The Unbegotten (17 page)

‘What I do desire, Palfrey, is peaceful occupation of the Earth.

‘I will guarantee that no harm is done, that there is no violence at all, and no blood-letting, in return for the free acceptance of, say, one Celestial human to every one hundred Terrestrials. They are to be absorbed in society and may procreate although they will be restricted to two offspring to each couple, and they will live in areas set aside especially for them.' The Master paused, then leaned forward and went on in great earnestness, ‘I do not see how I could be more reasonable. Each nation may even retain its sovereignty over its Terrestrial subjects. I hope very much that the national leaders will accept the conditions, so that we may remove fear of extermination from the Earth.' Again he paused and again he leaned closer to Palfrey, and this time he asked, ‘Do
you
think the terms will be acceptable?'

Palfrey said quietly, ‘I cannot tell until I've talked with world leaders.'

‘Will you present these proposals to them exactly as I have presented them to you?'

‘Yes,' Palfrey promised.

‘Will you use all your influence to persuade them to accept?'

After a moment's pause, Palfrey said almost inaudibly, ‘Yes.'

‘But you can't!' cried Maddern, springing up from his seat. ‘It's diabolical. You virtually condemn the whole human race to extinction and then persuade its surviving members to become slaves? It's monstrous. It
is
diabolical!' He glared at Palfrey, not at the Master, and his eyes were fiery and his lips taut; at times the words seemed to run into each other.

‘Be quiet!' the Master ordered sharply.

‘I won't be quiet. I won't—' Maddern advanced towards Palfrey, his fists clenched as if to attack him. ‘And you are supposed to be able to speak for mankind. You can't even speak for me—or for you, can he, Joyce?' Now he began to round on Joyce, and repeated, ‘Palfrey can't speak for you, can he?'

Palfrey and Joyce had worked together for over ten years. And, Palfrey knew, she had been in love with him for most of that time.

She had served him and Z5 more faithfully than anyone alive, with absolute and unquestioning loyalty. She had been known to argue, even to fight for her opinion but once the decision had been made, she had always accepted it, and bided by it.

Now, she hesitated.

Palfrey had never seen her wear such an expression, as if she were undergoing a swift transition from love, as it were, to hate. He had spoken for her a thousand times and she had never hesitated to trust him. But she did not seem to trust him now.

At last, she said, ‘No, Sap. You can't speak for me.'

‘My God!' exclaimed Maddern. ‘Rather than let you go and plead with the governments, I'll kill you.
I'll kill you
.'

And he leapt at Palfrey's throat, hands outstretched and fingers curled as if to choke the life out of him.

For one moment Palfrey was afraid, for Maddern, even less than Joyce, could have no idea of what was in his mind. The next moment the urgent fear faded, for the Master simply stretched out a hand with one of the flat pistols in it, and pointed it at the enraged man's chest.

At that instant, Maddern collapsed.

 

 

For a few seconds there was utter stillness, Palfrey and Joyce staring with horror at Maddern, who was on the floor, crumpled up, as if dead. Then Joyce flung herself on him, took his head in her arms, glared up at the Master and cried, ‘If you've killed him, I'll kill
you
!'

She felt for Maddern's pulse and held it for a moment, now staring into his face. Then, pivoting round, she sprang up at the Master, and there was murder in her eyes.

Palfrey thrust himself forward, taking her by the shoulders. She struck out at him but he held her arms tightly. He had a strange flash of thought – that there had been times when she longed for him to hold her like this, and now all she did was strain to get away.

‘Stop it, Joyce!' he ordered sharply.

She kicked at his shins.

‘Stop it, or—'

The Master stepped forward and pointed the gun at her as he had at Maddern, and she went limp in Palfrey's arms. Her head lolled back, after one gulp her breathing seemed to stop. The Master, just behind her and in front of Palfrey, spoke with a touch of impatience.

‘She will come round, and so will Maddern.' He watched as Palfrey lowered Joyce to a chair and made her comfortable, and then went on, ‘The compressed air power here on Nega is much greater than on Earth, where it has a limited range and effect. That is why my emissaries have to learn to protect themselves in other ways.'

Palfrey made no comment as he knelt down on one knee and straightened Maddern's body, resisting the temptation to check his pulse. He left the man there and stood up to his full height. He was at least a head taller than the Master.

‘I permit the use of violence only when there is no way of persuading Terrestrial humans to rely on their intelligence,' declared the Master, with angry impatience. ‘It was necessary to send emissaries to observe what was happening on Earth, and they were sometimes compelled to go long distances from their capsules. Relief capsules were always sent, of course, but occasionally emissaries such as Azran were left to their own devices. For people who have had the best education, the best training and in one case years of experience with a man of your calibre, however, your agents are most disappointing. I am constantly faced with the fact that development of the Terrestrial human species by the simple form of evolution can only fail. Don't you think so?'

Palfrey drew a deep breath.'

‘I'm beginning to.'

‘Ah. You
are
a man of unusual percipience.'

‘One thing is becoming glaringly obvious,' Palfrey conceded slowly. ‘That you are very advanced compared with us on Earth. We need a thousand men and tens—hundreds—of millions of pounds to build a space craft. You—'

‘Our space capsules are quite simple. We have achieved what no other humans have been able to achieve – complete control of nuclear energy. Palfrey, if I return you to Earth will you tell the leaders of nations what I have said?'

‘I've already promised to,' Palfrey said.

‘Will you use your influence to persuade them to make this arrangement with me?'

Palfrey's hand strayed to his hair and he began to twist a few strands round his forefinger. He could say ‘yes' of course, convincingly, but he was not sure that any kind of lie was wise with this man, who seemed able to divine the truth, to know what others were thinking. There was great simplicity, almost naivety about him, which showed in sharp contrast to his fantastic powers.

So Palfrey said, ‘I still prefer things as they are on Earth. Evolution down there may be slow, but—'

‘You cannot possibly win!' cried the Master.

‘We might prefer to fight and lose,' Palfrey retorted.

‘You have absolutely no chance at all. Surely
your
mind is good enough to enable you to comprehend the situation. Either the people of the world co-operate, and most of those now alive continue to live in comfort and freedom from fear in their own protectorates, one might say, while we take over control,
or
we simply take over whenever we wish without concern for them. We simply wait.'

‘Wait?'
exclaimed Palfrey.

‘Time is of little consequence here,' declared the Master. ‘I may be impatient personally but if necessary I can wait for ten or even twenty years without distress. By that time the average age of Terrestrials will be so high that their leaders will come to terms. If they really prefer me to destroy them all and take over the Earth then I can do nothing more. I want to spare them, Palfrey. Don't you understand? I really want to spare them.'

Palfrey said, ‘I've only known about this for a few days you know.
I
need time to adjust, to re-think the situation.'

‘That, of course, is understandable,' conceded the Master. ‘And you will need help. Come with me.' He stepped over Maddern's body and went to the door which opened as he approached. He led the way along a circular passage, passing a few of the Celestials working at different control panels or scanning the stars. Door after door opened until finally Palfrey was at the top of a spiral staircase of bright metal. The Master led the way down.

As they neared the bottom, Palfrey stood quite still, for the Earth lay beneath them and seemed only a few hundred miles away, spanning the whole width of the window. A dozen men were standing at what looked like huge telescopes, and controlling their focus with obviously meticulous care. Then he saw some tiny patches on the Earth's surface show a vivid white, as if light suddenly burned on it. The Master took Palfrey to one side of the window.

‘Do you see the patches of light?'

‘Yes.'

‘They are new patches of the world which are being impregnated by the
Nega
waves,' the Master told him. ‘This window is in fact a lens of a vast telescope. Each of the “telescopes” you see are actually ray guns. They focus on the illuminated areas for a specified period of time, which can be as little as three hours or as many as seven. After the radiation there will be no new Terrestrial human or animal conception on those areas.'

Palfrey could only nod, he was so appalled.

‘The
Nega
waves can be strengthened,' the Master stated simply. ‘At double strength they can destroy all human life. But as I say I do not wish to kill, nor do I wish to take over a planet which has ceased to function. But if I have to, I will, Palfrey. Nor would I wait very long because now you Terrestrials have reason to believe that we come from outer space and that we have satellites encircling the Earth, you will attempt to find us and attack us. You have some very powerful weapons.' Now the Master was looking only at Palfrey, and his voice took on a harder note. ‘Well? Do you wish to save some who live on Earth? Or will you condemn them all?'

Very heavily, Palfrey said, ‘I tell you I will put the situation to the leaders.'

‘Good! And you will also show them the advantages?'

‘I will present every side of the case.'

‘Excellent!' approved the Master. ‘You can go down to Earth at once, and—'

Palfrey said, ‘With Joyce and Maddern?'

‘Most certainly not,' said the Master, firmly.

‘Why not?'

‘You must surely have seen that neither is in any way amenable to reason. They would do everything in their power to prevent an arrangement. They must stay here.'

‘Very well,' Palfrey said, after a long pause. Outwardly he had to appear to accept the situation, had somehow to hide his feelings, conceal the revulsion he felt against what this man was planning. What was happening at this moment over those areas which shone with such radiant light?

Then he added, ‘But I must know everything, half the truth won't help.'

‘You
do
know everything,' said the Master simply.

‘I don't know how long the effect of
Nega
waves lasts on women. I don't know how long it will take you to impregnate all the people of the world. I don't know how long it would take to double the strength of the
Nega
waves and so kill everyone on Earth. I do not know the conditions in your conception, pregnancy and birth colonies. And I cannot urge the leaders to submit if I cannot tell them what will happen if they don't.'

He felt the intense gaze from the Master's grey eyes, and he wondered if the other could read his thoughts, had any idea what was in his mind.

‘I will tell you these things,' the Master promised. ‘You are quite right – only when they know all the truth can the leaders decide. This Nega planet is manmade. It is our headquarters, as I have said, and main centre of operations. Other, smaller space stations comprise a galaxy, of which I am the supreme controller. The satellites can project
Nega
waves but the people living on them are governed and controlled from here. The speed of our attacks can be restricted only by the number of ray projectors in existence, and many hundreds are under construction. As I have told you, thirty days at the most, twenty days at the least, is what we require.' He gave a little smile, almost supercilious in its way, and went on, ‘I trust you are not considering the possibility of finding something to counteract the effect of the
Nega
waves. I tell you with absolute truth, that there is none.'

 

There might not be, thought Palfrey. Probably, there was not. But he had learned one thing which the Master did not appear to realise. There was this simplicity and ingenuousness in this man who had such scorn for the people on Earth. There was no cunning. He appeared to believe that opposition was impracticable and in any case could be brushed aside. He did not even consider the possibility that Nega itself could be destroyed, and if that happened then the
Nega
waves could not be sent out from the satellites. If the Earth were left free from attack then in a year the effect of the rays would fade and life could become normal again.

As these thoughts passed through his mind, creating a fierce excitement, the Master touched him on the arm, and said quietly, ‘As for our work, conception and pregnancy colonies, I shall permit you to see for yourself. There are colonies close by, and I shall escort you.'

To Palfrey, the next two hours were almost unbelievable.

The Master showed him workshops and factories where there was no noise, where only a few men clad in the metallic-looking sheath suits controlled computers. In some workshops the
Nega
ray projectors, like machine guns to look at, were manufactured; in others, furniture made of plastic, clothing, foodstuffs which had little bulk but, the Master said, luscious flavour to those who had acquired the taste.

Then, he was taken to what looked like a huge hospital, and in the rows of beds lay young women, sleeping or drugged, much like Azran to look at. From time to time an older woman approached one of those on the bed and inserted a small syringe into the vagina and pressed the plunger, as if this were a hypodermic needle. Clearly, the ova were being extracted, and the women did not stir. In other great wards, semen was extracted from the men. In other rooms again were batteries of balloon-like objects of different sizes, and a chill went through him when he realised these were the artificial wombs. Adjoining these were birth-chambers, which opened like the natural womb, for each child to be born, helped only by a nurse. The crying of these newly born infants seemed eerie, even grotesque.

There were also convalescent homes, where the young women nursed the children, fed them from bottles and nurtured them. Other groups studied, went to the theatre, read books, played chess and cards. Then these groups were taken to departure centres.

‘They will go from here to satellites,' the Master said. ‘And some, like Azran, will be trained to supervise Terrestrial humans once you have shown the governments how inevitable our conquest is.'

 

On Earth, Belinda Compton was crying herself to sleep.

On Earth, hundreds of thousands of women were telling themselves that as they could no longer become mothers, their main purpose of living was gone.

On Earth, twenty-three clinics in main population centres from Chile to the Argentine, Mexico to India, and the Middle East to lands such as Laos and Cambodia, were destroyed because they were believed to have laid a curse upon the women.

 

‘Palfrey,' said the Master.

‘Yes?'

‘Do not attempt to have this planet destroyed from the Earth.'

‘I don't see how it could even be located,' Palfrey said.

‘You know better than that. Some of your anti-missile defences, some of your own space probes, some of your space control centres, have a very great and accurate range. Don't do it, do you understand?'

‘I can't promise what others will do,' Palfrey said. ‘And I have to tell them the truth or they won't be sufficiently impressed.'

‘Then tell them this, also,' said the Master. ‘I need not wait even twenty or thirty days. I can add to the
Nega
waves bacteria which will be so contagious that once it affected one country the whole world would be affected in less than a week. You do fully understand, don't you?'

‘I understand fully,' Palfrey said, his blood chilling. After a moment he went on, ‘Does it matter to you where I land?'

‘You have only to say where,' said the Master.

‘Then I would like to go to Moscow,' Palfrey told him.

‘Moscow,' murmured the Master. ‘For any special purpose?'

“The second in command of Z5 is there.'

‘Oh, I remember,' the other said. ‘Stefan Andromovitch. Will you want him warned to expect you?'

‘Please,' said Palfrey, almost humbly. ‘Please.'

As he walked along the passages towards the launching pad, he thought with bitter irony of the strange fact that so much of his conversation with the Master was commonplace, even trite. It was so ordinary that it was almost possible to forget what he was going down on Earth to do.