The Monolith Monsters Page #2

some of this on our field trip.

Ginny, Ginny Simpson.

She had it with her in the car

on the way back.

I remember thinking

how strange it looked.

Are you sure

it's the same rock?

It looked the same.

Then she'd have it at home now,

wouldn't she?

Yes.

Look, I'm not saying it does,

but if Ben's death and the rock

had something to do with each other,

and now the little girl's

got some...

We don't know any such thing.

Might not even be

the same rock at all.

I hope it isn't.

But we'll never find out

until we go see for ourselves.

"Simpson," you said?

Isn't that the family out

past Pour Corners? Yeah.

You're going out there

at this time of night?

I think we'd better.

Dave.

Dave, I don't like

what you're thinking.

I'm not thinking a thing.

Just want an excuse to take you

for a nice, long ride, that's all.

Well, that's the first pleasant

idea I've heard this evening.

Come on.

Ginny.

Ginny.

Ginny. Oh, Ginny, darling.

Ginny?

Just like Ben.

Their bodies

have turned to stone.

I'd better stay put.

You'll need this.

Thanks. Oh, and Dave...

Pretty deep in shock,

isn't she?

Well, that much is normal,

but... High temperature?

A child her age gets a fever

at the slightest provocation,

but her temperature's

subnormal.

Sometimes shock can

almost be a merciful thing.

Martin.

Hmm?

What's the trouble?

This.

There's a negative cleavage

on every mineral in there.

Negative cleavage?

Yeah. See for yourself.

Not one positive extinction

point in the whole thing.

Well, yeah.

I guess.

And look at this, I made a breakdown

of the rock we found here in the lab.

With the exception

of a trace of iron phosphate,

not enough to mention,

they're all silicates.

Chert, feldspar, pyroxene,

almost all of the olivine group,

flint, almost solid silica.

Little bits of it slapped together in

such a way that it shouldn't even exist.

What do you think?

Well, I think it...

I think I better stick

to the newspaper business.

What?

I'll need more than just

a refresher course

before I even know

what you're talking about.

Oh, I'm sorry. It doesn't

make much sense to me, either.

Let's see how the Simpson

rock compares with it.

Identical.

The two specimens

are exactly the same.

I don't know.

Ben brings home

a sample and it multiplies.

Ginny Simpson picks up a piece

and there's tons of it.

Ordinary silica, the most

common material you can find,

and yet everywhere this

stuff goes, somebody dies.

The trouble is, we don't even know who

else might have picked up a piece of it.

Tourists, maybe.

Why, they could carry it

to every part of the country.

Yeah.

Well, at the rate this stuff

spreads destruction, Martin,

when you write your story, there

may not be anybody around to read it.

Probably won't print it,

anyway.

Couldn't spell the words.

Yeah?

Dave, this is Dr. Reynolds.

Yes, Doctor? Dave, I

want you to do something for me.

Find someone who can make

a fast trip to Los Angeles

I want to get Ginny to the

California Medical Research Institute.

Ginny? Is she worse?

Yes.

I've made arrangements with a young

specialist there, Dr. Hendricks.

He'll take over.

Okay. I'll take her myself.

Good. When can you leave?

Right away.

Then get on over here.

Wait a minute. How bad is it?

Her hand has turned to stone

and it's spreading.

Ginny has to reach that

hospital as quickly as possible.

It's her one chance

to survive.

Dr. Hendricks is ready for you

in the examining room.

You can see how the pectoral

muscles became paralyzed.

The disease merely

followed the main arteries,

through the arms

into the upper chest cavity.

Well, will it keep spreading

until her whole body's affected?

Unless we can slow it down.

Can you?

We're asking you to save her life,

Doctor. That's why we brought her here.

Miss Barrett, I can't cope with

something I don't even understand.

Then what are you going to do? Cathy!

He won't know himself until he

finds out what he's fighting.

But, Dave, Ginny's dying.

We're trying to avoid that.

Pinpoint the reason

in time to save her.

Is that the rock?

Thought I'd take it across the

way in the morning, to the college.

There's an old professor

of mine there, Flanders.

He might make some sense out

of all this. Get him out of bed.

Take it to him, now.

Incredible.

As if someone tossed all the

silicates into a single wastebasket.

Some wastebasket.

What beats me

is it's completely unknown.

Nothing like it's

been recorded in there.

That could be the answer.

What?

What if it's never been recorded

because it hasn't been here to record?

What do you mean?

It's a meteorite, I think.

You're kidding!

Why not, Dave?

Lts contents tally exactly with the

makeup of an aerolite stony-iron meteorite

composed entirely

of silicates.

It couldn't be a meteorite. We

didn't find just this one rock.

There's a ton of that stuff

in my lab, hundreds of pieces.

And the Simpson ranch

is covered with it.

We can't expect to solve

all of its mysteries at once.

Professor!

All I want to know is how

to keep it from multiplying.

It's killed or injured everyone

who's come in contact with it,

and that kid's gonna die if

we don't give them an answer!

Dave.

If it is a meteorite,

chances are it's been hurtling around

our universe for a good many centuries.

The answer to your question

lies buried in those centuries.

We'll just have to dig it out.

I'm sorry.

It'll break Cathy's heart if

anything happens to that little girl.

Where do we start?

The places it happened,

your lab and

the Simpson ranch.

I want to go out there

with you to see them,

then let's try to locate that

parent meteor, if there is one.

When can you leave?

I'm all packed.

What is it, honey?

Dr. Hendricks says

another eight hours,

maybe.

And maybe not?

Maybe not.

She's different

from the others, Dave.

Kind of special.

You want to stay with her?

Let me know the minute there's

a change. Any kind of a change.

I'll call you

if we come up with anything.

You be careful, Dave, because

you're kind of special, too.

Hi, Dave.

Hi.

How was the trip?

All right.

Chief, Professor Flanders.

Chief of Police Corey.

How do you do, Professor?

Chief. Excuse me, please.

How's the Simpson kid?

She's alive, that's about all.

Anything new here?

Yeah.

We can rule out the explosion

idea. There wasn't any.

The gas tank's in one piece,

smashed, but intact.

And none of the wiring was shorted out,

so that leaves us

right where we started.

Dave.

Over here.

See any difference?

Different color.

This looks strange.

Now, look here.

You'll see a slight discoloration

around the piles of rock.

Why, yes, you do.

It's funny I didn't notice that before.

Seems to be only around

the points of contact,

always near where

the rock has multiplied.

Yeah.

Now, look at the difference,

Dave. More than just the color.

This... It looks

lifeless.

Yes.

Yes, it does.

It's got the same

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