to question the shadow. He stared at Luke, dumbstruck, until the match burned down. Then he dropped it and said: 'I don't know what you're talking about, pal.'
"You're following me,' Luke said. "You must know who I am.'
Raincoat continued to act innocent 'Are you selling something?'
'Am I dressed like a salesman? Come on, level with me.'
I'm not following anyone.'
"You've been behind me for an hour, and I'm lost!'
The man made a decision. "You're out of your mind,' he said. He tried to walk past Luke.
Luke-moved sideways, blocking his path.
'Excuse me, please,' Raincoat said.
Luke was not willing to let the man go. He grabbed him .by the lapels of the raincoat and slammed him against the shop window, rattling the glass. Frustration and rage boiled over. 'Putain de merdef he yelled.
Raincoat was younger and fitter than Luke, but he offered no resistance. 'Get your damn hands off me,' he said in a level voice. I'm not following you.'
'Who am I?' Luke screamed at him. 'Tell me, who ami?'
'How should I know?' He, grasped Luke by the wrists, trying to shake his hold on the lapels of the raincoat
Luke shifted his grip and took the man by -the throat -'I'm, not taking youf bullshit,' he rasped. "You're going to tell me what's going on.'
Raincoat lost his cool, eyes widening in fear. He struggled to loosen Luke's grip on his throat When that failed, he began to punch Luke's ribs. The first blow hurt, and Luke winced, but he retained his hold and moved in close, so that subsequent punches had little force. He pressed his thumbs into his opponent's throat, choking him. Terror showed in the man's eyes as his breath was cut off.
Behind Luke, the frightened voice of a passer-by said: 'Hey, what's going on here?"
Chapter 3
Suddenly Luke was shocked at himself. He was killing the guy! He relaxed his grip. What was the matter with him? Was he a murderer?
Raincoat broke Luke's hold. Luke was dismayed at his own violence. He let his hands fall to his side.
The guy backed away. "You crazy bastard,' he said. The fear had not left his eyes. You tried to kill me!'
'I just want the truth, and I know you can tell me it.'
Raincoat rubbed his throat 'Asshole,' he said. "You're out of your goddamn mind.'
Luke's anger rose once more. "You're lying!' he yelled. He reached out to grab the man again.
Raincoat turned and ran away.
Luke could have chased him, but he hesitated. What was the point? What would he do if he caught the guy - torture him?
Then it was too late. Three passersby had stopped to watch the fracas and were now standing at a safe distance, staring at Luke. After a moment, he walked away, heading in the direction opposite to that taken by his two shadows.
He felt worse than ever, shaky after his violent outburst and sick with disappointment at the result. He had met two people who probably knew who he was, and he had got no information.
'Great job, Luke,' he said to himself. "You achieved precisely nothing.'
And he was alone again.
8 A.M.
The Jupiter C missile has, four stages. The largest part is a high-performance version of the Redstone ballistic missile. This is the booster, or first stage, an enormously powerful engine that has the gargantuan task of freeing the missile from the mighty putt of Earth's gravity. v ;
Dr Billie Josephson was running late. ,i -
She had got her mother up, helped her intoa quilted bathrobe, made her put on her hearing aid, and sat her in the kitchen with coffee. She had woken her seven-year-old, Larry, praised him for not wetting the bed, and told him he had to shower just the same. Then she returned to the kitchen.
Her mother, a small, plump woman of seventy known as Becky-Ma, had the radio on loud. Perry Como was singing 'Catch a Falling Star'. Billie put sliced bread in the toaster, then laid the table with butter and grape jelly for Becky-Ma. For Larry she poured cornflakes into a bowt, sliced a banana over the cereal, and filled a jug with milk.
She made a peanut-butter-andjelly sandwich and put it in Larry's lunch box with an apple, a Hershey bar and a small bottle of orange juice. She put the lunch box in his school bag and added his home-reading book and his baseball glove, a present from his father.
On thte radio, a reporter was interviewing sightseers on the beach near Cape Canaveral who were hoping to see