she must have come from a planet with a high proportion of
water surface, a planet possibly larger than Earth though of about the
same mass and with a similar atmosphere. She could rise in Earth's air.
And before each thunderous lament she was seen to breathe.

It was assumed that immense air sacs within her body were inflated or
partly inflated when she left the ship, possibly with some gas lighter
than nitrogen. Since it was inconceivable that a vertebrate organism
could have survived entry into atmosphere from an orbit 3400 miles up,
it was necessary to believe that the ship had briefly descended,
unobserved and by unknown means, probably on Earth's night-side. Later
on the ship did descend as far as atmosphere, for a moment ...

St. Louis was partly evacuated. There is no reliable estimate of the
loss of life and property from panic and accident on the jammed roads
and rail lines. 1500 dead, 7400 injured is the conservative figure.

After a night and a day she abandoned that area, flying heavily
eastward. The droning and swooping gnats of aircraft plainly distressed
her. At first she had only tried to avoid them, but now and then during
her eastward flight from St. Louis she made short desperate rushes
against them, without skill or much sign of intelligence, screaming from
a wide-open mouth that could have swallowed a four-engine bomber. Two
aircraft were lost over Cincinnati, by collision with each other in
trying to get out of her way. Pilots were then ordered to keep a
distance of not less than ten miles until such time as she reached the
Atlantic--if she did--when she could safely be shot down.

She studied Chicago for a day.

By that time Civil Defense was better prepared. About a million
residents had already fled to open country before she came, and the loss
of life was proportionately smaller. She moved on. We have no clue to
the reason why great cities should have attracted her, though
apparently they did. She was hungry perhaps, or seeking help, or merely
drawn in animal curiosity by the endless motion of the cities and the
strangeness. It has even been suggested that the life forms of her
homeland--her masters--resembled humanity. She moved eastward, and
religious organizations united to pray that she would come down on one
of the lakes where she could safely be destroyed. She didn't.

She approached Pittsburgh, choked and screamed and flew high, and soared
in weary circles over Buffalo for a day