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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Second Landing, by Floyd Wallace
+
+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: Second Landing
+
+Author: Floyd Wallace
+
+Release Date: March 30, 2008 [EBook #24958]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SECOND LANDING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h1><big>SECOND LANDING</big></h1>
+
+<h2>By FLOYD WALLACE</h2>
+
+<div class="tease"><b><i>A gentle fancy for the Christmas Season&mdash;an
+oft-told tale with a wistful twistful of Something
+that left the Earth with a wing and a prayer.</i></b></div>
+
+<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">Earth</span> was so far away that
+it wasn't visible. Even the
+sun was only a twinkle. But this
+vast distance did not mean that
+isolation could endure forever.
+Instruments within the ship intercepted
+radio broadcasts and,
+within the hour, early TV signals.
+Machines compiled dictionaries
+and grammars and began
+translating the major languages.
+The history of the planet was
+tabulated as facts became available.</p>
+
+<p>The course of the ship changed
+slightly; it was not much out of
+the way to swing nearer Earth.
+For days the two within the ship
+listened and watched with little
+comment. They had to decide
+soon.</p>
+
+<p>"We've got to make or break,"
+said the first alien.</p>
+
+<p>"You know what I'm in favor
+of," said the second.</p>
+
+<p>"I can guess," said Ethaniel,
+who had spoken first. "The place
+is a complete mess. They've never
+done anything except fight
+each other&mdash;and invent better
+weapons."</p>
+
+<p>"It's not what they've done,"
+said Bal, the second alien. "It's
+what they're going to do, with
+that big bomb."</p>
+
+<p>"The more reason for stopping,"
+said Ethaniel. "The big
+bomb can destroy them. Without
+our help they may do just that."</p>
+
+<p>"I may remind you that in two
+months twenty-nine days we're
+due in Willafours," said Bal.
+"Without looking at the charts
+I can tell you we still have more
+than a hundred light-years to
+go."</p>
+
+<p>"A week," said Ethaniel. "We
+can spare a week and still get
+there on time."</p>
+
+<p>"A week?" said Bal. "To settle
+their problems? They've had two
+world wars in one generation
+and that the third and final one
+is coming up you can't help feeling
+in everything they do."</p>
+
+<p>"It won't take much," said
+Ethaniel. "The wrong diplomatic
+move, or a trigger-happy soldier
+could set it off. And it wouldn't
+have to be deliberate. A meteor
+shower could pass over and their
+clumsy instruments could interpret
+it as an all-out enemy
+attack."</p>
+
+<p>"Too bad," said Bal. "We'll
+just have to forget there ever
+was such a planet as Earth."</p>
+
+<p>"Could you? Forget so many
+people?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm doing it," said Bal. "Just
+give them a little time and they
+won't be here to remind me that
+I have a conscience."</p>
+
+<p>"My memory isn't convenient,"
+said Ethaniel. "I ask you
+to look at them."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>Bal rustled, flicking the screen
+intently. "Very much like ourselves,"
+he said at last. "A bit
+shorter perhaps, and most certainly
+incomplete. Except for the
+one thing they lack, and that's
+quite odd, they seem exactly like
+us. Is that what you wanted me
+to say?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is. The fact that they are
+an incomplete version of ourselves
+touches me. They actually
+seem defenseless, though I suppose
+they're not."</p>
+
+<p>"Tough," said Bal. "Nothing
+we can do about it."</p>
+
+<p>"There is. We can give them
+a week."</p>
+
+<p>"In a week we can't negate
+their entire history. We can't
+begin to undo the effect of the
+big bomb."</p>
+
+<p>"You can't tell," said Ethaniel.
+"We can look things over."</p>
+
+<p>"And then what? How much
+authority do we have?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very little," conceded Ethaniel.
+"Two minor officials on the
+way to Willafours&mdash;and we run
+directly into a problem no one
+knew existed."</p>
+
+<p>"And when we get to Willafours
+we'll be busy. It will be a
+long time before anyone comes
+this way again."</p>
+
+<p>"A very long time. There's
+nothing in this region of space
+our people want," said Ethaniel.
+"And how long can Earth last?
+Ten years? Even ten months?
+The tension is building by the
+hour."</p>
+
+<p>"What can I say?" said Bal.
+"I suppose we can stop and look
+them over. We're not committing
+ourselves by looking."</p>
+
+<p>They went much closer to
+Earth, not intending to commit
+themselves. For a day they circled
+the planet, avoiding radar
+detection, which for them was
+not difficult, testing, and sampling.
+Finally Ethaniel looked up
+from the monitor screen. "Any
+conclusions?"</p>
+
+<p>"What's there to think? It's
+worse than I imagined."</p>
+
+<p>"In what way?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we knew they had the
+big bomb. Atmospheric analysis
+showed that as far away as we
+were."</p>
+
+<p>"I know."</p>
+
+<p>"We also knew they could deliver
+the big bomb, presumably
+by some sort of aircraft."</p>
+
+<p>"That was almost a certainty.
+They'd have no use for the big
+bomb without aircraft."</p>
+
+<p>"What's worse is that I now
+find they also have missiles,
+range one thousand miles and
+upward. They either have or are
+near a primitive form of space
+travel."</p>
+
+<p>"Bad," said Ethaniel. "Sitting
+there, wondering when it's going
+to hit them. Nervousness could
+set it off."</p>
+
+<p>"It could, and the missiles
+make it worse," said Bal. "What
+did you find out at your end?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing worthwhile. I was
+looking at the people while you
+were investigating their weapons."</p>
+
+<p>"You must think something."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I knew what to think.
+There's so little time," Ethaniel
+said. "Language isn't the difficulty.
+Our machines translate
+their languages easily and I've
+taken a cram course in two or
+three of them. But that's not
+enough, looking at a few plays,
+listening to advertisements, music,
+and news bulletins. I should
+go down and live among them,
+read books, talk to scholars, work
+with them, play."</p>
+
+<p>"You could do that and you'd
+really get to know them. But
+that takes time&mdash;and we don't
+have it."</p>
+
+<p>"I realize that."</p>
+
+<p>"A flat yes or no," said Bal.</p>
+
+<p>"No. We can't help them," said
+Ethaniel. "There is nothing we
+can do for them&mdash;but we have to
+try."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, I knew it before we
+started," said Bal. "It's happened
+before. We take the trouble to
+find out what a people are like
+and when we can't help them we
+feel bad. It's going to be that
+way again." He rose and stretched.
+"Well, give me an hour to
+think of some way of going at
+it."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>It was longer than that before
+they met again. In the meantime
+the ship moved much closer to
+Earth. They no longer needed instruments
+to see it. The planet
+revolved outside the visionports.
+The southern plains were green,
+coursed with rivers; the oceans
+were blue; and much of the
+northern hemisphere was glistening
+white. Ragged clouds covered
+the pole, and a dirty pall
+spread over the mid-regions of
+the north.</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't thought of anything
+brilliant," said Ethaniel.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor I," said Bal. "We're going
+to have to go down there
+cold. And it will be cold."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. It's their winter."</p>
+
+<p>"I did have an idea," said Bal.
+"What about going down as supernatural
+beings?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hardly," said Ethaniel. "A
+hundred years ago it might have
+worked. Today they have satellites.
+They are not primitives."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you're right," said
+Bal. "I did think we ought to
+take advantage of our physical
+differences."</p>
+
+<p>"If we could I'd be all for it.
+But these people are rough and
+desperate. They wouldn't be
+fooled by anything that crude."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you're calling it," said
+Bal.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said Ethaniel.
+"You take one side and I the
+other. We'll tell them bluntly
+what they'll have to do if they're
+going to survive, how they can
+keep their planet in one piece so
+they can live on it."</p>
+
+<p>"That'll go over big. Advice is
+always popular."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't help it. That's all we
+have time for."</p>
+
+<p>"Special instructions?"</p>
+
+<p>"None. We leave the ship here
+and go down in separate landing
+craft. You can talk with me any
+time you want to through our
+communications, but don't unless
+you have to."</p>
+
+<p>"They can't intercept the
+beams we use."</p>
+
+<p>"They can't, and even if they
+did they wouldn't know what to
+do with our language. I want
+them to think that we don't <i>need</i>
+to talk things over."</p>
+
+<p>"I get it. Makes us seem better
+than we are. They think we know
+exactly what we're doing even
+though we don't."</p>
+
+<p>"If we're lucky they'll think
+that."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>Bal looked out of the port at
+the planet below. "It's going to
+be cold where I'm going. You too.
+Sure we don't want to change
+our plans and land in the southern
+hemisphere? It's summer
+there."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid not. The great
+powers are in the north. They
+are the ones we have to reach to
+do the job."</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah, but I was thinking of
+that holiday you mentioned.
+We'll be running straight into it.
+That won't help us any."</p>
+
+<p>"I know, they don't like their
+holidays interrupted. It can't be
+helped. We can't wait until it's
+over."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm aware of that," said Bal.
+"Fill me in on that holiday, anything
+I ought to know. Probably
+religious in origin. That so?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was religious a long time
+ago," said Ethaniel. "I didn't
+learn anything exact from radio
+and TV. Now it seems to be
+chiefly a time for eating, office
+parties, and selling merchandise."</p>
+
+<p>"I see. It has become a business
+holiday."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a good description. I
+didn't get as much of it as I
+ought to have. I was busy studying
+the people, and they're hard
+to pin down."</p>
+
+<p>"I see. I was thinking there
+might be some way we could tie
+ourselves in with this holiday.
+Make it work for us."</p>
+
+<p>"If there is I haven't thought
+of it."</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to know. You're
+running this one." Bal looked
+down at the planet. Clouds were
+beginning to form at the twilight
+edge. "I hate to go down
+and leave the ship up here with
+no one in it."</p>
+
+<p>"They can't touch it. No matter
+how they develop in the next
+hundred years they still won't be
+able to get in or damage it in
+any way."</p>
+
+<p>"It's myself I'm thinking
+about. Down there, alone."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be with you. On the other
+side of the Earth."</p>
+
+<p>"That's not very close. I'd like
+it better if there were someone
+in the ship to bring it down in a
+hurry if things get rough. They
+don't think much of each other.
+I don't imagine they'll like aliens
+any better."</p>
+
+<p>"They may be unfriendly,"
+Ethaniel acknowledged. Now he
+switched a monitor screen until
+he looked at the slope of a mountain.
+It was snowing and men
+were cutting small green trees in
+the snow. "I've thought of a
+trick."</p>
+
+<p>"If it saves my neck I'm for
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't guarantee anything,"
+said Ethaniel. "This is what I
+was thinking of: instead of hiding
+the ship against the sun
+where there's little chance it will
+be seen, we'll make sure that
+they do see it. Let's take it
+around to the night side of the
+planet and light it up."</p>
+
+<p>"Say, pretty good," said Bal.</p>
+
+<p>"They can't imagine that we'd
+light up an unmanned ship," said
+Ethaniel. "Even if the thought
+should occur to them they'll have
+no way of checking it. Also, they
+won't be eager to harm us with
+our ship shining down on them."</p>
+
+<p>"That's thinking," said Bal,
+moving to the controls. "I'll move
+the ship over where they can see
+it best and then I'll light it up.
+I'll really light it up."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't spare power."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't worry about that.
+They'll see it. Everybody on
+Earth will see it." Later, with the
+ship in position, glowing against
+the darkness of space, pulsating
+with light, Bal said: "You know,
+I feel better about this. We may
+pull it off. Lighting the ship may
+be just the help we need."</p>
+
+<p>"It's not we who need help, but
+the people of Earth," said Ethaniel.
+"See you in five days." With
+that he entered a small landing
+craft, which left a faintly luminescent
+trail as it plunged toward
+Earth. As soon as it was
+safe to do so, Bal left in another
+craft, heading for the other side
+of the planet.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>And the spaceship circled
+Earth, unmanned, blazing and
+pulsing with light. No star in the
+winter skies of the planet below
+could equal it in brilliancy. Once
+a man-made satellite came near
+but it was dim and was lost sight
+of by the people below. During
+the day the ship was visible as
+a bright spot of light. At evening
+it seemed to burn through
+the sunset colors.</p>
+
+<p>And the ship circled on,
+bright, shining, seeming to be a
+little piece clipped from the center
+of a star and brought near
+Earth to illuminate it. Never, or
+seldom, had Earth seen anything
+like it.</p>
+
+<p>In five days the two small landing
+craft that had left it arched
+up from Earth and joined the
+orbit of the large ship. The two
+small craft slid inside the large
+one and doors closed behind
+them. In a short time the aliens
+met again.</p>
+
+<p>"We did it," said Bal exultantly
+as he came in. "I don't know
+how we did it and I thought we
+were going to fail but at the last
+minute they came through."</p>
+
+<p>Ethaniel smiled. "I'm tired,"
+he said, rustling.</p>
+
+<p>"Me too, but mostly I'm cold,"
+said Bal, shivering. "Snow.
+Nothing but snow wherever I
+went. Miserable climate. And yet
+you had me go out walking after
+that first day."</p>
+
+<p>"From my own experience it
+seemed to be a good idea," said
+Ethaniel. "If I went out walking
+one day I noticed that the next
+day the officials were much more
+cooperative. If it worked for me
+I thought it might help you."</p>
+
+<p>"It did. I don't know why, but
+it did," said Bal. "Anyway, this
+agreement they made isn't the
+best but I think it will keep them
+from destroying themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"It's as much as we can expect,"
+said Ethaniel. "They may
+have small wars after this, but
+never the big one. In fifty or a
+hundred years we can come back
+and see how much they've
+learned."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not sure I want to," said
+Bal. "Say, what's an angel?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"When I went out walking
+people stopped to look. Some
+knelt in the snow and called me
+an angel."</p>
+
+<p>"Something like that happened
+to me," said Ethaniel.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't get it but I didn't let
+it upset me," said Bal. "I smiled
+at them and went about my business."
+He shivered again. "It was
+always cold. I walked out, but
+sometimes I flew back. I hope
+that was all right."</p>
+
+<p>In the cabin Bal spread his
+great wings. Renaissance painters
+had never seen his like but
+knew exactly how he looked. In
+their paintings they had pictured
+him innumerable times.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think it hurt us that
+you flew," said Ethaniel. "I did
+so myself occasionally."</p>
+
+<p>"But you don't know what an
+angel is?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. I didn't have time to find
+out. Some creature of their folklore
+I suppose. You know, except
+for our wings they're very much
+like ourselves. Their legends are
+bound to resemble ours."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," said Bal. "Anyway,
+peace on Earth."</p>
+
+<p class="theend">THE END</p>
+
+<div class="trn"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b><br />
+This etext was produced from <i>Amazing Science Fiction Stories</i> January
+1960. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
+copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and
+typographical errors have been corrected without note.</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Second Landing, by Floyd Wallace
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Second Landing, by Floyd Wallace
+
+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: Second Landing
+
+Author: Floyd Wallace
+
+Release Date: March 30, 2008 [EBook #24958]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SECOND LANDING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+SECOND LANDING
+
+By FLOYD WALLACE
+
+
+ _A gentle fancy for the Christmas Season--an
+ oft-told tale with a wistful twistful of Something
+ that left the Earth with a wing and a prayer._
+
+
+Earth was so far away that it wasn't visible. Even the sun was only a
+twinkle. But this vast distance did not mean that isolation could endure
+forever. Instruments within the ship intercepted radio broadcasts and,
+within the hour, early TV signals. Machines compiled dictionaries and
+grammars and began translating the major languages. The history of the
+planet was tabulated as facts became available.
+
+The course of the ship changed slightly; it was not much out of the way
+to swing nearer Earth. For days the two within the ship listened and
+watched with little comment. They had to decide soon.
+
+"We've got to make or break," said the first alien.
+
+"You know what I'm in favor of," said the second.
+
+"I can guess," said Ethaniel, who had spoken first. "The place is a
+complete mess. They've never done anything except fight each other--and
+invent better weapons."
+
+"It's not what they've done," said Bal, the second alien. "It's what
+they're going to do, with that big bomb."
+
+"The more reason for stopping," said Ethaniel. "The big bomb can destroy
+them. Without our help they may do just that."
+
+"I may remind you that in two months twenty-nine days we're due in
+Willafours," said Bal. "Without looking at the charts I can tell you we
+still have more than a hundred light-years to go."
+
+"A week," said Ethaniel. "We can spare a week and still get there on
+time."
+
+"A week?" said Bal. "To settle their problems? They've had two world
+wars in one generation and that the third and final one is coming up you
+can't help feeling in everything they do."
+
+"It won't take much," said Ethaniel. "The wrong diplomatic move, or a
+trigger-happy soldier could set it off. And it wouldn't have to be
+deliberate. A meteor shower could pass over and their clumsy instruments
+could interpret it as an all-out enemy attack."
+
+"Too bad," said Bal. "We'll just have to forget there ever was such a
+planet as Earth."
+
+"Could you? Forget so many people?"
+
+"I'm doing it," said Bal. "Just give them a little time and they won't
+be here to remind me that I have a conscience."
+
+"My memory isn't convenient," said Ethaniel. "I ask you to look at
+them."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Bal rustled, flicking the screen intently. "Very much like ourselves,"
+he said at last. "A bit shorter perhaps, and most certainly incomplete.
+Except for the one thing they lack, and that's quite odd, they seem
+exactly like us. Is that what you wanted me to say?"
+
+"It is. The fact that they are an incomplete version of ourselves
+touches me. They actually seem defenseless, though I suppose they're
+not."
+
+"Tough," said Bal. "Nothing we can do about it."
+
+"There is. We can give them a week."
+
+"In a week we can't negate their entire history. We can't begin to undo
+the effect of the big bomb."
+
+"You can't tell," said Ethaniel. "We can look things over."
+
+"And then what? How much authority do we have?"
+
+"Very little," conceded Ethaniel. "Two minor officials on the way to
+Willafours--and we run directly into a problem no one knew existed."
+
+"And when we get to Willafours we'll be busy. It will be a long time
+before anyone comes this way again."
+
+"A very long time. There's nothing in this region of space our people
+want," said Ethaniel. "And how long can Earth last? Ten years? Even ten
+months? The tension is building by the hour."
+
+"What can I say?" said Bal. "I suppose we can stop and look them over.
+We're not committing ourselves by looking."
+
+They went much closer to Earth, not intending to commit themselves. For
+a day they circled the planet, avoiding radar detection, which for them
+was not difficult, testing, and sampling. Finally Ethaniel looked up
+from the monitor screen. "Any conclusions?"
+
+"What's there to think? It's worse than I imagined."
+
+"In what way?"
+
+"Well, we knew they had the big bomb. Atmospheric analysis showed that
+as far away as we were."
+
+"I know."
+
+"We also knew they could deliver the big bomb, presumably by some sort
+of aircraft."
+
+"That was almost a certainty. They'd have no use for the big bomb
+without aircraft."
+
+"What's worse is that I now find they also have missiles, range one
+thousand miles and upward. They either have or are near a primitive form
+of space travel."
+
+"Bad," said Ethaniel. "Sitting there, wondering when it's going to hit
+them. Nervousness could set it off."
+
+"It could, and the missiles make it worse," said Bal. "What did you find
+out at your end?"
+
+"Nothing worthwhile. I was looking at the people while you were
+investigating their weapons."
+
+"You must think something."
+
+"I wish I knew what to think. There's so little time," Ethaniel said.
+"Language isn't the difficulty. Our machines translate their languages
+easily and I've taken a cram course in two or three of them. But that's
+not enough, looking at a few plays, listening to advertisements, music,
+and news bulletins. I should go down and live among them, read books,
+talk to scholars, work with them, play."
+
+"You could do that and you'd really get to know them. But that takes
+time--and we don't have it."
+
+"I realize that."
+
+"A flat yes or no," said Bal.
+
+"No. We can't help them," said Ethaniel. "There is nothing we can do for
+them--but we have to try."
+
+"Sure, I knew it before we started," said Bal. "It's happened before. We
+take the trouble to find out what a people are like and when we can't
+help them we feel bad. It's going to be that way again." He rose and
+stretched. "Well, give me an hour to think of some way of going at it."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+It was longer than that before they met again. In the meantime the ship
+moved much closer to Earth. They no longer needed instruments to see it.
+The planet revolved outside the visionports. The southern plains were
+green, coursed with rivers; the oceans were blue; and much of the
+northern hemisphere was glistening white. Ragged clouds covered the
+pole, and a dirty pall spread over the mid-regions of the north.
+
+"I haven't thought of anything brilliant," said Ethaniel.
+
+"Nor I," said Bal. "We're going to have to go down there cold. And it
+will be cold."
+
+"Yes. It's their winter."
+
+"I did have an idea," said Bal. "What about going down as supernatural
+beings?"
+
+"Hardly," said Ethaniel. "A hundred years ago it might have worked.
+Today they have satellites. They are not primitives."
+
+"I suppose you're right," said Bal. "I did think we ought to take
+advantage of our physical differences."
+
+"If we could I'd be all for it. But these people are rough and
+desperate. They wouldn't be fooled by anything that crude."
+
+"Well, you're calling it," said Bal.
+
+"All right," said Ethaniel. "You take one side and I the other. We'll
+tell them bluntly what they'll have to do if they're going to survive,
+how they can keep their planet in one piece so they can live on it."
+
+"That'll go over big. Advice is always popular."
+
+"Can't help it. That's all we have time for."
+
+"Special instructions?"
+
+"None. We leave the ship here and go down in separate landing craft. You
+can talk with me any time you want to through our communications, but
+don't unless you have to."
+
+"They can't intercept the beams we use."
+
+"They can't, and even if they did they wouldn't know what to do with our
+language. I want them to think that we don't _need_ to talk things
+over."
+
+"I get it. Makes us seem better than we are. They think we know exactly
+what we're doing even though we don't."
+
+"If we're lucky they'll think that."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Bal looked out of the port at the planet below. "It's going to be cold
+where I'm going. You too. Sure we don't want to change our plans and
+land in the southern hemisphere? It's summer there."
+
+"I'm afraid not. The great powers are in the north. They are the ones we
+have to reach to do the job."
+
+"Yeah, but I was thinking of that holiday you mentioned. We'll be
+running straight into it. That won't help us any."
+
+"I know, they don't like their holidays interrupted. It can't be helped.
+We can't wait until it's over."
+
+"I'm aware of that," said Bal. "Fill me in on that holiday, anything I
+ought to know. Probably religious in origin. That so?"
+
+"It was religious a long time ago," said Ethaniel. "I didn't learn
+anything exact from radio and TV. Now it seems to be chiefly a time for
+eating, office parties, and selling merchandise."
+
+"I see. It has become a business holiday."
+
+"That's a good description. I didn't get as much of it as I ought to
+have. I was busy studying the people, and they're hard to pin down."
+
+"I see. I was thinking there might be some way we could tie ourselves in
+with this holiday. Make it work for us."
+
+"If there is I haven't thought of it."
+
+"You ought to know. You're running this one." Bal looked down at the
+planet. Clouds were beginning to form at the twilight edge. "I hate to
+go down and leave the ship up here with no one in it."
+
+"They can't touch it. No matter how they develop in the next hundred
+years they still won't be able to get in or damage it in any way."
+
+"It's myself I'm thinking about. Down there, alone."
+
+"I'll be with you. On the other side of the Earth."
+
+"That's not very close. I'd like it better if there were someone in the
+ship to bring it down in a hurry if things get rough. They don't think
+much of each other. I don't imagine they'll like aliens any better."
+
+"They may be unfriendly," Ethaniel acknowledged. Now he switched a
+monitor screen until he looked at the slope of a mountain. It was
+snowing and men were cutting small green trees in the snow. "I've
+thought of a trick."
+
+"If it saves my neck I'm for it."
+
+"I don't guarantee anything," said Ethaniel. "This is what I was
+thinking of: instead of hiding the ship against the sun where there's
+little chance it will be seen, we'll make sure that they do see it.
+Let's take it around to the night side of the planet and light it up."
+
+"Say, pretty good," said Bal.
+
+"They can't imagine that we'd light up an unmanned ship," said Ethaniel.
+"Even if the thought should occur to them they'll have no way of
+checking it. Also, they won't be eager to harm us with our ship shining
+down on them."
+
+"That's thinking," said Bal, moving to the controls. "I'll move the ship
+over where they can see it best and then I'll light it up. I'll really
+light it up."
+
+"Don't spare power."
+
+"Don't worry about that. They'll see it. Everybody on Earth will see
+it." Later, with the ship in position, glowing against the darkness of
+space, pulsating with light, Bal said: "You know, I feel better about
+this. We may pull it off. Lighting the ship may be just the help we
+need."
+
+"It's not we who need help, but the people of Earth," said Ethaniel.
+"See you in five days." With that he entered a small landing craft,
+which left a faintly luminescent trail as it plunged toward Earth. As
+soon as it was safe to do so, Bal left in another craft, heading for the
+other side of the planet.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+And the spaceship circled Earth, unmanned, blazing and pulsing with
+light. No star in the winter skies of the planet below could equal it in
+brilliancy. Once a man-made satellite came near but it was dim and was
+lost sight of by the people below. During the day the ship was visible
+as a bright spot of light. At evening it seemed to burn through the
+sunset colors.
+
+And the ship circled on, bright, shining, seeming to be a little piece
+clipped from the center of a star and brought near Earth to illuminate
+it. Never, or seldom, had Earth seen anything like it.
+
+In five days the two small landing craft that had left it arched up from
+Earth and joined the orbit of the large ship. The two small craft slid
+inside the large one and doors closed behind them. In a short time the
+aliens met again.
+
+"We did it," said Bal exultantly as he came in. "I don't know how we did
+it and I thought we were going to fail but at the last minute they came
+through."
+
+Ethaniel smiled. "I'm tired," he said, rustling.
+
+"Me too, but mostly I'm cold," said Bal, shivering. "Snow. Nothing but
+snow wherever I went. Miserable climate. And yet you had me go out
+walking after that first day."
+
+"From my own experience it seemed to be a good idea," said Ethaniel. "If
+I went out walking one day I noticed that the next day the officials
+were much more cooperative. If it worked for me I thought it might help
+you."
+
+"It did. I don't know why, but it did," said Bal. "Anyway, this
+agreement they made isn't the best but I think it will keep them from
+destroying themselves."
+
+"It's as much as we can expect," said Ethaniel. "They may have small
+wars after this, but never the big one. In fifty or a hundred years we
+can come back and see how much they've learned."
+
+"I'm not sure I want to," said Bal. "Say, what's an angel?"
+
+"Why?"
+
+"When I went out walking people stopped to look. Some knelt in the snow
+and called me an angel."
+
+"Something like that happened to me," said Ethaniel.
+
+"I didn't get it but I didn't let it upset me," said Bal. "I smiled at
+them and went about my business." He shivered again. "It was always
+cold. I walked out, but sometimes I flew back. I hope that was all
+right."
+
+In the cabin Bal spread his great wings. Renaissance painters had never
+seen his like but knew exactly how he looked. In their paintings they
+had pictured him innumerable times.
+
+"I don't think it hurt us that you flew," said Ethaniel. "I did so
+myself occasionally."
+
+"But you don't know what an angel is?"
+
+"No. I didn't have time to find out. Some creature of their folklore I
+suppose. You know, except for our wings they're very much like
+ourselves. Their legends are bound to resemble ours."
+
+"Sure," said Bal. "Anyway, peace on Earth."
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+ This etext was produced from _Amazing Science Fiction Stories_
+ January 1960. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
+ the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling
+ and typographical errors have been corrected without note.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Second Landing, by Floyd Wallace
+
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