The Feminine Future

by Mike Ashley

  Almost in a moment, the sun-ship had soared over the peaks. Dr. Mundson kept the speed low enough for Northwood to see the splendid view below.

  In the giant cup formed by the encircling mountain range was a green valley of tropical luxuriance. Stretches of dense forest swept half up the mountains and filled the valley cup with tangled verdure. In the center, surrounded by a broad field and a narrow ring of woods, towered a group of buildings. From the largest, which was circular, came the auroralike radiance that formed an umbrella of light over the entire valley.

  “Do I guess right,” said Northwood, “that the light is responsible for this oasis in the ice?”

  “Yes,” said Dr. Mundson. “In your American slang, it is canned sunshine containing an overabundance of certain rays, especially the Life Ray, which I have isolated.” He smiled proudly. “You needn’t look startled, my friend. Some of the most common things store sunlight. On very dark nights, if you have sharp eyes, you can see the radiance given off by certain flowers, which many naturalists say is trapped sunshine. The familiar nasturtium and the marigold opened for me the way to hold sunshine against the long polar night, for they taught me how to apply the Einstein theory of bent light. Stated simply, during the polar night, when the sun is hidden over the rim of the world, we steal some of his rays; during the polar day we concentrate the light.”

  “But could stored sunshine alone give enough warmth for the luxuriant growth of those jungles?”

  “An overabundance of the Life Ray is responsible for the miraculous growth of all life in New Eden. The Life Ray is Nature’s most powerful force. Yet Nature is often niggardly and paradoxical in her use of her powers. In New Eden, we have forced the powers of creation to take ascendency over the powers of destruction.”

  At Northwood’s sudden start, the scientist laughed and continued: “Is it not a pity that Nature, left alone, requires twenty years to make a man who begins to die in another ten years? Such waste is not tolerated in New Eden, where supermen are younger than babes and—”

  “Come, worms; let’s land.”

  It was Adam’s voice. Suddenly he materialized, a blond god, whose eyes and flesh were too new.

  They were in a world of golden skylight, warmth and tropical vegetation. The field on which they had landed was covered with a velvety green growth of very soft, fine-bladed grass, sprinkled with tiny, star-shaped blue flowers. A balmy, sweet-scented wind, downy as the breeze of a dream, blew gently along the grass and tingled against Northwood’s skin refreshingly. Almost instantly he had the sensation of perfect well being, and this feeling of physical perfection was part of the ecstasy that seemed to pervade the entire valley. Grass and breeze and golden skylight were saturated with a strange ether of joyousness.

  At one end of the field was a dense jungle, cut through by a road that led to the towering building from which, while above in the sun-ship, they had seen the golden light issue.

  From the jungle road came a man and a woman, large, handsome people, whose flesh and eyes had the sinister newness of Adam’s. Even before they came close enough to speak, Northwood was aware that while they seemed of Adam’s breed, they were yet unlike him. The difference was psychical rather than physical; they lacked the aura of hate and horror that surrounded Adam. The woman drew Adam’s head down and kissed him affectionately on both cheeks.

  Adam, from his towering height, patted her shoulder impatiently and said: “Run on back to the laboratory, grandmother. We’re following soon. You have some new human embryos, I believe you told me this morning.”

  “Four fine specimens, two of them being your sister’s twins.”

  “Splendid! I was sure that creation had stopped with my generation. I must see them.” He turned to the scientist and Northwood. “You needn’t try to leave this spot. Of course I shall know instantly and deal with you in my own way. Wait here.”

  He strode over the emerald grass on the heels of the woman.

  Northwood asked: “Why does he call that girl grandmother?”

  “Because she is his ancestress.” He stirred uneasily. “She is of the first generation brought forth in the laboratory, and is no different from you or I, except that, at the age of five years, she is the ances-tress of twenty generations.”

  “My God!” muttered Northwood.

  “Don’t start being horrified, my friend. Forget about so-called natural laws while you are in New Eden. Remember, here we have isolated the Life Ray. But look! Here comes your Athalia!”

  Northwood gazed covertly at the beautiful girl approaching them with a rarely graceful walk. She was tall, slender, round-bosomed, narrow-hipped, and she held her lovely body in the erect poise of splendid health. Northwood had a confused realization of uncovered bronzy hair, drawn to the back of a white neck in a bunch of short curls; of immense soft black eyes; lips the color of blood, and delicate, plump flesh on which the golden skylight lingered graciously. He was instantly glad to see that while she possessed the freshness of young girlhood, her skin and eyes did not have the horrible newness of Adam’s.

  When she was still twenty feet distant, Northwood met her eyes and she smiled shyly. The rich, red blood ran through her face; and he, too, flushed.

  She went to Dr. Mundson and, placing her hands on his thick shoulders, kissed him affectionately.

  “I’ve been worried about you, Daddy Mundson.” Her rich contralto voice matched her exotic beauty. “Since you and Adam had that quarrel the day you left, I did not see him until this morning, when he landed the sun-ship alone.”

  “And you pleaded with him to return for us?”

  “Yes.” Her eyes drooped and a hot flush swept over her face. Dr. Mundson smiled. “But I’m back now, Athalia, and I’ve brought some one whom I hope you will be glad to know.”

  Reaching for her hand, he placed it simply in Northwood’s. “This is John, Athalia. Isn’t he handsomer than the pictures of him which I televisioned to you? God bless both of you.”

  He walked ahead and turned his back.

  A magical half hour followed for Northwood and Athalia. The girl told him of her past life, how Dr. Mundson had discovered her one year ago working in a New York sweat shop, half dead from consumption. Without friends, she was eager to follow the scientist to New Eden, where he promised she would recover her health immediately.

  “And he was right, John,” she said shyly. “The Life Ray, that marvelous energy ray which penetrates to the utmost depths of earth and ocean, giving to the cells of all living bodies the power to grow and remain animate, has been concentrated by Dr. Mundson in his stored sunshine. The Life Ray healed me almost immediately.”

  Northwood looked down at the glorious girl beside him, whose eyes already fluttered away from his like shy black butterflies. Suddenly he squeezed the soft hand in his and said passionately:

  “Athalia! Because Adam wants you and will get you if he can, let us set aside all the artificialities of civilization. I have loved you madly ever since I saw your picture. If you can say the same to me, it will give me courage to face what I know lies before me.”

  Athalia, her face suddenly tender, came closer to him.

  “John Northwood, I love you.”

  Her red lips came temptingly close; but before he could touch them, Adam suddenly pushed his body between him and Athalia. Adam was pale, and all the iciness was gone from his blue eyes, which were deep and dark and very human. He looked down at Athalia, and she looked up at him, two handsome specimens of perfect manhood and womanhood.

  “Fast work, Athalia!” The new vibrant voice was strained. “I was hoping you would be disappointed in him, especially after having been wooed by me this morning. I could take you if I wished, of course; but I prefer to win you in the ancient manner. Dismiss him!” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder in Northwood’s direction.

  Athalia flushed vividly and looked at him almost compassionately. “I am not great enough for you, Adam. I dare not love you.”

  Adam laughed, and sti
ll oblivious of Northwood and Dr. Mundson, folded his arms over his breast. With the golden skylight on his burnished hair, he was a valiant, magnificent spectacle.

  “Since the beginning of time, gods and archangels have looked upon the daughters of men and found them fair. Mate with me, Athalia, and I, fifty thousand years beyond the creature Mundson has selected for you, will make you as I am, the deathless overlord of life and all nature.”

  He drew her hand to his bosom.

  For one dark moment, Northwood felt himself seared by jealousy, for, through the plump, sweet flesh of Athalia’s face, he saw the red blood leap again. How could she withhold herself from this splendid superman?

  But her answer, given with faltering voice, was the old, simple one: “I have promised him, Adam. I love him.” Tears trembled on her thick lashes.

  “So! I cannot get you in the ancient manner. Now I’ll use my own.”

  He seized her in his arms crushed her against him, and, laughing over her head at Northwood, bent his glistening head and kissed her on the mouth.

  There was a blinding flash of blue electric sparks—and nothing else. Both Adam and Athalia had vanished.

  Adam’s voice came in a last mocking challenge: “I shall be what no other gods before me have been—a good sport. I’ll leave you both to your own devices, until I want you again.”

  White-lipped and trembling, Northwood groaned: “What has he done now?”

  Dr. Mundson’s great head drooped. “I don’t know. Our bodies are electric and chemical machines; and a super intelligence has discovered new laws of which you and I are ignorant.”

  “But Athalia....”

  “She is safe; he loves her.”

  “Loves her!” Northwood shivered. “I cannot believe that those freezing eyes could ever look with love on a woman.”

  “Adam is a man. At heart he is as human as the first man- creature that wallowed in the new earth’s slime.” His voice dropped as though he were musing aloud. “It might be well to let him have Athalia. She will help to keep vigor in the new race, which would stop reproducing in another few generations without the injection of Black Age blood.”

  “Do you want to bring more creatures like Adam into the world?” Northwood flung at him. “You have tampered with life enough, Dr. Mundson. But, although Adam has my sympathy, I’m not willing to turn Athalia over to him.”

  “Well said! Now come to the laboratory for chemical nourishment and rest under the Life Ray.”

  They went to the great circular building from whose highest tower issued the golden radiance that shamed the light of the sun, hanging low in the northeast.

  “John Northwood,” said Dr. Mundson, “with that laboratory, which is the center of all life in New Eden, we’ll have to whip Adam. He gave us what he called a ‘sporting chance’ because he knew that he is able to send us and all mankind to a doom more terrible than hell. Even now we might be entering some hideous trap that he has set for us.”

  They entered by a side entrance and went immediately to what Dr. Mundson called the Rest Ward. Here, in a large room, were ranged rows of cots, on many of which lay men basking in the deep orange flood of light which poured from individual lamps set above each cot.

  “It is the Life Ray!” said Dr. Mundson reverently. “The source of all growth and restoration in Nature. It is the power that bursts open the seed and brings forth the shoot, that increases the shoot into a giant tree. It is the same power that enables the fertilized ovum to develop into an animal. It creates and recreates cells almost instantly; accordingly, it is the perfect substitute for sleep. Stretch out, enjoy its power; and while you rest, eat these nourishing tablets.”

  Northwood lay on a cot, and Dr. Mundson turned the Life Ray on him. For a few minutes a delicious drowsiness fell upon him, producing a spell of perfect peace which the cells of his being seemed to drink in. For another delirious, fleeting space, every inch of him vibrated with a thrilling sensation of freshness. He took a deep, ecstatic breath and opened his eyes.

  “Enough,” said Dr. Mundson, switching off the Ray. “After three minutes of rejuvenation, you are commencing again with perfect cells. All ravages from disease and wear have been corrected.”

  Northwood leaped up joyously. His handsome eyes sparkled, his skin glowed. “I feel great! Never felt so good since I was a kid.”

  A pleased grin spread over the scientist’s homely face. “See what my discovery will mean to the world! In the future we shall all go to the laboratory for recuperation and nourishment. We’ll have almost twenty-four hours a day for work and play.”

  He stretched out on the bed contentedly. “Some day, when my work is nearly done, I shall permit the Life Ray to cure my hump.”

  “Why not now?”

  Dr. Mundson sighed. “If I were perfect, I should cease to be so overwhelmingly conscious of the importance of perfection.” He settled back to enjoyment of the Life Ray.

  A few minutes later, he jumped up, alert as a boy. “Ach! That’s fine. Now I’ll show you how the Life Ray speeds up development and produces four generations of humans a year.”

  With restored energy, Northwood began thinking of Athalia. As he followed Dr. Mundson down a long corridor, he yearned to see her again, to be certain that she was safe. Once he imagined he felt a gentle, soft-fleshed touch against his hand, and was disappointed not to see her walking by his side. Was she with him, unseen? The thought was sweet.

  Before Dr. Mundson opened the massive bronze door at the end of the corridor, he said:

  “Don’t be surprised or shocked over anything you see here, John Northwood. This is the Baby Laboratory.”

  They entered a room which seemed no different from a hospital ward. On little white beds lay naked children of various sizes, perfect, solemn-eyed youngsters and older children as beautiful as animated statues. Above each bed was a small Life Ray projector. A white-capped nurse went from bed to bed.

  “They are recuperating from the daily educational period,” said the scientist. “After a few minutes of this they will go into the growing room, which I shall have to show you through a window. Should you and I enter, we might be changed in a most extraordinary manner.” He laughed mischievously. “But, look, Northwood!”

  He slid back a panel in the wall, and Northwood peered in through a thick pane of clear glass. The room was really an immense outdoor arena, its only carpet the fine-bladed grass, its roof the blue sky cut in the middle by an enormous disc from which shot the aurora of trapped sunshine which made a golden umbrella over the valley. Through openings in the bottom of the disc poured a fine rain of rays which fell constantly upon groups of children, youths and young girls, all clad in the merest scraps of clothing. Some were dancing, others were playing games, but all seemed as supremely happy as the birds and butterflies which fluttered about the shrubs and flowers edging the arena.

  “I don’t expect you to believe,” said Dr. Mundson, “that the oldest young man in there is three months old. You cannot see visible changes in a body which grows as slowly as the human being, whose normal period of development is twenty years or more. But I can give you visible proof of how fast growth takes place under the full power of the Life Ray. Plant life, which, even when left to nature, often develops from seed to flower within a few weeks or months, can be seen making its miraculous changes under the Life Ray. Watch those gorgeous purple flowers over which the butterflies are hovering.”

  Northwood followed his pointing finger. Near the glass window through which they looked grew an enormous bank of resplendent violet colored flowers, which literally enshrouded the entire bush with their royal glory. At first glance it seemed as though a violent wind were snatching at flower and bush, but closer inspection proved that the agitation was part of the plant itself. And then he saw that the movements were the result of perpetual composition and growth.

  He fastened his eyes on one huge bud. He saw it swell, burst, spread out its passionate purple velvet, lift the broad flower face to th
e light for a joyous minute. A few seconds later a butterfly lighted airily to sample its nectar and to brush the pollen from its yellow dusted wings. Scarcely had the winged visitor flown away than the purple petals began to wither and fall away, leaving the seed pod on the stem. The visible change went on in this seed pod. It turned rapidly brown, dried out, and then sent the released seeds in a shower to the rich black earth below. Scarcely had the seeds touched the ground than they sent up tiny green shoots that grew larger each moment. Within ten minutes there was a new plant a foot high. Within half an hour, the plant budded, blossomed, and cast forth its own seed.

  “You understand?” asked the scientist. “Development is going on as rapidly among the children. Before the first year has passed, the youngest baby will have grandchildren; that is, if the baby tests out fit to pass its seed down to the new generation. I know it sounds absurd. Yet you saw the plant.”

  “But Doctor,” Northwood rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, “Nature’s forces of destruction, of tearing down, are as powerful as her creative powers. You have discovered the ultimate in creation and upbuilding. But perhaps—oh, Lord, it is too awful to think!”

  “Speak, Northwood!” The scientist’s voice was impatient.

  “It is nothing!” The pale young man attempted a smile. “I was only imagining some of the horror that could be thrust on the world if a supermind like Adam’s should discover Nature’s secret of death and destruction and speed it up as you have sped the life force.”

  “Ach, Gott!” Dr. Mundson’s face was white. “He has his own laboratory, where he works every day. Don’t talk so loud. He might be listening. And I believe he can do anything he sets out to accomplish.”

  Close to Northwood’s ear fell a faint, triumphant whisper: “Yes, he can do anything. How did you guess, worm?”

  It was Adam’s voice.

  “Now come and see the Leyden jar mothers,” said Dr. Mundson. “We do not wait for the child to be born to start our work.”

  He took Northwood to a laboratory crowded with strange apparatus, where young men and women worked. Northwood knew instantly that these people, although unusually handsome and strong, were not of Adam’s generation. None of them had the look of newness which marked those who had grown up under the Life Ray.