by Jimmy Guieu
“Naturally,” Honky continued, “we made a formal agreement to protect the Canopians. Our HQ sent a message right away to the Denebians—their real name is Ptopans, being from the planet Ptopa in the solar system Omink called Deneb by the Earthlings.
“In this message we denounced the Denebian methods of enslavement and announced that from then on the Canopians were under our protection. Our spaceships made regular patrols in this solar system in order to repel any attempt at invasion.
“Far from being intimidated by these warnings the Denebians, without a declaration of war, launched a guided missile loaded with concentrated atomic cyanogen against our new protectorate. When it struck the ground it was supposed to explode and poison the air. Our paroptic vision, an ability unknown to the Denebians, saved us and the Canopians from a horrible death. We ended up exploding the missile in space where the noxious gas dissipated without doing any harm.
“And that’s how the Polarian-Denebian-Procyonian War started centuries ago. Because the monsters from Procyon have the same thirst for conquest as their Denebian allies.
“We inflicted considerable losses on them but the demonic creatures kept running around the Galaxy hoping to conquer new planets and, if necessary, enslave the inhabitants. So far they have only attacked—like cowards—very primitive, non-humanoid races. But the last dozen Earth years they have set their sights on your planet and are trying by any means possible to conquer it. Twice they almost got a strong foothold in your solar system and even on Earth itself without you knowing14. We chased them away both times and inflicted heavy losses. But lately some agents from our Information Service—biological robots that look like Denebians and Procyonians—warned us that these creatures are getting ready to try a massive invasion of Earth, Mars and Venus.
“We decided, therefore, to intervene and make official contact with Earthlings in order to put them on guard against the monsters. The moment has come to prepare the defense of your planet where we already have some valuable allies and friends in the Earth-Polarian Alliance,” he bowed politely to Kariven, Dormoy and Angelvin who would lead the organization in Europe.
“During out recent contact,” he continued, “Zimko in France and his superior officers of the Space Commandos in the other countries, they urged the Earthlings to engrave in their memories the image of Wolfians and Centaurians. This should allow you to recognize the three friendly races who are very different from the Denebians and Procyonians—specimens of which you are about to see. These specimens will also be shown to all Earthlings to forewarn them against any eventual contact with individuals… maybe already present on Earth.
“Two enemy crews were recently captured during a brief skirmish between our patrols and their vessels in the asteroid zone.”
While saying this Honky had sent a telepathic order to the Polarians guarding the prisoners. A few minutes later an armored panel, 30 feet wide by 20 high, slid open silently in a metal wall of the big meeting room. A kind of brightly lit platform appeared, above and behind the half-moon desk where the Polarians sat with the members of the Alliance, facing the assembly of Heads of State.
The terrestrial leaders jumped back when they saw a group of six, hideously ugly creatures step forward. Under the psychic control of their guards the prisoners stopped at the edge of the raised platform and stood still, deprived of their consciousness.
There were three Denebians, vaguely human creatures, six and a half feet tall with green skin—covered in big, horny, triangular scales like a lizard. Their red or scarlet eyes were striped with yellow bands and their lipless mouths made them look like disgusting turtles. A fleshy, brown growth swelled out of the top of their oval heads and their bony fingers ended in retractable claws.
They looked nice and pretty, however, compared to the Procyonians! These giant monsters, 13 feet-tall with blue, phosphorescent, hairy skin, had four arms ending in pincers a little like lobsters. Their huge, flabby head with weird, bulging face, had only one eye, one remarkable eye, cloudy and yellowish, from which a milky liquid leaked. The puss dripped down the oily face and mixed with the purple drool that seeped out of the repulsive, thick-lipped mouth.
The Heads of State twisted their faces in disgust, standing up from their seats and troubled by this nightmarish vision.
“Don’t be afraid,” Zimko quickly advised. “These creatures are harmless now. Under the mechano-psychic control of our bio-electric brains, they obey only us.”
With a friendly wave of his hand he invited Honky to continue.
“Right now cameras are filming these creatures as well as this assembly and our words are being recorded. Copies of the sound and images will be sent to Earth where all the radio and TV studios will broadcast them in a few hours to the population. Tomorrow, Dear Representatives of the Earth Nations, you’ll just have to personally confirm the truth of this information to your citizens.
“Zimko and I are sure that these ugly creatures and the threat looming over your civilization will motivate the union of all peoples without delay. It would be preferable to have peace on Earth and the unity of its inhabitants come from their wisdom. Alas! I have to admit that Earthlings are not wise enough yet to unite in a Global United States as was encourage in 1955 by a great Frenchman, Bernard Dewavrin15. Therefore, it would take a threat from outer space to unite human beings! And this threat is here, under your very noses. Will you hesitate, Gentlemen, to drop your quarrels and your ideological, economical and sectarian differences in the face of this planetary invasion?”
And they witnessed a scene never before seen in the UN assemblies: they saw the Heads of State, in a sincere and spontaneous spirit, shake hands warmly, hug one another and even—breaking all protocol—the US President give a friendly slap on the back to President Koulski while he hugged the British Prime Minister.
The day after this historic moment, in cheerful moods, Earthlings were glad to learn by the newspaper, radio and television that following an international agreement from the World Assembly in the Polarian astrobase, the constitution of the Global United States had been drawn up and approved unanimously. The Earth and Polarian economists, sociologists and scientists were going to study the methods of cultural and economic exchange between the two related races. Borders would be abolished and the currency unified.
The planet Kodha was already sending to Earth a squadron of giant spaceships transporting gifts offered by the Polarian authorities to their Earthling brothers. Machines, medicine, real “miracles” and everything our civilization needed would arrive to benefit humanity that had finally united.
An Earth-Polarian general staff got together to study a plan of defense on a global scale.
A team of technicians was chosen from the greatest specialists of all the countries to leave Earth and travel to the Polarian bases on the Moon, Mars, Venus and other planets of the solar system.
The entire globe was quivering with unprecedented energy. Despite the threat—that many humans still considered to be distant—an atmosphere of joy spread under the skies. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet refugees living in Western Europe went back home, guaranteed not to suffer retribution. The quarrels and disagreements were quashed and in a spirit of fraternity people found a new lease on life.
Civilization was at the dawn of a grand and sublime renewal.
Of course, everyone felt their hair stand on end in fright on seeing the videos of the abominable Denebians and Procyonians, but with the powerful Polarians as allies these monsters would have to watch out. The tacticians in the bars animatedly described the casualties in their ranks at the hands of our “Ancestors from the Future” as they were already calling the Polarians.
“Leagues of Cosmic Love” formed mostly by old spinsters or idealistic mystics preached the mating of races with the secret hope of one day seeing themselves swept away by some handsome knight from outer space aboard a shining spaceship. Maidens (and others) once dreamed of a prince charming. Now they were dreaming of Conquerors from Oute
r Space!
The religions, after a moment of confusion before these human-like strangers to Earth, agreed to admit that “nothing could limit the all powerful Divinity.” If God, in His infinite wisdom, had endowed Earth with thinking creatures, He could very well had extended His creation to other worlds. And nothing in the Holy Scriptures flatly denied this very wise reasoning. Quite the contrary.
Many exegetes and Church Fathers re-examining the Holy Texts called up Jesus’ ambiguous words full of deep esoteric meaning: I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen [John 10:16]. They also mulled over this enigmatic saying: My Father’s house has many rooms [John 14:2] and they understood why Christ once said: My kingdom is not of this world [John 18:36].
A revival of faith, purified by Knowledge, spread through the human race that swelled with love and set to work with courage and hope on contributing to the development of a new society.
The sublime faith of cathedral builders, earning salvation through their work, took hold of Earthlings, brought them together and united them by the truly sacred bonds that unite brother to brother.
How good it was to work with the wise help of our older brothers, the Men from Outer Space with altruistic and charitable sentiments.
Yes, for sure, Procyonians and Denebians had better watch out!
A small, dark disc, around 30 feet in diameter, whose security system absorbed radar waves and thus kept it from being spotted, was slowly drifting through the dark night of space. It had just captured the radio and television emissions from Earth and was filming the start of their alliance with the Polarians, Wolfians and Centaurians.
The two pilots of the reconnaissance ship, with their green, scaly shell glistening under the bank of lights of the axial cabin, had an ironic look in their red eyes as they watched the images on the screen above their control panels.
A vertical tube over the screen suddenly flashed a series of red pulses. The creatures’ claws slammed down on a button and the spaceship launched into space at extraordinary speed. With the security system absorbing the radar waves—instead of bouncing them back to their point of origin—they would have been spotted by two flying saucers from the Space Commandos.
After exchanging messages with their mobile base set up on an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter, they headed back to Earth and were soon flying over Russia. It was nighttime on this side of the globe and their ship, with its jet-black hull, passed totally undetected.
Working methodically the Denebian spies had been spying for 48 hours on the movements of the enemy spacecraft. In the evening they had seen the giant “cigars” unload some material for the USSR and take off for the USA where they did the same thing before heading back to their planet. Since the coast was clear they landed silently in the suburbs about two miles west of Moscow.
After sweeping the surrounding area with the beams from their psychic probes to make sure that no Polarian was around, they turned off all the lights inside their ship and opened the exterior hatchway.
From the ventral hold they pulled out the bodies of three Polarians in Space Commando uniforms and dragged them to the edge of the hatch. From there they went down to the snowy ground and then back to the hold. Inside were two Earthlings, skinny and dressed in rags, bearing marks of whipping on their chest and neck, lying on the metal floor. The Denebians activated the small device (a cube covered with phosphorescent pins) that they wore on their chest and the two men got up, slowly, like robots. On the order of the guards one of them grabbed a rectangular case, about one by two feet, and along with his companion jumped to the ground.
Obeying the mental orders of the green monsters the three Polarians stood up but did not move. Facing the Earthlings, they, too, looked unconscious.
Pressing the control buttons of their weird cubes—thought projectors—the Denebians watched carefully as one of the Earthlings approached the Polarians. The man, spurred on by a sudden fervor, threw them to the ground and started tearing at their bodysuits until they were ripped to shreds. Then, with all his strength, he punched them in the face, pummeled their bodies and taking a knife out of his pocket he finished them off.
Calmly, having followed the orders of his guards, he went back to them. The green monsters retracted their claws, then punched him hard in the face, over and over, splitting his lower lip and over his eye and ripping his shirt to pieces. The unconscious man, horribly knocked around, stood up and took the box that his companion was holding. Then he waited. The Denebians went up to the second prisoner and gave him the same treatment.
Covered in blood, ragged and shaggy, the two men looked like they had just come out a fierce battle. One final psychic order came to them and the poor men seemed to regain consciousness. Straightaway they started running through the snow toward the lights of Moscow.
Shivering in his torn shirt one of them was holding on tight to the mysterious case.
Satisfied with their clever ploy the Denebians took off silently and at high speed set their course for their secret base.
Marshall Gorochenko, standing at attention in front of President Koulski, watched on worriedly as he paced nervously up and down the wool carpet covering the floor of his office.
“It’s unthinkable!” the President shouted. “I refuse to put faith in the ravings of these men!”
“But, Mr. President,” the Marshall said, “I tell you that I personally checked their accounts. I saw the indisputable traces of a fight in the snow around the three Polarian corpses. And I swear to you that these poor survivors have wounds and bruises proving without a doubt the violence they suffered at the hands of their… executioners.”
“Bring these men in! I’m telling you that if I find they’re lying I’ll have them executed without mercy!”
The two Earthlings, acting under the psychic orders of the Denebians, were brought into the President’s office. Bandaged and dressed more warmly than when they were found by the MVD patrol, they bowed before President Koulski.
“Are you Russian?” the President growled. “How did you manage to… do what you did?”
“Yes, Mr. President, we are Russians and we belong to the Earth-Polarian Alliance. We were invited one day to take a study trip with other members of the organization, French, American, English and Australians, on board a flying saucer. When we got to Kodha, the Polarians’ home, they took us around the splendid cities to show us their architecture. We were never alone and this made us curious.
“Petruski and I decided one night to slip away from our guides who were very kind but far too inclined to control out visit. We managed to escape their discreet surveillance and at dawn, to our great surprise, we found something that they had carefully hidden from us: a penal colony! A kind of camp where Polarian guards were constantly whipping Earthlings and a few Denebians slaving away.
“We’d been fooled! The Polarians with their pretty speeches had managed to coerce us out of love for our race whereas their real goal was to enslave us. After their contact with us they figured on making us the witnesses of their good intentions, their altruism and their desire to help us and protect us from the Denebians. And we were buying it just like the Heads of State bought it a few days ago during that famous contact. In truth, the Polarians are diabolical men whose dirty but very clever Machiavellianism has only one goal: to break down the Earthlings’ suspicions of them by raising the specter of an interstellar war started by the Denebians and Procyonians.
“Really, this is all a great big fraud. The Denebians and Procyonians are not our enemies! On the contrary they are the ones fighting against the power-hungry Polarians, these pseudo-men who have fooled us in this vile way. Oh, they’re clever! They’ve brought hundreds of tons of material, gifts from their race to their younger brothers here on Earth… as they say. In fact, these gifts have no other purpose but to build up our trust in them. When they’re implanted in every country of the world, they’ll change tactics and reveal themselves in their real light: as conquerors of Earth!
“And you, Mr. President, and all the other Heads of State on the planet, will have helped them without knowing it!
CHAPTER VI
Unconscious victims, repeating with unbelievable ease the psychic orders implanted in their minds by the Denebians, the two men, impassioned and persuasive, had shaken up President Koulski. The victim of an emotion that he did not try to hide, he ran his hand nervously through his gray hair and in a flat voice said, “Continue with your account…”
“So, we were found by the Polarians at the edge of the camp and immediately locked in there where we found other Earthlings who, like us, had uncovered the hidden goals of our so-called allies. Procyonians and Denebians, captured in space battles, were our partners in misery. Except for looking like monsters to the Earthlings, these creatures, quite peaceful, would have no problem being presented to us as monsters thirsting after Earth. And all the Heads of State, unfortunately, took these false accusations as proven truths!
“Taking advantage of the commotion in the city from the contact, we escaped and hid in one of the many spaceships about to depart for Earth. Hiding in the hold of a flying saucer, we landed last night not far from Moscow.
“In desperation and feeling better that we were back home, we decided to risk leaving. Armed just with a knife we took advantage of a break by the crew of three Polarians, to escape. Unfortunately, on opening the exterior hatch the pilots woke up and jumped on us. After a violent fight we came out the winners without them being able to use their awful disintegrator rays.”
Petruski cut in, “And we can prove the existence of this damned camp on Kodha where Earthlings, Denebians and Procyonians are working and dying. In fact, when we escaped the penal colony we were able to steal a camera, with film, that the chief was using to film his prisoners. This might seem weird to us but as my comrade told you the surveillance in the camp loosened up a lot right before the departure of the space squadron for Earth.”