This Island Earth Page #4

When your lead-to-uranium

process is working properly,

the effectiveness of this ray

will be increased enormously.

Tell me, Exeter,

Why should a communication device

be equipped with a destructive ray?

Mountains. trates

Neutrino rays, we can.

Neutrino rays?

You've just observed

one in action.

I suppose the neutrino

could be described...

as the missing link

between energy and matter.

Fascinating...

if destruction is our goal.

On the contrary. Just recently, one of our

rays was used for quite another purpose.

More specifically,

to save your life.

Exactly.

The green light?

It safely to Earthying

After it first

immobilized my controls.

Meacham, I must ask you to have

faith in our ultimate aims.

I must also ask you to refrain from

meeting with any of your co-workers again,

usual channels.

Any way you want it.

Very good, doctor.

aAd your patience, I promise

you, will be rewarded.

Here's a sketch

of the interocitor.

I also have rough notes

on its working controls.

It's guesswork mostly

but better than nothing.

And these are portraits of

Exeter and Brack. Do you notice...

The peculiar indentations

in both their foreheads?

Coincidental, no doubt. This is

the one we're really proud of, Cal.

We discovered this a week ago

two miles south of here.

Has been hollowed out,

the excavationing

what's in there.

Steve wanted to go back and

find out what was inside.

I guess I got

cold feet.

Just like Vermont.

Still a sissy.

They're fine, Steve.

When we get out of here,

I'll have them framed at my

own expense. If we get out.

He's just hungry.

Good-bye, Neutron.

Confirm, please. Plan "a"

abandoned. Alternate plan in effect.

Correct. Our ionization layer

is failing rapidly.

We may need transportation.

Are you prepared to leave?

We have been since

your last communication,

although Meacham and Adams

are achieving positive results.

- Can you give us another time period?

- Impossible.

But it is hoped that you will be able

to complete the project here. Bring them.

Good. You will keep in contact

until moment of departure.

Then remove all evidence

of installation. That is all.

Take over.

What is it? Something I've seen

before. Get off the road, quick!

They're playing

with us.

We're sitting ducks

in this thing.

If we're gonna make the airport,

we'll have to do it on foot.

When I stop, we'll pile

out. Take cover fast.

Steve! Steve!

We've gotta

get out of here.

Get down!

Get away!

We'll try and make

the airport. Let's go.

Is it flyable? It should be.

Exeter keeps it here for the staff.

They're pulling us up.

Remain here.

I want a report on temperature

control immediately.

Use extreme caution

through the thermal barrier.

Our two passengers are

very sensitive to heat.

The passengers

are here.

Allow me

to welcome you.

I'm sorry that our visit below had

to be terminated so dramatically,

but time allowed

for nothing else.

We mean you no harm.

Like Steve Carlson and Engelborg?

Like the others in that house?

What happened was beyond my control.

What happened was mass murder.

We're not all masters

of our souls, Meacham.

That's a nice little

phrase coming from you.

I learned it

on Earth.

Look. The two of you are

beginning a strange journey,

a journey that no Earth people

have ever undertaken before.

Whether you consider me a

devil or a saint is unimportant.

What is important is that

you're here, on this spaceship.

Suppose then, for the time

being, we call a truce.

As scientists

at least, Meacham.

Ruth, don't tell me that,

as a woman,

you're not curious

about our destination.

Where are

we going?

To a planet

we call Metaluna.

Metaluna? There's no such

planet in the solar system.

Metaluna lies far beyond your

solar system, in outer space.

The stellarscope

will convince you. Come.

Observer, prepare a view

of the second quadrant, please.

I won't ask you to

condone what we've done.

All I ask is that when you

understand the plight of my people,

you try to have more

sympathy for our deeds.

Earth. it's being left far behind.

Cal... it's getting

hard to breathe.

We're going through

the thermal barrier.

You'll find the temperature

unpleasant for a short time.

Prepare to leave

Earth's orbit.

All conversion must be completed

during this time period.

Follow me,

if you will.

Exeter, what are you

using for power?

How are you controlling the

fantastic temperature on this ship?

What's to prevent us from

floating around like balloons...

Once we leave Earth's gravity?

To answer the last question first,

we create our own

gravitational field.

No matter what position

our ship takes in space,

we here inside

remain right side up.

But if we're going to get you

to Metaluna alive,

there's a little procedure

you'll have to go through.

What are you

doing to them?

Metaluna's atmospheric pressure is

like that in your greatest oceans.

If we entered Metaluna's

orbit without conversion,

we'd be crushed

to death.

But in going from Metaluna to Earth,

the tissues of our bodies would dwindle.

We'd disintegrate

completely. Correct, Meacham,

If we're fortunate enough

to return to Earth.

Brack?

Yes.

You will prepare the

doctors for the tubes.

You'll change into

clothes such as ours,

especially conditioned

for life on Metaluna.

Come with me.

Above the rails.

They're magnetized.

In the tubesystem

Long as you're able to.

Ruth?

Yes?

You okay?

And you?

Feel like

a new toothbrush.

Ruth...

Cal...

Enemy-controlled sector.

This is master control

awaiting instructions.

You'll energize only as

necessary. Conserve power.

Avoid contact with enemy until

safety of ship is endangered.

You'll feel stronger

in a few moments.

Now I know you both feel as though you

could sleep for at least a thousand years,

But then you'd miss observing

our approach to Metaluna,

And with your curiosity, you'd

never forgive me for that.

I don't understand.

What don't you

understand, doctor?

Those two objects. They appear to be

comets, but their paths are identical,

almost as though some

intelligence were controlling them.

Your deduction is

quite correct, doctor,

Although the objects

are not comets.

They're meteors controlled

by spacecraft of Zahgon.

They're going

to hit us!

We've offered to make peace

with Zahgon, but to no avail.

Is Zahgon a planet? A

planet that was once a comet.

As you can see, their spacecraft are

actually guiding the meteors against us.

Now in fourth quadrant.

Metaluna contact

in three time periods.

Observer,

a closer view.

View in third quadrant.

Contact in two time periods.

View in second quadrant.

Contact in one time period.

View in first quadrant

at ionization wave.

What you're observing may well

be the beginning of the end...

for our world.

The Zahgon meteors are beginning

to get through our ionized layer.

That haze, a feeling

of intense radiation.

Such a screen requires the output

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