And Then the Town Took Off

ector's palace in the faint moonlight. He hoped for a glimpse of the kangaroo-Gi

nothing, and he was about to head back to the campu

ked up. Red-headed Geneva Jervis was lean

said. "What are yo

alty," she sai

he sai

ght, then reappeared. "Here

ling Like Romeo. "W

scapes. Old McFerson was a precautious man

cious bedroom. She w

ou swore fealty?" Do

I was getting fed up with that dormitory at Cavalier. No priv

he dresser. Next to the glass stood a bottl

rink and be merry, for tomor

She poured him a stiff one.

nk and she swallo

e you as the dri

She backed to the big double bed an

ht. "Tell me about this fealty

swear to protect Superior against all enem

title yet? Are y

ke to have him on their side, for all their avowed independence. They're not so terribly con

not understand. He's the kind of man who demand

s not here. He's had plenty of time to come, if he was going to,

nd set the empty glass on the floor. Jen drank of

back and her dressing gown opened in a V as far as the b

away self-c

blood?" She rolled herself off the end of the

hink you've

"Drinking is as drinking does. Tro

Civek's on the throne and all's well with his little world. Even you'

rom under her eyebrows. "I'm going to have to touch up the tresses pretty soon or I won't b

er sai

n't like myself sometimes. I'm a cold fish. A cold, de

n see

eaned against the bureau, holding

a glass in her hand. I wonder

? I think it's me talking, not the whisky. We'll k

itation," Don beg

st man I ever met. And the most boorish." She to

to her and patted he

his chest and wept. His arms automat

ceiver. That piece of electronics equipment taped to his skin, he told himself, was the leas

sobs, which must have been reaching him in crescendo. Jen's face was tear-stain

could do, Don thought, except

first. "What's

would not have surprised him to see King Hector coming through it in h

e direction of the golf course. Don

shell," he sa

eaned out, looking past a cor

t for?" J

"There. Tha

he said. "It

e job? I can't mak

n," Jen said.

ts! Senator B

his arm. "S.O.B.!" s

ed the railroad spur he had a glimpse of Jen Jervis hauling up the rope and of lights going on elsewhere in the

A few men gathered at the front gate and looked nervously into the sky and toward the golf course. Others

men apparently were under orders only to guard the mansion and the b

trap to lie down in. From it he could watch without being seen. The star shell had died out but he could see the blimp silhouetted against

cator. "Cort here," he sai

He described the landing and asked, "Is this an author

voice from the Pent

said. "You mean The

ve," said

e up to?"

," the vo

on't know, why the hell don't y

s, the O.O.D., Sergeant, and i

ly attracted by his voice, was standing on the green, looking

said quietly. "Something negative has j

d down to Don, "Okay, come out

He had no wish to be shot by one of the Senator's men, re

at. Wing commander's insignia glittered on his shoulders and a cartridge belt was buckled around his waist. A holster hung f

Thebold

s own name but preten

ald

you doing

the l

talking to in

ometimes tal

t or Hector Civek?" Thebold looked at a big map of Superior that had be

. "Things got pretty bad before t

the food

shru

"You're not exactly a fount of informatio

the gum factory b

now Genev

" Don said

O. & I.," he said to one of the guards. "We've got

ive," the

lecture and turn them loose. It doesn't look as if Civek is going to give us

d pinned a button on his lapel. It s

& I.?" Do

ody's going to hurt you. We're he

parti

They'll tell you all about it at O. & I. Then

tured, and relea

Garet at Cavalier's cafeteria, he started back for the g

into practice. Reilly Street, which provided a boundary line between Raleigh

battle was to be psychological rather than physical, rushed to prepare rival attractions on their side. A growing crowd thronged the center o

tor's side of the street where Cheeky McFerson was giving away an apparently inexhaustible supply of ha

banner across two store-fronts. It said in foot-

peared with brushes and paint. They transformed an advertising sign t

give away hot dogs, boiled ears of corn, steamin

. The Gripe Room it said over a vacant store. The Senator's men ha

man was galvanized into action. He ran out of the store and within minutes the sign painte

d from your loved ones on Earth? The Thebold Blimp will carry your

hem," Alis said. "The

was eating a Hector hot dog and drinking Thebold coff

n on the Sen

des. Don

ee any Gizl-sticks? The t

rifles and shotguns. Let's

n by the arm. "Isn't that Ed C

aterial for another powe

f Thebold's men dashed out of the renovated store and off toward the country cl

forehead and his silk scarf fluttering behind him. A group of small boys followed him, imitating his self-confiden

d an interview with the gr

to Clark about our talk

to him," Alis sa

would have said no.

canned but stirring band music was blaring out of a loudspeaker. Thebold came out of

e were stilling a tumult. The m

d fellow Americans,

ering added to the disruption as workmen began to set up a rival speaker's platform. Then the m

rase through the din. "... reunion with the U. S. A.

watch Hector, who was magnificent

to meddle in our affairs," Hector said. "What can he offer that your king has not pr

ased his volu

ce? And how secure do you feel as you whip through the atmosphere like an unguided missile? You're over the

mind you that he does not even represent our former-and I emphasize former-State of Ohio. We all know him

hat's where you're heading under Hector Civek's so-called leadership. King Hector, he calls himself. Let me remind you, friends, that if there is anything the Soviet Rus

obby Thebold p

ome-and take off into outer space. Has Hector told you about the creatures? He has not. Has he told you they're aliens from another planet

dly ally, Australia. No. These are intelligent alien beings who have no use for us at all, and who h

ver their shoulders at Hector, whose oratory h

ower-mad ex-mayor of yours. A few thousand feet more of altitude and Superior will run out of air. The

enator Bobby Thebold. It missed him, br

mashed the rest of the glass and fired back ac

the immediate zone of fire. They looked back from behind a truck

s said. She gave a nervous laugh. "I gues

ooner or later," Don said.

the platforms and disappeared. Most of the crowd had fled too, heading east toward the center of town

dozen or more of Thebold's men made a quick rush across the street and into the stores and building

d. "Hector's bei

the Gizls aren

arms will be given safe conduct to the free side of Reilly Street. Don't throw away your life for a dictator.

ring s

began to play On the S

Nor was there any further

udspeaker blared in anothe

d withdrawn completely from the Reilly Stree

to the grounds of the bubble gum fact

Bobby Thebold went looking for Geneva J

veral of them dressed in imitation of their hero,

k with her to Cavalier after the Battle of Reilly Street. Her mother told Alis that the professo

ctor?" Alis asked. "G

r father never explains these things to me. But if my intuition means anything, the

nts and instructors went from building to building,

ved. Don and Alis joined the group of listeners for camouflage and pretended to pay atten

on the one hand by the, uh, paternalistic dictatorship of the Hectorites, and on the other by the, uh, pseudo-democracy of Senator Thebold which reso

istening at the edge of th

ubach Axis?"

him a cold stare.

you call it. Speak on, my young friend. Like Voltaire, I

said, abashed. "No off

man. Free academic discussion must never be curtailed. But at the mom

ointed. "But you can't go in. No one can." He looke

y on with your free and open discussion. And re

bell tower, foll

n, then tugged at Don's sleeve

led to her, "was that r

his Garet-Rubach Axis?

word. It's a movement of-oh, never mind

that again. C

ll tower behind them, they heard

ome unasked and now you find yourself paralyz

Thebold must have got it. Father spends all his spare time guarding his holy of holies. Nob

from Hector before he b

if it isn't Senator Thebold and his strong-arm crew! I'm honored, Senator. Here we are: three archai

the giant machine Professor Garet had assembled. It was mounted on the flat bed of an old Reo truck, and various par

t didn't quite succeed in looking like a radar scanner. It was at th

upposed to d

course nobody admits Father stole it. It's supposed to have antigravity powers, too, like wha

's he goin

I gather. Please don't try to make

ket seat at the rear of the truck near a panel which presumably operated the machine. Maynard Rubach sat next to the driver.

e-paralyzed, sat trussed up in the back of a wea

?" Professor

er we

enemy-in the n

ut Hector's and Thebold's men and the Garet-Rubach Axis reigns su

nly, "Pleas

embarrassing moment when the old Reo's engine died, but a st

soldiers moved off the campus and onto Shaws Road to

were about twenty of them, armed with carbines and submachine guns. As soon as the

d to his men. "We don't shoot women, children, or crackpots."