The Last Gentleman Read online

knock sounded on the door.They had been in bed three hours, because all they could think of assoon as they had eaten was getting into bed and staying there until thelast possible minute on the following morning.

  But the knock came and Jim went down. He called back upstairs with morelife than he'd shown in a long time, "Myra--come down. It's Hugh. Hugh'scome to see us."

  And Myra came down quickly--something she hadn't done for a long timeeither.

  Hugh seemed weary and drawn, but his smile was the same. Hugh hadn'tchanged a great deal from the gangling kid who never studied mathematicsin school but always had the answers. It came natural to him.

  During the coffee that Myra made, Hugh said, "Had quite a time gettinghere. Trains disrupted. All air lines grounded. But I wanted to see youagain before--"

  "Then there _is_ a war," Jim said. "We've been kind of wondering outhere. With the censorship we don't get any news and the peoplehereabouts have almost forgotten the bombs I guess."

  Hugh stared into his coffee cup for a long time. "No--there isn't anywar." Hugh grinned wryly. "I don't think anybody in the world has gotenough energy left to fight one."

  "There _was_ one then? One that's over?" Jim felt suddenly like a fool,sitting here on a world that might have gone through a war stretchingfrom pole to pole, and asking if it had happened as though he lived onMars somewhere--out of touch. But that's the way it was.

  "No there wasn't any war."

  "You mean our government shot off those bombs themselves? You know Ithought it was funny. Landing out in the desert that way like they did.

  "Old Joe would have hit for Chicago or Detroit or New York. It was sillyto say bombs dropped on the desert came from an enemy."

  "No--the government didn't fire them."

  Myra set her cup down. "Jim, stop asking Hugh so many questions. He'stired. He's come a long way. The questions can wait."

  "Yes--I guess they can. We'll show you where your room is, Hugh."

  As she opened the window of the spare bedroom, Myra stood for a momentlooking out. "Moon's certainly pretty tonight. So big and yellow. Wish Iwasn't too tired to enjoy it."

  They went to bed then, in the quiet home under the big yellow moon overthe quiet town. A moon over a quiet country--over a weary, waiting,world.

  Jim didn't go to work the next day. He hadn't planned to stay away fromwork, but he and Myra awoke very late and it was then that he made uphis mind. For a long time, they lay in bed, not even the thought of Hughbeing around and all the things they wanted to talk about, could bringthem out of bed until they felt guilty about not getting up.

  Hugh was sitting on the front porch watching the still trees in theyard. There was a breeze blowing, but it wasn't enough to move theleaves. Every leaf hung straight down, not stirring, and the grassseemed matted and bent toward the earth.

  Myra got breakfast. She dropped the skillet while transferring the eggsto a platter but she got her foot out of the way so no harm was done.After breakfast the men went back outside. Jim moved automaticallytoward a chair.

  Then he stopped and frowned. He straightened deliberately. He turned andlooked at his brother. He said, "Hugh. You're a man that knows. What'swrong? What did those bombs do to us? Tell me. I've got to know."

  Hugh was silent for a time. Then he said, "Feel up to a walk?"

  "Certainly. Why not?"

  They went to the edge of town and out into a pasture and stopped finallyby a brook where the water flowed sluggishly.

  After a while, Hugh said, "I'm not supposed to tell anybody anything,but somehow it doesn't seem decent--keeping the truth from your ownbrother. And what difference does it make--really?"

  "What's happened, Hugh."

  "There weren't any bombs."

  "No bombs."

  "It happened this way. Long before this Earth was formed, a millionlight years out in space, a white dwarf died violently."

  "You're talking in riddles."

  Hugh looked up into the blue sky. "A dwarf star, Jim. So incrediblyheavy, it would be hard for you to conceive of its weight. This starblew up--broke into five pieces and the five pieces followed each otherthrough space. This world was formed in the meantime--maybe even thisgalaxy--we don't know. So the five pieces of heavy star had a rendezvouswith a world unborn. The world was born and grew old and then therendezvous was kept. Right on schedule. On some schedule so huge andponderous we can't even begin to understand it."

  "The five bombs."

  "They hit the earth in a line and drove deep into the ground. But thatwas only the beginning. It all has to do with magnetism--the way theykept right on burrowing toward the center of our earth--causing theearthquakes--causing apples to fall from trees." Hugh turned to glanceat Jim. "Did you know you weigh around six hundred pounds now?"

  "I haven't weighed myself lately."

  "We checked and found out what the stuff was. We'd never seen anythinglike it before. That star was a real heavyweight. All the pieces aredrawing together toward the center of earth. But they'll never getthere."

  "They won't."

  "We're doomed, Jim. Earth is doomed. That's the why of this censorship.We didn't want panics--mass suicide--a world gone mad."

  "How's it going to come?"

  "If allowed to run its course, the world would come to a completestandstill. Nothing would grow. People would move slower and sloweruntil they finally fell in their tracks and could not get up. Eternalnight on one side of a dead planet--eternal day on the other."

  "But it's not going to happen?"

  Hugh's mind went off on another track. "You know, Jim--I've never been areligious man. In fact I've only had one concept of God. I believe thatGod--above all, is a gentleman."

  Jim said nothing and after a moment, Hugh went on. "Do you know whatthey do when they execute a man by firing squad?"

  "What do they do?"

  "After the squad fires its volley, the Captain steps up to the fallenman and puts a bullet through his brain. The man is executed for areason, but the bullet is an act of mercy--the act of a gentleman.

  "We are being executed for a reason we can't understand, and the bullethas already been fired, Jim. Another ten hours--eleven hours."

  "What bullet?"

  "Look up there. See it? The Moon."

  Jim looked dully into the sky. "It's bigger--a way bigger."

  "Hurtling in toward us at ever increasing speed. When it hits--"

  Jim looked at his brother with complete understanding at last. "When ithits--we won't be here any more."

  "That's right. A quick, easy death for the world--from the bullet firedby the Last Gentleman."

  They turned back toward the house. "Shall I tell Myra," Jim asked.

  "What do you think you should do?"

  "No--no, we won't tell her. We've got ten hours."

  "Yes--we've got ten hours."

  "Let's go home and have some coffee."