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CHAPTER III
Las Vegas, Nevada
Rick and Scotty picked up their luggage at the baggage counter, then paused to survey their surroundings. McCarran Field, the airport for Las Vegas, Nevada, was modern and attractive. But there was no mistaking that this was desert country. Beyond the airport they saw the barren mountains of the Charleston Range, and behind the motels clustered around the airport, they saw flat desert, thinly populated with mesquite and creosote brush.
"Welcome to the wild West," Rick said with a grin.
"Not a cowboy in sight," Scotty commented. "Plenty of dudes, though." He gestured at a group dressed in loud sports clothes. "What now?"
"Let's take a taxi into town, register at the hotel, and then go to Lomac."
"Okay." Scotty hailed a cab from the front of the taxi line. They loaded their baggage and climbed in.
"El Cortez," Rick directed. John Gordon had suggested that hotel, since it was close to Lomac's office in downtown Las Vegas, and the food was good and not expensive.
The taxi rolled through the gateway of McCarran Field and turned toward town. In a few moments they began to pass the fabulous resort hotels on the famous "Strip."
"Wow!" Scotty exclaimed. "Some bunch of fancy shanties!"
The taxi left The Strip, traversed the long lines of motels on Fifth Street, and emerged on Fremont a block from the Cortez. A few minutes later they had checked in and were unpacking their bags in a comfortable room in the Cortez Annex.
Scotty picked up the telephone directory and leafed through it until he found Logan and Macklin. "We have to go to Sixth Street and First Avenue. Any idea where that is?"
"Just a couple of blocks from here." While riding in the taxi, Rick had watched street signs and quickly figured out the simple street plan of the town. "Let's go."
The Lomac offices were on the second floor of a building less than five minutes walk from the hotel. The boys received application forms from a bored clerk and sat down at a table to fill them out according to previous plan. In his application Rick emphasized his experience with electronic equipment and in wiring circuits. Scotty stressed his mechanical experience with standard machine-shop equipment, and with motor repair. This had been John Gordon's suggestion, since it would result in their being placed in different departments at the rocket base, thus enabling them to cover more ground.
The clerk checked their forms, then nodded. "Okay. We can use both of you, if you pass the security check. Ever been cleared?"
"We're both cleared for top secret," Rick told him.
"What agency?"
"JANIG."
The clerk glanced up but made no comment. Rick guessed that JANIG clearances were not common. He was a little surprised that the clerk knew the agency; not many people did, because JANIG's activities were never publicized.
"It will take anywhere from a few days to two weeks to get your clearances verified and your files transferred. We can't do anything for you until then. When we want you, we'll call you. That's all."
Rick hesitated at the door. "Where are the used-car dealers located?"
"Fifth Street and Main Street."
Rick thanked him and the boys walked out into the brilliant sunlight. "Feel up to getting the jeep?" Rick asked. The boys had taken off from New York shortly after midnight and had ridden all night on a plane that, as Scotty had said, "landed in every cow pasture west of Chicago." They had not slept much.
"Let's get the jeep," Scotty replied. "We can catch up on our sleep after lunch."
However, getting the jeep was not as simple as they had expected. Not until they reached the fifth used-car dealer did they find one for sale.
Scotty put the jeep through its paces, then drove it back to the car lot. He looked at it thoughtfully and shrugged. "I wouldn't call it a pile of junk, but that's only because I'm polite."
The salesman, a lean Westerner, looked pained. "What do you want for the price? A Jaguar?"
"No," Scotty said. "Just something that runs."
"This runs."
"Not exactly. It limps. Put a new timer in, replace the front-wheel bearings, grind the valves, and we'll take it."
Rick smothered a grin. Scotty's wink had told him the jeep would do. His pal was trying to get the price down.
The salesman sighed. "How are you going to pay for it?"
"Cash. Either repair it, or knock off the cost of repairs, and it's a deal."
"You named it. We'll knock off the repair costs."
In another hour the jeep was theirs and the boys had obtained a vehicle registration and Nevada driver's licenses. As they drove to the hotel, Rick asked, "Is it really in good shape?"
"Not bad. It does need some work, but we can do it in a few hours ourselves."
"Now that we have wheels, let's get cleaned up, have a nap, and then see the town," Rick suggested.
"I'm with you," Scotty agreed.
It was lunchtime when they returned to the hotel. They settled for ham and eggs in the Cortez Coffee Shop, then stopped on the way through the casino to watch the gambling. Even at noontime the dice table was jammed with customers, and the blackjack tables were nearly full. The roulette table was not getting much play, however, and they watched for a few spins of the wheel.
"At least you get an even break on this one," Scotty said. "The odds are thirty-five to one, and there are only thirty-six numbers."
Rick grinned. "How'd you like to have your life hanging on odds of thirty-five to one?"
Scotty chuckled. "Anyway, you don't have to play numbers. You can play black or red, or odd or even. That gives you fifty-fifty odds."
Rick shook his head. "You forgot something. The wheel has zero and double zero, and they're green, and neither odd nor even. That makes the odds less than fifty-fifty. You can't win, Scotty."
"Kill-joy. How about the one-arm bandits?" He pointed to several rows of slot machines.
"No help there, either. It depends on how they're set, but usually out of every four coins you put in, one drops out of play completely. The only one who ever sees it again is the man who owns the machine. So, if you keep feeding money in, eventually the machine will take it all. Sometimes the machines are set to take one coin out of every three, or even one out of every two."
"But people do win, gambling," Scotty objected.
"Sure they do. That's why people gamble – and hope. But the great majority lose." Rick waved at the luxurious casino. "If most people didn't lose, these casinos couldn't operate."
"Maybe I'd be the lucky one," Scotty said.
A deputy sheriff had been listening to the conversation with amusement. He tapped Scotty on the shoulder. "I said that once, son. I was going to be the luckiest ringdangdoo that ever hit Vegas. And what happened? I've been working in this hotel as a guard for two years, trying to make a stake big enough to go back home and start where I left off when the bug bit me."
"Tough," Rick murmured.
"The town is full of people like me. Besides, you lads can't gamble, anyway. The legal age is twenty-one. Come back in a few years if you feel rich and foolish, and try bucking the tiger. You'll see what I mean."
"We'll take your word for it," Scotty assured him. "Come on, Rick. Let's hit the hay. I can use a nap."
If Las Vegas was spectacular by day, it was a neon nightmare after dark. The boys dined well, and more than sufficiently, at El Rancho Vegas, then got in the jeep for a ride around town.
Scotty loosened his belt with a groan. "For once," he admitted, "I overdid it. Did you ever see so much chow?"
"Not outside of a supermarket," Rick agreed. He let his own belt out a notch or two.
The boys drove to Fremont Street, past the incredible gambling halls with their elaborate signs and miles of neon tubing.
Scotty remarked, "I guess you and that deputy sheriff were right. It takes an awful lot of lost money to keep all these places going."
Tiring of the neon wilderness they turned north on Main Street and headed out toward Nellis Air Force Base. For a brief stretch the neon glow faded, then resumed again as they reached North Las Vegas.
Suddenly Scotty pointed. "Hey! We're on another planet."
Rick stared. Towering into the sky was a huge, illuminated figure clad in a spacesuit. The transparent helmet glowed red, then blue, green, yellow, and finally red again. In one colossal hand was a supermodern pistol. Colored flame spurted from the muzzle.
Rick laughed as he noticed another figure in front of the establishment. "Look! He's got a pup."
Acting as a doorman was another figure, human size, clad in a similar getup.
Across the building which served as a base for the giant spaceman was a glowing sign:
THE SPACEMAN CASINO
"What say we drop in?" Scotty suggested.
"Sure," Rick replied, falling into the role of a science-fiction spaceman. "We might pick up the latest gossip on that uranium strike on Venus, or the discovery of live prodsponders on Mars."
Scotty swung into the parking lot. "Tell me, Space Commander, what are prodsponders?"
"A subspecies of sponprodders. Your ignorance surprises me, Cadet Scott."
"I haven't been to the inner planets for a week," Scotty apologized. "I lose touch."
They walked across the driveway, noting that the customary shrubs and plants were replaced here by artificial ones, made in a form that represented someone's idea of what plants from other worlds must look like. The effect was actually pretty good. The place had been built with imagination.
The spacesuit-clad doorman nodded, and they saw that he was perspiring freely inside the transparent helmet.
"Who ever heard of a non-airconditioned spacesuit?" Rick murmured. "Bet he couldn't survive the Venus-Mercury run in that rig."
Inside were the inevitable slot machines, in banks of fifty or more. Rick decided the objective must be one slot machine for each person in town. Behind the slot machines were the dice layouts, roulette tables, and blackjack tables.
Beyond the casino proper, however, was a pleasant lounge that included a snack bar and tables for dining. The boys wandered over to the snack bar and sat down on stools, looking around with appreciation. The walls were decorated with murals – photographic reproductions of a famous artist's conception of other planets.
"This is nice," Rick said appreciatively.
"Best place I've seen since Callisto Connie's joint on Jupiter," Scotty agreed whimsically.
A waiter, not much older than they were, wandered down the counter. He was dressed in a loose tunic that glittered.
"Howdy, fellas," he greeted them.
Rick and Scotty "howdy'd" back.
The counter clerk eyed them with interest. "Haven't seen you in here before."
"First time," Rick admitted. "Nice place."
"We like it. You from Scarlet Lake?"
The boys stiffened. "What gave you that idea?" Scotty asked quickly.
The waiter admired his fingernails. "Easy. You're not local folks and you don't look like tourists. So, you came here to work. Maybe the atomic test site, maybe Nellis, maybe Scarlet Lake. I said Scarlet Lake because a lot of people from there come in to eat when they're in town. Some of 'em here right now."
"Where?" Rick asked.
"At the tables over against the wall. What are you going to have?"
Neither boy wanted any more food at the moment, and said so. They agreed on coffee.
"Here or at a table?"
"Table," Rick said. "Might as well move in with the people from Scarlet Lake, starting now." He led the way across the room and picked out a table next to two men in loud sports shirts. One man was big, nearly the size of Dr. Zircon of the Spindrift staff. He had red hair and a curly red beard. His eyes were dark and penetrating under bushy red eyebrows. He looked the boys over with slow deliberation, as though memorizing what they looked like.
The second man was big, too, although he didn't approach the redhead in size. He was slightly over six feet, Rick guessed. He was dark-complexioned and clean-shaven. His eyes, a light blue, were a surprising contrast to his dark hair and heavily tanned skin.
The redhead leaned over as the boys sat down. "I haven't seen you kids before. You from Scarlet Lake?"
"We hope to be," Rick replied civilly. "We've applied for jobs at Lomac, but now we have to wait for a security check."
The redhead turned to his friend. "Catching 'em kind of young these days, hey, Pancho?"
Pancho showed white teeth in a smile. "Looks like it."
"We can do a day's work," Scotty said shortly.
"Never doubted it for a minute." The redhead thrust out a massive paw. "I'm Mac McCline. Big Mac, they call me. This here is Pancho Kelly."
The boys shook hands and gave their names.
"Any idea what you're getting into at Scarlet Lake?" Big Mac asked.
"Not much," Rick said truthfully.
Big Mac guffawed. "Well, I'll tell you. Heat, dirt, sidewinders, and crazy rockets. And if they don't get you, one thing will."
"What's that?" Scotty asked.
"The Earthman."
CHAPTER IV
Scarlet Lake
Rick and Scotty never found out what Big Mac meant by his crack about the Earthman. He evaded their questions, apparently feeling that he had said too much. Otherwise he was cordial enough. As the days of waiting to hear from Lomac passed by, the boys made the Spaceman Casino their headquarters, hoping to pick up information from the Scarlet Lake people who hung out there.
Men came and went, but Mac and Pancho were there every night. Once, Rick commented on their nightly presence at the casino and said jokingly that work on the base seemed to allow plenty of free time.
"We don't go back to the base every night," Big Mac said. "Pancho and I do our job when there's work to be done. Other times we do what we want. If anyone at the base needs us, they know where to come."
Rick thought that over. It seemed reasonable. He asked, "Is it okay to ask what you do?"
"Sure it's okay. We're radar operators. We track the rockets on a radar set from a field station." Big Mac pulled a red-checkered handkerchief from his pocket and blew his nose violently. "Good operators are scarce. That's why no one bothers us, so long as we're on the job when we're needed."
Scotty leaned over and picked up something that had dropped to the floor when Mac pulled out his handkerchief. "You dropped this, Mr. McCline."
Rick identified it easily. It was a tiny transistor, an integral part of modern electronic apparatus.
Mac took it in his big fingers. "Thanks. I must have stuck it in my pocket absent-mindedly while we were repairing the equipment."
"Where do you go when you're on a field radar job?" Rick asked. "Just tell me to mind my own business, if I get into anything classified."
"There's no classification on what we do," Pancho Kelly said. "Only the results. We go to Careless Mesa. Everyone knows that."
The boys let the conversation lag and ordered dinner. They didn't want to seem too inquisitive. Constant questions would only make Mac and Pancho suspicious.
Later, as they rode through the star-studded night in their jeep, Scotty suddenly asked, "What do you think of Big Mac and Pancho?"
Rick shrugged. He knew what had prompted Scotty's question. He had the same feeling himself. "They're friendly enough, but I think it's an act. What I mean, is …"
"That they haven't any real interest in being friendly, they're just cordial for the sake of appearances," Scotty concluded.
"On the nose, pal. I get the feeling they could switch from casual conversation to mayhem without batting an eye."
Scotty thought it over for a moment. "Mac's the driving force of the pair, but I'd say they're equally tough. I'd guess Pancho is a combination of Irish and Mexican, both from his looks and his name."
"Is Pancho a name? Or a nickname?"
"Nickname. Usually short for Francisco."
Rick thought back over the past few days, and their meetings with Big Mac and Pancho. "Funny thing, Scotty. The casino is usually pretty busy, and mostly with men from Scarlet Lake. But instead of getting acquainted with many of them we always seem to sit near those two."
Scotty gave him a sideways glance. "What about it?"
"I think we do it instinctively," Rick went on. "Every time we walk in, they're deep in conversation. There's a kind of atmosphere about them, as though the talk is always very secret. None of the other men seem like that. They're more – well, open. No secrets. Know what I mean?"
Scotty nodded. "Now that you point it out, I do."
"So I think we sort of gravitate toward them automatically. On a hunch that we haven't even recognized, so to speak."
"Because there's more to be learned from them than from the others?"
"That's it!" Rick was glad he had finally put his feelings into words. "We'll keep an eye on those two," he said emphatically.
On the sixth day of their stay in Las Vegas, Lomac called. The boys hurried to the office and were told they could report to the base personnel office at once. They were given a map showing the location of the base. Scarlet Lake, they learned, was about two hours' drive northwest of Las Vegas.
They packed hurriedly, checked out, and loaded the jeep. After a brief stop for gas, they headed out Route 95. Within a few minutes they had left Las Vegas behind and were in open desert country.
The jeep was not capable of fast travel, and nearly an hour passed before they saw signs of civilization. It was the air force base at Indian Springs. They stopped for a coke, and topped off the gas tank. Rick bought a canteen and a desert water bag at the general store, and filled both.
A few miles beyond Indian Springs they saw the entrance road to the Atomic Energy Commission's Nevada Test Site, and the Sixth Army's Camp Desert Rock. After that, there was no sign of civilization for miles.
A few miles before the town of Lathrop Wells, Scotty spotted their turnoff. The sign was small and inconspicuous. It simply read: "Scarlet Lake," and an arrow was painted underneath the name.
The paving ended after a mile or two and became a very good dirt road. The jeep was climbing steadily now, and in a short time Scotty shifted to second gear.
"We must be nearly out of Nevada and into California," Scotty commented.
"Almost," Rick agreed. "According to the map, the base is right next to Death Valley." Suddenly he leaned forward as the jeep rounded a turn. Far below and still many miles away was the pinkish gleam of a dry lake bed. Scarlet Lake!
"I see where they got the name," Scotty said.
Rick grinned. "Scarlet Lake makes sense but some of the other names around here don't. Did you notice the town marked 'Steamboat' on the map? And not enough water to float a bar of soap."
"See anything of the base?"
"Not yet."
Five miles later they began to see signs that Scarlet Lake was occupied. Black strips indicated aircraft runways. Then, tiny concrete squares came into view. But not until they were in the valley, only a mile from the base, could they see buildings.
The buildings turned out to be a few single-story administrative shacks clustered around a check-in point. A uniformed guard waved them into a parking lot and told them to report to Security for badges.
They walked into the building marked "Security Office, Badge Division" and found a counter with another guard behind it. He took their names and asked for identification, then directed them to stand with chins resting on a tray. He slipped plastic letters into slots and formed their names, then took pictures with a fixed camera.
"Sit down and wait," he said. "We'll have these for you in five minutes."
Rick looked his surprise. "Can you process the pictures that fast?"
"Don't have to. This is a Polaroid camera."
Rick joined Scotty on a wooden bench. "I expected a barbed-wire fence. But there's no fence at all."
"The whole desert is a fence, I guess," Scotty surmised. "The only access roads are probably guarded, and the only other ways to get into the base would be by foot or horseback. No one could make it on foot, and anyone on horseback would attract instant attention."
Scotty probably was right, Rick thought. Still, it wasn't at all what he expected.
In a few moments the guard was back. He handed them laminated plastic badges with their names and pictures. At the bottom of Rick's were the numbers one, two, and three. Scotty's badge had only the numbers two and three.
"What do these mean?" Rick asked.
"Those are the areas where you're allowed to go. Area One is the blockhouse. Area Two is the main base and firing pads. Area Three is the machine shop and maintenance depot. You can go anywhere. Scott can go anywhere but inside the blockhouse. Sign these, please." He handed them forms in which they agreed to be bound by all security regulations, under penalty of the Espionage Act. They signed, and returned the forms.
"Go through the gate," the guard directed, "and report to the reception desk in Building Five. That's personnel. They'll take it from there."
They returned to the jeep and drove to the gate. The guard inspected their badges, compared the pictures with their faces, then waved them on.
"Taking no chances," Rick remarked. "There's Building Five."
The personnel office gave them another map, showing installations and buildings on the base itself, and assigned them to bunks nine and ten in Barracks Seven. Rick was told to report at eight in the morning to Dr. Gould in Building Twelve, while Scotty was told to report to Mr. Rhodes in Maintenance Building Twenty-three. They received a leaflet marked: "Read This."
They followed the map for another three miles, leaving the gate buildings out of sight behind a ridge of rock. Their map showed that the main cluster of buildings was three miles from the gate and nine miles from the blockhouse and the firing pads on the dry lake bed. Again, Rick began to appreciate Western distances.
The boys found their barracks without difficulty, and moved into a room containing four bunks. It wasn't elaborate, but it was adequate for a camp of this kind. It was clear that the other bunks were occupied, but at the moment their bunkmates were apparently out.
Rick stowed his gear in the locker with his bed number on it, then sat down to read the leaflet. It was a directory of camp facilities, plus a written lecture on security. He was allowed to say what kind of work he did, and that was about all.
"Let's look the place over," he suggested.
They located the mess halls, the base movie house, post exchange, and post office. There was also a laundry and a snack bar. Set off by itself was a recreation hall, equipped with TV sets, comfortable chairs, card tables, and pool tables.
Rick followed the map to the laboratory buildings, and was surprised to find that they were enormous sheds, like hangars. Most of the doors were wide open, and he caught glimpses of shapes that could only have been rocket sections. His pulse quickened. There was an atmosphere of excitement, of big jobs being performed. At least his quick imagination told him there was.
Then, in one shed he saw the broken remains of a rocket. From its size he concluded that it must be the Viking that had crashed. The sight brought sharp realization of the real job he and Scotty were here to do.
Rick checked his map. "Our barracks has space for eighty bunks. And, according to this, there are twenty-eight barracks."
"Interesting facts about Scarlet Lake," Scotty declaimed. "What about it?"
"That's over two thousand men."
"A lot of men," Scotty agreed. "What are you getting at?"
"Needles in haystacks. Out of more than two thousand we're supposed to pick one – the Earthman!"
