Operation InterstellarSmith, George O. (George Oliver)
Science
Operation Interstellar
Smith, George O. (George Oliver)
Interstellar communication -- Fiction; Life on other planets -- Fiction; Science fiction
Then they were beyond the busy thoroughfare and racing down a quiet
street, their own siren creating a shrill that could be heard for
blocks. Even inside of the car it was loud; outside it must have been
terrific.
The radio broke into life: "Attention! Attention! All cars--Attention!"
The driver and the other policeman stiffened slightly. The driver
turned another corner onto a traffic street. Three or four blocks
along, the bright blue lights of the police station called like a
lighthouse, marking the Journey's End.
"Attention! Attention!" said the radio. "All cars be on the lookout for
Police Squad Car Seventeen. Stolen--"
The policeman not driving was fumbling in a pocket; found a jangling
set of keys and fumbled with them uncertainly. Then Grayson's manacles
fell away as the squad car drove up in front of the police station.
"Lively, Grayson," snapped the driver as the car came to a quiet halt.
Still in a complete daze, Paul obeyed stiffly. He followed the driver
out of the squad car from the driver's side, squeezing under the
steering wheel and forced by the pressure of the other policeman behind
him. He was unceremoniously hauled into a waiting sedan, pushed again
from behind, and then before he could get his balance the car lurched
forward and away.
"That'll kill 'em," chuckled the policeman that had rescued him from
the stage.
"Dump their rig and the drunken cops right in front of the station,"
chuckled the driver of the police car. Both were shucking their blue
uniforms. And the driver of the large sedan was not driving like a
maniac. He kept to sane speeds, but used side streets.
"Stolen--?" murmured Grayson. Paul was still dazed. Something was
going on but he did not know what. He had been ridiculed, charged with
murder, arrested, and--but he had not really been arrested for these
were not officers of the law. "Wha--what--?" he blurted.
Both of the erstwhile officers laughed. One of them hauled a small
flask from his hip pocket and handed it to Paul. "You've had a rough
time," he said. "Take a bracer."
Paul took a big swallow; it was good whiskey that burned just right
on the way down. The glow in Paul's stomach took some of the troubled
puzzlement; some of the daze from him, but the dizziness and the
feeling of unreality remained.
"What's it all about?" asked Paul uncertainly.
"You'll find out later."
"Why not now?"
"And spill before the boss tells his tale?" laughed one of the men.
"Just pull yourself together, Grayson. Be happy that we got you out of
a bad spot."
"I am, but I don't understand."
"You will soon enough. Take it easy."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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