3

In the evenings, the prisoners were compelled to hear lengthy propaganda sessions from Ross about the threat posed by the Aliens. He was very impassioned and would speak at some length along the following lines:

‘The time has come—the clock has struck—something must be done immediately by every man and woman on this beautiful planet to escape the certain tragic fate that awaits the future of our children and their children’s children.¹ The time has come to say no to the Aliens.² When they first came, we gave these quaint, exotic strangers a hearty welcome, and we met them with curiosity and good faith.³ But we’ve been deceived. If these Aliens had come not as peaceful traders, but as the invading, hostile army they really are, I assure you public opinion would be very different to what it is.⁴

‘Few people grasp the true dimensions of this invasion.⁵ It is an invasion. Do you think they have to come with guns and bombs instead of things to sell before we can call it an invasion?⁶ They said they came to trade, to sell us their wares. Do you want to know why they really came here? The Aliens came here to weaken and confuse us, to corrupt us, but above all to retard enormously our economic and technological development—in short, everything on which our future depends.⁷ They came to do us harm. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. They’ve already undermined the foundations of our most cherished institutions.⁸ It was a very sure instinct which taught the ancients to fear strangers.⁹

‘Now, it is true that our government has shown a gross and scandalous neglect of this matter. But no longer. This is our true purpose here.¹⁰ Today, the only places we can escape from the Aliens and the stuff they’re hawking are the most remote, isolated corners of the earth.¹¹ We are humanity’s first defense in a war that has already begun. We are here to build a society completely free from Alien influences. We want none of their shiny space shit here. We are going to live as humans have always lived—by our wits and the products of our hands.’

It seems that the prisoners were mostly unmoved by Ross’s harangues—even though they were more reasonable than the sort of things he usually said. Doubtless, Welles had worked with him to refine their message. Indeed, I have often wondered if Jane wasn’t responsible for some of the many speeches Ross delivered. Whatever the case, the prisoners were forced to listen to him every night.