And Then the Town Took Off

  X

  Don didn't know what he might learn by skulking around the freezinggrounds of Hector's palace in the faint moonlight. He hoped for aglimpse of the kangaroo-Gizl to see if he were as sincere off-guard ashe had been during their interview.

  But his peering into basement windows had revealed nothing, and he wasabout to head back to the campus for a night's sleep when someone calledhis name.

  It was a girl's voice, from above. He looked up. Red-headed GenevaJervis was leaning out of one of the second-story windows.

  "Well, hello," he said. "What are you doing up there?"

  "I've sworn fealty," she said. "Come on up."

  "What?" he said. "How?"

  She disappeared from his sight, then reappeared. "Here." She dropped arope ladder.

  Don climbed it, feeling Like Romeo. "Where'd you get this?"

  "They've got them in all the rooms. Fire escapes. Old McFerson was aprecautious man, evidently." She pulled the rope back in.

  Jen Jervis had a spacious bedroom. She wore a dressing gown.

  "What do you mean, you swore fealty?" Don asked. "To Hector?"

  "Sure. What better way to find out what he's up to? Besides, I wasgetting fed up with that dormitory at Cavalier. No privacy. Housemothers creeping around all the time. Want a drink?"

  Don saw that she had a half-full glass on the dresser. Next to the glassstood a bottle of bourbon with quite a bit gone from it.

  "Why not?" he said. "Let's drink and be merry, for tomorrow we mayfreeze to death."

  "Or be shot down by Reds." She poured him a stiff one. "Here's to happyendings."

  He sipped his drink and she swallowed half of hers.

  "I didn't picture you as the drinking type, Jen."

  "Revise the picture. Come sit down." She backed to the big double bedand relaxed into it, lying on one elbow.

  Don sat next to her, but upright. "Tell me about this fealty deal. Whatdid you have to do?"

  "Oh, renounce my American citizenship and swear to protect Superioragainst all enemies, foreign and domestic. The usual thing."

  "Have you got a title yet? Are you Dame Jervis?"

  "Not yet." She smiled. "I think I'm on probation. They know I'm close toBobby and they'd like to have him on their side, for all their avowedindependence. They're not so terribly convinced that Superior's going tostay up forever. They're hedging their bets, it looks to me."

  "It looks to me that maybe Bobby Thebold might not understand. He's thekind of man who demands absolute fealty, from what I've seen of him."

  "Oh, to hell with Bobby Thebold." Jen took another swallow. "He's nothere. He's had plenty of time to come, if he was going to, and hehasn't. To hell with him. Let me get you another drink."

  "No, thanks. This will do me fine." He drank it and set the empty glasson the floor. Jen drank off the last of hers and put her glass next tohis.

  "Relax," she said. "I'm not going to bite you." She lay back and herdressing gown opened in a V as far as the belt. She obviously wasn'twearing anything under the gown.

  Don looked away self-consciously.

  Jen laughed. "What's the matter, boy? No red blood?" She rolled herselfoff the end of the bed and went to the dresser. "Another drink?"

  "Don't you think you've had enough?"

  She shook her red hair violently. "Drinking is as drinking does. Troubleis, nobody's doing anything."

  "Exactly. Everybody's acting as if Superior's one big pleasure dome.Civek's on the throne and all's well with his little world. Even you'vejoined the parade. Why? I don't buy that double-agent explanation."

  She was looking in the bureau mirror at the reflection of the top of herhead, peering up from under her eyebrows. "I'm going to have to touch upthe tresses pretty soon or I won't be a redhead any more." She looked athis reflection. "You don't like me, do you, Donny-boy?"

  "I never said that."

  "You don't have to say it. But I don't blame you. I don't like myselfsometimes. I'm a cold fish. A cold, dedicated fish. Or I was. I'vedecided to change my ways."

  "I can see that."

  "Can you?" She turned around and leaned against the bureau, holding herglass. "How do you see me now?"

  "As an attractive woman with a glass in her hand. I wonder which isdoing the talking."

  "Rhetorical questions at this time of night, Donny? I think it's metalking, not the whisky. We'll know better in the sober light ofmorning, won't we?"

  "If that's an invitation," Don began, "I'm afraid--"

  Her eyes blazed at him. "I think you're the rudest man I ever met. _And_the most boorish." She tossed off the rest of her drink, then began tocry.

  "Now, Jen--" He went to her and patted her shoulder awkwardly.

  "Oh, Don." She put her head against his chest and wept. His armsautomatically went around her, comfortingly.

  Then he realized that Jen's muffled sobs were going direct to thePentagon through his transceiver. That piece of electronics equipmenttaped to his skin, he told himself, was the least of the reasons why hecould not have accepted Jen's invitation--if it had been an invitation.

  He lifted her chin from his chest to spare the man in the Pentagon anyfurther sobs, which must have been reaching him in crescendo. Jen's facewas tear-stained. She looked into his eyes for a second, then fastenedher mouth firmly on his.

  There was nothing a gentleman could do, Don thought, except return thekiss. Rude, was he?

  Jen broke away first. "What's that?" she said.

  Don opened his eyes and his glance went automatically to the door. Itwould not have surprised him to see King Hector coming through it in hisroyal night clothes. But Jen was staring out the window. He turned.

  The sky was bright as day over in the direction of the golf course. Donmade out a pinpoint of brighter light.

  "It's a star shell," he said. "A flare."

  They went to the window and leaned out, looking past a corner of thebubble gum factory.

  "What's it for?" Jen asked.

  Don pointed. "There. That's what for."

  "A blimp!" she said. "It's landing!"

  "Is it an Air Force job? I can't make out the markings."

  "I think I can," Jen said. "They're--PP."

  "Private Pilots! Senator Bobby the Bold!"

  Jen Jervis clutched his arm. "S.O.B.!" she whispered fiercely.

  * * * * *

  Don Cort was down the rope fire escape and away from the mansion beforeit woke up to the invasion. As he crossed the railroad spur he had aglimpse of Jen Jervis hauling up the rope and of lights going onelsewhere in the building. There was a lot of whistle-blowing andshouting and a lone shot which didn't seem to be aimed at him.

  Don waited at the spur, behind a boxcar, to see how the Hectorites wouldreact to the landing of the blimp, A few men gathered at the front gateand looked nervously into the sky and toward the golf course. Othersjoined them, armed with shotguns, pistols, and a rifle or two, but notwith King Hector's paralysis gadget.

  It was clear that Hector had no intention of starting a battle. His menapparently were under orders only to guard the mansion and the bubblegum factory. No one even went to see what the blimp was up to.

  Don found as he neared the golf course that the people from the blimpapparently had no immediate plan to attack, either. He found a sand trapto lie down in. From it he could watch without being seen. The starshell had died out but he could see the blimp silhouetted against thesky. Men in battle dress were establishing a perimeter around theclubhouse. Each carried a weapon of some kind. It was all very dim.

  Don remembered his communicator. "Cort here," he said softly. "Do youread me?"

  "Affirmative," a voice said. Don didn't recognize it. He described thelanding and asked, "Is this an authorized landing or is it SenatorThebold's private party?"

  "Negative," said the voice from the Pentagon, irritatingly GI.

  "Negative _what_?" Don said. "You mean Thebold _is_ leading it?"

  "Affirmativ
e," said the voice.

  "What's he up to?" Don asked.

  "Negative," the voice said.

  Don blew up. "If you mean you don't know, why the hell don't you say so?Who is this, anyhow?"

  "This happens to be Major Johns, the O.O.D., Sergeant, and if you knowwhat's good for you--"

  Don stopped listening because a man in battle dress, apparentlyattracted by his voice, was standing on the green, looking down into thebunker where Don lay, pointing a carbine at him.

  "I'll have to hang up now, Major," Don said quietly. "Something negativehas just happened to me. I've been captured."

  The man with the carbine shouted down to Don, "Okay, come out with yourhands over your head."

  Don did so. He hoped he was doing it affirmatively enough. He had nowish to be shot by one of the Senator's men, regardless of whether thatman was authorized or unauthorized.

  * * * * *

  Senator Thebold sat at a desk in the manager's office of the RaleighCountry Club. He wore a leather trench coat and a fur hat. Wingcommander's insignia glittered on his shoulders and a cartridge belt wasbuckled around his waist. A holster hung from it but Thebold had theheavy .45 on the desk in front of it. He motioned to Don to sit down.Two guards stood at the door.

  "Name?" Thebold snapped.

  Don decided to use his own name but pretend to be a local yokel.

  "Donald Cort."

  "What were you doing out there?"

  "I saw the lights."

  "Who were you talking to in the sand trap?"

  "Nobody. I sometimes talk to myself."

  "Oh, you do. Do you ever talk to yourself about a man named Osbert Garetor Hector Civek?" Thebold looked at a big map of Superior that had beenpinned to the wall, thus giving Don the benefit of his strong profile.

  "Hector's the king now," Don said. "Things got pretty bad before thatbut we got enough to eat now."

  "Where did the food come from?"

  Don shrugged.

  Thebold drummed his fingers on the desk. "You're not exactly a fount ofinformation, are you? What do you do for a living?"

  "I used to work in the gum factory but I got laid off."

  "Do you know Geneva Jervis?"

  "Who's he?" Don said innocently.

  Thebold stood up in irritation. "Take this man to O. & I.," he said toone of the guards. "We've got to make a start some place. Are there anyothers?"

  "Four or five," the guard said.

  "Send me the brightest-looking one. Give this one and the rest a mealand a lecture and turn them loose. It doesn't look as if Civek is goingto give us any trouble right away and there isn't too much we can dobefore daylight."

  The guard led Don out of the room and pinned a button on his lapel. Itsaid: _Bobby the Bold in Peace and War_.

  "What's O. & I.?" Don asked him.

  "Orientation and Integration. Nobody's going to hurt you. We're here toend partition, that's all."

  "End partition?"

  "Like in Ireland. Keep Superior in the U. S. A. They'll tell you allabout it at O. & I. Then you tell your friends. Want some more buttons?"

  * * * * *

  Don was fed, lectured, and released, as promised.

  Early the next morning, after a cup of coffee with Alis Garet atCavalier's cafeteria, he started back for the golf course. Alis, in aclass-cutting mood, went with him.

  The glimpses of the Thebold Plan which Don had had from O. & I. werebeing put into practice. Reilly Street, which provided a boundary linebetween Raleigh Country Club and the gum-factory property, had beentransformed into a midway.

  The Thebold forces had strung bunting and set up booths along the southside of the street. Hector's men, apparently relieved to find that thebattle was to be psychological rather than physical, rushed to preparerival attractions on their side. A growing crowd thronged the center ofReilly Street. Some wore Thebold buttons. Some wore other buttons, twiceas big, with a smiling picture of Hector I on them. Some wore both.

  The sun was bright but the air was bitingly cold. As a result one of themost popular booths was on Hector's side of the street where CheekyMcFerson was giving away an apparently inexhaustible supply ofhand-warmers. Cheeky urged everybody to take two, one for each pocket,and threw in handfuls of bubble gum.

  Two of Hector's men set up ladders and strung a banner across twostore-fronts. It said in foot-high letters: KINGDOM OF SUPERIOR, LAND OFPLENTY.

  A group of Thebold troubleshooters watched, then rushed away andreappeared with brushes and paint. They transformed an advertising signto read, in letters two feet high: SUPERIOR, U.S.A., HOME OF THE FREE.

  Hawkers on opposite sides of the midway vied to give away hot dogs,boiled ears of corn, steaming coffee, hot chocolate, candy bars, andpopcorn.

  "There's a smart one." Alis pointed to a sign in Thebold territory. _TheGripe Room_ it said over a vacant store. The Senator's men had set updesks and chairs inside and long lines had already formed.

  Apparently a powerful complaint had been among the first to beregistered because a Thebold man was galvanized into action. He ran outof the store and within minutes the sign painters were at work again.Their new banner, hoisted to dry in the sun, proclaimed: BLIMP MAIL.

  Underneath, in smaller letters, it said: _How long since you've heardfrom your loved ones on Earth? The Thebold Blimp will carry your lettersand small packages. Direct daily connections with U. S. Mail._

  "You have to admire them," Alis said. "They're really organized."

  "One's as bad as the other," Don said. Impartially, he was eating aHector hot dog and drinking Thebold coffee. "Have you noticed the gunsin the upstairs windows?"

  "No. You mean on the Senator's side?"

  "Both sides. Don't stare."

  "I see them now. Do you see any Gizl-sticks? The thing Hector used onNegus?"

  "No. Just conventional old rifles and shotguns. Let's hope nobody startsanything."

  "Look," Alis said, grabbing Don by the arm. "Isn't that Ed Clark goinginto the Gripe Room?"

  "It sure is. Gathering material for another powerful editorial, Iguess."

  But within minutes Clark's visit had provoked another bustle ofactivity. Two of Thebold's men dashed out of the renovated store and offtoward the country club. They came back with the Senator himself, makinghis first public appearance.

  Thebold strode down the center of the midway, wearing his soft aviator'shelmet with the goggles pushed up on his forehead and his silk scarffluttering behind him. A group of small boys followed him, imitatinghis self-confident walk and scrambling occasionally for the Theboldbuttons he threw to them. The Senator went into the Gripe Room.

  "Looks as if Ed has wangled an interview with the great man himself,"Alis said.

  "You didn't say anything to Clark about our talk with the Gizl, didyou?"

  "I did mention it to him," Alis said. "Was that bad?"

  "Half an hour ago I would have said no. Now I'm not so sure."

  * * * * *

  A speaker's platform had been erected on the Senator's side of ReillyStreet, and now canned but stirring band music was blaring out of aloudspeaker. Thebold came out of the Gripe Room and mounted theplatform. A fair-sized crowd was waiting to hear him.

  Thebold raised his arms as if he were stilling a tumult. The music diedaway and Thebold spoke.

  "My good friends and fellow Americans," the Senator began.

  Then a Hectorite sound-apparatus started to blare directly across thestreet. The sound of hammering added to the disruption as workmen beganto set up a rival speaker's platform. Then the music on the north sideof Reilly Street became a triumphal march and Hector I made hisentrance.

  Thebold spoke on doggedly. Don heard an occasional phrase through thedin. "... reunion with the U. S. A. ... end this un-American, thisliteral partition ..."

  But many in the crowd had turned to watch Hector, who was magnificentand warm-looking in his ermine robe. br />
  "Loyal subjects of Superior, I exhort you not to listen to this outsiderwho has come to meddle in our affairs," Hector said. "What can he offerthat your king has not provided? You have security, inexhaustible foodsupplies and, above all, independence!"

  Thebold increased his volume and boomed:

  "Ah, but _do_ you have independence, my friends? Ask your puppet kingwho provides this food--and for what price? And how secure _do_ you feelas you whip through the atmosphere like an unguided missile? You're overthe Atlantic now. Who knows at what second the controls may break downand dump us all into the freezing water?"

  Hector pushed his crown back on his head as if it were a derby hat. "Whoasked the Senator here? Let me remind you that he does not evenrepresent our former--and I emphasize _former_--State of Ohio. We allknow him as a political adventurer, but never before has he attempted tomeddle in the affairs of another country!"

  "And you know what lies beyond Western Europe," Thebold said. "EasternEurope and Russia. Atheistic, communistic Red Russia. Is that whereyou'd like to come down? For that's where you're heading under HectorCivek's so-called leadership. King Hector, he calls himself. Let meremind you, friends, that if there is anything the Soviet Russians hatemore than a democracy, it's a _monarchy_! I don't like to think whatyour chances would be if you came down in Kremlinland. Remember whatthey did to the Czars."

  Then Senator Bobby Thebold played his ace:

  "But there's an even worse possibility, my poor misguided friends. Andthat's for the creatures behind Hector Civek to decide to go backhome--and take off into outer space. Has Hector told you about thecreatures? He has not. Has he told you they're aliens from anotherplanet? He has not. Some of you have seen them--these kangaroo-likecreatures who, for their own nefarious purposes, made Hector what he istoday.

  "But, my friends, these are not the cute and harmless kangaroos thatabound in the land of our friendly ally, Australia. No. These areintelligent alien beings who have no use for us at all, and who havebrazenly stolen a piece of American territory and are now in the processof making off with it."

  A murmur came from the crowd and they looked over their shoulders atHector, whose oratory had run down and who seemed unsure how to answer.

  "Yes, my friends," Thebold went on, "you may well wonder what your fatewill be in the hands of that power-mad ex-mayor of yours. A few thousandfeet more of altitude and Superior will run out of air. Then you'llreally be free of the good old U.S.A. because you'll be dead ofsuffocation. That, my friends--"

  At that point somebody took a shot at Senator Bobby Thebold. It missedhim, breaking a second-story window behind him.

  Immediately a Thebold man behind that window smashed the rest of theglass and fired back across Reilly Street, over the heads of the crowd.

  People screamed and ran. Don grabbed Alis and pulled her away from theimmediate zone of fire. They looked back from behind a truck which,until a minute ago, had been dispensing hot buttered popcorn.

  "Hostilities seem to have commenced," Alis said. She gave a nervouslaugh. "I guess it's my fault for blabbing to Ed Clark."

  "It was bound to happen, sooner or later," Don said. "I hope nobody getshurt."

  Evidently neither Thebold nor Hector personally had any such intention.Both had clambered down from the platforms and disappeared. Most of thecrowd had fled too, heading east toward the center of town, but a few,like Alis and Don, had merely taken cover and were waiting to see whatwould happen next.

  Sporadic firing continued. Then there was a concentration of shootingfrom the Senator's side, and a dozen or more of Thebold's men made aquick rush across the street and into the stores and buildings on thenorth side. In a few minutes they returned, under another protectiveburst, with prisoners.

  "Slick," Don said. "Hector's being outmaneuvered."

  "I wonder why the Gizls aren't helping him."

  The Thebold loudspeaker came to life. "Attention!" it boomed in theSenator's voice. "Anyone who puts down his arms will be given safeconduct to the free side of Reilly Street. Don't throw away your lifefor a dictator. Come over to the side of Americanism and common sense."There was a pause, and the voice added: "No reprisals."

  The firing stopped.

  The Thebold loudspeaker began to play _On the Sunny Side of the Street_.

  But nobody crossed over. Nor was there any further firing from Hector'sside.

  _Lay Down Your Arms_, the loudspeaker blared in another tune fromtin-pan alley.

  When it became clear that Hector's forces had withdrawn completely fromthe Reilly Street salient, Thebold's men crossed in strength.

  They worked their way block by block to the grounds of the bubble gumfactory and proceeded to lay siege to it.

  * * * * *

  With Hector Civek immobilized, Senator Bobby Thebold went looking forGeneva Jervis, accompanied by two armed guards.

  He was trailed by the usual pack of small boys, several of them dressedin imitation of their hero, in helmets, silk-like scarves and toy gunsat hips.

  Alis, unable to reach the besieged palace to see if her father was safe,had asked Don to go back with her to Cavalier after the Battle of ReillyStreet. Her mother told Alis that the professor was not only safe on thecampus but had resigned his post as Royal Astronaut at Hector's court.

  "Father broke with Hector?" Alis asked. "Good for him! But why?"

  "He and Dr. Rubach just up and walked out," Mrs. Garet said. "That's allI know. Your father never explains these things to me. But if myintuition means anything, the professor is up to one of his tricksagain. He's been locked up in his lab all day."

  The campus had an air of expectancy about it. Students and instructorswent from building to building, exchanging knowing looks or whisperedconversations.

  A rally was in progress in front of the Administration Building whenSenator Thebold arrived. Don and Alis joined the group of listeners forcamouflage and pretended to pay attention to what the speaker, anintense young man on the back of a pickup truck, was saying.

  "The time has come," he said, "for men and women of, uh, perspicacity toshun the extremes and tread the middle path. To avoid excesses asrepresented on the one hand by the, uh, paternalistic dictatorship ofthe Hectorites, and on the other by the, uh, pseudo-democracy of SenatorThebold which resorts to force when thwarted. I proclaim, therefore, thecourse of reason, the way of science and truth as exemplified by the,uh, the Garet-Rubach, uh--"

  Senator Thebold had been listening at the edge of the little crowd. Hespoke up.

  "The Garet-Rubach Axis?" he suggested.

  The speaker gave him a cold stare. "And who are you?"

  "Senator Robert Thebold, representing pseudo-democracy, as you call it.Speak on, my young friend. Like Voltaire, I will defend to thedeath--but you know what Voltaire said."

  "Yes, sir," the speaker said, abashed. "No offense intended, Senator."

  "Of course you intended offense," Thebold said. "Stick to your guns,man. Free academic discussion must never be curtailed. But at the momentI'm more interested in meeting your Professor Garet. Where is he?"

  "In--in the bell tower, sir. Right over there." He pointed. "But youcan't go in. No one can." He looked at Alis as if for confirmation. Sheshook her head.

  "We'll see about that," the Senator said. "Carry on with your free andopen discussion. And remember, stick to your guns. Sorry I can't stay."

  He headed for the bell tower, followed by his guards.

  Alis waited till he had gone in, then tugged at Don's sleeve. "Come on.Let's see the fun."

  "Alis," the speaker called to her, "was that really Senator Thebold?"

  "Sure was. But what's this Garet-Rubach Axis? What's everybody up to?"

  "Not Axis. That was Thebold's propaganda word. It's a movement of--oh,never mind. You don't appreciate your own father."

  "You can say that again. Come on, Don."

  As Alis closed the door to the bell tower behind them, they heardProfessor Garet's voice
from above.

  "Attention interlopers," it said. "You have come unasked and now youfind yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe."

  "Stay down here," Alis whispered. "There's a sort of vestibule oneflight up. That's where Thebold must have got it. Father spends all hisspare time guarding his holy of holies. Nobody gets past the vestibule."She frowned. "But I didn't know he had a paralysis thing, too."

  "He probably swiped it from Hector before he broke with him," Don said.

  Professor Garet's voice came again. "I shall now pass among you andrelieve you of your weapons. Why, if it isn't Senator Thebold and hisstrong-arm crew! I'm honored, Senator. Here we are: three archaic .45'sdisposed of. Very soon now you'll have the pleasure of seeing ascientific weapon in action."

  * * * * *

  Don, standing with Alis on the steps of the Administration Building,didn't know whether to be impressed or amused by the giant machineProfessor Garet had assembled. It was mounted on the flat bed of an oldReo truck, and various parts of it went skyward in a dozen directions.Garet had driven it onto the campus from a big shed behind the belltower.

  The machine's crowning glory was a big bowl-shaped sort of thing thatdidn't quite succeed in looking like a radar scanner. It was at the endof a universal joint which permitted it to aim in any direction.

  "What's it supposed to do?" Don asked.

  "From what I gather," Alis said, "it's Hector's paralysis thing, adaptedfor distance. Only of course nobody admits Father stole it. It'ssupposed to have antigravity powers, too, like whatever it was that tookSuperior up in the first place. Naturally I don't believe a word of it."

  "But where's he going with it?"

  "He's ready to take on all comers, I gather. Please don't try to makesense out of it. It's only Father."

  The young man who had addressed the student rally took over the driver'sseat and Professor Garet hoisted himself into a bucket seat at the rearof the truck near a panel which presumably operated the machine. MaynardRubach sat next to the driver. The small army of dedicated students whohad been assembling fell in behind the truck. They were unarmed, exceptwith faith.

  Senator Thebold and his two former bodyguards, de-paralyzed, sat trussedup in the back of a weapons carrier, looking disgusted with everything.

  "Are we ready?" Professor Garet called.

  A cheer went up.

  "Then on to the enemy--in the name of science!"

  Don shook his head. "But even if this crazy machine could knock outHector's and Thebold's men and the Garet-Rubach Axis reigns supreme,then what? Does he claim he can get Superior back to Earth?"

  Alis said only, "Please, Don ..."

  The forces of science were ready to roll. There had been an embarrassingmoment when the old Reo's engine died, but a student worked a crankwith a will and it roared back to life.

  The Garet machine, the weapons carrier and the foot soldiers moved offthe campus and onto Shaws Road toward Broadway and the turn-off for thecountry club.

  They met an advance party of the Thebold forces just north of McEnteeStreet. There were about twenty of them, armed with carbines andsubmachine guns. As soon as they spotted the weird armada from Cavalierthey dropped to the ground, weapons aimed.

  Senator Thebold rose in his seat. "Hold your fire!" he shouted to hismen. "We don't shoot women, children, or crackpots." He said toProfessor Garet, "All right, mastermind, untie me."