When fell, Lockley and Jill were many miles away from the where he had the S.O.S. They were under a screen of from a tree rose above ground at the of its trunk. They a of against from a distance. Lockley had a tree gone with wood-rot. He pieces of the with his fingers. Then he that without a pot the he'd not be cooked. They had to be or not at all.
"We'll call it a salad," he told Jill, "minus and oil and garlic, and eat what we can."
She'd been with the sun sank, but he hadn't let her more than was necessary. Once he'd offered to her for a while, but she'd refused. Now she sat in the of the roots, resting.
"We might try for news," he suggested.
She an of assent. He on the radio and it in. There was no of news, now. A days past, news on the air on schedule, mostly limited to five-minute in which to all the events of the world. Part of that five minutes, too, was taken up by from a sponsor. Now music was rare. There were occasional melodies, but most were for new of the threat to earth at Boulder Lake. Every of person was to air his views about the thing from the sky and the it brought. Most had no views but only an to talk to a large audience. Something, though, had to be put on the air commercials.
The news was specific. Small around the of the Park area were being of all their inhabitants. Foreign scientists had been to the United States and were at the temporary area post not from Boulder Lake. Rocket were and to blast the and the around it should the need arise. A plane had been to the with a television camera its saw. It at the and its camera nothing that had not been and recorded before. But there was a crash of and the out of and crashed. Its camera the around until its destruction. Military were on every to what was now called the spaceship. They had no replies. The scientists had that the terror beam—paralysis beam—death beam—was in nature.
Lockley had Jill asleep from pure weariness, but her voice came out of the the big tree trunk.
"You that out!" she said. "About its being electronic!"
"I had a sample to check on," said Lockley. "They haven't. Which may be a thing. Nobody's going to make useful of something that makes him and and while he's in the act. There are some that puzzle me about that. Why haven't they killed yet? They've got the public about as as it can without some killing. And why didn't we the full of the after the plane had been away? They have us the full if they'd wanted to. Why didn't they?"
"If people away from the towns," said Jill's voice, very and sleepy, "maybe they think that's enough. They can take the towns...."
Lockley did not answer, and Jill said no more. Her and regular. She was so that not keep her awake.
Lockley to think. There was the of food. Bracken were common but unsubstantial. It would need more to note all the likely for mushrooms. Perhaps they were from the to take more time food. They were almost in the of Australian who live by foraging, with some not-too-efficient hunting. But Australian were not as as Jill and himself. They ate and insects. For this of situation, were a handicap.
He the idea with appreciation. Two days of food and such ideas came! But he and Jill wouldn't be the only ones to think such if as they were going. The around Boulder Lake were being evacuated. The about it had been to retreat. There was panic not only in America, but everywhere. In Europe there were wild of other of other ships of space. The stock markets would close tomorrow, if they hadn't closed today. There'd be the of a from the larger cities, starting but up to as those who to all the by which they away. If the of the wanted more than the of all from about their landing place, there would be trouble. Let them move and there would be panic and and pure catastrophe, with self-exiled city from they were away from market centers. It looked as if a dozen or two a without the need to kill one single being directly.
He a sound. He off the radio, the which was against anything threatening.
The continued. There were of leaves, and then rattling, almost noises. Whatever the was, it was not large. It to through the and the night, neither itself alarming.
The again. And Lockley what it was. Of course! He'd it in the shell, when he was a of the from space. He rose and moved toward the noise. The did not away. It about its own with the same peaceful as before. Lockley ran into a tree. He over a branch on the ground. He came to the place where the should be. There was silence. He the of his pocket and in the of he saw his prey. It had his approach. It was a porcupine, up into a and all carnivores, men. A is the one wild without an enemy. Even men it so often it has saved the of and half-starved travelers. It this by its to away from anybody.
Lockley himself as a half-starved traveler. He with the after a second from his lighter-flint.
Presently he had a small, fire of wood. He over it, and the of cooking Jill from her slumber.
"What—"
"We're having a late supper," said Lockley gravely. "A midnight snack. Take this stick. There's a of on it. Be careful! It's hot!"
Jill said, "Oh-h-h-h!" Then, "Is there more for you?"
"Plenty!" he her. "I it with my club, and only got a half-dozen times while I was and it."
She ate avidly, and when she'd he offered more, which she until he'd had a share.
They did not the whole porcupine, but it was an odd and meal, there in the with the barely-glowing well-hidden from sight. Lockley said, "I'm of a news addict. Shall we see what the wild radio are saying?"
"Of course," said Jill. She added awkwardly: "Maybe it's the food, but—I you'll my friend after this is all over. I don't know anyone else I'd say that to."
"Consider," said Lockley, "that I've an and reply."
But his in the was not happy. He'd in love with Jill after meeting her only twice, and times she had been with Vale. She to Vale. But on the at hand Vale was either or a of the invaders; if the last, his of to Jill did not look good, and if the first, this was surely no time to his memory.
He a news broadcast. He that most radio would on the air all night, now that it was officially that the object in Boulder Lake was a to earth. The government spoke of them as "visitors," in a use of the term, but the public was of now. At the the landing had like another of the that up newspaper circulations. Now the public was to it, and people might stop going to their offices and the might to ran on time. When that happened, would be at hand.
The news came in a voice which these facts:
Four more small had been ordered of their to Boulder Lake. The of the had pushed the by as much as five miles. But the big news was that the had radio silence. Apparently they'd and repaired the from the they'd down.
Shortly after sundown, said the news report, a call had come through on a frequency. It was a voice, and then speaking with and uneasiness. The message had been and now was to the public.
"What the hell's this ...? Oh.... What do you want me to do? This like the set from the 'copter.... Hmm.... You got it on.... What'll I do with it, Broadcast? I don't know you want me to talk to you or to home, that is.... Maybe you want me to say I'm havin' a 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 a stink. Next second there were lights in my eyes. They me. Then I a like all was loose. Then I like I had of a power line. I couldn't a finger. I that way till the 'copter crashed. When I come to, I was like I am now. I don't know what to the other guys. I haven't 'em. I haven't anything! But they just put me in of what I think is the 'copter's set an' at me—"
The recorded voice ended abruptly. The news announcer's voice came back. He said that the of the 'copter had some other he was cut off.
"I'll bet," said Lockley when the ended, "I'll the other was that the have managed to tell him that earth must 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 from near them? They may not know we've got bombs, but I'll they do! Part of that have been a not to try to use them. It would be logical to on that, though they couldn't make good."
Jill said very carefully, "You once that they might be men, to be monsters. But that would that somebody I about would be killed he'd them and they weren't from the stars."
"I think you can 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 on the it was going to land for—that's not like men preparing to take over a continent! And the Army to make the space larger—that's not like our most likely enemy, either. They'd out the by up the terror to death intensity."
"Suppose they couldn't?"
"They wouldn't have with a 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 for a moment.
"Not who wanted to make friends?"
"They," said Lockley drily, "would make a landing. They'd have on the moon and at us until we got curious, and then they'd to land, or to meet men in orbit, or something. But they didn't. They a landing, and a big space of humans, themselves to themselves. But if they do think we're animals, like rabbits, they'd kill people of them up a bit, or them for a while and then them go. That's not like any I can imagine!"
"Then—"
"You'd go to sleep," said Lockley. "We've got a long day's us tomorrow."
"Yes-s-s," Jill reluctantly. "Good-night."
"'Night," said Lockley curtly.
He awake. It was that he was about wild animals. There were in the Park, and he had only an for a weapon. But he well that most animals avoid man of a of instinct.
Grizzly bears, the white man came, were so of man that they be the in North America. They'd been to a of Indians to away a man for food. Indian and were against them. When Stonewall Jackson was a in the United States Army, in the West to protect the white settlers, he and a of were without by a who was of them. The then Lieutenant Jackson a which was in one eye, and he to the on the horse's so he it. With his he the grizzly's to its chin. It was the only time in history that a was killed by a man with a sword. But no would attack a man unless cornered. Even with no possible of are by the of men.
All that was true enough. In addition, for the Park much activity by the Wild Life Control unit, which to in one area by out food for them, and took other for deer and other animals. It had with and the itself with big-mouthed bass. The of Wild Life Control was familiar enough. Lockley had it up to the the day the landing. Now he himself to what the Wild Life Control men where lions should hunt.
He'd slept in the open times without of lions. With Jill to look after, though, he worried. But he was weary, and he somehow that in the of his mind there was something that was trying to move into his thoughts. It was a of hunch. Wearily and asleep, he to put his mind on it. He failed.
He suddenly. There were among the trees. Something moved slowly and toward him. It be anything, a from Boulder Lake. He other sounds. Another creature. The near, not moving in a line. The second it, closer to the first.
Lockley's crawled. Creatures from space might have some of the highly-developed which men had while civilized—full of scent, for example.
Such a might be able to Lockley and Jill in the after them for miles. And so a talent, in a than men, was somehow more than anything else Lockley had of about them. He his desperately, aware that a star should be able to him with the terror beam....
There were whistling, noises. They were very much like the his had at each other and at him when he was and being to in the shell. Very much like, but not identical. Nevertheless, Lockley's to up on end and he his in desperation.
The shriller. Then there was an and one of the two away. It in great through the under the trees.
And then there was a of a long-familiar odor, a hundred times before. It was the of a skunk, by a and itself as do. But a was nothing like a terror beam. Its only one sense, only one set of nerves. The terror beam....
Lockley opened his mouth to laugh, but did not. The thing at the 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 news. I know how the terror now. And there's not a thing that can be done about it. Not a thing. It can't be!"
He suddenly, there in the darkness, he saw the of the who'd taken over Boulder Lake. There was nothing to keep them from taking over the whole earth, no what of or not-monsters they might be.
