Operation Terror

by Murray Leinster

  CHAPTER 9

  It was very likely that at that moment Lockley despised himself morebitterly than any other man alive. He blamed himself absolutely forJill's capture. If there were humans acting with the alien invaders,her fate would unquestionably be more horrible than at the hands ofthe monsters alone. After all, there was one nation most likely todeal with extra-terrestrial creatures to help them in the conquest ofearth, and its troops were not notorious for their kindly behavior tocivilians.

  And Jill was their captive. He'd been carried past the place where aterror beam blocked the road. The military markings might mean the carwas stolen, or that its markings and paint were counterfeit. It seemedcertain that Jill had gone up to it in confidence that there couldonly be American soldiers in such a car, and when near it found outher mistake too late.

  These were not things that Lockley thought out in detail at thebeginning. He ran after the car like a mad man, unable to feelanything but horror and so terrible a fury that it should have killedits objects by sheer intensity.

  Presently he heard hoarse, gasping sounds. He realized that the soundswere the breath going in and out of his own throat, while Jill wascarried farther and farther away from him in a car which traveled tenyards to his one. He sobbed then, and suddenly he was strangely andunnaturally calm. He was able to think quite coolly. The onlydifference between this and normal thinking was that now he couldonly think about one thing--full and complete and terrible revenge forthe crimes committed and to be committed against Jill. She would betaken to Boulder Lake. So he would go to Boulder Lake, and somehow, insome manner, he would destroy utterly all living beings there andevery trace of their coming.

  Which, of course, was both natural and unreasonable. But reason wouldhave been unnatural at such a time as this.

  He moved along the highway in a passion of ultimate resolve. In therest of the world, time passed without knowledge of his emotionalstate. The rest of the world was suffering emotional agonies of itsown.

  The United States had become popular among peoples who disliked allthings American except those they were given free, and who continuedto dislike the givers. Now though, the United States had been invadedfrom space by creatures using weapons of unprecedented type andeffect. If the United States were conquered, there was no other nationlikely to remain free. So a great deal of anti-Americanism faded underpressure of an ardent desire for America to be successful in itsself-defense.

  Moreover, anticipating other alien landings which could take placeanywhere, the United States offered to share its stock of atom bombswith any nation so invaded. American popularity increased. The factthat the USSR made no such proposal also had its effect. The UnitedStates invited scientists of every country to help in solving themenace of the terror beam, and committed itself to share anydiscoveries for defense against it with all the world. Again there wasan improvement in the public image of the United States abroad.

  But Lockley knew nothing of this. His pocket radio no longer existedto give him news. It had been rebuilt into something else, whose mostconspicuous parts were cheese and nutmeg graters, slung over hisshoulder as he marched. But if he had known of changes in thepopularity of his country, he wouldn't have been interested. He couldfix his mind only on one subject and matters related to it.

  He tramped along the highway, possessed by a cold demon of hatred. Hewas on foot for lack of a car. He was unarmed. At the moment hebelieved that all the rest of humanity was disarmed, in effect if notin fact. So he had no plans, only an infinite hatred.

  But because he would have to pass through terror beams to get at thosehe meant to destroy, he realized that it was necessary to make surethat he would be able to pass through them, that his equipment forreaching Boulder Lake was in good order. It was still turned on. Heturned it off to be economical of its batteries. He went on, thinkingof only one subject, examining every possibility for revenge with apassionate patience, undiscouraged because one idea after another wasplainly impossible, but continuing obsessively to think of others.

  He smelled the foetid odor, which cut through his absorption becauseof its connotations. He turned on his device and went doggedly ahead.He knew he had entered a terror beam by the faint perceptions whichcame through the cloud of ions his instrument produced. Then theyceased. He knew that the beam had been cut off. He heard a motor revup. A car or truck had stopped beyond the road-blocking beam andwaited for it to be cut off, as it had been.

  Lockley stepped into the woods hating the vehicle bitterly as itapproached, but wanting to save destruction for those where Jill hadbeen taken.

  He was hidden when the car appeared. It was a perfectly commonplacecar with a whip aerial at its rear. It came confidently along thehighway. A hundred yards from him, there were explosions. Smoke cameout of the open windows. The engine stopped and the car bucked crazilyand went into the ditch beside the highway. A man plunged out,slapping at his leg. A revolver in its holster had exploded all itsshells. The leather holster had saved him from serious injury, but hisclothing was on fire. Other men, two of them, got out hastily. Thingshad exploded in the back of the car, too. The three men sworeagitatedly.

  Then one of them said something which stimulated the others to franticflight down the highway away from the ditched car. The third manlimped anxiously after the faster-moving two.

  Lockley, watching and hating with undivided attention, knew when theterror beam came on again. He felt it, very faint because of hisprotection, but quite distinct. The explosions had taken place whenthe car was in the area now covered again by the terror beam. The menin the car, astonished and scorched, had fled because the beam was dueto come back on and they didn't want to be caught in it.

  Lockley noted that the human confederates of the monsters had noprotection against the beam to match his own. Perhaps the monstersthemselves were protected only near the projectors. This was an itemaffecting his plans of revenge for Jill. He stored it away in hismind. Then he realized that the weapons in the car had exploded justlike the pistol on his own seat cushion. The explosion was notassociated with the terror beam. There'd been no beam in action whenhis own pistol blew up. It did not seem reasonable that if themonsters possessed a detonation beam that they'd turn it on their ownconfederates.

  No. Rational beings would do nothing so self-contradictory.

  Then Lockley looked down at the cheese grater-pocket radio device ofhis own manufacture. He considered the fact that his own pistol hadexploded the instant he'd turned the gadget on. The weapons in theother car detonated when that car was near him.

  He plodded onward thinking very clearly and precisely about thematter. He even remembered to turn off his gadget because he wouldneed it to avenge Jill. But when he tried to think of any subjectunconnected with revenge, his mind became confused and agitated.

  Two miles along the highway, which had not yet turned to head intoward Boulder Lake, there was a farmhouse. Lockley walked heavily tothe abandoned building. He found the door locked. Without consciousthought, he forced it. He searched the closets. He found a shotgun andhalf a box of shells. He considered them, then left the gun and allthe shells but three. He went out. Presently he laid a shotgun shelldown on the road. He paced off twenty-five yards and dropped another.He dropped a third twenty-five yards farther on, and then carefullycounted off three hundred feet. The car had been just about that faraway when the explosions came.

  He turned on his device. Two of the three shells exploded smokily. Thefarthest away did not explode.

  He did not rejoice. He went on without elation, but it became a partof his painstaking search for vengeance that he knew he could set offexplosives within a hundred and twenty-five yards of himself. Therewas something about the device he'd constructed which made explosivesdetonate, up to a distance of a little over one hundred yards. He feltno curiosity about it, though it was simple enough. The heterodyningof extremely saw-toothed waves produced peaks of energy until thesaw-teeth began to smooth out. There were infinitesimal spots inwhich, for i
nfinitesimal lengths of time, energy conditions comparableto sparks existed. This had not been worked out in advance, but thereason was clear.

  He came to the place where the main highway to Boulder Lake branchedoff from the road he was following. He turned into it, walkingdoggedly.

  Three miles toward the lake, an engine sounded from behind him. He gotoff the highway and turned the switch. A half-ton truck came trundlingopenly along the road. It came closer and closer.

  Small-arm ammunition exploded. The engine stopped and the light trucktoppled over onto its side. Lockley did not approach it. Its drivermight not be dead, and he would not find it possible to leave any manalive who was associated with Jill's captors. He passed the truck andwent on up the highway.

  Seven miles up the road a truck came down from Boulder Lake. Lockleyplaced himself discreetly out of sight. He turned on his instrument. Agun flew to pieces with a thunderous detonation. The truck crashed. Itwas interesting to Lockley that automobile engines invariably wentdead at about the time that explosives went off. The fact was, ofcourse, that ionized air is more or less conductive. In an ion cloudthe spark plugs shorted and did not fire in the cylinders.

  There were two other vehicles which essayed to pass Lockley as hewent on up the long way to the lake. Both came from the interior ofthe Park. He left them wrecked beside the highway. Between times, hewalked with a dogged grimness toward the place where Vale had been thefirst to report a thing come down from the sky. That had been how manydays ago? Three? Four?

  Then Lockley had been a quiet and well-conducted citizen inclined topessimism about future events, but duly considerate of the rights ofothers. Now he'd changed. He felt only one emotion, which was hatredsuch as he'd never imagined before. He had only one motive, which wasto take total and annihilating vengeance for what had been done toJill.

  He plodded on and on. He had to make a march of not less than twentymiles from the Park's beginning. He journeyed on foot because therewere terror beams to pass and automobile engines did not run when hisprotective device operated. He could not arm himself from the carsthat ditched, because all chemical explosive weapons and theirammunition blew at the same time. He was a minute figure among themountains, marching alone upon a winding highway, moving resolutely todestroy--alone--the invaders from outer space and the men who workedwith them for the conquest of earth. For his purpose he carried thestrangest of equipment, a device made of a pocket radio and a cheesegrater.

  He had food in his pockets, but he could not eat. During the afternoonhe became impatient of its weight and threw it away. But he thirstedoften. More than once he drank from small streams over which thehighway builders had made small concrete bridges.

  At three in the afternoon a truck came up from behind. Here hetrudged between steep cliffs which made him seem almost a midget. Thehighway went through a crevice between adjoining mountainsides. Therewas no place for him to conceal himself. When he heard the engine, hestopped and faced it. The truck had picked up many men from wreckedcars along its route. There were scorched and scratched and woundedmen, hurt by the explosion of their firearms. The truck brought themalong and overtook Lockley.

  He waited very calmly since it did not seem likely that they wouldrealize that one man had caused the crashes. The driver of the truckwith the picked-up men did not even think of such a thing. Lockleyseemed much more likely the victim of still another wreck.

  The overtaking truck slowed down. There would be no strangers inBoulder Lake Park. There would only be the task force aiding themonsters, as Lockley reasoned it out. So the truck slowed, preparatoryto taking Lockley aboard.

  At a hundred and twenty-five yards from Lockley, weapons in the truckcab blew themselves violently apart. The engine, stopped in gear,acted as a violently applied brake. The truck swerved off the highway.It turned over and was still.

  Lockley turned and walked on. He considered coldly that it wasperfectly safe for him to go on. There were no weapons left behindhim. The men themselves were shaken up. They would attempt to make notrouble beyond a report of their situation and a plea for help. Thereport could be made by the radio, which was not smashed.

  Half an hour later, Lockley felt the tingling which meant that hisinstrument was protecting him from a terror beam. The tingling lastedonly a short time, but fifteen minutes later it came back. Then itreturned at odd intervals. Five minutes--eight--ten--three--six--one.Each time the terror beam should have paralyzed him and caused intensesuffering. A man with no protective device would have had his nervesshattered by torment coming so violently at unpredictable intervals.

  Lockley tried to reason out why this nerve-wracking application of theterror beam hadn't been used before. To an unprotected man it would beworse than continuous pain. No living man could remain able to resistany demand if exposed to such torture.

  The beam was evidently swung at random intervals, and the phenomenonlasted for an hour and a half. Anyone but Lockley behind a cloud ofions would have been reduced to shivering hysteria. Then, suddenly,the beamings stopped. But Lockley left his device in operation.

  Half an hour later still--close to five o'clock--it appeared that theinvaders assumed that any enemy should have been softened up forcapture. They sent an expedition to find out what had happened totheir trucks and cars.

  Lockley saw four cars and a light truck in close formation movingtoward him from the Lake. They were close, as if for mutualprotection. They moved steadily, as if inviting the fate that hadovertaken others. The short wave reports from smashed trucks seemedimprobable to them, but the expedition was equipped to investigateeven such unlikely happenings.

  The four cars in the lead contained five men each. Each man was armedwith a rifle containing a single cartridge in its chamber and none inits magazine. The rifles pointed straight up. There was moreammunition in the light truck behind, and it was in clips ready foruse, but the truck body was of iron. If that ammunition detonated, itcould do no harm. If it did not, it would be available for use againstthe single man mentioned by the driver of the last truck to bewrecked.

  But Lockley saw them coming. They came sedately down a long straightstretch of road. He climbed a rocky wall beside the highway to alittle ravine that led away from the road. He posted himself where hewas extremely unlikely to be seen. Then he waited.

  The cavalcade of cars appeared. It drove briskly toward Lockley atsomething like thirty miles an hour. Perhaps ten yards separated thelead car from the second. The truck was a trifle closer to the fourman-carrying vehicles. They swept along, every man alert. They wouldpass forty feet below Lockley.

  He did nothing. His device was already turned on. He watched indetached calm.

  The lead car stopped as if it had run into a brick wall, while riflesinside it blew holes in its top. The second car crashed into it,rifles detonating. The third car. The fourth. The truck piled into theothers with a gigantic flare and furious report, each separate brasscartridge case exploding in the same instant. The truck became scrapiron.

  Lockley went away along the small ravine. From now on he would avoidthe highway. He estimated that he would arrive at Boulder Lake itselfabout half an hour after dark. It occurred to him that then Jill wouldhave been a prisoner of the invaders for something more than twelvehours, at least ten of them at their headquarters.

  Before he began the climb that would take him to the invaders, Lockleystopped at a small stream.

  He drank thirstily.

  CHAPTER 10

  There was a three-day-old moon in the sky when the last colors fadedin the west. When darkness fell it was already low. It gave littlelight; not much more than the stars alone. It did help Lockley whileit lasted however. He knew the terrain about Boulder Lake but not indetail. And it would not be wise for him to move openly to wreakdestruction on the enemies of his nation.

  He used the moonlight for his approach by the least practical route tothe lake. When it dimmed and went behind the mountains, he continuedto climb, sliding dangerously, then descend and climb
again as therough going demanded. His mind was absorbed with reflections upon whathe meant to do. The wrecks on the highway would have given notice tothe invaders that he could do damage. They would take every possibleprecaution against him.

  It was typical of Lockley that he painstakingly imagined everyobstacle that might be put in his way. During the last half hour ofhis scrambling travel, for example, he was tormented by a measure hisenemies might have used to make him advertise his presence. If theysimply laid rifle cartridges on the ground at intervals of twenty-fiveor fifty yards, he could not cross that line with his device inoperation without blowing up those shells. It was a possiblecountermeasure that caused him to sweat with worry.

  But it wasn't thought of by anyone else. To contrive it, a man wouldhave to know how the detonation field worked and how far it extended.Nobody but Lockley knew. Therefore no one could contrive this defenseagainst him.

  He worked his way to Boulder Lake's back door through brushwood andover boulders. Presently he looked down upon his destination. To hisright and left rocky masses were silhouetted against the starry sky.He gazed down on the lake and the shoreline where the hotel would bebuilt, and the places where roads came out of the wilderness.

  There were changes since the time he'd looked down from Vale's surveypost and before the terror beam captured him. He catalogued themmentally, but the sight before him was intolerable. Everything he saw,here where space monsters were believed to hold sway, was in realitythe work of men. Rage filled him at the sight. Hatred. Fury....

  In the rest of the world an entirely different sort of emotion wasfelt about the subject of the invaders. The United States hadannounced to all the world that American and other scientists, workingtogether, had solved the mystery of the alien weapon. They hadproduced a duplicate of the terror beam. It was no less effective andno less an absolute weapon than the invaders'. And a defense had beenfound which was complete. It was being rushed into production. Theexperimental counter beam generators would be moved into position tofrustrate and defeat the monsters who had landed upon earth. Militarydetachments, protected by the counter generators, would move uponBoulder Lake at dawn. By sunset tomorrow the aliens would be dead orcaptive, and their ship would undoubtedly be in the hands ofscientists for study.

  Moreover, the United States would provide counter weapons for othernations. In no more than months every continent and nation on earthwould be equipped to defy any alien landing that might take place.The world would be able to defend itself. It would be equipped to doso. And this was the resolve of the United States because the worldcould not exist half free and half enslaved by creatures from adistant planet. The news poured out from all sources. The alien weaponwas understood and now could be defied. Soon all the world would beprovided with counter weapons. It was necessary for all the world tobe prepared and prepared it would be.

  This was the information which made all the world rejoice, though notyet at ease because aliens still occupied a tiny part of the earth.But all the world was eager for confirmation of the news it had justreceived.

  Lockley had no such soothing anticipations. He shook with fury becausewhat he saw before him was so appalling as to be almost unbelievable.

  It was not dark in the space he looked down upon. There were brightfloodlights placed here and there to drench a large area with light.There were few figures in sight. But what the floodlights showed madeLockley quiver with hatred.

  The floodlights were of typically human type. There were vehiclesparked on a level grassy space. They were of human manufacture. Therewas no space ship in the lake, but there was a three-stage rocket setup, ready for firing. It was of the kind used by humans to putartificial satellites into orbit. Lockley even knew its designation,and that it used the new solid fuels for propulsion.

  In the lair of the creatures from outer space there was nothing fromouter space. There was nothing in view which was alien or unearthly orextra-terrestrial. And Lockley made inarticulate growling soundsbecause he saw with absolute clarity and certainty that there neverhad been anything from outer space at this spot.

  There were no monsters. There never had been. And the truth was morehorribly enraging than the deception had been.

  Because this could mean the death of the world. This was an attempt tofight the last war on earth in disguise. Humans had posed as non-humanbeings so that America would fight against phantoms while its greatmilitary rival pretended to help and actually stabbed from behind.

  It was completely logical, of course. An admitted attack by terrorbeams in the form of death rays would involve retaliation by America.Against a human enemy great, roaring missiles could circle earth toplunge down upon that enemy's cities to turn them and theirinhabitants into incandescent gas. An attack known to be by humans andupon humans must touch off the world's last war in which every livingthing might die. No conceivable success at the beginning could preventfull retaliation. But if the attack were believed to be from space,then American weapons and valor would be spent against creatures whichwere no more than ghosts.

  Lockley moved forward. Only he could know the situation as itpresented itself here. Even vengeance for Jill should be put aside, ifit called for action irrelevant to this state of things. But it didnot. A full and terrible revenge for her required exactly the actionthe coolest of cold-blooded resolutions would suggest be taken now.And Lockley moved on and downward to take it.

  He began to crawl downhill toward the lights, unaware that there weresome gaps in his picture of the total scene. For example, these lightscould be detected by aircraft overhead. The fact did not occur toLockley. He was not given pause by the relaxation of the enemy'sdisguise so far as air observation was concerned. He didn't think ofit. He moved on.

  He drew near the lighted area. He did not walk, he crawled. He beganto listen with fury-sharpened ears. If he could get close to that hugerocket, close enough to detonate its solid fuel stores....

  That would be at once revenge and expedience. If the rocket's fuelblew up instead of burning as intended, it would annihilate the camp.It would wipe out every living creature present. But there would befragments left by the explosion. There would be corpses. There wouldbe wreckage. And that wreckage and those corpses would be unmistakablyhuman. The last war on earth might not be avoided, but at the worst itwould be fought against America's actual enemy and not againstimaginary monsters.

  It was worth dying to accomplish even that. But Jill....

  Lockley's progress was infinitely slow, but he needed to take thegreatest pains. He listened carefully.

  He heard the faint high roaring of the planes overhead. They were faraway. There were sounds of insects, and the cries of night birds, andthe rustling of leaves and foliage.

  There was another sound. A new sound. It was inexplicable. It was astrange and intermittent muttering. There was a certain irregularrhythm to it, a familiar rhythm.

  He crawled on.

  There was movement suddenly, off to his left. Then it stopped. Itcould be a man on watch against him simply shifting his position.Lockley froze, and then went on with even greater caution. He feltthe ground before him for small twigs that might crack under hisweight.

  The muttering continued. Presently Lockley realized that it was ahuman voice. It was resonant and with many overtones, but still toofaint for him to distinguish words.

  He crossed a slight rise that had much brushwood. The brushwood grewin clumps and he circled them with a patient caution foreign to hisfeelings.

  The muttering changed and went on. Lockley pressed himself to theground. Men went past him a hundred feet away. He saw them in outlineagainst the illuminated parked cars and trucks and in the space aroundthe huge rocket. They carried no rifles, probably no firearms at all.Lockley's march up the highway had warned them of the uselessness ofguns, at least at short range. They were watching for him now. Perhapsthese men were relieving other watchers on the hillside.

  He saw other men. They seemed to move restlessly around the lightedarea. />
  The muttering was louder now. He could almost catch the words. He madeanother hundred yards toward the rocket and the voice changed again.Then he was dazed. The voice was speaking to him! Calling him by name!

  _"Lockley! Lockley! Don't do anything crazy! Everything can beexplained! You'll recognize my voice. You talked to me on thetelephone from Serena!_"

  Lockley did recognize the voice. It was that of the general who'dsounded pompous and indignant as he refused to listen to Lockley'sstatements. Now, coming out of many loudspeakers and echoing hollowlyfrom cliffs, it was the same voice but with an intonation that waspersuasive and forthright.

  "_You startled me_," said the voice crisply. "_You'd found out therewere humans involved in this business. It was important that the factbe suppressed. I tried to browbeat you, which was a mistake. While Iwas talking to you your suspicion was reported on short wave by theWild Life driver. I tried to overawe you. You're the wrong kind of manfor that. But everything can be explained. Everything! Here's Vale toprove it!_"

  There was only an instant's pause. Then Vale's voice came out of theloudspeakers spread all about.

  "_Lockley, this is Vale. The whole thing's faked. There's a goodreason for it, but you stumbled on the facts. They had to be keptsecret. I didn't even tell Jill. This isn't treason, Lockley. Wearen't traitors! Come out and I'll explain everything. Here'sSattell._"

  And Sattell's voice boomed against the hills.

  "_Vale's right, Lockley! I didn't know what was up. I was fooled asmuch as anybody. But it's all right! It's perfectly all right! Whenyou understand you'll realize that you had to be deceived just as Iwas. Come on out and everything will be explained to yoursatisfaction. I promise!_"

  Lockley grimaced. How did Sattell get up here? And the general incommand of the cordon? More than that, why did they call his nameinstead of simply trying to kill him? Why post watchers on thehillsides if they were anxious to explain and not to murder? How couldthey hope to deceive him after Jill....

  There was a pause, and then what was evidently considered a decisivemessage came. It was Jill's voice, weary and desperate. It said,"_Please come out and listen! Please come and let them explaineverything. They can do it. I understand and I believe them. It'strue. It's not treason. I--I beg you to come out and let them tellyou why all this has happened...._"

  Her voice trailed off. It had trembled. It was tense. It was strained.And Lockley cursed softly, shaking with rage. Then the first voicereturned, "_Lockley! Lockley! Don't do anything crazy! Everything canbe explained. You'll recognize my voice. You talked to me on thetelephone from Serena._"

  This voice repeated, word for word and intonation for intonation,exactly what it had said before. The other voices followed in the sameorder. They were taped.

  In Lockley's state of mind, the taping took away all authority fromthe voices. Jill, in particular, sounded as she might have if torturehad been used to break her will and force her to say what her captorswished. She could not put any warning into it, because she could havebeen forced to repeat and repeat the message until her captors weresatisfied.

  That would all be avenged now. All of it. And Jill would be gratefulto Lockley even if they never saw each other again; grateful for themonstrous blast that would wipe this place clean of living creatures.

  Lockley suddenly saw a way by which his vengeance could be increasedby just a little. It could be made even more satisfying and just.Hiding under brushwood while the voices tirelessly repeated theirrecorded persuasion, he made a very simple device. It switched ontothe instrument he carried. If his hand clenched, it would go on. Ifhis hand relaxed, it would go on. So if he could get within a hundredand twenty-five yards of the rocket he could show himself and let themknow what waited for them, and why.

  With infinite patience he got to a place almost near the circle ofunarmed guards about the rocket. He waited. The guards were tense.They did not like trying to protect something with no weapons. Theywere jumpy. The endlessly repeated messages booming into the nightfrayed their nerves. They were plainly on edge.

  Their tenseness made the oldest trick in the world serve Lockley'spurpose. He threw a stone from an especially dark shadow. It struckand bounced upon another stone, and it created a rustling of brushwoodat a place distant from Lockley. And the unarmed guards plunged forthat place to seize whatever or whoever had made the disturbance.

  They were too eager. They stumbled upon each other.

  And Lockley ran, and a voice cried out in terror. And then Lockleystood with his back to the rocket's lower parts, and he waved thecheese grater derisively and shouted.

  Then there was stillness. Only the booming voice from the speakerswent on. It happened to be Sattell's voice.

  "_ ... all right. It's perfectly all right. When you understand you'llrealize that you had to be deceived as I was. It was necessary. Comeout and everything--_"

  Somebody cut off the recorder. There was a moment of blank indecision,and then a man in uniform with two general's stars on his shoulderscame out of somewhere and walked to face Lockley.

  "Ah, Lockley!" he said briskly. "That's the thing you smash cars andexplode ammunition with, eh? Do you think it will blow the rocket?"

  "I'm going to try it!" said Lockley. "Listen." He showed how anythingthat could be done to him would close the switch one way or the other."I wanted you to know before I blow it!" he said fiercely. "Where'sJill? Jill Holmes? One of your cars picked her up and brought herhere. Where is she?"

  "We sent her," said the general, "over to the construction camp, incase you managed to get in the exact situation you're in. In otherwords, she's safe. She'll be coming shortly, though. She was to benotified the instant you appeared--if the rocket didn't blast as yourgreeting."

  Lockley ground his teeth.

  "We'll have this settled before she gets here!"

  Vale appeared. He walked forward and stood beside the general.

  "We did a job that was several times too good, Lockley," he saidruefully. "I'd rehearsed my song-and-dance until we thought it wasperfect. What made you suspicious, Lockley? Did you notice we kept thecommunicator aimed right so you'd hear through to the end? A finepoint, that. We worried about it."

  The headlights of a car moved against a mountainside.

  "You see," said Vale, "the thing had to be done this way! Sattellswore a blue streak when it was explained to him. He felt he'd beenmade a fool of. But there are some things that can't be handledforthrightly!"

  Lockley felt physically ill. Jill had been--still was--engaged toVale. She'd been anxious about him. She'd been loyal to him. And hewas helping the invaders! He opened his mouth to speak bitterly, whenSattell appeared. He lined up beside the general and Vale.

  "They fooled me too, Lockley," he said wryly. "But it's all right.They had to. They thought you were fooled. Those three men in the boxwith you the other day, they said you were fooled, too. And they'resharp secret service men!"

  "You're very convincing, aren't you?" he raged. "But--"

  "You believe," said Sattell, "I've joined up with spies and traitors.You believe...."

  He outlined, with precision, exactly what Lockley did believe; thatphantom monsters were to be credited with waging war against Americawhile another nation actually murdered Americans. It was a remarkablyaccurate picture of Lockley's state of mind.

  "But that's all wrong!" insisted Sattell. "This is a quick trick byour own people for our own safety. For the benefit of all the world.It's a trick to forestall just what I described!"

  The far away headlights drew nearer. But no car could have come fromthe construction camp as quickly as this.

  "The fact is," said the general, "that our spies tell us that anothervery great nation has developed this beam we've been demonstrating toall the world. So did we. And we couldn't use it, but they would! Ifthey didn't use it against us, they'd use it for any sort of emergencydirty trick. So we made up this invasion to persuade every country onearth to arm itself against this particular weapon. Noth
ing less thanmonsters in space would justify arming, in the eyes of somepoliticians! Of course, they'll arm against us as well as--anybodyelse."

  He spoke matter-of-factly. A glance at Lockley's face would have toldhim that persuasiveness would not work.

  "This trick, with the defense we intended to reveal," the generaladded, "should mean that a very nasty weapon won't ever be used,either to start or end a war. Maybe the war won't occur because we'vesaid there are monsters who fly around in space ships."

  Lockley had a confused impression that he was dreaming this. It wasnot the way things should happen! This was not true! When he squeezedor released the improvised switch in his hand, the rocket behind himwould disappear in a monstrous flame, and he and the three men whofaced him would, vanish, and there would be an explosion crater hereand a shattered mass of wrecked cars--

  "It was an interesting job," said Vale. "The Army dumped a hundredtons of high explosive into the lake. The two radars that reported aship in space were arranged to be operated by two special men, who gottheir orders directly from the President. We picked a day with fullcloud cover; the radar operators inserted their faked tapes and madetheir reports; and the Army set off the hundred-ton explosion in thelake. From there on, it was just a matter of using the terror beam."

  "I mention," said the general mildly, "that not one human being hasbeen killed by anything we've done. Would you expect traitors to be socareful? Or spies?"

  Lockley said thickly, "You stand there arguing. You're trying to makeme believe you. But there's Jill! What's happened to her? How did youmake her record that tape? Where's Jill? She won't tell me it's allright!"

  Headlights swept up to the floodlit space. The car stopped.

  Jill came into view. She saw Lockley, standing against the rocket'sbase. She ran.

  She stood beside the general and Vale and Sattell. She looked worn anddesperately anxious.

  "What have they done to you?" demanded Lockley fiercely.

  She shook her head.

  "N-nothing. I couldn't stay at the camp when I was so sure you'd cometo try to help me. So I came here. I don't know what they've told youyet, but it's all right. We were fooled as the world has to be.Believe it! Please believe it!"

  "What have they done to you?" he repeated terribly.

  "What have they done to the world?" demanded Jill. "They've made everynation look to us as the defender of their freedom. And we are!They've made everybody ready to fight against more monsters if theycome, and to fight against men if they try to enslave them with theterror beam or anything else! Would traitors have done that?"

  Lockley knew that he had to decide. It was an unbearableresponsibility. He was not convinced, even by Jill. But he was nolonger certain that he'd been right.

  "Why didn't you kill me?" he demanded. "I could have been shot downfrom a distance. You didn't have to come close to talk to me. If therocket blew, what would it matter?"

  "You've got a protection against the terror beam," said the generalmatter-of-factly. "So have we. But ours weighs two tons. Yours can becarried without being a burden. And--" his eyes went to the unlikelycheese grater over Lockley's shoulder--"and yours detonatesexplosives. If we can equip the world with those, Lockley, we'll havepeace!"

  Lockley thought of a decisive test. He grimaced.

  "You want me to risk being a traitor! All right, what's in it for me?What am I offered?"

  The general shrugged, his eyes hardening. Vale spread out his hands.Sattell snorted. Jill moistened her lips. Lockley turned upon her.

  "You want me to believe," he said harshly. "What do you offer if Iturn over the thing to these men you say are honest men and neitherspies or traitors. What do you offer?"

  She stared at him. Then she said quietly, "Nothing."

  Lockley hesitated once more, for a long instant. But that was theright answer. Nobody who'd been bought or bribed or frightened intobeing a traitor would have thought of it.

  "That," said Lockley, "by a strange coincidence happens to be myprice."

  He ripped away a wire. He flung the queer combination of pocket radioand cheese and nutmeg graters to the general.

  "I'll explain later how it works," he said wearily, "--if I haven'tmade a mistake."

  * * * * *

  After a suitable time the general came to him. Lockley was convinced,now. The reaction of the men who'd been guards and truck drivers andthe like was conclusive. They regarded him with a certain cordialrespect which was not the reaction of either traitors or invaders.

  "We've been checking that little device, Lockley," said the generalhappily. "It's perfect for our purposes! So much better than a two-tongenerator to interfere with and cancel the terror beams! Marvelous!And do you know what it means? With all the world believing we've beenattacked from space, and with our great show of taking back BoulderLake--"

  "How will you manage that?" asked Lockley, without too much interest.

  "The rocket," said the general, beaming. "When troops start into thePark, the rocket takes off. It heads for empty space. And we explainthat the aliens went away when they found their weapon useless and westarted to get rough with them!"

  "Oh," said Lockley listlessly.

  "But the really beautiful thing," the general told him, "is yourgadget! They can be made by millions. Ridiculously cheap, they tellme. Everybody in the world will want one, and we'll pass them out. Nogovernment could stop that! Not even Russia! But--d'you see, Lockley?"

  Lockley shook his head. He always had a tendency to look on the darkside of future events. The future did not look bright to him.

  "Don't you see?" demanded the general, chuckling. "They detonateexplosives, those little gadgets! There's no harm in that! Whereexplosives are used in industry you've only to make sure that nobodyturns one on too close. In nine-tenths of the world, anyhow, civiliansaren't allowed to have guns. But think of the consequences there!"

  Lockley was weary. He was dejected. The general grinned from ear toear.

  "Why, when these are distributed, even the secret police can't goarmed! What price dictators then? For that matter, what pricesoldiers? The cold war ends, Lockley, because there couldn't be aconquering army in the modern sense. The tanks wouldn't run. The carswould stall. And the guns--An invasion would have to be made withhorse-drawn transport and the troops armed with bows and spears. Thatamounts to disarmament, Lockley! A consummation devoutly to be wished!I'm going to look forward to a ripe old age now. I never couldbefore!"

  * * * * *

  Presently Lockley talked to Jill. She was constrained. She seemeduneasy. Lockley felt that there wasn't much to say, now that Vale wasalive and well and there was no more danger for her. He offered hishand to say good-bye.

  "I think," she said with a little difficulty, "I think I should tellyou I'm not--engaged any longer. I--told him I--wouldn't want to bemarried to someone whose work made him keep secrets from me."

  Lockley tensed. He said incredulously, "You're not going to marryVale?"

  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 explainedthings. He said--he said to congratulate you."

  Lockley made an appropriate movement. She wept quietly, held close inhis arms.

  "I was so afraid you didn't--you wouldn't--"

  Lockley took appropriate measures to comfort her and to assure herthat he did and he would, forever and ever. A very long time later heasked interestedly, "What did you say to Vale when he asked you tocongratulate me?"

  "I said," said Jill comfortably, "that I would if things worked outall right. And they have. I congratulate you, darling. Now how aboutcongratulating me?"

  * * * * *

  The rocket took off and went away into emptiness. This was near dawn,when military announcements of the reoccupation of Boulder Lake werebei
ng passed out to the news media. As much of the public as was awakewas informed that the monstrous aliens had fled from earth, theirintentions frustrated by the work of scientists. It wasn't necessaryfor a large force to march in. A special detail took over at the lakeitself. Curiously enough, it seemed to be already there when thequestion arose. It would report a regrettable absence of alienartifacts by which the monsters might be kept in mind.

  But there would be reminders. Later bulletins would report that theUnited States was putting into quantity production the small,individual protective devices which defied the terror beam and wouldsupply them to all the world. There could not be greater friendshipthan that! The United States also proposed a world wide alliance fordefense against future attacks by space monsters, with pooled armamentand completely cooperative governments.

  The world, obviously, would unite against monsters. And people in aposture of defense against enemies from the stars obviously wouldn'tfight each other.

  And there were some people who were pleased. They knew about thepossibilities of the small gadgets, brought down in production to thesize of a pack of cigarettes. Knowing what they could do, they waitedvery interestedly to see what would happen in certain nations whensecret police couldn't carry firearms and soldiers could only be armedwith spears.

  They expected it to be very interesting indeed.