When McGinity glanced up, she was walking away. Then he heard Henry's voice, and went quickly back to his work.
XI
The reign of terror caused by the falling meteors gripped New York for five days. On Tuesday night, when Henry and Olinski were scheduled to give a public demonstration of interstellar signaling and the exchange of radio messages between the earth and Mars, in Radio Center, remnants of the hot heavenly bodies were still hissing down in unexpected places, with many fatalities.
Thousands of timorous families in the metropolitan area were living in their basements. The principal thoroughfares, Broadway, Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue, were strangely deserted at night. The newspapers were still screaming at the scientists and scholars for their failure to offer any explanation of the remarkable phenomenon, at the same time making an intensive play on Henry's discovery.
One enterprising paper, having exhausted all resources in its efforts to explain the mystery of the huge swarms of meteors, dug up from an unknown source the story of a mad scientist, long since dead, who had predicted a similar heavenly occurrence, which was to precede some sort of cataclysm of the solar system. This gave them the opportunity to intensify the importance of Henry's feat as a possible connecting link in the solution of the meteoric mystery.
It was, therefore, with a full-fledged case of the jitters that many thousands assembled in the vicinity of Radio Center on that Tuesday night. The people had worked themselves into a state of hysteria, and were in a receptive mood for anything unusual that might happen. Police emergency squads were on hand to hold the crowd in check, while police on motorcycles kept the streets clear for the fire brigades which were being called out hourly, to fight the conflagrations caused by the falling meteors.
While the demonstration was to be held in the auditorium of the National Radio Corporation Building, in Radio Center Annex, it was not officially sponsored by the president of the concern, Alden Scoville, who was sceptical and suspicious; but he was very nice and polite about it. He made it plain that the corporation was merely donating the use of its premises and equipment for the public experiment, in compliment to the valuable work of its assistant research engineer, Serge Olinski. There was to be a world-girdling hook-up, so that the deciphered code signals from Mars, and the replies transmitted from the earth, could be heard in every land. Everything was perfectly arranged, with loud speakers for the masses congregated outside the building.
Accompanied by Jane and Pat, I motored in from the country for the great event. Henry had gone into town early in the afternoon, to see after last minute details. We were to meet him in the NRC Building, where Prince Matani was to join us.
An odd thing occurred just prior to our leaving the castle. Jane was seated in the car, and I was waiting in the hall for Pat. When she did not appear promptly, I sent Niki, now acting in the double role of butler-valet, to find out the cause of her delay. Pat refusing to see him, I hurried upstairs myself to investigate.