E.E. 'Doc' Smith SF Gateway Omnibus: The Skylark of Space, Skylark Three, Skylark of Valeron, Skylark DuQuesne (50 page)

‘You have sufficient brain capacity; it is merely undeveloped. There are two reasons why you must be as familiar with this mechanism as you are with the controls of your own
Skylark
. The first is that a similar control is to be installed in your new space-vessel, since by its use you can attain a perfection of handling impossible by any other system. The second, and more important reason, is that neither I nor any other man of Norlamin could compel himself, by any force of will, to direct a ray that would take away the life of any fellow-man.’

While Rovol was speaking he had reversed his process, and soon the component parts of the new control had been disassembled and piled in orderly array about the room.

‘Hm … m … m. Never thought of that. It’s right, too,’ mused Seaton. ‘How’re you going to get it into my thick
skull – with an educator?’

‘Exactly,’ and Rovol sent a beam of force after his highly developed educational mechanism. Dials and electrodes were adjusted, connections were established, and the beams and pencils of force began to reconstruct the great central controlling device. But this time, instead of being merely a bewildered spectator, Seaton was an active participant in the work. As each key and meter was wrought and mounted; there were indelibly impressed upon his brain the exact reason for and function of the part; and later, when the control itself was finished and the seemingly interminable task of connecting it up to the output force bands of the transformers had begun, he had a complete understanding of everything with which he was working, and understood all the means by which the ends he had so long desired were to be attained. For to the ancient scientist the tasks he was then performing were the merest routine, to be performed in reflex fashion, and he devoted most of his attention to transferring from his own brain to that of his young assistant all of his stupendous knowledge which the smaller brain of the Terrestrial was capable of absorbing. More and more rapidly as the work progressed the mighty flood of knowledge poured into Seaton’s mind. After an hour or so, when enough connections had been made so that automatic forces could be so directed as to finish the job, Rovol and Seaton left the laboratory and went into the living room. As they walked, the educator accompanied them, borne upon a beam of force.

‘Your brain is behaving very nicely indeed, much better than I would have thought possible from its size. In fact, it may be possible for me to transfer to you all the knowledge I have which might be of use to you. That is why I took you away from the laboratory. What do you think of the idea?’

‘Our psychologists have always maintained that none of us ever uses more than a minute fraction of the actual capacity of his brain,’ Seaton replied after a moment’s thought. ‘If you think you can give me even a percentage of your knowledge without killing me, I don’t need to tell you how glad I would be to have it.’

‘Knowing that you would be, I have already requested Drasnik, the First of Psychology, to come here, and he has just arrived,’ answered Rovol, and as he spoke, that personage entered the room.

When the facts had been set before him the psychologist nodded his head.

‘That is quite possible,’ he said with enthusiasm, ‘and I will be only too glad to assist in such an operation.’

‘But listen!’ protested Seaton. ‘You’ll probably change my whole personality – Rovol’s brain is three times the size of mine!’

‘Tut-tut – nothing of the kind,’ Drasnik reproved him. ‘As you have said you are using only a minute portion of the active mass of your brain. The same thing is true with us – many millions of cycles would have to pass
before we would be able to fill the brains we now have.’

‘Then why are your brains so large?’

‘Merely a provision of Nature that no possible accession of knowledge shall find her storehouse too small,’ replied Drasnik, positively. ‘Ready?’

All three donned the headsets and a wave of mental force wept into Seaton’s mind, a wave of such power that the Terrestrial’s every sense wilted under the impact. He did not faint, he did not lose consciousness – he simply lost all control of every nerve and fiber as his entire brain passed into the control of the immense mentality of the First of Psychology and became a purely receptive, plastic medium upon which to impress the knowledge of the aged physicist.

Hour after hour the transfer continued, Seaton lying limp as though lifeless, the two Norlaminians tense and rigid, every faculty concentrated upon the ignorant, virgin brain exposed to their gaze. Finally the operation was complete and Seaton, released from the weird, hypnotic grip of that stupendous mind, gasped, shook himself, and writhed to his feet.

‘Great Cat!’ he exclaimed, his eyes wide with astonishment. ‘I wouldn’t have believed there was as much to know in the entire universe as I know right now. Thanks, fellows, a million times – but say, did you leave any open space for more? In one way, I seem to know less than I did before, there’s so much more to find out. Can I learn anything more, or did you fill me up to capacity?’

The psychologist, who had been listening to the exuberant youth with undisguised pleasure, spoke calmly.

‘The mere fact that you appreciate your comparative ignorance shows that you are still capable of learning. Your capacity to learn is greater than it ever was before, even though the waste space has been reduced. Much to our surprise, Rovol and I gave you all of his knowledge that would be of any use to you, and some of my own, and still theoretically you can add to it more than nine times the total of your present knowledge.’

The psychologist departed, and Rovol and Seaton returned to the laboratory, where the forces were still merrily at work. There was nothing that could be done to hasten the connecting, and it was late in the following period of labor before they could begin the actual construction of the projector. Once started, however, it progressed with amazing rapidity. Now understanding the system, it did not seem strange to Seaton that he should merely actuate a certain combination of forces when he desired a certain operation performed; nor did it seem unusual or worthy of comment that one flick of his finger would send a force a distance of hundreds of miles to a factory where other forces were busily at work, to seize a hundred angle-bars of transparent purple metal that were to form the backbone of the fifth-order projector. Nor did it seem peculiar that the same force, with no further instruction, should bring those hundred bars back to him,
in a high loop through the atmosphere; should deposit them gently in a convenient space near the site of operations; and then should disappear as though it had never existed! With such tools as that, it was a matter of only a few hours before the projector was done – a task that would have required years of planning and building upon Earth.

Two hundred and fifty feet it towered above their heads, a tubular network of braced and latticed I-beams, fifty feet in diameter at the base and tapering smoothly to a diameter of about ten feet at the top. Built of a metal thousands of times as strong and as hard as any possible steel, it was not cumbersome in appearance, and yet was strong enough to be almost absolutely rigid. Ten enormous forces held the lens of neutronium in the center of the upper end; at intervals down the shaft similar forces held variously-shaped lenses and prisms shaped from zones of force; in the center of the bottom or floor of the towering structure was the double controlling system, with a universal visiplate facing each operator.

‘So far, so good,’ remarked Seaton as the last connection was made. ‘Now we hop in and give the baby a ride over to the Area of Experiment. Caslor must have the mounting done, and we’ve got time enough left in this period to try her out.’

‘In a moment. I am setting the fourth-order projector to go out to the dwarf star after an additional supply of neutronium.’

Seaton, knowing that from the data of their first journey the controls could be so set as to duplicate their feat in every particular without supervision, stepped into his seat in the new controller, pressed a key, and spoke.

‘Hi, Dottie, doing anything?’

‘Nothing much,’ Dorothy’s clear voice answered. ‘Got it done and can I see it?’

‘Sure – sit tight and I’ll send a flitabout after you.’

As he spoke Rovol’s flier darted into the air and away; and in two minutes it returned, slowing abruptly as it landed. Dorothy stepped out, radiant, and returned Seaton’s enthusiastic caresses with equal fervor before she spoke.

‘Lover, I’m afraid you violated all known speed laws getting me here. Aren’t you afraid of getting pinched?’

‘Nope – not here. Besides, I didn’t want to keep Rovol waiting – we’re all ready to go. Hop in here with me, this left-hand control’s mine.’

Rovol entered the tube, took his place, and waved his hand. Seaton’s hands swept over the keys and the whole gigantic structure wafted into the air. Still upright, it was borne upon immense rods of force toward the Area of Experiment, which was soon reached. Covered as the Area was with fantastic equipment, there was no doubt as to their destination, for in plain sight, dominating all the lesser installations, there rose a stupendous
telescopic mounting, with an enormous hollow tube of metallic lattice-work which could be intended for nothing else than their projector. Approaching it carefully, Seaton deftly guided the projector lengthwise into that hollow receptacle and anchored it in the optical axis. Flashing beams of force made short work of welding the two tubes together immovably with angles and lattices of the same purple metal, the terminals of the variable-speed motors were attached to the controllers, and everything was in readiness for the first trial.

‘What special instruction do we need to run it, if any?’ Seaton asked the First of Mechanism, who had lifted himself up into the projector.

‘Very little. This control governs the hour motion, that one the right ascension. The potentiometers regulate the degree of vernier action – any ratio is possible, from direct drive up to more than a hundred million complete revolutions of that graduated dial to give you one second of arc.’

‘Plenty fine, I’d say. Thanks a lot, ace. Whither away, Rovol – any choice?’

‘Anywhere you please, son, since this is merely a tryout.’

‘O.K. We’ll hop over and tell Dunark hello.’

The tube swung around into line with that distant planet and Seaton stepped down, hard, upon a pedal. Instantly they seemed infinite myriads of miles out in space, the green system barely visible as a faint green star behind them.

‘Wow, that ray’s fast!’ exclaimed the pilot, ruefully. ‘I overshot about a hundred light years. I’ll try it again, with considerably less power,’ as he rearranged and reset the dials and meters before him. Adjustment after adjustment and many reductions in power had to be made before the projection ceased leaping millions of miles at a touch, but finally Seaton became familiar with the new technique and the thing became manageable. Soon they were hovering above what had been Mardonale, and saw that all signs of warfare had disappeared. Slowly turning the controls, Seaton flashed the projection over the girdling Osnomian sea and guided it through the supposedly impregnable metal walls of the palace into the throne room of Roban, where they saw the Emperor, Tarnan the Karbix, and Dunark in close conference.

‘Well, here we are,’ remarked Seaton. ‘Now we’ll put on a little visibility and give the natives a treat.’

‘Sh-sh,’ whispered Dorothy. ‘They’ll hear you, Dick – we’re intruding shamefully,’

‘No, they won’t hear us, because I haven’t heterodyned the audio in on the wave yet. And as for intruding, that’s exactly what we came over here for.’

He imposed the audio system upon the inconceivably high frequency of their carrier wave and spoke in the Osnomian tongue.

‘Greetings, Roban, Dunark, and Tarnan, from Seaton.’ All three jumped to their feet, amazed, staring about the empty room as Seaton went on, ‘I am not here in person. I am simply sending you my projection. Just
a moment and I will put on a little visibility.’

He brought more forces into play, and solid images of force appeared in the great hall; images of the three occupants of the controller. Introductions and greetings over, Seaton spoke briefly and to the point.

‘We’ve got everything we came after – much more than I had any idea we could get. You need have no more fear of the Fenachrone – we have found a science superior to theirs. But much remains to be done, and we have none too much time; therefore I have come to you with certain requests.’

‘The Overlord has but to command,’ replied Roban.

‘Not command, since we are all working together for a common cause. In the name of that cause, Dunark, I ask you to come to me at once, accompanied by Tarnan and any others you may select. You will be piloted by a force which we shall set upon your controls. Upon your way here you will visit the First City of Dasor, another planet, where you will pick up Sacner Carfon, who will be awaiting you there.’

‘As you direct, so it shall be,’ and Seaton flashed the projector to the neighboring planet of Urvania. There he found that the gigantic space-cruiser he had ordered had been completed, and requested Urvan and his commander-in-chief to tow it to Norlamin. He then jumped to Dasor, there interviewing Carfon and being assured of the full cooperation of the porpoise-men.

‘Well, that’s that, folks,’ said Seaton as he shut off the power. ‘We can’t do much more for a few days, until they get here for the council of war. How’d it be, Rovol, for me to practice with this outfit while you are finishing up the odds and ends you want to clean up? You might suggest to Orlon, too, that it’d be a good deed for him to pilot our visitors over here.’

As Rovol wafted himself to the ground from their lofty station, Crane and Margaret appeared and were lifted up to the place formerly occupied by the physicist.

‘How’s tricks, Mart? I hear you’re quite an astronomer?’

‘Yes, thanks to Orlon and the First of Psychology. He seemed quite interested in increasing our Earthly knowledge. I certainly know much more than I had ever hoped to know of anything.’