Forever

drained the contents.

  Immediately he was running again, as a second bullet scored the granitewall. The great blocks of apartments loomed endlessly ahead of him,silent and alien. There were no walkers upon the streets. There was onlyDennison, running more slowly now past the immense, blank-facedapartments.

  * * * * *

  A long black car came up behind him, its searchlight probing into doorsand alleys. Was it the police?

  "That's him!" cried the shrill, unnerving voice of one of Dennison'spursuers.

  Dennison ducked into a narrow alley between buildings, raced down it andinto the next street.

  There were two cars on that street, at either end of the block, theirheadlights shining toward each other, moving slowly to trap him in themiddle. The alley gleamed with light now, from the first car'sheadlights shining down it. He was surrounded.

  Dennison raced to the nearest apartment building and yanked at the door.It was locked. The two cars were almost even with him. And, looking atthem, Dennison remembered the unpleasant jog his memory had given himearlier.

  The two cars were hearses.

  The men in the subway, with their solemn faces, solemn clothing, subduedneckties, shrill, indignant voices--they had reminded him ofundertakers. They _had_ been undertakers!

  Of course! Of course! Oil companies might want to block the invention ofa cheap new fuel which could put them out of business; steelcorporations might try to stop the development of an inexpensive,stronger-than-steel plastic ...

  And the production of an immortality serum would put the undertakers outof business.

  His progress, and the progress of thousands of other researchers inbiology, must have been watched. And when he made his discovery, theyhad been ready.

  The hearses stopped, and somber-faced, respectable-looking men in blacksuits and pearl-gray neckties poured out and seized him. The briefcasewas yanked out of his hand. He felt the prick of a needle in hisshoulder. Then, with no transitional dizziness, he passed out.

  * * * * *

  He came to sitting in an armchair. There were armed men on either sideof him. In front of him stood a small, plump, undistinguished-lookingman in sedate clothing.

  "My name is Mr. Bennet," the plump man said. "I wish to beg yourforgiveness, Mr. Dennison, for the violence to which you were subjected.We found out about your invention only at the last moment and thereforehad to improvise. The bullets were meant only to frighten and delay you.Murder was not our intention."

  "You merely wanted to steal my discovery," Dennison said.

  "Not at all," Mr. Bennet told him. "The secret of immortality has beenin our possession for quite some time."

  "I see. Then you want to keep immortality from the public in order tosafeguard your damned undertaking business!"

  "Isn't that rather a naive view?" Mr. Bennet asked, smiling. "As ithappens, my associates and I are _not_ undertakers. We took on thedisguise in order to present an understandable motive if our plan tocapture you had misfired. In that event, others would have believedexactly--and only--what you thought: that our purpose was to safeguardour business."

  Dennison frowned and watchfully waited.

  "Disguises come easily to us," Mr. Bennet said, still smiling. "Perhapsyou have heard rumors about a new carburetor suppressed by the gasolinecompanies, or a new food source concealed by the great food suppliers,or a new synthetic hastily destroyed by the cotton-owning interests.That was us. And the inventions ended up here."

  "You're trying to impress me," Dennison said.

  "Certainly."

  "Why did you stop me from patenting my immortality serum?"

  "The world is not ready for it yet," said Mr. Bennet.

  "It isn't ready for a lot of things," Dennison said. "Why didn't youblock the atom bomb?"

  "We tried, disguised as mercenary coal and oil interests. But we failed.However, we have succeeded with a surprising number of things."

  "But what's the purpose behind it all?"

  "Earth's welfare," Mr. Bennet said promptly. "Consider what would happenif the people were given your veritable immortality serum. The problemsof birth rate, food production, living space all would be aggravated.Tensions would mount, war would be imminent--"

  "So what?" Dennison challenged. "That's how things are right now,_without_ immortality. Besides, there have been cries of doom aboutevery new invention or discovery. Gunpowder, the printing press,nitroglycerin, the atom bomb, they were all supposed to destroy therace. But mankind has learned how to handle them. It had to! You can'tturn back the clock, and you can't un-discover something. If it's there,mankind must deal with it!"

  "Yes, in a bumbling, bloody, inefficient fashion," said Mr. Bennet, withan expression of distaste.

  "Well, that's how Man is."

  "Not if he's properly led," Mr. Bennet said.

  "No?"

  * * * * *

  "Certainly not," said Mr. Bennet. "You see, the immortality serumprovides a solution to the problem of political power. Rule by apermanent and enlightened elite is by far the best form of government;infinitely better than the blundering inefficiencies of democratic rule.But throughout history, this elite, whether monarchy, oligarchy,dictatorship or junta, has been unable to perpetuate itself. Leadersdie, the followers squabble for power, and chaos is close behind. Withimmortality, this last flaw would be corrected. There would be nodiscontinuity of leadership, for the leaders would always be there."

  "A permanent dictatorship," Dennison said.

  "Yes. A permanent, benevolent rule by small, carefully chosen elitecorps, based upon the sole and exclusive possession of immortality. It'shistorically inevitable. The only question is, who is going to getcontrol first?"

  "And you think you are?" Dennison demanded.

  "Of course. Our organization is still small, but absolutely solid. It isbolstered by every new invention that comes into our hands and by everyscientist who joins our ranks. Our time will come, Dennison! We'd liketo have you with us, among the elite."

  "You want _me_ to join you?" Dennison asked, bewildered.

  "We do. Our organization needs creative scientific minds to help us inour work, to help us save mankind from itself."

  "Count me out," Dennison said, his heart beating fast.

  "You won't join us?"

  "I'd like to see you all hanged."

  Mr. Bennet nodded thoughtfully and pursed his small lips. "You havetaken your own serum, have you not?"

  Dennison nodded. "I suppose that means you kill me now?"

  "We don't kill," Mr. Bennet said. "We merely wait. I think you are areasonable man, and I think you'll come to see things our way. We'll bearound a long time. So will you. Take him away."

  Dennison was led to an elevator that dropped deep into the Earth. He wasmarched down a long passageway lined with armed men. They went throughfour massive doors. At the fifth, Dennison was pushed inside alone, andthe door was locked behind him.

  He was in a large, well-furnished apartment. There were perhaps twentypeople in the room, and they came forward to meet him.

  One of them, a stocky, bearded man, was an old college acquaintance ofDennison's.

  "Jim Ferris?"

  "That's right," Ferris said. "Welcome to the Immortality Club,Dennison."

  "I read you were killed in an air crash last year."

  "I merely--disappeared," Ferris said, with a rueful smile, "afterinventing the immortality serum. Just like the others."

  "All of them?"

  "Fifteen of the men here invented the serum independently. The rest aresuccessful inventors in other fields. Our oldest member is Doctor Li, aserum discoverer, who disappeared from San Francisco in 1911. You areour latest acquisition. Our clubhouse is probably the most carefullyguarded place on Earth."

  * * * * *

  Dennison said, "Nineteen-eleven!" Despair flooded him and he sat downheavily in a chair. "Then th
ere's no possibility of rescue?"

  "None. There are only four choices available to us," Ferris said. "Somehave left us and joined the Undertakers. Others have suicided. A fewhave gone insane. The rest of us have formed the Immortality Club."

  "What for?" Dennison bewilderedly asked.

  "To get out of this place!" said Ferris. "To escape and give ourdiscoveries to the world. To stop those hopeful little dictatorsupstairs."

  "They must know what you're planning."

  "Of course. But they let us live because, every so often, one of usgives up and joins them. And they don't think we