| OK - here they are: the published entries to the NY Magazine contest. Readers
each supplied a line typical of a science-fiction movie. The editor then
arranged the lines to form a surprisingly complete SF movie plot. Don't peek
at the ending!
N.B. I've left out the names and addresses of the contestants.
............................................................
"Gee, Janet, was it a left or a right? I don't remember coming this way."
"Carl, darling, what's wrong with you? I don't know you like this... you've
changed."
"Edna, didn't you say those batteries I bought yesterday were in the kitchen
drawer?"
"Look, on the Clarks' roof...there's more than one TV antenna, and they're
moving."
"That's funny. My watch has stopped."
"Darn, I can't see a thing up here. Hand me that flashlight, Ed. Ed?"
"...We interrupt this program...an unidentified saucerlike object...."Un objet
de forme de soucoupe pres des Etats Unis..."
"There's something out there. And it's not of this earth."
"Whatever you do, don't go into that subterranean cave."
"Don't worry. We'll be safe here. Aaaaaaaarg!"
"You mean, doctor, that boulder is...a egg?"
"In layman's terms, yes."
"So...I guess we're not along..."
"Oh, they're here, all right -- we just can't see them."
"Professor, you don't mean..."
"Precisely."
"Gozzo, come quick -- and bring the electrodes."
"No, no, Fentress, not that jar."
"A figment of my imagination, eh? Take a look at this."
"You may remember, Professor Kenton, my prediction that at these levels of
radiation,...Professor Kenton?"
"By the fourteen moons of Saturn, come and see this!"
"No, Bob, you go ahead. I need to stay and finish this one experiment."
"Be careful with this experiment or it's good-bye Charlie."
"When you have a moment, professor, come and look -- the seeds you just planted
seem to be growing at an alar..."
"According to my calculations, the meteor should be passing over us right
about..."
"We'll have to keep a tight lid on this, Frank. If word gets out, there'll be
panic..."
"Run, children, run! Run as fast as your legs will carry you."
"Wait, look. It's trying to speak."
"People of Earth..."
"Call me Xgzomtzk."
"On our planet, marriage was outlawed 5,000 years ago, and it worked."
"We mean you no harm, but we desperately need women capable of childbearing."
"You will be returned in six of your Earth days."
"We come in peace from a civilization far more advanced than yours, but our
planet is dying."
"Let go of my arm. I don't care what they said about coming in peace..."
"Our planet is dying."
"Stop firing, you fools. They're not merely creatures, they're living things.
With feelings."
"Talking toaster ovens? Well, general, just how do you think we look to them?"
"Those aren't eggplants, you fool -- they're..."
"They are the pricks of a giant sea urchin."
"How many toes did you say it has?"
"Forget the gun, darling. Bullets won't stop them. Quick, hand me that
blowtorch."
"If it's alive, then we can kill it."
"Drop your gun; weapons are useless against the creature. We must try to
communicate with it."
"We've got to do more than that; we've got to love them."
"Sir, I think Lieutenant Murphy just went into labor."
"The growth looks harmless. Let's wait and see."
"Is it animal, vegetable, or mineral?"
"I wouldn't touch that, Carl -- not until the professor gets here."
"That's odd, I've never seen Sylvester hiss at a baby before."
"It looks like a pickle..smells like a pickle...but it's alive."
"That smell is butarylic acid --there's a giant radioactive scorpion on the
loose."
"This isn't any blood type I recognize."
"It's not only the green glow, there's something else. Look carefully. They
have no navels. None."
"It's a giant ant! It's a giant ant!"
"I'm afraid you just stepped on her, sir."
"My God, it's female."
"You'd never know it to look at him, would you?"
"You're right Dr. Quo. His head is shrinking, but his feet are growing at an
alarming rate."
"If you have to wake the president now, do so. If we wait until evening, it
will be too late."
"Wake up! Wake up! They get you in your sleep!"
"These creatures are not like us, Mr. President...they have no emotions..."
"All right -- we'll wait to see what happens. But I want it watched 24 hours a
day, and let me know the moment there's any change, understand?"
"I'm afraid there's no stopping the, commander; their six-stranded DNA enables
them to mutate at will."
"It's impossible; there's not enough oxygen or nitrogen to sustain them."
"I told you and you wouldn't listen -- they can reproduce by themselves."
"Don't you see, Marsha? That's exactly what these creatures want you to
believe."
"But that's impossible professor. They've been extinct for more than 50
million years."
"It looks hungry. What do you think it eats?"
"It's out there. It's hungry, and we are what it wants."
"Don't feed it! It'll follow us back to Earth."
"I may be crazy, commander, but I think this fungus is trying to communicate
with us."
"It's twelve feet tall with yellow eyes, and it wants to speak to you,
captain."
"I count six, captain...no, wait -- twelve -- my God, they're multiplying."
"No, colonel, each severed limb will regenerate...better leave this to science,
sir."
"Yes, doctor, science is my god. But you, doctor, you are a heretic."
"You're perfectly safe as long as you stay on the monster's left,
captain...captain?"
"Whatever you do, never look in its eye."
"Everything seems okay, captain. Why -- you're not the captain -- you're..."
"Crew, this is Captain Voltron. She'll be your new commander."
"...Janet...you?" "Small galaxy, isn't it, David?"
"I don't care what the orders are. I'm for getting out of here now."
"It's not mutiny when we have no choice. The captain is no longer human."
"Well, I reckon he has been acting a mite strange since he got bit by the
critter..."
"Look more closely, doctor. Have you ever seen another dog bite that looked
like this?"
"We've attacked it with every weapon known to man, but it keeps getting
stronger."
"Wait! There's one thing we haven't thought of yet."
"We must keep the creature frozen. God knows what will happen if it melts."
"They're lost, captain; they're headed straight for the sun."
"I'm melting!"
"...My face. Oh, Lord, my still handsome face -- it's melting."
"We have two faces. One that we wear and one that we keep hidden."
"Yes, that certainly seems to be so; we are in a part of the universe where
time moves backward."
"They seem to know exactly what we're going to do, even before we do it."
"Especially their women."
"Listen, Phleek, you've brought her back to life twice already. You owe her
some loyalty after all."
"But that would mean she's...3,000 years old."
"You can't fall in love, damnit; you're an android."
"I can't believe how much it looked like one of us. And to think I almost
married it."
"Never mind all that. Can we bring it home with us?"
"You mean!" "That's correct. We can't get back. Unless one of us..."
"I'm going in. Nothing would have survived that explosion."
"I don't see how it can get out of that."
"I've been head of this institution for over 30 years, and ...well...thank God
we've seen the last of them."
"It's over. Let's turn around and head for home."
"But, sir, what if they *did* have the secrets of clean, cheap energy and
everlasting peace?"
"We destroyed it by locking into its last transmission, captain. It was
telling us...'Peace.'"
"It's at peace now."
"That's funny -- I thought I left the creature's remains on this table..."
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