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dangling at the end of a string. Firstthere would be a staccato series of them, then silence, thenanother
series. Moreover, her bedroom window was sixstories above the street and nowhere near a fire escape.
But if the small fry weren't responsible for the sound,who was? There was an excellent way to find out.
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Mari-anne forced her legs into motion, walked slowly to thebedroom doorway, switched on the ceiling
light andentered the room. A few short steps brought her to the window by her bed.
She peered through the glass. Something gleamed onthe window ledge but she couldn't make out what it
was.The ticking noise had ceased and traffic sounds driftedup from below. Across tile way, the warm
rectangles ofwindows made precise patterns in the darkness, anddown the street a huge sign said in big
blue letters:spruck's corn pads are the best.
Some of Marianne's confidence returned. She releasedthe catch and slowly raised the window. At first
shedidn't recognize the gleaming object as a flying saucer;she took it for an upside-down frying pan
without a han-dle. And so ingrained was the habit by now that shereached for it instinctively, with the
unconscious inten- tion of putting a handle on it.
"Don't touch my ship!"
That was when Marianne saw the spaceman. He wasstanding off to one side, his diminutive helmet
glimmer-
FLYING PAN 279
ing in the radiance ofspruck's corn pads. He wore agray, form-fitting space suit replete with ray guns,
shoul-der tanks, and boots with turned-up toes, and he wasevery bit of five niches tall. He had drawn
one of theray guns. (Marianne didn't know for sure they were ray guns, but judging from the rest of his
paraphernalia,what else could they be?) and was holding it by the bar- rel. It was clear to Marianne that
he had been tappingon the window with it.
It was also clear to Marianne that she was going, orhad gone, out of her mind. She started to close the
window
"Stop, or I'll burn you!"
Her hands fell away from the sash. The voice hadseemed real enough, a little on the thin side, perhaps,
but certainly audible enough. Was it possible? Could thistiny creature be something more than a figment?
He had changed his gun to his other hand, she noticed, and its minute muzzle pointed directly at her
forehead. When she made no further move, he permitted the barrelto drop slightly and said, "That's
better. Now if you'll behave yourself and do as I say, maybe I can spare yourlife."
"Who are you?" Marianne asked.
It was as though he had been awaiting the question.He stepped dramatically into the full radiance of the
light streaming through the window and sheathed his gun. Hebowed almost imperceptibly, and his helmet
flashed likethe tinsel on a gum wrapper. "Prince Moy Trehano," hesaid majestically, though the majesty
was marred by the thinness of his voice, "Emperor of 10,000 suns, Com-mander of the vast space fleet
which is at this very momentin orbit around this insignificant planet you call 'Earth'!"
"Wh why?"
"Because we're going to bomb you, that's why!"
"But why do you want to bomb us?"
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"Because you're a menace to galactic civilization! Whyelse?"
"Oh," Marianne said.
"We're going to blow your cities to smithereens. There'll be so much death and destruction in our wake
280 Robert F. Young
that you'll never recover from it....Do you have anybatteries?"
For a moment Marianne thought she had misunder-stood. "Batteries?"
"Flashlight batteries will do." Prince Moy Trehanoseemed embarrassed, though it was impossible to tell
forsure because his helmet completely hid his face. Therewas a small horizontal slit where, presumably,
his eyes were, but that was the only opening. "My atomic drive'sbeen acting up," he went on. "In fact, this
was a forcedlanding. Fortunately, however, I know a secret formulawhereby I can convert the energy in
a dry-cell batteryinto a controlled chain reaction. Do you have any?"
"I'll see," Marianne said.
"Remember now, no tricks. I'll burn you right throughthe walls with my atomic ray gun if you try to call
anyone!"
"I I think there's a flashlight in my bed-tabledrawer."
There was. She unscrewed the base, shook out thebatteries and set them on the window sill. Prince
MoyTrehano went into action. He opened a little door on theside of his ship and rolled the batteries [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]