Sophie Wenzel Ellis

“ HALE was drinking again. "You mean, Sir Basil, that there is a sort of war waged against what you personify as the Mind by matter; that matter is constantly seeking to enslave mind-electrons, so that it may become an organism which, for awhile, may enjoy what we call life?"
Sir Basil pushed back his tufted hair and looked happy. "Yes! And it's Nature's supreme blunder! In the end, the Mind always conquers and gains its release, yet the eternal chain of enslavement goes on and on, and will continue to go on as long as there is a living organism in the world to bind mind to matter." ”

“ Suddenly the scientist threw up his hand and cried: "You see? The Mind will be eternally enslaved as long as there is life! Oh, for the time of deliverance!" He gazed fanatically into space, as though he dreamed magnificently.
Hale observed him thoughtfully. When that great brain weakened, the consequences would be frightful.
SIR BASIL, as though he had made a sudden decision, went over to that part of his machine which he called the molecule-disintegrator.
"Oakham!" he called out. "I have taken you partly into my confidence. Now I want to show you something. Come here." ”

“ Soon Sir Basil gasped and opened his eyes. He stared about him wildly, then gasped:
"I'm dying, Hale Oakham! Quick, the life-machine, before my mind-electron escapes."
He tried to pull his body up, but fell back, weak and panting.
Hale hesitated, looking doubtfully at Aña.
"For God's sake, quick!" screamed Sir Basil. "I'm dying, I say! I must have—rebirth. Lift me to the disintegrator. Hurry!..." His voice trailed off faintly.
"He is dying," snapped Hale. "We might as well try it." He jerked open the door to the disintegrator. "Here, Unani Assu! Lend a hand!" ”

“ Sir Basil showed his teeth in his ugly smile. "A creator is never merciful."
A quiver passed through the Indian's body and presently, he sighed deeply and opened his eyes. He seemed dazed, puzzled. He looked from Hale to the scientist, and turned seeking eyes to other parts of the laboratory.
"Aña!" he called weakly. "Where is Aña?"
He pulled himself a little unsteadily to his feet—to the spatulated, hairy rodent feet that had come out of the life-machine. Staggering, he would have fallen, had he not thrown out his arm to steady himself. ”

“ Will you sit over there by Aña and wait? It won't be long. And, white stranger, remember this: I am your friend. I am turned against none but our common enemy." He pointed significantly to the machine.
TWO hours passed, long, silent hours for the watchers in the laboratory. Aña fell asleep, in a sweet, childish bundle upon the piled cushions, her golden hair, still decorated with the red flowers which she always wore, crushed and withered now. Several times Hale caught Unani Assu gazing at her sadly, and his own look saddened when it rested on the Indian's strong, outraged body. ”

“ And now Hale Oakham, hoping to win one of the Woolman prizes, was here in the country of the Ungapuks, entering the jungle path that lead to the unknown.
Fifty feet from the igarapé, the path curved sharply away from a giant tree. Hale approached the bend with his hand on his gun. Just before he reached it, he stopped suddenly to listen.
A woman's voice had suddenly broken forth in a wild, incredibly sweet song. Hale stood entranced, drinking in the heady sounds that stirred his emotions like masata, the jungle intoxicant. ”

“ But his hand never touched the animal. The hairless face turned for a second, and the little, beady eyes blinked up at Hale with an expression that his fevered imagination thought almost human. Then, like a dark shadow, the rat dashed away. Once around the room it scampered, hunting for an exit. Hale started in pursuit. He was almost upon the animal again, when, leaping up from his grasp, it landed on a low shelf where chemicals were stored. Several bottles fell, filling the room with fumea.
Another bottle fell, and, suddenly, amid a thunderous roar, the ceiling and walls began falling. ”

“ Aña's blue eyes stretched with astonishment. "But I like to touch him, Unani Assu!"
The tall Indian, with a half comical gesture of despair, said:
"Don't misunderstand her, stranger. She is young, very young, ah! And she has known only the reborn men of the Ungapuks."
He stepped firmly over to Aña, and, taking the girl by the arm, drew her away.
"Run ahead," he commanded, "and tell Aimu that we come."
Aña, her feathered bamboo anklets clicking together, sped away.
Unani Assu bowed courteously to Hale.
"Come, stranger. If you are an enemy, it is you who must fear." ”

“ You, I, and all other living organisms are nothing but matter, energy and consciousness. You and I have a larger share of consciousness, because our organic structure permits the mind-electrons greater freedom over the matter than composes our bodies. We are more acutely aware of the universe about us, have a greater facility for enjoyment and suffering, a more intricate brain and nervous system. Yet when our bodies die and our consciousness is released, the mind-electrons enslaved by our atoms go back to the elemental Whole. ”

“ Like atomic electrons, whose equilibrium disturbed break away from their planetary system and go dashing off into space, only to be drawn into another planetary system, the mind-electron may be enslaved almost immediately by extraneous matter. Had Unani Assu died, his liberated mind-electron might at once have been captured by a jungle flower going to seed. Immediately a new seed would be started. And now the former Unani Assu would be a seed of a jungle flower, later to find new life as a plant. ”

“ And now tell me this: are you one of those scientists whose minds are so mechanical, so mathematically made, as it were, that your entire outlook on science is based on old, established beliefs, or do you belong to that rare but modern type of trained thinker and dreamer who refuse to permit yesterday's convictions to influence to-day's visions? ”

“ The light waves will forever prevent us from actually seeing the atom. But I have perfected a system of photography which magnifies particles smaller than light waves, and, separating their images from the light waves, renders detail clear in the moving pictures. ”

“ TTHE two batalões turned from the open waters of the lower Tapajos River into the igarapé, the lily-smothered shallows that often mark an Indian settlement in the jungles of Brazil. One of the two half-breed rubber-gatherers suddenly stopped his batalõe by thrusting a paddle against a giant clump of lilies. In a corruption of the Tupi dialect, he called over to the white man occupying the other frail craft.
"We dare go no farther, master. The country of the Ungapuks is bewitched. It is too dangerous." ”