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- 5. Rob Crowther A user-friendly reference guide M AN N I N G HTML5 & CSS3 www.it-ebooks.info
- 6. Hello! HTML5 & CSS3 www.it-ebooks.info
- 8. Hello! HTML5 & CSS3 A user-friendly reference guide Rob Crowther M A N N I N G SHELTER ISLAND www.it-ebooks.info
- 9. For online information and ordering of this and other Manning books, please visit www.manning.com. The publisher offers discounts on this book when ordered in quantity. For more information, please contact: Special Sales Department Manning Publications Co. 20 Baldwin Road PO Box 261 Shelter Island, NY 11964 Email: [email protected] ©2013 by Manning Publications Co. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in the book, and Manning Publications was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial caps or all caps. User Friendly artwork, characters, and strips used by permission from UserFriendly.Org. All Rights Reserved. Recognizing the importance of preserving what has been written, it is Manning’s policy to have the books we publish printed on acid-free paper, and we exert our best efforts to that end. Recognizing also our responsibility to conserve the resources of our planet, Manning books are printed on paper that is at least 15 percent recycled and processed without elemental chlorine. Manning Publications Co. Developmenteditor: Cynthia Kane 20 Baldwin Road Copyeditor: Tiffany Taylor PO Box 261 Technical proofreader: Adam London Shelter Island, NY 11964 Typesetter: Marija Tudor Cover designer: Marija Tudor ISBN: 9781935182894 Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 – MAL – 17 16 15 14 13 12 www.it-ebooks.info
- 10. v brief contents PART 1 LEARNING HTML5 1 1 Introducing HTML5 markup 3 2 HTML5 forms 38 3 Dynamic graphics 73 4 Audio and video 119 5 Browser-based APIs 153 6 Network and location APIs 191 PART 2 LEARNING CSS3 231 7 New CSS language features 233 8 Layout with CSS3 271 9 Motion and color 313 10 Borders and backgrounds with CSS3 351 11 Text and fonts 392 www.it-ebooks.info
- 12. vii contents preface xv acknowledgments xvii about this book xix PART 1 LEARNING HTML5 1 1 Introducing HTML5 markup 3 Why do we need new elements? 4 New elements for page structure 7 Sectioning content 7 ❍ Headings, headers, and the outlining algorithm 9 ❍ Common page elements 15 The HTML DOCTYPE 17 New elements for content 18 Time 18 ❍ Images and diagrams with <figure> and <figcaption> 21 ❍ Emphasizing words and phrases 22 HTML5’s new global attributes 23 Accessibility with ARIA 24 ❍ Extending HTML with custom attributes 26 ❍ Expressing more than just document semantics with microdata 28 The HTML5 content model 29 Browser support 32 Supporting Internet Explorer 35 ❍ Enabling HTML5 support in Internet Explorer with html5.js 36 Summary 36 www.it-ebooks.info
- 13. viii contents 2 HTML5 forms 38 The limitations of HTML4 forms 39 Numbers, ranges, dates, and times 42 Validation 46 The required attribute 47 ❍ The min, max, and pattern attributes 47 ❍ Taking advantage of validation with CSS 49 ❍ Turning off validation 50 Email and URLs 51 Email addresses 51 ❍ Web addresses 53 Elements for user feedback 53 The <output> element 53 ❍ The <progress> element 55 The <meter> element 56 Less-common form controls 57 Telephone numbers 57 ❍ Color pickers 58 <keygen> 59 New attributes for the <input> element 59 Placeholder text 59 ❍ Form autofocus 61 ❍ Protecting private information with the autocomplete attribute 61 Extending forms with JavaScript 62 Customizing the validation messages 62 ❍ Triggering validation with JavaScript 64 ❍ Responding to any changes in value 64 ❍ Creating combo boxes with <datalist> 65 ❍ Easy ways to work with form values in JavaScript 67 Browser support and detecting HTML5 features 68 Browser inconsistencies 69 ❍ Detecting supported features 69 ❍ The html5-now library 71 Summary 72 3 Dynamic graphics 73 Getting started with <canvas>: shapes, images, and text 74 Drawing shapes 76 ❍ Placing images 82 ❍ Drawing text 84 Advanced <canvas>: gradients, shadows, and animation 87 Creating gradients 88 ❍ Drawing drop shadows 91 Transformations 92 ❍ Animation 94 www.it-ebooks.info
- 14. contents ix Getting started with SVG 96 Applying styles to SVG 98 ❍ Drawing common shapes 99 Images, text, and embedded content 101 ❍ Transforms, gradients, patterns, and declarative animation 105 SVG vs. <canvas> 112 Browser support 114 Supporting <canvas> in older versions of IE with explorercanvas 114 ❍ SVG in XML vs. SVG in HTML 115 Embedding SVG as an image 115 ❍ Referencing an SVG image from CSS 116 ❍ Embedding SVG as an object 116 SVG support in older browsers with SVG Web and Raphaël 116 Summary 118 4 Audio and video 119 Audio and video on the modern web 119 The <audio> element 123 Common attributes: controls, autoplay, loop, and preload 124 Codecs and license issues 129 ❍ Using multiple sources 133 The <video> element 134 <video> element attributes 135 ❍ Containers, codecs, and license issues 138 ❍ Easy encoding with Miro Video Converter 139 ❍ Advanced encoding with FFmpeg 140 Using multiple sources 142 Controlling audio and video with JavaScript 144 Integrating media with other content 146 Browser support 150 Web server configuration for audio and video 151 Supporting legacy browsers with Flash video 152 Summary 152 5 Browser-based APIs 153 Rich-text editing with the contenteditable attribute 154 Basic text editing 155 ❍ The spellcheck attribute 157 Applying formatting to the editable text 160 Natural user interaction with drag-and-drop 164 Basic drag-and-drop 167 ❍ Drag-and-drop in all browsers 169 www.it-ebooks.info
- 15. x contents Managing the Back button with the history API 173 Updating page state 175 ❍ Using location.hash 176 Example: Implementing an undo feature 177 Getting semantic with the microdata API 179 Using a single microdata format 180 ❍ Using multiple microdata formats 183 Lag-free interfaces with web workers 185 Browser support 189 Summary 189 6 Network and location APIs 191 Finding yourself with the Geolocation API 192 Finding your location 193 ❍ Finding your location more accurately 194 ❍ Finding your location continuously 195 Practical uses for geolocation 196 Communication in HTML5 200 Enabling more secure integration with cross-document messaging 201 ❍ Real-time communication with the WebSocket API 205 Offline web applications 208 Setting up a development environment 209 The application cache 211 ❍ Managing network connectivity in offline apps 215 Storing data for offline use 222 Local storage 223 ❍ Session storage 227 ❍ Putting it all together 228 Browser support 229 Summary 229 PART 2 LEARNING CSS3 231 7 New CSS language features 233 Choosing elements through their relationships 234 Selecting sets of elements with combinators 235 Selecting among a set of elements with pseudo-classes 240 www.it-ebooks.info
- 16. contents xi Choosing elements by their attributes 251 Choosing what isn’t 255 ❍ Pseudo-elements 257 Choosing elements based on user interaction 261 Styling form elements based on state 262 ❍ Styling the page based on the target of the URL 265 Browser support 267 Using jQuery to support older browsers 269 Summary 270 8 Layout with CSS3 271 Underused CSS2 layout features 272 Placing elements on a line with inline-block 272 ❍ Grouping element dimensions with display: table 275 CSS3 improvements to CSS2 approaches 279 Mixing different length units with calc 279 ❍ Controlling the box model 284 Using media queries for flexible layout 285 Resolution detection 287 ❍ Changing layout based on orientation and aspect ratio 291 ❍ Additional device-detection features 292 The future of CSS layout 293 Using flexible boxes for nested layout 294 ❍ Using the CSS3 Grid Alignment module 298 ❍ Controlling content flow with CSS3 Regions 303 ❍ Making complex shapes with CSS3 Exclusions and Shapes 305 Browser support 308 inline-block in IE6 and IE7 309 ❍ calc in Chrome and Firefox 310 ❍ box-sizing in Firefox and Safari 5 310 Flexboxes in Chrome, Firefox, IE, and Safari 310 Media queries and old browsers 311 ❍ Regions and exclusions 311 Summary 311 9 Motion and color 313 Colors and opacity 314 Opacity 314 ❍ RGBA 318 ❍ HSL and HSLA 320 www.it-ebooks.info
- 17. xii contents CSS transforms 323 2D transforms 324 ❍ 3D transforms 328 CSS transitions 330 Transition timing functions 334 ❍ Transition property 337 ❍ Transition delay 338 ❍ Triggering transitions with JavaScript 339 CSS Animation 343 Browser support 346 Opacity in IE8 and earlier 346 ❍ Transforms, transitions, and animations in current browsers 346 ❍ Using modernizr.js and jQuery for animation in older browsers 349 Summary 350 10 Borders and backgrounds with CSS3 351 Drop shadows with CSS3 352 Box shadows 352 ❍ Text shadows 356 Easy rounded corners 358 New features for background images 361 Background size 361 ❍ Multiple backgrounds 365 Background origin and clipping 369 Selective background scaling with border images 371 Basic border-image 372 ❍ Stretching and repeating border-image sections 374 ❍ Using border-image to create common effects 377 Creating gradients with CSS 378 Browser support 384 Cross-browser drop shadows 385 ❍ Cross-browser CSS3 gradients 386 ❍ Cross-browser backgrounds and border-image 387 ❍ Supporting old versions of Internet Explorer 388 ❍ CSS3 PIE for easy IE support 390 Summary 391 11 Text and fonts 392 Basic web fonts 393 Gaining control of fonts with the @font-face rule 394 Font formats: EOT, TTF/OTF, and WOFF 398 Browser support for downloadable fonts 399 www.it-ebooks.info
- 18. contents xiii Making your life easier with font services 400 Downloadable kits: FontSquirrel 400 ❍ Free font services: Google Web Fonts 403 ❍ Subscription font services: Fontdeck 405 Advanced web typography 407 font-size-adjust 407 ❍ Advanced font control 409 Text columns 416 Column count and width 416 ❍ Column spans 418 Gaps and rules 419 Wrapping and overflow 420 Word wrap 420 ❍ Text overflow 422 Browser support 423 Summary 423 Appendix A A history of web standards 425 Appendix B HTML basics 441 Appendix C CSS basics 467 Appendix D JavaScript 491 Index 523 www.it-ebooks.info
- 20. xv preface I first saw the web in my final year of university in 1993-94. All the cool kids (bear in mind, this was a Computer Science department) were play- ing with a strange bit of software called Mosaic on their Sun 4 work- stations. I had some fun with it and created my first web page (a guide to Edinburgh pubs), but it didn’t strike me as anything more than a curios- ity and it certainly didn’t measure up to “proper” document preparation formats like LaTeX. It’s not the first time I’ve been completely wrong about technology—and it won’t be the last! I went back to experimenting with websites in 1997, a full-on blinking, scrolling plethora of tacky animated gifs which is thankfully long lost. As I learned more about the web I stopped seeing it as a poor-quality type- setting system and started seeing it as a great equalizer. Not only was visiting a web page something anyone could do, making a web page was also something anyone could do. Since then I’ve been on a mission, not only to learn as much as I can about making web pages, but to help others learn how to make them, and this book is a natural extension of that mission. HTML5 and CSS3 are fascinating to me not only because of their techni- cal features, but because they represent growth in the web platform after several years of stagnation. The more the web can do, the more content can be shared across the world by ordinary people like you and me. www.it-ebooks.info
- 22. xvii I’d like to thank my Mum for inspiring my lifelong love of books, my Dad for inspiring my lifelong love of computers, and my brother for under- writing my move to London and giving me a chance to get a full-time web development job. Also sincere thanks to the rest of my family for being there for me over the years. A big thank you to Boyd Gilchrist who, while we were both at university, patiently answered such questions as “What’s this web browser thing, then?” and “HTML, what the fudge is that?” among many others I couldn’t be bothered to research on my own in the pre-Google era. Also, thanks to my other friends at university, especially Graham Barr who not only put up with living with me for several years but also managed to keep in touch long enough to read drafts of several chapters in this book. I’d like to thank everyone at Net Resources, especially my tutor John Ayscough; Richard O’Connor for giving me the subsequent placement which was my first commercial web development experience; and Esther Kuperij for talking him into it. My adventures in web standards have been greatly aided by the vibrant London web developer community, particu- larly the London Web Standards and London Web Meetup groups. Troy Mott at Manning is the person who originally got me involved with this book project, though at times I’m not sure whether to blame him or thank him for that! But Troy and all the other people I’ve worked with at Manning have been massively supportive throughout the writing and production processes. I’d especially like to thank Katharine Osborne, Candace Gillhoolley, Cynthia Kane, Bert Bates, Katie Tennant, Tiffany acknowledgments www.it-ebooks.info
- 23. xviii acknowledgments Taylor, Martin Murtonen, Janet Vail, Mary Piergies, and of course Marjan Bace, for making this book what it is. Many people reviewed the manuscript at various stages of its develop- ment, and I would like to thank all the MEAP readers who provided comments in the forum as well as the following peer reviewers for their invaluable feedback: ‘Anil’ Radhakrishna, Braj Panda, Brian R. Bondy, Curtis Miller, Dave Nicolette, Dave Pawson, David McWhirter, Diane C. Leeper, Edward Welker, Eric Pascarello, Gary Rasmussen, Greg Donald, Greg Vaughn, James Hatheway, Jason Jung, Jason Kaczor, John Griffin, Keith Kim, Kieran Mathieson, Lester Lobo, Lisa Morgan, Mike Greenhalgh, Nikolaos Kaintantzis, Rudy Pena, Sarah Forst, Stu- art Caborn, Tijs Rademakers, and Yvonne Adams. Special thanks to Adam London for his careful technical review of the final manuscript and for testing the code. Finally, I’d like to acknowledge J. D. “Illiad” Fraser of User Friendly for letting Manning use the User Friendly cartoon characters in the Hello! series and for allowing me to put my own words in the characters’ mouths. www.it-ebooks.info
- 24. xix You should read this book if you’re interested in learning about the new features in HTML5 and CSS3 available to web developers and enjoy an example-driven, visual approach to learning. Readers in any of the fol- lowing categories should find this book useful: ❂ Experienced web developers ❂ Novice web developers ❂ App developers (iPhone, Android, Windows 8 Metro) ❂ Interactive media designers ❂ Web designers Different readers will find different parts of the book interesting. Please see the later section “Book structure and suggested reading order” for further guidelines on how to navigate the book. Extra content for beginners This book focuses on the new features of HTML5 and CSS3; as such it expects the reader to have a little experience with their predecessors. But we will take things slowly, especially in the early chapters, and each feature discussed will come with example code you can try yourself. If you know what tags are and what a CSS rule looks like, then you should have few problems. If you’re new to web development, then you’ll benefit from the short introduction to HTML and CSS in appendixes B and C. To use many of the new features in HTML5, it is helpful to have some knowledge of JavaScript. If you are a complete beginner, then you will about this book www.it-ebooks.info
- 25. xx about this book still find this book useful as it mostly uses small examples which are easy to experiment with. Appendix D is provided to get you started in JavaScript. Book structure and suggested reading order This book is split into two sections: part 1 concentrates on HTML5 and part 2 on CSS3. The HTML5 section has chapters on the new markup features of HTML5, forms and form validation, HTML5’s new dynamic graphics capabilities, using video and audio, new JavaScript APIs for client-side development, and new APIs related to networking. As a rough guideline, the early chapters require little-to-no knowledge of JavaScript, with each successive chapter building your knowledge base. The second section starts with a couple of chapters on the nuts and bolts of CSS3 and selectors, followed by chapters on layout, motion and color, borders and backgrounds, and fonts and text formatting. Most of the chapters are self-contained, although there are a few dependencies. The following chapter diagrams show a few suggested reading orders, based on your role and what you expect to get out of the book. Each diagram consists of chapter numbers in boxes as well as the recommended and optional steps, which are indi- cated by two types of arrows as shown in the key above. If you are a ... Read chapters in this order WEB DEVELOPER If you’re a web developer looking to get up to speed, then you should have no problem reading the chap- ters in numerical order. The CSS used in chapters 2 through 6 should be easy for you to follow. If you’re interested in the history of HTML and the standards process, then you can read appendix A before you dive in. It’s likely that appendixes B through D are not going to tell you anything you don’t already know, so there’s no need to bother with them. start here 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 A 10 www.it-ebooks.info
- 26. about this book xxi NOVICE WEB DEVELOPER If you’re a novice web developer, then a slightly dif- ferent approach is recommended. Again, read appendix A only if you’re interested in history, but do read appendixes B, C, and D if you have little-to-no experience with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Read appendix C and chapter 7 right after chapter 1 to build your familiarity with CSS so that the limited amount of CSS used in chapters 2 through 6 doesn’t hold you back. APP DEVELOPER If your goal is to be an app developer, either target- ing mobile devices or Windows 8 Metro style apps, then the key chapters for you are 1 through 6 which concentrate on the markup and programming platform provided by HTML5. Include appendixes B and D plus chapter 7 if you’re coming to HTML5 from another platform. Chapter 8 discusses CSS layout, which will be useful for apps. This diagram assumes a graphic designer will handle the detailed design work, so chapters 9 through 11 are not shown. INTERACTIVE MEDIA DESIGNER If you’re an interactive media designer who is a heavy user of Flash for media, animation, or interactive content, then you can safely skip chapters 2, 5, and 6. Chapter 3 deals with dynamic graphics and 4 with audio and video, and chapters 9 and 10 deal with the more visual-impact aspects of CSS3. Chapter 8 on layout will be of less interest to you, but chapter 11 covers using custom fonts, so you may want to read that section. WEB DESIGNER If you’re a pure web designer with no interest in JavaScript, then you can read the book while avoiding most of the code. Any snippets of JavaScript you’ll come across in chapters 1 and 7 through 11 can be ignored unless you want to try replicating CSS3 effects in JavaScript for backwards compatibility. If you are a ... Read chapters in this order start here 1 A B C d 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 10 start here 1 A B C d 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 start here A B C d 1 3 4 7 11 9 10 start here A B C 1 7 8 11 9 10 www.it-ebooks.info
- 27. xxii about this book Characters and conventions This book uses many graphic elements and typographical conventions to guide you and help you learn about HTML5 and CSS3. This section summarizes what you can expect to see. CHARACTERS You’ll be helped along by the characters from the popular User Friendly cartoons. In case you’re not familiar with this web comic, let me intro- duce each of the characters and explain their roles in this book. A.J. is the Columbia Internet Web Developer. He loves com- puter games, nifty art, and has a big-brother relationship with the Dust Puppy. He’ll be your main guide through HTML5 and CSS3, pointing out gotchas and giving you extra tips. The Dust Puppy was born inside of a network server, a result of the combination of dust, lint, and quantum events. He is wide-eyed and innocent, with no real grasp of reality, but he’s pretty cute and people love him. In this book, Dust Puppy’s main role will be to help you move from one topic to the next, summarizing what you’ve just learned and letting you know what’s coming next. Erwin is a highly advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) that resides somewhere on the network. He was created overnight by the Dust Puppy, who was feeling kind of bored. Erwin will help out whenever something needs looking up on the internet or when you need to think like a computer. Miranda is a trained Systems Technologist and an experienced UNIX sysadmin. A.J. is her boyfriend and she’ll be helping him out throughout the book. www.it-ebooks.info
- 28. about this book xxiii Greg is in charge of Technical Support at the company. He has broad technical knowledge but no expertise in web develop- ment. A.J. is helping him learn about web development, and he’ll ask questions when A.J. isn’t being clear. Stef works as the Corporate Sales Manager. He can’t under- stand the way techies think, so he doesn’t get very far with them. Although he admires the power of Microsoft’s marketing muscle, he has a problem with Microsoft salesmen, probably because they make much more money than he does. Mike works as a System Administrator, and is responsible for the smooth running of the network at the office. He will help us out whenever we need to understand some details of server-side setup. Sid is a self-described “lichen of the tech-forest floor,” a long- lived, deeply experienced and acerbic observer of the geek gestalt. His history in computing involved vacuum tubes and, later, punch cards. He carries with him an air of compassion mixed with disdain for the younger geeks around him. Pitr works with Mike as a System Administrator. For some rea- son he always wears dark glasses and has adopted a guttural Eastern European accent. Pitr will take some time out from his plans for world domination to keep A.J. in his place and to demonstrate that attention to minor technical details that makes geeks so well loved. Crud Puppy is Dust Puppy’s evil twin and nemesis, born from the crud in Stef’s keyboard. Whenever we need an antagonist, Crud Puppy will be happy to oblige. www.it-ebooks.info
- 29. xxiv about this book CARTOONS & DIAGRAMS There are many cartoons and diagrams in this book. The cartoons are based on the actual User Friendly comic strips. Their intent is humorous rather than educational as they poke fun at various aspects of web development. A sample cartoon is shown below. Diagrams are part of the text; they present information that’s easier to understand in pictorial form. An example diagram follows. CODE LISTINGS & SNIPPETS Code listings and snippets and any occurrence of code in the text will appear in the LucidaMonoEF font. Here is a typical code snippet: <body> <p>HTML5 and CSS3</p> </body> KEY FEATURES WILL BE HIGHLIGHTED LIKE THIS. DIAGRAMS WILL OFTEN BE DISCUSSED BY CHARACTERS. LIKE THIS. www.it-ebooks.info
- 30. Another Random Document on Scribd Without Any Related Topics
- 31. "My granddaughter met Gizl, you'll recall," Doc Bendy said. "Either this one or one like him. We don't know yet whether Gizl is a personal name or a generic one." "Let's find out," Don said. He sat down at the table and began to form squares into a question. "Wait a minute." Doc Bendy broke up Don's sequence. "The amenities first. Spell out 'Greetings,' or some such things. Manners, boy." "Sorry." Don started over. He spelled Greetings, then Alis Garet, then Don Cort, and pointed from the squares to Alis and himself. "I assume you've already introduced yourself?" he asked Bendy. Bendy nodded and the kangaroo-like creature inclined his furry head in acknowledgment to Alis and Don. Then he—Don had already stopped thinking of the creature as an "it"—formed two words with his tapering, black-nailed fingers. Pleasant, he communicated. "Gizl." And he tapped his chest. Don turned to Bendy. "Now can I ask him?" "With His Majesty's permission," Bendy said solemnly. Hector nodded. Don left the three names intact, distributing the rest, then put three squares together to spell Man. He pointed to the word and then to Civek, Bendy, Alis and himself, excluding the creature. "Well, I like that!" Alis said. "Do I look like a man?" "Let's keep it simple, woman," Don said. The creature nodded and pointed again to Gizl, then to himself, "He doesn't understand," Don said. "It's quite possible his people don't have individual names," Bendy said. "Let's call him Gizl for now and go on."
- 32. "Okay." Don thought for a moment, then formed a question. "Might as well get basic," he said. Q. Are you from earth. A. No. At the risk of irritating the others, Don repeated the questions and answers aloud for the benefit of his eavesdropper in the Pentagon. Q. Are you from solar system A. Not yours Q. When did you reach earth A. 1948 your calendar Q. Why A. Friendship Q. Why has no one seen you sooner A. Fear Q. You mean you frightened our people A. No I mean fear of your people Q. Why A. Gizl resemble earth animals Q. Was superior the first place you landed A. No Q. Where was it A. Australia
- 33. "The home of the kangaroo," Doc Bendy said. "No wonder they had a bad time. I can imagine some stockman in the outback taking umbrage at a kangaroo asserting its equality. Let me talk to him a while, Don." Q. How many are there of you A. Many Q. How many A. No specific comment Q. Are you responsible for raising superior A. Entirely Q. How A. Impossible to explain with these Q. Where is superior going A. East for now Q. And later A. No specific comment Q. 3000 lives are in your hands A. Gizls have no malevolent designs Q. Thanks. You said friendship brought you. What else. A. Trade. Cultural exchange Q. What have you to trade A. Will discuss this later with duly constituted authority Q. Who. King Hector
- 34. A. Terminating interview with good will assurances "Wait," Alis said. "I haven't had a chance to talk to him." She formed letters into words. "I don't think he's being very frank with us but I have a few random questions." Q. How many sexes have Gizls A. Three Q. Male female and A. Neuter Q. Are there babies among you A. Babies are neuter and develop according to need Q. Confidentially what do you think of fathers science A. Unfathomable our meager knowledge Q. Flatterer A. Ending conversation with pleasant regard Q. Likewise Gizl slid back his chair and got up. King Hector stood and bowed as Gizl, who had nodded politely to each in turn, walked manlike, without hopping, to a corner of the room which then sank out of sight. "He's quite a guy, that Gizl," Hector said, taking off his crown and putting it on the table. "Makes me sweat," he said, wiping his forehead. "Are you the duly constituted authority?" Bendy asked him. "Who else? Somebody's got to be in charge till we get Superior back to Earth."
- 35. "Sure," Bendy said, "but you don't have to rig yourself up in ermine. I also have a sneaking suspicion that you aren't exactly anxious to get Superior down in a hurry." "I'll overlook that remark for old time's sake. But I defend the kingship. A show of force was necessary to prevent crime from running rampant." "Maybe," Bendy said. "Anyhow I appreciate your frankness in introducing us to Gizl and what he modestly describes as his meager knowledge. Since you've already admitted that he's the one who provided the big feed, will you ease Alis's mind now and assure her that what she was eating wasn't Negusburger?" "Negusburger?" The king laughed. "Is that what you thought, Alis?" "Not really," she said. "But I couldn't help wondering where all the food came from all of a sudden." "Over here." The king led them to the corner where Gizl had sunk from sight. The top of the elevator, now level with the floor, blended exactly with the linoleum tile. "I don't know how it works, but Gizl and his people have their headquarters down there somewhere. All I have to do is place the order and up comes food or whatever I need. Would you like to try it?" "Love to," Bendy said. "What shall I ask for?" "Anything." "Anything?" "Anything at all." "Well." Bendy looked impressed. "This will take a moment of thought. How about a gallon—no, as long as I'm asking I might as well ask for a keg—of rum, 151 proof." Up it came, complete with spigot and tankard.
- 36. "Fabulous!" Bendy said. He rolled it out of the elevator and the elevator went down again. "Let me try!" Alis said. "If Doc can get a keg, I ought to be able to have—oh, say a pint of Channel No. 5. Would that be too extravagant?" "A simple variation in formula, I should think," the king said. What came up for Alis didn't look in the least like an expensive Paris perfume. In fact, it looked like a lard pail with a quantity of liquid sloshing lazily in it. But its aroma belied its looks. "Oh, heaven!" Alis said. "Smell it!" She lifted it by its handle, stuck a finger in it and rubbed behind each ear. "It's a bit overpowering by the pint," Bendy said. He'd drained off part of a tankard of rum and looked quite at peace with the world. "You'd better get yourself a chaperone, Alis, if you're going to carry that around with you." "I'll admit they're not very good in the packaging department, but that's just a quibble. Could I have—how many ounces in a pint?— sixteen one-ounce stoppered bottles? And a little funnel?" "Easiest thing in the world," the king said. "Don? Anything you'd like at the same time? Save it a trip." "I've got an idea, Your Majesty, but I don't know whether you'd approve. Even though I work in a bank, I've never seen a ten thousand dollar bill. Do you think they could whip one up?" "I really don't know," Hector said. "It could upset the economy if we let the money get out of hand. But we can always send it right back. Let's see what happens." The elevator came up with the bottles, the funnel and a green and gold bill.
- 37. It was, on the face of it, a ten thousand dollar bill. But the portrait was that of Hector Civek, crowned and ermined. And the legend on it was: "Payable to Bearer on Demand, Ten Thousand Dollars. This Note is Legal Tender for all Debts, Public and Private, and is Redeemable in Lawful Money at the Treasury of the Kingdom of Superior. (Signed) Gizl, Secretary of the Treasury."
- 38. X Don didn't know what he might learn by skulking around the freezing grounds of Hector's palace in the faint moonlight. He hoped for a glimpse of the kangaroo-Gizl to see if he were as sincere off- guard as he had been during their interview. But his peering into basement windows had revealed nothing, and he was about to head back to the campus for a night's sleep when someone called his name. It was a girl's voice, from above. He looked up. Red-headed Geneva Jervis was leaning out of one of the second-story windows. "Well, hello," he said. "What are you doing up there?" "I've sworn fealty," she said. "Come on up." "What?" he said. "How?" She disappeared from his sight, then reappeared. "Here." She dropped a rope ladder. Don climbed it, feeling Like Romeo. "Where'd you get this?" "They've got them in all the rooms. Fire escapes. Old McFerson was a precautious man, evidently." She pulled the rope back in. Jen Jervis had a spacious bedroom. She wore a dressing gown. "What do you mean, you swore fealty?" Don asked. "To Hector?" "Sure. What better way to find out what he's up to? Besides, I was getting fed up with that dormitory at Cavalier. No privacy. House mothers creeping around all the time. Want a drink?"
- 39. Don saw that she had a half-full glass on the dresser. Next to the glass stood a bottle of bourbon with quite a bit gone from it. "Why not?" he said. "Let's drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may freeze to death." "Or be shot down by Reds." She poured him a stiff one. "Here's to happy endings." He sipped his drink and she swallowed half of hers. "I didn't picture you as the drinking type, Jen." "Revise the picture. Come sit down." She backed to the big double bed and relaxed into it, lying on one elbow. Don sat next to her, but upright. "Tell me about this fealty deal. What did you have to do?" "Oh, renounce my American citizenship and swear to protect Superior against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The usual thing." "Have you got a title yet? Are you Dame Jervis?" "Not yet." She smiled. "I think I'm on probation. They know I'm close to Bobby and they'd like to have him on their side, for all their avowed independence. They're not so terribly convinced that Superior's going to stay up forever. They're hedging their bets, it looks to me." "It looks to me that maybe Bobby Thebold might not understand. He's the kind of man who demands absolute fealty, from what I've seen of him." "Oh, to hell with Bobby Thebold." Jen took another swallow. "He's not here. He's had plenty of time to come, if he was going to, and he hasn't. To hell with him. Let me get you another drink." "No, thanks. This will do me fine." He drank it and set the empty glass on the floor. Jen drank off the last of hers and put her glass
- 40. next to his. "Relax," she said. "I'm not going to bite you." She lay back and her dressing gown opened in a V as far as the belt. She obviously wasn't wearing anything under the gown. Don looked away self-consciously. Jen laughed. "What's the matter, boy? No red blood?" She rolled herself off the end of the bed and went to the dresser. "Another drink?" "Don't you think you've had enough?" She shook her red hair violently. "Drinking is as drinking does. Trouble is, nobody's doing anything." "Exactly. Everybody's acting as if Superior's one big pleasure dome. Civek's on the throne and all's well with his little world. Even you've joined the parade. Why? I don't buy that double-agent explanation." She was looking in the bureau mirror at the reflection of the top of her head, peering up from under her eyebrows. "I'm going to have to touch up the tresses pretty soon or I won't be a redhead any more." She looked at his reflection. "You don't like me, do you, Donny-boy?" "I never said that." "You don't have to say it. But I don't blame you. I don't like myself sometimes. I'm a cold fish. A cold, dedicated fish. Or I was. I've decided to change my ways." "I can see that." "Can you?" She turned around and leaned against the bureau, holding her glass. "How do you see me now?" "As an attractive woman with a glass in her hand. I wonder which is doing the talking."
- 41. "Rhetorical questions at this time of night, Donny? I think it's me talking, not the whisky. We'll know better in the sober light of morning, won't we?" "If that's an invitation," Don began, "I'm afraid—" Her eyes blazed at him. "I think you're the rudest man I ever met. And the most boorish." She tossed off the rest of her drink, then began to cry. "Now, Jen—" He went to her and patted her shoulder awkwardly. "Oh, Don." She put her head against his chest and wept. His arms automatically went around her, comfortingly. Then he realized that Jen's muffled sobs were going direct to the Pentagon through his transceiver. That piece of electronics equipment taped to his skin, he told himself, was the least of the reasons why he could not have accepted Jen's invitation—if it had been an invitation. He lifted her chin from his chest to spare the man in the Pentagon any further sobs, which must have been reaching him in crescendo. Jen's face was tear-stained. She looked into his eyes for a second, then fastened her mouth firmly on his. There was nothing a gentleman could do, Don thought, except return the kiss. Rude, was he? Jen broke away first. "What's that?" she said. Don opened his eyes and his glance went automatically to the door. It would not have surprised him to see King Hector coming through it in his royal night clothes. But Jen was staring out the window. He turned. The sky was bright as day over in the direction of the golf course. Don made out a pinpoint of brighter light. "It's a star shell," he said. "A flare."
- 42. They went to the window and leaned out, looking past a corner of the bubble gum factory. "What's it for?" Jen asked. Don pointed. "There. That's what for." "A blimp!" she said. "It's landing!" "Is it an Air Force job? I can't make out the markings." "I think I can," Jen said. "They're—PP." "Private Pilots! Senator Bobby the Bold!" Jen Jervis clutched his arm. "S.O.B.!" she whispered fiercely. Don Cort was down the rope fire escape and away from the mansion before it woke up to the invasion. As he crossed the railroad spur he had a glimpse of Jen Jervis hauling up the rope and of lights going on elsewhere in the building. There was a lot of whistle-blowing and shouting and a lone shot which didn't seem to be aimed at him. Don waited at the spur, behind a boxcar, to see how the Hectorites would react to the landing of the blimp, A few men gathered at the front gate and looked nervously into the sky and toward the golf course. Others joined them, armed with shotguns, pistols, and a rifle or two, but not with King Hector's paralysis gadget. It was clear that Hector had no intention of starting a battle. His men apparently were under orders only to guard the mansion and the bubble gum factory. No one even went to see what the blimp was up to. Don found as he neared the golf course that the people from the blimp apparently had no immediate plan to attack, either. He found a sand trap to lie down in. From it he could watch without being seen.
- 43. The star shell had died out but he could see the blimp silhouetted against the sky. Men in battle dress were establishing a perimeter around the clubhouse. Each carried a weapon of some kind. It was all very dim. Don remembered his communicator. "Cort here," he said softly. "Do you read me?" "Affirmative," a voice said. Don didn't recognize it. He described the landing and asked, "Is this an authorized landing or is it Senator Thebold's private party?" "Negative," said the voice from the Pentagon, irritatingly GI. "Negative what?" Don said. "You mean Thebold is leading it?" "Affirmative," said the voice. "What's he up to?" Don asked. "Negative," the voice said. Don blew up. "If you mean you don't know, why the hell don't you say so? Who is this, anyhow?" "This happens to be Major Johns, the O.O.D., Sergeant, and if you know what's good for you—" Don stopped listening because a man in battle dress, apparently attracted by his voice, was standing on the green, looking down into the bunker where Don lay, pointing a carbine at him. "I'll have to hang up now, Major," Don said quietly. "Something negative has just happened to me. I've been captured." The man with the carbine shouted down to Don, "Okay, come out with your hands over your head." Don did so. He hoped he was doing it affirmatively enough. He had no wish to be shot by one of the Senator's men, regardless of
- 44. whether that man was authorized or unauthorized. Senator Thebold sat at a desk in the manager's office of the Raleigh Country Club. He wore a leather trench coat and a fur hat. Wing commander's insignia glittered on his shoulders and a cartridge belt was buckled around his waist. A holster hung from it but Thebold had the heavy .45 on the desk in front of it. He motioned to Don to sit down. Two guards stood at the door. "Name?" Thebold snapped. Don decided to use his own name but pretend to be a local yokel. "Donald Cort." "What were you doing out there?" "I saw the lights." "Who were you talking to in the sand trap?" "Nobody. I sometimes talk to myself." "Oh, you do. Do you ever talk to yourself about a man named Osbert Garet or Hector Civek?" Thebold looked at a big map of Superior that had been pinned to the wall, thus giving Don the benefit of his strong profile. "Hector's the king now," Don said. "Things got pretty bad before that but we got enough to eat now." "Where did the food come from?" Don shrugged. Thebold drummed his fingers on the desk. "You're not exactly a fount of information, are you? What do you do for a living?"
- 45. "I used to work in the gum factory but I got laid off." "Do you know Geneva Jervis?" "Who's he?" Don said innocently. Thebold stood up in irritation. "Take this man to O. & I.," he said to one of the guards. "We've got to make a start some place. Are there any others?" "Four or five," the guard said. "Send me the brightest-looking one. Give this one and the rest a meal and a lecture and turn them loose. It doesn't look as if Civek is going to give us any trouble right away and there isn't too much we can do before daylight." The guard led Don out of the room and pinned a button on his lapel. It said: Bobby the Bold in Peace and War. "What's O. & I.?" Don asked him. "Orientation and Integration. Nobody's going to hurt you. We're here to end partition, that's all." "End partition?" "Like in Ireland. Keep Superior in the U. S. A. They'll tell you all about it at O. & I. Then you tell your friends. Want some more buttons?" Don was fed, lectured, and released, as promised. Early the next morning, after a cup of coffee with Alis Garet at Cavalier's cafeteria, he started back for the golf course. Alis, in a class-cutting mood, went with him.
- 46. The glimpses of the Thebold Plan which Don had had from O. & I. were being put into practice. Reilly Street, which provided a boundary line between Raleigh Country Club and the gum-factory property, had been transformed into a midway. The Thebold forces had strung bunting and set up booths along the south side of the street. Hector's men, apparently relieved to find that the battle was to be psychological rather than physical, rushed to prepare rival attractions on their side. A growing crowd thronged the center of Reilly Street. Some wore Thebold buttons. Some wore other buttons, twice as big, with a smiling picture of Hector I on them. Some wore both. The sun was bright but the air was bitingly cold. As a result one of the most popular booths was on Hector's side of the street where Cheeky McFerson was giving away an apparently inexhaustible supply of hand-warmers. Cheeky urged everybody to take two, one for each pocket, and threw in handfuls of bubble gum. Two of Hector's men set up ladders and strung a banner across two store-fronts. It said in foot-high letters: Kingdom of Superior, Land of Plenty. A group of Thebold troubleshooters watched, then rushed away and reappeared with brushes and paint. They transformed an advertising sign to read, in letters two feet high: Superior, U.S.A., Home of the Free. Hawkers on opposite sides of the midway vied to give away hot dogs, boiled ears of corn, steaming coffee, hot chocolate, candy bars, and popcorn. "There's a smart one." Alis pointed to a sign in Thebold territory. The Gripe Room it said over a vacant store. The Senator's men had set up desks and chairs inside and long lines had already formed. Apparently a powerful complaint had been among the first to be registered because a Thebold man was galvanized into action. He
- 47. ran out of the store and within minutes the sign painters were at work again. Their new banner, hoisted to dry in the sun, proclaimed: Blimp Mail. Underneath, in smaller letters, it said: How long since you've heard from your loved ones on Earth? The Thebold Blimp will carry your letters and small packages. Direct daily connections with U. S. Mail. "You have to admire them," Alis said. "They're really organized." "One's as bad as the other," Don said. Impartially, he was eating a Hector hot dog and drinking Thebold coffee. "Have you noticed the guns in the upstairs windows?" "No. You mean on the Senator's side?" "Both sides. Don't stare." "I see them now. Do you see any Gizl-sticks? The thing Hector used on Negus?" "No. Just conventional old rifles and shotguns. Let's hope nobody starts anything." "Look," Alis said, grabbing Don by the arm. "Isn't that Ed Clark going into the Gripe Room?" "It sure is. Gathering material for another powerful editorial, I guess." But within minutes Clark's visit had provoked another bustle of activity. Two of Thebold's men dashed out of the renovated store and off toward the country club. They came back with the Senator himself, making his first public appearance. Thebold strode down the center of the midway, wearing his soft aviator's helmet with the goggles pushed up on his forehead and his silk scarf fluttering behind him. A group of small boys followed him, imitating his self-confident walk and scrambling occasionally for the
- 48. Thebold buttons he threw to them. The Senator went into the Gripe Room. "Looks as if Ed has wangled an interview with the great man himself," Alis said. "You didn't say anything to Clark about our talk with the Gizl, did you?" "I did mention it to him," Alis said. "Was that bad?" "Half an hour ago I would have said no. Now I'm not so sure." A speaker's platform had been erected on the Senator's side of Reilly Street, and now canned but stirring band music was blaring out of a loudspeaker. Thebold came out of the Gripe Room and mounted the platform. A fair-sized crowd was waiting to hear him. Thebold raised his arms as if he were stilling a tumult. The music died away and Thebold spoke. "My good friends and fellow Americans," the Senator began. Then a Hectorite sound-apparatus started to blare directly across the street. The sound of hammering added to the disruption as workmen began to set up a rival speaker's platform. Then the music on the north side of Reilly Street became a triumphal march and Hector I made his entrance. Thebold spoke on doggedly. Don heard an occasional phrase through the din. "... reunion with the U. S. A. ... end this un- American, this literal partition ..." But many in the crowd had turned to watch Hector, who was magnificent and warm-looking in his ermine robe.
- 49. "Loyal subjects of Superior, I exhort you not to listen to this outsider who has come to meddle in our affairs," Hector said. "What can he offer that your king has not provided? You have security, inexhaustible food supplies and, above all, independence!" Thebold increased his volume and boomed: "Ah, but do you have independence, my friends? Ask your puppet king who provides this food—and for what price? And how secure do you feel as you whip through the atmosphere like an unguided missile? You're over the Atlantic now. Who knows at what second the controls may break down and dump us all into the freezing water?" Hector pushed his crown back on his head as if it were a derby hat. "Who asked the Senator here? Let me remind you that he does not even represent our former—and I emphasize former—State of Ohio. We all know him as a political adventurer, but never before has he attempted to meddle in the affairs of another country!" "And you know what lies beyond Western Europe," Thebold said. "Eastern Europe and Russia. Atheistic, communistic Red Russia. Is that where you'd like to come down? For that's where you're heading under Hector Civek's so-called leadership. King Hector, he calls himself. Let me remind you, friends, that if there is anything the Soviet Russians hate more than a democracy, it's a monarchy! I don't like to think what your chances would be if you came down in Kremlinland. Remember what they did to the Czars." Then Senator Bobby Thebold played his ace: "But there's an even worse possibility, my poor misguided friends. And that's for the creatures behind Hector Civek to decide to go back home—and take off into outer space. Has Hector told you about the creatures? He has not. Has he told you they're aliens from another planet? He has not. Some of you have seen them—these kangaroo-like creatures who, for their own nefarious purposes, made Hector what he is today.
- 50. "But, my friends, these are not the cute and harmless kangaroos that abound in the land of our friendly ally, Australia. No. These are intelligent alien beings who have no use for us at all, and who have brazenly stolen a piece of American territory and are now in the process of making off with it." A murmur came from the crowd and they looked over their shoulders at Hector, whose oratory had run down and who seemed unsure how to answer. "Yes, my friends," Thebold went on, "you may well wonder what your fate will be in the hands of that power-mad ex-mayor of yours. A few thousand feet more of altitude and Superior will run out of air. Then you'll really be free of the good old U.S.A. because you'll be dead of suffocation. That, my friends—" At that point somebody took a shot at Senator Bobby Thebold. It missed him, breaking a second-story window behind him. Immediately a Thebold man behind that window smashed the rest of the glass and fired back across Reilly Street, over the heads of the crowd. People screamed and ran. Don grabbed Alis and pulled her away from the immediate zone of fire. They looked back from behind a truck which, until a minute ago, had been dispensing hot buttered popcorn. "Hostilities seem to have commenced," Alis said. She gave a nervous laugh. "I guess it's my fault for blabbing to Ed Clark." "It was bound to happen, sooner or later," Don said. "I hope nobody gets hurt." Evidently neither Thebold nor Hector personally had any such intention. Both had clambered down from the platforms and disappeared. Most of the crowd had fled too, heading east toward the center of town, but a few, like Alis and Don, had merely taken cover and were waiting to see what would happen next.
- 51. Sporadic firing continued. Then there was a concentration of shooting from the Senator's side, and a dozen or more of Thebold's men made a quick rush across the street and into the stores and buildings on the north side. In a few minutes they returned, under another protective burst, with prisoners. "Slick," Don said. "Hector's being outmaneuvered." "I wonder why the Gizls aren't helping him." The Thebold loudspeaker came to life. "Attention!" it boomed in the Senator's voice. "Anyone who puts down his arms will be given safe conduct to the free side of Reilly Street. Don't throw away your life for a dictator. Come over to the side of Americanism and common sense." There was a pause, and the voice added: "No reprisals." The firing stopped. The Thebold loudspeaker began to play On the Sunny Side of the Street. But nobody crossed over. Nor was there any further firing from Hector's side. Lay Down Your Arms, the loudspeaker blared in another tune from tin-pan alley. When it became clear that Hector's forces had withdrawn completely from the Reilly Street salient, Thebold's men crossed in strength. They worked their way block by block to the grounds of the bubble gum factory and proceeded to lay siege to it. With Hector Civek immobilized, Senator Bobby Thebold went looking for Geneva Jervis, accompanied by two armed guards.
- 52. He was trailed by the usual pack of small boys, several of them dressed in imitation of their hero, in helmets, silk-like scarves and toy guns at hips. Alis, unable to reach the besieged palace to see if her father was safe, had asked Don to go back with her to Cavalier after the Battle of Reilly Street. Her mother told Alis that the professor was not only safe on the campus but had resigned his post as Royal Astronaut at Hector's court. "Father broke with Hector?" Alis asked. "Good for him! But why?" "He and Dr. Rubach just up and walked out," Mrs. Garet said. "That's all I know. Your father never explains these things to me. But if my intuition means anything, the professor is up to one of his tricks again. He's been locked up in his lab all day." The campus had an air of expectancy about it. Students and instructors went from building to building, exchanging knowing looks or whispered conversations. A rally was in progress in front of the Administration Building when Senator Thebold arrived. Don and Alis joined the group of listeners for camouflage and pretended to pay attention to what the speaker, an intense young man on the back of a pickup truck, was saying. "The time has come," he said, "for men and women of, uh, perspicacity to shun the extremes and tread the middle path. To avoid excesses as represented on the one hand by the, uh, paternalistic dictatorship of the Hectorites, and on the other by the, uh, pseudo-democracy of Senator Thebold which resorts to force when thwarted. I proclaim, therefore, the course of reason, the way of science and truth as exemplified by the, uh, the Garet-Rubach, uh —" Senator Thebold had been listening at the edge of the little crowd. He spoke up. "The Garet-Rubach Axis?" he suggested.
- 53. The speaker gave him a cold stare. "And who are you?" "Senator Robert Thebold, representing pseudo-democracy, as you call it. Speak on, my young friend. Like Voltaire, I will defend to the death—but you know what Voltaire said." "Yes, sir," the speaker said, abashed. "No offense intended, Senator." "Of course you intended offense," Thebold said. "Stick to your guns, man. Free academic discussion must never be curtailed. But at the moment I'm more interested in meeting your Professor Garet. Where is he?" "In—in the bell tower, sir. Right over there." He pointed. "But you can't go in. No one can." He looked at Alis as if for confirmation. She shook her head. "We'll see about that," the Senator said. "Carry on with your free and open discussion. And remember, stick to your guns. Sorry I can't stay." He headed for the bell tower, followed by his guards. Alis waited till he had gone in, then tugged at Don's sleeve. "Come on. Let's see the fun." "Alis," the speaker called to her, "was that really Senator Thebold?" "Sure was. But what's this Garet-Rubach Axis? What's everybody up to?" "Not Axis. That was Thebold's propaganda word. It's a movement of —oh, never mind. You don't appreciate your own father." "You can say that again. Come on, Don." As Alis closed the door to the bell tower behind them, they heard Professor Garet's voice from above.
- 54. "Attention interlopers," it said. "You have come unasked and now you find yourself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle except to breathe." "Stay down here," Alis whispered. "There's a sort of vestibule one flight up. That's where Thebold must have got it. Father spends all his spare time guarding his holy of holies. Nobody gets past the vestibule." She frowned. "But I didn't know he had a paralysis thing, too." "He probably swiped it from Hector before he broke with him," Don said. Professor Garet's voice came again. "I shall now pass among you and relieve you of your weapons. Why, if it isn't Senator Thebold and his strong-arm crew! I'm honored, Senator. Here we are: three archaic .45's disposed of. Very soon now you'll have the pleasure of seeing a scientific weapon in action." Don, standing with Alis on the steps of the Administration Building, didn't know whether to be impressed or amused by the giant machine Professor Garet had assembled. It was mounted on the flat bed of an old Reo truck, and various parts of it went skyward in a dozen directions. Garet had driven it onto the campus from a big shed behind the bell tower. The machine's crowning glory was a big bowl-shaped sort of thing that didn't quite succeed in looking like a radar scanner. It was at the end of a universal joint which permitted it to aim in any direction. "What's it supposed to do?" Don asked. "From what I gather," Alis said, "it's Hector's paralysis thing, adapted for distance. Only of course nobody admits Father stole it. It's supposed to have antigravity powers, too, like whatever it was that
- 55. took Superior up in the first place. Naturally I don't believe a word of it." "But where's he going with it?" "He's ready to take on all comers, I gather. Please don't try to make sense out of it. It's only Father." The young man who had addressed the student rally took over the driver's seat and Professor Garet hoisted himself into a bucket seat at the rear of the truck near a panel which presumably operated the machine. Maynard Rubach sat next to the driver. The small army of dedicated students who had been assembling fell in behind the truck. They were unarmed, except with faith. Senator Thebold and his two former bodyguards, de-paralyzed, sat trussed up in the back of a weapons carrier, looking disgusted with everything. "Are we ready?" Professor Garet called. A cheer went up. "Then on to the enemy—in the name of science!" Don shook his head. "But even if this crazy machine could knock out Hector's and Thebold's men and the Garet-Rubach Axis reigns supreme, then what? Does he claim he can get Superior back to Earth?" Alis said only, "Please, Don ..." The forces of science were ready to roll. There had been an embarrassing moment when the old Reo's engine died, but a student worked a crank with a will and it roared back to life. The Garet machine, the weapons carrier and the foot soldiers moved off the campus and onto Shaws Road toward Broadway and the turn-off for the country club.
- 56. They met an advance party of the Thebold forces just north of McEntee Street. There were about twenty of them, armed with carbines and submachine guns. As soon as they spotted the weird armada from Cavalier they dropped to the ground, weapons aimed. Senator Thebold rose in his seat. "Hold your fire!" he shouted to his men. "We don't shoot women, children, or crackpots." He said to Professor Garet, "All right, mastermind, untie me."
- 57. XI A submarine surfaced on the Atlantic, far below Superior. It was obvious to the commander of the submarine, which bore the markings of the Soviet Union, that the runaway town of Superior, being populated entirely by capitalist madmen, was a menace to humanity. The submarine commander made a last-minute check with the radio room, then gave the order to launch the guided missiles which would rid the world of this menace. The first missile sped skyward. Superior immediately took evasive action. First, in its terrific burst of acceleration, everybody was knocked flat. Next, Superior sped upward for a few hundred feet and everybody was crushed to the ground. At the same time the first missile, which was now where Superior would have been had it maintained its original course, exploded. A miniature mushroom cloud formed. The submarine fired again and a second missile streaked up. Superior dodged again. But this time its direction was down. Everyone who was outdoors—and a few who had been under thin roofs—found himself momentarily suspended in space. Don and Alis, among the hundreds who had had the ground snatched out from under them, clung to each other and began to fall. All around them were the various adversaries who had been about to clash. Professor Garet had been separated from his machine and they were following separate downward orbits. Many of
- 58. Thebold's men had dropped their guns but others clung to them, as if it were better to cling to something than merely to fall. The downward swoop of Superior had taken it out of the immediate path of the second missile, but whoever had changed the townoid's course had apparently failed to take the inhabitants' inertia into immediate consideration. The missile was headed into their midst. Then two things happened. The missile exploded well away from the falling people. And scores of kangaroo-like Gizls appeared from everywhere and began to snatch people to safety. Great jumps carried the Gizls into the air and they collected three or four human beings at each leap. The leaps appeared to defy gravity, carrying the creatures hundreds of feet up. The Gizls also appeared to have the faculty of changing course while airborne, saving their charges from other loose objects, but this might have been illusion. At any rate, Geneva Jervis, who had been hurled up from the roof of Hector's palace, where she had gone in hopes of catching a glimpse of Senator Thebold, was reunited with the Senator when they were rescued by the same Gizl, whose leap had carried him in a great arc virtually from one edge of Superior to the other. Don Cort, pressed close to Alis and grasped securely against the hairy chest of their particular rescuer, was experiencing a combination of sensations. One, of course, was relief at being snatched from certain death. Another was the delicious closeness of Alis, who he realized he hadn't been paying enough attention to, in a personal way. Another was surprise at the number of Gizls who had appeared in the moment of crisis. Finally he saw beyond doubt that it was the Gizls who were running the entire show—that Hector I, Bobby the Bold, and the pseudo- scientific Garet-Rubach Axis were merely strutters on the stage.
- 59. It was the Gizls who were maneuvering Superior as if it were a giant vehicle. It was the Gizls who were exploding the missiles. And it was the alien Gizls who, unlike the would-be belligerents among the Earth-people, were scrupulously saving human lives. "Thanks," Don said to his rescuing Gizl as it set him and Alis down gently on the hard ground of the golf course. "Don't mention it," the Gizl said, then leaped off to save others. "He talked!" Alis said. Don watched the Gizl make a mid-air grab and haul back a man who had looked as if he might otherwise have gone over the edge. "He certainly did." "Then that must have been a masquerade, that other time—all that mumbo-jumbo with the Anagrams." "It must have been, unless they learn awfully fast." He and Alis clutched each other again as Superior tilted. It remained steady otherwise and they were able to see the ocean, whose surface was marked with splashes as a variety of loose objects fell into it. Don had a glimpse of Professor Garet's machine plummeting down in the midst of most of Superior's vehicular population. "There's a plane!" Alis cried. "It's going after something on the surface." "It's the Hustler," Don said. "It's after the submarine." The B-58's long pod detached itself, became a guided missile and hit the submarine square in the middle. There was a whooshing explosion, the B-58 banked and disappeared from sight under Superior, and the sub went down.
- 60. "Sergeant Cort," a voice said, and because Alis was lying with her head on Don's chest she heard it first. "Is that somebody talking to you, Don? Are you a sergeant?" "I'm afraid so," he said. "I'll have to explain later. Sergeant Cort here," he said to the Pentagon. "Things are getting out of hand, Sergeant," the voice of Captain Simmons said. "Captain, that's the understatement of the week." "Whatever it is, we can't allow the people of Superior to be endangered any longer." "No, sir. Is there another submarine?" "Not as far as we know. I'm talking about the state of anarchy in Superior itself, with each of three factions vying for power. Four, counting the kangaroos." "They're not kangaroos, sir. They're Gizls." "Whatever they are. You and I know they're creatures from some other world, and I've managed to persuade the Chief of Staff that this is the case. He's in seeing the Defense Secretary right now. But the State Department isn't buying it." "You mean they don't believe in the Gizls?" "They don't believe they're interplanetary. Their whole orientation at State is toward international trouble. Anything interplanetary sends them into a complete flap. We can't even get them to discuss the exploration of the moon, and that's practically around the corner." "What shall we do, sir?" "Between you and me, Sergeant—" Captain Simmons' voice interrupted itself. "Never mind that now. Here comes the Defense
- 61. Secretary." "Foghorn Frank?" Don asked. "Sh." Frank Fogarty had earned his nickname in his younger years when he commanded a tugboat in New York Harbor. That was before his quick rise in the shipbuilding industry where he got the reputation as a wartime expediter that led to his cabinet appointment. "Is this the gadget?" Don heard Fogarty say. "Yes, sir." "Okay. Sergeant Cort?" Fogarty boomed. "Can you hear me?" It was no wonder they called him Foghorn. "Yes, sir," Don said, wincing. "Fine. You've been doing a topnotch job. Don't think I don't know what's been going on. I've heard the tapes. Now, son, are you ready for a little action? We're going to stir them up at State." "Yes, sir," Don said again. "Good. Then stand up. No, better not if Superior is still gyrating. Just raise your right hand and I'll give you a field promotion to major. Temporary, of course. I can do that, can't I, General?" Apparently the Chief of Staff was there, and agreed. "Right," Fogarty said. "Now, Sergeant, repeat after me...." Don, too overwhelmed to say anything else, repeated after him. "Now then, Major Cort, we're going to present the State Department with what they would call a fait accompli. You are now Military Governor of Superior, son, with all the power of the U.S. Defense Establishment behind you. A C-97 troop carrier plane is loading. I'll give you the ETA as soon as I know it. A hundred paratroopers.
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