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The Day of the Dog · Classic Short Science Fiction Stories

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Section nineteen of twenty short science fiction stories by various authors.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Day
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: of the Dog by Anderson Horn They came home from
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: a strange journey and heroes they might have been a
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: little dog and a man. Carol stared glumly at the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: ship to shore transmitter. I hate being out here in
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the middle of the Caribbean with no radio communication. Can't
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: you fix it? This is a year for sun spots,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: and transmission usually gets impossible round dusk. Bill explained, it
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: will be all right in the morning. If you want
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: to listen to the radio, you can use the portable
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: radio directional finder that always works. I want to catch
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the five o'clock news and hear the latest on our satellite,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Carol replied. She went to the RDF and switched it
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: on to the standard broadcast channel. Anyhow, now I'd feel
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: better if we could put out a signal. The way
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: we're limping along with the water in our gas is
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: no fun. It will take us twenty hours to get
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: back to Nassau. The way we're losing our PMS. Bill
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Anderson looked at his young, pretty wife and smiled, you're
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: behaving like a tenderfoot. We have plenty of gas, a
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: good boat in perfect weather. Tomorrow morning I'll clean out
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: our carburetors and will pick up speed. Meantime, we're about
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: to enter one of the prettiest harbors in the Bahamas.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Throw over anchor the rdf dround him out. The world
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: is anxiously awaiting the return of the chamber from the
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: world's first man's satellite, launched by the United States ten
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: days ago. The world also awaits the answers to two questions.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Is there any chance that Robert Joy, the volunteer scientist
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: who went up in the satellite, is still living. There
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: seems to be little hope for survival since radio community
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: medicasion from him stopped three days ago. Timing mechanism for
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: the ejection of Joy are set for tonight. And that's
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: the second question. Will the satellite, still in its orbit,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: eject the chamber containing Joy, Will it eject the chambers scheduled?
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: And will the chamber arrive at Earth at the designated place.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: There are so many ifs to this project, which is
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: shrouded in secrecy. The President himself has assured us of
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: a free flow of news once the chamber has been recovered,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: and this station will be standing by to bring you
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: a full report. Carol switched the radio off. Do you
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: think he's still alive? She suppressed a shudder. God, think
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: of a human being up there in that thing. Well,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: the dog lived for several days. It was just a
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: question of getting it back, which the Russians couldn't do.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: I don't know about joy. He sounded real, cheerful and
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: healthy until his broadcast stopped. Bill peered into the fading twilight.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Come on, now, let's put our minds to getting the
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: hook over. They concentrated on the tricky entrance to the
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: lee side of Little Harbor Key. It meant finding and
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: passing a treacherous coral head north of the joining frozen Key.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Little Harbor Key was midway in the chain of the
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Berry Islands, which stretched to the north like beads in
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: a necklace. There's the cove called Carol. About a mile
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: of coastline ahead was the small native settlement. Once the
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: center of a thriving sponge industry, the island was now
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: practically deserted. A handful of cottages, a pile of conch
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: shells on the beach, and two fishing smacks gave evidence
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: of a remaining, though sparse population. Dusk was rapidly approaching,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: and Carol strained her eyes against the failing light. Bill
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: heard her call his name and saw her pointing not
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: ahead to their anchorage, but amidships and toward the sky.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: He turned his eyes to where she was indicating and
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: saw a dollish object in the sky some thousand feet up.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: The object seemed to be falling leisurely towards earth. What
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: in the world is that, asked Bill. It's not a bird,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: that's for sure. The object seemed to be parachuting, not
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: free falling. The breezes were blowing it towards the island.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Before they could study it further, it was lost in
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the lowering dusk and darkness of the shoreline. Looks like
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: a ball on a parachute. Bill finally said, however, the
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: business at hand was to make secure the seven seas,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: and together they spent the next quarter hour anchoring. After
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: setting the hook securely, Carol and Billed on swimsuits, dove
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: overboard and swam lazily the three hundred yards into shore.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Let's try to find that thing we saw. It shouldn't
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: be too far from here, said Carroll. The moment they
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: hit the beach, they climbed inland. On the rocky Island,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: little green lizards scooted underfoot, and vine scratched at their ankles.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Bill was leading when suddenly he called Carrol, I see
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: something up ahead. There's something lying on the ground. He
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: hurried toward what he had seen. The dying sun reflected
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: on a luminescent bolt of cloth somewhat like a spun
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: aluminum fabric. Thin wires were entangling in it, and about
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: ten feet away lay three fragments of what appeared to
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: have been a dull metal box. Carroll knelt at the
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: closest piece, evidently a corner of the box. It was
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: lined with wiring and tubes. It looks like electronic equipment,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: decided Carroll. Peering intently at the strange piece. Bill had
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: approached the second and largest fragment. He carefully turned it over.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: It was filled with black and yellow fur. Oh no,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: he cried, knowing in a flash, yet denying it in
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: his mind at the same time. Stunned, he stared at
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: the perky ears, the doll staring and unseen eyes, the
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: leather thongs that held the head and body of a
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: dog to the middle encasement. Carol saw it the next instant.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: It's some horrible joke, she gasped. It couldn't be the
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: second Russian satellite. It couldn't be Mutnik. My God, No,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: it couldn't be. Bill kept staring, his thoughts racing. There
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: were rumors of an ejection chamber for Mutnik, but they
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: had been denied by the Russians. But suppose the Russians
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: had planned an ejection chamber for the dog like when
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: they launched the satellite, and had only denied it after
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: they thought it had failed. But if it had worked,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: why had it taken so long to find its way
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: to Earth. The satellite itself was supposed to have disintegrated
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: months ago. Damn, thought Bill. I wish I were a
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: scientist right now instead of a know nothing artist. He
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: touched the dog with his toe. It was perfectly preserved,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: as though it had died just a few hours before.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: It was rigid, but it had not started to decompose. Carol,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: are we crazy? Is this some dream? Or do you
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: believe we're looking at the ejection chamber of the Russian satellite?
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: He asked, doubting even what he was saying, I don't know.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Carol was wide eyed. But what shall we do now?
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: We'd better contact the authorities immediately. Bill tried to keep
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: reason from overcoming his disbelief of their discovery. But how Carol,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: our radio transmitter isn't working. It won't till morning, and
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: there's certainly no other way to communicate with anyone. We
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: can't even take the boat anywhere with the speed we're making. Well,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: you have to wait till morning. What shall we do
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: with the dog, asked Carroll. Do you think we ought
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: to bury it? Lord? No, Carol, the body of the
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: dog will be extremely valuable to science. We've got to
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: get someone here as quickly as possible. Bill was trying
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: to steady his nerves. Let's go back and try to
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: raise someone on the radio. Let's try again. It may work,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: called Carol, running in the direction of the boat, Bill
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: followed her. They stumbled on the craggy rocks and exposed
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: sea grape roots, but together, in the darkness, they struck
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: out for the boat. Bill was first on board and
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: went directly to the ship to shore radio try the
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Nassaumarine operator. First. Carol panted as she clambered aboard. He's
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: a lot closer to us than Miami. As the receiver
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: warmed up, static filled the cabin. Bill depressed the transmitting button.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: This is Yacht seven Seas calling the Nassau Marine Operator.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: He called into the phone. Only static answered Bill. Carol said,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: in sudden inspiration, give a may Day. Try every channel
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: with a may day. If anyone picks up a mayday call,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: you'll get emergency action. May day, may day, This is
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: the yacht seven Seas, Come in anyone. Bill called urgently
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: into the mouthpiece. He switched to the Coastguard channel, then
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: to the Miami Marine Operator's channel. Only static filled the cabin.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: No welcome voice acknowledged their distress call. Bill flipped the
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: switch desperately to the two ship to ship channels. May
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: day come in any boat. Still static, nothing but static.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: It was night, a night without a moon. The island
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: loomed dark against the black waters. The dark was relieved
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: only by a small fire burning at the native's settlement
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: a half mile down the coast, and the cabin lights
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: of the Seven Seas. What will we do now? Carol
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: tried to sound unconcerned, but her voice sounded thin and wavering.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: I don't know what we can do except wait until
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: tay break. I'm sure we can get a signal out, then,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Bill replied, calmly as he could. He hoped she wouldn't
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: hear the pounding of his heart. What about the dog,
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: she asked? Will it be all right there? Should we
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: bring it aboard? We better leave everything untouched. Our best
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: bed is to get some sleep and place our call
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: as soon as daybreaks. Neither of them could eat much supper,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: and after putting the dishes away, they made up their
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: bunks and climbed in. After a very few minutes, Bill
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: hand a delighted cigarette across the narrow chasm between the bunks.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: I can't sleep. My head is spinning. Do you really
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: believe that's what we've found? Carol's voice sounded small, Yes,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: I do. I believe we've found the Russian ejection unit,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: complete with a dog, leika and instrumentation. They lay quietly
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: the glow of two cigarettes, occasionally reflecting on the bulkhead.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Bill finally arose, I can't think of another thing, but
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: what's sitting out there on little harbor key. He walked
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: up to the main cabin and switched on the RDF
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: for a few minutes, there was music and then flash.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: The United States government has just officially released the news
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: that at ten o nine p m. Eastern Standard time,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: the US satellite ejection chamber was successfully returned to Earth
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: at the designated location. This was some six hours earlier
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: than expected. The chamber into which Robert Joy volunteerly had
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: himself strapped, has landed at an undisclosed site and is
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: being raced under heavy guard to the Walter Reed Hospital
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: at Washington, d C. There is no hope that Joy
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: is still living. Word has just been released by doctor
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: James R. Killian that instruments measuring Joy's pulse rate indicated
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: three days ago that all Joy's bodily processes cease to function.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: At that time. We repeat all hope of the survival
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: of Robert Joy is now abandoned as the result of
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: scientific data just released by doctor Killian. The satellite is
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: being brought intact to Walter Reed Hospital and leading physiologists
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: and scientists are racing to the scene to be on
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: hand for the opening of the unit scheduled for six
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: a m. Tomorrow morning. Further reports will be given as received.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: This station will remain on the air all night, Stay
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: tuned for further developments. We repeat the U S satellite's
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: ejection chamber, containing the first human being ever to go
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: into space, has been successfully returned to Earth as predicted,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: though all hope has been abandoned for their survival of
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Robbert Joy, the man in the Moon, The chamber will
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: be open for scientific study tomorrow morning. Stay tuned for
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: further news. Bill turned down the music that ensued and
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: returned to his bunk. You heard that, Carol, He knew
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: she wasn't asleep. Yes, and it makes this whole thing
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: that we've found seem more plausible. I've been lying here
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: trying to make myself believe it's some sort of dream,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: but it isn't. If we could only Carol's voice faded
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: softly into the night, there was absolutely nothing. They could
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: do nothing but lie there and smoke and pretend to sleep.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: They didn't talk much, and keenly felt the terrible frustration
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: of their enforced silence. On the ship to shore, they
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: heard several more news reports and several analyzes of the news,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: but nothing new was added Throughout the night. The radio
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: only reiterated that the ejection unit had been recovered, that
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Hope had faded for Joy's survival, and that the chamber
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: was to be opened in the morning as soon as
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: signed US had convened in Washington. Dawn long in coming
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: broke about four thirty with the lifting dark. The sun
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: spots which interfered with the radio reception miraculously lifted. Also.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Bill and Carroll sat next to the ship to shore
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: and turned it on. This time they heard the reassuring
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: hum of the transmitter, not drowned out by the awful
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: static of the night before. Bill switched to the Coast
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Guard channel may Day, May day, this is seven Seas
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: calling the United States Coast Guard. Come in please, and
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: a voice almost miraculously answered, this is the US Coast Guard.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Come in seven seas. What is your position? Come in
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: seven Seas. This is the yacht seven Seas. Back to
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: the Coast Guard. We are located at the Berry Islands
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: at Little Harbor, Key. We want to report the discovery
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: of what we believe to be the second Russian satellite.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: This is the Coastguard to the Seven Seas. Do we
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: read you correctly? Are you reporting discovery of the Russian satellite?
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Please clarify over a stern voice crackled through the speaker
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: last evening. On entering the harbor, here we saw an
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: object fall to the ground. On inspection, it was a
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: metal box which was broken apart on impact. In it
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: our electronic equipment and the body of a small dog. Over.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Bill tried to be calm and succinct. Coast Guard to
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: seven Seas, Is your boat in distress? Over? No, no,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: did you read me about the Russian satellite? Asked Bill
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: impatience in his voice. Will you state your name and address?
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: Will you state the master's full name and the call
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: letters and registration of your craft? Over crackled the voice
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: from the speaker. Oh my lord, We're not going to
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: have read tes ape at a time like this, are we,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Carol asked exasperatedly. This is Bill Anderson of Fort Lauderdale,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: owner and skipper. Our call letters are William George three
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: one seven six, Coast Guard registration number two three five
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: four six five four eight three. What are your instructions
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: regarding dog satellite? Please stand by. Bill and Carroll stared
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: at each other while the voice on the radio was silent.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: This is the United States Coast Guard calling the yacht
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: seven Seas. Seven Seas standing by. We wish to remind
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: you that it is illegal and punishable by a fine
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: or imprisonment to issue false reports to the coast Guard.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: We are investigating your report and wish you to stand
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: by investigating our report. Bill fairly shouted into the phone.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Good god man, the thing to investigate is here, lying
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: in three pieces on the middle of Little Harbor. Key.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: This is no joke. Despite the emotion in Bill's voice,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: the answer came back, routine and cold. Please stand by.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: We will call you. Do not, we repeat, do not
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: make further contact anywhere. Please stand by. Coastguard standing by
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: with seven seas. Seven seas standing by, shouted Bill, almost apoplectic,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: his face reddening in anger. Now what it looks like
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: they're going to take their time in believing us, at
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: least until they find out who we are and if
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: we're really here, said Carroll. Bill paced the deck in frustration.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Suddenly he decided, Carol, you stick with the radio. I'm
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: going ashore again and take another look at our mutneck.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: It seems so incredible. I'm not even sure of what
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: I saw last night. Once they believe us, they'll want
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: to know as much about it as we can tell them.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: Bill hurriedly put on his swimsuit and heard Carroll shout
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: as he dove overboard. Hurry back, Bill, I don't like
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: you leaving me here alone. Bill swam with shore even
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: strokes to the shore where they had gone last night.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: The water felt cool. It soothed his nerves, which jangled
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: in the excitement of the discovery and in the anger
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: of the disbelieving authorities. He reached shallow water and waded
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: towards the shore. Suddenly he stopped dead, his ankles in
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: five inches of water. His eyes stared ahead in disbelief.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: His brain was numbed. Only his eyes were alive, staring
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: wide in horror. Finally, his brain pieced together at the
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: image that his vision sent to It pieced it together,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: but made no comprehension of it. His brain told him
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: that there was a blanket of fur lying unevenly twenty
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: feet back from the shoreline. A blanket of yellow and
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: black fur covering the earth, covering mangrove roots, fitted neatly
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: around the bent palm tree trunks, lying over the rocks
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: that had cut his feet last night, smothering, suffocating, hugging
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: the earth. Bill shut his eyes and still the vision
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: kept shooting to his brain, all yellow and black and fuzzy,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: with trees or tall mangrove bush or sea grape vine
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: sticking up here and there. He opened his eyes and
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: wanted to run, for the scene was still there. It
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: hadn't disappeared as a nightmare disappears when you wake up.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Thick yellow and black fur lay on the ground like
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: dirty snow, covering everything, low, hugging the base of taller things, Run,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: his mind told him. Yet he stood rooted to the spot,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: staring at the carpet of fur near him. It was
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: only ten feet away, ten feet His every muscle jumped.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: The lock that had held his muscles and brain in
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: a tight vise gave loose, and a flood of realization
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: hit him. It's moving, he realized, in horror. It's growing.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: As he watched, slowly, slowly, as the petals of a
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: morning glory unfold before the eye, the yellow and black
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: fur carpet stretched itself in ever increasing perimeter. Saw it
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: approach a rock near the beach. The mind, when confronted
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: with a huge shock, somehow concentrates itself on a small detail.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Perhaps it tries to absorb itself in a small thing,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: because the whole thing is too great to comprehend all
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: at once. So with Bill's mind, he saw the yellow
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: and black fur grow toward the rock. It seemed to
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: ooze around it, and then up and over the top
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: of it. Bill saw, when it reached the top of
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: the rock that it dropped a spiny tendril into the ground,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: like a root. The tendril buried itself into the earth
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: below the jutting rock, and slowly the rock was covered
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: with the growing fur. Bill's thoughts sped ahead of his reason.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: The dog, the dog growing like a plant, its hide
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: covering the ground, putting out roots, suffocating everything, smothering everything, growing, growing,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: with almost superhuman effort. He turned his back on the
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: awful side and swam desperately out to the Seven Seas. Bill.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: What's happened? Cried Carol when she saw his white and
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: terrified face. Carol, the dog. It must have had some
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: cosmic reaction to its cellular structure, some cancerous reaction. When
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: the chamber broke open and the cells were exposed to
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: our atmosphere again, it started some action, started to grow.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: Doesn't stop growing. It's horrible. Bill's words were disjointed and hysterical.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: Carol stared at him, Bill, what are you saying? Bill
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: pointed mutely to the shore. Carol rushed to the cockpit.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: She stared at the island. She ran back to the
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: cabin where Bill was sitting, holding his head in his hands.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: She grabbed the binoculars from the bookshelf and turned them
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: to the island. Bill, it's oh no, the whole island
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: looks as though it's covered with fur, she screamed. Bill
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: grabbed the binoculars and ranged the island with them. A
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: quarter of a mile down, he could see small figures
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: in the water, floundering around, climbing aboard the two fishing smacks.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: All around the black and yellow mounds of fur carpeted
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: the pretty green island with the soft rug of yellow
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: and black. Get the coastguard, Carol, They called back while
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: you were gone. They're sending a plane over immediately, all
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: them Carroll, Bill shouted at her. Don't you realize what
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: this could mean? Don't you realize that something only God
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: knows what has happened to the cellular structure of this
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: animal has turned it into a voracious plant like thing
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: that seems to grow and grow once it hits our atmosphere.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Don't you realize that today they're going to open that satellite,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: that other one in Washington. Suppose this is what happens
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: when living tissue is exposed to cos me, craze or
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: whatever's up there. Don't you see what could happen? Bill
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: was hoarse from fright and shouting, smother, everything grow and
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: grow and smother. Carol was at the ship to shore.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: What time is it, Carol, I don't know. Five thirty.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: I guess they plan to open the ejection chamber at six.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: We've got to tell them what happened here before they
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: open it. Hurry with the damned coastguard. May day, may day, Coastguard,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: come in. This is the seven Seas. Come in and hurry,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: coast Guard to the seven Seas, come in. Bill grabbed
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: the phone. Listen carefully, he said, in a quiet, determined voice.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: This is God's own truth. I repeat, this is God's
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: own truth. The remains of the dog we discovered last
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: night have started to grow. It's growing as we look
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: at it. It has covered the entire island as far
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: as we can see, with fur, stinking yellow and black fur.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: We've got to get word to Washington before they open
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: up the satellite. The same thing could happen there. Do
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: you understand I must get in touch with Washington immediately.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: There was no mistaking the urgency and near panic in
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Bill's voice. The coast guard returned with we understand you,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: seven seas. We will clear a line directly to doctor
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Killian in Washington. Stand by. With his hand shaking, Bill
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: turned on the standard broadcast band of the portable RDF,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: A voice cut in Latest reports from Waldery General Hospital,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: where the first human man satellite ejection chamber has just
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: been opened. All leading physiologists and physicists were assembled at
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: the hospital by midnight last night, and plans to open
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: the ejection chamber at six a m. This morning were
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: moved up. The chamber was opened at four a m.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Eastern Standard time to day. Our first report confirmed that
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: volunteer moon traveler the Man in the Moon, Robert Joy,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: was no longer alive. Hope had been abandoned for him
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: some eighty hours previous when recording instruments on his body.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: Processes indicated no reactions of scientific curiosity, as the fact
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: that though dead for more than three days, his body
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: is in a perfect state of preservation Flash. We interrupt
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: this special newscast for a late bulletin the body of
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Robert Joy has begun to shoot out unexplained appendages like
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: rapidly growing cancerous growths. His intakeumen appears to be enlarging,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: growing away from his body. Hello, seven seas broke in
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: the ship to shore. We are still trying to locate
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: doctor Killian. End of section nineteen five