Read Metropolis for Free Online Page A

clutching the lever. His lips babbled and babbled, excitedly.
    Freder listened. He caught the words. Shreds of words, tattered by the current of air.
    "Pater-noster… that means, Our Father!… Our Father, which are in heaven! We are in hell. Our Father!… What is thy name? Art thou called Pater-noster, Our Father? Or Joh Fredersen? Or machine?… Be hallowed by us, machine. Pater-noster!… Thy kingdom come… Thy kingdom come, machine… Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven… What is thy will of us, machine, Pater-noster? Art thou the same in heaven as thou art on earth?… Our Father, which art in heaven, when thou callest us into heaven, shall we keep the machines in thy world—the great wheels which break the limbs of thy creatures—the great merry-go-round called the earth?… Thy will be done, Pater-noster!… Give us this day our daily bread… Grind, machine, grind flour for our bread. The bread is baked from the flour of our bones… And forgive us our trespasses… what trespasses, Pater-noster? The trespass of haying a brain and a heart, that thou hast not, machine?. And lead us not into temptation… Lead us not into temptation to rise against thee, machine, for thou art stronger than we, thou art a thousand times stronger than we, and thou art always in the right and we are always in the wrong, because we are weaker than thou art, machine… But deliver us from evil, machine… Deliver us from thee, machine… For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever, Amen… Pater-noster, that means: Our Father… Our Father, which are in heaven… "
    Freder touched the man's arm. The man started, struck dumb.
    His hand lost its hold of the lever and leaped into the air like a shot bird. The man's jaws stood gaping open as if locked. For one second the white of the eyes in the stiffened face was terribly visible. Then the man collapsed like a rag and Freder caught him as he fell.
    Freder held him fast. He looked around. Nobody was paying any attention, either to him or to the other man. Clouds of steam and fumes surrounded them like a fog. There was a door near by. Freder carried the man to the door and pushed it open. It led to the tool-house. A packing case offered a hard resting place. Freder let the man slip down into it.
    Dull eyes looked up at him. The face to which they belonged was little more than that of a boy.
    "What is your name?" said Freder.
    "11811… "
    "I want to know what your mother called you… ."
    "Georgi."
    "Georgi, do you know me?"
    Consciousness returned to the dull eyes together with recognition.
    "Yes, I know you… You are the son of Joh Fredersen… of Joh Fredersen, who is the father of us all… "
    "Yes. Therefore I am your brother, Georgi, do you see? I heard your Pater-noster… "—The body flung itself up with a heave.
    "The machine—" He sprang to his feet. "My machine—"
    "Leave it alone, Georgi, and listen to me… "
    "Somebody must be at the machine!"
    "Somebody will be at the machine; but not you… "
    "Who will, then?"
    "I."
    Staring eyes were the answer.
    "I," repeated Freder. "Are you fit to listen to me, and will you be able to take good note of what I say? It is very important, Georgi!"
    "Yes," said Georgi, paralysed.
    "We shall now exchange lives, Georgi. You take mine, I yours. I shall take your place at the machine. You go quietly out in my clothes. Nobody noticed me when I came here. Nobody will notice you when you go. You must only not lose your nerve and keep calm. Keep under cover of where the air is brewing like a mist. When you reach the street take a car. You will find more than enough money in my pockets. Three streets further on change the car. And again after another three streets. Then drive to the Ninetieth Block. At the corner pay off the taxi and wait until the driver is out of sight. Then find your way to the seventh floor of the seventh house. A man called Josaphat lives there. You are to go to him. Tell him I sent you.