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But far and away the greatest asset of his nature was the strength he very
obviously possessed.
Sellars was strength personified. For this reason even people who disliked
him would follow him. This single virtue was obvious in him. In fact it shone
through him, not like an inner light, but like the hidden molten glow of a
quiescent volcano, sullen, dogged and unquenchable. The physical coercions of
an earlier age would have wasted themselves on such a man. They could only
have broken his body and left his will untouched. A few such men are born from
time to time and Anthony Sellars was one of them.
And he was not insane; and he did not desire power for its own sake. Like
Eli, he was a child of his time but while Eli had opened himself to the
uncertainty and self-doubt of his period, seeking, asking, letting himself be
tossed in any direction in his hunting for a logic to life. Tony Sellars had
narrowed himself, admitting only those questions that permitted of a clear-cut
positive or negative answer. And when it became necessary to go farther afield
into the grayness of an unclear problem, he judged as justly as he could and
then forced a decision in terms of black and white. For his own purpose, he
had reduced the problems of his day to his own common denominator; and the
answer had been clear-cut absolute control for the world, and byhimself , the
only man he could be sure would do each and every thing that Tony Sellars
believed should be done if the race was to continue.
And now he had done what he ought and won what he should with the single
exception of Eli. He regretted having to destroy Eli for the loss of talent it
entailed. He did not likeEli, the natures of the two men had been too
antipathetic for that. But that did not enter the problem, for the dislikes as
well as the likes of hisemotional being had long since been whipped to heel by
his imperious will. He neither loved nor hated. He neither felt joy nor
sorrow. In this hour of his triumph he tramped the floor of the anteroom
without elation or apprehension, or consideration of reward. Personal reward
to him was a term without meaning. As near an automaton as living flesh and
blood can make itself, he merely surveyed the arena of his recent victory and
paced away the moments intervening before the inexorable developments of
events should move him to a further arena, a further struggle, and a further
duty.
He looked once more at his chronometer. A few minutes yet remained.
He turned abruptly out of the path of his pacing and went back to his desk.
Seating himself, he pressed the catch on a drawer and sprang it open. Then,
reaching inside he took out the small white cube impressed with the notes of
the speech he would make. He closed the drawer again; and, lifting the cube,
placed it on the desk.
As it touched the dark, gleaming surface a sudden sensation flashed through
him as if he had suddenly come in contact with a live wire. And he froze
abruptly, like a man paralyzed, one hand on the arm of his chair, the other
outstretched and lying on the desk top, fingers holding the cube.
It seemed then, to Tony Sellars, so long the complete master of himself, as
if contact with the desk had without warning burst open some long-forgotten
unguarded door in his mind and that he now stood helpless and aghast at what
entered through its rusty portal. Some thing he could neither describe nor
understand reached through and held him. Caught by a strange compulsion, he
sat for a moment staring at the cube in his fingers, then raised his eyes to
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look beyond the desk.
Before him it seemed that the air was thickening and taking form. And, as he
watched, the figure of Eli Johnstone, who should by rights have been trapped
in the station his men were now besieging, seemed to coalesce into shape
before him. And the figure looked at him and spoke.
"I'm not really here, Tony," it said. "You and I are just in contact by
courtesy of the Members."
Sellar's vocal cords broke free of their control.
"What is this?" he said.
The figure that was Eli smiled.
"I suppose you could call it a telepathic chat," he answered."Or a meeting of
minds or some such thing. I don't know anything beyond the fact that I seem to
be a good subject for such things, and frankly I don't consider it important.
On the other hand what I have tosay, is important." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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