Night of the Saucers

by Eando Binder

  “Mankind,” continued the serious playboy, “has always seen things in the sky, even real things such as strange clouds, flocks of birds, ball lightning, and the like. In each age, he has molded those things into fanciful images that conform with the pet superstition of the times. In Roman days, it was a ‘shield’ or ‘sword.’ In Medieval times it became a witch on a broomstick or a demon. Today, in the age of technology, it is transformed into a mechanical flying machine of alien origin.”

  Seatonburry had taken what appeared to be colored stones from his pocket and idly flipped them in the air, then caught them like a juggler. “So much for flying saucers,” he concluded, “at least in my opinion.”

  Miribel gasped. “Are those jewels?”

  “Yes, my dear,” said the playboy. He stopped flipping them and held out his palm, displaying a diamond, ruby, amethyst and other precious stones. “I’m a bug on gems, you know. Love them, adore them, worship them.”

  Thane’s mouth was also agape as Seatonburry resumed juggling the jewels, until one suddenly escaped him and fell, rolling across the tiles off the patio and disappearing over the edge of a rocky ledge.

  “There goes my ruby,” sighed the playboy. “Oh well, it was only worth $25,000.” He jumped up eagerly. “Want to see my gem collection? The greatest in the world…”

  “No, thanks,” Thane said dryly. “Some other time. Thanks for the interview, Mister Seatonburry. We’ll be going.”

  “No, ya won’t,” interposed a harsh voice. Whirling, they all saw the masked man emerge from the hedges, gun drawn. Two more men with handkerchiefs over their faces materialized out of the shrubbery, guns at the ready.

  “We would like to see your gem collection,” the leader said mockingly to Seatonburry, who had turned pale. The gunman turned to Thane warningly, “You and the dame come along, and no tricks.”

  Herding the three people ahead of them, the thieves marched behind as the playboy helplessly led the way through broad French doors into the mansion. The sudden change from bright sunlight made the interior seem gloomy.

  It was at that crucial moment that Thane acted, knowing the gunmen’s eyes had not yet adjusted to the change in lighting. Twisting, he leaped at them with arms outspread, sweeping all three of them backwards. Totally unprepared, they lost their footing and fell. One gunman lost his grip on his gun which clattered across the marble floor.

  But the other two gunmen were already scrambling to their feet, guns still in hand. They both fired at Thane—or where he had been. Thane was a blur of motion, making a somersault at the end of which his feet clobbered one gunman full in the chest, sending him flying ten feet against a wall. His head struck with a thud and with a low groan he slumped, out cold.

  Thane now bounced to his feet behind the last gunman, who swung bewilderedly. Before he could aim, Thane’s fist smashed into his temple with all the beef of one-hundred-and-ninety pounds behind it. The leader fell without a sound.

  The first gangster, who had lost his gun, was trying to escape, running out onto the patio. Thane’s legs churned and he catapulted forward like an Olympic sprinter. Catching up to the robber, Thane grabbed him around the middle and with one heave, flung him flat on his back, his breath knocked out.

  Thane stood there, hardly panting, as Miribel and the playboy ran up. “What are you?” said Seatonburry, visibly awed. “Some kind of Superman?”

  “No, but the next thing to it,” said Miribel proudly. “Thane knows karate and judo and was the wrestling and boxing champ at college.”

  Seatonburry thrust out his handful of jewels. “You must take this as a reward, Smith. Go ahead, I have bushels of them.”

  “Keep ’em,” said Thane gruffly, pushing his hand away. “You have to have something to juggle with. Call the police. My wife and I will be going now.”

  Later, in their flying saucer, Thane chuckled. “Seatonburry thinks he has the world’s greatest collection of gems. Wonder what he would pay for a specimen of the seed?”

  “Forget him,” Miribel said. “He’s served his purpose in our interview campaign. Everyone in Who’s Who and their whole closed-circle society will take his word that flying saucers are illusions.”

  “In a week,” Thane nodded, “I’ll be writing up the series of interviews for the wire services. Then we go back to Thalkon and carry on our real job. While people are reading how eminent authorities in all walks of life deny UFO’s, we’ll be after the Vexxans in their UFO’s.”

  * * * *

  With a pair of tweezers, Thalkon held up the glowing speck. “Our lab duplicate of a Seed.”

  Thane and Miribel stared closely. The tiny bit of mineral, surrounded in a rainbow glow, periodically gave off a startling flash of intense light.

  “Good,” Thane said. “It looks real to me. It ought to fool the Vexxans at least to the extent of landing and looking it over.”

  “It will,” Thalkon promised. “We incorporated the radiation characteristics that will register on their Vibroscope.”

  “Our ‘bait’ is ready,” Thane said. “Now we simply plant it somewhere among rocks and wait for the Vexxans to follow the lure into our trap.”

  “How many Vigilante ships do you want at hand?”

  “None, Thalkon,” Thane said firmly. “The more ships, no matter how well concealed, the more chance of the Vexxans smelling a rat. Miribel and I will handle the capture.”

  “But there are usually three or more Vexxans in one craft,” Thalkon reminded. “Despite their short stature, they have more muscular power than human beings. If they all attack you at once…”

  “I’ll take my chances,” Thane shrugged. “Besides, Miribel will stand by with a paralysis gun.

  “The Vexxans aren’t Morlians; they’re immune to the para-ray,” Thalkon stated.

  Thane grunted in surprise. “Still,” he said stubbornly, “I think this is a one-man job. Call it instinct or a hunch but a Vigilante ambush would have less chance of succeeding.”

  “Why don’t you give up, Father?” Miribel trilled sweetly. “You know that in terms of one-track determination, no Zylian is equal to an Earthman.”

  Thalkon’s seamed face broke into a faint smile. “I surrender. Go to it, Special Agent Smith. As a matter of fact, previous Vigilante ambushes all failed in capturing a single Vexxan craft.” He turned piercing eyes on Thane. “If you succeed, you will again have proved that Earthmen have unique qualities no other race in the universe displays.”

  “Let’s go, Miribel,” said Thane briskly, “and play our cat and mouse game.”

  Chapter 6

  A somber full moon rose over a rock-rubble patch of ground, no different it seemed than countless other such areas around the world. But faintly, a leakage of many-colored rays came from under the stones.

  It was far away from any farmhouse or human habitation. Yet only a hundred feet away rested an invisible saucer-shaped machine in which two ghostly human forms huddled.

  “Oh, my aching muscles,” Thane complained for the tenth time. “I’ve got cramps to end all cramps. We’ve been waiting a week and no bite. Is our plan all wrong?”

  “It can’t be,” Miribel soothed, also stretching her arms for relief. “The Vexxans are combing Earth in a pattern that will eventually cover every square inch. By observing many Vexxan craft, Thalkon’s staff of mathematicians and computers has revealed that pattern. The whole Earth, including the seas, has been subdivided into great-circle ‘squares.’ Each square is then broken down into smaller squares and so on.”

  She paused to stare intently up at a bright moving star, but when it arched across the sky steadily in the satellite mode, she resumed.

  “Now of course each of the original squares is gigantic and its subdivisional squares can’t all be investigated at once. The Vexxans have been at it twenty years so far without g
athering all the Seeds possible.”

  “There may be areas,” Thane growled, “that the Vexxans won’t check out for years. What if we’re in one?”

  “We can’t be, Thane,” Miribel returned. “The geometries of it are proven by the formula…” She ran off a string of equations and then cut them off, with an embarrassed laugh. “I’m sorry, Thane. But it simply means that by study of which areas the Vexxans have covered so far, our formula shows the areas to be investigated next. And this spot is one of them.”

  “I hope all your super-Einstein calculations aren’t just a math mish-mash,” Thane muttered. But doubt vanished before the sentence was finished, for up in the star-strewn vault, another moving-star anomaly appeared. Meteorite, no. Satellite, no. Jet, no. Balloon, no. Ball lightning, no.

  “UFO, yes,” hissed Thane, his body jerking. “But it could still be the flying saucer of some other neutral world carrying out scientific studies on Earth.”

  “Except that it’s going to study this rock pile,” said Miribel jubilantly. “It’s coming down here like an arrow.”

  The starlike object expanded into a small domed disk that spun down purposefully until it loomed large overhead its hovering phase. Then, in a falling-leaf motion, it fluttered to the ground and landed near the rock pile.

  As before, the two watchers saw a hatch open, a ramp slide out, and three midget men emerge. A flash of moonlight in their visors revealed they were the hairy humanoids of Vexxa.

  “Our Vibroscope reading,” came the eager telepathic voice of the leader, “indicates a Seed in this area. The first luck we’ve had in months. Find it.”

  The other two were already scrabbling through the rock pile, like dogs after a fox.

  “We’ll carry out our original plan,” Thane whispered to Miribel. “While they’re busy searching for the fake Seed, I’ll sneak over into their ship and grab their Vibroscope. With luck, I’ll return and we fly away without them even knowing they were robbed.”

  “Good luck, Thane,” Miribel breathed, as Thane crept out of the hatch. “But remember, outside of the anti-visio field, you turn visible.”

  There was no help for that. Vigilante science had been unable to perfect an anti-visio unit for individuals. The apparatus was too bulky. When he had crept ten feet beyond their saucer’s rim, Thane saw his body materialize.

  But he was already in the shadow of wild bushes that circled around to the Vexxan craft. If he stayed behind this camouflage, the moonlight would never betray him.

  Halfway to their ship, Thane paused as an excited babble came from the Vexxans. The leader was holding up a glowing speck. They had found it already. But Thane was not alarmed, knowing what would follow.

  He grinned as he heard the chief begin a long-winded ESP speech over the “glory” of finding a Seed. That gave Thane enough time to reach the Vexxan craft. Stealthily creeping up the ramp, Thane listened intently in case there was a fourth humanoid aboard. But when his eyes came level with the cabin, he saw it was empty.

  One more problem lay ahead. From Miribel’s description, Thane knew what the Vibroscope looked like and immediately turned to it. It was a square metal box with a square screen and a row of studs below.

  It was set into the wall, firmly welded in position. Unperturbed, Thane took out a pencil-like instrument Thalkon had given him. By merely projecting his thought—metal melting beam—the rod shot forth a hissing thread of colorless flame that swiftly ate through metal. Meticulously, Thane made a cut-out in the wall on all four sides then pulled out the Vibroscope. Some wires broke in back, but that was unimportant. Thalkon’s technological wizards would know how to hook it up to a power supply.

  Poking his head out of the hatch, Thane saw the three humanoids just starting to move toward their craft. He had plenty of time to dart out with the box under his arm. But finally his luck ran out. He stepped on some loose pebbles that made his foot slip. Although he recovered his balance, the pebbles clattered loudly in the night hush.

  The three humanoids came to a halt, turned their heads, then broke into a run. Two of them ran to head Thane off while the third ran toward their craft. Thane saw he had no chance to make it. He quickly stashed the Vibroscope behind a stump, then turned in a half-stoop, like a wrestler, loosening his muscles for action.

  The two humanoids leaped over a bush ten feet high and landed near him. “A Vigilante,” rasped the leader. “What was he doing in our ship?”

  Back came the ESP answer from the third Vexxan. “He took our Vibroscope.”

  The leader gasped. “It must never fall into Vigilante hands.” To then he snarled, “You will not live to take it away.” At the same time, he leaped toward Thane like a wild animal pouncing on prey.

  Thane was ready—or thought he was. He spun sideways and kicked up one knee, timing it just as the dwarfs chin came within range. There was a sodden thump. But the humanoid, landing catlike on his feet, wasn’t in the least numb. Thane’s leg was.

  Rushing forward with the swiftness of a snake, the dwarf lashed out with his fist.

  The blow was like the kick of an elephant, bowling him head over heels. With beastlike sounds, the humanoid leaped on his supine form and began to rake his claws at Thane’s face and chest.

  Watching from behind a nearby tree, Miribel held her hands to her eyes, moaning inwardly. Did her Earth husband, despite his remarkable physical prowess, have any chance against these two stunted fiends?

  But the humanoid’s clawing ended abruptly, as Thane swung an arm around his neck and twisted his whole body with a powerful jerk, slamming the dwarf onto the ground against hard stone. The Vexxan lay stunned.

  But as Thane got to his knees, the other Vexxan made a clawing leap at him. His reflexes set for hair-trigger action, Thane flattened himself and the surprised dwarf flew over him. And when the humanoid sprang to his feet, Thane was towering over him and slamming down a rock as big as a football.

  Rock met helmet and skull with a sodden thump. Thane was dismayed to see the rock crumble in his hands, and the dwarf still standing. Had he withstood even this massive blow?

  But then, swaying on his feet, the Vexxan crumpled to the ground.

  “Look out, Thane!” came Miribel’s yell, “the other one recovered.”

  Thane whirled and saw long cruel talons flying at him. Thane did an unbelievable thing: he leaped straight at the approaching humanoid, taking him completely by surprise. The rest, to Miribel, was a blur of two forms, one large and one small, tangling with each other. She could not see the lightning-fast karate arm-twist Thane used, with a judo sidestep, that caught the dwarf in a viselike grip, followed by a vertical airplane spin. A moment later the screeching humanoid flew twenty-five feet straight up in the air. When he landed, it was on bare rock, with a whump that spoke of his whole body being jarred violently.

  The Vexxan didn’t move any more.

  “Nasty little devil,” Thane panted, poking him with his toe. “I should have broken your neck, karate style. But I’ll let you stagger back to your chiefs and tell them about the big Vigilante coup: stealing your Vibroscope.”

  Miribel now flew into his arms, sobbing. “Oh, Thane. I almost thought you… you…”

  “That I’d be licked?” Thane grunted, tasting blood that trickled from claw marks into his mouth. “Let me tell you a secret. It was the closest I ever came to losing out.”

  “Your poor face,” murmured Miribel, dabbing at the scratches with a hanky. But Thane pushed her away and darted to where the Vibroscope was hidden. With that under his arm, they ran toward their ship. Glancing back, they saw the two humanoids getting to their feet groggily. Blows that would have killed any man had only put them out of action temporarily.

  “And I guess I’ll show permanent scars from this,” said Thane, feeling the talon-marks on his cheek.

  �
�Don’t be silly, dear,” said Miribel. “Just drive away while I fix you up.”

  As Thane worked the controls and shot their saucer away, Miribel hummed to herself and opened her first-aid kit. She took out a squeeze-tube and deposited a bit of some plastic substance in each claw mark. Then she picked up a small gun-like device and shone its intense blue ray at each spot.

  Humming, she held up a mirror. Thane choked. “Every claw mark healed? Gone? How did you do it?”

  “We don’t give away our black-magic secrets,” Miribel sang gaily. “I’ll fix the marks on your chest too, before we even reach the Vigilante space station.”

  Black magic it almost was, reflected Thane. Once, after the defeat of the Morlians, they had even revived him from death. Or at least from clinical death as known on Earth, a boundary beyond which Earthly doctors could not go.

  “You’re all patched up now, my Frankenstein,” Miribel said later. “Our mission succeeded and you are unharmed.” For a moment her voice went solemn. “I really only gave us a fifty-fifty chance before, knowing what formidable enemies the Vexxans are.”

  She pondered a moment “You know, I think I know what defeated the Vexxans. They thought they were up against a Vigilante, all of whose reflexes and fighting tricks they knew. They didn’t know it was an Earthman opposing them—with a whole new bag of tricks. Thane, you’re wonderful…”

  “This’ll stop you from any more such drivel,” said Thane, pulling her to him and planting a kiss firmly on her lips.

  Chapter 7

  Thalkon patted the Vibroscope.

  “Another coup against the Vexxans, thanks to you, Thane Smith. Now we can locate a genuine Seed for ourselves and find out just why the Vexxans are so anxious to collect them.”

  “Right,” Thane nodded. “Miribel and I will mount the Vibroscope on our saucer and get going.”