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little frightened. Jack was positivelywired . For a bad moment she'd thought
he might be on speed, or maybe peaking in the manic phase of a bipolar
disorder. And when she'd heard what he was talking about, she pretty much
settled on the latter.
But then he wasn't simply telling her, he wasshowing her how the Rover didn't
have a battery and would only run when the aerial was attached. He called it
broadcast power.
"Broadcast power," she said, catching the chassis as it rolled across her
desktop. "But that's science fiction."
"So was rocketing to the moon and a computer on your lap once. Now they're
history. But what's got to blow you away even more is the fact that it's
allyours ."
Was it hers? she wondered. Really? And how much was it worth? A tingle crept
over her skin as she realized that a day might come when every lamp, every
microwave, every TV, every car in the world would have one of those little
transceivers in its works. Worth? Alicia doubted she or anybody else could
count that high.
"Not all," she said, remembering something. "A third of it is yours."
Jack cocked his head and gave her a puzzled look. "Mine? But " "
"Our deal, remember? We split the proceeds you've got a thirty-three percent
share."
"Jeez," Jack said, dropping into a chair. "I forgot all about that."
"I'm sure you would have remembered eventually." She refused to let herself
get excited. "But right now you've got a third of nothing. We've only got half
of the equation. The receiver's not worth anything without the transmitter."
Jack nodded. "Like taking a TV set back to the 1920s, I guess. Without
somebody broadcasting, it's just an expensive night-light."
"Right. So where is it?"
"Uptown," Jack said. "Or maybe farther north of here."
"Because that's the way it keeps running?"
"Got to be," he said, taking the chassis from her. " 'Whither away, fair
rover, and what thy quest?' Remember?"
Jack put it on the floor and let it arc across the carpet to end bumping its
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front end on the uptown wall.
"I think no, I'msure its quest is the transmitter."
"So what are you going to do? Put it down on Fifth Avenue and follow it
uptown?"
"No& I've got a better idea." He retrieved the chassis and turned off the
motor. "Is there a back way out of here?"
"Yes. Ask Raymond. He'll show you."
"Swell. See you later." He stopped at the door and turned. "Hey, I almost
forgot. How's the little guy the one with the haircut?"
"Hector Lopez?" Alicia said, looking away, not wanting to see his face. "He
died this morning."
"Aw," Jack said, more of a sigh than a word. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah," Alicia said through her constricting throat. "He was a good little
guy."
And then, as precipitously as he'd arrived, Jack was gone, leaving the toy
Rover's black plastic body on her desk.
Alicia swallowed to loosen her throat, then let Hector fade from her mind as
she remembered the key they'd found along with the truck last night last
night? Had it only been last night? She wondered if Jack had learned what lock
it fit.
And then the possibility of broadcast power took over. How many billions
might something like that be worth? She thought of what she could do with all
that money. She could start a foundation, find homes for kids like those at
the Center, fund research to find ways to save future Hectors.
Broadcast power& the power to change the world& hers&
Hers because that man& that monster& had left it to her&
Alicia closed her eyes. She didn't want anything that man had
touched.Anything . He had to have known that. So why had he left her this? Was
he laughing now from his spot in the darkest, coldest, nastiest corner of
hell?
She picked up the Rover body and hurled it against the wall.
9.
Jack bought a good compass and started in his own apartment. He marked the
truck's starting point at the downtown end of his living room and ran a string
to where it ended up against the uptown wall. He checked that and found that
the string ran a few degrees west of due north. He unfolded his brand-new map
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