"The evidence," said Lockley as Jill looked at him ashen-faced, "the is all for monsters. But there was something in that that calls for courage, and I want to it. We're going to need it."
"If they aren't monsters," said Jill in a voice, "Then—then they're men. And we have a cold with only one country, and they're the only ones who'd play a like this. So if they aren't monsters, in the ship, they must be men, and they'd kill who it out."
"But again," Lockley, "the is still all for monsters. You've been very and very about Vale. But we're in a fix. Vale would want you in a safe place, and there's something in that 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 up to Boulder Lake to welcome visitors from they come from, and to say to them that as visitors they are our guests and we'd they didn't shoot terror or about the landscape. We were more or less on that, you and I. We were soldiers to come up the for the lake. But they aren't coming."
Jill, still pale, her in thought.
"That's what wasn't in the broadcast," Lockley told her. "This is what was. The have a about the Park. They've into the terror beam. The said it was by and only the soldiers uncomfortable. But they've moved back. You see the point? They've moved back!"
Jill stared, understanding.
"But that means—"
"It means," said Lockley, "that the terror is much of a weapon. It has a range up in the miles or of miles. We don't know how to it yet. Whoever or in the thing Vale saw, it or they has or have a our Army can't buck, yet. The point is that we can't wait to be rescued. We've got to out of here on our own feet. Literally. So we about highways. From here on we to safety as best we can. And we've got to put our whole minds on it."
Jill her as if to drive out of it. Then she said, "I 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 to safety mean?"
Lockley her the from Boulder Lake to the world. They came to a blasted-out cut for the to through. The road's surface to the solid on either side. There was no earth to take or footprints, and there was a slope.
"We go up here and take to the woods," said Lockley, "because we're not as easy to spot in as we'd be on a road. The at the will know what are. If we out how to their terror beam, they'll the attack to come by road. So they'll set up a 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 be the in our alive."
He the way, helping her climb. There would be no that they'd the highway. In fact, there'd be no of their the small car. Lockley's was known, but not his and Jill's together.
Lockley did not about having Jill into paying some attention to her own of in the possible or of Vale. But for them to clear was going to call for more than on Jill's part. Lockley couldn't the alone.
There was an in process. It be, apparently, an from space, in which case the terror produced would be terror of the unknown. But Lockley had of the possibility that it might be an only from the other of the world. Such an was of by every American at least once every twenty-four hours. The it would would be of the all too known.
The whole earth had the of the trial of its two most powers. Their irreconcilable. Most of their with there no way to avoid it. Yet it was possible that an all-out them might end with all the world dead, plants and in the seas. It was that the most that have was that one or the other nation would come upon some so new and that it and the of the other without war.
Atom have done the trick, had only one nation owned them. But were now so that by attack either almost out the other. There was no way to against and terrible by of the country. It was the of which the a cold one—a of and and counter-espionage, but not of extermination.
But Lockley had suggested—because it was the of possibilities—that America's had a new which win so long as it was not to its user. If the United States itself from space, it would not against men. It would ask help, and help would be by its if the were from another planet. Men would always against not-men. But if this were a ship from no than the other of the earth, and only to be from an world ... America be it it was of other men.
This was not likely, but it was believable. There was no proof, but in the nature of proof would be avoided. And if his idea should to be true, the be than an from another star. This landing be only a test to make sure that the new was unknown to America and not be by Americans. The of this ship would to be successful or be killed. In a way, if an bomb had to be used to them, they would have succeeded. Because other ships land in American where they not be without killing millions; where they under pain of death. And it.
Lockley looked at the sun. He at his watch.
"That would be south," he indicated. "It's the way for us to to where you'll be safe and I can tell what I know to someone who may use it."
Jill obediently. They into the woods. They not be from the highway. They not be from aloft. When they had gone a mile, Jill 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 hands on you."
They on. Once, from the of a of trees, they saw the them and to their left. It was empty. It out of sight, to the left again. They moved and down. Now the going was easy, through with very little and a of leaves. Again it was a with to be avoided. And yet again it was boulder-strewn that might be nearly level but much more often was a hillside.
Lockley stopped short. He himself go white. He Jill's hand and whirled. He her to the of they'd just left.
"What's the matter?" The of his her whisper.
He to her for silence. He'd something. It was but revolting. It was the of and of foulness. There was the of in it. It was a of all the that be imagined. It was horrible. It was than the 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 into that broadcast. I have to take a to out. If anything to me, don't try to help me!"
He'd the odor at least fifteen minutes before, and had Jill back, and there had been no other of or not-monsters upon the earth. Now he and among the bushes. He came to the place where he'd the before. He it again. He back. It fainter, though it disgusting. He moved forward, stopped, moved back. He sideways, very, very carefully, his hand him.
He stopped abruptly. He came back, his 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 frightened.
"The thing that men and animals," he told her, "is a of some sort. We almost ran into it. It's to radar. I they'd put on the highways. They did better. They project this beam. When it a highway, who comes along that into it. His by lights, and he and and they what we just now. And he's paralyzed. Such a was on me yesterday and I was captured. A like that on the at the three men who were away, and later two others car and who until the was off."
"But we only something horrible!" Jill.
"You did. I you away. I'd it before. But I back. And I it, and I a little way and I to see of light and to and my skin tingled. I pushed my hand ahead of me—and it paralyzed. Until I it back." Then he said, "Come on."
"What will we do?"
"We our line of march. If we 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 at its edges. We'll try to alongside until it out to nothing or we where we want to go. Unless," he added, "they've got another that it. Then we'll be trapped."
He the way onward.
They four miles of very going Jill of and Lockley a small, stream. He saw fish in the clear water and to 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 by day and might be at night. And whatever's at the Lake might send a terror beam. We'll here when you're rested."
He the stream. He up and its bank. He around a of the stream. Jill waited, at uneasily, then anxiously.
He came with his hands full of shoots, their ends and their ends almost to white.
"I'm afraid," he observed, "that this is our supper. It'll taste a like asparagus, which tastes a like peanuts, and a one-dish of it won't to your ribs. That's the trouble with wild stuff. It's mostly on the order of spinach."
"I'll them," said Jill.
She actually looked at him for the time. Until she herself he was out of for a long time, she hadn't him as an individual. He'd been only a person who was helping her Vale wasn't available. Now she herself that Vale would be very to him for her. "I'm rested now," she added.
He and the way once more. He the sun for direction. Two or three miles from their he said abruptly, "I think the terror should be over yonder." He an arm. "I've got an idea about it. I'll see."
"Be careful!" said Jill uneasily.
He and away, moving with a tentativeness. She that he was for the which was the of approach to the weapon.
He a mile from where Jill watched, again while she after him. He moved and forward. He marked a place with a stone. He came well from it and to remove his watch. He it on a and on it. He again and again, shifting it stampings. Then he it with a small rock. He up and came back, something which for an instant.
He he the he'd as a marker. He did things, away from Jill. From time to time there was a in the air near him.
He came back. As he came, he something into a little coil. It was the of his non-magnetic watch. He it for her to see and put it in his pocket.
"I know what the terror is—for what good it'll do!" he said bitterly. "It's a of on the order of radar, and for that X-rays and else. Only an it up and this makes a good one. I the at a place, but when I touched the out spring, it up more than my did and it horrible! Then I moved in to where my skin to and I saw lights and noises. The all the in the world. I 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 it. And I that if it were it would be a death ray, too!"
Jill to a little.
"They're not using it at killing strength," said Lockley coldly. "They're us up. Letting us out we're and helpless, and then us think it over. I'll they the four of us to from that thing so we tell about it! But we'll know, now, if we men in in a wiped-out town, we'll know what killed them, and when they ask us to their slaves, we'll know we'll have to do it or die!"
Jill waited. When he to have finished, she said, "If they're monsters, do you think they want to us?"
He hesitated, and then said with a grimace, "I've a habit, Jill, of looking to the and to happen. Maybe it's so I'll be when they don't."
"Suppose," said Jill, "that they aren't monsters. What then?"
"Then," said Lockley, "it's a cold device, to out if the other in the cold can take us over without our they're the ones doing it. Naturally those in this ship will themselves up than be out."
"Which," said Jill steadily, "doesn't offer much for...."
She didn't say Vale's name. She couldn't. Lockley again.
"It's not certain, Jill. The is on the of the monsters. But in either case the thing for us to do is to the Army with what I've out. I've had a to test, crudely. The must have been pushed by a moving or an beam. It wouldn't be easy to with one of those. Come on."
She up. She when he on. They and into valleys. The sun to in the west. The going was rough. For Lockley, to travel, it was fatiguing. For Jill it was much worse.
They came to a sere, on which neither trees grew. It to a natural clearing, in extent. Lockley his around. There were many thick-foliaged small trees attempting to into the clear space. He in satisfaction.
"Sit and rest," he commanded. "I'll send a message."
He off from dark green conifers. He out into the and to them out in a pattern. He came and off more, and still more. Very slowly, the lines had to be large and thick, the S.O.S. appeared in dark green on the open space. The were thirty high, and the lines were five wide. They should from the air.
"I think," said Lockley with satisfaction, "that we might something out of this! If it's sighted, a 'copter might in after us." He looked at her appraisingly. "I think you'd a good meal."
"I want to say something," said Jill carefully. "I think you've been trying to me up, after saying something to me—which I needed. If the aren't monsters, they'll actually let who's that they aren't. Isn't that true? And if it is—"
"We know of six men who were captured," Lockley, "and I was one of them. All six escaped. Vale may have escaped. They're not good at prisoners. We don't know and can't know unless it's mentioned on a news that he's out and away. So there's no to assume that Vale is dead."
"But if he saw them, when he was them—"
"The evidence," Lockley again, "is that he saw monsters. The only to it is that they four of us."
Jill to think very hard. Presently she said resolutely, "I'm going to keep on anyhow!"
"Good girl!" said Lockley.
They waited. He was impatient, with and with himself. He that he'd Jill when—if this S.O.S. help—it wasn't necessary. And there was of in the present to make it cruelty.
After a very long time they a in the air. There might have been others when they were over terrain, and they might not have noticed they were not for such sounds. There were all around the area. They'd been sent up originally in response to a of something in from space. Now they in circles around the landing place of that reported object. They high, so high that only would have pointed them out. But today were such that did not form. The were from the ground.
But the see. When one group was by another, it high-magnification of all the park, to be and with for any of activity by the of the object from space.
A second the S.O.S. an hour of the films' return. There was an and conference. The lengths of were measured. The size and and condition of the clearing's surface were estimated.
A very light plane, for artillery-spotting, took off from the nearest to Boulder Lake.
And Lockley and Jill it long it came in sight. It low, its way among and past mountain-flanks to avoid being against the sky. The two the it as a mutter. The increased, diminished, then again.
It over a minor mountain-flank and the space with the on it. Lockley and Jill out into view, frantically. The plane and circled, the landing conditions. It away to arrive at a satisfactory approach path.
It wavered. It a half-wingover, and it side-slipped crazily, and came up and and on its and dived....
And it came out of its twenty above the ground. It away as close as possible to its to earth. It away the mountains. The of its going and and was gone. It appeared to have from a set trap.
Lockley after it. Then he white.
"Idiot!" he fiercely. "Come on! Run!"
He Jill's hand. They together. Evidently, something had played upon the pilot of the light plane. He'd been and and all his were a while his and his hands on the of his ship. He hadn't out of the that him helpless. He'd out of it. And then he for the horizon. He got away. And it would appear to those to he reported that he'd too late at the distress-signal. If had it, they'd been overtaken and by the of Boulder Lake, and there'd been an set up for the plane. It was a decision.
But it puzzled the pilot's officers that he hadn't been allowed to land the plane the was on him. He have been while on the ground, and he and his plane have to from another world. It was puzzling.
Lockley and Jill for the at the clearing's edge. Lockley his tight to waste no in speech. The and the of the plane had been a public notice that there were here. If the a pilot in mid-air, it be at on the ground.... There be no hope....
Wholly desperate, Lockley helped Jill a and into a leading still down.
He jungle, and muskiness, and decay, and flowers, and every odor. Flashes of themselves in his eyes. He the which meant that his nerves, like the nerves in his and and skin, were to activity, every of message they possibly report all at once.
He groaned. He to a hiding-place for Jill so that if or when the for her, they would not her. But he his to in and he anything.
They didn't. The gradually. The meaningless of color faint. The his nerves reported, ceased. He and Jill had been at the of the of the terror beam. Perhaps the had them, by accident. Or it have been weakened....
It was very puzzling.
