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Just a little notion about experimenting, said Allison. I will give Professor Ubruff some credit for
helping work out the idea. He used to experiment with the electric light bulbs and goldfish, he said, with
the most amazing results. But this sort of thing takes a lot of patience, and the professor had worn his
patience down on the goldfish, so he left this to me.
Kirk was staring at Allison now, and for some reason he recalled the troubled expressions of June and
Diana. Was it possible that Allison had become so fatigued or worried that he had suffered a mental
lapse?
I think I will be going, said Kirk. If you need me you can get in touch through the Rocky Mountain
Observatory.
Come again, said Allison, and notice how that big starfish down at the end is performing. I ll leave the
lights on while you sail over.
Out of hearing Kirk found himself muttering aloud.
Performing starfish! Great stars and planets! How can a space man like Lester Allison fiddle his time
away trying to make pets of these fifty-ton brutes? It don t make sense!
As Kirk s plane lifted, he circled for elevation and got another sight of the pen from overhead. A huge
six-point star of light showed through the fog. Allison must have been busy at the switches, for the points
were being made to wave around in different positions. But the most startling thing was that a huge black
starfish could be seen directly below the lights, waving its arms. The one great arm remained stationary.
The other five continued to shift positions, and with every shift of the starfish Allison was making the lights
change accordingly.
Now isn t that a happy little game? Kirk muttered in disgust. The starfish calls the tune and Les plays it
on his organ of electric lights.
CHAPTER XXIV
Rewards for the Gang
ALLISON was dead right about one thing. These great gray monsters with their six flapping arms were
the servants of the immense green creatures of the outside world.
This was proved a few days later. An alarm from the vigilant watchers at one of the observatories first
sighted the invasion of these smaller foreign creatures. The warnings spread around the world in a flash.
The great shadows from outside the shell had cut an opening on one side and had released through that
opening fifty or sixty of the flying starfish.
Newspaper presses hummed. Extras were on the streets within a few minutes. And newer underground
cities came to life with the fearful realization that they were no safer than the rest of the world. This might
be the beginning of a much greater invasion.
The civilized world knew by this time that these creatures were no strangers. From the earlier samples,
people had retained their mental images of the long, shadowy, gray creatures.
Rewards were offered at once.
If there were only fifty or sixty invading starfish, the space hunters might make short work of them. Along
mountain ranges and waterways many hunters gathered to keep watch. The coast artilleries of some
countries were mobilized. These creatures would be fair game, and the reward was enough to make the
hunt worth anyone s while.
Every few minutes the radios would report that a flock of strange birds had been sighted in this region or
that. Kirk Riley excused himself from a conference with the central committee of the Migration Planners.
He made for his airplane and headed straight for the Ohio Zoo. He radioed ahead. But he could get no
answer from the Zoo s office. Why not?
Before he landed he know that his hunch was a good one. Other visitors were ahead of him, and they
had come, Kirk was sure, to make trouble. They had brought an army tank. A truck might have been too
light. They had come to steal a reward.
Kirk landed on the field at the edge of the Zoo grounds. He made sure the revolver he carried was
loaded. As he bounded up the steps toward the tiers of hillside cages, he could hear the clanking of steel
against steel. He dashed toward the old pen which Allison had made his cliff side home.
Allison! Allison! Are you up there? Do you know what s happening?
No answer. Kirk raced up the cliff-side path and ducked under the ledge. A little yellow light was
burning. The electric wires and switches were in a tangle. Kirk could see, from the rumpled condition of
the burlap rugs, that there had been a scuffle. Fresh scratches marked the dust down the side of the
ledge.
Allison! Are you down there?
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