Earth Alert!

by Kris Neville

  CHAPTER XI

  Julia awakened with a start very early Saturday morning. It was not yetthree o'clock. Washington lay silent beyond her window. The dark, chillair of the room was motionless.

  I forgot to seal Walt's mind off from Calvin's! she thought in blindterror.

  She fumbled her bed clothes off and swung her feet to the carpet.

  But once she was standing, the effects of the nightmare began todissipate. She was surprised to find herself trembling. She laughednervously. She had dreamed that Walt was crossing the carpet toward herbed, walking in silent invisibility. He had raised a knife to plunge itinto her heart--had raised a great rock to smash her skull--had aimed apistol at her brain--while she lay in chill terror, waiting, helpless.

  The cold made goose pimples on her naked skin. But her own laughreassured her.

  A second of concentration and blood flowed skin-ward, warming her.

  She found the light switch.

  When the light came on, she heard the guard outside the door shufflerestlessly.

  She began to dress. She needed no more sleep. She was anxious to getback on the job--trying to stop the invasion; although now, in spite ofher mutant powers, now that the course of action was outlined, sheseemed more in the way than of assistance.

  Now why, she thought, would it suddenly seem so important that I shouldseal off Walt's mind? Yesterday, when he was so tired, I almost gave himback his mutant powers. I do trust him, don't I? Of course. After allthe help he's given us, I know--there's not the tiniest doubt,really--that he's completely on our side.

  Now why--?

  Seal ... off ... mind....

  She tried to ignore the thought. It isn't that important, she arguedwith herself.

  Seal ... off ... mind....

  Whoa! she thought.

  Seal off _minds_!

  Minds.

  Harmonics ... powerful signal ... transmit ... blanket....

  Pulling her blouse hastily over her head, she realized that it might beremotely possible!

  As she reached for the phone, she tried to see the mathematics involved.I'll have to consult Dr. Norvel, she thought.

  She dialed. Her hand began to tremble with eagerness.

  The phone rang in her ear. Once. Twice. Three times.

  "Hello?"

  "Hello, this is Julia. Let me speak to the general. Hurry!"

  Whoever was on the other end of the line moved quickly. Julia could heara phone ringing in the receiver.

  "Yes?" the general said, sleepy-voiced.

  "Julia, General."

  "Yes?"

  "I _think_ I've got something for you."

  "Yes?"

  "If we can transmit a powerful enough signal, we might be able to createharmonics that would interfere throughout the possible displacementarea. Interfere with the frequency that closes our bridges, I mean. It'sthe same principle as concussion affecting the displacement area."

  "Wait a minute. Okay, go on. I'm recording this, now."

  "If our television and radio transmitters will handle the signal, we canblanket the whole planet with interference. Any mutant that hits it willautomatically be deprived of his mutant powers."

  "What...?"

  "Look. We can make the whole first wave human normals. The Army canround them up and keep them unconscious while we adjust our interferenceto meet the second wave."

  "I see, vaguely. What do you need?"

  "Dr. Norvel."

  "I'll phone her."

  "A laboratory. An electronics laboratory."

  "I'll get it."

  "Enough time."

  "All I can do on that score is hurry as fast as I can. As soon as I getyour laboratory, I'll send a car around for you."

  "Right."

  "I've got calls to make, then. You give me the details later."

  "Goodby."

  Julia hung up.

  * * * * *

  She felt elation. She went to the window and breathed deeply. The airwas exciting.

  Two hours later, she was in a staff car speeding toward an experimentallaboratory on the outskirts of town.

  She was hustled inside the building by a sergeant and a colonel; gray,cloudy dawn hovered in the east.

  Dr. Norvel was already waiting.

  "Let's go to work," the doctor said.

  "Right."

  "What do you propose? The general said something about interfering withthe frequency controlling your mind. How? We can't even detect it."

  "We don't need to. We generate a signal, vary the frequency until I losemy mutant powers--and that's it! We generate as strong a signal as wecan. Then we have every transmitter in the country put on a direct lineto us. When the radar spots the first saucer, we let go with everykilowatt of power we've got."

  "Good, good, good," Dr. Norvel said excitedly. "See if you can find somegood coffee, you there, with the bird on your shoulder."

  The colonel said, "Yes, ma'm."

  "I'll try to get some electronics men in to help," Dr. Norvel said. "Wemay need plenty of help."

  "Is there a technical library around?" Julia asked. "I better read up onelectronics."

  "There's one in there," the puzzled night watchman said.

  "I want you to get me somebody from the Army that can get me equipment,and fast," Dr. Norvel told the sergeant. He was standing helplessly bythe door.

  "I--"

  "Hurry up, damn it!"

  The sergeant shrugged in resignation. "All right, but they won't likeit. I'm the one you should have sent for the coffee."

  After, the sergeant was gone, the colonel came back.

  By noon, the laboratory was alive with activity.

  By six o'clock, the signal generator was beginning to grow.

  Julia supervised the crew laying cable. The cable would be connected tothe nearest radio transmitter.

  "Your transmitter will handle our signal?" Julia asked.

  "You give it to us, and we'll tell you."

  A general interrupted Julia. "I'm from General Tibbets. How's it going?"

  "Can't tell."

  "We're trying to scatter paratroops--detachments of them. All over. Howlong do we have?"

  "It's up to _them_," Julia said. "I don't know when we'll be finishedhere."

  "Our men should be stationed by morning."

  "I hope we're through that early."

  "You disarm these damned mutants, and we'll capture them."

  "Hope to."

  In the yard, a crew was unloading a new power supply.

  "Knock a hole in the east wall and take it inside!" a harried officerbawled hoarsely.

  "Some ass of a newspaper man did a report on unusual activity in thePentagon and around Washington," Dr. Norvel said. "He hinted it hadsomething to do with the flying saucer reports of twenty some yearsago."

  "How in hell did it leak?"

  "... the Pentagon's issuing a denial."

  * * * * *

  By midnight, Julia was superintending the construction of a secondsignal generator. Work on the first one was temporarily stalled; thetechnicians were waiting for a special transformer.

  Dr. Norvel was waving an inked-in schematic diagram before the face of agray haired man in an apron. "No, no, no," she said. "It's got to be_this_ way to set up the right harmonics."

  A major came up and tugged apologetically at Julia's arm. "Are you incharge here?"

  "I'm sure I don't know."

  "Well, if you are--please, Miss, my men have to rest. Can I let them gonow?"

  "We're not quitting 'til we finish--I'm sure of that."

  The major went away, looking for someone else in authority.

  Walt, his mutant bridge restored, was inspecting the second signalgenerator with interest. With it, the technicians would determine thesignal that interfered with his frequency. They would set it to throbout that signal.

  One section of the transmitter cable ran to each signal generator. Asergeant
had just finished installing a switch that would control thesignal being fed into the output line. After the first mutant wave hadbeen captured, the switch would be thrown to the left. The signalcovering Walt's powers would then be transmitted to the same network ofradio and television stations that had carried the one covering Julia's;and the second wave would be reduced to earth normal.

  It was dawn before the first signal generator began operation. It wasSunday.

  Julia sat at a desk, sipping coffee, holding a book suspended in frontof her, six inches from the desk top. The last twenty-four hours hadleft a strain on her face. When the book fell, her mutant powers wouldbe gone.

  Smoking cigarette after cigarette, Dr. Norvel watched. After nearlyfifteen minutes, she pleaded, "Drop, damn you, _drop_!"

  Work on the second generator continued. It was at least half a day awayfrom completion. There was a continual mutter of conversation about itin the background.

  An hour later, sweat covered Julia's face. The book was still suspended.

  "Put in the next frequency range unit," Dr. Norvel said wearily.

  A general bustled in. "General Tibbets wants to know how we're doinghere."

  Silence greeted him.

  "The paratroopers are ready," the general said defensively.

  * * * * *

  Lycan bustled about, making last minute preparations in the largercompartment. His faceted eyes gleamed with excitement. Now and then hespoke to a mutant.

  "You ready, Fred?"

  "Yes, Lycan. I'm nervous, but I'm ready."

  "It's natural," Lycan reassured.

  The mutants shuffled their feet and cleared their throats and wipedtheir palms. They smiled uneasily.

  "Form a line!" the Elder called. "We're ready to load you."

  The mutants complied. They spoke in hushed undertones. Their focus rods,like tall staffs, bristled unevenly above their heads.

  Lycan led them up the ladder to the second level. Led them down the longcorridor. Led them past gleaming, whirring machinery.

  In the huge, open launching area, the other aliens made last minuteadjustments on the saucer ships.

  The Elder sent the first group forward. They boarded their ships. Thealiens withdrew.

  A section of the wall unfolded. Air hissed away, expelling the saucerships out into space. The mutants worked their simple controls. Thesaucer ships floated together as if for protection. On signal, theyplunged earthward.

  The section of the wall folded back. Air entered. The aliens rushed outand unloaded more saucer ships from the storage compartments.

  Mutants entered and boarded. The aliens withdrew. The wall unfolded. Asecond group of saucer ships plunged earthward. The wall folded back. Itwas as if the space station had opened its mouth; as if the mouth hadbreathed flying saucers.

  Down they came.

  Early Sunday sunlight burst across the eastern part of the NorthAmerican continent.

  Nearly a thousand saucers, in five compact groups, one group for eachcontinent, slipped one after another into the atmosphere.

  There was no opposition. No planes rose to challenge them. They brakedand flattened and skimmed toward their assigned landing sites.

  And they touched down: in the hearts of industrial cities; in farmcommunities; at military installations. They streaked up from thehorizon; they hovered; they settled gently to earth.

  A few surprised early risers saw them flashing across the sky; saw themland; saw the mutants, armed with focus rods, step out and adjustthemselves to the openness all around them. Hate was stamped plainly onthe mutants' faces. They took their time, adjusting their focus rods fordeath and destruction. The few earthlings who saw them waited or fled oradvanced with curiosity.

  At the Infantry School at Ft. Benning, Georgia, a saucer landed in thethird cortile. The three jump towers to the left were like bony fingerspointing accusingly at the sky.

  * * * * *

  The troops, alerted, uncertain as to what they were waiting for, werelounging in the barracks. Their orders had been changed several times inthe last few days. An orderly coming from "C" Company rec hall saw thesaucer first. He watched the female mutant get out, look around,shudder and shrink upon herself beneath the horrible, distant sky.

  He went to report it to the O.D.

  The female began to adjust her focus rod.

  At the airport across the Chattahoochee River in Alabama, fivebattalions of paratroops were waiting assignment. They had been briefedon their jobs less than twelve hours ago. Cargo planes warmed up off therunways, poised for service.

  The hastily organized message center was the focus of frantic activity.A teletype chattered. Telephones from radar stations rang and wereanswered. A harried clerk slipped a scribbled slip to a major waitingbeside the desk. He read it, whistled, and trotted toward the main bodyof troops.

  "There's one over in the third cortile."

  A nervous captain stood up and field-stripped his cigarette. "Want me tojump--or take a truck?"

  "Jump," the major said. "There's planes."

  "Yes, sir."

  "Load the third platoon," the captain called.

  A transport, under instruction from a colonel, wheeled onto the runway.

  The colonel came running up. "Load that platoon for Birmingham,Captain," he ordered. "Radar traced one down there."

  "There's one in the third cortile on the Main Post," the major said.

  "Get it with the next plane," the colonel said.

  The major trotted off to get a plane.

  The captain told a lieutenant: "Take the fourth platoon, Hawkins."

  The lieutenant saluted self-consciously. He crossed to his assignmentand began to check his men's equipment. The men pulled nervously attheir parachute harnesses and puffed at their cigarettes. "Don't forgetto hook up in the plane."

  Several men were waving out the next transport. It lumbered forward asthe other one cleared the field and circled west toward Birmingham.

  "I'd feel better with a rifle," one of the troops told the lieutenant.

  "What the hell," one of the other men said, "You'd have to clean it whenyou got back!"

  "Let's go!" the lieutenant said.

  The platoon moved into the waiting transport.

  A medical aide trailed up at the rear, carrying his hypodermic kit. Oncethe platoon overcame the mutant, he would inject enough morphine toknock the mutant out for at least twenty-four hours.

  The female in the third cortile saw the lumbering transport, saw thesilken blossoms swaying down from it. It amused her to wait. She was inno hurry. She was going to take it slowly at first: savoring the firstfew: before killing became a mere impersonal, mechanical operation.

  The soldiers were unarmed. They landed, divested themselves of theirchutes, trotted toward an assembly area designated by the lieutenant.When they were grouped, they started to close in on her--advancingnervously.

  She lifted the focus rod. So this was the best they could send againsther! She concentrated. She would turn them into flaming torches. Thenshe would demolish all the buildings within range. But first thescreaming human torches....

  Nothing happened. The focus rod was as useless as wood.

  Her mind was cramped. It was no longer as alert as it had been in thespace station. She was now adjusted to the openness around her. Sherealized something was badly wrong.

  The soldiers, smiling now, were almost upon her.

  She dropped the focus rod and started to run.

  * * * * *

  In Washington, Walt and Julia waited by the signal generator that was inoperation, broadcasting its interference across the whole planet. Julia,bereft of her mutant powers, sat limply in a folding chair; her body wasa stupor of exhaustion; she watched the activity around her withlistless, heavy-lidded eyes.

  General Tibbets paced nervously before the second generator.

  Dr. Norvel hovered at the control panel.
/>
  "It's finished," a technician said, straightening stiffly from theelectrical wiring at the rear of the panel.

  The general stopped pacing. "Walt! Are you ready?"

  "Okay," Dr. Norvel said. "Turn it on."

  "I'm ready," Walt said.

  A power supply moaned.

  "Here we go, Walt."

  A technician ran a hand through his hair. "Keep your fingers crossed."

  Walt, seated beside Julia, concentrated on the book. It floated abovethe desk.

  Dr. Norvel moved the dial. Her face was pale and drawn.

  The general coughed nervously.

  The control light of the generator winked out.

  Everyone held his breath.

  The air was filled with the sharp, acrid odor of burning wiring.

  "Unplug it!" Dr. Norvel cried.

  A technician cut off the power.

  "Oh, damn, damn, damn," Dr. Norvel said tonelessly.

  The generator still smoked. A technician was trying to see into thewiring behind the panel. "Something shorted," he said unnecessarily,"It's a mess."

  "We've got to get it fixed," Julia said dully.

  Dr. Norvel collapsed, crying quietly. "It's too late; it's too late;it's too late."

  "We worked too fast--"

  Walt stood up. The book fell with a sharp, explosive sound now that hehad stopped concentrating on it. "We'll have to find my frequency on theother generator."

  "Not until we get all the first wave of mutants under control," Juliasaid. "We can't shut off their interference before."

  "Suppose it takes as long on your frequency as it did on Julia's?" Dr.Norvel said. "... I don't think we've got that kind of time. As soon as_they_ realize something's wrong...."

  "What else can we do?" Walt asked.

  Nobody answered.

  Dr. Norvel rummaged nervously through her smock. "Anybody got acigarette?"

  The general fumbled in his uniform. "... I'm out ... Colonel?"

  "I'll send out for some, sir."

  "Try in my handbag," Julia said. "I think there's some there."

  The general went to the handbag. He opened it. He removed the birthcertificates and found the cigarettes.

  Dr. Norvel took one from him and lit it. "Thanks."

  "What's these?" the general asked.

  "Birth certificates," Julia said.

  "Uh--?"

  "Of some of the mutants," Julia said. "I kept them, kept them toestablish paternity. When they were all captured."

  The general tossed them on the table. "It doesn't look like we'll needthem.... Well, let's get that second machine going."

  Technicians were already stripping out burned wiring. One of them wasscribbling a list of replacement parts on a loose sheet of paper.

  "I better see how many we've captured, so far," the general said. "Howlong it will take to get them all."

  The colonel stood respectfully aside, and the general walked heavily tothe office.

  * * * * *

  The laboratory was silent. After they heard him speak into thetelephone, the technicians resumed conversation, hushed and hopeful, andnervous.

  The general listened to the staff report from the Pentagon.

  The overall situation was confused. The Army had no idea of how manymutants were still at large. Some had gone into hiding, and dressed asearthlings, they were impossible to identify by appearance.

  A group of civilians had reported one mutant in custody. They had beentold to knock him unconscious and keep him unconscious until furtherword.

  Since all radio and television transmitters were in use, it wasimpossible to solicit aid from the great body of civilians--most ofwhom, indeed, knew nothing as yet of the invasion; most of whom werejamming switchboards with angry calls aimed at determining why theirtelevision sets weren't working. The official explanation, issued by thestations themselves, was sunspots.

  The general listened quietly.

  "Break it to the press," he said at last. "Ask that all civilianscooperate."

  The Pentagon resumed the report.

  It was estimated that more than eight hundred saucers had alreadylanded across the planet. There was only a little information so farfrom foreign countries, all of whom had been alerted. Russia hadreported nineteen mutants captured. England reported two. France--

  "Thanks," the general said.

  * * * * *

  The Elder detected the interference when a control needle on thefrequency transmitter began to jump erratically. Instantly he checkedthe displacement coupling. There was nothing wrong with it. Thefrequency was being properly transmitted.

  He was petrified with terror. His eyes glazed. His tentacles hung limp.Breath gurgled in his body; bubbled and rattled and rasped.

  Then, leadenly, he moved one tentacle.

  **Conference!** he shrieked to his colleagues. **Conference,** he sobbedbrokenly.

  Circuits opened up; the Elder gave them his knowledge.

  They had no difficulty in deducing the general picture of what washappening on Earth.

  *Walt failed,** they accused Forential.

  **Save us, Elder! Save us!**

  There was a hysterical babble of thought throughout the space station.

  Forential raced down the ladder like a tumbling spider. He threw himselfalong the second level corridor. He stopped, gasping, before thefrequency transmitter governing his charges.

  It still functioned perfectly.

  The other aliens fled aimlessly through corridors, huddled in darkcorners; they whimpered and moaned and waved their tentacles in terror.

  **Make peace!** one of them screamed shrilly.

  **Surrender!**

  **They'll kill us anyway! Don't be a fool!**

  **No, no, _no_!**

  Lycan embraced the Elder for protection. Trembling, he looked up intothe Elder's contorted face. They both sobbed dryly.

  Forential could not think. He was paralyzed.

  It was almost half an hour before they quieted.

  **My mutants aren't jammed,** Forential told them for the dozenth time.**Maybe there's still hope.**

  **Send them all down; send them all--**

  **No! Wait!** Fierut interrupted sharply. **Wait! Reason! Suppose there_is_ interference on Forential's frequency. Suppose it just isn't strongenough for us to detect it. Suppose they're throwing most of their powerinto interfering with Lycan's transmitter. Suppose there is only localinterference with Forential's. We've got to take that into account.**

  Great hopeless whimpers echoed in their minds.

  **Wait, now, wait!** Fierut commanded. **We must assume it's true. Butif we throw all available power into Forential's transmitter, maybe wecan breach that purely local interference.**

  **Yes? Yes? Yes?**

  **Lycan: cut off your transmitter. Channel every unit of power toForential--**

  **Madness--**

  **Suicide--!**

  **_They_ could change over--!**

  There was a rising babble of protest.

  **Earth can't tell it's off!** Fierut thought. **They must be using thetwo mutants down there for negative tests. They couldn't possibly havedetection equipment for a displaced field.**

  **It's, it's our only _hope_,** the Elder whispered.

  * * * * *

  Fierut scuttled out of his compartment and down the ramp to theinstrument room. He began to analyze and test and measure the beams ofinterference pouring from Earth. He used a synchronized model of theplanet to pinpoint originating sites. He traced the beams back, Earthtransmitter by Earth transmitter, back to the originating site of leastdistortion and sharpest harmonics. **There!** he cried. **I have locatedtheir signal generator!**

  **All the power is now on Forential's transmitter,** Lycan thought. **Mytransmitter is off.**

  **Send five of your charges down to destroy the signal generator!** theElder ordered Forential. **Hold the rest in rese
rve--in case of moretrouble--**

  Forential dropped down the ladder to the rim level. He was chattering innervous excitement.

  Gasping painfully he selected five of his best mutants.

  "Come!" he cried. "I will explain as we go. Traitors on Earth.... Waltis a traitor.... Hurry!"

  "I'll come too," Calvin cried eagerly. "I'll come too!"

  "You stay here!" Forential ordered.

  **When the installation is destroyed, prepare to switch your transmitterback on again, Lycan,** the Elder ordered. **If any of your mutants arealive, they can resume destruction.**

  **If all goes well,** Forential thought, **we may yet succeed. I willreassign sectors among my remaining charges.**

  Shortly five new saucer ships left the space station.

  * * * * *

  The five saucers, in V-formation, careened into the atmosphere. Theycircled the planet, slowing. The leader peered at a floating needle in aspherical container of liquid. The needle vibrated in answer to the beamof interference it was attuned to. The silver tip wobbled back and forthacross the target.

  The ships leveled out over the Rocky Mountains. Losing altitude, theyhurtled on a sloping trajectory toward Washington.

  Across the Great Plains. Across the turgid, swollen Mississippi River.Across the Appalachians, worn and old.

  They slowed. The controls became more sluggish.

  They hovered over Washington. The needle dipped.

  Below, white and massive with afternoon sunlight, the WashingtonMonument, the tallest piece of masonry on the planet, loomed up betweenThe Ellipse and the Tidal Basin, towering 555 feet into the air:standing rooted and solid and defiant.

  Walt _felt_ them.

  "Mutants from my compartment!" he cried.

  Instantly all activity in the laboratory ceased. It resumed almostimmediately, pointless and frantic, now.

  "They've been sent to destroy our signal generator," Dr. Norvel saidmatter of factly.

  Technicians glanced anxiously at the suddenly unsubstantial walls. Therewas no protection. They were exposed as completely as if they were aloneon a flat, barren tennis court of infinite dimensions.

  "Cut off the transmitter!" the general ordered. "Find Walt'sinterference frequency!"

  "... too late," Julia said. "We haven't time."

  "We could be lucky!" the general insisted. "Pick a frequency range.Maybe we can hit the right one. Hurry up, for Christ's sake; you,there--!"

  "But we can't cut the transmitter off," Dr. Norvel pleaded. "It wouldrelease the other mutants. Give them even five minutes...."

  "I can hold them off for awhile," Walt said. "I can shield myself fromthe radiations of the focus rod. All the mutants have to be able to. Ithink I can shield the building against them; I think I have theadvantage of knowing more than they do. I don't know how long I can holdsuch an extended shield--Until they come in after me, I guess."

  "We'll stop them," the general said. "We'll stop them at the door."

  "You can't," Julia said. She was slowly rousing from her stupor. "Theycan displace."

  "I can't hold off five of them long," Walt said. "Not and hold theshield."

  "It would be a greater risk, cutting off Julia's frequency, searchingfor Walt's."

  "But Julia could help him then!" the general said.

  "No, because then those on _her_ frequency would come after us. There'smore of them." Dr. Norvel pressed her forehead wearily.

  "We've got to do something."

  Walt's voice cut through the confused babble. "I'm trying to reason withthem."

  "... he hears their thoughts," Julia whispered.

  Activity ceased. Breathing seemed to cease.

  Walt stood erect, motionless, grim. His body was taut. His eyes werebright with tension.

  _Your focus rods can't penetrate!_ he called to them.

  He braced the shielding against another assault. It came and passed. _Ican hold the shielding as long as you can!_

  _We'll come in and kill you. There's five of us._

  _Friends, it's me. Walt._

  _Traitor!_

  _No! No, I'm not!_

  _Lies!_

  _Let me--Listen! Forential lied! I, I can prove it! ... how?_

  _Hell with him!_

  _No, wait!_ one of the five insisted sharply. Walt didn't catch who.

  He could hear them in conference.

  * * * * *

  Then one blocked out the whole conversation and held it blocked out. Amoment later, the block faltered and faded. Walt felt uneasy. What hadthey said? Some trick?

  _We do know Walt, after all. We may as well listen._

  _He's a traitor._

  _Wait. If he has proof--!_

  _He couldn't have: It's Lyrian lies!_

  _Give me a chance! Walt pleaded. I know you all. Give me a chance. Whatcan you lose?_

  _Forential said--_

  _Give me a chance!_

  _Let's hear him._

  _We owe him that._

  Walt was sweating now. His hands were clenched into fists. He was almostcertain that the argument was for his benefit: to make their seemingacquiescence less suspicious.

  _I'm coming out. One of you come to me._

  Walt let out his breath. "There's a chance--" He went to the table andscooped up the birth certificates. "I hope one of these fits."

  "Walt!" Julia cried. "If it doesn't!"

  "... they were my friends," he said. "I was raised with them. Maybethey'll believe me anyway. Bob and Jim and Dave and Reg and Willy...."Walt shrugged.

  He crossed to the doorway. He left the laboratory.

  Just outside he waited. One of the five saucer ships approached. Hecould see Julia's face at the window. It was drawn and pathetic. Hewanted to go back and comfort her and tell her everything was going tobe all right.

  How sweet she was! Now that she was no longer infinitely wise andsuperior, now that she was dependent and helpless: how sweet she was!

  He wanted to protect her. His heart swelled with sadness and with joy.

  The saucer ship hovered. He motioned it closer. It drew in toward himlike a nervous colt.

  He waited.

  He motioned it closer.

  At last, just in front of him, it jolted down.

  Willy got out.

  Walt watched as the horror of openness flickered across his face.

  _You'll get used to it_, Walt thought. _You'll like it, when you getused to it._

  Willy clutched the side of the ship for support. _I'm, I'm all right,inside the ship.... You come inside._ He clambered back out of sight.

  Caution counseled refusal. But Walt approached the entrance. Hisincreased knowledge made him confident. He had learned much--just in thelast day. He was more than a match for a single mutant from the spacestation. If he had known as much last Monday as he knew now, Julia wouldnever have escaped. He entered.

  Willy pulled the door closed. He was breathing heavily.

  _Take off your shoes!_ Walt commanded. Walt knew Willy was going to tryto start the ship, try to move it away so that Walt's shield would nolonger cover the laboratory. Once that happened, the mutants on theoutside could blast the laboratory in a second.

  _What?_

  Slowly, Willy was moving the starting lever by teleportation. Waltlocated the focus rod.

  _Take your shoes off!_

  * * * * *

  Suspiciously Willy glanced back mentally at the other saucer ships ashort distance behind. Willy hesitated. Then he sat down and removed hisshoes. He watched Walt closely. The starting lever continued to inchinto position.

  Walt knew Willy wouldn't risk a sudden motion.

  But Walt was wrong. As he bent down, the lever snapped in place. Thesaucer shuddered.

  And Walt, using the focus rod for power, fuzed the control panel in aninstant beyond all use. Before the other mutants could strike, hisextended shielding was back around himself and t
he laboratory.

  _You're going to listen_, Walt told him calmly. _All of you. You're anearthling. Every one of you. You were born here of Earth parents._

  _Nonsense!_

  _It's true. You shut up!_

  Willy waited, uncertain. The others were equally uncertain. They had notbeen prepared for a failure in their initial plan.

  _I have proof. Right here._ Walt thought all the details to the mutantsas rapidly and as sincerely as he could. His face was bloodless. Hishand was shaking. The strain of holding the shielding was beginning totell on him.

  Only two birth certificates were left. I've got to make them see thatForential had lied to them! he thought.

  The mutants were thinking the situation over in privacy, agreeing on anew course of action.

  And there it was!

  Wonder of wonders, the last birth certificate was Willy's!

  _See! See!_ Walt thought excitedly. _This proves what I was telling you!Look! All of you! They're the same!_

  _It proves nothing_, Bob thought....

  _It's faked._

  _Is that the best you have to offer?_ one of them sneered.

  _Let's kill him! Get it over with!_

  _How could I fake it?_ Walt demanded. He realized now what a pathetichope it had been. He needed time; given that, the birth certificateswould be very helpful in convincing them. But without time, he couldn'tgive them all the background they needed. And they weren't going to givehim time.

  _Lyrian traitor!_

  _You can't hold us all off, Walt. We're going to kill you._

  Walt saw them--saw them mentally--landing their four ships. In a fewminutes they would be upon him.

  He began to tremble in impotent rage. He backed toward the door toescape from the confining walls. He tried to make his shielding evenstronger against their focus rods.

  Julia, waiting in the laboratory, heard her heart beating loudly andrapidly. The one saucer had landed. Walt had boarded it. The four weredrifting, waiting. There was a hum from the signal generator behind her.Let him be all right, let him beat them off! she prayed.

  What's happening? How can I help?

  ... Perhaps because her mind was so fatigued that it was almostfunctioning on the automatic level of sleep, she realized at last whythe two compartments in the space station had been kept separate. Afterthe second wave of mutants destroyed the first--under the impressionthey were the Earth survivors of a war--the aliens would silence thesecond frequency transmitter. Earth would be populated by less thanthirty male mutants. The race of man would not breed back. In a fewyears, the planet would be ready for its conquerors.

  I wish I could tell Walt that, she thought. Maybe it would be of somehelp to him.

  The four saucers landed.

  She bent forward tensely.

  Has he convinced them? Are they coming out to surrender?