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Eleven “You Are Endangering the Balance of the Universe!’’ An Air Force plane spiraled clumsily out of the sullen Argentine sky and crashed near Quilino in August 1957, setting the stage for one of the hundreds of “‘ridiculous’”’ contact stories that have been appearing in newspapers throughout the world for the past twenty years. The Argentine Air Force dispatched three men to the site to guard the wreck until proper equipment could be mustered to haul it back to the base. On the evening of August 20, 1957, two of the men went into the town for supplies, while the third man lounged in their tent. Suddenly, according to his story, he heard an eerie, high-pitched hum. He stepped outside the tent and was astonished to see a huge luminous metal disk hovering directly overhead. In horror, he reached for his pistol but could not seem to draw it from the holster for some unknown reason, he claimed later. Standing transfixed, tugging helplessly at his gun, the young man heard a soft-spoken voice coming from the humming object. It addressed him gently in his own langnage and told him not to be afraid. Then it went on to tell him that the disk was an interplanetary spacecraft and that a base for such craft had been installed in the nearby province of Salta (an area where UFO sightings have been reported constantly for the past fifteen years—‘‘UFO Alley’”’). “‘We intend to help you,”’ the voice is supposed to have declared, ‘‘for the misuse of atomic energy threatens to destroy you.” The voice went on to say that very soon the rest of the world would know about flying saucers. Then the bushes and trees began to rustle, and the craft ascended straight up and disappeared. The young Argentinian was so upset by this experience that he reported it in full to his commanding officer. The latter