to be ready for any sort of
offensive or defensive action that might be called for. The short wave
instructions to the construction camp had become known, and all the
world knew that Boulder Lake National Park had been evacuated to avoid
contact with non-human aliens. The aliens were reported to have hunted
men down and killed them for sport. They were reported to have
paralysis beams, death beams and poison gas. They were described as
indescribable, and described in "artist's conceptions" on television
and in the newspapers. They appeared--according to circumstances--to
resemble lizards or slugs. They were portrayed as carnivorous birds
and octopods. The artists took full advantage of their temporarily
greater importance than cameramen. They pictured these diverse aliens
in their one known aggressive action of trailing Vale down and
carrying him away. This was said to be for vivisection. None of the
artists' ideas were even faintly plausible, biologically. The
creatures were even portrayed as turning heat rays upon humans, who
dramatically burst into steam as the beams struck them. Obviously,
there were also artist's conceptions of women being seized by the
creatures from outer space. There was only one woman known to be in
the construction camp, but that inconvenient fact didn't bother the
artists.

The United States went into a mild panic. But most people stayed on
their jobs, and followed their normal routine, and the trains ran on
time.

The public in the United States had become used to newspaper and
broadcast scares. They were unconsciously relegated to the same
category as horror movies, which some day might come true, but not
yet. This particular news story seemed more frightening than most, but
still it was taken more or less as shuddery entertainment. So most of
the United States shivered with a certain amount of relish as ever new
and ever more imaginative accounts appeared describing the landing of
intelligent monsters, and waited to see if it was really true. The
truth was that most of America didn't actually believe it. It was like
a Russian threat. It could happen and it might happen, but it hadn't
happened so far to the United States.

An official announcement helped to guide public opinion in this safe
channel. The Defense Department released a bulletin: An object had
fallen from space into Boulder Lake, Colorado. It was apparently a
large meteorite. When reported by radar before its landing, defe