Then came corroboration from the far corners of the world. The mystery ship had not visited one section only; it had made a survey of the whole civilized sphere, and the tales of those who had seen it were no longer laughed to scorn but went on the wires of the great press agencies to be given to the world. And with that the censorship imposed by the Department of War broke down, and the tragic story of the destruction of the 91st Air Squadron passed into written history. The wild tale of Captain Blake was on every tongue. An invasion from space! The idea was difficult to accept. There were scoffers who tried to find something here for their easy wit. Why should we be attacked? What had that other world to gain? There was no answer ready, but the silent lips of the men who had fallen spoke eloquently of the truth. And the world, in wonder and consternation, was forced to believe. Were there more to come? How meet them? Was this war--and with whom? What neighboring planet could reasonably be suspected. What had science to say? The scientists! The scientists! The clamor of the world was beating at the doors of science and demanding explanations and answers. And science answered. A conference was arranged in London; the best minds in the realms of astronomy and physics came together. They were the last to admit the truth that would not be denied, but admit it they must. And to some of the questions they found their answer. * * * * * It was not Mars, they said, though this in the popular mind was the source of the trouble. Not Mars, for that planet was far in the heavens. But Venus!--misnamed for the Goddess of Love. It was Venus, and she alone, who by any stretch of the imagination could be threatening Earth. What did it mean? They had no answer. The ship was the only answer to that. Would there be more?--could we meet them?--defeat them? And again the wise men of the world refused to hazard a guess. But they told what they knew; that Venus was past her eastern elongation, was approaching the earth. She of all the planets that swung around the sun came nearest to Earth--twenty-six million miles in another few weeks. Then whirling away she would pass to the western elongation in a month and a half and drive out into space. Venus circled the sun in a year of 225 days, and in 534 days she would again reach her eastern elongation with reference to the earth, and draw near us again. They were reluctant to express themselves, these men who made nothing of weighing and analyzing stars a million of light years away, but _if_ the popular conception was correct and _if_ we could pass through the following weeks without further assault, we could count on a year and a half before the menace would again return. And in a year and a half--well, the physicists would be working--and we might be prepared.