Forbidden Planet Page #6

All hands, stand clear of fence area.

All right, Quinn, turn it up.

- Have you tested it yet, Bosun?

- Right away, sir.

- There you are, sir.

- Very good.

Lieutenant, having completed

my washing-up duties after chow...

...I request the lieutenant's permission

to take a walk outside the perimeter, sir.

- There's nothing out there.

- But there is, sir. I mean...

...I thought it might brighten

the boys' mess a bit...

...you know, if l... If I could find

a few wild radishes or something.

I don't know what

you're lying about, but get back...

...before the skipper checks in

or we'll be skinned.

- Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you.

- Quinn, this is Farman.

Kill the power on the fence.

All right, put it back on.

Four hundred and eighty pints.

As you requested.

Total, 60 gallons.

Genuine Kansas City bourbon.

It's smooth too.

Robby, I ain't never gonna forget this.

Anytime you're hard up for a couple of

gallons of lube oil, you just let me know.

What's up?

Somebody coming this way?

No, sir, nothing coming this way.

Lieutenant, the fence is shorting.

- Shall I shut down the current, sir?

- No. No, it's stopped now.

Check the system

first thing in the morning.

Aye, sir.

It's strange how that fence

just shorted out.

Yeah.

You're too arbitrary, commander.

Perhaps I do not choose

to be dictated to in my own world.

Dr. Morbius, a scientific find

of this magnitude...

...has got to be under

United Planet supervision.

- No one man should monopolize it.

- For the past two hours...

...Ive been expecting you to make

exactly that asinine statement.

Just one moment, commander.

For close on 20 years now

I've been constantly...

...and I hope dispassionately,

considering this very problem.

And I have come to the unalterable

conclusion that man is unfit, as yet...

...to receive such knowledge,

such almost limitless power.

Whereas Morbius,

with his artificially expanded intellect...

...is now ideally suited to administer

this power for the whole human race.

Precisely, doctor.

Such portions of the Krell science,

as I may from time to time...

...deem suitable and safe,

I shall dispense to Earth.

Other portions I shall withhold.

And in this I shall be answerable

exclusively...

...to my own conscience

and judgment.

Dr. Morbius, in the absence

of special instructions...

...you leave me

in a very awkward position. L...

- Commander? Commander Adams.

- Speaking, lieutenant.

Skipper, the chief's been murdered.

Quinn, murdered?

He was alone,

working on the monitor.

The rest of us were all outside

on guard duty. L...

- How was it done?

- Done?

Skipper, his body is plastered

all over the communications room.

All right, leave everything as it is.

We're on our way.

It's started again.

Is that it?

I tried to make this plaster model

from the footprints we found.

Thirty-seven inches by 19.

Why, it's fantastic.

Doc, I don't understand.

Whatever walks on this would be

an opponent for a man with a club...

...but with our weapons,

Quinn could've...

No, skipper. This thing runs counter to

every known law of adaptive evolution.

What do you mean?

Well, notice this structure here.

Characteristic of a four-footed animal.

Yet our visitor last night

left the tracks of a biped.

Primarily a ground animal too.

Yet this claw could only belong

to an arboreal creature...

...like some impossible tree sloth.

It just doesn't fit into normal nature

anywhere in the galaxy. It's a nightmare.

Is that what you made

out of that footprint?

I think it's fairly close.

Pardon me, commander, are you ready

to hold discipline on the cook, sir?

Yeah, let's...

Let's have him.

I'm obliged to remind you, sir, that I

gave him permission to go out last night.

Did you give him permission

to get drunk?

Drunk, sir? Me, sir?

Well, ask Dr. Ostrow, sir.

Four pints of 120-proof bourbon

without a trace of hangover.

Now, that ain't natural, sir.

Besides, why did that robot

argue me into drinking...

...all that whiskey

in the first place?

- You were with the robot last night?

- Yes, sir.

Him and me, we kind of got to

toasting each other's good health.

Just for cordial

interplanetary relations, you understand.

And that's all the time?

Even while the chief was being killed?

Well, certainly, sir.

I hope you don't think I could

have got that stiff in five minutes.

All right, dismissed.

- Well, I guess that washes the robot up.

- Where does that leave us for suspects?

Maybe it leaves us

with the same one.

Maybe we ought to drop over

to that lab...

...and get our IQ's boosted

a couple 100 percent.

Sir, the burial detail is ready.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

- All right, dismissed.

- Company dismissed.

Fine technician.

A good shipmate.

And that's a good epitaph

for any man.

Good day, Dr. Morbius.

I dare say neither of us

slept any last night.

That's a pretty close guess.

I warned you

while your ship was still in space.

I begged you not to land

on this planet.

Believe me, commander,

that is only a foretaste.

The Belerephon pattern

is being woven again.

Remain here, and the next attack

on your party...

...will be more deadly and general.

How do you know that?

Know? I...

I seem to visualize it.

I...

If you wish, call it a...

A premonition.

What do you make of that, skipper?

I'd say it sounded like an ultimatum.

- Bosun.

- Aye, sir.

- Bosun.

- Aye, aye, sir.

- I want a clear field of fire.

- Aye, aye, sir.

- Randall.

- Sir?

How soon will radar

be operational?

Operating right now, sir.

- Good. You keep right on it yourself.

- Aye, aye, sir.

- The M.A. Alert is completed?

- Aye, aye, sir.

Fine.

Activate main batteries.

Alarm for test.

Fire.

Check, good.

Oh, lieutenant, you got

your trouble squad in hand?

Yes, sir, they're in hand,

but they're trigger-happy.

They're sort of edgy to see

whatever's out there.

Oh, Jerry.

Look, this may be a big deal

coming up.

I'm sorry if I've leaned on you.

- You've got to understand...

- Stop knocking yourself out, skipper.

She picked the right man.

- What is it?

- Sir, radar just picked up something.

- Where?

- At the head of the arroyo.

- Moving?

- This way, sir. Slowly.

Automatic control.

Batteries, fire.

Batteries, hold fire.

- Can you see anything out there, Doc?

- Nothing.

Batteries, fire.

Batteries, cease fire.

- Randall.

- Dead on target, sir.

- Good. Give me audio-com.

- Aye, aye, sir.

Your attention.

This may be a ruse to divert us...

...from some other part of the perimeter.

You men will continue watching on

your own immediate fronts. That is all.

- What?

- It just stopped at the foot of the pass.

- You sure you got a real blip there?

- Big as a house, sir.

We were dead on target

with both bursts.

It's coming on again.

- Straight across?

- It shows here.

It's still coming.

Grey, Strong, set up a crossfire

on those rocks.

Fire!

Skipper, the blasted thing's invisible.

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