First Lensman, E. E. Smith [top 100 novels of all time .txt] 📗

But he could not empty even that comparatively small container⁠—whatever the stuff was, it had a satiety value immensely higher even than old, rare, roast beef! With a sigh of repletion Samms replaced the tankard and turned again to his peculiar host.

“I am convinced. That was real. No possible mental influence could so completely and unmistakably satisfy the purely physical demands of a body as hungry and as thirsty as mine was. Thanks, immensely, for allowing me to come here, Mr.⁠ ⁠… ?”

“You may call me Mentor. I have no name, as you understand the term. Now, then, please think fully⁠—you need not speak⁠—of your problems and of your difficulties; of what you have done and of what you have it in mind to do.”

Samms thought, flashingly and cogently. A few minutes sufficed to cover Triplanetary’s history and the beginning of the Solarian Patrol; then, for almost three hours, he went into the ramifications of the Galactic Patrol of his imaginings. Finally he wrenched himself back to reality. He jumped up, paced the floor, and spoke.

“But there’s a vital flaw, one inherent and absolutely ruinous fact that makes the whole thing impossible!” he burst out, rebelliously. “No one man, or group of men, no matter who they are, can be trusted with that much power. The Council and I have already been called everything imaginable; and what we have done so far is literally nothing at all in comparison with what the Galactic Patrol could and must do. Why, I myself would be the first to protest against the granting of such power to anybody. Every dictator in history, from Philip of Macedon to the Tyrant of Asia, claimed to be⁠—and probably was, in his beginnings⁠—motivated solely by benevolence. How am I to think that the proposed Galactic Council, or even I myself, will be strong enough to conquer a thing that has corrupted utterly every man who has ever won it? Who is to watch the watchmen?”

“The thought does you credit, youth,” Mentor replied, unmoved. “That is one reason why you are here. You, of your own force, can not know that you are in fact incorruptible. I, however, know. Moreover, there is an agency by virtue of which that which you now believe to be impossible will become commonplace. Extend your arm.”

Samms did so, and there snapped around his wrist a platinum-iridium bracelet carrying, wristwatch-wise, a lenticular something at which the Tellurian stared in stupefied amazement. It seemed to be composed of thousands⁠—millions⁠—of tiny gems, each of which emitted pulsatingly all the colors of the spectrum; it was throwing out⁠—broadcasting⁠—a turbulent flood of writhing, polychromatic light!

“The successor to the golden meteor of the Triplanetary Service,” Mentor said, calmly. “The Lens of Arisia. You may take my word for it, until your own experience shall have convinced you of the fact, that no one will ever wear Arisia’s Lens who is in any sense unworthy. Here also is one for your friend, Commissioner Kinnison; it is not necessary for him to come physically to Arisia. It is, you will observe, in an insulated container, and does not glow. Touch its surface, but lightly and very fleetingly, for the contact will be painful.”

Samms’ fingertip barely touched one dull, gray, lifeless jewel: his whole arm jerked away uncontrollably as there swept through his whole being the intimation of an agony more poignant by far than any he had ever known.

“Why⁠—it’s alive!” he gasped.

“No, it is not really alive, as you understand the term⁠ ⁠…” Mentor paused, as though seeking a way to describe to the Tellurian a thing which was to him starkly incomprehensible. “It is, however, endowed with what you might call a sort of pseudo-life; by virtue of which it gives off its characteristic radiation while, and only while, it is in physical circuit with the living entity⁠—the ego, let us say⁠—with whom it is in exact resonance. Glowing, the Lens is perfectly harmless; it is complete⁠—saturated⁠—satiated⁠—fulfilled. In the dark condition it is, as you have learned, dangerous in the extreme. It is then incomplete⁠—unfulfilled⁠—frustrated⁠—you might say seeking or yearning or demanding. In that condition its pseudo-life interferes so strongly with any life to which it is not attuned that that life, in a space of seconds, is forced out of this plane or cycle of existence.”

“Then I⁠—I alone⁠—of all the entities in existence, can wear this particular Lens?” Samms licked his lips and stared at it, glowing so satisfyingly and contentedly upon his wrist. “But when I die, will it be a perpetual menace?”

“By no means. A Lens cannot be brought into being except to match some one living personality; a short time after you pass into the next cycle your Lens will disintegrate.”

“Wonderful!” Samms breathed, in awe. “But there’s one thing⁠ ⁠… these things are⁠ ⁠… priceless, and there will be millions of them to make⁠ ⁠… and you don’t.⁠ ⁠…”

“What will we get out of it, you mean?” The Arisian seemed to smile.

“Exactly.” Samms blushed, but held his ground. “Nobody does anything for nothing. Altruism is beautiful in theory, but it has never been known to work in practice. I will pay a tremendous price⁠—any price within reason or possibility⁠—for the Lens; but I will have to know what that price is to be.”

“It will be heavier than you think, or can at present realize; although not in the sense you fear.” Mentor’s thought was solemnity itself. “Whoever wears the Lens of Arisia will carry a load that no weaker mind could bear. The load of authority; of responsibility; of knowledge that would wreck completely any mind of lesser strength. Altruism? No. Nor is it a case of good against evil, as you so firmly believe. Your mental picture of glaring white and of unrelieved black is not a true picture. Neither absolute evil nor absolute good do or can exist.”

“But that would make it still worse!” Samms protested. “In that case, I can’t see any reason at all for your exerting yourselves⁠—putting yourselves out⁠—for us.”

“There is, however, reason enough; although I am