The Black Scorpion Page #5

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You have your survey

of the volcanoes to make.

Well, that's fine.

I'll be home every night for dinner.

I have to leave at once.

I should have left for the States

two months ago to buy cattle for the herd.

- You'll be in Mexico City for a week first?

- Yes.

Then I'll finish up my work here

with doc.

I'll meet you there,

and you can show me the town.

Oh, but even if we do have,

what, a day, two days...?

I don't want to settle

for just two days, Hank.

I don't want just two days either.

I don't fool people.

I don't want them to fool me either.

I'm not, darling.

I like you very much indeed.

And I want you very much.

- Dr. Scott.

- Hello, I can hardly hear you.

This is Dr. Velasco.

Oh, Dr. Velasco. How are you, sir?

Well, we're just getting started, finally.

Yeah, right now.

I regret to have to complicate the plans

you and Dr. Ramos have made for so long...

...but some of my colleagues here in Mexico

are very anxious to talk to you both at once.

I don't really think there's anything we can

add to what you already know, Dr. Velasco.

I'm with the director of civilian defense

and high army officers right now, Hank.

It is imperative you both return here

at once to complete your report.

I don't like to say

that you can be ordered.

What's the trouble?

Everything is under control, isn't it?

There's no cause for alarm, not at all.

But a request for cooperation

has been made by...

By a good neighbor of the South,

and we feel that...

Well, if you put it like that...

Look, we've already postponed the trip

five times. I guess once more won't matter.

What? Oh, a plane?

Yeah, sure, that would help a lot.

Oh, Dr. Velasco, do you suppose

there'd be room for three on that plane?

Of course there will.

All right, sir. Yes, sir, I understand.

Right, see you then.

- Did he suspect?

- No, I don't think so.

- He assumes that the danger is over.

- That's fine.

You seemed willing

to postpone our trip...

...once you learned Teresa

could ride on the plane.

Well, at least it was

some sort of an inducement.

My friend, remember, this is not the balcony

of the neighborhood movie theater.

This is Mexico. When a man shows

as much attention to a girl as you have...

...suddenly, he's in a cathedral

and wondering how he got there.

So? What have you got against marriage?

I try to remember

what my father told me one time.

He said, "Arturo, every child

in the world is born single.

Please try to profit more than

I did by the experience."

- Dr. Ramos, Dr. Scott.

- Yes?

I am Victor Esteban. Dr. Velasco

has asked me to take you to him at once.

Right away?

But what about Seorita Alvarez?

I have orders to take her

wherever she wishes.

But you gentlemen must then

accompany me to the university.

All right.

Follow me, please.

Gentlemen, we are grateful that you have

given up your own plans to help us.

And we must apologize for bringing

you here under false pretenses.

It is not a neighboring country which

needs your help. It is our government.

Seor Moreno, of course there's

always a possible danger again.

Twenty years from now,

another earthquake.

It is not a potential danger, gentlemen.

We feel it is all too real, and not 20 years

from now. Perhaps in less than a month.

- You better fill us in from the beginning.

- Yes, of course.

I'm in charge of an aerial mapping project

for our government.

Recently our planes were photographing

the area near San Lorenzo.

Gentlemen, perhaps if you would sit down

and take a look.

Turn off the lights.

No. Not near the city.

It is one of them.

Now you're convinced our fears

are justified?

I don't like to disagree...

...but merely because a dead scorpion

was found coming to the surface...

...doesn't mean we didn't destroy

them all when we dynamited.

This scorpion may be one that...

Excuse me, sir. Naturally, the same

thought had occurred to us.

We rechecked our photographs.

On the 21 st, two days after the earthquake,

the scorpion was not there.

He was not there until the day

after you exploded the dynamite.

And you thought you destroyed

the scorpions.

It is obvious at least one survived

that explosion...

...and almost succeeded

in reaching the surface.

Switch the lights on.

And gentlemen, we must

proceed as if there are more of them left.

Exactly where is this area

where it was photographed?

Southwest of the volcano.

Almost directly across from the fissure

where you and Dr. Scott descended.

You will see, here, is the fissure.

This is San Lorenzo.

It was here, exactly here,

that the photograph was taken.

I think you're making a mountain

out of a molehill.

Dr. Velasco knows how that mountain

went when we blew it up.

Nothing could live

under those tons of rock.

- Not if they were under the rocks.

- I don't follow you.

From your description,

what Dr. Velasco told us...

...it is obvious that the cavern

into which you two men descended...

...is part of Chamilpa Caves...

...huge tunnels that run under the earth

at depths up to five miles...

...many of which have been mapped

in the region around Mexico City.

Some are flooded, parts

of the underground lakes.

Yes, I've heard of them.

Here they are. Notice how

this large fissure here...

...is directly above this arm

of the system.

This large pocket, here, is exactly the place

where you took your photographs.

Now, also note that here...

...where the scorpion

was photographed from the air...

...is also part of the connecting system.

The scorpions could have fled underground

to one of many underground shelters.

As you thought at the time

could happen, Hank.

What is that long arm there?

That is a cavern which extends southward

to within 20 miles of Mexico City...

...there, where it lies under the railroad.

This is what we wonder. How many of the

scorpions might have decided to rush here?

And when will they decide to come

to the surface after blood?

So that is why we brought you here.

The day after tomorrow,

we want you to address a group...

...of scientific and military experts

so that we may plan for any emergency.

What kind of rifles were you using?

How powerful?

The cartridges I was using are supposed to

penetrate two inches of steel.

But they didn't stop the scorpions!

How do they kill each other?

The throat. There's a small spot right here

that has no armor. That's its weak point.

When they attack each other, they have

poison to inject into their enemy's throat.

- Can you duplicate the poison?

- Nope. Not without a giant scorpion.

What we need is something that'll

penetrate that small area exactly...

...and then send some sort of poison

into the circulatory systems.

What it could be, I have no idea.

We're all in the same dilemma.

With the meeting on Friday,

I'm sure we'll reach a solution.

Gentlemen, I do not have

to tell you that...

...everything we have discussed here

is absolutely secret.

This is a city of four million people.

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