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- Herausgeber: Wildside Press
- Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
War of the Scientists
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Table of Contents
WAR OF THE SCIENTISTS, by John Russell Fearn
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
WAR OF THE SCIENTISTS,by John Russell Fearn
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
Copyright © 1940 by John Russell Fearn.
First published Amazing Stories, April 1940.
Reprinted with the permission of the Cosmos Literary Agency.
Published by Wildside Press LLC.
wildsidepress.com | bcmystery.com
CHAPTER 1
“Hello, there, Eva! Anything wrong?”
Howard Sykes, young, blond, husky Earth ambassador to Mars, looked up from his desk questioningly.
“I’m not sure, Howard. But I’ve got a funny feeling in my bones that things are distinctly not so hot.”
Eva Wayne was a biologist. She was also twenty-five, had yellow blond hair and the most attractive blue eyes Howard Sykes had ever seen. Even more than that, she was possessed of a sense of intuition which was often uncanny.
Sykes made a resigned gesture. “Trouble in paradise! Well, dammit, just what is wrong?”
“Oh, there isn’t anything actually wrong—not yet. But there’s a growing feeling in most of the Zones that their particular Zone must be allowed to dominate all the rest. Each Zone seems to think that its particular function is the most important of the lot!”
“So that’s it!” Howard Sykes slammed his engineer’s fist on his desk. “Might have guessed that something like this would happen. You can’t herd a bunch of geniuses together and expect a harmonious love feast. What more do you know, Eva?”
When the girl was finished with her report, Sykes knocked the dottle out of his pipe, turned to his personal typewriter and began to pound away at an insistent rate.
Hon. Dudley Baxter, Consultant,
World State Federation,
New York City, America.
Dear Dr. Baxter:—
It is my unpleasant duty to inform you that after our six months’ experiment on this planet, dissension among the six scientific Zones has definitely broken out.
When I undertook to rehabilitate this wasted red planet, it was with high hopes that as ambassador to Mars, the six-Zone colony that I would establish here would be sufficient unto itself, and that my presence as ambassador would be simply to supervise the administration of the Zones.
Now I am informed that our six Zones of scientific activity—physics, astronomy, cosmic engineering, biology, social welfare, and interplanetary eugenics—have each become jealous of the other. It was the World State’s original plan to gather the world’s greatest men and women scientists, fully equip laboratories here for their use, and set them to work on this isolated planet to develop the fruits of their researches—without infringing on each other’s authority.
Each Zone was to have its own task; no task was to be duplicated. Coöperation between the Zones was to be permitted when necessary. It was thought that in twenty years, the independent researches of the six Zones would be integrated into a new world plan which would forever after insure peace and prosperity for all peoples.
That meanwhile, voluntarily isolated here on Mars, no one scientific branch could dominate the other, with the inevitable result that one branch of science might take up arms against the other and thus precipitate another World War.
Therefore, since this dissension has now broken out, I must ask you to hold yourself in readiness for all possible trouble, and to prepare for any eventualities which may occur. I will report to you again as soon as I have definitely isolated the cause of the controversy.
Howard Sykes,
Earth Ambassador.
Finishing, Sykes folded the report in an envelope, summoned a messenger, and gave orders to have his findings space-radioed in secret code to Earth.
He rose to his feet then, perplexed and with an angry frown.
“Dammit, the thing’s fantastic!” he expostulated. “If the chiefs of each Zone start refusing now to get together, we’re worse off than we were before! At least when we started this experiment, nobody was doing any bickering. Come on, Eva! We’re going to get to the bottom of this if I have to lock every overgrown prodigy in a cell!”
As they left his office, Sykes asked the girl:
“Where would you suggest we start?”
Eva Wayne’s forehead puckered. “Well, Dr. Hendriks, chief of our biological department, asked Dr. Brown of cosmic engineering to come over for a discussion on a matter of mutual interest. Brown’s retort was that he had no time for biologists! Thus far, he’s been the most outspoken of the dissenters.”
Sykes face was grim. “Dr. Brown it is, then.”
* * * *
The girl accompanied him down the long, airy passages leading to the cosmic engineering department. Dr. Brown duly appeared from the army of workers when his presence was requested. For some reason his usually amiable round face was set and determined, his dark eyes filled with a stubborn fire.
“I believe, Doctor, that you refused to coöperate with Dr. Hendriks of biology,” Sykes began, straining to keep his reputation as a diplomat intact.
Brown nodded briefly. “I did, yes. I have reasons for believing that my cosmic engineering research is far more important than Hendriks’ specialty. I have neither the time nor the inclination to obey his wishes—and for that matter, I have little time to waste in talking to you, either. Our science is vitally important: biology is not!”
“That’s ridiculous!” Eva cried hotly, flushing. “One science is as necessary as another in the advancement of a world civilization, and you have no right to say otherwise!”
“Just a minute, please!” Howard Sykes’ voice was firm. The tougher a situation got, the more evenly his steel nerves functioned.
“Dr. Brown, how can you—a self-confessed believer in the pooling of ideas—say that your science is more important than another? What’s the reason for it? You surely realize you are undermining the very thing for which we all came to this planet?”
“Circumstances alter cases, Mr. Sykes,” Brown replied ambiguously. “I have my own reasons for thinking that cosmic engineering is more important than biology—and I refuse to coöperate. Now, if you will excuse me—”
He nodded curtly and turned away to his work once more. Sykes stood looking after him for a moment, frowning; then he returned slowly to the main corridor with the puzzled girl at his side. Inwardly he was seething.
“Well, now you know!” Eva said. “Imagine the shock I got! And Dr. Hendriks, too!”
“Damned if I can figure it out!” Sykes stood biting his lip. “Brown was one of our best coöperators when we first came here. Seems to have about-faced completely—Hendriks, you say, is still willing to exchange ideas?”
“Absolutely. No change in him at all; he’s as loyal as ever.”
“Good for him.” Sykes rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I’m going to find out myself how the other Zone chiefs are feeling. You’d better get along back to your job, and if you discover anything else that strikes you as out of place, let me know right away.”
They parted company, the girl to the Biological Zone, while Howard Sykes boarded the swift-moving tube conveyance by which the planet’s various Zones were interlinked. It was a six-hour job for him to check up on all the Zone heads and get their reactions.
The Martian night had arrived by the time he arrived back at his headquarters to ponder results. Eva Wayne, in off-work attire, was waiting for him.
“Anything new?” Sykes asked anxiously, as he caught sight of her in the light from his desk-lamp.
“No—I just thought I might be able to help you with your results. I’ve nothing else to do right now.”
They sat down together, going over six sets of reactions which Howard Sykes had typed out from hastily scribbled notes. By a process of elimination it took only fifteen minutes to reveal a startling fact—that the heads of the Zones controlling cosmic engineering, astronomy, and physics had suddenly become adamant in their belief that their three specialized sciences were the only ones that mattered.
* * * *
In loyal contradiction, the other three departments controlling biology, eugenics, and social welfare were each unchanged and willing to exchange ideas as before. To three departments, then, something mysterious had happened. Though willing to talk among themselves, they were definitely against their three Zone neighbors.
