Solo grinned and stood up. Food sounded just the thing to settle the sodas and strong coffee.
They went down to the hotel dining room and had a passable meal. The room was crowded but not one eye flickered in recognition as they sat finishing their dinner.
The Thrush agent in Gloryanna's field obviously hadn't recognized them. Solo thought they were still all right and could move about unhampered. Illya agreed. Hopefully. Because once they were pegged they stood little chance with the large number of Thrush men they had against them.
On the way back upstairs, Solo said, "We'll be having a guest for late breakfast, Illya. Gloryanna."
"Now, when did you manage that?"
"You have to run fast to keep up with me. Nothing romantic, mind you. But she's our only link to this area and its people, and I want her around."
"Besides which, she's a pleasure to look at in those tight slacks," Illya finished for him.
The next morning was sunny and boded stifling heat. Solo and Illya were downstairs waiting when Gloryanna pulled up in front of the hotel. Solo quickly ran out and parked her car, then hurried back to claim her from Illya's interested attention.
As they went into the dining room, she called out to a few people she knew and made a charming unselfconscious display of herself in her bright red slacks and white blouse. Still there was no sign of menace from the men sitting at the other tables. They admired Gloryanna. Nothing more sinister.
With coffee steaming before them, Solo changed the small talk to important talk. Gloryanna was willing to be pumped since she realized it was for a reason. He began bluntly, "Tell us all you know about this Cosmic Theater."
"I don't really know much," she admitted.
"Have you seen their setup?"
"Yes. In the old barn on that estate. It's not much of a barn, really. Unused and falling apart."
"The crop failure started before they arrived," Illya said.
"A few days before. I see what you're driving at, but it couldn't be the Cosmic Theater that caused this."
"Their advance men - their publicity men?" Solo asked.
"Let's see." She wrinkled her unwrinkled forehead, thinking. "They came here about a week before the show. "I put up posters and distributed leaflets and rented the barn. They brought this great big balloon with a basket under it and gave rides. And stardust for the kids."
"Stardust?" Illya glanced up sharply.
"It's just some sort of glittery confetti they handed out to the kids in sacks. Free. It's all gold and pretty, though. The kids had fights with it and threw it all over the place until most people dumped it out because of the mess. It melted away in the rain."
"What else did they do with the stardust?" Solo's interest was caught hard.
"They dropped clouds of it from the balloon when they went up for rides. It was a beautiful sight. Mists of gold glitter." She broke off, blushing. "I went out to the theater once. Sort of exciting, you know? I liked it a lot." She shook her head. "But those things are just foolish dreams, like my Dad says. The dead crops are the real thing."
Solo signaled the waitress for the check, suddenly eager to get out of the Flower Hotel and be underway. Stardust. Spread all about, over the town, over the fields, by children and by balloon. Little pieces of gold glitter that killed - probably with the first rain.
They went out onto the sidewalk. It was getting hotter by the minute. Illya asked, "Where is this balloon, Gloryanna?"
"On the estate. They haven't taken it up since the show people got here."
"By the barn?"
"No. Back farther. Behind the walnut grove."
Illya made a fast decision. "I'll take the balloon, Napoleon. And the car."
"Check. And I'll take the barn in Gloryanna's car."
Gloryanna clasped her hands. "Oh, good. I can go with you."
"Nope," Solo said. "I'll drop you at home."
"Then you can't have the car, Napoleon."
"A lot of good it will do you setting here at the curb. You can't unpark it yourself."
She thrust out a stubborn jaw. "There are lots of men in this town who'll do it for me. That's my deal. Take it or leave it."
Solo uttered a short sigh. "I take it." To Illya's beginning protest, he said, "It should be safe enough. We haven' t had any threats - yet."
Gloryanna was eager. "Let's meet afterward at my house. I'll make lemonade and you can meet my Dad. He'd like to know who I'm coming into town to visit for breakfast. He said so."
"I'll bet he did," Illya grunted, and left without a goodbye.
Chapter 10
"A Plague of Locusts, Maybe"
THE QUICK RIDE into the country only emphasized the heat this day was threatening to produce. Solo loosened his collar to let his skin breathe and listened to Gloryanna's delightful babbling. He was surprised that they would be allowed entrance to the estate and the barn, but she said it was all right as long as they stayed outside. With such loose security about the place, he wondered if he were chasing a dead lead.
They turned off the road between the tall gates of the estate and followed a blacktopped driveway through a great expanse of dead lawn. A red barn grew up before them, ten trailers parked about it in haphazard fashion. The trailers were painted in garish letters advertising THE COSMIC THEATER—AN EVENING'S FUN FOR EVERYONE. There was no movement anywhere.
Far behind the barn stood a thick grove of trees, and from this vantage point Solo guessed it to be the walnut grove where Illya would encounter the balloon. Way beyond that was a green woods, deep, and running for acres. The landscape was surrealistic with its withered brown leading to green trees.
Gloryanna paid no attention to anything except carrying on about her father and how Solo had to meet him. "He isn't awfully strict, remember, but he likes to pretend he is. Don't let him scare you off."
"Do you think he might try?" Solo held up his end of the banter although his senses were now alerted for movement, for action.
Gloryanna faced him squarely, a bold gleam in her eyes. "He might. Just this morning when I was describing you, he told me, 'Gloryanna, never trust a man who has a twinkle in his eye.' I took it all in very seriously, and then I told him I kind of liked the twinkle."
"What did he say to that? Stay in the house?"
"No. He laughed. And made a remark about my red slacks."
"If I were your father, I'd make a remark about those slacks, too. They don't match your personality. They're brazen and you're wholesome."
"Wholesome! What a nasty word."
They came out from among the trailers to the foot of the barn-hill, the rise that slanted up to the double doors that were big enough to pass a hay wagon into the upper reaches of the barn. It was a gigantic structure, three stories high. The hill was matted with dead grass and well trampled, which meant well traveled.
Gloryanna halted at the foot of the hill. "This is going to be the theater. The plays will go on just inside the doors and the audience will sit down here."
"They'll get stiff necks."
"But it's nice, don't you think? Mr. Saturn wanted to use the inside of the barn, but it's such a mess. Dirty and full of old straw and spiders."