by Eando Binder
Table of Contents
Copyright Information
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Copyright Information
Copyright © 1969 by Eando Binder.
All rights Reserved.
Chapter 1
Thane Smith’s rented summer cabin gave him the peace and quiet he needed for his free-lance writing jobs. Only thirty feet beyond lay a grove of tall pines.
Thane walked into their cool shade out of the hot sun. At his favorite reading spot, he sat down with his back to a tree. A scented pine breeze cooled him delightfully. With a sigh of contented relaxation he opened the book.
In the opening lines of the book about Unidentified Flying Objects was a definition: “Flying saucers are more properly called UFO’s, or Unidentified Flying Objects…”
“Unmitigated Fanciful Optics,” grinned Thane, supplying his own definition.
The book went on to make the brash statement, without a quiver of a doubt, that UFOs had been spied on earth for centuries.
The punch lines came along faster and more hilariously.
Captain Robert Mantell in 1949 had chased a ‘saucer’ over 20,000 feet, to come down as a mass of wreckage. “The Air Force’s claim that Mantell mistook Venus, in the daytime, for a UFO,” said the author pompously, “is untenable, for the object had been first detected by radar. Also Mantell had radioed at the last moment that the object was tremendous….”
Thane, the skeptic, grunted. Naturally, an oxygen-starved pilot, his brain functioning wildly, would see delusions just before he blacked out. As for radar, the Air Force had plainly called it an ‘anomaly’—false image propagation.
Thane started. Out of the corner of his eye, swiftly streaking between two trees for a brief moment, he thought he saw something that flashed in the sun. Something round…moving at fantastic speed…glinting metallic….
“Damn!” said Thane aloud. The book was getting him. But he wasn’t going to jump up and rush to the edge of the grove for a better look. A darting hawk…distant jet…maybe some kid’s toy rocket…that was all he would see.
Shaking his head, Thane settled back and opened the book again, defying its hypnotic powers.
One of the greatest ‘flaps’ in UFO history now came up—the notorious ‘Washington attack’ of July 1952, when some of 67 UFO’s had seemingly swarmed over the city. But they had been officially disposed of by the Air Force as due to an ‘inversion’—two layers of warm and cold air that refracted ground images into the sky, even creating ‘angels’ on radar that at first fooled radar-men, not to mention various jet pilots who went up to ‘chase’ the glowing objects away.
But the stubborn writer claimed it was a cover-up by the Air Force since weather records for that date proved there could not have been a temperature inversion.
The implication, all through the book, was that faced with a gigantic scientific problem far beyond its scope, the bewildered Air Force investigators had never recognized the truth—that flying saucers were not myths but machines, flying with impunity in our airspace and making fools of all pursuing jet pilots. These out-of-this-world craft were blithely credited to an advanced ‘supertechnology’ on some other inhabited planet in outer space.
The book, in its general review of the UFO phenomena, then listed the ‘characteristics’ of flying saucers that were repeatedly reported. They often flew at blazing supersonic speeds up to an estimated 5000 mph in ghostly silence. They could turn at right angles without the slightest slowing down. They could stop in one shuddering instant. While hovering in the air, they often ‘rocked’ back and forth gently, like a boat riding the waves. A glow often surrounded them, best seen at night, that kept changing color and included all the hues of the rainbow—orange, yellow, red, blue, green, white. They…
Thane jerked around. Again, out of the corner of his eye, he had glimpsed something streaking between the trees ahead. This time, annoyed, he put down the book and arose. Just out of curiosity, he had to find out what it was.
Reaching the edge of the grove of pines, he had a clear view of the sky to the north. He squinted. High up was a shiny speck that zigzagged back and forth for a moment, then darted straight down.
Thane caught his breath. The object rapidly enlarged into a clear-cut shape…of two pie-plates stuck together.
It dived at supersonic speed…without a sound.
It suddenly made a 100 degree turn, level with the ground…without slowing down.
Thane gasped, as it streaked almost straight over him about 1000 feet high…and came to an abrupt stop in midair.
It hovered there…rocking gently.
Thane could now detect a faint glow around it…that changed from orange to blue to white against the blue sky backdrop.
Thane broke from a gaping trance and ran back through the grove. He didn’t believe his eyes or trust his senses. Only one thing could prove he had seen what he thought he saw. He dashed into his cabin and snatched up his instamatic camera, also his movie camera, both loaded.
Would the object be gone in those 10 seconds it had taken him to race back and forth? But when he reached the grove’s edge, the strange object was still there, rocking in a slow rhythm.
Panting and fumbling nervously, Thane finally aimed his Kodak and snapped the release. Wanting to get at least one good picture, Thane methodically used up what was left of the roll, seven shots.
While he took them, fevered thoughts piled up in his mind. If the photos, when developed, came out blank—then what? Was he suffering a vivid delusion?
And if the photos were not blank—what then? That was even more of a shocking thought. As he snapped the last picture, Thane flicked his eyes up at movement. The flying saucer had suddenly shot forward. It did not get up speed in rising acceleration. It simply went to supersonic speed from dead zero.
Thane sensed something to the north and swung his eyes. He almost staggered. Not one but two UFO’s. The second one catapulted up from behind a hill, as if it had previously landed on the ground.
It was a different shape, a disk with a dome on top, of a dark flat color like ashes. It arrowed straight up as if striving to reach high altitude before the first UFO could intercept it.
Intercept?
Thane stiffened, sensing that he was about to witness something never before reported in saucer sightings that he knew of. Then, with a grunt, he swung up his movie camera. No still camera could catch what was to come.
The two UFO’s seemed to be on a direct collision course, one shooting upward, the other horizontally. Sighting through his view-finder, Thane winced, expecting the crash. Instead, the two craft incredibly veered apart, then began circling each other in impossible loops and twists.
Dogfight sprang into Thane’s mind, as he kept the movie camera whirring. They were far enough away to stay within his field of view as their wild gyrations continued.
Now Thane could detect faint beams stabbing back and forth between the two craft. He felt a tingling in the air around him, as if it
were electrified. He thought of the fantastic ray-weapons often featured in science-fiction tales.
It all seemed like science-fiction happening before his eyes. He was seeing the same ‘illusions’ so many others had seen—only these objects were real. Of that Thane was dead certain. Yet the utter silence, the incredible maneuvers, the eye-boggling speeds all made it seem unreal.
The end came suddenly, violently, with a thunderclap of sudden sound. The domed disk simply exploded in a vast shower of sparks that quickly faded and vanished.
Atomized? Blown to atoms? Thane shuddered in awe for there seemed to be no debris. The victorious disk dipped in the air, as if in a triumphant salute, then swung upward at such blurring speed that it was gone in three seconds.
Several seconds after that, with an annoyed exclamation, Thane took his finger off the movie camera’s button. He was photographing empty blue sky now. But he had about 40 feet of color film of the mind-staggering aerial drama that had taken place.
Turning, Thane saw something glinting a few feet away. It lay on a cushion of pine needles and hence he had not heard any thud. It was a jagged piece of metal, ash-silver in color—the same color as the domed disk. Was it an actual piece of the exploded craft?
Thane picked it up, still hot, turned it over. A piece of metal that came from some faraway world? Could it be? He put it in his pocket and looked around. If other pieces of the UFO had scattered in the woods, they were never to be found.
Chapter 2
“We mean it when we say twenty-four-hour developing service,” said the camera store proprietor. “You know that, Thane. You can pick up the snaps tomorrow at noon.”
Thane turned at the door. “Don’t be surprised when you see the snaps, Bert. You won’t laugh.”
Bert’s mouth fell open. Leaving, Thane paused in wondering thought. What would his developed photos and movie film show—something or nothing? He was in a curious state of mind, not at all sure now of what he had seen.
A UFO? Two flying saucers? A dogfight between them? An exploding craft? With each successive thought he gave a mental gasp, and at the end he was shaking his head in disbelief. Impossible…unless his film corroborated what his eyes had seen. Until then, he would simply have to reserve judgment.
Out on the street of Tanglewood, a small town, Thane glanced across at the local police station. Should he report his strange experience? He winced in advance at the reception his story would probably get, wilder than any flying saucer sighting yet reported. Two UFO’s had seemingly fought it out in a ferocious air battle. A new one for the books.
Thane decided to play it smart and wait for his pictures. They would have a harder time laughing at him then. Also, he would like to show the peculiar piece of metal in his pocket, if it were analyzed. Thane turned down a side street, to where a sign proclaimed:
YOU-NAME-IT CHEMICAL SHOP
Theodore Jansen
Jansen took the piece of metal Thane handed him and squinted through his spectacles. “Hmmm…light weight, hard surface, high shine…aluminum maybe. No, magnesium maybe…no. Say, what is it?”
“That’s for you to find out.”
Still “hmmming,” Jansen turned and led the way to his small lab in the back. He opened a bottle of acid and put a drop on the metal. Then another acid, and another.
He looked up at Thane, wonderingly. “Where did you get this metal?”
“I’ll tell you after you analyze it,” returned Thane cautiously.
“I’ll have to run special tests,” said Jansen, gesturing at various analytical instruments such as a second-hand spectroscope. “Take me a day or two, maybe.”
“Don’t lose it or destroy it, Professor,” warned Thane, turning to go. “I’ll drop in tomorrow around noon.” He added, “For your own guidance, you may find it out-of-this-world.”
Jansen watched him go with squinting, puzzled eyes.
* * * *
Passing a newsstand, Thane returned to the everyday world, refusing to think any further regarding his pictures, the metal, or his sighting. He glanced over the magazines for anything interesting to read. Suddenly his eyes swung in shock to the local paper, The Tanglewood Weekly. What was that on the front page?
FARMER SIGHTS FLYING SAUCER read the bold-face headline. A sub-head proclaimed—Third Sighting of UFO’s In This Area in Past Month.
“You gonna pay for that paper, mister?” queried a shrill voice. Turning back with a weak grin, Thane handed over the coins to the newsdealer. Then he swung into the Daisy Diner.
“A western omelette, Gerty,” said Thane to the blonde waitress behind the counter. “And heavy on the French fries.”
“Yeah, Thane, I know. And ketchup on the side. Say, I read about that test Mars rocket you told me about. Real exciting.”
“Yes, Gerty,” said Thane shortly, opening his paper and devouring the front-page story. Yesterday, he would have snorted and skipped it. Today, he could hardly wait to read about the farmer s sighting. The report said that farmer Peter S. Standish’s barn had been bathed in light coming from a domed saucer. Standish had seen a crimson liquid drip down from the craft onto some stacked cordwood.
A domed saucer, the same kind Thane had seen destroyed, blown to atoms during the aerial battle with the disk. Thane’s eyes now switched below to where it listed the names and addresses of two other people who had sighted saucers.
Thane read the details of both reports, then folded up the paper and strode to his parked car. He was one with them now, one of the ‘inner circle’ who had seen an unexplainable sight in the sky. He could imagine their confused and shocked state of mind.
Thane drove out of town toward where Standish’s farm lay, some three miles west. It was 12:30 and Thane hoped to find him at home from his fields for lunchtime.
A woman and three skirt-hanging kids came out as his car drove into the yard.
“Mrs. Standish?” said Thane, “Is your husband in?”
“Yes, but he won’t talk to any reporters,” she snapped.
“I’m not a reporter, M’am. I’m a…well, I’m a salesman.” Saying ‘writer’ wouldn’t sit well with the farmer either, if he was publicity shy.
“Well, you can just git right on going,” came a gruff voice. Standish had come out, a beefy farmer with big hands and an unfriendly expression. “We don’t want to buy anything.”
I’m not selling anything, Mr. Standish,” said Thane hastily. “You see, I saw a flying saucer too, like you did, and I thought we could compare notes and…”
“Hold on, young man,” said the farmer harshly. “I didn’t see any such things as a flying saucer.”
“You didn’t…?” grunted Thane. “But the paper said…”
“The paper lied, son. You hear me? A pack of lies. I never made no phone call and never saw any kind of flying contraption with red lights.”
“You don’t have to be afraid to talk to me,” essayed Thane smoothly. “I won’t repeat a word to anyone else. It’s just for my own curiosity…”
“But I never saw any UFO, I tell you,” grated Standish, half-angrily.
“You’ll swear that?” asked Thane, incredulously.
“Yep.”
“The paper invented the whole story?”
“Every word, son. Now I gotta get to work in my fields. Don’t honk your horn and scare the goats on your way out.”
There was a finality in the dismissal that defeated Thane. He opened his mouth, then closed it. With a baffled shrug, he got back in his car and slowly drove away, looking back at the farmer’s figure, now slumped and sitting on the steps. He was an abject, frightened man, kneading his two hands together as if in anguish.
Why did he look so frightened?
* * * *
Jack Todd, lumbermill hand, was more friendly. His b
ig paw shook Thane’s hand in greeting. “What can I do for you, sir?”
“It’s about that flying saucer you saw.”
“Oh.” His face fell. His voice was not so friendly as he went on. “Well, yes, I saw one I guess. But it was nothing much. All over in a few moments. Hardly worth talking about.”
“You saw two ‘hairy dwarfs’ get out of the saucer,” pursued Thane doggedly. “They looked around a bit, then spied you. They leaped at you with grunting snarls, you reported, and used their clawed hands. Hands with only three fingers. You must still show the marks, since it only happened ten days ago…”
Thane waited expectantly but the lumberman did not roll up his sleeves to show the scars. “Aw, maybe my story was kinda exaggerated,” confessed Todd with a false air. “You know, a man gets to talking with a couple beers in him and he fancies up the story, just for fun.”
Lying in his teeth. He, too, has lurking fear in his eyes. He’s just trying to kid me out of it, to cover up…
“You turned and ran,” said Thane, “and the hairy humanoids then jumped in their ship and sped away. They hadn’t really hurt you much and…”
“No, but they sure were fixing to,” growled Todd, with sudden intensity. “I think they wanted to drag me aboard their ship and take me away. They wanted to…”
Abruptly, Todd broke off and grinned. “Aw, there goes my imagination again. Look pal. It ain’t worth talking about. Forget I said anything. I got work to do. So long…”
* * * *
“Howdy,” said Mrs. Theda Ranslick. She was a short, rather plump woman, the typical housewife. Her reddish hair, neatly combed, contrasted nicely with her blue-green eyes. Was there fear in those eyes too? Thane wasn’t sure yet.
“About that flying saucer you saw, M’am,” began Thane.
“Oh.” With the word came a sudden frown. “I don’t like to talk about it, mister.”
“Why not?” asked Thane bluntly, determined to get to the bottom of this unaccountable reluctance of three witnesses to tell of their sightings.