ket engine took over. On upward into
the stratosphere they hurtled, across the Western Hemisphere, across
the face of jungle and isthmus, across the barren mountains of Mexico,
and in a matter of less than half an hour, settled down in the wide
green field of a U.S. Air Force base in southern California. It was all
so swift, so sudden, that to Burl it seemed like a dream. There had been
so many days in the field, in the peace and quiet of the high mountains
of the Andes. There had been the slow hunting around age-worn ruins; the
careful, deliberate sifting of tons of soil and sand for tiny shards;
then this: the urgent message, the trek, the weird building, the
strange, body-filling shock, and the control over the Sun-theft globes,
followed by the swift transition over thousands of miles.

Here he was in his home country--weeks sooner than he had expected--but
not to return to his home and school. No, for he felt that somehow an
adventure was beginning that could lead anywhere. Perhaps his adventure
had actually ended, but he saw now that he would be questioned, probed,
and asked to recount his story over and over.

Burl and his father were met at the port by a group of officers and
escorted rapidly to a room in a large building. Here there were half a
dozen men in civilian clothes. One by one, these men were introduced,
and as each one was named, Burl wondered more about what was to come.

There was a general from Army Intelligence. There was a high member of
the State Department. There were three noted astronomers--among them the
surprisingly young Russell Clyde and the elderly and famous Dr.
Merckmann. There was an aircraft manufacturer whose name graced a
thousand planes, and an engineer who had contributed to the conquest of
the Moon.

The general, Walton Shrove, asked them to sit down. He was in charge of
the affair. It turned out to be a careful questioning of their story. It
was not a hounding of questions as in a police quizzing, or a baiting
from newspapermen eager to get a scoop. Rather, their questions were
deliberate and intelligent. They drew out the full account of what Burl
and his father had seen in that valley, and of what the Sun-theft globes
appeared to be like in operation. They concentrated deeply on the
curious experience which had placed in Burl the charge that enabled him
to control the machines.

"Would you mind," the general asked Burl, "if we subject you to a series
of medical and electr