programmed, the radar gun had locked in on the passing traveler at the moment of passage. Now wide awake, the patrolman gaped at the gun, not comprehending.
The digital readout read three hundred miles per hour.
He rubbed his eyes. The figure remained. Down on the floor Freddie Mercury was burbling Killer Queen into the carpet. On the police radio the dispatcher was chatting about some minor disturbance in the Gold Rush Bar. And the readout wouldn’t go away.
The gun was miscalibrated. Had to be. But there was no question in his mind about one thing. Whatever had passed him was not , definitely not, traveling within the legal speed limit.
Siren howling, he took off after whatever it was. As he accelerated up the road he retained enough presence of mind not to call his report back into the station.
First he’d see if he could see something.
4
Alex flinched when they entered the tunnel. It was a long tunnel, one of the longest in the state, and the thunder of the car in the tubular confine shook the supporting concrete until flakes fell from the ceiling.
Centauri was stubbing out his cigarette in something that looked like an ashtray that wasn’t. It couldn’t be, because when he removed his hand the cigarette had vanished, paper and filter and all, together with all traces of lingering smoke.
“Where are we going? Where are you taking me?” He no longer inquired about the nature of his “prize,” beginning to suspect it was only part of some larger lie.
He was wrong, and yet he was right.
Centauri turned to face him, still smiling, ignoring the narrow tunnel racing past and the road beneath as if they no longer mattered, as though the car could drive itself just as effectively without his help.
“Told you, boy. I want to keep it a surprise.”
“I don’t think I can handle any more surprises. I want to know . . .” He broke off, gesticulating wildly at the road.
There was a barrier just beyond the end of the tunnel. He remembered something that had been in the local paper, something about repairs being made to the bad curve on this section of highway. About a detour around the tunnel itself. It explained why they hadn’t encountered any traffic.
He couldn’t read the words on the rapidly approaching barrier but he knew what they said.
ROAD CLOSED AHEAD
“Calm down,” Centauri admonished him, his attention still on his passenger instead of the road. “Are you the kinda kid who reads the last page of a mystery first? Or pesters a magician to tell you his tricks? Or sneaks downstairs to peek at his Christmas presents before everyone else gets up? Of course you ain’t! Which is why I’m not going to tell you what your surprise is. Besides which I love surprises. Don’t you?”
At the last instant Alex found his voice just in time to croak, “Look out!”
Centauri turned indifferently, noted the barrier racing up at them. “Oh, that.”
He touched two buttons on the dash. They lit up when he touched them, which Alex found interesting. He’d never seen controls on a car light up like that. Of course, this was a foreign model and he didn’t know much about foreign models, but it still seemed strange and . . .
A glass partition snapped down between him and Centauri. The car shuddered. Short, stubby fins emerged from the rear of the vehicle. Other sections of car were in motion, retracting to reveal peculiar nodules and protuberances or to permit the movement of other external objects.
What would have interested him the most he couldn’t see. The rear end of the car adjusted itself to reveal, not an open trunk, but something considerably more sophisticated and solid.
The back of the car glowed with cold energy. As it exited the tunnel the car left the roadbed, soared over the wooden barrier and torn-up pavement beyond and vaulted high over the edge of the sheer cliff which dropped away beneath the curve in the road. It did not fall but continued to climb toward the moon.
Suddenly the
The digital readout read three hundred miles per hour.
He rubbed his eyes. The figure remained. Down on the floor Freddie Mercury was burbling Killer Queen into the carpet. On the police radio the dispatcher was chatting about some minor disturbance in the Gold Rush Bar. And the readout wouldn’t go away.
The gun was miscalibrated. Had to be. But there was no question in his mind about one thing. Whatever had passed him was not , definitely not, traveling within the legal speed limit.
Siren howling, he took off after whatever it was. As he accelerated up the road he retained enough presence of mind not to call his report back into the station.
First he’d see if he could see something.
4
Alex flinched when they entered the tunnel. It was a long tunnel, one of the longest in the state, and the thunder of the car in the tubular confine shook the supporting concrete until flakes fell from the ceiling.
Centauri was stubbing out his cigarette in something that looked like an ashtray that wasn’t. It couldn’t be, because when he removed his hand the cigarette had vanished, paper and filter and all, together with all traces of lingering smoke.
“Where are we going? Where are you taking me?” He no longer inquired about the nature of his “prize,” beginning to suspect it was only part of some larger lie.
He was wrong, and yet he was right.
Centauri turned to face him, still smiling, ignoring the narrow tunnel racing past and the road beneath as if they no longer mattered, as though the car could drive itself just as effectively without his help.
“Told you, boy. I want to keep it a surprise.”
“I don’t think I can handle any more surprises. I want to know . . .” He broke off, gesticulating wildly at the road.
There was a barrier just beyond the end of the tunnel. He remembered something that had been in the local paper, something about repairs being made to the bad curve on this section of highway. About a detour around the tunnel itself. It explained why they hadn’t encountered any traffic.
He couldn’t read the words on the rapidly approaching barrier but he knew what they said.
ROAD CLOSED AHEAD
“Calm down,” Centauri admonished him, his attention still on his passenger instead of the road. “Are you the kinda kid who reads the last page of a mystery first? Or pesters a magician to tell you his tricks? Or sneaks downstairs to peek at his Christmas presents before everyone else gets up? Of course you ain’t! Which is why I’m not going to tell you what your surprise is. Besides which I love surprises. Don’t you?”
At the last instant Alex found his voice just in time to croak, “Look out!”
Centauri turned indifferently, noted the barrier racing up at them. “Oh, that.”
He touched two buttons on the dash. They lit up when he touched them, which Alex found interesting. He’d never seen controls on a car light up like that. Of course, this was a foreign model and he didn’t know much about foreign models, but it still seemed strange and . . .
A glass partition snapped down between him and Centauri. The car shuddered. Short, stubby fins emerged from the rear of the vehicle. Other sections of car were in motion, retracting to reveal peculiar nodules and protuberances or to permit the movement of other external objects.
What would have interested him the most he couldn’t see. The rear end of the car adjusted itself to reveal, not an open trunk, but something considerably more sophisticated and solid.
The back of the car glowed with cold energy. As it exited the tunnel the car left the roadbed, soared over the wooden barrier and torn-up pavement beyond and vaulted high over the edge of the sheer cliff which dropped away beneath the curve in the road. It did not fall but continued to climb toward the moon.
Suddenly the
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