From 2dde72d6a3dbd0e3b2cca5d452d367d9a01bb2db Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Elias Bachaalany Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2024 10:27:17 -0800 Subject: [PATCH] knowledge files --- .../Last and First Men/Last And First Men.htm | 9741 +++++++++++++++++ .../MatPlotLib Assistant/examples.zip | Bin 0 -> 20125 bytes 2 files changed, 9741 insertions(+) create mode 100644 prompts/gpts/knowledge/Last and First Men/Last And First Men.htm create mode 100644 prompts/gpts/knowledge/MatPlotLib Assistant/examples.zip diff --git a/prompts/gpts/knowledge/Last and First Men/Last And First Men.htm b/prompts/gpts/knowledge/Last and First Men/Last And First Men.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5966c0f --- /dev/null +++ b/prompts/gpts/knowledge/Last and First Men/Last And First Men.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9741 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Last And First Men + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+Project Gutenberg +Australia
a +treasure-trove of literature
treasure found hidden +with no evidence of ownership		BROWSE the site for other works by this author
(and our other authors) or get HELP Reading, Downloading and Converting files)
+or
+SEARCH the entire site with +Google Site Search
+ + + + +
+Title: Last And First Men
+Author: Olaf Stapledon
+* A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook *
+eBook No.: 0601101h.html
+Edition: 1
+Language: English
+Character set encoding: Latin-1(ISO-8859-1)--8 bit
+Date first posted: July 2018
+Date most recently updated: March 2011
+
+This eBook was produced by: Richard Scott
+
+Project Gutenberg of Australia eBooks are created from printed editions
+which are in the public domain in Australia, unless a copyright notice
+is included. We do NOT keep any eBooks in compliance with a particular
+paper edition.
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this
+file.
+
+This eBook is made available at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg of Australia License which may be viewed online at
+http://gutenberg.net.au/licence.html
+
+

GO TO Project Gutenberg Australia HOME PAGE

+
+

LAST AND FIRST MEN
+A STORY OF THE NEAR AND FAR FUTURE

+

by

+

Olaf Stapledon

+
+

PREFACE

+

This is a work of fiction. I have tried to invent a story which may seem a +possible, or at least not wholly impossible, account of the future of man; and +I have tried to make that story relevant to the change that is taking place +today in man's outlook.

+

To romance of the future may seem to be indulgence in ungoverned speculation +for the sake of the marvellous. Yet controlled imagination in this sphere can +be a very valuable exercise for minds bewildered about the present and its +potentialities. Today we should welcome, and even study, every serious attempt +to envisage the future of our race; not merely in order to grasp the very +diverse and often tragic possibilities that confront us, but also that we may +familiarize ourselves with the certainty that many of our most cherished ideals +would seem puerile to more developed minds. To romance of the far future, then, +is to attempt to see the human race in its cosmic setting, and to mould our +hearts to entertain new values.

+

But if such imaginative construction of possible futures is to be at all +potent, our imagination must be strictly disciplined. We must endeavour not to +go beyond the bounds of possibility set by the particular state of culture +within which we live. The merely fantastic has only minor power. Not that we +should seek actually to prophesy what will as a matter of fact occur; for in +our present state such prophecy is certainly futile, save in the simplest +matters. We are not to set up as historians attempting to look ahead instead of +backwards. We can only select a certain thread out of the tangle of many +equally valid possibilities. But we must select with a purpose. The activity +that we are undertaking is not science, but art; and the effect that it should +have on the reader is the effect that art should have.

+

Yet our aim is not merely to create aesthetically admirable fiction. We must +achieve neither mere history, nor mere fiction, but myth. A true myth is one +which, within the universe of a certain culture (living or dead), expresses +richly, and often perhaps tragically, the highest admirations possible within +that culture. A false myth is one which either violently transgresses the +limits of credibility set by its own cultural matrix, or expresses admirations +less developed than those of its culture's best vision. This book can no more +claim to be true myth than true prophecy. But it is an essay in myth +creation.

+

The kind of future which is here imagined, should not, I think, seem wholly +fantastic, or at any rate not so fantastic as to be without significance, to +modern western individuals who are familiar with the outlines of contemporary +thought. Had I chosen matter in which there was nothing whatever of the +fantastic, its very plausibility would have rendered it unplausible. For one +thing at least is almost certain about the future, namely, that very much of it +will be such as we should call incredible. In one important respect, indeed, I +may perhaps seem to have strayed into barren extravagance. I have supposed an +inhabitant of the remote future to be communicating with us of today. I have +pretended that he has the power of partially controlling the operations of +minds now living, and that this book is the product of such influence. Yet even +this fiction is perhaps not wholly excluded by our thought. I might, of course, +easily have omitted it without more than superficial alteration of the theme. +But its introduction was more than a convenience. Only by some such radical and +bewildering device could I embody the possibility that there may be more in +time's nature than is revealed to us. Indeed, only by some such trick could I +do justice to the conviction that our whole present mentality is but a confused +and halting first experiment.

+

If ever this book should happen to be discovered by some future individual, +for instance by a member of the next generation sorting out the rubbish of his +predecessors, it will certainly raise a smile; for very much is bound to happen +of which no hint is yet discoverable. And indeed even in our generation +circumstances may well change so unexpectedly and so radically that this book +may very soon look ridiculous. But no matter. We of today must conceive our +relation to the rest of the universe as best we can; and even if our images +must seem fantastic to future men, they may none the less serve their purpose +today.

+

Some readers, taking my story to be an attempt at prophecy, may deem it +unwarrantably pessimistic. But it is not prophecy; it is myth, or an essay in +myth. We all desire the future to turn out more happily than I have figured it. +In particular we desire our present civilization to advance steadily toward +some kind of Utopia. The thought that it may decay and collapse, and that all +its spiritual treasure may be lost irrevocably, is repugnant to us. Yet this +must be faced as at least a possibility. And this kind of tragedy, the tragedy +of a race, must, I think, be admitted in any adequate myth.

+

And so, while gladly recognizing that in our time there are strong seeds of +hope as well as of despair, I have imagined for aesthetic purposes that our +race will destroy itself. There is today a very earnest movement for peace and +international unity; and surely with good fortune and intelligent management it +may triumph. Most earnestly we must hope that it will. But I have figured +things out in this book in such a manner that this great movement fails. I +suppose it incapable of preventing a succession of national wars; and I permit +it only to achieve the goal of unity and peace after the mentality of the race +has been undermined. May this not happen! May the League of Nations, or some +more strictly cosmopolitan authority, win through before it is too late! Yet +let us find room in our minds and in our hearts for the thought that the whole +enterprise of our race may be after all but a minor and unsuccessful episode in +a vaster drama, which also perhaps may be tragic.

+

Any attempt to conceive such a drama must take into account whatever +contemporary science has to say about man's own nature and his physical +environment. I have tried to supplement my own slight knowledge of natural +science by pestering my scientific friends. In particular, I have been very +greatly helped by conversation with Professors P. G. H. Boswell, J. Johnstone, +and J. Rice, of Liverpool. But they must not be held responsible for the many +deliberate extravagances which, though they serve a purpose in the design, may +jar upon the scientific ear.

+

To. Dr. L. A. Reid I am much indebted for general comments, and to Mr. E. V. +Rieu for many very valuable suggestions. To Professor and Mrs. L. C. Martin, +who read the whole book in manuscript, I cannot properly express my gratitude +for constant encouragement and criticism. To my wife's devastating sanity I owe +far more than she supposes.

+

Before closing this preface I would remind the reader that throughout the +following pages the speaker, the first person singular, is supposed to be, not +the actual writer, but an individual living in the extremely distant +future.

+

W. O. S.
+WEST KIRBY
+July, 1930

+

INTRODUCTION BY ONE OF THE LAST MEN

+

This book has two authors, one contemporary with its readers, the other an +inhabitant of an age which they would call the distant future. The brain that +conceives and writes these sentences lives in the time of Einstein. Yet I, the +true inspirer of this book, I who have begotten it upon that brain, I who +influence that primitive being's conception, inhabit an age which, for +Einstein, lies in the very remote future.

+

The actual writer thinks he is merely contriving a work of fiction. Though +he seeks to tell a plausible story, he neither believes it himself, nor expects +others to believe it. Yet the story is true. A being whom you would call a +future man has seized the docile but scarcely adequate brain of your +contemporary, and is trying to direct its familiar processes for an alien +purpose. Thus a future epoch makes contact with your age. Listen patiently; for +we who are the Last Men earnestly desire to communicate with you, who are +members of the First Human Species. We can help you, and we need your help.

+

You cannot believe it. Your acquaintance with time is very imperfect, and so +your understanding of it is defeated. But no matter. Do not perplex yourselves +about this truth, so difficult to you, so familiar to us of a later aeon. Do +but entertain, merely as a fiction, the idea that the thought and will of +individuals future to you may intrude, rarely and with difficulty, into the +mental processes of some of your contemporaries. Pretend that you believe this, +and that the following chronicle is an authentic message from the Last Men. +Imagine the consequences of such a belief. Otherwise I cannot give life to the +great history which it is my task to tell.

+

When your writers romance of the future, they too easily imagine a progress +toward some kind of Utopia, in which beings like themselves live in unmitigated +bliss among circumstances perfectly suited to a fixed human nature. I shall not +describe any such paradise. Instead, I shall record huge fluctuations of joy +and woe, the results of changes not only in man's environment but in his fluid +nature. And I must tell how, in my own age, having at last achieved spiritual +maturity and the philosophic mind, man is forced by an unexpected crisis to +embark on an enterprise both repugnant and desperate.

+

I invite you, then, to travel in imagination through the aeons that lie +between your age and mine. I ask you to watch such a history of change, grief, +hope, and unforeseen catastrophe, as has nowhere else occurred, within the +girdle of the Milky Way. But first, it is well to contemplate for a few moments +the mere magnitudes of cosmical events. For, compressed as it must necessarily +be, the narrative that I have to tell may seem to present a sequence of +adventures and disasters crowded together, with no intervening peace. But in +fact man's career has been less like a mountain torrent hurtling from rock to +rock, than a great sluggish river, broken very seldom by rapids. Ages of +quiescence, often of actual stagnation, filled with the monotonous problems and +toils of countless almost identical lives, have been punctuated by rare moments +of racial adventure. Nay, even these few seemingly rapid events themselves were +in fact often long-drawn-out and tedious. They acquire a mere illusion of speed +from the speed of the narrative.

+

The receding depths of time and space, though they can indeed be haltingly +conceived even by primitive minds, cannot be imaged save by beings of a more +ample nature. A panorama of mountains appears to naive vision almost as a flat +picture, and the starry void is a roof pricked with light. Yet in reality, +while the immediate terrain could be spanned in an hour's walking, the sky-line +of peaks holds within it plain beyond plain. Similarly with time. While the +near past and the near future display within them depth beyond depth, time's +remote immensities are foreshortened into flatness. It is almost inconceivable +to simple minds that man's whole history should be but a moment in the life of +the stars, and that remote events should embrace within themselves aeon upon +aeon.

+

In your day you have learnt to calculate something of the magnitudes of time +and space. But to grasp my theme in its true proportions, it is necessary to do +more than calculate. It is necessary to brood upon these magnitudes, to draw +out the mind toward them, to feel the littleness of your here and now, and of +the moment of civilization which you call history. You cannot hope to image, as +we do, such vast proportions as one in a thousand million, because your +sense-organs, and therefore your perceptions, are too coarse-grained to +discriminate so small a fraction of their total field. But you may at least, by +mere contemplation, grasp more constantly and firmly the significance of your +calculations.

+

Men of your day, when they look back into the history of their planet, +remark not only the length of time but also the bewildering acceleration of +life's progress. Almost stationary in the earliest period of the earth's +career, in your moment it seems headlong. Mind in you, it is said, not merely +stands higher than ever before in respect of percipience, knowledge, insight, +delicacy of admiration, and sanity of will, but also it moves upward century by +century ever more swiftly. What next? Surely, you think, there will come a time +when there will be no further heights to conquer.

+

This view is mistaken. You underestimate even the foothills that stand in +front of you, and never suspect that far above them, hidden by cloud, rise +precipices and snow-fields. The mental and spiritual advances which, in your +day, mind in the solar system has still to attempt, are overwhelmingly more +complex, more precarious and dangerous, than those which have already been +achieved. And though in certain humble respects you have attained full +development, the loftier potencies of the spirit in you have not yet even begun +to put forth buds.

+

Somehow, then, I must help you to feel not only the vastness of time and +space, but also the vast diversity of mind's possible modes. But this I can +only hint to you, since so much lies wholly beyond the range of your +imagination.

+

Historians living in your day need grapple only with one moment of the flux +of time. But I have to present in one book the essence not of centuries but of +aeons. Clearly we cannot walk at leisure through such a tract, in which a +million terrestrial years are but as a year is to your historians. We must fly. +We must travel as you do in your aeroplanes, observing only the broad features +of the continent. But since the flier sees nothing of the minute inhabitants +below him, and since it is they who make history, we must also punctuate our +flight with many descents, skimming as it were over the house-tops, and even +alighting at critical points to speak face to face with individuals. And as the +plane's journey must begin with a slow ascent from the intricate pedestrian +view to wider horizons, so we must begin with a somewhat close inspection of +that little period which includes the culmination and collapse of your own +primitive civilization.

+

THE CHRONICLE

+

CHAPTER I. BALKAN EUROPE

+

1. THE EUROPEAN WAR AND AFTER

+

Observe now your own epoch of history as it appears to the Last Men.

+

Long before the human spirit awoke to clear cognizance of the world and +itself, it sometimes stirred in its sleep, opened bewildered eyes, and slept +again. One of these moments of precocious experience embraces the whole +struggle of the First Men from savagery toward civilization. Within that +moment, you stand almost in the very instant when the species attains its +zenith. Scarcely at all beyond your own day is this early culture to be seen +progressing, and already in your time the mentality of the race shows signs of +decline.

+

The first, and some would say the greatest, achievement of your own +"Western" culture was the conceiving of two ideals of conduct, both essential +to the spirit's well-being. Socrates, delighting in the truth for its own sake +and not merely for practical ends, glorified unbiased thinking, honesty of mind +and speech. Jesus, delighting in the actual human persons around him, and in +that flavour of divinity which, for him, pervaded the world, stood for +unselfish love of neighbours and of God. Socrates woke to the ideal of +dispassionate intelligence, Jesus to the ideal of passionate yet self-oblivious +worship. Socrates urged intellectual integrity, Jesus integrity of will. Each, +of course, though starting with a different emphasis, involved the other.

+

Unfortunately both these ideals demanded of the human brain a degree of +vitality and coherence of which the nervous system of the First Men was never +really capable. For many centuries these twin stars enticed the more +precociously human of human animals, in vain. And the failure to put these +ideals in practice helped to engender in the race a cynical lassitude which was +one cause of its decay.

+

There were other causes. The peoples from whom sprang Socrates and Jesus +were also among the first to conceive admiration for Fate. In Greek tragic art +and Hebrew worship of divine law, as also in the Indian resignation, man +experienced, at first very obscurely, that vision of an alien and supernal +beauty, which was to exalt and perplex him again and again throughout his whole +career. The conflict between this worship and the intransigent loyalty to Life, +embattled against Death, proved insoluble. And though few individuals were ever +clearly conscious of the issue, the first human species was again and again +unwittingly hampered in its spiritual development by this supreme +perplexity.

+

While man was being whipped and enticed by these precocious experiences, the +actual social constitution of his world kept changing so rapidly through +increased mastery over physical energy, that his primitive nature could no +longer cope with the complexity of his environment. Animals that were fashioned +for hunting and fighting in the wild were suddenly called upon to be citizens, +and moreover citizens of a world-community. At the same time they found +themselves possessed of certain very dangerous powers which their petty minds +were not fit to use. Man struggled; but, as you shall hear, he broke under the +strain.

+

The European War, called at the time the War to End War, was the first and +least destructive of those world conflicts which display so tragically the +incompetence of the First Men to control their own nature. At the outset a +tangle of motives, some honourable and some disreputable, ignited a conflict +for which both antagonists were all too well prepared, though neither seriously +intended it. A real difference of temperament between Latin France and Nordic +Germany combined with a superficial rivalry between Germany and England, and a +number of stupidly brutal gestures on the part of the German Government and +military command, to divide the world into two camps; yet in such a manner that +it is impossible to find any difference of principle between them. During the +struggle each party was convinced that it alone stood for civilization. But in +fact both succumbed now and again to impulses of sheer brutality, and both +achieved acts not merely of heroism, but of generosity unusual among the First +Men. For conduct which to clearer minds seems merely sane, was in those days to +be performed only by rare vision and self-mastery.

+

As the months of agony advanced, there was bred in the warring peoples a +genuine and even passionate will for peace and a united world. Out of the +conflict of the tribes arose, at least for a while, a spirit loftier than +tribalism. But this fervour lacked as yet clear guidance, lacked even the +courage of conviction. The peace which followed the European War is one of the +most significant moments of ancient history; for it epitomizes both the dawning +vision and the incurable blindness, both the impulse toward a higher loyalty +and the compulsive tribalism of a race which was, after all, but superficially +human.

+

2. THE ANGLO-FRENCH WAR

+

One brief but tragic incident, which occurred within a century after the +European War, may be said to have sealed the fate of the First Men. During this +century the will for peace and sanity was already becoming a serious factor in +history. Save for a number of most untoward accidents, to be recorded in due +course, the party of peace might have dominated Europe during its most +dangerous period; and, through Europe, the world. With either a little less bad +luck or a fraction more of vision and self-control at this critical time, there +might never have occurred that aeon of darkness, in which the First Men were +presently to be submerged. For had victory been gained before the general level +of mentality had seriously begun to decline, the attainment of the world state +might have been regarded, not as an end, but as the first step toward true +civilization. But this was not to be.

+

After the European War, the defeated nation, formerly no less militaristic +than the others, now became the most pacific, and a stronghold of +enlightenment. Almost everywhere, indeed, there had occurred a profound change +of heart, but chiefly in Germany. The victors on the other hand, in spite of +their real craving to be human and generous, and to found a new world, were led +partly by their own timidity, partly by their governors' blind diplomacy, into +all the vices against which they believed themselves to have been crusading. +After a brief period in which they desperately affected amity for one another +they began to indulge once more in physical conflicts. Of these conflicts, two +must be observed.

+

The first outbreak, and the less disastrous for Europe, was a short and +grotesque struggle between France and Italy. Since the fall of ancient Rome, +the Italians had excelled more in art and literature than in martial +achievement. But the heroic liberation of Italy in the nineteenth Christian +century had made Italians peculiarly sensitive to national prestige; and since +among Western peoples national vigour was measured in terms of military glory, +the Italians were fired, by their success against a rickety foreign domination, +to vindicate themselves more thoroughly against the charge of mediocrity in +warfare. After the European War, however, Italy passed through a phase of +social disorder and self-distrust. Subsequently a flamboyant but sincere +national party gained control of the State, and afforded the Italians a new +self-respect, based on reform of the social services, and on militaristic +policy. Trains became punctual, streets clean, morals puritanical. Aviation +records were won for Italy. The young, dressed up and taught to play at +soldiers with real fire-arms, were persuaded to regard themselves as saviours +of the nation, encouraged to shed blood, and used to enforce the will of the +Government. The whole movement was engineered chiefly by a man whose genius in +action combined with his rhetoric and crudity of thought to make him a very +successful dictator. Almost miraculously he drilled the Italian nation into +efficiency. At the same time, with great emotional effect and incredible lack +of humour, he trumpeted Italy's self-importance, and her will to "expand." And +since Italians were slow to learn the necessity of restricting their +population, "expansion" was a real need.

+

Thus it came about that Italy, hungry for French territory in Africa, +jealous of French leadership of the Latin races, indignant at the protection +afforded to Italian "traitors" in France, became increasingly prone to quarrel +with the most assertive of her late allies. It was a frontier incident, a +fancied "insult to the Italian flag," which at last caused an unauthorized raid +upon French territory by a small party of Italian militia. The raiders were +captured, but French blood was shed. The consequent demand for apology and +reparation was calm, but subtly offensive to Italian dignity. Italian patriots +worked themselves into short-sighted fury. The Dictator, far from daring to +apologize, was forced to require the release of the captive militia-men, and +finally to declare war. After a single sharp engagement the relentless armies +of France pressed into North Italy. Resistance, at first heroic, soon became +chaotic. In consternation the Italians woke from their dream of military glory. +The populace turned against the Dictator whom they themselves had forced to +declare war. In a theatrical but gallant attempt to dominate the Roman mob, he +failed, and was killed. The new government made a hasty peace, ceding to France +a frontier territory which she had already annexed for "security."

+

Thenceforth Italians were less concerned to outshine the glory of Garibaldi +than to emulate the greater glory of Dante, Giotto and Galileo.

+

France had now complete mastery of the continent of Europe; but having much +to lose, she behaved arrogantly and nervously. It was not long before peace was +once more disturbed.

+

Scarcely had the last veterans of the European War ceased from wearying +their juniors with reminiscence, when the long rivalry between France and +England culminated in a dispute between their respective Governments over a +case of sexual outrage said to have been committed by a French African soldier +upon an Englishwoman. In this quarrel, the British Government happened to be +definitely in the wrong, and was probably confused by its own sexual +repressions. The outrage had never been committed. The facts which gave rise to +the rumour were, that an idle and neurotic Englishwoman in the south of France, +craving the embraces of a "cave man," had seduced a Senegalese corporal in her +own apartments. When, later, he had shown signs of boredom, she took revenge by +declaring that he had attacked her indecently in the woods above the town. This +rumour was such that the English were all too prone to savour and believe. At +the same time, the magnates of the English Press could not resist this +opportunity of trading upon the public's sexuality, tribalism and +self-righteousness. There followed an epidemic of abuse, and occasional +violence, against French subjects in England; and thus the party of fear and +militarism in France was given the opportunity it had long sought. For the real +cause of this war was connected with air power. France had persuaded the League +of Nations (in one of its less intelligent moments) to restrict the size of +military aeroplanes in such a manner that, while London lay within easy +striking distance of the French coast, Paris could only with difficulty be +touched by England. This state of affairs obviously could not last long. +Britain was agitating more and more insistently for the removal of the +restriction. On the other hand, there was an increasing demand for complete +aerial disarmament in Europe; and so strong was the party of sanity in France, +that the scheme would almost certainly have been accepted by the French +Government. On both counts, therefore, the militarists of France were eager to +strike while yet there was opportunity.

+

In an instant, the whole fruit of this effort for disarmament was destroyed. +That subtle difference of mentality which had ever made it impossible for these +two nations to understand one another, was suddenly exaggerated by this +provocative incident into an apparently insoluble discord. England reverted to +her conviction that all Frenchmen were sensualists, while to France the English +appeared, as often before, the most offensive of hypocrites. In vain did the +saner minds in each country insist on the fundamental humanity of both. In +vain, did the chastened Germans seek to mediate. In vain did the League, which +by now had very great prestige and authority, threaten both parties with +expulsion, even with chastisement. Rumour got about in Paris that England, +breaking all her international pledges, was now feverishly building giant +planes which would wreck France from Calais to Marseilles. And indeed the +rumour was not wholly a slander, for when the struggle began, the British air +force was found to have a range of intensive action far wider than was +expected. Yet the actual outbreak of war took England by surprise. While the +London papers were selling out upon the news that war was declared, enemy +planes appeared over the city. In a couple of hours a third of London was in +ruins, and half her population lay poisoned in the streets. One bomb, falling +beside the British Museum, turned the whole of Bloomsbury into a crater, +wherein fragments of mummies, statues, and manuscripts were mingled with the +contents of shops, and morsels of salesmen and the intelligentsia. Thus in a +moment was destroyed a large proportion of England's most precious relics and +most fertile brains.

+

Then occurred one of those microscopic, yet supremely potent incidents which +sometimes mould the course of events for centuries. During the bombardment a +special meeting of the British Cabinet was held in a cellar in Downing Street. +The party in power at the time was progressive, mildly pacifist, and timorously +cosmopolitan. It had got itself involved in the French quarrel quite +unintentionally. At this Cabinet meeting an idealistic member urged upon his +colleagues the need for a supreme gesture of heroism and generosity on the part +of Britain. Raising his voice with difficulty above the bark of English guns +and the volcanic crash of French bombs, he suggested sending by radio the +following message: "From the people of England to the people of France. +Catastrophe has fallen on us at your hands. In this hour of agony, all hate and +anger have left us. Our eyes are opened. No longer can we think of ourselves as +English merely, and you as merely French; all of us are, before all else, +civilized beings. Do not imagine that we are defeated, and that this message is +a cry for mercy. Our armament is intact, and our resources still very great. +Yet, because of the revelation which has come to us today, we will not fight. +No plane, no ship, no soldier of Britain shall commit any further act of +hostility. Do what you will. It would be better even that a great people should +be destroyed than that the whole race should be thrown into turmoil. But you +will not strike again. As our own eyes have been opened by agony, yours now +will be opened by our act of brotherhood. The spirit of France and the spirit +of England differ. They differ deeply; but only as the eye differs from the +hand. Without you, we should be barbarians. And without us, even the bright +spirit of France would be but half expressed. For the spirit of France lives +again in our culture and in our very speech; and the spirit of England is that +which strikes from you your most distinctive brilliance."

+

At no earlier stage of man's history could such a message have been +considered seriously by any government. Had it been suggested during the +previous war, its author would have been ridiculed, execrated, perhaps even +murdered. But since those days, much had happened. Increased communication, +increased cultural intercourse, and a prolonged vigorous campaign for +cosmopolitanism, had changed the mentality of Europe. Even so, when, after a +brief discussion, the Government ordered this unique message to be sent, its +members were awed by their own act. As one of them expressed it, they were +uncertain whether it was the devil or the deity that had possessed them, but +possessed they certainly were.

+

That night the people of London (those who were left) experienced an +exaltation of spirit. Disorganization of the city's life, overwhelming physical +suffering and compassion, the consciousness of an unprecedented spiritual act +in which each individual felt himself to have somehow participated--these +influences combined to produce, even in the bustle and confusion of a wrecked +metropolis, a certain restrained fervour, and a deep peace of mind, wholly +unfamiliar to Londoners.

+

Meanwhile the undamaged North knew not whether to regard the Government's +sudden pacificism as a piece of cowardice or as a superbly courageous gesture. +Very soon, however, they began to make a virtue of necessity, and incline to +the latter view. Paris itself was divided by the message into a vocal party of +triumph and a silent party of bewilderment. But as the hours advanced, and the +former urged a policy of aggression, the latter found voice for the cry, +"Viva l'Angleterre, viva l'humanité." And so strong by now was +the will for cosmopolitanism that the upshot would almost certainly have been a +triumph of sanity, had there not occurred in England an accident which tilted +the whole precarious course of events in the opposite direction.

+

The bombardment had occurred on a Friday night. On Saturday the +repercussions of England's great message were echoing throughout the nations. +That evening, as a wet and foggy day was achieving its pallid sunset, a French +plane was seen over the western outskirts of London. It gradually descended, +and was regarded by onlookers as a messenger of peace. Lower and lower it came. +Something was seen to part from it and fall. In a few seconds an immense +explosion occurred in the neighbourhood of a great school and a royal palace. +There was hideous destruction in the school. The palace escaped. But, chief +disaster for the cause of peace, a beautiful and extravagantly popular young +princess was caught by the explosion. Her body, obscenely mutilated, but still +recognizable to every student of the illustrated papers, was impaled upon some +high park-railings beside the main thoroughfare toward the city. Immediately +after the explosion the enemy plane crashed, burst into flame, and was +destroyed with its occupants.

+

A moment's cool thinking would have convinced all onlookers that this +disaster was an accident, that the plane was a belated straggler in distress, +and no messenger of hate. But, confronted with the mangled bodies of +schoolboys, and harrowed by cries of agony and terror, the populace was in no +state for ratiocination. Moreover there was the princess, an overwhelmingly +potent sexual symbol and emblem of tribalism, slaughtered and exposed before +the eyes of her adorers.

+

The news was flashed over the country, and distorted of course in such a +manner as to admit no doubt that this act was the crowning deviltry of sexual +fiends beyond the Channel. In an hour the mood of London was changed, and the +whole population of England succumbed to a paroxysm of primitive hate far more +extravagant than any that had occurred even in the war against Germany. The +British air force, all too well equipped and prepared, was ordered to +Paris.

+

Meanwhile in France the militaristic government had fallen, and the party of +peace was now in control. While the streets were still thronged by its +vociferous supporters, the first bomb fell. By Monday morning Paris was +obliterated. There followed a few days of strife between the opposing +armaments, and of butchery committed upon the civilian populations. In spite of +French gallantry, the superior organization, mechanical efficiency, and more +cautious courage of the British Air Force soon made it impossible for a French +plane to leave the ground. But if France was broken, England was too crippled +to pursue her advantage. Every city of the two countries was completely +disorganized. Famine, riot, looting, and above all the rapidly accelerating and +quite uncontrollable spread of disease, disintegrated both States, and brought +war to a standstill.

+

Indeed, not only did hostilities cease, but also both nations were too +shattered even to continue hating one another. The energies of each were for a +while wholly occupied in trying to prevent complete annihilation by famine and +pestilence. In the work of reconstruction they had to depend very largely on +help from outside. The management of each country was taken over, for the time, +by the League of Nations.

+

It is significant to compare the mood of Europe at this time with that which +followed the European War. Formerly, though there had been a real effort toward +unity, hate and suspicion continued to find expression in national policies. +There was much wrangling about indemnities, reparations, securities; and the +division of the whole continent into two hostile camps persisted, though by +then it was purely artificial and sentimental. But after the Anglo-French war, +a very different mood prevailed. There was no mention of reparations, no +possibility of seeking security by alliances. Patriotism simply faded out, for +the time, under the influence of extreme disaster. The two enemy peoples +co-operated with the League in the work of reconstructing not only each one +itself, but each one the other. This change of heart was due partly to the +temporary collapse of the whole national organization, partly to the speedy +dominance of each nation by pacifist and anti-nationalist Labour, partly to the +fact that the League was powerful enough to inquire into and publish the whole +story of the origins of the war, and expose each combatant to itself and to the +world in a sorry light.

+

We have now observed in some detail the incident which stands out in man's +history as perhaps the most dramatic example of petty cause and mighty effect. +For consider. Through some miscalculation, or a mere defect in his instruments, +a French airman went astray, and came to grief in London after the sending of +the peace message. Had this not happened, England and France would not have +been wrecked. And, had the war been nipped at the outset, as it almost was, the +party of sanity throughout the world would have been very greatly strengthened; +the precarious will to unity would have gained the conviction which it lacked, +would have dominated man not merely during the terrified revulsion after each +spasm of national strife, but as a permanent policy based on mutual trust. +Indeed so delicately balanced were man's primitive and developed impulses at +this time, that but for this trivial accident, the movement which was started +by England's peace message might have proceeded steadily and rapidly toward the +unification of the race. It might, that is, have attained its goal, before, +instead of after, the period of mental deterioration, which in fact resulted +from a long epidemic of wars. And so the first Dark Age might never have +occurred.

+

3. EUROPE AFTER THE ANGLO-FRENCH WAR

+

A subtle change now began to affect the whole mental climate of the planet. +This is remarkable, since, viewed for instance from America or China, this war +was, after all, but a petty disturbance, scarcely more than a brawl between +quarrelsome statelets, an episode in the decline of a senile civilization. +Expressed in dollars, the damage was not impressive to the wealthy West and the +potentially wealthy East. The British Empire, indeed, that unique banyan tree +of peoples, was henceforward less effective in world diplomacy; but since the +bond that held it together was by now wholly a bond of sentiment, the Empire +was not disintegrated by the misfortune of its parent trunk. Indeed, a common +fear of American economic imperialism was already helping the colonies to +remain loyal.

+

Yet this petty brawl was in fact an irreparable and far reaching disaster. +For in spite of those differences of temperament which had forced the English +and French into conflict, they had co-operated, though often unwittingly, in +tempering and clarifying the mentality of Europe. Though their faults played a +great part in wrecking Western civilization, the virtues from which these vices +sprang were needed for the salvation of a world prone to uncritical romance. In +spite of the inveterate blindness and meanness of France in international +policy, and the even more disastrous timidity of England, their influence on +culture had been salutary, and was at this moment sorely needed. For, poles +asunder in tastes and ideals, these two peoples were yet alike in being on the +whole more sceptical, and in their finest individuals more capable of +dispassionate yet creative intelligence, than any other Western people. This +very character produced their distinctive faults, namely, in the English a +caution that amounted often to moral cowardice, and in the French a certain +myopic complacency and cunning, which masqueraded as realism. Within each +nation there was, of course, great variety. English minds were of many types. +But most were to some extent distinctively English; and hence the special +character of England's influence in the world. Relatively detached, sceptical, +cautious, practical, more tolerant than others, because more complacent and +less prone to fervour, the typical Englishman was capable both of generosity +and of spite, both of heroism and of timorous or cynical abandonment of ends +proclaimed as vital to the race. French and English alike might sin against +humanity, but in different manners. The French sinned blindly, through a +strange inability to regard France dispassionately. The English sinned through +faint-heartedness, and with open eyes. Among all nations they excelled in the +union of common sense and vision. But also among all nations they were most +ready to betray their visions in the name of common sense. Hence their +reputation for perfidy.

+

Differences of national character and patriotic sentiment were not the most +fundamental distinctions between men at this time. Although in each nation a +common tradition or cultural environment imposed a certain uniformity on all +its members, yet in each nation every mental type was present, though in +different proportions. The most significant of all cultural differences between +men, namely, the difference between the tribalists and the cosmopolitans, +traversed the national boundaries. For throughout the world something like a +new, cosmopolitan "nation" with a new all-embracing patriotism was beginning to +appear. In every land there was by now a salting of awakened minds who, +whatever their temperament and politics and formal faith, were at one in +respect of their allegiance to humanity as a race or as an adventuring spirit. +Unfortunately this new loyalty was still entangled with old prejudices. In some +minds the defence of the human spirit was sincerely identified with the defence +of a particular nation, conceived as the home of all enlightenment. In others, +social injustice kindled a militant proletarian loyalty, which, though at heart +cosmopolitan, infected alike its champions and its enemies with sectarian +passions.

+

Another sentiment, less definite and conscious than cosmopolitanism, also +played some part in the minds of men, namely loyalty toward the dispassionate +intelligence, and perplexed admiration of the world which it was beginning to +reveal, a world august, immense, subtle, in which, seemingly, man was doomed to +play a part minute but tragic. In many races there had, no doubt, long existed +some fidelity toward the dispassionate intelligence. But it was England and +France that excelled in this respect. On the other hand, even in these two +nations there was much that was opposed to this allegiance. These, like all +peoples of the age, were liable to bouts of insane emotionalism. Indeed the +French mind, in general so clear sighted, so realistic, so contemptuous of +ambiguity and mist, so detached in all its final valuations, was yet so +obsessed with the idea "France" as to be wholly incapable of generosity in +international affairs. But it was France, with England, that had chiefly +inspired the intellectual integrity which was the rarest and brightest thread +of Western culture, not only within the territories of these two nations, but +throughout Europe and America. In the seventeenth and eighteenth Christian +centuries, the French and English had conceived, more clearly than other +peoples, an interest in the objective world for its own sake, had founded +physical science, and had fashioned out of scepticism the most brilliantly +constructive of mental instruments. At a later stage it was largely the French +and English who, by means of this instrument, had revealed man and the physical +universe in something like their true proportions; and it was chiefly the elect +of these two peoples that had been able to exult in this bracing discovery.

+

With the eclipse of France and England this great tradition of dispassionate +cognizance began to wane. Europe was now led by Germany. And the Germans, in +spite of their practical genius, their scholarly contributions to history, +their brilliant science and austere philosophy, were at heart romantic. This +inclination was both their strength and their weakness. Thereby they had been +inspired to their finest art and their most profound metaphysical speculation. +But thereby they were also often rendered un-self-critical and pompous. More +eager than Western minds to solve the mystery of existence, less sceptical of +the power of human reason, and therefore more inclined to ignore or argue away +recalcitrant facts, the Germans were courageous systematizers. In this +direction they had achieved greatly. Without them, European thought would have +been chaotic. But their passion for order and for a systematic reality behind +the disorderly appearances, rendered their reasoning all too often biased. Upon +shifty foundations they balanced ingenious ladders to reach the stars. Thus, +without constant ribald criticism from across the Rhine and the North Sea, the +Teutonic soul could not achieve full self-expression. A vague uneasiness about +its own sentimentalism and lack of detachment did indeed persuade this great +people to assert its virility now and again by ludicrous acts of brutality, and +to compensate for its dream life by ceaseless hard-driven and brilliantly +successful commerce; but what was needed was a far more radical +self-criticism.

+

Beyond Germany, Russia. Here was a people whose genius needed, even more +than that of the Germans, discipline under the critical intelligence. Since the +Bolshevic revolution, there had risen in the scattered towns of this immense +tract of corn and forest, and still more in the metropolis, an original mode of +art and thought, in which were blended a passion of iconoclasm, a vivid +sensuousness, and yet also a very remarkable and essentially mystical or +intuitive power of detachment from all private cravings. America and Western +Europe were interested first in the individual human life, and only secondarily +in the social whole. For these peoples, loyalty involved a reluctant +self-sacrifice, and the ideal was ever a person, excelling in prowess of +various kinds. Society was but the necessary matrix of this jewel. But the +Russians, whether by an innate gift, or through the influence of agelong +political tyranny, religious devotion, and a truly social revolution, were +prone to self-contemptuous interest in groups, prone, indeed, to a spontaneous +worship of whatever was conceived as loftier than the individual man, whether +society, or God, or the blind forces of nature. Western Europe could reach by +way of the intellect a precise conception of man's littleness and irrelevance +when regarded as an alien among the stars; could even glimpse from this +standpoint the cosmic theme in which all human striving is but one contributory +factor. But the Russian mind, whether orthodox or Tolstoyan or fanatically +materialist, could attain much the same conviction intuitively, by direct +perception, instead of after an arduous intellectual pilgrimage; and, reaching +it, could rejoice in it. But because of this independence of intellect, the +experience was confused, erratic, frequently misinterpreted; and its effect on +conduct was rather explosive than directive. Great indeed was the need that the +West and East of Europe should strengthen and temper one another.

+

After the Bolshevic revolution a new element appeared in Russian culture, +and one which had not been known before in any modern state. The old regime was +displaced by a real proletarian government, which, though an oligarchy, and +sometimes bloody and fanatical, abolished the old tyranny of class, and +encouraged the humblest citizen to be proud of his partnership in the great +community. Still more important, the native Russian disposition not to take +material possessions very seriously co-operated with the political revolution, +and brought about such a freedom from the snobbery of wealth as was quite +foreign to the West. Attention which elsewhere was absorbed in the massing or +display of money was in Russia largely devoted either to spontaneous +instinctive enjoyments or to cultural activity.

+

In fact it was among the Russian townsfolk, less cramped by tradition than +other city-dwellers, that the spirit of the First Men was beginning to achieve +a fresh and sincere readjustment to the facts of its changing world. And from +the townsfolk something of the new way of life was spreading even to the +peasants; while in the depths of Asia a hardy and ever-growing population +looked increasingly to Russia, not only for machinery, but for ideas. There +were times when it seemed that Russia might transform the almost universal +autumn of the race into a new spring.

+

After the Bolshevic revolution the New Russia had been boycotted by the +West, and had therefore passed through a stage of self-conscious extravagance. +Communism and naïve materialism became the dogmas of a new crusading +atheist church. All criticism was suppressed, even more rigorously than was the +opposite criticism in other countries; and Russians were taught to think of +themselves as saviours of mankind. Later, however, as economic isolation began +to hamper the Bolshevic state, the new culture was mellowed and broadened. Bit +by bit, economic intercourse with the West was restored, and with it cultural +intercourse increased. The intuitive mystical detachment of Russia began to +define itself, and so consolidate itself, in terms of the intellectual +detachment of the best thought of the West. Iconoclasm was harnessed. The life +of the senses and of impulse was tempered by a new critical movement. Fanatical +materialism, whose fire had been derived from a misinterpreted, but intense, +mystical intuition of dispassionate Reality, began to assimilate itself to the +far more rational stoicism which was the rare flower of the West. At the same +time, through intercourse with peasant culture and with the peoples of Asia, +the new Russia began to grasp in one unifying act of apprehension both the +grave disillusion of France and England and the ecstasy of the East.

+

The harmonizing of these two moods was now the chief spiritual need of +mankind. Failure to integrate them into an all-dominant sentiment could not but +lead to racial insanity. And so in due course it befell. Meanwhile this task of +integration was coming to seem more and more urgent to the best minds in +Russia, and might have been finally accomplished had they been longer illumined +by the cold light of the West.

+

But this was not to be. The intellectual confidence of France and England, +already shaken through progressive economic eclipse at the hands of America and +Germany, was now undermined. For many decades England had watched these +newcomers capture her markets. The loss had smothered her with a swarm of +domestic problems, such as could never be solved save by drastic surgery; and +this was a course which demanded more courage and energy than was possible to a +people without hope. Then came the war with France, and harrowing +disintegration. No delirium seized her, such as occurred in France; yet her +whole mentality was changed, and her sobering influence in Europe was +lessened.

+

As for France, her cultural life was now grievously reduced. It might, +indeed, have recovered from the final blow, had it not already been slowly +poisoned by gluttonous nationalism. For love of France was the undoing of the +French. They prized the truly admirable spirit of France so extravagantly, that +they regarded all other nations as barbarians.

+

Thus it befell that in Russia the doctrines of communism and materialism, +products of German systematists, survived uncriticized. On the other hand, the +practice of communism was gradually undermined. For the Russian state came +increasingly under the influence of Western, and especially American, finance. +The materialism of the official creed also became a farce, for it was foreign +to the Russian mind. Thus between practice and theory there was, in both +respects, a profound inconsistency. What was once a vital and promising culture +became insincere.

+

4. THE RUSSO-GERMAN WAR

+

The discrepancy between communist theory and individualist practice in +Russia was one cause of the next disaster which befell Europe. Between Russia +and Germany there should have been close partnership, based on interchange of +machinery and corn. But the theory of communism stood in the way, and in a +strange manner. Russian industrial organization had proved impossible without +American capital; and little by little this influence had transformed the +communistic system. From the Baltic to the Himalayas and the Behring Straits, +pasture, timber lands, machine-tilled corn-land, oil fields, and a spreading +rash of industrial towns, were increasingly dependent on American finance and +organization. Yet not America, but the far less individualistic Germany, had +become in the Russian mind the symbol of capitalism. Self-righteous hate of +Germany compensated Russia for her own betrayal of the communistic ideal. This +perverse antagonism was encouraged by the Americans; who, strong in their own +individualism and prosperity, and by now contemptuously tolerant of Russian +doctrines, were concerned only to keep Russian finance to themselves. In truth, +of course, it was America that had helped Russia's self-betrayal; and it was +the spirit of America that was most alien to the Russian spirit. But American +wealth was by now indispensable to Russia; so the hate due to America had to be +borne vicariously by Germany.

+

The Germans, for their part, were aggrieved that the Americans had ousted +them from a most profitable field of enterprise, and in particular from the +exploitation of Russian Asiatic oil. The economic life of the human race had +for some time been based on coal, but latterly oil had been found a far more +convenient source of power; and as the oil store of the planet was much smaller +than its coal store, and the expenditure of oil had of course been wholly +uncontrolled and wasteful, a shortage was already being felt. Thus the national +ownership of the remaining oil fields had become a main factor in politics and +a fertile source of wars. America, having used up most of her own supplies, was +now anxious to compete with the still prolific sources under Chinese control, +by forestalling Germany in Russia. No wonder the Germans were aggrieved. But +the fault was their own. In the days when Russian communism had been seeking to +convert the world, Germany had taken over England's leadership of +individualistic Europe. While greedy for trade with Russia, she had been at the +same time frightened of contamination by Russian social doctrine, the more so +because communism had at first made some headway among the German workers. +Later, even when sane industrial reorganization in Germany had deprived +communism of its appeal to the workers, and thus had rendered it impotent, the +habit of anti-communist vituperation persisted.

+

Thus the peace of Europe was in constant danger from the bickerings of two +peoples who differed rather in ideals than in practice. For the one, in theory +communistic, had been forced to delegate many of the community's rights to +enterprising individuals; while the other, in theory organized on a basis of +private business, was becoming ever more socialized.

+

Neither party desired war. Neither was interested in military glory, for +militarism as an end was no longer reputable. Neither was professedly +nationalistic, for nationalism, though still potent, was no longer vaunted. +Each claimed to stand for internationalism and peace, but accused the other of +narrow patriotism. Thus Europe, though more pacific than ever before, was +doomed to war.

+

Like most wars, the Anglo-French War had increased the desire for peace, yet +made peace less secure. Distrust, not merely the old distrust of nation for +nation, but a devastating distrust of human nature, gripped men like the dread +of insanity. Individuals who thought of themselves as wholehearted Europeans, +feared that at any moment they might succumb to some ridiculous epidemic of +patriotism and participate in the further crippling of Europe.

+

This dread was one cause of the formation of a European Confederacy, in +which all the nations of Europe, save Russia, surrendered their sovereignty to +a common authority and actually pooled their armaments. Ostensibly the motive +of this act was peace; but America interpreted it as directed against herself, +and withdrew from the League of Nations. China, the "natural enemy" of America, +remained within the League, hoping to use it against her rival.

+

From without, indeed, the Confederacy at first appeared as a close-knit +whole; but from within it was known to be insecure, and in every serious crisis +it broke. There is no need to follow the many minor wars of this period, though +their cumulative effect was serious, both economically and psychologically. +Europe did at last, however, become something like a single nation in +sentiment, though this unity was brought about less by a common loyalty than by +a common fear of America.

+

Final consolidation was the fruit of the Russo-German War, the cause of +which was partly economic and partly sentimental. All the peoples of Europe had +long watched with horror the financial conquest of Russia by the United States, +and they dreaded that they also must presently succumb to the same tyrant. To +attack Russia, it was thought, would be to wound America in her only vulnerable +spot. But the actual occasion of the war was sentimental. Half a century after +the Anglo-French War, a second-rate German author published a typically German +book of the baser sort. For as each nation had its characteristic virtues, so +also each was prone to characteristic follies. This book was one of those +brilliant but extravagant works in which the whole diversity of existence is +interpreted under a single formula, with extreme detail and plausibility, yet +with amazing naïveté. Highly astute within its own +artificial universe, it was none the less in wider regard quite uncritical. In +two large volumes the author claimed that the cosmos was a dualism in which a +heroic and obviously Nordic spirit ruled by divine right over an +un-self-disciplined, yet servile and obviously Slavonic spirit. The whole of +history, and of evolution, was interpreted on this principle; and of the +contemporary world it was said that the Slavonic element was poisoning Europe. +One phrase in particular caused fury in Moscow, "the anthropoid face of the +Russian sub-man."

+

Moscow demanded apology and suppression of the book. Berlin regretted the +insult, but with its tongue in its cheek; and insisted on the freedom of the +press. Followed a crescendo of radio hate, and war.

+

The details of this war do not matter to one intent upon the history of mind +in the Solar System, but its result was important. Moscow, Leningrad and Berlin +were shattered from the air. The whole West of Russia was flooded with the +latest and deadliest poison gas, so that, not only was all animal and vegetable +life destroyed, but also the soil between the Black Sea and the Baltic was +rendered infertile and uninhabitable for many years. Within a week the war was +over, for the reason that the combatants were separated by an immense territory +in which life could not exist. But the effects of the war were lasting. The +Germans had set going a process which they could not stop. Whiffs of the poison +continued to be blown by fickle winds into every country of Europe and Western +Asia. It was spring-time; but save in the Atlantic coast-lands the spring +flowers shrivelled in the bud, and every young leaf had a withered rim. +Humanity also suffered; though, save in the regions near the seat of war, it +was in general only the children and the old people who suffered greatly. The +poison spread across the Continent in huge blown tresses, broad as +principalities, swinging with each change of wind. And wherever it strayed, +young eyes, throats, and lungs were blighted like the leaves.

+

America, after much debate, had at last decided to defend her interests in +Russia by a punitive expedition against Europe. China began to mobilize her +forces. But long before America was ready to strike, news of the widespread +poisoning changed her policy. Instead of punishment, help was given. This was a +fine gesture of goodwill. But also, as was observed in Europe, instead of being +costly, it was profitable; for inevitably it brought more of Europe under +American financial control.

+

The upshot of the Russo-German war, then, was that Europe was unified in +sentiment by hatred of America, and that European mentality definitely +deteriorated. This was due in part to the emotional influence of the war +itself, partly to the socially damaging effects of the poison. A proportion of +the rising generation had been rendered sickly for life. During the thirty +years which intervened before the Euro-American war, Europe was burdened with +an exceptional weight of invalids. First-class intelligence was on the whole +rarer than before, and was more strictly concentrated on the practical work of +reconstruction.

+

Even more disastrous for the human race was the fact that the recent Russian +cultural enterprise of harmonizing Western intellectualism and Eastern +mysticism was now wrecked.

+

CHAPTER II. EUROPE'S DOWNFALL

+

1. EUROPE AND AMERICA

+

Over the heads of the European tribes two mightier peoples regarded each +other with increasing dislike. Well might they; for the one cherished the most +ancient and refined of all surviving cultures, while the other, youngest and +most self-confident of the great nations, proclaimed her novel spirit as the +spirit of the future.

+

In the Far East, China, already half American, though largely Russian and +wholly Eastern, patiently improved her rice lands, pushed forward her railways, +organized her industries, and spoke fair to all the world. Long ago, during her +attainment of unity and independence, China had learnt much from militant +Bolshevism. And after the collapse of the Russian state it was in the East that +Russian culture continued to live. Its mysticism influenced India. Its social +ideal influenced China. Not indeed that China took over the theory, still less +the practice, of communism; but she learnt to entrust herself increasingly to a +vigorous, devoted and despotic party, and to feel in terms of the social whole +rather than individualistically. Yet she was honeycombed with individualism, +and in spite of her rulers she had precipitated a submerged and desperate class +of wage slaves.

+

In the Far West, the United States of America openly claimed to be +custodians of the whole planet. Universally feared and envied, universally +respected for their enterprise, yet for their complacency very widely despised, +the Americans were rapidly changing the whole character of man's existence. By +this time every human being throughout the planet made use of American +products, and there was no region where American capital did not support local +labour. Moreover the American press, gramophone, radio, cinematograph and +televisor ceaselessly drenched the planet with American thought. Year by year +the aether reverberated with echoes of New York's pleasures and the religious +fervours of the Middle West. What wonder, then, that America, even while she +was despised, irresistibly moulded the whole human race. This, perhaps, would +not have mattered, had America been able to give of her very rare best. But +inevitably only her worst could be propagated. Only the most vulgar traits of +that potentially great people could get through into the minds of foreigners by +means of these crude instruments. And so, by the floods of poison issuing from +this people's baser members, the whole world, and with it the nobler parts of +America herself, were irrevocably corrupted.

+

For the best of America was too weak to withstand the worst. Americans had +indeed contributed amply to human thought. They had helped to emancipate +philosophy from ancient fetters. They had served science by lavish and rigorous +research. In astronomy, favoured by their costly instruments and clear +atmosphere, they had done much to reveal the dispositions of the stars and +galaxies. In literature, though often they behaved as barbarians, they had also +conceived new modes of expression, and moods of thought not easily appreciated +in Europe. They had also created a new and brilliant architecture. And their +genius for organization worked upon a scale that was scarcely conceivable, let +alone practicable, to other peoples. In fact their best minds faced old +problems of theory and of valuation with a fresh innocence and courage, so that +fogs of superstition were cleared away wherever these choice Americans were +present. But these best were after all a minority in a huge wilderness of +opinionated self-deceivers, in whom, surprisingly, an outworn religious dogma +was championed with the intolerant optimism of youth. For this was essentially +a race of bright, but arrested, adolescents. Something lacked which should have +enabled them to grow up. One who looks back across the aeons to this remote +people can see their fate already woven of their circumstance and their +disposition, and can appreciate the grim jest that these, who seemed to +themselves gifted to rejuvenate the planet, should have plunged it, inevitably, +through spiritual desolation into senility and age-long night.

+

Inevitably. Yet here was a people of unique promise, gifted innately beyond +all other peoples. Here was a race brewed of all the races, and mentally more +effervescent than any. Here were intermingled Anglo-Saxon stubbornness, +Teutonic genius for detail and systematization, Italian gaiety, the intense +fire of Spain, and the more mobile Celtic flame. Here also was the sensitive +and stormy Slav, a youth-giving Negroid infusion, a faint but subtly +stimulating trace of the Red Man, and in the West a sprinkling of the Mongol. +Mutual intolerance no doubt isolated these diverse stocks to some degree; yet +the whole was increasingly one people, proud of its individuality, of its +success, of its idealistic mission in the world, proud also of its optimistic +and anthropocentric view of the universe. What might not this energy have +achieved, had it been more critically controlled, had it been forced to attend +to life's more forbidding aspects! Direct tragic experience might perhaps have +opened the hearts of this people. Intercourse with a more mature culture might +have refined their intelligence. But the very success which had intoxicated +them rendered them also too complacent to learn from less prosperous +competitors.

+

Yet there was a moment when this insularity promised to wane. So long as +England was a serious economic rival, America inevitably regarded her with +suspicion. But when England was seen to be definitely in economic decline, yet +culturally still at her zenith, America conceived a more generous interest in +the last and severest phase of English thought. Eminent Americans themselves +began to whisper that perhaps their unrivalled prosperity was not after all +good evidence either of their own spiritual greatness or of the moral rectitude +of the universe. A minute but persistent school of writers began to affirm that +America lacked self-criticism, was incapable of seeing the joke against +herself, was in fact wholly devoid of that detachment and resignation which was +the finest, though of course the rarest, mood of latter-day England. This +movement might well have infused throughout the American people that which was +needed to temper their barbarian egotism, and open their ears once more to the +silence beyond man's strident sphere. Once more, for only latterly had they +been seriously deafened by the din of their own material success. And indeed, +scattered over the continent throughout this whole period, many shrinking +islands of true culture contrived to keep their heads above the rising tide of +vulgarity and superstition. These it was that had looked to Europe for help, +and were attempting a rally when England and France blundered into that orgy of +emotionalism and murder which exterminated so many of their best minds and +permanently weakened their cultural influence.

+

Subsequently it was Germany that spoke for Europe. And Germany was too +serious an economic rival for America to be open to her influence. Moreover +German criticism, though often emphatic, was too heavily pedantic, too little +ironical, to pierce the hide of American complacency. Thus it was that America +sank further and further into Americanism. Vast wealth and industry, and also +brilliant invention, were concentrated upon puerile ends. In particular the +whole of American life was organized around the cult of the powerful +individual, that phantom ideal which Europe herself had only begun to outgrow +in her last phase. Those Americans who wholly failed to realize this ideal, who +remained at the bottom of the social ladder, either consoled themselves with +hopes for the future, or stole symbolical satisfaction by identifying +themselves with some popular star, or gloated upon their American citizenship, +and applauded the arrogant foreign policy of their government. Those who +achieved power were satisfied so long as they could merely retain it, and +advertise it uncritically in the conventionally self-assertive manners.

+

It was almost inevitable that when Europe had recovered from the +Russo-German disaster she should come to blows with America; for she had long +chafed under the saddle of American finance, and the daily life of Europeans +had become more and more cramped by the presence of a widespread and +contemptuous foreign "aristocracy" of American business men. Germany alone was +comparatively free from this domination, for Germany was herself still a great +economic power. But in Germany, no less than elsewhere, there was constant +friction with the Americans.

+

Of course neither Europe nor America desired war. Each was well aware that +war would mean the end of business prosperity, and for Europe very possibly the +end of all things; for it was known that man's power of destruction had +recently increased, and that if war were waged relentlessly, the stronger side +might exterminate the other. But inevitably an "incident" at last occurred +which roused blind rage on each side of the Atlantic. A murder in South Italy, +a few ill-considered remarks in the European Press, offensive retaliation in +the American Press accompanied by the lynching of an Italian in the Middle +West, an uncontrollable massacre of American citizens in Rome, the dispatch of +an American air fleet to occupy Italy, interception by the European air fleet, +and war was in existence before ever it had been declared. This aerial action +resulted, perhaps unfortunately for Europe, in a momentary check to the +American advance. The enemy was put on his mettle, and prepared a crushing +blow.

+

2. THE ORIGINS OF A MYSTERY

+

While the Americans were mobilizing their whole armament, there occurred the +really interesting event of the war. It so happened that an international +society of scientific workers was meeting in England at Plymouth, and a young +Chinese physicist had expressed his desire to make a report to a select +committee. As he had been experimenting to find means for the utilization of +subatomic energy by the annihilation of matter, it was with some excitement +that, according to instruction, the forty international representatives +travelled to the north coast of Devon and met upon the bare headland called +Hartland Point.

+

It was a bright morning after rain. Eleven miles to the north-west, the +cliffs of Lundy Island displayed their markings with unusual detail. Sea-birds +wheeled about the heads of the party as they seated themselves on their +raincoats in a cluster upon the rabbit-cropped turf.

+

They were a remarkable company, each one of them a unique person, yet +characterized to some extent by his particular national type. And all were +distinctively "scientists" of the period. Formerly this would have implied a +rather uncritical leaning toward materialism, and an affectation of cynicism; +but by now it was fashionable to profess an equally uncritical belief that all +natural phenomena were manifestations of the cosmic mind. In both periods, when +a man passed beyond the sphere of his own serious scientific work he chose his +beliefs irresponsibly, according to his taste, much as he chose his recreation +or his food.

+

Of the individuals present we may single out one or two for notice. The +German, an anthropologist, and a product of the long-established cult of +physical and mental health, sought to display in his own athletic person the +characters proper to Nordic man. The Frenchman, an old but still sparkling +psychologist, whose queer hobby was the collecting of weapons, ancient and +modern, regarded the proceedings with kindly cynicism. The Englishman, one of +the few remaining intellectuals of his race, compensated for the severe study +of physics by a scarcely less devoted research into the history of English +expletives and slang, delighting to treat his colleagues to the fruits of his +toil. The West African president of the Society was a biologist, famous for his +interbreeding of man and ape.

+

When all were settled, the President explained the purpose of the meeting. +The utilization of subatomic energy had indeed been achieved, and they were to +be given a demonstration.

+

The young Mongol stood up, and produced from a case an instrument rather +like the old-fashioned rifle. Displaying this object, he spoke as follows, with +that quaintly stilted formality which had once been characteristic of all +educated Chinese: "Before describing the details of my rather delicate process, +I will illustrate its importance by showing what can be done with the finished +product. Not only can I initiate the annihilation of matter, but also I can do +so at a distance and in a precise direction. Moreover, I can inhibit the +process. As a means of destruction, my instrument is perfect. As a source of +power for the constructive work of mankind, it has unlimited potentiality. +Gentlemen, this is a great moment in the history of Man. I am about to render +into the hands of organized intelligence the means to stop for ever man's +internecine brawls. Henceforth this great Society, of which you are the +elite, will beneficently rule the planet. With this little instrument +you will stop the ridiculous war; and with another, which I shall soon perfect, +you will dispense unlimited industrial power wherever you consider it needed. +Gentlemen, with the aid of this handy instrument which I have the honour to +demonstrate, you are able to become absolute masters of this planet."

+

Here the representative of England muttered an archaism whose significance +was known only to himself, "Gawd 'elp us!" In the minds of some of those +foreigners who were not physicists this quaint expression was taken to be a +technical word having some connexion with the new source of energy.

+

The Mongol continued. Turning towards Lundy, he said, "That island is no +longer inhabited, and as it is something of a danger to shipping, I will remove +it." So saying he aimed his instrument at the distant cliff, but continued +speaking. "This trigger will stimulate the ultimate positive and negative +charges which constitute the atoms at a certain point on the rock face to +annihilate each other. These stimulated atoms will infect their neighbours, and +so on indefinitely. This second trigger, however, will stop the actual +annihilation. Were I to refrain from using it, the process would indeed +continue indefinitely, perhaps until the whole of the planet had +disintegrated."

+

There was an anxious movement among the spectators, but the young man took +careful aim, and pressed the two triggers in quick succession. No sound from +the instrument. No visible effect upon the smiling face of the island. Laughter +began to gurgle from the Englishman, but ceased. For a dazzling point of light +appeared on the remote cliff. It increased in size and brilliance, till all +eyes were blinded in the effort to continue watching. It lit up the under parts +of the clouds and blotted out the sun-cast shadows of gorse bushes beside the +spectators. The whole end of the island facing the mainland was now an +intolerable scorching sun. Presently, however, its fury was veiled in clouds of +steam from the boiling sea. Then suddenly the whole island, three miles of +solid granite, leaped asunder; so that a covey of great rocks soared +heavenward, and beneath them swelled more slowly a gigantic mushroom of steam +and debris. Then the sound arrived. All hands were clapped to ears, while eyes +still strained to watch the bay, pocked white with the hail of rocks. Meanwhile +a great wall of sea advanced from the centre of turmoil. This was seen to +engulf a coasting vessel, and pass on toward Bideford and Barnstaple.

+

The spectators leaped to their feet and clamoured, while the young author of +this fury watched the spectacle with exultation, and some surprise at the +magnitude of these mere after-effects of his process.

+

The meeting was now adjourned to a neighbouring chapel to hear the report of +the research. As the representatives were filing through the door it was +observed that the steam and smoke had cleared, and that open sea extended where +had been Lundy. Within the chapel, the great Bible was decorously removed and +the windows thrown open, to dispel somewhat the odour of sanctity. For though +the early and spiritistic interpretations of relativity and the quantum theory +had by now accustomed men of science to pay their respects to the religions, +many of them were still liable to a certain asphyxia when they were actually +within the precincts of sanctity. When the scientists had settled themselves +upon the archaic and unyielding benches, the President explained that the +chapel authorities had kindly permitted this meeting because they realized +that, since men of science had gradually discovered the spiritual foundation of +physics, science and religion must henceforth be close allies. Moreover the +purpose of this meeting was to discuss one of those supreme mysteries which it +was the glory of science to discover and religion to transfigure. The President +then complimented the young dispenser of power upon his triumph, and called +upon him to address the meeting.

+

At this point, however, the aged representative of France intervened, and +was granted a hearing. Born almost a hundred and forty years earlier, and +preserved more by native intensity of spirit than by the artifices of the +regenerator, this ancient seemed to speak out of a remote and wiser epoch. For +in a declining civilization it is often the old who see furthest and see with +youngest eyes. He concluded a rather long, rhetorical, yet closely reasoned +speech as follows: "No doubt we are the intelligence of the planet; and because +of our consecration to our calling, no doubt we are comparatively honest. But +alas, even we are human. We make little mistakes now and then, and commit +little indiscretions. The possession of such power as is offered us would not +bring peace. On the contrary it would perpetuate our national hates. It would +throw the world into confusion. It would undermine our own integrity, and turn +us into tyrants. Moreover it would ruin science. And,--well, when at last +through some little error the world got blown up, the disaster would not be +regrettable. I know that Europe is almost certainly about to be destroyed by +those vigorous but rather spoilt children across the Atlantic. But distressing +as this must be, the alternative is far worse. No, Sir! Your very wonderful toy +would be a gift fit for developed minds; but for us, who are still +barbarians,--no, it must not be. And so, with deep regret I beg you to destroy +your handiwork, and, if it were possible, your memory of your marvellous +research. But above all breathe no word of your process to us, or to any +man."

+

The German then protested that to refuse would be cowardly. He briefly +described his vision of a world organized under organized science, and inspired +by a scientifically organized religious dogma. "Surely," he said, "to refuse +were to refuse the gift of God, of that God whose presence in the humblest +quantum we have so recently and so surprisingly revealed." Other speakers +followed, for and against; but it soon grew clear that wisdom would prevail. +Men of science were by now definitely cosmopolitan in sentiment. Indeed so far +were they from nationalism, that on this occasion the representative of America +had urged acceptance of the weapon, although it would be used against his own +countrymen.

+

Finally, however, and actually by a unanimous vote, the meeting, while +recording its deep respect for the Chinese scientist, requested, nay ordered, +that the instrument and all account of it should be destroyed.

+

The young man rose, drew his handiwork from its case, and fingered it. So +long did he remain thus standing in silence with eyes fixed on the instrument, +that the meeting became restless. At last, however, he spoke. "I shall abide by +the decision of the meeting. Well, it is hard to destroy the fruit of ten +years' work, and such fruit, too. I expected to have the gratitude of mankind; +but instead I am an outcast." Once more he paused. Gazing out of the window, he +now drew from his pocket a field-glass, and studied the western sky. "Yes, they +are American. Gentlemen, the American air fleet approaches."

+

The company leapt to its feet and crowded to the windows. High in the west a +sparse line of dots stretched indefinitely into the north and the south. Said +the Englishman, "For God's sake use your damned tool once more, or England's +done. They must have smashed our fellows over the Atlantic."

+

The Chinese scientist turned his eyes on the President. There was a general +cry of "Stop them." Only the Frenchman protested. The representative of the +United States raised his voice and said, "They are my people, I have friends up +there in the sky. My own boy is probably there. But they're mad. They want to +do something hideous. They're in the lynching mood. Stop them." The Mongol +still gazed at the President, who nodded. The Frenchman broke down in senile +tears. Then the young man, leaning upon the window sill, took careful aim at +each black dot in turn. One by one, each became a blinding star, then vanished. +In the chapel, a long silence. Then whispers; and glances at the Chinaman, +expressive of anxiety and dislike.

+

There followed a hurried ceremony in a neighbouring field. A fire was lit. +The instrument and the no less murderous manuscript were burnt. And then the +grave young Mongol, having insisted on shaking hands all round, said, "With my +secret alive in me, I must not live. Some day a more worthy race will +re-discover it, but today I am a danger to the planet. And so I, who have +foolishly ignored that I live among savages, help myself now by the ancient +wisdom to pass hence." So saying, he fell dead.

+

3. EUROPE MURDERED

+

Rumour spread by voice and radio throughout the world. An island had been +mysteriously exploded. The American fleet had been mysteriously annihilated in +the air. And in the neighbourhood where these events had occurred, +distinguished scientists were gathered in conference. The European Government +sought out the unknown saviour of Europe, to thank him, and secure his process +for their own use. The President of the scientific society gave an account of +the meeting and the unanimous vote. He and his colleagues were promptly +arrested, and "pressure," first moral and then physical, was brought to bear on +them to make them disclose the secret; for the world was convinced that they +really knew it, and were holding it back for their own purposes.

+

Meanwhile it was learned that the American air commander, after he had +defeated the European fleet, had been instructed merely to "demonstrate" above +England while peace was negotiated. For in America, big business had threatened +the government with boycott if unnecessary violence were committed in Europe. +Big business was by now very largely international in sentiment, and it was +realized that the destruction of Europe would inevitably unhinge American +finance. But the unprecedented disaster to the victorious fleet roused the +Americans to blind hate, and the peace party was submerged. Thus it turned out +that the Chinaman's one hostile act had not saved England, but doomed her.

+

For some days Europeans lived in panic dread, knowing not what horror might +at any moment descend on them. No wonder, then, that the Government resorted to +torture in order to extract the secret from the scientists. No wonder that out +of the forty individuals concerned, one, the Englishman, saved himself by +deceit. He promised to do his best to "remember" the intricate process. Under +strict supervision, he used his own knowledge of physics to experiment in +search of the Chinaman's trick. Fortunately, however, he was on the wrong +scent. And indeed he knew it. For though his first motive was mere +self-preservation, later he conceived the policy of indefinitely preventing the +dangerous discovery by directing research along a blind alley. And so his +treason, by seeming to give the authority of a most eminent physicist to a +wholly barren line of research, saved this undisciplined and scarcely human +race from destroying its planet.

+

The American people, sometimes tender even to excess, were now collectively +insane with hate of the English and of all Europeans. With cold efficiency they +flooded Europe with the latest and deadliest of gasses, till all the peoples +were poisoned in their cities like rats in their holes. The gas employed was +such that its potency would cease within three days. It was therefore possible +for an American sanitary force to take charge of each metropolis within a week +after the attack. Of those who first descended into the great silence of the +murdered cities, many were unhinged by the overwhelming presence of dead +populations. The gas had operated first upon the ground level, but, rising like +a tide, it had engulfed the top stories, the spires, the hills. Thus, while in +the streets lay thousands who had been overcome by the first wave of poison, +every roof and pinnacle bore the bodies of those who had struggled upwards in +the vain hope of escaping beyond the highest reach of the tide. When the +invaders arrived they beheld on every height prostrate and contorted +figures.

+

Thus Europe died. All centres of intellectual life were blotted out, and of +the agricultural regions only the uplands and mountains were untouched. The +spirit of Europe lived henceforth only in a piece-meal and dislocated manner in +the minds of Americans, Chinese, Indians, and the rest.

+

There were indeed the British Colonies, but they were by now far less +European than American. The war had, of course, disintegrated the British +Empire. Canada sided with the United States. South Africa and India declared +their neutrality at the outbreak of war. Australia, not through cowardice, but +through conflict of loyalties, was soon reduced to neutrality. The New +Zealanders took to their mountains and maintained an insane but heroic +resistance for a year. A simple and gallant folk, they had almost no conception +of the European spirit, yet obscurely and in spite of their Americanization +they were loyal to it, or at least to that symbol of one aspect of Europeanism, +"England." Indeed so extravagantly loyal were they, or so innately dogged and +opinionated, that when further resistance became impossible, many of them, both +men and women, killed themselves rather than submit.

+

But the most lasting agony of this war was suffered, not by the defeated, +but by the victors. For when their passion had cooled the Americans could not +easily disguise from themselves that they had committed murder. They were not +at heart a brutal folk, but rather a kindly. They liked to think of the world +as a place of innocent pleasure-seeking, and of themselves as the main +purveyors of delight. Yet they had been somehow drawn into this fantastic +crime; and henceforth an all-pervading sense of collective guilt warped the +American mind. They had ever been vainglorious and intolerant; but now these +qualities in them became extravagant even to insanity. Both as individuals and +collectively, they became increasingly frightened of criticism, increasingly +prone to blame and hate, increasingly self-righteous, increasingly hostile to +the critical intelligence, increasingly superstitious.

+

Thus was this once noble people singled out by the gods to be cursed, and +the minister of curses.

+

CHAPTER III. AMERICA AND CHINA

+

1. THE RIVALS

+

After the eclipse of Europe, the allegiance of men gradually crystallized +into two great national or racial sentiments, the American and the Chinese. +Little by little all other patriotisms became mere local variants of one or +other of these two major loyalties. At first, indeed, there were many +internecine conflicts. A detailed history of this period would describe how +North America, repeating the welding process of the ancient "American Civil +War," incorporated within itself the already Americanized Latins of South +America; and how Japan, once the bully of young China, was so crippled by +social revolutions that she fell a prey to American Imperialism; and how this +bondage turned her violently Chinese in sentiment, so that finally she freed +herself by an heroic war of independence, and joined the Asiatic Confederacy, +under Chinese leadership.

+

A full history would also tell of the vicissitudes of the League of Nations. +Although never a cosmopolitan government, but an association of national +governments, each concerned mainly for its own sovereignty, this great +organization had gradually gained a very real prestige and authority over all +its members. And in spite of its many short-comings, most of which were +involved in its fundamental constitution, it was invaluable as the great +concrete focusing point of the growing loyalty toward humanity. At first its +existence had been precarious; and indeed it had only preserved itself by an +extreme caution, amounting almost to servility toward the "great powers." +Little by little, however, it had gained moral authority to such an extent that +no single power, even the mightiest, dared openly and in cold blood either to +disobey the will of the League or reject the findings of the High Court. But, +since human loyalty was still in the main national rather than cosmopolitan, +situations were all too frequent in which a nation would lose its head, run +amok, throw its pledges to the winds, and plunge into fear-inspired aggression. +Such a situation had produced the Anglo-French War. At other times the nations +would burst apart into two great camps, and the League would be temporarily +forgotten in their disunion. This happened in the Russo-German War, which was +possible only because America favoured Russia, and China favoured Germany. +After the destruction of Europe, the world had for a while consisted of the +League on one side and America on the other. But the League was dominated by +China, and no longer stood for cosmopolitanism. This being so, those whose +loyalty was genuinely human worked hard to bring America once more into the +fold, and at last succeeded.

+

In spite of the League's failure to prevent the "great" wars, it worked +admirably in preventing all the minor conflicts which had once been a chronic +disease of the race. Latterly, indeed, the world's peace was absolutely secure, +save when the League itself was almost equally divided. Unfortunately, with the +rise of America and China, this kind of situation became more and more common. +During the war of North and South America an attempt was made to re-create the +League as a Cosmopolitan Sovereignty, controlling the pooled armaments of all +nations. But, though the cosmopolitan will was strong, tribalism was stronger. +The upshot was that, over the Japanese question, the League definitely split +into two Leagues, each claiming to inherit universal sovereignty from the old +League, but each in reality dominated by a kind of supernational sentiment, the +one American, the other Chinese.

+

This occurred within a century after the eclipse of Europe. The second +century completed the process of crystallization into two systems, political +and mental. On the one hand was the wealthy and close-knit American Continental +Federation, with its poor relations, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the +bedridden remains of Western Europe, and part of the soulless body that was +Russia. On the other hand were Asia and Africa. In fact the ancient distinction +between East and West had now become the basis of political sentiment and +organization.

+

Within each system there were of course real differences of culture, of +which the chief was the difference between the Chinese and Indian mentalities. +The Chinese were interested in appearances, in the sensory, the urbane, the +practical; while the Indians inclined to seek behind appearances for some +ultimate reality, of which this life, they said, was but a passing aspect. Thus +the average Indian never took to heart the practical social problem in all its +seriousness. The ideal of perfecting this world was never an all-absorbing +interest to him; since he had been taught to believe that this world was mere +shadow. There was, indeed, a time when China had mentally less in common with +India than with the West, but fear of America had drawn the two great Eastern +peoples together. They agreed at least in earnest hate of that strange blend of +the commercial traveller, the missionary, and the barbarian conqueror, which +was the American abroad.

+

China, owing to her relative weakness and irritation caused by the tentacles +of American industry within her, was at this time more nationalistic than her +rival, America. Indeed, professed to have outgrown nationalism, and to stand +for political and cultural world unity. But she conceived this unity as a Unity +under American organization; and by culture she meant Americanism. This kind of +cosmopolitanism was regarded by Asia and Africa without sympathy. In China a +concerted effort had been made to purge the foreign element from her culture. +Its success, however, was only superficial. Pigtails and chopsticks had once +more come into vogue among the leisured, and the study of Chinese classics was +once more compulsory in all schools. Yet the manner of life of the average man +remained American. Not only did he use American cutlery, shoes, gramophones, +domestic labour-saving devices, but also his alphabet was European, his +vocabulary was permeated by American slang, his newspapers and radio were +American in manner, though anti-American in politics. He saw daily in his +domestic television screen every phase of American private life and every +American public event. Instead of opium and joss sticks, he affected cigarettes +and chewing gum.

+

His thought also was largely a Mongolian variant of American thought. For +instance, since his was a non-metaphysical mind, but since also some kind of +metaphysics is unavoidable, he accepted the naïvely materialistic +metaphysics which had been popularized by the earliest Behaviourists. In this +view the only reality was physical energy, and the mind was but the system of +the body's movements in response to stimulus. Behaviourism had formerly played +a great part in purging the best Western minds of superstition; and indeed at +one time it was the chief growing point of thought.

+

This early, pregnant, though extravagant, doctrine it was that had been +absorbed by China. But in its native land Behaviorism had gradually been +infected by the popular demand for comfortable ideas, and had finally changed +into a curious kind of spiritism, according to which, though the ultimate +reality was indeed physical energy, this energy was identified with the divine +spirit. The most dramatic feature of American thought in this period was the +merging of Behaviorism and Fundamentalism, a belated and degenerate mode of +Christianity. Behaviourism itself, indeed, had been originally a kind of +inverted Puritan faith, according to which intellectual salvation involved +acceptance of a crude materialistic dogma, chiefly because it was repugnant to +the self-righteous, and unintelligible to intellectuals of the earlier schools. +The older Puritans trampled down all fleshy impulses; these newer Puritans +trampled no less self-righteously upon the spiritual cravings. But in the +increasingly spiritistic inclination of physics itself, Behaviorism and +Fundamentalism had found a meeting place. Since the ultimate stuff of the +physical universe was now said to be multitudinous and arbitrary "quanta" of +the activity of "spirits," how easy was it for the materialistic and the +spiritistic to agree! At heart, indeed, they were never far apart in mood, +though opposed in doctrine. The real cleavage was between the truly spiritual +view on the one hand, and the spiritistic and materialistic on the other. Thus +the most materialistic of Christian sects and the most doctrinaire of +scientific sects were not long in finding a formula to express their unity, +their denial of all those finer capacities which had emerged to be the spirit +of man.

+

These two faiths were at one in their respect for crude physical movement. +And here lay the deepest difference between the American and the Chinese minds. +For the former, activity, any sort of activity, was an end in itself; for the +latter, activity was but a progress toward the true end, which was rest, and +peace of mind. Action was to be undertaken only when equilibrium was disturbed. +And in this respect China was at one with India. Both preferred contemplation +to action.

+

Thus in China and India the passion for wealth was less potent than in +America. Wealth was the power to set things and people in motion; and in +America, therefore, wealth came to be frankly regarded as the breath of God, +the divine spirit immanent in man. God was the supreme Boss, the universal +Employer. His wisdom was conceived as a stupendous efficiency, his love as +munificence towards his employees. The parable of the talents was made the +corner-stone of education; and to be wealthy, therefore, was to be respected as +one of God's chief agents. The typical American man of big business was one +who, in the midst of a show of luxury, was at heart ascetic. He valued his +splendour only because it advertised to all men that he was of the elect. The +typical Chinese wealthy man was one who savoured his luxury with a delicate and +lingering palate, and was seldom tempted to sacrifice it to the barren lust of +power.

+

On the other hand, since American culture was wholly concerned with the +values of the individual life, it was more sensitive than the Chinese with +regard to the well-being of humble individuals. Therefore industrial conditions +were far better under American than under Chinese capitalism. And in China both +kinds of capitalism existed side by side. There were American factories in +which the Chinese operatives thrived on the American system, and there were +Chinese factories in which the operatives were by comparison abject +wage-slaves. The fact that many Chinese industrial workers could not afford to +keep a motor-car, let alone an aeroplane, was a source of much self-righteous +indignation amongst American employers. And the fact that this fact did not +cause a revolution in China, and that Chinese employers were able to procure +plenty of labour in spite of the better conditions in American factories, was a +source of perplexity. But in truth what the average Chinese worker wanted was +not symbolical self-assertion through the control of privately owned machines, +but security of life, and irresponsible leisure. In the earlier phase of +"modern" China there had indeed been serious explosions of class hatred. Almost +every one of the great Chinese industrial centres had, at some point in its +career, massacred its employers, and declared itself an independent communist +city-state. But communism was alien to China, and none of these experiments was +permanently successful. Latterly, when the rule of the Nationalist Party had +become secure, and the worst industrial evils had been abolished, class feeling +had given place to a patriotic loathing of American interference and American +hustle, and those who worked under American employers were often called +traitors.

+

The Nationalist Party was not, indeed, the soul of China; but it was, so to +speak, the central nervous system, within which the soul presided as a +controlling principle. The Party was an intensely practical yet idealistic +organization, half civil service, half religious order, though violently +opposed to every kind of religion. Modelled originally on the Bolshevic Party +of Russia, it had also drawn inspiration from the native and literary civil +service of old China, and even from the tradition of administrative integrity +which had been the best, the sole, contribution of British Imperialism to the +East. Thus, by a route of its own, the Party had approached the ideal of the +Platonic governors. In order to be admitted to the Party, it was necessary to +do two things, to pass a very strict written examination on Western and Chinese +social theory, and to come through a five years' apprenticeship in actual +administrative work. Outside the Party, China was still extremely corrupt; for +peculation and nepotism were not censured, so long as they were kept decently +hidden. But the Party set a brilliant example of self-oblivious devotion; and +this unheard-of honesty was one source of its power. It was universally +recognized that the Party man was genuinely interested in social rather than +private matters; and consequently he was trusted. The supreme object of his +loyalty was not the Party, but China, not indeed the mass of Chinese +individuals, whom he regarded with almost the same nonchalance as he regarded +himself, but the corporate unity and culture of the race.

+

The whole executive power in China was now in the hands of members of the +Party, and the final legislative authority was the Assembly of Party Delegates. +Between these two institutions stood the President. Sometimes no more than +chairman of the Executive Committee, this individual was now and then almost a +dictator, combining in himself the attributes of Prime Minister, Emperor, and +Pope. For the head of the Party was the head of the state; and like the ancient +emperors, he became the symbolical object of ancestor worship.

+

The Party's policy was dominated by the Chinese respect for culture. Just as +Western states had been all too often organized under the will for military +prestige, so the new China was organized under the will for prestige of +culture. For this end the American state was reviled as the supreme example of +barbarian vulgarity; and so patriotism was drawn in to strengthen the cultural +policy of the Party. It was boasted that, while indeed in America every man and +woman might hope to fight a way to material wealth, in China every intelligent +person could actually enjoy the cultural wealth of the race. The economic +policy of the Party was based on the principle of affording to all workers +security of livelihood and full educational opportunity. (In American eyes, +however, the livelihood thus secured was scarcely fit for beasts, and the +education provided was out of date and irreligious.) The Party took good care +to gather into itself all the best of every social class, and also to encourage +in the unintelligent masses a respect for learning, and the illusion that they +themselves shared to some extent in the national culture.

+

But in truth this culture, which the common people so venerated in their +superiors and mimicked in their own lives, was scarcely less superficial than +the cult of power against which it was pitted. For it was almost wholly a cult +of social rectitude and textual learning; not so much of the merely literary +learning which had obsessed ancient China, as of the vast corpus of +contemporary scientific dogma, and above all of pure mathematics. In old days +the candidate for office had to show minute but uncritical knowledge of +classical writers; now he had to give proof of a no less barren agility in +describing the established formula of physics, biology, psychology, and more +particularly of economics and social theory. And though never encouraged to +puzzle over the philosophical basis of mathematics, he was expected to be +familiar with the intricacy of at least one branch of that vast game of skill. +So great was the mass of information forced upon the student, that he had no +time to think of the mutual implications of the various branches of his +knowledge.

+

Yet there was a soul in China. And in this elusive soul of China the one +hope of the First Men now lay. Scattered throughout the Party was a minority of +original minds, who were its source of inspiration and the growing point of the +human spirit in this period. Well aware of man's littleness, these thinkers +regarded him none the less as the crown of the universe. On the basis of a +positivistic and rather perfunctory metaphysic, they built a social ideal and a +theory of art. Indeed, in the practice and appreciation of art they saw man's +highest achievement. Pessimistic about the remote future of the race, and +contemptuous of American evangelism, they accepted as the end of living the +creation of an intricately unified pattern of human lives set in a fair +environment. Society, the supreme work of art (so they put it), is a delicate +and perishable texture of human intercourse. They even entertained the +possibility that in the last resort, not only the individual's life, but the +whole career of the race, might be tragic, and to be valued according to the +standards of tragic art. Contrasting their own spirit with that of the +Americans, one of them had said, "America, a backward youth in a playroom +equipped with luxury and electric power, pretends that his mechanical toy moves +the world. China, a gentleman walking in his garden in the evening, admires the +fragrance and the order all the more because in the air is the first nip of +winter, and in his ear rumour of the irresistible barbarian."

+

In this attitude there was something admirable, and sorely needed at the +time; but also there was a fatal deficiency. In its best exponents it rose to a +detached yet fervent salutation of existence, but all too easily degenerated +into a supine complacency, and a cult of social etiquette. In fact it was ever +in danger of corruption through the inveterate Chinese habit of caring only for +appearances. In some respects the spirit of America and the spirit of China +were complementary, since the one was restless and the other bland, the one +zealous and the other dispassionate, the one religious, the other artistic, the +one superficially mystical or at least romantic, the other classical and +rationalistic, though too easy-going for prolonged rigorous thought. Had they +co-operated, these two mentalities might have achieved much. On the other hand, +in both there was an identical and all-important lack. Neither of them was +disturbed and enlightened by that insatiable lust for the truth, that passion +for the free exercise of critical intelligence, the gruelling hunt for reality, +which had been the glory of Europe and even of the earlier America, but now was +no longer anywhere among the First Men. And, consequent on this lack, another +disability crippled them. Both were by now without that irreverent wit which +individuals of an earlier generation had loved to exercise upon one another and +on themselves, and even on their most sacred values.

+

In spite of this weakness, with good luck they might have triumphed. But, as +I shall tell, the spirit of America undermined the integrity of China, and +thereby destroyed its one chance of salvation. There befell, in fact, one of +those disasters, half inevitable and half accidental, which periodically +descended on the First Men, as though by the express will of some divinity who +cared more for the excellence of his dramatic creation than for the sentient +puppets which he had conceived for its enacting.

+

2. THE CONFLICT

+

After the Euro-American War there occurred first a century of minor national +conflicts, and then a century of strained peace, during which America and China +became more and more irksome to each other. At the close of this period the +great mass of men were in theory far more cosmopolitan than nationalist, yet +the inveterate tribal spirit lurked within each mind, and was ever ready to +take possession. The planet was now a delicately organized economic unit, and +big business in all lands was emphatically contemptuous of patriotism. Indeed +the whole adult generation of the period was consciously and without reserve +internationalist and pacifist. Yet this logically unassailable conviction was +undermined by a biological craving for adventurous living. Prolonged peace and +improved social conditions had greatly reduced the danger and hardship of life, +and there was no socially harmless substitute to take the place of war in +exercising the primitive courage and anger of animals fashioned for the wild. +Consciously men desired peace, unconsciously they still needed some such +gallantry as war afforded. And this repressed combative disposition ever and +again expressed itself in explosions of irrational tribalism.

+

Inevitably a serious conflict at last occurred. As usual the cause was both +economic and sentimental. The economic cause was the demand for fuel. A century +earlier a very serious oil famine had so sobered the race that the League of +Nations had been able to impose a system of cosmopolitan control upon the +existing oil fields, and even the coal fields. It had also imposed strict +regulations as to the use of these invaluable materials. Oil in particular was +only to be used for enterprises in which no other source of power would serve. +The cosmopolitan control of fuel was perhaps the supreme achievement of the +League, and it remained a fixed policy of the race long after the League had +been superseded. Yet, by a choice irony of fate, this quite unusually sane +policy contributed largely to the downfall of civilization. By means of it, as +will later transpire, the end of coal was postponed into the period when the +intelligence of the race was so deteriorated that it could no longer cope with +such a crisis. Instead of adjusting itself to the novel situation, it simply +collapsed.

+

But at the time with which we are at present dealing, means had recently +been found of profitably working the huge deposits of fuel in Antarctica. This +vast supply unfortunately lay technically beyond the jurisdiction of the World +Fuel Control Board. America was first in the field, and saw in Antarctic fuel a +means for her advancement, and for her self-imposed duty of Americanizing the +planet. China, fearful of Americanization, demanded that the new sources should +be brought under the jurisdiction of the Board. For some years feeling had +become increasingly violent on this point, and both peoples had by now relapsed +into the crude old nationalistic mood. War began to seem almost inevitable.

+

The actual occasion of conflict, however, was, as usual, an accident. A +scandal was brought to light about child labour in certain Indian factories. +Boys and girls under twelve were being badly sweated, and in their abject state +their only adventure was precocious sex. The American Government protested, and +in terms which assumed that America was the guardian of the world's morals. +India immediately held up the reform which she had begun to impose, and replied +to America as to a busy-body. America threatened an expedition to set things +right, "backed by the approval of all the morally sensitive races of the +earth." China now intervened to keep the peace between her rival and her +partner, and undertook to see that the evil should be abolished, if America +would withdraw her extravagant slanders against the Eastern conscience. But it +was too late. An American bank in China was raided, and its manager's severed +head was kicked along the street. The tribes of men had once more smelled +blood. War was declared by the West upon the East.

+

Of the combatants, Asia, with North Africa, formed geographically the more +compact system, but America and her dependents were economically more +organized. At the outbreak of war neither side had any appreciable armament, +for war had long ago been "outlawed." This fact, however, made little +difference; since the warfare of the period could be carried on with great +effect simply by the vast swarms of civil air-craft, loaded with poison, high +explosives, disease microbes, and the still more lethal "hypobiological" +organisms, which contemporary science sometimes regarded as the simplest living +matter, sometimes as the most complex molecules.

+

The struggle began with violence, slackened, and dragged on for a quarter of +a century. At the close of this period, Africa was mostly in the hands of +America. But Egypt was an uninhabitable no-man's land, for the South Africans +had very successfully poisoned the sources of the Nile. Europe was under +Chinese military rule. This was enforced by armies of sturdy Central-Asiatics, +who were already beginning to wonder why they did not make themselves masters +of China also. The Chinese language, with European alphabet, was taught in all +schools. In England, however, there were no schools, and no population; for +early in the war, an American air-base had been established in Ireland, and +England had been repeatedly devastated. Airmen passing over what had been +London, could still make out the lines of Oxford Street and the Strand among +the green and grey tangle of ruins. Wild nature, once so jealously preserved in +national "beauty spots" against the incursion of urban civilization, now rioted +over the whole island. At the other side of the world, the Japanese islands had +been similarly devastated in the vain American effort to establish there an +air-base from which to reach the heart of the enemy. So far, however, neither +China nor America had been very seriously damaged; but recently the American +biologists had devised a new malignant germ, more infectious and irresistible +than anything hitherto known. Its work was to disintegrate the highest levels +of the nervous system, and therefore to render all who were even slightly +affected incapable of intelligent action; while a severe attack caused +paralysis and finally death. With this weapon the American military had already +turned one Chinese city into a bedlam; and wandering bacilli had got into the +brains of several high officials throughout the province, rendering their +behaviour incoherent. It was becoming the fashion to attribute all one's +blunders to a touch of the new microbe. Hitherto no effective means of +resisting the spread of this plague had been discovered. And as in the early +stages of the disease the patient became restlessly active, undertaking +interminable and objectless journeys on the flimsiest pretexts, it seemed +probable that the "American madness" would spread throughout China.

+

On the whole, then, the military advantage lay definitely with the +Americans; but economically they were perhaps the more damaged, for their +higher standard of prosperity depended largely on foreign investment and +foreign trade. Throughout the American continent there was now real poverty and +serious symptoms of class war, not indeed between private workers and +employers, but between workers and the autocratic military governing caste +which inevitably war had created. Big business had at first succumbed to the +patriotic fever, but had soon remembered that war is folly and ruinous to +trade. Indeed upon both sides the fervour of nationalism had lasted only a +couple of years, after which the lust of adventure had given place to mere +dread of the enemy. For on each side the populace had been nursed into the +belief that its foe was diabolic. When a quarter of a century had passed since +there had been free intercourse between the two peoples, the real mental +difference which had always existed between them appeared to many almost as a +difference of biological species. Thus in America the Church preached that no +Chinaman had a soul. Satan, it was said, had tampered with the evolution of the +Chinese race when first it had emerged from the pre-human animal. He had +contrived that it should be cunning, but wholly without tenderness. He had +induced in it an insatiable sensuality, and wilful blindness toward the divine, +toward that superbly masterful energy-for-energy's-sake which was the glory of +America. Just as in a prehistoric era the young race of mammals had swept away +the sluggish, brutish and demoded reptiles, so now, it was said, young soulful +America was destined to rid the planet of the reptilian Mongol. In China, on +the other hand, the official view was that the Americans were a typical case of +biological retrogression. Like all parasitic organisms, they had thriven by +specializing in one low-grade mode of behaviour at the expense of their higher +nature; and now, "tape-worms of the planet," they were starving out the higher +capacities of the human race by their frantic acquisitiveness.

+

Such were the official doctrines. But the strain of war had latterly +produced on each side a grave distrust of its own government, and an emphatic +will for peace at any price. The governments hated the peace party even more +than each other, since their existence now depended on war. They even went so +far as to inform one another of the clandestine operations of the pacifists, +discovered by their own secret service in enemy territory.

+

Thus when at last big business and the workers on each side of the Pacific +had determined to stop the war by concerted action, it was very difficult for +their representatives to meet.

+

3. ON AN ISLAND IN THE PACIFIC

+

Save for the governments, the whole human race now earnestly desired peace; +but opinion in America was balanced between the will merely to effect an +economic and political unification of the world, and a fanatical craving to +impose American culture on the East. In China also there was a balance of the +purely commercial readiness to sacrifice ideals for the sake of peace and +prosperity, and the will to preserve Chinese culture. The two individuals who +were to meet in secret for the negotiation of peace were typical of their +respective races; in both of them the commercial and cultural motives were +present, though the commercial was by now most often dominant.

+

It was in the twenty-sixth year of the war that two seaplanes converged by +night from the East and West upon an island in the Pacific, and settled on a +secluded inlet. The moon, destined in another age to smother this whole +equatorial region with her shattered body, now merely besparkled the waves. +From each plane a traveller emerged, and rowed himself ashore in a rubber +coracle. The two men met upon the beach, and shook hands, the one with +ceremony, the other with a slightly forced brotherliness. Already the sun +peered over the wall of the sea, shouting his brilliance and his heat. The +Chinese, taking off his air-helmet, uncoiled his pigtail with a certain +emphasis, stripped off his heavy coverings, and revealed a sky-blue silk pyjama +suit, embroidered with golden dragons. The other, glancing with scarcely veiled +dislike at this finery, flung off his wraps and displayed the decent grey coat +and breeches with which the American business men of this period unconsciously +symbolized their reversion to Puritanism. Smoking the Chinese envoy's +cigarettes, the two sat down to re-arrange the planet.

+

The conversation was amicable, and proceeded without hitch; for there was +agreement about the practical measures to be adopted. The government in each +country was to be overthrown at once. Both representatives were confident that +this could be done if it could be attempted simultaneously on each side of the +Pacific; for in both countries finance and the people could be trusted. In +place of the national governments, a World Finance Directorate was to be +created. This was to be composed of the leading commercial and industrial +magnates of the world, along with representatives of the workers' +organizations. The American representative should be the first president of the +Directorate, and the Chinese the first vice-president. The Directorate was to +manage the whole economic re-organization of the world. In particular, +industrial conditions in the East were to be brought into line with those of +America, while on the other hand the American monopoly of Antarctica was to be +abolished. That rich and almost virgin land was to be subjected to the control +of the Directorate.

+

Occasionally during the conversation reference was made to the great +cultural difference between the East and West; but both the negotiants seemed +anxious to believe that this was only a minor matter which need not be allowed +to trouble a business discussion.

+

At this point occurred one of those incidents which, minute in themselves, +have disproportionately great effects. The unstable nature of the First Men +made them peculiarly liable to suffer from such accidents, and especially so in +their decline.

+

The talk was interrupted by the appearance of a human figure swimming round +a promontory into the little bay. In the shallows she arose, and walked out of +the water towards the creators of the World State. A bronze young smiling +woman, completely nude, with breasts heaving after her long swim, she stood +before them, hesitating. The relation between the two men was instantly +changed, though neither was at first aware of it.

+

"Delicious daughter of Ocean," said the Chinese, in that somewhat archaic +and deliberately un-American English which the Asiatics now affected in +communication with foreigners, "what is there that these two despicable land +animals can do for you? For my friend, I cannot answer, but I at least am +henceforth your slave." His eyes roamed carelessly, yet as it were with perfect +politeness, all over her body. And she, with that added grace which haloes +women when they feel the kiss of an admiring gaze, pressed the sea from her +hair and stood at the point of speech.

+

But the American protested, "Whoever you are, please do not interrupt us. We +are really very busy discussing a matter of great importance, and we have no +time to spare. Please go. Your nudity is offensive to one accustomed to +civilized manners. In a modern country you would not be allowed to bathe +without a costume. We are growing very sensitive on this point."

+

A distressful but enhancing blush spread under the wet bronze, and the +intruder made as if to go. But the Chinese cried, "Stay! We have almost +finished our business talk. Refresh us with your presence. Bring the realities +back into our discussion by permitting us to contemplate for a while the +perfect vase line of your waist and thigh. Who are you? Of what race are you? +My anthropological studies fail to place you. Your skin is fairer than is +native here, though rich with sun. Your breasts are Grecian. Your lips are +chiselled with a memory of Egypt. Your hair, night though it was, is drying +with a most bewildering hint of gold. And your eyes, let me observe them. Long, +subtle, as my countrywomen's, unfathomable as the mind of India, they yet +reveal themselves to your new slave as not wholly black, but violet as the +zenith before dawn. Indeed this exquisite unity of incompatibles conquers both +my heart and my understanding."

+

During this harangue her composure was restored, though she glanced now and +then at the American, who kept ever removing his gaze from her.

+

She answered in much the same diction as the other; but, surprisingly, with +an old-time English accent, "I am certainly a mongrel. You might call me, not +daughter of Ocean, but daughter of Man; for wanderers of every race have +scattered their seed on this island. My body, I know, betrays its diverse +ancestry in a rather queer blend of characters. My mind is perhaps unusual too, +for I have never left this island. And though it is actually less than a +quarter of a century since I was born, a past century has perhaps had more +meaning for me than the obscure events of today. A hermit taught me. Two +hundred years ago he lived actively in Europe; but towards the end of his long +life he retreated to this island. As an old man he loved me. And day by day he +gave me insight into the great spirit of the past; but of this age he gave me +nothing. Now that he is dead, I struggle to familiarize myself with the +present, but I continue to see everything from the angle of another age. And +so," (turning to the American) "if I have offended against modern customs, it +is because my insular mind has never been taught to regard nakedness as +indecent. I am very ignorant, truly a savage. If only I could gain experience +of your great world! If ever this war ends, I must travel."

+

"Delectable," said the Chinese, "exquisitely proportioned, exquisitely +civilized savage! Come with me for a holiday in modern China. There you can +bathe without a costume, so long as you are beautiful."

+

She ignored this invitation, and seemed to have fallen into a reverie. Then +absently she continued, "Perhaps I should not suffer from this restlessness, +this craving to experience the world, if only I were to experience motherhood +instead. Many of the islanders from time to time have enriched me with their +embraces. But with none of them could I permit myself to conceive. They are +dear; but not one of them is at heart more than a child."

+

The American became restless. But again the Mongol intervened, with lowered +and deepened voice. "I," he said, "I, the Vice-President of the World Finance +Directorate, shall be honoured to afford you the opportunity of +motherhood."

+

She regarded him gravely, then smiled as on a child who asks more than it is +reasonable to give. But the American rose hastily. Addressing the silken +Mongol, he said, "You probably know that the American Government is in the act +of sending a second poison fleet to turn your whole population insane, more +insane than you are already. You cannot defend yourselves against this new +weapon; and if I am to save you, I must not trifle any longer. Nor must you, +for we must act simultaneously. We have settled all that matters for the +moment. But before I leave, I must say that your behaviour toward this woman +has very forcibly reminded me that there is something wrong with the Chinese +way of thought and life. In my anxiety for peace, I overlooked my duty in this +respect. I now give you notice that when the Directorate is established, we +Americans must induce you to reform these abuses, for the world's sake and your +own."

+

The Chinese rose and answered, "This matter must be settled locally. We do +not expect you to accept our standards, so do not you expect us to accept +yours." He moved toward the woman, smiling. And the smile outraged the +American.

+

We need not follow the wrangle which now ensued between the two +representatives, each of whom, though in a manner cosmopolitan in sentiment, +was heartily contemptuous of the other's values. Suffice it that the American +became increasingly earnest and dictatorial, the other increasingly careless +and ironical. Finally the American raised his voice and presented an ultimatum. +"Our treaty of world-union," he said, "will remain unsigned unless you add a +clause promising drastic reforms, which, as a matter of fact, my colleagues had +already proposed as a condition of co-operation. I had decided to withhold +them, in case they should wreck our treaty; but now I see they are essential. +You must educate your people out of their lascivious and idle ways, and give +them modern scientific religion. Teachers in your schools and universities must +pledge themselves to the modern fundamentalized physics and behaviourism, and +must enforce worship of the Divine Mover. The change will be difficult, but we +will help you. You will need a strong order of Inquisitors, responsible to the +Directorate. They will see also to the reform of your people's sexual frivolity +in which you squander so much of the Divine Energy. Unless you agree to this, I +cannot stop the war. The law of God must be kept, and those who know it must +enforce it."

+

The woman interrupted him. "Tell me, what is this 'God' of yours? The +Europeans worshipped love, not energy. What do you mean by energy? Is it merely +to make engines go fast, and to agitate the ether?"

+

He answered flatly, as if repeating a lesson, "God is the all-pervading +spirit of movement which seeks to actualize itself wherever it is latent. God +has appointed the great American people to mechanize the universe." He paused, +contemplating the clean lines of his sea-plane. Then he continued with +emphasis, "But come! Time is precious. Either you work for God, or we trample +you out of God's way."

+

The woman approached him, saying, "There is certainly something great in +this enthusiasm. But somehow, though my heart says you are right, my head is +doubting still. There must be a mistake somewhere."

+

"Mistake!" he laughed, overhanging her with his mask of power. "When a man's +soul is action, how can he be mistaken that action is divine? I have served the +great God, Energy, all my life, from garage boy to World President. Has not the +whole American people proved its faith by its success?"

+

With rapture, but still in perplexity, she gazed at him. "There's something +terribly wrong-headed about you Americans," she said, "but certainly you are +great." She looked him in the eyes. Then suddenly she laid a hand on him, and +said with conviction, "Being what you are, you are probably right. Anyhow you +are a man, a real man. Take me. Be the father of my boy. Take me to the +dangerous cities of America to work with you."

+

The President was surprised with sudden hunger for her body, and she saw it; +but he turned to the Vice-President and said, "She has seen where the truth +lies. And you? War, or co-operation in God's work?"

+

"The death of our bodies, or the death of our minds," said the Chinese, but +with a bitterness that lacked conviction; for he was no fanatic. "Well, since +the soul is only the harmoniousness of the body's behaviour, and since, in +spite of this little dispute, we are agreed that the co-ordination of activity +is the chief need of the planet today, and since in respect of our differences +of temperament this lady has judged in favour of America, and moreover since, +if there is any virtue in our Asiatic way of life, it will not succumb to a +little propaganda, but rather will be strengthened by opposition-- since all +these matters are so, I accept your terms. But it would be undignified in China +to let this great change be imposed upon her externally. You must give me time +to form in Asia a native and spontaneous party of Energists, who will +themselves propagate your gospel, and perhaps give it an elegance which, if I +may say so, it has not yet. Even this we will do to secure the cosmopolitan +control of Antarctica."

+

Thereupon the treaty was signed; but a new and secret codicil was drawn up +and signed also, and both were witnessed by the Daughter of Man, in a clear, +round, old-fashioned script.

+

Then, taking a hand of each, she said, "And so at last the world is united. +For how long, I wonder. I seem to hear my old master's voice scolding, as +though I had been rather stupid. But he failed me, and I have chosen a new +master, Master of the World."

+

She released the hand of the Asiatic, and made as if to draw the American +away with her. And he, though he was a strict monogamist with a better half +waiting for him in New York, longed to crush her sun-clad body to his Puritan +cloth. She drew him away among the palm trees.

+

The Vice-President of the World sat down once more, lit a cigarette, and +meditated, smiling.

+

CHAPTER IV. AN AMERICANIZED PLANET

+

1. THE FOUNDATION OF THE FIRST WORLD STATE

+

We have now reached that point in the history of the First Men when, some +three hundred and eighty terrestrial years after the European War, the goal of +world unity was at last achieved--not, however, before the mind of the race had +been seriously crippled.

+

There is no need to recount in detail the transition from rival national +sovereignties to unitary control by the World Financial Directorate. Suffice it +that by concerted action in America and China the military governments found +themselves hamstrung by the passive resistance of cosmopolitan big business. In +China this process was almost instantaneous and bloodless; in America there was +serious disorder for a few weeks, while the bewildered government attempted to +reduce its rebels by martial law. But the population was by now eager for +peace; and, although a few business magnates were shot, and a crowd of workers +here and there mown down, the opposition was irresistible. Very soon the +governing clique collapsed.

+

The new order consisted of a vast system akin to guild socialism, yet at +bottom individualistic. Each industry was in theory democratically governed by +all its members, but in practice was controlled by its dominant individuals. +Co-ordination of all industries was effected by a World Industrial Council, +whereon the leaders of each industry discussed the affairs of the planet as a +whole. The status of each industry on the Council was determined partly by its +economic power in the world, partly by public esteem. For already the +activities of men were beginning to be regarded as either "noble" or "ignoble;" +and the noble were not necessarily the most powerful economically. Thus upon +the Council appeared an inner ring of noble "industries," which were, in +approximate order of prestige, Finance, Flying, Engineering, Surface +Locomotion, Chemical Industry, and Professional Athletics. But the real seat of +power was not the Council, not even the inner ring of the Council, but the +Financial Directorate. This consisted of a dozen millionaires, with the +American President and the Chinese Vice-President at their head.

+

Within this august committee internal dissensions were inevitable. Shortly +after the system had been inaugurated the Vice-President sought to overthrow +the President by publishing his connection with a Polynesian woman who now +styled herself the Daughter of Man. This piece of scandal was expected to +enrage the virtuous American public against their hero. But by a stroke of +genius the President saved both himself and the unity of the world. Far from +denying the charge, he gloried in it. In that moment of sexual triumph, he +said, a great truth had been revealed to him. Without this daring sacrifice of +his private purity, he would never have been really fit to be President of the +World; he would have remained simply an American. In this lady's veins flowed +the blood of all races, and in her mind all cultures mingled. His union with +her, confirmed by many subsequent visits, had taught him to enter into the +spirit of the East, and had given him a broad human sympathy such as his high +office demanded. As a private individual, he insisted, he remained a monogamist +with a wife in New York; and, as a private individual, he had sinned, and must +suffer for ever the pangs of conscience. But as President of the World, it was +incumbent upon him to espouse the World. And since nothing could be said to be +real without a physical basis, this spiritual union had to be embodied and +symbolized by his physical union with the Daughter of Man. In tones of grave +emotion he described through the microphone how, in the presence of that +mystical woman, he had suddenly triumphed over his private moral scruples; and +how, in a sudden access of the divine energy, he had consummated his marriage +with the World in the shade of a banana tree.

+

The lovely form of the Daughter of Man (decently clad) was transmitted by +television to every receiver in the world. Her face, blended of Asia and the +West, became a most potent symbol of human unity. Every man on the planet +became in imagination her lover. Every woman identified herself with this +supreme woman.

+

Undoubtedly there was some truth in the plea that the Daughter of Man had +enlarged the President's mind, for his policy had been unexpectedly tactful +toward the East. Often he had moderated the American demand for the immediate +Americanization of China. Often he had persuaded the Chinese to welcome some +policy which at first they had regarded with suspicion.

+

The President's explanation of his conduct enhanced his prestige both in +America and Asia. America was hypnotized by the romantic religiosity of the +story. Very soon it became fashionable to be a strict monogamist with one +domestic wife, and one "symbolical" wife in the East, or in another town, or a +neighbouring street, or with several such in various localities. In China the +cold tolerance with which the President was first treated was warmed by this +incident into something like affection. And it was partly through his tact, or +the influence of his symbolical wife, that the speeding up of China's +Americanization was effected without disorder.

+

For some months after the foundation of the World State, China had been +wholly occupied in coping with the plague of insanity, called "the American +madness," with which her former enemy had poisoned her. The coast region of +North China had been completely disorganized. Industry, agriculture, transport, +were at a standstill. Huge mobs, demented and starving, staggered about the +country devouring every kind of vegetable matter and wrangling over the flesh +of their own dead. It was long before the disease was brought under control; +and indeed for years afterwards an occasional outbreak would occur, and cause +panic throughout the land.

+

To some of the more old-fashioned Chinese it appeared as though the whole +population had been mildly affected by the germ; for throughout China a new +sect, apparently a spontaneous native growth, calling themselves Energists, +began to preach a new interpretation of Buddhism in terms of the sanctity of +action. And, strange to say, this gospel throve to such an extent that in a few +years the whole educational system was captured by its adherents, though not +without a struggle with the reactionary members of the older universities. +Curiously enough, however, in spite of this general acceptance of the New Way, +in spite of the fact that the young of China were now taught to admire movement +in all its forms, in spite of a much increased wage-scale, which put all +workers in possession of private mechanical locomotion, the masses of China +continued at heart to regard action as a mere means toward rest. And when at +last a native physicist pointed out that the supreme expression of energy was +the tense balance of forces within the atom, the Chinese applied the doctrine +to themselves, and claimed that in them quiescence was the perfect balance of +mighty forces. Thus did the East contribute to the religion of this age. The +worship of activity was made to include the worship of inactivity. And both +were founded on the principles of natural science.

+

2. THE DOMINANCE OF SCIENCE

+

Science now held a position of unique honour among the First Men. This was +not so much because it was in this field that the race long ago during its high +noon had thought most rigorously, nor because it was through science that men +had gained some insight into the nature of the physical world, but rather +because the application of scientific principles had revolutionized their +material circumstances. The once fluid doctrines of science had by now begun to +crystallize into a fixed and intricate dogma; but inventive scientific +intelligence still exercised itself brilliantly in improving the technique of +industry, and thus completely dominated the imagination of a race in which the +pure intellectual curiosity had waned. The scientist was regarded as an +embodiment, not merely of knowledge, but of power; and no legends of the +potency of science seemed too fantastic to be believed.

+

A century after the founding of the first World State a rumour began to be +heard in China about the supreme secret of scientific religion, the awful +mystery of Gordelpus, by means of which it should be possible to utilize the +energy locked up in the opposition of proton and electron. Long ago discovered +by a Chinese physicist and saint, this invaluable knowledge was now reputed to +have been preserved ever since among the elite of science, and to be +ready for publication as soon as the world seemed fit to possess it. The new +sect of Energists claimed that the young Discoverer was himself an incarnation +of Buddha, and that, since the world was still unfit for the supreme +revelation, he had entrusted his secret to the Scientists. On the side of +Christianity a very similar legend was concerned with the same individual. The +Regenerate Christian Brotherhood, by now overwhelmingly the most powerful of +the Western Churches, regarded the Discoverer as the Son of God, who, in this +his Second Coming, had proposed to bring about the millennium by publishing the +secret of divine power; but, finding the peoples still unable to put in +practice even the more primitive gospel of love which was announced at his +First Coming, he had suffered martyrdom for man's sake, and had entrusted his +secret to the Scientists.

+

The scientific workers of the world had long ago organized themselves as a +close corporation. Entrance to the International College of Science was to be +obtained only by examination and the payment of high fees. Membership conferred +the title of "Scientist," and the right to perform experiments. It was also an +essential qualification for many lucrative posts. Moreover, there were said to +be certain technical secrets which members were pledged not to reveal. Rumour +had it that in at least one case of minor blabbing the traitor had shortly +afterwards mysteriously died.

+

Science itself, the actual corpus of natural knowledge, had by now become so +complex that only a tiny fraction of it could be mastered by one brain. Thus +students of one branch of science knew practically nothing of the work of +others in kindred branches. Especially was this the case with the huge science +called Subatomic Physics. Within this were contained a dozen studies, any one +of which was as complex as the whole of the physics of the Nineteenth Christian +Century. This growing complexity had rendered students in one field ever more +reluctant to criticize, or even to try to understand, the principles of other +fields. Each petty department, jealous of its own preserves, was meticulously +respectful of the preserves of others. In an earlier period the sciences had +been co-ordinated and criticized philosophically by their own leaders and by +the technical philosophers. But, philosophy, as a rigorous technical +discipline, no longer existed. There was, of course, a vague framework of +ideas, or assumptions, based on science, and common to all men, a popular +pseudo-science, constructed by the journalists from striking phrases current +among scientists. But actual scientific workers prided themselves on the +rejection of this ramshackle structure, even while they themselves were +unwittingly assuming it. And each insisted that his own special subject must +inevitably remain unintelligible even to most of his brother scientists.

+

Under these circumstances, when rumour declared that the mystery of +Gordelpus was known to the physicists, each department of subatomic physics was +both reluctant to deny the charge explicitly in its own case, and ready to +believe that some other department really did possess the secret. Consequently +the conduct of the scientists as a body strengthened the general belief that +they knew and would not tell.

+

About two centuries after the formation of the first World State, the +President of the World declared that the time was ripe for a formal union of +science and religion, and called a conference of the leaders of these two great +disciplines. Upon that island in the Pacific which had become the Mecca of +cosmopolitan sentiment, and was by now one vast many-storied, and cloud-capped +Temple of Peace, the heads of Buddhism, Mohammedanism, Hinduism, the Regenerate +Christian Brotherhood and the Modern Catholic Church in South America, agreed +that their differences were but differences of expression. One and all were +worshippers of the Divine Energy, whether expressed in activity, or in tense +stillness. One and all recognized the saintly Discoverer as either the last and +greatest of the prophets or an actual incarnation of divine Movement, And these +two concepts were easily shown, in the light of modern science, to be +identical.

+

In an earlier age it had been the custom to single out heresy and extirpate +it with fire and sword. But now the craving for uniformity was fulfilled by +explaining away differences, amid universal applause.

+

When the Conference had registered the unity of the religions, it went on to +establish the unity of religion and science. All knew, said the President, that +some of the scientists were in possession of the supreme secret, though, +wisely, they would not definitely admit it. It was time, then, that the +organizations of Science and Religion should be merged, for the better guidance +of men. He, therefore, called upon the International College of Science to +nominate from amongst themselves a select body, which should be sanctified by +the Church, and called the Sacred Order of Scientists. These custodians of the +supreme secret were to be kept at public expense. They were to devote +themselves wholly to the service of science, and in particular to research into +the most scientific manner of worshipping the Divine Gordelpus.

+

Of the scientists present, some few looked distinctly uncomfortable, but the +majority scarcely concealed their delight under dignified and thoughtful +hesitation. Amongst the priests also two expressions were visible; but on the +whole it was felt that the Church must gain by thus gathering into herself the +unique prestige of science. And so it was that the Order was founded which was +destined to become the dominant force in human affairs until the downfall of +the first world civilization.

+

3. MATERIAL ACHIEVEMENT

+

Save for occasional minor local conflicts, easily quelled by the World +Police, the race was now a single social unit for some four thousand years. +During the first of these millennia material progress at least was rapid, but +subsequently there was little change until the final disintegration. The whole +energy of man was concentrated on maintaining at a constant pitch the furious +routine of his civilization, until, after another three thousand years of +lavish expenditure, certain essential sources of power were suddenly exhausted. +Nowhere was there the mental agility to cope with this novel crisis. The whole +social order collapsed.

+

We may pass over the earlier stages of this fantastic civilization, and +examine it as it stood just before the fatal change began to be felt.

+

The material circumstances of the race at this time would have amazed all +its predecessors, even those who were in the true sense far more civilized +beings. But to us, the Last Men, there is an extreme pathos and even +comicality, not only in this most thorough confusion of material development +with civilization, but also in the actual paucity of the vaunted material +development itself, compared with that of our own society.

+

All the continents, indeed, were by now minutely artificialized. Save for +the many wild reserves which were cherished as museums and playgrounds, not a +square mile of territory was left in a natural state. Nor was there any longer +a distinction between agricultural and industrial areas. All the continents +were urbanized, not of course in the manner of the congested industrial cities +of an earlier age, but none the less urbanized. Industry and agriculture +interpenetrated everywhere. This was possible partly through the great +development of aerial communication, partly through a no less remarkable +improvement of architecture. Great advances in artificial materials had enabled +the erection of buildings in the form of slender pylons which, rising often to +a height of three miles, or even more, and founded a quarter of a mile beneath +the ground, might yet occupy a ground plan of less than half a mile across. In +section these structures were often cruciform; and on each floor, the centre of +the long-armed cross consisted of an aerial landing, providing direct access +from the air for the dwarf private aeroplanes which were by now essential to +the life of every adult. These gigantic pillars of architecture, prophetic of +the still mightier structures of an age to come, were scattered over every +continent in varying density. Very rarely were they permitted to approach one +another by a distance less than their height; on the other hand, save in the +arctic, they were very seldom separated by more than twenty miles. The general +appearance of every country was thus rather like an open forest of lopped +tree-trunks, gigantic in stature. Clouds often encircled the middle heights of +these artificial peaks, or blotted out all but the lower stories. Dwellers in +the summits were familiar with the spectacle of a dazzling ocean of cloud, +dotted on all sides with steep islands of architecture. Such was the altitude +of the upper floors that it was sometimes necessary to maintain in them, not +merely artificial heating, but artificial air pressure and oxygen supply.

+

Between these columns of habitation and industry, the land was everywhere +green or brown with the seasonal variations of agriculture, park, and wild +reserve. Broad grey thoroughfares for heavy freight traffic netted every +continent; but lighter transport and the passenger services were wholly aerial. +Over all the more populous districts the air was ever aswarm with planes up to +a height of five miles, where the giant air-liners plied between the +continents.

+

The enterprise of an already distant past had brought every land under +civilization. The Sahara was a lake district, crowded with sun-proud holiday +resorts. The arctic islands of Canada, ingeniously warmed by directed tropical +currents, were the homes of vigorous northerners. The coasts of Antarctica, +thawed in the same manner, were permanently inhabited by those engaged in +exploiting the mineral wealth of the hinterland.

+

Much of the power needed to keep this civilization in being was drawn from +the buried remains of prehistoric vegetation, in the form of coal. Although +after the foundation of the World State the fuel of Antarctica had been very +carefully husbanded, the new supply of oil had given out in less than three +centuries, and men were forced to drive their aeroplanes by electricity +generated from coal. It soon became evident, however, that even the +unexpectedly rich coal-fields of Antarctica would not last for ever. The +cessation of oil had taught men a much needed lesson, had made them feel the +reality of the power problem. At the same time the cosmopolitan spirit, which +was learning to regard the whole race as compatriots, was also beginning to +take a broader view temporally, and to see things with the eyes of remote +generations. During the first and sanest thousand years of the World State, +there was a widespread determination not to incur the blame of the future by +wasting power. Thus not only was there serious economy (the first large-scale +cosmopolitan enterprise), but also efforts were made to utilize more permanent +sources of power. Wind was used extensively. On every building swarms of +windmills generated electricity, and every mountain range was similarly +decorated, while every considerable fall of water forced its way through +turbines. More important still was the utilization of power derived from +volcanos and from borings into the subterranean heat. This, it had been hoped, +would solve the whole problem of power, once and for all. But even in the +earlier and more intelligent period of the World State inventive genius was not +what it had been, and no really satisfactory method was found. Consequently at +no stage of this civilization did volcanic sources do more than supplement the +amazingly rich coal seams of Antarctica. In this region coal was preserved at +far greater depths than elsewhere, because, by some accident, the earth's +central heat was not here fierce enough (as it was elsewhere) to turn the +deeper beds into graphite. Another possible source of power was known to exist +in the ocean tides; but the use of this was forbidden by the S.O.S. because, +since tidal motion was so obviously astronomical in origin, it had come to be +regarded as sacred.

+

Perhaps the greatest physical achievement of the First World State in its +earlier and more vital phase had been in preventive medicine. Though the +biological sciences had long ago become stereotyped in respect of fundamental +theories, they continued to produce many practical benefits. No longer did men +and women have to dread for themselves or those dear to them such afflictions +as cancer, tuberculosis, angina pectoris, the rheumatic diseases, and the +terrible disorders of the nervous system. No longer were there sudden microbic +devastations. No longer was childbirth an ordeal, and womanhood itself a source +of suffering. There were no more chronic invalids, no more life-long cripples. +Only senility remained; and even this could be repeatedly alleviated by +physiological rejuvenation. The removal of all these ancient sources of +weakness and misery, which formerly had lamed the race and haunted so many +individuals either with definite terrors or vague and scarcely conscious +despond, brought about now a pervading buoyancy and optimism impossible to +earlier peoples.

+

4. THE CULTURE OF THE FIRST WORLD STATE

+

Such was the physical achievement of this civilization. Nothing half so +artificial and intricate and prosperous had ever before existed. An earlier +age, indeed, had held before itself some such ideal as this; but its +nationalistic mania prevented it from attaining the necessary economic unity. +This latter-day civilization, however, had wholly outgrown nationalism, and had +spent many centuries of peace in consolidating itself. But to what end? The +terrors of destitution and ill-health having been abolished, man's spirit was +freed from a crippling burden, and might have dared great adventures. But +unfortunately his intelligence had by now seriously declined. And so this age, +far more than the notorious "nineteenth century," was the great age of barren +complacency.

+

Every individual was a well-fed and physically healthy human animal. He was +also economically independent. His working day was never more than six hours, +often only four. He enjoyed a fair share of the products of industry; and in +his long holidays he was free to wander in his own aeroplane all over the +planet. With good luck he might find himself rich, even for those days, at +forty; and if fortune had not favoured him, he might yet expect affluence +before he was eighty, when he could still look forward to a century of active +life.

+

But in spite of this material prosperity he was a slave. His work and his +leisure consisted of feverish activity, punctuated by moments of listless +idleness which he regarded as both sinful and unpleasant. Unless he was one of +the furiously successful minority, he was apt to be haunted by moments of +brooding, too formless to be called meditation, and of yearning, too blind to +be called desire. For he and all his contemporaries were ruled by certain ideas +which prevented them from living a fully human life.

+

Of these ideas one was the ideal of progress. For the individual, the goal +imposed by his religious teaching was continuous advancement in aeronautical +prowess, legal sexual freedom, and millionaireship. For the race also the ideal +was progress, and progress of the same unintelligent type. Ever more brilliant +and extensive aviation, ever more extensive legal sexual intercourse, ever more +gigantic manufacture, and consumption, were to be co-ordinated in an ever more +intricately organized social system. For the last three thousand years, indeed, +progress even of this rude kind had been minute; but this was a source of pride +rather than of regret. It implied that the goal was already almost attained, +the perfection which should justify the release of the secret of divine power, +and the inauguration of an era of incomparably mightier activity.

+

For the all-pervading idea which tyrannized over the race was the fanatical +worship of movement. Gordelpus, the Prime Mover, demanded of his human +embodiments swift and intricate activity, and the individual's prospect of +eternal life depended on the fulfillment of this obligation. Curiously, though +science had long ago destroyed the belief in personal immortality as an +intrinsic attribute of man, a complementary belief had grown up to the effect +that those who justified themselves in action were preserved eternally, by +special miracle, in the swift spirit of Gordelpus. Thus from childhood to death +the individual's conduct was determined by the obligation to produce as much +motion as possible, whether by his own muscular activity or by the control of +natural forces. In the hierarchy of industry three occupations were honoured +almost as much as the Sacred Order of Scientists, namely, flying, dancing, and +athletics. Every one practised all three of these crafts to some extent, for +they were imposed by religion; but the professional fliers and aeronautical +engineers, and the professional dancers and athletes, were a privileged +class.

+

Several causes had raised flying to a position of unique honour. As a means +of communication it was of extreme practical importance; and as the swiftest +locomotion it constituted the supreme act of worship. The accident that the +form of the aeroplane was reminiscent of the main symbol of the ancient +Christian religion lent flying an additional mystical significance. For though +the spirit of Christianity was lost, many of its symbols had been preserved in +the new faith. A more important source of the dominance of flying was that, +since warfare had long ceased to exist, aviation of a gratuitously dangerous +kind was the main outlet for the innate adventurousness of the human animal. +Young men and women risked their lives fervently for the glory of Gordelpus and +their own salvation, while their seniors took vicarious satisfaction in this +endless festival of youthful prowess. Indeed apart from the thrills of +devotional aerial acrobats, it is unlikely that the race would so long have +preserved its peace and its unity. On each of the frequent Days of Sacred +Flight special rituals of communal and solo aviation were performed at every +religious centre. On these occasions the whole sky would be intricately +patterned with thousands of planes, wheeling, tumbling, soaring, plunging, in +perfect order and at various altitudes, the dance at one level being subtly +complementary to the dance at others. It was as though the spontaneous +evolutions of many distinct flocks of redshank and dunlin were multiplied a +thousand-fold in complexity, and subordinated to a single ever-developing +terpsichorean theme. Then suddenly the whole would burst asunder to the +horizon, leaving the sky open for the quartets, duets and solos of the most +brilliant stars of flight. At night also, regiments of planes bearing coloured +lights would inscribe on the zenith ever-changing and symbolical patterns of +fire. Besides these aerial dances, there had existed for eight hundred years a +custom of spelling out periodically in a dense flight of planes six thousand +miles long the sacred rubrics of the gospel of Gordelpus, so that the living +word might be visible to other plants.

+

In the life of every individual, flying played a great part. Immediately +after birth he was taken up by a priestess of flight and dropped, clinging to a +parachute, to be deftly caught upon the wings of his father's plane. This +ritual served as a substitute for contraception (forbidden as an interference +with the divine energy); for since in many infants the old simian +grasping-instinct was atrophied, a large proportion of the new-born let go and +were smashed upon the paternal wings. At adolescence the individual (male or +female) took charge of a plane for the first time, and his life was +subsequently punctuated by severe aeronautical tests. From middle age onwards, +namely as a centenarian, when he could no longer hope to rise in the hierarchy +of active flight, he continued to fly daily for practical purposes.

+

The two other forms of ritual activity, dancing and athletics, were scarcely +less important. Nor were they confined wholly to the ground. For certain rites +were celebrated by dances upon the wings of a plane in mid air.

+

Dancing was especially associated with the Negro race, which occupied a very +peculiar position in the world at this time. As a matter of fact the great +colour distinctions of mankind were now beginning to fade. Increased aerial +communication had caused the black, brown, yellow and white stocks so to mingle +that everywhere there was by now a large majority of the racially +indistinguishable. Nowhere was there any great number of persons of marked +racial character. But each of the ancient types was liable to crop up now and +again in isolated individuals, especially in its ancient homeland. These +"throw-backs" were customarily treated in special and historically appropriate +manners. Thus, for instance, it was to "sports" of definite Negro character +that the most sacred dancing was entrusted.

+

In the days of the nations, the descendants of emancipated African slaves in +North America had greatly influenced the artistic and religious life of the +white population, and had inspired a cult of negroid dancing which survived +till the end of the First Men. This was partly due to the sexual and primitive +character of Negro dancing, sorely needed in a nation ridden by sexual taboos. +But it had also a deeper source. The American nation had acquired its slaves by +capture, and had long continued to spurn their descendants. Later it +unconsciously compensated for its guilt by a cult of the Negro spirit. Thus +when American culture dominated the planet, the pure Negroes became a sacred +caste. Forbidden many of the rights of citizenship, they were regarded as the +private servants of Gordelpus. They were both sacred and outcast. This dual +role was epitomized in an extravagant ritual which took place once a year in +each of the great national parks. A white woman and a Negro, both chosen for +their prowess in dance, performed a long and symbolical ballet, which +culminated in a ritual act of sexual violation, performed in full view of the +maddened spectators. This over, the Negro knifed his victim, and fled through +the forest pursued by an exultant mob. If he reached sanctuary, he became a +peculiarly sacred object for the rest of his life. But if he was caught, he was +torn to pieces or drenched with inflammable spirit and burned. Such was the +superstition of the First Men at this time that the participants in this +ceremony were seldom reluctant; for it was firmly believed that both were +assured of eternal life in Gordelpus. In America this Sacred Lynching was the +most popular of all festivals; for it was both sexual and bloody, and afforded +a fierce joy to the masses whose sex-life was restricted and secret. In India +and Africa the violator was always an "Englishman," when such a rare creature +could be found. In China the whole character of the ceremony was altered; for +the violation became a kiss, and the murder a touch with a fan.

+

One other race, the Jews, were treated with a similar combination of honour +and contempt, but for very different reasons. In ancient days their general +intelligence, and in particular their financial talent, had co-operated with +their homelessness to make them outcasts; and now, in the decline of the First +Men, they retained the fiction, if not strictly the fact, of racial integrity. +They were still outcasts, though indispensable and powerful. Almost the only +kind of intelligent activity which the First Men could still respect was +financial operation, whether private or cosmopolitan. The Jews had made +themselves invaluable in the financial organization of the world state, having +far outstripped the other races because they alone had preserved a furtive +respect for pure intelligence. And so, long after intelligence had come to be +regarded as disreputable in ordinary men and women, it was expected of the +Jews. In them it was called satanic cunning, and they were held to be +embodiments of the powers of evil, harnessed in the service of Gordelpus. Thus +in time the Jews had made something like "a corner" in intelligence. This +precious commodity they used largely for their own purposes; for two thousand +years of persecution had long ago rendered them permanently tribalistic, +subconsciously if not consciously. Thus when they had gained control of the few +remaining operations which demanded originality rather than routine, they used +this advantage chiefly to strengthen their own position in the world. For, +though relatively bright, they had suffered much of the general coarsening and +limitation which had beset the whole world. Though capable to some extent of +criticizing the practical means by which ends should be realized, they were by +now wholly incapable of criticizing the major ends which had dominated their +race for thousands of years. In them intelligence had become utterly +subservient to tribalism. There was thus some excuse for the universal hate and +even physical repulsion with which they were regarded; for they alone had +failed to make the one great advance, from tribalism to a cosmopolitanism which +in other races was no longer merely theoretical. There was good reason also for +the respect which they received, since they retained and used somewhat +ruthlessly a certain degree of the most distinctively human attribute, +intelligence.

+

In primitive times the intelligence and sanity of the race had been +preserved by the inability of its unwholesome members to survive. When +humanitarianism came into vogue, and the unsound were tended at public expense, +this natural selection ceased. And since these unfortunates were incapable +alike of prudence and of social responsibility, they procreated without +restraint, and threatened to infect the whole species with their rottenness. +During the zenith of Western Civilization, therefore, the subnormal were +sterilized. But the latter-day worshippers of Gordelpus regarded both +sterilization and contraception as a wicked interference with the divine +potency. Consequently the only restriction on population was the suspension of +the new-born from aeroplanes, a process which, though it eliminated weaklings, +favoured among healthy infants rather the primitive than the highly developed. +Thus the intelligence of the race steadily declined. And no one regretted +it.

+

The general revulsion from intelligence was a corollary of the adoration of +instinct, and this in turn was an aspect of the worship of activity. Since the +unconscious source of human vigour was the divine energy, spontaneous impulse +must so far as possible never be thwarted. Reasoning was indeed permitted to +the individual within the sphere of his official work, but never beyond. And +not even specialists might indulge in reasoning and experiment without +obtaining a licence for the particular research. The licence was expensive, and +was only granted if the goal in view could be shown to be an increase of world +activity. In old times certain persons of morbid curiosity had dared to +criticize the time-honoured methods of doing things, and had suggested "better" +methods not convenient to the Sacred Order of Scientists. This had to be +stopped. By the fourth millennium of the World State the operations of +civilization had become so intricately stereotyped that novel situations of a +major order never occurred.

+

One kind of intellectual pursuit in addition to finance was, indeed. +honoured, namely mathematical calculation. All ritual movements, all the +motions of industrial machinery, all observable natural phenomena, had to be +minutely described in mathematical formulae. The records were filed in the +sacred archives of the S.O.S. And there they remained. The vast enterprise of +mathematical description was the main work of the scientists, and was said to +be the only means by which the evanescent thing, movement, could be passed into +the eternal being of Gordelpus.

+

The cult of instinct did not result simply in a life of ungoverned impulse. +Far from it. For the fundamental instinct, it was said, was the instinct to +worship Gordelpus in action, and this should rule all the other instincts. Of +these, the most important and sacred was the sexual impulse, which the First +Men had ever tended to regard as both divine and obscene. Sex, therefore, was +now very strictly controlled. Reference to sexuality, save by circumlocution, +was forbidden by law. Persons who remarked on the obvious sexual significance +of the religious dances, were severely punished. No sexual activity and no sex +knowledge were permitted to the individual until he had won his (or her) wings. +Much information, of a distorted and perverted nature could, indeed, be gained +meanwhile by observation of the religious writings and practices; but +officially these sacred matters were all given a metaphysical, not a sexual +interpretation. And though legal maturity, the Wing-Winning, might occur as +early as the age of fifteen, sometimes it was not attained till forty. If at +that age the individual still failed in the test, he or she was forbidden +sexual intercourse and information for ever.

+

In China and India this extravagant sexual taboo was somewhat mitigated. +Many easy-going persons had come to feel that the imparting of sex knowledge to +the "immature" was only wrong when the medium of communication was the sacred +American language. They therefore made use of the local patois. Similarly, +sexual activity of the "immature" was permissible so long as it was performed +solely in the wild reserves, and without American speech. These subterfuges, +however, were condemned by the orthodox, even in Asia.

+

When a man had won his wings, he was formally initiated into the mystery of +sex and all its "biologico-religious" significance. He was also allowed to take +a "domestic wife." and after a much more severe aviation test, any number of +"symbolical" wives. Similarly with the woman. These two kinds of partnership +differed greatly. The "domestic" husband and wife appeared in public together, +and their union was indissoluble. The "symbolic" union, on the other hand, +could be dissolved by either party. Also it was too sacred ever to be revealed, +or even mentioned, in public.

+

A very large number of persons never passed the test which sanctioned +sexuality. These either remained virgin, or indulged in sexual relations which +were not only illegal but sacrilegious. The successful, on the other hand, were +apt to consummate sexually every casual acquaintance.

+

Under these circumstances it was natural that there should exist among the +sexually submerged part of the population certain secret cults which sought +escape from harsh reality into worlds of fantasy. Of these illicit sects, two +were most widespread. One was a perversion of the ancient Christian faith in a +God of Love. All love, it was said, is sexual; therefore in worship, private or +public, the individual must seek a direct sexual relation with God. Hence arose +a grossly phallic cult, very contemptible to those more fortunate persons who +had no need of it.

+

The other great heresy was derived partly from the energy of repressed +intellective impulses, and was practised by persons of natural curiosity who, +nevertheless, shared the universal paucity of intelligence. These pathetic +devotees of intellect were inspired by Socrates. That great primitive had +insisted that clear thought is impossible without clear definition of terms, +and that without clear thinking man misses fullness of being. These his last +disciples were scarcely less fervent admirers of truth than their master, yet +they missed his spirit completely. Only by knowing the truth, they said, can +the individual attain immortality; only by defining can he know the truth. +Therefore, meeting together in secret, and in constant danger of arrest for +illicit intellection, they disputed endlessly about the definition of things. +But the things which they were concerned to define were not the basic concepts +of human thought; for these, they affirmed, had been settled once for all by +Socrates and his immediate followers. Therefore, accepting these as true, and +grossly misunderstanding them, the ultimate Socratics undertook to define all +the processes of the world state and the ritual of the established religion, +all the emotions of men and women, all the shapes of noses, mouths, buildings, +mountains, clouds, and in fact the whole superficies of their world. Thus they +believe that they emancipated themselves from the philistinism of their age, +and secured comradeship with Socrates in the hereafter.

+

5. DOWNFALL

+

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 movement 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.

+

To gain a clearer view of this strange state of mind, let us watch the +conduct of an individual. An important but typical incident occurred on the +north coast of Baffin Island, now a great timber area dotted with residential +pylons. The final preparations were being made for the great New Year Flight, +in which the island intended to dazzle the rest of the archipelago. In every +building the aerial landings thronged with planes and busy fliers. One of these +planes was being given its finishing touches by a mother, while her boy +watched, or lent a hand. Like many others, that afternoon she was in an +overwrought state. Food had long been unwholesome and scanty. The central +heating had been cruelly diminished, and the upper stories of the pylon were +arctic. The lad had made matters worse by ragging her with innocently +blasphemous suggestions, with which at heart she could not but sympathise. Why +bother about the ceremony? Why not use their ration of power to go shopping in +the South? Sure Gordelpus could not want his people to waste power in air shows +when they were starving and freezing. She would never want him to starve, just +to show he loved her. Gordelpus must be a beast if he liked that sort of thing. +And anyhow it was dangerous to do flying-stunts when she was all empty and +wobbly. In vain she had silenced him with the correct answers, for she herself +was not convinced by them. Her hands blundered, her vision was obscured by +tears. A spanner slipped, and she barked her knuckles.

+

The two drifted to the window and looked out across the dark carpet of +forest, actually so hilly, yet so level in this lofty view. The western sky was +colouring. Two distant buildings stood against it, giants of dark +rectitude.

+

"The sun is setting," she said, "and we are not ready." Silently the two +worked on the place for a while, till a siren sounded wailing, threateningly. +While they hurried into their flying clothes, the great air-doors slid open, +and an arctic wind leapt at them. Both climbed into the machine and waited. The +boy crunched a precious biscuit. Another scream of the siren, and they shot out +into the glowing void. They became an insignificant unit in a swarm of planes +that had issued from every floor of the building to climb the violet zenith. +From the distant pylons arose a similar smoke of fliers.

+

At first the exhilaration of flight, and the hypnotic presence of a vast +aerial multitude, banished all troubles. Almost every flier attained for a +while that ecstasy of action which was both the glory and the undoing of the +First Men. Hour after hour they looped and wheeled, climbed, poised and dived, +weaving kaleidoscopic patterns on the darkness with their coloured lights. They +were a tumultuous yet ordered galaxy, spread out from horizon to horizon.

+

Overhead, Sirius winded; Orion lounged unimpressed.

+

Now in the New Year ceremony the movement of the dance was arranged to +accelerate steadily from midnight up to the climax of dawn. And the dancers +expected to be strengthened with an increasing fervour which should blot out +fatigue. But on this occasion many of the fliers were shocked to find +themselves hampered by physical exhaustion and spiritual lassitude. Amongst +these were the mother and her boy. In him, exhilaration had given place to +brooding, to furtive critical introspection of the whole circumstance of his +life. He thought of himself as a fledgling that a hawk had snatched up aloft, +crushing its incompetent wings. The hawk was not his mother, but some invisible +spirit of flight, in whose grip she was also powerless. Presently this reverie +gave way to anxiety, for he noticed that he control of the plane was becoming +erratic.

+

And now the supreme moment was at hand. Already the Eastern sky was warm. +The whole aerial population raced toward it, and soared vertically, higher and +higher, till they flashed into the sunlight, inscribing the holy name on the +sky in letters of massed flight. Then they dropped backwards into the darkness. +Again and again they leapt, flashed, dropped, until at last the sun touched the +hill tops beneath them.

+

The mother's icy hands fumbled at their work. Her head reeled. All night she +had fought alternately against two enemies, despair, and increasing tendency to +fall asleep. Again and again she had plucked herself from the rising tide of +somnolence; again and again she had wakened to the stark fact that her boy and +herself were helpless in a doomed world. At last, in a vision born of +exhaustion and misery, she seemed to herself to see beneath her the whole globe +of the earth in all its detail, its squared forests and tillage, its +long-shadowed towers, its arctic channels, where old men vainly sought for a +way to the golden East, and naively gathered pyrites, its Greenland's icy +mountains, its India, and Africa, and through its oddly transparent depths to +irrigated Australia. How queer the people looked there, all upside-down! +Lunatics! All the planet was seen to be peopled with lunatics; and over it +spread the fiery and mindless desert of the sky. She put her hands over her +eyes. The plane strayed for a few seconds unguided, then spun, and crashed +among the pine trees.

+

Others also came to grief that night. There were casualties in every land. +Some blundered in the wild acrobatics at dawn, and went headlong to death. +Some, appalled by disillusion, deliberately wrecked themselves. Some few dared +to break rank and fly off in sacrilegious independence-till they were shot down +for treason against Gordelpus.

+

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 overdaring 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, amid 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 waterpower and windpower +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 natural 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.

+

CHAPTER V. THE FALL OF THE FIRST MEN

+

1. THE FIRST DARK AGE

+

We have reached a period in man's history rather less than five thousand +years after the life of Newton. In this chapter we must cover about one hundred +and fifteen thousand years, and in the next chapter another ten million years. +That will bring us to a point as remotely future from the First World State as +the earliest anthropoids were remotely past. During the first tenth of the +first million years after the fall of the World State, during a hundred +thousand years, man remained in complete eclipse. Not till the close of this +span, which we will call the First Dark Age, did he struggle once more from +savagery through barbarism into civilization and then his renaissance was +relatively brief. From its earliest beginnings to its end, it covered only +fifteen thousand years; and in its final agony the planet was so seriously +damaged that mind lay henceforth in deep slumber for ten more millions of +years. This was the Second Dark Age. Such is the field which we must observe in +this and the following chapter.

+

It might have been expected that, after the downfall of the First World +State, recovery would have occurred within a few generations. Historians have, +indeed, often puzzled over the cause of this surprisingly complete and lasting +degradation. Innate human nature was roughly the same immediately after as +immediately before the crisis; yet minds that had easily maintained a +world-civilization in being, proved quite incapable of building a new order on +the ruins of the old. Far from recovering, man's estate rapidly deteriorated +till it had sunk into abject savagery.

+

Many causes contributed to this result, some relatively superficial and +temporary, some profound and lasting. It is as though Fate, directing events +toward an allotted end, had availed herself of many diverse instruments, none +of which would have sufficed alone, though all worked together irresistibly in +the same sense. The immediate cause of the helplessness of the race during the +actual crisis of the World State was of course the vast epidemic of insanity +and still more widespread deterioration of intelligence, which resulted from +the use of microbes. This momentary seizure made it impossible for man to check +his downfall during its earliest and least unmanageable stage. Later, when the +epidemic was spent, even though civilization was already in ruins, a concerted +effort of devotion might yet have rebuilt it on a more modest plan. But among +the First Men only a minority had ever been capable of wholehearted devotion. +The great majority were by nature too much obsessed by private impulses. And in +this black period, such was the depth of disillusion and fatigue, that even +normal resolution was impossible. Not only man's social structure but the +structure of the universe itself, it seemed, had failed. The only reaction was +supine despair. Four thousand years of routine had deprived human nature of all +its suppleness. To expect these things to refashion their whole behaviour, were +scarcely less unreasonable than to expect ants, when their nest was flooded, to +assume the habits of water beetles.

+

But a far more profound and lasting cause doomed the First Men to lie prone +for a long while, once they had fallen. A subtle physiological change, which it +is tempting to call "general senescence of the species," was undermining the +human body and mind. The chemical equilibrium of each individual was becoming +more unstable, so that, little by little, man's unique gift of prolonged youth +was being lost. Far more rapidly than of old, his tissues failed to compensate +for the wear and tear of living. This disaster was by no means inevitable; but +it was brought on by influences peculiar to the make-up of the species, and +aggravated artificially. For during some thousands of years man had been living +at too high a pressure in a biologically unnatural environment, and had found +no means of compensating his nature for the strain thus put upon it.

+

Conceive, then, that after the fall of the First World State, the +generations slid rapidly through dusk into night. To inhabit those centuries +was to live in the conviction of universal decay, and under the legend of a +mighty past. The population was derived almost wholly from the agriculturists +of the old order, and since agriculture had been considered a sluggish and base +occupation, fit only for sluggish natures, the planet was now peopled with +yokels. Deprived of power, machinery, and chemical fertilizers, these bumpkins +were hard put to it to keep themselves alive. And indeed only a tenth of their +number survived the great disaster. The second generation knew civilization +only as a legend. Their days were filled with ceaseless tillage, and in banding +together to fight marauders. Women became once more sexual and domestic +chattels. The family, or tribe of families, became the largest social whole. +Endless brawls and feuds sprang up between valley and valley, and between the +tillers and the brigand swarms. Small military tyrants rose and fell; but no +permanent unity of control could be maintained over a wide region. There was no +surplus wealth to spend on such luxuries as governments and trained armies.

+

Thus without appreciable change the millennia dragged on in squalid +drudgery. For these latter-day barbarians were hampered by living in a used +planet. Not only were coal and oil no more, but almost no mineral wealth of any +kind remained within reach of their feeble instruments and wits. In particular +the minor metals, needed for so many of the multifarious activities of +developed material civilization, had long ago disappeared from the more +accessible depths of the earth's crust. Tillage moreover was hampered by the +fact that iron itself, which was no longer to be had without mechanical mining, +was now inaccessible. Men had been forced to resort once more to stone +implements, as their first human ancestors had done. But they lacked both the +skill and the persistence of the ancients. Not for them the delicate flaking of +the Paleoliths nor the smooth symmetry of the Neoliths. Their tools were but +broken pebbles, chipped improvements upon natural stones. On almost every one +they engraved the same pathetic symbol, the Swastika or cross, which had been +used by the First Men as a sacred emblem throughout their existence, though +with varying significance. In this instance it had originally been the figure +of an aeroplane diving to destruction, and had been used by the rebels to +symbolize the downfall of Gordelpus and the State. But subsequent generations +reinterpreted the emblem as the sign manual of a divine ancestor, and as a +memento of the golden age from which they were destined to decline for ever, or +until the gods should intervene. Almost one might say that in its persistent +use of this symbol the first human species unwittingly epitomized its own dual +and self-thwarting nature.

+

The idea of irresistible decay obsessed the race at this time. The +generation which brought about the downfall of the World State oppressed its +juniors with stories of past amenities and marvels, and hugged to itself the +knowledge that the young men had not the wit to rebuild such complexity. +Generation by generation, as the circumstance of actual life became more +squalid, the legend of past glory became more extravagant. The whole mass of +scientific knowledge was rapidly lost, save for a few shreds which were of +practical service even in savage life. Fragments of the old culture were indeed +preserved in the tangle of folk-lore that meshed the globe, but they were +distorted beyond recognition. Thus there was a widespread belief that the world +had begun as fire, and that life had evolved out of the fire. After the apes +had appeared, evolution ceased (so it was said), until divine spirits came down +and possessed the female apes, thereby generating human beings. Thus had arisen +the golden age of the divine ancestors. But unfortunately after a while the +beast in man had triumphed over the god, so that progress had given place to +age-long decay. And indeed decay was now unavoidable, until such time as the +gods should see fit to come down to cohabit with women and fire the race once +more. This faith in the second coming of the gods persisted here and there +throughout the First Dark Age, and consoled men for their vague conviction of +degeneracy.

+

Even at the close of the First Dark Age, the ruins of the ancient +residential pylons still characterized every landscape, often with an effect of +senile domination over the hovels of latter-day savages. For the living races +dwelt beneath these relics like puny grandchildren playing around the feet of +their fathers' once mightier fathers. So well had the past built, and with such +durable material, that even after a hundred millennia the ruins were still +recognizably artifacts. Though for the most part they were of course by now +little more than pyramids of debris overgrown with grass and brushwood, most of +them retained some stretch of standing wall, and here and there a favoured +specimen still reared from its rubble-encumbered base a hundred foot or so of +cliff, punctured with windows. Fantastic legends now clustered round these +relics. In one myth the men of old had made for themselves huge palaces which +could fly. For a thousand years (an aeon to these savages) men had dwelt in +unity, and in reverence of the gods; but at last they had become puffed up with +their own glory, and had undertaken to fly to the sun and moon and the field of +stars, to oust the gods from their bright home. But the gods sowed discord +among them, so that they fell a-fighting one another in the upper air, and +their swift palaces crashed down to the earth in thousands, to be monuments of +man's folly for ever after. In yet another saga it was the men themselves who +were winged. They inhabited dovecotes of masonry, with summits overtopping the +stars and outraging the gods; who therefore destroyed them. Thus in one form or +another, this theme of the downfall of the mighty fliers of old tyrannized over +these abject peoples. Their crude tillage, their hunting, their defence against +the reviving carnivora, were hampered at every turn by fear of offending the +gods by any innovation.

+

2. THE RISE OF PATAGONIA

+

As the centuries piled up, the human species had inevitably diverged once +more into many races in the various geographical areas. And each race consisted +of a swarm of tribes, each ignorant of all but its immediate neighbours. After +many millennia this vast diversification of stocks and cultures made it +possible for fresh biological transfusions and revivifications to occur. At +last, after many racial copulations, a people arose in whom the ancient dignity +of humanity was somewhat restored. Once more there was a real distinction +between the progressive and the backward regions, between "primitive" and +relatively enlightened cultures.

+

This rebirth occurred in the Southern Hemisphere. Complex climatic changes +had rendered the southern part of South America a fit nursery for civilization. +Further, an immense warping of the earth's crust to the east and south of +Patagonia, had turned what was once a relatively shallow region of the ocean +into a vast new land connecting America with Antarctica by way of the former +Falkland Islands and South Georgia, and stretching thence east and north-east +into the heart of the Atlantic.

+

It happened also that in South America the racial conditions were more +favourable than elsewhere. After the fall of the First World State the European +element in this region had dwindled, and the ancient "Indian" and Peruvian +stock had come into dominance. Many thousands of years earlier, this race had +achieved a primitive civilization of its own. After its ruin at the hands of +the Spaniards, it had seemed a broken and negligible thing; yet it had ever +kept itself curiously aloof in spirit from its conquerors. Though the two +stocks had mingled inextricably, there remained ever in the remoter parts of +this continent a way of life which was foreign to the dominant Americanism. +Superficially Americanized, it remained fundamentally "Indian" and +unintelligible to the rest of the world. Throughout the former civilization +this spirit had lain dormant like a seed in winter; but with the return of +barbarism it had sprouted, and quietly spread in all directions. From the +interaction of this ancient primitive culture and the many other racial +elements left over in the continent from the old cosmopolitan civilization, +civil life was to begin once more. Thus in a manner the Incas were at last to +triumph over their conquerors.

+

Various causes, then, combined in South America, and especially in the new +and virgin plains of Patagonia, to bring the First Dark Age to an end. The +great theme of mind began to repeat itself. But in a minor key. For a grave +disability hampered the Patagonians. They began to grow old before their +adolescence was completed. In the days of Einstein, an individual's youth +lasted some twenty-five years, and under the World State it had been +artificially doubled. After the downfall of civilization the increasing natural +brevity of the individual life was no longer concealed by artifice, and at the +end of the First Dark Age a boy of fifteen was already settling into middle +age. Patagonian civilization at its height afforded considerable ease and +security of life, and enabled man to live to seventy or even eighty; but the +period of sensitive and supple youth remained at the very best little more than +a decade and a half. Thus the truly young were never able to contribute to +culture before they were already at heart middle-aged. At fifteen their bones +were definitely becoming brittle, their hair grizzled, their faces lined. Their +joints and muscles were stiffening, their brains were no longer quick to learn +new adjustments, their fervour was evaporating.

+

It may seem strange that under these circumstances any kind of civilization +could be achieved by the race, that any generation should ever have been able +to do more than learn the tricks of its elders. Yet in fact, though progress +was never swift, it was steady. For though these beings lacked much of the +vigour of youth, they were compensated somewhat by escaping much of youth's +fevers and distractions. The First Men, in fact, were now a race whose wild +oats had been sown; and though their youthful escapades had somewhat crippled +them, they had now the advantage of sobriety and singleness of purpose. Though +doomed by lassitude, and a certain fear of extravagance, to fall short of the +highest achievements of their predecessors, they avoided much of the wasteful +incoherence and mental conflict which had tortured the earlier civilization at +its height, though not in its decline. Moreover, because their animal nature +was somewhat subdued, the Patagonians were more capable of dispassionate +cognition, and more inclined toward intellectualism. They were a people in whom +rational behaviour was less often subverted by passion, though more liable to +fail through mere indolence or faint-heartedness. Though they found detachment +relatively easy, theirs was the detachment of mere lassitude, not the leap from +the prison of life's cravings into a more spacious world.

+

One source of the special character of the Patagonian mind was that in it +the sexual impulse was relatively weak. Many obscure causes had helped to +temper that lavish sexuality in respect of which the first human species +differed from all other animals, even the continuously sexual apes. These +causes were diverse, but they combined to produce in the last phase of the life +of the species a general curtailment of excess energy. In the Dark Age the +severity of the struggle for existence had thrust the sexual interest back +almost into the subordinate place which it occupies in the animal mind. Coitus +became a luxury only occasionally desired, while self-preservation had become +once more an urgent and ever-present necessity. When at last life began to be +easier, sexuality remained in partial eclipse, for the forces of racial +"senescence" were at work. Thus the Patagonian culture differed in mood from +all the earlier cultures of the First Men. Hitherto it had been the clash of +sexuality and social taboo that had generated half the fervour and half the +delusions of the race. The excess energy of a victorious species, directed by +circumstance into the great river of sex, and dammed by social convention, had +been canalized for a thousand labours. And though often it would break loose +and lay all waste before it, in the main it had been turned to good account. At +all times indeed, it had been prone to escape in all directions and carve out +channels for itself, as a lopped tree stump sends forth not one but a score of +shoots. Hence the richness, diversity, incoherence, violent and uncomprehended +cravings and enthusiasms, of the earlier peoples. In the Patagonians there was +no such luxuriance. That they were not highly sexual was not in itself a +weakness. What mattered was that the springs of energy which formerly happened +to flood into the channel of sex were themselves impoverished.

+

Conceive, then, a small and curiously sober people established east of the +ancient Bahia Blanca, and advancing century by century over the plains and up +the valleys. In time it reached and encircled the heights which were once the +island of South Georgia, while to the north and west it spread into the +Brazilian highlands and over the Andes. Definitely of higher type than any of +their neighbours, definitely more vigorous and acute, the Patagonians were +without serious rivals. And since by temperament they were peaceable and +conciliatory, their cultural progress was little delayed, either by military +imperialism or internal strife. Like their predecessors in the northern +hemisphere, they passed through phases of disruption and union, retrogression +and regeneration; but their career was on the whole more steadily progressive, +and less dramatic, than anything that had occurred before. Earlier peoples had +leapt from barbarism to civil life and collapsed again within a thousand years. +The slow march of the Patagonians took ten times as long to pass from a tribal +to a civic organization.

+

Eventually they comprised a vast and highly organized community of +autonomous provinces, whose political and cultural centre lay upon the new +coast north-east of the ancient Falkland Islands, while its barbarian outskirts +included much of Brazil and Peru. The absence of serious strife between the +various parts of this "empire" was due partly to an innately pacific +disposition, partly to a genius for organization. These influences were +strengthened by a curiously potent tradition of cosmopolitanism, or human +unity, which had been born in the agony of disunion before the days of the +World State, and was so burnt into men's hearts that it survived as an element +of myth even through the Dark Age. So powerful was this tradition, that even +when the sailing ships of Patagonia had founded colonies in remote Africa and +Australia, these new communities remained at heart one with the mother country. +Even when the almost Nordic culture of the new and temperate Antarctic coasts +had outshone the ancient centre, the political harmony of the race was never in +danger.

+

3. THE CULT OF YOUTH

+

The Patagonians passed through all the spiritual phases that earlier races +had experienced, but in a distinctive manner. They had their primitive tribal +religion, derived from the dark past, and based on the fear of natural forces. +They had their monotheistic impersonation of Power as a vindictive Creator. +Their most adored racial hero was a god-man who abolished the old religion of +fear. They had their phases, also, of devout ritual and their phases of +rationalism, and again their phases of empirical curiosity.

+

Most significant for the historian who would understand their special +mentality is the theme of the god-man; so curiously did it resemble, yet differ +from, similar themes in earlier cultures of the first human species. He was +conceived as eternally adolescent, and as mystically the son of all men and +women. Far from being the Elder Brother, he was the Favourite Child; and indeed +he epitomizes that youthful energy and enthusiasm which the race now guessed +was slipping away from it. Though the sexual interest of this people was weak, +the parental interest was curiously strong. But the worship of the Favourite +Son was not merely parental; it expressed also both the individual's craving +for his own lost youth, and his obscure sense that the race itself was +senescent.

+

It was believed that the prophet had actually lived a century as a fresh +adolescent. He was designated the Boy who Refused to Grow Up. And this vigour +of will was possible to him, it was said, because in him the feeble vitality of +the race was concentrated many millionfold. For he was the fruit of all +parental passion that ever was and would be; and as such he was divine. +Primarily he was the Son of Man, but also he was God. For God, in this +religion, was no prime Creator but the fruit of man's endeavour. The Creator +was brute power, which had quite inadvertently begotten a being nobler than +itself. God, the adorable, was the eternal outcome of man's labour in time, the +eternally realized promise of what man himself should become. Yet though this +cult was based on the will for a young-hearted future, it was also overhung by +a dread, almost at times a certainty, that in fact such a future would never +be, that the race was doomed to grow old and die, that spirit could never +conquer the corruptible flesh, but must fade and vanish. Only by taking to +heart the message of the Divine Boy, it was said, could man hope to escape this +doom.

+

Such was the legend. It is instructive to examine the reality. The actual +individual, in whom this myth of the Favourite Son was founded, was indeed +remarkable. Born of shepherd parents among the Southern Andes, he had first +become famous as the leader of a romantic "youth movement"; and it was this +early stage of his career that won him followers. He urged the young to set an +example to the old, to live their own life undaunted by conventions, to enjoy, +to work hard but briefly, to be loyal comrades. Above all, he preached the +religious duty of remaining young in spirit. No one, he said, need grow old, if +he willed earnestly not to do so, if he would but keep his soul from falling +asleep, his heart open to all rejuvenating influences and shut to every breath +of senility. The delight of soul in soul, he said, was the great rejuvenator; +it re-created both lover and beloved. If Patagonians would only appreciate each +other's beauty without jealousy, the race would grow young again. And the +mission of his ever-increasing Band of Youth was nothing less than the +rejuvenation of man.

+

The propagation of this attractive gospel was favoured by a seeming miracle. +The prophet turned out to be biologically unique among Patagonians. When many +of his coevals were showing signs of senescence, he remained physically young. +Also he possessed a sexual vigour which to the Patagonians seemed miraculous. +And since sexual taboo was unknown, he exercised himself so heartily in +love-making, that he had paramours in every village, and presently his +offspring were numbered in hundreds. In this respect his followers strove hard +to live up to him, though with small success. But it was not only physically +that the prophet remained young. He preserved also a striking youthful agility +of mind. His sexual prodigality, though startling to his contemporaries, was in +him a temperate overflow of surplus energy. Far from exhausting him, it +refreshed him. Presently, however, this exuberance gave place to a more sober +life of work and meditation. It was in this period that he began to +differentiate himself mentally from his fellows. For at twenty-five, when most +Patagonians were deeply settled into a mental groove, he was still battling +with successive waves of ideas, and striking out into the unknown. Not till he +was forty, and still physically in earlier prime, did he gather his strength +and deliver himself of his mature gospel. This, his considered view of +existence, turned out to be almost unintelligible to Patagonians. Though in a +sense it was an expression of their own culture, it was an expression upon a +plane of vitality to which very few of them could ever reach.

+

The climax came when, during a ceremony in the supreme temple of the capital +city, while the worshippers were all prostrated before the hideous image of the +Creator, the ageless prophet strode up to the altar, regarded first the +congregation and then the god, burst into a hearty peal of laughter, slapped +the image resoundingly, and cried, "Ugly, I salute you! Not as almighty, but as +the greatest of all jokers. To have such a face, and yet to be admired for it! +To be so empty, and yet so feared!" Instantly there was a hubbub. But such was +the young iconoclast's god-like radiance, confidence, unexpectedness, and such +his reputation as the miraculous Boy, that when he turned upon the crowd, they +fell silent, and listened to his scolding.

+

"Fools!" he cried. "Senile infants! If God really likes your adulation, and +all this hugger-mugger, it is because he enjoys the joke against you, and +against himself, too. You are too serious, yet not serious enough; too solemn, +and all for puerile ends. You are so eager for life, that you cannot live. You +cherish your youth so much that it flies from you. When I was a boy, I said, +'Let us keep young'; and you applauded, and went about hugging your toys and +refusing to grow up. What I said was not bad for a boy, but it was not enough. +Now I am a man; and I say, 'For God's sake, grow up! Of course we must keep +young; but it is useless to keep young if we do not also grow up, and never +stop growing up. To keep young, surely, is just to keep supple and keen; and to +grow up is not at all a mere sinking into stiffness and into disillusion, but a +rising into ever finer skill in all the actions of the game of living. There is +something else, too, which is a part of growing up--to see that life is really, +after all, a game; a terribly serious game, no doubt, but none the less a game. +When we play a game, as it should be played, we strain every muscle to win; but +all the while we care less for winning than for the game. And we play the +better for it. When barbarians play against a Patagonian team, they forget that +it is a game, and go mad for victory. And then how we despise them! If they +find themselves losing, they turn savage; if winning, blatant. Either way, the +game is murdered, and they cannot see that they are slaughtering a lovely +thing. How they pester and curse the umpire, too! I have done that myself, of +course, before now; not in games but in life. I have actually cursed the umpire +of life. Better so, anyhow, than to insult him with presents, in the hope of +being favoured; which is what you are doing here, with your salaams and your +vows. I never did that. I merely hated him. Then later I learned to laugh at +him, or rather at the thing you set up in his place. But now at last I see him +clearly, and laugh with him, at myself, for having missed the spirit of the +game. But as for you! Coming here to fawn and whine and cadge favours of the +umpire!"

+

At this point the people rushed toward him to seize him. But he checked them +with a young laugh that made them love while they hated. He spoke again.

+

"I want to tell you how I came to learn my lesson. I have a queer love for +clambering about the high mountains; and once when I was up among the +snow-fields and precipices of Aconcagua, I was caught in a blizzard. Perhaps +some of you may know what storms can be like in the mountains. The air became a +hurtling flood of snow. I was swallowed up and carried away. After many hours +of floundering, I fell into a snow-drift. I tried to rise, but fell again and +again, till my head was buried. The thought of death enraged me, for there was +still so much that I wanted to do. I struggled frantically, vainly. Then +suddenly-- how can I put it?--I saw the game that I was losing, and it was +good. Good, no less to lose than to win. For it was the game, now, not victory, +that mattered. Hitherto I had been blindfold, and a slave to victory; suddenly +I was free, and with sight. For now I saw myself, and all of us, through the +eyes of the umpire. It was as though a play-actor were to see the whole play, +with his own part in it, through the author's eyes, from the auditorium. Here +was I, acting the part of a rather fine man who had come to grief through his +own carelessness before his work was done. For me, a character in the play, the +situation was hideous; yet for me, the spectator, it had become excellent, +within a wider excellence. I saw that it was equally so with all of us, and +with all the worlds. For I seemed to see a thousand worlds taking part with us +in the great show. And I saw everything through the calm eyes, the exultant, +almost derisive, yet not unkindly, eyes of the playwright.

+

"Well, it had seemed that my exit had come; but no, there was still a cue +for me. Somehow I was so strengthened by this new view of things that I +struggled out of the snow-drift. And here I am once more. But I am a new man. +My spirit is free. While I was a boy, I said, 'Grow more alive'; but in those +days I never guessed that there was an aliveness far intenser than youth's +flicker, a kind of still incandescence. Is there no one here who knows what I +mean? No one who at least desires this keener living? The first step is +to outgrow this adulation of life itself, and this cadging obsequiousness +toward Power. Come! Put it away! Break the ridiculous image in your hearts, as +I now smash this idol."

+

So saying he picked up a great candlestick and shattered the image. Once +more there was an uproar, and the temple authorities had him arrested. Not long +afterwards he was tried for sacrilege and executed. For this final extravagance +was but the climax of many indiscretions, and those in power were glad to have +so obvious a pretext for extinguishing this brilliant but dangerous +lunatic.

+

But the cult of the Divine Boy had already become very popular, for the +earlier teaching of the prophet expressed the fundamental craving of the +Patagonians. Even his last and perplexing message was accepted by his +followers, though without real understanding. Emphasis was laid upon the act of +iconoclasm, rather than upon the spirit of his exhortation.

+

Century by century, the new religion, for such it was, spread over the +civilized world. And the race seemed to have been spiritually rejuvenated to +some extent by widespread fervour. Physically also a certain rejuvenation took +place; for before his death this unique biological "sport," or throw-back to an +earlier vitality, produced some thousands of sons and daughters; and they in +turn propagated the good seed far and wide. Undoubtedly it was this new strain +that brought about the golden age of Patagonia, greatly improving the material +conditions of the race, carrying civilization into the northern continents and +attacking problems of science and philosophy with renewed ardour.

+

But the revival was not permanent. The descendants of the prophet prided +themselves too much on violent living. Physically, sexually, mentally, they +over-reached themselves and became enfeebled. Moreover, little by little the +potent strain was diluted and overwhelmed by intercourse with the greater +volume of the innately "senile;" so that, after a few centuries, the race +returned to its middle-aged mood. At the same time the vision of the Divine Boy +was gradually distorted. At first it had been youth's ideal of what youth +should be, a pattern woven of fanatical loyalty, irresponsible gaiety, +comradeship, physical gusto, and not a little pure devilry. But insensibly it +became a pattern of that which was expected of youth by sad maturity. The +violent young hero was sentimentalized into the senior's vision of childhood, +naïve and docile. All that had been violent was forgotten; and what was +left became a whimsical and appealing stimulus to the parental impulses. At the +same time this phantom was credited with all the sobriety and caution which are +so easily appreciated by the middle-aged.

+

Inevitably this distorted image of youth became an incubus upon the actual +young men and women of the race. It was held up as the model social virtue; but +it was a model to which they could never conform without doing violence to +their best nature, since it was not any longer an expression of youth at all. +Just as, in an earlier age, women had been idealized and at the same time +hobbled, so now, youth.

+

Some few, indeed, throughout the history of Patagonia, attained a clearer +vision of the prophet. Fewer still were able to enter into the spirit of his +final message, in which his enduring youthfulness raised him to a maturity +alien to Patagonia. For the tragedy of this people was not so much their +"senescence" as their arrested growth. Feeling themselves old, they yearned to +be young again. But, through fixed immaturity of mind, they could never +recognize that the true, though unlooked-for, fulfillment of youth's passionate +craving is not the mere achievement of the ends of youth itself, but an advance +into a more awake and far-seeing vitality.

+

4. THE CATASTROPHE

+

It was in these latter days that the Patagonians discovered the civilization +that had preceded them. In rejecting the ancient religion of fear, they had +abandoned also the legend of a remote magnificence, and had come to regard +themselves as pioneers of the mind. In the new continent which was their +homeland there were, of course, no relics of the ancient order; and the ruins +that besprinkled the older regions had been explained as mere freaks of nature. +But latterly, with the advance of natural knowledge, archaeologists had +reconstructed something of the forgotten world. And the crisis came when, in +the basement of a shattered pylon in China, they found a store of metal plates +(constructed of an immensely durable artificial element), on which were +embossed crowded lines of writing. These objects were, in fact, blocks from +which books were printed a thousand centuries earlier. Other deposits were soon +discovered, and bit by bit the dead language was deciphered. Within three +centuries the outline of the ancient culture was laid bare; and presently the +whole history of man's rise and ruin fell upon this latter-day civilization +with crushing effect, as though an ancient pylon were to have fallen on a +village of wigwams at its foot. The pioneers discovered that all the ground +which they had so painfully won from the wild had been conquered long ago, and +lost; that on the material side their glory was nothing beside the glory of the +past; and that in the sphere of mind they had established only a few scattered +settlements where formerly was an empire. The Patagonian system of natural +knowledge had been scarcely further advanced than that of pre-Newtonian Europe. +They had done little more than conceive the scientific spirit and unlearn a few +superstitions. And now suddenly they came into a vast inheritance of +thought.

+

This in itself was a gravely disturbing experience for a people of strong +intellectual interest. But even more overwhelming was the discovery, borne in +on them in the course of their research, that the past had been not only +brilliant but crazy, and that in the long run the crazy element had completely +triumphed. For the Patagonian mind was by now too sane and empirical to accept +the ancient knowledge without testing it. The findings of the archaeologists +were handed over to the physicists and other scientists, and the firm thought +and valuation of Europe and America at their zenith were soon distinguished +from the degenerate products of the World State.

+

The upshot of this impact with a more developed civilization was dramatic +and tragic. It divided the Patagonians into loyalists and rebels, into those +who clung to the view that the new learning was a satanic lie, and those who +faced the facts. To the former party the facts were thoroughly depressing; the +latter, though overawed, found in them a compelling majesty, and also a hope. +That the earth was a mote among the star-clouds was the least subversive of the +new doctrines, for the Patagonians had already abandoned the geocentric view. +What was so distressing to the reactionaries was the theory that an earlier +race had long ago possessed and spent the vitality that they themselves so +craved. The party of progress, on the other hand, urged that this vast new +knowledge must be used; and that, thus equipped, Patagonia might compensate for +lack of youthfulness by superior sanity.

+

This divergence of will resulted in a physical conflict such as had never +before occurred in the Patagonian world. Something like nationalism emerged. +The more vigorous Antarctic coasts became modern, while Patagonia itself clung +to the older culture. There were several wars, but as physics and chemistry +advanced in Antarctica, the Southerners were able to devise engines of war +which the Northerners could not resist. In a couple of centuries the new +"culture" had triumphed. The world was once more unified.

+

Hitherto Patagonian civilization had been of a mediaeval type. Under the +influence of physics and chemistry it began to change. Wind and water-power +began to be used for the generation of electricity. Vast mining operations were +undertaken in search of the metals and other minerals which no longer occurred +at easy depths. Architecture began to make use of steel. Electrically driven +aeroplanes were made, but without real success. And this failure was +symptomatic; for the Patagonians were not sufficiently foolhardy to master +aviation, even had their planes been more efficient. They themselves naturally +attributed their failure wholly to lack of a convenient source of power, such +as the ancient petrol. Indeed this lack of oil and coal hampered them at every +turn. Volcanic power, of course, was available; but, never having been really +mastered by the more resourceful ancients, it defeated the Patagonians +completely.

+

As a matter of fact, in wind and water they had all that was needed. The +resources of the whole planet were available, and the world population was less +than a hundred million. With this source alone they could never, indeed, have +competed in luxury with the earlier World State, but they might well have +achieved something like Utopia.

+

But this was not to be. Industrialism, though accompanied by only a slow +increase of population, produced in time most of the social discords which had +almost ruined their predecessors. To them it appeared that all their troubles +would be solved if only their material power were far ampler. This strong and +scarcely rational conviction was a symptom of their ruling obsession, the +craving for increased vitality.

+

Under these circumstances it was natural that one event and one strand of +ancient history should fascinate them. The secret of limitless material power +had once been known and lost. Why should not Patagonians rediscover it, and use +it, with their superior sanity, to bring heaven on earth? The ancients, no +doubt, did well to forgo this dangerous source of power; but the Patagonians, +level-headed and single-minded, need have no fear. Some, indeed, considered it +less important to seek power than to find a means of checking biological +senescence; but, unfortunately, though physical science had advanced so +rapidly, the more subtle biological sciences had remained backward, largely +because among the ancients themselves little more had been done than to prepare +their way. Thus it happened that the most brilliant minds of Patagonia, +fascinated by the prize at stake, concentrated upon the problem of matter. The +state encouraged this research by founding and endowing laboratories whose +avowed end was this sole work.

+

The problem was difficult, and the Patagonian scientists, though +intelligent, were somewhat lacking in grit. Only after some five hundred years +of intermittent research was the secret discovered, or partially so. It was +found possible, by means of a huge initial expenditure of energy, to annihilate +the positive and negative electric charges in one not very common kind of atom. +But this limitation mattered not at all; the human race now possessed an +inexhaustible source of power which could be easily manipulated and easily +controlled. But though controllable, the new gift was not foolproof; and there +was no guarantee that those who used it might not use it foolishly, or +inadvertently let it get out of hand.

+

Unfortunately, at the time when the new source of energy was discovered, the +Patagonians were more divided than of old. Industrialism, combined with the +innate docility of the race, had gradually brought about a class cleavage more +extreme even than that of the ancient world, though a cleavage of a curiously +different kind. The strongly parental disposition of the average Patagonian +prevented the dominant class from such brutal exploitation as had formerly +occurred. Save during the first century of industrialism, there was no serious +physical suffering among the proletariat. A paternal government saw to it that +all Patagonians were at least properly fed and clothed, that all had ample +leisure and opportunities of amusement. At the same time they saw to it also +that the populace became more and more regimented. As in the First World State, +civil authority was once more in the hands of a small group of masters of +industry, but with a difference. Formerly the dominant motive of big business +had been an almost mystical passion for the creation of activity; now the +ruling minority regarded themselves as standing towards the populace in loco +parentis, and aimed at creating "a young-hearted people, simple, gay, +vigorous and loyal." Their ideal of the state was something between a +preparatory school under a sympathetic but strict adult staff, and a +joint-stock company, in which the shareholders retained only one function, to +delegate their powers thankfully to a set of brilliant directors.

+

That the system had worked so well and survived so long was due not only to +innate Patagonian docility, but also to the principle by which the governing +class recruited itself. One lesson at least had been learnt from the bad +example of the earlier civilization, namely respect for intelligence. By a +system of careful testing, the brightest children were selected from all +classes and trained to be governors. Even the children of the governors +themselves were subjected to the same examination, and only those who qualified +were sent to the "schools for young governors." Some corruption no doubt +existed, but in the main this system worked. The children thus selected were +very carefully trained in theory and practice, as organizers, scientists, +priests and logicians.

+

The less brilliant children of the race were educated very differently from +the young governors. It was impressed on them that they were less able than the +others. They were taught to respect the governors as superior beings, who were +called upon to serve the community in specially skilled and arduous work, +simply because of their ability. It would not be true to say that the less +intelligent were educated merely to be slaves; rather they were expected to be +the docile, diligent and happy sons and daughters of the fatherland. They were +taught to be loyal and optimistic. They were given vocational training for +their various occupations, and encouraged to use their intelligence as much as +possible upon the plane suited to it; but the affairs of the state and the +problems of religion and theoretical science were strictly forbidden. The +official doctrine of the beauty of youth was fundamental in their education. +They were taught all the conventional virtues of youth, and in particular +modesty and simplicity. As a class they were extremely healthy, for physical +training was a very important part of education in Patagonia. Moreover, the +universal practice of sun-bathing, which was a religious rite, was especially +encouraged among the proletariat, as it was believed to keep the body "young" +and the mind placid. The leisure of the governed class was devoted mostly to +athletics and other sport, physical and mental. Music and other forms of art +were also practised, for these were considered fit occupations for juveniles. +The government exercised a censorship over artistic products, but it was seldom +enforced; for the common folk of Patagonia were mostly too phlegmatic and too +busy to conceive anything but the most obvious and respectable art. They were +fully occupied with work and pleasure. They suffered no sexual restraints. +Their impersonal interests were satisfied with the official religion of +youth-worship and loyalty to the community.

+

This placid condition lasted for some four hundred years after the first +century of industrialism. But as time passed the mental difference between the +two classes increased. Superior intelligence became rarer and rarer among the +proletariat; the governors were recruited more and more from their own +offspring, until finally they became an hereditary caste. The gulf widened. The +governors began to lose all mental contact with the governed. They made a +mistake which could never have been committed had their psychology kept pace +with their other sciences. Ever confronted with the workers' lack of +intelligence, they came to treat them more and more as children, and forgot +that, though simple, they were grown men and women who needed to feel +themselves as free partners in a great human enterprise. Formerly this illusion +of responsibility had been sedulously encouraged. But as the gulf widened the +proletarians were treated rather as infants than as adolescents, rather as +well-cared-for domestic animals than as human beings. Their lives became more +and more minutely, though benevolently, systematized for them. At the same time +less care was taken to educate them up to an understanding and appreciation of +the common human enterprise. Under these circumstances the temper of the people +changed. Though their material condition was better than had ever been known +before, save under the First World State, they became listless, discontented, +mischievous, ungrateful to their superiors.

+

Such was the state of affairs when the new source of energy was discovered. +The world community consisted of two very different elements, first a small, +highly intellectual caste, passionately devoted to the state and to the +advancement of culture amongst themselves; and, second, a much more numerous +population of rather obtuse, physically well-cared-for, and spiritually starved +industrialists. A serious clash between the two classes had already occurred +over the use of a certain drug, favoured by the people for the bliss it +produced, forbidden by the governors for its evil after-effects. The drug was +abolished; but the motive was misinterpreted by the proletariat. This incident +brought to the surface a hate that had for long been gathering strength in the +popular mind, though unwittingly.

+

When rumour got afoot that in future mechanical power would be unlimited, +the people expected a millennium. Every one would have his own limitless source +of energy. Work would cease. Pleasure would be increased to infinity. +Unfortunately the first use made of the new power was extensive mining at +unheard-of depths in search of metals and other minerals which had long ago +ceased to be available near the surface. This involved difficult and dangerous +work for the miners. There were casualties. Riots occurred. The new power was +used upon the rioters with murderous effect, the governors declaring that, +though their paternal hearts bled for their foolish children, this chastisement +was necessary to prevent worse evils. The workers were urged to face their +troubles with that detachment which the Divine Boy had preached in his final +phase; but this advice was greeted with the derision which it deserved. Further +strikes, riots, assassinations. The proletariat had scarcely more power against +their masters than sheep against the shepherd, for they had not the brains for +large-scale organization. But it was through one of these pathetically futile +rebellions that Patagonia was at last destroyed.

+

A petty dispute had occurred in one of the new mines. The management refused +to allow miners to teach their trade to their sons; for vocational education, +it was said, should be carried on professionally. Indignation against this +interference with parental authority caused a sudden flash of the old rage. A +power unit was seized, and after a bout of insane monkeying with the machinery, +the mischief-makers inadvertently got things into such a state that at last the +awful djin of physical energy was able to wrench off his fetters and rage over +the planet. The first explosion was enough to blow up the mountain range above +the mine. In those mountains were huge tracts of the critical element, and +these were detonated by rays from the initial explosion. This sufficed to set +in action still more remote tracts of the elements. An incandescent hurricane +spread over the whole of Patagonia, reinforcing itself with fresh atomic fury +wherever it went, It raged along the line of the Andes and the Rockies, +scorching both continents with its heat. It undermined and blew up the Behring +Straits, spread like a brood of gigantic fiery serpents into Asia, Europe and +Africa. Martians, already watching the earth as a cat a bird beyond its spring, +noted that the brilliance of the neighbour planet was suddenly enhanced. +Presently the oceans began to boil here and there with submarine commotion. +Tidal waves mangled the coasts and floundered up the valleys. But in time the +general sea level sank considerably through evaporation and the opening of +chasms in the ocean floor. All volcanic regions became fantastically active. +The polar caps began to melt, but prevented the arctic regions from being +calcined like the rest of the planet. The atmosphere was a continuous dense +cloud of moisture, fumes and dust, churned in ceaseless hurricanes. As the fury +of the electromagnetic collapse proceeded, the surface temperature of the +planet steadily increased, till only in the Arctic and a few favoured corners +of the sub-Arctic could life persist.

+

Patagonia's death agony was brief. In Africa and Europe a few remote +settlements escaped the actual track of the eruptions, but succumbed in a few +weeks to the hurricanes of steam. Of the two hundred million members of the +human race, all were burnt or roasted or suffocated within three months--all +but thirty-five, who happened to be in the neighbourhood of the North Pole.

+

CHAPTER VI. TRANSITION

+

1. THE FIRST MEN AT BAY

+

By one of those rare tricks of fortune, which are as often favourable as +hostile to humanity, an Arctic exploration ship had recently been embedded in +the pack-ice for a long drift across the Polar sea. She was provisioned for +four years, and when the catastrophe occurred she had already been at sea for +six months. She was a sailing vessel; the expedition had been launched before +it was practicable to make use of the new source of power. The crew consisted +of twenty-eight men and seven women. Individuals of an earlier and more sexual +race, proportioned thus, in such close proximity and isolation, would almost +certainly have fallen foul of one another sooner or later. But to Patagonians +the arrangement was not intolerable. Besides managing the whole domestic side +of the expedition, the seven women were able to provide moderate sexual delight +for all, for in this people the female sexuality was much less reduced than the +male. There were, indeed, occasional jealousies and feuds in the little +community, but these were subordinated to a strong esprit de corps. The +whole company had, of course, been very carefully chosen for comradeship, +loyalty, and health, as well as for technical skill. All claimed descent from +the Divine Boy. All were of the governing class. One quaint expression of the +strongly parental Patagonian temperament was that a pair of diminutive pet +monkeys was taken with the expedition.

+

The crew's first intimation of the catastrophe was a furious hot wind that +melted the surface of the ice. The sky turned black. The Arctic summer became a +weird and sultry night, torn by fantastic thunderstorms. Rain crashed on the +ship's deck in a continuous waterfall. Clouds of pungent smoke and dust +irritated the eyes and nose. Submarine earthquakes buckled the pack-ice.

+

A year after the explosion, the ship was labouring in tempestuous and +berg-strewn water near the Pole. The bewildered little company now began to +feel its way south; but, as they proceeded, the air became more fiercely hot +and pungent, the storms more savage. Another twelve months were spent in +beating about the Polar sea, ever and again retreating north from the +impossible southern weather. But at length conditions improved slightly, and +with great difficulty these few survivors of the human race approached their +original objective in Norway, to find that the lowlands were a scorched and +lifeless desert, while on the heights the valley vegetation was already +struggling to establish itself, in patches of sickly green. Their base town had +been flattened by a hurricane, and the skeletons of its population still lay in +the streets. They coasted further south. Everywhere the same desolation. Hoping +that the disturbance might be merely local, they headed round the British Isles +and doubled back on France. But France turned out to be an appalling chaos of +volcanoes. With a change of wind, the sea around them was infuriated with +falling debris, often red hot. Miraculously they got away and fled north again. +After creeping along the Siberian coast they were at last able to find a +tolerable resting-place at the mouth of one of the great rivers. The ship was +brought to anchor, and the crew rested. They were a diminished company, for six +men and two women had been lost on the voyage.

+

Conditions even here must recently have been far more severe, since much of +the vegetation had been scorched, and dead animals were frequent. But evidently +the first fury of the vast explosion was now abating.

+

By this time the voyagers were beginning to realize the truth. They +remembered the half jocular prophecies that the new power would sooner or later +wreck the planet, prophecies which had evidently been all too well founded. +There had been a world-wide disaster; and they themselves had been saved only +by their remoteness and the Arctic ice from a fate that had probably +overwhelmed all their fellow men.

+

So desperate was the outlook for a handful of exhausted persons on a +devastated planet, that some urged suicide. All dallied with the idea, save a +woman, who had unexpectedly become pregnant. In her the strong parental +disposition of her race was now awakened, and she implored the party to make a +fight for the sake of her child. Reminded that the baby would only be born into +a life of hardship, she reiterated with more persistence than reason, "My baby +must live."

+

The men shrugged their shoulders. But as their tired bodies recovered after +the recent struggle, they began to realize the solemnity of their position. It +was one of the biologists who expressed a thought which was already present to +all. There was at least a chance of survival, and if ever men and women had a +sacred duty, surely these had, for they were now the sole trustees of the human +spirit. At whatever cost of toil and misery they must people the earth +again.

+

This common purpose now began to exalt them, and brought them all into a +rare intimacy. "We are ordinary folk," said the biologist, "but somehow we must +become great." And they were, indeed, in a manner made great by their unique +position. In generous minds a common purpose and common suffering breed a deep +passion of comradeship, expressed perhaps not in words but in acts of devotion. +These, in their loneliness and their sense of obligation, experienced not only +comradeship, but a vivid communion with one another as instruments of a sacred +cause.

+

The party now began to build a settlement beside the river. Though the whole +area had, of course, been devastated, vegetation had soon revived, from roots +and seeds, buried or wind borne. The countryside was now green with those +plants that had been able to adjust themselves to the new climate. Animals had +suffered far more seriously. Save for the Arctic fox, a few small rodents, and +one herd of reindeer, none were left but the dwellers in the actual Arctic +seas, the Polar bear, various cetaceans, and seals. Of fish there were plenty. +Birds in great numbers had crowded out of the south, and had died off in +thousands through lack of food, but certain species were already adjusting +themselves to the new environment. Indeed, the whole remaining fauna and flora +of the planet was passing through a phase of rapid and very painful +readjustment. Many well-established species had wholly failed to get a footing +in the new world, while certain hitherto insignificant types were able to forge +ahead.

+

The party found it possible to grow maize and even rice from seed brought +from a ruined store in Norway. But the great heat, frequent torrential rain, +and lack of sunlight, made agriculture laborious and precarious. Moreover, the +atmosphere had become seriously impure, and the human organism had not yet +succeeded in adapting itself. Consequently the party were permanently tired and +liable to disease.

+

The pregnant woman had died in child-birth, but her baby lived. It became +the party's most sacred object, for it kindled in every mind the strong +parental disposition so characteristic of Patagonians.

+

Little by little the numbers of the settlement were reduced by sickness, +hurricanes and volcanic gases. But in time they achieved a kind of equilibrium +with their environment, and even a certain strenuous amenity of life. As their +prosperity increased, however, their unity diminished. Differences of +temperament began to be dangerous. Among the men two leaders had emerged, or +rather one leader and a critic. The original head of the expedition had proved +quite incapable of dealing with the new situation, and had at last committed +suicide. The company had then chosen the second navigating officer as their +chief, and had chosen him unanimously. The other born leader of the party was a +junior biologist, a man of very different type. The relations of these two did +much to determine the future history of man, and are worthy of study in +themselves; but here we can only glance at them. In all times of stress the +navigator's authority was absolute, for everything depended on his initiative +and heroic example. But in less arduous periods, murmurs arose against him for +exacting discipline when discipline seemed unnecessary. Between him and the +young biologist there grew up a strange blend of hostility and affection; for +the latter, though critical, loved and admired the other, and declared that the +survival of the party depended on this one man's practical genius.

+

Three years after their landing, the community, though reduced in numbers +and in vitality, was well established in a routine of hunting, agriculture and +building. Three fairly healthy infants rejoiced and exasperated their elders. +With security, the navigator's genius for action found less scope, while the +knowledge of the scientists became more valuable. Plant and poultry-breeding +were beyond the range of the heroic leader, and in prospecting for minerals he +was equally helpless. Inevitably as time passed he and the other navigators +grew restless and irritable; and at last, when the leader decreed that the +party should take to the ship and explore for better land, a serious dispute +occurred. All the sea-farers applauded; but the scientists, partly through +clearer understanding of the calamity that had befallen the planet, partly +through repugnance at the hardship involved, refused to go.

+

Violent emotions were aroused; but both sides restrained themselves through +well-tried mutual respect and loyalty to the community. Then suddenly sexual +passion set a light to the tinder. The woman who, by general consent, had come +to be queen of the settlement, and was regarded as sacred to the leader, +asserted her independence by sleeping with one of the scientists. The leader +surprised them, and in sudden rage killed the young man. The little community +at once fell into two armed factions, and more blood was shed. Very soon, +however, the folly and sacrilege of this brawl became evident to these few +survivors of a civilized race, and after a parley a grave decision was +made.

+

The company was to be divided. One party, consisting of five men and two +women, under the young biologist, was to remain in the settlement. The leader +himself, with the remaining nine men and two women, were to navigate the ship +toward Europe, in search of a better land. They promised to send word, if +possible, during the following year.

+

With this decision taken the two parties once more became amicable. All +worked to equip the pioneers. When at last it was the time of departure, there +was a solemn leave-taking. Every one was relieved at the cessation of a painful +incompatibility; but more poignant than relief was the distressed affection of +those who had so long been comrades in a sacred enterprise.

+

It was a parting even more momentous than was supposed. For from this act +arose at length two distinct human species.

+

Those who stayed behind heard no more of the wanderers, and finally +concluded that they had come to grief. But in fact they were driven West and +South-west past Iceland, now a cluster of volcanoes, to Labrador. On this +voyage through fantastic storms and oceanic convulsions they lost nearly half +their number, and were at last unable to work the ship. When finally they were +wrecked on a rocky coast, only the carpenter's mate, two women, and the pair of +monkeys succeeded in clambering ashore.

+

These found themselves in a climate far more sultry than Siberia; but like +Siberia, Labrador contained uplands of luxuriant vegetation. The man and his +two women had at first great difficulty in finding food, but in time they +adapted themselves to a diet of berries and roots. As the years passed, +however, the climate undermined their mentality and their descendants sank into +abject savagery, finally degenerating into a type that was human only in +respect of its ancestry.

+

The little Siberian settlement was now hard-pressed but single-minded. +Calculation had convinced the scientists that the planet would not return to +its normal state for some millions of years; for though the first and +superficial fury of the disaster had already ceased, the immense pent-up energy +of the central explosions would take millions of years to leak out through +volcanic vents. The leader of the party, by rare luck a man of genius, +conceived their situation thus. For millions of years the planet would be +uninhabitable save for a fringe of Siberian coast. The human race was doomed +for ages to a very restricted and uncongenial environment. All that could be +hoped for was the persistence of a mere remnant of civilized humanity, which +should be able to lie dormant until a more favourable epoch. With this end in +view the party must propagate itself, and make some possibility of cultured +life for its offspring. Above all it must record in some permanent form as much +as it could remember of Patagonian culture. "We are the germ," he said. "We +must play for safety, mark time, preserve man's inheritance. The chances +against us are almost overwhelming, but just possibly we shall win +through."

+

And so in fact they did. Several times almost exterminated at the outset, +these few harassed individuals preserved their spark of humanity. A close +inspection of their lives would reveal an intense personal drama; for, in spite +of the sacred purpose which united them, almost as muscles in one limb, they +were individuals of different temperaments. The children, moreover, caused +jealousy between their parentally hungry elders, There was ever a subdued, and +sometimes an open, rivalry to gain the affection of these young things, these +few and precious buds on the human stem. Also there was sharp disagreement +about their education. For though all the elders adored them simply for their +childishness, one at least, the visionary leader of the party, thought of them +chiefly as potential vessels of the human spirit, to be moulded strictly for +their great function. In this perpetual subdued antagonism of aims and +temperaments the little society lived from day to day, much as a limb functions +in the antagonism of its muscles.

+

The adults of the party devoted much of their leisure during the long +winters to the heroic labour of recording the outline of man's whole knowledge. +This task was very dear to the leader, but the others often grew weary of it. +To each person a certain sphere of culture was assigned; and after he or she +had thought out a section and scribbled it down on slate, it was submitted to +the company for criticism, and finally engraved deeply on tablets of hard +stone. Many thousands of such tablets were produced in the course of years, and +were stored in a cave which was carefully prepared for them. Thus was recorded +something of the history of the earth and of man, the outlines of physics, +chemistry, biology, psychology, and geometry. Each scribe set down also in some +detail a summary of his own special study, and added a personal manifesto of +his own views about existence. Much ingenuity was spent in devising a vast +pictorial dictionary and grammar, with which, it was hoped, the remote future +might interpret the whole library.

+

Years passed while this immense registration of human thought was still in +progress. The founders of the settlement grew feebler while the eldest of the +next generation were still adolescent. Of the two women, one had died and the +other was almost a cripple, both martyrs to the task of motherhood. A youth, an +infant boy, and four girls of various ages--on these the future of man now +depended. Unfortunately these precious beings had suffered from their very +preciousness. Their education had been bungled. They had been both pampered and +oppressed. Nothing was thought too good for them, but they were overwhelmed +with cherishing and teaching. Thus they came to hold the elders at arm's +length, and to weary of the ideals imposed on them. Brought into a ruined world +without their own consent, they refused to accept the crushing obligation +toward an improbable future. Hunting, and the daily struggle of a pioneering +age, afforded their spirits full exercise in courage, mutual loyalty, and +interest in one another's personality. They would live for the present only, +and for the tangible reality, not for a culture which they knew only by +hearsay. In particular, they loathed the hardship of engraving endless verbiage +upon granitic slabs.

+

The crisis came when the eldest girl had crossed the threshold of physical +maturity. The leader told her that it was her duty to begin bearing children at +once, and ordered her to have intercourse with her half-brother, his own son. +Having herself assisted at the last birth, which had destroyed her mother, she +refused; and when pressed she dropped her graving tool and fled. This was the +first serious act of rebellion. In a few years the older generation was deposed +from authority. A new way of life, more active, more dangerous, zestful and +careless, resulted in a lowering of the community's standard of comfort and +organization, but also in greater health and vitality. Experiments in plant and +stock-breeding were neglected, buildings went out of repair; but great feats of +hunting and exploration were undertaken. Leisure was given over to games of +hazard and calculation, to dancing, singing and romantic story-telling. Music +and romance, indeed, were now the main expression of the finer nature of these +beings, and became the vehicles of obscure religious experience. The +intellectualism of the elders was ridiculed. What could their poor sciences +tell of reality, of the many-faced, never-for-a-moment-the-same, superbly +inconsequent, and ever-living Real? Man's intelligence was all right for +hunting and tillage in the world of common sense; but if he rode it further +afield, he would find himself in a desert, and his soul would starve. Let him +live as nature prompted. Let him keep the young god in his heart alive. Let him +give free play to the struggling, irrational, dark vitality that sought to +realize itself in him not as logic but as beauty.

+

The tablets were now engraved only by the aged.

+

But one day, after the infant boy had reached the early Patagonian +adolescence, his curiosity was roused by the tail-like hind limbs of a seal. +The old people timidly encouraged him. He made other biological observations, +and was led on to envisage the whole drama of life on the planet, and to +conceive loyalty to the cause which they had served.

+

Meanwhile, sexual and parental nature had triumphed where schooling had +failed. The young things inevitably fell in love with each other, and in time +several infants appeared.

+

Thus, generation by generation, the little settlement maintained itself with +varying success, varying zestfulness, and varying loyalty toward the future. +With changing conditions the population fluctuated, sinking as low as two men +and one woman, but increasing gradually up to a few thousand, the limit set by +the food capacity of their strip of coast. In the long run, though +circumstances did not prevent material survival, they made for mental decline. +For the Siberian coast remained a tropical land bounded on the south by a +forest of volcanoes; and consequently in the long run the generations declined +in mental vigour and subtlety. This result was perhaps due in part to too +intensive inbreeding; but this factor had also one good effect. Though mental +vigour waned, certain desirable characteristics were consolidated. The founders +of the group represented the best remaining stock of the first human species. +They had been chosen for their hardihood and courage, their native loyalty, +their strong cognitive interest. Consequently, in spite of phases of +depression, the race not only survived but retained its curiosity and its group +feeling. Even while the ability of men decreased, their will to understand, and +their sense of racial unity, remained. Though their conception of man and the +universe gradually sank into crude myth, they preserved a strong unreasoning +loyalty towards the future, and toward the now sacred stone library which was +rapidly becoming unintelligible to them. For thousands and even millions of +years, after the species had materially changed its nature, there remained a +vague admiration for mental prowess, a confused tradition of a noble past, and +pathetic loyalty toward a still nobler future. Above all, internecine strife +was so rare that it served only to strengthen the clear will to preserve the +unity and harmony of the race.

+

2. THE SECOND DARK AGE

+

We must now pass rapidly over the Second Dark Age, observing merely those +influences which were to affect the future of humanity.

+

Century by century the pent energy of the vast explosion dispersed itself; +but not till many hundred thousand years had passed did the swarms of upstart +volcanoes begin to die, and not till after millions of years did the bulk of +the planet become once more a possible home for life.

+

During this period many changes took place. The atmosphere became clearer, +purer and less turbulent. With the fall of temperature, frost and snow appeared +occasionally in the Arctic regions, and in due course the Polar caps were +formed again. Meanwhile, ordinary geological processes, augmented by the +strains to which the planet was subjected by increased internal pressure, began +to change the continents. South America mostly collapsed into the hollows +blasted beneath it, but a new land rose to join Brazil with West Africa. The +East Indies and Australia became a continuous continent. The huge mass of +Thibet sank deeply into its disturbed foundations, lunged West, and buckled +Afghanistan into a range of peaks nearly forty thousand feet above the sea. +Europe sank under the Atlantic. Rivers writhed shiftingly hither and thither +upon the continents, like tortured worms. New alluvial areas were formed. New +strata were laid upon one another under new oceans. New animals and plants +developed from the few surviving Arctic species, and spread south through Asia +and America. In the new forests and grass-lands appeared various specialized +descendants of the reindeer, and swarms of rodents. Upon these preyed the large +and small descendants of the Arctic fox, of which one species, a gigantic +wolflike creature, rapidly became the "King of Beasts" in the new order, and +remained so, until it was ousted by the more slowly modified offspring of the +polar bears. A certain genus of seals, reverting to the ancient terrestrial +habit, had developed a slender snake-like body and an almost swift, and very +serpentine, mode of locomotion among the coastal sand-dunes. There it was wont +to stalk its rodent prey, and even follow them into their burrows. Everywhere +there were birds. Many of the places left vacant by the destruction of the +ancient fauna were now filled by birds which had discarded flight and developed +pedestrian habits. Insects, almost exterminated by the great conflagration, had +afterwards increased so rapidly, and had refashioned their types with such +versatility, that they soon reached almost to their ancient profusion. Even +more rapid was the establishment of the new micro-organisms. In general, among +all the beasts and plants of the earth there was a great change of habit, and a +consequent overlaying of old body-forms with new forms adapted to a new way of +life.

+

The two human settlements had fared very differently. That of Labrador, +oppressed by a more sweltering climate, and unsupported by the Siberian will to +preserve human culture, sank into animality; but ultimately it peopled the +whole West with swarming tribes. The human beings in Asia remained a mere +handful throughout the ten million years of the Second Dark Age. An incursion +of the sea cut them off from the south. The old Taimyr Peninsula, where their +settlements clustered, became the northern promontory of an island whose coasts +were the ancient valley-edges of the Yenessi, the Lower Tunguska and the Lena. +As the climate became less oppressive, the families spread toward the southern +coast of the island, but the sea checked them. Temperate conditions enabled +them to regain a certain degree of culture. But they had no longer the capacity +to profit much from the new clemency of nature, for the previous ages of +tropical conditions had undermined them. Moreover, toward the end of the ten +million years of the Second Dark Age, the Arctic climate spread south into +their island. Their crops failed, the rodents that formed their chief cattle +dwindled, their few herds of deer faded out through lack of food. Little by +little this scanty human race degenerated into a mere remnant of Arctic +savages. And so they remained for a million years. Psychologically they were so +crippled that they had almost completely lost the power of innovation. When +their sacred quarries in the hills were covered with ice, they had not the wit +to use stone from the valleys, but were reduced to making implements of bone. +Their language degenerated into a few grunts to signify important acts, and a +more complex system of emotional expressions. For emotionally these creatures +still preserved a certain refinement. Moreover, though they had almost wholly +lost the power of intelligent innovation, their instinctive responses were +often such as a more enlightened intelligence would justify. They were strongly +social, deeply respectful of the individual human life, deeply parental, and +often terribly earnest in their religion.

+

Not till long after the rest of the planet was once more covered with life, +not till nearly ten million years after the Patagonian disaster, did a group of +these savages, adrift on an iceberg, get blown southward across the sea to the +mainland of Asia. Luckily, for Arctic conditions were increasing, and in time +the islanders were extinguished.

+

The survivors settled in the new land and spread, century by century, into +the heart of Asia. Their increase was very slow, for they were an infertile and +inflexible race. But conditions were now extremely favourable. The climate was +temperate; for Russia and Europe were now a shallow sea warmed by currents from +the Atlantic. There were no dangerous animals save the small grey bears, an +offshoot from the polar species, and the large wolf-like foxes. Various kinds +of rodents and deer provided meat in plenty. There were birds of all sizes and +habits. Timber, fruit, wild grains and other nourishing plants throve on the +well-watered volcanic soil. The prolonged eruptions, moreover, had once more +enriched the upper layers of the rocky crust with metals.

+

A few hundred thousand years in this new world sufficed for the human +species to increase from a handful of individuals to a swarm of races. It was +in the conflict and interfusion of these races, and also through the absorption +of certain chemicals from the new volcanic soil, that humanity at last +recovered its vitality.

+

CHAPTER VII. THE RISE OF THE SECOND MEN

+

1. THE APPEARANCE OF A NEW SPECIES

+

It was some ten million years after the Patagonian disaster that the first +elements of a few human species appeared, in an epidemic of biological +variations, many of which were extremely valuable. Upon this raw material the +new and stimulating environment worked for some hundred thousand years until at +last there appeared the Second Men.

+

Though of greater stature and more roomy cranium, these beings were not +wholly unlike their predecessors in general proportions. Their heads, indeed, +were large even for their bodies, and their necks massive. Their hands were +huge, but finely moulded. Their almost titanic size entailed a seemingly +excessive strength of support; their legs were stouter, even proportionately, +than the legs of the earlier species. Their feet had lost the separate toes, +and, by a strengthening and growing together of the internal bones, had become +more efficient instruments of locomotion. During the Siberian exile the First +Men had acquired a thick hairy covering, and most races of the Second Men +retained something of this blonde hirsute appearance throughout their career. +Their eyes were large, and often jade green, their features firm as carved +granite, yet mobile and lucent. Of the second human species one might say that +Nature had at last repeated and far excelled the noble but unfortunate type +which she had achieved once, long ago, with the first species, in certain +pre-historic cave-dwelling hunters and artists.

+

Inwardly the Second Men differed from the earlier species in that they had +shed most of those primitive relics which had hampered the First Men more than +was realized. Not only were they free of appendix, tonsils and other useless +excrescences, but also their whole structure was more firmly knit into unity. +Their chemical organization was such that their tissues were kept in better +repair. Their teeth, though proportionately small and few, were almost +completely immune from caries. Such was their glandular equipment that puberty +did not begin till twenty; and not till they were fifty did they reach +maturity. At about one hundred and ninety their powers began to fail, and after +a few years of contemplative retirement they almost invariably died before true +senility could begin. It was as though, when a man's work was finished, and he +had meditated in peace upon his whole career, there were nothing further to +hold his attention and prevent him from falling asleep. Mothers carried the +foetus for three years, suckled the infant for five years, and were sterile +during this period and for another seven years. Their climacteric was reached +at about a hundred and sixty. Architecturally massive like their mates, they +would have seemed to the First Men very formidable titanesses; but even those +early half-human beings would have admired the women of the second species both +for their superb vitality and for their brilliantly human expression.

+

In temperament the Second Men were curiously different from the earlier +species. The same factors were present, but in different proportions, and in +far greater subordination to the considered will of the individual. Sexual +vigour had returned. But sexual interest was strangely altered. Around the +ancient core of delight in physical and mental contact with the opposite sex +there now appeared a kind of innately sublimated, and no less poignant, +appreciation of the unique physical and mental forms of all kinds of live +things. It is difficult for less ample natures to imagine this expansion of the +innate sexual interest; for to them it is not apparent that the lusty +admiration which at first directs itself solely on the opposite sex is the +appropriate attitude to all the beauties of flesh and spirit in beast and bird +and plant. Parental interest also was strong in the new species, but it too was +universalized. It had become a strong innate interest in, and a devotion to, +all beings that were conceived as in need of help. In the earlier species this +passionate spontaneous altruism occurred only in exceptional persons. In the +new species, however, all normal men and women experienced altruism as a +passion. And yet at the same time primitive parenthood had become tempered to a +less possessive and more objective love, which among the First Men was less +common than they themselves were pleased to believe. Assertiveness had also +greatly changed. Formerly very much of a man's energy had been devoted to the +assertion of himself as a private individual over against other individuals; +and very much of his generosity had been at bottom selfish. But in the Second +Men this competitive self-assertion, this championship of the most intimately +known animal against all others, was greatly tempered. Formerly the major +enterprises of society would never have been carried through had they not been +able to annex to themselves the egoism of their champions. But in the Second +Men the parts were reversed. Few individuals could ever trouble to exert +themselves to the last ounce for merely private ends, save when those ends +borrowed interest or import from some public enterprise. It was only his vision +of a world-wide community of persons, and of his own function therein, that +could rouse the fighting spirit in a man. Thus it was inwardly, rather than in +outward physical characters, that the Second Men differed from the First. And +in nothing did they differ more than in their native aptitude for +cosmopolitanism. They had their tribes and nations. War was not quite unknown +amongst them. But even in primitive times a man's most serious loyalty was +directed toward the race as a whole; and wars were so hampered by impulses of +kindliness toward the enemy that they were apt to degenerate into rather +violent athletic contests, leading to an orgy of fraternization.

+

It would not be true to say that the strongest interest of these beings was +social. They were never prone to exalt the abstraction called the state, or the +nation, or even the world-commonwealth. For their most characteristic factor +was not mere gregariousness but something novel, namely an innate interest in +personality, both in the actual diversity of persons and in the ideal of +personal development. They had a remarkable power of vividly intuiting their +fellows as unique persons with special needs. Individuals of the earlier +species had suffered from an almost insurmountable spiritual isolation from one +another. Not even lovers, and scarcely even the geniuses with special insight +into personality, ever had anything like accurate vision of one another. But +the Second Men, more intensely and accurately self-conscious, were also more +intensely and accurately conscious of one another. This they achieved by no +unique faculty, but solely by a more ready interest in each other, a finer +insight, and a more active imagination.

+

They had also a remarkable innate interest in the higher kinds of mental +activity, or rather in the subtle objects of those activities. Even children +were instinctively inclined toward a genuinely aesthetic interest in their +world and their own behaviour, and also toward scientific inquiry and +generalization. Small boys, for instance, would delight in collecting not +merely such things as eggs or crystals, but mathematical formulae expressive of +the different shapes of eggs and crystals, or of the innumerable rhythms of +shells, fronds, leaflets, grass-nodes. And there was a wealth of traditional +fairy-stories whose appeal was grounded in philosophical puzzles. Little +children delighted to hear how the poor things called Illusions were banished +from the Country of the Real, how one-dimensional Mr. Line woke up in a +two-dimensional world, and how a brave young tune slew cacophonous beasts and +won a melodious bride in that strange country where the landscape is all of +sound and all living things are music. The First Men had attained to interest +in science, mathematics, philosophy, only after arduous schooling, but in the +Second Men there was a natural propensity for these activities, no less +vigorous than the primitive instincts. Not, of course, that they were absolved +from learning; but they had the same zest and facility in these matters as +their predecessors had enjoyed only in humbler spheres.

+

In the earlier species, indeed, the nervous system had maintained only a +very precarious unity, and was all too liable to derangement by the rebellion +of one of its subordinate parts. But in the second species the highest centres +maintained an almost absolute harmony among the lower. Thus the moral conflict +between momentary impulse and considered will, and again between private and +public interest, played a very subordinate part among the Second Men.

+

In actual cognitive powers, also, this favoured species far outstripped its +predecessor. For instance, vision had greatly developed. The Second Men +distinguished in the spectrum a new primary colour between green and blue; and +beyond blue they saw, not a reddish blue, but again a new primary colour, which +faded with increasing ruddiness far into the old ultraviolet. These two new +primary colours were complementary to one another. At the other end of the +spectrum they saw the infra-red as a peculiar purple. Further, owing to the +very great size of their retina, and the multiplication of rods and cones, they +discriminated much smaller fractions of their field of vision.

+

Improved discrimination combined with a wonderful fertility of mental +imagery to produce a greatly increased power of insight into the character of +novel situations. Whereas among the First Men, native intelligence had +increased only up to the age of fourteen, among the Second Men it progressed up +to forty. Thus an average adult was capable of immediate insight into problems +which even the most brilliant of the First Men could only solve by prolonged +reasoning. This superb clarity of mind enabled the second species to avoid most +of those age-long confusions and superstitions which had crippled its +predecessor. And along with great intelligence went a remarkable flexibility of +will. In fact the Second Men were far more able than the First to break habits +that were seen to be no longer justified.

+

To sum the matter, circumstance had thrown up a very noble species. +Essentially it was of the same type as the earlier species, but it had +undergone extensive improvements. Much that the First Men could only achieve by +long schooling and self-discipline the Second Men performed with effortless +fluency and delight. In particular, two capacities which for the First Men had +been unattainable ideals were now realized in every normal individual, namely +the power of wholly dispassionate cognition, and the power of loving one's +neighbour as oneself, without reservation. Indeed, in this respect the Second +Men might be called "Natural Christians," so readily and constantly did they +love one another in the manner of Jesus, and infuse their whole social policy +with loving-kindness. Early in their career they conceived the religion of +love, and they were possessed by it again and again, in diverse forms, until +their end. On the other hand, their gift of dispassionate cognition helped them +to pass speedily to the admiration of fate. And being by nature rigorous +thinkers, they were peculiarly liable to be disturbed by the conflict between +their religion of love and their loyalty to fate.

+

Well might it seem that the stage was now set for a triumphant and rapid +progress of the human spirit. But though the second human species constituted a +real improvement on the first, it lacked certain faculties without which the +next great mental advance could not be made.

+

Moreover its very excellence involved one novel defect from which the First +Men were almost wholly free. In the lives of humble individuals there are many +occasions when nothing but an heroic effort can wrest their private fortunes +from stagnation or decline, and set them pioneering in new spheres. Among the +First Men this effort was often called forth by passionate regard for self. And +it was upon the tidal wave of innumerable egoisms, blindly surging in one +direction, that the first species was carried forward. But, to repeat, in the +Second Men self-regard was never an over-mastering motive. Only at the call of +social loyalty or personal love would a man spur himself to desperate efforts. +Whenever the stake appeared to be mere private advancement, he was apt to +prefer peace to enterprise, the delights of sport, companionship, art or +intellect, to the slavery of self-regard. And so in the long run, though the +Second Men were fortunate in their almost complete immunity from the lust of +power and personal ostentation (which cursed the earlier species with +industrialism and militarism), and though they enjoyed long ages of idyllic +peace, often upon a high cultural plane, their progress toward full +self-conscious mastery of the planet was curiously slow.

+

2. THE INTERCOURSE OF THREE SPECIES

+

In a few thousand years the new species filled the region from Afghanistan +to the China Sea, overran India, and penetrated far into the new Australasian +continent. Its advance was less military than cultural. The remaining tribes of +the First Men, with whom the new species could not normally interbreed, were +unable to live up to the higher culture that flooded round them and over them. +They faded out.

+

For some further thousands of years the Second Men remained as noble +savages, then passed rapidly through the pastoral into the agricultural stage. +In this era they sent an expedition across the new and gigantic Hindu Kush to +explore Africa. Here it was that they came upon the subhuman descendants of the +ship's crew that had sailed from Siberia millions of years earlier. These +animals had spread south through America and across the new Atlantic Isthmus +into Africa.

+

Dwarfed almost to the knees of the superior species, bent so that as often +as not they used their arms as aids to locomotion, flat-headed and curiously +long-snouted, these creatures were by now more baboon-like than human. Yet in +the wild state they maintained a very complicated organization into castes, +based on the sense of smell. Their powers of scent, indeed, had developed at +the expense of their intelligence. Certain odours, which had become sacred +through their very repulsiveness, were given off only by individuals having +certain diseases. Such individuals were treated with respect by their fellows; +and though, in fact, they were debilitated by their disease, they were so +feared that no healthy individual dared resist them. The characteristic odours +were themselves graded in nobility, so that those individuals who bore only the +less repulsive perfume, owed respect to those in whom a widespread rotting of +the body occasioned the most nauseating stench. These plagues had the special +effect of stimulating reproductive activity; and this fact was one cause both +of the respect felt for them, and of the immense fertility of the species, such +a fertility that, in spite of plagues and obtuseness, it had flooded two +continents. For though the plagues were fatal, they were slow to develop. +Further, though individuals far advanced in disease were often incapable of +feeding themselves, they profited by the devotion of the healthy, who were +well-pleased if they also became infected.

+

But the most startling fact about these creatures was that many of them had +become enslaved to another species. When the Second Men had penetrated further +into Africa they came to a forest region where companies of diminutive monkeys +resisted their intrusion. It was soon evident that any interference with the +imbecile and passive sub-humans in this district was resented by the monkeys. +And as the latter made use of a primitive kind of bow and poisoned arrows, +their opposition was seriously inconvenient to the invaders. The use of weapons +and other tools, and a remarkable co-ordination in warfare, made it clear that +in intelligence this simian species had far outstripped all creatures save man. +Indeed, the Second Men were now face to face with the only terrestrial species +which ever evolved so far as to compete with man in versatility and practical +shrewdness.

+

As the invaders advanced, the monkeys were seen to round up whole flocks of +the sub-men and drive them out of reach. It was noticed also that these +domesticated sub-men were wholly free from the diseases that infected their +wild kinsfolk, who on this account greatly despised the healthy drudges. Later +it transpired that the sub-men were trained as beasts of burden by the monkeys +and that their flesh was a much relished article of diet. An arboreal city of +woven branches was discovered, and was apparently in course of construction, +for the sub-men were dragging timber and hauling it aloft, goaded by the +bone-headed spears of the monkeys. It was evident also that the authority of +the monkeys was maintained less by force than by intimidation. They anointed +themselves with the juice of a rare aromatic plant, which struck terror into +their poor cattle, and reduced them to abject docility.

+

Now the invaders were only a handful of pioneers. They had come over the +mountains in search of metals, which had been brought to the earth's surface +during the volcanic era. An amiable race, they felt no hostility toward the +monkeys, but rather amusement at their habits and ingenuity. But the monkeys +resented the mere presence of these mightier beings; and, presently collecting +in the tree-tops in thousands, they annihilated the party with their poisoned +arrows. One man alone escaped into Asia. In a couple of years he returned, with +a host. Yet this was no punitive expedition, for the bland Second Men were +strangely lacking in resentment. Establishing themselves on the outskirts of +the forest region, they contrived to communicate and barter with the little +people of the trees, so that after a while they were allowed to enter the +territory unmolested, and begin their great metallurgical survey.

+

A close study of the relations of these very different intelligences would +be enlightening, but we have no time for it. Within their own sphere the +monkeys showed perhaps a quicker wit than the men; but only within very narrow +limits did their intelligence work at all. They were deft at finding new means +for the better satisfaction of their appetites. But they wholly lacked +self-criticism. Upon a normal outfit of instinctive needs they had developed +many acquired, traditional cravings, most of which were fantastic and harmful. +The Second Men, on the other hand, though often momentarily outwitted by the +monkeys, were in the long run incomparably more able and more sane.

+

The difference between the two species is seen clearly in their reaction to +metals. The Second Men sought metal solely for the carrying on of an already +well-advanced civilization. But the monkeys, when for the first time they saw +the bright ingots, were fascinated. They had already begun to hate the invaders +for their native superiority and their material wealth; and now this jealousy +combined with primitive acquisitiveness to make the slabs of copper and tin +become in their eyes symbols of power. In order to remain unmolested in their +work, the invaders had paid a toll of the wares of their own country, of +baskets, pottery and various specially designed miniature tools. But at the +sight of the crude metal, the monkeys demanded a share of this noblest product +of their own land. This was readily granted, since it did away with the need of +bringing goods from Asia. But the monkeys had no real use for metal. They +merely hoarded it, and became increasingly avaricious. No one had respect among +them who did not laboriously carry a great ingot about with him wherever he +went. And after a while it came to be considered actually indecent to be seen +without a slab of metal. In conversation between the sexes this symbol of +refinement was always held so as to conceal the genitals.

+

The more metal the monkeys acquired the more they craved. Blood was often +shed in disputes over the possession of hoards. But this internecine strife +gave place at length to a concerted movement to prevent the whole export of +metal from their land. Some even suggested that the ingots in their possession +should be used for making more effective weapons, with which to expel the +invaders. This policy was rejected, not merely because there were none who +could work up the crude metal, but because it was generally agreed that to put +such a sacred material to any kind of service would be base.

+

The will to be rid of the invader was augmented by a dispute about the +sub-men. These abject beings were treated very harshly by their masters. Not +only were they overworked, but also they were tortured in cold blood, not +precisely through lust in cruelty, but through a queer sense of humour, or +delight in the incongruous. For instance, it afforded the monkeys a strangely +innocent and extravagant pleasure to compel these cattle to carry on their work +in an erect posture, which was by now quite unnatural to them, or to eat their +own excrement or even their own young. If ever these tortures roused some +exceptional sub-man to rebel, the monkeys flared into contemptuous rage at such +a lack of humour, so incapable were they of realizing the subjective processes +of others. To one another they could, indeed, be kindly and generous; but even +among themselves the imp of humour would sometimes run riot. In any matter in +which an individual was misunderstood by his fellows, he was sure to be +gleefully baited, and often harried to death. But in the main it was only the +slave-species that suffered.

+

The invaders were outraged by this cruel imbecility, and ventured to +protest. To the monkeys the protest was unintelligible. What were cattle for, +but to be used in the service of superior beings? Evidently, the monkeys +thought, the invaders were after all lacking in the finer capacities of mind, +since they failed to appreciate the beauty of the fantastic.

+

This and other causes of friction finally led the monkeys to conceive a +means of freeing themselves for ever. The Second Men had proved to be terribly +liable to the diseases of their wretched sub-human kinsfolk. Only by very +rigorous quarantine had they stamped out the epidemic that had revealed this +fact. Now partly for revenge, but partly also through malicious delight in the +topsy-turvy, the monkeys determined to make use of this human weakness. There +was a certain nut, very palatable to both taco and monkeys, which grew in a +remote part of the country. The monkeys had already begun to barter this nut +for extra metal; and the pioneering Second Men were arranging to send caravans +laden with nuts into their own country. In this situation the monkeys found +their opportunity. They carefully infected large quantities of nuts with the +plagues rampant among those herds of sub-men which had not been domesticated. +Very soon caravans of infected nuts were scattered over Asia. The effect upon a +race wholly fresh to these microbes was disastrous. Not only were the +pioneering settlements wiped out, but the bulk of the species also. The sub-men +themselves had become adjusted to the microbes, and even reproduced more +rapidly because of them. Not so the more delicately organized species. They +died off like autumn leaves. Civilization fell to pieces. In a few generations +Asia was peopled only by a handful of scattered savages, all diseased and +mostly crippled.

+

But in spite of this disaster the species remained potentially the same. +Within a few centuries it had thrown off the infection and had begun once more +the ascent toward civilization. After another thousand years, pioneers again +crossed the mountains and entered Africa. They met with no opposition. The +precarious flicker of simian intelligence had long ago ceased. The monkeys had +so burdened their bodies with metal and their minds with the obsession of +metal, that at length the herds of sub-human cattle were able to rebel and +devour their masters.

+

3. THE ZENITH OF THE SECOND MEN

+

For nearly a quarter of a million years the Second Men passed through +successive phases of prosperity and decline. Their advance to developed culture +was not nearly so steady and triumphal as might have been expected from a race +of such brilliance. As with individuals, so with species, accidents are all too +likely to defeat even the most cautious expectations. For instance, the Second +Men were for a long time seriously hampered by a "glacial epoch" which at its +height imposed Arctic conditions even as far south as India. Little by little +the encroaching ice crowded their tribes into the extremity of that peninsula, +and reduced their culture to the level of the Esquimaux. In time, of course, +they recovered, but only to suffer other scourges, of which the most +devastating were epidemics of bacteria. The more recently developed and highly +organized tissues of this species were peculiarly susceptible to disease, and +not once but many times a promising barbarian culture or "mediaeval" +civilization was wiped out by plagues.

+

But of all the natural disasters which befell the Second Men, the worst was +due to a spontaneous change in their own physical constitution. Just as the +fangs of the ancient sabre-toothed tiger had finally grown so large that the +beast could not eat, so the brain of the second human species threatened to +outgrow the rest of its body. In a cranium that was originally roomy enough, +this rare product of nature was now increasingly cramped; while a circulatory +system, that was formerly quite adequate, was becoming more and more liable to +fail in pumping blood through so cramped a structure. These two causes at last +began to take serious effect. Congenital imbecility became increasingly common, +along with all manner of acquired mental diseases. For some thousands of years +the race remained in a most precarious condition, now almost dying out, now +rapidly attaining an extravagant kind of culture in some region where physical +nature happened to be peculiarly favourable. One of these precarious flashes of +spirit occurred in the Yang-tze valley as a sudden and brief effulgence of city +states peopled by neurotics, geniuses and imbeciles. The lasting upshot of this +civilization was a brilliant literature of despair, dominated by a sense of the +difference between the actual and the potential in man and the universe. Later, +when the race had attained its noontide glory, it was wont to brood upon this +tragic voice from the past in order to remind itself of the underlying horror +of existence.

+

Meanwhile, brains became more and more overgrown, and the race more and more +disorganized. There is no doubt that it would have gone the way of the +sabre-toothed tiger, simply through the fatal direction of its own +physiological evolution, had not a more stable variety of this second human +species at last appeared. It was in North America, into which, by way of +Africa, the Second Men had long ago spread, that the roomier-skulled and +stronger-hearted type first occurred. By great good fortune this new variety +proved to be a dominant Mendelian character. And as it interbred freely with +the older variety, a superbly healthy race soon peopled America. The species +was saved.

+

But another hundred thousand years were to pass before the Second Men could +reach their zenith. I must not dwell on this movement of the human symphony, +though it is one of great richness. Inevitably many themes are now repeated +from the career of the earlier species, but with special features, and +transposed, so to speak, from the minor to the major key. Once more primitive +cultures succeed one another, or pass into civilization, barbarian or +"mediaeval"; and in turn these fall or are transformed. Twice, indeed, the +planet became the home of a single world-wide community which endured for many +thousands of years, until misfortune wrecked it. The collapse is not altogether +surprising, for unlike the earlier species, the Second Men had no coal and oil. +In both these early world societies of the Second Men there was a complete lack +of mechanical power. Consequently, though world-wide and intricate, they were +in a manner "mediaeval." In every continent intensive and highly skilled +agriculture crept from the valleys up the mountain sides and over the irrigated +deserts. In the rambling garden-cities each citizen took his share of drudgery, +practised also some fine handicraft, and yet had leisure for gaiety and +contemplation. Intercourse within and between the five great continental +communities had to be maintained by coaches, caravans and sailing ships. Sail, +indeed, now came back into its own, and far surpassed its previous +achievements. On every sea, fleets of great populous red-sailed clippers, +wooden, with carved poops and prows, but with the sleek flanks of the dolphin +carried the produce of every land, and the many travellers who delighted to +spend a sabbatical year among foreigners.

+

So much, in the fullness of time, could be achieved, even without mechanical +power, by a species gifted with high intelligence and immune from anti-social +self-regard. But inevitably there came an end. A virus, whose subtle +derangement of the glandular system was never suspected by a race still +innocent of physiology, propagated throughout the world a mysterious fatigue. +Century by century, agriculture withdrew from the hills and deserts, +craftsmanship deteriorated, thought became stereotyped. And the vast lethargy +produced a vast despond. At length the nations lost touch with one another, +forgot one another, forgot their culture, crumbled into savage tribes. Once +more Earth slept.

+

Many thousand years later, long after the disease was spent, several great +peoples developed in isolation. When at last they made contact, they were so +alien that in each there had to occur a difficult cultural revolution, not +unaccompanied by bloodshed, before the world could once more feel as one. But +this second world order endured only a few centuries, for profound subconscious +differences now made it impossible for the races to keep whole-heartedly loyal +to each other. Religion finally severed the unity which all willed but none +could trust. An heroic nation of monotheists sought to impose its faith on a +vaguely pantheist world. For the first and last time the Second Men stumbled +into a world-wide civil war; and just because the war was religious it +developed a brutality hitherto unknown. With crude artillery, but with +fanaticism, the two groups of citizen armies harried one another. The fields +were laid waste, the cities burned, the rivers, and finally the winds were +poisoned. Long after that pitch of horror had been passed, at which an inferior +species would have lost heart, these heroic madmen continued to organize +destruction. And when at last the inevitable breakdown came, it was the more +complete. In a sensitive species the devastating enlightenment which at last +began to invade every mind, the overwhelming sense of treason against the human +spirit, the tragic comicality of the whole struggle, sapped all energy. Not for +thousands of years did the Second Men achieve once more a world-community. But +they had learnt their lesson.

+

The third and most enduring civilization of the Second Men repeated the +glorified mediaevalism of the first, and passed beyond it into a phase of +brilliant natural science. Chemical fertilizers increased the crops, and +therefore the world population. Wind and water-power was converted into +electricity to supplement human and animal labour. At length, after many +failures, it became possible to use volcanic and subterranean energy to drive +dynamos. In a few years the whole physical character of civilization was +transformed. Yet in this headlong passage into industrialism the Second Men +escaped the errors of ancient Europe, America and Patagonia. This was due +partly to their greater gift of sympathy, which, save during the one great +aberration of the religious war, made them all in a very vivid manner members +one of another. But partly also it was due to their combination of a practical +common sense that was more than British, with a more than Russian immunity from +the glamour of wealth, and a passion for the life of the mind that even Greece +had never known. Mining and manufacture, even with plentiful electric power, +were occupations scarcely less arduous than of old; but since each individual +was implicated by vivid sympathy in the lives of all persons within his ken, +there was little or no obsession with private economic power. The will to avoid +industrial evils was effective, because sincere.

+

At its height, the culture of the Second Men was dominated by respect for +the individual human personality. Yet contemporary individuals were regarded +both as end and as means, as a stage toward far ampler individuals in the +remote future. For, although they themselves were more long-lived than their +predecessors, the Second Men were oppressed by the brevity of human life, and +the pettiness of the individual's achievement in comparison with the infinity +round about him which awaited apprehension and admiration. Therefore they were +determined to produce a race endowed with much greater natural longevity. +Again, though they participated in one another far more than their +predecessors, they themselves were dogged by despair at the distortion and +error which spoiled every mind's apprehension of others. Like their +predecessors, they had passed through all the more naïve phases of +self-consciousness and other-consciousness, and through idealizations of +various modes of personality. They had admired the barbarian hero, the +romantical, the sensitive-subtle, the bluff and hearty, the decadent, the +bland, the severe. And they had concluded that each person, while being himself +an expression of some one mode of personality, should seek to be also sensitive +to every other mode. They even conceived that the ideal community should be +knit into one mind by each unique individual's direct telepathic apprehension +of the experience of all his fellows. And the fact that this ideal seemed +utterly unattainable wove through their whole culture a thread of darkness, a +yearning for spiritual union, a horror of loneliness, which never seriously +troubled their far more insulated predecessors.

+

This craving for union influenced the sexual life of the species. In the +first place, so closely was the mental related to the physiological in their +composition, that when there was no true union of minds, the sexual act failed +to give conception. Casual sexual relations thus came to be regarded very +differently from those which expressed a deeper intimacy. They were treated as +a delightful embroidery on life, affording opportunity of much elegance, +light-hearted tenderness, banter, and of course physical inebriation; but they +were deemed to signify nothing more than the delight of friend in friend. Where +there was a marriage of minds, but then only during the actual passion of +communion, sexual intercourse almost always resulted in conception. Under these +circumstances, intimate persons had often to practise contraception, but +acquaintances never. And one of the most beneficial inventions of the +psychologists was a technique of autosuggestion, which, at will, either +facilitated conception, or prevented it, surely, harmlessly, and without +inaesthetic accompaniments.

+

The sexual morality of the Second Men passed through all the phases known to +the First Men; but by the time that they had established a single world-culture +it had a form not known before. Not only were both men and women encouraged to +have as much casual sexual intercourse as they needed for their enrichment, but +also, on the higher plane of spiritual union, strict monogamy was deprecated. +For in sexual union of this higher kind they saw a symbol of that communion of +minds which they longed to make universal. Thus the most precious gift that a +lover could bring to the beloved was not virginity but sexual experience. The +union, it was felt, was the more pregnant the more each party could contribute +from previous sexual and spiritual intimacy with others. Yet though as a +principle monogamy was not applauded, the higher kind of union would in +practice sometimes result in a life-long partnership. But since the average +life was so much longer than among the First Men, such fortuitously perennial +unions were often deliberately interrupted for a while, by a change of +partners, and then restored with their vitality renewed. Sometimes, on the +other hand, a group of persons of both sexes would maintain a composite and +permanent marriage together. Sometimes such a group would exchange a member, or +members, with another group, or disperse itself completely among other groups, +to come together again years afterwards with enriched experience. In one form +or another, this "marriage of groups" was much prized, as an extension of the +vivid sexual participation into an ampler sphere. Among the First Men the +brevity of life made these novel forms of union impossible; for obviously no +sexual, and no spiritual, relation can be developed with any richness in less +than thirty years of close intimacy. It would be interesting to examine the +social institutions of the Second Men at their zenith; but we have not time to +spare for this subject, nor even for the brilliant intellectual achievements in +which the species so far outstripped its predecessor. Obviously any account of +the natural science and the philosophy of the Second Men would be +unintelligible to readers of this book. Suffice it that they avoided the errors +which had led the First Men into false abstraction, and into metaphysical +theories which were at once sophisticated and naïve.

+

Not until after they had passed beyond the best work of the First Men in +science and philosophy did the Second Men discover the remains of the great +stone library in Siberia. A party of engineers happened upon it while they were +preparing to sink a shaft for subterranean energy. The tablets were broken, +disordered, weathered. Little by little, however, they were reconstructed and +interpreted, with the aid of the pictorial dictionary. The finds were of +extreme interest to the Second Men, but not in the manner which the Siberian +party had intended, not as a store of scientific and philosophic truth, but as +a vivid historical document. The view of the universe which the tablets +recorded was both too naïve and too artificial; but the insight which they +afforded into the mind of the earlier species was invaluable. So little of the +old world had survived the volcanic epoch that the Second Men had failed +hitherto to get a clear picture of their predecessors.

+

One item alone in this archaeological treasure had more than historical +interest. The biologist leader of the little party in Siberia had recorded much +of the sacred text of the Life of the Divine Boy. At the end of the record came +the prophet's last words, which had so baffled Patagonia. This theme was full +of meaning for the Second Men, as indeed it would have been even for the First +Men in their prime. But whereas for the First Men the dispassionate ecstasy +which the Boy had preached was rather an ideal than a fact of experience, the +Second Men recognized in the prophet's words an intuition familiar to +themselves. Long ago the tortured geniuses of the Yang-tze cities had expressed +this same intuition. Subsequently also it had often been experienced by the +more healthy generations, but always with a certain shame. For it had become +associated with morbid mentality. But now with growing conviction that it was +wholesome, the Second Men had begun to grope for a wholesome expression of it. +In the life and the last words of the remote apostle of youth they found an +expression which was not wholly inadequate. The species was presently to be in +sore need of this gospel.

+

The world-community reached at length a certain relative perfection and +equilibrium. There was a long summer of social harmony, prosperity, and +cultural embellishment. Almost all that could be done by mind in the stage to +which it had then reached seemed to have been done. Generations of long-lived, +eager, and mutually delightful beings succeeded one another. There was a +widespread feeling that the time had come for man to gather all his strength +for a flight into some new sphere of mentality. The present type of human +being, it was recognized, was but a rough and incoherent natural product. It +was time for man to take control of himself and remake himself upon a nobler +pattern. With this end in view, two great works were set afoot, research into +the ideal of human nature, and research into practical means of remaking human +nature. Individuals in all lands, living their private lives, delighting in +each other, keeping the tissue of society alive and vigorous, were deeply moved +by the thought that their world community was at last engaged upon this heroic +task.

+

But elsewhere in the solar system life of a very different kind was seeking, +in its own strange manner, ends incomprehensible to man, yet at bottom +identical with his own ends. And presently the two were to come together, not +in co-operation.

+

CHAPTER VIII. THE MARTIANS

+

1. THE FIRST MARTIAN INVASION

+

Upon the foot-hills of the new and titanic mountains that were once the +Hindu Kush, were many holiday centres, whence the young men and women of Asia +were wont to seek Alpine dangers and hardships for their souls' refreshment. It +was in this district, and shortly after a summer dawn, that the Martians were +first seen by men. Early walkers noticed that the sky had an unaccountably +greenish tinge, and that the climbing sun, though free from cloud, was wan. +Observers were presently surprised to see the green concentrate itself into a +thousand tiny cloudlets, with clear blue between. Field-glasses revealed within +each fleck of green some faint hint of a ruddy nucleus, and shifting strands of +an infra-red colour, which would have been invisible to the earlier human race. +These extraordinary specks of cloud were all of about the same size, the +largest of them appearing smaller than the moon's disk; but in form they varied +greatly, and were seen to be changing their shapes more rapidly than the +natural cirrus which they slightly resembled. In fact, though there was much +that was cloud-like in their form and motion, there was also something definite +about them, both in their features and behaviour, which suggested life. Indeed +they were strongly reminiscent of primitive amoeboid organisms seen through a +microscope.

+

The whole sky was strewn with them, here and there in concentrations of +unbroken green, elsewhere more sparsely. And they were observed to be moving. A +general drift of the whole celestial population was setting toward one of the +snowy peaks that dominated the landscape. Presently the foremost individuals +reached the mountain's crest, and were seen to be creeping down the rock-face +with a very slow amoeboid action.

+

Meanwhile a couple of aeroplanes, electrically driven, had climbed the sky +to investigate the strange phenomenon at close quarters. They passed among the +drifting cloudlets, and actually through many of them, without hindrance, and +almost without being obscured from view.

+

On the mountain a vast swarm of the cloudlets was collecting, and creeping +down the precipices and snow-fields into a high glacier valley. At a certain +point, where the glacier dropped steeply to a lower level, the advance guard +slowed down and stopped, while hosts of their fellows continued to pack in on +them from behind. In half an hour the whole sky was once more clear, save for +normal clouds; but upon the glacier lay what might almost have been an +exceptionally dark solid-looking thunder-cloud, save for its green tinge and +seething motion. For some minutes this strange object was seen to concentrate +itself into a somewhat smaller bulk and become darker. Then it moved forward +again, and passed over the cliffy end of the glacier into the pine-clad valley. +An intervening ridge now hid it from its first observers.

+

Lower down the valley there was a village. Many of the inhabitants, when +they saw the mysterious dense fume advancing upon them, took to their +mechanical vehicles and fled; but some waited out of curiosity. They were +swallowed up in a murky olive-brown fog, shot here and there with queer +shimmering streaks of a ruddier tint. Presently there was complete darkness. +Artificial lights were blotted out almost at arm's length. Breathing became +difficult. Throats and lungs were irritated. Every one was seized with a +violent attack of sneezing and coughing. The cloud streamed through the +village, and seemed to exercise irregular pressures upon objects, not always in +the general direction of movement but sometimes in the opposite direction, as +though it were getting a purchase upon human bodies and walls, and actually +elbowing its way along. Within a few minutes the fog lightened; and presently +it left the village behind it, save for a few strands and whiffs of its +smoke-like substance, which had become entangled in side-streets and isolated. +Very soon, however, these seemed to get themselves clear and hurry to overtake +the main body.

+

When the gasping villagers had somewhat recovered, they sent a radio message +to the little town lower down the valley, urging temporary evacuation. The +message was not broadcast, but transmitted on a slender beam of rays. It so +happened that the beam had to be directed through the noxious matter itself. +While the message was being given, the cloud's progress ceased, and its +outlines became vague and ragged. Fragments of it actually drifted away on the +winds and dissipated themselves. Almost as soon as the message was completed, +the cloud began to define itself again, and lay for a quarter of an hour at +rest. A dozen bold young men from the town now approached the dark mass out of +curiosity. No sooner did they come face to face with it, round a bend in the +valley, than the cloud rapidly contracted, till it was no bigger than a house. +Looking now something between a dense, opaque fume and an actual jelly, it lay +still until the party had ventured within a few yards. Evidently their courage +failed, for they were seen to turn. But before they had retreated three paces, +a long proboscis shot out of the main mass with the speed of a chameleon's +tongue, and enveloped them. Slowly it withdrew; but the young men had been +gathered in with it. The cloud, or jelly, churned itself violently for some +seconds, then ejected the bodies in a single chewed lump.

+

The murderous thing now elbowed itself along the road toward the town, +leaned against the first house, crushed it, and proceeded to wander hither and +thither, pushing everything down before it, as though it were a lava-stream. +The inhabitants took to their heels, but several were licked up and +slaughtered.

+

Powerful beam radiation was now poured into the cloud from all the +neighbouring installations. Its destructive activity slackened, and once more +it began to disintegrate and expand. Presently it streamed upwards as a huge +column of smoke; and, at a great altitude, it dissipated itself again into a +swarm of the original green cloudlets, noticeably reduced in numbers. These +again faded into a uniform greenish tinge, which gradually vanished.

+

Thus ended the first invasion of the Earth from Mars.

+

2. LIFE ON MARS

+

Our concern is with humanity, and with the Martians only in relation to men. +But in order to understand the tragic intercourse of the two planets, it is +necessary to glance at conditions on Mars, and conceive something of those +fantastically different yet fundamentally similar beings, who were now seeking +to possess man's home.

+

To describe the biology, psychology and history of a whole world in a few +pages is as difficult as it would be to give the Martians themselves in the +same compass a true idea of man. Encyclopaedias, libraries, would be needed in +either case. Yet, somehow, I must contrive to suggest the alien sufferings and +delights, and the many aeons of struggle, which went to the making of these +strange nonhuman intelligences, in some ways so inferior yet in others +definitely superior to the human species which they encountered.

+

Mars was a world whose mass was about one-tenth that of the earth. Gravity +therefore had played a less tyrannical part in Martian than in terrestrial +history. The weakness of Martian gravity combined with the paucity of the +planet's air envelope to make the general atmospheric pressure far lighter than +on earth. Oxygen was far less plentiful. Water also was comparatively rare. +There were no oceans or seas, but only shallow lakes and marshes, many of which +dried up in summer. The climate of the planet was in general very dry, and yet +very cold. Being without cloud, it was perennially bright with the feeble rays +of a distant sun.

+

Earlier in the history of Mars, when there were more air, more water, and a +higher temperature from internal heat, life had appeared in the coastal waters +of the seas, and evolution had proceeded in much the same manner as on earth. +Primitive life was differentiated into the fundamental animal and vegetable +types. Multicellular structures appeared, and specialized themselves in diverse +manners to suit diverse environments. A great variety of plant forms clothed +the lands, often with forests of gigantic and slender-stemmed plumes. +Mollusc-like and insect-like animals crept or swam, or shot themselves hither +and thither in fantastic jumps. Huge spidery creatures of a type not wholly +unlike crustaceans, or gigantic grasshoppers, bounded after their prey, and +developed a versatility and cunning which enabled them to dominate the planet +almost as, at a much later date, early man was to dominate the terrestrial +wild.

+

But meanwhile a rapid loss of atmosphere, and especially of water vapor, was +changing Martian conditions beyond the limits of adaptability of this early +fauna and flora. At the same time a very different kind of vital organization +was beginning to profit by the change. On Mars, as on the Earth, life had +arisen from one of many "subvital" forms. The new type of life on Mars evolved +from another of these subvital kinds of molecular organization, one which had +hitherto failed to evolve at all, and had played an insignificant part, save +occasionally as a rare virus in the respiratory organs of animals. These +fundamental subvital units of organization were ultra-microscopic, and indeed +far smaller than the terrestrial bacteria, or even the terrestrial viruses. +They originally occurred in the marshy ponds, which dried up every spring, and +became depressions of baked mud and dust. Certain of their species, borne into +the air upon dust particles, developed an extremely dry habit of life. They +maintained themselves by absorbing chemicals from the wind borne dust, and a +very slight amount of moisture from the air. Also they absorbed sunlight by a +photo-synthesis almost identical with that of the Plants.

+

To this extent they were similar to the other living things, but they had +also certain capacities which the other stock had lost at the very outset of +its evolutionary career. Terrestrial organisms, and Martian organisms of the +terrestrial type, maintained themselves as vital unities by means of nervous +systems, or other forms of material contact between parts. In the most +developed forms, an immensely complicated neural "telephone" system connected +every part of the body with a vast central exchange, the brain. Thus on the +earth a single organism was without exception a continuous system of matter, +which maintained a certain constancy of form. But from the distinctively +Martian subvital unit there evolved at length a very different kind of complex +organism, in which material contact of parts was not necessary either to +coordination of behaviour or unity of consciousness. These ends were achieved +upon a very different physical basis. The ultra-microscopic subvital members +were sensitive to all kinds of etherial vibrations, directly sensitive, in a +manner impossible to terrestrial life; and they could also initiate vibrations. +Upon this basis Martian life developed at length the capacity of maintaining +vital organization as a single conscious individual without continuity of +living matter. Thus the typical Martian organism was a cloudlet, a group of +free-moving members dominated by a "group-mind." But in one species +individuality came to inhere, for certain purposes, not in distinct cloudlets +only, but in a great fluid system of cloudlets. Such was the single-minded +Martian host which invaded the Earth.

+

The Martian organism depended, so to speak, not on "telephone" wires, but on +an immense crowd of mobile "wireless stations," transmitting and receiving +different wave-lengths according to their function. The radiation of a single +unit was of course very feeble; but a great system of units could maintain +contact with its wandering parts over a considerable distance.

+

One other important characteristic distinguished the dominant form of life +on Mars. Just as a cell, in the terrestrial form of life, has often the power +of altering its shape (whence the whole mechanism of muscular activity), so in +the Martian form the free-floating ultra-microscopic unit might be specialized +for generating around itself a magnetic field, and so either repelling or +attracting its neighbours. Thus a system of materially disconnected units had a +certain cohesion. Its consistency was something between a smoke-cloud and a +very tenuous jelly. It had a definite, though ever-changing contour and +resistant surface. By massed mutual repulsions of its constituent units it +could exercise pressure on surrounding objects; and in its most concentrated +form the Martian cloud-jelly could bring to bear immense forces which could +also be controlled for very delicate manipulation. Magnetic forces were also +responsible for the mollusc-like motion of the cloud as a whole over the +ground, and again for the transport of lifeless material and living units from +region to region within the cloud.

+

The magnetic field of repulsion and attraction generated by a subvital unit +was much more restricted than its field of "wireless" communication. Similarly +with organized systems of units. Thus each of the cloudlets which the Second +Men saw in their sky was an independent motor unit; but also it was in a kind +of "telepathic" communication with all its fellows. Indeed in every public +enterprise, such as the terrestrial campaigns, almost perfect unity of +consciousness was maintained within the limits of a huge field of radiation. +Yet only when the whole population concentrated itself into a small and +relatively dense cloud-jelly, did it become a single magnetic motor unit. The +Martians, it should be noted, had three possible forms, or formations, namely: +first, an "open order" of independent and very tenuous cloudlets in +"telepathic" communication, and often in strict unity as a group mind; second, +a more concentrated and less vulnerable corporate cloud; and third, an +extremely concentrated and formidable cloud-jelly.

+

Save for these very remarkable characteristics, there was no really +fundamental difference between the distinctively Martian and the distinctively +terrestrial forms of life. The chemical basis of the former was somewhat more +complicated than that of the latter; and selenium played a part in it, to which +nothing corresponded in terrestrial life. The Martian organism, moreover, was +unique in that it fulfilled within itself the functions of both animal and +vegetable. But, save for these peculiarities, the two types of life were +biochemically much the same. Both needed material from the ground, both needed +sunlight. Each lived in the chemical changes occurring in its own "flesh." +Each, of course, tended to maintain itself as an organic unity. There was a +certain difference, indeed, in respect of reproduction; for the Martian +subvital units retained the power of growth and sub-division. Thus the birth of +a Martian cloud arose from the sub-division of myriads of units within the +parent cloud, followed by their ejection as a new individual. And, as the units +were highly specialized for different functions, representatives of many types +had to pass into the new cloud.

+

In the earliest stages of evolution on Mars the units had become independent +of each other as soon as they parted in reproduction. But later the hitherto +useless and rudimentary power of emitting radiation was specialized, so that, +after reproduction, free individuals came to maintain radiant contact with one +another, and to behave with ever-increasing coordination. Still later, these +organized groups themselves maintained radiant contact with groups of their +offspring, thus constituting larger individuals with specialized members. With +each advance in complexity the sphere of radiant influence increased; until, at +the zenith of Martian evolution, the whole planet (save for the remaining +animal and vegetable representatives of the other and unsuccessful kind of +life) constituted sometimes a single biological and psychological individual. +But this occurred as a rule only in respect of matters which concerned the +species as a whole. At most times the Martian individual was a cloudlet, such +as those which first astonished the Second Men. But in great public crises each +cloudlet would suddenly wake up to find himself the mind of the whole race, +sensing through many individuals, and interpreting his sensations in the light +of the experience of the whole race.

+

The life which dominated Mars was thus something between an extremely +well-disciplined army of specialized units, and a body possessed by one mind. +Like an army, it could take any form without destroying its organic unity. Like +an army it was sometimes a crowd of free-wandering units, yet at other times +also it disposed itself in very special orders to fulfil special functions. +Like an army it was composed of free, experiencing individuals who voluntarily +submitted themselves to discipline. On the other hand, unlike an army, it woke +occasionally into unified consciousness.

+

The same fluctuation between individuality and multiplicity which +characterized the race as a whole, characterized also each of the cloudlets +themselves. Each was sometimes an individual, sometimes a swarm of more +primitive individuals. But while the race rather seldom rose to full +individuality, the cloudlets declined from it only in very special +circumstances. Each cloudlet was an organization of specialized groups formed +of minor specialized groups, which in turn were composed of the fundamental +specialized varieties of subvital units. Each free-roving group of free-roving +units constituted a special organ, fulfilling some particular function in the +whole. Thus some were specialized for attraction and repulsion, some for +chemical operations, some for storing the sun's energy, some for emitting +radiation, some for absorbing and storing water, some for special +sensitivities, such as awareness of mechanical pressure and vibration, or +temperature changes, or light rays. Others again were specialized to fulfil the +function of the brain of man; but in a peculiar manner. The whole volume of the +cloudlet vibrated with innumerable "wireless" messages in very many +wave-lengths from the different "organs." It was the function of the "brain" +units to receive, and correlate, and interpret these messages in the light of +past experience, and to initiate responses in the wave-lengths appropriate to +the organs concerned.

+

All these subvital units, save a few types that were too highly specialized, +were capable of independent life as air-borne bacteria or viruses. And whenever +they lost touch with the radiation of the whole system, they continued to live +their own simple lives until they were once more controlled. All were +free-floating units, but normally they were under the influence of the +cloudlet's system of electro-magnetic fields, and were directed hither and +thither for their special functions. And under this influence some of them +might be held rigidly in position in relation to one another. Such was the case +of the organs of sight. In early stages of evolution, some of the units had +specialized for carrying minute globules of water. Later, much larger droplets +were carried, millions of units holding between them a still microscopic +globule of life's most precious fluid. Ultimately this function was turned to +good account in vision. Aqueous lenses as large as the eye of an ox, were +supported by a scaffolding of units; while, at focal length from the lens, a +rigid retina of units was held in position. Thus the Martian could produce eyes +of every variety whenever he wanted them, and telescopes and microscopes too. +This production and manipulation of visual organs was of course largely +subconscious, like the focussing mechanism in man. But latterly the Martians +had greatly increased their conscious control of physiological processes; and +it was this achievement which facilitated their remarkable optical +triumphs.

+

One other physiological function we must note before considering the Martian +psychology. The fully evolved, but as yet uncivilized, Martian had long ago +ceased to depend for his chemicals on wind borne volcanic dust. Instead, he +rested at night on the ground, like a knee-high mist on terrestrial meadows, +and projected specialized tubular groups of units into the soil, like rootlets. +Part of the day also had to be occupied in this manner. Somewhat later this +process was supplemented by devouring the declining plant-life of the planet. +But the final civilized Martians had greatly improved their methods of +exploiting the ground and the sunlight, both by mechanical means and by +artificial specialization of their own organs. Even so, however, as their +activities increased, these vegetable functions became an ever more serious +problem for them. They practised agriculture; but only a very small area of the +arid planet could be induced to bear. It was terrestrial water and terrestrial +vegetation that finally determined them to make the great voyage.

+

3. THE MARTIAN MIND

+

The Martian mind was of a very different type from the terrestrial,-- +different, yet at bottom identical. In so strange a body, the mind was +inevitably equipped with alien cravings, and alien manners of apprehending its +environment. And with so different a history, it was confused by prejudices +very unlike those of man. Yet it was none the less mind, concerned in the last +resort with the maintenance and advancement of life, and the exercise of vital +capacities. Fundamentally the Martian was like all other living beings, in that +he delighted in the free working of his body and his mind. Yet superficially, +he was as unlike man in mind as in body.

+

The most distinctive feature of the Martian, compared with man, was that his +individuality was both far more liable to disruption, and at the same time +immeasurably more capable of direct participation in the minds of other +individuals. The human mind in its solid body maintained its unity and its +dominance over its members in all normal circumstances. Only in disease was man +liable to mental or physical dissociation. On the other hand, he was incapable +of direct contact with other individuals, and the emergence of a "super-mind" +in a group of individuals was quite impossible. The Martian cloudlet, however, +though he fell to pieces physically, and also mentally, far more readily than a +man, might also at any moment wake up to be the intelligent mind of his race, +might begin to perceive with the sense-organs of all other individuals, and +experience thoughts and desires which were, so to speak, the resultant of all +individual thoughts and desires upon some matter of general interest. But +unfortunately, as I shall tell, the common mind of the Martians never woke into +any order of mentality higher than that of the individual.

+

These differences between the Martian and the human psyche entailed +characteristic advantages and disadvantages. The Martian, immune from man's +inveterate selfishness and spiritual isolation from his fellows, lacked the +mental coherence, the concentrated attention and far-reaching analysis and +synthesis, and again the vivid self-consciousness and relentless +self-criticism, which even the First Men, at their best, had attained in some +degree, and which in the Second Men were still more developed. The Martians, +moreover, were hampered by being almost identical in character. They possessed +perfect harmony; but only through being almost wholly in temperamental unison. +They were all hobbled by their sameness to one another. They were without that +rich diversity of personal character, which enabled the human spirit to cover +so wide a field of mentality. This infinite variety of human nature entailed, +indeed, endless wasteful and cruel personal conflicts in the first, and even to +some extent in the second, species of man; but also it enabled every individual +of developed sympathy to enrich his spirit by intercourse with individuals +whose temperament, thought and ideals differed from his own. And while the +Martians were little troubled by internecine strife and the passion of hate, +they were also almost wholly devoid of the passion of love. The Martian +individual could admire, and be utterly faithful to, the object of his loyalty; +but his admiration was given, not to concrete and uniquely charactered persons +of the same order as himself, but at best to the vaguely conceived "spirit of +the race." Individuals like himself he regarded merely as instruments or organs +of the "super-mind."

+

This would not have been amiss, had the mind of the race, into which he so +frequently awoke under the influence of the general radiation, been indeed a +mind of higher rank than his own. But it was not. It was but a pooling of the +percipience and thought and will of the cloudlets. Thus it was that the superb +loyalty of the Martians was squandered upon something which was not greater +than themselves in mental calibre, but only in mere bulk.

+

The Martian cloudlet, like the human animal, had a complex instinctive +nature. By night and day, respectively, he was impelled to perform the +vegetative functions of absorbing chemicals from the ground and energy from the +sunlight. Air and water he also craved, though he dealt with them, of course, +in his own manner. He had also his own characteristic instinctive impulses to +move his "body," both for locomotion and manipulation. Martian civilization +provided an outlet for these cravings, both in the practice of agriculture and +in intricate and wonderfully beautiful cloud-dances and gymnastics. For these +perfectly supple beings rejoiced in executing aerial evolutions, flinging out +wild rhythmical streamers, intertwining with one another in spirals, +concentrating into opaque spheres, cubes, cones, and all sorts of fantastical +volumes. Many of these movements and shapes had intense emotional significance +for them in relation to the operations of their life, and were executed with a +religious fervour and solemnity.

+

The Martian had also his impulses of fear and pugnacity. In the remote past +these had often been directed against hostile members of his own species; but +since the race had become unified, they found exercise only upon other types of +life and upon inanimate nature. Instinctive gregariousness was, of course, +extremely developed in the Martian at the expense of instinctive +self-assertion. Sexuality the Martian had not; there were no partners in +reproduction. But his impulse to merge physically and mentally with other +individuals, and wake up as the super-mind, had in it much that was +characteristic of sex in man. Parental impulses, of a kind, he knew; but they +were scarcely worthy of the name. He cared only to eject excessive living +matter from his system, and to keep en rapport with the new individual +thus formed, as he would with any other individual. He knew no more of the +human devotion to children as budding personalities than of the subtle +intercourse of male and female temperaments. By the time of the first invasion, +however, reproduction had been greatly restricted; for the planet was fully +populated, and each individual cloudlet was potentially immortal. Among the +Martians there was no "natural death," no spontaneous death through mere +senility. Normally the cloudlet's members kept themselves in repair +indefinitely by the reproduction of their constituent units. Diseases, indeed, +were often fatal. And chief among them was a plague, corresponding to +terrestrial cancer, in which the subvital units lost their sensitivity to +radiation, so that they proceeded to live as primitive organisms and reproduced +without restraint. As they also became parasitic on the unaffected units, the +cloudlet inevitably died.

+

Like the higher kinds of terrestrial mammal, the Martians had strong +impulses of curiosity. Having also many practical needs to fulfil as a result +of their civilization, and being extremely well equipped by nature for physical +experiment and microscopy, they had gone far in the natural sciences. In +physics, astronomy, chemistry and even in the chemistry of life, man had +nothing to teach them.

+

The vast corpus of Martian knowledge had taken many thousands of years to +grow. All its stages, and its current achievements were recorded on immense +scrolls of paper made from vegetable pulp, and stored in libraries of stone. +For the Martians, curiously enough, had become great masons, and had covered +much of their planet with buildings of feathery and toppling design, such as +would have been quite impossible on earth. They had no need of buildings for +habitation, save in the arctic regions; but as workshops, granaries, and store +rooms of all sorts, buildings had become very necessary to the Martians. +Moreover these extremely tenuous creatures took a peculiar joy in manipulating +solids. Even their most utilitarian architecture blossomed with a sort of +gothic or arabesque ornateness and fantasy, wherein the ethereal seemed to +torture the substance of solid rocks into its own likeness.

+

At the time of the invasion, the Martians were still advancing +intellectually; and, indeed, it was through an achievement in theoretical +physics that they were able to leave their planet. They had long known that +minute particles at the upper limit of the atmosphere might be borne into space +by the pressure of the sun's rays at dawn and sunset. And at length they +discovered how to use this pressure as the wind is used in sailing. Dissipating +themselves into their ultra-microscopic units, they contrived to get a purchase +on the gravitational fields of the solar system, as a boat's keel and rudder +get a purchase on the water. Thus they were able to tack across to the earth as +an armada of ultra-microscopic vessels. Arrived in the terrestrial sky, they +re-formed themselves as cloudlets, swam through the dense air to the alpine +summit, and climbed downwards, as a swimmer may climb down a ladder under +water.

+

This achievement involved very intricate calculations and chemical +inventions, especially for the preservation of life in transit and on an alien +planet. It could never have been done save by beings with far-reaching and +accurate knowledge of the physical world. But though in respect of "natural +knowledge" the Martians were so well advanced, they were extremely backward in +all those spheres which may be called "spiritual knowledge." They had little +understanding of their own mentality, and less of the place of mind in the +cosmos. Though in a sense a highly intelligent species, they were at the same +time wholly lacking in philosophical interest. They scarcely conceived, still +less tackled, the problems which even the First Men had faced so often, though +so vainly. For the Martians there was no mystery in the distinction between +reality and appearance or in the relation of the one and the many, or in the +status of good and evil. Nor were they ever critical of their own ideals. They +aimed whole-heartedly at the advancement of the Martian super-individual. But +what should constitute individuality, and its advancement, they never seriously +considered. And the idea that they were under obligation also toward beings not +included in the Martian system of radiation, proved wholly beyond them. For, +though so clever, they were the most naive of self-deceivers, and had no +insight to see what it is that is truly desirable.

+

4. DELUSIONS OF THE MARTIANS

+

To understand how the Martians tricked themselves, and how they were finally +undone by their own insane will, we must glance at their history.

+

The civilized Martians constituted the sole remaining variety of a species. +That species itself, in the remote past, had competed with, and exterminated, +many other species of the same general type. Aided by the changing climate, it +had also exterminated almost all the species of the more terrestrial kind of +fauna, and had thereby much reduced the vegetation which it was subsequently to +need and foster so carefully. This victory of the species had been due partly +to its versatility and intelligence, partly to a remarkable zest in ferocity, +partly to its unique powers of radiation and sensitivity to radiation, which +enabled it to act with a coordination impossible even to the most gregarious of +animals. But, as with other species in biological history, the capacity by +which it triumphed became at length a source of weakness. When the species +reached a stage corresponding to primitive human culture, one of its races, +achieving a still higher degree of radiant intercourse and physical unity, was +able to behave as a single vital unit; and so it succeeded in exterminating all +its rivals. Racial conflict had persisted for many thousands of years, but as +soon as the favoured race had developed this almost absolute solidarity of +will, its victory was sweeping, and was clinched by joyous massacre of the +enemy.

+

But ever afterwards the Martians suffered from the psychological effects of +their victory at the close of the epoch of racial wars. The extreme brutality +with which the other races had been exterminated conflicted with the generous +impulses which civilization had begun to foster, and left a scar upon the +conscience of the victors. In self-defence they persuaded themselves that since +they were so much more admirable than the rest, the extermination was actually +a sacred duty. And their unique value, they said, consisted in their unique +radiational development. Hence arose a gravely insincere tradition and culture, +which finally ruined the species. They had long believed that the physical +basis of consciousness must necessarily be a system of units directly sensitive +to ethereal vibrations, and that organisms dependent on the physical contact of +their parts were too gross to have any experience whatever. After the age of +the racial massacres they sought to persuade themselves that the excellence, or +ethical worth, of any organism depended upon the degree of complexity and unity +of its radiation. Century by century they strengthened their faith in this +vulgar doctrine, and developed also a system of quite irrational delusions and +obsessions based upon an obsessive and passionate lust in radiation.

+

It would take too long to tell of all these subsidiary fantasies, and of the +ingenious ways in which they were reconciled with the main body of sane +knowledge. But one at least must be mentioned, because of the part it played in +the struggle with man. The Martians knew, of course, that "solid matter" was +solid by virtue of the interlocking of the minute electromagnetic systems +called atoms. Now rigidity had for them somewhat the same significance and +prestige that air, breath, spirit, had for early man. It was in the quasi-solid +form that Martians were physically most potent; and the maintenance of this +form was exhausting and difficult. These facts combined in the Martian +consciousness with the knowledge that rigidity was after all the outcome of +interlocked electro-magnetic systems. Rigidity was thus endowed with a peculiar +sanctity. The superstition was gradually consolidated, by a series of +psychological accidents, into a fanatical admiration of all very rigid +materials, but especially of hard crystals, and above all of diamonds. For +diamonds were extravagantly resistant; and at the same time, as the Martians +themselves put it, diamonds were superb jugglers with the ethereal radiation +called light. Every diamond was therefore a supreme embodiment of the tense +energy and eternal equilibrium of the cosmos, and must be treated with +reverence. In Mars, all known diamonds were exposed to sunlight on the +pinnacles of sacred buildings; and the thought that on the neighbour planet +might be diamonds which were not properly treated, was one motive of the +invasion.

+

Thus did the Martian mind, unwittingly side-tracked from its true +development, fall sick, and strive ever more fanatically toward mere phantoms +of its goal. In the early stages of the disorder, radiation was merely regarded +as an infallible sign of mentality, and radiative complexity was taken +as an infallible measure, merely, of spiritual worth. But little by +little, radiation and mentality failed to be distinguished, and radiative +organization was actually mistaken for spiritual worth.

+

In this obsession the Martians resembled somewhat the First Men during their +degenerate phase of servitude to the idea of movement; but with a difference. +For the Martian intelligence was still active, though its products were +severely censored in the name of the "spirit of the race." Every Martian was a +case of dual personality. Not merely was he sometimes a private consciousness, +sometimes the consciousness of the race, but further, even as a private +individual he was in a manner divided against himself. Though his practical +allegiance to the super-individual was absolute, so that he condemned or +ignored all thoughts and impulses that could not be assimilated to the public +consciousness, he did in fact have such thoughts and impulses, as it were in +the deepest recesses of his being. He very seldom noticed that he was having +them, and whenever he did notice it, he was shocked and terrified; yet he did +have them. They constituted an intermittent, sometimes almost a continuous, +critical commentary on all his more reputable experience.

+

This was the great tragedy of the spirit on Mars. The Martians were in many +ways extremely well equipped for mental progress and for true spiritual +adventure, but through a trick of fortune which had persuaded them to prize +above all else unity and uniformity, they were driven to thwart their own +struggling spirits at every turn.

+

Far from being superior to the private mind, the public mind which obsessed +every Martian was in many ways actually inferior. It had come into dominance in +a crisis which demanded severe military co-ordination; and though, since that +remote age, it had made great intellectual progress, it remained at heart a +military mind. Its disposition was something between that of a field-marshal +and the God of the ancient Hebrews. A certain English philosopher once +described and praised the fictitious corporate personality of the state, and +named it "Leviathan." The Martian superindividual was Leviathan endowed with +consciousness. In this consciousness there was nothing hut what was easily +assimilated and in accord with tradition. Thus the public mind was always +intellectually and culturally behind the times. Only in respect of practical +social organization did it keep abreast of its own individuals. Intellectual +progress had always been initiated by private individuals, and had only +penetrated the public mind when the mass of individuals had been privately +infected by intercourse with the pioneers. The public consciousness itself +initiated progress only in the sphere of social, military, and economic +organization.

+

The novel circumstances which were encountered on the earth put the +mentality of the Martians to a supreme test. For the unique enterprise of +tackling a new world demanded the extremes of both public and private activity, +and so led to agonizing conflicts within each private mind. For, while the +undertaking was essentially social and even military, and necessitated very +strict co-ordination and unity of action, the extreme novelty of the new +environment demanded all the resources of the untrammelled private +consciousness. Moreover the Martians encountered much on the earth which made +nonsense of their fundamental assumptions. And in their brightest moments of +private consciousness they sometimes recognized this fact.

+

CHAPTER IX. EARTH AND MARS

+

1. THE SECOND MEN AT BAY

+

Such were the beings that invaded the earth when the Second Men were +gathering their strength for a great venture in artificial evolution. The +motives of the invasion were both economic and religious. The Martians sought +water and vegetable matter; but they came also in a crusading spirit, to +"liberate" the terrestrial diamonds.

+

Conditions on the earth were very unfavourable to the invaders. Excessive +gravitation troubled them less than might have been expected. Only in their +roost concentrated form did they find it oppressive. More harmful was the +density of the terrestrial atmosphere, which constricted the tenuous animate +cloudlets very painfully, hindering their vital processes, and deadening all +their movements. In their native atmosphere they swam hither and thither with +ease and considerable speed; but the treacly air of the earth hampered them as +a bird's wings are hampered under water. Moreover, owing to their extreme +buoyancy as individual cloudlets, they were scarcely able to dive down so far +as the mountain-tops. Excessive oxygen was also a source of distress; it tended +to put them into a violent fever, which they had only been able to guard +against very imperfectly. Even more damaging was the excessive moisture of the +atmosphere, both through its solvent effect upon certain factors in the +subvital units, and because heavy rain interfered with the physiological +processes of the cloudlets and washed many of their materials to the +ground.

+

The invaders had also to cope with the tissue of "radio" messages that +constantly enveloped the planet, and tended to interfere with their own organic +systems of radiation. They were prepared for this to some extent; but "beam +wireless" at close range surprised, bewildered, tortured, and finally routed +them; so that they fled back to Mars, leaving many of their number +disintegrated in the terrestrial air.

+

But the pioneering army (or individual, for throughout the adventure it +maintained unity of consciousness) had much to report at home. As was expected, +there was rich vegetation, and water was even too abundant. There were solid +animals, of the type of the prehistoric Martian fauna, but mostly two-legged +and erect. Experiment had shown that these creatures died when they were pulled +to pieces, and that though the sun's rays affected them by setting up chemical +action in their visual organs, they had no really direct sensitivity to +radiation. Obviously, therefore, they must be unconscious. On the other hand, +the terrestrial atmosphere was permanently alive with radiation of a violent +and incoherent type. It was still uncertain whether these crude ethereal +agitations were natural phenomena, mere careless offshoots of the cosmic mind, +or whether they were emitted by a terrestrial organism. There was reason to +suppose this last to be the case, and that the solid organisms were used by +some hidden terrestrial intelligence as instruments; for there were buildings, +and many of the bipeds were found within the buildings. Moreover, the sudden +violent concentration of beam radiation upon the Martian cloud suggested +purposeful and hostile behaviour. Punitive action had therefore been taken, and +many buildings and bipeds had been destroyed. The physical basis of such a +terrestrial intelligence was still to be discovered. It was certainly not in +the terrestrial clouds, for these had turned out to be insensitive to +radiation. Anyhow, it was obviously an intelligence of very low order, for its +radiation was scarcely at all systematic, and was indeed excessively crude. One +or two unfortunate diamonds had been found in a building. There was no sign +that they were properly venerated.

+

The Terrestrials, on their side, were left in complete bewilderment by the +extraordinary events of that day. Some had jokingly suggested that since the +strange substance had behaved in a manner obviously vindictive, it must have +been alive and conscious; but no one took the suggestion seriously. Clearly, +however, the thing had been dissipated by beam radiation. That at least was an +important piece of practical knowledge. But theoretical knowledge about the +real nature of the clouds, and their place in the order of the universe, was +for the present wholly lacking. To a race of strong cognitive interest and +splendid scientific achievement, this ignorance was violently disturbing. It +seemed to shake the foundations of the great structure of knowledge. Many +frankly hoped, in spite of the loss of life in the first invasion, that there +would soon be another opportunity for studying these amazing objects, which +were not quite gaseous and not quite solid, not (apparently) organic, yet +capable of behaving in a manner suggestive of life. An opportunity was soon +afforded.

+

Some years after the first invasion the Martians appeared again, and in far +greater force. This time, moreover, they were almost immune from man's +offensive radiation. Operating simultaneously from all the alpine regions of +the earth, they began to dry up the great rivers at their sources; and, +venturing further afield, they spread over jungle and agricultural land, and +stripped off every leaf. Valley after valley was devastated as though by +endless swarms of locusts, so that in whole countries there was not a green +blade left. The booty was carried off to Mars. Myriads of the subvital units, +specialized for transport of water and food materials, were loaded each with a +few molecules of the treasure, and dispatched to the home planet. The traffic +continued indefinitely. Meanwhile the main body of the Martians proceeded to +explore and loot. They were irresistible. For the absorption of water and +leafage, they spread over the countryside as an impalpable mist which man had +no means to dispel. For the destruction of civilization, they became armies of +gigantic cloud-jellies, far bigger than the brute which had formed itself +during the earlier invasion. Cities were knocked down and flattened, human +beings masticated into pulp. Man tried weapon after weapon in vain.

+

Presently the Martians discovered the sources of terrestrial radiation in +the innumerable wireless transmitting stations. Here at last was the physical +basis of the terrestrial intelligence! But what a lowly creature! What a +caricature of life! Obviously in respect of complexity and delicacy of +organization these wretched immobile systems of glass, metal and vegetable +compounds were not to be compared with the Martian cloud. Their only feat +seemed to be that they had managed to get control of the unconscious bipeds who +tended them.

+

In the course of their explorations the Martians also discovered a few more +diamonds. The second human species had outgrown the barbaric lust for +jewellery; but they recognized the beauty of gems and precious metals, and used +them as badges of office. Unfortunately, the Martians, in sacking a town, came +upon a woman who was wearing a large diamond between her breasts; for she was +mayor of the town, and in charge of the evacuation. That the sacred stone +should be used thus, apparently for the mere identification of cattle, shocked +the invaders even more than the discovery of fragments of diamonds in certain +cutting-instruments. The war now began to be waged with all the heroism and +brutality of a crusade. Long after a rich booty of water and vegetable matter +had been secured, long after the Terrestrials had developed an effective means +of attack, and were slaughtering the Martian clouds with high-tension +electricity in the form of artificial lightning flashes, the misguided fanatics +stayed on to rescue the diamonds and carry them away to the mountain tops, +where, years afterwards, climbers discovered them, arranged along the +rock-edges in glittering files, like seabird's eggs. Thither the dying remnant +of the Martian host had transported them with its last strength, scorning to +save itself before the diamonds were borne into the pure mountain air, to be +lodged with dignity. When the Second Men learned of this great hoard of +diamonds, they began to be seriously persuaded that they had been dealing, not +with a freak of physical nature, nor yet (as some said) with swarms of +bacteria, but with organisms of a higher order. For how could the jewels have +been singled out, freed from their metallic settings, and so carefully +regimented on the rocks, save by conscious purpose? The murderous clouds must +have had at least the pilfering mentality of jackdaws, since evidently they had +been fascinated by the treasure. But the very action which revealed their +consciousness suggested also that they were no more intelligent than the merely +instinctive animals. There was no opportunity of correcting this error, since +all the clouds had been destroyed.

+

The struggle had lasted only a few months. Its material effects on Man were +serious but not insurmountable. Its immediate psychological effect was +invigorating. The Second Men had long been accustomed to a security and +prosperity that were almost utopian. Suddenly they were overwhelmed by a +calamity which was quite unintelligible in terms of their own systematic +knowledge. Their predecessors, in such a situation, would have behaved with +their own characteristic vacillation between the human and the subhuman. They +would have contracted a fever of romantic loyalty, and have performed many +random acts of secretly self-regarding self-sacrifice. They would have sought +profit out of the public disaster, and howled at all who were more fortunate +than themselves. They would have cursed their gods, and looked for more useful +ones. But also, in an incoherent manner, they would sometimes have behaved +reasonably, and would even have risen now and again to the standards of the +Second Men. Wholly unused to large-scale human bloodshed, these more developed +beings suffered an agony of pity for their mangled fellows. But they said +nothing about their pity, and scarcely noticed their own generous grief; for +they were busy with the work of rescue. Suddenly confronted with the need of +extreme loyalty and courage, they exulted in complying, and experienced that +added keenness of spirit which comes when danger is well faced. But it did not +occur to them that they were bearing themselves heroically; for they thought +they were merely behaving reasonably, showing common sense. And if any one +failed in a tight place, they did not call him coward, but gave him a drug to +clear his head; or, if that failed, they put him under a doctor. No doubt, +among the First Men such a policy would not have been justified, for those +bewildered beings had not the clear and commanding vision which kept all sane +members of the second species constant in loyalty.

+

The immediate psychological effect of the disaster was that it afforded this +very noble race healthful exercise for its great reserves of loyalty and +heroism. Quite apart from this immediate invigoration, however, the first +agony, and those many others which were to follow, influenced the Second Men +for good and ill in a train of effects which may be called spiritual. They had +long known very well that the universe was one in which there could be not only +private but also great public tragedies; and their philosophy did not seek to +conceal this fact. Private tragedy they were able to face with a bland +fortitude, and even an ecstasy of acceptance, such as the earlier species had +but rarely attained. Public tragedy, even world-tragedy, they declared should +be faced in the same spirit. But to know world-tragedy in the abstract, is very +different from the direct acquaintance with it. And now the Second Men, even +while they held their attention earnestly fixed upon the practical work of +defence, were determined to absorb this tragedy into the very depths of their +being, to scrutinize it fearlessly, savour it, digest it, so that its fierce +potency should henceforth be added to them. Therefore they did not curse their +gods, nor supplicate them. They said to themselves, "Thus, and thus, and thus, +is the world. Seeing the depth we shall see also the height; and we shall +praise both."

+

But their schooling was yet scarcely begun. The Martian invaders were all +dead, but their subvital units were dispersed over the planet as a virulent +ultra-microscopic dust. For, though as members of the living cloud they could +enter the human body without doing permanent harm, now that they were freed +from their functions within the higher organic system, they became a predatory +virus. Breathed into man's lungs, they soon adapted themselves to the new +environment, and threw his tissues into disorder. Each cell that they entered +overthrew its own constitution, like a state which the enemy has successfully +infected with lethal propaganda through a mere handful of agents. Thus, though +man was temporarily victor over the Martian super-individual, his own vital +units were poisoned and destroyed by the subvital remains of his dead enemy. A +race whose physique had been as utopian as its body politic, was reduced to +timid invalidity. And it was left in possession of a devastated planet. The +loss of water proved negligible; but the destruction of vegetation in all the +war areas produced for a while a world famine such as the Second Men had never +known. And the material fabric of civilization had been so broken that many +decades would have to be spent in rebuilding it.

+

But the physical damage proved far less serious than the physiological. +Earnest research discovered, indeed, a means of checking the infection; and, +after a few years of rigorous purging, the atmosphere and man's flesh were +clean once more. But the generations that had been stricken never recovered; +their tissues had been too seriously corroded. Little by little, of course, +there arose a fresh population of undamaged men and women. But it was a small +population; for the fertility of the stricken had been much reduced. Thus the +earth was now occupied by a small number of healthy persons below middle age +and a very large number of ageing invalids. For many years these cripples had +contrived to carry on the work of the world in spite of their frailty, but +gradually they began to fail both in endurance and competence. For they were +rapidly losing their grip on life, and sinking into a long-drawn-out senility, +from which the Second Men had never before suffered; and at the same time the +young, forced to take up work for which they were not yet equipped, committed +all manner of blunders and crudities of which their elders would never have +been guilty. But such was the general standard of mentality in the second human +species, that what might have been an occasion for recrimination produced an +unparalleled example of human loyalty at its best. The stricken generations +decided almost unanimously that whenever an individual was declared by his +generation to have outlived his competence, he should commit suicide. The +younger generations, partly through affection, partly through dread of their +own incompetence, were at first earnestly opposed to this policy. "Our elders," +one young man said, "may have declined in vigour, but they are still beloved, +and still wise. We dare not carry on without them." But the elders maintained +their point. Many members of the rising generation were no longer juveniles. +And, if the body politic was to survive the economic crisis, it must now +ruthlessly cut out all its damaged tissues. Accordingly the decision was +carried out. One by one, as occasion demanded, the stricken "chose the peace of +annihilation," leaving a scanty, inexperienced, but vigorous, population to +rebuild what had been destroyed.

+

Four centuries passed, and then again the Martian clouds appeared in the +sky. Once more devastation and slaughter. Once more a complete failure of the +two mentalities to conceive one another. Once more the Martians were destroyed. +Once more the pulmonary plague, the slow purging, a crippled population, and +generous suicide.

+

Again, and again they appeared, at irregular intervals for fifty thousand +years. On each occasion the Martians came irresistibly fortified against +whatever weapon humanity had last used against them. And so, by degrees, men +began to recognize that the enemy was no merely instinctive brute, but +intelligent. They therefore made attempts to get in touch with these alien +minds, and make overtures for a peaceful settlement. But since obviously the +negotiations had to be performed by human beings, and since the Martians always +regarded human beings as the mere cattle of the terrestrial intelligence, the +envoys were always either ignored or destroyed.

+

During each invasion the Martians contrived to dispatch a considerable bulk +of water to Mars. And every time, not satisfied with this material gain, they +stayed too long crusading, until man had found a weapon to circumvent their new +defences; and then they were routed. After each invasion man's recovery was +slower and less complete, while Mars, in spite of the loss of a large +proportion of its population, was in the long run invigorated with the extra +water.

+

2. THE RUIN OF TWO WORLDS

+

Rather more than fifty thousand years after their first appearance, the +Martians secured a permanent footing on the Antarctic table-land and over-ran +Australasia and South Africa. For many centuries they remained in possession of +a large part of the earth's surface, practising a kind of agriculture, studying +terrestrial conditions, and spending much energy on the "liberation" of +diamonds.

+

During the considerable period before their settlement their mentality had +scarcely changed; but actual habitation of the earth now began to undermine +their self-complacency and their unity. It was borne in upon certain exploring +Martians that the terrestrial bipeds, though insensitive to radiation, were +actually the intelligences of the planet. At first this fact was studiously +shunned, but little by little it gripped the attention of all terrestrial +Martians. At the same time they began to realize that the whole work of +research into terrestrial conditions, and even the social construction of their +colony, depended, not on the public mind, but on private individuals, acting in +their private capacity. The colonial super-individual inspired only the diamond +crusade, and the attempt to extirpate the terrestrial intelligence, or +radiation. These various novel acts of insight woke the Martian colonists from +an age-long dream. They saw that their revered super-individual was scarcely +more than the least common measure of themselves, a bundle of atavistic +fantasies and cravings, knit into one mind and gifted with a certain practical +cunning. A rapid and bewildering spiritual renascence now came over the whole +Martian colony. The central doctrine of it was that what was valuable in the +Martian species was not radiation but mentality. These two utterly different +things had been confused, and even identified, since the dawn of Martian +civilization. At last they were clearly distinguished. A fumbling but sincere +study of mind now began; and distinction was even made between the humbler and +loftier mental activities.

+

There is no telling whither this renascence might have led, had it run its +course. Possibly in time the Martians might have recognized worth even in minds +other than Martian minds. But such a leap was at first far beyond them. Though +they now understood that human animals were conscious and intelligent, they +regarded them with no sympathy, rather indeed, with increased hostility. They +still rendered allegiance to the Martian race, or brotherhood, just because it +was in a sense one flesh, and, indeed, one mind. For they were concerned not to +abolish but to re-create the public mind of the colony, and even that of Mars +itself.

+

But the colonial public mind still largely dominated them in their more +somnolent periods, and actually sent some of those who, in their private +phases, were revolutionaries across to Mars for help against the revolutionary +movement. The home planet was quite untouched by the new ideas. Its citizens +co-operated whole-heartedly in an attempt to bring the colonists to their +senses. But in vain. The colonial public mind itself changed its character as +the centuries passed, until it became seriously alienated from Martian +orthodoxy. Presently, indeed, it began to undergo a very strange and thorough +metamorphosis, from which, conceivably, it might have emerged as the noblest +inhabitant of the solar system. Little by little it fell into a kind of +hypnotic trance. That is to say, it ceased to possess the attention of its +private members, yet remained as a unity of their subconscious, or un-noticed +mentality. Radiational unity of the colony was maintained, but only in this +subconscious manner; and it was at that depth that the great metamorphosis +began to take place under the fertilizing influence of the new ideas; which, so +to speak, were generated in the tempest of the fully conscious mental +revolution, and kept on spreading down into the oceanic depth of the +subconsciousness. Such a condition was likely to produce in time the emergence +of a qualitatively new and finer mentality, and to waken at last into a fully +conscious super-individual of higher order than its own members. But meanwhile +this trance of the public consciousness incapacitated the colony for that +prompt and co-ordinated action which had been the most successful faculty of +Martian life. The public mind of the home planet easily destroyed its +disorderly offspring, and set about re-colonizing the earth.

+

Several times during the next three hundred thousand years this process +repeated itself. The changeless and terribly efficient super-individual of Mars +extirpated its own offspring on the earth, before it could emerge from the +chrysalis. And the tragedy might have been repeated indefinitely, but for +certain changes that took place in humanity.

+

The first few centuries after the foundation of the Martian colony had been +spent in ceaseless war. But at last, with terribly reduced resources, the +Second Men had reconciled themselves to the fact that they must live in the +same world with their mysterious enemy. Moreover, constant observation of the +Martians began to restore somewhat man's shattered self-confidence. For during +the fifty thousand years before the Martian colony was founded his opinion of +himself had been undermined. He had formerly been used to regarding himself as +the sun's ablest child. Then suddenly a stupendous new phenomenon had defeated +his intelligence. Slowly he had learned that he was at grips with a determined +and versatile rival, and that this rival hailed from a despised planet. Slowly +he had been forced to suspect that he himself was outclassed, outshone, by a +race whose very physique was incomprehensible to man. But after the Martians +had established a permanent colony, human scientists began to discover the real +physiological nature of the Martian organism, and were comforted to find that +it did not make nonsense of human science. Man also learned that the Martians, +though very able in certain spheres, were not really of a high mental type. +These discoveries restored human self-confidence. Man settled down to make the +best of the situation. Impassable barriers of high-power electric current were +devised to keep the Martians out of human territory, and men began patiently to +rebuild their ruined home as best they could. At first there was little respite +from the crusading zeal of the Martians, but in the second millennium this +began to abate, and the two races left one another alone, save for occasional +revivals of Martian fervour. Human civilization was at last reconstructed and +consolidated, though upon a modest scale. Once more, though interrupted now and +again by decades of agony, human beings lived in peace and relative prosperity. +Life was somewhat harder than formerly, and the physique of the race was +definitely less reliable than of old; but men and women still enjoyed +conditions which most nations of the earlier species would have envied. The age +of ceaseless personal sacrifice in service of the stricken community had ended +at last. Once more a wonderful diversity of untrammelled personalities was put +forth. Once more the minds of men and women were devoted without hindrance to +the joy of skilled work, and all the subtleties of personal intercourse. Once +more the passionate interest in one's fellows, which had for so long been +hushed under the all-dominating public calamity, refreshed and enlarged the +mind. Once more there was music, sweet and backward-hearkening towards a golden +past. Once more a wealth of literature, and of the visual arts. Once more +intellectual exploration into the nature of the physical world and the +potentiality of mind. And once more the religious experience, which had for so +long been coarsened and obscured by all the violent distractions and inevitable +self-deceptions of war, seemed to be refining itself under the influence of +reawakened culture.

+

In such circumstances the earlier and less sensitive human species might +well have prospered indefinitely. Not so the Second Men. For their very +refinement of sensibility made them incapable of shunning an ever-present +conviction that in spite of all their prosperity they were undermined. Though +superficially they seemed to be making a slow but heroic recovery they were at +the same time suffering from a still slower and far more profound spiritual +decline. Generation succeeded generation. Society became almost perfected, +within its limited territory and its limitations of material wealth. The +capacities of personality were developed with extreme subtlety and richness. At +last the race proposed to itself once more its ancient project of re-making +human nature upon a loftier plane. But somehow it had no longer the courage and +self-respect for such work. And so, though there was much talk, nothing was +done. Epoch succeeded epoch, and everything human remained apparently the same. +Like a twig that has been broken but not broken off, man settled down to retain +his life and culture, but could make no progress.

+

It is almost impossible to describe in a few words the subtle malady of the +spirit that was undermining the Second Men. To say that they were suffering +from an inferiority complex, would not be wholly false, but it would be a +misleading vulgarization of the truth. To say that they had lost faith, both in +themselves and in the universe, would be almost as inadequate. Crudely stated, +their trouble was that, as a species, they had attempted a certain spiritual +feat beyond the scope of their still-primitive flature. Spiritually they had +over-reached themselves, broken every muscle (so to speak) and incapacitated +themselves for any further effort. For they had determined to see their own +racial tragedy as a thing of beauty, and they had failed. It was the obscure +sense of this defeat that had poisoned them, for, being in many respects a very +noble species, they could not simply turn their backs upon their failure and +pursue the old way of life with the accustomed zest and thoroughness.

+

During the earliest Martian raids, the spiritual leaders of humanity had +preached that the disaster must be an occasion for a supreme religious +experience. While striving mightily to save their civilization, men must yet +(so it was said) learn not merely to endure, but to admire, even the sternest +issue. "Thus and thus is the world. Seeing the depth, we shall see also the +height, and praise both." The whole population had accepted this advice. At +first they had seemed to succeed. Many noble literary expressions were given +forth, which seemed to define and elaborate, and even actually to create in +men's hearts, this supreme experience. But as the centuries passed and the +disasters were repeated, men began to fear that their forefathers had deceived +themselves. Those remote generations had earnestly longed to feel the racial +tragedy as a factor in the cosmic beauty; and at last they had persuaded +themselves that this experience had actually befallen them. But their +descendants were slowly coming to suspect that no such experience had ever +occurred, that it would never occur to any man, and that there was in fact no +such cosmic beauty to be experienced. The First Men would probably, in such a +situation, have swung violently either into spiritual nihilism, or else into +some comforting religious myth. At any rate, they were of too coarse-grained a +nature to be ruined by a trouble so impalpable. Not so the Second Men. For they +realized all too clearly that they were faced with the supreme crux of +existence. And so, age after age the generations clung desperately to the hope +that, if only they could endure a little longer, the light would break in on +them. Even after the Martian colony had been three times established and +destroyed by the orthodox race in Mars, the supreme preoccupation of the human +species was with this religious crux. But afterwards, and very gradually, they +lost heart. For it was borne in on them that either they themselves were by +nature too obtuse to perceive this ultimate excellence of things (an excellence +which they had strong reason to believe in intellectually, although they could +not actually experience it), or the human race had utterly deceived itself, and +the course of cosmic events after all was not significant, but a meaningless +rigmarole.

+

It was this dilemma that poisoned them. Had they been still physically in +their prime, they might have found fortitude to accept it, and proceed to the +patient exfoliation of such very real excellencies as they were still capable +of creating. But they had lost the vitality which alone could perform such acts +of spiritual abnegation. All the wealth of personality, all the intricacies of +personal relationship, all the complex enterprise of a very great community, +all art, all intellectual research, had lost their savour. It is remarkable +that a purely religious disaster should have warped even the delight of lovers +in one another's bodies, actually taken the flavour out of food, and drawn a +veil between the sun-bather and the sun. But individuals of this species, +unlike their predecessors, were so closely integrated, that none of their +functions could remain healthy while the highest was disordered. Moreover, the +general slight failure of physique, which was the legacy of age-long war, had +resulted in a recurrence of those shattering brain disorders which had dogged +the earliest races of their species. The very horror of the prospect of racial +insanity increased their aberration from reasonableness. Little by little, +shocking perversions of desire began to terrify them. Masochistic and sadistic +orgies alternated with phases of extravagant and ghastly revelry. Acts of +treason against the community, hitherto almost unknown, at last necessitated a +strict police system. Local groups organized predatory raids against one +another. Nations appeared, and all the phobias that make up nationalism.

+

The Martian colonists, when they observed man's disorganization, prepared, +at the instigation of the home planet, a very great offensive. It so happened +that at this time the colony was going through its phase of enlightenment, +which had always hitherto been followed sooner or later by chastisement from +Mars. Many individuals were at the moment actually toying with the idea of +seeking harmony with man, rather than war. But the public mind of Mars, +outraged by this treason, sought to overwhelm it by instituting a new crusade. +Man's disunion offered a great opportunity.

+

The first attack produced a remarkable change in the human race. Their +madness seemed suddenly to leave them. Within a few weeks the national +governments had surrendered their sovereignty to a central authority. +Disorders, debauchery, perversions, wholly ceased. The treachery and +self-seeking and corruption, which had by now been customary for many +centuries, suddenly gave place to universal and perfect devotion to the social +cause. The species was apparently once more in its right mind. Everywhere, in +spite of the war's horrors, there was gay brotherliness, combined with a +heroism, which clothed itself in an odd extravagance of jocularity.

+

The war went ill for man. The general mood changed to cold resolution. And +still victory was with the Martians. Under the influence of the huge fanatical +armies which were poured in from the home planet, the colonists had shed their +tentative pacifism, and sought to vindicate their loyalty by ruthlessness. In +reply the human race deserted its sanity, and succumbed to an uncontrollable +lust for destruction. It was at this stage that a human bacteriologist +announced that he had bred a virus of peculiar deadliness and transmissibility, +with which it would be possible to infect the enemy, but at the cost of +annihilating also the human race. It is significant of the insane condition of +the human population at this time that, when these facts were announced and +broadcast, there was no discussion of the desirability of using this weapon. It +was immediately put in action, the whole human race applauding.

+

Within a few months the Martian colony had vanished, their home planet +itself had received the infection, and its population was already aware that +nothing could save it. Man's constitution was tougher than that of the animate +clouds, and he appeared to be doomed to a somewhat more lingering death. He +made no effort to save himself, either from the disease which he himself had +propagated, or from the pulmonary plague which was caused by the disintegrated +substance of the dead Martian colony. All the public processes of civilization +began to fall to pieces; for the community was paralysed by disillusion, and by +the expectation of death. Like a bee-hive that has no queen, the whole +population of the earth sank into apathy. Men and women stayed in their homes, +idling, eating whatever food they could procure, sleeping far into the +mornings, and, when at last they rose, listlessly avoiding one another. Only +the children could still be gay, and even they were oppressed by their elders' +gloom. Meanwhile the disease was spreading. Household after household was +stricken, and was left unaided by its neighbours. But the pain in each +individual's flesh was strangely numbed by his more poignant distress in the +spiritual defeat of the race. For such was the high development of this +species, that even physical agony could not distract it from the racial +failure. No one wanted to save himself; and each knew that his neighbours +desired not his aid. Only the children, when the disease crippled them, were +plunged into agony and terror. Tenderly, yet listlessly, their elders would +then give them the last sleep. Meanwhile the unburied dead spread corruption +among the dying. Cities fell still and silent. The corn was not harvested.

+

3. THE THIRD DARK AGE

+

So contagious and so lethal was the new bacterium, that its authors expected +the human race to be wiped out as completely as the Martian colony. Each dying +remnant of humanity, isolated from its fellows by the breakdown of +communications, imagined its own last moments to be the last of man. But by +accident, almost one might say by miracle, a spark of human life was once more +preserved, to hand on the sacred fire. A certain stock or strain of the race, +promiscuously scattered throughout the continents, proved less susceptible than +the majority. And, as the bacterium was less vigorous in a hot climate, a few +of these favoured individuals, who happened to be in the tropical jungle, +recovered from the infection. And of these few a minority recovered also from +the pulmonary plague which, as usual, was propagated from the dead +Martians.

+

It might have been expected that from this human germ a new civilized +community would have soon arisen. With such brilliant beings as the Second Men, +surely a few generations, or at the most a few thousand years, should have +sufficed to make up the lost ground.

+

But no. Once more it was in a manner the very excellence of the species that +prevented its recovery, and flung the spirit of Earth into a trance which +lasted longer than the whole previous career of mammals. Again and again, some +thirty million times, the seasons were repeated; and throughout this period man +remained as fixed in bodily and mental character as, formerly, the platypus. +Members of the earlier human species must find it difficult to understand this +prolonged impotence of a race far more developed than themselves. For here +apparently were both the requisites of progressive culture, namely a world rich +and unpossessed, and a race exceptionally able. Yet nothing was done.

+

When the plagues, and all the immense consequent putrefactions, had worked +themselves off, the few isolated groups of human survivors settled down to an +increasingly indolent tropical life. The fruits of past learning were not +imparted to the young, who therefore grew up in extreme ignorance of almost +everything beyond their immediate experience. At the same time the elder +generation cowed their juniors with vague suggestions of racial defeat and +universal futility. This would not have mattered, had the young themselves been +normal; they would have reacted with fervent optimism. But they themselves were +now by nature incapable of any enthusiasm. For, in a species in which the lower +functions were so strictly disciplined under the higher, the long-drawn-out +spiritual disaster had actually begun to take effect upon the germ-plasm; so +that individuals were doomed before birth to lassitude, and to mentality in a +minor key. The First Men, long ago, had fallen into a kind of racial senility +through a combination of vulgar errors and indulgences. But the second species, +like a boy whose mind has been too soon burdened with grave experience, lived +henceforth in a sleep-walk.

+

As the generations passed, all the lore of civilization was shed, save the +routine of tropical agriculture and hunting. Not that intelligence itself had +waned. Not that the race had sunk into mere savagery. Lassitude did not prevent +it from readjusting itself to suit its new circumstances. These sleep-walkers +soon invented convenient ways of making, in the home and by hand, much that had +hitherto been made in factories and by mechanical power. Almost without mental +effort they designed and fashioned tolerable instruments out of wood and flint +and bone. But though still intelligent, they had become by disposition, supine, +indifferent. They would exert themselves only under the pressure of urgent +primitive need. No man seemed capable of putting forth the full energy of a +man. Even suffering had lost its poignancy. And no ends seemed worth pursuing +that could not be realized speedily. The sting had gone out of experience. The +soul was calloused against every goad. Men and women worked and played, loved +and suffered; but always in a kind of rapt absent-mindedness. It was as though +they were ever trying to remember something important which escaped them. The +affairs of daily life seemed too trivial to be taken seriously. Yet that other, +and supremely important thing, which alone deserved consideration, was so +obscure that no one had any idea what it was. Nor indeed was anyone aware of +this hypnotic subjection, any more than a sleeper is aware of being asleep.

+

The minimum of necessary work was performed, and there was even a dreamy +zest in the performance, but nothing which would entail extra toil ever seemed +worth while. And so, when adjustment to the new circumstances of the world had +been achieved, complete stagnation set in. Practical intelligence was easily +able to cope with a slowly changing environment, and even with sudden natural +upheavals such as floods, earthquakes and disease epidemics. Man remained in a +sense master of his world, but he had no idea what to do with his mastery. It +was everywhere assumed that the sane end of living was to spend as many days as +possible in indolence, lying in the shade. Unfortunately human beings had, of +course, many needs which were irksome if not appeased, and so a good deal of +hard work had to be done. Hunger and thirst had to be satisfied. Other +individuals besides oneself had to be cared for, since man was cursed with +sympathy and with a sentiment for the welfare of his group. The only fully +rational behaviour, it was thought, would be general suicide, but irrational +impulses made this impossible. Beatific drugs offered a temporary heaven. But, +far as the Second Men had fallen, they were still too clear-sighted to forget +that such beatitude is outweighed by subsequent misery.

+

Century by century, epoch by epoch, man glided on in this seemingly +precarious, yet actually unshakable equilibrium. Nothing that happened to him +could disturb his easy dominance over the beasts and over physical nature; +nothing could shock him out of his racial sleep. Long-drawn-out climatic +changes made desert, jungle and grass-land fluctuate like the clouds. As the +years advanced by millions, ordinary geological processes, greatly accentuated +by the immense strains set up by the Patagonian upheaval, remodelled the +surface of the planet. Continents were submerged, or lifted out of the sea, +till presently there was little of the old configuration. And along with these +geological changes went changes in the fauna and flora. The bacterium which had +almost exterminated man had also wrought havoc amongst other mammals. Once more +the planet had to be re-stocked, this time from the few surviving tropical +species. Once more there was a great re-making of old types, only less +revolutionary than that which had followed the Patagonian disaster. And since +the human race remained minute, through the effects of its spiritual fatigue, +other species were favoured. Especially the ruminants and the large carnivora +increased and diversified themselves into many habits and forms.

+

But the most remarkable of all the biological trains of events in this +period was the history of the Martian subvital units that had been disseminated +by the slaughter of the Martian colony, and had then tormented men and animals +with pulmonary diseases. As the ages passed, certain species of mammals so +readjusted themselves that the Martian virus became not only harmless but +necessary to their well-being. A relationship which was originally that of +parasite and host became in time a true symbiosis, a co-operative partnership, +in which the terrestrial animals gained something of the unique attributes of +the vanished Martian organisms. The time was to come when Man himself should +look with envy on these creatures, and finally make use of the Martian "virus" +for his own enrichment.

+

But meanwhile, and for many million years, almost all kinds of life were on +the move, save Man. Like a ship-wrecked sailor, he lay exhausted and asleep on +his raft, long after the storm had abated.

+

But his stagnation was not absolute. Imperceptibly, he was drifting on the +oceanic currents of life, and in a direction far out of his original course. +Little by little, his habit was becoming simpler, less artificial, more animal. +Agriculture faded out, since it was no longer necessary in the luxuriant garden +where man lived. Weapons of defence and of the chase became more precisely +adapted to their restricted purposes, but at the same time less diversified and +more stereotyped. Speech almost vanished; for there was no novelty left in +experience. Familiar facts and familiar emotions were conveyed increasingly by +gestures which were mostly unwitting. Physically, the species had changed +little. Though the natural period of life was greatly reduced, this was due +less to physiological change than to a strange and fatal increase of +absent-mindedness in middle-age. The individual gradually ceased to react to +his environment; so that even if he escaped a violent death, he died of +starvation.

+

Yet in spite of this great change, the species remained essentially human. +There was no bestialization, such as had formerly produced a race of sub-men. +These tranced remnants of the second human species were not beasts but +innocents, simples, children of nature, perfectly adjusted to their simple +life. In many ways their state was idyllic and enviable. But such was their +dimmed mentality that they were never clearly aware even of the blessings they +had, still less, of course, of the loftier experiences which had kindled and +tortured their ancestors.

+

CHAPTER X. THE THIRD MEN IN THE WILDERNESS

+

1. THE THIRD HUMAN SPECIES

+

We have now followed man's career during some forty million years. The whole +period to be covered by this chronicle is about two thousand million. In this +chapter, and the next, therefore, we must accomplish a swift flight at great +altitude over a tract of time more than three times as long as that which we +have hitherto observed. This great expanse is no desert, but a continent +teeming with variegated life, and many successive and very diverse +civilizations. The myriads of human beings who inhabit it far outnumber the +First and Second Men combined. And the content of each one of these lives is a +universe, rich and poignant as that of any reader of this book.

+

In spite of the great diversity of this span of man's history, it is a +single movement within the whole symphony, just as the careers of the First and +of the Second Men are each a single movement. Not only is it a period dominated +by a single natural human species and the artificial human species into which +the natural species at length transformed itself; but, also, in spite of +innumerable digressions, a single theme, a single mood of the human will, +informs the whole duration. For now at last man's main energy is devoted to +remaking his own physical and mental nature. Throughout the rise and fall of +many successive cultures this purpose is progressively clarifying itself, and +expressing itself in many tragic and even devastating experiments; until, +toward the close of this immense period, it seems almost to achieve its +end.

+

When the Second Men had remained in their strange racial trance for about +thirty million years, the obscure forces that make for advancement began to +stir in them once more. This reawakening was favoured by geological accident. +An incursion of the sea gradually isolated some of their number in an island +continent, which was once part of the North Atlantic ocean-bed. The climate of +this island gradually cooled from sub-tropical to temperate and sub-arctic. The +vast change of conditions caused in the imprisoned race a subtle chemical +re-arrangement of the germ-plasm, such that there ensued an epidemic of +biological variation. Many new types appeared, but in the long run one, more +vigorous and better adapted than the rest, crowded out all competitors and +slowly consolidated itself as a new species, the Third Men.

+

Scarcely more than half the stature of their predecessors, these beings were +proportionally slight and lithe. Their skin was of a sunny brown, covered with +a luminous halo of red-gold hairs, which on the head became a russet mop. Their +golden eyes, reminiscent of the snake, were more enigmatic than profound. Their +faces were compact as a cat's muzzle, their lips full, but subtle at the +corners. Their ears, objects of personal pride and of sexual admiration, were +extremely variable both in individuals and races. These surprising organs, +which would have seemed merely ludicrous to the First Men, were expressive both +of temperament and passing mood. They were immense, delicately involuted, of a +silken texture, and very mobile. They gave an almost bat-like character to the +otherwise somewhat feline heads. But the most distinctive feature of the Third +Men was their great lean hands, on which were six versatile fingers, six +antennae of living steel.

+

Unlike their predecessors, the Third Men were short-lived. They had a brief +childhood and a brief maturity, followed (in the natural course) by a decade of +senility, and death at about sixty. But such was their abhorrence of +decrepitude, that they seldom allowed themselves to grow old. They preferred to +kill themselves when their mental and physical agility began to decline. Thus, +save in exceptional epochs of their history, very few lived to be fifty.

+

But though in some respects the third human species fell short of the high +standard of its predecessor, especially in certain of the finer mental +capacities, it was by no means simply degenerate. The admirable sensory +equipment of the second species was retained, and even improved. Vision was no +less ample and precise and colourful. Touch was far more discriminate, +especially in the delicately pointed sixth finger-tip. Hearing was so developed +that a man could run through wooded country blind-fold without colliding with +the trees. Moreover the great range of sounds and rhythms had acquired an +extremely subtle gamut of emotional significance. Music was therefore one of +the main preoccupations of the civilizations of this species.

+

Mentally the Third Men were indeed very unlike their predecessors. Their +intelligence was in some ways no less agile; but it was more cunning than +intellectual, more practical than theoretical. They were interested more in the +world of sense-experience than in the world of abstract reason, and again far +more in living things than in the lifeless. They excelled in certain kinds of +art, and indeed also in some fields of science. But they were led into science +more through practical, aesthetic or religious needs than through intellectual +curiosity. In mathematics, for instance (helped greatly by the duodecimal +system, which resulted from their having twelve fingers), they became wonderful +calculators; yet they never had the curiosity to inquire into the essential +nature of number. Nor, in physics, were they ever led to discover the more +obscure properties of space. They were, indeed, strangely devoid of curiosity. +Hence, though sometimes capable of a penetrating mystical intuition, they never +seriously disciplined themselves under philosophy, nor tried to relate their +mystical intuitions with the rest of their experience.

+

In their primitive phases the Third Men were keen hunters; but also, owing +to their strong parental impulses, they were much addicted to making pets of +captured animals. Throughout their career they displayed what earlier races +would have called an uncanny sympathy with, and understanding of, all kinds of +animals and plants. This intuitive insight into the nature of living things, +and this untiring interest in the diversity of vital behaviour, constituted the +dominating impulse throughout the whole career of the third human species. At +the outset they excelled not only as hunters but as herdsmen and domesticators. +By nature they were very apt in every kind of manipulation, but especially in +the manipulation of living things. As a species they were also greatly addicted +to play of all kinds, but especially to manipulative play, and above all to the +playful manipulation of organisms. From the first they performed great feats of +riding on the moose-like deer which they had domesticated. They tamed also a +certain gregarious coursing beast. The pedigree of this great leonine wolf led, +through the tropical survivors of the Martian plague, back to those descendants +of the arctic fox which had over-run the world after the Patagonian disaster. +This animal the Third Men trained not only to help them in shepherding and in +the chase, but also to play intricate hunting games. Between this hound and its +master or mistress there frequently arose a very special relation, a kind of +psychical symbiosis, a dumb intuitive mutual insight, a genuine love, based on +economic co-operation, but strongly toned also, in a manner peculiar to the +third human species, with religious symbolism and frankly sexual intimacy.

+

As herdsmen and shepherds the Third Men very early practised selective +breeding; and increasingly they became absorbed in the perfecting and enriching +of all types of animals and plants. It was the boast of every local chieftain +not only that the men of his tribe were more manly and the women more beautiful +than all others, but also that the bears in his territory were the noblest and +most bear-like of all bears, that the birds built more perfect nests and were +more skilful fliers and singers than birds elsewhere. And so on, through all +the animal and vegetable races.

+

This biological control was achieved at first by simple breeding +experiments, but later and increasingly by crude physiological manipulation of +the young animal, the foetus and (later still) the germ-plasm. Hence arose a +perennial conflict, which often caused wars of a truly religious bitterness, +between the tender-hearted, who shrank from the infliction of pain, and the +passionately manipulative, who willed to create at whatever cost. This +conflict, indeed, was waged not only between individuals but within each mind; +for all were innately hunters and manipulators, but also all had intuitive +sympathy even with the quarry which they tormented. The trouble was increased +by a strain of sheer cruelty which occurred even in the most tender-hearted. +This sadism was at bottom an expression of an almost mystical reverence for +sensory experience. Physical pain, being the most intense of all sensed +qualities, was apt to be thought the most excellent. It might be expected that +this would lead rather to self-torture than to cruelty. Sometimes it did. But +in general those who could not appreciate pain in their own flesh were yet able +to persuade themselves that in inflicting pain on lower animals they were +creating vivid psychic reality, and therefore high excellence. It was just the +intense reality of pain, they said, that made it intolerable to men and +animals. Seen with the detachment of the divine mind, it appeared in its true +beauty. And even man, they declared, could appreciate its excellence when it +occurred not in men but in animals.

+

Though the Third Men lacked interest in systematic thought, their minds were +often concerned with matters outside the fields of private and social economy. +They experienced not only aesthetic but mystical cravings. And though they were +without any appreciation of those finer beauties of human personality, which +their predecessors had admired as the highest attainment of life on the planet, +the Third Men themselves, in their own way, sought to make the best of human +nature, and indeed of animal nature. Man they regarded in two aspects. In the +first place he was the noblest of all animals, gifted with unique aptitudes. He +was, as was sometimes said, God's chief work of art. But secondly, since his +special virtues were his insight into the nature of all living things and his +manipulative capacity, he was himself God's eye and God's hand. These +convictions were expressed over and over again in the religions of the Third +Men, by the image of the deity as a composite animal, with wings of the +albatross, jaws of the great wolf-dog, feet of the deer, and so on. For the +human element was represented in this deity by the hands, the eyes, and the +sexual organs of man. And between the divine hands lay the world, with all its +diverse population. Often the world was represented as being the fruit of God's +primitive potency, but also as in process of being drastically altered and +tortured into perfection by the hands.

+

Most of the cultures of the Third Men were dominated by this obscure worship +of Life as an all-pervading spirit, expressing itself in myriad diverse +individuals. And at the same time the intuitive loyalty to living things and to +a vaguely conceived life-force was often complicated by sadism. For in the +first place it was recognized, of course, that what is valued by higher beings +may be intolerable to lower; and, as has been said, pain itself was thought to +be a superior excellence of this kind. And again in a second manner sadism +expressed itself. The worship of Life, as agent or subject, was complemented by +worship of environment, as object to life's subjectivity, as that which remains +ever foreign to life, thwarting its enterprises, torturing it, yet making it +possible, and, by its very resistance, goading it into nobler expressions. +Pain, it was said, was the most vivid apprehension of the sacred and universal +Object.

+

The thought of the third human species was never systematic. But in some +such manner as the foregoing it strove to rationalize its obscure intuition of +the beauty which includes at once Life's victory and defeat.

+

2. DIGRESSIONS OF THE THIRD MEN

+

Such, in brief, was the physical and mental nature of the third human +species. In spite of innumerable distractions, the spirit of the Third Men kept +on returning to follow up the thread of biological interest through a thousand +variegated cultures. Again and again folk after folk would clamber out of +savagery and barbarism into relative enlightenment; and mostly, though not +always, the main theme of this enlightenment was some special mood either of +biological creativeness or of sadism, or of both. To a man born into such a +society, no dominant characteristic would be apparent. He would be impressed +rather by the many-sidedness of human activities in his time. He would note a +wealth of personal intercourse, of social organization and industrial +invention, of art and speculation, all set in that universal matrix, the +private struggle to preserve or express the self. Yet the historian may often +see in a society, over and above this multifarious proliferation, some one +controlling theme.

+

Again and again, then, at intervals of a few thousand or a few hundred +thousand years, man's whim was imposed upon the fauna and flora of the earth, +and at length directed to the task of remaking man himself. Again and again, +through a diversity of causes, the effort collapsed, and the species sank once +more into chaos. Sometimes indeed there was an interlude of culture in some +quite different key. Once, early in the history of the species, and before its +nature had become fixed, there occurred a nonindustrial civilization of a +genuinely intellectual kind, almost like that of Greece. Sometimes, but not +often, the third human species fooled itself into an extravagantly industrial +world civilization, in the manner of the Americanized First Men. In general its +interest was too much concerned with other matters to become entangled with +mechanical devices. But on three occasions at least it succumbed. Of these +civilizations one derived its main power from wind and falling water, one from +the tides, one from the earth's internal heat. The first, saved from the worst +evils of industrialism by the limitations of its power, lasted some hundred +thousand years in barren equilibrium, until it was destroyed by an obscure +bacterium. The second was fortunately brief; but its fifty thousand years of +unbridled waste of tidal energy was enough to interfere appreciably with the +orbit of the moon. This world-order collapsed at length in a series of +industrial wars. The third endured a quarter of a million years as a +brilliantly sane and efficient world organization. Throughout most of its +existence there was almost complete social harmony with scarcely as much +internal strife as occurs in a bee-hive. But once more civilization came at +length to grief, this time through the misguided effort to breed special human +types for specialized industrial pursuits.

+

Industrialism, however, was never more than a digression, a lengthy and +disastrous irrelevance in the life of this species. There were other +digressions. There were for instance cultures, enduring sometimes for several +thousand years, which were predominantly musical. This could never have +occurred among the First Men; but, as was said, the third species was +peculiarly developed in hearing, and in emotional sensitivity to sound and +rhythm. Consequently, just as the First Men at their height were led into the +wilderness by an irrational obsession with mechanical contrivances, just as the +Third Men themselves were many times undone by their own interest in biological +control, so, now and again, it was their musical gift that hypnotized them.

+

Of these predominantly musical cultures the most remarkable was one in which +music and religion combined to form a tyranny no less rigid than that of +religion and science in the remote past. It is worth while to dwell on one of +these episodes for a few moments.

+

The Third Men were very subject to a craving for personal immortality. Their +lives were brief, their love of life intense. It seemed to them a tragic flaw +in the nature of existence that the melody of the individual life must either +fade into a dreary senility or be cut short, never to be repeated. Now music +had a special significance for this race. So intense was their experience of +it, that they were ready to regard it as in some manner the underlying reality +of all things. In leisure hours, snatched from a toilful and often tragic life, +groups of peasants would seek to conjure about them by song or pipe or viol a +universe more beautiful, more real, than that of daily labour. Concentrating +their sensitive hearing upon the inexhaustible diversity of tone and rhythm, +they would seem to themselves to be possessed by the living presence of music, +and to be transported thereby into a lovelier world. No wonder they believed +that every melody was a spirit, leading a life of its own within the universe +of music. No wonder they imagined that a symphony or chorus was itself a single +spirit inhering in all its members. No wonder it seemed to them that when men +and women listened to great music, the barriers of their individuality were +broken down, so that they became one soul through communion with the music.

+

The prophet was born in a highland village where the native faith in music +was intense, though quite unformulated. In time he learnt to raise his peasant +audiences to the most extravagant joy and the most delicious sorrow. Then at +last he began to think, and to expound his thoughts with the authority of a +great bard. Easily he persuaded men that music was the reality, and all else +illusion, that the living spirit of the universe was pure music, and that each +individual animal and man, though he had a body that must die and vanish for +ever, had also a soul that was music and eternal. A melody, he said, is the +most fleeting of things. It happens and ceases. The great silence devours it, +and seemingly annihilates it. Passage is essential to its being. Yet though for +a melody, to halt is to die a violent death, all music, the prophet affirmed, +has also eternal life. After silence it may occur again, with all its freshness +and aliveness. Time cannot age it; for its home is in a country outside time. +And that country, thus the young musician earnestly preached, is also the home +land of every man and woman, nay of every living thing that has any gift of +music. Those who seek immortality, must strive to waken their tranced souls +into melody and harmony. And according to their degree of musical originality +and proficiency will be their standing in the eternal life.

+

The doctrine, and the impassioned melodies of the prophet, spread like fire. +Instrumental and vocal music sounded from every pasture and corn plot. The +government tried to suppress it, partly because it was thought to interfere +with agricultural productivity, largely because its passionate significance +reverberated even in the hearts of courtly ladies, and threatened to undo the +refinement of centuries. Nay, the social order itself began to crumble. For +many began openly to declare that what mattered was not aristocratic birth, nor +even proficiency in the time-honoured musical forms (so much prized by the +leisured), but the gift of spontaneous emotional expression in rhythm and +harmony. Persecution strengthened the new faith with a glorious company of +martyrs who, it was affirmed, sang triumphantly even in the flames.

+

One day the sacred monarch himself, hitherto a prisoner within the +conventions, declared half sincerely, half by policy, that he was converted to +his people's faith. Bureaucracy gave place to an enlightened dictatorship, the +monarch assumed the title of Supreme Melody, and the whole social order was +re-fashioned, more to the taste of the peasants. The subtle prince, backed by +the crusading zeal of his people, and favoured by the rapid spontaneous spread +of the faith in all lands, conquered the whole world, and founded the Universal +Church of Harmony. The prophet himself, meanwhile, dismayed by his own too +facile success, had retired into the mountains to perfect his art under the +influence of their great quiet, or the music of wind, thunder and waterfall. +Presently, however, the silence of the fells was shattered by the blare of +military bands and ecclesiastical choirs, which the emperor had sent to salute +him and conduct him to the metropolis. He was secured, though not without a +scrimmage, and lodged in the High Temple of Music. There he was kept a +prisoner, dubbed God's Big Noise, and used by the world-government as an oracle +needing interpretation. In a few years the official music of the temple, and of +deputations from all over the world, drove him into raving madness; in which +state he was the more useful to the authorities.

+

Thus was founded the Holy Empire of Music, which gave order and purpose to +the species for a thousand years. The sayings of the prophet, interpreted by a +series of able rulers, became the foundation of a great system of law which +gradually supplanted all local codes by virtue of its divine authority. Its +root was madness; but its final expression was intricate common sense, +decorated with harmless and precious flowers of folly. Throughout, the +individual was wisely, but tacitly, regarded as a biological organism having +definite needs or rights and definite social obligations; but the language in +which this principle was expressed and elaborated was a jargon based on the +fiction that every human being was a melody, demanding completion within a +greater musical theme of society.

+

Toward the close of this millennium of order a schism occurred among the +devout. A new and fervent sect declared that the true spirit of the musical +religion had been stifled by ecclesiasticism. The founder of the religion had +preached salvation by individual musical experience, by an intensely emotional +communion with the Divine Music. But little by little, so it was said, the +church had lost sight of this central truth, and had substituted a barren +interest in the objective forms and principles of melody and counterpoint. +Salvation, in the official view, was not to be had by subjective experience, +but by keeping the rules of an obscure musical technique. And what was this +technique? Instead of making the social order a practical expression of the +divine law of music, churchmen and statesmen had misinterpreted these divine +laws to suit mere social convenience, until the true spirit of music had been +lost. Meanwhile on the other side a counter-revival took place. The +self-centred and soul-saving mood of the rebels was ridiculed. Men were urged +to care rather for the divine and exquisitely ordered forms of music itself +than for their own emotion.

+

It was amongst the rebel peoples that the biological interest of the race, +hitherto subordinate, came into its own. Mating, at least among the more devout +sort of women, began to be influenced by the desire to have children who should +be of outstanding musical brilliance and sensitivity. Biological sciences were +rudimentary, but the general principle of selective breeding was known. Within +a century this policy of breeding for music, or breeding "soul," developed from +a private idiosyncrasy into a racial obsession. It was so far successful that +after a while a new type became common, and thrived upon the approbation and +devotion of ordinary persons. These new beings were indeed extravagantly +sensitive to music, so much so that the song of a sky-lark caused them serious +torture by its banality, and in response to any human music of the kind which +they approved, they invariably fell into a trance. Under the stimulus of music +which was not to their taste they were apt to run amok and murder the +performers.

+

We need not pause to trace the stages by which an infatuated race gradually +submitted itself to the whims of these creatures of human folly, until for a +brief period they became the tyrannical ruling caste of a musical theocracy. +Nor need we observe how they reduced society to chaos; and how at length an age +of confusion and murder brought mankind once more to its senses, but also into +so bitter a disillusionment that the effort to re-orientate the whole direction +of its endeavour lacked determination. Civilization fell to pieces and was not +rebuilt till after the race had lain fallow for some thousands of years.

+

So ended perhaps the most pathetic of racial delusions. Born of a genuine +and potent aesthetic experience, it retained a certain crazy nobility even to +the end.

+

Many scores of other cultures occurred, separated often by long ages of +barbarism, but they must be ignored in this brief chronicle. The great majority +of them were mainly biological in spirit. Thus one was dominated by an +obsessive interest in flight, and therefore in birds, another by the concept of +metabolism, several by sexual creativity, and very many by some general but +mostly unenlightened policy of eugenics. All these we must pass over, so that +we may descend to watch the greatest of all the races of the third species +torture itself into a new form.

+

3. THE VITAL ART

+

It was after an unusually long period of eclipse that the spirit of the +third human species attained its greatest brilliance. We need not watch the +stages by which this enlightenment was reached. Suffice it that the upshot was +a very remarkable civilization, if such a word can be applied to an order in +which agglomerations of architecture were unknown, clothing was used only when +needed for warmth, and such industrial development as occurred was wholly +subordinated to other activities.

+

Early in the history of this culture the requirements of hunting and +agriculture, and the spontaneous impulse to manipulate live things, gave rise +to a primitive but serviceable system of biological knowledge. Not until the +culture had unified the whole planet, did biology itself give rise to chemistry +and physics. At the same time a well-controlled industrialism, based first on +wind and water, and later on subterranean heat, afforded the race all the +material luxuries it desired, and much leisure from the business of keeping +itself in existence. Had there not already existed a more powerful and +all-dominating interest, industrialism itself would probably have hypnotized +the race, as it had so many others. But in this race the interest in live +things, which characterized the whole species, was dominant before +industrialism began. Egotism among the Third Men could not be satisfied by the +exercise of economic power, nor by the mere ostentation of wealth. Not that the +race was immune from egotism. On the contrary, it had lost almost all that +spontaneous altruism which had distinguished the Second Men. But in most +periods the only kind of personal ostentation which appealed to the Third Men +was directly connected with the primitive interest in "pecunia." To own many +and noble beasts, whether they were economically productive or not, was ever +the mark of respectability. The vulgar, indeed, were content with mere numbers, +or at most with the conventional virtues of the recognized breeds. But the more +refined pursued, and flaunted, certain very exact principles of aesthetic +excellence in their control of living forms.

+

In fact, as the race gained biological insight, it developed a very +remarkable new art, which we may call "plastic vital art." This was to become +the chief vehicle of expression of the new culture. It was practised +universally, and with religious fervour; for it was very closely connected with +the belief in a life-god. The canons of this art, and the precepts of this +religion, fluctuated from age to age, but in general certain basic principles +were accepted. Or rather, though there was almost always universal agreement +that the practice of vital art was the supreme goal, and should not be treated +in a utilitarian spirit, there were two conflicting sets of principles which +were favoured by opposed sets. One mode of vital art sought to evoke the full +potentiality of each natural type as a harmonious and perfected nature, or to +produce new types equally harmonious. The other prided itself on producing +monsters. Sometimes a single capacity was developed at the expense of the +harmony and welfare of the organism as a whole. Thus a bird was produced which +could fly faster than any other bird; but it could neither reproduce nor even +feed, and therefore had to be maintained artificially. Sometimes, on the other +hand, certain characters incompatible in nature were forced upon a single +organism, and maintained in precarious and torturing equilibrium. To give +examples, one much-talked-of feat was the production of a carnivorous mammal in +which the fore limbs had assumed the structure of a bird's wings, complete with +feathers. This creature could not fly, since its body was wrongly proportioned. +Its only mode of locomotion was a staggering run with outstretched wings. Other +examples of monstrosity were an eagle with twin heads, and a deer in which, +with incredible ingenuity, the artists had induced the tail to develop as a +head, with brain, sense organs, and jaws. In this monstrous art, interest in +living things was infected with sadism through the preoccupation with fate, +especially internal fate, as the divinity that shapes our ends. In its more +vulgar forms, of course, it was a crude expression of egotistical lust in +power.

+

This motif of the monstrous and the self-discrepant was less +prominent than the other, the motif of harmonious perfection; but at all +times it was apt to exercise at least a subconscious influence. The supreme aim +of the dominant, perfection-seeking movement was to embellish the planet with a +very diverse fauna and flora, with the human race as at once the crown and the +instrument of terrestrial life. Each species, and each variety, was to have its +place and fulfil its part in the great cycle of living types. Each was to be +internally perfected to its function. It must have no harmful relics of a past +manner of life; and its capacities must be in true accord with one another. +But, to repeat, the supreme aim was not concerned merely with individual types, +but with the whole vital economy of the planet. Thus, though there were to be +types of every order from the most humble bacterium up to man, it was contrary +to the canon of orthodox sacred art that any type should thrive by the +destruction of a type higher than itself. In the sadistic mode of the art, +however, a peculiarly exquisite tragic beauty was said to inhere in situations +in which a lowly type exterminated a higher. There were occasions in the +history of the race when the two sects indulged in bloody conflict because the +sadists kept devising parasites to undermine the noble products of the +orthodox.

+

Of those who practised vital art, and all did so to some extent, a few, +though they deliberately rejected the orthodox principles, gained notoriety and +even fame by their grotesques; while others, less fortunate, were ready to +accept ostracism and even martyrdom, declaring that what they had produced was +a significant symbol of the universal tragedy of vital nature. The great +majority, however, accepted the sacred canon. They had therefore to choose one +or other of certain recognized modes of expression. For instance, they might +seek to enhance some extant type of organism, both by perfecting its capacities +and by eliminating from it all that was harmful or useless. Or else, a more +original and precarious work, they might set about creating a new type to fill +a niche in the world, which had not yet been occupied. For this end they would +select a suitable organism, and seek to remake it upon a new plan, striving to +produce a creature of perfectly harmonious nature precisely adapted to the new +way of life. In this kind of work sundry strict aesthetic principles must be +observed. Thus it was considered bad art to reduce a higher type to a lower, or +in any manner to waste the capacities of a type. And further, since the true +end of art was not the production of individual types, but the production of a +world-wide and perfectly systematic fauna and flora, it was inadmissible to +harm even accidentally any type higher than that which it was intended to +produce. For the practice of orthodox vital art was regarded as a co-operative +enterprise. The ultimate artist, under God, was mankind as a whole; the +ultimate work of art must be an ever more subtle garment of living forms for +the adornment of the planet, and the delight of the supreme Artist, in relation +to whom man was both creature and instrument.

+

Little was achieved, of course, until the applied biological sciences had +advanced far beyond the high-water mark attained long ago during the career of +the Second Men. Much more was needed than the rule-of-thumb principles of +earlier breeders. It took this brightest of all the races of the third species +many thousands of years of research to discover the more delicate principles of +heredity, and to devise a technique by which the actual hereditary factors in +the germ could be manipulated. It was this increasing penetration of biology +itself that opened up the deeper regions of chemistry and physics. And owing to +this historical sequence the latter sciences were conceived in a biological +manner, with the electron as the basic organism, and the cosmos as an organic +whole.

+

Imagine, then, a planet organized almost as a vast system of botanical and +zoological gardens, or wild parks, interspersed with agriculture and industry. +In every great centre of communications occurred annual and monthly shows. The +latest creations were put through their paces, judged by the high priests of +vital art, awarded distinctions, and consecrated with religious ceremony. At +these shows some of the exhibits would be utilitarian, others purely aesthetic. +There might be improved grains, vegetables, cattle, some exceptionally +intelligent or sturdy variety of herdsman's dog, or a new micro-organism with +some special function in agriculture or in human digestion. But also there +would be the latest achievements in pure vital art. Great sleek-limbed, +hornless, racing deer, birds or mammals adapted to some hitherto unfulfilled +role, bears intended to outclass all existing varieties in the struggle for +existence, ants with specialized organs and instincts, improvements in the +relations of parasite and host, so as to make a true symbiosis in which the +host profited by the parasite. And so on. And everywhere there would be the +little unclad ruddy faun-like beings who had created these marvels. Shy +forest-dwelling folk of Gurkha physique would stand beside their antelopes, +vultures, or new great cat-like prowlers. A grave young woman might cause a +stir by entering the grounds followed by several gigantic bears. Crowds would +perhaps press round to examine the creatures' teeth or limbs, and she might +scold the meddlers away from her patient flock. For the normal relation between +man and beast at this time was one of perfect amity, rising, sometimes, in the +case of domesticated animals, to an exquisite, almost painful, mutual +adoration. Even the wild beasts never troubled to avoid man, still less to +attack him, save in the special circumstances of the hunt and the sacred +gladiatorial show.

+

These last need special notice. The powers of combat in beasts were admired +no less than other powers. Men and women alike experienced a savage joy, almost +an ecstasy, in the spectacle of mortal combat. Consequently there were formal +occasions when different kinds of beasts were enraged against one another and +allowed to fight to the death. Not only so, but also there were sacred contests +between beast and man, between man and man, between woman and woman, and, most +surprising to the readers of this book, between woman and man. For in this +species, woman in her prime was not physically weaker than her partner.

+

4. CONFLICTING POLICIES

+

Almost from the first, vital art had been applied to some extent to man +himself, though with hesitation. Certain great improvements had been effected, +but only improvements about which there could be no two opinions. The many +diseases and abnormalities left over from past civilizations were patiently +abolished, and various more fundamental defects were remedied. For instance, +teeth, digestion, glandular equipment and the circulatory system were greatly +improved. Extreme good health and considerable physical beauty became +universal. Child-bearing was made a painless and health-giving process. +Senility was postponed. The standard of practical intelligence was appreciably +raised. These reforms were made possible by a vast concerted effort of research +and experiment supported by the world community. But private enterprise was +also effective, for the relation between the sexes was much more consciously +dominated by the thought of offspring than among the First Men. Every +individual knew the characteristics of his or her hereditary composition, and +knew what kinds of offspring were to be expected from intercourse of different +hereditary types. Thus in courtship the young man was not content to persuade +his beloved that his mind was destined by nature to afford her mind joyful +completion; he sought also to persuade her that with his help she might bear +children of a peculiar excellence. Consequently there was at all times going on +a process of selective breeding towards the conventionally ideal type. In +certain respects the ideal remained constant for many thousands of years. It +included health, cat-like agility, manipulative dexterity, musical sensitivity, +refined perception of rightness and wrongness in the sphere of vital art, and +an intuitive practical judgment in all the affairs of life. Longevity, and the +abolition of senility, were also sought, and partially attained. Waves of +fashion sometimes directed sexual selection toward prowess in combat, or some +special type of facial expression or vocal powers. But these fleeting whims +were negligible. Only the permanently desired characters were actually +intensified by private selective breeding.

+

But at length there came a time when more ambitious aims were entertained. +The world-community was now a highly organized theocratic hierarchy, strictly +but on the whole benevolently ruled by a supreme council of vital priests and +biologists. Each individual, down to the humblest agricultural worker, had his +special niche in society, allotted him by the supreme council or its delegates, +according to his known heredity and the needs of society. This system, of +course, sometimes led to abuse, but mostly it worked without serious friction. +Such was the precision of biological knowledge that each person's mental +calibre and special aptitudes were known beyond dispute, and rebellion against +his lot in society would have been rebellion against his own heredity. This +fact was universally known, and accepted without regret. A man had enough scope +for emulation and triumph among his peers, without indulging in vague attempts +to transcend his own nature, by rising into a superior hierarchical order. This +state of affairs would have been impossible had there not been universal faith +in the religion of life and the truth of biological science. Also it would have +been impossible had not all normal persons been active practitioners of the +sacred vital art, upon a plane suited to their capacity. Every individual adult +of the rather scanty world-population regarded himself or herself as a creative +artist, in however humble a sphere. And in general he, or she, was so +fascinated by the work, that he was well content to leave social organization +and control to those who were fitted for it. Moreover, at the back of every +mind was the conception of society itself as an organism of specialized +members. The strong sentiment for organized humanity tended, in this race, to +master even its strong egotistical impulses, though not without a struggle.

+

It was such a society, almost unbelievable to the First Men, that now set +about remaking human nature. Unfortunately there were conflicting views about +the goal. The orthodox desired only to continue the work that had for long been +on foot; though they proposed greater enterprise and co-ordination. They would +perfect man's body, but upon its present plan; they would perfect his mind, but +without seeking to introduce anything new in essence. His physique, +percipience, memory, intelligence and emotional nature, should be improved +almost beyond recognition; but they must, it was said, remain essentially what +they always had been.

+

A second party, however, finally persuaded orthodox opinion to amplify +itself in one important respect. As has already been said, the Third Men were +prone to phases of preoccupation with the ancient craving for personal +immortality. This craving had often been strong among the First Men; and even +the Second Men, in spite of their great gift of detachment, had sometimes +allowed their admiration for human personality to persuade them that souls must +live for ever. The short-lived and untheoretical Third Men, with their passion +for living things of all kinds, and all the diversity of vital behaviour, +conceived immortality in a variety of manners. In their final culture they +imagined that at death all living things whom the Life God approved passed into +another world, much like the familiar world, but happier. There they were said +to live in the presence of the deity, serving him in untrammelled vital +creativeness of sundry kinds.

+

Now it was believed that communication might occur between the two worlds, +and that the highest type of terrestrial life was that which communicated most +effectively, and further that the time had now arrived for much fuller +revelation of the life to come. It was therefore proposed to breed highly +specialized communicants whose office should be to guide this world by means of +advice from the other. As among the First Men, this communication with the +unseen world was believed to take place in the mediumistic trance. The new +enterprise, then, was to breed extremely sensitive mediums, and to increase the +mediumistic powers of the average individual.

+

There was yet another party, whose aim was very different. Man, they said, +is a very noble organism. We have dealt with other organisms so as to enhance +in each its noblest attributes. It is time to do the same with man. What is +most distinctive in man is intelligent manipulation, brain and hand. Now hand +is really outclassed by modern mechanisms, but brain will never be outclassed. +Therefore we must breed strictly for brain, for intelligent co-ordination of +behaviour. All the organic functions which can be performed by machinery, must +be relegated to machinery, so that the whole vitality of the organism may be +devoted to brain-building and brain-working. We must produce an organism which +shall be no mere bundle of relics left over from its primitive ancestors and +precariously ruled by a glimmer of intelligence. We must produce a man who is +nothing but man. When we have done this we can, if we like, ask him to find out +the truth about immortality. And also, we can safely surrender to him the +control of all human affairs.

+

The governing caste were strongly opposed to this policy. They declared +that, if it succeeded, it would only produce a most inharmonious being whose +nature would violate all the principles of vital aesthetics. Man, they said, +was essentially an animal, though uniquely gifted. His whole nature must be +developed, not one faculty at the expense of others. In arguing thus, they were +probably influenced partly by the fear of losing their authority; but their +arguments were cogent, and the majority of the community agreed with them. +Nevertheless a small group of the governors themselves were determined to carry +through the enterprise in secret.

+

There was no need of secrecy in breeding communicants. The world state +encouraged this policy and even set up institutions for its pursuit.

+

CHAPTER XI. MAN REMAKES HIMSELF

+

1. THE FIRST OF THE GREAT BRAINS

+

Those who sought to produce a super-brain embarked upon a great enterprise +of research and experiment in a remote corner of the planet. It is unnecessary +to tell in detail how they fared. Working first in secret, they later strove to +persuade the world to approve of their scheme, but only succeeded in dividing +mankind into two parties. The body politic was torn asunder. There were +religious wars. But after a few centuries of intermittent bloodshed the two +sects, those who sought to produce communicants and those who sought the +super-brain, settled down in different regions to pursue their respective aims +unmolested. In time each developed into a kind of nation, united by a religious +faith and crusading spirit. There was little cultural intercourse between the +two.

+

Those who desired to produce the super-brain employed four methods, namely +selective breeding, manipulation of the hereditary factors in germ cells +(cultivated in the laboratory), manipulation of the fertilized ovum (cultivated +also in the laboratory), and manipulation of the growing body. At first they +produced innumerable tragic abortions. These we need not observe. But at +length, several thousand years after the earliest experiments, something was +produced which seemed to promise success. A human ovum had been carefully +selected, fertilized in the laboratory, and largely reorganized by artificial +means. By inhibiting the growth of the embryo's body, and the lower organs of +the brain itself, and at the same time greatly stimulating the growth of the +cerebral hemispheres, the dauntless experimenters succeeded at last in creating +an organism which consisted of a brain twelve feet across, and a body most of +which was reduced to a mere vestige upon the under-surface of the brain. The +only parts of the body which were allowed to attain the natural size were the +arms and hands. These sinewy organs of manipulation were induced to key +themselves at the shoulders into the solid masonry which formed the creature's +house. Thus they were able to get a purchase for their work. The hands were the +normal six-fingered hands of the Third Men, very greatly enlarged and improved. +The fantastic organism was generated and matured in a building designed to +house both it and the complicated machinery which was necessary to keep it +alive. A self-regulating pump, electrically driven, served it as a heart. A +chemical factory poured the necessary materials into its blood and removed +waste products, thus taking the place of digestive organs and the normal +battery of glands. Its lungs consisted of a great room full of oxidizing tubes, +through which a constant wind was driven by an electric fan. The same fan +forced air through the artificial organs of speech. These organs were so +constructed that the natural nerve-fibres, issuing from the speech centres of +the brain, could stimulate appropriate electrical controls so as to produce +sounds identical with those which they would have produced from a living throat +and mouth. The sensory equipment of this trunkless brain was a blend of the +natural and the artificial. The optic nerves were induced to grow out along two +flexible probosces, five feet long, each of which bore a huge eye at the end. +But by a very ingenious alteration of the structure of the eye, the natural +lens could be moved aside at will, so that the retina could be applied to any +of a great diversity of optical instruments. The ears also could be projected +upon stalks, and were so arranged that the actual nerve endings could be +brought into contact with artificial resonators of various kinds, or could +listen directly to the microscopic rhythms of the most minute organisms. Scent +and taste were developed as a chemical sense, which could distinguish almost +all compounds and elements by their flavour. Pressure, warmth and cold were +detected only by the fingers, but there with great subtlety. Sensory pain was +to have been eliminated from the organism altogether; but this end was not +achieved.

+

The creature was successfully launched upon life, and was actually kept +alive for four years. But though at first all went well, in his second year the +unfortunate child, if such he may be called, began to suffer severe pain, and +to show symptoms of mental derangement. In spite of all that his devoted +foster-parents could do, he gradually sank into insanity and died. He had +succumbed to his own brain weight and to certain failures in the chemical +regulation of his blood.

+

We may overlook the next four hundred years, during which sundry vain +attempts were made to repeat the great experiment more successfully. Let us +pass on to the first true individual of the fourth human species. He was +produced in the same artificial manner as his forerunners, and was designed +upon the same general plan. His mechanical and chemical machinery, however, was +far more efficient; and his makers expected that, owing to careful adjustments +of the mechanisms of growth and decay, he would prove to be immortal. His +general plan, also, was changed in one important respect. His makers built a +large circular "brain-turret" which they divided with many partitions, +radiating from a central space, and covered everywhere with pigeon-holes. By a +technique which took centuries to develop, they induced the cells of the +growing embryonic brain to spread outwards, not as normal hemispheres of +convolutions, but into the pigeon-holes which had been prepared for them. Thus +the artificial "cranium" had to be a roomy turret of ferro-concrete some forty +feet in diameter. A door and a passage led from the outer world into the centre +of the turret, and thence other passages radiated between tiers of little +cupboards. Innumerable tubes of glass, metal and a kind of vulcanite conveyed +blood and chemicals over the whole system. Electric radiators preserved an even +warmth in every cupboard, and throughout the innumerable carefully protected +channels of the nerve-fibres. Thermometers, dials, pressure gauges, indicators +of all sorts, informed the attendants of every physical change in this strange +half-natural, half-artificial system, this preposterous factory of mind.

+

Eight years after its inception the organism had filled its brain room, and +attained the mentality of a new-born infant. His advance to maturity seemed to +his foster-parents dishearteningly slow. Not till almost at the end of his +fifth decade could he be said to have reached the mental standard of a bright +adolescent. But there was no real reason for disappointment. Within another +decade this pioneer of the Fourth Men had learned all that the Third Men could +teach him, and had also seen that a great part of their wisdom was folly. In +manual dexterity he could already vie with the best; but though manipulation +afforded him intense delight, he used his hands almost wholly in service of his +tireless curiosity. In fact, it was evident that curiosity was his main +characteristic. He was a huge bump of curiosity equipped with most cunning +hands. A department of state had been created to look after his nurture and +education. An army of learned persons was kept in readiness to answer his +impatient questions and assist him in his own scientific experiments. Now that +he had attained maturity these unfortunate pundits found themselves hopelessly +outclassed, and reduced to mere clerks, bottle-washers and errand-boys. +Hundreds of his servants were for ever scurrying into every corner of the +planet to seek information and specimens; and the significance of their errands +was by now often quite beyond the range of their own intelligence. They were +careful, however, not to let their ignorance appear to the public. On the +contrary, they succeeded in gaining much prestige from the mere mysteriousness +of their errands.

+

The great brain was wholly lacking in all normal instinctive responses, save +curiosity and constructiveness. Instinctive fear he knew not, though of course +he was capable of cold caution in any circumstances which threatened to damage +him and hinder his passionate research. Anger he knew not, but only an +adamantine firmness in the face of opposition. Normal hunger and thirst he knew +not, but only an experience of faintness when his blood was not properly +supplied with nutriment. Sex was wholly absent from his mentality. Instinctive +tenderness and instinctive group-feeling were not possible to him, for he was +without the bowels of mercy. The heroic devotion of his most intimate servants +called forth no gratitude, but only cold approval.

+

At first he interested himself not at all in the affairs of the society +which maintained him, served his every whim, and adored him. But in time he +began to take pleasure in suggesting brilliant solutions of all the current +problems of social organization. His advice was increasingly sought and +accepted. He became autocrat of the state. His own intelligence and complete +detachment combined with the people's superstitious reverence to establish him +far more securely than any ordinary tyrant. He cared nothing for the petty +troubles of his people, but he was determined to be served by a harmonious, +healthy and potent race. And as relaxation from the more serious excitement of +research in physics and astronomy, the study of human nature was not without +attractions. It may seem strange that one so completely devoid of human +sympathy could have the tact to govern a race of the emotional Third Men. But +he had built up for himself a very accurate behaviouristic psychology; and like +the skilful master of animals, he knew unerringly how much could be expected of +his people, even though their emotions were almost wholly foreign to him. Thus, +for instance, while he thoroughly despised their admiration of animals and +plants, and their religion of life, he soon learned not to seem hostile to +these obsessions, but rather to use them for his own ends. He himself was +interested in animals only as material for experiments. In this respect his +people readily helped him, partly because he assured them that his goal was the +further improvement of all types, partly because they were fascinated by his +complete disregard, in his experimentation, of the common technique for +preventing pain. The orgy of vicarious suffering awakened in his people the +long-suppressed lust in cruelty which, in spite of their intuitive insight into +animal nature, was so strong a factor in the third human species.

+

Little by little the great brain probed the material universe and the +universe of mentality. He mastered the principles of biological evolution, and +constructed for his own delight a detailed history of life on earth. He +learned, by marvellous archaeological technique, the story of all the earlier +human peoples, and of the Martian episode, matters which had remained hidden +from the Third Men. He discovered the principles of relativity and the quantum +theory, the nature of the atom as a complex system of wave trains. He measured +the cosmos; and with his delicate instruments he counted the planetary systems +in many of the remote universes. He casually solved, to his own satisfaction at +least, the ancient problems of good and evil, of mind and its object, of the +one and the many, and of truth and error. He created many new departments of +state for the purpose of recording his discoveries in an artificial language +which he devised for the purpose. Each department consisted of many colleges of +carefully bred and educated specialists who could understand the subject of +their own department to some extent. But the co-ordination of all, and true +insight into each, lay with the great brain alone.

+

2. THE TRAGEDY OF THE FOURTH MEN

+

When some three thousand years had passed since his beginning, the unique +individual determined to create others of his kind. Not that he suffered from +loneliness. Not that he yearned for love, or even for intellectual +companionship. But solely for the undertaking of more profound research, he +needed the co-operation of beings of his own mental stature. He therefore +designed, and had built in various regions of the planet, turrets and factories +like his own, though greatly improved. Into each he sent, by his servants, a +cell of his own vestigial body, and directed how it should be cultivated so as +to produce a new individual. At the same time he caused far-reaching operations +to be performed upon himself, so that he should be remade upon a more ample +plan. Of the new capacities which he inculcated in himself and his progeny the +most important was direct sensitivity to radiation. This was achieved by +incorporating in each brain tissue a specially bred strain of Martian +parasites. These henceforth were to live in the great brain as integral members +of each one of its cells. Each brain was also equipped with a powerful wireless +transmitting apparatus. Thus should the widely scattered sessile population +maintain direct "telepathic" contact with one another.

+

The undertaking was successfully accomplished. Some ten thousand of these +new individuals, each specialized for his particular locality and office, now +constituted the Fourth Men. On the highest mountains were super-astronomers +with vast observatories, whose instruments were partly artificial, partly +natural excrescences of their own brains. In the very entrails of the planet +others, specially adapted to heat, studied the subterranean forces, and were +kept in "telepathic" union with the astronomers. In the tropics, in the Arctic, +in the forests, the deserts, and on the ocean floor, the Fourth Men indulged +their immense curiosity; and in the homeland, around the father of the race, a +group of great buildings housed a hundred individuals. In the service of this +world-wide population, those races of Third Men which had originally +co-operated to produce the new human species, tilled the land, tended the +cattle, manufactured the immense material requisites of the new civilization, +and satisfied their spirits with an ever more stereotyped ritual of their +ancient vital art. This degradation of the whole race to a menial position had +occurred slowly, imperceptibly. But the result was none the less irksome. +Occasionally there were sparks of rebellion, but they always failed to kindle +serious trouble; for the prestige and persuasiveness of the Fourth Men were +irresistible.

+

At length, however, a crisis occurred. For some three thousand years the +Fourth Men had pursued their research with constant success, but latterly +progress had been slow. It was becoming increasingly difficult to devise new +lines of research. True, there was still much detail to be filled in, even in +their knowledge of their own planet, and very much in their knowledge of the +stars. But there was no prospect of opening up entirely new fields which might +throw some light on the essential nature of things. Indeed, it began to dawn on +them that they had scarcely plumbed a surface ripple of the ocean of mystery. +Their knowledge seemed to them perfectly systematic, yet wholly enigmatic. They +had a growing sense that though in a manner they knew almost everything, they +really knew nothing.

+

The normal mind, when it experiences intellectual frustration, can seek +recreation in companionship, or physical exercise, or art. But for the Fourth +Men there was no such escape. These activities were impossible and meaningless +to them. The Great Brains were whole-heartedly interested in the objective +world, but solely as a vast stimulus to intellection, never for its own sake. +They admired only the intellective process itself and the interpretative +formulae and principles which it devised. They cared no more for men and women +than for material in a test-tube, no more for one another than for mechanical +calculators. Nay, of each one of them it might almost be said that he cared +even for himself solely as an instrument of knowing. Many of the species had +actually sacrificed their sanity, even in some cases their lives, to the +obsessive lust of intellection.

+

As the sense of frustration became more and more oppressive, the Fourth Men +suffered more and more from the one-sidedness of their nature. Though so +completely dispassionate while their intellectual life proceeded smoothly, now +that it was thwarted they began to be confused by foolish whims and cravings +which they disguised from themselves under a cloak of excuses. Sessile and +incapable of affection, they continually witnessed the free movement, the group +life, the love-making of their menials. Such activities became an offence to +them, and filled them with a cold jealousy, which it was altogether beneath +their dignity to notice. The affairs of the serf-population began to be +conducted by their masters with less than the accustomed justice. Serious +grievances arose.

+

The climax occurred in connexion with a great revival of research, which, it +was said, would break down the impalpable barriers and set knowledge in +progress again. The Great Brains were to be multiplied a thousandfold, and the +resources of the whole planet were to be devoted far more strictly than before +to the crusade of intellection. The menial Third Men would therefore have to +put up with more work and less pleasure. Formerly they would willingly have +accepted this fate for the glory of serving the super-human brains. But the +days of their blind devotion was past. It was murmured among them that the +great experiment of their forefathers had proved a great disaster, and that the +Fourth Men, the Great Brains, in spite of their devilish cunning, were mere +abortions.

+

Matters came to a head when the tyrants announced that all useless animals +must be slaughtered, since their upkeep was too great an economic burden upon +the world-community. The vital art, moreover, was to be practised in future +only by the Great Brains themselves. This announcement threw the Third Men into +violent excitement, and divided them into two parties. Many of those whose +lives were spent in direct service of the Great Brains favoured implicit +obedience, though even these were deeply distressed. The majority, on the other +hand, absolutely refused to permit the impious slaughter, or even to surrender +their privileges as vital artists. For, they said, to kill off the fauna of the +planet would be to violate the fair form of the universe by blotting out many +of its most beautiful features. It would be an outrage to the Life-God, and he +would surely avenge it. They therefore urged that the time was come for all +true human beings to stand together and depose the tyrants. And this, they +pointed out, could easily be done. It was only necessary to cut a few electric +cables, connecting the Great Brains with the subterranean generating stations. +The electric pumps would then cease to supply the brain-turrets with aerated +blood. Or, in the few cases in which the Great Brains were so located that they +could control their own source of power in wind or water, it was necessary +merely to refrain from transporting food to their digestion-laboratories.

+

The personal attendants of the Great Brains shrank from such action; for +their whole lives had been devoted, proudly and even in a manner lovingly, to +service of the revered beings. But the agriculturists determined to withhold +supplies. The Great Brains, therefore, armed their servitors with a diversity +of ingenious weapons. Immense destruction was done; but since the rebels were +decimated, there were not enough hands to work the fields. Some of the Great +Brains, and many of their servants, actually died of starvation. And as +hardship increased, the servants themselves began to drift over to the rebels. +It now seemed certain to the Third Men that the Great Brains would very soon be +impotent, and the planet once more under the control of natural beings. But the +tyrants were not to be so easily defeated. Already for some centuries they had +been secretly experimenting with a means of gaining a far more thorough +dominion over the natural species. At the eleventh hour they succeeded.

+

In this undertaking they had been favoured by the results which a section of +the natural species itself had produced long ago in the effort to breed +specialized communicants to keep in touch with the unseen world. That sect, or +theocratic nation, which had striven for many centuries toward this goal, had +finally attained what they regarded as success. There came into existence an +hereditary caste of communicants. Now, though these beings were subject to +mediumistic trances in which they apparently conversed with denizens of the +other world and received instructions about the ordering of matters +terrestrial, they were in fact merely abnormally suggestible. Trained from +childhood in the lore of the unseen world, their minds, during the trance, were +amazingly fertile in developing fantasies based on that lore. Left to +themselves, they were merely folk who were abnormally lacking in initiative and +intelligence. Indeed, so naïve were they, and so sluggish, that they were +mentally more like cattle than human beings. Yet under the influence of +suggestion they became both intelligent and vigorous. Their intelligence, +however, operating strictly in service of the suggestion, was wholly incapable +of criticizing the suggestion itself.

+

There is no need to revert to the downfall of this theocratic society, +beyond saying that, since both private and public affairs were regulated by +reference to the sayings of the communicants, inevitably the state fell into +chaos. The other community of the Third Men, that which was engaged upon +breeding the Great Brains, gradually dominated the whole planet. The +mediumistic stock, however, remained in existence, and was treated with a +half-contemptuous reverence. The mediums were still generally regarded as in +some manner specially gifted with the divine spirit, but they were now thought +to be too holy for their sayings to have any relation to mundane affairs.

+

It was by means of this mediumistic stock that the Great Brains had intended +to consolidate their position. Their earlier efforts may be passed over. But in +the end they produced a race of living and even intelligent machines whose will +they could control absolutely, even at a great distance. For the new variety of +Third Men was "telepathically" united with its masters. Martian units had been +incorporated in its nervous system.

+

At the last moment the Great Brains were able to put into the field an army +of these perfect slaves, which they equipped with the most efficient lethal +weapons. The remnant of original servants discovered too late that they had +been helping to produce their supplanters. They joined the rebels, only to +share in the general destruction. In a few months all the Third Men, save the +new docile variety, were destroyed; except for a few specimens which were +preserved in cages for experimental purposes. And in a few years every type of +animal that was not known to be directly or indirectly necessary to human life +had been exterminated. None were preserved even as specimens, for the Great +Brains had already studied them through and through.

+

But though the Great Brains were now absolute possessors of the Earth, they +were after all no nearer their goal than before. The actual struggle with the +natural species had provided them with an aim; but now that the struggle was +over, they began to be obsessed once more with their intellectual failure. With +painful clarity they realized that, in spite of their vast weight of neural +tissue, in spite of their immense knowledge and cunning, they were practically +no nearer the ultimate truth than their predecessors had been. Both were +infinitely far from it.

+

For the Fourth Men, the Great Brains, there was no possible life but the +life of intellect; and the life of intellect had become barren. Evidently +something more than mere bulk of brain was needed for the solving of the deeper +intellectual problems. They must, therefore, somehow create a new +brain-quality, or organic formation of brain, capable of a mode of vision or +insight impossible in their present state. They must learn somehow to remake +their own brain-tissues upon a new plan. With this aim, and partly through +unwitting jealousy of the natural and more balanced species which had created +them, they began to use their captive specimens of that species for a great new +enterprise of research into the nature of human brain-tissue. It was hoped thus +to find some hint of the direction in which the new evolutionary leap should +take place. The unfortunate specimens were therefore submitted to a thousand +ingenious physiological and psychological tortures. Some were kept alive with +their brains spread out permanently on a laboratory table, for microscopic +observation during their diverse psychological reactions. Others were put into +fantastic states of mental abnormality. Others were maintained in perfect +health of body and mind, only to be felled at last by some ingeniously +contrived tragic experience. New types were produced which, it was hoped, might +show evidence of emergence into a qualitatively higher mode of mentality; but +in fact they succeeded only in ranging through the whole gamut of insanity.

+

The research continued for some thousands of years, but gradually slackened, +so utterly barren did it prove to be. As this frustration became more and more +evident, a change began to come over the minds of the Fourth Men.

+

They knew, of course, that the natural species valued many things and +activities which they themselves did not appreciate at all. Hitherto this had +seemed a symptom merely of the low mental development of the natural species. +But the behaviour of the unfortunate specimens upon whom they had been +experimenting had gradually given the Fourth Men a greater insight into the +likings and admirations of the natural species, so that they had learned to +distinguish between those desires which were fundamental and those merely +accidental cravings which clear thinking would have dismissed. In fact, they +came to see that certain activities and certain objects were appreciated by +these beings with the same clear-sighted conviction as they themselves +appreciated knowledge. For instance, the natural human beings valued one +another, and were sometimes capable of sacrificing themselves for the sake of +others. They also valued love itself. And again they valued very seriously +their artistic activities; and the activities of their bodies and of animal +bodies appeared to them to have intrinsic excellence.

+

Little by little the Fourth Men began to realize that what was wrong with +themselves was not merely their intellectual limitation, but, far more +seriously, the limitation of their insight into values. And this weakness, they +saw, was the result, not of paucity of intellective brain, but of paucity of +body and lower brain tissues. This defect they could not remedy. It was +obviously impossible to remake themselves so radically that they should become +of a more normal type. Should they concentrate their efforts upon the +production of new individuals more harmonious than themselves? Such a work, it +might be supposed, would have seemed unattractive to them. But no. They argued +thus: "It is our nature to care most for knowing. Full knowledge is to be +attained only by minds both more penetrating and more broadly based than ours. +Let us, therefore, waste no more time in seeking to achieve the goal in +ourselves. Let us seek rather to produce a kind of being, free from our +limitations, in whom we may attain the goal of perfect knowledge vicariously. +The producing of such a being will exercise all our powers, and will afford the +highest kind of fulfillment possible to us. To refrain from this work would be +irrational."

+

Thus it came about that the artificial Fourth Men began to work in a new +spirit upon the surviving specimens of the Third Men to produce their own +supplanters.

+

3. THE FIFTH MEN

+

The plan of the proposed new human being was worked out in great detail +before any attempt was made to produce an actual individual. Essentially he was +to be a normal human organism, with all the bodily functions of the natural +type; but he was to be perfected through and through. Care must be taken to +give him the greatest possible bulk of brain compatible with such a general +plan, but no more. Very carefully his creators calculated the dimensions and +internal proportions which their creature must have. His brain could not be +nearly as large as their own, since he would have to carry it about with him, +and maintain it with his own physiological machinery. On the other hand, if it +was to be at all larger than the natural brain, the rest of the organism must +be proportionately sturdy. Like the Second Men, the new species must be +titanic. Indeed, it must be such as to dwarf even those natural giants. The +body, however, must not be so huge as to be seriously hampered by its own +weight, and by the necessity of having bones so massive as to be +unmanageable.

+

In working out the general proportions of the new man, his makers took into +account the possibility of devising more efficient bone and muscle. After some +centuries of patient experiment they did actually invent a means of inducing in +germ cells a tendency toward far stronger bone-tissues and far more powerful +muscle. At the same time they devised nerve-tissues more highly specialized for +their particular functions. And in the new brain, so minute compared with their +own, smallness was to be compensated for by efficiency of design, both in the +individual cells and in their organization.

+

Further, it was found possible to economize somewhat in bulk and vital +energy by improvements in the digestive system. Certain new models of +micro-organisms were produced, which, living symbiotically in the human gut, +should render the whole process of digestion easier, more rapid, and less +erratic.

+

Special attention was given to the system of self-repair in all tissues, +especially in those which had hitherto been the earliest to wear out. And at +the same time the mechanism regulating growth and general senescence was so +designed that the new man should reach maturity at the age of two hundred +years, and should remain in full vigour, for at least three thousand years, +when, with the first serious symptom of decay, his heart should suddenly cease +functioning. There had been some dispute whether the new being should be +endowed with perennial life, like his makers. But in the end it had been +decided that, since he was intended only as a transitional type, it would be +safer to allow him only a finite, though a prolonged, lifetime. There must be +no possibility that he should be tempted to regard himself as life's final +expression.

+

In sensory equipment, the new man was to have all the advantages of the +Second and Third Men, and, in addition a still wider range and finer +discrimination in every sense organ. More important was the incorporation of +Martian units in the new model of germ cell. As the organism developed, these +should propagate themselves and congregate in the cells of the brain, so that +every brain area might be sensitive to ethereal vibrations, and the whole might +emit a strong system of radiation. But care was taken that this "telepathic" +faculty of the new species should remain subordinate. There must be no danger +that the individual should become a mere resonator of the herd.

+

Long-drawn-out chemical research enabled the Fourth Men to design also +far-reaching improvements in the secretions of the new man, so that he should +maintain both a perfect physiological equilibrium and a well-balanced +temperament. For they were determined that though he should experience all the +range of emotional life, his passions should not run into disastrous excess; +nor should he be prone to some one emotion in season and out of season. It was +necessary also to revise in great detail the whole system of natural reflexes, +abolishing some, modifying others, and again strengthening others. All the more +complex, "instinctive" responses, which had persisted in man since the days of +Pithecanthropus Erectus, had also to be meticulously revised, both in respect +of the form of activity and the objects upon which they should be instinctively +directed. Anger, fear, curiosity, humour, tenderness, egoism, sexual passion, +and sociality must all be possible, but never uncontrollable. In fact, as with +the Second Men, but more emphatically, the new type was to have an innate +aptitude for, and inclination toward, all those higher activities and objects +which, in the First Men, were only achieved after laborious discipline. Thus, +while the design included self-regard, it also involved a disposition to prize +the self chiefly as a social and intellectual being, rather than as a primeval +savage. And while it included strong sociality, the group upon which +instinctive interest was to be primarily directed was to be nothing less than +the organized community of all minds. And again, while it included vigorous +primitive sexuality and parenthood, it provided also those innate +"sublimations" which had occurred in the second species; for instance, the +native aptitude for altruistic love of individual spirits of every kind, and +for art and religion. Only by a miracle of pure intellectual skill could the +cold-natured Great Brains, who were themselves doomed never to have actual +experience of such activities, contrive, merely by study of the Third Men, to +see their importance, and to design an organism splendidly capable of them. It +was much as though a blind race, after studying physics, should invent organs +of sight.

+

It was recognized, of course, that in a race in which the average life span +should be counted in thousands of years, procreation must be very rare. Yet it +was also recognized that, for full development of mind, not only sexual +intercourse but parenthood was necessary in both sexes. This difficulty was +overcome partly by designing a very prolonged infancy and childhood; which, +necessary in themselves for the proper mental and physical growth of these +complicated organisms, provided also a longer exercise of parenthood for the +mature. At the same time the actual process of childbirth was designed to be as +easy as among the Third Men. And it was expected that with its greatly improved +physiological organization the infant would not need that anxious and absorbing +care which had so seriously hobbled most mothers among the earlier races.

+

The mere sketching out of these preliminary specifications of an improved +human being involved many centuries of research and calculation which taxed +even the ingenuity of the Great Brains. Then followed a lengthy period of +tentative experiment in the actual production of such a type. For some +thousands of years little was done but to show that many promising lines of +attack were after all barren. And several times during this period the whole +work was held up by disagreements among the Great Brains themselves as to the +policy to be adopted. Once, indeed, they took to violence, one party attacking +the other with chemicals, microbes, and armies of human automata.

+

In short it was only after many failures, and after many barren epochs +during which, for a variety of reasons, the enterprise was neglected, that the +Fourth Men did at length fashion two individuals almost precisely of the type +they had originally designed. These were produced from a single fertilized +ovum, in laboratory conditions. Identical twins, but of opposite sexes, they +became the Adam and Eve of a new and glorious human species, the Fifth Men.

+

It may fittingly be said of the Fifth Men that they were the first to attain +true human proportions of body and mind. On the average they were more than +twice as tall as the First Men, and much taller than the Second Men. Their +lower limbs had therefore to be extremely massive compared with the torso which +they had to support. Thus, upon the ample pedestal of their feet, they stood +like columns of masonry. Yet though their proportions were in a manner +elephantine, there was a remarkable precision and even delicacy in the volumes +that composed them. Their great arms and shoulders, dwarfed somewhat by their +still mightier legs, were instruments not only of power but also of fine +adjustment. Their hands also were fashioned both for power and for minute +control; for, while the thumb and forefinger constituted a formidable vice, the +delicate sixth finger had been induced to divide its tip into two Lilliputian +fingers and a corresponding thumb. The contours of the limbs were sharply +visible, for the body bore no hair, save for a close, thick skull-cap which, in +the original stock, was of ruddy brown. The well-marked eyebrows, when drawn +down, shaded the sensitive eyes from the sun. Elsewhere there was no need of +hair, for the brown skin had been so ingeniously contrived that it maintained +an even temperature alike in tropical and subarctic climates, with no aid +either from hair or clothes. Compared with the great body, the head was not +large, though the brain capacity was twice that of the Second Men. In the +original pair of individuals the immense eyes were of a deep violet, the +features strongly moulded and mobile. These facial characters had not been +specially designed, for they seemed unimportant to the Fourth Men; but the play +of biological forces resulted in a face not unlike that of the Second Men, +though with an added and indescribable expression which no human face had +hitherto attained.

+

How from this pair of individuals the new population gradually arose; how at +first it was earnestly fostered by its creators; how it subsequently asserted +its independence and took control of its own destiny; how the Great Brains +failed piteously to understand and sympathize with the mentality of their +creatures, and tried to tyrannize over them; how for a while the planet was +divided into two mutually intolerant communities, and was at last drenched with +man's blood, until the human automata were exterminated, the Great Brains +starved or blown to pieces, and the Fifth Men themselves decimated; how, as a +result of these events, a dense fog of barbarism settled once more upon the +planet, so that the Fifth Men, like so many other races, had after all to start +rebuilding civilization and culture from its very foundations; how all these +things befell we must not in detail observe.

+

4. THE CULTURE OF THE FIFTH MEN

+

It is not possible to recount the stages by which the Fifth Men advanced +toward their greatest civilization and culture; for it is that fully developed +culture itself which concerns us. And even of their highest achievement, which +persisted for so many millions of years, I can say but little, not merely +because I must hasten to the end of my story, but also because so much of that +achievement lies wholly beyond the comprehension of those for whom this book is +intended. For I have at last reached that period in the history of man when he +first began to reorganize his whole mentality to cope with matters whose very +existence had been hitherto almost completely hidden from him. The old aims +persist, and are progressively realized as never before; but also they become +increasingly subordinate to the requirements of new aims which are more and +more insistently forced upon him by his deepening experience. Just as the +interests and ideals of the First Men lie beyond the grasp of their ape +contemporaries, so the interests and ideals of the Fifth Men in their full +development lie beyond the grasp of the First Men. On the other hand, just as, +in the life of primitive man, there is much which would be meaningful even to +the ape, so in the life of the Fifth Men much remains which is meaningful even +to the First Men.

+

Conceive a world-society developed materially far beyond the wildest dreams +of America. Unlimited power, derived partly from the artificial disintegration +of atoms, partly from the actual annihilation of matter through the union of +electrons and protons to form radiation, completely abolished the whole +grotesque burden of drudgery which hitherto had seemed the inescapable price of +civilization, nay of life itself. The vast economic routine of the +world-community was carried on by the mere touching of appropriate buttons. +Transport, mining, manufacture, and even agriculture were performed in this +manner. And indeed in most cases the systematic co-ordination of these +activities was itself the work of self-regulating machinery. Thus, not only was +there no longer need for any human beings to spend their lives in unskilled +monotonous labour, but further, much that earlier races would have regarded as +highly skilled though stereotyped work, was now carried on by machinery. Only +the pioneering of industry, the endless exhilarating research, invention, +design and reorganization, which is incurred by an ever-changing society, still +engaged the minds of men and women. And though this work was of course immense, +it could not occupy the whole attention of a great world-community. Thus very +much of the energy of the race was free to occupy itself with other no less +difficult and exacting matters, or to seek recreation in its many admirable +sports and arts. Materially every individual was a multi-millionaire, in that +he had at his beck and call a great diversity of powerful mechanisms; but also +he was a penniless friar, for he had no vestige of economic control over any +other human being. He could fly through the upper air to the ends of the earth +in an hour, or hang idle among the clouds all day long. His flying machine was +no cumbersome aeroplane, but either a wingless aerial boat, or a mere suit of +overalls in which he could disport himself with the freedom of a bird. Not only +in the air, but in the sea also, he was free. He could stroll about the ocean +bed, or gambol with the deep-sea fishes. And for habitation he could make his +home, as he willed, either in a shack in the wilderness or in one of the great +pylons which dwarfed the architecture even of the American age. He could +possess this huge palace in loneliness and fill it with his possessions, to be +automatically cared for without human service; or he could join with others and +create a hive of social life. All these amenities he took for granted as the +savage takes for granted the air which he breathes. And because they were as +universally available as air, no one craved them in excess, and no one grudged +another the use of them.

+

Yet the population of the earth was now very numerous. Some ten thousand +million persons had their homes in the snow-capped pylons which covered the +continents with an open forest of architecture. Between these great obelisks +lay corn-land, park, and wilderness. For there were very many areas of +hill-country and forest which were preserved as playgrounds. And indeed one +whole continent, stretching from the Tropics to the Arctic, was kept as nearly +as possible in its natural state. This region was chosen mainly for its +mountains; for since most of the Alpine tracts had by now been worn into +insignificance by water and frost, mountains were much prized. Into this Wild +Continent individuals of all ages repaired to spend many years at a time in +living the life of primitive man without any aid whatever from civilization. +For it was recognized that a highly sophisticated race, devoted almost wholly +to art and science, must take special measures to preserve its contact with the +primitive. Thus in the Wild Continent was to be found at any time a sparse +population of "savages," armed with flint and bone, or more rarely with iron, +which they or their friends had wrested from the earth. These voluntary +primitives were intent chiefly upon hunting and simple agriculture. Their +scanty leisure was devoted to art, and meditation, and to savouring fully all +the primeval human values. Indeed it was a hard life and a dangerous that these +intellectuals periodically imposed on themselves. And though of course they had +zest in it, they often dreaded its hardship and the uncertainty that they would +ever return from it. For the danger was very real. The Fifth Men had +compensated for the Fourth Men's foolish destruction of the animals by creating +a whole system of new types, which they set at large in the Wild Continent; and +some of these creatures were extremely formidable carnivora, which man himself, +armed only with primitive weapons, had very good reason to fear. In the Wild +Continent there was inevitably a high death-rate. Many promising lives were +tragically cut short. But it was recognized that from the point of view of the +race this sacrifice was worth while, for the spiritual effects of the +institution of periodic savagery were very real. Beings whose natural span was +three thousand years, given over almost wholly to civilized pursuits, were +greatly invigorated and enlightened by an occasional decade in the wild.

+

The culture of the Fifth Men was influenced in many respects by their +"telepathic" communication with one another. The obvious advantages of this +capacity were now secured without its dangers. Each individual could isolate +himself at will from the radiation of his fellows, either wholly or in respect +of particular elements of his mental process; and thus he was in no danger of +losing his individuality. But, on the other hand, he was immeasurably more able +to participate in the experience of others than were beings for whom the only +possible communication was symbolic. The result was that, though conflict of +wills was still possible, it was far more easily resolved by mutual +understanding than had ever been the case in earlier species. Thus there were +no lasting and no radical conflicts, either of thought or desire. It was +universally recognized that every discrepancy of opinion and of aim could be +abolished by telepathic discussion. Sometimes the process would be easy and +rapid; sometimes it could not be achieved without a patient and detailed +"laying of mind to mind," so as to bring to light the point where the +difference originated.

+

One result of the general "telepathic" facility of the species was that +speech was no longer necessary. It was still preserved and prized, but only as +a medium of art, not as a means of communication. Thinking, of course, was +still carried on largely by means of words; but in communication there was no +more need actually to speak the words than in thinking in private. Written +language remained essential for the recording and storing of thought. Both +language and the written expression of it had become far more complex and +accurate than they had ever been, more faithful instruments for the expression +and creation of thought and emotion.

+

"Telepathy" combined with longevity and the extremely subtle brain-structure +of the species to afford each individual an immense number of intimate +friendships, and some slight acquaintance actually with the whole race. This, I +fear, must seem incredible to my readers, unless they can be persuaded to +regard it as a symptom of the high mental development of the species. However +that may be, it is a fact that each person was aware of every other, at least +as a face, or a name, or the holder of a certain office. It is impossible to +exaggerate the effects of this facility of personal intercourse. It meant that +the species constituted at any moment, if not strictly a community of friends, +at least a vast club or college. Further, since each individual saw his own +mind reflected, as it were, in very many other minds, and since there was great +variety of psychological types, the upshot in each individual was a very +accurate self-consciousness.

+

In the Martians, "telepathic" intercourse had resulted in a true group mind, +a single psychical process embodied in the electro-magnetic radiation of the +whole race; but this group-mind was inferior in calibre to the individual +minds. All that was distinctive of an individual at his best failed to +contribute to the group-mind. But in the fifth human species "telepathy" was +only a means of intercourse between individuals; there was no true group-mind. +On the other hand, "telepathic" intercourse occurred even on the highest planes +of experience. It was by "telepathic" intercourse in respect of art, science, +philosophy, and the appreciation of personalities, that the public mind, or +rather the public culture, of the Fifth Men had being. With the Martians, +"telepathic" union took place chiefly by elimination of the differences between +individuals; with the Fifth Men "telepathic" communication was, as it were, a +kind of spiritual multiplication of mental diversity, by which each mind was +enriched with the wealth of ten thousand million. Consequently each individual +was, in a very real sense, the cultured mind of the species; but there were as +many such minds as there were individuals. There was no additional racial mind +over and above the minds of the individuals. Each individual himself was a +conscious centre which participated in, and contributed to, the experience of +all other centres.

+

This state of affairs would not have been possible had not the world +community been able to direct so much of its interest and energy into the +higher mental activities. The whole structure of society was fashioned in +relation to its best culture. It is almost impossible to give even an inkling +of the nature and aims of this culture, and to make it believable that a huge +population should have spent scores of millions of years not wholly, not even +chiefly, on industrial advancement, but almost entirely on art, science and +philosophy, without ever repeating itself or falling into ennui. I can only +point out that, the higher a mind's development, the more it discovers in the +universe to occupy it.

+

Needless to say, the Fifth Men had early mastered all those paradoxes of +physical science which had so perplexed the First Men. Needless to say, they +had a very complete knowledge of the geography of the cosmos and of the atom. +But again and again the very foundations of their science were shattered by +some new discovery, so that they had patiently to reconstruct the whole upon an +entirely new plan. At length, however, with the clear formulation of the +principles of psycho-physics, in which the older psychology and the older +physics were held, so to speak, in chemical combination, they seemed to have +built upon the rock. In this science, the fundamental concepts of psychology +were given a physical meaning, and the fundamental concepts of physics were +stated in a psychological manner. Further, the most fundamental relations of +the physical universe were found to be of the same nature as the fundamental +principles of art. But, and herein lay mystery and horror even for the Fifth +Men, there was no shred of evidence that this aesthetically admirable cosmos +was the work of a conscious artist, nor yet that any mind would ever develop so +greatly as to be able to appreciate the Whole in all its detail and unity.

+

Since art seemed to the Fifth Men to be in some sense basic to the cosmos, +they were naturally very much preoccupied with artistic creation. Consequently, +all those who were not social or economic organizers, or scientific +researchers, or pure philosophers, were by profession creative artists or +handicraftsmen. That is to say, they were engaged on the production of material +objects of various kinds, whose form should be aesthetically significant to the +perceiver. In some cases the material object was a pattern of spoken words, in +others pure music, in others moving coloured shapes, in others a complex of +steel cubes and bars, in others some translation of the human figure into a +particular medium, and so on. But also the aesthetic impulse expressed itself +in the production, by hand, of innumerable common utensils, indulging sometimes +in lavish decoration, trusting at other times to the beauty of function. Every +medium of art that had ever beers employed was employed by the Fifth Men, and +innumerable new vehicles were also used. They prized on the whole more highly +those kinds of art which were not static; but involved time as well as space; +for as a race they were peculiarly fascinated by time.

+

These innumerable artists held that they were doing something of great +importance. The cosmos was to be regarded as an aesthetic unity in four +directions, and of inconceivable complexity. Human works of pure art were +thought of as instruments through which man might behold and admire some aspect +of the cosmic beauty. They were said to focus together features of the cosmos +too vast and elusive for man otherwise to apprehend their form. The work of art +was sometimes likened to a compendious mathematical formula expressive of some +immense and apparently chaotic field of facts. But in the case of art, it was +said, the unity which the artistic object elicited was one in which factors of +vital nature and of mind itself were essential members.

+

The race thus deemed itself to be engaged upon a great enterprise both of +discovery and creation in which each individual was both an originator of some +unique contribution, and an appraiser of all.

+

Now, as the years advanced in millions and in decades of millions, it began +to be noticed that the movement of world culture was in a manner spiral. There +would be an age during which the interest of the race was directed almost +wholly upon certain tracts or aspects of existence; and then, after perhaps a +hundred thousand years, these would seem to have been fully cultivated, and +would be left fallow. During the next epoch attention would be in the main +directed to other spheres, and then afterwards to yet others, and again others. +But at length a return would be made to the fields that had been deserted, and +it would be discovered that they could now miraculously bear a million-fold the +former crop. Thus, in both science and art man kept recurring again and again +to the ancient themes, to work over them once more in meticulous detail and +strike from them new truth and new beauty, such as, in the earlier epoch, he +could never have conceived. Thus it was that, though science gathered to itself +unfalteringly an ever wider and more detailed view of existence, it +periodically discovered some revolutionary general principle in terms of which +its whole content had to be given a new significance. And in art there would +appear in one age works superficially almost identical with works of another +age, yet to the discerning eye incomparably more significant. Similarly, in +respect of human personality itself, those men and women who lived at the close +of the aeon of the Fifth Men could often discover in the remote beginning of +their own race beings curiously like themselves, yet, as it were, expressed in +fewer dimensions than their own many-dimensional natures. As a map is like the +mountainous land, or the picture like the landscape, or indeed as the point and +the circle are like the sphere, so, and only so, the earlier Fifth Men +resembled the flower of the species.

+

Such statements would be in a manner true of any period of steady cultural +progress. But in the present instance they have a peculiar significance which I +must now somehow contrive to suggest.

+

CHAPTER XII. THE LAST TERRESTRIALS

+

1. THE CULT OF EVANESCENCE

+

The Fifth Men had not been endowed with that potential immortality which +their makers themselves possessed. And from the fact that they were mortal and +yet long-lived, their culture drew its chief brilliance and poignancy. Beings +for whom the natural span was three thousand years, and ultimately as much as +fifty thousand, were peculiarly troubled by the prospect of death, and by the +loss of those dear to them. The mere ephemeral kind of spirit, that comes into +being and then almost immediately ceases, before it has entered at all deeply +into consciousness of itself, can face its end with a courage that is half +unwitting. Even its smart in the loss of other beings with whom it has been +intimate is but a vague and dreamlike suffering. For the ephemeral spirit has +no time to grow fully awake, or fully intimate with another, before it must +lose its beloved, and itself once more fade into unconsciousness. But with the +long-lived yet not immortal Fifth Men the case was different. Gathering to +themselves experience of the cosmos, acquiring an ever more precise and vivid +insight and appreciation, they knew that very soon all this wealth of the soul +must cease to be. And in love, though they might be fully intimate not merely +with one but with very many persons, the death of one of these dear spirits +seemed an irrevocable tragedy, an utter annihilation of the most resplendent +kind of glory, an impoverishment of the cosmos for evermore.

+

In their brief primitive phase, the Fifth Men, like so many other races, +sought to console themselves by unreasoning faith in a life after death, They +conceived, for instance, that at death terrestrial beings embarked upon a +career continuous with earthly life, but far more ample, either in some remote +planetary system, or in some wholly distinct orb of space-time. But though such +theories were never disproved in the primitive era, they gradually began to +seem not merely improbable but ignoble. For it came to be recognized that the +resplendent glories of personality, even in that degree of beauty which now for +the first time was attained, were not after all the extreme of glory. It was +seen with pain, but also with exultation, that even love's demand that the +beloved should have immortal life is a betrayal of man's paramount allegiance. +And little by little it became evident that those who used great gifts, and +even genius, to establish the truth of the after life, or to seek contact with +their beloved dead, suffered from a strange blindness, and obtuseness of the +spirit. Though the love which had misled them was itself a very lovely thing, +yet they were misled. Like children, searching for lost toys, they wandered. +Like adolescents seeking to recapture delight in the things of childhood, they +shunned those more difficult admirations which are proper to the grown +mind.

+

And so it became a constant aim of the Fifth Men to school themselves to +admire chiefly even in the very crisis of bereavement, not persons, but that +great music of innumerable personal lives, which is the life of the race. And +quite early in their career they discovered an unexpected beauty in the very +fact that the individual must die. So that, when they had actually come into +possession of the means to make themselves immortal, they refrained, choosing +rather merely to increase the life-span of succeeding generations to fifty +thousand years. Such a period seemed to be demanded for the full exercise of +human capacity; but immortality, they held, would lead to spiritual +disaster.

+

Now as their science advanced they saw that there had been a time, before +the stars were formed, when there was no possible footing for minds in the +cosmos; and that there would come a time when mentality would be driven out of +existence. Earlier human species had not needed to trouble about mind's +ultimate fate; but for the long-lived Fifth Men the end, though remote, did not +seem infinitely distant. The prospect distressed them. They had schooled +themselves to live not for the individual but for the race; and now the life of +the race itself was seen to be a mere instant between the endless void of the +past and the endless void of the future. Nothing within their ken was more +worthy of admiration than the organized progressive mentality of mankind; and +the conviction that this most admired thing must soon cease, filled many of +their less ample minds with horror and indignation. But in time the Fifth Men, +like the Second Men long before them, came to suspect that even in this tragic +brevity of mind's course there was a quality of beauty, more difficult than the +familiar beauty, but also more exquisite. Even thus imprisoned in an instant, +the spirit of man might yet plumb the whole extent of space, and also the whole +past and the whole future; and so, from behind his prison bars, he might render +the universe that intelligent worship which, they felt, it demanded of him. +Better so, they said, than that he should fret himself with puny efforts to +escape. He is dignified by his very weakness, and the cosmos by its very +indifference to him.

+

For aeons they remained in this faith. And they schooled their hearts to +acquiesce in it, saying, if it is so, it is best, and somehow we must learn to +see that it is best. But what they meant by "best" was not what their +predecessors would have meant. They did not, for instance, deceive themselves +by pretending that after all they themselves actually preferred life to be +evanescent. On the contrary, they continued to long that it might be otherwise. +But having discovered, both behind the physical order and behind the desires of +minds, a fundamental principle whose essence was aesthetic, they were faithful +to the conviction that whatever was fact must somehow in the universal view be +fitting, right, beautiful, integral to the form of the cosmos. And so they +accepted as right a state of affairs which in their own hearts they still felt +grievously wrong. This conviction of the irrevocability of the past and of the +evanescence of mind induced in them a great tenderness for all beings that had +lived and ceased. Deeming themselves to be near the crest of life's +achievement, blessed also with longevity and philosophic detachment, they were +often smitten with pity for those humbler, briefer and less free spirits whose +lot had fallen in the past. Moreover, themselves extremely complex, subtle, +conscious, they conceived a generous admiration for all simple minds, for the +early men, and for the beasts. Very strongly they condemned the action of their +predecessors in destroying so many joyous and delectable creatures. Earnestly +they sought to reconstruct in imagination all those beings that blind +intellectualism had murdered. Earnestly they delved in the near and the remote +past so as to recover as much as possible of the history of life on the planet. +With meticulous love they would figure out the life stories of extinct types, +such as the brontosaurus, the hippopotamus, the chimpanzee, the Englishman, the +American, as also of the still extant amoeba. And while they could not but +relish the comicality of these remote beings, their amusement was the outgrowth +of affectionate insight into simple natures, and was but the obverse of their +recognition that the primitive is essentially tragic, because blind. And so, +while they saw that the main work of man must have regard to the future, they +felt that he owed also a duty toward the past. He must preserve it in his own +mind, if not actually in life at least in being. In the future lay glory, joy, +brilliance of the spirit. The future needed service, not pity, not piety; but +in the past lay darkness, confusion, waste, and all the cramped primitive +minds, bewildered, torturing one another in their stupidity, yet one and all in +some unique manner, beautiful.

+

The reconstruction of the past, not merely as abstract history but with the +intimacy of the novel, thus became one of the main preoccupations of the Fifth +Men. Many devoted themselves to this work, each individual specializing very +minutely in some particular episode of human or animal history, and +transmitting his work into the culture of the race. Thus increasingly the +individual felt himself to be a single flicker between the teeming gulf of the +never-more and the boundless void of the not-yet. Himself a member of a very +noble and fortunate race, his zest in existence was tempered, deepened, by a +sense of the presence, the ghostly presence, of the myriad less fortunate +beings in the past. Sometimes, and especially in epochs when the contemporary +world seemed most satisfactory and promising, this piety toward the primitive +and the past became the dominant activity of the race, giving rise to +alternating phases of rebellion against the tyrannical nature of the cosmos, +and faith that in the universal view, after all, this horror must be right. In +this latter mood it was held that the very irrevocability of the past dignified +all past existents, and dignified the cosmos, as a work of tragic art is +dignified by the irrevocability of disaster. It was this mood of acquiescence +and faith which in the end became the characteristic attitude of the Fifth Men +for many millions of years.

+

But a bewildering discovery was in store for the Fifth Men, a discovery +which was to change their whole attitude toward existence. Certain obscure +biological facts began to make them suspect, on purely empirical grounds, that +past events were not after all simply non-existent, that though no longer +existent in the temporal manner, they had eternal existence in some other +manner. The effect of this increasing suspicion about the past was that a once +harmonious race was divided for a while into two parties, those who insisted +that the formal beauty of the universe demanded the tragic evanescence of all +things, and those who determined to show that living minds could actually reach +back into past events in all their pastness.

+

The readers of this book are not in a position to realize the poignancy of +the conflict which now threatened to wreck humanity. They cannot approach it +from the point of view of a race whose culture had consisted of an age-long +schooling in admiration of an ever-vanishing cosmos. To the orthodox it seemed +that the new view was iconoclastic, impertinent, vulgar. Their opponents, on +the other hand, insisted that the matter must be decided dispassionately, +according to the evidence. They were also able to point out that this devotion +to evanescence was after all but the outcome of the conviction that the cosmos +must be supremely noble. No one, it was said, really had direct vision of +evanescence as in itself an excellence. So heartfelt was the dispute that the +orthodox party actually broke off all "telepathic" communication with the +rebels, and even went so far as to plan their destruction. There can be no +doubt that if violence had actually been used the human race would have +succumbed; for in a species of such high mental development internecine war +would have been a gross violation of its nature. It would never have been able +to live down so shameful a spiritual disaster. Fortunately, however, at the +eleventh hour, common sense prevailed. The iconoclasts were permitted to carry +on their research, and the whole race awaited the result.

+

2. EXPLORATION OF TIME

+

This first attack upon the nature of time involved an immense co-operative +work, both theoretical and practical. It was from biology that the first hint +had come that the past persisted. And it would be necessary to restate the +whole of biology and the physical sciences in terms of the new idea. On the +practical side it was necessary to undertake a great campaign of experiment, +physiological and psychological. We cannot stay to watch this work. Millions of +years passed by. Sometimes, for thousands of years at a spell, temporal +research was the main preoccupation of the race: sometimes it was thrust into +the background, or completely ignored, during epochs which were dominated by +other interests. Age after age passed, and always the effort of man in this +sphere remained barren. Then at last there was a real success.

+

A child had been selected from among those produced by an age-long breeding +enterprise, directed towards the mastery of time. From infancy this child's +brain had been very carefully controlled physiologically. Psychologically also +he had been subjected to a severe treatment, that he might be properly schooled +for his strange task. In the presence of several scientists and historians he +was put into a kind of trance, and brought out of it again, half an hour later. +He was then asked to give an account "telepathically" of his experiences during +the trance. Unfortunately he was now so shattered that his evidence was almost +unintelligible. After some months of rest he was questioned again, and was able +to describe a curious episode which turned out to be a terrifying incident in +the girlhood of his dead mother. He seemed to have seen the incident through +her eyes, and to have been aware of all her thoughts. This alone proved +nothing, for he might have received the information from some living mind. Once +more, therefore, and in spite of his entreaties, he was put into the peculiar +trance. On waking he told a rambling story of "little red people living in a +squat white tower." It was clear that he was referring to the Great Brains and +their attendants. But once more, this proved nothing; and before the account +was finished the child died.

+

Another child was chosen, but was not put to the test until late in +adolescence. After an hour of the trance, he woke and became terribly agitated, +but forced himself to describe an episode which the historians assigned to the +age of the Martian invasions. The importance of this incident lay in his +account of a certain house with a carved granite portico, situated at the head +of a waterfall in a mountain valley. He said he had found himself to be an old +woman, and that he, or she, was being hurriedly helped out of the house by the +other inmates. They watched a formless monster creep down the valley, destroy +their house, and mangle two persons who failed to get away in time. Now this +house was not at all typical of the Second Men, but must have expressed the +whim of some freakish individual. From evidence derived from the boy himself, +it proved possible to locate the valley with reference to a former mountain, +known to history. No valley survived in that spot; but deep excavations +revealed the ancient slopes, the fault that had occasioned the waterfall, and +the broken pillars.

+

This and many similar incidents confirmed the Fifth Men in their new view of +time. There followed an age in which the technique of direct inspection of the +past was gradually improved, but not without tragedy. In the early stages it +was found impossible to keep the "medium" alive for more than a few weeks after +his venture into the past. The experience seemed to set up a progressive mental +disintegration which produced first insanity, then paralysis, and, within a few +months, death. This difficulty was at last overcome. By one means and another a +type of brain was produced capable of undergoing the strain of supra-temporal +experience without fatal results. An increasingly large proportion of the +rising generation had now direct access to the past, and were engaged upon a +great restatement of history in relation to their first-hand experience; but +their excursions into the past were uncontrollable. They could not go where +they wanted to go, but only where fate flung them. Nor could they go of their +own will, but only through a very complicated technique, and with the +cooperation of experts. After a time the process was made much easier, in fact, +too easy. The unfortunate medium might slip so easily into the trance that his +days were eaten up by the past. He might suddenly fall to the ground, and lie +rapt, inert, dependent on artificial feeding, for weeks, months, even for +years. Or a dozen times in the same day he might be flung into a dozen +different epochs of history. Or, still more distressing, his experience of past +events might not keep pace with the actual rhythm of those events themselves. +Thus he might behold the events of a month, or even a lifetime, fantastically +accelerated so as to occupy a trance of no more than a day's duration. Or, +worse, he might find himself sliding backwards down the vista of the hours and +experiencing events in an order the reverse of the natural order. Even the +magnificent brains of the Fifth Men could not stand this. The result was +maniacal behaviour, followed by death. Another trouble also beset these first +experimenters. Supra-temporal experience proved to be like a dangerous and +habit-forming drug. Those who ventured into the past might become so +intoxicated that they would try to spend every moment of their natural lives in +roaming among past events. Thus gradually they would lose touch with the +present, live in absent-minded brooding, fail to react normally to their +environment, turn socially worthless, and often come actually to physical +disaster through inability to look after themselves.

+

Many more thousands of years passed before these difficulties and dangers +were overcome. At length, however, the technique of supra-temporal experience +was so perfected that every individual could at will practise it with safety, +and could, within limits, project his vision into any locality of space-time +which he desired to inspect. It was only possible, however, to see past events +through the mind of some past organism, no longer living. And in practice only +human minds, and to some extent the minds of the higher mammals, could be +entered. The explorer retained throughout his adventure his own personality and +system of memory. While experiencing the past individual's perceptions, +memories, thoughts, desires, and in fact the whole process and content of the +past mind, the explorer continued to be himself, and to react in terms of his +own character, now condemning, now sympathizing, now critically enjoying the +spectacle.

+

The task of explaining the mechanism of this new faculty occupied the +scientists and philosophers of the species for a very long period. The final +account, of course, cannot be presented save by parable; for it was found +necessary to recast many fundamental concepts in order to interpret the facts +coherently. The only hint that I can give of the explanation is in saying, +metaphorically of course, that the living brain had access to the past, not by +way of some mysterious kind of racial memory, nor by some equally impossible +journey up the stream of time, but by a partial awakening, as it were, into +eternity, and into inspection of a minute tract of space-time through some +temporal mind in the past, as though through an optical instrument. In the +early experiments the fantastic speeding, slowing and reversal of the temporal +process resulted from disorderly inspection. As a reader may either skim the +pages of a book, or read at a comfortable pace, or dwell upon one word, or +spell the sentence backwards, so, unintentionally, the novice in eternity might +read or misread the mind that was presented to him.

+

This new mode of experience, it should be noted, was the activity of living +brains, though brains of a novel kind. Hence what was to be discovered "through +the medium of eternity" was limited by the particular exploring brain's +capacity of understanding what was presented to it. And, further, though the +actual supra-temporal contact with past events occupied no time in the brain's +natural life, the assimilating of that moment of vision, the reduction of it to +normal temporal memory in the normal brain structures, took time, and had to be +done during the period of the trance. To expect the neural structure to record +the experience instantaneously would be to expect a complicated machine to +effect a complicated readjustment without a process of readjusting.

+

The access to the past had, of course, far-reaching effects upon the culture +of the Fifth Men, Not only did it give them an incomparably more accurate +knowledge of past events, and insight into the motives of historical +personages, and into large-scale cultural movements, but also it effected a +subtle change in their estimate of the importance of things. Though +intellectually they had, of course, realized both the vastness and the richness +of the past, now they realized it with an overwhelming vividness. Matters that +had been known hitherto only historically, schematically, were now available to +be lived through by intimate acquaintance. The only limit to such acquaintance +was set by the limitations of the explorer's own brain-capacity. Consequently +the remote past came to enter into a man and shape his mind in a manner in +which only the recent past, through memory, had shaped him hitherto. Even +before the new kind of experience was first acquired, the race had been, as was +said, peculiarly under the spell of the past; but now it was infinitely more +so. Hitherto the Fifth Men had been like stay-at-home folk who had read +minutely of foreign parts, but had never travelled; now they had become +travellers experienced in all the continents of human time. The presences that +had hitherto been ghostly were now presences of flesh and blood seen in broad +daylight. And so the moving instant called the present appeared no longer as +the only, and infinitesimal, real, but as the growing surface of an everlasting +tree of existence. It was now the past that seemed most real, while the future +still seemed void, and the present merely the impalpable becomingness of the +indestructible past.

+

The discovery that past events were after all persistent, and accessible, +was of course for the Fifth Men a source of deep joy; but also it caused them a +new distress. While the past was thought of as a mere gulf of nonexistence, the +inconceivably great pain, misery, baseness, that had fallen into that gulf, +could be dismissed as done with; and the will could be concentrated wholly on +preventing such horrors from occurring in the future. But now, along with past +joy, past distress was found to be everlasting. And those who, in the course of +their voyaging in the past, encountered regions of eternal agony, came back +distraught. It was easy to remind these harrowed explorers that if pain was +eternal, so also was joy. Those who had endured travel in the tragic past were +apt to dismiss such assurances with contempt, affirming that all the delights +of the whole population of time could not compensate for the agony of one +tortured individual. And anyhow, they declared, it was obvious that there had +been no preponderance of joy over pain. Indeed, save in the modern age, pain +had been overwhelmingly in excess.

+

So seriously did these convictions prey upon the minds of the Fifth Men, +that in spite of their own almost perfect social order, in which suffering had +actually to be sought out as a tonic, they fell into despair. At all times, in +all pursuits, the presence of the tragic past haunted them, poisoning their +lives, sapping their strength. Lovers were ashamed of their delight in one +another, As in the far-off days of sexual taboo, guilt crept between them, and +held their spirits apart even while their bodies were united.

+

3. VOYAGING IN SPACE

+

It was while they were struggling in the grip of this vast social +melancholy, and anxiously erasing some new vision by which to reinterpret or +transcend the agony of the past, that the Fifth Men were confronted with a most +unexpected physical crisis. It was discovered that something queer was +happening to the moon; in fact, that the orbit of the satellite was narrowing +in upon the earth in a manner contrary to all the calculations of the +scientists.

+

The Fifth Men had long ago fashioned for themselves an all-embracing and +minutely coherent system of natural sciences, every factor in which had been +put to the test a thousand times and had never been shaken. Imagine, then, +their bewilderment at this extraordinary discovery. In ages when science was +still fragmentary, a subversive discovery entailed merely a reorganization of +some one department of science; but by now, such was the coherence of +knowledge, that any minute discrepancy of fact and theory must throw man into a +state of complete intellectual vertigo.

+

The evolution of the lunar orbit had, of course, been studied from time +immemorial. Even the First Men had learned that the moon must first withdraw +from and subsequently once more approach the earth, till it should reach a +critical proximity and begin to break up into a swarm of fragments likes the +rings of Saturn. This view had been very thoroughly confirmed by the Fifth Men +themselves. The satellite should have continued to withdraw for yet many +hundreds of millions of years; but in fact it was now observed that not only +had the withdrawal ceased, but a comparatively rapid approach had begun.

+

Observations and calculations were repeated, and ingenious theoretical +explanations were suggested; but the truth remained completely hidden. It was +left to a future and more brilliant species to discover the connexion between a +planet's gravitation and its cultural development. Meanwhile, the Fifth Men +knew only that the distance between the earth and the moon was becoming smaller +with ever-increasing rapidity.

+

This discovery was a tonic to a melancholy race. Men turned from the tragic +past to the bewildering present and the uncertain future.

+

For it was evident that, if the present acceleration of approach were to be +maintained, the moon would enter the critical zone and disintegrate in less +than ten million years; and, further, that the fragments would not maintain +themselves as a ring, but would soon crash upon the earth. Heat generated by +their impact would make the surface of the earth impossible as the home of +life. A short-lived and short-sighted species might well have considered ten +million years as equivalent to eternity. Not so the Fifth Men. Thinking +primarily in terms of the race, they recognized at once that their whole social +policy must now be dominated by this future catastrophe. Some there were indeed +who at first refused to take the matter seriously, saying that there was no +reason to believe that the moon's odd behaviour would continue indefinitely. +But as the years advanced, this view became increasingly improbable. Some of +those who had spent much of their lives in exploration of the past now sought +to explore the future also, hoping to prove that human civilization would +always be discoverable on the earth in no matter how remote a future. But the +attempt to unveil the future by direct inspection failed completely. It was +surmised, erroneously, that future events, unlike past events, must be strictly +non-existent until their creation by the advancing present.

+

Clearly humanity must leave its native planet. Research was therefore +concentrated on the possibility of flight through empty space, and the +suitability of neighbouring worlds. The only alternatives were Mars and Venus. +The former was by now without water and without atmosphere. The latter had a +dense moist atmosphere; but one which lacked oxygen. The surface of Venus, +moreover, was known to be almost completely covered with a shallow ocean. +Further the planet was so hot by day that, even at the poles, man in his +present state would scarcely survive.

+

It did not take the Fifth Men many centuries to devise a tolerable means of +voyaging in interplanetary space. Immense rockets were constructed, the motive +power of which was derived from the annihilation of matter. The vehicle was +propelled simply by the terrific pressure of radiation thus produced. "Fuel" +for a voyage of many months, or even years, could, of course, easily be +carried, since the annihilation of a minute amount of matter produced a vast +wealth of energy. Moreover, when once the vessel had emerged from the earth's +atmosphere, and had attained full speed, she would, of course, maintain it +without the use of power from the rocket apparatus. The task of rendering the +"ether ship" properly manageable and decently habitable proved difficult, but +not insurmountable. The first vessel to take the ether was a cigar-shaped hull +some three thousand feet long, and built of metals whose artificial atoms were +incomparably more rigid than anything hitherto known. Batteries of "rocket" +apparatus at various points on the hull enabled the ship not only to travel +forward, but to reverse, turn in any direction, or side-step. Windows of an +artificial transparent element, scarcely less strong than the metal of the +hull, enabled the voyagers to look around them. Within there was ample +accommodation for a hundred persons and their provisions for three years. Air +for the same period was manufactured in transit from protons and electrons +stored under pressure comparable to that in the interior of a star. Heat was, +of course, provided by the annihilation of matter. Powerful refrigeration would +permit the vessel to approach the sun almost to the orbit of Mercury. An +"artificial gravity" system, based on the properties of the electro-magnetic +field, could be turned on and regulated at will, so as to maintain a more or +less normal environment for the human organism.

+

This pioneer ship was manned with a navigating crew and a company of +scientists, and was successfully dispatched upon a trial trip. The intention +was to approach close to the surface of the moon, possibly to circumnavigate it +at an altitude of ten thousand feet, and to return without landing. For many +days those on earth received radio messages from the vessel's powerful +installation, reporting that all was going well. But suddenly the messages +ceased, and no more was ever heard of the vessel. Almost at the moment of the +last message, telescopes had revealed a sudden flash of light at a point on the +vessel's course. It was therefore surmised that she had collided with a meteor +and fused with the heat of the impact.

+

Other vessels were built and dispatched on trial voyages. Many failed to +return. Some got out of control, and reported that they were heading for outer +space or plunging toward the sun, their hopeless messages continuing until the +last of the crew succumbed to suffocation. Other vessels returned successfully, +but with crews haggard and distraught from long confinement in bad atmosphere. +One, venturing to land on the moon, broke her back, so that the air rushed out +of her, and her people died. After her last message was received, she was +detected from the earth, as an added speck on the stippled surface of a lunar +"sea."

+

As time passed, however, accidents became rarer; indeed, so rare that trips +in the void began to be a popular form of amusement. Literature of the period +reverberates with the novelty of such experiences, with the sense that man had +at last learned true flight, and acquired the freedom of the solar system. +Writers dwelt upon the shock of seeing, as the vessel soared and accelerated, +the landscape dwindle to a mere illuminated disk or crescent, surrounded by +constellations. They remarked also the awful remoteness and mystery which +travellers experienced on these early voyages, with dazzling sunlight on one +side of the vessel and dazzling bespangled night on the other. They described +how the intense sun spread his corona against a black and star-crowded sky. +They expatiated also on the overwhelming interest of approaching another +planet; of inspecting from the sky the still visible remains of Martian +civilization; of groping through the cloud banks of Venus to discover islands +in her almost coastless ocean; of daring an approach to Mercury, till the heat +became insupportable in spite of the best refrigerating mechanism; of feeling a +way across the belt of the asteroids and onwards toward Jupiter, till shortage +of air and provisions forced a return.

+

But though the mere navigation of space was thus easily accomplished, the +major task was still untouched. It was necessary either to remake man's nature +to suit another planet, or to modify conditions upon another planet to suit +man's nature. The former alternative was repugnant to the Fifth Men. Obviously +it would entail an almost complete refashioning of the human organism. No +existing individual could possibly be so altered as to live in the present +conditions of Mars or Venus. And it would probably prove impossible to create a +new being, adapted to these conditions, without sacrificing the brilliant and +harmonious constitution of the extant species.

+

On the other hand, Mars could not be made habitable without first being +stocked with air and water; and such an undertaking seemed impossible. There +was nothing for it, then, but to attack Venus. The polar surfaces of that +planet, shielded by impenetrable depths of cloud, proved after all not +unendurably hot. Subsequent generations might perhaps be modified so as to +withstand even the sub-arctic and "temperate" climates. Oxygen was plentiful, +but it was all tied up in chemical combination. Inevitably so, since oxygen +combines very readily, and on Venus there was no vegetable life to exhale the +free gas and replenish the ever-vanishing supply. It was necessary, then, to +equip Venus with an appropriate vegetation, which in the course of ages should +render the planet's atmosphere hospitable to man. The chemical and physical +conditions on Venus had therefore to be studied in great detail, so that it +might be possible to design a kind of life which would have a chance of +flourishing. This research had to be carried out from within the ether ships, +or with gas helmets, since no human being could live in the natural atmosphere +of the planet.

+

We must not dwell upon the age of heroic research and adventure which now +began. Observations of the lunar orbit were showing that ten millions years was +too long an estimate of the future habitability of the earth; and it was soon +realized that Venus could not be made ready soon enough unless some more rapid +change was set on foot. It was therefore decided to split up some of the ocean +of the planet into hydrogen and oxygen by a vast process of electrolysis. This +would have beets a more difficult task, had not the ocean been relatively free +from salt, owing to the fact that there was so little dry land to be denuded of +salts by rain and river. The oxygen thus formed by electrolysis would be +allowed to mix with the atmosphere. The hydrogen had to be got rid of somehow, +and an ingenious method was devised by which it should be ejected beyond the +limits of the atmosphere at so great a speed that it would never return. Once +sufficient free oxygen had been produced, the new vegetation would replenish +the loss due to oxidation. This work was duly set on foot. Great automatic +electrolysing stations were founded on several of the islands; and biological +research produced at length a whole flora of specialized vegetable types to +cover the land surface of the planet. It was hoped that in less than a million +years Venus would be fit to receive the human race, and the race fit to live on +Venus.

+

Meanwhile a careful survey of the planet had been undertaken. Its land +surface, scarcely more than a thousandth that of the earth, consisted of an +unevenly distributed archipelago of mountainous islands. The planet had +evidently not long ago been through a mountain-forming era, for soundings +proved its whole surface to be extravagantly corrugated. The ocean was subject +to terrific storms and currents; for since the planet took several weeks to +rotate, there was a great difference of temperature and atmospheric pressure +between the almost arctic hemisphere of night and the sweltering hemisphere of +day. So great was the evaporation, that open sky was almost never visible from +any part of the planet's surface; and indeed the average day-time weather was a +succession of thick fogs and fantastic thunderstorms. Rain in the evening was a +continuous torrent. Yet before night was over the waves clattered with +fragments of ice.

+

Man looked upon his future home with loathing, and on his birthplace with an +affection which became passionate. With its blue sky, its incomparable starry +nights, its temperate and varied continents, its ample spaces of agriculture, +wilderness and park, its well-known beasts and plants, and all the material +fabric of the most enduring of terrestrial civilizations, it seemed to the men +and women who were planning flight almost a living thing imploring them not to +desert it. They looked often with hate at the quiet moon, now visibly larger +than the moon of history. They revised again and again their astronomical and +physical theories, hoping for some flaw which should render the moon's observed +behaviour less mysterious, less terrifying. But they found nothing. It was as +though a fiend out of some ancient myth had come to life in the modern world, +to interfere with the laws of nature for man's undoing.

+

4. PREPARING A NEW WORLD

+

Another trouble now occurred. Several electrolysis stations on Venus were +wrecked, apparently by submarine eruption. Also, a number of etherships, +engaged in surveying the ocean, mysteriously exploded. The explanation was +found when one of these vessels, though damaged, was able to return to the +earth. The commander reported that, when the sounding line was drawn up, a +large spherical object was seen to be attached to it. Closer inspection showed +that this object was fastened to the sounding apparatus by a hook, and was +indeed unmistakably artificial, a structure of small metal plates riveted +together. While preparations were being made to bring the object within the +ship, it happened to bump against the hull, and then it exploded.

+

Evidently there must be intelligent life somewhere in the ocean of Venus. +Evidently the marine Venerians resented the steady depletion of their aqueous +world, and were determined to stop it. The terrestrials had assumed that water +in which no free oxygen was dissolved could not support life. But observation +soon revealed that in this world-wide ocean there were many living species, +some sessile, others free-swimming, some microscopic, others as large as +whales. The basis of life in these creatures lay not in photosynthesis and +chemical combination, but in the controlled disintegration of radio-active +atoms. Venus was particularly rich in these atoms, and still contained certain +elements which had long ago ceased to exist on the earth. The oceanic fauna +subsisted in the destruction of minute quantities of radio-active atoms +throughout its tissues.

+

Several of the Venerian species had attained considerable mastery over their +physical environment, and were able to destroy one another very competently +with various mechanical contrivances. Many types were indeed definitely +intelligent and versatile within certain limits. And of these intelligent +types, one had come to dominate all the others by virtue of its superior +intelligence, and had constructed a genuine civilization on the basis of +radio-active power. These most developed of all the Venerian creatures were +beings of about the size and shape of a swordfish. They had three manipulative +organs, normally sheathed within the long "sword," but capable of extension +beyond its point, as three branched muscular tentacles. They swam with a +curious screw-like motion of their bodies and triple tails. Three fins enabled +them to steer. They had also organs of phosphorescence, vision, touch, and +something analogous to hearing. They appeared to reproduce asexually, laying +eggs in the ooze of the ocean bed. They had no need of nutrition in the +ordinary sense; but in infancy they seemed to gather enough radio-active matter +to keep them alive for many years. Each individual, when his stock was running +out and he began to be feeble, was either destroyed by his juniors or buried in +a radio-active mine, to rise from this living death in a few months completely +rejuvenated.

+

At the bottom of the Venerian ocean these creatures thronged in cities of +proliferated coral-like buildings, equipped with many complex articles, which +must have constituted the necessities and luxuries of their civilization. So +much was ascertained by the Terrestrials in the course of their submarine +exploration. But the mental life of Venerians remained hidden. It was clear, +indeed, that like all living things, they were concerned with self-maintenance +and the exercise of their capacities; but of the nature of these capacities +little was discoverable. Clearly they used some kind of symbolic language, +based on mechanical vibrations set up in the water by the snapping claws of +their tentacles. But their more complex activities were quite unintelligible. +All that could be recorded with certainty was that they were much addicted to +warfare, even to warfare between groups of one species; and that even in the +stress of military disaster they maintained a feverish production of material +articles of all sorts, which they proceeded to destroy and neglect.

+

One activity was observed which was peculiarly mysterious. At certain +seasons three individuals, suddenly developing unusual luminosity, would +approach one another with rhythmic swayings and tremors, and would then rise on +their tails and press their bodies together. Sometimes at this stage an excited +crowd would collect, whirling around the three like driven snow. The chief +performers would now furiously tear one another to pieces with their crab-like +pincers, till nothing was left but tangled shreds of flesh, the great swords, +and the still twitching claws. The Terrestrials, observing these matters with +difficulty, at first suspected some kind of sexual intercourse; but no +reproduction was ever traced to this source. Possibly the behaviour had once +served a biological end, and had now become a useless ritual. Possibly it was a +kind of voluntary religious sacrifice. More probably it was of a quite +different nature, unintelligible to the human mind.

+

As man's activities on Venus became more extensive, the Venerians became +more energetic in seeking to destroy him. They could not come out of the ocean +to grapple with him, for they were deep-sea organisms. Deprived of oceanic +pressure, they would have burst. But they contrived to hurl high explosives +into the centres of the islands, or to undermine them from tunnels. The work of +electrolysis was thus very seriously hampered. And as all efforts to parley +with the Venerians failed completely, it was impossible to effect a compromise. +The Fifth Men were thus faced with a grave moral problem. What right had man to +interfere in a world already possessed by beings who were obviously +intelligent, even though their mental life was incomprehensible to man? Long +ago man himself had suffered at the hands of Martian invaders, who doubtless +regarded themselves as more noble than the human race. And now man was +committing a similar crime. On the other hand, either the migration to Venus +must go forward, or humanity must be destroyed; for it seemed quite certain by +now that the moon would fall, and at no very distant date. And though man's +understanding of the Venerians was so incomplete, what he did know of them +strongly suggested that they were definitely inferior to himself in mental +range. The judgment might, of course, be mistaken; the Venerians might after +all be so superior to man that man could not get an inkling of their +superiority. But this argument would apply equally to jelly-fish and +micro-organisms. Judgment had to be passed according to the evidence available. +So far as man could judge at all in the matter, he was definitely the higher +type.

+

There was another fact to be taken into account. The life of the Venerian +organism depended on the existence of radio-active atoms. Since those atoms are +subject to disintegration, they must become rarer. Venus was far better +supplied than the earth in this respect, but there must inevitably come a time +when there would be no more radio-active matter in Venus. Now submarine +research showed that the Venerian fauna had once been much more extensive, and +that the increasing difficulty of procuring radio-active matter was already the +great limiting factor of civilization. Thus the Venerians were doomed, and man +would merely hasten their destruction.

+

It was hoped, of course, that in colonizing Venus mankind would be able to +accommodate itself without seriously interfering with the native population. +But this proved impossible for two reasons. In the first place, the natives +seemed determined to destroy the invader even if they should destroy themselves +in the process. Titanic explosions were engineered, which caused the invaders +serious damage, but also strewed the ocean surface with thousands of dead +Venerians. Secondly, it was found that, as electrolysis poured more and more +free oxygen into the atmosphere, the ocean absorbed some of the potent element +back into itself by solution; and this dissolved oxygen had a disastrous effect +upon the oceanic organisms. Their tissues began to oxidize. They were burnt up, +internally and externally, by a slow fire. Man dared not stop the process of +electrolysis until the atmosphere had become as rich in oxygen as his native +air. Long before this state was reached, it was already clear that the +Venerians were beginning to feel the effects of the poison, and that in a few +thousand years, at most, they would be exterminated. It was therefore +determined to put them out of their misery as quickly as possible. Men could by +now walk abroad on the islands of Venus, and indeed the first settlements were +already being founded. They were thus able to build a fleet of powerful +submarine vessels to scour the ocean and destroy the whole native fauna.

+

This vast slaughter influenced the mind of the fifth human species in two +opposite directions, now flinging it into despair, now rousing it to grave +elation. For on the one hand the horror of the slaughter produced a haunting +guiltiness in all men's minds, an unreasoning disgust with humanity for having +been driven to murder in order to save itself. And this guiltiness combined +with the purely intellectual loss of self-confidence which had been produced by +the failure of science to account for the moon's approach. It re-awakened, +also, that other quite irrational sense of guilt which had been bred of +sympathy with the everlasting distress of the past. Together, these three +influences tended toward racial neurosis.

+

On the other hand a very different mood sometimes sprang from the same three +sources. After all, the failure of science was a challenge to be gladly +accepted; it opened up a wealth of possibilities hitherto unimagined. Even the +unalterable distress of the past constituted a challenge; for in some strange +manner the present and future, it was said, must transfigure the past. As for +the murder of Venerian life, it was, indeed, terrible, but right. It had been +committed without hate; indeed, rather in love. For as the navy proceeded with +its relentless work, it had gathered much insight into the life of the natives, +and had learned to admire, even in a sense to love, while it killed. This mood, +of inexorable yet not ruthless will, intensified the spiritual sensibility of +the species, refined, so to speak, its spiritual hearing, and revealed to it +tones and themes in the universal music which were hitherto obscure.

+

Which of these two moods, despair or courage, would triumph? All depended on +the skill of the species to maintain a high degree of vitality in untoward +circumstances.

+

Man now busied himself in preparing his new home. Many kinds of plant life, +derived from the terrestrial stock, but bred for the Venerian environment, now +began to swarm on the islands and in the sea. For so restricted was the land +surface, that great areas of ocean had to be given over to specially designed +marine plants, which now formed immense floating continents of vegetable +matter. On the least torrid islands appeared habitable pylons, forming an +architectural forest, with vegetation on every acre of free ground. Even so, it +would be impossible for Venus ever to support the huge population of the earth. +Steps had therefore been taken to ensure that the birth-rate should fall far +short of the death-rate; so that, when the time should come, the race might +emigrate without leaving any living members behind. No more than a hundred +million, it was reckoned, could live tolerably on Venus. The population had +therefore to be reduced to a hundredth of its former size, And since, in the +terrestrial community, with its vast social and cultural activity, every +individual had fulfilled some definite function in society, it was obvious that +the new community must be not merely small but mentally impoverished. Hitherto, +each individual had been enriched by intercourse with a far more intricate and +diverse social environment than would be possible on Venus.

+

Such was the prospect when at length it was judged advisable to leave the +earth to its fate. The moon was now so huge that it periodically turned day +into night, and night into a ghastly day. Prodigious tides and distressful +weather conditions had already spoilt the amenities of the earth, and done +great damage to the fabric of civilization. And so at length humanity +reluctantly took flight. Some centuries passed before the migration was +completed, before Venus had received, not only the whole remaining human +population, but also representatives of many other species of organisms, and +all the most precious treasures of man's culture.

+

CHAPTER XIII. HUMANITY ON VENUS

+

1. TAKING ROOT AGAIN

+

Man's sojourn on Venus lasted somewhat longer than his whole career on the +Earth. From the days of Pithecanthropus to the final evacuation of his native +planet he passed, as we have seen, through a bewildering diversity of form and +circumstance, On Venus, though the human type was somewhat more constant +biologically, it was scarcely less variegated in culture.

+

To give an account of this period, even on the minute scale that has been +adopted hitherto, would entail another volume. I can only sketch its bare +outline. The sapling, humanity, transplanted into foreign soil, withers at +first almost to the root, slowly readjusts itself, grows into strength and a +certain permanence of form, burgeons, season by season, with leaf and flower of +many successive civilizations and cultures, sleeps winter by winter, through +many ages of reduced vitality, but at length (to force the metaphor), avoids +this recurrent defeat by attaining an evergreen constitution and a continuous +efflorescence. Then once more, through the whim of Fate, it is plucked up by +the roots and cast upon another world.

+

The first human settlers on Venus knew well that life would be a sorry +business. They had done their best to alter the planet to suit human nature, +but they could not make Venus into another Earth. The land surface was minute. +The climate was almost unendurable. The extreme difference of temperature +between the protracted day and night produced incredible storms, rain like a +thousand contiguous waterfalls, terrifying electrical disturbances, and fogs in +which a man could not see his own feet. To make matters worse, the oxygen +supply was as yet barely enough to render the air breathable. Worse still, the +liberated hydrogen was not always successfully ejected from the atmosphere. It +would sometimes mingle with the air to form an explosive mixture, and sooner or +later there would occur a vast atmospheric flash. Recurrent disasters of this +sort destroyed the architecture and the human inhabitants of many islands, and +further reduced the oxygen supply. In time, however, the increasing vegetation +made it possible to put an end to the dangerous process of electrolysis.

+

Meanwhile, these atmospheric explosions crippled the race so seriously that +it was unable to cope with a more mysterious trouble which beset it some time +after the migration. A new and inexplicable decay of the digestive organs, +which first occurred as a rare disease, threatened within a few centuries to +destroy mankind. The physical effects of this plague were scarcely more +disastrous than the psychological effects of the complete failure to master it; +for, what with the mystery of the moon's vagaries and the deep-seated, +unreasoning, sense of guilt produced by the extermination of the Venerians, +man's self-confidence was already seriously shaken, and his highly organized +mentality began to show symptoms of derangement. The new plague was, indeed, +finally traced to something in the Venerian water, and was supposed to be due +to certain molecular groupings, formerly rare, but subsequently fostered by the +presence of terrestrial organic matter in the ocean. No cure was +discovered.

+

And now another plague seized upon the enfeebled race. Human tissues had +never perfectly assimilated the Martian units which were the means of +"telepathic" communication. The universal ill-health now favoured a kind of +"cancer" of the nervous system, which was due to the ungoverned proliferation +of these units. The harrowing results of this disease may be left unmentioned. +Century by century it increased; and even those who did not actually contract +the sickness lived in constant terror of madness.

+

These troubles were aggravated by the devastating heat. The hope that, as +the generations passed, human nature would adapt itself even to the more sultry +regions, seemed to be unfounded. Far otherwise, within a thousand years the +once-populous arctic and antarctic islands were almost deserted. Out of each +hundred of the great pylons, scarcely more than two were inhabited, and these +only by a few plague-stricken and broken-spirited human relics. These alone +were left to turn their telescopes upon the earth and watch the unexpectedly +delayed bombardment of their native world by the fragments of the moon.

+

Population decreased still further. Each brief generation was slightly less +well developed than its parents. Intelligence declined. Education became +superficial and restricted. Contact with the past was no longer possible. Art +lost its significance, and philosophy its dominion over the minds of men. Even +applied science began to be too difficult. Unskilled control of the sub-atomic +sources of power led to a number of disasters, which finally gave rise to a +superstition that all "tampering with nature" was wicked, and all the ancient +wisdom a snare of Man's Enemy. Books, instruments, all the treasures of human +culture, were therefore burnt. Only the perdurable buildings resisted +destruction. Of the incomparable world-order of the Fifth Men nothing was left +but a few island tribes cut off from one another by the ocean, and from the +rest of space-time by the depths of their own ignorance.

+

After many thousands of years human nature did begin to adapt itself to the +climate and to the poisoned water without which life was impossible. At the +same time a new variety of the fifth species now began to appear, in which the +Martian units were not included. Thus at last the race regained a certain +mental stability, at the expense of its faculty of "telepathy," which man was +not to regain until almost the last phase of his career. Meanwhile, though he +had recovered somewhat from the effects of an alien world, the glory that had +been was no more. Let us therefore hurry through the ages that passed before +noteworthy events again occurred.

+

In early days on Venus men had gathered their foodstuff from the great +floating islands of vegetable matter which had been artificially produced +before the migration. But as the oceans became populous with modifications of +the terrestrial fauna, the human tribes turned more and more to fishing. Under +the influence of its marine environment, one branch of the species assumed such +an aquatic habit that in time it actually began to develop biological +adaptations for marine life. It is perhaps surprising that man was still +capable of spontaneous variation; but the fifth human species was artificial, +and had always been prone to epidemics of mutation. After some millions of +years of variation and selection there appeared a very successful species of +seal-like sub-men. The whole body was moulded to stream-lines. The lung +capacity was greatly developed. The spine had elongated, and increased in +flexibility. The legs were shrunken, grown together, and flattened into a +horizontal rudder. The arms also were diminutive and fin-like, though they +still retained the manipulative forefinger and thumb. The head had shrunk into +the body and looked forward in the direction of swimming. Strong carnivorous +teeth, emphatic gregariousness, and a new, almost human, cunning in the chase, +combined to make these seal-men lords of the ocean. And so they remained for +many million years, until a more human race, annoyed at their piscatorial +success, harpooned them out of existence.

+

For another branch of the degenerated fifth species had retained a more +terrestrial habit and the ancient human form. Sadly reduced in stature and in +brain, these abject beings were so unlike the original invaders that they are +rightly considered a new species, and may therefore be called the Sixth Men. +Age after age they gained a precarious livelihood by grubbing roots upon the +forest-clad islands, trapping the innumerable birds, and catching fish in the +tidal inlets with ground bait. Not infrequently they devoured, or were devoured +by, their seal-like relatives. So restricted and constant was the environment +of these human remnants, that they remained biologically and culturally +stagnant for some millions of years.

+

At length, however, geological events afforded man's nature once more the +opportunity of change. A mighty warping of the planet's crust produced an +island almost as large as Australia. In time this was peopled, and from the +clash of tribes a new and versatile race emerged. Once more there was +methodical tillage, craftsmanship, complex social organization, and adventure +in the realm of thought.

+

During the next two hundred million years all the main phases of man's life +on earth were many times repeated on Venus with characteristic differences. +Theocratic empires; free and intellectualistic island cities; insecure +overlordship of feudal archipelagos; rivalries of high priest and emperor; +religious feuds over the interpretation of sacred scriptures; recurrent +fluctuations of thought from naïve animism, through polytheism, +conflicting monotheisms, and all the desperate "isms" by which mind seeks to +blur the severe outline of truth; recurrent fashions of comfort-seeking fantasy +and cold intelligence; social disorders through the misuse of volcanic or wind +power in industry; business empires and pseudo-communistic empires-- all these +forms flitted over the changing substance of mankind again and again, as in an +enduring hearth fire there appear and vanish the infinitely diverse forms of +flame and smoke. But all the while the brief spirits, in whose massed +configurations these forms inhered, were intent chiefly on the primitive needs +of food, shelter, companionship, crowd-lust, love-making, the two-edged +relationship of parent and child, the exercise of muscle and intelligence in +facile sport. Very seldom, only in rare moments of clarity, only after ages of +misapprehension, did a few of them, here and there, now and again, begin to +have the deeper insight into the world's nature and man's. And no sooner had +this precious insight begun to propagate itself, than it would be blotted out +by some small or great disaster, by epidemic disease, by the spontaneous +disruption of society, by an access of racial imbecility, by a prolonged +bombardment of meteorites, or by the mere cowardice and vertigo that dared not +look down the precipice of fact.

+

2. THE FLYING MEN

+

We need not dwell upon these multitudinous reiterations of culture, but must +glance for a moment at the last phase of this sixth human species, so that we +may pass on to the artificial species which it produced.

+

Throughout their career the Sixth Men had often been fascinated by the idea +of flight. The bird was again and again their most sacred symbol. Their +monotheism was apt to be worship not of a god-man, but of a god-bird, conceived +now as the divine sea-eagle, winged with power, now as the giant swift, winged +with mercy, now as a disembodied spirit of air, and once as the bird-god that +became man to endow the human race with flight, physical and spiritual.

+

It was inevitable that flight should obsess man on Venus, for the planet +afforded but a cramping home for groundlings; and the riotous efflorescence of +avian species shamed man's pedestrian habit. When in due course the Sixth Men +attained knowledge and power comparable to that of the First Men at their +height, they invented flying-machines of various types. Many times, indeed, +mechanical flight was rediscovered and lost again with the downfall of +civilization. But at its best it was regarded only as a makeshift. And when at +length, with the advance of the biological sciences, the Sixth Men were in a +position to influence the human organism itself, they determined to produce a +true flying man. Many civilizations strove vainly for this result, sometimes +half-heartedly, sometimes with religious earnestness. Finally the most enduring +and brilliant of all the civilizations of the Sixth Men actually attained the +goal.

+

The Seventh Men were pigmies, scarcely heavier than the largest of +terrestrial flying birds. Through and through they were organized for flight. A +leathery membrane spread from the foot to the tip of the immensely elongated +and strengthened "middle" finger. The three "outer" fingers, equally elongated, +served as ribs to the membrane; while the index and thumb remained free for +manipulation. The body assumed the streamlines of a bird, and was covered with +a deep quilt of feathery wool. This, and the silken down of the +flight-membranes, varied greatly from individual to individual in colouring and +texture. On the ground the Seventh Men walked much as other human beings, for +the flight-membranes were folded close to the legs and body, and hung from the +arms like exaggerated sleeves. In flight the legs were held extended as a +flattened tail, with the feet locked together by the big toes. The breastbone +was greatly developed as a keel, and as a base for the muscles of flight. The +other bones were hollow, for lightness, and their internal surfaces were +utilized as supplementary lungs. For, like the birds, these flying men had to +maintain a high rate of oxidation. A state which others would regard as fever +was normal to them.

+

Their brains were given ample tracts for the organization of prowess in +flight. In fact, it was found possible to equip the species with a system of +reflexes for aerial balance, and a true, though artificial, instinctive +aptitude for flight, and interest in flight. Compared with their makers their +brain volume was of necessity small, but their whole neural system was very +carefully organized. Also it matured rapidly, and was extremely facile in the +acquirement of new modes of activity. This was very desirable; for the +individual's natural life period was but fifty years, and in most cases it was +deliberately cut short by some impossible feat at about forty, or whenever the +symptoms of old age began to be felt.

+

Of all human species these bat-like Flying Men, the Seventh Men, were +probably the most care-free. Gifted with harmonious physique and gay +temperament, they came into a social heritage well adapted to their nature. +There was no occasion for them, as there had often been for some others, to +regard the world as fundamentally hostile to life, or themselves as essentially +deformed. Of quick intelligence in respect of daily personal affairs and social +organization, they were untroubled by the insatiable lust of understanding. Not +that they were an unintellectual race, for they soon formulated a beautifully +systematic account of experience. They clearly perceived, however, that the +perfect sphere of their thought was but a bubble adrift in chaos. Yet it was an +elegant bubble. And the system was true, in its own gay and frankly insincere +manner, true as significant metaphor, not literally true. What more, it was +asked, could be expected of human intellect? Adolescents were encouraged to +study the ancient problems of philosophy, for no reason but to convince +themselves of the futility of probing beyond the limits of the orthodox system. +"Prick the bubble of thought at any point," it was said, "and you shatter the +whole of it. And since thought is one of the necessities of human life, it must +be preserved."

+

Natural science was taken over from the earlier species with +half-contemptuous gratitude, as a necessary means of sane adjustment to the +environment. Its practical applications were valued as the ground of the social +order; but as the millennia advanced, and society approached that remarkable +perfection and stability which was to endure for many million years, scientific +inventiveness became less and less needful, and science itself was relegated to +the infant schools. History also was given in outline during childhood, and +subsequently ignored.

+

This curiously sincere intellectual insincerity was due to the fact that the +Seventh Men were chiefly concerned with matters other than abstract thought. It +is difficult to give to members of the first human species an inkling of the +great preoccupation of these Flying Men. To say that it was flight would be +true, yet far less than the truth. To say that they sought to live dangerously +and vividly, to crowd as much experience as possible into each moment, would +again be a caricature of the truth. On the physical plane indeed "the universe +of flight" with all the variety of peril and skill afforded by a tempestuous +atmosphere, was every individual's chief medium of self-expression. Yet it was +not flight itself, but the spiritual aspect of flight, which obsessed the +species.

+

In the air and on the ground the Seventh Men were different beings. Whenever +they exercised themselves in flight they suffered a remarkable change of +spirit. Much of their time had to be spent on the ground, since most of the +work upon which civilization rested was impossible in the air. Moreover, life +in the air was life at high pressure, and necessitated spells of recuperation +on the ground. In their pedestrian phase the Seventh Men were sober folk, +mildly bored, yet in the main cheerful, humorously impatient of the drabness +and irk of pedestrian affairs, but ever supported by memory and anticipation of +the vivid life of the air. Often they were tired, after the strain of that +other life, but seldom were they despondent or lazy. Indeed, in the routine of +agriculture and industry they were industrious as the wingless ants. Yet they +worked in a strange mood of attentive absentmindedness; for their hearts were +ever in the air. So long as they could have frequent periods of aviation, they +remained bland even on the ground. But if for any reason such as illness they +were confined to the ground for a long period, they pined, developed acute +melancholia, and died. Their makers had so contrived them that with the onset +of any very great pain or misery their hearts should stop. Thus they were to +avoid all serious distress. But, in fact, this merciful device worked only on +the ground. In the air they assumed a very different and more heroic nature, +which their makers had not foreseen, though indeed it was a natural consequence +of their design.

+

In the air the flying man's heart beat more powerfully. His temperature +rose. His sensation became more vivid and more discriminate, his intelligence +more agile and penetrating. He experienced a more intense pleasure or pain in +all that happened to him. It would not be true to say that he became more +emotional; rather the reverse, if by emotionality is meant enslavement to the +emotions. For the most remarkable features of the aerial phase was that this +enhanced power of appreciation was dispassionate. So long as the individual was +in the air, whether in lonely struggle with the storm, or in the ceremonial +ballet with sky-darkening hosts of his fellows; whether in the ecstatic love +dance with a sexual partner, or in solitary and meditative circlings far above +the world; whether his enterprise was fortunate, or he found himself +dismembered by the hurricane, and crashing to death; always the gay and the +tragic fortunes of his own person were regarded equally with detached aesthetic +delight. Even when his dearest companion was mutilated or destroyed by some +aerial disaster, he exulted; though also he would give his own life in the hope +of effecting a rescue. But very soon after he had returned to the ground he +would be overwhelmed with grief, would strive vainly to recapture the lost +vision, and would perhaps die of heart failure.

+

Even when, as happened occasionally in the wild climate of Venus, a whole +aerial population was destroyed by some world-wide atmospheric tumult, the few +broken survivors, so long as they could remain in the air, exulted. And +actually while at length they sank exhausted toward the ground, toward certain +disillusionment and death, they laughed inwardly. Yet an hour after they had +alighted, their constitution would be changed, their vision lost. They would +remember only the horror of the disaster, and the memory would kill them.

+

No wonder the Seventh Men grudged every moment that was passed on the +ground. While they were in the air, of course, the prospect of a pedestrian +interlude, or indeed of endless pedestrianism, though in a manner repugnant, +would be accepted with unswerving gaiety; but while they were on the ground, +they grudged bitterly to be there. Early in the career of the species the +proportion of aerial to terrestrial hours was increased by a biological +invention. A minute food plant was produced which spent the winter rooted in +the ground, and the summer adrift in the sunlit upper air, engaged solely in +photosynthesis. Henceforth the populations of the Flying Men were able to +browse upon the bright pastures of the sky, like swallows. As the ages passed, +material civilization became more and more simplified. Needs which could not be +satisfied without terrestrial labour tended to be outgrown. Manufactured +articles became increasingly rare. Books were no longer written or read. In the +main, indeed, they were no longer necessary; but to some extent their place was +taken by verbal tradition and discussion, in the upper air. Of the arts, music, +spoken lyric and epic verse, and the supreme art of winged dance, were +constantly practised. The rest vanished. Many of the sciences inevitably faded +into tradition; yet the true scientific spirit was preserved in a very exact +meteorology, a sufficient biology, and a human psychology surpassed only by the +second and fifth species at their height. None of these sciences, however, was +taken very seriously, save in its practical applications. For instance, +psychology explained the ecstasy of flight very neatly as a febrile and +"irrational" beatitude. But no one was disconcerted by this theory; for every +one, while on the wing, felt it to be merely an amusing half-truth.

+

The social order of the Seventh Men was in essence neither utilitarian, nor +humanistic, nor religious, but aesthetic. Every act and every institution were +to be justified as contributing to the perfect form of the community. Even +social prosperity was conceived as merely the medium in which beauty should be +embodied, the beauty, namely, of vivid individual lives harmoniously related. +Yet not only for the individual, but even for the race itself (so the wise +insisted), death on the wing was more excellent than prolonged life on the +ground. Better, far better, would be racial suicide than a future of +pedestrianism. Yet though both the individual and the race were conceived as +instrumental to objective beauty, there was nothing religious, in any ordinary +sense, in this conviction. The Seventh Men were completely without interest in +the universal and the unseen. The beauty which they sought to create was +ephemeral and very largely sensuous. And they were well content that it should +he so. Personal immortality, said a dying sage, would be as tedious as an +endless song. Equally so with the race. The lovely flame, of which we all are +members, must die, he said, must die; for without death she would fall short of +beauty.

+

For close on a hundred million terrestrial years this aerial society endured +with little change. On many of the islands throughout this period stood even +yet a number of the ancient pylons, though repaired almost beyond recognition. +In these nests the men and women of the seventh species slept through the long +Venerian nights, crowded like roosting swallows. By day the same great towers +were sparsely peopled with those who were serving their turn in industry, while +in the fields and on the sea others laboured. But most were in the air. Many +would be skimming the ocean, to plunge, gannet-like, for fish. Many, circling +over land or sea, would now and again swoop like hawks upon the wild-fowl which +formed the chief meat of the species. Others, forty or fifty thousand feet +above the waves, where even the plentiful atmosphere of Venus was scarcely +capable of supporting them, would be soaring, circling, sweeping, for pure joy +of flight. Others, in the calm and sunshine of high altitudes, would be hanging +effortless upon some steady up-current of air for meditation and the rapture of +mere percipience. Not a few love-intoxicated pairs would be entwining their +courses in aerial patterns, in spires, cascades, and true love-knots of flight, +presently to embrace and drop ten thousand feet in bodily union. Some would be +driving hither and thither through the green mists of vegetable particles, +gathering the manna in their open mouths. Companies, circling together, would +be discussing matters social or aesthetic; others would be singing together, or +listening to recitative epic verse. Thousands, gathering in the sky like +migratory birds, would perform massed convolutions, reminiscent of the vast +mechanical aerial choreography of the First World State, but more vital and +expressive, as a bird's flight is more vital than the flight of any machine. +And all the while there would be some, solitary or in companies, who, either in +the pursuit of fish and wildfowl, or out of pure devilment, pitted their +strength and skill against the hurricane, often tragically, but never without +zest, and laughter of the spirit.

+

It may seem to some incredible that the culture of the Seventh Men should +have lasted so long. Surely it must either have decayed through mere monotony +and stagnation or have advanced into richer experience. But no. Generation +succeeded generation, and each was too short-lived to outlast its young delight +and discover boredom. Moreover, so perfect was the adjustment of these beings +to their world, that even if they had lived for centuries they would have felt +no need of change. Flight provided them with intense physical exhilaration, and +with the physical basis of a genuine and ecstatic, though limited, spiritual +experience. In this their supreme attainment they rejoiced not only in the +diversity of flight itself, but also in the perceived beauties of their +variegated world, and most of all, perhaps, in the thousand lyric and epic +ventures of human intercourse in an aerial community.

+

The end of this seemingly everlasting elysium was nevertheless involved in +the very nature of the species. In the first place, as the ages lengthened into +aeons, the generations preserved less and less of the ancient scientific lore. +For it became insignificant to them. The aerial community had no need of it. +This loss of mere information did not matter so long as their condition +remained unaltered; but in due course biological changes began to undermine +them. The species had always been prone to a certain biological instability. A +proportion of infants, varying with circumstances, had always been misshapen; +and the deformity had generally been such as to make flight impossible. The +normal infant was able to fly early in its second year. If some accident +prevented it from doing so, it invariably fell into a decline and died before +its third year was passed. But many of the deformed types, being the result of +a partial reversion to the pedestrian nature, were able to live on indefinitely +without flight. According to a merciful custom these cripples had always to be +destroyed. But at length, owing to the gradual exhaustion of a certain marine +salt essential to the high-strung nature of the Seventh Men, infants were more +often deformed than true to type. The world population declined so seriously +that the organized aerial life of the community could no longer be carried on +according to the time-honoured aesthetic principles. No one knew how to check +this racial decay, but many felt that with greater biological knowledge it +might be avoided. A disastrous policy was now adopted. It was decided to spare +a carefully selected proportion of the deformed infants, those namely which, +though doomed to pedestrianism, were likely to develop high intelligence. Thus +it was hoped to raise a specialized group of persons whose work should be +biological research untrammelled by the intoxication of flight.

+

The brilliant cripples that resulted from this policy looked at existence +from a new angle. Deprived of the supreme experience for which their fellows +lived, envious of a bliss which they knew only by report, yet contemptuous of +the naïve mentality which cared for nothing (it seemed) but physical +exercise, love-making, the beauty of nature, and the elegances of society, +these flightless intelligences sought satisfaction almost wholly in the life of +research and scientific control. At the best, however, they were a tortured and +resentful race. For their natures were fashioned for the aerial life which they +could not lead. Although they received from the winged folk just treatment and +a certain compassionate respect, they writhed under this kindness, locked their +hearts against all the orthodox values, and sought out new ideals. Within a few +centuries they had rehabilitated the life of intellect, and, with the power +that knowledge gives, they had made themselves masters of the world. The +amiable fliers were surprised, perplexed, even pained; and yet withal amused. +Even when it became evident that the pedestrians were determined to create a +new world order in which there would be no place for the beauties of natural +flight, the fliers were only distressed while they were on the ground.

+

The islands were becoming crowded with machinery and flightless +industrialists. In the air itself the winged folk found themselves outstripped +by the base but effective instruments of mechanical flight. Wings became a +laughing stock, and the life of natural flight was condemned as a barren +luxury. It was ordained that in future every flier must serve the pedestrian +world-order, or starve. And as the cultivation of wind borne plants had been +abandoned, and fishing and fowling rights were strictly controlled, this law +was no empty form. At first it was impossible for the fliers to work on the +ground for long hours, day after day, without incurring serious ill-health and +an early death. But the pedestrian physiologists invented a drug which +preserved the poor wage-slaves in something like physical health, and actually +prolonged their life. No drug, however, could restore their spirit, for their +normal aerial habit was reduced to a few tired hours of recreation once a week. +Meanwhile, breeding experiments were undertaken to produce a wholly wingless +large-brained type. And finally a law was enacted by which all winged infants +must be either mutilated or destroyed. At this point the fliers made an heroic +but ineffectual bid for power. They attacked the pedestrian population from the +air. In reply the enemy rode them down in his great aeroplanes and blew them to +pieces with high explosive.

+

The fighting squadrons of the natural fliers were finally driven to the +ground in a remote and barren island. Thither the whole flying population, a +mere remnant of its former strength, fled out of every civilized archipelago in +search of freedom: the whole population--save the sick, who committed suicide, +and all infants that could not yet fly. These were stifled by their mothers or +next-of-kin, in obedience to a decree of the leaders. About a million men, +women and children, some of whom were scarcely old enough for the prolonged +flight, now gathered on the rocks, regardless that there was not food in the +neighbourhood for a great company.

+

Their leaders, conferring together, saw clearly that the day of Flying Man +was done, and that it would be more fitting for a high-souled race to die at +once than to drag on in subjection to contemptuous masters. They therefore +ordered the population to take part in an act of racial suicide that should at +least make death a noble gesture of freedom. The people received the message +while they were resting on the stony moorland. A wail of sorrow broke from +them. It was checked by the speaker, who bade them strive to see, even on the +ground, the beauty of the thing that was to be done. They could not see it; but +they knew that if they had the strength to take wing again they would see it +clearly, almost as soon as their tired muscles bore them aloft. There was no +time to waste, for many were already faint with hunger, and anxious lest they +should fail to rise. At the appointed signal the whole population rose into the +air with a deep roar of wings. Sorrow was left behind. Even the children, when +their mothers explained what was to be done, accepted their fate with zest; +though, had they learned of it on the ground, they would have been +terror-stricken. The company now flew steadily west, forming themselves into a +double file many miles long. The cone of a volcano appeared over the horizon, +and rose as they approached. The leaders pressed on towards its ruddy smoke +plume; and unflinchingly, couple by couple, the whole multitude darted into its +fiery breath and vanished. So ended the career of Flying Man.

+

3. A MINOR ASTRONOMICAL EVENT

+

The flightless yet still half avian race that now possessed the planet +settled down to construct a society based on industry and science. After many +vicissitudes of fortune and of aim, they produced a new human species, the +Eighth Men. These long-headed and substantial folk were designed to be strictly +pedestrian, physically and mentally. Apt for manipulation, calculation and +invention, they very soon turned Venus into an engineer's paradise. With power +drawn from the planet's central heat, their huge electric ships bored steadily +through the perennial monsoons and hurricanes, which also their aircraft +treated with contempt. Islands were joined by tunnels and by millipede bridges. +Every inch of land served some industrial or agricultural end. So successfully +did the generations amass wealth that their rival races and rival castes were +able to indulge, every few centuries, in vast revelries of mutual slaughter and +material destruction without, as a rule, impoverishing their descendants. And +so insensitive had man become that these orgies shamed him not at all. Indeed, +only by the ardours of physical violence could this most philistine species +wrench itself for a while out of its complacency. Strife which to nobler beings +would have been a grave spiritual disaster, was for these a tonic, almost a +religious exercise. These cathartic paroxysms, it should be observed, were but +the rare and brief crises which automatically punctuated ages of stolid peace. +At no time did they threaten the existence of the species; seldom did they even +destroy its civilization.

+

It was after a lengthy period of peace and scientific advancement that the +Eighth Men made a startling astronomical discovery. Ever since the First Men +had learned that in the life of every star there comes a critical moment when +the great orb collapses, shrinking to a minute, dense grain with feeble +radiation, man had periodically suspected that the sun was about to undergo +this change, and become a typical "White Dwarf." The Eighth Men detected sure +signs of the catastrophe, and predicted its date. Twenty thousand years they +gave themselves before the change should begin. In another fifty thousand +years, they guessed, Venus would probably be frozen and uninhabitable. The only +hope was to migrate to Mercury during the great change, when that planet was +already ceasing to be intolerably hot. It was necessary then to give Mercury an +atmosphere, and to breed a new species which should be capable of adapting +itself finally to a world of extreme cold.

+

This desperate operation was already on foot when a new astronomical +discovery rendered it futile. Astronomers detected, some distance from the +solar system, a volume of non-luminous gas. Calculation showed that this object +and the sun were approaching one another at a tangent, and that they would +collide, Further calculation revealed the probable results of this event. The +sun would flare up and expand prodigiously. Life would be quite impossible on +any of the planets save, just possibly, Uranus, and more probably Neptune. The +three planets beyond Neptune would escape roasting, but were unsuitable for +other reasons, The two outermost would remain glacial, and, moreover, lay +beyond the range of the imperfect etherships of the Eighth Men. The innermost +was practically a bald globe of iron, devoid not merely of atmosphere and +water, but also of the normal covering of rock. Neptune alone might be able to +support life; but how could even Neptune be populated? Not only was its +atmosphere very unsuitable, and its gravitational pull such as to make man's +body an intolerable burden, but also up to the time of the collision it would +remain excessively cold. Not till after the collision could it support any kind +of life known to man.

+

How these difficulties were overcome I have no time to tell, though the +story of man's attack upon his final home is well worthy of recording, Nor can +I tell in detail of the conflict of policy which now occurred, Some, realizing +that the Eighth Men themselves could never live on Neptune, advocated an orgy +of pleasure-living till the end, But at length the race excelled itself in an +almost unanimous resolve to devote its remaining centuries to the production of +a human being capable of carrying the torch of mentality into a new world.

+

Ether-vessels were able to reach that remote world and set up chemical +changes for the improvement of the atmosphere. It was also possible, by means +of the lately rediscovered process of automatic annihilation of matter, to +produce a constant supply of energy for the warming of an area where life might +hope to survive until the sun should be rejuvenated.

+

When at last the time for migration was approaching, a specially designed +vegetation was shipped to Neptune and established in the warm area to fit it +for man's use. Animals, it was decided, would be unnecessary. Subsequently a +specially designed human species, the Ninth Men, was transported to man's new +home. The giant Eighth Men could not themselves inhabit Neptune. The trouble +was not merely that they could scarcely support their own weight, let alone +walk, but that the atmospheric pressure on Neptune was unendurable. For the +great planet bore a gaseous envelope thousands of miles deep. The solid globe +was scarcely more than the yolk of a huge egg. The mass of the air itself +combined with the mass of the solid to produce a gravitational pressure greater +than that upon the Venerian ocean floor. The Eighth Men, therefore, dared not +emerge from their ether-ships to tread the surface of the planet save for brief +spells in steel diving suits, For them there was nothing else to do but to +return to the archipelagos of Venus, and make the best of life until the end. +They were not spared for long. A few centuries after the settlement of Neptune +had been completed by transferring thither all the most precious material +relics of humanity, the great planet itself narrowly missed collision with the +dark stranger from space. Uranus and Jupiter were at the time well out of its +track. Not so Saturn, which, a few years after Neptune's escape, was engulfed +with all its rings and satellites. The sudden incandescence which resulted from +this minor collision was but a prelude. The huge foreigner rushed on. Like a +finger poked into a spider's web, it tangled up the planetary orbits. Having +devoured its way through the asteroids, it missed Mars, caught Earth and Venus +in its blazing hair, and leapt at the sun. Henceforth the centre of the solar +system was a star nearly as wide as the old orbit of Mercury, and the system +was transformed.

+

CHAPTER XIV. NEPTUNE

+

1. BIRD'S-EYE VIEW

+

I have told man's story up to a point about half-way from his origin to his +annihilation, Behind lies the vast span which includes the whole Terrestrial +and Venerian ages, with all their slow fluctuations of darkness and +enlightenment. Ahead lies the Neptunian age, equally long, equally tragic +perhaps, but more diverse, and in its last phase incomparably more brilliant. +It would not be profitable to recount the history of man on Neptune on the +scale of the preceding chronicle. Very much of it would be incomprehensible to +terrestrials, and much of it repeats again and again, in the many Neptunian +modes, themes that we have already observed in the Terrestrial or the Venerian +movements of the human symphony. To appreciate fully the range and subtlety of +the great living epic, we ought, no doubt, to dwell on its every movement with +the same faithful care. But this is impossible to any human mind. We can but +attend to significant phrases, here and there, and hope to capture some +fragmentary hint of its vast intricate form, And for the readers of this book, +who are themselves tremors in the opening bars of the music, it is best that I +should dwell chiefly on things near to them, even at the cost of ignoring much +that is in fact greater.

+

Before continuing our long flight let us look around us. Hitherto we have +passed over time's fields at a fairly low altitude, making many detailed +observations. Now we shall travel at a greater height and with speed of a new +order. We must therefore orientate ourselves within the wider horizon that +opens around us; we must consider things from the astronomical rather than the +human point of view. I said that we were halfway from man's beginning to his +end, Looking back to that remote beginning we see that the span of time which +includes the whole career of the First Men from Pithecanthropus to the +Patagonian disaster is an unanalysable point. Even the preceding and much +longer period between the first mammal and the first man, some twenty-five +millions of terrestrial years, seems now inconsiderable. The whole of it, +together with the age of the First Men, may be said to lie half-way between the +formation of the planets, two thousand million years earlier, and their final +destruction, two thousand million years later, Taking a still wider view, we +see that this aeon of four thousand million years is itself no more than a +moment in comparison with the sun's age. And before the birth of the sun the +stuff of this galaxy had already endured for aeons as a nebula. Yet even those +aeons look brief in relation to the passage of time before the myriad great +nebula themselves, the future galaxies, condensed out of the all-pervading mist +in the beginning. Thus the whole duration of humanity, with its many sequent +species and its incessant downpour of generations, is but a flash in the +lifetime of the cosmos.

+

Spatially, also, man is inconceivably minute. If in imagination we reduce +this galaxy of ours to the size of an ancient terrestrial principality, we must +suppose it adrift in the void with millions of other such principalities, very +remote from one another. On the same scale the all-embracing cosmos would bulk +as a sphere whose diameter was some twenty times greater than that of the lunar +orbit in your day; and somewhere within the little wandering asteroid-like +principality which is our own universe, the solar system would be an +ultramicroscopic point, the greatest planet incomparably smaller.

+

We have watched the fortunes of eight successive human species for a +thousand million years, the first half of that flicker which is the duration of +man. Ten more species now succeed one another, or are contemporary, on the +plains of Neptune. We, the Last Men, are the Eighteenth Men. Of the eight +pre-Neptunian species, some, as we have seen, remained always primitive; many +achieved at least a confused and fleeting civilization, and one, the brilliant +Fifth, was already wakening into true humanity when misfortune crushed it. The +ten Neptunian species show an even greater diversity. They range from the +instinctive animal to modes of consciousness never before attained. The +definitely sub-human degenerate types are confined mostly to the first six +hundred million years of man's sojourn on Neptune. During the earlier half of +this long phase of preparation, man, at first almost crushed out of existence +by a hostile environment, gradually peopled the huge north; but with beasts, +not men. For man, as man, no longer existed. During the latter half of the +preparatory six hundred million years, the human spirit gradually awoke again, +to undergo the fluctuating advance and decline characteristic of the +pre-Neptunian ages. But subsequently, in the last four hundred million years of +his career on Neptune, man has made an almost steady progress toward full +spiritual maturity.

+

Let us now look rather more closely at these three great epochs of man's +history.

+

2. DA CAPO

+

It was in desperate haste that the last Venerian men had designed and +fashioned the new species for the colonization of Neptune. The mere remoteness +of the great planet, moreover, had prevented its nature from being explored at +all thoroughly, and so the new human organism was but partially adapted to its +destined environment. Inevitably it was a dwarf type, limited in size by the +necessity of resisting an excessive gravitation. Its brain was so cramped that +everything but the bare essentials of humanity had to be omitted from it. Even +so, the Ninth Men were too delicately organized to withstand the ferocity of +natural forces on Neptune. This ferocity the designers had seriously +underestimated; and so they were content merely to produce a miniature copy of +their own type. They should have planned a hardy brute, lustily procreative, +cunning in the struggle for physical existence, but above all tough, prolific, +and so insensitive as to be scarcely worthy of the name man. They should have +trusted that if once this crude seed could take root, natural forces themselves +would in time conjure from it something more human. Instead, they produced a +race cursed with the inevitable fragility of miniatures, and designed for a +civilized environment which feeble spirits could not possibly maintain in a +tumultuous world. For it so happened that the still youthful giant, Neptune, +was slowly entering one of his phases of crustal shrinkage, and therefore of +earthquake and eruption. Thus the frail colonists found themselves increasingly +in danger of being swallowed in sudden fiery crevasses or buried under volcanic +dust, Moreover, their squat buildings, when not actually being trampled by lava +streams, or warped and cracked by their shifting foundations, were liable to be +demolished by the battering-ram thrust of a turbulent and massive atmosphere. +Further, the atmosphere's unwholesome composition killed all possibility of +cheerfulness and courage in a race whose nature was doomed to be, even in +favourable circumstances, neurotic.

+

Fortunately this agony could not last indefinitely. Little by little, +civilization crumbled into savagery, the torturing vision of better things was +lost, man's consciousness was narrowed and coarsened into brute-consciousness. +By good luck the brute precariously survived.

+

Long after the Ninth Men had fallen from man's estate, nature herself, in +her own slow and blundering manner, succeeded where man had failed. The brute +descendants of this human species became at length well adapted to their world. +In time there arose a wealth of sub-human forms in the many kinds of +environment afforded by the lands and seas of Neptune. None of them penetrated +far toward the Equator, for the swollen sun had rendered the tropics at this +time far too hot to support life of any kind. Even at the pole the protracted +summer put a great strain on all but the most hardy creatures.

+

Neptune's year was at this time about one hundred and sixty-five times the +length of the old terrestrial year. The slow seasonal change had an important +effect on life's own rhythms. All but the most ephemeral organisms tended to +live through at least one complete year, and the higher mammals survived +longer. At a much later stage this natural longevity was to play a great and +beneficial part in the revival of man. But, on the other hand, the increasing +sluggishness of individual growth, the length of immaturity in each generation, +retarded the natural evolutionary process on Neptune, so that compared with the +Terrestrial and Venerian epochs the biological story now moves at a snail's +pace.

+

After the fall of the Ninth Men the sub-human creatures had one and all +adopted a quadruped habit, the better to cope with gravity. At first they had +indulged merely in occasional support from their knuckles, but in time many +species of true quadrupeds had appeared. In several of the running types the +fingers, like the toes, had grown together, and a hoof had developed, not on +the old fingertips, which were bent back and atrophied, but on the +knuckles.

+

Two hundred million years after the solar collision innumerable species of +sub-human grazers with long sheep-like muzzles, ample molars, and almost +ruminant digestive systems, were competing with one another on the polar +continent. Upon these preyed the sub-human carnivora, of whom some were built +for speed in the chase, others for stalking and a sudden spring. But since +jumping was no easy matter on Neptune, the cat-like types were all minute. They +preyed upon man's more rabbit-like and rat-like descendants, or on the carrion +of the larger mammals, or on the lusty worms and beetles. These had sprung +originally from vermin which had been transported accidentally from Venus. For +of all the ancient Venerian fauna only man himself, a few insects and other +invertebrates, and many kinds of micro-organisms, succeeded in colonizing +Neptune. Of plants, many types had been artificially bred for the new world, +and from these eventually arose a host of grasses, flowering plants, +thick-trunked bushes, and novel sea-weeds. On this marine flora fed certain +highly developed marine worms; and of these last, some in time became +vertebrate, predatory, swift and fish-like. On these in turn man's own marine +descendants preyed, whether as sub-human seals, or still more specialized +subhuman porpoises. Perhaps most remarkable of these developments of the +ancient human stock was that which led, through a small insectivorous bat-like +glider, to a great diversity of true flying mammals, scarcely larger than +humming birds, but in some cases agile as swallows.

+

Nowhere did the typical human form survive. There were only beasts, fitted +by structure and instinct to some niche or other of their infinitely diverse +and roomy world.

+

Certainly strange vestiges of human mentality did indeed persist here and +there even as, in the fore-limbs of most species, there still remained buried +the relics of man's once cunning fingers. For instance, there were certain +grazers which in times of hardship would meet together and give tongue in +cacophonous ululation; or, sitting on their haunches with forelimbs pressed +together, they would listen by the hour to the howls of some leader, responding +intermittently with groans and whimpers, and working themselves at last into +foaming madness. And there were carnivora which, in the midst of the +spring-time fervour, would suddenly cease from love-making, fighting, and the +daily routine of hunting, to sit alone in some high place day after day, night +after night, watching, waiting; until at last hunger forced them into +action.

+

Now in the fullness of time, about three hundred million terrestrial years +after the solar collision, a certain minute, hairless, rabbit-like creature, +scampering on the polar grasslands, found itself greatly persecuted by a swift +hound from the south, The sub-human rabbit was relatively unspecialized, and +had no effective means of defence or flight. It was almost exterminated. A few +individuals, however, saved themselves by taking to the dense and thick-trunked +scrub, whither the hound could not follow them. Here they had to change their +diet and manner of life, deserting grass for roots, berries, and even worms and +beetles. Their fore-limbs were now increasingly used for digging and climbing, +and eventually for weaving nests of stick and straw. In this species the +fingers had never grown together. Internally the fore-paw was like a minute +clenched fist from the elongated and exposed knuckles of which separate toes +protruded. And now the knuckles elongated themselves still further, becoming in +time a new set of fingers. Within the palm of the new little monkey-hand there +still remained traces of man's ancient fingers, bent in upon themselves.

+

As of old, manipulation gave rise to clearer percipience. And this, in +conjunction with the necessity of frequent experiments in diet, hunting, and +defence, produced at length a real versatility of behaviour and suppleness of +mind. The rabbit throve, adopted an almost upright gait, continued to increase +in stature and in brain. Yet, just as the new hand was not merely a +resurrection of the old hand, so the new regions of the brain were no mere +revival of the atrophied human cerebrum, but a new organ, which overlaid and +swallowed up that ancient relic. The creature's mind, therefore, was in many +respects a new mind, though moulded to the same great basic needs. Like his +forerunners, of course, he craved food, love, glory, companionship. In pursuit +of these ends he devised weapons and traps, and built wicker villages. He held +pow-wows. He became the Tenth Men.

+

3. SLOW CONQUEST

+

For a million terrestrial years these long-armed hairless beings were +spreading their wicker huts and bone implements over the great northern +continents, and for many more millions they remained in possession without +making further cultural progress; for evolution, both biological and cultural, +was indeed slow on Neptune. At last the Tenth Men were attacked by a +microorganism and demolished. From their ruins several primitive human species +developed, and remained isolated in remote territories for millions of decades, +until at length chance or enterprise brought them into contact. One of these +early species, crouched and tusked, was persistently trapped for its ivory by +an abler type, till it was exterminated. Another, long of muzzle and large of +base, habitually squatted on its haunches like the kangaroo. Shortly after this +industrious and social species had discovered the use of the wheel, a more +primitive but more war-like type crashed into it like a tidal wave and +overwhelmed it. Erect, but literally almost as broad as they were tall, these +chunkish and bloody-minded savages spread over the whole arctic and sub-arctic +region and spent some millions of years in monotonous reiteration of progress +and decline; until at last a slow decay of their germ-plasm almost ended man's +career. But after an aeon of darkness, there appeared another thick-set, but +larger brained, species. This, for the first time on Neptune, conceived the +religion of love, and all those spiritual cravings and agonies which had +flickered in man so often and so vainly upon Earth and Venus. There appeared +again feudal empires, militant nations, economic class wars, and, not once but +often, a world-state covering the whole northern hemisphere. These men it was +that first crossed the equator in artificially cooled electric ships, and +explored the huge south. No life of any kind was discovered in the southern +hemisphere; for even in that age no living matter could have crossed the +roasting tropics without artificial refrigeration. Indeed, it was only because +the sun's temporary revival had already passed its zenith that even man, with +all his ingenuity, could endure a long tropical voyage.

+

Like the First Men and so many other natural human types, these Fourteenth +Men were imperfectly human. Like the First Men, they conceived ideals of +conduct which their imperfectly organized nervous systems could never attain +and seldom approach. Unlike the First Men, they survived with but minor +biological changes for three hundred million years. But even so long a period +did not enable them to transcend their imperfect spiritual nature. Again and +again and again they passed from savagery to world-civilization and back to +savagery. They were captive within their own nature, as a bird in a cage. And +as a caged bird may fumble with nest-building materials and periodically +destroy the fruit of its aimless toil, so these cramped beings destroyed their +civilizations.

+

At length, however, this second phase of Neptunian history, this era of +fluctuation, was brought to an end. At the close of the six hundred million +years after the first settlement of the planet, unaided nature produced, in the +fifteenth human species, that highest form of natural man which she had +produced only once before, in the second species. And this time no Martians +interfered, We must not stay to watch the struggle of this great-headed man to +overcome his one serious handicap, excessive weight of cranium and unwieldy +proportions of body. Suffice it that after a long-drawn-out immaturity, +including one great mechanized war between the northern and southern +hemispheres, the Fifteenth Men outgrew the ailments and fantasies of youth, and +consolidated themselves as a single world-community. This civilization was +based economically on volcanic power, and spiritually on devotion to the +fulfillment of human capacity. It was this species which, for the first time on +Neptune, conceived, as an enduring racial purpose, the will to remake human +nature upon an ampler scale.

+

Henceforth in spite of many disasters, such as another period of earthquake +and eruption, sudden climatic changes, innumerable plagues and biological +aberrations, human progress was relatively steady. It was not by any means +swift and sure. There were still to be ages, often longer than the whole career +of the First Men, in which the human spirit would rest from its pioneering to +consolidate its conquests, or would actually stray into the wilderness. But +never again, seemingly, was it to be routed and crushed into mere +animality.

+

In tracing man's final advance to full humanity we can observe only the +broadest features of a whole astronomical era. But in fact it is an era crowded +with many thousands of long-lived generations. Myriads of individuals, each one +unique, live out their lives in rapt intercourse with one another, contribute +their heart's pulses to the universal music, and presently vanish, giving place +to others. All this age-long sequence of private living, which is the actual +tissue of humanity's flesh, I cannot describe. I can only trace, as it were, +the disembodied form of its growth.

+

The Fifteenth Men first set themselves to abolish five great evils, namely, +disease, suffocating toil, senility, misunderstanding, ill-will. The story of +their devotion, their many disastrous experiments and ultimate triumph, cannot +here be told. Nor can I recount how they learned and used the secret of +deriving power from the annihilation of matter, nor how they invented ether +ships for the exploration of neighbouring planets, nor how, after ages of +experiments, they designed and produced a new species, the Sixteenth, to +supersede themselves.

+

The new type was analogous to the ancient Fifth, which had colonized Venus. +Artificial rigid atoms had been introduced into its bone-tissues, so that it +might support great stature and an ample brain; in which, moreover, an +exceptionally fine-grained cellular structure permitted a new complexity of +organization. "Telepathy," also, was once more achieved, not by means of the +Martian units, which had long ago become extinct, but by the synthesis of new +molecular groups of a similar type. Partly through the immense increase of +mutual understanding, which resulted from "telepathic" rapport, partly +through improved co-ordination of the nervous system, the ancient evil of +selfishness was entirely and finally abolished from the normal human being. +Egoistic impulses, whenever they refused to be subordinated, were henceforth +classed as symptoms of insanity. The sensory powers of the new species were, of +course, greatly improved; and it was even given a pair of eyes in the back of +the head. Henceforth man was to have a circular instead of a semicircular field +of vision. And such was the general intelligence of the new race that many +problems formerly deemed insoluble were now solved in a single flash of +insight.

+

Of the great practical uses to which the Sixteenth Men put their powers, one +only need be mentioned as an example. They gained control of the movement of +their planet. Early in their career they were able, with the unlimited energy +at their disposal, to direct it into a wider orbit, so that its average climate +became more temperate, and snow occasionally covered the polar regions. But as +the ages advanced, and the sun became steadily less ferocious, it became +necessary to reverse this process and shift the planet gradually nearer to the +sun.

+

When they had possessed their world for nearly fifty million years, the +Sixteenth Men, like the Fifth before them, learned to enter into past minds, +For them this was a more exciting adventure than for their forerunners, since +they were still ignorant of Terrestrial and Venerian history. Like their +forerunners, so dismayed were they at the huge volume of eternal misery in the +past, that for a while, in spite of their own great blessings and spontaneous +gaiety, existence seemed a mockery. But in time they came to regard the past's +misery as a challenge. They told themselves that the past was calling to them +for help, and that somehow they must prepare a great "crusade to liberate the +past." How this was to be done, they could not conceive; but they were +determined to bear in mind this quixotic aim in the great enterprise which had +by now become the chief concern of the race, namely the creation of a human +type of an altogether higher order.

+

It had become clear that man had by now advanced in understanding and +creativeness as far as was possible to the individual human brain acting in +physical isolation. Yet the Sixteenth Men were oppressed by their own +impotence. Though in philosophy they had delved further than had ever before +been possible, yet even at their deepest they found only the shifting sands of +mystery. In particular they were haunted by three ancient problems, two of +which were purely intellectual, namely the mystery of time and the mystery of +mind's relation to the world. Their third problem was the need somehow to +reconcile their confirmed loyalty to life, which they conceived as embattled +against death, with their ever-strengthening impulse to rise above the battle +and admire it dispassionately.

+

Age after age the races of the Sixteenth Men blossomed with culture after +culture. The movement of thought ranged again and again through all the +possible modes of the spirit, ever discovering new significance in ancient +themes. Yet throughout this epoch the three great problems remained unsolved, +perplexing the individual and vitiating the policy of the race.

+

Forced thus at length to choose between spiritual stagnation and a perilous +leap in the dark, the Sixteenth Men determined to set about devising a type of +brain which, by means of the mental fusion of many individuals, might waken +into an altogether new mode of consciousness. Thus, it was hoped, man might +gain insight into the very heart of existence, whether finally to admire or +loathe. And thus the racial purpose, which had been so much confused by +philosophical ignorance, might at last become clear.

+

Of the hundred million years which passed before the Sixteenth Men produced +the new human type, I must not pause to tell, They thought they had achieved +their hearts' desire; but in fact the glorious beings which they had produced +were tortured by subtle imperfections beyond their makers' comprehension. +Consequently, no sooner had these Seventeenth Men peopled the world and +attained full cultural stature, than they also bent all their strength to the +production of a new type, essentially like their own, but perfected. Thus after +a brief career of a few hundred thousand years, crowded with splendour and +agony, the Seventeenth gave place to the Eighteenth, and, as it turns out, the +Last, human species. Since all the earlier cultures find their fulfillment in +the world of the Last Men, I pass over them to enlarge somewhat upon our modern +age.

+

CHAPTER XV. THE LAST MEN

+

1. INTRODUCTION TO THE LAST HUMAN SPECIES

+

If one of the First Men could enter the world of the Last Men, he would find +many things familiar and much that would seem strangely distorted and perverse. +But nearly everything that is most distinctive of the last human species would +escape him. Unless he were to be told that behind all the obvious and imposing +features of civilization, behind all the social organization and personal +intercourse of a great community, lay a whole other world of spiritual culture, +round about him, yet beyond his ken, he would no more suspect its existence +than a cat in London suspects the existence of finance or literature.

+

Among the familiar things that he would encounter would be creatures +recognizably human yet in his view grotesque. While he himself laboured under +the weight of his own body, these giants would be easily striding. He would +consider them very sturdy, often thick-set, folk, but he would be compelled to +allow them grace of movement and even beauty of proportion. The longer he +stayed with them the more beauty he would see in them, and the less +complacently would he regard his own type. Some of these fantastic men and +women he would find covered with fur, hirsute, or mole-velvet, revealing the +underlying muscles. Others would display brown, yellow or ruddy skin, and yet +others a translucent ash-green, warmed by the under-flowing blood, As a +species, though we are all human, we are extremely variable in body and mind, +so variable that superficially we seem to be not one species but many. Some +characters, of course, are common to all of us, The traveller might perhaps be +surprised by the large yet sensitive hands which are universal, both in men and +women. In all of us the outermost finger bears at its tip three minute organs +of manipulation, rather similar to those which were first devised for the Fifth +Men, These excrescences would doubtless revolt our visitor. The pair of +occipital eyes, too, would shock him; so would the upward-looking astronomical +eye on the crown, which is peculiar to the Last Men, This organ was so +cunningly designed that, when fully extended, about a hand-breadth from its +bony case, it reveals the heavens in as much detail as your smaller +astronomical telescopes. Apart from such special features as these, there is +nothing definitely novel about us; though every limb, every contour, shows +unmistakably that much has happened since the days of the First Men. We are +both more human and more animal. The primitive explorer might be more readily +impressed by our animality than our humanity, so much of our humanity would lie +beyond his grasp. He would perhaps at first regard us as a degraded type. He +would call us faun-like, and in particular cases, ape-like, bear-like, ox-like, +marsupial, or elephantine. Yet our general proportions are definitely human in +the ancient manner. Where gravity is not insurmountable, the erect biped form +is bound to be most serviceable to intelligent land animals; and so, after long +wanderings, man has returned to his old shape. Moreover, if our observer were +himself at all sensitive to facial expression, he would come to recognize in +every one of our innumerable physiognomic types an indescribable but +distinctively human look, the visible sign of that inward and spiritual grace +which is not wholly absent from his own species. He would perhaps say, "These +men that are beasts are surely gods also." He would be reminded of those old +Egyptian deities with animal heads. But in us the animal and the human +interpenetrate in every feature, in every curve of the body, and with infinite +variety. He would observe us, together with hints of the long-extinct Mongol, +Negro, Nordic, and Semetic, many outlandish features and expressions, deriving +from the sub-human period on Neptune, or from Venus. He would see in every limb +unfamiliar contours of muscle, sinew or bone, which were acquired long after +the First Men had vanished, Besides the familiar eye-colours, he would discover +orbs of topaz, emerald, amethyst and ruby, and a thousand varieties of these, +But in all of us he would see also, if he had discernment, a facial expression +and bodily gesture peculiar to our own species, a certain luminous, yet pungent +and ironical significance, which we miss almost wholly in the earlier human +faces.

+

The traveller would recognize among us unmistakable sexual features, both of +general proportions and special organs. But it would take him long to discover +that some of the most striking bodily and facial differences were due to +differentiation of the two ancient sexes into many sub-sexes. Full sexual +experience involves for us a complicated relationship between individuals of +all these types. Of the extremely important sexual groups I shall speak +again.

+

Our visitor would notice, by the way, that though all persons on Neptune go +habitually nude, save for a pouch or rucksack, clothing, often brightly +coloured, and made of diverse lustrous or homely tissues unknown before our +time, is worn for special purposes.

+

He would notice also, scattered about the green countryside, many buildings, +mostly of one story; for there is plenty of room on Neptune even for the +million million of the Last Men. Here and there, however, we have great +architectural pylons, cruciform or star-shaped in section, cloud-piercing, +dignifying the invariable planes of Neptune. These mightiest of all buildings, +which are constructed in adamantine materials formed of artificial atoms, would +seem to our visitor geometrical mountains, far taller than any natural mountain +could be, even on the smallest planet. In many cases the whole fabric is +translucent or transparent, so that at night, with internal illumination, it +appears as an edifice of light. Springing from a base twenty or more miles +across, the star-seeking towers attain a height where even Neptune's atmosphere +is somewhat attenuated. In their summits work the hosts of our astronomers, the +essential eyes through which our community, on her little raft, peers across +the ocean. Thither also all men and women repair at one time or another to +contemplate this galaxy of ours and the unnumbered remoter universes, There +they perform together those supreme symbolic acts for which I find no adjective +in your speech but the debased word "religious." There also they seek the +refreshment of mountain air in a world where natural mountains are unknown. And +on the pinnacles and precipices of these loftiest horns many of us gratify that +primeval lust of climbing which was ingrained in man before ever he was man, +These buildings thus combine the functions of observatory, temple, sanatorium +and gymnasium. Some of them are almost as old as the species, some are not yet +completed. They embody, therefore, many styles. The traveller would find modes +which he would be tempted to call Gothic, Classical, Egyptian, Peruvian, +Chinese, or American, besides a thousand architectural ideas unfamiliar to him. +Each of these buildings was the work of the race as a whole at some stage in +its career. None of them is a mere local product. Every successive culture has +expressed itself in one or more of these supreme monuments. Once in forty +thousand years or so some new architectural glory would be conceived and +executed, And such is the continuity of our cultures that there has scarcely +ever been need to remove the handiwork of the past.

+

If our visitor happened to be near enough to one of these great pylons, he +would see it surrounded by a swarm of midges, which would turn out to be human +fliers, wingless, but with outspread arms, The stranger might wonder how a +large organism could rise from the ground in Neptune's powerful field of +gravity. Yet flight is our ordinary means of locomotion. A man has but to put +on a suit of overalls fitted at various points with radiation-generators. +Ordinary flight thus becomes a kind of aerial swimming. Only when very high +speed is desired do we make use of closed-in air-boats and liners.

+

At the feet of the great buildings the flat or undulating country is green, +brown, golden, and strewn with houses, Our traveller would recognize that much +land was under cultivation, and would see many persons at work upon it with +tools or machinery. Most of our food, indeed, is produced by artificial +photosynthesis on the broiling planet Jupiter, where even now that the sun is +becoming normal again, no life can exist without powerful refrigeration. As far +as mere nutrition is concerned, we could do without vegetation; but agriculture +and its products have played so great a part in human history that today +agricultural operations and vegetable foods are very beneficial to the race +psychologically. And so it comes about that vegetable matter is in great +demand, not only as raw material for innumerable manufactures, but also for +table delicacies. Green vegetables, fruit, and various alcoholic fruit drinks +have come to have the same kind of ritual significance for us as wine has for +you. Meat also, though not a part of ordinary diet, is eaten on very rare and +sacred occasions, The cherished wild fauna of the planet contributes its toll +to periodic symbolical banquets. And whenever a human being has chosen to die, +his body is ceremoniously eaten by his friends.

+

Communication with the food factories of Jupiter and the agricultural polar +regions of the less torrid Uranus, as also with the automatic mining stations +on the glacial outer planets, is maintained by ether ships, which, travelling +much faster than the planets themselves, make the passage to the neighbour +worlds in a small fraction of the Neptunian year. These vessels, of which the +smallest are about a mile in length, may be seen descending on our oceans like +ducks, Before they touch the water they cause a prodigious tumult with the +downward pressure of their radiation; but once upon the surface, they pass +quietly into harbour.

+

The ether ship is in a manner symbolic of our whole community, so highly +organized is it, and so minute in relation to the void which engulfs it. The +ethereal navigators, because they spend so much of their time in the empty +regions, beyond the range of "telepathic" communication and sometimes even of +mechanical radio, form mentally a unique class among us. They are a hardy, +simple, and modest folk, And though they embody man's proud mastery of the +ether, they are never tired of reminding landlubbers, with dour jocularity, +that the most daring voyages are confined within one drop of the boundless +ocean of space.

+

Recently an exploration ship returned from a voyage into the outer tracts. +Half her crew had died. The survivors were emaciated, diseased, and mentally +unbalanced. To a race that thought itself so well established in sanity that +nothing could disturb it, the spectacle of these unfortunates was instructive. +Throughout the voyage, which was the longest ever attempted, they had +encountered nothing whatever but two comets, and an occasional meteor. Some of +the nearer constellations were seen with altered forms. One or two stars +increased slightly in brightness; and the sun was reduced to being the most +brilliant of stars. The aloof and changeless presence of the constellations +seems to have crazed the voyagers. When at last the ship returned and berthed, +there was a scene such as is seldom witnessed in our modern world. The crew +flung open the ports and staggered blubbering into the arms of the crowd. It +would never have been believed that members of our species could be so far +reduced from the self-possession that is normal to us. Subsequently these poor +human wrecks have shown an irrational phobia of the stars, and of all that is +not human. They dare not go out at night. They live in an extravagant passion +for the presence of others. And since all others are astronomically minded, +they cannot find real companionship. They insanely refuse to participate in the +mental life of the race upon the plane where all things are seen in their just +proportions. They cling piteously to the sweets of individual life; and so they +are led to curse the immensities. They fill their minds with human conceits, +and their houses with toys. By night they draw the curtains and drown the quiet +voice of the stars in revelry. But it is a joyless and a haunted revelry, +desired less for itself than as a defence against reality.

+

2. CHILDHOOD AND MATURITY

+

I said that we were all astronomically minded; but we are not without +"human" interests. Our visitor from the earth would soon discover that the low +buildings, sprinkled on all sides, were the homes of individuals, families, +sexual groups, and bands of companions. Most of these buildings are so +constructed that the roof and walls can be removed, completely or partially, +for sun-bathing and for the night. Round each house is a wilderness, or a +garden, or an orchard of our sturdy fruit trees. Here and there men and women +may be seen at work with hoe or spade or secateurs. The buildings themselves +affect many styles; and within doors our visitor would find great variety from +house to house. Even within a single house he might come on rooms seemingly of +different epochs. And while some rooms are crowded with articles, many of which +would be incomprehensible to the stranger, others are bare, save for a table, +chairs, a cupboard, and perhaps some single object of pure art. We have an +immense variety of manufactured goods. But the visitor from a world obsessed +with material wealth would probably remark the simplicity, even austerity, +which characterizes most private houses.

+

He would doubtless be surprised to see no books. In every room, however, +there is a cupboard filled with minute rolls of tape, microscopically figured. +Each of these rolls contains matter which could not be cramped into a score of +your volumes. They are used in connexion with a pocket-instrument, the size and +shape of the ancient cigarette case. When the roll is inserted, it reels itself +off at any desired speed, and interferes systematically with ethereal +vibrations produced by the instrument. Thus is generated a very complex flow of +"telepathic" language which permeates the brain of the reader. So delicate and +direct is this medium of expression that there is scarcely any possibility of +misunderstanding the author's intention. The rolls themselves, it should be +said, are produced by another special instrument, which is sensitive to +vibrations generated in the author's brain. Not that it produces a mere replica +of his stream of consciousness; it records only those images and ideas with +which he deliberately "inscribes" it. I may mention also that, since we can at +any moment communicate by direct "telepathy" with any person on the planet, +these "books" of ours are not used for the publication of merely ephemeral +thought. Each one of them preserves only the threshed and chosen grains of some +mind's harvest.

+

Other instruments may be observed in our houses, which I cannot pause to +describe, instruments whose office is either to carry out domestic drudgery, or +to minister directly in one way or another to cultured life. Near the outer +door would be hanging a number of flying-suits, and in a garage attached to the +house would be the private air-boats, gaily coloured torpedo-shaped objects of +various sizes.

+

Decoration in our houses, save in those which belong to children, is +everywhere simple, even severe. None the less we prize it greatly, and spend +much consideration upon it. Children, indeed, often adorn their houses with +splendour, which adults themselves can also enjoy through children's eyes, even +as they can enter into the frolics of infants with unaffected glee.

+

The number of children in our world is small in relation to our immense +population. Yet, seeing that every one of us is potentially immortal, it may be +wondered how we can permit ourselves to have any children at all. The +explanation is two-fold. In the first place, our policy is to produce new +individuals of higher type than ourselves, for we are very far from +biologically perfect. Consequently we need a continuous supply of children. And +as these successively reach maturity, they take over the functions of adults +whose nature is less perfect; and these, when they are aware that they are no +longer of service, elect to retire from life.

+

But even though every individual, sooner or later, ceases to exist, the +average length of life is not much less than a quarter of a million terrestrial +years. No wonder, then, that we cannot accommodate many children. But we have +more than might be expected, for with us infancy and adolescence are very +lengthy. The foetus is carried for twenty years. Ectogenesis was practised by +our predecessors, but was abandoned by our own species, because, with greatly +improved motherhood, there is no need for it. Our mothers, indeed, are both +physically and mentally most vigorous during the all too rare period of +pregnancy. After birth, true infancy lasts for about a century. During this +period, in which the foundations of body and mind are being laid, very slowly, +but so securely that they will never fail, the individual is cared for by his +mother. Then follow some centuries of childhood, and a thousand years of +adolescence.

+

Our children, of course, are very different beings from the children of the +First Men. Though physically they are in many respects still childlike, they +are independent persons in the community. Each has either a house of his own, +or rooms in a larger building held in common by himself and his friends. +Thousands of these are to be found in the neighbourhood of every educational +centre. There are some children who prefer to live with their parents, or with +one or other of their parents; but this is rare. Though there is often much +friendly intercourse between parents and children, the generations usually fare +better under separate roofs. This is inevitable in our species. For the adult's +overwhelmingly greater experience reveals the world to him in very different +proportions from those which alone are possible even to the most brilliant of +children; while on the other hand with us the mind of every child is, in some +potentiality or other, definitely superior to every adult mind. Consequently, +while the child can never appreciate what is best in his elders, the adult, in +spite of his power of direct insight into all minds not superior to himself, is +doomed to incomprehension of all that is novel in his own offspring.

+

Six or seven hundred years after birth a child is in some respects +physically equivalent to a ten-year-old of the First Men. But since his brain +is destined for much higher development, it is already far more complex than +any adult brain of that species. And though temperamentally he is in many ways +still a child, intellectually he has already in some respects passed beyond the +culture of the best adult minds of the ancient races. The traveller, +encountering one of our bright boys, might sometimes be reminded of the wise +simplicity of the legendary Child Christ. But also he might equally well +discover a vast exuberance, boisterousness, impishness, and a complete +inability to stand outside the child's own eager life and regard it +dispassionately. In general our children develop intellectually beyond the +level of the First Men long before they begin to develop the dispassionate will +which is characteristic of our adults. When there is conflict between a child's +personal needs and the needs of society, he will as a rule force himself to the +social course; but he does so with resentment and dramatic self-pity, thereby +rendering himself in the adult view exquisitely ridiculous.

+

When our children attain physical adolescence, nearly a thousand years after +birth, they leave the safe paths of childhood to spend another thousand years +in one of the antarctic continents, known as the Land of the Young. Somewhat +reminiscent of the Wild Continent of the Fifth Men, this territory is preserved +as virgin bush and prairie. Sub-human grazers and carnivora abound. Volcanic +eruption, hurricanes and glacial seasons afford further attractions to the +adventurous young. There is consequently a high death-rate. In this land our +young people live the half primitive, half sophisticated life to which their +nature is fitted. They hunt, fish, tend cattle and till the ground. They +cultivate all the simple beauties of human individuality. They love and hate. +They sing, paint, and carve. They devise heroic myths, and delight in fantasies +of direct intercourse with a cosmic person. They organize themselves as tribes +and nations. Sometimes they even indulge in warfare of a primitive but bloody +type. Formerly when this happened, the adult world interfered; but we have +since learned to let the fever run its course. The loss of life is regrettable; +but it is a small price to pay for the insight afforded even by this restricted +and juvenile warfare, into those primitive agonies and passions which, when +they are experienced by the adult mind, are so transformed by philosophy that +their import is wholly changed. In the Land of the Young our boys and girls +experience all that is precious and all that is abject in the primitive. They +live through in their own persons, century by century, all its toilsomeness and +cramped meanness, all its blind cruelty and precariousness; but also they taste +its glamour, its vernal and lyrical glory. They make in little all the mistakes +of thought and action that men have ever made; but at last they emerge ready +for the larger and more difficult world of maturity.

+

It was expected that some day, when we should have perfected the species, +there would be no need to build up successive generations, no need of children, +no need of all this schooling. It was expected that the community would then +consist of adults only; and that they would be immortal not merely potentially +but in fact, yet also, of course, perennially in the flower of young maturity. +Thus, death should never cut the string of individuality and scatter the +hard-won pearls, necessitating new strings, and laborious re-gatherings. The +many and very delectable beauties of childhood could still be amply enjoyed in +exploration of the past.

+

We know now that this goal is not to be attained, since man's end is +imminent.

+

3. A RACIAL AWAKENING

+

It is easy to speak of children; but how can I tell you anything significant +of our adult experience, in relation to which not only the world of the First +Men but the worlds of the most developed earlier species seem so +naïve?

+

The source of the immense difference between ourselves and all other human +races lies in the sexual group, which is in fact much more than a sexual +group.

+

The designers of our species set out to produce a being that might be +capable of an order of mentality higher than their own. The only possibility of +doing so lay in planning a great increase of brain organization. But they knew +that the brain of an individual human being could not safely be allowed to +exceed a certain weight. They therefore sought to produce the new order of +mentality in a system of distinct and specialized brains held in "telepathic" +unity by means of ethereal radiation. Material brains were to be capable of +becoming on some occasions mere nodes in a system of radiation which itself +should then constitute the physical basis of a single mind. Hitherto there had +been "telepathic" communication between many individuals, but no +super-individual, or group-mind. It was known that such a unity of individual +minds had never been attained before, save on Mars; and it was known how +lamentably the racial mind of Mars had failed to transcend the minds of the +Martians. By a combination of shrewdness and good luck the designers hit upon a +policy which escaped the Martian failure. They planned as the basis of the +super-individual a small multi-sexual group.

+

Of course the mental unity of the sexual group is not the direct outcome of +the sexual intercourse of its members. Such intercourse does occur. Groups +differ from one another very greatly in this respect; but in most groups all +the members of the male sexes have intercourse with all the members of the +female sexes. Thus sex is with us essentially social. It is impossible for me +to give any idea of the great range and intensity of experience afforded by +these diverse types of union. Apart from this emotional enrichment of the +individuals, the importance of sexual activity in the group lies in its +bringing individuals into that extreme intimacy, temperamental harmony and +complementariness, without which no emergence into higher experience would be +possible.

+

Individuals are not necessarily confined to the same group for ever. Little +by little a group may change every one of its ninety-six members, and yet it +will remain the same super-individual mind, though enriched with the memories +grafted into it by the new-comers. Very rarely does an individual leave a group +before he has been in it for ten thousand years. In some groups the members +live together in a common home. In others they live apart. Sometimes an +individual will form a sort of monogamous relation with another individual of +his group, homing with the chosen one for many thousands of years, or even for +a lifetime. Indeed some claim that lifelong monogamy is the ideal state, so +deep and delicate is the intimacy which it affords. But of course, even in +monogamy, each partner must be periodically refreshed by intercourse with other +members of the group, not only for the spiritual health of the two partners +themselves, but also that the group-mind may be maintained in full vigour. +Whatever the sexual custom of the group, there is always in the mind of each +member a very special loyalty toward the whole group, a peculiar sexually toned +esprit de corps, unparalleled in any other species.

+

Occasionally there is a special kind of group intercourse in which, during +the actual occurrence of group mentality, all the members of one group will +have intercourse with those of another. Casual intercourse outside the group is +not common, but not discouraged. When it occurs it comes as a symbolic act +crowning a spiritual intimacy.

+

Unlike the physical sex-relationship, the mental unity of the group involves +all the members of the group every time it occurs, and so long as it persists. +During times of group experience the individual continues to perform his +ordinary routine of work and recreation, save when some particular activity is +demanded of him by the group-mind itself. But all that he does as a private +individual is carried out in a profound absent-mindedness. In familiar +situations he reacts correctly, even to the extent of executing familiar types +of intellectual work or entertaining acquaintances with intelligent +conversation. Yet all the while he is in fact "far away," rapt in the process +of the group-mind. Nothing short of an urgent and unfamiliar crisis can recall +him; and in recalling him it usually puts an end to the group's experience.

+

Each member of the group is fundamentally just a highly developed human +animal. He enjoys his food. He has a quick eye for sexual attraction, within or +without the group. He has his personal idiosyncrasies and foibles, and is +pleased to ridicule the foibles of others--and of himself. He may be one of +those who abhor children, or one of those who enter into children's antics with +fervour, if they will tolerate him. He may move heaven and earth to procure +permission for a holiday in the Land of the Young. And if he fails, as he +almost surely does, he may go walking with a friend, or boating and swimming, +or playing violent games. Or he may merely potter in his garden, or refresh his +mind though not his body by exploring some favourite region of the past. +Recreation occupies a large part of his life. For this reason he is always glad +to get back to work in due season, whether his function is to maintain some +part of the material organization of our world, or to educate, or to perform +scientific research, or to co-operate in the endless artistic venture of the +race, or, as is more likely, to help in some of those innumerable enterprises +whose nature it is impossible for me to describe.

+

As a human individual, then, he or she is somewhat of the same type as a +member of the Fifth species. Here once more is the perfected glandular outfit +and instinctive nature. Here too is the highly developed sense perception and +intellection. As in the Fifth species, so in the Eighteenth, each individual +has his own private needs, which he heartily craves to fulfil; but also, in +both species, he subordinates these private cravings to the good of the race +absolutely and without struggle. The only kind of conflict which ever occurs +between individuals is, not the irreconcilable conflict of wills, but the +conflict due to misunderstanding, to imperfect knowledge of the matter under +dispute; and this can always be abolished by patient telepathic +explication.

+

In addition to the brain organization necessary to this perfection of +Individual human nature, each member of a sexual group has in his own brain a +special organ which, useless by itself, can co-operate "telepathically" with +the special organs of other members of the group to produce a single +electro-magnetic system, the physical basis of the group-mind. In each sub-sex +this organ has a peculiar form and function; and only by the simultaneous +operation of the whole ninety-six does the group attain unified mental life. +These organs do not merely enable each member to share the experience of all; +for this is already provided in the sensitivity to radiation which is +characteristic of all brain-tissue in our species. By means of the harmonious +activity of the special organs a true group-mind emerges, with experience far +beyond the range of the individuals in isolation.

+

This would not be possible did not the temperament and capacity of each +sub-sex differ appropriately from those of the others. I can only hint at these +differences by analogy. Among the First Men there are many temperamental types +whose essential natures the psychologists of that species never fully analysed. +I may mention, however, as superficial designations of these types, the +meditative, the active, the mystical, the intellectual, the artistic, the +theoretical, the concrete, the placid, the highly-strung. Now our sub-sexes +differ from one another temperamentally in some such manners as these, but with +a far greater range and diversity. These differences of temperament are +utilized for the enrichment of a group self, such as could never have been +attained by the First Men, even if they had been capable of "telepathic" +communication and electro-magnetic unity; for they had not the range of +specialized brain form.

+

For all the daily business of life, then, each of us is mentally a distinct +individual, though his ordinary means of communication with others is +"telepathic." But frequently he wakes up to be a group-mind. Apart from this +"waking of individuals together," if I may so call it, the group-mind has no +existence; for its being is solely the being of the individuals comprehended +together. When this communal awakening occurs, each individual experiences all +the bodies of the group as "his own multiple body," and perceives the world +equally from all those bodies. This awakening happens to all the individuals at +the same time. But over and above this simple enlargement of the experienced +field, is the awakening into new kinds of experience. Of this obviously, I can +tell you nothing, save that it differs from the lowlier state more radically +than the infant mind differs from the mind of the individual adult, and that it +consists of insight into many unsuspected and previously inconceivable features +of the familiar world of men and things. Hence, in our group mode, most, but +not all, of the perennial philosophical puzzles, especially those connected +with the nature of personality, can be so lucidly restated that they cease to +be puzzles.

+

Upon this higher plane of mentality the sexual groups, and therefore the +individuals participating in them, have social intercourse with one another as +super-individuals. Thus they form together a community of minded communities. +For each group is a person differing from other groups in character and +experience somewhat as individuals differ. The groups themselves are not +allocated to different works, in such a manner that one group should be wholly +engaged in industry, another in astronomy, and so on. Only the individuals are +thus allocated. In each group there will be members of many professions. The +function of the group itself is purely some special manner of insight and mode +of appreciation; in relation to which, of course, the work of the individuals +is constantly controlled, not only while they are actually supporting the group +self, but also when they have each fallen once more into the limited experience +which is ordinary individual selfhood. For though, as individuals, they cannot +retain clear insight into the high matters which they so recently experienced, +they do remember so much as is not beyond the range of individual mentality; +and in particular they remember the bearing of the group experience upon their +own conduct as individuals.

+

Recently another and far more penetrating kind of experience has been +attained, partly by good fortune, partly through research directed by the +group-minds. For these have specialized themselves for particular functions in +the mental life of the race, as previously the individuals were specialized for +functions within the mind of a group. Very rarely and precariously has this +supreme experience been achieved. In it the individual passes beyond this group +experience, and becomes the mind of the race. At all times, of course, he can +communicate "telepathically" with other individuals anywhere upon the planet; +and frequently the whole race "listens in" while one individual addresses the +world. But in the true racial experience the situation is different. The system +of radiation which embraces the whole planet, and includes the million million +brains of the race, becomes the physical basis of a racial self. The individual +discovers himself to be embodied in all the bodies of the race. He savours in a +single intuition all bodily contacts, including the mutual embraces of all +lovers. Through the myriad feet of all men and women he enfolds his world in a +single grasp. He sees with all eyes, and comprehends in a single vision all +visual fields. Thus he perceives at once and as a continuous, variegated +sphere, the whole surface of the planet. But not only so. He now stands above +the group-minds as they above the individuals. He regards them as a man may +regard his own vital tissues, with mingled contempt, sympathy, reverence, and +dispassion. He watches them as one might study the living cells of his own +brain; but also with the aloof interest of one observing an ant hill; and yet +again as one enthralled by the strange and diverse ways of his fellow men; and +further as one who, from above the battle, watches himself and his comrades +agonizing in some desperate venture; yet chiefly as the artist who has no +thought but for his vision and its embodiment. In the racial mode a man +apprehends all things astronomically. Through all eyes and all observatories, +he beholds his voyaging world, and peers outward into space. Thus he merges in +one view, as it were, the views of deck-hand, captain, stoker, and the man in +the crow's-nest. Regarding the solar system simultaneously from both limbs of +Neptune, he perceives the planets and the sun stereoscopically, as though in +binocular vision. Further, his perceived "now" embraces not a moment but a vast +age. Thus, observing the galaxy from every point in succession along Neptune's +wide orbit, and watching the nearer stars shift hither and thither, he actually +perceives some of the constellations in three dimensions. Nay, with the aid of +our most recent instruments the whole galaxy appears stereoscopically. But the +great nebulae and remote universes remain mere marks upon the flat sky; and, in +contemplation of their remoteness, man, even as the racial self of the +mightiest of all human races, realizes his own minuteness and impotence.

+

But chiefly the racial mind transcends the minds of groups and individuals +in philosophical insight into the true nature of space and time, mind and its +objects, cosmical striving and cosmical perfection. Some hints of this great +elucidation must presently be given; but in the main it cannot be communicated. +Indeed such insight is beyond the reach of ourselves as isolated individuals, +and even beyond the group-minds. When we have declined from the racial +mentality, we cannot clearly remember what it was that we experienced.

+

In particular we have one very perplexing recollection about our racial +experience, one which involves a seeming impossibility. In the racial mind our +experience was enlarged not only spatially but temporally in a very strange +manner. In respect of temporal perception, of course, minds may differ in two +ways, in the length of the span which they can comprehend as "now," and the +minuteness of the successive events which they can discriminate within the +"now." As individuals we can hold within one "now" a duration equal to the old +terrestrial day; and within that duration, we can if we will, discriminate +rapid pulsations such as commonly we hear together as a high musical tone. As +the race-mind we perceived as "now" the whole period since the birth of the +oldest living individuals, and the whole past of the species appeared as +personal memory, stretching back into the mists of infancy. Yet we could, if we +willed, discriminate within the "now" one light-vibration from the next. In +this mere increased breadth and precision of temporal perception there is no +contradiction. But how, we ask ourselves, could the race-mind experience as +"now" a vast period in which it had no existence whatever? Our first experience +of racial mentality lasted only as long as Neptune's moon takes to complete one +circuit. Before that period, then, the race-mind was not. Yet during the month +of its existence it regarded the whole previous career of the race as +"present."

+

Indeed, the racial experience has greatly perplexed us as individuals, and +we can scarcely be said to remember more of it than that it was of extreme +subtlety and extreme beauty. At the same time we often have of it an impression +of unspeakable horror. We who, in our familiar individual sphere are able to +regard all conceivable tragedy not merely with fortitude but with exultation, +are obscurely conscious that as the racial mind we have looked into an abyss of +evil such as we cannot now conceive, and could not endure to conceive. Yet even +this hell we know to have been acceptable as an organic member in the austere +form of the cosmos. We remember obscurely, and yet with a strange conviction, +that all the age-long striving of the human spirit, no less than the petty +cravings of individuals, was seen as a fair component in something far more +admirable than itself; and that man ultimately defeated, no less than man for a +while triumphant, contributes to this higher excellence.

+

How colourless these words! How unworthy of that wholly satisfying beauty of +all things, which in our awakened racial mode we see face to face. Every human +being, of whatever species, may occasionally glimpse some fragment or aspect of +existence transfigured thus with the cold beauty which normally he cannot see. +Even the First Men, in their respect for tragic art, had something of this +experience. The Second, and still more surely the Fifth, sought it +deliberately. The winged Seventh happened upon it while they were in the air. +But their minds were cramped; and all that they could appreciate was their own +small world and their own tragic story. We, the Last Men, have all their zest +in private and in racial life, whether it fares well or ill. We have it at all +times, and we have it in respect of matters inconceivable to lesser minds. We +have it, moreover, intelligently. Knowing well how strange it is to admire evil +along with good, we see clearly the subversiveness of this experience. Even we, +as mere individuals, cannot reconcile our loyalty to the striving spirit of man +with our own divine aloofness. And so, if we were mere individuals, there would +remain conflict in each of us. But in the racial mode each one of us has now +experienced the great elucidation of intellect and of feeling. And though, as +individuals once more, we can never recapture that far-seeing vision, the +obscure memory of it masters us always, and controls all our policies. Among +yourselves, the artist, after his phase of creative insight is passed, and he +is once more a partisan in the struggle for existence, may carry out in detail +the design conceived in his brief period of clarity. He remembers, but no +longer sees the vision. He tries to fashion some perceptible embodiment of the +vanished splendour. So we, living our individual lives, delighting in the +contacts of flesh, the relations of minds, and all the delicate activities of +human culture, co-operating and conflicting in a thousand individual +undertakings and performing each his office in the material maintenance of our +society, see all things as though transfused With light from a source which is +itself no longer revealed.

+

I have tried to tell you something of the most distinctive characteristics +of our species. You can imagine that the frequent occasions of group mentality, +and even more the rare occasions of race mentality, have a far-reaching effect +on every individual mind, and therefore on our whole social order. Ours is in +fact a society dominated, as no previous society, by a single racial purpose +which is in a sense religious. Not that the individual's private efflorescence +is at all thwarted by the racial purpose. Indeed, far otherwise; for that +purpose demands as the first condition of its fulfillment a wealth of +individual fulfillment, physical and mental. But in each mind of man or woman +the racial purpose presides absolutely; and hence it is the unquestioned motive +of all social policy.

+

I must not stay to describe in detail this society of ours, in which a +million million citizens, grouped in over a thousand nations, live in perfect +accord without the aid of armies or even a police force. I must not tell of our +much prized social organization, which assigns a unique function to each +citizen, controls the procreation of new citizens of every type in relation to +social need, and yet provides an endless supply of originality. We have no +government and no laws, if by law is meant a stereotyped convention supported +by force, and not to be altered without the aid of cumbersome machinery. Yet, +though our society is in this sense an anarchy, it lives by means of a very +intricate system of customs, some of which are so ancient as to have become +spontaneous taboos, rather than deliberate conventions. It is the business of +those among us who correspond to your lawyers and politicians to study these +customs and suggest improvements. Those suggestions are submitted to no +representative body, but to the whole world-population in "telepathic" +conference. Ours is thus in a sense the most democratic of all societies. Yet +in another sense it is extremely bureaucratic, since it is already some +millions of terrestrial years since any suggestion put forward by the College +of Organizers was rejected or even seriously criticized, so thoroughly do these +social engineers study their material. The only serious possibility of conflict +lies now between the world population as individuals and the same individuals +as group-minds or racial mind. But though in these respects there have formerly +occurred serious conflicts, peculiarly distressing to the individuals who +experienced them, such conflicts are now extremely rare. For, even as mere +individuals, we are learning to trust more and more to the judgment and +dictates of our own super-individual experience.

+

It is time to grapple with the most difficult part of my whole task. +Somehow, and very briefly, I must give you an idea of that outlook upon +existence which has determined our racial purpose, making it essentially a +religious purpose. This outlook has come to us partly through the work of +individuals in scientific research and philosophic thought, partly through the +influence of our group and racial experiences. You can imagine that it is not +easy to describe this modern vision of the nature of things in any manner +intelligible to those who have not our advantages. There is much in this vision +which will remind you of your mystics; yet between them and us there is far +more difference than similarity, in respect both of the matter and the manner +of our thought. For while they are confident that the cosmos is perfect, we are +sure only that it is very beautiful. While they pass to their conclusion +without the aid of intellect, we have used that staff every step of the way. +Thus, even when in respect of conclusions we agree with your mystics rather +than your plodding intellectuals, in respect of method we applaud most your +intellectuals; for they scorned to deceive themselves with comfortable +fantasies.

+

4. COSMOLOGY

+

We find ourselves living in a vast and boundless, yet finite, order of +spatio-temporal events. And each of us, as the racial mind, has learned that +there are other such orders, other and incommensurable spheres of events, +related to our own neither spatially nor temporally but in another mode of +eternal being. Of the contents of those alien spheres we know almost nothing +but that they are incomprehensible to us, even in our racial mentality.

+

Within this spatio-temporal sphere of ours we remark what we call the +Beginning and what we call the End. In the Beginning there came into existence, +we know not how, that all-pervading and unimaginably tenuous gas which was the +parent of all material and spiritual existence within time's known span. It was +in fact a very multitudinous yet precisely numbered host. From the crowding +together of this great population into many swarms, arose in time the nebulae, +each of which in its turn condenses as a galaxy, a universe of stars. The stars +have their beginnings and their ends; and for a few moments somewhere in +between their beginnings and their ends a few, very few, may support mind. But +in due course will come the universal End, when all the wreckage of the +galaxies will have drifted together as a single, barren, and seemingly +changeless ash, in the midst of a chaos of unavailing energy.

+

But the cosmic events which we call the Beginning and the End are final only +in relation to our ignorance of the events which lie beyond them. We know, and +as the racial mind we have apprehended as a clear necessity, that not only +space but time also is boundless, though finite. For in a sense time is cyclic. +After the End, events unknowable will continue to happen during a period much +longer than that which will have passed since the Beginning; but at length +there will recur the identical event which was itself also the Beginning.

+

Yet though time is cyclic, it is not repetitive; there is no other time +within which it can repeat itself. For time is but an abstraction from the +successiveness of events that pass; and since all events whatsoever form +together a cycle of successiveness, there is nothing constant in relation to +which there can be repetition. And so the succession of events is cyclic, yet +not repetitive. The birth of the all-pervading gas in the so-called Beginning +is not merely similar to another such birth to occur long after us and +long after the cosmic End, so-called; the past Beginning is the future +Beginning.

+

From the Beginning to the End is but the span from one spoke to the next on +time's great wheel. There is a vaster span, stretching beyond the End and round +to the Beginning. Of the events therein we know nothing, save that there must +be such events.

+

Everywhere within time's cycle there is endless passage of events. In a +continuous flux, they occur and vanish, yielding to their successors. Yet each +one of them is eternal. Though passage is of their very nature, and without +passage they are nothing, yet they have eternal being. But their passage is no +illusion. They have eternal being, yet eternally they exist with passage. In +our racial mode we see clearly that this is so; but in our individual mode it +remains a mystery. Yet even in our individual mode we must accept both sides of +this mysterious antinomy, as a fiction needed for the rationalizing of our +experience.

+

The Beginning precedes the End by some hundred million million terrestrial +years, and succeeds it by a period at least nine times longer. In the middle of +the smaller span lies the still shorter period within which alone the living +worlds can occur. And they are very few. One by one they dawn into mentality +and die, successive blooms in life's short summer. Before that season and after +it, even to the Beginning and to the End, and even before the Beginning and +after the End, sleep, utter oblivion. Not before there are stars, and not after +the stars are chilled, can there be life. And then, rarely.

+

In our own galaxy there have occurred hitherto some twenty thousand worlds +that have conceived life. And of these a few score have attained or surpassed +the mentality of the First Men. But of those that have reached this +development, man has now outstripped the rest, and today man alone +survives.

+

There are the millions of other galaxies, for instance the Andromedan +island. We have some reason to surmise that in that favoured universe mind may +have attained to insight and power incomparably greater than our own. But all +that we know for certain is that it contains four worlds of high order.

+

Of the host of other universes that lie within range of our mind-detecting +instruments, none have produced anything comparable with man. But there are +many universes too remote to be estimated.

+

You may wonder how we have come to detect these remote lives and +intelligences. I can say only that the occurrence of mentality produces certain +minute astronomical effects, to which our instruments are sensitive even at +great distances. These effects increase slightly with the mere mass of living +matter on any astronomical body, but far more with its mental and spiritual +development. Long ago it was the spiritual development of the world-community +of the Fifth Men that dragged the moon from its orbit. And in our own case, so +numerous is our society today, and so greatly developed in mental and spiritual +activities, that only by continuous expense of physical energy can we preserve +the solar system from confusion.

+

We have another means of detecting minds remote from us in space. We can, of +course, enter into past minds wherever they are, so long as they are +intelligible to us; and we have tried to use this power for the discovery of +remote minded worlds. But in general the experience of such minds is too +different in fibre from our own for us to be able even to detect its existence. +And so our knowledge of minds in other worlds is almost wholly derived from +their physical effects.

+

We cannot say that nowhere save on those rare bodies called planets does +life ever occur. For we have evidence that in a few of the younger stars there +is life, and even intelligence. How it persists in an incandescent environment +we know not, nor whether it is perhaps the life of the star as a whole, as a +single organism, or the life of many flame-like inhabitants of the star. All +that we know is that no star in its prime has life, and therefore that the +lives of the younger ones are probably doomed.

+

Again, we know that mind occurs, though very seldom, on a few extremely old +stars, no longer incandescent. What the future of these minds will be, we +cannot tell. Perhaps it is with them, and not with man, that the hope of the +cosmos lies. But at present they are all primitive.

+

Today nothing anywhere in this galaxy of ours can compare with man in +respect of vision and mental creativeness.

+

We have, therefore, come to regard our community as of some importance, +especially so in the light of our metaphysics; but I can only hint at our +metaphysical vision of things by means of metaphors which will convey at best a +caricature of that vision.

+

In the Beginning there was great potency, but little form. And the spirit +slept as the multitude of discrete primordial existents. Thenceforth there has +been a long and fluctuating adventure toward harmonious complexity of form, and +toward the awakening of the spirit into unity, knowledge, delight and +self-expression. And this is the goal of all living, that the cosmos may be +known, and admired, and that it may be crowned with further beauties. Nowhere +and at no time, so far as we can tell, at least within our own galaxy, has the +adventure reached further than in ourselves. And in us, what has been achieved +is but a minute beginning. But it is a real beginning. Man in our day has +gained some depth of insight, some breadth of knowledge, some power of +creation, some faculty of worship. We have looked far afield. We have probed +not altogether superficially into the nature of existence, and have found it +very beautiful, though also terrible. We have created a not inconsiderable +community; and we have wakened together to be the unique spirit of that +community. We had proposed to ourselves a very long and arduous future, which +should culminate, at some time before the End, in the complete achievement of +the spirit's ideal. But now we know that disaster is already near at hand.

+

When we are in full possession of our faculties, we are not distressed by +this fate. For we know that though our fair community must cease, it has also +indestructible being. We have at least carved into one region of the eternal +real a form which has beauty of no mean order. The great company of diverse and +most lovely men and women in all their subtle relationships, striving with a +single purpose toward the goal which is mind's final goal; the community and +super-individuality of that great host; the beginnings of further insight and +creativeness upon the higher plane--these surely are real achievements--even +though, in the larger view, they are minute achievements.

+

Yet though we are not at all dismayed by our own extinction, we cannot but +wonder whether or not in the far future some other spirit will fulfil the +cosmic ideal, or whether we ourselves are the modest crown of existence. +Unfortunately, though we can explore the past wherever there are intelligible +minds, we cannot enter into the future. And so in vain we ask, will ever any +spirit awake to gather all spirits into itself, to elicit from the stars their +full flower of beauty, to know all things together, and admire all things +justly?

+

If in the far future this end will be achieved, it is really achieved even +now; for whenever it occurs, its being is eternal. But on the other hand if it +is indeed achieved eternally, this achievement must be the work of spirits or a +spirit not wholly unlike ourselves, though infinitely greater. And the physical +location of that spirit must lie in the far future.

+

But if no future spirit will achieve this end before it dies, then, though +the cosmos is indeed very beautiful, it is not perfect.

+

I said that we regard the cosmos as very beautiful. Yet it is also very +terrible. For ourselves, it is easy to look forward with equanimity to our end, +and even to the end of our admired community; for what we prize most is the +excellent beauty of the cosmos. But there are the myriads of spirits who have +never entered into that vision. They have suffered, and they were not permitted +that consolation. There are, first, the incalculable hosts of lowly creatures +scattered over all the ages in all the minded worlds. Theirs was only a dream +life, and their misery not often poignant; but none the less they are to be +pitied for having missed the more poignant experience in which alone spirit can +find fulfillment. Then there are the intelligent beings, human and otherwise; +the many minded worlds throughout the galaxies, that have struggled into +cognizance, striven for they knew not what, tasted brief delights and lived in +the shadow of pain and death, until at last their life has been crushed out by +careless fate. In our solar system there are the Martians, insanely and +miserably obsessed; the native Venerians, imprisoned in their ocean and +murdered for man's sake; and all the hosts of the forerunning human species. A +few individuals no doubt in every period, and many in certain favoured races, +have lived on the whole happily. And a few have even known something of the +supreme beatitude. But for most, until our modern epoch, thwarting has +outweighed fulfillment; and if actual grief has not preponderated over joy, it +is because, mercifully, the fulfillment that is wholly missed cannot be +conceived.

+

Our predecessors of the Sixteenth species, oppressed by this vast horror, +undertook a forlorn and seemingly irrational crusade for the rescue of the +tragic past. We see now clearly that their enterprise, though desperate, was +not quite fantastic. For, if ever the cosmic ideal should be realized, even +though for a moment only, then in that time the awakened Soul of All will +embrace within itself all spirits whatever throughout the whole of time's wide +circuit. And so to each one of them, even to the least, it will seem that he +has awakened and discovered himself to be the Soul of All, knowing all things +and rejoicing in all things. And though afterwards, through the inevitable +decay of the stars, this most glorious vision must be lost, suddenly or in the +long-drawn-out defeat of life, yet would the awakened Soul of All have eternal +being, and in it each martyred spirit would have beatitude eternally, though +unknown to itself in its own temporal mode.

+

It may be that this is the case. If not, then eternally the martyred spirits +are martyred only, and not blest.

+

We cannot tell which of these possibilities is fact. As individuals we +earnestly desire that the eternal being of things may include this supreme +awakening. This, nothing less than this, has been the remote but ever-present +goal of our practical religious life and of our social policy.

+

In our racial mode also we have greatly desired this end, but +differently.

+

Even as individuals, all our desires are tempered by that relentless +admiration of fate which we recognize as the spirit's highest achievement. Even +as individuals, we exult in the issue whether our enterprises succeed or fail. +The pioneer defeated, the lover bereaved and overwhelmed, can find in his +disaster the supreme experience, the dispassionate ecstasy which salutes the +Real as it is and would not change one jot of it. Even as individuals, we can +regard the impending extinction of mankind as a thing superb though tragic. +Strong in the knowledge that the human spirit has already inscribed the cosmos +with indestructible beauty, and that inevitably, whether sooner or later, man's +career must end, we face this too sudden end with laughter in our hearts, and +peace.

+

But there is the one thought by which, in our individual state, we are still +dismayed, namely that the cosmos enterprise itself may fail; that the full +potentiality of the Real may never find expression; that never, in any stage of +time, the multitudinous and conflicting existents should be organized as the +universal harmonious living body; that the spirit's eternal nature, therefore, +should be discordant, miserably tranced; that the indestructible beauties of +this our sphere of space and time should remain imperfect, and remain, too, not +adequately worshipped.

+

But in the racial mind this ultimate dread has no place. On those few +occasions when we have awakened racially, we have come to regard with piety +even the possibility of cosmical defeat. For as the racial mind, though in a +manner we earnestly desired the fulfillment of the cosmical ideal, yet we were +no more enslaved to this desire than, as individuals, we are enslaved to our +private desires. For though the racial mind wills this supreme achievement, yet +in the same act it holds itself aloof from it, and from all desire, and all +emotion, save the ecstasy which admires the Real as it is, and accepts its +dark-bright form with joy.

+

As individuals, therefore, we try to regard the whole cosmic adventure as a +symphony now in progress, which may or may not some day achieve its just +conclusion. Like music, however, the vast biography of the stars is to be +judged not in respect of its final moment merely, but in respect of the +perfection of its whole form; and whether its form as a whole is perfect or +not, we cannot know. Actual music is a pattern of intertwining themes which +evolve and die; and these again are woven of simpler members, which again are +spun of chords and unitary tones. But the music of the spheres is of a +complexity almost infinitely more subtle, and its themes rank above and below +one another in hierarchy beyond hierarchy. None but a God, none but a mind +subtle as the music itself, could hear the whole in all its detail, and grasp +in one act its close-knit individuality, if such it has. Not for any human mind +to say authoritatively, "This is music, wholly," or to say, "This is mere +noise, flecked now and then by shreds of significance."

+

The music of the spheres is unlike other music not only in respect of its +richness, but also in the nature of its medium. It is a music not merely of +sounds but of souls. Each of its minor themes, each of its chords, each single +tone of it, each tremor of each tone, is in its own degree more than a mere +passive factor in the music; it is a listener, and also a creator. Wherever +there is individuality of form, there is also an individual appreciator and +originator. And the more complex the form, the more percipient and active the +spirit. Thus in every individual factor within the music, the musical +environment of that factor is experienced, vaguely or precisely, erroneously, +or with greater approximation to truth; and, being experienced, it is admired +or loathed, rightly or falsely. And it is influenced. Just as in actual music +each theme is in a manner a determination of its forerunners and followers and +present accompaniment, so in this vaster music each individual factor is itself +a determination of its environment. Also it is a determinant, both of that +which precedes and that which follows.

+

But whether these manifold interdeterminations are after all haphazard, or, +as in music, controlled in relation to the beauty of the whole, we know not; +nor whether, if this is the case, the beautiful whole of things is the work of +some mind; nor yet whether some mind admires it adequately as a whole of +beauty.

+

But this we know: that we ourselves, when the spirit is most awake in us, +admire the Real as it is revealed to us, and salute its dark-bright form with +joy.

+

CHAPTER XVI. THE LAST OF MAN

+

1. SENTENCE OF DEATH

+

Ours has been essentially a philosophical age, in fact the supreme age of +philosophy. But a great practical problem has also concerned us. We have had to +prepare for the task of preserving humanity during a most difficult period +which was calculated to being about one hundred million years hence, but might, +in certain circumstances, be sprung upon us at very short notice. Long ago the +human inhabitants of Venus believed that already in their day the sun was about +to enter the "white dwarf" phase, and that the time would therefore soon come +when their world would be frost-bound. This calculation was unduly pessimistic; +but we know now that, even allowing for the slight delay caused by the great +collision, the solar collapse must begin at some date astronomically not very +distant. We had planned that during the comparatively brief period of the +actual shrinkage, we would move our planet steadily nearer to the sun, until +finally it should settle in the narrowest possible orbit.

+

Man would then be comfortably placed for a very long period. But in the +fullness of time there would come a far more serious crisis. The sun would +continue to cool, and at last man would no longer be able to live by means of +solar radiation. It would become necessary to annihilate matter to supply the +deficiency. The other planets might be used for this purpose, and possibly the +sun itself. Or, given the sustenance for so long a voyage, man might boldly +project his planet into the neighbourhood of some younger star. Thenceforth, +perhaps, he might operate upon a far grander scale. He might explore and +colonize all suitable worlds in every corner of the galaxy, and organize +himself as a vast community of minded worlds. Even (so we dreamed) he might +achieve intercourse with other galaxies. It did not seem impossible that man +himself was the germ of the world-soul, which, we still hope, is destined to +awake for a while before the universal decline, and to crown the eternal cosmos +with its due of knowledge and admiration, fleeting yet eternal. We dared to +think that in some far distant epoch the human spirit, clad in all wisdom, +power, and delight, might look back upon our primitive age with a certain +respect; no doubt with pity also and amusement, but none the less with +admiration for the spirit in us, still only half awake, and struggling against +great disabilities. In such a mood, half pity, half admiration, we ourselves +look back upon the primitive mankinds.

+

Our prospect has now suddenly and completely changed, for astronomers have +made a startling discovery, which assigns to man a speedy end. His existence +has ever been precarious. At any stage of his career he might easily have been +exterminated by some slight alteration of his chemical environment, by a more +than usually malignant microbe, by a radical change of climate, or by the +manifold effects of his own folly. Twice already he has been almost destroyed +by astronomical events. How easily might it happen that the solar system, now +rushing through a somewhat more crowded region of the galaxy, should become +entangled with, or actually strike, a major astronomical body, and be +destroyed. But fate, as it turns out, has a more surprising end in store for +man.

+

Not long ago an unexpected alteration was observed to be taking place in a +near star. Through no discoverable cause, it began to change from white to +violet, and increase in brightness. Already it has attained such extravagant +brilliance that, though its actual disk remains a mere point in our sky, its +dazzling purple radiance illuminates our nocturnal landscapes with hideous +beauty. Our astronomers have ascertained that this is no ordinary "nova," that +it is not one of those stars addicted to paroxysms of brilliance. It is +something unprecedented, a normal star suffering from a unique disease, a +fantastic acceleration of its vital process, a riotous squandering of the +energy which should have remained locked within its substance for aeons. At the +present rate it will be reduced either to an inert cinder or to actual +annihilation in a few thousand years. This extraordinary event may possibly +have been produced by unwise tamperings on the part of intelligent beings in +the star's neighbourhood. But, indeed, since all matter at very high +temperature is in a state of unstable equilibrium, the cause may have been +merely some conjunction of natural circumstances.

+

The event was first regarded simply as an intriguing spectacle. But further +study roused a more serious interest. Our own planet, and therefore the sun +also, was suffering a continuous and increasing bombardment of ethereal +vibrations, most of which were of incredibly high frequency, and of unknown +potentiality. What would be their effect upon the sun? After some centuries, +certain astronomical bodies in the neighbourhood of the deranged star were seen +to be infected with its disorder. Their fever increased the splendour of our +night sky, but it also confirmed our fears. We still hoped that the sun might +prove too distant to be seriously influenced, but careful analysis now showed +that this hope must be abandoned. The sun's remoteness might cause a delay of +some thousands of years before the cumulative effects of the bombardment could +start the disintegration; but sooner or later the sun itself must be infected. +Probably within thirty thousand years life will be impossible anywhere within a +vast radius of the sun, so vast a radius that it is quite impossible to propel +our planet away fast enough to escape before the storm can catch us.

+

2. BEHAVIOUR OF THE CONDEMNED

+

The discovery of this doom kindled in us unfamiliar emotions. Hitherto +humanity had seemed to be destined for a very long future, and the individual +himself had been accustomed to look forward to very many thousands of years of +personal life, ending in voluntary sleep. We had of course often conceived, and +even savoured in imagination, the sudden destruction of our world. But now we +faced it as a fact. Outwardly every one behaved with perfect serenity, but +inwardly every mind was in turmoil. Not that there was any question of our +falling into panic or despair, for in this crisis our native detachment stood +us in good stead. But inevitably some time passed before our minds became +properly adjusted to the new prospect, before we could see our fate outlined +clearly and beautifully against the cosmic background.

+

Presently, however, we learned to contemplate the whole great saga of man as +a completed work of art, and to admire it no less for its sudden and tragic end +than for the promise in it which was not to be fulfilled. Grief was now +transfigured wholly into ecstasy. Defeat, which had oppressed us with a sense +of man's impotence and littleness among the stars, brought us into a new +sympathy and reverence for all those myriads of beings in the past out of whose +obscure strivings we had been born. We saw the most brilliant of our own race +and the lowliest of our prehuman forerunners as essentially spirits of equal +excellence, though cast in diverse circumstances. When we looked round on the +heavens, and at the violet splendour which was to destroy us, we were filled +with awe and pity, awe for the inconceivable potentiality of this bright host, +pity for its self-thwarting effort to fulfil itself as the universal +spirit.

+

At this stage it seemed that there was nothing left for us to do but to +crowd as much excellence as possible into our remaining life, and meet our end +in the noblest manner. But now there came upon us once more the rare experience +of racial mentality. For a whole Neptunian year every individual lived in an +enraptured trance, in which, as the racial mind, he or she resolved many +ancient mysteries and saluted many unexpected beauties. This ineffable +experience, lived through under the shadow of death, was the flower of man's +whole being. But I can tell nothing of it, save that when it was over we +possessed, even as individuals, a new peace, in which, strangely but +harmoniously, were blended grief, exaltation, and god-like laughter.

+

In consequence of this racial experience we found ourselves faced with two +tasks which had not before been contemplated. The one referred to the future, +the other to the past.

+

In respect of the future, we are now setting about the forlorn task of +disseminating among the stars the seeds of a new humanity. For this purpose we +shall make use of the pressure of radiation from the sun, and chiefly the +extravagantly potent radiation that will later be available. We are hoping to +devise extremely minute electro-magnetic "wave-systems," akin to normal protons +and electrons, which will be individually capable of sailing forward upon the +hurricane of solar radiation at a speed not wholly incomparable with the speed +of light itself. This is a difficult task. But, further, these units must be so +cunningly inter-related that, in favourable conditions, they may tend to +combine to form spores of life, and to develop, not indeed into human beings, +but into lowly organisms with a definite evolutionary bias toward the +essentials of human nature. These objects we shall project from beyond our +atmosphere in immense quantities at certain points of our planet's orbit, so +that solar radiation may carry them toward the most promising regions of the +galaxy. The chance that any of them will survive to reach their destination is +small, and still smaller the chance that any of them will find a suitable +environment. But if any of this human seed should fall upon good ground, it +will embark, we hope, upon a somewhat rapid biological evolution, and produce +in due season whatever complex organic forms are possible in its environment. +It will have a very real physiological bias toward the evolution of +intelligence. Indeed it will have a much greater bias in that direction than +occurred on the Earth in those sub-vital atomic groupings from which +terrestrial life eventually sprang.

+

It is just conceivable, then, that by extremely good fortune man may still +influence the future of this galaxy, not directly but through his creature. But +in the vast music of existence the actual theme of mankind now ceases for ever. +Finished, the long reiterations of man's history; defeated, the whole proud +enterprise of his maturity. The stored experience of many mankinds must sink +into oblivion, and today's wisdom must vanish.

+

The other task which occupies us, that which relates to the past, is one +which may very well seem to you nonsensical.

+

We have long been able to enter into past minds and participate in their +experience. Hitherto we have been passive spectators merely, but recently we +have acquired the power of influencing past minds. This seems an impossibility; +for a past event is what it is, and how can it conceivably be altered at a +subsequent date, even in the minutest respect?

+

Now it is true that past events are what they are, irrevocably; but in +certain cases some feature of a past event may depend on an event in the far +future. The past event would never have been as it actually was (and is, +eternally), if there had not been going to be a certain future event, which, +though not contemporaneous with the past event, influences it directly in the +sphere of eternal being. The passage of events is real, and time is the +successiveness of passing events; but though events have passage, they have +also eternal being. And in certain rare cases mental events far separated in +time determine one another directly by way of eternity.

+

Our own minds have often been profoundly influenced by direct inspection of +past minds; and now we find that certain events of certain past minds are +determined by present events in our own present minds. No doubt there are some +past mental events which are what they are by virtue of mental processes which +we shall perform but have not yet performed.

+

Our historians and psychologists, engaged on direct inspection of past +minds, had often complained of certain "singular" points in past minds, where +the ordinary laws of psychology fail to give a full explanation of the course +of mental events; where, in fact, some wholly unknown influence seemed to be at +work. Later it was found that, in some cases at least, this disturbance of the +ordinary principles of psychology corresponded with certain thoughts or desires +in the mind of the observer, living in our own age. Of course, only such +matters as could have significance to the past mind could influence it at all. +Thoughts and desires of ours which have no meaning to the particular past +individual fail to enter into his experience. New ideas and new values are only +to be introduced by arranging familiar matter so that it may gain a new +significance. Nevertheless we now found ourselves in possession of an amazing +power of communicating with the past, and contributing to its thought and +action, though of course we could not alter it.

+

But, it may he asked, what if, in respect of a particular "singularity" in +some past mind, we do not, after all, choose to provide the necessary influence +to account for it? The question is meaningless. There is no possibility that we +should not choose to influence those past minds which are, as a matter of fact, +dependent on our influence. For it is in the sphere of eternity (wherein alone +we meet past minds), that we really make this free choice. And in the sphere of +time, though the choosing has relations with our modern age, and may be said to +occur in that age, it also has relations with the past mind, and may be said to +have occurred also long ago.

+

There are in some past minds singularities which are not the product of any +influence that we have exerted today. Some of these singularities, no doubt, we +shall ourselves produce on some occasion before our destruction. But it may be +that some are due to an influence other than ours, perhaps to beings which, by +good fortune, may spring long hence from our forlorn seminal enterprise; or +they may be due perhaps to the cosmic mind, whose future occurrence and eternal +existence we earnestly desire. However that may be, there are a few remarkable +minds, scattered up and down past ages and even in the most primitive human +races, which suggest an influence other than our own. They are so "singular" in +one respect or another, that we cannot give a perfectly clear psychological +account of them in terms of the past only; and yet we ourselves are not the +instigators of their singularity. Your Jesus, your Socrates, your Gautama, show +traces of this uniqueness. But the most original of all were too eccentric to +have any influence on their contemporaries. It is possible that in ourselves +also there are "singularities" which cannot be accounted for wholly in terms of +ordinary biological and psychological laws. If we could prove that this is the +case, we should have very definite evidence of the occurrence of a high order +of mentality somewhere in the future, and therefore of its eternal existence. +But hitherto this problem has proved too subtle for us, even in the racial +mode. It may be that the mere fact that we have succeeded in attaining racial +mentality involves some remote future influence. It is even conceivable that +every creative advance that any mind has ever made involves unwitting +co-operation with the cosmic mind which, perhaps, will awake at some date +before the End.

+

We have two methods of influencing the past through past individuals; for we +can operate either upon minds of great originality and power, or upon any +average individual whose circumstances happen to suit our purpose. In original +minds we can only suggest some very vague intuition, which is then "worked up" +by the individual himself into some form very different from that which we +intended, but very potent as a factor in the culture of his age. Average minds, +on the other hand, we can use as passive instruments for the conveyance of +detailed ideas. But in such cases the individual is incapable of working up the +material into a great and potent form, suited to his age.

+

But what is it, you may ask, that we seek to contribute to the past? We seek +to afford intuitions of truth and of value, which, though easy to us from our +point of vantage, would be impossible to the unaided past. We seek to help the +past to make the best of itself, just as one man may help another. We seek to +direct the attention of past individuals and past races to truths and beauties +which, though implicit in their experience, would otherwise be overlooked.

+

We seek to do this for two reasons. Entering into past minds, we become +perfectly acquainted with them, and cannot but love them; and so we desire to +help them. By influencing selected individuals, we seek to influence indirectly +great multitudes. But our second motive is very different. We see the career of +Man in his successive planetary homes as a process of very great beauty. It is +far indeed from the perfect; but it is very beautiful, with the beauty of +tragic art. Now it turns out that this beautiful thing entails our operation at +various points in the past. Therefore we will to operate.

+

Unfortunately our first inexperienced efforts were disastrous. Many of the +fatuities which primitive minds in all ages have been prone to attribute to the +influence of disembodied spirits, whether deities, fiends, or the dead, are but +the gibberish which resulted from our earliest experiments. And this book, so +admirable in our conception, has issued from the brain of the writer, your +contemporary, in such disorder as to be mostly rubbish.

+

We are concerned with the past not only in so far as we make very rare +contributions to it, but chiefly in two other manners.

+

First, we are engaged upon the great enterprise of becoming lovingly +acquainted with the past, the human past, in every detail. This is, so to +speak, our supreme act of filial piety. When one being comes to know and love +another, a new and beautiful thing is created, namely the love. The cosmos is +thus far and at that date enhanced. We seek then to know and love every past +mind that we can enter. In most cases we can know them with far more +understanding than they can know themselves. Not the least of them, not the +worst of them, shall be left out of this great work of understanding and +admiration.

+

There is another manner in which we are concerned with the human past. We +need its help. For we, who are triumphantly reconciled to our fate, are under +obligation to devote our last energies not to ecstatic contemplation but to a +forlorn and most uncongenial task, the dissemination. This task is almost +intolerably repugnant to us. Gladly would we spend our last days in +embellishing our community and our culture, and in pious exploration of the +past. But it is incumbent on us, who are by nature artists and philosophers, to +direct the whole attention of our world upon the arid labour of designing an +artificial human seed, producing it in immense quantities, and projecting it +among the stars. If there is to be any possibility of success, we must +undertake a very lengthy program of physical research, and finally organize a +world-wide system of manufacture. The work will not be completed until our +physical constitution is already being undermined, and the disintegration of +our community has already begun. Now we could never fulfil this policy without +a zealous conviction of its importance. Here it is that the past can help us. +We, who have now learnt so thoroughly the supreme art of ecstatic fatalism, go +humbly to the past to learn over again that other supreme achievement of the +spirit, loyalty to the forces of life embattled against the forces of death. +Wandering among the heroic and often forlorn ventures of the past, we are fired +once more with primitive zeal. Thus, when we return to our own world, we are +able, even while we preserve in our hearts the peace that passeth +understanding, to struggle as though we cared only for victory.

+

3. EPILOGUE

+

I am speaking to you now from a period about twenty thousand terrestrial +years after the date at which the whole preceding part of this book was +communicated. It has become very difficult to reach you, and still more +difficult to speak to you; for already the Last Men are not the men they +were.

+

Our two great undertakings are still unfinished. Much of the human past +remains imperfectly explored, and the projection of the seed is scarcely begun. +That enterprise has proved far more difficult than was expected. Only within +the last few years have we succeeded in designing an artificial human dust +capable of being carried forward on the sun's radiation, hardy enough to endure +the conditions of a trans-galactic voyage of many millions of years, and yet +intricate enough to bear the potentiality of life and of spiritual development. +We are now preparing to manufacture this seminal matter in great quantities, +and to cast it into space at suitable points on the planet's orbit.

+

Some centuries have now passed since the sun began to show the first +symptoms of disintegration, namely a slight change of colour toward the blue, +followed by a definite increase of brightness and heat. Today, when he pierces +the ever-thickening cloud, he smites us with an intolerable steely brilliance +which destroys the sight of anyone foolish enough to face it. Even in the +cloudy weather which is now normal, the eye is wounded by the fierce violet +glare. Eye-troubles afflict us all, in spite of the special glasses which have +been designed to protect us. The mere heat, too, is already destructive. We are +forcing our planet outward from its old orbit in an ever-widening spiral; but, +do what we will, we cannot prevent the climate from becoming more and more +deadly, even at the poles. The intervening regions have already been deserted. +Evaporation of the equatorial oceans has thrown the whole atmosphere into +tumult, so that even at the poles we are tormented by hot wet hurricanes and +incredible electric storms. These have already shattered most of our great +buildings, sometimes burying a whole teeming province under an avalanche of +tumbled vitreous crags.

+

Our two polar communities at first managed to maintain radio communication; +but it is now some time since we of the south received news of the more +distressed north. Even with us the situation is already desperate. We had +recently established some hundreds of stations for the dissemination, but less +than a score have been able to operate. This failure is due mainly to an +increasing lack of personnel. The deluge of fantastic solar radiation has had +disastrous effect on the human organism. Epidemics of a malignant tumour, which +medical science has failed to conquer, have reduced the southern people to a +mere remnant, and this in spite of the migration of the tropical races into the +Antarctic. Each of us, moreover, is but the wreckage of his former self. The +higher mental functions, attained only in the most developed human species, are +already lost or disordered, through the breakdown of their special tissues. Not +only has the racial mind vanished, but the sexual groups have lost their mental +unity. Three of the sub-sexes have already been exterminated by derangement of +their chemical nature. Glandular troubles, indeed, have unhinged many of us +with anxieties and loathings which we cannot conquer, though we know them to be +unreasonable. Even the normal power of "telepathic" communication has become so +unreliable that we have been compelled to fall back upon the archaic practice +of vocal symbolism. Exploration of the past is now confined to specialists, and +is a dangerous profession, which may lead to disorders of temporal +experience.

+

Degeneration of the higher neural centres has also brought about in us a far +more serious and deep-seated trouble, namely a general spiritual degradation +which would formerly have seemed impossible, so confident were we of our +integrity. The perfectly dispassionate will had been for many millions of years +universal among us, and the corner-stone of our whole society and culture. We +had almost forgotten that it has a physiological basis, and that if that basis +were undermined, we might no longer be capable of rational conduct. But, +drenched for some thousands of years by the unique stellar radiation, we have +gradually lost not only the ecstasy of dispassionate worship, but even the +capacity for normal disinterested behaviour. Every one is now liable to an +irrational bias in favour of himself as a private person, as against his +fellows. Personal envy, uncharitableness, even murder and gratuitous cruelty, +formerly unknown amongst us, are now becoming common. At first when men began +to notice in themselves these archaic impulses, they crushed them with amused +contempt. But as the highest nerve centres fell further into decay, the brute +in us began to be ever more unruly, and the human more uncertain. Rational +conduct was henceforth to be achieved only after an exhausting and degrading +"moral struggle," instead of spontaneously and fluently. Nay, worse, +increasingly often the struggle ended not in victory but defeat. Imagine then, +the terror and disgust that gripped us when we found ourselves one and all +condemned to a desperate struggle against impulses which we had been accustomed +to regard as insane. It is distressing enough to know that each one of us might +at any moment, merely to help some dear individual or other, betray his supreme +duty toward the dissemination; but it is harrowing to discover ourselves +sometimes so far sunk as to be incapable even of common loving-kindness toward +our neighbours. For a man to favour himself against his friend or beloved, even +in the slightest respect, was formerly unknown. But today many of us are +haunted by the look of amazed horror and pity in the eyes of an injured +friend.

+

In the early stages of our trouble lunatic asylums were founded, but they +soon became over-crowded and a burden on a stricken community. The insane were +then killed. But it became clear that by former standards we were all insane. +No man now can trust himself to behave reasonably.

+

And, of course, we cannot trust each other. Partly through the prevalent +irrationality of desire, and partly through the misunderstandings which have +come with the loss of "telepathic" communication, we have been plunged into all +manner of discords. A political constitution and system of laws had to be +devised, but they seem to have increased our troubles. Order of a kind is +maintained by an over-worked police force. But this is in the hands of the +professional organizers, who have now all the vices of bureaucracy. It was +largely through their folly that two of the antarctic nations broke into social +revolution, and are now preparing to meet the armament which an insane +world-government is devising for their destruction. Meanwhile, through the +break-down of the economic order, and the impossibility of reaching the +food-factories on Jupiter, starvation is added to our troubles, and has +afforded to certain ingenious lunatics the opportunity of trading at the +expense of others.

+

All this folly in a doomed world, and in a community that was yesterday the +very flower of a galaxy! Those of us who still care for the life of the spirit +are tempted to regret that mankind did not choose decent suicide before ever +the putrescence began. But indeed this could not be. The task that was +undertaken had to be completed. For the Scattering of the Seed has come to be +for every one of us the supreme religious duty. Even those who continually sin +against it recognize this as the last office of man. It was for this that we +outstayed our time, and must watch ourselves decline from spiritual estate into +that brutishness from which man has so seldom freed himself.

+

Yet why do we persist in the forlorn effort? Even if by good luck the seed +should take root somewhere and thrive, there will surely come an end to its +adventure, if not swiftly in fire, then in the ultimate battle of life against +encroaching frost. Our labour will at best sow for death an ampler harvest. +There seems no rational defence of it, unless it be rational to carry out +blindly a purpose conceived in a former and more enlightened state.

+

But we cannot feel sure that we really were more enlightened. We look back +now at our former selves, with wonder, but also with incomprehension and +misgiving. We try to recall the glory that seemed to be revealed to each of us +in the racial mind, but we remember almost nothing of it. We cannot rise even +to that more homely beatitude which was once within the reach of the unaided +individual, that serenity which, it seemed, should be the spirit's answer to +every tragic event. It is gone from us. It is not only impossible but +inconceivable. We now see our private distresses and the public calamity as +merely hideous. That after so long a struggle into maturity man should be +roasted alive like a trapped mouse, for the entertainment of a lunatic! How can +any beauty lie in that?

+

But this is not our last word to you. For though we have fallen, there is +still something in us left over from the time that is passed. We have become +blind and weak; but the knowledge that we are so has forced us to a great +effort. Those of us who have not already sunk too far have formed themselves +into a brotherhood for mutual strengthening, so that the true human spirit may +be maintained a little longer, until the seed has been well sown, and death be +permissible. We call ourselves the Brotherhood of the Condemned. We seek to be +faithful to one another, and to our common undertaking, and to the vision which +is no longer revealed. We are vowed to the comforting of all distressed persons +who are not yet permitted death. We are vowed also to the dissemination. And we +are vowed to keep the spirit bright until the end.

+

Now and again we meet together in little groups or great companies to +hearten ourselves with one another's presence. Sometimes on these occasions we +can but sit in silence, groping for consolation and for strength. Sometimes the +spoken word flickers hither and thither amongst us, shedding a brief light but +little warmth to the soul that lies freezing in a torrid world.

+

But there is among us one, moving from place to place and company to +company, whose voice all long to hear. He is young, the last born of the Last +Men; for he was the latest to be conceived before we learned man's doom, and +put an end to all conceiving. Being the latest, he is also the noblest. Not him +alone, but all his generation, we salute, and look to for strength; but he, the +youngest, is different from the rest. In him the spirit, which is but the flesh +awakened into spirituality, has power to withstand the tempest of solar energy +longer than the rest of us. It is as though the sun itself were eclipsed by +this spirit's brightness. It is as though in him at last, and for a day only, +man's promise were fulfilled. For though, like others, he suffers in the flesh, +he is above his suffering. And though more than the rest of us he feels the +suffering of others, he is above his pity. In his comforting there is a strange +sweet raillery which can persuade the sufferer to smile at his own pain. When +this youngest brother of ours contemplates with us our dying world and the +frustration of all man's striving, he is not, like us, dismayed, but quiet. In +the presence of such quietness despair wakens into peace. By his reasonable +speech, almost by the mere sound of his voice, our eyes are opened, and our +hearts mysteriously filled with exultation. Yet often his words are grave.

+

Let his words, not mine, close this story:

+

Great are the stars, and man is of no account to them. But man is a fair +spirit, whom a star conceived and a star kills. He is greater than those bright +blind companies. For though in them there is incalculable potentiality, in him +there is achievement, small, but actual. Too soon, seemingly, he comes to his +end. But when he is done he will not be nothing, not as though he had never +been; for he is eternally a beauty in the eternal form of things.

+

Man was winged hopefully. He had in him to go further than this short +flight, now ending. He proposed even that he should become the Flower of All +Things, and that he should learn to be the All-Knowing, the All-Admiring. +Instead, he is to be destroyed. He is only a fledgling caught in a bush-fire. +He is very small, very simple, very little capable of insight. His knowledge of +the great orb of things is but a fledgling's knowledge. His admiration is a +nestling's admiration for the things kindly to his own small nature. He +delights only in food and the food-announcing call. The music of the spheres +passes over him, through him, and is not heard.

+

Yet it has used him. And now it uses his destruction. Great, and terrible, +and very beautiful is the Whole; and for man the best is that the Whole should +use him.

+

But does it really use him? Is the beauty of the Whole really enhanced by +our agony? And is the Whole really beautiful? And what is beauty? Throughout +all his existence man has been striving to hear the music of the spheres, and +has seemed to himself once and again to catch some phrase of it, or even a hint +of the whole form of it. Yet he can never be sure that he has truly heard it, +nor even that there is any such perfect music at all to be heard. Inevitably +so, for if it exists, it is not for him in his littleness.

+

But one thing is certain. Man himself, at the very least, is music, a brave +theme that makes music also of its vast accompaniment, its matrix of storms and +stars. Man himself in his degree is eternally a beauty in the eternal form of +things. It is very good to have been man. And so we may go forward together +with laughter in our hearts, and peace, thankful for the past, and for our own +courage. For we shall make after all a fair conclusion to this brief music that +is man.

+
+

THE END

+ + + +

+

This site is full of FREE ebooks - Project Gutenberg Australia

+
+ + + + diff --git a/prompts/gpts/knowledge/MatPlotLib Assistant/examples.zip b/prompts/gpts/knowledge/MatPlotLib Assistant/examples.zip new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ac5faa13abd1de66084c7723ad9667cae17dcd72 GIT binary patch literal 20125 zcmeHPTWsXkc~*Rh9X5v3+}otVf!uUB@`##?q}9q{ka(2<$-3ym>29^F3R-IBjKuB? zIZJY+8Kn;3#tqWv0!HElxc~`@Bz>q+Kjoo)@=F~QE#SPSZ4e-VVH7BeKD2pgzyDl# zI2_JstD7${>IxD7O1@k=Nelp z$9}{ct-aXq_B!0@4Hp*|Ew}ie)$4@G9uc%7ugmT23cFchx5^X8Tc6{c-Tne*-b=!; zbH`6&2Oq+u(Q>>2kMZY|^k>T%o%yz7(K4{4FiKe0OQ^f!?_+s%#JrgGI*Dbqqp-`0 zW@n02Uc|z}6DLlFxWRtR?b04-mJhs6heyLw*|MHszw6!MtmP%1rEZG3Os(*MCwmEx zlRfITt4?)IP+Y@8thRqp!8i;SSLpB4@?txd2YYvp-On%fqVSJ+Gx5V zEpL#!WBn{EEQ*uJZ*jL)t*~Z#j7x$h=7~K>{N|mGx6eDVyR%!dnEW>^K7BHB8ncLX z9)`zu*}66YjhBA;(ZBoF0}Bh(6f};)0j@F=G+ft`qwSqRg$*n0WVgcFKAv!EB0NAd zJ3!>@GXg_#Kj?RRLjp_Cn*jpXBHr^N&f>7kSu+fymLGUvyrpgkOb&XEAGG`?k8OLS z!sw?gz_1m0$E?}k5B*lm{D38goF!q8b$A|?A^X1~MiVS02Tj>MR{9P@FPt*Jrj;RzFm1mP=Tci#_iU0gfdC&2P>-zv^YVVi2E^c~B!lN0~ou!7_gBWl|JBbT%dn&>?TSQWA5qJgyfr;q&XDnLX{1F0Xiz2Tg+e=Gz_9VNBKV|Ed>hJ^mS)q7IO$m*sp2R&{$%OY^K_@rp%pF~e&svg`)ujKg#~H~e((@zoipe$KuQ2bQP|3s zofG`jtoH?e!CvIGd>??=u!23{uERU7Jx{RI*0h)BmVRJWNQvu+57v)$nX ze;@u?atNM}4EMV+e02;Zm(oit^6dt~p&YU!cz9t1=N1N@1yF>68U+bd*aU~1N+sev=TL}Yx>vzLVhT2>YaJ`5?;Nx~q_ zf#I^oh64L?m6m+e^#(3f4F(s6V+75gwx6{=1&vSbaRbeLFWQeMq0$n)>XO$h>_&l_ zPaW3ON+jzbxdf8S)!kj( z3`s)LZ*h4;`WDbn!9UrfwaKg5p)oa#p_`quYCI9l1-YW-UYasr9sR2qyFv3-#R9Km zVP=s+B2ueSwr-5~re;W34HA^i>5`I1Y=zMo6(wG&mXJi~cn8_f9UdGchwh~cgG}>d zzl9G_1XA!sf~4bjU9yg=IE&yd`*E7YJ^h1g8-I(u7`1mBiED<4q2X*z6goXXi~3oG zPSej*?ux{&Kugxw*6{=5pELIK<)>q*}2=~i*<(IJ!)>7d0c)kW~aU=)Gds2@vmpp=CujR9OvJXE}u#0&EqTfbw3GTH~PTyKUzcx zMlBPDVe^BN_Yo#}ri^S)S!UcRYMIEU^3KdOFR4UsUfd;X_XDvyLCkT}99|dUO);jP0;V4L@7EeHK)|Uz293V&#eQ=oPIz|=OaKt?%2bPy z@za39yB7nIT<9zUWCV?{w|Jx~zq%pq_RcCr!fO;!Ht5$XMbGPWv`$BL`qgl%BKLH< zbg8DL`9H{Se{yFUc0sJ$~~7h-`i zZV4eq2QloB(|%e;GYiEqRm4F#7shSQk8|o_VAEAaL)opi#p6Ri;c%}^v{ZG-#_HX- zEZ;7c$3OVuPhR~J_)E=*WTAc+N$azTB+a8Zd)`*JNG2f%snaY1W)U68PKtp#S?mNq{x=0nxmth}+P=5Wx4o3;~$-_u@dWW7X){tgTV3dI^jXWE7 z@+5I-1vxmQG{Cj{pfcXM{n5XF3h1L|5U4hR_X<@9AZ0f1MZh`&vZ)xG!xp{pu_%o% zij8szYelGIh7Eg(GKZ4X*iYF{ zyU;6tcCDs32{7V}`n{_+8jr*+**hNCypPr#BF{Y=L~@VuKJfp)Uh975&%k?XwC9rY z-;av-T!{DRvyVJk3NWH+PKzLjaxSi@;LUjl3*x@P;EaVROu}Dm=s;eI``CAO9qf`( zBO3vpB=O3AI3SrVwh@-Qb7a<1Xd~zXr zUeY|=L$!h*C+_b@eV#^x=`I`P&bp{MjAda2bU#kCJ3h)E)fpW?rX*e7LhS=jbD`RL6K9HRyu`9GcTrPh?!Z(7Ll%o&2T*|4ZG@*zGm)v z+4bVF6|A?3ijMs4%C+Wc=WZ5V2-q{9fBp4O!2zR2YEcTmUvNkSZ^>JL&Zb*?lNr}+{CC2ap za&}!$l_Np=srnsN7g$*sp%Az=r231a-cAX}K95Vgn?eSthswmjl~`4G`gGn*W=IN@#w4cO%cM-A&w5h;8^(6S=SjP*~)_ zyNG-5gPZoqzkKtJZ@@*PMsB)92Xt_ewYTUzf^D61n95)pI~V4T8TjdepRl%2GN~Ou zg_ZK2;en&P(M5v7Fi)f(QVZxRt9p-Y6jcHy=ZmYUqDmkW=)6q+M`588S(kVH#|Ia` z22N5l*5!~7u=pbD0?C%03a3|6)@nhX&SEj~#V~n7jT61^5pmRHq7n~*edx!00{@NM zM{ZtVuT_cX6mG$xqb%Y`VjwdHl~4`sQnQGF^rL9jxmbyF=pIn_`3R(cw$0wzxLU{n;|k6kRH3Fh<2 zB`6`h(*X)fcMrG@7E;zDlELDOBAe$>Ku7Otity~dfa8nFXMgk_0D~Is`Y2zn*~(Sa zSsbSfKBh+sG*%(xqBnbtPL`qg`B`f6xzs&Rw2qH{`Q9jG}pL%4;GK*RL}{8u5cyL|_gJPm_WNH%*ju7UM}3Fb{MZ z-(5v`P3<=!B>eyd5dCJ-k9cbZ?@dfEM5DOc3{s~3WR(BPIhqOsGsj$^aH=z;H_$TW zX*%DW+sDX`p!ZlrasNOR_YY)o|8Qw(q_`ia>nLHwY3y(nR;Q{LRPYMucy;P2_FSYu zpyZJ!6+u+ji;yRh4wq8>ZmB~x3P&u}1Km(NQC;{qmn5 z{`S8?8B_a>0<6iG7YdY%gb*Q34$Ei1N_f z)@(cntMj%8-uvL>@16nT#J^Xbr#}VXM04%x=mhz1D3Rm~3$Hx?A-GMLKz`?h`M#3u z1V!HnVJ3Lwoou4EBWdLT5wMXO}<6jMspCkW9x0&OWcZfM45Bc}IvvU-^ zx@zWl98p%$i>&z>@^2WL8NQE5L(PD6yLjI)Pn>^Q$`F4TUml}~HKgE6 zs5aTm@WzKt)q$u~&R)EzPS%iq^&^@TJS(_pzWUNoKF2gAnU)-BQ5~Qmbrv;gw%{x` z1+6<@$YrMZtKZgBc2ai>N2+4UF2Yi6E@J~2K|8ogzwDRSq{G?k|d krWw}+MJ}V6