"And I'm supposed to believe the ship has been orbiting the earth for the last few thousand years, waiting for someone to push the red button? You call that logical?" "Given permanent materials, such as those the notebook is made of, it's not impossible--or even difficult." "We got out of the tunnel alive. Let's settle for that." "We're on the verge of solving a mystery that goes back through the centuries," said Foster, "a mystery that I've pursued, if I understand the journal, through many lifetimes----" "One thing about losing your memory: you don't have any fixed ideas to get in the way of your theories." Foster smiled grimly. "The trail has brought us here. We must follow it--wherever it leads." I lay on the ground, staring up at the unbelievable shape across the field, the beckoning square of light. "This ship--or whatever it is," I said; "it drops down out of nowhere and opens its doors. And you want to walk right into the cosy interior." "Listen!" Foster cut in. I heard a low rumbling then, a sound that rolled ominously, like distant guns. "More ships--" I started. "Jet aircraft," Foster said. "From the bases in East Anglia probably. Of course, they'll have tracked our ship in--" "That's all for me," I yelled, getting to my feet. "The secret's out--" "Get down, Legion," Foster shouted. The engines were a blanketing roar now. "What for? They--" Two long lines of fire traced themselves across the sky, curving down-- I hit the dirt behind the stone in the same instant the rockets struck. The shock wave slammed at the earth like a monster thunderclap, and I saw the tunnel mouth collapse. I twisted, saw the red interior of the jet tailpipe as the fighter hurtled past, rolling into a climbing turn. "They're crazy," I yelled. "Firing on----" A second barrage blasted across my indignation. I hugged the muck and waited while nine salvoes shook the earth. Then the rumble died, reluctantly. The air reeked of high explosives. "We'd have been dead now if we'd tried the tunnel," I gasped spitting dirt. "It caved at the first rocket. And if the ship was what you thought, Foster, they've destroyed something----" The sentence died unnoticed. The dust was settling and through it the shape of the ship reared up, unchanged except that the square of light was gone. As I watched, the door opened again and the ladder ran out once more, invitingly. "They'll try next time with nukes," I said. "That may be too much for the ship's defenses--and it will sure be too much for us--" "Listen," Foster cut in. A deeper rumble was building in the distance.