“Lockley!  Listen to me!  There’s no time to tell me anything.  I’ve got to tell you.  Something came down out of the sky here nearly an hour ago.  It landed in Boulder Lake, and at the last instant there was a terrific explosion and a monstrous wave swept up the shores of the lake.  The thing that came down vanished under water.  I saw it, Lockley!”

Lockley blinked.  “Wha-a-at?”

“A thing came down out of the sky!” panted Vale. “It landed in the lake with a terrific explosion.  It went under.  Then it came up to the surface minutes later.  It floated.  It stuck things up and out of itself, pipes or wires.  Then it moved around the lake and came in to the shore.  A thing like a hatch opened and ... creatures got out of it.  Not men!”

Lockley blinked again.  “Look here—­”

“Dammit, listen!” said Vale shrilly, “I’m telling you what I’ve seen.  Things out of the sky.  Creatures that aren’t men.  They landed and set up something on the shore.  I don’t know what it is.  Do you understand?  The thing is down there in the lake now.  Floating.  I can see it!”

Lockley swallowed.  He couldn’t believe this immediately.  He knew nothing of radar reports or the seismograph record.  He’d seen a barely balanced rock roll down the mountainside below him, and he’d heard a growling bass rumble behind the horizon, but things like that didn’t add up to a conclusion like this!  His first conviction was that Vale was out of his head.

“Listen,” said Lockley carefully.  “There’s a short wave set over at the construction camp.  They use it all the time for orders and reports and so on.  You go there and report officially what you’ve seen.  To the Park Service first, and then try to get a connection through to the Army.”

Vale’s voice came through again, at once raging and despairing, “They won’t believe me.  They’ll think I’m a crackpot.  You get the news to somebody who’ll investigate.  I see the thing, Lockley.  I can see it now.  At this instant.  And Jill’s over at the construction camp—­”

Lockley was unreasonably relieved.  If Jill was at the camp, at least she wasn’t alone with a man gone out of his mind.  The reaction was normal.  Lockley had seen nothing out of the ordinary, so Vale’s report seemed insane.

“Listen here!” panted Vale again. “The thing came down.  There was a terrific explosion.  It vanished.  Nothing happened for a while.  Then it came up and found a place where it could come to shore.  Things came out of it.  I can’t describe them.  They’re motes even in my binoculars.  But they aren’t human!  A lot of them came out.  They began to land things.  Equipment.  They set it up.  I don’t know what it is.  Some of them went exploring.  I saw a puff of steam where something moved.  Lockley?”

“I’m listening,” said Lockley.  “Go on!”

“Report this!” ordered Vale feverishly. “Get it to Military Information in Denver, or somewhere!  The party of creatures that went off exploring hasn’t come back.  I’m watching.  I’ll report whatever I see.  Get this to the government.  This is real.  I can’t believe it, but I see it.  Report it, quick!”