Charles Sheffield - The Amazing Dr. Darwin

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The Amazing Dr. Darwin

by Charles Sheffield

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are

fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

by Ultimate Publishing.

in any form.

A Baen Books Original

Baen Publishing Enterprises

P.O. Box 1403

Riverdale, NY 10471

www.baen.com

ISBN: 0-7434-3529-X

Cover art by Bob Eggleton

First printing, June 2002

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sheffield, Charles.

The amazing Dr. Darwin / by Charles Sheffield.

p. cm.

"A Baen Books original"—T.p. verso.

Contents: Introduciton — The devil of Malkirk — The heart of Ahura

Mazda — The phantom of Dunwell Cove — The Lambeth immortal —

The Solborne vampire — The treasure of Odirex — Appendix: Erasmus

Darwin, fact and fiction.

ISBN 0-7434-3529-X (HC)

1. Darwin, Erasmus, 1731–1802—Fiction.

2. Adventure stories, American.

3. Science fiction, American.

4. Naturalists—Fiction. I. Title: Amazing Doctor Darwin. II. Title.

PS3569.H3953 A83 2002

813'.54—dc21 2002022328

Distributed by Simon & Schuster

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

Production by Windhaven Press, Auburn, NH

Printed in the United States of America

To Dutch, Sally, Patty, and Nancy—

where this began.

Baen Books by CHARLES SHEFFIELD:

The Amazing Dr. Darwin

My Brother's Keeper

The Compleat McAndrew

Convergent Series

Transvergence

The Mind Pool

The Spheres of Heaven

Proteus in the Underworld

Borderlands of Science

The Web Between the Worlds

INTRODUCTION

In these degenerate times when lawyers rule the world, most works of fiction are

preceded by a nervous disclaimer that runs roughly as follows: "All characters in this

book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely

coincidental."

That cannot be considered one of the more exciting parts of the plot, and most people

probably do not read it. The statement is there to discourage libel and defamation suits. I

doubt that it helps. Like garlic against vampires, the disclaimer sounds comforting, but it

never works when you really need it.

In this book I faced a different problem. Erasmus Darwin was undeniably a living,

breathing human being, but his accomplishments were so substantial and diverse that it is

difficult to portray him in fiction without being accused of painting him larger than life.

I do not think I have done that. If anything, I have understated the man. In breadth of

interests, inventiveness, acquaintances (from King George III to Coleridge to James Watt

to Ben Franklin), and human kindness, Darwin bestrode his age. He is arguably the

greatest eighteenth century Englishman, a better candidate for that title than Chatham,

Pitt the Younger, Pope, Sam Johnson, Marlborough, Priestley, Cavendish, or any other

figure in the arts or sciences.

The claim is a large one. In an appendix to this book I have sought to support it, and

at the same time drawn a dividing line between the facts and the fiction of each story. If

you, like me, tend to read a book from the back forward, be warned: Statements

contained in the Appendix reveal plot elements of each story.

On the other hand, if you are such a person, it is already too late. You will be reading

this Introduction last of all. I hope that you enjoyed the stories.

—Charles Sheffield

THE DEVIL OF MALKIRK

The spring evening was warm and still, and the sound of conversation carried far

along the path from the open window of the house. It was enough to make the man

walking the gravel surface hesitate, then turn his steps onto the lawn. He walked silently

across the well trimmed grass to the bay window, stooped, and peered through a gap in

the curtains. A few moments more, and he returned to the path and entered the open door

of the house.

Ignoring the servant waiting there, he turned left and went at once into the dining

room. He looked steadily around him, while the conversation at the long table gradually

died down.

"Dr. Darwin?" His voice was gruff and formal.

The eight men seated at dinner were silent for a moment, assessing the stranger. He

was tall and gaunt, with a dark, sallow complexion. Long years of intense sunlight had

stamped a permanent frown across his brow, and a slight, continuous trembling of his

hands spoke of other legacies of foreign disease. He returned the stares in silence.

After a few seconds one of the seated men pushed his chair back from the table.

"I am Erasmus—Darwin." The slight hesitation as he pronounced his name suggested

a stammer more than any kind of contrived pause. "Who are you, and what is your

business here?"

The speaker had risen to his feet as he spoke. He stepped forward, and was revealed

as grossly overweight, with heavy limbs and a fat, pockmarked face. He stood

motionless, calmly awaiting the intruder's reply.

"Jacob Pole, at your service," said the stranger. Despite the warmth of the April

evening he was wearing a grey scarf of knitted wool, which he tightened now around his

neck. "Colonel Jacob Pole of Lichfield. You and I are far afield tonight, Dr. Darwin, but

we are neighbors. My house is no more than two miles from yours. You provided

medication once, to my wife and to my young daughter. As for my business, it is not of

my choosing and I fear it may be a bad one. I am here to ask your urgent assistance on a

medical matter at Bailey's Farm, not half a mile from this house."

There was a chorus of protesting voices from the table. A thin-faced man who wore

no wig stood up and stepped closer.

"Colonel Pole, this is my house. I will forgive your entry to it uninvited and

unannounced, since we understand that medical urgencies must banish formalities. But

you interrupt more than a dinner among friends. I am Matthew Boulton, and tonight the

Lunar Society meets here on serious matters. Mr. Priestley is visiting from Calne to tell

of his latest researches on the new air. He is well begun, but by no means finished. Can

your business wait an hour?"

Jacob Pole stood up straighter than ever. "If disease could be made to wait, I would

do the same. As it is . . ." He turned to Darwin again. "I am no more than a messenger

here, one who happened to be dining with Will Bailey. I have come at the request of Dr.

Monkton, to ask your immediate assistance."

There was another outcry from those still seated at the table. "Monkton! Monkton

asking for assistance? Never heard of such a thing."

"Forget it, 'Rasmus! Sit back down and try this rhubarb pie."

"If it's Monkton," said a soberly dressed man on the right hand side of the table, "then

the patient is as good as dead. He's no doctor, he's an executioner. Come on, Colonel

Pole, take a glass of claret and sit down with us. We meet too infrequently to relish a

disturbance."

Erasmus Darwin waved him to silence. "Steady, Josiah, I know your views of Dr.

Monkton." He turned full face to Pole, to show a countenance where the front teeth had

long been lost from the full mouth. The jaw was jowly and in need of a razor. Only the

eyes belied the impression of coarseness and past disease. They were grey and patient,

with a look of deep sagacity and profound power of observation.

"Forgive our jests," he said. "This is an old issue here. Dr. Monkton has not been one

to ask my advice on disease, no matter what the circumstance. What does he want now?"

The outcry came again. "He's a pompous old windbag."

"Killer Monkton—don't let him lay a finger on you."

"I wouldn't let him touch you, not if you want to live."

Pole had been staring furiously about him while the men at the table mocked

Monkton's medical skills. He ignored the glass held out toward him, and a scar across the

left side of his forehead was showing a flush of red.

"I might share your opinion of Dr. Monkton," he said curtly. "However, I would

extend that view to all doctors. They kill far more than they cure. As for you gentlemen,

and Dr. Darwin here, if you all prefer your eating and drinking to the saving of life, I

cannot change those priorities."

He turned to glare at Darwin. "My message is simple. I will give it and leave. Dr.

Monkton asks me to say three things: that he has a man at Bailey's Farm who is critically

ill; that already the facies of death are showing; and that he would like you"—he leaned

forward to make it a matter between him and Darwin alone—"to come and see that

patient. If you will not do it, I will go back and so inform Dr. Monkton."

"No." Darwin sighed. "Colonel Pole, our rudeness to you was unforgivable, but there

was a reason for it. These meetings of the Society are the high point of our month, and

animal spirits sometimes drive us to exceed the proprieties. Give me a moment to call for

my greatcoat and we will be on our way. My friends have told you their opinions of Dr.

Monkton, and I must confess I am eager to see his patient. In my years of practice

between here and Lichfield, Dr. Monkton and I have crossed paths many times—but

never has he sought my advice on a medical matter. We are of very different schools, for

both diagnosis and treatment."

He turned back to the group, silent now that their high spirits were damped.

"Gentlemen, I am sorry to miss both the discussion and the companionship, but work

calls." He moved to Pole's side. "Let us go. The last of the light is gone but the moon

should be up. We will manage well without a lantern. If Death will not wait, then nor

must we."

* * *

The road that led to Bailey's Farm was flanked by twin lines of hedgerow. It had been

an early spring, and the moonlit white of flowering hawthorn set parallel lines to mark the

road ahead. The two men walked side by side, Darwin glancing across from time to time

at the other's gloomy profile.

"You appear to have no great regard for the medical profession," he said at last.

"Though you bear marks of illness yourself."

Jacob Pole shrugged his shoulders and did not speak.

"But yet you are a friend of Dr. Monkton?" continued Darwin.

Pole turned a frowning face toward him. "I most certainly am not. As I told you, I am

no more than a messenger for him, one who happened to be at the farm." He hesitated. "If

you press the point—as you seem determined to do—I will admit that I am no friend to

any doctor. Men put more blind faith in witless surgeons than they do in the Lord

Himself."

"And with more reason," said Darwin softly.

Pole did not seem to hear. "Blind faith," he went on. "And against all logic. When you

pay a man money to cut off your arm, it's no surprise that he tells you an arm must come

off to save your life. In twenty years of service to the country, I am appalled when I think

how many limbs have come off for no reason more than a doctor's whim."

"And on that score, Colonel Pole," said Darwin tartly, "your twenty years of service

must also have told you that it would take a thousand of the worst doctors to match the

limb-lopping effects of even the least energetic of generals. Look to the ills of your own

profession."

There was an angry silence and both men paced faster along the moonlit road.

The farm stood well back, a hundred yards from the main highway to Lichfield. The

path to it was a gloomy avenue of tall elms and by the time they were halfway along it

they could see a tall figure standing in the doorway and peering out toward them. As they

came closer he leaned back inside to pick up a lantern and strode to meet them.

"Dr. Darwin, I fear you are none too soon." The speaker's voice was full and resonant,

like that of a singer or a practiced clergyman, but there was no warmth or welcome in it.

Darwin nodded. "Colonel Pole tells me that the situation looks grave. I have my

medical chest with me back at Matthew Boulton's house. If there are drugs or dressings

needed, Dr. Monkton, they can be brought here in a few minutes."

"I think it may already be too late for that." They had reached the door, and Monkton

paused there. He was broad shouldered, with a long neck and a red, bony face. His

expression was dignified and severe. "By the time Colonel Pole left here, the man was

already sunk to unconsciousness. Earlier this evening there was delirium, and utterances

that were peculiar indeed. I have no great hopes for him."

"He is one of Bailey's farmworkers?"

"He is not. He is a stranger, taken ill on the road near here. The woman with him

came for help to the farm. Fortunately I was already here, attending to Father Bailey's

rheumatics." He shrugged. "That is a hopeless case, of course, in a man of his age."

"Mm. Perhaps." Darwin sounded unconvinced, but he did not press it. "It was

curiously opportune that you were here. So tell me, Dr. Monkton, just what is this

stranger's condition?"

"Desperate. You will see it for yourself," he went on at Darwin's audible grunt of

dissatisfaction. "He lies on a cot at the back of the scullery."

"Alone? Surely not?"

"No. His companion is with him. I explained to her that his condition is grave, and

she seemed to comprehend well enough for one of her station." He set the lantern on a

side table in the entrance and took a great pinch of snuff from a decorated ivory box.

"Neither one of them showed much sign of learning. They are poor workers from the

North, on their way to London to seek employment. She seemed more afraid of me than

worried about her man's condition."

"So I ask again, what is that condition?" Darwin's voice showed his exasperation. "It

would be better for you to give me your assessment out of their hearing—though I gather

that he is hearing little enough."

"He hears nothing, not if lightning were to strike this house. His condition, in

summary: the eyes deep-set in the head, closed, the whites only showing in the ball; the

countenance, dull and grey; skin, rough and dry to the touch; before he became delirious

he complained that he was feeling bilious."

"There was vomiting?"

"No, but he spoke of the feeling. And of pain in the chest. His muscle tone was poor

and I detected weakened irritability."

Darwin grunted skeptically, causing Monkton to look at him in a condescending way.

"Perhaps you are unfamiliar with von Haller's work on this, Dr. Darwin? I personally

find it to be most convincing. At any rate, soon after I came to him the delirium began."

"And what of his pulse?" Darwin's face showed his concentration. "And was there

fever?"

Monkton hesitated for a moment, as though unsure what to answer. "There was no

fever," he said at last. "And I do not think that the pulse was elevated in rate."

"Huh." Darwin pursed his full lips. "No fever, no rapid pulse—and yet delirium." He

turned to the other man. "Colonel Pole, did you also see this?"

"I did indeed." Pole nodded vigorously. "Look here, I know it may be the custom of

the medical profession to talk about symptoms until the patient is past saving—but don't

you think you should see the man for yourself, while he's alive?"

"I do." Darwin smiled, unperturbed by the other's gruff manner. "But first I wanted all

the facts I can get. Facts are important, Colonel, the fulcrum of diagnosis. Would you

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TheAmazingDr.DarwinbyCharlesSheffieldThisisaworkoffiction.Allthecharactersandeventsportrayedinthisbookarefictional,andanyresemblancetorealpeopleorincidentsispurelycoincidental.Copyright©2002byCharlesSheffield"TheDevilofMalkirk"©1982byMercuryPress;"TheHeartofAhuraMazda"©1988byDavisPublications;"The...

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