Evening star., 1939-01-26
BY H. G. WELLS.
CHAPTER XLVII.
The End Of Power

no hdd TO die"
who knows of it7" asked Olders
with white lips.
II do. Krause, the ANALYST, and
his staff. We have only men nurses
here. Do you want to hush 1t up
Tor a day or so? It can be done,
you know"
1T Is a catastrophe. Nothing is
ready. Any one may seize power"
II will issue a bulletin that he Is
emerging from crisis and must
remain insensible for 48-or say,
90 hours. And then we can have a
phase OF coma before the end.
Meanwhile, suppose you. as secre-
tary, stop all these pending execu-
tons"
You Think"
NJ am sure. And you add as a
note to my report-not stressed, but
as matter of course-that other
wise every one. everywhere, carries
on-as usual. If there Is no sudden
shock things will go by intertia.
For time anyhow"
"You Think" said Olders.
Sure OF 1t. I'm in control here
I can answer for this end. And by
the bye, there are certain medical
formalities. There must be no
suspicion about his death, you know"
Searching Post-Mortem.
He insisted upon searching post
mortem and this was carried out
by the great analyst Krause with his
assistants. Carstall had suggested
that either strychnine or arsenic
would appear, but the autopsy re-
vealed nothing Sheer overwork
then" said Carstall, and the faithful
Olders bowed his head and mur-
= INJURED, "He died for us ALL"
He died for us ALL" Carstall
agreed. -.
1--WE are still keeping back the
fact Of his DEATH" said Olders next
day. "I-have given a hint here
and there"
"Who knows?" asked Carstall.
Olders looked reluctant, but not
treacherous.
"One or two possible successors
have to be watched" he said.
II am going to bring in three fresh
experts and have the body en-
balmed. They, too, are absolutely
trustworthy. No one will know they
have come here. And then, why not
wait a little? A picked dictator is
better than living dog-f1ght."
Plainly Olders was shocked.
Sorry" said Carstall, "but- there
was no one like him. Was there?
The succession was never settled.
He kept us guessing. No rational
man wants world civil war. In
this sprawling newborn world now
1t would be unending. There would
be Caesars here and Caesars there.
Nationalism isn't dead yet; it's
scotched in the grass. We might be
carried back to that old world
again If once 1t starts. But 1t
needn't start :. And nowadays does
any one considerable really want
power? AS power. You don't want
to be his successor. You want to
60 on as sort of world secretary.
AS you can. And you don't want
any particular one of the possible
successors very badly. Do you? i.
No. I thought so. Neither do L.
Suppose We take his embalmed body
back home in an ambulance and
put him to bed in his own room at
the executive center. Suppose you
60 on being his secretary"
II shouldn't dare"
IF stand by you. If pres
emily you find others standing by
you. All the strings are in your
hands. Nobody else has your exec
utive knowledge The castle there
is like the center of a spiders web.
You were loyal to him. You believed
In him. Believe in him still and
keep this new world united and at
peace. We will help you"
"We?"
"There are competent men in the
world still. None of these would-be
successors dare move in the dark
They're a poor lot. Not like those
fresh, raw dictators of the twenties
and thirties. I know their quality.
The conditions have changed. Tell
every one to carry on. And get
Norvel here. Norvel particularly"
But who are we?"
"The men in the various world
eontrols-Bellacourt, Roots, Hem
ing, Holbank, Sen, Lacoste, Rurik,
Norvel, men like that. In love with
their Jobs. They'll all carry on If
they can. It's in their make. Not
one Of them is a power politician.
It's amazing how f1nanciers and
politicians have died out in the last
few years. You'd have thought the
breed was eternal. I did as young
man. But the desire for mere pow
er-either in the form of money or
rs direct control-seems to have
evaporated. Reedly had it, and Thirp,
In his own peculiar twisted way"
He checked himself on the verge
Of adding "Rud."
"It's the natural desire of a not
very social animal forced into a So
ciety too large for 1t and frighten-
ing 1t. But now we are getting a
sort Of security and the impulse to
hoard up power is assuaged. The
dictators eliminated the power of
finance and now here, If you will, is
the end of political power. Concen-
trated into an individual, then into
. spot, now into mathematical
= point, nothingness."
He closed and clenched his hand
Was he saying too much for Olders?
He stared at him and felt reassured
"A dictator, Olders," he said
seems to be necessary whenever
there is a broad readjustment OF
human relationships. Apparently a
major power system is necessary
to destroy and minor power system
that preceded the readjustment or
arose out of it. Hence, there must
be a dictatorship. But no dictator
snip can go on indefinitely. This
isn't new discovery-at least not
q very new one. They're teaching
IT, sub rosa. now, in the new uni
Verslues. But Lenin, who was head