Please Read the Instructions Over Twice Before Starting The Test

Mrs. Donahan turned to Cassie.

"It's really a shame Mrs. Gore left the movement."

Cassie (known to her children as Mom, and to everyone but her close friends as Mrs. Johnston) nodded in sympathetic agreement, her greying curls bobbing about her head.

Mrs. McKean said, "I hear that Ruthie's oldest has gone a bit wild."

Mrs. Donahan grimaced. "It's horrible. His hair stood up like that - I bet it's supposed to be the Devil's horns."

The women sat in the basement of the church, armed with a tape recorder jury-rigged to play forwards and backwards and a arsenal of tapes.

Cassie gathered up the tapes. "Well, shouldn't we get to it?"

The other ladies murmured agreement as they helped her.

Mrs. McKean held up a black tape. "Isn't this the one that Sue's second was listening to before he went and threw himself off the bridge?"

"Yes. Wasn't it a pity?" Cassie said, as the women tsked. They placed the tape into the recorder, and pressed the play button. They were assaulted by screaming guitars and shouted lyrics.

"Disgusting."

"Awful."

"Bestial."

"Let's look for the backmasking."

They fast forwarded through the tape before hitting the reverse play switch, which sparked momentarily before turning the spools of the tape in the opposite direction.

There were several seconds of backwards guitars, and then, underneath the music, a voice.

"Turn it up!" Mrs. Donahan said. "I can't hear it."

Cassie turned the tape up. The voice was low, but distinct against the guitars.

"Thank you for your co-operation," it said. "Hello. We are the representatives of the fifth planet circling Deneb. We will be taking your planet over shortly. Listen to this tape twice to allow this message the proper amount of repetitions to code in the message properly. Afterward, go directly to the nearest natural body of water and drown yourself. Thank you for your co-operation. Hello. We are..."

Cassie moved her hand from the volume knob.

"Wouldn't we have noticed something repeating like that when we played it forward?"

"I didn't hear anything like that."

"Morbid, that's what it is."

"Now that we know what we're looking for, maybe we can hear it this time. Play it forwards again. We can take this one to court, girls!"

The women's bodies were just beginning to float in the river when the Denebians landed.