Brookings sank back into his chair, shaking visibly. “What are you, anyway? You look like
DuQuesne, and yet . . . ” His voice died away.
“That’s better, Brookings. Don’t ever start anything that you can’t finish. You are and
always were a physical coward. You’re one of the world’s best at bossing dirty work
from a distance, but as soon as it gets close to you, you fold up like an accordion.
“As to what this is that I am talking and seeing from, it is technically known as a
projection. You don’t know enough to understand it even if I should try to explain it to you,
which I have do intention of doing. It’s enough for you to know that it is something that
has all the advantages of an appearance in person, and none of the disadvantages.
None of them-remember that word.
“Now I’ll get down to business. When I left here I told you to hold your cockeyed ideas in
check-that I would be back in less than five years, with enough stuff to do things in a big
way. You didn’t wait five days, but started right in with your pussyfooting and
gumshoeing around, with the usual result-instead of cleaning up the mess, you made it
messier than ever. You see, I’ve got all the dope on you-I even know that you were going
to try to gyp me out of my back pay.”
“Oh, no, doctor; you are mistaken, really,” Brookings assured him, oilily. He was fast
regaining his usual poise, and his mind was again functioning in its wonted devious
fashion. “We have really been trying to carry on until you got back, exactly as you told us
to. And your salary has been continued in full, of course-you can draw it all at any time.”
“I know I can, in spite of you. However, I am no longer interested in money. I never cared
for it except for the power it gave, and I have brought back with me power far beyond
that of money. Also I have learned that knowledge is even greater than power. I have
also learned, however, that in order to increase my present knowledge-yes, even to
protect that which I already have-I shall soon need a supply of energy a million times
greater than the present peak output of all the generators of Earth. As a first step in my
project I am taking control of Steel right now, and I am going to do things the way they
should be done.”
“But you can’t do that, doctor!” protested Brookings volubly. “We will give you anything
you ask, of course, but . . .”
“But nothing!” interrupted DuQuesne. “I’m not asking a thing of you, Brookings-I’m telling
you!”
“You think you are!” Brookings, goaded to action at last, pressed a button savagely,
while DuQuesne looked on in calm contempt.
Behind the desk, ports flashed open and rifles roared thunderously in the confined space.
Heavy bullets tore through the peculiar substance of the projection and smashed into the
plastered wall behind it, but DuQuesne’s contemptuous grin did not change. He moved
slowly forward, hands out thrust. Brookings screamed once -a scream that died away to
a gurgle as fingers of tremendous strength closed about his flabby neck.
There had been four riflemen on guard. Two of them threw down their guns and fled in
panic, amazed and terrified at the failure of their bullets to take effect. Those guards died
in their tracks as they ran. The other two rushed upon DuQuesne with weapons clubbed.
But steel barrel and wooden stock alike rebounded harmlessly from that pattern of force,
fiercely driven knives penetrated it but left no wound, and the utmost strength of the two
brawny men could not even shift the position of the weird being’s inhumanly powerful
fingers upon the throat of their employer. Therefore they stopped their fruitless attempts
at a rescue and stood, dumbfounded.
“Good work, boys,” DuQuesne commended. “You’ve got nerve-that’s why I didn’t bump
you off. You can keep on guarding this idiot here after I get done teaching him a thing or
two. As for you, Brookings,” he continued, loosening his grip sufficiently so that his victim
could retain consciousness, “I let you try that to show you the real meaning of futility. I
told you particularly to remember that this projection has none of the disadvantages of a
personal appearance, but apparently you didn’t have enough brain power to grasp the
thought. Now, are you going to work with me the way I want you to or not?”
“Yes, yes-I’ll do anything you say,” Brookings promised.
“All right, then.” DuQuesne resumed his former position in front of the desk. “You are
wondering why I didn’t finish choking you to death, since you know that I am not at all
squeamish about such things. I’ll tell you. I didn’t kill you because I may be able to use
you. I am going to make World Steel the real government of the Earth, and its president
will therefore be dictator of the world. I do not want the job myself because I will be too
busy extending and consolidating my authority, and with other things, to bother about the
details of governing the planet. As I have said before, you are probably the best
manager alive to-day; but when it comes to formulating policies you’re a complete bust. I
am giving you the job of world dictator under one condition-that you run it exactly as I tell
you to.”
“Ah, a wonderful opportunity, doctor! I assure you that…”
“Just a minute, Brookings! I can read your mind like an open book. You are still thinking
that you can slip one over on me. Know now, once and for all, that it can’t be done. I am
keeping on you continuously automatic devices that are recording every order that you
give, every message that you receive or send, and every thought that you think. The first
time that you try any more of your funny work on me, I will come back here and finish up
the job I started a few minutes ago. Play along with me and you can run the Earth as you
please, subject only to my direction in broad matters of policy; try to double-cross me
and you pass out of the picture. Get me?”
“I understand you thoroughly.” Brookings’ agile mind flashed over the possibilities of
DuQuesne’s stupendous plan. His eyes sparkled as he thought of his own place in that
plan, and he became his usual blandly alert self. “As world dictator, I would of course be
in a higher place than any that World Steel, as at present organized, could possibly offer.
Therefore I will be glad to accept your offer, without reservations. Now, if you will, go
ahead and give me an outline of what you propose. I will admit that I did harbor a few
mental reservations at first, but you have convinced me that you actually can deliver the
goods.”
“That’s better. I have prepared full plans for the rebuilding of all our stations and Seaton’s
into my new type of power plant, for the erection of a new plant at every strategic point
throughout the world, and for interlocking all these stations into one system. Here they
are.” A bound volume of data and a mass of blueprints materialized in the air and
dropped upon the desk. “As soon as I have gone you can call in the chiefs of the
engineering staff and put them to work.”
“I perceive what seem to me to be obstacles,” Brookings remarked, after his practiced
eye had run over the salient points of the project and he had leafed over the pile of
blueprints. “We have not been able to do anything with Seaton’s plants because of their
enormous reserves of power, and his number one plant is to be the key station of our
new network. Also, there simply are not men enough to do this work. These are slack
times, I know, but even if we could get every unemployed man we still would not have
enough. And, by the way, what became of Seaton? He apparently has not been around
for some time.”
“You needn’t worry about Seaton’s plants-I’ll line them up for you myself. As for Seaton,
he was chased into the fourth dimension. He hasn’t got back yet, and he probably won’t;
as I will explain to his crowd when I take them over. As for men, we shall have the
combined personnel of all the armies and navies of the world. You think that even that
force won’t be enough, but it will. As you go over those plans in detail, you will see that
by the proper use of dirigible forces we shall have plenty of man power.”
“How do you intend to subdue the armies and navies of the world?”
“It would take too long to go into detail. Turn on that radio there and listen, however, and