dealing with some totally unknown principle--something completely
beyond our comprehension."

For a moment, I thought he was hunting at some radical discovery by
Soviet--captured Nazi scientists. Then I realized what he meant.

"You think they're interplanetary," I murmured.

"Why not?" Redell looked surprised. "Isn't that your idea? I got that
impression."

"Yes, but I didn't think you believed it. When you said to check on
our space plans, I thought you had some secret missile in mind."

"No, I had another reason. I wanted you to see all the problems
involved in space travel. If you accept the interplanetary answer, you
have to accept this, too--whoever is looking us over has licked all
those problems years ago. Technically, they'd be hundreds of years
ahead of us--maybe thousands. It has a lot to do with what they'd be
up to here."

When I mentioned the old sighting reports, I found that Redell already
knew about them. He was convinced that the earth had been under
observation a long time, probably even before the first recorded
sightings.

"I know some of those reports aren't authentic," he admitted. "But if
you accept even one report of a flying disk or rocket-shaped object
before the twentieth century, then you have to accept the basic idea.
In the last forty years, you might blame the reports on planes and