The Visitor (Stridulum)

Once, far away, light years,

distances beyond thought,

a great, slender ship with a tail of fire

slid through the black reaches of space.

On that ship was Zatine...

a prisoner named Zatine.

Words cannot describe his evil, his criminality.

He had been captured by Commander Yaveth,

after decades of search and evasion

in a blood-drenched battle that claimed hundreds of lives.

But shortly thereafter, Zatine escaped in a tiny scout craft.

A fantastic escape

from that spaceship.

And soon, he found a hiding place

on the planet Earth.

Zatine was a mutant, his genes transformed.

A mutant with a primal wish to kill,

but evolved to new psychic and occult powers.

He used these powers to spread destruction and death.

In order to find and destroy Zatine,

Commander Yaveth tried many methods.

One of these methods was an immense army of birds,

trained to hunt and to kill.

But when these birds did discover Zatine,

he transformed himself into an eagle,

and managed to destroy them all...

except for three,

which survived and wounded him fatally in the brain.

But Zatine, now dead,

lived on in another way.

Before he was killed, he mated with Earth women,

procreating numerous children

and thereby transmitting his wicked spirit and evil powers

through new generations.

Yet the struggle continued

and still goes on.

For Yaveth's descendants pursued the progeny of Zatine

lest their contamination spread through the cosmos.

Has it happened again?

Her name is Katie Collins

and she will be eight years old.

San Francisco with the ball, and 12-zero.

San Francisco with the basketball and 92 to 86.

They're going to Abdul, and they converge on Abdul, in the corner,

and Abdul is down!

We are in the closing moments of the basketball game,

Abdul, our star, we don't know if it's a knee or an ankle,

Abdul has been a thorn in the neck of Atlanta all night long.

They have a two order, what that means, they'll have new money.

They have possibly some new ball players like Abdul.

Both teams are right now coming back out onto the court.

We're going to have a centre court jump. Here we go.

By the left...

And he scores!

Woo-hoo!

Setting up that two-one-two offence.

They will try and work the ball to the high post.

And they do. To Lane, who's shot from 15...

Atlanta has scored again, Abdul still not in the basketball game.

Atlanta has a chance to take the lead. Prescott past the line...

And he scores!

We have a time out on the court.

We'll see if we can talk with Ray Armstead, the owner of the Atlanta team.

- Ray, things are going well tonight. - Yeah.

You're downplaying how well the team is doing,

not only tonight, but so far this year... why?

Oh, we've just got a good team.

Well, I'll tell you this. They have done very well all year, and you have done well,

but we wanna find out what kind of owner Ray Armstead is going to be.

Well, we're gonna change it from Losersville to Atlanta again.

- How are you going to do that? - With an open chequebook.

- How open is that going to be, Ray? - Quite open.

Quite open. Where does this money come from?

You do not have a sports ownership bankroll.

Ray, answer me.

There's no answer I can give you on that one.

You're going to give us an answer. Where does the money come from?

You say you'll have an open chequebook, and you say it'll be very open.

Where does the money come from?

Uh, God.

Now, so far, since returning to the lineup,

Abdul has shown no ill effects of that ankle injury

that sidelined him for a couple of minutes earlier in the basketball game.

You know, that explosion, I can't get it out of my mind.

Which explosion?

The first explosion, one ball, or the second explosion, two ball?

How come you don't explode when we're making love?

Where'd that come from?

Well, I'd like it better if you made a little noise. A lot of noise.

- That's another one of your jokes. - Can we talk seriously?

We're always talking about talking about talking.

But we never talk. Can you talk seriously?

No.

Marry me, Barbara.

I can't.

- We've got to settle this. - It's settled.

I can't marry you or anyone, Raymond.

It's been seven years. Seven and a half years, to be exact,

since my divorce.

He was a fine man.

A very fine man, and I loved him very much.

- And I swore then that I'd nev... - What's the matter with you?

Let us say it.

I'm scared, Raymond.

You treat me like a normal person, and I thank you for it.

But I'm not a normal person.

There's something...

I can't explain it, Raymond.

There's something wrong inside, something terrible.

You shouldn't have pushed me this far.

It could mean the end of you and me.

But I know I have to tell you.

Tell me what?

It's Katie.

No, she scares me, Raymond.

There's something I don't know. She's...

Sh... You don't know, you can't even imagine.

She's my baby, my little girl, and...

She came out of me. It's not her fault.

She...

Oh, I don't want any more children, Raymond.

Crazy, Barbara.

I'll be eight in a few days, Squeaky.

There'll be a big party and they'll give me a lot of presents.

It was right for now to kill the set of babies.

Did I scare you?

You deserved it. You always leave me alone.

And I've always got to play alone.

Here's my baby-sitter.

But one of these evenings...

I'm really gonna kill her.

She's always asleep.

And why aren't you asleep?

You don't love me, Mother.

I know it.

You leave me alone too much.

That's not fair.

I'm tired of it.

And this house is... too big.

And what do you want, honey?

I want a brother.

Have you been to the United States before?

My first time.

What is the purpose of your trip?

I'm a visitor.

I'm a pretty bird.

Glad you love it. I'm taking it.

- Wise purchase, ma'am. - I'm a pretty bird.

Ooh, hey, wait a minute. Katie would love this.

- I saw it come on. - I'm a pretty bird.

Gives me the scary creeps.

Very nice for Katie.

- I'll take it. - Thank you.

It'll make a nice extra birthday present for Katie.

- I'm a pretty bird. - Thank you very much.

Come in.

Raymond.

Are you sure of what you're doing?

Yes. I am.

- Are you ready? - Yes.

Come in, Raymond.

You're going to have a marvellous team, Raymond. The best.

It's going to be very easy for you to win now.

Are you pleased with what you have? Is it what you wanted?

Yes, I am, of course.

Good.

We're in great danger, Raymond.

- The visitor? - Katie has been designated for that.

Your problem is her mother.

Time is not on our side.

It's on your side.

We realise, Raymond, that Barbara's resisting strongly.

That she doesn't want more children.

Up to this point, you have failed.

Barbara has refused to marry you.

And for us, this is a very serious matter.

We've always believed that it was not necessary for you to understand everything.

But now, we feel compelled to reveal to you our real motive.

Raymond, I'm going to tell you something of tremendous importance.

But I must warn you that any mistake on your part now

would have appalling consequences,

both for you and for us.

Barbara is a miracle of nature.

She carries in her womb...

something which transcends the world of everyday reality.

She is able to give birth to children of immense powers,

both natural and supernatural.

She is the only woman of this generation

who carries the genes...

of Zatine.

She was assigned to you...

so far, without success.

We wanna do everything in our power to assist you, Raymond.

And we feel that events in the next few days will help your mission,

and that you will achieve our intent.

But we've invested a great deal of time and money in you.

And we cannot wait much longer.

We need another child like Katie.

Barbara must give birth to a brother for Katie.

Power corrupts, Raymond.