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diff --git a/77823-0.txt b/77823-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9dd5452 --- /dev/null +++ b/77823-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,349 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77823 *** + +[Illustration: “High above them it towered, a smooth, slender column.”] + + + + + The Red Brain + + by Donald Wandrei + + +One by one the pale stars in the sky overhead had twinkled fainter and +gone out. One by one those flaming lights had dimmed and darkened. One +by one they had vanished forever, and in their places had come patches +of ink that blotted out immense areas of a sky once luminous with stars. + +Years had passed; centuries had fled backward; the accumulating +thousands had turned into millions, and they, too, had faded into the +oblivion of eternity. The earth had disappeared. The sun had cooled +and hardened, and had dissolved into the dust of its grave. The solar +system and innumerable other systems had broken up and vanished, and +their fragments had swelled the clouds of dust which were engulfing +the entire universe. In the billions of years which had passed, +sweeping everything on toward the gathering doom, the huge bodies, once +countless, that had dotted the sky and hurtled through unmeasurable +immensities of space had lessened in number and disintegrated until the +black pall of the sky was broken only at rare intervals by dim spots of +light--light ever growing paler and darker. + +No one knew when the dust had begun to gather, but far back in the +forgotten dawn of time the dead worlds had vanished, unremembered +and unmourned. Those were the nuclei of the dust. Those were the +progenitors of the universal dissolution which now approached its +completion. Those were the stars which had first burned out, died, and +wasted away in myriads of atoms. Those were the mushroom growths which +had first passed into nothingness in a puff of dust. + +Slowly the faint wisps had gathered into clouds, the clouds into seas, +and the seas into monstrous oceans of gently heaving dust, dust that +drifted from dead and dying worlds, from interstellar collisions of +plunging stars, from rushing meteors and streaming comets which flamed +from the void and hurtled into the abyss. + +The dust had spread and spread. The dim luminosity of the heavens had +become fainter as great blots of black appeared far in the outer depths +of Space. In all the millions and billions and trillions of years that +had fled into the past, the cosmic dust had been gathering, and the +starry horde had been dwindling. There was a time when the universe +consisted of hundreds of millions of stars, planets, and suns; but they +were ephemeral as life or dreams, and they faded and vanished, one by +one. + +The smaller worlds were obliterated first, then the larger, and so in +ever-ascending steps to the unchecked giants which roared their fury +and blazed their whiteness through the conquering dust and the realms +of night. Never did the Cosmic Dust cease its hellish and relentless +war on the universe; it choked the little aerolites; it swallowed +the helpless satellites; it swirled around the leaping comets that +rocketed from one black end of the universe to the other, flaming their +trailing splendor, tearing paths of wild adventure through horizonless +infinitudes the dust already ruled; it clawed at the planets and sucked +their very being; it washed, hateful and brooding, about the monarchs +and plucked at their lands and deserts. + + +Thicker, thicker, always thicker grew the Cosmic Dust, until the giants +no longer could watch each other gyres far across the void. Instead, +they thundered through the waste, lonely, despairing, and lost. In +solitary grandeur they burned their brilliant beauty. In solitary +defeat and death they disappeared. + +Of all the stars in all the countless host that once had spotted +the heavens, there remained only Antares. Antares, immensest of the +stars, alone was left, the last body in the universe, inhabited by +the last race ever to have consciousness, ever to live. That race, in +hopeless compassion, had watched the darkening skies and had counted +with miserly care the stars which resisted. Every one that twinkled +out wrenched their hearts; every one that ceased to struggle and was +swallowed by the tides of dust added a new strain to the national +anthem, that indescribable melody, that infinitely somber pæan of doom +which tolled a solemn harmony in every heart of the dying race. The +dwellers had built a great crystal dome around their world in order +to keep out the dust and to keep in the atmosphere, and under this +dome the watchers kept their silent sentinel. The shadows had swept in +faster and faster from the farther realms of darkness, engulfing more +rapidly the last of the stars. The astronomers’ task had become easier, +but the saddest on Antares: that of watching Death and Oblivion spread +a pall of blackness over all that was, all that would be. + +The last star, Mira, second only to Antares, had shone frostily pale, +twinkled more darkly--and vanished. There was nothing in all Space +except an illimitable expanse of dust that stretched on and on in every +direction; only this, and Antares. No longer did the astronomers watch +the heavens to glimpse again that dying star before it succumbed. No +longer did they scan the upper reaches--everywhere swirled the dust, +enshrouding Space with a choking blackness. Once there had been sown +through the abyss a multitude of morbidly beautiful stars, whitely +shining, wan--now there was none. Once there had been light in the +sky--now there was none. Once there had been a dim phosphorescence in +the vault--now it was a heavy-hanging pall of ebony, a rayless realm of +gloom, a smothering thing of blackness eternal and infinite. + + * * * * * + +“We meet again in this Hall of the Mist, not in the hope that a remedy +has been found, but that we find how best it is fitting that we die. +We meet, not in the vain hope that we may control the dust, but in the +hope that we may triumph even as we are obliterated. We can not win the +struggle, save in meeting our death heroically.” + +The speaker paused. All around him towered a hall of Space rampant. Far +above spread a vague roof whose flowing sides melted into the lost and +dreamy distances, a roof supported by unseen walls and by the mighty +pillars which rolled upward at long intervals from the smoothly marbled +floor. A faint haze seemed always to be hanging in the air because of +the measureless lengths of that architectural colossus. Dim in the +distance, the speaker reclined on a metal dais raised above the sea of +beings in front of him. But he was not, in reality, a speaker, nor was +he a being such as those which had inhabited the world called Earth. + +Evolution, because of the unusual conditions on Antares, had proceeded +along lines utterly different from those followed on the various bodies +which had dotted the heavens when the deep was sprinkled with stars in +the years now gone. Antares was the hugest sun that had leaped from +the primeval chaos. When it cooled, it cooled far more slowly than the +others, and when life once began it was assured of an existence not of +thousands, not of millions, but of billions of years. + +That life, when it began, had passed from the simple forms to the +age of land juggernauts, and so by steps on and on up the scale. The +civilizations of other worlds had reached their apex and the worlds +themselves become cold and lifeless at the time when the mighty +civilization of Antares was beginning. The star had then passed through +a period of warfare until such terrific and fearful scourges of +destruction were produced that in the Two Days War seven billion of the +eight and one-half billion inhabitants were slaughtered. Those two days +of carnage ended war for eons. + +From then on, the golden age began. The minds of the people of Antares +became bigger and bigger, their bodies proportionately smaller, until +the cycle eventually was completed. Every being in front of the +speaker was a monstrous heap of black viscidity, each mass an enormous +brain, a sexless thing that lived for Thought. Long ago it had been +discovered that life could be created artificially in tissue formed +in the laboratories of the chemists. Sex was thus destroyed, and the +inhabitants no longer spent their time in taking care of families. +Nearly all the countless hours that were saved were put into scientific +advance, with the result that the star leaped forward in an age of +progress never paralleled. + +The beings, rapidly becoming Brains, found that by the extermination of +the parasites and bacteria on Antares, by changing their own organic +structure, and by _willing_ to live, they approached immortality. +They discovered the secrets of Time and Space; they knew the extent +of the universe, and how Space in its farther reaches became +self-annihilating. They knew that life was self-created and controlled +its own period of duration. They knew that when a life, tired of +existence, killed itself, it was dead forever; it could not live again, +for death was the final chemical change of life. + +These were the shapes that spread in the vast sea before the speaker. +They were shapes because they could assume any form they wished. Their +all-powerful minds had complete control of that which was themselves. +When the Brains were desirous of traveling, they relaxed from their +usual semi-rigidity and flowed from place to place like a stream of ink +rushing down a hill; when they were tired, they flattened into disks; +when expounding their thoughts, they became towering pillars of rigid +ooze; and when lost in abstraction, or in a pleasurable contemplation +of the unbounded worlds created in their minds, within which they often +wandered, they resembled huge, dormant balls. + +From the speaker himself had come no sound although he had imparted his +thoughts to his sentient assembly. The thoughts of the Brains, when +their minds permitted, emanated to those about them instantly, like +electric waves. Antares was a world of unbroken silence. + +The Great Brain’s thoughts continued to flow out. “Long ago, the +approaching doom became known to us all. We could do nothing. It does +not matter greatly, of course, for existence is a useless thing which +benefits no one. But nevertheless, at that meeting in an unremembered +year, we asked those who were willing to try to think of some possible +way of saving our own star, at least, if not the others. There was no +reward offered, for there was no reward adequate. All that the Brain +would receive would be glory as one of the greatest which has ever been +produced. The rest of us, too, would receive only the effects of that +glory in the knowledge that we had conquered Fate, hitherto, and still, +considered inexorable; we would derive pleasure only from the fact that +we, self-creating and all but supreme, had made ourselves supreme by +conquering the most powerful menace which has ever attacked life, time, +and the universe: the Cosmic Dust. + +“Our most intelligent Brains have been thinking on this one subject +for untold millions of years. They have excluded from their thoughts +everything except the question: How can the dust be checked? They +have produced innumerable plans which have been tested thoroughly. +All have failed. We have hurled into the void uncontrollable bolts of +lightning, interplanetary sheets of flame, in the hope that we might +fuse masses of the dust into new, incandescent worlds. We have anchored +huge magnets throughout Space, hoping to attract the dust, which is +faintly magnetic, and thus to solidify it or clear much of it from +the waste. We have caused fearful disturbances by exploding our most +powerful compounds in the realms about us, hoping to set the dust so +violently in motion that the chaos would become tempestuous with the +storms of creation. With our rays of annihilation, we have blasted +billion-mile paths through the ceaselessly surging dust. We have +destroyed the life on Betelgeuse and rooted there titanic developers +of vacua, sprawling, whirring machines to suck the dust from Space and +heap it up on that star. We have liberated enormous quantities of gas, +lit them, and sent the hot and furious fires madly flashing through the +affrighted dust. In our desperation, we have even asked for the aid of +the Ether-Eaters. Yes, we have in finality exercised our Will-Power to +sweep back the rolling billows! In vain! What has been accomplished? +The dust has retreated for a moment, has paused--and has welled onward. +It has returned silently triumphant, and it has again hung its pall of +blackness over a fear-haunted, nightmare-ridden Space.” + +Swelling in soundless sorrow through the Hall of the Mist rose the +racing thoughts of the Great Brain. “Our chemists with a bitter +doggedness never before displayed have devoted their time to the +production of Super-Brains, in the hope of making one which could +defeat the Cosmic Dust. They have changed the chemicals used in our +genesis; they have experimented with molds and forms; they have +tried every resource. With what result? There have come forth raging +monstrosities, mad abominations, satanic horrors and ravenous foul +things howling wildly the nameless and indescribable phantoms that +thronged their minds. We have killed them in order to save ourselves. +And the Dust has pushed onward! We have appealed to every living Brain +to help us. We appealed, in the forgotten, dream-veiled centuries, for +aid in any form. From time to time we have been offered plans, which +for a while have made terrific inroads on the Dust, but plans which +have always failed. + +“The triumph of the Cosmic Dust has almost come. There is so little +time left us that our efforts now must inevitably be futile. But today, +in the hope that some Brain, either of the old ones or of the gigantic +new ones, has discovered a possibility not yet tried, we have called +this conference, the first in more than twelve thousand years.” + + * * * * * + +The tense, alert silence of the hall relaxed and became soft when the +thoughts of the Great Brain had stopped flowing. The electric waves +which had filled the vast Hall of the Mist sank, and for a long time +a strange tranquillity brooded there. But the mass was never still; +the sea in front of the dais rippled and billowed from time to time as +waves of thought passed through it. Yet no Brain offered to speak, and +the seething expanse, as the minutes crept by, again became quiet. + +In a thin column on the dais, rising high into the air, swayed the +Great Brain; again and again it swept its glance around the hall, +peering among the rolling, heaving shapes in the hope of finding +somewhere in those thousands one which could offer a suggestion. But +the minutes passed, and time lengthened, with no response; and the +sadness of the fixed and changeless end crept across the last race. And +the Brains, wrapped in their meditation, saw the Dust pushing at the +glass shell of Antares with triumphant mockery. + +The Great Brain had expected no reply, since for centuries it had been +considered futile to combat the Dust; and so, when its expectation, +though not its wish, was fulfilled, it relaxed and dropped, the signal +that the meeting was over. + +But the motion had scarcely been completed, when from deep within the +center of the sea there came a violent heave; in a moment, a section +collected itself and rushed together; like a waterspout it swished +upward and went streaming toward the roof until it swayed thin and +tenuous as a column of smoke, the top of the Brain peering down from +the dimness of the upper hall. + +“I have found an infallible plan! The Red Brain has conquered the +Cosmic Dust!” + +A terrific tenseness leaped upon the Brains, numbed by the cry that +wavered in silence down the Hall of the Mist into the empty and +dreamless tomb of the farther marble. The Great Brain, hardly relaxed, +rose again. And with a curious whirling motion the assembled horde +suddenly revolved. Immediately, the Red Brain hung upward from the +middle of a sea which had become an amphitheater in arrangement, all +Brains looking toward the center. A suppressed expectancy and hope +electrified the air. + +The Red Brain was one of the later creations of the chemists, and had +come forth during the experiments to produce more perfect Brains. +Previously, they had all been black; but, perhaps because of impurities +in the chemicals, this one had evolved in an extremely dark, dull-red +color. It was regarded with wonder by its companions, and more so when +they found that many of its thoughts could not be grasped by them. What +it allowed the others to know of what passed within it was to a large +extent incomprehensible. No one knew how to judge the Red Brain, but +much had been expected from it. + +Thus, when the Red Brain sent forth its announcement, the others formed +a huge circle around, their minds passive and open for the explanation. +Thus they lay, silent, while awaiting the discovery. And thus they +reclined, completely unprepared for what followed. + +For, as the Red Brain hung in the air, it began a slow but restless +swaying; and as it swayed, its thoughts poured out in a rhythmic chant. +High above them it towered, a smooth, slender column, whose lofty end +was moving ever faster and faster while nervous shudders rippled up +and down its length. And the alien chant became stronger, stronger, +until it changed into a wild and dithyrambic pæan to the beauty of the +past, to the glory of the present, to the splendor of the future. And +the lay became a moaning praise, an exaltation; a strain of furious +joy ran through it, a repetition of, “The Red Brain has conquered the +Dust. Others have failed, but he has not. Play the national anthem in +honor of the Red Brain, for he has triumphed. Place him at your head, +for he has conquered the Dust. Exalt him who has proved himself the +greatest of all. Worship him who is greater than Antares, greater than +the Cosmic Dust, greater than the Universe.” + +Abruptly it stopped. The puzzled Brains looked up. The Red Brain had +ceased its nodding motion for a moment, and had closed its thoughts to +them. But along its entire length it began a gyratory spinning, until +it whirled at an incredible speed. Something antagonistic suddenly +emanated from it. And before the Brains could grasp the situation, +before they could protect themselves by closing their minds, the +will-impulses of the Red Brain, laden with hatred and death, were +throbbing about them and entering their open minds. Like a whirlwind +spun the Red Brain, hurtling forth its hate. Like half-inflated +balloons the other Brains had lain around it; like cooling glass +bubbles they tautened for a second; and like pricked balloons, as their +thoughts and thus their lives were annihilated, since Thought was Life, +they flattened, instantaneously dissolving into pools of evanescent +slime. By tens and by hundreds they sank, destroyed by the sweeping, +unchecked thoughts of the Red Brain which filled the hall; by groups, +by sections, by paths around the whole circle fell the doomed Brains in +that single moment of carelessness, while pools of thick ink collected, +flowed together, crept onward, and became rivers of pitch rushing down +the marble floor with a soft, silken swish. + +The hope of the universe had lain with the Red Brain. + +And the Red Brain was mad. + + + + + Transcriber’s note: + + + This etext was produced from Weird Tales, October 1927 (Vol. 10, No. + 4.). + + Obvious errors have been silently corrected in this version, but + minor inconsistencies have been retained as printed. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77823 *** |