The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rex Ex Machina, by Frederic Max

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Title: Rex Ex Machina

Author: Frederic Max

Release Date: April 8, 2009 [EBook #28543]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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_The domination of the minds of tractable Man is not new. Many men
have dreamed of it. Certainly some of them have tried. This man
succeeded._

rex
ex
machina

_by ... Frederic Max_

One final lesson--a dying man's last letter to his
only son that completes the young man's education.

MY DEAR SON:--

The doctors have left and I am told that in a few hours I shall die. In
my lifetime the world has progressed from the chaotic turmoil of the
early Atomic era to the peacefulness and tranquility of our present age,
and I die content.

For ten years I have instructed you in all that you will need for the
future. One final lesson remains to be taught.

* * * * *

On the wall of my bedchamber hangs a citation "from a grateful
government for services too secret to be herein set forth." In past
years you have asked me repeatedly about this citation, but each time I
have taken pains to avoid a direct answer. Now it is proper that you
should know.

Forty years ago I was an obscure Army captain stationed at the Armed
Forces Language School in Monterey, California. I had at that time just
completed a tour of duty in Korea, a minor skirmish of that era, and
despite an excellent reputation for resourcefulness, I had drawn
Monterey as my next assignment. An aptitude for foreign languages had
led to an instructorship in the Russian department with additional
duties instructing in the Slavic tongues.

My life was pleasant and uneventful, and it was with mixed emotions that
I received orders to report to Washington for a new duty assignment.
The chain of events which precipitated those orders were to change the
world....

For while you and I were playing on the lawn of our Monterey home, an
unknown Hungarian ph