WEBVTT
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Welcome, weirdos. I'm Darren Marlar. You've stepped into the horror
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fiction side of Weird Darkness, and it happens to be
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midnight in the macabre. The Leech was waiting for food.
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For millennia, it had been drifting across the vast emptiness
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of space. Without consciousness, It had spent the countless centuries
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in the void between the stars. It was unaware when
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it finally reached a sun. Life-giving radiation flared around the hard,
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dry spore. Gravitation tugged at it. A planet claimed it
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with other stellar debris, and the leech fell, still dead,
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seeming within its tough spore case. One speck of dust
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among many, the winds blew it around the Earth, played
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with it, and let it fall. On the ground, it
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began to stir, nourishment soaked in, permeating the spore case.
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It grew and fed. Frank Connors came up on the
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porch and coughed twice.' Say pardon me, Professor,' he said.
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The long, pale man didn't stir from the sagging couch.
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His horn-rimmed glasses were perched on his forehead, and he
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was snoring very gently. I'm awful sorry to disturb you,
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Connors said, pushing back his battered felt hat. I know
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it's your resting week and all, but there's something damn
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funny in the ditch. The pale man's left eyebrow twitched,
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but he showed no other sign of having heard. Frank
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Connors coughed again, holding his spade in one purple-veined hand.'
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Did you hear me, Professor?'' Of course I heard you,'
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Michaels said in a muffled voice, his eyes still closed.'
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You found a pixie.'' A what?' Connors asked, squinting at Michaels.'
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A little man in a green suit.'' Feed him milk, Connors.'' No, sir,
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I think it's a rock.' Michaels opened one eye and
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focused it in Connors' general direction. I'm awfully sorry about it,
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Connors said. Professor Michaels' resting week was a ten-year-old custom
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and his only eccentricity. All winter, Michaels taught anthropology, worked
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on half a dozen committees, dabbled in physics and chemistry,
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and still found time to write a book a year.
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When summer came, he was tired. Arriving at his worked-out
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New York State farm, it was his invariable rule to
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do absolutely nothing for a week. He hired Frank Connors
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to cook for that week and generally make himself useful,
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while Professor Michaels slept. During the second week, Michaels would
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wander around, look at the trees and fish. By the
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third week, he would be getting a tan, reading, repairing
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the sheds, and climbing mountains. At the end of four weeks,
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he could hardly wait to get back to the city.
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but the resting week was sacred. I really wouldn't bother
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you for anything small, Connors said apologetically, but that damned
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rock melted two inches off my spade. Michaels opened both
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eyes and sat up. Connors held out the spade. The
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rounded end was sheared cleanly off. Michaels swung himself off
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the couch and slipped his feet into battered moccasins. Let's
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see this wonder, he said. The object was lying in
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the ditch at the end of the front lawn, three
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feet from the main road. It was round, about the
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size of a truck tire, and solid throughout. It was
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about an inch thick, as far as he could tell,
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grayish-black and intricately veined. Don't touch it, Connors warned. I'm
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not going to. Let me have your spade. Michaels took
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the spade and prodded the object experimentally. It was completely unyielding.
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He held the spade to the surface for a moment,
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then withdrew it. Another inch was gone. Michaels frowned and
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pushed his glasses tighter against his nose. He held the
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spade against the rock with one hand, the other held
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close to the surface. More of the spade disappeared.' Doesn' t
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seem to be generating heat,' he said to Connors.' Did
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you notice any the first time?' Connors shook his head.
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Michaels picked up a clot of dirt and tossed it
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on the object. The dirt dissolved quickly, leaving no trace
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on the gray-black surface. A large stone followed the dirt
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and disappeared in the same way. Isn't that just about
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the damnedest thing you ever saw, Professor? Connors asked. Yes,
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Michaels agreed, standing up again. It just about is. He
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hefted the spade and brought it down smartly on the object.
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When it hit, he almost dropped the spade. He'd been
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gripping the handle rigidly, braced for a recoil, but the
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spade struck that unyielding surface and stayed. There was no
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perceptible give, but absolutely no recoil.' Whatcha think it is?'
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Connors asked.' It' s no stone,' Michaels said. He stepped back.'
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A leech drinks blood. This thing seems to be drinking dirt.
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And spades.' He struck it a few more times, experimentally.
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The two men looked at each other. On the road,
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half a dozen army trucks rolled past.' I' m going to
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phone the college and ask a physics man about it,'
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Michaels said.' Or a biologist. I'd like to get rid
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of that thing before it spoils my lawn.' They walked
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back to the house. Everything fed the leech. The wind
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added its modicum of kinetic energy, ruffling across the gray-black surface.
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Rain fell and the force of each individual drop added
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to its store. The water was sucked in by the
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all-absorbing surface. The sunlight above it was absorbed and converted
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into mass for its body. Beneath it, the soil was consumed, dirt, stones,
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and branches broken down by the leech's complex cells and
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changed into energy. Energy was converted back into mass and
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the leech grew. Slowly, the first flickers of consciousness began
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to return. Its first realization was of the impossible smallness
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of its body. It grew. When Michaels looked the next day,
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the leech was eight feet across, sticking out into the
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road and up the side of the lawn. The following day,
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it was almost 18 feet in diameter, shaped to fit
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the contour of the ditch and covering most of the road.
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That day, the sheriff drove up in his Model A,
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followed by half the town. Is that your leech thing,
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Professor Michaels? Sheriff Flynn asked. That's it, Michaels said. He'd
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spent the past days looking unsuccessfully for an acid that
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would dissolve the leech. We gotta get it out of
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the road, Flynn said, walking truculently up to the leech.
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Something like this. You can't let it block the road, Professor.
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The army's gotta use this road. I'm terribly sorry, Michaels
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said with a straight face. Go right ahead, Sheriff, but
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be careful. It's hot. The leash wasn't hot, but it
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seemed the simplest explanation under the circumstances. Michaels watched with
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interest as the sheriff tried to shove a crowbar under it.
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He smiled to himself when it was removed with half
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a foot of its length gone. The sheriff wasn't so
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easily discouraged. He had come prepared for a stubborn piece
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of rock. He went to the rumble seat of his
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car and and took out a blowtorch and a sledgehammer,
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ignited the torch, and focused it on one edge of
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the leech. After five minutes, there was no change. The
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gray didn't turn red or even seem to heat up.
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Sheriff Flynn continued to bake it for 15 minutes, then
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called to one of the men. Eat that spot with
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the sledge, Jerry. Jerry picked up the sledgehammer, motioned the
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sheriff back, and swung it over his head. He let
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out a howl as the hammer struck unyieldingly. There wasn't
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a fraction of recoil. In the distance, they heard the
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roar of an army convoy. Now we'll get some action,
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Flynn said. Michaels wasn't so sure. He walked around the
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periphery of the leech, asking himself what kind of substance
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would react that way. The answer was easy. No substance.
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No known substance. The driver in the lead jeep held
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up his hand, and the long convoy ground to a halt.
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A hard, efficient-looking officer stepped out of the jeep. From
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the star on either shoulder, Michaels knew he was a
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brigadier general. You can't block this road, the general said.
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He was a tall spare man in suntans with a
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sunburned face and cold eyes. Please clear that thing away.
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We can't move it, Michaels said. He told the general
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what had happened in the past few days. It must
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be moved, the general said. This convoy must go through.
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He walked closer and looked at the leech. You say
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it can't be jacked up by a crowbar? A torch
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won't burn it? That's right, Michaels said, smiling faintly. Driver,
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the general said over his shoulder. Ride over it. Michaels
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started to protest, but stopped himself. The military mind would
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have to find out in its own way. the driver
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put his jeep in gear and shot forward, jumping the
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leech's four-inch edge. The jeep got to the center of
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the leech and stopped. I didn't tell you to stop,
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the general bellowed. I didn't, sir, the driver protested. The
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jeep had been yanked to a stop and had stalled.
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The driver started it again, shifted to four-wheel drive, and
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tried to ram forward. The Jeep was fixed immovably, as
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though set in concrete. Pardon me, Michaels said. If you look,
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you can see that the tires are melting down. The
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General stared, his hand creeping automatically toward his pistol belt.
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Then he shouted, Jump, driver! Don't touch that gray stuff! White-faced,
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the driver climbed to the hood of his Jeep, looked around,
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and jumped clear. There was a complete silence as everyone
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watched the jeep. First its tires melted down, and then
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the rims. The body resting on the gray surface melted, too.
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The aerial was the last to go. The general began
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to swear softly under his breath. He turned to the driver.
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Go back and have some men bring up hand grenades
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and dynamite. The driver ran back to the convoy. I
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don't know what you've got here, the general said, but
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it's not going to stop a U.S. Army convoy. Michaels
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wasn't so sure. The leech was nearly awake now, and
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its body was calling for more and more food. It
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dissolved the soil under it at a furious rate, filling
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it with its own body, flowing outward. A large object
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landed on it, and that became food also. Then suddenly,
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a burst of energy against its surface, and then another,
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and another. It consumed them gratefully, converting them into mass.
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Little metal pellets struck it, and their kinetic energy was absorbed.
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Their mass converted. More explosions took place, helping to fill
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the starving cells. It began to sense things. Controlled combustion
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around it, vibrations of wind, mass movements. there was another,
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greater explosion, a taste of real food. Greedily it ate,
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growing faster. It waited anxiously for more explosions while its
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cells screamed for food. But no more came. It continued
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to feed on the soil and on the sun's energy.
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Night came, noticeably for its lesser energy possibilities, and then
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more days and nights. Vibrating objects continued to move around it.
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It ate, and grew and flowed. Michaels stood on a
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little hill, watching the disillusion of his house. The leech
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was several hundred yards across now, lapping at his front porch.
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Goodbye home, Michaels thought, remembering the ten summers he had
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spent there. The porch collapsed into the body of the leech.
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Bit by bit, the house crumpled. The leech looked like
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a field of lava now, a blasted spot on the
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green earth. Pardon me, sir, a soldier said, coming up
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behind him. General O'Donnell would like to see you. Right,
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Michaels said, and took his last look at the house.
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He followed the soldier through the barbed wire that had
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been set up in a half-mile circle around the leech.
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A company of soldiers was on guard around it, keeping
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back the reporters and the hundreds of curious people who
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had flocked to the scene. Michaels wondered why he was
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still allowed inside. Probably, he decided, because most of this
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was taking place on his land. The soldier brought him
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to a tent. Michaels stooped and went in. General O'Donnell,
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still in suntans, was seated at a small desk. He
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motioned Michaels to a chair. I've been put in charge
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of getting rid of this leech, he said to Michaels.
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Michaels nodded, not commenting on the advisability of giving a
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soldier a scientist's job. You're a professor, aren't you? Yes, anthropology. Good. Smoke?
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The general lighted Michael's cigarette. I'd like you to stay
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around here in an advisory capacity. You're one of the
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first to see this leech. I'd appreciate your observations on...
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He smiled. The enemy. I'd be glad to, Michael said. However,
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I think this is more in the line of a
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physicist or a biochemist. I don't want this place cluttered
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with scientists, General O'Donnell said, frowning at the tip of
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his cigarette. Don't get me wrong, I have the greatest
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appreciation for science. I am, if I do say so,
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a scientific soldier. I'm always interested in the latest weapons.
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You can't fight any kind of a war anymore without science.
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O'Donnell's sunburned face grew firm. But I can't have a
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team of long hairs poking around this thing for the
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next month, holding me up. My job is to destroy
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it by any means in my power, and at once.
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I'm going to do just that. I don't think you'll
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find it that easy, Michaels said. That's what I want
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you for, O'Donnell said. Tell me why and I'll figure
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out a way of doing it. Well, as far as
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I can figure out, the leech is an organic mass-energy converter,
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and a frighteningly efficient one. I would guess that it
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has a double cycle. First, it converts mass into energy,
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then back into mass for its body. Second, energy is
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converted directly into the body mass. How this takes place,
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I do not know. The leech is not protoplasmic. It
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may not even be cellular. So we need something big
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against it, O'Donnell interrupted. Well, that's all right. I've got
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some big stuff here. I don't think you understand me,
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Michaels said. Perhaps I'm not phrasing this very well. The
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leech eats energy. It can consume the strength of any
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energy weapon you use against it. What happens, O'Donnell asked,
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if it keeps on eating? I have no idea what
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its growth limits are, Michaels said. Its growth may be
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limited only by its food source. You mean it could
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continue to grow probably forever? It could possibly grow as
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long as it had something to feed on. This is
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really a challenge, O'Donnell said. That leech can't be totally
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impervious to force. It seems to be. I suggest you
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get some physicists in here, some biologists also. Have them
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figure out a way of nullifying it. The general put
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out a cigarette. Professor, I cannot wait while scientists wrangle.
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There's an axiom of mine which I'm going to tell you.
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He paused impressively. Nothing is impervious to force. Muster enough
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force and anything will give. Anything. Professor, the general continued.
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In a friendlier voice, you shouldn't sell short the science
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you represent. We have, massed under North Hill, the greatest
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accumulation of energy and radioactive weapons ever assembled in one spot.
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Do you think your leech can stand the full force
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of them? I suppose it's possible to overload the thing,
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Michaels said, doubtfully. He realized now why the general wanted
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him around. He supplied the trappings of science without the
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authority to override O'Donnell. Come with me, General O'Donnell said cheerfully,
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getting up and holding back a flap of the tent.
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We're gonna crack that leech in half! After a long wait,
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rich food started to come again, piped into one side
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of it. First, there was only a little, and then more,
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and more. Radiations, vibrations, explosions, solids, liquids, an amazing variety
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of edibles. It accepted them all. but the food was
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coming too slowly for the starving cells, for new cells
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were constantly adding their demands to the rest. The ever-hungry
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body screamed for more food, faster. Now that it had
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reached a fairly efficient size, it was fully awake. It
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puzzled over the energy impressions around it, locating the source
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of the new food massed in one spot. Effortlessly, it
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pushed itself into the air, flew a little way, and
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dropped on the food. Its super-efficient cells eagerly gulped the
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rich radioactive substances, but it did not ignore the lesser
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potentials of metal and clumps of carbohydrates. The damned fools,
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General O'Donnell said. Why did they have to panic? You'd
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think they'd never been trained. He paced the ground outside
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his tent, now in a new location three miles back.
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The leech had grown to two miles in diameter. Three
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farming communities had been evacuated. Michaels, standing beside the general,
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was still stupefied by the memory. The Leech had accepted
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the massed power of the weapons for a while, and
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then its entire bulk had lifted in the air. The
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sun had been blotted out as it flew leisurely over
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North Hill and dropped. There should have been time for evacuation,
283
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but the frightened soldiers had been blind with fear. Sixty-seven
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men were lost in Operation Leech, and General O'Donnell asked
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permission to use atomic bombs, Washington sent a group of
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scientists to investigate the situation. Haven't those experts decided yet?
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O'Donnell asked, halting angrily in front of the tent. They've
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00:19:26.059 --> 00:19:30.329
been talking long enough. It's a hard decision, Michaels said.
289
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Since he wasn't an official member of the investigating team,
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00:19:33.890 --> 00:19:37.650
he had given his information and left. The physicists consider
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it a biological matter, and the biologists seem to think
292
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the chemists should have the answer. No one's an expert
293
00:19:43.390 --> 00:19:46.680
on this, because it's never happened before. We just don't
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have the data. It's a military problem! O'Donnell said harshly.
295
00:19:51.819 --> 00:19:54.299
I'm not interested in what the thing is. I want
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to know what can destroy it. They'd better give me
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permission to use the bomb. Michaels had made his own
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00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:04.420
calculations on that. It was impossible to say for sure,
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00:20:04.529 --> 00:20:08.190
but taking a flying guess at the leech's mass energy
300
00:20:08.250 --> 00:20:12.440
absorption rate figuring in its size and apparent capacity for growth,
301
00:20:12.940 --> 00:20:17.430
an atomic bomb might overload it, if used soon enough.
302
00:20:18.529 --> 00:20:22.130
He estimated three days as the limit of usefulness. The
303
00:20:22.150 --> 00:20:24.890
leech was growing at a geometric rate. It could cover
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00:20:24.930 --> 00:20:27.690
the United States in a few months. For a week
305
00:20:27.710 --> 00:20:30.789
I've been asking permission to use the bomb, O'Donnell grumbled,
306
00:20:31.230 --> 00:20:34.190
and I'll get it, but not until after those jackasses
307
00:20:34.269 --> 00:20:38.890
end their damned talking. He stopped pacing and turned to Michael's.
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00:20:39.769 --> 00:20:42.450
I am going to destroy the leech. I'm going to
309
00:20:42.609 --> 00:20:45.769
smash it if it's the last thing I do. It's
310
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more than a matter of security now. It's personal pride.
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That attitude might make great generals, Michaels thought, but it
312
00:20:54.839 --> 00:20:58.319
wasn't the way to consider this problem. It was anthropomorphic
313
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of O'Donnell to see the leech as an enemy. Even
314
00:21:01.099 --> 00:21:06.329
the identification leech was a humanizing factor. O'Donnell was dealing
315
00:21:06.369 --> 00:21:09.150
with it as he would any physical obstacle, as though
316
00:21:09.190 --> 00:21:12.170
the leech were the simple equivalent of a large army.
317
00:21:12.970 --> 00:21:16.480
But the leech was not human, not even of this planet, perhaps.
318
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It should be dealt with in its own terms. Here
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00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:25.359
comes the bright boys now, O'Donnell said. From a nearby tent,
320
00:21:25.380 --> 00:21:28.329
a group of weary men emerged, led by Allenson, a
321
00:21:28.349 --> 00:21:32.710
government biologist. Well, the general asked, have you figured out
322
00:21:32.750 --> 00:21:36.279
what it is? Just a minute, I'll hack off a sample,
323
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Allenson said, glaring through red-rimmed eyes. Have you figured out
324
00:21:40.900 --> 00:21:46.859
some scientific way of killing it? Oh, that wasn't too difficult, Moriarty,
325
00:21:46.920 --> 00:21:50.750
an atomic physicist, said, rightly. Wrap it in a perfect vacuum,
326
00:21:50.789 --> 00:21:52.890
that'll do the trick, or blow it off the Earth
327
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with anti-gravity. But failing that, Allenson said, we suggest you
328
00:21:58.369 --> 00:22:02.539
use your atomic bombs, and use them fast. Is that
329
00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:07.440
the opinion of your entire group? O'Donnell asked, his eyes glittering. Yes.
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The general hurried away. Michaels joined the scientists. He should
331
00:22:13.079 --> 00:22:16.000
have called us in at the very first, Allison complained.
332
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There's no time to consider anything but force now. Have
333
00:22:20.089 --> 00:22:22.890
you come to any conclusions about the nature of the leech?
334
00:22:23.369 --> 00:22:28.529
Michaels said. Only general ones, Moriarty said. and they're about
335
00:22:28.549 --> 00:22:32.430
the same as yours. The leech is probably extraterrestrial in origin.
336
00:22:32.849 --> 00:22:35.210
It seems to have been in a spore stage until
337
00:22:35.269 --> 00:22:39.650
it landed on Earth. He paused to light a pipe. Incidentally,
338
00:22:39.710 --> 00:22:42.670
we should be damned glad it didn't drop in an ocean.
339
00:22:43.079 --> 00:22:45.140
We'd have had the Earth eaten out from under us
340
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before we knew what we were looking for. They walked
341
00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:52.099
in silence for a few minutes. As you mentioned, it's
342
00:22:52.119 --> 00:22:55.869
a perfect converter. It can transform mass into energy and
343
00:22:56.269 --> 00:23:01.150
any energy into mass, Moriarty grinned. Naturally, that's impossible, and
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I have figures to prove it. I'm going to get
345
00:23:04.269 --> 00:23:09.410
a drink, Ellenson said. Anyone coming? Best idea of the week,
346
00:23:09.910 --> 00:23:12.829
Michaels said. I wonder how long it'll take O'Donnell to
347
00:23:12.869 --> 00:23:16.369
get permission to use the bomb. If I know politics,
348
00:23:16.710 --> 00:23:22.089
Moriarty said, too long. The findings of the government scientists
349
00:23:22.170 --> 00:23:25.869
were checked by other government scientists. That took a few days.
350
00:23:26.650 --> 00:23:29.309
Then Washington wanted to know if there wasn't some alternative
351
00:23:29.349 --> 00:23:31.730
to exploding an atomic bomb in the middle of New
352
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York State. It took a little time to convince them
353
00:23:34.859 --> 00:23:38.220
of the necessity. After that, people had to be evacuated,
354
00:23:38.279 --> 00:23:41.839
which took more time. Then orders were made out and
355
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five atomic bombs were checked out of the cache. A
356
00:23:44.779 --> 00:23:48.099
patrol rocket was assigned, given orders, and put under General
357
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O'Donnell's command. This took a day more. Finally, the stubby
358
00:23:52.430 --> 00:23:55.450
scout rocket was winging its way over New York. From
359
00:23:55.470 --> 00:23:58.549
the air, the grayish-black spot was easy to find. Like
360
00:23:58.569 --> 00:24:02.579
a festered wound, it stretched between Lake Placid and Elizabethtown,
361
00:24:02.779 --> 00:24:05.680
covering Keene and Keene Valley and lapping at the edges
362
00:24:05.720 --> 00:24:10.059
of Jay. The first bomb was released. It had been
363
00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:14.049
a long wait after the first rich food. The greater
364
00:24:14.089 --> 00:24:17.069
radiation of day was followed by the lesser energy of
365
00:24:17.190 --> 00:24:20.150
night many times as the leech ate away the earth
366
00:24:20.210 --> 00:24:24.230
beneath it, absorbed the air around it, and grew. Then,
367
00:24:24.829 --> 00:24:30.509
one day, an amazing burst of energy. Everything was food
368
00:24:30.569 --> 00:24:33.849
for the leech, but there was always the possibility of choking.
369
00:24:34.589 --> 00:24:37.569
The energy poured over it, drenched it, battered it, and
370
00:24:37.589 --> 00:24:41.750
the leech grew frantically, trying to contain the titanic dose.
371
00:24:42.529 --> 00:24:46.730
Still small, it quickly reached its overload limit. The strained cells,
372
00:24:47.109 --> 00:24:51.089
filled to satiation, were given more and more food. The
373
00:24:51.150 --> 00:24:55.980
strangling body built new cells at lightning speed, and it held.
374
00:24:56.519 --> 00:25:01.160
The energy was controlled, stimulating further growth. More cells took
375
00:25:01.240 --> 00:25:04.799
over the load, sucking in the food. The next doses
376
00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:10.799
were wonderfully palatable, easily handled. The leech overflowed its bounds, growing.
377
00:25:11.289 --> 00:25:15.809
eating and growing. That was a taste of real food.
378
00:25:16.509 --> 00:25:19.390
The leech was as near ecstasy as it had ever been.
379
00:25:20.130 --> 00:25:24.839
It waited, hopefully for more, but no more came. It
380
00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:28.539
went back to feeding on the earth. The energy used
381
00:25:28.619 --> 00:25:32.740
to produce more cells was soon dissipated. Soon it was
382
00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:38.619
hungry again. It would always be hungry. O'Donnell retreated with
383
00:25:38.660 --> 00:25:42.480
his demoralized men, They camped 10 miles from the leach's
384
00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:46.519
southern edge in the evacuated town of Shroon Lake. The
385
00:25:46.539 --> 00:25:49.579
leach was over 60 miles in diameter now and still
386
00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:54.180
growing fast. It lay sprawled over the Adirondack Mountains, completely
387
00:25:54.259 --> 00:25:58.200
blanketing everything from Saranac Lake to Port Henry, with one
388
00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:02.269
edge of it over Westport in Lake Champlain. Everything within
389
00:26:02.269 --> 00:26:06.910
200 miles of the leach was evacuated. General O'Donnell was
390
00:26:06.950 --> 00:26:10.490
given permission to use hydrogen bombs contingent on the approval
391
00:26:10.529 --> 00:26:14.710
of his scientists. One of the bright boys decided, O'Donnell
392
00:26:14.750 --> 00:26:17.509
wanted to know. He and Michaels were in the living
393
00:26:17.549 --> 00:26:21.190
room of an evacuated Shroon Lake house. O'Donnell had made
394
00:26:21.210 --> 00:26:25.170
it his new command post. Why are they hedging? O'Donnell
395
00:26:25.190 --> 00:26:28.250
demanded impatiently. The leech has to be blown up quick.
396
00:26:28.990 --> 00:26:32.309
What are they fooling around for? They're afraid of a
397
00:26:32.349 --> 00:26:36.779
chain reaction, Michaels told him. A concentration of hydrogen bombs
398
00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:39.599
might set one up in the Earth's crust or in
399
00:26:39.619 --> 00:26:42.880
the atmosphere. It might do any of half a dozen things.
400
00:26:43.619 --> 00:26:47.720
Perhaps they'd like me to order a bayonet attack, O'Donnell
401
00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:52.420
said contemptuously. Michaels sighed and sat down in an armchair.
402
00:26:53.109 --> 00:26:56.109
He was convinced that the whole method was wrong. The
403
00:26:56.150 --> 00:26:59.529
government scientists were being rushed into a single line of inquiry.
404
00:27:00.190 --> 00:27:02.309
The pressure on them was so great that they didn't
405
00:27:02.349 --> 00:27:05.289
have a chance to consider any other approach but force,
406
00:27:05.869 --> 00:27:09.990
and the leech thrived on that. Michaels was certain that
407
00:27:10.009 --> 00:27:15.930
there were times when fighting fire with fire was not applicable. Fire. Loki,
408
00:27:16.150 --> 00:27:20.759
god of fire. And of trickery. Now, there was no
409
00:27:20.859 --> 00:27:24.920
answer there. But Michaels' mind was in mythology now, retreating
410
00:27:24.980 --> 00:27:29.200
from the unbearable present. Allenson came in, followed by six
411
00:27:29.259 --> 00:27:33.539
other men, Well, Allenson said, there's a damn good chance
412
00:27:33.579 --> 00:27:35.680
of splitting the Earth wide open if you use the
413
00:27:35.720 --> 00:27:39.180
number of bombs our figures show you need. You have
414
00:27:39.220 --> 00:27:42.880
to take chances in war, O'Donnell replied bluntly. Shall I
415
00:27:42.920 --> 00:27:48.269
go ahead? Michaels saw, suddenly, that O'Donnell didn't care if
416
00:27:48.309 --> 00:27:51.329
he did crack the Earth. The red-faced general only knew
417
00:27:51.369 --> 00:27:53.549
that he was going to set off the greatest explosion
418
00:27:53.690 --> 00:27:57.049
ever produced by the hand of man. Not so fast,
419
00:27:57.430 --> 00:28:01.980
Allenson said. I'll let the others speak for themselves. The
420
00:28:02.019 --> 00:28:06.279
general contained himself with difficulty. Remember, he said, according to
421
00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:08.299
your own figures, the leech is growing at the rate
422
00:28:08.339 --> 00:28:12.660
of 20 feet an hour. And speeding up, Allenson added,
423
00:28:13.079 --> 00:28:15.440
but this isn't a decision to be made in haste.
424
00:28:17.059 --> 00:28:20.329
Michaels found his mind wandering again to the lightning bolts
425
00:28:20.369 --> 00:28:23.849
of Zeus. That was what they needed. Or the strength
426
00:28:23.890 --> 00:28:28.880
of Hercules. Or... He sat up suddenly. Gentlemen, I believe
427
00:28:28.940 --> 00:28:31.609
I can offer you a possible alternative, although it's a
428
00:28:31.650 --> 00:28:35.309
very dim one. They stared at him. Have you ever
429
00:28:35.410 --> 00:28:40.730
heard of Antaeus? he asked. The more the leech ate,
430
00:28:41.170 --> 00:28:44.710
the faster it grew and the hungrier it became. Although
431
00:28:44.750 --> 00:28:48.079
its birth was forgotten, it did remember a long way back.
432
00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:53.359
It had eaten a planet in that ancient past, grown tremendous, ravenous,
433
00:28:53.880 --> 00:28:56.079
It had made the journey to a nearby star and
434
00:28:56.240 --> 00:29:00.130
eaten that, replenishing the cells converted into energy for the trip.
435
00:29:00.890 --> 00:29:03.230
But then there was no more food, and the next
436
00:29:03.329 --> 00:29:07.170
star was an enormous distance away. It had set out
437
00:29:07.369 --> 00:29:10.069
on the journey, but long before it reached the food,
438
00:29:10.650 --> 00:29:14.319
its energy ran out. Mass converted back to energy to
439
00:29:14.359 --> 00:29:18.539
make the trip was used up. It shrank. Finally, all
440
00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:22.440
the energy was gone. It was a spore drifting aimlessly.
441
00:29:23.009 --> 00:29:28.609
lifelessly in space. This was the first time. Or was it?
442
00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:32.500
It thought it could remember back to a distant, misty
443
00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:36.369
time when the universe was evenly covered with stars. It
444
00:29:36.410 --> 00:29:40.480
had eaten through them, cutting away whole sections, growing, swelling,
445
00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:44.380
and the stars had swung off in terror, forming galaxies
446
00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:51.099
and constellations. Or was that a dream? Methodically, it fed
447
00:29:51.160 --> 00:29:54.519
on the earth, wondering where the rich food was, and
448
00:29:54.569 --> 00:29:57.730
then it was back again, but this time above the leech.
449
00:29:58.670 --> 00:30:02.039
It waited. but the tantalizing food remained out of reach.
450
00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:05.859
It was able to sense how rich and pure the
451
00:30:05.940 --> 00:30:10.869
food was. Why didn't it fall? For a long time,
452
00:30:10.920 --> 00:30:14.329
the leech waited, but the food stayed out of reach.
453
00:30:15.170 --> 00:30:20.200
At last, it lifted and followed. The food retreated up,
454
00:30:20.710 --> 00:30:23.390
up from the surface of the planet. The leech went
455
00:30:23.509 --> 00:30:26.619
after as quickly as its bulk would allow. The rich
456
00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:31.160
food fled out into space, and the leech followed. Beyond,
457
00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:35.369
it could sense an even richer source. The hot, wonderful
458
00:30:35.480 --> 00:30:43.609
food of a sun. O'Donnell served champagne for the scientists
459
00:30:43.750 --> 00:30:47.210
in the control room. Official diners would follow, but this
460
00:30:47.289 --> 00:30:51.490
was the victory celebration.' A toast,' the general said, standing.
461
00:30:52.210 --> 00:30:55.089
The men raised their glasses. The only man not drinking
462
00:30:55.150 --> 00:30:57.579
was a lieutenant, sitting in front of the control board
463
00:30:57.619 --> 00:31:01.640
that guided the drone spaceship. To Michaels, for thinking of...
464
00:31:02.259 --> 00:31:07.019
what was it again, Michaels? Antaeus. Michaels had been drinking
465
00:31:07.079 --> 00:31:11.980
champagne steadily, but he didn't feel elated. Antaeus, born of Gi,
466
00:31:12.220 --> 00:31:17.089
the Earth, and Poseidon, the Sea. The invincible wrestler. Each
467
00:31:17.130 --> 00:31:20.289
time Hercules threw him to the ground, he arose refreshed.
468
00:31:21.029 --> 00:31:25.720
Until Hercules held him in the air. Moriarty was muttering
469
00:31:25.769 --> 00:31:30.150
to himself, figuring with slide rule, pencil, and paper. Allenson
470
00:31:30.170 --> 00:31:32.640
was drinking, but he didn't look too happy about it.
471
00:31:33.509 --> 00:31:37.309
Come on, you birds of evil omen, O'Donnell said, pouring
472
00:31:37.349 --> 00:31:40.970
some more champagne. Figure it out later. Right now, drink.
473
00:31:41.950 --> 00:31:46.450
He turned to the operator. How's it going? Michael's analogy
474
00:31:46.490 --> 00:31:49.950
had been applied to a spaceship. The ship, operated by
475
00:31:50.019 --> 00:31:54.650
remote control, was filled with pure radioactives, It hovered over
476
00:31:54.710 --> 00:31:57.710
the leech until, rising to the bait, it had followed.
477
00:31:58.529 --> 00:32:01.390
Antaeus had left his mother, the Earth, and was losing
478
00:32:01.430 --> 00:32:04.569
his strength in the air. The operator was allowing the
479
00:32:04.609 --> 00:32:07.059
spaceship to run fast enough to keep out of the
480
00:32:07.099 --> 00:32:10.779
leech's grasp, but close enough to keep it coming. The
481
00:32:10.799 --> 00:32:13.680
spaceship and the leech were on a collision course with
482
00:32:13.720 --> 00:32:18.660
the sun.' Fine, sir,' the operator said.' It' s inside the
483
00:32:18.740 --> 00:32:23.200
orbit of Mercury now.' Men, the general said, I swore
484
00:32:23.220 --> 00:32:26.170
to destroy that thing. This isn't exactly the way I
485
00:32:26.230 --> 00:32:29.170
wanted to do it. I figured on a more personal way,
486
00:32:29.230 --> 00:32:32.369
but the important thing is the destruction. You will all
487
00:32:32.430 --> 00:32:36.569
witness it. Destruction is at times a sacred mission. This
488
00:32:36.710 --> 00:32:41.400
is such a time. Men, I feel wonderful. Turn the spaceship.
489
00:32:41.900 --> 00:32:44.160
It was Moriarty who had spoken. His face was white.
490
00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:47.819
Turn the damned thing. He shoved his figures at them.
491
00:32:48.700 --> 00:32:51.400
They were easy to read. the growth rate of the leech,
492
00:32:51.779 --> 00:32:56.319
the energy consumption rate estimated, its speed in space a constant,
493
00:32:56.940 --> 00:32:59.359
the energy it would receive from the sun as it
494
00:32:59.400 --> 00:33:04.059
approached an exponential curve, its energy absorption rate, figured in
495
00:33:04.140 --> 00:33:09.460
terms of growth, expressed as a hyped-up discontinuous progression. The result?
496
00:33:10.349 --> 00:33:15.430
It'll consume the sun, Moriarty said very quietly. The control
497
00:33:15.470 --> 00:33:18.269
room turned into a bedlam. Six of them tried to
498
00:33:18.349 --> 00:33:21.750
explain it to O'Donnell at the same time. Then Moriarty tried,
499
00:33:21.789 --> 00:33:24.730
and finally Allenson. Its rate of growth is so great,
500
00:33:24.990 --> 00:33:27.119
and its speed so slow, and it will get so
501
00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:29.740
much energy that the leech will be able to consume
502
00:33:29.779 --> 00:33:32.019
the sun by the time it gets there, or at
503
00:33:32.059 --> 00:33:34.569
least to live off it until it can consume it.
504
00:33:35.819 --> 00:33:39.000
O'Donnell didn't bother to understand. He turned to the operator.
505
00:33:39.559 --> 00:33:44.109
Turn it, he said. They all hovered over the radar screen, waiting.
506
00:33:45.039 --> 00:33:48.140
The food turned out of the leech's path and streaked away.
507
00:33:48.980 --> 00:33:51.980
Ahead was a tremendous source, but still a long way off.
508
00:33:52.759 --> 00:33:57.960
The leech hesitated. Its cells, recklessly expending energy, shouted for
509
00:33:57.980 --> 00:34:03.410
a decision. The food slowed, tantalizingly near. The closer source,
510
00:34:03.710 --> 00:34:09.030
or the greater? The leech's body wanted food. Now. It
511
00:34:09.070 --> 00:34:12.199
started after it, away from the sun. The sun would
512
00:34:12.219 --> 00:34:15.099
come next. Pull it out at right angles to the
513
00:34:15.139 --> 00:34:19.449
plane of the solar system, Allenson said. The operator touched
514
00:34:19.530 --> 00:34:22.210
the controls. On the radar screen, they saw a blob
515
00:34:22.329 --> 00:34:26.650
pursuing a dot. It had turned. Relief washed over them.
516
00:34:27.329 --> 00:34:30.530
It had been close. In what portion of the sky
517
00:34:30.590 --> 00:34:36.079
would the leech be? O'Donnell asked, his face expressionless. Come outside,
518
00:34:36.119 --> 00:34:39.500
I believe I can show you, an astronomer said. They
519
00:34:39.539 --> 00:34:45.639
walked to the door. Somewhere in that section. the astronomer said, pointing. Fine.
520
00:34:46.119 --> 00:34:49.440
All right, soldier, O'Donnell told the operator. Carry out your orders.
521
00:34:50.639 --> 00:34:54.920
The scientists gasped in unison. The operator manipulated the controls
522
00:34:54.960 --> 00:34:58.539
and the blob began to overtake the dot. Michaels started
523
00:34:58.579 --> 00:35:02.280
across the room. Stop, the general said, and his strong
524
00:35:02.320 --> 00:35:05.360
commanding voice stopped Michaels. I know what I'm doing. I
525
00:35:05.400 --> 00:35:09.219
had that ship especially built. The blob overtook the dot
526
00:35:09.320 --> 00:35:11.599
on the radar screen. I told you this was a
527
00:35:11.679 --> 00:35:15.610
personal matter, O'Donnell said. I swore to destroy that leech.
528
00:35:15.889 --> 00:35:19.650
We can never have any security while it lives. He smiled.
529
00:35:20.150 --> 00:35:24.289
Shall we look at the sky? The general strolled to
530
00:35:24.309 --> 00:35:27.929
the door, followed by the scientists. Push the button, soldier.
531
00:35:29.150 --> 00:35:32.820
The operator did. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the
532
00:35:32.909 --> 00:35:37.119
sky lit up. A bright star hung in space. Its
533
00:35:37.179 --> 00:35:41.750
brilliance filled the night, grew, and started to fade.' What
534
00:35:41.809 --> 00:35:46.610
did you do?' Michaels gasped.' That rocket was built around
535
00:35:46.650 --> 00:35:51.469
a hydrogen bomb,' O'Donnell said, his strong face triumphant.' I
536
00:35:51.530 --> 00:35:54.449
set it off at the contact moment.' He called to
537
00:35:54.489 --> 00:35:57.789
the operator again.' Is there anything showing on the radar?''
538
00:35:58.190 --> 00:36:02.590
Not a speck, sir.'' Men,' the general said.' I have
539
00:36:02.639 --> 00:36:06.510
met the enemy, and he is mine.' Let's have some
540
00:36:06.550 --> 00:36:11.349
more champagne! But Michaels found that he was suddenly ill.
541
00:36:12.590 --> 00:36:15.119
It had been drinking from the expenditure of energy when
542
00:36:15.139 --> 00:36:19.159
the great explosion came. No thought of containing it. The
543
00:36:19.199 --> 00:36:22.360
leech's cells held for the barest fraction of a second,
544
00:36:22.940 --> 00:36:29.380
and then spontaneously overloaded. The leech was smashed, broken up, destroyed.
545
00:36:30.079 --> 00:36:32.599
It was split into a thousand particles, and the particles
546
00:36:32.679 --> 00:36:36.559
were split a million times more. The particles were thrown
547
00:36:36.659 --> 00:36:41.019
out on the wavefront of the explosion, and they split further, spontaneously,
548
00:36:42.219 --> 00:36:48.570
into spores. The spores closed into dry, hard, seemingly lifeless
549
00:36:48.639 --> 00:36:54.969
specks of dust, billions of them scattered, drifting. Unconscious, they
550
00:36:55.030 --> 00:37:00.230
floated in the emptiness of space, billions of them waiting
551
00:37:00.429 --> 00:37:08.369
to be fed. Thanks for joining me. Find more horror
552
00:37:08.409 --> 00:37:14.590
fiction at weirddarkness.com slash midnight. I'm Darren Marlar, and I
553
00:37:14.630 --> 00:37:19.510
hope you'll join me again soon at Midnight in the Macabre.
1
00:00:04.009 --> 00:00:08.529
Welcome, weirdos. I'm Darren Marlar. You've stepped into the horror
2
00:00:08.589 --> 00:00:12.509
fiction side of Weird Darkness, and it happens to be
3
00:00:12.949 --> 00:00:26.920
midnight in the macabre. The Leech was waiting for food.
4
00:00:27.699 --> 00:00:31.219
For millennia, it had been drifting across the vast emptiness
5
00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:35.969
of space. Without consciousness, It had spent the countless centuries
6
00:00:36.030 --> 00:00:39.810
in the void between the stars. It was unaware when
7
00:00:39.850 --> 00:00:44.969
it finally reached a sun. Life-giving radiation flared around the hard,
8
00:00:45.109 --> 00:00:50.770
dry spore. Gravitation tugged at it. A planet claimed it
9
00:00:51.250 --> 00:00:55.189
with other stellar debris, and the leech fell, still dead,
10
00:00:55.469 --> 00:00:59.729
seeming within its tough spore case. One speck of dust
11
00:00:59.789 --> 00:01:03.109
among many, the winds blew it around the Earth, played
12
00:01:03.149 --> 00:01:06.859
with it, and let it fall. On the ground, it
13
00:01:06.920 --> 00:01:11.730
began to stir, nourishment soaked in, permeating the spore case.
14
00:01:12.469 --> 00:01:17.329
It grew and fed. Frank Connors came up on the
15
00:01:17.370 --> 00:01:22.129
porch and coughed twice.' Say pardon me, Professor,' he said.
16
00:01:22.989 --> 00:01:26.019
The long, pale man didn't stir from the sagging couch.
17
00:01:26.689 --> 00:01:29.810
His horn-rimmed glasses were perched on his forehead, and he
18
00:01:29.829 --> 00:01:33.659
was snoring very gently. I'm awful sorry to disturb you,
19
00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:37.840
Connors said, pushing back his battered felt hat. I know
20
00:01:37.879 --> 00:01:41.519
it's your resting week and all, but there's something damn
21
00:01:41.700 --> 00:01:45.879
funny in the ditch. The pale man's left eyebrow twitched,
22
00:01:46.500 --> 00:01:49.769
but he showed no other sign of having heard. Frank
23
00:01:49.810 --> 00:01:53.620
Connors coughed again, holding his spade in one purple-veined hand.'
24
00:01:53.340 --> 00:01:57.459
Did you hear me, Professor?'' Of course I heard you,'
25
00:01:58.060 --> 00:02:01.670
Michaels said in a muffled voice, his eyes still closed.'
26
00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:07.230
You found a pixie.'' A what?' Connors asked, squinting at Michaels.'
27
00:02:06.930 --> 00:02:14.370
A little man in a green suit.'' Feed him milk, Connors.'' No, sir,
28
00:02:14.509 --> 00:02:18.379
I think it's a rock.' Michaels opened one eye and
29
00:02:18.439 --> 00:02:23.030
focused it in Connors' general direction. I'm awfully sorry about it,
30
00:02:23.419 --> 00:02:28.349
Connors said. Professor Michaels' resting week was a ten-year-old custom
31
00:02:28.610 --> 00:02:33.069
and his only eccentricity. All winter, Michaels taught anthropology, worked
32
00:02:33.169 --> 00:02:36.469
on half a dozen committees, dabbled in physics and chemistry,
33
00:02:36.930 --> 00:02:39.009
and still found time to write a book a year.
34
00:02:39.590 --> 00:02:44.030
When summer came, he was tired. Arriving at his worked-out
35
00:02:44.069 --> 00:02:46.740
New York State farm, it was his invariable rule to
36
00:02:46.780 --> 00:02:50.900
do absolutely nothing for a week. He hired Frank Connors
37
00:02:50.939 --> 00:02:53.560
to cook for that week and generally make himself useful,
38
00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:58.939
while Professor Michaels slept. During the second week, Michaels would
39
00:02:58.979 --> 00:03:02.659
wander around, look at the trees and fish. By the
40
00:03:02.699 --> 00:03:05.860
third week, he would be getting a tan, reading, repairing
41
00:03:05.900 --> 00:03:09.340
the sheds, and climbing mountains. At the end of four weeks,
42
00:03:09.719 --> 00:03:11.659
he could hardly wait to get back to the city.
43
00:03:12.680 --> 00:03:16.860
but the resting week was sacred. I really wouldn't bother
44
00:03:16.900 --> 00:03:21.900
you for anything small, Connors said apologetically, but that damned
45
00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:27.479
rock melted two inches off my spade. Michaels opened both
46
00:03:27.639 --> 00:03:31.400
eyes and sat up. Connors held out the spade. The
47
00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:36.099
rounded end was sheared cleanly off. Michaels swung himself off
48
00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:40.080
the couch and slipped his feet into battered moccasins. Let's
49
00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:45.169
see this wonder, he said. The object was lying in
50
00:03:45.210 --> 00:03:47.930
the ditch at the end of the front lawn, three
51
00:03:48.009 --> 00:03:50.949
feet from the main road. It was round, about the
52
00:03:51.009 --> 00:03:54.490
size of a truck tire, and solid throughout. It was
53
00:03:54.530 --> 00:03:56.569
about an inch thick, as far as he could tell,
54
00:03:57.129 --> 00:04:03.159
grayish-black and intricately veined. Don't touch it, Connors warned. I'm
55
00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:07.460
not going to. Let me have your spade. Michaels took
56
00:04:07.500 --> 00:04:12.449
the spade and prodded the object experimentally. It was completely unyielding.
57
00:04:13.419 --> 00:04:15.280
He held the spade to the surface for a moment,
58
00:04:15.659 --> 00:04:20.220
then withdrew it. Another inch was gone. Michaels frowned and
59
00:04:20.259 --> 00:04:23.079
pushed his glasses tighter against his nose. He held the
60
00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:25.829
spade against the rock with one hand, the other held
61
00:04:25.889 --> 00:04:31.329
close to the surface. More of the spade disappeared.' Doesn' t
62
00:04:30.209 --> 00:04:33.750
seem to be generating heat,' he said to Connors.' Did
63
00:04:33.790 --> 00:04:37.550
you notice any the first time?' Connors shook his head.
64
00:04:38.600 --> 00:04:40.860
Michaels picked up a clot of dirt and tossed it
65
00:04:40.920 --> 00:04:44.750
on the object. The dirt dissolved quickly, leaving no trace
66
00:04:44.819 --> 00:04:48.529
on the gray-black surface. A large stone followed the dirt
67
00:04:48.970 --> 00:04:53.189
and disappeared in the same way. Isn't that just about
68
00:04:53.230 --> 00:04:58.750
the damnedest thing you ever saw, Professor? Connors asked. Yes,
69
00:04:59.250 --> 00:05:04.220
Michaels agreed, standing up again. It just about is. He
70
00:05:04.259 --> 00:05:07.160
hefted the spade and brought it down smartly on the object.
71
00:05:07.819 --> 00:05:10.819
When it hit, he almost dropped the spade. He'd been
72
00:05:10.860 --> 00:05:14.019
gripping the handle rigidly, braced for a recoil, but the
73
00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:18.670
spade struck that unyielding surface and stayed. There was no
74
00:05:18.730 --> 00:05:23.310
perceptible give, but absolutely no recoil.' Whatcha think it is?'
75
00:05:23.709 --> 00:05:30.360
Connors asked.' It' s no stone,' Michaels said. He stepped back.'
76
00:05:30.009 --> 00:05:35.610
A leech drinks blood. This thing seems to be drinking dirt.
77
00:05:36.269 --> 00:05:40.740
And spades.' He struck it a few more times, experimentally.
78
00:05:41.579 --> 00:05:43.740
The two men looked at each other. On the road,
79
00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:47.300
half a dozen army trucks rolled past.' I' m going to
80
00:05:47.339 --> 00:05:49.779
phone the college and ask a physics man about it,'
81
00:05:50.220 --> 00:05:53.879
Michaels said.' Or a biologist. I'd like to get rid
82
00:05:53.899 --> 00:05:57.519
of that thing before it spoils my lawn.' They walked
83
00:05:57.579 --> 00:06:02.990
back to the house. Everything fed the leech. The wind
84
00:06:03.089 --> 00:06:07.610
added its modicum of kinetic energy, ruffling across the gray-black surface.
85
00:06:08.329 --> 00:06:11.410
Rain fell and the force of each individual drop added
86
00:06:11.509 --> 00:06:14.350
to its store. The water was sucked in by the
87
00:06:14.470 --> 00:06:19.410
all-absorbing surface. The sunlight above it was absorbed and converted
88
00:06:19.470 --> 00:06:25.199
into mass for its body. Beneath it, the soil was consumed, dirt, stones,
89
00:06:25.259 --> 00:06:28.720
and branches broken down by the leech's complex cells and
90
00:06:28.779 --> 00:06:32.660
changed into energy. Energy was converted back into mass and
91
00:06:32.680 --> 00:06:38.579
the leech grew. Slowly, the first flickers of consciousness began
92
00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:43.850
to return. Its first realization was of the impossible smallness
93
00:06:43.889 --> 00:06:48.870
of its body. It grew. When Michaels looked the next day,
94
00:06:49.310 --> 00:06:52.129
the leech was eight feet across, sticking out into the
95
00:06:52.209 --> 00:06:55.300
road and up the side of the lawn. The following day,
96
00:06:55.339 --> 00:06:58.759
it was almost 18 feet in diameter, shaped to fit
97
00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:01.519
the contour of the ditch and covering most of the road.
98
00:07:02.579 --> 00:07:04.930
That day, the sheriff drove up in his Model A,
99
00:07:05.589 --> 00:07:10.149
followed by half the town. Is that your leech thing,
100
00:07:10.269 --> 00:07:16.139
Professor Michaels? Sheriff Flynn asked. That's it, Michaels said. He'd
101
00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:19.120
spent the past days looking unsuccessfully for an acid that
102
00:07:19.160 --> 00:07:21.959
would dissolve the leech. We gotta get it out of
103
00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:25.930
the road, Flynn said, walking truculently up to the leech.
104
00:07:26.490 --> 00:07:29.689
Something like this. You can't let it block the road, Professor.
105
00:07:30.230 --> 00:07:34.920
The army's gotta use this road. I'm terribly sorry, Michaels
106
00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:37.600
said with a straight face. Go right ahead, Sheriff, but
107
00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:41.220
be careful. It's hot. The leash wasn't hot, but it
108
00:07:41.300 --> 00:07:46.379
seemed the simplest explanation under the circumstances. Michaels watched with
109
00:07:46.420 --> 00:07:49.490
interest as the sheriff tried to shove a crowbar under it.
110
00:07:50.199 --> 00:07:52.920
He smiled to himself when it was removed with half
111
00:07:52.980 --> 00:07:56.319
a foot of its length gone. The sheriff wasn't so
112
00:07:56.399 --> 00:07:59.920
easily discouraged. He had come prepared for a stubborn piece
113
00:07:59.980 --> 00:08:02.160
of rock. He went to the rumble seat of his
114
00:08:02.199 --> 00:08:04.850
car and and took out a blowtorch and a sledgehammer,
115
00:08:05.310 --> 00:08:07.889
ignited the torch, and focused it on one edge of
116
00:08:07.930 --> 00:08:12.459
the leech. After five minutes, there was no change. The
117
00:08:12.500 --> 00:08:14.910
gray didn't turn red or even seem to heat up.
118
00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:19.360
Sheriff Flynn continued to bake it for 15 minutes, then
119
00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:22.160
called to one of the men. Eat that spot with
120
00:08:22.180 --> 00:08:26.610
the sledge, Jerry. Jerry picked up the sledgehammer, motioned the
121
00:08:26.629 --> 00:08:29.779
sheriff back, and swung it over his head. He let
122
00:08:29.860 --> 00:08:33.860
out a howl as the hammer struck unyieldingly. There wasn't
123
00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:37.080
a fraction of recoil. In the distance, they heard the
124
00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:40.980
roar of an army convoy. Now we'll get some action,
125
00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:46.539
Flynn said. Michaels wasn't so sure. He walked around the
126
00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:49.950
periphery of the leech, asking himself what kind of substance
127
00:08:49.970 --> 00:08:54.690
would react that way. The answer was easy. No substance.
128
00:08:55.210 --> 00:08:59.639
No known substance. The driver in the lead jeep held
129
00:08:59.700 --> 00:09:02.519
up his hand, and the long convoy ground to a halt.
130
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A hard, efficient-looking officer stepped out of the jeep. From
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the star on either shoulder, Michaels knew he was a
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brigadier general. You can't block this road, the general said.
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He was a tall spare man in suntans with a
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sunburned face and cold eyes. Please clear that thing away.
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We can't move it, Michaels said. He told the general
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what had happened in the past few days. It must
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be moved, the general said. This convoy must go through.
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He walked closer and looked at the leech. You say
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it can't be jacked up by a crowbar? A torch
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won't burn it? That's right, Michaels said, smiling faintly. Driver,
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the general said over his shoulder. Ride over it. Michaels
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started to protest, but stopped himself. The military mind would
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have to find out in its own way. the driver
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put his jeep in gear and shot forward, jumping the
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leech's four-inch edge. The jeep got to the center of
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the leech and stopped. I didn't tell you to stop,
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the general bellowed. I didn't, sir, the driver protested. The
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jeep had been yanked to a stop and had stalled.
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The driver started it again, shifted to four-wheel drive, and
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tried to ram forward. The Jeep was fixed immovably, as
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though set in concrete. Pardon me, Michaels said. If you look,
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you can see that the tires are melting down. The
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General stared, his hand creeping automatically toward his pistol belt.
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Then he shouted, Jump, driver! Don't touch that gray stuff! White-faced,
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the driver climbed to the hood of his Jeep, looked around,
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and jumped clear. There was a complete silence as everyone
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watched the jeep. First its tires melted down, and then
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the rims. The body resting on the gray surface melted, too.
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The aerial was the last to go. The general began
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to swear softly under his breath. He turned to the driver.
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Go back and have some men bring up hand grenades
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and dynamite. The driver ran back to the convoy. I
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don't know what you've got here, the general said, but
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it's not going to stop a U.S. Army convoy. Michaels
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wasn't so sure. The leech was nearly awake now, and
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its body was calling for more and more food. It
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dissolved the soil under it at a furious rate, filling
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it with its own body, flowing outward. A large object
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landed on it, and that became food also. Then suddenly,
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a burst of energy against its surface, and then another,
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and another. It consumed them gratefully, converting them into mass.
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Little metal pellets struck it, and their kinetic energy was absorbed.
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Their mass converted. More explosions took place, helping to fill
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the starving cells. It began to sense things. Controlled combustion
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around it, vibrations of wind, mass movements. there was another,
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greater explosion, a taste of real food. Greedily it ate,
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growing faster. It waited anxiously for more explosions while its
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cells screamed for food. But no more came. It continued
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to feed on the soil and on the sun's energy.
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Night came, noticeably for its lesser energy possibilities, and then
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more days and nights. Vibrating objects continued to move around it.
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It ate, and grew and flowed. Michaels stood on a
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little hill, watching the disillusion of his house. The leech
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was several hundred yards across now, lapping at his front porch.
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Goodbye home, Michaels thought, remembering the ten summers he had
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spent there. The porch collapsed into the body of the leech.
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Bit by bit, the house crumpled. The leech looked like
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a field of lava now, a blasted spot on the
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green earth. Pardon me, sir, a soldier said, coming up
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behind him. General O'Donnell would like to see you. Right,
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Michaels said, and took his last look at the house.
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He followed the soldier through the barbed wire that had
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been set up in a half-mile circle around the leech.
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A company of soldiers was on guard around it, keeping
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back the reporters and the hundreds of curious people who
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had flocked to the scene. Michaels wondered why he was
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still allowed inside. Probably, he decided, because most of this
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was taking place on his land. The soldier brought him
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to a tent. Michaels stooped and went in. General O'Donnell,
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still in suntans, was seated at a small desk. He
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motioned Michaels to a chair. I've been put in charge
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of getting rid of this leech, he said to Michaels.
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Michaels nodded, not commenting on the advisability of giving a
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soldier a scientist's job. You're a professor, aren't you? Yes, anthropology. Good. Smoke?
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The general lighted Michael's cigarette. I'd like you to stay
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around here in an advisory capacity. You're one of the
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first to see this leech. I'd appreciate your observations on...
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He smiled. The enemy. I'd be glad to, Michael said. However,
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I think this is more in the line of a
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physicist or a biochemist. I don't want this place cluttered
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with scientists, General O'Donnell said, frowning at the tip of
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his cigarette. Don't get me wrong, I have the greatest
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appreciation for science. I am, if I do say so,
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a scientific soldier. I'm always interested in the latest weapons.
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You can't fight any kind of a war anymore without science.
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O'Donnell's sunburned face grew firm. But I can't have a
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team of long hairs poking around this thing for the
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next month, holding me up. My job is to destroy
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it by any means in my power, and at once.
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I'm going to do just that. I don't think you'll
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find it that easy, Michaels said. That's what I want
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you for, O'Donnell said. Tell me why and I'll figure
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out a way of doing it. Well, as far as
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I can figure out, the leech is an organic mass-energy converter,
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and a frighteningly efficient one. I would guess that it
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has a double cycle. First, it converts mass into energy,
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then back into mass for its body. Second, energy is
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converted directly into the body mass. How this takes place,
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I do not know. The leech is not protoplasmic. It
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may not even be cellular. So we need something big
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against it, O'Donnell interrupted. Well, that's all right. I've got
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some big stuff here. I don't think you understand me,
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Michaels said. Perhaps I'm not phrasing this very well. The
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leech eats energy. It can consume the strength of any
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energy weapon you use against it. What happens, O'Donnell asked,
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if it keeps on eating? I have no idea what
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its growth limits are, Michaels said. Its growth may be
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limited only by its food source. You mean it could
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continue to grow probably forever? It could possibly grow as
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long as it had something to feed on. This is
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really a challenge, O'Donnell said. That leech can't be totally
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impervious to force. It seems to be. I suggest you
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get some physicists in here, some biologists also. Have them
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figure out a way of nullifying it. The general put
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out a cigarette. Professor, I cannot wait while scientists wrangle.
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There's an axiom of mine which I'm going to tell you.
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He paused impressively. Nothing is impervious to force. Muster enough
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force and anything will give. Anything. Professor, the general continued.
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In a friendlier voice, you shouldn't sell short the science
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you represent. We have, massed under North Hill, the greatest
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accumulation of energy and radioactive weapons ever assembled in one spot.
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Do you think your leech can stand the full force
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of them? I suppose it's possible to overload the thing,
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Michaels said, doubtfully. He realized now why the general wanted
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him around. He supplied the trappings of science without the
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authority to override O'Donnell. Come with me, General O'Donnell said cheerfully,
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getting up and holding back a flap of the tent.
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We're gonna crack that leech in half! After a long wait,
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rich food started to come again, piped into one side
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of it. First, there was only a little, and then more,
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and more. Radiations, vibrations, explosions, solids, liquids, an amazing variety
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of edibles. It accepted them all. but the food was
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coming too slowly for the starving cells, for new cells
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were constantly adding their demands to the rest. The ever-hungry
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body screamed for more food, faster. Now that it had
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reached a fairly efficient size, it was fully awake. It
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puzzled over the energy impressions around it, locating the source
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of the new food massed in one spot. Effortlessly, it
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pushed itself into the air, flew a little way, and
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dropped on the food. Its super-efficient cells eagerly gulped the
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rich radioactive substances, but it did not ignore the lesser
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potentials of metal and clumps of carbohydrates. The damned fools,
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General O'Donnell said. Why did they have to panic? You'd
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think they'd never been trained. He paced the ground outside
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his tent, now in a new location three miles back.
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The leech had grown to two miles in diameter. Three
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farming communities had been evacuated. Michaels, standing beside the general,
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was still stupefied by the memory. The Leech had accepted
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the massed power of the weapons for a while, and
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then its entire bulk had lifted in the air. The
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sun had been blotted out as it flew leisurely over
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North Hill and dropped. There should have been time for evacuation,
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but the frightened soldiers had been blind with fear. Sixty-seven
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men were lost in Operation Leech, and General O'Donnell asked
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permission to use atomic bombs, Washington sent a group of
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scientists to investigate the situation. Haven't those experts decided yet?
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O'Donnell asked, halting angrily in front of the tent. They've
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been talking long enough. It's a hard decision, Michaels said.
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Since he wasn't an official member of the investigating team,
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he had given his information and left. The physicists consider
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it a biological matter, and the biologists seem to think
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the chemists should have the answer. No one's an expert
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on this, because it's never happened before. We just don't
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have the data. It's a military problem! O'Donnell said harshly.
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I'm not interested in what the thing is. I want
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to know what can destroy it. They'd better give me
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permission to use the bomb. Michaels had made his own
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calculations on that. It was impossible to say for sure,
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but taking a flying guess at the leech's mass energy
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absorption rate figuring in its size and apparent capacity for growth,
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an atomic bomb might overload it, if used soon enough.
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He estimated three days as the limit of usefulness. The
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leech was growing at a geometric rate. It could cover
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the United States in a few months. For a week
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I've been asking permission to use the bomb, O'Donnell grumbled,
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and I'll get it, but not until after those jackasses
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end their damned talking. He stopped pacing and turned to Michael's.
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I am going to destroy the leech. I'm going to
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smash it if it's the last thing I do. It's
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more than a matter of security now. It's personal pride.
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That attitude might make great generals, Michaels thought, but it
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wasn't the way to consider this problem. It was anthropomorphic
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of O'Donnell to see the leech as an enemy. Even
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the identification leech was a humanizing factor. O'Donnell was dealing
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with it as he would any physical obstacle, as though
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the leech were the simple equivalent of a large army.
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But the leech was not human, not even of this planet, perhaps.
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It should be dealt with in its own terms. Here
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comes the bright boys now, O'Donnell said. From a nearby tent,
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a group of weary men emerged, led by Allenson, a
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government biologist. Well, the general asked, have you figured out
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what it is? Just a minute, I'll hack off a sample,
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Allenson said, glaring through red-rimmed eyes. Have you figured out
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some scientific way of killing it? Oh, that wasn't too difficult, Moriarty,
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an atomic physicist, said, rightly. Wrap it in a perfect vacuum,
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that'll do the trick, or blow it off the Earth
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with anti-gravity. But failing that, Allenson said, we suggest you
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use your atomic bombs, and use them fast. Is that
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the opinion of your entire group? O'Donnell asked, his eyes glittering. Yes.
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The general hurried away. Michaels joined the scientists. He should
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have called us in at the very first, Allison complained.
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There's no time to consider anything but force now. Have
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you come to any conclusions about the nature of the leech?
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Michaels said. Only general ones, Moriarty said. and they're about
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the same as yours. The leech is probably extraterrestrial in origin.
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It seems to have been in a spore stage until
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it landed on Earth. He paused to light a pipe. Incidentally,
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we should be damned glad it didn't drop in an ocean.
339
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We'd have had the Earth eaten out from under us
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before we knew what we were looking for. They walked
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in silence for a few minutes. As you mentioned, it's
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a perfect converter. It can transform mass into energy and
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any energy into mass, Moriarty grinned. Naturally, that's impossible, and
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I have figures to prove it. I'm going to get
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a drink, Ellenson said. Anyone coming? Best idea of the week,
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Michaels said. I wonder how long it'll take O'Donnell to
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get permission to use the bomb. If I know politics,
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Moriarty said, too long. The findings of the government scientists
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were checked by other government scientists. That took a few days.
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Then Washington wanted to know if there wasn't some alternative
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to exploding an atomic bomb in the middle of New
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York State. It took a little time to convince them
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of the necessity. After that, people had to be evacuated,
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which took more time. Then orders were made out and
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five atomic bombs were checked out of the cache. A
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patrol rocket was assigned, given orders, and put under General
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O'Donnell's command. This took a day more. Finally, the stubby
358
00:23:52.430 --> 00:23:55.450
scout rocket was winging its way over New York. From
359
00:23:55.470 --> 00:23:58.549
the air, the grayish-black spot was easy to find. Like
360
00:23:58.569 --> 00:24:02.579
a festered wound, it stretched between Lake Placid and Elizabethtown,
361
00:24:02.779 --> 00:24:05.680
covering Keene and Keene Valley and lapping at the edges
362
00:24:05.720 --> 00:24:10.059
of Jay. The first bomb was released. It had been
363
00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:14.049
a long wait after the first rich food. The greater
364
00:24:14.089 --> 00:24:17.069
radiation of day was followed by the lesser energy of
365
00:24:17.190 --> 00:24:20.150
night many times as the leech ate away the earth
366
00:24:20.210 --> 00:24:24.230
beneath it, absorbed the air around it, and grew. Then,
367
00:24:24.829 --> 00:24:30.509
one day, an amazing burst of energy. Everything was food
368
00:24:30.569 --> 00:24:33.849
for the leech, but there was always the possibility of choking.
369
00:24:34.589 --> 00:24:37.569
The energy poured over it, drenched it, battered it, and
370
00:24:37.589 --> 00:24:41.750
the leech grew frantically, trying to contain the titanic dose.
371
00:24:42.529 --> 00:24:46.730
Still small, it quickly reached its overload limit. The strained cells,
372
00:24:47.109 --> 00:24:51.089
filled to satiation, were given more and more food. The
373
00:24:51.150 --> 00:24:55.980
strangling body built new cells at lightning speed, and it held.
374
00:24:56.519 --> 00:25:01.160
The energy was controlled, stimulating further growth. More cells took
375
00:25:01.240 --> 00:25:04.799
over the load, sucking in the food. The next doses
376
00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:10.799
were wonderfully palatable, easily handled. The leech overflowed its bounds, growing.
377
00:25:11.289 --> 00:25:15.809
eating and growing. That was a taste of real food.
378
00:25:16.509 --> 00:25:19.390
The leech was as near ecstasy as it had ever been.
379
00:25:20.130 --> 00:25:24.839
It waited, hopefully for more, but no more came. It
380
00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:28.539
went back to feeding on the earth. The energy used
381
00:25:28.619 --> 00:25:32.740
to produce more cells was soon dissipated. Soon it was
382
00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:38.619
hungry again. It would always be hungry. O'Donnell retreated with
383
00:25:38.660 --> 00:25:42.480
his demoralized men, They camped 10 miles from the leach's
384
00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:46.519
southern edge in the evacuated town of Shroon Lake. The
385
00:25:46.539 --> 00:25:49.579
leach was over 60 miles in diameter now and still
386
00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:54.180
growing fast. It lay sprawled over the Adirondack Mountains, completely
387
00:25:54.259 --> 00:25:58.200
blanketing everything from Saranac Lake to Port Henry, with one
388
00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:02.269
edge of it over Westport in Lake Champlain. Everything within
389
00:26:02.269 --> 00:26:06.910
200 miles of the leach was evacuated. General O'Donnell was
390
00:26:06.950 --> 00:26:10.490
given permission to use hydrogen bombs contingent on the approval
391
00:26:10.529 --> 00:26:14.710
of his scientists. One of the bright boys decided, O'Donnell
392
00:26:14.750 --> 00:26:17.509
wanted to know. He and Michaels were in the living
393
00:26:17.549 --> 00:26:21.190
room of an evacuated Shroon Lake house. O'Donnell had made
394
00:26:21.210 --> 00:26:25.170
it his new command post. Why are they hedging? O'Donnell
395
00:26:25.190 --> 00:26:28.250
demanded impatiently. The leech has to be blown up quick.
396
00:26:28.990 --> 00:26:32.309
What are they fooling around for? They're afraid of a
397
00:26:32.349 --> 00:26:36.779
chain reaction, Michaels told him. A concentration of hydrogen bombs
398
00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:39.599
might set one up in the Earth's crust or in
399
00:26:39.619 --> 00:26:42.880
the atmosphere. It might do any of half a dozen things.
400
00:26:43.619 --> 00:26:47.720
Perhaps they'd like me to order a bayonet attack, O'Donnell
401
00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:52.420
said contemptuously. Michaels sighed and sat down in an armchair.
402
00:26:53.109 --> 00:26:56.109
He was convinced that the whole method was wrong. The
403
00:26:56.150 --> 00:26:59.529
government scientists were being rushed into a single line of inquiry.
404
00:27:00.190 --> 00:27:02.309
The pressure on them was so great that they didn't
405
00:27:02.349 --> 00:27:05.289
have a chance to consider any other approach but force,
406
00:27:05.869 --> 00:27:09.990
and the leech thrived on that. Michaels was certain that
407
00:27:10.009 --> 00:27:15.930
there were times when fighting fire with fire was not applicable. Fire. Loki,
408
00:27:16.150 --> 00:27:20.759
god of fire. And of trickery. Now, there was no
409
00:27:20.859 --> 00:27:24.920
answer there. But Michaels' mind was in mythology now, retreating
410
00:27:24.980 --> 00:27:29.200
from the unbearable present. Allenson came in, followed by six
411
00:27:29.259 --> 00:27:33.539
other men, Well, Allenson said, there's a damn good chance
412
00:27:33.579 --> 00:27:35.680
of splitting the Earth wide open if you use the
413
00:27:35.720 --> 00:27:39.180
number of bombs our figures show you need. You have
414
00:27:39.220 --> 00:27:42.880
to take chances in war, O'Donnell replied bluntly. Shall I
415
00:27:42.920 --> 00:27:48.269
go ahead? Michaels saw, suddenly, that O'Donnell didn't care if
416
00:27:48.309 --> 00:27:51.329
he did crack the Earth. The red-faced general only knew
417
00:27:51.369 --> 00:27:53.549
that he was going to set off the greatest explosion
418
00:27:53.690 --> 00:27:57.049
ever produced by the hand of man. Not so fast,
419
00:27:57.430 --> 00:28:01.980
Allenson said. I'll let the others speak for themselves. The
420
00:28:02.019 --> 00:28:06.279
general contained himself with difficulty. Remember, he said, according to
421
00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:08.299
your own figures, the leech is growing at the rate
422
00:28:08.339 --> 00:28:12.660
of 20 feet an hour. And speeding up, Allenson added,
423
00:28:13.079 --> 00:28:15.440
but this isn't a decision to be made in haste.
424
00:28:17.059 --> 00:28:20.329
Michaels found his mind wandering again to the lightning bolts
425
00:28:20.369 --> 00:28:23.849
of Zeus. That was what they needed. Or the strength
426
00:28:23.890 --> 00:28:28.880
of Hercules. Or... He sat up suddenly. Gentlemen, I believe
427
00:28:28.940 --> 00:28:31.609
I can offer you a possible alternative, although it's a
428
00:28:31.650 --> 00:28:35.309
very dim one. They stared at him. Have you ever
429
00:28:35.410 --> 00:28:40.730
heard of Antaeus? he asked. The more the leech ate,
430
00:28:41.170 --> 00:28:44.710
the faster it grew and the hungrier it became. Although
431
00:28:44.750 --> 00:28:48.079
its birth was forgotten, it did remember a long way back.
432
00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:53.359
It had eaten a planet in that ancient past, grown tremendous, ravenous,
433
00:28:53.880 --> 00:28:56.079
It had made the journey to a nearby star and
434
00:28:56.240 --> 00:29:00.130
eaten that, replenishing the cells converted into energy for the trip.
435
00:29:00.890 --> 00:29:03.230
But then there was no more food, and the next
436
00:29:03.329 --> 00:29:07.170
star was an enormous distance away. It had set out
437
00:29:07.369 --> 00:29:10.069
on the journey, but long before it reached the food,
438
00:29:10.650 --> 00:29:14.319
its energy ran out. Mass converted back to energy to
439
00:29:14.359 --> 00:29:18.539
make the trip was used up. It shrank. Finally, all
440
00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:22.440
the energy was gone. It was a spore drifting aimlessly.
441
00:29:23.009 --> 00:29:28.609
lifelessly in space. This was the first time. Or was it?
442
00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:32.500
It thought it could remember back to a distant, misty
443
00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:36.369
time when the universe was evenly covered with stars. It
444
00:29:36.410 --> 00:29:40.480
had eaten through them, cutting away whole sections, growing, swelling,
445
00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:44.380
and the stars had swung off in terror, forming galaxies
446
00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:51.099
and constellations. Or was that a dream? Methodically, it fed
447
00:29:51.160 --> 00:29:54.519
on the earth, wondering where the rich food was, and
448
00:29:54.569 --> 00:29:57.730
then it was back again, but this time above the leech.
449
00:29:58.670 --> 00:30:02.039
It waited. but the tantalizing food remained out of reach.
450
00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:05.859
It was able to sense how rich and pure the
451
00:30:05.940 --> 00:30:10.869
food was. Why didn't it fall? For a long time,
452
00:30:10.920 --> 00:30:14.329
the leech waited, but the food stayed out of reach.
453
00:30:15.170 --> 00:30:20.200
At last, it lifted and followed. The food retreated up,
454
00:30:20.710 --> 00:30:23.390
up from the surface of the planet. The leech went
455
00:30:23.509 --> 00:30:26.619
after as quickly as its bulk would allow. The rich
456
00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:31.160
food fled out into space, and the leech followed. Beyond,
457
00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:35.369
it could sense an even richer source. The hot, wonderful
458
00:30:35.480 --> 00:30:43.609
food of a sun. O'Donnell served champagne for the scientists
459
00:30:43.750 --> 00:30:47.210
in the control room. Official diners would follow, but this
460
00:30:47.289 --> 00:30:51.490
was the victory celebration.' A toast,' the general said, standing.
461
00:30:52.210 --> 00:30:55.089
The men raised their glasses. The only man not drinking
462
00:30:55.150 --> 00:30:57.579
was a lieutenant, sitting in front of the control board
463
00:30:57.619 --> 00:31:01.640
that guided the drone spaceship. To Michaels, for thinking of...
464
00:31:02.259 --> 00:31:07.019
what was it again, Michaels? Antaeus. Michaels had been drinking
465
00:31:07.079 --> 00:31:11.980
champagne steadily, but he didn't feel elated. Antaeus, born of Gi,
466
00:31:12.220 --> 00:31:17.089
the Earth, and Poseidon, the Sea. The invincible wrestler. Each
467
00:31:17.130 --> 00:31:20.289
time Hercules threw him to the ground, he arose refreshed.
468
00:31:21.029 --> 00:31:25.720
Until Hercules held him in the air. Moriarty was muttering
469
00:31:25.769 --> 00:31:30.150
to himself, figuring with slide rule, pencil, and paper. Allenson
470
00:31:30.170 --> 00:31:32.640
was drinking, but he didn't look too happy about it.
471
00:31:33.509 --> 00:31:37.309
Come on, you birds of evil omen, O'Donnell said, pouring
472
00:31:37.349 --> 00:31:40.970
some more champagne. Figure it out later. Right now, drink.
473
00:31:41.950 --> 00:31:46.450
He turned to the operator. How's it going? Michael's analogy
474
00:31:46.490 --> 00:31:49.950
had been applied to a spaceship. The ship, operated by
475
00:31:50.019 --> 00:31:54.650
remote control, was filled with pure radioactives, It hovered over
476
00:31:54.710 --> 00:31:57.710
the leech until, rising to the bait, it had followed.
477
00:31:58.529 --> 00:32:01.390
Antaeus had left his mother, the Earth, and was losing
478
00:32:01.430 --> 00:32:04.569
his strength in the air. The operator was allowing the
479
00:32:04.609 --> 00:32:07.059
spaceship to run fast enough to keep out of the
480
00:32:07.099 --> 00:32:10.779
leech's grasp, but close enough to keep it coming. The
481
00:32:10.799 --> 00:32:13.680
spaceship and the leech were on a collision course with
482
00:32:13.720 --> 00:32:18.660
the sun.' Fine, sir,' the operator said.' It' s inside the
483
00:32:18.740 --> 00:32:23.200
orbit of Mercury now.' Men, the general said, I swore
484
00:32:23.220 --> 00:32:26.170
to destroy that thing. This isn't exactly the way I
485
00:32:26.230 --> 00:32:29.170
wanted to do it. I figured on a more personal way,
486
00:32:29.230 --> 00:32:32.369
but the important thing is the destruction. You will all
487
00:32:32.430 --> 00:32:36.569
witness it. Destruction is at times a sacred mission. This
488
00:32:36.710 --> 00:32:41.400
is such a time. Men, I feel wonderful. Turn the spaceship.
489
00:32:41.900 --> 00:32:44.160
It was Moriarty who had spoken. His face was white.
490
00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:47.819
Turn the damned thing. He shoved his figures at them.
491
00:32:48.700 --> 00:32:51.400
They were easy to read. the growth rate of the leech,
492
00:32:51.779 --> 00:32:56.319
the energy consumption rate estimated, its speed in space a constant,
493
00:32:56.940 --> 00:32:59.359
the energy it would receive from the sun as it
494
00:32:59.400 --> 00:33:04.059
approached an exponential curve, its energy absorption rate, figured in
495
00:33:04.140 --> 00:33:09.460
terms of growth, expressed as a hyped-up discontinuous progression. The result?
496
00:33:10.349 --> 00:33:15.430
It'll consume the sun, Moriarty said very quietly. The control
497
00:33:15.470 --> 00:33:18.269
room turned into a bedlam. Six of them tried to
498
00:33:18.349 --> 00:33:21.750
explain it to O'Donnell at the same time. Then Moriarty tried,
499
00:33:21.789 --> 00:33:24.730
and finally Allenson. Its rate of growth is so great,
500
00:33:24.990 --> 00:33:27.119
and its speed so slow, and it will get so
501
00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:29.740
much energy that the leech will be able to consume
502
00:33:29.779 --> 00:33:32.019
the sun by the time it gets there, or at
503
00:33:32.059 --> 00:33:34.569
least to live off it until it can consume it.
504
00:33:35.819 --> 00:33:39.000
O'Donnell didn't bother to understand. He turned to the operator.
505
00:33:39.559 --> 00:33:44.109
Turn it, he said. They all hovered over the radar screen, waiting.
506
00:33:45.039 --> 00:33:48.140
The food turned out of the leech's path and streaked away.
507
00:33:48.980 --> 00:33:51.980
Ahead was a tremendous source, but still a long way off.
508
00:33:52.759 --> 00:33:57.960
The leech hesitated. Its cells, recklessly expending energy, shouted for
509
00:33:57.980 --> 00:34:03.410
a decision. The food slowed, tantalizingly near. The closer source,
510
00:34:03.710 --> 00:34:09.030
or the greater? The leech's body wanted food. Now. It
511
00:34:09.070 --> 00:34:12.199
started after it, away from the sun. The sun would
512
00:34:12.219 --> 00:34:15.099
come next. Pull it out at right angles to the
513
00:34:15.139 --> 00:34:19.449
plane of the solar system, Allenson said. The operator touched
514
00:34:19.530 --> 00:34:22.210
the controls. On the radar screen, they saw a blob
515
00:34:22.329 --> 00:34:26.650
pursuing a dot. It had turned. Relief washed over them.
516
00:34:27.329 --> 00:34:30.530
It had been close. In what portion of the sky
517
00:34:30.590 --> 00:34:36.079
would the leech be? O'Donnell asked, his face expressionless. Come outside,
518
00:34:36.119 --> 00:34:39.500
I believe I can show you, an astronomer said. They
519
00:34:39.539 --> 00:34:45.639
walked to the door. Somewhere in that section. the astronomer said, pointing. Fine.
520
00:34:46.119 --> 00:34:49.440
All right, soldier, O'Donnell told the operator. Carry out your orders.
521
00:34:50.639 --> 00:34:54.920
The scientists gasped in unison. The operator manipulated the controls
522
00:34:54.960 --> 00:34:58.539
and the blob began to overtake the dot. Michaels started
523
00:34:58.579 --> 00:35:02.280
across the room. Stop, the general said, and his strong
524
00:35:02.320 --> 00:35:05.360
commanding voice stopped Michaels. I know what I'm doing. I
525
00:35:05.400 --> 00:35:09.219
had that ship especially built. The blob overtook the dot
526
00:35:09.320 --> 00:35:11.599
on the radar screen. I told you this was a
527
00:35:11.679 --> 00:35:15.610
personal matter, O'Donnell said. I swore to destroy that leech.
528
00:35:15.889 --> 00:35:19.650
We can never have any security while it lives. He smiled.
529
00:35:20.150 --> 00:35:24.289
Shall we look at the sky? The general strolled to
530
00:35:24.309 --> 00:35:27.929
the door, followed by the scientists. Push the button, soldier.
531
00:35:29.150 --> 00:35:32.820
The operator did. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the
532
00:35:32.909 --> 00:35:37.119
sky lit up. A bright star hung in space. Its
533
00:35:37.179 --> 00:35:41.750
brilliance filled the night, grew, and started to fade.' What
534
00:35:41.809 --> 00:35:46.610
did you do?' Michaels gasped.' That rocket was built around
535
00:35:46.650 --> 00:35:51.469
a hydrogen bomb,' O'Donnell said, his strong face triumphant.' I
536
00:35:51.530 --> 00:35:54.449
set it off at the contact moment.' He called to
537
00:35:54.489 --> 00:35:57.789
the operator again.' Is there anything showing on the radar?''
538
00:35:58.190 --> 00:36:02.590
Not a speck, sir.'' Men,' the general said.' I have
539
00:36:02.639 --> 00:36:06.510
met the enemy, and he is mine.' Let's have some
540
00:36:06.550 --> 00:36:11.349
more champagne! But Michaels found that he was suddenly ill.
541
00:36:12.590 --> 00:36:15.119
It had been drinking from the expenditure of energy when
542
00:36:15.139 --> 00:36:19.159
the great explosion came. No thought of containing it. The
543
00:36:19.199 --> 00:36:22.360
leech's cells held for the barest fraction of a second,
544
00:36:22.940 --> 00:36:29.380
and then spontaneously overloaded. The leech was smashed, broken up, destroyed.
545
00:36:30.079 --> 00:36:32.599
It was split into a thousand particles, and the particles
546
00:36:32.679 --> 00:36:36.559
were split a million times more. The particles were thrown
547
00:36:36.659 --> 00:36:41.019
out on the wavefront of the explosion, and they split further, spontaneously,
548
00:36:42.219 --> 00:36:48.570
into spores. The spores closed into dry, hard, seemingly lifeless
549
00:36:48.639 --> 00:36:54.969
specks of dust, billions of them scattered, drifting. Unconscious, they
550
00:36:55.030 --> 00:37:00.230
floated in the emptiness of space, billions of them waiting
551
00:37:00.429 --> 00:37:08.369
to be fed. Thanks for joining me. Find more horror
552
00:37:08.409 --> 00:37:14.590
fiction at weirddarkness.com slash midnight. I'm Darren Marlar, and I
553
00:37:14.630 --> 00:37:19.510
hope you'll join me again soon at Midnight in the Macabre.
