‘One evening I left the laboratory, leaving two of my best researchers there, as they wanted to continue an experiment for a few more hours. I was at home, ready to go to bed, when one of the two knocked at my door. He had a crestfallen look about him.
‘“What’s wrong,” I asked, “has there been an accident?”
‘I was worried because the ongoing experiment involved considerable energy, and there was a risk, if it was poorly conducted, of reducing the laboratory, and with it part of the town, to ashes. But I had confidence in my two assistants. I was right. He reassured me quickly.
‘“No. It’s just a little problem, but it needs to be put right as quickly as possible. I preferred to come and ask your advice.”
‘“You did the right thing. What is it?”
‘“Well… it’s the synchronous motor.”
‘“What’s wrong with the synchronous motor, has it broken down?”
‘“On the contrary.”
‘“What do you mean, on the contrary?”
‘He was looking more and more sheepish.
‘“It’s running,” he said without daring to look at me.
‘“What do you mean? It isn’t running smoothly? Tell me!” I said impatiently.
‘He ended up by confessing to me, blushing with embarrassment:
‘“It’s running and I don’t know how to stop it. When Joë left he forgot to do it. I don’t know anything about the control board, and doing something wrong might cause damage.”
‘Joë was our mechanic. I’ve forgotten his second name, but I can still see him: a serene black man, uneducated, but very conscientious in his work. It was the first time that he had been negligent.
‘I gave a little mocking whistle. “What a nuisance! Is it such a serious problem, that you have to disturb the head of the laboratory, just to turn a lever and press a button? And are you alone over there?”
‘“No, there’s the other assistant. Only…”
‘“Only what?”
‘“He’s as embarrassed as me. He has no idea how to stop the motor either. But nevertheless we can’t let it run all night.”
‘He was quite right about that. In spite of being in a rotten mood, I realised that I ought to go over there. I slipped my clothes on over my pyjamas and, grumbling as I did so, I got ready to follow him.
‘I had done all these things without thinking about it, only cursing the fact that it was my responsibility. We made our way to the laboratory, which was fortunately not very far away. A thought suddenly struck me and I slowed down.
‘“All the same,” I said to him, “don’t you think it would have been simpler to go and wake Joë?”
‘He looked up at the sky and replied that he had spent two hours searching for Joë, but that Joë could not be found. That only deepened my bad mood and embarrassment for I must confess to you that, although I had been working there for two years, I had just realised that I had no idea how to go about stopping the motor.’
‘I thought that would be the case,’ said Betty.
‘Yet by then I could not go back, and so we went into the lab. It seemed to me that the motor was running smoothly, under the worried eye of the other assistant, who let out a sigh of relief on seeing me. I had a rather painful moment of indecision in front of the control board, not daring to touch a button for fear of causing an accident. I hesitated, and then decided to confess my embarrassment to the two young men and laugh it off with them.
‘“All the same, we must deal with it,” I said finally. There must be an assembly diagram somewhere that will put us on the right track.”
‘We started to rummage around in all the cupboards, and all the drawers. It was a waste of effort. There was not the slightest sign of anything relating to the board whose brass fittings Joë shined every day. The motor continued to run and its purring sounded like a sarcastic comment, only infuriating us.
‘There we were, the three of us trying to trace the cables that disappeared under ebonite, when the door was pushed open, and we were surprised to see O’Kearn himself appear. The boss was returning on foot from the cinema, had seen the light and had come to see what was happening. The humiliation of having to confess to him our incompetence was moderated by our relief at realising that our problems were over. Without further delay I put him in the picture about the situation.
‘He had the same sequence of reactions as I had had. First his eyes lit up with a mocking smile, then he showed signs of being in a bad mood, and then, suddenly, his face darkened. I understood at once. He, the greatest scholar of his time, who had created this research centre, was himself incapable of stopping this ordinary motor. We looked each other in the eye. He had a sense of humour and he burst out laughing.
‘The rest of the story is of no interest. I set up a supervision rota for the two young assistants, who spent the rest of the night taking it in turns by the motor. I don’t know exactly why we did this however, as, if on a whim it had decided not to run smoothly, no one would have known how to fix it. At the very most we could have poured a few drops of oil in a bearing from time to time, as I recalled seeing Joë do. In the end everything went well, and when Joë arrived the next morning, the apparatus stopped quietly as soon as he pressed a button. I have no need to repeat the insults we showered the poor man with… There you are, Zarratoff.’
‘I understand,’ said Yranne, ‘for I have an interesting suggestion to make. You scholars of atomic theory, masters of energy. Haven’t you imagined some procedure to modify the earth’s axis of rotation, wreaking havoc with the climate everywhere? No one would have any resistance against the threat of such a cataclysm. You will tell me that it would be an easy task for you, but that you would need an army of Joës.’
‘Probably, but you know very well that it cannot be realised with our current level of knowledge.’
‘I am very much aware of that,’ Yranne insisted, defending his idea. ‘We all know that, but those louts who govern us don’t. Spread the rumour that you have made a discovery of this kind. Spread a little publicity around, and you will stir up a threat. They accepted the miracle of the atomic bomb. They’re perfectly ready to accept the idea of another such feat on your part. They will swallow this mistake like a lozenge and be really scared. I am saying this in all seriousness.’
‘Good God,’ said Zarratoff, interrupting, ‘Just once in my life, I had a conversation with a minister. I noticed after ten minutes that he was very proud of knowing that the earth moved around the sun. His knowledge of the world did not extend much beyond this. He had no idea that the sun is also a star, and as for the idea of a galaxy, that was just a poetic word to him, with no real meaning.’
‘And what do psychologists think about that?’ asked Fawell.
‘I think, actually, that we could make them swallow any kind of nonsense with a bit of skill, but I don’t think it would be good politics. A threat of this kind would discredit us in the eyes of the world, or rather of the people, and we need their support, or at least their benevolent neutrality. They would accuse us of wanting to install a dictatorship. This is not the way we should proceed.’
‘So how then?’
The Chinese woman kept silent, screwing up her beautiful slanting eyes a little.
‘Our strength lies in our reputation for wisdom. We must preserve and reinforce this reputation at all costs… What we need is a revolution supported by everyone. No, don’t protest. I believe that it is extremely easy to achieve, much easier than your ultimatum accompanied by threats. It’s sufficient to persuade all the leaders of government to give up their power.’
‘Sufficient! They’ll never agree to it.’
‘They will agree to it,’ Betty asserted, ‘and the people of the world will be on our side if our plan is presented with skill and supported by irreproachable authorities. After the initial surprise and the first bad-tempered reactions, I am convinced that not only will they accept our plan but that they will be grateful to us for freeing them
of an unbearable burden, and of duties which have become disproportionate, and only overwhelm them.’
‘It is certainly clear,’ commented Fawell, ‘that a change seems to have taken place during recent years within some political factions. A certain apprehension about power has become apparent and at the same time leaders have become vaguely conscious of their mediocrity and incompetence when faced with the problems of our times. I can recall two cases in different parts of the world where there were difficulties in electing a head of state. Candidates hesitated to put themselves forward, and those who finally did so lacked enthusiasm.’
‘So you see: if we offer them the chance to disappear with dignity, they won’t pass it up. And we will have public opinion on our side. As a result of a long, sad series of experiences, which now appear to them in their true light, as catastrophes, the people of the world are also starting to realise that they have always been governed by incompetent people. However, I repeat that we have to act skilfully and leave nothing to chance.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘I consider there to be at least two conditions essential for our success. The first is that the project should be under the patronage of and presented by undisputedly important scientists. Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying…’ At this point Mrs Betty Han made a pause, and then continued, lowering her voice a little. ‘By this I mean people who are not only scholars but celebrities. Men whose value the world no longer needs to affirm, because both for the peoples of the world and for their leaders, their status is synonymous with knowledge and wisdom… I have no wish to offend you, Fawell, nor you Yranne. I know that you are as bright as those persons I am alluding to, and more so than many of them, but you have no chance of gaining general support if you present the project for a world government as being your own. Only they are capable of succeeding.’
Her words were received with a long reflective silence.
‘I understand,’ Zarratoff murmured finally.
‘Me too,’ said Fawell. ‘You are referring to the Nobels.’
‘Precisely. We must have them on our side and even persuade them to take the initiative on the project. Without them we can achieve nothing; with them we can achieve everything.’
‘Yes, the Nobels are a condition for its success,’ murmured Fawell pensively. ‘Psychology has its good points.’
After a further period of reflection all were of the same opinion. Mrs Betty Han continued, ‘So our course of action is clear. Fawell, you have kept in contact with the most famous and most influential of them. It’s O’Kearn that you must contact and convince first.’
The physicist did not hesitate and got up.
‘I’ll take a plane to New York tonight,’ he said. ‘I’ll see O’Kearn tomorrow morning. But he mustn’t think this is the whim of one isolated individual. You must come with me.’
After some further discussion it was decided that a delegation would present itself to the senior Nobel: Fawell, Yranne, Mrs Betty Han and Zarratoff. These four carried enough weight and represented a sufficiently wide and varied range of the sciences, to be able to speak on behalf of all of them. Having decided this, Fawell asked Betty another question: ‘You spoke to us of two conditions which are essential for success, Betty. What, in your opinion, is the second?’
‘Enthusiasm. It will be necessary to create a surge of passion about our plan…’
They all looked at her with curiosity. The reason was that Mrs Betty Han had a rather unique way of speaking about enthusiasm and passion. She did it with the calm of a mathematician demonstrating a geometric theorem. She continued, ‘The competition organised by the Nobels has made a move in the right direction. But I doubt if that will be enough.’
‘So?’
‘So later we’ll seek means of provoking it. They are available.’
As they separated to go about their preparations, Fawell noticed the absent-minded expression on the face of the mathematician Yranne, which was in contrast to the animation of his colleagues.
‘Something not right?’ he asked him. ‘Don’t you agree that we should make an appeal to O’Kearn and the Nobels?’
The other shook his head.
‘It’s just a simple, bizarre idea. I can make neither head nor tail of it. It’s hardly worth dwelling on.’
‘But?’
‘After listening to your story, I suddenly found myself asking if it wouldn’t be preferable to make an appeal to Joë.’
5.
It was the fourth day of the competition. The thirteen candidates had taken their seats in the great amphitheatre again, where three Nobels took it in turns to supervise them. Fawell removed some pages full of scribbles from his briefcase and quickly read them again. It was his work from the previous three days. He had two reasons for being satisfied: first the awareness of having dealt with the topic well, and secondly he felt that his mind was freer, having finished a necessary but rather boring stage. Today he would finally be able to tackle the essential points.
That first part of his programme dealt with the resolution, as soon as possible, of the material problems which hindered the development of the world by keeping it in a condition of poor health and permanent anxiety. If he gave first priority to these issues, it was just as much because he reckoned that nothing serious could be realised on Earth as long as men were suffering from hunger, sickness and the slavery of work, as because of his quite Machiavellian intention of provoking surprise among the examiners. They no doubt expected that someone like him, a specialist in nuclear physics, would mobilise the world, as a matter of urgency, in favour of an accelerated and finally coherent programme of atomic research. This was in fact what his instinct and his scientific belief suggested to him at first. But on reflection it seemed to him that some preliminary preparation was vital and that to delay was the sign of a mind with lofty and far-reaching views, of the kind which would be suitable for the head of a world state.
In addition he recalled quite a lively argument against the Nobels during a meeting in which the structure of such a state was envisaged. The physicists were only concerned about the progress of their science, that is to say in accessing complete knowledge about inorganic matter by analysis of infinitesimally small particles. They had agreed, when curtly reminded by their colleagues, the physiologists and medical doctors, that planet Earth was itself not a negligible part of what we call the world, and that what they tended to forget was that this was inhabited by beings possessing a certain quality called life. Indeed, there were those beings called humans who were animal organisms subject to all kinds of needs and troubles, and which science should not despise. If the cells of this organism could, in the final analysis, be resolved into atoms and electrons, that was no reason to neglect its individual structure, nor the biological study of it, in order to improve it and ensure the harmonious evolution of our species. Against his instincts, Fawell therefore decided to concern himself first with human beings and their material life.
To deal with this problem, he had reasoned that the first fact to be determined was the optimal population of the world, taking into account the resources which one could expect from it. He had discussed this question, calling upon his recollections of various things he had read, which his faultless memory supplied him with. He regretted, however, not having complete documentation to make a more precise evaluation possible. Yet the figure he arrived at seemed to him to be a reasonable approximation, and he estimated it thus: about four billion human beings. He listed very convincing reasons showing that it was imperative to keep to this figure.
However he was careful to emphasise that for him it was a not a question of inaugurating an era of test-tube babies, like that described by Aldous Huxley. It was one of his principal concerns that they should not go to such extremes, and most of the scholars of his age agreed. Birth control would doubtless have to be imposed through strict discipline at the beginning, but in the light of the enormous advantages that it brings, he predicted
that the world would submit to it with good grace.
A delay of three years was planned to settle these preliminary problems. Content with enumerating the principal ones, he had gone in depth into the two problems which appeared to him to be the most urgent and most likely to catch people’s imagination: world hunger and cancer.
He demonstrated that the problem of hunger was relatively easy to solve, and if it had not been solved yet, it was due to laziness, ineptitude and the lack of coordination between governments. A provisional solution would be provided right away in the first few months by the mobilisation of all available military transport, and God knows there was plenty of it! The capacity alone of the battle fleets with their giant vessels, their thousands of airplanes and helicopters, which could be freed up by a stroke of the pen, would be more than enough (he provided numerical proof) to transport the enormous surpluses from the countries who have too much to the unfortunate regions, which suffer periodically from famine. At the same time, an in-depth study, taking into account the optimum population density, would make it possible to determine the exact surface areas of the earth which should be cultivated in this or that part of the world, and the quantity and quality of fertilizer that was necessary, the manufacture of which should also be started. Irrigation works, on a scale never before considered seriously, should also be undertaken without delay. According to the plan that he was proposing, a considerable proportion of current desert areas would thus be made fertile and the problem of hunger would, in three years at the most, be settled for good.
He granted his future administration the same period of time to eliminate cancer. In this area too, without being a specialist, he possessed certain gifts which were precise enough to enable him to present the following judgement and to justify it with at least approximate figures: ‘Given the advances in research, although it is uncoordinated, without any collaboration between various countries, and conducted most of the time with insufficient funding due to lack of credit, and given above all the quality of the researchers…’ (this was clever flattery right in the faces of the Nobel physiologists, from whom he expected some reluctance to appoint a physicist to the supreme post), ‘…all this leads one to expect that the work of researchers will succeed very quickly when they are coordinated and reasonably well financed. It is my conviction that it is only a question of setting up an organisation like NASA, admittedly not with the same goal, but possessing the same spirit of inevitable victory. This organisation will have as its unique goal to rid humanity of cancer over a period of three years and it will be provided with the means necessary for this task.’
Desperate Games Page 3
