The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms Page #3

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If two independent observers

saw the same thing...

If that captain in Canada

could identify the same sketch-

And tell his story to Dr. Elson.

"Capt. George LeMay,

Marquette, Canada."

- Operator.

- I want to make a long-distance call.

Person-to-person.

To Capt. George LeMay,

Marquette, Canada.

One moment, please.

- Charge this call to Circle 4-4771.

- Thank you.

It's my monster.

They're speaking French.

- Capt. LeMay is ready.

- Thank you.

- Hello.

- Hello. Capt. LeMay?

Yes.

My name is Tom Nesbitt.

I'm a scientist in New York.

I have some important questions

to ask you.

I don't speak English.

Speak French, please.

Captain?

- Hello. Capt. LeMay?

- I am sorry, but the captain has hung up.

He is unhappy when anybody mentions

his accident, because everyone laughs at him.

Operator, please get the captain back.

I can't tell you how important this is.

I am sorry. He will not

speak to you again, I'm sure.

He is a stubborn old man.

Perhaps a little crazy.

Especially on the subject of serpents.

They think he is crazy too.

- Well, it was a good try anyway.

- But good tries don't pay off.

Do you suppose if you went up there...

...you could make him understand

how important this is?

I could get a plane.

Phone me if anything exciting happens.

I'll phone you even if nothing happens.

You missed him

by not more than two hours.

I thought you might tell me where he went. His

housekeeper wouldn't give me any information.

Capt. LeMay has been very touchy

since his sea serpent incident.

People felt he was a bit balmy.

They laughed at him. Too bad too.

The man had served well

and faithfully for years.

I believe a man has a right to a few nips

now and then, I always say.

- And you don't believe his story?

- I said he was balmy, not me.

He let it get out that he was headed

for the interior of Canada...

...and was not going to stop until he hit

a spot uninhabited by white men.

A blooming hermit he wants to be. Mark

my words, he'll be back in less than a month.

I can't wait that long.

- Were there any other survivors?

- No.

- How far is it to St. Pierre?

- About 100 miles.

Are you going to see this other chap

who claims he saw it?

I say, you don't believe

in the sea serpent fable, do you?

What do you think I am, balmy?

Good evening, Jacob.

You look much better today.

A man is here.

A very great scientist from New York.

No, Sister. Take him away.

I want no one near me.

He went to so much trouble to find you.

Why?

He says it is very important.

It's about the beast you saw.

Tell him to leave me alone!

Tell him I saw nothing!

Tell him I know nothing!

Tell him it's all in my head!

That's what everybody says.

Except me, Jacob.

- Who are you?

- I saw the beast too.

You saw him?

- You're not playing jokes on me?

- No, I'm not playing any jokes.

People called me crazy too.

It stays in my mind always.

I'll never forget it.

Jacob, in New York, there are scientists,

friends, who will listen and believe.

Jacob, will you come to New York

with me?

- Is he well enough to travel?

- I will ask the doctor.

You know, there's something very compensating

in having to wait 30 years for a holiday.

Because when it finally comes...

...the joy of anticipation is multiplied

by just that many years.

I feel like a schoolboy on the verge

of departing for my first summer camp.

Oh, by the way, that reminds me, our young

nuclear physicist appears to be delayed.

He'll be here any minute.

Shouldn't take him long from the airport.

Mesozoic animal alive today.

I can lose my job and my reputation

listening to such nonsense.

However, I won't allow my personal

opinion to interfere with a romance.

Don't try to change the subject.

You're just being stubborn.

Am I?

Now, just you listen to this.

It's something that I read this morning.

"On the 21st of October, in the year

1797, one Professor Gordon Laughton...

was forcibly removed,

by order of the Crown...

from his chair of science

at the University of Edinburgh.

Dr. Laughton was firmly convinced

that leprechauns were responsible...

for the uprooting

of the ancient campus oak.

Even swearing upon oath

that he had seen them remove it."

So, you see, today,

it's monsters instead of leprechauns.

How certain are you

there were no leprechauns?

- Tom

- Hello, Lee.

I don't recall this Dr. Laughton,

but what about Galileo?

He said the earth was round.

They made him recant.

However, the Earth is round.

And there is a monster.

And I think I can convince you.

- Is this your sailor witness?

- Yes, sir.

Jacob Bowman, he was the helmsman

on the fishing boat Fortune.

Dr. Elson, Miss Hunter.

- So you saw the monster too?

- Yes, sir.

Go ahead, my dear.

This is your experiment.

Jacob, I want you to look through those

sketches and pick out the one you saw.

You don't think this is going

to be a waste of time?

Dr. Elson, several days ago

at Miss Hunter's apartment...

I picked out the sketch of the beast

I saw. It's right in that batch.

But, unfortunately, in paleontology,

the empirics of logic isn't enough.

It isn't a question of empirics.

If a particle of the sun broke off

and flew into space...

I wouldn't consider the man

who brought that news to be insane.

As a scientist, I would

examine every facet of it.

Yes, but if a particle of the sun were to

break off, 100 million people would've seen it.

If it broke off, it would make no

difference if one saw it or no one at all.

It would still be.

The same with the monster. It still is.

Perhaps I'm getting old.

Now, Jacob, you must be quite sure about

this creature you claim to have seen.

There must be no doubt in your mind.

If it's here, I'll know it.

- That.

- That's the one I picked.

It's the rhedosaurus,

extinct for 100 million years.

- A hundred million years?

- Yes.

And the direct ancestor

of that little lady there.

Only twice the size, according to theory.

The only known fossils of its species

ever discovered...

were found in a drag of the Hudson

submarine canyons.

A hundred and fifty miles

from New York.

Didn't Professor Edmonds

write a paper on that just last year?

Yes.

Yes.

If we could only be sure,

without a shadow of a doubt-

What further proof do you need?

Things have happened again and again,

and they'll continue to happen.

I tried to get the authorities to keep the

sea-lane and the coastline under close watch...

- ...they wouldn't listen to me.

- They'll listen this time, my boy.

Get them on the phone.

I'll talk to them.

Thanks.

Col. Evans, please.

Jack.

Tom Nesbitt.

I feel great.

That hallucination of mine...

the one that everybody

was having such a good laugh about?

Well, I've got proof the monster exists.

Now, Tom, let's not start that again.

What?

I can see myself requesting permission

to seek out a prehistoric monster.

Eagles on a straitjacket

are not regulation uniform.

I'm here at the university with Dr. Elson,

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