“I have singled you out in particular as opposed to the other two girls because you seem the most intelligent. The matter of your physical attraction does not enter into it. Since it is essential that the children of our union should be as intelligent and if possible more intelligent than we are it becomes imperative that I seek the girl who is best suited for that purpose. That is what I have decided, Vilnia, and you have no alternative but to fall in with that decision.”
The girl rose from the padded seat and looked down on Exodus steadily.
“You have assumed a great deal, Exodus, and of course I respect you insofar as you are endeavouring to fulfil the wishes of your mother, but it so happens that I have an individuality of my own and not for one moment would I consider union with you. I have already told you that Drando is my choice and indeed we have almost made up our minds to complete the bargain. Anything that you can say, even though you are the son of our ruler, cannot make the slightest difference.”
Exodus shrugged. “In that case you had better advise my mother of your decision but I do not think she will take very kindly to it either.”
“Your mother,” Vilnia said. deliberately, “has no right to control our lives.”
“That is a matter of opinion. If somebody does not control our lives what kind of a chaos are we going to get into? I wouldn’t advise you to inform my mother of your rejection of my proposal, Vilnia, because if you do she is quite liable to seek another of the men as a husband for you and I can assure you it would not be Drando.”
Vilnia was silent, recalling the other young men of the party and inwardly shuddering to herself. She could not tolerate any of them and if it came to it union with them would be worse than marriage to Exodus.
Exodus rose, his big hand resting on her shoulder.
“I am sorry, Vilnia, if I seem callous in the way I treat this most delicate of matters but I cannot help the way I am made. My mother is the ruler and my father was the ruler before her so it is not unnatural that I have that same dominating strain. All I ask is that you have the sense to realise that a great honour is being conferred upon you.”
“That I do realise,” Vilnia responded, “but it still does not make me anxious to have you. I shall tell your mother exactly how the situation stands and see what she has to say.”
Exodus did not respond. He watched Vilnia leave the conning tower with graceful movements and finally dis. appear through the doorway that led to the main corridor. Musing to himself he sat down again and contemplated the interminable wastes of space, his eyes settling at length on the still incredibly distant spot of light which marked the position of Alpha Centauri. At this enormous distance he could not tell that Proxima Centauri lay close beside the parent star, Alpha being of course a dual sun.
Thus engaged he completely lost himself in speculations that were of remarkable depth considering that as yet he was only a young man in his nineteenth year. But then the education he had received and the circumstances in which he had lived from the very moment of his birth had done much to bring maturity to him many years ahead of time….
It was the return of Vilnia that finally aroused him. She advanced slowly from the doorway, her elfin face white and pinched as though she had gazed upon some kind of phantom. Exodus recognised the signs and gave a rather taut smile as he rose to his feet.
“I gather,” he said, quietly, “that you have seen my mother?”
“Yes.” Vilnia’s voice was low. “She told me that if I do not agree to your proposal I shall be compelled to marry Hazalet. That I will not do under any circumstances. He is unintelligent, boorish and hasn’t the least idea how to treat a woman. You, Exodus, at least have intelligence....”
“Thank you,” Exodus responded gravely. “I hope also that I know how to treat a woman. Do not imagine that because I have been so matter-of-fact about this proposal I shall treat you as though you are less than the dust, Vilnia—but on the other hand, you can’t expect me to be romantic because I am simply not made that way.”
Exodus could not be expected to know that his father had used almost those self same words so long before when he had fallen under the spell of Merva. In this case the situation was reversed and Vilnia inclined her fair head as Exodus laid a large and possessive hand up her shoulder….
And the ship sped on.
A week later, not only the marriage of Vilnia and Exodus took place but also the marriages of all the young men and women aboard the vessel. Merva was insistent upon it and herself as commander of the vessel performed the necessary ceremony. She wondered even as she performed it why such a technicality was necessary since all normal conventions and regulations had long since gone by the board. She could only assume that she did it because ingrained deep within her and indeed in the participants of the marriages were the instincts that demanded the observance of age-old customs.
Surveying the young couples, the great windows behind them carrying their eternal picture of the stars, Merva gave her slow, cynical smile.
“It is not my place to tell you what you shall do or what you shall not do,” she said, deliberately, “but this much I feel you should know. All of us here are dedicated to the cause of ultimate vengeance and it is essential to the perfection of that plan that I as your leader should survive the thousand years necessary to bring that plan to fruition. That can only be accomplished through the presence of children and that obviously is where you come in.
“It is now no longer a secret from you that your children are used for life energy even as you were when children and by that means I am permitted to continue living through the endless years, never growing older and able to be your guide, mentor and friend.”
Nobody said anything but Exodus gave a faintly cynical smile that his mother immediately noted. She glanced in his direction.
“Did I say something particularly amusing, Exodus?” she questioned, coldly.
“Not that I am aware of,” he answered with complete calm. “One can surely be permitted a passing thought which brings a smile to the face? I feel, mother, that it is that particular virtue in which you have failed. You see no humour in any situation, but I fortunately do. Without it I should consider our existence a very grave business indeed.”
“Your father often smiled,” Merva snapped, “and always in the wrong places. However, to resume my observations—the continuity of the little society that we have built up here in space depends entirely upon me and ultimately upon you. I shall expect you to do your duty as husbands and wives….”
With that she turned away and walked majestically from the lounge where the ceremony had been conducted. The various couples broke up and Exodus finally found himself looking at Vilnia steadily. Her eyes dropped under the intensity of his gaze.
“Which of us is it that you fear most, Vilnia, my mother or me?”
“Your mother, naturally,” Vilnia responded, promptly. “Even when she is not present one can feel that she is watching from somewhere, probably by scientific instruments following our every move, dictating everything that we must do and always hinting what must be the penalty if we do not do what she has proposed.
“I can understand you tolerating it, Exodus, because after all she is your mother, but to me she means nothing; she simply exists as a complete tyrant who will never die. She will always be present even after I and all these others have gone. You I do not fear even though I do not love you. For one thing you are almost my own age and to a certain extent we have views in common even if there is no romantic interchange.”
“You do not suppose, do you, that I will be forever dominated by my mother?” Exodus asked.
“I fail to see how you can avoid it.”
“In time, Vilnia, you will learn. Mother has taught me the art of domination and revenge to the exclusion of all else and for that reason I feel there must come a time when….”
Exodus paused, shaking his head, and Vilnia looked at him quickly.
“You don’t mean to say that you are p
lanning something against your mother?”
“It is too early yet to say what I am planning and in any case the nebulous scheme which I have in mind may take many years to evolve—but come, we have no more time to waste. We have to get dressed in readiness for the celebration dinner which mother has insisted must be given.”
* * * * * * *
The following ‘day’ Merva was somewhat surprised to behold Vilnia entering the comfortably furnished apartment, which represented the headquarters. The girl was looking half frightened yet resolute as she advanced quickly towards the broad table where Merva was at work. As usual, plans for scientific instruments and weapons of destruction were absorbing her but she ceased her concentrations as the girl stood before her, waiting.
“Well,” Merva asked, with a rather forced smile, “and what has my new daughter to say to me?”
“It is because I am your new daughter that I feel in a rather vague way that I am responsible for your safety.”
“My safety?” Merva’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Well, much as I appreciate your solicitude, Vilnia, I can assure you that I am perfectly capable of looking after myself.”
“In the normal way, yes, but this is something different. I don’t know whether it really signifies but I think it just as well to warn you that in a conversation I had with Exodus yesterday he hinted at the fact that he would not always be under your domination.”
“I see.” Merva gave a rather grim smile. “I can assure you, Vilnia, that Exodus has never been under my domination. Right from the day he was born he has proved to be a problem child, and now he is rapidly growing to manhood I have even more difficulty in keeping him under control.”
Vilnia quickly and then rather nervously added, “I don’t exactly mean it in that sense. I felt from the way he talked that he had some dim idea in the back of his mind about getting rid of you. Naturally he didn’t tell me anything and he hinted that it would be a long time yet before he acted, but I did think that you ought to have the facts.”
“You do not mean,” Merva asked deliberately, “that he spoke of taking my life?”
“No, not exactly that, but….” Vilnia hesitated obviously unsure how to continue; for she could not say that she was giving this warning through any love for Merva, but because she felt that it might place her in a better light as far as her mother-in-law was concerned.
“I find all this very hard to believe, Vilnia,” Merva said at length, “but on the other hand I feel perfectly sure that you would never make such a statement without due reason. Exodus is a boy with many strange ideas, and now that he is a married man he probably has some feeling of resentment towards me in that I am the controller of the ship and not he. However I can assure you that there is very little he can do to usurp my authority, and thank you for telling me Vilnia.”
Vilnia smiled, hesitated, then realising that the interview had terminated on this note she turned and left the room. Merva watched the door close, sat brooding for awhile, then gradually her fist clenched on the table before her.
“It begins to look,” she muttered to herself, “that the fears that I have had about Exodus for so long are showing signs of being justified. I have known for long enough that he resents my control, so perhaps I cannot do better than heed this child’s warning.”
It was strange perhaps that it did not occur to Merva that there was any threat against her personally. She saw in Vilnia’s warning only an incipient danger to the life energy machine, the one piece of apparatus that could give her constant life and enable her to stay side by side with Exodus as long as need be.
Indeed Merva’s entire being was always centred round that life energy machine. She knew only too well that without it functioning perfectly there would come a rapid end not only to her rulership but also to her life, for even at this moment she was living on borrowed time in that the energy she was using to keep her alive was entirely spurious and failure to keep it maintained would result in death much more rapidly than would normally be the case.
Arriving at a final decision she got to her feet, left the room and made her way to the laboratory. In here she locked herself in and then set about the task of rendering the life energy machine entirely useless unless she herself controlled it. This indeed was a precaution which she had always taken up to now but with Exodus knowing so much about the instrument—she feeling that as her son he should know almost as much as she did—the precautions which she had taken to make it foolproof were no longer operative as far as she was concerned. The removal now of the main crystalline bars that carried the current made the equipment as inoperative as a battery without plates.
“And I must remember,” she mused, when the job was done, “to always remember to keep these bars to myself except when the equipment is actually in operation. Whatever bright schemes Exodus has in mind, this will completely scotch them.”
A sudden knocking on the door made her turn swiftly. She hurried quickly to a nearby metal cabinet, put the bars within it then closed the door and spun the combination lock. This done she crossed over to the laboratory door and opened it. Exodus was outside in the corridor, a look of vague surprise on his face.
“I’m sorry if I am interrupting some experiment or other,” he apologized, coming in nonetheless.
“No. I was just pottering about as usual,” his mother replied, following him to the centre of the laboratory. “What brings you here, Exodus? I should have thought that at this time you would have been more absorbed in your wife than in things of science?”
“I am endeavouring,” Exodus replied, “to divide my life into two separate compartments. In the one half I place my usual scientific studies and in the other half I place Vilma. I’m surprised that you of all people should haye any thoughts of my having romantic leanings towards Vilnia. Believe me I have none. I see her simply as one of those cogs you are always speaking about, in this great machine of revenge which we are endeavouring to build between us.”
“I’m glad that you keep that uppermost in your mind,” Merva said, “for that is the most essential thing of all.”
Exodus shook his head. “I cannot agree there, mother. It seems to me that children and life energy are every bit as important as the scheme of vengeance, therefore Vilnia ranks with equal importance to science. However maybe we are following a pointless argument so I’d better tell you why I really came here.”
“By all means.”
“I thought you might be interested to know that I have an idea for one of the most powerful weapons ever conceived.”
Merva smiled in the way that one does when tolerating someone many years younger.
“It is something,” Exodus continued, with a far away look in his eyes, “that embodies a principle certainly not used by you in any of your inventions so far. Without wishing to ridicule anything which you have done I would say that my conception is far more effective than anything you have conceived.”
“No matter what it may be so long as it contributes to the eventual destruction of the successors of Earth people.”
“I am more than willing to hear all about it,” Merva responded. “What kind of an invention is it?”
“It is based on cosmic energy. In this vessel of ours we are completely surrounded by it as a mere glance at the occiligraph shows in a moment. For a long time now I have been pondering how that enormous mass of energy might be used to advantage and at last I think I have a wonderful theory. You would care to hear about it?”
“By all means,” Merva nodded, seating herself on a nearby chair.
“Very well then. I see it like this….”
And Exodus began pacing slowly around his thumbs latched in the belt about the waist of his tunic. It was almost impossible for Merva to realise that he was as yet only eighteen: he had all the assurance and the perspicacity of a man twenty years his senior. “Cosmic energy is the most destructive force in the universe, as we well know. Insofar that it has more power than X-rays, gamma-rays, beta or alpha
and in its undiluted form—which is to say unshielded either by an atmospheric envelope or electrical fields or even plain lead—it is certain death to living tissue. Expose living tissue for only a few seconds to pure cosmic energy and that tissue is totally destroyed and reduced to dust; Am I not right?”
“Definitely so,” Merva agreed, completely attentive. “I tried a long time ago to make some use of cosmic energy but unfortunately my experiments did not get me very far. It is such an unpredictable power with which to tamper. What exactly do you mean to do?”
“I had thought of building an enormous cosmic energy storage plant—by which I mean a plant capable of absorbing cosmic energy in much the same way as your life energy machine over there. In your case of course, energy is absorbed from human beings. In the plant I have in mind the energy of the cosmos which is exactly on the same principle would be absorbed instead and then re-radiated whenever required. Fundamentally the principle of the thing is very much the same as your life energy absorber, the only difference being that we shall deal with cosmic energy instead of life energy. It does seem to me that the two energies have a great deal in common—one is the energy of human beings and the other is the eternal life energy of the cosmos. In fact, it must be, because cosmic radiation is everywhere. You find it as close to the Earth as we find it out here in the deeps of space, and as we shall continue to find it no matter how far we travel.
“Build a plant like that,” Exodus continued, a bright gleam in his eyes, “and when that glorious day comes for us to attack the Earth we shall have a generator stored to the limit with cosmic energy which we have gathered together immediately outside the atmosphere of Earth. I do not suggest that we get the energy together while we are such an enormous distance away from our home planet, because that would undoubtedly mean the dissipation of the energy throughout the years as we made the return journey. Cosmic energy being anywhere we can absorb it at any time we choose and wherever we choose providing we are in space. Is that quite clear so far?”
1,000-Year Voyage Page 8
