The Year When Stardust Fell Page 5

  Chapter 4. _Disaster Spreads_

  While he stood, shocked by his mother's statement, Ken heard the phoneringing in the next room. On battery power at the telephone centraloffice, he thought.

  His mother answered, and there was a pause. "Professor Maddox is at thecollege," she said. "You can probably reach him there, or I can give himyour message when he comes home."

  She returned to the doorway. "That was the power company. They want yourfather and Dr. Douglas to have a look at their generators.

  "Ken, what do you think this means?" she asked worriedly. "What willhappen if all our power goes off and doesn't come back on? Do you thinkyour father has any idea what's causing the trouble?"

  Ken shook his head. "I don't know, Mom. So far, nobody seems to knowanything."

  In less than 15 minutes, Professor Maddox hurried into the house."Couldn't get my car going," he said. "It's stalled on the campusparking lot. The power company wants me to go to Collin's Dam."

  "I know," said Mrs. Maddox. "They called here."

  He paused a moment, staring out the window, a look of bewilderment onhis face. "This thing seems to be more serious than I would havebelieved possible. There's just no explanation for it, none at all!"

  "Any chance of my going along, Dad?" Ken said.

  "I'm afraid not. We're going in Dr. Larsen's car, and it's half loadedwith instruments. I hope we make it there and back without breakingdown.

  "I'll probably be back early this evening, but don't hold dinner on myaccount."

  "There will be only sandwiches," said Ken's mother. "I can't cookanything."

  "Of course. Just leave me some of whatever you have."

  From the doorway Ken watched his father and the other two scientists. Hethought he detected a loginess in the engine as Professor Larsen droveaway from the curb.

  What they hoped to accomplish, Ken didn't know, but he felt certain theywould find the same thing in the generators that had been found in theautomobile engines. The bearings were probably frozen so tight that theyand the shaft had become one solid piece of metal. He hoped thescientists would bring back some samples of the metal.

  By 4 o'clock all the members of the science club had arrived. They metin what Ken called his "science shack," a small building next to theobservatory. Here he kept the amateur radio equipment belonging to theclub, and his own personal collections in the several different fieldsin which he had been interested since his Boy Scout days.

  In each of his companions, Ken could see the effect of the feeling thatnow pervaded the town. Their usual horseplay was almost forgotten, andtheir faces were sober to the point of fear.

  "We aren't going to be able to run our blower by electricity," said JoeWalton. "We can't even get power for the precipitating filters."

  "Let's scrounge anything we can find that runs on gasoline or coal oil,"said Al Miner. "If we act fast we ought to be able to pick up some oldmotorcycle engines or some power lawn mowers from the dump. Thompson'shave probably got some. We can try people's basements, too. Let's get asmany as possible, because we don't know how long any one will last, andwe may have to run the blower for weeks, in order to get any kind ofsample."

  "Good idea," said Ken. "Here's something else: Who's got a car left togather this stuff in?"

  The boys looked at each other.

  "Ours was still running this morning," Frank Abrams said, "but I won'tguarantee how long we can count on it."

  "Pretty soon there won't be any we can count on. We've got to get ahorse and wagon before they start selling for as much as a new Cadillacused to."

  "My uncle's got one on his farm," said Dave Whitaker. "He would probablyloan it to me, but he's five miles out of town."

  "Take my bike," said Ken. "See if he'll let you borrow it and a wagonfor at least a couple of weeks or longer. Bring some bales of hay, too."

  "Right now?"

  "Right now."

  When Dave had gone, Al said, "What about the blower? Anybody know wherewe can get one of those?"

  "I think there's one at Thompson's," said Ted. "They pulled it out ofPete and Mary's restaurant when they remodeled."

  "That would be just a little kitchen blower. Not big enough--we need aman-sized one."

  Ken said, after a long pause, "There isn't one in town. The chances ofgetting one from somewhere else are practically zero. Frederick is 50miles away and by tomorrow there may not be a car in town that would gothat far."

  "Look," said Al, "how about the air-conditioning systems in town? Thereisn't one that's any good where it is, now. Both the high school and thecollege have big ones. I'll bet we could get permission at either placeto revamp the intake and outlet ducts so we could put in our filters andprecipitators. Your father and his friends could swing it for us at thecollege."

  "You might be right! It's worth trying. For precipitators we can rig abattery-powered system that will put a few thousand volts on thescreens. Art will let us have enough car batteries for that. I thinkwe're set!"

  * * * * *

  Dave Whitaker did not return until dusk, but he had succeeded in gettingthe horse and wagon, and a load of hay. He deposited this in his ownyard before driving back to Ken's place.

  During the next two or three hours the boys found two old motorcycleengines, a power lawn-mower motor, and one old gasoline-powered washingmachine. All of these they took down to Art Matthews' place and beggedhim for space and tools to overhaul the equipment.

  "You can have the whole joint," Art said dejectedly. "This pile of junkwill never move!" He waved a hand at the cars lined up and down bothsides of the streets near his place.

  By 9 o'clock they had succeeded in getting all of the small enginesrunning, but they dared not test them too long, hoping to conserve allpossible life that might be left. When they were through, they returnedto Ken's house. Mrs. Maddox had sandwiches ready for them.

  No word had been heard from the three scientists who had gone to thepower plant. Maria called, anxious about her father.

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

  "They'll be all right," Ken reassured her. "They probably foundsomething bigger than they expected at the dam. If they should havetrouble with the car they can find a phone along the road at somefarmhouse and let us know."

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

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

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

  "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 reasonthat Maria and her mother should be made comfortable and relieved oftheir worries.

  He went out to the backyard again, where all the other members of theclub were still lounging on the grass, watching the sky. The comet wastwenty degrees above the horizon, although the sun had long since setbelow the western mountains. No one seemed to feel this was a night forsleeping.

  "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 camefrom the Collin's Dam. More than one-third of the usual stations weremissing, but Ken finally picked up one coming in clearly from thenorthern tip of the state.

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

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

  "All machinery which involves rolling or sliding contact between metalparts has been more or less affected. Those equipped with rollerbearings are holding up longer than those equipped with bushings, butall 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 cannotcarry the load, and even some of them have failed. Elsewhere, across thenation, the story is similar. In Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis,Washington, San Francisco--the power systems are breaking down alongwith motor and rail transportation.

  "For some hours now, the President and his Cabinet have been in sessionwith dozens of scientific leaders trying to find an explanation and acure for this disastrous failure of machinery. Rumors which werebroadcast widely this morning concerning possible effects of the comethave been thoroughly discredited by these scientists, who call themsuperstitions belonging back in the Middle Ages.

  "One final report has just come over the air by shortwave. In theAtlantic Ocean the Italian steamer _White Bird_ has radioed franticallythat her engines are dead. Over eight hundred passengers and crew areaboard.

  "All ship sailings have been canceled since noon today. Vessels at seaare returning to nearest port. There is no ship available which can takeoff the stranded passengers and crew of the _White Bird_. She floatshelpless and alone tonight in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

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

  There was a restlessness in all of Mayfield. None of the townspeoplefelt like sleeping that night. Ken's group watched the comet until itdisappeared below the horizon. Some of them observed it through thetelescope. On either side of the Maddoxes' yard the voices of neighborscould be heard under the night sky, speaking in hushed tones of thething that had happened.

  Maria and Mrs. Larsen arrived, and Maria joined Ken and his friends inthe backyard. He told her what they had heard on the radio.

  "That ship ..." Maria said slowly. "The _White Bird_, out there alone inthe ocean--what will become of all those people?"

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

  They remained quiet for a long time, as if each were thinking his ownthoughts about the mystery and loneliness and death riding the forsakenship in the middle of the ocean, and how soon it might be that the samedark shadow settled over the cities and towns.

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

  Ken thought of the scenes that must be occurring in the big cities ofthe United States. People everywhere would not be sleeping tonight. Theywere all citizens of a civilization that was dependent for its life onturning wheels and on power surging through bright wires across hundredsof miles of open country. Without those turning wheels, and the power inthose 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 wasnew. The President's council had found no solution, nor had they come toany decisions. Scattered riots and public disorders were springing up,both in Europe and America. On the high seas, the captain of the _WhiteBird_ was begging for assistance, demanding to know what had happenedthat no ship could be sent to his aid.

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

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

  When he awoke at 9 o'clock Ken had no idea whether or not the schoolofficials planned to hold classes that day, but he felt that for himselfand the other members of the science club there would be no return tonormal activity for a long time. Since his father would not return foran indefinite time Ken determined to approach President Lewis of thecollege regarding the use of the idle blower and ventilation ducts inthe Science Hall.

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

  Another matter had disturbed Ken since last night. As soon as he wasawake he called the office of Mayor Hilliard. The Mayor's secretaryanswered and said, "Mayor Hilliard is in conference. He will not beavailable today."

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

  In a moment the Mayor's voice boomed on the phone. Normally hearty, itwas now weighted with overtones of uncertainty and fear. "ProfessorMaddox, 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 knewKen well.

  "I didn't say my father was calling," said Ken. "I've got something tosay 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 scienceclub of the high school has a 1000-watt amateur transmitter that canreach any point in the United States and most foreign countries. Itrequires power. We can operate from batteries, and I would like to askyou to authorize that all automobile batteries and those belonging tothe telephone company be immediately seized by the city and placed inofficial 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 goodone. Would you boys be able to take care of that?"

  "We'd be glad to."

  "It's your assignment, then. We are calling a town meeting tonight inthe college auditorium. We especially want your father to be there if hecan, and we'll issue orders for the battery conservation program at thattime."

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

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

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

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

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

  Maria and her mother came also. The small wagon was loaded to capacityas it moved slowly up the hill toward the campus. People were streamingtoward the auditorium from all directions. Most of them were afoot. Afew others had found a horse and wagon. A dozen or two cars chuggedprotestingly up the hill, but it appeared that most of these would notbe operating another 24 hours.

  As they approached the hall, Professor Maddox chuckled and pointed afinger ahead of them. "Look
there. I'm sure that every citizen ofMayfield is present or accounted for, now."

  Ken glanced in the direction of his father's gesture. The creaky wagonof Granny Wicks was drawn slowly along by her emaciated horse. Granny'sstick-thin body jounced harshly on the rough seat. Ken fought against aridiculous uneasiness as he recognized her.

  He knew his father had not heard Granny's speech on the post officesteps, but he was little surprised when his father said, "I'm afraidGranny Wicks, with her profound knowledge of omens and signs, is aboutas much an authority on this matter as any of the rest of us heretonight!"