William Fitzgerald Jenkins - Operation Terror

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"I mention," said the general mildly, "that not one human being has
been killed by anything we've done. Would you expect traitors to be so
careful? Or spies?"

Lockley said thickly, "You stand there arguing. You're trying to make
me believe you. But there's Jill! What's happened to her? How did you
make her record that tape? Where's Jill? She won't tell me it's all
right!"

Headlights swept up to the floodlit space. The car stopped.

Jill came into view. She saw Lockley, standing against the rocket's
base. She ran.

She stood beside the general and Vale and Sattell. She looked worn and
desperately anxious.

"What have they done to you?" demanded Lockley fiercely.

She shook her head.

"N-nothing. I couldn't stay at the camp when I was so sure you'd come
to try to help me. So I came here. I don't know what they've told you
yet, but it's all right. We were fooled as the world has to be.
Believe it! Please believe it!"

"What have they done to you?" he repeated terribly.

"What have they done to the world?" demanded Jill. "They've made every
nation look to us as the defender of their freedom. And we are!
They've made everybody ready to fight against more monsters if they
come, and to fight against men if they try to enslave them with the
terror beam or anything else! Would traitors have done that?"

Lockley knew that he had to decide. It was an unbearable
responsibility. He was not convinced, even by Jill. But he was no
longer certain that he'd been right.

"Why didn't you kill me?" he demanded. "I could have been shot down
from a distance. You didn't have to come close to talk to me. If the
rocket blew, what would it matter?"

"You've got a protection against the terror beam," said the general
matter-of-factly. "So have we. But ours weighs two tons. Yours can be
carried without being a burden. And--" his eyes went to the unlikely
cheese grater over Lockley's shoulder--"and yours detonates
explosives. If we can equip the world with those, Lockley, we'll have
peace!"

Lockley thought of a decisive test. He grimaced.

"You want me to risk being a traitor! All right, what's in it for me?
What am I offered?"

The general shrugged, his eyes hardening. Vale spread out his hands.
Sattell snorted. Jill moistened her lips. Lockley turned upon her.

"You want me to believe," he said harshly. "What do you offer if I
turn over the thing to these men you say are honest men and neither
spies or traitors. What do you offer?"

She stared at him. Then she said quietly, "Nothing."

Lockley hesitated once more, for a long instant. But that was the
right answer. Nobody who'd been bought or bribed or frightened into
being a traitor would have thought of it.

"That," said Lockley, "by a strange coincidence happens to be my
price."

He ripped away a wire. He flung the queer combination of pocket radio
and cheese and nutmeg graters to the general.

"I'll explain later how it works," he said wearily, "--if I haven't
made a mistake."

* * * * *

After a suitable time the general came to him. Lockley was convinced,
now. The reaction of the men who'd been guards and truck drivers and
the like was conclusive. They regarded him with a certain cordial
respect which was not the reaction of either traitors or invaders.

"We've been checking that little device, Lockley," said the general
happily. "It's perfect for our purposes! So much better than a two-ton
generator to interfere with and cancel the terror beams! Marvelous!
And do you know what it means? With all the world believing we've been
attacked from space, and with our great show of taking back Boulder
Lake--"

"How will you manage that?" asked Lockley, without too much interest.

"The rocket," said the general, beaming. "When troops start into the
Park, the rocket takes off. It heads for empty space. And we explain
that the aliens went away when they found their weapon useless and we
started to get rough with them!"

"Oh," said Lockley listlessly.

"But the really beautiful thing," the general told him, "is your
gadget! They can be made by millions. Ridiculously cheap, they tell
me. Everybody in the world will want one, and we'll pass them out. No
government could stop that! Not even Russia! But--d'you see, Lockley?"

Lockley shook his head. He always had a tendency to look on the dark
side of future events. The future did not look bright to him.

"Don't you see?" demanded the general, chuckling. "They detonate
explosives, those little gadgets! There's no harm in that! Where
explosives are used in industry you've only to make sure that nobody
turns one on too close. In nine-tenths of the world, anyhow, civilians
aren't allowed to have guns. But think of the consequences there!"

Lockley was weary. He was dejected. The general grinned from ear to
ear.

"Why, when these are distributed, even the secret police can't go
armed! What price dictators then? For that matter, what price
soldiers? The cold war ends, Lockley, because there couldn't be a
conquering army in the modern sense. The tanks wouldn't run. The cars
would stall. And the guns--An invasion would have to be made with
horse-drawn transport and the troops armed with bows and spears. That
amounts to disarmament, Lockley! A consummation devoutly to be wished!
I'm going to look forward to a ripe old age now. I never could
before!"

* * * * *

Presently Lockley talked to Jill. She was constrained. She seemed
uneasy. Lockley felt that there wasn't much to say, now that Vale was
alive and well and there was no more danger for her. He offered his
hand to say good-bye.

"I think," she said with a little difficulty, "I think I should tell
you I'm not--engaged any longer. I--told him I--wouldn't want to be
married to someone whose work made him keep secrets from me."

Lockley tensed. He said incredulously, "You're not going to marry
Vale?"

She said nervously.

"No-o-o. I've told him."

Lockley swallowed.

"What did he say?"

"He--didn't like it," said Jill. "But he understood. I explained
things. He said--he said to congratulate you."

Lockley made an appropriate movement. She wept quietly, held close in
his arms.

"I was so afraid you didn't--you wouldn't--"

Lockley took appropriate measures to comfort her and to assure her
that he did and he would, forever and ever. A very long time later he
asked interestedly, "What did you say to Vale when he asked you to
congratulate me?"

"I said," said Jill comfortably, "that I would if things worked out
all right. And they have. I congratulate you, darling. Now how about
congratulating me?"

* * * * *

The rocket took off and went away into emptiness. This was near dawn,
when military announcements of the reoccupation of Boulder Lake were
being passed out to the news media. As much of the public as was awake
was informed that the monstrous aliens had fled from earth, their
intentions frustrated by the work of scientists. It wasn't necessary
for a large force to march in. A special detail took over at the lake
itself. Curiously enough, it seemed to be already there when the
question arose. It would report a regrettable absence of alien
artifacts by which the monsters might be kept in mind.

But there would be reminders. Later bulletins would report that the
United States was putting into quantity production the small,
individual protective devices which defied the terror beam and would
supply them to all the world. There could not be greater friendship
than that! The United States also proposed a world wide alliance for
defense against future attacks by space monsters, with pooled armament
and completely cooperative governments.

The world, obviously, would unite against monsters. And people in a
posture of defense against enemies from the stars obviously wouldn't
fight each other.

And there were some people who were pleased. They knew about the
possibilities of the small gadgets, brought down in production to the
size of a pack of cigarettes. Knowing what they could do, they waited
very interestedly to see what would happen in certain nations when
secret police couldn't carry firearms and soldiers could only be armed
with spears.

They expected it to be very interesting indeed.

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