Quatermass 2

Chris, please, we'll get help soon. We're coming to the main road.

Chris, try to hold on. It's a burn, we'll get it fixed.

Chris, watch it! Chris!

Chris, you'll kill us!

Chris! Chris!

What are you playing at? Are you trying to commit suicide?

-He's delirious. I couldn't hold the car. Is he OK?

-Probably just stunned.

-What happened to his face?

-He was burnt.

-When did this happen?

-About an hour ago.

-Better have that looked at.

-I want to show these to the doctor.

-Are these what burnt him?

-Yes, we were on our way to Winnerden Flats.

-The government must have pulled the village down. We turned round, then heard a noise like bawling.

-Bawling?

-Chris went to look, then I found him like this.

-These stones couldn't burn anybody.

-They burnt him!

-Ugh!

-Chris, darling!

-Let's get this back on the road. You take the wheel.

Come on, push.

Chris!

-Probably suffering from shock.

-This is how he was in the car.

-Better get you two into my car.

-No, I can manage. Just help him into the car.

FAINT ELECTRONIC BUZZ

There are scores of them coming down. What are they? Meteorites?

-Meteorites give a strong trace as soon as they strike the atmosphere. These are different.

-What are they?

Whatever they are, they're coming in low and slow.

-Still holding yours?

-As soon as one lot fades, there are more.

-The traces are getting fainter. Yours too?

-Yes, mine have gone.

What do you make of it?

-That sudden fade-out? Two possibilities. One, the scanner up there.

-Do you think that's likely?

-We've modified it and reset it so much, it's probably a bit liverish. Spots before the eyes.

-The other?

If those things were real, we lost them because they reached the ground.

-How far do you make it?

-90 to 100 miles north of here, land or sea.

That's pretty rough country - hill, moorland, marsh.

-We'll reset the scanner two degrees lower and make a circuit.

-Check.

-What's going on here?

-Oh, hello, Quatermass.

-Who reset that scanner?

-We were making some tests, sir...

-The observatory on this base was built for one test only.

-We picked up some curious echoes...

I'm not interested in echoes or a skilled man like Marsh spending half the night on your pet project.

-That's unfair.

-I wanted to stay.

-In the morning you'll be half-awake.

-Have I ever let you down on a job?

Tomorrow, you may not have a job. None of us may have jobs.

-Have these stones classified. They may be meteorites.

-Yes, sir.

-I take it you had a difficult day in London?

-I'm sorry. I had no right to jump on you like that.

What happened at the Ministry?

Moon Project. May it rest in peace!

-What?

-They're giving us no more money.

-No more money?

-Didn't you explain?

-Try and justify this to a committee of Whitehall bureaucrats?

Steel domes where men can live in artificial atmosphere, beings alive in a totally dead world?

50 rockets to take the components up there, solar mirrors, producer units, pressure domes...

I didn't go that far, Brand. I just stuck to the current cost. You know what they said?

"To date, you've spent a lot of money on a rocket that isn't even safe to launch.

"We have projects of far more importance."

Isn't it important enough to be the first to build a colony on the moon

and to get men there against all odds?

These are for tomorrow. I'm going back to school again in the morning.

-School?

-That's what they told me.

-Study atomic theory again, find out where I went wrong. Without spending money!

-What did you say?

I felt like saying, "Find another director for your Rocket Group!" If I had any pride, I would have done!

We only need a few months to assemble a new reactor.

-Get this off first thing. Tell them I'm coming over.

-The Atomic Centre?

-Telling Harwell that I'm coming back to school.

-This is ludicrous.

Nevertheless, I'm going to do it. I'll play the game their way, anything to keep this together.

Can you still bear to look at it?

-The sum total of our achievement up to now - one rocket untried.

-We daren't try.

-We're not sure.

-That nuclear motor is as faulty...

-We're not sure!

We know that as soon as that thing left the Earth, we'd be stoking up an atomic bomb.

-We could send it up without a crew.

-You'd never dare bring it back to Earth!

-I'll correct that fault.

I'll send it up and bring it back 100 times! Go get some sleep. I'm going to the rocket base.

FAINT BUZZING

TELEPHONE RINGS

Yes...? Right. Yes, immediately.

-Jill, get some coffee. Mr Quatermass is coming up.

-One?

-Make it three. They'll all want some.

-I'll finish here.

-Has the old man checked in?

-He's been at the launching base all night.

I want to see him when he gets back.

-Could you come to the observatory?

-Did you reach Harwell?

-Yes. 12.30 OK?

-I'd like a coffee.

-On its way.

-It's about that meteorite.

-What about it?

-It's got a definite shape.

-Where did you get this?

-It fell about 90 miles from here.

-We don't have this substance classified.

-It's symmetric.

-And hollow.

-Probably some pieces missing.

-No, the inside's symmetric too.

-When did this fall?

-Last night. Couple of kids picked it up.

-Those traces we had on the screen last night.

-They were 90 miles away.

-You plotted them?

-They didn't give the same signals as meteorites.

-That's the rough area.

-We lost them, probably as they hit the ground.

-Winnerden Flats? The girl said that.

-What girl?

-Marsh, get the car.

-Don't you want some sleep?

-Get the car.

-I don't understand.

-Nor do I. It's why I want to see Winnerden Flats.

-And make me a reconstruction of this thing before it hit the atmosphere of the Earth.

-Yes, sir.

If you can't find it on the map, look in the AA book.

-No, here it is - Winnerden Flats.

-Give me the road number.

You take the Carlisle road.

-It shouldn't be more than four or five miles.

-Do we stay on this road?

-Yeah, that's all there is.

-Hey!

What's that?

-New road.

-It's not on the map. Shall we take it?

-We've no choice. "Government property" sign?

Maybe we've struck a rival project.

There's been a lot of traffic here. Heavy stuff, by the tyre marks.

-Probably construction trucks.

-There's another road and more roadblocks.

Well, that's funny - to have a road leading to nowhere!

-Wait. Don't walk on that stuff.

-What?

-It might be mined, anything.

-We'll go back and try the right fork.

-Sure.

What happened, sir? Is anything...?

Oh, no!

-The Moon Project.

-It's unbelievable.

-We're wrong. We must be.

-But those domes...

-Coincidence of shapes. Must be an explanation.

But in so many details!

What's all this debris?

Do you think this could be the village that disappeared?

-Winnerden Flats? Whatever it was, it's been flattened.

-Hey, look on the ground!

Look everywhere, they're all around us! Pieces of meteorite!

They're the same. They're exactly the same as the one we've got.

-Some have been here for months. They're crumbling.

-This one's recently broken.

SIREN WAILS

-I wonder if that's meant for us? We'd better go and explain ourselves.

-Look at this, sir!

I think this is a whole one. Yes, it is.

-It's the same odd shape as the other. It isn't even cracked.

-What is it?

-That's funny. I thought I felt a sort of...

-Put it down!

A sort of vibration. COUGHS

Marsh, there was something on your face! Are you all right? Let me see.

For a moment, I saw something that looked like a big, black bubble.

Marsh!

SIREN WAILS LOUDLY

You've had a lungful of gas. Try and stand up. Here, lean on me!

COUGHING

HORN BLARES

HORN BLARES AGAIN

This man is sick. If you'll just help me get him back to the car...

He's in urgent need of medical attention. He was examining something right there.

Do you know what these things are, what they do to...?

Who are you?

Here, what's this? What is this...place?

Where are you taking him? I've got to go with him.

Go. Go now.

Excuse me.

-Where can I find the police?

-Police?

-This is urgent. Where is the nearest police station?

-At Frawley, 15 miles further on.

-There are no police here?

-The camp committee do everything here.

-Where are they?

-Community centre. First on the left.

-Thanks.

-Signed, etcetera, etcetera.

-"Tea and sandwiches..."

-Yes?

-Is this the camp committee?

-I'm the secretary.

-They tell me you have no police here.

-We don't need them.

-We're a law-abiding community.

-Yes, Mr Dawson.

-We handle any problems.

-What's that place just over the hill?

-Over the hill?

That factory, plant, about five miles from here, with the big steel domes? What's its purpose?

-That's a lot of questions you're asking.

-Perfectly simple questions.

-Are they?

Our people are working on this project. They're building it and getting good money.

-In return, we're asked to keep our mouths shut.

-I drove near that place.

-Why? Didn't you see the notices?

-My companion was affected... He was taken ill.

-The guards from that plant arrested him.

-You got into trouble with them?

-One of them took a swipe at me.

-You shouldn't have been there.

-My friend may need skilled help.

-He'll get that in the plant.

-They've got everything there.

-Let's make sure.

-Get me Frawley police station.

-That won't do you no good.

-We'll find out.

-Talk to them if you like. But not from here.

-The police couldn't do anything.

-They wouldn't touch it.

Is that so?

-The guards...

-He shouldn't have gone.

TELEPHONE RINGS

Hello?

No, sorry. It was a mistake.

-Good evening. This is an unfortunate business.

-The sergeant told you what happened?

-He did.

Your friend was arrested by security guards for trespassing, so they were within their rights.

You flatly refuse to do anything about this?

You ran into an experimental project in a place you've no right to be.

-What is that place?

-No idea. It's top secret and we've strict orders.

-From whom?

-Whitehall.

-And nothing is to be done about what happened?

-Are you bringing charges for assault?

-If that'll get some action.

-I'll send a report to the Chief Constable.

-Forget it. I'll short-cut that!

-Mr Quatermass, Harwell called...

-Where's Dr Brand?

-In the observatory. But there are several notes for you...

-Tomorrow.

-Brand!

-There's been more traces about an hour ago.

-Few and faint, but in the same direction.

-Organise all the help you'll need, fix a 24-hour guard.

-What happened?

-Do it now!

-Get Michaels and Peterson over here.

-They'll have gone by now.

-Ring their quarters. This is urgent.

We found the place those things have been falling. The whole area is littered with fragments of them.

-They look like meteorites, but they're not.

-What are they?

They're some form of container. Marsh found a whole one.

-When he picked it up, it burst in his face.

-What was inside?

Ammonia gas and something else.

Something alive.

Just for a second, I saw it on his face, then it was gone.

But the mark was there. Then the guards came and took him away.

-What guards?

-Sorry, I'm not making much sense.

-Where is this place?

It was Winnerden Flats. And there's something else there, Brand.

-The Moon Project.

-The Moon Project? Wait a minute...

It's there in all its essentials,

a colony of steel pressure domes, hundreds of feet high. I saw it.

-Marsh saw it.

-Where is Marsh?

He's...in that place. The guards took him there.

And that mark, it was on their faces too.

-What did you do?

-I went to the police.

-And?

-The police won't act.

-You told them all this?

-I told them all they were capable of believing.

Tomorrow I'll go to London, take it to the top level.

-There's probably some simple explanation.

-I hope that's it.

Because if it isn't, I think we're on the verge of something so ugly...

-Yes?

-Mr Peterson and Mr Michaels are coming over.

-Thanks, Kelly.

-Do you want me to stay too?

-No. Just organise some more coffee before you leave.

-Of course.

It isn't credible.

Brand, it just isn't credible!

Better handle it gently till the plaster hardens, sir.

-How much of this is guesswork?

-Hardly any, sir.

It's worked out from mineral stresses.

-Brand!

-Coming.

-I want half a dozen more models for wind tunnel tests. Have them made as soon as you can.

-Yes, sir.

-Original shape.

-Aerodynamics.

If an object like that approached the Earth's atmosphere at the correct angle,

it might lose speed and land slowly. Same principle as rocket descent.

-It implies a great deal.

-Knowledge.

Mathematics, precise planning.

Intelligence.

Dr Brand!

There are more traces coming in.

I want to try something different. We'll adjust the radio telescope to a new setting for long range.

-That means resetting half the circuits.

-I'll work them out now.

HORN TOOTS

Come and take Raffles away.

-This is an unexpected pleasure.

-Lomax.

-They've found them?

-Not yet.

There's still time for good behaviour. Let him ruminate a bit longer. Off you go, Harry.

-I could sue the police for wrongful arrest!

-Good idea. Well, sir, it has been a while since we met.

-Last time you brought me more trouble than I've known before or since! Cigarette?

-No, thank you.

-I was only saying to the wife the other day...

-How much do you know about Winnerden Flats?

-What's its purpose?

-I thought better of you, spoiling a beautiful friendship!

-What do you mean?

-You know Winnerden Flats is top secret.

-Secret?

-You put a label like that on anything and law and order goes out the window?

-Look here, sir.

These are pieces of an object found near Winnerden Flats.

When the stone broke up, suppose a bit hit Marsh? The mark on his face might have been the cut.

-It wasn't.

-All right, but that place should be harmless enough.

Then you do know what it is!

-'Yes, sir?'

-Green Park, 4394, Mr Vincent Broadhead.

-Who's he?

-Member of Parliament. He's been trying to force a public inquiry about Winnerden Flats.

-Maybe you should talk to him.

-Will he tell me what the place is?

-It's a government project to make synthetic food.

-With guards and guns?

-It must be worth guarding.

TELEPHONE RINGS

Hello...? Mr Broadhead? Inspector Lomax, sir.

I've someone here you might like to meet. He has curious information about a certain establishment.

-Are you dependable, sir?

-What?!

-Quite dependable.

-In an hour at the House of Commons?

-Yeah.

-Yes, he'll be there.

Quatermass. That's right. Not at all, sir.

-You realise that if anyone else had told me this yarn...

-Broadhead?

-Broadhead.

-Thank you, Inspector.

All I ask, Mr Broadhead, is to break through this wall of secrecy.

Me too, Quatermass, but there's a reason for this secrecy.

Winnerden Flats is the worst blunder there's been with public money.

-They're trying to cover it up.

-Even to the extent of armed guards arresting sick men?

-Good point.

-Do we know it's synthetic food?

-We don't know anything. That's what I'm bellyaching about.

For years, we've known scientists have been working there, but that was just a couple of tin huts.

Suddenly, they're asking for millions and getting 'em.

-When did all this start?

-Two years ago. Now there's a mad rush to get a production plant built. Insane costs!

Now they're ready to go into production and beat the world,

-but they've got to prove that to Vinnie Broadhead because there's something very wrong.

-What?

Take a look out at the Thames. What do you see?

Boats, barges, tugs, and all of that's missing.

There's no distribution set up for this synthetic food, no sales organisation.

-That's what I've found out.

-Mr Broadhead, you've got to help me get into that place.

Help YOU? For months, I've been trying to help myself. A pass only just came through this morning.

-The Minister chap should be here by now.

-You're going inside the plant?

-Yes, this afternoon.

-They may fool the others, but not me.

-Others?

-Parties going down to inspect it.

-People you knew?

Aye, some of them. They turned up again.

-Did they say what they'd seen?

-No, they wouldn't talk about it.

-Isn't that strange?

-No.

They decided to toe the party line and support the project. Just let me get at it!

-Mr Broadhead?

-Yes. Is that my pass?

-For the inspection party this afternoon.

-Only took three months!

-May I bring somebody along? Yes, this gentleman here.

-Name?

-Quatermass.

-Yes, I think that'll be in order.

-Just a minute.

-I should've brought you along three months ago!

-The inspection party will assemble at 2pm.

-Time for a bite of lunch.

-It doesn't always take three months.

-Coming, Quatermass?

-Yes. Thank you.

-You've just over an hour.

And do try to be punctual. We've a very tight schedule ahead of us.

That's right.

Thank you.

SIREN WAILS

CAR HORN TOOTS

Are these your guards? They look harmless enough.

Your passes, please.

Thank you.

Nothing very sinister so far.

HOOTER SOUNDS

WOLF-WHISTLES

Certainly nothing abnormal about them.

I'm gonna take a look in there. Do you wanna come?

Just a minute. Have you seen the other two men?

-Last time I saw them, they were back there.

-Wait here. I'll find them.

-What do you want, please?

-We're an inspection party.

-You have no business here.

-It's official. They took our passes.

-Have you any patients?

-There is no-one.

-We thought a young man was brought in here yesterday.

-I'll take a look.

-Any sign?

-No. He was here. He must have been.

-Yesterday afternoon. His name was Marsh.

-No!

-What are all these beds for? You're ready for...

-Gentlemen!

Why have you left the inspection party? You mustn't do that.

-Come now, quickly.

-I just wanted to see...

-There's no-one. Come, please.

-I want to know...

-Questions will be answered later. Come, please!

Come on, Quatermass. We want to see the plant, don't we?

You understand, gentlemen, we must keep strictly according to time.

-But the plant...

-You'll see it all. Everything.

-Gentlemen... I regret the delay.

-Our fault. We took a look round.

-I've been reading up synthetic food processes.

-We start this way.

-This is all completely different.

-You'll be shown everything.

-What are those huge domes?

-They're for storage.

-Of synthetic food?

-Correct.

It matures in those domes. Everything will be answered later. Now, this way. You go first.

-What runs through these pipes?

-The food. Let's proceed.

-The raw product?

-Yes.

-It's pumped through these pipes to the domes?

-Everything will be answered later.

Look, that's an inspection door, so you can see the stuff going through. I'd like to take a look at that.

-Later you will see everything.

-Will we see inside a big dome?

-That's where you're going now.

Mind the step.

This way, please. Right along, will you?

Quickly.

Keep moving.

Oh, dear, it's so deep!

-We're not inside the dome, are we?

-No, this is an air lock.

-You can't enter the dome, but you'll be taken downstairs.

-Down there?

-It's quite safe.

-You go first. I have no head for heights.

-What's going on down there?

It's part of the process. Please don't wait here. We must keep going.

-Where's the other man?

-The other man?

-Broadhead?

-I didn't see him come in.

Don't worry. He'll be found and everything will be in order.

Are you sending a search party?

-What's this?

-A safety precaution.

-Shall we go down?

-I don't want to.

I'm afraid we must.

-Broadhead!

-ECHO:

-'Broadhead! Broadhead!'

-Broadhead!

-ECHO:

-'Broadhead!'

Broadhead!

-Broadhead!

-ECHO:

-'Broadhead! Broadhead!'

Aaaaagh! Aaaaagh!

COUGHING

Broadhead?

No, don't touch me!

-Broadhead!

-No, don't touch me!

-What happened?

SPLUTTERS I... I...

-I...I had to find out.

-You were inside?

I fell.

-Quatermass!

-I'm here.

I can't see you. Quatermass, it burns!

This is the food. And it burns!

-You lie here. I'll go...

-No, don't touch me!

SIREN WAILS

WHISTLES BLOW

Broadhead?

WHISTLES BLOW

MACHINE-GUN FIRE

GUNFIRE CONTINUES

GUNFIRE

CHURCH BELLS RING

-Tonight's rota for Mobile Control. Any area calls, put them through to me, Hugh.

-Yes, sir.

Yes...? Yes, I just got them.

There's 26 in Mobile. That's right. He's here - Inspector Baker.

-Hi, General.

-Good evening, Mr Hall.

-Any good charge sheets?

-Nothing you want to print.

-Trade you a drink for anything to fill one and a half columns!

-How about "reporter held for bribing the police"?

-Who's the boss tonight? Come out, whoever you are!

-Baker!

-Hello, Jimmy.

-There must be something - arson, mayhem? Just some skulduggery to fill my column?

-The town's going straight tonight.

-Then tell me the story of your life.

-Again?

-Yes?

-Is Chief Inspector Lomax here?

-Fill in the form and we'll find out.

-If he's here, he'll see me. My name is Quatermass.

-Don't I know your name?

-Possibly.

You're not the criminal type. Jimmy Hall can tell them every time.

-OK, sir.

-The constable will show you up, sir.

-Thank you. I know the way.

Quatermass. Quatermass... Why do I know that name?

-Lomax, I'm glad you're here.

-I'm very nearly not. I...

-How much power have you got here?

-I don't understand.

-Can you call emergency action on a large scale?

-For what?

-If I told you what was being carried out at Winnerden Flats is the mass destruction of minds.

-Look, sir, I'm an ordinary fellow...

-I was down there this afternoon with an official inspection party.

It's almost exactly what I told you. I got out alone.

-The rest were trapped.

-Are you suggesting they were murdered?

They have been methodically infected with what struck young Marsh.

-That mark?

-Maybe. I don't know yet.

But they will come back, like hundreds or thousands of others, infected.

If I'd stayed, I'd not be saying the things I'm saying. I wouldn't be able to.

-Does Vincent Broadhead think this?

-Vincent Broadhead is dead.

-Dead?!

I watched him die a few hours ago in that plant, his whole body covered in corrosive poisoning,

eaten away. Some of the black slime got on my coat. I had to cut out the spot.

Don't touch it.

And how does that story measure up with this one?

This is a lie. He was with me this afternoon at Winnerden Flats.

-Where is this story from?

-An official government announcement.

-The minute they knew he was dead.

-Are you...?

-He was killed by a corrosive compound of ammonia

-which is what they're manufacturing!

-You realise what you're alleging? That a government-sponsored...

The point is I'm still here to allege it. Go into that plant.

-You'll get proof.

-I can't do that.

-Then get your pathologist to analyse that and confirm it!

-Start an investigation!

-On your statements alone?

-Talk to the commissioner. Or let me.

You've got to act!

-'Yes, sir?'

-Has the commissioner gone?

-'Not yet, sir.'

-This better be true. That's all I have to say.

-I wish to heaven it wasn't.

Get me Camford 647.

KNOCK AT DOOR Yes?

-Inspector Lomax, sir.

-Come in.

I'm sorry to bother you, sir.

-Something's come up that I'm not too sure how to handle.

-Sit down, tell me about it.

It's difficult to know where to begin. The implications are so far-reaching.

Yes?

Well, sir, it concerns...

It concerns...?

It concerns...the Allman case, sir. The man we are holding.

I thought if we turned him loose he might lead us to something, give us a lead to accomplices.

I wondered if you had any views on the subject, sir.

The decision is yours, Lomax. You're conversant with the case.

-Of course, sir. I'm sorry. I've made a mistake, worrying you at this hour.

-It's all right.

-Good night, sir.

-Good night.

-TELEPHONE RINGS

-Yes?

Brand? This is Quatermass. I'm at Scotland Yard.

I've been trying to find you all evening. The source is in a freak orbit on the dark side of the Earth,

in a permanent state of eclipse. It must be something like an asteroid, about 200 yards across.

Take full records until I get there. ..Yes, I'm trying to!

-They've found the source of those things.

-Quatermass, the mark you saw on Marsh.

-Describe it. Quick, tell me.

-A reddish mark as if something had been pressed into the skin.

-It left a jagged V.

-How big?

-About this big. Why?

I've just seen it.

Here? In this building? No... Even here.

-I'm trying to tell myself it's nothing.

-I wasn't wrong last time.

-Hi, General!

-Jimmy, what do you want?

-One and a half columns.

-Not now.

-Quatermass! The rocket man!

-Elephant Hall remembered.

-Will you leave us alone, please?

-I'll have you escorted out.

-Who's that?

-A reporter. He's harmless enough.

Quatermass! If you could make it public, put it before the whole country, all at once?

-The press?

-It's worth trying.

-Jimmy!

-He's in no condition to...

-Drunk, he's clever. Sober, brilliant.

-I was going...

-You're going to get the biggest story of your life. Do you have a car?

-Where are we going?

-Your base.

Base? Don't push...

See it there? That point of light at the intersection. Radio waves being reflected.

-Is it coming towards us?

-No, it's just circling.

-There's life on it?

Not life as we know it. They probably have an artificial atmosphere - ammonia, methane.

-Poison gases.

-It comes from where that exists as atmosphere. Outer planets, maybe a moon of Saturn.

-Can I have a Scotch in this?

-It's growing weaker.

I think it's a multiple organism, a thousand billion intelligences with one single consciousness.

-Look, I'm a policeman.

-Imagine an organism to which oxygen is not an essential of life,

but a destroyer. An organism which is unable to exist in our atmosphere for more than 3 or 4 seconds.

Safe only in a shell, like this, sealed in with a mixture of gases -

-methane, maybe even hydrogen.

-And when it breaks out?

-It dies.

Unless its energy is expended on an object that can exist in our atmosphere. A human target.

-What happens to the human target?

-An immediate invasion of his entire nervous system.

Something is implanted, an instinct, a compulsion to act for them.

And you expect me to tell my editor that?

-But Hall, you must. There's no time to lose.

-Don't rush me, General.

You've given me a lot of science talk and I'm not very good at it. Somebody swiped your Moon project.

It never was all mine. This is standard procedure for adapting living beings on an alien planet.

But if you're right, what's going to happen?

I hesitate to guess. First, a few of these came here.

They scattered and then expended themselves to a purpose.

A year ago, phase number two. The concentrated attack.

-On Winnerden Flats.

-An out-of-the-way village. One night that area was taken.

-Now they've got a colony.

-A year and nobody said anything?

-Who knows how many infected people they've got in high places?

-Can you be sure of your staff?

-I think so.

The next move is Hall's. We've got to break this conspiracy of silence and secret orders.

You've got to write this, man. Now! Look, get all this down.

-I'll check it with you, then drive you into London.

-How far is this plant from here?

-About 90 miles.

-I want to see it.

-Time is desperate!

-The people that work there are normal?

-At the moment.

-I want to talk to them.

-Jimmy...

-Relax, General.

We'll make the first edition. I want to talk to numbskulls.

-All right, we'll go now.

-You, too? Isn't that a risk?

-The biggest risk is the story doesn't get in at all.

-I need to make an alternative plan in case of emergency.

-Need any help?

I don't think we should share that knowledge. I'll see you outside.

Brand...double security.

-All gates, rocket firing base - double guard on all points. Then I want to talk to you.

-Right.

-Get the laboratory.

-I'm making a list of people I know I can trust.

-We'll need every one of them.

-On the line.

-Thank you. This is Quatermass. How's that analysis?

Just finishing, sir. It's the most complex substance. I've never seen anything like it.

It's basically an ammonia corrosive. Highly concentrated.

Yes? Just how poisonous?

I see. Right.

Full report as soon as you can.

-Go see if the car is there.

-It is there.

-Go and see.

Yes.

Well?

That black slime, it's deadly.

-To every living thing on Earth.

-So it isn't synthetic food?

-I think it is.

Food for whatever is in those domes.

Domes two hundred feet high!

CEILIDH MUSIC

Hello. Top of the evening. We'll have beers to start with.

Oh, give it to them. I'm doing the expensive orders.

Here you are. Whisky, full measure. And here's a shandy.

-That's not Scotch!

-On St Patrick's Night? Drink Irish and like it.

Ooh, what's he doing?

That's meant to be a jig. Now hold this.

Now watch him.

I say this one is the winner! < That wasn't a jig! It was a lot better than yours!

BIG BAND MUSIC

-Hi, Marilyn.

-Hi, yourself.

-Does everybody here work at the plant?

-Who wants to know?

-Thanks for helping(!)

-I haven't got two pair of hands.

-Two Pimms.

-What are the chances of a job there?

-A job?

-Sure. I want work.

-Boy, you must have come here to plant the marshes. It's a real gay place(!)

-Be careful, Hall.

I'll order drinks.

-Someone seems to know you.

-We've met before. The camp secretary.

What's working conditions like? At the plant?

-Couldn't be better. Know what they pay unskilled labour?

-Shut up!

-If you want a job, see the shop steward.

-Good evening.

He's asking about work at the plant.

-Are you three together?

-Yes.

-And you're looking for heavy construction work?

-There's no jobs! Even we're on short time now.

-Hold your tongue!

-We'll all be out of a job soon.

-Nobody's said that!

-I suppose the zombies aren't treading on our heels to get out?

Zombies? It's a nickname.

-For those perishers? We hate their guts.

-Gorman!

-Paddy, you're drunk!

-Treating us like dirt, never talking to us!

-They run the plant?

-Sure they do.

-And operate the domes?

-Hall!

What's inside those domes, Paddy? You know too much.

-Who are you?

-I know him - he got into trouble with the guards.

-We don't want guard trouble here. Out!

-Wait! Listen to me!

-Tell them.

-It's useless.

-We've got to try. Quiet, please!

Quiet, everyone! Listen! This is vitally important.

-Please, may I have your attention?

-Who are you? >

I'm a police officer. Turn that music off!

The gentleman over there is a scientist. Listen to what he says.

-If he's right, you're in danger. All of you.

-Danger? What danger? Why are the police here?

-It's that place you're building.

-He's been spying on the plant. He told me himself. Ask him!

You think it's producing human food. It's not.

-How does he know?

-It's producing deadly poison, deadly to every earthly creature!

-Who's making poison?

-Please. I can prove everything I'm saying.

-You better!

He's a liar! Making poison, he says!

Throw them out!

Stop it! Paddy! There will only be trouble!

Get out before there's more trouble.

Aaaieee!

All right. Keep back, everybody! Take her down there.

It's all right. Keep back, please. Nothing to be alarmed about.

It came through the roof. What was it?

-There it is.

-Keep back! It may be dangerous.

-It's just an overshot.

-How is she, Mac?

-It was just fright.

-I'll be all right.

-Take this.

-It's the first one to fall this far away.

-An overshot?

-Stone things. They fall outside the plant.

-What are they?

-Something to do with the process. Look at the mess.

-Stay back!

-We've got to get everyone out of here, quick.

-Everybody outside.

I'm sorry to interrupt the festivities. Take her outside.

Come along, please, quickly. Outside.

Please, you must clear this hall. It's urgent. Come on now.

-Away you go.

-What's all the fuss? It's not a bomb.

These things are not harmless. Along you go. Please.

Quatermass...

Oh, here it is. It's still warm.

Put it down. As slowly as you can.

-It's only an overshot, like Paddy said.

-On the floor. Put it on the floor.

Gently.

-Ah!

-Sheila!

Look - her neck!

What is it? Sheila!

-Can we do anything?

-Too late.

-You know about this. Do something!

-Call a doctor. Lomax!

Get a blanket!

The fact it landed so far from the plant might indicate... Come on.

Over here, quickly!

Sheila! That thing on her neck, you all seen it, didn't you?

Listen.

-There's a sort of whistling.

-They're coming down by the hundreds. Get Hall.

-This is urgent, priority.

-Jimmy, quick!

-In a minute. News Desk!

-It's a mass dropping all right. Where's Hall?

-Phoning his story.

-I told him not to!

-Quatermass!

These things are coming from outside the Earth. Just take this story!

Hold it.

What did this? Tell us and try to save her!

-Do you hear what I say?

-Steady, Paddy.

Are you there? They arrive in stone containers from a meteorite. They've been coming for 18 months.

-Why doesn't he come out?

-Lie low!

Contact with these things produces a violent infection, a sting. I've just seen it happen.

Stay on the line. I've been spotted.

Get this quickly. It's widespread...

What can you do now?

-Where to? London?

-No, the plant.

Look out!

WHOOSH OVERHEAD

There's squads of them down there.

Lomax!

Look at this - steel containers filled with their own atmosphere.

This gets them back to the camp alive. Go back to London!

-But...

-Those people you can trust, contact them. Make them listen!

-We should both go back.

-I've got to get into that plant.

-Wait a minute...

-WHISTLE

It's up to you now. Hurry!

Don't straggle! Keep together!

-How do we know they took her this way?

-That's where they'll be. At the plant.

-Poor kid. They knew what it was and they wouldn't say.

-What did that stranger do to get shot like that?

Filthy murdering swine.

Look out - lights ahead. It's a car.

Right, boys. Hold your ground.

Right across the road.

-Let me through!

-It's the cop! We're going to the plant!

-Get back to your homes.

-We're after the men who killed your pal.

-They've taken young Sheila.

-Go back to your homes!

-Use the car!

I'm on my way for help! Go back!

LOUDSPEAKER: 'Keep containers moving. Keep containers moving.

'Hurry! Hurry! The next intake is on its way.

'Keep the containers moving.

'Attention! Attention! All special personnel - emergency!

'Proceed with weapons to Gate Four. Go to Gate Four! Emergency!

'Emergency! All special personnel - emergency at Gate Four! Emergency! Emergency!

'Proceed with weapons to Gate Four. Special personnel.

'Emergency at Gate Four!'

SIREN WAILS

'Emergency! Emergency!'

Gate Four. They are construction workers, estimated 150 in number.

ANGRY YELLING

-Open this gate!

-I told you this was senseless.

Go back to your homes!

'Keep away! Keep away from the gate!

'Keep away!'

'Special personnel - emergency! Emergency status. Shoot to kill!

'Special personnel to emergency status. Shoot to kill!

'Shoot to kill!

BURSTS OF GUNFIRE

Get under cover!

'Special personnel - shoot to kill!'

Come on! Shut the door!

-Don't shoot!

-Wait!

Quatermass!

Here, take these guns.

-You're here - what happened?

-There was a gun battle at the gate.

-Look at this.

-What is it?

-Emergency weapons.

-Get it open.

-Can this be opened from outside?

-No!

-We've got a breather, anyway.

-For how long is another matter.

-You couldn't make your contacts?

-No.

GUNFIRE They're still at it.

-This is madness, staying here like rats in a trap. I'd rather be outside. Let me out!

-Don't be a fool!

-One grenade and we'll be blown to pieces!

-They'll not attack the pressure control.

-Pressure control?

-I helped build this.

-They feed those domes from here?

-Each one from a separate section.

Ammonia, methane, hydrogen, oxygen.

Oxygen.

It could be that they're being acclimatised. Lomax, you, give me a hand on these controls.

This will be a long shot, but we've got to take it. Watch me.

Do the same with those panels. Turn off the gas supply completely.

Set them at zero, like this.

That should bring the oxygen up to full pressure.

-What's this going to do?

-Choke what's in those domes, I hope.

-You see?

-I see.

-What was it?

GUNFIRE They're moving in.

'Attention! Unauthorised personnel now in the pressure control lock, resistance by you must cease.

'Lay down your weapons and leave.

'You will be permitted to go to your homes pending further action. Leave the building at once.'

GUNFIRE They're still there.

-Come out and be shot to bits?!

-We ought to do what they say!

-We're holding this block. We've got to.

-What's in those domes?

-'Resistance must cease immediately.'

-Yes, what is it?

-Tell us.

-Creatures from outside this Earth!

-You're mad!

-I've seen them. Expanding to 100 feet high!

-And each one can infect a human being.

-Like Sheila?

-Yes. And those wretches you call zombies.

-You'll find the mark.

-'Unauthorised personnel - you will not be harmed.

'Leave at once or other means of enforcing surrender will be used.'

-How long for the oxygen to work?

-Maybe hours.

-And are others coming?

Unless we destroy the asteroid.

-How are you doing?

-And your emergency plan?

-Use the rocket as an atomic bomb.

-When?

I told Brand midnight.

But you're not seriously going to launch that bomb?!

This is it, Peterson. Control Room.

Michaels? Brand. Rocket motors to critical phase. We're launching. Don't argue. Do it.

Attention, everyone. Brand to all sections. Clear base for firing. Repeat - clear base for firing.

-Immediately.

-How do we know it won't blow up?

We don't.

Check. Fuel on.

Fuel on.

Compression.

Compression.

Marsh!

-Peterson!

-Don't touch him! Don't touch anything. Come.

-Now get that in the bottom.

-Never thought I'd use a crowbar with a cop!

-Now we're ready for anything.

-Anti-tank guns.

-We'll need them.

-Somebody's shooting off flares!

-Flares?

-Right across the sky.

-Where?

-It's gone now. No, there!

-Is it a flare?

-No, it's not a flare.

-What is it?

The one thing that may save us. And humanity.

Too cursed quiet for my liking.

-What are they up to?

-What was the "other means"?

-Just a war of nerves.

-Any reaction yet?

-I've done all I can. It must be taking effect.

What happens if we fire an anti-tank smack into the domes?

Whatever came out would be completely beyond our control.

No, this is the best way. Poison them slowly, if we can.

IF you can! How long are we going to trust your guesses?

-How do we know you know what you're talking about?

-We're all that stands between them and the whole world!

-Spreading over it and infecting...

-Who's seen these but you?

'Attention! Attention! GARBLED MESSAGE

'Sabotage must cease! GARBLED AGAIN

-'Oxygen now being passed into the dome...'

-It's working.

'The management are anxious to co-operate. Anyone injured by recent violence will receive treatment.

'Go now! Hurry! Hurry!'

-I'm going!

-Stay! It's a trick.

-Whose trick?

-You saw your friends!

We only have his word... What proof has he given us?

'This is the last appeal to you as reasonable men.'

Hello? Hello?

My name's McLeod. I'm speaking from the Pressure Control Block.

'Who is speaking?' AJ McLeod. What's inside those domes?

A fellow here says living things.

-McLeod, don't be a fool!

-Leave me alone!

-'There is nothing alive in the domes.'

-They're lying!

-'The entire plant is open to you.'

-Don't listen to them!

-Help me, Paddy!

McLeod here. I'm accepting your offer. I want to see inside.

-Don't do it!

-'Come alone or bring your colleagues. Meet us at Dome Three.'

Right. Dawson, are you coming? Yes!

-You stay here.

-You'll all be infected!

-Everyone, relax.

Ernie, keep them covered in case.

-The men aren't in uniform.

-No guns.

Maybe they mean it.

-They'll be infected.

-That's what I'm afraid of.

-And they'll put one on the speaker.

Now listen, he's right.

Any moment one will talk to you and tell you it's all right, but don't believe them!

-SCREECH

-What's that?!

-It's carrying along this pipe.

-Those were screams.

-If they've gone back on their word...!

-Quiet!

-What is it?

-'Attention! Attention!'

GARBLED MESSAGE

-Take a mask! We've got to be ready for anything.

-It's here in the room!

Look, the pipe - it's burst!

-It's all right.

-What's happened?

-Dome Three - look at the pressure!

-No wonder it blew!

-That pipe must be blocked at the other end.

-Blocked with what?

-Blocked with what?

-There's something dripping!

-It's blood!

-What the...?

-It's them! McLeod and Dawson!

-The thing's turned on them and used them to stop the flow of oxygen!

-It's blocked with human pulp!

-No!

Dirty murdering swines!

-I got it!

-The whole dome!

-Get back!

Here! Put on the masks!

There's one down there.

Down! Down! Get down!

There's a truck!

Look out, Paddy!

He's gone. To the truck, quick.

-Look out! The gates are closed!

-Hold on!

SIREN WAILS

-He's alive, just about.

-Throw him out!

-No, we need him. We need him for proof.

-Look now!

They're in pain and it's driving them mad!

-The rocket?

-Or it blew itself up.

-Look at the things!

Get under cover and put your masks on!

-It's over.

-Quatermass!

Get him.

The mark - it's gone!

The infection must be wearing off.

Leaving them, perhaps all of them.

-What's happened? Where is this?

-You'll be all right, mate.

You know what worries me? How do I make a final report about all this?

What worries me is how final can it be?

Hey!

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2007

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