Invaders from Nowhere

Chapter II. The Great God Ng

THEY rose and paraded out, all six.

The Alans attracted much attention. Willard Butland mentally went over several theories to account for his experiences. The most promising one seemed to be that there was a personal devil after all, and these were-his agents.

Near Antonio's stood the Megapolitan Theater. Along the nearest wall of the theater was a row of bronze frames containing advertisements of current and coming attractions.

From one of these beamed the face of Mickey Mouse, who had entertained the old and young of five continents for nearly a century.

The Alans saw Mickey and stopped, chattering among themselves and saying "Ng! Ng!" Zrap told their escorts: "This must be the temple of Ng that one of our intra-universal explorers reported! We must go in at once to pay our respects, and see how nearly correct his worship is."

In they went. Butland fumbled for ticket-money, but the Alans urged him on. They walked up to the ticket-taker, who looked horrified but did not demand tickets, and in.

The Alans did not seem to mind being stared at. One of those who stared remarked:

"Say, ain't that a wonderful piece of makeup? You'd think they really was Mickey Mice!"

When they had been seated for some minutes, Sfong the missionary said: "It is not seemly to use a temple of Ng for frivolous entertainment. I see where you poor creatures will afford a fertile field for our activities."

The Alans were silent until the animated cartoon appeared. Then they bounced out of their seats crying "Ng! Ng! Ng!" They pushed out to the aisle, threw themselves prone, and went through that diabolical exercise which the U. S. Army misleadingly calls the "leaning rest"; in other words, a series of pushups.

When they had completed these they rose. Sfong said loudly: "What is the matter, people? Why do you not do obeisance to the great lord Ng?" People shushed them, and ushers came in to eject them. The first ushers went cringing away under the impact of their unexplained power to inspire fear. But the power would not, apparently, work on many ushers at a time. And there were plenty of ushers...

The picture went off and the lights on. Zrap said something in his own language to the other Alans, and they ceased their resistance.

The ticket-taker pointed out Kitty Blake, Piper, and Butland, who tried to look inconspicuous. They were ordered to come along.

It was Willard Butland's first ride in a paddy wagon. He sat on the hard, narrow seat with his head in his hands. Piper told him to cheer up. Butland moaned: "But me—of all people—"

The Alans were quite composed. Sfong said in a kindly tone: "Do not fear, it was not your fault. It was the will of Ng. All will be well. But still I do not understand the customs of your people, to display such heathenish indifference to a cinematic representation of Ng."

Piper tried to explain that Mickey Mouse had been invented many decades before by a man named Disney, and that the character had no theological connotations.

This seemed to perplex the Alan missionary more than ever.

THE desk sergeant at the police station showed incredulity when confronted by the Alans, and more when they gave their names and origin. He looked them over carefully and called the zoo. The director of the zoo arrived, saw, and refused to take any responsibility for the Alans. The desk sergeant then called the commissioner. The commissioner called the mayor. The mayor called the President of the United States. The President dispatched an undersecretary of state named Wilmington Stroud to New York by airplane to look into the matter of the alleged visitors from another planet.

By the time Wilmington Stroud arrived it was morning. Kitty Blake, Piper, and Butland were asleep on each others' shoulders.

The undersecretary of state was a tall, baldish man with pince-nez. He faced the Alans with a sang-froid equalling their own."How do you do," he said."Am I to understand that you wish to communicate with the government of the United States?"

The Alan named Vlik replied: "That is right. My Senator, the Great Black Father of the world of Ala, sends greetings to your Senator." Vlik opened a pocket in his skin and took out a small black disk, which he handed to Stroud. "This is for you. You adjust for distance with that knob, and hold the device against your ear."

Stroud did so, then jumped."My word! I seem to be hearing things out in the street!"

The Alan smiled."That is precisely what you are doing. That receiver, being set for fifty feet and aimed toward the street, hears what you would hear were you fifty feet away in that direction."

"Amusing," said Stroud, and dropped the object in his pocket."And now, my dear sirs, what other evidence have you to substantiate your story?"

The Alans looked at one another. Vlik said: "That is easy. We will take you back to Ala with us."

"Oh, now really—"

"It will not take long. Me need merely go back to the eating-place where we broke through into this universe."

Wilmington Stroud smiled a superior smile."If it's as simple as all that, I'll give you chaps a chance to demonstrate."

The police-sergeant said: "Better take those three along, Mr. Stroud. If it's a put-up job they're in on it. They was with the Mickey Mice foist."

Back they went to Antonio's, Stroud in a luxurious State Department car and the rest in the paddy-wagon.

A man in an apron opened the door. Two other men were cleaning the floor of Antonio's. The chairs were stacked, the tables were bare, and the restaurant— or sink of iniquity—had a cheerless air.

The Alans found the alcove in which they had appeared. They arid the undersecretary slid themselves around the red-leather seat. The cops pushed Kitty Blake, Willard Butland, and Rex Piper toward the seat. These three protested that they did not want to go to Ala. They were forced into their places nevertheless.

"Now," said Zrap, "we go to Ala."

WHICH they did, just like that. The Alans gave no visible signal, and manipulated no visible gadgetry. There was no sound, no jar, no anything. Yet the sink of iniquity disappeared and was instantly replaced by an entirely different room, as quickly as a shift of scene in the movies. One second they had been in Antonio's; the next second they were in a circular room whose yellow walls bulged outward spherically. The room contained a table, a couple of chairs, and two more Mickey Mice.

Butland abandoned the theory that the Alans were genuine devils. This place did not look at all like Hell. It had no visible doors or windows. It was well lighted, but no lamps or other sources of illumination were visible.

The young missionary observed with rising alarm that his companion's color-schemes had changed in bizarre fashion. Kitty Blake's reddish-brown hair was an unpleasant olive-green, and her skin was lemon-colored.

He said: "Miss Blake, your hair is green."

Kitty Blake squeaked with dismay, then recovered herself. She said: "So's yours. And your eyes are purple."

Wilmington Stroud said: "I say!" He took off his glasses and polished them. By the time he had put them back on his nose he had recovered his glacial self-possession. Rex Piper muttered something banal about going on the wagon.

Zrap, Vlik, and Sfong talked to the two other Alans in their own language.

Willard Butland had been moving his lips silently. He now said to his human companions: "Don't you think we all ought to pray to God?"

Piper shrugged."I'm afraid this is out of Yahveh's territory. Ng's the boss here."

"Rex, you're a hopeless—"

"Don't talk rot, you two," snapped Stroud. "Nothing's happened to us."

"Yet," added Kitty Blake.

Zrap addressed the quartet in English: "Friends, as we are back in Ala, my colleague Vlik outranks me. He will conduct you to the Great Black Father."

Vlik started off. The four followed him. Vlik walked toward the curved wall, on which a thin red line denned a rectangle about the size of a door. Instead of opening anything, Vlik marched through the wall and disappeared. The others halted.

"Go on," said Zrap."Put your trust in Ng."

Stroud extended a cautious finger. It went into the wall without resistance. The undersecretary followed. So did the others.

Butland had an instant of total darkness. Then he was in another spherical room, much like the previous one. A Mickey Mouse sat behind a desk. Vlik talked into its ear. At least, the people assumed that Vlik was the one standing; the Alans all looked as much alike as a bucketful of crabs.

VLIK straightened up and said: "Friends, this is Senator of Ala, Bvin Drula Vunyup Ghob Hlong Sam Dzak Hmelk Froebvet Ing."

Stroud said coolly: "We're very much honored, I'm sure. Are we supposed to bow from the waist or stand on our heads or what?"

"No," said Vlik."Such punctilio is not expected of aborigines. The Senator wishes you to know that, because of our admiration for your struggle toward civilization, we have decided that you deserve a helping hand. We shall therefore establish a mission near the portal between this term of the universal series and yours, to spread the true worship of Ng among you."

Stroud said: "You will, eh? Very kind of you. I shall have to consult my government about that, though."

The two Alans spoke in their own language. Vlik said to Stroud: "That will be quite unnecessary. We shall establish the mission entirely with our own resources, without making any demands on your tribe for labor or materials or anything else."

"I'm afraid you don't understand," said Stroud."You see my country has things called laws, which determine who is allowed to enter it and under what conditions."

More consultation. The whiskers that stuck out from the sides of the Alans' noses quivered with a suggestion of amusement. Vlik said: "If your tribal government wishes to put its official approval on our acts, it is quite welcome to do so."

Stroud said: "My good fellow, has it occurred to you that my tribal government, as you see fit to call it, may disapprove?"

More quivering of whiskers. Vlik said: "Disagreement between master and pupil would be unfortunate, do you not think? There is no sense in it, since we have only your best interests at heart. To convince you of this, will you step this way?"

As they did so, wondering what was up, a section of the wall vanished, or at least became transparent. In front of them was a flat plain stretching out of sight in all directions. On it grew plants that suggested a desert: barrel-shaped spiny things. Overhead tall banks of clouds rode through a purple sky.

"You see the plains of Ala," said Vlik."Now watch."

Over the rim of the horizon came a number of dots, which swiftly grew into armored vehicles. These rushed straight at the window. Some of them were small, and rode on a dozen doughnut-shaped wheels. Others were a thousand feet long, and were supported on a single huge belt or caterpillar track as wide as themselves. They swelled to huge size and vanished.

Piper said: "Look as though they were doing a hundred. But I wonder how the big ones with the single track turn?"

The Alans' whiskers quivered. One of the large machines rushed back into view and described a wide figure-eight, throwing up clouds of sand and broken rock.

"Now how," said Rex Piper, "did the driver of that thing know I was going to ask that question? Are we looking at the real thing, or a movie, or what?"

The catwhiskers trembled. Vlik said: "Look up." The sky was filled with drifting dots. These were presumably flying machines.

"WHAT'S that?" asked Kitty Blake."A Lombardy poplar? It wasn't there a minute ago." She referred to a dark column that had sprung up on the horizon. Others appeared. They became larger, and were seen to be tall slender clouds of dirt thrown up by explosions. As they came closer, the four human beings gasped at their magnitude. Any one of these explosions would have wiped a terrestrial county off the face of its earth.

The explosions came closer until the audience flinched at each one, expecting the next to blow them up. The explosions ceased, leaving the landscape dotted with pits big enough to hold a fair-sized town.

A vast herd of animals trickled into the picture, trotting in streams of thousands of individuals around the edges of the pits, stopping intermittently to nibble at the cactus-like plants. They were nondescript, unspectacular beasts, with blunt muzzles, mule-like ears, leathery hides, large flat feet, and long thick tails. They looked somewhat like a lizard, a bear, and a rabbit rolled into one.

Then all at once these thousands of beasts dropped dead and melted and ran down the sides of the pits. The sight was not pleasant. When the Great Black Father saw that his visitors were on the verge of digestive upsets, the wall became opaque again.

"You see," said Vlik, "how regrettable would be a disagreement between us."

"I see," said Wilmington Stroud grimly."What, besides the establishment of your mission, do you want of us?"

Vlik spread his hands."Practically nothing. Save perhaps some of the substance you call wood. The plants of our world are all soft-bodied, and we could use some of the harder woods of yours."

Stroud said: "With such advanced science, I don't see why you need such an inferior material as wood."

"Ah, that is because wood is so common on your world that you do not appreciate its properties. We shall pay for the wood, of course, with things that you lack, such as the—I suppose you would call them parascopes and paraphones; those seeing and listening devices we have shown you."

"I'll tell my government," said Stroud noncommittally.

"That will be fine," beamed Vlik."This way, if you please." He walked through the wall again. When the others followed, they found themselves in a third spherical room with four couches and other furnishings. Vlik said: "Here you will remain for some days, as the portal is unfortunately in use. We shall return you to the earth as soon as possible."

Piper and Butland looked at one another. Each had a question he wanted to ask, but Butland was too inhibited a person. As Vlik's tail w-as disappearing through the wall, Piper called: "Mr. Vlik!"

"Yes?" The Alan's tail vanished, and his head popped through the wall. It looked like a mounted head, except for its lively speech and expression.

"We—uh—if you're going to leave us here for some hours—"

"Ah, I understand." Vlik pointed at the opposite side of the circular room, on whose wall at once appeared a green rectangular line."Through there." The head vanished, leaving nothing but smooth yellow wall. Piper extended a finger. The wall was solid to the touch. He walked across the room and touched the wall within the green rectangle.

This time his hand sank without resistance into the wall.

"Damn clever, these Alans," said Piper.

"Rex," said Butland, "I wish you wouldn't use such language—" His three companions gave him such withering looks that he subsided.