Page 80 (1/2)

"You are under arrest!"

"Good-by, my dear wife I aed through the door by the men in bronze mesh

"Good-by, good-by," said the toitches, fading away

The cell was neat and clean Without a book, Ettil was nervous He gripped the bars and watched the rockets shoot up into the night air The stars were cold and numerous; they see them

"Fools," whispered Ettil "Fools!"

The cell door opened One man with a kind of vehicle entered, full of books; books here, there, everywhere in the chanor loomed

"Ettil Vrye, ant to knohy you had these illegal Earth books in your house These copies ofWonder Stories, Scientific Tales, Fantastic Stories Explain" The ripped Ettil's wrist

Ettil shook hi to shoot me, shoot me That literature, from Earth, is the very reason why I won't try to invade them It's the reason why your invasion will fail"

"How so?" The assignor scowled and turned to the yellowed azines

"Pick any copy," said Ettil "Any one at all Nine out of ten stories in the years 1929, '30 to '50, Earth calendar, have every Martian invasion successfully invading Earth"

"Ah!" The assignor smiled, nodded

"And then," said Ettil, "failing"

"That's treason! Owning such literature!"

"So be it, if you wish But let me draw a few conclusions Invariably, each invasion is thwarted by a young man, usually lean, usually Irish, usually alone, named Mick or Rick or Jick or Bannon, who destroys the Martians"

"You don't believe that!"