REBELLION
TORPEON, sitting alone in his official chamber, leaned his elbow on the
table, his chin supported on his clenched fist, and bent his thoughts upon
the problems before him.
His rule, despotic though it was, had never been free from difficulties.
There were two parties among the Torides—one occupying the savage portion
of the globe; the other the enlightened or civilized regions. Among the
former were many outlaws—men who had either committed crimes against the
state and had escaped from punishment; and also persons who had sacrificed
such comforts as civilization afforded by reason of their dissatisfaction
with the restrictions of a tyrannous government. Not a few of these were
men of powerful and trained minds, resentful of interference with their
freedom, and only needing an acknowledged leader and trustworthy
organization to revolt. But they were jealous of one another, and the bulk
of the population around them was hardly more amenable to discipline than
so many wild beasts; the fugitive criminals, because of their innate and
incorrigible wickedness, and the rest, because of their ignorance and
semi-bestial condition. On our own planet spaces of thousands of centuries
separate the cave men from the educated; but on Tor, the two lived side by
side.
The physical environment on the dark side of Tor was terrific. The
satellite, like our own moon, turned but one face to the sun, and though
light was more diffused than with us, a twilight gloom reigned on the
further side, alleviated only by outbursts of volcanic fires and by the
electrical phenomena of gigantic storms. The surface was rocky, gashed
with abysses and jagged with huge crags; caldrons of molten lava
alternated with steaming or frozen lakes; and torrents of scalding water,
hurled upward through subterranean passages in the crust of the globe,
fell in headlong cascades, and fled away in boiling rivers through
mountain ravines. Vegetation was scant and harsh: thorny trailers as thick
as a man’s leg crawled and twisted to vast distances from the crevices of
the rocks, carrying poison in their thorns; and the dark leaves and juices
of other plants were hostile to life and health. The only approach to a
domestic animal was a genus of goats, fierce and agile, with menacing
horns and bristly hides, which were snared and tethered, but not tamed, by
the human inhabitants, for the sake of their milk and skins. Their flesh
was boiled or steamed for food. Serpents, lizards and amorphous reptiles
unknown to our fossil deposits inhabited the caves and clambered over the
cliffs and gullies, shunning such dim light as there was, but lying in
wait for incautious travelers. A kind of tiger, covered with shaggy red
hair, and another beast kindred to the hyena, but as large as a horse and
of a ghastly white hue, were the chief representatives of the feline and
protelidae families. The hunting of these creatures, with blow-pipes and
slings hurling sharp-cornered lumps of poisonous stone, was the main
occupation of the more savage cave-dwellers. Their fur was plaited into a
sort of garment.
People of this type were indigenous to the dark regions, and were under
some degree of subjection to the outlaws of the civilized side. But no
systematic effort to improve them had ever been made—they were the
unwilling slaves of unloving masters. The more thoughtful of the latter
had, indeed, sometimes considered the possibility of forming them into
some sort of army, to attack Torpeon’s domains; but the obstacles had
proved insurmountable. Yet Torpeon had never felt secure.
His portion of the planet faced Saturn and the sun, and received a species
of magnetic currents from the ring. Its topography was rugged and
moderately fertile; five rivers from the Dark Mountains flowed down into
an inland sea of bitter waters. The pastures were browsed by deerlike
animals with smooth, straight horns. The most valuable domestic animals
were a species of aquatic bird of the duck type, but larger than our
condors; they existed in immense flocks and were very prolific. A
leguminous plant was cultivated, allied to our beans, but of the size of a
potato, and having the taste and some of the qualities of meat; when
immature they could be ground into flour from which a rich and succulent
bread was made. But to these staples science had added many viands
concocted from inorganic substances, which could be rendered attractive to
taste and sight by arts of the magical order.
The women of the Torides were taller and heavier than the men, but
indolent and of inferior mentality; they were of domestic utility, but did
not form a part of society; when mated, they would give birth to not more
than two children each; there were no marriage laws, but a woman who had
lived with a man might not afterward take another partner. As the sexes
were about equally divided, the population remained stationary, and the
relations were practically monogamic. Girls were bred to household
employments; boys were drastically disciplined and educated by the state,
both physically and mentally, and those who showed aptitude were initiated
in science and magic.
Torpeon had assumed the chieftainship of this people by hereditary right;
but he had soon manifested more than hereditary ability and force. He was
profound in the lore of the masters, daring in speculation, arbitrary and
resolute in will. He reduced his subjects to a uniform political level;
there were no gradations between him and them. He made use, as he saw fit,
of the brains and of the bodies of all, but shared his secrets with none.
He had no commerce with women; but his vision extended far, and he knew of
Miriam’s journey and enough of her own character and quality to make him
resolve upon their union. With and through her his dreams might be
realized, and she might be safely admitted to his inmost aims and
counsels.
Having succeeded in transporting her to his own abode, he meant to lose no
time in putting his great scheme into operation. Some details of it were
still unsettled; but there were reasons why a degree of risk must be faced
in order to avoid other contingencies. Moreover, his wooing of Miriam—if
it could be so termed—might prosper better after his main undertaking had
been launched. The astounding achievement which he contemplated, by
capturing her imagination, might lead the way to the surrender of her
heart. She could not but love unexampled daring and irresistible power,
even were there nothing else in him to attract her.
The most learned and efficient scientists in his kingdom had all been set
to work to prepare the preliminaries for his grand coup; but to none had
been confided the scope of the plan in its entirety—which was thus
rendered secure from treasonable checks and interference. Cooperation in
carrying out the various parts of the program was indispensable; but he
alone—and, should it seem at the last moment desirable, Miriam—could know
the end aimed at, and the manner in which it was to be attained.
There was the possibility of failure—that he realized; it would involve
consequences so appalling, not only to Tor and its inhabitants, but to the
solar system as a whole, that even Torpeon could not estimate them. On the
other hand, there was the probability of success: he chose to fix his mind
on that, and the thought exalted him almost to the level of deityship. The
hazard was worth taking!
On the panel in front of him was a pentagonal plate of metal, furnished
with figures and signs, arranged in a certain mutual relation and order,
by means of which he was able to communicate with each of his scientific
departments, and to determine, at a glance, how the work at any point was
progressing. The hands on a score or more of small dials, arranged along
the outer margins of the plate, registered the approximations of the
several laboratory workers toward the completion of their assignments. All
seemed to be proceeding smoothly—or all but one, Number Five, which was a
trifle tardy and irregular in its movements. After observing this dial for
awhile Torpeon put himself in touch with the operator.
“You are behind your schedule—why?”
A voice from the annunciator replied: “A counter current from Saturn;
another from a source I have not determined. I am investigating.”
“Report if interruptions continue; but make no attempt to prevent them
without consulting me. If they abate, continue as before.”
“Understand!” came the reply, and Torpeon leaned back in his chair.
“Number Five!” he muttered. He took a diagram from the table and studied
it closely. “If Lamara suspects she would be more apt to attack Seven, or
Nineteen. As for the ‘other’ source, that may be merely an echo. Or there
may be some local disturbance; if so, it would prove temporary.” He
glanced again at the dial. “Ah, he has resumed! A false alarm. I will have
a test made, nevertheless.”
The matter did not seem urgent, however, and he put it aside for the
moment. He rose and paced up and down the room with folded arms.
“What a voyage!” he said to himself, with the secret enthusiasm of a great
adventurer. “There have been other conquerors; but none before me has
conceived a campaign such as this! There have been mighty war-chariots,
but none like mine! There have been wise men, but none till now has dared
to loosen the anchors that hold the globes to their stations! All have
been slaves to the laws assumed to be immutable. I have solved the secret
of these invisible tethers and woven new ones of my own. I shall show that
a man may be master of the universe. Day and night, heat and cold, seed
time and harvest, shall come and go as I will. The sun himself shall do my
bidding; and the vapors out of which worlds are made shall congeal or
disperse at my pleasure. There have been heroes and kings; but I shall be
the first of men to be acknowledged as a god and to breathe the air of
immortality!
“But my victory would be barren,” he continued, halting in his walk and
stretching out his arms, “if it had to be enjoyed alone! For this reason
have I till now only played with the great idea, instead of putting it to
the proof. An Everlasting of loneliness would have been a dungeon of
intolerable light! I saw it and I shrank from it. Seeking through the
worlds I found none fit to share an adventure with me till now! But she is
my companion of eternity; fate and circumstance, the dead drag of matter,
could not keep us apart. And it was no blind chance that united us. The
sources of the rivers of her being and mine were remote from each other,
small and feeble; but within them was the hidden force which turned their
flow to the point of meeting; they gathered strength as they proceeded;
their tide was irresistible; they penetrated the mountains, they flooded
the gulfs, space could not stay them; even the illusions of false
persuasions fought against them in vain; and she is here! And her coming
is the symbol and assurance that the circle shall be completed, and that I
have not dreamed and wrought in vain!
“Miriam, my mate! Be proud and reluctant as you will; I love you but the
more, and the fire of your love will burn only the clearer and more
intensely when the error that confuses you has been burned away. You and I
shall sit at our ease and smile at each other as we behold the
phantasmagory of Creation pass in review at our feet! The great stars
shall wither and crumble into dust, and we will arise in the freshness of
our youth and summon others to bloom before us in the glory of their
prime. The comets, as they pass, shall bring us tidings from afar, and
bear our commands to regions yet unborn. Hand in hand we will pace through
the avenues of infinity and determine the epochs of eternity with a kiss!”
In the midst of the room a small sphere of white light appeared and passed
successively into yellow, green, rose, and purple. It disappeared slowly.
“Already, Miriam!” he exclaimed with a proud and joyful look; and catching
up a scarlet mantle he opened the door and passed out.