The Adventurer Read online

the spokesman. "Grayson," he said soberly, "We were Folsom'sCabinet. However, there is more that we have to tell you. Alone, if youwill allow it."

  "Very well, gentlemen." Admirals and captains backed out, lookingconcerned.

  * * * * *

  Steiner said: "Grayson, the story goes back many years. My predecessor,William Malvern, determined to overthrow the regime, holding that it wasan affront to the human spirit. There have been many such attempts.All have broken up on the rocks of espionage, terrorism andopinion-control--the three weapons which the regime holds firmly in itshands.

  "Malvern tried another approach than espionage versus espionage,terrorism versus terrorism and opinion-control versus opinion-control.He determined to use the basic fact that certain men make history: thatthere are men born to be mould-breakers. They are the Phillips ofMacedon, the Napoleons, Stalins and Hitlers, the Suleimans--theadventurers. Again and again they flash across history, bringing down anancient empire, turning ordinary soldiers of the line into unkillabledemons of battle, uprooting cultures, breathing new life into moribundpeoples.

  "There are common denominators among all the adventurers. Intelligence,of course. Other things are more mysterious but are always present. Theyare foreigners. Napoleon the Corsican. Hitler the Austrian. Stalin theGeorgian. Phillip the Macedonian. Always there is an Oedipus complex.Always there is physical deficiency. Napoleon's stature. Stalin'swithered arm--and yours. Always there is a minority disability, real orfancied.

  "This is a shock to you, Grayson, but you must face it. _You weremanufactured._

  "Malvern packed the cabinet with the slyest double-dealers he could findand they went to work. Eighty-six infants were planted on the outpostsof the Republic in simulated family environments. Your mother was notyour mother but one of the most brilliant actresses ever to drop out ofsight on Earth. Your intelligence-heredity was so good that we couldn'tturn you down for lack of a physical deficiency. We withered your armwith gamma radiation. I hope you will forgive us. There was no otherway.

  "Of the eighty-six you are the one that worked. Somehow the combinationfor you was minutely different from all the other combinations,genetically or environmentally, and it worked. That is all we wereafter. The mould has been broken, you know now what you are. Let comewhatever chaos is to come; the dead hand of the past no longer lieson--"

  * * * * *

  Grayson went to the door and beckoned; two captains came in. Steinerbroke off his speech as Grayson said to them: "These men deny mygodhood. Take them out and--" he finished with a whimsical shrug.

  "Yes, your divinity," said the captains, without a trace of humor intheir voices.

  Transcriber's Note:

  This etext was produced from _Space Science Fiction_ May 1953. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.