"Do you know, five minutes later there were at least twenty men in
that bay, most of them scientists? They don't seem to have found
anything suspicious. Visibility was bad, of course, and you can't
leave foot-prints in shingle--"
Hold on, what _is_ all this?
M'Clare says, "We've had two couriers while you were asleep. Yes, I
know it's not ordinarily possible for a ship on Mass-Time to get news.
One of these days someone will have an interesting problem in Cultural
Engineering, working out how to integrate some of these Space Force
secrets into our economic and social structure without upsetting the
whole of the known volume. Though courier boats make their crews so
infernally sick I doubt whether the present type will ever come into
common use. Anyway, we've had transcripts of a good many broadcasts
from Incognita, the last dated four days ago; and as far as we can
tell they're interpreting _Gilgamesh_ just as we meant them to.
"The missile, by the way, was experimental, waiting to be test-fired
the next day. The man in charge saw _Gilgamesh_ on the alarm screens
and got trigger-happy. The newscasters were divided as to whether he
should be blamed or praised; they all seem to feel he averted a
menace, at least temporarily, but some of them think the invaders
could have been captured alive.
"The first people on the scene came from a scientific camp; you and
Miss Laydon saw their lights on the way down. You remember that area
is geophysically interesting? Well, by extraordinary good luck an
international group was there studying it. They rushed straight off to
the site of the landing--they actually saw _Gilgamesh_, and she
registered on some of their astronomical instruments, too. They must
be a reckless lot. What's more, they started trying to locate her on
the sea bottom the next day. Found both pieces; they're still trying
to locate the nose. They were all set to try raising the smaller piece
when their governments both announced in some haste that they were
sending a properly equipped expedition. Jointly.
"There's been no mention in any newscast of anyone seeing fairies or
sea maidens--I expect the poor devil thinks you were a hallucination."
So we brought it off.
* * * * *
I am very thankful in a distant sort of way, but right now the
Incognitans have no more reality for me than the Lost Kafoozalum.
M'Clare came through alive.
I could spend a good deal of time just getting used to that fact, but
there is something I ought to say and I don't know how.