Chapter IV
Science Fiction or Science Fact?On Monday morning I awoke and found Richard still
sleeping and the girls gone. He opened his eyes when he
heard me moving about and got up. We both looked like
we'd spent a rougher night than we actually had.
Richard went into the kitchen to make some coffee,
while I shaved and started putting my things together.
As I dressed, I thought about Rama and the things she
had told me.
When I was fi nished, I wandered into the kitchen. As
Richard and I sat down, drinking our coffee, I decided to
probe him a little about flying saucers in the area.
"Say, Richard, Saturday night when we were talking
about flying saucers, you seemed to know something
about them/' I said, as casually as possible.
"Lots of people around here claim to have seen them at
various times, in various places/' he said.
"Good, reliable people?"
"WelL yes, there wa s one fellow, by the name of
Herrera or something, I don't remember the exact story,
but it was all over town, even in the news recently. I'm
not sure if he saw the UFOs or communicated wi th some
alien beings from outer space-I don't really follow
those things-but supposedly it did happen. You know
how difficult it is to believe these things."
"Yes, I know what you mean/' I agreed.
"Then there was another story about this mining
engineer not too far from this area."
"What was that all about, Richard? Do you recall any
of the details?"
"Yes. On the way here, just a little ways past Ticlio,
there's a place called Morococha. An engineer was doing
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