_Illustration by Paul_
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Wonder Stories April 1932.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
* * * * *
[Illustration: THOMAS D. GARDNER]
_Despite its title, this story is not calculated to appeal
especially to our feminine readers. For it is a red-blooded story,
and a bizarre one; yet it deals with events that are well within
the limits of probability._
_The understanding of how our sex glands function, and their effect
upon us is just beginning to be understood. When we finally do
understand, certainly a new era will dawn in the history of the
race._
_Some men already predict that women will eventually rule the
world, and they will at least make the attempt to overthrow
masculine domination. But suppose they lose, and man holds
undisputed sway, with but one woman left. Will men idolize her;
will they fight over her like wild beasts; or will they enslave
her? The answer that our author gives is much different than you
will think. This is a distinctly original story, and deals with an
absorbing idea._
* * * * *
Through the long lonely days the Last Woman reclined on a couch and
watched the dribbling throng of Intelligences pass.
From where she was she could see the tall towers and skyscrapers of
the largest city on Earth. She knew it only as Nuk. Twenty thousand
years ago its people had called it New York, but that had been in the
Golden Age when there were two sexes. Through the graceful colonnades
that once had been called Grecian, the Last Woman saw a silver
torpedo-shaped vessel leap into the empyrean blue with ever increasing
acceleration.
Almost immediately it was a silver speck, a dot in the infinite
and then it was gone. She knew that in it were men of Earth on the
Interplanetary Patrol. Before they returned they would see the cloudy
sky of Venus, the blazing deserts of Mars and perhaps the Mining
Companies on the cold dead Moon. Her heart swelled with envy, but those
adventures could never be for her. She was an anachronism.
A sudden gust of hate swept over her and turning suddenly she looked
out the other side. But here she saw the tall spires of the Natural
Science Laboratories, which were more distasteful to her than ever.
Idly she let her gaze rove over the hurrying crowds in the street
below. Some always turned into the archway and approached her dais, for
her fame had traveled to the farthest point of the solar system.
The Last Woman wrinkled her nose in disgust at the group that
approached her now. The varying types of the planets were well
represented. Only the metal men were absent. They never came. With
their electrical brains and metal bodies came a cold disdain of
anything that harped of the foolish, sentimental past that poets were
wont to call the Golden Age.
In this group were several of the seven-foot lizard men of Mars with
their big brain cases and darting eyes that saw everything. They
laughed and passed comments on the Last Woman. Her face flushed at
their cold merciless humor. She to them was another animal of Earth to
be examined and discussed. The Last Woman felt sorry for the Venusians
with their four-foot ant-like bodies. They seldom if ever spoke, but
merely looked at her. She couldn't help but feel that they were sorry
for her, that they disapproved of the Earthmen exhibiting her as if she
were an animal.
[Illustration: They laughed and passed comments on the Last Woman. Her
face flushed under their cold merciless humor. She was to them another
animal of earth.]
Ah! the Earthmen. The Last Woman hated them. They had no sympathy for
her. They were gods and she--a woman. She represented to them all that
they had fought and destroyed in the past and so had reached the mighty
pinnacle of knowledge and power that was theirs--lords of the solar
system.
As this group approached the railing that separated her from the
observers she saw that it was a class from the University. The
Professor in charge was Historian Z11. Of all things on earth that the
Last Woman hated most it was this man. He took especial delight in
recounting each time he brought his class to see the anachronism the
history of the Science Civilization and of her. Historian Z11 smiled a
cold greeting, turned and faced his class to begin his lecture.
"It all began back in the so-called Twentieth Century," Historian
Z11 began. "Henry Zeeman, now known as Biochemist G4, was attending
Columbia University in the ancient city of New York. You will probably
wonder at the peculiar nomenclature of the people of that time. It
was a relic of the Dark Ages in which the names denoted occupations,
paternity, and sometimes ownership. Zeeman was considered peculiar by
the young men of his time because of his dislike for girls. Pardon me,
fellow scientists, but the word 'girls' was used to denote adolescent
females. Whenever Zeeman was questioned on the subject he admitted that
he did not necessarily dislike girls but that the time wasted in their
company could be used to much better advantage in experiment in the
laboratory. He defended this point of view vigorously.
"Now contrary to many of the medical men of his day Zeeman was not
abnormal. He was as much alive and healthy as any young man of his
time. But Zeeman was possessed of a driving desire to know. In order
to eliminate emotion from his life altogether Zeeman experimented with
different chemicals and nearly wrecked his health in doing so. Some
would repress emotion to a certain extent, as the nitrates, but in
doing so would affect the nervous system.
"Zeeman had just about given up hope of achieving his purpose when he
ran across an account of the isolation of the four sex hormones--we
know now that there are nine--by several scientists. This was the first
ray of hope that Zeeman had received. He was then twenty-two years old.
Two years later he found an account of the chemical synthesis of these
hormones.
"Zeeman analyzed the problem this way. If emotion and the libido were
caused by these hormones what would be the effect of destroying them in
the body as soon as formed? Would the secondary sex characteristics be
affected? We know now that the secondary sex characteristics were not
the result of the hormones then found."
"If they had been the result of those four all mankind on Earth would
be neuter rather than intensely masculine. Ha! Ha!" a Martian boomed.
"I can imagine a thin-chested neuter on the Interplanetary Patrol.
Awrrk!"
* * * * *
"I think that we Earthmen can take care of ourselves." Historian Z11
continued as he flexed the muscles on his mighty arms and continued
in a rippling roll of muscle over his chest. "It was in his last year
at Columbia while working on his research problem for his Doctor's
degree that he discovered the compound we call the Elixir. As you know
the Elixir was a fabled liquid that would renew youth. This compound
made men into gods and in the Council seven thousand years ago it was
decided that the name Elixir be chosen as a permanent name instead of
the chemical one used until then.
"In a concentration of a millionth molarity one drop sufficed to break
up the four sex hormones during a period of six months. The compound
acted as a catalyst and itself was not used up. The dose was injected
directly into the blood stream. Success was his at last. The next thing
to do was to convince the world. Within five years over a hundred of
Earth's foremost Scientists were using the compound regularly.
"All the energies that had been turned toward sex and the emotional
side of life were released for thought and work. Every branch of
science advanced and the scientists began to control the money and
power resources of the Earth. The Moon was explored and its rich
mineral deposits worked. Fellow scientists, that was the first step
toward our Science Civilization."
"You mentioned the exploration of your Moon, Historian Z11, what type
of space vessel was used? No space vessels reached Venus until the
fortieth century." The shrill voice of a Venusian piped.
"Well may you ask, Venusian. I have ever noticed that you have given
very close attention to my lectures and I freely predict a glorious
future for you. The ancients used crude rocket propulsion with
molecular energy motors. In the Museum you may still see the first
vessel that reached the Moon. I shall request Physicist S178 to explain
it to you.
"But I digress. The second step came twenty years after the discovery
of the compound we call Elixir. Surgeon N3 found a method of forcing
nerve cells to heal quickly and join one end of a severed cell to the
end of another severed cell and grow together. Can you realize what
that meant? Previously men grew old and died. Their life work was cut
short and someone else had to take it up.
"But with the great advance of antiseptics and surgery the discovery
of Surgeon N3 enabled the brain of a great Scientist to be placed in
the body of another man and he could carry on his work. This was done
secretly for over two hundred years. The Scientists formed a coalition
and began their plans to rule the world. That was the second step."
"Did not anyone ever suspect what the Scientists were doing?" a Martian
asked.
"Yes, several did. But they mysteriously disappeared. An empire cannot
be built on the fabled 'Milk of human kindness.'"
"Where did the metal men enter history?" a Venusian inquired.
"That would take us too far off our lecture, but in passing I will
add that Physicist S245 made the first electrical brain. The metal
men were a great help in the war of the sexes. But I am anticipating.
From your courses in Biology and Heredity you know that in Earthmen
the determinant of sex is the XX and XY chromosomes in the sperm. The
former fertilizing an ovum gives a female and the latter a male. After
the twenty-seventh century, Scientists awoke to the fact that there was
not room for the normal and subnormal men and the conflict between the
sexes had reached a point that women were feminizing civilization to
such an extent that the variability in the male had almost ceased.
"Since all progress has been due to the variability and mutation of the
sperm, the race was in danger. The first Council of the science empire
was called. They decided that Woman must go. They based their decision
on the fact that the female bred truest to type and held the primitive
characteristics longer than the male and that she reverted to the
primitive type the quicker.
"The way was open because Biochemist G67 had synthesized artificial ova
over fifty years before. The plan was to use a fixed ovum as a base and
let all variability lie in the sperm. By selecting the type of sperm
desired only males could be produced. These fertilized eggs could be
raised in incubators. There could be no turning back. There were two
million Scientists and over five hundred thousand metal men. Atomic
Physicist SQ132 had developed the heat ray twelve years before. In
thirty-four days of battle every woman, child, and man other than the
Scientists died. At last Science had triumphed. Thus in the year 2794
A. D. the Science Empire was born."
"What did A. D. mean?" inquired a Venusian.
"Pardon me, I had forgotten. A. D. was the abbreviation of two words
_Anno Domini_. They referred to the supposed birth of one of the gods
in one of the primitive religions, just which one I am not sure since
several claimed the Earth-born god as their own."
"If all of the women were killed and the inferior men were also killed,
how did this woman come to be?" inquired a Martian.
The Professor of History smiled a cold smile. There was mirth in it--of
a sort. He glanced at the reclining figure on the dais and smiled again.
"This woman! Why she is an accident. An XX sperm slipped by the
examination board. After the birth of the infant the Scientists decided
to let it live and exhibit to the varying types of life what primitive
man thought most desirable."