Newman, bernard -- flying saucers (from the sunday herald, sydney, 1949)

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page1019432
FLYING SAUCERS
. BERNARD NEWMAN .BOOK ONE
Author of "The Mussolini Murder Plot," "The Spy In The Brown Derby," etc.
PROLOGUE
pAPA PONTIVY tapped his
*
newspaper with a lean
fore'finger.
"Now this is interesting!" he
said.
"What is?" I
asked, glancing
across. "That
picture
of the little
boy rescuing his
pet
lamb from
a snowdrift?"
"No, idiot!"
"He means the football re-
sults," Drummond suggested.
"I do not," Pontivy snapped.
"Peste, you arc trying to manu-
facture the fool of me." Peev-
ishly he flung the
paper away.
He glared at Drummond. The
two men were strongly con-
trasted. Pontivy, once the leading
operative of the French Deuxième
Bureau and Surete Generale, one
of the most famous
counter-spies
in Europe, insignificant
in
appearance, untidy, half-bald,
with a
drooping moustache-his
impression was that of an elderly
and unsuccessful clerk. Drum-
mond was, tall and spare; his per-
sonality was strong, and it did not
depend merely on his physical
attractions. His whole demean-
our suggested
the reserve and
power
of the man of knowledge.
It would be an understatement
to say that Drummond was the
best-known scientist of the day.
In my book called "Secret
Weapon" 1 have recorded how he
invented a new bomb (it was, in
fact, an atomic bomb, but for
.security reasons I had to suppress
the fact when "Secret Weapon"
was
published) which promised to
bring the war to an early end.
Instead of
handing it over to the
politicians and their military
staffs, however, he insisted on
directing its use himself. This he
did with such devastating effect
that he rocketed to world fame.
I picked up
the newspaper from
the floor and searched for an
item likely to be of
special inter-
est to Pontivy. When I failed
to find it,
he took the
paper from
me abruptly.
"Look!" he said, testily.
1 read out the paragraph: "In
his speech Mr. Eden said that it
seemed to be an unfortunate fact
that the nations of the world
were only really united when
they were facing a common
menace. What we really needed
was an attack by Mars."
"Is not that
interesting?"
Pon-
tivy queried.
"A novel idea .
.."
"No. Interesting, Papa, but
not novel. Mr. Eden did not
claim it as such. It has often
been used
previously."
"But it is clever, is it not?
Figure to yourself, here are
Russia, America, England, and
France, squabbling as usual over
some trifle. Then comes a mes-
sage.
,
The Men in the Moon
have invaded
.
the Earth. How
petty
the arguments of our
poli-
ticians now seem! What does it
matter who owns 1he local gas
works if we drift towards a third
world war? There is no sense of
propoi (ion
"
"What you say is sound,"
Drummond said slowly
'
I've
often wondered-Newman, you
remember that book of yours
called Armoured Doves'? When
was it
written?"
'About 1932 It was almost
a flop, by the
way
"
'
You remember that in it you
suggested a League of Scientists
Your hero i scientist, formed an
international league, which de
dared war on warmongers
When a new conflict
began, the
League of Scientists bl ought all
its resources into action against
both parties Am 1 right?
'
'
Yes, that was the
general
idea
"
"1 ve thought quite a lot about
that
Nobody can be
happy at
the present state of affairs
Science offers a new atomic
world with boundless
possibili-
ties, and all the
politicians
can
discuss is who shall control the
atomic bomb
"
'Do >ou mean you've con-
sidered .
9"
'Wait Relations between
Russia and USA are at present
stiained If there were a clash
it
would be a world disaster
Think of the
position
of Britain
We should be certain to be
drawn in-there can be no neu
trais in a modern war The
idea of fighting against
America
ts revolting-impossible Yet, if
we adopted the American side,
Britain might be no more than
an 'unsmkable aircraft carrier'
off a Russian occupied Europe'
On the other hand, Russian
influence is powerful The num-
ber of British Communists is
small, but their 'fellow travel-
lers,' or whatever you like to
call them, arc numerous. They
would form a Fifth Column
which would be probably enough
to sabotage the British war effort.
Add the lingering effects of the
emotions of the last war-and
even among ordinary people you
would find a great reluctance to
go to war."
"And that
applies
to the Rus-
sians and Americans as well," I
said.
"And the French," said Papa
Pontivy. "I'll say all the ordin-
ary people of the world want
peace."
"True," said Drummond. "But
it isn't enough to want some-
thing; you've got to do something
about it."
"You will. never secure peace
merely by passing resolutions
condemning war," Pontivy said.
"We're getting on fine," Drum-
mond smiled. "Well, we've got
lo ensure something greater than
the passing of resolutions."
"What?"
"The short term objective is to
prevent the tension between
U.S.A. and Russia from develop-
ing
into a clash. 1
have the
germ of an idea-a diversion. 1
shall need you two."
"We are here," Pontivy an-
nounced.
"There will be a big security
job. Secrecy must be absolute.
If one word of
my plan ever
leaked out, the whole scheme will
be ruined."
'That is my sparrow ... 1
mean my pigeon," said
Pontivy.
"And you, Newman-in your
spy stories you have made a
specialty
of translating fact into
fiction. I may need you to trans-
late fiction into fact."
I accepted, my assignment from
Drummond without hesitation.
"Good, when do we
begin?"
"And
what is the idea?" Pon-
tivy added.
"I told you. I've only got the
germ. 1 should estimate that it
will take a year to put it into
action, even when I've worked it
out. Maybe more. Well, I'll go
for a walk-1 want to think."
In such casual fashion was en-
visaged the scries of events which
were to shake the world.
I
HPHE first missile fell in
A Leicestershire.
A few miles from the
county
town i uns the scries of low hills
called the Charnwood Forest.
The district is
exceedingly plea-
sant;
it is much used by the local
people, but deserves a wider
fame. Pride of
place
in its wide
and open spaces goes to Brad-
gate Park, once the home of
Lady Jane
Grey.
On its outskirts, that Whitsun
week-end, was the inevitable col-
lection of campers' tents. As the
rocket fell at 2
^a^n., very few
people saw
it-though observers
as far away as Nottingham and
Northampton reported a fiery
trail through the sky.
The "Leicester Mercury,',' one
of the principal local papers, sent
an enterprising reporter to the
scene. By persistent inquiry
he
.traced one of the actual
eye-
witnesses-a young man who ad-
mitted bashfully that
courting in-
volved late hours.
"Mr. Thompson was
walking
slowly by Bradgate House when
the meteor fell," the
reporter
wrote, discreetly not mentioning
that Mr. Thompson had a com-
panion.
"He saw a bright light
in the sky-'an enormous shoot
THIS NEW NOVEL, WHICH PRESENTS INTERNATIONAL PROBLEMS IN THE
FORM OF MYSTERY FICTION, IS A SUPPLEMENT TO "THE SUNDAY HERALD."

ing star,' he described it. Then
he heard a shrill whistle, which
gradually
faded into a kind of
low-pitched
moan.
"When the meteorite struck
the earth Mr. Thompson felt a
slight impact. He walked in the
right direction, but in the dark
was unable to» find where the
meteor had fallen. Next morn-
ing, however, he found the sppl
without difficulty. There was a
hole two or three feet in dia-
meter."
At an early hour the keen and
energetic
Curator of the Leices-
ter Museum was on the
spot
with
a couple of labourers. A meteor-
ite, of such a size, would be a
treasure worth having. The men
began to dig with skilled pre-
cision. Suddenly a spade made
a metallic ring.
"That will be it," said the
Curator. "Dig round it-^-care
fully."
He was surprised to find his
quarry so lightly embedded-a
mere three feet in the earth. Yet
this was nothing to his astonish-
ment a few minutes later, when
the investigating spades revealed
a piece of smooth metal.
The Curator examined it
closely. This was no meteorite,
that was certain. His fingers
probed the loose earth, to get an
idea of the shape of the metal
object. Suddenly he
stopped,
and
stood up.
"Smith," said the Curator, "go
and fetch the police, fletcher,
you stay here with me. We must
keep people away-it may be
dangerous."
"What is it?"
"At a guess, some sort of
rocket."
"Gosh!" The two men rapidly
retreated and headed off ap-
proaching campers.
The Curator was
right.
Some
hours later a squad arrived from
»
a bomb disposal
unit. With
great
care they
excavated about the
hole, until one end of a metal
canister was clearly in view.
"It is a rocket, isn't it?" asked
the Curator.
"I suppose so," said the officer
in charge. "But I never saw one
like it. And where did it come
from? Well, let's see if it's alive."
With one of his men he
crawled towards the hole, carry
ing delicate listening apparatus.
'
After many trials, he got very
close to the canister, testing
it
with his instruments.
"It's dead, whatever it is," he
called. "Righto, sergeant. Dig
it out. Nothing to worry about
there."
He was not merely a tech-
nician. Wherever the missile had
come from, it was not British.
The officer was astute enough to
recognise
that international com-
plications
might be involved.
While his men kept the gathering
crowd at a distance he went to
the telephone to report the
strange features of the case to
higher authority.
Nothing further could be done
until the cylinder had been com-
pletely
excavated. This
proved
to be a fairly simple task, and
by mid-afternoon it was on a
military lorry, headed^ for an
examination depot.
The engineer
officer had made a cursory exam-
ination which had confirmed his
first
opinion.
The missile was
unlike any previously seen in
England. Its shape was peculiar;
about ten feet long, it was nar-
row at one end, widened to nearly
three
feet,
came in again
to a narrow
waist,
then widened
again. The main body of the mis-
sile was undamaged, but there
had been obvious protuberances
which had been smashed off when
it struck the earth. The officer
collected from the excavations a
considerable quantity of a strange
material, which looked like
green
glass, but was much heavier
and was obviously a metal.
"Don't ask me how the thing
was driven," he said to his com-
manding officer later. "No sign
of jets-at least, none of any sort
we ever knew. And another
thing: it
must have been fired
from a long distance, which
means a great height. Yet it
came down comparatively slowly
-I wondered about that when I
saw the shallow hole.'The earth
in the park is very soft-you
would have
anticipated that
it
would have gone in ten or twenty
feet."
"No
sign
of a
parachute?"
"No-and that wouldn't agree
with eye-witness accounts of what
they saw-and heard."
"It's a
mystery. I suppose
that
some idiot has been messing
about, inventing a new rocket,
and discharged it
quite
close by."
The engineer officer was un-
convinced-there would have
been reports about the discharge
if it were local. Prudently, he
had warned his men to keep their
mouths shut.
Thus the inevitable Pressmen
who had
joined
the little crowd
about the excavation found that
the men of the bomb disposal
squad were not inclined to talk.
Fleet Street has no monopoly of
enterprising journalists, however.
When the squad drove off in
their lorry, leaving
the police on
guard in Bradgate Park, the
Leicester
man's car followed
behind. He had been in the army
himself, and knew something of
its habits. Two men, in particu-
lar, he had marked down as his
prospective victims.
His judgment was sound. An
hour after the return to barracks,
one of the men emerged, making
his way to a hostelry on the out-
skirts of the city. Here he was
evidently a frequent
and valued
customer, and an accomplished
performer at darts to boot. Now
the journalist estimated that his
task was almost routine. There
would be a plying with refresh-
ments and then, at the
right
moment, skilfully directed con-
versation.
The
elementary scheme worked
perfectly. The soldier told all
that he knew-it was not very
much, but
quite enough to make
the journalist realise that he was
on the verge of a considerable
scoop.
"Folks was saying as a
shooting star made the b
'ole," the convivial bomb dis-
poser remarked. "Well, it
weren't. They, wouldn'/t want us
to get rid of a b-- star .
.
.
I said that to Nobby Clark when
he was goin'
there. Star my foot!
It was a rocket,
and a b
funny rocket as well. I never
seed one like it afore, and I've
seed plenty." *.
"Was it a big one?" asked the
journalist.
"No, not too big, if you under-
stand what I mean, but a funny
shape."
"Like what?"
"Like a woman with a big top
and,bottom, but a narrow waist
and a big 'ead, if you understand
what 1 mean."
"Like this?" The newsman
hurriedly sketched an outline.
"No, more like this." The sol-
dier was not a skilled draughts-
man, and a child might not have
envied his effort, but to the jour-
nalist it was priceless: an artist
would make a lot of it.
"Was it very heavy?" he asked.
"No-not, as heavy as them
- German rocKets was."
"You don't think it was a Ger-
man one left over?"
"No, this wasn't no Jerry
nuffink like it. And this wasn't
left over-it come down last
night-there was folks what saw
it."
"Perhaps it's one of ours."
"I dunno. All I know is that
the officer told us to say
nuffink
about it."
The journalist perceived that
Bert had no more information of
value. He rushed back to the
newspaper office: a local journal
does not expect
the sole exploita-
tion of a considerable scoop, but
has an
arrangement with the
Press agencies. Consequently
the London dailies next morning
featured headlines, startling or
restrained according to their type,
tersely informing their readers
that a rocket, believed to be for-
eign, had fallen in the
very
heart
of
England.
Some took a restrained line:
there was no suggestion of a de-
liberate attack-a Russian rocket
had evidently gone astray and
had landed in England. Others
hinted darkly at more serious
apprehensions. A Left-wing paper
remembered that experiments
with long-range rockets wero
being conducted in U.S.A. and
Australia: it
went on to suggest
that one of the missiles might have
penetrated to the upper strato-
sphere. There, through some de-
fect in its mechanism, it had
cruised about aimlessly for some
time, finally losing momentum
and falling to earth.
If it bad not been for the fact
that a new Test Match was about
to begin, and that a man oppor-
tunely murdered his wife by
attaching her to a high-voltage
electric wire, the Bradgate rocket
story might have retained the
i
headlines for several days. As
it was, however, lacking new de-
velopments, it soon slipped rap-
idly to bottom-column
positions
in
pages
five and six.
II
TEN days after the fall of
the rocket, Parliament ,
assembled. The House of
Commons was packed, for the
principal business of the day was
the debate on the control of foot-
ball pools, and all members who
had an pye
to re-election realised
that thousands of votes would be
influenced or even decided by
their conduct on this vital occa-
sion.
Yet as the
Speaker took the
chair, he did not call for Ques-
tion 1 on the Order Paper: in-
stead, he turned to the Leader of
the
Opposition to open proceed
,
ings.
"Mr.
Speaker,
I should like to
ask the Right Hon. the Prime
Minister if he has any statement
to make on the subject of the
missile which recently fell in
Bradgate Park?"
Members sat up with a jerk.
When the Prime Minister ar-
ranged with the Leader of the
Opposition for the asking of a
special question,
the matter was
usually important.
"Yes," said the Prime Minister.
'The missile in question has been
thoroughly examined by Army
and R.A.F. technical officers and
by experts of the National Phy-
sical Laboratory. They were
able to decide that it was un-
doubtedly some form of self
propelled rocket, but were baffled
as to its details. The method of
propulsion was quite impossible
to ascertain-it may have been
destroyed or detached
during the
rocket's flight. There were other
strange
and completely novel
features about the rocket which
the experts find of unusual in-
terest,
but which they cannot
yet explain. Further, the canister
of the rocket is made of metal
so hard that they have to date
been unable to penetrate to its
interior.
"Faced with reports to this
effect, my Right Hon. friend the
Minister of Defence decided
to ask the advice of Professor
Drummond, that
great scien-
tist whose services are always at
the disposal of his country.
Pro-
fessor Drummond is setting up a
special apparatus which he is con-
fident will cut through the metal
container, and I am sure that we
can leave this in his very capable
hands.
"In the meantime, however,
Professor Drummond has direc-
ted a series of experiments on
the materials attached to the ex-
terior of the rocket. His
report
reached me this morning, and it
is because of its unusual nature
that I am making this statement.
Were it
not that Professor Drum-
mond is a scientist of outstand-
ing world reputation, I should
hesitate to accept the report, but
he is backed by the Government
experts.
Without going into
chemical detail, I should ;ay at
once lhat Professor Drummond
is of the
opinion that some of the

materials used in the construction
of the rocket are extra-terres-
trial."
Hansard does not describe the
scene which followed this bald
but sensational announcement
the amazement of the members,
their hurried whisperings. It
continues.its calm record:
Rt. Hon. Worton
Spender
(Leader of the Opposition):
"Are
we to understand that Professor
Drummond is of the opinion that
this rocket was not discharged
from any part of the earth?"
Rt. Hon. C. Matley (Prime
Minister): "He does not go as far
as that-at present. Scientists
are
proverbially reserved in their
forecasts. But I understand that
his staff have already isolated one
metal and one lighter chemical
substance which are quite un-
known to science."
Mr. Worton Spender: "In view
of the unprecedented character
of this statement and the fantas-
tic
potentialities
which it opens,
will the Prime Minister arrange
to give the House an opportunity
of debating the question at the
earliest possible moment?"
The Prime Minister: "I agree
that the matter should be de-
bated, but suggest- that it'
be de-
ferred until further information
is available. 1 have personally
seen Professor Drummond, and
have asked him to take complete
charge of the examination. He
has kindly agreed to do so. I
have given instructions that he
is to have full powers and every
priority. I am sure that the
House will approve this action."
("Hear, hear.")
Mr. C. Davis (Lib., Montgom
»
ery): "Does H.M. Government
propose to hand over the in-
vestigation of this event to the
United Nations?"
The Prime Minister: "Not at
this stage."
Mr. Worton Spender: Doubt-
less the Prime Minister will
undertake to keep the House
fully informed as to all develop-
ments of
urgent national import-
ance which cuts across all party
lines?"
The Prime Minister: "Of
course."
The Prime Minister and the
Leader of the
Opposition left the
House. Many other members
would have followed but for the
vital debate on football pools.
SHORTLY
before the end of
question time the two
leaders 're-entered the House,
and held a whispered Consulta-
tion with the Speaker before
they resumed their places.
"The Leader of the Opposi-
tion," the Speaker announced.
Worton Spender rose: "Has the
Right Hon. the Prime Minister
anything to add to his earlier
statement?"
The Prime Minister: "Yes.
Since I made my statement to
the House I have received
another report
from Professor
Drummond. It seems to me to be
of considerable importance, and
I
feel that the House should
hear it at once.

"On the outside of the metal
cylinder were certain markings,
as if made by a chisel. It was at
first assumed that they were made
in the manufacture of the rocket,
but one of Professor Drum
mond's staff called attention to
their regularity, and to the un-
usual and exact recurrence of
certain of the marks. Accord-
ingly, the Professor called in the
Director of the British Museum
and one of his
experts. They have
now examined the markings, and
have come to the conclusion that
they are
hieroglyphics.
Naturally,
they have not yet been able to
decipher them, but are continu-
ing an intense study.
"Photographs of the markings
have 'been sent by radio to the
directors of the Cairo Museum
and the Field Museum of
Chicago, both of whom are ex-
perts
in the art of deciphering
hieroglyphics. Their reports are
awaited with interest."
Mr. G. Willigher (Com. E.
Fife):
"If and when the secret of
this rocket
is revealed, will the
Prime Minister undertake to com-
municate' it to other countries?"
Mr. C. Davis (Lib. Mont-
gomery): "Adding to that ques-
tion, should not the secret of the
device be" handed over to the
control of the United Nations?"
The Prime Minister: "I am re-
minded of the recipe for jugged
hare which begins 'First catch
your hare.' (Laughter.) At the
moment we have no secret to
re-
veal. On the contrary Professor
Drummond is very properly
cautious, and emphasises that at
have little practical value. What
we need is a basis of fact, and
the moment any conjecture can
if anyone in the world can secure
Ibis, I am confident that Profes-
sor Drummond is that man.''
("Hear,- hear.")
The Speaker called for the
business of the day, but the de-
bate on football pools was
strangely flat and lifeless. In
the corridors of the House mem-
bers stood in little groups
dis-
cussing the extraordinary situa-
tion.
In every country of the world,
too, the
potentialities of the re-
velation were discussed, with
vigour if not with insight. The
newspaper astrologers had an un-
limited field for conjecture,
and
made the most of it. Earnest
gentlemen suggested that the
rocket had long been forecasted
by the measurements of the
Pyramid. Others regarded it as a
warning; the world was threat-
ened unless it
adopted Social
Credit, or vegetarianism, or
Esperanto.
No less interesting theories
were expounded in the village
inns of England as in the clubs
of Pall Mall. Interest had be-
gun to droop a little, since there
seemed to be undue delay in get-
ting the cylinder open, when the
secon'l rocket fell.
m
THE
American Indian
walked lithely beside hil
mustang, which was carrying
a laden pack-saddle.
Behind him
trudged his squaw,
her sleepy
papoose strapped to
.
her back.
The man was the merchant of
his section of the Nevajo tribe
his father was its chief. He had
been to Santa Fe to sell a load
'
of blankets, had made a good
bargain, and had bought the sup-
plies which his tribe needed. Now
he was headed for the Reserva-
tion where his people lived.
Cliffs of sandstone, weathered
into fantastic shapes,
bordered
the path:
a deep red by day, they
were now black and threatening.
The squaw moved closer to her
man, and the nostrils of the horse
twitched from time to time. The
Indian strode
on, impassive.
Above the stars shone with that
brilliance peculiar to
.
desert
country. Looking up, the man
was startled to see a meteor
sweep from the sky. The star was
descending towards them, a
green-yellow pinpoint of light.
The horse whinneyed; the
squaw
clutched his arm. There was a
noise, a shrill scream, gradually
fading to a moan. The light grew
larger and- brighter.
The Indian flung himself to the
ground. His squaw, handicapped
by the baby on her back, was not
so agile. She was, however, more
practical,
for she cau¿ht the rein
of the frightened horse.
A slight tremor, and the light
was gone. The little group arose
and stood for a moment: then the
Indian recovered his
composure,
calmed the horse, and led the
way forward.
It was useful that he was an
Indian, and that his sense of
location was uncanny. Next
morning white men came by car
from Santa Fe. They had seen
the flash in the
sky,
as had men
in more distant cities. A number
of investigation parties had been
formed, and one of these found
its
way to the Indian reservation.
To it .the chief
presented his son,
who led the way to a cavity in
the hard brown earth bordering
the muddy, rushing waters of the
Rio Grande.
A round flange of metal was
actually visible-the baked
ground had resisted more firmly
than the soft turf of Bradgate
Park. The
cylinder
was recovered
with
comparative ease, and was
carried by the Indians to the
nearest point where a truck could
be brought.
Now the American Press had
a subject worthy of its dramatic
genius. If journalism is the treat-
ment of news so as to make it
appeal to the ordinary man, it is
supreme in America. AIL the
principal dailies had their own
scientific staffs, including
chemists, physicists,
and astrono-
mers. These
experts converged
on Santa Fe by special plane
from all directions.
A special squad of Federal
police
had to be rushed to Santa
Fe to guard the rocket against
the experts and souvenir hunters
who wanted to get at close quar-
ters. The latter were herded
away, but newspaper representa-
tives were allowed to see the
rocket. It was
photographed from
a thousand angles, and
experts
examined its unpromising exterior
with interest, but without result:
then they rushed to their
type-
writers to evolve astonishing and
ingenious theories.
Preliminary examination of the
New Mexico
cylinder
revealed
one very important feature-the
markings it carried were identical
.
with those of the first specimen.
As soon as this news was
known, Mars became the fav-
ourite guess for the origin of the
rockets. In Hollywood producers
hurriedly dropped current pro-
ductions, and script writers were
lashed to such
energy that within
a few days eleven studios had on
the floor pictures featuring life
on Mars, while two favoured the
Moon. Mr. Samuel Silberstein
selected Venus as his background,
arguing that it would provide
bigger opportunities for the neces-
sary love interest.
Hollywood's next shock was
greater than the
impact of the
rocket itself. By an extraordinary
lucky fluke, a British film com-
pany
had just completed a film
about
Mars, and was about to
release it.
The film was flown
across the Atlantic, and cinemas
which had systematically boy-
cotted British pictures now found
themselves, empty, while their
more
enterprising
rivals had
queues stretching
round
the
blocks.
The film was almost conven-
tional. It contained only one
really interesting feature, and in
view of events it turned out to be
important, whether it was an in-
telligent guess or merely colossal
luck. The film suggested that
Mars was inhabited by a people
highly advanced in mechanical
invention, and all of the same
race. There were no jigsaws of
nations, large and small, engaged
in continual strife. Mars had
achieved a centralised control
over its entire planet; it knew
only one race-tie Martians.
The next flash to take the head-
lines came from London. It
was announced that Professor
Drummond's staff had set up a
mechanism which could broach
the intensely hard shell of the
rocket. Experiments were being
conducted under conditions of
great caution, lest the rocket
should contain explosives, but it
was anticipated that cuts would
be made through the casing with-
in a week.
Congressmen indignantly
de-
manded whether American tech-
nicians weren't a good as tha
British, and the Federal
govern-
ment was spurred to supreme
efforts. They concentrated on
the opening of the rocket the en-
'
tire resources of American
science,
which are considerable.
Soon the President, in a special
message to Congress, was able to
announce that the problem was
being approached on very promis-
ing lines.

Every subject but the rockets
was banished from the headlines,
even in the Soviet journals.
"Pravda," accepting
the evidence
of the markings as hieroglyphics
and thus the
assumption that the
rockets had come from .another
world, pointed out with imperi-
ous delight that the Martians (or
whoever they might be) had selec-
ted the capitalist-imperialist
powers
as the proper subject for
their attack.
The editor of
*
"Isvestia," was more cautious.
He had a shrewd apprehension
that the Martians might not be
quite so interested in the virtues .
of political
ideologies, and that
the next rocket might fall on
Russian soil.
It did.
IV
ALEXIS
GUZOROF walked
back to his cottage in the
content of an early summer
evening.
The crops promised well
-not merely those of the collec-
tive farm, but the vegetables of
his own private plot of land.
He had been a collective far-
mer for 25 years, but the in-
herent traditional pride
of the
peasant was strong within him.
When Alexis referred to "my
land" he meant his own little
piece
of the Ukraine, not the
collective fqrm.
He was healthily tired as he
walked through the little
garden
to the door. He surveyed his
house with legitimate pride,
for
he had built
it
himself. After
the Germans had.destroyed every
house in the vicinity when the
Red Army drove them back to
their own
country, he had taken
his axe to the forest, felled trees
and shaped them; then he built
his home, and thatched it with
straw. It was humble enough:
no electricity or running water,
which were town fancies.
But
the light
of day was
good,
and
there
was a cool well nearby. He
would not give
his cottage
for
any of the crowded apartments
of Kiev.
Nadia heard her man at the
door, and came to meet him
she wanted Alexis to draw water
from the well. Her movement
of a dozen feet
probably saved
her life. Even as Alexis picked
up
the bucket both heard a
strange whine. Alexis looked up
into the sky, but saw nothing.
Then, a few seconds later,
carne
a great
crash. The rear end of
the cottage collapsed. Alexis
dragged Nadia away from the
door; none too soon, for the
beams leaned drunkenly and the
thatch was alight.
"Alexis!" she cried. "The war
has begun again!"
"No, Nadia."
"Then what is this? There was
a sound like
the shelis, and
look!"
Her tears were natural enough.
For the second time in ten years
her home had been destroyed.
Alexis stared in dismay at the
ruins of all his hopes. Then he
roused to action at the
sight of
his neighbours running to his
aid.
.
The cottage was doomed, but
there might be a chance of sav-
ing some of its contents. The
well worked furiously; neighbours
brought buckets with them anti
attacked the blaze systematically
-it was not their first experience,
and they knew something about
fire-fighting. In half an hour the
flames were under control.
Now there was time to talk.
Several neighbours had heard the
noise-one even claimed that he
had seen a dark object descend-
ing.
"If you ask me, it's one of
those rockets we've been reading
about," said Alexis. "We ought
not to disturb it."
There was general agreement.
One of the men, who had a
bicycle, was despatched to the
next village, where there was a
telephone. The village
Soviet
held an informal meeting on the
spot, and decided to put a guard
on the cottage until military en-
gineers
could arrive from Kiev.
It was not for another forty
eight hours that the news was
issued to the world by the Tass
agency; the Russians like ample
time to consider news and the
angle from which it should be
piesented.
In this case direct
action was agreed.
"Pravda"
made no reference to its previous
comment-it is rare for a news-
paper in any country to admit
itself wrong,
and it is almost un-
known in the Russian official
Press. "Pravda" now turned full
force of its considerable invective
against the assailants. Without
doubt the inhabitants of Mars
if they were the
people respon-
sible-were Fascists, jealous
of the success of the
people's' republic. Yet the
people would give their
reply-in increased produc-
tion, thus adding to the strengtb
of the Soviet state.
"lsvestia" followed substan-
tially the same line. Comment
must be restrained until the
rocket had been
opened-there
was a suggestion
that with the
greater enthusiasm of the Soviet
worker us compared with the
wage-slaves of the capitalist
states, the Russians would suc-
ceed where the British and
Americans had to date failed.
This ambition was not realised.
The honour went to that willing
home of wage slavery, U.S.A.
A dramatic announcement
came from Washington early in
the Saturday evening-the spe-
cial cutting machine was nearly
through the metal covering of
the canister. The tension was
almost unbearable. Cinemas
and theatres hurriedly made ar-
rangements to relay the news,
but most people preferred to stay
at home, sitting by the radio.
It was late at night when the
final announcement was rriade.
Yet in a way
it was an anti-cli-
max.
.
The President himself came to
the microphone. "My friends,
the rocket has been opened. 1
speak to you immediately to
calm any fears or apprehensions
which you may have had. It
contains no explosives or other
harmful substances. The con-
tents consist pi what is evidently
a message-no more.
"It was at 9.15
p.m.
this even-
ing that Professor Ulysses .H.
Gregg, of the University of Min-
nesota,
and his team of
experts
bored through the extraordinary
hard metal of the canister. The
contents consisted of some rolls
of thin metallic substance not yet
identified. On this is a con-
siderable inscription, in those
same
hieroglyphics which marked
the exterior.
"The
preliminary suggestion
of
Professor Gregg is that the metal
was used in place
of any paper-
like substance, which might have
been destroyed by the heat of the
discharge or propulsion of the
rocket.
"I need hardly tell you that the
best brains of America will be
brought to bear on the. solution
of this mysterious writing, if
writing it is. Photographs are
being sent at once to experts, and
also, of course, to the news
pi.pers. News will be issued as
available. Good-night, my
friends. You may have the
utmost confidence that what
needs to be done will be done."
The editors of the Sunday
newspapers accepted the chal-
lenge. There was not much
time. No one can ever com-
plain
of the speed of American
journalism. Special supplements
were issued, with' illustrations
radioed all over the country.
The photographs of the hiero-
glyphics aroused interest, but the
ordinary man soon gave up any
attempt to decipher them. At
Washington, code experts of the
American F.B.I, worked through
the night, without success.
Famous Egyptologists,
and a man
who had
deciphered some ancient
Babylonian inscriptions, also ad-
mitted failure.
Yet on .the Sunday morning
Washington received a spate
of
telegrams and telephone calls.
They came from professors
of
geography and from master
mariners. Immediately the Sec-
retary of State, who was in
charge of the investigations,
called in experts
from the Navy
Office.
For on one of,the metal sheets
was a rough drawing. At first
it was not recognised as a map
-the experts were trying to
make a picture out of it. Now
our own ordinary map of the
world is, of course, incorrect
Mercator's projection is no more
than an ingcnius method of
getting a global map on to a con-
veniently flat piece of paper.
Thus, to an observer from far
above, the land and ocean masses
of the world have a different
shape from those so familiar to
us.
The nautical experts decided
without hesitation that
part
of
the drawing on the metal was
intended to represent
the Black
Sea. This prompted an obvious
turn of
thought-immediately
confirmed by a radio message
from London. Drummond had
managed to open
the Bradgate
rocket, and it
also contained a
drawing-immediately identified
as the true shape of the south-
western corner of North America.
There was a mark on a spot
where New Mexico would be
at approximately the spot
where
the American rocket fell.
Now an intelligent guess
was
possible and reasonable. The
British rocket had given warning
of that which fell in America:
this in its turn had warned that
one would fall in Russia, north
of the Black Sea. Now the cryp
tologists were happy. With such
a clue, they could attack
their
problem from a new and more
promising angle.
It was a Chinese professor
of
Oriental Literature and Langu-
ages who finally succeeded. He
had been on a cultural mission
to London, and was returning
home via U.S.A. His volunteered
services were willingly accepted,
for he was a man of world-
wide
reputation.
The Chinese professor identi-
fied what proved to be a chart
of the Solar System
'
with
astronomical data
appended, as
well as a series of dots from
which the numerical
system of
the Martians or Moon-Men was
deduced-incidentally, it was a
duodecimal system from which
some students deduced, perhaps
rashly, that the Martians (or
whoever they were) must have
six-fingered limbs.
There were other clues, too,
in the shape of diagrams with
hieroglyphic explanations. It was
as if the Martians had
anticipated
that men on the Earth might
have difficulty in
deciphering
their message, so had
provided
all the assistance possible.
With endless
patience,
and long
efforts of trial and error,
Professor Lai Kan produced the
report
for which the world was
waiting. It was
incomplete and
he
explained
that
quite obviously
some of the words engraved
on the metal existed in
no earthly language. Sometimes
the context made the missing
words reasonably clear, but at
times the Professor admitted that
his
reading was little more than
a guess.
I reproduce his document,
which is unique in history. Pro-
fessor Lai Kan could not guar-
antee the faithful translation of
every word, but the substance
was this: "Greetings to the
other
globe. It has been revealed (or
ordered) by the Powerful One
(or God) that the time has come
for
great
distances to be con-
quered. He has revealed the
way by which we may reach
the globe,
our
neighbour in
space.

National Library of Australiahttp://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page1019428
"Our
message
will
arrive,
for
the Powerful One has so re-
vealed. It is necessary for us
to know that our message is
understood. For this, if the
people of the other globe can-
not reach us by rocket, send
many tappings such as we some-
times hear from your globe.
Tap . . .
many times, power-
fully.
"We shall continue to send
our message until we know that
it is understood. The next
rocket will fall at the spot shown
on this map."
The excitement throughout the
world was tinged with relief. The
people of the other globe sent
greetings, not explosives: and
they had a god. This was
excellent. The world seemed
now on the verge of a new age.
V
WHILE
Professor Lai Kan
had been active, the other
scientists ol' the world had not
been idle. One peculiar
.feature of the rockets was that
their flight had not been traced
by radar.
This complex apparatus is now
in constant use, and is of an
amazing precision.
In usual con-
ditions a rocket fired in Russia
and aimed at Britain, or vice
versa, could be traced through-
out its flight. Now the Rus-
sians, not to be outdone by
British and American achieve-
ments, announced that the glass-
like substance attached to the
canisters had some properties,
hitherto unknown, which con-
fused radar reception.
Professor Drummond had
already commented on the other
strange feature-the compara-
tively slow fall of the canisters.
He suggested that this was caused
by rockets fired in reverse-at the
time of
approaching the earth.
He had to admit, however, that
he had us yet no clue to their
type.
There was a general assump-
tion throughout the earth that the
signal acknowledging receipt of
the message from the other
'
world,
whichever it
was, would
be
given.
But now the whole
question
had become interna-
tional, and the Secretary-General
of United Nations very properly
convened an emergency meeting
of the Council. From all corners
of the world, delegates flew to
New York.
At the very beginning the
American representative proposed
that the question
should be con-
sidered as a world affair, and not
as that only of the States in which
rockets had fallen. This was
agreed by all countries.
Next the Council discussed the
important question
of the reply.
This was a lengthy proceeding,
as each delegate had come with
a set speech and 59 nations were
represented
After three days of
speeches
in
which it
was discovered that all
lepresenlatives were saying
the
same thing in different words, the
47 delegates still unheard agreed
to take their speeches as read
1 hen it
was formally proposed
that the signal
mentioned in the
hieroglyphics should be sent
simultaneously from all the most
powerful radio stations in the
world The motion was carried
There was an air of anti-
climax about the
proceedings
general opinion was moving far
ahead of its leaders,
and was now
awaiting the next message from
the neighbouring world
The Council, however went on
with its work in an atmosphere of
collaboration which inspired all
its members Professor Lai Kan
was asked to assist in getting
through a more explicit message
Since he had so cleverly de-
ciphered the incoming message,
there was
just
a chance that the
other people would be clever
enough to decipher our morse
code, if it
were based on their
own language
This suggestion entailed a long
discussion on the message to be
sent The United States objected
to the phrase 'the democratic
peoples of the world' since some
of their governments were not
democratic The Russian dele-
gate moved off to a side issue,
and asked that, if contributions
of any kind were obtained from
the other world, the Soviet should
receive 51 per cent, of the total.
The British
representative pro-
posed that the members of the
Council should formally declare
that each and individually they
had no territorial ambitions on
Mars or the Moon. This was
agreed unanimously, all the dele-
gates knowing that their experts
at home were busily engaged in
surveying such charts of the two
bodies as could be obtained.
The air of unreality at the con-
ference was rudely shattered by a
speech made by Professor Drum-
mond at the annual
meeting cf
the Royal Society in London.
"Our political leaders in New
York appear to assume the most
benefkent intentions on the
part
of our neighbours," he said "But
is there any foundation for such
an assumption? We do not yet
know whence the rockets come
"1 should warn our leaders that
we do not know nearly as much
as they assume. Life on Mars
or the Moon? Yes, it's not im-
possible, but we cannot pretend
to the slightest knowledge of the
form it may
take. We should
almost certainly be wrong if we
assumed that it
was the same
form as on the Earth But what
manner of people might they be?
Do they think as we do? It is
obvious that they have surpassed
us in mechanical development,
since they have invented an inter-
planetary rocket. It seems certain
to me. by examination of the
Bradgate canister, that we are on
the verge of a new knowledge
it may be a new and uncontrol-
lable force.
'Therefore, this is no time for
bickering. Whatever awaits the
world, its people must face the
issue united as never
previously
in their history."
But the effect of Drummond's
speech on the United Nations'
Council soon evaporated. Re-
lieved for the moment from the
pressing necessity for a united
decision, the members reverted
to their ancient and familiar pro-
cess of wrangling, accusation, and
counter-accusation. Political
chiefs are more often in the rear
of
popular thought than in ad-
vance. The imagination of the
world, fanned by the commen-
taries of Press and radio, had
been caught
?
by the
amazing
events of the last few
.
weeks.
Though there was no hint of
menace in the communications
received, such was the suspense
and supicion of the moment that
nearly everyone
assumed it.
There had been no real peace and
trust in the world for so long
that
people had forgotten what
they were like.
The. world's radio stations
tapped off an endless series of
dots, hoping that one would
reach its destination-to date,
Professor Lai Kan had failed to
fit the
heiroglyphics to any .adap-
tation of the Morse code. Then
millions of people waited for a
reply.
Military opinion in all coun-
tries was gravely "disturbed.
Pressed by their governments for
advice, the
generals had to admit
that they had no
plans for inter-
planetary warfare. The poli-
ticians
hopefully referred again
to the
pacific character of the
messages.
The reply, when it came, was
a shock for the military experts.
Consulting their scientific ad-
visers, they declared that it would
be
possible to construct rockets
to reach Mars or the Moon. But
thj next canister to arrive came
down in Bradgate Park, within a
mile of the first! Such accuracy
over a
range
of
millions of miles
was
disconcerting, particularly as
launching ground and
target
were
rotating and travelling
round the sun at different speeds.
Professor Lai Kan, now in
New York, had gathered a small
team of
experts about him. They
studied the original
hieroglyphics
hour by hour, to such good pur-
pose that they were able to trans-
late the new
message on the
very
date that it
was transmitted to
them. Again some words were
doubtful, but
fortunately they did
no*, affect the sense of the com-
munication.
"Your . . .
had been heard,
as the Powerful One had re-
vealed, and our message has been
understood by the people of
your
globe.
"Now it is possible to state our
purpose in sending our message,
which is the first of many. There
is on our globe an element. The
lines of its spectrum are-"
(Here was included a sketched
outline of a spectrum with well
defined, lines.)
"On our globe there is little
of
this element, but on yours there
is much, for we have seen its
marks in the broken light." (i.e.
the spectrum.)
"The Powerful. One has re-
vealed to our wise men that this
element can be used, with the
substance that eats itself, to cure
the wasting disease. Thus we
need much. We shall need all
this element on your globe.
"Prepare to collect this ele-
ment, and we will notify to your
globe of the
way
it can be sent
to us. Say that you have re-
ceived this message by tapping
again .
. ."
'
Professor Lai Kan handed his
interpretation to a noted Ameri-
can scientist, who studied its
details and
spectrum markings.
"Gosh!" he
explained.
"That's
put
the cat among the
pigeons!
They want all the gold iu the
world!"
VI
PROFESSOR
LAI KAN
had the easiest task of any
member of the conspiracy.
He
certainly should have been able
to read the
hieroglyphics,
since
he invented them!
1 had been one of the busiest
members. Indeed, long before
Drummond's plans were complete
I was the first to get into action.
My task was to prepare
the
minds of the people well in ad-
vance-to make them receptive
to ideas about other planets.
To
this end I stimulated articles
in
the popular Press all over the
world. I revived old contro-
versies about canals on Mars
and even the unexplained white
streaks on the Moon. I got
books like Wells's "War of the
Worlds" and the American
"scientifiction" pulp magazines
reissued in most countries, includ-
ing Russia. And 1
prompted a
film so that it
appeared at exactly
the right moment.
Many people
will have noted
that a casual stroke of luck will
-if its timing be opportune
prove as beneficial as weeks of
effort. This was my experience.
My publicity was going quite
well, probably because the world
was satiated with international
animosities, and wearied with the
miscalled ."cold war" between
U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. Then in
Washington, U.S.A., on June 24,
1947, a man reported
that he had
seen nine bright objects "as if
nickel plated," about 10,000 feet
up, and moving at 1,200 miles an
hour. Within a few days many
'
other-people in other parts of
North America saw these ob
The American Press, with its
genius for dramatisation, labelled
the new phenomenon the "Flying
Saucer," and turned away from
the Russian veto problems with
great relief. Once a story
has
been started, it
grows like a roll-
ing snowball. Soon "flying
saucers" were
.
seen from Den-
mark to Mexico.
Naturally,
I was very inter«

ested in this phenomenon, so
admirably suited to my purpose.
I sought advice from scientific
friends. A professor
of
physi-
ology at Sydney University
car-
ried out some experiments with
his class. The students went in-
to the open
and concentrated
their gaze on a fixed
¿joint
in the
sky while standing perfectly still.
When questioned
individually,
they declared they 'had seen
bright
oval objects, which seemed
to be moving rapidly-in effect,
"flying saucers." But th& profes-
sor concluded: "They saw and
drew what I
expected.
The
'objects' seen were due to the
effect of the red blood
corpuscles
passing in front of the retina."
Yet, for one person
who read
of this experiment, a hundred
thousand
perused
the more sen-
sational accounts of the
appear-
ance of more "flying saucers."
Several clergymen, mostly Ame-
ricans, announced that the end of
the world was at hand, and one
section of the American Press
hinted darkly at Russian machi-
nations. The Russians them-
selves sneered at the whole thing:
such hallucinations were fortu-
nately not possible in a Socialist
Soviet state. However, rumour
again demonstrated its power
of
crossing any frontier,
and at
length came
reports
from Soviet
Asia: there "flying saucers"
had
not
only
been seen, but had
caused considerable damage!
Scarcely a country of the world
escaped the rumours, many
of
which had ample corroborative
detail of the usual circumstantial
kind.
A dozen countries instituted en-
quiries, that in U.S.A. being
especially keen. All concluded
that the stories were without any
real basis of fact. As always,
these disclaimers received only
one-hundredth part of the origi-
nal publicity in the popular
Press. Thereafter, if I needed
?
any distraction, I had only to re-
vive the "flying saucer" yarn, and
immediately hundreds of "wit-
nesses" were available to spread
the tale.
In more serious circles, my task
of making the
people of the
world universe-conscious was
aided by a brilliant young French
professor, Albert Ducrocq, who
took out an international patent
for an aircraft engine for inter- ,
planetary flight! His "astronof"
was no ordinary rocket, but re-
sembled a gigantic spinning top
weighing 3,000 tons! It was to
be
driven by three gigantic pro
pellants driven by atomic energy,
and would carry enough fuel for
a journey to Mars and back
again. His scheme was no fly-
ing saucer fantasy, but a product
of the French Academy of
Science, which is no paradise for
the charlatan, but a serious and
practical scientific institution.
Ducrocq was working quite
inde-
pendently of Drunvnond's group,
but inadvertently he made a very
valuable contribution to my part
of the scheme.
A little later three Australian
Government scientists reported
that they had emitted a powerful
radio signal, and bad received
back "brittle and compact echoes"
from' the moon. This was not m
the first contact with "the moon:
'
on January 10th, 1946, U.S.
Army Signal Corps engineers
re-
ported echoes from the moon,
and announced new experiments
whereby the moon was to be
used to bounce back television
signals which cannot normally be
transmitted long distances be-
tween stations. The Australians
and the .Americans both under-
stand
publicity,
and all these
events worked
usefully
into
my
scheme. At home, officials of the
British Interplanetary Society,
which has done a great
deal of
valuable preparatory experiment,
forecast that guided missiles
would reach the moon by 1950.
This announcement appeared be-
fore the first rocket arrived, and
popular estimates immediately
became far more optimistic
in
their timing.
Taken by and large, I was
reasonably satisfied. People were
wearied of the interminable
wrangling of the politicians,
and
escapist conjectures were a boon.
Keen editors saw this at a very
early stage, making my prepara-
tory task simple. Thereafter my
principal problem was that of
exact timing.
Pontivy,. on the other hand,
claimed in the earlier stages
that
he had-not enough to do. Drum-
mond was too sure of himself,
he
complained, and one day he
would come a cropper. Drum-,
mond certainly
carried all the
risks. He had to select his. con-
federates-in other lands, and one
-
mistake would be fatal to the
whole scheme.
Of course, he had the advan-
tage of. his own wide prestige,
and of his intimate knowledge of
his contemporaries. "1 shall let
very few into the secret," he said,
"but the few must be top-rankers,
so that their opinion will be re-
spected."
"We need at least one in each
major country,"
"Yes."
"What about Russia?" Pontivy
asked.
"There's Bogulov-I've met
him at international conferences..
He's not a politician-he's a
scientist.' And he's so big that
no government dare touch him."
As events progressed, and the
scheme began to take shape,
Drummond had to extend his
original plan.
"We shall have to take in a
few more people," he announced.
"We still need something to coun-
ter radar, for example. 1 know
that Ronaldson, of Yale, is on
to something. We must get
him
to give it to us instead of to his
government-or, at least, in ad-
dition to his
government."
"I don't like* this," said Pon-
tivy. 'Too many people know."
"It can't be helped. And I'm
choosing them very carefully.
m
There'll have to be more. I
"
need some money."
"Ah!" Pontivy was silent for a
moment. Then: "Drummond,
1 have faith in this scheme of
ours. I believe that it could
preserve the peace of the world.
I am not a rich man, but I have
been careful-I am of Gascon
blood, is it not, and the Gascons
are the Scots of France. So my
savings for my old age-well,
?
I
do not want an old age. I will
remain active, and die in the
harness. So ...
"
"Papa, that's grand of you, and
I
appreciate
it immensely. But
I wouldn't think of it."
"I tell
you ..."
"And the sums I want are big.
'I've already spent a hundred
thousand pounds of my own."
"What! A hundred thousand
pounds!"
"Yes. I've had to work out
some new rockets. The.experi-
ments were expensive-and so
were the tests."
"But-suppose someone got to
know ..."
'
"They won't. I sent my
laboratory team to Greenland.
They won't be disturbed by spies
there! But it did mean fitting out
quite an expedition."
"I've
got it, Drummond," I
said. "The Munroe expedition
studying meteorology."
"That's it-that's mine," he
chuckled. "Well, that's very
nearly cleaned me 'out. And
now 1 want a ship."
"A ship?"
'
"Yes. A
good-sized one and
a stout one, too, with special
works. You see,
these rockets
have to be accurate-I don't want
them dropping in towns. I'm
aiming at wide and open spaces,
but not too far away from
people. So I don't want to use
the rockets at extreme range.
I've worked out a recoil appara-
tus-they can be discharged from
a ship."
"But.the men . .
." Pontivy in-
sisted.
"We can hand-pick them.
TherS are men who can keep a
secret, you know.
'
And, for-
tunately, there are plenty of men
who will take a risk for the
peace
of the world. No, the
ship s the
difficulty. How shall we raise
the cash?"
"The stock method-a benevo-
lent millionaire?"
"No. He usually wants
publicity."
"Wait!" said Pontivy, dramati-
cally. "I have a plan."
"Good. What is it?"
"I do not trust your benevo-
lent millionaires. And 1 have
often pondered how 'I would
raise à really large sum of
money. Last week a friend came
over from the. Deuxième Bureau
to consult me. He gave me
an idea-but he does not
know that," ,
"Yes, but what is the idea?"
"It is better' that you should
not know."
I knew what that meant-that
Pontivy's idea involved something
illegal.
His plans
were seldom
orthodox, and rules and regula-
tions meant little to him
accepted conventions even less.
Pontivy disappeared next day
and we did not hear from him
till a fortnight had
passed.
Drummond and I were sitting in
my house at Harrow: it was late
in the evening. Drummond was
in a happy mood. The week
before he had made a flying
visit to America to discuss
schemes with confederates there.
He was so full of his success
that he mentioned neither money
nor Pontivy.
Suddenly the old man entered
-I did not even hear him at
the door.
"Here is your money, Drum-
mond," he said. "I had to hide
it
from the Customs
people,
but
it
is all there."
He
opened his rather
dis-
reputable bag, and produced his
old-fashioned nightshirt. Hold-
ing it by the shoulders, he shook
it
gently. Banknotes began to
fall out of it-American dollar
bills of
high denomination. Ia
a minute the hearth-rug was
covered.
"Count them," said Papa
Pontivy. 'There should be half
a million dollars there!"
vn
(Contributed by Papa P.ontivy)
FIGURE
to
yourself,
this
business was like no other
that I ever knew. I
haye
caught spies-it has been said
that 1 have caught more spies
than anybody else in the world.
My cases have led me into
many strange situations: I have
had to pretend to be all sorts
of
people.
Once I was a German
soldier-no, twice or three times
I have been a German soldier
sometimes an officer. Once in
England I was an actor-and the
audience liked me, too. Often
I have imagined that I missed
my real vocation.
And now, in this affair, I find
myself involved not in catching
spies, but in deceiving the world.
I have done it
before in a small
way, to get my man, but this
was colossal. And, imagine it,
if anything went wrong, there
will be trouble-even I, who am
not afraid of trouble, appreciated
that.
However. I see
everything
to
commend Drummond's plan, and
when I have faith I fear nothing.
Drummond is an amazing man.
Some of his traits are not
pleasant-he tries to be too
masterful and gives too many
orders. But there is no doubt
about this-he is the
greatest
scientist alive to-day. What is
more,
he is often very practical,
though sometimes he does not
take my advice.
Now I agreed with his idea
for stopping war-in a way, I
suggested
it, with my discovery

of Mr. Eden's speech. I do not
like war. Any war in
Europe
is bound to touch French soil,
and in a modern war the win-
ners also loose. So I appreciated
Drummond's
argument, that the
world mush choose the way of
Science or the way of Death.
Assuredly the
politicians
had
failed. But without scientists,
the politicians
could not make
war. Therefore, scientists must
control the politicians.
That is
logic, and I am always logical.
War is a. curse and a misery
to all people, especially to the
French, on whose soil the battle
is fought. But there are just a
few who
profit by it; sometimes
they are the people of no
country,
who are traitors to all.
Now Drummond and 1 pro
poiîd to strike a blow against
war. Who should finance us
but the
people who had made
money out of war?
Perhaps the idea came to me
a .few weeks earlier when a
former pupil
of mine, Thierry,
came over to consult me on a
case. He is now a big shot at
the Surete Generale, but he
never forgets his old master. I
settled his line of action for him,
and then he went on to tell me
of his other recent cases-he had
been specially assigned to the
tracing of collaborators.
One history annoyed me.
There was a man who went by
the name of Alexandre. It was
easy to prove that he had
worked with the Germans,
and that he had been well
rewarded. But when
Thierry
arrested him, Alexandre calmly
announced that he was an Arme-
nian, a Turkish citizen. My
*
blood boiled as I heard the
story
-and when I heard that Alex-
andre was now living in luxurious
retirement at Monaco.
"Forget the collaboration," I
said. "The courts by this time
are inflicting very light sentences,
anyway. But in this man's career
there must be
incidents-single
incidents.
Can you not work on
one of these?"
"You are right, Papa," he re-
plied-he
calls me Papa now,
twenty years ago,
when I taught
him his job, I was M. Pontivy.
"I thought of that. My men are
still looking at the case from that
angle.
The man has been
very
clever. If there was dirty work
"There must have been dirty
work."
"He let other
people do It.
There is only one possibility. I
came across it almost by acci-
dent. I was trying to trace a
known collaborator
named Mon
tigny. I failed. Then one morn-
ing he was fished out of the Seine,
though, mark you,
he was dead
before he was thrown into it."
"This was when?"
"Only about three months ago.
At first I thought that some
patriot had done our job for us;
but, of course, 1 had to make in-
quiries. They were desultory,
perhaps-until they led to Alex-
andre.
Montigny had been a fre-
quent visitor to Alexandre's flat.
Then, only last week, I
found an
old women who had been a
domestic of Alexandre's. She re-
membered Montigny very
well.
What is
more, she said that there
had been quarrels between the
two men, about money-sharing
out the
spoil,
1
expect."
"My dear Thierry, this is good.
Now you can act."
"No, I can't at the moment.
The evidence isn't complete, and
the old woman has
gone down
with typhoid fever.
However, I
am now hopeful-there is a lot
to prove, but I will do it."
"Good man!"
It is
understood, I was encour-
aged to find that my example
and
training had had such good
effects. Then I forgot about the
matter, for it is essential to clear
the mind of details which can
enc,umber its workings. But
when Drummond said- that
he needed
money, figure
'
to
yourself the cause and effect.
Who should pay for this cam-
paign against war? Why, natui
ally, this man Alexandre, who
had enriched
himself on war.
That was logical.
Thus I went over to Paris and
saw Thierry, to collect from him
all the details about the Alex-
andre case. I went to the hos-
pital, where the doctors and
nurses tried to keep me away
from the domestic who had the
typhoid. While they were en-
quiring, I
put on a white jacket
and wenc into the ward, and
when they came back to the wait-
ing room to tell me that I
might
not visit the ward, I had already
been in. To
satisfy the nurse in
the ward, I felt the domestic's
pulse and carried out other odd-
ments of medical foolery; then I
talked
quickly, and came out. It
was all very satisfactory.
The old woman confirmed
what Thierry said about the
quarrel between Alexandre and
Montigny. I asked when Mon-
tigny was last at Alexandre's flat:
she said that she did not remem-
ber, but that Robert would prob-
ably know. So I went to see
Robert, who was the
concierge
of
the block of flats.
Such
people bave, a very good
memory-it pays them-and
Robert was a useful
type. He
was obviously venal, so 1 did not
reveal
my official status-indeed,
I am not sure if I have any, to-
day, in France. So I hinted that
I was a black market operator
with a suggestion of blackmail
oh, my word, I judged my man
correctly!
Before he agreed to remember,
he wanted to discuss his share
of the
spoils. 1 promised him
one-third of what 1
got, but he
insisted on a hundred
thousand
francs in advance.
However, 1
had come prepared for this. My
man Thierry had recently been
engaged on a forgery case, and
showed me part of his haul.
While he was not looking, I bor
rowed a bundle of notes. These
I used to pay this rascal Robert.
The scheme was clever, was it
not? He would now be arrested
as a forger, and get
the prison
he so well deserved-and he
would not daie tell how he had
got
the notes.
Robert said that he remem-
bered well hearing the quariel
between Montigny and Alex-
andre, for he had gone up
with
the lift and both men were shout-
ing. But the interesting feature
was this-that Montigny did not
come out immediately. Instead,
he stayed in Alexandre's flat until
after dark. Now that was un-
usual. When a man quarrels,
he
usually! leave the place quickly,
while he is still in
temper.
But
this Montigny, he stayed
for
several hours. And when he left
he was drunk!
The concierge described how
Montigny had to be
supported to
the car by Alexandre and his
chauffeur. He was flopping
about, like a man completely
drunk. Now I was happy. Com-
paring dates, I found that this
was the last occasion when Mon-
tigny was seen. I was
quite
cer-
tain that the
concierge saw bim
dead.
This information was well
worth the hundred thousand
forged francs. Now I took the
train to the south with a glad
heart.
I reached Monaco, and very
soon traced my man Alexandre.
He offended me, so opulent in
his luxury. However, first I
studied his chauffeur. It was
necessary that I should talk with
him. I did not know the Monaco
police, but in neighbouring Men-
tone I found a friend.
Then i( was easily arranged. I
chose Mentone because the chauf-
feur had a lady friend there. He
was a good drinker and carried
it easily, but one night he must
have drunk something more
stronger than usual. When he
came to his senses next morning
he found himself in a cell, charged
with being drunk and disorderly,
and with assaulting a police
officer. This latter is a serious
crime.
I tried to make him talk, but
the conditions were not favour-
able. However, when I mentioned
Montigny he was frightened, and
that was good enough for me.
I prepared to whisker the lion
in his den.
Now comes the most amazing
part
of
my history. 1 sent in a
card with a false name to M.
Alexandre. His
secretary
said
that he was busy and could not
see me, so then I wrote "Sent
by Robert" on another card. Five
minutes later I was in Alexandre's
private rooms.
Luxury! That is not the word!
I perceived that I should bave
been a gangster, not a policeman.
Undoubtedly I should have been
a success.
However-for Newman tells
me that I have written enough
.-I will continue. I measured
up'my man very rapidly, for I
saw that he was not only sur-
prised,
but apprehensive.
"M. Alexandre," I said
boldly, "I know how Monu'gny
died."
"Who is Montigny?"
"You know. The concierge
at Paris was observant. And
last night your
chauffeur drank
too much and talked too much
-he is now in gaol at Mentone."
"Weil?"
"You wish mc to denounce
you to the
police?"
"Don't you belong to the poli«
yourself,
M. Pontivy?"
I was 'staggered-I admit it;
I have seldom been so surprised.
"You know me?" I said.
"Who does not know the great
M. Pontivy?"-that is what he
called rae. "But this is
peculiar
-why haVe you not brought a
. local policeman to arrest me?"
"I have not come to arrest
you," I said. "I have Come to
save you-I no longer
haye
an
official position in France." ,
'
."What? M. Pontivy is a black-
mailer!"
"Yes. It will cost
you
half
a million dollars."
"Quite cheap,"
he- said-by
this time he had recovered his
calm, and I saw that he was in-
deed a formidable villain. 'But
tell me," he went on,
"how do
you find yourself
in this racket?
"I do not need the money for
myself,"
1 said, with dignity.
"But 1 and some friends
have a
project
for abolishing war,
and
it needs
money.
You have made
your money
from war, so it
is
only fair that you should finance
us." , ,
"And if I don't pay?"
he asked.
"You know the alternative.
The police would love to offer,
you their hospitality-for
a bnet
period."
"Well, I'm caught,"
he said
I admit to surprise that he capi-
tulated so quickly,
before I had
even got my heavy weapons ra
action. "I'll pay, on one con-
dition.
"That is7"
"For some weeks I have been
thinking
that the air of France
is not as healthy as it
used to be.
Maybe South America would
suit me better. There is an air
service from Marseilles the day
after to-morrow. My condition
is that you remain here until i
arrive-that is, for three day*.
My flat is comfortable, as you
see; my chef is excellent,
and my
secretary is young and charming.
You will,
of course, give me your
word to say nothing."
This seemed reasonable-and,
after years
of English
cooking,
three days with a real Frenen
cuisine sounded Very
attractive.
"And the money?" i asked.
£That is available.
You wrt
clever to talk in dollars,
M. ron
tivy.
The franc to-day is
almo«
worthless, and even the pound
»

shaky, but the dollar is almost
almighty I am glad that >ou
agree with my judgment-I have
accumulated a considerable re-
serve for emergencies-in dol
lars There should be enough
for both of us-and, naturally,
1
have other resources abroad
Really
1
ought to thank
you for
making up my mind
'
I tell
you, I was surprised It
is
understood I have a little ex-
perience of blackmail, from
several angles, but I never met a
man
quite so cool He might
have been
expecting me
However, I was to get the
money-ind, as the French
police had no firm charge
against him, there was no'legal
reason why he should not go
to
South America So I agreed to
slay in his flat for three days,
and to say nothing
Alexandre paid over half a
million dollars in thousand dol-
lar notes-he did not seem to
be
concerned, probably, as he
said, he had plenty more Then
he commended me to the care
of his chef and his secretary
The
man was
civil, I had to admit
M
Alexandre," I said "1
carne here
prepared to dislike
you,
for
jour actions have not
teen to the benefit of France
I
am not a Frenchman, M
Pontivy l owe nothing to
France
"
Everybody owes something to
France" I
insisted 'However,
we will let that pass 1 admit
'hat
you have proved more
accommodating than I
anticipa-
ted"
I
was
expecting j ou," he
smiled 'Not
you,
M Pontivy
-you least of all But someone
»ilh vour idea It has been a
pleasure to deal with
you
One
normally expects a more brutal
tvpe with whom it is
necessary
to take
decisive measures 1
was quite prepared for that Had
>ou been an ordinary black-
mailer, you would not be alive
at this
stage
of the
proceedings
^ou are
quite different, M Pon-
tivy
's.
ou are no common black-
mailer You do not ask the
money for yourself, but for your
pacifist organisation
That in
terestcd me at once Had you
come to me directly without any
hints about the unfortunate
Mon
tigny, 1 would have subscribed
heavily to your society
"
What'" I
cried, almost bewil
dered But, M Alexandre-you
have made millions out of war
"
'
Exactly
That is why 1 sub
scribe heavily to pacifist
or
ganisations They are the best
promoters of war They exist
only m certain countries, where
they weaken the will of the
people. This encourages aggres-
sor countries, and so makes war
inevitable. Your idea seems more
piomising than any I have yet
encountered, M. Pontivy. Should
you
need
any
further subscrip-
tion
pray
do not fail to let me
know."
This shook me! I, Papa Pon-
tivy, confess it.
Newman, too,
was disturbed when I told him.
But Drummond smiled-he has
an aggravating grin which implies
without words that he is right and
you arc wrong.
Sometimes 1 find
it
very annoying.
"Perhaps your
friend is right,"
he said. "But we are not a
pacifist organisation. On the con-
trary, we are going lo lead the
world into a war!"
vin
WE
had had considerable
discussion as to the first
demand to be made on. the
world.
By an easy majority, Drum-
monds scientist friends agreed
that people could' be more
touched and disturbed by a sug
gestion
that they
must give up
.
their gold than
by any other ap-
proach. Gold is
not as sacred as
it
used to be, but
its
prestige is still
very high.
Drummond's argument was
emphatic. The two nations most
difficult to arouse and reconcile
were America and Russia.
Both
of these were singularly touchy
about gold. U.S.A., by its strange
economic policy
of selling abroad
but not buying,
had
gradually
accumulated more than half the
gold
in the world. It was quite
useless-most of it had lain for
.
years in the cellars of Fort Knox
-but it was held to be a vital
asset. In the event of a slump,
these tons of yellow metal were
-no one knew how-to effect a
magic rescue of America from
economic distress.
The Russians were also very
interested in gold. They, too,
had accumulated considerable
stocks-not as a result of inter-
national -trade,-
but from their
own mines. They had published
no production figures since 1926,
but all that time gold to the
value of fifty million pounds was
being mined annually. Very
little of this' had been put into
circulation. The bulk had been
retained for a major emergency:
it was a national reserve,
esti-
mated at more than a thousand
million pounds. Now, to make
good war damage, millions of
pounds
in gold were being re-
leased to U.S.A. for the purchase
of essential machinery. Thus the
Russian Government would ob-
ject very strongly to giving up its
precious
and
long-accumulated
store.
Britain, though not so deeply
committed, since a great part
of
its
gold reserve had been sacri-
ficed to the demands of war
most of it lies in Fort Knox
still valued
gold very highly, and
was
pathetically
anxious to con-
serve its small remaining stocks
.-which weic, in effect, the re-
serve for the whole sterling area.
This applied to almost every
other solvent country
Thus the decision was a good
one. Gold is a universal com-
modity. Nothing else would so
arouse general opposition-or
unity-against the people who
demanded it.
Drummond added a clever
touch, too, in suggesting that the
Martians or Moon-Men-we had
deliberately left this issue
open
-wanted the gold as a cure for
the "wasting disease
"
This
might mean tuberculosis, but a
famous doctor-a friend of ours
-suggested that cancer was more
probably indicated, in view of
the different
atmospheric con
d i
t
i o n s. This
prompted a new
spate
of discus-
sion. If the Mar-
tians or Moon
Men could find a
cure for cancer or tuberculosis
involving
the use of gold, why
couldn't we?
So, within a few days of the
arrival of the second Bradgate
rocket, the bulk of the people in
most of the leading countries
had been worked up into a state
of righteous indignation at the
suggestion that they should give
up their gold.
1 have not detailed the inter-
vening record of events, and a
brief sketch should be sufficient.
It could begin with Pontivy's re-
turn from France,
and the drama-
tic emptying of half a million
dollars from the folds of his
nightshirt.
His
story
lost nothing in the
telling, and the old man beamed
in our
approbation.
A few min-
utes later Drummond was on the
telephone, dictating
a cable.
Twelve hours later a man in
New York
reported
that he had
quietly bought from the U.S.
Government a light monitor
ship,
built for the Normandy invasion.
1
It was admirably suited to the
purpose. Already fitted to take
the recoil of a six-inch gun, it
needed little more than a streng-
thening of its decks to be able
to sustain the discharge of Drum-
mond's new
projectile.
I do not
propose to give technical details
of this: it was powered by roc
kets on a
completely new prin-
ciple, and its recoil was quite
moderate. My record has already
indicated the remarkable degree
of accuracy with which it could
be fired.
1 am no technician, but 1 was
filled with wonder at the ingenuity
of some of the devices which
Drummond and his associates re-
vealed. 1
emphasise
"his asso-
ciates." Drummond was not the
actual inventor of more than a
fraction of the mechanisms which
we used throughout our cam-
paign: many of them were pro-
duced by foreign scientists who,
once they had adopted his idea,
gave
of their brains without stint.
Drummond himself was the or-
ganiser and executant of the plan.
Gradually he built
up a small
team of scientists always at hand
to work on new ideas: in diffi-
culty, they would appeal to au-
thorities in most countries of the
world.
1 was much inspired by the
way in which secrecy was main-
tained. Pontivy, of course,
claimed the credit, but actually
he was only concerned to a minor
degree. Drummond, naturally,
had chosen his men very care-
fully, for one loose
tongue might
have revealed the entire scheme.
Instead, I used these men
in my own publicity campaign.
They wrote articles for the
popu-
lar Press, commenting astutely on
the rockets-and, of course,
directing the thoughts of the
people in the required direction.
Thus, when we flew over to
New York to attend the specially
convened meeting of the General
Council of the United Nations
Drummond had been invited as
scientific adviser-1 was reason-
ably happy and confident. Drum-
mond, however, was unusually
moody.
-.
"I've been thinking over that
man of Pontivy's," he said at
length. "A war profiteer-and
yet
he backs pacifist societies."
"We can beat him."
"We must beat him. We can't
afford to fail. Ordinary people
arc short-sighted and apathetic,
but men like this are dangerous.
They will
oppose' us-in their
own way, which can be subtle."
Book Two of Fly
ing Saucers will ap-
pear next week with
The Sunday Herald.
Printed and publlihod by John Fairfax * Som Pty. Limitad at th. r.glit.rtd effie. »I th. Company. 38 Hunt.r Slraaf, Sydn.y.

FLYING SAUCERS
,
^BERNARD NEWMAN .BOOK TWO
Author of "The Mussolini Murder Plot," "The Spy In The Brown Derby," etc.
SYNOPSIS
PROFESSORDRUMMOND,
'
a famous scientist, and
his Mends the author and
Pana Pontivy, a French
detective, believed that the
morid could attain peace only
ii
it unüed against a com-
mon
threat. Drummond
oraanised other scientists
and
a
plan to defeat war
ttas
developed.
Soon rockets landed in
various parts of the planet
and messages sent with
tUm demanded the ivorld's
nala Frantic nations, un-
aware that they were being
hoaxed, believed implicitly
that the missiles came from
11
floney for Drummond's
ulan luas provided by Pontivy
who blackmailed Alexandre,
o war-profiteer. Alexandre
did not know the details of
the plot.
r
IX
'HE Americans know how io
cater for Press and radio
requirements,
but every facili
ity was overstrained when the
United Nations representatives
gathered
for their fateful meet-
ing. Radio networks were cleared
for special
minute to minute
commentaries. _
The preliminaries
were brier,
und very soon the President of
ihc General Council had called
upon
the American spokesman
to open
the proceedings.
He began by recapitulating
the
events of the
past
few weeks;
tlien carne to his main theme
the demand for the world's
gold.
"if anyone
ever doubted the
serious character of these mes
bigcs,
all doubts are now dis-
solved.
There are
people
who
iiailed with delight the prospects
if communication with another
i/orld. Now its inhabitants aro
uvealcd as gangsters
or bank
obbers.
"Gold is not merely a precious
."étal. It is-the life-blood of
i> orld trade, on which human life
ucpends.
If this demand were
met, the world would relapse into
some primitive
form of barter, to
the conditions of the Stone Age.
i
M j
Government is of the opinion
that the demand should be firmly
resisted.
"I understand that we may now
be able to open- communication
with these Martians or Moon
Men whoever they may be. Their
language has been
deciphered,
thanks to the skill of Professor
Lai Kan. They must not be
lightly regarded. Their scientific
achievements are phenomenal.
They have solved
problems of
inter-planetary communication
which have hitherto defied us.
They are not merely clever
scientists, but very intelligent
men.
"I am now informed that the
latest rocket to fall in England
contains further clues. In fact,
the Martians-for so our Scienti-
fic Commission informs me they
are more
likely to be-have
worked out a morse code of
their own. It seems certain thal
they were able to hear the radto
transmissions from some of the
American stations, the most
powerful in the world. Thus,
using this code, we can now reply
to the Martian challenge con-
tained in their rocket. Our
reply,
in my opinion, should be
emphatic."
The Peruvian representative ad-
vised caution. Maybe there was
no challenge. Maybe the Mar-
tians knew more than we
suspected of world
conditions-,
it was
significant
that rockets
had fallen in Europe and North
America, but none in the Repub-
lics of South America, where ii
was well known that man lived
in
peace, prosperity, and con-
tentment, and where justice for
all prevailed. Was not any in-
ference to be drawn from this'/
Such an
argument, if de-
veloped, might prejudice our
scheme; there are always plenty
of
people only too anxious to be
persuaded to do nothing. I was
not surprised to see Drummond
scribble out a note, which was
passed to me. At the lunch
interval I missed
my
meal. In-
stead, I rushed to a small but
powerful, radio installation main-
tained by one of our members.
In code 1
gave instructions to the
commander of our frigate, lyina
out in the Atlantic.
At the afternoon session, the
Russian delegate began along
familiar lines, emphasising the
Soviet Union's loyalty to the
letter and
spirit of the United
Nations Covenant, so often ig-
nored by other non-democratic
States. He referred to previous
efforts of the
capitalist-pluto-
cracies to drive the Soviet Union
and its friends out of the United
Nations. This introduction was
accepted in the spirit in which
it
was offered-as a formal and
inevitable
preamble.
He continued: 'The Soviet
people, by the sweat of their
brows, have accumulated a stock
of gold. Many times their
leaders have been tempted to use
it,
for it could have alleviated
many of the sufferings of our
people. As it
was, not even in
the darkest days of the Fascist
onslaught was the gold reserve
substantially touched. Instead,
by their own efforts and unique
sufferings the Soviet peoples have
hurled back the German and
Japanese invaders, thereby in-
curring the gratitude of the
world. Is this
gold reserve,
maintained against Hitler, to.be
surrendered to a mere rocket?
Rather than submit, the Soviet
peoples would suffer
again,
as
they alone know how."
The British Foreign Secretary
intervened. He pointed out, with
unusual mildness and under-state
ment, that part of the debate was
beside the point. What delegates
had to consider was the reply to
the Martian demand. "For our
part, we are not much Interested
in gold. Our reserve is small
unlike the Russians, we preferred
to part with our gold rather than
to incur further sufferings for our
people.
Our
economy no longer
depends upon a precious metal,
but upon something more pre-
cious-the industry and skill of
our
people.
"Nevertheless, we take this de-
mand
very seriously. Whatever
our own views, we recognise that
gold is the basis of a wide share
of world economy. This, blasted
by two world wars, is in no con-
dition to withstand another ab-
rupt dislocation.
"Even more important to H.M.
Government, is the
question
of
principle. And it seems to us that
present question is one of
prin-
ciple. The demand may be
only the first of many. Even if
we met it, what guarantee have
we? None. So our advice to the
Assembly is-no gold.
"At all costs we must be
united. Any division or weakness
would be fatal. We can learn
from recent history as well as
from ancient. Had the demo-
cratic
peoples stood firmly side
by side in 1939 there would have
been no Hitler war." (Loud ap-
plause from all
except the Russian
bloc.) "On behalf of H.M. Gov-
ernment, I pledge the
support of
Britain to any action the Assem-
bly may decide on."
BUT
few other speakers of the
day reached this common
sense viewpoint. The debate
looked like rambling and repeat-
ing itseli for weeks. Each
dele-
gate
carried a bulky manuscript,
and was determined to be heard.
One journal succinctly referred
to their activities as "Nero
fiddling while Rome burned."
Drummond had some misgiv-
ings about the action 1 had
ordered on
receipt
of his note.
They so overpowered him that at
last he went to the radio-tele-
phone, spoke to the frigate, and
substituted new orders. A con-
siderable time would be lost, but
that was unavoidable. Anyway,
witb the debate dragging, time
did not seem the essence of the
contract.
BRILLIANT NEW MYSTERY NOVEL FREE WITH "THE SUNDAY HERALD"

Three more days elapsed.
Public opinion was aghast at
the folly of the little men who
called themselves the leaders of
the peoples.
Drummond's own
comment was apt: "This argu-
ment reveals not what we have
done, but how much we have to
do. Where is the frigate?"
"Reported at midday,
'
400
miles west of Ireland."
"Good. Then the message
about the next rocket should
come in during the night."
"Early morning I should say."
"Better still. Order the frigate
to
turn about at once-the supply
ship can meet her off the
Bahamas to refuel her. We must
force the pace-give these
people no time to think."
"They wouldn't use it, any-
way."
"Maybe not. It is quite obvi-
ous that we shall haVe to shock
them into action. The frigate
should be in position by the time
the vote is taken."
The following day of the
crucial Assembly meeting, at
which it had been assumed, if not
decided, that the Martians were
the activists in the scare, saw a
considerable advance in ideas.
As the President pounded his
gavel, the British Foreign Minis-
ter rose.
"Mr. President, before the gen-
eral debate is resumed, I have an
announcement of some impor-
tance. In the
early
hours of this
morning a new rocket fell on the
same site in tho centre of Eng-
land. With the facilities now
available, it was
rapidly opened.
I have so far received only a
resume of its message. It em-
phasises
that no reply has
yet
been received to its request
for
the world's gold. It encloses a
copy, in case the
previous
com-
munication miscarried, and also
a copy of the code to be used in
reply. There is also an indica-
tion that another and important
rocket will be despatched shortly.
The usual map is enclosed. Our
experts have provisionally identi-
fied the spot. It appears to be
on the eastern shore of Lake
Popacaca, in .Bolivia: if my
memory does not mislead me,
this is not too far from the re-
public of Peru."
All eyes were turned on the
unfortunate Peruvian delegate,
who must have cursed "his rash-
ness in making an unqualified
prophesy. I noted that Drum-
mond was
surveying the
Assem-
bly with some anxiety. He ap-
peared relieved at its reactions.
A rocket in Peru itself might
have been a little too obvious
poetic justice,
but on the other
hand it was logical to expect one
somewhere in South America.
"So far as I know, the special
apparatus for cutting through the
rocket does not exist in Bolivia,"
the British representative con-
tinued.
"May
I suggest,
there-
fore, Mr. President, that the Boli-
vian Government should be re-
quested
to have the rocket de-
spatched here by air immediately
it has been located."
There was general agreement,
and a member of the Bolivian
.delegation hurried out to make
;
the necessary arrangements.
The next few days of the
Assembly meeting were almost a
farce. Everybody was waiting
for the Bolivian rocket-it was
significant of (
the force of our
scheme that nobody doubted that
.
the rocket would arrive. It did.
I was rather amused, in my
background scat. Here were the
great men of the world, jittery
in
their anxiety to know what mes-
sage the rocket contained, while
I knew all the time! 1 had heard
Drummond's instructions to our
man on the frigate: "The time
has come to use Pian D." I
knew Plan D very well; I bad
helped to work it out, on the
non-technical side.
A flash from Bolivia: the roc-
ket had arrived, within a mile
of the indicated site.
Army
en-
gineers
were standing by: in a
few hours the rocket was ex-
tracted, loaded on an aircraft,
and was speeded to the north.
Drummond and Professor Lai
Kan awaited its arrival with due
seriousness.
Since neither of them at that
time was an official delegate,
scientists not having the same im-
portance as politicians, they could
not
report direct to the Assembly.
The President thereupon asked
the Secretary-General
to read
their report.
"Professor Drummond states
that the rocket is of the same
type as previously
used but,
striking a rock on landing, was
more badly damaged. However
its contents were recovered in-
tact-the now familiar thin metal
sheets covered with hieroglyphics.
"I will now read Professor
Lai Kan's translation of the mes-
sage.
"
'No reply has yet been re-
ceived to our
request
for the yel-
low metal. It is time to send a
reminder. The Earth must
sig-
nal its assent before it has com-
pleted six revolutions. Then
directions will be given as to how
the metal can be despatched,
as
it appears that the Earth has in-
vented no method of reaching our
world. Full details of
space
rockets are available and will fol-
low as soon as assent is re-
ceived.
"'If this does not come with-
in six Revolutions, a
preliminary
warning will be given. A site
is indicated on the enclosed map.
We mean to warn, not to kill
this time. If you would see our
power, wait for the seventh Re-
volution. All life should be
cleared from around the site, for
death will descend upon it.
"'Think, men of the Earth.
Think of what you risk. There is
time-you have six Revolutions.
Otherwise, you will receive a
warning-only a warning-a
fragment of what will happen.'
"
The Secretary-General halted,
and picked 'up another manu-
script
A buzz of excited conver-
sation had to be subdued by the
President's gavel before he
could continue.
"Actually, two maps were en-
closed. One indicates the general
site. The outline of the Baltic
Sea is clearly marked, and the
site is inland, 200 miles to the
south. The second-'map appears
to be on a larger scale. A pro-
fessor of geography from the
University of New York has
identified it from the windings
of the River Bug. The warning
rocket, or whatever it may be,
is due to fall in or near the Forest
of Bialowieza."
No-v he could make no at-
tempt to continue. I saw a mem-
ber of the Russian delegation
hurrying from Hie hall. The Pre-
sident wisely adjourned the meet-
ing until after lunch.
I
hurried round to see the
Dutch representative,
an old
friend of ours. He in turn had a
word with the President, and ar-
ranged to be called upon early
in the afternoon session. His
contribution immediately changed
the character of the debate.
"Mr. President, I have been
studying this message with care,"
he said. "One point seemed to me
of tremendous importance-the
Martians refer to 'our' request
for the gold. Not a particular
nation, nor an ideological section,
but 'our.' It would seem there is
only one race of Martians.
"This is indicated by further
features of this new message. It
assumes that there is only one
people on the «arm. The Martians
know nothing of our nations, ot
our
political differences, of im-
perialism, of blocs and spheres
of influence. They assume that
we can
speak to them as they
to us-as one. If they are wrong,
Mr. President, our stale is piti-
able.
In a war of worlds, the
Earth with all its resources might
win, but a disunited Earth against
a united Mars-such a conflict
could only have one result.
"The moral is obvious, Mr.
President, and I will not insult
the intelligence of the delegates
by pointing it."
This simple speech had a pro-
found effect. The representative
of Bielo-Russia, who followed,
completely abandoned his usual
bellicose tone, and spoke in
terms of strict moderation. He
reported that as the site of tho
"warning" rocket-or whatever
it was-lay within his country,
he was most anxious that the
Assembly should come to a rapid
decision. Fortunately, the area
indicated was only sparsely popu-
lated, and could rapidly
be
cleared-Soviet efficiency would
deal with that problem 'easily.
The Argentine delegate and
others agreed that it was only fair
to the Bielo-Russians that a firm
and early decision should be
given. After more comments, it
was decided that the decision
should be made the following
morning. I found Drummond
very confident.
"It's working well. Our Dutch
friend did a
good job."
"They will reject the
demand,
of course?"
"Yes. They»can do no other."
"It would be awkward if they
didn't!"
"Very awkward! We should
then be confronted with the prob-
lem of shooting golden rockets to
Mars-or, at least, into space.
But that can't ,
happen. They
won't give up their gold. No.
Plan D goes forward."
Pontivy had gone ahead of
us, to the suite of rooms, which
served as our New York head
quarters.
"Things are
beginning to hap.
pen!" he "announced on our
arrival.
"I should say that they are," I
agreed. 'The Assembly takes i
final vote to-morrow."
"Much more important than
that," exclaimed Papa Pontivy,
"Ive caught a burglar in Drum
mond's room."
X
DRUMMOND
had decided
that Europe, as the most
troublesome continent, needed
the first serious lesson. America
would probably have to follow,
if only to counter the inertia and
isolationism which were
still
powerful influences there.
Of all European countries, he
judged that Russia would be
most
intransigent: thus
the
warning had
better
be consummated on her
territory. The selection of the
site he left to me, as my know-
ledge of European topography is
fairly extensive.
I chose the famous Forest of
Bialowicza for our first experi-
ment in fear
for three
reasons.
First, it would show the
damage. A bomb in
open country
has
negligible visible effects, but
a forest ranks next to a
city in
that devastation is very apparent.
Second, there were only about
5,000 people to evacuate, and
there should be no danger of
casualties.
Third, historic Bialowicza was
included in the area seized by
Russia from Poland in 1939, and
subsequently incorporated within
the Biclo-Russian republic. The
Poles, in their hearts, will never
agree to the loss of those parts
of the region which were
Polish,
and an attack on Bialowieza
would be of major interest to
them as well as to Russians.
Drummond had agreed without
hesitation to my idea. On our
return to our rooms, we bad
planned to study the map in
greater detail-but we were
halted by Pontivy's dramatic
announcement.
"You have caught a burglar,
here?" Drummond echoed.
"Yes. I caught him red-footed."
"What was he doing?"
"He was
'
aiming to look
through your papers. It is a good
thing that you banded most of
them to me. The rest are secure
-he had not yet found the little
t>afs which I inserted bebind the
wardiobe."
Drummond walked over to hia
table, and I to mine. A
"Nothing touched here." he an
nounccd. "What about you, Nefl
man?" fl

Newman, bernard -- flying saucers (from the sunday herald, sydney, 1949)

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