19 Nocturne Boulevard - Lovecraft 5: FROM BEYOND - Reissue

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