were somehow fastened to moving humanbeings. Then the scenes condensed into a cramped, jostling blackness asthe fifty crowded into the elevator and were lifted up the side of theship.
Next, were three views of a large room, bare except for what appeared tobe overhead cranes and other mechanical paraphernalia of a military shopor warehouse. For a while the fifty moved about restlessly, then thecameras swung about simultaneously to face a wall that slowly slidapart.
Rothwell froze. "Good Lord!"
Six murky _things_ moved from the open wall towards the cameras, whichfell back to the opposite side of the room. Each was large, many timesthe size of a man, but somehow indistinct, for the cameras didn't conveyany sense of shape or form. For an instant, one of the screens flashed apicture of a terrified human face, and arms raised protectively as theshadowy things moved in upon the group.
A projection snapped out from one, grabbed two of the humans, andhurled them into a corner. Then it motioned a dozen or so others over tothe same spot. With similar harsh, sweeping movements, the group ofhumans was quickly broken up into three roughly equal segments. One ofthe groups seemed to be protecting someone who appeared seriously hurt.A black tentacle lashed out and one of the screens went blank. Thenanother.
The third showed a small group pushed stumbling through a narrow door,down a short passageway, and abruptly into blackness. Something thatlooked like bars flashed across the screen, then a dark liquid trickledacross the camera lens, blotting out the view.
Eyes blazing, Rothwell whirled on Aku. "Throughout our history,Commander, humans have had one thing in common, our blasted pride! Wewill not turn over our young to slavery, and by hell if we die, we'lldie fighting!" He jerked up his coat sleeve, barked an order into asmall transmitter on his wrist, and, grabbing his daughter, threwhimself flat on the concrete.
Hesitating only an instant, Aku, his lieutenant, and the MPs hit theground as both spaceships vanished in a cataclysmic eruption of flameand steel.
Raising his head, Rothwell grinned crazily into the exploding debris,imagining nineteen other ships suddenly disintegrating under the rocketguns of nineteen different nations. He saw Earth, like a giantporcupine, flicking thousands of atom tipped missiles into space fromhundreds of submarines and secret bases--the war power of the greatnations, designed for the ruin of each other, united to destroy thealien fleet.
He turned to Aku, "Midgets, volunteers with miniature TV cameras ..." hestopped.
The commander and his lieutenant had flung their arms about each otherand were crying like babies. Tentatively, Aku reached towards him."Those things, the _Eleele_, from another galaxy." He struggled forwords. "They captured your scout crew and implanted memories ofthousands of ships to create fear and make it easier to take slavesbefore blasting you." He glanced up at the flashes in the sky. "This wastheir only fleet."
* * * * *
Rothwell glared. "You helped them."
Aku nodded miserably. "We had to. They thought you'd trust us because welook almost human. It was a trick that worked before." Tears streamedacross his face, matting the golden fur. "You see, the radioactiveplanets your men reported, one of them was--home."
THE END
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from _Amazing Stories_ January 1959. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.
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