Creature with the Atom Brain Page #4

- Thank you, Captain.

This is Dr. Walker, head of our crime lab.

- Doctor.

- Banning.

And this is Jason Franchot.

He used to be Buchanan's accountant.

And Dunn here used to be his gunsel.

- I don't like that word.

- Paid killer. Like it better?

Look, I've been traveling straight

and I don't know what

I was brought here for, but it's a bum rap.

I want to see a lawyer.

Now tell me, Captain,

what's this all about?

I called you here to warn you

that your lives may be in danger.

Is Buchanan back?

What makes you say that?

First Hennessy then MacGraw.

He said he'd get us.

But I didn't know he was back

in the country.

His sentence wasn't changed.

How could he be back?

If he's in this country,

he's here illegally.

Now if you take my advice,

you'll all go to jail for protection

and stay there

until we can find out whether it's Buchanan

or not who's behind all this.

Not me. I worked too

hard to get out of jail.

- It's for your own good.

- Think my wife would believe that?

She'd think I went back to packing a rod.

What about you?

I have a good business now.

Tax auditor, public accountant.

If I went to jail,

my reputation would be ruined.

I don't think it's necessary, Captain.

Particularly since there's no proof

that Buchanan is back in this country.

All right. But I am going to give you

protection 24 hours a day

no matter where you are. Got that, Tom?

- Right.

- Have some of the boys drive them home.

Now if an attempt is made to get any

one of them next then we'll know for sure.

It'll complete the pattern.

It's the hard way to find out.

This is from the chief of police in Rome.

"Attention, Captain David Harris."

"...in lab operation,

who also has disappeared.

"If find any additional information,

will advise.

"Rome Chief of Police."

Dogs, cats, monkeys.

That's the way experimentation

usually starts.

Starts?

It's only one step from animals

to human beings.

Captain Harris sent me to relieve you.

A little early, but why complain?

And with the murder of Jason Franchot

last night I must apologize

for my recent skepticism regarding

these radioactive creatures.

It seems they do exist

and they are prowling the street.

Police Chief Camden assures us

that they are doing everything in their

power to get to the source of these beings.

With the cooperation of the military,

planes and helicopters equipped

with radium finders are now overhead,

and strange-looking trucks

similarly equipped

are now at this moment prowling through

the streets of our city

to track them down.

Excuse me, please.

A glass of beer, please.

Thank you.

Hey, you forgot your change.

This is a sawbuck.

Two bits in the till, $9.75 in my pocket.

Now that's what I call a tip.

You from Water and Power?

Five point two.

What's this all about anyway?

I'm probing for radioactivity.

Is there uranium around here?

I'm going to call my lawyer

and find out if I own the mineral rights.

- Who was sitting here?

- Search me.

He went out the back way.

- Do you know who he is?

- Never saw him before.

Hey! Don't wash that glass.

He never washes them anyway.

He leave anything else here?

No.

Just this.

This 10-spot hot?

Hotter than you think.

This is an international who's who

of the medical profession.

Here's what it says.

"Wilhelm Steigg,

born in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1893.

"University of Berlin, Zurich, Milan.

"1948 Harman Prize for

his research in amygdala stimuli."

Amygdala stimuli, what's that?

Ultra-short wave stimulations

to specific parts of the brain,

producing involuntary movements

of the body.

- That's highly specialized stuff.

- Yeah.

A number of stories have been published

about amygdala stimulation of monkeys.

Here's one of them.

Appropriations have been made

for research and development,

and there's a doctor in Madrid

who's made great advances

since this article was published.

Have you been conducting any experiments

here at the hospital?

No. But I have a short film

that I told you about.

Would you like me to run it?

- I'd appreciate it.

- Fine.

Draw the curtains, will you?

This animal looks content, doesn't it?

You wouldn't suspect that it has

18 electrodes inserted in its skull.

Turning this switch releases

a small amount of ultra-short waves.

Those electrodes are tuned to

specific frequencies.

As long as the impulse is released,

the dog barks.

By applying another impulse

of different frequency,

the dog immediately falls asleep.

It will lie there

as long as the stimulus is active.

Another impulse will make it vicious.

Docile.

Hunger can be induced.

Or it can be made to resent its food.

Amygdala stimulations,

somatomotor and visceromotor effects.

Does this demonstration

satisfy your curiosity?

Almost.

Try my special mixture.

Thanks.

This experiment was done on live animals.

Of course.

Do you think it could be applied

to dead ones?

Dead ones?

Offhand, I'd say no.

The command impulse is so small,

less than a millionth of a watt,

that only the animal's body energies

could supply the reactions.

If you could replace the body energy

from an outside source,

say, with radioactive energies,

do you think you'd get the same results?

Well, your question is much too abstract

to be answered at this moment, Dr. Walker.

Do you think an experiment on humans

would have the same result as on animals?

We haven't arrived at that stage

of our experiment, yet.

Could it be possible

that somebody else has tried

and already succeeded?

Are you trying to connect the experiments

with animals

with mysterious events of our city?

It would answer the riddle, wouldn't it?

Remote-controlled creatures,

their brains powered by atomic energy,

roaming the streets,

directed from a central point.

Utterly fantastic.

Yes? Yes, he's here.

It's for you, Doctor.

Yes? Oh, yes, Dave.

Send the glass and that bill

over to the lab at once.

That bird must be radiating in the dark.

I don't understand how he can stay alive

with all that radium

poisoning in his system.

German accent, huh?

Better have them search every house

within a 10-block radius.

Letting them get that close to you.

What did you ever leave here for?

The pain,

the pain in my hand was killing me.

If I hadn't gotten some medicine

to relieve it, I would have gone crazy.

From now on just hide in here.

With the walls and the shutters leaded,

they'll never find us.

I'm not so sure.

Those creatures,

they leave radioactive traces.

Sooner or later they will be picked up.

The planes, how low they're flying.

Oh, I think it was a mistake not to get rid

of that Walker when we had the chance.

It's a mistake we can remedy easily enough.

I'll stop them.

I'll make them ground every plane

and pull out every truck looking for us.

Go in there and fix up that stoolie.

I want to send one of them out.

And you feel certain it's Buchanan

who's behind all this?

For my money, it is.

Killing Franchot completed the pattern.

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