I have divorced myself completely from that pettiness. Men are fools. Life is futile and meaningless. Only mind is important, and the contemplation of the great mysteries of the cosmos.”
The globed head moved forward and the voice lowered with tension. “I am at the verge of a tremendous new concept of the Universe. It will embrace all things in one master formula. That has been my dream for twenty years. It will be a significant achievement. It will in one sweeping stroke give meaning to all things.” He ended almost in a shout.
“But sir, about Iapetus—” began Shelton.
“I don’t care about Iapetus,” retorted the masked man scornfully. “I have no concern with your petty troubles. I’m not a citizen of Earth, furthermore. I am my own master, with all space as my domain.” His arm moved as though to snap off the connection.
“Wait!” snapped Shelton angrily. “You may be independent of earthly ties, but you’re still a human being. As such, you must have some regard for earthly things.”
The Space Scientist’s arm drew back. “Still a human being.” His mirthless laugh sounded again. “Well spoken! Who are you again?”
“Dr. Rodney Shelton, of ETBI.”
“Ah, yes,” said the hidden lips, reflectively. “I recall contacting you once. You answered my questions. So in return if I can help you, I suppose I should. But be quick about it.”
“Have you had occasion to test the Iapetus air recently?” Shelton queried.
“Yes. Just a minute and I’ll get my record.” The Space Scientist’s form moved aside, out of the screen’s range.
Shelton’s eyes stared wonderingly into what he could see of the cabin of the Space Scientist’s mysterious ship. His vision went down a short corridor, into a laboratory. A bewildering variety of apparatus was discernible, most of it blurred from off-focus so that he couldn’t guess its nature. Yet he could sense the completeness of equipment and advanced nature of the man’s experiments. Another of the many unconfirmed rumors about the Space Scientist was that he had discovered amazing new things that Earth scientists would pledge their souls to know.
Myra Benning shivered. “Somehow, he’s so cold and implacable,” she whispered. “He doesn’t seem human any more. He’s been warped by his long life in space to something different from you and me.”
“Nonsense,” Shelton laughed shortly. “On the contrary, he is still human, in nature as well as body. More human than he knows himself. He proved it by yielding to my little speech.”
He broke off as they heard footsteps approaching the screen. The Space Scientist’s masked face appeared.
“I had occasion to land on Iapetus, in the course of my planetary studies,” he said. “I analyzed its atmosphere. Gases present in Iapetus’ atmosphere are oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, helium, neon and traces of the other noble gases. If you want the percentages—”
“No,” declined Shelton. “When did you make the test?”
“Once ten years ago, and also just a month ago. The results were the same both times.”
“One more question,” pursued Shelton. “Do you think it possible for an alien gas to be present, so unstable that it cannot be detected?”
“Impossible,” the Space Scientist said confidently. “Particularly with my technique. I use a cold-light spectroscope.” A boastful note crept into his voice. “Earth’s scientists don’t know of that method. It examines substances at the low, stable temperature of liquid helium.”
Shelton stared. That was incredible and he almost said so. No one had ever made spectroscopic tests without heat. But then he remembered to whom he was talking—a genius, mad or not, who had labored at his space science for two decades. Space was cold. Perhaps his researches had naturally veered toward low temperature methods.
“I see,” Shelton said. “That’s all I wanted to ask you, sir. Thanks and good-by.”
He was reaching a hand to switch off, but the Space Scientist’s voice interposed. “What are you going to do about those seven unfortunate men?”
“I thought you weren’t interested in earthly affairs?” said Shelton sharply, suppressing a smile.
“I am, though in a purely esoteric way,” the masked man returned. “Life and men’s doings are, after all, a part of the Universe which I am encompassing in my theory. I cannot entirely ignore that which exists. All mankind will be represented by one symbol in my formula—the symbol zero.” There was almost an ominous note in his voice. “Perhaps I’ll explain that in some future contact.”
“I’ll look forward to it,” said Shelton. “As for the seven men, adaptene will revive them, I believe.” He set his jaw. “And I’m going to solve the mystery of what happened to them if it takes a year. Good-by.”
He snapped off, but not before a slightly derisive chuckle came from the Space Scientist, just before his image faded.
Myra Benning shivered again. “Now I can appreciate that expression, the ‘cold scientist’,” she murmured. “He’s all of that. If he can laugh at the predicament of those men, he’s a—a beast, too.”
“But he’s human,” defended Shelton. “Notice how close he was to Earth—must be hovering fairly near, since there was so little delay in the signals going back and forth. He probably stays around Earth a good deal, eagerly listening to news and vision programs, eating his heart out because he’s made a silly vow never to come back. I’ve got him figured out.”
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