THE
INVADERS
ALIEN MISSILE THREAT
by
Paul S. Newman
My mom read me this book when I was a kid, it's all torn and tattered and falling apart now so I figured I would scan it in to digitally preserve it forever.
Posting chapter 1 tonight.
(Yeah, I know this cover is a crappy scan, I'll do a better one later.)
CHAPTER 1
UNEXPLAINED EXPLOSION
David Vincent sat in the motel room, his eyes riveted on the TV screen.
“These movies,” the announcer's voice continued, "were taken by a passenger on a flight to Arizona. It's a miracle that he looked up at exactly the right moment and had his camera in his hands, ready...."
On the colored screen, in slightly jerky motion, an exploding burst of orange color could be seen.
"The explosion took place in space," the voice announced excitedly.
David Vincent leaned forward. He was determined not to miss a word.
"Based on the altitude of the plane, the camera angle, and other technical data, scientists have determined that the mysterious explosion occurred some four hundred miles above the earth. The origin
of this powerful explosion is unknown."
Larger and larger the bursting ball of bright light grew on the screen as the amateur cameraman zoomed in on the strange space dis-play.
"All that is known is that neither we nor any other nation had a spacecraft in orbit anywhere near the site of the explosion. Nor do our military space tracking stations report any missile being lifted at that time."
A bright box of breakfast cereal
suddenly filled the screen. It was time for the commercial. David Vincent stepped quickly to the set and switched it off. For a moment he stood motionless. He was deep in thought. Suddenly he snapped his fingers. Quickly the architect turned the pages of the afternoon paper. It was a small article, date-lined that morning:
PUEBLO FLATS . . .
STRANGE SIGHTING!
While driving to his engineering project Steven Brent of Pueblo Flats reported seeing a strange, glowing object fall to the ground in flames.
When Mr. Brent reached the spot, he saw a glowing piece of metal too hot for him to touch. After waiting in vain for half an hour for the strange piece of metal to cool, he was forced to drive on to work.
That was all; the article said no more. But already David Vincent's thoughts were racing. He took a road map from his valise and spread it out on the bed. His finger ran down the index. "Pueblo Flats —L-fourteen," he murmured.
Quickly he found the point on the map and circled Pueblo Flats. Glancing at the mileage scale, he
could see the town was located out on the hot, southwestern plains, some hundred and fifty miles from his motel.
"Operator," he said, picking up the telephone receiver, "I want to call person-to-person to Mr. Steven Brent in Pueblo Flats. No, I don't know his number."
He waited as the operator put through the call. A woman answered and a moment later a man identifying himself as Steven Brent came on.
"Mr. Brent, I'm David Vincent.
I read the article about the piece of blazing metal you saw fall to earth. Did you ever go back to get it?"
"As a matter of fact," Brent replied with a slight laugh, "you're the second person to phone me about it. Yes, I did. On my way back from the dam project I stopped and found it again. It was cool by then. It's badly burned and a bit odd-looking. Can't decide what it came from. Probably a plane."
"If I drove down, might I examine it?"
"Sure," Brent replied. "Maybe
you can help me figure out what it is or where it came from."
"I think I can give you a rather startling lead."
"Oh? Well, it'll be in my work-shed. How's tomorrow? That's Saturday. I'll be home."
"Ten?"
"Fine."
David Vincent hung up and went outside. The moon was full in a cloudless sky and stars were faintly visible. From somewhere out there, David knew THEY had come, had landed on the earth. THEY were
the INVADERS, bent on conquering our planet. No, it wasn't a wild nightmare. He had seen them that night not so long ago. He had encountered those aliens, masquerading as humans, several times now. True, the police and authorities called him a crank and ignored his warnings and sighting reports. But their scorn and skeptical smiles would not deter him. He would continue his lone crusade against THE INVADERS no matter where they appeared. And now a chilling sensation, a quickening of his pulse,
told David that he was once again on the trail of the deadly aliens!
After downing a quick breakfast the next morning, he climbed into his rented car, flicked on the air-conditioning, and nosed south down the seemingly endless black ribbon of highway that slashed across the tan desert. Flowering cactus plants lined the highway, and occasionally a comical roadrunner darted across the highway in front of him.
About two and a half hours later he saw a road sign reading:
PUEBLO FLATS
David Vincent swung into a gas station, and while the attendant was filling the tank he got directions to Brent's home.
As he again drove out of town and down a side road he could see the green grass of irrigated farm land surrounding an attractive, contemporary ranch house with a slanting roof and glass walls.
A tall, thin man of thirty opened the door.
"I'm David Vincent," the architect explained, his hand extended.
Introductions were quickly made
and soon they were heading for a small wooden building in back of the house.
"I put that hunk of metal in here." Brent twisted the dial of the combination lock and then tugged open the door. They entered a good-sized, windowless shed. Its walls were lined with tools, and all sorts of construction models were piled on worktables. Suddenly, Brent stopped and pointed to an empty table.
"Gone! I left it here! It's gone!" he exclaimed.
That's it for tonight! Hopefully I can get all of chapter 2 scanned in tomorrow. This takes much more time than you would think, putting these pages together with the proper formatting is very time-consuming. Post if you are interested in more.
Neat. I've got the Space Ghost one.
Thank you
Neat
I do love me some classic sci-fi pulp.
NOICE! I'm so jelly, I want to scan that in now! I've been wanting to get the original show on DVD...
Old things from childhood make me want to cry.
Like you are already missing your parents even if they are not gone yet...
Also seeing old album pictures, they are really sad
>Old things from childhood make me want to cry.
really? Nostalgia fills me with warm and fuzzy feelings.