In faraway Hawaii, Alda heard the verdict.  But the Chief Operator had become suspicious of her interest.

"Bem, agora!  So!  he remarked. "Are you sure you gave us your right name?  Are you sure that you're not Alda Rosa?"

"Que?! Alda asked.  "Why would you think that, senhor?"

But she took no chance, and that night she prepared to make a sudden departure.

The air was soon hot with inquiries to the identification bureau in Rio de Janeiro.

Larissa took charge right away.  "Yes---yes!" she announced.  "That's Alda.  Here!  I'm holding up her thumb print.  Run a camera up to the visionador's lens and photograph it!  Nab her pronto!  I'll be in Hawaii in a few hours!"

2 minutes later, a detail of Hawaiian  Guardas Aéreos were flashing towards Alda's bungalow.

Alda just escaped being trapped.  She had already taken to the air.

Back in Rio, I returned disconsolately to my fazenda.  There I received the shock of my life.  Sitting on my table was an Asternoid.

"Greetings, Nick Cosmos!" he smiled.  "I---Xuuok---Prince of the Ancient Blood of Asterno---come to you in peace."

He willingly told me that the Asternoids had established themselves on Easter Island, not far from the Chilean coast.  

"They are planning to destroy all the peoples of the Earth," he added.

I was amazed at his story. "But you and a lot of others don't agree with this policy?" I asked, when he was finished.  "You believe that you can make friends with the people of the Earth, so you've started a revolution? A civil war?"

"Yes," agreed Xuuok. "A war to prevent this global slaughter in which all the Asternoids, as well as the Earthlings, might be wiped out!"

Although I knew it not, Alda, at that moment was facing a watery grave in the Pacific.  "My flying belt," she cried. "The power's going out!  Off there on the horizon!  Is that a reef or a little island?"

But she was still a mile from her goal when she started to fall.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" she screamed, half out loud.  "The power's all gone!"  She hit the water with a horrible splash.

She wiggled out of her equipment and swam for the shore.  She staggered up on the beach.  "I just made land," she whispered to herself, as she sank in exhaustion.  She slept for hours and then, feeling refreshed, began exploring her surroundings.

On a rock she found a strange inscription.  "Forgotten Island!" she read.  "Five generations have lived and died here without rescue!"

Alda was marooned!