Arthur Zagat - The Golden Age of Science Fiction Volume IX

“I am possessed by a tyrant idea, which will not let me sleep,” he said. “I must get rid of it before morning. Come, get your senses about you, and listen to me,” he commanded, as I yawned and rubbed my fists into my eyes, blinded by the sudden strong light.

“If you think I can sleep with it any better than you can, out with it,” I answered.

“How does it happen that a young Hebrew is ruler over all these people?” he demanded.

“Do you lie awake thinking up conundrums?” I ejaculated.

“On Earth, what notable Jews have been rulers over a great people not of their own race?” he continued.

“Disraeli in England, Joseph in Egypt, and—well, that is all I can think of just now.”

“Perhaps that is enough. Egypt was the greatest grain-raising country in Joseph’s time, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, of course,” I answered. “And Joseph’s rule began with seven years of most wonderful crops.”

“Zaphnath told us this morning that the seventh great crop, and the most plenteous of all, is now growing,” he interrupted.

“What has that to do with Joseph? We are not on Earth, but on Mars. Have you been dreaming? Zaphnath is— But, by the way, Joseph’s Egyptian name was Zaphnath-paaneah, meaning a revealer of secrets! When I heard that name this morning, I thought it was strangely familiar. Pharaoh called him that when he appointed him ruler, because he had interpreted his dream,” I said, just realizing the very peculiar coincidence.

“You are as good as a Bible!” cried the doctor. “Perhaps you can also remember by which of Jacob’s wives Joseph was born?”

“Of course I can. He was the first son of Rachel, the wife whom Jacob really loved, and worked fourteen years to secure.”

“But how could he have ten older brothers, if he was Rachel’s first son?” he demanded, a little perplexed.

“They were all the sons of her sister Leah and her handmaidens. Rachel was barren all her life until Joseph was born,” I explained.

“And Zaphnath said this morning that his mother was barren all the years of her life that the Blue Star wandered. He also called himself revealer of God’s hidden things.”

“Yes; and it struck me as peculiar at the time that he said of ‘God’s’ not of ‘the gods’,’” I reflected. “Evidently he thinks there is but one God. The whole matter is altogether peculiar.”

“Here are the facts,” replied the doctor. “Listen to them attentively. We have dropped down into a civilization here upon Mars which coincides in every important particular with that of the Ancient Egyptians on Earth. They are great builders, erecters of monuments, raisers of grain, polygamists, and they now have a young Hebrew ruler, corresponding in every important respect with Joseph. We chance to have arrived during the seventh year of plenty of Joseph’s rule. Grain abounds; the soil brings it forth ‘by handfuls.’ It is, ‘as the sand of the sea, very much,’ and the Pharaoh, probably at the suggestion of his young ruler, is storing it up—”

“By all the Patriarchs!” I interrupted. “They are running a wheat corner, and I didn’t know it! Go on, go on!”

“These are all very singular coincidences with a history which was enacted many thousands of years ago on Earth. Now, how can you explain their strange recurrence here?” he queried.

“How should I know? I haven’t been lying awake! How do you explain them?” I asked, full of interest.

“I have tossed on my pillows in there for three hours evolving a theory for it. If it is correct, our opportunities here in Kem are simply enormous. Now listen, and don’t interrupt me. The Creator has given all the habitable planets the same great problem of life to work out. Every one of His worlds in its time passes through the same general history. This runs parallel on all of them, but at a different speed on each. The swift ones, nearest to the sun, have hurried through it, and may be close upon the end. But this is a slow planet, whose year is almost twice as long as the Earth’s, and more than three times that of Venus. The seasons pass sluggishly here, and history ripens slowly. This world has only reached that early chapter in the story equivalent to Ancient Egypt on Earth. We have forged far ahead of that, and on Venus they have worked out far more of the story than we know anything about. If Mercury is habitable yet, his people may have reached almost the end, but it is most probable that life has not started there; when it does begin, it will be worked out four times as rapidly as it has on Earth.”

“Then a seven years’ famine will begin here next year, and I am in charge of the world’s entire wheat supply!” I gasped, almost overwhelmed by the speculative possibilities which this unfolded.

“It is not likely that there will be more than a general similarity of the history. But Zaphnath has told us that this is the seventh year of plenty. If the famine begins soon, it will be fair to suppose it will for about seven crops. In its later developments the entire history may change when the crucial period comes, and have a very different outcome. But we are now almost at the beginnings of civilized history. Joseph, the first Jew in Egypt, is a ruler here, and your entire race must follow him hither, and pass through a miserable captivity. Even if you remained here all your life, you would not last that long; but upon the later doings of your people and their treatment of the Martian Messiah, when He comes, depend the future conditions of this planet. Will it be different then from the Earthly story? It is an extremely interesting theory to follow to the end, but that would take thousands of years, and we are concerned with the present.”

“Doctor, if this theory be true, then we are nothing short of prophets here!” I exclaimed, still struggling with the wonderful bearings of the idea on our personal welfare.

“In a general way we are prophets, but Zaphnath has forestalled us on immediate matters. Let us keep our own counsel as to any foreknowledge. If we disclose it, we may suddenly lose our opportunities, and, besides, we shall be powerless to change history here in any important respect.”

“I might prevent Zaphnath from bringing all Israel down into Egypt, and thus save them from that captivity,” I exclaimed.

“Then you would forestall a Moses, and prevent the miraculous deliverance of your people, and all the paternal care which God bestowed upon them during that time. You will never be able to do this. Zaphnath is in the way. He is headstrong and wilful. He is an active thinker and a hard worker among a race of idlers, who live only to enjoy the fulness of a rich land. He knows the greater activity and industry of his own people, and he will wish to make them masters of this goodly land. I will warrant that his head is full of plans at this very moment for bringing his old father and all his race down here to give them important places. See how readily he gave the keystone of the whole situation to you. It will pay you better to keep on good terms with him. Instead of trying to change the situation, let us make the best of it as we find it.”

“Well, I must say the present situation is attractive enough to me,” I said, and then inquired, “How many gold coins have you, Doctor?”

“I have only a hundred half eagles and a little silver coin,” he replied; “and I wish to be very sure of the correctness of my theory before I undertake any speculations with that.”

“Nonsense! What is money for, but to double, and then to double the result again!” I exclaimed. “You work out this great theory, and then fail to grasp its commercial importance to us. You and I will embark in the grain business, with our entire stock of gold, the first thing in the morning. We have iron enough to live on.”