soundly.They had released parachute flares and located the village of Naousa.Parachutists with field radios had jumped, while other flares burned tolight them to the ground. That was that. Judging by the placards, theirreports had borne out the story Coburn had brought down. There would bea motorized Greek division on the way to take charge of thefour-thousand-odd unconscious raiders. There was probably an advanceguard there now.
But there was no official news. Even the Greek newspapers called itrumors. Actually, it was leaked information. It would be reasonable forthe Greek government to let it leak, look smug, and blandly say "Nocomment" to all inquiries, including those from Bulgaria.
But behind that appearance of complacency, the Greek government would begoing quietly mad trying to understand what so fortunately had happened.And Coburn could tell them. But he knew better than to try without somesort of proof. Yet, he had to tell. The facts were more important thanwhat people thought of him.
The cab stopped before his own office. He paid the driver. The driverbeamed and said happily: "_Tys nikisame, e?_"
Coburn said, "_Poly kala. Orea._"
* * * * *
His office was empty. It was dustier than usual. His secretary wasprobably taking a holiday since he was supposed to be out of town. Hegrunted and sat down at the telephone. He called a man he knew.Hallen--another American--was attached to a non-profit corporation whichwas attached to an agency which was supposed to cooeperate with acommittee which had something to do with NATO. Hallen answered the phonein person.
Coburn identified himself. "Have you heard any rumors about a Bulgarianraid up-country?" he asked.
"I haven't heard anything else since I got up," Hallen told him.
"I was there," said Coburn. "I brought the news down. Can you comeover?"
"I'm halfway there now!" said Hallen as he slammed down the phone.
Coburn paced up and down his office. It was very dusty. Even the seat ofthe chair at his secretary's desk was dusty. The odds were that she wascoming in only to sort the mail, and not even sitting down for that. Heshrugged.
He heard footsteps. The door opened. His secretary, Helena, came in. Shelooked surprised.
"I was at lunch," she explained. She had a very slight accent. She hungup her coat. "I am sorry. I stopped at a store."
He had paused in his pacing to nod at her. Now he stared, but her backwas turned toward him. He blinked. She had just told a very transparentlie. And Helena was normally very truthful.
"You had a good trip?" she asked politely.
"Fair," said Coburn. "Any phone calls this morning?" he asked.
"Not this morning," she said politely.
She reached in a desk drawer. She brought out paper. She put it in thetypewriter and began to type.
Coburn felt very queer. Then he saw something else. There was a fly inthe office--a large, green-bodied fly of metallic lustre. Theinhabitants of Salonika said with morbid pride that it was a specialtyof the town, with the most painful of all known fly stings. And Helenaabhorred flies.
It landed on the bare skin of her neck. She did not notice. It stayedthere. Ordinarily she would have jumped up, exclaiming angrily in Greek,and then she would have pursued the fly vengefully with a foldednewspaper until she killed it. But now she ignored it.
Hallen came in, stamping. Coburn closed the door behind him. He feltqueer at the pit of his stomach. For Helena to let a fly stay on herneck suggested that her skin was ... somehow not like its usual self.
"What happened to those Bulgarians?" demanded Hallen.
Coburn told him precisely what he'd seen when he arrived in Naousa afteran eight-mile hike through mountains. Then he went back and told Hallenprecisely what he'd seen up on the cliffside.
"His cameras were some sort of weapon. He played it on the marchingcolumn, it took effect and they went to sleep," he finished. "I tookthem away from him and brought them down, but--"
He told about the contents of the camera cases being turned to a gritty,sooty powder. Then he added: "Dillon set them to destroy themselves. Youunderstand. He's not a man. He's a creature from some planet other thanEarth, passing for a human being. He's an Invader from space."
Hallen's expression was uneasy and compassionate but utterlyunbelieving. Helena shivered and turned away her face. Coburn's lipswent taut. He reached down to his desk. He made a sudden, abruptgesture. Hallen caught his breath and started up.
* * * * *
Coburn said curtly: "Another one of them. Helena, is that foam-suitcomfortable?"
The girl jerked her face around. She looked frightened.
"Helena," said Coburn, "the real Helena, that is, would not sit down ona dusty chair. No woman would. But you did. She is a very truthful girl.You lied to me. And I just stuck pins in your shoulder and you didn'tnotice. They're sticking in your foam suit now. You and the creaturethat passed for Dillon up-country are both aliens. Invaders. Do you wantto try to convince me otherwise?"
The girl said evenly: "Mr. Coburn, I do not think you are well--"
Then Coburn said thickly: "I'm crazy enough to put a bullet through youif your gang of devils has harmed the real Helena. What's happened toher?"
Hallen moved irresolutely to interfere. But the girl's expressionchanged. She smiled. "The real Helena, Mr. Coburn," said an entirely newvoice, "has gone to the suburbs to visit her fiance's family. She isquite safe."
There was dead silence. The figure--it even moved like Helena--gotcomposedly to its feet. It got its coat. It put the coat on. Hallenstared with his mouth open. The pins hadn't convinced him, but theutterly different voice coming from this girl's mouth had. Yet, waves ofconflicting disbelief and conviction, horror and a racking doubt, chasedthemselves over his features.
"She admits she's not Helena!" said Coburn with loathing. "It's nothuman! Should I shoot it?"
The girl smiled at him again. Her eyes were very bright. "You will not,Mr. Coburn. And you will not even try to keep me prisoner to prove yourstory. If I screamed that you attack me--" the smile widened--"Helena'sgood Greek friends would come to my assistance."
She walked confidently to the door and opened it. Then she said warmly:"You are very intelligent, Mr. Coburn. We approve of you very much. Butnobody will believe you."
The office door closed.
Coburn turned stiffly to the man he'd called to hear him. "Should I haveshot her, Hallen?"
Hallen sat down as if his knees had given way beneath him. After a longtime he got out a handkerchief and painfully mopped his face. At thesame time he shivered.
"N-no...." Then he swallowed. "My God, Coburn! It's true!"
"Yes," said Coburn bitterly, "or you're as crazy as I am."
Hallen's eyes looked haunted. "I--I ..." He swallowed again. "There's noquestion about the Bulgarian business. That did happen! And you werethere. And--there've been other things.... Rumors.... Reports thatnobody believed.... I might be able to get somebody to listen...." Heshivered again. "If it's true, it's the most terrible thing that everhappened. Invaders from space.... Where do you think they came from,Coburn?"
"The creature that looked like Dillon could climb incredibly fast. I sawit run and leap. Nothing on Earth could run or leap like that." Coburnshrugged. "Maybe a planet of another sun, with a monstrous gravity."
"Try to get somebody to believe that, eh?" Hallen got painfully to hisfeet. "I'll see what I can do. I ... don't know that I can do anythingbut get myself locked up for observation. But I'll call you in an hour."
He went unsteadily out of the door. Coburn instantly called the BreenFoundation on the telephone. He'd left Janice there less than an hourbefore. She came to the phone and gasped when she heard his voice.Raging, he told her of Helena, then cautioned her to be especiallycareful--to be suspicious of everybody.
"Don't take anybody's word!" snapped Coburn. "Doubt everybody! Doubt me!Until you're absolutely certain. Those creatures are everywhere.... Theymay pretend to be anybody!"
/> After Coburn hung up on Janice, he sat back and tried to thinklogically. There had to be some way by which an extra-terrestrialInvader could be told instantly from a human being. Unmask and proveeven one such creature, and the whole story would be proved. But howdetect them? Their skin was perfectly deceptive. Scratched, of course,they could be caught. But one couldn't go around scratching people.There was nothing of the alien creature's own actual form that showed.
Then Coburn remembered the Dillon foam suit. The head had been hollow.Flaccid. Holes instead of eyes. The creature's own eyes showed through.
But