can ever break out.They're much too smug. It's the basic defect of all power-elites, andtheir eventual undoing."
"You said this was the most closely guarded place on Earth?"
"It is," Ferris said.
"And some of you have been trying to break out for fifty years? Why,it'll take forever to escape!"
"Forever is exactly how long we have," said Ferris. "But we hope itwon't take quite that long. Every new man brings new ideas, plans. Oneof them is bound to work."
"_Forever_," Dennison said, his face buried in his hands.
"You can go back upstairs and join them," Ferris said, with a hard noteto his voice, "or you can suicide, or just sit in a corner and goquietly mad. Take your pick."
Dennison looked up. "I must be honest with you and with myself. I don'tthink we can escape. Furthermore, I don't think any of you reallybelieve we can."
Ferris shrugged his shoulders.
"Aside from that," Dennison said, "I think it's a damned good idea. Ifyou'll bring me up to date, I'll contribute whatever I can to theForever Project. And let's hope their complacency lasts."
"It will," Ferris said.
* * * * *
The escape did not take forever, of course. In one hundred andthirty-seven years, Dennison and his colleagues made their successfulbreakout and revealed the Undertakers' Plot. The Undertakers were triedbefore the High Court on charges of kidnapping, conspiracy to overthrowthe government, and illegal possession of immortality. They were foundguilty on all counts and summarily executed.
Dennison and his colleagues were also in illegal possession ofimmortality, which is the privilege only of our governmental elite. Butthe death penalty was waived in view of the Immortality Club's serviceto the State.
This mercy was premature, however. After some months the members of theImmortality Club went into hiding, with the avowed purpose ofoverthrowing the Elite Rule and disseminating immortality among themasses. Project Forever, as they termed it, has received some supportfrom dissidents, who have not yet been apprehended. It cannot beconsidered a serious threat.
But this deviationist action in no way detracts from the glory of theClub's escape from the Undertakers. The ingenious way in which Dennisonand his colleagues broke out of their seemingly impregnable prison,using only a steel belt buckle, a tungsten filament, three hens' eggs,and twelve chemicals that can be readily obtained from the human body,is too well known to be repeated here.
--NED LANG
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from _Galaxy Science Fiction_ February 1959. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.
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