“Oh, I don’t think you’re crazy,” said the other cop. His smoking friend nodded behind his cloud. “Not crazy, no. A wino, though. How much have you had to drink today, buddy?”
Rad sighed in disbelief and sat back heavily in his chair. “Drinking?”
“You and your girlfriend were found in a heap in the middle of Grand Central Station, and before that, people said you was screaming. Caused a fuss. Someone said you was screaming about a gun; someone else thought you had a gun. We had to shut down the whole damn terminal because of you, and now you’re telling me that the Martians are coming.”
Rad closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Nimrod. There’s a government agent by the name of Nimrod. He knows me. He’ll sort it out.”
The first cop gasped in mock surprise. Then he nudged his colleague with his cigarette arm.
“Hey, Johnny, get this down, will ya?”
He leaned forward on his elbows across the table from Rad, and he took a drag on his cigarette. When he spoke his voice was a low, conspiratorial whisper.
“So, tell me, this Nimrod. He FBI? Or CIA? Or maybe – oh, he’s not KGB, is he? That would be bad. But, no, you don’t look like a Communist. Oh, I know!” the cop leaned back, triumphant. “He’s P-I-T-A! Just like you are, buddy.”
Rad shook his head and wondered whether he should ask for a cigarette.
Jennifer’s cell was empty, and had been for a while. Rad sat on the bench, his fingers straying over his scalp. He missed his hat, presumably being held with his trench coat, scarf, and belt in a box somewhere nearby. His shoes were slip-on, so at least he’d been allowed to keep them. And it was warm in the cell, and the ground wasn’t shaking.
Rad wondered how long it would take for the collapsing structure of the Pocket to start damaging the Origin. Maybe it would take a long time, given the difference in size between the two dimensions. Or perhaps it would happen all at once, catastrophically, both dimensions vanishing down an eternal plughole.
If the robot war didn’t destroy both dimensions first, of course.
A series of footfalls sounded outside his cell, then kept going. Rad stood, and a moment later Jennifer was returned to the cell next door. Rad was on the bench, his face to the grill, almost immediately.
“What happened?”
Jennifer stood in her cell, stretching out what must have been a leg made stiff by sitting in the uncomfortable chair in the interrogation room. She glanced at Rad, and then continued to rub the top of her thigh.
“Nothing much. They asked a lot of questions, and I answered all of them. They didn’t seem that interested, just noted it all down.”
“Huh,” said Rad. “You were lucky. I got the wise guys. They didn’t believe a word I said.”
“Why are they holding us here, anyway?”
“Well,” said Rad, and then he paused. Jennifer had a point. The questioning was a lot of bother for two people who were supposedly just drunks causing a scene.
“They haven’t said anything about charges.”
“No,” said Rad. “They haven’t. They’re holding us for something, though.”
“For what?”
Nimrod? Rad didn’t dare hope. “They took down everything you said?”
Jennifer nodded.
“And you told them about being an agent in the Empire State, and about the robots and all that jazz?”
“And all that jazz, yes. The never-ending winter and the falling buildings and all.”
“And they didn’t say anything?”
“Only to ask more questions. Maybe they were distracted by this.” Jennifer tapped a knuckle against a golden cheek.
Rad tugged at his bottom lip. “If only we could convince them to get hold of Nimrod. He’d get us out.”
On cue, there was a sound at Rad’s door. Rad heard Jennifer hopping up onto her bed to see into his cell as he stepped down from his bench and faced the door.
The cell was opened by a uniformed officer, not one Rad had seen before. He held the door open for a man in a brown suit and hat. The newcomer was built like a football quarterback with a thick, almost non-existent neck.
The man glanced at the policemen, then at Rad. “So, you coming or what?”
Rad smiled. “Agent Grieves, are you a sight for sore eyes.”
Mr Grieves raised an eyebrow, a tiny smile flickering over his small mouth before vanishing without a trace.
“Yeah, swell to see you.” He glanced at the cop again, then cleared his throat. He waved at Rad. “Now hurry up. We