I gave the idea careful thought. From the beginning I knew I needed help. I'm not superhuman, not in the strict sense, though I suppose I could give a good account of myself against Wells's Invisible Man, Homo Superior, or the new crop of mutants that will spring up some day soon.
I needed help, and I carried the problem to a council of my fellows. We discussed it thoroughly, and in the end, though they didn't give me their blessing, they consented to aid me.
The problem was flying saucers, or rather how to force one to land. We debated the matter for a long time, but there didn't seem to be any way to do it. No jet could keep up with a saucer and present rockets were equally inadequate. Besides, we didn't have access to any of these machines.
Someone in the back of the council, whose name I didn't catch suggested that, if we couldn't force one to land, perhaps we could lure one down. It didn't matter how, as long as it remained on the ground for an hour or so, with its ports open. The rest would be up to me.
"Fine," I said. "What do you propose?"
"They're investigating, you know," he said, "in the western part of the country. Rocket bases, atom bomb sites, anything that indicates advanced technology. Let's give them another menace."
"Sounds good. What are they interested in?" He was a hard fellow to locate and I didn't try to visualize his face. He came from Ireland I believe.
"A spaceship," he said. "A very formidable creation, with an incredible drive."
There was nothing wrong with the basic concept. The ship wouldn't be real of course. It would merely seem real from the air. We could accomplish that.
As for the drive, we could manage that too. In a little investigated part of the spectrum we could create a low and steady output, suggesting that the drive was idling, ready for instant takeoff.