En kort historia före 1955
"Överföringspunkt" av Anthony Boucher , som ursprungligen publicerades i Galaxy Science Fiction , november 1950 , som finns tillgänglig på Internetarkiv .
Om personer som gömmer sig från böljande band-liknande invaders kommer in genom luftventilerna. Banden kan ha varit gul, och författaren kan bara ha varit Van Vogt.
Inte av Van Vogt, men du har rätt om invasionen av gula band:
It was then that they saw the first of the yellow bands.
It was just that: a band of bright yellow some thirty centimeters wide, about five meters long, and so thin as to seem insubstantial, a mere stripe of color. It came underneath the back drop behind the announcer. It streaked about the casting room with questing sinuosity. No features, no appendages relieved its yellow blankness.
Then with a deft whipping motion it wrapped itself around the announcer. It held him only an instant. His hideously shriveled body plunged toward the camera as the screen went dead.
That was the start of the horror.
Det involverade troligen tidsresor.
He saw it clearly. Kirth-Labbery's genius had at last evolved a time machine. That was the one escape, the escape which the scientist had not yet tested and rather distrusted. And Lavra had poked the green button because Norbert Holt had said she had poked (would poke?) the green button.
Den sista passagen är inte exakt självförklarande, så låt mig förklara. Huvudpersonen, Vyrko, uttråkad i sitt lufttäta skydd, läste en stash av antika sci-fi-massor som han hittade där, och han sprang över ett fantastiskt noggrant konto om sin nuvarande situation i en berättelse av någon som skriver som "Norbert Holt". Ja, en tids paradox. Här är en sammandrag från NESFA s Rekursiv Science Fiction webbplats:
Far in the future Earth has been invaded by aliens who look like yellow bands. They have used the allergenic gas agnoton to destroy humanity. Only three people survive—the scientist Kirth-Labbery, his beautiful, but stupid daughter Lavra, and her literary boy friend Vyrko. Vyrko, read old pulps (especially Galaxy and Surprising); he is amazed by the detailed accurate predictions of Norbert Holt. Vyrko is accidentally thrown back in time by Lavra (who is now pregnant with twins). In the 1950s, Vyrko has no skills, so he turns to writing history as science fiction under the name Norbert Holt. He becomes a success—convention guest of honor and president of the Science Fiction Writers of America (SCWA—go figure; this is changed to the Fantasy Writers of America in the anthology version). Vyrko has an affair with Ms. Manning Stern, editor of Suprising, but commits suicide to break the time loop. Appearing in cameo roles are Joe Henderson, Matt Duncan, and Austin Carter from Rocket to the Morgue.