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Despite Doc&039;s snoring for morale purposes, no one except Rama Joan tried to follow his example, and after a half hour or so Doc hi it up on his doubled ar about the paths in space Earth and the Wanderer would take with respect to each other

"I&039;ve figured it all out in hly, of course," Doc told the they&039;re of equal mass, they&039;ll revolve around a pointabout nineteen days"

"Shorter than that, surely," Paul objected "Why, we can see with our own eyes how fast the Wanderer&039;s e planet,atilt toward the ocean, the blunt yellow spearhead of theacross its front almost from below

Doc chuckled "That - sarimaced in exasperation at his own stupidity, Doc added: "Natural enoughit inwith one out! Ross, I&039; up faster than we hoped"

Paul, trying to get back into the swing of the discussion, her would hty times lower too - at six-hour intervals, at most places

"Incidentally," Doc added, "we&039;ll be about ten days getting into that nineteen-day orbit, since Earth&039;s acceleration is only about five-hundredths of an inch a second That of the moon, also in respect to the Wanderer, must have been about four feet a second, cu around Paul&039;s neck He pulled his coat tighter - he&039;d got it back froiven her one of the leather jackets In spite of that she had Miaow inside the jacket to , flat beach

"Look how the light glistens on the wet gravel," she said to Paul "Like amethysts and topazes shoveled out of trucks"

"Ssh," said the fat woes"

Just the other side of Wanda, the Rah hypnotized by it, his chin on his fist, rather in the attitude of "The Thinker"

"The Emperor says, &039;No harm to Terra&039;," the Ramrod droned just then in a trancelike voice " &039;Her turbulent waters shall be stilled, her oceans withdrawn fro Canutes," Doc ot on the ball in time to stop the earthquakes," Mrs Hixon called tartly Mr Hixon laid his hand on her arm and whispered to her She flirted her shoulders, but made no more cracks

Ra now, Rudolf?" she challenged Doc "Angels? Or devils?"

He replied: "I&039;ll wait until one flies in close enough for s are feathery or leathery" Then, realizing that he&039;d not necessarily made a joke, he looked quickly toward the Wanderer with a sardonic shudder Then he stood up and stretched himself and surveyed the platform

"Ha, I see you loaded the truck while I snoozed," he coet the water jugs - I suppose I have you to thank for that, Doddsy" Then, softly, to Hunter: "How&039;s Ray Hanks?"

"Hardly woke up e uyed it to the sides Put a blanket around hi in the sky Everyone held very still Several looked apprehensively toward the Wanderer, as if they thought so from there Then Harry McHeath called excitedly: "It&039;s a &039;copter fro - I think"

But it looked like a regulation enough little dragonfly of an observation &039;copter as it slanted doard the sea, then swung around and ca at not much more than fifty feet Suddenly it swerved toward them and hovered overhead The drone became a roar The down-blast frora to land on us?" Doc de upward like all the others

A great voice cah the drone "Get out! Get out of here!"

"Why, the bastards!" Doc roared, so that what the voice said next was lost "They&039;re not satisfied with slahborhood!" Beside him the little Man lifted and fiercely shook his fist

"Get off the beach!" the great voice finished as the &039;copter tilted over and continued in its course down the coast

"Hey, Doc!" Wojtowicz yelled, grabbing the biggerto warn us about the tides!"

"But that won&039;t be for at least six hours - "

Doc broke off, as it beca with the &039;copter, and as water spurted upward in a dozen places through the cracks between the floorboards

All around the platform was a pale welter of foam The wave had come in while all their eyes were on the &039;copter and its roar had masked that of the wave

"But - " Doc de Canute himself

"Not tides, but tsunami!" Hunter yelled at him "Earthquake waves!"

Doc s of sand and a hollow clanking of gravel the water receded, leaving behind a ghostly patchwork of spu a distant pale ith horror "Start the truck!"

The Hixons were already piling into the front seat The hed and died The starter whined by itself Hunter, Doddsy, Doc, and Harry McHeath jumped down and prepared to heave at the truck&039;s sides Rama Joan half-carried Ann across the platform, pushed her into the truck, and slapped her across the face when she tried to come back "Stay there and hold on," she snarled Wanda tried to follow Ann, but Wojtowicz grabbed her in a bear-hug, telling her: "Not this time, Fatty!" Paul lifted and tried to secure the truck&039;s tailgate

TheWanda behind hi on the boards when the truck lurched forward a foot or so Its rear tires squealed as they spun in the wet sand A heave from the men below, another forward lurch, a hesitation, another running heave, and suddenly the truck was going away fast, its tailgate swinging, its tail lights shining on the foa at its heels

The second as high enough to overrun a corner of the platfor like a sprinkler systeo across the slippery boards She was clutching Miaow He paused on the back edge of the platfor to their feet below in the shalloater

"Coed off with Margo, leading the rush after the truck

Arab and Pepe and High expected blue floods of police to pour down after them into the Lenox and 125th Street subway station So they hid in the can, Arab ready to shred their reh set to flush it, while Pepe listened at the door It wasn&039;t very smart but it was done almost instinctively

But nobody else tried to co around, in fact they didn&039;t hear anything Presently they came out

The empty station was like a haunted house, so for a while they just snuck around Pepe tried to get some chocolate out of a machine but it stuck He biffed it once but stopped at the noise They got on the back end of the e train, which was headed don, and walked through it all the way to the front There Arab fingered a lever for a while and then swung it The doors started to close and he swung it back quick He ot louder, and the train seemed to strain, and he quickly reversed that one, too

"Better not le

They studied the black double tunnel through the front door, waiting for a train to coer the station stayed empty, theworld-oealthy, they lit three sticks and sipped theineer&039;s platforh?"

High frowned hard Then, "Russians land at the Battery from supersubs Defeat the fuzz at the Battle of Union Square Fuzz retreat north, fighting a rear-guard action Russians advance My orders of the day: lurk below, men, and play deaf and dumb"

Arab nodded "Pepe?"

"That fireball! She surface at the Battery and split up without blasting, and then coh the streets People think she poison gas and go for the roofs, but she really happy sle to death Too scare&039; to inhale Arab?"

A waran to flow past them from the tunnel ahead It was heavy with subway smell: metal, dry dirt, human stateness, a dash of electricity

"Coot it now," Arab said "River high,Keep getting higher Water surface at the Battery, drive ashore and come north Flood like Noah&039;s! Tell people to take to the roofs and turn to pillars of salt Clear out the basements and the subways Fuzz run Fire they can&039;t fight They run too Water just a-coh said "Ree-alistic"

The breeze got stronger and so did the subway smell, but now an inappropriate odor was mixed with the latter

Far down the tunnel there was a blue flash