tations
would stay on the air all night, now that it was officially admitted
that the object in Boulder Lake was a spaceship bringing invaders to
earth. The government releases spoke of them as "visitors," in a
belated use of the term, but the public was suspicious of reassurances
now. At the beginning the landing had seemed like another exaggerated
horror tale of the kind that kept up newspaper circulations. Now the
public was beginning to believe it, and people might stop going to
their offices and the trains might cease to ran on time. When that
happened, disaster would be at hand.

The news came in a resonant voice which revealed these facts:

Four more small towns had been ordered evacuated because of their
proximity to Boulder Lake. The radiation weapon of the aliens had
pushed back the military cordon by as much as five miles. But the big
news was that the aliens had broken radio silence. Apparently they'd
examined and repaired the short wave communicator from the helicopter
they'd knocked down.

Shortly after sundown, said the news report, a call had come through
on a military short wave frequency. It was a human voice, first
muttering bewilderedly and then speaking with confusion and
uneasiness. The message had been taped and now was released to the
public.

_"What the hell's this ...? Oh.... What do you characters want me to
do? This feels like the short wave set from the 'copter.... Hmm....
You got it turned on.... What'll I do with it, Broadcast? I don't know
whether you want me to talk to you or to back home, wherever that
is.... Maybe you want me to say I'm havin' a fine time an' wish you
was here.... I'm not. I wish I was there.... If this is goin' on the
air I'm Joe Blake, radio man on the_ '_copter two 'leven. We were
headin' in to Boulder Lake when I smelled a stink. Next second there
were lights in my eyes. They blinded me. Then I heard a racket like
all hell was loose. Then I felt like I had hold of a power
transmission line. I couldn't wiggle a finger. I stayed that way till
the 'copter crashed. When I come to, I was blindfolded like I am now.
I don't know what happened to the other guys. I haven't seen 'em. I
haven't seen anything! But they just put me in front of what I think
is the 'copter's short wave set an' squeaked at me_--"

The recorded voice ended abruptly. The news announcer's voice came
back. He said that the member of the 'copter crew had given some other
information before he wa