I know, I know, somebody hit Zeke with a cane, but he wasn't trying to
attack the old man! You've got everyone scared of him now. A few hours
ago everybody was laughing, and now you've got everyone thinking he's
some kind of horrible monster.
I know ... the woman wheeling the baby. But she was hysterical when she
saw Zeke there on that side street. She screamed and went crazy. But
that isn't Zeke's fault. That's your fault. No! I said I don't know
where he would be hiding now!
You can leave now, Johnson. But stay where we can get in touch with
you at once. You're the only way we can establish any contact with
Zeke--unless of course we have to kill it.
* * * * *
So Johnson made the tape recordings and the television kinescopes,
and he sat in a kind of daze in the semi-darkness of the apartment of
Hatcher, a friend of his, looking at his own image speaking Martian to
millions of people, and listened to his voice.
No one knew what he had said on those lengths of tape and on those
kinescopes. He hadn't said what he was supposed to say--not for Zeke to
give himself up. Zeke might not understand that, and he might get shot.
He told Zeke to meet him just outside the UN grounds at the West end
of a public park that had been built to replace a former slum area--to
beautify the area surrounding the UN territory. A high wall flanked the
West end of the park and thick brush and trees were there affording a
good hiding place.
And Johnson would meet Zeke there as soon as he could. Don't do
anything else, if possible, until I can talk with you, Zeke.
The newscasts came on frequently, mostly about Zeke. He was seen first
here and then there.
The city was supposedly gripped in a reign of terror. Kids playing in a
vacant lot near the UN grounds had dug a small cave and had found Zeke
hiding in it. The Martian had made horrible sounds and leaped at them,
the kids said. The kids had thrown rocks at him. They said he looked
funny at first, all covered with dirt, and stumbling around like he was
drunk or something.
The police had thrown up nets and blockades everywhere. The number of
cars in surrounding precincts were tripled. Walls went up everywhere.
State, county, sheriff deputies' cars formed wall after wall that were
tightening. Information about the crime and a description of Zeke
had been spread over such a wide area from the crime scene that five
states away the police had thrown up blockades. The description was a
formality.
Everyone knew what the Martian looked like.
Johnson waited there in Hatcher's apartment.
He tried to get in touch with the lawyer, but that seemed impossible.
No one knew where Hatcher was. But Johnson knew the police were
shadowing him, hoping he would lead them to where Zeke was hiding.
He had to get over there to that park where Zeke might be hiding,
waiting for him, without being trailed there. That wouldn't be easy. It
was out of Johnson's line.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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