Read Online The Menacers by Donald Hamilton - Free Book Online Page A

have been taken right aboard the things. Did you go on board?”
    “Well, no,” Netta admitted. “God, no! I just scrunched down in my life-jacket and tried to look like a piece of flotsam. Or jetsam. They weren’t exactly friendly and hospitable, if you know what I mean.”
    “No, I don’t know, exactly,” I said. “What did they do to indicate their hostility?”
    “They blasted the boat as they came over. Is that hostile enough for you? I’d gone out with Phil and another couple—”
    “Phil?”
    “A guy I’d met up north of here, in Guaymas. That’s where I stayed first in Mexico: The Posada San Carlos, in Guaymas. Nice place. He was there for the fishing, but it wasn’t much good, and he heard it was better down here in Mazatlán, so he decided to drive down. I rode with him. It’s a day’s drive. He was a pretty nice guy. I don’t dig fishing one little bit, but I don’t mind sitting in a boat, watching, as long as there’s a shady spot so I don’t sunburn too badly. He got another couple to share the expenses. I mean, the boat charter or rent or whatever you call it is pretty steep, something like forty dollars a day. I don’t remember their names and it doesn’t matter. They’re dead and so’s Phil. If the ray or whatever it was didn’t get them, they were killed when the boat blew up.”
    “Ray?” I said, trying to convey a hint of a sneer. “You mean like in death ray?”
    She shrugged. “Don’t ask me what it was. I guess maybe they wanted that piece of ocean all to themselves to land in. I was down in the cabin getting a beer; I didn’t know what the hell had happened. There wasn’t any noise; just a big shadow passing over the boat, and a sudden blast of heat, and flames everywhere. I tried to get back out to where the others were, but the whole cockpit or whatever you call it was on fire. I grabbed a life preserver and scrambled out an opening onto the forward deck. It was burning in spots, too; that’s how I hurt my arm. I guess it was the gas tanks that blew up, right after I jumped.” She grimaced. “Then there was just one O’Leary in the water, and some floating wreckage, and this damn
plativolo
, sinking.”
    “
Plativolo
,” I said. “That’s a new name for it. New to me, anyway. You saw it sink?”
    Netta nodded. “Well, I saw the end of it, let’s say. They were scrambling around trying to keep it afloat, but they weren’t having any luck. And then they blew up, too. Bang, just like that. A great big searing whoosh of flame, like the end of the world. Stuff raining down for minutes, it seemed like. Then I paddled around for a while all alone until somebody came out to investigate the fireworks and picked me up.” She shook her head ruefully. “I should have kept my trap shut about what I’d seen, I guess. I should have said the boat just caught fire and exploded. Just call me Public-spirited Patsy for short.”
    “And that’s what all the excitement is about?” I said in a cynical voice. “Hell, I’ve read fancier Youfoe stories in the papers. Complete with little Martians in metallic play suits.” I kept my voice casual. “You haven’t said what
they
looked like.”
    Netta laughed softly. “So I haven’t, dad. That’ll cost you another drink.”
    “My God, the girl’s got a hollow leg.” I fixed her up again, and stood over her. “Okay, give.”
    She drank from her glass, and looked up, shaking her head solemnly. “No, to hell with you. You’ve decided I’m just making it up as I go along. Haven’t you? Even if I said they were human, you wouldn’t believe me.”
    I grinned at her mockingly. “But they weren’t human, were they, Carrots? It wouldn’t make as good a story if they were human. They were giant grasshoppers, or little bitty manikins with great big brainy heads and no hair. Come on, O’Leary. Let’s hear what you told the tape recorder. Let’s hear what that redheaded Irish imagination produced to impress the suckers. I