Part 5 (2/2)

”Stop!” a voice shouted from above. ”There's no use hiding in that ravine. We'll get you! Come up and--”

The sound of voices was drowned out by the roar of the car's motor. A moment later they shot into the darkness, the car rising into the air.

Treetops broke and cracked under them as Erick turned the car from side to side, avoiding the groping shafts of pale light from below, the last furious thrusts from the two Leiters and their soldiers.

Then they were away, above the trees, high in the air, gaining speed each moment, leaving the knot of Martians far behind.

”Toward Marsport,” Jan said to Erick. ”Right?”

Erick nodded. ”Yes. We'll land outside the field, in the hills. We can change back to our regular clothing there, our commercial clothing. d.a.m.n it--we'll be lucky if we can get there in time for the s.h.i.+p.”

”The last s.h.i.+p,” Mara whispered, her chest rising and falling. ”What if we don't get there in time?”

Erick looked down at the leather case in his lap. ”We'll have to get there,” he murmured. ”We must!”

For a long time there was silence. Thacher stared at Erickson. The older man was leaning back in his chair, sipping a little of his drink. Mara and Jan were silent.

”So you didn't destroy the City,” Thacher said. ”You didn't destroy it at all. You shrank it down and put it in a gla.s.s globe, in a paperweight. And now you're salesmen again, with a sample case of office supplies!”

Erickson smiled. He opened the briefcase and reaching into it he brought out the gla.s.s globe paperweight. He held it up, looking into it. ”Yes, we stole the City from the Martians. That's how we got by the lie detector. It was true that we knew nothing about a _destroyed_ City.”

”But why?” Thacher said. ”Why steal a City? Why not merely bomb it?”

”Ransom,” Mara said fervently, gazing into the globe, her dark eyes bright. ”Their biggest City, half of their Council--in Erick's hand!”

”Mars will have to do what Terra asks,” Erickson said. ”Now Terra will be able to make her commercial demands felt. Maybe there won't even be a war. Perhaps Terra will get her way without fighting.” Still smiling, he put the globe back into the briefcase and locked it.

”Quite a story,” Thacher said. ”What an amazing process, reduction of size-- A whole City reduced to microscopic dimensions. Amazing. No wonder you were able to escape. With such daring as that, no one could hope to stop you.”

He looked down at the briefcase on the floor. Underneath them the jets murmured and vibrated evenly, as the s.h.i.+p moved through s.p.a.ce toward distant Terra.

”We still have quite a way to go,” Jan said. ”You've heard our story, Thacher. Why not tell us yours? What sort of line are you in? What's your business?”

”Yes,” Mara said. ”What do you do?”

”What do I do?” Thacher said. ”Well, if you like, I'll show you.” He reached into his coat and brought out something. Something that flashed and glinted, something slender. A rod of pale fire.

The three stared at it. Sickened shock settled over them slowly.

Thacher held the rod loosely, calmly, pointing it at Erickson. ”We knew you three were on this s.h.i.+p,” he said. ”There was no doubt of that. But we did not know what had become of the City. My theory was that the City had not been destroyed at all, that something else had happened to it.

Council instruments measured a sudden loss of ma.s.s in that area, a decrease equal to the ma.s.s of the City. Somehow the City had been spirited away, not destroyed. But I could not convince the other Council Leiters of it. I had to follow you alone.”

Thacher turned a little, nodding to the men sitting at the bar. The men rose at once, coming toward the table.

”A very interesting process you have. Mars will benefit a great deal from it. Perhaps it will even turn the tide in our favor. When we return to Marsport I wish to begin work on it at once. And now, if you will please pa.s.s me the briefcase--”

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