She walked over to the police ear.
"Yes, miss," said one of the troopers. "Anything we can do to help?"
"The car," she said. "The one that was lying crushed at the end of the bridge. It isn't there now.
"A truck came and hauled it away," the trooper said. "The driver had the proper papers to requisition it and we let him take it. We checked by radio and were told it was all right."
"Where did the order come from?"
"Miss," the trooper said, "I can't tell you that."
"The FBI?"
"Miss, I cannot discuss it."
"Well, all right," she said, "perhaps you can't. Can you tell me what is going to happen next?"
"The army engineers will be coming in to build a temporary bridge. We expect them any time. One of those prefabricated bridges, as I understand it."
Chet came walking up. He said to her, "I've taken all I can from here. We ought to get up closer. Trowbridge and me and some of the others have been talking about it. We think we can wade the river. The stream below the pool is fast, but not too deep. Or that's what the locals te1~ us. If we join hands, form a chain, help one another, we can get across.
One of the troopers said, "You can't cross the river. We have our orders. No one is to cross the river."
Kathy said, "If you are going to cross, count me in. I'm going, too."
"The hell you are," said Chet. "You stay here and guard the equipment that we have to leave behind. I'll just take one camera and some film reloads across.~~
"Chet White," said Kathy, "I am going. If the others go, I'll go along.
"You'll get your ass soaked. That water's cold."
"I've been soaked before. And cold before."
"The trouble," said Chet, "is them TV jerks. They want to carry a lot of equipment over. They want us to help. That stuff of theirs is heavy."
The trooper who had spoken earlier moved in close to them.
"You can't cross that river," he said. "We have orders."
"Show me them orders," said Chet belligerently.
"We haven't got written orders. Our orders are verbal. Over the radio. No one's to cross that stream."
Trowbridge, of the Minneapolis Star, came up. "I heard you," he said to the trooper. "You'll have to use force to stop us. I don't think you'll use force."
The second trooper joined the first. "You goddamned newspaper people," he said, disgusted. He said to his partner, "Get on the radio. Tell them what is going on."
Another man joined them. "I'm Douglas, Kansas City Star," he told the trooper. "We'll make note of your order, but we have to get across. It's our job to get across. That's federal land over there. You're state. Lacking a court order.
The trooper said nothing.
Douglas said to Kathy, "You're determined to go with us?"
"You're damned right I am."
"Stick close to me, then. Hang on tight."
"Thank you, sir," said Kathy.
"Here," said Chet, handing Kathy a camera. "Drape this over your neck. I'll help one of these TV jerks with his stuff."
"What will you do with the rest of your stuff?" she asked. "All of us will pile what we can't take here on the road. The troopers will guard it for us."
"The hell we will," the trooper said.
He turned and walked back to the ear, where his partner was talking on the radio.
"You guys were tough with the troopers," Norton said. "We'll apologize later," said Chet. "Goddammit, we got a job to do."
"There are laws about crossing fire lanes and such."
"This here ain't no fire lane," said Chet. "This here is a river."
"O.K.," said Norton. "I'll cross with you. On the other side of Kathy. Me and the Kansas City Star will see she doesn't drown."
One of the troopers came back. "You can cross," he said. "No further objection from us. But on your own responsibility. It's your ass." He said, looking directly at Douglas, "You can also take note of that."
"Thank you, sir," said Douglas. "Most willingly. And thank you.
The line was forming on the river bank. There was some shouting and shoving. Trowbridge hurried down the bank and took command.
"Cut out the horseplay," he shouted. "Get in line, grab hold of the man next to you. Take it easy. Take a deep breath. That water's cold. It will freeze your balls."
He suddenly became aware of Kathy.
"I'm sorry, Kathy."
"Don't think a thing of it," said Kathy. "You can't say a thing I haven't heard before."
The line edged into the water.
"Jesus," sang out a TV man, who was in the lead, "this water is like ice."
"Easy," someone said. "Take it easy, men."
They inched across. In the deepest part of the stream, the water came to a tall man's waist.
Kathy, as she hit the water, gritted her teeth. But as she inched along with the others, one hand engulfed in the big fist of Douglas, the other held, vise-like, in Norton's hand, she forgot the cold and concentrated on making her way across.
The head of the line reached the opposite bank, clustered there to help the others.
Teeth chattering, Kathy climbed the river bank, Chet's camera swinging, bumping against her.
Chet reached back a hand to help her up the last few feet, took the camera from her.
"Run around a bit," he told her. "Jog around. Keep moving. You'll be warmer that way. You look like a drowned rat."
"So do you," she said. "So do all the rest of us."
Some of the others were running up the slight incline that sloped down to the river. She ran along with them. To their left, the object from the sky loomed tall above them, like a great black wall reaching into the sky. The crashes of the falling trees and the deep, rising and falling rumble of the object chewing them up was louder than it had been across the river.
Photographers scattered, their cameras aimed.
Here, close to it, the object was more impressive than seen from farther off. Here the true dimensions of it became apparent. Too, the imperturbability of it—the great black box lurching slowly along, paying no attention, or at least giving the impression of paying no attention, to the humans who swarmed about it. As if it might be unaware of them, or being aware of them, ignored them. As if we didn't exist, thought Kathy, as if we were not worth paying attention to, little scurrying life forms that were beneath its notice.