August 28, 2025 • 22 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Forever by Robert Sheckley. Of all the irksome, frustrating, maddening discoveries,
was there no way of keeping it discovered? With so
much at stake, Charles Denison should not have been careless.
(00:23):
An inventor cannot afford carelessness, particularly when his invention is
extremely valuable and obviously patentable. There are too many grasping
hands ready to seize what belongs to some one else,
too many men who feast upon the creativity of the innocent.
A touch of paranoia would have served Denison well, but
(00:44):
he was lacking in that vital characteristic of inventors, and
he didn't even realize the full extent of his carelessness
until a bullet fired from a silenced weapon chipped a
granite wall not three inches from his head. Then he knew,
but by then it was too late. Charles Denison had
been left a more than adequate income by his father.
(01:06):
He had gone to Harvard, served a hitch in the Navy,
then continued his education at MIT. Since the age of
thirty two, he had been engaged in private research, working
in his own small laboratory in Riverdale, New York. Plant
biology was his field. He published several noteworthy papers, and
sold a new insecticide to a development corporation. The royalties
(01:30):
helped him to expand his facilities. Denison enjoyed working alone.
It suited his temperament, which was austere but not unfriendly.
Two or three times a year he would come to
New York, see some plays and movies, and do a
little serious drinking. He would then return gratefully to his seclusion.
(01:51):
He was a bachelor and seemed destined to remain that way.
Not long after his fortieth birthday, Denison stumbled across an
intriguing clue which led him into a different branch of biology.
He pursued his clue, developed it, extended it slowly into
a hypothesis. After three more years, a lucky accident put
(02:12):
the final proofs into his hands. He had invented the
most effective longevity drug. It was not proof against violence.
Aside from that, however, it could fairly be called an
immortality serum. Now was the time for caution. But years
of seclusion had made Denison unwary of people and their motives.
(02:34):
He was more or less heedless of the world around him.
It never occurred to him that the world was not
equally heedless of him. He thought only about his serum.
It was valuable and patentable, But was it the sort
of thing that should be revealed? Was the world ready
for an immortality drug? He had never enjoyed speculation of
(02:57):
this sort, But since the atom bomb, scientists had been
forced to look at the ethics of their profession. Denison
looked at his and decided that immortality was inevitable. Mankind had,
throughout its existence, poked and probed into the recesses of nature,
trying to figure out how things worn't. If one man
(03:18):
didn't discover fire, or the use of the lever, or gunpowder,
or the atom bomb, or immortality, another would man willed
to know all nature's secrets, and there was no way
of keeping them hidden. Armed with this bleak but comforting philosophy,
Denison packed his formulas and proofs into a briefcase, slipped
(03:39):
a two ounce bottle of the product into a jacket pocket,
and left his Riverdale laboratory. It was already evening. He
planned to spend the night in a good midtown hotel,
see a movie, and proceed to the patent office in
Washington the following day. On the subway Denison was absorbed
in a newspaper. He was barely conscious of the man
(04:01):
sitting on either side of him. He became aware of
them only when the man on his right poked him
firmly in the ribs. Dennison glanced over and saw the
snub nose of a small automatic, concealed from the rest
of the car by a newspaper, resting against his side.
What is this, Dennison asked, Hand it over, the man said.
(04:24):
Dennison was stunned. How could anyone have known about his discovery?
And how could they dare try to rob him in
a public subway car. Then he realized that they were
probably just after his money. I don't have much on me,
Dennison said, hoarsely, reaching for his wallet. The man on
his left leaned over and slapped the briefcase. Not money,
(04:48):
he said, the immortality stuff in some unaccountable fashion. They
knew what if he refused to give up his briefcase?
Would they dare fire the automatic in the subway? It
was a very small caliber weapon, Its noise might not
even be heard above the subway's roar, and probably they
felt justified in taking the risk for a prize as
(05:10):
great as the one Denison carried. He looked at them quickly.
They were mild looking men, quietly, almost somberly dressed. Something
about their clothing jogged Denison's memory unpleasantly, but he didn't
have time to place the recollection. The automatic was digging
painfully into his ribs. The subway was coming to a station.
(05:33):
Denison glanced at the man on his left and caught
the glint of light on a tiny hypodermic. Many inventors
involved only in their own thoughts are slow of reaction,
but Denison had been a gunnery officer in the Navy
and had seen his share of action. He was damned
if he was going to give up his invention so easily.
(05:53):
He jumped from his seat, and the hypo passed through
the sleeve of his coat, just missing his arm. He
swung the briefcase at the man with the automatic, catching
him across the forehead with the metal edge. As the
doors opened, he ran past a popeyed subway guard, up
the stairs and into the street. The two men followed,
one of them streaming blood from his forehead. Dennison ran,
(06:17):
looking wildly around for a policeman. The men behind him
were screaming, stop thief, police, Police, stop that man. Apparently
they were also prepared to face the police and to
claim the briefcase and bottle as their own. Ridiculous. Yet
the complete and indignant confidence in their shrill voices unnerved Denison.
(06:40):
He hated a scene. Still, a policeman would be best.
The briefcase was filled with proof of who he was.
Even his name was initialed on the outside of the briefcase.
One glance would tell anyone. He caught a flash of
metal from his briefcase, and, still running, looked at it.
He was shocked to see a metal plate fixed to
(07:00):
the cowhide over the place where his initials had been.
The man on his left must have done that when
he slapped the briefcase. Dennison dug at the plate with
his fingertips, but it would not come off. It read
property of Edward James Flaherty Smithfield Institute. Perhaps a policeman
wouldn't be so much help after all, But the problem
(07:23):
was academic, for Dennison saw no policeman. Along the crowded
Bronx Street. People stood aside as he ran past, staring
open mouthed, offering neither assistance nor interference, but the men
behind him were still screaming, stop the thief, Stop the thief.
The entire long block was alerted. The people, like some
(07:44):
sluggish beast, goaded reluctantly into action, began to make tentative
movements toward Denison, impelled by the outraged cries of his pursuers.
Unless he balanced the scales of public opinion, some do
gooder was going to interfere. Soon, Dennison conquered his shyness
and pride and called out, help me. They're trying to
rob me. Stop them, but his voice lacked the moral
(08:07):
indignation the absolute conviction of his two shrill voiced pursuers.
A burly young man stepped forward to block Tennison's way,
but at the last moment a woman pulled him back.
Don't get into trouble, Charlie. Why don't someone call a cop? Yeah?
Where are the cops over? At a big fire on
(08:29):
one hundred and seventy eighth Street. I hear we ought
to stop that guy. I'm willing if you're willing. Dennison's
way was suddenly blocked by four grinning youths teenagers and
black motorcycle jackets and boots. Excited by the chance for
a little action, Delighted at the opportunity to hit someone
in the name of law and order, Dennison saw them
(08:53):
swerve suddenly and sprinted across the street. A bus loomed
in front of him. He hurled himself out of its way,
got up again, and ran on. His pursuers were delayed
by the dense flow of traffic. Their high pitched cries
faded as Denison turned into a side street, ran down
its length, then down another. He was in a section
(09:14):
of massive apartment buildings. His lungs felt like a blast furnace,
and his left side seemed to be sewed together with
red hot wire. There was no help for it. He
had to rest. It was then that the first bullet
fired from a silenced weapon chipped a granite wall not
three inches from his head. That was when Denison realized
(09:34):
the full extent of his carelessness. He pulled the bottle
out of his pocket. He had hoped to carry out
more experiments on the seerum before trying it on human beings.
Now there was no choice. Denison yanked out the stopper
and drained the contents. Immediately he was running again. As
a second bullet scored the granite wall. The great blocks
(09:56):
of apartments loomed endlessly ahead of him, silent and alien.
There were no walkers upon the streets. There was only Denison,
running more slowly now past the immense, blank faced apartments.
A long black car came up behind him, its search
light probing into doors and alleys. Was it the police
(10:16):
that's him, cried the shrill, unnerving voice of one of
Denison's pursuers. Denison ducked into a narrow alley between buildings,
raced down it and into the next street. There were
two cars on that street at either end of the block,
their headlights shining toward each other, moving slowly to trap
him in the middle. The alley gleamed with light now
(10:38):
from the first car's headlights shining down it. He was surrounded.
Denison raced to the nearest apartment building and yanked at
the door. It was locked. The two cars were almost
even with him, and looking at them, Denison remembered the
unpleasant jog his memory had given him earlier. The two
cars were hearses. The men in the subway, with their
(11:01):
solemn faces, solemn clothing, subdued neckties, shrill, indignant voices. They
had reminded him of undertakers. They had been undertakers. Of course,
of course, oil companies might want to block the invention
of a cheap new fuel which could put them out
of business. Steel corporations might try to stop the development
(11:22):
of an inexpensive stronger than steel plastic, and the production
of an immortality serum would put the undertakers out of business.
His progress and the progress of thousands of other researchers
in biology, must have been watched, and when he made
his discovery, they had been ready. The hearses stopped, and
somber faced, respectable looking men in black suits and pearl
(11:45):
gray neckties poured out and seized him. The briefcase was
yanked out of his hand. He felt the prick of
a needle in his shoulder, then, with no transitional dizziness,
he passed out. He came too sitting in an armchair.
There were armed men on either side of him. In
front of him stood a small, plump, undistinguished looking man
(12:07):
in sedate clothing. My name is mister Bennett. The plump
man said, I wish to beg your forgiveness, mister Dennison,
for the violence to which you were subjected. We found
out about your invention only at the last moment, and
therefore had to improvise. The bullets were meant only to
frighten and delay you. Murder was not our intention. You
(12:30):
merely wanted to steal my discovery, Tennyson said, not at all.
Mister Bennett told him the secret of immortality has been
in our possession for quite some time. I see, then,
you want to keep immortality from the public in order
to safeguard your damned undertaking business. Isn't that rather a
(12:50):
naive view, mister Bennett asked, smiling. As it happens, my
associates and I are not undertakers. We took on the
disguise in order to present an understandable motive. If our
plan to capture you had misfired in that event, others
would have believed exactly and only what you thought, that
our purpose was to safeguard our business. Denison frowned and
(13:14):
watchfully waited. Disguises come easily to us, mister Bennett said,
still smiling. Perhaps you have heard rumors about a new
carburetor suppressed by the gasoline companies, or a new food
source concealed by the great food suppliers, or a new
synthetic hastily destroyed by the cotton owning interests. That was us,
(13:36):
and the inventions ended up here. You're trying to impress me,
Dennison said, certainly, why did you stop me from patenting
my immortality serum? The world is not ready for it yet,
said mister Bennett. It isn't ready for a lot of things,
Denison said, why didn't you block the atom bomb? We tried,
(14:02):
disguised as mercenary coal and oil interests, but we failed. However,
we have succeeded with a surprising number of things. But
what's the purpose behind it all? Earth's welfare? Mister Bennett said, Promptly,
consider what would happen if the people were given your
veritable immortality serum. The problems of birth rate, food production,
(14:25):
living space all would be aggravated, Tensions would mount, War
would be imminent. So what, Dennison challenged, That's how things
are right now without immortality. Besides, there have been cries
of doom about every new invention or discovery. Gunpowder, the
printing press, nitroglycerin, the atom bomb. They were all supposed
(14:48):
to destroy the race. But mankind has learned how to
handle them. It had to. You can't turn back the clock,
and you can't undiscover something. If it's there, mankind must
deal with it. Yes, in a bumbling, bloody and efficient fashion,
said mister Bennett, with an expression of distaste. Well that's
(15:10):
how man is, not if he's properly led. Mister Bennett said, No,
certainly not, said mister Bennett. You see, the immortality serum
provides a solution to the problem of political power. Rule
by a permanent and enlightened elete is by far the
best form of government, infinitely better than the blundering and
(15:32):
efficiencies of democratic rule. But throughout history this elite, whether monarchy, oligarchy,
dictatorship or junta, has been unable to perpetuate itself. Leaders die,
the followers squabble for power, and chaos is close behind.
With immortality, this last flaw would be corrected. There would
(15:53):
be no discontinuity of leadership, for the leaders would always
be there. A permanent dictatorship, Dennison said, yes, a permanent,
benevolent rule by small, carefully chosen elite corps based upon
the sole and exclusive possession of immortality. It's historically inevitable
(16:14):
The only question is who is going to get control first,
and you think you are, Dennison demanded. Of course, our
organization is still small, but absolutely solid. It is bolstered
by very new invention that comes into our hands and
by every scientist who joins our ranks. Our time will come, Denison.
(16:38):
We'd like to have you with us among the elite.
You want me to join you, Dennison asked, bewildered. We do.
Our organization needs creative scientific minds to help us in
our work, to help us save mankind from itself. Count
me out, Dennison said, his heart beating fast. You won't
(17:01):
join us. I'd like to see you all hanged. Mister
Bennett nodded thoughtfully and pursed his small lips. You have
taken your own serum, have you not, Dennison nodded. I
suppose that means you'll kill me. Now. We don't kill,
mister Bennett said, We merely wait. I think you are
(17:23):
a reasonable man, and I think you'll come to see
things our way. We'll be around for a long time,
so will you take him away? Denison was led to
an elevator that dropped deep into the earth. He was
marched down a long passageway lined with armed men. They
went through four massive doors. At the fifth, Denison was
(17:45):
pushed inside alone and the door was locked behind him.
He was in a large, well furnished apartment. There were
perhaps twenty people in the room, and they came forward
to meet him. One of them, a stocky bearded man,
was an old college acquaintance of Dennison's, Jim Ferris. That's right,
(18:05):
Ferris said, Welcome to the Immortality Club, Dennison. I read
you were killed in an air crash last year. I
merely disappeared, Ferris said, with a rueful smile, after inventing
the immortality serum, just like the others, all of them.
Fifteen of the men here invented the serum independently. The
(18:29):
rest are successful inventors in other fields. Our oldest member
is doctor Lee eight, serum discoverer, who disappeared from San
Francisco in nineteen eleven. You are our latest acquisition. Our
clubhouse is probably the most carefully guarded place on earth,
Dennison said nineteen eleven. Despair flooded him and he sat
(18:51):
down heavily in a chair. Then there's no possibility of rescue. None.
There are only four show is available to us, Ferris said.
Some have left us and joined the Undertakers, others have suicided,
a few have gone insane. The rest of us have
formed the Immortality Club. What for Dennison, bewilderedly, asked, to
(19:17):
get out of this place, said Ferris, To escape and
give our discoveries to the world, to stop those hopeful
little dictators upstairs. They must know what you're planning, of course,
but they let us live because every so often one
of us gives up and joins them, and they don't
think we can ever break out. They're much too smug.
(19:39):
It's the basic defect of all power elites, and they're
eventual undoing. You said this was the most closely guarded
place on earth. It is, Ferris said, and some of
you have been trying to break out for fifty years.
Why it'll take forever to escape. Forever is exactly how
(19:59):
long we have, said Ferris. But we hope it won't
take quite that long. Every new man brings new ideas, plans.
One of them is bound to work forever, Dennison said,
his face buried in his hands. You can go back
upstairs and join them, Ferris said, with a hard note
(20:20):
to his voice. Or you can suicide or just sit
in a corner and go quietly mad. Take your pick.
Dennison looked up. I must be honest with you and
with myself. I don't think we can escape. Furthermore, I
don't think any of you really believe we can. Ferris
shrugged his shoulders. Aside from that, Dennison said, I think
(20:44):
it's a damned good idea. If you'll bring me up
to date, I'll contribute whatever I can to the Forever project,
and let's hope their complacency lasts it will Ferris said.
The escape did not take forever, of course, in one hundred.
In thirty seven years, Denison and his colleagues made their
successful breakout and revealed the Undertaker's plot. The Undertakers were
(21:08):
tried before the High Court on charges of kidnapping, conspiracy
to overthrow the government, and illegal possession of immortality. They
were found guilty on all counts and summarily executed. Denison
and his colleagues were also in illegal possession of immortality,
which is the privilege only of our governmental elite, but
(21:28):
the death penalty was waived in view of the Immortality
Club's service to the state this mercy was premature. However,
after some months, the members of the Immortality Club went
into hiding with the avowed purpose of overthrowing the elite
rule and disseminating immortality among the masses Project Forever, as
(21:49):
they had termed it had received some support from dissidents
who have not yet been apprehended. It cannot be considered
a serious threat. But this deviationist action and in no
way detracts from the glory of the clubs escaped from
the undertakers. The ingenious way in which Dennison and his
colleagues broke out of their seemingly impregnable prison using only
(22:11):
a steel belt, buckle, aped tungsten, filamon, three hens, eggs,
and twelve chemicals that can be readily obtained from the
human body. It is too well known to be repeated
here and of forever. By Robert Sheckley
Forever by Robert Sheckley. Of all the irksome, frustrating, maddening discoveries,
was there no way of keeping it discovered? With so
much at stake, Charles Denison should not have been careless.
(00:23):
An inventor cannot afford carelessness, particularly when his invention is
extremely valuable and obviously patentable. There are too many grasping
hands ready to seize what belongs to some one else,
too many men who feast upon the creativity of the innocent.
A touch of paranoia would have served Denison well, but
(00:44):
he was lacking in that vital characteristic of inventors, and
he didn't even realize the full extent of his carelessness
until a bullet fired from a silenced weapon chipped a
granite wall not three inches from his head. Then he knew,
but by then it was too late. Charles Denison had
been left a more than adequate income by his father.
(01:06):
He had gone to Harvard, served a hitch in the Navy,
then continued his education at MIT. Since the age of
thirty two, he had been engaged in private research, working
in his own small laboratory in Riverdale, New York. Plant
biology was his field. He published several noteworthy papers, and
sold a new insecticide to a development corporation. The royalties
(01:30):
helped him to expand his facilities. Denison enjoyed working alone.
It suited his temperament, which was austere but not unfriendly.
Two or three times a year he would come to
New York, see some plays and movies, and do a
little serious drinking. He would then return gratefully to his seclusion.
(01:51):
He was a bachelor and seemed destined to remain that way.
Not long after his fortieth birthday, Denison stumbled across an
intriguing clue which led him into a different branch of biology.
He pursued his clue, developed it, extended it slowly into
a hypothesis. After three more years, a lucky accident put
(02:12):
the final proofs into his hands. He had invented the
most effective longevity drug. It was not proof against violence.
Aside from that, however, it could fairly be called an
immortality serum. Now was the time for caution. But years
of seclusion had made Denison unwary of people and their motives.
(02:34):
He was more or less heedless of the world around him.
It never occurred to him that the world was not
equally heedless of him. He thought only about his serum.
It was valuable and patentable, But was it the sort
of thing that should be revealed? Was the world ready
for an immortality drug? He had never enjoyed speculation of
(02:57):
this sort, But since the atom bomb, scientists had been
forced to look at the ethics of their profession. Denison
looked at his and decided that immortality was inevitable. Mankind had,
throughout its existence, poked and probed into the recesses of nature,
trying to figure out how things worn't. If one man
(03:18):
didn't discover fire, or the use of the lever, or gunpowder,
or the atom bomb, or immortality, another would man willed
to know all nature's secrets, and there was no way
of keeping them hidden. Armed with this bleak but comforting philosophy,
Denison packed his formulas and proofs into a briefcase, slipped
(03:39):
a two ounce bottle of the product into a jacket pocket,
and left his Riverdale laboratory. It was already evening. He
planned to spend the night in a good midtown hotel,
see a movie, and proceed to the patent office in
Washington the following day. On the subway Denison was absorbed
in a newspaper. He was barely conscious of the man
(04:01):
sitting on either side of him. He became aware of
them only when the man on his right poked him
firmly in the ribs. Dennison glanced over and saw the
snub nose of a small automatic, concealed from the rest
of the car by a newspaper, resting against his side.
What is this, Dennison asked, Hand it over, the man said.
(04:24):
Dennison was stunned. How could anyone have known about his discovery?
And how could they dare try to rob him in
a public subway car. Then he realized that they were
probably just after his money. I don't have much on me,
Dennison said, hoarsely, reaching for his wallet. The man on
his left leaned over and slapped the briefcase. Not money,
(04:48):
he said, the immortality stuff in some unaccountable fashion. They
knew what if he refused to give up his briefcase?
Would they dare fire the automatic in the subway? It
was a very small caliber weapon, Its noise might not
even be heard above the subway's roar, and probably they
felt justified in taking the risk for a prize as
(05:10):
great as the one Denison carried. He looked at them quickly.
They were mild looking men, quietly, almost somberly dressed. Something
about their clothing jogged Denison's memory unpleasantly, but he didn't
have time to place the recollection. The automatic was digging
painfully into his ribs. The subway was coming to a station.
(05:33):
Denison glanced at the man on his left and caught
the glint of light on a tiny hypodermic. Many inventors
involved only in their own thoughts are slow of reaction,
but Denison had been a gunnery officer in the Navy
and had seen his share of action. He was damned
if he was going to give up his invention so easily.
(05:53):
He jumped from his seat, and the hypo passed through
the sleeve of his coat, just missing his arm. He
swung the briefcase at the man with the automatic, catching
him across the forehead with the metal edge. As the
doors opened, he ran past a popeyed subway guard, up
the stairs and into the street. The two men followed,
one of them streaming blood from his forehead. Dennison ran,
(06:17):
looking wildly around for a policeman. The men behind him
were screaming, stop thief, police, Police, stop that man. Apparently
they were also prepared to face the police and to
claim the briefcase and bottle as their own. Ridiculous. Yet
the complete and indignant confidence in their shrill voices unnerved Denison.
(06:40):
He hated a scene. Still, a policeman would be best.
The briefcase was filled with proof of who he was.
Even his name was initialed on the outside of the briefcase.
One glance would tell anyone. He caught a flash of
metal from his briefcase, and, still running, looked at it.
He was shocked to see a metal plate fixed to
(07:00):
the cowhide over the place where his initials had been.
The man on his left must have done that when
he slapped the briefcase. Dennison dug at the plate with
his fingertips, but it would not come off. It read
property of Edward James Flaherty Smithfield Institute. Perhaps a policeman
wouldn't be so much help after all, But the problem
(07:23):
was academic, for Dennison saw no policeman. Along the crowded
Bronx Street. People stood aside as he ran past, staring
open mouthed, offering neither assistance nor interference, but the men
behind him were still screaming, stop the thief, Stop the thief.
The entire long block was alerted. The people, like some
(07:44):
sluggish beast, goaded reluctantly into action, began to make tentative
movements toward Denison, impelled by the outraged cries of his pursuers.
Unless he balanced the scales of public opinion, some do
gooder was going to interfere. Soon, Dennison conquered his shyness
and pride and called out, help me. They're trying to
rob me. Stop them, but his voice lacked the moral
(08:07):
indignation the absolute conviction of his two shrill voiced pursuers.
A burly young man stepped forward to block Tennison's way,
but at the last moment a woman pulled him back.
Don't get into trouble, Charlie. Why don't someone call a cop? Yeah?
Where are the cops over? At a big fire on
(08:29):
one hundred and seventy eighth Street. I hear we ought
to stop that guy. I'm willing if you're willing. Dennison's
way was suddenly blocked by four grinning youths teenagers and
black motorcycle jackets and boots. Excited by the chance for
a little action, Delighted at the opportunity to hit someone
in the name of law and order, Dennison saw them
(08:53):
swerve suddenly and sprinted across the street. A bus loomed
in front of him. He hurled himself out of its way,
got up again, and ran on. His pursuers were delayed
by the dense flow of traffic. Their high pitched cries
faded as Denison turned into a side street, ran down
its length, then down another. He was in a section
(09:14):
of massive apartment buildings. His lungs felt like a blast furnace,
and his left side seemed to be sewed together with
red hot wire. There was no help for it. He
had to rest. It was then that the first bullet
fired from a silenced weapon chipped a granite wall not
three inches from his head. That was when Denison realized
(09:34):
the full extent of his carelessness. He pulled the bottle
out of his pocket. He had hoped to carry out
more experiments on the seerum before trying it on human beings.
Now there was no choice. Denison yanked out the stopper
and drained the contents. Immediately he was running again. As
a second bullet scored the granite wall. The great blocks
(09:56):
of apartments loomed endlessly ahead of him, silent and alien.
There were no walkers upon the streets. There was only Denison,
running more slowly now past the immense, blank faced apartments.
A long black car came up behind him, its search
light probing into doors and alleys. Was it the police
(10:16):
that's him, cried the shrill, unnerving voice of one of
Denison's pursuers. Denison ducked into a narrow alley between buildings,
raced down it and into the next street. There were
two cars on that street at either end of the block,
their headlights shining toward each other, moving slowly to trap
him in the middle. The alley gleamed with light now
(10:38):
from the first car's headlights shining down it. He was surrounded.
Denison raced to the nearest apartment building and yanked at
the door. It was locked. The two cars were almost
even with him, and looking at them, Denison remembered the
unpleasant jog his memory had given him earlier. The two
cars were hearses. The men in the subway, with their
(11:01):
solemn faces, solemn clothing, subdued neckties, shrill, indignant voices. They
had reminded him of undertakers. They had been undertakers. Of course,
of course, oil companies might want to block the invention
of a cheap new fuel which could put them out
of business. Steel corporations might try to stop the development
(11:22):
of an inexpensive stronger than steel plastic, and the production
of an immortality serum would put the undertakers out of business.
His progress and the progress of thousands of other researchers
in biology, must have been watched, and when he made
his discovery, they had been ready. The hearses stopped, and
somber faced, respectable looking men in black suits and pearl
(11:45):
gray neckties poured out and seized him. The briefcase was
yanked out of his hand. He felt the prick of
a needle in his shoulder, then, with no transitional dizziness,
he passed out. He came too sitting in an armchair.
There were armed men on either side of him. In
front of him stood a small, plump, undistinguished looking man
(12:07):
in sedate clothing. My name is mister Bennett. The plump
man said, I wish to beg your forgiveness, mister Dennison,
for the violence to which you were subjected. We found
out about your invention only at the last moment, and
therefore had to improvise. The bullets were meant only to
frighten and delay you. Murder was not our intention. You
(12:30):
merely wanted to steal my discovery, Tennyson said, not at all.
Mister Bennett told him the secret of immortality has been
in our possession for quite some time. I see, then,
you want to keep immortality from the public in order
to safeguard your damned undertaking business. Isn't that rather a
(12:50):
naive view, mister Bennett asked, smiling. As it happens, my
associates and I are not undertakers. We took on the
disguise in order to present an understandable motive. If our
plan to capture you had misfired in that event, others
would have believed exactly and only what you thought, that
our purpose was to safeguard our business. Denison frowned and
(13:14):
watchfully waited. Disguises come easily to us, mister Bennett said,
still smiling. Perhaps you have heard rumors about a new
carburetor suppressed by the gasoline companies, or a new food
source concealed by the great food suppliers, or a new
synthetic hastily destroyed by the cotton owning interests. That was us,
(13:36):
and the inventions ended up here. You're trying to impress me,
Dennison said, certainly, why did you stop me from patenting
my immortality serum? The world is not ready for it yet,
said mister Bennett. It isn't ready for a lot of things,
Denison said, why didn't you block the atom bomb? We tried,
(14:02):
disguised as mercenary coal and oil interests, but we failed. However,
we have succeeded with a surprising number of things. But
what's the purpose behind it all? Earth's welfare? Mister Bennett said, Promptly,
consider what would happen if the people were given your
veritable immortality serum. The problems of birth rate, food production,
(14:25):
living space all would be aggravated, Tensions would mount, War
would be imminent. So what, Dennison challenged, That's how things
are right now without immortality. Besides, there have been cries
of doom about every new invention or discovery. Gunpowder, the
printing press, nitroglycerin, the atom bomb. They were all supposed
(14:48):
to destroy the race. But mankind has learned how to
handle them. It had to. You can't turn back the clock,
and you can't undiscover something. If it's there, mankind must
deal with it. Yes, in a bumbling, bloody and efficient fashion,
said mister Bennett, with an expression of distaste. Well that's
(15:10):
how man is, not if he's properly led. Mister Bennett said, No,
certainly not, said mister Bennett. You see, the immortality serum
provides a solution to the problem of political power. Rule
by a permanent and enlightened elete is by far the
best form of government, infinitely better than the blundering and
(15:32):
efficiencies of democratic rule. But throughout history this elite, whether monarchy, oligarchy,
dictatorship or junta, has been unable to perpetuate itself. Leaders die,
the followers squabble for power, and chaos is close behind.
With immortality, this last flaw would be corrected. There would
(15:53):
be no discontinuity of leadership, for the leaders would always
be there. A permanent dictatorship, Dennison said, yes, a permanent,
benevolent rule by small, carefully chosen elite corps based upon
the sole and exclusive possession of immortality. It's historically inevitable
(16:14):
The only question is who is going to get control first,
and you think you are, Dennison demanded. Of course, our
organization is still small, but absolutely solid. It is bolstered
by very new invention that comes into our hands and
by every scientist who joins our ranks. Our time will come, Denison.
(16:38):
We'd like to have you with us among the elite.
You want me to join you, Dennison asked, bewildered. We do.
Our organization needs creative scientific minds to help us in
our work, to help us save mankind from itself. Count
me out, Dennison said, his heart beating fast. You won't
(17:01):
join us. I'd like to see you all hanged. Mister
Bennett nodded thoughtfully and pursed his small lips. You have
taken your own serum, have you not, Dennison nodded. I
suppose that means you'll kill me. Now. We don't kill,
mister Bennett said, We merely wait. I think you are
(17:23):
a reasonable man, and I think you'll come to see
things our way. We'll be around for a long time,
so will you take him away? Denison was led to
an elevator that dropped deep into the earth. He was
marched down a long passageway lined with armed men. They
went through four massive doors. At the fifth, Denison was
(17:45):
pushed inside alone and the door was locked behind him.
He was in a large, well furnished apartment. There were
perhaps twenty people in the room, and they came forward
to meet him. One of them, a stocky bearded man,
was an old college acquaintance of Dennison's, Jim Ferris. That's right,
(18:05):
Ferris said, Welcome to the Immortality Club, Dennison. I read
you were killed in an air crash last year. I
merely disappeared, Ferris said, with a rueful smile, after inventing
the immortality serum, just like the others, all of them.
Fifteen of the men here invented the serum independently. The
(18:29):
rest are successful inventors in other fields. Our oldest member
is doctor Lee eight, serum discoverer, who disappeared from San
Francisco in nineteen eleven. You are our latest acquisition. Our
clubhouse is probably the most carefully guarded place on earth,
Dennison said nineteen eleven. Despair flooded him and he sat
(18:51):
down heavily in a chair. Then there's no possibility of rescue. None.
There are only four show is available to us, Ferris said.
Some have left us and joined the Undertakers, others have suicided,
a few have gone insane. The rest of us have
formed the Immortality Club. What for Dennison, bewilderedly, asked, to
(19:17):
get out of this place, said Ferris, To escape and
give our discoveries to the world, to stop those hopeful
little dictators upstairs. They must know what you're planning, of course,
but they let us live because every so often one
of us gives up and joins them, and they don't
think we can ever break out. They're much too smug.
(19:39):
It's the basic defect of all power elites, and they're
eventual undoing. You said this was the most closely guarded
place on earth. It is, Ferris said, and some of
you have been trying to break out for fifty years.
Why it'll take forever to escape. Forever is exactly how
(19:59):
long we have, said Ferris. But we hope it won't
take quite that long. Every new man brings new ideas, plans.
One of them is bound to work forever, Dennison said,
his face buried in his hands. You can go back
upstairs and join them, Ferris said, with a hard note
(20:20):
to his voice. Or you can suicide or just sit
in a corner and go quietly mad. Take your pick.
Dennison looked up. I must be honest with you and
with myself. I don't think we can escape. Furthermore, I
don't think any of you really believe we can. Ferris
shrugged his shoulders. Aside from that, Dennison said, I think
(20:44):
it's a damned good idea. If you'll bring me up
to date, I'll contribute whatever I can to the Forever project,
and let's hope their complacency lasts it will Ferris said.
The escape did not take forever, of course, in one hundred.
In thirty seven years, Denison and his colleagues made their
successful breakout and revealed the Undertaker's plot. The Undertakers were
(21:08):
tried before the High Court on charges of kidnapping, conspiracy
to overthrow the government, and illegal possession of immortality. They
were found guilty on all counts and summarily executed. Denison
and his colleagues were also in illegal possession of immortality,
which is the privilege only of our governmental elite, but
(21:28):
the death penalty was waived in view of the Immortality
Club's service to the state this mercy was premature. However,
after some months, the members of the Immortality Club went
into hiding with the avowed purpose of overthrowing the elite
rule and disseminating immortality among the masses Project Forever, as
(21:49):
they had termed it had received some support from dissidents
who have not yet been apprehended. It cannot be considered
a serious threat. But this deviationist action and in no
way detracts from the glory of the clubs escaped from
the undertakers. The ingenious way in which Dennison and his
colleagues broke out of their seemingly impregnable prison using only
(22:11):
a steel belt, buckle, aped tungsten, filamon, three hens, eggs,
and twelve chemicals that can be readily obtained from the
human body. It is too well known to be repeated
here and of forever. By Robert Sheckley
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