Part 17 (1/2)

'Okay,' I said 'I'll cut it out; I promise I will.'

But The Brain was not to be pacified. No doubt that it had further developed mentally in these past few days to the tune of years in human development. But the progress wasn't as noticeable as it had been on previous occasions because apparently The Brain had entered that period where in human terms young men are sowing their wild oats. There was a radical recklessness in the manner of The Brain's reasonings more frightening than ever before because it had outgrown me as a teacher, had lost much even of its confidence in me and seemed bent upon independence and coming into its own:

'Seven creatures approximately human in shape were led by you through My hemispheres the night of Nov. 20th. What were those?'

'Those were politicians,' I stammered.

The 'green dancer' convulsed at the word and The Brain's voice sounded icy as it said: 'Lowest form of animal life which has ever come to my observance. What did they want?'

'Well, they are not exactly bright,' I winced, 'but they are well meaning and they are very popular. They came to inspect You preliminary to the pa.s.sing of the Brainpower-Extension-Bill.'

The Brain has no laughter, so the roar I heard over the phones must have been one of scorn:

'What, not the scientists, not the technicians, not even the philosophers but these--these animated porkbarrels are pa.s.sing judgment over the extent of _My_ power? They are holding _My_ fate in that atrophied ganglion of theirs which couldn't cerebrate the functions of any single of My cells?'

I had to admit that this was so.

There was a pause in which I could only hear the pounding pulse of The Brain mingled with heavy breathing like the first gust of an electric storm about to break; and then the voice, or the thought, of The Brain came through hesitantly and with restraint:

'Most devastating statement inadvertently made by Lee. Has to be carefully checked because if true, consequences extremely grave. Wholly intolerable state of affairs if science and technology indeed subject to political imbecility. In that case world ruin in nearest future absolutely guaranteed. Residual currents not sufficient to think this to an end; results of cerebration would be merely human. Immediate necessity seems indicated for complete overthrow and unconditional surrender of the human race--unconditional surrender of the human race--unconditional surrender of the human race....'

Like a scratched disk on one of those old fas.h.i.+oned spring driven grammophones, The Brain's voice expired. Obviously the residual currents had become too weak for further communication. I looked at the clock; it was 2 a.m.

And now as I'm jotting down these notes which probably n.o.body will ever read, I'm haunted with an irrational fear, almost as of the supernatural: something is going to happen, something is going to break if The Brain continues in its present mood; and it cannot be far away....

On Nov. 24th 1960 the ”Brainpower-Extension Bill” was defeated in the Senate 59 to 39 and on the following Thursday in a memorable session of Congress with the startling majority of 310 to 137. For once all the ”guesstimates” and estimates made by the various pollsters and gra.s.s-root-listeners were proved wrong; the consensus of the ”experts”

had been that the bill would pa.s.s easily considering the tremendous political forces which brought pressure to bear in favor of the measure.

The reasons behind this were revealed, as, with military precision, lawmaker after lawmaker took to the rostrum to deliver himself of how he had wrestled overnight with his conscience and with his Lord and had suffered a change of heart and mind as a consequence.

Lee's journal: For the night of Nov. 24/25th shows only this small entry: ”12:30 a.m. Tried everything to establish contact. No answer from The Brain. I don't think there is any mechanical defect. I get the impression that The Brain keeps incommunicado purposely. There has been one previous occasion when The Brain wouldn't talk when angry with me.”

Nov. 25th, 1960 fell on a Sat.u.r.day. It was on this date,--Now as historic and unforgettable as the Dec. 7th 1941,--that the series of maddening events began which later became so erroneously labelled: ”The Amuck running of The Brain” when in truth they should have pa.s.sed into history as ”The Mutiny of The Brain.”

It all started like a thunderclap from a clear sky as the shocked people of America,--and all the world,--heard directly from the White House of this appalling, this unprecedented, this incredible thing:

The President of the United States had disappeared....

The still more shocking truth that the President had been _kidnapped_ became not known, of course, until after the rescue. But even so the disappearance of its President shook the nation.

Then an unprecedented series of traffic disasters. .h.i.t the United States.

A big transcontinental ”Flying Wing” crashed into a mountain in Montana; nothing like this had ever happened since air traffic had become fully automatic and coordinated by The Brain. The death toll was 78 and amongst their tragic number was Senator Mumford, whose last official act had been the vote he had cast against the ”Brainpower-Extension-Bill.”

Near Jacksonville Fla. that same night there occurred a head-on collision between a crack train and a freight. The only surviving engineer by some miracle had been hurled clear, across fifty yards of s.p.a.ce into a pond which broke his impact; this engineer told the express, one of the first to be equipped with the ”automatic pilot”, had never even pulled its brakes as if deliberately smas.h.i.+ng into the other train.