History of a World of Immortals without a God / Translated from an unpublished manuscript in the library of a continental university

by Unknown

The substance of what they learned was as follows:—The phenomenon of evanescence, hitherto supposed to be the final destruction of the subject in which it takes place, is only the first step in a much more complicated process. The evanescence itself consists in a sudden disintegration of the molecules which compose the body. But these disintegrated, and therefore invisible, molecules are really endowed with an affinity or attraction which tends to the south pole of the planet. Just as on earth, the magnetic needle turns into the magnetic meridian, so on Hesperos those organized molecules which enter into the structure of a rational animal, when freed by disintegration, instantaneously seek the South Pole, the transmission taking place with the exact velocity of light. On reaching the pole, reintegration is equally instantaneous; so that in Hesperos we may say that the death, decomposition, and resurrection of the body form three consecutive steps in one connected series of events, the whole of which is accomplished in a single instant.

Evanescence, then, in the northern hemisphere, and indeed in the southern also, is nothing more nor less than instantaneous transference to the South Pole. The reintegrated body is, with one most important exception, an exact reproduction of the disintegrated original. The exception is this: any bodily organ which has suffered a lesion of any kind is restored in its primitive healthy condition. Had this not been the case, many a man would have been doomed to the shocking fate of languishing in a maimed and mutilated state for evermore. The two laws of evanescence which have been observed in the north are equally valid in the south; but it should be remembered that the transference is always to the South Pole, no matter in which hemisphere evanescence occurs.

Hence it is obvious that, before the arrival of the submarine boat, the conditions of population in the north and in the south respectively were directly contrasted. In the former there was a constantly diminishing number which could not be increased; in the latter a constantly increasing number which could not be diminished. But it was quite plain that, assuming the return voyage of the submarine ship to be practicable, equilibrium would soon be restored.

Such were the main facts communicated that evening to the astonished engineers. They all retired to rest in their new quarters half petrified with amazement and horror. The gate of exit from life was shut and barred—or rather, none such had ever existed. What was supposed to have been one had no such real significance; and if there was one anywhere it had still to be found.

To their question, How had the southerners become aware of their projected submarine voyage? their hosts replied that one of the northerners who had been evanesced by an accident while the ship was building had, on arrival at the pole, communicated the plan. Indeed, in this way, by the frequent arrivals from the north, the southerners were kept well posted up as to everything which took place at the other side of the equator, and had learned all the grand results of the new astronomy.

The engineers resolved to lose no time in making the return voyage; and they offered to take with them, as passengers, any, to the number of fifty, who chose to revisit their former habitations; more than fifty they could not easily accommodate. The offer was gladly accepted. Among those who returned they brought the oldest inhabitant of the south, the victim of the Hesperian Cain, whose untimely extinction, just 9997 years before, had led to the discovery of the first law of evanescence. He was now, to all appearance, in the twenty-fifth year of his age. Also three of the crew of that ill-fated ship which perished in the abortive attempt to cross the surface of the equatorial sea accompanied them.

CHAPTER X.

The oldest inhabitant of the South relates its history—How the awful intelligence was received in the North.

As the return voyage occupied several days, the engineers had a good opportunity for obtaining from the passengers much interesting information concerning the past history and present condition of the southern hemisphere. In both physical structure and configuration the northern and southern portions of the planet are very similar; a great polar continent, with many islands off the coast, being the leading feature common to both. The south pole itself is situated in the middle of a very wide and fertile valley, surrounded on all sides by gently sloping hills. The climate is delightful, especially in the spring and the autumn; and this attraction, combined with the fact that the pole, hitherto, had been the sole port of ingress to the hemisphere, caused its selection as the site of the southern metropolis.

The oldest inhabitant proved invaluable as a historian. His account of the origin and gradual growth of the city was as follows:—‘When I found myself extended on the ground at the pole, I had no conception of what had happened, or even that I had been moved from one place to another. I remembered distinctly the fight in which I had been engaged, my own exasperation, and the furious gestures of my antagonist. But he had vanished altogether, and the place where I now found myself was quite different from the scene of the combat. I got up and looked around me. The country was similar to my former place of abode; the same abundance of fruit-trees; the same pure streams of water; but the hills and mountains were quite differently shaped and grouped together. I could see no signs of rational life; the silence was broken only by the sweet singing of the birds, of which, as before, there were many kinds.