"You think the visitors want us to spread the word about the cars.
"We are being used," said Jerry. "That must be it, we are being used. We are the PR people for the visitors. We may be a test team as well. I don't know. Maybe they want us to see if the ears can be operated in a satisfactory way. They can't be sure, perhaps. They know a lot about us, but maybe they aren't sure that they know enough. When a car manufacturer designs a new model, the model must be tested.
"And they picked you because you are a special person to them," Kathy said. "You were the first to be inside one of them, to communicate with them. Maybe the only person. These stories of other people taken up may be only.
"101 shook hands with you. You're forgetting that."
"Yes, but how could 101 be sure I'd be here with you? How could she know you'd phone me?"
"Maybe she didn't. Maybe.
"Maybe what?"
"Kathy, these things could be smarter than we possibly could guess. They could read us like a book."
"Suddenly," said Kathy, "I feel all shivery inside. I've never been afraid of them before, but now I am afraid. I have the feeling it could be a trap. Some sort of trap that we are falling into, not even knowing we are falling into it."
"A trap, perhaps," said Jerry, "and, yet, they are making ears for us. Cars that can float, that possibly can fly. No need of roads; they can go anywhere. They'll need no gasoline. They may last forever, never need repair. Giving them to us as payment for the trees. As payment for the cellulose that will allow them to have young again, averting racial death. If you were facing racial extinction, wouldn't you make cars—or anything they wanted—for the race that saved you?"
"You're way ahead of me," said Kathy. "I can't accept the thought that these are actually cars and that they are being made for us. You talk as if you're sure. How can you be so sure?"
"Maybe from something that was told me by 101. Something I didn't know at the time, but am realizing now. It makes sense, I tell' you. It is reasonable. They have had a look at us. They have seen what it is we want. They read us, Kathy. They know the kind of things we are. They know how to buy us. They know what we'll sell our souls for and
"You sound bitter, Jerry."
4'Not bitter. Just realizing what is happening. And that we can't stop it. Even if we turned around and walked away, we couldn't stop it. Someone else would find the cars. And maybe it's right that the cars should be found. Maybe in the end it will work out right. But they're too smart for us. The human race is a Yankee trader and we have met our match."
"We have stood here, talking," Kathy said. "We've tried to talk ourselves into believing a sort of fairy tale. All we've done is talk. I still can't think that they are cars. I can't be sure they're cars.~~
"Let's go," said Jerry, "and see if they really are."
45. MINNEAPOLIS
It was Gold's day off and Jay, coming back to the newsroom from a late lunch, stopped by the city desk and sat down in Gold's chair. Garrison was hunched over his desk, idly making doodles on a sheet of copy paper. Annie sat in her corner. She had finished a sandwich she had brought as her lunch and now was peeling an orange, making an artistic job of it.
"Anything happening?" Jay asked the city editor.
Garrison shook his head. "Nothing here. Nothing anywhere else, I guess. Hal tells me the wires are coming up empty, so far as the visitors are concerned. There have been reported sightings in Texas and Montana, but they've not been confirmed."
"We wait," said Jay. "That is all we can do. We did all we could. We phoned dozens of people in the state. Please let us know if you hear any thing. Editors of weekly papers, sheriffs, mayors, businessmen, friends of ours. If they hear anything, they will let us know."
"I'm trying to think," said Garrison. "There must have been more that we could have done."
"It's not your problem, Johnny. Not yours alone."
"I know, but dammit, I would like to be the one who found the answer. Some little clue as to where the visitors may have gone.~~
"And why they went."
"Yes, I know. But that can come later. First, we have to find them. Something to put out on page one. My guess would be northern Minnesota, up in the wilderness area. They may be hiding out there.
"Or Canada. Or the Pacific Northwest," said Jay. "There is a lot of wild country they could be holing up in."
The city desk phone rang. Annie put down the orange and picked up the receiver.
"It's for you, Johnny," she said. "It's Kathy. She's on three."
Garrison clawed for the phone, signaling Jay to pick up Gold's phone.
"Kathy, where the hell are you? What you got?"
"I'm in Iowa," Kathy said. "Place called Dick's Landing. On the Mississippi. I'm with Jerry."
"Jerry?"
"Yes, you remember. The big oaf I was going to go to the concert with. That time you bought the tickets."
"Yes, I remember. What's all this got to do with you being down in Iowa?"
"We found three of the visitors, Johnny. On Goose Island
"To hell with the rest of it. The visitors. What about the visitors? What are they doing?"
‘‘They are making cars.~~
"Kathy. Don't kid me. Don't make any jokes. I've had a hell of a day so far. I can't stand any more."
"They are making ears. We have two of them. We flew them from the island. I have a yellow one and Jerry has a red one. They're easy to handle.
"You said flew. You flew a car?"
"You can fly them. They haven't any wheels. They float, like the visitors float. They're not hard to operate, once you get the hang of it. It took the two of us no more than an hour or so to find out how to run them. There are things you push. Like having a plane. And there is no danger. If you're about to run into something, they veer off. Without you doing anything, they veer off…"
"Kathy," said Garrison, icily, "tell me the truth, for Christ's sake. You really have these ears?"
Jay spoke into the phone. "Kathy, this is Jay. I'm on the line with Johnny. This is no joke, is it? You really have the cars?"