"Oh!" She gave a little cry and I thought she was going to
faint, but she caught herself with an effort and straightened
up. Speaking carefully, syllable by syllable, she said,
"I--just--smashed--Daddy's--machinery."
"You _what_?"
"While you were fighting--I ran down to the basement and wrecked
everything. Everything!"
I shivered. No wonder the vortex had vanished. At the very instant Abel
Harwood was tumbling into it, his daughter was busily destroying the
generator that operated it.
Her control broke. She burst into sobs and huddled in my arms. Finally
she said, "I--hated him. He was out of his mind."
"Try not to think about it," I told her. "Try to forget him. It's all
over. There's just _us_ now."
"I know," she said.
I looked up at the sky, which was dark with the Invaders. It was a
frightening sight--but I no longer feared them. The Gateway was closed,
and Abel Harwood dead, so far as we were concerned. I didn't want to
think of what might be happening to him in whatever universe he was in.
There would be a lot of work to do. I would have to find the
authorities, if any were left, and show them how to build my generator.
Then would begin the long, slow war of eradication against the
remaining Invaders.
Laura was still sobbing. "Don't worry," I said soothingly. "It's all
over now."
We had won.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account