Five hundred miles beyond this focalpoint, its convict settlement long abandoned, was Easter Island, Rapa Nui, home of the great monoliths whose origin had ever been a puzzle. Erect or supine, these colossal statues were strewn all over the island. Anthropologists and archaeologists still came to give them cursory inspection and it was on such a visit an unmistakable clump of Gra.s.s was found.
Immediately the ships were rushed from Sala-y-Gomez, planes carrying tons of salt took off from Australia and the whole machinery of the World Congress was swiftly put in operation. But it was too late; Easter Island was swamped, uninhabited Ducie went next, and Pitcairn, home of the descendants of the _Bounty_ mutineers followed before even the slightest precautions could be taken. The Gra.s.s was jumping gaps of thousands of miles in a breathless steeplechase.
On Pitcairn there was nothing to do but rescue the inhabitants. Vessels stood by to carry them and their livestock off. The palebrown men and women left for the most part docilely, but the last Adams and the last McCoy refused to go. "Once before, our people were forced to leave Pitcairn and found nothing but unhappiness. We will stay on the island to which our fathers brought their wives."
There was no stopping the Gra.s.s now, even if the means had been to hand.
The Gambiers, the Tuamotus and the Marquesas were swallowed up. Tahiti, dwellingplace of beautiful if syphilitic women, disappeared under a green blanket, as did the Cook Islands, Samoa and the Fijis. The Gra.s.s jumped southward to a foothold in New Zealand and northward into Micronesia. Panic infected the Australians and a ma.s.s migration to the central part of the country was begun, but with little hope the surrounding deserts would offer any effective barrier.
_82._ My first thought when I heard the Gra.s.s for the second time had broken its bounds, was that I had perhaps been a little hasty with Miss Francis. It was not at all likely she would succeed where so many better trained and better equipped scientists had so far failed, but I felt a vicarious sympathy with her, as being out of the picture when all her colleagues were striving with might and main to save the world; especially after the years she had spent on Mount Whitney. It would be an act of simple generosity on my part, I thought, to give her the wherewithal to entertain the illusion of importance. When all was said and done, she was a woman, and I could afford a chivalrous gesture even in the face of her overweening arrogance.
I am sorry to say she responded with complete illgrace. "I knew youd eventually have to come crawling to me to save your hide."
"You mistake the situation entirely, Miss Francis," I informed her with dignity. "I am conferring, not asking favors. I have every confidence in my research staff--"
"My G.o.d! Those guineapig murderers; those discoveryforgers; those whitesmocked acolytes in the temple of Yes. You value your life or your purse at exactly what theyre worth if you expect those drugstoreclerks to preserve them for you."
"I doubt if either is in the slightest danger," I a.s.sured her confidently. "Hysterics have lost perspective. Long before the Gra.s.s becomes an immediate concern my drugstoreclerks, with less exalted opinions of their talents than you, will have found the means to destroy it."
"A soothing fairytale. Weener, the truth is not in you. You know the reason you come to me is that youre frightened, scared, terrified. Well, strangely enough, I"m not going to reject your munificence. I"ll accept it, because to do G.o.d"s work is more important than any personal pride of mine or any knowledge that one of the best things _Cynodon dactylon_ could do--if I do not take too much upon myself in judging a fellowcreature--would be to bury Albert Weener."
I remained unmoved by her tirade. "When you returned from Whitney you told me there remained only details to be worked out. About how long do you think it will be before you have a workable compound?"
She burst into a laugh and took out her toothpick to point it at me. "Go and put your penny in another slot if you want an answer to an idiot question like that. How long? A day, a month, a year, ten years."
"In ten years--" I began.
"Exactly," she said and put away the toothpick.
_83._ I phoned Stuart Thario to fly over right away for a conference.
"General," I began, "we"ll have to start looking ahead and making plans."
He hid his mustache with the side of his forefinger. "Don"t quite understand, Albert--have details here of activities ... next three years ..."
I pressed the buzzer for my secretary. "Bring General Thario some refreshment," I ordered.
The command was not only familiar on the occasion of his visits, but evidently antic.i.p.ated, for she appeared in a moment with a trayful of bottles.
"Bad habit of yours, Albert, teetotalism ... makes the brain cloudy ...
insidious." He took a long drink. "Very little real bourbon left ...
European imitation vile ... learning to like Holland gin." He drank again.
"To get back to the business of making plans, General," I urged gently.
"Not one of those people getting worried about the Gra.s.s?"
"Not worried. Just trying to look ahead. I can"t afford to be caught napping."
"Well, well," he said, "can"t pull another South American this time."
"No, no--and besides, I"m not concerned with money."
"Now, Albert, don"t tell me youve finally got enough."
"This is not the time to be avaricious," I reproved him. "If the Gra.s.s continues to spread--and there seems to be little doubt it will--"
"All of New Zealand"s North Island was finished this morning," he interrupted.
"I heard it myself; anyway, that"s the point. As the Gra.s.s advances there will be new hordes of refugees--"
He was certainly in an impatient mood this morning, for he interrupted me again. "New markets for concentrates," he suggested.
I looked at him pityingly. Was the old man"s mind slipping? I wondered if it would be necessary to replace him. "General," I said gently, "with rare exceptions these people will have nothing but worthless currency."
"Goods. Labor."
"Have you seen the previous batches of refugees foresighted enough to get out any goods of value before starting off? And as for labor, all our workers are now so heavily subsidized by the dole that to cut wages another cent--"
"Ha"penny," corrected General Thario.
"Centime if you like. --would be merely to increase our taxes."
"Well, well," he said. "I see I have been hasty. What did you have in mind, Albert?"
"Retrenchment. Cut production; abandon the factories in the immediate path of the Gra.s.s. Fix on reasonably safe spots to store depots of the finished concentrates, others for raw materials. Or perhaps they might be combined."
"What about the factories?"
"Smaller," I said. "Practically portable."
"Hum." He frowned. "You do intend to do business on a small scale."
"Minute," I confirmed.
"What about the mines? The steelmills, the oilfields, the airplane and automobile factories? The shipyards?"
"Shut them down," I ordered. "Ruthlessly. Except maybe a few in England."
"The countries where theyre located will grab them."
"There isnt a government in existence who would dare touch anything belonging to Consolidated Pemmican. If any should come into existence our individualistic friends would take care of the situation."
"Pay gangsters to overturn governments?"
"They would hardly be legitimate governments. Anyway, a man has a right to protect his property."
"Albert," he complained querulously, "youre condemning civilization to death."