Three nights later, a loud rapping on the bedroom door brought me upright in bed, stupid with sleep, wondering what the hell was going on. Beside me, Rila stirred protestingly.
“What’s going on?” I yelled. “Who’s there?”
Although, if I had stopped to think of it, I’d have known who was there.
“It’s me, Hiram.”
“It’s Hiram,” I said to Rila.
The knocking kept right on. “Cut out that damn knocking,” I yelled at Hiram. “I’m awake. I’ll see you in the kitchen.”
Groping around blindly, I found my slippers, scuffed into them, and tried to find a robe, but couldn’t locate one. I stumbled out into the kitchen in pajama pants and slippers.
“What is it, Hiram? I hope it’s important.”
“It’s Catface, Mr. Steele. I been talking with him.
He wants to talk with you.”
“I can’t talk with him,” I said. “There is no way I can. You’re the only one who can.”
“He says I don’t make any sense,” said Hiram. “He is glad we want to talk with him, but he says he doesn’t know what I want to talk about.”
“You mean he’s out there now?”
“Yes, Mr. Steele. He said that he would wait while I came to get you. He says he hopes you can make some sense.”
“Do you think he could wait until I got on some clothes?”
“I think so, Mr, Steele. He said that he would wait.”
“You stay right here,” I said. “Don’t leave the house until we can go with you.”
Back in the bedroom, I fumbled for my clothes and found them. Rila was sitting on the edge of the bed.
“It’s Catface,” I said. “He wants to talk with us.”
“It’ll take me just a minute,” she said.
Hiram was waiting at the kitchen table when we came out.
“Where’s Bowser?” Rila asked.
“Out there with Catface,” Hiram told her. “Them two are good friends. I figure maybe they’ve been good friends all the time without us knowing it.”
“Tell me,” I said. “How did it happen? Was it hard to talk with Catface?”
“About the same as Bowser,” Hiram said. “Easier than that robin. That robin sometimes is hard to talk with. Sometimes, he doesn’t want to talk. Catface wants to talk.”
“All right, then,” said Rila. “Let us go and talk with him.”
“How are we going to do that?” I asked.
“It’s easy,” Hiram said. “You tell me exactly what to say and I will say it to him. Then I’ll tell you what he says. Maybe I won’t understand everything he says.”
‘ “We’ll do the best we can,” said Rila.
“He’s in that apple tree right around the corner.
Bowser’s watching him.”
I opened the back door and waited for the others to go out.
Once around the corner, there was no trouble spotting Catface, staring out at us from the middle of the apple tree. In the light of the Moon, his face was clear. You could even see the whiskers. Bowser, sitting lopsided to favor his wounded ham, stared up into the tree at Catface.
‘Tell him we are here,” I said to Hiram, “and are ready to begin.”
‘He says he is, too,” said Hiram.
. “Now, wait a minute. You didn’t have time to tell him what I said.”
“I don’t need to,” Hiram said. “He knows what you say, but he can’t answer back because you can’t hear what he says.”
“All right, then,” I said. “That makes it simpler.” I said to Catface, “Hiram says that you are willing to talk with us about time travel.”
“He’s anxious to talk about time travel,” Hiram said. “He said a whole lot more I don’t understand.”
“Look,” I said to Catface, “let us keep this simple.
One thought at a time. As simple as you can.”
“He says all right,” said Hiram. “He says he has missed putting time travel to work. He says he is a time engineer. Could that be right?”
“I suppose it could be.”
“He says he is tired of making time roads for no one but Bowser.”
“He made one for me.”
“That is right, he says. But you couldn’t see the road; you stumbled into it.”
“Can he make roads to any place or time on this planet?”
“He says he can.”
“To ancient Greece? To Troy?”
“If you tell him where these places are, he can. He says it is easy. On this world, anywhere.”
“But how can we tell him?”
“He says to mark a map. He talks about lines on a map. Mr. Steele, what kind of lines are there on a map?”
“Longitude and latitude, perhaps.”
“He says that is right.”
“He knows how we measure time? He know’s about years? He can understand a million years, a hundred years?”
“He says he does.”
“There is one thing I want to ask him,” Rila said
“He is an alien, someone from some other world?”
“Yes, from very far away.”
“How long ago?”
“Almost fifty thousand years.”
“And he has lived that long?”
“He says he does not die.”
“He can make roads into time. He can travel those roads himself?”
“He says yes.”
“But apparently he doesn’t travel them. He’s here right now. He came here fifty thousand years ago, but apparently he lived through a normal time line. He just settled in and lived in ordinary time. Otherwise, he might not be here.”
“Rescue, he says.”
“What does he mean, rescue?”
“If he doesn’t stay in a single place and ordinary time, people who come to find him won’t know where he is.”
“He still hopes for rescue?”
“Now he has little hope. He must do the best he can. He makes a new life with us. That’s why he’s so happy.”
“But he must know where his home world is. If he is able to make roads in space and time, he should be able to go home.”
“He says not. He does not know where his home is from here. He does not know how to get from here to there. If someone told him, he could. But on the trip here, he did not know. Someone else knew. Now that someone else is dead. He died when the ship fell.”
“But Catface did not die because he is immortal?”
“He says an immortal can be killed in accident, but that is the only way. He says he was lucky. He got away before the ship hit ground.”
“How did he get away?”
“Life boat, he says.”
“Life boat,” I said. “A sphere? A round hollow ball that came apart so he could get out?”
“He says that is right. He asks how did you know?”
“I found the life boat,” I said. “It’s out in the barn.”
“But now he will make time roads for us?” asked Rila. “Anywhere on Earth? Any time on Earth? And keep them open as long as we may need them?”
“Catface says that is right. He can make them where you say and keep them open. Once you no longer need them, he will close them once again.”
“How many? More than one?”
“Many as you need.”
“When could he start doing this?”
“Right now. Say where you want to go, when you want to go.”
“Tell him,” Rila said, “that we aren’t ready yet.
It will take some time for us to get ready and we’ll need to talk to him again. Perhaps several times.”
“Miss, he says anytime you want. He’ll hang around and wait to talk with you.”
TWELVE
We sat at breakfast, with Hiram finishing his second helping of ham and eggs. Bowser dozed on his blanket in the corner.
“The one thing in question,” said Rila, “is whether we can trust Catface.”
“You can trust him, ma’am,” said Hiram. “I had a long talk with him before I came in to get you. He’s nice folks. Just like you and Mr. Steele.”