Without saying a word, with two bullets from my revolver, I slew the monster.
After that execution, in my turn, I decided to die.
It is necessary for me to profit from that hour of temporary lucidity to protect the world from the inevitable return of my horrible folly. Before then, I wanted to write you this letter, certain that you would find it in the vicinity of the Ossat.
What more is there to say?
Before disappearing, I want to beg forgiveness from my victims, from all those I have harmed.
First of all from you, my very dear friend, my brother, for the mental torture that I’ve imposed on you or more than a year. From Capitaine Berjac, whom I killed indirectly. From the people of Bouffarik and Messina. From the unfortunates who were manning the dirigible lost yesterday, the victims of last night’s explosion. And above all from poor little Étienne. Was the blood of that child necessary, then, to redeem the supreme crime meditated against humankind? Finally, from the pure and gentle soul of Hélène Thiérard-Leroy.
A cruel punishment might await me in the afterlife: the reprobation of the woman in memory of whom I have perpetrated the most terrible of designs. That will be justice.
To you, Paul Lefort, I bequeath all my worldly goods; I know that you’ll make noble use of them. May they serve, in the measure that is possible, to repair the damage I have done to others.
Before hurling myself into the void, I shall halt the effect of the mortal effluvia. I shall neutralize the vats of acid that still remain. You will find a formula included herewith; it will permit the separation of the radium from the Omega acid.
As for the formula of the acid itself, I shall take the secret with me. It is necessary that no madman or wretch can ever take up the destructive dream again.
May the world live in peace.
The Man of the Apocalypse is dead, killed by Eternal Life.
* * *
29 The Camp de Châlons, or Camp de Mourmelon, was a huge tract of land transformed into a military base in 1857, which became the showcase of Napoléon III’s Imperial Army, employed for vast parades. In the early twentieth century it also became an important center for experiments in aviation. During the Great War it had close links with the nearby Camp de Suippes, close to the Front, also used as a training ground and to store stocks of chemical weapons.
30 Gliding clubs proliferated after the Great War, when an intense interest developed in extending distance and altitude records. Activity was particularly marked in Germany because of the prohibition of training for powered flight there, and there was a competitive reaction in northern France.
31 Étienne Dolet (1509-1546) was a French scholar and printer burned in the Place Maubert, along with his books, on the orders of the theological faculty of the Sorbonne, on a trumped-up charge of atheism.
32 The author adds a note at this point bearing the single word “Authentic.” The reference is to Charles Frédéric Martins (1806-1889), a botanist and meteorologist who carried out extensive comparative studies of glaciers and concluded that the mean temperature during “ice ages” was only a few degrees lower than the present mean.
33 The Ferme de Bouy, in the heart of the Camp de Châlons, was the training center for the Fourth Army during the Great War.
34 An alérion [alerion] is a heraldic eagle; it was adopted by the designer Louis Peyret for the Peyret Alérion single-seat glider, which won the first British Glider Competition in 1922, piloted by Alexis Maneyrol; the two were fêted when they returned home. The term became briefly commonplace in application to gliders in general, and even to other small aircraft.
35 A “sandow” was originally an elastic device used for exercising the arms, named after and marketed by the pioneering body-builder Eugen Sandow. The term was borrowed for application to catapults employed for launching gliders in France during the 1920s, but its fashionability was brief.
36 Author’s note: “An experiment by Marie Curie has demonstrated that radium decomposes liquid water, ice or water vapor with an extraordinary intensity.” Marie Curie made this point explicitly in her Nobel Prize lecture in 1911.
37 Gustave Le Bon’s far-sighted account of L’Évolution de la matière was published in 1905.
38 This myth originated in the work of the Roman historian Livy; Polybius makes no mention of the preposterous alleged feat.
39 The reference is to the allegorical Carte de Tendre [Map of Tendre, or Tenderness] drawn up by several female hands in 17th century salon society, and printed in Madame de Scudéry’s novel Clélie (1654-51). It represents the course of an amorous pilgrim’s progress to the not-entirely-celestial abode of love.
40 Author’s note: “Seguias are little streams that are contrived in all directions around the feet of the palm trees, the cultivation of which requires irrigation.”
English adaptation and introduction Copyright 2016 by Brian Stableford.
Cover illustration Copyright 2016 Yvan Villeneuve.
Visit our website at www.blackcoatpress.com
ISBN 978-1-61227-474-4. First Printing. February 2016. Published by Black Coat Press, an imprint of Hollywood Comics.com, LLC, P.O. Box 17270, Encino, CA 91416. All rights reserved. Except for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The stories and characters depicted in this novel are entirely fictional. Printed in the United States of America.
FRENCH SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY COLLECTION
105 Adolphe Ahaiza. Cybele
102 Alphonse Allais. The Adventures of Captain Cap
02 Henri Allorge. The Great Cataclysm
14 G.-J. Arnaud. The Ice Company
152 André Arnyvelde. The Ark
153 André Arnyvelde. The Mutilated Bacchus
61 Charles Asselineau. The Double Life
118 Henri Austruy. The Eupantophone
119 Henri Austry. The Petitpaon Era
120 Henri Austry. The Olotelepan
130 Barillet-Lagargousse. The Final War
103 S. Henry Berthoud. Martyrs of Science
23 Richard Bessière. The Gardens of the Apocalypse
121 Richard Bessière. The Masters of Silence
148 Béthune (Chevalier de). The World of Mercury
26 Albert Bleunard. Ever Smaller
06 Félix Bodin. The Novel of the Future
92 Louis Boussenard. Monsieur Synthesis
39 Alphonse Brown. City of Glass
89 Alphonse Brown. The Conquest of the Air
98 Emile Calvet. In A Thousand Years
40 Félicien Champsaur. The Human Arrow
81 Félicien Champsaur. Ouha, King of the Apes
91. Félicien Champsaur. The Pharaoh’s Wife
133 Félicien Champsaur. Homo-Deus
143 Félicien Champsaur. Nora, The Ape-Woman
03 Didier de Chousy. Ignis
166 Jacques Collin de Plancy. Voyage to the Center of the Earth
97 Michel Corday. The Eternal Flame
113 André Couvreur. The Necessary Evil
114 André Couvreur. Caresco, Superman
115 André Couvreur. The Exploits of Professor Tornada (Vol. 1)
116 André Couvreur. The Exploits of Professor Tornada (Vol. 2)
117 André Couvreur. The Exploits of Professor Tornada (Vol. 3)
67 Captain Danrit. Undersea Odyssey
149 Camille Debans. The Misfortunes of John Bull
17 C. I. Defontenay. Star (Psi Cassiopeia)
05 Charles Derennes. The People of the Pole
68 Georges T. Dodds. The Missing Link and Other Tales of Ape-Men
125 Charles Dodeman. The Silent Bomb
49 Alfred Driou. The Adventures of a Parisian Aeronaut
144 Odette Dulac. The War of the Sexes
145 Renée Dunan. The Ultimate Pleasure
10 Henri D
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08 Achille Eyraud. Voyage to Venus
01 Henri Falk. The Age of Lead
51 Charles de Fieux. Lamékis
108 Louis Forest. Someone Is Stealing Children In Paris
31 Arnould Galopin. Doctor Omega
70 Arnould Galopin. Doctor Omega & The Shadowmen
112 H. Gayar. The Marvelous Adventures of Serge Myrandhal on Mars
88 Judith Gautier. Isoline and the Serpent-Flower
163 Raoul Gineste. The Second Life of Dr. Albin
136 Delphine de Girardin. Balzac’s Cane
146 Jules Gros. The Fossil Man
57 Edmond Haraucourt. Illusions of Immortality
134 Edmond Haraucourt. Daah, the First Human
24 Nathalie Henneberg. The Green Gods
131 Eugene Hennebert. The Enchanted City
137 P.-J. Hérault. The Clone Rebellion
150 Jules Hoche. The Maker of Men and his Formula
140 P. d’Ivoi & H. Chabrillat. Around the World on Five Sous
107 Jules Janin. The Magnetized Corpse
29 Michel Jeury. Chronolysis [NO LONGER AVAILABLE
55 Gustave Kahn. The Tale of Gold and Silence
30 Gérard Klein. The Mote in Time’s Eye
90 Fernand Kolney. Love in 5000 Years
87 Louis-Guillaume de La Follie. The Unpretentious Philosopher
101 Jean de La Hire. The Fiery Wheel
50 André Laurie. Spiridon
52 Gabriel de Lautrec. The Vengeance of the Oval Portrait
82 Alain Le Drimeur. The Future City
27-28 Georges Le Faure & Henri de Graffigny. The Extraordinary Adventures of a Russian Scientist Across the Solar System (2 vols.)
07 Jules Lermina. Mysteryville
25 Jules Lermina. Panic in Paris
32 Jules Lermina. The Secret of Zippelius
66 Jules Lermina. To-Ho and the Gold Destroyers
127 Jules Lermina. The Battle of Strasbourg
15 Gustave Le Rouge. The Vampires of Mars
73 Gustave Le Rouge. The Plutocratic Plot
74 Gustave Le Rouge. The Transatlantic Threat
75 Gustave Le Rouge. The Psychic Spies
76 Gustave Le Rouge. The Victims Victorious
109-110-111 Gustave Le Rouge. The Mysterious Doctor Cornelius
96 André Lichtenberger. The Centaurs
99 André Lichtenberger. The Children of the Crab
135 Listonai. The Philosophical Voyager
157 Ch. Lomon & P.-B. Gheusi. The Last Days of Atlantis
167 Camille Mauclair. The Virgin Orient
72 Xavier Mauméjean. The League of Heroes
78 Joseph Méry. The Tower of Destiny
77 Hippolyte Mettais. The Year 5865
128 Hyppolite Mettais. Paris Before the Deluge
83 Louise Michel. The Human Microbes
84 Louise Michel. The New World
93 Tony Moilin. Paris in the Year 2000
11 José Moselli. Illa’s End
38 John-Antoine Nau. Enemy Force
156 Charles Nodier. Trilby * The Crumb Fairy
04 Henri de Parville. An Inhabitant of the Planet Mars
21 Gaston de Pawlowski. Journey to the Land of the Fourth Dimension
56 Georges Pellerin. The World in 2000 Years
79 Pierre Pelot. The Child Who Walked On The Sky
85 Ernest Perochon. The Frenetic People
161 Jean Petithuguenin. An International Mission to the Moon
141. Georges Price. The Missing Men of the Sirius
165 René Pujol. The Chimerical Quest
100 Edgar Quinet. Ahasuerus
123 Edgar Quinet. The Enchanter Merlin
60 Henri de Régnier. A Surfeit of Mirrors
33 Maurice Renard. The Blue Peril
34 Maurice Renard. Doctor Lerne
35 Maurice Renard. The Doctored Man
36 Maurice Renard. A Man Among the Microbes
37 Maurice Renard. The Master of Light
41 Jean Richepin. The Wing
12 Albert Robida. The Clock of the Centuries
62 Albert Robida. Chalet in the Sky
95 Albert Robida. The Electric Life
151 Albert Robida. Engineer Von Satanas
46 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Givreuse Enigma
45 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Mysterious Force
43 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Navigators of Space
48 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. Vamireh
44 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The World of the Variants
47 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Young Vampire
71 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. Helgvor of the Blue River
24 Marcel Rouff. Journey to the Inverted World
158 Marie-Anne de Roumier-Robert. The Voyages of Lord Seaton to the Seven Planets
132 Léonie Rouzade. The World Turned Upside Down
09 Han Ryner. The Superhumans
124 Han Ryner. The Human Ant
122 Pierre de Selenes. An Unknown World
19 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 1. News from the Moon
20 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 2. The Germans on Venus
63 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 3. The Supreme Progress
64 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 4. The World Above the World
65 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 5. Nemoville
80 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 6. Investigations of the Future
106 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 7. The Conqueror of Death
129 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 8. The Revolt of the Machines
142 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 9. The Man with the Blue Face
155 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 10. The Aerial Valley
159 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 11. The New Moon
160 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 12. The Nickel Man
162 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 13. On the Brink of the World’s End
164 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 14. The Mirror of Present Events
168 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 15. The Humanisphere
42 Jacques Spitz. The Eye of Purgatory
13 Kurt Steiner. Ortog
18 Eugène Thébault. Radio-Terror
58 C.-F. Tiphaigne de La Roche. Amilec
138 Simon Tyssot de Patot. Voyages and Adventures of Jacques de Massé
104 Louis Ulbach. Prince Bonifacio
53 Théo Varlet. The Xenobiotic Invasion (w/Octave Joncquel)
16 Théo Varlet. The Martian Epic; (w/André Blandin)
59 Théo Varlet. Timeslip Troopers
86 Théo Varlet. The Golden Rock
94 Théo Varlet. The Castaways of Eros
139 Pierre Véron. The Merchants of Health
54 Paul Vibert. The Mysterious Fluid
147 Gaston de Wailly. The Murderer of the World