“Is there any way we could get across the river?” Kathy asked. “Not a prayer,” the patrolman told her. “There’s this deep pool under the bridge and fast water at both ends of it.”
“A boat, maybe?”
“You could ask around,” the patrolman said. “Probably could get across the pool in a boat. If you can find a boat.”
“Up here,” said Chet, “everyone’s got a boat.”
“I wish you wouldn’t try,” said the patrolman. “I’d have check on my radio. Probably I’d be told not to let you go.”
“Any other way to get around?”
“Not on the roads. The roads are all closed.”
“How about the people over across the river?”
“There aren’t any people. That’s a primitive forest area there. Miles of forest. No one lives there.”
“Officer,” said Kathy, “could I have your name? Could I quote some of what you’ve told me?”
Proudly, the officer gave her his name. “But go easy on the quotes,” he said.
7. WASHINGTON, D.C.
Porter stood and watched the press corps enter the room. They seemed more subdued than usual and there were more of them than he had expected. After all, this was a late hour for a briefing.
They filed in and took seats, quietly waiting.
“I must beg your indulgence for the lateness of the hour,” he told them. “Perhaps we should have waited until tomorrow morning, but I thought some of you might want to know what we know. This, however, may not be a great deal more than you know.
“Basically, we only know that an object fell out of the sky near the town of Lone Pine in northern Minnesota. The Pine River flows just north of the town and the object fell so that it bridged the river, one end of it on the near bank, the other on the far bank. Curiously enough, it fell on a bridge that spanned the river. The bridge was demolished and a ear parked at the near end of it was crushed. No one, at the time, seems to have been in the car. Just before dark, the object moved across the river and, apparently, is still there.
“I think there is one additional matter to report. \Whether this ties up with the object that fell in Minnesota we don’t know, but tracking stations have discovered a previously unknown and rather large object in orbit about the Earth.”
The New York Times asked, “Mr. Secretary, you say large. Can you tell us how large and describe the orbit?”
“Mr. Smith,” said Porter, “no determination as to size has been made as yet. The best estimate is that it may measure some miles across. As to orbit, I think it is what is called a synchronous orbit. Its height is about 20,000 miles and its speed such as to match the revolution of the Earth. At the moment, as I understand it, it is hanging somewhere over Iowa.~~
“Dave,” asked the Chicago Tribune, “you say the new object has been detected by tracking stations. Does that mean it has just now been discovered after achieving orbit, or was it seen earlier before it established orbit?”
“My impression is that it was discovered, already in an established orbit, within just the last few hours.”
“Would we be justified in speculating that it might be a mother ship from which came the object that fell at Lone Pine?”
“That, I think,” said Porter, “must be up to you—whether you so speculate or not. At this early stage, I’m not engaging in that sort of speculation. Such speculation would imply that both the object in orbit and the one that fell in Minnesota are from some other area of space. This we don’t know as yet.”
“From your preliminary estimate of the mass of the object in orbit, however, the size of it would seem to rule out it having been launched from Earth.”
“Yes, I would think so, but, as I say, there is as yet no certainty.”
The Washington Post asked, “You said that the Minnesota object moved. I think you said it fell so as to bridge a river. Then moved across the river.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Can you tell us how it moved? How would you characterize its movement?”
“Joe, you have me at a loss for words. I don’t know how it moved. That’s all the word we have—that it moved. I would assume that to mean it moved independently, by itself. You must realize that at the time it moved, there were present no qualified observers. All we have is what a number of townspeople said they saw.”
“Can you give us any further detailed description of it—better than what we have so far? Better than the big black box description?”
“I’m afraid I can’t. We have no new information on that point. So far as we know, no pictures have been taken of it. It fell late in the afternoon. Only a few hours later, darkness closed in.”
Associated Press asked, “You continue to say you don’t know and I imagine no one really can know at this point—but from all that is known, the evidence seems to point strongly to the fact that it may represent an intelligence out of space. Would you have any comment?”
“I’ll try to give you a fair answer,” said Porter, “and not fall back on my ‘I don’t know’ routine. The thing did fall on a roadway, so you could argue that it was able to pick a good landing spot. It has moved, apparently by itself, which might argue either that there is an intelligence on board or some sort of sensory-con-tolled machine. As you all know, when a man fired a rifle at it, it, in effect, fired back and the man was killed. This would argue a defense capability. These are points that most of you must have thought of yourself, that anyone might think of. But having said this much, summarized thus far, I can say nothing more. This is not sufficient evidence to justify any solid conclusions. We’ll have to wait and see. We need more evidence.”
“You appear to be ruling out an Earth origin for the new object in orbit,” said NBC. “Could it be some sort of new experimental craft?”
“I suppose, under the circumstances, that anything could be possible. I’m sorry if I seem to be ruling out anything at all. But our people assure me it is nothing of ours.”
“Of someone else’s?”
“I would doubt it.”
“Then you’re saying it’s a space visitor.”
“You said that, Carl. I didn’t.”
“Could I intrude for a second time?” asked the New York Times.
“Certainly, Mr. Smith.”
“Could you outline for us what the government is doing? Has there been conversation with any other governments? I understand the Lone Pine area has been sealed off. Was that by federal order?”
“So far as I know, there have been no conversations such as you mention. Later there may be, once we know more about the matter. The area was sealed off by the state. The governor has been in contact with the President, but we had nothing to do with securing the area. I assume that some of the federal agencies will be sending in observers, but so far I have not been advised of it.”
“Thank you, sir,” said the New York Times.
“But wouldn’t you agree,” asked the L. A. Times, “that if this object, or both of these objects, the one on the ground and the one in orbit, should turn out to be from outer space, that the matter then becomes a matter of international concern rather than simply national concern?”
“I can’t presume to speak for the Secretary of State,” said Porter, “but I would think there might be some logic to the form your question takes.”
“Let us pursue this assumption a little further,” said the Kansas City Star. “If it should be established that the object that fell at Lone Pine is actually a spaceship from the stars, or at least from outside our solar system—assuming that this could be the case, then what would be the national attitude? Will any attempt be made to establish some contact, perhaps a limited conversation, with the intelligence that may be aboard it?”
“Our thinking,” said Porter, “has not advanced that far. As yet there is no evidence
“But, if in the next few days such evidence should come about, is there any indication of what our attitude might be then?”
“If you are asking if we intend, willy-nilly, to blow any visitors out of the water, I don’t think so. This is not an expressed official attitude; it simply derives from my knowledge of how our government works. It is true that someone did take a shot at the object when it landed. But that was the action of an irresponsible citizen, overwrought, perhaps, by what he saw. I would hope that the rest of us may act as reasonable men.”