"Hah." Koitska seemed to consider. "Vel," he said, "it could be ...
yes, it could be dat ve have a job for you. You go back downstairs
and--no, vait." The fat man closed his eyes and Chandler felt himself
seized and propelled down the stairs to what had once been a bay of a
built-in garage. Now it was fitted up with workbenches and the gear of
a radio ham's dreams.
Chandler walked woodenly to one of the benches. His own voice spoke
to him. "Ve got here someplace--_da_, here is cirguit diagrams and de
specs for a sqvare-vave generator. You know vot dat is? Write down de
answer." Chandler, released with a pencil in his hand and a pad before
him, wrote _Yes_. "Okay. Den you build vun for me. I areddy got vun but
I vant another. You do dis in de city, not here. Go to Tripler, dey
tells you dere vere you can work, vere to get parts, all dat. Couple
days you come out here again, I see if I like how you build."
Clutching the thick sheaf of diagrams, Chandler felt himself propelled
outside and back into the little car. The interview was over.
He wondered if he would be able to find his way back to Honolulu, but
that problem was then postponed as he discovered he could not start the
car. His own hands had already done so, of course, but it had been so
quick and sure that he had not paid attention; now he found that the
ignition key was marked only in French, which he could not speak. After
trial and error he discovered the combination that would start the
engine and unlock the steering wheel, and then gingerly he toured the
perimeter of the lot until he found an exit road.
It was close to midnight, he judged. Stars were shining overhead; there
was a rising moon. He then remembered, somewhat tardily, that he should
not be seeing stars. The lane he had come in on had been overhung on
both sides with trees.
A few minutes later he realized he was quite lost.
Chandler stopped the car, swore feelingly, got out and looked around.
There was nothing much to see. The roads bore no markers that made
sense to him. He shrugged and rummaged through the glove compartment
on the chance of a map; there was none, but he did find what he had
almost forgotten, a half-empty pack of cigarettes. It had been--he
counted--nearly a week since he had smoked. He lit up.
* * * * *
It was a pleasant evening, too. He felt almost relaxed. He stood there,
wondering just what might be about to happen next--with curiosity more
than fear--and then he felt a light touch at his mind.
It was nothing, really. Or nothing that he could quite identify. It was
though he had been nudged. It seemed that someone was about to usurp
his body again, but that did not develop.
As he had about decided to forget it and get back in the car he saw
headlights approaching.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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