From time immemorial,
the Earth has been bombarded
by objects from outer space.
Bits and pieces
of the universe,
piercing our atmosphere in
an invasion that never ends.
Meteors, the shooting stars
on which so many
earthly wishes have been born.
Of the thousands
that plummet toward us,
the greater part
are destroyed in a fiery flash
as they strike the layers
of air that encircle us.
Only a small percentage
survives.
Most of these fall into the water,
which covers two-thirds of our world.
But from time to time,
from the beginning of time,
a very few meteors have struck the
crust of the Earth and formed craters.
Craters of all sizes,
sought after and poured over
by scientists of all nations
for the priceless knowledge
buried within them.
In every moment of every day,
they come,
from planets
belonging to stars
whose dying light
is too far away to be seen.
From infinity they come.
Meteors.
Another strange calling card from
the limitless reaches of space.
Its substance unknown,
its secrets unexplored,
the meteor lies dormant
in the night, waiting.
Ben?
Who's that? Mr. Cochrane?
Yeah.
Come on in.
Looking for Dave?
Mmm-hmm.
Haven't seen him around
in a couple of days.
Is everything all right? Sure.
He had to go to Bakersfield, that's
all. He'll be back tomorrow sometime.
Weird, isn't it?
What's it called?
Beats me. I haven't even
figured out what the stuff is.
Where'd it come from?
The old San Angelo Road.
There's a whole flock
of it out there.
Lava, maybe?
No, it's a solid.
You can see strata,
if you look closely.
They must've skipped
this one in college.
Well, either that, or you slept
through one class too many.
Yeah, it'll probably turn out
to be an ordinary aggregate,
something simple
I'm unfamiliar with.
Still, somehow, it just doesn't
seem to belong, you know?
The desert's full of
things that don't belong.
Take the salt flats out there,
used to be an ocean bed.
Now, that ocean knew
that the middle of the desert
was a pretty silly place for it to
be, so it just dried up and went away.
But if it hadn't
been there once,
there wouldn't be
a salt mine out there now.
Without that, there probably
wouldn't even be a town.
Then there's me.
You?
I don't belong here either.
I never did.
San Angelo needs a newspaper like that
desert needs another bucket of sand.
Now, I ask you,
what good is a newspaperman
in a place like this, when nothing
ever happens worth writing about?
Say,
maybe I ought to be a geologist
like you and Dave, huh?
I've been stuck here
among rocks so long,
all I'd need is a refresher
course and I bet I'd be all right.
No, you stick
to your newspaper.
Who knows? Maybe I've just
discovered something new here.
And you can write a
world-shattering article about it.
I doubt if there's
even anything new, Ben.
A few things we haven't understood
yet, but nothing that's really new.
Morning.
Ben.
Hey, Ben.
Hi, this is Dave Miller. Is
Miss Barrett still at school?
She took the kids where?
The desert?
Isn't she afraid they'll roast
out there on a day like this?
No, I'll call her at home.
Thanks.
Ben!
Ben.
Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
What is this, a field
trip or a riot? Goodness.
That's better.
Now, I want you all
to remember
not to touch anything
that you don't recognize,
and I don't want anyone
wandering too far from the car.
Do you understand?
Mmm-hmm.
Okay, explode.
Find something, Ginny?
Lizards.
Do they live there
together, Miss Barrett?
Well, why don't you ask them?
Maybe they're husband and wife.
Lizards don't get married,
do they?
Well, maybe not the same way
that people do.
Maybe they just like to be
together, like you and Mr. Miller.
Well, yes, I suppose so.
Why don't you
and Mr. Miller get married?
Why, Ginny!
Well, gee, you love him, don't you?
Whatever gave you
such an idea?
The way you look at him when
he stops for you at school.
Mother looks at Daddy
like that and she loves him.
You don't miss much, do you?
I like Mr. Miller.
Well, confidentially, so do I.
Miss Barrett.
Bye.
Bye!
Bye, Miss Barrett.
Bye, Ginny.
Thanks, Miss Barrett.
Hello, Mrs. Simpson.
Hi.
Hi, yourself. Have fun?
Uh-huh. Miss Barrett taught us
all about the irrigation dam,
and the San Angelo Canyon,
and we saw some lizards...
Whoa there! What's this?
It's from the desert.
That's where it stays.
Outside.
Mom, it's a souvenir.
Well, I can live without dirty old
souvenirs messing up my clean house.
Oh, Mom.
And your hands could stand
a good washing off.
Hurry up, now.
Supper's almost on the table.
Okay.
Ginny, we're waiting.
Just a sec, Mom.
Young lady, get in here
right now. Yes, ma'am.
I've never known an autopsy
to take this long before.
Dan, I've just called the
Medical Research Institute.
I'm shipping Ben's body
to them in the morning.
Why, Doc?
They might be able to tell us
what happened to him. I can't.
At first I thought it
could have been scleroderma,
an extreme hardening
of the skin.
But his entire body, organs,
skin, muscle tissue, everything,
he's been welded
into a solid mass.
Doc, you must have
found something.
That'd lead me to the cause?
Yes.
Not a thing, David.
There's nothing to go on.
It's not as if he'd been ill,
shown symptoms...
An intern with wet ears could've
told you as much as I been able to.
It'll take a specialist
to tell you any more.
I'm sorry.
What am I supposed to print?
Well, you can't print
anything. Not about this.
Can't print?
Look, I was a friend
of Ben's, too.
I'm just as sorry this
happened to him as anybody.
But I'm a newspaperman
and this is news.
All right, go ahead. And just what
do you think you can say about it?
"Local geologist
turns to rock.
"Autopsy fails
to turn up reason. "
You'd have the whole town
in a panic,
thinking some horrible disease
is running loose.
It's a funny thing.
Last time I saw Ben, he was kidding
about making a new discovery,
so I'd have
something to print.
Well, he came up with a story,
all right.
But if I print it, I get run
out of town for inciting a riot.
Or maybe for writing a crackpot
yarn nobody'd believe anyway.
I think there's more to this than just Ben.
What do you mean? The
condition the lab was in.
Something tore it to pieces,
almost wrecked it.
An explosion, wasn't it?
Well, if so, it had nothing
to do with Ben's death.
There weren't any flash burns
on the body,
no signs of exposure
to a blast of any kind.
It may have happened before,
Dave, or even afterwards.
I don't think it was an
explosion. What are you getting at?
This stuff. It was all over the wreckage.
But I don't know what it is.
Well, that's the rock I told
you Ben brought in yesterday.
Or one like it.
You told us one piece.
Yeah.
Wait a minute. The lab's covered with
it. There must be hundreds of pounds.
How'd it get there?
May I see that?
Today out in the desert,
one of my children picked up
some of this on our field trip.
Ginny, Ginny Simpson.
She had it with her in the car
on the way back.
I remember thinking
how strange it looked.
Are you sure
it's the same rock?
It looked the same.
Then she'd have it at home now,
wouldn't she?
Yes.
Look, I'm not saying it does,
but if Ben's death and the rock
had something to do with each other,
and now the little girl's
got some...
We don't know any such thing.
Might not even be
the same rock at all.
I hope it isn't.
But we'll never find out
until we go see for ourselves.
"Simpson," you said?
Isn't that the family out
past Pour Corners? Yeah.
You're going out there
at this time of night?
I think we'd better.
Dave.
Dave, I don't like
what you're thinking.
I'm not thinking a thing.
Just want an excuse to take you
for a nice, long ride, that's all.
Well, that's the first pleasant
idea I've heard this evening.
Come on.
Ginny.
Ginny.
Ginny. Oh, Ginny, darling.
Ginny?
Just like Ben.
Their bodies
have turned to stone.
I'd better stay put.
You'll need this.
Thanks. Oh, and Dave...
Pretty deep in shock,
isn't she?
Well, that much is normal,
but... High temperature?
A child her age gets a fever
at the slightest provocation,
but her temperature's
subnormal.
Sometimes shock can
almost be a merciful thing.
Martin.
Hmm?
What's the trouble?
This.
There's a negative cleavage
on every mineral in there.
Negative cleavage?
Yeah. See for yourself.
Not one positive extinction
point in the whole thing.
Well, yeah.
I guess.
And look at this, I made a breakdown
of the rock we found here in the lab.
With the exception
of a trace of iron phosphate,
not enough to mention,
they're all silicates.
Chert, feldspar, pyroxene,
almost all of the olivine group,
flint, almost solid silica.
Little bits of it slapped together in
such a way that it shouldn't even exist.
What do you think?
Well, I think it...
I think I better stick
to the newspaper business.
What?
I'll need more than just
a refresher course
before I even know
what you're talking about.
Oh, I'm sorry. It doesn't
make much sense to me, either.
Let's see how the Simpson
rock compares with it.
Identical.
The two specimens
are exactly the same.
I don't know.
Ben brings home
a sample and it multiplies.
Ginny Simpson picks up a piece
and there's tons of it.
Ordinary silica, the most
common material you can find,
and yet everywhere this
stuff goes, somebody dies.
The trouble is, we don't even know who
else might have picked up a piece of it.
Tourists, maybe.
Why, they could carry it
to every part of the country.
Yeah.
Well, at the rate this stuff
spreads destruction, Martin,
when you write your story, there
may not be anybody around to read it.
Probably won't print it,
anyway.
Couldn't spell the words.
Yeah?
Dave, this is Dr. Reynolds.
Yes, Doctor? Dave, I
want you to do something for me.
Find someone who can make
a fast trip to Los Angeles
I want to get Ginny to the
California Medical Research Institute.
Ginny? Is she worse?
Yes.
I've made arrangements with a young
specialist there, Dr. Hendricks.
He'll take over.
Okay. I'll take her myself.
Good. When can you leave?
Right away.
Then get on over here.
Wait a minute. How bad is it?
Her hand has turned to stone
and it's spreading.
Ginny has to reach that
hospital as quickly as possible.
It's her one chance
to survive.
Dr. Hendricks is ready for you
in the examining room.
You can see how the pectoral
muscles became paralyzed.
The disease merely
followed the main arteries,
through the arms
into the upper chest cavity.
Well, will it keep spreading
until her whole body's affected?
Unless we can slow it down.
Can you?
We're asking you to save her life,
Doctor. That's why we brought her here.
Miss Barrett, I can't cope with
something I don't even understand.
Then what are you going to do? Cathy!
He won't know himself until he
finds out what he's fighting.
But, Dave, Ginny's dying.
We're trying to avoid that.
Pinpoint the reason
in time to save her.
Is that the rock?
Thought I'd take it across the
way in the morning, to the college.
There's an old professor
of mine there, Flanders.
He might make some sense out
of all this. Get him out of bed.
Take it to him, now.
Incredible.
As if someone tossed all the
silicates into a single wastebasket.
Some wastebasket.
What beats me
is it's completely unknown.
Nothing like it's
been recorded in there.
That could be the answer.
What?
What if it's never been recorded
because it hasn't been here to record?
What do you mean?
It's a meteorite, I think.
You're kidding!
Why not, Dave?
Lts contents tally exactly with the
makeup of an aerolite stony-iron meteorite
composed entirely
of silicates.
It couldn't be a meteorite. We
didn't find just this one rock.
There's a ton of that stuff
in my lab, hundreds of pieces.
And the Simpson ranch
is covered with it.
We can't expect to solve
all of its mysteries at once.
Professor!
All I want to know is how
to keep it from multiplying.
It's killed or injured everyone
who's come in contact with it,
and that kid's gonna die if
we don't give them an answer!
Dave.
If it is a meteorite,
chances are it's been hurtling around
our universe for a good many centuries.
The answer to your question
lies buried in those centuries.
We'll just have to dig it out.
I'm sorry.
It'll break Cathy's heart if
anything happens to that little girl.
Where do we start?
The places it happened,
your lab and
the Simpson ranch.
I want to go out there
with you to see them,
then let's try to locate that
parent meteor, if there is one.
When can you leave?
I'm all packed.
What is it, honey?
Dr. Hendricks says
another eight hours,
maybe.
And maybe not?
Maybe not.
She's different
from the others, Dave.
Kind of special.
You want to stay with her?
Let me know the minute there's
a change. Any kind of a change.
I'll call you
if we come up with anything.
You be careful, Dave, because
you're kind of special, too.
Hi, Dave.
Hi.
How was the trip?
All right.
Chief, Professor Flanders.
Chief of Police Corey.
How do you do, Professor?
Chief. Excuse me, please.
How's the Simpson kid?
She's alive, that's about all.
Anything new here?
Yeah.
We can rule out the explosion
idea. There wasn't any.
The gas tank's in one piece,
smashed, but intact.
And none of the wiring was shorted out,
so that leaves us
right where we started.
Dave.
Over here.
See any difference?
Different color.
This looks strange.
Now, look here.
You'll see a slight discoloration
around the piles of rock.
Why, yes, you do.
It's funny I didn't notice that before.
Seems to be only around
the points of contact,
always near where
the rock has multiplied.
Yeah.
Now, look at the difference,
Dave. More than just the color.
This... It looks
lifeless.
Yes.
Yes, it does.
It's got the same
look to it as the wreckage.
It should.
Both of them were caused by
multiplication of siliceous rock.
Granted, but something just out of the
earth looking so much like wrecked furniture?
What could they
have in common?
They lack something
in common. Silica.
They lack silica?
Yeah.
The dirt sample is ordinary
earth, but nothing more.
The wreckage is exactly what it
should be, wood, plaster, metal,
but the silica content
in both is missing.
There's not a sign of it.
That could be the answer.
We know the siliceous
rock does multiply.
Perhaps a part of the process
is the absorption of silica,
taking it right out of whatever
it comes into contact with,
be it desert, or wood, or...
Human beings?
I didn't know there was such a
thing as silica in the human body.
It's called silicon.
It's a trace element, like iron, copper,
aluminum, only there's much less of it.
Doctor,
if the silicon content in a
person were suddenly to disappear?
By contact with a rock?
No matter how, what if it did?
Wait a moment.
Science never has known for sure
just what the function of silicon was,
but there is one theory
that silicon is what helps
make the skin flexible.
Flexible.
And take it away?
Ginny! Doctor, get word
to Hendricks. Come on!
Hey, where you going?
We've got a meteor to find.
Is this the old San Angelo
Road that Cathy spoke of?
Yeah. She said it was about
Hadn't we better slow down a little? Yeah.
There. That must be it.
Look.
They're the same fragments,
all right.
Then the meteor
can't be far off.
Think of the knowledge
buried down there.
There's only one thing
I want to know from that,
what makes it multiply?
What starts it?
You've got to remember, David,
when this hit our atmosphere,
it burned at such
a fantastic temperature
that its metal-bearing compounds
could have been altered,
left ready
to activate, to grow.
No telling what went on
inside of it.
It's been gathering the
secrets of time and space
for billions of years.
Billions of years.
And how long have we got to
unlock its most important secret?
Three hours? Or three minutes?
Are you going to
make some tests first, Doctor?
If we took the time to
determine Ginny's silicon level,
the whole question
would be academic.
I'm sorry, Miss Barrett.
I didn't mean to be so blunt.
Please try to understand that
anything medical science could do
under the circumstances for Ginny
would have to be experimental.
On the other hand, Dr.
Reynolds' report from San Angelo
did coincide exactly with what we've
learned from our autopsy on Ben Gilbert,
that somehow that rock had
robbed his entire body of silicon.
That means only one thing.
We've got to try synthetically
to replenish that element in Ginny's
body and arrest the solidifying action.
I know you're doing
the best you can, Doctor.
It does everything but grow.
Not heat, not electricity,
not the simplest catalysts.
And yet, it has to be
something simple.
Something present both here
and at the Simpson ranch.
Maybe it was something
somebody did.
Well, as long as this stuff is left
alone in the desert, nothing happens.
It's dormant.
It's only after somebody's picked
up a chunk of it that it activates.
But we've handled it.
Apparently not
in the right way.
No, it has to be something
Ben and Ginny did to it.
Well, no telling how Ben
experimented on it.
What could he have done in the laboratory
that Ginny could also have done at home?
What would a little girl do
with a rock souvenir
she picked up in the desert?
Professor.
Thank you, Dave.
I'm sorry, Dave, I guess this is
beginning to get on my nerves a little.
It's probably just my
strong coffee, Professor.
I'll make some fresh.
You know, this coffee I brew is responsible
for my prolonged bachelor status.
Oh?
Uh-huh.
Cathy tried a cup of it once.
She said anybody who drank
mud like this all day long
has just got to be
too grouchy to live with.
Give me your cup. I'll rinse
out the mud. Thanks, Dave.
Professor...
It was only a little chip.
But what made it grow?
What happened to it?
It slipped into the sink.
That's all.
No, something started it.
Something we did.
You poured coffee in the sink.
Coffee?
Coffee.
Coffee is nothing
but flavored water.
And when there's
no more water, it stops.
But as long as there is water,
it'll multiply again and again.
Water. A simple thing like...
Professor,
the meteor!
Stop the car.
The engine.
Incredible.
Professor, they're gonna follow this
natural slope right down the canyon.
They'll go straight through San Angelo.
Evacuate? The entire town?
Chief, those rocks are gonna
come crashing through here
like an avalanche
over an anthill.
There won't be
a living thing left.
You won't even be able to
tell where San Angelo was.
When they're no longer confined
within the walls of the canyon,
when they break out
onto the open valley floor,
their rate of multiplication
is going to be frightening.
You mean they'll grow
even faster?
Each one that shatters
will make 100 more.
When that 100 shatters,
there'll be 10,000 of them.
The third cycle
will create a million.
Unless we can stop them, they'll
spread over the whole countryside.
With enough rain, there's
no boundary they can't cross.
Then it all depends on
how long it keeps raining?
That's it. We'd better find
out about that right now.
The Weather Bureau
in Riverside's your best bet.
Right.
There's no exact forecast,
but...
Well, can't you just give us a general
idea of when the rainstorm might be over?
Well, the prevailing
nimbostratus in your area
seems to have begun to dissipate under
the influence of divergence aloft,
associated with veering winds.
Ordinarily, this would lessen
the duration of precipitation.
However,
the unstable tropical air mass
moving up from the south
combined with the polar outbreak
moving down from Canada,
could conceivably give rise to
an area of extreme cyclogenesis,
which, in turn, could
develop into... Friend?
Yes? When is the rain
going to stop?
Why,
today.
This morning.
Can you tell us how long we've
got before it starts again?
Well, there's no additional
precipitation forecast
for another 48 hours.
Thank you, very much.
Well, Professor,
do you think we can figure out
how to stop them in two days?
I'd say we have no more choice in the matter
than a student has in
avoiding one of my assignments.
I can vouch for that.
What about the evacuation?
I'd alert the people anyway.
If our time runs out, you can get
instructions to them by radio and TV.
Right. Oh, get Cochrane
to use his wire service.
They can contact all the
broadcasting stations by Teletype.
Is that you, Ethel?
This is Dan Corey.
Now get this, Ethel,
and get it straight.
Call everybody in town?
Do you realize I'm here alone?
Then get some more help.
I don't care how you do it, just do it.
Tell them to warn their
neighbors. Spread the word.
Well, at least
that's a good idea.
The way gossip travels in this town,
everybody'll hear about it in no time.
What is it I'm supposed to warn them about?
Yes, Chief!
Yes, Chief!
Right away, Chief!
Miss Barrett. Miss Barrett,
come here, quickly!
Look.
The doctor.
Get Dr. Hendricks.
...and although
the exact degree of danger
has not yet been determined,
all residents of San Angelo
are requested by Chief of
Police Dan Corey of that city,
to be fully prepared to
evacuate if it becomes necessary.
Stay tuned
to this station for...
Mommy, the TV went off.
How can I listen to what
they're saying if it went off?
Honey,
they said to stay off the phone. It's dead.
The radio, the lights,
everything's dead.
She's gonna be all right.
Breathing normally.
She's completely
out of danger.
Outside Long Distance, please.
Long Distance.
I'd like to place a
person-to-person call to San Angelo.
I'm sorry, ma'am.
I can't connect you.
What do you mean?
We've had a report of some
trouble near San Angelo.
What kind of trouble? I don't
have that information, ma'am.
It's impossible to get a call through
to that exchange at this time.
Thank you.
Dr. Hendricks,
something's wrong.
Something's wrong with the lines.
I can't get through to Dave.
Oh?
Those rocks. I've got to keep
trying. That won't do any good.
Wait a minute.
There is one way.
Operator,
get me the State Highway
Patrol, Los Angeles, please.
LAX to Car 42. Come in.
LAX to Car 42. Come in.
Car 42. Come in.
Proceed to San Angelo.
Contact a Mr. Dave Miller,
District Office of the
Department of Interior.
Roger and out.
They patched in the doctor's phone
call at the Los Angeles headquarters
and they're relaying it
through the big transmitter.
Just press the button
when you talk
and when you want him
to answer say "over. "
Dr. Hendricks,
this is Dave Miller. Over.
Dave, I wanted to get word to you as
soon as possible. Your theory worked.
Ginny's completely
out of danger. Over.
Oh, that's wonderful news,
Doctor, for a couple of reasons.
I have an idea there may be something
in that formula you used on Ginny
that would help us here.
Her reaction resulted
from contact with the rock,
so why not suppose that the same agent
is capable of controlling the rocks?
One ingredient with a common
power, if we can isolate it.
What do you think? Over.
That's an interesting idea.
Sounds logical on the surface.
It's certainly worth a try.
Here it is.
Are you ready? Over.
Just a minute.
All right, Doctor.
Go ahead.
I used a base
of silicic acid uncut, CMC,
Glucose DB and monochloroacetic
acid. That's it. Over.
Got it.
How did you suspend them?
Normal saline solution.
Say, Dave, is there any way we
can speed things up from this end?
Thank you, Doctor, but I don't see how.
Not unless you can chase rain clouds.
Say, hold on a minute, Doctor.
It looks like trouble.
Stay where you are.
I'll talk to you in a minute.
Why, it's Joe Higgins.
Chief, you got to believe me.
You're gonna think I'm
blind drunk... Rocks, Joe?
Towers of rock crashing down
and then growing up again?
Yeah, yeah!
Hundreds of them. Thousands.
They come crashing through
my farm like a, like a...
Chief, there's nothing left.
Nothing.
My livestock's all dead and...
Here, here, I'll show you.
Look at the dog. He's as
hard as a piece of granite.
Mary, what's wrong?
I'd better get Doc Reynolds.
I have it all down, Dr.
Hendricks. One injection only.
Now, what do we do
about an iron lung
to keep Mrs. Higgins alive until
the solution takes effect? Over.
Well, from what you've told me, I
can assure you she'll be all right
for three or four hours
without the lung.
And I can be there with a
portable unit long before that.
And anyway, Dr. Reynolds, I'd like to
be present, if you don't mind. Over.
You're more than welcome.
I was hoping you'd offer.
Cigarette?
No, thanks.
She's gonna be all right,
Mr. Higgins.
Dr. Reynolds is getting all the information
on how the little Simpson girl was cured.
He'll use the same
formula on your wife.
It ain't gonna
take too long, is it?
I mean, I don't aim to sit around here and
wait for those rocks to catch up with us.
You don't have to worry.
You see, we found out that without
rain the rocks stop growing.
Mister, I seen them smash the big,
main power line that runs into town.
Goes right through my place. And it
hadn't been raining for half an hour.
When they crashed into my house
and barns, it wasn't raining a drop.
No, mister, they're not stopped.
They're moving right down this valley.
You mean now?
Sure, now. Right now.
How far is your place
from town, Mr. Higgins?
Six and a half miles.
Professor, I'm going
out there and have a look.
We've got to know
how much time we do have.
That's Hendricks' formula.
I'll get started in the lab.
There isn't a chance that they
can repair the lines in time.
Martin, I've got 1,500 people
waiting for word to get out of town.
Now, how am I gonna
get that word to them?
Well, now, Dan, I wouldn't say
we're cut off, not completely.
Huh?
Come with me.
Bobby. Bobby.
Over here.
Like I started
to tell you, Dan,
I know I never have much to write about in
the Sentinel, but what little there is
always gets delivered to most
every house in town, every day.
You want me, Mr. Cochrane?
Martin, you're a genius.
Bobby, you already know
what kind of trouble we're in.
Now, we're gonna
need your help.
The first thing
I want you to do is
round up every kid in town,
boy or girl, who's got a bicycle
and be back here with them in a
half hour. I got a job for them.
Sure, Mr. Cochrane, but... But? But what?
Well, most of the guys
I know won't do it
unless I can tell them
how much they'll get paid.
Get paid?
At a time like this?
You tell them
this is police business.
You tell them the Chief of
Police wants them here right now.
Yes, sir.
I don't know, Martin.
Kids nowadays have to
get paid for everything.
Well, don't worry
about them, Dan.
When they find out what we want them to
deliver, you just watch the smoke fly.
You know what
I was thinking?
This is gonna be the most important
delivery in the Sentinel's history,
to say nothing of the
biggest circulation-getter.
And because of it, I'm gonna lose
every paying customer I've got.
Chief, you'd better come
over here right away.
What's the matter?
She just drove in, stopped, and then
passed out before she said a word.
Get her over
to the doctor.
Let's warm up that radiophone.
I want to talk to the Governor.
The Governor has declared that
a state of emergency exists
in the area surrounding
the doomed town.
The Highway Patrol has issued
a warning to all motorists
other than the evacuees to stay off
the roads leading into San Angelo.
Their patrol cars will stop anyone
who disregards this order.
Good. Let her roll, boys.
They're still activating.
They're pulling the water
out of the sand like sponges.
Well,
the rain's stopped, anyhow.
Yeah, without a continuing rainfall,
at least the growth's been retarded.
It looks like it's taken about
Still too fast.
Professor, the way I figure
it, we got seven or eight hours
and San Angelo's gonna look more
like a petrified forest than a town.
Yeah.
Dave, I know this is
an unnecessary question,
but are you positive that you wrote down all
the ingredients in Dr. Hendricks' formula?
Absolutely.
You mean none of them work? That's about it.
Our one chance is
that maybe a combination
of all the ingredients.
Yeah, yeah. Pairs, three at
a time, maybe all at once.
Well, let's try a mixture of
silicic acid and Glucose DB.
Don't be too discouraged, Dave.
Your theory's sound. I'm sure of it.
Cathy!
What're you doing here?
Well, that's a fine greeting. I
thought you'd be glad to see me.
Of course I am.
You look tired, honey.
Did you get any sleep?
Oh, don't worry about me.
Ginny's all right.
Oh, great.
She's sleeping mostly,
from exhaustion.
And I wanted
to be with you.
Well, I'm delighted you came,
Miss Barrett. We can use some help.
We sure can.
We'd better get that lung in here.
All right.
You're the husband?
Yes.
You can relax now.
We were on time.
It'd be simpler if we could just find a way
to keep the water
from getting to them.
See? The activity's
almost stopped.
Maybe this'll stop it
for good.
It doesn't make sense.
Something in that formula worked for
Hendricks. Why won't it work for us?
It has me stumped. I thought, surely if
we grouped all four ingredients together
like Dr. Hendricks did for the little
girl, we'd get a positive reaction.
So did I.
Wait a minute.
We didn't duplicate Hendricks'
formula, not completely.
You mean the saline solution?
Why not?
We've tried everything else.
But I thought you said that
was nothing but a salt solution
to hold the ingredients together.
Yeah, that's what I said.
Then it couldn't possibly
have any effect, could it?
You're absolutely right.
It's ridiculous.
But that's what they said about the
wheel when someone first thought of it.
Dave, it works.
More water.
We got to be sure.
If we had that extra day the
Weather Bureau promised us,
I'm sure we could figure a way
to stop the monoliths for good.
We're not that lucky.
But I think we can cut them
off here before they reach town.
That'd be like trying to stop a
forest fire with a traffic signal.
All right, Chief. How do
you fight a forest fire?
With a firebreak, right?
Yeah.
Well, how about
a salt break? Look here.
The natural slope of the valley floor
is bringing them right down here.
Now, if we could lay a
swath of salt right here,
making it as wide
as the monoliths are tall,
then, when they fell and
shattered, they'd just pile up,
keeping them inside
the canyon.
This'd give us
the time we need.
Theoretically,
you're right, David,
but to cover an area that
great in the time that we have,
why, I doubt if
could move that salt
over there fast enough.
I've thought about that,
Professor, but we've got to try.
Will you gain enough time
to make it worthwhile?
If we had to have
a misplaced ocean,
why couldn't it have dried
up and left its salt here
where we need it, in the first
place? Even if it were there,
it couldn't keep the monoliths from
breaking out of the valley eventually.
Why?
The dry salt in either case will
only act as a temporary barrier.
When they pile up sufficiently, some
of them are bound to go around it.
Why, they'll go crashing through that
irrigation dam like it wasn't there.
And with the flood waters
to feed them,
they'll march right on
through the reservoir canyon
and out into
the citrus area.
And once they break through to
the other side of the mountains,
there'll be
no stopping them ever.
Chief, you lived here, didn't you,
before that irrigation project was built?
Yeah, sure.
Did the water
that flowed down the wash
reach this end of the valley
before the dam was put up?
When it rained.
What're you driving at?
We're gonna
beat them to the punch.
If the monoliths get to the water
behind the dam, they'll feed on it.
But if we could drain that reservoir
first, that same water will stop them.
After it floods through the
dry lake, it'll be salt water,
which will deactivate
them completely.
Dave, I don't think the flood gates
will release the water fast enough.
How about the discharge pipes?
The discharge pipes are on
the other side of the mountain.
The dam was built by the
citrus growers over there.
Then we'll dynamite the dam.
Blow it up?
You can't do that.
It's privately owned.
Dave, you can't take on
this responsibility alone.
She's right. Besides, that's a
$6 million irrigation project...
There's no price you can put on the
destruction those things will cause
if they're not stopped here.
Get in touch with the Governor. He
might order it in the public interest.
Dave, where are you going?
We've only got
a few hours left, Dan.
Those charges have got to be set
exactly right to move all that concrete.
And we only get one chance.
The Salt Reclaiming Company
uses a lot of dynamite.
You'll find everything
you need there.
Thanks.
And what do you think, Professor?
Will it stop the monoliths?
Well, it's like another
laboratory experiment, Cathy.
In science there are no guarantees.
Hey, you can
see them from here!
Mr. Miller, there's still some men down
at the salt plant moving equipment out.
I'm supposed to warn them
before we set her off.
You better make your call now,
just to be safe.
Then keep your phone open and
stand by. I'll tell you when.
P1 calling P2.
Come in, P2.
Dave, is everything all right? So far.
One word on that car radio,
and 6 million bucks worth
of dam goes sky high.
David, from
our calculations,
we know it takes at
least a 3/ salt solution
to be effective
against monoliths.
So I did some fast figuring,
rough estimates
based on what Mr. Cochrane remembers
about the volume of water behind the dam,
and the amount of salt
that'll be in its path. And?
What are the odds?
We're going to have to be lucky. Very lucky.
Dave, the Governor is supposed to fly here
to get a firsthand look at the disaster area.
But, so far, we haven't
been able to locate him.
When he sees
what's happening here,
he's sure to give
permission to blow up the dam.
The important thing
right now
is to get out to the edge of
town where we can see something.
Chief, will you have the
patrol car stick close to us?
We'll need that radio.
Right, Dave.
Professor,
can you figure how long it'll take the
water to reach the wash after it's released?
I'll have to know
how far away it is.
Two and seven-tenths miles
from dam to city limits.
If it's dull or statistical,
I've written about it.
David, roughly three minutes
after they dynamite the dam,
the water will flood the wash.
Three minutes?
Then we've got to let them reach the wash,
and wait till they're growing
right in the middle of it.
Kind of like waiting till you
see the whites of their eyes.
Dave, the Governor
still can't be reached.
He's in his car someplace
on his way to the airport.
Officer, establish
contact with Hank.
I'm talking to the pilot
of the Governor's plane.
He said the Governor's at the airport
now and will be aboard any minute.
Get Hank! Quick!
Dave, just another minute.
We don't have another minute!
Dave Miller to Hank Jackson.
Do you read me? Over.
I read you loud and clear.
Are you ready? Over.
Ready!
Hit it! Now!
Well, let's hope the Governor
makes the right decision.
It's working.
It's working!
The salt water's stopping
them. Right in their tracks.
And the Governor had stopped
for an unscheduled meeting
with the State Engineer and
the State Disaster Director.
That's why he was so late
getting to the airport.
Never mind that. What
did he say about the dam?
Oh, he said,
"Don't blow up the dam
"unless you're absolutely
certain it'll be successful!"
Martin, you always called that dry
lake Mother Nature's worst mistake.
Looks like now she knew
what she was doing, huh?