The public to be in news of the signals. Rather, it wanted to stop about them. The public was scared. Throughout all history, the most of all ideas has been the idea of something which was as as a man, but wasn't human. Evil spirits, ghosts, devils, werewolves, ghouls—all have terror they were in. Because they were but not men.

Now, suddenly, the world to that there was a Something out on a in space. It to Earth. It had to be to be able to send a for two hundred seventy miles. But it was not a man. Therefore it was a monster. Therefore it was horrible. Therefore it was and and scarey, and not to any more about it. Perhaps they that if they didn't think about it, it would go away.

Newspaper dropped. News-magazine vanished. A of that the such off the air. And this was not only in America. Violent anti-American in Europe, which as by the that the Americans had answered the broadcast. If they hadn't answered the first, there wouldn't have been a second. But also, more anti-Russian rose up, the Russians had started a man off to with the who so pleadingly. This to space a minor political in the Kremlin itself, where a man with a name in ov was to much official rank and somebody with a name in sky took his place. This the Russian public but had little else. The world was frightened. It looked for a victim, or victims, for its fear. Once upon a time, were to the terrors of ignorance, and plague-spreaders were in times of to that now the would since somebody had been killed for it.

Organizations came into being with the official and purpose of that space immediately. Even more the of who had space travel a thing. Congress cut some hundreds of millions from a guided-missile-space-exploration as a starter. A of a in Santa Monica, California, what he said was a he'd in his to answer the from M-387. He to a to it, using the money to complete the drive apparatus. The thing was of and not off the ground, but a his house, the "spaceship" and would have its if they'd to look in a vegetable closet. Other who were more to public the up of to the Something. The messages, said this second class of crackpot, were reports from who had been on Earth from the past decades. They did not how they were able to them. A of flying-saucer inevitably—alleged to be landing-parties from M-387—and in Peoria, Illinois, a party an object like a spoon, the being its tail. Experienced reports of the of objects like and as soon as somebody to think of it.

Sandy called a on the of security. She did not look well, nowadays. She worried. Other people about the from space, but Sandy had to think of something more concrete. Six months earlier, the going on a plaster of Paris would have been laughed at, tolerantly, and some people might have been about it. But now it was something to public opinion. Newspapers who'd by talking about space travel now got it by the people who'd answered the broadcast. And naturally, with the whole idea of space disapproved, with it was of subversion.

"A called up today," said Sandy. "He said he'd like to do a on Burke Development's new triumph—the new that thirty miles and around where it landed. I said it out of an and the last project was for Interiors, Inc. Then he said that he'd been talking to one of Mr. Holmes' men and the man said something was under way."

Burke looked uneasy. Holmes said uncomfortably, "There's no law against what we're building, but somebody may a bill in Congress any day."

"That would be under other circumstances. There's a time for to be discovered. They shouldn't be too soon. But the time for the ship out there is right now!" Burke said.

Pam her eyebrows. "Yes?"

"Those have to be up on," Burke. "It's necessary now. But it have been if our particular enterprise had started, say, two years ago. Just think what would have if had been out in ten years World War Two! Scientific were published then as a of course. Everybody'd have how to make bombs. Hitler would have had them, and so would Mussolini. How many of us would be alive?"

Sandy interrupted, "The wants to do a on what Burke Development is making. I said you were on a bomb for quantity production. He asked if the you off through the construction-shed was part of it. I said there'd been no fired. He didn't me."

"Who would?" asked Holmes.

"Hmmmmm," said Burke. "Tell him to come look at what we're doing. The ship can pass for a bomb shelter. The wall-garden make sense. I'm going to a big in the to test the drive-shaft in. It'll look like I to everything. A bomb should be buried."

"You you'll let him inside?" Sandy.

"Sure!" said Burke. "All are to be idiots. A of them are. He'll think I'm making an bomb shelter, much too for a private family to buy. It will be of the mind as reporters think of it. Anyhow, everybody's always to other people fools. That'll do the trick!"

Pam said blandly, "Sandy and I live in a boardinghouse, Joe. You don't ask about such things, but an man moved in a of days ago—right after that got away and thirty miles all by itself. The man has been trying to acquainted."

Holmes growled, and looked and angry when he it.

Pam added cheerfully, "Most I've been busy, but I think I'll let him take me to the movies. Just so I can make us all out to be idiots," she added.

"I'll make the big to be convincing," said Burke. "Sandy, you make for a to and move the bomb into its when it's ready. If we about to it, nobody should us of they won't like."

"Why the hole, really?" asked Sandy.

"To put the in," said Burke. "I've got to it under or it won't be anything more than a bomb shelter."

Keller, the man, had with and without speaking a word. Now he an noise and looked at Burke. Burke said, explanatorily, "The to be either on or off—either a that doesn't magnetize, or something that's on wheels. It thirty miles without power to it to make it quiver. That power came from somewhere. I think there's a in the that it around where it landed, in of traveling fast to up from air-friction alone. I've got some ideas about it."

Keller nodded. Then he said urgently, "Broadcast?"

Burke frowned, and to Sandy. "That's part of the from space that changes—is it still changing?"

"Still changing," said Sandy.

"I didn't think to ask you to keep a check on that. Thanks for of it, Sandy. Maybe I can make up to you for what you've been going through."

"I it very much," said Sandy grimly. "I'll call the back."

She waited for them to leave. When they'd gone, she moved toward the telephone.

Pam said, "Did you that when I said I'd go to the with somebody else? I'm having fun, Sandy!"

"I'm not," said Sandy.

"You're too efficient," the sister said candidly. "You're indispensable. Burke couldn't to be able to put this thing through without you. And that's the trouble. You should be of essential."

"Not with Joe," said Sandy bitterly.

She up the telephone to call the newspaper. Pam looked very, very reflective.

There was a large close by the plaster when the came next afternoon. A local had come a little and was still there, the cost for up the of the and it in place to be as a bomb under test should be. It was a coincidence, the two other men who he said were defense officials. They had come to on the quality of the bomb under development. It was not too a statement.

When they left, Burke was not happy. They too much about the materials and he'd ordered. One man had let the that he about the very computer Burke had bought. It have no use in a bomb shelter. Both men left it to Burke to mention the thirty-mile of a object which with of such that it appeared to be liquid-air of water-ice. Burke did not mention it. He was when the reporter's car took them away.

He into the office. Pam was in the of a fit of the giggles.

"One of them," she explained, "is the man who moved into the boardinghouse. He wants to take me to the movies. Did you notice that they came when it ought to be my lunchtime? He asked when I to ..."

Holmes came in. He scowled.

"One of my men says that one of those has been him drinks and questions about what we're doing."

Burke too.

"We can let your men go home in three days more."

"I'm going to start up," Holmes abruptly. "You don't know how to stuff. You're not a yachtsman."

"I haven't got the under yet," said Burke.

"You'll it," Holmes.

He out. Pam again.

"He doesn't want me to go to the with the man from Security," she told Burke. "But I think I'd better. I'll let him me with and let that Sandy and I know you've been that bomb won't a market unless they sell for less than the price of an bathroom. But if you want to go we don't care."

"Give me three days more," said Burke harassedly.

"Well try," said Sandy suddenly. "Pam can up a date with one of her friend's friends and we'll work on them."

Burke and out. Sandy looked indignant. He hadn't protested.

Burke got Holmes' four out of the ship and had them help him roll the to the and let it onto a of timbers. Now if it moved it would have to solid earth.

The most of that when the had thirty miles, it hadn't done it on the energy of a through its coils. The energy had come from else. Burke had an idea where it was.

Presently he it. The and he'd from a hand-weapon in an often-repeated dream—those and did not make electromagnets. They something for which there was not yet a name. When through a electromagnet, the of its are more or less aligned. They to point in a single direction. But in this of and iron no resulted, yet, the motion of the in their of was coördinated. In any object above zero all the and their and move in all directions. In such a as Burke had and along the shaft's length, they all to move in one direction at the same time. Simultaneously, a of appeared in the coils. A high-speed in all the of the shaft. It was the heat-energy in the metal, all into energy. And when its heat-energy was to something else, the got cold.

Once this was understood, was easy. A single in series with the everything. In a sense, the was a with negative—minus—self-inductance. When a plus in series the self-inductance zero, neither plus minus, the powerful device docile. A small produced a mild thrust, only part of the heat-motion of and molecules. A produced a one. The to an remained. But the total must close to zero or and would develop, and it was only in thousands of gravities.

Burke had for three to make the thing, but he a for it in something under four hours.

That same night they got the into the ship. It perfectly into the place left for it. Burke now what he was doing. He set up his controls. He was able to produce so minute a that the lath-and-plaster and swayed. But he that he make the whole from its place.

Holmes sent his home. Sandy and Pam to the with two very men who them of all of about Burke and Holmes and Keller and what they were about. The men did not that information, but they did that Sandy and Pam it. For themselves, the of an object by Burke which thirty miles plus the presence of Holmes, who plastic yachts, and the of Keller to of which they had a complete list—these not be overlooked. But they did sorry for two and not over-bright girls who might be in very trouble.

Holmes and Burke controls, wiring, instruments, etc. Stores and water and oxygen, for use only, into the lath-and-plaster construction. Holmes took a and and the so that the top be off, the to the open air and sky.

Then the from space cut off. It had been for something like five weeks; one sharp, note every two seconds, with a longer, every seventy-nine minutes. Now a third, new message began. It was yet another of the tones, with a much longer of sounds.

Keller had every and them over and over. Burke asked him to see if the third space message in any way with the second. Keller put them through a hook-up of instruments, to himself, and the answer to appear.

Newspapers into new headlines. "Ultimatum from Space" they thundered. "Threats from Alien Space Travelers." And as they presented the it that the third message from the was a threat.

The had been a call, an answer. When the answer out from Earth, a second message replaced the call. It not only which might be to words, but which might be the of numbers. The of the second message were a to be to the message source.

In this context, the newspapers that the third message was a threat. The had been a summons, the second had been a to repair to the entities, and the third was a of the command, by threats.

The not take to threats, when it helpless. In the United States, there was such as to spread-eagle by all public figures. The President that every space in store had been with atomic-fusion and that any which appeared in American would be immediately. Congress reported out of a bill for which was for six days every and wanted to make a speech in its favor. It was the largest bill passed by Congress, which less than five had cut two hundred millions out of a guided-missile-space-exploration budget.

And in Europe there was frenzy.

For Burke and Holmes and Sandy and Pam and the smiling, Keller, the was serious. Fury such as the public a witch-hunt in itself. Suspicious private the FBI and the Space Agency with about they were sure were to the space travelers on M-387. There were reports of about American and dark to their non-human features. Artists, hermits, and beard-growers it wise to shave, and mediums, and, in the South, doctors by the sale of and on how to from space.

And Burke Development, Inc., was something that neither Civilian Defense the FBI was a bomb shelter.

The three days Burke had needed passed. A fourth. He and Holmes sleep to the plaster mould. Keller his and took them to Burke. They that the cracklings, which meant numbers, had been expanded. What they said was now told on a new scale. If the numbers had meant months or years, they now meant days and hours. If they had meant millions of miles, they now meant thousands or hundreds.

Burke was with these when there was a at the air-lock, through which all entry and from the ship took place. Holmes opened the door. Sandy and Pam through the lock which on its of upright. Sandy looked at Burke.

Pam said amiably, "We the job was about and we wanted to see it. How do you this door?"

Holmes her. The that had been the did not as large as the promised. It looked queer, too, on its side. There were two with a between, but the on the floor. The wall-gardens looked healthy under the which the and flourishing. There were everywhere.

Sandy to Burke's side.

"We're all but done," said Burke tiredly, "and Keller's just about proved what the are."

"Can we go with you?" asked Sandy.

"Of not," said Burke. "The message was a call. It had to be. Only in a call would somebody go into so any would know it was important. It called for help and said who needed it, and why, and where."

Pam to Holmes. "Can that air-lock be opened from outside?"

It couldn't. Not when it was fastened, as now.

"Somebody answered that call from Earth," said Burke heavily, "and the second message told more about what was wrong. The clickings, we think, are numbers that told how long help be waited for, or something on that order. And then there was a meant to lead was to help to that place."

Keller at Pam. He an and the result.

"Now there's a third message," said Burke. "Time's out for needs help is called for. The that to be numbers have changed. The—what you might call the of reportage—is new. They're telling us just how long they can wait or just how their is. They're saying that time is out and they're saying, 'Hurry!'"

There was a sound. Only Sandy and Pam looked unsurprised. Burke stared.

Sandy said firmly, "That's the police, Joe. We've been going to the with people who want to talk about you. Yesterday one of them to us that you were dangerous, and since he told us to away from the office, we did. There might be shooting. He us a little while ago."

Burke swore. There were other thumpings. Louder ones. They were on the air-lock door.

"If you try to put us out," said Sandy calmly, "you'll have to open that door and they'll try to their way in—and then where'll you be?"

Keller from the of the last He looked at the others with eyes. He waited.

"I don't know what they can you for," said Sandy, "and maybe they don't either, unless it's practice. But you can't put us out! And you know well that unless you do something they'll their way in!"

Burke said, "Dammit, they're not going to stop me from out if this thing works!"

He in a chair which had its to a and to buttons.

"Hold fast!" he said angrily. "At least we'll see...."

There were loud sounds. There were creakings. The room stirred. It in a fashion. Violent outside. Abruptly, a small television screen Burke an image. It was of the world wildly. Holmes a hand-hold and Pam. He her from as a the floor, and what had been the a wall, with the another. It that all the changed, though only and places.

Suddenly normal but new. The surface was with a mat. The wall-garden were now vertical. Burke sat upright, and something over his a half-turn and was still. But it with frost.

More crashes. More small television screens images. They the office of Burke Development, Inc., against a landscape. The leveled. Another the shed. One cloud formations, very and distinct. And two others a small, armed, of men away from the television lens.

"So far," said Burke, "it works. Now—"

There was a as of a elevator. Such a lasts for part of a second. This on. One of the six television screens a view of Burke Development from overhead. The and men and the four-acre rapidly. They were very and nearly all of the town was in the camera's of when a whiteness, a cloud, moved in between.