The Year When Stardust Fell Part 7

"I'm worried, Ken," she said. "What would happen to them out there if the car breaks down and they have no place to go?"

"They'll be all right," Ken rea.s.sured her. "They probably found something bigger than they expected at the dam. If they should have trouble with the car they can find a phone along the road at some farmhouse and let us know."

"I can't help worrying," said Maria. "Everything feels so strange tonight, just the way it does before a big thunderstorm, as if something terrible were going to happen!"

Ken sensed the way she felt. It was all he could do to hold back the same reaction within himself, but he knew it must be far more difficult for Maria, being in a foreign country among strangers with customs she didn't understand.

"Why don't you and your mother come over here until they get back?" he asked.

"Suppose they don't come back at all? Tonight, I mean."

"Then you can sleep here. Mom's got plenty of room."

"I'll ask Mamma. If it's all right with her, we'll be right over."

Ken hoped they would come. He found himself concerned beyond all reason that Maria and her mother should be made comfortable and relieved of their worries.

He went out to the backyard again, where all the other members of the club were still lounging on the gra.s.s, watching the sky. The comet was twenty degrees above the horizon, although the sun had long since set below the western mountains. No one seemed to feel this was a night for sleeping.

"Let's try your battery portable for a few minutes," said Joe Walton.

"I'd like to know what's going on in the rest of the world."

Ken brought it out and turned it on. The local station was off the air, of course, and so was the one in Frederick. Half the power there came from the Collin's Dam. More than one-third of the usual stations were missing, but Ken finally picked up one coming in clearly from the northern tip of the state.

The announcer didn't sound like an announcer. He sounded like an ordinary man in the midst of a great and personal tragedy.

"Over three-fourths of the cars in the United States," he was saying, "are now estimated to be out of commission. The truck transportation system of the country has all but broken down. The railroads have likewise suffered from this unbelievable phenomenon.

"All machinery which involves rolling or sliding contact between metal parts has been more or less affected. Those equipped with roller bearings are holding up longer than those equipped with bus.h.i.+ngs, but all are gradually failing.

"In New York City half the power capacity has gone out of commission.

Some emergency units have been thrown into operation, but these cannot carry the load, and even some of them have failed. Elsewhere, across the nation, the story is similar. In Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Was.h.i.+ngton, San Francisco--the power systems are breaking down along with motor and rail transportation.

"For some hours now, the President and his Cabinet have been in session with dozens of scientific leaders trying to find an explanation and a cure for this disastrous failure of machinery. Rumors which were broadcast widely this morning concerning possible effects of the comet have been thoroughly discredited by these scientists, who call them superst.i.tions belonging back in the Middle Ages.

"One final report has just come over the air by shortwave. In the Atlantic Ocean the Italian steamer _White Bird_ has radioed frantically that her engines are dead. Over eight hundred pa.s.sengers and crew are aboard.

"All s.h.i.+p sailings have been canceled since noon today. Vessels at sea are returning to nearest port. There is no s.h.i.+p available which can take off the stranded pa.s.sengers and crew of the _White Bird_. She floats helpless and alone tonight in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

"As a power-conservation measure, broadcasting on this network will cease until midnight, eastern standard time. Turn your radios off. Keep all unnecessary lights off. Avoid consumption of power in every possible way. Be with us again at midnight for the latest news and information."

There was a restlessness in all of Mayfield. None of the townspeople felt like sleeping that night. Ken's group watched the comet until it disappeared below the horizon. Some of them observed it through the telescope. On either side of the Maddoxes' yard the voices of neighbors could be heard under the night sky, speaking in hushed tones of the thing that had happened.

Maria and Mrs. La.r.s.en arrived, and Maria joined Ken and his friends in the backyard. He told her what they had heard on the radio.

"That s.h.i.+p ..." Maria said slowly. "The _White Bird_, out there alone in the ocean--what will become of all those people?"

Ken shook his head slowly. "There's no way to get to them. There's not a thing that can be done. Nothing at all."

They remained quiet for a long time, as if each were thinking his own thoughts about the mystery and loneliness and death riding the forsaken s.h.i.+p in the middle of the ocean, and how soon it might be that the same dark shadow settled over the cities and towns.

Maria thought of her far-off homeland, and the people she knew, suddenly frightened and helpless in their inability to get power and food.

Ken thought of the scenes that must be occurring in the big cities of the United States. People everywhere would not be sleeping tonight. They were all citizens of a civilization that was dependent for its life on turning wheels and on power surging through bright wires across hundreds of miles of open country. Without those turning wheels, and the power in those wires there was no food, there was no warmth, there was no life.

They listened to the radio again at midnight. There was little that was new. The President's council had found no solution, nor had they come to any decisions. Scattered riots and public disorders were springing up, both in Europe and America. On the high seas, the captain of the _White Bird_ was begging for a.s.sistance, demanding to know what had happened that no s.h.i.+p could be sent to his aid.

Word finally came from Ken's father and his companions that their car had failed after leaving the dam to return home. They had reached a farmhouse where they would spend the rest of the night. They would try to find some kind of transportation in the morning.

In the early-morning hours Ken's friends drifted away, one by one, to their own homes, and as dawn approached, Ken finally went up to his own room and slept. Maria and her mother, with Ken's mother, had retired only a short time earlier.

When he awoke at 9 o'clock Ken had no idea whether or not the school officials planned to hold cla.s.ses that day, but he felt that for himself and the other members of the science club there would be no return to normal activity for a long time. Since his father would not return for an indefinite time Ken determined to approach President Lewis of the college regarding the use of the idle blower and ventilation ducts in the Science Hall.

He had met President Lewis a number of times and believed the president would listen to him.

Another matter had disturbed Ken since last night. As soon as he was awake he called the office of Mayor Hilliard. The Mayor's secretary answered and said, "Mayor Hilliard is in conference. He will not be available today."

Ken hesitated. "Tell him it is the Maddox residence calling. I think Mayor Hilliard will answer."

In a moment the Mayor's voice boomed on the phone. Normally hearty, it was now weighted with overtones of uncertainty and fear. "Professor Maddox, I was just about to call you. Would you...."

"This is not Professor Maddox," said Ken. "I'm his son, Kenneth."

"My secretary said...." The Mayor sounded angry now, although he knew Ken well.

"I didn't say my father was calling," said Ken. "I've got something to say that I think you will want to hear, and it will take only a minute."

"All right. Go ahead."

"In a day or two the entire town is going to be without power, transportation, or communication with the outside world. The science club of the high school has a 1000-watt amateur transmitter that can reach any point in the United States and most foreign countries. It requires power. We can operate from batteries, and I would like to ask you to authorize that all automobile batteries and those belonging to the telephone company be immediately seized by the city and placed in official custody, to be used for emergency communication purposes only.

They should be drained of electrolyte and properly stored."

"I appreciate that suggestion," the Mayor said. "I think it's a good one. Would you boys be able to take care of that?"

"We'd be glad to."

"It's your a.s.signment, then. We are calling a town meeting tonight in the college auditorium. We especially want your father to be there if he can, and we'll issue orders for the battery conservation program at that time."

By noon Ken had gained an interview with President Lewis and had received permission for his group to make use of the largest blower on the campus for their air-sampling project. They loaded their tools and themselves into the ancient wagon belonging to Dave Whitaker's uncle and spent the rest of the day working at Science Hall.

Ken's father called again to report they had succeeded in renting a horse and buggy at an exorbitant price from a farmer. When told of the town meeting that evening, he promised to try to reach Mayfield in time.

Ten minutes before the 8 o'clock deadline, Professor Maddox drew up in front of the house. He called to Ken without even getting down from the seat of the wagon. "Get your mother, and let's go!"

Mrs. Maddox appeared, worried and concerned. "You've had nothing to eat," she protested. "At least come in and have a sandwich and a gla.s.s of milk. It's not cold, but it's fresh."

"No." Professor Maddox shook his head. "We don't want to miss any of the meeting. Get a coat and come along. It will be chilly later."

Maria and her mother came also. The small wagon was loaded to capacity as it moved slowly up the hill toward the campus. People were streaming toward the auditorium from all directions. Most of them were afoot. A few others had found a horse and wagon. A dozen or two cars chugged protestingly up the hill, but it appeared that most of these would not be operating another 24 hours.