The driver was about the area where no being survive. He asked questions, and about the aliens. Jill said that she'd a of them, but only at a distance. They'd been the camp. They were about the size of men. She couldn't them, but they weren't beings. He to it that she hadn't them in detail.
Lockley came to her rescue. He that he'd been a of the invaders, and had escaped. Then the driver's insatiable. He wanted to know every detail of that experience. He almost that Lockley couldn't give a of the creatures. When convinced, he a of the offered by the from the camp. He pictured the as like horses, with like antelopes, with arms like and multi-faceted like insects.
He to this picture with as the and through the night.
The on ahead of the truck. There were dark and them. From time to time little off. They to houses, but no of lamp light appeared anywhere. This part of the world was empty, with the of a from which every hint of activity had been removed.
Jill asked a question. The driver garrulous. He gave a picture of terror the world, the of all ordinary in the of this to every man and nation on the earth. There was peace in the world's trouble as saw how much be if the took over the world to rule. But the driver that the United States was calm. Us Americans, he Lockley, weren't scared. We were and we that them scientists would this nut somehow. Like only yesterday a said this Belgian guy had come up with calculations that said this had to be something like a or a or something like that. And the American scientists were right out there in front, along with from England and France and Italy and Germany and Russia. All the big of the world were workin' on it! Those Martians were wish they'd come visitin' of in like they owned the world! They'd be lucky if they up ownin' Mars!
Lockley pressed for about the scientists' results. He didn't to them, but the driver obliged.
Radio, said the driver largely, by making like those on a pond. They spread out and places where there were to them, and that was that. Radar the same of waves, only smaller, which to where there was an to them. These were waves.
Lockley the term to waves, at top and trough. It was a perfectly good word to the meaning intended.
These were natural waves, the driver. Lightning them. Static was them, and from and fuses. Waves like that were an electric was or their from purely natural causes.
"We can't 'em," said the driver expansively. "We're used to like that. Animals couldn't do anything about 'em and didn't need to 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 that ain't natural. They ain't like ripples. They're like with on 'em. And that's the of we can notice. Like with edges. We can notice them they do to us! These Martians make 'em do things. But now we know what they are, we're them up! And I'm savin' up a special for one o' those Martians when they're just as soon as I can out which end of him is which an' to that attention!"
Lockley himself and was annoyed. Jill was safe now. This driver was well-informed, but was well-informed now. They had to so!
The through the night. High overhead, a of to take its place in the ever-moving around the Park. Another squadron, relieved, away to the southwest. There was a deep-toned, from the aloft. All the sky the to continuously. But the of ahead was silent.
Lockley and was of his tenseness, Jill was safe. He to his away. The of the and swayed. The of the vehicle was the of a car. It tail-heavy. The driver had to talk. He to be as he drove. He'd asked about the but almost to any Jill and Lockley might have had on their way out. He didn't ask what they'd done for food. He was of something else.
Lockley himself the driver's just after they got in. Driving for the Army. The Army of where the terror existed, and this by radio, and he all such road barriers. That was what he said. It plausible, but—
"One thing me funny," said the driver, musingly. "Those blindfoldin' you and those other guys. What' you think they did it for?"
"To keep us from 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 he that he'd said it. It was a guess, only, with all the against it. The driver visibly jumped. Then he his head.
"Where'd you that idea?" he demanded. "What's the evidence? Why d'you think it?"
"They me," said Lockley briefly.
A pause. Then the driver said vexedly, "That's a thing to make you think they was men! Hell! Excuse me, ma'm!—they had all for blindfoldin' you! It been part of their religion!"
"Maybe," said Lockley. He was angry with himself for having said something which was dramatic.
"Didn't you have any other for thinkin' they were men?" the driver curiously. "No other at all?"
"No other at all," said Lockley.
"It's a reason, if you ask me!"
"Quite likely," Lockley.
He'd been indiscreet, but no more. He'd said what he thought, he was of all the country him for a to Jill, and then every word he spoke to keep her from for Vale.
Jill said, "Where are we for? I I can to a telephone. I want to ask about somebody.... He wants to tell the soldiers something."
"We're for a army supply dump," said the driver comfortably, "to up with for the that're all around the Park. We'll be goin' through Serena presently. Funny. Everybody moved out by the Army. A good thing, too. The in Maplewood couldn't ha' been got out last night the Martians got there."
The trailer-truck on through the night. The driver in his seat, a but on the road ahead. The a place where another road this one and there was a station, still and dark, and four or five with no single of life about them. Then the settlement behind. A mile it Jill said startledly, "Lights! There's a town. It's lighted."
"It's Serena," said the driver. "The lights are on the electricity comes from away. With the lights on it's a for the planes, too, so they can tell where they are and the Park too. They can't see the ground so good at night, from away up there."
The white to as the trailer-truck on. A single long line of them appeared to welcome the big vehicle. It on into the town. It the district. There were streets, empty, and then the main divided. The to the right. There were three and four-story buildings. Every window was blank and empty, only the white lamps. No thing anywhere. There had been no destruction, but the town was dead. Its lights on so empty that it would have to them to the dark.
Jill exclaimed, "Look! That window!"
And ahead, in the and town, a single window from electric light it, and it looked than anything else in the world.
"I'm look into that!" said the driver. "Nobody's to be here."
The came to a stop. The driver got out. There was a stirring, behind, and the small man who'd his place to Jill and Lockley out of the body. Lockley saw the name of a local telephone company on the windowpane. He opened the door. Jill him instantly. The four of them—driver, helper, Lockley and Jill—crowded into the to the one room in a town where twenty thousand people were to live.
There was a door with a top through which light showed. The driver the door-knob and in. The room had an smell. A man with slept in a chair, his on his chest.
The driver him.
"Wake up, guy!" he said sternly. "Orders are for all to clear this town. You soldier to come by an' take you for a an' you off?"
He again. The man his open. The of was distinct. He was drunk. He up at the driver of the truck.
"Who the are you?" he belligerently.
The driver spoke sternly, what he'd said before. The an air of dignity.
"If I here, that's my business! Who th' are you anyways, disturbin' a citizen tax-payer on his occasions? Are you Martians? I wouldn't put it you!"
He sat and to sleep.
The driver said fretfully, "He oughtn't to be here! But we ain't got room to him. I'm use the radio an' ask what to do. Maybe they'll send a Army to him here. He set the whole town on fire!"
He out. The small man who was his him. He hadn't spoken a word. Lockley growled. Then Jill said breathlessly, "The switch-board has some long lines. I know how to them. Shall I try?"
Lockley emphatically. Jill into the operator's chair and the headset. She a and pressed a switch.
"I did an article once on how—Hello! Serena calling. I have a very message for the officer in of the cordon. Will you me through, please?"
Her manner was professional. She looked up and at Lockley. She spoke again into the her. Then she said, "One moment, please." She the with her hand.
"I can't the general," she said. "His will take the message and if it's enough—"
"It is," said Lockley. "Give me the phone."
She the chair and him the operator's with its light weight and a that rested on his chest.
"My name's Lockley," said Lockley evenly. "I was in the Park on a Survey job the the thing came from the sky. I Vale's message the landing and the that came out of the—object. I was talking to him by when he was by them. I reported that Sattell of the Survey. You know of these reports."
A voice said with that he did, indeed.
"I've just managed to out of the park," said Lockley. "I've had a to with a terror beam. I've of some about those they strike."
The voice said that Lockley should speak to the himself. There were and a long wait. Lockley his impatiently. When a new voice spoke, he said, "I'm at Serena. I was here by a Wild Life Control trailer-truck which us up just the Park. I mention that the driver says he's it for the Army, now. The I have to pass on is...."
Curtly and succinctly, he to give exact about the terror beam. Its so that one need not enter it. The total of of a Faraday to check it. Its use to and its one use against a low-flying plane. The failure to search him out with that terror was to be noted. There was other that the were not at all—
The new voice sharply. It asked him to wait. His would be recorded. Lockley waited, his lips. The voice returned after an long wait. It told him to go ahead.
The driver of the was taking a long time to make with the military. He'd have done by telephone of wave.
The new voice for Lockley to go on with his story. And very, very Lockley the in the of the invaders. The blindfolds. The that it had been easy for four in a to escape—almost as if it were for them to away and report that their men as on a with game and and porcupines. True would not have to give such an impression. But men with would every possible to that only at Boulder Lake.
"I'm saying," said Lockley carefully, "that they do not act like making a landing on earth. Apparently their ship is designed to land in water. On a landing, they should have the sea. But they Boulder Lake was to their descent. How did they know it? They didn't kill us local animals for study, but they in other local animals to us that they wouldn't mind. Why try to us with horror—and then let us escape?"
The voice at the other end said sharply, "What do you from all this?"
"They've been briefed," said Lockley. "They know too much about this and us humans. Somebody has told them about and that they us without our or our or our usefulness as slaves. We'll be much more valuable if that way! I'm saying that they've got and with them! I'm that those have a to earth for the aliens, paying them all the they can demand. I'm saying that we're not up against an only by aliens, but by with in active and acting not only as but as spies. I'm—"
"Mr. Lockley!" said the voice at the other end of the wire. It was and shocked. It pompous. "Mr. Lockley, what has been your training?" The voice did not wait for an answer. "Where have you to offer opinions all the and all the of scientists and men alike? Where do you the authority to make such statements? They are preposterous! You have my time! You—"
Lockley over and the he'd Jill over. He put the headset. He up.
The driver and the small man came back. They up the sleeping and moved toward the door. Something out of the drunk's pocket. It was a wallet. They did not notice. They out, the drunk. Jill and it. She looked at Lockley's face.
"What—"
"I'm trying," said Lockley in a voice, "to out what to do next. That didn't work."
"I'll be right back," said Jill.
She out to deliver the to the driver, who had been ordered to put the in the and deliver him somewhere.
Lockley when she was gone. He and his hands. He the length of the room.
Jill came back, her white.
"They opened the door of the to pass him in," she said in a thin, voice. "And there were other men there. Several of them! And machinery! Not for animals but engines—generators—electrical things! I'm frightened!"
"And I," said Lockley, "am a fool. I should have it! Look here—"
The frosted-glass door opened. The driver came back. He had a in his hand.
"Too bad!" he said calmly. "We should've been more careful. But the lady saw too much. Now—"
The on Lockley. Jill herself upon it. Lockley swung, with every of his strength. He with the driver's jaw. The driver limp. Lockley had the almost he the floor.
"Quick!" he snapped. "Where was the machinery? Front or part of the trailer?"
"All of it," Jill. "Mostly front. What—"
"The again," Lockley snapped. "Hunt for a door!"
He her out. She toward the of the while he to the entrance. The trailer-truck huge. The driver's came out of it. Another man him. Still another....
Lockley from the doorway. One through the part of the truck. One near the middle. Then a third the two. The three men to the ground, themselves his targets. But Jill called from the of the dark hall. Lockley to her. He saw starlight. She waited, shivering. They out and he closed the door him.
He took her hand and they ran through the night. Overhead there was a of the light, but here were on which the fell. Lockley said evenly, "We've got to be quiet. Maybe I some of the machinery. Maybe. If I didn't, it's all over!"
The of a building. An alleyway. They ran it. There was a with trees, where the lights black in glare. They ran across the street. On the other were residences—the was not large. Lockley a gate, and opened it and as closed it them. They ran into a two dead, dark, in which people had but from which all life was now gone.
A yard. A fence. Lockley helped Jill over it. Another lane. Another street. But this was not crossed—not here, anyhow—by another which to the of the telephone office. A man not look from there and see them under the lights.
The of the continued. They ran and ran until Jill's came in pantings. Lockley was in he at any to the most of all possible of odors, and then to see lights in his own eyes, and which would only in the nerves of his ears, and then to all his in total and paralysis.
They the into life when they were many away. They the vehicle move. It to growl, and they that it was moving about the with its trying to under the which were trees.
"I hit—I the generator," Lockley. "I must have! Else they'd a on us!"
He stopped. Here they were in a where many large homes their in block-long of soft green. The lights of against the houses, but their were blank and dark. This street, like most in this small town, was with trees on either side. There were the of flowers and grass.
"We aren't safe now," said Lockley, "but I just out there may not be any safety anywhere."
Jill's teeth chattered.
"What will we do? What was that machinery? I felt—frightened it wasn't what he said was there. So I told you. But what was it?".
"At a guess," said Lockley, "a terror generator. The must have friends. To us they're spies. They're with the monsters. Apparently they're with terror projectors."
He still, thinking, while in the the trailer-truck ground and about the streets. It was not a very promising method for two fugitives. They if it onto a they used. It not continue the search indefinitely. The most likely final would be to some of the unknown number of men in its 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 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 when they evacuated. I can jump an if necessary. Meanwhile we'll be moving out of town, which is a good idea if we do it on foot!"
They to use the with their of lights with total shadows. They moved a of what would be in Serena, Colorado. Sometimes they over flower beds, and once there was a over which Jill tripped, and once Lockley his on a garden wheelbarrow. Most of the were empty or only and garden equipment.
Then something Lockley look up. A slender, truss-braced, tower rose skyward. It on the lawn of a house with wide porches. There was a two-car with one wide door open.
"A radio ham," said Lockley. "I wonder—"
But he looked in the garage. There was a car. It looked all right. He in and opened the door. The light came on. The key was still in the ignition. He it and the that the was three-quarters full. This was good fortune.
"They to use this and then their minds," said Lockley. "I'll the door open and attempt a little burglary. Just one with a prayer that he used a for his power!"
Breaking in was simple. He the opening on the main wide porch. One window up. He inside, Jill following.
The radio was in the cellar. Like most radio hams, this one had battery-powered as a of public responsibility. In case of or when power lines are down, the of the United States can as systems, without power. This was as membership in the organization required.
Lockley up the tubes. He to a call frequency. He to say, "May Day! May Day! May Day!" in a level voice. This call has over all other calls but S.O.S., which has an meaning. But "May Day" is more and when faintly.
There were minutes. Lockley for them to while he called for others. He had a dozen waiting when he to what he wanted the world to know.
He told it as and as as he could. Then he said, "Over" and the for questions.
There were no questions. His had been jammed. Some other station or were pure with volume, from nearby. Lockley not tell when it had begun. It have been from the he to speak. It was very likely that not one useful word had been anywhere.
But a direction have his position.
