Manalone

by Colin Kapp

  Hanser returned to his seat and called the meeting to order. Manalone was motioned to stand at a place near the table’s foot.

  ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, this Council is now in special session. We all know the purpose of this meeting, which is Manalone’s final interview. The relevant documents and records have been circulated, so I think we can dispense with the preliminary statement.’

  ‘Before you go too far,’ said Manalone, ‘may I ask a question?’

  Hanser looked at him sagely. ‘Of course, Manalone, if it’s important.’

  ‘It is to me. Would somebody please explain what I’m being interviewed for?’

  ‘You mean you don’t know? Colonel Shears, this candidate’s your responsibility. Hasn’t he been properly prepared?’

  ‘Prepared!’ Shears’ voice was heavy with disgust. ‘I’ve not been able to catch him, much less prepare him.’

  ‘Then how does he appear here?’

  ‘He found his own way, President. He worked out for himself what the Council was, where it was, and how he could enter despite our precautions to the contrary.’

  ‘Ah! So it was Manalone who was responsible for the alarm scare a short while ago?’

  ‘It was. But I had to arrive at the fact by deduction. I’d no positive proof he was even in the area. I had to rely on the fact that he won’t let a problem rest till he’s worried it to the bitter end.’

  ‘This is all most irregular,’ said Hanser. ‘We go to the trouble of having a special induction process, and our most likely candidate in years appears here of his own volition without any idea of what’s required of him. I’ll be having words with you later about this, Colonel. In the circumstances I think we’d better go back a little and make this interview slightly more formal.’

  He turned back to Manalone.

  ‘We appear to owe you an explanation, Manalone. We are the Council charged with the grievous responsibility of trying to save some of the human race from extinction. For such a task, we’ve been given powers which are almost absolute. Being only men, such authority sits uneasily on us, yet without such powers we can’t succeed. We therefore find it necessary to make the most thorough and long-ranging examination of candidates when we need to renew our ranks. With or without your knowledge, you’re one such candidate. I will now take the formal declarations.’

  He turned to the smaller table. ‘Who proposes this candidate?’

  ‘I do,’ said Kitten, rising. ‘From the original list of seven hundred possibles, only Manalone has fulfilled all the conditions. I recommend him without qualification.’

  ‘Mm! You’ve formidable support there, Manalone. Madam Kosolev is rarely so generous. In fact I’ve sometimes wondered if anyone could meet her standards. Colonel Shears, on the executive side, what’s your report?’

  Shears frowned. ‘The case speaks for itself, President. We smashed his marriage, took away his home, his job and his civil identity. We denied him access to any form of credit or income, killed his best friend and isolated him from his sources of information. But we couldn’t break him, and we couldn’t deter him.

  ‘Having got him into the gutter, he refused to stay there. He not only solved all the problems, but actually mounted attacks against the civil authorities and against our own defences. I submit that’s clear evidence of an insight, an intelligence, a resilience, and a single-mindedness which goes way beyond the test criteria. I too recommend him without qualification.’

  Hanser turned his attention back to Manalone.

  ‘Since you’ve not been prepared, you’re probably still wondering about the barbarity of our selection methods. I assure you there’s a good reason behind them. Before you can give absolute power, you have to be sure it’ll only be used for the right purpose. Once given, it’s difficult to rescind. Our purpose is to serve humanity, not to rule it. Therefore our candidates must be fully aware of what small, vulnerable creatures they actually are. They must have seen their lives shattered, known cold and hunger and loss and isolation. They must be acutely aware of their own fragile mortality. Only this prevents them from confusing themselves with God.’

  ‘No such confusion’s likely,’ said Manalone. ‘Colonel Shears made sure of that.’

  ‘I’m glad to hear it. What you’ve suffered so far may be only a foretaste of what’s to come. Civilization’s on the verge of collapse. The next ten decades promise to be the most terrible in history. If the human race is going to survive, it’s going to need some pretty tough and dedicated guardians. That’s all our job is, Manalone – trying to bring enough of the right stock through to the next century to enable Man to have another chance.’

  ‘And that’s what you’re looking for – guardians?’

  ‘Just that. And for that we must test at all levels. A top mind’s not sufficient, nor is the mere ability to survive. We need other qualities as well – awareness, and the capacity to solve practical problems in the face of multiplying adversity. Many people can solve a problem that’s been defined; but to recognize an undefined problem and to solve it while your life falls around your ears, that takes a special sort of person.’

  Hanser reached into a drawer and pulled out a piece of ceramic. He handed it to Manalone.

  ‘Yours, I think. Tell me exactly what it is.’

  ‘It’s a cup handle.’

  ‘Correct! A cup handle of giant proportions. Why is it so large?’

  ‘Because when it was made, the average size of a human being must have been about three times what it is now.’

  ‘Again correct.’ Hanser glanced at Colonel Shears, who had a slightly smug expression on his face. ‘You’re doing excellently, Manalone. A credit to the persecution. I presume you’ve also decided the reason this state of affairs became necessary?’

  ‘It was an answer to the dangerously increasing population. As both land and resources were finite, the only way the population could continue to increase was by reducing the size of the individuals. The gains were enormous. In terms of plain area, four “half-men” could live in the space formerly used by one whole man. In terms of cubic space for housing, twenty-seven “third-men” could be accommodated in the area formerly used to house one whole man. The effect on consumable resources was similarly great.’

  ‘Your grasp of fundamentals is impressive, Manalone. Could you even tell us how the miniaturization was achieved?’

  ‘Apart from the fact that it was deliberate genetic manipulation, I don’t know how it was done. But whatever it was, it’s failing now.’

  ‘It is,’ said Hanser. ‘But I’d like to know how you formed that opinion.’

  ‘I had Colonel Shears’ assurance that intelligence was on the decline. I’ve satisfied myself that it’s the truth. The other item was the unacceptable five percent of deaths of mothers during childbearing.’

  ‘Interesting, Manalone! There was no authorized release of information on the childbearing problem – even to you. You’re perfectly right, of course. There was genetic manipulation, and it’s this which is breaking down. An increasing proportion of human foetuses are reverting to the original scale, seriously endangering their third-sized mothers. But if that was the sum of our problems, we wouldn’t be too worried.’

  ‘Then the childbearing problem and the decline in intelligence aren’t related?’

  ‘Only casually. Whatever we may now think of the ethics of the world-wide organization which first took the decision, there’s no doubt about the quality of their geneticists. The theory of the miniaturization mechanism is rather involved, but genetic information can be considered as a set of rules for constructing an organism, rather than being a minutely detailed specification. The multiplying cells differentiate themselves into liver, heart, brain, limb, and the like, and take their form and position by reference to biological gradients across a network of positional fields. All that was done was to alter the genetic information which controlled the strength of these gradients.’

  Manalone shook his head. ‘Tha
t’s way out of my field,’ he said.

  ‘And mine,’ agreed Hanser. ‘But the theory’s there for you to read when you feel inclined. Its effect was to build a constant reducing factor into the human gene structure, which ensured that successive generations would always be slightly smaller than their parents. Once that had been accomplished, there was no need for further interference, or so the theory goes.’

  ‘Isn’t it true?’

  ‘It’s true, but it’s only part of the story. For quite a few generations the modified strain of Man bred true. Then Nature itself rebelled. When the actual strength of the gradient has declined to about a third of its original value, the cells appear to assume they’re forming a simpler structure, and differentiate accordingly. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the human brain, which is becoming less convoluted and less effective. Only about two percent of the population are still breeding true today, and it’s from this two percent that all the people present in this room were drawn.’

  ‘That’s why the MIPS said you weren’t part of the human race, Manalone. That’s what made you an untouchable. You’re part of a sub-group – left behind whilst the rest of mankind evolves itself into idiocy.’

  ‘What will happen when the machines stop?’ he asked Hanser.

  ‘Inevitably the most serious famines and shortages the world has ever known. There can only be a swift collapse back into a form of primitive barbarity, with the diseases of massive death also taking their toll. Hopefully about one in a million will survive, and even that will be a strain on the available food supply.’

  ‘The whole idea of it makes me sick,’ said Manalone. ‘How could such a monstrous scheme have got started in the first place? Surely it wasn’t by common consent?’

  ‘It was done by stealth. The public weren’t informed. The reducing factor was included in standard immunological serums, and in a series of world-wide campaigns against disease, virtually the entire population was injected.’

  ‘And nobody realized what was being done?’

  ‘Some suspected, but these were removed or effectively silenced by security agencies such as our own MIPS. When computer statistics began to give real values for the declining norm in size, security forces also arranged “accidents” for those who grew too tall. “Unlucky Lofty” became a catchphrase which was also a death sentence for those who thought too seriously about it. And the decline in size was such a small increment for each generation that probably very few people ever paused to wonder.

  ‘The follow-up provided the pay-off. Housing units could be built progressively smaller, and population densities could be vastly increased. Inadequate roads gradually became major highways, and a limited supply of food just about held pace with the demands of the increasing population. Even pollution scarcely increased. It was a triumph of genetic and social engineering.’

  ‘I can’t agree,’ said Manalone. ‘I see it as the foullest crime in history.’

  ‘But then, you’re a natural dissenter, Manalone. Look at the other side of the coin. By doing as they did, the originators of the scheme gave a chance of life to countless billions who could not otherwise have lived because of lack of food and lack of space. You’re probably one of those billions of people, and so were your parents. If you hold that human life is sacrosanct, and that each man has the right to procreate his own kind, then you must admit that logically they had very little alternative. Remember, they had the same evidence as you that the ecology was dangerously near collapse. Placed in their situation, do you think you could’ve done as well?’

  ‘I take your point,’ said Manalone at last. ‘But the question’s academic now. Can’t anything be done about the decline?’

  Hanser’s face was possessed by a kind of grim humour.

  ‘Certainly! We could reverse the trend tomorrow. If we reversed the decline in size, we could halt the decline in intelligence. But to attempt to do so would render the population problem completely untenable. Think about it. If we could restore Man to his original size within a generation we’d have a lot better than twenty-seven people competing for the space and resources sufficient for only one. Only by killing ninety-six percent of the population, could we ensure that the remainder lived. And even then the survivors would be as crowded as we are now. Is that the kind of solution you’d choose?

  ‘You see what our choices are: revert men to the original and have to eliminate ninety-six percent to make it viable, or allow the current trends to continue and try to salvage a new race from the ruins. Welcome to the Masterthinkers, Manalone. You’re a problem solver. Take a seat – there’s a hell of a lot of problems to be solved.’

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  Also By Colin Kapp

  Cageworld

  1. Search for the Sun (1982) (aka Cageworld)

  2. The Lost Worlds of Cronus (1982)

  3. The Tyrant of Hades (1982)

  4. Star Search (1983)

  Other Novels

  The Dark Mind (1964) (aka The Transfinite Man)

  The Patterns of Chaos (1972)

  The Wizard of Anharitte (1973)

  Survival Game (1976)

  The Chaos Weapon (1977)

  Manalone (1977)

  The Ion War (1978)

  The Timewinders (1980)

  Collections

  The Unorthodox Engineers (1979)

  Colin Kapp (1928 – 2007)

  Born in 1928, Colin Kapp was both a British SF author and a worker in electronics, later becoming a freelance consultant in electroplating. His writing career began with the publication of ‘Life Plan’ in New Worlds in November 1958. Kapp is best known for his stories about the Unorthodox Engineers, which gained a modest cult following. He passed away in 2007.

  Copyright

  A Gollancz eBook

  Copyright © Colin Kapp 1977

  All rights reserved.

  The right of Colin Kapp to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  This eBook first published in Great Britain in 2012 by Gollancz

  The Orion Publishing Group Ltd

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  An Hachette UK Company

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 978 0 575 13379 2

  All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

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