The deadly ones

In Short

Tired of a hardscrabble existence on Earth, an ancient, non-human entity known as Rathsden orchestrates an elaborate plan to lure an alien flying saucer down to the cornfields of Illinois. By staging a fake spaceship with an artificial energy output, Rathsden manages to sneak aboard the alien vessel as it collects a human specimen and returns to its home planet. Expecting a new frontier to conquer, Rathsden instead confronts an alien race whose terrifying power reduces his legendary confidence to absolute despair, ending in a chilling realization of his own utter insignificance.

The Story

Rathsden, an ancient immortal being who has existed quietly alongside humanity for centuries, finds life on Earth increasingly difficult due to harsh living conditions and agencies like the Red Cross. After discussing the problem with a council of his hidden fellows, he hits upon an audacious scheme involving flying saucers. Because these alien vessels actively investigate advanced technology, Rathsden and his peers decide to construct an illusionary spaceship complete with an artificial power leak in rural Illinois. They convert a farmhouse into a control tower and a barn into a disembarkation structure, deliberately disrupting local radio and television broadcasts across North America to catch the saucers' attention. The ruse succeeds when a fleet of saucers arrives in the night, and a small robot scout descends on wheels to investigate the phantom ship. Rathsden packs his meager food supplies and slips inside the large alien saucer just as the robot returns from the cornfield carrying an unconscious local farmer it seized for questioning. During the six-month interstellar voyage, Rathsden remains hidden and endures the monotonous journey while the ship travels faster than light toward an unknown destination. Upon reaching a multiple star system far from Earth, the saucer lands on a massive planet much larger than Saturn with a tremendous population. Repair robots swarm the ship upon landing, and Rathsden, overhearing that the alien masters have detected a stowaway, panics. He takes control of a repair robot to escape into the adjacent city, riding inside its motor and brain centers while operating completely blind. When he finally forces the robot out of the alleys onto the open plain, he commands it to attack a native creature, but the machine refuses due to built-in safeguards. Rathsden then steps out of the robot and faces his antagonist directly. For the first time in a thousand years, Rathsden finds a foe with absolutely no weaknesses, realizing with sudden horror that these alien rulers knew about his presence all along and viewed him merely with amused detachment. Stripped of his legendary predatory confidence, unable to return to Earth, and recognizing that these beings kill for pleasure rather than mere survival, Rathsden flees across the arid plain. Trapped with no way home and unwilling to face the horrors again, he resolves to choose self-destruction.

How It Unfolds

The conspiracy begins Rathsden meets with a secret council of his non-human peers to plan an elaborate trap for alien flying saucers. They decide to fake a powerful interstellar spaceship in the cornfields of Illinois to lure an investigator down from the upper atmosphere. Rathsden intends to use the vessel to escape a difficult life on Earth and find a new world for his kind before human mutants take over.

The decoy operates The group successfully projects an illusionary ship, a farmhouse control tower, and a barn structure while deliberately disrupting regional television and radio signals across North America. A fleet of saucers arrives at midnight, and a wheeled robot scout lands to investigate the phantom vessel before the illusionary ship sinks into the ground, leaving the robot entirely bewildered.

The clandestine voyage Rathsden loads his meager food supplies into the saucer and sneaks inside just as the robot returns from the cornfield carrying an unconscious local farmer for questioning. During the six-month journey through faster-than-light space, he remains hidden from the dormant robot while enduring complete monotony and waiting for their unknown destination.

The alien metropolis The saucer finally lands on a colossal planet within a multiple star system surrounded by sprawling repair shops and thousands of other parked ships. Rathsden overhears repair robots discussing a detected stowaway among the vessels and panics because he realizes he cannot determine which ship might eventually return to Earth.

The final confrontation Rathsden hijacks a repair robot to flee into the adjacent city, but its internal safeguards prevent it from attacking a native creature. Stepping out into the open plain, he confronts an invulnerable alien, realizes he is completely outmatched by beings who kill for pleasure, and ultimately chooses self-destruction over facing such horrors again.

The People

Rathsden is an ancient, immortal non-human predator who has lived quietly alongside humanity for centuries, feeding on fear and inspiring dark legends like vampires or werewolves. He wants to escape a deteriorating Earth, elude harassing human agencies, and discover a prosperous new galaxy to conquer and claim for his kind. Standing directly in his way are his own hidden limitations, the complex and baffling mechanics of alien technology, and ultimately the terrifying, invulnerable masters of the distant planet. Unlike the supremely confident hunter who sets out from the Illinois cornfields, Rathsden ends up completely stripped of his arrogance, recognizing his total powerlessness against true cosmic horrors and choosing self-destruction as his only escape.

The local farmer serves as an ordinary human caught entirely unaware in the bizarre crossfire of interstellar forces. He wants nothing more than a quiet rural life, but stands victimized by alien hypnotism, forced abduction, and blood-sampling extraction carried out by the robot scout. Though he is repeatedly rendered unconscious, interrogated, and subjected to strange medical procedures during the long voyage, he ends up serving merely as an expendable specimen whose traumatic ordeal ultimately has no bearing on the success or failure of the enterprise.

In Its Own Voice

Reflecting on his careful preservation of anonymity across the centuries, Rathsden explains to the reader why he ensures his true identity and past actions remain completely hidden from human history.

A clever person shuns publicity, though it may involve tampering with history.

When discussing potential dangers with his council of hidden peers before launching the decoy spaceship into the cornfields, Rathsden adopts a pragmatic and casual approach to unexpected alien encounters.

If it is living and we're no match for it, we'll run like hell.

After witnessing the terrifying power and absolute coldness of the alien masters ruling the distant planet, Rathsden contrasts his own survival-driven predatory nature with theirs.

I've always killed for food, but they--kill for pleasure.

What It's Really About

The story explores the friction between perceived supremacy and absolute cosmic insignificance. Rathsden represents a traditional mythic predator—a creature accustomed to exploiting human fear and operating outside normal human limitations—who arrogantly assumes human technological anxieties are the pinnacle of universal evolution. By thrusting him into an interstellar civilization far more advanced than humanity, the narrative questions the hubris of assuming human or terrestrial monsters are at the top of any food chain. It suggests that human myths of vampires and werewolves are provincial when measured against vast, indifferent galactic empires where superior intelligence is paired with complete emotional detachment and casual cruelty.

Why Read It Today

Readers who love classic, speculative science fiction with a dark, psychological twist will find this story deeply rewarding. It reads like a chilling confession from an unreliable, non-human narrator who slowly realizes the boundaries of his own universe are far wider and more terrifying than he imagined. The atmosphere builds with a quiet, uncanny tension, moving from the homespun geography of rural Illinois cornfields into the disorienting, sterile machinery of an alien starship. While some mid-century science fiction tropes feel dated, Wallace uses them here to subvert the classic conquering monster narrative in an unexpected direction. Modern readers might note the casual mid-century framing of flying saucers and atomic anxiety, but the psychological descent of an arrogant immortal facing true, unyielding horror remains remarkably compelling. It stays with you because it forces a shift in perspective, turning an apex predator into a helpless spectator who ultimately prefers annihilation over submission.