I worked through the night and on into the morning, soldering and
reconnecting. I had only the barest shred of a plan, and that a mostly
wishful one, but I had nothing else at all to do but work.
Finally morning came. Again there was the booming of guns from outside,
as the army continued its attempts to drive out the Invaders. I glanced
out the window and saw three of the translucent globes hovering over
the charred body of a man in military uniform, and shuddered. I went
back to my generator, and worked until hunger reminded me that there
was no food left in the house.
This was the end, then. I was nowhere near the solution of my problem,
and I knew I wouldn't be able to work for long without food. I glanced
outside again. The air was thick with the things; I didn't dare risk a
break.
So I turned back to my generator and forced myself to keep working.
I did. I worked far on into the afternoon, getting more and more
tired--until, sometime near nightfall, I fell asleep.
I slept. Suddenly, I was awakened by the simultaneous touch of a hand
on my shoulder and clap of thunder outside. I looked up.
"Laura! What are you doing here?"
"I had to get away," she said. She was soaked to the skin, cold and
shivering. She was wearing only a flimsy housecoat over some sort of
pajamas. "Daddy wasn't looking, and I ran out of the house. I ran all
the way."
"But how'd you get past the--the--?"
"The Invaders?" She pointed outside. "There's a storm going on. They're
all in the sky, drinking up the lightning again. They didn't bother
me at all on the way over. Much better food available, I guess." She
shivered again.
"Look, you've got to get out of that wet stuff," I told her. I threw
her a towel and my bathrobe. "Here, get into this, and then we can
talk."
"Okay."
She disappeared into my other room, and returned a few minutes later,
looking drier but just as pale and frightened. She peered inquisitively
at the machine I had been building, then turned to me.
"Chuck--Dad's out of his mind!"
"I've known that a long time," I said.
"No--I don't mean _that_ way. He's really insane, Chuck. You know that
he's been in contact with these Invaders? That he deliberately brought
them here!"
"No!"
She nodded. "He reached them through some short-wave transmitter of
his, and made mental contact with them. They showed him how to build
the Gateway--and he let them through! They promised to give him the
world, when they get through with it!"
I clenched my fists and stared angrily at the cloud-swept sky. "The
madman! He was getting his revenge for the years people laughed at him,
I guess. But--what's to happen to us?"
"I don't know. The creatures won't harm him, and they're under orders
not to touch me unless I leave his protection--which I have. But as for
you and the rest of the world, I don't think Daddy cares at all. Chuck,
he's out of his head!"
"We've got to stop him," I said grimly. "We've got to close that
gateway and drive off the things he's let through. But how?"
"The generator's in his basement," Laura said. "If we could get in
there and smash it, somehow, and--"
"How would we kill the Invaders that have already come through? There
must be thousands of them!"
"We'll find some way, Chuck. There _must_ be a way." I looked out the
window. The rain was letting up, and there were only occasional flashes
of lightning in the dark tormented-looking sky. "The Invaders will be
coming back soon," I said. "Do you want to risk a dash over to your
place to try to get at the generator?"