Page Content (OCR)
46 space travelers existing at planets attached to neighboring stars is very much greater than the chance of space-traveling Martians. The one can be viewed as almost a certainty . . ."" DuBarry handed me the report. "Here--I practically know it by heart. Take it with you. You can send it back later." "I know the space-travel idea sounds silly at first," said Purdy, "but it's the only answer that explains all the sightings-especially those in the last century." Purdy went on: he's planted." I thought back to Steele's warning. I told Purdy: "If he had the space thing in mind, maybe he's right. It could set off a panic that would make that Orson Welles thing look like a picnic." "Certainly it could," Purdy said. "We'd have to handle it carefully-if it turned out to be the truth. But I think the Air Force is making a mistake, if that's what they're hiding. It could break the wrong way and be serious." "It might interest you to know," he said, "that the Air Force checked all these old sightings too." "Those space-travel suggestions might be a trick," I said. "The Air Force may be hinting at that to hide the guided-missile secret." "Yes, but later on they deny the space thing," said Purdy. "It looks as if they're trying to put people on guard and then play it down, so they won't get scared." {p. 53} As I put the historic reports file in my brief case, Purdy handed me a letter from an investigator named Hilton, who had been working in the Southwest. I skimmed over his Vue. letter. Hilton had heard of some unusual night sightings in New Mexico. The story had been hushed up, but he had learned some details from a pilot at Albuquerque. He asked DuBarry to give me their file of historic reports. While John was getting it, "Be careful about this man Steele. After what he said about 'moral responsibility’ I'm sure John DuBarry came back with the file of old reports. The idea was still a difficult one for me to believe.