by Eando Binder
The picture had changed for Thane. He was playing for bigger stakes now. Simply revealing to the world that UFO’s did exist and were manned by extraterrestrial people would not in the least defeat the Morlian plot, whatever it was. In fact, exposure of the Vigilantes might hamper their efforts to counteract the Morlian threat.
Thane suddenly realized, with a little whistle, that he was now as anxious to avoid giving proof of UFO’s as the Morlians. So he sat eagerly at his typewriter again, to finish his forthcoming radio speech discounting all saucer sightings. He was not only ‘fooling’ the Morlians into thinking he was ‘following instructions’ but also wholeheartedly keeping up the smokescreen hiding UFO’s from earth-people.
Thane grinned wryly. A strange, ironic situation. He began banging the keys.
* * * *
“Greetings, Thane Smith!” a voice boomed in his mind an hour later and Thane’s fingers mashed down on the keys, locking a half-dozen. As he unhooked them, sheepishly, the silent telepathic voice went on:
“This is Thalkon psycho-transmitting. You see, the wafer near your brain is a two-way contact. Good work, Thane! We picked up the relayed thought of the Morlian about an Antarctic base.”
“I guess my spy stint paid off pretty quickly at that,” radiated back Thane, knowing his beamed thought-message would reach Thalkon.
“As a reward,” went on Thalkon, “we will let you see the result, in relayed psycho-vision scenes from Antarctica. They will be live, in full color.”
Sounds like a TV ad, thought Thane in amusement. Into his mind suddenly sprang a vivid scene of the Antarctic ice-cap as seen from space. Then, as if he were aboard one of the diving Vigilante ships, the scene enlarged in detail and narrowed its scope to one portion of the mighty ice-sheet somewhere in the area known as Little America.
“As soon as we got the tip,” came in Thalkons psycho-voice, like a commentator, “we rushed scout ships to Antarctica. Using the anti-visio screen, they snooped around while their detectobeams revealed exactly where the Morlian base was. Now watch, as our demolition fleet does its job.”
The panorama in Thane’s mind, like a motion-picture screen, now showed the fleet of turreted saucers which had turned visible and were diving down at blistering speed. Livid red rays sprang from them, melting the ice in a wide circle. Into the newly created ‘lake’ plunged the fleet, melting ice ahead as fast as they flew down.
“We could not use the Morlian ice-tunnels,” interposed Thalkon, “which led a mile down to the bottom of the ice-cap, without being detected and opposed. Sudden attack was our best bet. Hence, the use of infrabeams to melt the ice for a direct attack.”
And now, as the last ice barrier melted, it splashed down into what had formerly been a huge hollow, holding the Morlian base. Before any alarm system could work, the Vigilante blast-beams were at work, wiping out the base methodically.
It was, thought Thane to himself, like a child erasing a picture on a blackboard.
Thane felt his blood turn cold at the ruthless wiping out of Morlian lives, whether they deserved it or not…then he abruptly remembered and relaxed. The Vigilantes never killed. Morlians were being hurled alive and well, an instant before the blast-ray stuck, into the Nth dimension, there to be imprisoned.
In moments it was done. Shattered wreckage lay underneath the Antarctic ice-cap a mile deep, where the Morlians had hidden their secret base from earthly eyes. The water flooding down from the hole melted by the Vigilante fleet was already filling the artificial hollow and freezing. The fleet turned upward, splashing up through the mile-deep lake they had created. In free air, they sped off into space.
Chapter 15
“Look,” exclaimed Thane, as the last scene of Antarctica faded out. “A party of explorers, probably from the South Polar camp, happened to come by and saw the fleet shooting away. Those are mostly scientists. Thalkon. What if they report their unmistakable sighting, plus the incredible ‘lake’ melted in the ice?”
“Come, Thane,” returned Thalkon unperturbed. “It is not that easy to convince your unenlightened world that saucers from outer space are here. Even scientists are discredited when they claim to report sightings.”
Right, thought Thane to himself. Sheel’s book had made that plain. Scientists, as a group, were perhaps the greatest saucerphobes of all, arrogantly believing no spacecraft could ever cross the vastness of space simply because earth technology had no such vehicles, nor any remotely reasonable plan to devise them.
“Our greatest protection against exposure,” broke in Thalkon, as if following Thane’s ruminations, “has always been humanity’s overwhelming egocentrism. The belief or feeling that they are ‘special’ creatures, unmatched in the universe. The unwillingness of the human mind to entertain the thought that beings with an intelligence a magnitude above them can possibly exist, or visit earth. It has made our job easier.
“Another Morlian base crossed off the list,” said Thalkon in momentary triumph. Then his psycho-voice fell. “But how many more to go? And when will we ever locate their main base? Until we destroy that, our mission is unfinished and earth remains in danger.”
In danger of what? Thane wanted to know desperately but knew Thalkon would only answer, “It is not permitted to tell.” If it wasn’t simply conquest of earth or enslavement of the human race, as Thalkon had said before, then what was it? What could be still worse, as Thalkon had implied. Would Thane ever find out?
“It is not likely,” Thalkon’s voice came back, and Thane jumped. Damn, he had forgotten to put up his psycho-shield. “It is for your own good that you do not know.” Thalkon went on soothingly. “There are some things the human mind is not geared to absorb or withstand. It is something that can only be described with your words—‘ghastly’ or ‘fiendish.’ More I will not say.”
Thane shuddered a little, then shrugged. “Okay, Thalkon. But it’s time now for me to rush to my radio broadcast in Grover City. About an hour’s drive. Bye now.”
* * * *
At the KZQQ mikes, Thane put on what he thought was a terrific performance as a UFO antagonist. It might put him in the class of Dr. Dennis T. Wengler, the ‘arch enemy’ of flying saucers according to UFOlogists, who airily attributed all saucer phenomena to mirages, atmospheric tricks, and optical illusions. Or at the least, Thane would be alongside Perry Klausner, the electrical engineer who proclaimed that his ‘plasmoids’—natural conglomerates of ionized plasma—could account for most UFO’s.
Thane’s broadcast came up with a third major concept denigrating UFO’s as illusions. He keyed his opening line in neatly with the program he was on—I Wonder.
“Do you wonder if UFO’s are machines—or myths?” began Thane. “Or if flying saucers are real—or just flying specks in the eye? Are they Unidentified Flying Objects—or Unequivocal Fooler Orbs? Do you wonder, as I did?”
He took a breath, then thundered, “My friends, I am here to tell you that you have more chance of seeing genuine sorcerers than saucers.”
To the side, John Winkle was beaming. This fiery oration on the nation’s most controversial subject should jack up the rating of his I Wonder program nicely. Phone calls, telegrams, letters would pour in.
Thane went on. “I’m not just talking through my hat. I’ve discovered exactly what the so-called saucers and UFO’s are. You’ve all seen the strange shapes clouds can make? Well, unknown to science or the astronauts yet, there are clouds in space.”
Thane paused dramatically. “Those space clouds, made up of random dust that gravitated together, are too small and tenuous to be seen in telescopes or detected by space probes. Only my special orthoconic oscillometer was able to spot them.”
Thane rolled his eyes upward—luckily it wasn’t television—at this magnificent lie.
“The small space clouds exist in huge swarms, all around earth. A
nd they cast shadows, you see. Now it is a peculiar aspect of these space clouds that, through gravitic and electromagnetic forces from the sun, they assume rather geometrical shapes—disks, cigars, ovals, globes, even pyramids and rhomboids.”
Thane swallowed down an intense desire to chuckle and went on in mock-earnest tones. “You recognize those shapes, eh? Of course you do. They are what sighters so often breathlessly report—disks, cigars, ovoids, globes, pyramids, rhomboids, and the rest. They all seem to be too regular in form to be natural but—”
Thane choked down another hysterical impulse to guffaw and finished, “But that is all that the kooks and crackpots see—cloud shadows from outer space!”
Thane expanded on this theme in more detail for the rest of his half-hour. He had taken care, at home, to make his theory superficially consistent and plausible—in a sort of crazily implausible way.
“Yes, a cloud in space far away would throw a huge shadow on earth. But remember that these are small clouds, and it is only their tiny dense cores that can throw shadows. Furthermore, it is only the shadow’s umbra—the sharp central portion—which is projected down into earth’s atmosphere. Hence, when spied by gullible witnesses, they report UFO’s anywhere from 25 feet to 500 feet wide or more.”
Thane drove on, determined to please the Morlians who were undoubtedly listening in. “And notice how scientificially valid my discovery is. The clouds, being light, are subject to every ‘breeze’ of the solar-wind in space—the streams of electrons and protons the sun constantly emits throughout interplanetary space. Even if the solar-breeze only moves the cloud an inch, this movement would be magnified, through its long-range shadow, into many linear miles. That is why the UFO’s seem to dart through the sky at such blinding speeds. Then, when a gust of the variable solar-wind blows the cloud to a stop, the UFO-shadow on earth seems to stop on a dime.”
The small studio audience began clapping loudly. Thane knew that if he had won them, he had also captured most of the millions in the radio audience.
“And think, UFO’s almost always move silently—as do shadows. They display no rocket discharges or other visible means of propulsion—shadows don’t either.”
Applause interrupted Thane again. He waited, then resumed.
“As for the color changes reported by so many witnesses, these space clouds contain in them tiny bits of grit with jagged edges. Like ice-crystals that create our rainbows, these gritty particles act like a filter and split sunlight up into its separate rays at times—red, orange, green, blue, yellow. In other words, they throw rainbow-hued shadows that can change color with quixotic rapidity—as in the majority of UFO sightings.”
Clapping came again, loudest this time from one corner. Glancing there, Thane started. Three intense pairs of eyes stared back at him. The MIB’s! They were obviously highly pleased with their ‘dupe’s’ anti-UFO tirade.
Luckily, Thane had put up his psycho-shield the moment he had arrived, just in case. He did not know whether the Morlians always posed as ‘men-in-black’ or adopted other guises when infiltrating among humans.
Thane ended his broadcast with the aplomb of other pompous egotists who believed they had single-handedly solved the UFO riddle: “So there is little question that UFO’s are merely the shadows of the space clouds, thrown into earth’s atmosphere. Next time any kook tells you he saw a ‘craft’ land and little green, purple, or orange men step out, you’ll know that he embellished his story after seeing a shadow-saucer. I’m sure scientists and authorities will immediately see how my revelation has once and for all solved the UFO phenomenon. Good night.”
At the door, Thane was not surprised to find the three MIB’s approaching him. “We wish to congratulate you. Thane Smith,” said one, extending his hand. “We belong to a group that is fighting this ridiculous belief in flying saucers from other worlds.”
Thane could hardly force down the grin that threatened to crease his lips. In posing as earthmen, the Morlians were trying to fool the one person on earth they couldn’t fool. The one who alone knew all about them.
Thane let go of the rather clammy hand, carefully keeping his psycho-shield up. “Then we’re on the same side, gentlemen,” he said, “aren’t we?”
That was Thane’s mission, to gain their confidence. “We are,” nodded one MIB solemnly. “In fact, we have an idea how you can further explode the saucer myth. May we come and see you at your place tomorrow?”
Thane pretended to hesitate, not wanting to seem too eager, but then smiled. “I’m rather busy but…well, this matter takes priority. Make it any time you wish. Here’s my address.”
Thane handed over one of his business cards, on the back of which were printed directions for finding his isolated cabin.
“Thank you. We’ll see you tomorrow.” The MIB’s turned away.
Thane was taken aback at the figure that next approached him, in his natty uniform.
“Colonel Taggert!”
“I was in the studio audience,” nodded the Air Force officer. He stared curiously at Thane. “Last week you came to me with a saucer sighting and photographs to back it up. You seemed to be an ardent and convinced believer in UFO’s. Now, tonight, you damn them all as chimeras. Why the abrupt change of heart, Smith?”
Amusement rose within Thane. “Why, Colonel,” he said blandly, “you yourself told me I had merely seen two hawks fighting it out. That made me see the error of my ways when I thought it over later.”
Taggert was shaking his head, shrewdly. “But your photos did not show two hawks…”
“They didn’t, Colonel?” said Thane sharply. “Then what did they show?”
“Why…uh…” Taggert was trapped, but obviously thinking fast. “They seemed to show two shiny craft. But then, peculiar reflections could cause this optical illusion—for instance, the shadows of your space clouds?”
Thane bit his lip. Touché. But lurking behind all this was something else. The mere fact that Thane’s ‘change of heart’ was questioned meant that Taggert was not so much a pooh-pooher of UFO’s as he pretended. Could it also mean that the Air Force secretly believed in saucers?
“Yes, my space cloud shadows could account for my photos,” agreed Thane. He had to play his new role consistently, before everyone. “Don’t you agree that that could explain all UFO sightings?”
Thane was curious to see his reaction. Taggert seemed to be nagged by something, judging by his uncertain smile. Then he went on smoothly, “You know, Thane, if there were real UFO’s and UFO-beings, who wished to keep their presence on earth a secret, one might almost think they had bought you off.”
The Colonel chuckled loudly as if to show he was only being facetious. But his eyes narrowly kept on Thane’s face.
“My dear Colonel,” Thane said, “if you know UFO’s to be pure illusion, how can you even talk of their presumed occupants?”
Chapter 16
Thane opened the door the next day to let the three MIB’s in. They murmured polite greetings and Thane waved them to sit down.
“Now, your big idea, gentlemen?”
“To write a book, Thane Smith.”
“Another one debunking UFO’s, you mean? But that’s been done by Wengler Klausner, and others too.”
“No, we mean another kind of book debunking, so to speak, the biggest names in UFOlogy.”
They were waiting for his answer. “A great idea,” said Thane, without enthusiasm. “I wish I had thought of it myself.”
The three MIB’s relaxed, and once again Thane stiffened as their hidden thoughts came forth. They were letting their guard down, as the previous three Morlians had, confident that brainwashed Thane was no menace and could in fact help them greatly in their campaign to keep earth ignorant of their presence.
“Latch on, Thalkon,” beamed Thane through the psycho-transmitter touch
ing his brain. “Here comes some more spillover from these Morlian thugs.”
But the telepathic leaks from their brains were nothing significant. “The earthling is our dupe….”
“He will do anything we say….”
“He may once and for all kill the flying saucer controversy for us….”
“Ah, I’ve got it,” snapped Thane, pacing the floor dramatically. “We want to show that the UFO guys are crackpots, don’t we? People with wild imaginations, not to be trusted. Well, in various books, it has been speculated that if the saucers were ships from outer space, they would have secret bases from which to operate. Remarks about secret bases would make them seem like kooks.”
Thane tensed as involuntary thoughts came from the MIB’s: “They of course were guessing… They didn’t know of our real bases…. The subsea and Antarctic bases that were recently destroyed…. Nor of our bases in the Himalayas, miles underground in Mammoth Cave, out in the Gobi Desert, deep within the Amazon Jungle…
Thane’s pulse leaped with each named spot. Four more bases for the Vigilantes to wipe out. But Thane had another thought and spoke aloud again.
“You know, it’s been suggested that the so-called space visitors might have bases on the moon, or Mars, and elsewhere in the solar system. We can hit them there and ruin their reputations.”
Again, the unshielded thought-stream of the MIB’s came through: “Yes, they have worried us all along by guessing we had interplanetary bases…in Diogenes Crater on the moon…at the Mare Sytoris on Mars…at the North Pole of Venus…”
Thane exulted inwardly. Seven bases revealed! He waited for more, but the three MIB’s had arisen, their private thoughts ending, “Then you will write this book smearing UFOlogists in the eyes of the public? That way, Thane Smith, we can smash the whole rotten egg apart and end the belief in UFO’s or ships from outer space.”