‘The line seems to be quite sharp – and stationary,’ Alan added. ‘Whoever heard of a perfectly stationary gas – and with a light wind blowing, too? It doesn’t make sense.’
‘Can’t be droplet stuff evaporating off the ground, either,’ said the Leading-Fireman. ‘Kind of hits ‘em like a hammer. I never heard of a droplet one like that, did you?’
Alan shook his head. ‘Besides,’ he agreed, ‘anything really volatile would have cleared by now. What’s more, it wouldn’t have vaporized last night and caught the bus and the rest. The bus was due in Midwich at ten-twenty-five – and I came over this bit of road myself only a few minutes before that. There wasn’t anything wrong with it then. In fact, that must be the bus I met just running into Oppley.’
‘I wonder how far it stretches?’ mused the Leading-Fireman. ‘Must be fairly wide, or we’d see things what were trying to come this way.’
They continued to gaze in perplexity towards Midwich. Beyond the vehicles the road continued with a clear, innocent-looking, slightly shining, surface to the next turn. Just like any other road almost dry after a shower. NowW that the morning mist had lifted it was possible to see the tower of Midwich church jutting above the hedges. When one disregarded the immediate foreground, the prospect was the very negation of mystery.
The firemen, assisted by Alan’s squad, continued to drag out the forms within easy reach. Their experience seemed to leave no impression on the victims. Each one, on coming clear, sat up alertly, and maintained with obvious truth that he needed no help from the ambulance-men.
The next job was to clear an inverted tractor out of the way so that the further vehicles and their occupants could be pulled clear.
Alan left his Sergeant and the Leading-Fireman directing the work, and climbed over a stile. The field-path beyond climbed a small rise, and gave him a better view of the Midwich terrain. He was able to see several roofs, including those of Kyle Manor, and The Grange, also the topmost stones of the Abbey ruins, and two drifts of grey smoke. A placid scene. But a few further yards brought him to a point where he could see four sheep lying motionless in a field. The sight troubled him, not because he now thought it likely that any real harm had come to the sheep, but because it indicated that the barrier-zone was wider than he had hoped. He contemplated the creatures and the landscape beyond, and noticed two cows on their sides still further away. He watched them for a minute or two to make sure there was no movement, and then turned and walked thoughtfully back to the road.
‘Sergeant Decker,’ he called.
The sergeant came over, and saluted.
‘Sergeant,’ said Alan, ‘I want you to get hold of a canary – in a cage, of course.’
The sergeant blinked.
‘Er – a canary, sir?’ he asked, uneasily.
‘Well, I suppose a budgerigar would do as well. There ought to be some in Oppley. You’d better take the jeep. Tell the owner there’ll be compensation if necessary.’
‘I – er -‘
‘Cut along now, Sergeant. I want that bird here as soon as you can manage it.’
‘Very good, sir. Er – a canary,’ the sergeant added, to make sure.
‘Yes,’ said Alan.
*
I became aware that I was slithering along the ground, face down. Very odd. One moment I was hurrying towards Janet, then, with no interval at all, this …
The motion stopped. I sat up to find myself surrounded by a collection of people. There was a fireman, engaged in disentangling a murderouslooking hook from my clothing. A St John Ambulance man regarding me with a professionally hopeful eye. A very young private carrying a pail of whitewash, another holding a map, and an equally young corporal armed with a bird-cage on the end of a long pole. Also an unencumbered officer. In addition to this somewhat surrealistic collection there was Janet, still lying where she had fallen. I got to my feet just as the fireman, having freed his hook, reached it towards her, and caught the belt of her mackintosh. He began to pull, and of course the belt broke, so he reached it across her, and began to roll her towards us. At the second time over, she sat up, looking disarranged, and indignant.
‘Feeling all right, Mr Gayford?’ asked a voice beside me.
I looked round and recognized the officer as Alan Hughes whom we had met at the Zellabys’ a couple of times.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘But what’s going on here?’
He disregarded that for the moment, and helped Janet to her feet. Then he turned to the corporal.
‘I’d better get back to the road. Just carry on with this, Corporal.’
‘Yes, sir,’ said the corporal. He lowered his pole from the vertical, and with the cage still dangling at its end, thrust it forward tentatively. The bird fell off its perch, and lay on the sanded floor of the cage. The corporal withdrew the cage. The bird gave a slightly indignant tweet, and hopped back on its perch. One watching private stepped forward with his bucket and daubed a little whitewash on the grass, the other made a mark on his map. The party then moved along a dozen yards or so, and repeated the performance.
This time it was Janet who inquired what on earth was happening. Alan explained as much as he knew, and added:
‘There’s obviously no chance of getting into the place while this lasts. Much your best course would be to make for Trayne, and wait there for the all-clear.’
We looked after the corporal’s party, just in time to see the bird fall off its perch once more, and then across the innocent fields to Midwich. After our experience there did not appear to be any useful alternative. Janet nodded. So we thanked young Hughes, and presently parted from him to make our way back to the car.
At the The Eagle Janet insisted that we should book a room for the night, just in case … and then went up to it. I gravitated to the bar.
The place was quite unusually full for noon, and almost entirely of strangers. The majority of them were talking somewhat histrionically in small groups or pairs; though a few individuals were drinking privately and thoughtfully. I wormed my way to the counter with some difficulty, and as I was worming it back again, drink in hand, a voice at my shoulder said:
‘Now, what on earth would you be doing in this lot, Richard?’
The voice was familiar, and so, when I looked round, was the face, though it took me a second or two to place it – there was not only the veil of years to be drawn aside, but a military cap had to be juggled into the place of the present tweed. But when this had been done, I was delighted.
‘My dear Bernard!’ I exclaimed. ‘This is wonderful! Come along out of this mob.’ And I seized his arm, and towed him into the lounge.
The sight of him made me feel young again: took me back to the beaches, the Ardennes, the Reichswald, and the Rhine. It was a good meeting. I sent the waiter for more drinks. It took about half an hour for the first ebullition to level out, but when it did:
‘You never answered my first question,’ he reminded me, looking at me carefully. ‘I’d no idea you’d gone in for that sort of thing.’
‘What sort of thing?’ I inquired.
He lifted his head slightly, towards the bar.
‘The Press,’ he explained.
‘Oh, is that it! I was wondering why the invasion.’
One eyebrow descended a little.
‘Well, if you’re not part of it, what are you?’ he said.
‘I just live in these parts,’ I told him.
At that moment Janet came into the lounge, and I introduced him.
‘Janet dear, this is Bernard Westcott. He used to be Captain Westcott when we were together, but I know he became a Major, and now – ?’
‘Colonel,’ admitted Bernard, and greeted her charmingly.
‘I am so glad,’ Janet told him. ‘I’ve heard a lot about you. I know one says that, but this time it happens to be true.’
She invited him to lunch with us, but he said that he had business to attend to, and was already overdue. His tone of regret was genuine enough for her to say:
‘Dinner, then? At home, if we can get there, but here if we are still exiled?’
‘At home?’ queried Bernard.
‘In Midwich,’ she explained. ‘It’s about eight miles away.’
Bernard’s manner changed slightly.
‘You live in Midwich?’ he inquired, looking from her to me. ‘Have you been there long?’
‘About a year now,’ I told him. ‘We’d normally be there now, but -‘ I explained how we came to be stranded at The Eagle.