In 1953, we experienced what can only be described as a war of the worlds. If it wasn't for common everyday bacteria attacking the aliens' immune systems, they would've won this war, and you and I would not be having this conversation!
SuzanneBut we are having this conversation, which I don't want! So I fail to see your point!
My point is that although the bacteria stopped the aliens, I don't think it killed them!
Suzanne
Excuse me, but I think you have been sitting too close to your television set.
Really? How do you explain the radio signals? How do you account for the barrels? The barrels that entombed what were supposed to be dead aliens forced open from the inside?! What the hell happened to the hundreds of other barrels that used to be stored in that location?!
Suzanne
Just because I don't have an answer doesn't mean there isn't a logical explanation for your... paranoia!!
I am attempting to offer you a logical explanation. In 1953, bacteria forced the aliens into a state of hibernation, or suspended animation or estivation or anabiosis. I don't know the terms; that's your field, not mine. But now, something has happened to wake the aliens up. That nuclear disposal site was hot with radioactivity, right? Maybe that's it. Maybe the bacteria which infected the aliens is now being wiped out by exposure to radiation.
Suzanne
So now, the aliens, hundreds of them...
Suzanne
...are loose?
Suzanne
You're nuttier than I thought.
That doesn't make me wrong! At least listen to my proof!
The alien attack wasn't three days old before my parents were killed. They were colleagues of Dr. Forrester's. Anyway... Dr. Forrester, who was practically my second father as he was, ended up taking me in. I grew up steeped in this research, listening to his theories... seeing how broken he was when nobody took him seriously. He said that if the aliens invaded once, they could do it again. Nobody wanted to hear that. He said that until we get adequate research, we couldn't even be sure the aliens were really dead. Apparently, their bodies weren't decaying as might be expected. Well, that really drove people crazy. Instead of expanding its research, the U.S. Government collected the alien remains and sealed them in steel drums... out of sight, out of mind. You still think I'm a nutcase?
Suzanne
Have you ever heard of the African lungfish? The lungfish can survive for... at least four years, maybe as many as ten, without water. It goes into such a profound state of anabiosis that the average person would think the fish was long dead. However, pour water over it, and... it's like a resurrection. The fish is alive and swimming again.
So you don't think I'm a nutcase?
Suzanne
Definitely a nutcase. However... like you said, that doesn't make you wrong. [tears up her letter of resignation] And I can always write another resignation.
Suzanne
I am not uptight! I am a professional!
Who does not know how to follow orders. Now you were supposed to stay out of sight in the woods!
Suzanne
You neglected to tell me that those things, aliens or whatever they are, would be crawling all over! By the time I worked my way down here, you and the Colonel were doing your off-road routine, so I figured this would be the best place to wait things out! Where are they?
GWGeneral Wilson
Too many variables. Strength unknown, resources unknown, purposes, goals, locations... unknown, unknown, unknown.
I can only tell you what I saw.
Suzanne
What we all saw, Uncle Hank. It was horrible; those things were not people anymore. But I do have a theory about cell-phase matching.
GWGeneral Wilson
Suzanne, whatever you and Dr. Blackwood saw, no matter how extraordinary, cannot be considered as evidence.
Suzanne
Well, talk to your Colonel. He was there!
GWGeneral Wilson
The Colonel and I talked at length. Admittedly, something incredible did take place. However, Colonel Ironhorse is not yet ready to attribute those events to aliens from another world.
He's more comfortable believing the Russians have some secret weapon that makes us all see things that aren't really there.
GWGeneral Wilson
Colonel Ironhorse is a highly effective warrior, Doctor. He's been trained to deal in absolutes.
In this case, General, he is absolutely wrong!
GWGeneral Wilson
I agree. And so do a few of my superiors. However, they want this entire matter kept hush-hush.
Hold it, General. Nobody's gonna silence me the same way they silenced Dr. Forrester 35 years ago.
GWGeneral Wilson
What happened to your adopted father, Doctor, was unfortunate for all of us. However, the President and my superiors would rather not let this become a political issue. They don't want to ignore this. They want it kept quiet. And I'm here to offer you a job. Find the aliens, Doctor, and stop them before they do more harm.
And I can do things my way?
GWGeneral Wilson
Completely. Your own people, your own methods, anything you want. Naturally, we'll have to establish certain...security procedures.
GWGeneral Wilson
To protect you and your colleagues. To protect the secrecy of the project. Nothing I assure you, Doctor, you wouldn't do yourself. Aside from that, you have a blank check. But you'll need a co-signer. [Colonel Ironhorse enters the room and stands in front of General Wilson and Harrison] I believe you all know one another.
You find something interesting?
Suzanne
Hmm. Have a look.
Suzanne
You tell me.
This is the tissue sample you took from the dissolved body?
Suzanne
Mm-hm. But it's not exactly human anymore.
Suzanne
Half-human, half-alien. It's as if the cells from both species have merged to create something new, unique.
And this sustains your cell-phase matching theory?
Suzanne
Oh, no, Doctor Blackwood, you're not gonna peg me to a conclusion that I haven't had time to prove yet.
Fair enough, Dr. McCullough. Suzanne?
Suzanne
Yeah?
Suzanne
Thanks, Harrison. Thanks a lot.
General Wilson is taking care of the joint military forces board of inquiry. I'm told that, unofficially, of course, the board is predisposed to lay the blame on an unnamed terrorist organization.
A whole lot closer to the truth than they'll ever realize.
Suzanne
I'm just glad all of this is behind us.
Suzanne
Without tissue samples, most of this is just educated guessing, but I think I understand how an alien blends with whoever happens to be unfortunate enough to get in its way. It's a combination of osmosis and cell-phase matching. Watch. Through osmosis, alien cells invade the human body. These cells then spread out, seeking human cells that they can bond to. This bonding allows all the genetic information from the individual human cells to communicate to the alien cells.
Killing the human cells in the process?
Suzanne
Yes, but apparently not before it absorbs all of the intelligence of the human victim.
We're talking Night of the Living Dead here, folks. Not only do these guys get to pick our brains; they also get to use our bodies as a perfect disguise.
I don't call open sores and radiation sickness a perfect disguise. I mean, it's not exactly difficult to spot these things in a crowd.
For now, maybe. But it's only a matter of time until they figure out a better way to protect themselves, and conceal themselves.
If any more of them are still around.
GWGeneral Wilson
Mrs. Pennyworth sets a wonderful table, don't you think?
Suzanne
Yes. She and Mr. Kensington have made us all very comfortable.
GWGeneral Wilson
You never know it, but Mrs. Pennyworth was a very valuable asset in the American section of Berlin during the last war. Her husband did the same thing with the Brits! [chuckles] Rumor has it they met one night when they were both trying to infiltrate the Russian sector. Oh, that woman has seen a lot of history. Even helped brighten some of the two. And this house has had its own share of history as well. A few nuclear physicists lived here in the early days of the Manhattan Project. And just before you, we kept a KGB defector here. I wonder who the next occupants will be.
[laughs] Harrison, does that sound suspiciously like an eviction notice to you?
GWGeneral Wilson
I wouldn't look at it that way, Mr. Drake. All missions eventually come to an end, and that's why I'm here...to thank you all, personally, for a job well done.
I'm sorry, General, but the job isn't done!
GWGeneral Wilson
Well, I'm completely satisfied with everything you've accomplished.
We've hardly accomplished a thing.
Suzanne
Uncle Hank, I can't believe you're cutting us off!
GWGeneral Wilson
Suzanne, your own research suggests the aliens were susceptible to radiation poisoning.
Suzanne
How do you know that? I haven't released that data yet!
I don't think it takes a scientist to realize that any of those creatures that weren't blown up with their ships have died from radiation poisoning.
General, if you shut us down now, you're going to be repeating the same mistake that was made 35 years ago!
GWGeneral Wilson
On the contrary, the aliens are finished! And now, I suggest you all get on with the rest of your lives.
How much of this is your doing, Colonel?
The General asks me to make reports; I make reports. I'm just doing my job, Doctor.
I wish to God you would let me do mine!
SVSylvia Van Buren
Harry, do you remember Clayton's study of the alien eye?
SVSylvia Van Buren
Because the way these things see us is more like...this doohickey little Saint Nicky.
Suzanne
Harrison, we're wasting our time.
Suzanne
But she's mad.
SVSylvia Van Buren
Oh, yes, dear. Quite mad! And so would you be if you lived in a world all topsy turvy. I told them the aliens would be back and they didn't believe me. They said I was insane. So they hooked electrodes up to my brain 'til I couldn't even remember my name. Bzz, bzz, bzz! Rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain. This is not Spain, Harry.
What are you trying to tell me, Sylvia?
SVSylvia Van Buren
This is someplace on Earth. As seen from...outer space.
[referring to the aliens] Gone. They're all gone.
Suzanne
We did everything we could!
It's not good enough, Suzanne.
He's right. If we keep losing like this, we're dead meat on this planet.
They must've revived a thousand of them. And now, they're out there. They're out there among us!
Now, Colonel, what is it that has you so hot and bothered?
Washington just replied to an inquiry I made, Mr. Drake! It seems that since 1980, the good doctor has had a girlfriend no one knew about. I don't know how the hell we missed that in the security check!
Suzanne
Aren't you blowing this just a little out of proportions, Paul? I mean, if he's got a girlfriend, isn't that his business?
I'm not talking cheap thrills and Valentine's Day cards, Suzanne! This girlfriend is an important scientist! An important Russian scientist!
35 years ago, a great invasion force of aliens nearly obliterated mankind in an all-out attack from the stars. They came here in these spaceships, and they fell from the sky dead... or so we all thought. Earth was saved from interstellar conquest by the presence of common bacteria found on this planet, but they were not dead, as my adopted father, Dr. Forrester, tried to warn everyone. They were only asleep. Dr. McCullough?
Suzanne
They are capable of inhabiting human bodies, a perfect cover which allows them to roam our cities undetected, unnoticed.
We are at war, gentlemen, and we had better win.
There won't be any second chance.
[talking to Norton Drake on the phone] Norton, crank it up, will you? We've got some work to do.
Well, I need you to access any of Suzanne's research pertaining to the alien growth rate.
Suzanne
Which, I can tell you right now, amounts next to nothing.
I want you to calculate its effect on the human rate of physical development.
Suzanne
Good luck.
Listen, while I've got you both, I've been doing some checking of the police reports in the area and I scored. I came across a report, and I quote, of a strange doughnut-shaped corpse of the remains of a human being.
Is that the residue of an alien body transfer?
Where did they find that?
Well, that's the interesting thing. Less than a mile from the hospital. In fact, in the same shopping mall where the paramedics picked up Nancy Salvo.
So we've got an alien saboteur who, in order to avoid capture, takes over the nearest available body which, unfortunately for her, happens to be Nancy Salvo.
The very pregnant Nancy Salvo.
And this takeover creates so much physiological havoc that it triggers premature labor, and the result is the birth of–
A monster. Half-human, half-alien.
War of the Worlds · 63 quotes
