Morning Star

Iron gates. Two sentries. A morose man with a square face (Schultz) approaches, stops and looks on with an expression of suppressed anger. One of the sentries grabs him by the shoulder and pushes him away. The other throws open the gates. A car enters. Several men in unfamiliar military uniforms rush along corridors guarded by sentries. A laboratory. The military men are met by a scientist, a thick-set man with fatty cheeks and a shaved moustache. A demonstration table. High-voltage electrical equipment. Above the table an installation similar to an X-ray. The soldiers stop in front of the table. Dr Pratt takes a small glass tube: — Here’s a milligram of eka-caesium.1 One of the military men – an athletic-looking general in an air-force uniform – turns to his adjutant: — What kind of wild beast is that – eka-caesium? The adjutant looks at Pratt, who replies: — A recently discovered reactive element. I pass a high-voltage current through it. Pratt screws the tube into the installation above the table. He turns to the adjutant: — Give me your blade. The dagger is on the marble slab underneath the installation. Pratt turns on the switch. The blade melts like paper in a fire and disintegrates. Pratt says: — A ray like this, transmitted by a military searchlight, will destroy aeroplanes, a tank, or heavy weaponry in a few seconds. The General takes him by the hand: — Dr Pratt, it is your invention that will... Searching for words, he glances at his adjutant. Continuing his line of thought, the adjutant goes on: — ...will hand us a terrible weapon, which... The General, interrupting him, concludes: — ...allow us to achieve our most ambitious plans. (He gestures.) Pratt shakes his head sadly. — Unfortunately, there is very little eka-caesium on Earth – only a few grams in total. Smiling, the General taps him on the shoulder. — That is not a problem. The Leader [Stalin] knows that this devilry is in short supply. That won’t stop us making a noise about it when we need to. (He laughs. They all laugh.) ***