_The Straining Prison_
Then began a grim series of activities which combined to form a
nightmare Bentley was never to forget, even as he prayed within him
that no slightest memory of it would remain in the brain of Ellen
Estabrook.
Naka Machi went back to the room which Bentley had first entered and
returned almost at once with a tall thin man, immaculately garbed in
gray, wearing a spade beard. His eyes were flashing fires of anger and
of pride.
He stared at Barter.
"What is all this quackery?" he demanded. "Who is responsible for this
unspeakable rigmarole?"
"Your words are harsh, Mr. Keller," said Barter suavely, "and you
shall learn in good time what I intend. Had you followed my
manifestoes in the news columns you would have known what I intend. I
shall create a race of super--"
"You will at once release myself and the others with me," interrupted
Keller.
But at that moment Naka Machi returned, leading a great ape which
seemed as docile as though it had been drugged. Naka Machi raised his
right hand quickly, so quickly Bentley could scarce follow the
movement, and with the edge of his palm struck the tall gray man in
back of the head. Keller's knees buckled. As he started to fall Naka
Machi stepped close to him, gathered him in his arms and bore him to
the table.
At Barter's swift instructions Ellen Estabrook, all unknowing, placed
a cone indicated by Barter over the mouth and nose of Keller. Naka
Machi struck the ape as he had struck the man, but he waited until he
had persuaded the brute to take his place on the table near Keller's
head.
- - -
The ape sprawled. Naka Machi quickly twisted both Keller and the ape
around so that their heads were toward each other, their feet pointing
in opposite directions.
"Is that close enough my master?" came the soft voice of Naka Machi.
"Quite," said Barter, whose face was now a mask of concentration.
"Cleve and Stanley and Morton?"
"They have been locked in their cages, my master," said Naka Machi.
"Are you sure this man who came in the guise of an ape is safe?"
"I shall make sure. But do you remain close where you can render him
harmless in case I have misjudged him."
Naka Machi turned baleful eyes on Bentley. The latter could see the
hatred in them and for a moment was at a loss to understand it.
"I shall destroy him before he can put his hands upon you, my master,"
said Naka Machi.
"I do not wish him destroyed, Naka Machi," replied Barter. "That is
enough of the anesthetic, Miss Estabrook. Naka Machi, my instruments,
quickly."
Before he proceeded with his labors Barter stood in front of Bentley
and stared at him for a moment. Bentley felt the strength flow out of
him under the gaze of this man--a gaze he could not avoid. Barter
smiled slightly.
"You will eventually join me of your own free will, Lee," he said
softly.
"I would rather die a thousand deaths!" screamed Bentley, but the
sound of his scream echoed and reechoed through his soul without
coming out so that Barter could hear it.
- - -
Barter's confidence in his ability to convert Bentley was assuredly a
mark of his twisted mind, for he must surely have realized that
Bentley would be the most injured by his schemes. But he seemed to
associate him with the days of Manape, when Barter had proved to
himself, to Bentley and Ellen Estabrook, that the operation he now
planned in wholesale proportions was possible. Bentley could
understand why Barter regarded him as a friend and colleague, and his
animosity temporary--because as a subject of his first great
experiment Bentley was a symbol of Barter's success.
Strange how easy it was to find logic in the reasoning of madmen, and
to understand that logic!
Barter sprang back to his task.
"Naka Machi," he said, "take heed that you serve me well. Do you like
this woman?"
"Yes, my master."
"If you continue in your loyalty to me, I shall give her to you."
Bentley's mind recoiled with horror. The shock of this cold statement
was like another blow on the head. He wanted to leap forward and set
strangling fingers about the neck of Naka Machi. Ordinarily Naka Machi
could handle him with ease, but now that Bentley had heard the plan of
Barter, he could have handled the Japanese with superhuman strength.
But he could not move. He strained against the bodily lethargy which
held him prisoner. If only he could move forward and grasp the
incineration tube, he would turn it on Naka Machi and Barter....
But he could not move, could not fight off the lethargy which was like
invincible prison walls around him.
He could move the tips of his fingers, he discovered ... but no more
than that. The shock of Barter's calm statement had cast off that much
of his semi-hypnotic lethargy. A minute before he hadn't been able
even to move his fingers.
- - -
Give him time, he told himself, while inwardly he bled as he struggled
desperately to throw off the grim hypnosis, and he would yet manage to
save the lives of at least some of the eighteen, see that Ellen won
free, and destroy this hell-hole under Millegan Place.
Now incredibly slender instruments were busy near the heads of the two
on the operating table--the ape and Keller, the doomed man. As the
knives and scalpels leaped to their work with startling dexterity and
amazing speed, Bentley strained again against his horrid invisible
prison. If only he could save this man Keller from this horror ... but
it was useless.
The fingers of Barter worked swiftly over the skull of the ape, first.
Naka Machi stood on one side of the long table, Ellen on the other,
near Barter. Bentley studied her face as the skull of the ape fell
open under the hands of Barter, and he knew she was unaware of what
she was doing. Bentley had expected a crimson horror, but nothing of
the kind developed. Could Barter read his thoughts?
"I am an adept at bloodless surgery, Bentley," he said, while his
fingers never ceased their swift manipulations.
Now Naka Machi held the skull-pan of the ape, from which he had
removed the reddish substance which was the ape's brain. This Naka
Machi had tossed into the aperture where the ape skin had been
destroyed.
The empty skull-pan of the ape awaited the brain of Keller.
Bentley could feel the sweat burst forth on him in every pore as he
tried to throw off his awful inertia, to go to the aid of Keller. If
Barter should see the perspiration on his cheeks....
Bentley thought of Samson in the midst of his enemies, blind and
beaten, of how he had prayed to be given strength to pull down the
pillars of the temple....
"Oh God," said Bentley to himself, "only this once give me strength to
throw off these chains. Grant that I do something to save the man from
this horror."
- - -
But he could still move only the tips of his fingers when Barter had
finally closed the sutures in the skull-pan of the ape, renewing again
the ape's skull, with the brain of Keller inside. Keller was finished.
He had not moved on the table. Even his chest stood still, stark and
lifeless. Barter had not troubled to restore Keller's skull-pan. What
was the need?
Naka Machi gathered up the carcass of Keller and bore it swiftly to
the boxlike hole in the wall of the ghastly room....
He thrust it in. He stepped back and caught up the incineration tube
of concentrated fire ... and Bentley saw the body of the murdered man
shrivel up so quickly it seemed as though it had dissolved before his
eyes. Down from the ceiling of the hell-hole dropped the fine gray
ash, all that remained--save the imprisoned brain--of Frank Keller,
the diplomat.
Now Bentley was cognizant of something else. With Barter's concentrated
work on Keller, something of the power went out of him. Ever so slightly
Bentley could feel that Barter was lacking in strength. Some of his
will, some of the essential essence of his brain, of his soul, had
been expended in the operation--and by so much was Bentley enabled to
move. For now he could move two full fingers on each hand. But how
carefully he kept watch to see that neither Naka Machi nor Barter
noticed that he was bursting from his invisible prison.
If he could get that incineration tube. He'd do the necessary things
first ... then direct the ray of it against the softer portions of the
hideout of Barter. The flame would eat through. Somewhere it would
finally reach wood; that was inflammable.
There would be smoke, and fire ... and in the end people would come.
Tyler would be watching for a sign, anyway. Barter had said that the
police knew approximately where he, Barter, was located.
- - -
"Now, Bentley," said Barter, "I'll explain what I intend doing while I
rest a moment before the next ordeal. The whole world is against me
now because it regards my experiments as horrible, but if I prove to
the world that I am right, and that the men of my creation are
supermen, in the end the world will be on my side. I can force it to
obey me, in time, but I prefer the world to serve me willingly,
because it realizes that what I do for civilization should really be
done."
Bentley said nothing, because he could not speak.
"I'll send Keller to his office under my instructions," said Barter.
"Of course I'll issue a manifesto, first, so that the city will know
that it is not a wild ape that has escaped. When the new Keller, with
the strong brain of Keller and the mighty body of an ape, appears at
his office and proves to his people that he has been vastly improved
by my experiment...."
Bentley tried to shut his mind to the horrible picture Barter's words
drew before his eyes. Barter broke off short, while Bentley's mind
seemed to rock with the shock of Barter's last statement. He saw a
picture ... a great office filled with many desks occupied by
white-faced men and women ... an ornate desk where a "manape" sat....
It was ghastly beyond comprehension. It must never come to pass.
Barter spoke again to Naka Machi.
"Bring me David Fator and ape S-19."
"Yes, my master," replied Naka Machi.
- - -
Again Bentley went through the horror from beginning to end. He could
now move his toes. If only he could fall forward, grasp that
incineration tube, turn it on Barter! With Barter unable to control
him he would regain his senses in time, he hoped, to stave off the
certain charge of Naka Machi, whose hatred for himself he now
understood too well.
He hoped, if he were able to accomplish what he planned, that horror
upon awakening would cause Ellen to faint. While she was out he could
destroy the horror with the cleansing flame ... and tell her she
hadn't seen it, after all.
Bentley could feel the strength pour back into him. Barter was
becoming moment by moment more intent on his labors. He was becoming
careless with Bentley, not because he underestimated him but because
he was intensely absorbed in his work.
By the time two more men had gone bodily into the incinerator and
mentally into a pair of apes, the first ape, carelessly dumped on the
floor, came out from under the effects of the drug.
"Stand over there in the corner, Keller," Barter said to the hybrid
carelessly, "and remember that no matter how you may wish to escape
you can only do so if I will. Remain quiet there and consider whether
you will oppose me or obey me. Oppose me and your only escape is
self-destruction. Obey me and possess the world!"
Bentley could imagine the horror and despair of "Keller," for he
himself had known that horror and despair.
Now he could swing his wrists slightly. Naka Machi turned once with a
sudden movement and almost caught him at it, and perspiration broke
out on Bentley's face again. Thank God, Ellen realized none of what
she was experiencing.
- - -
Two other men gave their lives at Barter's hands ... yet Bentley had
only regained sufficient possession of himself to fall forward on his
face if he tried to walk, but even that was something.
Five men were gone now. Could he possibly regain muscular control in
time to save the lives of some of the eighteen? As he watched the five
go into the furnace, one by one, he began to despair of saving any of
the eighteen, but with each operation Barter lost mental strength. If
he lost in arithmetical progression as he had during the last five,
Bentley estimated that he, Bentley, would be able to move his arms
enough to grasp the incineration tube by the time Barter had finished
his eighth transplantation.
So, the horror growing until nausea ate at Bentley's stomach like
voracious maggots, he watched Barter destroy three more men and
create godless monsters in their places. As each manape regained
consciousness Barter told him what he had told Keller--and Naka Machi
took them out, one by one, and placed them in their allotted cages.
Naka Machi placed the eighth man in the furnace, returned the
incineration tube to the table.
"Now, oh God the Father!" moaned Bentley.
He leaned forward, striving with all his will to force his hands to go
truly to their target as he fell. He had little or no control of his
legs or knees. But let him once hold that tube in his hands....
He fell soundlessly, his hands clutching for the tube. His fingers
touched it as he crashed to the floor, and it fell near him. His
fingers fumbled for the tube and now gripped it tightly.
From under the table, writhing and twisting, striving to break his
mental bondage, Bentley saw the legs of Caleb Barter. He snapped the
button on the tube and turned its open end toward those legs.
"I must not look into his eyes as he falls," thought Bentley, "or all
is lost."
- - -
A terrible scream rang through the operating room. Barter was falling,
crumpling as he fell, and as his body slid downward past the table
edge, Bentley held the end of the tube toward it. As the bodies of the
eight had shriveled, so shriveled the body of Caleb Barter.
Ellen Estabrook screamed horribly, and sprawled on the floor within a
foot or two of Bentley. Nature had mercifully sent her into momentary
oblivion when the will of Barter, holding her in thrall, had snapped
to show her the horror of what she did.
Naka Machi was screaming. Bentley was Bentley again, crawling forth
from under the table. Naka Machi met him in a rush and dissolved
before the deadly ray as though he had never existed. Its effect must
have been a silent explosion, for a fine gray ash came down from the
ceiling as the residue which falls when a soaring rocket has exploded
and expended its power. The gray ash was Naka Machi, forever rendered
harmless to Ellen.
Bentley walked over and stood looking at the manapes in their cages.
What could be done with them? There was no hope, no possible way by
which they could resume their normal lives, for of their human bodies
there remained but heaps of fine powdery ashes.
Suddenly the manape Keller swept his great hairy arm out between the
bars and snatched the tube from Bentley's hand. With a cry of mortal
anguish Bentley recoiled from the cage. God! Now all was lost if the
manape clicked on the deadly ray and swept it over the room.
Before he could formulate a plan of action, the manape pressed the
fatal button. With a cry Bentley threw himself across the room to
where Ellen lay unconscious, his only thought to somehow protect her
from the tube.
- - -
But the manape, Keller, swung the ray upon the other apes with the
human minds, and they dissolved into ashy nothingness with bewildering
rapidity. The keen mind of Keller was doing what he knew must be done
for the good of everyone concerned.
Numbed with horror, Bentley saw the ray directed on Morton and
Stanley. They fell silently and without protest....
Keller clicked off the button and looked over at Bentley. He alone
remained of Barter's frightful experiment. He alone remained and it
seemed that he was trying to tell Bentley something ... asking him to
now take the tube and turn it full on the body which housed his human
brain.
While Bentley hesitated, the manape bent down and placed the tube on
the floor of the cage, the muzzle pointing inward. With a clumsy
motion of a long hairy arm he reached out and snicked on the button,
then placed himself within its deadly range. Keller vanished and the
ray bit into the wall back of the cage; began to eat through.
Bentley leaped to his feet and tore across the floor. He plunged his
trembling hand through the bars of the cage, switched off the button
and lifted the tube.
There were the remaining normal apes. They could have been saved for
transportation to the zoo, but horror was on Bentley and he used the
tube again, and yet again....
And there were the keys. He pulled them from their slots in the
porcelain slab, in case there should be other "Stanley-Morton-Cleves"
abroad of whom he knew nothing....
He turned the tube against the red lights and the green lights.
Then he turned the tube upward and held it steadily. He watched the
charred hole grow bigger and deeper in the high ceiling....
When at last he heard the approaching clang of the fire engine bells
and the screaming triumph of police sirens, he carefully snicked off
the button of the tube and returned to lift the form of Ellen in arms
that were strong to hold her.
(_The end._)
* * * * *
Transcriber's Changes:
Page 30: Added closing double-quote (Ellen. "I haven't
looked at an American paper for ever so =long."=)
Page 32: Was 'that' (Bentley suddenly knew =what= the man
was trying to say. The half-uttered)
Page 32: Was 'interne' (Five minutes later the ambulance
=intern= hastily scribbled in his record the entry, "Dead
on Arrival.")
Page 41: Added closing double-quote (chauffeur to go faster
than twenty miles an =hour."=)
Page 44: Was 'scarely' (The words had =scarcely= left his
mouth when a blind man, tapping)
Page 45: Was 'multilated' (Bentley, in his mind's eye, saw
the two dead, =mutilated= drivers, and the passengers with
them, he saw)
Page 45: Was 'relinquished' ("When will he give up--and
what will his driver do when Barter =relinquishes=
control?")
Page 45: Changed ',' to '.' (effective. The fleeing car was
trapped. Barter must know =that.= If he did know, it proved
that he)
Page 46: Was 'plainclothes' (reached her. She had been
immediately picked up by =plain-clothes= men and had
thought herself captured)
Page 46: Was 'persuuaded' (she told Bentley, and it had
taken her some little time to be =persuaded= that she was
in the hands)
Page 242: Was 'monolog' ("You will almost suffocate," he
said, keeping up a running =monologue= as his inspired
hands worked with)
Page 257: Was 'at loss' (hatred in them and for a moment
was =at a loss= to understand it.)