POWER OF MIND
It was night. The visible through the laboratory in the air of the Heaviside layer, for the screen was still up.
The laboratory was now, all save the of the room. There, a of boxes were one on another, and in and ways. And one table in a path of illumination. Behind it Arcot. He was talking to the white group of the table, the scientists of Earth assembled.
"I have our power. It is the power of all the universe—Cosmic Power—which is necessarily than all others combined.
"I cannot the in the time I have at my but the of it, out in two months of effort, you can from the printed work which will appear soon.
"The second thing, which some of you have before, has already been explained. It is, in brief, matter. The two to about it are that it is, that it exist, and that it only where it is to by the there, and else.
"These are all under the new control. Some of you will this last, but think of it under this light. Will, thought, concentration—they are efforts, they energy. Then they can energy! That is the key to the whole thing.
"But now for the demonstration."
Arcot looked toward Morey, who off to one side. There was a as Morey pushed a small button. The had closed. Arcot's mind was now with the controls.
A of appeared. It in density, and was a solid, sphere.
"There is a sphere, a in diameter, ten from me," Arcot. The was there. "It is moving to the left." The moved to the left at Arcot's thought. "It is rising." The rose. "It is to a two across." The to flow, and was a two across as Arcot's voice of continued.
"It is into a hand, like a hand." The into a hand, the bent, the soft, white of a woman with the pink of the and the at the visible. The to into nothingness, the end of the hand was as as are in a dream, but the hand was definite.
"The hand is for the of metal on the floor." The soft, little hand moved, and and the of metal, about it and it and to the table, and it there.
A to another hand. The second hand joined the first, and to work on the bar, and pulled. The under an load. One hand let go, and the of the metal bar's return to its original shape through the room. These men of the twenty-second century what and were, and their strength. Yet it was under these hands. The hands that looked like a woman's!
The was again on the table, and the hands disappeared. There was a thud, and the had opened.
"I can't the power I have. It is impossible. The power is so that nothing of a sun as a demonstration-hall. It is under any conditions. I have matter, and by action.
"I'm now going to you some other we have learned. Remember, I can perfectly the properties of matter, by the it shall have.
"Watch."
Morey closed the relay. Arcot again set to work. A of iron was by a that itself upon it, from nowhere. The iron moved, and settled over the table. As it approached, a that a crucible. The the of pure iron, but it was matter. The iron settled in the crucible, and a of began. The a ball, and colors across its surface, till it was silvery. The opened, and a great of was it. It settled to the floor, and the disappeared, but the metal did not.
"Platinum," said Morey softly. A came from the audience. "Only there, and the had to itself as platinum." He it in any he chose, either or energy of and energy of formation.
The again appeared in the air, and a globe, a of brown. But it changed, and disappeared. Morey the signal. "He will now make the into all the elements, and many elements, unstable, figures." There a long series of changes.
The material again, and again. Finally the last of the natural was left behind, all 104 to man were shown, and many others.
"We will now. This is of weight 7000."
It was a of soft, blackness. One tell from the way that Arcot's mind it that it was soft. It cold, cold. Morey explained:
"It is very soft, for its is so large that it is soft in the state. It is photoelectric, very readily, and since its has so a volume, its are very from the in the rings, and they of very great length; radio and some to affect it. That for its blackness, and the as Arcot has it. Also, since it and them to charges, it to cold, as the Arcot has indicates. Remember, that that is hard as you see it, for it is matter, but Arcot has natural into this figuration.
"It is so in the that its X-ray is well toward the gamma! The can vibrate."
Again the changed—and was gone.
"Too far—atom of weight 20,000 and as space in about it—perhaps the of our space. Atoms of this weight, if up, would two or more that would in our space, then these would be unstable, and into normal atoms. We don't know.
"And one more substance," Morey as he opened the once more. Arcot sat and rested his in his hands. He was not to this strain, and though his mind was one of the most powerful on Earth, it was very hard for him.
"We have a of and practical use now. Cosmium. Arcot will one method of making it."
Arcot his work, seated now. A out, and the of still on the floor. Other of iron were over from the of material ready, and on a that had in the air, of it, of tons. Finally he stopped. There was enough. The itself into a sphere, and contracted, slowly, steadily. It was with energy, energy from it, and the air about was with ionization. There was a of power that into the minds of the watchers, and them the glowing, sphere. The of were now to a ball! Suddenly the energy out violently, a of energy, the air in the entire room, and it with tiny, sparks. Then it was over. The split, and two planes. Between them was a small of a solid. The moved slowly together, and the flattened, and flowed. It was a sheet.
A of took it, and the paper-thin sheet, many square, in the air. It it must under its own weight of tons, but thin as it was it did not.
"Cosmium," said Morey softly.
Arcot it, and pressed it once more tools. It was a plate, thick as cardboard, and two on a side. He set it in a of matter, a of frame, and the to lock.
Taking off the he had worn, he explained, "As Morey said, Cosmium. Briefly, density, 5007.89. Tensile strength, about two hundred thousand times that of good steel!" The audience gasped. That little to men who do not what it meant. An of this would be to than three miles of steel!
"Our new ship," Arcot, "will six-inch armor. Six would be the of eighteen miles of solid steel, with the that it will be concentrated, and so will have than any amount of steel. Its would be the of an eighteen-mile of steel.
"But its most properties are that it we know of. Cosmics, light, and moleculars! It is of photons, as is of light photons, but the makes the enormous. It cannot be by any means save by tools.
"And now I am going to give a of the possibilities of this new agent. Hardly scientific—but amusing."
But it wasn't amusing.
Arcot again the headpiece. "I think," he continued, "that a of the super-natural will be most interesting. Remember that all you see is real, and all are produced by by the energy, as I have explained, and are by my mind."
Arcot had to give this with reason. Apparently a of scientific playfulness, yet he that nothing is so impressive, so as a of science. The scientist to play with his science.
But Arcot's now—it was on a level of its own!
From the table, up the leg came a thing! It was a hand. A horrible, hand. It was and with blood, for it was from its wrist, and as it itself along, moving by a of and thumb, it left a of red it. The papers to be as it passed, across the table, the leg, and toward the light switch! By some of it it, and the room was into half-light as the lights out. Light over the of the door from the alone the hall, but the hand glowed! It glowed, and away with an rustling, into some in the wall. The of the was the of tenseness.
From the wall, through it, came a that as it across. It was to the right, a figure, a glimpsed, but known, for it in its bony, hand a great, scythe. Its on the floor. Stooping walk, gait, the great metal on the floor, as the gray, open in some of its world, bone; dry, bone. Only the to know Life, and it was red with that Life. Slow running, lifestuff.
Death paused, and his head. The from the eyesockets, and they with a that every in the room assume the same pallor.
"The Scythe, the Scythe of Death," the Voice. "The Scythe is slow, too slow. I new things," it in its voice, "new of my tools. See!" The the Scythe, and the as it fell, and their eyes. "Heh, heh," the Thing as it watched. "Heh—what Death touches, as he it." The grinning, wider, in an awful, cavity, rotting, teeth showed. But from under his robe, the hands something—ray pistols!
"These—these are swifter!" The Thing turned, and with a single behind, once more through the wall.
A gasp, a stifled, ran through the hall, a sob.
But far, away they something clanking, its slow way along. Spellbound they to the corner—and looked the long, long road that off in distance. A lone, slowly along it, his him nearer.
Larger and larger he loomed, and the figure, and his burden. Broken, steel, or metal of some sort, and blackened.
"It's over—it's over—and my toys are here. I win, I always win. For I am the of Mars, of War, and of Hate, the sister of War, and my toys are the they behind." It gesticulated, the and now through the haze, they see them—buildings. The of and liners, weapons.
It nearer, the cavernous, under low, brows, clear, the hate, the of Death, the of Disease—all on the Horror that approached.
"Ah!" It had them! "Ahh!" It the buildings, the things, and into a run, toward them! Its changed, the from broken, teeth, the curling, lips, and the of the into a of and hatred. The of its to and twist, the long, thin as it neared. The torn, were visible—nearer—nearer—nearer—
"Oh, God—stop it!" A voice out of the dark as someone to his feet.
Simultaneously with the the Thing into of energy from which it had sprung, and a great of clear, white light came into being in the center of the room, it with a light that the eyes, but nerves.
