That was the moment she cracked up. She was in a cafe somewhere. Rickmansworth. Don’t know what she was doing there, but that was where she cracked up. Apparently she stood up, calmly announced that she had undergone some extraordinary revelation or something, wobbled a bit, looked confused, and finally collapsed screaming into an egg sandwich.
Arthur winced.
I’m very sorry to hear that, he said a little stiffly.
Russell made a sort of grumping noise.
So what, said Arthur in an attempt to piece things together, was the CIA agent doing in the reservoir?
Bobbing up and down of course. He was dead.
But what…
Come on, you remember all that stuff. The hallucinations. Everyone said it was a cock up, the CIA trying experiments into drug warfare or something. Some crackpot theory that instead of invading a country it would be much cheaper and more effective to make everyone think they’d been invaded.
What hallucinations were those exactly?… said Arthur in a rather quiet voice.
What do you mean, what hallucinations? I’m talking about all that stuff with the big yellow ships, everyone going crazy and saying we’re going to die, and then pop, they vanished as the effect wore off. The CIA denied it which meant it must be true.
Arthur’s head went a little swimmy. His hand grabbed at something to steady himself, and gripped it tightly. His mouth made little opening and closing movements as if it was on his mind to say something, but nothing emerged.
Anyway, continued Russell, whatever drug it was it didn’t seem to wear off so fast with Fenny. I was all for suing the CIA, but a lawyer friend of mine said it would be like trying to attack a lunatic asylum with a banana, so… He shrugged.
The Vogon… squeaked Arthur. The yellow ships… vanished?
Well, of course they did, they were hallucinations, said Russell, and looked at Arthur oddly. You trying to say you don’t remember any of this? Where have you been for heaven’s sake?
This was, to Arthur, such an astonishingly good question that he half-leapt out of his seat with shock.
Christ!!! yelled Russell, fighting to control the car which was suddenly trying to skid. He pulled it out of the path of an oncoming lorry and swerved up on to a grass bank. As the car lurched to a halt, the girl in the back was thrown against Russell’s seat and collapsed awkwardly.
Arthur twisted round in horror.
Is she all right? he blurted out.
Russell swept his hands angrily back through his blow-dried hair. He tugged at his blond moustache. He turned to Arthur.
Would you please, he said, let go of the handbrake?