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Day of The Triffids 68-06-20 01 The End Begins
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Day of The Triffids 68-06-20 01 The End Begins
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- [00:17]
Giles Cooper
From London, we present the Day of the Triffids. John Wyndham's famous science fiction story dramatized by Giles Cooper. The Day of the triffids Episode Episode 1 the end begins. Hello, Elspeth. Oh, good, Bill, I've caught you. Here, let me help you. Thanks, Gisela. We were just knocking off. Oh, no. What? I've got this thing working and you're going to use it. What is it? Tape recorder. Oh, yes. We've got it geared to the voltage of the generator. At long last. And you are both going to talk to it. Both of us? Saying what? Everything. It's for the history. History? Why us? Because you were in on it before it even happened. From one angle, at any rate. Well, couldn't I just write down my part? No. Why not? Well, the girl who'll transcribe it is blind, as you very well know. So come on, then. Surely there's no reason to start tonight, Bill. I've got to take advantage of every minute the generator is on. Right. Off you go. After you. Oh, hell. I don't know. It's damn difficult to think back so far. The things we've been talking about would mean nothing to someone living. Then you have a heart. We were living then. Well, you can't have more than about three. I must have been nine. Well, I know that a man called Umberto Palanguez was shown into the office of the managing director of the Arctic and European Fish Oil Company. It wasn't the first time he'd been there. Ah, Mr. Palanga. You sit down. Thank you, senor. I am afraid I was in conference last time you came. Ah, yes. We analyzed that sample of oil which you left for us. Yes, very interesting. I imagine that you might think so. Vegetable oil, of course, but with a far higher vitamin content than any of your fish oils. Oh, yes, I agree. As a matter of fact, to be candid, we've never seen anything quite like it. You will. It will be on the market in quantity in about eight years from now. Yes. Not if you can help it. Is that what you are thinking? I wouldn't put it quite as crudely as that. No, but I am a crude fellow, so I will say it for you. Also, I will tell you that you haven't got a hope of stopping it. The experimental station where this sample was produced is a long way off, both in geography and ideology. What is your nationality, Mr. Pelangith? South American and quite irrelevant. I am a citizen of the world, and not without friends. I heard they were trying to fortify Sunflower seed oil. But it isn't there. No, not sunflowers. Some kind of nut. No. I understand it is an entirely new species. Here is a picture of it. Good God. Yes. What an incredible thing. It is a plant, certainly. It looks like a cross between a giraffe and a cairn terrier covered in leaves. It is a cross between a great many things. Some of them not nice. But in a few years time it will be producing a far better oil than yours. At half your present price. What are you offering? And how much do you want for it? I'm offering a tray of fertilized seed six months from now. And I want a hundred thousand pounds. Do you? Do you? If you consider all the implications, you will find that I am being very reasonable. I shall have to consult my fellow directors. Naturally, I. Naturally. I would like an advance of £25,000. That's rather high. Not really. You see, I shall have to hire myself a jet aircraft. And it had better be a good one. But it wasn't good enough. He landed by night on a flat Siberian waste. A man ran up to the plane with a box under his arm and got in. He took off at once and climbed steeply. But somewhere over the Pacific they caught up with him, blew the plane to pieces. After the fragments had dropped away, there was nothing left but a trail of white vapor. Only it wasn't vapor. It was a cloud of seeds. They were so gossamer light they even floated on that thin air until they drifted down into the winds of the world. How much of that is speculation? Not much. Besides, there's no other way to account for the fact that they. They suddenly appeared in half a dozen different parts of the world at once. We even had one in our back garden. I was 15 at the time. Dad, do you know there's a mystery behind the compost heap? Go on, Billy, pull the other one. No, really. It's a peculiar plant. Peculiar. Do come and look between the Berberis and the fence there, Mike. My word. Yes, you're right. It's very odd indeed. I can't find it in any of the books. Not Flowers of the Field or anything. Looks a bit foreign. There's a sort of thing like a fern shoot in that trumpet shaped thing at the top of the stem. Look. A lot of dead flies floating about inside. Well, it's no beauty, whatever it is. We'll dig it up next time we have a bonfire. Oh, no, dad, please not. What do you want to do with it? Study it. Oh, no. You know, take its measurements. And keep a record of its growth. All right, then. But I wish you'd spend as much time on arithmetic as you do on nature study. It's not nature study. It's biology. Whatever you call it, it won't get anywhere. Now, with mathematics, you can always be sure of a good job. August 9th. It is now 170cm high, and the bowl is 150cm in diameter. September 12th, it has grown a further 12cm. The coil part in the center of the calyx looks almost like a spring. I found a dead bird lying on the ground beside. October 9th. I have applied for a job. I saw in the paper. It is to be a trainee with the Arctic and European Oil Company, Ltd. I think it is whales and palm oil and groundnuts. It might be interesting. I don't expect I shall get it. Well, come in. Do sit down. Mr. Mason. William Mason, sir. Thank you. Yes. My name is Luckner. I'm in charge of research. Well, tell me something about yourself. What sort of thing, sir? What you like doing, why you want to join. Arctic, European. Just talk to me. Well, sir, I'm interested in plants and animals, things that live. Yes, yes, yes. I don't like figures much or sitting at a desk. What experience have you? Biology at school. It was my best subject, and I've done some research on my own. On what? Well, there's a plant in our garden that nobody knows about, and I kept a sort of record of it. What does it look like? It has a circular bowl covered with leaves, which at present is 210.5 cm in circumference. From it springs a stem which is 82 cm in circumference and 120 cm in height. From the bowl, the whole plant standing 210 cm from the ground. Well, that's very thorough. Now, tell me what it looks like. Well, like a kind of shaggy, leafy giraffe with no legs and a leafy calyx where the head would be. What? I'm sorry, it's not a very good description. Yes, it is. Has it got four small twigs growing straight up on the base of the stem? Yes. And inside the calyx a coiled thing which might be a stamen. Yes, that's it. Deed it is. Give him the chairman. How long has it been there? Six months since I noticed it. But it was well established then. Walter Luckner, sir. I have a young man sitting in front of me who's been growing a triffid in his back garden. Oh, yes, sir. Yes, of course. Right. We're going up to see him. A triffid? Is that what it's called? Yes. In two years time it'll be the reason for this company's existence. But what does it do? Produces an oil that, well, wipes the floor with any of our present product. It's the hybrid of half a dozen hybrids. Some were accidentally dispersed a year or two ago. And we've had reports that specimens have been found in the tropics. Tropics? I'm going out to Ecuador next week to bring some home. Yours is the first reported in a temperate country. Why triffid. Yours hasn't walked yet, I take it. Walked? No, obviously not. But when it's between 18 months and 2 years old, it will lift its three main roots from the ground and walk on them. Hence, triffid. But no, plants walk. They do now. Oh, and by the way, you've got the job. But I very nearly lost it. I went home hopping with excitement. The first thing I did was to go into the garden and take a look at the triffid. I bent down and examined the roots. For the first time. I noticed that there were indeed three of them. I began to scrape the earth away with a vague idea that the thing might walk sooner. Then something cracked across my face like a whip. I woke up in bed and a puzzled looking doctor was standing over me. I was the first person in England to be stung by a triffid. I survived because it wasn't fully grown. By the time I'd recovered, Walter Luckner was back from Ecuador with a dozen mature specimens. And he'd already discovered that the sting which whipped out of the top of the stem would kill a man instantly. He'd also discovered that if you cut the sting off the triffid, it was harmless. I went down to Worthing with him and we set up the first triffid nursery together. In the next few years the things were so successful as oil producers that we reared more and more of them until. Well, yes, but can't you give me something personal? Well, I mean, Bill, you worked with them more than anyone except Walter. He really understood triffitts. Tell me about that. Well, one evening I remember sitting on a bank looking at a field of tethered triffids just about sunset. What a row they're making. Yes. Talkative tonight. I wonder if it's the weather. They seem to do it more when it's dry. Do you talk more when it's dry? Talk? Yes. Do you? You don't really think that's what they're doing? Why Not. Well, it's absurd, plants talking to each other. You once said they couldn't walk. Oh, yes, but that's a mechanical thing. If they talk would mean they had some intelligence. Have you ever noticed when they sting, they seem to go for the face or the hand? Yes, especially for the eyes. Well, it's probably accidental. Possibly. But it could be because they want to reduce our advantage. Sight is our only advantage, you know. Whatever. There's vegetables. Yes. You just think. If you were blind and alone in a field with a triffid, what could you do? For a start, you'd starve to death. The triffid wouldn't. It could exist on flies till it found you. Then it would only have to root itself beside your body and wait. A nice thought. And here's another one. In some parts of Africa, they've been known to surround villages at night, kill the inhabitants. Yes, but we've never found anything like a brain. I mean, they're the same as any other plant when you dissect them. All the same, if there was some catastrophe which made us weaker, it would automatically make them stronger. Especially now we stopped docking them to improve their quality. Oh, let's go in. But you don't really think there's anything to worry about, do you? I don't know. Anyhow, there's no use worrying while there's money in triffids. There'll be triffids. I will tap that lot tomorrow. Put my mask and gloves on the peg. William. Oh, right you are. I have often wondered what happened to him. He'd have been useful to us now. It was a year afterwards that he saved my eyesight and my life. We were examining some specimens when one of them smacked out at me with its sting and a few drops of poison came through the meshes of the mask, went into my eyes. He got me back to the laboratory at once, gave me the antidote. But I had to go into hospital for a week or two. They sent me to St. Marin's right in the middle of London. Well, I'd been there 10 days with my eyes covered with bandages when it happened. All day long, reports had been coming in over the radio telling of a fantastic display of green lights and flashes in the upper atmosphere. By evening, everyone who could get to a window or climb on a roof was apparently gazing up in expectation of a free firework display. I began to feel that a gigantic party was being given to which only I'd not been invited. Do shut the window, Nurse. Oh, but it's marvellous, Mr. Mason. Really, it is. They say it's a comet, you know, green and white flashes all over the sky. And bright red buses clashing their gears all down the street. I know. Surely you can see just as well with it shut. Aren't we just in a bad mood tonight? Of course, it is a shame, really, you having your eyes still bandaged. Yeah. Still, it's not for long. Now, what time tomorrow will I take them off? Eh? My sister said 11:30, but Mr. Palmer may be a bit late. Ooh. Now what? That was a bright one. Lit up the whole room. You can see everyone standing on the rooftops watching. Oh, there's another. Oh, it's quite dazzling. Oh, what a pity you couldn't see it. Yes, isn't it? Now, do go away. There's a good girl. Have you everything you want? Yes, I think so. Is the radio where it should be? Yes. Then I'll leave you for now. I'll look in later and see you settle down. Good night. Good night. Oh, and there's another tremendous flash right across the whole sky. Well, I expect you can hear the crowd. They're rather like children at a firework display. From where I'm standing on the top of Primrose Hill, I can see hundreds of faces, all turned upwards to watch this astonishing spectacle which began over the Pacific 12 hours ago and by now must have been seen by 90% of the world's population. It is believed that the Earth is passing through a belt of meteoric debris caused by the passing of a comet. And I really do urge anyone who possibly can to watch it. Some of the brighter flashes really make you blink. Oh, there's a splendid one right across the sky. Oh, shut up. Let me get some sleep. 3. Must be 7. 5. 6. 7. 8. 8. Damn disorganized hospital is the bell. Me. Oh, come on. Come and annihilate me. Where the hell are they? Nurse. Sister. They're leaving me like this. Supposing there was a fire. Supposing there is a fire. Well, that's it. They've left me. Help. Help. Help. Hello? Who's that? Someone there? Whose room is this? Aren't you the house surgeon? Yes, Mr. Mason. Can't you see? No. What? I'm blind. I woke up blind. I've been trying to find someone to help me. Oh, well, I'm afraid I'm in the same state. Unless you care to help me off with these bandages. Where are you? Here. Here. This way. That's the bottom of the bed. Now work your way up. Take my hand. We must Look, a comic couple. I'm not laughing. No, I won't be if the treatment hasn't worked. There's a pin at the back that. I can't quite manage that. Yes, that's it. Thanks. God, it's like unwinding a maypole. You'd better do it yourself. Are the curtains drawn? I suppose so. Nobody's come in to undraw them. The whole staff must have a hangover after last night's party. Oh, I can see. I can see. I can see clearly. Perfectly. The curtains are green. I always thought they were blue. I don't know why. It's lucky my clothes are here. Just a moment. Oh, you don't know what it's like being able to see you again. I can imagine. Yes, of course. I'm sorry. Just a minute. There. Now, how can I help you? Take me along the passage to Lister Ward. There's a telephone in the Sisters room. Yes, of course. Come on now. This way. I'll take your arm. All right? Yes. The place sounds like a madhouse. There must be someone on duty somewhere. Is the ward at the end of the passage? Can't you see the swing doors? Oh, yes, the sisters rooms on the right before you get to them. All right. This looks like the room. Is there a telephone? Yes, on the table here. You are. Dead. Thought it would be, but. What's happened? What is it? Everyone in the place is blind. Finished. Well, there must be something we can do. Yes. This is the fifth floor, isn't it? Oh, yes. Where's the window? You're facing it. Thank you. No. No. For God's sake, don't. Oh, no. No. Someone. Nurse. Doctor. Someone. All right, I'm coming. Oh. Oh, thank God. I'm blind. Help me. I'm blind. Where are you? Where are you? Look up the stairs. Who's that? Don't move if you're on the stairs and can't see. I couldn't see him coming. Is that Mr. Mason? Yes. I took the bandages off. I can see. Are you hurt? Bruised a bit, that's all. I was washing the diabetic in number seven and suddenly I couldn't see and he couldn't either. Then I went to help, and there was no one. It's all right. All right. Don't worry. Come on. Let's get out of this place. Which is the best way? Straight down these stairs and through the main hall. Right. Come on. What about the man who fell? He's dead. Hold on. Now. Step, step, step, step. There's a landing. I turn the Light. That's it. Wait. What's that? The children's ward. We must go to them. There's nothing we can do at the moment. Come on. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Straight. Step. Turn. Right. Step. Step. Stop. Now, here's the main door. Forward. No, I'd rather step. Stay here. I don't want to go out. This place is a nightmare. What place isn't like this? Besides, I know my way around here. Blindfold. There'll be no food, nothing. I feel safer here. Besides, there are the children. Look. What can you do for them? Make them a little less frightened. I am a nurse, after all. You want me to stay? No. You must go out and do what you can. Goodbye. The door of the hospital swung to behind me and I stepped into the empty street. There seemed no reason to go in any particular direction, but after a moment's pause, I set off towards the west end. A fruit lorry had run across the pavement, spilling its load of oranges in the gutter. I needed a drink and crossed the road to a pub called the Alamain Arms. The door was open and a lugubrious song came from the interior. Alcohol Hi. Who's that? You open? Of course I'm open. I need a drink. Who are you, anyway? From the hospital. Oh. Can you see? Yes. Is this. Is this whiskey I've got here? No. Peppermint. Now, this one's whiskey. Thanks. Okay, so I'll have brandy. Anything you like. Anything you want. You'll get drunk if you take it like that. I am drunk and I've got to get drunk. I am blind. Blind as a bat. Everyone's blind as a bat. Except you. Did you see green shooting stars? No, I didn't. There you are, then. You didn't see them. You aren't blind. Everyone else saw them. They're all blind as bats. Are you sure it's everyone? Listen, don't hear yourself talk here most days. Are you the landlord? What if I am? I want to pay. Oh, forget it. Money's no use to a dead man. That's what I am. After a few more drinks, you look alright to me. What's the good of living? Blind as a bet. That's what my wife said. And she was right. Only she's more. She's more guts than I have. When she found out the kids were blind, she took them into her bed and turned on the gas. And I hadn't the guts to stick with them. But I will have soon. I'm going back up there soon, when I'm drunk enough no, don't. Why not? Give me one reason why not. You can't. It's wrong. No, nothing's wrong. Nothing's left to be wrong. And if you can't see that, you're blinder than me. Even if you have got two eyes. I'm going up to join them. Ah. Drunk enough? Drunk enough to do it? Drunk enough. I'm going to join them. I didn't stop him or try to follow him. I just watched him go. Then I knocked back the last of my brandy and went out into the silent street. That was the first episode of Giles Cooper's dramatization of the Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. Listen to the next episode of John Powell's production of the Day of the Triffids. A Light in the Night.