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For a second, Alda stood as if paralyzed. "Nick brought them!" she thought. "The polícia militar! And the door's not locked!
In a moment, the door opened, but Alda had already acted. She was out of the window like a shot and soaring away. Instead of the police, it was Larissa who entered the room.
In the meantime, I realized the folly of ever quarreling with Alda.
"I'll go back and make up," I told myself.
When I entered her apartment, imagine my shock.
"Larissa!" I cried. "What are you doing here? Where's Alda?"
She told me about Alda's sudden departure.
"What?" I roared. "She jumped her parole? Deserted?"
Larissa looked thoughtful. "Poço! So that's it!" I had said too much and, well, Larisssa knew it.
By this time Alda was flashing westward through the night, far beyond the city. At last she alighted in a field. "Que!?" she thought in sudden fright. "Oh, a haystack! I was afraid I had landed beside a house."
At this very moment, Larissa was at military headquarters. "I'll broadcast the alarm," said an officer, "and in about five minutes Alda will be the most hunted little deserter that ever has tried going A.W.O.L."
"Oh?" returned Larissa. "Magnífico!"
Soon after, with her helmet tuned in to the military broadcast band, Alda heard the alarm spread regarding her escape. She burrowed her way into the haystack to hide.
Over the horizon, a great airliner loomed. "The Polynesian Express!" exclaimed Alda in a low whisper.
It had not yet gathered full speed, and as it flashed overhead Alda swept up towards it. "If I can only make it without been spotted!
Faster and faster went the ship. Alda darted after it, and with a final convulsive burst of speed, she pulled up to it. Then she fought her way along the top of the ship to a sheltered spot behind the cabin.
At last, as the great ship tornadoed over Hilo, Alda loosened her hold.
"I'll drop off here," she thought. "It's barely dawn, and I won't be seen as I drift down."
She bought a disguise and got herself a job in the great radio exchange high on the slopes of Mauna Kea. As the weeks passed, she listened for news of the Asternoids in vain.
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