When Worlds Collide Page #3

All right, I'm here safe and sound.

Go outside and read the magazines!

Will this Noah's ark

get to that new planet?

In theory. on some engineers.

calculations it is possible.

Your observatory trustees,

Marston and Spiro,

tell me you have an equipped camp

but need money to finish the ship.

- Millions!

- Amounts don't stagger me.

I'm just weighing the percentages.

Your word against other astronomers.

Wilson, Ottinger, Zenta.

- They think you're a crackpot.

- I know.

- It will mean liquidating some interests.

- It may save a civilisation!

Their salvation doesn't interest me.

Mine does!

I'm no humanitarian like Marston

and Spiro. I just don't relish dying.

What are the chances of existence

on this new planet?

We don't know.

We can only hope they're good.

- Millions for theories!

- The end of the world is no theory to us.

If I thought it was, I wouldn't be here.

All right. I'll pay for your ark.

- But I select who goes with us.

- This won't be a commercial liner.

There may be space for 40 human beings,

some machinery and livestock.

The minimum for a new life.

You're not qualified to select those people.

I reserve that privilege.

Make up your mind.

You admit you don't relish dying.

You're willing to put up the money

as life insurance, that if the world ends,

you'll be among the few

to reach this new world.

That makes my proposition simple.

Your money for your life.

We'll do the picking together.

Half and half.

Why not? Why should you be the one

to give life or take it away?

The proposition still stands.

Your money or your life.

You know I can't refuse. Build it.

You are the men selected.

Gentlemen,

this is a rough design of our ship.

Instead of taking off

in a customary manner, straight up,

we will conserve fuel by using a mile-long

slide to give us impetus.

The ship will be cradled

on a rocket-propelled undercarriage

which will be automatically released.

At this point,

the wing engines will be turned on.

The power of all engines

will be used to carry us

out of earth's gravitational pull.

We will then be in free ascent,

until we reach

the gravitational pull of Zyra,

when the ship will be operated

as a normal aircraft.

Similar rocket ships are also being

constructed in other countries.

Now about our camp

and its working conditions.

Dave Randall, who is assisting

Dr Hendron, will talk to you about that.

Thanks, Dr Frye.

First, you were selected because you are

the top engineering students here.

Agricultural students and mechanics,

all were picked in this way.

The project needs you

because you are fine technicians

who are healthy and free

to make your own decision.

There is no guarantee

that the ship will reach Zyra.

But those to make the flight

will be chosen by lots,

sometime before the worlds collide.

only about 40 persons can be taken

and already more than 600 people

are working on this project.

Go down to the bunker first.

Joyce Hendron, please.

Take your new arrivals to dormitory C.

- Got the cards for this group?

- Yes, sir.

- Are my cards ready?

- Right here, Miss Hendron.

All right, fellas, this way.

Thanks. I'll leave these at the clinic.

Follow me, girls.

Dr Frye, please, Dr Frye.

There is a call for you

from the microfilm laboratory.

Julie!

See you later.

Check in at the medical clinic

within 30 minutes.

Attention, new arrivals.

Check in at the medical clinic

within 30 minutes.

Dr Bronson, please,

go to the chart room.

Attention, main garage.

Two jeeps are needed immediately

at the foot ofthe ramp approach.

Animals nowwaiting

for unloading on east end siding.

- Hello, Tony.

- Joyce!

- Did you have a nice trip?

- 17 new people. Where's Dad?

Dr Ottinger asked me

to come to New York

for a conference

with Wilson and Zenta.

I'll put these new cards in the file.

- Is this the new design?

- That's right.

The drawings came while you were away.

Bronson tells me Ottinger

and the other doubting Thomases

have jumped over

to our side ofthe fence.

That will end the newspapers

calling me a lunatic.

Stanton's folly!

With time running out,

they'll wish they had

a fleet of Stanton's follies.

They admit our calculations are correct

but insist our flight is impossible.

Even in other countries where ships

are being built, most say it isn't possible.

- And you?

- I believe as I did before. In theory...

Always theories.

Jigsaw puzzles on paper.

- Aren't you ever positive?

- only about Doomsday.

A government representative

will warn people tomorrow.

They will be evacuated

to mountain locations.

What provisions have you made

to protect us when the panic starts?

- I haven't thought about it.

- I have.

I don't deal in theories.

I deal in realities.

Ferris! Bring in those boxes.

I brought enough rifles

to stop a small army.

- There'll be no panic.

- Stop theorising.

Once the havoc is over, every mother's

son will try to climb aboard our ship.

People know only a handful

can make the flight.

You've spent too much time with the stars.

You don't know about the law of

the human jungle. I've spent my life at it.

You don't knowwhat your civilised people

will do to cling to life.

I do, because I'd cling if I had to kill

to do it. And so will you.

We're the lucky ones

with a chance to reach another world.

And we'll use those guns

to keep your only chance to stay alive.

Ferris! Ferris!

There's no question that crisis impends.

The secretary is on his way.

We will have his message in a moment.

My friends, it is imperative

that you listen closely.

This is a matter of life or death.

Your lives

and those of everyone on earth.

At one o'clock on July 24th,

Zyra, a new planet, will pass

so close to the Earth,

it will cause mass destruction.

There is no doubt about

the coming ofZyra.

Remember, there is no doubt.

By one o'clock on that day,

whole populations must have been

evacuated from coastal areas.

Plans have been made

and all that can be done will be done.

When I was a kid, I read a book

about the world ending.

I was so scared, I didn't dare sleep.

Then in the morning,

the sun came out,

everything looked so wonderful,

I forgot the story.

Life was beautiful all over again.

The same sun will be shining

on the new world.

Look, stargazer,

I don't figure in this new world.

The past couple of months,

you and I have been telling recruits

the few to make the trip

will be needed in the new world.

Scientists like you or your father,

Tony, farmers and mechanics.

You'll have things to offer.

But you won't be needing aerial taXi

drivers for another hundred years.

Dad promised me that...

Dad said we'd need you.

Thanks, but Noah would have turned

down my application fast.

I'm not applying for this trip.

Use a little arithmetic.

The ship's cargo is limited.

Every pound will count.

I weigh as much as a couple of lambs,

three dozen chickens,

one healthy farmer.

We're coming in.

Better see that they're strapped down.

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