19 Nocturne Boulevard - Lovecraft 5: FROM BEYOND - Reissue
Adapted by Julie Hoverson from the story by H.P. Lovecraft
Herbert finally has his turn and recounts a tale of mad science.
Cast List
Herbert - Carl Cubbedge
Warren - Glen Hallstrom
Charles - Michael Coleman (Tales of the Extraordinary)
Richard - Philemon Vanderbeck
Edward - Mathias Rebne-Morgan
Tillinghast - Jack Kincaid (Edict Zero FIS)
"Howard" - Russell Gold
Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Editing and Sound:\xa0\xa0 Julie Hoverson
Cover Design:\xa0 Julie Hoverson and Brett Coulstock
"What kind of a place is it?
Why it's the scene of a tragic event, can't you tell?"
*****************************************************************
FROM BEYOND (Lovecraft 5, #5)
Cast:
- Herbert, a scientist
- Edward, a writer
- Charles, a dilettante
- Richard, a painter
- Warren, a professor
- Tillinghast, professor
- "Howard", friend
OLIVIA \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0[opening credits] Did you have any trouble finding it?\xa0 What do you mean, what kind of a place is it?\xa0 Why, it's the scene of a tragic event, can't you tell?\xa0
MUSIC
1_BnE
AMB\xa0\xa0\xa0 OUTSIDE, NIGHT
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 FOOTSTEPS ON GRAVEL
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 I'm sure you'll understand why I waited until after dinner to bring us all here.\xa0
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 That was dinner?\xa0
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Even I can't say anything good about it.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Food should be used as fuel, nothing more.\xa0 Nutritionally--
RICHARD \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Next, he'll be giving us the chemical notations.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 Buck up - we can't all be epicures like you, Charles.\xa0 And this little walking tour has piqued my interest.\xa0 I take it we have reached our destination, Herbert?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Yes.\xa0 This is the house of the late Crawford Tillinghast.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Late lamented?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Hmph.\xa0 Doubtful.\xa0 We'd better get inside rather quickly, though.\xa0 Don't want the police to find us here.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 FOOTSTEPS ON GRASS
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [interested] Really?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 A fortnight ago, Tillinghast died... under rather mysterious circumstances.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 A friend of yours?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Vaguest of acquaintances.\xa0 I might have recognized him if I met him on the street.\xa0 Might not.\xa0 But he was a fellow scientist... [disapproving] of a sort.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 FEET ON PORCH, LEATHER BAG SET DOWN
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 There should be no danger, now.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 [not quite serious] Danger?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 But the power should probably remain off, so I've brought along a couple of electric torches.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 RUMMAGING IN BAG
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Don\u2019t turn them on until we\u2019re inside. Just in case.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 You said danger?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 To be precise, I said "no danger".\xa0 The machine that caused all the trouble is supposed to have been disabled, according to the only witness, and people have been in and out of the place - I say people, but I mean police - for days, without event.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 Ah - so there is a witness?
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 DOORKNOB RATTLES
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Another acquaintance.\xa0 Someone I know rather better.\xa0 Neither of them is really in my field - I work more in biology and chemistry - but we have spoken from time to time when mutual interests converged.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Are we going to go inside or stand on the porch all day like milk bottles?
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 ANOTHER JIGGLE AT THE DOOR
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Most doors are fairly easy to-- aha!
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 HARD SMACK, DOOR CREAKS OPEN
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 If science doesn't pay, Herbert, you can always turn to crime.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Aren't the neighbors likely to notice?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 The yard is large and the hedges are overgrown.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 What's the worst that can happen, eh?
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Criminal prosecution?
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [amused] Adds spice to a reputation.\xa0 Go on, Herbert, we're right behind you.
2_inside
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 FLASHLIGHT CLICKS ON, SLOW FOOTSTEPS
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 We need to go on through and up to the attic.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 SECOND FLASHLIGHT CLICKS ON
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 There are likely stairs that go up from the kitchen.\xa0 Many old houses had them, depending on the prevalence of servants in the household.\xa0
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Oh?
WARREN \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Servants, you see, would sleep in the attic, and the masters didn\u2019t want them traipsing up and down the main hallways at all hours of the night--
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 That's all very well, and Tillinghast did have servants, but I have a reason for wanting to go through the front hall.\xa0 Something the witness mentioned, that I wanted to observe for myself.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 FOOTSTEPS STOP, DOOR SHUTS
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Does he have a name?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 He? Who?
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Your witness.\xa0 You can hardly call him "the witness" all night long - take my word, nameless characters are much more difficult to sympathize with.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 He asked that I not mention--
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 We'll give him a name then.\xa0 Something to call him - for convenience.
EDWARD \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0And personalization.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [exasperated] You expect me to come up with something?
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Oh, this is one of my areas.\xa0 How about Wilbur? \xa0Philip?\xa0 Howard?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Howard should be easy enough to remember.\xa0 Shall we continue?
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Do we get the grand tour?
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 You said there was a reason for us to go through the front hall?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Yes.\xa0 As I said, "Howard" is a fellow scientist.\xa0 He was a friend - rather unfortunately - to the owner of this house, one Crawford Tillinghast.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 The "Late" one?
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 And you said he was a scientist as well?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [disparaging] Of a sort. \xa0Some people really should never take up science.\xa0 Half the time you can't get anyone to pay attention to your work, and when they do, they can't offer a better opinion than to insist that you're mad.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [taunting] Personal experience?
HERBERT \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0[snappish] Of course.\xa0 [starting slow, but getting sort of rabid]\xa0 But just as often it has nothing to do with the validity of your theories - it's merely a mind game!\xa0 [almost furious] A well-placed blow to a scientist's ego can shatter him - send him completely to pieces, leaving the way clear for lesser men to step in and claim victory!
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Goodness!\xa0
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [still mad] Or there\u2019s always the type of smear campaign that Edison waged against Tesla!
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Good for you, Herbert.\xa0 Never thought you had that kind of fire in you.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [murmured] Remind me never to criticize anything scientific around him.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 Does all this apply to the story somehow?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [suddenly snapped back]\xa0 The story?\xa0 Oh, yes.\xa0 The story.\xa0 Well.\xa0 [clears his throat]\xa0 Crawford and Howard didn't work together - their expertise fell into very different categories. But they were friends.\xa0 [getting a little distant] At least they were until the day when Howard made the mistake - and I believe he had no ulterior motive, unlike some - of criticizing Crawford's theories.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Oh, boy!
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Crawford threw him out, with a warning never to darken his door again.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 This door, or the one in front?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [irritated] His metaphorical door.\xa0
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Sorry to be an annoyance, since you're just starting to warm up, but isn\u2019t there a better place for this yarn than standing around a dark, musty old kitchen?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Of course.\xa0 Come along.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 FOOTSTEPS
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 The parlor should be through here somewhere.\xa0
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [a bit spooky] The very parlor where they sat and smoked and told their tales of science... until that fateful day!
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [dry] Very likely.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [annoyed at not getting a rise] Hmph.
WARREN \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0It's awfully dusty in here for a house left unoccupied a mere week.\xa0 Didn't you say this Tillinghast fellow had servants?\xa0
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 It is an awfully large house for one man.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Thus speaketh the Pot. [calling the kettle black]
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 He had servants.\xa0 They've been ... absent for a while - Howard wasn't very clear on that.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 DOOR PUSHED OPEN, FOOTSTEPS
3_garments
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Hold up a minute.\xa0 What's this?
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 If you weren't in the way, I might be able to answer you.\xa0 Too damn bad there's no proper lights.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 SCUFFLE OF FEET
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 It's a woman's dress.\xa0 Just lying there.\xa0 How ... odd?
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Confess, Herbert - does your story involve panderers?\xa0 White slavers?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [disgusted]\xa0 No!\xa0 Such distractions have no place in a story of science.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Is it damaged at all?\xa0
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Not as far as I can see, but I'm hardly the expert.\xa0 [beat] Unless it's actually shredded and bloody, which this one most certainly is not, one dress looks much like another to me.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 Move aside, you high-minded gentlemen.\xa0 I'm quite used to poking about in people's personal belongings.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 I can't help but feel there's a wee bit of difference between your ancient Mesopotamian and your modern old maid.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 RUSTLING
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 How odd.\xa0 From a cursory examination, it appear that all the -ahem- internal garments are still arrayed -uh- within.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 I may be a mere tiro [novice], but even I know no woman removes her clothes that way.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 It'd be damn inconvenient.\xa0 [clears his throat]\xa0 For the woman, I mean.\xa0 Think of all the rebuttoning.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [annoyed] I thought you all wanted to sit.\xa0
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Of course.\xa0
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 We're easily distracted by oddities.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [amused snort] and women's undergarments, apparently.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 FEET, DOOR, SITTING
4_sitting
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 You understand now why I couldn't provide any of the amenities we usually have on these story nights.\xa0
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Of course.\xa0 [chuckling] \xa0Someone would have had to carry the picnic hamper.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [agreeing] Not the best accessory for breaking and entering.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Does that heap of crinoline have something to do with your story?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Well technically, it's evidence, but police have a tendency to ignore anything that they can't explain.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Evidence?\xa0 Really?\xa0
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Point of fact, one week ago, there was an unexplained death in this house.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Presumably NOT "Howard", since he's the one who told you all about it?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Of course not.\xa0 It was Tillinghast.\xa0 Howard was present.\xa0 That's one reason he doesn't want his name bandied about.\xa0 He doesn't want to get the police started up again.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Did your friend... kill Tillinghast?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 You'll have to weigh the facts and decide for yourself.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 "All will become known", eh?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Yes.\xa0 "Howard" had been persona non grata in the house for several weeks before the night of the death.\xa0 Tillinghast ran him out for daring to question his line of research.\xa0
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Which was?
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 You never did go into that.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Tillinghast was experimenting with variations on light waves and their effects on perception.\xa0 Or something along those lines.\xa0 Howard wasn't entirely clear in his description.\xa0
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [sarcastic] Unclear? After witnessing - if not causing - a death?\xa0 Small wonder.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 He arrived that night to find the house much as it is now.\xa0 Seemingly unoccupied, and without electricity.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Even then?\xa0 How odd.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 It was kept "off" by logical decision, not due to any defect in the system.\xa0 Howard had spent the intervening weeks--
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Since his fall into disfavor?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 --keeping tabs on his erstwhile friend, by way of the butler.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 So there were servants.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 At least two.\xa0 Howard mentioned the butler and some sort of housekeeper, and his surprise that they were not present to greet him when he arrived.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Why did he come back?\xa0
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Tillinghast had specifically sent for him.\xa0 Howard assumed it was an attempt at reconciliation.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [inviting] But...?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 He had been kept informed of Tillinghast's growing obsession with a machine in the attic, some apparatus he was perfecting, to the exclusion of all else - eating little and sleeping even less.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Up in the attic?\xa0 Right up there?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Of course.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 Hmm... are we in any danger from this machine?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [bland] I can\u2019t think why.\xa0 [back to the story]\xa0 Howard was shocked at the appearance of his friend.\xa0 How he had changed.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 It had been some time, hadn't it?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 A mere ten weeks.\xa0 But he had lost weight, grown rather sallow, and looked feverish.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Classic signs of madness... at least in the better sort of stories.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 And his hair had gone white--
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Really now Herbert, you of all people, as a scientist, must know that is an old wives' tale--
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [overriding] White at the roots.\xa0 Of course it isn't empiracly possible for the current growth of hair to change color overnight--
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 A touch of indigo can send it in the other direction.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 But shock can alter the follicles and any growth from that point forward may be affected.\xa0
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 So he had had some sort of a shock, but some time back, to make the roots noticeable.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Tillinghast was not the right type to be a scientist - he didn't have the mental fortitude necessary to face down the possible effects of his actions.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Had he actually gone mad?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Who can define madness?\xa0 But he had come to some penultimate discovery.\xa0 To this end, he had entreated Howard to pay him a visit, in order that he might share what he'd achieved.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 A bit of "I told you so"
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Best served cold. [as in "revenge"]
5_tillinghast
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 What do we know of the world and the universe about us? \xa0We see things only as we are constructed to see them, and can gain no idea of their absolute nature.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Perception is a hotly debated concept in art as well - look at the work being done by the surrealists.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Or, god forbid, dada.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 That's not art.
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 With five feeble senses we pretend to comprehend the boundlessly complex cosmos, yet other beings with wider, stronger, or different range of senses might not only see very differently the things we see, but might see and study whole worlds of matter, energy, and life which lie close at hand, yet can never be detected with the senses we have.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 I can't even imagine a sense I don't have.\xa0 It's like trying to imagine a colour you've never seen before.\xa0 Or trying to think around a corner.
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 I have always believed that such strange, inaccessible worlds exist at our very elbows, and now I believe I have found a way to break down the barriers!
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Howard says Tillinghast seemed absolutely assured of his conclusions, and he feared for his friend's sanity.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 Why break down these barriers?\xa0 Shouldn't he have considered that they may be present for a very good reason? Always assuming he has any sort of method behind his madness?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 It is the duty of any scientist to go beyond and figure out what may lay outside the current realm of the probable.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 But what if such an exploration should do great harm?\xa0 Isn't it also the duty of any scientist to have a bit of accountability?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [dismissive] Of course.\xa0 But some risks must be taken.\xa0
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 So if someone created a devastating bomb, for instance, in the name of science, it wouldn't matter how many people it killed- the very act of being able to make it would justify the science involved?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Of course.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 Just as well that we aren't here to discuss theoretical morality.\xa0 Besides, this is just a story, isn\u2019t it?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 No.\xa0 This really happened.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 Sorry, what I mean is, for us, this is merely a night's entertainment.\xa0
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Oh.\xa0 Of course.\xa0 Tillinghast went on, in that awful "croaking, wasted voice."
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Howard's words?
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 I am not joking. Within twenty-four hours that machine near the table will generate waves acting on unrecognized sense organs that exist in us as atrophied or rudimentary vestiges.
6_organs
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Science fiction.\xa0 Pure and simple.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Not necessarily.\xa0 Many organs remain in the body despite centuries of evolution having rendered them obsolete for whatever purpose they may have once had in primitive man.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 The appendix?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 As a simplistic example, yes.\xa0 At some point in the distant past, it served a purpose.\xa0 Now, it is merely an accessory.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Like footmen.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Rather.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Howard surmised that while Tillinghast had probably not forgiven him, he needed SOMEONE to talk to, and Howard was the most likely candidate, having been privy to some of his theories previously.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 And he arrived to find the place dark and empty?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Well, he mentioned candles.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 More gothic yet!
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Why did Howard come anyway?\xa0 Wasn't he worried about some kind of remonstrances?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [as if this explains] \xa0Intellectual curiousity.\xa0 [dismissive] And wanting to see how his friend fared.\xa0 The handwriting in the summoning letter had been feeble and cramped.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Even his ink had turned white!
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Hush.
7_machines
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Howard asked about the electricity and was told, in no uncertain terms, that it was off for a very definite reason, but was not informed what that reason might be.\xa0 Yet.
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 [muttered] It would be too much... I would not dare.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 He led Howard up through the house to the attic, which was lit with a sickly sinister violet light.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 But not electric light?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 It came from the machine that was at the center of all the controversy.\xa0 Howard described it as "detestable," but machines should really not be regarded so subjectively.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 There are plenty of machines that are detestable.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Name one?
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [very dry and sarcastic] Tammany Hall. [notorious "political machine" of the recent past]
ALL\xa0\xa0\xa0 [general laughter]
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Now, now - we all use machines that would have been thought terrible in years gone by.\xa0 I would be lost without my typewriter, Richard takes the occasional photograph--
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Backgrounds.\xa0 For my paintings.\xa0 Nothing I hate more than having to stand around on some windy heath - or god forbid, some tourist-laden beauty spot - just to capture a scene.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 I'm quite fond of my Victrola.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 Most of these would have been considered magic by ancient man, and either embraced or reviled depending upon the climate of the times.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Perception is subjective.\xa0 That's part of what makes science such a difficult field for men such as Tillinghast.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Determined not to lose your thread, eh?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 The electrical system was out of the picture entirely.\xa0 And yet some kind of power seemed to be in operation, since the machine was lit.
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 The glow... ah yes, the glow.\xa0 It is not electrical - not in any sense you could understand.\xa0 But you will see soon enough.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Curiousity or not, I don't know that I would choose to remain alone in a big, dark empty house with someone who sounded so ... ominous.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 That is the difference between the run of normal folk and the scientist.\xa0 The mind of the scientist puts knowledge even above...\xa0 above---
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 Self-preservation?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 I was looking more for "subjective fear responses".
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 I suspect that's why there are so many dead scientists.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 And so few old ones.
8_colors
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Now, now, this is a lovely tale.\xa0 Stop putting Herbert off.\xa0
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Please.\xa0 Tillinghast seated Howard near the machine and turned it on.\xa0 Now the sound began, indicating that it was running.\xa0 And the light... changed.\xa0
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 From port to starboard?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 It had been a strange purplish color, but now it increased, then waned, and settled on a pale color or blend of colors that Howard was unable to adequately describe.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 What did I say?\xa0 Colors.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 But isn't there a very definite and specific set of colors that exist in the spectrum?
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Any painter can tell you that, yet there are shades and blendings that are particularly difficult to achieve - or to reproduce.\xa0 It all depends on the purity of your pigments.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 What we think of as "normal light" is absolutely pure when it comes to color.\xa0 And yet, it is not the absence of hue.\xa0 Just look at it through a prism.
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 [whispered] Do you know what that is?\xa0 That is ultra-violet.\xa0 [creepy chuckle] You thought ultra-violet was invisible, and so it is - but you can see that and many other invisible things now.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Isn\u2019t ultraviolet at the far end of the spectrum?\xa0 Our eyes aren't made for that.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [ominous] Precisely.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Oh-ho?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Tillinghast claimed that the machine's function was to open up long-dormant senses, to widen the perceptions, and make visible that which is normally completely unseen.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 So he claimed that, in a few moments, he could reverse aeons--
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Theoretical aeons.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 --of evolution--
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Theoretical evolution.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 --and waken senses that might only exist in his imagination?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Yes.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 Oh.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 It might equate, though only in an abstract way, with the change in art when perspective was discovered - or rather quantified.\xa0
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 What?
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 If you look at ancient art, from cave paintings up through medieval tapestries, there is no standard for perspective - no logical depth.\xa0 With the renaissance, and daVinci, art began to develop systematically into the third dimension.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 What are you talking about?
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 A revolutionary change in vision?\xa0 Never mind.
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 Listen to me! The waves from that thing are waking a thousand sleeping senses in us! I have seen the truth, and I intend to show it to you.
9_upstairs
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 In fact, I think it well past time to show you.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Show?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 The machine. \xa0It's disabled, but you can see the room where everything occurred.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [speculative] Get some ambiance.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [avid] Background color.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 Perspective.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [laughs]
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 FOOTSTEPS, DOOR
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 You have heard of the pineal gland? I laugh at the shallow endocrinologist, fellow-dupe and fellow-parvenu of the Freudian.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Come along.
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 That gland is the great sense organ of organs - I have found out! \xa0It is like sight in the end, and transmits visual pictures to the brain. If you are normal, that is the way you ought to get most of it... I mean get most of the evidence... from beyond.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 CREAKY DOOR OPENS
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Aha.\xa0 The scene of the crime?
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 Is there room for everyone?
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Just shove in.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Go on.\xa0 It's bigger inside.\xa0
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 SHUTS THE DOOR
10_the room
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Howard said that once the machine got up to speed, he began to "see" things.\xa0
HOWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 I fancied myself in some vast incredible temple with innumerable black stone columns reaching up from a floor of damp slabs to a cloudy height beyond the range of vision. The picture was very vivid for a while, but gradually gave way to a more horrible conception; that of utter, absolute solitude in infinite, sightless, soundless space.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Sounds like a bit of a poet.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 For a scientist.
HOWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 From the farthermost regions of remoteness, a sound softly glided into existence. It was infinitely faint, subtly vibrant, and unmistakably musical, but held a quality of surpassing wildness which made it feel like a delicate torture of my entire body.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 There are certain note progressions which are determined to cause odd feelings.\xa0 Stravinsky's Rite of Spring incited a riot at its debut due to the effect of the wild discords upon its audience.\xa0\xa0
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 When Howard spoke, though, the "spell" - and I use the term to mean a period of hallucination, and not for any magical connotations - was broken.\xa0
SOUND \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0FOOTSTEPS, FIDDLING WITH MACHINE
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 I should also mention that during this momentary lapse of concentration, Howard had drawn his revolver.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Ayuh.\xa0 That might be a little important later.\xa0 I was looking over your machine here.\xa0 It appears to be damaged.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 I already told you it was disabled.\xa0 That is why we are in no danger.\xa0 Unlike Howard.
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 Don't move!\xa0\xa0\xa0 For in these rays we are able to be seen as well as to see.\xa0 I told you the servants left, but I didn't tell you how.\xa0 It was that thick-witted house-keeper - she turned on the lights downstairs after I had warned her not to, and the wires picked up sympathetic vibrations.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Downstairs? Oh!
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 It must have been frightful - I could hear the screams all the way up here in spite of all I was seeing and hearing from another direction, and later it was rather ...awful... to find those empty heaps of clothes around the house.\xa0
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Those clothes!
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 Mrs. Updike's clothes were close to the front hall switch - that's how I know she did it.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 [awe] As if she was just taken out of them.
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 It got them all. But so long as we don't move we're fairly safe. Remember we're dealing with a hideous world in which we are practically helpless... [suddenly sharp] Keep still!
HOWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 In my terror my mind again opened to the impressions coming "from beyond."\xa0 I felt huge animate things brushing past me and walking or drifting through my supposedly solid body.\xa0
11_things
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Before you scoff, you have to understand that most of what we think of as "solid matter" is merely solid on a very crude level.\xa0 Individual molecules are only loosely bound together--
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Is there going to be a test later?
HOWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 I thought I saw Tillinghast look at these things as though his better trained senses could catch them visually.
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 You see them? You see them? You see the things that float and flop about you and through you every moment of your life? \xa0Have I not succeeded in breaking down the barrier? \xa0Have I not shown you worlds that no other living men have seen?
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 I don't think it's just barriers that were breakin' down.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [smug] As I said.\xa0 Some people are not meant for the hard discipline of science.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 But he says these things could harm them?\xa0 Could have some effect just because they - the scientists - could now see them?\xa0
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 That's ridiculous.\xa0 Like saying that if someone is blind, he won't get hit by a motorcar.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [regretfully]\xa0 No.\xa0 If someone is blind, he gets hired as an art reviewer.
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 You think those floundering things wiped out the servants? Fool! They are harmless! But the servants are gone, aren't they?
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Maybe they took a new position in a house with the power laid on.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 The clothes, though.
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 You tried to stop me! You discouraged me when I needed every drop of encouragement I could get! you were afraid of the cosmic truth, you damned coward, but now I've got you!
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 This room would be a little small for a confrontation with a raving lunatic.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Particularly one who insisted that if you move a muscle, something terrible might grab you from behind.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Rather like posing for one of your portraits.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [dark] That's why I don't include people.
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 What swept up the servants? What made them scream so loud?... Don't know, eh! You'll know soon enough.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 Isn't it a bit warm in here?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 We're almost finished.\xa0 I promised Howard I would look for something at the other end of the attic.\xa0
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [worried] You're taking the torch?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 I can hardly search in the dark.\xa0 Besides, you have the other one.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 HE WALKS AWAY
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [as he goes away, echoey] The oddest part is how Tillinghast somehow shifted his focus, from the things immediately surrounding us to things far beyond.
12_Herbert goes
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 I have seen beyond the bounds of infinity and drawn down demons from the stars... Space belongs to me, do you hear? \xa0Things are hunting me now - the things that devour and dissolve - but I know how to elude them. It is you they will get, as they got the servants... [urgent] Stirring, dear sir? [relax] If you had moved, they would have been at you long ago.
HOWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 These things were never still, but seemed ever floating about with some malignant purpose. Sometimes they appeared to devour one another, the attacker launching itself at its victim and instantaneously obliterating the latter from sight. Shudderingly I felt that I knew what had obliterated the unfortunate servants.
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 Don't worry, they won't "hurt" you. They didn't "hurt" the servants - it was the seeing that made the poor devils scream so. My pets are not pretty, for they come out of places where aesthetic standards are - very different.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [very weak joke, a bit nervous]\xa0 Hollywood?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [from off] I'm going to check downstairs.\xa0 Be right back.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 FEET GO DOWN STAIRS
HOWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Foremost among the living objects were inky, jellyfish monstrosities which flabbily quivered in harmony with the vibrations from the machine.
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 I always knew you were no scientist. Trembling, eh? Trembling with anxiety to see the ultimate things I have discovered?
HOWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 I saw to my horror that they overlapped; that they were semi-fluid and capable of passing through one another and through what we know as solids.
TILLINGHAST\xa0\xa0\xa0 Why don't you move, then? \xa0Tired? \xa0Well, don't worry, my friend, for they are coming... Look, look! \xa0Curse you, look... it's just over your left shoulder...
[moment of silence]
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 CLICK
ALL\xa0\xa0\xa0 [gasp]
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 [straining to sound calm and annoyed] Turn the torch back on, Edward.
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 I didn't!
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [flat] Funny.\xa0
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 [a bit odd] Do ... you see that?
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 SCUFFLE, FEET TURNING - they see it glowing
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Good god!
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 I can't tell if it's actually--
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 [whisper] Barely there....
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 [trying to stay calm] This might be a time to shut the eyes.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 FEET COME UP STAIRS
ALL\xa0\xa0\xa0 [GASP]
13_jump scare
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Why are you standing here in the dark?
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 [crisp, overcompensating] Flashlight died.\xa0
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Let's go downstairs.\xa0
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 THEY GO DOWNSTAIRS
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Did you find what you were looking for?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 No.\xa0 Looks like the police confiscated everything of any interest.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 Except - um - the machine.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Ah.\xa0 I almost forgot the end of the story. Howard was arrested, and held on suspicion.\xa0 You see, there was a gunshot and the police were called.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 I see.\xa0 That\u2019s how the police come to be a factor.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Yes.\xa0 They burst in, and found Howard with a recently-fired gun standing over the prostrate body of his fellow scientist.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 As clear as a tableau in a wax museum.
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 But he didn\u2019t shoot him? You said he\u2019s no longer under arrest.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 It wasn\u2019t until the police physician examined Tillinghast\u2019s body that they let him go.\xa0
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Was it one of the creatures that killed him?\xa0 And maybe Howard shot IT?
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 I feel a painting coming on.
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 The physician determined that Tillnghast had perished-- [dragging it out]
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 Yes?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 Of apoplexy.
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 Ah, the classics.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 But the gun?
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 You saw what happened. \xa0Howard shot the machine.\xa0 That\u2019s why it\u2019s broken like that.\xa0 Too bad.\xa0 Would have been interesting to examine.\xa0
RICHARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 [wry hinting] But it\u2019s not COMPLETELY broken, is it?
EDWARD\xa0\xa0\xa0 Yeah, that was a good one, Herbert.\xa0 [laughs, but a bit uneasy]\xa0
CHARLES\xa0\xa0\xa0 [fake laugh] ha-ha.\xa0 Ayup.\xa0 Good joke.
WARREN\xa0\xa0\xa0 H-how did you get it to do that, anyway?
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0 FEET STOP
HERBERT\xa0\xa0\xa0 [not joking - really doesn\u2019t know what they\u2019re talking about] Do what?
END