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"An American phrase. It means all right, fine, yes, hunkey dorey, copasetic."
"Hongkiidorii? Kopasetik?"
Hank read the letter to himself, but there was no silence in the room. Though the queen was evidently impatient to learn its contents, she wasted no time. She conferred with several people and birds, gave orders, dictated a short letter, and went once to the toilet. When she came out of it, she found that Hank had read all of the letter.
"First, there's not a word about how they were able to identify me," he said. "But it would not have been difficult."
He wondered if Intelligence agents had visited his parents. Probably not yet, since everything about this would be a top-secret priority. They would have thoroughly investigated Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln Stover, though.
And they surely would have notified President Harding about it. Perhaps a few cabinet officials, too.
"This is addressed to Lieutenant Henry L. Stover. I'm no longer an Army officer, and I'm not in the reserve. They're using the title for psychological reasons."
"Why?"
"They want me to do certain things because I'm an American citizen, and they're appealing to my patriotism. Reminding me that I was an officer and a soldier and should act like one."
"What certain things?"
"These will become apparent, Little Mother. They also omit any specific explanation of just how and why the green haze, the opening, was made. However, they do refer to the operation or experiment or whatever as Project Thor. That might mean that it has or had something to do with power transmission. Thor was the god of thunder and lightning to the Norse people."
It would not be easy to explain everything in the letter. There were just too many references lacking in this culture or in his vocabulary.
"I could be guessing wrong, but I think that possibly the Signal Corps was conducting an experiment to transmit... oh, hell! I'll have to make clear what the word electricity means."
Glinda surprised him by saying that she had some grasp of the concept. His mother had told her about it and had also described somewhat how lightning power was generated and transmitted and what it could do.
"Yes, but she was an eight-year-old kid. Besides, the science using it has progressed considerably since 1890. So I'll give you more details and bring you up to date."
When she heard Hank out, she said, "And these Signal Corps people were, you believe, doing what?"
"I think that they were trying to transmit electrical power without wires. Via the atmosphere, perhaps. A famous scientist, Nikola Tesla, has long been interested in trying to do that. Maybe he's the head of the project. I don't know.
"Anyway, I think that the Corps was conducting such an experiment just as I was flying near Fort Leavenworth. And there was a totally unexpected by-product of the experiment. A weak place in the walls between these two universes or a natural cha
"The Signal Corps people saw me go into the haze and not come out. So they duplicated the experiment, and the haze was made again. I don't know what fantastic speculations they made about this. Whatever they were, they wouldn't match the reality. But they did decide to send an Army plane through. Just how they pla
He shrugged, and he said, "Evidently, they don't have control over the dimensions or duration of the opening. And they have no idea what this world is."
He burst out laughing, then said, "If someone told them that this was the Land of Oz, he'd be considered crazy! They'd lock him up! And if, when, I tell them the truth, they'll think I'm out of my head!"
Should he tell them that his mother was the Dorothy of Baum's books? No. Whether or not they believed him, they'd harass her with long interrogations. They'd make her life miserable, give her no rest or privacy. And if by some chance the secret of this project came out, and if he did convince them that he was indeed in Oz, she'd be subjected to worldwide publicity.
Glinda said, "You have the means to convince them."
She pointed at the boxes stacked in a corner.
"They still won't believe me."
"That's not important. Continue."
"Well, after impressing upon me that I must tell no unauthorized person about this—who in hell could I tell, that side of the universe?—they demand that I cooperate to the fullest extent. Obey every order. Do my utmost to get information about this world to them."
"With the films?"
"With those and maps and data about the population, if any... They don't even know if this world—they call it the Fourth Dimension—has sentient beings or life of any kind except for me... If there are sentients, then they want to know all about them. Particularly, their... your... military potential. Also, diseases, the natural resources, by which they mean fertile land, bodies of water, wood, iron, copper, bauxite, oil, gold, silver, and so on. I'm supposed to make motion and still pictures of everything significant, record data about this and that, give them as complete a picture as possible."
He looked up from the letter.
"They aren't even sure I'm alive or, if I am, that I'll be around in this area to get the message. They admit they're taking a chance."
"When will they open the way again?"
"It'll be opened briefly seven days from now. At ten in the morning their time. They don't know of course, whether the time here corresponds to theirs. I'm supposed to go by the time on the watch they sent. But they're taking a chance. It's all highly chancy."
"The way will be open briefly?"
"So that I can acknowledge receipt of this. After that, thirty days before I am to pass through the films and data."
Hank interpreted, the message word by word, interrupting himself or being interrupted by the witch to clarify various references. When he was finished, Glinda said, "I wonder what would happen if you failed to send your reply seven days from now? Would your people then just give up?"
"Not at all. They'd try to send through another pilot as soon as they could get the needed control over the gateway."
"Maybe they won't be able to do that."
"That's possible. But I doubt they'll give up. Their curiosity will be too great. They'll believe that this world might be as big a danger to theirs as you think theirs is to yours. They can't stop trying. If things from my world can come here, then things from yours can go there. They'll be thinking of the novel by Mr. H. G. Wells. That was about an invasion from Mars..."
He outlined briefly the plot of the book. Then he said, "They'll think the worst. They can't afford to take a chance that there might not be any danger to them here. You can understand that, can't you, Your Witchness?"
"Oh, yes. So... this is not a problem which can be ignored. I will allow you to send your first message, but I want you to read it to me. And don't lie. I will know if you are."
Hank felt his skin warming. "I wouldn't think of it!"
"Yes, you would. You're thinking of it now. Not that that means that you would lie. Now, just how do you intend to get the message through the opening?"
He told her that he would fly above the green cloud and drop the message through.
Glinda smiled and said, "What if the cloud is large enough to admit your airplane? Will you desert us then?"
Hank bit his lip.
"I'll be honest. I don't know. I doubt that the cloud will be large enough. Apparently, it takes a lot of power to generate it, and it probably won't be very large. It also won't last long. I'll have to act fast and be accurate on the first passover. Otherwise, I won't make it. Also... well... I don't think the Army bigshots would like me to return. Not just now, anyway. They need someone here who can, uh, feed them information. Or be their ambassador, you might say."