Saucer

'When people come into my house, mister,' Egg said, 'I like to know their names.'

'You must be Egg Cantrell.'

'I am.'

'My name is Roger Hedrick.'

'I've heard of you,' Egg said. 'And what I heard wasn't good.'

'We're being held here at gunpoint by these thugs, Mr. Hedrick,' Rip told the man. 'That's a crime in the United States. Would you please help us escape from these people?'

Hedrick looked amused.

'Because if you don't,' Rip said, 'I'm going to report you to the police and swear out a warrant. Australia is a big place, but it ain't big enough to escape extradition.'

Hedrick smiled. 'Rip Cantrell. Engineering student, survey worker, young Quixote. A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Cantrell. Rigby, hand him your cell phone.'

Rigby tossed the telephone in Rip's lap.

'Call the police, Mr. Cantrell. Tell them who you are, where you are, and that you are being held at gunpoint.'

Rip looked from Hedrick to the telephone. Hedrick found a chair and pulled it around. He sat down and crossed his legs.

'Ah,' Hedrick said. 'I can see the wheels turning. If you make that call, the Air Force will confiscate the saucer and you'll never see it again. The technology will be classified. Perhaps someday one of your children will zip across China in a spy ship based on that saucer, if he or she joins the U.S. Air Force and becomes a pilot. Makes you want to wave the flag, doesn't it?'

Rip picked up the telephone and opened it, but he didn't dial.

'Before you call the police, Mr. Cantrell, perhaps we should discuss how it was Mr. Rigby and I found you. Would you care to guess?'

Rip shook his head no.

'After you slugged my employee in the saucer in Chad, you made a serious tactical error. He had in his possession a satellite telephone that he had been using to converse with me as he examined the saucer. You discarded that telephone. Before he was captured by the Libyans, another of my employees, a Mr. Hampton, called me on that telephone, Mr. Cantrell. He told me what had just happened. He also gave me your name and that of Ms. Pine.'

Hedrick smiled. 'Needless to say, I was startled to hear that the saucer had been flown away. Startled? I was astounded. That call was the shock of my life.'

He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. 'You can surely appreciate the position in which I found myself. The most valuable repository of high technology on the planet had just been flown away to an unknown destination by a ex-United States Air Force test pilot and a twenty-two-year-old survey party laborer. An artifact worth billions, tens of billions, of American dollars had just gone… poof.'Hedrick snapped his fingers.

He grinned, displaying perfect white teeth. 'Of course I resolved to get it back. I — '

'It was never yours,' Rip put in. 'It's mine.'

'Oh, Mr. Cantrell. Surely you don't believe that any court on this planet would honor your claim. You discovered it, that is true, but while you dug it out you were hard at work for Wellstar Petroleum Corporation. Mr. Cantrell, I own Wellstar Petroleum Corporation. You were my employee.'

Rip listened to this in bitter silence. When Hedrick stopped speaking and leaned back in his chair, Rip said, 'So sue me.'

'I have no doubt about my legal position, Mr. Cantrell. It is impeccable. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to litigate. The lawyers can litigate to their hearts' content later.' He made a gesture. 'In the meantime, I am taking possession of the property that belongs to me.'

Rip looked at the phone in his hand and punched in numbers.

Hedrick held up a finger. 'Before you do that, ask yourself how I knew that you were here.'

Rip's finger froze inches above the phone.

'Perhaps you should call your mother. Talk to her. Then, if you wish, you may call the police.'

Rip turned off the telephone, turned it back on, and redialed.

In a few seconds he heard his mother's phone ring. A man answered. 'Mrs. Cantrell's residence.' A flat nasal voice.

'Mrs. Cantrell, please.'

'Who may I say is calling?'

'Her son, Rip.'

'Just a moment.'

Seconds passed. Then his mother's breathless voice. 'Rip, are you okay? Have they — ' And the connection broke.

Rip snapped the telephone shut. He eyed Hedrick.

'They're holding Mom hostage,' he said to Charley and Egg.

Hedrick stood. 'Do you still want to call the police?'

Rip threw the telephone at the kitchen wall. It bounced off the wall and caromed halfway back toward the couch. Rigby picked the thing up and examined it.

'So,' Hedrick said, smiling again. 'That is the situation. Captain Pine, I have need of your services. We will leave these gentlemen here unharmed if you will fly us and the saucer to Australia. The men with young Cantrell's mother will leave. Everyone will be safe and the world will once again be as it was.'

Charley stood up. She looked at Egg, then at Rip. 'Okay,' she said.

'Hey, Charley,' Rip said, 'don't let these guys bluff you. They aren't going to hurt anybody. Hedrick doesn't want to spend the rest of his life in a pen somewhere.'

'Rigby,' Hedrick barked.

Rigby moved toward Egg, who was still seated. He came in light on his feet, moving with deceptive quickness. He was going to kick Egg right in the face.

Rip pushed himself off the couch and dove for Rigby's legs. The two of them went sprawling. Before Rip could recover, Rigby had him by the throat and was shaking him like a terrier shakes a rat. He heard Hedrick say something, then the lights went out.

He came to when someone poured water in his face. Hedrick was kneeling beside him. 'See,' he said. 'He's good as new. He'll have a sore throat for a few days, but he's young.'

Hedrick put his face down inches from Rip's.

'She's going with us, Mr. Cantrell. If you involve the police, create any unpleasantness, she will suffer. Do you understand?'

'Why — ?' His voice box wouldn't work. The words came out a hoarse whisper. 'Why are you…?'

'Money, Mr. Cantrell. Money. That saucer is very valuable. It's going to make me the richest man on earth.'

'Gates is the richest… '

For the first time, Hedrick snarled. 'I'm going to bankrupt that bastard.' He straightened.

'Come, Ms. Pine.'

Apparently while he was unconscious, Charley had gone upstairs and changed into her flight suit. Her new clothes, pajamas, and jacket she put into a pillowcase that she was carrying in her left hand.

Now she turned and shook hands with Egg. Rip managed to get himself into a sitting position. He was about to try to get to his feet when Charley bent over and kissed him on the lips. 'Thanks for trying,' she whispered.

Then she walked from the room. Hedrick followed her.

Rigby and his thugs waited for a minute or so, then followed along.

'It's magnificent, isn't it?' Hedrick said as his men opened the hangar doors. Charley Pine thought that the morning sunlight seemed to be absorbed by the saucer's dark skin. 'Sublime,' Hedrick said and walked over to the