chapter nine
gregg
i
an hour later the doctor alone paced the floor of the little surgery.
he had done everything possible to calm himself. he had taken bromide; he had been out for a smart turn around the roads; he had forced himself to sit down and answer some letters. but it was impossible to ease the pressure of his thoughts; he felt that his brain would never cease from working round and round in a circle of hopeless enquiry. in the end, and late as it was, he had telephoned for gregg.
the clockwork man lay in the coal cellar, which was situated in the area, just opposite the surgery door. he lay there, stiff and stark, with an immobile expression upon his features, and his eyes and mouth wide open.
after that final collapse, the doctor had succeeded somehow in restoring him to his normal shape; and then, by miraculous chance, he discovered a hand that, when turned, had[pg 168] the effect of producing in the clockwork man an appearance of complete quiescence. he looked now more like a tailor's dummy than anything else; and the apparent absence of blood circulation and even respiration rendered the illusion almost perfect. he looked life-like without seeming to be alive.
but he was alive. the doctor had made sure of that by certain tentative experiments; and he had also taken advantage of his passive condition in order to make a thorough examination—so far as was possible—of this marvel of the future. as a result of his investigation, the doctor had failed to come to any definite conclusion; there was merely deepened in him a sense of outrage and revolt. it was impossible to accept the clockwork man as a human being.
he was a tissue of physiological lies.
it could be proved beyond a shadow of doubt, and by reference to all known laws of anatomy, that he did not exist.
his internal organs, heard in action through a stethoscope, resembled the noise made by the humming of a dynamo at full pitch.
and yet this wildly incredible being, this unspeakable travesty of all living organisms, this thing most opposite to humanity, actually breathed and conversed. he was a sentient being. he was more than man, for he could[pg 169] be turned into something else by simply pressing a stop. properly understood, there was no doubt that the mechanism permitted the owner of it to run up and down the evolutionary scale of species according to adjustment.
there were one or two other details which the doctor had not failed to observe.
the clockwork man had no apparent sex.
his body was scarred and disfigured, as though many surgical operations had been performed upon it.
there was some organ faintly approximating to the human heart, but it was infinitely more powerful, and the valvular action was exceedingly complex.
fitted into the clock, in such a way that they could be removed, were a series of long tubes with valve-like endings. the doctor had removed one or two of these and examined them very closely, but he could not arrive at any idea of their purpose.
at every point in his examination the doctor had found himself confronted by an elaboration, in some cases a flat contradiction, of ordinary human functions. he could not grasp even the elementary premises of a state of affairs that had made the clockwork man possible.
[pg 170]
ii
shortly after midnight the doctor's expectant ear caught the sound of someone alighting from a bicycle. a moment later footsteps clattered down the area stairs, and gregg, still attired in his cricket flannels, appeared at the open door. the smile faded from his lips as he beheld the drawn, agitated features of the doctor.
"hulloa," he exclaimed, "you look pretty bent."
the doctor shut the door carefully and lifted a warning finger. "gregg, this thing must never be known. it must never go beyond ourselves."
"why not?" gregg sat down on the couch and twisted his hat idly between his fingers.
"because," said the doctor, trying hard to control the twitching of his features, "it's too terrible. what i have seen to-night is not fit for mortal eye to behold. it's inhuman. it's monstrous!"
he sank into a chair and covered his face with his hands. the presence of another person brought a kind of relief to his pent up feelings. he let himself go.
"oh, god, it's the end of all things, gregg.[pg 171] it's the end of all sane hopes for the human race. if it is true that in the future man has come to this, then the whole of history is a farce and mockery. the universe is no more than a box of conjuring tricks, and man is simply a performing monkey. i tell you, gregg, this discovery, if it is made known, will blast everything good in existence."
"stop a minute," exclaimed gregg, arising in sheer astonishment, "you seem to be upset. i don't understand what you are raving about."
the doctor stabbed a finger wildly in the direction of the coal cellar. "if you had seen what i have seen to-night, you would understand. you would be feeling exactly as i am now."
gregg placed a hand soothingly upon his friend's shoulder. "why didn't you send for me before? you're over-strung. this experience has been too much for you."
"i grant you that," said the doctor, hollowly, "i know only too well what effect this shock will have upon me. you are a younger man than i am, gregg. i am glad you have been spared this sight."
"but where is the clockwork man?" demanded gregg, presently.
the doctor's finger again indicated the coal cellar. "he—he's in there—i—i managed to stop him. he—he's in a kind of sleep."
[pg 172]
and then, as gregg took a leisurely stride towards the door, as though to investigate matters on his own, the doctor caught hold of his sleeve. "don't do that. listen, first, to what i have to tell you. i rather fancy it will take the edge off your curiosity."
gregg swung round and sat on the couch. he lit a cigarette. he made no effort to conceal his sense of superior self-possession. the doctor took the cigarette that was proffered to him, and leaning forward tried to take a light from his companion. but his hand shook so violently that he could not manage the simple operation. in the end gregg lit another match and held it with a steady hand.
as the doctor told the story of what had taken place so recently in the little room, gregg sat nursing an uplifted knee between his hands and with the cigarette drooping idly from his lips. once or twice he interrupted with a gesture, but if he experienced astonishment he never betrayed the fact. even the description of the sudden growth of beard did not disturb the look of calm enquiry upon his hard-set features. he seemed to be following something in his mind that elucidated the facts as they came out; and as the narrative drew to a close he nodded his head very slightly, as though having found corroboration[pg 173] for these strange events in some theory of his own, and vice versa. when at last the doctor reached the climax of his tale there was no horror written upon gregg's countenance. he remained impassive, a sort of buffer against which the doctor's hysterical phrases recoiled in vain.
there was a moment's silence. the doctor had been talking so rapidly, and he had been so swayed by his feelings, that he had scarcely noticed the other's demeanour. when he looked up gregg was walking with a measured tread up and down the floor. he had dropped his cigarette, and his mouth was formed in the act of whistling. the doctor started to his feet.
"what! you believe it then? you, who have not seen this mystery—you believe it?"
"why not?" gregg paused in his walk and looked genuinely surprised.
"but—surely!" the doctor sat down again and groaned. "surely you cannot accept such a story without a sign of incredulity? what state of mind is that which can believe such things without having seen them? why, you credulous fool, i might have invented the whole thing!"
gregg smiled. "i am one of those who are prepared to accept the miraculous at secondhand. besides, you forget that i have already[pg 174] witnessed some of the clockwork man's manifestations of ingenuity. nothing that you have told me causes me more astonishment than i experienced on the first occasion we had reason to believe the clockwork man was—what he is. it is all, to my mind, quite natural and logical."
"but you must admit," interpolated the doctor, "that i might be deceiving you. i could easily do it, just to prove you in the wrong. i can assure you that nothing would suit my humour better at the present moment! instead of which it is i who appear the fool. i never wanted to believe in the clockwork man. i was angry with you for believing in him. admit that it would be a just revenge on my part to hoax you."
gregg shook his head. "you might try to do such a thing, but you would certainly fail. besides, i know you are telling the truth. your manner plainly shows it."
he sat down on the couch again. "perhaps it is just as well that i did believe in the clockwork man from the first; for while you have been going through these unpleasant experiences i have been thinking very hard, and have actually arrived at certain conclusions which are, i venture to think, amply confirmed by your story. that is why i have shown no surprise at your statements. the clockwork[pg 175] man is indeed true to his type as i have imagined him; he is the very embodiment of the future as i have long envisaged it."
at these words the doctor threw up his arms in despair. "then i write myself down a fool," he exclaimed, "i had no such wild hope, or such equally wild despair, with regard to the future of the human race. i admit that i have been behindhand. these matters have slipped from my grasp. the calls of ordinary life have claimed me, as they must every man past his first youth. but i am ready to believe anything that can be explained."
"it is precisely because the clockwork man can be explained," interrupted gregg, with some eagerness, "that i find it easy to believe him."
"but how can you explain him?" protested the doctor, with some trace of his old irritation. "you have not even seen the clock."
"your description of it is quite good enough for me," rejoined the other, with emphasis, "i can see it in my mind's eye. moreover, it was obvious to me, from the first, that there must exist some such instrument in order that the clockwork man might be adjusted when necessary. one deduced that."
the doctor shuddered slightly, and leaned his head upon his arm. "consider yourself[pg 176] lucky that you never did see the clock, and that you never had the opportunity of testing its efficiency. it is all very well for you to wax enthusiastic over your theories, but facts are hard masters."
"precisely," said gregg, who was beginning to grow impatient with the other's manner, "and since the facts have revealed themselves, what is the use of trying to evade them? here we have a clockwork man, a creature entirely without precedent, for there is no record of his having existed in the past, and so far as we know there has been no successful attempt to create such a being in our own times. everything favours my original hypothesis; that he has in some way, and probably through some fault in the mechanism that controls him, lapsed into these earlier years of human existence. that seems to me feasible. if man has indeed conquered time and space, then the slightest irregularity in this new functioning principle would result in a catastrophe such as we must suppose has happened to the clockwork man. it is more than probable that a slight adjustment would result in his speedy return to conditions more proper to his true state."
"but this does not explain him," broke in the doctor, bitterly.
"wait, i am coming to that. we have to[pg 177] get the facts firmly in our heads. first of all, there is a mechanism, a functioning principle, which causes certain processes to take place, and enables the clockwork man to behave as no ordinary human being ever could behave. what that functioning principle is we do not yet know; we can only posit its existence—we must do that—and draw what inference we can from its results. now, the effect of the functioning principle is clear to me, if the cause is hidden. obviously, the effect of the mechanism is to accelerate certain processes in the purely human part of the clockwork man's organism to such an extent that what would take years, or even generations, to take place in ordinary mortals, takes place instantaneously. witness the growth of beard, the changes in appearance, the total collapse. obviously, these physiological variations occur in the case of the clockwork man very rapidly; and by adjustment any change may be produced. the problem of his normal existence hangs upon the very careful regulation of the clock, which, i take it, is the keyboard of the functioning principle. but what concerns us at present is the fact that this power of rapid growth makes the clockwork man able to act in complete defiance of our accepted laws relating to cause and effect."
"we had an argument about that," said the[pg 178] doctor, dismally. "he tried to explain that to me, but i must say he was no more successful than you are. the whole thing is a complete haze."
but gregg took little notice of the interruption. "once you have grasped this idea of a new sort of relativity," he continued, "once you have realised that the clockwork man behaves in accordance with laws quite different to our own, you can proceed to find some basis for such a phenomenon. the clockwork man behaves in a certain manner; therefore there must be some cause, however improbable it may appear to us, to account for such behaviour. now, what is the cause of ordinary human action? it is something equally unaccountable. we can explain it in terms of a system, of a series of processes, but we do not really know what is the secret spring upon which the human animal moves. we can describe the machinery of the human body, but we do not really know what life is, or what is the real nature of the force that produces our actions. so far we know as much about the clockwork man as we do about ourselves. the difference is confined to processes."
"all this is obvious," said the doctor, "i have seen enough to convince me of that."
"precisely. and because you have seen[pg 179] more than i have you are less able to understand the matter than i am. you cannot see the wood for the trees. again, you were frightened out of your life. your scientific instincts were stampeded. you saw only a hideous malformation, a neural freak, a preposterous human machine. it was inconceivable that you should have been able to think clearly under the circumstances. consider the matter in the sober aftermath of reason, and you must agree with me that it is really not more extraordinary that a man should function by mechanical means than that he should function at all."
"i don't agree," retorted the doctor, with unexpected sharpness. "i think it is far more amazing that a human being should function as he does, than that he should be made to function differently by mechanical means. the clockwork man is no more wonderful, in that sense, than you or i. he is simply different—damnably different."
gregg laughed softly. "well, that is only another way of saying what i have already said. you seem to regard the clockwork man as a sort of offence; he upsets your sense of decency. to me he is profoundly interesting. i accept him, and all that his curious constitution implies. think of the triumph for the human brain. for man, thanks to[pg 180] this stupendous invention of the clock, has actually enlarged the universe."
"a multiform world," murmured the doctor, recollecting the clockwork man's description, "a world of many dimensions."
"yes," echoed gregg enthusiastically, "a multiform world. a world in which man moves as he will, grows as he will, behaves in every way exactly as he wills. a world set free! think of what it means!"
"stop," cried the doctor, and there was almost anger in his features as he leapt to his feet. "it is you who are raving now. how can there exist such a world? and what plight has overtaken the human race, that it is now dependent upon mechanical contrivance for its actions! but, no. i refuse to believe that the clockwork man represents the final destiny of man. he is a myth, a caricature, at the most a sort of experiment. this multiform world of which he talks so glibly is an extravagant boast. besides, who would care to live in such a world, and with every action conditioned by an exact mechanism? your optimism about this extraordinary affair amazes me even more than the thing itself. at the best what it means is that man has come to final ruin, not that he has achieved any real mastery of life. if all the creatures in the world eight thousand years[pg 181] hence are indeed clockwork men, then it is because some monstrous tyranny has come to birth in the race of man; it is because some diabolical plan has been evolved to make all men slaves. the clock may make man independent of time and space, but it obviously condemns him to an eternity of slavery. that is why i am still loath to believe in the evidence of my own eyes. that is why any explanation of this phenomenon is better than the obvious one!"
"but the proof," interjected gregg, "you cannot escape from the facts. there lies the clockwork man. explain him otherwise if you can."
"i cannot," groaned the doctor, his face hidden between his hands. and then he looked up quickly, and his eyes cleared. "perhaps, after all, that is the consoling feature of the affair. if the clockwork man were really capable of explanation, then indeed there would be an end to all sanity. but since he is inexplicable, there still remains the chance that we may be able to put all thought of him out of our minds. i tell you, gregg, i can live this down, i can forget this night of horror; but not if there is an explanation to fit the case. not if i can satisfy my reason!"
"as i remarked before," gregg resumed, coolly, "you were not in a fit state to carry[pg 182] out the investigation. you could not bring yourself to accept even the obvious. fortunately you remembered some of the most salient facts. those tubes fitted into the clock, for example; i regard those as highly suggestive. think of it, allingham! the energy of generations compressed into a tube and so utilised by a single individual. for that is what must have happened in the year 8000. the scientists must have discovered means of gathering up and storing nervous energy. everybody has this extra reserve of force. that solved one problem. then there was the question of a better distribution. they had to invent a new nervous system. if we ever have an opportunity of examining the clockwork man thoroughly, we shall find out what that system is. speaking in rough terms, we may assume that it is probably an enlargement of the compass of what we call afferent and efferent impulses. there will also be new centres, both of reflex and voluntary action. each impulse, in this new system, has a longer range of effectiveness, a greater duration in time."
gregg paused abruptly, as though arriving at some crisis in his thought. "it must be so. there is no other explanation to cover what we have seen. man, as we know him, is no more or less than what his nervous system allows him[pg 183] to be. a creature of action, his actions are nevertheless strictly prescribed by the limitations of his neural organism. in the case of the clockwork man we are confronted by the phenomenon of an enormous extension of nervous activity. one imagines terrific waves of energy unimpeded—or, relatively unimpeded—by the inhibitory processes that check expenditure in the case of a normal organism. of course, there must be inhibition of some sort, but the whole system of the clockwork man is on so grand a scale that his actions take place in a different order of time. his relapses, as he describes them, are simply the parallel of that degeneration of tissue which accompanies ordinary human fatigue. that is why his ineptitude appears ghastly to us. again, his perceptions would be different. he would see relatively far more of the universe, and his actions would carry him further and further into the future, far beyond those laws which we have fashioned for ourselves, in accordance with our neural limitations. for, just as man is at the mercy of his nervous system, so his conception of universal laws is the natural outcome of nervous apprehension; and the universe is no more or less than what we think it is."
in his growing excitement gregg rose and paced the floor of the room, walking away[pg 184] from the doctor. he did not hear the slight snigger that broke from the latter; nor had he observed any signs of deeper incredulity in the features of his friend that might have led him to moderate his enthusiasm. he continued, in an exultant voice. "think of what this means! we know the future! the accidental appearance of the clockwork man may save the human race generations of striving and effort in a wrong direction. or rather, it will save us from passing through the intermediate stages consciously, for everything has already happened, and the utmost we can hope is to escape the knowledge of its happening. we shall be able to take a great leap forward into the future. once we have grasped the principle of the clockwork man, the course of humanity is clear. it may still be several thousands of years before the final achievement, but we can at least begin."
"no," thundered the doctor, suddenly leaping to his feet. "by heavens, no. not that!"
gregg swung round with a gesture of annoyance. both men were now pitched to their highest key, and every word that was spoken seemed to be charged with terrific import.
"why not?" said gregg, catching his breath.
the doctor's reply was equally breathless.[pg 185] "because i, for one, refuse to accept such a responsibility. if this monstrosity is indeed the type of the future, then i reject the future. i will be no party to any attempt to reproduce him—for that, i can see, is what lurks in your mind. you would have us all clockwork men before our time! but i tell you, rather than that should happen, rather than the human race should be robbed of a few more generations of freedom, i will take steps to prevent it ever being known that the clockwork man has paid us this visit. i will hide him. not even you shall set eyes on him again. he shall remain an unfathomable mystery. no pagan priest ever guarded the sacred mysteries of life from an unthinking populace as i shall this enigma sprung from the womb of time! nobody shall know. he shall remain in my keeping, a memorial to the final fall of man!"
"but why do you persist in adopting this attitude," demanded gregg, in tones of frank disgust, "it is so frightfully reactionary."
the doctor pulled at his moustache. "i have no use for such phrases," he muttered, angrily, and began striding up and down the narrow floor space. gregg leaned against the wall, his expression still critical.
"i won't have him," the doctor's voice broke out again, and there was a kind of sob in it, "i won't have the clockwork man at any[pg 186] price. every nerve in my body cries out against him. he is the scandal of the ages. he must be hushed up, hidden—forgotten."
"that is already impossible. his exploits are the talk of the village."
"let them talk," cried the doctor, beating his head with his closed fist. "in heaven's name, let them talk the thing into a nine days wonder. let them think he's the devil—anything rather than that they should know the truth. there may be a hundred explanations of this mystery, and yours may be the right one; i only know that i repudiate it. i cannot escape from the evidence of my own eyes; but there is something in me that denies the clockwork man. he sticks in my gorge. call me what you will; i am not to be shaken with phrases. the whole of man's past shrieks out against this monstrous incubus of the future. do not ask me to offer my own explanation of the phenomenon. i have none. in vain i have stretched my brain to its bursting point in order to solve this problem. you, apparently, are ready to accept the clockwork man as a foregone conclusion. time alone will reveal which of us is nearer the truth."
gregg smiled. "after all," he remarked, allowing a suitable pause to follow the doctor's impassioned words, "it will not be for you or[pg 187] me to decide the matter. our humble part will be to produce the object of the problem. wiser men than ourselves will have to interpret its significance."
this statement might have ended the argument for the time being, had not an accident occurred that altered the whole complexion of the affair. gregg had the wisdom to see that his friend was literally beside himself with fright and repugnance; he would have been quite content to await another opportunity for the discussion to be renewed. but at that moment the doctor gave a cry of surprise, and stooping down picked up an object from the floor. the next moment both men were standing side by side, examining with feverish interest a further clue to the mystery.
the object that the doctor picked up from the floor was an oblong-shaped piece of metal, almost as thin as paper, and slightly bluish in colour. upon its surface, printed in red embossed letters, was the following matter:—
the clockwork man.
directions for use.
1. remove hat and wig and disclose clock.
2. open lid of clock by means of catch.
3. place clockwork man in recumbent position, face downwards.
[pg 188]
4. press stops a and b well home, and wind up by turning red hand.
n.b.—great care should be taken not to over-wind.
5. the clockwork man should now sit up and take a little nourishment. this should be supplied at once in the form of two green tabloids (solids) and one blue capsule (liquids). stop c should now be pressed, and the pressure maintained until a red light appears within the bulb x. 1. this registers that digestion has taken place.
on no account must any adjustment be made before the red light has appeared. any attempt to cause function on an empty stomach will result in failure.
the clockwork man is now ready for adjustment. the chart should be studied with care, and a choice made from one of the types indicated. having made a selection, proceed to arrange indicators in accordance with detailed instructions, taking the utmost care to follow the directions with absolute accuracy, as the slightest error may lead to serious confusion. a good plan is to hold the chart in the left hand, and manipulate the regulators with the right, checking each adjustment as it is made.
now wind black central hand fourteen and a half times, press centre knob until bell rings, close lid, replace wig and hat, and clockwork man is ready for action.
[pg 189]
the expression on gregg's face, as he read these amazing instructions, changed slowly from avid curiosity to puzzled alarm. he was frankly embarrassed by this sudden turn of events, and for a few moments he could make nothing at all of the matter. yet the wording was intelligible enough, and its application to the clockwork man only too obvious. the little piece of thin metal must have slipped from his pocket during the doctor's examination, and its discovery was undoubtedly of supreme importance.
but what could it mean? gregg rather prided himself upon the resiliency of his mind, but not all the elasticity of which he was capable could enable him to overcome a sudden sense of uneasiness. was the clockwork man, after all, no more than a very elaborate and highly complex puppet? but how could that be, since he breathed and spoke and gave every sign of the possession of an individual consciousness? considered in this new light he was even more difficult to explain.
but when gregg looked up, rather sheepishly, wary of meeting the doctor's eye, he beheld a sight that sent an uncomfortable thrill down his spine. for the latter lay at full length upon the couch, his chest and stomach rising and falling in the convulsions of that excessive[pg 190] laughter that at first sight raises a doubt of danger in the mind of the beholder—for men have died of mirth. gregg stared at his prostrate friend, and his own countenance was transfixed with alarm. many minutes elapsed before any kind of definite sound brought a relief to the strain; for the doctor's laugh was prim?val; it racked his vitals, shook him from head to foot, began and stopped, proceeded in a series of explosions, not unlike those of the clockwork man himself, until at last it reached the throat and found expression.
"ha! ha! ha!" broke at last upon the silence of the night (and mrs. masters in her top attic heard the noise and thought of the devil climbing over the roofs). "ha! ha! ha! ha!"
gregg pulled himself together and crossed to the couch. he undid the doctor's collar, and forced him to sit up. he thumped his back violently, at first remonstrated and then fell to the use of soothing phrases. for there was still an element of hysteria in the doctor's manner; only now it was a symptom of release from unendurable strain. it was the hilarity of a man who has just saved his reason.
