_The Brain Speaks_
A case lay revealed.
At first, while it was unlit, it seemed nothing more than that: a case
like those glass-sided and glass-topped ones found in museums, a case
perhaps three feet high, three feet deep and five feet in width. Under
this glass upper part of the case was an enclosed section a little more
than a foot in depth. The whole structure was supported at each corner
by short strong metal legs. And that was all.
But, second by second, as the captives took in these details, a change
came over the interior. No doubt it was the result of the increasing
action of some electrical current loosed by the throwing of the switch;
the whole insides of the glass case little by little lightened, until it
became apparent it was full of a strange liquid that seemed of itself to
have the property of glowing with soft light. As this light increased, a
row of five shadowy bulks the size of footballs began to take form
between what looked, from where the men sat, like a forest of fibers of
silk.
In a few more seconds a miracle of complicated wiring came into
visibility. The silk fibers were seen to be wires, threads of silver
gossamer that interconnected the five emerging bulks in a maze of
ordered complexity. Thousands interlaced the interior; hundreds were
gathered in each of five close bunches that sprouted from the floor of
the case and then spread, fanwise, to various groupings of delicate
liquid-immersed instruments.
In several seconds more Eliot Leithgow and Hawk Carse were staring with
horror at what the now brilliantly glowing liquid revealed the five
shapes to be. As one man they rose, went to the cabinet and gazed with
terrible fascination.
"Brains!" exclaimed Leithgow. "Human brains! But not alive--surely not
alive!"
"But yes," contradicted the triumphant Eurasian. "Alive."
* * * * *
Five human brains lay all immersed in the glowing case, each resting in
a shallow metal pan. There were pulsings in narrow gray tubes which led
into their under-sides--theatrical evidence that the brains held
imprisoned there were, as the Eurasian had said, alive--most strangely,
unnaturally and horribly alive. Stark and cruelly naked they lay there,
pulsing with life that should not have been.
"Yes, alive!" repeated Ku Sui. "And never to die while their needs are
attended!"
One of his long artistic fingers tapped the glass before the central
brain, which was set somewhat lower than the others. "This," he said,
"is the master brain. It controls and coordinates the thoughts of the
others, avoiding the useless, pursuing the relevant and retaining the
valuable. It is by far the most important of the five, and is, of course
the superior intellect. It is the keystone of my gateway to all power."
Eliot Leithgow's face was deathly white, but, as one in the grip of some
devilish hypnotic fascination, he could not tear his eyes away from the
revolting, amazing achievement of his brilliant enemy. The Eurasian with
the cruelty of a cat picked that awful moment to add:
"This master brain is all that was best of Master Scientist Cram."
The frail old man took this statement like a blow.
"Oh, dear heaven--not Raymond Cram! Not Cram, the physicist, brought to
this! Why, I knew him when----"
Ku Sui smiled and interrupted. "But you speak of him as if he were dead!
He's not. He's very much alive, as you shall see. Possibly even
happy--who knows? There is no good---- _Keep back, Carse!_"
* * * * *
His tiger's eyes had not missed the adventurer's slight crouch in
preparation for a shove which might have toppled the case and ended the
abominable servitude of its gruesome tenants. The Hawk was caught before
he had well started; and had he not stopped his gathering muscles he
would have been dead from the coolie-guards' rays by the time he touched
the near side of the case.
He took his failure without comment; only stepped back, folded his arms
and burned his enemy with the frigid glare of his eyes. The Eurasian
continued as if nothing had happened, addressing himself chiefly to
Leithgow.
"The others, too, you once knew; you are even charged with their murder.
Let me introduce you once more to your old colleagues and friends.
There, at the right, is the brain you once compared notes with in the
person of Professor Estapp. Next to him is Dr. Swanson. To the left of
Master Scientist Cram, is Professor Geinst, and this last is Dr. Sir
Charles Esme Norman. Now think what this group represents!
"Estapp, Chemistry and Bio-Chemistry; Swanson, Psychology; Geinst,
Astronomy; Norman, Mathematics. And Cram, the master brain, of course,
Physics and Electricity, although his encyclopedic knowledge encompassed
every major subject, well fitting his brain for the position it holds.
All this, gathered here in one! The five outstanding intellects of
Earth, here gathered in one priceless instrument! Here are my advisors;
here my trusty, never-tiring assistants. I can have their help toward
the solution of any problem; obtain from their individual and combined
intelligences even those rare intuitions which I have found almost
always precede brilliant discoveries.
"For they not only retain all they ever knew of science, but they can
_develop_, even as brains in bodies can develop. Their knowledge does
not become outmoded, if they are kept informed of the latest currents of
scientific thought. From old knowledge and new they build their
structures of logic once my command sets them on. Wills of their own
they have none.
"I have not succeeded in all my secondary alterations, however. For one
thing, I have been unable to deprive them altogether of the memory of
what they formerly were; but it is a subdued memory, to them doubtless
like a dream, familiar yet puzzling. Because of this I imagine they hate
me--heartily!--yet they lack the will, the egocentricity which would
enable them to refuse to answer my questions and do my work.
"Frankly, without them this whole structure"--his hands swept out
widely--"my whole asteroidal kingdom, would have been impossible. Most
of my problems in constructing it were solved here. And in the future
other problems, far greater, will be solved here!"
* * * * *
Hawk Carse by now understood very well Dr. Ku Sui's purpose in bringing
M. S. Leithgow to his laboratory, and was already goading his brain in
search of a way out. Death was by all means preferable to what the
Eurasian intended--death self-inflicted, and death that mutilated the
brain--but there were no present chances that his searching mind could
see.
If Leithgow suspected what was in store, his face gave no sign of it. He
only said:
"Dr. Ku, of all the things you have ever done, this is the most
heartless and most vile. I would have thought there was a limit in you
somewhere, but this--this thing--this horrible life you have condemned
these five men to----"
He could not continue. The Eurasian only smiled, and replied, with his
always seeming courtesy:
"Your opinion is natural Master: I could expect no other. But when great
ends are to be gained, he who would gain them must strip himself of
those disturbing atavistic things we call the tender emotions. The
pathway to power is not for those who wince at the sight of blood, who
weep at the need for death. I hope, for special reasons, that you'll
make an effort to understand this before we come to the phase which will
follow my demonstration....
"Now, please allow me to show you my coordinated brains in useful
operation. Will you be seated again? You, too, Captain Carse."
* * * * *
It was Ku Sui's show: there was nothing for the two men but to obey. But
they felt, both of them, a great unnaturalness in being seated for the
demonstration to come.
"Thank you," the Eurasian said, and went to the panel flanking the case.
There, he turned and remarked: "Before we begin, I must ask you to
remember that the opinions of my brains may always be accepted as the
probable truth, and always, absolutely, are they honest and without
prejudice." He threw a small knife switch and again turned. Nothing
seemed to happen.
"I have contrived, of course, an artificial way of communicating with my
helpers. This inset grille here contains both microphone and
speaker--ear and mouth.
"The ear picks up my words and transmits them to every brain. If I have
asked a question, it is individually considered and the respective
answers sent to the master brain; they are there coordinated and the
result spoken to me by means of the mechanical mouth. When the opinions
of the individual brains do not agree, the answer is in the form of a
poll, often with brief mention of points pro and con. Sometimes their
meditations take considerable time; but simple questions always bring a
prompt and unanimous answer. Shall we try them now?"
The man's spectators did not answer; even the Hawk was for once in his
life too overcome by conflicting feelings of horror and dread, and
compelling morbid fascination. Dr. Ku paused dramatically, a slight
smile on his enigmatic lips; then turned his head and spoke into the
grille.
"Do you hear me?" he asked, easily and confidently.
The silence in the laboratory was for one brief moment almost
overpowering. Then, from the grille, came a thin metallic voice.
Inhuman, artificial, it sounded in the tense strain of the silent room,
voice from the living dead that it was.
"_I do_," were its words.
"Strange," mused the Eurasian, half aloud, "that their collective answer
is always given as 'I.' What obscure telescoping of egotisms can be the
cause of that...."
He dropped the mood of wonder at once. "Tell me," he said, looking
deliberately at Leithgow: "Would the brain of Master Scientist Eliot
Leithgow be more valuable in the position of the master brain than
Cram's?"
A horrible eternity passed. Again came the inhuman voice:
"_I have answered that question before. Yes._"
* * * * *
Dr. Ku broke the stunned silence that followed this verdict.
"Don't forget that several ray-guns are centered on you, Carse," he
remarked casually. "Others, black, are on you. Earthlings would no doubt
consider your emotions very creditable; I only suggest that you keep
them under control."
But the Hawk had given no slightest intimation that he might attempt
anything. He sat quietly, a little tensely, his face an icy mask, only
the freezing shock of his steady gray eyes betraying his emotion as they
bore straight into those of the Eurasian. No man could meet such eyes
for long, and even the tiger ones of Ku Sui the all-powerful went aside
at the icy murder that showed there.
Friday still stood in back of the chairs where were seated his two
friends. He was scared to death from the thing he had seen. His face was
a sickly, ashy gray, and his eyes large round rolling white marbles; but
at the slightest sign of a break he would have metamorphosed into a
demon of destruction, however hopeless the try, with ray-guns covering
him at all times. Such was his love and loyalty for his famous master.
Eliot Leithgow was a man resigned. His head sank down on his chest. Dr.
Ku's next words, though aimed at him, did not seem to penetrate his
consciousness.
"You see, Master Leithgow, I have no choice. My purposes are
all-important; they always come first; they demand this substitution.
Were your intellect of lesser stature, I would have no interest in you
whatever. But as it is...." He shrugged.
Hawk Carse stood up.
The Eurasian's voice fell away. The ensuing silence gave an icy,
clear-cut sharpness to the whisper that then cut through it from thin
lips that barely moved:
"God help you, Ku Sui, if you do it. _God help you._"
* * * * *
Dr. Ku Sui smiled deprecatingly and again shrugged.
"I have told you before that God helps those who help themselves. I have
always had splendid results from helping myself."
For a moment he looked away as he considered something in his mind. Then
to his veiled eyes came the old mocking irony, and he said:
"I think perhaps you'd like to observe the operations, my friend, and
I'm going to allow you to. Not here--no. I could never have you
interrupting; the series of operations is of infinite delicacy and will
require weeks. But I can make other arrangements; I can give you as good
as ringside seats for each performance. A small visi-screen might be
attached to one wall of your cell to enable you to see every detail of
what transpires here." His tone suddenly stiffened. "_I wouldn't,
Carse!_"
The Hawk relaxed from the brink on which he had wavered. A sudden mad
rush--what else remained? What else? For an instant he had lost his
head--one of the several times in his whole life. Just for an instant he
had forgotten his phenomenal patience under torture, his own axiom that
in every tight place there was a way out.
"That's much safer," said Ku Sui. "Perhaps you and the black had better
return to your cell."
Certain little muscles in the Hawk's face were trembling as he turned to
go, and his feet would not work well. The ray-guns of the coolie-guards
covered his every move. Friday followed just behind.
As the adventurer came to the door he stopped and turned, and his eyes
went back to those of the frail, elderly scientist.
The doomed man met the gray eyes and their agony with a smile.
"It's all right, old comrade," he said. "Just remember to destroy this
hellish device, if you ever possibly can. My love to Sandra; and to her,
and my dear ones on Earth, anything but the truth.... Farewell."
Carse's fingernails bit each one into his palms. He hesitated; tried,
but could not speak.
"All right, Carse--you may go."
The feelingless guards nudged white man and black out, and the door
swung solidly closed behind them....