1<br > The Invasion of the<br > Human World<br > "THE Martians are coming， the Martians are coming" was the cry heard<br > across the American continent one night a generation ago when the famed<br > actor-producer Orson Welles inadvertently terrorized much of the nation<br >with his radio dramatization of H. ~. Wells s War of the Worlds. Today we<br >can be virtually certain that whatever life it may hold， the planet Mars<br >supports no creatures capable of an armed invasion of Earth. But there are<br >other sources of alien invasion and， as the continuing popularity of science<br >fiction attests， such a theme has a basic appeal to the human mind. It is a<br >Jungian archetype speaking to our deepest fears.<br > One familiar science-fiction plot adds a special twist of terror. Some-<br >how the hero discovers that Earth has been secretly invaded by mysterious<br >powers who have taken over the bodies of men and women and axe using<br >these slaves to weaken the human race s defenses， so that the inhuman<br >masters can more easily seize control. The alien thralls are indistinguishable<br >from normal men and women except for one unobtrusive feature， such as a<br >small red mark behind the left ear. The hero， a noted scientist， tries to alert<br >his fellow human beings to their peril， but is scorned as mad. Just as he is<br >about to lose all hope， he is ga anted a special meeting with the President<br >and his advisers， who are concerned about the alarm the scientist s charges<br >have created among the population and are anxious to restore public calm<br >by going through the motions of holding，a hearing. The meeting goes well.<br >The hero s hopes that it is not too late to save humanity begin to rise. It is<br >then that he notices what he should have looked for when he first came<br >