Julie, however, was made of different, more paranoid, stuff. With no evidence at all, she leaped to a completely different conclusion. 'It's a weapon of some kind! That Pine woman! She must have used it on the spaceplanes.'
Pierre snorted. After all, /j^was the emperor of France. 'It was in Washington just hours ago. Even if it is headed for the moon, it is three days away. A weapon with a range of 238,000 miles? Preposterous!'
Yet the fact remained that something had struck the lunar base. Just what it was, no one could say.
As the United States spun under the lunar base, the emperor's technicians worked to rig a new cable.
In Washington the president and an expectant nation waited… and nothing happened. The absence of the promised disaster stunned the experts, who debated the nonevent on television, explaining their different visions of what it might mean and arguing bitterly among themselves.
'Pierre Artois,' the secretary of state said hopefully in an interview, 'must have come to his senses.' She listed the possible reasons why, dwelling heavily on the sanctity of human life and Pierre's progressive goals, but the network cut away midway through her exposition to air a Viagra commercial, depriving the public of the benefit of her views.
Coasting toward the moon, oblivious to the media frenzy on the mother planet, Rip and Charley slept in each other's arms.
14
The Roswell saucer, with Egg Cantrell in the pilot's seat, looped around the back side of the moon. Egg positioned the saucer so that it was flying backward, and, while still behind the moon, fired the rockets to begin a descent to the lunar base on the side facing earth. When the burn was completed, he turned the saucer 180 degrees so that it was again aligned with its trajectory, which he could alter slightly, as necessary, with the saucer's maneuvering jets.
He had weighed the possibility of using the antimatter weapon on the lunar base when it hove into view, but he was unsure how to fire it or how much damage the weapon would do. As the saucer descended toward the lunar surface, crossing from the darkness into the light, soaring over stupendous mountain ranges and dark lunar lava flows, Newton Chadwick was hovering on his right side and Fry Two on the left. At the most, he thought, a two- or three-second burst was about all he could hope for before Chadwick and the Fries throttled him.
Egg also considered crashing the saucer, power-diving the moon to make a new crater. That would quickly and painlessly kill him and his three passengers and permanently maroon Pierre Artois and his disciples. Egg thought about it for about two seconds and decided he didn't have it in him. He wasn't suicidal. Nor, he decided, was he warrior enough to pull the trigger on Chadwick, the Fries and the French astronauts, even if there were a way he could live through the experience. Maybe he should have had the courage, if that was what it was, but he didn't and he knew it. As that great American philosopher Dirty Harry Callahan once said, a man has to know his limitations.
Eventually, as the saucer descended and slowed, the lunar base appeared, right where it should be. The solar power panels were an unmistakable landmark. Egg snapped down the landing gear and sat watching as the flight computer used the maneuvering jets and the antigravity system to bring the saucer gently into a hover outside the entrance to the base. Now he saw the lunar dune buggy and the forklift, parked near the main air lock.
Talking silently to the flight computer, he allowed the saucer to settle toward the lunar surface. It touched down almost imperceptibly on its three legs, and all motion stopped.
Egg found that he had been holding his breath. He exhaled convulsively and pushed in the power knob to the first detent, which retained electrical power on the saucer but killed the reactor and propulsion system. Then he used a shirttail to swab the perspiration from his face.
Only then did he look at Newton Chadwick. Chadwick's face was devoid of color. The man had been hanging on with both hands, a death grip he was unable to release, even now.
'We're here, Chadwick,' Egg said, pointing out the obvious. He was surprised how cool and calm his own voice sounded.
'So, you are the brilliant cantrell,' Plerre Artois said in lightly accented English. He said that as if Egg's reputation were somehow disreputable. They were standing inside the com center.
Egg had managed to wriggle into a space suit without ripping it, but it was a close call. He needed to lose at least twenty pounds to lessen the strain on the zipper. Maybe thirty. He was out of the space suit now, trying to take in everything, see how the lunar base was laid out.
He concentrated on Pierre. Of medium height, erect, charismatic, with what some might term good looks, Pierre radiated control. 'That's right,' Egg said slowly, shaking his head. 'The brilliant Cantrell.'
'We have experienced a new phenomenon I wish to ask you about, Cantrell. The effects are unknown to science. Suddenly, all in the same moment, a series of minor explosions rocked the base. Two were in our observatory. I wonder if you might be able to shed some light on this unique experience.'
'Sorry. This is my first trip to the moon.' Egg thought that a rather witty answer.
'I thought perhaps this phenomenon might be the end product of some kind of weapon. On the other saucer, perhaps, the one your nephew stole from the Air and Space Museum in Washington just a few days ago, the one he used to shoot down three French spaceplanes and murder the crews.'
'I know nothing about the other saucer. I have been an unwilling guest of Mr. Chadwick. Perhaps you can enlighten me — in this new Utopia that you will lead, will kidnapping be illegal?'
'I haven't the time to split the hairs, as you Americans say.' He nodded at Henri Salmon and turned back to the radio mike. Salmon placed his hand on Egg's arm.
'If you will come with me, sir. We'll show you to your quarters.'
'I need food and a bath,' Egg shot back. He made eye contact with Julie Artois, who was standing against one wall frowning slightly, as they led him out.
When Egg was out of sight, Pierre turned on the charm for Chadwick and embraced him. 'Your arrival in that saucer has saved us, saved our great quest. Our debt to you is large.'
Chadwick beamed. The terrors of the flight were over, and he was on the winning team — it doesn't get any better than that.
'Would you like to see the saucer?' he asked Pierre, who readily agreed.
As they were donning space suits for the walk to the parked saucer, Chadwick said, 'Cantrell lied to you. There is a weapon aboard the saucer, a generator that fires antipro-tons in a continuous stream.'
'Antiprotons?'
'Antimatter. When an antiproton strikes a regular proton, they annihilate each other. I don't know if the Sahara saucer has this weapon, but the Roswell one does. And it sounds from your description as if you were showered with antiprotons.'
'Charley Pine,' Pierre said grimly. 'She and young Cantrell are presumably headed this way. The press reported the saucer going into orbit from Washington about six hours ago. Four hours ago we experienced the attack.' He was silent as he zipped himself into the suit, then said, 'Now that Egg Cantrell is here, I doubt if they will again shower us with antimatter. But Pine and young Cantrell are coming, so we must arrange a suitable reception.'
He pushed the intercom button on the wall and spoke to the duty officer in the com room. 'Ask Jean-Paul Lalouette and Henri Salmon to come to the suit room. They will enjoy seeing the saucer.'
When the four men were inside the saucer, Chadwick closed the hatch and repressurized the interior. He had watched Egg depressurize it, so he reversed the process. When the pressure had stabilized, he removed his helmet and gestured for Pierre, Salmon and Lalouette to do likewise.
'This is it,' he told them. 'Roswell, New Mexico, 1947. What do you think?'
Pierre looked at everything, stared at the holographic displays on the instrument panel, touched this and that, before he finally spoke. 'I confess, Chadwick, when you first approached me with your antigravity device, I did not believe you. If you had not had a working model that proved that the antigravity theory could be put to practical
