"You are under arrest!"
"Good-by, my dear wife. I am off to the wars with these fools!" shouted Ettil, dragged through the door by the men in bronze mesh.
"Good-by, good-by," said the town witches, fading away. . . .
The cell was neat and clean. Without a book, Ettil was nervous. He gripped the bars and watched the rockets shoot up into the night air. The stars were cold and numerous; they seemed to scatter when every rocket blasted up among them.
"Fools," whispered Ettil. "Fools!"
The cell door opened. One man with a kind of vehicle entered, full of books; books here, there, everywhere in the chambers of the vehicle. Behind him the Military Assignor loomed.
"Ettil Vrye, we want to know why you had these illegal Earth books in your house. These copies ofWonder Stories, Scientific Tales, Fantastic Stories. Explain." The man gripped Ettil's wrist.
Ettil shook him free. "If you're going to shoot me, shoot me. That literature, from Earth, is the very reason why I won't try to invade them. It's the reason why your invasion will fail."
"How so?" The assignor scowled and turned to the yellowed magazines.
"Pick any copy," said Ettil. "Any one at all. Nine out of ten stories in the years 1929, '30 to '50, Earth calendar, have every Martian invasion successfully invading Earth."
"Ah!" The assignor smiled, nodded.
"And then," said Ettil, "failing."
"That's treason! Owning such literature!"
"So be it, if you wish. But let me draw a few conclusions. Invariably, each invasion is thwarted by a young man, usually lean, usually Irish, usually alone, named Mick or Rick or Jick or Bannon, who destroys the Martians."
"You don't believe that!"
"No, I don't believe Earthmen can actually do that--no. But they have a background, understand, Assignor, of generations of children reading just such fiction, absorbing it. They have nothing but a literature of invasions successfully thwarted. Can you say the same for Martian literature?"
"Well----"
"No."
"I guess not."
"You know not. We never wrote stories of such a fantastic nature. Now we rebel, we attack, and we shall die."
"I don't see your reasoning on that. Where does this tie in with the magazine stories?"
"Morale. A big thing. The Earthmen know they can't fail. It is in them like blood beating in their veins. They cannot fail. They will repel each invasion, no matter how well organized. Their youth of reading just such fiction as this has given them a faith we cannot equal. We Martians? We are uncertain; we know that we might fail. Our morale is low, in spite of the banged drums and tooted horns."
"I won't listen to this treason," cried the assignor. "This fiction will be burned, as you will be, within the next ten minutes. You have a choice, Ettil Vrye. Join the Legion of War, or burn."
"It is a choice of deaths. I choose to burn."
"Men!"
He was hustled out into the courtyard. There he saw his carefully hoarded reading matter set to the torch. A special pit was prepared, with oil five feet deep in it. This, with a great thunder, was set afire. Into this, in a minute, he would be pushed.
On the far side of the courtyard, in shadow, he noticed the solemn figure of his son standing alone, his great yellow eyes luminous with sorrow and fear. He did not put out his hand or speak, but only looked at his father like some dying animal, a wordless animal seeking rescue.
Ettil looked at the flaming pit. He felt the rough hands seize him, strip him, push him forward to the hot perimeter of death. Only then did Ettil swallow and cry out, "Wait!"
The assignor's face, bright with the orange fire, pushed forward in the trembling air. "What is it?"
"I will join the Legion of War," replied Ettil.