THE ULTIMATE EVE
By H. SANFORD EFFRON
Her creators had no doubt of her
effectiveness. She would conquer this
planet ... the armed might of
Earth would vanish before her.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories Winter 1954.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
The sun had not yet taken the chill out of the early April morning thatbroke on the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, when the ship settled tothe ground. It was surprisingly large compared to the aircraft nativeto this planet, and yet ridiculously small to have brought enough menand material to launch an invasion across light years of space.
The landing went unobserved in this fearful year of 1955. The worldfaced too many crucial crises of their own making to consider thenecessity to be watchful for an extra-terrestrial invasion.
Hardly had the craft come to rest, when the outer lock slid noiselesslyopen and a small ladder-like stairway came down until it too hadtouched earth.
A man appeared in the doorway, pausing to study the landscape whichlay before him. His features, his body, were human. Despite his beingtoo well muscled, and his face unusually handsome, he would never havearoused suspicion of being from another planet.
Grunting in satisfaction, he permitted himself the pleasure of beingproud at having landed so near the cabin chosen as his goal. It hadbeen a wise choice, this picking of so well isolated a place as atesting ground for the weapon. A wisp of smoke, a dark smudge againstthe rich blueness of the sky, attested to the cabin's occupancy. Whathe was about to do seemed fitting, for even the scientists of thisplanet had used animal life to test their own puny weapons. Now he,man, would be the guinea pig to prove the devastation to be wroughtagainst all mankind native to this world.
He turned and spoke to someone within the lock. His language, whileresembling no earthly tongue, was not much different than perhapsEnglish to Chinese. It was foreign but not completely alien.
With the ease of a man accustomed to heavier gravity he went down theladder easily, turning when he reached the ground to look up at thelock.
And then to the edge of the air lock, she came—the weapon! There hadbeen no doubt in the minds of her creators as to her effectiveness—shewould conquer this planet. The armed might of Earth would vanishbefore her. Before the year had ended the invasion would have beenaccomplished. As a weapon, the Earth's H-Bomb might well be a merefirecracker. She had been tested against the men of her own planet andfound to be irresistible, but now would come the final test against theenemy without laboratory-controlled conditions.
The planet she had come from is unimportant, suffice to say theirtechnology had conquered space over a thousand years ago. For overhalf that time they had subjugated neighboring worlds until their rulehad spread to the borders of Earth. Scouting ships had been spying onEarth for the past two centuries and had brought back alarming reportsconcerning the rapidly expanding technology of this planet.
Soon after the aliens had discovered the secret of space flight hadcome the added knowledge planets could be conquered by other than theforce of arms. Psychological warfare had been developed to a fantasticdegree, making weapons more potent than any bombs of fissionablematerial.
There she stood, a monument to her creators. Eve, soon to be conquerorof the planet Earth.
To at