Unearthly Stranger Page #5

All right, I'll be

there as quick as I can.

- I'll ring the Major.

- Why must you ring the Major?

Well, you know the regulations, Mark...

I suppose so. I'll see you both there.

- Right.

- In about an hour or so.

What time is it?

It's all right, it's all right.

I'm just off to the office.

But it's the middle of the night.

Yes, but I've just got to drop some

work in to John. I'll be straight back.

What work? Why can't it

wait until the morning?

I think I've managed to catch up

on the first part of the formula.

I've been working on copies of Munroe's

notes, and my own, and I think I'm there!

Don't go.

Just you turn over and go to sleep.

I'll be there and back so quickly

you won't even know I've gone.

You mustn't go!

Snuggle down and get your beauty sleep.

Not that you need it,

because you're very beautiful.

Mark! Mark!

See you soon.

I'll be as quick as I can.

Oh... Mark! Mark!

Mark...!

John?

Where's John? He said he'd be here.

He will, I'm sure.

I hear you have some good news for us.

Is that it? I'll have it, if you don't mind.

Oh, it's no use to you

- you wouldn't understand it from one end to the other.

I'm sure I won't.

But I'll take care of it,

if it's just the same to you.

I can hold on to it just as

well as you till John arrives.

I don't intend to hold onto it.

I intend to lock it in the safe.

There's no need to shut the door.

I know the combination.

I work here, you know.

Thank heavens for the bureaucratic mind.

Did you really think that I was

responsible for the Major's death?

Well, you were kneeling

over the body, weren't you?

And you were the first

to find poor old Munroe.

As a matter of fact, I wasn't -

not that I have to explain myself

to you. Miss Ballard found him first.

But what difference does

it make who found him?

You know very well from the...

...autopsy report the condition of the

brain, the blood vessels and the spine,

that everything was hit with such a...

cataclysmic force that no human being

could possibly have been responsible.

So what are you suggesting?

I'm not suggesting anything

- yet.

- But let's assemble our facts.

- Look, we should be telephoning the police.

Now, look, let's

- let's forget the police for the moment. They're the least of our worries.

I don't think you quite realise the danger you're in

- and Julie, for that matter.

Julie?

You see, if the Major was killed like Munroe, it

must be because he had the formula in his hands.

Isn't that so?

The formula has again been

destroyed, but only on paper.

It's still in your head.

How does Julie come into all this?

Whilst you were at home,

working on the formula,

I've had further information about the deaths

of those scientists in America and Russia,

and in at least three cases the

wife of each of them has disappeared,

in circumstances that

simply can't be explained.

Then she must be given

police protection.

From what?

And that's exactly what

I've been asking myself.

Look at it another way:

the only connection between the deaths of Munroe and

the Major, and the scientists both in America and Russia,

is that in each case

the formula was involved.

Now, the Russian

reports may be false.

You mean, they may be responsible,

and want us to think they're not?

It's possible.

But even so, it leads me

to only one conclusion.

Now, one day you said to

me something I scoffed at.

You said that whilst we were only in the early

stage of projecting our minds through space,

it may already have been done,

but not by anybody on this earth.

Well, now I happen to

think that you're right.

What kind of...

creatures... can they be?

And nothing's been seen...

Are we to suppose it's an invisible force,

like electricity is? Like magnetism is?

Well, if our theory about this

kind of mind projection is correct,

then when we get to another planet

and, say, the air is entirely toxic,

we would have to become different creatures

- without lungs, a different bloodstream -

which would make it possible

for us to live there.

So, if they have come here, they in turn

must also be able to move, able to breathe...

even able to think.

And the only creature that we know

that can think is a human being.

Yes. And if our

theory is proved correct,

to make ourselves equipped

to exist on another planet...

our method involves being able to measure the

amount of concentration that will be needed.

And we can be pretty sure that there must be times

over a period when our concentration will weaken,

when our voltage, as it were, will drop.

And if they have come here and are

projecting themselves as human beings,

they also couldn't possibly keep up

that enormous power of concentration...

all the time, every minute of the day.

No, they couldn't.

In small ways they'd have to, at times,

revert to their true selves, whatever that is.

There must be weaknesses

in their structure.

- They're bound to reveal themselves.

- What do you think the signs would be'?

Well, they may not be able

to sweat when it's hot.

They may not be able to grow their nails.

They may have some special deformity.

Their eyes may not be able

to blink. They may even...

As you say... they may

not be able to blink their eyes.

Are you saying Julie's

one of these... illusions?

Let's confine ourselves to what we know.

You, yourself, were very

concerned about her not blinking.

That she slept with her eyes

open. That she had no pulse.

But you've been to our

house. You've met her.

What I didn't tell you

was what I saw for myself.

What's that?

I saw Julie take out the red-hot casserole

from that 275-degree oven with her bare hands.

Any normal person would

have had third-degree burns.

You're out of your mind.

You're talking about my wife!

All right. Let us, for the

moment, forget she's your wife.

Forget...?!

Now, listen. If you and I were given certain information

- and remember,

we both have the kind of mind that's

trained not to jump to conclusions -

what would your reactions

be to all the facts?

What facts?

Well, the fact that she knew who I was

when we met the night I came home with you.

I telephoned her we were coming.

You didn't. She'd no

idea we were coming.

What I saw... her

bare hands inside that oven,

the non-blinking of her eyes that you, yourself,

told me of, and that the Major also saw...

the burn marks under her eyes...

What burn marks?

The Major told me about them

after he'd been to see Julie.

As if she'd been crying and the

tears had literally burnt her cheeks.

He was lying.

Rubbish. What possible reason

could he have for lying?

When I got home after being sent on my indefinite

leave, there was nothing wrong with her eyes.

No, I don't suppose there was.

She could've put that right simply

by wanting to be complete again.

Look, let me ask you this:

if they... whoever they are...

if they can't keep up this

illusion of being a human being,

do you agree with me that we ought to be

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