"Since biblical times, man has witnessed and recorded strange manifestations in the sky and speculated on the possibilities of visitors from another world." "Today, from the skies of California, the fields of Kansas, the rice paddies of the Orient, the air lanes of the world, come persistent reports of UFOs, Unidentified Flying Objects, which we have come to know as flying saucers." "In Dayton, Ohio, the Air Intelligence Command gathers and sifts data from all quarters of the globe." "Ninety-seven percent of the objects prove, on investigation, to be of natural origin, while 3 percent still are listed as unknown." "The Air Force is aware of the widely held belief that some of these could be flying saucers from another planet." "While there is nothing conclusive in the evidence, the probing and digesting of information about UFOs continues unceasingly." "As a result, headquarters of the Hemispheric Defense Command in Colorado Springs issued an order:" "All military installations are to fire on sight at any flying objects not identifiable." "But even as they did so, the military wondered whether their scientific know-how and their best weapons would be effective in any battle of the Earth vs. the flying saucers." "July 16." "To Internal Security Commission." "Re:" "Sky Hook." "Summary and progress report from project director Dr. Russell A. Marvin..." "And Mrs. Dr. Russell A. Marvin, without whose inspiration and untiring criticism this report could never have been written." "Married two hours and already she's claiming community property." "Now that you're married, Dr. Marvin, you don't have to sneak up on me." "You always did have eyes in the back of your head." "Besides, it's not safe when you're driving." "But pretty." "I thought intellectual giants were supposed to be backwards and shy." "My third-grade teacher, Miss Hickey, said I was a quick study." "You're starting something you're not going to be able to finish." "Yeah." "Yeah, today, I've got a hot date with a three-stage rocket." "Now, please, no interruptions." "Because of recent scientific advances, it is now possible to realize an ancient dream:" "The exploration of outer space." "To prepare for this great stride forward, we are assembling data on conditions at atmospheric levels beyond those hitherto explored." "To collect the necessary data, unmanned automatic observation posts are being sent up in multiple-stage rockets, to a distance hundreds of miles above the Earth's surface." "There, swinging in endless orbits around our planet, will be 12 tiny man-made satellites, or moons." "They will report to us by radio, thus providing primary information needed to prepare the way for our ascent into space." "The effects of gravitational loss, showers of meteoric dust, the fierce and undiluted heat of the sun, the cosmic radiation." "All will be studied and analysed." "At the present time, we have launched 10 of the artificial satellites, or birds, as we call them." "We..." "Do you hear something?" "Hear what?" "I don't hear any..." "Shh." "Listen." "Pull over." "Russ, it was a saucer?" "A flying saucer?" "Well, we saw what appeared to be a flying saucer." "That's all we can say." "We saw it." "We heard it, both of us." "What more do we need to know?" "Well, we have to have time to think, to evaluate this, before we sound off." "Let..." "Let me have a light." "Of course, it wasn't a saucer at all." "I just shake like this all the time." "Carol, I want you to transcribe these notes for my report." "Yes, boss." "But there's one little thing first." "Now that you're married, Dr. Marvin, the first thing you've got to learn is no more passes at the secretaries during business hours." "All right." " Or birds, as we call them." "We..." "Russ." "The saucer sound." "It's on the tape." "You forgot to turn it off." "I remember now." "I turned it off afterwards." "Well, that's one piece of concrete evidence." "Rocket Number 11 will be launched in 20 minutes." "Well, we'll leave it for now." "Come on, we've just got time to get to the bunker." "General Hanley reporting to Project Sky Hook." "Make it fast, will you?" "I'm in a hurry." "Nobody allowed in, sir." "There's a rocket taking off now." "That's what I want to stop." "Let me speak to Dr. Russell Marvin." "West Gate to Bunker Number 2." "Dr. Marvin." "Bunker Number 2, Marvin speaking." "This is the West Gate, sir." "General Hanley wants you." "Oh, put him on." "Carol, it's your father." "Calling from Panama?" "No, right here at the project." "Hello, Russ?" "Hello." "Well, welcome home, general." "What's the news from Panama?" "It's bad, I'm afraid." "I think you ought to hear what I found before you send up another rocket." "Can you possibly put it off?" "I'm afraid I can't, we're tied to a definite schedule of launchings." "Wait a minute, uh, there's something else I wanted..." "Just a minute." "It's your privilege." "Hi, Dad." "What is it, honey?" "I just wanted to hear your voice and tell you Russ and I were married last night." "Married?" "Forgive us for not letting you know, darling." "I've gotta hang up." "Let's have dinner tonight." "Can you?" "Don't forget." "Bye." "Fourteen, 13, 12, 11, 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." "I know how the designer feels hearing a thing like this, but Project Sky Hook hasn't worked out the way the Defense Department hoped." "Tell me, how many birds have you sent up so far?" "Eleven, counting today's." "And how many are you in contact with right now?" "Just one." "Today's." "I admit we haven't been able to track them visually so far, but we'll correct that." "Don't be too sure of that." "We can certainly tune them in if they're up there." "What I'm trying to tell you is that they're no longer up there." "That wasn't a meteorite that fell on Panama." "It was the burned remains of Number 7." "I made sure of that myself." "What?" "And Intelligence has reports now which convince us that 1 and 3 fell over Africa," "Number 5 around the North Pole, and 9 and 10 along the Andes." "The rest can be presumed to have been lost someplace at sea." "What happens to them?" "Apparently they blow up in outer space." "Why?" "There's nothing explosive in them." "You can take it from me, when a rocket's blasted off, it should circle the Earth for a long time." "That is, unless..." "Russ?" "Dad?" "Unless what?" "Unless someone, something, shoots them down as fast as we set them up there." "Why, no gun in the world can shoot that high." "No." "No, of course not." "Bring spoons for your coffee." "Ah, my special barbecue." "Mm-hm." "That's to make up for not telling you about our getting married." "It was kind of sudden for us too." "Sudden?" "I've only been after him for a year." "I don't need to tell you, both of you, how pleased I am." "Well, I'm glad of that." "I wouldn't like it very much if you weren't." "Thank you." "Russ, what were you driving at back there, about something shooting down one of the satellites?" "General, we saw a strange thing this afternoon." "We saw what appeared to be a flying saucer." "A flying saucer?" "It nearly ran into us." "You're sure of it?" "Both Carol and I are subject to the same atmospheric disturbances that may have affected other observers, but there is a qualitative difference when you're a scientist." "We do have one piece of supporting evidence:" "An accidental recording of the sounds it made." "The tape is in the lab at the project." "I'd like you to hear it tomorrow." "You both saw this?" "Yes." "Excuse me." "From Captain Holoway, sir." "Oh." "Will you sign here, please?" "Who's Holoway?" "He's on monitor duty this evening." "They've just lost contact with Number 11." "Oh, Russ, I'm sorry." "Is it still in range of our receivers?" "If it hasn't been knocked down." "Look." "What are those lights?" "They're what the pilots call foo lights." "St. Elmo's Fire, in ancient times." "The superstitious regard them as omens of things to come." "The best science has been able to make out of them is that they're electric particles agitated by moving air." "Same principle as the aurora borealis." "There have been so many around the project the last couple of days, we all just take them for granted." "Bird 11 ought to be visible in the sky right now, on its second lap around the world." "Look, there it is." "Was that it?" "Yes." "Well, surely you're not going to send up Number 12 tomorrow after this?" "I have to." "Why?" "With a television pickup, cameras and microphone." "I should've done it before." "This time I'm gonna know what's happening up there and know the reason why." "Come on, let's finish our dinner." "Checking TV pickup." "Getting a good image?" "Fine." "TV's okay." "I'll be down in a couple of minutes." "Tell them to hurry it up." "Do you notice anything different since you were here last?" "Soundproofing?" "That's right." "You could fire a cannon off outside and you couldn't hear a thing down here." "Number 12 okay for takeoff." "Well, as an old rocket man from way back, I'd rather watch from ground level." "Dr. Marvin." "Dr. Marvin." "Marvin here." "You getting ready for a siege?" "Well, Russ and I are gonna take turns monitoring this one ourselves." "For days, if necessary." "Soundproof privacy and the last word in scientific solitude." "Happy honeymoon, darling." "Thanks, Dad." "Prepare rocket for launching." "Prepare rocket for launching." "Rocket Number 12 will be launched in five minutes." "Four minutes to zero." "Check." "Take it up at zero, Major Kimberly." "Okay." "Stand by." "Observation Tower A, come in." "Evans, Radar to Tower A." "Observation Tower A, Sergeant Nash." "UFO due west, approaching fast." "What does it look like?" "Can't tell yet." "I'll call when I get a better reading on my scope." "Do that." "As you were, sergeant." "Unidentified flying object reported due west, sir." "Probably a buzzard." "Sergeant Nash, Observation Tower A. What?" "Forget it, Walters, this is no time for gags." "It's two minutes to zero." "Sentry at West Gate has spotted a flying saucer, sir." "Evans, Radar to Tower A." "Tower A, Nash." "I got a better reading on my scope, sergeant." "That UFO is over the west sentry post." "It look like a flying saucer, Evans?" "Yes, it does." "Sky Hook Control to approaching object." "What is it?" "I wouldn't know." "Connect me with Dr. Marvin's lab." "The line is dead." "Look at that, general." "It's landing." "Battery, prepare to fire." "Fire!" "They set up an electronic screen." "The artillery doesn't penetrate." "Lines are out." "Abandon all firing positions." "Mike's gone dead." "Try the phone." "The operator doesn't answer." "Look." "What's happening?" "I don't know." "I..." "I'm scared, Russ." "They'll..." "They'll dig us out." "Where am I?" "What...?" "We are speaking to you through the translating device above your head." "Can you understand us?" "Yes, and I hope you can understand me." "Whoever you are, whatever you are, you'll regret what you did at the project." "Perhaps you can explain why, after contacting Dr. Marvin, we were met with violence." "You've contacted Dr. Marvin?" "We spoke to him." "All he heard was meaningless sounds." "The same kind of sounds I just heard." "We had hoped a sufficient adjustment for the time differential between us would have been made." "I don't understand." "Evidently, you do not realize you are in an interstellar conveyance." "You are already outside the atmosphere of your own planet." "As a prisoner, all I am required to tell you is that I am General John Hanley of the United States Army." "These are all the facts leading up to the rocket explosion at Operation Sky Hook." "To the best of our knowledge, my wife and I are the only ones left alive, since we have not seen or heard anyone for hours." "The air is becoming toxic." "In the event of our death, this report, together with the recording of the saucer sounds on this tape, constitute all the data we have." "The batteries are failing." "The recorder is not running up to speed." "This is Dr. Russell A. Marvin." "Russ?" "Where are you?" "It's all right, honey." "The gas generator stopped, that's all." "Please come close." "I'm afraid of the darkness." "Dr. Russell Marvin." "The tape." "It is very urgent that we meet." "We will appear tomorrow at Operation Sky Hook when your sun is exactly over your local..." "That's the sound of the saucer we heard on the tape." "The message was sent at an accelerated speed so it just sounded like gibberish to us." "When the batteries died, the tape slowed down and the voice became clear." "If I'd only figured it out before, maybe we wouldn't have been trapped down here." "What had snuffed out hundreds of lives and leveled an installation worth millions of dollars?" "An aroused public demanded an answer, and the federal government dedicated the strength of all of its branches to the task of finding one." "However, when Dr. Marvin and his wife were rescued, the answer was to be found in the experience of the only two human survivors and in a reel of tape recording they carried to Washington, D.C. And the Pentagon." " Operation Sky Hook." "There can't be any doubt about what it means:" "A landing at the project was proposed on the day of the disaster." "There was to have been a meeting." "If I couldn't keep the appointment, a message was to be sent on a designated wavelength by ordinary shortwave transmission." "Does anyone want to have the recording played again?" "You've heard it a dozen times." "My wife and I, for three days and nights, have been telling what we knew." "We've been before every committee, commission and review board in Washington." "It's time we decided to do something." "The tape is by no means conclusive." "Certainly doesn't prove that your so-called flying saucer caused the destruction of Operation Sky Hook." "I grant you that." "A strange voice, a set of instructions that might have come from anywhere." "Well, has anyone a better idea of what happened?" "Personally, I'm inclined to accept Dr. Marvin's conclusion about the connection between the message and the disaster." "All right, so am I." "Then why not let me try to contact them, meet them, find out what this is all about." "If we are to be confronted with a hostile and unknown power, any decision to meet with them must be made at the cabinet level." "Well, I just hope that while we're waiting, another disaster doesn't occur." "We're pressing for the earliest possible action." "The secretary of state is flying back from Europe, the secretary of defense is returning from the Pacific." "If a meeting could be arranged in the meantime, the only risk would be to me." "I feel personally responsible for what happened." "I was in charge." "Hundreds of lives were lost." "My own wife's father..." "If I had the authority, I'd grant it to you." "But we will have to wait." "But I promise you that we will recommend that you be authorized to make radio contact and meet with..." "With whoever they are." "Are we through for the night?" "Yes, but we're going to ask you to remain at your hotel." "You mean I'm under detention?" "You may be needed at any time." "Major Huglin is assigned as your liaison." "Good night." "Good night." "Dr. Marvin." "Dr. Marvin, I don't like this watchdog routine any better than you do." "I'm under orders, I have a job to do." "We're both on the same side." "I'm sorry." "I'm just tired and worried." "I know." "Well, you were in there." "You heard both sides." "Who do you agree with?" "I agree with you as far as the urgency is concerned, but they're right too." "They're responsible to a chain of command, they have to be careful, and this thing may be too big to allow for mistakes." "Russell Marvin calling on 225.6 megacycles." "Over." "Dr. Russell Marvin calling on 225.6 megacycles as per instructions." "Are you listening?" "If you hear me, please reply." "I am tuned in on the same wavelength." "Over." "We hear you, Dr. Marvin, and we understand you." "Do you understand us?" "Yes." "Who are you?" "Listen." "It is now 9:30 a. m." "Earth time, Greenwich Meridian Time." "We will be waiting at exactly 11:00 a." "m." "At the shore of the Chesapeake Bay, where the North Beach Road reaches the sea." "Do not raise an alarm, and keep this appointment." "Listen to me." "I can't keep the appointment." "I'm under orders." "I'll be able to meet you in a few days." "Do you hear me?" "Over." "Russ?" "Hello, hello." "Dr. Russell Marvin calling on 225.6 megacycles." "Do you hear me?" "Please come in." "Over." "Eleven o'clock Greenwich time." "It'll be 6:00 here." "I can just make it." "You're not going." "I heard you say you're under orders." "I didn't arrange this meeting." "I just asked them to wait." "Who ordered that radio?" "I did, today." "I was hoping they'd give me the go-ahead and let me use it." "You can't go." "I've already lost Dad." "You shouldn't have called them." "Well, maybe I shouldn't have and maybe I should." "But it's started now and I've got to go through with it." "But it's not your job alone." "Call someone!" "Call Major Huglin!" "Room 312, Major Huglin." "Hurry, please." "Hello?" "Yes." "Yes." "Thanks." "Well, call the garage." "Tell them not to give him a car." "Tell them he's sick, anything, out of his mind." "I'll be right down to take care of it." "Sure thing, Mrs. Marvin." "Frank, may I have my car, please?" "Gee, Dr. Marvin, I can't." "I was talking to your wife on the phone and she said that I..." "But, Dr. Marvin, I can't let you have the car." "Get out of my way, Frank." "Please, Dr. Marvin, I don't want to lose my job." "Ooh!" "There he is." "See if you can get him on the radio." "Hello, Russ." "This is Carol." "Russ, come in." "He won't answer me." "Wait for us, Russ." "Major Huglin and I wanna talk to you." "Russ, please come back with us." "I'm sorry, but I have to do my job." "Let's go back." "Please come in." "Come on, let's get out of here." "No, wait." "With your friends, Dr. Marvin." "I'm coming with you." "Please come in." "All of you." "I'm gonna phone headquarters." "You'd better do as they say." "We must be thousands of miles away from the Earth." "And in a matter of seconds." "You are many miles away from your planets, but not in a matter of seconds." "Listen to your watch, Dr. Marvin." "It's stopped." "It's supposed to be antimagnetic." "We generate a magnetic field stronger than the gravitational field on your Earth." "This is the principle by which we move through space." "We have adjusted the magnetic field to compensate for the normal loss of gravitational effect and atmospheric pressure." "But your watch hasn't stopped." "Feel your pulse." "I haven't any." "Neither have I." "We operate in a very different time reference." "You might say all this is happening between the ticks of your watch or the beats of your heart." "And that's why we couldn't decipher your message till it was too late." "It made it necessary for us to defend ourselves at Sky Hook." "Then you shot down our 11 rockets." "Why?" "At that time, we had no way of knowing they were only primitive observation posts." "We thought they might be weapons directed against us." "Who are you?" "Where are you from?" "Because of your leadership in exploring the field of outer space, we felt you could best understand that we are the survivors of a disintegrated solar system." "At this moment, the remainder of our fleet is circling your globe." "They're awaiting a signal to tell them where to land." "What do you want with me?" "Arrange for your world leaders to confer with us in the city of Washington." "They may not listen." "I'm only a scientist." "We will show you how important it is to convince your leaders." "In an instant of your time, we travel from beyond your moon to the surface of your Earth." "There were 300 men on that ship." "Speed, maneuverability and force." "With a weapon like that, why don't you just land and take over?" "To do that would cause worldwide panic." "Despite our power, the few of us would be busy indefinitely trying to suppress a large, hostile population." "In the end, we would be masters of a wrecked and hungry planet." "What makes you think you'll conquer us without a fight?" "We felt it would be best to meet with you so fighting could be avoided." "Such agreements have been made on Earth before." "How do you know so much about us?" "We have the means of accumulating information." "If you wish to convince yourself about our detailed knowledge, test us." "Any question." "What's the size of the Armed Forces of the United States?" "It is approximately 3 and one half million men." "Well, what team has won the most World Series?" "The New York Yankees." "Who was the first president of the United States?" "Washington." "I know that voice." "Who are you?" "John Hanley." "My father." "What have you done to him?" "You have been addressing General Hanley's mind, not General Hanley." "Look behind you." "Dad." "He will not recognize you." "He has been subjected to a machine we call an Infinitely Indexed Memory Bank." "We have transferred all knowledge from his brain to our machine." "Thus, we have available and readily accessible his total experience." "We can do this to as many as we like and learn whatever we must know." "Oh, stop it, please, stop it." "Put that gun away." "Don't look at that." "This is the beginning of the process by which we read the brain for the Infinitely Indexed Memory Bank." "What have you done with my father?" "We will return him to you eventually, and the police officer too." "Will you arrange a conference for us?" "We will tell the authorities you want one." "That's all we can do." "You're not going to cooperate with these monsters?" "It may take weeks or months to set it up." "You will have two of your lunar days, or 56 days Earth time." "Let them kill us now and be done with it." "Please, Carol." "If our officials don't believe me, I can't be held responsible." "When you tell of the destroyer being sunk, refer to latitude 30 degrees, 20 minutes, longitude 45 degrees, 15 minutes." "They will believe you." "Well, suppose Major Huglin, my wife, myself were all hysterical, or hypnotized, or whatever you're thinking, that we never saw what these fiends did to General Hanley or the police officer." "How do you explain the destroyer?" "There's word that the Atlantic fleet has lost contact with a vessel in the area, but there's no confirmation of a sinking." "However, we're continuing to check." "You realize, of course, your contacting the saucer in the first place violated our instructions." "This itself may have placed the safety of the entire country in jeopardy." "Now that the damage is done, and assuming your story is verified, are you proposing that we meet with these...?" "These creatures, and yield to their demands?" "And why Washington?" "If they want to parley with the whole world, why do they choose the capital of the United States?" "They appear to be realists, and Washington is one of the centres of political power." "What about our atomic and hydrogen weapons?" "Wouldn't they be effective against these saucers?" "I'd like to answer that question, sir, if I may." "Our atomic weapons might be effective, if we could deliver them." "But to use nuclear power when they land would destroy our own cities." "And then we don't know whether they are vulnerable or not." "In answer to your question, Mr. Cassidy, I've learned a little about their mode of operation and I've got an idea for a new kind of weapon." "It's only a guess, of course." "A new weapon in less than 56 days?" "I have an idea for an ultrasonic gun." "With enough scientific and engineering help, we could construct a working model in a very short time." "Maybe it will work." "If not, we'll know soon enough." "And in the meantime, you'll be working on every other means of defense." "We have no choice but to use every conceivable weapon if they land." "Gentlemen, please." ""The destroyer Franklin Edison was sunk at latitude 30 degrees, 20 minutes, longitude 45 degrees, 15 minutes at approximately 0600."" "We are expected at the White House in an hour for a policy decision that will probably involve not only our own country but the entire world." "Whatever the decisions, you may be certain that you'll be given every assistance in testing your theory." "I suggest you start to work right away." "Major Huglin will make arrangements for whatever facilities you may require." "Thank you." "Hello." "Hi." "How's it going?" "Well, instead of turning electric impulses into ultrahigh-frequency sound, we nearly burned the place up about an hour ago." "What?" "All right, let's try it out on the cement block." "All the way." "Well, there goes your generator." "But it worked, Russ." "It worked, didn't it?" "We know what hit Sky Hook." "What?" "Sound." "Sound?" "Ha-ha." "Having two small boys around the house, I know that noise doesn't do a man much good, but burn him up, knock his house down?" "The sound I had in mind was of a higher wave frequency than we've ever been able to produce." "Then you mean we've got the weapon?" "No, I'm afraid not." "With the best materials and circuits available, all we've succeeded in doing is pulverizing the end of a cement block." "The theory is beautiful." "We don't have the tools and the materials to make it work." "Maybe in 10 years, five, even two." "How many days left?" "Twenty-seven." "Russ, remember that report from Dr. Patek in New Delhi?" "He suggested a different approach." "Instead of attempting to duplicate the ultrasonic devices of our visitors, we try to interrupt their magnetic field by projecting a highly intermittent induced electrical field." "Now, suppose we take..." "Of course!" "We cut the ultrasonic wavelength into the circuit and knock them down like clay pigeons." "Not so fast, Russ..." "It can work." "It can work." "Here, major, get on the phone." "Yes?" "We'll need the largest portable generator that Schenectady makes." "From all parts of the globe, under top priority, came every facility and scientific help the governments of the world could furnish." "Dr. Marvin and his staff assembled these necessary materials in a concealed laboratory, where they were to translate a short experience in a craft from outer space into a formula, then plans, and, finally, a functioning reality." "It's only a hollow steel ball, but for our purposes it's a flying saucer." "You can start up the generator now." "The magnet does that, doesn't it?" "The magnetic attraction above is enough to counteract the pull of gravity from below." "Go ahead, it was your idea." "You be the first to try it." "My idea?" "Nonsense." "It was just as much yours, and Dr. Patek's in India, and a dozen other scientists' all over the world." "Come on." "It works." "It works fine." "Russ, look." "What was it?" "The same kind of thing that's watched us since the beginning of the project." "Watched who?" "Russ and all the developments of the rocket program." "I always thought it was St. Elmo's Fire." "I'll have to change my mind about that." "Whatever it was, the saucers sent it down to find out what we're doing." "We have television." "They may have some totally different device that serves the same purpose." "We'd better get to Washington before they decide to drop in on us." "Major, give Cutting a hand and load that gun on the generator truck." "Right." "Never mind the files, professor." "I'll take the diagrams." "We ought to be in Washington in about an hour." "I hope they haven't spotted us." "Let's pull away from the lab." "Come on." "If that saucer stays in firing range, we may be able to give the gun its first real test." "Saucer landing near Belmont Lab." "Major Huglin calling for aerial protection." "Over." "They're sending a bomber." "We ought to go on with those diagrams as quickly as we can." "I'll get them from Russ." "I'll go with you." "Fire up the generator." "We're gonna see if this gun really works." "What's the matter?" "I can't get this blasted thing started." "They're looking for us, all right." "Russ, getting you and the plans to Washington is more important than anything else." "She's right." "She's right, if this machine works." "If not, it doesn't make any difference." "It works." "If we just had a little more power." "Russ, let's go, please." "Before it's too late." "Keep the gun circling overhead and the saucer will stay away." "Russ, be careful." "I think it's dead." "It's light as a feather." "Humanoid, and ancient." "These suits must serve as an electronic and mechanical outer skin to take the place of their atrophied flesh and muscles." "I must get this to a lab." "Don't go out there." "Don't go out there." "Oh." "Here are Dr. And Mrs. Marvin now." "Carol." "Russ." "We've been waiting for you." "Thanks." "This is Dr. Alberts." "How do you do?" "You know General Edmunds, Admiral Enright." "Certainly." "And Mrs. Marvin is General Hanley's daughter." "Mrs. Marvin." "Your father's death was a great loss to all of us." "Thank you." "Well, I see you've been busy." "Oh, we've been doing a little work." "Here, let me show you." "It didn't take too long to break this thing down." "These helmets have a language-translating device in them." "Mrs. Marvin, would you say something into the microphone?" "The quality of mercy Is not strained" "It droppeth as the gentle Rain from heaven" "Shakespeare wouldn't like it." "Professor Alberts said if we read the dictionary into the device, word by word, we'd have a translation of those words into their language." "By translating their communications into our words, we were able to decode them." "Professor Alberts requisitioned the electronic translator which his university had developed, and the results, to say the least, have been startling." "We've recorded a number of their messages on tape." "One of the messages appears to be a plan of attack." "The rest were operational routine." "I'll show you how it worked." "Over here." ""We can expect trouble when Mercury is in perihelion. "" "When will that be?" "It happens twice every three months." "The information is too vague to be of any use to us." "And "the sun in con Polaris"?" "That implies an orbital relation between the star Polaris and the sun." "We've never been able to figure it out." "The blanks probably refer to their time computation." "But these messages do involve the sun?" "Panama and the other observatories are watching it around the clock." "In the meantime, we have a newer and stronger version of our interference machine on the drawing boards at Aberdeen." "Has there been any determination of the weapon's useful range?" "There's a weakness." "Our instruments indicate that the potential effect drops off sharply after 1500 yards." "We'll have to hope that that's enough." "Well, maybe we'll be ready for them when they come." "Has anyone tried that helmet on?" "Yes, we have." "I think you'd be interested." "Try it." "It weighs only a few grams." "What's it made of?" "We don't know exactly." "Solidified electricity is the fancy name given to it by the Bureau of Standards." "It resists everything we used on it, including the most extreme temperatures." "It makes me Superman, for one thing." "Yes, we know." "I have a peculiar range of vision." "I can also hear a young man just outside that window, discussing a problem in advanced biology." "Carol, would you see if I'm right?" "When I kissed her good night, she slapped my face." "I said:" ""I didn't slap yours when you ordered a $4 steak for dinner. "" "You know, just as we need glasses and hearing aids, these people need electronic amplification of all their senses, especially sight and hearing." "Does that suggest anything to you?" "They have their weaknesses." "When will we be ready?" "We'll need at least a couple of weeks." "People of Earth, attention." "People of Earth, attention." "This is a voice speaking to you from thousands of miles beyond your planet." "This is a voice speaking to you Stop that." "From thousands of miles beyond your planet." "Look to your sun for a warning." "Following eruptions on your sun, there will be eight days and nights of meteorological convulsions..." "Turn it down." "They're arrogant enough, announcing their schedule in advance." "They're coming down to take over, they made that clear to us in the saucer." "They can move so fast and strike so hard, they ought to be able to sneak in and flatten us." "They expect to terrify us with a display of power." "They're contemptuous of our defenses." "If I'm right, they'll sail into Washington in broad daylight and expect us to capitulate when they land." "People of Earth, attention." "People of Earth, attention." "This is a voice speaking to you from thousands of miles beyond your planet." "Look to your sun for a warning." "Look to your sun for a warning." "It's coming over everywhere." "Following eruptions on your sun, there will be eight days and nights of meteorological convulsions." "Soon thereafter..." "They'll panic and immobilise the whole country." "The whole world." "Let all nations be represented in Washington to confer with us..." "People of Earth, attention." "In every country of the world, in every language, every means of electronic communication was jammed with the message." "The warning was dinned into the ears of the Earth's population unceasingly for 12 hours." "And after the 12th hour, silence." "Then, a tremendous explosion on the surface of the sun." ""Nine days. "" "That must be what the missing words meant." "I get the picture." "Thanks." "If I need any more information, I'll call you back." "Goodbye." "That was the Bureau of Meteorology." "As we know, sunspots have a direct effect upon our weather." "We can expect heavy storms, tidal waves, hurricanes." "When?" "Beginning now and continuing for eight days." "Just when we most need our communications and transport." "We'll have to work under the worst possible conditions to prepare for an attack." "What's the schedule, general?" "You're working on the installation of the interference units." "Our plans for evacuating the city are already underway." "Then it's been decided that we'll fight?" "When an armed and threatening power lands uninvited in our capital, we don't meet them with tea and cookies." "There's the job of production expediting waiting for me." "I don't believe further discussion would solve our problem." "Before we break up, I remind you that we have nine days left." "One of those days is already half gone." "What a nice going-away present." "You might call it that." "Is my bag packed?" "Mm-hm." "Mine too." "What time do we leave?" "I have to leave right now." "I'm going to Aberdeen to supervise the interference project." "So that wasn't a hello kiss at all." "It was goodbye." "For a little while." "You're gonna have to leave town." "They're evacuating Washington." "Where am I going?" "Palm Springs." "Remember the place I told you about?" "Mm-hm." "We were going there together." "I know." "Your plane leaves tonight." "Russ, let me stay." "Maybe I can help." "There's nothing more you can do." "Here's your ticket." "You'll arrive before the bad weather sets in." "And I'll be there soon." "The first of man's vital communications to suffer were the shipping lanes and airways." "Then transport by rail and highway ground to a halt." "When the telephone and telegraph systems had failed and the radio networks were forced to bear the burden alone, they, too, succumbed to interference known to originate in an increasing disturbance in the sun." "The world, crippled by these events, waited for the first sign of an invasion from outer space." "Because of the atmospheric violence, it was not until the ninth day that an orderly evacuation of the city of Washington could be attempted." "Although the authorities and the military worked miracles, when the 10th day dawned, more than 60 percent of the people of Washington were still in the metropolitan area." "Take these to CIC." "Yes, sir." "Mrs. Marvin." "Your husband told me you were in Palm Springs." "The plane schedules were canceled before I could get away." "Have you heard from Russ?" "There's been practically no communication with Aberdeen." "Wires are down, radio jammed." "But I'm expecting a courier any minute." "A red alert." "Saucer heading in low over the Atlantic, coming in fast." "They're breaking through our defenses." "Ground all aircraft." "They'll be overhead any minute." "You better get down to the shelter." "Wait a moment, Mrs. Marvin." "Truck convoys from Aberdeen are taking up positions in the city." "Your husband's section is nearing the Pentagon." "Thanks." "Mobile unit calling GHQ." "Saucer hit and down in the Potomac." "Keep it in your field so it can't fire at us." "Fire at the saucer until it crashes." "Russ." "Russ." "Carol, I thought you'd gone to..." "GHQ calling all HF units." "GHQ calling all HF units." "Saucer hovering vicinity White House and Capitol." "Attention, all units." "Saucer now landing vicinity White House." "Attention, all units..." "Sounds like they're jamming us." "Dr. Marvin." "Dr. Marvin, we've made contact with GHQ." "GHQ to all HF units." "Attention." "Saucer has landed in front of Capitol building." "All HF units, attention." "GHQ to all HF units." "Keep firing at saucers." "The present danger is ended." "The present danger is ended." "All units report to your commanders for further orders." "The present danger is ended." "Don't wiggle." "Here's what it says:" ""The president has ordered Project Sky Hook rebuilt, and the space exploration program continued under the direction of Dr. Russell A. Marvin." "The United Nations assembly voted unanimously today to award a gold medal to Dr. Marvin. "" "And to Mrs. Marvin goes a gold medal from Dr. Marvin for her love, courage, devotion, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera." "Russ, do you think there are any more?" "Will they come back again?" "Not on such a nice day." "And not to such a nice world." "I'm glad it's still here." "And still ours."