noon
The Aztlan ship had landed early that July morning , dropping silently through the overcast covering International Airport . It settled gently to rest precisely in the center of the junction of the three main runways of the field , effectively tying up the transcontinental and transoceanic traffic . Fully five hundred feet in diameter , the giant ship squatted massively on the runway junction , cracking and buckling the thick concrete runways under its enormous weight . By noon , after the first skepticism had died , and the unbelievable TV pictures had been flashed to their waiting audience , the crowd began to gather . All through that hot July morning they came , increasing by the minute as farther outlying districts poured their curious into the Airport . By early afternoon , literally hundreds of millions of eyes were watching the great ship over a world-wide network of television stations which cancelled their regular programs to give their viewers an uninterrupted view of the enigmatic craft . By mid-morning the sun had burned off the overcast and was shining with brassy brilliance upon the squads of sweating soldiers from Fort Lewis , and more sweating squads of blue-clad police from the metropolitan area of Seattle-Tacoma .