Dr. Clayton's face was impassiveas a marble maskwhen he turned to youngCorelli. For a moment, the littlegroup stood there in embarrassedsilence in the classroom, shiftinguneasily from one foot to theother, feigning interest in thepaperweights upon Clayton'sdesk, or in the utterly uninspiringscenes on the sidewalk outsidethe window.
"You say, Corelli, that yousaw three—er, Martian—ships.Can you describe them?"
Corelli blinked as he felt theweight of his colleagues' eyesboring into him. "I didn't saythey were Martian, sir—onlythat they seemed to be unearthly.And they were not the conventionalsaucer-shaped things—theyacted like saucers skimmingacross the water. That'swhat made me think they weregenuine. And they didn't seem tobe going fast enough so that I'dexpect to hear a roar like a jet-plane.
"It struck me that this mightnot be the way they fly, naturally,but the way they might fly if thepilots were having trouble adjustingthe controls to a heavieratmosphere than they were usedto."
Clayton tapped the tabletopwith his fingers. "What aboutyou, Marty? Did you see threeships?"
Big Gene Marty, football star,was the least nervous. "Can't besure about ships, Doc," he rumbled."I did see somethingstrange disappearing over thehorizon. It—I mean they—mighthave been what Tony says;but whatever it was, there werethree of them. But I saw somethingelse, because I was lookingin another direction. What I sawfirst was a couple of funny-lookingshapes floating down near theground. Didn't look like parachutists,yet they seemed bigenough to be men—or at least,small men."
"Interesting. All right, whatabout the rest of you? How manysaw the ships?"
A chorus answered him. "Isee," Clayton mused. "Youall agree on the behavior. Andyou all think there were three—notfour—not two. Three?"
It was agreed.
Clayton rustled the pile ofnewspapers. "The reports in herevary. I learn with amazement thatyou gentlemen seem to havemissed completely the spurts offlame that issued from the alienships—flame which is reportedto have set a house on fire. Andno one seems to have noticedthat the invaders, in descending,glided on huge black wings."
Corelli blushed a fiery crimson."Dr. Clayton," he protested,"we aren't making these thingsup for popular consumption.We're just telling you what weactually saw—that is—what—what—we—sawlooked liketo us."
Clayton nodded. "Of course.That is all people were doingback in 1938 when the Martianslanded in New Jersey, at thetime Orson Welles presented aradio version of H. G. Wells''War of the Worlds'. Or whenthe 'Flying Saucer' craze firststarted. Or when Fantafilm puton their big publicity stunt forthe improved 3-D movie, 'TheOutsiders', and people saw thealiens over Broadway and heardthem address the populace inweird, booming tones.
"Gentlemen, I am not pleasedto find students of this Universityengaging in such unwantedextra-curricular activity asinventing interplanetary scares. Idon't think Washington will beamused, either."
Corelli clicked his heels. "Sir,"he stated in dignified tones, "Iresent these implicat