Village of the Damned Page #3

It was too hot for him.

He spat it out.

He just seemed to glare at her.

Get my bag from the car.

Is that any reason to scald yourself?

This box is a product of Oriental ingenuity.

There are no visible means of opening it...

but if you do just what I've shown you,

it comes open.

Now see if you can do it.

That goes down.

Now you've got it.

Splendid.

It shows I was right to marry your sister.

Your family has brains.

Let's see if I can do this myself.

There you go.

Now watch this.

And remember that he's only 1 year old.

Go on, open it, David.

Yes, there's something inside.

It's a chocolate.

Come along, it's time for your bath.

- This is fantastic.

- You think so?

Come with me.

It's all right,

it's only a box with a chocolate in it.

I don't know, sir.

I never allow her to have chocolates.

It's quite harmless.

I just gave some to David.

But you didn't even show her how to do it.

That's exactly my point. I didn't have to.

If you demonstrate something

to one of them, they all know it.

Now watch.

- I want that.

- Keith, give it back to him. At once!

No, Nancy, leave them alone.

Ted Brower! Come inside this moment!

I've told you about playing

with those children before.

Where's my Philip?

You're always all together.

It's his turn to study. He's at your home.

It's his home, too.

You are anxious for us to leave,

aren't you?

You have the same every week:

You wish we wouldn't come here

anymore, Mrs. Plumpton.

- I never said.

- It's what you're thinking.

You've nothing to fear from us.

However, in future,

someone else will come for our order.

Goodbye, Mrs. Plumpton.

Good afternoon, Miss Ogle.

You ready, Gordon?

- Coffee?

- No, thanks.

Gordon, don't you think Anthea

should know about this conference...

what's being discussed?

There's no reason to alarm her

just because you are alarmed.

I haven't got

your cold scientific detachment.

People, especially children,

aren't measured by their IQ.

What's important about them

is whether they're good or bad.

And these children are bad

to everyone but you.

But they are children.

Children are not born with a sense

of moral values. They have to be taught.

- With their intellect that should be simple.

- Intellect. That's all you care about.

What if you can't teach them?

What if you can't put

the brake of morals on them?

First we must try.

You're blinded by this vision of intellect.

You see David as an Einstein.

Potentially greater.

Solving the riddle of the universe.

Your son, David.

Anthea's son.

I have no proof that he's mine.

Where has Father gone?

To London.

You must hurry, David.

Why?

You'll be late.

No, I meant why has he gone to London?

He has some business there.

- What sort of business?

- A conference.

Don't you like me to help you, David?

Thank you. But I'm old enough

to do things for myself.

Father agrees with that.

Darling, your finger.

Let me do that.

It doesn't hurt. Please don't fuss.

It might turn septic.

There.

You said I must hurry.

Goodbye, Mother.

Goodbye, David.

And, gentlemen, as the Home Secretary

has permitted this disclosure...

I can now inform you that Midwich...

is not the only colony of such children.

Here in a township of Northern Australia...

But apparently, something went wrong.

All the children died

within 10 hours of birth.

In an Eskimo community,

there were 10 births.

The community didn't take kindly to this.

Golden-haired babies born of

black-haired mothers violated the taboos.

None survived.

In the communist world...

there were two time-outs

similar to the one at Midwich.

One at Irkutsk, here on the borders

of Outer Mongolia.

A grim affair.

The men killed the children.

And their mothers.

The second, in the mountains

of the Northwest.

All the children survived.

Our reports, though limited...

indicate that they are receiving

education on the highest level.

All these time-outs happened

on the same day as the one at Midwich.

This is now three years ago.

Have we established anything

about the origins of these children?

There is very little to go on.

Zellaby, you must have some theory.

May I suggest that he may be

somewhat too intimately involved?

My position as a dubious father

is influencing my scientific detachment.

- Is that what you think?

- I have reason to believe so.

Well, let's hear

what the others have to say.

Dr. Carlisle?

I went into the question of mutation.

Once in a great many 1,000 years,

an abrupt jump may take place...

in animal or in vegetable life.

A new variation suddenly occurs

for no apparent reason.

Would that explain,

why entire groups of people were...

cut off for periods of several hours?

No, sir. It would not.

Very well. Any other line of thought?

Yes. There is the possibility

of the transmission of energy.

May I put it this way:

Already, we can direct radar beams

out into space with the utmost accuracy.

Electrical impulses

have been bounced off the moon.

And we are continually receiving impulses

from other planets and stars.

And impulses are energy and matter.

We're aware of that, Professor Smith.

But where does it take us?

The Professor and I think alike.

What we can do, others, elsewhere

in the universe may be able to do better.

Exactly.

Let me get this straight.

You imply that these children

may be the result of impulses...

directed towards us

from somewhere in the universe?

Of course that's just a theory.

But there's nothing to disprove it.

They may be a case of mutation.

They may be the world's new people.

What we need is time to investigate.

- Time...

- Just a moment, Zellaby.

Gen. Leighton, you told me

of some developments at Midwich.

What are they?

A series of casualties,

mostly among the village children.

In each case, after some contact

with the others.

Children get into fights all over the world.

These were not fights in the normal sense.

No direct physical violence was involved.

But two weeks ago,

a boy, a good swimmer...

was drowned in the Midwich pond

for no logical reason.

Children also have accidents.

Gordon, you've seen it for yourself.

The extraordinary power

these children have.

And the sinister way they use it.

Extraordinary power, certainly, yes.

That's precisely why we need time.

It's only a matter of time before

these children get entirely out of hand.

With fatal consequences.

So what do you suggest?

- That they be shut away.

- You mean, put in prison?

Bluntly, yes.

You might as well

do away with them altogether.

- This isn't a police state yet.

- But don't you see what you're doing?

If you imprison them,

you will deprive the scientific world...

of the greatest opportunity it's ever had.

- Opportunity for what?

- For study.

Gentlemen, a great deal has been said

here about the power of these children.

But nothing about

the nature of this power.

What we are dealing with is a mass mind.

An entirely new development.

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