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time from their car; out of sight of any butdistant cities until they had reached Los Angeles at the end of thepatrol. Then a five-day resupply and briefing period and back ontoanother thruway.

  During the coming patrol they would cross ten state lines as if theydidn't exist. And as far as thruway traffic control and authority wasconcerned, state and national boundaries actually didn't exist. Withthe growth of the old interstate highway system and the Alcan Highwayit became increasingly evident that variation in motor vehicle lawsfrom state to state and country to country were creating impossiblesituations for any uniform safety control.

  * * * * *

  With the establishment of the Continental Thruway System two decadeslater, came the birth of the supra-cop--The North American ThruwayPatrol, known as NorCon. Within the five-mile bands of thethruways--all federally-owned land by each of the three nations--theblue-coveralled "Continental Commandos" of NorCon were the sole lawenforcement agency and authority. Violators of thruway law were citedinto NorCon district traffic courts located in the nearest city toeach access port along every thruway.

  There was no challenge to the authority of NorCon. Public demand forfaster and more powerful vehicles had forced the automotive industryto put more and more power under the touch of the ever-growingmillions of drivers crowding the continent's roads. Piston drive gaveway to turbojet; turbojet was boosted by a modification of ram jet andair-cushion drive was added. In the last two years, the first of thenuclear reaction mass engines had hit the roads. Even as the hotFerraris and Jags of the mid-'60s would have been suicide vehicles onthe T-model roads of the '20s so would today's vehicles be on theinterstates of the '60s. But building roads capable of handling threehundred to four hundred miles an hour speeds was beyond the financialand engineering capabilities of individual states and nations. Thusgrew the continental thruways with their four speed lanes in eachdirection, each a half-mile wide separated east and west and north andsouth by a half-mile-wide landscaped divider. Under the Three NationCompact, the thruways now wove a net across the entire North Americancontinent.

  On the big wall map, NAT 26-west showed as four colored lines; blueand yellow as the two high and ultra-high speed lanes; green and whitefor the intermediate and slow lanes. Between the blue and yellow andthe white and green was a red band. This was the police emergencylane, never used by other than official vehicles and crossed by thetraveling public shifting from one speed lane to another only atsweeping crossovers.

  The dispatcher picked up an electric pointer and aimed the light beamat the map. Referring to his notes, he began to recite.

  "Resurfacing crews working on 26-W blue at milestone Marker 185 toMarker 187, estimated clearance 0300 hours Tuesday--Let's see, that'stomorrow morning."

  The two officers were writing the information down on theirtrip-analysis sheets.

  "Ohio State is playing Cal under the lights at Columbus tonight so youcan expect a traffic surge sometime shortly after 2300 hours but mostof it will stay in the green and white. Watch out for the drunksthough. They might filter out onto the blue or yellow.

  "The crossover for NAT 163 has painting crews working. Might watch outfor any crud on the roadway. And they've got the entrance blockedthere so that all 163 exchange traffic is being rerouted to 164 westof Chillicothe."

  The dispatcher thumbed through his reference sheets. "That seems to beabout all. No, wait a minute. This is on your trick. The Army's got apriority missile convoy moving out of the Aberdeen Proving Groundsbound for the west coast tonight at 1800 hours. It will be moving atgreen lane speeds so you might watch out for it. They'll havethirty-four units in the convoy. And that is all. Oh, yes. Kelly'salready aboard. I guess you know about the weather."

  Martin nodded. "Yup. We should be hitting light snows by 2300 hourstonight in this area and it could be anything from snow to ice-rainafter that." He grinned at his younger partner. "The vacation is over,sonny. Tonight we make a man out of you."

  Ferguson grinned back. "Nuts to you, pop. I've got character witnessesback in Edmonton who'll give you glowing testimonials about mymanhood."

  "Testimonials aren't legal unless they're given by adults," Martinretorted. "Come on, lover boy. Duty calls."

  Clay carefully embraced his armload of bundles and the two officersturned to leave. The dispatcher leaned across the counter.

  "Oh, Ferguson, one thing I forgot. There's some light corrugations inred lane just east of St. Louis. You might be careful with yoursouffles in that area. Wouldn't want them to fall, you know."

  Clay paused and started to turn back. The grinning dispatcher duckedinto the back office and slammed the door.

  * * * * *

  The wind had died down by the time the troopers entered thebrilliantly lighted parking area. The temperature seemed warmer withthe lessening winds but in actuality, the mercury was dropping. Thesnow clouds to the west were much nearer and the overcast was gettingdarker.

  But under the great overhead light tubes, the parking area wasbrighter than day. A dozen huge patrol vehicles were parked on thefront "hot" line. Scores more were lined out in ranks to the back ofthe parking zone. Martin and Ferguson walked down the line of militaryblue cars. Number 56 was fifth on the line. Service mechs were justre-housing fueling lines into a ground panel as the troopers walkedup. The technician corporal was the first to speak. "All set, Sarge,"he said. "We had to change an induction jet at the last minute and Ihad the port engine running up to reline the flow. Thought I'd bettertop 'er off for you, though, before you pull out. She sounds like apurring kitten."

  He tossed the pair a waving salute and then moved out to his servicedolly where three other mechs were waiting.

  The officers paused and looked up at the bulk of the huge patrol car.

  "Beulah looks like she's been to the beauty shop and had the works,"Martin said. He reached out and slapped the maglurium plates. "Welcomehome, sweetheart. I see you've kept a candle in the window for yourwandering son." Ferguson looked up at the lighted cab, sixteen feetabove the pavement.

  Car 56--Beulah to her team--was a standard NorCon Patrol vehicle. Shewas sixty feet long, twelve feet wide and twelve feet high; topped bya four-foot-high bubble canopy over her cab. All the way across hernose was a three-foot-wide luminescent strip. This was the variablebeam headlight that could cut a day-bright swath of light throughnight, fog, rain or snow and could be varied in intensity, width andelevation. Immediately above the headlight strip were two red-blackplastic panels which when lighted, sent out a flashing red emergencysignal that could be seen for miles. Similar emergency lights andback-up white light strips adorned Beulah's stern. Her bow roundeddown like an old-time tank and blended into the track assembly of herdual propulsion system. With the exception of the cabin bubble and atwo-foot stepdown on the last fifteen feet of her hull, Beulah wasfree of external protrusions. Racked into a flush-decked recess on oneside of the hull was a crane arm with a two-hundred-ton lift capacity.Several round hatches covered other extensible gear and periscopesused in the scores of multiple operations the NorCon cars were calledupon to accomplish on routine road patrols.

  Beulah resembled a gigantic offspring of a military tank, sans heavyarmament. But even a small stinger was part of the patrol carequipment. As for armament, Beulah had weapons to meet everyconceivable skirmish in the deadly battle to keep Continental Thruwaysfast-moving and safe. Her own two-hundred-fifty-ton bulk could reachspeeds of close to six hundred miles an hour utilizing one or both ofher two independent propulsion systems.

  At ultra-high speeds, Beulah never touched the ground--floating on animpeller air cushion and driven forward by a pair of one hundred fiftythousand pound thrust jets and ram jets. At intermediate high speeds,both her air cushion and the four-foot-wide tracks on each side of thecar pushed her along at two hundred-mile-an-hour-plus speeds. Synchromechanisms reduced the air cushion as the speeds dropped to affordmore surface traction for the tracks. For slow speeds and heavy duty,
the tracks carried the burden.

  Martin thumbed open the portside ground-level cabin door.

  "I'll start the outside check," he told Clay. "You stow that garbageof yours in the galley and start on the dispensary. I'll help youafter I finish out here."

  As the younger officer entered the car and headed up the short flightof steps to the working deck, the sergeant unclipped a check listfrom the inside of the door and turned towards the stern of the bigvehicle.

  * * * * *

  Clay mounted to the work deck and turned back to the little galleyjust aft of the cab. As compact as a spaceship kitchen--as a matter offact, designed almost identically from models on the Moon run--thegalley had but three feet of open counter space. Everything else,sink, range, oven