are representatives of the human race. Or, as I call them, terrestrial human beings. Palfrey, as far as I can judge, can speak for most nations if not all. No one else can speak for anyone but his own nation. Really,’ went on the Master almost petulantly, ‘the world is still in a state of anarchy. It is not substantially better than it was five hundred, even a thousand years ago. Let me tell you this: when you left Azran here, alone, I came to find out why. She convinced me that it would be worthwhile to discuss the situation with you and perhaps with Dr. Palfrey. She persuaded me that you are creatures of genuine intellectual stature, not simply emotional and animal morons. With intellectuals, I may be able to come to terms. However, I do not know whether you can speak for anyone but yourself, and I do not wish to discuss this twice. Is Palfrey prepared to come with you?’
‘Come where?’ asked Maddern quickly.
The Master looked at him with a scornful expression in his eyes.
‘You really do not know, do you?’
Joyce said, ‘Dr. Palfrey would go anywhere.’
‘Can you be sure?’
‘I’ve worked for him for nearly fifteen years,’ she stated. ‘I am sure he would come.’
‘Not knowing where?’
‘I wouldn’t be too sure that he doesn’t know where,’ Joyce said.
‘I cannot accept any kind of reservation or condition,’ the Master said flatly. ‘Either he will come or he will not. I will talk to him only when he comes.’
‘He will need to know why he is coming,’ reasoned Joyce.
‘He will find out exactly what I have done and why I am doing it,’ said the Master, with a touch of impatience in his voice. ‘And he has no other choice of action.’ When neither Joyce nor Maddern made any comment, he went on, ‘I will make one small concession, Dr. Maddern. I will tell you that I would take you all to a space satellite, one of those from which I conduct my operations. If Palfrey wishes to come I can arrange to have him picked up in London. He would have to do exactly what he is told, and so will you.’
‘I’ll talk to Palfrey,’ Maddern promised huskily and then looked round at Joyce. ‘Unless you would prefer to.’
‘I think this had better come from you,’ Joyce said.
‘What must he do for you to communicate with him?’ asked Maddern.
‘Go, alone, to Hyde Park, at the entrance to the underground garage, and then—’ The Master was very lucid and
very precise as he gave instructions.
Palfrey said into the telephone, ‘Yes, Reggie. I will do exactly what he says.’
‘And no attempt must be made to follow you,’ Maddern emphasised.
‘I can’t guarantee what others will do,’ said Palfrey. ‘I shall make no arrangements to be followed.’
‘Are you sure you remember the instructions?’
‘I have them here, taped as you gave them to me,’ said Palfrey. ‘He certainly knows his London!’ He gave a curious little laugh. ‘Just in case you think I am being too accommodating, let me tell you that reports of the number of affected areas in the world have now passed the one thousand five hundred mark. I don’t really have any choice, do I?’
There were other factors which robbed Palfrey of any choice. Messages were coming in from the governments of other nations, large and small, from all over the world. They were stunned as their peoples were stunned by the gradual ending of fresh human life. In their different ways they charged Palfrey with preventing this hideous thing which affected all human mankind; on him, because of what and who he was, rested this awful responsibility.
In the less sophisticated parts of the world, there were priests and there were witch doctors who all made the same charge – that the western doctors, those who had introduced contraception, had placed a curse upon all women, a curse which would not be lifted until those who had created it were dead.
The priests and the witch doctors were leading their followers – to kill.
And those who had been dedicated to their understanding of mankind’s greatest need – the control of population – were dying as Lal Singh had died.
‘How do we go?’ Maddern asked the Master, almost humbly.
‘Come with me,’ the other said. ‘Azran will take Miss Morgan.’
They went out into the garden where the mist had become much thicker. In a corner of the orchard where he had first seen Azran were two conical shell-like constructions which he realised at once were the rocket-capsules. They were like huge shell-cases and the fact that they stood enshrouded in mist gave them an eerie appearance.
‘These are our space capsules,’ the Master announced with a matter of factness which astounded Maddern. ‘They are self-propelled and need very little blast-off either from their satellite base or from the Earth. The rocket engines do not have to be thrown off in space. After each journey they can be refuelled, and if approached by anyone who does not use a control ray with which to open the door, they burn instantly. You should be informed that I have created a galaxy of these satellites which make no sound. In them I, and my colleagues, can land in silence and mix with the Terrestrials—the Earth people from which we sprang. Now! The inside of each capsule is completely pressurised, and you will be inside for a comparatively short time. We shall fly direct at over 10,000 miles an hour to the master planet, Nega.’ He touched a spot on the side of the first rocket, as Azran touched a spot on the other. Immediately, doors slid open, showing a pale yellow light inside. ‘Now,’ went on the Master, ‘you may come or go, as you wish.’
Maddern glanced at Joyce, who looked quite ethereally beautiful in the mist, and nodded.
They stepped inside.
Maddern had just room to sit on a hinged seat at one side. The master sat next to him, and when he pressed another spot on the inside of the casing, the door slid to. Maddern found himself clenching his teeth. On one side was a small panel, with no more controls than on a small car. He pulled a lever, and there was a faint whirr of sound. Next moment there was a jolt, rather as if a lift had left its base, but Maddern felt nothing more.
He closed his eyes.
When he opened them again there was a kind of window
slot at his side, and he could see the stars; only the stars. Even though the stars must be so far away, they seemed to be moving very fast. The Master was sitting on his narrow seat, reading a small book. Soon, Maddern was lulled to drowsiness by the faint whirring and the passing stars, and he closed his eyes. He had no idea how long he had been asleep when he woke to a touch on his shoulder.
‘Dr. Maddern—Dr. Maddern.’
It was the Master, leaning over him and shaking him. As he began to struggle up the other said, ‘We are on Nega. Nega is our base from which we control all the satellites in our galaxy.’
Shakily and stupidly, Maddern got to his feet. The door was open, and he saw beyond to lighted passages and one big foyer, except that the gangway was very short. He stepped off it, on to t
he satellite, and at the same instant Joyce stepped from a door only a few feet away from him. The Master went ahead, taking all of this so much for granted that he gave an air of verisimilitude if not of reality. There was just room for Maddern and Joyce to walk side by side. Their hands touched.’Is it really a planet?’ whispered Maddern.
‘That was undoubtedly a space capsule,’ Joyce said.
‘I wonder where—’ Maddern began, and then stopped abruptly for they reached an intersection of two passages, and Palfrey appeared from the other passage. He looked alert and eager and at sight of them, actually laughed.
‘It isn’t wholly a hoax, then,’ he remarked. ‘We’re all here together.’
‘Nothing about this confrontation is a hoax,’ said the Master sharply. ‘Please come in here.’
He led them into a big room with a curved wall, beautifully appointed in contemporary furniture and with many couches and easy chairs facing the wall as well as facing inwards. He motioned them to one of the long, curved couches, and as they sat down, the wall began to open. In fact, two sections of a huge window opened, and they looked out on the stars.
It was as if they were part of an unknown or unrecognisable galaxy.
The scene was of such beauty, such brilliance against the darkness of the sky. Slowly, a sphere floated into sight like an enormous moon and they became aware of the contours of the Earth and the outline of its western hemisphere.
There was a slight sensation, much as when the spacecraft had started off; then they were absolutely still, and the Earth seemed to fill the whole of space beyond the window.
‘Now do you see how easy it is to control the world?’ asked the Master. ‘Now do you see how small and insignificant it is when seen against the enormity of one galaxy in the universe?’
‘But in the beginning, surely,’ Palfrey said, ‘you came from there.’
Chapter Sixteen
THE CONCEPT
The Master did not answer Palfrey but he seemed to disapprove of the remark. He pressed a switch and the windows closed, then he touched the side of the couch so that it turned slowly on a pivot base and they were facing inwards. The Master stood up in one of those bewilderingly swift movements – he seemed to be in two places at once, they hardly saw him move. He sat in a chair opposite them, with Azran by his side, like an acolyte. No one else was in this room, and there were no sounds except a faint burring. The Master looked from one to the other very intently and then stated, ‘I believe, above all, in evolution. Do you?’ His glance darted from one to the other, demanding an answer.
‘Yes,’ Palfrey said plainly.
‘Yes,’ said Joyce, quietly.
‘I don’t know any alternative but stagnation and decay,’ replied Maddern.
‘Then so far we are in agreement and understand one another. There is a great difference, however, between your earthly concept of evolution and my celestial one. You believe that the whole human race will evolve, over thousands of years, to a form of perfection as conceived in the human mind. Is that so?’
‘Roughly,’ Palfrey said.
‘There would be a lot of argument about what constitutes perfection,’ remarked Joyce, with obvious feeling.
‘But roughly, yes, I think you’re right,’ agreed Maddern.
He was fascinated by this man, by the realisation that they were here in space, had come here to the satellite as easily – more easily – than if they had got into a car from city to city in England, and by the fact that they were discussing a bizarre and in some ways inconceivable situation in such a dispassionate mood. The Master was obviously intent on making his attitude clear, and his enunciation was beautifully precise.
‘Very good,’ he said. ‘Dr. Palfrey, it is true that this planet was colonised from the Earth, by a team of scientists who worked privately, financed by two wealthy men, both now dead. They did not agree with what was happening on Earth. They believed that the process could be greatly speeded up.’ He paused long enough to allow that to sink in, then went on, ‘You believe that evolution must come slowly, by trial and error, as it were. We, here, disagree with you. We believe that with careful breeding from a selection of male sperm and female ova, the perfect man and woman can be born. However, the terrestrial or what we now call the subhuman way to conceive children is by the physical union of male and female. This means that at the time of conception deep emotions are brought into play which adversely affect any child so conceived. Further, you still believe that the child, once conceived, should remain in the female’s womb. This means that in the nine months of gestation the child is under constant emotional pressure from the mother. Moreover, the child in the womb is subject to ailments which the mother might suffer. The simplest illustration is that Earth children can be blinded by mothers who have such a mild illness as German measles. So, we have the children in artificial but wholly satisfactory wombs, and, on full birth, place them under communal care. This has proved wholly effective here on Nega and on our satellites. The time has come, I am sure, to apply the same methods to the Earth. In fact—’ He gave a haughty smile as he went on, ‘We are about to colonise the Earth from here.’
And he sounded as if he meant exactly what he said.
Palfrey felt a shiver of horror through his body, but before he could speak, almost before he could think, the Master went on, ‘If the world continues in your way, Dr. Palfrey, you would be doomed to failure in any case. The process will fail because you permit the animal instincts of the human being as known on Earth to become the focal point of the male and female relationship. This is why we call you the Terrestrial homo sapiens as distinct from those of us who stem from my family and those who first came to Nega. I call us the Celestial homo sapiens, because we live and work in the universe, among the planets. We are far superior in every respect, largely because we do not spend our natural energy in sexual activity. As I have told you we do not conceive in the way Terrestrial homo sapiens conceive. At intervals we have induced sexual orgasms, when under sedation, and we are not aware of the stimuli used. That is, a mild form of mechanical manipulation. The semen and ova so obtained are stored indefinitely and taken only when the female is at her prime—between the ages of nineteen and twenty-five. None of the false sentimentality and emotional stresses common on Earth is therefore extant. There are no known human blood relationships. Friendships are made intellectually, never emotionally.’
The Master paused and Palfrey watched unbelieving yet sure this man meant exactly what he said. Again the Master hardly gave them time to grasp the full implication of his words.
‘You are perhaps aware of some of the most abominable aspects of the Terrestrial homo sapiens. I have to remind you that there is no process of selection – breeding is entirely haphazard. There is no truly effective system of training, either. Children are brought up in conditions of appalling ignorance and often squalor. The parent-child relationship is seldom, if ever, satisfactory. The dependence of one human being on others is, apart from its proven failure over many thousands of years, quite unethical. The Earth-child is brought up in an atmosphere of tradition which fills its mind with fallacies. Why, some people on Earth still believe in God! What a way to bring a child up!’
He looked and sounded appalled by the thought and oblivious of the irony that he should talk so.
Maddern said drily, ‘A great number do.’
‘What possible hope is there for a child brought up in an atmosphere of superstitious hero-or-God-worship?’ demanded the Master. ‘What hope is there for a child who, from an early age, has to consider the emotional gravity pull, as one might say, from mother to father, sister to brother—oh, it is ludicrous. On Earth you have a gravitational pull towards the Earth’s core one moment and one towards, say, the north pole the next, or the south pole. Supposing these gravitational pulls were variable, not constant. People would have little or no control over
their movements, over the more obvious physical inclinations of their bodies. Imagine such a situation—and then remind yourselves that this is the kind of multi-directional influence to which all children are born on Earth.’
He paused and this time it was Palfrey who commented, non-committally.
‘A great number of people advocate that the child should be separated from the parents early, so that bad parental influences are removed.’
‘A great number? Nonsense! It is doubtful whether there are a thousand psychiatrists on Earth who advocate this. Moreover there are countless other difficulties to be overcome before a child can even begin to develop—to evolve—into a rational being capable of using its intellectual capacity to the utmost.’
Maddern murmured, ‘There’s something in that. Wasn’t it Thoreau who said “Man’s capacities have never been measured, nor are we to judge of what he can do, by any—”’ He broke off, groping for lost words.
‘”—by any precedents, so little has been tried”,’ the Master finished for him, almost impatiently. ‘Yes. He, with a few others, have glimpsed the truth – that the potential of man’s mind has never been properly developed or allowed to evolve. Something always gets in the way of such evolution and mankind is thrown back into an era of primitive survival. Pestilence or wars or famines or—and most recent and most damaging—the production of far too many children because children come as a result of emotional urges leading to physical desire between the sexes. There is no chance for the evolution of a perfect race because of these and other restricting factors. No chance at all.’
‘Don’t you mean there wasn’t?’ asked Palfrey, quietly.
