Jupe nodded, replaced the pictures in the drawer, looked into Elsie’s crowded closet, then went on to Mary Sedlack’s room.
The quarters occupied by the girl who served as veterinarian on the ranch were prim and austere. There were few cosmetics. Clothes were hung precisely in the closet or folded neatly in drawers. The top of the bureau was bare except for the china figure of a galloping horse. There were several books on the care of animals in a bookcase under the window and there was a box of tissues on the bedside table.
“She’s crazy about animals, and that’s all,” Pete declared.
“At least it’s all that she allows to show,” said Jupiter.
They went on to Banales’ room, where they found lists and schedules for planting and several books on cultivating and harvesting.
“I don’t think we’re finding out much we didn’t already know,” said Pete. He and Bob followed Jupe downstairs to the huge living room of the ranch house. This contained shabby sofas and chairs and a collection of dog-eared magazines. The pantry was filled with food. When they went outside and looked under the house, they saw cobwebs and bare earth and beetles and spiders.
“Sometimes searches reveal nothing,” said Jupiter. “Very well. So much for that. Now we had better find Mrs Barron. At least we can tell her that the soldiers are imposters.”
The boys went across the drive and up the back steps of the mansion. Jupe rapped at the door. When no one answered, he turned the handle and pulled the door open. “Hello!” he called. “Mrs Barron?”
He heard the scratchy, raspy noise of static coming from the dining room. An instant after he called, it ceased.
“Who’s there?” said a woman’s voice.
“Jupiter Jones,” said Jupe. “And Pete and Bob.”
The Three Investigators went through the kitchen and into the dining room. Mary Sedlack sat there with a portable radio and a tape recorder on the table in front of her. “You want to see Mrs Barron?” she asked. “She’s upstairs. Go through the hall and yell up the stairway. That’ll get her.”
Jupe nodded at the radio set. “Are you getting anything?” he asked.
“Just static,” said Mary. “Mr Barron asked me to listen in and if anything comes through that makes sense, to put it on tape.”
She turned the volume up slightly, and the static blared again. Then suddenly it faded away, to be replaced by a low humming noise.
“Whoops!” said Mary. “Now what?”
She touched the record switch on the tape machine and the spools of tape began slowly to turn.
“Charles Barron,” said a voice–a deep voice that was strangely musical. “Charles Emerson Barron. This is Astro-Voyager Z-12 attempting contact with Charles and Ernestine Barron. Repeat! We are attempting contact with Charles Barron! Please attend, Mr Barron!”
“Hey!” cried Mary Sedlack. “Hey, it’s a message! Hey, you guys, get Mr Barron! Quick!”
14
Doomsday!
“REPEAT,” said the voice on the radio. “This is Astro-Voyager Z-12 calling Charles Emerson Barron and Ernestine Hornaday Barron. We are at present in orbit three hundred miles beyond your atmosphere.”
Charles Barron and his wife came into the dining room. Barron was frowning, puzzled and also hopeful. He stared at the radio, and after a moment the voice went on.
“Infra-red scanners aboard our patrols have detected tremendous inner stresses in your planet. Before many days there will be an earthquake, with volcanic activity more violent than any we have witnessed before. The Earth will tilt on its axis so that the area now covered by the polar icecaps will move. The Antarctic continent will shift to the equator. The eternal ice will melt so that the seas will rise, and those cities that have not already been levelled by the Earth’s upheaval will be inundated by water.”
“He’s kidding!” cried Mary Sedlack. “Hey, Mrs Barron, he is kidding, isn’t he?”
Mrs Barron didn’t answer, and Mary looked at her in sudden fright. “Hey, come on!” she said pleadingly. “Tell me it’s some kind of joke.”
“The Supreme Council of Omega has chosen to remove certain individuals from the Earth before this devastation occurs,” said the voice on the radio. “After the time of chaos has passed, these people can return to be the leaders of a new civilization. Charles and Ernestine Barron are among those to be taken. We attempted a rendezvous last night, but we failed. Tonight we will try again to complete our mission. We will land at 2200 hours to take aboard our own people who are on your planet at this moment. If they have the courage, Charles Barron and his wife should be at the edge of the lake on the Barron land at 2200 hours. They should have with them any belongings they wish to save from destruction. That is all.”
The voice stopped and there was silence for a second. Then the blare of static came again from the radio.
Barron reached past Mary Sedlack and snapped off the radio. Then he pushed the stop switch on the tape recorder. He picked up the recorder and went out of the room, and the boys heard him on the stairs.
“Mrs Baron, can I talk with you for a second?” said Jupe.
She shook her head. Her face was white. “Not right now,” she said. “In a little while.” She went out and up the stairs.
Mary Sedlack sat staring at the radio. “Did you hear what he said?” she whispered. “He . . . he sounded so real!”
She pushed back her chair abruptly and bolted away from the table and out through the kitchen. The boys could hear her calling to Elsie Spratt.
Pete looked searchingly at Jupe. “Well!” he said.
“We aren’t going to die,” said Jupe. “At least not right now.”
“You’re sure?” said Pete.
“Positive,” said Jupe.
“I hope you’re right,” said Pete, and he and the other two went out into the late afternoon sunshine.
There was no sign of Mary or Elsie on the drive, but a group of men and women were coming up the lane towards the big house. They carried tools and they talked softly to one another as they walked. One young man who looked especially serious and solemn nodded to the boys as he came abreast of them.
“Say, just a minute,” said Jupe. He touched the man’s sleeve.
“What is it?” said the man.
“I was wondering,” said Jupe. “There must be some talk among the people here. What are they saying?”
The man looked after his companions. Several had gone on into their homes, but a few stood in the lane and looked back as if they were waiting for him.
“Some say that the world will end,” answered the man nervously. “Some say it will not be the world. It will only be California that will disappear into the ocean and be lost forever.”
“What do the people here think of the soldiers on the road–the ones who are camped near the gate?”
“The soldiers are afraid,” the man said. “They drink and their officer–he does not make them stop. They do not care about their officer.” The man’s voice was scornful, but fearful, too. The strange behaviour of the soldiers seemed to confirm his belief that something terrible was happening in the world.
“And what about getting out?” asked Jupe. “Does anyone want to walk out of here and get to the nearest town?”
“No. Mr Barron has spoken with us about this. He says if we wish to go we should try, but he fears there is much trouble in the towns. He thinks that perhaps the trucks do not move so there is not enough food, and when that happens people will fight with one another. What he says is true. If we stay here, at least we have food to eat.”
“I see,” said Jupiter.
The man moved away and joined his companions. As they went on towards their homes they passed Konrad, who was coming down the lane from the parking area.
“Hey, Jupe!” Konrad called. His broad face was solemn. “I have been in the fields. Hey, that Mr Barron, he scares everyone really bad.”
“I heard,” said Jupe.
“I think maybe we should take the truck and go home,” said Konrad. “I do not like it here. Here we do not really know what is true and what is not. If we are where there are many people, then we know better.”
“Konrad, please don’t worry,” said Jupe.
The big Bavarian looked hopeful. “You know something?” he said. “Maybe it is all a trick, what happens here?”
“It is a trick,” said Jupe. “If I hadn’t guessed it before, I would now, after hearing that message from the intergalactic traveller.”
“The message?” said Pete. “What about the message? It sounded pretty real to me–if you believe in flying saucers in the first place.”
“Lacking in originality, though,” said Jupe. “Did you see The Saturn Syndrome when it was on television last week? There was an end-of-the-world sequence in it, and when the spaceship came to rescue the scientist and his daughter, it radioed a message.”