The Sea-Story Megapack: 30 Classic Nautical Works Read online

  Professor Osborne had been right. The fish of the deep, having a head start on the rest of the world, had evolved to a perfectly unbelievable degree of intelligence. Centuries ago they had built for themselves the exact analog of George Abbot’s bathysphere, and in it they had made much the same sort of exploring trips to the surface that he had made down into the deeps. But their spheres had been constructed to keep in, rather than to keep out, great pressure.

  Their scientists had gathered a wealth of data as to conditions on the surface, and had even seen and studied human beings. But their insatiable scientific curiosity had led them to want to know more about the strange country above them and the strange persons who inhabited it. And so they set about breeding, in their own laboratories, creatures which should be as like as possible to those whom they had observed on the surface.

  Of course, this experiment necessitated their first setting up an air-filled partial vacuum similar to that which surrounds the earth. But they had persisted. They had brought down samples of air from the surface of the sea, and had analyzed and duplicated it on a large scale.

  Finally, through long years, they had so directed—and controlled the course of evolution, in their breederies, as first to be able to produce creatures which could live in air at low pressures, and then to evolve the descendants of those creatures into intelligent human beings.

  Some of the lower types of this evolutionary process, both in the direct line of descent of man, and among the collateral offshoots, had been retained for food and other purposes. Abbot, with intense scientific interest, studied these specimens in the zoo of the underwater city where he was staying.

  Plans had been in progress for some time, among the fish-folk and their human subjects, to send an expedition to the surface. And now the shark masters had fortunately been able to secure alive an actual specimen of the surface folk—namely, George Abbot. The expedition was accordingly postponed until they could pump out of the young scientist all the information possible.

  Abbot was naturally overjoyed at the prospect. This would not only get him out of here—but think what it would mean to science!

  The plans of the sharks were entirely peaceful. Furthermore there were only about two hundred of their laboratory-bred synthetic human beings, and so these could constitute no menace to mankind. Accordingly he enthusiastically assured them that they could depend upon the hearty cooperation of the scientists of the outer earth.

  During all his stay so far in this cave city, Abbot had been permitted to come in contact only with Milli, the members of the Committee of Five, and an occasional guard or laboratory assistant. Yet, in spite of the absence of personal contacts with other members of this strange race, Abbot was constantly aware of a background of many people and tense activity, which kept the wheels of industry and domestic economy turning in this undersea city.

  Although the young man readily accustomed himself to the speech and food and customs of this strange race, his personal modesty and neatness revolted at the loin-cloths and beards of the men; and so, by special dispensation, he was permitted to wear his sailor suit and to shave.

  The Committee of Five, who constituted a sort of ruling body for the city, interviewed him at length, cross-examined him most skilfully and took copious notes. But there seemed to be a strange lack of common meeting ground between their minds and his, so that very often they were forced to call on Milli to act as an intermediary. The beautiful young girl seemed able to understand both George Abbot and the leaders of her own people with equal facility.

  A number of specially constructed submarines had already been built to carry the expedition to the surface. Before it came time to use them, Abbot tried to paint as glowing a picture as possible of life on earth; but he found it necessary to gloss over a great many things. How could he explain and justify war, liquor, crime, poverty, graft, and the other evils to which constant acquaintance has rendered the human race so calloused?

  * * * *

  He was unable to deceive the men of the deep. With their super-intelligence, they relentlessly unearthed from him all the salient facts. And, as a result of their discoveries, their initial friendly feeling for the world of men rapidly developed into supreme contempt.

  But Abbot on the other hand developed a deep respect for them. Their chemistry and their electrical and mechanical devices amazed and astounded him. They even were able to keep sun-time and tell the seasons, by means of gyroscopes!

  Age was measured much as it is on the surface. This fact was brought to Abbot’s attention by the approach of Milli’s twentieth birthday.

  Strange to relate, she seemed to dread the approach of that anniversary, and finally told Abbot the reason.

  “It is the custom,” said she, “when a girl or a boy reaches twenty, to give a very rigorous intelligence test. In fact, such a test is given on every birthday, but the one on the twentieth is the hardest. So far, I have just barely passed each test, which fact marks me as of very low mentality indeed. And, if I fail this time, they will kill me, so as to make room for others who have a better right to live.”

  “Impossible!” exclaimed the young man indignantly. “Why, you have a better mind than those of many of the leading scientists of the outer world!”

  “All the same,” she gloomily replied, “it is way below standard for down here.”

  * * * *

  On the day of the test, he did his best to cheer her up. Dolf also came—she seemed to be an especial protege of his—and gave her his encouragement. He had been coaching her heavily for the examinations for some time previous.

  But later in the day she returned in tears to report to Abbot that she had failed, and had only twenty-four hours to live. Before he realized what he was doing, Abbot had seized her in his arms, and was pouring out to her a love which up to that moment he had not realized existed.

  Finally her sobbing ceased, and she smiled through her tears.

  “George, dear,” said she, “it is worth dying, to know that you care for me like this.”

  “I won’t let them kill you!” asserted the young man belligerently. “They owe me something for the assistance which I am to give them on their expedition. I shall demand your life as the price of my cooperation. Besides, you are the only one of all your people who has brains enough to understand what I tell them about the outer earth. It is they who are weak-minded; not you!”

  But she sadly shook her head.

  “It would never do for you to sponsor me,” said she, “for it would alienate my one friend in power, Dolf. He loves me; no, don’t scowl, for I do not love him. But, for the safety of both of us, we must not let him know of our love—yet.”

  “‘Yet’?” exclaimed Abbot, “when you have less than a day to live?”

  “You have given me hope,” the girl replied, “and also an idea. Dolf promised to appeal to the other members of the Five. I have just thought of a good ground for his appeal; namely, my ability to translate your clumsy description into a form suited to the high intelligence of our superiors.”

  “‘Clumsy’?” exclaimed the young man, a bit nettled.

  “Oh, pardon me, dear. I’m so sorry,” said she contritely. “I didn’t mean to let it slip. And now I must rush to Dolf and tell him my idea.”

  “Don’t let him make love to you, though!” admonished Abbot gloomily.

  She kissed him lightly, and fled.

  * * * *

  A half hour later she was back, all smiles. The idea had gone across big. Dolf, as the leader of the projected expedition, had demanded that Milli be brought along as liaison officer between them and their guide; and the other four committeemen had reluctantly acceded. The execution was accordingly indefinitely postponed.

  The young couple spent the evening making happy plans for their life together on the outer earth, for as soon as they should arrive in America, Dolf would have no further hold over them.

  The next day, the Committee of Five announced that, for a change, they were g
oing to give George Abbot an intelligence test. He had represented himself as being one of the scientists of the outer earth; accordingly, they could gauge the caliber of his fellow countrymen by determining his I. Q.

  Milli was quite agitated when this program was announced, but the ordeal held no terrors for George Abbot. Had he not taken many such tests on earth and passed them easily?

  So he appeared before the Committee of Five with a rather cocky air. He had yet to see an intelligence test too tricky for him to eat alive.

  “Start him with something easy,” suggested Dolf. “Perhaps they don’t have tests on the outer earth. You know, one gains a certain facility by practice.”

  “Milli didn’t, in spite of all the practicing which you gave her,” maliciously remarked Thig.

  Dolf glowered at him.

  “What is the cube root of 378?” suddenly asked one of the other members of the committee.

  “Oh, a little over seven,” hazarded Abbot.

  “Come, come,” boomed Thig: “give it to us exactly.”

  “Well, seven-point-two, I guess.”

  “Don’t guess. Give it exact, to four decimal places.”

  “In my head?” asked Abbot incredulously.

  “Certainly!” replied Thig. “Even a child could do that. We’re giving you easy questions to start with.”

  “Start him on square root,” suggested Dolf kindly. “Remember he isn’t used to these tests like our people are.”

  So they tried him with square root, in which he turned out to be equally dumb.

  Abstract questions of physics and chemistry he did better on; but the actual quantitative problems, which they expected him to solve in his head, stumped him completely.

  Then they asked him about education on earth, and the qualifications for becoming a scientist, and who were the leaders in his field, and what degrees they held, and what one had to do to get those degrees, etc. Finally they dismissed him. Dolf then sent for Milli.

  She was gone about an hour, and returned to Abbot wide-eyed and incredulous.

  “Oh, George,” said she, lowering her voice. “Dolf tells me that your intelligence is below that of a five-year-old child! Perhaps that is why you and I get along so well together: we are both morons.”

  He started to protest, but she silenced him with a gesture and hurried on. “I am not supposed to tell you this, but I want you to know that your examination today has resulted in a complete change in their plans for the expedition to the surface. They have consulted with the leaders of our masters, and they agree with them.”

  She was plainly agitated.

  “What is it, dear?” asked Abbot, with ominous foreboding.

  Milli continued: “Early during your test, when you demonstrated that you couldn’t do the very simplest mathematical problems in your head, they began to doubt your boastings that you are a scientist. But you were so ingenuous in your answers about conditions on the surface, that finally their faith in your honesty returned. If you are a scientist among men, as they now believe, then the average run of your people must be mere animals. This explains what has puzzled them before; namely, how the people of the earth tolerate poverty and unemployment and crime, and disease and war.”

  “Well?”

  “And so a mere handful of our people, by purely peaceful means, could easily make themselves the rulers of the earth. Probably this would be all for the best; but somehow, my feelings tell me that it is not. I know only too well what it is to be an inferior among intelligent beings; so will not your people be happier, left alone to their stupidity, just as I would be?”

  George Abbot was crushed. This frank acceptance by Milli of the alleged fact that he was a mere moron, was most humiliating. And swiftly he realized what a real menace to the earth, was this contemplated invasion from the deeps.

  All that was worst in the world above would taint these intellectual giants of the undersea. They would rise to supremacy, and then would become rapacious tyrants over those whom they would regard as being no more than animals.

  He had witnessed jealousies among them down below. Might not these jealousies flame into huge wars when translated to the world above? Giants striving for mastery, using the human cattle as cannon fodder! He painted to the girl a word-picture of the horrible vision which he foresaw.

  The invasion must be stopped at all costs! He and Milli must pit their puny wits against these supermen!

  But what could they do? As they were pondering this problem, a girl entered their sitting room—the same who had brought Abbot’s breakfast on his first day in the caves. Milli introduced George to the newcomer, whose name was Romehl.

  Romehl appeared so woebegone that the young American ventured to inquire if she too had been having difficulty with one of her tests. But that was not the trouble; hers was rather of the heart.

  About the same age as Milli, Romehl had recently passed her twentieth birthday test and hence was eligible to marry; so she and a young man named Hakin had requested the fish-masters to give them the requisite permission. But their overlords for some reason had peremptorily denied the request. Romehl and Hakin were desolate.

  Young Abbot’s sympathies were at once aroused.

  “Can’t something be done?” he started to ask.

  But Milli silenced him with a warning glance. “Of course not!” she said. “Who are we to question the judgment of our all-knowing masters?”

  Romehl had really come to Milli just to pour her troubles into a friendly ear, rather than because she hoped to get any helpful ideas. So she had a good cry, and finally left, somewhat comforted.

  George and Milli then took up again the problem of saving the outer earth from the threatened invasion. Milli suggested that they go peaceably with the expedition, and then warn the authorities of America at the first opportunity after their arrival; but Abbot pointed out that this would merely result in their both being shut up in some insane asylum, as no one would believe such a crazy story as theirs.

  The time for lights to be put out arrived without their thinking of any better idea.

  Next day Milli spent considerable time with Dolf, and on her return excitedly informed Abbot that he had evolved a most diabolical plot. There were sufficient quantities of explosives in storage to blast a hole through the wall of the caves, letting in the sea and killing everyone in the city. Dolf planned to set this off with a time fuse, upon the departure of the expedition. Thus Thig and the people who were left behind—about two-thirds of the total population of the city—would be destroyed, and the fish would have no one to send after Dolf and his followers to dictate to them on the upper earth.

  Relieved of the thraldom of the fish, Dolf could make himself Emperor of the World, and rule over the human cattle, with Milli at his side as Empress. An alluring program—from Dolf’s point of view.

  “I didn’t expect such treason even from Dolf!” exclaimed the young American. “We must tell Thig!”

  “What good would that do?” remonstrated the girl. “If you failed to convince Thig, Dolf would make an end of us both. And if you convinced Thig, it would mean the end of Dolf, whose influence is all that keeps me alive. We must think of something else.”

  “Right, as always,” replied Abbot.

  A growl came from the doorway. It was Dolf, his bearded face black with wrath.

  “So?” he sputtered. “Treachery, eh?”

  He whistled twice and two guards appeared.

  “Take them to the prison!” he raged, indicating Abbot and Milli. “Our expedition will have to do without a guide. I have learned enough of the American language to make a good start, and I guess I can pick up another guide when we reach the surface.” Then, bending close to the frightened girl, he whispered, “And another Empress.”

  The guards hustled them away and locked them up. As an added precaution, a sentinel was posted in front of each cell door.

  Abbot immediately got busy.

  “Can you get word for me at once to Thig?” h
e whispered to the man on guard.

  “Perhaps,” replied that individual non-committally.

  “Then tell him,” said Abbot, “that I have proof that Dolf is planning to destroy this city behind him, and never return from the surface.”

  The sentry became immediately agitated.

  “So you know this?” he exclaimed. “How did it leak out? But—through Milli, of course. And the guard on her cell is not a member of the expedition! Curses! I must get word to Dolf, and have that guard changed at once.”

  And he darted swiftly away.

  * * * *

  The young prisoner was plunged into gloom. Now he’d gone and done it! Why hadn’t he first made appropriate inquiries of his guard?

  A new guard appeared in front of the door.

  “Are you going on the expedition?” asked Abbot.

  “Yes, worse luck,” replied the guard.

  The prisoner forgot his own gloom, in his surprise at the gloominess of the other.

  “Don’t you want to go?” he exclaimed incredulously.

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Do you know Romehl?” asked the guard.

  “Yes,” Abbot replied.

  “Well, that’s why.”

  “Then you must be Hakin!” exclaimed Abbot, with sudden understanding.

  “Yes,” replied the other dully.

  “You are going on the expedition, and Romehl is not?”

  “Quite correct.”

  “Say, look here!” exclaimed Abbot, and then he launched into the description of a plan, which just that moment had occurred to him, for him, Milli, Romehl and Hakin to make their getaway ahead of the expedition—in fact, that very night—and to set off the time-fuse before leaving.

  It turned out that Hakin knew where the explosives were planted, and where the submarines were kept, and even how to operate them. He eagerly accepted the plan; and when next relieved as sentinel, he hurried away to inform Romehl.

  Three hours later he was back on post. Quickly he explained to his prisoner all about the workings of the submarines of the expedition. The lights-out bell rang, and all the city became dark, except for dim lights in the passageways. Hakin at once unlocked the door of Abbot’s cell, and together the two young men sneaked down the corridor to the cell where Milli was confined.