at earth will be unable to defend itself against the
invaders now present on earth, or any reinforcements they may
receive!_"

The newscast stopped and a commercial called the attention of
listeners to the virtues of an anti-allergy pill. Jill watched
Lockley's face. He did not relax.

The broadcast resumed. With this full and certain hope of a defense
against the invasion weapon, said the announcer, it remained important
not to destroy the alien ship if it could be captured for study. The
use of atom bombs was, therefore, again postponed. But they would be
used if necessary. Meanwhile, against such an emergency, the areas of
evacuation would be enlarged. People would be removed from additional
territory so if bombs were used there would be no humans near to be
harmed.

Another commercial. Lockley turned off the radio.

"What do you think?" asked Jill.

"I wish they hadn't made that broadcast," said Lockley. "If there were
only monsters involved and they didn't understand English, it would be
all right. But with humans helping them, it sets a deadline. If we're
going to counter their weapon, they have to use it before we finish
the job."

After a moment he said bitterly, "There was a time, right after the
last big war, when we had the bomb and nobody else did. There couldn't
be a cold war then! There were years when we could destroy others and
they couldn't have fought back. Now somebody else is in that position.
They can destroy us and we can't do a thing. It'll be that way for a
week, or maybe two, or even three. It'll be strange if they don't take
advantage of their opportunity."

Jill tried to eat the food Lockley had laid out. She couldn't. She
began to cry quietly. Lockley swore at himself for telling her the
worst, which it was always his instinct to see. He said urgently,
"Hold it! That's the worst that could happen. But it's not the most
likely!"

She tried to control her tears.

"We're in a fix, yes!" he said insistently. "It does look like there
may be a flock of other space ship landings within days. But the
monsters don't want to kill people. They want a world with people
working for them, not dead. They've proved it. They'll avoid
massacres. They won't let the humans who're their allies destroy the
people they want alive and useful."

Jill clenched her fists. "But it would be better to be dead than like
that!"

"But wait!" protested Lockley. "We've duplicated the terror beam. Do
you think