The Devolutionist and the Emancipatrix

apsey - Homer Eon Flint

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English

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Publié par	apsey
Publié le	08 décembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	20
Langue	English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Devolutionist
and The Emancipatrix by Homer Eon Flint (#4 in
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Title: The Devolutionist and The EmancipatrixAuthor: Homer Eon Flint
Release Date: June, 2004 [EBook #5965] [Yes, we
are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This
file was first posted on October 1, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG
EBOOK, THE DEVOLUTIONIST AND THE
EMANCIPATRIX ***
Charles Franks and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team.
THE DEVOLUTIONIST
And THE EMANCIPATRIX
By Homer Eon FlintI
OUT OF THEIR MINDS
"Remember, now; don't make a sound, no matter
what you see!"
Mrs. Kinney eyed her caller anxiously as they
came to a pause in front of the door. His glance
widened at her caution, but he nodded briefly. She
turned the key in the lock.
Next second the two stepped softly into the room.
Mrs. Kinney carefully closed and locked the door
behind them; and meanwhile the man, peering
closely into the shadows of the place, made out a
scene of such strangeness that he nearly forgot
the woman's injunction.
The room was the private study of Dr. William
Kinney. In itself, it was not at all out of the ordinary.
Shelves of books, cases of surgical and
psychological instruments, star charts, maps and
astronomical apparatus—these told at once both
the man's vocation and avocation. With these
contents and rather severe furnishings the roomwas merely interesting, not remarkable.
But its four chairs certainly were. Each of them
was occupied by a human being; and as Mrs.
Kinney and her caller entered, neither of the four
so much as stirred. They were all asleep.
In the nearest chair was the doctor himself, half
sitting and half reclining; in fact, all four of the
sleepers were in attitudes of complete relaxation.
The doctor's gray head was resting on one
shoulder wearily.
On his left was a man of medium height and
commonplace countenance. "Mr. Smith,"
whispered Mrs. Kinney, placing her mouth close to
the caller's ear, so that he might hear the better.
Opposite these two sat a man and a woman, their
chairs placed close together. The one was a
slender, well-dressed, boyishly good looking young
woman of perhaps thirty; the other a large,
aggressively handsome fellow possibly five years
older. "Mr. and Mrs. Van Emmon," explained Mrs.
Kinney, still in a whisper.
The four sat absolutely motionless; the caller,
looking very closely, could hardly make out the
rising and falling of their chests as they breathed.
Also, he saw that they were all connected, the one
with the other by means of insulated wires which
ran to brass bracelets around their wrists. At one
point in this curious circuit, a wire ran to a small
group of electrical appliances placed on a pedestal
at the doctor's side; while the caller was still furtherat the doctor's side; while the caller was still further
puzzled to note that each of the sleepers was
resting his or her feet on a stool, the legs of which,
like the legs of each chair, were tipped with glass.
After a minute of this the caller turned upon Mrs.
Kinney in such complete bewilderment that she
instantly unlocked the door, and again cautioning
perfect silence, led the way into the corridor. Here
she again locked the door. Upon leaving the spot,
a quiet young man with keen gray eyes stepped
from a room opposite, and at a nod from Mrs.
Kinney proceeded to do sentry duty outside the
study.
Once down-stairs and safely within the living-room
—
"This is rather mean of you Mrs. Kinney!" protested
the man. "Tell me all about it, quick!"
The lady complacently took a chair. "Well," she
remarked innocently,
"I knew you'd want to see him."
"Yes, but—"
"It serves you right," she went on blithely, "for
staying away so long. Let's see—you left a year
ago June, didn't you, Mr. Hill?"
He swallowed something and managed to reply,
"Great guns, yes! I've been in the wilds of New
Guinea for a year—without news of any kind! I saw
my first newspaper on board the dirigible this
morning!""Ah, well," commented Mrs. Kinney provokingly,
"you'll have to be humored, I suppose." She
cogitated unnecessarily long, then left the room to
get a folio of newspapers and magazines. One of
these she selected with great deliberation, and
opened it at the leading article. Even then she
would not hand it over right away. "You remember
that sky-car idea of the doctor's, don't you?"
"His machine to explore space? He couldn't talk of
anything else when I—you don't mean to say"—
incredulously—"that he made a success of that!"
"He certainly did. Took a three weeks' tour of the
planets, month before last!"
Hill stared in amazement, then leaned forward
suddenly and whisked the magazine out of Mrs.
Kinney's fingers. He held the paper with hands that
trembled in excitement; and this is what he read, in
the matter-of-fact black-and-white of The Scientific
New Zealander:
STAR EXPLORERS RETURN
Dr. Kinney and Party Visit Venus and Mercury
Bringing proofs which will satisfy the most
skeptical, Dr. William G. Kinney, G. Van Emmon,
E. Williams Jackson, and John W. Smith, who left
the earth on December 9 in a powerful sky-car of
the doctor's design, returned on the 23rd, after
having explored the two planets which lie betweenthe earth and the sun.
They found Mercury to be a dead world, like the
moon, except that it once supported a civilization
nearly as advanced as our own. They tell of a giant
human, a veritable colossus, who was the planet's
last survivor.
But on Venus they discovered people still living!
They are marvelously developed people, infinitely
more advanced than the people of the earth, and
enjoying a civilization that is well-nigh incredible.
Among other things, they have learned how to visit
other worlds without themselves leaving their
planet. They do it by a kind of telepathy; they know
all about us here on the earth; and they have
accumulated data regarding the peoples of
hundreds of thousands of other planets! The four
explorers are able to prove their statements
beyond the shadow of doubt. They possess
photographs which speak for themselves; they
have brought back relics from Mercury and
materials from Venus, such as never existed on
the earth. They submit a vast library of
extraordinarily advanced scientific literature, which
was given to them by the Venusians.
The article went on to detail, to the extent of some
eight or ten pages, the main features of the
exploration. Hill, however, did not stop to read it all
just then. He looked up, his thoughts flying to the
strange scene in the room up-stairs. "What are
they doing—recuperating?""Not exactly." Mrs. Kinney was a little disappointed.
"Here—let me point out the paragraph." And she
ran a finger down the column until it indicated this
line:
Among other things they have learned how to visit
other worlds without themselves leaving their
planet. They do this by a kind of telepathy.
"That's the explanation," Mrs. Kinney said quietly.
Hill fairly blinked when he read the paragraph.
"They are trying out one of the Venusian
experiments?"
"Of course; you know the doctor. He couldn't resist
the temptation.
And I must say the others are just as bad.
"Mr. Smith is quite as much interested as Mr. Van
Emmon. Mr. Smith is an electrical engineer; the
other man is a geologist, and a very adventurous
spirit. As for Mrs. Van Emmon—"
"But this account mentions"—Hill referred to the
magazine—"'E.
Williams Jackson.' Who was he?"
"She—not he. Mrs. Van Emmon now; she used to
be an architect. She had the other three fooled for
ten days; she passed herself off as a man!"
But Hill was too absorbed in the general
strangeness of the affair to note this amazing item.
He again glanced at the article, opened his mouth
once or twice as though to ask a question, thoughtbetter of it e