THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD
Screenplay by
Charles Lederer
Based on the story
WHO GOES THERE?
by
John W. Campbell Jr.
RKO 1951
8/29/50
FADE IN
1 EXT. NIGHT
The snow piled streets at Dutch Harbor, Alaska. A wind
blows. The street is empty. A bundled figure moves
through the street toward a low roofed lighted building.
A sign outside the building reads:
"OFFICER'S CLUB, DUTCH HARBOR, ALASKA"
Someone has scribbled the words under the printing "No
Penguins allowed".
The figure stops in the doorway and looks at a long
thermometer. It registers twenty-five below zero. The
figure continues into the club.
2 INT. OFFICERS CLUB ROOM - MIDNIGHT
This is the social center for U.S.A. flying men roosting
in the polar regions. The air base is near Dutch Harbor,
Alaska - a commuting hop from the Arctic Circle. It is
early winter. The night in Dutch Harbor is long and
dark.
In the room two of the six gaming tables are occupied.
At one sits a four handed bridge game. At the other sit
five men playing poker. RADIO MUSIC - an American
Service Broadcast - is coming a bit feebly into the room.
All is cozy and steam-heated in the room.
Among the five poker players are three men who are to be
active in our story. One is W.O. Vic MacAuliff. He is
a tough, taciturn radio man. He has seen service
everywhere, heard nearly all the languages and drunk
nearly all the different brews of the earth.
The second is Captain Pat Henry, in his early thirties.
Captain Henry has been a flyer since he shed his first
stocking cap. He is a man of whimsey and temper and
also mood.
The third is Lieutenant Eddie Dykes, a tall, homely man
under thirty.
The overcoats, boots, ear-lapped military hats of the
aviators lie on an unused table nearby.
EDDIE DYKES
(as he shuffles
and deals)
It was about a hundred and five
in the shade in this place. The
women didn't wear any clothes at
all to speak of - which was very
intelligent of them. You lay in
a hammock and three of them stood there
fanning you. When I die, I hope
to go to Accra.
MACAULIFF
I was there.
HENRY
(looking at
his hand)
I open for one dollar.
PLAYER
I stay.
PLAYER
I'm out.
MACAULIFF
Going up.
He puts two chips on the table.
EDDIE
Scotland strikes again. I'm
in. Cards, gentlemen.
Two other players add another chip each to the pot.
HENRY
Three.
PLAYERS
Three.
MACAULIFF
These'll do.
The figure has entered the room and is surveying the
poker players as it removes its wrappings. He is Ned
Skeely, a newspaper correspondent.
HENRY
Hello, Skeely, how are you?
SKEELY
Faintly alive. Twenty-five below
and going down. It's a night for
brass monkeys.
HENRY
Care to join us?
SKEELY
As soon as I count my fingers.
I may have lost some.
HENRY
I think you know everybody here.
Players smile and say "sure."
MACAULIFF
I haven't met the gentleman, Captain.
HENRY
Ned Skeely - Angus MacAuliff.
MACAULIFF
How do you do, sir.
EDDIE
Mr. Skeely's a newspaper man, Mac.
We're going to put on a snow ball
fight for him tomorrow.
Skeely takes a seat next
to Eddie.
HENRY
(returning to the play)
One dollar is bet.
EDDIE
Against a pat hand held by a
Scotchman. Captain Henry, your
decorations for valor have gone
to your head. I'm folding.
MACAULIFF
Call.
HENRY
A pair of aces.
MACAULIFF
Beats two queens.
EDDIE
(to MacAuliff)
You ought to know better than to
try fooling my pal. Only dames
can do that.
HENRY
(quietly)
I promised you a kick in the belly.
EDDIE
(mockingly)
Forgive. Forgive. A slip of the
tongue.
HENRY
(to Skeely)
How'd you make out with General
Fogarty?
SKEELY
Your general is nursing his secrets
like a June bride.
MACAULIFF
Deal 'em out, lieutenant.
EDDIE
You in, Mr. Skeely?
SKEELY
Yes. I am always interestad in
pauperizing the air force.
EDDIE
(dealing)
I've got a big idea that involves
you, Mr. Skeely. You're not going
to get any story out of this post.
Forgarty has given us all instructions
to treat you like a Russian spy.
SKEELY
General Fogarty is going to end up
on his knees begging for my attention.
EDDIE
(intently)
This is more practical, Mr. Skeely.
There's a man in Edmonton who can
give you the whole Radar defense
story. Loves to talk. General
MacLaren. You tell the General you
want to get to Edmonton - and Pat
and I'll fly you there.
SKEELY
I know General MacLaren. He bores
me.
EDDIE
(desperately)
Don't be like that! It's warm in
Edmonton! They've got girls in
Edmonton! Without fur pants on!
SKEELY
(to Henry)
How about it, Captain?
HENRY
Let's play cards.
MACAULIFF
(to Eddie)
Ye ought to know better than to try
and shoo our captain southward -
with his heart wrapped around the
North Pole.
HENRY
That'll do, Mr. MacAuliff.
MACAULIFF
(grinning)
I open - for two dollars.
SKEELY
(casually, as they play)
What's going on at the North Pole?
EDDIE
Some scientists are holding a
convention there. Looking for
Polar bear tails. Ever hear of
Dr. Carrington?
SKEELY
The fellow who was at Bikini?
EDDIE
The same.
HENRY
They're holed in about two thousand
miles north of here, a lot of
botanists and physicists.
EDDIE
(solemnly)
Including a pin-up girl. Very
interesting type. Captain Henry
can give you any data on her you
want.
HENRY
(looking at his cards and
speaking quietly to Eddie)
Someday I hope to have a co-pilot a
cut above a high school boy - or
at least dry behind his ears -
A voice comes over the
P.A. speaker.
VOICE
Captain Henry. Captain Pat Henry.
Report to General Fogarty's quarters
at once, please.
Henry rises from the table.
SKEELY
(frowning and serious)
Twelve thirty and a general yelling
for his troops. Sounds like the
old days.
Henry starts putting on his overcoat.
DISSOLVE TO:
3 INT. GENERAL FOGARTY'S QUARTERS. NIGHT
A living room with a fire going in the fire place. The
room is fairly well furnished. Some war trophies are
on the wall, including a piece of a Japanese aeroplane,
a Jap sword, and other important war souvenirs.
Three men are in the room. One is General Fogarty, in
his forties; the second is the adjutant of the post,
Major Smith. The third is Corporal Hauser from the
post's communication center.
FOGARTY
(to Corporal Hauser)
If any more messages come in from
that base I want to be notified
personally, no matter what time.
Tell the O.D.
CORPORAL
Yes, sir.
There is a knock on the door.
FOGARTY
Come in.
The door opens and a blast of
freezing air hits the room as
Captain Henry enters. He closes
the door.
HENRY
Good evening, sir.
Corporal Hauser opens the door
and exits, letting another blast
of cold into the room. The General
shivers, scowls and grumbles.
FOGARTY
(shivering)
Freddie, any chance of the Pentagon
sending us a revolving door?
MAJOR
Could be. We got a gross of pith
helmets last week.
FOGARTY
(to Henry)
I've go something queer here from your
picnic party up north. Just came in.
(he reads from a paper)
Believe air ship unusual type crashed
in our vicinity. Please send
facilities to investigate. Most urgent.
(he looks up)
It's from Dr. Carrington. What's it
sound like to you, Pat?
HENRY
I think I'd better hop up.
FOGARTY
(dryly)
I knew you'd say that. But what do
you think you'll find, besides your
lady friend?
HENRY
(quietly)
I don't know. Any of our ships
reported missing?
MAJOR
Not a one.
HENRY
Could be a Russky. They're all
over the Pole, like flies.
FOGARTY
(smiling)
Don't get nervous. You're going.
When a double dome like Professor
Carrington says "most urgent",
small people like us have to jump.
Better take a dog team and everything
you might need for rescue work.
HENRY
I'll take off at 4:30.
MAJOR
What's the weather, Pat?
HENRY
There's a bad front moving in.
But I think there's enough time
to get there and back without
bumping into it.
FOGARTY
You can do me a favor, Pat.
HENRY
Yes, sir.
FOGARTY
Take that newspaper fella up with
you - and maroon him there.
HENRY
I'll invite him.
FOGARTY
And don't get me wrong about
who gets marooned, Captain
Henry. I would appreciate
it if you didn't smash a landing
ski and find it necessary to
twiddle your thumbs for a week
while it's being repaired.
HENRY
(coldly)
That accident was unavoidable, sir.
FOGARTY
So was Romeo and Juliet. I'll
expect you back tomorrow night -
with or without Mr. Skeely.
Good luck.
DISSOLVE TO:
4 INT. C-54 PLANE. IT IS FLYING THROUGH A DIMLY LIT
SKY. BELOW ARE CLOUD BANKS.
In the plane are W. O. MacAuliff, Ned Skeely,
Navigator Lieutenant Ken Ericson and Light
Engineer Corporal Barnes. Captain Henry is flying
the ship, Lieut. Dykes is beside him. MacAuliff
is at his radio instrument.
A dozen huskies and several sleds are in the plane,
plus a pile of other cargo tied down under tarpaulin.
SKEELY
How far are we from camp?
HENRY
Three hours. We've slowed down.
There's a breeze blowing.
EDDIE DYKES
(grimly)
A breeze, he says. It's hitting
forty miles. But you'll find
that our captain has some funny
ideas about the North Pole. He
thinks it's a garden spot. Come
and bring the kiddies.
HENRY
(grimly)
You're yapping is out of order,
Eddie. I'm not going to tell
you again -
EDDIE
Always squawking - that's me!
And for no reason! Shackleton
went to the North pole once -
and retired with a bag full of
medals. I get to go there every
three weeks - like it was lover's
lane.
HENRY
(coldly)
I'd like you to get this straight,
Mr. Skeely, if you write anything.
I'm liaison officer between our
post and the Carrington outfit.
These flights are strictly official.
Usually bring in supplies. They're
charting magnetic currents, growing
new kinds of polar plants, looking
for minerals.
EDDIE
That's right, Skeely. I was
only kidding. It's a terrific
outfit. The biggest collection
of double domes ever got together
on an ice cake.
MACAULIFF
(to the talkers)
Something's coming through.
Henry, Eddie and Navigator
Ericson put on their head
phones and listen.
EDDIE
(listening to the
ear phones)
Somebody's gooped up!
HENRY
(removing ear
phones)
Give me a new reading, Ken.
KEN
I can't understand it.
SKEELY
Who was that?
HENRY
The radio man, Hendrix - talking
for Carrington. He wants us to
correct our compass reading
twelve points East. A magnetic
disturbance is whacking away at
everything.
KEN
(working)
This is no place to make a mistake,
Pat. We were bee-lining for the
place. Hadn't we better get them
back.
HENRY
No. Carrington doesn't make
mistakes. We'll follow ground
instructions.
DISSOLVE TO:
5 INT. PLANE. A VIEW FAR BELOW OF THE SPRAWLING
POLAR SETTLEMENT.
Small dots of roofs on a flat expanse of snow.
The plane starts descending.
DISSOLVE TO:
6 EXT. POLAR PROJECT CAMP - DAY
The C-54 makes a landing on skis some two hundred
feet from the largest of the low looming buildings.
The arrivals drop out of the plane door.
A half dozen Eskimo workers belonging to the camp
hurry toward them.
DISSOLVE TO:
7 INT. LARGE ASSEMBLY ROOM OF POLAR EXPEDITION
It is 60 per cent underground. It's windows are
near the ceiling and function as transoms for
light.
The room is comfortably furnished and warm. It's
steam pipes run along the wall.
In the room are Dr. Chapman, Dr. Algari and Mrs.
Chapman.
Chapman is a forceful looking man in his forties.
His wife is a good looking woman of forty who is
also his assistant. Chapman is a minerologist.
Algari is an elderly man, white haired. He is a
botanist.
A male cook stands at a large electric stove. He
is cooking coffee and a hot lunch in a number of
pots. Chapman walks up the stairs to the door,
which is near the top of the room. He opens it.
Captain Henry and his group come dowm the stairs.
CHAPMAN
Very pretty landing, Captain.
We watched it. How was the trip?
HENRY
Nice ride. This is Mr. Skeely,
Dr. Chapman, Mrs. Chapman, Dr.
Algari. Mr. Skeely's a newspaperman.
SKEELY
Glad to know you.
CHAPMAN
(smiling)
Glad to have a newspaperman drop
in on us. We're a bit off the
beaten track.
SKEELY
(looking around)
Don't tell me I'm practically
at the North Pole! Looks more
like my old Kentucky home.
HENRY
Any further information, Dr.
Chapman?
CHAPMAN
I'm convinced it's some sort of
Russian air craft. Probably some
new jet propelled rocket.
ALGARI
I very much doubt that, Hugo.
I don't understand Russian
science, but it can't be as
far advanced as the indications
we have from the crashed ship.
CHAPMAN
If it is a ship. We're all
quite excited, Captain.
HENRY
Where's Dr. Carrington?
CHAPMAN
In the lab.
MRS. CHAPMAN
They'll all be here for lunch.
It's ready - if you'd like to
eat first. Fresh vegetables.
HENRY
(to Skeely)
From their own garden.
SKEELY
Garden?
MRS. CHAPMAN
(smiling)
Hothouse.
SKEELY
You have a hothouse! At the Pole!
EDDIE
(winking at Skeely)
They've got everything here.
Wait till you see.
HENRY
I'll join you in a few minutes.
ALGARI
I'll take you to the lab, Captain.
HENRY
Thanks. I know the way.
He starts out of the room.
MRS. CHAPMAN
Please sit down, everybody.
The group moves toward a long refectory table set with
twenty places. We follow Captain Henry out.
8 INT. A CONNECTING UNDERGROUND CORRIDOR BETWEEN TWO OF
THE CAMP BUILDINGS
Henry, enters it and walks toward a steep stairway. He
climbs it and knocks on a door. A voice calls.
VOICE
Come in.
He opens the door.
9 INT. NIKKI'S OFFICE AND SLEEPING QUARTERS
A small office-like room, lined with filing cabinets,
holding a desk, a typewriter stand, a voice recording
machine, and a couch that serves as a bed, is revealed.
Sitting at the desk, typing, is a vivid, young woman,
Alberta Nicholson. She is called Nikki. She stops
typing and rises.
NIKKI
Pat! Welcome to our igloo!
HENRY
(smiling)
Hello, Nikki. You look like seven
million dollars. How are you?
NIKKI
Wonderful. Sit down.
HENRY
I talk better standing.
He steps up to her and embraces her ardently. She
pulls out of his embrace, calmly, and without alarm.
NIKKI
Please.
(she straightens her hair)
I think Dr. Carrington is waiting
for you.
HENRY
Dr. Carrington will have to wait.
I'm busy.
He tries to embrace her again.
NIKKI
(evading him)
No, you're not.
HENRY
(frowning)
What's the matter?
NIKKI
Now, don't act surprised. We've been
all through this before. I don't like
promiscuous love making. It's meaningless.
HENRY
Who's promiscuous? We're alone, aren't we?
NIKKI
Pat, last time you were here, I spent
three days wrestling with a typical air
corps wolf. It was like playing puss-in-
the-corner with Bluebeard or somebody.
You even invaded my bedroom, claiming you
were looking for a lost pocketknife. Now,
I'm fond of you, Pat, but this time, if
you don't keep your hands to yourself,
we're through.
HENRY
You're fond of me, eh? Well, I'm fond
of you, too. What are we waiting for?
NIKKI
We're waiting until we get to know
each other.
HENRY
(grinning)
Now you're on my side. Come here.
You'll get to know me.
NIKKI
(pushing him away)
Not that way.
HENRY
What other way is there?
NIKKI
(desperately)
Didn't you ever hear the word
"conversation"? Didn't you ever read a
book, or see a movie - or - or think
about anything?
HENRY
Yeah. But you don't want to talk
about what I'm thinking.
NIKKI
No, I don't. If that's all you can think!
HENRY
I got other thoughts.
NIKKI
It would be an entrancing diversion to
hear one.
HENRY
Well, try this one. Dames are all alike.
NIKKI
That's not a thought. It's a cliche.
And a stupid cliche.
HENRY
All dames want to get married. If you
ask them to marry you, you're sincere. If
you don't you're Bluebeard, and a wolf.
NIKKI
(dangerously)
Are you saying I want you to ask me to
marry you?
HENRY
Never could figure them out. If you
buy a dame one meal and try to kiss
her, you're a wolf and a Bluebeard.
But if the same fellow promises to buy
her thirty thousand meals, then he's a
prospective husband and he couldn't
beat her off with a stick.
NIKKI
Yes, and tell a fellow your garter
belt is your own business, and he'll
think of every mean, stinking thing
in the world to say back to you!
HENRY
(calmly)
That's the war of the sexes, I guess.
NIKKI
Well, I hate war!
HENRY
On the other hand, it's my business. I
got a commission. Gimme a kiss, Nikki.
NIKKI
I'm tired of you. Now, come on. Doctor
Carrington's eager to see you.
HENRY
(gloomily)
Okay. Lead on, Miss Nicholson. I
guess I came to the wrong Pole.
He follows her out.
DISSOLVE
10 INT. DR. CARRINGTON'S LABORATORY
This is a large chamer in a separate building. Here
are concentrated the instruments used by the various
scientists in their astronomical, mineralogical and
botanical experiments.
At a large flat-topped table in the room sits Dr. Arthur
Carrington. He is a man of 43 with an alert, cheerful
face. He is good looking, well built, soft spoken.
His dominant characteristic is a smile that seems never
to leave his lips. It is present always on his face
like an extra feature. He is a genius of science and
a man whose brain is focused like a microscope on the
secrets of nature. But the intensity of his preoccupa-
tion with science is not to be heard in the easy tones
of his voice. It will be seen in the things he does,
in his point of view - but never in his manner.
Outwardly, he seems only a good looking man full of
child-like enthusiasm for a task and with a soothing,
amiable way for his fellow man.
In the room with Dr. Carrington is a lean young man
named William Stone, in charge of the camp's
photographic work and equipment.
Captain Henry stands silently in the doorway, his eyes
moodily on his scientific rival. The doctor is
studying the indicator dials of a complex instrument on
the table. Bill Stone greets the arrivals.
STONE
Hello, Nikki. Hello, Captain
Henry. How was the trip?
HENRY
(shortly)
O. K.
He remains staring at the preoccupied
Carrington who seems aware neither of
his or Nikki's presence.
NIKKI
(quietly)
Captain Henry is here, doctor.
CARRINGTON
(without looking up,
his voice amiable)
Yes, I know.
(his eyes stay on the indicator
dials and he continues softly)
Would you take these notes, please.
(he dictates to Nikki quietly.
She writes as he speaks)
November second, 2 p.m. Deflection
on screen nineteen continues -
twelve point three. No lessening
or wavering of disturbing element.
(he looks up and smiles
at Henry and adds softly)
Can we start now, Captain Henry?
HENRY
(coolly)
Mind telling me where we're going?
CARRINGTON
Forty-eight miles due east.
HENRY
Your message said an aeroplane
had crashed. Is that what we're
looking for?
CARRINGTON
(smiling)
I don't know, Captain.
HENRY
(covering his irritation
with difficulty)
I'd like to know what I'm supposed
to go looking for, Dr. Carrington.
CARRINGTON
(gently)
So would I.
(eagerly)
I think we should start while
the light holds.
HENRY
(without moving)
We'll start after you've given me
what information you've got.
CARRINGTON
(softly)
Is that necessary, Captain?
(he sees Henry's scowl
and is quickly contrite)
I'm very sorry. I was thinking
only of the vagueness of my
information. I dislike being
vague. Will you please read
Captain Henry my first notes,
Nikki?
NIKKI
(opening the note book in
her hand and reading from
it)
November 1, 11:15 p.m. Sound detectors
registered explosion due east. 11:18 p.m.
magnetic dial revealed twelve point three
deflection. Such deflection possible only
if a disturbing force equivalent to 20,000
tons of steel or iron ore had become part
of the earth within fifty mile radius.
HENRY
That sounds like a meteor, doesn't it?
CARRINGTON
(amiably)
Yes, very much. Except for our photographic
plates. Our telescopic cameras were working
last night. Here is the film taken between
11:12 and 11:15. Let Captain Henry see it,
Bill.
Stone switches on a light in a moviola
box and runs a strip of film slowly
through it. Captain Henry looks into
the box.
CARRINGTON
You will note the small dot low on the film.
It is moving from west to east. At 11:14
the dot moves upward. At 11:15 it drops to
the earth and vanishes. A meteor might move
almost horizontally from west to east, but
never upward. If the traveling object caused
the explosion we picked up, it is in the ice
48 miles from here. The sound reached us
four minutes after the object's disappearance.
This gives us the approximate distance from
here.
HENRY
(frowning)
Twenty thousand tons of steel is a lot of
metal for an aeroplane.
CARRINGTON
For the sort of aeroplane we know, Captain.
HENRY
(abruptly)
Come on, let's get going.
He walks out followed by Carrington,
Stone and Nikki.
DISSOLVE TO:
11 INT. C-54 PLANE
Captain Henry and Lieutenat Dykes are at the controls.
The rest of the crew are in their accustomed places.
A dog sled and a dog-team occupy the rear of the
passenger cabin.
Flight Engineer Barnes is scanning the snowscape below.
So are Photographer Stone and the scientists Olson,
Chapman, Vorrhees, Laurenz and Redding. Skeely is also
peering avidly out of the window. There is an air of
tension to the silence.
Only Dr. Carrington seems relaxed. He shares a seat
with Nikki.
From time to time Captain Henry turns around to scowl
at Nikki and Carrington.
NIKKI
(eagerly to her companion)
I'm terribly excited, Arthur! I'm
jumping up and down inside!
CARRINGTON
(softly)
So am I.
NIKKI
(laughing)
If the world were coming to an end, I
don't think you'd change your expression,
Arthur. You'd keep smiling - and dictating
notes - and expect me to take them down
accurately.
CARRINGTON
(nodding)
And you would.
Captain Henry has risen and left
Dykes at the controls. He has
walked back to Carrington and stood
there waiting grimly for their talk
to end. He speaks up now with
irritation.
HENRY
We're fifty miles out, Doctor, and not a
sign of anything. Those gadgets of yours
must be screwy.
CARRINGTON
(amiably)
I doubt it, Captain. They've exhibited
no signs of lunacy in the past.
NIKKI
(to Henry)
You must be off your course.
HENRY
(to Carrington, insistantly,
ignoring Nikki)
We haven't seen anything, have we?
What does that mean?
CARRINGTON
(amiably)
It means we haven't seen it. It doesn't
mean it isn't there.
Henry's response is interrupted
by a cry from Dykes.
DYKES
Hey, Pat! Look at this! The compass
is turning around!
HENRY
(starting forward)
What the holy --
CARRINGTON
(calmly)
We've passed it.
(calling to Dykes)
When did it start turning, Lieutenant?
DYKES
Just now -- fifteen seconds ago.
CARRINGTON
(to Nikki)
Mark the time, please.
(to Dykes)
Is it a complete revolution?
DYKES
Yep. Hundred and eighty degrees.
CARRINGTON
(to Henry)
Then we flew right over it about a
mile and three eighths back.
HENRY
(curtly)
Thanks.
(he calls to the cockpit)
Spin it around Eddie, and take
her down low.
Henry returns to the cockpit. Carrington follows him
and stands gazing out over his shoulder.
12 LONG SHOT OF ICE FIELD FROM SHIP'S POINT OF VIEW
A dark patch in the ice appears.
13 INT. COCKPIT
CARRINGTON AND DYKES
(together)
There - I see it - over there!
DYKES
It's buried in the ice.
HENRY
(peering at the
ground)
What do you think, Eddie?
DYKES
(pointing)
Looks pretty smooth over
there -
HENRY
(nodding)
Fasten your seat belts,
folks. We're going to land.
DISSOLVE TO:
14 THE ICE PLANE
The C-54 lands gracefully on its skis. Its occupants
disembark. Barnes and Dykes start hitching up the dog
team.
NIKKI
(standing on tiptoe)
I can't see it from here.
HENRY
It's that way. About a half
mile.
CARRINGTON
A little more south, I believe.
NIKKI
Oh, I hope we don't lose it.
CARRINGTON
(smiling at her
eagerness)
Hardly.
MACAULIFF
This'll lead us right to it.
He holds up a Geiger counter.
CARRINGTON
(surprised)
A Geiger counter. But there's
no reason to suppose it's
radioactive.
MACAULIFF
It is, though. I noticed in
the plane. See?
He holds up the counter. It clicks steadily.
DYKES
All set, folks.
HENRY
(to Nikki)
You ride on the sled.
Nikki gets on the sled. It starts off, the rest of the
party trotting along in its tracks.
DISSOLVE TO
15 THE ICE PLAIN NEAR THE DARK PATCH
The sled stops. Nikki gets off and runs with the others
to the dark patch. They stand looking down at it fron a
little hillock of snow and ice.
BARNES
That's no aeroplane.
OLSON
It's certainly not a meteor.
MACAULIFF
Whatever it is, how in the
holy name of Aberdeen, did it
get in there? Look, the ice
is smooth as glass.
There is a little chorus of agreement and wonder.
HENRY
This is the craziest thing
I ever saw!
CARRINGTON
Not really.
HENRY
(over polite)
Perhaps you'll be good enough
to explain the little mystery
to all us ordinary people.
CARRINGTON
(staring at the
dark patch)
Anything hitting the earth's
atmosphere at an astronomical
speed would be white hot in an
instant. It would melt its
way into the ice which would
then freeze over it again.
Skeely and Barnes have moved to another hillock to get a
better view of the buried object. Suddenly Skeely lets
out a yell.
SKEELY
(at the top of his
lungs)
IT'S A SAUCER! IT'S A FLYING
SAUCER!
There is an instant's silence. They all stare into the
ice.
OLSON
(softly)
Bless my soul, that's what it
is!
AD LIB
A saucer!
A flying disc!
Sure, look from over here - see?
A real, honest-to-God saucer!
See the direction vanes...
They said there were no such things...
D'ya suppose there's anyone in it?
Must be ... Sure...
SKEELY
(jumping with excitement)
Axes! Get some ice-axes!
Barnes and Dykes run for axes.
STONE
Stand back, everybody! Let me
get some pictures!
SKEELY
(widly, as Stone
starts photographing)
Where's the radio generator!
Hey, MacAuliff!
(MacAuliff turns
to him)
Scotty, come on, quick! I
want to send a message!
HENRY
(interrupting)
Nothing doing. No private
messages.
SKEELY
What do you mean, private! I'm
going to send it to the whole
world!
HENRY
Sorry, Skeely. This is army
information. I'll have to wait
for authority to let you file a
story.
SKEELY
(beside himself)
You've got your authority from
the Constitution of the United
States! It's called freedom of
the press! I'm sending my story,
Captain!
HENRY
All right, send it. But not from
my ship.
Skeely glares at him in frustrated fury. Henry ignores
Skeely's rage, and turns to MacAuliff.
HENRY (cont'd)
Call Hendrix..Have him wire Fogarty
we've found a flying disc - intact
- imbeaded in the ice - and we're
going to get it out!
MACAULIFF
Yes, sir.
He starts for the plane - Skeely at his heels.
SKEELY
(urgently)
Looky, Scotty! This is the
biggest story since the Red Sea!
A ship from another planet! You
can't cover it up! Have a heart!
Think what this means to the world!
MACAULIFF
I'm not working for the world.
I'm working for the army, and I've
got my orders.
SKEELY
(furiously)
Even the Russians wouldn't act
like this!
He starts back toward Captain Henry.
OLSON
(to Carrington)
What do you make of that,
Arthur? It certainly doesn't
look like 20,000 tons of steel.
CARRINGTON
Not even a ton, I'd say.
During the above, axes have arrived. Five of the men
start hacking feverishly through the ice. Nikki stands
beside Carrington. Captain Henry joins the men chopping
on the ice. The little group on the wind-swept snow
work silently and desperately to remove the four feet
covering of ice from the saucer.
CHAPMAN
(coming up to Carrington)
What do you think it's made of,
Arthur?
CARRINGTON
No element we know on this earth.
NIKKI
(excitedly)
I don't see any door or windows
in it.
CARRINGTON
They must be underneath.
OLSON
(peering)
I can't make out any engine.
CARRINGTON
I doubt if we'll find anything
we call an engine.
SKEELY
(arriving out of breath)
What planet do you figure it's
from, Doctor?
CARRINGTON
Not this one.
SKEELY
Must be Mars. That's the only
one that's supposed to be
inhabited, isn't it?
CARRINGTON
I'll be able to answer your
questions a little more
accurately after I've examined
the interior of the craft and
its occupants, if any.
Skeely grabs an axe and runs toward the chopping group.
NIKKI
Occupants! They must be dead,
though!
CARRINGTON
Dead or alive - we'll learn a
great many things we don't know
in the world, now.
The group is swinging axes. Captain Henry suddenly stops
digging. He looks up at the sun looks at his watch.
HENRY
(to Dykes)
We can't make it, Eddie. The
light'll be gone in an hour.
The temperature's dropping, too,
I think.
EDDIE
(looking toward the
horizon)
That storm front's moving in
fast. But we can't quit. We've
got to keep going! It's from
Mars!
HENRY
I'm not going to try an
instrument landing on skis in
the dark - and kill off everybody.
EDDIE
(eagerly)
We can dig for another half
hour, Pat.
HENRY
If they get that close - I'll
never get them back in the ship.
They're so excited now they don't
know they're half frozen.
EDDIE
(excitedly)
Look, Pat - I feel fine. I'll
stay here all night. Just
leave me a sleeping bag and some
whiskey.
HENRY
(suddenly)
I got a thermite bomb on the
sled. Go get it. We'll melt
the ice away.
EDDIE
(axe in hand)
Wonderful! What a brain!
He runs toward the sled. At the same moment one of the
diggers cries out.
BARNES
(axe in hand)
Here's a piece in the open!
We've uncovered it!
The scientists and the axe
wielders run over to Barnes.
Captain Henry comes over.
Dr. Carrington drops to his
knees and examines a two foot
metal edge protruding from the
ice.
CARRINGTON
May I have a file, please?
BARNES
Here's one.
He removes a file from his heavy
clothes. The group watches as
Dr. Carrington starts using the
file on the protruding edge of
the saucer.
CHAPMAN
What's it look like, Arthur?
CARRINGTON
(hitting the file against it)
I don't know. Probably an alloy. I'll
try and get some filings. We can analyze
them tonight.
(he looks up and smiles at the
group watching him)
We haven't much time. I suggest you all
continue with your excavating.
HENRY
No need to. We've got a thermite bomb.
CARRINGTON
(pleased)
Thermite! Oh, excellent!
He stops filing and rises. He
stands staring down at the machine
in the ice. Lieut. Dykes arrives
with a thermite bomb, a length of
wire and a plunger. MacAuliff comes
running up at the same moment.
MACAULIFF
(panting)
They're relaying the message to Fogarty now.
We ought to have an answer in an hour.
I got some news back from Hendrix. The
barometer fell down to the cellar and a
freeze is coming up like nobody's business.
He says to watch out.
HENRY
I'm watching. Drill a hole for that bomb,
Eddie.
SKEELY
(moving in to the group in
time to hear the last ramark)
A bomb? Is that safe?
DYKES
(as he digs the hole, Barnes
assisting)
It's S.O.P. Standard Operating Procedure
for removing ice. It just melts it.
BARNES
It'll uncover the whole saucer in thirty
seconds.
NIKKI
I'm so excited, I'm almost sick to my
stomach.
HENRY
(to Dykes)
That's deep enough, Eddie. The light's
going fast.
CARRINGTON
(softly, as he continues to
stare at the metal mass at his
feet)
Five minutes from now we may have the
key to the stars. A million years of
history are waiting in that ice for us.
DYKES
All set, Pat.
HENRY
Clear the field, Mac.
MACAULIFF
(calling)
Over here - everybody. Keep together.
The crew and scientists and Nikki
move across the ice, led by MacAuliff.
Eddie uncoils a hundred feet of wire
and walks with it. Captain Henry stands
in the increasing wind - surveying the
dimly outlined ship in the ice.
HENRY
(raising his arm)
Let her go, Eddie.
Eddie presses the plunger. There
is the normal thermite bomb explosion.
A glow of the thermite flares and
dies.
EDDIE
(calling out)
O.K., folks. She's clear.
Before anyone can move there is a
muffled exlosion. And a second
flare starts under the ice. Gradu-
ally the glare builds up. The
whole ice field becomes illuminated
from beneath by an unbearable light.
The onlookers are forced to turn
their eyes away, all save Carrington,
and Henry who continue to stare at
it.
A chorus of exclamations and queries
rise from the group.
AD LIB
What is it?
What happened -
Secondary explosion?
Don't look - Shield your eyes!
How can it burn - in the ice?
Chain reaction - from the thermite!
Etc.
SKEELY
(grabbing Chapman's arm)
What's happening to it. Tell me, Doc!
CHAPMAN
(slowly)
I'm afraid it's disintegrating - totally.
CARRINGTON
(his face tense)
Secrets - that might have given us a new
science. Gone!
Captain Henry stands aghast as
the wild burning consumes the
ship under the ice. He sees its
outlines run and vanish. Skeely
comes up to him.
SKEELY
(raging)
Standard Operating Procedure, you blind
ape! You've destroyed it!
CARRINGTON
I should have thought - I should have
thought...
SKEELY
You sure should! The greatest discovery
in history up flames! Fine work!
(he wheels on Henry)
The army can be proud of itself - turning
a whole civilization into a Fourth of July
piece. Even the Indians acted smarter
toward Columbus!
CHAPMAN
Not a shred left. Every bit of it gone -
and we know nothing - nothing.
CARRINGTON
We know one thing...what it was made of.
Obviously a magnesium alloy.
CHAPMAN
That's right. Only magnesium would react
to heat that way.
SKEELY
(bitterly)
Splendid! There's a story for me.
(quoting)
Scientists learn magnesium burns!
DYKES
(to Henry)
Want me to mark the spot - so we
can find it after the storm?
Captain Henry has been staring
into the wind-swept ice. He has
stood silent under Skeely's abuse.
HENRY
(to Dykes)
Later, Eddie. First, I want you to bring
up all your picks and axes. Mac, I want
your Geiger counter. And bring the dog sled.
MACAULIFF
Where to?
HENRY
I saw something under the ice about
fifty feet from here. The flare lit
it up.
He holds the Geiger counter
in front of him and starts
walking slowly. Carrington,
Ericson, Barnes, Dykes and
Skeely move along at his side.
The others straggle behind,
MacAuliff leading the dog team.
CARRINGTON
What was it, Captain?
HENRY
I don't know. It was shaped like a
man, but it might have been a piece of
the disk.
DYKES
A man! You mean somebody got out of that
saucer?
HENRY
Probably thrown out when it crashed. If
it is a man.
CARRINGTON
(gesturing toward the counter,
which is clicking)
It's radio active. I imagine it must be a
fragment fron the saucer.
HENRY
Maybe. It was sure man-shaped, though.
CARRINGTON
(with growing excitement)
Good work, Captain. We may salvage
something yet.
SKEELY
(pointing at the counter)
It's getting louder. More to your left,
I think.
DYKES
(pointing off)
There it is! There!
He points to an ice bank. Dimly
visible in the ice is a two legged
shape.
SKEELY
Is this a story! The man from Mars!
MACAULIFF
(excitedly)
It's got legs - and a head. I can see 'em.
NIKKI
It is! It's a man... It really is!
There is an ad lib chorus of
excited remarks from the others.
AD LIB
There - see it?
Look - right by that boulder!
It's an animal.
No - it's a man.
Must be eight feet long.
Etc.
EDDIE
How come it's frozen in the ice - if it was
thrown clear?
HENRY
(chopping at the ice)
Same as the saucer. Got melted in.
SKEELY
(chopping at the ice)
How about using some thermite?
HENRY
Shut up!
The men continue to swing their
axes. MacAuliff has stepped into
a small depression in the ice and
is closest to the figure they are
trying to extricate. The ice
surrounding it has become flawed
from their blows, and the figure
it contains is practically invisible.
BARNES
(chopping)
I can't see it at all now.
SKEELY
Hurry up, boys. I can't wait.
(to Henry)
Sure hope it isn't a mirage.
HENRY
No mirage. It's there all right.
BARNES
What did it look like in the flare?
HENRY
You'll believe it when you see it.
MACAULIFF
(from below)
Hey -
HENRY
What's wrong, Mac?
MACAULIFF
(staggering away
from the block
they have carved
out)
I'm sick to my stomach. I sunk
my pick right into its skull -
something green oozed out.
EDDIE
No harm done. It was dead
anyway.
ERICSON
The light's going, Pat. We
haven't got time.
HENRY
You're right.
BARNES
Hey, look. The whole block's
coming loose!
CARRINGTON
(nodding)
Recently formed ice. Separates
easily.
HENRY
All right -- everybody on it.
We'll load the whole slab onto
the sled.
They load the block onto the dog sled, and start
hauling it across the ice field.
DISSOLVE TO:
16 EXT. POLAR CAMP. THE LIGHT IS ALMOST GONE
The C-54 appears in the lowering sky. It flies
erratically in the increasing wind.
The plane makes a precarious landing on its skis, the
rising gale buffeting, and almost overturning it.
A half dozen bundled Eskimos come out of the camp and
move toward the plane.
Barnes, Eddie and MacAuliff pile out. They help Nikki
and the scientists alight. In the half dark, the
pessengers start across the wind-blasted snow toward
the camp. They move with difficulty. Words are
inaudible in the gale.
MacAuliff gestures the Eskimos toward the plane. They
climb in. Captain Henry and Eddie bring out the dogs
and a sled.
The block of ice, half covered by a tarpaulin, is
dropped from the plane's door.
Working in the icy blasts now sweeping the dark, the
men move the ice-block onto a sled. Others tie the
plane down, tethering it to stakes pounded into the ice.
With the plane tied down, the party starts for the camp.
The dogs draw the sled with the ice-block on it.
DISSOLVE TO:
16A EXTERIOR ENTRANCE TO STOREROOM
A series of steps have been cut through the snowbank
outside the storeroom entrance. The ice-block is
unloaded from the sled and bumped down the steep steps.
17 INT. STORE ROOM
It is a dimly lit room, piled with barrels of
scientific equipment. It has the look of a gloomy
well stocked cellar.
The ice-block is slid into a clear space in the middle
of the room. Barrels and boxes are moved to make more
room around it, all the group assisting.
HENRY
(to Eddie)
Send the Eskimos away.
EDDIE
They've hot footed it already.
It's going to take a lot of
coaxing to get them back.
MACAULIFF
Anyone got some whiskey?
EDDIE
(poking among
some boxes)
Here's a whole bar room.
He removes a bottle and starts opening it.
BARNES
(to Henry, nervously)
What do we do now, unveil him?
HENRY
Nothing to see through the ice.
(to Carrington)
Can you turn off the heat in
this room, Doctor?
CARRIGTON
(softly)
If it's necessary.
EDDIE
What d'you meen, turn off the
heat. It's fifty below outside.
CARRINGTON
I suggest we discuss our procedure
before we take any further steps.
HENRY
(to Eddie)
Open the window, Eddie.
Eddie stares at him and climbs up to the window.
LAURENZ
(full of tension,
his eyes on the
tarp covered block
of ice)
We're wasting time, Captain!
We must melt it out. Investigate!
Examine!
HENRY
We're not melting it out.
EDDIE
(from the ladder
top)
The window's closed.
HENRY
Punch a hole in it.
Eddie breaks the window.
LAURENZ
This is stupid! Criminal! The
secrets of a universe are in
there. We are scientists!
CARRINGTON
(quietly)
It's almost certain that we'll
be called in by the army to make
a study of it later, Captain.
LAURENZ
You can't fly the thing to Dutch
Harbor! This storm may last for
weeks. No human can walk in it.
HENRY
I'm sorry, gentlemen. I'll wait
instructions from General Fogarty.
SKEELY
(quietly)
I think you're making a crazy
decision. There's no army
precedent for how to treat a
Martian. And nobody is better
qualified to take our visitor
apart than these gentlemen of
science. You couldn't ask for
more geniuses at an autopsy.
HENRY
It's staying in the ice.
LAURENZ
You're behaving like a meddlesome
sophomore, Captain Henry! There
are organisms that survive after
death. Cold may destroy them.
REDDING
(quietly)
They may be dangerous organisms.
Disease germs from another planet.
We're not prepared medically to
cope with them.
LAURENZ
That is absolute nonsense, Redding!
REDDING
Nor do we know what effect the air
of our earth may have on the
creature's remains.
HENRY
Yes, I'd feel kind of foolish if
this thing disappeared in a cloud
of smoke like that saucer did.
LAURENZ
(to Carrington)
Arthur, you are in charge of
this post.
VORHEES
We have every right to proceed
scientifically.
CARRINGTON
(controling himself)
Captain Henry, I can only urge
you in the interest of human
knowledge to permit us to
examine the body in there -
LAURENZ
(excitedly)
We don't have to be permitted!
We have thirty men in this camp -
all armed.
HENRY
Your request is denied, Dr.
Carrington. That ice-block and
what's in it is army property.
And this is a military installation.
As head of the military here, I'm
taking over.
SKEELY
Martial law, eh!
HENRY
Until I receive instructions from
my superior officer on what to do
- we'll mark time. I'm posting a
guard to keep everybody out - and
everybody's hands off - in the
meantime.
CARRINGTON
(softly)
Captain Henry is doing what he
considers right.
(to Henry)
It's difficult for me to mark
time - with such amazing information
waiting for us - but I accept your
decision. I suggest that your guard
use one of our electric blankets to
keep warm. Will you get him one, Fred.
A mechanic present nods.
HENRY
Thanks. How do we get to your
radio room?
CARRINGTON
I'll show you.
(he starts out)
SKEELY
(excitedly)
The radio room! I'm getting
senile! I forgot all about it.
Skeely starts out.
EDDIE
Mind if I have a last peek at
our pal --
He goes to the ice-block, and pulls off the tarpaulin.
The dim two-legged shape is blurringly visible inside
the block.
HENRY
Come on, Eddie.
EDDIE
(staring at the
frosted ice-cake)
I can't quite make it out yet,
but I know one thing. They
don't bread 'em for beauty on Mars.
The rest of the group leaves through the inner door.
We stay with Ken. He stands alone in the cellar,
leaning against a barrel. He picks up a whiskey
bottle and takes a swig. Then he approaches the block
of ice. He stares into it for a moment and backs away.
He removes his gun from its holster, and resumes his
place leaning against the barrels, his eyes nervously
on the ice-block.
18 INT. UNDERGROUND CORRIDOR - CONNECTING CELLAR AND
RADIO BUILDING
Led by Dr. Carrington, the group moves down the shadowy
length. Skeely is talking as he walks beside Captain
Henry.
SKEELY
(his excitement a contrast
to the silence of the
scientists and army men)
Can you imagine what's going to happen
when this story hits the headlines!
Everybody who owns a sled is going to
start for the North Pole for a look at
the man from Mars. Gentlemen, you'll
be doing a bigger business than Coney
Island in a week! What a shame, he's
dead! An interview with a live Martian!
That would have been something, eh?
Look, Captain, you've got to let
these boys get at that corpse as soon
as possible. Our readers will be
waiting for details. You're liable
to give the whole nation a nervous
breakdown.
19 INT. RADIO ROOM
The entire communication equipment of the post is
housed here. A step-ladder leads to a trap-door which
in turn leads to a small observation tower above the
radio room. Sitting at, the radio controls is Ezra
Hendrix, the operator.
The group enters. Ezra is a stocky young man. He is
full of excitement as he turns to the arrivals.
EZRA
I'm using full power. The lousy pole
is shooting electricity all over
the place.
HENRY
I'm Captain Henry. Any messages for me?
EZRA
Yes. Came through a few minutes ago.
(he reads from a
piece of paper)
Fogarty to Henry. Remove flying
saucer from ice at once. Use thermite
bomb to melt her out. Erect temporary
structure to protect find until my
arrival with staff chiefs.
SKEELY
(beaming)
That's what I like about the army.
Smart - all the way to the top.
(to Henry)
Well, Captain, that gives you a chance
to pass the buck on that thermite deal.
HENRY
(ignoring him)
Will you send this to General Fogarty?
SKEELY
Make it short, will you, Captain? There's
a hundred and fifty million people holding
their breaths -
HENRY
(to Ezra)
Henry to Fogarty. Flying saucer completely
destroyed by thermite bomb, due to unforeseen
composition of ship. Have removed dead
passenger from wreck...
EZRA
(as he taps the key)
You got a Martian? Where is he?
SKEELY
On ice, buddy. Hurry it up - I've got a
flash for you.
EZRA
(tapping)
The static's knocking us out of the air.
HENRY
Keeping dead body in block of ice. Carrington
wants permission to remove and examine.
Waiting your instructions before further
action. That's all.
SKEELY
(eagerly)
O. K. Cosmopolitan Press Office, New York
City. You can clear through Edmonton. Try
our bureau there.
(he dictates)
With Carrington expedition. North Pole -
The world has a new visitor today, a two
legged creature from Mars.
CARRINGTON
You are being a little premature, Mr.
Skeely. That has not been established.
SKEELY
You can un-establish it - if I'm wrong,
Doctor.
EZRA
It's dead.
SKEELY
(angrily)
I know it's dead.
EZRA
I mean the sender. Nothing's going out.
SKEELY
Keep clicking, man! It can't quit on you
now!
Another telegraph clicking
sound comes through.
EZRA
Something's coming in.
He starts writing.
CARRINGTON
It will alter our situation, Captain -
if we can't get through to your General.
HENRY
The situation remains as it is - until
we do.
EZRA
(reading from the paper on
which he has been writing)
Everything grounded - can't join you. Want
you to -
(he looks up)
The rest is scrambled, Captain. Can't pick
it up.
HENRY
He didn't get my message?
EZRA
Doesn't look like it. We're a weaker
station than the one at your base,
Captain. I may be able to pick them
up - if they keep sending - but our
outgoing stuff is hopeless.
SKEELY
Lookie! You can't stop! I've got
to get this story through. Send it
anyway. Some ham may pick it up -
there's millions of them. Send it!
(to Henry)
Pat, how about heading back for
Dutch Harbor?
HENRY
I don't think we can get as far as the
plane - in this wind.
SKEELY
(desperately, as he leans
over Ezra)
Keep hitting it, pall! Somebody'll get
it - somewhere. Keep clicking...
Ezra clicks desperately away
on his instrument. The group
stands waiting and silent.
DISSOLVE TO:
20 INT. BEDROOM OF THE POST. NIGHT
This is a large dormitory with cot beds in it, lining
the walls. Henry, Eddie, Barnes and Skeely are in the
room.
Skeely is walking up and down, peering out of the window
at the storming night.
Eddie sits on a cot. Barnes is curled up on another cot.
Henry is at a window, looking out.
EDDIE
You know something? These scientists
here remind me of the time I was stuck
on Bulan Island with the Hundred and
Sixteenth. An army nurse came ashore
one day and created a disturbance similar
to this Martian.
BARNES
(from his cot)
What happened to her, Lieutenant?
EDDIE
Nothin' she didn't like. I'm just
wondering if the professors will try
to rush us, Pat.
HENRY
(grimly)
Might relieve the monotony if they did.
EDDIE
I'd hate to have to shoot down seventeen
of the world's greatest geniuses. You
know somethin?
HENRY
What?
EDDIE
They're kids, all of them. Nine year olds
drooling over a new fire engine. Scientists!
Did you notice those two double domes who
started crying - when we left the table?
SKEELY
(suddenly)
This storm is getting worse, Captain.
HENRY
Yes, it's tossing around some.
SKEELY
There's only one thing we can do - dog sleds!
We can wrap General Fogarty up and take him
along.
EDDIE
Fogarty?
SKEELY
That's my name for our pretty boy from Mars.
He has the same dubious relation to a human
being as that pot-bellied clam in Dutch
Harbor. Dog sleds, Captain, are our only
solution.
HENRY
Solution to what?
SKEELY
Getting out of here - we could make
the base in five days -
HENRY
Cut the yammering, will you. I've got
enough on my mind. It's death outside.
The storm will knock off even the Polar
bears.
The door opens and MacAuliff
enters.
MACAULIFF
He's going crazy.
EDDIE
Who?
MACAULIFF
Fogarty.
EDDIE
Which one?
MACAULIFF
Are you nuts? There's only one Fogarty.
EDDIE
There's two now. Skeely's baptized our
Martian with the same name.
HENRY
What about the General?
MACAULIFF
Incoming stuff is pretty jammed. But
I've figured it to read there's been a
leak in Washington. News of our find
has made the papers. Congress and the
President and a lot of other top brass
want further details.
HENRY
They're not picking up anything from us?
MACAULIFF
Not a crackle.
SKEELY laughs.
HENRY
(frowning)
What's the joke, Skeely?
SKEELY
(chuckling)
A picture of my editor just came
to me...tearing up and down his
office - breaking windows and yelling
for Skeely. I can almost hear him.
He's liable to shoot himself by mid-
night.
The door flings open. Navigator
Ken Ericson enters. He is in a
high state of agitation.
KEN
(loudly)
Where's Barnes?
BARNES
(sitting up)
What's up, Ken?
KEN
(violently)
It's eleven five. You're supposed to
relieve me at eleven.
HENRY
(sharply)
You've left your post!
KEN
(wildly)
He's late. He was supposed to come
at eleven.
HENRY
Shut up!
KEN
(desperately)
I can't take it any longer, Captain.
HENRY
Take what?
KEN
You can see it now! The ice has cleared
up. It's got crazy hands. No ears, and
a lot of eyes. They're all open! I turned
a flash on it - and it looked like it
was moving. And I lit out.
HENRY
Get back to your post.
KEN
(slowly)
O. K.
HENRY
Barnes will be right along.
KEN
O. K.
HENRY
Get going!
KEN
Yes, sir.
He turns and walks slowly
out of the room.
SKEELY
I'm going to have a look.
HENRY
You're staying out of there, Skeely -
along with everybody else. Put on
your flightsuit, Barnes. And get in
there before Ken starts having kittens.
BARNES
(pulling on his electrically
heated flying suit)
That's the first squawk I've heard out
of Ken since Ploesti. I don't like it.
SKEELY
All I want is to verify what I know -
about it's being four-eyed.
EDDIE
He didn't say four eyes. He said -
HENRY
Never mind what he said. I'm barring
all civilians.
SKEELY
You're being a little stuffy about this
whole thing, Captain Henry.
BARNES
I won't need the electric blanket -
if I got this suit plugged in. So
in case you care to send me any
company, I could make them
comfortable, Captain.
HENRY
I'll relieve you myself at 2 a.m.
And don't leave your post.
EDDIE
Pat's right, Barney. If you give
them a chance, those scientists
will have him out - waltzing with
him.
BARNES
O.K., Captain. I'll expect you
at 2 a.m.
HENRY
Right.
Barnes opens the door. Nikki is in the doorway. She
is dressed in a fetching looking outfit.
BARNES
(passing her)
Good evening, Miss Nicholson.
NIKKI
Hello. May I come in?
HENRY
(coolly)
We're a bit untidy.
NIKKI
(smiling at
him)
Dreadfully unsocial atmosphere
around, even for the North Pole.
HENRY
I'm sorry to have contributed to
your gloom, Miss Nicholson.
NIKKI
Miss Nicholson! Is that what
happens under martial law -
everybody loses their nicknames?
HENRY
(stiffly)
Did you want to see me about
anything in particular?
NIKKI
No. I was having a drink - all by
myself in my room...and playing the
phonograph. And I suddenly felt I
was being very selfish. All that
lovely music, only for me.
HENRY
(smiling at her)
Want company?
NIKKI
That's what I'm hinting at, Mistah Henry.
HENRY
(to Eddie)
I'll be in Miss Nicholson's quarters if
anything comes up.
SKEELY
I take it Miss Nicholson's quarters
are also out of bounds for civilians.
HENRY
During army occupation only.
He moves Nikki through the door.
21 INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE NIKKI'S ROOM
Nikki and Captain Henry approach it. They walk in
silence. Nikki opens the door.
22 INT. NIKKI'S ROOM AND OFFICE
HENRY
(a bit sarcastically)
You sure you trust me with little
you all alone in your bedroom?
NIKKI
Yes, I think I can.
HENRY
Very manly. You ought to wear
pants.
NIKKI
(giggling)
I do.
HENRY
(handing her a drink)
Outside of that news, what's on your mind.
NIKKI
I want a favor.
HENRY
Uh - huh..
NIKKI
(producing a bathrobe cord)
I want to tie your hands behind your back.
HENRY
(in a sudden temper)
Oh, for - Look, you asked me in here - I
didn't break down the door - why make a
production of -
NIKKI
Please, Pat. I said it was a favor...
HENRY
(grudgingly)
All right, then. But no practical jokes.
Promise?
NIKKI
I promise.
(indicating chair)
Here. Sit here. And put your hands around
the back.
HENRY
(obeying)
The Secretary of Defense will never
understand this.
NIKKI
(as she ties)
It's all very simple. First there's a
boogyman in a cake of ice down in the cellar.
I've got a small case of jumps, and I
want company.
HENRY
Is this the way you usually entertain
your company?
NIKKI
(she has finished tying his hands)
How about a drink.
HENRY
I'd love it. And a long straw, please.
NIKKI
(picking up a glass and holding it
for Henry while he drinks)
Second, I want you to know that out on the
ice today, I noticed the way you jumped
in between me and the exlosion...
HENRY
(patiently)
Could we get to the point? Why am I tied up?
NIKKI
Because I want to tell you how much I admire
you without getting fingerprints all over
my clavicle.
HENRY
(sourly)
Thanks for the compliment. Both of them.
NIKKI
Another drink?
HENRY
After you.
NIKKI
I'm going to have a straight one. But don't
get your hopes up. Liquor doesn't make me
amorous.
HENRY
(as she tosses off a drink)
It ought to. Nothing else does.
NIKKI
(eyeing him steadily)
I liked the way you handled yourself today,
Pat. And I liked the way you stood up to all
the big wigs, and refused to let them play
around with the - with the thing.
HENRY
You like everything about me, but me, is
that it?
NIKKI
No. I like you, too. In fact, I'm going
to kiss you.
HENRY
Untie me, honey.
NIKKI
No. I'm going to kiss you, not wrestle you.
HENRY
(muttering)
Talk about Japanese tortures -
Nikki kisses him briefly and precisely.
NIKKI
That was very nice.
HENRY
Was it?
NIKKI
Very.
(she pours herself another drink)
See what a good time we can have when
you're forced to behave yourself.
HENRY
Nikki, what you don't know about making
love would populate the whole interior
of Australia.
NIKKI
I'll learn. When I'm good and ready.
(giggling)
They say it comes naturally.
HENRY
Untie me now?
NIKKI
Not on your life.
(she kisses him again)
Admit it, Pat. This was a great idea.
Look at you - sitting talking to me like a
civilized man instead of grabbing around
like a throwback. Why, if you weren't tied
up, I wouldn't have dared tell you how
much I liked you...
HENRY
(producing a cigarette)
Got a light?
NIKKI
(automatically striking a match
and lighting his cigarette)
You see, your trouble is you don't know
anything about women. You have no - no
technique. What a woman likes is to -
She stops and stares at Henry's hands, which are resting
quietly in his lap.
HENRY
Among other things you don't know is
how to tie a knot.
(he stands up and grins at her)
It's very likely because the only knots
you have on your mind are marital ones.
Good-night, Miss Nicholson.
He goes out.
DISSOLVE
23 INT. STOREROOM
A faint light from the underground hallway comes through
a transom. Barnes enters. The electric blanket
discarded by Ken lies on a nearby packing case. It is
plugged into the electric light socket, hence no light
in the room. Barnes snaps on his flashlight and gets a
bottle of whiskey out of another case, opens it, and
takes a long swig. He leans over and plugs his flying
suit into the other half of the double-socket shared
by the electric blanket's plug. He takes another drink
and, sitting in the semi-dark, starts whistling
"Ragtime Cowboy Joe."
Suddenly he stops whistling and laughs.
BARNES
(self-mocking)
Whistling in the dark, aren't you,
Barnes?..
He lifts the whiskey bottle again, then sits staring
toward the ice-encased mummy.
BARNES (cont'd)
(suddenly)
All right, let's ses what you look
like, sonny boy -
He switches on his flashlight, and
centers its beam on the ice-block.
As Ericson said, the ice is now almost
transparent. Through it, only
partially distorted, can be seen an
unearthly horror. It has a bulbous
head, a tiny suck-hole for a mouth,
multiple eyes, no ears. Its arms
are extra-long, ending in thorny
clusters, rather than hands. It
stares malevolently through the ice.
Barnes lets out a grunt of dismay,
and turns the flashlight away.
BARNES
Whew!
He drinks again, and then starts
making himself comfortable. He
uses a bag of flour for a pillow,
and prepares to stretch out on
the floor. Abruptly he shines
the flashlight on the ice again.
BARNES
(angrily)
Quit staring at me!
He sees the blanket lying on the
nearby packing case. He picks
it up, and throws it over the
ice-cake.
BARNES
I could go nuts looking at you...
He lies down, puts his head on
the flour sack and taking a
magazine from his pocket prepares
to read. The camera moves to
the electric blanket now covering
the ice-cake, then follows the
electric connection down to the
indicator affixed to the cord.
The indicator hand points to the
"full on" position.
After a moment, the camera
moves back to the floor beneath
the ice block. A slow dripping
has commenced. The sounds of
the rising storm outside obscure
the pit-pat of the drops hitting
the floor. A small puddle starts
to form.
DISSOLVE TO:
24 THE PUDDLE
It is now a large puddle, very large.
The camera pans across the wet floor, and discovers the
puddle is close to Barnes' legs.
25 CLOSE SHOT - BARNES
He is having difficulty reading. His flashlight has
started to wane. He snaps it on and off, experimentally.
The battery is nearly dead. Barnes aims it at the
printed page once more, then decides it is useless for
the time being. He snaps it off, and stretches himself
out more comfortably.
A splinter of light from the hallway outside still
illuminates the scene.
26 CLOSE SHOT OF PUDDLE
It continues to grow. The howl of the storm outside
does not lessen.
DISSOLVE TO:
27 STAIRWELL OUTSIDE STOREROOM
The form of a sled dog appears. It stands poised at the
top of the steps for an instant, pointing eagerly at the
storeroom window. It is joined by three or four more
sled dogs. They start to bark angrily, their snouts
still aimed at the storeroom window. They run down the
stairwell and press their muzzle against the storeroom
door.
28 INTERIOR STOREROOM
CLOSE SHOT OF BARNES
He is sleeping. The barking and eager whining of the
dogs can now be heard over the storm noises outside.
The CAMERA PANS down to Barnes' legs. The puddle has
reached them, and, as we look, they stir slightly,
causing a little splatter of water. Barnes abruptly
sits up into the picture.
BARNES
(staring into
the darkness
at his feet)
What the --
At this moment, a moving shadow falls
across his face. He looks up quickly.
An expression of pure terror appears
on his face. He screams eerily, springs
to his feet, and jerks out his revolver.
He fires six times, then, still screaming,
jumps for the storeroom door, the cord from
his flying suit snapping out of the fixture
and trailing behind him. He yanks open
the door and runs into the corridor.
29 INT. CORRIDOR
Barnes races down the corridor, yelling at the top of
his lungs!
BARNES
It's alive! It's alive! It's alive!
30 INT. MAIN CORRIDOR
As Barnes appears, still yelling, doors have begun to
pop open. Captain Henry, pyjama-clad, gun in hand,
comes running out of his room and grabs Barnes.
The other inmates, in various stages of undress, tumble
out into the hallway only minutes later. Barnes
continues to shriek incoherently.
HENRY
(shaking Barnes)
Shut up! Cut it out!
(he slaps Barnes, who
stops screaming, and
stands sobbing with terror)
Now! What is it? What happened?
BARNES
(almost in shock)
It - it - it came after me!
It's alive, I tell you!
HENRY
(sharply)
Did you fire those shots?
BARNES
(staring past him)
I shot it - six times - it kept
on coming at me.
HENRY
(releasing Barnes and
wheeling to Dykes,
Ericson and MacAuliff)
Sounds like some joker's loose.
Come on. Bring your guns.
He starts for the storeroom,
Eddie, Ken, and Mac following.
CHAPMAN
(to Mrs. Chapman,
indicating Barnes)
Esther, better give this lad a
sedative. I'll be right back.
He starts up the hall. Carrington
appears in his doorway.
CARRINGTON
(joining Chapman)
Did I hear right? The boy said
it was alive?
CHAPMAN
(nodding)
Probably had a bad dream.
NIKKI
(calling after
Carrington)
Wait for me, Arthur.
CARRINGTON
You stay here, Nikki.
(he stops and faces
the group in the
corridor)
I'd appreciate it if you'd all
wait in the living room until
we can check this nightmare.
Thanks.
He continues down the corridor,
Chapman following.
31 INT. STOREROOM.
Henry leads the way into the room. He snaps on a light,
and stands staring at the electric blanket in the puddle
of water.
HENRY
(blankly)
Gone -
DYKES
Those double-domes! They
stole it.
ERICSON
No. The kid said it was alive!
I knew it - all the time I was
here - I could feel it!
DYKES
Nuts! How'd it get out of the ice?
For answer, Pat indicates the
electric blanket.
HENRY
Somebody threw a hot blanket on it.
DYKES
I know who. Those six-year old
Einsteins, that's who.
Carrington and Chapman have
appeared in the doorway.
CARRINGTON
What did we do, Lieutenant?
DYKES
(furiously)
Swiped the freak. Hustled it
off somewhere to take it apart,
that's what!
CARRINGTON
I assure you, Lieutenant --
CHAPMAN
(suddenly)
Sh - h. Listen!
All heads are turned toward the
open door. Over the whine of
the wind they hear a chorus of
savage barking and growling.
HENRY
The sled dogs -
ERICSON
He's out there -
CHAPMAN
They'll tear him to pieces!
Abruptly, Carrington brushes
through the group, and darts
out into the howling night.
He is clad only in his pajamas
and bathrobe.
DYKES
Doctor! Stop!
CHAPMAN
Arthur - are you mad!
Henry curses under his breath
and charges in pursuit. Locating
Carrington with his flashlight,
he brings him down with a flying
tackle. Carrington struggles to
escape Henry's grasp, but Henry
succeeds in leading him back
into the storeroom. The storm
noises have made their exclamations
inaudible.
HENRY
(panting)
Mac - get flying suits - hurry -
MacAuliff runs out.
CARRINGTON
(also winded)
If you please - Captain - you
may release me now -
HENRY
(doing so)
That was a pretty stupid move -
for a genius.
DYKES
You'd have been frozen to death
in five minutes!
CARRINGTON
(apologetically)
Too much zeal, I'm afraid.
Forgive me, gentlemen.
CHAPMAN
(peering into
the night)
Over there - I see something!
HENRY
Put out the light.
Dykes snaps off the storeroom
light. The four men gaze
intently into the dark night.
Henry turns on his flashlight.
Skeely enters the storeroom.
SKEELY
(excitedly)
Where is it? Is it really alive?
Can it talk? Who else saw it
beside Barnes? What are you doing?
Is it out there? Speak to me,
somebody!
HENRY
Shut up.
(he listens and
looks for
another moment)
They're still barking.
CARRINGTON
(speaking through
numb lips - his
voice shivery)
If only the dogs follow it.
We'll never find it otherwise.
SKEELY
(a howl of dismay)
Don't tell me you've lost it -
you bungling army boob. This
is worse than Pearl Harbor!
MacAuliff enters, carrying
flight suits.
MACAULIFF
Here you are, Pat.
HENRY
Grab one, Eddie.
CARRINGTON
May I have one, Captain?
SKEELY
Me, too!
HENRY
(dressing hurriedly)
Army personnel only.
SKEELY
(through his teeth)
Wait till you see what I write
about you! You'll shoot yourself!
HENRY
(zipping his suit up)
Snap it up, boys.
He grabs his flashlight, and
runs out into the storm.
MacAuliff and Dykes follow
a second later. Skeely,
Carrington, and Chapman
remain staring after them.
32 EXT. STOREHOUSE
The army officers, leaning against the iron wind, grope
their way toward the barking dogs. Their flashlights are
almost useless in the snow flurries raised by the gale.
They stop and confer for a second, their words carrying
no further than the ear they are shouted into. Henry
points with his flashlight, and the trio alters course
accordingly.
Suddenly a flashlight beam picks up some moving forms.
All three flashlights center on the activity, but snow
flurries continue to intervene. Dimly, a struggle can
be discerned.
The officers move toward it. A sudden increase in the
wind knocks them down. They continue toward the barking
and struggling, crawling on their hands and knees.
33 MEDIUM SHOT OF DOG PACK FROM HENRY'S POINT OF VIEW
The dogs are tearing at a figure in their midst. A sheet
of flying snow blots out the scene. When it reappears,
the figure is gone.
Henry, MacAuliff, and Dykes crawl into the scene. Two
dogs lie dead in the snow. A third is wounded so
hideously that Dykes shoots it.
Henry signals his pals to pick up the dead dogs. They
each take one.
Henry stops and examines the ground. He picks up two
objects, looks around, then starts back to the camp.
DISSOLVE TO:
34 INT. DR. CARRINGTON'S LABORATORY
It is crowded with nearly all the members of the
expedition. The scientists are ranged around
Carrington's table. The others stand behind him.
Carrington is bent over the table. Captain Henry,
MacAuliff and Eddie are immediately around him.
A bright beam of light is focused on the table center,
hidden from our eyes as we come on the scene.
The crowd around the table is silent and tense, as at
some overwhelming dramatic performance.
Nikki stands beside the doctor. She is dressed in
pajamas and a woollen robe. All the others in the
laboratory are also hastily dressed, some in bath robes
and slippers, some in sweaters and work pants.
Skeely's large bulk is crowded behind Captain Henry,
peering over his shoulder.
CARRINGTON
(as he works)
Can you describe what you saw,
Captain?
HENRY
(quietly)
The dogs had him down, tearing
at him.
MACAULIFF
I saw him get up, with three dogs
on his throat.
HENRY
The cold's blinding. I couldn't
make out the action. But when we
got there two of the dogs were
dead.
EDDIE
They looked like they'd been through
a chopper. Mince meat!
HENRY
I found the hand under one of them.
They must have torn it off.
SKEELY
How could dogs tear off a hand?
CARRINGTON
(softly)
This kind of a hand.
He is bent over the object
on the table, looking at it
through a powerful lens.
35 TABLE TOP
On it lies a hand and part of a forearm. The hand
has ten stringy looking fingers, twice the human
length. They are stiffened and resemble a slightly
arced set of thin knives more than fingers.
OLSON
Sharp as razors, aren't they?
CARRINGTON
(studying the
knife fingers)
Yes - a sort of chitinous
substance.
SKEELY
(tensely)
Speak English - will you!
CARRINGTON
Something between a beetle's
back and a rose thorn.
SKEELY
Thorn fingered, eh?
CARRINGTON
(trying to bend
one of them)
Amazingly strong.
CHAPMAN
They may be frozen.
CARRINGTON
I don't think so.
SKEELY
Well, we know one fact about him.
He's dead now.
CARRINGTON
What is your opinion, Captain?
HENRY
I don't know. He stayed alive in a
block of ice for twenty-four hours.
MACAULIFF
After I'd sunk a pick into his skull.
HENRY
And he got up - with twelve dogs
on him.
OLSON
(bending over
the table)
That's blood on the arm, isn't it,
Arthur?
CARRINGTON
Yes - but not his blood.
OLSON
From the dogs?
Carrington has been working
on the arm with a scalpel.
CARRINGTON
There's no blood in the arm. No
animal tissue. Have a look at this
under the microscope, George.
He hands a bit of material to
Dr. Auerback, who adjusts it
under a microscope.
CARRINGTON
(his voice soft as
he continues his
examination)
I doubt very much if it is dead.
I doubt if it can die - as we
understand dying.
SKEELY
It's bound to freeze to death outside.
EDDIE
It got along all right in a block
of ice - for twenty-four hours.
AUERBACK
(from the microscope)
No arterial structure indicated,
Arthur. No nerve endings visible.
Porous, unconnected cellular
growth.
CARRINGTON
I imagined that.
SKEELY
Sounds like you're trying to describe
a vegetable, doctor.
AUERBACK
I am.
CARRINGTON
(hunched over the hand,
his eye peering through
his lens)
Are you getting all this, Nikki?
NIKKI
(who has been writing
in her pad)
Yes, doctor.
CARRINGTON
That's why the bullets fired into
it by Corporal Barnes had no
effect. They merely punchcd a few
holes into some vegetable matter.
MACAULIFF
What about the green stuff I saw
ooze out of its head?
CARRINGTON
There is some of it in the hand.
I think we will find it has a
sugar base.
HENRY
Like - plant sap?
CARRINGTON
Yes.
SKEELY
(excitedly)
You mean - its some kind of a
super carrot, doctor?
CARRINGTON
A carrot that can construct a
ship beyond our terrestrial
intelligence, of materials we
have not yet created - and guide
it sixty million miles or more
through space.
MACAULIFF
But you don't think it has any
feelings, eh?
CARRINGTON
It has an intelligence beyond ours -
and possibly feelings equaly
refined.
HENRY
(softly)
A vegatable with a brain -
SKEELY
An intellectual carrot! The mind
boggles!
CARRINGTON
It shouldn't. Imagine how strange it
would have seemed in the pliocene age
to forecast that worms, fish, and
lizards that crawled over the earth
were going to evolve - into us. On
the planet from which our visitor
came, vegetable life underwent an
evolution similar to that of our own
animal life, which would explain the
superiority of its brain. Its
development was not handicapped by
emotional or sexual factors.
SKEELY
Dr. Carrington, you're a man who's
won the Nobel prize. You've received
every kind of international kudos a
scientist can attain. If you were
for sale I could get a million bucks
for you from any foreign government.
I am not, therefor, I going to stick
my neck out and say that you are
stuffed absolutely cleam full of
wild blueberry muffins, but I
promise you that my readers are going
to think so.
CARRINGTON
(smiling)
Not for long, Mr. Skeely. In fact, not
even for a moment if they happen to know
anything about the flora of their own
planet.
SKEELY
You mean there are vegetables right
here on earth that -- that can think?
CARRINGTON
A certain kind of thinking, yes.
Did you ever hear of the Telegraph
Vine? Or the Acanthus Century Plant?
SKEELY
Not recently.
CARRINGTON
The Century plant catches mice, bats,
squirrels -- any mammals small enough
to evade its privacy. It lures them
with a bait of sweet syrup then it
closes like a fist and feeds on the
corpse of its catch. It is only a
plant but its brain can obviously
outwit a species far above it in
the scale of minds as we measure
them.
SKEELY
(scribbling)
Thanks, doctor. And what's a
Telegraph Vine?
CARRINGTON
A vine that has proven beyond doubt
that it can signal to other vines
of its species twenty or one
hundred miles away. If an insect
migration, for instance, is moving
in a certain direction, it will
devour the first vine but the second
one, having been warned, will have
altered its chemical structure
so that the insects find it inedible.
SKEELY
(still
scribbling)
That's one for Ripley.
CARRINGTON
(smiling)
There are hundreds of other examples.
No, Mr. Skeely, intelligence in
vegetable and plants is an old
story on this planet of ours. Older
even than the animal arrogance
that has overlooked it.
(to Auerbach)
May I have your scalpel, George?
(Auerback hands
Carrington a
surgical knife)
The palm seems soft.
(he cuts it open)
OLSON
(looking)
Seed pods.
CARRINGTON
Yes - the neat and unconfused
reproductive technique of
vegetation.
CHAPMAN
No pain or pleasure as we know
them.
HENRY
No heart.
CARRINGTON
None. Our superior in every way.
LAURENZ
The absence of ears of the
creature might indicate that it
has a hearing system superior
to ours.
REDDING
Or that it is deaf.
CARRINGTON
It probably neither hears nor
sees as we do - but receives
magnetic impressions.
VOORHESS
We cen safely presume that the
planet on which it lived is
colder than ours and that its
atmosphere is too thin to conduct
sound waves.
LAURENZ
Or that there is any oxygen in
its air content - a planet would
need none.
REDDING
It's amazing how it was able to
adjust itself to the vitally
altered conditions of earth -
and stay alive.
LAURENZ
It's mysteries will be explained
when we - communicate with it.
CARRINGTON
(quietly)
Perhaps - before.
He looks at the seeds in his hands.
LAURENZ
You think those seeds are alive?
CARRINGTON
(quietly)
That would be - too strange,
don't you think?
He frows at Laurenz.
LAURENZ
(quickly)
Absolutely. There are certain
things which are - impossible.
HENRY
I think we're overlooking
something.
CARRINGTON
What is that, Captain?
HENRY
What - it's doing.
SKEELY
Probably looking for another
block of ice to hide in. A
vegetable would head for cold
storage...instinctively. Keep
it from rotting.
HENRY
I don't think so. There's no
reason for it to stay out in
that storm if it can move. And
I saw it move.
VOORHEES
It ran out into the cold. I
think our surmise that it requires
a cold temperature is correct.
LAURENZ
Obviously. That's why the saucer
tried to land in our Polar regions.
They corresponded to the conditions
of its own planet.
HENRY
There might be another reason.
Its passengers could have wanted
to keep their arrival secret.
EDDIE
What's on your mind, Pat?
HENRY
I have an idea it's inside the
camp. It headed into the storm
because it smelled the dogs and
was hungry.
SKEELY
(staring)
Inside the camp! Gentlemen -
what I would give for an interview!
CARRINGTON
I don't think it eats, Captain.
There is no evidence of any animal
digestive system.
HENRY
If it doesn't eat, it does
something.
(to the group)
I'd like a half dozen men to go
along with Lt. Dykes and me. We
don't need guns. Knives, clubs
and axes will be better.
CARRINGTON
I grant you it may have returned
to the camp - and hid itself on the
premises, Captain. But there's no
reason to go after it - like an
enemy.
HENRY
It didn't look friendly - in the
snow outside, doctor.
CARRINGTON
(softly)
It's a stranger in a strange land
- with strange - unearthly features
and attributes. The only crimes
involved are those that man and
nature have committed against it.
It crashed in an air ship, was
frozen in the ice, had its head
split open by a pick, and was
attacked by a pack of fierce dogs.
I see no reason to give it a bad
character, Captain.
HENRY
(grimly)
It went after the dogs. I'm in
charge of the search, doctor.
And I'm going to look for it,
my way.
CARRINGTON
(his voice rising)
It would be criminal vandalism
to injure the visitor further.
We must find it - and treat it
as our superior whose brain -
if we can communicate with it -
is full of unique and overwhelming
knowledge. We must -
(he breaks off and stares at
the table)
SKEELY
(his eyes on the
table)
Holy Heaven! It's moving!
EDDIE
It's alive - look out!
We see the hand moving on
the table. Its knife fingers
flex and unflex. The sliced
palm tightens into a fist and
opens again. Some of the
watchers step away from the
teble, a terror in them.
Carrington remains bent over
the hand. Captain Henry
stays beside him.
CARRINGTON
(softly, as the
hand moves)
Nikki -
NIKKI
(faintly)
Yes, doctor -
CARRINGTON
(dictating)
At two forty-five the hand became
alive. The temperature of the
forearm showed a twenty degrees rise.
He is studying a thermometer removed
from the arm as he dictates. There
is a hush. The only sound is that
made by the knife fingers beating
on the table. During the hush,
Carrington takes the surgical scalpel
and cuts his thumb. He holds the
bleading thumb over the moving hand.
His blood drops on the forearm. The
hand's activity is increased. Its
fingers move more quickly as they
beat on the table top.
Carrington continues his dictating.
I believe the activity due to the fact that
the organism when it's temperature rose was
able to ingest the nourishment provided by the
canine blood with which it was covered...
36 CORRIDOR LEADING FROM KITCHEN
Six or seven supply rooms open on this corridor. A
searching party led by Captain Henry is in the process
of examining these rooms.
Henry carries a Geiger counter with which he scans each
door before opening it and sweeping it with his flashlight.
Carrington, MacAuliff, Dykes, Laurenz, Voorhees, Stone
and Chapman comprise the rest of the searching party.
With the exception of Carrington and Skeely, who are
unarmed, they carry an assortment of ice-axes, iron rods,
shovels and other improvised weapons. Skeely carries
a camera.
STONE
(as Henry searches)
You sure you know how to use that
camera, Skeely?
SKEELY
I ran one of these things on Iwo
Jima. Never got out of focus once,
during the entire bombardment.
(he calls)
Hey, Captain -
HENRY
What do you want?
SKEELY
If we catch up with our pal I
want a couple of hundred feet of
film...before anyone starts making
a salad out of him.
CARRINGTON
(a touch sharply)
No one has any intention of
injuring him, Mr. Skeely.
CHAPMAN
And no chance of finding him I'd
say. He'd never hide in the camp -
not after the reception Barnes gave
him.
Henry has completed his inspection
of the supply rooms.
HENRY
No dice in this end. Come on.
He leads the way.
DISSOLVE TO:
37 INTERIOR RADIO ROOM
A short corridor leads to a windowless chamber that
houses ths camp's generators. The party with Henry and
his Geiger counter in the van, crosses the radio room.
Hendrix looks up from his
telegraphy.
HENDRIX
Looks like a lynching bee. What's
up?
MACAULIFF
(kidding)
We heard you got the Mars man
hidden back there.
HENDRIX
(in alarm)
I what! You mean it's - it's -
CHAPMAN
Mr. MacAuliff is being amusing.
HENDRIX
I don't want any part of that
thing. In fact, I'd like to go
home.
38 INTERIOR GENERATING ROOM
Henry's flashlight probes its corners.
HENRY'S VOICE
Nothing.
As he closes the door.
DISSOLVE TO:
39 A SHADOWY HALLWAY
The party moves along. As it reaches a doorway, Henry's
geiger counter begins to click.
HENRY
Hold it!
He moves toward the doorway.
The clicking of the counter
increases.
HENRY
It's in there! Eddie - Mac -
CARRINGTON
(with a small chuckle)
No, Captain. That's the mineralogy
lab. We've got radioactive isotopes
in there.
CHAPMAN
Your Geigers reacting to a roomful
of uranium ore samples.
HENRY
Let's check it anyway.
Dykes and MacAuliff stand beside
him as he pushes open the door
and snaps on the light.
40 INTERIOR MINERALOGY LAB
Save for the scientific paraphenalia that clutters it,
it is empty. Henry switches off the light.
DISSOLVE TO:
41 INTERIOR END OF CORRIDOR
The party has halted by a closed door at the end of
the hallway.
HENRY
(trying the door)
It's locked.
CHAPMAN
I'm sorry - I forgot. I'll get
the key.
He hurries away.
HENRY
Nothing else was locked up.
What's in here?
CARRINGTON
The greenhouse. We have to keep it
locked. Ths Eskimos have a weakness
for our strawberries.
SKEELY
(incredulously)
Your what?
CARRINGTON
(smiling)
Strawberries.
VOORHEES
We use artificial sunlight. It's
quite a garden. We raise our own
tomatoes, asparagus, lettuce.
DYKES
(sharply)
Shut up a minute!
CARRINGTON
(quietly)
What is it?
DYKES
(his ear at the door)
There's something moving inside.
There is a silence as everyone listens intently.
Carrington puts his ear to the door.
CARRINGTON
(disappointed)
Yes, I hear it. It's the ventilator.
The fan needs oiling.
The group relaxes.
SKEELY
(bitterly)
We've been through every crevice of the
camp. If it's not in there, we're
cooked. Just think - we've lost a
flying saucer and a man from Mars
all in one day. What a bunch of
butterfingers!
Chapman enters.
CHAPMAN
(proffering the key)
Here you are, Captain.
Henry takes the key and opens the door.
SKEELY
(ruminatively, as Henry
is opening the door)
I wonder what they would have
done to Columbus if he'd discovered
America, and then lost it.
Henry opens the door slowly. He aims his flashlight
and snaps it on.
42 INT. GREENHOUSE
Henry's flashlight illumines the greenhouse for several
moments, playing over its plants and bushes. Henry
switches on the artificial sunlight arcs. A queer glow
suffuses the greenery. Henry enters, the others follow.
They stand staring into the corners of the large room.
It is empty and silent.
CHAPMAN
It's empty.
HENRY
Maybe.
He starts forward to examine the spaces concealed by
the shrubbery. Skeely and Carrington move with him.
HENRY
(stopping)
Stay here, please. Near the door.
SKEELY
My, you're big and brave. What are
you going to do, catch him all alone?
HENRY
I'm still waiting to see if he wants
to catch me. Eddie - Mac - come along.
The soldier trio makes a round of the hothouse. The
others wait.
43 CLOSE SHOT OF CARRINGTON
He is watching the moving flyers. Suddenly he sees
something that brings a glint of excitement to his eye.
He starts to speak, then reconsiders and changes the
incipient remark into a cough.
44 MEDIUM SHOT GROUP AT DOOR
VOORHEES
(closest to Carrington)
What's that, Arthur?
CARRINGTON
Nothing. I just noticed. The
Mendelson molds are vitiated. We
mustn't neglect them.
Voorhees and Laurenz look at Carrington curiously. He
shakes his head imperceptibly. They refrain from
comment.
Henry and his colleagues complete their round of the
greenhouse.
HENRY
Well, that's it, I guess.
SKEELY
Yes, and isn't it dandy. We're
certainly going to be a famous group.
Like the Donner Party.
HENRY
(ignoring him)
Dr. Chapman was right. Our pal is
probably holed up in a snowbank.
CHAPMAN
(nodding)
After all, he's lost a hand and had
six bullet holes shot in him. Animal,
vegetable or mineral, he must need a
rest.
The others laugh. Their mood is much lighter now,
except for Skeely, who stares morosely at the floor.
HENRY
We'll start searching outside as
soon as it's light.
CHAPMAN
We'd better do it in relays. A
half hour is about all you can
stand in that cold now.
HENRY
Good idea. Report to Lt. Dykes
and he'll arrange a scedule for you.
(He reaches for the
light switch)
Coming, gentlemen?
CARRINGTON
(smoothly)
Not right away, Captain. Doctor
Voorhees and Professor Laurenz and
I want to do some emergency work on
those molds. Goodnight, gentlemen.
There is a chorus of goodnights as the others move out.
Henry stands looking at Carrington for a moment.
HENRY
Kind of late to start work now,
isn't it?
CARRINGTON
(laughing)
It's easy to see you're no scientist,
Captain Henry. Work is what we do
when we want to relax.
Henry continues to study him for another moment.
HENRY
(abruptly)
I see. Goodnight.
He goes out. Carrington quickly closes the door behind
him.
He bolts it. Laurenz and Voorhees watch him expectantly.
Carrington turns and smiles at them brightly.
CARRINGTON
The MacCormick molds - look!
He points. Laurenz and Voorhees regard the plants he
indicates.
CARRINGTON
They're wilted, from cold.
LAURENZ
But it's warm in here.
CARRINGTON
(grinning happily)
Isn't it? So what do you conclude?
(without waiting for an
answer he continues)
Those molds would be in the direct
path of a blast of icy air if that
rear door were opened. Ten or
twenty seconds of such an exposure,
and they would wilt. I repeat,
gentlemen, what do you conclude?
VOORHEES
(pointing)
But that bolt hasn't been pulled.
How could the door be opened?
For answer Carrington strides to the rear door.
Leaving the bolt still in "Shot" position, he turns the
knob and pulls. The door opens.
Voorhees and Laurenz move quickly to the door. The wind
whistles about them as the three scientists examine the
bolt.
INSERT CLOSEUP OF BOLT
It has been cleanly severed.
VOORHEES' VOICE
Filed clean through!
BACK TO GROUP. Carrington closes the door.
CARRINGTON
(as he does so)
Not filed, Andrew. Cut.
LAURENZ
(excitted)
Yes. Of course. Those razor-like
fingers on the hand!
VOORHEES
But the power - to cut through
that steel - like butter -
CARRINGTON
(smiling happily)
Incredible. Really incredible.
LAURENZ
(his eyes darting around
the greenhouse)
Then it's been in here.
CARRINGTON
(also scanning his
surroundings)
Beyond a doubt.
VOORHEES
What's that?
LAURENZ
Where?
VOORHEES
Stand here. See?
(he points)
The storage bin. See how the light
glistens on it.
Carrington crosses to a two and a half foot storage bin,
and stares at it.
45 CLOSE SHOT - STORAGE BIN
Its handle glistens strangely.
46 BACK TO GROUP
Carrington touches the handle with his forefinger. It
is coated with a viscous fluid. Carrington rubs it
between his thumb and forefinger, then smells it.
CARRINGTON
A smear of sap - from the wounded
arm.
(indicating the bin)
Pull it down, please.
Laurenz and Voorhees take hold of the bin and start to
lift it to the floor. It falls from their grasp.
VOORHEES
Look out!
The bin crashes over on its side. A body topples out
of it and crashes at their feat. It is the corpse of a
dog.
Carrington kneels down and examines it.
CARRINGTON
(feeling the dog)
Not dead over an hour.
(to Voorhees)
See if there's any congealed blood
in the bin, Andrew.
LAURENZ
(as Voorhees inspects
the bin)
Seems rather shrunken, doesn't it?
CARRINGTON
Its blood has been drained.
VOORHEES
The bin is clean.
CARRINGTON
(nodding)
Now we know definitely the type of
nourishment it requires.
LAURENZ
(gesturing at the dead dog)
Why do you suppose it brought
the dog in here?
CARRINGTON
We must try very hard to find an
answer to that question.
His eyes start moving around the greenhouse.
VOORHEES
Maybe the artificial sunlight
attracted -
LAURENZ
(shaking his head)
The light was off.
CARRINGTON
(tensely)
That loam bed - number four.
Does it strike you the earth
has been disturbed?
LAURENZ
(eyeing the loam bin)
Olson started some lichen there
last week.
VOORHEES
That's right.
The trio moves over to the loam bed.
Carrington regards the loose earth.
CARRINGTON
(vibrantly)
Gentlemen, our creature will
come back here. Of that I
am certain.
LAURENZ
What do you see, Arthur?
CARRINGTON
I'd rather not say - yet. But
it will come back.
VOORHEES
Hadn't we better tell the others?
CARRINGTON
No. I think it better if Science,
rather than the Army greeted it
this time.
(to Laurenz)
Will you keep watch with me tonight,
Andrews?
(Laurenz nods. Carrington
turns to Voorhees)
Please bring us some sandwiches and
coffee. Tell Doctor Auerback and
Doctor Olson what we have found.
Ask them to relieve us at eight in
the morning. And ask them, please
to confide in no one.
Voorhees nods and departs as we
DISSOLVE TO
47 INT. MAIN ROOM. CAMP
It is eleven-thirty the following morning. A late
breakfast is being served in the main living room.
Outside the storm has not abated. It fills the
sky, darkening the arctic noon.
Henry and Dykes are eating. Mrs. Chapman sits
nearby knitting.
DYKES
(staring out the window)
Look at that, will you? It'll
never let up! And we could have
been in Edmonton - open air
cafes. Moonlit gardens -
MRS. CHAPMAN
(placidly)
Oh, we've had them worse than this.
Three weeks is the longest they last.
DYKES
Three weeks! We ought to be growing
our own fur by that time.
The door opens and MacAuliff, Barnes and Ericson
come in.
HENRY
Anything, Mac?
MACAULIFF
(removing his outer garments)
Not a sign. We've poked into every
snowbank within a mile.
ERICSON
(grinning)
Barnes flushed a Polar bear.
BARNES
(bitterly)
I sure did!
DYKES
(laughing)
Scare you?
BARNES
Not after I saw it was only a bear.
Hendrix enters from an interior door. He carries
a sheaf of messages.
HENDRIX
(bitterly)
I want a raise. Or I'm gonna
strike. Sixteen hours straight
receiving without stopping!
HENRY
Anything for me?
HENDRIX
(angrily)
Just a few million words. What's the
matter with that Fogarty fellow -
got epilepsy?
(he tosses a bundle of
messages on the table)
I haven't even had time to eat.
He pours himself a cup of coffee. Dykes picks
up the messages.
DYKES
Some of them are for Skeely.
HENRY
(eating)
Skip them. Stick to Fogarty.
DYKES
(scanning the messages, reads
from one after another)
Fogarty to Henry. Preserve wreckage
of saucer carefully.
(he throws the paper down
and picks up a second
and reads)
Same to same. Preserve corpse
of occupant carefully. Allow no
one to touch it until my arrival.
Same to same. Forward detailed
description of saucer - measure-
ments, weight, general characteristics
of corpse. Important. Fogarty to
Henry. Why havent you answered?
Answer immediately. Same to same -
radio silence unnecessary.
Reference message Fogarty to Henry.
Acknowledge immediately. Acknowledge
soonest. Fogarty to Henry. Awaiting
report. Silence confusing. Same to
same - acknowledge. Fogarty to
Henry. Acknowledge.
HENRY
I get the general drift. He wants
to hear from me.
Skeely enters. He is rumpled, unshaved and still
sleepy.
SKEELY
What you got there?
HENDRIX
(eating toast and gulping
coffee)
Some stuff for you.
SKEELY
(diving for the messages)
For me?
(he stares at them, his voice
growing hoarse with
excitement)
They got part of my story! It went
through! Listen.
(reads)
Verify garbled message regarding man
from Mars. Authorize all expenses.
Cable straight. Eldredge.
(he looks up)
That's the chief.
(he reads)
New, York Times Syndicate - Will pay ten
thousand full story discovery flying
saucer and Mars man. Want full de-
tails. Answer collect.
(he shuffles through
the other messages)
London - Paris - A.P. - R.K.O. -
Life - Colliers - Saturday Evening
Post - Marshall Field Museum -
Denver - Chicago - New Orleans -
They're all gone mad!
(he looks up)
People in the streets yelling for
more news. Every man, woman and
child in the U.S.A. has stopped
working.
(he wheels on Hendrix)
Lookie, Ez - I've knocked out ten
thousand words. Been typing all
night. Get back and send 'em.
HENDRIX
(eating)
Not me.
SKEELY
(yelling)
Get on that key!
HENDRIX
(wearily)
Afterwards. I'm going to bed
first.
SKEELY
You can't go to bed. Listen -
I'll split with you. It's a
bonanza! I'll give you 25
percent of the take.
HENDRIX
(his eating done, wearily)
Nothing doing! I'm out on my feet.
And the stuff ain't going through
anyway. Waste motion.
SKEELY
It'll go through! You keep send-
ing! Ez, old man, they're mobbing
the newspaper offices. They're
hanging out of windows. This is
a world emergency. You can't desert
your post in an emergency - any more
than you would if a ship was
sinking?
HENDRIX
(starting to open
the door, his back
turned to it)
A ship is sinking! And it's me.
As he pulls the door open, we see a tall figure
leanings against it. Hendrix, unaware of it,
continues to open the door as he talks.
HENDRIX (cont'd)
I wouldn't stay up another hour for
ten thousand dollars a minute. I'm
out on my feet, I tell you.
The tall figure slides in the doorway and comes
crashing into the room at Hendrix' feet. It is
Aligari, the botanist. His face is covered
with blood. He is semi-conscious. Henry and
Dykes rush to him. Henry grabs his wrist and
feels for his pulse.
SKEELY
Who - Who's that?
MRS. CHAPMAN
Dr. Aligari.
(to Henry)
Is he - dead?
HENRY
No.
(to Barnes)
Get Dr. Chapman.
(to Mrs. Chapman)
Got any smelling salts?
MRS. CHAPMAN
Right here - in the washroom.
She starts out of the room.
HENRY
Wait.
(to MacAuliff)
Go with her, Mac.
MacAuliff follows her out. Aligari stirs and
tries to sit up.
HENRY
Take it easy, Doctor. Stay where
you are. Can you talk?
ALIGARI
(with difficulty)
In the greenhouse - the thing -
Dr. Olson - Auerback.
HENRY
What happened?
ALIGARI
I went in - to check the temper-
ature - my back was turned - when
Olson screamed - When I turned
around - the thing - it cut my
face - The blood blinded me - I
fell down - I must have fainted.
(Mrs. Chapman reappears.
She hands Henry the salts.
He holds them to Aligari's
nostrils)
Thank you ... When I came to, I
saw Olson and Auerback - hanging
upside down - Their throats were
cut - I crawled out - and came
here -
Henry rises swiftly.
HENRY
Come on, Eddie. You too, Mac.
The rest of you stay here -
and stay together.
He runs out.
SKEELY
I'm coming! I don't care what
you say!
He follows the others.
48 OUTSIDE GREENHOUSE DOOR.
The door is shut. Henry, MacAuliff, Dykes and
Skeely come down the corridor. They are carrying
axes and guns.
Henry approaches the door, then stops. He turns to
MacAuliff.
HENRY
Mac, round up a detail and post it
at the rear door of this hothouse.
Don't go in - just take some timber
and seal up the doorway!
MACAULIFF
Right.
He runs down the hall. Almost
before Henry has finished
speaking, the door behind him
has opened with lightning
rapidity. Henry turns with
almost equal speed, instantly raising
his axe. The Thing appears for a
split second in the doorway, only
to be met with a crashing wallop
from the flat of Henry's axe.
The force of the blow propels
the Thing back into the greenhouse.
Henry seizes the doorknob and pulls
the door shut. He turns the key
in the lock.
HENRY
(to Dykes)
Get the carpenter - on the double!
Dykes runs out.
SKEELY
(tensely)
We going in now?
HENRY
No.
SKEELY
What about Olson and Auerback?
HENRY
(snapping)
Nothing about them! They're dead.
SKEELY
(producing a camera from
his pocket)
How about opening the door long enough
for me to get one shot - just two seconds.
HENRY
I'll shoot the man who opens this door.
SKEELY
(grimacing)
Well, that's a straight answers. What
other plans have you got?
HENRY
If Mac gets to the rear door in time,
we're going to keep that thing bottled
up in there.
SKEELY
Suppose it starves?
HENRY
I'll let you do my crying for me.
DISSOLVE TO:
49 MEDIUM SHOT AT DOOR OF GREENHOUSE
The carpenter is driving home spikes in a heavy cross
beam that bars the greenhouse door. Four similar bars
have already been installed.
Barnes and Ericson are holding the beam in position as
the carpenter works. Skeely has left to resume his
pestering of Hendrix the telegrapher.
Henry is consulting with Chapman.
HENRY
You're sure there's no other way out?
No trapdoor - or windows?
CHAPMAN
None. Only the front and back doors.
HENRY
The walls solid?
CHAPMAN
Corrigated iron.
HENRY
That thing's radio active. Could it
maybe burn its way out?
CHAPMAN
I'd consider it extremely unlikely, but -
He pauses.
HENRY
But what?
CHAPMAN
The thing itself is extremely unlikely.
According to Doctor Aligari, it has
already grown back its arm.
(with a sudden emotion)
Captain Henry - forgive me. I don't want
to go against your orders but those two
men in there were friends of mine. Close
friends, for many years. Isn't there some
way we can get their bodies out? I can't
stand the thought of them hanging there -
by their feet - and nothing being done
for them!
HENRY
What can be done for them? Face
the facts, Doctor. They're dead.
Their throats were cut and they bled to
death. Upside down, like in a slaughter
house. Our job is to see that nobody else
joins them.
CHAPMAN
(with a shudder)
What a way to die.
Professor Voorhees has come down
the corridor.
VOORHEES
(quietly to Chapman)
May I have a word with you, Fred?
CHAPMAN
(turning to him)
Certainly.
VOORHEES
Privately.
CHAPMAN
Oh.
(to Henry)
Excuse me.
Henry nods. Chapman
accompanies Voorhees a few
yards down the corridor.
Voorhees starts to whisper.
Henry watches them.
VOORHEES
(into Chapman's ear)
Come to Carrington's lab as soon as
you can - and don't let anyone know.
CHAPMAN
Right away.
(turning back to Henry)
Was there anything else, Captain?
HENRY
Yes. We're keeping a double guard -
outside and in. Two hour shifts. I'll
need eight volunteers.
50 INT. DR. CARRINGTON'S LABORATORY
Dr. Carrington is at his desk. Nikki is beside him,
note book in hand.
Drs. Chapman, Voorhees, Laurenz and Wilson are in front
of him. They are silent and alert as he talks.
Carrington is tense and queerly exuberant. Exhaustion
and excitement are in his face.
CARRINGTON
(softly and tensely)
Two of our colleagues have died and a
third is dying. Those are our losses - and
the battle has only begun. There will be
more losses. The creature X is more powerful,
more intelligent than us. We are infants
beside him. He regards us as soft, vulnerable
earth worms important only for his nourishment.
He has the same attitude toward us as we have
toward a field of cabbages.
LAURENZ
(interrupting)
You said you had news for us, Arthur.
CARRINGTON
I have.
(he rises and smiles)
We are infants, earthworms and also
scientists. We have made gains.
VOORHEES
What have you found out?
CARRINGTON
(glowing and tense)
A new world has come to devour us. Only
science can conquer it. Our minds, gentlemen -
the little muscle that thinks, observes,
examines and finds answers. All other weapons
will be powerless.
(his eyes close. Weariness
overcomes him. He mutters)
I'm very tired. It's difficult to eat.
(he presses his thumbs into
his eyeballs)
Will you read my notes, Miss Nicholson?
LAURENZ
You need some rest, Arthur.
CARRINGTON
(softly)
No rest. Please read -
NIKKI
(reading from her note book)
At 9 p.m. I placed the fifteen seeds taken
from the severed hand of X in four inches
of earth. I saturated the earth with two
units of plasma taken from our blood bank.
Nikki pauses, her face tense.
CARRINGTON
Please go on, Nikki.
NIKKI
(continuing to read)
The condition of the dog found in the
greenhouse indicated that blood was a
primal factor in the cultivation of the
seeds. At 2 a.m. the first sprouts
appeared through the soil. I used another
two units of plasma. At 4 a.m. the sprouts
began to take on definite forms - and -
She breaks off, her face
strained, her voice faint.
LAURENZ
(tensely)
They are still growing!
CARRINGTON
Five of them - have survived.
Carrington rises and starts
toward a screened in table.
The others follow. Nikki
remains motionless at the
desk.
51 SCREENED IN TABLE
A four foot box of earth is on its top. The men stand
over it. Five small sprouts are budding through the soil.
There is a moment of silence.
CHAPMAN
(softly)
It reproduces itself - like a vegetable!
WILSON
(staring)
They're growing!
LAURENZ
Alive!
CARRINGTON
Yes. The Geiger counter registered
6 point 1 radio activity from them an
hour ago.
He holds the counter over the
sprouts. The men watch its
dial.
CHAPMAN
(reading the dial)
Nine point five.
LAURENZ
Thriving -
The men speak in excited but
controlled voices.
WILSON
(awed)
Human plants!
CARRINGTON
(softly)
Super human.
VOORHEES
(eagerly)
We must nourish them carefully. My
examination of the hand revealed a
high glucose content and a chlorophyll
base. I suggest a glucose injection.
LAURENZ
Glucose may be dangerous.
CARRINGTON
Yes. I think so. He's not using glucose
in the greenhouse.
WILSON
That's why he killed - for blood. He's
growing seeds there. What will we do - when
these mature?
CARRINGTON
Study them.
LAURENZ
(quietly)
Have you examined the roots, Arthur?
CARRINGTON
There are no roots.
CHAPMAN
Amazing! I think we ought to turn the
violet rays on it.
LAURENZ
(testing with his fingers)
No. The growth seems strongest where
the earth is dampest. Any light might
dry it up.
VOORHEES
How much plasma have we got?
CARRINGTON
I've moved all the units in here. Thirty-
five.
LAURENZ
(softly)
That may be enough.
WILSON
(looking at an instrument
beside the earth box)
What were you doing with that stethescope,
Arthur?
CARRINGTON
(quietly)
Listening to them.
LAURENZ
(looking at the buds through
a magnifying glass)
There doesn't seem to be any oscillation.
CARRINGTON
The sound doesn't come from any oscillation -
but from something else.
VOORHEES
An animal sound! Impossible!
Wilson puts the stethescope in
his ears and holds the end of
it over a bud. The others wait
in silence. We listen with him.
WILSON
(removing the stethescope)
Arthur's right. It's a hunger noise -
like an infant.
Nikki has appeared behind
the screen.
NIKKI
May I talk to you, Arthur?
CARRINGTON
(quietly)
Later. Would you please type up all
my notes.
(he looks at her intense face
and then smiles at her, he
turns to the men)
Excuse me.
(the scientists are bent over
the earth box. They hold the
Geiger counter over it and listen
to its faint clicking. Dr.
Voorhees listens as did Wilson
through the stethescope. Carrington
moves out from behind the screen
with Nikki)
What is it, Nikki?
NIKKI
I insist that you get some sleep, Arthur.
CARRINGTON
Later.
NIKKI
(insistent)
You can't use your mind - if you're exhausted.
CARRINGTON
My mind's still perfectly clear.
NIKKI
It isn't.
(he frowns at her)
You're not thinking of what's happening in
the greenhouse. You saw what one of them
can do! Well, just imagine if there are a
thousand, or a hundred thousand!
CARRINGTON
I have imagined it.
NIKKI
And you won't do anything?
CARRINGTON
I'm doing all that can be done, Nikki -
discovering its secrets.
NIKKI
(tensely)
I know! And that's quite wonderful.
But what if that ship came here not just
to visit the earth, but to conquer it!
To start growing some kind of a horrible
army. And turn the human race into - into
food for it! And kill the whole world.
CARRINGTON
(quietly)
There are many things threatening to kill
our world, Nikki. New stars and comets
shooting through space. Atmospheric changes.
A sudden cooling of the sun. And even human
wars - that may release deadly global gases.
NIKKI
But those are theories, Arthur! This is an
enemy - near us - and -
CARRINGTON
(taking her arm)
There are no enemies in science - There are
only phenomena to study. We are studying one.
NIKKI
You're not afraid?
CARRINGTON
I'd be a traitor to human reason if I allowed
my fears to destroy what has come to us - or
let anyone else destroy it.
(softly)
I want you to believe in my way, Nikki - the
way of the mind.
NIKKI
(nervously)
I've admired you tremendously, Arthur -
CARRINGTON
(intensely)
Not admiration - Faith.
NIKKI
You have it.
(she smiles nervously)
I'm so terrified I can barely walk. I'll
- I'll totter off to my room and type your
notes.
CARRINGTON
(softly)
Thanks.
(She starts away)
DISSOLVE TO:
52 INT. NIKKI'S ROOM
She is typing at her desk, her note book propped up in
front of her. A sheaf of typewritten pages is beside
her machine.
The door opens. Captain Henry enters.
HENRY
(watching her type)
Want to take a rest?
NIKKI
(without looking up)
Can't.
HENRY
I'll rub your neck. It'll relax you.
He comes behind her and
massages her neck and
shoulders gently.
NIKKI
Please, I can't concentrate - when you
do that.
HENRY
Maybe you're concentrating on the wrong
thing.
She finishes the last line of
typing, pulls the page out of
the machine, puts it on a pile
of copy. She covers the pile
with a large book.
NIKKI
I'm bushed.
(she smiles at him)
That feels good. Please don't tire yourself.
HENRY
(massaging, and trying
to get a look at the
copy over her head)
Couldn't.
(casually)
Have there been any accidents up here in the
last two months? Anybody shot, stabbed or
had an ulcer removed?
NIKKI
(covering the copy casually
with another book)
No. That what-is-it in the greenhouse is
our first diversion.
HENRY
(smiling)
I brought up thirty-five units of blood
plasma two months ago. What's become of
it?
NIKKI
Why nothing. It's here.
HENRY
I wondered why they're not using it on
Dr. Aligari. They're giving him blood
transfusions. No plasma. Two live
donors. Any ideas about that?
NIKKI
(moving her neck and
shoulders away)
Thanks for the massage. You're really
very good at it.
HENRY
It's just a sample.
(firmly)
Relax your neck muscles.
(she does)
That's fine.
(he starts massaging her
shoulders, speaking casually
as he does)
What's Carrington doing with thirty-five
units of plasma, Nikki?
NIKKI
Ask him.
HENRY
I will.
(gently)
Just close your eyes - and float. It's
good for you.
NIKKI
(wearily)
I'm really exhausted.
She closes her eyes, sighs and "floats." Henry makes a
quiet sudden move toward the pile of copy she has
hidden under the two books. The gesture catches Nikki
by surprise. She stares for an instant unable to
believe his perfidy and then leaps to her feet, full of
outrage.
NIKKI
Give that back! It's private. You're
not allowed to - ! Give that back or I'll - !
Oh, you're horrible, a cheap, underhanded
army spy!
She has flung herself at him, clawing for the papers in
his hand. Her physical assault is too violent for
Henry to ignore. He puts an end to it by sending a
short right into her stomach. She doubles up with a
groan.
NIKKI
You hit me!
HENRY
Only in the stomach. Won't leave any marks.
(Nikki sinks into her chair,
staring at him as he reads
the copy. His voice grows
quiet and serious)
So that's it! Holy Ike - five of them!
(he looks up from his reading
and stares back at her, his
voice curt)
You deserved that punch!
NIKKI
(softly)
I wanted to tell you. But I couldn't.
I gave my word. I'm glad you - did what
you did. I'm very glad.
(she smiles wearily at him)
You can finish the massage now - Pat.
HENRY
I've got a few other things to finish
first, baby.
He walks out.
DISSOLVE TO:
53 INT. CARRINGTON'S LABORATORY
The door opens. Captain Henry, Lt. Dykes, Dr. Redding
and Dr. Ambrose enter. They look into a seemingly
empty room.
HENRY
(calling)
Dr. Carrington.
(Carrington comes out from behind the
screen)
CARRINGTON
I'm afraid I'm rather busy right now,
Captain. Might I ask you to -
HENRY
(cutting in)
I've learned that you found a dog in
the hothouse - bled white by our Visitor.
And you didn't report it.
CARRINGTON
I didn't consider it necessary.
HENRY
No? But it was necessary to let two
friends of yours go in there and get
killed!
CARRINGTON
(evenly)
I did what you would have done. I
put them there as guards. I was a
guard myself. Their deaths were
unavoidable. Whoever was in there
would have been killed.
HENRY
I also understand you're doing a
little gardening.
Carrington remains silent.
Voorhees and Laurenz
emerge from behind the
screen and stand at
Carrington's side.
HENRY
You might have notified me - instead
of letting me find it out from Miss
Nicholson.
(Carrington scowls at this
bit of news. Henry adds sharply)
Where are they?
Carrington and his two cohorts
are silent. They stand staring
at Ambrose and Redding. Dykes
has stepped behind the screen.
DYKES
(reappearing)
This way to the nursery, Pat.
Henry, Ambrose and Redding
step behind the screen.
54 SCREENED IN TABLE
Captain Henry and Lt. Dykes stare at the box of earth.
Rigged up over it are four plasma containers out of
which blood is dripping slowly.
Carrington appears.
Henry points at the plasma containers.
HENRY
(grimly)
That's what your late colleagues are
doing - in the greenhouse. This is
a distinct improvement.
AMBROSE
(quietly)
We have read your notes, Arthur.
I think you should have consulted
the rest of us.
CARRINGTON
(coldly)
I have all the help I need.
REDDING
(his eyes on the
sprouts in the
earth box)
I consider the situation extremely
serious, Dr. Carrington.
CARRINGTON
(softly)
Your opinion has not been asked,
Dr. Redding.
REDDING
(quietly)
It has - by Captain Henry. And I've
given it to him. I'll repeat it to
you. We're facing something
unpredictably dangerous. The creature
in the green-house is obviously
multiplying itself - in this identical
fashion. It will need more blood for
its operations. It will make every
effort to obtain what it needs.
CARRINGTON
It has been imprisoned and
immobilized.
REDDING
We don't know its powers....or its
resources. We can not be sure of
our safety - or of something even
more important - the world's safety.
We have no knowledge of how much it
can multiply. A thousand creatures -
or ten thousand of the sort we've seen
could -
CARRINGTON
(interrupting)
I'm not interested in your fantasies,
Dr. Redding.
AMBROSE
Redding's right. The thing has to be
destroyed, Arthur, and its progeny
along with it.
CARRINGTON
Never.
HENRY
(ignoring Carrington)
What do you think is the best
procedure, Dr. Redding?
REDDING
We'll analyze these things in the box
first, and see what sort of gas or
chemical has the quickest effect on
them. And then use it in the greenhouse.
AMBROSE
A high electric voltage should be
able to accomplish what we want.
CARRINGTON
(coldly)
You're talking like a frightened
school boy, Dr. Ambrose.
AMBROSE
(angrily)
Two men have been killed! And there's
more killing ahead.
HENRY
Electricity sounds good to me. We'll
shoot it into the greenhouse and -
CARRINGTON
(interrupting angrily)
I forbid - any destruction!
LAURENZ
It would be an outrage!
VOORHEES
(at the same time)
A cowardly betrayal of science!
HENRY
(grimly)
This isn't science! This is a
military action against an enemy
invader. Go ahead, gentlemen. Get
MacAuliff, Lieutenant.
(to Redding)
Mr. MacAuliff will be in charge of
the electrical operations.
The door opens and the post's radio man, Ezra
Hendrix enters.
HENDRIX
(excitedly)
I got your message through, Dr.
Carrington! And the answers are still
coming. I had to take them in shorthand.
(he starts reading)
Fogarty to Henry. Carrington informs
me Martian alive. You are directed to
make every effort to keep it alive, and
protect it against any injury. General
MacLaren arriving tonight with
fourteenth squadron - and full government
personnel including Secretary of State.
Chief of staff already here. Under no
circumstances take action against
Martian until our arrival at post soon
as weather permits. Confirm instantly.
(Hendrix looks up)
There's one for you, Doctor. Fogarty
to Carrington - give Henry all
cooperation needed to insure survival
of creature you describe. Army and
science chief regard your captive most
important in human history.
CARRINGTON
You have your orders, Captain Henry,
and I have mine. I consider them sane
and intelligent.
HENDRIX
I got to get back. That loon
Skeely's got a story longer than
the Bible he wants me to send.
Henry starts with Hendrix for the door.
EDDIE
What do we do, Pat?
HENRY
We get on that radio and try
changing the Army's mind.
He walks out.
DISSOLVE TO:
55 INT. ROOM OCCUPIED BY HENRY AND HIS CREW. 1 A.M.
MacAuliff and Barnes are sleeping on cots. Captain
Henry is preparing to lie down. He goes to the
window and looks out at the wildly whirling snow.
HENRY
(muttering)
That stinkin' wind!
(he turns toward
one of the cots)
You think our plane's still in
one piece, Mac?
There is no answer from the sleeping MacAuliff. The
door opens and Eddie comes in. He wears his flying
suit. He carries a Kerosene hurricane light.
EDDIE
(wearily)
Baby, am I bushed! That bitchy wind
cuts you in half.
(he hands Henry
the lamp)
Mind filling this up? Burned dry.
You'll need it outside. Blacker than
Fogarty's heart.
(he starts
removing his suit
as they talk)
Anything new?
Henry starts filling the lamp out of a large
kerosene can.
HENRY
(grimly-quoting)
Fogarty to Henry. Your attitude
inviting court martial. Fogarty
to Henry. Your hysterics are
unbecoming to officer - also black
mark for entire air corps.
EDDIE
(wearily)
That pook head! He thinks we're
running a ministrel show.
(he has lain down
on the cot)
When do I stand guard again?
HENRY
Four hours.
EDDIE
(snuggling
into pillow)
In that case, excuse me.
(he sighs and
mutters sleepily)
Remember Guadalcanal - those nice
warm nights?
Henry has lighted the hurricane lamp.
HENRY
If this rotten weather would only quit
for a minute - they can come in and
court martial me all they like.
Hendrix says it won't blow itself out
for two more weeks. He was up here
once with -
A snore comes from Eddie and Captain Henry stops
talking. He sits down on a cot to remove his shoes.
There is a knock on the door. Henry goes to it and
opens it. Nikki comes in. She is in a night robe
and slippers. She carries a small toilet kit and
a blanket.
NIKKI
(brightly)
Have you got room?
HENRY
Come in. I was just going to bed.
NIKKI
Thought I'd join you - if you don't
mind.
HENRY
Don't mind at all.
NIKKI
I brought my own blanket - if
you have an extra cot.
HENRY
I think we can - arrange something.
NIKKI
(sitting down
on a cot)
This one's empty.
HENRY
It's mine.
(she starts
to get up)
Perfectly all right - you can use it.
He sits down beside her.
NIKKI
(nervously)
You don't mind sleeping with one
of the men.
HENRY
It's not my usual preference.
NIKKI
(laughing a little
loudly)
Mine either.
HENRY
(frowning)
Shh. No sense in waking them up.
They're very tired.
NIKKI
(solemnly)
Sorry.
(he puts his arm
around her as she
peers at the sleepers)
I'll try not to disturb them.
HENRY
You can lie down, if you care to.
NIKKI
I can't.
HENRY
Why not?
NIKKI
I'm scared to death. The minute
I lie down, I jump up.
HENRY
Maybe I can relax you, baby.
NIKKI
Please - no massages.
HENRY
Can't you think of me as something
beside a masseur?
NIKKI
Yes.
(she looks at
him nervously)
Please make love to me.
HENRY
(holding her)
You're shaking.
NIKKI
I know. It'll take my mind off -
what's making me shake - that what-
is-it.
HENRY
(gently)
You're very sweet. Perfect skin,
perfect nose - everything perfect.
NIKKI
Thank you.
(she stares
at him and
adds softly)
Please go on.
HENRY
Your mind isn't on it.
NIKKI
Yes - it is. Honestly it is.
You said I was perfect.
HENRY
If you lie down you'll stop
shaking, baby.
NIKKI
I won't.
HENRY
Just try it.
NIKKI
You -- you can't make love to
me if I'm lying down.
HENRY
Yes I can. It doesn't interfere
at all.
NIKKI
Pat -- do you really love me? Or
are you just talking because I
asked you to?
(Henry has turned his
head toward a clicking
noise coming from the
direction of MacAuliff's
bed. Nikki frowns at
him)
Now whose mind isn't on it?
HENRY
(looking at her)
Darling.
NIKKI
(smiling nervously
at him)
I understand perfectly.
HENRY
What?
NIKKI
A room full of kibitzers and a
monster floating around -- it's
a little difficult kissing a
girl under such conditions.
HENRY
(his ears cocked at the
continuing clicking)
You're wonderful.
He kisses her.
NIKKI
(after the kiss)
That's very -- relaxing. I feel
much better. I'll -- I'll lie
down, it you don't mind.
She lies down on the cot. As she does, Henry stands
up. She looks at him with some surprise.
HENRY
That clicking. Sounds like.
No -- it couldn't be --
(he smiles tensely at
the recumbent Nikki)
Excuse me.
(he goes to MacAuliff's
bed and shakes him
gently)
Mac, Mac -- wake up.
(MacAuliff opens
his eyes)
MACAULIFF
What's the matter?
HENRY
(gesturing toward
the clicking)
Hear that?
MacAuliff listens for a second, then sits up swiftly.
MACAULIFF
The counter!
HENRY
I thought so!
MacAuliff jumps up and grabs at a duffle bag that lies
at the foot of his bed.
NIKKI
What is it?
HENRY
The Geiger counter.
NIKKI
Why should it be clicking now?
HENRY
There's something moving around
that's radio active.
NIKKI
Oh, no -- no!
MacAuliff lifts the counter out of his duffle bag and
stares at it. It continues to click, its rhythm
accelerating slightly. Henry darts to the
intercommunication panel at his desk.
HENRY
(pushing a button)
Ericson! Ken! This is Pat.
Come in -- quick!
A moment's silence.
ERICSON'S VOICE
Ericson here --
HENRY
(rapidly into
speaker)
Any trouble down there?
ERICSON'S VOICE
Not a thing, Pat.
HENRY
Who's on duty outside?
ERICSON'S VOICE
Dr. Ambrose and what's his name,
the carpenter.
HENRY
Beat it aut there, as fast as
you can. Check that rear door
and call me back!
ERICSON'S VOICE
Will do.
Henry turns to MacAuliff and Nikki who are staring
fearfully at the counter. The clicking has continued
to gain in volume and metre.
MACAULIFF
It's getting stronger.
Henry grabs a pillow from the bed and an ice axe from
his desk. He runs to the door, opens it and
cautiously peers down the hall. MacAuliff and Nikki
watch him tensely.
HENRY
(after a moment)
Nothing. Not a sign --
Nikki gives a long sigh of relief.
NIKKI
My heart's pounding like a horse
running away.
MACAULIFF
(shaking the counter)
Suppose this thing's gone nuts?
HENRY
(dropping the
pillow and
ice axe)
I sure hope so. Let me see it.
(he takes the
counter; the
clicking is now
quite rapid)
It looks okay.
There is a movement outside the window. No one in the
room sees it.
MACAULIFF
Maybe Dr. Carrington is
experimenting some more.
NIKKI
(hopefully)
That's possible. Shall I call
him?
The intercom speaks.
ERICSON'S VOICE
Everything's in order outside,
Pat.
HENRY
(into intercom)
Thanks, Ken.
He snaps the intercom shut.
MACAULIFF
(eyes glued on
the counter)
I sure don't get it.
HENRY
Call Carrington, Nikki.
NIKKI
(pressing a
switch on the
intercom)
Dr. Carrington -- Dr. Carrington.
This is Nikki, Arthur.
A moment's pause, then Carrington's sleepy voice comes
from the intercom.
CARRINGTON'S VOICE
Yes, Nikki?
NIKKI
I'm in Captain Henry's room.
His Geiger counter is counting
Geigers like mad. He wants to
know if it might be picking up
anything that you're doing.
CARRINGTON'S VOICE
No. What's the reading?
MACAULIFF
Eight point six. And going up.
NIKKI
(repeating into
intercom)
Eight point six. And going up.
CARRINGTON'S VOICE
I'll be right down.
The intercom snaps off. Suddenly the Geiger counter
starts purring like a rattlesnake.
HENRY
(his voice rising)
Eddie! Barnes! Get up!
(Dykes and Barnes
sit up in alarm)
Grab your guns -- axes are
better -- Nikki, take this!
(he seizes the
mattress on
his cot and
pushes it at
Nikki)
Sit in the corner -- hold that
over you!
(to MacAuliff)
Where's your tommy-gun?
MACAULIFF
Here!
He pulls tommy-gun from under his bed and brandishes it.
DYKES AND BARNES
What's up?
Where is it?
A CRASH from the window is their answer.
HENRY
Pillows! Get those pillows in
front of your faces!
A second CRASH sends the entire window hurtling into
the room. The Creature springs into their midst.
GUNS ROAR. The Creature moves toward MacAuliff. His
tommy-gun chatters at it point-blank. It strikes at
the tommy-gun, knocking it out of MacAuliff's hands,
and sending MacAuliff sprawling.
The Creature jumps after MacAuliff. It is balked for a
moment by Henry who strikes it with his ice axe.
A bullet hits the light. Only the dim light of the
kerosene lamp remains.
The Creature whips its knifed hand at Henry's face.
Henry partially blocks the blow with his pillow which
shreds in the air. Henry staggers back against the
wall. He almost knocks over the hurricane lamp. He
picks it up and dashes it at the Creature. Flaming
kerosene spatters over it. As it stands burning torch-
like in the middle of the room Barnes moves forward
and strikes a mighty blow with his axe. The blow
misses. Instantly the Creature wheels and seizes Barnes
by the throat. Barnes screams once. His scream gurgles
away. Dykes, holding his entire cot in front of him
as a shield, rushes forward followed by Henry. They
smash at the monster which, still holding Barnes with
one tentacle, retreats to a corner of the room.
It is the corner in which Nikki has been crouching.
She screams. The Creature whips its free talon at her
and secures her by the arm. Still afire, it starts
dragging its two victims toward the window. Nikki's
screams fill the room. Once more Henry charges forward
with his ice axe and sinks its pointed end into the
Creature's head.
The Creature stops, drops Nikki and lashes at Henry.
This time its arced knife-fingers slash Henry's wrist.
Henry drops the axe and falls back. Dykes, still
shielded by his cot, has at the same time grabbed
Nikki's ankle and pulled her away. MacAuliff has
picked up the can containing the remainder of the
kerosene. He throws it on the Creature. The blaze
surges up.
Parts of the room have caught fire.
The Creature picks up Barnes and
springs out the window into the
storm.
For a moment its motion through
the night is etched in fire. Then
the wind and snow extinguish the
flames. The Creature disappears.
Dykes moves quickly from Nikki to
bend over Henry who is kneeling in
silent agony, clutching his
lacerated forearm.
Dykes snaps on a flashlight.
DYKES
(panting)
You all right, Pat?
HENRY
(with difficulty)
Yeh.
(he nods toward Nikki)
How about her?
DYKES
Fainted. Her arms cut. I think
she's all right, though.
MACAULIFF
(his fingers on Nikki's pulse)
Yes, she's all right.
HENRY
Barnes - he died quick, I think.
DYKES
So do I.
(he points his flashlight
at the floor)
That thing won't make much of a meal
of the poor guy. Most of his blood's
in here.
There is a knock on the door.
CARRINGTON'S VOICE
It's Dr. Carrington.
HENRY
Come in.
Dr. Carrington enters. Dykes'
flashlight focuses on his face.
CARRINGTON
(blinking at the beam)
I heard shots - what happened?
HENRY
Dr. Carrington, I want everyone in
this camp to assemble in the radio
room immediately. Fully dressed.
Bring medical supplies, provisions,
and every weapon we've got.
CARRINGTON
Your window - is it - was it the - ?
HENRY
It was. I'll give you all a full
report in the radio room. Get going
Doctor - you, too, Eddie. Round
everybody up. Get 'em barricaded
before it comes back!
DISSOLVE TO:
56 INTERIOR RADIO ROOM - 2:30 A.M.
Beyond the radio room is a short underground passage
leading into the generator room.
All the members of the expedition, save Henry, MacAuliff
and Hendrix are in the radio room.
Chapman is putting final touches on a bandage on Nikki's
arm.
Two workers are nailing shut the trap door that leads to
the observation tower.
Henry enters with Hendrix and MacAuliff following.
HENDRIX
(to Henry)
...not during the storm, Captain.
But soon's it blows over I can get
the transmitter out of your plane
and rig up a two-way communication
with Dutch Harbor.
Henry nods. MacAuliff has
taken two Geiger counters
from a ruck-sack in the
corner. He returns to Henry.
HENRY
(to MacAuliff)
Got 'em?
(as MacAuliff shows him
the counters)
Eddie!
Dykes turns from where he
has been supervising the
workers at the trap door.
HENRY
I'm going to station you and Mac at
each end of the corridor. Take a
counter along. If it starts clicking,
report back here on the double.
DYKES
(feelingly)
You bet.
HENRY
I'll put Nikki on the intercom.
She'll keep checking with you, so
we'll know if you get taken by surprise.
DYKES
(wryly)
That'll be a big help...
(He goes out
with MacAuliff)
HENRY
(to Nikki)
Got that, Nikki?
NIKKI
Yes. Where's the intercom?
HENRY
(pointing)
Over there. Hendrix'll show you.
Nikki pulls a chair over to
the intercom panel. Hendrix
moves to show her the levers
that will connect her with
Dykes and MacAuliff.
Skeely emerges from the
generator room and crosses
to Henry.
SKEELY
Hey, Ceptain, what's the sense of
everybody huddling in here? Let's
set some acetylene torches and hand
grenades and stuff and rush the greenhouse.
HENRY
It isn't in the greenhouse. I just
checked.
CHAPMAN
How did it get out, Captain?
HENRY
Burned its way out. There's a
big hole in the wall. Still hot.
SKEELY
(incredulous)
Burned its way through an iron wall?
HENRY
It's radio-active.
CHAPMAN
(solemnly)
Probably can generate enough heat to
burn its way through anything.
NIKKI
(into intercom)
All right, Eddie? Over.
EDDIE'S VOICE
Nothing yet.
NIKKI
(into intercom)
All right, Mac? Over.
MACAULIFF'S VOICE
All quiet here.
At twenty second intervals,
Nikki, Eddie and MacAuliff
repeat the same ritual.
SKEELY
I still say we ought to corner that
thing in the greenhouse. That's were
it's growing its stuff -- it'll go
back there --
ERICSON
(growling)
Corner it with what, you dumb joker?
Insect powder?
AMBROSE
(coming up)
I've got enough cable to reach the
nursery, Captain. Suppose we electrocute
it?
CHAPMAN
It might be immune to electricity.
REDDING
(coming up)
It's not. I tried it, on one of those
horrible sprouts.
Carrington has been sitting
nearby, his head in his
hands. He looks up angrily.
CARRINGTON
You destroyed them!
REDDING
Only one. It disintegrated under
five hundred volts and burnt to an
ash.
CARRINGTON
I forbid you to do any more tampering!
Our orders are clear. We are to wait --
HENRY
(curtly)
I'm giving the orders.
Carrington looks at Henry for
a moment, then rises and goes
into the generator room.
Henry ignores him.
HENRY
(to Redding)
I think you've got something, Doctor.
AMBROSE
(eagerly)
Shall I run the cable into the green-
house?
HENRY
Our pal isn't going back there.
AMBROSE
But those things in the greenhouse are
growing...They must need -- nourishment.
REDDING
(to Henry: protesting)
You can't anticipate its moves. Its mind
is of a different nature than ours.
HENRY
A mind at war is always the same --
whether it's hatched in Tokyo or Mars.
We know the thing's objective.
SKEELY
What?
HENRY
(nodding at Ambrose)
Nourishment. Blood, and all the blood in
the camp is in this room. He'll be
coming down the pike any minute now.
As Henry speaks his eyes
have been roving around the
room.
CHAPMAN
Perhaps we'd be wiser to disperse --
HENRY
He'd get us one at a time.
SKEELY
(eyeing Henry)
So what do we do?
HENRY
We give him a welcome home party.
(he points to the corridor
that leads to the generator
room)
In that tunnel. And a great, big
hotfoot.
(he turns to Redding)
Got any chicken wire - cattle fence
wire -- any kind of wire webbing?
REDDING
Yes -- rolls of it.
HENRY
(to Ericson)
Ken, take two men and help Doctor
Redding bring the wire out. Lay it in
that passage way. Then string it along
the roof.
SKEELY
Like a fly trap!
HENRY
(to Ambrose, as Ken
follows Redding out)
Splice your cable to the webbing. And
fix up an operating switch on a long wire -
about thirty feet. How many volts can
you give me?
AMBROSE
Over a thousand.
HENRY
That enough?
AMBROSE
I earnestly hope so.
HENRY
Got going, Doctor.
Ambrose runs out. Nikki's
exchanges with Dykes and
MacAuliff have been continuing
at regular intervals. Now
Nikki turns to Hendrix.
NIKKI
Take over for me, please,
Mr. Hendrix.
Hendrix sits at the intercom
and starts checking with the
sentinels as Nikki goes to
Henry. She pulls at his sleeve.
Pat, don't you feel it? It's getting
cold.
HENRY
(paying no attention)
Everybody who's not working get back
in the generator room. Make it snappy,
please.
NIKKI
Pat, I tell you I'm getting cold.
HENRY
You sick?
NIKKI
No, you dunce. It's cold. The heat
must be off.
HENRY
(calling to Chapman)
What's the thermometer reading?
CHAPMAN
(glancing at a wall thermometer)
Fifty-four. I thought it was
getting chilly.
SKEELY
It sure is.
CHAPMAN
(still staring at the
thermometer)
It's going down fast.
HENRY
(placing his hand over
a heat vent)
There's no heat at all coming
through the vents.
CHAPMAN
We've got three furnaces. They
couldn't all break down at once.
SKEELY
(looking at the thermometer
over Chapman's shoulder)
Going down. Forty-nine!
CHAPMAN
Someone better go to the furnace room.
HENRY
No, Doctor. There's nothing
wrong with the furnaces.
NIKKI
Must be, Henry. Why aren't they working?
HENRY
Because they've been turned off.
By our visitor.
SKEELY
Holy Ike. He's gonna freeze us out!
HENRY
And come in after us when we're
numb or dead with cold.
SKEELY
What a practical joker. Reminds me
of General Rommel when we were "it."
CHAPMAN
(reading from the thermometer)
Forty-five now.
SKEELY
And it's sixty below outside.
Redding, Ericson and two other scientists have emerged
from the storeroom with the wire rolls. They start to
execute Henry's orders.
HENRY
(to Chapman)
How many flying suits are there,
Doctor?
CHAPMAN
Eight, counting yours. And one
electric blanket.
The telegraph instrument starts to chatter.
HENDRIX
(calling)
Nikki.
NIKKI
Coming.
She replaces Hendrix at the intercom panel. Hendrix
starts taking down the telegraph message.
HENRY
(to Chapman)
Leave me one for Nikki. Take the
others in the generating room and
tell the folks to take turns
wearing 'em. Ten minute shifts.
Chapman moves to obay.
SKEELY
Our friend's quite a boy. Figures all
the angles.
HENRY
(staring at the wiring)
Lucky thing we got Edison and
Einstein on our side.
SKEELY
(quietly)
Wonder if they're going to be enough.
HENRY
(equally quietly)
I was wondering the exact same thing.
ERICSON
(working)
My fingers are getting numb.
SKEELY
(walking up and down to
warm himself)
I remember once, in Accra, in
equatorial Africa --
ERICSON
Shut up. Nobody's listening.
HENDRIX
Message for you Captain.
HENRY
Hold it.
(to Chapman who is returning
for another load of flying suits)
Got any rubber boots in that storeroom?
CHAPMAN
Plenty of them.
HENRY
Get us four pairs, will you.
Chapman goes to the storeroom.
SKEELY
What're the boots for?
HENRY
So nobody gets burned accidentally
when I turn the juice on.
SKEELY
(calling after Chapman)
Make that five pair, Doctor!
DYKES' VOICE
(over intercom)
It's coming!
NIKKI
(relaying the warning)
Pat! It's coming!
HENRY
(to Nikki)
Call Mac in!
(to the wire workers)
Almost finished?
REDDING
(working frantically)
Another minute..
AMBROSE
(calling from the other
end of the corridor)
All ready on this end!
Henry has moved to the door. He opens it. MacAuliff
and Dykes come running in. Henry shuts and bolts the
door behind them.
DYKES
(panting)
The counter's going. The reading's
low, but it's going up. Oh, boy,
it's cold!
He hands the counter to Henry. Chapman has come out
of the storeroom with the boots. Skeely takes a pair,
and the others are dumped at the entrance of the
passage-way.
HENRY
(jerking his head toward the
generator room)
Nikki - back there. Get going.
(to the others)
Get those boots on, boys.
He starts to pull on a pair himself. Carrington comes
out of the generator room. He looks at the cable
hook-up Ambrose has made, then glances up quickly at
the wire-web installed by Redding, etc.
REDDING
That does it. All set, Captain.
HENRY
Okay, everybody in the back room
but Army personnel.
Carrington strides up to Henry. His face is working
emotionally. He is about to address Henry, when
Hendrix speaks up.
HENDRIX
How about your message, Captain?
HENRY
Let's have it.
HENDRIX
(reading)
MacLaren to Henry. Use every means
to save lives of expedition. But take
no steps against captive. Expect to
relieve you in three days. Hold out
well as you can. Your main objective
is to keep creature alive until our
arrival. Congress, President, Chiefs
of Staff, all superiors consider
survival of captive creature greatest
triumph for our civilization.
DYKES
The biggest heroes are always back
of the lines, eh?
HENRY
(grimly)
Well - that's that.
SKEELY
(quietly)
How does that affect your plans, Captain?
HENRY
Not at all.
CARRINGTON
(intensely)
You can not ignore your orders,
Captain! They come from sources
that know more than you!
Henry finishes donning his boots. He stands up, and
glances coolly at Carrington.
HENRY
We'll discuss that some other time.
(pointing to the
rear door)
Inside, folks.
Carrington stands glaring at Henry. He makes an effort
to control the fury in him.
CARRINGTON
(vibrantly)
You're defying orders from your superiors,
Captain Henry. You've been directed
to preserve the life of this interplanetary
creature at all costs.
DYKES
(from the thermometer)
The temperature is now thirty above.
SKEELY
Perfect for ski-ing.
CARRINGTON
(tensely to Henry)
You are an officer in the United
States Army in charge of a military
mission. You have received instructions
from your general - and from every
department of the government on how
to proceed.
HENRY
It's no fun breaking orders, Doctor.
But my duty -
CARRINGTON
(cutting in sharply)
Your duty is to the Army you represent!
HENRY
(quietly)
My first duty as a man is to the
human race. There's an enemy of it
coming after us. I'm going to kill it.
Redding enters from the corridor. He hands Henry a
switch on the end of a long wire.
REDDING
Here's your operating switch.
HENRY
Thanks.
Redding glances curiously at Carrington and returns
toward the rear room. Dykes is standing by the
intercom panel. He pushes a button. A subdued
squealing comes out of the communicator.
HENRY
(sharply)
What's that?
DYKES
I've got the intercom open to the
greenhouse. Listen to them.
As he talks the room fills with an insistent mewing
as if from a myriad of voices.
HENRY
Your friends sound hungry, Carrington.
SKEELY
(as the voices rise)
They must be big boys now.
DYKES
The wild carrots are coming - !
CARRINGTON
(his voice rising in anger)
You're doing more than breaking Army
orders, Captain! You're robbing the
human mind!
HENRY
You can testify to that effect at my
court martial, Doctor.
CARRINGTON
(tensely - and controlling
himself again)
A secret has come to us, greater than
any secret ever revealed to science.
It must not be destroyed! It must
be studied - and learned.
HENRY
(quietly)
I saw it, Carrington. It's not
something to put under glass -
and examine. And there are thousands
more of them hatching. They'll
reproduce like weeds. They'll
tear the world apart.
CARRINGTON
That doesn't matter!
HENRY
(softly)
It kind of matters to me.
CARRINGTON
(growing wilder)
Knowledge is more important than
life, Captain. We have only one
excuse for existing - to think,
to find out, to learn what is unknown.
DYKES
We haven't a chance to learn anything
from that pookey Martian, except a
quicker way to die, Doctor.
HENRY
I'm ordering you back, Carrington.
CARRINGTON
(full of a curious fury)
It doesn't matter what happens to
us! We're not animals. We're a
brain that thinks! Nothing else
counts, except our thinking. We've
thought our way into nature. We've
split the atom -
DYKES
Yeah, and that sure made the world
happy, didn't it!
The mewing out of the wall speaker increases.
HENRY
I've ordered you out, Carrington.
CARRINGTON
(wildly)
We owe it to the brain of our
species to stand here and die
without destroying a source of
wisdom! Captain, I beseech you.
Science, government, the Army -
civilization has given us orders.
HENRY
(grimly)
They're wrong order. They come
from people who don't know what
they're talking about.
SKEELY
I'm with you there, Henry. In a
pinch I always put my money on a
little man - against all top brass.
CARRINGTON
(wildly to Henry)
You set yourself above all human
progress, above all science!
HENRY
(quietly)
I set myself against an enemy,
Carrington.
MACAULIFF
Come on, Doctor. You've said your
piece. This is one time when
science doesn't blow up the world
...just to see what makes it tick.
DYKES
(suddenly)
The Geiger!
He picks up the counter. It is clicking more
rapidly.
HENRY
Inside, Carrington.
Dykes seizes Carrington. The Doctor goes with him.
CARRINGTON
(from the door into the
underground passage)
You're fools! You'll never hurt it!
It's wiser, stronger -
DYKES
Shut up - !
He pushes Carrington into the passage into the
generator room. Nikki, Chapman and Hendrix follow.
Dykes shuts the door behind them and then rejoins the
group in the radio room. It consists of Henry,
MacAuliff, Ericson, Skeely and Dykes. Henry turns
and sees Skeely.
HENRY
Sorry, Skeely. These are front lines.
No civilians allowed.
SKEELY
That does not include the Press,
Captain.
HENRY
Get in with the others, Skeely.
You don't belong here.
SKEELY
(grinning)
I didn't belong at Alamein or
Bouganville - or Okinawa. Just
hung around as a kibitzer. I am
also a very good obit writer.
Ignore me, please.
Henry grins and decides to ignore him. He turns to
Dykes.
HENRY
You got the Geiger, Eddie.
DYKES
Yeah, no change.
MACAULIFF
The temperature is now twenty-two.
HENRY
Keep moving around. That'll help
a little.
ERICSON
(trying to keep his
voice casual)
Excuse me, Pat, but wouldn't it
be a better idea to wait at the
other end of the tunnel.
HENRY
No, Ken. We receive in here.
DYKES
Any reason, Pat?
HENRY
Psychology. Our boy seems kind
of smart. He's going to notice
an empty room - and a lot of fence
wire laid. And sit down to think
it over - for a few hours. But
if it finds us out here waiting,
he'll chase us back into the trap.
SKEELY
Providing we are able to move.
HENRY
That's right.
SKEELY
Frozen bait, eh?
MACAULIFF
How can it get cold so quick?
(to Dykes)
You're turning blue.
HENRY
Keep moving, boys.
They pace.
ERICSON
Must be zero.
DYKES
(from the thermometer)
Was. Next stop five below.
MACAULIFF
Come, Mr. Martian - and get some
nice Scotch blood - 110 proof.
Nothin' like it for babies!
ERICSON
(pacing)
Cut it out - !
MACAULIFF
I never thought I'd be in a hurry
to see that lad again.
ERICSON
(gesturing toward
the intercom from
which the mewing noises
are still issuing -
now in a sudden
crescendo)
Those things give me the fantods.
Okay if I shut it off, Captain?
SKEELY
No, don't. I like the gooseflesh.
Keeps me warm.
There is a moment or two of silence. The men keep
moving and swinging their arms.
DYKES
I don't hear the Geiger.
HENRY
It's going.
ERICSON
Faster?
HENRY
Two points.
DYKES
Then he's on his way!
MACAULIFF
Maybe. I got a worry.
DYKES
(to Henry, saluting
like a courier)
Report from the front, Captain.
Brother MacAuliff has a worry.
MACAULIFF
It's no joke.
ERICSON
(tensely)
Spill it!
MACAULIFF
What if it can read our minds?
DYKES
(pacing)
It's going to be sore when it
gets to you - a blank page.
MACAULIFF
(angrily)
They're working on telepathy in
this country ain't they? So they've
probably got it on Mars, considerin'
the superior type of carrots they
produce. So it knows everything
we're sayin' and thinking and it'll
wait till we're froze stiff in our
own trap before it -
HENRY
(sharply)
It's coming closer.
(the mewing has
stopped. There
is silence. The
Geiger counter
is heard clicking)
Up two more points.
DYKES
(pats Henry on the back)
A real strategist. You'll be a
general yet.
SKEELY
Not a chance. Not enough fat
in his head.
ERICSON
(staring at the counter
in Henry's hand)
It's standing still now.
DYKES
Getting its wind.
HENRY
Keep moving -
SKEELY
(as he paces)
I remember the first electrocution
I ever covered. Ruth Snyder and
Judd Grey. I'll never forget how
Madam Snyder bounced in the chair
when they gave her her last permanent.
We were all watching her eyes and -
HENRY
(sharply)
Hold it!
Skeely becomes silent. The quickened clicking of the
Geiger fills the room.
DYKES
(softly)
Thar she blows!
HENRY
(his voice precise)
When it comes in, you get into
the passage first, Skeely.
(he points to the
opened passage door)
You next, Ken. Then Mac, then
Eddie. Got that?
(the men nod)
Don't start falling back till its
in the room and sees us. I'll
carry the switch. Take care when
I turn the juice on that you don't
touch the walls. You'll get
electrocuted if you do.
MACAULIFF
What if the thousand volts aren't
enough, Pat?
DYKES
Five hundred burned one of the
sprouts.
MACAULIFF
You can kill a baby with a fly
swatter - you need a baseball bat
for a man. How do we know it
won't walk right through.
HENRY
(curtly)
We don't know. But we'll find out.
All set?
DYKES
(quietly)
Yes, sir.
The Geiger counter is now clicking loudly. Holding
axes and hatchets in their gloved hands, the men take
their positions as Captain Henry indicated.
HENRY
(quietly)
If the voltage doesn't stop it,
keep swinging at its arms.
MACAULIFF
(suddenly)
It's outside! It's coming in!
A creaking of wood comes from the doorway.
SKEELY
Yeah, we got a caller.
HENRY
Wait till it shows - before you move!
At this moment the lights go out.
SKEELY
(in the dark)
What the holy -- !
MACAULIFF
(calling in the dark)
The juice is off!
ERICSON
(bawling out in the dark)
Put on the lights.
The Geiger clicking and the mewing fill the darkness.
The outline of the door begins to glow in the dark, as
the Creature burns away at it.
NIKKI'S VOICE
(yelling)
Pat!! Pat! Carrington's
disconnected the generator!
HENRY'S VOICE
Mac! Come with me! Eddie -
hold that thing back as long as
you can!
DYKES
Roger -
REDDING'S VOICE
(calling down the
passageway)
Captain Henry - Watch out -
Carrington's got a gun!
We hear the sound of feet crashing against the wire
webbing as Henry and MacAuliff run along the tunnel.
The doorway's outline continues to glow more brightly.
DISSOLVE TO:
57 INT. GENERATOR ROOM
It is entirely dark. Henry's flashlight stabs into the
room. It swivels around quickly, pausing briefly on
Nikki's panicky face, flashing over the frightened
faces of the others, then finding Carrington.
Carrington stands with a gun in his hand, staring
wildly.
CARRINGTON
(as the flashlight
hits him)
I'll shoot! I'll shoot if anyone
touches that generator!
Henry's response is to charge forward. He grabs the
revolver with one hand, and hits Carrington with the
other. Carrington falls unconscious, alongside the
generators. Henry seizes Carrington's revolver.
HENRY
(as he retrieves
the revolver)
Mac! Redding! Get those
generators connected!
He darts out as Mac and Redding turn their flashlights
on the generator and fall to work.
DISSOLVE TO:
58 INT. RADIO ROOM
The redly glowing door begins to fall inward. As it
topples, Dykes' voice is heard.
DYKES
Never mind the guns. Use your
axes!
The Creature stands revealed in the doorway radioactivity
causes it to shimmer weirdly in the dark. It pauses a
moment in the doorway, then moves toward the little
group in the mouth of the passagway.
HENRY'S VOICE
(in the dark)
Fall back, fellows - Get going,
Skeely! You nest, Ken! Move!
The group retreats in order down the passageway. The
Thing pauses at the entrance of the corridor.
MACAULIFF'S VOICE
(in the dark)
All connected - Okay, Pat --
The tunnel lights begin to glow redly, revealing the
Army group retreating over the fence wire. The Creature
is advancing toward them, but has not yet entered the
trapped tunnel.
ERICSON
It's connected! What're you
waiting for, Pat?
HENRY
(coolly)
I'm waiting to catch it in the
middle of the tunnel, Ken.
Take it easy, son.
At this moment there comes the sound of a scuffling
from the generator room. A figure bursts out into the
tunnel, as we here a chorus of "Grab him," "Shut the
door," "Hold him - he's crazy," etc. The figure is
Carrington. He pushes by Henry, Dykes and the rest of
the Army group, and runs the length of the corridor.
He comes to a halt at the far end of the corridor,
facing the Creature. Carrington, only a few feet away
from the unearthly visitor, extends his arms in a
pleading gesture.
HENRY
(during this)
Grab him! Eddie! Stop him!
DYKES
Too late. Shall I go get him?
HENRY
(after a split
second)
No. No, Eddie, don't. Fall
back.
The army group continues to retreat.
CARRINGTON
(his face dimly
visible in the
refracted light
of the Creature's
phosphoresence)
Listen to me - I'm your friend!
Look, my hands are in the air -
I have no weapons - I'm your
friend - you must understand
that. You're wiser than I -
you must understand I'm trying
to help you - Don't come any
further. They'll kill you!!
Look at me, I'm defenseless -
you must see that I don't mean
to hurt you - I want to know
you - to help you -
Believe me! You have a greater
intelligence than anything on
Earth - Use it - use it - look
at me and know what I'm trying
to tell you - I'm not your
enemy - I'm a scientist - a
scientist!
The Creature has paused before Carrington's tirade as
if studying him. Now, without haste, it lifts one arm,
and flicks its hand at Carrington's throat. Carrington
falls to the floor almost decapitated, his last words
still gurgling in his throat. The Creature steps over
Carrington's corpse and enters the tunnel. It advances
five or six steps.
HENRY
(crying sharply)
Watch out! Here we go!
He presses the switch in his hand. A bombardment of
huge sparks leaps from ceiling to floor. The Creature
is caught in the lightning flashes. It stands
motionless as the thousand volt bolts crack through it
from head to foot. In front of it stand the five men -
axes ready, and weirdly visible in the spitting light.
The Creature begins to glow like a filament, then
bursts into flame. It sinks to the ground.
HENRY
Don't move anybody!
SKEELY
(pointing a small
camera)
Keep that light going! I got
him! I got him!
The Creature's form melts in the flames. As it dwindles
away, Henry ends the spark bombardment. The lights of
the passage come up full. The men move toward the heap
of ashes remaining of the Creature.
HENRY
(to Mac)
Go tell them it's over - and to
get the furnace going.
As MacAuliff moves to obey, Chapman, Nikki and a number
of the refugees come out of the generator room.
NIKKI
Dr. Carrington - what happened to him.
HENRY
(quietly)
He's dead.
SKEELY
(to Henry. Kneeling
over Carrington's
remains)
A clean sweep, Captain. Both
monsters are dead.
DISSOLVE
59 INT. RADIO ROOM 7 A.M.
The wind is still blowing, the snow still swirling
outside the tower windows.
Hendrix sits exhausted at his radio sending panel.
Skeely is hoarse and almost out on his feet with sleep.
He drinks coffee. A coffee pot is boiling over on an
electric stove beside him.
Captain Henry sits on the cot bed. He is trying to stay
awake.
CHAPMAN
(to Henry)
Those pills taking hold?
HENRY
(foggily)
I'll say.
CHAPMAN
Don't fight them. Relax.
HENRY
I've got to --
CHAPMAN
That can all wait. First you have got
to rest. We all do.
He goes out.
SKEELY
(drinking coffee)
She clear?
HENDRIX
Just a minute.
(into Mike)
Dutch Harbor, can you hear me?
VOICE
(back out of radio)
Dutch Harbor - reception clear.
SKEELY
(excited and hoarse)
I'm on!
VOICE
General Fogarty standing by for
Captain Henry.
HENRY
(eyes closed)
Coming -- I'm coming.
Instead he sinks onto the cot bed.
SKEELY
(at the microphone)
North Pole, November 15 - Ned
Skeely reporting -
VOICE
(coming back)
General Fogarty standing by for
Captain Henry.
SKEELY
(into mike)
Tell General Fogarty to read it in the
papers. Flash. The world's greatest
battle was fought and won today by
the human race. Here at the top of
the world a handful of American
soldiers and civilians wiped out the
first invasion from another planet.
VOICE
(over radio)
Captain Henry - come in. General
Fogarty standing by.
As Skeely continues to broadcast, Nikki enters. She
looks around sleepily. She sees Henry stretched out
on the cot bed, goes to him and starts shaking him
awake. But nothing will rouse him.
Failing to bring Henry to wakefullness, Nikki smiles
sleepily and stretches out in the cot beside him. She
closes her eyes.
Henry opens his eyes and looks at her foggily. He tries
to embrace her but cannot.
HENRY
(drowsily)
Untie me, honey.
NIKKI
You bet I will. Tomorrow.
Henry sticks his nose into her neck and falls happily
asleep.
During this Skeely is broadcasting.
SKEELY
(answering voice)
Stand by, all newspapers! Flash
continued! This first skirmish
for the possession of the earth
by the creatures from space was
won by the daring leadership of
Captain Patrick Henry. Noah once
saved the world with an ark of wood.
Captain Henry performed a similar
service for our planet with an arc
of electricity. But, ladies and
gentlemen of the globe - there is an
enemy hovering over our heads - an
enemy with an armada of flying saucers,
and an army of super human and
fantastic warriors. Every citizen
of the world must become a sentinel
watching the skies. Keep looking for
the next flying saucer - watch the
skies, watch everything over your
head - throw a ring of watch towers
around the earth - Keep looking -
looking - looking -
FADE OUT
The End