Krakatit/Chapter 47
CHAPTER XLVII
Daimon drew up a chair and sat down. “Yes, he began reflectively,” it ’s almost impossible to believe it. There’s simply no analogy in history to the power which you have in your hands. You will be able to conquer the world with a handful of people, as Cortez conquered Mexico. No, that’s not the right image. With Krakatit and the wireless station you can checkmate the world . It’s amazing but it’s true. All you need is a handful of white powder and you can blow up what you like any instant you please. Who can stop you? Actually you are the uncontrolled master of the world. You will be able to give orders, without anyone even seeing you. It’s amusing. You can attack Portugal or Sweden; in three, four days they will ask for peace and you will dictate contributions, laws, frontiers, anything that occurs to you. At that moment there’s only one controlling force, and that’s you yourself.
“You think that I’m exaggerating? I’ve a lot of very efficient fellows here, capable of everything. You decide for a lark to make war on France. One day at midnight there go up in the air the ministries, the Banque de France, the post-offices, power stations, railway stations and a few barracks. The next night you explode aerodromes, arsenals, iron bridges, munition factories, ports, lighthouses and main roads. At present we have only seven aeroplanes; you sprinkle Krakatit where you like; then you turn on a switch in the station and there you are. Well, would you like to try?”
Prokop felt that it was all a dream. “No! Why should I do such a thing?”
Daimon shrugged his shoulders: “Because you must. Force . . . will out. Why should some State do it on your account, when you can do it yourself? I don’t know what you couldn’t do; you must begin to experiment. I can assure you that you’ll acquire a taste for it. Do you want to be the ruler of the world? Good. Do you want to blow up the world? You can. Do you want to make it happy by forcing upon it continual peace. God, a new order, a revolution or something of the sort? Why not? You’ve only to begin. It doesn’t matter about the programme. Finally you will only do what you are compelled to do through the conditions which you have yourself created. You can destroy banks, kings, industrialism, armies, eternal injustices or what you like; as you go along you will see what you want to do. Begin where you like and the rest will follow by itself. Only don’t look for analogies in history. Don’t ask yourself what you may do; your situation is unprecedented. There is no Dzhinghiz Khan or Napoleon to tell you what you have to do or to say what your limits are. Nobody will be able to give you advice; nobody will be able to abuse your power. You must be alone if you want to take things to their limits. Don’t let anybody come near you who would set you any boundaries or suggest any particular line of action.”
“Not even you. Daimon?” asked Prokop sharply.
“No, not even me. I am on the side of power. I am old, experienced and rich; all I want is that something should be done along lines laid down by a man. My old heart will be contented with what you will do. Think out the most daring, beautiful, heavenly schemes you can and impose them by the right of your power; this will reward me for serving you.”
“Give me your hand. Daimon,” said Prokop, full of suspicion.
“No, it would burn you,” smiled Daimon. “I’ve an old, age-long fever. What was I saying? Yes, one of the possibilities of strength is force. Force has the capacity for setting things in motion; you would not be able to help the fact that everything finally revolves round yourself. Get used to this beforehand; regard people merely as your instruments or as instruments of the ideas which you evolve. You want to do an enormous amount of good; as a result you will be extremely severe. Stop at nothing in your efforts to achieve your magnificent ideals. Incidentally that will come by itself. At present it seems to you that it would be beyond your strength fo rule the earth—I don’t know in what way. You will, and this will not be beyond the strength of your instruments; your power will go further than any sober reflection.
“Arrange your affairs in such a way that you are dependent on nobody. This very day I shall have you elected as the President of the Intelligence Commission. This will mean that you will have the secret station in your own hands; in any case it is situated in a plant which is my own private property. In a moment you will see our various comrades; don’t frighten them by announcing any great plans. They are expecting you and will receive you with enthusiasm. Give them a few phrases about the good of humanity or anything you like; otherwise you will become involved in the chaos of opinions which are usually described as political convictions.
“You must decide for yourself whether your first attacks will be on political or economic lines, that is to say whether you will begin by bombarding military objects or factories and railway lines. The first is more effective and the second more fundamental. You can begin a general attack all round or you can choose one sector. You can cause a revolution either privately or publicly, or you can declare war. I don’t know what your proclivities are; anyway, it doesn’t matter about the form as long as you reveal your power. You are the highest court of appeal in the world; you can pass judgment on anybody you like and our people will execute it. Do not consider human lives. Work on a large scale; there are milliards of lives in the world.
“Listen. I’m an industrialist, a journalist, a banker, a politician, anything you like. In short. I’m accustomed to, calculate, consider the circumstances and work on limited possibilities. Just for this reason I must tell you—and this is the only advice which I propose to give you before you assume power—don’t make calculations or look round you. The moment you look back you will turn into a pillar like Lot’s wife. I am reason; but if I cast my eyes upwards I at once want to become insane and irresponsible. Everything which exists inevitably collapses out of the chaos of limitlessness into nothing, and this by way of number; every powerful force is opposed to this progressive decline; everything which is noble wants to become limitless. The force which does not flow beyond its original frontiers is doomed. You have in your hands the possibility of achieving enormous things; are you worthy of utilizing or are you simply going to play about with it? I’m an old, practical man and I tell you: You will think of wild and frenzied deeds, of action on an unprecedented scale, of incredible demonstrations of human power. In actuality you will only achieve half or a third of what you propose to do, but that which you succeed in doing will be tremendous. Attempt the impossible so that at least you will achieve something which has never been thought possible before. You know what a tremendous thing experiment is: good, the thing which all the rulers of the world fear most is that they should have to do something new, something unheard of, something perverse. There’s nothing more conservative than ruling over human beings. You are the first man in the world who can regard the whole world as his laboratory. This is the High Place of temptation; everything is given you not simply for you to exercise your power on it, but that you may transform it and create something better than their miserable, cruel world. There is need again and again of a creator of the world, but a creator who is only a ruler is a fool. Your thoughts will be orders; your dreams will be historic revolutions, and, if you do no more than make yourself remembered, that will be enough. Take what is yours.
“And now we must go. They are waiting for us.”