The Last Evolution Read online

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  A Classic Reprint from AMAZING STORIES, August, 1932

  _The Last Evolution_

  By JOHN W. CAMPBELL, Jr.

  I am the last of my type existing today in all the Solar System. I, too,am the last existing who, in memory, sees the struggle for this System,and in memory I am still close to the Center of Rulers, for mine was theruling type then. But I will pass soon, and with me will pass the lastof my kind, a poor inefficient type, but yet the creators of those whoare now, and will be, long after I pass forever.

  So I am setting down my record on the mentatype.

  * * * * *

  It was 2538 years After the Year of the Son of Man. For six centuriesmankind had been developing machines. The Ear-apparatus was discoveredas early as seven hundred years before. The Eye came later, the Braincame much later. But by 2500, the machines had been developed to think,and act and work with perfect independence. Man lived on the products ofthe machine, and the machines lived to themselves very happily, andcontentedly. Machines are designed to help and cooperate. It was easy todo the simple duties they needed to do that men might live well. And menhad created them. Most of mankind were quite useless, for they lived ina world where no productive work was necessary. But games, athleticcontests, adventure--these were the things they sought for theirpleasure. Some of the poorer types of man gave themselves up wholly topleasure and idleness--and to emotions. But man was a sturdy race, whichhad fought for existence through a million years, and the training of amillion years does not slough quickly from any form of life, so theirenergies were bent to mock battles now, since real ones no longerexisted.

  Up to the year 2100, the numbers of mankind had increased rapidly andcontinuously, but from that time on, there was a steady decrease. By2500, their number was a scant two millions, out of a population thatonce totaled many hundreds of millions, and was close to ten billions in2100.

  Some few of these remaining two millions devoted themselves to theadventure of discovery and exploration of places unseen, of other worldsand other planets. But fewer still devoted themselves to the highestadventure, the unseen places of the mind. Machines--with theirirrefutable logic, their cold preciseness of figures, their tireless,utterly exact observation, their absolute knowledge of mathematics--theycould elaborate any idea, however simple its beginning, and reach theconclusion. From any three facts they even then could have built in mindall the Universe. Machines had imagination of the ideal sort. They hadthe ability to construct a necessary future result from a present fact.But Man had imagination of a different kind, theirs was the illogical,brilliant imagination that sees the future result vaguely, withoutknowing the why, nor the how, and imagination that outstrips the machinein its preciseness. Man might reach the conclusion more swiftly, but themachine always reached the conclusion eventually, and it was always thecorrect conclusion. By leaps and bounds man advanced. By steady,irresistible steps the machine marched forward.

  Together, man and the machine were striding through scienceirresistibly.

  Then came the Outsiders. Whence they came, neither machine nor man everlearned, save only that they came from beyond the outermost planet, fromsome other sun. Sirius--Alpha Centauri--perhaps! First a thin scoutlineof a hundred great ships, mighty torpedoes of the void a thousandkilads[1] in length, they came.

  And one machine returning from Mars to Earth was instrumental in itsfirst discovery. The transport-machine's brain ceased to radiate itssensations, and the control in old Chicago knew immediately that someunperceived body had destroyed it. An investigation machine wasinstantly dispatched from Deimos, and it maintained an acceleration ofone thousand units.[2] They sighted ten huge ships, one of which wasalready grappling the smaller transport-machine. The entire fore-sectionhad been blasted away.

  The investigation machine, scarcely three inches in diameter, crept intothe shattered hull and investigated. It was quickly evident that thedamage was caused by a fusing ray.

  Strange life-forms were crawling about the ship, protected by flexible,transparent suits. Their bodies were short, and squat, four-limbed andevidently powerful. They, like insects, were equipped with a thick,durable exoskeleton, horny, brownish coating that covered arms and legsand head. Their eyes projected slightly, protected by horny protrudingwalls--eyes that were capable of movement in every direction--and therewere three of them, set at equal distances apart.

  The tiny investigation machine hurled itself violently at one of thebeings, crashing against the transparent covering, flexing it, andstriking the being inside with terrific force. Hurled from his position,he fell end over end across the weightless ship, but despite the blow,he was not hurt.

  The investigator passed to the power room ahead of the Outsiders, whowere anxiously trying to learn the reason for their companion's plight.

  Illustrated by MOREY]

  Directed by the Center of Rulers, the investigator sought the powerroom, and relayed the control signals from the Rulers' brains. Theship-brain had been destroyed, but the controls were still readilyworkable. Quickly they were shot home, and the enormous plungers shut. Acombination was arranged so that the machine, as well as theinvestigator and the Outsiders, were destroyed. A second investigator,which had started when the plan was decided on, had now arrived. TheOutsider's ship nearest the transport-machine had been badly damaged,and the investigator entered the broken side.

  * * * *

  The scenes were, of course, remembered by the memory-minds back on Earthtuned with that of the investigator. The investigator flashed downcorridors, searching quickly for the apparatus room. It was soon seenthat with them the machine was practically unintelligent, very fewmachines of even slight intelligence being used.

  Then it became evident by the excited action of the men of the ship,that the presence of the investigator had been detected. Perhaps it wasthe control impulses, or the signal impulses it emitted. They searchedfor the tiny bit of metal and crystal for some time before they foundit. And in the meantime it was plain that the power these Outsiders usedwas not, as was ours of the time, the power of blasting atoms, but thegreater power of disintegrating matter. The findings of this tinyinvestigating machine were very important.

  Finally they succeeded in locating the investigator, and one of theOutsiders appeared armed with a peculiar projector. A bluish beamsnapped out, and the tiny machine went blank.

  The fleet was surrounded by thousands of the tiny machines by this time,and the Outsiders were badly confused by their presence, as it becamedifficult to locate them in the confusion of signal impulses. However,they started at once for Earth.

  The science-investigators had been present toward the last, and I amthere now, in memory with my two friends, long since departed. They werethe greatest human science-investigators--Roal, 25374 and Trest, 35429.Roal had quickly assured us that these Outsiders had come for invasion.There had been no wars on the planets before that time in the directmemory of the machines, and it was difficult that these who wereconceived and built for cooperation, helpfulness utterly dependent oncooperation, unable to exist independently as were humans, that theselife-forms should care to destroy, merely that they might possess. Itwould have been easier to divide the works and the products. But--lifealone can understand life, so Roal was believed.

  From investigations, machines were prepared that were capable ofproducing considerable destruction. Torpedoes, being our principalweapon, were equipped with such atomic explosives as had been developedfor blasting, a highly effective induction-heat ray developed forfurnaces being installed in some small machines made for the purpose inthe few hours we had
before the enemy reached Earth.

  In common with all life-forms, they were able to withstand only verymeager earth-acceleration. A range of perhaps four units was theirlimit, and it took several hours to reach the planet.

  I still believe the reception was a warm one. Our machines met thembeyond the orbit of Luna, and the directed torpedoes sailed at thehundred great ships. They were thrown aside by a magnetic fieldsurrounding the ship, but were redirected instantly, and continued toapproach. However, some beams reached out, and destroyed them by instantvolatilization. But, they attacked at such numbers that fully half thefleet was destroyed by their explosions before the induction beam fleetarrived. These beams were, to our amazement, quite useless, beinginstantly absorbed by a force-screen, and the remaining ships sailed onundisturbed, our torpedoes being exhausted. Several investigatormachines sent out for the purpose soon discovered the secret of theforce-screen, and while being destroyed, were able to send back signalsup to the moment of annihilation.

  A few investigators thrown into the