"This is the salton sea in Southern California." "A strange phenomenon, in which nature has placed 400 square miles of salt water in the middle of an arid desert." "In the desert, near the shore of the sea, the government has established one of its most important naval research bases." "At the laboratory on the secluded south tip of the base, top-secret atomic experiments are carried out under rigid security control." "At the airfield, under the direction of the parachute test unit, planes leave on daily missions for the jump area over the salton sea, where Navy men dive in the government's continuous researching of parachutes, to meet the ever-increasing demands" "of modern flight." "On may 17, in the early afternoon, an earthquake occurred in the desert area." "Its force was strong enough to be felt at the research base, even though its epicenter was 10 miles away in the wild rock formations 350 feet below the surface of the salton sea." "However, less than 2 hours after the earthquake, the base was back to normal operating procedure." "Lt. Hollister, of the parachute test unit, was preparing to make the last-scheduled jump of the day." "Hollister was a veteran of over 300 test flights." "For him, this was to be one more routine jump." "Meanwhile, on the salton sea, crewmen Johnson and Sanders were headed out to meet lt." "Hollister." "And for them, this was to be one more routine pickup." "This is flutterboy 2-4-2 calling Navy 8-7." "You are now in sight." "Over." "Hollister now preparing to jump." "Over and out." "He's down." "Navy 8-7, this is flutterboy 2-4-2." "Over." "This is Navy 8-7." "Over." "He's in sight." "You're clear to return to the base." "Over." "Roger." "Leaving for home." "Over and out." "Flutterboy 2-4-2 calling land radio 4." "Over." "Land radio 4." "Come in." "Jumper landed safely." "He's down about 2-miles in, off the southeast tip." "That's pretty far out." "Hope this doesn't take all night." "Yeah, I'll call you back." "Where is he?" "I don't know." "He's gotta be here." "I saw him hit." "Hey, lieutenant!" "I'm going down for him." "You see him?" "No." "I'll try the other side." "Johnson?" "Johnson!" "Johnson!" "Johnson!" "Uh." "Ah!" "Ah!" "This is land radio 4 calling flutterboy 2-4-2." "Come in, please." "Land radio 4 calling flutterboy 2-4-2." "Come in." "Come in, flutterboy 2-4-2." "El centro base." "Naval intelligence, please." "Cmdr. Twillinger's office." "He's on the other line." "Okay, I'll put you on hold." "Lieutenant, I appreciate your calling, but there's nothing I can do." "He went awol, it doesn't matter what the circumstances were." "I'll have to refer the case." "Wait a minute!" "In the 1 week that I've been here," "I've had a dozen different cases come up." "I don't decide these things." "I'm an investigating officer, not a judge." "All right, I'll send you notification." "I know this guy." "He's all right." "He made a mistake, but..." "He sure did!" "Commander, Wyatt on 3." "Wyatt?" "He's our radioman at the salton sea pier." "Twillinger." "Yes, Wyatt." "How long ago?" "45 minutes." "No, I've lost radio contact." "It's not a mechanical failure at this end." "Have a boat standing by." "I'll be there in 5 minutes." "Trouble?" "The last pickup crew hasn't reported in." "We'll have to go out." "Sally, wait until I call you." "Yes, sir." "Still there, mom?" "Looks like ironheart's gonna work late again tonight." "That's right." "Shove off." "I don't see why they weren't covered for something like this." "They jump close to 20 men every day." "It's a good system, nothing goes wrong." "Something went wrong this time." "A boat off the port bow, sir." "She looks deserted." "Head up alongside." "Aye." "It's Sanders." "Check the water for the other men." "Yes, sir." "Sam." "Look at this." "What is it?" "I don't know." "You better take a sample." "Have the lab run a test." "Commander, there's something surfacing on the portside." "It's Hollister." "Like I told you, he said he'd call me back later and that was all." "That's when you lost contact?" "Yes, and I called the base." "When you talked last, was everything normal?" "Yes." "We was just kiddin', you know how you get on the phone." "That's against regulations." "Yes, sir." "Have a report in my office in the morning." "Yes, sir." "May I have that sample we took off the boat?" "Right here." "How long's that autopsy on Hollister gonna take?" "We'll have it early tomorrow." "I'll cover it for you." "Take some divers and go after Johnson in the morning." "It's too late to dive now." "Okay." "I want to take this to the lab." "It's right there." "Go through the main door and turn to your right." "I've already spoken to Dr. Rogers." "Good." "We won't need you anymore, Wyatt." "Thank you, sir." "That your new boss?" "Yeah." "Sure is an eager beaver, sir." "Yeah, that he is." "You might know I'd be making eight carbons." "I said I'm always making eight carbons when my fingers go to..." "Hello." "Is this Dr. Rogers' office?" "Yes." "I'm cmdr." "Twillinger." "I'll tell him." "I think you were notified that I was coming." "I was sorry to hear about the accident." "Young lady, you're not to discuss that with anyone." "Do you understand?" "No, of course not." "I'm Dr. Rogers, commander." "Twillinger." "Lt. Clemens said you have a substance to be analyzed." "I do." "It's in here." "Come on, let's take a look at it." "Where did you find this?" "On the boat, near the body." "Lt. Clemens told me what happened." "I'm terribly sorry." "We lost 3 men, so far." "At least, we think it's 3." "We've only recovered 2 bodies." "He said there was something unnatural about the condition of one of the bodies." "There was." "It was shriveled." "Shriveled?" "Sometimes seawater does strange things to human flesh." "In this case, I don't think so." "Would you say that the water in the sea could be radioactive?" "Commander, let me answer you in this way." "My 2 assistants do a lot of diving related to our work." "I know that." "We don't take any chances with radioactivity." "Our sea experiments had nothing to do with what happened to your men or the condition of that body." "You might be wrong." "I've found that people are always jumping to wild conclusions concerning atomic reaction." "Science fact and science fiction are not the same." "Not in the least." "Just take a few minutes." "Can you make it as fast as possible?" "It'll only take a little while, as long as I'm not interrupted." "I'll be outside." "Gail, I'm returning your child in the same condition as when I got her." "I think." "Hi, sweetie." "Hi, mommy." "Excuse me." "It's all right." "May I go look at the rabbits?" "Not today, sweetie." "Please." "Hm-mmm." "Mommy, of all those rabbits, i like grace the best." "You can't see her today." "That's okay," "I've got a ladybug to keep me company." "Gail, when will the boys be finished?" "They got tied up because of the earthquake and had to reset all the tests." "Oh." "Hey. 2 minutes." "Your wife and unborn child are starving." "A minute and a half." "What a life!" "Did I ever tell you that I detest this lab?" "That husband of mine even has "top secret" stamped in red ink in the middle of his chest." "He does. "Secret, secret, secret."" "You can't speed up science." "I guess not." "Would you like to hold my ladybug?" "Hmm?" "I said, "would you like to hold my ladybug?"" "Certainly." "It's a privilege." "Honey, don't bother him." "That's all right." "Doesn't she have pretty spots on her back?" "Yes, she has." "Commander?" "It's just a simple marine secretion, although there is something that puzzles me." "I'd like to run another series of tests on it tomorrow." "I'll call you." "I'll wait for your call." "You can get me on 254." "254?" "That's right." "My ladybug." "You forgot my ladybug!" "Maybe it's on the floor somewhere." "Don't worry about it." "Sandy, you can find another ladybug." "But I don't want another one, mommy." "I tell you what, when I get home," "I'll see if I can find her." "If I do, I'll bring her back, okay?" "Okay." "He's cute." "I guess so." "Did you mention that you were available?" "Somehow it didn't come up." "If I were you, it would have." "You're a character." "Ready to go home now?" "I guess so." "I'm leaving now, doctor." "'Night." "Excuse me." "That's okay." "Just consider me a piece of furniture." "Sandy, come here." "Look." "I've got a surprise for you." "I found her for you." "Thank you." "I'll give her a good talking to." "I wouldn't be too severe on her." "Thank you very much." "You're welcome." "Goodbye." "Goodbye." "Cmdr. Twillinger?" "That's right." "Nate brown." "How do you do?" "You know Josh Peters, sheriff's office." "We've met." "I've been with this office for 15 years, but I've never seen anything like this." "Have you, Josh?" "Afraid not." "I've seen a lot of people die in different ways." "What caused it?" "It's hard to tell." "A puncture wound, I think." "Both bodies taken from the sea were totally drained of blood and water." "What would make that happen?" "I have no idea." "The wound could've been made by any sharp object and naturally the body would bleed." "But simple bleeding wouldn't cause this." "It happened near the research lab?" "Yes." "But they say there's no connection." "Maybe." "Take a look at the microscope." "You're looking at a piece of skin." "Usually when a body is left in water, the epidermal tissues become swollen." "But this is like leather." "It doesn't even resemble human skin anymore." "Skin on a man over 100 would have 3 times the amount of moisture." "What about the other man we found on the boat?" "A stroke." "A stroke?" "There's a technical name for it, but that's what it amounts to." "I don't understand you." "What could cause a stroke in a man that young?" "In that age group, only 2 things could cause a stroke:" "Violent anger or fear." "You can rule out anger." "Hm-mmm." "In my opinion, the man you found on the boat was literally scared to death." "Do you have enough deputies to post a quarantine on all the beaches until we find out what happened out there?" "Yeah." "I'll get right on it." "Good." "Thanks again for your help." "Not at all." "You boys care for a sandwich?" "Got tuna fish and minced ham on rye." "No, thanks." "It's nice and cold." "Close the beach?" "I got 22 people staying here." "Sorry, we've got orders." "Nothing we can do." "That's swell." "So everybody should go home, is that it?" "Did you look at the temperature today?" "Yes, we know it's hot." "120 at 3:00." "So nobody swims." "What's wrong with the water?" "We got a bulletin, Mr. Davis." "That's all we know!" "Okay." "Dr. Rogers' office." "Yes, commander." "Just a moment." "Dr. Rogers, cmdr." "Twillinger on line 1." "Yes, commander." "Yes, we're working on it." "We hope to have something, late today or tomorrow." "Tomorrow!" "Look, doctor, that's the only clue we've got." "I could have sent it to San Diego by now." "Hold on, commander, don't pressure us." "We don't need it." "I'll call you as soon as I finish." "I'll be in my office." "I've just been read the riot act by our friend from naval intelligence." "Don't let him bother you," "I'll give you a character reference." "I'm ready to run a geiger count on the stuff from los Alamos." "Good, go ahead." "That's strange." "Is that the stuff from the boat?" "Yes." "What's it register?" "0.15." "And your last reading on the salton sea?" "Normal, 0.034 constant." "That's odd." "This is from the same water." "Why the difference in the radioactivity?" "We'd better run a check test." "Hello, Larry." "Mrs. Simms." "Bob." "What'll it be?" "We'd like to talk about your beach." "About my beach?" "I'm going now, ma." "All right." "Jody." "Jody!" "Yes." "Who you going out with?" "You know." "I said, "who?"" "Morty." "Morty." "Sure, I might have known." "I got nothing against servicemen, but that morty's no good." "You hear that?" "I hear." "Ma, look at me." "I'm a big girl now." "Grown up." "Can't you understand that?" "You won't pay attention to me anymore." "That isn't what I mean." "I don't want to hurt you." "But there are times when I've got to use my own judgment about things." "It has to be that way." "Please try to understand." "All right." "Just you get home early." "I will." "I got a terrible headache." "I'm sorry, ma." "Goodnight." "You were saying?" "About your beach." "I'm afraid you'll have to close it up temporarily." "No swimming." "Mort?" "Mort?" "Where you been?" "Ma, she's..." "Ma what?" "Nothing." "She's screaming at everybody tonight." "Forget it." "Pretty girl." "Ha." "Pretty girl, where's your suit?" "Underneath, silly." "It's sure a beautiful night." "Did you get a look at that moon?" "Catch me." "Come on." "I'll race you to the float." "You haven't got a chance." "Morty." "Morty?" "Mort." "Mort." "Ah." "Ah!" "Ah!" "Ah!" "I'll tell you what happened." "That boy ran off somewhere with Jody." "I know it." "He's no good." "I warned her." "I said," ""why don't you go out with a nice young man?"" "But no, she's just like her father was:" "No sense." "The boy didn't report back to the base at all last night." "Are you sure he was with your daughter?" "Of course I'm sure." "Did you see him?" "I didn't have to see him." "Jody herself told me she was going out with him." "Uppity as you please." "And after all I've sacrificed and done for her, not a word of appreciation." "You'd think that at least she'd..." "May we take a look around?" "No, go ahead." "Her room's in there." "Let me have it." "No, give it." "Wait a minute." "I don't care." "Give it to me." "It's mine, I found it." "There's some kids out there with a sailor's cap." "What?" "Some kids." "What do kids got to do with it?" "I don't know." "Give it to me." "I don't care." "Come here." "Just a minute, son." "Let me take a look at that cap." "Did you find this cap?" "That boy, Freddy, was trying to take it from me." "Yes." "Where'd you find it?" "Over there." "It don't belong to nobody." "It don't belong to you, does it?" "No, it doesn't." "Will you show me where you found this cap?" "Come on." "There." "What's that?" "A uniform or at least part of one." "Did your daughter and her boyfriend ever swim here?" "Swim?" "I don't know." "You don't think they could..." "Jody!" "Jody!" "Oh." "Oh, baby!" "I could cut out my tongue for the things I said to you." "Oh, baby." "Josh!" "Josh!" "What's up?" "I don't know." "But that's the same thing we found on the side of the boat." "Dr. Rogers says it's highly radioactive." "I better call and have him investigate the bottom of the sea, before somebody else is killed." "Man, it's cold down there." "I'll get price to get you some coffee." "Do you want us to move out again?" "No, not yet." "There's a rock formation i want to check with a geiger counter." "As soon as I fix my regulator." "Thanks." "Any sign of them?" "Nothing." "Those kids are probably off on a honeymoon." "I hope so." "That's it." "Thanks." "Okay, let's go." "Keep a sharp eye, will you?" "Believe me, we haven't seen a thing, except a few fish the size of your left hand." "Fine." "Just be careful." "Sure thing." "How rough does it usually get?" "It depends on the wind." "As a rule, there's not much current." "Then if the bodies are down there, they'll be easy to find." "Should be." "Unless..." "Unless what?" "I'd rather not conjecture." "Okay?" "Yes, sir." "We've got you on the frequency." "Right." "We're still descending." "What's your depth?" "40 feet." "60 feet." "We're leveling off." "Good." "Try a reading." "Doctor, I'm now checking the rock formation." "Reading is normal." "Normal." "Good." "What's the bottom like?" "Doctor, about the same." "We're going down again." "It looks like there may be some kind of cave out under us." "How deep are you?" "80 feet." "Still dropping." "That's most unusual." "Why?" "We've been over this area a dozen times, the maximum depth is 65 feet." "Don't take any chances." "Don't worry." "97 feet." "100." "125." "We've leveled off again." "I think we're at the bottom of some kind of huge cavern." "We see some kind of peculiar object ahead." "Hang on." "Doctor, I get a reading of 1.038." "What is it?" "I'm not sure." "Some kind of marine growth, I think." "Circular." "About 6 feet." "Almost transparent." "We'll try to cut it loose." "I'll send down a net." "Lower the net, boys." "Okay." "Take it up." "Is everything all right?" "No problems." "We're still looking." "Hold off and come up till we check what's in the net." "Okay." "We've found the girl." "Can you get her up quickly?" "It'll only take a minute." "Okay, but don't take any longer." "My tank." "What' s wrong?" "Blake's tank is caught in the undergrowth." "Do you need any help?" "No, we're okay." "Oh!" "Johns!" "Johns!" "Answer me, Johns!" "I'm okay." "It got Blake." "What're you talking about?" "I'm coming up." "Get help." "Oh, my god." "What happened?" "Oh, my god." "His body." "He died right in front of me." "I couldn't help him." "I've got to go back." "Talk sense." "What's down there?" "I don't know, I never saw anything like it." "Like what?" "A creature." "A giant creature." "You're not going back down there." "Take your hands off me, i 've got to kill it!" "I said, "you're not going back down!"" "Stay out of this, I'll take care of him." "There's no time for hysterics." "What are we fighting?" "I don't know." "Was there just one of these creatures?" "I think so." "There was a cave, outside that thing." "An egg." "That must be one of its eggs." "Behind you!" "The eye." "Get the eye!" "Keep those depth charges moving." "Hurry up, boys, we don't have much time." "The commander wants to leave in 5 minutes." "The Pentagon is sending admiral greenhouse for the conference." "Good." "We're keeping the egg in the lab under observation." "We should know more about it by then." "I issued a press release saying the Navy is conducting routine tests with underwater explosives." "That should cover us for the moment." "No sense in starting a panic." "Excuse me, sir." "They're about finished loading." "You want to take a look?" "Be about 5 minutes, doctor." "Excuse me." "Would you sign these?" "Did you get a hold of Connie?" "No, but I left word for her to come down here." "Thank you." "If you have any problems, let us know." "The chief of staff has authorized full cooperation." "We'll see you in the morning." "Thank you, captain." "What's going on?" "Did Mars finally invade us?" "Another secret?" "Where's George?" "Where's George?" "Connie, I couldn't help it." "Where's George?" "What's happened to my husband?" "Connie, step in here with me for a moment." "Where's Dr. Rogers?" "He's in the radio shack." "He's with Connie." "Oh." "We're about ready to shove off." "Leave them alone, please." "Are you all right?" "I'm fine." "I don't think you are." "What's wrong?" "I should be with Connie, telling her how you get over it." "The trouble is, you don't." "I mean, I didn't." "Would you like a cigarette?" "No, thank you." "When tom was killed, they said all those things to me." "Tom?" "My husband." "I'm sorry, I didn't know." "It's funny, you go around for days and you don't believe it." "You think it can't be true." "And one of those days you get to thinking," ""it is true." "He isn't coming home."" "And you say it out loud, "he isn't coming home."" "Don't listen to me, I'm over it now." "It was 2 years ago." "I couldn't go in there with Connie." "Not right now." "What did your husband do?" "He was a pilot." "He was stationed in San Diego." "Sandy and I moved here afterwards." "It takes a great deal of courage to start over." "I had a lot of happiness, a lot of things to think about and remember." "And I had Sandy." "I couldn't fall apart." "I guess not." "You know something?" "You're easy to talk to, and I didn't think you would be." "Gail." "Yes, doctor." "Would you take care of Connie, please?" "Of course." "We're waiting for you, doctor." "How is she?" "She's resting." "She'll be all right." "Good." "Men, Dr. Rogers has some final instructions for you." "Everything that's happened, or that will happen on this expedition, is classified "top secret." Is that clear?" "We've crippled and may have killed this giant creature." "To make sure it's dead, we're going to saturate the area with depth charges." "But our most important job is to find all its eggs." "Once they're located," "Dr. Johns will make a quick survey of them and then they must be totally destroyed." "Cmdr. Twillinger will be in charge of the underwater demolition." "I guess that's all." "All right, men." "Let's go." "Believe me, it's best for you to stay here tonight." "I've got plenty of room." "What are they doing?" "Come on." "What you see here is the formation inside the egg sac we found near the creature's lair." "You'll notice the shell is beginning to harden." "There's quite a bit of definition in the head." "Until our studies are completed, we're keeping it alive by controlled water temperature." "You'll notice that the thermostat reads 38 degrees exactly." "Is there any danger that the egg might hatch?" "No, the temperature is low enough to keep it from hatching." "As long as this knob is set so the temperature remains constant, there'll be no problem." "I see." "Gentlemen, we believe that this creature is of the same family as the historically documented kraken." "A giant sea beast that was the direct ancestor of the modern water mollusk." "I've had some film of common mollusks flown in from San Diego." "I'd like you to compare it with the creature that attacked us." "Dr. Johns?" "Yes." "Right this way, please." "Sheriff, would you cut the lights, please?" "As most of you know, the mollusk family is comprised of animals with a soft body usually covered by a hard shell." "This is gonaxis kibweziensis." "It's one half inch in diameter." "You'll note the similarities between it and the giant creature in the salton sea." "For example, the gonaxis has a predatory nature." "It attacks other living creatures, will devour them, eat their flesh." "The larger it is, the larger its appetite." "This is a branch of the gonaxis, the euglandia." "It shreds the flesh of its victim with scissor-like teeth." "Some species suck out the body fluids in much the same manner as the creature with which we're dealing." "As I mentioned, most of these creatures live entirely in the water." "But it's not unusual to find them on land, searching for food." "The same thing is true of our kraken." "These mollusks are only recently hatched, yet they're as large as the adult." "The reason being that they developed to full growth within the egg sac." "From the instant they're born, they're hungry." "That bubbly secretion you see is formed in the digestive system." "It acts as a defensive weapon." "Incidentally, it's chemically similar to the secretion we found on the boat." "That'll give you an idea." "It's interesting, but what's the point?" "The creature was killed and all the eggs were destroyed." "That's right, but we're not sure we destroyed all the other creatures." "Do you think that more than one has developed?" "We're sure of it." "From the number of shells in these photographs," "I'd say there are at least 10 of these giant creatures, each one with the capacity to lay several thousand eggs in its life cycle." "There was a cave here which we sealed with explosives and probably trapped the rest of them inside." "We have to be sure, doctor." "That's impossible, because the mouth of that cave is covered with tons of rock." "If any did escape, it will have to surface sooner or later." "It won't find enough food in the salton sea, it'll get hungry." "We can keep a 24-hour beach patrol." "Yes, I think that's imperative." "But our real danger doesn't lie at the sea." "Let's remember that these creatures can travel overland, too." "A few miles from here is the all-American canal system, which irrigates the entire imperial valley and then in time empties into the Gulf." "I don't want to alarm you unduly, but if just one of these creatures lived and got by the patrols, into the canal system and multiplied, the species could threaten the entire world." "First, devouring all life in the oceans and then, foraging on land." "Can you imagine an army of these things descending on one of our cities?" "What caused it?" "Where'd they come from?" "We don't know, we can only guess." "Perhaps you saw this article here in life." "A few miles from here, this lakebed existed in a dry state, void of life for many years." "Then a flash flood filled it with about 2 feet of water." "In a few days, there were millions of shrimp in that lake." "They hatched from dormant eggs that were there for centuries." "I believe the same thing happened here." "I think that a pocket of eggs from this prehistoric species was trapped here, below the bottom of the salton sea." "Suppose an earthquake caused a fissure to open at the bottom of the sea, allowing water to seep down to this pocket." "Because this water was slightly radioactive, and because the eggs had a capacity to absorb this radioactivity, they found an environment that was perfect in which to hatch and grow." "Then a more severe earthquake widened the fissure, allowing these creatures to escape into the sea." "I'd like to alert the civilian defense." "Mr. Patterson, there are 100,000 people in this valley." "A move like that would lead to hysteria." "I suppose that's true." "I think we should set up a joint patrol around the sea, combine your staff with the sheriff's office, set up a headquarters at the air base and coordinate from there." "Does that sound practical to you?" "Yes, sir." "How about your office, sheriff?" "Sounds fine to me." "I'm due to report back to joint chiefs of staff." "I'll tell them that even if there are some surviving creatures, there's still no national danger." "Unless, as you said, some escape from the sea into the all-American canal." "That's correct." "I'll be in touch with you, commander." "Call me if anything develops." "Very good, sir." "Good day, gentlemen." "Good day." "Good day." "The governor advised me to offer you any assistance you may need." "We appreciate that very much, thank you." "Yes, doctor." "I think we'd better meet in my office to set this up." "Okay." "Good night." "Good night." "Gail, how's Connie?" "All right." "She's staying with me for a while." "Good." "I feel kind of embarrassed today, commander." "Why?" "The personal things i said yesterday," "I hope I didn't embarrass you." "You didn't." "I don't usually carry on that way." "You ought to, at least once in a while." "We're on our way back to the base now, and we have to eat sometime." "What I mean is, why don't you let me take you to dinner tonight?" "I found a wonderful place to eat in mexicali." "Thank you, but i can't leave Connie." "I mean, I shouldn't." "Okay." "I'm awfully sorry." "If you should change your mind..." "I never do." "If you should, the number's 254." "254." "You already have it." "So I have." "Good night." "Good night." "Anything happening?" "Nothing." "Nothing but moonlight." "Wallace and hanson will replace you at 10:00." "Thanks." "Okay." "That about ties it up." "This reminds me of last year." "We had a stakeout on a federal bank for 3 months." "What happened?" "Not a thing." "You sure you won't come home and take potluck?" "Jenny wouldn't mind." "Much." "No, come on!" "No, I'll get something from the cafeteria." "Okay, see you later." "You bet." "This is just like that federal bank stakeout last year." "The only trouble is, nothing ever happens." "No, mom." "I don't know." "Yes, I'll hurry." "No, I don't know how late." "This is Walker, section 5 north." "All clear." "Check." "Oni, twillinger." "Hi." "I had to come to town with some reports for the doctor." "I know it's past dinnertime, but if you hadn't already eaten, I..." "Yeah, I'm starving." "Where are you?" "Right, I know where it is." "I'll be there in 5 minutes." "Right, goodbye." "I'll check with you in half an hour." "Okay." "You can take mine, too, please." "You certainly don't eat very much." "I don't know how you keep going." "I had a big lunch." "That reminds me," "I'd better check in to base again." "Excuse me." "♪" "Nothing's happened so far, nothing at all." "Did you make a wish?" "Yes." "I've got a confession to make." "I bet I know what it is." "You're still hungry." "No." "What I said about coming into town wasn't true." "I went home and Connie felt like being alone so that made me feel lonely, too." "So I decided to call you." "That's not a confession, that's a compliment." "You want a ballpoint pen, senor?" "What?" "Very cheap, senor. 8 pesos." "Big bargain." "No, thanks." "Si!" "No." "Much ink inside." "No, thank you." "She will write 2 million miles, no refills." "How much is 8 pesos?" "65 cents." "All right, bud." "You got yourself a deal." "Thank you, senor." "Hey, kid, my pen!" "What are you grinning at?" "Twill." "What's so funny?" "That kid walked off with my money." "Your face." "You're so serious." "Big bargain." "You're really much too serious." "Maybe you're right." "But I don't think you're like that underneath." "What did you want to do when you were little?" "First, I wanted to be a fireman, and then a forest ranger, then I guess i wanted to be a cop." "Really?" "Mm-hmm." "Senor, look, you like red?" "I got red, white, green, blue, red and white, black and white, green and red..." "Blue and white." "No blue and white." "Red, red and white, black and white, green and red..." "Look, I'll just take this one." "Go on, scoot." "Shoo!" "Thank you, senor!" "Where were we?" "You were just going to take me home." "I'm afraid it's getting very late." "It's only 10:15." "Want to stop at the four oaks for a beer?" "I told Betty I'd come right home after our shift." "So you'll be half an hour late." "Take the canal cutoff and we'll be there in 5 minutes." "Check that car ahead." "You better take a look." "Yeah." "What happened?" "What's wrong?" "It." "It was..." "Better get him to the hospital." "Radio headquarters." "Right." "No!" "Mary Jean." "Mary Jean." "It could have gone a dozen different ways." "Every half-mile, there's a junction and the locks roll open." "I don't understand." "Did you check all the patrols on the sea?" "Yes, they're certain nothing got past them." "It's 23 miles from that sea to that canal, and there's no connection by water." "I just got a report." "A farmer 15 miles from here found 2 of his cattle dead." "Shriveled up." "He thinks they were attacked about 10:00 last night." "10:00?" "How's that possible?" "We know that the boy and girl were attacked here at 10:00." "Of course." "There must be an underground river through which they escaped." "A river that leads from the sea to one of the pools near the canal area." "They leave this pool at night, and come around the canals in search of food." "We'll have to patrol the entire canal system." "There's 700 miles of canal bank in this county alone." "That could take us days." "We don't have days." "The egg at the lab was almost hatching when we got it." "We must find their new nest, before they lay any more eggs." "I'll call air national guard." "Their helicopters will work with ours." "We'll check every pool in this valley for their secretion." "Good." "Because the possibility of finding one pool out of thousands is remote." "There's the chance that there may be an old survey map that shows where this underground river empties into the pool." "Doctor, if there is such a map, we'll find it." "Come on, we'll use our car." "This is helicopter 2-5, reporting in." "We have covered south basin." "There is no sign of target pool." "Bearing south-southeast." "Well, now, we gave most of our map collection to the library." "We've already been to the library." "We've checked every possible source." "You're our last resort." "Too bad." "We don't have many documents." "We don't have room for them." "We put up a bond issue, proposition 14-a, specifically asking for a document room." "Here." "Here we are." "Is this all you have?" "I'm sorry." "Just not a speck of room." "Mr. dobbs, this is very important." "Have you heard of an underground river or ancient waterway that runs through the valley that would empty into a deep pool?" "Dear, let me think." "I can't think of a thing." "But every once in a while, somebody dies and leaves us a whole lot of documents for our room, the one we didn't get, you understand." "Proposition 14-a was defeated." "If you hear anything, you can get me at the air base." "Air base?" "Yeah, El centro." "Sure." "I always cooperate with the authorities." "You'll find I'm a very cooperative person." "Thank you, Mr. dobbs." "Just call on me anytime." "Night or day." "Give me Navy intelligence, please." "Oni, yeah." "Lock 23?" "Lock 23, okay." "23." "46, okay, nothing sighted." "We still haven't spotted the pool where they've nested." "We have the entire irrigation system under patrol." "The gatekeepers at each lock are on 24-hour guard." "Someone is bound to spot one of those creatures." "When they do, we close all the locks and hold it till we arrive." "Then we'll follow it back to the pool." "Sounds like an effective plan." "I'll be in capt." "Master's office." "All right." "How many patrols have checked in?" "16." "The gatekeepers have called, except 3." "See if you can get them." "Right." "Sally, try locks 14, 32 and 57." "I'll call you back later, mom." "Lock 57." "Yes, I did try, but the line was tied up." "No, I haven't seen any creature." "Just plain foolishness." "Hey, boys!" "Get away from there!" "We don't allow no swimming here, you know that." "Go on, now." "Okay." "Don't go in there, Sandy." "We're going home now." "When can we go swimming again?" "I don't know, dear." "Then can I go look at the rabbits?" "Not today, sweetie." "Dr. Rogers' office." "Yes, just a minute," "I'll read you the figures on that." "That was 2-3-4-5." "Yes, and 5-4-2-3." "Hello, grace." "How are you today?" "We have to be very quiet, because mommy is so busy." "Poor grace." "You're cold." "If I had a nice warm blanket," "I'd put it over you." "Maybe I can figure something out." "There." "Is that better?" "I gotta go now." "Goodbye." "Fine." "Goodbye." "Sandy?" "Yes, mommy." "Let's go home." "Lock 41, okay." "41, okay." "Proceed eastward on highway 8-0." "Have you heard anything?" "Not yet." "We'll keep you posted." "What time were the boy and girl attacked last night?" "9:30 or 10:00." "It's 9:00 now." "Yeah, I know." "Mm-hmm." "Hey, you kids!" "Don't try to hide from me." "Hey, you kids!" "Hey, you kids!" "Still no answer." "When did you last talk to him?" "At 8:00." "Do we have a car in that area?" "There's one within half a mile." "You better call it." "Get moar and Walker in car 14." "Right." "This is control operations calling car 14." "This is Walker, car 14." "What've you got?" "Proceed to canal junction 57." "Repeat." "Proceed to canal junction 5-7." "Right." "My god." "I'll call in." "This is car 14 calling control operations." "Over." "Come in, car 14." "Tell Josh we found the gatekeeper dead, just like the others." "Have them stay there." "Radio all the patrols." "Roger." "Close everything that leads to lock 57." "We'll try to hold it long enough to follow it." "Right." "Sally, give me a line." "Commander!" "Could I help you?" "I'm here to see cmdr." "Twillinger." "Will he be back?" "Not for some time." "You just missed him." "I know." "Well." "Is there anything I could do?" "No." "I think maybe I better wait." "If it's all right?" "He may be gone for hours, Mr..." "Dobbs." "Lewis Clark dobbs." "Mr. dobbs." "Well." "I'll wait." "That's right." "Close the locks south from juncture 302 to 23." "Right." "And keep them closed till you hear from me." "I called in the minute i heard that noise." "I thought to myself," ""something's breaking out there."" ""There's sure something breaking."" "So I come out to see what it was." "And there it was." "Why weren't you out here?" "The lock has an emergency release." "You could've stopped it." "Listen, commander," "I was only doing what they told me." "I didn't know you wanted to follow it." "You didn't?" "Thanks, anyway." "I know how you feel, but it wasn't his fault." "Twill?" "Yeah?" "What do we do now?" "Wait for another one." "Come on, let's go back." "Commander." "Lewis Clark dobbs." "Hello, Mr. dobbs." "What is it?" "It's probably not anything at all." "I see." "How's it coming, sailor?" "The same, sir." "Nothing?" "No, sir." "You said it was important, you know, about the map." "Yeah?" "A very strange thing happened." "I was looking for these papers." "Actually, I was looking for this petition." "We're campaigning again for proposition 14-a, the one that was defeated, and there was this folder." "And in the folder, there was this map." "I remembered it because Mrs. de fauna de porto had asked me to take care of it, and then she passed on." "I told you about it, didn't I?" "A very great loss." "You see, the de fauna de porto family settled this valley." "A most distinguished family." "Is this a river?" "No." "But the Indians dug Wells along there, apparently." "Here." "It says here, in Spanish, of course," ""the Wells of life."" "I read 18 foreign languages." "Clem!" "Sir?" "Any boys working in the photo lab?" "Not now." "Get them down there right now." "I want this blown up and graphed." "Order me a helicopter at dawn and notify Dr. Rogers." "Right." "Drop us down a little." "That's the one." "How do you want to proceed?" "We radio for equipment, then dive and destroy them." "Chances are they're dormant now, but any sound may attract them." "So set your charges and get out." "Right." "Are you ready?" "Are you?" "I think so." "Doctor, your lab's on the mobile phone." "Thank you." "Yes, Gail." "I sent you those cylinders you asked for." "They should be there in 10 minutes." "Thank you." "We may need them." "Hold on a minute." "Gail?" "Yes, twill." "Hi!" "Is everything all right?" "Are you all right?" "Everything's fine." "Don't worry." "I'll call you later." "Okay." "Twill?" "Yeah?" "Take care." "I always do." "Goodbye." "I'll take it." "I have you on the frequency." "We're moving through a dense growth." "Can't tell what's ahead from here." "We've reached the bottom." "We've found them." "Any problems?" "No," "I think we can get them all." "It took you 3 minutes to get down." "Allow yourselves 2 minutes leeway." "Will do." "We set the first charge." "The pin on my last charge is stuck." "Twill, Johns is in trouble." "You're 30 seconds past safe time." "Start up." "You're 42 seconds past safe time." "Start up." "Are you on your way up?" "Just a second." "We're on our way up." "You have 25 seconds." "Come on." "Let's help pull them up." "Hurry up." "You fellows all right?" "Uh-huh." "Uh-huh." "I wanna make a check in half an hour, when the sediment clears." "All right." "I'm sorry about what happened down there." "You don't have to be." "I made a mistake." "When I signaled you," "I was sure the pin was loose." "Forget it, anyone's entitled to an honest mistake." "Anyway, you saved my neck." "Thanks." "Excuse me," "I've got a phone call to make." "It's a great relief knowing we got them all." "Yeah." "You know, I guess I was wrong about that guy." "The commander takes a bit of knowing." "Mobile operator." "Give me Dr. Rogers' office." "The Navy lab, salton sea, 2-2-1." "Johns is going to stay to load up." "Would you mind dropping me at the lab?" "Sure, jump in." "I called Gail at the lab, but the line was busy." "Oh, really?" "They're all down at the pool, sir." "Yes, I will." "Hi, honey." "Hi, mommy." "I got dressed by myself." "And a good job you did, too." "Have you had your orange juice?" "Yes." "We'll have breakfast in a little while." "Why don't you go play?" "Dr. Rogers' office." "I'm sorry, he's not here now." "I can take a message if you wish." "Yes, captain." "I'm sorry, he was called away." "Grace?" "Ah!" "Mommy!" "Sandy!" "Honey, stay where you are!" "Mommy!" "Mommy!" "Don't move!" "It's all right, honey." "Someone will come soon and help us." "Mobile operator." "Could you try the Navy lab again?" "Salton sea, 2-2-1." "That's right." "Still busy." "Want to stop and get some breakfast?" "No, thanks." "I had toast and coffee when I got up." "But if you want to stop..." "No, I can wait." "Sandy." "Do you see that window?" "Yes." "Can you get up there?" "Try!" "I can't." "Try!" "I can't!" "Oh, god." "I want you to close your eyes." "I want you to close your eyes and put your head right there." "Don't open them for a little while." "Good morning, commander." "Doctor." "Go ahead." "Gail!" "Doctor!" "Get help!" "Get help!" "Can you hear me?" "Yes." "Can you hear me?" "Yes." "Now listen, when I holler come out of there." "Now!" "All right." "Now!" "Here, take it easy now." "You're still shaken." "Yes, I am." "But i feel all right now." "What about you?" "I think I'm all right." "You're just fine, honey." "You know something?" "You can go swimming again." "Can I?" "Yes, ma'am, you can."