386 | John W. Warner IV hat gave her more from a woven swastika-festooned basket. Thanks, old man. We were a bit lacking. Love the headgear. Alice gulped and peeled. Tastes like mangoes, champagne, and coconut. A band of long horns and drums erupted. Chanting ensued. A vibratory celebration. Porsche, Klemperer, Gerlach and Gwafa slurped vegetable soup at a large table under a colorful tarp lean-to. Delicious! Gott be praised. We should unload the Kubel and go for a reconnaissance, said Porsche. The other men made grunting sounds, starving animals filling their bellies. Warm. Must be twenty-five or so, said Klemperer, removing his stained tunic. Gwafa tilted the whole bowl and chugged it down. Alice dug into a bowl of warm green soup proffered by an elderly woman with a long copper ladle. Tastes like a Parisian pea soup with mint and cilantro, and this flat bread seems to be made of lentils. Spilling a little, she looked to the ground. Bit odd. Beans…wheres our shadows? Bea looked up. Well, the suns at twelve oclock high, must be noonish. She looked far and wide. Everythings lit up equally, see those fruit trees? Youre right, I see no shadows. Oh, who cares? I say, no meat to be had anywhere? Thats downright uncivilized. A half-hour later Gerlach and Porsche flew off towards the mountains in the electric Kubel with a high-pitched whine. Alice put palm to forehead. In the distance she saw three dots approaching at fifty feet altitude. Incoming bogies. Bea strained her eyes. Not any aircraft I recognize, and thats all the Japs have to myknowledge. Theyre… Foo-Fighters! exclaimed Alice. I suppose the antigravity party is growing in popularity by the day. Three silent spheres arrived, their outer hulls burning bright white in the sunlight with no shadows. Hemispheres and protrusions of all sizes that shined like mother of pearl glowed a soft pink, with six icosahedrons protruding from the hulls in equidistant placement. No windows could be seen. They hovered, then one of them maneuvered towards the open cargo hold and extended a transparent tube that melded to the door like warmed rubber. Locals carrying Bernie and Shafer loaded them into their sphere ship.