Chet had been right. It looked like a car, but it had no wheels. It was standing in front of the police station, hanging there about two feet off the ground and a gentle thrumming indicated there was some mechanism somewhere inside of it that was running smoothly.
Quite a crowd had gathered and I forced my way through it and got up beside the car.
George was sitting in what appeared to be the driver’s seat and sitting beside him was a scarecrow of a fellow with the sourest face I’ve ever seen on any man.
He wore a black robe that buttoned up the front and up close around his throat and a black skull cap that came down hard against his ears and across his forehead; his hands and face, all of him that showed, were fishbelly white.
«What happened to you?» I demanded of George. «What are you sitting here for?»
«I tell you, John,» he said, «I am somewhat apprehensive that Chet will try to throw me into the pokey once again. If he makes a move I’m all ready to go shooting out of here. This here vehicle is the slickest thing there is.
«It’ll go along the ground or it will shoot up in the air and make just like a plane. I ain’t rightly got the hang of it yet, having hardly driven it, but it handles smooth and easy and it ain’t no trick at all to drive it.»
«You can tell him,» said Charley Nevins, «that he need not fear arrest. There is something most peculiar going on here, but I’m not sure at all there is violation of the law involved.»
I looked around in some surprise. I hadn’t noticed Charley standing there when I’d pushed through the crowd.
Reynolds shoved in ahead of me and reached up to grab George by the arm.
«I am Colonel Reynolds,» he said, «and I am from the Air Force and it’s terribly important that I know what this is all about. Where did you get this vehicle?»
«Why,» George said, «it was standing there with a pile of other junk, so I took it. Someone threw it away and didn’t seem to want it. There were a lot of people there throwing things away that they didn’t want.»
«And I suppose,» yelled Chet, «that someone threw away the painting and the pail of diamonds.»
«I wouldn’t know about that,» George told him. «I don’t seem to remember much about that other trip. Except there was this big pile of stuff and that it was raining …»
«Shut up, George,» I said. He hadn’t told me anything about a pile of stuff. Either his memory was improving or he had lied to me.
«I think,» said Charley, getting edgy, «that we all better sit down together and see if we can make some sense out of these proceedings.»
«That’s all right with me,» I said, «always remembering that this machine remains, technically, the property of my client.»
«It seems to me,» Charley said to me, «that you’re being somewhat unreasonable and high-handed in this whole affair.»
«Charley,» I said, «you know I have to be. If I let down my guard a minute, you and Chet and the Pentagon will tramp all over me.»
«Let’s get on with it,» said Charley. «George, you put that machine down on the ground and come along with us. Chet will stand guard over it and see no one touches it.»
«And while you’re doing that,» I said, «don’t take your eyes off the painting and the diamonds. The painting just might be worth an awful lot of money.»
«Right now,» said Chet, disgusted, «would be a swell time for someone to rob the bank. I’d have the entire force tied up watching all this junk of George’s.»
«I think, too,» said Charley, «we better include this passenger of George’s in our little talk. He might be able to add some enlightenment.»
George’s passenger didn’t pay any attention. He’d been paying no attention all along. He had just been sitting there, bolt upright in his seat, with his face pointing straight ahead.
Chet walked officiously around the car. The passenger said something, at some length, in a high, chittering voice. I didn’t recognize a word of it but crazy as it sounds, I knew exactly what he said.
«Don’t touch me!» he said. «Get away from me. Don’t interfere with me.»
And, having said this, he opened the door and let himself to the ground.
Chet stepped back from him and so did all the others. Silence fell upon the gathering which had been buzzing up until this moment. As he advanced down the street, the crowd parted and pressed back to make way for him.
Charley and the colonel stepped backward, bumping into me, pinning me against the car, to get out of his way. He passed not more than ten feet from me and I got a good look at his face. There was no expression on it and it was set in a natural grimness—the way, I imagined, that a judge of the Inquisition might have looked. And there was something else that is very hard to say, an impression that translated itself into a sense of smell, although I am sure there was no actual odor. The odor of sanctity is as close as I can come to it, I guess. Some sort of vibration radiating from the man that impinged upon the senses in the same manner, perhaps, as ultrasonics will impinge without actual hearing upon the senses of a dog.
And then he was past me and gone, walking down the street through the lane of human bodies that stepped aside for him, walking slowly, unconcernedly, almost strolling—walking as if he might have been all alone, apparently unaware of a single one of us.
All of us watched him until he was free of the crowd and had turned a corner into another street. And even for a moment after that we stood uncertain and unmoving until finally someone spoke a whisper and someone answered him and the buzz of the crowd took up again, although now a quieter buzz.
Someone’s fingers were digging hard into the muscles of my upper arm and when I looked around, I saw that it was Charley who had fastened onto me.
Ahead of me, the colonel turned his head to look at me. His face was white and tight and little drops of perspiration stood out along his hairline.
«John,» said Charley, quietly, «I think it is important that we all sit down together.»
I turned around toward the car and saw that it was now resting on the ground and that George was getting out of it.
«Come along,» I said to George.
Charley led, pushing his way through the crowd, with the colonel following and George and me bringing up the rear. We went down the street, without a word among us, to the square and walked across the lawn to the courthouse steps.
When we got in Charley’s office, Charley shut the door and dug down into a desk drawer and come up with a jug. He got out four paper cups and poured them almost full.
«No ice,» he said, «but what the hell, it’s the liquor that we need.»
Each of us took a cup and found a place to sit and worked on the booze a while without saying anything.
«Colonel,» Charley finally asked, «what do you make of it?»
«It might be a help,» the colonel said, «if we could talk with the passenger. I assume some attempt will be made to apprehend the man.»
«I suppose we should,» said Charley. «Although how one apprehends a bird like that, I don’t really know.»
«He caught us by surprise,» the colonel pointed out. «Next time we’ll be ready for him. Plug your ears with cotton, so you cannot hear him …»
«It may take more than that,» said Charley. «Did anyone actually hear him speak?»
«He spoke, all right,» I said. «He uttered words, but there was none I recognized. Just a sort of chirping gibberish.»
«But we knew what he meant,» said Charley. «Every single one of us knew that. Telepathy, perhaps?»
«I doubt it,» the colonel said. «Telepathy is not the simple thing so many people think.»
«A new language,» I suggested. «A language scientifically constructed. Sounds that are designed to trigger certain understandings. If one dug deep enough into semantics …»