Wagner chuckled. "In that case, send it next door," he grinned. "The
morgue handles the remains. Think you'll catch him?"
The surgeon's attention was diverted by a sudden screech of brakes
outside. He gave Mortenson a passing glance and went out. Officer Tully
escorted the scientist to the desk-sergeant.
"Heard the news, Mortenson?" the sergeant inquired, grinning.
"About the new robbery--phantom bandit?" the scientist grunted.
The sergeant nodded. "Robbed the Inter-State Bank in broad daylight and
got away like a ghost," he responded talkatively. "By the way, what
kind of an outfit was that he got from you?"
"Rather complicated to explain here, sergeant," Mortenson said,
impatient to obtain his release.
"Yeah?" the other replied slowly. "One of those things, huh?"
"One of those things, sergeant," Mortenson repeated restlessly. "I
suppose now the law is convinced that I am not the phantom bandit. If
that is the case, I'd like to get back to work."
"Right you are, professor," the sergeant boomed. "Moreover, the chief
requested a moment ago to have your fingerprints, picture and all
personal records destroyed. He wants to have a talk with you, if you
don't mind."
Mortenson's features brightened. "Of course," he nodded. "I wanted to
talk with him. How soon can I see him?"
"Right away, sir!" the sergeant stated, turning to Tully who had
wandered off. "Tully!"--he called aloud. The officer came up quickly.
"Take Mr. Mortenson up to the chief's office. He's waiting!"
Newspapermen thronged the office of Chief of Police Steckel. Mortenson
was mobbed until the chief interfered with the eager reporters and
ordered them to the press room. The scientist had a keen dislike for
notoriety and displayed it at the onset by refusing to answer any of
the questions put to him by the zealous reporters. Chief Steckel,
seeing this, went immediately to his rescue. The office was cleared
quickly. Mortenson was invited to a chair.
"Professor Mortenson," the executive began without hesitation, "just
what is the apparatus you report was stolen from you, presumably by
this so-called phantom bandit?"
The scientist settled back in his chair, frowning.
"I'm afraid you would not understand, chief," he said complacently, "as
it is very complicated. But if you like, I'll explain it just as simply
as I can."
Steckel shook his head eagerly, handed a cigar to the scientist and lit
one himself. Immersed in a cloud of blue, fragrant smoke, Mortenson
explained the principle of his invention, its use to science and,
unfortunately, to crime. He told what lay behind the veil of the Fifth
Dimension, that invisible world beyond the vision of man, yet which
existed on every human hand; there in the office, up on the roof and
out on the streets. He went further to say that even within the world
of the Fifth Dimension others existed--the Sixth, the Seventh and so on
probably without limit!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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