The collapse of this first world-civilization was due to the sudden
failure of the supplies of coal. All the original fields had been sapped
centuries earlier, and it should have been obvious that those more
recently discovered could not last for ever. For some thousands of years
the main supply had come from Antarctica. So prolific was this continent
that latterly a superstition had arisen in the clouded minds of the
world-citizens that it was in some mysterious manner inexhaustible. Thus
when at last, in spite of strict censorship, the news began to leak out
that even the deepest possible borings had failed to reveal further
vegetable deposits of any kind, the world was at first incredulous.
The sane policy would have been to abolish the huge expense of power on
ritual flying, which used more of the community’s resources than the
whole of productive industry. But to believers in Gordelpus such a
course was almost unthinkable. Moreover it would have undermined the
flying aristocracy. This powerful class now declared that the time had
come for the release of the secret of divine power, and called on the
S.O.S. to inaugurate the new era. Vociferous agitation in all lands put
the scientists in an awkward plight. They gained time by declaring that,
though the moment of revelation was approaching, it had not yet arrived;
for they had received a divine intimation that this failure of coal was
imposed as a supreme test of man’s faith. The service of Gordelpus in
ritual flight must be rather increased than reduced. Spending a bare
minimum of its power on secular matters, the race must concentrate upon
religion. When Gordelpus had evidence of their devotion and trust, he
would permit the scientists to save them.
Such was the prestige of science that at first this explanation was
universally accepted. The ritual flights were maintained. All luxury
trades were abolished, and even vital services were reduced to a
minimum. Workers thus thrown out of employment were turned over to
agricultural labour; for it was felt that the use of mechanical power in
mere tillage must be as soon as possible abolished. These changes
demanded far more organizing ability than was left in the race.
Confusion was widespread, save here and there where serious organization
was attempted by certain Jews.
The first result of this great movement of economy and self-denial was
to cause something of a spiritual awakening among many who had formerly
lived a life of bored ease. This was augmented by the widespread sense
of crisis and impending marvels. Religion, which, in spite of its
universal authority in this age, had become a matter of ritual rather
than of inward experience, began to stir in many hearts—not indeed as a
moment of true worship, but rather as a vague awe, not unmixed with
self-importance.
But as the novelty of this enthusiasm dwindled, and life became
increasingly uncomfortable, even the most zealous began to notice with
horror that in moments of inactivity they were prone to doubts too
shocking to confess. And as the situation worsened, even a life of
ceaseless action could not suppress these wicked fantasies.
For the race was now entering upon an unprecedented psychological
crisis, brought about by the impact of the economic disaster upon a
permanently unwholesome mentality. Each individual, it must be
remembered, had once been a questioning child, but had been taught to
shun curiosity as the breath of Satan. Consequently the whole race was
suffering from a kind of inverted repression, a repression of the
intellective impulses. The sudden economic change, which affected all
classes throughout the planet, thrust into the focus of attention a
shocking curiosity, an obsessive scepticism, which had hitherto been
buried in the deepest recesses of the mind.
It is not easy to conceive the strange mental disorder that now
afflicted the whole race, symbolizing itself in some cases by fits of
actual physical vertigo. After centuries of prosperity, of routine, of
orthodoxy, men were suddenly possessed by a doubt which they regarded as
diabolical. No one said a word of it; but in each man’s own mind the
fiend raised a whispering head, and each was haunted by the troubled
eyes of his fellows. Indeed the whole changed circumstances of his life
jibed at his credulity.
Earlier in the career of the race, this world crisis might have served
to wake men into sanity. Under the first pressure of distress they might
have abandoned the extravagances of their culture. But by now the
ancient way of life was too deeply rooted. Consequently, we observe the
fantastic spectacle of a world engaged, devotedly and even heroically,
on squandering its resources in vast aeronautical displays, not through
single-minded faith in their rightness and efficacy, but solely in a
kind of desperate automatism. Like those little rodents whose migration
became barred by an encroachment of the sea, so that annually they
drowned themselves in thousands, the First Men helplessly continued in
their ritualistic behaviour; but unlike the lemmings, they were human
enough to be at the same time oppressed by unbelief, an unbelief which,
moreover, they dared not recognize.
Meanwhile the scientists were earnestly and secretly delving in the
ancient literature of their science, in hope of discovering the
forgotten talisman. They undertook also clandestine experiments, but
upon a false trail laid by the wily English contemporary of the
Discoverer. The main results were, that several researchers were
poisoned or electrocuted, and a great college was blown up. This event
impressed the populace, who supposed the accident to be due to an
over-daring exercise of the divine potency. The misunderstanding
inspired the desperate scientists to rig further impressive ‘miracles’,
and moreover to use them to dispel the increasing restlessness of hungry
industrial workers. Thus when a deputation arrived outside the offices
of Cosmopolitan Agriculture to demand more flour for industrialists
Gordelpus miraculously blew up the ground on which they stood, and flung
their bodies among the onlookers. When the agriculturists of China
struck to obtain a reasonable allowance of electric power for their
tillage, Gordelpus affected them with an evil atmosphere, so that they
choked and died in thousands. Stimulated in this manner by direct divine
intervention, the doubting and disloyal elements of the world-population
recovered their faith and their docility. And so the world jogged on for
a while, as nearly as possible as it had done for the last four thousand
years, save for a general increase of hunger and ill-health.
But inevitably, as the conditions of life became more and more severe,
docility gave place to desperation. Daring spirits began publicly to
question the wisdom, and even the piety, of so vast an expenditure of
power upon ritual flight, when prime necessities such as food and
clothing were becoming so scarce. Did not this helpless devotion merely
ridicule them in the divine eyes? God helps him who helps himself.
Already the death-rate had risen alarmingly. Emaciated and ragged
persons were beginning to beg in public places. In certain districts
whole populations were starving, and the Directorate did nothing for
them. Yet, elsewhere, harvests were being wasted for lack of power to
reap them. In all lands an angry clamour arose for the inauguration of
the new era.
The scientists were by now panic-stricken. Nothing had come of their
researches, and it was evident that in future all wind- and water-power
must be devoted to the primary industries. Even so, there was starvation
ahead for many. The President of the Physical Society suggested to the
Directorate that ritual flying should at once be reduced by half, as a
compromise with Gordelpus. Immediately the hideous truth, which few
hitherto had dared to admit even to themselves, was blurted out upon the
ether by a prominent Jew: the whole hoary legend of the divine secret
was a lie, else why were the physicists temporizing? Dismay and rage
spread over the planet. Everywhere the people rose against the
scientists, and against the governing authority which they controlled.
Massacres and measures of retaliation soon developed into civil wars.
China and India declared themselves free national states, but could not
achieve internal unity. In America, ever a stronghold of science and
religion, the Government maintained its authority for a while; but as
its seat became less secure, its methods became more ruthless. Finally
it made the mistake of using not merely poison gas, but microbes; and
such was the decayed state of medical science that no one could invent a
means of restraining their ravages. The whole American continent
succumbed to a plague of pulmonary and nervous diseases. The ancient
‘American Madness’, which long ago had been used against China, now
devastated America. The great stations of water-power and wind-power
were wrecked by lunatic mobs who sought vengeance upon anything
associated with authority. Whole populations vanished in an orgy of
cannibalism.
In Asia and Africa, some semblance of order was maintained for a while.
Presently, however, the American Madness spread to these continents
also, and very soon all living traces of their civilization vanished.
Only in the most naturally fertile areas of the world could the diseased
remnant of a population now scrape a living from the soil. Elsewhere,
utter desolation. With easy strides the jungle came back into its own.