They Walked Like Men
Author: Clifford Simak
 
Atwood leaned forward earnestly.
'Not the city,' he said quietly, tensely. 'You must not sell me short. Far more than a city, Mr Graves. Much more than a city. I think it's safe to say it, for now no one can stop me. I am buying up the earth!'
Parker Graves is talking to an alien - an alien that might at any moment dissolve into a plastic bowling ball. Such beings could assume any shape, any size and the horrifying thing was that  - They Walked Like Men . . .
 
PAN BOOKS 1965