The Visitors (v1.0)

"That would be unlikely," said Allen. "There are a lot of trees in North America. And should they begin ru

"That's another thing that worries me," said the President. "If they start using too much farmland to grow trees we might run into a food shortage. I know we have large amounts of wheat in storage, but that would be soon used up."

"The danger there would be," said Allen, "that if there were a food shortage, the visitors might start making food. Our people, in effect, would be placed on a dole system."

"While all this is interesting," said the President, "and perhaps even pertinent, it is getting us nowhere. What we should be talking about is what we should be doing now."

"I just now thought of something," said Porter. "When I talked with Garrison, he mentioned a name. Jerry Conklin, I believe. Said Conklin was the one who really was the first to learn about the cars, but that he objected to being identified, so his name was not mentioned in the story. It seems to me I've heard that name before. It seems to ring a bell."

Allen came to rigid attention. "Of course, it does," he said. "That's the man whose ear was crushed when the first visitor landed at Lone Pine. The one that disappeared when we tried to find him. And here he pops up again. This strikes me as rather strange."

"Perhaps we should bring him in and have a talk with him," said Whiteside. "It's just possible this young fellow knows some things he should be telling.

"Wait a minute," said Allen. "We found out something else. Conklin is a friend, apparently a close friend, of a reporter for the Tribune. Kathy, I think was the first name."

"Kathy Foster," said Porter. "She was the one who found the cars, who wrote the story."

"Maybe we ought to have them both in," said Whiteside. "Ask the FBI to pick them up.

The President shook his head. "Not the FBI," he said. "We'll act civilized about it. We'll invite them as White House guests. We'll send a plane to pick them up.

"But, sir," the general protested, "this man has disappeared before; he could disappear again."

"We'll take our chances on that," said the President. "Dave, will you make the call?"

"Gladly," Porter said.