in which i salute the statue of god and a psychic expert explores my brain and finds nothing
~1~
the chemical staff called for me at my laboratory to conduct me to the presence of the emperor. at the elevator we were met by an electric vehicle manned fore and aft by pompous guards. through the wide, high streets we rolled noiselessly past the decorated facades of the spacious apartments that housed the seventeen thousand members of the house of hohenzollern.
at times the ample streets broadened into still more roomy avenues where potted trees alternated with the frescoed columns, and beyond which were luxurious gardens and vast statuary halls. on the level of free women the life was one of crowded revelry, of the bauble and delights of carnival, but on the royal level there was an atmosphere of luxurious leisure, with vast spaces given over to the privacy of aristocratic idleness.
an occasional vehicle rolled swiftly past us on the glassy smoothness of the pavement; more rarely lonely couples strolled among the potted trees or sat in dreamy indolence beside the fountains. there was no crowding, no mass of humanity, no narrow halls, no congested apartments. all structure here was on a scale of magnificent size and distances, while by comparison the men and women appeared dwarfed, but withal distinctive in their costumes and regal in their leisurely idleness.
after some kilometres of travel we came to his majesty's palace, which stood detached from all other enclosed structures and was surrounded on all sides by ever-necessary columns that seemed like a forest of tree trunks spaced and distanced in geometrical design.
as we approached the massive doorway of the palace, our party paused, and stood stiffly erect. before us were two colossal statues of glistening white crystal. my fellow scientists faced one of the figures, which i recognized as that of william ii, and i, a little tardily, saluted with them. and now we turned sharply on our heels and saluted the second figure of these twin german heroes. for german it was unmistakably in every feature, save for the one oddity that the teutonic face wore a flowing beard not unlike that of michael angelo's moses. as we moved forward my eye swept in the lettering on the pedestal, "unser alte deutche gott," and i was aware that i had acknowledged my allegience to the supreme war lord--i had saluted the statue of god.
entering the palace we were conducted through a long hall-way hung with floral tapestries. we passed through several great metal doors guarded by stalwart leaden-faced men and came at last into the imperial audience room, where his majesty, eitel i, satellited by his ministers, sat stiff and upright at the head of the council table.
though he had seemed a small man when i had seen him in the dazzling beam of the reflected sunlight, i now perceived that he was of more than average stature. he wore no crown and no helmet, but only a crop of stiff iron grey hair brushed boldly upright. his face was stern, his nose beak-like, and his small eyes grey and piercing. over the high back of his chair was thrown his cape, and he was clad in a jacket of white cellulose velvet buttoned to the throat with large platinum buttons.
formally presented by one of the secretaries we made our stiff bows and were seated at the table facing his majesty across the unlittered surface of black glass.
the emperor nodded to the chief of the chemical staff who arose and read the report of my solution of the protium problem. he ended by advising that the process should immediately replace the one then in use in the extraction of the ore in the industrial works and that i was recommended for promotion to the place to be vacated by the retiring member of the chemical staff and should be given full charge of the protium industry.
emperor eitel listened with solemn nods of approval. when the reading was finished he arose and proclaimed the retirement with honour, and because of his advanced age, of herr von uhl. the old chemist now stepped forward and the emperor removed from von uhl's breast the insignia of active staff service and replaced it with the insignia of honourable retirement.
in my turn i also stood before his majesty, who when he had pinned upon my breast the staff insignia said: "i hereby commission you as member of the chemical staff and director of the protium works. against the fortune, to be accredited to you and your descendants, you are authorized to draw from the imperial bank a million marks a year. that you shall more graciously befit this fortune i confer upon you the title of 'von' and the social privilege of the royal level."
when the formal ceremonies were ended i again arose and addressed the emperor. "your majesty," i said, as i looked unflinchingly at his iron visage, "i beg leave to make a personal petition."
"state it," commanded the emperor.
"i wish to ask that you restore to the royal level a girl who is now in the level of the free women, and known there as marguerite 78 k 4, but who was born on the royal level as a daughter of princess fedora of the house of hohenzollern."
a hush of consternation fell upon those about the table.
"your petition," said the emperor, "cannot be granted."
"then," i said, speaking with studied emphasis, "i cannot proceed with the work of extracting protium."
an angry cloud gathered on the face of eitel i. "herr von armstadt," he said, "the title and awards which have just been conferred upon you are irrevocable. but if you decline to perform the duties of your office those duties can be performed by others."
"but others cannot perform them," i replied. "the demonstration i conducted was genuine, but the formulas i have given were not genuine. the true formulas for my method of extracting protium are locked within my brain and i will reveal them only when the petition i ask has been granted."
at these words the emperor pounded on the table with a heavy fist. "what does this mean?" he demanded of the chemical staff.
"it is a lie," shouted the chief of the staff. "we have the formulas and they are correct, for we saw the demonstration conducted with the ingredients stated in the formulas which armstadt gave us."
"very well," i cried; "go try your formulas; go repeat the demonstration, if you can."
the emperor, glaring his rage, punched savagely at a signal button on the arm of his chair.
two palace guards answered the summons. "arrest this man," shouted his majesty, "and keep him in close confinement; permit him to see no one."
without further ado i was led off by the guards, while the emperor shouted imprecations at the chemical staff.
~2~
the place to which i was conducted was a suite of rooms in a remote corner of the royal palace. there was a large bedroom and bath, and a luxurious study or lounging room. here i found a case of books, which proved to be novels bearing the imprint of the royal level.
despite the comfortable surroundings, it was evident that i was securely imprisoned, for the door was of metal, the ventilating gratings were long narrow slits, and the walls were of heavy concrete--and there being no windows, no bars were needed. any living apartment in the city would have served equally well the jailor's purpose; for it were only necessary to turn a key from without to make of it a cell in this gigantic prison of berlin.
the regular appearance of my meals by mechanical carrier was the only way i had to reckon the passing of time, for it had chanced that i had forgotten my watch when dressing for the audience with his majesty. i wrestled with unmeasured time by perusing the novels which gave me fragmentary pictures of the social life on the royal level.
as i turned over the situation in my mind i reassured myself that the secrecy of my formulas was impregnable. the discovery of the process had been rendered possible by knowledge i had brought with me from the outer world. the reagents that i had used were synthetic substances, the very existence of which was unknown to the germans. i had previously prepared these compounds and had used and completely destroyed them in making the demonstration, while i had taken pains to remove all traces of their preparation. hence i had little to fear of the chemical staff duplicating my work, though doubtless they were making desperate efforts to do so, and my imprisonment was very evidently for the purpose of permitting them to make that effort.
on that score i felt that i had played my cards well, but there were other thoughts that troubled me, chief of which was a fear that some investigation might be set on foot in regard to marguerite and that her guardianship of the library of forbidden books might be discovered. with this worry to torment me, the hours dragged slowly enough.
i had been some five days in this solitary confinement when the door opened and a man entered. he wore the uniform of a physician and introduced himself as dr. boehm, explaining that he had been sent by his majesty to look after my health. the idea rather amused me; at least, i thought, the emperor had decided that the secrets of my brain were well worth preservation, and i reasoned that this was evidence that the chemical staff had made an effort to duplicate my work and had reported their failure to do so.
the doctor made what seemed to me a rather perfunctory physical examination, which included a very minute inspection of my eyes. then he put me through a series of psychological test queries. when he had finished he sighed deeply and said: "i am sorry to find that you are suffering from a disturbed balance of the altruistic and the egotistic cortical impulses; it is doubtless due to the intensive demands made upon the creative potential before you were completely recovered from the sub-normal psychosis due to the gas attack in the potash mines."
this diagnosis impressed me as a palpable fraud, but i became genuinely alarmed at the mention of the affair at the potash mines. i was somewhat reassured at the thought that this reference was probably a part of the record of karl armstadt, which was doubtless on file at the medical headquarters, and had been looked up by dr. boehm who was in need of making out a plausible case for some purpose--perhaps that of confining me permanently on the grounds of insanity. whatever might be the move on foot it was clearly essential for me to keep myself cool and well in hand.
the doctor, after eyeing me calmly for a few moments, said: "it will be necessary for me to go out for a time and secure apparatus for a more searching examination. meanwhile be assured you will not be further neglected. in fact, i shall arrange for the time to share your apartment with you, as loneliness will aggravate your derangement."
in a few hours the doctor returned. he brought with him a complicated-looking apparatus and was followed by two attendants carrying a bed.
the doctor pushed the apparatus into the corner, and, after seeing his bed installed in my sleeping chamber, dismissed the attendants and sat down and began to entertain me with accounts of various cases of mental derangement that had come under his care. so far as i could determine his object, if he had any other than killing time, it was to impress me with the importance of submitting graciously to his care.
tiring of these stories of the doctor's professional successes with meek and trusting patients, i took the management of the conversation into my own hands.
"since you are a psychic expert, dr. boehm, perhaps you can explain to me the mental processes that cause a man to prize a large bank credit when there is positively no legal way in which he can expend the credit."
the doctor looked at me quizzically. "how do you mean," he asked, "that there is no legal way in which he can expend the credit?"
"well, take my own case. the emperor has bestowed upon me a credit of a million marks a year. but i risked losing it by demanding that a young woman of the free level be restored to the royal level where she was born."
"of this i am aware," replied the psychic physician. "that is why his majesty became alarmed lest your mental equilibrium be disturbed. it seems to indicate an atavistic reversion to a condition of romantic altruism, but as your pedigree is normal, i deem it merely a temporary loss of balance."
"but why," i asked, "do you consider it abnormal at all? is there evidence of any great degree of unselfishness in a man desiring the bestowal of happiness upon a particular woman in preference to bank credit which he cannot expend? what should i do with a million marks a year when i have been unable to expend the ten thousand a year i have had?"
"ah," exclaimed the doctor, the light of a brilliant discovery breaking over his countenance. "perhaps this in a measure explains your case. you have evidently been so absorbed in your work that you have not sufficiently developed your appetite for personal enjoyment."
"perhaps i have not. but just how should i expend more funds; food, clothing, living quarters are all provided me, there is nothing but a few tawdry amusements that one can buy, nor is there any one to give the money to--even if a man had children they cannot inherit his wealth. just what is money for, anyway?"
the doctor nodded his head and smiled in satisfaction. "you ask interesting questions," he said. "i shall try to answer them. money or bank credit is merely a symbol of wealth. in ancient times wealth was represented by the private ownership of physical property, which was the basis of capitalistic or competitive society. racial progress was then achieved by the mating of the men of superior brain with the most beautiful women. women do not appreciate the mental power of man in its direct expression, or even its social use; they can only comprehend that power when it is translated into wealth. after the destruction of private property women refused to accept as mates the men of intellectual power, but preferred instead men of physical strength and personal beauty.
"at first this was considered to be a proof of the superiority of the proletariat. for, with all men economically equal, the beautiful women turned from the anemic intellectual and the sons of aristocracy, to the strong arms of labour. believing themselves to be the source of all wealth, and by that right vested with sole political power, and now finding themselves preferred by the beautiful women, the labourer would soon have eliminated all other classes from human society. had unbridled socialism with its free mating continued, we should have become merely a horde of handsome savages.
"such would have been the destiny of our race had not william iii foreseen the outcome and restored war, the blessings of which had been all but lost to the world. the progress of peace depended upon the competition of capitalism, but in peace progress is incidental. in war it is essential. because war requires invention, it saved the intellectual classes, and because war requires authority it made possible the restoration of our royal house. labour, the tyrant of peace, became again the slave of war, and under the plea of patriotic necessity eugenics was established, which again restored the beautiful women to the superior men. and thus by imperial socialism the race was preserved from deterioriation."
"but surely," i said, "eugenics has more than remedied this defect of socialism, for the selection of men of superior mentality is much more rigid than it could have been under the capricious matings of capitalistic society. why then this need of wealth?"
"eugenics," replied boehm, "breeds superior children, but eugenic mating is a cold scientific thing which fails to fan the flame of man's ambition to do creative work. that is why we have the level of free women and have not bred the virility out of the intellectual group. that is also the reason we have retained the free level on a competitive commercial basis, and have given the intellectual man the bank credit, a symbol of wealth, that he may use it, as men have always used wealth, for the purpose of increasing his importance in the eyes of woman. this function of wealth is psychically necessary to the creative impulse, for the power of sexual conquest and the stimulus to creative thought are but different expressions of the same instinct. wealth, or its symbol, is a medium of translating the one into the other. for example, take your discovery; it is important to you and to the state. your fellow scientists appreciate it, his majesty appreciates it, but women cannot appreciate it. but give it a money value and women appreciate it immediately. they know that the unlimited bank credit will give you the power to keep as many women on your list as you choose, and this means that you can select freely those you wish. so the most attractive women will compete for your preferment. we bow before the emperor, we salute the statue of god, but we make out our checks to buy baubles for women, and it is that which keeps the wheels of progress turning."
"so," i said, "this is your philosophy of wealth. i see, and yet i do not see. the legal limit a man may contribute to a woman is but twenty-four hundred marks a year, what then does he want with a million?"
"but there is no legal limit," replied the doctor, "to the number of women a man may have on his list. his relation to them may be the most casual, but the pursuit is stimulating to the creative imagination. but you forget, herr von armstadt, that with the compensation that was to be yours goes also the social privilege of the royal level. evidently you have been so absorbed in your research that you had no time to think of the magnificent rewards for which you were working."
"then perhaps you will explain them to me."
"with pleasure," said dr. boehm; "your social privilege on the royal level includes the right to marry and that means that you should have children for whom inheritance is permitted. how else did you suppose the ever-increasing numbers of the house of hohenzollern should have maintained their wealth?"
"the question has never occurred to me," i answered, "but if it had, i should have supposed that their expenses were provided by appropriations from the state treasury."
dr. boehm chuckled. "then they should all be dependents on the state like cripples and imbeciles. it would be a rather poor way to derive the pride of aristocracy. that can only come from inherited wealth: the principle is old, very old. the nobleman must never needs work to live. then, if he wishes to give service to the state, he may give it without pay, and thus feel his nobility. you cannot aspire to full social equality with the royal house both because you lack divinity of blood and because you receive your wealth for that which you have yourself given to the state. but because of your wealth you will find a wife of the royal house, and she will bear you children who, receiving the divine blood of the hohenzollerns from the mother and inherited wealth from the father, will thus be twice ennobled. to have such children is a rare privilege; not even herr von uhl with his thousands of descendants can feel such a pride of paternity.
"it is well, herr von armstadt, that you talked to me of these matters. should you be restored to your full mental powers and be permitted to assume the rights of your new station, it would be most unfortunate if you should seem unappreciative of these ennobling privileges."
"then, if i may, i shall ask you some further questions. it seems that the inherited incomes of the royal level are from time to time reinforced by marriage from without. does that not dilute the royal blood?"
"that question," replied dr. boehm, "more properly should be addressed to a eugenist, but i shall try to give you the answer. the blood of the house of hohenzollern is of a very high order for it is the blood of divinity in human veins. yet since there is no eugenic control, no selection, the quality of that blood would deteriorate from inbreeding, were there no fresh infusion. then where better could such blood come than from the men of genius? no man is given the full social privilege of the royal level except he who has made some great contribution to the state. this at once marks him as a genius and gives his wealth a noble origin."
"but how is it," i asked, "that this addition of men from without does not disturb the balance of the sexes?"
"it does disturb it somewhat," replied the doctor, "but not seriously, for genius is rare. there are only a few hundred men in each generation who are received into royal society. of course that means some of the young men of the royal level cannot marry. but some men decline marriage of their own free will; if they are not possessed of much wealth they prefer to go unmarried rather than to accept an unattractive woman as a wife when they may have their choice of mistresses from the most beautiful virgins intended for the free level. there is always an abundance of marriageable women on the royal level and with your wealth you will have your choice. your credit, in fact, will be the largest that has been granted for over a decade."
"all that is very splendid," i answered. "i was not well informed on these matters. but why should his majesty have been so incensed at my simple request for the restoration of the rights of the daughter of the princess fedora?"
"your request was unusual; pardon if i may say, impudent; it seems to imply a lack of appreciation on your part of the honours freely conferred upon you--but i daresay his majesty did not realize your ignorance of these things. you are very young and you have risen to your high station very quickly from an obscure position."
"and do you think," i asked, "that if you made these facts clear to him, he would relent and grant my request?"
dr. boehm looked at me with a penetrating gaze. "it is not my function," he said, "to intercede for you. i have only been commissioned to examine carefully the state of your mentality."
i smiled complacently at the psychic expert. "now, doctor," i said, "you do not mean to tell me that you really think there is anything wrong with my mentality?"
a look of craftiness flashed from boehm's eyes. "i have given you my diagnosis," he said, "but it may not be final. i have already communicated my first report to his majesty and he has ordered me to remain with you for some days. if i should alter that opinion too quickly it would discredit me and gain you nothing. you had best be patient, and submit gracefully to further examination and treatment."
"and do you know," i asked, "what the chemical staff is doing about my formulas?"
"that is none of my affair," declared boehm, emphatically.
there was a vigour in his declaration and a haste with which he began to talk of other matters that gave me a hint that the doctor knew more of the doings of the chemical staff than he cared to admit, but i thought it wise not to press the point.
~3~
the second day of boehm's stay with me, he unmantled his apparatus and asked me to submit to a further examination. i had not the least conception of the purpose of this apparatus and with some misgivings i lay down on a couch while the psychic expert placed above my eyes a glass plate, on which, when he had turned on the current, there proceeded a slow rhythmic series of pale lights and shadows. at the doctor's command i fixed my gaze upon the lights, while he, in a monotonous voice, urged me to relax my mind and dismiss all active thought.
how long i stood for this infernal proceeding i do not know. but i recall a realization that i had lost grip on my thoughts and seemed to be floating off into a misty nowhere of unconsciousness. i struggled frantically to regain control of myself; and, for what seemed an eternity, i fought with a horrible nightmare unable to move a muscle or even close my eyelids to shut out that sickening sequence of creeping shadows. then i saw the doctor's hand reaching slowly toward my face. it seemed to sway in its stealthy movement like the head of a serpent charming a bird, but in my helpless horror i could not ward it off.
at last the snaky fingers touched my eyelids as if to close them, and that touch, light though it was, served to snap the taut film of my helpless brain and i gave a blood-curdling yell and jumped up, knocking over the devilish apparatus and nearly upsetting the doctor.
"calm yourself," said boehm, as he attempted to push me again toward the couch. "there is nothing wrong, and you must surrender to the psychic equilibrator so that i can proceed with the examination."
"examination be damned," i shouted fiercely; "you were trying to hypnotize me with that infernal machine."
boehm did not reply but calmly proceeded to pick up the apparatus and restore it to its place in the corner, while i paced angrily about the room. he then seated himself and addressed me as i stood against the wall glaring at him. "you are labouring under hallucinations," he said. "i fear your case is even worse than i thought. but calm yourself. i shall attempt no further examination today."
i resumed a seat but refused to look at him. he did not talk further of my supposed mental state, but proceeded to entertain me with gossip of the royal level, and later discussed the novels in the bookcase.
it was difficult to keep up an open war with so charming a conversationalist, but i was thoroughly on my guard. i could now readily see through the whole fraud of my imputed mental derangement. i knew my mind was sound as a schoolboy's, and that this pretence of examination and treatment was only a blind. evidently the chemical staff had failed to work the formulas i had given them and this psychic manipulator had been sent in here to filch the true formulas from my brain with his devilish art. i knew nothing of what progress the germans might have made with hypnotism, but unless they had gone further than had the outer world, now that i was on my guard, i believed myself to be safe.
but there was yet one danger. i might be trapped in my sleep by an induced somnambulistic conversation. happily i was fairly well posted on such things and believed that i could guard against that also. but the fear of the thing made me so nervous that i did not sleep all of the following night.
the doctor, evidently a keen observer, must have detected that fact from the sound of my breathing, for the lights were turned out and we slept in the pitchy blackness that only a windowless room can create.
"you did not sleep well," he remarked, as we breakfasted.
but i made light of his solicitous concern, and we passed another day in casual conversation.
as the sleeping period drew again near, the doctor said, "i will leave you tonight, for i fear my presence disturbs you because you misinterpret my purpose in observing you."
as the doctor departed, i noted that the mechanism of the hinges and the lock of the door were so perfect that they gave forth no sound. i was very drowsy and soon retired, but before i went to sleep i practised snapping off and on the light from the switch at the side of my bed. then i repeated over and over to myself--"i will awake at the first sound of a voice."
this thought ingrained in my subconscious mind proved my salvation. i must have been sleeping some hours. i was dreaming of marguerite. i saw her standing in an open meadow flooded with sunlight; and heard her voice as if from afar. i walked towards her and as the words grew more distinct i knew the voice was not marguerite's. then i awoke.
i did not stir but lay listening. the voice was speaking monotonously and the words i heard were the words of the protium formulas, the false ones i had given the chemical staff.
"but these formulas are not correct," purred the voice, "of course, they are not correct. i gave them to the staff, but they will never know the real ones--yes, the real ones--what are the real ones? have i forgotten--? no, i shall never forget. i can repeat them now." then the voice began again on one of the fake formulas. but when it reached the point where the true formula was different, it paused; evidently the chemical staff had found out where the difficulty lay. and so the voice had paused, hoping my sleeping mind would catch up the thread and supply the missing words. but instead my arm shot quickly to the switch. the solicitous doctor boehm, flooded with a blaze of light, glared blinkingly as i leaped from the bed.
"oh, i was asleep all right," i said, "but i awoke the instant i heard you speak, just as i had assured myself that i would do before i fell asleep. now what else have you in your bag of tricks?"
"i only came--" began the doctor.
"yes, you only came," i shouted, "and you knew nothing about the work of the chemical staff on my formulas. now see here, doctor, you had your try and you have failed. your diagnosis of my mental condition is just as much a fraud as the formulas on which the chemical staff have been wasting their time--only it is not so clever. i fooled them and you have not fooled me. waste no more time, but go back and report to his majesty that your little tricks have failed."
"i shall do that," said boehm. "i feared you from the start; your mind is really an extraordinary one. but where," he said, "did you learn how to guard yourself so well against my methods? they are very secret. my art is not known even to physicians."
"it is known to me," i said, "so run along and get your report ready." the doctor shook my hand with an air of profound respect and took his leave. this time i balanced a chair overhanging the edge of a table so that the opening of the door would push it off, and i lay down and slept soundly.
~4~
i was left alone in my prison until late the next day. then came a guard who conducted me before his majesty. none of the chemical staff was present. in fact there was no one with the emperor but a single secretary.
his majesty smiled cordially. "it was fitting, herr von armstadt, for me to order your confinement for your demand was audacious; not that what you asked was a matter of importance, but you should have made the request in writing and privately and not before the chemical staff. for that breach of etiquette i had to humiliate you that royal dignity might be preserved. as for the fact that you kept the formulas secret, none need know that but the chemical staff and they will have nothing further to say since you made fools of them." his majesty laughed.
"as for the request you made, i have decided to grant it. nor do i blame you for making it. the princess marguerite is a very beautiful girl. she is waiting now nearby. i should have sent for her sooner, but it was necessary to make an investigation regarding her birth. the unfortunate princess fedora never confessed the father. but i have arranged that, as you shall see."
the emperor now pressed his signal button and a door opened and marguerite was ushered into the room. i started in fear as i saw that she was accompanied by dr. zimmern. what calamity of discovery and punishment, i wondered, had my daring move brought to the secret rebel against the rule of the hohenzollern?
marguerite stepped swiftly toward me and gave me her hand. the look in her eyes i interpreted as a warning that i was not to recognize zimmern. so i appeared the stranger while the secretary introduced us.
"dr. zimmern," said his majesty, "was physician to princess fedora at the time of the birth of the princess marguerite. she confessed to him the father of her child. it was the count rudolph who died unmarried some years ago. there will be no questions raised. our society will welcome his daughter, for both the count rudolph and the princess fedora were very popular."
during this speech, dr. zimmern sat rigid and stared into space. then the secretary produced a document and read a confession to be signed by zimmern, testifying to these statements of marguerite's birth.
zimmern, his features still unmoved, signed the paper and handed it again to the secretary.
his majesty arose and held out his hand to marguerite. "i welcome you," he said, "to the house of hohenzollern. we shall do our best to atone for what you have suffered. and to you, herr von armstadt, i extend my thanks for bringing us so beautiful a woman. it is my hope that you will win her as a wife, for she will grace well the fortune that your great genius brings to us. but because you have loved her under unfortunate circumstances i must forbid your marriage for a period of two years. during that time you will both be free to make acquaintances in royal society. nothing less than this would be fair to either of you, or to other women that may seek your fortune or to other men who may seek the beauty of your princess."
