Forbidden Planet Page #5

...to one of our

functionally-designed human doorways.

That recording was made

by Krell musicians...

...a half a million years ago.

Now, if you will follow me...

...I will show you some of their

other remaining artifacts.

Krell metal.

Try your blaster there, commander.

This spot should be molten.

It's not even warm, huh?

And no trace of radioactivity.

The molecules are many times more

densely interlocked than in earthly steel.

Yet it drinks up energy

like a sponge.

This is just one

of their laboratories.

You will notice that

much of the equipment is familiar...

...though designed

for non-human technicians.

What's this?

On this screen may be projected the total

scientific knowledge of the Krell...

...from its primitive beginning

to the day of its annihilation.

A sheer bulk surpassing

many million earthly libraries.

- You're able to read this?

- A little. It's my profession.

Twenty years ago I began here

with this page of geometrical theorems.

Eventually, I was able to deduce

most of their huge logical alphabet.

I began to learn.

The first practical result

was that robot of mine...

...which you gentlemen appear

to find so remarkable.

Child's play.

I've come here every day now

for two decades...

...painfully picking up a few of the least

difficult fragments of their knowledge.

A thing like this, it's...

It's too big to evaluate.

- Think what a discovery of this kind...

- Dr. Morbius...

...what is this device over here?

I call it their plastic educator.

As far as I can make out, they used it

to condition and test their young...

...in much the same way as we employed

finger-painting among our children.

I often play with it myself

for relaxation.

Although working here,

I sometimes wish I'd been blessed...

...with multiple arms and legs.

Now, you can see that

this headset was designed...

...for something much bulkier

than my human cranium.

Now, over here you see

the electromagnetic waves of my brain...

...sending that indicator up

about halfway.

I gather that

one of their own young...

...comparable to a seven-year-old child,

was normally expected...

...to send that all the way

to the top...

...which by Krell standards

classifies me as a low-grade moron.

Yet I have

an officially recorded IQ of 183.

Now then,

for the primary function.

Actually, to operate...

Well, I'll choose a familiar subject

to start with to save time.

There now, gentlemen.

What's that?

What's happening there?

A statue.

That's Altaira.

Simply a three-dimensional image,

commander.

But it's alive.

Because my daughter is alive in my brain

from microsecond to microsecond...

...while I manipulate.

There.

Something of a strain.

Aladdin's lamp

in a physics laboratory.

Would you care to take the Krell test

of your intelligence?

- Yes, very much.

- You may be disappointed, commander.

Suppose we start

with the good doctor.

- What do I do?

- Just sit down there, and I'll...

Move a little forward. That's it.

There now.

Now, doctor, you can read it here.

Well, there's something wrong here.

I have an IQ of 161...

...yet I don't register a third

what you did.

Now the commander.

It's all right, sir. A commanding officer

doesn't need brains.

- Just a good loud voice, huh?

- How do I make an image?

- Do I just pull this switch?

- Don't. Stop.

You'd never survive.

Our Belerephon skipper tried it...

...and it was instantly fatal to him.

Oh, I see.

So you're immune to this too?

In my first attempt

at creating an image here...

...my brain pattern there

was scarcely any larger than yours.

Afterwards, I lay unconscious

for a day and a night.

And yet you came back

for a second go at it.

It was a question

of science, doctor.

But you can imagine my joy

when I discovered that the shock...

...had permanently... Permanently

doubled my intellectual capacity.

Otherwise, my researches here

would've come to nothing...

...poor as they have been.

Recently, I have turned up

some rather puzzling indications...

...that in those final days

before their annihilation...

...the Krell had been applying their

entire racial energies to a new project.

One which they

actually seemed to hope...

...might somehow free them

once and for all...

...from any dependence

on physical instrumentalities.

- A civilization without instrumentalities?

- Incredible.

Dr. Morbius, everything here is new.

Not a sign of age or wear

on any of it.

Young man, these devices,

self-serviced, self-maintained...

...have stood exactly as you see them

for 2000 centuries.

Two thousand centuries.

And during all this time,

what was the power source?

That's a very good question.

May I draw your attention to these

gauges all around here, gentlemen.

Their calibrations appear to indicate

that they are set in decimal series.

Each division recording

exactly 10 times...

...as many amperes

as the one preceding it.

Ten times 10, times 10,

times 10, times 10, times 10...

...on and on and on, row after row,

gauge after gauge.

But there is no direct wiring

that I can discover.

However, when I activate this machine,

it registers infinitesimally...

...you see, down there

in the lower left-hand corner.

And then...

...when I activate the educator here...

...it registers a little more.

But this much is negligible.

Why, the total potential here

must be nothing less than astronomical.

Nothing less.

The number 10...

...raised almost literally

to the power of infinity.

Gentlemen, would you care to see

some more of the Krell wonders?

- Indeed, yes.

- Yes.

If you will step in this shuttle-car.

How often the Krell technicians

have ridden in this little vehicle.

What now, Dr. Morbius?

Prepare your minds

for a new scale...

...of physical scientific values,

gentlemen.

Twenty miles.

Twenty miles.

Listen.

- Circuits opening and closing.

- And they never rest.

This is one of their ventilator shafts.

You can feel the warm air rising.

Look down here.

Look down, gentlemen.

Are you afraid?

Seventy-eight hundred levels...

...and 400 other shafts

like this one.

Yes, a single machine.

A cube 20 miles on each side.

For 2000 centuries

it has waited patiently here...

...tuning and lubricating itself,

replacing worn parts.

I have reason to believe

that 16 years ago...

...a minor alteration was performed...

...throughout the entire

But what's it all for?

Sometimes the gauges register a little...

...when the buck deer fight in autumn

or when the birds fly over in the spring.

Nearly a whole dial became active...

...when your ship first approached

from deep space.

I'll show you a section

of one of the power units.

These units are sunk in

the body of the planet...

...50 miles right below our feet.

Now, be sure and look

only in the mirror.

Man does not behold the face

of the Gorgon and live.

Ninety-two hundred

thermonuclear reactors in tandem.

The harnessed power

of an exploding planetary system.

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