CHAPTER XII
The Mastery of Mind Over Matter
They descended rapidly, directly over a large and imposing city in themiddle of a vast, level, beautifully-planted plain. While they werewatching it, the city vanished and the plain was transformed into aheavily-timbered mountain summit, the valleys falling away upon allsides as far as the eye could reach.
"Well, I'll say that's SOME mirage!" exclaimed Seaton, rubbing his eyesin astonishment. "I've seen mirages before, but never anything likethat. Wonder what this air's made of? But we'll land, anyway, if wefinally have to swim!"
The ship landed gently upon the summit, the occupants half expecting tosee the ground disappear before their eyes. Nothing happened, however,and they disembarked, finding walking somewhat difficult because of thegreat mass of the planet. Looking around, they could see no sign oflife, but they _felt_ a presence near them--a vast, invisible something.
Suddenly, out of the air in front of Seaton, a man materialized: a manidentical with him in every feature and detail, even to the smudge ofgrease under one eye, the small wrinkles in his heavy blue serge suit,and the emblem of the American Chemical Society upon his watch-fob.
"Hello, folks," the stranger began in Seaton's characteristic carelessspeech. "I see you're surprised at my knowing your language. You're avery inferior race of animals--don't even understand telepathy, don'tunderstand the luminiferous ether, or the relation between time andspace. Your greatest things, such as the Skylark and yourobject-compass, are merely toys."
Changing instantly from Seaton's form to that of Dorothy, likewise aperfect imitation, the stranger continued without a break:
"Atoms and electrons and things, spinning and whirling in their dizzylittle orbits...." It broke off abruptly, continuing in the form ofDuQuesne:
"Couldn't make myself clear as Miss Vaneman--not a scientificconvolution in her foolish little brain. You are a freer type, DuQuesne,unhampered by foolish, soft fancies. But you are very clumsy, althoughworking fairly well with your poor tools--Brookings and hisorganization, the Perkins Cafe and its clumsy wireless telephones. Allof you are extremely low in the scale. Such animals have not been knownin our universe for ten million years, which is as far back as I canremember. You have millions of years to go before you will amount toanything; before you will even rise above death and its attendantnecessity, sex."
The strange being then assumed form after form with bewilderingrapidity, while the spectators stared in dumb astonishment. In rapidsuccession it took on the likeness of each member of the party, of thevessel itself, of the watch in Seaton's pocket--reappearing as Seaton.
"Well, bunch," it said in a matter-of-fact voice, "there's no mentalexercise in you and you're such a low form of life that you're of no useon this planet; so I'll dematerialize you."
* * * * *
A peculiar light came into its eyes as they stared intently intoSeaton's, and he felt his senses reel under the impact of an awfulmental force, but he fought back with all his power and remainedstanding.
"What's this?" the stranger demanded in surprise, "This is the firsttime in history that mere matter--which is only a manifestation ofmind--has ever refused to obey mind. There's a screw loose somewhere."
"I must reason this out," it continued analytically, changinginstantaneously into Crane's likeness. "Ah! I am not a perfectreproduction. This is the first matter I have ever encountered that Icould not reproduce perfectly. There is some subtle difference. Theexternal form is the same, the organic structure likewise. The moleculesof substance are arranged as they should be, as are also the atoms inthe molecule. The electrons in the atom--ah! There is the difficulty.The arrangement and number of electrons, as well as positive charges,are entirely different from what I had supposed. I must derive theformula."
"Let's go, folks!" said Seaton hastily, drawing Dorothy back toward theSkylark. "This dematerialization stunt may be play for him, but I don'twant any of it in my family."
"No, you really _must_ stay," remonstrated the stranger. "Much as it isagainst my principles to employ brute force, you must stay and beproperly dematerialized, alive or dead. Science demands it."
As he spoke, he started to draw his automatic pistol. Being in Crane'sform, he drew slowly, as Crane did; and Seaton, with the dexterity ofmuch sleight-of-hand work and of years of familiarity with his weapon,drew and fired in one incredibly rapid movement, before the other hadwithdrawn the pistol from his pocket. The X-plosive shell completelyvolatilized the stranger and hurled the party backward toward theSkylark, into which they fled hastily. As Crane, the last one to enterthe vessel, fired his pistol and closed the massive door, Seaton leapedto the levers. As he did so, he saw a creature materialize in the air ofthe vessel and fall to the floor with a crash as he threw on the power.It was a frightful thing, like nothing ever before seen upon any world;with great teeth, long, sharp claws, and an automatic pistol clutchedfirmly in a human hand. Forced flat by the terrific acceleration of thevessel, it was unable to lift either itself or the weapon, and layhelpless.
"We take one trick, anyway!" blazed Seaton, as he threw on the power ofthe attractor and diffused its force into a screen over the party, sothat the enemy could not materialize in the air above them and crushthem by mere weight. "As pure mental force, you're entirely out of myclass, but when you come down to matter, which I can understand, I'llgive you a run for your money until my angles catch fire."
"That is a childish defiance. It speaks well for your courage, but illfor your intelligence," the animal said, and vanished.
A moment later Seaton's hair almost stood on end as he saw an automaticpistol appear upon the board directly in front of him, clamped to it bybands of steel. Paralyzed by this unlooked-for demonstration of themastery of mind over matter, unable to move a muscle, he lay helpless,staring at the engine of death in front of him. Although the wholeproceeding occupied only a fraction of a second, it seemed to Seaton asthough he watched the weapon for hours. As the sleeve drew back, cockingthe pistol and throwing a cartridge into the chamber, the trigger moved,and the hammer descended to speed on its way the bullet which was toblot out his life. There was a sharp click as the hammer fell--Seatonwas surprised to find himself still alive until a voice spoke,apparently from the muzzle of the pistol, with the harsh sound of ametallic diaphragm.
"I was almost certain that it wouldn't explode," the stranger said,chattily. "You see, I haven't derived that formula yet, so I couldn'tmake a real explosive. I could of course, materialize beside you, underyour protective screen, and crush you in a vise. I could materialize asa man of metal, able to stand up under this acceleration, and do you todeath. I could even, by a sufficient expenditure of mental energy,materialize a planet around your ship and crush it. However, these crudemethods are distasteful in the extreme, especially since you havealready given me some slight and unexpected mental exercise. In return,I shall give you one chance for your lives. I cannot dematerializeeither you or your vessel until I work out the formula for your peculiaratomic structure. If I can derive the formula before you reach theboundaries of my home-space, beyond which I cannot go, I shall let yougo free. Deriving the formula will be a neat little problem. It shouldbe fairly easy, as it involves only a simple integration in ninety-sevendimensions."
* * * * *
Silence ensued, and Seaton advanced his lever to the limit of hisability to retain consciousness. Almost overcome by the horror of theirposition, in an agony of suspense, expecting every instant to be hurledinto nothingness, he battled on, with no thought of yielding, even inthe face of those overwhelming mental odds.
"You can't do it, old top," he thought savagely, concentrating all thepower of his highly-trained mind against the intellectual monster. "Youcan't dematerialize us, and you can't integrate above ninety-fivedimensions to save your neck. You can't do it--you're slipping--you'reall balled up right now!"
For more than an hour the silent battle raged, during w
hich time theSkylark flew millions upon millions of miles toward Earth. Finally thestranger spoke again.
"You three win," it said abruptly. In answer to the unspoken surprise ofall three men it went on: "Yes, all three of you got the same idea andCrane even forced his body to retain consciousness to fight me. Yourefforts were very feeble, of course, but were enough to interrupt mycalculations at a delicate stage, every time. You are a low form oflife, undoubtedly, but with more mentality than I supposed at first. Icould get that formula, of course, in spite of you, if I had time, butwe are rapidly approaching the limits of my territory, outside of whicheven I could not think my way back. That is one thing in which yourmechanical devices are superior to anything my own race developed beforewe became pure intellectuals. They point the way back to your Earth,which is so far away that even my mentality cannot grasp the meaning ofthe distance. I can understand the Earth, can visualize it from yourminds, but I cannot project myself any nearer to it than we are atpresent. Before I leave you, I will say that you have conferred a realfavor upon me--you have given me something to think about for thousandsof cycles to come. Good-bye."
Assured that their visitor had really gone, Seaton reduced the power tothat of gravity and Dorothy soon sat up, Margaret reviving more slowly.
"Dick," said Dorothy solemnly, "did that happen or have I beenunconscious and just had a nightmare?"
"It happened, all right," returned her lover, wiping his brow in relief."See that pistol clamped upon the top of the board? That's a token inremembrance of him."
Dorothy, though she had been only half conscious, had heard the words ofthe stranger. As she looked at the faces of the men, white and drawnwith the mental struggle, she realized what they had gone through, andshe drew Seaton down into one of the seats, stroking his hair tenderly.
Margaret went to her room immediately, and as she did not return,Dorothy followed. She came back presently with a look of concern uponher face.
"This life is a little hard on Peggy. I didn't realize how much harderfor her it would be than it is for me until I went in there and foundher crying. It is much harder for her, of course, since I am with you,Dick, and with you, Martin, whom I know so well. She must feel terriblyalone."
"Why should she?" demanded Seaton. "We think she's some game little guy.Why, she's one of the bunch! She must know that!"
"Well, it isn't the same," insisted Dorothy. "You be extra nice to her,Dick. But don't you dare let her know I told you about the tears, orshe'd eat me alive!"
Crane said nothing--a not unusual occurrence--but his face grewthoughtful and his manner, when Margaret appeared at mealtime, was moresolicitous than usual and more than brotherly in its tenderness.
"I shall be an interstellar diplomat," Dorothy whispered to Seaton assoon as they were alone. "Wasn't that a beautiful bee I put uponMartin?"
Seaton stared at her a moment, then shook her gently before he took herinto his arms.
* * * * *
The information, however, did not prevent him from calling to Crane afew minutes later, even though he was still deep in conversation withMargaret. Dorothy gave him an exasperated glance and walked away.
"I sure pulled a boner that time," Seaton muttered as he plucked at hishair ruefully. "It nearly did us.
"Let's test this stuff out and see if it's X, Mart, while DuQuesne's outof the way. If it is X, it's SOME find!"
Seaton cut off a bit of metal with his knife, hammered it into a smallpiece of copper, and threw the copper into the power-chamber, out ofcontact with the plating. As the metal received the current the vesselstarted slightly.
"It _is_ X! Mart, we've got enough of this stuff to supply threeworlds!"
"Better put it away somewhere," suggested Crane, and after the metal hadbeen removed to Seaton's cabin, the two men again sought alanding-place. Almost in their line of flight they saw a close clusterof stars, each emitting a peculiar greenish light which, in thespectroscope, revealed a blaze of copper lines.
"That's our meat, Martin. We ought to be able to grab some copper inthat system, where there's so much of it that it colors their sunlight."
"The copper is undoubtedly there, but it might be too dangerous to getso close to so many suns. We may have trouble getting away."
"Well, our copper's getting horribly low. We've got to find some prettyquick, somewhere, or else walk back home, and there's our best chance.We'll feel our way along. If it gets too strong, we'll beat it."
When they had approached so close that the suns were great stars widelyspaced in the heavens, Crane relinquished the controls to Seaton.
"If you will take the lever awhile, Dick, Margaret and I will godownstairs and see if we can locate a planet."
After a glance through the telescope, Crane knew that they were stilltoo far from the group of suns to place any planet with certainty, andbegan taking notes. His mind was not upon his work, however, but wascompletely filled with thoughts of the girl at his side. The intervalsbetween his comments became longer and longer until they were standingin silence, both staring with unseeing eyes out into the trackless void.But it was in no sense their usual companionable silence. Crane wasfighting back the words he longed to say. This lovely girl was not hereof her own accord--she had been torn forcibly from her home and from herfriends, and he would not, could not, make her already difficultposition even more unpleasant by forcing his attentions upon her.Margaret sensed something unusual and significant in his attitude andheld herself tense, her heart beating wildly.
At that moment an asteroid came within range of the Skylark's watchfulrepeller, and at the lurch of the vessel, as it swung around theobstruction, Margaret would have fallen had not Crane instinctivelycaught her with one arm. Ordinarily this bit of courtesy would have goneunnoticed by both, as it had happened many times before, but in thatheavily-charged atmosphere it took on a new significance. Both blushedhotly, and as their eyes met each saw that which held them spellbound.Slowly, almost as if without volition, Crane put his other arm aroundher. A wave of deeper crimson swept over her face and she bent herhandsome head as her slender body yielded to his arms with no effort tofree itself. Finally Crane spoke, his usually even voice faltering.
"Margaret, I hope you will not think this unfair of me ... but we havebeen through so much together that I feel as though we had known eachother forever. Until we went through this last experience I had intendedto wait--but why should we wait? Life is not lived in years alone, andyou know how much I love you, my dearest!" he finished, passionately.
Her arms crept up around his neck, her bowed head lifted, and her eyeslooked deep into his as she whispered her answer:
"I think I do ... Oh, Martin!"
Presently they made their way back to the engine-room, keeping thesinging joy in their hearts inaudible and the kisses fresh upon theirlips invisible. They might have kept their secret for a time, had notSeaton promptly asked:
"Well, what did you find, Mart?"
A panicky look appeared upon Crane's self-possessed countenance andMargaret's fair face glowed like a peony.
"_Yes_, what _did_ you find?" demanded Dorothy, as she noticed theirconfusion.
"My future wife," Crane answered steadily.
The two girls rushed into each other's arms and the two men silentlygripped hands in a clasp of steel; for each of the four knew that thesetwo unions were not passing fancies, lightly entered into and as lightlycast aside, but were true partnerships which would endure throughout theentire span of life.
* * * * *
A planet was located and the Skylark flew toward it. Discovering that itwas apparently situated in the center of the cluster of suns, theyhesitated; but finding that there was no dangerous force present, theykept on. As they drew nearer, so that the planet appeared as a verysmall moon, they saw that the Skylark was in a blaze of green light, andlooking out of the windows, Crane counted seventeen great suns,scattered in all directions in the sky! Slowing d
own abruptly as theplanet was approached, Seaton dropped the vessel slowly through theatmosphere, while Crane and DuQuesne tested and analyzed it.
"Pressure, thirty pounds per square inch. Surface gravity as compared tothat of the Earth, two-fifths. Air-pressure about double that of theEarth, while a five-pound weight weighs only two pounds. A peculiarcombination," reported Crane, and DuQuesne added:
"Analysis about the same as our air except for two and three-tenths percent of a gas that isn't poisonous and which has a peculiar, fragrantodor. I can't analyze it and think it probably an element unknown uponEarth, or at least very rare."
"It would have to be rare if you don't know what it is," acknowledgedSeaton, locking the Skylark in place and going over to smell the strangegas.
Deciding that the air was satisfactory, the pressure inside the vesselwas slowly raised to the value of that outside and two doors wereopened, to allow the new atmosphere free circulation.
Seaton shut off the power actuating the repeller and let the vesselsettle slowly toward the ocean which was directly beneath them--an oceanof a deep, intense, wondrously beautiful blue, which the scientistsstudied with interest. Arrived at the surface, Seaton moistened a rod ina wave, and tasted it cautiously, then uttered a yell of joy--a yellbroken off abruptly as he heard the sound of his own voice. Both girlsstarted as the vibrations set up in the dense air smote upon theireardrums. Seaton moderated his voice and continued:
"I forgot about the air-pressure. But hurrah for this ocean--it'sammoniacal copper sulphate solution! We can sure get all the copper wewant, right here, but it would take weeks to evaporate the water andrecover the metal. We can probably get it easier ashore. Let's go!"
They started off just above the surface of the ocean toward the nearestcontinent, which they had observed from the air.