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Segill"he faced the girl"the effect of the hid drug should be wearing
off her any time. So just hand me that gun, please, Miss Thank you."
Once more he turned to Latham. "As you probably know, doctor, the effect
of his not permanent. The initial dose must be quite strong, and it must
be administered under controlled conditions. After- wards, a very
diluted form will sustain the slave status it sets up in the brain. We
use the city water system of course. However, no one drinking the
diluted form only would be even remotely affected. This is unfortunate
in some respects, but to use more would have deadly results on the mass
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r r
already under control. The necessary rotelike commands are broadcast
over the public address system. Is everything clear now?" It wasn't; not
everything. He felt cold and still and deadly. The incredible,
fantastic, hellish scoundrels, using a poison like that so casually and
monstrously. With an effort of will Latham pulled himself together.
There were a number of things that it was vital to know. And calmness,
however titanic the strain of maintaining it, was necessary. He turned
away from Codred, and stared at the dozen men who sat before separate
desks along one end of the room. In spite of himself, then, he glanced
at the gun. It was mounted between the sixth and seventh desks; and it
held him because he saw with a startit was not a gun. It was an
electrode of very intricate design. It projected from a metal cabinet
which rested on a gleamy mobile base. Heavy cables ran from the cabinet
into the floor. Latham groaned softly as he recognized where he had
first seen a similar machine. In a big commercial laboratory, a model
instrument used by the American inventors for atomic investigations.
Very carefully, he walked forward, out of the direct path of the gun,
and returned his attention to the rulers of the world. They had been
watching his examination of the electrode with individual degrees of
interest varying from indifferent awareness to sharp, curious stares.
More thoughtful now, Latham studied them. He remembered their faces from
that first quick glance he had given them at half past eleven that
morning. But certain fact hadn't struck him then. There were not, he saw
now, as man, Germans as he had believed. Only three. The four others the
he had mistaken for Germans were respectively a Pole, all outsized
Frenchman, a Spanish Jew, and an Englishman. O the remaining five men
two looked French, one unmistakably English, one Great Russian, and one
Greek. Actually, of course, these men were ultra national, beyond all
loyalties to any flag. Codred, he had already decided, was an American
It was the Greek who broke the silence, who said in a deer bass voice,
"Enough of this. Inject hid into the prisoner. It it important that he
make a carefully doctored report to Washington by tonight." Latham had
expected that he was to receive the hid drug But not so quickly. He had
to have more information first He opened his mouth to say something,
anything, that would give him some, at least, of the facts he craved.
Before he could speak, Codred's voice came resonantly from behind "Not
so fast, Michael, not so fast. A man who receives hid knowing what it
is, must have his mind reduced to a condition where it feels helpless
against the forces that are at- tacking it. We have shown Dr. Latham
that he cannot escape us. Literally cannot. This will have had a
profoundly disconcerting effect. But we must not forget that we are
dealing with a psychomedician. Therefore" His voice paused
tantalizingly. He came around from behind Latham, smiling sardonically.
"Let me explain, doctor," he purred, "just what you are up against.
We're a very old organization, very old. Our leader group, which you see
before you, can trace itself back to the year 3417 B.C. When a member
dies, the survivors after careful consideration, elect a replacement.
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r r
With such extraordinary insight has this been done that our existence
has only been suspected occasionally, never actually believed in. In the
last six hundred years, no less than twelve kings have held office on
our board of rulers. Until recently, no war was fought in Europe that
did not have our sanction. Napoleon was a usurper, but he didn't last
long; even England helped to down him. "For many generations now, it has
been our intention to bring England under our control. England is our
great mistake. We dismissed her from our early calculations, completely
underestimating her possibilities. All our troubles have originated from
that basic error of judgment. As a direct result of England's
independence, America came into being, and, more indirectlythough I
could trace every step for you beyond question were I so mindedSoviet
Russia. England alone, of course, would in recent generations have been
helpless. Twice now, America has thwarted our will to bring England into
line. It became apparent that we must first and finally neutralize the
United States. "We came to America under great difficulties. That in-
credible immigration law had to be gotten around by means of this
hospital. Through the hospital, we slowly built up our control over this
one city. It has been an exhausting process, but now we are ready.
Starting today, we expand. When you return to Washington, it will be as
our enslaved agent. We anticipate that you will be able to make the
highest contacts, and will inject hid into hundreds of key
administration minds. America will not again interfere with our plans.
Now"his voice, which had risen to a harsh pitch, quieted "have you
anything to say while you are still able to think for yourself?" It was
a hard question to answer immediately. Hard because rage was back,
choking, clogging his throat. The cold- blooded account of an
organization that, from time immem- orial, had used entire peoples as
pawns in an involved play for power, whose members felt not a twinge of
conscience at the thought of enslavement of hundreds of millions words
could not but be inadequate. Besides, the important thing for him was:
Had Codred been telling the truth? With a remorseless precision, Latham
went over in his mind the shifting design of expression that had marked
Cod- red's face as he talked. It had fooled him before, when the man was
acting as his guide, and he mustn't let it do so again. What counted in
reading a mind, from the subtle variations of the natural physical
reactions, was to miss no re- sponse of a vital organ. The older a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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