There was a three-day-old moon in the sky when the last colors in the west. When it was already low. It gave little light; not much more than the alone. It did help Lockley while it however. He the about Boulder Lake but not in detail. And it would not be wise for him to move openly to on the of his nation.
He used the moonlight for his approach by the least practical to the lake. When it and the mountains, he to climb, dangerously, then and climb again as the going demanded. His mind was with upon what he meant to do. The on the would have notice to the that he do damage. They would take every possible against him.
It was of Lockley that he every that might be put in his way. During the last hour of his travel, for example, he was by a measure his might have used to make him his presence. If they on the ground at of twenty-five or fifty yards, he not that line with his device in operation without up those shells. It was a possible that him to with worry.
But it wasn't of by anyone else. To it, a man would have to know how the and how it extended. Nobody but Lockley knew. Therefore no one this defense against him.
He his way to Boulder Lake's door through and over boulders. Presently he looked upon his destination. To his right and left were against the sky. He on the and the where the hotel would be built, and the places where came out of the wilderness.
There were since the time he'd looked from Vale's survey post and the terror him. He them mentally, but the him was intolerable. Everything he saw, here where space were to sway, was in the work of men. Rage him at the sight. Hatred. Fury....
In the of the world an different of was about the of the invaders. The United States had to all the world that American and other scientists, together, had solved the of the weapon. They had produced a of the terror beam. It was no less and no less an than the invaders'. And a defense had been which was complete. It was being into production. The would be moved into position to and the who had upon earth. Military detachments, protected by the generators, would move upon Boulder Lake at dawn. By tomorrow the would be or captive, and their ship would be in the hands of scientists for study.
Moreover, the United States would provide for other nations. In no more than months every and nation on earth would be to any landing that might take place. The world would be able to itself. It would be to do so. And this was the of the United States the world not free and by from a planet. The news out from all sources. The was and now be defied. Soon all the world would be provided with weapons. It was necessary for all the world to be prepared and prepared it would be.
This was the which all the world rejoice, though not yet at still a part of the earth. But all the world was for of the news it had just received.
Lockley had no such anticipations. He with what he saw him was so as to be almost unbelievable.
It was not dark in the space he looked upon. There were here and there to a large area with light. There were in sight. But what the Lockley with hatred.
The were of type. There were vehicles on a level space. They were of manufacture. There was no space ship in the lake, but there was a three-stage set up, for firing. It was of the used by to put into orbit. Lockley its designation, and that it used the new solid for propulsion.
In the of the from space there was nothing from space. There was nothing in view which was or or extra-terrestrial. And Lockley he saw with and that there had been anything from space at this spot.
There were no monsters. There had been. And the truth was more than the had been.
Because this the death of the world. This was an attempt to the last on earth in disguise. Humans had as non-human beings so that America would against while its great to help and actually from behind.
It was logical, of course. An attack by terror in the of death would involve by America. Against a enemy great, circle earth to upon that enemy's to turn them and their into gas. An attack to be by and upon must touch off the world's last in which every thing might die. No success at the prevent full retaliation. But if the attack were to be from space, then American and would be against which were no more than ghosts.
Lockley moved forward. Only he know the as it presented itself here. Even for Jill should be put aside, if it called for action to this of things. But it did not. A full and terrible for her the action the of cold-blooded would be taken now. And Lockley moved on and to take it.
He to toward the lights, that there were some in his picture of the total scene. For example, these lights be by overhead. The did not to Lockley. He was not pause by the of the enemy's so as air was concerned. He didn't think of it. He moved on.
He near the area. He did not walk, he crawled. He to with fury-sharpened ears. If he close to that rocket, close to its solid fuel stores....
That would be at once and expedience. If the rocket's fuel up of as intended, it would the camp. It would out every present. But there would be left by the explosion. There would be corpses. There would be wreckage. And that and those would be human. The last on earth might not be avoided, but at the it would be against America's enemy and not against monsters.
It was to that. But Jill....
Lockley's progress was slow, but he needed to take the pains. He carefully.
He the high of the overhead. They were away. There were of insects, and the of night birds, and the of and foliage.
There was another sound. A new sound. It was inexplicable. It was a and muttering. There was a to it, a familiar rhythm.
He on.
There was movement suddenly, off to his left. Then it stopped. It be a man on watch against him shifting his position. Lockley froze, and then on with caution. He the ground him for small that might under his weight.
The continued. Presently Lockley that it was a voice. It was and with many overtones, but still too for him to words.
He a that had much brushwood. The in and he them with a patient to his feelings.
The and on. Lockley pressed himself to the ground. Men past him a hundred away. He saw them in against the and trucks and in the space around the rocket. They no rifles, no at all. Lockley's up the had them of the of guns, at least at range. They were for him now. Perhaps these men were other on the hillside.
He saw other men. They to move around the area.
The was louder now. He almost catch the words. He another hundred yards toward the and the voice 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 my voice. You talked to me on the telephone from Serena!"
Lockley did the voice. It was that of the who'd and as he to to Lockley's statements. Now, out of many and from cliffs, it was the same voice but with an that was and forthright.
"You me," said the voice crisply. "You'd out there were in this business. It was that the be suppressed. I to you, which was a mistake. While I was talking to you your was reported on by the Wild Life driver. I to you. You're the of man for that. But 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 spread all about.
"Lockley, this is Vale. The whole thing's faked. There's a good for it, but you on the facts. They had to be secret. I didn't tell Jill. This isn't treason, Lockley. We aren't traitors! Come out and I'll everything. Here's Sattell."
And Sattell's voice against the hills.
"Vale's right, Lockley! I didn't know what was up. I was as much as anybody. But it's all right! It's perfectly all right! When you you'll that you had to be just as I was. Come on out and will be to your satisfaction. I promise!"
Lockley grimaced. How did Sattell up here? And the in of the cordon? More than that, why did they call his name of trying to kill him? Why post on the if they were to and not to murder? How they to him after Jill....
There was a pause, and then what was a message came. It was Jill's voice, and desperate. It said, "Please come out and listen! Please come and let them everything. They can do it. I and I them. It's true. It's not treason. I—I you to come out and let them tell you why all this has happened...."
Her voice off. It had trembled. It was tense. It was strained. And Lockley softly, with rage. Then the voice returned, "Lockley! Lockley! Don't do anything crazy! Everything can be explained. You'll my voice. You talked to me on the telephone from Serena."
This voice repeated, word for word and for intonation, what it had said before. The other voices in the same order. They were taped.
In Lockley's of mind, the took away all authority from the voices. Jill, in particular, as she might have if had been used to her will and her to say what her wished. She not put any into it, she have been to repeat and repeat the message until her were satisfied.
That would all be now. All of it. And Jill would be to Lockley if they saw each other again; for the blast that would this place clean of creatures.
Lockley saw a way by which his be by just a little. It be more satisfying and just. Hiding under while the voices their recorded persuasion, he a very device. It onto the he carried. If his hand clenched, it would go on. If his hand relaxed, it would go on. So if he a hundred and twenty-five yards of the he himself and let them know what waited for them, and why.
With patience he got to a place almost near the circle of about the rocket. He waited. The were tense. They did not like trying to protect something with no weapons. They were jumpy. The into the night their nerves. They were on edge.
Their the in the world Lockley's purpose. He a from an dark shadow. It and upon another stone, and it a of at a place from Lockley. And the for that place to or had the disturbance.
They were too eager. They upon each other.
And Lockley ran, and a voice out in terror. And then Lockley with his to the rocket's parts, and he the and shouted.
Then there was stillness. Only the voice from the speakers on. It to be Sattell's voice.
" ... all right. It's perfectly all right. When you you'll that you had to be 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 with two general's on his came out of and walked to Lockley.
"Ah, Lockley!" he said briskly. "That's the thing you and with, eh? Do you think it will the rocket?"
"I'm going to try it!" said Lockley. "Listen." He how anything that be done to him would close the one way or the other. "I wanted you to know I it!" he said fiercely. "Where's Jill? Jill Holmes? One of your her up and her here. Where is she?"
"We sent her," said the general, "over to the camp, in case you managed to in the exact you're in. In other words, she's safe. She'll be shortly, though. She was to be the you appeared—if the didn't blast as your greeting."
Lockley ground his teeth.
"We'll have this settled she here!"
Vale appeared. He walked and the general.
"We did a job that was times too good, Lockley," he said ruefully. "I'd my song-and-dance until we it was perfect. What you suspicious, Lockley? Did you notice we the right so you'd through to the end? A point, that. We about it."
The of a car moved against a mountainside.
"You see," said Vale, "the thing had to be done this way! Sattell a when it was to him. He he'd been a of. But there are some that can't be forthrightly!"
Lockley physically ill. Jill had been—still was—engaged to Vale. She'd been about him. She'd been to him. And he was helping the invaders! He opened his mouth to speak bitterly, when Sattell appeared. He up the and Vale.
"They me too, Lockley," he said wryly. "But it's all right. They had to. They you were fooled. Those three men in the box with you the other day, they said you were fooled, too. And they're service men!"
"You're very convincing, aren't you?" he raged. "But—"
"You believe," said Sattell, "I've joined up with and traitors. You believe...."
He outlined, with precision, what Lockley did believe; that were to be with against America while another nation actually Americans. It was a picture of Lockley's of mind.
"But that's all wrong!" Sattell. "This is a quick by our own people for our own safety. For the of all the world. It's a to just what I described!"
The away nearer. But no car have come from the as as this.
"The is," said the general, "that our tell us that another very great nation has this we've been 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 of dirty trick. So we up this to every country on earth to arm itself against this particular weapon. Nothing less than in space would arming, in the of some politicians! Of course, they'll arm against us as well as—anybody else."
He spoke matter-of-factly. A at Lockley's would have told him that would not work.
"This trick, with the defense we to reveal," the added, "should that a very won't be used, either to start or end a war. Maybe the won't we've said there are who around in space ships."
Lockley had a that he was this. It was not the way should happen! This was not true! When he or the in his hand, the him would in a flame, and he and the three men who him would, vanish, and there would be an here and a of cars—
"It was an job," said Vale. "The Army a hundred of high into the lake. The two that reported a ship in space were to be by two special men, who got their orders directly from the President. We a day with full cloud cover; the their and their reports; and the Army set off the hundred-ton in the lake. From there on, it was just a of using the terror beam."
"I mention," said the mildly, "that not one being has been killed by anything we've done. Would you to be so careful? Or spies?"
Lockley said thickly, "You there arguing. You're trying to make me you. But there's Jill! What's to her? How did you make her record that tape? Where's Jill? She won't tell me it's all right!"
Headlights up to the space. The car stopped.
Jill came into view. She saw Lockley, against the rocket's base. She ran.
She the and Vale and Sattell. She looked and anxious.
"What have they done to you?" Lockley fiercely.
She her head.
"N-nothing. I couldn't at the 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 as the world has to be. Believe it! Please it!"
"What have they done to you?" he terribly.
"What have they done to the world?" Jill. "They've every nation look to us as the of their freedom. And we are! They've to against more if they come, and to against men if they try to them with the terror or anything else! Would have done that?"
Lockley that he had to decide. It was an responsibility. He was not convinced, by Jill. But he was no longer that he'd been right.
"Why didn't you kill me?" he demanded. "I have been from a distance. You didn't have to come close to talk to me. If the blew, what would it matter?"
"You've got a protection against the terror beam," said the matter-of-factly. "So have we. But ours two tons. Yours can be without being a burden. And—" his to the over Lockley's shoulder—"and yours explosives. If we can the world with those, Lockley, we'll have peace!"
Lockley of a test. He grimaced.
"You want me to being a traitor! All right, what's in it for me? What am I offered?"
The shrugged, his hardening. Vale spread out his hands. Sattell snorted. Jill her lips. Lockley 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 men and neither or traitors. What do you offer?"
She at him. Then she said quietly, "Nothing."
Lockley once more, for a long instant. But that was the right answer. Nobody who'd been or or into being a would have of it.
"That," said Lockley, "by a to be my price."
He away a wire. He the of pocket radio and and to the general.
"I'll later how it works," he said wearily, "—if I haven't a mistake."
After a time the came to him. Lockley was convinced, now. The of the men who'd been and and the like was conclusive. They him with a respect which was not the of either or invaders.
"We've been that little device, Lockley," said the happily. "It's perfect for our purposes! So much than a two-ton to with and the terror beams! Marvelous! And do you know what it means? With all the world we've been from space, and with our great of taking Boulder Lake—"
"How will you manage that?" asked Lockley, without too much interest.
"The rocket," said the general, beaming. "When start into the Park, the takes off. It for empty space. And we that the away when they their and we started to with them!"
"Oh," said Lockley listlessly.
"But the thing," the told him, "is your gadget! They can be by millions. Ridiculously cheap, they tell me. Everybody in the world will want one, and we'll pass them out. No government stop that! Not Russia! But—d'you see, Lockley?"
Lockley his head. He always had a to look on the dark of events. The did not look to him.
"Don't you see?" the general, chuckling. "They explosives, those little gadgets! There's no in that! Where are used in you've only to make sure that nobody one on too close. In nine-tenths of the world, anyhow, aren't allowed to have guns. But think of the there!"
Lockley was weary. He was dejected. The from ear to ear.
"Why, when these are distributed, the police can't go armed! What price then? For that matter, what price soldiers? The cold ends, Lockley, there couldn't be a army in the modern sense. The wouldn't run. The would stall. And the guns—An would have to be with horse-drawn transport and the with and spears. That to disarmament, Lockley! A to be wished! I'm going to look to a old age now. I before!"
Presently Lockley talked to Jill. She was constrained. She uneasy. Lockley that there wasn't much to say, now that Vale was alive and well and there was no more 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 work him keep from me."
Lockley tensed. He said incredulously, "You're not going to 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 things. He said—he said to you."
Lockley an movement. She quietly, close in his arms.
"I was so you didn't—you wouldn't—"
Lockley took to her and to her that he did and he would, and ever. A very long time later he asked interestedly, "What did you say to Vale when he asked you to me?"
"I said," said Jill comfortably, "that I would if out all right. And they have. I you, darling. Now how about me?"
The took off and away into emptiness. This was near dawn, when of the of Boulder Lake were being passed out to the news media. As much of the public as was was that the had from earth, their by the work of scientists. It wasn't necessary for a large to in. A special detail took over at the itself. Curiously enough, it to be already there when the question arose. It would report a of by which the might be in mind.
But there would be reminders. Later would report that the United States was into quantity production the small, which the terror and would supply them to all the world. There not be than that! The United States also a world wide for defense against by space monsters, with and governments.
The world, obviously, would against monsters. And people in a of defense against from the wouldn't each other.
And there were some people who were pleased. They about the possibilities of the small gadgets, in production to the size of a pack of cigarettes. Knowing what they do, they waited very to see what would in nations when police couldn't and soldiers only be with spears.
They it to be very indeed.
