The Thing Page #9

Childs, viewing the tapes, can't quite believe it all.

CHILDS:

Okay now, Mac, run this by me again.

Thousands of years ago this rocket

ship crashes, right...? And the...

MacReady is not listening.

CHILDS:

MacReady!

MACREADY:

Look, I'm just guessing...

CHILDS:

Well, go on.

INT. KITCHEN

Nauls, about to prepare dinner, scowls as he rummages

through his many cabinets.

NAULS:

Where's that big ol' steel pot of

mine?! Damn!

He turns to examine the cabinets above the large stove.

He spots something in the nearby kitchen trash can.

Disgusted, he pulls out a torn and shredded pair of long

johns.

INT. REC ROOM

MacReady theorizes.

MACREADY:

... So it crashes, and this guy,

whoever he is, gets thrown out, or

walks out, and ends up freezing.

CHILDS:

I just can't believe this voodoo

bullshit. You believe this voodoo

bullshit, Blair?

Blair says nothing, lost in thought.

Palmer, stoned, a joint dangling from his mouth, is

searching for information through stacks of old issues of

The National Enquirer and The Star.

PALMER:

(rambling)

Happens all the time, man. They're

falling out of the skies like flies.

Government knows all about it...

Chariots of the Gods, man... They

practically own South America. I

mean they taught the Incas

everything they knew...

CHILDS:

Cool it, Palmer!!

Palmer shakes a magazine at him adamantly.

PALMER:

Read von Daniken! Have you read von

Daniken? Get your facts straight!

Clark marvels at a particular photo.

CLARK:

Jesus, why would those guys ever

want to leave Norway...?

Nauls skates into the room. He shakes the crumpled-up

pair of long johns in his fist.

NAULS:

Which one you muthers been tossing

his dirty underwear in the kitchen

trash?!

He flings it across the room. It lands on MacReady's

chess set.

NAULS:

I want my kitchen clean. Germ free!

Nauls spins on his skates and storms off. MacReady

fetches the strangely shredded underwear and rolls it up,

while Childs paces.

CHILDS:

So, MacReady, come on now. These

Norwegian dudes come by... find him

and dig him up...

MacReady tosses the ball of cloth across the room into a

trash bin.

MACREADY:

Yeah, they dig him up and cart him

back. He gets thawed out, wakes up

and scares the sh*t out of them.

And they get into one hell of a

brawl...

CHILDS:

Now how's this motherf***er wake up

after thousands of years in the ice,

huh?

MACREADY:

(annoyed)

I don't know how. Because he's

different than we are. Because he's

a space guy. What do you want from

me, anyway. Go ask Blair.

CHILDS:

You buy any of this, Blair?

A beat as Blair stares straight ahead, transfixed. He

speaks softly, to no one particular.

BLAIR:

It was here... got to that dog... It

was here in this camp...

The men take in his grave countenance.

GARRY:

So...? So what? It's over with.

Blair turns to them. A pause. The men search his face.

BENNINGS:

(edgy)

Well, isn't it?

INT. LAB - CLOSE ON A SHEET

as Blair rips it off exposing the tangled mess of

interlocking dogs.

Pull back. All the men have gathered. Some of the men

settle into chairs, others stand.

BLAIR:

Whatever that Norwegian dog was...

It... It was capable of changing its

form...

(indicates their dog)

... when it attacked our dog... it

somehow was able to digest... or...

absorb it... and in the process

shaped its own cells to imitate our

dog's cells exactly...

(holds up gooey dog

leg)

... This for instance isn't dog at

all -- it's imitation... We got to

it before it had time to finish

or...

NAULS:

Finish what?

BLAIR:

... I think the whole process would

have taken an hour... maybe more.

And then I suppose both would have

changed back to dog form.

PALMER:

Well, that Thing in the ice sure

weren't no dog.

BLAIR:

(impatient)

Of course not... But whatever it was

revived, it... Well, The Thing was

probably disoriented... and realized

it couldn't survive for long in our

atmosphere... But being the

incredibly adaptable creature it

was... it tried to become something

that could... Before the Norwegians

killed it... it somehow got to this

dog.

CLARK:

What do you mean "got" to the dog?

BLAIR:

It was a life form that was able to

imitate and reproduce, whatever it

ate or absorbed, cell for cell.

Silence.

BLAIR:

The concept is staggering. I

know... I... I don't fully

understand it myself.

CHILDS:

(skeptically, points)

You're saying... that big muther in

the ice, became the dog.

BLAIR:

(nodding)

I think we're talking about an

organism... that could imitate other

life forms... perfectly... It could

have gone on and on... It could have

become one dog... It could have

become as many dogs as it wanted to

-- and without losing any of its

original mass...

NORRIS:

You been into Childs' weed, Blair?

Blair slams his fist on the slab.

BLAIR:

Look, I know it's hard to believe...

GARRY:

(breaking in)

So what's our problem?

BLAIR:

Well... there's still some cell

activity... it's not entirely dead

yet.

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