[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"Eastland!" Doc hissed urgently. "Is this the man you know as Max wood?"
Shocked by the vehemence of the Bronze Man's question, Baker Eastland found his voice.
It was a croak: "Yes& Yes, it is. Isn't it?
"No," Doc returned tight-voiced. "In the Philippines, we knew him as Jack Thomas. But that is not
his true name, either. This man is Jonas Sown. He died over 3 years ago."
archived at http://www.stealthskater.com/DocSavage.htm 84
Doc Savage: #186- "The Frightened Fish" IX - The War Sower
A peculiar and unsettling silence followed. One which was understood perhaps only by Monk
Mayfair, Ham Brooks, and Johnny Littlejohn.
They -- along with Doc Savage -- had encountered Jonas Sown once before at the end of the War.
They had seen him shot down and were convinced of his death.
But more than the seemingly impossibility of this man's resurrection, there was their knowledge
(never proven) of what he had accomplished before his reported death [read "The Screaming Man
(#154)].
Seryi Mitroff broke the silence.
Turning to Doc Savage, she asked: "You make it sound as if this one were the Devil himself.
ey s
Not taking his flake-gold e off the man he called Jonas Sown, Doc said: "He is. Unless
circumstances 3 years ago misled us horribly, this man you see before us -- directly or indirectly --
was responsible for the outbreak of the Second World War."
Seryi looked at the slim, scholarly Jonas Sown. Her expression warped several times confusedly.
"But I & I have never heard of this man. How could that be?"
"That," Doc said, "is a question that I would like answered myself. What about it, Sown? Or do you
prefer 'Wood'?"
Jonas Sown permitted himself a wry smile.
"Because I chose to work behind the scenes like a master puppeteer."
Seeing the Bronze Man's startled expression, he said to him:
"Oh yes. It is all true. I'm afraid most of the credit for that War is mine. My emotion-controlling
device -- which I was forced to drop into the sea when I discovered you aboard the Empress Margaret
shortly after she had sailed from Manila -- was indeed the trigger for the outbreak of hostilities in 1939.
And for that matter, for certain tests even before then in Manchuria and Spain."
"Nonsense!" Seryi snapped. "This is nonsense. What kind of machine could incite entire nations
into war?"
Jonas Sown emitted a short, barking laugh.
"Nothing so grandiose as that, I assure you. I worked my will through the emotional states of certain
heads-of-state."
"Another lie!" Seryi flared. "If what you say contained one shred of truth, then Hitler and Stalin
would never have fallen out. Or do you claim credit for that event as well?"
Mahli's booming laugh echoed the biting sarcasm of Seryi's question.
archived at http://www.stealthskater.com/DocSavage.htm 85
Doc Savage: #186- "The Frightened Fish" IX - The War Sower
"I believe it was Lincoln who said that a house divided against itself cannot stand," Jonas Sown
retorted. "The same can be said of an alliance. Or a World. The nonaggression pact between Germany
and Russia suited my purposes until the low countries fell. Then I, ah, incited Hitler to turn upon
Russia. A miscalculation on my part. The Soviet resolve was more steely than I would have imagined."
Mahli's mirth trailed away.
Seryi looked stunned. She looked to Doc Savage with questioning eyes.
Doc -- held almost spellbound in fascination -- asked: "It is true, then, that Adolf Hitler was one of
your underlings?"
Sown shrugged, the light reflecting off his coin-shaped glasses so as to make him momentarily
appear to be blank-eyed. His machine-pistol never wavered from the Man of Bronze and the others.
"Let us say I had & influence over the late Fuehrer," he said crisply. "I am -- or was, it might
interest you to know -- a neuro-physician. My emotion-controlling machine was the end product of
many years -- a lifetime, really -- of research and experimentation. It worked enormously well,
producing hatred, anxiety, fear, and other negative emotions among the leaders and people in Germany,
Japan, and elsewhere.
"Unfortunately, this device was not very flexible in what emotions it inspired. For example, it could
not be made to generate positive emotions. Not that I had any use for such trifles."
Doc Savage -- as much out of scientific curiosity as out of concern that Sown would kill them all
once he had finished boasting (which was clearly what he was doing now) -- put forth another question.
"This device of yours sounded -- and still sounds -- more than a little far-fetched. How can you
expect us to swallow& "
"My device," Jonas Sown said slowly and formally, "was partly the result of my delving into
Chinese philosophy. The Chinese -- the ancient Chinese at least -- espoused some remarkable ideas on
the nature of the human mind. A learned scholar whom I believe you knew -- Wo To Sei-gei -- taught
me much and I applied it well. This junk, for example, is my home and my headquarters and has been
ever since I 'died'."
"You did not die," Johnny Littlejohn retorted hotly.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]