Books: The Emancipatrix
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THE EMANCIPATRIX
by
HOMER EON FLINT
New York
[Illustrated title: 'The Emancipatrix' in script, over a
background of a bee silhouetted against a full moon on the
horizon.]
I
THE MENTAL EXPEDITION
The doctor closed the door behind him, crossed to the table, silently
offered the geologist a cigar, and waited until smoke was issuing from
it. Then he said:
"Well," bluntly, "what's come between you and your wife, Van?"
The geologist showed no surprise. Instead, he frowned severely at the
end of his cigar, and carefully seated himself on the corner of the
table. When he spoke there was a certain rigor in his voice, which told
the doctor that his friend was holding himself tightly in rein.
"It really began when the four of us got together to investigate
Capellette, two months ago." Van Emmon was a thorough man in important
matters. "Maybe I ought to say that both Billie and I were as much
interested as either you or Smith; she often says that even the tour of
Mercury and Venus was less wonderful.
"What is more, we are both just as eager to continue the investigations.
We still have all kinds of faith in the Venusian formula; we want to
'visit' as many more worlds as the science of telepathy will permit. It
isn't that either of us has lost interest."
The doctor rather liked the geologist's scientific way of stating the
case, even though it meant hearing things he already knew. Kinney
watched and waited and listened intently.
"You remember, of course, what sort of a man I got in touch with. Powart
was easily the greatest Capellan of them all; a magnificent intellect,
which I still think was intended to have ruled the rest. I haven't
backed down from my original position."
"Van! You still believe," incredulously, "in a government of the sort he
contemplated?"
Van Emmon nodded aggressively. "All that we learned merely strengthens
my conviction. Remember what sort of people the working classes of
Capellette were? Smith's 'agent' was typical--a helpless nincompoop, not
fit to govern himself!" The geologist strove to keep his patience.
"However," remarked Kinney, "the chap whose mind I used was no fool."
"Nor was Billie's agent, the woman surgeon," agreed Van Emmon, "even if
she did prefer 'the Devolutionist' to Powart. But you'll have to admit,
doc, that the vast majority of the Capellans were incompetents; the rest
were exceptions."
The doctor spoke after a brief pause. "And--that's what is wrong, Van?"
"Yes," grimly. "Billie can't help but rejoice that things turned out the
way they did. She is sure that the workers, now that they've been
separated from the ruling class, will proceed to make a perfect paradise
out of their land." He could not repress a certain amount of sarcasm.
"As well expect a bunch of monkeys to build a steam engine!
"Well," after a little hesitation, "as I said before, doc, I've no
reason to change my mind. You may talk all you like about it--I can't
agree to such ideas. The only way to get results on that planet is for
the upper classes to continue to govern."
"And this is what you two have--quarreled about?"
Van Emmon nodded sorrowfully. He lit another cigar absent-mindedly and
cleared his throat twice before going on: "My fault, I guess. I've been
so darned positive about everything I've said, I've probably caused
Billie to sympathize with her friends more solidly than she would
otherwise."
"But just because you've championed the autocrats so heartily--"
"I'm afraid so!" The geologist was plainly relieved to have stated the
case in full. He leaned forward in his eagerness to be understood. He
told the doctor things that were altogether too personal to be included
in this account.
Meanwhile, out in the doctor's study, Smith had made no move whatever to
interrogate the geologist's young wife. Instead, the engineer simply
remained standing after Billie had sat down, and gave her only an
occasional hurried glance. Shortly the silence got on her nerves; and--
such was her nature, as contrasted with Van Emmon's--whereas he had
stated causes first, she went straight to effects.
"Well," explosively, "Van and I have split!"
Smith was seldom surprised at anything. This time was no exception. He
merely murmured "Sorry" under his breath; and Billie rushed on, her
pent-up feelings eager to escape.
"We haven't mentioned Capellette for weeks, Smith! We don't dare! If we
did, there'd be such a rumpus that we--we'd separate!" Something came up
into her throat which had to be choked back before she could go on.
Then--
"I don't know why it is, but every time the subject is brought up Van
makes me so WILD!" She controlled herself with a tremendous effort. "He
blames me, of course, because of what I did to help the Devolutionist.
But I can't be blamed for sympathizing with the under dog, can I? I've
always preferred justice to policy, any time. Justice first, I say! And
I think we've seen--there on Capellette--how utterly impossible it is
for any such system as theirs to last indefinitely."
But before she could follow up her point the door opened and the doctor
returned with her husband. Kinney did not allow any tension to develop;
instead, he said briskly:
"There's only a couple of hours remaining between now and dinner time; I
move we get busy." He glanced about the room, to see if all was in
place. The four chairs, each with its legs tipped with glass; the four
footstools, similarly insulated from the floor; the electrical circuit
running from the odd group of machinery in the corner, and connecting
four pair of brass bracelets--all were ready for use. He motioned the
others to the chairs in which they had already accomplished marvels in
the way of mental traveling.
"Now," he remarked, as he began to fit the bracelets to his wrists, an
example which the rest straightway followed; "now, we want to make sure
that we all have the same purpose in mind. Last time, we were simply
looking for four people, such as had view-points similar to our own. To-
day, our object is to locate, somewhere among the planets attached to
one of the innumerable sun-stars of the universe, one on which the
conditions are decidedly different from anything we have known before."
Billie and Van Emmon, their affair temporarily forgotten, listened
eagerly.
"As I recall it," Smith calmly observed, "we agreed that this attempt
would be to locate a new kind of--well, near-human. Isn't that right?"
The doctor nodded. "Nothing more or less"--speaking very distinctly--
"than a creature as superior as we are, but NOT IN HUMAN FORM."
Smith tried hard not to share the thrill. He had been reading biology
the previous week. "I may as well protest, first as last, that I don't
see how human intelligence can ever be developed outside the human form.
Not--possibly!"
Van Emmon also was skeptical, but his wife declared the idea merely
unusual, not impossible. "Is there any particular reason against it?"
she demanded of the doctor.
"I will say this much," cautiously. "Given certain conditions, and
inevitably the human form will most certainly become the supreme
creature, superior to all the others.
"However, suppose the planetary conditions are entirely different. I
conceive it entirely possible for one of the other animals to forge
ahead of the man-ape; quite possible, Smith," as the engineer started to
object, "if only the conditions are different ENOUGH.
"At any rate, we shall soon find out. I have been reading further in the
library the Venusians gave us, and I assure you that I've found some
astonishing things." He fingered one of the diminutive volumes. "There
is one planet in particular whose name I have forgotten, where all
animal life has disappeared entirely. There are none but vegetable forms
on the land, and all of them are the rankest sort of weeds. They have
literally choked off everything else!
"And the highest form of life there is a weed; a hideous monstrosity,
shaped something like an octopus, and capable of the most horrible--" He
stopped abruptly, remembering that one of his hearers was a woman.
"Never mind about that now."
He indicated another of the little books. "I think we will do well to
investigate a planet which the Venusians call 'Sanus.' It belongs to the
tremendous planetary family of the giant star Arcturus. I haven't read
any details at all; I didn't want to know more than you. We can proceed
with our discoveries on an equal footing."
"But," objected Smith, recalling the previous methods, "how are we to
put our minds in touch with any of theirs, unless we know enough about
them to imagine their view-points?"
"Our knowledge of their planet's name and location," replied the doctor,
"makes it easier for us. All we have to do is to go into the telepathic
state, via the Venusian formula; then, at the same time, each must
concentrate upon some definite mental quality, some particular
characteristic of his own mind, which he or she wishes to find on Sanus.
It makes no difference what it may be; all you have to do is, exert your
imaginations a little."
There was a pause, broken by Smith: "We ought to tell each other what we
have in mind, so that we don't conflict."
"Yes. For my part," said the doctor, "I'd like to get in touch with a
being who is mildly rebellious; not a violent radical, but a
philosophical revolutionist. I don't care what sort of a creature he,
she, or it may be, so long as the mind is in revolt against whatever
injustice may exist."
"Then I," stated Smith, "will stick to the idea of service. Nobody was
surprised that the engineer should make such a choice; he was, first,
last, and all the time, essentially a useful man."
Van Emmon was not ready with his choice. Instead: "You say, doc, that
you know nothing further about Sanus than what you've already told us?"
"I was about to mention that. The Venusians say that conditions are
reversed from what we found on Capellette. Instead of Sanus being ruled
by a small body of autocrats, it is--ruled by the working class!"
"Under the circumstances," said Van, "I'll take something different from
what I got last time. No imperiousness this trip." He smiled grimly.
"There was a time when I used to take orders. Suppose you call my choice
'subordinacy.'"
"How very noble of you!" gibed Billie. "My idea is supremacy, and plenty
of it! I want to get in touch with the man higher up--the worker who is
boss of the whole works!" She flashed a single glance at her husband,
then threw herself back in her chair. "Go ahead!"
And before two minutes were up, the power of concerted thought, aided by
a common objective and the special electrical circuit which joined them,
had projected the minds of the four across the infinite depths of space.
The vast distance which separated their bodies from Sanus was
annihilated, literally as quick as thought.
Neither of the four stirred. To all appearances they were fast asleep.
The room was quite still; only the clock ticked dully on the wall. Down-
stairs, the doctor's wife kept watch over the house.
The greatest marvel in creation, the human mind, was exploring the
unknown.
II
ALMOST HUMAN
Of course, the four still had the ability to communicate with each other
while in the trance state; they had developed this power to a fair
degree while investigating Capellette. However, each was so deeply
interested in what he or she was seeing during the first hour of their
Sanusian experiences that neither thought to discuss the matter until
afterward.
When the doctor first made connection with the eyes of his agent, he
instinctively concluded that he, at least, had got in touch with a being
more or less like himself. The whole thing was so natural; he was
surveying a sunny, brush-covered landscape from eyes whose height from
the ground, and other details, were decidedly those of a human.
For a moment there was comparative silence. Then his unknown agent
swiftly raised something--a hand, presumably--to a mouth, and gave out a
piercing cry. Whereupon the doctor learned something that jarred him a
trifle. His agent was--a woman!
He had time to congratulate himself upon the fact that he was (1) a
doctor, (2) a married man, (3) the father of a daughter or two, before
his agent repeated her cry. Almost immediately it was answered by
another exactly like it, from an unseen point not far away. The Sanusian
plainly chuckled to herself with satisfaction.
A moment later there came, rather faintly, two more calls, each from a
different direction in the dun-colored brush. Still without moving from
the spot, the doctor's agent replied two or three times, meanwhile
watching her surroundings very closely. Within half a minute the first
of her friends came in sight.
It was a young woman. At a distance of about twenty yards she appeared
to be about five feet tall and sturdily built. She was dressed in a
single garment, made of the skin of some yellow, short-haired animal. It
may have been a lion cub. Around her waist was a strip of hide, which
served as a belt, and held a small, stone-headed tomahawk. One shoulder
and both legs were left quite bare, revealing a complexion so deeply
tanned that the doctor instantly thought: "Spanish!"
In a way, the girl's face gave the same impression. Large, dark-brown
eyes, full lips and a healthy glow beneath her tan, all made it possible
for her to pass as a Spaniard. However, there was nothing in the least
coquettish about her; she had a remarkably independent manner, and a
gaze as frank and direct as it was pure and untroubled.
In one hand she carried a branch from some large-leafed shrub. The eyes
which Kinney was using became fixed upon this branch; and even as the
newcomer cried out in joyous response to the other's greeting, her
expression changed and she turned and fled, laughing, as the doctor's
agent darted toward her. She did not get away, and immediately the two
were struggling over the possession of the branch.
In the midst of the tussle another figure made its appearance.
"Look out! Here comes Dulnop" [Footnote: It made no difference whatever
as to what language was used. The telepathic process employed enabled
the investigators to know all that their agents' subconscious minds took
in. The brains of the four automatically translated these thought-images
into their own language. However, this method did not enable them to
learn what their agents were thinking, but only what they said, heard,
and saw.] cried Kinney's agent; at the same time she made a special
effort, and succeeded in breaking off a good half of the branch.
Instantly she darted to one side, where she calmly began to pluck some
small, hard-shelled nuts from the branch, and proceeded to crack them,
with entire ease, using a set of teeth which must have been absolutely
perfect.
She gave the latest comer only a glance or two. He--for it certainly was
a man--was nearly a half a foot taller than the girl already described;
but he was plainly not much older or younger, and in build and color
much the same. He was clothed neither more nor less than she, the only
difference being that some leopard-like animal had contributed the
material. In his belt was tucked a primitive stone hammer, also a stone
knife. His face was longer than hers, his eyes darker; but he was
manifestly still very boyish. Dulnop, they had called him.
"Hail, Cunora!" he called to the girl who had brought the nuts; then, to
her who was watching: "Rolla! Where got ye the nuts?"
Rolla didn't answer; she couldn't use her mouth just then; it was too
full of nuts. She merely nodded in the direction of Cunora.
"Give me some, Cunora!"
The younger girl gave no reply, but backed away from him as he
approached; her eyes sparkled mischievously and the doctor thought,
somewhat affectionately. Dulnop made a sudden darting move toward her
branch, and she as swiftly whirled in her tracks, so that he missed.
However, he instantly changed his mind and grasped the girl instead.
Like a flash he drew her to him and kissed her noisily.
Next second he was staggering backward under the weight of her hard
brown fist. "Do that again, and I'll have the hair out of thy head!" the
girl screamed, her face flaming. Yet Kinney saw that the man was
laughing joyously even as he rubbed the spot where her blow had landed,
while the expression of her eyes quite belied what she had said.
Not until then did the doctor's agent say anything. When she spoke it
was in a deep, contralto voice which gave the impression of riper years
than either of the other two. Afterward Kinney learned that Rolla was
nearly ten years their senior, a somewhat more lithe specimen of the
same type, clad in the skin of what was once a magnificent goat. She
carried only a single small knife in her belt. As seen reflected in
pools of water, her complexion was slightly paler and her whole
expression a little less self-assertive and distinctively philosophical.
To those who admire serious, thoughtful women of regular feature and
different manner, Rolla would have seemed downright beautiful.
"Dulnop," said she, with a laugh in her voice, "ye will do well to seek
the nut tree, first as last." She nonchalantly crushed another shell in
her mouth. "Neither Cunora nor I can spare good food to a kiss-hungry
lout like thee!"
He only laughed again and made as though to come toward her. She stood
ready to dodge, chuckling excitedly, and he evidently gave it up as a
bad job. "Tell me whence cameth the nuts, Cunora!" he begged; but the
girl pretended to be cross, and shut her mouth as firmly as its contents
would allow.
Next moment there was a shout from the thicket, together with a crashing
sound; and shortly the fourth Sanusian appeared. He was by far the
larger; but his size was a matter of width rather than of height. An
artist would have picked him as a model for Ajax himself. His muscles
fairly strained the huge lion's skin in which he was clad, and he had
twice the weight of Dulnop within the same height. Also, to the doctor's
eye, he was nearer Rolla's age.
His face was strong and handsome in a somewhat fierce, relentless way;
his complexion darker than the rest. He carried a huge club, such as
must have weighed all of forty pounds, while his belt was jammed full of
stone weapons. The doctor classed him and the younger girl together
because of their vigor and independence, while Dulnop and Rolla seemed
to have dispositions very similar in their comparative gentleness and
restraint.
"Hail, all of ye!" shouted this latest arrival in a booming baritone. He
strode forward with scarcely a glance at the two younger people; his
gaze was fixed upon Rolla, his expression unmistakable. The woman
quietly turned upon Dulnop and Cunora.
"Look!" she exclaimed, pointing to a spot back of them. "See the curious
bird!" They wheeled instantly, with the unquestioning faith of two
children; and before they had brought their gazes back again, the big
man had seized Rolla, crushed her to his breast and kissed her
passionately. She responded just as warmly, pushing him away only in
order to avoid being seen by the others. They showed only an innocent
disappointment at having missed seeing the "curious bird."
"A simple-minded people, basically good-humored," was the way the doctor
summed the matter up when reporting what he had seen. However, it was
not so easy to analyze certain things that were said during the time the
four Sanusians spent in each other's company. For one thing--
"Did They give thee permission to go?" Rolla was asked by the big man.
His name, it seemed, was Corrus.
"Yes, Corrus. They seemed to think it a good idea for us to take a
little recreation to-day. I suppose ye left thy herd with thy brother?"
He nodded; and the doctor was left to wonder whom "They" might be. Were
They a small group of humans, whose function was to superintend? Or were
They, as the books from Venus seemed to indicate, another type of
creature, entirely different from the humans, and yet, because of the
peculiar Sanusian conditions, superior to the humans?
"They have decided to move their city a little farther away from the
forest," Rolla overheard Dulnop telling Cunora; which was the first
indication that the planet boasted such a thing as a city. Otherwise,
things appeared to be in a primitive, rather than a civilized condition.
These four skin-clad savages seemed to be enjoying an aboriginal picnic.
For lunch, they munched on various fruits and nuts picked up en route,
together with handfuls of some wheat-like cereal which the big man had
brought in a goatskin. From time to time they scared out various animals
from the brush, chasing the creatures after the fashion of dogs and
children. Whenever they came to a stream, invariably all four splashed
through it, shouting and laughing with delight.
However, there were but two of these streams, and both of them quite
small. Their banks indicated that either the season was very far
advanced, or else that the streams were at one time vastly larger.
"A rather significant fact," the doctor afterward commented.
Nevertheless, the most impressive thing about all that the doctor
learned that day was the strange manner in which the excursion came to
an end. The quartet was at that moment climbing a small hill, apparently
on the edge of an extensive range of mountains. An occasional tree,
something like an oak, broke the monotony of the brush at this point,
and yet it was not until Rolla was quite at the top of the knoll that
Kinney could see surrounding country with any degree of clearness. Even
then he learned little.
The hill was placed on one edge of a valley about forty miles in width.
A good part of it was covered with dusty vegetation, presumably wild;
but the rest was plainly under cultivation. There were large green
areas, such as argued grain fields; elsewhere were what looked like
orchards and vineyards, some of which were in full bloom--refuting the
notion that the season was a late one. Nowhere was there a spot of land
which might be called barren.
Rolla and her three friends stood taking this in, keeping a rather
curious silence meanwhile. At length Cunora gave a deep sigh, which was
almost instantly reproduced by all the rest. Corrus followed his own
sigh with a frank curse.
"By the great god Mownoth!" he swore fiercely. "It be a shame that we
cannot come hence a great deal oftener! Methinks They could allow it!"
"They care not for our longings," spoke Cunora, her eyes flashing as
angrily as his. "They give us enough freedom to make us work the better
--no more! All They care for is thy herd and my crops!"
"And for the labor," reminded the big man, "of such brains as Rolla's
and Dulnop's. It be not right that They should drive us so!"
"Aye," agreed the younger man, with much less enthusiasm. "However, what
can ye do about it, Corrus?"
The big man's face flushed, and he all but snarled. "I tell ye what I
can do! I, and ye as well, if ye but will! I can--"
He stopped, one hand upraised in mighty emphasis, and a sudden and
startling change came over him. Downright fear drove the anger from his
face; his massive body suddenly relaxed, and all his power and vigor
seemed to crumble and wilt. His hands shook; his mouth trembled. At the
same time the two women shrank from him, each giving an inarticulate cry
of alarm and distress. Dulnop gave no sound, but the anger which had
left the herdsman seemed to have come to him; the youngster's eyes
flared and his breast heaved. His gaze was fixed upon Corrus's neck,
where the sweat of fear already glistened.
Suddenly the big man dropped his head, as though in surrender. He gasped
and found voice; this time a voice as shaky and docile as it had been
strong and dominant a moment before.
"Very well," he spoke abjectly. "Very well. I--shall do as you wish." He
seemed to be talking to thin air. "We--will go home at once."
And instantly all four turned about, and in perfect silence took the
back trail.
III
WORLD OF MAMMOTHS
Immediately upon going into tele-consciousness Smith became aware of a
decided change in his surroundings. The interior of the study had been
darkened with drawn shades; now he was using eyes that were exposed to
the most intense sunlight. The first sight that he got, in fact, was
directed toward the sky; and he noted with an engineer's keen interest
that the color of the sky was blue, slightly tinged with orange. This,
he knew, meant that the atmosphere of Sanus contained at least one
chemical element which is lacking on the earth.
For a minute or two the sky remained entirely clear. There were no
clouds whatever; neither did any form of winged life make its
appearance. So Smith took note of sounds.
Presumably his agent--whoever or whatever it might be--was located in
some sort of aircraft; for an extremely loud and steady buzzing,
suggesting a powerful engine, filled the engineer's borrowed ears. Try
as he might, however, he could not identify the sound exactly. It was
more like an engine than anything else, except that the separate sounds
which comprised the buzz occurred infinitely close together. Smith
concluded that the machine was some highly developed rotary affair,
working at perhaps six or eight thousand revolutions a minute--three or
four times as fast as an ordinary engine.
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