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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17870-h.zip b/17870-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..65eefff --- /dev/null +++ b/17870-h.zip diff --git a/17870-h/17870-h.htm b/17870-h/17870-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..94b4c78 --- /dev/null +++ b/17870-h/17870-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5831 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Operation Terror, by Murray Leinster. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + +a[name] {position:absolute;} + + a:link {color:#0000ff; text-decoration:none} + link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:#ff0000} + + + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + + + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Operation Terror, by William Fitzgerald Jenkins + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Operation Terror + +Author: William Fitzgerald Jenkins + +Release Date: February 27, 2006 [EBook #17870] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OPERATION TERROR *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Geoffrey Kidd, Sankar Viswanathan, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + + + + + + + +<h1>OPERATION<br /> +TERROR</h1> + + +<h2>Murray Leinster</h2> + + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> + + + +<h2>CHAPTER 1</h2> +<p>On the morning the radar reported something odd out in space, Lockley +awoke at about twenty minutes to eight. That was usual. He'd slept in +a sleeping bag on a mountain-flank with other mountains all around. +That was not unprecedented. He was there to make a base line +measurement for a detailed map of the Boulder Lake National Park, +whose facilities were now being built. Measuring a base line, even +with the newest of electronic apparatus, was more or less a +commonplace job for Lockley.</p> + +<p>This morning, though, he woke and realized gloomily that he'd dreamed +about Jill Holmes again, which was becoming a habit he ought to break. +He'd only met her four times and she was going to marry somebody else. +He had to stop.</p> + +<p>He stirred, preparatory to getting up. At the same moment, certain +things were happening in places far away from him. As yet, no unusual +object in space had been observed. That would come later. But far away +up at the Alaskan radar complex a man on duty watch was relieved by +another. The relief man took over the monitoring of the giant, +football-field-sized radar antenna that recorded its detections on +magnetic tape. It happened that on this particular morning only one +other radar watched the skies along a long stretch of the Pacific +Coast. There was the Alaskan installation, and the other was in Oregon. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>It was extremely unusual for only those two to be operating. The +people who knew about it, or most of them, thought that official +orders had somehow gone astray. Where the orders were issued, nothing +out of the ordinary appeared. All was normal, for example, in the +Military Information Center in Denver. The Survey saw nothing unusual +in Lockley's being at his post, and other men at places corresponding +to his in the area which was to become Boulder Lake National Park. It +also seemed perfectly natural that there should be bulldozer +operators, surveyors, steelworkers, concrete men and so on, all +comfortably at breakfast in the construction camp for the project. +Everything seemed normal everywhere.</p> + +<p>Up to the time the Alaskan installation reported something strange in +space, the state of things generally was neither alarming nor +consoling. But at 8:02 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> Pacific time, the situation +changed. At that time Alaska reported an unscheduled celestial object +of considerable size, high out of atmosphere and moving with +surprising slowness for a body in space. Its course was parabolic and +it would probably land somewhere in South Dakota. It might be a +bolide—a large, slow-moving meteorite. It wasn't likely, but the +entire report was improbable.</p> + +<p>The message reached the Military Information Center in Denver at 8:05 +<span class="smcap">a.m.</span> By 8:06 it had been relayed to Washington and every +plane on the Pacific Coast was ordered aloft. The Oregon radar unit +reported the same object at 8:07 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> It said the object was +seven hundred fifty miles high, four hundred miles out at sea, and was +headed toward the Oregon coastline, moving northwest to southeast. +There was no major city in its line of travel. The impact point +computed by the Oregon station was nowhere near South Dakota. As other +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>computations followed other observations, a second place of fall was +calculated, then a third. Then the Oregon radar unbelievably reported +that the object was decelerating. Allowing for deceleration, three +successive predictions of its landing point agreed. The object, said +these calculations, would come to earth somewhere near Boulder Lake, +Colorado, in what was to become a national park. Impact time should be +approximately 8:14 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span></p> + +<p>These events followed Lockley's awakening in the wilds, but he knew +nothing of any of them. He himself wasn't near the lake, which was to +be the center of a vacation facility for people who liked the +outdoors. The lake was almost circular and was a deep, rich blue. It +occupied what had been the crater of a volcano millions of years ago. +Already bulldozers had ploughed out roads to it through the forest. +Men worked with graders and concrete mixers on highways and on bridges +across small rushing streams. There was a camp for them. A lakeside +hotel had been designed and stakes were driven in the ground where its +foundation would eventually be poured. There were infant big-mouthed +bass in the lake and fingerling trout in many of the streams. A huge +Wild Life Control trailer-truck went grumbling about such trails as +were practical, attending to these matters. Yesterday Lockley had seen +it gleaming in bright sunshine as it moved toward Boulder Lake on the +highway nearest to his station.</p> + +<p>But that was yesterday. This morning he awoke under a pale gray sky. +There was complete cloud cover overhead. He smelled conifers and +woods-mould and mountain stone in the morning. He heard the faint +sound of tree branches moving in the wind. He noted the cloud cover. +The clouds were high, though. The air at ground level was perfectly +transparent. He turned his head and saw a prospect that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> made being in +the wilderness seem entirely reasonable and satisfying.</p> + +<p>Mountains reared up in every direction. A valley lay some thousands of +feet below him, and beyond it other valleys, and somewhere a stream +rushed white water to an unknown destination. Not many wake to such a +scene.</p> + +<p>Lockley regarded it, but without full attention. He was preoccupied +with thoughts of Jill Holmes, and unfortunately she was engaged to +marry Vale, who was also working in the park some thirty miles to the +northeast, near Boulder Lake itself. Lockley didn't know him well +since he was new in the Survey. He was up there to the northeast with +an electronic survey instrument like Lockley's and on the same job. +Jill had an assignment from some magazine or other to write an article +on how national parks are born, and she was staying at the +construction camp to gather material. She'd learned something from +Vale and much from the engineers while Lockley had tried to think of +interesting facts himself. He'd failed. When he thought about her, he +thought about the fact that she was engaged to Vale. That was an +unhappy thought. Then he tried to stop thinking about her altogether. +But his mind somehow lingered on the subject.</p> + +<p>At ten minutes to eight Lockley began to dress, wilderness fashion. He +began by putting on his hat. It had lain on the pile of garments by +his bed. Then he donned the rest of his garments in the exact reverse +of the order in which he'd removed them.</p> + +<p>At 8:00 he had a small fire going. He had no premonition that anything +out of the ordinary was going to happen that day. This was still +before the first Alaskan report. At 8:10 he had bacon sizzling and a +small coffeepot almost enveloped by the flames. Events occurred and he +knew nothing at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> all about them. For example, the Military Information +Center had been warned of what was later privately called Operation +Terror while Lockley was still tranquilly cooking breakfast and +thinking—frowning a little—about Jill.</p> + +<p>Naturally he knew nothing of emergency orders sending all planes +aloft. He wasn't informed about something reported in space and +apparently headed for an impact point at Boulder Lake. As the computed +impact time arrived, Lockley obliviously dumped coffee into his tin +coffeepot and put it back on the flames.</p> + +<p>At 8:13 instead of 8:14—this information is from the tape +records—there was an extremely small earth shock recorded by the +Berkeley, California, seismograph. It was a very minor shock, about +the intensity of the explosion of a hundred tons of high explosive a +very long distance away and barely strong enough to record its +location, which was Boulder Lake. The cause of that explosion or shock +was not observed visually. There'd been no time to alert observers, +and in any case the object should have been out of atmosphere until +the last few seconds of its fall, and where it was reported to fall +the cloud cover was unbroken. So nobody reported seeing it. Not at +once, anyhow, and then only one man.</p> + +<p>Lockley did not feel the impact. He was drinking a cup of coffee and +thinking about his own problems. But a delicately balanced rock a +hundred yards below his camp site toppled over and slid downhill. It +started a miniature avalanche of stones and rocks. The loose stuff did +not travel far, but the original balanced rock bounced and rolled for +some distance before it came to rest.</p> + +<p>Echoes rolled between the hillsides, but they were not very loud and +they soon ended. Lockley guessed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> automatically at half a dozen +possible causes for the small rock-slide, but he did not think at all +of an unperceived temblor from a shock like high explosives going off +thirty miles away.</p> + +<p>Eight minutes later he heard a deep-toned roaring noise to the +northeast. It was unbelievably low-pitched. It rolled and reverberated +beyond the horizon. The detonation of a hundred tons of high +explosives or an equivalent impact can be heard for thirty miles, but +at that distance it doesn't sound much like an explosion.</p> + +<p>He finished his breakfast without enjoyment. By that time well over +three-quarters of the Air Force on the Pacific Coast was airborne and +more planes shot skyward instant after instant. Inevitably the +multiplied air traffic was noted by civilians. Reporters began to +telephone airbases to ask whether a practice alert was on, or +something more serious.</p> + +<p>Such questions were natural, these days. All the world had the +jitters. To the ordinary observer, the prospects looked bad for +everything but disaster. There was a crisis in the United Nations, +which had been reorganized once and might need to be shuffled again. +There was a dispute between the United States and Russia over +satellites recently placed in orbit. They were suspected of carrying +fusion bombs ready to dive at selected targets on signal. The Russians +accused the Americans, and the Americans accused the Russians, and +both may have been right.</p> + +<p>The world had been so edgy for so long that there were fallout +shelters from Chillicothe, Ohio, to Singapore, Malaya, and back again. +There were permanent trouble spots at various places where practically +anything was likely to happen at any instant. The people of every +nation were jumpy. There was constant pressure on governments and on +political parties so that all governments looked shaky and all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +parties helpless. Nobody could look forward to a peaceful old age, and +most hardly hoped to reach middle age. The arrival of an object from +outer space was nicely calculated to blow the emotional fuses of whole +populations.</p> + +<p>But Lockley ate his breakfast without premonitions. Breezes blew and +from every airbase along the coast fighting planes shot into the air +and into formations designed to intercept anything that flew on wings +or to launch atom-headed rockets at anything their radars could detect +that didn't.</p> + +<p>At eight-twenty, Lockley went to the electronic base line instrument +which he was to use this morning. It was a modification of the devices +used to clock artificial satellites in their orbits and measure their +distance within inches from hundreds of miles away. The purpose was to +make a really accurate map of the park. There were other instruments +in other line-of-sight positions, very far away. Lockley's schedule +called for them to measure their distances from each other some time +this morning. Two were carefully placed on bench marks of the +continental grid. In twenty minutes or so of cooperation, the +distances of six such instruments could be measured with astonishing +precision and tied in to the bench marks already scattered over the +continent. Presently photographing planes would fly overhead, taking +overlapping pictures from thirty thousand feet. They would show the +survey points and the measurements between them would be exact, the +photos could be used as stereo-pairs to take off contour lines, and in +a few days there would be a map—a veritable cartographer's dream for +accuracy and detail.</p> + +<p>That was the intention. But though Lockley hadn't heard of it yet, +something was reported to have landed from space, and a shock like an +impact<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> was recorded, and all conditions would shortly be changed. It +would be noted from the beginning, however, that an impact equal to a +hundred-ton explosion was a very small shock for the landing of a +bolide. It would add to the plausibility of reported deceleration, +though, and would arouse acute suspicion. Justly so.</p> + +<p>At 8:20, Lockley called Sattell who was southeast of him. The +measuring instruments used microwaves and gave readings of distance by +counting cycles and reading phase differences. As a matter of +convenience the microwaves could be modulated by a microphone, so the +same instrument could be used for communication while measurements +went on. But the microwaves were directed in a very tight beam. The +device had to be aimed exactly right and a suitable reception +instrument had to be at the target if it was to be used at all. Also, +there was no signal to call a man to listen. He had to be listening +beforehand, and with his instrument aimed right, too.</p> + +<p>So Lockley flipped the modulator switch and turned on the instrument. +He said patiently, "Calling Sattell. Calling Sattell. Lockley calling +Sattell."</p> + +<p>He repeated it some dozens of times. He was about to give it up and +call Vale instead when Sattell answered. He'd slept a little later +than Lockley. It was now close to nine o'clock. But Sattell had +expected the call. They checked the functioning of their instruments +against each other.</p> + +<p>"Right!" said Lockley at last. "I'll check with Vale and on out of the +park, and then we'll put it all together and wrap it up and take it +home."</p> + +<p>Sattell agreed. Lockley, rather absurdly, felt uncomfortable because +he was going to have to talk to Vale. He had nothing against the man, +but Vale<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> was, in a way, his rival although Jill didn't know of his +folly and Vale could hardly guess it.</p> + +<p>He signed off to Sattell and swung the base line instrument to make a +similar check with Vale. It was now ten minutes after nine. He aligned +the instrument accurately, flipped the switch, and began to say as +patiently as before, "Calling Vale. Calling Vale. Lockley calling +Vale. Over."</p> + +<p>He turned the control for reception. Vale's voice came instantly, +scratchy and hoarse and frantic.</p> + +<p>"<i>Lockley! Listen to me! There's no time to tell me anything. I've got +to tell you. Something came down out of the sky here nearly an hour +ago. It landed in Boulder Lake, and at the last instant there was a +terrific explosion and a monstrous wave swept up the shores of the +lake. The thing that came down vanished under water. I saw it, +Lockley!</i>"</p> + +<p>Lockley blinked. "Wha-a-at?"</p> + +<p>"<i>A thing came down out of the sky!</i>" panted Vale. "<i>It landed in the +lake with a terrific explosion. It went under. Then it came up to the +surface minutes later. It floated. It stuck things up and out of +itself, pipes or wires. Then it moved around the lake and came in to +the shore. A thing like a hatch opened and ... creatures got out of +it. Not men!</i>"</p> + +<p>Lockley blinked again. "Look here—"</p> + +<p>"<i>Dammit, listen!</i>" said Vale shrilly, "<i>I'm telling you what I've +seen. Things out of the sky. Creatures that aren't men. They landed +and set up something on the shore. I don't know what it is. Do you +understand? The thing is down there in the lake now. Floating. I can +see it!</i>"</p> + +<p>Lockley swallowed. He couldn't believe this immediately. He knew +nothing of radar reports or the seismograph record. He'd seen a barely +balanced rock roll down the mountainside below him, and he'd heard a +growling bass rumble behind the horizon,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> but things like that didn't +add up to a conclusion like this! His first conviction was that Vale +was out of his head.</p> + +<p>"Listen," said Lockley carefully. "There's a short wave set over at +the construction camp. They use it all the time for orders and reports +and so on. You go there and report officially what you've seen. To the +Park Service first, and then try to get a connection through to the +Army."</p> + +<p>Vale's voice came through again, at once raging and despairing, "<i>They +won't believe me. They'll think I'm a crackpot. You get the news to +somebody who'll investigate. I see the thing, Lockley. I can see it +now. At this instant. And Jill's over at the construction camp</i>—"</p> + +<p>Lockley was unreasonably relieved. If Jill was at the camp, at least +she wasn't alone with a man gone out of his mind. The reaction was +normal. Lockley had seen nothing out of the ordinary, so Vale's report +seemed insane.</p> + +<p>"<i>Listen here!</i>" panted Vale again. "<i>The thing came down. There was a +terrific explosion. It vanished. Nothing happened for a while. Then it +came up and found a place where it could come to shore. Things came +out of it. I can't describe them. They're motes even in my binoculars. +But they aren't human! A lot of them came out. They began to land +things. Equipment. They set it up. I don't know what it is. Some of +them went exploring. I saw a puff of steam where something moved. +Lockley?</i>"</p> + +<p>"I'm listening," said Lockley. "Go on!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Report this!</i>" ordered Vale feverishly. "<i>Get it to Military +Information in Denver, or somewhere! The party of creatures that went +off exploring hasn't come back. I'm watching. I'll report whatever I +see. Get this to the government. This is real. I can't believe it, but +I see it. Report it, quick!</i>"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> + +<p>His voice stopped. Lockley painfully realigned the instrument again +for Sattell, thirty miles to the southeast.</p> + +<p>Sattell surprisingly answered the first call. He said in an astonished +voice, "<i>Hello! I just got a call from Survey. It seems that the Army +knew there was a Survey team in here, and they called to say that +radars had spotted something coming down from space, right after eight +o'clock. They wanted to know if any of us supposedly sane observers +noticed anything peculiar about that time.</i>"</p> + +<p>Lockley's scalp crawled suddenly. Vale's report had disturbed him, but +more for the man's sanity than anything else. But it could be true! +And instantly he remembered that Jill was very near the place where +frighteningly impossible things were happening.</p> + +<p>"Vale just told me," said Lockley, his voice unsteady, "that he saw +something come down. His story was so wild I didn't believe it. But +you pass it on and say that Vale's watching it. He's waiting for +instructions. He'll report everything he sees. I'm thirty miles from +him, but he can see the thing that came down. Maybe the creatures in +it can see him. Listen!"</p> + +<p>He repeated just what Vale had told him. Somehow, telling it to +someone else, it seemed at once even less real but more horrifying as +a possible danger to Jill. It didn't strike him forcibly that other +people were endangered, too.</p> + +<p>When Sattell signed off to forward the report, Lockley found himself +sweating a little. Something had come down out of space. The fact +seemed to him dangerous and appalling. His mind revolted at the idea +of non-human creatures who could build ships and travel through space, +but radars had reported the arrival of a ship, and there were official +inquiries that nearly matched Vale's account, which was there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>fore not +a mere crackpot claim to have seen the incredible. Something had +happened and more was likely to, and Jill was in the middle of it.</p> + +<p>He swung the instrument back to Vale's position. His hands shook, +though a part of his mind insisted obstinately that alarms were +commonplace these days, and in common sense one had to treat them as +false cries of "Wolf!" But one knew that some day the wolf might +really come. Perhaps it had....</p> + +<p>Lockley found it difficult to align the carrier beam to Vale's exact +location. He assured himself that he was a fool to be afraid; that if +disaster were to come it would be by the imbecilities of men rather +than through creatures from beyond the stars. And therefore....</p> + +<p>But there were other men at other places who felt less skepticism. The +report from Vale went to the Military Information Center and thence to +the Pentagon. Meanwhile the Information Center ordered a +photo-reconnaissance plane to photograph Boulder Lake from aloft. In +the Pentagon, hastily alerted staff officers began to draft orders to +be issued if the report of two radars and one eye-witness should be +further substantiated. There were such-and-such trucks available here, +and such-and-such troops available there. Complicated paper work was +involved in the organization of any movement of troops, but especially +to carry out a plan not at all usual in the United States.</p> + +<p>Everything, though, depended on what the reconnaissance plane +photographs might show.</p> + +<p>Lockley did not see the plane nor consciously hear it. There was the +faintest of murmuring noises in the sky. It moved swiftly toward the +north, tending eastward. The plane that made the noise was invisible. +It flew above the cloud cover which still blotted out nearly all the +blue overhead. It went on and on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> and presently died out beyond the +mountains toward Boulder Lake.</p> + +<p>Lockley tried to get Vale back, to tell him that radars had verified +his report and that it would be acted on by the military. But though +he called and called, there was no answer.</p> + +<p>An agonizingly long time later the faint and disregarded sound of the +plane swept back across the heavens. Lockley still did not notice it. +He was too busy with his attempts to reach Vale again, and with grisly +imaginings of what might be done by aliens from another world when +they found the workmen near the lake—and Jill among them. He pictured +alien monsters committing atrocities in what they might consider +scientific examination of terrestrial fauna. But somehow even that was +less horrible than the images that followed an assumption that the +occupants of the spaceship might be men.</p> + +<p>"Calling Vale ... Vale, come in!" He fiercely repeated the call into +the instrument's microphone. "Lockley calling Vale! Come in, man! Come +in!"</p> + +<p>He flipped the switch and listened. And Vale's voice came.</p> + +<p>"<i>I'm here.</i>" The voice shook. "<i>I've been trying to find where that +exploring party went.</i>"</p> + +<p>Lockley threw the speech switch and said sharply, "The Army asked +Survey if any of us had seen anything come down from the sky. I gave +Sattell your report to be forwarded. It's gone to the Pentagon now. +Two radars reported tracking the thing down to a landing near you. Now +listen! You go to the construction camp. Most likely they'll get +orders to clear out, by short wave. But you go there! Make sure Jill's +all right. See her to safety."</p> + +<p>The switch once more. Vale's voice was desperate.</p> + +<p>"<i>A ... while ago a party of the creatures started away from the lake. +An exploring party, I think. Once I saw a puff of steam as if they'd +used a weapon. I'm afraid they may find the construction camp, and +Jill</i>...."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p> +<p>Lockley ground his teeth. Vale said unsteadily, "<i>I ... can't find +where they went.... A little while ago their ship backed out into the +lake and sank. Deliberately! I don't know why. But there's a party of +those ... creatures out exploring! I don't know what they'll do</i>...."</p> + +<p>Lockley said savagely, "Get to the camp and look after Jill! The +workmen may have panicked. The Army'll know by this time what's +happened. They'll send copters to get you out. They'll send help of +some sort, somehow. But you look after Jill!"</p> + +<p>Vale's voice changed.</p> + +<p>"<i>Wait. I heard something. Wait!</i>"</p> + +<p>Silence. Around Lockley there were the usual sounds of the wilderness. +Insects made chirping noises. Birds called. There were those small +whispering and rustling and high-pitched sounds which in the wild +constitute stillness.</p> + +<p>A scraping sound from the speaker. Vale's voice, frantic.</p> + +<p>"<i>That ... exploring party. It's here! They must have picked up our +beams. They're looking for me. They've sighted me! They're coming</i>...."</p> + +<p>There was a crashing sound as if Vale had dropped the communicator. +There were pantings, and the sound of blows, and gasped +profanity—horror-filled profanity—in Vale's voice. Then something +roared.</p> + +<p>Lockley listened, his hands clenched in fury at his own helplessness. +He thought he heard movements. Once he was sure he heard a sound like +the unshod hoof of an animal on bare stone. Then, quite distinctly, he +heard squeakings. He knew that someone or something had picked up +Vale's communicator. More squeakings, somehow querulous. Then +some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>thing pounded the communicator on the ground. There was a crash. +Then silence.</p> + +<p>Almost calmly Lockley swung his instrument around and lined it up for +Sattell's post. He called in a steady voice until Sattell answered. He +reported with meticulous care just what Vale had said, and what he'd +heard after Vale stopped speaking—the roaring, the sound of blows and +gasps, then the squeakings and the destruction of the instrument +intended for the measurement of base lines for an accurate map of the +Park.</p> + +<p>Sattell grew agitated. At Lockley's insistence, he wrote down every +word. Then he said nervously that orders had come from Survey. The +Army wanted everybody out of the Boulder Lake area. Vale was to have +been ordered out. The workmen were ordered out. Lockley was to get out +of the area as soon as possible.</p> + +<p>When Sattell signed off, Lockley switched off the communicator. He put +it where it would be relatively safe from the weather. He abandoned +his camping equipment. A mile downhill and four miles west there was a +highway leading to Boulder Lake. When the Park was opened to the +public it would be well used, but the last traffic he'd seen was the +big trailer-truck of the Wild Life Control service. That huge vehicle +had gone up to Boulder Lake the day before.</p> + +<p>He made his way to the highway, following a footpath to the spot where +he'd left his own car parked. He got into it and started the motor. He +moved with a certain dogged deliberation. He knew, of course, that +what he was going to do was useless. It was hopeless. It was possibly +suicidal. But he went ahead.</p> + +<p>He headed northward, pushing the little car to its top speed. This was +not following his instructions. He wasn't leaving the Park area. He +was heading<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> for Boulder Lake. Jill was there and he would feel +ashamed for all time if he acted like a sensible man and got to safety +as he was ordered.</p> + +<p>Miles along the highway, something occurred to him. The base line +instrument had to be aimed exactly right for Vale or Sattell to pick +up his voice as carried by its beam. Vale's or Sattell's instruments +had to be aimed as accurately to convey their voices to him. Yet after +the struggle he'd overheard, and after Vale had been either subdued or +killed, someone or something seemed to have picked up the +communicator, and Lockley had heard squeakings, and then he had heard +the instrument smashed.</p> + +<p>It was not easy to understand how the beam had been kept perfectly +aligned while it was picked up and squeaked at. Still less was it +understandable that it remained aimed just right so he could hear when +it was flung down and crushed.</p> + +<p>But somehow this oddity did not change his feelings. Jill could be in +danger from creatures Vale said were not human. Lockley didn't wholly +accept that non-human angle, but something was happening there and +Jill was in the middle of it. So he went to see about it for the sake +of his self-respect. And Jill. It was not reasonable behavior. It was +emotional. He didn't stop to question what was believable and what +wasn't. Lockley didn't even give any attention to the problem of how a +microwave beam could stay pointed exactly right while the instrument +that sent it was picked up, and squeaked at, and smashed. He gave that +particular matter no thought at all.</p> + +<p>He jammed down the accelerator of the car and headed for Boulder +Lake.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_2" id="CHAPTER_2"></a>CHAPTER 2</h2> + + +<p>The car was ordinary enough; it was one of those scaled-down vehicles +which burn less fuel and offer less comfort than the so-called +standard models. For fuel economy too, its speed had been lowered. But +Lockley sent it up the brand-new highway as fast as it would go.</p> + +<p>Now the highway followed a broad valley with a meadow-like floor. Now +it seemed to pick its way between cliffs, and on occasion it ran over +a concrete bridge spanning some swiftly flowing stream. At least once +it went through a cut which might as well have been a tunnel, and the +crackling noise of its motor echoed back from stony walls on either +side.</p> + +<p>He did not see another vehicle for a long way. Deer, he saw twice. +Over and over again coveys of small birds rocketed up from beside the +road and dived to cover after he had passed. Once he saw movement out +of the corner of his eye and looked automatically to see what it was, +but saw nothing. Which meant that it was probably a mountain lion, +blending perfectly with its background as it watched the car. At the +end of five miles he saw a motor truck, empty, trundling away from +Boulder Lake and the construction camp toward the outer world.</p> + +<p>The two vehicles passed, combining to make a momentary roaring noise +at their nearest. The truck was not in a hurry. It simply lumbered +along with loose objects in its cargo space rattling and bumping +loudly. Its driver and his helper plainly knew nothing of untoward +events behind them. They'd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> probably stopped somewhere to have a +leisurely morning snack, with the truck waiting for them at the +roadside.</p> + +<p>Lockley went on ten miles more. He begrudged the distances added by +curves in the road. He tended to fume when his underpowered car +noticeably slowed up on grades, and especially the long ones. He saw a +bear halfway up a hillside pause in its exploitation of a berry patch +to watch the car go by below it. He saw more deer. Once a smaller +animal, probably a coyote, dived into a patch of brushwood and stayed +hidden as long as the car remained in sight.</p> + +<p>More miles of empty highway. And then a long, straight stretch of +road, and he suddenly saw vehicles coming around the curve at the end +of it. They were not in line, singlelane, as traffic usually is on a +curve. Both lanes were filled. The road was blocked by motor-driven +traffic heading away from the lake, and not at a steady pace, but in +headlong flight.</p> + +<p>It roared on toward Lockley. Big trucks and little ones; passenger +cars in between them; a few motorcyclists catching up from the rear by +riding on the road's shoulders. They were closely packed, as if by +some freak the lead had been taken by great trucks incapable of the +road speed of those behind them, yet with the frantic rearmost cars +unable to pass. There was a humming and roaring of motors that filled +the air. They plunged toward Lockley's miniature roadster. Truck horns +blared.</p> + +<p>Lockley got off the highway and onto the right-hand shoulder. He +stopped. The crowded mass of rushing vehicles roared up to him and +went past. They were more remarkable than he'd believed. There were +dirt mover trucks. There were truck-and-trailer combinations. There +were sedans and dump trucks and even a convertible or two, and then +more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> trucks—even tank trucks—and more sedans and half-tonners—a +complete and motley collection of every kind of gasoline-driven +vehicle that could be driven on a highway and used on a construction +project.</p> + +<p>And every one was crowded with men. Trailer-trucks had their body +doors open, and they were packed with the workmen of the construction +camp near Boulder Lake. The sedans were jammed with passengers. Dirt +mover trucks had men holding fast to handholds, and there were men in +the backs of the dump trucks. The racing traffic filled the highway +from edge to edge. It rushed past, giving off a deafening roar and +clouds of gasoline fumes.</p> + +<p>They were gone, the solid mass of them at any rate. But now there came +older cars, no less crowded, and then more spacious cars, not crowded +so much and less frantically pushing at those ahead. But even these +cars passed each other recklessly. There seemed to be an almost +hysterical fear of being last.</p> + +<p>One car swung off to its left. There were five men in it. It braked +and stopped on the shoulder close to Lockley's car. The driver shouted +above the din of passing motors, "You don't want to go up there. +Everybody's ordered out. Everybody get away from Boulder Lake! When +you get the chance, turn around and get the hell away."</p> + +<p>He watched for a chance to get back on the road, having delivered his +warning. Lockley got out of his car and went over, "You're talking +about the thing that came down from the sky," he said grimly. "There +was a girl up at the camp. Jill Holmes. Writing a piece about building +a national park. Getting information about the job. Did anybody get +her away?"</p> + +<p>The man who'd warned him continued to watch for a reasonable gap in +the flood of racing cars. They weren't crowded now as they had been, +but it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> was still impossible to start in low and get back in the +stream of vehicles without an almost certain crash. Then he turned his +head back, staring at Lockley.</p> + +<p>"Hell! Somebody told me to check on her. I was routing men out and +loading 'em on whatever came by. I forgot!"</p> + +<p>A man in the back of the sedan said, "She hadn't left when we did. I +saw her. But I thought she had a ride all set."</p> + +<p>The man at the wheel said furiously, "She hasn't passed us! Unless +she's in one of these...."</p> + +<p>Lockley set his teeth. He watched each oncoming car intently. A girl +among these fugitives would have been put with the driver in the cab +of a truck, and he'd have seen a woman in any of the private cars.</p> + +<p>"If I don't see her go by," he said grimly, "I'll go up to the camp +and see if she's still there."</p> + +<p>The man in the driver's seat looked relieved.</p> + +<p>"If she's left behind, it's her fault. If you hunt for her, make it +fast and be plenty careful. Keep to the camp and stay away from the +lake. There was a hell of an explosion over there this morning. Three +men went to see what'd happened. They didn't come back. Two more went +after 'em, and something hit them on the way. They smelled something +worse than skunk. Then they were paralyzed, like they had hold of a +high-tension line. They saw crazy colors and heard crazy sounds and +they couldn't move a finger. Their car ditched. In a while they came +out of it and they came back—fast! They'd just got back when we got +short wave orders for everybody to get out. If you look for that girl, +be careful. If she's still there, you get her out quick!" Then he said +sharply, "Here's a chance for us to get going. Move out of the way!"</p> + +<p>There was a gap in the now diminishing spate of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> cars. The driver of +the stopped car drove furiously onto the highway. He shifted gears and +accelerated at the top of his car's power. Another car behind him +braked and barely avoided a crash while blowing its horn furiously. +Then the traffic went on. But it was lessening now. It was mostly +private cars, owned by the workmen.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there were no cars coming down the long straight stretch of +road. Lockley got back on the highway and resumed his rush toward the +spot the others fled from. He heard behind him the diminishing rumble +and roar of the fugitive motors. He jammed his own accelerator down to +the floor and plunged on.</p> + +<p>There'd been an explosion by the lake, the man who'd warned him said. +That checked. Three men went to see what had happened. That was +reasonable. They didn't come back. Considering what Vale had reported, +it was almost inevitable. Then two other men went to find out what +happened to the first three and—that was news! A smell that was worse +than skunk. Paralysis in a moving car, which ditched. Remaining +paralyzed while seeing crazy colors and hearing crazy sounds.... +Lockley could not even guess at an explanation. But the men had +remained paralyzed for some time, and then the sensations lifted. They +had fled back to the construction camp, evidently fearing that the +paralysis might return. Their narrative must have been hair-raising, +because when orders had come for the evacuation of the camp, they had +been obeyed with a promptitude suggesting panic. But apparently +nothing else had happened.</p> + +<p>The first three men were still missing—or at least there'd been no +mention of their return. They'd either been killed or taken captive, +judging by Vale's account and obvious experience. He was either +killed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> or captured, too, but it still seemed strange that Lockley had +heard so much of that struggle via a tight beam microwave transmitter +that needed to be accurately aimed. Vale had been captured or killed. +The three other men missing probably had undergone the same fate. The +two others had been made helpless but not murdered or taken prisoner. +They'd simply been held until when they were released they'd flee.</p> + +<p>The car went over a bridge and rounded a curve. Here a deep cut had +been made and the road ran through it. It came out upon undulating +ground where many curves were necessary.</p> + +<p>Another car came, plunging after the others. In the next ten miles +there were, perhaps a dozen more. They'd been hard to start, perhaps, +and so left later than the rest. Jill wasn't in any of them. There was +one car traveling slowly, making thumping noises. Its driver made the +best time he could, following the others.</p> + +<p>Sober common sense pointed out that Vale's account was fully verified. +There'd been a landing of non-human creatures in a ship from outer +space. The killing or capture of the first three men to investigate a +gigantic explosion was natural enough—the alien occupants of a space +ship would want to study the inhabitants of the world they'd landed +on. The mere paralysis and release of two others could be explained on +the theory that the creatures who'd come to earth were satisfied with +three specimens of the local intelligent race to study. They had Vale, +too. They weren't trying to conceal their arrival, though it would +have been impossible anyhow. But it was plausible enough that they'd +take measures to become informed about the world they'd landed on, and +when they considered that they knew enough, they'd take the action +they felt was desirable.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> + +<p>All of which was perfectly rational, but there was another +possibility. The other possible explanation was—considering +everything—more probable. And it seemed to offer even more appalling +prospects.</p> + +<p>He drove on. Jill Holmes. He'd seen her four times; she was engaged to +Vale. It seemed extremely likely that she hadn't left the camp with +the workmen. If Lockley hadn't been obsessed with her, he'd have tried +to make sure she was left behind before he tried to find her. If she +was still at the camp, she was in a dangerous situation.</p> + +<p>There'd been no other car from the camp for a long way now. But there +came a sharp curve ahead. Lockley drove into it. There was a roar, and +a car came from the opposite direction, veering away from the road's +edge. It sideswiped the little car Lockley drove. The smaller car +bucked violently and spun crazily around. It went crashing into a +clump of saplings and came to a stop with a smashed windshield and +crumpled fenders, but the motor was still running. Lockley had braked +by instinct.</p> + +<p>The other car raced away without pausing.</p> + +<p>Lockley sat still for a moment, stunned by the suddenness of the +mishap. Then he raged. He got out of the car. Because of its small +size, he thought he might be able to get it back on the road with +saplings for levers. But the job would take hours, and he was +irrationally convinced that Jill had been left behind in the +construction camp.</p> + +<p>He was perhaps five miles from Boulder Lake itself and about the same +distance from the camp. It would take less time to go to the camp on +foot than to try to get the car on the road. Time was of the essence, +and whoever or whatever the occupants of the landed ship might be, +they'd know what a road was for. They'd sight an intruder in a car on +a road long before they'd detect a man on foot who was not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> on a +highway and was taking some pains to pass unseen.</p> + +<p>He started out, unarmed and on foot. He was headed for the near +neighborhood of the thing Vale had described as coming from the sky. +He was driven by fear for Jill. It seemed to him that his best pace +was only a crawl and he desperately needed all the speed he could +muster.</p> + +<p>He headed directly across country for the camp. All the world seemed +unaware that anything out of the ordinary was in progress. Birds sang +and insects chirruped and breezes blew and foliage waved languidly. +Now and again a rabbit popped out of sight of the moving figure of the +man. But there were no sounds, or sights or indications of anything +untoward where Lockley moved. He reflected that he was on his way to +search for a girl he barely knew, and whom he couldn't be sure needed +his help anyway.</p> + +<p>Outside in the world, there were places where things were not so +tranquil. By this time there were already troops in motion in long +trains of personnel-carrying trucks. There were mobile guided missile +detachments moving at top speed across state lines and along the +express highway systems. Every military plane in the coastal area was +aloft, kept fueled by tanker planes to be ready for any sort of +offensive or defensive action that might be called for. The short wave +instructions to the construction camp had become known, and all the +world knew that Boulder Lake National Park had been evacuated to avoid +contact with non-human aliens. The aliens were reported to have hunted +men down and killed them for sport. They were reported to have +paralysis beams, death beams and poison gas. They were described as +indescribable, and described in "artist's conceptions" on television +and in the newspapers. They appeared—according to circumstances—to +re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>semble lizards or slugs. They were portrayed as carnivorous birds +and octopods. The artists took full advantage of their temporarily +greater importance than cameramen. They pictured these diverse aliens +in their one known aggressive action of trailing Vale down and +carrying him away. This was said to be for vivisection. None of the +artists' ideas were even faintly plausible, biologically. The +creatures were even portrayed as turning heat rays upon humans, who +dramatically burst into steam as the beams struck them. Obviously, +there were also artist's conceptions of women being seized by the +creatures from outer space. There was only one woman known to be in +the construction camp, but that inconvenient fact didn't bother the +artists.</p> + +<p>The United States went into a mild panic. But most people stayed on +their jobs, and followed their normal routine, and the trains ran on +time.</p> + +<p>The public in the United States had become used to newspaper and +broadcast scares. They were unconsciously relegated to the same +category as horror movies, which some day might come true, but not +yet. This particular news story seemed more frightening than most, but +still it was taken more or less as shuddery entertainment. So most of +the United States shivered with a certain amount of relish as ever new +and ever more imaginative accounts appeared describing the landing of +intelligent monsters, and waited to see if it was really true. The +truth was that most of America didn't actually believe it. It was like +a Russian threat. It could happen and it might happen, but it hadn't +happened so far to the United States.</p> + +<p>An official announcement helped to guide public opinion in this safe +channel. The Defense Department released a bulletin: An object had +fallen from space into Boulder Lake, Colorado. It was apparently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> a +large meteorite. When reported by radar before its landing, defense +authorities had seized the opportunity to use it for a test of +emergency response to a grave alarm. They had used it to trigger a +training program and test of defensive measures made ready against +other possible enemies. After the meteorite landed, the defense +measures were continued as a more complete test of the nation's +fighting forces' responsive ability. The object and its landing, +however, were being investigated.</p> + +<p>Lockley tramped up hillsides and scrambled down steep slopes with many +boulders scattered here and there. He moved through a landscape in +which nothing seemed to depart from the normal. The sun shone. The +cloud cover, broken some time since, was dissipating and now a good +two-thirds of the sky was wholly clear. The sounds of the wilderness +went on all around him.</p> + +<p>But presently he came to a partly-graded new road, cutting across his +way. A bulldozer stood abandoned on it, brand-new and in perfect +order, with the smell of gasoline and oil about it. He followed the +gash in the forest it had begun. It led toward the camp. He came to a +place where blasting had been in progress. The equipment for blasting +remained. But there was nobody in sight.</p> + +<p>Half a mile from this spot, Lockley looked down upon the camp. There +were Quonset huts and prefabricated structures. There were streets of +clay and wires from one building to another. There was a long, low, +open shed with long tables under its roof. A mess shed. Next to it +metal pipes pierced another roof, and wavering columns of heated air +rose from those pipes. There was a building which would be a +commissary. There was every kind of structure needed for a small city, +though all were temporary. And there was no movement, no sound, no +sign of life<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> except the hot air rising from the mess kitchen +stovepipes.</p> + +<p>Lockley went down into the camp. All was silence. All was lifeless. He +looked unhappily about him. There would be no point, of course, in +looking into the dormitories, but he made his way to the mess shed. +Some heavy earthenware plates and coffee cups, soiled, remained on the +table. There were a few flies. Not many. In the mess kitchen there was +grayish smoke and the reek of scorched and ruined food. The stoves +still burned. Lockley saw the blue flame of bottled gas. He went on. +The door of the commissary was open. Everything men might want to buy +in such a place waited for purchasers, but there was no one to buy or +sell.</p> + +<p>The stillness and desolation of the place resulted from less than an +hour's abandonment. But somehow it was impossible to call out loudly +for Jill. Lockley was appalled by the feeling of emptiness in such +bright sunshine. It was shocking. Men hadn't moved out of the camp. +They'd simply left it, with every article of use dropped and +abandoned; nothing at all had been removed. And there was no sign of +Jill. It occurred to Lockley that she'd have waited for Vale at the +camp, because assuredly his first thought should have been for her +safety. Yes. She'd have waited for Vale to rescue her. But Vale was +either dead or a captive of the creatures that had been in the object +from the sky. He wouldn't be looking after Jill.</p> + +<p>Lockley found himself straining his eyes at the mountain from whose +flank Vale had been prepared to measure the base line between his post +and Lockley's. That vantage point could not be seen from here, but +Lockley looked for a small figure that might be Jill, climbing +valiantly to warn Vale of the events he'd known before anybody else.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Lockley heard a very small sound. It was faint, with an irregular +rhythm in it. It had the cadence of speech. His pulse leaped suddenly. +There was the mast for the short wave set by which the camp had kept +in touch with the outer world. Lockley sprinted for the building under +it. His footsteps sounded loudly in the silent camp, and they drowned +out the sound he was heading for.</p> + +<p>He stopped at the open door. He heard Jill's voice saying anxiously, +"But I'm sure he'd have come to make certain I was safe!" A pause. +"There's no one else left, and I want...." Another pause. "But he was +up on the mountainside! At least a helicopter could—"</p> + +<p>Lockley called, "Jill!"</p> + +<p>He heard a gasp. Then she said unsteadily, "Someone just called. Wait +a moment."</p> + +<p>She came to the door. At sight of Lockley her face fell.</p> + +<p>"I came to make sure you were all right," he said awkwardly. "Are you +talking to outside?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Do you know anything about—"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I do," said Lockley. "Right now the important thing is to +get you out of here. I'll tell them we're starting. All right?"</p> + +<p>She stood aside. He went up to the short wave set which looked much +like an ordinary telephone, but was connected to a box with dials and +switches. There was a miniature pocket radio—a transistor radio—on +top of the short wave cabinet. Lockley picked up the short wave +microphone. He identified himself. He said he'd come to make sure of +Jill's safety, and that he'd been passed by the rushing mass of cars +and trucks that had evacuated everybody else. Then he said, "I've got +a car about four miles away. It's in a ditch, but I can probably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> get +it out. It'll be a lot safer for Miss Holmes if you send a helicopter +there to pick her up."</p> + +<p>The reply was somehow military in tone. It sounded like a civilian +being authoritative about something he knew nothing about. Lockley +said, "Over" in a dry tone and put down the microphone. He picked up +the pocket radio and put it in his pocket. It might be useful.</p> + +<p>"They say to try to make it out in my car," he told Jill wryly. "As +civilians, I suppose they haven't any helicopters they can give orders +to. But it probably makes sense. If there are some queer creatures +around, there's no point in stirring them up with a flying contraption +banging around near their landing place. Not before we're ready to +take real action. Come along. I've got to get you away from here."</p> + +<p>"But I'm waiting...." She looked distressed. "He wanted me to leave +yesterday. We almost quarrelled about it. He'll surely come to make +sure I'm safe...."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I have bad news," said Lockley. Then he described, as +gently as he could, his last talk with Vale. It was the one which +ended with squeaks and strugglings transmitted by the communicator, +and then the smashing of the communicator itself. He didn't mention +the puzzling fact that the communicator had stayed perfectly aimed +while it was picked up and squeaked at and destroyed. He had no +explanation for it. What he did have to tell was bad enough. She went +deathly pale, searching his face as he told her.</p> + +<p>"But—but—" She swallowed. "He might have been hurt and—not killed. +He might be alive and in need of help. If there are creatures from +somewhere else, they might not realize that he could be unconscious +and not dead! He'd make sure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> about me! I—I'll go up and make sure +about him...."</p> + +<p>Lockley hesitated. "It's not likely," he said carefully, "that he was +left there injured. But if you feel that somebody has to make sure, +I'll do it. For one thing, I can climb faster. My car is ditched back +yonder. You go and wait by it. At least it's farther from the lake and +you should be safer there. I'll make sure about Vale."</p> + +<p>He explained in detail how she could find the car. Up this hillside to +a slash through the forest for a highway. Due south from an abandoned +bulldozer. Keep out of sight. Never show against a skyline.</p> + +<p>She swallowed again. Then she said, "If he needs help, you could—do +more than I can. But I'll wait there where the woods begin. I can hide +if I need to, and I—might be of some use."</p> + +<p>He realized that she deluded herself with the hope that he, Lockley, +might bring an injured Vale down the mountainside and that she could +be useful then. He let her. He went through the camp with her to put +her on the right track. He gave her the pocket radio, so she could +listen for news. When she went on out of sight in brushwood, he turned +back toward the mountain on which Vale had occupied an observation +post. It was actually a million-year-old crater wall that he climbed +presently. And he took a considerable chance. As he climbed, for some +time he moved in plain view. If the crew of the ship in Boulder Lake +were watching, they'd see him rather than Jill. If they took action, +it would be against him and not Jill. Somehow he felt better equipped +to defend himself than Jill would be.</p> + +<p>He climbed. Again the world was completely normal, commonplace. There +were mountain peaks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> on every hand. Some had been volcanoes +originally, some had not. With each five hundred feet of climbing, he +could see still more mountains. The sky was cloudless now. He climbed +a thousand feet. Two. Three. He could see between peaks for a full +thirty miles to the spot where he'd been at daybreak. But he was +making his ascent on the back flank of this particular mountain. He +could not see Boulder Lake from there. On the other hand, no creature +at Boulder Lake should be able to see him. Only an exploring party +which might otherwise sight Jill would be apt to detect him, a slowly +moving speck against a mountainside.</p> + +<p>He reached the level at which Vale's post had been assigned. He moved +carefully and cautiously around intervening masses of stone. The wind +blew past him, making humming noises in his ears. Once he dislodged a +small stone and it went bouncing and clattering down the slope he'd +climbed.</p> + +<p>He saw where Vale could have been as he watched something come down +from the sky. He found Vale's sleeping bag, and the ashes of his +campfire. Here too was the communicator. It had been smashed by a huge +stone lifted and dropped upon it, but before that it had been moved. +It was not in place on the bench mark from which it could measure +inches in a distance of scores of miles.</p> + +<p>There was no other sign of what had apparently happened here. The +ashes of the fire were undisturbed. Vale's sleeping bag looked as if +it had not been slept in, as if it had only been spread out for the +night before. Lockley went over the rock shelf inch by inch. No red +stains which might be blood. Nothing....</p> + +<p>No. In a patch of soft earth between two stones there was a hoofprint. +It was not a footprint. A hoof had made it, but not a horse's hoof, +nor a burro's.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> It wasn't a mountain sheep track. It was not the track +of any animal known on earth. But it was here. Lockley found himself +wondering absurdly if the creature that had made it would squeak, or +if it would roar. They seemed equally unlikely.</p> + +<p>He looked cautiously down at the lake which was almost half a mile +below him. The water was utterly blue. It reflected only the crater +wall and the landscape beyond the area where the volcanic cliffs had +fallen. Nothing moved. There was no visible apparatus set up on the +shore, as Vale had said. But something had happened down in the lake. +Trees by the water's edge were bent and broken. Masses of brushwood +had been crushed and torn away. Limbs were broken down tens of yards +from the water, and there were gullies to be seen wherever there was +soft earth. An enormous wave had flung itself against the nearly +circular boundary of the lake. It had struck like a tidal wave dozens +of feet high in an inland body of water. It was extremely convincing +evidence that something huge and heavy had hurtled down from the sky.</p> + +<p>But Lockley saw no movement nor any other novelty in this wilderness. +He heard nothing that was not an entirely normal sound.</p> + +<p>But then he smelled something.</p> + +<p>It was a horrible, somehow reptilian odor. It was the stench of +jungle, dead and rotting. It was much, much worse than the smell of a +skunk.</p> + +<p>He moved to fling himself into flight. Then light blinded him. Closing +his eyelids did not shut it out. There were all colors, intolerably +vivid, and they flashed in revolving combinations and forms which +succeeded each other in fractions of seconds. He could see nothing but +this light. Then there came sound. It was raucous. It was cacophonic. +It was an utterly unorganized tumult in which musical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> notes and +discords and bellowings and shriekings were combined so as to be +unbearable. And then came pure horror as he found that he could not +move. Every inch of his body had turned rigid as it became filled with +anguish. He felt, all over, as if he were holding a charged wire.</p> + +<p>He knew that he fell stiffly where he stood. He was blinded by light +and deafened by sound and his nostrils were filled with the nauseating +fetor of jungle and decay. These sensations lasted for what seemed +years.</p> + +<p>Then all the sensations ended abruptly. But he still could not see; +his eyes were still dazzled by the lights that closing his eyelids had +not changed. He still could not hear. He'd been deafened by the sounds +that had dazed and numbed him. He moved, and he knew it, but he could +not feel anything. His hands and body felt numb.</p> + +<p>Then he sensed that the positions of his arms and legs were changed. +He struggled, blind and deaf and without feeling anywhere. He knew +that he was confined. His arms were fastened somehow so that he could +not move them.</p> + +<p>And then gradually—very gradually—his senses returned. He heard +squeakings. At first they were faint as the exhausted nerve ends in +his ears only began to regain their function. He began to regain the +sense of touch, though he felt only furriness everywhere.</p> + +<p>He was raised up. It seemed to him that claws rather than fingers +grasped him. He stood erect, swaying. His sense of balance had been +lost without his realizing it. It came back, very slowly. But he saw +nothing. Clawlike hands—or handlike claws—pulled at him. He felt +himself turned and pushed. He staggered. He took steps out of the need +to stay erect. The pushings and pullings continued. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> found himself +urged somewhere. He realized that his arms were useless because they +were wrapped with something like cord or rope.</p> + +<p>Stumbling, he responded to the urging. There was nothing else to do. +He found himself descending. He was being led somewhere which could +only be downward. He was guided, not gently, but not brutally either.</p> + +<p>He waited for sight to return to him. It did not come.</p> + +<p>It was then he realized that he could not see because he was +blindfolded.</p> + +<p>There were whistling squeaks very near him. He began helplessly to +descend the mountain, surrounded and guided and sometimes pulled by +unseen creatures.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_3" id="CHAPTER_3"></a>CHAPTER 3</h2> + + +<p>It was a long descent, made longer by the blindfold and clumsier by +his inability to move his arms. More than once Lockley stumbled. Twice +he fell. The clawlike hands or handlike claws lifted him and thrust +him on the way that was being chosen for him. There were whistling +squeaks. Presently he realized that some of them were directed at him. +A squeak or whistle in a warning tone told him that he must be +especially careful just here.</p> + +<p>He came to accept the warnings. It occurred to him that the squeaks +sounded very much like those button-shaped hollow whistles that +children put in their mouths to make strident sounds of varying pitch. +Gradually, all his senses returned to normal. Even his eyes under the +blindfold ceased to report<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> only glare blindness, and he saw those +peculiar, dissolving grayish patterns that human eyes transmit from +darkness.</p> + +<p>More squeakings. A long time later he moved over nearly level grassy +ground. He was led for possibly half a mile. He had not tried to speak +during all his descent. It would have been useless. If he was to be +killed, he would be killed. But trouble had been taken to bring him +down alive from a remaining bit of crumbling crater wall. His captors +had evidently some use for him in mind.</p> + +<p>They abruptly held him still for a long time—perhaps as much as an +hour. It seemed that either instructions were hard to come by, or some +preparation was being made. Then the sound of something or someone +approaching. Squeaks.</p> + +<p>He was led another long distance. Then claws or hands lifted him. +Metal clanked. Those who held him dropped him. He fell three or four +feet onto soft sand. There was a clanging of metal above his head.</p> + +<p>Then a human voice said sardonically, "Welcome to our city! Where'd +they catch you?"</p> + +<p>Lockley said, "Up on a mountainside, trying to see what they were +doing. Will you get me loose, please?"</p> + +<p>Hands worked on the cord that bound his arms close to his body. They +loosened. He removed the blindfold.</p> + +<p>He was in a metal-walled and metal-ceilinged vault, perhaps eight feet +wide and the same in height, and perhaps twelve feet long. It had a +floor of sand. Some small amount of light came in through the circular +hole he'd been dropped through, despite a cover on it. There were +three men already in confinement here. They wore clothing appropriate +to workmen from the construction<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> camp. There was a tall lean man, and +a broad man with a moustache, and a chunky man. The chunky man had +spoken.</p> + +<p>"Did you see any of 'em?" he demanded now.</p> + +<p>Lockley shook his head. The three looked at each other and nodded. +Lockley saw that they hadn't been imprisoned long. The sand floor was +marked but not wholly formed into footprints, as it would have been +had they moved restlessly about. Mostly, it appeared, they'd simply +sat on the sand floor.</p> + +<p>"We didn't see 'em either," said the chunky man. "There was a hell of +a explosion over at the lake this mornin'. We piled in a car—my +car—and came over to see what'd happened. Then something hit us. All +of us. Lights. Noise. A godawful stink. A feeling all over like an +electric shock that paralyzed us. We came to blindfolded and tied. +They brought us here. That's our story so far. What's happened to +you—and what really happened to us?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure," said Lockley.</p> + +<p>He hesitated. Then he told them about Vale, and what he'd reported. +They'd had no explanation at all of what had happened to them. They +seemed relieved to be informed, though the information was hardly +heartening.</p> + +<p>"Critters from Mars, eh?" said the moustached man. "I guess we'd act +the same way if we was to get to Mars. They got to figure out some way +to talk to who lives here. I guess that makes us it—unless we can +figure out something better."</p> + +<p>Lockley, by temperament, tended to anticipate worse things in the +future than had come in the past. The suggestion that the occupants of +the spaceship had captured men to learn how to communicate with them +seemed highly optimistic. He realized that he didn't believe it. It +seemed extremely unlikely that the invaders from space were entirely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +ignorant of humanity. The choice of Boulder Lake as a landing place, +for example, could not have been made from space. If there was need +for deep water to land in—which seemed highly probable—then it would +have been simple good sense to descend in the ocean. The ship could +submerge, and it could move about in the lake. Vale had said so. Such +a ship would almost inevitably choose deep water in the ocean for a +landing place. To land in a crater lake—one of possibly two or three +on an entire continent suitable for their use—indicated that they had +information in advance. Detailed information. It practically shouted +of a knowledge of at least one human language, by which information +about Crater Lake could have been obtained. Whoever or whatever made +use of the lake was no stranger to earth!</p> + +<p>Yes.... They'd needed a deep-water landing and they knew that Boulder +Lake would do. They probably knew very much more. But if they didn't +know that Jill waited for him where the trail toward his ditched car +began, then there was no reason to let them overhear the information.</p> + +<p>"I was part of a team making some base line measurements," said +Lockley, "when this business started. I began to check my instruments +with a man named Vale."</p> + +<p>He told exactly, for the second time, what Vale said about the thing +from the sky and the creatures who came out of it. Then he told what +he'd done. But he omitted all reference to Jill. His coming to the +lake he ascribed to incredulity. Also, he did not mention meeting the +fleeing population of the construction camp. When his story was +finished he sounded like a man who'd done a very foolhardy thing, but +he didn't sound like a man with a girl on his mind.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> + +<p>The broad man with the moustache asked a question or two. The tall man +asked others. Lockley asked many.</p> + +<p>The answers were frustrating. They hadn't seen their captors at all. +They'd heard squeaks when they were being brought to this place, and +the squeaks were obviously language, but no human one. They'd been +bound as well as blindfolded. They hadn't been offered food since +their capture, nor water. It seemed as if they'd been seized and put +into this metal compartment to wait for some use of them by their +captors.</p> + +<p>"Maybe they want to teach us to talk," said the moustached man, "or +maybe they're goin' to carve us up to see what makes us tick. Or +maybe," he grimaced, "maybe they want to know if we're good to eat."</p> + +<p>The chunky man said, "Why'd they blindfold us?"</p> + +<p>Lockley had begun to have a very grim suspicion about this. It came +out of the realization of how remarkable it was that a ship designed +to be navigable in deep water should have landed in a deep crater +lake. He said, "Vale said at first that they weren't human, though +they were only specks in his binoculars. Later, when he saw them +close, he didn't say what they look like."</p> + +<p>"Must be pretty weird," said the tall man.</p> + +<p>"Maybe," said the man with the moustache, attempting humor, "maybe +they didn't want us to see them because we'd be scared. Or maybe they +didn't mean to blindfold us, but just to cover us up. Maybe they +wouldn't mind us seeing them, but it hurts for them to look at us!"</p> + +<p>Lockley said abruptly, "This box we're in. It's made by humans."</p> + +<p>The moustached man said quickly, "We figured<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> that. It's the shell of +a compost pit for the hotel that's goin' to be built around here. +They'll sink it in the ground and dump garbage in it, and it'll rot, +and then it'll be fertilizer. These critters from space are just using +it to hold us. But what are they gonna do with us?"</p> + +<p>There were faint squeakings. The cover to the round opening lifted. +Three rabbits dropped down. The cover closed with a clang. The rabbits +shivered and crouched, terrified, in one corner.</p> + +<p>"Is this how they're gonna feed us?" demanded the chunky man.</p> + +<p>"Hell, no!" said the tall man, in evident disgust. "They're dumped in +here like we were. They're animals. So are we. This is a temporary +cage. It's got a sand floor that we can bury things in. It won't be +any trouble to clean out. The rabbits and us, we stay caged until +they're ready to do whatever they're goin' to do with us."</p> + +<p>"Which is what?" demanded the chunky man.</p> + +<p>There was no answer. They would either be killed, or they would not. +There was nothing to be done. Meanwhile Lockley evaluated his three +fellow captives as probably rather good men to have on one's side, and +bad ones to have against one. But there was no action which was +practical now. A single guard outside, able to paralyze them by +whatever means it was accomplished, made any idea of escape in +daylight foolish.</p> + +<p>"What kind of critters are they?" demanded the chunky man. "Maybe we +could figure out what they'll do if we know what kind of thing they +are!"</p> + +<p>"They've got eyes like ours," said Lockley.</p> + +<p>The three men looked at him.</p> + +<p>"They landed by daylight," said Lockley. "Early daylight. They could +certainly have picked the time for their landing. They picked early +morning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> so they could have a good long period of daylight in which to +get settled before night. If they'd been night moving creatures, +they'd have landed in the dark."</p> + +<p>The tall man said, "Sounds reasonable. I didn't think of that."</p> + +<p>"They saw me at a distance," said Lockley, "and I didn't see them. +They've got good eyes. They beat me up to the top of the mountain and +hid to see what I'd do. When they saw me looking the lake over after +checking up on Vale, they paralyzed me and brought me here. So they've +got eyes like ours."</p> + +<p>"This guy Vale," said the chunky man. "What happened to him?"</p> + +<p>Lockley said, "Probably what'll happen to us."</p> + +<p>"Which is what?" asked the chunky man.</p> + +<p>Lockley did not answer. He thought of Jill, waiting anxiously at the +edge of the woods not far from the camp. She'd surely have watched him +climbing. She might have followed his climb all the way to where he +went around to Vale's post. But she wouldn't have seen his capture and +she might be waiting for him now. It wasn't likely, though, that she'd +climb into the trap that had taken Vale and then himself. She must +realize that that spot was one to be avoided.</p> + +<p>She'd probably try to make her way to his ditched car. She'd heard him +ask on short wave for a helicopter to come to that place to pick her +up. It hadn't been promised; in fact it had been refused. But if she +remained missing, surely someone would risk a low-level flight to find +out if she were waiting desperately for rescue. A light plane could +land on the highway if a helicopter wasn't to be risked. Somehow Jill +must find a way to safety.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> She was in danger because she'd waited +loyally for Vale to come to her at the camp. Now....</p> + +<p>Time passed. Hot sunshine on their prison heated the metal. It became +unbearably hot inside. There came squeakings. The cover of the compost +pit shell lifted. Half a dozen wild birds were thrust into the +opening. The cover closed again. Lockley listened closely. It was +latched from the outside. There would naturally be a fastening on the +cover of a compost pit to keep bears from getting at the garbage it +was built to contain.</p> + +<p>The heat grew savage. Thirst was a problem. Once and only once they +heard a noise from the world beyond their prison. It was a droning hum +which, even through a metal wall, could be nothing but the sound of a +helicopter. It droned and droned, very gradually becoming louder. +Then, abruptly, it cut off. That was all. And that was all that the +four in the metal tank knew about events outside of their own +experience.</p> + +<p>But much was happening outside. Troop-carrying trucks had reached the +edge of Boulder Lake National Park, a very few hours after the workmen +from the camp had gotten out of it. They had a story to tell, and if +it lacked detail it did not lack imagination. The three missing men +had their fate described in various versions, all of which were +dramatic and terrifying. The two men who had been paralyzed by some +unknown agency described their sensations after their release. Their +stories were immediately relayed to all the news media. It now +appeared that dozens of men had seen the thing descend from the sky. +They had not compared notes, however, and their descriptions varied +from a black pear-shaped globe which had hovered for minutes before +descending behind the mountains into the lake, to detailed word +pictures of a silvery, torpedo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>-shaped vessel of space with portholes +and flaming rockets and an unknown flag displayed from a flagstaff.</p> + +<p>Of course, none of those accounts could be right. The velocity of the +falling object, as reported from two radar installations, checked +against a seismograph record of the time of the impact in the lake and +allowed no leeway of time for it to hover in mid-air to be admired.</p> + +<p>But there were enough detailed and first-hand accounts of alarming +events to make a second statement by the Defense Department necessary. +It was an over-correction of the first soothing one. It was intended +to be more soothing still.</p> + +<p>It said blandly that a bolide—a slow-moving, large meteoric +object—had been observed by radar to be descending to earth. It had +been tracked throughout its descent. It had landed in Boulder Lake. +Air photos taken since its landing showed that an enormous disturbance +of the water of the lake had taken place. It had seemed wise to remove +workmen from the neighborhood of the meteoric fall, and the whole +occurrence had been made the occasion of a full-scale practice +emergency response by air and other defense forces. Investigation of +the possible bolide itself was under way.</p> + +<p>The writer of the bulletin was obviously sitting on Vale's report and +that of the workmen so as to tell as little as possible and that +slanted to prevent alarm. The bulletin went on to say that there was +no justification for the alarming reports now spreading through the +country. This happening was not—repeat, was not—in any way +associated with the cold war of such long standing. It was simply a +very large meteor arriving from space and very fortunately falling in +a national park area, and even more fortu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>nately into a deep crater +lake so that there was no damage even to the forests of the park.</p> + +<p>The bulletin had no effect, of course. It was too late. It was +released at just about the time the temperature in the metal +prison—which seemed likely to become a metal coffin—had begun to +fall. The moving sun had gone behind a mountain and the compost pit +shell was in shadow once more.</p> + +<p>Again the cover of that giant box was opened. A porcupine was dropped +inside. The cover went on again. This was, at a guess, about five +o'clock in the afternoon. The chunky man said drearily, "If this is +supposed to be the way they'll feed us, they coulda picked something +easier to eat than a porcupine!"</p> + +<p>The box now held four men, three rabbits—panting in terror in one +corner—half a dozen game birds and the just-arrived porcupine. All +the wild creatures shrank away from the men. At any sudden movement +the birds tended to fly hysterically about in the dimness, dashing +themselves against the metal wall.</p> + +<p>"I'd say," observed Lockley, "that his guess," he nodded at the tall +man, "is the most likely one. Rabbits and birds and porcupines would +be considered specimens of the local living creatures. We could be +considered specimens too. Maybe we are. Maybe we're simply being held +caged until there's time for a scientific examination of us. Let's +hope they don't happen to drop a bear down here to wait with us!"</p> + +<p>The tall man said, "Or rattlers! I wonder what time it is. I'll feel +better when dark comes. They're not so likely to find rattlers in the +dark."</p> + +<p>Lockley said nothing. But if Boulder Lake had been chosen for a +landing place on the basis of previously acquired information, it +wasn't likely that either bears or rattlesnakes would be put in +confinement with the men. The men would have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> been killed immediately, +unless there was a practical use to be made of them. He began to make +guesses. He could make a great many, but none of them added up exactly +right.</p> + +<p>Only one seemed promising, and that assumed a lot of items Lockley +couldn't be sure of. He did know, though, that he'd been lifted up +before he was dropped into the round opening of this tank-like metal +shell. The top of the box was well above ground. It was not sunk in +place as it would eventually be. Evidently it was not yet in its +permanent position. The light inside was dim enough, but he could see +the other men and the animals and the birds. He could make out the +riveted plates which formed the box's sides and top.</p> + +<p>Inconspicuously, he worked his hand down through the sand bottom of +the prison. Four inches down the sand ended and there was earth. He +felt around. He found grass stems. The box, then, rested on top of the +ground, which was perfectly natural for a compost pit shell not yet +placed where it would finally belong. The sand.... He explored +further.</p> + +<p>He waited. The other three stayed quiet. The faint brightness around +the cover hole faded away. The interior of the tank-like box became +abysmally black.</p> + +<p>"Can anybody guess the time?" he asked, after aeons seemed to have +passed.</p> + +<p>"It feels like next Thursday," said the voice of the moustached man, +"but it's probably ten or eleven o'clock. Looks like we're just going +to be left here till they get around to us."</p> + +<p>"I think we'd better not wait," said Lockley. "We've been pretty +quiet. They probably think we're well-behaved specimens of this +planet's wild life. They won't expect us to try anything this late. +Suppose we get out."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> + +<p>"How?" demanded the chunky man.</p> + +<p>Lockley said carefully, "This box is resting on top of the ground. +I've dug down through the sand and found the bottom edge of the metal +sidewall. If it's resting only on dirt, not stone, we ought to be able +to dig out with our hands. I'll start now. You listen."</p> + +<p>He began to dig with his hands, first clearing away the sand for a +reasonable space. He felt a certain sardonic interest in what might +happen. He strongly suspected that nothing undesirable would take +place.</p> + +<p>It was at least quaint that aliens from outer space should accept a +bottomless metal shell as a suitable prison for animals. It was quaint +that they'd put in a sandy floor. How would they know that such a +thing meant a cage, on earth?</p> + +<p>Of course the whole event might have been a test of animal +intelligence. Almost any animal would have tried to burrow out.</p> + +<p>Lockley dug. The earth was hard, and its upper part was filled with +tenacious grass roots. Lockley pulled them away. Once he'd gotten +under them, the digging went faster. Presently he was under the metal +side wall. He dug upward. His hand reached open air.</p> + +<p>"One of you can spell me now," he reported in a low tone. "It looks +like we'll get away. But we've got to make our plans first. We don't +want to be talking outside the tank, or even when the hole's +fair-sized. For instance, will we want to keep together when we get +outside?"</p> + +<p>"Nix!" said the chunky man. "We wanna tell everybody about these +characters. We scatter. If they catch one they don't catch any more. +We couldn't fight any better for bein' together. We better scatter. I +call that settled. I'm scatterin'!"</p> + +<p>He crawled to Lockley in the darkness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Where you diggin'? OK. I got it. Move aside an' give me room."</p> + +<p>"Everybody agrees on that?" asked Lockley.</p> + +<p>They did. Lockley was relieved. The chunky man dug busily. There was +only the sound of breathing, and the occasional fall of thrown-out +earth against the metal of the thing that confined them. The chunky +man said briskly, "This dirt digs all right. We just got to make the +hole bigger."</p> + +<p>In a little while the chunky man stopped, panting. The tall man said, +"I'll take a shot at it."</p> + +<p>There was a breakthrough to the air outside. The atmosphere in the +tank improved. The smell of fresh-dug dirt and cool night air was +refreshing. The moustached man took his turn at digging. Lockley went +at it again. Soon he whispered, "I think it's OK. I'll go ahead. No +talking outside!"</p> + +<p>He shook hands all around, whispered "Good luck!" and squirmed through +the opening to the night. Innumerable stars glittered in the sky. They +were reflected on the water of the lake, here very close. Lockley +moved silently. In the blackness just behind him, his eyes had become +adjusted to almost complete darkness. He headed away from the shining +water. He got brushwood between himself and his former companions. He +stood very, very still.</p> + +<p>He heard them murmuring together. They were outside. But they had +proposed entirely separate efforts at escape. He went on, relieved. It +happened that the next time he'd see them, circumstances would be +entirely different. But he believed they were competent men.</p> + +<p>Guided by the Big Dipper, he moved directly toward the place where +Jill should be waiting for him. By the angle of the Dipper's handle he +knew that it was almost midnight. Jill would surely have known<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> that +nearly the worst had happened. He'd have to find her....</p> + +<p>It was two o'clock when he reached the place where Jill had intended +to wait. He showed himself openly. He called quietly. There was no +answer. He called again, and again.</p> + +<p>He saw something white. It was a scrap of paper speared on a brushwood +branch which had been stripped of leaves to make the paper show +clearly. Lockley retrieved it and saw markings on it which the +starlight could not help him to read. He went deep into the woods, +found a hollow, and bent low, risking the light of his cigarette +lighter for a swift look at the message.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>"I saw creatures moving around in the camp. They weren't +men. I was afraid they might be hunting me. I've gone to +wait by the car if I can find it."</i></p></div> + +<p>She'd written in English, in full confidence that creatures from space +would not be able to read it. Lockley was not so sure, but the message +hadn't been removed. If it had been read, there'd have been an ambush +waiting for him when he found it. So it appeared.</p> + +<p>He headed through the night toward the ditched small car.</p> + +<p>It seemed a very long way, though he did stop and drink his fill from +a little mountain stream over which a highway bridge had almost been +completed. In the night, though, and with hard going, it was not easy +to estimate how far he'd gone. In fact, he was anxiously debating if +he mightn't have passed the abandoned bulldozer when he came upon the +place where blasting had been going on. Still, it was a very long way +to be negotiated over still-remaining<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> tree stumps and the unfilled +holes from which others had been pulled.</p> + +<p>He reached the bulldozer and turned south, and at long last reached +the highway. His car should be no more than a quarter-mile away. He +moved toward it, close to the road's edge. He heard music. It was +faint, but vivid because it was the last sound that anybody would +expect to hear in the hours before dawn in a wilderness deserted by +mankind. He scraped his foot on the roadway. The music stopped +instantly. He said, "Jill?"</p> + +<p>He heard her gasp.</p> + +<p>"I found where Vale had been," he said steadily. "There was no blood +there. There's no sign that he's been killed. Then I was caught +myself. I was put with three other men who were believed killed but +who are still alive. We escaped. It is within reason to hope that Vale +is unharmed and that he may escape or somehow be rescued."</p> + +<p>What he said was partly to make her sure that it was he who appeared +in the darkness. But it was technically true, too. It was within +reason to hope for Vale's ultimate safety. One can always hope, +whatever the odds against the thing hoped for. But Lockley thought +that the odds against Vale's living through the events now in progress +were very great indeed.</p> + +<p>Jill stepped out into the starlight.</p> + +<p>"I wasn't—sure it was you," she said with difficulty. "I saw the +things, you know, at a distance. At first I thought they were men. So +when I first saw you—dimly—I was afraid."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry I haven't better news," said Lockley.</p> + +<p>"It's good news! It's very good news," she insisted as he drew near. +"If they've captured him, he'll make them understand that he's a man, +and that men are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> intelligent and not just animals, and that they +should be our friends and we theirs."</p> + +<p>The girl's voice was resolute. Lockley could imagine that all the time +she'd been waiting, she'd been preparing to deny that even the worst +news was final, until she looked on Vale's dead body itself.</p> + +<p>"Do you want to tell me exactly what you found out?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you while I work on the car," said Lockley. "We want to get +moving away from here before daybreak."</p> + +<p>He went down to the little car, wedged in the saplings it had +splintered and broken. He began to clear it so he could lever it back +on to the highway. He used a broken sapling, and as he worked he told +what had happened, including the three men in the compost pit shell +and the dumping of assorted small wild life specimens into it with +them.</p> + +<p>"But they didn't kill you," said Jill insistently, "and they didn't +kill those three, and there were the two others you say got over the +paralysis and went back to the camp. Counting you, that's six men they +had at their mercy that we know weren't harmed. So why should they +have harmed a seventh man?"</p> + +<p>Lockley did not answer at once. None of the spared six, he thought, +had put up a fight. Only Vale had exchanged blows with the crew of the +spaceship. Nobody else had seen them.</p> + +<p>"That's right, about Vale," he said after a moment in which he had +been busy. "But this doesn't look good!"</p> + +<p>He felt under the car. He squeezed himself beneath its front end. +There was a small, fugitive flicker of flame. It went out and he was +silent.</p> + +<p>Presently he got to his feet and said evenly, "We're in a fix. One of +the front wheels is turned almost at a right angle to the other. A +king pin is broken.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> The car couldn't be driven even if I managed to +get it up on the road. We've got to walk. There ought to be soldiers +on the way up to the lake today. If we meet them we'll be all right. +But this is bad luck!"</p> + +<p>It happened that he was mistaken on both counts. There were no +soldiers moving into the park, and it was not bad luck that his car +couldn't be driven. If he'd been able to get it on the road and +trundling down the highway, the car would have been wrecked and they +could very well have been killed. But this was for the future to +disclose.</p> + +<p>They took nothing from the car because they could not see beyond the +present. They started out doggedly to follow the highway that soldiers +would be likely to follow on the way to the lake. It was not the +shortest way to the world outside the Park. It was considerably longer +than a footpath would have been. But Lockley expected tanks, at least, +against which eccentric unearthly weapons would be useless. So they +headed down the main highway. Lockley was unarmed. They had no food. +He hadn't eaten since the morning before.</p> + +<p>When day came—gray and still—and presently the dew upon grass and +tree leaves glittered reflections of the sky, he moved aside into the +woods and found a broken-off branch, out of which by very great effort +he made a club. When he came back, Jill was listening attentively to +the little pocket radio. She turned it off.</p> + +<p>"I was hoping for news," she explained determinedly. "The government +knows that there are creatures in the spaceship, and he—" that would +be Vale "—will be trying to make them understand what kind of beings +we are. So there could be friendly communication almost any time. But +there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> aren't any news broadcasts on the air. I suppose it's too +early."</p> + +<p>He agreed, with reservations. They made their way along the dew-wetted +surface of the highway. As the light grew stronger, Lockley glanced +again and again at Jill's face. She looked very tired. He reflected +sadly that she was thinking of Vale. She'd never thought twice about +Lockley. Even now, or especially now, all her thoughts were for Vale.</p> + +<p>When sunlight appeared on the peaks around them, he said detachedly, +"You've had no rest for twenty-four hours and I doubt that you've had +anything to eat. Neither have I. If troops come up this highway we'll +hear the engines. I think we'd better get off the highway and try to +rest. And I may be able to find something for us to eat."</p> + +<p>There are few wildernesses so desolate as to offer no food at all for +one who knows what to look for. There is usually some sort of berry +available. One kind of acorn is not bad to eat. Shoots of bracken are +not unlike asparagus. There are some spiny wild plants whose leaves, +if plucked young enough, will yield some nourishment and of course +there are mushrooms. Even on stone one can find liverish rock-tripe +which is edible if one dries it to complete dessication before soaking +it again to make a soup or broth.</p> + +<p>Before he searched for food, though, Lockley said abruptly, "You said +you saw the creatures and they weren't men. What did they look like?"</p> + +<p>"They were a long way away," Jill told him. "I didn't see them +clearly. They're about the size of men but they just aren't men. Far +away as they were, I could tell that!"</p> + +<p>Lockley considered. He shrugged and said, "Rest. I'll be back."</p> + +<p>He moved away. He was hungry and he kept his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> eyes in motion, looking +for something to take back to Jill. But his mind struggled to form a +picture of a creature who'd be the size of a man but would be known +not to be a man even at a distance; whose difference from mankind +couldn't be described because seen at such great distance. Presently +he shook his head impatiently and gave all his attention to the search +for food.</p> + +<p>He found a patch of berries on a hillside where there was enough earth +for berry bushes, but not for trees. Bears had been at them, but there +were many left.</p> + +<p>He filled his hat with them and made his way back to Jill. She had the +pocket radio on again, but at the lowest possible volume. He put the +berry-filled hat down beside her. She held up a warning hand. Speckles +of sunshine trickled down through the foliage and the tree trunks were +spotted with yellow light. They ate the berries as they heard the +news.</p> + +<p>A new official news release was out. And now, twelve hours after the +last, wholly reassuring bulletin, there was no longer any pretense +that the thing in Boulder Lake was merely a meteorite.</p> + +<p>The pretext that it was a natural object, said the news broadcaster, +resuming, had been abandoned. But reassurance continued. Photographic +planes had been attempting to get a picture of the alien ship as it +floated in the lake. So far no satisfactory image had been secured, +but pictures of wreckage caused by an enormous wave generated in the +lake by the alien spaceship's arrival were sharp and clear. Troops +have been posted in a cordon about the Boulder Lake Park area to +prevent unauthorized persons from swarming in to see earth's visitors +from space. Details of its landing continue to be learned. Workmen +from the construction camp have been questioned, and the two men who +were paralyzed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> and then released have told their story. So far four +human beings are known to have been seized by the occupants of the +spaceship. One is Vale, an eye-witness to the ship's descent and +landing. The three others went to investigate the gigantic explosion +accompanying the landing in the lake. They have not been seen since. +This, however, does not imply that they are dead. Quite possibly the +invaders—aliens—guests—who have landed on American soil are trying +to learn how to communicate with the American people who are their +hosts.</p> + +<p>Lockley watched Jill's face. As she heard the references to Vale, she +went white, but she saw Lockley looking at her and said fiercely, +"They don't know that the visitors didn't kill you and let you and the +other three men escape. Someone ought to tell these broadcasters...."</p> + +<p>Lockley did not answer. In his own mind, though, there was the fact +that of the two workmen who'd been paralyzed and released, the three +men in the compost pit shell, and himself, none had seen their +captors. But Vale had.</p> + +<p>The broadcaster went on with a fine air of confidence, reporting that +yesterday afternoon a helicopter had flown into the mountains to +examine the landing site in detail since it could not be examined from +a high-flying plane.</p> + +<p>Lockley remembered the droning he and the others had heard through the +metal plates of their prison.</p> + +<p>The helicopter had suddenly ceased to communicate. It is believed to +have had engine trouble. However, later on a fast jet had attempted a +flight below the extreme altitude of the photographic planes. Its +pilot reported that at fifteen thousand feet he'd suddenly smelled an +appalling odor. Then he was blinded, deafened, and his muscles knotted +in spasms.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> He was paralyzed. The experience lasted for seconds only. +It was as if he'd flown into a searchlight beam which produced those +sensations and then had flown out of it. He'd instinctively used +evasive maneuvers and got away, but twice before he passed the horizon +there were instantaneous flashes of the paralysis and the pain. +Scientists determined that the report of the men who'd been paralyzed +and released agreed with the report of the pilot. It was assumed that +whatever or whoever had landed in Boulder Lake possessed a beam—it +might as well be called a terror beam because of the effects it +had—of some sort of radiation which produced the paralysis and the +agony. Unless the three men missing from the construction camp had +died of it, however, it was not to be considered a death ray.</p> + +<p>The news went on with every appearance of frankness and confidence. It +was natural for strangers on a strange planet to take precautions +against possibly hostile inhabitants of the newly-found world. But +every effort would be exerted to make friendly contact and establish +peaceful communications with the beings from space. Their weapon +appeared to be of limited range and so far not lethal to human beings. +Occasional flashes of its effects had been noted by the troops now +forming a cordon about the Park, but it only produced discomfort, not +paralysis. Nevertheless the troops in question have been moved back. +Meanwhile rocket missiles are being moved to areas where they can +deliver atom bombs on the alien ship if it should prove necessary. But +the government is extremely anxious to make this contact with +extra-terrestrials a friendly one, because contact with a race more +advanced than ourselves could be of inestimable value to us. Therefore +atom bombs will be used only as a last resort. An atom bomb would +destroy aliens and their ship together—and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> we want the ship. The +public is urged to be calm. If the ship should appear dangerous, it +can and will be smashed.</p> + +<p>The news broadcast ended.</p> + +<p>Jill said, obviously speaking of Vale, "He'll make them realize that +men aren't like porcupines and rabbits! When they realize that we +humans are intelligent people, everything will be all right!"</p> + +<p>Lockley said reluctantly, "There's one thing to remember, though, +Jill. They didn't blindfold the rabbits or the porcupine. They only +blindfolded men."</p> + +<p>She stared at him.</p> + +<p>"One of the men in the pit with me," said Lockley, "thought they +didn't want us to see them because they were monsters. That's not +likely." He paused. "Maybe they blindfolded us to keep us from finding +out they aren't."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_4" id="CHAPTER_4"></a>CHAPTER 4</h2> + + +<p>"The evidence," said Lockley as Jill looked at him ashen-faced, "the +evidence is all for monsters. But there was something in that +broadcast that calls for courage, and I want to summon it. We're going +to need it."</p> + +<p>"If they aren't monsters," said Jill in a stricken voice, "Then—then +they're men. And we have a cold war with only one country, and they're +the only ones who'd play a deadly trick like this. So if they aren't +monsters, in the ship, they must be men, and they'd kill anybody who +found it out."</p> + +<p>"But again," insisted Lockley, "the evidence is still all for +monsters. You've been very loyal and very confident about Vale. But +we're in a fix. Vale would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> want you in a safe place, and there's +something in that broadcast that doesn't look good."</p> + +<p>"What was in the broadcast?"</p> + +<p>Lockley said wryly, "Two things. One was there and one wasn't. There +wasn't anything about soldiers marching up to Boulder Lake to welcome +visitors from wherever they come from, and to say politely to them +that as visitors they are our guests and we'd rather they didn't shoot +terror beams or paralysis beams about the landscape. We were more or +less counting on that, you and I. We were expecting soldiers to come +up the highway headed for the lake. But they aren't coming."</p> + +<p>Jill, still pale, wrinkled her forehead in thought.</p> + +<p>"That's what wasn't in the broadcast," Lockley told her. "This is what +was. The troops have formed a cordon about the Park. They've run into +the terror beam. The broadcast said it was weakened by distance and +only made the soldiers uncomfortable. But they've moved back. You see +the point? They've moved back!"</p> + +<p>Jill stared, suddenly understanding.</p> + +<p>"But that means—"</p> + +<p>"It means," said Lockley, "that the terror beam is pretty much of a +weapon. It has a range up in the miles or tens of miles. We don't know +how to handle it yet. Whoever or whatever arrived in the thing Vale +saw, it or they has or have a weapon our Army can't buck, yet. The +point is that we can't wait to be rescued. We've got to get out of +here on our own feet. Literally. So we forget about highways. From +here on we sneak to safety as best we can. And we've got to put our +whole minds on it."</p> + +<p>Jill shook her head as if to drive certain thoughts out of it. Then +she said, "I guess you're right. He would want me to be safe. And if I +can't do anything<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> to help him, at least I can not make him worry. All +right! What does sneaking to safety mean?"</p> + +<p>Lockley led her down the highway running from Boulder Lake to the +outside world. They came to a blasted-out cut for the highway to run +through. The road's concrete surface extended to the solid rock on +either side. There was no bare earth to take or hold footprints, and +there was a climbable slope.</p> + +<p>"We go up here and take to the woods," said Lockley, "because we're +not as easy to spot in woodland as we'd be on a road. The characters +at the lake will know what roads are. If we figure out how to handle +their terror beam, they'll expect the attack to come by road. So +they'll set up a system to watch the roads. They ought to do it as +soon as possible. So we'll avoid notice by not using the roads. It's +lucky you've got good walking shoes on. That could be the deciding +factor in our staying alive."</p> + +<p>He led the way, helping her climb. There would be no sign that they'd +abandoned the highway. In fact, there'd be no sign of their existence +except the small smashed car. Lockley's existence was known, but not +his and Jill's together.</p> + +<p>Lockley did not feel comfortable about having deliberately shocked +Jill into paying some attention to her own situation instead of +staying absorbed in the possible or probable fate of Vale. But for +them to get clear was going to call for more than sentimentality on +Jill's part. Lockley couldn't carry the load alone.</p> + +<p>There was an invasion in process. It could be, apparently, an invasion +from space, in which case the terror produced would be terror of the +unknown. But Lockley had conceived of the possibility that it might be +an invasion only from the other side of the world. Such an invasion +was thought of by every American at least once every twenty-four +hours.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> The fears it would arouse would be fears of the all too +thoroughly known.</p> + +<p>The whole earth had the jitters because of the apparently inevitable +trial of strength between its two most gigantic powers. Their rivalry +seemed irreconcilable. Most of humanity dreaded their conflict with +appalled resignation because there seemed no way to avoid it. Yet it +was admittedly possible that an all-out war between them might end +with all the world dead, even plants and microbes in the deepest seas. +It was ironic that the most reasonable hope that anybody could have +was that one or the other nation would come upon some weapon so new +and irresistible that it could demand and receive the surrender of the +other without atomic war.</p> + +<p>Atom bombs could have done the trick, had only one nation owned them. +But both were now armed so that by treacherous attack either could +almost wipe out the other. There was no way to guard against desperate +and terrible retaliation by survivors of the first attacked country. +It was the certainty of retaliation which kept the actual war a cold +one—a war of provocation and trickery and counter-espionage, but not +of mutual extermination.</p> + +<p>But Lockley had suggested—because it was the worst of +possibilities—that America's rival had developed a new weapon which +could win so long as it was not attributed to its user. If the United +States believed itself attacked from space, it would not launch +missiles against men. It would ask help, and help would be given even +by its rival if the invasion were from another planet. Men would +always combine against not-men. But if this were a ship from no +farther than the other side of the earth, and only pretended to be +from an alien world ... America could be conquered because it believed +it was fighting monsters instead of other men.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<p>This was not likely, but it was believable. There was no proof, but in +the nature of things proof would be avoided. And if his idea should +happen to be true, the disaster could be enormously worse than an +invasion from another star. This first landing could be only a test to +make sure that the new weapon was unknown to America and could not be +countered by Americans. The crew of this ship would expect to be +successful or be killed. In a way, if an atom bomb had to be used to +destroy them, they would have succeeded. Because other ships could +land in American cities where they could not be bombed without killing +millions; where they could demand surrender under pain of death. And +get it.</p> + +<p>Lockley looked at the sun. He glanced at his watch.</p> + +<p>"That would be south," he indicated. "It's the shortest way for us to +get to where you'll be reasonably safe and I can tell what I know to +someone who may use it."</p> + +<p>Jill followed obediently. They disappeared into the woods. They could +not be seen from the highway. They could not even be detected from +aloft. When they had gone a mile, Jill made her one and final protest.</p> + +<p>"But it can't be that they aren't monsters! They must be!"</p> + +<p>"Whatever they are," said Lockley, "I don't want them to lay hands on +you."</p> + +<p>They went on. Once, from the edge of a thicket of trees, they saw the +highway below them and to their left. It was empty. It curved out of +sight, swinging to the left again. They moved uphill and down. Now the +going was easy, through woods with very little underbrush and a carpet +of fallen leaves. Again it was a sunlit slope with prickly bushes to +be avoided. And yet again it was boulder-strewn terrain that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> might be +nearly level but much more often was a hillside.</p> + +<p>Lockley suddenly stopped short. He felt himself go white. He grasped +Jill's hand and whirled. He practically dragged her back to the patch +of woods they'd just left.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" The sight of his face made her whisper.</p> + +<p>He motioned to her for silence. He'd smelled something. It was faint +but utterly revolting. It was the smell of jungle and of foulness. +There was the musky reek of reptiles in it. It was a collection of all +the smells that could be imagined. It was horrible. It was infinitely +worse than the smell of skunk.</p> + +<p>Silence. Stillness. Birds sang in the distance. But nothing happened. +Absolutely nothing. After a long time Lockley said suddenly, "I've got +an idea. It fits into that broadcast. I have to take a chance to find +out. If anything happens to me, don't try to help me!"</p> + +<p>He'd smelled the foul odor at least fifteen minutes before, and had +dragged Jill back, and there had been no other sign of monsters or +not-monsters upon the earth. Now he crouched down and crawled among +the bushes. He came to the place where he'd smelled the ghastly smell +before. He smelled it again. He drew back. It became fainter, though +it remained disgusting. He moved forward, stopped, moved back. He went +sideways, very, very carefully, extending his hand before him.</p> + +<p>He stopped abruptly. He came back, his face angry.</p> + +<p>"We were lucky we couldn't use the car," he said when he was near Jill +again. "We'd have been killed or worse."</p> + +<p>She waited, her eyes frightened.</p> + +<p>"The thing that paralyzes men and animals,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> he told her, "is a +projected beam of some sort. We almost ran into it. It's probably akin +to radar. I thought they'd put watchers on the highways. They did +better. They project this beam. When it blocks a highway, anybody who +comes along that highway runs into it. His eyes become blinded by +fantastic colored lights, and he hears unbearable noises and feels +anguish and they smell what we smelled just now. And he's paralyzed. +Such a beam was turned on me yesterday and I was captured. A beam like +that on the highway at the lake paralyzed three men who were carried +away, and later two others whose car ditched and who stayed paralyzed +until the beam was turned off."</p> + +<p>"But we only smelled something horrible!" protested Jill.</p> + +<p>"You did. I rushed you away. I'd smelled it before. But I went back. +And I smelled it, and I crawled forward a little way and I began to +see flashes of light and to hear noises and my skin tingled. I pushed +my hand ahead of me—and it became paralyzed. Until I pulled it back." +Then he said, "Come on."</p> + +<p>"What will we do?"</p> + +<p>"We change our line of march. If we drove into it or walked into it +we'd be paralyzed. It's a tight beam, but there's just a little +scatter. Just a little. You might say it leaks at its edges. We'll try +to follow alongside until it thins out to nothing or we get where we +want to go. Unless," he added, "they've got another beam that crosses +it. Then we'll be trapped."</p> + +<p>He led the way onward.</p> + +<p>They covered four miles of very bad going before Jill showed signs of +distress and Lockley halted beside a small, rushing stream. He saw +fish in the clear water and tried to improvise a way to catch them. He +failed. He said gloomily, "It wouldn't do to catch fish here anyhow. A +fire to cook them would show<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> smoke by day and might be seen at night. +And whatever's at the Lake might send a terror beam. We'll leave here +when you're rested."</p> + +<p>He examined the stream. He went up and down its bank. He disappeared +around a curve of the stream. Jill waited, at first uneasily, then +anxiously.</p> + +<p>He came back with his hands full of bracken shoots, their ends tightly +curled and their root ends fading almost to white.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid," he observed, "that this is our supper. It'll taste a lot +like raw asparagus, which tastes a lot like raw peanuts, and a +one-dish meal of it won't stick to your ribs. That's the trouble with +eating wild stuff. It's mostly on the order of spinach."</p> + +<p>"I'll carry them," said Jill.</p> + +<p>She actually looked at him for the first time. Until she found herself +anxious because he was out of sight for a long time, she hadn't really +regarded him as an individual. He'd been only a person who was helping +her because Vale wasn't available. Now she assured herself that Vale +would be very grateful to him for aiding her. "I'm rested now," she +added.</p> + +<p>He nodded and led the way once more. He watched the sun for direction. +Two or three miles from their first halt he said abruptly, "I think +the terror beam should be over yonder." He waved an arm. "I've got an +idea about it. I'll see."</p> + +<p>"Be careful!" said Jill uneasily.</p> + +<p>He nodded and swung away, moving with a peculiar tentativeness. She +knew that he was testing for the smell which was the first symptom of +approach to the alien weapon.</p> + +<p>He halted half a mile from where Jill watched, resting again while she +gazed after him. He moved backward and forward. He marked a place with +a stone. He came well back from it and seemed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> remove his wrist +watch. He laid it on a boulder and stamped on it. He stamped again and +again, shifting it between stampings. Then he pounded it with a small +rock. He stood up and came back, trailing something which glittered +golden for an instant.</p> + +<p>He halted before he reached the rock he'd placed as a marker. He did +cryptic things, facing away from Jill. From time to time there was a +golden glitter in the air near him.</p> + +<p>He came back. As he came, he wound something into a little coil. It +was the silicon bronze mainspring of his non-magnetic watch. He held +it for her to see and put it in his pocket.</p> + +<p>"I know what the terror beam is—for what good it'll do!" he said +bitterly. "It's a beam of radiation on the order of radar, and for +that matter X-rays and everything else. Only an aerial does pick it up +and this watchspring makes a good one. I could barely detect the smell +at a certain place, but when I touched the laid out spring, it picked +up more than my body did and it became horrible! Then I moved in to +where my skin began to tingle and I saw lights and heard noises. The +spring made all the difference in the world. I even found the +direction of the beam."</p> + +<p>Jill looked frightened.</p> + +<p>"It comes from Boulder Lake," he told her. "It's the terror beam, all +right! You can walk into it without knowing it. And I suspect that if +it were strong enough it would be a death ray, too!"</p> + +<p>Jill seemed to flinch a little.</p> + +<p>"They're not using it at killing strength," said Lockley coldly. +"They're softening us up. Letting us find out we're frustrated and +helpless, and then letting us think it over. I'll bet they intended +the four of us to escape from that compost pit thing so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> we could tell +about it! But we'll know, now, if we find dead men in rows in a +wiped-out town, we'll know what killed them, and when they ask us +politely to become their slaves, we'll know we'll have to do it or +die!"</p> + +<p>Jill waited. When he seemed to have finished, she said, "If they're +monsters, do you think they want to enslave us?"</p> + +<p>He hesitated, and then said with a grimace, "I've a habit, Jill, of +looking forward to the future and expecting unpleasant things to +happen. Maybe it's so I'll be pleasantly surprised when they don't."</p> + +<p>"Suppose," said Jill, "that they aren't monsters. What then?"</p> + +<p>"Then," said Lockley, "it's a cold war device, to find out if the +other side in the cold war can take us over without our suspecting +they're the ones doing it. Naturally those in this ship will blow +themselves up rather than be found out."</p> + +<p>"Which," said Jill steadily, "doesn't offer much hope for...."</p> + +<p>She didn't say Vale's name. She couldn't. Lockley grimaced again.</p> + +<p>"It's not certain, Jill. The evidence is on the side of the monsters. +But in either case the thing for us to do is get to the Army with what +I've found out. I've had a stationary beam to test, however crudely. +The cordon must have been pushed back by a moving or an intermittent +beam. It wouldn't be easy to experiment with one of those. Come on."</p> + +<p>She stood up. She followed when he went on. They climbed steep +hillsides and went down into winding valleys. The sun began to sink in +the west. The going was rough. For Lockley, accustomed to wilderness +travel, it was fatiguing. For Jill it was much worse.</p> + +<p>They came to a sere, bare hillside on which neither<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> trees nor +brushwood grew. It amounted to a natural clearing, acres in extent. +Lockley swept his eyes around. There were many thick-foliaged small +trees attempting to advance into the clear space. He grunted in +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Sit down and rest," he commanded. "I'll send a message."</p> + +<p>He broke off branches from dark green conifers. He went out into the +clearing and began to lay them out in a pattern. He came back and +broke off more, and still more. Very slowly, because the lines had to +be large and thick, the letters S.O.S. appeared in dark green on the +clayey open space. The letters were thirty feet high, and the lines +were five feet wide. They should show distinctly from the air.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Lockley with satisfaction, "that we might get +something out of this! If it's sighted, a 'copter might risk coming in +after us." He looked at her appraisingly. "I think you'd enjoy a good +meal."</p> + +<p>"I want to say something," said Jill carefully. "I think you've been +trying to cheer me up, after saying something to arouse me—which I +needed. If the creatures aren't monsters, they'll never actually let +anybody loose who's seen that they aren't. Isn't that true? And if it +is—"</p> + +<p>"We know of six men who were captured," insisted Lockley, "and I was +one of them. All six escaped. Vale may have escaped. They're not good +at keeping prisoners. We don't know and can't know unless it's +mentioned on a news broadcast that he's out and away. So there's +absolutely no reason to assume that Vale is dead."</p> + +<p>"But if he saw them, when he was fighting them—"</p> + +<p>"The evidence," insisted Lockley again, "is that he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> saw monsters. The +only reason to doubt it is that they blindfolded four of us."</p> + +<p>Jill seemed to think very hard. Presently she said resolutely, "I'm +going to keep on hoping anyhow!"</p> + +<p>"Good girl!" said Lockley.</p> + +<p>They waited. He was impatient, both with fate and with himself. He +felt that he'd made Jill face reality when—if this S.O.S. signal +brought help—it wasn't necessary. And there was enough of grimness in +the present situation to make it cruelty.</p> + +<p>After a very long time they heard a faint droning in the air. There +might have been others when they were trudging over bad terrain, and +they might not have noticed because they were not listening for such +sounds. There were planes aloft all around the lake area. They'd been +sent up originally in response to a radar warning of something coming +in from space. Now they flew in vast circles around the landing place +of that reported object. They flew high, so high that only contrails +would have pointed them out. But atmospheric conditions today were +such that contrails did not form. The planes were invisible from the +ground.</p> + +<p>But the pilots could see. When one patrol group was relieved by +another, it carried high-magnification photographs of all the park, to +be developed and examined with magnifying glasses for any signs of +activity by the crew of the object from space.</p> + +<p>A second lieutenant spotted the S.O.S. within half an hour of the +films' return. There was an immediate and intense conference. The +lengths of shadows were measured. The size and slope and probable +condition of the clearing's surface were estimated.</p> + +<p>A very light plane, intended for artillery-spotting, took off from the +nearest airfield to Boulder Lake.</p> + +<p>And Lockley and Jill heard it long before it came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> in sight. It flew +low, threading its way among valleys and past mountain-flanks to avoid +being spotted against the sky. The two beside the clearing heard it +first as a faint mutter. The sound increased, diminished, then +increased again.</p> + +<p>It shot over a minor mountain-flank and surveyed the bare space with +the huge letters on it. Lockley and Jill raced out into view, waving +frantically. The plane circled and circled, estimating the landing +conditions. It swung away to arrive at a satisfactory approach path.</p> + +<p>It wavered. It made a half-wingover, and it side-slipped crazily, and +came up and stalled and flipped on its back and dived....</p> + +<p>And it came out of its insane antics barely twenty feet above the +ground. It raced away as close as possible to touching its wheels to +earth. It went away behind the mountains. The sound of its going +dwindled and dwindled and was gone. It appeared to have escaped from a +deliberately set trap.</p> + +<p>Lockley stared after it. Then he went white.</p> + +<p>"Idiot!" he cried fiercely. "Come on! Run!"</p> + +<p>He seized Jill's hand. They fled together. Evidently, something had +played upon the pilot of the light plane. He'd been deafened and +blinded and all his senses were a shrieking tumult while his muscles +knotted and his hands froze on the controls of his ship. He hadn't +flown out of the beam that made him helpless. He'd fallen out of it. +And then he raced for the horizon. He got away. And it would appear to +those to whom he reported that he'd arrived too late at the +distress-signal. If fugitives had made it, they'd been overtaken and +captured by the creatures of Boulder Lake, and there'd been an ambush +set up for the plane. It was a reasonable decision.</p> + +<p>But it puzzled the pilot's superior officers that he hadn't been +allowed to land the plane before the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> beam was turned on him. He could +have been paralyzed while on the ground, and he and his plane could +have yielded considerable information to creatures from another world. +It was puzzling.</p> + +<p>Lockley and Jill raced for the woodland at the clearing's edge. +Lockley clamped his lips tight shut to waste no breath in speech. The +arrival and the circling of the plane had been a public notice that +there were fugitives here. If the beam could paralyze a pilot in +mid-air, it could be aimed at fugitives on the ground.... There could +be no faintest hope....</p> + +<p>Wholly desperate, Lockley helped Jill down a hillside and into a +valley leading still farther down.</p> + +<p>He smelled jungle, and muskiness, and decay, and flowers, and every +conceivable discordant odor. Flashes of insane colorings formed +themselves in his eyes. He heard the chaotic uproar which meant that +his auditory nerves, like the nerves in his eyes and nostrils and +skin, were stimulated to violent activity, reporting every kind of +message they could possibly report all at once.</p> + +<p>He groaned. He tried to find a hiding-place for Jill so that if or +when the invaders searched for her, they would not find her. But he +expected his muscles to knot in spasm and cramp before he could +accomplish anything.</p> + +<p>They didn't. The smell lessened gradually. The meaningless flashings +of preposterous color grew faint. The horrible uproar his auditory +nerves reported, ceased. He and Jill had been at the mercy of the +unseen operator of the terror beam. Perhaps the beam had grazed them, +by accident. Or it could have been weakened....</p> + +<p>It was very puzzling.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_5" id="CHAPTER_5"></a>CHAPTER 5</h2> + + +<p>When darkness fell, Lockley and Jill were many miles away from the +clearing where he had made the S.O.S. They were under a dense screen +of leaves from a monster tree whose roots rose above ground at the +foot of its enormous trunk. They formed a shelter of sorts against +observation from a distance. Lockley had spotted a fallen tree far +gone with wood-rot. He broke pieces of the punky stuff with his +fingers. Then he realized that without a pot the bracken shoots he'd +gathered could not be cooked. They had to be boiled or not cooked at +all.</p> + +<p>"We'll call it a salad," he told Jill, "minus vinegar and oil and +garlic, and eat what we can."</p> + +<p>She'd been pale with exhaustion before the sun sank, but he hadn't +dared let her rest more than was absolutely necessary. Once he'd +offered to carry her for a while, but she'd refused. Now she sat +drearily in the shelter of the roots, resting.</p> + +<p>"We might try for news," he suggested.</p> + +<p>She made an exhausted gesture of assent. He turned on the tiny radio +and tuned it in. There was no scarcity of news, now. A few days past, +news went on the air on schedule, mostly limited to five-minute +periods in which to cover all the noteworthy events of the world. Part +of that five minutes, too, was taken up by advertising matter from a +sponsor. Now music was rare. There were occasional melodies, but most +were interrupted for new interpretations of the threat to earth at +Boulder Lake. Every sort of prominent person was invited<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> to air his +views about the thing from the sky and the creatures it brought. Most +had no views but only an urge to talk to a large audience. Something, +though, had to be put on the air between commercials.</p> + +<p>The actual news was specific. Small towns around the fringe of the +Park area were being evacuated of all their inhabitants. Foreign +scientists had been flown to the United States and were at the +temporary area command post not far from Boulder Lake. Rocket missiles +were aimed and ready to blast the lake and the mountains around it +should the need arise. A drone plane had been flown to the lake with a +television camera transmitting back everything its lens saw. It +arrived at the lake and its camera relayed back exactly nothing that +had not been photographed and recorded before. But suddenly there was +a crash of static and the drone went out of control and crashed. Its +camera faithfully transmitted the landscape spinning around until its +destruction. Military transmitters were beaming signals on every +conceivable frequency to what was now universally called the alien +spaceship. They had received no replies. The foreign scientists had +agreed that the terror beam—paralysis beam—death beam—was +electronic in nature.</p> + +<p>Lockley had thought Jill asleep from pure weariness, but her voice +came out of the darkness beside the big tree trunk.</p> + +<p>"You found that out!" she said. "About its being electronic!"</p> + +<p>"I had a sample stationary beam to check on," said Lockley. "They +haven't. Which may be a bad thing. Nobody's going to make useful +observations of something that makes him blind and deaf and paralyzed +while he's in the act. There are some things that puzzle me about +that. Why haven't they killed anybody yet? They've got the public +about as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> scared as it can get without some killing. And why didn't we +get the full force of the beam after the plane had been driven away? +They could have given us the full treatment if they'd wanted to. Why +didn't they?"</p> + +<p>"If people run away from the towns," said Jill's voice, very tired and +sleepy, "maybe they think that's enough. They can take the towns...."</p> + +<p>Lockley did not answer, and Jill said no more. Her breathing became +deep and regular. She was so weary that even hunger could not keep her +awake.</p> + +<p>Lockley tried to think. There was the matter of food. Bracken shoots +were common enough but unsubstantial. It would need more careful +observation to note all the likely spots for mushrooms. Perhaps they +were far enough from the lake to take more time hunting food. They +were almost exactly in the situation of Australian bushmen who live +exclusively by foraging, with some not-too-efficient hunting. But +Australian savages were not as finicky as Jill and himself. They ate +grubs and insects. For this sort of situation, prejudices were a +handicap.</p> + +<p>He considered the idea with sardonic appreciation. Two days of +inadequate food and such ideas came! But he and Jill wouldn't be the +only ones to think such things if matters continued as they were +going. The towns around Boulder Lake were being evacuated. The cordon +about it had been made to retreat. There was panic not only in +America, but everywhere. In Europe there were wild rumors of other +landings of other ships of space. The stock markets would undoubtedly +close tomorrow, if they hadn't closed today. There'd be the beginning +of a mass exodus from the larger cities, starting quietly but building +up to frenzy as those who tried to leave jammed all the routes by +which they could get away. If the creatures of the spaceship wanted +more than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> the flight of all humans from about their landing place, +there would be genuine trouble. Let them move aggressively and there +would be panic and disorder and pure catastrophe, with self-exiled +city dwellers desperate from hunger because they were away from market +centers. It looked as if a dozen or two monsters could wreck a +civilization without the need to kill one single human being directly.</p> + +<p>He heard a sound. He turned off the radio, gripping the clumsy club +which was probably useless against anything really threatening.</p> + +<p>The sound continued. There were rustlings of leaves, and then faint +rattling, almost clicking noises. Whatever the creature was, it was +not large. It seemed to amble tranquilly through the forest and the +night, neither alarmed nor considering itself alarming.</p> + +<p>The clickings again. And suddenly Lockley knew what it was. Of course! +He'd heard it in the compost pit shell, when he was a prisoner of the +invaders from space. He rose and moved toward the noise. The creature +did not run away. It went about its own affairs with the same peaceful +indifference as before. Lockley ran into a tree. He stumbled over a +fallen branch on the ground. He came to the place where the creature +should be. There was silence. He flicked the flint of his pocket +lighter and in the flash of brightness he saw his prey. It had heard +his approach. It was a porcupine, prudently curled up into a spiky +ball and placidly defying all carnivores, including men. A porcupine +is normally the one wild creature without an enemy. Even men +customarily spare it because so often it has saved the lives of lost +hunters and half-starved travelers. It accomplishes this by its bland +refusal to run away from anybody.</p> + +<p>Lockley classed himself as a half-starved traveler.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> He struck with +the club after a second spark from his lighter-flint.</p> + +<p>Presently he had a small, barely smouldering fire of rotted wood. He +cooked over it, and the smell of cooking roused Jill from her +exhausted slumber.</p> + +<p>"What—"</p> + +<p>"We're having a late supper," said Lockley gravely. "A midnight snack. +Take this stick. There's a loin of porcupine on it. Be careful! It's +hot!"</p> + +<p>Jill said, "Oh-h-h-h!" Then, "Is there more for you?"</p> + +<p>"Plenty!" he assured her. "I hunted it down with my trusty club, and +only got stuck a half-dozen times while I was skinning and cleaning +it."</p> + +<p>She ate avidly, and when she'd finished he offered more, which she +refused until he'd had a share.</p> + +<p>They did not quite finish the whole porcupine, but it was an odd and +companionable meal, there in the darkness with the barely-glowing +coals well-hidden from sight. Lockley said, "I'm sort of a news +addict. Shall we see what the wild radio waves are saying?"</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Jill. She added awkwardly: "Maybe it's the sudden +food, but—I hope you'll remain my friend after this is all over. I +don't know anyone else I'd say that to."</p> + +<p>"Consider," said Lockley, "that I've made an eloquent and grateful +reply."</p> + +<p>But his expression in the darkness was not happy. He'd fallen in love +with Jill after meeting her only twice, and both times she had been +with Vale. She intended to marry Vale. But on the evidence at hand +Vale was either dead or a prisoner of the invaders; if the last, his +chances of living to marry Jill did not look good, and if the first, +this was surely no time to revive his memory.</p> + +<p>He found a news broadcast. He suspected that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> most radio stations +would stay on the air all night, now that it was officially admitted +that the object in Boulder Lake was a spaceship bringing invaders to +earth. The government releases spoke of them as "visitors," in a +belated use of the term, but the public was suspicious of reassurances +now. At the beginning the landing had seemed like another exaggerated +horror tale of the kind that kept up newspaper circulations. Now the +public was beginning to believe it, and people might stop going to +their offices and the trains might cease to ran on time. When that +happened, disaster would be at hand.</p> + +<p>The news came in a resonant voice which revealed these facts:</p> + +<p>Four more small towns had been ordered evacuated because of their +proximity to Boulder Lake. The radiation weapon of the aliens had +pushed back the military cordon by as much as five miles. But the big +news was that the aliens had broken radio silence. Apparently they'd +examined and repaired the short wave communicator from the helicopter +they'd knocked down.</p> + +<p>Shortly after sundown, said the news report, a call had come through +on a military short wave frequency. It was a human voice, first +muttering bewilderedly and then speaking with confusion and +uneasiness. The message had been taped and now was released to the +public.</p> + +<p><i>"What the hell's this ...? Oh.... What do you characters want me to +do? This feels like the short wave set from the 'copter.... Hmm.... +You got it turned on.... What'll I do with it, Broadcast? I don't know +whether you want me to talk to you or to back home, wherever that +is.... Maybe you want me to say I'm havin' a fine time an' wish you +was here.... I'm not. I wish I was there.... If this is goin' on the +air I'm Joe Blake, radio man on the</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> '<i>copter two 'leven. We were +headin' in to Boulder Lake when I smelled a stink. Next second there +were lights in my eyes. They blinded me. Then I heard a racket like +all hell was loose. Then I felt like I had hold of a power +transmission line. I couldn't wiggle a finger. I stayed that way till +the 'copter crashed. When I come to, I was blindfolded like I am now. +I don't know what happened to the other guys. I haven't seen 'em. I +haven't seen anything! But they just put me in front of what I think +is the 'copter's short wave set an' squeaked at me</i>—"</p> + +<p>The recorded voice ended abruptly. The news announcer's voice came +back. He said that the member of the 'copter crew had given some other +information before he was arbitrarily cut off.</p> + +<p>"I'll bet," said Lockley when the newscast ended, "I'll bet the other +information was that the invaders have managed to tell him that earth +must surrender to them!"</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"What else would they want to say? To come and play patty-cake, when +they can push the Army around at will and have managed to keep planes +from flying anywhere near them? They may not know we've got atom +bombs, but I'll bet they do! Part of that extra information could have +been a warning not to try to use them. It would be logical to bluff +even on that, though they couldn't make good."</p> + +<p>Jill said very carefully, "You hinted once that they might be men, +pretending to be monsters. But that would mean that somebody I care +about would probably be killed because he'd seen them and knew they +weren't creatures from beyond the stars."</p> + +<p>"I think you can forget that idea," said Lockley. "They don't act like +men. Chasing away the plane that was going to land for us, and not +using the beam<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> on the fugitives it was plainly going to land +for—that's not like men preparing to take over a continent! And +nudging the Army back to make the cordoned space larger—that's not +like our most likely human enemy, either. They'd wipe out the cordon +by stepping up the terror beam to death ray intensity."</p> + +<p>"Suppose they couldn't?"</p> + +<p>"They wouldn't have landed with a weapon that couldn't kill anybody," +said Lockley. "It's much more likely that they're monsters. But they +don't act like monsters, either."</p> + +<p>Jill was silent for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Not even monsters who wanted to make friends?"</p> + +<p>"They," said Lockley drily, "would hardly make a surprise landing. +They'd have parked on the moon and squeaked at us until we got +curious, and then they'd arrange to land, or to meet men in orbit, or +something. But they didn't. They made a surprise landing, and cleared +a big space of humans, keeping themselves to themselves. But if they +do think we're animals, like rabbits, they'd kill people instead of +stinging them up a bit, or paralyzing them for a while and then +letting them go. That's not like any monster I can imagine!"</p> + +<p>"Then—"</p> + +<p>"You'd better go to sleep," said Lockley. "We've got a long day's hike +before us tomorrow."</p> + +<p>"Yes-s-s," agreed Jill reluctantly. "Good-night."</p> + +<p>"'Night," said Lockley curtly.</p> + +<p>He stayed awake. It was amusing that he was uneasy about wild animals. +There were predators in the Park, and he had only an improvised club +for a weapon. But he knew well enough that most animals avoid man +because of a bewildering sudden development of instinct.</p> + +<p>Grizzly bears, before the white man came, were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> so scornful of man +that they could be considered the dominant species in North America. +They'd been known to raid a camp of Indians to carry away a man for +food. Indian spears and arrows were simply ineffective against them. +When Stonewall Jackson was a lieutenant in the United States Army, +stationed in the West to protect the white settlers, he and a +detachment of mounted troopers were attacked without provocation by a +grizzly who was wholly contemptuous of them. The then Lieutenant +Jackson rode a horse which was blind in one eye, and he maneuvered to +get the bear on the horse's blind side so he could charge it. With his +cavalry sabre he split the grizzly's skull down to its chin. It was +the only time in history that a grizzly bear was ever killed by a man +with a sword. But no grizzly nowadays would attack a man unless +cornered. Even cubs with no possible experience of humankind are +terrified by the scent of men.</p> + +<p>All that was true enough. In addition, preparations for the Park +included much activity by the Wild Life Control unit, which persuaded +bears to congregate in one area by putting out food for them, and took +various other measures for deer and other animals. It had seeded trout +streams with fingerlings and the lake itself with baby big-mouthed +bass. The huge trailer truck of Wild Life Control was familiar enough. +Lockley had seen it headed up to the lake the day before the landing. +Now he found himself wondering sardonically to what degree the Wild +Life Control men determined where mountain lions should hunt.</p> + +<p>He'd slept in the open innumerable times without thinking of mountain +lions. With Jill to look after, though, he worried. But he was +horribly weary, and he knew somehow that in the back of his mind there +was something unpleasant that was trying to move<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> into his conscious +thoughts. It was a sort of hunch. Wearily and half asleep, he tried to +put his mind on it. He failed.</p> + +<p>He awoke suddenly. There were rustlings among the trees. Something +moved slowly and intermittently toward him. It could be anything, even +a creature from Boulder Lake. He heard other sounds. Another creature. +The first drew near, not moving in a straight line. The second +creature followed it, drawing closer to the first.</p> + +<p>Lockley's scalp crawled. Creatures from space might have some of the +highly-developed senses which men had lost while growing +civilized—full keenness of scent, for example.</p> + +<p>Such a creature might be able to find Lockley and Jill in the darkness +after trailing them for miles. And so primitive a talent, in a +creature farther advanced than men, was somehow more horrifying than +anything else Lockley had thought of about them. He gripped his club +desperately, wholly aware that a star creature should be able to +paralyze him with the terror beam....</p> + +<p>There were whistling, squealing noises. They were very much like the +squeaks his captors had directed at each other and at him when he was +blindfolded and being led downhill to imprisonment in the compost pit +shell. Very much like, but not identical. Nevertheless, Lockley's hair +seemed to stand up on end and he raised his club in desperation.</p> + +<p>The whistling squeals grew shriller. Then there was an indescribable +sound and one of the two creatures rushed frantically away. It +traveled in great leaps through the blackness under the trees.</p> + +<p>And then there was a sudden whiff of a long-familiar odor, smelled a +hundred times before. It was the reek of a skunk, stalked by a +carnivore and defending itself as skunks do. But a skunk was nothing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +like a terror beam. Its effluvium offended only one sense, affected +only one set of sensation nerves. The terror beam....</p> + +<p>Lockley opened his mouth to laugh, but did not. The thing at the back +of his mind had come forward. He was appalled.</p> + +<p>Jill said shakily, "What's the matter? What's happened? That smell—"</p> + +<p>"It's only a skunk," said Lockley evenly. "He just told me some very +bad news. I know how the terror beam works now. And there's not a +thing that can be done about it. Not a thing. It can't be!"</p> + +<p>He raged suddenly, there in the darkness, because he saw the utter +hopelessness of combatting the creatures who'd taken over Boulder +Lake. There was nothing to keep them from taking over the whole earth, +no matter what sort of monsters or not-monsters they might be.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_6" id="CHAPTER_6"></a>CHAPTER 6</h2> + + +<p>It was nine o'clock at night when Lockley killed the porcupine, and +ten by the time Jill had gone back to sleep huddled between the +projecting roots of a giant tree. Shortly after midnight Lockley had +been awakened when a skunk defeated a hungry predator within a hundred +yards of their bivouac. But some time in between, there was another +happening of much greater importance elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Something came out of Boulder Lake National Park. All humans had +supposedly fled from it. It was abandoned to the creatures of the +thing from the sky. But something came out of it.</p> + +<p>Nobody saw the thing, of course. Nobody could approach it, which was +the point immediately dem<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>onstrated. No human being could endure being +within seven miles of whatever it was. It was evidently a vehicle of +some sort, however, because it swung terror beams before it, and +terror beams on either side, and when it was clear of the Park it +played terror beams behind it, too. Men who suffered the lightest +touch of those sweeping beams of terror and anguish moved frantically +to avoid having the experience again. So when something moved out of +the Park and sent wavering terror beams before it, men moved to one +side or the other and gave it room.</p> + +<p>On a large-scale map in the military area command post, its progress +could be watched as it was reported. The reports described a +development of unbearable beam strength which showed up as a bulge in +the cordon's roughly circular line. That bulge, which was the cordon +itself moving back, moved outward and became a half-circle some miles +across. It continued to move outward, and on the map it appeared like +a pseudopod extruded by an enormous amoeba. It was the area of +effectiveness of a weapon previously unknown on earth—the area where +humans could not stay.</p> + +<p>Deliberately, the unseen moving thing severed itself from the similar +and larger weapon field which was its birthplace and its home. It +moved with great deliberation toward the small town of Maplewood, +twenty miles from the border of the Park.</p> + +<p>Jeeps and motorcycles scurried ahead of it, just out of reach of its +beams. They made sure that houses and farms and all inhabited places +were emptied of people before the moving terror beams could engulf +them. They went into the town of Maplewood itself and frantically made +sure that nothing alive remained in it. They went on to clear the +countryside beyond.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> + +<p>The unseen thing from the Park moved onward. High overhead there was a +dull muttering like faraway thunder, but it was planes with filled +bomb racks circling above the starlit land. There were men in those +planes who ached to dive down and destroy this separated fraction of +an invasion. But there were firm orders from the Pentagon. So long as +the invaders killed nobody, they were not to be attacked. There was +reason for the order in the desire of the government to be on friendly +terms with a race which could travel between the stars. But there was +an even more urgent reason. The aliens had not yet begun to murder, +but it was suspected that they had a horrifying power to kill. So it +was firmly commanded that no bomb or missile or bullet was to be used +unless the invaders invited hostilities by killing humans. Their +captives—the crew of a helicopter—might be freed if aliens and men +achieved friendship. So for now—no provocation!</p> + +<p>The thing which nobody saw moved comfortably over the ground between +the park and Maplewood. In the center of the weapon field there was a +something which generated the terror beam and probably carried +passengers. Whatever it was, it moved onward and into Maplewood and +for seven miles in every direction troops watched for it to move out +again. Artillerymen had guns ready to fire upon it if they ever got +firing coordinates and permission to go into action. Planes were ready +to drop bombs if they ever got leave to do so. And a few miles away +there were rockets ready to prove their accuracy and devastating +capacity if only given a launching command. But nothing happened. Not +even a flare was permitted to be dropped by the planes far up in the +sky. A flare might be taken for hostility.</p> + +<p>The thing from the Park stayed in Maplewood for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> two hours. At the end +of that time it moved deliberately back toward the Park. It left the +town untouched save for certain curious burglaries of hardware stores +and radio shops and a garage or two. It looked as if intensely curious +not-human beings had moved from their redoubt—Boulder Lake—to find +out what civilization human beings had attained. They could guess at +it by the buildings and the homes, but most notably in the technical +shops of the inhabitants.</p> + +<p>It went slowly and deliberately back into the Park. Humans moved +cautiously back into the area that had been emptied. Not many, but +enough to be sure that the thing had really returned to the place from +which it had come. Soldiers were tentatively entering the +again-abandoned town of Maplewood when the unseen thing changed the +range of its weapon bearing on that little city. It was then +presumably not less than seven miles on its way back to Boulder Lake. +The military had congratulated themselves on what they'd learned. The +beam projectors at the lake had a range of much more than seven miles, +but this movable, unidentifiable thing carried a lesser armament. From +it, men and animals seven miles away were safe. This was notable news.</p> + +<p>Then the unseen object did something. The terror beam that flicked +back and forth doubled in intensity. The soldiers just reentering +Maplewood smelled foulness and saw bright lights. Bellowings deafened +them. They fell with every muscle rigid in spasm. Beyond them other +men were paralyzed. For five minutes the invaders' mobile weapon +paralyzed all living things for a distance of fifteen miles. Then for +thirty seconds it paralyzed living things for a distance of thirty +miles. For a bare instant it convulsed men and animals for a greater +distance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> yet. And all these victims of the terror beam knew, +thereafter, an invincible horror of the beam.</p> + +<p>The thing from the Park which nobody had seen went back into the Park. +And then men were permitted to return to exactly the same places +they'd been allowed to occupy before the thing began its excursion.</p> + +<p>It seemed that nothing was changed, but everything was changed. If +there were mobile carriers of the invasion weapon, then victory could +not be had by a single atom bomb fired into Boulder Lake. There might +be a dozen separate mobile terror beam generators scattered through +the Park. Any atomic attack would need to be multiplied in its +violence to be certain of results. Instead of one bomb there might be +a need for fifty. They would have to destroy the Park utterly, even +its mountains. And the fallout from so many atom bombs simply could +not be risked. The invaders were effectively invulnerable.</p> + +<p>While this undesirable situation was being demonstrated, Jill slept +heavily between two roots of a very large tree, and Lockley dozed +against a nearby tree trunk. He believed that he guarded Jill most +vigilantly.</p> + +<p>He awoke at dawn with the din of bird song in his ears. Jill opened +her eyes at almost the same instant. She smiled at him and tried to +get up. She was stiff and sore from the hardness of the ground on +which she'd slept. But it was a new day, and there was breakfast. It +was porcupine cooked the night before.</p> + +<p>"Somehow," said Jill as she nibbled at a bone, "somehow I feel more +cheerful than I did."</p> + +<p>"That's a mistake," Lockley told her. "Start out with a few +premonitions and the day improves as they turn out wrong. But if you +start out hoping,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> the day ends miserably with most of your hopes +denied."</p> + +<p>"You've got premonitions?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Definitely," he said.</p> + +<p>It was true. As yet he knew nothing of last night's temporary +occupation of a human town, but he believed he knew how the terror +beam worked even if he couldn't figure out a way to generate it. He +could imagine no defense against it. But if Jill had awakened feeling +cheerful, there was no reason to depress her. She'd have reason enough +to be dejected later, beginning with proof of Vale's death and going +on from there.</p> + +<p>"We might listen to the news," she suggested. "A premonition or two +might be ruled out right away!"</p> + +<p>Silently, he turned on the little radio. Automatically, he set it for +the lowest volume they could hear distinctly.</p> + +<p>The main item in the news was a baldly factual but toned-down report +of the thing from the lake which had left the park and examined a +small human town in detail and then had returned to the Park. There +were reports of peculiar hoofprints found where the invaders had been. +They were not the hoofprints of any earthly animal. There was an +optimistic report from the scientists at work on the problem of the +beam. Someone had come up with an idea and some calculations which +seemed to promise that the beam would presently be duplicated. Once it +was duplicated, of course a way to neutralize it could be found.</p> + +<p>Lockley grunted. The broadcast was enthusiastic in its comments on the +scientists. It talked gobbledegook which sounded as if it meant +something but was actually nonsense. It barely touched on the fact +that human beings were now ordered out of a much larger space than had +been evacuated before. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> was a statement from an important +official that panic buying of food was both unnecessary and unwise. +Lockley grunted again when the newscast ended.</p> + +<p>"The idea that anything that can be duplicated can be canceled," he +announced gloomily, "is unfortunately rot. We can duplicate sounds, +but there's no way to make them cancel out! Not accurately!"</p> + +<p>Jill had eaten a substantial part of the porcupine while the newscast +was on. It was not a satisfying breakfast, but it cheered her +immensely after two days of near-starvation.</p> + +<p>"But," she observed, "maybe that won't apply to this business when you +report what you know. It's not likely that anybody else has stood just +outside a beam and made tests of what it's like and how it's aimed and +so on."</p> + +<p>They started off. For journeying in the Park, Lockley had the +advantage that as part of the preparation for making a new map, he'd +familiarized himself with all mapping done to date. He knew very +nearly where he was. He knew within a close margin just where the +terror beam stretched. He'd smashed his watch, which during sunshine +substituted admirably for a compass, but he could maintain a +reasonably straight line toward that part of the Park's border the +terror beam would cross.</p> + +<p>They moved doggedly over mountain-flanks and up valleys, and once they +followed a winding hollow for a long way because it led toward their +destination without demanding that they climb. It was in this area +that, pushing through brushwood beside a running stream, they came +abruptly upon a big brown bear. He was no more than a hundred feet +away. He stared at them inquisitively, raising his nose to sniff for +their scent.</p> + +<p>Lockley bent and picked up a stone. He threw it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> It clattered on +rocks on the ground. The bear made a whuffing sound and moved +aggrievedly away.</p> + +<p>"I'd have been afraid to do that," said Jill.</p> + +<p>"It was a he-bear," said Lockley. "I wouldn't have tried it on a +she-bear with cubs."</p> + +<p>They went on and on. At mid-morning Lockley found some mushrooms. They +were insipid and only acute hunger would make them edible raw, but he +filled his pockets. A little later there were berries, and as they +gathered and ate them he lectured learnedly on edible wild plants to +be found in the wilderness. Jill listened with apparent interest. When +they left the berry patch they swung to the left to avoid a steep +climb directly in their way. And suddenly Lockley stopped short. At +the same instant Jill caught at his arm. She'd turned white.</p> + +<p>They turned and ran.</p> + +<p>A hundred yards back, Lockley slackened his speed. They stopped. After +a moment he managed to grin mirthlessly.</p> + +<p>"A conditioned reflex," he said wryly. "We smell something and we run. +But I think it's the old familiar terror beam that crosses highways to +stop men from using them. If it were a portable beam projector with +somebody aiming it, we wouldn't be talking about it."</p> + +<p>Jill panted, partly with relief.</p> + +<p>"I've thought of something I want to try," said Lockley. "I should +have tried it yesterday when I first smashed my watch."</p> + +<p>He retraced his steps to the spot where they'd caught the first whiff +of that disgusting reptilian-jungle-decay odor which had bombarded +their nostrils. Jill called anxiously, "Be careful!"</p> + +<p>He nodded. He got the coiled bronze watchspring out of his pocket. He +went very cautiously to the spot where the smell became noticeable. +Standing well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> back from it, he tossed one end of the spring into it. +He drew it back. He repeated the operation. He moved to one side. +Again he swung the gold-colored ribbon. He dangled it back and forth. +Then he drew back yet again and wrapped his left hand and wrists with +many turns of the thin bronze spring, carefully spacing the turns. He +moved forward once more.</p> + +<p>He came back, his expression showing no elation at all.</p> + +<p>"No good," he said unhappily. "In a way, it works. The spring acts as +an aerial and picks up more of the beam than my hand. But I tried to +make a Faraday cage. That will stop most electromagnetic radiation, +but not this stuff! It goes right through, like electrons through a +radio tube grid."</p> + +<p>He put the spring back in his pocket.</p> + +<p>"Well," he grimaced. "Let's go on again. I had a little bit of hope, +but some smarter men than I am haven't got the right gimmick yet."</p> + +<p>They started off once more. And this time they did not choose a path +for easier travel, but went up a steep slope that rose for hundreds of +feet to arrive at a crest with another steep slope going downhill. At +the top Lockley said sourly, "I did discover one thing, if it means +anything. The beam leaks at its edges, but it's only leakage. It +doesn't diffuse. It's tight. It's more like a searchlight beam than +anything else in that way. You can see a light beam at night because +dust motes scatter some part of it. But most of the light goes +straight on. This stuff does the same. It's hard to imagine a limit to +its range."</p> + +<p>He trudged on downhill. Jill followed him. Presently, when they'd +covered two miles or more with no lightening of his expression, she +said, "You said you understand how it works. Radio and radar beams<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +don't have effects like this. How does this have them?"</p> + +<p>"It makes high frequency currents on the surface of anything it hits. +High frequency doesn't go into flesh or metal. It travels on the +surface only. So when this beam hits a man it generates high frequency +on his skin. That induces counter currents underneath, and they +stimulate all the sensory nerves we've got—of our eyes and ears and +noses as well as our skin. Every nerve reports its own kind of +sensation. Run current over your tongue, and you taste. Induce a +current in your eyes, and you see flashes of light. So the beam makes +all our senses report everything they're capable of reporting, true or +not, and we're blinded and deafened. Then the nerves to our muscles +report to them that they're to contract, and they do. So we're +paralyzed."</p> + +<p>"And," said Jill, "if there's a way to generate high frequency on a +man's skin there's nothing that can be done?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," said Lockley dourly.</p> + +<p>"Maybe," said Jill, "you can figure out a way to prevent that high +frequency generation."</p> + +<p>He shrugged. Jill frowned as she followed him. She hadn't forgotten +Vale, but she owed some gratitude to Lockley. Womanlike, she tried to +pay part of it by urging him to do something he considered impossible.</p> + +<p>"At least," she suggested, "it can't be a death ray!"</p> + +<p>Lockley looked at her.</p> + +<p>"You're wrong there," he said coldly. "It can."</p> + +<p>Jill frowned again. Not because of his statement, but because she +hadn't succeeded in diverting his mind from gloomy things. She had +reason enough for sadness, herself. If she spoke of it, Lockley would +try to encourage her. But he was concerned with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> more than his own +emotions. Without really knowing it, Jill had come to feel a great +confidence in Lockley. It had been reassuring that he could find food, +and perhaps more reassuring that he could chase away a bear. Such +talents were not logical reasons for being confident that he could +solve the alien's seemingly invincible weapon, but she was inclined to +feel so. And if she could encourage him to cope with the +monsters—why—it would be even a form of loyalty to Vale. So she +believed.</p> + +<p>In the late afternoon Lockley said, "Another four or five miles and we +ought to be out of the Park and on another highway we'll hope won't be +blocked by a terror beam. Anyhow there should be an occasional +farmhouse where we can find some sort of civilized food."</p> + +<p>Jill said hungrily, "Scrambled eggs!"</p> + +<p>"Probably," he agreed.</p> + +<p>They went on and on. Three miles. Four. Five. Five and a half. They +descended a minor slope and came to a hard-surfaced road with tire +marks on it and a sign sternly urging care in driving. There were +ploughed fields in which crops were growing. There was a row of stubby +telephone poles with a sagging wire between them.</p> + +<p>"We'll head west," said Lockley. "There ought to be a farmhouse +somewhere near."</p> + +<p>"And people," said Jill. "I look terrible!"</p> + +<p>He regarded her with approval.</p> + +<p>"No. You look all right. You look fine!"</p> + +<p>It was pleasing that he seemed to mean it. But immediately she said, +"Maybe we'll be able to find out about ... about...."</p> + +<p>"Vale," agreed Lockley. "But don't be disappointed if we don't. He +could have escaped or been freed without everybody knowing it."</p> + +<p>She said in surprise, "Been freed! That's something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> I didn't think +of. He'd set to work to make them understand that we humans are +intelligent and they ought to make friends with us. That would be the +first thing he'd think of. And they might set him free to arrange it."</p> + +<p>Lockley said, "Yes," in a carefully noncommittal tone.</p> + +<p>Another mile, this time on the hard road. It seemed strange to walk on +so unyielding a surface after so many miles on quite different kinds +of footing. It was almost sunset now. There was a farmhouse set well +back from the road and barely discernable beyond nearby growing corn. +The house seemed dead. It was neat enough and in good repair. There +were clackings of chickens from somewhere behind it. But it had the +feel of emptiness.</p> + +<p>Lockley called. He called again. He went to the door and would have +called once more, but the door opened at a touch.</p> + +<p>"Evacuated," he said. "Did you notice that there was a telephone line +leading here from the road?"</p> + +<p>He hunted in the now shadowy rooms. He found the telephone. He lifted +the receiver and heard the humming of the line. He tried to call an +operator. He heard the muted buzz that said the call was sounding. But +there was no answer. He found a telephone book and dialed one number +after another. Sheriff. Preacher. Doctor. Garage. Operator again. +General store.... He could tell that telephones rang dutifully in +remote abandoned places. But there was no answer at all.</p> + +<p>"I'll look in the chicken coops," said Jill practically.</p> + +<p>She came back with eggs. She said briefly, "The chickens were hungry. +I fed them and left the chicken yard gate open. I wonder if the beam +hurts them too?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It does," said Lockley.</p> + +<p>He made a light and then a fire and she cooked eggs which belonged to +the unknown people who owned this house and who had walked out of it +when instructions for immediate evacuation came. They felt queer, +making free with this house of a stranger. They felt that he might +come in and be indignant with them.</p> + +<p>"I ought to wash the dishes," said Jill when they were finished.</p> + +<p>"No," said Lockley. "We go on. We need to find some soldiers, or a +telephone that works...."</p> + +<p>"I'm not a good dishwasher anyhow," said Jill guiltily.</p> + +<p>Lockley put a banknote on the kitchen table, with a weight on it to +keep it from blowing away. They closed the house door. They'd eaten +fully and luxuriously of eggs and partly stale bread and the sensation +was admirable. They went out to the highway again.</p> + +<p>"West is still our best bet," said Lockley. "They've blocked the +highway to eastward with that terror beam."</p> + +<p>The sun had set now, but a fading glory remained in the sky. They saw +the slenderest, barest crescent of a new moon practically hidden in +the sunset glow. They walked upon a civilized road, with a fence on +one side of it and above it a single sagging telephone wire that could +be made out against the stars.</p> + +<p>"I feel," said Jill, "as if we were almost safe, now. All this looks +so ordinary and reassuring."</p> + +<p>"But we'd better keep our noses alert," Lockley told her. "We know +that one beam comes nearly this far and probably—no, certainly +crosses this road. There may be more."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," agreed Jill. Then she said irrelevantly, "I'll bet they do +make him a sort of—ambassador<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> to our government to arrange for +making friends. He'll be able to convince them!"</p> + +<p>Again she referred to Vale. Lockley said nothing.</p> + +<p>Night was now fully fallen. There were myriad stars overhead. They saw +the telephone wire dipping between poles against the sky's brightness. +They passed an open gate where another telephone wire led away, +doubtless to another farmhouse. But if there was no one at the other +end of a telephone line, there was no point in using a phone.</p> + +<p>There came a rumbling noise behind them. They stared at one another in +the starlight. The rumbling approached.</p> + +<p>"It—can't be!" said Jill, marvelling.</p> + +<p>"It's a motor," said Lockley. He could not feel complete relief. +"Sounds like a truck. I wonder—"</p> + +<p>He felt uneasiness. But it was absurd. Only human beings would use +motor trucks.</p> + +<p>There was a glow in the distance behind them. It came nearer as the +sound of the motor approached. The motor's mutter became a grumble. It +was definitely a truck. They could hear those other sounds that trucks +always make in addition to their motor noises.</p> + +<p>It came up to the curve they'd rounded last. Its headlight beams +glared on the cornstalks growing next to the highway. One headlight +appeared around the turn. Then the other. An enormous trailer-truck +combination came bumbling toward them. Jill held up her hand for it to +stop. Its headlights shone brightly upon her.</p> + +<p>Airbrakes came on. The giant combination—cab in front, gigantic box +body behind—came to a halt. A man leaned out. He said amazedly, "Hey, +what are you folks doin' here? Everybody's supposed to be long gone! +Ain't you heard about all civilians clearing out from twenty miles +outside the Park? There's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> boogers in there! Characters from Mars or +somewhere. They eat people!"</p> + +<p>Even in the starlight Lockley saw the familiar Wild Life Control +markings on the trailer. He heard Jill, her voice shaking with relief, +explaining that she'd been at the construction camp and had been left +behind, and that she and Lockley had made their way out.</p> + +<p>"We want to get to a telephone," she added. "He has some information +he wants to give to the Army. It's very important." Then she +swallowed. "And I'd like to ask if you've heard anything about a Mr. +Vale. He was taken prisoner by the creatures up there. Have you heard +of his being released?"</p> + +<p>The driver hesitated. Then he said, "No, ma'm. Not a word about him. +But we'll take care of you two! You musta been through plenty! Jud, +you go get in the trailer, back yonder. Make room for these two folks +up on the front seat." He added explanatorily, "There's cases and +stuff in the back, ma'm. You two folks climb right up here alongside +of me. You sure musta had a time!"</p> + +<p>The door on the near side of the truck cab opened. A small man got +out. Silently, he went to the rear of the trailer and swung up out of +sight. Jill climbed into the opened door. Lockley followed her. He +still felt an irrational uneasiness, but he put it down to habit. The +past few days had formed it.</p> + +<p>"We've been cartin' stuff for the soldiers," explained the driver as +Lockley closed the door behind him. "They keep track of where that +terror beam is workin', and they tell us by truck radio, and we dodge +it. Ain't had a bit of trouble. Never thought I'd play games with +Martians! Did you see any of 'em? What sort of critters are they?"</p> + +<p>He slipped the truck into gear and gunned the motor. Truck and +trailer, together, began to roll<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> down the highway. Lockley was +irritated with himself because he couldn't relax and feel safe, as +this development seemed to warrant.</p> + +<p>Later, he would wonder why he hadn't used his head in this as in other +matters during the few days just past.</p> + +<p>He plainly hadn't.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_7" id="CHAPTER_7"></a>CHAPTER 7</h2> + + +<p>The driver was avidly curious about the area where supposedly no human +being could survive. He asked absorbed questions, especially and +insistently about the aliens. Jill said that she'd seen a few of them, +but only at a distance. They'd been investigating the evacuated +construction camp. They were about the size of men. She couldn't +describe them, but they weren't human beings. He seemed to find it +unthinkable that she hadn't examined them in detail.</p> + +<p>Lockley came to her rescue. He observed that he'd been a prisoner of +the invaders, and had escaped. Then the driver's curiosity became +insatiable. He wanted to know every imaginable detail of that +experience. He expressed almost incredulous disappointment that +Lockley couldn't give even a partial description of the creatures. +When convinced, he launched a detailed recital of the descriptions +offered by the workmen from the camp. He pictured the aliens as hoofed +like horses, equipped with horns like antelopes, fitted with multiple +arms like octopi and huge multi-faceted eyes like insects.</p> + +<p>He seemed to contemplate this picture with vast<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> satisfaction as the +truck growled and rumbled through the night.</p> + +<p>The headlights glared on ahead of the truck. There were dark fields +and darker mountains beyond them. From time to time little side roads +branched off. They undoubtedly led to houses, but no speck of lamp +light appeared anywhere. This part of the world was empty, with the +loneliness of a landscape from which every hint of human activity had +been removed.</p> + +<p>Jill asked a question. The driver grew garrulous. He gave a dramatic +picture of terror throughout the world, the suspension of all ordinary +antagonisms in the face of this menace to every man and nation on the +earth. There was peace even in the world's trouble spots as appalled +agitators saw how much worse things could be if the monsters took over +the world to rule. But the driver insisted that the United States was +calm. Us Americans, he assured Lockley, weren't scared. We were +educated and we knew that them scientists would crack this nut +somehow. Like only yesterday a broadcast said this Belgian guy had +come up with calculations that said this poison beam had to be +something like a radar beam or a laser beam or something like that. +And the American scientists were right out there in front, along with +guys from England and France and Italy and Germany and even Russia. +All the big brains of the world were workin' on it! Those Martians +were gonna wish they'd come visitin' polite instead of barging in like +they owned the world! They'd be lucky if they wound up ownin' Mars!</p> + +<p>Lockley pressed for details about the scientists' results. He didn't +expect to get them, but the driver cheerfully obliged.</p> + +<p>Radio, said the driver largely, worked by making<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> waves like those on +a pond. They spread out and reached places where there were +instruments to detect them, and that was that. Radar made the same +kind of waves, only smaller, which bounced back to where there was an +instrument to detect them. These were ripple waves.</p> + +<p>Lockley interpreted the term to mean sine waves, rounded at top and +trough. It was a perfectly good word to express the meaning intended.</p> + +<p>These were natural kindsa waves, pursued the driver. Lightning made +them. Static was them, and sparks from running motors and blown fuses. +Waves like that were generated whenever an electric circuit was made +or broken besides their occurrence from purely natural causes.</p> + +<p>"We can't feel 'em," said the driver expansively. "We're used to waves +like that. Animals couldn't do anything about 'em and didn't need to +before there was men. So when we come along, we couldn't notice 'em +any more than we notice air pressure on our skin. We're used to it! +But these scientists say there's waves that ain't natural. They ain't +like ripples. They're like storm waves with foam on 'em. And that's +the kind of waves we can notice. Like storm waves with sharp edges. We +can notice them because they do things to us! These Martians make 'em +do things. But now we know what kinda waves they are, we're gonna mess +them up! And I'm savin' up a special kick for one o' those Martians +when they're licked just as soon as I can find out which end of him is +which an' suited to that kinda attention!"</p> + +<p>Lockley found himself suspicious and was annoyed. Jill was safe now. +This driver was well-informed, but probably everybody was +well-informed now. They had reason to become so!</p> + +<p>The truck trundled through the night. High over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>head, a squadron of +planes arrived to take its place in the ever-moving patrol around the +Park. Another squadron, relieved, went away to the southwest. There +was a deep-toned, faraway roaring from the engines aloft. All the sky +behind the trailer seemed to mutter continuously. But the roof of +stars ahead was silent.</p> + +<p>Lockley stayed tense and was weary of his tenseness, Jill was safe. He +tried to reason his uneasiness away. The cab of the truck wobbled and +swayed. The feel of the vehicle was entirely unlike the feel of a +passenger car. It felt tail-heavy. The driver had ceased to talk. He +seemed to be musing as he drove. He'd asked about the invaders but +seemed almost indifferent to any adventures Jill and Lockley might +have had on their way out. He didn't ask what they'd done for food. He +was thinking of something else.</p> + +<p>Lockley found himself questioning the driver's statements just after +they got in. Driving for the Army. The Army kept track of where the +terror beams existed, and notified this truck by truck radio, and he +dodged all such road barriers. That was what he said. It seemed +plausible, but—</p> + +<p>"One thing strikes me funny," said the driver, musingly. "Those +critters blindfoldin' you and those other guys. What' you think they +did it for?"</p> + +<p>"To keep us from seeing them," said Lockley, curtly.</p> + +<p>"But why'd they want to do that?"</p> + +<p>"Because," said Lockley, "they might not have been Martians. They +might not have been critters. They might have been men."</p> + +<p>On the instant he regretted bitterly that he'd said it. It was a +guess, only, with all the evidence against it. The driver visibly +jumped. Then he turned his head.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Where'd you get that idea?" he demanded. "What's the evidence? Why +d'you think it?"</p> + +<p>"They blindfolded me," said Lockley briefly.</p> + +<p>A pause. Then the driver said vexedly, "That's a funny thing to make +you think they was men! Hell! Excuse me, ma'm!—they coulda had all +kindsa reasons for blindfoldin' you! It coulda been part of their +religion!"</p> + +<p>"Maybe," said Lockley. He was angry with himself for having said +something which was needlessly dramatic.</p> + +<p>"Didn't you have any other reason for thinkin' they were men?" +demanded the driver curiously. "No other reason at all?"</p> + +<p>"No other at all," said Lockley.</p> + +<p>"It's a crazy reason, if you ask me!"</p> + +<p>"Quite likely," conceded Lockley.</p> + +<p>He'd been indiscreet, but no more. He'd said what he thought, perhaps +because he was tired of watching all the country round him for a +menace to Jill, and then watching every word he spoke to keep her from +abandoning hope for Vale.</p> + +<p>Jill said, "Where are we headed for? I hope I can get to a telephone. +I want to ask about somebody.... He wants to tell the soldiers +something."</p> + +<p>"We're headed for a army supply dump," said the driver comfortably, +"to load up with stuff for the guys that're watching all around the +Park. We'll be goin' through Serena presently. Funny. Everybody moved +out by the Army. A good thing, too. The folks in Maplewood couldn't +ha' been got out last night before the Martians got there."</p> + +<p>The trailer-truck went on through the night. The driver lounged in his +seat, keeping a negligent but capable eye on the road ahead. The +headlights showed a place where another road crossed this one and +there was a filling station, still and dark, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> four or five +dwellings nearby with no single sign of life about them. Then the +crossroads settlement fell behind. A mile beyond it Jill said +startledly, "Lights! There's a town. It's lighted."</p> + +<p>"It's Serena," said the driver. "The street lights are on because the +electricity comes from far away. With the lights on it's a marker for +the planes, too, so they can tell exactly where they are and the Park +too. They can't see the ground so good at night, from away up there."</p> + +<p>The white street lamps seemed to twinkle as the trailer-truck rumbled +on. A single long line of them appeared to welcome the big vehicle. It +went on into the town. It reached the business district. There were +side streets, utterly empty, and then the main street divided. The +truck bore to the right. There were three and four-story buildings. +Every window was blank and empty, reflecting only the white street +lamps. No living thing anywhere. There had been no destruction, but +the town was dead. Its lights shone on streets so empty that it would +have seemed better to leave them to the kindly dark.</p> + +<p>Jill exclaimed, "Look! That window!"</p> + +<p>And ahead, in the dead and lifeless town, a single window glowed from +electric light inside it, and it looked lonelier than anything else in +the world.</p> + +<p>"I'm gonna look into that!" said the driver. "Nobody's supposed to be +here."</p> + +<p>The truck came to a stop. The driver got out. There was a stirring, +behind, and the small man who'd given his place to Jill and Lockley +popped out of the trailer body. Lockley saw the name of a local +telephone company silhouetted on the lighted windowpane. He opened the +door. Jill followed him instantly. The four of them—driver, helper, +Lockley and Jill—crowded into the building hallway to in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>vestigate +the one lighted room in a town where twenty thousand people were +supposed to live.</p> + +<p>There was a door with a frosted glass top through which light showed. +The driver turned the door-knob and marched in. The room had an +alcoholic smell. A man with sunken cheeks slept heavily in a chair, +his head forward on his chest.</p> + +<p>The driver shook him.</p> + +<p>"Wake up, guy!" he said sternly. "Orders are for all civilians to +clear outa this town. You wanna soldier to come by an' take you for a +looter an' bump you off?"</p> + +<p>He shook again. The cadaverous man blinked his eyes open. The smell of +alcohol was distinct. He was drunk. He gazed ferociously up at the +driver of the truck.</p> + +<p>"Who the hell are you?" he demanded belligerently.</p> + +<p>The driver spoke sternly, repeating what he'd said before. The drunk +assumed an air of outraged dignity.</p> + +<p>"If I wanna stay here, that's my business! Who th' hell are you +anyways, disturbin' a citizen tax-payer on his lawful occasions? Are +you Martians? I wouldn't put it pasht you!"</p> + +<p>He sat down and went back to sleep.</p> + +<p>The driver said fretfully, "He oughtn't to be here! But we ain't got +room to carry him. I'm gonna use the truck radio an' ask what to do. +Maybe they'll send a Army truck to get him outa here. He could set the +whole town on fire!"</p> + +<p>He went out. The small man who was his helper followed him. He hadn't +spoken a word. Lockley growled. Then Jill said breathlessly, "The +switch-board has some long distance lines. I know how to connect them. +Shall I try?"</p> + +<p>Lockley agreed emphatically. Jill slipped into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> operator's chair +and donned the headset. She inserted a plug and pressed a switch.</p> + +<p>"I did an article once on how—Hello! Serena calling. I have a very +important message for the military officer in command of the cordon. +Will you route me through, please?"</p> + +<p>Her manner was convincingly professional. She looked up and smiled +shakily at Lockley. She spoke again into the mouthpiece before her. +Then she said, "One moment, please." She covered the mouthpiece with +her hand.</p> + +<p>"I can't get the general," she said. "His aide will take the message +and if it's important enough—"</p> + +<p>"It is," said Lockley. "Give me the phone."</p> + +<p>She vacated the chair and handed him the operator's instrument with +its light weight earphones and a mouthpiece that rested on his chest.</p> + +<p>"My name's Lockley," said Lockley evenly. "I was in the Park on a +Survey job the morning the thing came down from the sky. I relayed +Vale's message describing the landing and the creatures that came out +of the—object. I was talking to him by microwave when he was seized +by them. I reported that via Sattell of the Survey. You probably know +of these reports."</p> + +<p>A tinny voice said with formal cordiality that he did, indeed.</p> + +<p>"I've just managed to get out of the park," said Lockley. "I've had a +chance to experiment with a stationary terror beam. I've information +of some importance about detecting those beams before they strike."</p> + +<p>The tinny voice said hastily that Lockley should speak to the general +himself. There were clickings and a long wait. Lockley shook his head +impatiently. When a new voice spoke, he said, "I'm at Serena. I was +brought here by a Wild Life Control trailer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>-truck which picked us up +just outside the Park. I mention that because the driver says he's +driving it for the Army, now. The information I have to pass on is...."</p> + +<p>Curtly and succinctly, he began to give exact information about the +terror beam. Its detection so that one need not enter it. The total +lack of effectiveness of a Faraday cage to check it. Its use to block +highways and its one use against a low-flying plane. The failure to +search him out with that terror beam was to be noted. There was other +evidence that the monsters were not monsters at all—</p> + +<p>The new voice interrupted sharply. It asked him to wait. His +information would be recorded. Lockley waited, biting his lips. The +voice returned after an unconscionably long wait. It told him to go +ahead.</p> + +<p>The driver of the truck was taking a long time to make contact with +the military. He'd have done better by telephone instead of short +wave.</p> + +<p>The new voice repeated sharply for Lockley to go on with his story. +And very, very carefully Lockley explained the contradictions in the +behavior of the invaders. The blindfolds. The fact that it had been +absurdly easy for four human prisoners in a compost pit shell to +escape—almost as if it were intended for them to get away and report +that their captors regarded men as on a par with game birds and +rabbits and porcupines. True aliens would not have bothered to give +such an impression. But men cooperating with aliens would contrive +every possible trick to insist that only aliens operated at Boulder +Lake.</p> + +<p>"I'm saying," said Lockley carefully, "that they do not act like +aliens making a first landing on earth. Apparently their ship is +designed to land in deep water. On a first landing, they should have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +chosen the sea. But they knew Boulder Lake was deep enough to cushion +their descent. How did they know it? They didn't kill us local animals +for study, but they dropped in other local animals to convince us that +they wouldn't mind. Why try to fill us with horror—and then let us +escape?"</p> + +<p>The voice at the other end said sharply, "<i>What do you infer from all +this?</i>"</p> + +<p>"They've been briefed," said Lockley. "They know too much about this +planet and us humans. Somebody has told them about human psychology +and suggested that they conquer us without destroying our cities or +our factories or our usefulness as slaves. We'll be much more valuable +if captured that way! I'm saying that they've got humans advising and +cooperating with them! I'm suggesting that those humans have made a +deal to run earth for the aliens, paying them all the tribute they can +demand. I'm saying that we're not up against an invasion only by +aliens, but by aliens with humans in active cooperation and acting not +only as advisers but probably as spies. I'm—"</p> + +<p>"<i>Mr. Lockley!</i>" said the voice at the other end of the wire. It was +startled and shocked. It became pompous. "<i>Mr. Lockley, what has been +your training?</i>" The voice did not wait for an answer. "<i>Where have +you become qualified to offer opinions contradicting all the +information and all the decisions of scientists and military men +alike? Where do you get the authority to make such statements? They +are preposterous! You have wasted my time! You—</i>"</p> + +<p>Lockley reached over and flipped back the switch he'd seen Jill flip +over. He carefully put down the headset. He stood up.</p> + +<p>The driver and the small man came back. They picked up the sleeping +drunk and moved toward the door. Something fell out of the drunk's +pocket.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> It was a wallet. They did not notice. They went out, carrying +the drunk. Jill stooped and recovered it. She looked at Lockley's +face.</p> + +<p>"What—"</p> + +<p>"I'm trying," said Lockley in a grating voice, "to figure out what to +do next. That didn't work."</p> + +<p>"I'll be right back," said Jill.</p> + +<p>She went out to deliver the wallet to the driver, who had apparently +been ordered to put the drunk in the trailer body and deliver him +somewhere.</p> + +<p>Lockley swore explosively when she was gone. He clenched and +unclenched his hands. He paced the length of the room.</p> + +<p>Jill came back, her face white.</p> + +<p>"They opened the door of the trailer to pass him in," she said in a +thin, strained voice. "And there were other men back there. Several of +them! And machinery! Not cages for animals but +engines—generators—electrical things! I'm frightened!"</p> + +<p>"And I," said Lockley, "am a fool. I should have known it! Look +here—"</p> + +<p>The frosted-glass door opened. The driver came back. He had a revolver +in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Too bad!" he said calmly. "We should've been more careful. But the +lady saw too much. Now—"</p> + +<p>The revolver bore on Lockley. Jill flung herself upon it. Lockley +swung, with every ounce of his strength. He connected with the +driver's jaw. The driver went limp. Lockley had the revolver almost +before he reached the floor.</p> + +<p>"Quick!" he snapped. "Where was the machinery? Front or back part of +the trailer?"</p> + +<p>"All of it," panted Jill. "Mostly front. What—"</p> + +<p>"The hall again," Lockley snapped. "Hunt for a back door!"</p> + +<p>He thrust her out. She fumbled toward the back of the building while +he went to the street entrance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> The trailer-truck loomed huge. The +driver's helper came out of it. Another man followed him. Still +another....</p> + +<p>Lockley fired from the doorway. One bullet through the front part of +the truck. One near the middle. Then a third halfway between the first +two. The three men dived to the ground, thinking themselves his +targets. But Jill called inarticulately from the back of the dark +hall. Lockley raced back to her. He saw starlight. She waited, +shivering. They went out and he closed the door softly behind him.</p> + +<p>He took her hand and they ran through the night. Overhead there was a +luminous mistiness because of the street light, but here were abysmal +darknesses between vague areas on which the starlight fell. Lockley +said evenly, "We've got to be quiet. Maybe I hit some of the +machinery. Maybe. If I didn't, it's all over!"</p> + +<p>The back of a building. An alleyway. They ran down it. There was a +street with trees, where the street lights cast utterly black shadows +in between intolerable glare. They ran across the street. On the other +side were residences—the business district was not large. Lockley +found a gate, and opened it quietly and as quietly closed it behind +them. They ran into a lane between two dead, dark, dreary structures +in which people had lived but from which all life was now gone.</p> + +<p>A back yard. A fence. Lockley helped Jill get over it. Another lane. +Another street. But this street was not crossed—not here, anyhow—by +another which led back to the street of the telephone office. A man +could not look from there and see them running under the lights.</p> + +<p>The blessed irregularity of the streets continued. They ran and ran +until Jill's breath came in pantings. Lockley was drenched in sweat +because he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> expected at any instant to smell the most loathesome of +all possible combinations of odors, and then to see flashing lights +originating in his own eyes, and sounds which would exist only in the +nerves of his ears, and then to feel all his muscles knot in total and +horrible paralysis.</p> + +<p>They heard the truck motor rumble into life when they were many blocks +away. They heard the clumsy vehicle move. It continued to growl, and +they knew that it was moving about the streets with its occupants +trying to sight fleeing figures under the darknesses which were trees.</p> + +<p>"I hit—I hit the generator," panted Lockley. "I must have! Else +they'd swing a beam on us!"</p> + +<p>He stopped. Here they were in a district where many large homes pooled +their lawns in block-long stretches of soft green. The street lights +cast arbitrary patches of brightness against the houses, but their +windows were blank and dark. This street, like most in this small +town, was lined with trees on either side. There were the fragrances +of flowers and grass.</p> + +<p>"We aren't safe now," said Lockley, "but I just found out there may +not be any safety anywhere."</p> + +<p>Jill's teeth chattered.</p> + +<p>"What will we do? What was that machinery? I felt—frightened because +it wasn't what he said was back there. So I told you. But what was +it?".</p> + +<p>"At a guess," said Lockley, "a terror beam generator. The invaders +must have human friends. To us they're spies. They're cooperating with +the monsters. Apparently they're even trusted with terror beam +projectors."</p> + +<p>He stood still, thinking, while in the distance the trailer-truck +ground and rumbled about the streets. It was not a very promising +method for finding two fugitives. They could hide if it turned onto a +street<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> they used. It could not continue the search indefinitely. The +most likely final course would be to leave some of the unknown number +of men in its trailer to search the town on foot. Even that might not +be successful. But it wouldn't be a good idea for Lockley and Jill to +remain here, either.</p> + +<p>"We look for two-car garages," said Lockley. "It's not a good chance, +but it's all we've got. <i>If</i> somebody had two cars, they might have +left one behind when they evacuated. I can jump an ignition switch if +necessary. Meanwhile we'll be moving out of town, which is a good idea +even if we do it on foot!"</p> + +<p>They ceased to use the streets with their dramatic contrast of vivid +lights with total shadows. They moved behind a row of what would be +considered mansions in Serena, Colorado. Sometimes they stumbled over +flower beds, and once there was a hose over which Jill tripped, and +once Lockley barked his shin on a garden wheelbarrow. Most of the +garages were empty or contained only tools and garden equipment.</p> + +<p>Then something made Lockley look up. A slender, truss-braced, mastlike +tower rose skyward. It began on the lawn of a house with wide porches. +There was a two-car garage with one wide door open.</p> + +<p>"A radio ham," said Lockley. "I wonder—"</p> + +<p>But he looked first in the garage. There was a car. It looked all +right. He climbed in and opened the door. The dome light came on. The +key was still in the ignition. He turned it and the gauge showed that +the gas tank was three-quarters full. This was unbelievable good +fortune.</p> + +<p>"They probably intended to use this and then changed their minds," +said Lockley. "I'll get the door open and attempt a little burglary. +Just one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> burglary with a prayer that he used a storage battery for +his power!"</p> + +<p>Breaking in was simple. He tried the windows opening on the main wide +porch. One window slid up. He went inside, Jill following.</p> + +<p>The ham radio outfit was in the cellar. Like most radio hams, this one +had battery-powered equipment as a matter of public responsibility. In +case of storm or disaster when power lines are down, the ham operators +of the United States can function as emergency communication systems, +working without outside power. This operator was equipped as +membership in the organization required.</p> + +<p>Lockley warmed up the tubes. He tuned to a general call frequency. He +began to say, "May Day! May Day! May Day!" in a level voice. This +emergency call has precedence over all other calls but S.O.S., which +has an identical meaning. But "May Day" is more distinct and +unmistakable when heard faintly.</p> + +<p>There were answers within minutes. Lockley snapped for them to stay +tuned while he called for others. He had half a dozen hams waiting +curiously when he began to broadcast what he wanted the world to know.</p> + +<p>He told it as briefly and as convincingly as he could. Then he said, +"Over" and threw the reception switch for questions.</p> + +<p>There were no questions. His broadcast had been jammed. Some other +station or stations were transmitting pure static with deafening +volume, evidently from somewhere nearby. Lockley could not tell when +it had begun. It could have been from the instant he began to speak. +It was very likely that not one really useful word had been heard +anywhere.</p> + +<p>But a direction finder could have betrayed his position.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_8" id="CHAPTER_8"></a>CHAPTER 8</h2> + + +<p>It was a ticklish job getting the car out of the garage and into the +street. Lockley was afraid that starting the motor would make a noise +which in the silence of the town's absolute abandonment could be heard +for a long way. The grinding of the starter, though, lasted only for +seconds. It might make men listen, but they could hardly locate it +before the motor caught and ran quietly. Also, the trailer-truck was +still in motion and making its own noise. Of course it was probably +posting watchers and listeners here and there to try to find Lockley +and Jill.</p> + +<p>So Lockley backed the car into the street as silently as was possible. +He did not turn on the lights. He stopped, headed away from the area +in which the truck rumbled. He sent the car forward at a crawl. Then +an idea occurred to him and cold chills ran down his spine. It is +possible to use a short wave receiver to pick up the ignition sparks +of a car. Normally such sparkings are grounded so the car's own radio +will work. But sometimes a radio is out of order. It was +characteristic of Lockley's acquired distrust of luck and chance that +he thought of so unlikely a disaster.</p> + +<p>He eased the car into motion, straining his ears for any sign that the +truck reacted. Then he moved the car slowly away from the business +district. It required enormous self-control to go slowly. While among +the lighted streets the urge to flee at top speed was strong. But he +clenched his teeth. A car makes much less noise when barely in motion. +He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> made it drift as silently as a wraith under the trees and the +street lamps.</p> + +<p>They got out of town. The last of the street lamps was behind them. +There was only starlight ahead, and an unknown road with many turns +and curves. Sometimes there were roadsigns, dimly visible as +uninformative shapes beside the highway. They warned of curves and +other driving hazards, but they could not be read because Lockley +drove without lights. He left the car dark because any glare would +have been visible to the men of the trailer-truck for a very long way.</p> + +<p>Starlight is not good for fast driving, and when a road passes through +a wooded space it is nerve-racking. Lockley drove with foreboding, +every sense alert and every muscle tense. But just after a painful +progress through a series of curves with high trees on either side +which he managed by looking up at the sky and staying under the middle +of the ribbon of stars he could see, Lockley touched the brake and +stopped the car.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Jill, as he rummaged under the instrument +panel.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Lockley, "that I must have damaged something in that +truck. Otherwise they'd have turned their beam on us just to get even.</p> + +<p>"But maybe they'll be able to make a repair. In any case there are +other beams. Those are probably stationary and the truck knows where +they are and calls by truck radio to have them shut off when it wants +to go by. That would work. Using the Wild Life truck was really very +clever."</p> + +<p>He wrenched at something. It gave. He pulled out a length of wire and +started working on one end of it.</p> + +<p>"If they guess we got a car," he observed, "they'll expect us to run +into a road block beam that would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> wreck the car and paralyze us. I'm +taking a small precaution against that. Here." He put the wire's end +into her hand. "It's the lead-in from this car's radio antenna. It +ought to warn us of beams across the road as my watch spring did in +the hills. Hold it."</p> + +<p>"I will," said Jill.</p> + +<p>"One more item," he said. He got out of the car and closed the door +quickly. He went to the back. There was the sound of breaking glass. +He returned, saying, "No brake lights will go on now. I'll try to do +something about that dome light." With a sharp blow he shattered it. +"Now we could be as hard to trail as that Wild Life truck was the +other night."</p> + +<p>Jill groped as the car got into motion again.</p> + +<p>"You mean it was—Oh!"</p> + +<p>"Most likely," agreed Lockley, "it was the thing that went out of the +park and occupied Maplewood, flinging terror beams in all directions. +Some of the truck's crew would have had footgear to make hoofprints. +They committed a token burglary or two. And there was the illusion of +aliens studying these queer creatures, men."</p> + +<p>They went on at not more than fifteen miles an hour. The car was +almost soundless. They heard insects singing in the night. There was a +steady, monotonous rumbling high above where Air Force planes +patrolled outside the Park. After a time Jill said, "You seemed +discouraged when you talked to that general."</p> + +<p>"I was," said Lockley. "I am. He played it safe, refused to admit that +anybody in authority over him could possibly be mistaken. That's sound +policy, and I was contradicting the official opinion of his superiors. +I've got to find somebody of much lower rank, or much higher. +Maybe—"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jill said in a strained voice, "Stop!"</p> + +<p>He braked. She said unsteadily, "Holding the wire, I smell that +horrible smell."</p> + +<p>He put his hand on the wire's end. He shared the sensation.</p> + +<p>"Terror beam across the highway," he said calmly. "Maybe on our +account, maybe not. But there was a side road a little way back."</p> + +<p>He backed the car. He'd smashed the backing lights, too. He guided +himself by starlight. Presently he swung the wheel and faced the car +about. He drove back the way he had come. A mile or so, and there was +another hard-surface road branching off. He took it. Half an hour +later Jill said quickly, "Brakes!"</p> + +<p>The road was blocked once more by an invisible terror beam, into which +any car moving at reasonable speed must move before its driver could +receive warning.</p> + +<p>"This isn't good," he said coldly. "They may have picked some good +places to block. We have to go almost at random, just picking roads +that head away from the Park. I don't know how thoroughly they can +cage us in, though."</p> + +<p>There was a flicker of light in the sky. Lockley jerked his head +around. It flashed again. Lightning. The sky was clouding up.</p> + +<p>"It's getting worse," he said in a strained voice. "I've been taking +every turn that ought to lead us away from the Park, but I've had to +use the stars for direction. I didn't think that soldiers would keep +us from getting away from here. I was almost confident. But what will +I do without the stars?"</p> + +<p>He drove on. The clouds piled up, blotting out the heavens. Once +Lockley saw a faint glow in the sky and clenched his teeth. He turned +away from it at the first opportunity. The glow could be Serena,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> and +he could have been forced back toward it by the windings of the +highway he'd followed without lights. Twice Jill warned him of beams +across the highway. Once, driven by his increasing anxiety, his brakes +almost failed to stop him in time. When the car did stop, he was aware +of faint tinglings on his skin. There were erratic flashings in his +eyes, too, and a discordant composite of sounds which by association +with past suffering made him nauseated. Perhaps this extra leakage +from the terror beam was through the metal of the car.</p> + +<p>When he got out of that terror beam the sky was three-quarters blacked +out and before he was well away from the spot there was only a tiny +patch of stars well down toward the horizon. There were lightning +flickers overhead. After a time he depended on them to show him the +road.</p> + +<p>Then the rain came. The lightning increased. The road twisted and +turned. Twice the car veered off onto the road's shoulders, but each +time he righted it. As time passed conditions grew worse. It was +urgent that he get as far as possible from Serena, because of the Wild +Life truck which could seize Jill and himself if its beam generators +were repaired, and whose occupants could murder them if they weren't. +But it was most urgent that he get away beyond the military cordon to +find men who would listen to his information and see that use was made +of it. Yet in driving rain and darkness, without car lights and daring +to drive only at a crawl, he might be completely turned around.</p> + +<p>"I think," he said at last, "I'll turn in at the next farm gate the +lightning shows us. I'll try to get the car into a barn so it won't +show up at daybreak. We might be heading straight back into the Park!"</p> + +<p>He did turn, the next time a lightning flash showed him a turn-off +beside a rural free delivery<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> mailbox. There was a house at the end of +a lane. There was a barn. He got out and was soaked instantly, but he +explored the open space behind the wide, open doors. He backed the car +in.</p> + +<p>"So," he explained to Jill, "if we have a chance to move we won't have +to back around first."</p> + +<p>They sat in the car and looked out at the rain-filled darkness. There +was no light anywhere except when lightning glittered on the rain. In +such illuminations they made out the farmhouse, dripping floods of +water from its eaves. There was a chicken house. There were fences. +They could not see to the gate or the highway through the falling +water, but there had been solid woodland where they turned off into +the lane.</p> + +<p>"We'll wait," said Lockley distastefully, "to see if we are in a tight +spot in the morning. If we're well away—and I've no real idea where +we are—we'll go on. If not, we'll hide till dark and hope for stars +to steer by when we go."</p> + +<p>Jill said confidently, "We'll make it. But where to?"</p> + +<p>"To any place away from Boulder Lake Park, and where I'm a human being +instead of a crackpot civilian. To where I can explain some things to +people who'll listen, if it isn't too late."</p> + +<p>"It's not," said Jill with as much assurance as before.</p> + +<p>There was a pause. The rain poured down. Lightning flashed. Thunder +roared.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know," said Jill tentatively, "that you believed the +invaders—the monsters—had people helping them."</p> + +<p>"The overall picture isn't a human one," he told her. "But there's a +design that shows somebody knows us. For instance, nobody's been +killed. At least not publicly. That was arranged by somebody<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> who +understood that if there was a massacre, we'd fight to the end of our +lives and teach our children to fight after us."</p> + +<p>She thought it over. "You'd be that way," she said presently. "But not +everybody. Some people will do anything to stay alive. But you +wouldn't."</p> + +<p>The rain made drumming sounds on the barn roof. Lockley said, "But +what's happened isn't altogether what humans would devise. Humans who +planned a conquest would know they couldn't make us surrender to them. +If this was a sort of Pearl Harbor attack by human enemies—and you +can guess who it might be—they might as well start killing us on the +largest possible scale at the beginning. If monsters with no +information about us landed, they might perpetrate some massacres with +the entirely foolish idea of cowing us. But there haven't been any +massacres. So it's neither a cold war trick nor an unadvised landing +of monsters. There's another angle in it somewhere. Monster-human +cooperation is only a guess. I'm not satisfied, but it's the best +answer so far."</p> + +<p>Jill was silent for a long time. Then she said irrelevantly, "You must +have been a good friend of ... of...."</p> + +<p>"Vale?" Lockley said. "No. I knew him, but that's all. He only joined +the Survey a few months ago. I don't suppose I've talked to him a +dozen times, and four of those times he was with you. Why'd you think +we were close friends?"</p> + +<p>"What you've done for me," she said in the darkness.</p> + +<p>He waited for a lightning flash to show him her expression. She was +looking at him.</p> + +<p>"I didn't do it for Vale," said Lockley.</p> + +<p>"Then why?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'd have done it for anyone," said Lockley ungraciously.</p> + +<p>In a way it was true, of course. But he wouldn't have gone up to the +construction camp to make sure that anyone hadn't been left behind. +The idea wouldn't have occurred to him.</p> + +<p>"I don't think that's true," said Jill.</p> + +<p>He did not answer. If Vale was alive, Jill was engaged to him; +although if matters worked out, Lockley would not be such a fool as to +play the gentleman and let her marry Vale by default. On the other +hand, if Vale was dead, he wouldn't be the kind of fool who'd try to +win her for himself before she'd faced and recovered from Vale's +death. A girl could forgive herself for breaking her engagement to a +living man, but not for disloyalty to a dead one.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Lockley deliberately, "that we should change the +subject. I will talk about why I went to the Lake after you when +everything has settled down. I had reasons. I still have them. I will +express them, eventually, whether Vale likes it or not. But not now."</p> + +<p>There was a long silence, while rain fell with heavy drumming noises +and the world was only a deep curtain of lightning-lighted droplets of +falling water.</p> + +<p>"Thanks," said Jill very quietly. "I'm glad."</p> + +<p>And then they sat in silence while the long hours went by. Eventually +they dozed. Lockley was awakened by the ending of the rain. It was +then just the beginning of gray dawn. The sky was still filled with +clouds. The ground was soaked. There were puddles here and there in +the barnyard, and water dripped from the barn's eaves, and from the +now vaguely visible house, and from the two or three trees beside it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> + +<p>Lockley opened the car door and got out quietly. Jill did not waken. +He visited the chicken house, and horrendous squawkings came out of +it. He found eggs. He went to the house, stepping gingerly from grass +patch to grass patch, avoiding the puddles between them. He found +bread, jars of preserves and cans of food. He inspected the lane. The +car's tracks had been washed out. He nodded to himself.</p> + +<p>He went back to the barn. There was still only dusky half-light. He +pulled the doors almost shut behind him, leaving only a four-inch gap +to see through. Now the car was safely out of sight and there was no +sign that any living being was near.</p> + +<p>"You closed the doors," said Jill. "Why?"</p> + +<p>He said reluctantly, "I'm afraid we're as badly off as we were at the +beginning. Unless I'm mistaken, we got turned around in that rainstorm +on those twisty roads, and the Park begins nearby. This isn't the +highway I drove up on to find you, the one where my car's wrecked. +This is another one. I don't think we're more than twenty miles from +the Lake, here. And that's something I didn't intend!"</p> + +<p>He began to unload his pockets.</p> + +<p>"I got something for us to eat. We'll just have to lie low until night +and fumble our way out toward the cordon, with the stars to guide us."</p> + +<p>There was silence, save for the lessened dripping of water. Lockley +was filled with a sort of baffled impatience with himself. He felt +that he'd acted like an idiot in trying to escape the evacuated area +by car. But there'd been nothing else to do. Before that he'd stupidly +been unsuspicious when the Wild Life truck came down a highway that +he'd known was blocked by a terror beam. And perhaps he'd been a fool +to refuse to discuss why he'd gone up to the construction camp to see +to her safety when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> by all the rules of reason it was none of his +business.</p> + +<p>The gray light paled a little. Through the gap between the barn doors, +he could see past the house. Then he could see the length of the lane +and the trees on the far side of the highway.</p> + +<p>He was laying out the food when suddenly he froze, listening. The +stillness of just-before-dawn was broken by the distant rumble of an +internal-combustion engine. It was a familiar kind of rumbling. It +drew nearer. Except for the singularly distinct impacts of drippings +from leaves and roof to the ground below, it was the only sound in all +the world.</p> + +<p>It became louder. Jill clenched her hands unconsciously.</p> + +<p>"I don't think there are any car tracks at the turn-off where we came +in," said Lockley in a level voice. "The rain should have washed them +out. It's not likely they're looking for us here anyhow. But I've only +got three bullets left in the pistol. Maybe you'd better go off and +hide in the cornfield. Then if things go wrong they'll believe I left +you somewhere."</p> + +<p>"No," said Jill composedly, "I'd leave tracks in the ploughed ground. +They'd find me."</p> + +<p>Lockley ground his teeth. He got out the pistol he'd taken from the +truck driver in the lighted room in Serena. He looked at it grimly. It +would be useless, but....</p> + +<p>Jill came and stood beside him, watching his face.</p> + +<p>The rumbling of the truck was still nearer and louder. It diminished +for a moment where a curve in the road took the vehicle behind some +trees that deadened its noise. But then the sound increased suddenly. +It was very loud and frighteningly near.</p> + +<p>Lockley watched through the gap between the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> barn doors. He stayed +well back lest his face be seen.</p> + +<p>The trailer-truck with the Wild Life Control markings on it rumbled +past. It growled and roared. The noise seemed thunderous. Its wheels +splashed as they went through a puddle close by the gate.</p> + +<p>It went away into the distance. Jill took a deep breath of relief. +Lockley made a warning gesture.</p> + +<p>He listened. The noise went on steadily for what he guessed to be a +mile or more. Then they heard it stop. Only by straining his ears +could Lockley pick up the sound of an idling motor. Maybe that was +imagination. Certainly at any other less silent time he could not +possibly have heard it. Jill whispered, "Do you think—"</p> + +<p>He gestured for silence again. The distant heavy engine continued to +idle. One minute. Two. Three. Then the grinding of gears and the roar +of the engine once more. The truck went on. Its sound diminished. It +faded away altogether.</p> + +<p>"They got to a place where the road's blocked with a terror beam," +said Lockley evenly. "They stopped and called by short wave and the +beam was cut off, then they went past the block-point and undoubtedly +the beam was turned on again."</p> + +<p>He debated a decision.</p> + +<p>"We'll have breakfast," he said shortly. "We'll have to eat the eggs +raw, but we need to eat. Then we'll figure things out. It may be that +we'd be sensible to forget about cars and try to get to the cordon on +foot, robbing farmhouses of food on the way. There can't be too many +... collaborators. And we could keep out of sight."</p> + +<p>He opened a jar of preserves.</p> + +<p>"But it would be better for you to be travelling by car, if tonight's +clear and there's starlight to drive by."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jill said practically, "There might be some news...."</p> + +<p>Her hands shook as she put the pocket radio on the hood of the car. +Lockley noticed it. He felt, himself, the strain of their long march +through the wilderness with danger in every breath they drew. And he +was shaken in a different way by the proof that humans were +cooperating fully with the invading monsters. It was unthinkable that +anybody could be a traitor not only to his own country but to all the +human race. He felt incredulous. It couldn't be true! But it obviously +was.</p> + +<p>The radio made noises. Lockley turned it in another direction. There +was music. Jill's face worked. She struggled not to show how she felt.</p> + +<p>The radio said, "<i>Special news bulletin! Special news bulletin! The +Pentagon announces that for the first time there has been practically +complete success in duplicating the terror beam used by the space +invaders at Boulder Lake! Working around the clock, teams of foreign +and American scientists have built a projector of what is an entirely +new type of electronic radiation which produces every one of the +physiological effects of the alien terror beam! It is low-power, so +far, and has not produced complete paralysis in experimental animals. +Volunteers have submitted themselves to it, however, and report that +it produces the sensations experienced by members of the military +cordon around Boulder Lake. A crash program for the development of the +projector is already under way. At the same time a crash program to +develop a counter to it is already showing promising results. The +authorities are entirely confident that a complete defense against the +no longer mysterious weapon will be found. There is no longer any +reason to fear that earth will be unable to defend itself against the +invaders now present on earth, or any reinforcements they may +receive!</i>" +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +</p> + +<p>The newscast stopped and a commercial called the attention of +listeners to the virtues of an anti-allergy pill. Jill watched +Lockley's face. He did not relax.</p> + +<p>The broadcast resumed. With this full and certain hope of a defense +against the invasion weapon, said the announcer, it remained important +not to destroy the alien ship if it could be captured for study. The +use of atom bombs was, therefore, again postponed. But they would be +used if necessary. Meanwhile, against such an emergency, the areas of +evacuation would be enlarged. People would be removed from additional +territory so if bombs were used there would be no humans near to be +harmed.</p> + +<p>Another commercial. Lockley turned off the radio.</p> + +<p>"What do you think?" asked Jill.</p> + +<p>"I wish they hadn't made that broadcast," said Lockley. "If there were +only monsters involved and they didn't understand English, it would be +all right. But with humans helping them, it sets a deadline. If we're +going to counter their weapon, they have to use it before we finish +the job."</p> + +<p>After a moment he said bitterly, "There was a time, right after the +last big war, when we had the bomb and nobody else did. There couldn't +be a cold war then! There were years when we could destroy others and +they couldn't have fought back. Now somebody else is in that position. +They can destroy us and we can't do a thing. It'll be that way for a +week, or maybe two, or even three. It'll be strange if they don't take +advantage of their opportunity."</p> + +<p>Jill tried to eat the food Lockley had laid out. She couldn't. She +began to cry quietly. Lockley swore at himself for telling her the +worst, which it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> was always his instinct to see. He said urgently, +"Hold it! That's the worst that could happen. But it's not the most +likely!"</p> + +<p>She tried to control her tears.</p> + +<p>"We're in a fix, yes!" he said insistently. "It does look like there +may be a flock of other space ship landings within days. But the +monsters don't want to kill people. They want a world with people +working for them, not dead. They've proved it. They'll avoid +massacres. They won't let the humans who're their allies destroy the +people they want alive and useful."</p> + +<p>Jill clenched her fists. "But it would be better to be dead than like +that!"</p> + +<p>"But wait!" protested Lockley. "We've duplicated the terror beam. Do +you think they'll leave it at that? The men who know how to do it will +be scattered to a dozen or a hundred places, so they can't possibly +all be found, and they'll keep on secretly working until they've made +the beams and a protection against them and then something more deadly +still! We humans can't be conquered! We'll fight to the end of time!"</p> + +<p>"But you yourself," said Jill desperately, "you said there couldn't be +a defense against the beam! You said it!"</p> + +<p>"I was discouraged," he protested. "I wasn't thinking straight. Look! +With no equipment at all, I found out how to detect the stuff before +it was strong enough to paralyze us. You know that. The scientists +will have equipment and instruments, and now that they've got the beam +they'll be able to try things. They'll do better than I did. They can +try heterodyning the beam. They can try for interference effects. They +may find something to reflect it, or they can try refraction."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p> + +<p>He paused anxiously. She sobbed, once. "But other weapons—"</p> + +<p>"There may not be any. And there's bound to be some trick of +refraction that'll help. It thins out at the edges now. That's how we +get warning of it. It's refracted by ions in the air. That's why it +isn't a completely tight beam. Ions in the air act like drops of mist; +they refract sunshine and make rainbows after rain. And we got the +smell-effect first. That proves there's refraction."</p> + +<p>He watched her face. She swallowed. What he'd said was largely without +meaning. Actually, it wasn't even right. The evidence so far was that +the nerves of smell were more sensitive than the optic nerves or the +auditory ones, while nerves to bundles of muscle were less sensitive +still. But Lockley wasn't concerned with accuracy just now. He wanted +to reassure Jill.</p> + +<p>Then his eyes widened suddenly and he stared past her. He'd been +speaking feverishly out of emotion, while a part of his mind stood +aside and listened. And that detached part of his mind had heard him +say something worth noting.</p> + +<p>He stood stock-still for seconds, staring blankly. Then he said very +quietly, "You made me think, then. I don't know why I didn't, before. +The terror beam does scatter a little, like a searchlight beam in thin +mist. It's scattered by ions, like light by mist-droplets. That's +right!"</p> + +<p>He stopped, thinking ahead. Jill said challengingly, "Go on!" Again +what he'd said had little meaning to her, but she could see that he +believed it important.</p> + +<p>"Why, a searchlight beam is stopped by a cloud, which is many +mist-droplets in one place. It's scattered until it simply doesn't +penetrate!" Lockley suddenly seemed indignant at his own failure to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +see something that had been so obvious all along. "If we could make a +cloud of ions, it should stop the terror beam as clouds stop light! We +could—"</p> + +<p>Again he stopped short, and Jill's expression changed. She looked +confident again. She even looked proud as she watched Lockley +wrestling with his problem, unconsciously snapping his fingers.</p> + +<p>"Vale and I," he said jerkily, "had electronic base-measuring +instruments. Some of their elements had to be buried in plastic +because otherwise they ionized the air and leaked current like a +short. If I had that instrument now—No. I'd have to take the plastic +away and it couldn't be done without smashing things."</p> + +<p>"What would happen," asked Jill, "if you made what you're thinking +about?"</p> + +<p>"I might," said Lockley. "I just possibly might make a gadget that +would create a cloud of ions around the person who carried it. And it +might reflect some of the terror beam and refract the rest so none got +through to the man!"</p> + +<p>Jill said hopefully, "Then tonight we go into a deserted town and +steal the things you need...."</p> + +<p>Lockley interrupted in a relieved voice, "No-o-o-o. What I need, I +think, is a cheese grater and the pocket radio. And there should be a +cheese grater in the house."</p> + +<p>He listened at the barn door gap, and then went out. Presently he was +back. He had not only a cheese grater but also a nutmeg grater. Both +were made of thin sheet metal in which many tiny holes had been +punched, so that sharp bits of torn metal stood out to make the +grating surface. Lockley knew that sharp points, when charged +electrically, make tiny jets of ionized air which will deflect a +candle flame. Here there were thousands of such points.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> + +<p>He set to work on the car seat, pushing the pistol with its three +remaining bullets out of the way. The pistol was reserved for Jill in +case of untoward events, when it would be of little or no practical +value.</p> + +<p>He operated on the tiny radio with his pocket-knife to establish a +circuit which should oscillate when the battery was turned on. There +was induction, to raise the voltage at the peaks and troughs of the +oscillations. A transistor acted as a valve to make the oscillations +repeated surges of current of one sign in the innumerable sharp points +of the graters. And there was an effect he did not anticipate. The +ion-forming points were of minutely different lengths and patterns, so +the radiation inevitably accompanying the ion clouds was of minutely +varying wave lengths. The consequence of using the two graters was, of +course, that rather astonishing peaks of energy manifested themselves +in ultra-microscopic packages for a considerable distance from the +device. But Lockley did not plan that. It happened because of the +materials he had to use in lieu of something better.</p> + +<p>When it was finished he told Jill, "I can only check ion production +here. If it works, it ought to make a lighter-flame flicker when near +the points. If it does that, I'll go up the road to where the +trailer-truck stopped. I've a pretty good idea that the road's blocked +by a terror beam there."</p> + +<p>Absorbed, he threw the switch. And instantly there was a racking, +deafening explosion. The pistol on the car seat blew itself to bits, +smashing the windshield and ripping the cushion open. The three +cartridges in its cylinder had exploded simultaneously.</p> + +<p>Lockley seized a pitchfork. He stood savagely,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> ready for anything. +Powder smoke drifted through the barn. Nothing else happened.</p> + +<p>After long, tense moments, Lockley said slowly, "That could be another +weapon the monsters have turned on. It's been imagined. They could be +using a broadcast or a beam we haven't suspected to disarm the troops +of the cordon. They could have a detonator beam that sets off +explosives at a distance. It's possible. And if that's what they're +turning on they only have to sweep the sky and the bombers aloft will +be wiped out."</p> + +<p>But there were no sounds other than the slowly diminishing drip of +water from the barn roof, and the house eaves, and the few trees in +the barnyard.</p> + +<p>"Anyhow they've ruined our only weapon," said Lockley coldly. "It +would be a detonation beam setting off the cartridges. That would be a +perfect protection against atomic bombs, if the chemical explosive +that makes them go off could be triggered from a distance. Clever +people, these monsters!"</p> + +<p>Then he said abruptly, "Come on! It's ten times more necessary for us +to get to where somebody can make use of our information!"</p> + +<p>"Go where?" asked Jill, shaken once more.</p> + +<p>"We take to the woods until dark," said Lockley, "and meanwhile I'll +check this supposedly promising gadget—though it looks pretty feeble +if the monsters have a detonating beam—against the road blocking beam +up yonder. Come on!"</p> + +<p>He stuffed his pockets with food. He led the way.</p> + +<p>The morning had now arrived. The sun was visible, red at the eastern +horizon.</p> + +<p>"Walk on the grass!" commanded Lockley.</p> + +<p>There was no point in leaving footprints, though there was no reason +to believe the explosion on the car seat had been heard. Lockley, +indeed, considered that if the aliens had just used a previously<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +undisclosed weapon, there would be explosions of greater or lesser +violence all over the evacuated territory and all other areas within +its range. There wouldn't be many farmhouses without a shotgun put +away somewhere. There would be shotgun shells, too. If the aliens had +a detonator beam as well as one that produced the terror beam's +effects, then all hope of resistance was probably gone.</p> + +<p>They crossed to the house and moved alongside it. They went with +instinctive furtiveness out of the lane and quickly into the woodland +on the farther side. They were soaked almost immediately. Fallen +leaves clung to their shoes. Drooping branches smeared them with +wetness. Lockley went barely out of sight of the highway and then +trudged doggedly in the direction the Wild Life Control trailer-truck +had taken. He handed Jill the ribbon of bronze that had been the +mainspring of his watch.</p> + +<p>"We might pick up the beam from the wetness underfoot," he said, "but +we'll play it safe and use this too."</p> + +<p>They went on for a long way. Lockley fumed, "I don't like this! We +ought to be there—"</p> + +<p>"I think," said Jill, "I smell it."</p> + +<p>"I'll try it," said Lockley.</p> + +<p>He detected the jungle smell and its concomitant revolting odors. He +led Jill back.</p> + +<p>"Wait here, by this big tree stump. I'll be able to find you and +you're safe enough from the beam."</p> + +<p>He turned away. Jill said pleadingly, "Please be careful!"</p> + +<p>"A little while ago," he told her gloomily, "I felt that I had too +much useful information to take any chances with my life, let alone +yours. I'm not so sure of my importance now. But I think you still +need somebody else around."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I do!" said Jill. "And you know it! I'd much rather—"</p> + +<p>"I'll be back," he repeated.</p> + +<p>He went away, trailing the watch spring.</p> + +<p>He was extra cautious now. The smell recurred and grew stronger. He +began to feel the first faint flashes of light in his eyes. It was the +symptom which followed the smell when approaching a terror beam. Then +a faint, discordant murmur, originating in his own ears. He turned on +the device made of two graters and the elements of a pocket radio. The +smell ceased. The faint flashes of light stopped. There was no longer +a raucous sound.</p> + +<p>He turned off the ion producing device. The symptoms returned. He +turned it on and off. He took a step forward. He tested again. The +cloud of ions from the innumerable jagged points was invisible, but +somehow it refracted or reflected—in any case, neutralized—the +weapon of the beings at Boulder Lake. He went on and presently he felt +the very faintest possible tingling of his skin and heard the barest +whisper of a sound, and smelled the jungle reek as something so +diluted that he was hardly sure he smelled it.</p> + +<p>He went on, and those faint sensations ceased. Presently, impatient of +his own timorousness, he turned the device off again. He had walked +through the terror beam.</p> + +<p>He started back with the device turned on once more and at the point +where he'd felt the beam's manifestations faintly, he stopped to savor +his now seemingly useless triumph. If the monsters had a detonating +beam this meant nothing. Yet it could have meant everything. He paid +close attention and distinctly but weakly experienced the effect of +the terror beam.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then he didn't. Not at all. The sensations were cut off.</p> + +<p>He heard Jill cry out shrilly. He plunged toward the place where he +had left her. He raced. He leaped. Once he fell, and frantically swore +at the wet stuff that had caused him to slip. He reached the tree +stump and Jill was not there. He saw the saucer-sized tracks her feet +had made on the saturated fallen leaves. They led toward the road.</p> + +<p>He heard a car door slam and a motor roar. He plunged onward more +desperately than before.</p> + +<p>The motor raced away. And Lockley got out on the highway only in time +to see the rear of a brown-painted, military-marked car some three +hundred yards away. It swept around a curve of the highway and was +gone. It was going through the space where the road was blocked by a +terror beam, headed obviously for Boulder Lake.</p> + +<p>What had happened was self-evident. From her place beside the huge +stump she'd seen a military car approaching. And she and Lockley had +been trying to reach the cordon of troops around Boulder Lake. There +was no reason to distrust men in uniform or in a military car. She'd +run to flag it down. She had. By a coincidence, it was undoubtedly +where a carload of collaborating humans would have stopped to have the +road-blocking beam cut off by their monster allies. She'd approached +the stopped car. And something frightened her. She screamed.</p> + +<p>But she'd been pulled into the car, which went on before the beam +could come on again to stop it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_9" id="CHAPTER_9"></a>CHAPTER 9</h2> + + +<p>It was very likely that at that moment Lockley despised himself more +bitterly than any other man alive. He blamed himself absolutely for +Jill's capture. If there were humans acting with the alien invaders, +her fate would unquestionably be more horrible than at the hands of +the monsters alone. After all, there was one nation most likely to +deal with extra-terrestrial creatures to help them in the conquest of +earth, and its troops were not notorious for their kindly behavior to +civilians.</p> + +<p>And Jill was their captive. He'd been carried past the place where a +terror beam blocked the road. The military markings might mean the car +was stolen, or that its markings and paint were counterfeit. It seemed +certain that Jill had gone up to it in confidence that there could +only be American soldiers in such a car, and when near it found out +her mistake too late.</p> + +<p>These were not things that Lockley thought out in detail at the +beginning. He ran after the car like a mad man, unable to feel +anything but horror and so terrible a fury that it should have killed +its objects by sheer intensity.</p> + +<p>Presently he heard hoarse, gasping sounds. He realized that the sounds +were the breath going in and out of his own throat, while Jill was +carried farther and farther away from him in a car which traveled ten +yards to his one. He sobbed then, and suddenly he was strangely and +unnaturally calm. He was able to think quite coolly. The only +difference between this and normal thinking was that now he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> could +only think about one thing—full and complete and terrible revenge for +the crimes committed and to be committed against Jill. She would be +taken to Boulder Lake. So he would go to Boulder Lake, and somehow, in +some manner, he would destroy utterly all living beings there and +every trace of their coming.</p> + +<p>Which, of course, was both natural and unreasonable. But reason would +have been unnatural at such a time as this.</p> + +<p>He moved along the highway in a passion of ultimate resolve. In the +rest of the world, time passed without knowledge of his emotional +state. The rest of the world was suffering emotional agonies of its +own.</p> + +<p>The United States had become popular among peoples who disliked all +things American except those they were given free, and who continued +to dislike the givers. Now though, the United States had been invaded +from space by creatures using weapons of unprecedented type and +effect. If the United States were conquered, there was no other nation +likely to remain free. So a great deal of anti-Americanism faded under +pressure of an ardent desire for America to be successful in its +self-defense.</p> + +<p>Moreover, anticipating other alien landings which could take place +anywhere, the United States offered to share its stock of atom bombs +with any nation so invaded. American popularity increased. The fact +that the USSR made no such proposal also had its effect. The United +States invited scientists of every country to help in solving the +menace of the terror beam, and committed itself to share any +discoveries for defense against it with all the world. Again there was +an improvement in the public image of the United States abroad.</p> + +<p>But Lockley knew nothing of this. His pocket<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> radio no longer existed +to give him news. It had been rebuilt into something else, whose most +conspicuous parts were cheese and nutmeg graters, slung over his +shoulder as he marched. But if he had known of changes in the +popularity of his country, he wouldn't have been interested. He could +fix his mind only on one subject and matters related to it.</p> + +<p>He tramped along the highway, possessed by a cold demon of hatred. He +was on foot for lack of a car. He was unarmed. At the moment he +believed that all the rest of humanity was disarmed, in effect if not +in fact. So he had no plans, only an infinite hatred.</p> + +<p>But because he would have to pass through terror beams to get at those +he meant to destroy, he realized that it was necessary to make sure +that he would be able to pass through them, that his equipment for +reaching Boulder Lake was in good order. It was still turned on. He +turned it off to be economical of its batteries. He went on, thinking +of only one subject, examining every possibility for revenge with a +passionate patience, undiscouraged because one idea after another was +plainly impossible, but continuing obsessively to think of others.</p> + +<p>He smelled the foetid odor, which cut through his absorption because +of its connotations. He turned on his device and went doggedly ahead. +He knew he had entered a terror beam by the faint perceptions which +came through the cloud of ions his instrument produced. Then they +ceased. He knew that the beam had been cut off. He heard a motor rev +up. A car or truck had stopped beyond the road-blocking beam and +waited for it to be cut off, as it had been.</p> + +<p>Lockley stepped into the woods hating the vehicle bitterly as it +approached, but wanting to save<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> destruction for those where Jill had +been taken.</p> + +<p>He was hidden when the car appeared. It was a perfectly commonplace +car with a whip aerial at its rear. It came confidently along the +highway. A hundred yards from him, there were explosions. Smoke came +out of the open windows. The engine stopped and the car bucked crazily +and went into the ditch beside the highway. A man plunged out, +slapping at his leg. A revolver in its holster had exploded all its +shells. The leather holster had saved him from serious injury, but his +clothing was on fire. Other men, two of them, got out hastily. Things +had exploded in the back of the car, too. The three men swore +agitatedly.</p> + +<p>Then one of them said something which stimulated the others to frantic +flight down the highway away from the ditched car. The third man +limped anxiously after the faster-moving two.</p> + +<p>Lockley, watching and hating with undivided attention, knew when the +terror beam came on again. He felt it, very faint because of his +protection, but quite distinct. The explosions had taken place when +the car was in the area now covered again by the terror beam. The men +in the car, astonished and scorched, had fled because the beam was due +to come back on and they didn't want to be caught in it.</p> + +<p>Lockley noted that the human confederates of the monsters had no +protection against the beam to match his own. Perhaps the monsters +themselves were protected only near the projectors. This was an item +affecting his plans of revenge for Jill. He stored it away in his +mind. Then he realized that the weapons in the car had exploded just +like the pistol on his own seat cushion. The explosion was not +associated with the terror beam. There'd been no beam in action when +his own pistol blew up. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> did not seem reasonable that if the +monsters possessed a detonation beam that they'd turn it on their own +confederates.</p> + +<p>No. Rational beings would do nothing so self-contradictory.</p> + +<p>Then Lockley looked down at the cheese grater-pocket radio device of +his own manufacture. He considered the fact that his own pistol had +exploded the instant he'd turned the gadget on. The weapons in the +other car detonated when that car was near him.</p> + +<p>He plodded onward thinking very clearly and precisely about the +matter. He even remembered to turn off his gadget because he would +need it to avenge Jill. But when he tried to think of any subject +unconnected with revenge, his mind became confused and agitated.</p> + +<p>Two miles along the highway, which had not yet turned to head in +toward Boulder Lake, there was a farmhouse. Lockley walked heavily to +the abandoned building. He found the door locked. Without conscious +thought, he forced it. He searched the closets. He found a shotgun and +half a box of shells. He considered them, then left the gun and all +the shells but three. He went out. Presently he laid a shotgun shell +down on the road. He paced off twenty-five yards and dropped another. +He dropped a third twenty-five yards farther on, and then carefully +counted off three hundred feet. The car had been just about that far +away when the explosions came.</p> + +<p>He turned on his device. Two of the three shells exploded smokily. The +farthest away did not explode.</p> + +<p>He did not rejoice. He went on without elation, but it became a part +of his painstaking search for vengeance that he knew he could set off +explosives<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> within a hundred and twenty-five yards of himself. There +was something about the device he'd constructed which made explosives +detonate, up to a distance of a little over one hundred yards. He felt +no curiosity about it, though it was simple enough. The heterodyning +of extremely saw-toothed waves produced peaks of energy until the +saw-teeth began to smooth out. There were infinitesimal spots in +which, for infinitesimal lengths of time, energy conditions comparable +to sparks existed. This had not been worked out in advance, but the +reason was clear.</p> + +<p>He came to the place where the main highway to Boulder Lake branched +off from the road he was following. He turned into it, walking +doggedly.</p> + +<p>Three miles toward the lake, an engine sounded from behind him. He got +off the highway and turned the switch. A half-ton truck came trundling +openly along the road. It came closer and closer.</p> + +<p>Small-arm ammunition exploded. The engine stopped and the light truck +toppled over onto its side. Lockley did not approach it. Its driver +might not be dead, and he would not find it possible to leave any man +alive who was associated with Jill's captors. He passed the truck and +went on up the highway.</p> + +<p>Seven miles up the road a truck came down from Boulder Lake. Lockley +placed himself discreetly out of sight. He turned on his instrument. A +gun flew to pieces with a thunderous detonation. The truck crashed. It +was interesting to Lockley that automobile engines invariably went +dead at about the time that explosives went off. The fact was, of +course, that ionized air is more or less conductive. In an ion cloud +the spark plugs shorted and did not fire in the cylinders.</p> + +<p>There were two other vehicles which essayed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> pass Lockley as he +went on up the long way to the lake. Both came from the interior of +the Park. He left them wrecked beside the highway. Between times, he +walked with a dogged grimness toward the place where Vale had been the +first to report a thing come down from the sky. That had been how many +days ago? Three? Four?</p> + +<p>Then Lockley had been a quiet and well-conducted citizen inclined to +pessimism about future events, but duly considerate of the rights of +others. Now he'd changed. He felt only one emotion, which was hatred +such as he'd never imagined before. He had only one motive, which was +to take total and annihilating vengeance for what had been done to +Jill.</p> + +<p>He plodded on and on. He had to make a march of not less than twenty +miles from the Park's beginning. He journeyed on foot because there +were terror beams to pass and automobile engines did not run when his +protective device operated. He could not arm himself from the cars +that ditched, because all chemical explosive weapons and their +ammunition blew at the same time. He was a minute figure among the +mountains, marching alone upon a winding highway, moving resolutely to +destroy—alone—the invaders from outer space and the men who worked +with them for the conquest of earth. For his purpose he carried the +strangest of equipment, a device made of a pocket radio and a cheese +grater.</p> + +<p>He had food in his pockets, but he could not eat. During the afternoon +he became impatient of its weight and threw it away. But he thirsted +often. More than once he drank from small streams over which the +highway builders had made small concrete bridges.</p> + +<p>At three in the afternoon a truck came up from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> behind. Here he +trudged between steep cliffs which made him seem almost a midget. The +highway went through a crevice between adjoining mountainsides. There +was no place for him to conceal himself. When he heard the engine, he +stopped and faced it. The truck had picked up many men from wrecked +cars along its route. There were scorched and scratched and wounded +men, hurt by the explosion of their firearms. The truck brought them +along and overtook Lockley.</p> + +<p>He waited very calmly since it did not seem likely that they would +realize that one man had caused the crashes. The driver of the truck +with the picked-up men did not even think of such a thing. Lockley +seemed much more likely the victim of still another wreck.</p> + +<p>The overtaking truck slowed down. There would be no strangers in +Boulder Lake Park. There would only be the task force aiding the +monsters, as Lockley reasoned it out. So the truck slowed, preparatory +to taking Lockley aboard.</p> + +<p>At a hundred and twenty-five yards from Lockley, weapons in the truck +cab blew themselves violently apart. The engine, stopped in gear, +acted as a violently applied brake. The truck swerved off the highway. +It turned over and was still.</p> + +<p>Lockley turned and walked on. He considered coldly that it was +perfectly safe for him to go on. There were no weapons left behind +him. The men themselves were shaken up. They would attempt to make no +trouble beyond a report of their situation and a plea for help. The +report could be made by the radio, which was not smashed.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later, Lockley felt the tingling which meant that his +instrument was protecting him from a terror beam. The tingling lasted +only a short time, but fifteen minutes later it came back. Then it +re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>turned at odd intervals. Five minutes—eight—ten—three—six—one. +Each time the terror beam should have paralyzed him and caused intense +suffering. A man with no protective device would have had his nerves +shattered by torment coming so violently at unpredictable intervals.</p> + +<p>Lockley tried to reason out why this nerve-wracking application of the +terror beam hadn't been used before. To an unprotected man it would be +worse than continuous pain. No living man could remain able to resist +any demand if exposed to such torture.</p> + +<p>The beam was evidently swung at random intervals, and the phenomenon +lasted for an hour and a half. Anyone but Lockley behind a cloud of +ions would have been reduced to shivering hysteria. Then, suddenly, +the beamings stopped. But Lockley left his device in operation.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later still—close to five o'clock—it appeared that the +invaders assumed that any enemy should have been softened up for +capture. They sent an expedition to find out what had happened to +their trucks and cars.</p> + +<p>Lockley saw four cars and a light truck in close formation moving +toward him from the Lake. They were close, as if for mutual +protection. They moved steadily, as if inviting the fate that had +overtaken others. The short wave reports from smashed trucks seemed +improbable to them, but the expedition was equipped to investigate +even such unlikely happenings.</p> + +<p>The four cars in the lead contained five men each. Each man was armed +with a rifle containing a single cartridge in its chamber and none in +its magazine. The rifles pointed straight up. There was more +ammunition in the light truck behind, and it was in clips ready for +use, but the truck body was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> of iron. If that ammunition detonated, it +could do no harm. If it did not, it would be available for use against +the single man mentioned by the driver of the last truck to be +wrecked.</p> + +<p>But Lockley saw them coming. They came sedately down a long straight +stretch of road. He climbed a rocky wall beside the highway to a +little ravine that led away from the road. He posted himself where he +was extremely unlikely to be seen. Then he waited.</p> + +<p>The cavalcade of cars appeared. It drove briskly toward Lockley at +something like thirty miles an hour. Perhaps ten yards separated the +lead car from the second. The truck was a trifle closer to the four +man-carrying vehicles. They swept along, every man alert. They would +pass forty feet below Lockley.</p> + +<p>He did nothing. His device was already turned on. He watched in +detached calm.</p> + +<p>The lead car stopped as if it had run into a brick wall, while rifles +inside it blew holes in its top. The second car crashed into it, +rifles detonating. The third car. The fourth. The truck piled into the +others with a gigantic flare and furious report, each separate brass +cartridge case exploding in the same instant. The truck became scrap +iron.</p> + +<p>Lockley went away along the small ravine. From now on he would avoid +the highway. He estimated that he would arrive at Boulder Lake itself +about half an hour after dark. It occurred to him that then Jill would +have been a prisoner of the invaders for something more than twelve +hours, at least ten of them at their headquarters.</p> + +<p>Before he began the climb that would take him to the invaders, Lockley +stopped at a small stream.</p> + +<p>He drank thirstily.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_10" id="CHAPTER_10"></a>CHAPTER 10</h2> + + +<p>There was a three-day-old moon in the sky when the last colors faded +in the west. When darkness fell it was already low. It gave little +light; not much more than the stars alone. It did help Lockley while +it lasted however. He knew the terrain about Boulder Lake but not in +detail. And it would not be wise for him to move openly to wreak +destruction on the enemies of his nation.</p> + +<p>He used the moonlight for his approach by the least practical route to +the lake. When it dimmed and went behind the mountains, he continued +to climb, sliding dangerously, then descend and climb again as the +rough going demanded. His mind was absorbed with reflections upon what +he meant to do. The wrecks on the highway would have given notice to +the invaders that he could do damage. They would take every possible +precaution against him.</p> + +<p>It was typical of Lockley that he painstakingly imagined every +obstacle that might be put in his way. During the last half hour of +his scrambling travel, for example, he was tormented by a measure his +enemies might have used to make him advertise his presence. If they +simply laid rifle cartridges on the ground at intervals of twenty-five +or fifty yards, he could not cross that line with his device in +operation without blowing up those shells. It was a possible +countermeasure that caused him to sweat with worry.</p> + +<p>But it wasn't thought of by anyone else. To contrive it, a man would +have to know how the deto<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>nation field worked and how far it extended. +Nobody but Lockley knew. Therefore no one could contrive this defense +against him.</p> + +<p>He worked his way to Boulder Lake's back door through brushwood and +over boulders. Presently he looked down upon his destination. To his +right and left rocky masses were silhouetted against the starry sky. +He gazed down on the lake and the shoreline where the hotel would be +built, and the places where roads came out of the wilderness.</p> + +<p>There were changes since the time he'd looked down from Vale's survey +post and before the terror beam captured him. He catalogued them +mentally, but the sight before him was intolerable. Everything he saw, +here where space monsters were believed to hold sway, was in reality +the work of men. Rage filled him at the sight. Hatred. Fury....</p> + +<p>In the rest of the world an entirely different sort of emotion was +felt about the subject of the invaders. The United States had +announced to all the world that American and other scientists, working +together, had solved the mystery of the alien weapon. They had +produced a duplicate of the terror beam. It was no less effective and +no less an absolute weapon than the invaders'. And a defense had been +found which was complete. It was being rushed into production. The +experimental counter beam generators would be moved into position to +frustrate and defeat the monsters who had landed upon earth. Military +detachments, protected by the counter generators, would move upon +Boulder Lake at dawn. By sunset tomorrow the aliens would be dead or +captive, and their ship would undoubtedly be in the hands of +scientists for study.</p> + +<p>Moreover, the United States would provide counter weapons for other +nations. In no more than months every continent and nation on earth +would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> be equipped to defy any alien landing that might take place. +The world would be able to defend itself. It would be equipped to do +so. And this was the resolve of the United States because the world +could not exist half free and half enslaved by creatures from a +distant planet. The news poured out from all sources. The alien weapon +was understood and now could be defied. Soon all the world would be +provided with counter weapons. It was necessary for all the world to +be prepared and prepared it would be.</p> + +<p>This was the information which made all the world rejoice, though not +yet at ease because aliens still occupied a tiny part of the earth. +But all the world was eager for confirmation of the news it had just +received.</p> + +<p>Lockley had no such soothing anticipations. He shook with fury because +what he saw before him was so appalling as to be almost unbelievable.</p> + +<p>It was not dark in the space he looked down upon. There were bright +floodlights placed here and there to drench a large area with light. +There were few figures in sight. But what the floodlights showed made +Lockley quiver with hatred.</p> + +<p>The floodlights were of typically human type. There were vehicles +parked on a level grassy space. They were of human manufacture. There +was no space ship in the lake, but there was a three-stage rocket set +up, ready for firing. It was of the kind used by humans to put +artificial satellites into orbit. Lockley even knew its designation, +and that it used the new solid fuels for propulsion.</p> + +<p>In the lair of the creatures from outer space there was nothing from +outer space. There was nothing in view which was alien or unearthly or +extra-terrestrial. And Lockley made inarticulate growling sounds +because he saw with absolute clar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>ity and certainty that there never +had been anything from outer space at this spot.</p> + +<p>There were no monsters. There never had been. And the truth was more +horribly enraging than the deception had been.</p> + +<p>Because this could mean the death of the world. This was an attempt to +fight the last war on earth in disguise. Humans had posed as non-human +beings so that America would fight against phantoms while its great +military rival pretended to help and actually stabbed from behind.</p> + +<p>It was completely logical, of course. An admitted attack by terror +beams in the form of death rays would involve retaliation by America. +Against a human enemy great, roaring missiles could circle earth to +plunge down upon that enemy's cities to turn them and their +inhabitants into incandescent gas. An attack known to be by humans and +upon humans must touch off the world's last war in which every living +thing might die. No conceivable success at the beginning could prevent +full retaliation. But if the attack were believed to be from space, +then American weapons and valor would be spent against creatures which +were no more than ghosts.</p> + +<p>Lockley moved forward. Only he could know the situation as it +presented itself here. Even vengeance for Jill should be put aside, if +it called for action irrelevant to this state of things. But it did +not. A full and terrible revenge for her required exactly the action +the coolest of cold-blooded resolutions would suggest be taken now. +And Lockley moved on and downward to take it.</p> + +<p>He began to crawl downhill toward the lights, unaware that there were +some gaps in his picture of the total scene. For example, these lights +could be detected by aircraft overhead. The fact did not occur to +Lockley. He was not given pause by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> relaxation of the enemy's +disguise so far as air observation was concerned. He didn't think of +it. He moved on.</p> + +<p>He drew near the lighted area. He did not walk, he crawled. He began +to listen with fury-sharpened ears. If he could get close to that huge +rocket, close enough to detonate its solid fuel stores....</p> + +<p>That would be at once revenge and expedience. If the rocket's fuel +blew up instead of burning as intended, it would annihilate the camp. +It would wipe out every living creature present. But there would be +fragments left by the explosion. There would be corpses. There would +be wreckage. And that wreckage and those corpses would be unmistakably +human. The last war on earth might not be avoided, but at the worst it +would be fought against America's actual enemy and not against +imaginary monsters.</p> + +<p>It was worth dying to accomplish even that. But Jill....</p> + +<p>Lockley's progress was infinitely slow, but he needed to take the +greatest pains. He listened carefully.</p> + +<p>He heard the faint high roaring of the planes overhead. They were far +away. There were sounds of insects, and the cries of night birds, and +the rustling of leaves and foliage.</p> + +<p>There was another sound. A new sound. It was inexplicable. It was a +strange and intermittent muttering. There was a certain irregular +rhythm to it, a familiar rhythm.</p> + +<p>He crawled on.</p> + +<p>There was movement suddenly, off to his left. Then it stopped. It +could be a man on watch against him simply shifting his position. +Lockley froze, and then went on with even greater caution. He felt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +the ground before him for small twigs that might crack under his +weight.</p> + +<p>The muttering continued. Presently Lockley realized that it was a +human voice. It was resonant and with many overtones, but still too +faint for him to distinguish words.</p> + +<p>He crossed a slight rise that had much brushwood. The brushwood grew +in clumps and he circled them with a patient caution foreign to his +feelings.</p> + +<p>The muttering changed and went on. Lockley pressed himself to the +ground. Men went past him a hundred feet away. He saw them in outline +against the illuminated parked cars and trucks and in the space around +the huge rocket. They carried no rifles, probably no firearms at all. +Lockley's march up the highway had warned them of the uselessness of +guns, at least at short range. They were watching for him now. Perhaps +these men were relieving other watchers on the hillside.</p> + +<p>He saw other men. They seemed to move restlessly around the lighted +area.</p> + +<p>The muttering was louder now. He could almost catch the words. He made +another hundred yards toward the rocket and the voice changed again. +Then he was dazed. The voice was speaking to him! Calling him by name!</p> + +<p><i>"Lockley! Lockley! Don't do anything crazy! Everything can be +explained! You'll recognize my voice. You talked to me on the +telephone from Serena!</i>"</p> + +<p>Lockley did recognize the voice. It was that of the general who'd +sounded pompous and indignant as he refused to listen to Lockley's +statements. Now, coming out of many loudspeakers and echoing hollowly +from cliffs, it was the same voice but with an intonation that was +persuasive and forthright.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> + +<p>"<i>You startled me</i>," said the voice crisply. "<i>You'd found out there +were humans involved in this business. It was important that the fact +be suppressed. I tried to browbeat you, which was a mistake. While I +was talking to you your suspicion was reported on short wave by the +Wild Life driver. I tried to overawe you. You're the wrong kind of man +for that. But everything can be explained. Everything! Here's Vale to +prove it!</i>"</p> + +<p>There was only an instant's pause. Then Vale's voice came out of the +loudspeakers spread all about.</p> + +<p>"<i>Lockley, this is Vale. The whole thing's faked. There's a good +reason for it, but you stumbled on the facts. They had to be kept +secret. I didn't even tell Jill. This isn't treason, Lockley. We +aren't traitors! Come out and I'll explain everything. Here's +Sattell.</i>"</p> + +<p>And Sattell's voice boomed against the hills.</p> + +<p>"<i>Vale's right, Lockley! I didn't know what was up. I was fooled as +much as anybody. But it's all right! It's perfectly all right! When +you understand you'll realize that you had to be deceived just as I +was. Come on out and everything will be explained to your +satisfaction. I promise!</i>"</p> + +<p>Lockley grimaced. How did Sattell get up here? And the general in +command of the cordon? More than that, why did they call his name +instead of simply trying to kill him? Why post watchers on the +hillsides if they were anxious to explain and not to murder? How could +they hope to deceive him after Jill....</p> + +<p>There was a pause, and then what was evidently considered a decisive +message came. It was Jill's voice, weary and desperate. It said, +"<i>Please come out and listen! Please come and let them explain +everything. They can do it. I understand and I believe them. It's +true. It's not treason. I—I beg you to come out and let them tell +you why all this has happened....</i>" +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +</p> + +<p>Her voice trailed off. It had trembled. It was tense. It was strained. +And Lockley cursed softly, shaking with rage. Then the first voice +returned, "<i>Lockley! Lockley! Don't do anything crazy! Everything can +be explained. You'll recognize my voice. You talked to me on the +telephone from Serena.</i>"</p> + +<p>This voice repeated, word for word and intonation for intonation, +exactly what it had said before. The other voices followed in the same +order. They were taped.</p> + +<p>In Lockley's state of mind, the taping took away all authority from +the voices. Jill, in particular, sounded as she might have if torture +had been used to break her will and force her to say what her captors +wished. She could not put any warning into it, because she could have +been forced to repeat and repeat the message until her captors were +satisfied.</p> + +<p>That would all be avenged now. All of it. And Jill would be grateful +to Lockley even if they never saw each other again; grateful for the +monstrous blast that would wipe this place clean of living creatures.</p> + +<p>Lockley suddenly saw a way by which his vengeance could be increased +by just a little. It could be made even more satisfying and just. +Hiding under brushwood while the voices tirelessly repeated their +recorded persuasion, he made a very simple device. It switched onto +the instrument he carried. If his hand clenched, it would go on. If +his hand relaxed, it would go on. So if he could get within a hundred +and twenty-five yards of the rocket he could show himself and let them +know what waited for them, and why.</p> + +<p>With infinite patience he got to a place almost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> near the circle of +unarmed guards about the rocket. He waited. The guards were tense. +They did not like trying to protect something with no weapons. They +were jumpy. The endlessly repeated messages booming into the night +frayed their nerves. They were plainly on edge.</p> + +<p>Their tenseness made the oldest trick in the world serve Lockley's +purpose. He threw a stone from an especially dark shadow. It struck +and bounced upon another stone, and it created a rustling of brushwood +at a place distant from Lockley. And the unarmed guards plunged for +that place to seize whatever or whoever had made the disturbance.</p> + +<p>They were too eager. They stumbled upon each other.</p> + +<p>And Lockley ran, and a voice cried out in terror. And then Lockley +stood with his back to the rocket's lower parts, and he waved the +cheese grater derisively and shouted.</p> + +<p>Then there was stillness. Only the booming voice from the speakers +went on. It happened to be Sattell's voice.</p> + +<p>"<i> ... all right. It's perfectly all right. When you understand you'll +realize that you had to be deceived as I was. It was necessary. Come +out and everything—</i>"</p> + +<p>Somebody cut off the recorder. There was a moment of blank indecision, +and then a man in uniform with two general's stars on his shoulders +came out of somewhere and walked to face Lockley.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Lockley!" he said briskly. "That's the thing you smash cars and +explode ammunition with, eh? Do you think it will blow the rocket?"</p> + +<p>"I'm going to try it!" said Lockley. "Listen." He showed how anything +that could be done to him would close the switch one way or the other. +"I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> wanted you to know before I blow it!" he said fiercely. "Where's +Jill? Jill Holmes? One of your cars picked her up and brought her +here. Where is she?"</p> + +<p>"We sent her," said the general, "over to the construction camp, in +case you managed to get in the exact situation you're in. In other +words, she's safe. She'll be coming shortly, though. She was to be +notified the instant you appeared—if the rocket didn't blast as your +greeting."</p> + +<p>Lockley ground his teeth.</p> + +<p>"We'll have this settled before she gets here!"</p> + +<p>Vale appeared. He walked forward and stood beside the general.</p> + +<p>"We did a job that was several times too good, Lockley," he said +ruefully. "I'd rehearsed my song-and-dance until we thought it was +perfect. What made you suspicious, Lockley? Did you notice we kept the +communicator aimed right so you'd hear through to the end? A fine +point, that. We worried about it."</p> + +<p>The headlights of a car moved against a mountainside.</p> + +<p>"You see," said Vale, "the thing had to be done this way! Sattell +swore a blue streak when it was explained to him. He felt he'd been +made a fool of. But there are some things that can't be handled +forthrightly!"</p> + +<p>Lockley felt physically ill. Jill had been—still was—engaged to +Vale. She'd been anxious about him. She'd been loyal to him. And he +was helping the invaders! He opened his mouth to speak bitterly, when +Sattell appeared. He lined up beside the general and Vale.</p> + +<p>"They fooled me too, Lockley," he said wryly. "But it's all right. +They had to. They thought you were fooled. Those three men in the box +with you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> the other day, they said you were fooled, too. And they're +sharp secret service men!"</p> + +<p>"You're very convincing, aren't you?" he raged. "But—"</p> + +<p>"You believe," said Sattell, "I've joined up with spies and traitors. +You believe...."</p> + +<p>He outlined, with precision, exactly what Lockley did believe; that +phantom monsters were to be credited with waging war against America +while another nation actually murdered Americans. It was a remarkably +accurate picture of Lockley's state of mind.</p> + +<p>"But that's all wrong!" insisted Sattell. "This is a quick trick by +our own people for our own safety. For the benefit of all the world. +It's a trick to forestall just what I described!"</p> + +<p>The far away headlights drew nearer. But no car could have come from +the construction camp as quickly as this.</p> + +<p>"The fact is," said the general, "that our spies tell us that another +very great nation has developed this beam we've been demonstrating to +all the world. So did we. And we couldn't use it, but they would! If +they didn't use it against us, they'd use it for any sort of emergency +dirty trick. So we made up this invasion to persuade every country on +earth to arm itself against this particular weapon. Nothing less than +monsters in space would justify arming, in the eyes of some +politicians! Of course, they'll arm against us as well as—anybody +else."</p> + +<p>He spoke matter-of-factly. A glance at Lockley's face would have told +him that persuasiveness would not work.</p> + +<p>"This trick, with the defense we intended to reveal," the general +added, "should mean that a very nasty weapon won't ever be used, +either to start or end a war. Maybe the war won't occur because<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> we've +said there are monsters who fly around in space ships."</p> + +<p>Lockley had a confused impression that he was dreaming this. It was +not the way things should happen! This was not true! When he squeezed +or released the improvised switch in his hand, the rocket behind him +would disappear in a monstrous flame, and he and the three men who +faced him would, vanish, and there would be an explosion crater here +and a shattered mass of wrecked cars—</p> + +<p>"It was an interesting job," said Vale. "The Army dumped a hundred +tons of high explosive into the lake. The two radars that reported a +ship in space were arranged to be operated by two special men, who got +their orders directly from the President. We picked a day with full +cloud cover; the radar operators inserted their faked tapes and made +their reports; and the Army set off the hundred-ton explosion in the +lake. From there on, it was just a matter of using the terror beam."</p> + +<p>"I mention," said the general mildly, "that not one human being has +been killed by anything we've done. Would you expect traitors to be so +careful? Or spies?"</p> + +<p>Lockley said thickly, "You stand there arguing. You're trying to make +me believe you. But there's Jill! What's happened to her? How did you +make her record that tape? Where's Jill? She won't tell me it's all +right!"</p> + +<p>Headlights swept up to the floodlit space. The car stopped.</p> + +<p>Jill came into view. She saw Lockley, standing against the rocket's +base. She ran.</p> + +<p>She stood beside the general and Vale and Sattell. She looked worn and +desperately anxious.</p> + +<p>"What have they done to you?" demanded Lockley fiercely.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p> + +<p>She shook her head.</p> + +<p>"N-nothing. I couldn't stay at the camp when I was so sure you'd come +to try to help me. So I came here. I don't know what they've told you +yet, but it's all right. We were fooled as the world has to be. +Believe it! Please believe it!"</p> + +<p>"What have they done to you?" he repeated terribly.</p> + +<p>"What have they done to the world?" demanded Jill. "They've made every +nation look to us as the defender of their freedom. And we are! +They've made everybody ready to fight against more monsters if they +come, and to fight against men if they try to enslave them with the +terror beam or anything else! Would traitors have done that?"</p> + +<p>Lockley knew that he had to decide. It was an unbearable +responsibility. He was not convinced, even by Jill. But he was no +longer certain that he'd been right.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you kill me?" he demanded. "I could have been shot down +from a distance. You didn't have to come close to talk to me. If the +rocket blew, what would it matter?"</p> + +<p>"You've got a protection against the terror beam," said the general +matter-of-factly. "So have we. But ours weighs two tons. Yours can be +carried without being a burden. And—" his eyes went to the unlikely +cheese grater over Lockley's shoulder—"and yours detonates +explosives. If we can equip the world with those, Lockley, we'll have +peace!"</p> + +<p>Lockley thought of a decisive test. He grimaced.</p> + +<p>"You want me to risk being a traitor! All right, what's in it for me? +What am I offered?"</p> + +<p>The general shrugged, his eyes hardening. Vale spread out his hands. +Sattell snorted. Jill moistened her lips. Lockley turned upon her.</p> + +<p>"You want me to believe," he said harshly. "What<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> do you offer if I +turn over the thing to these men you say are honest men and neither +spies or traitors. What do you offer?"</p> + +<p>She stared at him. Then she said quietly, "Nothing."</p> + +<p>Lockley hesitated once more, for a long instant. But that was the +right answer. Nobody who'd been bought or bribed or frightened into +being a traitor would have thought of it.</p> + +<p>"That," said Lockley, "by a strange coincidence happens to be my +price."</p> + +<p>He ripped away a wire. He flung the queer combination of pocket radio +and cheese and nutmeg graters to the general.</p> + +<p>"I'll explain later how it works," he said wearily, "—if I haven't +made a mistake."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>After a suitable time the general came to him. Lockley was convinced, +now. The reaction of the men who'd been guards and truck drivers and +the like was conclusive. They regarded him with a certain cordial +respect which was not the reaction of either traitors or invaders.</p> + +<p>"We've been checking that little device, Lockley," said the general +happily. "It's perfect for our purposes! So much better than a two-ton +generator to interfere with and cancel the terror beams! Marvelous! +And do you know what it means? With all the world believing we've been +attacked from space, and with our great show of taking back Boulder +Lake—"</p> + +<p>"How will you manage that?" asked Lockley, without too much interest.</p> + +<p>"The rocket," said the general, beaming. "When troops start into the +Park, the rocket takes off. It heads for empty space. And we explain +that the aliens went away when they found their weapon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> useless and we +started to get rough with them!"</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Lockley listlessly.</p> + +<p>"But the really beautiful thing," the general told him, "is your +gadget! They can be made by millions. Ridiculously cheap, they tell +me. Everybody in the world will want one, and we'll pass them out. No +government could stop that! Not even Russia! But—d'you see, Lockley?"</p> + +<p>Lockley shook his head. He always had a tendency to look on the dark +side of future events. The future did not look bright to him.</p> + +<p>"Don't you see?" demanded the general, chuckling. "They detonate +explosives, those little gadgets! There's no harm in that! Where +explosives are used in industry you've only to make sure that nobody +turns one on too close. In nine-tenths of the world, anyhow, civilians +aren't allowed to have guns. But think of the consequences there!"</p> + +<p>Lockley was weary. He was dejected. The general grinned from ear to +ear.</p> + +<p>"Why, when these are distributed, even the secret police can't go +armed! What price dictators then? For that matter, what price +soldiers? The cold war ends, Lockley, because there couldn't be a +conquering army in the modern sense. The tanks wouldn't run. The cars +would stall. And the guns—An invasion would have to be made with +horse-drawn transport and the troops armed with bows and spears. That +amounts to disarmament, Lockley! A consummation devoutly to be wished! +I'm going to look forward to a ripe old age now. I never could +before!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Presently Lockley talked to Jill. She was constrained. She seemed +uneasy. Lockley felt that there wasn't much to say, now that Vale was +alive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> and well and there was no more danger for her. He offered his +hand to say good-bye.</p> + +<p>"I think," she said with a little difficulty, "I think I should tell +you I'm not—engaged any longer. I—told him I—wouldn't want to be +married to someone whose work made him keep secrets from me."</p> + +<p>Lockley tensed. He said incredulously, "You're not going to marry +Vale?"</p> + +<p>She said nervously.</p> + +<p>"No-o-o. I've told him."</p> + +<p>Lockley swallowed.</p> + +<p>"What did he say?"</p> + +<p>"He—didn't like it," said Jill. "But he understood. I explained +things. He said—he said to congratulate you."</p> + +<p>Lockley made an appropriate movement. She wept quietly, held close in +his arms.</p> + +<p>"I was so afraid you didn't—you wouldn't—"</p> + +<p>Lockley took appropriate measures to comfort her and to assure her +that he did and he would, forever and ever. A very long time later he +asked interestedly, "What did you say to Vale when he asked you to +congratulate me?"</p> + +<p>"I said," said Jill comfortably, "that I would if things worked out +all right. And they have. I congratulate you, darling. Now how about +congratulating me?"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The rocket took off and went away into emptiness. This was near dawn, +when military announcements of the reoccupation of Boulder Lake were +being passed out to the news media. As much of the public as was awake +was informed that the monstrous aliens had fled from earth, their +intentions frustrated by the work of scientists. It wasn't necessary +for a large force to march in. A special detail took over at the lake +itself. Curiously enough,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> it seemed to be already there when the +question arose. It would report a regrettable absence of alien +artifacts by which the monsters might be kept in mind.</p> + +<p>But there would be reminders. Later bulletins would report that the +United States was putting into quantity production the small, +individual protective devices which defied the terror beam and would +supply them to all the world. There could not be greater friendship +than that! The United States also proposed a world wide alliance for +defense against future attacks by space monsters, with pooled armament +and completely cooperative governments.</p> + +<p>The world, obviously, would unite against monsters. And people in a +posture of defense against enemies from the stars obviously wouldn't +fight each other.</p> + +<p>And there were some people who were pleased. They knew about the +possibilities of the small gadgets, brought down in production to the +size of a pack of cigarettes. Knowing what they could do, they waited +very interestedly to see what would happen in certain nations when +secret police couldn't carry firearms and soldiers could only be armed +with spears.</p> + +<p>They expected it to be very interesting indeed.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Operation Terror, by William Fitzgerald Jenkins + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OPERATION TERROR *** + +***** This file should be named 17870-h.htm or 17870-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/8/7/17870/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Geoffrey Kidd, Sankar Viswanathan, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Operation Terror + +Author: William Fitzgerald Jenkins + +Release Date: February 27, 2006 [EBook #17870] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OPERATION TERROR *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Geoffrey Kidd, Sankar Viswanathan, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + OPERATION + TERROR + + + Murray Leinster + + + + +CHAPTER 1 + + +On the morning the radar reported something odd out in space, Lockley +awoke at about twenty minutes to eight. That was usual. He'd slept in +a sleeping bag on a mountain-flank with other mountains all around. +That was not unprecedented. He was there to make a base line +measurement for a detailed map of the Boulder Lake National Park, +whose facilities were now being built. Measuring a base line, even +with the newest of electronic apparatus, was more or less a +commonplace job for Lockley. + +This morning, though, he woke and realized gloomily that he'd dreamed +about Jill Holmes again, which was becoming a habit he ought to break. +He'd only met her four times and she was going to marry somebody else. +He had to stop. + +He stirred, preparatory to getting up. At the same moment, certain +things were happening in places far away from him. As yet, no unusual +object in space had been observed. That would come later. But far away +up at the Alaskan radar complex a man on duty watch was relieved by +another. The relief man took over the monitoring of the giant, +football-field-sized radar antenna that recorded its detections on +magnetic tape. It happened that on this particular morning only one +other radar watched the skies along a long stretch of the Pacific +Coast. There was the Alaskan installation, and the other was in Oregon. +It was extremely unusual for only those two to be operating. The +people who knew about it, or most of them, thought that official +orders had somehow gone astray. Where the orders were issued, nothing +out of the ordinary appeared. All was normal, for example, in the +Military Information Center in Denver. The Survey saw nothing unusual +in Lockley's being at his post, and other men at places corresponding +to his in the area which was to become Boulder Lake National Park. It +also seemed perfectly natural that there should be bulldozer +operators, surveyors, steelworkers, concrete men and so on, all +comfortably at breakfast in the construction camp for the project. +Everything seemed normal everywhere. + +Up to the time the Alaskan installation reported something strange in +space, the state of things generally was neither alarming nor +consoling. But at 8:02 A.M. Pacific time, the situation +changed. At that time Alaska reported an unscheduled celestial object +of considerable size, high out of atmosphere and moving with +surprising slowness for a body in space. Its course was parabolic and +it would probably land somewhere in South Dakota. It might be a +bolide--a large, slow-moving meteorite. It wasn't likely, but the +entire report was improbable. + +The message reached the Military Information Center in Denver at 8:05 +A.M. By 8:06 it had been relayed to Washington and every +plane on the Pacific Coast was ordered aloft. The Oregon radar unit +reported the same object at 8:07 A.M. It said the object was +seven hundred fifty miles high, four hundred miles out at sea, and was +headed toward the Oregon coastline, moving northwest to southeast. +There was no major city in its line of travel. The impact point +computed by the Oregon station was nowhere near South Dakota. As other +computations followed other observations, a second place of fall was +calculated, then a third. Then the Oregon radar unbelievably reported +that the object was decelerating. Allowing for deceleration, three +successive predictions of its landing point agreed. The object, said +these calculations, would come to earth somewhere near Boulder Lake, +Colorado, in what was to become a national park. Impact time should be +approximately 8:14 A.M. + +These events followed Lockley's awakening in the wilds, but he knew +nothing of any of them. He himself wasn't near the lake, which was to +be the center of a vacation facility for people who liked the +outdoors. The lake was almost circular and was a deep, rich blue. It +occupied what had been the crater of a volcano millions of years ago. +Already bulldozers had ploughed out roads to it through the forest. +Men worked with graders and concrete mixers on highways and on bridges +across small rushing streams. There was a camp for them. A lakeside +hotel had been designed and stakes were driven in the ground where its +foundation would eventually be poured. There were infant big-mouthed +bass in the lake and fingerling trout in many of the streams. A huge +Wild Life Control trailer-truck went grumbling about such trails as +were practical, attending to these matters. Yesterday Lockley had seen +it gleaming in bright sunshine as it moved toward Boulder Lake on the +highway nearest to his station. + +But that was yesterday. This morning he awoke under a pale gray sky. +There was complete cloud cover overhead. He smelled conifers and +woods-mould and mountain stone in the morning. He heard the faint +sound of tree branches moving in the wind. He noted the cloud cover. +The clouds were high, though. The air at ground level was perfectly +transparent. He turned his head and saw a prospect that made being in +the wilderness seem entirely reasonable and satisfying. + +Mountains reared up in every direction. A valley lay some thousands of +feet below him, and beyond it other valleys, and somewhere a stream +rushed white water to an unknown destination. Not many wake to such a +scene. + +Lockley regarded it, but without full attention. He was preoccupied +with thoughts of Jill Holmes, and unfortunately she was engaged to +marry Vale, who was also working in the park some thirty miles to the +northeast, near Boulder Lake itself. Lockley didn't know him well +since he was new in the Survey. He was up there to the northeast with +an electronic survey instrument like Lockley's and on the same job. +Jill had an assignment from some magazine or other to write an article +on how national parks are born, and she was staying at the +construction camp to gather material. She'd learned something from +Vale and much from the engineers while Lockley had tried to think of +interesting facts himself. He'd failed. When he thought about her, he +thought about the fact that she was engaged to Vale. That was an +unhappy thought. Then he tried to stop thinking about her altogether. +But his mind somehow lingered on the subject. + +At ten minutes to eight Lockley began to dress, wilderness fashion. He +began by putting on his hat. It had lain on the pile of garments by +his bed. Then he donned the rest of his garments in the exact reverse +of the order in which he'd removed them. + +At 8:00 he had a small fire going. He had no premonition that anything +out of the ordinary was going to happen that day. This was still +before the first Alaskan report. At 8:10 he had bacon sizzling and a +small coffeepot almost enveloped by the flames. Events occurred and he +knew nothing at all about them. For example, the Military Information +Center had been warned of what was later privately called Operation +Terror while Lockley was still tranquilly cooking breakfast and +thinking--frowning a little--about Jill. + +Naturally he knew nothing of emergency orders sending all planes +aloft. He wasn't informed about something reported in space and +apparently headed for an impact point at Boulder Lake. As the computed +impact time arrived, Lockley obliviously dumped coffee into his tin +coffeepot and put it back on the flames. + +At 8:13 instead of 8:14--this information is from the tape +records--there was an extremely small earth shock recorded by the +Berkeley, California, seismograph. It was a very minor shock, about +the intensity of the explosion of a hundred tons of high explosive a +very long distance away and barely strong enough to record its +location, which was Boulder Lake. The cause of that explosion or shock +was not observed visually. There'd been no time to alert observers, +and in any case the object should have been out of atmosphere until +the last few seconds of its fall, and where it was reported to fall +the cloud cover was unbroken. So nobody reported seeing it. Not at +once, anyhow, and then only one man. + +Lockley did not feel the impact. He was drinking a cup of coffee and +thinking about his own problems. But a delicately balanced rock a +hundred yards below his camp site toppled over and slid downhill. It +started a miniature avalanche of stones and rocks. The loose stuff did +not travel far, but the original balanced rock bounced and rolled for +some distance before it came to rest. + +Echoes rolled between the hillsides, but they were not very loud and +they soon ended. Lockley guessed automatically at half a dozen +possible causes for the small rock-slide, but he did not think at all +of an unperceived temblor from a shock like high explosives going off +thirty miles away. + +Eight minutes later he heard a deep-toned roaring noise to the +northeast. It was unbelievably low-pitched. It rolled and reverberated +beyond the horizon. The detonation of a hundred tons of high +explosives or an equivalent impact can be heard for thirty miles, but +at that distance it doesn't sound much like an explosion. + +He finished his breakfast without enjoyment. By that time well over +three-quarters of the Air Force on the Pacific Coast was airborne and +more planes shot skyward instant after instant. Inevitably the +multiplied air traffic was noted by civilians. Reporters began to +telephone airbases to ask whether a practice alert was on, or +something more serious. + +Such questions were natural, these days. All the world had the +jitters. To the ordinary observer, the prospects looked bad for +everything but disaster. There was a crisis in the United Nations, +which had been reorganized once and might need to be shuffled again. +There was a dispute between the United States and Russia over +satellites recently placed in orbit. They were suspected of carrying +fusion bombs ready to dive at selected targets on signal. The Russians +accused the Americans, and the Americans accused the Russians, and +both may have been right. + +The world had been so edgy for so long that there were fallout +shelters from Chillicothe, Ohio, to Singapore, Malaya, and back again. +There were permanent trouble spots at various places where practically +anything was likely to happen at any instant. The people of every +nation were jumpy. There was constant pressure on governments and on +political parties so that all governments looked shaky and all +parties helpless. Nobody could look forward to a peaceful old age, and +most hardly hoped to reach middle age. The arrival of an object from +outer space was nicely calculated to blow the emotional fuses of whole +populations. + +But Lockley ate his breakfast without premonitions. Breezes blew and +from every airbase along the coast fighting planes shot into the air +and into formations designed to intercept anything that flew on wings +or to launch atom-headed rockets at anything their radars could detect +that didn't. + +At eight-twenty, Lockley went to the electronic base line instrument +which he was to use this morning. It was a modification of the devices +used to clock artificial satellites in their orbits and measure their +distance within inches from hundreds of miles away. The purpose was to +make a really accurate map of the park. There were other instruments +in other line-of-sight positions, very far away. Lockley's schedule +called for them to measure their distances from each other some time +this morning. Two were carefully placed on bench marks of the +continental grid. In twenty minutes or so of cooperation, the +distances of six such instruments could be measured with astonishing +precision and tied in to the bench marks already scattered over the +continent. Presently photographing planes would fly overhead, taking +overlapping pictures from thirty thousand feet. They would show the +survey points and the measurements between them would be exact, the +photos could be used as stereo-pairs to take off contour lines, and in +a few days there would be a map--a veritable cartographer's dream for +accuracy and detail. + +That was the intention. But though Lockley hadn't heard of it yet, +something was reported to have landed from space, and a shock like an +impact was recorded, and all conditions would shortly be changed. It +would be noted from the beginning, however, that an impact equal to a +hundred-ton explosion was a very small shock for the landing of a +bolide. It would add to the plausibility of reported deceleration, +though, and would arouse acute suspicion. Justly so. + +At 8:20, Lockley called Sattell who was southeast of him. The +measuring instruments used microwaves and gave readings of distance by +counting cycles and reading phase differences. As a matter of +convenience the microwaves could be modulated by a microphone, so the +same instrument could be used for communication while measurements +went on. But the microwaves were directed in a very tight beam. The +device had to be aimed exactly right and a suitable reception +instrument had to be at the target if it was to be used at all. Also, +there was no signal to call a man to listen. He had to be listening +beforehand, and with his instrument aimed right, too. + +So Lockley flipped the modulator switch and turned on the instrument. +He said patiently, "Calling Sattell. Calling Sattell. Lockley calling +Sattell." + +He repeated it some dozens of times. He was about to give it up and +call Vale instead when Sattell answered. He'd slept a little later +than Lockley. It was now close to nine o'clock. But Sattell had +expected the call. They checked the functioning of their instruments +against each other. + +"Right!" said Lockley at last. "I'll check with Vale and on out of the +park, and then we'll put it all together and wrap it up and take it +home." + +Sattell agreed. Lockley, rather absurdly, felt uncomfortable because +he was going to have to talk to Vale. He had nothing against the man, +but Vale was, in a way, his rival although Jill didn't know of his +folly and Vale could hardly guess it. + +He signed off to Sattell and swung the base line instrument to make a +similar check with Vale. It was now ten minutes after nine. He aligned +the instrument accurately, flipped the switch, and began to say as +patiently as before, "Calling Vale. Calling Vale. Lockley calling +Vale. Over." + +He turned the control for reception. Vale's voice came instantly, +scratchy and hoarse and frantic. + +"_Lockley! Listen to me! There's no time to tell me anything. I've got +to tell you. Something came down out of the sky here nearly an hour +ago. It landed in Boulder Lake, and at the last instant there was a +terrific explosion and a monstrous wave swept up the shores of the +lake. The thing that came down vanished under water. I saw it, +Lockley!_" + +Lockley blinked. "Wha-a-at?" + +"_A thing came down out of the sky!_" panted Vale. "_It landed in the +lake with a terrific explosion. It went under. Then it came up to the +surface minutes later. It floated. It stuck things up and out of +itself, pipes or wires. Then it moved around the lake and came in to +the shore. A thing like a hatch opened and ... creatures got out of +it. Not men!_" + +Lockley blinked again. "Look here--" + +"_Dammit, listen!_" said Vale shrilly, "_I'm telling you what I've +seen. Things out of the sky. Creatures that aren't men. They landed +and set up something on the shore. I don't know what it is. Do you +understand? The thing is down there in the lake now. Floating. I can +see it!_" + +Lockley swallowed. He couldn't believe this immediately. He knew +nothing of radar reports or the seismograph record. He'd seen a barely +balanced rock roll down the mountainside below him, and he'd heard a +growling bass rumble behind the horizon, but things like that didn't +add up to a conclusion like this! His first conviction was that Vale +was out of his head. + +"Listen," said Lockley carefully. "There's a short wave set over at +the construction camp. They use it all the time for orders and reports +and so on. You go there and report officially what you've seen. To the +Park Service first, and then try to get a connection through to the +Army." + +Vale's voice came through again, at once raging and despairing, "_They +won't believe me. They'll think I'm a crackpot. You get the news to +somebody who'll investigate. I see the thing, Lockley. I can see it +now. At this instant. And Jill's over at the construction camp_--" + +Lockley was unreasonably relieved. If Jill was at the camp, at least +she wasn't alone with a man gone out of his mind. The reaction was +normal. Lockley had seen nothing out of the ordinary, so Vale's report +seemed insane. + +"_Listen here!_" panted Vale again. "_The thing came down. There was a +terrific explosion. It vanished. Nothing happened for a while. Then it +came up and found a place where it could come to shore. Things came +out of it. I can't describe them. They're motes even in my binoculars. +But they aren't human! A lot of them came out. They began to land +things. Equipment. They set it up. I don't know what it is. Some of +them went exploring. I saw a puff of steam where something moved. +Lockley?_" + +"I'm listening," said Lockley. "Go on!" + +"_Report this!_" ordered Vale feverishly. "_Get it to Military +Information in Denver, or somewhere! The party of creatures that went +off exploring hasn't come back. I'm watching. I'll report whatever I +see. Get this to the government. This is real. I can't believe it, but +I see it. Report it, quick!_" + +His voice stopped. Lockley painfully realigned the instrument again +for Sattell, thirty miles to the southeast. + +Sattell surprisingly answered the first call. He said in an astonished +voice, "_Hello! I just got a call from Survey. It seems that the Army +knew there was a Survey team in here, and they called to say that +radars had spotted something coming down from space, right after eight +o'clock. They wanted to know if any of us supposedly sane observers +noticed anything peculiar about that time._" + +Lockley's scalp crawled suddenly. Vale's report had disturbed him, but +more for the man's sanity than anything else. But it could be true! +And instantly he remembered that Jill was very near the place where +frighteningly impossible things were happening. + +"Vale just told me," said Lockley, his voice unsteady, "that he saw +something come down. His story was so wild I didn't believe it. But +you pass it on and say that Vale's watching it. He's waiting for +instructions. He'll report everything he sees. I'm thirty miles from +him, but he can see the thing that came down. Maybe the creatures in +it can see him. Listen!" + +He repeated just what Vale had told him. Somehow, telling it to +someone else, it seemed at once even less real but more horrifying as +a possible danger to Jill. It didn't strike him forcibly that other +people were endangered, too. + +When Sattell signed off to forward the report, Lockley found himself +sweating a little. Something had come down out of space. The fact +seemed to him dangerous and appalling. His mind revolted at the idea +of non-human creatures who could build ships and travel through space, +but radars had reported the arrival of a ship, and there were official +inquiries that nearly matched Vale's account, which was therefore not +a mere crackpot claim to have seen the incredible. Something had +happened and more was likely to, and Jill was in the middle of it. + +He swung the instrument back to Vale's position. His hands shook, +though a part of his mind insisted obstinately that alarms were +commonplace these days, and in common sense one had to treat them as +false cries of "Wolf!" But one knew that some day the wolf might +really come. Perhaps it had.... + +Lockley found it difficult to align the carrier beam to Vale's exact +location. He assured himself that he was a fool to be afraid; that if +disaster were to come it would be by the imbecilities of men rather +than through creatures from beyond the stars. And therefore.... + +But there were other men at other places who felt less skepticism. The +report from Vale went to the Military Information Center and thence to +the Pentagon. Meanwhile the Information Center ordered a +photo-reconnaissance plane to photograph Boulder Lake from aloft. In +the Pentagon, hastily alerted staff officers began to draft orders to +be issued if the report of two radars and one eye-witness should be +further substantiated. There were such-and-such trucks available here, +and such-and-such troops available there. Complicated paper work was +involved in the organization of any movement of troops, but especially +to carry out a plan not at all usual in the United States. + +Everything, though, depended on what the reconnaissance plane +photographs might show. + +Lockley did not see the plane nor consciously hear it. There was the +faintest of murmuring noises in the sky. It moved swiftly toward the +north, tending eastward. The plane that made the noise was invisible. +It flew above the cloud cover which still blotted out nearly all the +blue overhead. It went on and on and presently died out beyond the +mountains toward Boulder Lake. + +Lockley tried to get Vale back, to tell him that radars had verified +his report and that it would be acted on by the military. But though +he called and called, there was no answer. + +An agonizingly long time later the faint and disregarded sound of the +plane swept back across the heavens. Lockley still did not notice it. +He was too busy with his attempts to reach Vale again, and with grisly +imaginings of what might be done by aliens from another world when +they found the workmen near the lake--and Jill among them. He pictured +alien monsters committing atrocities in what they might consider +scientific examination of terrestrial fauna. But somehow even that was +less horrible than the images that followed an assumption that the +occupants of the spaceship might be men. + +"Calling Vale ... Vale, come in!" He fiercely repeated the call into +the instrument's microphone. "Lockley calling Vale! Come in, man! Come +in!" + +He flipped the switch and listened. And Vale's voice came. + +"_I'm here._" The voice shook. "_I've been trying to find where that +exploring party went._" + +Lockley threw the speech switch and said sharply, "The Army asked +Survey if any of us had seen anything come down from the sky. I gave +Sattell your report to be forwarded. It's gone to the Pentagon now. +Two radars reported tracking the thing down to a landing near you. Now +listen! You go to the construction camp. Most likely they'll get +orders to clear out, by short wave. But you go there! Make sure Jill's +all right. See her to safety." + +The switch once more. Vale's voice was desperate. + +"_A ... while ago a party of the creatures started away from the lake. +An exploring party, I think. Once I saw a puff of steam as if they'd +used a weapon. I'm afraid they may find the construction camp, and +Jill_...." + +Lockley ground his teeth. Vale said unsteadily, "_I ... can't find +where they went.... A little while ago their ship backed out into the +lake and sank. Deliberately! I don't know why. But there's a party of +those ... creatures out exploring! I don't know what they'll do_...." + +Lockley said savagely, "Get to the camp and look after Jill! The +workmen may have panicked. The Army'll know by this time what's +happened. They'll send copters to get you out. They'll send help of +some sort, somehow. But you look after Jill!" + +Vale's voice changed. + +"_Wait. I heard something. Wait!_" + +Silence. Around Lockley there were the usual sounds of the wilderness. +Insects made chirping noises. Birds called. There were those small +whispering and rustling and high-pitched sounds which in the wild +constitute stillness. + +A scraping sound from the speaker. Vale's voice, frantic. + +"_That ... exploring party. It's here! They must have picked up our +beams. They're looking for me. They've sighted me! They're coming_...." + +There was a crashing sound as if Vale had dropped the communicator. +There were pantings, and the sound of blows, and gasped +profanity--horror-filled profanity--in Vale's voice. Then something +roared. + +Lockley listened, his hands clenched in fury at his own helplessness. +He thought he heard movements. Once he was sure he heard a sound like +the unshod hoof of an animal on bare stone. Then, quite distinctly, he +heard squeakings. He knew that someone or something had picked up +Vale's communicator. More squeakings, somehow querulous. Then +something pounded the communicator on the ground. There was a crash. +Then silence. + +Almost calmly Lockley swung his instrument around and lined it up for +Sattell's post. He called in a steady voice until Sattell answered. He +reported with meticulous care just what Vale had said, and what he'd +heard after Vale stopped speaking--the roaring, the sound of blows and +gasps, then the squeakings and the destruction of the instrument +intended for the measurement of base lines for an accurate map of the +Park. + +Sattell grew agitated. At Lockley's insistence, he wrote down every +word. Then he said nervously that orders had come from Survey. The +Army wanted everybody out of the Boulder Lake area. Vale was to have +been ordered out. The workmen were ordered out. Lockley was to get out +of the area as soon as possible. + +When Sattell signed off, Lockley switched off the communicator. He put +it where it would be relatively safe from the weather. He abandoned +his camping equipment. A mile downhill and four miles west there was a +highway leading to Boulder Lake. When the Park was opened to the +public it would be well used, but the last traffic he'd seen was the +big trailer-truck of the Wild Life Control service. That huge vehicle +had gone up to Boulder Lake the day before. + +He made his way to the highway, following a footpath to the spot where +he'd left his own car parked. He got into it and started the motor. He +moved with a certain dogged deliberation. He knew, of course, that +what he was going to do was useless. It was hopeless. It was possibly +suicidal. But he went ahead. + +He headed northward, pushing the little car to its top speed. This was +not following his instructions. He wasn't leaving the Park area. He +was heading for Boulder Lake. Jill was there and he would feel +ashamed for all time if he acted like a sensible man and got to safety +as he was ordered. + +Miles along the highway, something occurred to him. The base line +instrument had to be aimed exactly right for Vale or Sattell to pick +up his voice as carried by its beam. Vale's or Sattell's instruments +had to be aimed as accurately to convey their voices to him. Yet after +the struggle he'd overheard, and after Vale had been either subdued or +killed, someone or something seemed to have picked up the +communicator, and Lockley had heard squeakings, and then he had heard +the instrument smashed. + +It was not easy to understand how the beam had been kept perfectly +aligned while it was picked up and squeaked at. Still less was it +understandable that it remained aimed just right so he could hear when +it was flung down and crushed. + +But somehow this oddity did not change his feelings. Jill could be in +danger from creatures Vale said were not human. Lockley didn't wholly +accept that non-human angle, but something was happening there and +Jill was in the middle of it. So he went to see about it for the sake +of his self-respect. And Jill. It was not reasonable behavior. It was +emotional. He didn't stop to question what was believable and what +wasn't. Lockley didn't even give any attention to the problem of how a +microwave beam could stay pointed exactly right while the instrument +that sent it was picked up, and squeaked at, and smashed. He gave that +particular matter no thought at all. + +He jammed down the accelerator of the car and headed for Boulder +Lake. + + + + +CHAPTER 2 + + +The car was ordinary enough; it was one of those scaled-down vehicles +which burn less fuel and offer less comfort than the so-called +standard models. For fuel economy too, its speed had been lowered. But +Lockley sent it up the brand-new highway as fast as it would go. + +Now the highway followed a broad valley with a meadow-like floor. Now +it seemed to pick its way between cliffs, and on occasion it ran over +a concrete bridge spanning some swiftly flowing stream. At least once +it went through a cut which might as well have been a tunnel, and the +crackling noise of its motor echoed back from stony walls on either +side. + +He did not see another vehicle for a long way. Deer, he saw twice. +Over and over again coveys of small birds rocketed up from beside the +road and dived to cover after he had passed. Once he saw movement out +of the corner of his eye and looked automatically to see what it was, +but saw nothing. Which meant that it was probably a mountain lion, +blending perfectly with its background as it watched the car. At the +end of five miles he saw a motor truck, empty, trundling away from +Boulder Lake and the construction camp toward the outer world. + +The two vehicles passed, combining to make a momentary roaring noise +at their nearest. The truck was not in a hurry. It simply lumbered +along with loose objects in its cargo space rattling and bumping +loudly. Its driver and his helper plainly knew nothing of untoward +events behind them. They'd probably stopped somewhere to have a +leisurely morning snack, with the truck waiting for them at the +roadside. + +Lockley went on ten miles more. He begrudged the distances added by +curves in the road. He tended to fume when his underpowered car +noticeably slowed up on grades, and especially the long ones. He saw a +bear halfway up a hillside pause in its exploitation of a berry patch +to watch the car go by below it. He saw more deer. Once a smaller +animal, probably a coyote, dived into a patch of brushwood and stayed +hidden as long as the car remained in sight. + +More miles of empty highway. And then a long, straight stretch of +road, and he suddenly saw vehicles coming around the curve at the end +of it. They were not in line, singlelane, as traffic usually is on a +curve. Both lanes were filled. The road was blocked by motor-driven +traffic heading away from the lake, and not at a steady pace, but in +headlong flight. + +It roared on toward Lockley. Big trucks and little ones; passenger +cars in between them; a few motorcyclists catching up from the rear by +riding on the road's shoulders. They were closely packed, as if by +some freak the lead had been taken by great trucks incapable of the +road speed of those behind them, yet with the frantic rearmost cars +unable to pass. There was a humming and roaring of motors that filled +the air. They plunged toward Lockley's miniature roadster. Truck horns +blared. + +Lockley got off the highway and onto the right-hand shoulder. He +stopped. The crowded mass of rushing vehicles roared up to him and +went past. They were more remarkable than he'd believed. There were +dirt mover trucks. There were truck-and-trailer combinations. There +were sedans and dump trucks and even a convertible or two, and then +more trucks--even tank trucks--and more sedans and half-tonners--a +complete and motley collection of every kind of gasoline-driven +vehicle that could be driven on a highway and used on a construction +project. + +And every one was crowded with men. Trailer-trucks had their body +doors open, and they were packed with the workmen of the construction +camp near Boulder Lake. The sedans were jammed with passengers. Dirt +mover trucks had men holding fast to handholds, and there were men in +the backs of the dump trucks. The racing traffic filled the highway +from edge to edge. It rushed past, giving off a deafening roar and +clouds of gasoline fumes. + +They were gone, the solid mass of them at any rate. But now there came +older cars, no less crowded, and then more spacious cars, not crowded +so much and less frantically pushing at those ahead. But even these +cars passed each other recklessly. There seemed to be an almost +hysterical fear of being last. + +One car swung off to its left. There were five men in it. It braked +and stopped on the shoulder close to Lockley's car. The driver shouted +above the din of passing motors, "You don't want to go up there. +Everybody's ordered out. Everybody get away from Boulder Lake! When +you get the chance, turn around and get the hell away." + +He watched for a chance to get back on the road, having delivered his +warning. Lockley got out of his car and went over, "You're talking +about the thing that came down from the sky," he said grimly. "There +was a girl up at the camp. Jill Holmes. Writing a piece about building +a national park. Getting information about the job. Did anybody get +her away?" + +The man who'd warned him continued to watch for a reasonable gap in +the flood of racing cars. They weren't crowded now as they had been, +but it was still impossible to start in low and get back in the +stream of vehicles without an almost certain crash. Then he turned his +head back, staring at Lockley. + +"Hell! Somebody told me to check on her. I was routing men out and +loading 'em on whatever came by. I forgot!" + +A man in the back of the sedan said, "She hadn't left when we did. I +saw her. But I thought she had a ride all set." + +The man at the wheel said furiously, "She hasn't passed us! Unless +she's in one of these...." + +Lockley set his teeth. He watched each oncoming car intently. A girl +among these fugitives would have been put with the driver in the cab +of a truck, and he'd have seen a woman in any of the private cars. + +"If I don't see her go by," he said grimly, "I'll go up to the camp +and see if she's still there." + +The man in the driver's seat looked relieved. + +"If she's left behind, it's her fault. If you hunt for her, make it +fast and be plenty careful. Keep to the camp and stay away from the +lake. There was a hell of an explosion over there this morning. Three +men went to see what'd happened. They didn't come back. Two more went +after 'em, and something hit them on the way. They smelled something +worse than skunk. Then they were paralyzed, like they had hold of a +high-tension line. They saw crazy colors and heard crazy sounds and +they couldn't move a finger. Their car ditched. In a while they came +out of it and they came back--fast! They'd just got back when we got +short wave orders for everybody to get out. If you look for that girl, +be careful. If she's still there, you get her out quick!" Then he said +sharply, "Here's a chance for us to get going. Move out of the way!" + +There was a gap in the now diminishing spate of cars. The driver of +the stopped car drove furiously onto the highway. He shifted gears and +accelerated at the top of his car's power. Another car behind him +braked and barely avoided a crash while blowing its horn furiously. +Then the traffic went on. But it was lessening now. It was mostly +private cars, owned by the workmen. + +Suddenly there were no cars coming down the long straight stretch of +road. Lockley got back on the highway and resumed his rush toward the +spot the others fled from. He heard behind him the diminishing rumble +and roar of the fugitive motors. He jammed his own accelerator down to +the floor and plunged on. + +There'd been an explosion by the lake, the man who'd warned him said. +That checked. Three men went to see what had happened. That was +reasonable. They didn't come back. Considering what Vale had reported, +it was almost inevitable. Then two other men went to find out what +happened to the first three and--that was news! A smell that was worse +than skunk. Paralysis in a moving car, which ditched. Remaining +paralyzed while seeing crazy colors and hearing crazy sounds.... +Lockley could not even guess at an explanation. But the men had +remained paralyzed for some time, and then the sensations lifted. They +had fled back to the construction camp, evidently fearing that the +paralysis might return. Their narrative must have been hair-raising, +because when orders had come for the evacuation of the camp, they had +been obeyed with a promptitude suggesting panic. But apparently +nothing else had happened. + +The first three men were still missing--or at least there'd been no +mention of their return. They'd either been killed or taken captive, +judging by Vale's account and obvious experience. He was either +killed or captured, too, but it still seemed strange that Lockley had +heard so much of that struggle via a tight beam microwave transmitter +that needed to be accurately aimed. Vale had been captured or killed. +The three other men missing probably had undergone the same fate. The +two others had been made helpless but not murdered or taken prisoner. +They'd simply been held until when they were released they'd flee. + +The car went over a bridge and rounded a curve. Here a deep cut had +been made and the road ran through it. It came out upon undulating +ground where many curves were necessary. + +Another car came, plunging after the others. In the next ten miles +there were, perhaps a dozen more. They'd been hard to start, perhaps, +and so left later than the rest. Jill wasn't in any of them. There was +one car traveling slowly, making thumping noises. Its driver made the +best time he could, following the others. + +Sober common sense pointed out that Vale's account was fully verified. +There'd been a landing of non-human creatures in a ship from outer +space. The killing or capture of the first three men to investigate a +gigantic explosion was natural enough--the alien occupants of a space +ship would want to study the inhabitants of the world they'd landed +on. The mere paralysis and release of two others could be explained on +the theory that the creatures who'd come to earth were satisfied with +three specimens of the local intelligent race to study. They had Vale, +too. They weren't trying to conceal their arrival, though it would +have been impossible anyhow. But it was plausible enough that they'd +take measures to become informed about the world they'd landed on, and +when they considered that they knew enough, they'd take the action +they felt was desirable. + +All of which was perfectly rational, but there was another +possibility. The other possible explanation was--considering +everything--more probable. And it seemed to offer even more appalling +prospects. + +He drove on. Jill Holmes. He'd seen her four times; she was engaged to +Vale. It seemed extremely likely that she hadn't left the camp with +the workmen. If Lockley hadn't been obsessed with her, he'd have tried +to make sure she was left behind before he tried to find her. If she +was still at the camp, she was in a dangerous situation. + +There'd been no other car from the camp for a long way now. But there +came a sharp curve ahead. Lockley drove into it. There was a roar, and +a car came from the opposite direction, veering away from the road's +edge. It sideswiped the little car Lockley drove. The smaller car +bucked violently and spun crazily around. It went crashing into a +clump of saplings and came to a stop with a smashed windshield and +crumpled fenders, but the motor was still running. Lockley had braked +by instinct. + +The other car raced away without pausing. + +Lockley sat still for a moment, stunned by the suddenness of the +mishap. Then he raged. He got out of the car. Because of its small +size, he thought he might be able to get it back on the road with +saplings for levers. But the job would take hours, and he was +irrationally convinced that Jill had been left behind in the +construction camp. + +He was perhaps five miles from Boulder Lake itself and about the same +distance from the camp. It would take less time to go to the camp on +foot than to try to get the car on the road. Time was of the essence, +and whoever or whatever the occupants of the landed ship might be, +they'd know what a road was for. They'd sight an intruder in a car on +a road long before they'd detect a man on foot who was not on a +highway and was taking some pains to pass unseen. + +He started out, unarmed and on foot. He was headed for the near +neighborhood of the thing Vale had described as coming from the sky. +He was driven by fear for Jill. It seemed to him that his best pace +was only a crawl and he desperately needed all the speed he could +muster. + +He headed directly across country for the camp. All the world seemed +unaware that anything out of the ordinary was in progress. Birds sang +and insects chirruped and breezes blew and foliage waved languidly. +Now and again a rabbit popped out of sight of the moving figure of the +man. But there were no sounds, or sights or indications of anything +untoward where Lockley moved. He reflected that he was on his way to +search for a girl he barely knew, and whom he couldn't be sure needed +his help anyway. + +Outside in the world, there were places where things were not so +tranquil. By this time there were already troops in motion in long +trains of personnel-carrying trucks. There were mobile guided missile +detachments moving at top speed across state lines and along the +express highway systems. Every military plane in the coastal area was +aloft, kept fueled by tanker planes to be ready for any sort of +offensive or defensive action that might be called for. The short wave +instructions to the construction camp had become known, and all the +world knew that Boulder Lake National Park had been evacuated to avoid +contact with non-human aliens. The aliens were reported to have hunted +men down and killed them for sport. They were reported to have +paralysis beams, death beams and poison gas. They were described as +indescribable, and described in "artist's conceptions" on television +and in the newspapers. They appeared--according to circumstances--to +resemble lizards or slugs. They were portrayed as carnivorous birds +and octopods. The artists took full advantage of their temporarily +greater importance than cameramen. They pictured these diverse aliens +in their one known aggressive action of trailing Vale down and +carrying him away. This was said to be for vivisection. None of the +artists' ideas were even faintly plausible, biologically. The +creatures were even portrayed as turning heat rays upon humans, who +dramatically burst into steam as the beams struck them. Obviously, +there were also artist's conceptions of women being seized by the +creatures from outer space. There was only one woman known to be in +the construction camp, but that inconvenient fact didn't bother the +artists. + +The United States went into a mild panic. But most people stayed on +their jobs, and followed their normal routine, and the trains ran on +time. + +The public in the United States had become used to newspaper and +broadcast scares. They were unconsciously relegated to the same +category as horror movies, which some day might come true, but not +yet. This particular news story seemed more frightening than most, but +still it was taken more or less as shuddery entertainment. So most of +the United States shivered with a certain amount of relish as ever new +and ever more imaginative accounts appeared describing the landing of +intelligent monsters, and waited to see if it was really true. The +truth was that most of America didn't actually believe it. It was like +a Russian threat. It could happen and it might happen, but it hadn't +happened so far to the United States. + +An official announcement helped to guide public opinion in this safe +channel. The Defense Department released a bulletin: An object had +fallen from space into Boulder Lake, Colorado. It was apparently a +large meteorite. When reported by radar before its landing, defense +authorities had seized the opportunity to use it for a test of +emergency response to a grave alarm. They had used it to trigger a +training program and test of defensive measures made ready against +other possible enemies. After the meteorite landed, the defense +measures were continued as a more complete test of the nation's +fighting forces' responsive ability. The object and its landing, +however, were being investigated. + +Lockley tramped up hillsides and scrambled down steep slopes with many +boulders scattered here and there. He moved through a landscape in +which nothing seemed to depart from the normal. The sun shone. The +cloud cover, broken some time since, was dissipating and now a good +two-thirds of the sky was wholly clear. The sounds of the wilderness +went on all around him. + +But presently he came to a partly-graded new road, cutting across his +way. A bulldozer stood abandoned on it, brand-new and in perfect +order, with the smell of gasoline and oil about it. He followed the +gash in the forest it had begun. It led toward the camp. He came to a +place where blasting had been in progress. The equipment for blasting +remained. But there was nobody in sight. + +Half a mile from this spot, Lockley looked down upon the camp. There +were Quonset huts and prefabricated structures. There were streets of +clay and wires from one building to another. There was a long, low, +open shed with long tables under its roof. A mess shed. Next to it +metal pipes pierced another roof, and wavering columns of heated air +rose from those pipes. There was a building which would be a +commissary. There was every kind of structure needed for a small city, +though all were temporary. And there was no movement, no sound, no +sign of life except the hot air rising from the mess kitchen +stovepipes. + +Lockley went down into the camp. All was silence. All was lifeless. He +looked unhappily about him. There would be no point, of course, in +looking into the dormitories, but he made his way to the mess shed. +Some heavy earthenware plates and coffee cups, soiled, remained on the +table. There were a few flies. Not many. In the mess kitchen there was +grayish smoke and the reek of scorched and ruined food. The stoves +still burned. Lockley saw the blue flame of bottled gas. He went on. +The door of the commissary was open. Everything men might want to buy +in such a place waited for purchasers, but there was no one to buy or +sell. + +The stillness and desolation of the place resulted from less than an +hour's abandonment. But somehow it was impossible to call out loudly +for Jill. Lockley was appalled by the feeling of emptiness in such +bright sunshine. It was shocking. Men hadn't moved out of the camp. +They'd simply left it, with every article of use dropped and +abandoned; nothing at all had been removed. And there was no sign of +Jill. It occurred to Lockley that she'd have waited for Vale at the +camp, because assuredly his first thought should have been for her +safety. Yes. She'd have waited for Vale to rescue her. But Vale was +either dead or a captive of the creatures that had been in the object +from the sky. He wouldn't be looking after Jill. + +Lockley found himself straining his eyes at the mountain from whose +flank Vale had been prepared to measure the base line between his post +and Lockley's. That vantage point could not be seen from here, but +Lockley looked for a small figure that might be Jill, climbing +valiantly to warn Vale of the events he'd known before anybody else. + +Then Lockley heard a very small sound. It was faint, with an irregular +rhythm in it. It had the cadence of speech. His pulse leaped suddenly. +There was the mast for the short wave set by which the camp had kept +in touch with the outer world. Lockley sprinted for the building under +it. His footsteps sounded loudly in the silent camp, and they drowned +out the sound he was heading for. + +He stopped at the open door. He heard Jill's voice saying anxiously, +"But I'm sure he'd have come to make certain I was safe!" A pause. +"There's no one else left, and I want...." Another pause. "But he was +up on the mountainside! At least a helicopter could--" + +Lockley called, "Jill!" + +He heard a gasp. Then she said unsteadily, "Someone just called. Wait +a moment." + +She came to the door. At sight of Lockley her face fell. + +"I came to make sure you were all right," he said awkwardly. "Are you +talking to outside?" + +"Yes. Do you know anything about--" + +"I'm afraid I do," said Lockley. "Right now the important thing is to +get you out of here. I'll tell them we're starting. All right?" + +She stood aside. He went up to the short wave set which looked much +like an ordinary telephone, but was connected to a box with dials and +switches. There was a miniature pocket radio--a transistor radio--on +top of the short wave cabinet. Lockley picked up the short wave +microphone. He identified himself. He said he'd come to make sure of +Jill's safety, and that he'd been passed by the rushing mass of cars +and trucks that had evacuated everybody else. Then he said, "I've got +a car about four miles away. It's in a ditch, but I can probably get +it out. It'll be a lot safer for Miss Holmes if you send a helicopter +there to pick her up." + +The reply was somehow military in tone. It sounded like a civilian +being authoritative about something he knew nothing about. Lockley +said, "Over" in a dry tone and put down the microphone. He picked up +the pocket radio and put it in his pocket. It might be useful. + +"They say to try to make it out in my car," he told Jill wryly. "As +civilians, I suppose they haven't any helicopters they can give orders +to. But it probably makes sense. If there are some queer creatures +around, there's no point in stirring them up with a flying contraption +banging around near their landing place. Not before we're ready to +take real action. Come along. I've got to get you away from here." + +"But I'm waiting...." She looked distressed. "He wanted me to leave +yesterday. We almost quarrelled about it. He'll surely come to make +sure I'm safe...." + +"I'm afraid I have bad news," said Lockley. Then he described, as +gently as he could, his last talk with Vale. It was the one which +ended with squeaks and strugglings transmitted by the communicator, +and then the smashing of the communicator itself. He didn't mention +the puzzling fact that the communicator had stayed perfectly aimed +while it was picked up and squeaked at and destroyed. He had no +explanation for it. What he did have to tell was bad enough. She went +deathly pale, searching his face as he told her. + +"But--but--" She swallowed. "He might have been hurt and--not killed. +He might be alive and in need of help. If there are creatures from +somewhere else, they might not realize that he could be unconscious +and not dead! He'd make sure about me! I--I'll go up and make sure +about him...." + +Lockley hesitated. "It's not likely," he said carefully, "that he was +left there injured. But if you feel that somebody has to make sure, +I'll do it. For one thing, I can climb faster. My car is ditched back +yonder. You go and wait by it. At least it's farther from the lake and +you should be safer there. I'll make sure about Vale." + +He explained in detail how she could find the car. Up this hillside to +a slash through the forest for a highway. Due south from an abandoned +bulldozer. Keep out of sight. Never show against a skyline. + +She swallowed again. Then she said, "If he needs help, you could--do +more than I can. But I'll wait there where the woods begin. I can hide +if I need to, and I--might be of some use." + +He realized that she deluded herself with the hope that he, Lockley, +might bring an injured Vale down the mountainside and that she could +be useful then. He let her. He went through the camp with her to put +her on the right track. He gave her the pocket radio, so she could +listen for news. When she went on out of sight in brushwood, he turned +back toward the mountain on which Vale had occupied an observation +post. It was actually a million-year-old crater wall that he climbed +presently. And he took a considerable chance. As he climbed, for some +time he moved in plain view. If the crew of the ship in Boulder Lake +were watching, they'd see him rather than Jill. If they took action, +it would be against him and not Jill. Somehow he felt better equipped +to defend himself than Jill would be. + +He climbed. Again the world was completely normal, commonplace. There +were mountain peaks on every hand. Some had been volcanoes +originally, some had not. With each five hundred feet of climbing, he +could see still more mountains. The sky was cloudless now. He climbed +a thousand feet. Two. Three. He could see between peaks for a full +thirty miles to the spot where he'd been at daybreak. But he was +making his ascent on the back flank of this particular mountain. He +could not see Boulder Lake from there. On the other hand, no creature +at Boulder Lake should be able to see him. Only an exploring party +which might otherwise sight Jill would be apt to detect him, a slowly +moving speck against a mountainside. + +He reached the level at which Vale's post had been assigned. He moved +carefully and cautiously around intervening masses of stone. The wind +blew past him, making humming noises in his ears. Once he dislodged a +small stone and it went bouncing and clattering down the slope he'd +climbed. + +He saw where Vale could have been as he watched something come down +from the sky. He found Vale's sleeping bag, and the ashes of his +campfire. Here too was the communicator. It had been smashed by a huge +stone lifted and dropped upon it, but before that it had been moved. +It was not in place on the bench mark from which it could measure +inches in a distance of scores of miles. + +There was no other sign of what had apparently happened here. The +ashes of the fire were undisturbed. Vale's sleeping bag looked as if +it had not been slept in, as if it had only been spread out for the +night before. Lockley went over the rock shelf inch by inch. No red +stains which might be blood. Nothing.... + +No. In a patch of soft earth between two stones there was a hoofprint. +It was not a footprint. A hoof had made it, but not a horse's hoof, +nor a burro's. It wasn't a mountain sheep track. It was not the track +of any animal known on earth. But it was here. Lockley found himself +wondering absurdly if the creature that had made it would squeak, or +if it would roar. They seemed equally unlikely. + +He looked cautiously down at the lake which was almost half a mile +below him. The water was utterly blue. It reflected only the crater +wall and the landscape beyond the area where the volcanic cliffs had +fallen. Nothing moved. There was no visible apparatus set up on the +shore, as Vale had said. But something had happened down in the lake. +Trees by the water's edge were bent and broken. Masses of brushwood +had been crushed and torn away. Limbs were broken down tens of yards +from the water, and there were gullies to be seen wherever there was +soft earth. An enormous wave had flung itself against the nearly +circular boundary of the lake. It had struck like a tidal wave dozens +of feet high in an inland body of water. It was extremely convincing +evidence that something huge and heavy had hurtled down from the sky. + +But Lockley saw no movement nor any other novelty in this wilderness. +He heard nothing that was not an entirely normal sound. + +But then he smelled something. + +It was a horrible, somehow reptilian odor. It was the stench of +jungle, dead and rotting. It was much, much worse than the smell of a +skunk. + +He moved to fling himself into flight. Then light blinded him. Closing +his eyelids did not shut it out. There were all colors, intolerably +vivid, and they flashed in revolving combinations and forms which +succeeded each other in fractions of seconds. He could see nothing but +this light. Then there came sound. It was raucous. It was cacophonic. +It was an utterly unorganized tumult in which musical notes and +discords and bellowings and shriekings were combined so as to be +unbearable. And then came pure horror as he found that he could not +move. Every inch of his body had turned rigid as it became filled with +anguish. He felt, all over, as if he were holding a charged wire. + +He knew that he fell stiffly where he stood. He was blinded by light +and deafened by sound and his nostrils were filled with the nauseating +fetor of jungle and decay. These sensations lasted for what seemed +years. + +Then all the sensations ended abruptly. But he still could not see; +his eyes were still dazzled by the lights that closing his eyelids had +not changed. He still could not hear. He'd been deafened by the sounds +that had dazed and numbed him. He moved, and he knew it, but he could +not feel anything. His hands and body felt numb. + +Then he sensed that the positions of his arms and legs were changed. +He struggled, blind and deaf and without feeling anywhere. He knew +that he was confined. His arms were fastened somehow so that he could +not move them. + +And then gradually--very gradually--his senses returned. He heard +squeakings. At first they were faint as the exhausted nerve ends in +his ears only began to regain their function. He began to regain the +sense of touch, though he felt only furriness everywhere. + +He was raised up. It seemed to him that claws rather than fingers +grasped him. He stood erect, swaying. His sense of balance had been +lost without his realizing it. It came back, very slowly. But he saw +nothing. Clawlike hands--or handlike claws--pulled at him. He felt +himself turned and pushed. He staggered. He took steps out of the need +to stay erect. The pushings and pullings continued. He found himself +urged somewhere. He realized that his arms were useless because they +were wrapped with something like cord or rope. + +Stumbling, he responded to the urging. There was nothing else to do. +He found himself descending. He was being led somewhere which could +only be downward. He was guided, not gently, but not brutally either. + +He waited for sight to return to him. It did not come. + +It was then he realized that he could not see because he was +blindfolded. + +There were whistling squeaks very near him. He began helplessly to +descend the mountain, surrounded and guided and sometimes pulled by +unseen creatures. + + + + +CHAPTER 3 + + +It was a long descent, made longer by the blindfold and clumsier by +his inability to move his arms. More than once Lockley stumbled. Twice +he fell. The clawlike hands or handlike claws lifted him and thrust +him on the way that was being chosen for him. There were whistling +squeaks. Presently he realized that some of them were directed at him. +A squeak or whistle in a warning tone told him that he must be +especially careful just here. + +He came to accept the warnings. It occurred to him that the squeaks +sounded very much like those button-shaped hollow whistles that +children put in their mouths to make strident sounds of varying pitch. +Gradually, all his senses returned to normal. Even his eyes under the +blindfold ceased to report only glare blindness, and he saw those +peculiar, dissolving grayish patterns that human eyes transmit from +darkness. + +More squeakings. A long time later he moved over nearly level grassy +ground. He was led for possibly half a mile. He had not tried to speak +during all his descent. It would have been useless. If he was to be +killed, he would be killed. But trouble had been taken to bring him +down alive from a remaining bit of crumbling crater wall. His captors +had evidently some use for him in mind. + +They abruptly held him still for a long time--perhaps as much as an +hour. It seemed that either instructions were hard to come by, or some +preparation was being made. Then the sound of something or someone +approaching. Squeaks. + +He was led another long distance. Then claws or hands lifted him. +Metal clanked. Those who held him dropped him. He fell three or four +feet onto soft sand. There was a clanging of metal above his head. + +Then a human voice said sardonically, "Welcome to our city! Where'd +they catch you?" + +Lockley said, "Up on a mountainside, trying to see what they were +doing. Will you get me loose, please?" + +Hands worked on the cord that bound his arms close to his body. They +loosened. He removed the blindfold. + +He was in a metal-walled and metal-ceilinged vault, perhaps eight feet +wide and the same in height, and perhaps twelve feet long. It had a +floor of sand. Some small amount of light came in through the circular +hole he'd been dropped through, despite a cover on it. There were +three men already in confinement here. They wore clothing appropriate +to workmen from the construction camp. There was a tall lean man, and +a broad man with a moustache, and a chunky man. The chunky man had +spoken. + +"Did you see any of 'em?" he demanded now. + +Lockley shook his head. The three looked at each other and nodded. +Lockley saw that they hadn't been imprisoned long. The sand floor was +marked but not wholly formed into footprints, as it would have been +had they moved restlessly about. Mostly, it appeared, they'd simply +sat on the sand floor. + +"We didn't see 'em either," said the chunky man. "There was a hell of +a explosion over at the lake this mornin'. We piled in a car--my +car--and came over to see what'd happened. Then something hit us. All +of us. Lights. Noise. A godawful stink. A feeling all over like an +electric shock that paralyzed us. We came to blindfolded and tied. +They brought us here. That's our story so far. What's happened to +you--and what really happened to us?" + +"I'm not sure," said Lockley. + +He hesitated. Then he told them about Vale, and what he'd reported. +They'd had no explanation at all of what had happened to them. They +seemed relieved to be informed, though the information was hardly +heartening. + +"Critters from Mars, eh?" said the moustached man. "I guess we'd act +the same way if we was to get to Mars. They got to figure out some way +to talk to who lives here. I guess that makes us it--unless we can +figure out something better." + +Lockley, by temperament, tended to anticipate worse things in the +future than had come in the past. The suggestion that the occupants of +the spaceship had captured men to learn how to communicate with them +seemed highly optimistic. He realized that he didn't believe it. It +seemed extremely unlikely that the invaders from space were entirely +ignorant of humanity. The choice of Boulder Lake as a landing place, +for example, could not have been made from space. If there was need +for deep water to land in--which seemed highly probable--then it would +have been simple good sense to descend in the ocean. The ship could +submerge, and it could move about in the lake. Vale had said so. Such +a ship would almost inevitably choose deep water in the ocean for a +landing place. To land in a crater lake--one of possibly two or three +on an entire continent suitable for their use--indicated that they had +information in advance. Detailed information. It practically shouted +of a knowledge of at least one human language, by which information +about Crater Lake could have been obtained. Whoever or whatever made +use of the lake was no stranger to earth! + +Yes.... They'd needed a deep-water landing and they knew that Boulder +Lake would do. They probably knew very much more. But if they didn't +know that Jill waited for him where the trail toward his ditched car +began, then there was no reason to let them overhear the information. + +"I was part of a team making some base line measurements," said +Lockley, "when this business started. I began to check my instruments +with a man named Vale." + +He told exactly, for the second time, what Vale said about the thing +from the sky and the creatures who came out of it. Then he told what +he'd done. But he omitted all reference to Jill. His coming to the +lake he ascribed to incredulity. Also, he did not mention meeting the +fleeing population of the construction camp. When his story was +finished he sounded like a man who'd done a very foolhardy thing, but +he didn't sound like a man with a girl on his mind. + +The broad man with the moustache asked a question or two. The tall man +asked others. Lockley asked many. + +The answers were frustrating. They hadn't seen their captors at all. +They'd heard squeaks when they were being brought to this place, and +the squeaks were obviously language, but no human one. They'd been +bound as well as blindfolded. They hadn't been offered food since +their capture, nor water. It seemed as if they'd been seized and put +into this metal compartment to wait for some use of them by their +captors. + +"Maybe they want to teach us to talk," said the moustached man, "or +maybe they're goin' to carve us up to see what makes us tick. Or +maybe," he grimaced, "maybe they want to know if we're good to eat." + +The chunky man said, "Why'd they blindfold us?" + +Lockley had begun to have a very grim suspicion about this. It came +out of the realization of how remarkable it was that a ship designed +to be navigable in deep water should have landed in a deep crater +lake. He said, "Vale said at first that they weren't human, though +they were only specks in his binoculars. Later, when he saw them +close, he didn't say what they look like." + +"Must be pretty weird," said the tall man. + +"Maybe," said the man with the moustache, attempting humor, "maybe +they didn't want us to see them because we'd be scared. Or maybe they +didn't mean to blindfold us, but just to cover us up. Maybe they +wouldn't mind us seeing them, but it hurts for them to look at us!" + +Lockley said abruptly, "This box we're in. It's made by humans." + +The moustached man said quickly, "We figured that. It's the shell of +a compost pit for the hotel that's goin' to be built around here. +They'll sink it in the ground and dump garbage in it, and it'll rot, +and then it'll be fertilizer. These critters from space are just using +it to hold us. But what are they gonna do with us?" + +There were faint squeakings. The cover to the round opening lifted. +Three rabbits dropped down. The cover closed with a clang. The rabbits +shivered and crouched, terrified, in one corner. + +"Is this how they're gonna feed us?" demanded the chunky man. + +"Hell, no!" said the tall man, in evident disgust. "They're dumped in +here like we were. They're animals. So are we. This is a temporary +cage. It's got a sand floor that we can bury things in. It won't be +any trouble to clean out. The rabbits and us, we stay caged until +they're ready to do whatever they're goin' to do with us." + +"Which is what?" demanded the chunky man. + +There was no answer. They would either be killed, or they would not. +There was nothing to be done. Meanwhile Lockley evaluated his three +fellow captives as probably rather good men to have on one's side, and +bad ones to have against one. But there was no action which was +practical now. A single guard outside, able to paralyze them by +whatever means it was accomplished, made any idea of escape in +daylight foolish. + +"What kind of critters are they?" demanded the chunky man. "Maybe we +could figure out what they'll do if we know what kind of thing they +are!" + +"They've got eyes like ours," said Lockley. + +The three men looked at him. + +"They landed by daylight," said Lockley. "Early daylight. They could +certainly have picked the time for their landing. They picked early +morning so they could have a good long period of daylight in which to +get settled before night. If they'd been night moving creatures, +they'd have landed in the dark." + +The tall man said, "Sounds reasonable. I didn't think of that." + +"They saw me at a distance," said Lockley, "and I didn't see them. +They've got good eyes. They beat me up to the top of the mountain and +hid to see what I'd do. When they saw me looking the lake over after +checking up on Vale, they paralyzed me and brought me here. So they've +got eyes like ours." + +"This guy Vale," said the chunky man. "What happened to him?" + +Lockley said, "Probably what'll happen to us." + +"Which is what?" asked the chunky man. + +Lockley did not answer. He thought of Jill, waiting anxiously at the +edge of the woods not far from the camp. She'd surely have watched him +climbing. She might have followed his climb all the way to where he +went around to Vale's post. But she wouldn't have seen his capture and +she might be waiting for him now. It wasn't likely, though, that she'd +climb into the trap that had taken Vale and then himself. She must +realize that that spot was one to be avoided. + +She'd probably try to make her way to his ditched car. She'd heard him +ask on short wave for a helicopter to come to that place to pick her +up. It hadn't been promised; in fact it had been refused. But if she +remained missing, surely someone would risk a low-level flight to find +out if she were waiting desperately for rescue. A light plane could +land on the highway if a helicopter wasn't to be risked. Somehow Jill +must find a way to safety. She was in danger because she'd waited +loyally for Vale to come to her at the camp. Now.... + +Time passed. Hot sunshine on their prison heated the metal. It became +unbearably hot inside. There came squeakings. The cover of the compost +pit shell lifted. Half a dozen wild birds were thrust into the +opening. The cover closed again. Lockley listened closely. It was +latched from the outside. There would naturally be a fastening on the +cover of a compost pit to keep bears from getting at the garbage it +was built to contain. + +The heat grew savage. Thirst was a problem. Once and only once they +heard a noise from the world beyond their prison. It was a droning hum +which, even through a metal wall, could be nothing but the sound of a +helicopter. It droned and droned, very gradually becoming louder. +Then, abruptly, it cut off. That was all. And that was all that the +four in the metal tank knew about events outside of their own +experience. + +But much was happening outside. Troop-carrying trucks had reached the +edge of Boulder Lake National Park, a very few hours after the workmen +from the camp had gotten out of it. They had a story to tell, and if +it lacked detail it did not lack imagination. The three missing men +had their fate described in various versions, all of which were +dramatic and terrifying. The two men who had been paralyzed by some +unknown agency described their sensations after their release. Their +stories were immediately relayed to all the news media. It now +appeared that dozens of men had seen the thing descend from the sky. +They had not compared notes, however, and their descriptions varied +from a black pear-shaped globe which had hovered for minutes before +descending behind the mountains into the lake, to detailed word +pictures of a silvery, torpedo-shaped vessel of space with portholes +and flaming rockets and an unknown flag displayed from a flagstaff. + +Of course, none of those accounts could be right. The velocity of the +falling object, as reported from two radar installations, checked +against a seismograph record of the time of the impact in the lake and +allowed no leeway of time for it to hover in mid-air to be admired. + +But there were enough detailed and first-hand accounts of alarming +events to make a second statement by the Defense Department necessary. +It was an over-correction of the first soothing one. It was intended +to be more soothing still. + +It said blandly that a bolide--a slow-moving, large meteoric +object--had been observed by radar to be descending to earth. It had +been tracked throughout its descent. It had landed in Boulder Lake. +Air photos taken since its landing showed that an enormous disturbance +of the water of the lake had taken place. It had seemed wise to remove +workmen from the neighborhood of the meteoric fall, and the whole +occurrence had been made the occasion of a full-scale practice +emergency response by air and other defense forces. Investigation of +the possible bolide itself was under way. + +The writer of the bulletin was obviously sitting on Vale's report and +that of the workmen so as to tell as little as possible and that +slanted to prevent alarm. The bulletin went on to say that there was +no justification for the alarming reports now spreading through the +country. This happening was not--repeat, was not--in any way +associated with the cold war of such long standing. It was simply a +very large meteor arriving from space and very fortunately falling in +a national park area, and even more fortunately into a deep crater +lake so that there was no damage even to the forests of the park. + +The bulletin had no effect, of course. It was too late. It was +released at just about the time the temperature in the metal +prison--which seemed likely to become a metal coffin--had begun to +fall. The moving sun had gone behind a mountain and the compost pit +shell was in shadow once more. + +Again the cover of that giant box was opened. A porcupine was dropped +inside. The cover went on again. This was, at a guess, about five +o'clock in the afternoon. The chunky man said drearily, "If this is +supposed to be the way they'll feed us, they coulda picked something +easier to eat than a porcupine!" + +The box now held four men, three rabbits--panting in terror in one +corner--half a dozen game birds and the just-arrived porcupine. All +the wild creatures shrank away from the men. At any sudden movement +the birds tended to fly hysterically about in the dimness, dashing +themselves against the metal wall. + +"I'd say," observed Lockley, "that his guess," he nodded at the tall +man, "is the most likely one. Rabbits and birds and porcupines would +be considered specimens of the local living creatures. We could be +considered specimens too. Maybe we are. Maybe we're simply being held +caged until there's time for a scientific examination of us. Let's +hope they don't happen to drop a bear down here to wait with us!" + +The tall man said, "Or rattlers! I wonder what time it is. I'll feel +better when dark comes. They're not so likely to find rattlers in the +dark." + +Lockley said nothing. But if Boulder Lake had been chosen for a +landing place on the basis of previously acquired information, it +wasn't likely that either bears or rattlesnakes would be put in +confinement with the men. The men would have been killed immediately, +unless there was a practical use to be made of them. He began to make +guesses. He could make a great many, but none of them added up exactly +right. + +Only one seemed promising, and that assumed a lot of items Lockley +couldn't be sure of. He did know, though, that he'd been lifted up +before he was dropped into the round opening of this tank-like metal +shell. The top of the box was well above ground. It was not sunk in +place as it would eventually be. Evidently it was not yet in its +permanent position. The light inside was dim enough, but he could see +the other men and the animals and the birds. He could make out the +riveted plates which formed the box's sides and top. + +Inconspicuously, he worked his hand down through the sand bottom of +the prison. Four inches down the sand ended and there was earth. He +felt around. He found grass stems. The box, then, rested on top of the +ground, which was perfectly natural for a compost pit shell not yet +placed where it would finally belong. The sand.... He explored +further. + +He waited. The other three stayed quiet. The faint brightness around +the cover hole faded away. The interior of the tank-like box became +abysmally black. + +"Can anybody guess the time?" he asked, after aeons seemed to have +passed. + +"It feels like next Thursday," said the voice of the moustached man, +"but it's probably ten or eleven o'clock. Looks like we're just going +to be left here till they get around to us." + +"I think we'd better not wait," said Lockley. "We've been pretty +quiet. They probably think we're well-behaved specimens of this +planet's wild life. They won't expect us to try anything this late. +Suppose we get out." + +"How?" demanded the chunky man. + +Lockley said carefully, "This box is resting on top of the ground. +I've dug down through the sand and found the bottom edge of the metal +sidewall. If it's resting only on dirt, not stone, we ought to be able +to dig out with our hands. I'll start now. You listen." + +He began to dig with his hands, first clearing away the sand for a +reasonable space. He felt a certain sardonic interest in what might +happen. He strongly suspected that nothing undesirable would take +place. + +It was at least quaint that aliens from outer space should accept a +bottomless metal shell as a suitable prison for animals. It was quaint +that they'd put in a sandy floor. How would they know that such a +thing meant a cage, on earth? + +Of course the whole event might have been a test of animal +intelligence. Almost any animal would have tried to burrow out. + +Lockley dug. The earth was hard, and its upper part was filled with +tenacious grass roots. Lockley pulled them away. Once he'd gotten +under them, the digging went faster. Presently he was under the metal +side wall. He dug upward. His hand reached open air. + +"One of you can spell me now," he reported in a low tone. "It looks +like we'll get away. But we've got to make our plans first. We don't +want to be talking outside the tank, or even when the hole's +fair-sized. For instance, will we want to keep together when we get +outside?" + +"Nix!" said the chunky man. "We wanna tell everybody about these +characters. We scatter. If they catch one they don't catch any more. +We couldn't fight any better for bein' together. We better scatter. I +call that settled. I'm scatterin'!" + +He crawled to Lockley in the darkness. + +"Where you diggin'? OK. I got it. Move aside an' give me room." + +"Everybody agrees on that?" asked Lockley. + +They did. Lockley was relieved. The chunky man dug busily. There was +only the sound of breathing, and the occasional fall of thrown-out +earth against the metal of the thing that confined them. The chunky +man said briskly, "This dirt digs all right. We just got to make the +hole bigger." + +In a little while the chunky man stopped, panting. The tall man said, +"I'll take a shot at it." + +There was a breakthrough to the air outside. The atmosphere in the +tank improved. The smell of fresh-dug dirt and cool night air was +refreshing. The moustached man took his turn at digging. Lockley went +at it again. Soon he whispered, "I think it's OK. I'll go ahead. No +talking outside!" + +He shook hands all around, whispered "Good luck!" and squirmed through +the opening to the night. Innumerable stars glittered in the sky. They +were reflected on the water of the lake, here very close. Lockley +moved silently. In the blackness just behind him, his eyes had become +adjusted to almost complete darkness. He headed away from the shining +water. He got brushwood between himself and his former companions. He +stood very, very still. + +He heard them murmuring together. They were outside. But they had +proposed entirely separate efforts at escape. He went on, relieved. It +happened that the next time he'd see them, circumstances would be +entirely different. But he believed they were competent men. + +Guided by the Big Dipper, he moved directly toward the place where +Jill should be waiting for him. By the angle of the Dipper's handle he +knew that it was almost midnight. Jill would surely have known that +nearly the worst had happened. He'd have to find her.... + +It was two o'clock when he reached the place where Jill had intended +to wait. He showed himself openly. He called quietly. There was no +answer. He called again, and again. + +He saw something white. It was a scrap of paper speared on a brushwood +branch which had been stripped of leaves to make the paper show +clearly. Lockley retrieved it and saw markings on it which the +starlight could not help him to read. He went deep into the woods, +found a hollow, and bent low, risking the light of his cigarette +lighter for a swift look at the message. + + _"I saw creatures moving around in the camp. They weren't + men. I was afraid they might be hunting me. I've gone to + wait by the car if I can find it."_ + +She'd written in English, in full confidence that creatures from space +would not be able to read it. Lockley was not so sure, but the message +hadn't been removed. If it had been read, there'd have been an ambush +waiting for him when he found it. So it appeared. + +He headed through the night toward the ditched small car. + +It seemed a very long way, though he did stop and drink his fill from +a little mountain stream over which a highway bridge had almost been +completed. In the night, though, and with hard going, it was not easy +to estimate how far he'd gone. In fact, he was anxiously debating if +he mightn't have passed the abandoned bulldozer when he came upon the +place where blasting had been going on. Still, it was a very long way +to be negotiated over still-remaining tree stumps and the unfilled +holes from which others had been pulled. + +He reached the bulldozer and turned south, and at long last reached +the highway. His car should be no more than a quarter-mile away. He +moved toward it, close to the road's edge. He heard music. It was +faint, but vivid because it was the last sound that anybody would +expect to hear in the hours before dawn in a wilderness deserted by +mankind. He scraped his foot on the roadway. The music stopped +instantly. He said, "Jill?" + +He heard her gasp. + +"I found where Vale had been," he said steadily. "There was no blood +there. There's no sign that he's been killed. Then I was caught +myself. I was put with three other men who were believed killed but +who are still alive. We escaped. It is within reason to hope that Vale +is unharmed and that he may escape or somehow be rescued." + +What he said was partly to make her sure that it was he who appeared +in the darkness. But it was technically true, too. It was within +reason to hope for Vale's ultimate safety. One can always hope, +whatever the odds against the thing hoped for. But Lockley thought +that the odds against Vale's living through the events now in progress +were very great indeed. + +Jill stepped out into the starlight. + +"I wasn't--sure it was you," she said with difficulty. "I saw the +things, you know, at a distance. At first I thought they were men. So +when I first saw you--dimly--I was afraid." + +"I'm sorry I haven't better news," said Lockley. + +"It's good news! It's very good news," she insisted as he drew near. +"If they've captured him, he'll make them understand that he's a man, +and that men are intelligent and not just animals, and that they +should be our friends and we theirs." + +The girl's voice was resolute. Lockley could imagine that all the time +she'd been waiting, she'd been preparing to deny that even the worst +news was final, until she looked on Vale's dead body itself. + +"Do you want to tell me exactly what you found out?" she asked. + +"I'll tell you while I work on the car," said Lockley. "We want to get +moving away from here before daybreak." + +He went down to the little car, wedged in the saplings it had +splintered and broken. He began to clear it so he could lever it back +on to the highway. He used a broken sapling, and as he worked he told +what had happened, including the three men in the compost pit shell +and the dumping of assorted small wild life specimens into it with +them. + +"But they didn't kill you," said Jill insistently, "and they didn't +kill those three, and there were the two others you say got over the +paralysis and went back to the camp. Counting you, that's six men they +had at their mercy that we know weren't harmed. So why should they +have harmed a seventh man?" + +Lockley did not answer at once. None of the spared six, he thought, +had put up a fight. Only Vale had exchanged blows with the crew of the +spaceship. Nobody else had seen them. + +"That's right, about Vale," he said after a moment in which he had +been busy. "But this doesn't look good!" + +He felt under the car. He squeezed himself beneath its front end. +There was a small, fugitive flicker of flame. It went out and he was +silent. + +Presently he got to his feet and said evenly, "We're in a fix. One of +the front wheels is turned almost at a right angle to the other. A +king pin is broken. The car couldn't be driven even if I managed to +get it up on the road. We've got to walk. There ought to be soldiers +on the way up to the lake today. If we meet them we'll be all right. +But this is bad luck!" + +It happened that he was mistaken on both counts. There were no +soldiers moving into the park, and it was not bad luck that his car +couldn't be driven. If he'd been able to get it on the road and +trundling down the highway, the car would have been wrecked and they +could very well have been killed. But this was for the future to +disclose. + +They took nothing from the car because they could not see beyond the +present. They started out doggedly to follow the highway that soldiers +would be likely to follow on the way to the lake. It was not the +shortest way to the world outside the Park. It was considerably longer +than a footpath would have been. But Lockley expected tanks, at least, +against which eccentric unearthly weapons would be useless. So they +headed down the main highway. Lockley was unarmed. They had no food. +He hadn't eaten since the morning before. + +When day came--gray and still--and presently the dew upon grass and +tree leaves glittered reflections of the sky, he moved aside into the +woods and found a broken-off branch, out of which by very great effort +he made a club. When he came back, Jill was listening attentively to +the little pocket radio. She turned it off. + +"I was hoping for news," she explained determinedly. "The government +knows that there are creatures in the spaceship, and he--" that would +be Vale "--will be trying to make them understand what kind of beings +we are. So there could be friendly communication almost any time. But +there aren't any news broadcasts on the air. I suppose it's too +early." + +He agreed, with reservations. They made their way along the dew-wetted +surface of the highway. As the light grew stronger, Lockley glanced +again and again at Jill's face. She looked very tired. He reflected +sadly that she was thinking of Vale. She'd never thought twice about +Lockley. Even now, or especially now, all her thoughts were for Vale. + +When sunlight appeared on the peaks around them, he said detachedly, +"You've had no rest for twenty-four hours and I doubt that you've had +anything to eat. Neither have I. If troops come up this highway we'll +hear the engines. I think we'd better get off the highway and try to +rest. And I may be able to find something for us to eat." + +There are few wildernesses so desolate as to offer no food at all for +one who knows what to look for. There is usually some sort of berry +available. One kind of acorn is not bad to eat. Shoots of bracken are +not unlike asparagus. There are some spiny wild plants whose leaves, +if plucked young enough, will yield some nourishment and of course +there are mushrooms. Even on stone one can find liverish rock-tripe +which is edible if one dries it to complete dessication before soaking +it again to make a soup or broth. + +Before he searched for food, though, Lockley said abruptly, "You said +you saw the creatures and they weren't men. What did they look like?" + +"They were a long way away," Jill told him. "I didn't see them +clearly. They're about the size of men but they just aren't men. Far +away as they were, I could tell that!" + +Lockley considered. He shrugged and said, "Rest. I'll be back." + +He moved away. He was hungry and he kept his eyes in motion, looking +for something to take back to Jill. But his mind struggled to form a +picture of a creature who'd be the size of a man but would be known +not to be a man even at a distance; whose difference from mankind +couldn't be described because seen at such great distance. Presently +he shook his head impatiently and gave all his attention to the search +for food. + +He found a patch of berries on a hillside where there was enough earth +for berry bushes, but not for trees. Bears had been at them, but there +were many left. + +He filled his hat with them and made his way back to Jill. She had the +pocket radio on again, but at the lowest possible volume. He put the +berry-filled hat down beside her. She held up a warning hand. Speckles +of sunshine trickled down through the foliage and the tree trunks were +spotted with yellow light. They ate the berries as they heard the +news. + +A new official news release was out. And now, twelve hours after the +last, wholly reassuring bulletin, there was no longer any pretense +that the thing in Boulder Lake was merely a meteorite. + +The pretext that it was a natural object, said the news broadcaster, +resuming, had been abandoned. But reassurance continued. Photographic +planes had been attempting to get a picture of the alien ship as it +floated in the lake. So far no satisfactory image had been secured, +but pictures of wreckage caused by an enormous wave generated in the +lake by the alien spaceship's arrival were sharp and clear. Troops +have been posted in a cordon about the Boulder Lake Park area to +prevent unauthorized persons from swarming in to see earth's visitors +from space. Details of its landing continue to be learned. Workmen +from the construction camp have been questioned, and the two men who +were paralyzed and then released have told their story. So far four +human beings are known to have been seized by the occupants of the +spaceship. One is Vale, an eye-witness to the ship's descent and +landing. The three others went to investigate the gigantic explosion +accompanying the landing in the lake. They have not been seen since. +This, however, does not imply that they are dead. Quite possibly the +invaders--aliens--guests--who have landed on American soil are trying +to learn how to communicate with the American people who are their +hosts. + +Lockley watched Jill's face. As she heard the references to Vale, she +went white, but she saw Lockley looking at her and said fiercely, +"They don't know that the visitors didn't kill you and let you and the +other three men escape. Someone ought to tell these broadcasters...." + +Lockley did not answer. In his own mind, though, there was the fact +that of the two workmen who'd been paralyzed and released, the three +men in the compost pit shell, and himself, none had seen their +captors. But Vale had. + +The broadcaster went on with a fine air of confidence, reporting that +yesterday afternoon a helicopter had flown into the mountains to +examine the landing site in detail since it could not be examined from +a high-flying plane. + +Lockley remembered the droning he and the others had heard through the +metal plates of their prison. + +The helicopter had suddenly ceased to communicate. It is believed to +have had engine trouble. However, later on a fast jet had attempted a +flight below the extreme altitude of the photographic planes. Its +pilot reported that at fifteen thousand feet he'd suddenly smelled an +appalling odor. Then he was blinded, deafened, and his muscles knotted +in spasms. He was paralyzed. The experience lasted for seconds only. +It was as if he'd flown into a searchlight beam which produced those +sensations and then had flown out of it. He'd instinctively used +evasive maneuvers and got away, but twice before he passed the horizon +there were instantaneous flashes of the paralysis and the pain. +Scientists determined that the report of the men who'd been paralyzed +and released agreed with the report of the pilot. It was assumed that +whatever or whoever had landed in Boulder Lake possessed a beam--it +might as well be called a terror beam because of the effects it +had--of some sort of radiation which produced the paralysis and the +agony. Unless the three men missing from the construction camp had +died of it, however, it was not to be considered a death ray. + +The news went on with every appearance of frankness and confidence. It +was natural for strangers on a strange planet to take precautions +against possibly hostile inhabitants of the newly-found world. But +every effort would be exerted to make friendly contact and establish +peaceful communications with the beings from space. Their weapon +appeared to be of limited range and so far not lethal to human beings. +Occasional flashes of its effects had been noted by the troops now +forming a cordon about the Park, but it only produced discomfort, not +paralysis. Nevertheless the troops in question have been moved back. +Meanwhile rocket missiles are being moved to areas where they can +deliver atom bombs on the alien ship if it should prove necessary. But +the government is extremely anxious to make this contact with +extra-terrestrials a friendly one, because contact with a race more +advanced than ourselves could be of inestimable value to us. Therefore +atom bombs will be used only as a last resort. An atom bomb would +destroy aliens and their ship together--and we want the ship. The +public is urged to be calm. If the ship should appear dangerous, it +can and will be smashed. + +The news broadcast ended. + +Jill said, obviously speaking of Vale, "He'll make them realize that +men aren't like porcupines and rabbits! When they realize that we +humans are intelligent people, everything will be all right!" + +Lockley said reluctantly, "There's one thing to remember, though, +Jill. They didn't blindfold the rabbits or the porcupine. They only +blindfolded men." + +She stared at him. + +"One of the men in the pit with me," said Lockley, "thought they +didn't want us to see them because they were monsters. That's not +likely." He paused. "Maybe they blindfolded us to keep us from finding +out they aren't." + + + + +CHAPTER 4 + + +"The evidence," said Lockley as Jill looked at him ashen-faced, "the +evidence is all for monsters. But there was something in that +broadcast that calls for courage, and I want to summon it. We're going +to need it." + +"If they aren't monsters," said Jill in a stricken voice, "Then--then +they're men. And we have a cold war with only one country, and they're +the only ones who'd play a deadly trick like this. So if they aren't +monsters, in the ship, they must be men, and they'd kill anybody who +found it out." + +"But again," insisted Lockley, "the evidence is still all for +monsters. You've been very loyal and very confident about Vale. But +we're in a fix. Vale would want you in a safe place, and there's +something in that broadcast that doesn't look good." + +"What was in the broadcast?" + +Lockley said wryly, "Two things. One was there and one wasn't. There +wasn't anything about soldiers marching up to Boulder Lake to welcome +visitors from wherever they come from, and to say politely to them +that as visitors they are our guests and we'd rather they didn't shoot +terror beams or paralysis beams about the landscape. We were more or +less counting on that, you and I. We were expecting soldiers to come +up the highway headed for the lake. But they aren't coming." + +Jill, still pale, wrinkled her forehead in thought. + +"That's what wasn't in the broadcast," Lockley told her. "This is what +was. The troops have formed a cordon about the Park. They've run into +the terror beam. The broadcast said it was weakened by distance and +only made the soldiers uncomfortable. But they've moved back. You see +the point? They've moved back!" + +Jill stared, suddenly understanding. + +"But that means--" + +"It means," said Lockley, "that the terror beam is pretty much of a +weapon. It has a range up in the miles or tens of miles. We don't know +how to handle it yet. Whoever or whatever arrived in the thing Vale +saw, it or they has or have a weapon our Army can't buck, yet. The +point is that we can't wait to be rescued. We've got to get out of +here on our own feet. Literally. So we forget about highways. From +here on we sneak to safety as best we can. And we've got to put our +whole minds on it." + +Jill shook her head as if to drive certain thoughts out of it. Then +she said, "I guess you're right. He would want me to be safe. And if I +can't do anything to help him, at least I can not make him worry. All +right! What does sneaking to safety mean?" + +Lockley led her down the highway running from Boulder Lake to the +outside world. They came to a blasted-out cut for the highway to run +through. The road's concrete surface extended to the solid rock on +either side. There was no bare earth to take or hold footprints, and +there was a climbable slope. + +"We go up here and take to the woods," said Lockley, "because we're +not as easy to spot in woodland as we'd be on a road. The characters +at the lake will know what roads are. If we figure out how to handle +their terror beam, they'll expect the attack to come by road. So +they'll set up a system to watch the roads. They ought to do it as +soon as possible. So we'll avoid notice by not using the roads. It's +lucky you've got good walking shoes on. That could be the deciding +factor in our staying alive." + +He led the way, helping her climb. There would be no sign that they'd +abandoned the highway. In fact, there'd be no sign of their existence +except the small smashed car. Lockley's existence was known, but not +his and Jill's together. + +Lockley did not feel comfortable about having deliberately shocked +Jill into paying some attention to her own situation instead of +staying absorbed in the possible or probable fate of Vale. But for +them to get clear was going to call for more than sentimentality on +Jill's part. Lockley couldn't carry the load alone. + +There was an invasion in process. It could be, apparently, an invasion +from space, in which case the terror produced would be terror of the +unknown. But Lockley had conceived of the possibility that it might be +an invasion only from the other side of the world. Such an invasion +was thought of by every American at least once every twenty-four +hours. The fears it would arouse would be fears of the all too +thoroughly known. + +The whole earth had the jitters because of the apparently inevitable +trial of strength between its two most gigantic powers. Their rivalry +seemed irreconcilable. Most of humanity dreaded their conflict with +appalled resignation because there seemed no way to avoid it. Yet it +was admittedly possible that an all-out war between them might end +with all the world dead, even plants and microbes in the deepest seas. +It was ironic that the most reasonable hope that anybody could have +was that one or the other nation would come upon some weapon so new +and irresistible that it could demand and receive the surrender of the +other without atomic war. + +Atom bombs could have done the trick, had only one nation owned them. +But both were now armed so that by treacherous attack either could +almost wipe out the other. There was no way to guard against desperate +and terrible retaliation by survivors of the first attacked country. +It was the certainty of retaliation which kept the actual war a cold +one--a war of provocation and trickery and counter-espionage, but not +of mutual extermination. + +But Lockley had suggested--because it was the worst of +possibilities--that America's rival had developed a new weapon which +could win so long as it was not attributed to its user. If the United +States believed itself attacked from space, it would not launch +missiles against men. It would ask help, and help would be given even +by its rival if the invasion were from another planet. Men would +always combine against not-men. But if this were a ship from no +farther than the other side of the earth, and only pretended to be +from an alien world ... America could be conquered because it believed +it was fighting monsters instead of other men. + +This was not likely, but it was believable. There was no proof, but in +the nature of things proof would be avoided. And if his idea should +happen to be true, the disaster could be enormously worse than an +invasion from another star. This first landing could be only a test to +make sure that the new weapon was unknown to America and could not be +countered by Americans. The crew of this ship would expect to be +successful or be killed. In a way, if an atom bomb had to be used to +destroy them, they would have succeeded. Because other ships could +land in American cities where they could not be bombed without killing +millions; where they could demand surrender under pain of death. And +get it. + +Lockley looked at the sun. He glanced at his watch. + +"That would be south," he indicated. "It's the shortest way for us to +get to where you'll be reasonably safe and I can tell what I know to +someone who may use it." + +Jill followed obediently. They disappeared into the woods. They could +not be seen from the highway. They could not even be detected from +aloft. When they had gone a mile, Jill made her one and final protest. + +"But it can't be that they aren't monsters! They must be!" + +"Whatever they are," said Lockley, "I don't want them to lay hands on +you." + +They went on. Once, from the edge of a thicket of trees, they saw the +highway below them and to their left. It was empty. It curved out of +sight, swinging to the left again. They moved uphill and down. Now the +going was easy, through woods with very little underbrush and a carpet +of fallen leaves. Again it was a sunlit slope with prickly bushes to +be avoided. And yet again it was boulder-strewn terrain that might be +nearly level but much more often was a hillside. + +Lockley suddenly stopped short. He felt himself go white. He grasped +Jill's hand and whirled. He practically dragged her back to the patch +of woods they'd just left. + +"What's the matter?" The sight of his face made her whisper. + +He motioned to her for silence. He'd smelled something. It was faint +but utterly revolting. It was the smell of jungle and of foulness. +There was the musky reek of reptiles in it. It was a collection of all +the smells that could be imagined. It was horrible. It was infinitely +worse than the smell of skunk. + +Silence. Stillness. Birds sang in the distance. But nothing happened. +Absolutely nothing. After a long time Lockley said suddenly, "I've got +an idea. It fits into that broadcast. I have to take a chance to find +out. If anything happens to me, don't try to help me!" + +He'd smelled the foul odor at least fifteen minutes before, and had +dragged Jill back, and there had been no other sign of monsters or +not-monsters upon the earth. Now he crouched down and crawled among +the bushes. He came to the place where he'd smelled the ghastly smell +before. He smelled it again. He drew back. It became fainter, though +it remained disgusting. He moved forward, stopped, moved back. He went +sideways, very, very carefully, extending his hand before him. + +He stopped abruptly. He came back, his face angry. + +"We were lucky we couldn't use the car," he said when he was near Jill +again. "We'd have been killed or worse." + +She waited, her eyes frightened. + +"The thing that paralyzes men and animals," he told her, "is a +projected beam of some sort. We almost ran into it. It's probably akin +to radar. I thought they'd put watchers on the highways. They did +better. They project this beam. When it blocks a highway, anybody who +comes along that highway runs into it. His eyes become blinded by +fantastic colored lights, and he hears unbearable noises and feels +anguish and they smell what we smelled just now. And he's paralyzed. +Such a beam was turned on me yesterday and I was captured. A beam like +that on the highway at the lake paralyzed three men who were carried +away, and later two others whose car ditched and who stayed paralyzed +until the beam was turned off." + +"But we only smelled something horrible!" protested Jill. + +"You did. I rushed you away. I'd smelled it before. But I went back. +And I smelled it, and I crawled forward a little way and I began to +see flashes of light and to hear noises and my skin tingled. I pushed +my hand ahead of me--and it became paralyzed. Until I pulled it back." +Then he said, "Come on." + +"What will we do?" + +"We change our line of march. If we drove into it or walked into it +we'd be paralyzed. It's a tight beam, but there's just a little +scatter. Just a little. You might say it leaks at its edges. We'll try +to follow alongside until it thins out to nothing or we get where we +want to go. Unless," he added, "they've got another beam that crosses +it. Then we'll be trapped." + +He led the way onward. + +They covered four miles of very bad going before Jill showed signs of +distress and Lockley halted beside a small, rushing stream. He saw +fish in the clear water and tried to improvise a way to catch them. He +failed. He said gloomily, "It wouldn't do to catch fish here anyhow. A +fire to cook them would show smoke by day and might be seen at night. +And whatever's at the Lake might send a terror beam. We'll leave here +when you're rested." + +He examined the stream. He went up and down its bank. He disappeared +around a curve of the stream. Jill waited, at first uneasily, then +anxiously. + +He came back with his hands full of bracken shoots, their ends tightly +curled and their root ends fading almost to white. + +"I'm afraid," he observed, "that this is our supper. It'll taste a lot +like raw asparagus, which tastes a lot like raw peanuts, and a +one-dish meal of it won't stick to your ribs. That's the trouble with +eating wild stuff. It's mostly on the order of spinach." + +"I'll carry them," said Jill. + +She actually looked at him for the first time. Until she found herself +anxious because he was out of sight for a long time, she hadn't really +regarded him as an individual. He'd been only a person who was helping +her because Vale wasn't available. Now she assured herself that Vale +would be very grateful to him for aiding her. "I'm rested now," she +added. + +He nodded and led the way once more. He watched the sun for direction. +Two or three miles from their first halt he said abruptly, "I think +the terror beam should be over yonder." He waved an arm. "I've got an +idea about it. I'll see." + +"Be careful!" said Jill uneasily. + +He nodded and swung away, moving with a peculiar tentativeness. She +knew that he was testing for the smell which was the first symptom of +approach to the alien weapon. + +He halted half a mile from where Jill watched, resting again while she +gazed after him. He moved backward and forward. He marked a place with +a stone. He came well back from it and seemed to remove his wrist +watch. He laid it on a boulder and stamped on it. He stamped again and +again, shifting it between stampings. Then he pounded it with a small +rock. He stood up and came back, trailing something which glittered +golden for an instant. + +He halted before he reached the rock he'd placed as a marker. He did +cryptic things, facing away from Jill. From time to time there was a +golden glitter in the air near him. + +He came back. As he came, he wound something into a little coil. It +was the silicon bronze mainspring of his non-magnetic watch. He held +it for her to see and put it in his pocket. + +"I know what the terror beam is--for what good it'll do!" he said +bitterly. "It's a beam of radiation on the order of radar, and for +that matter X-rays and everything else. Only an aerial does pick it up +and this watchspring makes a good one. I could barely detect the smell +at a certain place, but when I touched the laid out spring, it picked +up more than my body did and it became horrible! Then I moved in to +where my skin began to tingle and I saw lights and heard noises. The +spring made all the difference in the world. I even found the +direction of the beam." + +Jill looked frightened. + +"It comes from Boulder Lake," he told her. "It's the terror beam, all +right! You can walk into it without knowing it. And I suspect that if +it were strong enough it would be a death ray, too!" + +Jill seemed to flinch a little. + +"They're not using it at killing strength," said Lockley coldly. +"They're softening us up. Letting us find out we're frustrated and +helpless, and then letting us think it over. I'll bet they intended +the four of us to escape from that compost pit thing so we could tell +about it! But we'll know, now, if we find dead men in rows in a +wiped-out town, we'll know what killed them, and when they ask us +politely to become their slaves, we'll know we'll have to do it or +die!" + +Jill waited. When he seemed to have finished, she said, "If they're +monsters, do you think they want to enslave us?" + +He hesitated, and then said with a grimace, "I've a habit, Jill, of +looking forward to the future and expecting unpleasant things to +happen. Maybe it's so I'll be pleasantly surprised when they don't." + +"Suppose," said Jill, "that they aren't monsters. What then?" + +"Then," said Lockley, "it's a cold war device, to find out if the +other side in the cold war can take us over without our suspecting +they're the ones doing it. Naturally those in this ship will blow +themselves up rather than be found out." + +"Which," said Jill steadily, "doesn't offer much hope for...." + +She didn't say Vale's name. She couldn't. Lockley grimaced again. + +"It's not certain, Jill. The evidence is on the side of the monsters. +But in either case the thing for us to do is get to the Army with what +I've found out. I've had a stationary beam to test, however crudely. +The cordon must have been pushed back by a moving or an intermittent +beam. It wouldn't be easy to experiment with one of those. Come on." + +She stood up. She followed when he went on. They climbed steep +hillsides and went down into winding valleys. The sun began to sink in +the west. The going was rough. For Lockley, accustomed to wilderness +travel, it was fatiguing. For Jill it was much worse. + +They came to a sere, bare hillside on which neither trees nor +brushwood grew. It amounted to a natural clearing, acres in extent. +Lockley swept his eyes around. There were many thick-foliaged small +trees attempting to advance into the clear space. He grunted in +satisfaction. + +"Sit down and rest," he commanded. "I'll send a message." + +He broke off branches from dark green conifers. He went out into the +clearing and began to lay them out in a pattern. He came back and +broke off more, and still more. Very slowly, because the lines had to +be large and thick, the letters S.O.S. appeared in dark green on the +clayey open space. The letters were thirty feet high, and the lines +were five feet wide. They should show distinctly from the air. + +"I think," said Lockley with satisfaction, "that we might get +something out of this! If it's sighted, a 'copter might risk coming in +after us." He looked at her appraisingly. "I think you'd enjoy a good +meal." + +"I want to say something," said Jill carefully. "I think you've been +trying to cheer me up, after saying something to arouse me--which I +needed. If the creatures aren't monsters, they'll never actually let +anybody loose who's seen that they aren't. Isn't that true? And if it +is--" + +"We know of six men who were captured," insisted Lockley, "and I was +one of them. All six escaped. Vale may have escaped. They're not good +at keeping prisoners. We don't know and can't know unless it's +mentioned on a news broadcast that he's out and away. So there's +absolutely no reason to assume that Vale is dead." + +"But if he saw them, when he was fighting them--" + +"The evidence," insisted Lockley again, "is that he saw monsters. The +only reason to doubt it is that they blindfolded four of us." + +Jill seemed to think very hard. Presently she said resolutely, "I'm +going to keep on hoping anyhow!" + +"Good girl!" said Lockley. + +They waited. He was impatient, both with fate and with himself. He +felt that he'd made Jill face reality when--if this S.O.S. signal +brought help--it wasn't necessary. And there was enough of grimness in +the present situation to make it cruelty. + +After a very long time they heard a faint droning in the air. There +might have been others when they were trudging over bad terrain, and +they might not have noticed because they were not listening for such +sounds. There were planes aloft all around the lake area. They'd been +sent up originally in response to a radar warning of something coming +in from space. Now they flew in vast circles around the landing place +of that reported object. They flew high, so high that only contrails +would have pointed them out. But atmospheric conditions today were +such that contrails did not form. The planes were invisible from the +ground. + +But the pilots could see. When one patrol group was relieved by +another, it carried high-magnification photographs of all the park, to +be developed and examined with magnifying glasses for any signs of +activity by the crew of the object from space. + +A second lieutenant spotted the S.O.S. within half an hour of the +films' return. There was an immediate and intense conference. The +lengths of shadows were measured. The size and slope and probable +condition of the clearing's surface were estimated. + +A very light plane, intended for artillery-spotting, took off from the +nearest airfield to Boulder Lake. + +And Lockley and Jill heard it long before it came in sight. It flew +low, threading its way among valleys and past mountain-flanks to avoid +being spotted against the sky. The two beside the clearing heard it +first as a faint mutter. The sound increased, diminished, then +increased again. + +It shot over a minor mountain-flank and surveyed the bare space with +the huge letters on it. Lockley and Jill raced out into view, waving +frantically. The plane circled and circled, estimating the landing +conditions. It swung away to arrive at a satisfactory approach path. + +It wavered. It made a half-wingover, and it side-slipped crazily, and +came up and stalled and flipped on its back and dived.... + +And it came out of its insane antics barely twenty feet above the +ground. It raced away as close as possible to touching its wheels to +earth. It went away behind the mountains. The sound of its going +dwindled and dwindled and was gone. It appeared to have escaped from a +deliberately set trap. + +Lockley stared after it. Then he went white. + +"Idiot!" he cried fiercely. "Come on! Run!" + +He seized Jill's hand. They fled together. Evidently, something had +played upon the pilot of the light plane. He'd been deafened and +blinded and all his senses were a shrieking tumult while his muscles +knotted and his hands froze on the controls of his ship. He hadn't +flown out of the beam that made him helpless. He'd fallen out of it. +And then he raced for the horizon. He got away. And it would appear to +those to whom he reported that he'd arrived too late at the +distress-signal. If fugitives had made it, they'd been overtaken and +captured by the creatures of Boulder Lake, and there'd been an ambush +set up for the plane. It was a reasonable decision. + +But it puzzled the pilot's superior officers that he hadn't been +allowed to land the plane before the beam was turned on him. He could +have been paralyzed while on the ground, and he and his plane could +have yielded considerable information to creatures from another world. +It was puzzling. + +Lockley and Jill raced for the woodland at the clearing's edge. +Lockley clamped his lips tight shut to waste no breath in speech. The +arrival and the circling of the plane had been a public notice that +there were fugitives here. If the beam could paralyze a pilot in +mid-air, it could be aimed at fugitives on the ground.... There could +be no faintest hope.... + +Wholly desperate, Lockley helped Jill down a hillside and into a +valley leading still farther down. + +He smelled jungle, and muskiness, and decay, and flowers, and every +conceivable discordant odor. Flashes of insane colorings formed +themselves in his eyes. He heard the chaotic uproar which meant that +his auditory nerves, like the nerves in his eyes and nostrils and +skin, were stimulated to violent activity, reporting every kind of +message they could possibly report all at once. + +He groaned. He tried to find a hiding-place for Jill so that if or +when the invaders searched for her, they would not find her. But he +expected his muscles to knot in spasm and cramp before he could +accomplish anything. + +They didn't. The smell lessened gradually. The meaningless flashings +of preposterous color grew faint. The horrible uproar his auditory +nerves reported, ceased. He and Jill had been at the mercy of the +unseen operator of the terror beam. Perhaps the beam had grazed them, +by accident. Or it could have been weakened.... + +It was very puzzling. + + + + +CHAPTER 5 + + +When darkness fell, Lockley and Jill were many miles away from the +clearing where he had made the S.O.S. They were under a dense screen +of leaves from a monster tree whose roots rose above ground at the +foot of its enormous trunk. They formed a shelter of sorts against +observation from a distance. Lockley had spotted a fallen tree far +gone with wood-rot. He broke pieces of the punky stuff with his +fingers. Then he realized that without a pot the bracken shoots he'd +gathered could not be cooked. They had to be boiled or not cooked at +all. + +"We'll call it a salad," he told Jill, "minus vinegar and oil and +garlic, and eat what we can." + +She'd been pale with exhaustion before the sun sank, but he hadn't +dared let her rest more than was absolutely necessary. Once he'd +offered to carry her for a while, but she'd refused. Now she sat +drearily in the shelter of the roots, resting. + +"We might try for news," he suggested. + +She made an exhausted gesture of assent. He turned on the tiny radio +and tuned it in. There was no scarcity of news, now. A few days past, +news went on the air on schedule, mostly limited to five-minute +periods in which to cover all the noteworthy events of the world. Part +of that five minutes, too, was taken up by advertising matter from a +sponsor. Now music was rare. There were occasional melodies, but most +were interrupted for new interpretations of the threat to earth at +Boulder Lake. Every sort of prominent person was invited to air his +views about the thing from the sky and the creatures it brought. Most +had no views but only an urge to talk to a large audience. Something, +though, had to be put on the air between commercials. + +The actual news was specific. Small towns around the fringe of the +Park area were being evacuated of all their inhabitants. Foreign +scientists had been flown to the United States and were at the +temporary area command post not far from Boulder Lake. Rocket missiles +were aimed and ready to blast the lake and the mountains around it +should the need arise. A drone plane had been flown to the lake with a +television camera transmitting back everything its lens saw. It +arrived at the lake and its camera relayed back exactly nothing that +had not been photographed and recorded before. But suddenly there was +a crash of static and the drone went out of control and crashed. Its +camera faithfully transmitted the landscape spinning around until its +destruction. Military transmitters were beaming signals on every +conceivable frequency to what was now universally called the alien +spaceship. They had received no replies. The foreign scientists had +agreed that the terror beam--paralysis beam--death beam--was +electronic in nature. + +Lockley had thought Jill asleep from pure weariness, but her voice +came out of the darkness beside the big tree trunk. + +"You found that out!" she said. "About its being electronic!" + +"I had a sample stationary beam to check on," said Lockley. "They +haven't. Which may be a bad thing. Nobody's going to make useful +observations of something that makes him blind and deaf and paralyzed +while he's in the act. There are some things that puzzle me about +that. Why haven't they killed anybody yet? They've got the public +about as scared as it can get without some killing. And why didn't we +get the full force of the beam after the plane had been driven away? +They could have given us the full treatment if they'd wanted to. Why +didn't they?" + +"If people run away from the towns," said Jill's voice, very tired and +sleepy, "maybe they think that's enough. They can take the towns...." + +Lockley did not answer, and Jill said no more. Her breathing became +deep and regular. She was so weary that even hunger could not keep her +awake. + +Lockley tried to think. There was the matter of food. Bracken shoots +were common enough but unsubstantial. It would need more careful +observation to note all the likely spots for mushrooms. Perhaps they +were far enough from the lake to take more time hunting food. They +were almost exactly in the situation of Australian bushmen who live +exclusively by foraging, with some not-too-efficient hunting. But +Australian savages were not as finicky as Jill and himself. They ate +grubs and insects. For this sort of situation, prejudices were a +handicap. + +He considered the idea with sardonic appreciation. Two days of +inadequate food and such ideas came! But he and Jill wouldn't be the +only ones to think such things if matters continued as they were +going. The towns around Boulder Lake were being evacuated. The cordon +about it had been made to retreat. There was panic not only in +America, but everywhere. In Europe there were wild rumors of other +landings of other ships of space. The stock markets would undoubtedly +close tomorrow, if they hadn't closed today. There'd be the beginning +of a mass exodus from the larger cities, starting quietly but building +up to frenzy as those who tried to leave jammed all the routes by +which they could get away. If the creatures of the spaceship wanted +more than the flight of all humans from about their landing place, +there would be genuine trouble. Let them move aggressively and there +would be panic and disorder and pure catastrophe, with self-exiled +city dwellers desperate from hunger because they were away from market +centers. It looked as if a dozen or two monsters could wreck a +civilization without the need to kill one single human being directly. + +He heard a sound. He turned off the radio, gripping the clumsy club +which was probably useless against anything really threatening. + +The sound continued. There were rustlings of leaves, and then faint +rattling, almost clicking noises. Whatever the creature was, it was +not large. It seemed to amble tranquilly through the forest and the +night, neither alarmed nor considering itself alarming. + +The clickings again. And suddenly Lockley knew what it was. Of course! +He'd heard it in the compost pit shell, when he was a prisoner of the +invaders from space. He rose and moved toward the noise. The creature +did not run away. It went about its own affairs with the same peaceful +indifference as before. Lockley ran into a tree. He stumbled over a +fallen branch on the ground. He came to the place where the creature +should be. There was silence. He flicked the flint of his pocket +lighter and in the flash of brightness he saw his prey. It had heard +his approach. It was a porcupine, prudently curled up into a spiky +ball and placidly defying all carnivores, including men. A porcupine +is normally the one wild creature without an enemy. Even men +customarily spare it because so often it has saved the lives of lost +hunters and half-starved travelers. It accomplishes this by its bland +refusal to run away from anybody. + +Lockley classed himself as a half-starved traveler. He struck with +the club after a second spark from his lighter-flint. + +Presently he had a small, barely smouldering fire of rotted wood. He +cooked over it, and the smell of cooking roused Jill from her +exhausted slumber. + +"What--" + +"We're having a late supper," said Lockley gravely. "A midnight snack. +Take this stick. There's a loin of porcupine on it. Be careful! It's +hot!" + +Jill said, "Oh-h-h-h!" Then, "Is there more for you?" + +"Plenty!" he assured her. "I hunted it down with my trusty club, and +only got stuck a half-dozen times while I was skinning and cleaning +it." + +She ate avidly, and when she'd finished he offered more, which she +refused until he'd had a share. + +They did not quite finish the whole porcupine, but it was an odd and +companionable meal, there in the darkness with the barely-glowing +coals well-hidden from sight. Lockley said, "I'm sort of a news +addict. Shall we see what the wild radio waves are saying?" + +"Of course," said Jill. She added awkwardly: "Maybe it's the sudden +food, but--I hope you'll remain my friend after this is all over. I +don't know anyone else I'd say that to." + +"Consider," said Lockley, "that I've made an eloquent and grateful +reply." + +But his expression in the darkness was not happy. He'd fallen in love +with Jill after meeting her only twice, and both times she had been +with Vale. She intended to marry Vale. But on the evidence at hand +Vale was either dead or a prisoner of the invaders; if the last, his +chances of living to marry Jill did not look good, and if the first, +this was surely no time to revive his memory. + +He found a news broadcast. He suspected that most radio stations +would stay on the air all night, now that it was officially admitted +that the object in Boulder Lake was a spaceship bringing invaders to +earth. The government releases spoke of them as "visitors," in a +belated use of the term, but the public was suspicious of reassurances +now. At the beginning the landing had seemed like another exaggerated +horror tale of the kind that kept up newspaper circulations. Now the +public was beginning to believe it, and people might stop going to +their offices and the trains might cease to ran on time. When that +happened, disaster would be at hand. + +The news came in a resonant voice which revealed these facts: + +Four more small towns had been ordered evacuated because of their +proximity to Boulder Lake. The radiation weapon of the aliens had +pushed back the military cordon by as much as five miles. But the big +news was that the aliens had broken radio silence. Apparently they'd +examined and repaired the short wave communicator from the helicopter +they'd knocked down. + +Shortly after sundown, said the news report, a call had come through +on a military short wave frequency. It was a human voice, first +muttering bewilderedly and then speaking with confusion and +uneasiness. The message had been taped and now was released to the +public. + +_"What the hell's this ...? Oh.... What do you characters want me to +do? This feels like the short wave set from the 'copter.... Hmm.... +You got it turned on.... What'll I do with it, Broadcast? I don't know +whether you want me to talk to you or to back home, wherever that +is.... Maybe you want me to say I'm havin' a fine time an' wish you +was here.... I'm not. I wish I was there.... If this is goin' on the +air I'm Joe Blake, radio man on the_ '_copter two 'leven. We were +headin' in to Boulder Lake when I smelled a stink. Next second there +were lights in my eyes. They blinded me. Then I heard a racket like +all hell was loose. Then I felt like I had hold of a power +transmission line. I couldn't wiggle a finger. I stayed that way till +the 'copter crashed. When I come to, I was blindfolded like I am now. +I don't know what happened to the other guys. I haven't seen 'em. I +haven't seen anything! But they just put me in front of what I think +is the 'copter's short wave set an' squeaked at me_--" + +The recorded voice ended abruptly. The news announcer's voice came +back. He said that the member of the 'copter crew had given some other +information before he was arbitrarily cut off. + +"I'll bet," said Lockley when the newscast ended, "I'll bet the other +information was that the invaders have managed to tell him that earth +must surrender to them!" + +"Why?" + +"What else would they want to say? To come and play patty-cake, when +they can push the Army around at will and have managed to keep planes +from flying anywhere near them? They may not know we've got atom +bombs, but I'll bet they do! Part of that extra information could have +been a warning not to try to use them. It would be logical to bluff +even on that, though they couldn't make good." + +Jill said very carefully, "You hinted once that they might be men, +pretending to be monsters. But that would mean that somebody I care +about would probably be killed because he'd seen them and knew they +weren't creatures from beyond the stars." + +"I think you can forget that idea," said Lockley. "They don't act like +men. Chasing away the plane that was going to land for us, and not +using the beam on the fugitives it was plainly going to land +for--that's not like men preparing to take over a continent! And +nudging the Army back to make the cordoned space larger--that's not +like our most likely human enemy, either. They'd wipe out the cordon +by stepping up the terror beam to death ray intensity." + +"Suppose they couldn't?" + +"They wouldn't have landed with a weapon that couldn't kill anybody," +said Lockley. "It's much more likely that they're monsters. But they +don't act like monsters, either." + +Jill was silent for a moment. + +"Not even monsters who wanted to make friends?" + +"They," said Lockley drily, "would hardly make a surprise landing. +They'd have parked on the moon and squeaked at us until we got +curious, and then they'd arrange to land, or to meet men in orbit, or +something. But they didn't. They made a surprise landing, and cleared +a big space of humans, keeping themselves to themselves. But if they +do think we're animals, like rabbits, they'd kill people instead of +stinging them up a bit, or paralyzing them for a while and then +letting them go. That's not like any monster I can imagine!" + +"Then--" + +"You'd better go to sleep," said Lockley. "We've got a long day's hike +before us tomorrow." + +"Yes-s-s," agreed Jill reluctantly. "Good-night." + +"'Night," said Lockley curtly. + +He stayed awake. It was amusing that he was uneasy about wild animals. +There were predators in the Park, and he had only an improvised club +for a weapon. But he knew well enough that most animals avoid man +because of a bewildering sudden development of instinct. + +Grizzly bears, before the white man came, were so scornful of man +that they could be considered the dominant species in North America. +They'd been known to raid a camp of Indians to carry away a man for +food. Indian spears and arrows were simply ineffective against them. +When Stonewall Jackson was a lieutenant in the United States Army, +stationed in the West to protect the white settlers, he and a +detachment of mounted troopers were attacked without provocation by a +grizzly who was wholly contemptuous of them. The then Lieutenant +Jackson rode a horse which was blind in one eye, and he maneuvered to +get the bear on the horse's blind side so he could charge it. With his +cavalry sabre he split the grizzly's skull down to its chin. It was +the only time in history that a grizzly bear was ever killed by a man +with a sword. But no grizzly nowadays would attack a man unless +cornered. Even cubs with no possible experience of humankind are +terrified by the scent of men. + +All that was true enough. In addition, preparations for the Park +included much activity by the Wild Life Control unit, which persuaded +bears to congregate in one area by putting out food for them, and took +various other measures for deer and other animals. It had seeded trout +streams with fingerlings and the lake itself with baby big-mouthed +bass. The huge trailer truck of Wild Life Control was familiar enough. +Lockley had seen it headed up to the lake the day before the landing. +Now he found himself wondering sardonically to what degree the Wild +Life Control men determined where mountain lions should hunt. + +He'd slept in the open innumerable times without thinking of mountain +lions. With Jill to look after, though, he worried. But he was +horribly weary, and he knew somehow that in the back of his mind there +was something unpleasant that was trying to move into his conscious +thoughts. It was a sort of hunch. Wearily and half asleep, he tried to +put his mind on it. He failed. + +He awoke suddenly. There were rustlings among the trees. Something +moved slowly and intermittently toward him. It could be anything, even +a creature from Boulder Lake. He heard other sounds. Another creature. +The first drew near, not moving in a straight line. The second +creature followed it, drawing closer to the first. + +Lockley's scalp crawled. Creatures from space might have some of the +highly-developed senses which men had lost while growing +civilized--full keenness of scent, for example. + +Such a creature might be able to find Lockley and Jill in the darkness +after trailing them for miles. And so primitive a talent, in a +creature farther advanced than men, was somehow more horrifying than +anything else Lockley had thought of about them. He gripped his club +desperately, wholly aware that a star creature should be able to +paralyze him with the terror beam.... + +There were whistling, squealing noises. They were very much like the +squeaks his captors had directed at each other and at him when he was +blindfolded and being led downhill to imprisonment in the compost pit +shell. Very much like, but not identical. Nevertheless, Lockley's hair +seemed to stand up on end and he raised his club in desperation. + +The whistling squeals grew shriller. Then there was an indescribable +sound and one of the two creatures rushed frantically away. It +traveled in great leaps through the blackness under the trees. + +And then there was a sudden whiff of a long-familiar odor, smelled a +hundred times before. It was the reek of a skunk, stalked by a +carnivore and defending itself as skunks do. But a skunk was nothing +like a terror beam. Its effluvium offended only one sense, affected +only one set of sensation nerves. The terror beam.... + +Lockley opened his mouth to laugh, but did not. The thing at the back +of his mind had come forward. He was appalled. + +Jill said shakily, "What's the matter? What's happened? That smell--" + +"It's only a skunk," said Lockley evenly. "He just told me some very +bad news. I know how the terror beam works now. And there's not a +thing that can be done about it. Not a thing. It can't be!" + +He raged suddenly, there in the darkness, because he saw the utter +hopelessness of combatting the creatures who'd taken over Boulder +Lake. There was nothing to keep them from taking over the whole earth, +no matter what sort of monsters or not-monsters they might be. + + + + +CHAPTER 6 + + +It was nine o'clock at night when Lockley killed the porcupine, and +ten by the time Jill had gone back to sleep huddled between the +projecting roots of a giant tree. Shortly after midnight Lockley had +been awakened when a skunk defeated a hungry predator within a hundred +yards of their bivouac. But some time in between, there was another +happening of much greater importance elsewhere. + +Something came out of Boulder Lake National Park. All humans had +supposedly fled from it. It was abandoned to the creatures of the +thing from the sky. But something came out of it. + +Nobody saw the thing, of course. Nobody could approach it, which was +the point immediately demonstrated. No human being could endure being +within seven miles of whatever it was. It was evidently a vehicle of +some sort, however, because it swung terror beams before it, and +terror beams on either side, and when it was clear of the Park it +played terror beams behind it, too. Men who suffered the lightest +touch of those sweeping beams of terror and anguish moved frantically +to avoid having the experience again. So when something moved out of +the Park and sent wavering terror beams before it, men moved to one +side or the other and gave it room. + +On a large-scale map in the military area command post, its progress +could be watched as it was reported. The reports described a +development of unbearable beam strength which showed up as a bulge in +the cordon's roughly circular line. That bulge, which was the cordon +itself moving back, moved outward and became a half-circle some miles +across. It continued to move outward, and on the map it appeared like +a pseudopod extruded by an enormous amoeba. It was the area of +effectiveness of a weapon previously unknown on earth--the area where +humans could not stay. + +Deliberately, the unseen moving thing severed itself from the similar +and larger weapon field which was its birthplace and its home. It +moved with great deliberation toward the small town of Maplewood, +twenty miles from the border of the Park. + +Jeeps and motorcycles scurried ahead of it, just out of reach of its +beams. They made sure that houses and farms and all inhabited places +were emptied of people before the moving terror beams could engulf +them. They went into the town of Maplewood itself and frantically made +sure that nothing alive remained in it. They went on to clear the +countryside beyond. + +The unseen thing from the Park moved onward. High overhead there was a +dull muttering like faraway thunder, but it was planes with filled +bomb racks circling above the starlit land. There were men in those +planes who ached to dive down and destroy this separated fraction of +an invasion. But there were firm orders from the Pentagon. So long as +the invaders killed nobody, they were not to be attacked. There was +reason for the order in the desire of the government to be on friendly +terms with a race which could travel between the stars. But there was +an even more urgent reason. The aliens had not yet begun to murder, +but it was suspected that they had a horrifying power to kill. So it +was firmly commanded that no bomb or missile or bullet was to be used +unless the invaders invited hostilities by killing humans. Their +captives--the crew of a helicopter--might be freed if aliens and men +achieved friendship. So for now--no provocation! + +The thing which nobody saw moved comfortably over the ground between +the park and Maplewood. In the center of the weapon field there was a +something which generated the terror beam and probably carried +passengers. Whatever it was, it moved onward and into Maplewood and +for seven miles in every direction troops watched for it to move out +again. Artillerymen had guns ready to fire upon it if they ever got +firing coordinates and permission to go into action. Planes were ready +to drop bombs if they ever got leave to do so. And a few miles away +there were rockets ready to prove their accuracy and devastating +capacity if only given a launching command. But nothing happened. Not +even a flare was permitted to be dropped by the planes far up in the +sky. A flare might be taken for hostility. + +The thing from the Park stayed in Maplewood for two hours. At the end +of that time it moved deliberately back toward the Park. It left the +town untouched save for certain curious burglaries of hardware stores +and radio shops and a garage or two. It looked as if intensely curious +not-human beings had moved from their redoubt--Boulder Lake--to find +out what civilization human beings had attained. They could guess at +it by the buildings and the homes, but most notably in the technical +shops of the inhabitants. + +It went slowly and deliberately back into the Park. Humans moved +cautiously back into the area that had been emptied. Not many, but +enough to be sure that the thing had really returned to the place from +which it had come. Soldiers were tentatively entering the +again-abandoned town of Maplewood when the unseen thing changed the +range of its weapon bearing on that little city. It was then +presumably not less than seven miles on its way back to Boulder Lake. +The military had congratulated themselves on what they'd learned. The +beam projectors at the lake had a range of much more than seven miles, +but this movable, unidentifiable thing carried a lesser armament. From +it, men and animals seven miles away were safe. This was notable news. + +Then the unseen object did something. The terror beam that flicked +back and forth doubled in intensity. The soldiers just reentering +Maplewood smelled foulness and saw bright lights. Bellowings deafened +them. They fell with every muscle rigid in spasm. Beyond them other +men were paralyzed. For five minutes the invaders' mobile weapon +paralyzed all living things for a distance of fifteen miles. Then for +thirty seconds it paralyzed living things for a distance of thirty +miles. For a bare instant it convulsed men and animals for a greater +distance yet. And all these victims of the terror beam knew, +thereafter, an invincible horror of the beam. + +The thing from the Park which nobody had seen went back into the Park. +And then men were permitted to return to exactly the same places +they'd been allowed to occupy before the thing began its excursion. + +It seemed that nothing was changed, but everything was changed. If +there were mobile carriers of the invasion weapon, then victory could +not be had by a single atom bomb fired into Boulder Lake. There might +be a dozen separate mobile terror beam generators scattered through +the Park. Any atomic attack would need to be multiplied in its +violence to be certain of results. Instead of one bomb there might be +a need for fifty. They would have to destroy the Park utterly, even +its mountains. And the fallout from so many atom bombs simply could +not be risked. The invaders were effectively invulnerable. + +While this undesirable situation was being demonstrated, Jill slept +heavily between two roots of a very large tree, and Lockley dozed +against a nearby tree trunk. He believed that he guarded Jill most +vigilantly. + +He awoke at dawn with the din of bird song in his ears. Jill opened +her eyes at almost the same instant. She smiled at him and tried to +get up. She was stiff and sore from the hardness of the ground on +which she'd slept. But it was a new day, and there was breakfast. It +was porcupine cooked the night before. + +"Somehow," said Jill as she nibbled at a bone, "somehow I feel more +cheerful than I did." + +"That's a mistake," Lockley told her. "Start out with a few +premonitions and the day improves as they turn out wrong. But if you +start out hoping, the day ends miserably with most of your hopes +denied." + +"You've got premonitions?" she asked. + +"Definitely," he said. + +It was true. As yet he knew nothing of last night's temporary +occupation of a human town, but he believed he knew how the terror +beam worked even if he couldn't figure out a way to generate it. He +could imagine no defense against it. But if Jill had awakened feeling +cheerful, there was no reason to depress her. She'd have reason enough +to be dejected later, beginning with proof of Vale's death and going +on from there. + +"We might listen to the news," she suggested. "A premonition or two +might be ruled out right away!" + +Silently, he turned on the little radio. Automatically, he set it for +the lowest volume they could hear distinctly. + +The main item in the news was a baldly factual but toned-down report +of the thing from the lake which had left the park and examined a +small human town in detail and then had returned to the Park. There +were reports of peculiar hoofprints found where the invaders had been. +They were not the hoofprints of any earthly animal. There was an +optimistic report from the scientists at work on the problem of the +beam. Someone had come up with an idea and some calculations which +seemed to promise that the beam would presently be duplicated. Once it +was duplicated, of course a way to neutralize it could be found. + +Lockley grunted. The broadcast was enthusiastic in its comments on the +scientists. It talked gobbledegook which sounded as if it meant +something but was actually nonsense. It barely touched on the fact +that human beings were now ordered out of a much larger space than had +been evacuated before. There was a statement from an important +official that panic buying of food was both unnecessary and unwise. +Lockley grunted again when the newscast ended. + +"The idea that anything that can be duplicated can be canceled," he +announced gloomily, "is unfortunately rot. We can duplicate sounds, +but there's no way to make them cancel out! Not accurately!" + +Jill had eaten a substantial part of the porcupine while the newscast +was on. It was not a satisfying breakfast, but it cheered her +immensely after two days of near-starvation. + +"But," she observed, "maybe that won't apply to this business when you +report what you know. It's not likely that anybody else has stood just +outside a beam and made tests of what it's like and how it's aimed and +so on." + +They started off. For journeying in the Park, Lockley had the +advantage that as part of the preparation for making a new map, he'd +familiarized himself with all mapping done to date. He knew very +nearly where he was. He knew within a close margin just where the +terror beam stretched. He'd smashed his watch, which during sunshine +substituted admirably for a compass, but he could maintain a +reasonably straight line toward that part of the Park's border the +terror beam would cross. + +They moved doggedly over mountain-flanks and up valleys, and once they +followed a winding hollow for a long way because it led toward their +destination without demanding that they climb. It was in this area +that, pushing through brushwood beside a running stream, they came +abruptly upon a big brown bear. He was no more than a hundred feet +away. He stared at them inquisitively, raising his nose to sniff for +their scent. + +Lockley bent and picked up a stone. He threw it. It clattered on +rocks on the ground. The bear made a whuffing sound and moved +aggrievedly away. + +"I'd have been afraid to do that," said Jill. + +"It was a he-bear," said Lockley. "I wouldn't have tried it on a +she-bear with cubs." + +They went on and on. At mid-morning Lockley found some mushrooms. They +were insipid and only acute hunger would make them edible raw, but he +filled his pockets. A little later there were berries, and as they +gathered and ate them he lectured learnedly on edible wild plants to +be found in the wilderness. Jill listened with apparent interest. When +they left the berry patch they swung to the left to avoid a steep +climb directly in their way. And suddenly Lockley stopped short. At +the same instant Jill caught at his arm. She'd turned white. + +They turned and ran. + +A hundred yards back, Lockley slackened his speed. They stopped. After +a moment he managed to grin mirthlessly. + +"A conditioned reflex," he said wryly. "We smell something and we run. +But I think it's the old familiar terror beam that crosses highways to +stop men from using them. If it were a portable beam projector with +somebody aiming it, we wouldn't be talking about it." + +Jill panted, partly with relief. + +"I've thought of something I want to try," said Lockley. "I should +have tried it yesterday when I first smashed my watch." + +He retraced his steps to the spot where they'd caught the first whiff +of that disgusting reptilian-jungle-decay odor which had bombarded +their nostrils. Jill called anxiously, "Be careful!" + +He nodded. He got the coiled bronze watchspring out of his pocket. He +went very cautiously to the spot where the smell became noticeable. +Standing well back from it, he tossed one end of the spring into it. +He drew it back. He repeated the operation. He moved to one side. +Again he swung the gold-colored ribbon. He dangled it back and forth. +Then he drew back yet again and wrapped his left hand and wrists with +many turns of the thin bronze spring, carefully spacing the turns. He +moved forward once more. + +He came back, his expression showing no elation at all. + +"No good," he said unhappily. "In a way, it works. The spring acts as +an aerial and picks up more of the beam than my hand. But I tried to +make a Faraday cage. That will stop most electromagnetic radiation, +but not this stuff! It goes right through, like electrons through a +radio tube grid." + +He put the spring back in his pocket. + +"Well," he grimaced. "Let's go on again. I had a little bit of hope, +but some smarter men than I am haven't got the right gimmick yet." + +They started off once more. And this time they did not choose a path +for easier travel, but went up a steep slope that rose for hundreds of +feet to arrive at a crest with another steep slope going downhill. At +the top Lockley said sourly, "I did discover one thing, if it means +anything. The beam leaks at its edges, but it's only leakage. It +doesn't diffuse. It's tight. It's more like a searchlight beam than +anything else in that way. You can see a light beam at night because +dust motes scatter some part of it. But most of the light goes +straight on. This stuff does the same. It's hard to imagine a limit to +its range." + +He trudged on downhill. Jill followed him. Presently, when they'd +covered two miles or more with no lightening of his expression, she +said, "You said you understand how it works. Radio and radar beams +don't have effects like this. How does this have them?" + +"It makes high frequency currents on the surface of anything it hits. +High frequency doesn't go into flesh or metal. It travels on the +surface only. So when this beam hits a man it generates high frequency +on his skin. That induces counter currents underneath, and they +stimulate all the sensory nerves we've got--of our eyes and ears and +noses as well as our skin. Every nerve reports its own kind of +sensation. Run current over your tongue, and you taste. Induce a +current in your eyes, and you see flashes of light. So the beam makes +all our senses report everything they're capable of reporting, true or +not, and we're blinded and deafened. Then the nerves to our muscles +report to them that they're to contract, and they do. So we're +paralyzed." + +"And," said Jill, "if there's a way to generate high frequency on a +man's skin there's nothing that can be done?" + +"Nothing," said Lockley dourly. + +"Maybe," said Jill, "you can figure out a way to prevent that high +frequency generation." + +He shrugged. Jill frowned as she followed him. She hadn't forgotten +Vale, but she owed some gratitude to Lockley. Womanlike, she tried to +pay part of it by urging him to do something he considered impossible. + +"At least," she suggested, "it can't be a death ray!" + +Lockley looked at her. + +"You're wrong there," he said coldly. "It can." + +Jill frowned again. Not because of his statement, but because she +hadn't succeeded in diverting his mind from gloomy things. She had +reason enough for sadness, herself. If she spoke of it, Lockley would +try to encourage her. But he was concerned with more than his own +emotions. Without really knowing it, Jill had come to feel a great +confidence in Lockley. It had been reassuring that he could find food, +and perhaps more reassuring that he could chase away a bear. Such +talents were not logical reasons for being confident that he could +solve the alien's seemingly invincible weapon, but she was inclined to +feel so. And if she could encourage him to cope with the +monsters--why--it would be even a form of loyalty to Vale. So she +believed. + +In the late afternoon Lockley said, "Another four or five miles and we +ought to be out of the Park and on another highway we'll hope won't be +blocked by a terror beam. Anyhow there should be an occasional +farmhouse where we can find some sort of civilized food." + +Jill said hungrily, "Scrambled eggs!" + +"Probably," he agreed. + +They went on and on. Three miles. Four. Five. Five and a half. They +descended a minor slope and came to a hard-surfaced road with tire +marks on it and a sign sternly urging care in driving. There were +ploughed fields in which crops were growing. There was a row of stubby +telephone poles with a sagging wire between them. + +"We'll head west," said Lockley. "There ought to be a farmhouse +somewhere near." + +"And people," said Jill. "I look terrible!" + +He regarded her with approval. + +"No. You look all right. You look fine!" + +It was pleasing that he seemed to mean it. But immediately she said, +"Maybe we'll be able to find out about ... about...." + +"Vale," agreed Lockley. "But don't be disappointed if we don't. He +could have escaped or been freed without everybody knowing it." + +She said in surprise, "Been freed! That's something I didn't think +of. He'd set to work to make them understand that we humans are +intelligent and they ought to make friends with us. That would be the +first thing he'd think of. And they might set him free to arrange it." + +Lockley said, "Yes," in a carefully noncommittal tone. + +Another mile, this time on the hard road. It seemed strange to walk on +so unyielding a surface after so many miles on quite different kinds +of footing. It was almost sunset now. There was a farmhouse set well +back from the road and barely discernable beyond nearby growing corn. +The house seemed dead. It was neat enough and in good repair. There +were clackings of chickens from somewhere behind it. But it had the +feel of emptiness. + +Lockley called. He called again. He went to the door and would have +called once more, but the door opened at a touch. + +"Evacuated," he said. "Did you notice that there was a telephone line +leading here from the road?" + +He hunted in the now shadowy rooms. He found the telephone. He lifted +the receiver and heard the humming of the line. He tried to call an +operator. He heard the muted buzz that said the call was sounding. But +there was no answer. He found a telephone book and dialed one number +after another. Sheriff. Preacher. Doctor. Garage. Operator again. +General store.... He could tell that telephones rang dutifully in +remote abandoned places. But there was no answer at all. + +"I'll look in the chicken coops," said Jill practically. + +She came back with eggs. She said briefly, "The chickens were hungry. +I fed them and left the chicken yard gate open. I wonder if the beam +hurts them too?" + +"It does," said Lockley. + +He made a light and then a fire and she cooked eggs which belonged to +the unknown people who owned this house and who had walked out of it +when instructions for immediate evacuation came. They felt queer, +making free with this house of a stranger. They felt that he might +come in and be indignant with them. + +"I ought to wash the dishes," said Jill when they were finished. + +"No," said Lockley. "We go on. We need to find some soldiers, or a +telephone that works...." + +"I'm not a good dishwasher anyhow," said Jill guiltily. + +Lockley put a banknote on the kitchen table, with a weight on it to +keep it from blowing away. They closed the house door. They'd eaten +fully and luxuriously of eggs and partly stale bread and the sensation +was admirable. They went out to the highway again. + +"West is still our best bet," said Lockley. "They've blocked the +highway to eastward with that terror beam." + +The sun had set now, but a fading glory remained in the sky. They saw +the slenderest, barest crescent of a new moon practically hidden in +the sunset glow. They walked upon a civilized road, with a fence on +one side of it and above it a single sagging telephone wire that could +be made out against the stars. + +"I feel," said Jill, "as if we were almost safe, now. All this looks +so ordinary and reassuring." + +"But we'd better keep our noses alert," Lockley told her. "We know +that one beam comes nearly this far and probably--no, certainly +crosses this road. There may be more." + +"Oh, yes," agreed Jill. Then she said irrelevantly, "I'll bet they do +make him a sort of--ambassador to our government to arrange for +making friends. He'll be able to convince them!" + +Again she referred to Vale. Lockley said nothing. + +Night was now fully fallen. There were myriad stars overhead. They saw +the telephone wire dipping between poles against the sky's brightness. +They passed an open gate where another telephone wire led away, +doubtless to another farmhouse. But if there was no one at the other +end of a telephone line, there was no point in using a phone. + +There came a rumbling noise behind them. They stared at one another in +the starlight. The rumbling approached. + +"It--can't be!" said Jill, marvelling. + +"It's a motor," said Lockley. He could not feel complete relief. +"Sounds like a truck. I wonder--" + +He felt uneasiness. But it was absurd. Only human beings would use +motor trucks. + +There was a glow in the distance behind them. It came nearer as the +sound of the motor approached. The motor's mutter became a grumble. It +was definitely a truck. They could hear those other sounds that trucks +always make in addition to their motor noises. + +It came up to the curve they'd rounded last. Its headlight beams +glared on the cornstalks growing next to the highway. One headlight +appeared around the turn. Then the other. An enormous trailer-truck +combination came bumbling toward them. Jill held up her hand for it to +stop. Its headlights shone brightly upon her. + +Airbrakes came on. The giant combination--cab in front, gigantic box +body behind--came to a halt. A man leaned out. He said amazedly, "Hey, +what are you folks doin' here? Everybody's supposed to be long gone! +Ain't you heard about all civilians clearing out from twenty miles +outside the Park? There's boogers in there! Characters from Mars or +somewhere. They eat people!" + +Even in the starlight Lockley saw the familiar Wild Life Control +markings on the trailer. He heard Jill, her voice shaking with relief, +explaining that she'd been at the construction camp and had been left +behind, and that she and Lockley had made their way out. + +"We want to get to a telephone," she added. "He has some information +he wants to give to the Army. It's very important." Then she +swallowed. "And I'd like to ask if you've heard anything about a Mr. +Vale. He was taken prisoner by the creatures up there. Have you heard +of his being released?" + +The driver hesitated. Then he said, "No, ma'm. Not a word about him. +But we'll take care of you two! You musta been through plenty! Jud, +you go get in the trailer, back yonder. Make room for these two folks +up on the front seat." He added explanatorily, "There's cases and +stuff in the back, ma'm. You two folks climb right up here alongside +of me. You sure musta had a time!" + +The door on the near side of the truck cab opened. A small man got +out. Silently, he went to the rear of the trailer and swung up out of +sight. Jill climbed into the opened door. Lockley followed her. He +still felt an irrational uneasiness, but he put it down to habit. The +past few days had formed it. + +"We've been cartin' stuff for the soldiers," explained the driver as +Lockley closed the door behind him. "They keep track of where that +terror beam is workin', and they tell us by truck radio, and we dodge +it. Ain't had a bit of trouble. Never thought I'd play games with +Martians! Did you see any of 'em? What sort of critters are they?" + +He slipped the truck into gear and gunned the motor. Truck and +trailer, together, began to roll down the highway. Lockley was +irritated with himself because he couldn't relax and feel safe, as +this development seemed to warrant. + +Later, he would wonder why he hadn't used his head in this as in other +matters during the few days just past. + +He plainly hadn't. + + + + +CHAPTER 7 + + +The driver was avidly curious about the area where supposedly no human +being could survive. He asked absorbed questions, especially and +insistently about the aliens. Jill said that she'd seen a few of them, +but only at a distance. They'd been investigating the evacuated +construction camp. They were about the size of men. She couldn't +describe them, but they weren't human beings. He seemed to find it +unthinkable that she hadn't examined them in detail. + +Lockley came to her rescue. He observed that he'd been a prisoner of +the invaders, and had escaped. Then the driver's curiosity became +insatiable. He wanted to know every imaginable detail of that +experience. He expressed almost incredulous disappointment that +Lockley couldn't give even a partial description of the creatures. +When convinced, he launched a detailed recital of the descriptions +offered by the workmen from the camp. He pictured the aliens as hoofed +like horses, equipped with horns like antelopes, fitted with multiple +arms like octopi and huge multi-faceted eyes like insects. + +He seemed to contemplate this picture with vast satisfaction as the +truck growled and rumbled through the night. + +The headlights glared on ahead of the truck. There were dark fields +and darker mountains beyond them. From time to time little side roads +branched off. They undoubtedly led to houses, but no speck of lamp +light appeared anywhere. This part of the world was empty, with the +loneliness of a landscape from which every hint of human activity had +been removed. + +Jill asked a question. The driver grew garrulous. He gave a dramatic +picture of terror throughout the world, the suspension of all ordinary +antagonisms in the face of this menace to every man and nation on the +earth. There was peace even in the world's trouble spots as appalled +agitators saw how much worse things could be if the monsters took over +the world to rule. But the driver insisted that the United States was +calm. Us Americans, he assured Lockley, weren't scared. We were +educated and we knew that them scientists would crack this nut +somehow. Like only yesterday a broadcast said this Belgian guy had +come up with calculations that said this poison beam had to be +something like a radar beam or a laser beam or something like that. +And the American scientists were right out there in front, along with +guys from England and France and Italy and Germany and even Russia. +All the big brains of the world were workin' on it! Those Martians +were gonna wish they'd come visitin' polite instead of barging in like +they owned the world! They'd be lucky if they wound up ownin' Mars! + +Lockley pressed for details about the scientists' results. He didn't +expect to get them, but the driver cheerfully obliged. + +Radio, said the driver largely, worked by making waves like those on +a pond. They spread out and reached places where there were +instruments to detect them, and that was that. Radar made the same +kind of waves, only smaller, which bounced back to where there was an +instrument to detect them. These were ripple waves. + +Lockley interpreted the term to mean sine waves, rounded at top and +trough. It was a perfectly good word to express the meaning intended. + +These were natural kindsa waves, pursued the driver. Lightning made +them. Static was them, and sparks from running motors and blown fuses. +Waves like that were generated whenever an electric circuit was made +or broken besides their occurrence from purely natural causes. + +"We can't feel 'em," said the driver expansively. "We're used to waves +like that. Animals couldn't do anything about 'em and didn't need to +before there was men. So when we come along, we couldn't notice 'em +any more than we notice air pressure on our skin. We're used to it! +But these scientists say there's waves that ain't natural. They ain't +like ripples. They're like storm waves with foam on 'em. And that's +the kind of waves we can notice. Like storm waves with sharp edges. We +can notice them because they do things to us! These Martians make 'em +do things. But now we know what kinda waves they are, we're gonna mess +them up! And I'm savin' up a special kick for one o' those Martians +when they're licked just as soon as I can find out which end of him is +which an' suited to that kinda attention!" + +Lockley found himself suspicious and was annoyed. Jill was safe now. +This driver was well-informed, but probably everybody was +well-informed now. They had reason to become so! + +The truck trundled through the night. High overhead, a squadron of +planes arrived to take its place in the ever-moving patrol around the +Park. Another squadron, relieved, went away to the southwest. There +was a deep-toned, faraway roaring from the engines aloft. All the sky +behind the trailer seemed to mutter continuously. But the roof of +stars ahead was silent. + +Lockley stayed tense and was weary of his tenseness, Jill was safe. He +tried to reason his uneasiness away. The cab of the truck wobbled and +swayed. The feel of the vehicle was entirely unlike the feel of a +passenger car. It felt tail-heavy. The driver had ceased to talk. He +seemed to be musing as he drove. He'd asked about the invaders but +seemed almost indifferent to any adventures Jill and Lockley might +have had on their way out. He didn't ask what they'd done for food. He +was thinking of something else. + +Lockley found himself questioning the driver's statements just after +they got in. Driving for the Army. The Army kept track of where the +terror beams existed, and notified this truck by truck radio, and he +dodged all such road barriers. That was what he said. It seemed +plausible, but-- + +"One thing strikes me funny," said the driver, musingly. "Those +critters blindfoldin' you and those other guys. What' you think they +did it for?" + +"To keep us from seeing them," said Lockley, curtly. + +"But why'd they want to do that?" + +"Because," said Lockley, "they might not have been Martians. They +might not have been critters. They might have been men." + +On the instant he regretted bitterly that he'd said it. It was a +guess, only, with all the evidence against it. The driver visibly +jumped. Then he turned his head. + +"Where'd you get that idea?" he demanded. "What's the evidence? Why +d'you think it?" + +"They blindfolded me," said Lockley briefly. + +A pause. Then the driver said vexedly, "That's a funny thing to make +you think they was men! Hell! Excuse me, ma'm!--they coulda had all +kindsa reasons for blindfoldin' you! It coulda been part of their +religion!" + +"Maybe," said Lockley. He was angry with himself for having said +something which was needlessly dramatic. + +"Didn't you have any other reason for thinkin' they were men?" +demanded the driver curiously. "No other reason at all?" + +"No other at all," said Lockley. + +"It's a crazy reason, if you ask me!" + +"Quite likely," conceded Lockley. + +He'd been indiscreet, but no more. He'd said what he thought, perhaps +because he was tired of watching all the country round him for a +menace to Jill, and then watching every word he spoke to keep her from +abandoning hope for Vale. + +Jill said, "Where are we headed for? I hope I can get to a telephone. +I want to ask about somebody.... He wants to tell the soldiers +something." + +"We're headed for a army supply dump," said the driver comfortably, +"to load up with stuff for the guys that're watching all around the +Park. We'll be goin' through Serena presently. Funny. Everybody moved +out by the Army. A good thing, too. The folks in Maplewood couldn't +ha' been got out last night before the Martians got there." + +The trailer-truck went on through the night. The driver lounged in his +seat, keeping a negligent but capable eye on the road ahead. The +headlights showed a place where another road crossed this one and +there was a filling station, still and dark, and four or five +dwellings nearby with no single sign of life about them. Then the +crossroads settlement fell behind. A mile beyond it Jill said +startledly, "Lights! There's a town. It's lighted." + +"It's Serena," said the driver. "The street lights are on because the +electricity comes from far away. With the lights on it's a marker for +the planes, too, so they can tell exactly where they are and the Park +too. They can't see the ground so good at night, from away up there." + +The white street lamps seemed to twinkle as the trailer-truck rumbled +on. A single long line of them appeared to welcome the big vehicle. It +went on into the town. It reached the business district. There were +side streets, utterly empty, and then the main street divided. The +truck bore to the right. There were three and four-story buildings. +Every window was blank and empty, reflecting only the white street +lamps. No living thing anywhere. There had been no destruction, but +the town was dead. Its lights shone on streets so empty that it would +have seemed better to leave them to the kindly dark. + +Jill exclaimed, "Look! That window!" + +And ahead, in the dead and lifeless town, a single window glowed from +electric light inside it, and it looked lonelier than anything else in +the world. + +"I'm gonna look into that!" said the driver. "Nobody's supposed to be +here." + +The truck came to a stop. The driver got out. There was a stirring, +behind, and the small man who'd given his place to Jill and Lockley +popped out of the trailer body. Lockley saw the name of a local +telephone company silhouetted on the lighted windowpane. He opened the +door. Jill followed him instantly. The four of them--driver, helper, +Lockley and Jill--crowded into the building hallway to investigate +the one lighted room in a town where twenty thousand people were +supposed to live. + +There was a door with a frosted glass top through which light showed. +The driver turned the door-knob and marched in. The room had an +alcoholic smell. A man with sunken cheeks slept heavily in a chair, +his head forward on his chest. + +The driver shook him. + +"Wake up, guy!" he said sternly. "Orders are for all civilians to +clear outa this town. You wanna soldier to come by an' take you for a +looter an' bump you off?" + +He shook again. The cadaverous man blinked his eyes open. The smell of +alcohol was distinct. He was drunk. He gazed ferociously up at the +driver of the truck. + +"Who the hell are you?" he demanded belligerently. + +The driver spoke sternly, repeating what he'd said before. The drunk +assumed an air of outraged dignity. + +"If I wanna stay here, that's my business! Who th' hell are you +anyways, disturbin' a citizen tax-payer on his lawful occasions? Are +you Martians? I wouldn't put it pasht you!" + +He sat down and went back to sleep. + +The driver said fretfully, "He oughtn't to be here! But we ain't got +room to carry him. I'm gonna use the truck radio an' ask what to do. +Maybe they'll send a Army truck to get him outa here. He could set the +whole town on fire!" + +He went out. The small man who was his helper followed him. He hadn't +spoken a word. Lockley growled. Then Jill said breathlessly, "The +switch-board has some long distance lines. I know how to connect them. +Shall I try?" + +Lockley agreed emphatically. Jill slipped into the operator's chair +and donned the headset. She inserted a plug and pressed a switch. + +"I did an article once on how--Hello! Serena calling. I have a very +important message for the military officer in command of the cordon. +Will you route me through, please?" + +Her manner was convincingly professional. She looked up and smiled +shakily at Lockley. She spoke again into the mouthpiece before her. +Then she said, "One moment, please." She covered the mouthpiece with +her hand. + +"I can't get the general," she said. "His aide will take the message +and if it's important enough--" + +"It is," said Lockley. "Give me the phone." + +She vacated the chair and handed him the operator's instrument with +its light weight earphones and a mouthpiece that rested on his chest. + +"My name's Lockley," said Lockley evenly. "I was in the Park on a +Survey job the morning the thing came down from the sky. I relayed +Vale's message describing the landing and the creatures that came out +of the--object. I was talking to him by microwave when he was seized +by them. I reported that via Sattell of the Survey. You probably know +of these reports." + +A tinny voice said with formal cordiality that he did, indeed. + +"I've just managed to get out of the park," said Lockley. "I've had a +chance to experiment with a stationary terror beam. I've information +of some importance about detecting those beams before they strike." + +The tinny voice said hastily that Lockley should speak to the general +himself. There were clickings and a long wait. Lockley shook his head +impatiently. When a new voice spoke, he said, "I'm at Serena. I was +brought here by a Wild Life Control trailer-truck which picked us up +just outside the Park. I mention that because the driver says he's +driving it for the Army, now. The information I have to pass on is...." + +Curtly and succinctly, he began to give exact information about the +terror beam. Its detection so that one need not enter it. The total +lack of effectiveness of a Faraday cage to check it. Its use to block +highways and its one use against a low-flying plane. The failure to +search him out with that terror beam was to be noted. There was other +evidence that the monsters were not monsters at all-- + +The new voice interrupted sharply. It asked him to wait. His +information would be recorded. Lockley waited, biting his lips. The +voice returned after an unconscionably long wait. It told him to go +ahead. + +The driver of the truck was taking a long time to make contact with +the military. He'd have done better by telephone instead of short +wave. + +The new voice repeated sharply for Lockley to go on with his story. +And very, very carefully Lockley explained the contradictions in the +behavior of the invaders. The blindfolds. The fact that it had been +absurdly easy for four human prisoners in a compost pit shell to +escape--almost as if it were intended for them to get away and report +that their captors regarded men as on a par with game birds and +rabbits and porcupines. True aliens would not have bothered to give +such an impression. But men cooperating with aliens would contrive +every possible trick to insist that only aliens operated at Boulder +Lake. + +"I'm saying," said Lockley carefully, "that they do not act like +aliens making a first landing on earth. Apparently their ship is +designed to land in deep water. On a first landing, they should have +chosen the sea. But they knew Boulder Lake was deep enough to cushion +their descent. How did they know it? They didn't kill us local animals +for study, but they dropped in other local animals to convince us that +they wouldn't mind. Why try to fill us with horror--and then let us +escape?" + +The voice at the other end said sharply, "_What do you infer from all +this?_" + +"They've been briefed," said Lockley. "They know too much about this +planet and us humans. Somebody has told them about human psychology +and suggested that they conquer us without destroying our cities or +our factories or our usefulness as slaves. We'll be much more valuable +if captured that way! I'm saying that they've got humans advising and +cooperating with them! I'm suggesting that those humans have made a +deal to run earth for the aliens, paying them all the tribute they can +demand. I'm saying that we're not up against an invasion only by +aliens, but by aliens with humans in active cooperation and acting not +only as advisers but probably as spies. I'm--" + +"_Mr. Lockley!_" said the voice at the other end of the wire. It was +startled and shocked. It became pompous. "_Mr. Lockley, what has been +your training?_" The voice did not wait for an answer. "_Where have +you become qualified to offer opinions contradicting all the +information and all the decisions of scientists and military men +alike? Where do you get the authority to make such statements? They +are preposterous! You have wasted my time! You--_" + +Lockley reached over and flipped back the switch he'd seen Jill flip +over. He carefully put down the headset. He stood up. + +The driver and the small man came back. They picked up the sleeping +drunk and moved toward the door. Something fell out of the drunk's +pocket. It was a wallet. They did not notice. They went out, carrying +the drunk. Jill stooped and recovered it. She looked at Lockley's +face. + +"What--" + +"I'm trying," said Lockley in a grating voice, "to figure out what to +do next. That didn't work." + +"I'll be right back," said Jill. + +She went out to deliver the wallet to the driver, who had apparently +been ordered to put the drunk in the trailer body and deliver him +somewhere. + +Lockley swore explosively when she was gone. He clenched and +unclenched his hands. He paced the length of the room. + +Jill came back, her face white. + +"They opened the door of the trailer to pass him in," she said in a thin, +strained voice. "And there were other men back there. Several of them! And +machinery! Not cages for animals but engines--generators--electrical +things! I'm frightened!" + +"And I," said Lockley, "am a fool. I should have known it! Look +here--" + +The frosted-glass door opened. The driver came back. He had a revolver +in his hand. + +"Too bad!" he said calmly. "We should've been more careful. But the +lady saw too much. Now--" + +The revolver bore on Lockley. Jill flung herself upon it. Lockley +swung, with every ounce of his strength. He connected with the +driver's jaw. The driver went limp. Lockley had the revolver almost +before he reached the floor. + +"Quick!" he snapped. "Where was the machinery? Front or back part of +the trailer?" + +"All of it," panted Jill. "Mostly front. What--" + +"The hall again," Lockley snapped. "Hunt for a back door!" + +He thrust her out. She fumbled toward the back of the building while +he went to the street entrance. The trailer-truck loomed huge. The +driver's helper came out of it. Another man followed him. Still +another.... + +Lockley fired from the doorway. One bullet through the front part of +the truck. One near the middle. Then a third halfway between the first +two. The three men dived to the ground, thinking themselves his +targets. But Jill called inarticulately from the back of the dark +hall. Lockley raced back to her. He saw starlight. She waited, +shivering. They went out and he closed the door softly behind him. + +He took her hand and they ran through the night. Overhead there was a +luminous mistiness because of the street light, but here were abysmal +darknesses between vague areas on which the starlight fell. Lockley +said evenly, "We've got to be quiet. Maybe I hit some of the +machinery. Maybe. If I didn't, it's all over!" + +The back of a building. An alleyway. They ran down it. There was a +street with trees, where the street lights cast utterly black shadows +in between intolerable glare. They ran across the street. On the other +side were residences--the business district was not large. Lockley +found a gate, and opened it quietly and as quietly closed it behind +them. They ran into a lane between two dead, dark, dreary structures +in which people had lived but from which all life was now gone. + +A back yard. A fence. Lockley helped Jill get over it. Another lane. +Another street. But this street was not crossed--not here, anyhow--by +another which led back to the street of the telephone office. A man +could not look from there and see them running under the lights. + +The blessed irregularity of the streets continued. They ran and ran +until Jill's breath came in pantings. Lockley was drenched in sweat +because he expected at any instant to smell the most loathesome of +all possible combinations of odors, and then to see flashing lights +originating in his own eyes, and sounds which would exist only in the +nerves of his ears, and then to feel all his muscles knot in total and +horrible paralysis. + +They heard the truck motor rumble into life when they were many blocks +away. They heard the clumsy vehicle move. It continued to growl, and +they knew that it was moving about the streets with its occupants +trying to sight fleeing figures under the darknesses which were trees. + +"I hit--I hit the generator," panted Lockley. "I must have! Else +they'd swing a beam on us!" + +He stopped. Here they were in a district where many large homes pooled +their lawns in block-long stretches of soft green. The street lights +cast arbitrary patches of brightness against the houses, but their +windows were blank and dark. This street, like most in this small +town, was lined with trees on either side. There were the fragrances +of flowers and grass. + +"We aren't safe now," said Lockley, "but I just found out there may +not be any safety anywhere." + +Jill's teeth chattered. + +"What will we do? What was that machinery? I felt--frightened because +it wasn't what he said was back there. So I told you. But what was +it?". + +"At a guess," said Lockley, "a terror beam generator. The invaders +must have human friends. To us they're spies. They're cooperating with +the monsters. Apparently they're even trusted with terror beam +projectors." + +He stood still, thinking, while in the distance the trailer-truck +ground and rumbled about the streets. It was not a very promising +method for finding two fugitives. They could hide if it turned onto a +street they used. It could not continue the search indefinitely. The +most likely final course would be to leave some of the unknown number +of men in its trailer to search the town on foot. Even that might not +be successful. But it wouldn't be a good idea for Lockley and Jill to +remain here, either. + +"We look for two-car garages," said Lockley. "It's not a good chance, +but it's all we've got. _If_ somebody had two cars, they might have +left one behind when they evacuated. I can jump an ignition switch if +necessary. Meanwhile we'll be moving out of town, which is a good idea +even if we do it on foot!" + +They ceased to use the streets with their dramatic contrast of vivid +lights with total shadows. They moved behind a row of what would be +considered mansions in Serena, Colorado. Sometimes they stumbled over +flower beds, and once there was a hose over which Jill tripped, and +once Lockley barked his shin on a garden wheelbarrow. Most of the +garages were empty or contained only tools and garden equipment. + +Then something made Lockley look up. A slender, truss-braced, mastlike +tower rose skyward. It began on the lawn of a house with wide porches. +There was a two-car garage with one wide door open. + +"A radio ham," said Lockley. "I wonder--" + +But he looked first in the garage. There was a car. It looked all +right. He climbed in and opened the door. The dome light came on. The +key was still in the ignition. He turned it and the gauge showed that +the gas tank was three-quarters full. This was unbelievable good +fortune. + +"They probably intended to use this and then changed their minds," +said Lockley. "I'll get the door open and attempt a little burglary. +Just one burglary with a prayer that he used a storage battery for +his power!" + +Breaking in was simple. He tried the windows opening on the main wide +porch. One window slid up. He went inside, Jill following. + +The ham radio outfit was in the cellar. Like most radio hams, this one +had battery-powered equipment as a matter of public responsibility. In +case of storm or disaster when power lines are down, the ham operators +of the United States can function as emergency communication systems, +working without outside power. This operator was equipped as +membership in the organization required. + +Lockley warmed up the tubes. He tuned to a general call frequency. He +began to say, "May Day! May Day! May Day!" in a level voice. This +emergency call has precedence over all other calls but S.O.S., which +has an identical meaning. But "May Day" is more distinct and +unmistakable when heard faintly. + +There were answers within minutes. Lockley snapped for them to stay +tuned while he called for others. He had half a dozen hams waiting +curiously when he began to broadcast what he wanted the world to know. + +He told it as briefly and as convincingly as he could. Then he said, +"Over" and threw the reception switch for questions. + +There were no questions. His broadcast had been jammed. Some other +station or stations were transmitting pure static with deafening +volume, evidently from somewhere nearby. Lockley could not tell when +it had begun. It could have been from the instant he began to speak. +It was very likely that not one really useful word had been heard +anywhere. + +But a direction finder could have betrayed his position. + + + + +CHAPTER 8 + + +It was a ticklish job getting the car out of the garage and into the +street. Lockley was afraid that starting the motor would make a noise +which in the silence of the town's absolute abandonment could be heard +for a long way. The grinding of the starter, though, lasted only for +seconds. It might make men listen, but they could hardly locate it +before the motor caught and ran quietly. Also, the trailer-truck was +still in motion and making its own noise. Of course it was probably +posting watchers and listeners here and there to try to find Lockley +and Jill. + +So Lockley backed the car into the street as silently as was possible. +He did not turn on the lights. He stopped, headed away from the area +in which the truck rumbled. He sent the car forward at a crawl. Then +an idea occurred to him and cold chills ran down his spine. It is +possible to use a short wave receiver to pick up the ignition sparks +of a car. Normally such sparkings are grounded so the car's own radio +will work. But sometimes a radio is out of order. It was +characteristic of Lockley's acquired distrust of luck and chance that +he thought of so unlikely a disaster. + +He eased the car into motion, straining his ears for any sign that the +truck reacted. Then he moved the car slowly away from the business +district. It required enormous self-control to go slowly. While among +the lighted streets the urge to flee at top speed was strong. But he +clenched his teeth. A car makes much less noise when barely in motion. +He made it drift as silently as a wraith under the trees and the +street lamps. + +They got out of town. The last of the street lamps was behind them. +There was only starlight ahead, and an unknown road with many turns +and curves. Sometimes there were roadsigns, dimly visible as +uninformative shapes beside the highway. They warned of curves and +other driving hazards, but they could not be read because Lockley +drove without lights. He left the car dark because any glare would +have been visible to the men of the trailer-truck for a very long way. + +Starlight is not good for fast driving, and when a road passes through +a wooded space it is nerve-racking. Lockley drove with foreboding, +every sense alert and every muscle tense. But just after a painful +progress through a series of curves with high trees on either side +which he managed by looking up at the sky and staying under the middle +of the ribbon of stars he could see, Lockley touched the brake and +stopped the car. + +"What's the matter?" asked Jill, as he rummaged under the instrument +panel. + +"I think," said Lockley, "that I must have damaged something in that +truck. Otherwise they'd have turned their beam on us just to get even. + +"But maybe they'll be able to make a repair. In any case there are +other beams. Those are probably stationary and the truck knows where +they are and calls by truck radio to have them shut off when it wants +to go by. That would work. Using the Wild Life truck was really very +clever." + +He wrenched at something. It gave. He pulled out a length of wire and +started working on one end of it. + +"If they guess we got a car," he observed, "they'll expect us to run +into a road block beam that would wreck the car and paralyze us. I'm +taking a small precaution against that. Here." He put the wire's end +into her hand. "It's the lead-in from this car's radio antenna. It +ought to warn us of beams across the road as my watch spring did in +the hills. Hold it." + +"I will," said Jill. + +"One more item," he said. He got out of the car and closed the door +quickly. He went to the back. There was the sound of breaking glass. +He returned, saying, "No brake lights will go on now. I'll try to do +something about that dome light." With a sharp blow he shattered it. +"Now we could be as hard to trail as that Wild Life truck was the +other night." + +Jill groped as the car got into motion again. + +"You mean it was--Oh!" + +"Most likely," agreed Lockley, "it was the thing that went out of the +park and occupied Maplewood, flinging terror beams in all directions. +Some of the truck's crew would have had footgear to make hoofprints. +They committed a token burglary or two. And there was the illusion of +aliens studying these queer creatures, men." + +They went on at not more than fifteen miles an hour. The car was +almost soundless. They heard insects singing in the night. There was a +steady, monotonous rumbling high above where Air Force planes +patrolled outside the Park. After a time Jill said, "You seemed +discouraged when you talked to that general." + +"I was," said Lockley. "I am. He played it safe, refused to admit that +anybody in authority over him could possibly be mistaken. That's sound +policy, and I was contradicting the official opinion of his superiors. +I've got to find somebody of much lower rank, or much higher. +Maybe--" + +Jill said in a strained voice, "Stop!" + +He braked. She said unsteadily, "Holding the wire, I smell that +horrible smell." + +He put his hand on the wire's end. He shared the sensation. + +"Terror beam across the highway," he said calmly. "Maybe on our +account, maybe not. But there was a side road a little way back." + +He backed the car. He'd smashed the backing lights, too. He guided +himself by starlight. Presently he swung the wheel and faced the car +about. He drove back the way he had come. A mile or so, and there was +another hard-surface road branching off. He took it. Half an hour +later Jill said quickly, "Brakes!" + +The road was blocked once more by an invisible terror beam, into which +any car moving at reasonable speed must move before its driver could +receive warning. + +"This isn't good," he said coldly. "They may have picked some good +places to block. We have to go almost at random, just picking roads +that head away from the Park. I don't know how thoroughly they can +cage us in, though." + +There was a flicker of light in the sky. Lockley jerked his head +around. It flashed again. Lightning. The sky was clouding up. + +"It's getting worse," he said in a strained voice. "I've been taking +every turn that ought to lead us away from the Park, but I've had to +use the stars for direction. I didn't think that soldiers would keep +us from getting away from here. I was almost confident. But what will +I do without the stars?" + +He drove on. The clouds piled up, blotting out the heavens. Once +Lockley saw a faint glow in the sky and clenched his teeth. He turned +away from it at the first opportunity. The glow could be Serena, and +he could have been forced back toward it by the windings of the +highway he'd followed without lights. Twice Jill warned him of beams +across the highway. Once, driven by his increasing anxiety, his brakes +almost failed to stop him in time. When the car did stop, he was aware +of faint tinglings on his skin. There were erratic flashings in his +eyes, too, and a discordant composite of sounds which by association +with past suffering made him nauseated. Perhaps this extra leakage +from the terror beam was through the metal of the car. + +When he got out of that terror beam the sky was three-quarters blacked +out and before he was well away from the spot there was only a tiny +patch of stars well down toward the horizon. There were lightning +flickers overhead. After a time he depended on them to show him the +road. + +Then the rain came. The lightning increased. The road twisted and +turned. Twice the car veered off onto the road's shoulders, but each +time he righted it. As time passed conditions grew worse. It was +urgent that he get as far as possible from Serena, because of the Wild +Life truck which could seize Jill and himself if its beam generators +were repaired, and whose occupants could murder them if they weren't. +But it was most urgent that he get away beyond the military cordon to +find men who would listen to his information and see that use was made +of it. Yet in driving rain and darkness, without car lights and daring +to drive only at a crawl, he might be completely turned around. + +"I think," he said at last, "I'll turn in at the next farm gate the +lightning shows us. I'll try to get the car into a barn so it won't +show up at daybreak. We might be heading straight back into the Park!" + +He did turn, the next time a lightning flash showed him a turn-off +beside a rural free delivery mailbox. There was a house at the end of +a lane. There was a barn. He got out and was soaked instantly, but he +explored the open space behind the wide, open doors. He backed the car +in. + +"So," he explained to Jill, "if we have a chance to move we won't have +to back around first." + +They sat in the car and looked out at the rain-filled darkness. There +was no light anywhere except when lightning glittered on the rain. In +such illuminations they made out the farmhouse, dripping floods of +water from its eaves. There was a chicken house. There were fences. +They could not see to the gate or the highway through the falling +water, but there had been solid woodland where they turned off into +the lane. + +"We'll wait," said Lockley distastefully, "to see if we are in a tight +spot in the morning. If we're well away--and I've no real idea where +we are--we'll go on. If not, we'll hide till dark and hope for stars +to steer by when we go." + +Jill said confidently, "We'll make it. But where to?" + +"To any place away from Boulder Lake Park, and where I'm a human being +instead of a crackpot civilian. To where I can explain some things to +people who'll listen, if it isn't too late." + +"It's not," said Jill with as much assurance as before. + +There was a pause. The rain poured down. Lightning flashed. Thunder +roared. + +"I didn't know," said Jill tentatively, "that you believed the +invaders--the monsters--had people helping them." + +"The overall picture isn't a human one," he told her. "But there's a +design that shows somebody knows us. For instance, nobody's been +killed. At least not publicly. That was arranged by somebody who +understood that if there was a massacre, we'd fight to the end of our +lives and teach our children to fight after us." + +She thought it over. "You'd be that way," she said presently. "But not +everybody. Some people will do anything to stay alive. But you +wouldn't." + +The rain made drumming sounds on the barn roof. Lockley said, "But +what's happened isn't altogether what humans would devise. Humans who +planned a conquest would know they couldn't make us surrender to them. +If this was a sort of Pearl Harbor attack by human enemies--and you +can guess who it might be--they might as well start killing us on the +largest possible scale at the beginning. If monsters with no +information about us landed, they might perpetrate some massacres with +the entirely foolish idea of cowing us. But there haven't been any +massacres. So it's neither a cold war trick nor an unadvised landing +of monsters. There's another angle in it somewhere. Monster-human +cooperation is only a guess. I'm not satisfied, but it's the best +answer so far." + +Jill was silent for a long time. Then she said irrelevantly, "You must +have been a good friend of ... of...." + +"Vale?" Lockley said. "No. I knew him, but that's all. He only joined +the Survey a few months ago. I don't suppose I've talked to him a +dozen times, and four of those times he was with you. Why'd you think +we were close friends?" + +"What you've done for me," she said in the darkness. + +He waited for a lightning flash to show him her expression. She was +looking at him. + +"I didn't do it for Vale," said Lockley. + +"Then why?" + +"I'd have done it for anyone," said Lockley ungraciously. + +In a way it was true, of course. But he wouldn't have gone up to the +construction camp to make sure that anyone hadn't been left behind. +The idea wouldn't have occurred to him. + +"I don't think that's true," said Jill. + +He did not answer. If Vale was alive, Jill was engaged to him; +although if matters worked out, Lockley would not be such a fool as to +play the gentleman and let her marry Vale by default. On the other +hand, if Vale was dead, he wouldn't be the kind of fool who'd try to +win her for himself before she'd faced and recovered from Vale's +death. A girl could forgive herself for breaking her engagement to a +living man, but not for disloyalty to a dead one. + +"I think," said Lockley deliberately, "that we should change the +subject. I will talk about why I went to the Lake after you when +everything has settled down. I had reasons. I still have them. I will +express them, eventually, whether Vale likes it or not. But not now." + +There was a long silence, while rain fell with heavy drumming noises +and the world was only a deep curtain of lightning-lighted droplets of +falling water. + +"Thanks," said Jill very quietly. "I'm glad." + +And then they sat in silence while the long hours went by. Eventually +they dozed. Lockley was awakened by the ending of the rain. It was +then just the beginning of gray dawn. The sky was still filled with +clouds. The ground was soaked. There were puddles here and there in +the barnyard, and water dripped from the barn's eaves, and from the +now vaguely visible house, and from the two or three trees beside it. + +Lockley opened the car door and got out quietly. Jill did not waken. +He visited the chicken house, and horrendous squawkings came out of +it. He found eggs. He went to the house, stepping gingerly from grass +patch to grass patch, avoiding the puddles between them. He found +bread, jars of preserves and cans of food. He inspected the lane. The +car's tracks had been washed out. He nodded to himself. + +He went back to the barn. There was still only dusky half-light. He +pulled the doors almost shut behind him, leaving only a four-inch gap +to see through. Now the car was safely out of sight and there was no +sign that any living being was near. + +"You closed the doors," said Jill. "Why?" + +He said reluctantly, "I'm afraid we're as badly off as we were at the +beginning. Unless I'm mistaken, we got turned around in that rainstorm +on those twisty roads, and the Park begins nearby. This isn't the +highway I drove up on to find you, the one where my car's wrecked. +This is another one. I don't think we're more than twenty miles from +the Lake, here. And that's something I didn't intend!" + +He began to unload his pockets. + +"I got something for us to eat. We'll just have to lie low until night +and fumble our way out toward the cordon, with the stars to guide us." + +There was silence, save for the lessened dripping of water. Lockley +was filled with a sort of baffled impatience with himself. He felt +that he'd acted like an idiot in trying to escape the evacuated area +by car. But there'd been nothing else to do. Before that he'd stupidly +been unsuspicious when the Wild Life truck came down a highway that +he'd known was blocked by a terror beam. And perhaps he'd been a fool +to refuse to discuss why he'd gone up to the construction camp to see +to her safety when by all the rules of reason it was none of his +business. + +The gray light paled a little. Through the gap between the barn doors, +he could see past the house. Then he could see the length of the lane +and the trees on the far side of the highway. + +He was laying out the food when suddenly he froze, listening. The +stillness of just-before-dawn was broken by the distant rumble of an +internal-combustion engine. It was a familiar kind of rumbling. It +drew nearer. Except for the singularly distinct impacts of drippings +from leaves and roof to the ground below, it was the only sound in all +the world. + +It became louder. Jill clenched her hands unconsciously. + +"I don't think there are any car tracks at the turn-off where we came +in," said Lockley in a level voice. "The rain should have washed them +out. It's not likely they're looking for us here anyhow. But I've only +got three bullets left in the pistol. Maybe you'd better go off and +hide in the cornfield. Then if things go wrong they'll believe I left +you somewhere." + +"No," said Jill composedly, "I'd leave tracks in the ploughed ground. +They'd find me." + +Lockley ground his teeth. He got out the pistol he'd taken from the +truck driver in the lighted room in Serena. He looked at it grimly. It +would be useless, but.... + +Jill came and stood beside him, watching his face. + +The rumbling of the truck was still nearer and louder. It diminished +for a moment where a curve in the road took the vehicle behind some +trees that deadened its noise. But then the sound increased suddenly. +It was very loud and frighteningly near. + +Lockley watched through the gap between the barn doors. He stayed +well back lest his face be seen. + +The trailer-truck with the Wild Life Control markings on it rumbled +past. It growled and roared. The noise seemed thunderous. Its wheels +splashed as they went through a puddle close by the gate. + +It went away into the distance. Jill took a deep breath of relief. +Lockley made a warning gesture. + +He listened. The noise went on steadily for what he guessed to be a +mile or more. Then they heard it stop. Only by straining his ears +could Lockley pick up the sound of an idling motor. Maybe that was +imagination. Certainly at any other less silent time he could not +possibly have heard it. Jill whispered, "Do you think--" + +He gestured for silence again. The distant heavy engine continued to +idle. One minute. Two. Three. Then the grinding of gears and the roar +of the engine once more. The truck went on. Its sound diminished. It +faded away altogether. + +"They got to a place where the road's blocked with a terror beam," +said Lockley evenly. "They stopped and called by short wave and the +beam was cut off, then they went past the block-point and undoubtedly +the beam was turned on again." + +He debated a decision. + +"We'll have breakfast," he said shortly. "We'll have to eat the eggs raw, +but we need to eat. Then we'll figure things out. It may be that we'd be +sensible to forget about cars and try to get to the cordon on foot, +robbing farmhouses of food on the way. There can't be too many ... +collaborators. And we could keep out of sight." + +He opened a jar of preserves. + +"But it would be better for you to be travelling by car, if tonight's +clear and there's starlight to drive by." + +Jill said practically, "There might be some news...." + +Her hands shook as she put the pocket radio on the hood of the car. +Lockley noticed it. He felt, himself, the strain of their long march +through the wilderness with danger in every breath they drew. And he +was shaken in a different way by the proof that humans were +cooperating fully with the invading monsters. It was unthinkable that +anybody could be a traitor not only to his own country but to all the +human race. He felt incredulous. It couldn't be true! But it obviously +was. + +The radio made noises. Lockley turned it in another direction. There +was music. Jill's face worked. She struggled not to show how she felt. + +The radio said, "_Special news bulletin! Special news bulletin! The +Pentagon announces that for the first time there has been practically +complete success in duplicating the terror beam used by the space +invaders at Boulder Lake! Working around the clock, teams of foreign +and American scientists have built a projector of what is an entirely +new type of electronic radiation which produces every one of the +physiological effects of the alien terror beam! It is low-power, so +far, and has not produced complete paralysis in experimental animals. +Volunteers have submitted themselves to it, however, and report that +it produces the sensations experienced by members of the military +cordon around Boulder Lake. A crash program for the development of the +projector is already under way. At the same time a crash program to +develop a counter to it is already showing promising results. The +authorities are entirely confident that a complete defense against the +no longer mysterious weapon will be found. There is no longer any +reason to fear that earth will be unable to defend itself against the +invaders now present on earth, or any reinforcements they may +receive!_" + +The newscast stopped and a commercial called the attention of +listeners to the virtues of an anti-allergy pill. Jill watched +Lockley's face. He did not relax. + +The broadcast resumed. With this full and certain hope of a defense +against the invasion weapon, said the announcer, it remained important +not to destroy the alien ship if it could be captured for study. The +use of atom bombs was, therefore, again postponed. But they would be +used if necessary. Meanwhile, against such an emergency, the areas of +evacuation would be enlarged. People would be removed from additional +territory so if bombs were used there would be no humans near to be +harmed. + +Another commercial. Lockley turned off the radio. + +"What do you think?" asked Jill. + +"I wish they hadn't made that broadcast," said Lockley. "If there were +only monsters involved and they didn't understand English, it would be +all right. But with humans helping them, it sets a deadline. If we're +going to counter their weapon, they have to use it before we finish +the job." + +After a moment he said bitterly, "There was a time, right after the +last big war, when we had the bomb and nobody else did. There couldn't +be a cold war then! There were years when we could destroy others and +they couldn't have fought back. Now somebody else is in that position. +They can destroy us and we can't do a thing. It'll be that way for a +week, or maybe two, or even three. It'll be strange if they don't take +advantage of their opportunity." + +Jill tried to eat the food Lockley had laid out. She couldn't. She +began to cry quietly. Lockley swore at himself for telling her the +worst, which it was always his instinct to see. He said urgently, +"Hold it! That's the worst that could happen. But it's not the most +likely!" + +She tried to control her tears. + +"We're in a fix, yes!" he said insistently. "It does look like there +may be a flock of other space ship landings within days. But the +monsters don't want to kill people. They want a world with people +working for them, not dead. They've proved it. They'll avoid +massacres. They won't let the humans who're their allies destroy the +people they want alive and useful." + +Jill clenched her fists. "But it would be better to be dead than like +that!" + +"But wait!" protested Lockley. "We've duplicated the terror beam. Do +you think they'll leave it at that? The men who know how to do it will +be scattered to a dozen or a hundred places, so they can't possibly +all be found, and they'll keep on secretly working until they've made +the beams and a protection against them and then something more deadly +still! We humans can't be conquered! We'll fight to the end of time!" + +"But you yourself," said Jill desperately, "you said there couldn't be +a defense against the beam! You said it!" + +"I was discouraged," he protested. "I wasn't thinking straight. Look! +With no equipment at all, I found out how to detect the stuff before +it was strong enough to paralyze us. You know that. The scientists +will have equipment and instruments, and now that they've got the beam +they'll be able to try things. They'll do better than I did. They can +try heterodyning the beam. They can try for interference effects. They +may find something to reflect it, or they can try refraction." + +He paused anxiously. She sobbed, once. "But other weapons--" + +"There may not be any. And there's bound to be some trick of +refraction that'll help. It thins out at the edges now. That's how we +get warning of it. It's refracted by ions in the air. That's why it +isn't a completely tight beam. Ions in the air act like drops of mist; +they refract sunshine and make rainbows after rain. And we got the +smell-effect first. That proves there's refraction." + +He watched her face. She swallowed. What he'd said was largely without +meaning. Actually, it wasn't even right. The evidence so far was that +the nerves of smell were more sensitive than the optic nerves or the +auditory ones, while nerves to bundles of muscle were less sensitive +still. But Lockley wasn't concerned with accuracy just now. He wanted +to reassure Jill. + +Then his eyes widened suddenly and he stared past her. He'd been +speaking feverishly out of emotion, while a part of his mind stood +aside and listened. And that detached part of his mind had heard him +say something worth noting. + +He stood stock-still for seconds, staring blankly. Then he said very +quietly, "You made me think, then. I don't know why I didn't, before. +The terror beam does scatter a little, like a searchlight beam in thin +mist. It's scattered by ions, like light by mist-droplets. That's +right!" + +He stopped, thinking ahead. Jill said challengingly, "Go on!" Again +what he'd said had little meaning to her, but she could see that he +believed it important. + +"Why, a searchlight beam is stopped by a cloud, which is many +mist-droplets in one place. It's scattered until it simply doesn't +penetrate!" Lockley suddenly seemed indignant at his own failure to +see something that had been so obvious all along. "If we could make a +cloud of ions, it should stop the terror beam as clouds stop light! We +could--" + +Again he stopped short, and Jill's expression changed. She looked +confident again. She even looked proud as she watched Lockley +wrestling with his problem, unconsciously snapping his fingers. + +"Vale and I," he said jerkily, "had electronic base-measuring +instruments. Some of their elements had to be buried in plastic +because otherwise they ionized the air and leaked current like a +short. If I had that instrument now--No. I'd have to take the plastic +away and it couldn't be done without smashing things." + +"What would happen," asked Jill, "if you made what you're thinking +about?" + +"I might," said Lockley. "I just possibly might make a gadget that +would create a cloud of ions around the person who carried it. And it +might reflect some of the terror beam and refract the rest so none got +through to the man!" + +Jill said hopefully, "Then tonight we go into a deserted town and +steal the things you need...." + +Lockley interrupted in a relieved voice, "No-o-o-o. What I need, I +think, is a cheese grater and the pocket radio. And there should be a +cheese grater in the house." + +He listened at the barn door gap, and then went out. Presently he was +back. He had not only a cheese grater but also a nutmeg grater. Both +were made of thin sheet metal in which many tiny holes had been +punched, so that sharp bits of torn metal stood out to make the +grating surface. Lockley knew that sharp points, when charged +electrically, make tiny jets of ionized air which will deflect a +candle flame. Here there were thousands of such points. + +He set to work on the car seat, pushing the pistol with its three +remaining bullets out of the way. The pistol was reserved for Jill in +case of untoward events, when it would be of little or no practical +value. + +He operated on the tiny radio with his pocket-knife to establish a +circuit which should oscillate when the battery was turned on. There +was induction, to raise the voltage at the peaks and troughs of the +oscillations. A transistor acted as a valve to make the oscillations +repeated surges of current of one sign in the innumerable sharp points +of the graters. And there was an effect he did not anticipate. The +ion-forming points were of minutely different lengths and patterns, so +the radiation inevitably accompanying the ion clouds was of minutely +varying wave lengths. The consequence of using the two graters was, of +course, that rather astonishing peaks of energy manifested themselves +in ultra-microscopic packages for a considerable distance from the +device. But Lockley did not plan that. It happened because of the +materials he had to use in lieu of something better. + +When it was finished he told Jill, "I can only check ion production +here. If it works, it ought to make a lighter-flame flicker when near +the points. If it does that, I'll go up the road to where the +trailer-truck stopped. I've a pretty good idea that the road's blocked +by a terror beam there." + +Absorbed, he threw the switch. And instantly there was a racking, +deafening explosion. The pistol on the car seat blew itself to bits, +smashing the windshield and ripping the cushion open. The three +cartridges in its cylinder had exploded simultaneously. + +Lockley seized a pitchfork. He stood savagely, ready for anything. +Powder smoke drifted through the barn. Nothing else happened. + +After long, tense moments, Lockley said slowly, "That could be another +weapon the monsters have turned on. It's been imagined. They could be +using a broadcast or a beam we haven't suspected to disarm the troops +of the cordon. They could have a detonator beam that sets off +explosives at a distance. It's possible. And if that's what they're +turning on they only have to sweep the sky and the bombers aloft will +be wiped out." + +But there were no sounds other than the slowly diminishing drip of +water from the barn roof, and the house eaves, and the few trees in +the barnyard. + +"Anyhow they've ruined our only weapon," said Lockley coldly. "It +would be a detonation beam setting off the cartridges. That would be a +perfect protection against atomic bombs, if the chemical explosive +that makes them go off could be triggered from a distance. Clever +people, these monsters!" + +Then he said abruptly, "Come on! It's ten times more necessary for us +to get to where somebody can make use of our information!" + +"Go where?" asked Jill, shaken once more. + +"We take to the woods until dark," said Lockley, "and meanwhile I'll +check this supposedly promising gadget--though it looks pretty feeble +if the monsters have a detonating beam--against the road blocking beam +up yonder. Come on!" + +He stuffed his pockets with food. He led the way. + +The morning had now arrived. The sun was visible, red at the eastern +horizon. + +"Walk on the grass!" commanded Lockley. + +There was no point in leaving footprints, though there was no reason +to believe the explosion on the car seat had been heard. Lockley, +indeed, considered that if the aliens had just used a previously +undisclosed weapon, there would be explosions of greater or lesser +violence all over the evacuated territory and all other areas within +its range. There wouldn't be many farmhouses without a shotgun put +away somewhere. There would be shotgun shells, too. If the aliens had +a detonator beam as well as one that produced the terror beam's +effects, then all hope of resistance was probably gone. + +They crossed to the house and moved alongside it. They went with +instinctive furtiveness out of the lane and quickly into the woodland +on the farther side. They were soaked almost immediately. Fallen +leaves clung to their shoes. Drooping branches smeared them with +wetness. Lockley went barely out of sight of the highway and then +trudged doggedly in the direction the Wild Life Control trailer-truck +had taken. He handed Jill the ribbon of bronze that had been the +mainspring of his watch. + +"We might pick up the beam from the wetness underfoot," he said, "but +we'll play it safe and use this too." + +They went on for a long way. Lockley fumed, "I don't like this! We +ought to be there--" + +"I think," said Jill, "I smell it." + +"I'll try it," said Lockley. + +He detected the jungle smell and its concomitant revolting odors. He +led Jill back. + +"Wait here, by this big tree stump. I'll be able to find you and +you're safe enough from the beam." + +He turned away. Jill said pleadingly, "Please be careful!" + +"A little while ago," he told her gloomily, "I felt that I had too +much useful information to take any chances with my life, let alone +yours. I'm not so sure of my importance now. But I think you still +need somebody else around." + +"I do!" said Jill. "And you know it! I'd much rather--" + +"I'll be back," he repeated. + +He went away, trailing the watch spring. + +He was extra cautious now. The smell recurred and grew stronger. He +began to feel the first faint flashes of light in his eyes. It was the +symptom which followed the smell when approaching a terror beam. Then +a faint, discordant murmur, originating in his own ears. He turned on +the device made of two graters and the elements of a pocket radio. The +smell ceased. The faint flashes of light stopped. There was no longer +a raucous sound. + +He turned off the ion producing device. The symptoms returned. He +turned it on and off. He took a step forward. He tested again. The +cloud of ions from the innumerable jagged points was invisible, but +somehow it refracted or reflected--in any case, neutralized--the +weapon of the beings at Boulder Lake. He went on and presently he felt +the very faintest possible tingling of his skin and heard the barest +whisper of a sound, and smelled the jungle reek as something so +diluted that he was hardly sure he smelled it. + +He went on, and those faint sensations ceased. Presently, impatient of +his own timorousness, he turned the device off again. He had walked +through the terror beam. + +He started back with the device turned on once more and at the point +where he'd felt the beam's manifestations faintly, he stopped to savor +his now seemingly useless triumph. If the monsters had a detonating +beam this meant nothing. Yet it could have meant everything. He paid +close attention and distinctly but weakly experienced the effect of +the terror beam. + +Then he didn't. Not at all. The sensations were cut off. + +He heard Jill cry out shrilly. He plunged toward the place where he +had left her. He raced. He leaped. Once he fell, and frantically swore +at the wet stuff that had caused him to slip. He reached the tree +stump and Jill was not there. He saw the saucer-sized tracks her feet +had made on the saturated fallen leaves. They led toward the road. + +He heard a car door slam and a motor roar. He plunged onward more +desperately than before. + +The motor raced away. And Lockley got out on the highway only in time +to see the rear of a brown-painted, military-marked car some three +hundred yards away. It swept around a curve of the highway and was +gone. It was going through the space where the road was blocked by a +terror beam, headed obviously for Boulder Lake. + +What had happened was self-evident. From her place beside the huge +stump she'd seen a military car approaching. And she and Lockley had +been trying to reach the cordon of troops around Boulder Lake. There +was no reason to distrust men in uniform or in a military car. She'd +run to flag it down. She had. By a coincidence, it was undoubtedly +where a carload of collaborating humans would have stopped to have the +road-blocking beam cut off by their monster allies. She'd approached +the stopped car. And something frightened her. She screamed. + +But she'd been pulled into the car, which went on before the beam +could come on again to stop it. + + + + +CHAPTER 9 + + +It was very likely that at that moment Lockley despised himself more +bitterly than any other man alive. He blamed himself absolutely for +Jill's capture. If there were humans acting with the alien invaders, +her fate would unquestionably be more horrible than at the hands of +the monsters alone. After all, there was one nation most likely to +deal with extra-terrestrial creatures to help them in the conquest of +earth, and its troops were not notorious for their kindly behavior to +civilians. + +And Jill was their captive. He'd been carried past the place where a +terror beam blocked the road. The military markings might mean the car +was stolen, or that its markings and paint were counterfeit. It seemed +certain that Jill had gone up to it in confidence that there could +only be American soldiers in such a car, and when near it found out +her mistake too late. + +These were not things that Lockley thought out in detail at the +beginning. He ran after the car like a mad man, unable to feel +anything but horror and so terrible a fury that it should have killed +its objects by sheer intensity. + +Presently he heard hoarse, gasping sounds. He realized that the sounds +were the breath going in and out of his own throat, while Jill was +carried farther and farther away from him in a car which traveled ten +yards to his one. He sobbed then, and suddenly he was strangely and +unnaturally calm. He was able to think quite coolly. The only +difference between this and normal thinking was that now he could +only think about one thing--full and complete and terrible revenge for +the crimes committed and to be committed against Jill. She would be +taken to Boulder Lake. So he would go to Boulder Lake, and somehow, in +some manner, he would destroy utterly all living beings there and +every trace of their coming. + +Which, of course, was both natural and unreasonable. But reason would +have been unnatural at such a time as this. + +He moved along the highway in a passion of ultimate resolve. In the +rest of the world, time passed without knowledge of his emotional +state. The rest of the world was suffering emotional agonies of its +own. + +The United States had become popular among peoples who disliked all +things American except those they were given free, and who continued +to dislike the givers. Now though, the United States had been invaded +from space by creatures using weapons of unprecedented type and +effect. If the United States were conquered, there was no other nation +likely to remain free. So a great deal of anti-Americanism faded under +pressure of an ardent desire for America to be successful in its +self-defense. + +Moreover, anticipating other alien landings which could take place +anywhere, the United States offered to share its stock of atom bombs +with any nation so invaded. American popularity increased. The fact +that the USSR made no such proposal also had its effect. The United +States invited scientists of every country to help in solving the +menace of the terror beam, and committed itself to share any +discoveries for defense against it with all the world. Again there was +an improvement in the public image of the United States abroad. + +But Lockley knew nothing of this. His pocket radio no longer existed +to give him news. It had been rebuilt into something else, whose most +conspicuous parts were cheese and nutmeg graters, slung over his +shoulder as he marched. But if he had known of changes in the +popularity of his country, he wouldn't have been interested. He could +fix his mind only on one subject and matters related to it. + +He tramped along the highway, possessed by a cold demon of hatred. He +was on foot for lack of a car. He was unarmed. At the moment he +believed that all the rest of humanity was disarmed, in effect if not +in fact. So he had no plans, only an infinite hatred. + +But because he would have to pass through terror beams to get at those +he meant to destroy, he realized that it was necessary to make sure +that he would be able to pass through them, that his equipment for +reaching Boulder Lake was in good order. It was still turned on. He +turned it off to be economical of its batteries. He went on, thinking +of only one subject, examining every possibility for revenge with a +passionate patience, undiscouraged because one idea after another was +plainly impossible, but continuing obsessively to think of others. + +He smelled the foetid odor, which cut through his absorption because +of its connotations. He turned on his device and went doggedly ahead. +He knew he had entered a terror beam by the faint perceptions which +came through the cloud of ions his instrument produced. Then they +ceased. He knew that the beam had been cut off. He heard a motor rev +up. A car or truck had stopped beyond the road-blocking beam and +waited for it to be cut off, as it had been. + +Lockley stepped into the woods hating the vehicle bitterly as it +approached, but wanting to save destruction for those where Jill had +been taken. + +He was hidden when the car appeared. It was a perfectly commonplace +car with a whip aerial at its rear. It came confidently along the +highway. A hundred yards from him, there were explosions. Smoke came +out of the open windows. The engine stopped and the car bucked crazily +and went into the ditch beside the highway. A man plunged out, +slapping at his leg. A revolver in its holster had exploded all its +shells. The leather holster had saved him from serious injury, but his +clothing was on fire. Other men, two of them, got out hastily. Things +had exploded in the back of the car, too. The three men swore +agitatedly. + +Then one of them said something which stimulated the others to frantic +flight down the highway away from the ditched car. The third man +limped anxiously after the faster-moving two. + +Lockley, watching and hating with undivided attention, knew when the +terror beam came on again. He felt it, very faint because of his +protection, but quite distinct. The explosions had taken place when +the car was in the area now covered again by the terror beam. The men +in the car, astonished and scorched, had fled because the beam was due +to come back on and they didn't want to be caught in it. + +Lockley noted that the human confederates of the monsters had no +protection against the beam to match his own. Perhaps the monsters +themselves were protected only near the projectors. This was an item +affecting his plans of revenge for Jill. He stored it away in his +mind. Then he realized that the weapons in the car had exploded just +like the pistol on his own seat cushion. The explosion was not +associated with the terror beam. There'd been no beam in action when +his own pistol blew up. It did not seem reasonable that if the +monsters possessed a detonation beam that they'd turn it on their own +confederates. + +No. Rational beings would do nothing so self-contradictory. + +Then Lockley looked down at the cheese grater-pocket radio device of +his own manufacture. He considered the fact that his own pistol had +exploded the instant he'd turned the gadget on. The weapons in the +other car detonated when that car was near him. + +He plodded onward thinking very clearly and precisely about the +matter. He even remembered to turn off his gadget because he would +need it to avenge Jill. But when he tried to think of any subject +unconnected with revenge, his mind became confused and agitated. + +Two miles along the highway, which had not yet turned to head in +toward Boulder Lake, there was a farmhouse. Lockley walked heavily to +the abandoned building. He found the door locked. Without conscious +thought, he forced it. He searched the closets. He found a shotgun and +half a box of shells. He considered them, then left the gun and all +the shells but three. He went out. Presently he laid a shotgun shell +down on the road. He paced off twenty-five yards and dropped another. +He dropped a third twenty-five yards farther on, and then carefully +counted off three hundred feet. The car had been just about that far +away when the explosions came. + +He turned on his device. Two of the three shells exploded smokily. The +farthest away did not explode. + +He did not rejoice. He went on without elation, but it became a part +of his painstaking search for vengeance that he knew he could set off +explosives within a hundred and twenty-five yards of himself. There +was something about the device he'd constructed which made explosives +detonate, up to a distance of a little over one hundred yards. He felt +no curiosity about it, though it was simple enough. The heterodyning +of extremely saw-toothed waves produced peaks of energy until the +saw-teeth began to smooth out. There were infinitesimal spots in +which, for infinitesimal lengths of time, energy conditions comparable +to sparks existed. This had not been worked out in advance, but the +reason was clear. + +He came to the place where the main highway to Boulder Lake branched +off from the road he was following. He turned into it, walking +doggedly. + +Three miles toward the lake, an engine sounded from behind him. He got +off the highway and turned the switch. A half-ton truck came trundling +openly along the road. It came closer and closer. + +Small-arm ammunition exploded. The engine stopped and the light truck +toppled over onto its side. Lockley did not approach it. Its driver +might not be dead, and he would not find it possible to leave any man +alive who was associated with Jill's captors. He passed the truck and +went on up the highway. + +Seven miles up the road a truck came down from Boulder Lake. Lockley +placed himself discreetly out of sight. He turned on his instrument. A +gun flew to pieces with a thunderous detonation. The truck crashed. It +was interesting to Lockley that automobile engines invariably went +dead at about the time that explosives went off. The fact was, of +course, that ionized air is more or less conductive. In an ion cloud +the spark plugs shorted and did not fire in the cylinders. + +There were two other vehicles which essayed to pass Lockley as he +went on up the long way to the lake. Both came from the interior of +the Park. He left them wrecked beside the highway. Between times, he +walked with a dogged grimness toward the place where Vale had been the +first to report a thing come down from the sky. That had been how many +days ago? Three? Four? + +Then Lockley had been a quiet and well-conducted citizen inclined to +pessimism about future events, but duly considerate of the rights of +others. Now he'd changed. He felt only one emotion, which was hatred +such as he'd never imagined before. He had only one motive, which was +to take total and annihilating vengeance for what had been done to +Jill. + +He plodded on and on. He had to make a march of not less than twenty +miles from the Park's beginning. He journeyed on foot because there +were terror beams to pass and automobile engines did not run when his +protective device operated. He could not arm himself from the cars +that ditched, because all chemical explosive weapons and their +ammunition blew at the same time. He was a minute figure among the +mountains, marching alone upon a winding highway, moving resolutely to +destroy--alone--the invaders from outer space and the men who worked +with them for the conquest of earth. For his purpose he carried the +strangest of equipment, a device made of a pocket radio and a cheese +grater. + +He had food in his pockets, but he could not eat. During the afternoon +he became impatient of its weight and threw it away. But he thirsted +often. More than once he drank from small streams over which the +highway builders had made small concrete bridges. + +At three in the afternoon a truck came up from behind. Here he +trudged between steep cliffs which made him seem almost a midget. The +highway went through a crevice between adjoining mountainsides. There +was no place for him to conceal himself. When he heard the engine, he +stopped and faced it. The truck had picked up many men from wrecked +cars along its route. There were scorched and scratched and wounded +men, hurt by the explosion of their firearms. The truck brought them +along and overtook Lockley. + +He waited very calmly since it did not seem likely that they would +realize that one man had caused the crashes. The driver of the truck +with the picked-up men did not even think of such a thing. Lockley +seemed much more likely the victim of still another wreck. + +The overtaking truck slowed down. There would be no strangers in +Boulder Lake Park. There would only be the task force aiding the +monsters, as Lockley reasoned it out. So the truck slowed, preparatory +to taking Lockley aboard. + +At a hundred and twenty-five yards from Lockley, weapons in the truck +cab blew themselves violently apart. The engine, stopped in gear, +acted as a violently applied brake. The truck swerved off the highway. +It turned over and was still. + +Lockley turned and walked on. He considered coldly that it was +perfectly safe for him to go on. There were no weapons left behind +him. The men themselves were shaken up. They would attempt to make no +trouble beyond a report of their situation and a plea for help. The +report could be made by the radio, which was not smashed. + +Half an hour later, Lockley felt the tingling which meant that his +instrument was protecting him from a terror beam. The tingling lasted +only a short time, but fifteen minutes later it came back. Then it +returned at odd intervals. Five minutes--eight--ten--three--six--one. +Each time the terror beam should have paralyzed him and caused intense +suffering. A man with no protective device would have had his nerves +shattered by torment coming so violently at unpredictable intervals. + +Lockley tried to reason out why this nerve-wracking application of the +terror beam hadn't been used before. To an unprotected man it would be +worse than continuous pain. No living man could remain able to resist +any demand if exposed to such torture. + +The beam was evidently swung at random intervals, and the phenomenon +lasted for an hour and a half. Anyone but Lockley behind a cloud of +ions would have been reduced to shivering hysteria. Then, suddenly, +the beamings stopped. But Lockley left his device in operation. + +Half an hour later still--close to five o'clock--it appeared that the +invaders assumed that any enemy should have been softened up for +capture. They sent an expedition to find out what had happened to +their trucks and cars. + +Lockley saw four cars and a light truck in close formation moving +toward him from the Lake. They were close, as if for mutual +protection. They moved steadily, as if inviting the fate that had +overtaken others. The short wave reports from smashed trucks seemed +improbable to them, but the expedition was equipped to investigate +even such unlikely happenings. + +The four cars in the lead contained five men each. Each man was armed +with a rifle containing a single cartridge in its chamber and none in +its magazine. The rifles pointed straight up. There was more +ammunition in the light truck behind, and it was in clips ready for +use, but the truck body was of iron. If that ammunition detonated, it +could do no harm. If it did not, it would be available for use against +the single man mentioned by the driver of the last truck to be +wrecked. + +But Lockley saw them coming. They came sedately down a long straight +stretch of road. He climbed a rocky wall beside the highway to a +little ravine that led away from the road. He posted himself where he +was extremely unlikely to be seen. Then he waited. + +The cavalcade of cars appeared. It drove briskly toward Lockley at +something like thirty miles an hour. Perhaps ten yards separated the +lead car from the second. The truck was a trifle closer to the four +man-carrying vehicles. They swept along, every man alert. They would +pass forty feet below Lockley. + +He did nothing. His device was already turned on. He watched in +detached calm. + +The lead car stopped as if it had run into a brick wall, while rifles +inside it blew holes in its top. The second car crashed into it, +rifles detonating. The third car. The fourth. The truck piled into the +others with a gigantic flare and furious report, each separate brass +cartridge case exploding in the same instant. The truck became scrap +iron. + +Lockley went away along the small ravine. From now on he would avoid +the highway. He estimated that he would arrive at Boulder Lake itself +about half an hour after dark. It occurred to him that then Jill would +have been a prisoner of the invaders for something more than twelve +hours, at least ten of them at their headquarters. + +Before he began the climb that would take him to the invaders, Lockley +stopped at a small stream. + +He drank thirstily. + + + + +CHAPTER 10 + + +There was a three-day-old moon in the sky when the last colors faded +in the west. When darkness fell it was already low. It gave little +light; not much more than the stars alone. It did help Lockley while +it lasted however. He knew the terrain about Boulder Lake but not in +detail. And it would not be wise for him to move openly to wreak +destruction on the enemies of his nation. + +He used the moonlight for his approach by the least practical route to +the lake. When it dimmed and went behind the mountains, he continued +to climb, sliding dangerously, then descend and climb again as the +rough going demanded. His mind was absorbed with reflections upon what +he meant to do. The wrecks on the highway would have given notice to +the invaders that he could do damage. They would take every possible +precaution against him. + +It was typical of Lockley that he painstakingly imagined every +obstacle that might be put in his way. During the last half hour of +his scrambling travel, for example, he was tormented by a measure his +enemies might have used to make him advertise his presence. If they +simply laid rifle cartridges on the ground at intervals of twenty-five +or fifty yards, he could not cross that line with his device in +operation without blowing up those shells. It was a possible +countermeasure that caused him to sweat with worry. + +But it wasn't thought of by anyone else. To contrive it, a man would +have to know how the detonation field worked and how far it extended. +Nobody but Lockley knew. Therefore no one could contrive this defense +against him. + +He worked his way to Boulder Lake's back door through brushwood and +over boulders. Presently he looked down upon his destination. To his +right and left rocky masses were silhouetted against the starry sky. +He gazed down on the lake and the shoreline where the hotel would be +built, and the places where roads came out of the wilderness. + +There were changes since the time he'd looked down from Vale's survey +post and before the terror beam captured him. He catalogued them +mentally, but the sight before him was intolerable. Everything he saw, +here where space monsters were believed to hold sway, was in reality +the work of men. Rage filled him at the sight. Hatred. Fury.... + +In the rest of the world an entirely different sort of emotion was +felt about the subject of the invaders. The United States had +announced to all the world that American and other scientists, working +together, had solved the mystery of the alien weapon. They had +produced a duplicate of the terror beam. It was no less effective and +no less an absolute weapon than the invaders'. And a defense had been +found which was complete. It was being rushed into production. The +experimental counter beam generators would be moved into position to +frustrate and defeat the monsters who had landed upon earth. Military +detachments, protected by the counter generators, would move upon +Boulder Lake at dawn. By sunset tomorrow the aliens would be dead or +captive, and their ship would undoubtedly be in the hands of +scientists for study. + +Moreover, the United States would provide counter weapons for other +nations. In no more than months every continent and nation on earth +would be equipped to defy any alien landing that might take place. +The world would be able to defend itself. It would be equipped to do +so. And this was the resolve of the United States because the world +could not exist half free and half enslaved by creatures from a +distant planet. The news poured out from all sources. The alien weapon +was understood and now could be defied. Soon all the world would be +provided with counter weapons. It was necessary for all the world to +be prepared and prepared it would be. + +This was the information which made all the world rejoice, though not +yet at ease because aliens still occupied a tiny part of the earth. +But all the world was eager for confirmation of the news it had just +received. + +Lockley had no such soothing anticipations. He shook with fury because +what he saw before him was so appalling as to be almost unbelievable. + +It was not dark in the space he looked down upon. There were bright +floodlights placed here and there to drench a large area with light. +There were few figures in sight. But what the floodlights showed made +Lockley quiver with hatred. + +The floodlights were of typically human type. There were vehicles +parked on a level grassy space. They were of human manufacture. There +was no space ship in the lake, but there was a three-stage rocket set +up, ready for firing. It was of the kind used by humans to put +artificial satellites into orbit. Lockley even knew its designation, +and that it used the new solid fuels for propulsion. + +In the lair of the creatures from outer space there was nothing from +outer space. There was nothing in view which was alien or unearthly or +extra-terrestrial. And Lockley made inarticulate growling sounds +because he saw with absolute clarity and certainty that there never +had been anything from outer space at this spot. + +There were no monsters. There never had been. And the truth was more +horribly enraging than the deception had been. + +Because this could mean the death of the world. This was an attempt to +fight the last war on earth in disguise. Humans had posed as non-human +beings so that America would fight against phantoms while its great +military rival pretended to help and actually stabbed from behind. + +It was completely logical, of course. An admitted attack by terror +beams in the form of death rays would involve retaliation by America. +Against a human enemy great, roaring missiles could circle earth to +plunge down upon that enemy's cities to turn them and their +inhabitants into incandescent gas. An attack known to be by humans and +upon humans must touch off the world's last war in which every living +thing might die. No conceivable success at the beginning could prevent +full retaliation. But if the attack were believed to be from space, +then American weapons and valor would be spent against creatures which +were no more than ghosts. + +Lockley moved forward. Only he could know the situation as it +presented itself here. Even vengeance for Jill should be put aside, if +it called for action irrelevant to this state of things. But it did +not. A full and terrible revenge for her required exactly the action +the coolest of cold-blooded resolutions would suggest be taken now. +And Lockley moved on and downward to take it. + +He began to crawl downhill toward the lights, unaware that there were +some gaps in his picture of the total scene. For example, these lights +could be detected by aircraft overhead. The fact did not occur to +Lockley. He was not given pause by the relaxation of the enemy's +disguise so far as air observation was concerned. He didn't think of +it. He moved on. + +He drew near the lighted area. He did not walk, he crawled. He began +to listen with fury-sharpened ears. If he could get close to that huge +rocket, close enough to detonate its solid fuel stores.... + +That would be at once revenge and expedience. If the rocket's fuel +blew up instead of burning as intended, it would annihilate the camp. +It would wipe out every living creature present. But there would be +fragments left by the explosion. There would be corpses. There would +be wreckage. And that wreckage and those corpses would be unmistakably +human. The last war on earth might not be avoided, but at the worst it +would be fought against America's actual enemy and not against +imaginary monsters. + +It was worth dying to accomplish even that. But Jill.... + +Lockley's progress was infinitely slow, but he needed to take the +greatest pains. He listened carefully. + +He heard the faint high roaring of the planes overhead. They were far +away. There were sounds of insects, and the cries of night birds, and +the rustling of leaves and foliage. + +There was another sound. A new sound. It was inexplicable. It was a +strange and intermittent muttering. There was a certain irregular +rhythm to it, a familiar rhythm. + +He crawled on. + +There was movement suddenly, off to his left. Then it stopped. It +could be a man on watch against him simply shifting his position. +Lockley froze, and then went on with even greater caution. He felt +the ground before him for small twigs that might crack under his +weight. + +The muttering continued. Presently Lockley realized that it was a +human voice. It was resonant and with many overtones, but still too +faint for him to distinguish words. + +He crossed a slight rise that had much brushwood. The brushwood grew +in clumps and he circled them with a patient caution foreign to his +feelings. + +The muttering changed and went on. Lockley pressed himself to the +ground. Men went past him a hundred feet away. He saw them in outline +against the illuminated parked cars and trucks and in the space around +the huge rocket. They carried no rifles, probably no firearms at all. +Lockley's march up the highway had warned them of the uselessness of +guns, at least at short range. They were watching for him now. Perhaps +these men were relieving other watchers on the hillside. + +He saw other men. They seemed to move restlessly around the lighted +area. + +The muttering was louder now. He could almost catch the words. He made +another hundred yards toward the rocket and the voice changed again. +Then he was dazed. The voice was speaking to him! Calling him by name! + +_"Lockley! Lockley! Don't do anything crazy! Everything can be +explained! You'll recognize my voice. You talked to me on the +telephone from Serena!_" + +Lockley did recognize the voice. It was that of the general who'd +sounded pompous and indignant as he refused to listen to Lockley's +statements. Now, coming out of many loudspeakers and echoing hollowly +from cliffs, it was the same voice but with an intonation that was +persuasive and forthright. + +"_You startled me_," said the voice crisply. "_You'd found out there +were humans involved in this business. It was important that the fact +be suppressed. I tried to browbeat you, which was a mistake. While I +was talking to you your suspicion was reported on short wave by the +Wild Life driver. I tried to overawe you. You're the wrong kind of man +for that. But everything can be explained. Everything! Here's Vale to +prove it!_" + +There was only an instant's pause. Then Vale's voice came out of the +loudspeakers spread all about. + +"_Lockley, this is Vale. The whole thing's faked. There's a good +reason for it, but you stumbled on the facts. They had to be kept +secret. I didn't even tell Jill. This isn't treason, Lockley. We +aren't traitors! Come out and I'll explain everything. Here's +Sattell._" + +And Sattell's voice boomed against the hills. + +"_Vale's right, Lockley! I didn't know what was up. I was fooled as +much as anybody. But it's all right! It's perfectly all right! When +you understand you'll realize that you had to be deceived just as I +was. Come on out and everything will be explained to your +satisfaction. I promise!_" + +Lockley grimaced. How did Sattell get up here? And the general in +command of the cordon? More than that, why did they call his name +instead of simply trying to kill him? Why post watchers on the +hillsides if they were anxious to explain and not to murder? How could +they hope to deceive him after Jill.... + +There was a pause, and then what was evidently considered a decisive +message came. It was Jill's voice, weary and desperate. It said, +"_Please come out and listen! Please come and let them explain +everything. They can do it. I understand and I believe them. It's +true. It's not treason. I--I beg you to come out and let them tell +you why all this has happened...._" + +Her voice trailed off. It had trembled. It was tense. It was strained. +And Lockley cursed softly, shaking with rage. Then the first voice +returned, "_Lockley! Lockley! Don't do anything crazy! Everything can +be explained. You'll recognize my voice. You talked to me on the +telephone from Serena._" + +This voice repeated, word for word and intonation for intonation, +exactly what it had said before. The other voices followed in the same +order. They were taped. + +In Lockley's state of mind, the taping took away all authority from +the voices. Jill, in particular, sounded as she might have if torture +had been used to break her will and force her to say what her captors +wished. She could not put any warning into it, because she could have +been forced to repeat and repeat the message until her captors were +satisfied. + +That would all be avenged now. All of it. And Jill would be grateful +to Lockley even if they never saw each other again; grateful for the +monstrous blast that would wipe this place clean of living creatures. + +Lockley suddenly saw a way by which his vengeance could be increased +by just a little. It could be made even more satisfying and just. +Hiding under brushwood while the voices tirelessly repeated their +recorded persuasion, he made a very simple device. It switched onto +the instrument he carried. If his hand clenched, it would go on. If +his hand relaxed, it would go on. So if he could get within a hundred +and twenty-five yards of the rocket he could show himself and let them +know what waited for them, and why. + +With infinite patience he got to a place almost near the circle of +unarmed guards about the rocket. He waited. The guards were tense. +They did not like trying to protect something with no weapons. They +were jumpy. The endlessly repeated messages booming into the night +frayed their nerves. They were plainly on edge. + +Their tenseness made the oldest trick in the world serve Lockley's +purpose. He threw a stone from an especially dark shadow. It struck +and bounced upon another stone, and it created a rustling of brushwood +at a place distant from Lockley. And the unarmed guards plunged for +that place to seize whatever or whoever had made the disturbance. + +They were too eager. They stumbled upon each other. + +And Lockley ran, and a voice cried out in terror. And then Lockley +stood with his back to the rocket's lower parts, and he waved the +cheese grater derisively and shouted. + +Then there was stillness. Only the booming voice from the speakers +went on. It happened to be Sattell's voice. + +"_ ... all right. It's perfectly all right. When you understand you'll +realize that you had to be deceived as I was. It was necessary. Come +out and everything--_" + +Somebody cut off the recorder. There was a moment of blank indecision, +and then a man in uniform with two general's stars on his shoulders +came out of somewhere and walked to face Lockley. + +"Ah, Lockley!" he said briskly. "That's the thing you smash cars and +explode ammunition with, eh? Do you think it will blow the rocket?" + +"I'm going to try it!" said Lockley. "Listen." He showed how anything +that could be done to him would close the switch one way or the other. +"I wanted you to know before I blow it!" he said fiercely. "Where's +Jill? Jill Holmes? One of your cars picked her up and brought her +here. Where is she?" + +"We sent her," said the general, "over to the construction camp, in +case you managed to get in the exact situation you're in. In other +words, she's safe. She'll be coming shortly, though. She was to be +notified the instant you appeared--if the rocket didn't blast as your +greeting." + +Lockley ground his teeth. + +"We'll have this settled before she gets here!" + +Vale appeared. He walked forward and stood beside the general. + +"We did a job that was several times too good, Lockley," he said +ruefully. "I'd rehearsed my song-and-dance until we thought it was +perfect. What made you suspicious, Lockley? Did you notice we kept the +communicator aimed right so you'd hear through to the end? A fine +point, that. We worried about it." + +The headlights of a car moved against a mountainside. + +"You see," said Vale, "the thing had to be done this way! Sattell +swore a blue streak when it was explained to him. He felt he'd been +made a fool of. But there are some things that can't be handled +forthrightly!" + +Lockley felt physically ill. Jill had been--still was--engaged to +Vale. She'd been anxious about him. She'd been loyal to him. And he +was helping the invaders! He opened his mouth to speak bitterly, when +Sattell appeared. He lined up beside the general and Vale. + +"They fooled me too, Lockley," he said wryly. "But it's all right. +They had to. They thought you were fooled. Those three men in the box +with you the other day, they said you were fooled, too. And they're +sharp secret service men!" + +"You're very convincing, aren't you?" he raged. "But--" + +"You believe," said Sattell, "I've joined up with spies and traitors. +You believe...." + +He outlined, with precision, exactly what Lockley did believe; that +phantom monsters were to be credited with waging war against America +while another nation actually murdered Americans. It was a remarkably +accurate picture of Lockley's state of mind. + +"But that's all wrong!" insisted Sattell. "This is a quick trick by +our own people for our own safety. For the benefit of all the world. +It's a trick to forestall just what I described!" + +The far away headlights drew nearer. But no car could have come from +the construction camp as quickly as this. + +"The fact is," said the general, "that our spies tell us that another +very great nation has developed this beam we've been demonstrating to +all the world. So did we. And we couldn't use it, but they would! If +they didn't use it against us, they'd use it for any sort of emergency +dirty trick. So we made up this invasion to persuade every country on +earth to arm itself against this particular weapon. Nothing less than +monsters in space would justify arming, in the eyes of some +politicians! Of course, they'll arm against us as well as--anybody +else." + +He spoke matter-of-factly. A glance at Lockley's face would have told +him that persuasiveness would not work. + +"This trick, with the defense we intended to reveal," the general +added, "should mean that a very nasty weapon won't ever be used, +either to start or end a war. Maybe the war won't occur because we've +said there are monsters who fly around in space ships." + +Lockley had a confused impression that he was dreaming this. It was +not the way things should happen! This was not true! When he squeezed +or released the improvised switch in his hand, the rocket behind him +would disappear in a monstrous flame, and he and the three men who +faced him would, vanish, and there would be an explosion crater here +and a shattered mass of wrecked cars-- + +"It was an interesting job," said Vale. "The Army dumped a hundred +tons of high explosive into the lake. The two radars that reported a +ship in space were arranged to be operated by two special men, who got +their orders directly from the President. We picked a day with full +cloud cover; the radar operators inserted their faked tapes and made +their reports; and the Army set off the hundred-ton explosion in the +lake. From there on, it was just a matter of using the terror beam." + +"I mention," said the general mildly, "that not one human being has +been killed by anything we've done. Would you expect traitors to be so +careful? Or spies?" + +Lockley said thickly, "You stand there arguing. You're trying to make +me believe you. But there's Jill! What's happened to her? How did you +make her record that tape? Where's Jill? She won't tell me it's all +right!" + +Headlights swept up to the floodlit space. The car stopped. + +Jill came into view. She saw Lockley, standing against the rocket's +base. She ran. + +She stood beside the general and Vale and Sattell. She looked worn and +desperately anxious. + +"What have they done to you?" demanded Lockley fiercely. + +She shook her head. + +"N-nothing. I couldn't stay at the camp when I was so sure you'd come +to try to help me. So I came here. I don't know what they've told you +yet, but it's all right. We were fooled as the world has to be. +Believe it! Please believe it!" + +"What have they done to you?" he repeated terribly. + +"What have they done to the world?" demanded Jill. "They've made every +nation look to us as the defender of their freedom. And we are! +They've made everybody ready to fight against more monsters if they +come, and to fight against men if they try to enslave them with the +terror beam or anything else! Would traitors have done that?" + +Lockley knew that he had to decide. It was an unbearable +responsibility. He was not convinced, even by Jill. But he was no +longer certain that he'd been right. + +"Why didn't you kill me?" he demanded. "I could have been shot down +from a distance. You didn't have to come close to talk to me. If the +rocket blew, what would it matter?" + +"You've got a protection against the terror beam," said the general +matter-of-factly. "So have we. But ours weighs two tons. Yours can be +carried without being a burden. And--" his eyes went to the unlikely +cheese grater over Lockley's shoulder--"and yours detonates +explosives. If we can equip the world with those, Lockley, we'll have +peace!" + +Lockley thought of a decisive test. He grimaced. + +"You want me to risk being a traitor! All right, what's in it for me? +What am I offered?" + +The general shrugged, his eyes hardening. Vale spread out his hands. +Sattell snorted. Jill moistened her lips. Lockley turned upon her. + +"You want me to believe," he said harshly. "What do you offer if I +turn over the thing to these men you say are honest men and neither +spies or traitors. What do you offer?" + +She stared at him. Then she said quietly, "Nothing." + +Lockley hesitated once more, for a long instant. But that was the +right answer. Nobody who'd been bought or bribed or frightened into +being a traitor would have thought of it. + +"That," said Lockley, "by a strange coincidence happens to be my +price." + +He ripped away a wire. He flung the queer combination of pocket radio +and cheese and nutmeg graters to the general. + +"I'll explain later how it works," he said wearily, "--if I haven't +made a mistake." + + * * * * * + +After a suitable time the general came to him. Lockley was convinced, +now. The reaction of the men who'd been guards and truck drivers and +the like was conclusive. They regarded him with a certain cordial +respect which was not the reaction of either traitors or invaders. + +"We've been checking that little device, Lockley," said the general +happily. "It's perfect for our purposes! So much better than a two-ton +generator to interfere with and cancel the terror beams! Marvelous! +And do you know what it means? With all the world believing we've been +attacked from space, and with our great show of taking back Boulder +Lake--" + +"How will you manage that?" asked Lockley, without too much interest. + +"The rocket," said the general, beaming. "When troops start into the +Park, the rocket takes off. It heads for empty space. And we explain +that the aliens went away when they found their weapon useless and we +started to get rough with them!" + +"Oh," said Lockley listlessly. + +"But the really beautiful thing," the general told him, "is your +gadget! They can be made by millions. Ridiculously cheap, they tell +me. Everybody in the world will want one, and we'll pass them out. No +government could stop that! Not even Russia! But--d'you see, Lockley?" + +Lockley shook his head. He always had a tendency to look on the dark +side of future events. The future did not look bright to him. + +"Don't you see?" demanded the general, chuckling. "They detonate +explosives, those little gadgets! There's no harm in that! Where +explosives are used in industry you've only to make sure that nobody +turns one on too close. In nine-tenths of the world, anyhow, civilians +aren't allowed to have guns. But think of the consequences there!" + +Lockley was weary. He was dejected. The general grinned from ear to +ear. + +"Why, when these are distributed, even the secret police can't go +armed! What price dictators then? For that matter, what price +soldiers? The cold war ends, Lockley, because there couldn't be a +conquering army in the modern sense. The tanks wouldn't run. The cars +would stall. And the guns--An invasion would have to be made with +horse-drawn transport and the troops armed with bows and spears. That +amounts to disarmament, Lockley! A consummation devoutly to be wished! +I'm going to look forward to a ripe old age now. I never could +before!" + + * * * * * + +Presently Lockley talked to Jill. She was constrained. She seemed +uneasy. Lockley felt that there wasn't much to say, now that Vale was +alive and well and there was no more danger for her. He offered his +hand to say good-bye. + +"I think," she said with a little difficulty, "I think I should tell +you I'm not--engaged any longer. I--told him I--wouldn't want to be +married to someone whose work made him keep secrets from me." + +Lockley tensed. He said incredulously, "You're not going to marry +Vale?" + +She said nervously. + +"No-o-o. I've told him." + +Lockley swallowed. + +"What did he say?" + +"He--didn't like it," said Jill. "But he understood. I explained +things. He said--he said to congratulate you." + +Lockley made an appropriate movement. She wept quietly, held close in +his arms. + +"I was so afraid you didn't--you wouldn't--" + +Lockley took appropriate measures to comfort her and to assure her +that he did and he would, forever and ever. A very long time later he +asked interestedly, "What did you say to Vale when he asked you to +congratulate me?" + +"I said," said Jill comfortably, "that I would if things worked out +all right. And they have. I congratulate you, darling. Now how about +congratulating me?" + + * * * * * + +The rocket took off and went away into emptiness. This was near dawn, +when military announcements of the reoccupation of Boulder Lake were +being passed out to the news media. As much of the public as was awake +was informed that the monstrous aliens had fled from earth, their +intentions frustrated by the work of scientists. It wasn't necessary +for a large force to march in. A special detail took over at the lake +itself. Curiously enough, it seemed to be already there when the +question arose. It would report a regrettable absence of alien +artifacts by which the monsters might be kept in mind. + +But there would be reminders. Later bulletins would report that the +United States was putting into quantity production the small, +individual protective devices which defied the terror beam and would +supply them to all the world. There could not be greater friendship +than that! The United States also proposed a world wide alliance for +defense against future attacks by space monsters, with pooled armament +and completely cooperative governments. + +The world, obviously, would unite against monsters. And people in a +posture of defense against enemies from the stars obviously wouldn't +fight each other. + +And there were some people who were pleased. They knew about the +possibilities of the small gadgets, brought down in production to the +size of a pack of cigarettes. Knowing what they could do, they waited +very interestedly to see what would happen in certain nations when +secret police couldn't carry firearms and soldiers could only be armed +with spears. + +They expected it to be very interesting indeed. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Operation Terror, by William Fitzgerald Jenkins + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OPERATION TERROR *** + +***** This file should be named 17870.txt or 17870.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/8/7/17870/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Geoffrey Kidd, Sankar Viswanathan, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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