Read Online When the Tripods Came by John Christopher - Free Book Online Page B

go. Everyone, it turned out, who had been to the Chinese take-out that evening. The following day, the county library van called at our local branch, and left taking two staff members and five people who’d just been in changing their library books. And two days after that, Todpole was declared Tripod territory. There was a big H AIL THE T RIPOD sign on the approach road, and no one was allowed in without a Cap. Caps were handed out at the roadside.
    That evening Pa brought out the briefcase Uncle Ian had left. He said, “The Tripods gave them to the Trippies, and the Trippies distributed them. I don’t know how many of these things there were originally, but I think there may be a lot more now.”
    Andy asked, “How? With all the Tripods knocked out.”
    Pa held up a helmet. “Simple molding and wiring, a few transistors—something that could be made by Trippies in a back room. Maybe in hundreds of back rooms, all over the world.”
    “Get rid of it,” Martha said with loathing.
    He looked at it speculatively. “I don’t know.”
    Martha said, “I do! I want it out.”
    I asked, “How do you think they work?”
    Pa shook his head. “No one’s ever been sure how ordinary hypnosis works. But since it’s a state in which people are controlled by suggestion, this could be something that induces trance—through radiowaves acting directly on the electrical centers of the brain, perhaps—coupled with the command to obey the Tripods. And that command wouldn’t just apply to a minority, like the one carried by TV, but to anyone wearing a helmet.”
    He turned it over, examining it.
    “The wiring looks like a circuit. It could be linked to a control station in a satellite, or the Tripods’ mother ship. In which case, breaking the circuit might put it out of action.”
    “Just get it out of the house,” Martha said.
    “But how do you get them off the Trippies’ heads to do that? Oh, well.” He dropped the helmet back in the briefcase. “I’ll shove this in the shed for now.”
    • • •
    I picked up the telephone the next time Ilse rang.
    She said, “Lowree? It is good to hear your voice. You have grown, I bet. It seems so long since I see you. How do things go? We have bad reports of England—of these Trippy people, and much trouble—fighting and such.”
    “It’s not so bad,” I said. “You want Pa? I’ll call him.”
    “In one moment. First I talk with you. How is it at school?”
    “A bit disorganized.”
    “But you are doing your work for the examinations? It is important not to lose the Rhythmus. . . .”
    I didn’t see why she had to use a German word insteadof the English, rhythm. Her accent, her voice altogether, irritated me as much as ever. And I didn’t see what right she had to go on about my schoolwork, anyway. She was only pretending to be interested.
    I handed over to Pa and went to my room. Andy was there, using my computer. He asked if I minded and I said no, but I thought he could at least have asked first. I tried to read but the key clicks bothered me, so in the end I went down to the living room again. Martha arrived from the kitchen at the same time, for her evening drink.
    Pouring it, Pa said, “Ilse sends her love.”
    “She rang? I wish you’d told me. I’d have liked a word about a plate we picked up in Bath last year. I didn’t think my memory could get worse, but it does.”
    “We were cut off. And that was her fifth try at getting through today. The lines are in a mess.” He paused. “She told me some things I didn’t know: there’s no censorship there. In America there’s an order for police and troops to shoot anyone Capped on sight—shoot to kill.”
    “It’s time we did the same,” Martha said.
    “The Swiss think we will, any day now. Listen, Martha . . .”
    She looked up from a magazine. “What?”
    “Ilse thinks we ought to join her, in Switzerland.”
    “That’s ridiculous. Now the government’s finally taking things seriously,