The Invaders

open, they're making governments recognize their existence. They'reletting the rulers of Earth know they can't be resisted. But we didknock off one of their ships last night!"

  The Greek general pointedly said nothing. Coburn caught his meaning. Thefleet, firing point-blank, had not destroyed its target. The ship lastnight had seemed to fall into a cloud bank and explode. But nobody hadseen it blow up. Maybe it hadn't.

  "Humoring us!" realized Coburn. "They don't want to destroy ourcivilization, so they'll humor us. But they want our governments to knowthat they can do as they please. If our governments know we can'tresist, they think we'll surrender. But they're wrong."

  The Greek general looked at him enigmatically.

  "We've still got one trick left," said Coburn. "Atomic bombs. And ifthey fail, we can still get killed fighting them another way."

  There was a heavy, droning noise far away. It increased and drew nearer.It was a multi-engined plane which came from the west and settled down,and hovered over the water and touched and instantly created a spreadingwake of foam.

  The fleet was back at anchor then. It was enclosed in the most beautifulcombination of city and scene that exists anywhere. Beyond the city theblunted cone of Vesuvius rose. In the city, newspaper vendors shrillyhawked denunciations of the American ships because of the danger thattheir atom bombs might explode. Well outside the harbor, a Navy crew ofexperts worked to make quite impossible the detonation of atomic bombsin a stubby tramp-steamer which had--plausibly, at least--been sent tomake those same newspapers' prophecies of disaster come true.

  * * * * *

  A long, long time passed, while consultations took place to which Coburnwas not invited. Then a messenger led him to the wardroom of theprevious conference. He recognized the men who had landed by seaplane awhile since. One was a cabinet member from Washington. There was someoneof at least equal importance from London, picked up en route. There weregenerals and admirals. The service officers looked at Coburn withsomething like accusation in their eyes. He was the means by which theyhad come to realize their impotence. The Greek general sat quietly inthe rear.

  "Mr. Coburn," said the Secretary from Washington. "We've been canvassingthe situation. It seems that we simply are not prepared to offereffective resistance--not yet--to the ... invaders you tell us about. Weknow of no reason why this entire fleet could not have been disabled aseffectively as the tramp-steamer offshore. You know about that ship?"

  Coburn nodded. The Greek general had told him. The Secretary went onpainfully: "Now, the phenomena we have to ascribe to Invaders fall intotwo categories. One is the category of their action against theBulgarian raiding force, and today the prevention of the cold-war murderof some hundreds of thousands of people. That category suggests thatthey are prepared--on terms--to be amiable. A point in their favor."

  Coburn set his lips.

  "The other group of events simply points you out and builds you up as aperson of importance to these Invaders. You seem to be extremelyimportant to them. They doubtless could have killed you. They did not.What they did do was bring you forward to official attention. Presumablythey had a realistic motive in this."

  "I don't know what it could be," said Coburn coldly. "I blundered intoone affair. I figured out a way to detect them. I happened to be themeans by which they were proved to exist. That's all. It was anaccident."

  The Secretary looked skeptical. "Your discoveries were remarkably ...apt. And it does seem clear that they made the appearance of huntingyou, while going to some pains not to catch you. Mr. Coburn, how can wemake contact with them?"

  Coburn wanted to swear furiously. He was still being considered atraitor. Only they were trying to make use of his treason.

  "I have no idea," he said grimly.

  "What do they want?"

  "I would say--Earth," he said grimly.

  "You deny that you are an authorized intermediary for them?"

  "Absolutely," said Coburn. There was silence. The Greek general spokemildly from the back of the room. He said in his difficult English thatCoburn's personal motives did not matter. But if the Invaders had pickedhim out as especially important, it was possible that they felt himespecially qualified to talk to them. The question was, would he try tomake contact with them?

  The Secretary looked pained, but he turned to Coburn. "Mr. Coburn?"

  Coburn said, "I've no idea how to set about it, but I'll try on onecondition. There's one thing we haven't tried against them. Set up anatom-bomb booby-trap, and I'll sit on it. If they try to contact me, youcan either listen in or try to blow them up, and me with them!"

  There was buzzing comment. Perhaps--Coburn's nails bit into his palmswhen this was suggested--perhaps this was a proposal to let the Invadersexamine an atomic bomb, American-style. It was said in earnestsimplicity. But somebody pointed out that a race which could travelbetween the stars and had ships such as the Mediterranean fleet hadtried to shoot down, would probably find American atomic bombs ratherprimitive. Still--

  * * * * *

  The Greek general again spoke mildly. If the Invaders were to be made torealize that Coburn was trying to contact them, he should return toGreece. He should visibly take up residence where he could beapproached. He should, in fact, put himself completely at the mercy ofthe Invaders.

  "Ostensibly," agreed the Secretary.

  The Greek general then said diffidently that he had a small villa sometwenty miles from the suburbs of Salonika. The prevailing winds weresuch that if an atomic explosion occurred there, it would not endangeranybody. He offered it.

  "I'll live there," asked Coburn coldly, "and wait for them to come tome? I'll have microphones all about so that every word that's said willbe relayed to your recorders? And there'll be a bomb somewhere aboutthat you can set off by remote control? Is that the idea?"

  Then Janice spoke up. And Coburn flared into anger against her. But shewas firm. Coburn saw the Greek general smiling slyly.

  They left the conference while the decision was made. And they were inprivate, and Janice talked to him. There are methods of argument againstwhich a man is hopeless. She used them. She said that she, not Coburn,might be the person the Invaders might have wanted to take out ofcirculation, because she might have noticed something important shehadn't realized yet. When Coburn pointed out that he'd be living over anatomic bomb, triggered to be set off from a hundred miles away, shedemanded fiercely to know if he realized how she'd feel if she weren'tthere too....

  Next day an aircraft carrier put out of Naples with an escort ofdestroyers. It traveled at full speed down the toe of Italy's boot,through the Straits of Messina, across the Adriatic, and rounded theend of Greece and went streaking night and day for Salonika. Specialtechnicians sent by plane beat her time by days. The Greek general wasthere well ahead. And he expansively supervised while his inherited,isolated villa was prepared for the reception of Invaders--and Coburnand Janice.

  And Coburn and Janice were married. It was an impressive wedding,because it was desirable for the Invaders to know about it. It wasbrilliantly military with uniforms and glittering decorations andinnumerable important people whom neither of them knew or cared about.

  If it had been anybody else's wedding Coburn would have found itunspeakably dreary. The only person present whom he knew beside Janicewas Hallen. He acted as groomsman, with the air of someone walking oneggs. After it was over he shook hands with a manner of tremendousrelief.

  "Maybe I'll brag about this some day," he told Coburn uneasily. "Butright now I'm scared to death. What do you two really expect to happen?"

  Janice smiled at him. "Why," she said, "we expect to live happily everafter."

  "Oh yes," said Hallen uncomfortably. "But that wasn't just what I had inmind."

  VII

  The world wagged on. The newspapers knew nothing about super-secrettop-level worries. There was not a single news story printed anywheresuggesting an invasion of Earth from outer space. Ther
e were a few moreFlying Saucer yarns than normal, and it was beginning to transpire thatan unusual number of important people were sick, or on vacation, orotherwise out of contact with the world. But, actually, not one of theevents in which Coburn and Janice had been concerned reached the stateof being news. Even the shooting off the Bay of Naples was explained asan emergency drill.

  Quietly, a good many things happened. Cryptic orders passed around, andoxygen tanks were accumulated in military posts. Hunter and Nereidguided missiles were set up as standard equipment in a number ofbrand-new places. They were loaded for bear. But days went by, andnothing happened. Nothing at all. But officialdom was not at ease.

  If anything--while the wide world