They felt his magnetism, like the hum when you pass a power station.
Steiner was the spokesman. "Grayson," he said soberly, "We were Folsom's
Cabinet. However, there is more that we have to tell you. Alone, if you
will allow it."
"Very well, gentlemen." Admirals and captains backed out, looking
concerned.
* * * * *
Steiner said: "Grayson, the story goes back many years. My predecessor,
William Malvern, determined to overthrow the regime, holding that it was
an affront to the human spirit. There have been many such attempts.
All have broken up on the rocks of espionage, terrorism and
opinion-control--the three weapons which the regime holds firmly in its
hands.
"Malvern tried another approach than espionage versus espionage,
terrorism versus terrorism and opinion-control versus opinion-control.
He determined to use the basic fact that certain men make history: that
there are men born to be mould-breakers. They are the Phillips of
Macedon, the Napoleons, Stalins and Hitlers, the Suleimans--the
adventurers. Again and again they flash across history, bringing down an
ancient empire, turning ordinary soldiers of the line into unkillable
demons of battle, uprooting cultures, breathing new life into moribund
peoples.
"There are common denominators among all the adventurers. Intelligence,
of course. Other things are more mysterious but are always present. They
are foreigners. Napoleon the Corsican. Hitler the Austrian. Stalin the
Georgian. Phillip the Macedonian. Always there is an Oedipus complex.
Always there is physical deficiency. Napoleon's stature. Stalin's
withered arm--and yours. Always there is a minority disability, real or
fancied.
"This is a shock to you, Grayson, but you must face it. _You were
manufactured._
"Malvern packed the cabinet with the slyest double-dealers he could find
and they went to work. Eighty-six infants were planted on the outposts
of the Republic in simulated family environments. Your mother was not
your mother but one of the most brilliant actresses ever to drop out of
sight on Earth. Your intelligence-heredity was so good that we couldn't
turn you down for lack of a physical deficiency. We withered your arm
with gamma radiation. I hope you will forgive us. There was no other
way.
"Of the eighty-six you are the one that worked. Somehow the combination
for you was minutely different from all the other combinations,
genetically or environmentally, and it worked. That is all we were
after. The mould has been broken, you know now what you are. Let come
whatever chaos is to come; the dead hand of the past no longer lies
on--"
* * * * *
Grayson went to the door and beckoned; two captains came in. Steiner
broke off his speech as Grayson said to them: "These men deny my
godhood. Take them out and--" he finished with a whimsical shrug.
"Yes, your divinity," said the captains, without a trace of humor in
their voices.
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from _Space Science Fiction_ May 1953.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and
typographical errors have been corrected without note.