I
The Squadron Leader wondered a little what it was all about. He was ac-customed to being left only partly in the picture. That was Security’s do-ing, he supposed. Taking no chances. He’d done this sort of thing beforemore than once. Flying a plane of people out to an unlikely spot, with un-likely passengers, being careful to ask no questions except such as were ofan entirely1 factual nature. He knew some of his passengers on this flightbut not all of them. Lord Altamount he recognized. An ill man, a very sickman, he thought, a man who, he judged, kept himself alive by sheer will-power. The keen hawk-faced man with him was his special guard dog,presumably. Seeing not so much to his safety as to his welfare. A faithfuldog who never left his side. He would have with him restoratives, stimu-lants, all the medical box of tricks. The Squadron Leader wondered whythere wasn’t a doctor also in attendance. It would have been an extra pre-caution. Like a death’s head, the old man looked. A noble death’s head.
Something made of marble in a museum. Henry Horsham the SquadronLeader knew quite well. He knew several of the Security lot. And ColonelMunro, looking slightly less fierce than usual, rather more worried. Notvery happy on the whole. There was also a large, yellow-faced man. For-eigner, he might be. Asiatic? What was he doing, flying in a plane to theNorth of Scotland? The Squadron Leader said deferentially2 to ColonelMunro:
‘Everything laid on, sir? The car is here waiting.’
‘How far exactly is the distance?’
‘Seventeen miles, sir, roughish road but not too bad. There are extrarugs in the car.’
‘You have your orders? Repeat, please, if you will, Squadron Leader An-drews.’
The Squadron Leader repeated and the Colonel nodded satisfaction. Asthe car finally drove off, the Squadron Leader looked after it, wonderingto himself why on earth those particular people were here on this driveover the lonely moor3 to a venerable old castle where a sick man lived as arecluse without friends or visitors in the general run of things. Horshamknew, he supposed. Horsham must know a lot of strange things. Oh well,Horsham wasn’t likely to tell him anything.
The car was well and carefully driven. It drew up at last over a graveldriveway and came to a stop before the porch. It was a turreted4 buildingof heavy stone. Lights hung at either side of the big door. The door itselfopened before there was any need to ring a bell or demand admittance.
An old Scottish woman of sixty-odd with a stern, dour5 face, stood in thedoorway. The chauffeur6 helped the occupants out.
James Kleek and Horsham helped Lord Altamount to alight and suppor-ted him up the steps. The old Scottish woman stood aside and dropped arespectful curtsy to him. She said:
‘Good evening, y’r lordship. The master’s waiting for you. He knowsyou’re arriving, we’ve got rooms prepared and fires for you in all of them.’
Another figure had arrived in the hall now. A tall lean woman betweenfifty and sixty, a woman who was still handsome. Her black hair was par-ted in the middle, she had a high forehead, an aquiline7 nose and a tannedskin.
‘Here’s Miss Neumann to look after you,’ said the Scottish woman.
‘Thank you, Janet,’ said Miss Neumann. ‘Be sure the fires are kept up inthe bedrooms.’
‘I will that.’
Lord Altamount shook hands with her.
‘Good evening, Miss Neumann.’
‘Good evening, Lord Altamount. I hope you are not too tired by yourjourney.’
‘We had a very good flight. This is Colonel Munro, Miss Neumann. Thisis Mr Robinson, Sir James Kleek and Mr Horsham, of the Security Depart-ment.’
‘I remember Mr Horsham from some years ago, I think.’
‘I hadn’t forgotten,’ said Henry Horsham. ‘It was at the Leveson Founda-tion. You were already, I think, Professor Shoreham’s secretary at thattime?’
‘I was first his assistant in the laboratory, and afterwards his secretary. Iam still, as far as he needs one, his secretary. He also has to have a hos-pital nurse living here more or less permanently8. There have to bechanges from time to time–Miss Ellis who is here now took over from MissBude only two days ago. I have suggested that she should stay near athand to the room in which we ourselves shall be. I thought you wouldprefer privacy, but that she ought not to be out of call in case she wasneeded.’
‘Is he in very bad health?’ asked Colonel Munro.
‘He doesn’t actually suffer,’ said Miss Neumann, ‘but you must prepareyourself, if you have not seen him, that is, for a long time. He is only whatis left of a man.’
‘Just one moment before you take us to him. His mental processes arenot too badly depleted9? He can understand what one says to him?’
‘Oh, yes, he can understand perfectly10, but as he is semi-paralysed, he isunable to speak with much clarity, though that varies, and is unable towalk without help. His brain, in my opinion, is as good as ever it was. Theonly difference is that he tires very easily now. Now, would you like somerefreshment first?’
‘No,’ said Lord Altamount. ‘No, I don’t want to wait. This is a rather ur-gent matter on which we have come, so if you will take us to him now–heexpects us, I understand?’
‘He expects you, yes,’ said Lisa Neumann.
She led the way up some stairs, along a corridor and opened a room ofmedium size. It had tapestries11 on the wall, the heads of stags looked downon them, the place had been a one-time shooting-box. It had been littlechanged in its furnishing or arrangements. There was a big record-playeron one side of the room.
The tall man sat in a chair by the fire. His head trembled a little, so didhis left hand. The skin of his face was pulled down one side. Without beat-ing about the bush, one could only describe him one way, as a wreck12 of aman. A man who had once been tall, sturdy, strong. He had a fine fore-head, deep-set eyes, and a rugged13, determined-looking chin. The eyes, be-low the heavy eyebrows14, were intelligent. He said something. His voicewas not weak, it made fairly clear sounds but not always recognizableones. The faculty15 of speech had only partly gone from him, he was still un-derstandable.
Lisa Neumann went to stand by him, watching his lips, so that she couldinterpret what he said if necessary.
‘Professor Shoreham welcomes you. He is very pleased to see you here,Lord Altamount, Colonel Munro, Sir James Kleek, Mr Robinson and MrHorsham. He would like me to tell you that his hearing is reasonably good.
Anything you say to him he will be able to hear. If there is any difficulty Ican assist. What he wants to say to you he will be able to transmit throughme. If he gets too tired to articulate, I can lip-read and we also converse16 ina perfected sign language if there is any difficulty.’
‘I shall try,’ said Colonel Munro, ‘not to waste your time and to tire youas little as possible, Professor Shoreham.’
The man in the chair bent17 his head in recognition of the words.
‘Some questions I can ask of Miss Neumann.’
Shoreham’s hand went out in a faint gesture towards the woman stand-ing by his side. Sounds came from his lips, again not quite recognizable tothem, but she translated quickly.
‘He says he can depend on me to transcribe18 anything you wish to say tohim or I to you.’
‘You have, I think, already received a letter from me,’ said ColonelMunro.
‘That is so,’ said Miss Neumann. ‘Professor Shoreham received your let-ter and knows its contents.’
A hospital nurse opened the door just a crack–but she did not come in.
She spoke19 in a low whisper:
‘Is there anything I can get or do, Miss Neumann? For any of the guestsor for Professor Shoreham?’
‘I don’t think there is anything, thank you, Miss Ellis. I should be glad,though, if you could stay in your sitting-room20 just along the passage, incase we should need anything.’
‘Certainly–I quite understand.’ She went away, closing the door softly.
‘We don’t want to lose time,’ said Colonel Munro. ‘No doubt ProfessorShoreham is in tune21 with current affairs.’
‘Entirely so,’ said Miss Neumann, ‘as far as he is interested.’
‘Does he keep in touch with scientific advancements22 and such things?’
Robert Shoreham’s head shook slightly from side to side. He himselfanswered.
‘I have finished with all that.’
‘But you know roughly the state the world is in? The success of what iscalled the Revolution of Youth. The seizing of power by youthful fully-equipped forces.’
Miss Neumann said, ‘He is in touch entirely with everything that is goingon–in a political sense, that is.’
‘The world is now given over to violence, pain, revolutionary tenets, astrange and incredible philosophy of rule by an anarchic minority.’
A faint look of impatience23 went across the gaunt face.
‘He knows all that,’ said Mr Robinson, speaking unexpectedly. ‘No needto go over a lot of things again. He’s a man who knows everything.’
He said:
‘Do you remember Admiral Blunt?’
Again the head bowed. Something like a smile showed on the twistedlips.
‘Admiral Blunt remembers some scientific work you had done on a cer-tain project–I think project is what you call these things? Project Benvo.’
They saw the alert look which came into the eyes.
‘Project Benvo,’ said Miss Neumann. ‘You are going back quite a longtime, Mr Robinson, to recall that.’
‘It was your project, wasn’t it?’ said Mr Robinson.
‘Yes, it was his project.’ Miss Neumann now spoke more easily for him,as a matter of course.
‘We cannot use nuclear weapons, we cannot use explosives or gas orchemistry, but your project, Project Benvo, we could use.’
There was silence and nobody spoke. And then again the queer distor-ted sounds came from Professor Shoreham’s lips.
‘He says, of course,’ said Miss Neumann, ‘Benvo could be used success-fully in the circumstances in which we find ourselves–’
The man in the chair had turned to her and was saying something toher.
‘He wants me to explain it to you,’ said Miss Neumann. ‘Project B, latercalled Project Benvo, was something that he worked upon for many yearsbut which at last he laid aside for reasons of his own.’
‘Because he had failed to make his project materialize?’
‘No, he had not failed,’ said Lisa Neumann. ‘We had not failed. I workedwith him on this project. He laid it aside for certain reasons, but he did notfail. He succeeded. He was on the right track, he developed it, he tested itin various laboratory experiments, and it worked.’ She turned to ProfessorShoreham again, made a few gestures with her hand, touching24 her lips,ear, mouth in a strange kind of code signal.
‘I am asking if he wants me to explain just what Benvo does.’
‘We do want you to explain.’
‘And he wants to know how you learnt about it.’
‘We learnt about it,’ said Colonel Munro, ‘through an old friend of yours,Professor Shoreham. Not Admiral Blunt, he could not remember verymuch, but the other person to whom you had once spoken about it, LadyMatilda Cleckheaton.’
Again Miss Neumann turned to him and watched his lips. She smiledfaintly.
‘He says he thought Matilda was dead years ago.’
‘She is very much alive. It is she who wanted us to know about this dis-covery of Professor Shoreham’s.’
‘Professor Shoreham will tell you the main points of what you want toknow, though he has to warn you that this knowledge will be quite uselessto you. Papers, formulae, accounts and proofs of this discovery were alldestroyed. But since the only way to satisfy your questions is for you tolearn the main outline of Project Benvo, I can tell you fairly clearly ofwhat it consists. You know the uses and purpose of tear gas as used by thepolice in controlling riot crowds; violent demonstrations25 and so on. It in-duces a fit of weeping, painful tears and sinus inflammation.’
‘And this is something of the same kind?’
‘No, it is not in the least of the same kind but it can have the same pur-pose. It came into the heads of scientists that one can change not onlymen’s principal reactions and feeling, but also mental characteristics. Youcan change a man’s character. The qualities of an aphrodisiac are wellknown. They lead to a condition of sexual desire, there are various drugsor gases or glandular26 operations–any of these things can lead to a changein your mental vigour27, increased energy as by alterations28 to the thyroidgland, and Professor Shoreham wishes to tell you that there is a certainprocess–he will not tell you now whether it is glandular, or a gas that canbe manufactured, but there is something that can change a man in his out-look on life–his reaction to people and to life generally. He may be in astate of homicidal fury, he may be pathologically violent, and yet, by theinfluence of Project Benvo, he turns into something, or rather someone,quite different. He becomes–there is only one word for it, I believe, whichis embodied29 in its name–he becomes benevolent30. He wishes to benefit oth-ers. He exudes31 kindness. He has a horror of causing pain or inflicting32 viol-ence. Benvo can be released over a big area, it can affect hundreds, thou-sands of people if manufactured in big enough quantities, and if distrib-uted successfully.’
‘How long does it last?’ said Colonel Munro. ‘Twenty- four hours?
Longer?’
‘You don’t understand,’ said Miss Neumann. ‘It is permanent.’
‘Permanent? You’ve changed a man’s nature, you’ve altered a compon-ent, a physical component33, of course, of his being which has produced theeffect of a permanent change in his nature. And you cannot go back onthat? You cannot put him back to where he was again. It has to be accep-ted as a permanent change?’
‘Yes. It was, perhaps, a discovery more of medical interest at first, butProfessor Shoreham had conceived of it as a deterrent34 to be used in war,in mass risings, riotings, revolutions, anarchy35. He didn’t think of it asmerely medical. It does not produce happiness in the subject, only a greatwish for others to be happy. That is an effect, he says, that everyone feelsin their life at one time or another. They have a great wish to makesomeone, one person or many people–to make them comfortable, happy,in good health, all these things. And since people can and do feel thesethings, there is, we both believed, a component that controls that desire intheir bodies, and if you once put that component in operation it can go onin perpetuity.’
‘Wonderful,’ said Mr Robinson.
He spoke thoughtfully rather than enthusiastically.
‘Wonderful. What a thing to have discovered. What a thing to be able toput into action if–but why?’
The head resting towards the back of the chair turned slowly towardsMr Robinson. Miss Neumann said:
‘He says you understand better than the others.’
‘But it’s the answer,’ said James Kleek. ‘It’s the exact answer! It’s wonder-ful.’ His face was enthusiastically excited.
Miss Neumann was shaking her head.
‘Project Benvo,’ she said, ‘is not for sale and not for a gift. It has been re-linquished.’
‘Are you telling us the answer is no?’ said Colonel Munro incredulously.
‘Yes. Professor Shoreham says the answer is no. He decided36 that it wasagainst–’ she paused a minute and turned to look at the man in the chair.
He made quaint37 gestures with his head, with one hand, and a few gutturalsounds came from his mouth. She waited and then she said, ‘He will tellyou himself, he was afraid. Afraid of what science has done in its time oftriumph. The things it has found out and known, the things it has dis-covered and given to the world. The wonder drugs that have not alwaysbeen wonder drugs, the penicillin38 that has saved lives and the penicillinthat has taken lives, the heart transplants that have brought disillusionand the disappointment of a death not expected. He has lived in the periodof nuclear fission39; new weapons that have slain40. The tragedies of radio-activity; the pollutions that new industrial discoveries have brought about.
He has been afraid of what science could do, used indiscriminately.’
‘But this is a benefit. A benefit to everyone,’ cried Munro.
‘So have many things been. Always greeted as great benefits to human-ity, as great wonders. And then come the side effects, and worse than that,the fact that they have sometimes brought not benefit but disaster. And sohe decided that he would give up. He says’–she read from a paper sheheld, whilst beside her he nodded agreement from his chair–‘“I am satisfied that I have done what I set out to do, that Imade my discovery. But I decided not to put it into circula-tion. It must be destroyed. And so it has been destroyed.
And so the answer to you is no. There is no benevolence41 ontap. There could have been once, but now all the formulae,all the know-how42, my notes and my account of the neces-sary procedure are gone–burnt to ashes–I have destroyedmy brain child.”’
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1
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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deferentially
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| adv.表示敬意地，谦恭地 | |
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3
moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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turreted
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| a.(像炮塔般)旋转式的 | |
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dour
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| adj.冷酷的，严厉的；（岩石）嶙峋的；顽强不屈 | |
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chauffeur
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| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
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7
aquiline
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| adj.钩状的，鹰的 | |
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8
permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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9
depleted
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| adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词 | |
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10
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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11
tapestries
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| n.挂毯( tapestry的名词复数 )；绣帷，织锦v.用挂毯（或绣帷）装饰( tapestry的第三人称单数 ) | |
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12
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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13
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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14
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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transcribe
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| v.抄写，誉写；改编(乐曲)；复制，转录 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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advancements
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| n.（级别的）晋升( advancement的名词复数 )；前进；进展；促进 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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25
demonstrations
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| 证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威 | |
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26
glandular
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| adj.腺体的 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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embodied
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| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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30
benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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31
exudes
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| v.缓慢流出，渗出，分泌出( exude的第三人称单数 )；流露出对（某物）的神态或感情 | |
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inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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component
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| n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的 | |
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deterrent
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| n.阻碍物，制止物；adj.威慑的，遏制的 | |
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35
anarchy
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| n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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38
penicillin
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| n.青霉素，盘尼西林 | |
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39
fission
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| n.裂开；分裂生殖 | |
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40
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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41
benevolence
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| n.慈悲，捐助 | |
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42
know-how
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| n.知识；技术；诀窍 | |
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