A modern Monte Cristo
L’histoire commence dans un pays européen non identifié, qui évoque notamment l’Allemagne du début des années 30. Le climat politique est tendu car un parti totalitaire, mené par un redoutable leader, du nom de Rulo, travaille activement à la conquête du pouvoir. A cette fin, il attise la haine de la population envers la minorité des Ingolians. Le héros du livre, Christopher Kinetis, appartient à la jeunesse dorée de la capitale. Son père, Alexander, est un richissime industriel qui lui passe toutes ses fantaisies. Mais il appartient au peuple des Ingolians. Et ses rivaux en affaires montent un complot contre lui. L’industriel est accusé de toutes sortes de malhonnêtetés et jeté en prison. Son fils tombe dans la misère et voit ses anciens amis se tourner contre lui et son père. Un procès truqué a lieu et Alexander meurt, empoisonné à petit feu. Christopher s’enfuit. Passager clandestin sur un cargo, il s’associe à un homme étrange, Charles Rogers, qui l’emmène sur une île déserte du Pacifique. Les deux hommes s’y trouvent bloqués pendant une quinzaine d’années… Rogers se révèle être parfaitement fou et finit par mourir. Mais il laisse ses papiers d’identité et a raconté sa vie à Christopher qui peut donc se faire passer pour son compagnon le jour où un bateau le récupère sur son île. Or, Rogers se trouve être le seul héritier d’un énorme groupe industriel américain. Christopher, devenu Charles Rogers, prend possession de la fortune de ce dernier et décide de se venger des responsables de la mort de son père et de la ruine de sa famille. Entre temps, Rulo a pris le pouvoir et les anciens amis de Christopher – devenus ses ennemis mortels – occupent tous des positions importantes à la tête de ce régime dictatorial. Changeant une nouvelle fois d’identité, Christopher
devient le comte Savanna. Il s’installe dans son pays
d’origine, où il subjugue tout le monde grâce à sa
fortune. Petit à petit, il s’en prend à ses ennemis.
L’un d’entre eux est compromis dans le suicide d’une
jeune fille. Savanna prête de très grosses sommes
d’argent au fils du médecin qui a empoisonné son père et
le ruine au jeu, etc… Mais les expériences de Savanna étaient entièrement truquées. Il a englouti sa fortune pour monter cette gigantesque tromperie. Le jour où le scandale éclate, l’opposition – que Savanna a également organisée en sous-main – balaye le régime de Rulo. Savanna-Kinetis disparaît, sa vengeance accomplie.
Deux éléments sont malgré tout intéressants. L’énorme escroquerie montée par Savanna, avec ses machines fantastiques destinées à ramasser l’or au fond des mers, est amusante, et touche à la science-fiction primitive. Surtout, l’évocation de l’arrivée au pouvoir du parti de Rulo est assez frappante, notamment au début du livre, avec la campagne de haine contre les Ingolians et le procès truqué. Ces passages, qui peuvent faire penser aussi bien à l’Allemagne nazie qu’à la Russie soviétique, donnent à penser que l’auteur a vu ces pratiques de près. Dommage, décidément, que l’on ne sache rien de lui.
After an absence of more than seventeen years, Christopher came back once again to his native land. But instead of the young man who had fled in despair, there returned as the Count Savanna one of the richest men in the world. While he was still in America Christopher had tried to get some idea of what had happened in his own country during his absence. All that he could find out was that for more than fifteen years Rulo had held absolute sway. By promising the people to bring back the Golden Age, he had acquired a fanatical following. Nearly all Christopher's former friends had prospered. Valeno, Dorus and Lorian were ministers of state. One of the first acts of the tyrant was to carry out a pitiless persecution of the Ingolians. " They don't belong to us," Rulo declaimed at his great mass meetings. " They have shown themselves unworthy of the citizenship we once granted them." At first Christopher regarded this persecution with amazement, then with increasing anger. Still his own fate and desire for revenge overshadowed all other feelings. It was his conversation with Trenus which had first opened his eyes to the fate of the Ingolians and his oppressed countrymen. He had suppressed his fervent desire to let Trenus know that he was his comrade-in-arms. The thought grieved him that this young man had, in his passion, rushed to his own destruction. But to have warned him would have meant betraying himself. Count Savanna immediately fulfilled the hopes connected with his arrival. A few weeks later he gave the order for the building of a house, for which he had purchased a tract of land in the neighborhood of the city. The word house was a modest description of the palace, for the erection of which special permission had to be obtained. For the carrying out of these formalities, a young officer called Count Nemero was placed at Savanna's service. The plans submitted by Savanna's architect were regarded with grave misgivings. What did anyone want with a palace with four subterranean stories and only two above ground, provided with a power-house and another building, the purpose of which was not quite clear? Permission was only given after Nemero had sounded His Excellency. He carried out his task with great tact. Savanna who realised quite well that Nemero was really a spy, foisted onto him in the pretence of business, willingly supplied the information. The house was to be constructed on this plan to ensure absolute quiet, although it would entail the construction of an expensive ventilation plant. Indeed Nemero, as well as his future guests, might well be surprised. Nemero, flattered, smiled at the thought that he would be invited to Savanna's house. He knew that the man he was addressing was the multi-millionaire Rogers. Obedient to orders, he had avoided making any mention of this knowledge. One learned to obey under Rulo. Savanna volunteered no information concerning the power-house. The third building was to be used as a research institute in which his favourite study — the examination of the composition of the sea-bottom – was to be pursued. |
