{p. 47}

hundred and seventy-five miles apart. To be that high in the sky, and
still look more than two hundred and fifty feet in diameter, it must
have been enormous."

Steele didn't answer for a moment.

"Obviously, that was an illusion," he finally answered. "I'd discount
those estimates."

"Even Mantell's? And the Godman Field officers'?"

"Not knowing the thing's height, how could they judge accurately?"

"To be seen at points that far apart, it had to be over thirty miles
high," I told him. "It would have to be huge to show up at all."

He shook his head. "I can't believe those reports are right. It must
have been sighted at different times."

I let it drop.

"What are you working on now?" Steele asked, after a minute or two.

I said I hadn't decided. Actually, I planned a trip to the coast, to
interview pilots who had sighted flying disks.

"What would you do if you found it wasn't a Soviet missile?" said
Steele. He sounded almost too casual.