THE INCREDIBLE INVASION
BY GEORGE O. SMITH
Illustrated by Ayers
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Astounding Science-Fiction, March 1948.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Jim Franklen paused a moment before he opened the door of the office.He stopped to read the black lettering with a surface of pride—he wasa part of it.
The sign read:
UNITED NATIONS
WEAPON SECURITY
COUNCIL
Thomas Winter, President
Then Franklen opened the door and went in, confidently. He greeted theman behind the desk, who looked up worriedly from a maze of paper workand bade Franklen to sit down.
Winter said: "Trouble, Franklen. Bad trouble."
Franklen nodded. "I know," he said. "I've been following it. I gatherthat the fools are getting worse?"
Winter agreed with a slight nod of the head and replied: "I can'timagine what they're up to. Yet they continue to rattle the saber andmake demands. The Central Power is not ignorant of the ramificationsof their acts. Not after we've made point-blank statements. But theycontinue to get rougher and bolder, just as though they had the worldin the palm of their hands."
"They know that they can't win, don't they?" asked Franklen.
"They should—they've been told, and they have been shown exactly whatwill happen, how, and why. The proof is irrevocable, undeniable. Stillthey continue."
"I understand we've been watching them closely."
Winter smiled bitterly. "I've got so many men watching their separationplants and their atomic stockpile that even the janitors must find UNRepresentatives looking up out of their coffee cups in the morning.There's no activity there that can be construed as dangerous, evenadmitting that we're leaning way over backwards and would be suspiciousof a single gram of missing fissionable matter. Of course, they havethe standard United Nations stockpile; the safety value that allnations hold against possible aggression. They're also aware that thisquantity is also a fraction of what the rest hold all together."
Franklen looked at the big flag on the back wall of the office."The United Nations," he said bitterly. "With one member slightlydisunited." He turned back to the president of the Weapon Council."Have they, by any chance, made secret pacts with other nations?"
"Not that we can tell," said Winter. "Now don't say that this isnegative evidence and therefore inconclusive. It is admittedlynegative evidence, but so definitely negative that it is conclusive.The Central Power has been told that if they make a move, they'll becounter-attacked within the hour."
Franklen paused in his walking and said: "Look, sir, there's one thingabout the atomic weapon that is seldom considered. I've been thinkingabout this for a long time. Frankly, the atomic weapon is a fineinstrument for any country to use—providing it has no intention ofinvading for territorial aggrandization."
"What do you mean?"
"Cities are where they are because it is economically sound that theyshould be there. New York is the largest city in North America onlybecause it is situated on the one spot where most goods funnel out ofthe country. It grew because of that fact—the fact did not follow thecity's growth. In all the world, perhaps Washington, D. C., is theonly city that is where it is because someone said 'we shall placeour city here!' and Washington could function very well if it werelifted in toto and