Times change, he sighed silently.

Already aware that he’d been dropped from the conversational circle, a slightly petulant Sykes rose. “I suppose I’ll leave you three to get on with it.”

Suttles was about to say to his base commander, “You don’t have to leave, sir,” but Kerry responded faster. “Thank you, General.” Was she just a captain, Suttles wondered, or did the fact that she was army intelligence allow her to give orders to a senior officer?

Looking uncomfortable and ill at ease with the entire proceeding, Sykes depaned. Only when the door closed behind him did Robinett speak up again.

“You’re surc it was dead?”

“I’m not even sure it was an alien.” Suttles replied more sharply than he intended. These two weren’t making him feel at ease. “It could’ve been nothing more than a toy or a clever mock-up, a ventriloquist’s dummy. He was a damn good ventriloquist.”

“Sure,” snapped Kerry. “Just your average oilfield-roughneck Edgar Bergen. I’m sorry, but that’s one dual career I’ve yet to encounter.”

Suttles blinked. “How’d you know he was an oilfield worker?”

“We’ve already run the usual preliminary checks.” Robinett looktd apologetic. “Wasn’t difficult. Social security number, unemployment insurance records, workmen’s comp. No bank-account records, though. A true son of the Texas soil.” He sniffed.

Kerry picked up the thread. “Ross Edward Hager: born and raised, Abilene, Texas. Played high-school … these details are incidentai and you can be filled in later.”

Suttles shifted in his seat. “When I put together the report I wondered if anyone would believe me. Why did you? I don’t think I would have.”

“You supplied corroborative proof in the form of the formula for advanced thermos-bottle propellant.” When he wasn’t smiling, Robinett’s expression was difficult to read. “You also had the good sense to place that at the top of your account, and the source of your inspiration near the end. The introduction made your conclusion a lot more palatable. I used to make bottle rockets myself when I was a kid. But they didn’t punch holes in steel roofs and concrete floors. They also had a tendency to come back down.”

“So nobody’s found it yet.” Suttles contemplated the import of this revelation.

“We’ve searched, but we’ve had to be subtle about it. We can’t have legions of reward-seekers searching the vicinity for an ordinary thermos bottle. Someone’s liable to get suspicious and call a reporter.”

“‘U.S. Army will pay one hundred dollars for return of used thermos bottles, possibly dented, to be found in the general vicinity of greater metropolitan El Paso.’” Kerry smiled thinly. ‘fat’s abulletin I don’t think we’ll be putting out anytime soon. We’d love to have it back, of course.”

“What convinced you?” Suttles wanted to know.

“Analysis of powder fragments left behind on the workbench you used to concoct the propellant.” She made a face. “It had been cleaned off since you used it, but we found enough to be conclusive. The results were impressive enough to unsettle people who are normally difficult to excite. More impurtant!y, your results were reproducible.”

“You might be interested to know,” Robinett went on, “that your bartender’s propellant works just as well in small rockets as in thermos bottles.”

“How well?”

Robinett scratched his nose. “We’ll know if and when we can find the small rocket. You might say that we lost track of its tracker. My own hypothesis is that both thermos and rocket got going so fast that they burned up on reentry, but no one else is willing to subscribe to the theory that a motor-pool captain in El Paso has become the first person in history to orbit a thermos bottle.” He turned sharp blue eyes on Suttles. “Yet.”

“Of course, this wonderful material could be terrestrial in origin,” Kerry argued. “If not domestic, then Japanese or European. It’s the source that has us excited.” A hint of real excitement broke through her habitual reserve.

“You walk into a local bar and chat with the bartender, a manual laborer from Texas whose actions in no way betray signs of hidden intelligence. In the course of your visit this otherwise ordinary-looking gentleman displays the abilities of a Vegasquality ventriloquist and through his ‘dummy’ gives you the formula for a new type of high-energy dry fuel, suitable for use in rockets. In the light of these unprecedented circumstances the possible existence of an actual dead alien being must be viewed with an open mind.

“What we don’t understand is why anyone in possession of what might well be the most valuable single article on the planet would choose to keep it a secret.”

Robinett leaned over the table. “His boss at the hotel where he was working couldn’t tell us where he was going. I don’t suppose you’d have any idea, Captain Suttles?”

“I’m afraid not. Frankly, I didn’t know he’d left.”

“Actually, we just missed him. Not that it matters.” Kerry waved absently. “We know what kind of car he’s driving and we have the license number.”

“He could be anywhere by now,” Suttles pointed out.

“No, not quite anywhere.” Again that thin, predatory smile. “We’ve moved very fast on this. He doesn’t know anyone wants to talk to him and he’s not on the run. We’ll find him. We’ve been in touch … quietly, of course , with highway-patrol head-quakers in a dozen states. When his car is located we’ll arrange to pick up him and his ‘baggage.’ Everything will be handled with the utmost discretion.” She looked to her companion.

“Army intelligence having broken this discovery, we’d kind of like to keep it to ourselves,” he explained. “At least until we know what we have.”

“If there is anything to be had,” Kerry added. “Until we’re sure one way or the other we want to keep the CIA, FBI, NSA, and other government acronyms out of it. So we have to find this Hager person ourselves.”

“What’s my status in all this?” Suttles looked from one expectant face to the other. “When we’re finished here do I resume my normal duties?”

“I’m afraid not,” Robinett informed him. “As of right now, we’re assigned to you and you’re assigned to us. The orders have already been cut. Since you’re our only actual contact with this Hager, it was felt that your presence might be useful when we pick him up. He might feel more comfortable talking to someone he’s met before. Texan to Texan, if you will. Our accents,” he added dryly. “might inspire something less than confidence.”

“Do you have a problem with that?” Kerry asked bluntly.

“Not at all. Captain.”

“It should be more interesting than your usual duties.” Robinett was trying to put him at ease, Suttles felt. “Don’t you read myscerics?”

“Not any that center on Texas roughneck ventriloquisis with dead aliens for company.”

The younger man chuckled. “No, I have to admit this is the first time I’ve encountered that particular setup. I expect we’ll be the first.”

“It very likely is something other than a dead alien, you know.” Suttles was a bit taken aback at the pace of events.

“Very likely,” Robinett agreed. “However, the possibility that it just might be what the bartender claims opens suggestive windows. You must be interested in finding out yourself or you wouldn’t have tried that formula.”

“You’re sure it’s dead?” Kerry’s impatience dominated her disposition.

“It never moved or breathed or opened its eyes.” Sutdes was emphatic. “If it was once a live thing, it’s certainly deceased now. I had ample opportunity to study it and I was as close to it as you are to me now.”

Robinett in particular looked disappointed. “I don’t understand. From what we’ve been able to learn about this Hager person, he doesn’t seem to have any money. Why isn’t he on a TV talk show by now, or charging people three bucks a head to have a look at his discovery?”

It was Suttles’s turn to smile knowingly. “This is just a good ol’ country boy you’re dealing with here. I know hundreds of guys like that, both military and civilian. Plenty of them aren’t obsessed with big bank balances. It’s not that they’re indifferent to money; it just isn’t something that rules their lives.”

“We’ll persuade him that turning over his discovery is in the national interest.” Robinett turned wistful. “Antigravity, now, it would be nice to get an answer from the dummy on that.”

The more skeptical Kerry made a derisive sound. “Why not immortality, while you’re at it?”

“Now, now, Captain. You know the routine. Physical sciences first.”

“No,” she corrected him as she rose. “Before you can make any wishes you have to confront the genie. Even if it’s a dead one.”

On the way out Suttles tried to hold the door for her, but she beat him to it.

SEVEN

Ross Ed awoke to find the sun setting. He’d pulled into Lordsburg around six A.M. and checked into the motel, tired but happy to be back on the road. Having slept through the day, he felt rested and alert. A good supper and he’d be ready to go again. As for driving after dark, that had never bothered him. He’d driven plenty of rig trucks and other oil vehicles through the Texas night, often on roads that were little more than game tracks.