The Monster Trilogy by Brian Aldiss

Author:Brian Aldiss [Brian Aldiss]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2013-04-24T16:00:00+00:00

‘But my feelings are different, if I may state them. They perhaps correspond in some ways to those of our new friend, Mr Bodenland. Our generation must take on the task of thinking about the future, of assuming towards it the responsibility that we assume towards our children. There are changes in the world to which we must not be passive, or we shall be overwhelmed by them, like children by an illness of which they have no comprehension. When knowledge becomes formulated into a science, then it does take on a life of its own, often alien to the human spirit that conceived it.’

‘Oh yes,’ I said. ‘And always the pretence that the innovating spirit is so noble and good! Whereas the cellars of creativity are often stuffed with corpses …’

‘Don’t talk to me about corpses!’ cried Shelley, jumping up. ‘Who knows but they may be lined up outside that very wall, waiting to flock in on us!’ He pointed melodramatically, running a finger along in the air ahead of him, peering with burning eyes as if indeed watching an army of the dead, invisible to the rest of us. ‘I know about corpses! As the cycles of the air distribute moisture about the planet, so the legions of the dead march underground to distribute life! Do I sound so optimistic that I’m not always conscious of the short step between swaddling-bands and cerements? Mortality – that’s always the stumbling-block! Your Frankenstein was correct in his basic idea, Mary – he sought first to create a race free from the bounds of ordinary human weakness! Would I had been so created! How I would stalk the world!’

He gave a great shriek and rushed from the room.

Byron pulled a funny face at Mary. ‘Think yourself lucky he don’t eat meat, ma’am, or there’s no knowing what he’d be up to!’

‘Percy’s so ethereal. I fear the world invisible is more visible to him than to the rest of us. I’d better go and calm him down.’

‘Mary, dear, one night when I have made a better meal than I did tonight, I plan to go a little berserk, too, in order to have your solace.’

She smiled. ‘Oh, Claire will look after you, Lord Byron!’

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