Tales of Tomorrow

"Tales of Tomorrow."

- And there it was, a-comin' at him and a-comin' at him,

and all he could do was stand there and gape at it.

And then what, Cap?

Ooh, well, I don't know, Sally,

that you're rightly old enough to hear the rest of it.

Aw, Cap.

- Well, the way this dune roller came wheelin' along,

you might say it was like a great big hoop snake

going along with its tail in its mouth.

Only maybe more like a big, thick truck tire.

No bigger than a truck tire?

- Oh, way bigger. Higher than a man can reach!

And all fiery and burnin' and throwin' out this awful light,

just as yellow and hot as the sun,

and a-comin' along and a-comin' along

and scorchin' and shrivelin' up everything in its way.

All right, Cap.

So it's fiery and it's big

and you've scared Sally half out of her wits again.

Sally, this dune roller's a wonderful old Northwoods yarn,

but don't forget it's still a yarn.

Well, you can call it just a yarn, Sam,

but all the same- - Yeah, I know, I know.

It's behind why they call this place Lightning Island.

Why are more men and animals killed on this island

than on all the other ones in Lake Michigan put together?

Well, how do you account for it?

- You're a scientist, Sam. You're supposed to be able to.

- Cap, I'm a biologist, I'm not a meteorology man.

I suppose it could be caused maybe

by some ore condition under the island,

or maybe some trick air current over the dunes.

Maybe we'll know when that mining friend of the doctor

gets that shaft blasted out.

- Sam, can we go down and see the explosives

again this afternoon?

No, we cannot, I got 'em safely put away

till the expert gets here.

And I don't want you playing around

with that explosive again, either.

- I haven't touched it, Sam. Honest, I haven't!

Say, Sally?

It's almost four, I thought you were going down

to meet your father at the dock when the mail boat comes in.

Oh. I was just going down, except...

Business before pleasure, huh?

Well, are you still paying me a dime

for each one of these things I can find?

Or have you got enough?

No. No, no, the deal's still on.

10 cents for every one of those mystery drops you bring in.

How many you got? - Here, three more.

I found them out on the dunes.

Here you are, 30 cents, paid in full.

Thank you!

They're real pretty, Sam.

At least in an ugly kinda way.

Got it figured out yet what they are?

No, not within a mile, Cap.

Not agate and not like any other kind of mineral

that I ever saw.

I found a couple more myself yesterday.

Meant to bring 'em up from my shack this morning

and then I forgot to.

- Maybe you'd better send 'em in by way of Sally,

don't you think? - Yeah, that's right.

She'll think I'm trying to do her out of her dimes.

Maybe I'll just lose 'em right out in front someplace.

Yeah, that's a good idea.

It's light, but it's just as hard as quartz. Hm!

The doctor said he was going to bring up

some mineralogy books today.

Maybe that'll help us figure it out a little.

- When you and Dr. Burgess set your minds to it,

why, you'll run it down, all right.

Oh, I hope so, Cap.

Say, would you mind getting this cleaned up for me?

- Yeah, sure thing. - Thank you.

Sam!

Sam, guess who's coming up the beach! Daddy and Jeannie!

Mom's gonna be in town till Monday,

but Jeannie's gonna be here all weekend!

- My goodness, I'd better get a clean shirt on,

don't you think? - Too late, Sam.

If you were going to dazzle me with a clean shirt,

you should've thought of it an hour ago.

- That's not fair. Jeannie, here, give me this.

Why, if I'd known you were coming,

I'd have been down at the dock myself.

If you'd known Carl was lugging

eight pounds of sirloin, huh?

Ho-ho! Sam, there goes our surprise.

You can depend on a woman every time.

Oh, is that so?

Come along, Sally. Let's put these things in the icebox.

Here are your books, Sam.

They nearly pulled my arm off the last 50 yards.

Good. Did you find that Goldthwaite?

- The Goldthwaite, the Kaplan, and some bound reports.

Good. Here it is.

It's got to be here.

Well, I wouldn't be too sure, Sam.

I've got some news for you.

Doctor, do they say you're the man

that carried that sirloin up here?

Well, Molly picked it out, Cap.

- I just wanted to shake the hand that brought it.

Ah.

The one quick check I was betting on

doesn't seem to have it.

Uh-huh, I coulda told you that, Sam.

Come on over here a minute. I want to show you something.

I took this sample by Kepple in the physics lab yesterday.

Uh-huh?

- Do you still keep the others in the drawer up here?

Yep. Sally got five more this week.

All right.

- Both of you in favor of French-fried onions?

That's a wonderful idea.

If Cap'll let you do the frying.

Oh, look! New ones.

Can I have these for earrings, Sam?

Well sure, Jeannie but-

- Now Jeannie, I don't think- - Oh no, Carl.

You don't get these away from me again.

Not unless you prove they're some kind of hush-hush mineral.

And I'll put you both down

as voting for French-fried onions.

Fine.

Hush-hush mineral? What's Jeannie talk-

- Well, I don't want to get too serious about it, Sam,

before we know more.

What are you staring at?

This.

- Well, it's bigger than the others, but-

- No, no, I put two of 'em in there about an hour ago.

And look. They got together and made this.

Sam, you probably just don't remember.

Oh no, wait a minute.

Why, this thing has doubled in size and weight.

- Well, maybe they could've fused together.

- The two separately weighed 42 grams and 46 grams.

You add that, you got 88 grams. This thing weighs 176.

It's redoubled. I can't figure it.

- Well, that, and much less how the two got together.

Say, Carl. I left that sterilizer open.

Maybe that steam under the drawer

had something to do with it.

Well, let's find out.

You know, Kepple said the heat in these drops

had some connection with the humidity conditions.

- The heat? - Yes.

These mystery drops of ours

turn out to have some very curious thermal properties.

Kepple hasn't been able to identify them yet, but...

Well, look. Watch this.

Here.

Say, that's hot!

Yeah. It wasn't when I picked it up.

- You mean just tapping it against that drop-

- Yeah, they have some unaccountable source of heat.

Sometimes when we tap them, nothing happens,

and other times we get intense heat

with fewer taps than just now.

Yeah.

Now, there's no perceptible change,

but I still think you're right about the steam.

I'll tell you what, Sam.

Let's reproduce the original conditions

and see what happens this time.

- Yeah, that's a good idea. - Is this where you had them?

- Uh-huh, just exactly. - All right. Okay.

- No. Wait a minute, Carl. - Yeah?

I had the drawer out, about like this.

But I still don't see how heat could affect a mineral.

Well, you say mineral,

but it could be a kind nobody's ever known.

Suppose it came from a meteor?

A meteor?

Yeah, maybe a meteor that struck

along the lake here centuries ago

and smashed into bits or cracked up on the way down.

- Yeah, but with with one unique difference:

this meteor, if that's what it was,

is trying to get itself back together again.

- And it doubles its weight when it does. Hm!

Two and two makes eight, not four.

- Sam, I'd say we've got a lot of studying to do.

Although I suspect it'll take more

than a physician and a biologist

to deal with this before we're through.

Come on, you two. Steak's on.

You get anywhere, Sam?

- Exactly nowhere. - This is the last warning.

Cap and Sally are starving in there.

- Hey, Jeannie, give me a chance to change my shirt.

I'll only be two minutes.

- I'll be with you in a second, Jeannie.

Uh-uh, Carl. No detours.