CHAPTER IX
_The Brain Speaks_
A case lay revealed.
At first, while it was unlit, it seemed nothing more than that: a caselike those glass-sided and glass-topped ones found in museums, a caseperhaps three feet high, three feet deep and five feet in width. Underthis glass upper part of the case was an enclosed section a little morethan a foot in depth. The whole structure was supported at each cornerby short strong metal legs. And that was all.
But, second by second, as the captives took in these details, a changecame over the interior. No doubt it was the result of the increasingaction of some electrical current loosed by the throwing of the switch;the whole insides of the glass case little by little lightened, until itbecame apparent it was full of a strange liquid that seemed of itself tohave the property of glowing with soft light. As this light increased, arow of five shadowy bulks the size of footballs began to take formbetween what looked, from where the men sat, like a forest of fibers ofsilk.
In a few more seconds a miracle of complicated wiring came intovisibility. The silk fibers were seen to be wires, threads of silvergossamer that interconnected the five emerging bulks in a maze ofordered complexity. Thousands interlaced the interior; hundreds weregathered in each of five close bunches that sprouted from the floor ofthe case and then spread, fanwise, to various groupings of delicateliquid-immersed instruments.
In several seconds more Eliot Leithgow and Hawk Carse were staring withhorror at what the now brilliantly glowing liquid revealed the fiveshapes to be. As one man they rose, went to the cabinet and gazed withterrible fascination.
"Brains!" exclaimed Leithgow. "Human brains! But not alive--surely notalive!"
"But yes," contradicted the triumphant Eurasian. "Alive."
* * * * *
Five human brains lay all immersed in the glowing case, each resting ina shallow metal pan. There were pulsings in narrow gray tubes which ledinto their under-sides--theatrical evidence that the brains heldimprisoned there were, as the Eurasian had said, alive--most strangely,unnaturally and horribly alive. Stark and cruelly naked they lay there,pulsing with life that should not have been.
"Yes, alive!" repeated Ku Sui. "And never to die while their needs areattended!"
One of his long artistic fingers tapped the glass before the centralbrain, which was set somewhat lower than the others. "This," he said,"is the master brain. It controls and coordinates the thoughts of theothers, avoiding the useless, pursuing the relevant and retaining thevaluable. It is by far the most important of the five, and is, of coursethe superior intellect. It is the keystone of my gateway to all power."
Eliot Leithgow's face was deathly white, but, as one in the grip of somedevilish hypnotic fascination, he could not tear his eyes away from therevolting, amazing achievement of his brilliant enemy. The Eurasian withthe cruelty of a cat picked that awful moment to add:
"This master brain is all that was best of Master Scientist Cram."
The frail old man took this statement like a blow.
"Oh, dear heaven--not Raymond Cram! Not Cram, the physicist, brought tothis! Why, I knew him when----"
Ku Sui smiled and interrupted. "But you speak of him as if he were dead!He's not. He's very much alive, as you shall see. Possibly evenhappy--who knows? There is no good---- _Keep back, Carse!_"
* * * * *
His tiger's eyes had not missed the adventurer's slight crouch inpreparation for a shove which might have toppled the case and ended theabominable servitude of its gruesome tenants. The Hawk was caught beforehe had well started; and had he not stopped his gathering muscles hewould have been dead from the coolie-guards' rays by the time he touchedthe near side of the case.
He took his failure without comment; only stepped back, folded his armsand burned his enemy with the frigid glare of his eyes. The Eurasiancontinued as if nothing had happened, addressing himself chiefly toLeithgow.
"The others, too, you once knew; you are even charged with their murder.Let me introduce you once more to your old colleagues and friends.There, at the right, is the brain you once compared notes with in theperson of Professor Estapp. Next to him is Dr. Swanson. To the left ofMaster Scientist Cram, is Professor Geinst, and this last is Dr. SirCharles Esme Norman. Now think what this group represents!
"Estapp, Chemistry and Bio-Chemistry; Swanson, Psychology; Geinst,Astronomy; Norman, Mathematics. And Cram, the master brain, of course,Physics and Electricity, although his encyclopedic knowledge encompassedevery major subject, well fitting his brain for the position it holds.All this, gathered here in one! The five outstanding intellects ofEarth, here gathered in one priceless instrument! Here are my advisors;here my trusty, never-tiring assistants. I can have their help towardthe solution of any problem; obtain from their individual and combinedintelligences even those rare intuitions which I have found almostalways precede brilliant discoveries.
"For they not only retain all they ever knew of science, but they can_develop_, even as brains in bodies can develop. Their knowledge doesnot become outmoded, if they are kept informed of the latest currents ofscientific thought. From old knowledge and new they build theirstructures of logic once my command sets them on. Wills of their ownthey have none.
"I have not succeeded in all my secondary alterations, however. For onething, I have been unable to deprive them altogether of the memory ofwhat they formerly were; but it is a subdued memory, to them doubtlesslike a dream, familiar yet puzzling. Because of this I imagine they hateme--heartily!--yet they lack the will, the egocentricity which wouldenable them to refuse to answer my questions and do my work.
"Frankly, without them this whole structure"--his hands swept outwidely--"my whole asteroidal kingdom, would have been impossible. Mostof my problems in constructing it were solved here. And in the futureother problems, far greater, will be solved here!"
* * * * *
Hawk Carse by now understood very well Dr. Ku Sui's purpose in bringingM. S. Leithgow to his laboratory, and was already goading his brain insearch of a way out. Death was by all means preferable to what theEurasian intended--death self-inflicted, and death that mutilated thebrain--but there were no present chances that his searching mind couldsee.
If Leithgow suspected what was in store, his face gave no sign of it. Heonly said:
"Dr. Ku, of all the things you have ever done, this is the mostheartless and most vile. I would have thought there was a limit in yousomewhere, but this--this thing--this horrible life you have condemnedthese five men to----"
He could not continue. The Eurasian only smiled, and replied, with hisalways seeming courtesy:
"Your opinion is natural Master: I could expect no other. But when greatends are to be gained, he who would gain them must strip himself ofthose disturbing atavistic things we call the tender emotions. Thepathway to power is not for those who wince at the sight of blood, whoweep at the need for death. I hope, for special reasons, that you'llmake an effort to understand this before we come to the phase which willfollow my demonstration....
"Now, please allow me to show you my coordinated brains in usefuloperation. Will you be seated again? You, too, Captain Carse."
* * * * *
It was Ku Sui's show: there was nothing for the two men but to obey. Butthey felt, both of them, a great unnaturalness in being seated for thedemonstration to come.
"Thank you," the Eurasian said, and went to the panel flanking the case.There, he turned and remarked: "Before we begin, I must ask you toremember that the opinions of my brains may always be accepted as theprobable truth, and always, absolutely, are they honest and withoutprejudice." He threw a small knife switch and again turned. Nothingseemed to happen.
"I have contrived, of course, an artificial way of communicating with myhelpers. This inset grille here contains both microphone andspeaker--ear and mouth.
"T
he ear picks up my words and transmits them to every brain. If I haveasked a question, it is individually considered and the respectiveanswers sent to the master brain; they are there coordinated and theresult spoken to me by means of the mechanical mouth. When the opinionsof the individual brains do not agree, the answer is in the form of apoll, often with brief mention of points pro and con. Sometimes theirmeditations take considerable time; but simple questions always bring aprompt and unanimous answer. Shall we try them now?"
The man's spectators did not answer; even the Hawk was for once in hislife too overcome by conflicting feelings of horror and dread, andcompelling morbid fascination. Dr. Ku paused dramatically, a slightsmile on his enigmatic lips; then turned his head and spoke into thegrille.
"Do you hear me?" he asked, easily and confidently.
The silence in the laboratory was for one brief moment almostoverpowering. Then, from the grille, came a thin metallic voice.Inhuman, artificial, it sounded in the tense strain of the silent room,voice from the living dead that it was.
"_I do_," were its words.
"Strange," mused the Eurasian, half aloud, "that their collective answeris always given as 'I.' What obscure telescoping of egotisms can be thecause of that...."
He dropped the mood of wonder at once. "Tell me," he said, lookingdeliberately at Leithgow: "Would the brain of Master Scientist EliotLeithgow be more valuable in the position of the master brain thanCram's?"
A horrible eternity passed. Again came the inhuman voice:
"_I have answered that question before. Yes._"
* * * * *
Dr. Ku broke the stunned silence that followed this verdict.
"Don't forget that several ray-guns are centered on you, Carse," heremarked casually. "Others, black, are on you. Earthlings would no doubtconsider your emotions very creditable; I only suggest that you keepthem under control."
But the Hawk had given no slightest intimation that he might attemptanything. He sat quietly, a little tensely, his face an icy mask, onlythe freezing shock of his steady gray eyes betraying his emotion as theybore straight into those of the Eurasian. No man could meet such eyesfor long, and even the tiger ones of Ku Sui the all-powerful went asideat the icy murder that showed there.
Friday still stood in back of the chairs where were seated his twofriends. He was scared to death from the thing he had seen. His face wasa sickly, ashy gray, and his eyes large round rolling white marbles; butat the slightest sign of a break he would have metamorphosed into ademon of destruction, however hopeless the try, with ray-guns coveringhim at all times. Such was his love and loyalty for his famous master.
Eliot Leithgow was a man resigned. His head sank down on his chest. Dr.Ku's next words, though aimed at him, did not seem to penetrate hisconsciousness.
"You see, Master Leithgow, I have no choice. My purposes areall-important; they always come first; they demand this substitution.Were your intellect of lesser stature, I would have no interest in youwhatever. But as it is...." He shrugged.
Hawk Carse stood up.
The Eurasian's voice fell away. The ensuing silence gave an icy,clear-cut sharpness to the whisper that then cut through it from thinlips that barely moved:
"God help you, Ku Sui, if you do it. _God help you._"
* * * * *
Dr. Ku Sui smiled deprecatingly and again shrugged.
"I have told you before that God helps those who help themselves. I havealways had splendid results from helping myself."
For a moment he looked away as he considered something in his mind. Thento his veiled eyes came the old mocking irony, and he said:
"I think perhaps you'd like to observe the operations, my friend, andI'm going to allow you to. Not here--no. I could never have youinterrupting; the series of operations is of infinite delicacy and willrequire weeks. But I can make other arrangements; I can give you as goodas ringside seats for each performance. A small visi-screen might beattached to one wall of your cell to enable you to see every detail ofwhat transpires here." His tone suddenly stiffened. "_I wouldn't,Carse!_"
The Hawk relaxed from the brink on which he had wavered. A sudden madrush--what else remained? What else? For an instant he had lost hishead--one of the several times in his whole life. Just for an instant hehad forgotten his phenomenal patience under torture, his own axiom thatin every tight place there was a way out.
"That's much safer," said Ku Sui. "Perhaps you and the black had betterreturn to your cell."
Certain little muscles in the Hawk's face were trembling as he turned togo, and his feet would not work well. The ray-guns of the coolie-guardscovered his every move. Friday followed just behind.
As the adventurer came to the door he stopped and turned, and his eyeswent back to those of the frail, elderly scientist.
The doomed man met the gray eyes and their agony with a smile.
"It's all right, old comrade," he said. "Just remember to destroy thishellish device, if you ever possibly can. My love to Sandra; and to her,and my dear ones on Earth, anything but the truth.... Farewell."
Carse's fingernails bit each one into his palms. He hesitated; tried,but could not speak.
"All right, Carse--you may go."
The feelingless guards nudged white man and black out, and the doorswung solidly closed behind them....