“You have definitely proved then, Gofal, that such things as individual mental lines exist?” he asked.
“Beyond all doubt.” Gofal nodded his massive bald pate. “From the dawn to the close of evolution everything is mapped out. Since it is beyond all question that simultaneity of instants exist all down an individual line, it is possible to make contact with one’s past self — or more accurately the matter manifestation existing as one’s past self — at any time in the past. That was why we set out to master the forces of electron waves.”
“You set out,” Flan corrected. “I have barely been able to follow your postulations. I realize only that your mind — my mind — every mind, has evolved from the beginning and has possessed various matter forms, which forms are changed only at the mutation named death. I understand, too, that all Time can be mentally explored. But beyond that —”
Gofal interrupted him.
“I have reason to know that at every state in the past a certain order of electron waves was in force. While it is almost impossible to discover the exact electron formations of inorganic, non-intelligent substances, it is possible by mathematics to determine the exact wave-form packets that made up any specified individual, myself for instance.
“Bear in mind, Flan, the fundamental truth that there was more organization in the world yesterday than there is today. The old-time scientists didn’t know how to calculate the exact extent or disorganization in a single living being, though they did admit that any change occurring to a body, which can be treated as a single unit, can be undone. If they had known, and had built mathematical machines such as we have here, they would have been able to find the exact matter state of any unit or living person at any time in the past.
“With these machines of mine we know the exact entropy, the exact disorganization of energy, of any living object in the past. As I have said, inorganic substances do not concern us. I chose my own lineage because it is one in which I’m most interested. As you have seen, I merely placed myself in the core of these mathematical machines and allowed them to calculate, from the electronic state I now possess, exactly what organization I possessed at an earlier instant.”
Gofal permitted an expression of satisfaction to spread over his face.
“To a certain extent I was successful,” he went on pensively. “It is of course impossible to move physically in Time, and therefore my body remained where it is. But my mind, not being limited by any material force, returned down the lineal line, and when a particular instant of organization arose to which my mind definitely applied, I automatically became part of it. In truth, I took on a former body, and since Time is unalterable, I did exactly what I had done before at that period.
“The only difference lay in the fact that there was a mental overlap from my present knowledge. This had the effect of making me far cleverer than was normal to that past state. But as records have shown, I was clever in that past state. Therefore Time did not err.
“In my first venture I traveled back mentally to the limit of dawning Intelligence — a very early Neanderthal form. I think I was regarded as something of a wizard. I remember that my last experience there was of building extremely cunning traps for animals, despite a growing distrust among my people. Then I came back here and fixed the organization for a much more advanced age.”
Gofal paused and smiled faintly at his recollections.
“I must have been a fool in the early modern period,” he murmured. “I spent my time drinking strange substances that fuddled me and exchanged curious, paper sheets that gave me anything I wanted. Here, again, though, my present knowledge overlapped a little and I unwittingly changed my nature into that of a true scientist. I built machinery with which I honestly intended to better a very unhappy world. I found, though, that I was considered a lunatic. I was despised by my very small-brained wife, in spite of my vague effort to explain things and give her an underlying glimpse of my real intentions. In the end I got weary of it and came back here.”
There was a pause. Flan waited attentively. Presently Gofal uttered a deep sigh.
“And yet, Flan, some of those early modern scientists had the right idea,” he resumed. “I mean ideas on which our modern science is built. Many of them disbelieved in death and pointed to child prodigies in music, science, and religion as reincarnated geniuses carrying their knowledge over a mythical gulf. They pointed to so-called seers as people who knew the future, not realizing that such folk simply had a better sense of their Time-line than others. Still other people had memories of past incidents, memories of having seen certain places before. Dreams, amnesia, many things that explained the underlying truth that only our science has brought to fruition — the knowledge that real understanding begins where what was formerly called the subconscious region exists.”
Gofal stopped talking and regarded his apparatus. Flan still maintained a respectful silence …
“The one thing that still remains to be mastered in mental science is memory!” Gofal said at last, clenching his fist. “I have proved that it is possible to retreat mentally and live in a former state, but that is not everything. Think, my friend, of the infinite wisdom that could be encompassed if one had the memory — the clear, vivid remembrance — of everything one had ever done! Think of the storehouse of knowledge, the multimillions of useful little things forgotten in the turmoil of progress. With a complete memory of everything I’ve ever done since mind began I could accomplish miracles, lay the foundation of a science that could mold the whole Universe to my desires!”
There was a certain fanatic urgency in his voice at the last words. He faced Flan’s calm, inscrutable eyes.
“If you have accomplished so much, you can accomplish that,” Flan told him.
“And if you can do it for yourself, you can do it for others — give our whole race a complete memory stock of knowledge. With that we can defeat — anything,” he whispered. Then he frowned slightly. “Unless bringing past memory to a future state is an impossibility?”
“Not at all,” Gofal contradicted. “Mental force is outside the realm of time, space, and matter. It is a power of its own, something which cannot be described, something that is! Even to remember what one did a few moments before is proof of that. No matter how far back one remembers it creates no disturbance in the Universe. That is a plain fact. My idea, however, is to make memory crystal clear and not vague.”
“But remembrance ends where the birth of an individual begins,” Flan pointed out.
This observation gratified Gofal. “Exactly so, Flan, but in each matter state we have progressed somewhat. The same mind goes on with the mutation of death alone forming a blank between this physical experience and the one preceding it. That is why, if I eliminated all my matter states preceding this one and left only the mind — which is indestructible — in a state of complete disassociation, I would have a continuous record of my past in my memory now. It is only the individual presence of matter forms, each utilizing a portion of that complete memory stream, which prevents it being continuous.”
“But how would you be born?” Flan demanded. “You are at variance with the law of Time, Gofal! By defeating your own physical forms in precedence to this one, you could not exist.”
Gofal sighed. “My dear friend, how wrong you are! If a man is utterly blown to pieces it does not stop him being born again, does it? His mind cannot be destroyed, and even though his new body prevents him remembering what happened to his previous forms, his mind is that far advanced. His body is of no account. Indeed, it would not be there at all but for him holding its presence to be a fact mentally. If he could utterly disbelieve in it, it would not exist. Bodies only exist by the force of the mentality held over them. If then I separate the mind of all my previous entities from their matter bodies, they simply cease to be. I am not affected. Yet I shall be the possessor of an unbroken memory chain from the very dawn of intelligence.”
“But the inconceivable number of preceding bodies you
must have possessed!” Flan cried.
Gofal smiled. “Not so many as you think. With each succeeding body, life has lasted longer until, at our present stage with no untoward hostile influence, we live tens of thousands of years. According to the mathematical machines I have had seventeen thousand previous matter-existences, and no more. Each one ended in the mutation named death, and each one was packed with experiences that must contain valuable knowledge. Just to move back mentally and study each of these seventeen thousand existences would be impossible, for it would take all eternity and even then I would probably forget a good deal because of lack of union. But if I cut each physical attribute adrift and allow my mind full play, then I shall have the knowledge of all those existences!”
“And you can do this?”
Gofal looked at his machines thoughtfully.
“Yes, I have reason to believe I can. I have thought so from the outset of my experiments, and the presence of this Ice Life now demands that I act quickly. I’ve already mentioned the mastery of mind over matter and I have mentioned, too, the individual highly intelligent overlap I carry from this present state of evolution. Assuming then that the disorganization calculators are set at maximum — which is my present state — I allow them to work slowly backwards to the beginning through all my varied states. Also during this entire process, I shall hold in rigid concentration the fact that I am not held by material shackles. Thus all the matter states preceding this one will disappear. I shall indeed force them to do so by superior knowledge.
“By the time I’ve reached the lowest manifestation of matter, I’ll have eliminated all the states of matter between that state and this present one. By that means, when I return here to take over my body again, I’ll have the full knowledge of my entire mental past with no material interventions. It will be swift, Flan. Mind is incredibly rapid, infinitely faster than light. Mind takes no more time to remember an incident of a moment before than it does to remember a century. Indeed it is even possible that the two past selves I have already visited will hardly be aware of my present absence, so swiftly shall I resume contact.”
“And then?” Flan asked slowly.
“Then I can do as I choose. With such knowledge I can even be rid of this body and become a pure Intellectual. In fact I believe I shall. I could do it now if I wished, but that would be of no advantage without past knowledge added to what I already possess. You, my friend, during this process, will see to it that I am kept fed, as on the other occasion.”
Flan said no more, but he wished he could foresee exactly what would happen.
He felt that there was something which had not been taken into account. The machines, flawless though they were, were only mechanical, had not the human gift of foresight. Still, since Gofal saw nothing to impede him, it was not Flan’s business to argue.
He watched as Gofal seated himself in the sunken chair in the heart of the mighty, incredibly intricate machines which built up past time-matter states from the basis of organization of energy.
“Remember to nourish my body at regular intervals, Flan, no matter how long I may be,” Gofal instructed him. “I shall always be linked to it until I return, though I’ll not be conscious of the fact.”
Flan nodded silently and his tiny eyes watched as Gofal thrust in the main power switches in front of his chair.
Immediately, the same strange happenings as on that other brief journeying through mental realms became evident. Four unwavering bars of vermilion radiance poured from the whirring hearts of the profound mechanisms and bathed the motionless savant, Gofal, in steady fire.
His body became rigid — his eyes stared into vacancy.
He was temporarily a body without an active mind, a body still only visible as a body because of the conscious knowledge of its presence which Gofal still retained deep in his mentality, just as a man is still subconsciously aware of his body though he dreams.
Flan sat down and waited, his eyes glancing ever and again to the queerly fashioned clock on the wall. He tried to picture what must be happening to his master’s mind — his whirlwind manifestations as he passed with unerring accuracy over his former states of matter, fitting flawlessly into position as the right states were merged by the machines. Right down through the gulf of mental time in an audacious effort to master all Time’s knowledge in one mighty sweep.
Just for an instant Flan questioned if it was not tempting science too far …
True to his orders, Flan kept a steady watch over the motionless form at the machine, fed it with injections on long mechanical arms in order that he might not graze the fringe of the penetrating, mysterious rays built up by complex forces.
In the long, wearying intervals between, he studied the ever growing Ice Life, noted with alarm its tremendous increase.
“Gofal must return soon,” he muttered. “If he does not we are still endangered and —”
“Gofal has returned!” a voice observed, at his elbow.
Flan swung round, found Gofal right beside him, an inscrutable smile on his wizened face. Flan shot a glance back at the machinery. He had been so lost in thought he had hardly noticed that it had ceased its activity, was rayless and silent.
“Gofal!” he cried. “You’ve succeeded! You’ve done what you expected!”
“Everything,” the scientist assented calmly. “I was pre-eminently successful in my efforts. Not a single matter formation of my body remains between this one and the first crudely developed body of lowly intellect that I possessed which, for that very reason I did not trouble to destroy. I have memory as far back as I need it — a colossal storehouse of knowledge. All the myriads of undeveloped ideas, lost in individual lives, are now modeled into a composite whole. So colossal is my knowledge, Flan, I feel that this world is singularly uninviting, almost beneath the scope of my mentality.”
Flan’s expression changed. He noticed there was a curious, burning light in his master’s eyes, a light of tremendous domination and with it a certain insufferable conceit.
“So, you wonder?” Gofal asked softly, reading Flan’s mind. “You need not. You see, in detaching my mind from its previous matter bodies I absorbed something of the ego of each. That was unavoidable. In their different ways and different times they were me, and the gift of supreme memory means too a fraction of individual ego from each of those bodies. I am the only absolute, complete man which ever existed — mentally and physically.
“I can wing space, pit my knowledge against the superpowerful intelligences which dwell in the cosmos, master the deepest secrets beyond the furthest stars. In learning all that earthly existence can tell me, I have also learned that Earth is a playground for such an intelligence as I — the jumping-off place for finer glories.”
For a moment Gofal paused and looked at Flan long and earnestly.
“Flan, I am leaving Earth,” he stated simply. “I intend to eliminate this body of mine even as I have its predecessors — eliminate it from all concepts. It is the last body I shall have in the normal way. I want you to leave me and return to our people. If you would learn my secrets and have my knowledge, you must work for yourselves. You have seen my methods — the rest is up to you. I have fields so advanced to conquer that this is the parting of our companionship.”
“But — but why must I go?” Flan asked anxiously. “If you depart, what is to stop me remaining here to study your machines? I can complete the details for my own use?”
“These machines are useless to you, Flan. They deal only in the energies relative to myself. But the records of their construction are in the city. You can learn about them from those. If you stay here you will be blown to pieces. I discovered something on this particular journey which I had not quite reckoned with before. The effect of destroying a concept of matter results in its very abrupt change into pure energy — the state from which it originally came — through the power of mentality governing it. The form of a body is definitely a mirror of the mind controlling it. A man can think himself i
nto any physical state if he wants to. Remember the old time hypochondriacs.
“So the effect of sudden energy in place of matter produces an explosion of terrific violence. That is what will happen when I depart, what has happened in every state in the past where I have destroyed the concept of my body. Oddly enough, I believe that on two occasions — my Neanderthal and early modern forms — my disappearance was actually of benefit to those left behind. That, however, is beside the point. Since only a body is killed and not the mind I have nothing on my conscience.
“The decision rests with you, Flan. If you are destroyed, you will live again in some other matter state. But if you live as you are, you will be able to follow out my experiments and one day, in some far realm of supreme intellect, we may meet again. Incidentally, my departure will produce sufficient destruction to smash this ice cap for a considerable distance. Energies will be released which will destroy this Ice Life menace completely. You have your choice.”
Flan hesitated for a time, looked at the silent figure of the scientist who had mastered the ultimate secrets of matter and mind, had gained memory and knowledge unlimited. Quietly he turned and donned the heavy, insulated suit for wear on the surface.
“You will see me safely out of danger?” he asked.
“Of course.”
They bowed to each other with the calm impartiality of their race, looked into each others’ eyes for a moment, Then Flan opened the massive airlock which gave access to the ice tunnel leading to the plain above. He broke into a run as the tunnel’s natural slope took him higher and higher, emerging at last through the great air-regulating vent system on the surface. No cold or thin air reached him through his suit. He turned his face towards Twilight Mountains. In his mind’s eye he pictured Gofal at the periscope, watching his progress, impatiently noting the minutes passing by.
Finally Flan reached the vast pass through the range giving access to the distant city on the sunward side. Here he turned. He watched the sudden wild pounding and heaving of thousands of tons of ice, the spouting of vivid electric discharges. To his head-phones came the rumble of vast underground thunder.
John Russell Fearn Omnibus Page 33
