“It was painted a very bright red, an odd color, I thought, for anything in space. There was some lettering on the side—apparently in English, though I couldn’t make out the words at this distance. As the projectile slowly revolved, a black pattern on a white background came into view. . . .

Clearly painted on the side of the slowly approaching missile was the symbol of death—the skull and crossbones.”

—Arthur C. Clarke, Islands in the Sky, 1952.