[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
February 1957
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
I slammed the aircar door and fumbled in my pocket for the key. I cast
a quick backward glance at the policeman a hundred feet away.
He wheeled about at the sound.
My trembling fingers tried to fit the key into the ignition.
"Halt!" the policeman yelled unlimbering his gun and breaking into a
run.
My fingers failed to coordinate. I heard a shot and nervously
dropped the key. I bent over frantically to scoop it up.
There was another shot. Pieces of glass trickled down my neck. I
straightened up and saw a hole in the windshield, level with my eyes.
"Hands up!" The cop had slowed down to take careful aim. He was so
close now he could hardly miss.
"Don't shoot!" I shouted. "I surrender!"
I inserted the key in the ignition with desperate precision, gunning
the engines so hard that the ship spun halfway around. The policeman
leaped out of the way as my Cad Super roared past him and lurched into
the air.