Страница 5 из 41
5
The army was having trouble.
Lieutenant Andrew Shelby phoned Major Marcel Burns. "Sir, I can't keep these people together," he reported. "They are being kidnapped."
"What in hell are you talking about, Andy? Kidnapped?"
"Well, maybe not being kidnapped, actually. But people are taking them in. There is one big house full of them. There must be twenty or more of them inside of it. I talked with the owner. Look here, I told him, I have to keep these people together. I can't let them get scattered. I've got to load them up and take them where they have shelter and food. Lieutenant, said this man, you don't have to worry about the people I have here. If food and shelter is your only worry, you can stop your worrying. They are my house guests, sir, and they have food and shelter. And he was not the only one. That was only one house. Other houses, all up and down the street, they have them, too. The whole neighborhood has them. Everyone is taking them in. That's not the whole story, either. People are driving in from miles away to load them up and take them off to take care of them. They're being scattered all over the countryside and I can't do a thing about it."
"Are they still coming out of that door or whatever it is?"
"Yes, sir, they are still coming out of it. They have never stopped. It's like a big parade. They just keep marching out of it. I try to keep them together, sir, but they wander and they scatter and they are taken up by all the people in the neighborhood and I can't keep track of them."
"You've been transporting some of them?"
"Yes, sir. As fast as I can load them up."
"What kind of people are they?"
"Just ordinary people, sir. Far as I can see. No different from us, except that they got a sort of fu
The major sighed. "Well, carry on," he said. "Do the best you can."
6
The buttons on Judy's telephone had never stopped their blinking. The lounge was jammed with waiting newsmen. Wilson got up from his desk and moved over to the row of clacking teletypes.
Global News was coming up with its fifth new lead.
WASHINGTON (GN)-Millions of visitors who say they are from 500 years in the future continued to come to the present world this afternoon, pouring in steady streams from more than 200 "time tu
There has been general public reluctance to accept their explanation that they are from the future, but it is now begi
An unofficial estimate places the number of people passing through them at close to two million an hour. At this rate…
"Steve," said Judy, "Tom Ma
"Have you got your court order yet?" Ma
"Well, you can get it any time you want to. Our attorney says you can."
"I don't think I'll need it."
"Matter of fact, you won't. Molly is already on her way. With Gale and his daughter. She'll be there in twenty minutes, more or less, depending on the traffic. It is getting hairy out there. Sightseers pouring in and a slew of army trucks."
"Tom," said Wilson, "there is something I want to say. I know why you had to do it. You simply had to try."
"Steve, there's one thing more."
"What is it, Tom?"
"Gale talked a little to Molly. Not much. There was one thing he asked her to pass along. Something that he said couldn't wait."
"You're passing it along?"
"He said to station an artillery piece in front of each of the time tu
"Any idea of what could happen?"
"He wouldn't say. Just that we would know. Said the explosion would knock out the tu
"I'll take it from here."
"I'm not going to use it now," said Ma
Wilson hung up, picked up the Presidential phone.
"Kim," he asked. "when can I get in?"
"He's on the phone now. There are other calls holding. There are people with him. How important is this, Steve?"
"Top important. I have to see the man."
"Come on in. I'll slip you in as soon as possible."
"Judy," said Wilson, "Molly Kimball is coming in the back way. She'll have two of the refugees with her."
"I'll call the gate," said Judy. "And security. When they get here?"
"If I'm not back; send them in to Kim."
7
Sandburg, Secretary of Defense, and. Williams, Secretary of State, sat on a davenport in front of the President's desk. Reilly Douglas, Attorney General, was in a chair at its corner. They nodded to Wilson when he came into the room.
"Steve," said the President, "I know that what you have must be important." It was just short of a rebuke.
"I think so, Mr. President," said Wilson. "Molly Kimball is bringing in one of the refugees who says he is a spokesman for at least the Virginia group. I thought you might want to see him, sir."
"Sit down, Steve," said the President. "What do you know about this man? Is he really a spokesman? An accredited spokesman?"
"I don't know," said Wilson. "I would suppose he might have some credentials."
"In any case," said the Secretary of State, "we should listen to what he has to say. God knows, no one else has been able to tell us anything."
Wilson took a chair next to the Attorney General and settled into it.
"The man sent a message ahead," he said. "He thought we should know as soon as possible. He suggested an artillery piece, firing high explosive rounds, be placed in front of every door or time tu
"There is some danger, then?" asked the Secretary of Defense.
Wilson shook his head. "I don't know. He apparently was not specific. Only if anything happened at any tu
"What could happen?" asked Sandburg.
"Tom Ma
"What do you think?" the President asked the others. "Should we see this man?"
"I think we have to," said Williams. "It's not a matter of protocol, because in the situation as it stands we have no idea what protocol might be. Even if he isn't what he says he is, he can give us information, and so far we have none at all. It isn't as if we were accepting him as an ambassador or official representative of those people out there. We could use our judgment as to how much of his story we'd accept."