Another floor was devoted entirely to a commissary to provide the
building with its necessities. Three entire floors were devoted to the
offices that recorded automatically every small detail in the life of
its tenants. The remaining floors were given over to living quarters.
This particular building which now housed Kuila and Ramo was the
Scientific Building, and herein dwelt all those who belonged to one
branch or another of Science.
Once every building in the city had been filled to capacity and there
had been a continual overflowing into new buildings--but in the
centuries that had just preceded this, the population of the world had
diminished so greatly that city after city had been deserted until only
Central City and the City of Children were inhabited.
In Central City there was one building that differed from the others.
This odd building formed the nucleus of the city and was reckoned for
that matter the center of the world. For from it emanated the life of
the world and its government. It was the residence of The Five.
Many millions of years before Four Scientists had revolutionized the
civilized world. They had previsioned a world subjugated by the yellow
race, and to avoid that they had overthrown the entire world, destroyed
its antiquated civilization and set up a new government with Scientists
at the head instead of kings. Only by the effort of a young man was a
catastrophe that would have entirely depopulated the world, averted.
Thereafter the youth was added to the Quaternion so that henceforth it
became a Quinvate and had continued so to this day.
The Five were sufficient unto themselves, directing the destinies of
their world, choosing from each generation a new member to succeed the
old and governed only by their high sense of duty to their fellow-man.
As the new member was recruited from the younger generation, he (or
she for sex made no difference) was taught the high principles of the
order, bringing with him a fresh sense of justice and knowledge of the
world he had been a part of. Thence he studied with his elders, so
that, when he was aged and called upon a youth to succeed him, he had
much to impart. As the man was sure to live well past his two hundredth
year he had great knowledge, experience and understanding to pass on to
his juniors.
The building that housed the Five was only ten stories high. One floor
was given over to a common council chamber; the second to private
council rooms, rooms for the guards, and offices. Two more floors were
laboratories, and might be likened to a patent office where all new
inventions, new innovations were investigated, tried and proven, as
to their practicability. Here the various members of the Five spent
much of their own time working, improving, giving the products of their
own minds to civilization. The next five floors belonged to the Five
exclusively. Here they had privacy, each having one entire floor for
himself and his attendants. The tenth floor was their mutual meeting
ground. Here was their common lounge and their conservatory. They also
had a roof promenade, but that was covered over with unbreakable glass
and guards passed up and down day and night.
The Five dressed exactly as did their fellow-men, without mark of
distinction. Only with them the mask was always worn over the face and
they never moved about unless under heavy guard. When once a man or
woman took the sacred oath of the Quinvate all ties were cut. Friends
were forgotten, mother and father they had never known, mates were
discarded like all else. Thus, once in a generation, a fellow being
might drop out of his sphere never to be seen again. One-time friends
may conjecture that he who had so excelled in his line of endeavor
had reached the zenith and had been chosen by the Five. But one could
never be positive. Perhaps the friend had been transferred to a station
across the world, to carry on their work as heretofore. Hence the mask,
that none might claim friendship with any member of the Five, and
retard the wheels of justice. For first of all the Five were the judges
to decree life and death!
Once some fanatic who imagined an enemy of his to have been elevated
to that high position had, with an infernal machine, managed to almost
demolish the Center, killing two of the Five. That was the greatest
catastrophe to have happened to them, and it took years to recover
from the effects. It took vigilance and extreme care to prevent the
recurrence of that same action.
For the past several thousand centuries the Five had not been the
august body as heretofore. Recruited from a decaying race they had been
merely representative of it. However, it was through the efforts of the
newest recruit that the program of today was brought about; that the
new machinery had been brought into being; that new heart was taken by
the populace.
After receiving the cards with their room numbers upon them, Ramo Rei
and Kuila Rei separated and agreed to meet again and go together to
the Council Chamber where a meeting was scheduled to take place in ten
hours.
* * * * *