Alien From the Stars

by Jeff Sutton

  "I'm afraid they'll find the pod," he finished.

  "It's possible." Barlo didn't appear alarmed.

  "Search parties are in the hills already," he warned.

  "They haven't found the pod yet," reflected Barlo.

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  "How do you know?"

  "I'm in contact with it."

  "Contact?" Toby was startled. "Is someone else aboard?"

  Barlo shook his head and explained that he could telepathically query a playback instrument in the ship. But if the hatch were opened or the pod disturbed in any way, the playback would cease to function. "Then I'd have to destroy the ship," he finished.

  "How would you do that?"

  "It carries a destruction device." Barlo caught Tony's puzzled look and explained, "It can be detonated telepathically."

  "But to make the device do something..." Toby groped for words. "That's more than telepathy, isn't it?"

  "Something more."

  "We have a word for that. It's psychokinesis."

  "Ah!"

  "Can you really move things with your mind?"

  "Only under special and extremely limited conditions," replied Barlo.

  "In this instance the special condition is the unit built to respond to a telepathic command. That is also the limit of the power," he ended.

  "Can anyone, any other race..."

  "Use psychokinesis? Not yet, Toby. I suspect that ability still lies in the evolutionary upstream.

  Perhaps in another million years, or perhaps in another galaxy at another time..." The curious smile touched Barlo's lips again. "By the measure of what is possible, we still are quite primitive."

  "I can't imagine that." Toby shook his head. "If you had to destroy the pod, how would you get back?"

  "To the rescue ship? They'd send down another pod."

  "How would they know where to land?"

  "My transmitter would tell them exactly where I am."

  "Wouldn't that be dangerous? I was thinking of them having to land."

  "I don't believe so."

  "I'm getting scared," confessed Toby.

  "That I might be discovered?"

  "There must be over a hundred cars by the general store," he explained.

  He told Barlo about the VACI. "I'm afraid they're getting ready to search the whole countryside."

  "The barn?"

  Toby licked his lips nervously. "They might try to."

  "Perhaps I should leave."

  "Oh, no," he remonstrated quickly, "I didn't mean that. I was just thinking you might be safer under the sheriff's protection. Dan Washburn's his name, a real swell fellow. I know you could trust him."

  "Perhaps."

  "But you could," he insisted. "You'd be safe until the rescue ship came."

  "Your sheriff is just a peace officer, isn't he? Yes, I can see in your mind that he is. Do you believe others above him would leave me with him if they thought I knew the secrets of Q space propulsion? I'm afraid not." Barlo shook his head with a quick, birdlike motion.

  "Q space propulsion, that's the star drive, isn't it? Do you think..."

  Toby cut the words short, realizing suddenly that he knew exactly what Barlo did think. The military men and the scientists and perhaps a lot of others would demand the knowledge. Other Page 21

  nations would fight to get it, too. Barlo wouldn't have a chance. He shivered.

  "That's exactly the way I feel about it," acknowledged Barlo. "I'm certain your sheriff is an honorable man, but I'd rather take my chances hiding in the hills."

  "But you can't," Toby protested. "They'd find you for sure."

  "Would that be worse than surrendering to your sheriff?"

  "I don't know." He regarded the other uneasily. "At least we should have some other place for you to hide in case they start searching around here."

  "A sensible precaution."

  "I wish you'd stay in our house," Toby exclaimed eagerly. "They'd never look for you there, and I know Gramp and Mom wouldn't mind. You'd really like them."

  "I'm certain of that," assented Barlo. "But no, I can't."

  "You think it might be dangerous?"

  "For your family, yes."

  "I can't imagine it," Toby said doubtfully. He searched his mind, recalling the various hiding places in the hills he'd known in years past.

  There were some caves, a couple of old mine shafts. But if the searchers had bloodhounds, like Cleator said, no place would be safe. Aside from that, he had to keep Barlo close enough to be able to help him if necessary. He discarded the Possibilities almost as quickly as they Occurred.

  One thing was certain: they'd have to trust someone else, especially if it became necessary for Barlo to move. Explaining his fears, he said tentatively, "I have a friend I can trust."

  "If you trust him, so will I," asserted Barlo.

  "It's a girl." Toby flushed. "Her name is Linda Jansen. We go to school together."

  "Ah!"

  "Her house is just up the road," Toby supplied quickly. He described the large eucalyptus groves that lay beyond it, one of which Contained a deserted barn half hidden by the branches.

  Although he admitted that the barn probably was no safer than the present hiding place, he thought it might serve as an emergency shelter until they found something better. Linda could keep watch, warn him if the searchers started moving in that direction. He said, "But I don't think they will. They'll probably concentrate on the hills around where the hunters saw you."

  "Possibly." Barlo's tone was noncommittal.

  "Do you mind if I tell her about you? Just as a precaution," he added.

  "I'll leave that up to you, Toby."

  "You'd like her," Toby declared enthusiastically. "She's awfully nice."

  "I'm certain of that."

  Toby rose to leave. "Is there anything I can get for you?"

  "Not at the moment, thank you."

  "Stay out of sight," Toby urged. "I'll be back." Descending the ladder, he again became conscious of the roaring in the sky and recognized the pulsing beat as that of the helicopters. He spotted them moving slowly above a gully as they followed its course downward from the hills.

  Reaching the valley floor, they swung in a wide circle and started toward an adjacent gully. In the distance half a dozen small planes wheeled and dipped.

  They resembled moths against the blue of the sky.

  FOUR

  TOBY SKIRTED THE GENERAL store while going to Linda's house. The fields on either side were jammed with cars, with more arriving every minute. The concrete ribbon winding down the grade from the west was alive with them. A

  press car and another from a television station were drawn up on the shoulder of the highway Page 22

  behind two police cruisers. Several men were photographing the scene.

  The storekeeper's son, a gawky youth of about twenty, had cut through a wire fence to gain access to the green pasturage beyond and was now collecting parking fees on it from the newcomers. At the sight of Toby he grinned foolishly.

  Toby estimated the crowd at more than three hundred. Many of the men were arguing vociferously. Some appeared angry or belligerent, emotions that he sensed masked their underlying fright. More than a few carried shotguns or rifles, and here and there he saw leashed dogs.

  The crowd's ominous restlessness frightened him. For the first time he could appreciate Barlo's reluctance to place himself under the sheriff's protection. He'd heard of mobs storming jails.

  Yesterday he would have said that such a thing could never happen in a quiet place like this; now he wasn't so certain.

  What of the men in high places? How would they react if they discovered that a being from a vastly more advanced civilization had landed on Earth? How would they react at the prospect of obtaining a star drive? Barlo hadn't been at all optimistic about that. If they ever allowed Barlo to return to his people, it would be only after they'd stripped him of every vestige of knowledge that he possessed. Perhaps under the guise o
f national security he'd simply vanish. He'd read of such things. Or was he letting his imagination run wild? Yet Barlo felt the same way.

  Where would it all end? The question pinged at his mind. If the rescue craft came quickly enough, Barlo might yet leave as quietly as he had come.

  But that possibility was growing slimmer with every passing hour. With the helicopters searching the gullies, the pod's detection seemed all but inevitable. If they didn't find it, ground searchers would. And when that time came, Barlo's apprehension would quickly follow.

  He couldn't allow that to happen, he thought fiercely. He had to keep Barlo hidden until his rescuers arrived. And it wasn't just Barlo; it was the star drive. The reflection surprised him. But it was true. Looking through Barlo's eyes, he could see that Earth wasn't ready for the stars.

  There hadn't been an interstellar war for more than a million Earth years! Moreover, there were thousands of different races, often vastly different in both physical appearance and culture, yet they managed to live in peace and harmony. With but a single race on Earth, there were wars all the time. Small wonder Barlo was appalled. But when Earth was ready, it would go to the stars in glory. He hoped Barlo lived to see that day.

  He increased his pace as he drew near the Jansen house, a two-story white frame dwelling set amid a fringe of eucalypti that gave it an air of

  anonymity. Turning in along a path that led to the porch, he heard the raucus sound of Linda's television set coming from an upstairs room.

  Linda's mother greeted him with a cheerful smile. "How do you like the excitement?" she asked.

  "Imagine, a flying saucer right above Murdock's store."

  "Well, it's paying off." Toby grinned. "He's charging for the parking."

  "That man!" She watched him brightly. "Did Cleator's vigilantes ride by your way? I saw them heading across the fields."

  "Yeah, the sheriff was there."

  "He stopped to warn me that I'd better arm myself, said that Russian spies had been landed in the valley. He's crazy."

  "That's what Gramp says."

  "A flying saucer sounds more plausible," she reflected. "Did you see those two hunters who were interviewed on television? The reporter talked to them in the field. According to them -- I forget their names, but they came from the city -- they were attacked by a gorilla at least fourteen feet tall.

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  Imagine, a gorilla with a ray gun. They said it was wearing red armor and red shoes with spikes on the toes."

  "That's crazy," he exclaimed.

  "Of course it's crazy, but it shows the kind of nonsense that's going on. Linda!" She raised her voice. "Toby's here."

  "If she's busy..."

  "Just watching the excitement on the TV. She said it's almost as wild as some of the regular programs."

  "Yeah." He heard movement overhead before Linda came down the stairs. A slender brunette, she had her mother's dark eyes and a rather plain face, but when she smiled, Toby believed her to be the most beautiful girl in the world.

  "I've been following the men from Mars," she explained.

  "Is that what they're saying?"

  "Just about. It's either that or the Russians. A retired rear admiral from Coronado said that the description of the spacecraft fitted the test sleds the Russians have developed to carry their orbital bombs. He's demanding to know how it got through our detection system."

  "I never thought of that." Toby suddenly was appalled. If Barlo's ship had been tracked by radar, which seemed a logical assumption, the Air Force might know just about where it came down.

  The big radar unit in the Laguna

  Mountains, just to the east, must certainly have been following it.

  "What hadn't you thought of?" asked Linda.

  "Tracking the ship." He groped for words.

  "You sound as if you believe there was one."

  "I don't believe it was a Russian bomb carrier."

  "A flying saucer?"

  "It's possible," he answered uneasily.

  "I suppose." She didn't look convinced.

  He caught her eyes. "Want to walk over to the general store, listen in?"

  "I was there a while ago, couldn't even get in for groceries," Mrs.

  Jansen complained.

  "Let's go," exclaimed Linda. "It could be interesting."

  "Murdock will probably charge you for standing room," her mother warned.

  "Oh, I've got a cake in the oven!" She turned and hurried from the room.

  When they went outside, Linda said, "You have something in mind."

  "Not really." He felt flustered. "I just wanted to talk."

  "About what's happening?"

  "Well, yes."

  "What is it?" she asked quickly.

  He glanced sideways at her and said, "When I was in the hills this morning, I saw the alien."

  "The ship?" she asked incredulously. When he shook his head, she demanded, "What did you see?"

  "The alien from the ship."

  "Toby Adam!"

  "Honest," he blurted.

  She paused, her face quizzical. "Are you certain?"

  "Yeah, sure." He wondered how to proceed.

  "Tell me about it," she insisted.

  "He's from the stars."

  "Ohhhh!" She drew out the word softly.

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  "The hunters were trying to kill him."

  "Then their story is true?"

  "Not exactly." He forced a smile. "His name is Barlo. I talked with him."

  "How could you do that?" she demanded.

  "Telepathically."

  "Toby?" Her gaze sharpened.

  "Honestly," he exclaimed. He told her about the encounter on the hilltop and how the alien had projected his thoughts telepathically. As he talked, he felt anew the wonder of it all. Seeing the disbelief vanish from her face, he related the story of the disaster that had brought the alien to Earth.

  "People up there," she murmured. Inadvertently she glanced at the sky.

  She shuddered when he told her of Barlo's narrow escape from the hunters.

  "That's dreadful," she exclaimed.

  "Now he's afraid of people."

  "Not of you," she commented.

  "Probably because he could read my mind."

  "Is he as big as they say?"

  "He's just a little bitty fellow, about so high." He gestured outward from his waist.

  "Like a monkey?"

  "Not a bit." He shook his head forcefully. "You should see his eyes.

  They're violet, about three or four times as large as mine. He has a real small nose something like a cat's but a real wide mouth and pointed ears." He described Barlo's strange reddish garments, his reedy voice, the difficulty he'd had in using speech.

  When he finished, she asked quietly, "How do you know he isn't dangerous?"

  "Gosh, you sound just like Carl Cleator."

  "Not really," she interrupted. "I'm not saying he is dangerous, but I'm asking how you know that he isn't. That's not the same thing. From what you say, he must have come from a vastly superior civilization. How do you know his intent? How do you know that he came here as the result of an accident?"

  "He let me look into his mind," he protested.

  "Telepathically? How could you do that?"

  "He projected his thoughts into my mind."

  "Then he could project what he wanted to project, isn't that right? How do you know what actually was in his mind? You couldn't tell, Toby."

  "Not if you put it that way," he replied uneasily.

  "I'm not saying that anything is wrong," she explained. "I'm just citing possibilities."

  "You'd know he's all right if you ever talked to him," he protested. "It isn't just what he told me; it's everything about him. He's just gentle," he added.

  "That's difficult to imagine," she reflected.

  "His being gentle?"

  "The telepathy bit -- the idea of someone from the stars."

  "You get used to it," he
declared. "I couldn't have imagined it yesterday; now it doesn't seem strange at all. Even his looks seem natural."

  "I wish I could have seen him," she said wistfully.

  "Would you like to?" he asked eagerly.

  "You know where he is?"

  "In my barn."

  "Toby!"

  "Honest, it's the truth."

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  "Do your folks know?"

  "Gosh, no."

  "What are you going to do?" she whispered.

  "Keep him hidden until someone comes to rescue him."

  "From his world? Did he say they would?"

  "He says it won't be long." He related what Barlo had told him about the rescue operation and the reason he hadn't remained with the landing pod. He also told her why Barlo might have to destroy the pod.

  "Could we build one, even if we knew about the drive?" she asked.

  "I think so." He reflected on it. "Look at Apollo."

  "That's far from a starship, Toby."

  "Sure, but I was thinking about how we could build."

  "I suppose, in time." She glanced at him. "He must think of us as Neanderthalers."

  "I don't think he feels that way at all," he protested.

  "His experience with the hunters couldn't have been very reassuring."

  "Well, they scared him." He gazed toward the general store, shuddering at what might happen if word got out that Barlo was in his barn. Although he didn't like to think of it, he knew he had to.

  They had to find some other place to hide him.

  "He must have seen our cities," she reflected.

  "I imagine they looked primitive to him." He described the vivid pictures that Barlo had projected into his mind -- the cool pink towers that jutted tremendous distances into the sky, the strange vehicles that darted through the air, the sense of peace and calm and remote beauty he'd felt at the time.

  "His world?" she breathed.

  He nodded. "A planet called Raamz that goes around a dusky reddish sun named Zaree," he told her.

  "A reddish sun. How lovely."

  "The length of his life is twenty thousand or more of our years."

  "Toby, that's frightening."