" ... so, therefore, it has become starkly apparent that the American people have been denied the information which would have made them aware of their own deadly danger. Invasion from space is now imminent." The Vice-President tensed. Had the stupid idiot gone mad? Or had he, the Vice-President, been in a fog when vital, top-secret information had been made public? He banged the gavel down hard, for want of a better gesture, and was grateful when a tall, dignified man with a look of deepest concern on his face rose from behind his desk out on the floor. "Will the Senator yield to his distinguished colleague from Pennsylvania?" Crane turned, scowling. "I will yield to no man on matters of grave import." With that he turned and continued with his revelations. "The people of this nation have been deprived of the knowledge that the invasion from space has already begun. A vanguard of hideous, half-human creatures have even now achieved a beach-head on our planet. Even now, the evil hordes from beyond the stars ..." The Vice-President looked around in a daze. Had someone forgotten to brief him? Had that project come to a head overnight? The last he'd heard there had been much doubt as to-- " ... The injustice perpetrated on the American people in this matter has been monstrous. And this is not because of any lack of knowledge on the part of the government. It has been because of the petty natures of the men to whom this secret has been entrusted. Jealousies have dictated policy where selfless public service was of the most vital importance ..." The floor was filling up. The visitor's gallery was wrapped in hushed silence. Newsmen, informed of sensational developments, were rushing down corridors. And the Vice-President was wondering why he hadn't had the good sense to refuse the nomination. " ... These invaders from another planet are not strangers to the men in power. It is on record that they are inhuman monsters capable of killing without mercy--yet they are quite ordinary in appearance. They walk the streets, unsuspected, among us. It is on record right here in Washington that these creatures are not human but, rather, soulless androids, manufactured to destroy us, by a race so far ahead of us in scientific knowledge that we are like children by comparison ..." "Will the Senator yield to the Senator from Alabama?" "I will not. I refuse to be gagged in the process of acquainting the American people with facts upon which their very survival depends." The floor was crowded now. The press and the visitors' galleries were packed as Senator Crane's words continued to boom forth. And in the press gallery a reporter from the Sioux City _Clarion_ looked at a representative of the London _Times_, and said, "Good God! He's gone off his rocker!" The Englishman, aloof but definitely enthralled, touched his mustache delicately and answered, "Quite." * * * * *