Books: The Emancipatrix
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Homer Eon Flint >> The Emancipatrix
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"Well," remarked the geologist, when the four "came out" of their
seance, "the bees seem to have everything their own way. How can we help
the humans best? Hurry up with your idea; I'm getting sick of these
damned poisoners."
The doctor asked if the others had any suggestions. Smith offered this:
why couldn't the humans retire to some cave, or build tight-walled huts,
and thus bar out the bees?
No sooner had he made the remark, however, than the engineer declared
his own plan no good. "These people aren't like us; they couldn't stand
such imprisonment long enough to make their 'strike' worth while."
"Is there any reason," suggested Billie, indifferently, "why they
couldn't weave face nets from some kind of grass, and protect themselves
in that way?"
Smith saw the objection to that, too. "They'd have to protect themselves
all over as well; every inch would have to be covered tightly. From what
I've seen of them I'd say that the arrangement would drive them frantic.
It would be worse than putting clothes on a cat."
"It's a man-sized job we've tackled," commented the doctor. "What Smith
says is true; such people would never stand for any measures which would
restrict their physical freedom. They are simply animals with human
possibilities, nothing more."
He paused, and then added quietly, "By the way, did either of you notice
any mountains just now?"
Smith and Van Emmon both said they had. "Why?"
"Of course, it isn't likely, but--did you see anything like a volcano
anywhere?"
"No," both replied.
"Another thing," Kinney went on. "So far, I've seen nothing that would
indicate lightning, much less the thing itself. Did either of you,"
explicitly, "run across such a thing as a blasted tree?"
They said they had not. Billie hesitated a little with her reply, then
stated that she had noted a tree or two in a state of disintegration,
but none that showed the unmistakable scars due to being struck by
lightning.
"Then we've got the key to the mystery!" declared the doctor. "Remember
how brown and barren everything looks, excepting only where there's
artificial vegetation? Well, putting two and two together, I come to the
conclusion that Sanus differs radically from the earth in this respect.
"The humans have arrived rather late in the planet's history. Or--and
this is more likely--Sanus is somewhat smaller than the earth, and
therefore has cooled off sooner. At any rate, the relationship between
the age of the planet and the age of its human occupancy differs from
what it is on the earth."
"I don't quite see," from Smith, "what that's got to do with it."
"No? Well, go back to the first point: the dried-up appearance of
things. That means, their air and water are both less extensive than
with us, and for that reason there are far fewer clouds; therefore, it
is quite possible that there has been no lightning within the memory of
the humans."
"How so?" demanded the geologist.
"Why, simply because lightning depends upon clouds. Lightning is merely
the etheric electricity, drawn to the earth whenever there is enough
water in the air to promote conductivity."
"Yes," agreed Smith; "but--what of it?"
Kinney went on unheeding. "As for volcanoes--probably the same
explanation accounts for the lack of these also. You know how the earth,
even, is rapidly coming to the end of her 'volcanic period.' Time was
when there were volcanoes almost everywhere on the earth.
"The same is likely true of Sanus as well. The point is," and the doctor
paused significantly, "there have been no volcanic eruptions, and no
lightning discharges within the memory of Sanusian man!"
What was he getting at? The others eyed him closely. Neither Van Emmon
nor Smith could guess what he meant; but Billie, her intuition wide
awake, gave a great jump in her chair.
"I know!" she cried. A flood of light came to her face. "The Sanusians--
no wonder they let the bees put it over on them!
"They haven't got FIRE! They've never had it!"
VIII
FIRE!
From the corner of his eyes Kinney saw Van Emmon turn a gaze of frank
admiration at his wife. It lasted only a second, however; the geologist
remembered, and masked the expression before Billie could detect it.
Smith had been electrified by the idea.
"By George!" he exclaimed two or three times. "Why didn't I think of
that? It's simple as A, B, C now!"
"Why," Van Emmon exulted, "all we've got to do is put the idea of fire
into their heads, and the job is done!" He jumped around in his chair.
"Darn those bees, anyhow!"
"And yet," observed the doctor, "it's not quite as simple as we may
think. Of course it's true that once they have fire, the humans ought to
assert themselves. We'll let that stand without argument."
"Will we?" Smith didn't propose to back down that easy. "Do you mean to
say that fire, and nothing more than fire, can bring about human
ascendency?"
The doctor felt sure. "All the other animals are afraid of fire. Such
exceptions as the moth are really not exceptions at all; the moth is
simply driven so mad by the sight of flame that it commits suicide in
it. Horses sometimes do the same.
"Humans are the ONLY creatures that do not fear fire! Even a tiny baby
will show no fear at the sight of it."
"Which ought to prove," Van Emmon cut in to silence Smith, "that
superiority is due to fire, rather than fire due to superiority, for the
simple reason that a newborn child is very low in the scale of
evolution." Smith decided not to say what he intended to say. Van Emmon
concluded:
"We've just got to give 'em fire! What's the first step?"
"I propose," from the doctor, "that when we get in touch this time we
concentrate on the idea of fire. We've got to give them the notion
first."
"Would you rather," inquired Billie, "that I kept the idea from
Supreme?"
"Thanks," returned her husband, icily, "but you might just as well tell
her, too. It'll make her afraid in advance, all the better!"
The engineer threw himself back in his seat. "I'm with you," said he,
laying aside his argument. The rest followed his example, and presently
were looking upon Sanus again.
All told, this particular session covered a good many hours. The four
kept up a more or less connected mental conversation with each other as
they went along, except, of course, when the events became too exciting.
Mainly they were trying to catch their agents in the proper mood for
receiving telepathic communications, and it proved no easy matter. It
required a state of semi-consciousness, a condition of being neither
awake nor asleep. It was necessary to wait until night had fallen on
that particular part of the planet. [Footnote: It should be mentioned
that the parts of Sanus showed the same condition of bee supremacy and
human servitude. The spot in question was quite typical of the
colonies.]
Van Emmon was the first to get results. Corrus had driven his herd back
from the brook at which they had got their evening drink, and after
seeing them all quietly settled for the night, he lay down on the dried
grass slope of a small hill, and stared up at the sky. Van Emmon had
plenty of time to study the stars as seen from Sanus, and certainly the
case demanded plenty of time.
For he saw a broad band of sky, as broad as the widest part of the Milky
Way, which was neither black nor sparkling with stars, but glowing as
brightly as the full moon! From the eastern horizon to the zenith it
stretched, a great "Silvery Way," as Van Emmon labeled it; and as the
darkness deepened and the night lengthened, the illumination crept on
until the band of light stretched all the way across. Van Emmon racked
his brains to account for the thing.
Then Corrus became drowsy. Van Emmon concentrated with all his might. At
first he overdid the thing; Corrus was not quite drowsy enough, and the
attempt only made him wakeful. Shortly, however, he became exceedingly
sleepy, and the geologist's chance came.
At the end of a few minutes the herdsman sat up, blinking. He looked
around at the dark forms of the cattle, then up at the stars; he was
plainly both puzzled and excited. He remained awake for hours, in fact,
thinking over the strange thing he had seen "in a dream."
Meanwhile Smith was having a similar experience with Dulnop. The young
fellow was, like Corrus, alone at the time; and he, too, was made very
excited and restless by what he saw.
Billie was unable to work upon her bee. Supreme retired to a hive just
before dusk, but remained wide awake and more or less active, feeding
voraciously, for hours upon hours. When she finally did nap, she fell
asleep on such short notice that the architect was taken off her guard.
The bee seemed to all but jump into slumberland.
The doctor also had to wait for Rolla. The woman sat for a long time in
the growing dusk, looming out pensively over the valley. Corrus was
somewhere within a mile or two, and so Kinney was not surprised to see
the herdsman's image dancing, tantalizingly, before Rolla's eyes. She
was thinking of him with all her might.
Presently she shivered with the growing coolness, and went into a rough
hut, which she shared with Cunora. The girl was already asleep on a heap
of freshly gathered brush. Rolla, delightfully free of any need to
prepare for her night's rest--such as locking any doors or cleaning her
teeth--made herself comfortable beside her friend. Two or three yawns,
and the doctor's chance came.
Two minutes later Rolla sat bolt upright, at the same time giving out a
sharp cry of amazement and alarm. Instantly Cunora awoke.
"What is it, Rolla?" terror-stricken.
"Hush!" The older woman got up and went to the opening which served as a
door. There she hung a couple of skins, arranging them carefully so that
no bee might enter. Coming back to Cunora, she brought her voice nearly
to a whisper:
"Cunora, I have had a wonderful dream! Ye must believe me when I say
that it were more than a mere dream; 'twere a message from the great
god, Mownoth, or I be mad!"
"Rolla!" The girl was more anxious than frightened now. "Ye speak
wildly! Quiet thyself, and tell what thou didst see!"
"It were not easy to describe," said Rolla, getting herself under
control. "I dreamed that a man, very pale of face and most curiously
clad, did approach me while I was at work. He smiled and spake kindly,
in a language I could not understand; but I know he meant full well.
"This be the curious thing, Cunora: He picked up a handful of leaves
from the ground and laid them on the trough at my side. Then, from some
place in his garments he produced a tiny stick of white wood, with a tip
made of some dark-red material. This he held before mine eyes, in the
dream; and then spake very reassuringly, as though bidding me not to be
afraid.
"Well he might! Cunora, he took that tiny stick in his hand and moved
the tip along the surface of the trough; and, behold, a miracle!"
"What happened?" breathlessly.
"In the twinkling of an eye, the stick blossomed! Blossomed, Cunora,
before mine eyes! And such a blossom no eye ever beheld before. Its
color was the color of the poppy, but its shape--most amazing! Its shape
continually changed, Cunora; it danced about, and rose and fell; it
flowed, even as water floweth in a stream, but always upward!"
"Rolla!" incredulously. "Ye would not awaken me to tell such nonsense!"
"But it were not nonsense!" insisted Rolla. "This blossom was even as I
say: a living thing, as live as a kitten! And as it bloomed, behold, the
stick was consumed! In a moment or two the man dropped what was left of
it; I stooped--so it seemed--to pick it up; but he stopped me, and set
his foot upon the beautiful thing!"
She sighed, and then hurried on. "Saying something further, also
reassuring, this angel brought forth another of the strange sticks; and
when he had made this one bloom, he touched it to the little pile of
leaves. Behold, a greater miracle, Cunora! The blossoms spread to the
leaves, and caused them to bloom, too!"
Cunora was eyeing her companion pretty sharply. "Ye must take me for a
simple one, to believe such imagining."
Rolla became even more earnest. "Yet it were more than imagining,
Cunora; 'twere too vivid and impressive for only that. As for the
leaves, the blossoming swiftly spread until it covered every bit of the
pile; and I tell thee that the bloom flowed as high as thy hand!
Moreover, after a moment or so, the thing faded and died out, just as
flowers do at the end of the season; all that was left of the leaves was
some black fragments, from which arose a bluish dust, like unto the
cloud that ye and I saw in the sky one day.
"Then the stranger smiled again, and said something of which I cannot
tell the meaning. Once more he performed the miracle, and this time he
contrived to spread the blossom from some leaves to the tip of a large
piece of wood which he took from the ground. 'Twas a wonderful sight!
"Nay, hear me further," as Cunora threw herself, with a grunt of
impatience, back on her bed; "there is a greater wonder to tell.
"Holding this big blooming stick in one hand, he gave me his other; and
it seemed as though I floated through the air by his side. Presently we
came to the place where Corrus's herd lay sleeping. The angel smote one
of the cows with the flat of his hand, so that it got upon its feet; and
straightway the stranger thrust the flowing blossom into its face.
"The cow shrank back, Cunora! 'Twas deadly afraid of that beautiful
flower!"
"That is odd," admitted Cunora. She was getting interested.
"Then he took me by the hand again, and we floated once more through the
air. In a short time we arrived at the city of the masters. [Footnote:
Having no microscopes, the Sanusians could not know that the soldier
bees were unsexed females; hence, "masters."] Before I knew it, he had
me standing before the door of one of their palaces. I hung back, afraid
lest we be discovered and punished; but he smiled again and spake so
reassuringly that I fled not, but watched until the end.
"With his finger he tapped lightly on the front of the palace. None of
the masters heard him at first; so he tapped harder. Presently one of
them appeared, and flew at once before our faces. Had it not been for
the stranger's firm grasp I should have fled.
"The master saw that the stranger was the offender, and buzzed angrily.
Another moment, and the master would surely have returned to the palace
to inform the others; and then the stranger would have been punished
with the Head Out punishment. But instead the angel very deliberately
moved the blooming stick near unto the master; and behold, it was
helpless! Down it fell to the ground, dazed; I could have picked it up,
or killed it, without the slightest danger!
"Another master came out, and another, and another; and for each and all
the flowing blossom was too much! None would come near it wittingly; and
such as the angel approached with it were stricken almost to death.
"When they were all made helpless the angel bade me hold my hand near
the bloom; and I was vastly surprised to feel a great warmth. 'Twas like
the heat of a stone which has stood all day in the sun, only much
greater. Once my finger touched the bloom, and it gave me a sharp pain."
Cunora was studying her friend very closely. "Ye could not have devised
this tale, Rolla. 'Tis too unlikely. Is there more of it?"
"A little. The angel once more took me by the hand, and shortly set me
down again in this hut. Then he said something which seemed to mean,
'With this magic bloom thou shalt be freed from the masters. They fear
it; but ye, and all like ye, do not. Be ye ready to find the blossom
when I bid thee.' With that he disappeared, and I awoke.
"Tell me; do I look mad, to thine eyes?" Rolla was beginning to feel a
little anxious herself.
Cunora got up and led Rolla to the entrance. The glow of "the Silvery
Way" was all the help that the girl's catlike eyesight needed; she
seemed reassured.
"Ye look very strange and excited, Rolla, but not mad. Tell me again
what thou didst see and hear, that I may compare it with what ye have
already told."
Rolla began again; and meanwhile, on the earth, the doctor's companions
telepathically congratulated him on his success. He had put the great
idea into a fertile mind.
Presently they began to look for other minds. It seemed wise to get the
notion into as many Sanusian heads as possible. For some hours this
search proceeded; but in the end, after getting in touch with some forty
or fifty individuals in as many different parts of the planet, they
concluded that they had first hit upon the most advanced specimens that
Sanus afforded; the only ones, in fact, whose intellect were strong
enough to appreciate the value of what they were told. The investigators
were obliged to work with Rolla, Dulnop, and Corrus only; upon these
three depended the success of their unprecedented scheme.
Rolla continued to keep watch upon Supreme; and toward morning--that is,
morning in that particular part of Sanus--the architect was rewarded by
catching the bee in a still drowsy condition. Using the same method
Kinney had chosen, Billie succeeded in giving the soldier bee a very
vivid idea of fire. And judging by the very human way in which the half-
asleep insect tossed about, thrashing her wings and legs and making
incoherent sounds, Billie succeeded admirably. The other bees in the
hive came crowding around, and Supreme had some difficulty in
maintaining her dignity and authority. In the end she confided in the
subordinate next in command:
"I have had a terrible dream. One of our slaves, or a woman much like
one, assaulted me with a new and fearful weapon." She described it more
or less as Rolla had told Cunora. "It was a deadly thing; but how I know
this, I cannot say, except that it was exceedingly hot. So long as the
woman held it in her hand, I dared not go near her.
"See to it that the others know; and if such a thing actually comes into
existence, let me know immediately."
"Very well, Supreme." And the soldier straightway took the tale to
another bee. This told, both proceeded to spread the news, bee-fashion;
so that the entire hive knew of the terror within a few minutes. Inside
an hour every hive in the whole "city" had been informed.
"Give them time now," said the doctor, "and they will tell every bee on
the planet. Suppose we want a couple of weeks before doing anything
further? The more afraid the bees are in advance, the easier for Rolla
and her friends."
Meanwhile Corrus, after a sleepless night with his cattle had driven
them hurriedly back to the huts surrounding the "experimental station."
Here the herdsman turned his herd over to another man, and then strode
over among the huts. Outside one of them--probably Rolla's--he paused
and gazed longingly, then gave a deep sigh and went on. Shortly he
reached another hut in which he found Dulnop.
"I was just going to seek ye!" exclaimed the younger man. "I have seen a
wondrous sight, Corrus!"
Thus the two men came to compare notes, finding that each had learned
practically the same thing. Corrus being denied the right to visit any
woman save Cunora, Dulnop hurried to Rolla and told her what he and the
herdsman had learned. The three testimonies made an unshakable case.
"By the great god Mownoth!" swore Corrus in vast delight when Dulnop had
reported. "We have learned a way to make ourselves free! As free as the
squirrels!"
"Aye," agreed the younger. "We know the method. But--how shall we secure
the means?"
Corrus gave an impatient gesture. "'Twill come in time, Dulnop, just as
the dream came! Meanwhile we must tell every one of our kind, so that
all shall be ready when the day comes to strike!
"Then"--his voice lost its savagery, and became soft and tender--"then,
Dulnop, lad, ye shall have thy Cunora; and as for Rolla and I--"
Corrus turned and walked away, that his friend might not see what was in
his eyes.
IX
FOUND!
It was two weeks to a day when the four on the earth, after having seen
very little of each other in the meanwhile, got together for the purpose
of finishing their "revelation" to the Sanusians.
"Mr. Van Emmon and I," stated Billie coolly, as they put on their
bracelets, "have been trying to decide upon the best way of telling them
how to obtain fire."
Neither Smith nor the doctor showed that he noticed her "Mr. Van Emmon."
Evidently the two were still unreconciled.
"I argue," remarked the geologist, "that the simplest method will be a
chemical one. There's lots of ways to produce fire spontaneously, with
chemicals; and this woman Rolla could do it easily."
Billie indulged in a small, superior smile. "He forgets that all these
chemical methods require PURE chemicals. And you don't find them pure in
the natural state. You've got to have fire to reduce them with."
"What's your proposition, then?" from the doctor.
"Optics!" enthusiastically. She produced a large magnifying-glass from
her pocket. "All we have to do is to show Dulnop--he's something of a
mineralogist--how to grind and polish a piece of crystal into this
shape!"
Van Emmon groaned. "Marvelous! Say, if you knew how infernally hard it
is to find even a small piece of crystal, you'd never propose such a
thing! Why, it would take years--Mrs. Van Emmon!"
Smith also shook his head. "Neither of you has the right idea. The
easiest way, under the circumstances, would be an electrical one."
He paused, frowning hard; then vetoed his own plan. "Thunder; I'm always
speaking first and thinking afterward. I never used to do it,"
accusingly, "until I got in with you folks. Anyhow, electricity won't
do; you've got to have practically pure elements for that, too."
"Guess it's up to you, doc," said Billie. And they all looked
respectfully toward their host.
He laughed. "You three will never learn anything. You'll continue to
think that I'm a regular wonder about these things, but you never notice
that I merely stay still and let you commit yourselves first before I
say anything. All I have to do is select the one idea remaining after
you've disproved the rest. Nothing to it!"
He paused. "I'm afraid we're reduced to the spark method. It would take
too long to procure materials pure enough for any other plan. Friction
is out of the question for such people; they haven't the patience.
Suppose we go ahead on the flint-and-spark basis."
They went at once into the familiar trance state. Nightfall was
approaching on the part of Sanus in which they were interested. Smith
and Van Emmon came upon Dulnop and Corrus as they were talking together.
The herdsman was saying:
"Lad, my heart is heavy this night." Much of his usual vigor was absent.
"When I were passing Cunora's field this day, some of the masters came
and drove me over to her side. I tried to get away, and one threatened
to kill. I fear me, lad, they intend to force us to marry!"
"What!" fiercely, from the younger.
Corrus laid a hand upon his arm. "Nay, Dulnop; fear not. I have no
feeling for thy Cunora; I may marry her, but as for fathering her
children--no!"
"Suppose," through set teeth, "suppose They should threaten to kill
thee?"
"I should rather die, Dulnop, than be untrue to Rolla!"
The younger man bounded to his feet. "Spoken like a man! And I tell
thee, neither shall I have aught to do with Rolla! Rather death than
dishonor!"
Next moment silence fell between them; and then Van Emmon and Smith
noted that both men had been bluffing in what they had said. For,
sitting apart in the growing darkness, each was plainly in terror of the
morrow. Presently Corrus spoke in a low tone:
"All the same, Dulnop, it were well for me and thee if the secret of the
flowing blossom were given us this night. I"--he paused, abashed--"I am
not so sure of myself, Dulnop, when I hear Their accursed buzzing. I
fear--I am afraid I might give in!"
At this Dulnop broke down, and fell to sobbing. Nothing could have told
the investigators so well just how childlike the Sanusians really were.
Corrus had all he could do to hold in himself.
"Mownoth!" he exclaimed, his eyes raised fervently. "If it be thy will
to deliver us, give us the secret this night!"
Meanwhile, in Rolla's hut, a similar scene was going on under the
doctor's projected eye. Cunora lost her nerve, and Rolls came near to
doing the same in her efforts to comfort the other.
"They are heartless things!" Rolla exclaimed with such bitterness as her
nature would permit. "They know not what love is: They with their drones
and their egg-babes! What is family life to Them? Nothing!
"Somehow I feel that Their reign is nearly at an end, Cunora. Perhaps
the great secret shall be given us to-night!"
The girl dried her tears. "Why say ye that, Rolla?"
"Because the time be ripe for it. Are not all our kind looking forward
to it? Are we not all expecting and longing for it? Know we not that we
shall, must, have what we all so earnestly desire?" It was striking, to
hear this bit of modern psychology uttered by this primitive woman. "Let
me hear no more of thy weeping! Ye shall not be made to wed Corrus!"
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