CHAPTER III
When the starmen came, they made headlines in the newspapers all over the world.
They sat down on the east-west runway of the Washington National Airport.
MEN FROM STARS LAND!
And shortly:
FIRST CONTACT REVEALS STARMEN HUMANOID!
GENERAL SAYS ARMY READY IF STARMEN MENACE!
EARTH WARNS VISITORS!
And on the heels of these:
UNEASINESS SPREADS!
STARMEN SAY PEACE THEIR MISSION!
NO INVASION, SAYS WILKERSON!
PEACE, SAY STARMEN!
And a few hours later:
CONGRESS TO MEET!
CONGRESS FORMS COMMITTEE: WILL REPORT FINDINGS TO AMERICAN PEOPLE!
STARMEN SAY PEACE BETWEEN WORLDS!
Fear and faith combined; courage and cowardice; hatred and optimism. The great ground swell of popular approval was to come much later. At first there was naked uncertainty. Could the starmen be trusted?
And suppose they could be trusted?
Suppose that.
What then?
What?
Many were afraid.
Bud Council, freshman senator from the state of Missouri, was one of them. In the course of events he was to be assigned to the Committee to investigate the starmen. A weak man, a fearful man, and as such, a dangerous man.…