“No, you’re wrong,” he said. “This gadget2 is an important part of my plan. When I have finished this test I’ll tell you.” Silently he proceeded with the experiment. Presently, with a little shout of triumph, he said, “Got it this time!”
Over a cup of coffee we discussed his plans. He was determined3 to search the whole world in the hope of discovering a few others of his kind, and of suitable age for joining with him in the founding of a little colony of supernormals in some remote part of the earth. In order to do this without loss of time, he said, he must have an ocean-going yacht and a small aeroplane, or flying machine of some kind, which could be stowed on the yacht. When I protested that he knew nothing about flying and less about designing planes, he replied, “Oh yes, I do. I learned to fly yesterday.” It seems he had managed to persuade a certain brilliant young airman to give him not only a joy-ride but a long spell in control of the machine. “Once you get the feel of it,” he said, “it’s easy enough. I landed twice, and took off twice, and did a few stunts4. But of course there’s a good deal more to learn. As for designing, I’m on the job already, and on the yacht design too. But a lot depends on this new gadget. I can’t explain it very well. At least, I can explain, in a way, but you just won’t believe it. I’ve been looking into nuclear chemistry lately, and in the light of my Scotch5 experiences an idea struck me. Probably even you know (though you have a genius for keeping out of touch with science) that there’s the hell of a lot of energy locked up in every atomic nucleus6, and that the reason why you can’t release it is that the unlocking would take a fantastically powerful electric current, to overcome the forces that hold the electrons and protons, and so on, together. Well, I’ve found a much handier key. But it’s not a physical key at all but a psychical7 one. It’s no use trying to overcome those terrific interlocking forces. You must just abolish them for the time being; send them to sleep, so to speak. The interlocking forces, and the disruptive forces too, are just the spontaneous urges of the basic physical units, call them electrons and protons, if you like. What I do, then, is to hypnotize the little devils so that they go limp for a moment and loosen their grip on one another. Then when they wake up they barge8 about in hilarious9 freedom, and all you have to do is to see that their barging drives your machinery10.”
I laughed, and said I liked his parable11. “Parable be damned,” he said. “It’s only a parable in the sense that the protons and electrons themselves are merely fictitious13 characters in a parable. They’re not really independent entities14 at all, but determinations within a system — the cosmos15. And they’re not really just physical, but determinations within a psychophysical system. Of course if you take ‘sapient’ physics as God’s truth, and not as an abstraction from a more profound truth, the whole idea seems crazy. But I thought it worth looking into, and I find it works. Of course there are difficulties. The main one is the psychological one. The ‘sapient’ mind could never do the trick; it’s not awake enough. But the supernormal has the necessary influence, and practice makes the job reasonably safe and easy. The physical difficulties,” he said, glancing at his apparatus16, “are all connected with selecting the most favourable17 atoms to work on, and with tapping the flood of energy as it comes into action. I’m working on those problems now. Ordinary mud from the estuary18 is pretty good for the job. There’s a minute percentage of a very convenient element in it.”
With a pair of tweezers19 he took a pinch of mud from a test-tube and put it in a platinum20 bowl. He opened the trap-door of the workshop and placed the bowl outside, then returned, almost closing the trap-door. We both looked through the opening at the little bowl. Smiling, he said, “Now all you little electrons and protons go to sleep, and don’t wake up till Mummy tells you.” Turning to me, he added, “The patter, I may say, is for the audience, not for the rabbits in the conjurer’s hat.”
An expression of grave concentration came over his face. His breathing quickened. “Now!” he said. There was a terrific flash, and a report like a gun.
John wiped his forehead with a grubby pocket handkerchief, and remarked, “Alone I did it!” We returned to our coffee, and his plans.
“I’ve still got to find some really good way of bottling the energy till it’s wanted. You can’t be at one and the same time hypnotizing electrons and navigating21 a ship. I may simply have to use the energy to drive a dynamo and charge an accumulator. But there’s a more interesting possibility. I may be able, when I have hypnotized the little beggars, to give them a sort of ‘post-hypnotic suggestion’, so that they can only wake up and barge about again in response to some particular stimulus22. See?”
I laughed. We both sipped23 our coffee. I may as well say at once that the “post-hypnotic” system turned out ultimately to be feasible, and was adopted.
“Well, you can see,” he said, “there are great possibilities in this new dodge24 of mine. Now, while the yacht and plane are building, you are to come on the Continent with me. (I’m sure Bertha will be glad to have a holiday from you.) I want to do a bit of research. There’s an obviously supernormal mind in Paris, and one in Egypt, and perhaps others, not too far away. When I have the yacht and plane I’ll do the world tour in search of the rest. If I find a few suitable young things, I’ll voyage in the Pacific to find a satisfactory island for the Colony.”
During the next two months John was absorbed in the practical work of designing the yacht and the plane, perfecting the new power technique, and improving his flying.
At this time he was often to be seen “playing at boats” on the Park Lake or the more boisterous25 Estuary, like any ordinary boy. He was now over eighteen, but in appearance under fifteen. Thus his behaviour seemed quite normal. He produced a large number of models and fitted them out with electric motors or steam engines. These he dispatched across the lake in all weathers, observing their performance with great care. The design was largely determined by the necessity of stowing the plane on board, with wings folded, and by the need for extreme sea-worthiness. John’s final choice was an extraordinary craft which local yachtsmen regarded as a mere12 caricature of a ship. John made a special three-foot model to this design, and fitted her out in great detail. In general shape she was ludicrously broad in the beam, and of shallow draft, in fact an exaggeration of the speed-boat hull26; a sort of cross between a speed-boat and a life-boat, with a saucer somewhere in her ancestry27, and perhaps a flat pebble28 of the “ducks and drakes” type. She was certainly a delightful29 toy; and I feel sure that John thoroughly30 enjoyed her simply as a toy, and had put much more work into her than was needed for mere experimentation31. She represented a vessel32 the size of a small tug33. No detail was omitted from her equipment. There were bunks34 for nine persons, but twenty could sleep on board at a pinch, and she could be handled comfortably by a single navigator. There was a realistic dining-saloon, with tables, chairs, cupboards. There was a latrine, glass portholes, minute navigation controls. These controls could be operated by some sort of radio device on shore. The engine was a fairly detailed35 replica36 of the sub-atomic engine that John intended for the actual ship.
Much entertainment was afforded by the antics which John made his model perform. On the Park Lake he would send her in leisurely37 pursuit of the terrified ducks. On the estuary, when the tide was in, he would stop her far out at sea, and persuade some kindly38 member of the sailing club to salvage39 her in a dinghy. When the sweating oarsman had reached the little derelict, and was putting out his hand to seize her, John (on shore, and half a mile away) would set her going for a yard or two and watch the man’s repeated efforts to recover her. Finally he would let her out at full speed for the shore, and she would return to her master’s hand like a well-trained dog.
John had also been at work on several model planes. He used to spend much time flying them; but in secret, for he feared that, if they were seen performing their surprising antics, they would attract too much attention. He therefore used to retire with them into the wilds of North Wales, by means of his motor-bike or my car. There he would try out his models in the fickle40 mountain winds, their sub-atomic power enabling them to perform feats41 which no elastic-driven model could possibly achieve.
His final choice was a surprising mechanism42, made on the same scale as the model yacht, and capable of being dismantled43 and stowed on board. With this stub-winged instrument he would arouse himself and me by the hour, making it rise from the surface of a “llyn” (it had both wheels and floats), and climb heavenwards, till we had to use a field-glass to follow it. It maintained its equilibrium44 automatically, but was steered45 by radio from the ground. When he had become adept46 in the management of this mechanical bird, he sometimes used it for a modern sort of hawking47, sending the sparrow-like little object in chase of curlews, buzzards and ravens48. This sport needed very delicate perception as well as control. As a rule the quarry50 would hurry away as soon as it realized it was being chased. The plane would then chevy it, or even swoop51 upon its back. But one old raven49 turned to fight, and before John could bring his toy’s superior speed into operation for escape, the raven’s horny neb had slashed52 one of the silken wings, and the plane came tumbling to the heather.
The plans for the yacht and the plane were finished before John reached the age of nineteen. I need not describe how I negotiated with shipbuilders and aeroplane manufacturers, and finally placed orders for the actual construction. I gained the reputation of being a mad millionaire; for the designs appeared to be quite unworkable, and I would not consider any of the objections raised against them. The main trouble was that in both plane and yacht the space allotted53 to the generation of power was by all ordinary standards quite insufficient54. Contracts for the generators55 and machinery were distributed among several engineering firms in such a manner as to arouse as little curiosity as possible.
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1
subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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2
gadget
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| n.小巧的机械，精巧的装置，小玩意儿 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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stunts
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| n.惊人的表演( stunt的名词复数 )；（广告中）引人注目的花招；愚蠢行为；危险举动v.阻碍…发育[生长]，抑制，妨碍( stunt的第三人称单数 ) | |
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5
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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6
nucleus
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| n.核，核心，原子核 | |
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psychical
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| adj.有关特异功能现象的；有关特异功能官能的；灵魂的；心灵的 | |
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8
barge
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| n.平底载货船，驳船 | |
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hilarious
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| adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed | |
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10
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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11
parable
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| n.寓言，比喻 | |
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12
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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fictitious
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| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
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14
entities
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| 实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 ) | |
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15
cosmos
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| n.宇宙；秩序，和谐 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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estuary
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| n.河口，江口 | |
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tweezers
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| n.镊子 | |
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platinum
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| n.白金 | |
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21
navigating
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| v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃 | |
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22
stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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23
sipped
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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ancestry
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| n.祖先，家世 | |
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pebble
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| n.卵石，小圆石 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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experimentation
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| n.实验，试验，实验法 | |
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32
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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tug
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| v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船 | |
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bunks
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| n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话 | |
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35
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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replica
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| n.复制品 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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salvage
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| v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救 | |
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40
fickle
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| adj.(爱情或友谊上)易变的，不坚定的 | |
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41
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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42
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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43
dismantled
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| 拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消 | |
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44
equilibrium
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| n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静 | |
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45
steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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46
adept
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| adj.老练的，精通的 | |
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47
hawking
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| 利用鹰行猎 | |
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48
ravens
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| n.低质煤；渡鸦( raven的名词复数 ) | |
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49
raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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50
quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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51
swoop
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| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
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52
slashed
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| v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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53
allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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55
generators
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| n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司 | |
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