"A little over three years ago," he went on, "an unidentified flying object--" "You interested in flying saucers, General?" I said. "By no means," he snapped. "The object appeared on a number of radar screens, descending from extreme altitude. It came to earth at ..." he hesitated. "Don't tell me you came all the way out here to tell me you can't tell me," I said. "--A site in England," Smale said. "American aircraft were dispatched to investigate the object. Before they could make identification, it rose again, accelerated at tremendous speed, and was lost at an altitude of several hundred miles." "I thought we had better radar than that," I said. "The satellite program--" "No such specialized equipment was available," Smale said. "An intensive investigation turned up the fact that two strangers--possibly Americans--had visited the site only a few hours before the--ah--visitation." I nodded. I was thinking about the close call I'd had when I went back to see about lobbing a bomb down the shaft to obliterate the beacon station. There were plainclothes men all over the place, like old maids at a movie star's funeral. It was just as well; they never found it. The rocket blasts had collapsed the tunnel, and apparently the whole underground installation was made of non-metallic substances that didn't show up in detecting equipment. I had an idea metal was passé where Foster came from. "Some months later," Smale went on, "a series of rather curious short films went on exhibition in the United States. They showed scenes representing conditions on other planets, as well as ancient and prehistoric incidents here on earth. They were prefaced with explanations that they merely represented the opinions of science as to what was likely to be found on distant worlds. They attracted wide interest, and with few exceptions, scientists praised their verisimilitude." "I admire a clever fake," I said. "With a topical subject like space travel----" "One item which was commented on as a surprising inaccuracy, in view of the technical excellence of the other films," Smale said, "was the view of our planet from space, showing the earth against the backdrop of stars. A study of the constellations by astronomers quickly indicated a 'date' approximately 7000 B.C. for the scene. Oddly, the north polar cap was shown centered on Hudson's Bay. No south polar cap was in evidence. The continent of Antarctica appeared to be at a latitude of some 30 degrees, entirely free of ice." I looked at him and waited. "Now, studies made since that time indicate that nine thousand years ago, the North Pole was indeed centered on Hudson's Bay," Smale said. "And Antarctica was in fact ice-free." "That idea's been around a long time," I said. "There was a theory----"