Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-09-09

and there, about 1000 feet ahead
of us, was the flagship with its
precious load.
We started circling. We saw little
towns on the coastline, needless of
our presence. We kept on circling,
waiting for the third ship in our
formation.
1t was 9:56 when we began head
ing for the coastline. Our weather
scouts had sent us code messages
deciphered by Sergt. Curry, inform
ing us that both the primary target
as we'll as the secondary were clearly
visible.
The winds seemed to favor GER
tain Japanese cities that must re-
main nameless. We circled about
them again and again and found
no opening in the thick umbrella
OF clouds that covered them. Des-
tiny chose Nagasaki as the ultimate
target.
We had been circling for some
time when we noticed black puffs of
smoke coming through the white
clouds directly at US. There were
Is bursts of fax in rapid succession,
all too low. The pilot changed
his course. There soon followed
eight more bursts of fax, right up to
our altitude, but by this time we
were too far to the left.
We few southwark down the chan
mel and at li:33 crossed the coast
line and headed straight for Ma
gasaki, about a hundred miles to the
west. Here again we circled until
we found an opening in the clouds.
1t was 1901 and the goal of our
mission had arrived.
We heard the prearranged signal
on our radio, put on our arc welder's
glasses and watched tensely the
maneuyerings of the strike ship
about half mile in front of us.
"There She Goes"
There she goes!" some, one said.
Out of the belly of the flagship what
looked like a black object came
downward.
Even though we were turning
away in the opposite direction, and
despite the fact that 1t was broad
daylight in our cabin all of us
became aware of a giant fash that
broke through the dark barrier of
our glasses and flooded our cabin
with an intense light.
We removed our glasses after the
first flash, but the light still lin
gered, a bluiSh-green light that il
lumlned the entire sky all around.
A tremendous blast wave struck our
ship and n'Sde it tremble from nose
to tail. This was followed by four
more blases in rapid succession.
each resounding like the boom of
cannon fire hitting our plane from
all directions.
Giant Ball of Fire.
Observers in the tail of our ship
saw a giInt ball of fire rise as
though from the bowels Of the earth,
belching forth enormous white
smoke rings. Next they saw a
giant pillar of purple fire, 10000 feet
high, shooting skyward with enor-
nous speed
BY the time our ship had made
another turn in the direction of the
atomic explosion the pillar of pur-
pie fire had reached the level of our
altitude. Only about As seconds had
passed. Awe-struck, we watched it
shoot upward like a meteor coming
from the earth instead of from
outer space, becoming ever more
alive as 1t climbed skyward through
the white clouds 1t was no longer
smoke, or dust, or even a cloud of
fire. 1t was living thing, a new
species of being, born right before
our incredulous eyes.
At one stage of it's evolution. COW
ering millions of years in terms of
seconds, the entity assumed the
form of giant square totem pole
With its base about 3 miles long,
tapering off to about a mile at the
top. It's bottom was brown, its CEN
ter was amber, its top white. But
1t was a living totem pole, carved
with many grotesque masks GRIM
aclng at the earth.
Then, just when it appeared as
though the thing had settled down
into state of permanence, there
came shooting out of the top a giant
mushroom that increased the height
of the pillar to a total of IS 900 feet
The mushroom top was even more
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