Last Enemy Read online

theidea of discarnate consciousness, since they conceive of consciousnesspurely as a function of the physical brain. So they postulate anunconscious discarnate personality, or, as you put it, one in asomnambulistic state. They have to concede memory to this discarnatepersonality, since it was by recovery of memories of previousreincarnations that discarnate existence and reincarnation were provento be facts. So they picture the discarnate individuality as amaterial object, or physical event, of negligible but actual mass, inwhich an indefinite number of memories can be stored as electroniccharges. And they picture it as being drawn irresistibly to the bodyof the nearest non-incarnated infant. Curiously enough, thereincarnation vehicle chosen is almost always of the same sex as thevehicle of the previous reincarnation, the exceptions being cases ofpersons who had a previous history of psychological sex-inversion."

  Dr. Harnosh remembered the unlighted pipe in his hand, thrust it intohis mouth, and lit it. For a moment, he sat with it jutting out of hisblack beard, until it was drawing to his satisfaction. "This belief inimmediate reincarnation leads the Statisticalists, when they fightduels or perform voluntary discarnation, to do so in the neighborhoodof maternity hospitals," he added. "I know, personally, of onereincarnation memory-recall, in which the subject, a Statisticalist,voluntarily discarnated by lethal-gas inhaler in a private room at oneof our local maternity hospitals, and reincarnated twenty years laterin the city of Jeddul, three thousand miles away." The square blackbeard jiggled as the scientist laughed.

  "Now, as to the political implications of these contradictorytheories: Since the Statisticalists believe that they will reincarnateentirely at random, their aim is to create an utterly classless socialand economic order, in which, theoretically, each individuality willreincarnate into a condition of equality with everybody else. Theirpolitical program, therefore, is one of complete socialization of allmeans of production and distribution, abolition of hereditary titlesand inherited wealth--eventually, all private wealth--and totalgovernment control of all economic, social and cultural activities. Ofcourse," Dr. Harnosh apologized, "politics isn't my subject; Iwouldn't presume to judge how that would function in practice."

  "I would," Verkan Vall said shortly, thinking of all the differenttime-lines on which he had seen systems like that in operation. "Youwouldn't like it, doctor. And the Volitionalists?"

  "Well, since they believe that they are able to choose thecircumstances of their next reincarnations for themselves, they arethe party of the _status quo_. Naturally, almost all the nobles,almost all the wealthy trading and manufacturing families, and almostall professional people, are Volitionalists; most of the workers andpeasants are Statisticalists. Or, at least, they were, for the mostpart, before we began announcing the results of the Lady Dallona'sexperimental work."

  "Ah; now we come to it," Verkan Vall said as the story clarified.

  "Yes. In somewhat oversimplified form, the situation is rather likethis," Dr. Harnosh of Hosh said. "The Lady Dallona introduced a numberof refinements and some outright innovations into our technique ofrecovering memories of past reincarnations. Previously, it wasnecessary to keep the subject in an hypnotic trance, during which heor she would narrate what was remembered of past reincarnations, andthis would be recorded. On emerging from the trance, the subject wouldremember nothing; the tape-recording would be all that would be left.But the Lady Dallona devised a technique by which these memories wouldremain in what might be called the fore part of the subject'ssubconscious mind, so that they could be brought to the level ofconsciousness at will. More, she was able to recover memories of pastdiscarnate existences, something we had never been able to doheretofore." Dr. Harnosh shook his head. "And to think, when I firstmet her, I thought that she was just another sensation-seeking younglady of wealth, and was almost about to refuse her enrollment!"

  He wasn't the only one whom little Dalla had surprised, Verkan Vallthought. At least, he had been pleasantly surprised.

  "You see, this entirely disproves the Statistical Theory ofReincarnation. For example, we got a fine set of memory-recalls from onesubject, for four previous reincarnations and four intercarnations. Inthe first of these, the subject had been a peasant on the estate of awealthy noble. Unlike most of his fellows, who reincarnated into otherpeasant families almost immediately after discarnation, this man waitedfor fifty years in the discarnate state for an opportunity toreincarnate as the son of an over-servant. In his next reincarnation, hewas the son of a technician, and received a technical education; hebecame a physics researcher. For his next reincarnation, he chose theson of a nobleman by a concubine as his vehicle; in his presentreincarnation, he is a member of a wealthy manufacturing family, andmarried into a family of the nobility. In five reincarnations, he hasclimbed from the lowest to the next-to-highest rung of the socialladder. Few individuals of the class from whence he began this ascentpossess so much persistence or determination. Then, of course, there wasthe case of Lord Garnon of Roxor."

  He went on to describe the last experiment in which Hadron Dalla hadparticipated.

  "Well, that all sounds pretty conclusive," Verkan Vall commented. "Itake it the leaders of the Volitionalist Party here are pleased withthe result of the Lady Dallona's work?"

  "Pleased? My dear Lord Virzal, they're fairly bursting with glee overit!" Harnosh of Hosh declared. "As I pointed out, the Statisticalistprogram of socialization is based entirely on the proposition that noone can choose the circumstances of his next reincarnation, and that'sbeen demonstrated to be utter nonsense. Until the Lady Dallona'sdiscoveries were announced, they were the dominant party, controllinga majority of the seats in Parliament and on the Executive Council.Only the Constitution kept them from enacting their entiresocialization program long ago, and they were about to legislateconstitutional changes which would remove that barrier. They hadexpected to be able to do so after the forthcoming general elections.But now, social inequality has become desirable: it gives peoplesomething to look forward to in the next reincarnation. Instead ofwanting to abolish wealth and privilege and nobility, the proletariatwant to reincarnate into them." Harnosh of Hosh laughed happily. "Soyou can see how furious the Statisticalist Party organization is!"

  "There's a catch to this, somewhere," Marnik the Assassin, speakingfor the first time, declared. "They can't all reincarnate as princes,there aren't enough vacancies to go 'round. And no noble is going toreincarnate as a tractor driver to make room for a tractor driver whowants to reincarnate as a noble."

  "That's correct," Dr. Harnosh replied. "There is a catch to it; acatch most people would never admit, even to themselves. Very fewindividuals possess the will power, the intelligence or the capacityfor mental effort displayed by the subject of the case I just quoted.The average man's interests are almost entirely on the physical side;he actually finds mental effort painful, and makes as little of it aspossible. And that is the only sort of effort a discarnateindividuality can exert. So, unable to endure the fifty or so yearsneeded to make a really good reincarnation, he reincarnates in a yearor so, out of pure boredom, into the first vehicle he can find,usually one nobody else wants." Dr. Harnosh dug out the heel of hispipe and blew through the stem. "But nobody will admit his own mentalinferiority, even to himself. Now, every machine operator and fieldhand on the planet thinks he can reincarnate as a prince or amillionaire. Politics isn't my subject, but I'm willing to bet thatsince Statistical Reincarnation is an exploded psychic theory,Statisticalist Socialism has been caught in the blast area anddestroyed along with it."

  * * * * *

  Olirzon was in the drawing room of the hotel suite when they returned,sitting on the middle of his spinal column in a reclining chair,smoking a pipe, dressing the edge of his knife with a pocket-hone, andgazing lecherously at a young woman in the visiplate. She was anextremely well-designed young woman, in a rather fragmentary costume,and she was heaving her bosom at the invisible audience in anger,sorrow, scorn, entreaty, and numerous other emotions.

  "... this r
evolting crime," she was declaiming, in a husky contralto,as Verkan Vall and Marnik entered, "foul even for the criminal beastswho conceived and perpetrated it!" She pointed an accusing finger."This murder of the beautiful Lady Dallona of Hadron!"

  Verkan Vall stopped short, considering the possibility of somethinghaving been discovered lately of which he was ignorant. Olirzon musthave guessed his thought; he grinned reassuringly.

  "Think nothing of it, Lord Virzal," he said, waving his knife at thevisiplate. "Just political propaganda; strictly for the sparrows. Nicepropagandist, though."

  "And now," the woman with the magnificent natural resources loweredher voice