DON'T PANIC!
By Geoff St. Reynard
January 9th, 1955 began like any normal
day on Earth. Then suddenly our planet tossed
in a death agony. The Green Men had landed....
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
November 1954
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Despite conflicting reports, the Air Force believed in the flyingsaucers. The scares began in 1947 and as a responsible agency the AirForce had to start investigations. At various times they'd cautiouslyrelease some information; then there would be some hysteria and they'dhurriedly debunk the whole business as "mass hallucinations" and"crackpot theories" until the public had regained its balance, whenthey'd start letting out bits of truth once more. The nature andimplications of the saucer sightings made this on-again-off-againpolicy necessary in dealing with such an unstable thing as awar-nervous, tensed-up population. If the truth about the saucershad been known, the entire truth, then the Air Force could havepublished it and the country would have accepted it in stride; but themystery that clouded the strange ships was susceptible of too manyinterpretations.
In December of 1952 a blue-lighted saucer was sighted, without a shadowof a doubt, over Laredo, Texas. In January of '53 a whole V-formationof blue objects appeared over Santa Ana, California. These weremilitary sightings and beyond question. There were many before andeven more afterward. Some of them mentioned blue lights and some othercolors, and the daylight viewings talked of silver metallic luster.
The first low-flying saucer to be reported authoritatively was thatwhich flew over the Capitol in Washington at 11:18 a.m. on Saturday,Christmas Day, 1954. It was caught by the cameras that were makinga telecast at that time of the festivities in Washington, andbeamed without explanation all over the country. A few minutes laterthe screens of America's viewers went blank and then the Presidentappeared to urge calmness and sanity. There was no question of masshallucination and crackpot theories any longer. The saucer was perhapsthree hundred feet broad; it was of the usual shape reported inprevious sightings, round with a central cabin, and it was green incolor. It had flown comparatively slowly, at an estimated 125 m.p.h. Ithad disappeared over the Potomac.
At 2:24 p.m. the President was on tv again. There was some commotionat the door of the room from which he was broadcasting. He turned hishead and nearly one hundred million people who were jammed beforetelevision sets across the nation saw his jaw drop and his eyes bulgeslightly with irrepressible awe. In about nine seconds a very curiousgroup walked into camera range. There were half a dozen secret servicemen with drawn guns, and in their midst, the target of those watchfulweapons, was the first of the green horde.
He was—the measurements were determined later—six feet seven andone-half inches tall. He was dressed in a green shirt and trousers,caught around the waist by a heavy belt on which were stitched anumber of cabalistic designs; on the left breast were more of the same,a circle and three slim triangles. In a holster slung at the right sideof his belt was a large revolver or pistol. It was what had been knownin the old West as a half-breed holster, enabling the wearer to swingup the muzzle and fire the gun without jerking it free of the leather.The alien had his hands