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- Herausgeber: Wildside Press
- Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
The Master Mind
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Seitenzahl: 52
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Table of Contents
THE MASTER MIND, by John Russell Fearn
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
THE MASTER MIND,by John Russell Fearn
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
Copyright © 1954 by John Russell Fearn.
Originally published in VargoStatten Science Fiction Magazine,March 1954, under the pseudonym Vargo Statten.
Reprinted with the permission of the Cosmos Literary Agency.
Published by Wildside Press LLC.
wildsidepress.com | bcmystery.com
CHAPTER 1
It was at the Fantasy Club where the notion was born. Old Doctor Landhurst, retired professor of science, far more wealthy than any one man had any right to be, shocked his fellow members one morning with a typical observation.
“They’re all alike! Every one of them! Dress the stories up any way you please, but it boils down to the same thing…. Nobody will ever convince me that you can rule a world without guns, force, and menace.”
He slammed down the magazine he had been reading and glared round on the others. His white hair was nearly standing up with inner annoyance.
“Here are we, gentlemen, in the year 1970, members of a club devoted to the pursuance of all things fantastic and scientific—literature in particular—and yet what do we find? We find dozens of authors, known and unknown, still churning out the same old stuff. They suggest control of the world by kindness, logic, negotiation—control by everything except the right medium—force! One writer here even says the people of the world are a bunch of suckers who can be forced into believing anything without any resort to force and without a single raygun! I say it is impossible. The human mind is so balanced that it only understands a loaded weapon.”
“Doctor, you’re quite wrong, you know…”
Landhurst glanced round, surprised. A young man with fair hair was seated in the corner, his legs crossed easily, his firm young face remarkable for its expression of bland candour.
“Quite wrong,” he repeated. “I’m Douglas Harrigan, and I wrote the story you’re referring to. I wrote that story because I believed it!”
“So it was you!” The scientist narrowed his eyes momentarily. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Harrigan!” he went on bitterly. “Where is your manhood? Where’s the manhood of any of these writers these days, that they suggest such namby-pamby methods?”
“Force died out long ago, doctor. I maintain the world is populated by the kind of people who’ll believe anything, providing you tell it to them long enough and often enough.”
“Propaganda, eh?” Landhurst meditated for a moment. “Come to think of it, Harrigan, I don’t know you too well. New to this club, are you not?”
“I joined last week—just to get an idea what sort of views you folks have. Now I know they’re mostly wrong. Most of you are getting on in years, working on the policy of 1940 to 1960 when power and force were considered the chief factors for progress. We know now how mistaken that idea was: but old ideas die hard…. I believe in modern ideas. I believe, as I told in my story, that a whole world can be ruled by one man without a single application to force. Ray guns, space machines, death beams, and all the rest of it, are just props. All that is needed to master a planet is ingenuity and absolute calm of manner.”
Landhurst gave a harsh laugh. “You are very young, my friend. You would soon find out the difference if you tried to live your story in real life!”
“I don’t agree.” Harrigan lighted a cigarette calmly and gazed back with his light blue eyes.
“Good Lord, boy, you seriously mean—?”
“Absolutely!”
There was a silence among the members, the silence of stunned surprise. Anyway, nobody had ever dared to stand up to despotic Landhurst like this before. Then at last Landhurst said slowly:
“Listen to me, Harrigan. It has long been a moot point amongst us members whether any of the fantastic stories printed today are even remotely possible in truth. I assert they are all impossible, and your theory in particular. If you could master a world within, say, six months—as you do in this story—without a single recourse to force, I’d—I’d give you fifty thousand pounds! And willingly! Because I know you cannot possibly manage it.”
Harrigan smiled. “A decidedly sporting offer. Doctor. I’m not a rich man, being just a magazine writer, and fifty thousand might come in useful… I’ll take you up on that!” He sat up with sudden decision in his chair, turned to a grey-haired man on his right. “Mr. Beddows, you’re a lawyer. I want you to draw up this wager in legal terms. When I am ruling the world I don’t want any hitch… All a matter of business, Doctor Landhurst. You understand?”
“Of course, but— Dammit, man, you’re not serious?”
“I said I believed what I wrote—and I’m going to prove it. I wrote of a man from Tibet who ruled the world by application of logic. I had to study up a good deal about Tibet to get my facts straight, therefore I shall play a similar role in real life. I know just what a man from Tibet ought to do… I make only two stipulations, gentlemen. In the story there were three assistants. I reserve the right to have three—friends whom I know I can trust. The other clause is that, while I am building up my world-control act, not one of you must communicate with me or give me away. You will find how I am going on rapidly enough from the newspapers…. What do you say?”
“Well, it’s fantastic and can’t possibly work, but I’m willing,” Landhurst chuckled. “Rule a world without force, starting from scratch, and you’ll get fifty thousand from me.”
“And plenty of publicity besides for future use,” Harrigan smiled. “That may be useful when I start writing in a big way… All right. Mr. Beddows, it’s up to you to draw up the agreement. I’ll prove to you that there’s one born every minute…suckers, I mean, not agreements.”
* * * *
The Fantasy Club hardly knew whether to take Harrigan seriously or not. In any case the fact remained that he had the agreement completed, and Landhurst retained a copy of it. The next day Harrigan was missing from the Club.
