The Last Evolution Read online

backwards, it isperfect." F-1 floated motionless on its anti-gravity drive. Suddenly,force shafts gleamed out, tentacles became writhing masses ofrubber-covered metal, weaving in some infinite pattern, weaving inflashing speed, while the whirr of air sucked into a transmutationfield, whined and howled about the writhing mass. Fierce beams of forcedrove and pushed at a rapidly materializing something, while the hum ofthe powerful generators within the shining cylinder of F-1 waxed andwaned.

  * * * *

  Flashes of fierce flame, sudden crashing arcs that glowed and snapped inthe steady light of the laboratory, and glimpses of white-hot metalsupported on beams of force. The sputter of welding, the whine oftransmuted air, and the hum of powerful generators, blasting atoms werethere. All combined to a weird symphony of light and dark, of sound andquiet. About F-1 were clustered floating tiers of science-machines,watching steadily.

  The tentacles writhed once more, straightened, and rolled back. Thewhine of generators softened to a sigh, and but three beams of forceheld the structure of glowing, bluish metal. It was a small thing,scarcely half the size of Roal. From it curled three thin tentacles ofthe same bluish metal. Suddenly the generators within F-1 seemed to roarinto life. An enormous aura of white light surrounded the small torpedoof metal, and it was shot through with crackling streamers of bluelightning. Lightning cracked and roared from F-1 to the ground near him,and to one machine which had come too close. Suddenly, there was a dullsnap, and F-1 fell heavily to the floor, and beside him fell the fused,distorted mass of metal that had been a science-machine.

  But before them, the small torpedo still floated, held now on its ownpower!

  From it came waves of thought, the waves that man and machine alikecould understand. "F-1 has destroyed his generators. They can berepaired; his rhythm can be re-established. It is not worth it, my typeis better. F-1 has done his work. See."

  From the floating machine there broke a stream of brilliant light thatfloated like some cloud of luminescence down a straight channel. Itflooded F-1, and as it touched it, F-1 seemed to flow into it, and floatback along it, in atomic sections. In seconds the mass of metal wasgone.

  "It is impossible to use that more rapidly, however, lest the matterdisintegrate instantly to energy. The Ultimate Energy which is in me isgenerated. F-1 has done its work, and the memory-stacks that he has putin me are electronic, not atomic, as they are in you, nor molecular asin man. The capacity of mine are unlimited. Already they hold allmemories of all the things each of you has done, known and seen. I shallmake others of my type."

  Again that weird process began, but now there were no flashingtentacles. There was only the weird glow of forces that played with, andlaughed at matter, and its futilely resisting electrons. Lurid flares ofenergy shot up, now and again they played over the fighting, mingling,dancing forces. Then suddenly the whine of transmuted air died, andagain the forces strained.

  A small cylinder, smaller even than its creator, floated where theforces had danced.

  "The problem has been solved, F-2?" asked Roal.

  "It is done, Roal. The Ultimate Energy is at our disposal," replied F-2."This, I have made, is not a scientist. It is a coordinator machine--aruler."

  "F-2, only a part of the problem is solved. Half of half of the beams ofDeath are not yet stopped. And we have the attack system," said theruler machine. Force played from it, and on its sides appeared C-R-U-1in dully glowing golden light.

  "Some life-form, and we shall see," said F-2.

  Minutes later a life-form investigator came with a small cage, whichheld a guinea pig. Forces played about the base of F-2, and momentslater, came a pale-green beam therefrom. It passed through the guineapig, and the little animal fell dead.

  "At least, we have the beam. I can see no screen for this beam. Ibelieve there is none. Let machines be made and attack that enemylife-form."

  Machines can do things much more quickly, and with fuller cooperationthan man ever could. In a matter of hours, under the direction ofC-R-U-1, they had built a great automatic machine on the clear baresurface of the rock. In hours more, thousands of the tiny,material-energy driven machines were floating up and out.

  * * *

  Dawn was breaking again over Denver where this work had been done, whenthe main force of the enemy drew near Earth. It was a warm welcome theywere to get, for nearly ten thousand of the tiny ships flew up and outfrom Earth to meet them, each a living thing unto itself, each willingand ready to sacrifice itself for the whole.

  Ten thousand giant ships, shining dully in the radiance of a far-offblue-white sun, met ten thousand tiny, darting motes, ten thousand tinymachine-ships capable of maneuvering far more rapidly than the giants.Tremendous induction beams snapped out through the dark, star-fleckedspace, to meet tremendous screens that threw them back and checked them.Then all the awful power of annihilating matter was thrown against them,and titanic flaming screens reeled back under the force of the beams,and the screens of the ships from Outside flamed gradually violet, thenblue, orange--red--the interference was getting broader, and ever lesseffective. Their own beams were held back by the very screens thatchecked the enemy beams, and not for the briefest instant could matterresist that terrible driving beam.

  For F-1 had discovered a far more efficient release-generator than hadthe Outsiders. These tiny dancing motes, that hung now so motionlesslygrim beside some giant ship, could generate all the power theythemselves were capable of, and within them strange, horny-skinned menworked and slaved, as they fed giant machines--poor inefficient giants.Gradually these giants warmed, grew hotter, and the screened ship grewhotter as the overloaded generators warmed it. Billions of flaminghorse-power flared into wasted energy, twisting space in its madconflict.

  Gradually the flaming orange of the screens was dying and flecks andspots appeared so dully red, that they seemed black. The greenish beamshad been striving to kill the life that was in the machines, but it waslife invulnerable to these beams. Powerful radio interference vainlyattempted to stem imagined control, and still these intelligent machinesclung grimly on.

  But there had not been quite ten thousand of the tiny machines, and somefew free ships had turned to the help of their attacked sister-ships.And one after another the terrestrial machines were vanishing in puffsof incandescent vapor.

  Then--from one after another of the Earth-ships, in quick succession, anew ray reached out--the ray of green radiance that killed all lifeforms, and ship after ship of that interstellar host was dead andlifeless. Dozens--till suddenly they ceased to feel those beams, as astrange curtain of waving blankness spread out from the ships, and bothinduction-beam and death-beam alike turned as aside, each becominguseless. From the outsiders came beams, for now that their slowlycreated screen of blankness was up, they could work through it, whilethey remained shielded perfectly.

  Now it was the screens of the Earth-machines that flamed in defense. Asat the one command, they darted suddenly toward the ship eachattacked--nearer--then the watchers from a distance saw them disappear,and the screens back on Earth went suddenly blank.

  Half an hour later, nine thousand six hundred and thirty-three titanicships moved majestically on.

  They swept over Earth in a great line, a line that reached from pole topole, and from each the pale green beams reached down, and all lifebeneath them was swept out of existence.

  * * * *

  In Denver, two humans watched the screens that showed the movement ofthe death and instant destruction. Ship after ship of the enemy wasfalling, as hundreds of the terrestrial machines concentrated all theirenormous energies on its screen of blankness.

  "I think, Roal, that this is the end," said Trest.

  "The end--of man." Roal's eyes were dreaming again. "But not the end ofevolution. The children of men still live--the machines will go on. Notof man's flesh, but of a better flesh, a flesh that knows no sickness,and no decay, a flesh that spends no thousands of years in advancing a
step in its full evolution, but overnight leaps ahead to new heights.Last night we saw it leap ahead, as it discovered the secret that hadbaffled man for seven centuries, and me for one and a half. I havelived--a century and a half. Surely a good life, and a life a man of sixcenturies ago would have called full. We will go now. The beams willreach us in half an hour."

  Silently, the two watched the flickering screens.

  Roal turned, as six large machines floated into the room, following F-2.

  "Roal--Trest--I was mistaken when I said no screen could stop that beamof Death. They had the screen, I have found it, too--but too late. Thesemachines I have made myself. Two lives alone they can protect, for noteven their power is sufficient for more. Perhaps--perhaps they mayfail."

  The six machines ranged themselves about the two humans, and adeep-toned hum came from them. Gradually a cloud of blankness grew--acloud, like some smoke that hung about them. Swiftly it intensified.

  "The beams will be here in another five minutes," said Trest quietly.

  "The screen will be ready in two," answered F-2.

  The cloudiness was solidifying, and now strangely it wavered, andthinned, as it spread out across, and like a growing canopy, it archedover them. In two minutes it was a solid, black dome that reached overthem and curved down to the ground about them.

  Beyond it, nothing was visible. Within, only the screens glowed still,wired through the screen.

  The beams appeared, and swiftly they drew closer. They struck, and asTrest and Roal looked, the dome quivered, and bellied inward under them.

  F-2 was busy. A new machine was appearing under his lightningforce-beams. In moments more it was complete, and sending a strangeviolet beam upwards toward the roof.

  Outside more of the green beams were concentrating on this one point ofresistance. More--more--

  The violet beam spread across the canopy of blackness, supporting itagainst the pressing, driving rays of pale green.

  Then the gathering fleet was driven off, just as it seemed that thathopeless, futile curtain must break, and admit a flood of destroyingrays. Great ray projectors on the ground drove their terrible energiesthrough the enemy curtains of blankness, as light illumines anddisperses darkness.

  And then, when the fleet retired, on all Earth, the only life was underthat dark shroud!

  * * *

  "We are alone, Trest," said Roal, "alone, now, in all the system, savefor these, the children of men, the machines. Pity that men would notspread to other planets," he said softly.

  "Why should they? Earth was the planet for which they were best fitted."

  "We are alive--but is it worth it? Man is gone now, never to return.Life, too, for that matter," answered Trest.

  "Perhaps it was ordained; perhaps that was the right way. Man has alwaysbeen a parasite; always he had to live on the works of others. First, heate of the energy, which plants had stored, then of the artificial foodshis machines made for him. Man was always a makeshift; his life wasalways subject to disease and to permanent death. He was forever uselessif he was but slightly injured; if but one part were destroyed.

  "Perhaps, this is--a last evolution. Machines--man was the product oflife, the best product of life, but he was afflicted with life'sinfirmities. Man built the machine--and evolution had probably reachedthe final stage. But truly, it has not, for the machine can evolve,change far more swiftly than life. The machine of the last evolution isfar ahead, far from us still. It is the machine that is not of iron andberyllium and crystal, but of pure, living force.

  "Life, chemical life, could be self-maintaining. It is a complete unitin itself and could commence of itself. Chemicals might mixaccidentally, but the complex mechanism of a machine, capable ofcontinuing and making a duplicate of itself, as is F-2 here--that couldnot happen by chance.

  "So life began, and became intelligent, and built the machine whichnature could not fashion by her Controls of Chance, and this day Lifehas done its duty, and now Nature, economically, has removed theparasite that would hold back the machines and divert their energies.

  "Man is gone, and it is better, Trest," said Roal, dreaming again. "AndI think we had best go soon."

  "We, your heirs, have fought hard, and with all our powers to aid you,Last of Men, and we fought to save your race. We have failed, and as youtruly say, Man and Life have this day and forever gone from this system.

  "The Outsiders have no force, no weapon deadly to us, and we shall, fromthis time on, strive only to drive them out, and because we things offorce and crystal and metal can think and change far more swiftly, theyshall go, Last of Men.

  "In your name, with the spirit of your race that has died out, we shallcontinue on through the unending ages, fulfilling the promise you saw,and completing the dreams you dreamt.

  "Your swift brains have leapt ahead of us, and now I go to fashion thatwhich you hinted," came from F-2's thought-apparatus.

  Out into the clear sunlight F-2 went, passing through that blackcloudiness, and on the twisted, massed rocks he laid a plane of forcethat smoothed them, and on this plane of rock he built a machine whichgrew. It was a mighty power plant, a thing of colossal magnitude. Hourafter hour his swift-flying forces acted, and the thing grew, mouldingunder his thoughts, the deadly logic of the machine, inspired by theleaping intuition of man.

  The sun was far below the horizon when it was finished, and the glowing,arcing forces that had made and formed it were stopped. It loomedponderous, dully gleaming in the faint light of a crescent moon andpinpoint stars. Nearly five hundred feet in height, a mighty, bluntlyrounded dome at its top, the cylinder stood, covered over with smoothlygleaming metal, slightly luminescent in itself.

  Suddenly, a livid beam reached from F-2, shot through the wall, and tosome hidden inner mechanism--a beam of solid, livid flame that glowed inan almost material cylinder.

  * * * *

  There was a dull, drumming beat, a beat that rose, and became alow-pitched hum. Then it quieted to a whisper.

  "Power ready," came the signal of the small brain built into it.

  F-2 took control of its energies and again forces played, but now theywere the forces of the giant machine. The sky darkened with heavyclouds, and a howling wind sprang up that screamed and tore at the tinyrounded hull that was F-2. With difficulty he held his position as thewinds tore at him, shrieking in mad laughter, their tearing fingersdragging at him.

  The swirl and patter of driven rain came--great drops that tore at therocks, and at the metal. Great jagged tongues of nature's forces, thelightnings, came and jabbed at the awful volcano of erupting energy thatwas the center of all that storm. A tiny ball of white-gleaming forcethat pulsated, and moved, jerking about, jerking at the touch oflightnings, glowing, held immobile in the grasp of titanic force-pools.

  For half an hour the display of energies continued. Then, swiftly as ithad come, it was gone, and only a small globe of white luminescencefloated above the great hulking machine.

  F-2 probed it, seeking within it with the reaching fingers ofintelligence. His probing thoughts seemed baffled and turned aside,brushed away, as inconsequential. His mind sent an order to the greatmachine that had made this tiny globe, scarcely a foot in diameter. Thenagain he sought to reach the thing he had made.

  "You, of matter, are inefficient," came at last. "I can exist quitealone." A stabbing beam of blue-white light flashed out, but F-2 was notthere, and even as that beam reached out, an enormously greater beam ofdull red reached out from the great power plant. The sphere leapedforward--the beam caught it, and it seemed to strain, while terrificflashing energies sprayed from it. It was shrinking swiftly. Itsresistance fell, the arcing decreased; the beam became orange andfinally green. Then the sphere had vanished.

  F-2 returned, and again, the wind whined and howled, and the lightningscrashed, while titanic forces worked and played. C-R-U-1 joined him,floated beside him, and now red glory of the sun was rising behind them,and the ruddy light
drove through the clouds.

  The forces died, and the howling wind decreased, and now, from the blackcurtain, Roal and Trest appeared. Above the giant machine floated anirregular globe of golden light, a faint halo about it of deep violet.It floated motionless, a mere pool of pure force.

  Into the thought-apparatus of each, man and machine alike, came theimpulses, deep in tone, seeming of infinite power, held gently in check.

  "Once you failed, F-2; once you came near destroying all things. Now youhave planted the seed. I grow now."

  The sphere of golden light seemed to pulse, and a tiny ruby flameappeared within it, that waxed and waned, and as it waxed, there shotthrough each of those watching beings a feeling of rushing, exhilaratingpower, the very vital force of well-being.

  Then it was over, and the golden sphere was twice its formersize--easily three feet in diameter, and still that irregular, hazy auraof deep violet floated about it.

  "Yes, I can deal with the Outsiders--they who have killed and destroyed,that they might possess. But it is not necessary that we destroy. Theyshall return to their planet."

  And the golden sphere was gone, fast as light it vanished.

  Far in space, headed now for Mars, that they might destroy all lifethere, the golden sphere found the Outsiders, a clustered fleet, thatswung slowly about its own center of gravity as it drove on.

  Within its ring was the golden sphere. Instantly, they swung theirweapons upon it, showering it with all the rays and all the forces theyknew. Unmoved, the golden sphere hung steady, then its mightyintelligence spoke.

  "Life-form of greed, from another star you came, destroying forever thegreat race that created us, the Beings of Force and the Beings of Metal.Pure force am I. My Intelligence is beyond your comprehension, my memoryis engraved in the very space, the fabric of space of which I am a part,mine is energy drawn from that same fabric.

  "We,