 I have received word of a strange invention. What it can do will amaze France and strike terror to the world. 2000 plus. Science fiction adventures from the world of tomorrow. The years beyond. 2000 AD. 2000 plus presents The Insect. Miss Darling, it means I'll probably get that research appointment at the university. Oh, I can hardly believe it, George. Oh, here's the telegraph of the dean of science himself. I'll take the jet plane in about two hours and be there in plenty of time for my meeting this afternoon. I know. I'll get a bottom of champagne and we'll celebrate a dinner tonight. Well, that's nice, but I'm not sure I'll be home for dinner. The meeting may go on. Maybe I'll have to stay overnight, take the plane back in the morning. Well, then we'll have champagne for breakfast. Well, let's not hope too much. Hey, hey, hey, I've got to gather my papers and things but I'm going to get to the airport in time. You'd better help me. In your laboratory? The wife of a budding scientific genius shouldn't act like that. But, George, I'm frightened when I go in there. Nonsense. They won't hurt you. No, I can't stand insects. That's why I stay out of your lab. I've got to have help with these papers. What do you want me to do? Cancel the meeting because my wife is afraid of the work I do? Oh, I'm sorry, darling. It's just... All right, all right. I'll try to do it myself. Don't be angry, George. If they were ordinary insects, tiny ones would... maybe it would be different. Even with what I've done to them, they're not so big. So I've taken a spider, a housefly and a wasp and by means of my growth ray, I've made them larger. The spider still isn't any bigger than my fist. The housefly is about as large as a pack of cigarettes. The wasps are no bigger than my golf ball. They're not giant. But they look so horrible when they're even that big. Easier to observe and study. That's why the university is interested in my work. With the long-term appointment and the grant to amplify the growth ray, maybe I can really increase the size of the insect. Imagine a fly as big as a horse. That would be some horse fly. Hey, that's a joke. All right, George. I'll help you. It's only the papers we're packing. You won't have to go near the insect cages. Do you have any pointed ones in here? No? Only Sam. He's in the glass cage by those books. I don't want to look. Maybe if you'd look, you wouldn't have such ridiculous ideas. Sam is a nice guy. He just swaps and spares. Looks like a wise old man. If I look, I can see all those legs. There's a wolf. Okay, okay. Now the notebook, please. Hey, hey, hey, be careful. Thanks. Well, what's the matter? That machine is very delicate. You almost touched it. Oh, the growth ray? I don't want that running while I'm gone. Oh, really? I can't wait to get out of here. I'll see now. I've got everything. Yep. Well, that does it. Come on. After you meet cheddar-stricken beauties, hope when we get to the university, if I get the appointment, you'll keep your disgusted insects to yourself. A wife is supposed to build up her husband's work, faculty-wise, do that all the time. Don't argue with me now. I just can't help the way I feel. Sam should really be fed while I'm gone. Stop it! I'm not going in there. All right. All right. What about Pete the housefly? He's not spoiling it. You'll feed your insects when you get home. Now hurry up. The urge will be made. Sure. Well, goodbye. George, I don't want you to leave when you're annoyed like that. I'm sorry, darling. I really love you. But I love my insects, too. Please, you order. Oh, hello, Bill. Right in here. Okay. David? Uh, please. The changes are better this time than they were last. Oh, Mr. Ginkelheim said to tell you that these oranges are swell. Well, I'll know when I squeeze them for breakfast. Oh, thank you, Bill. Oh, is Mr. Martin home? Mr. Martin? No, he isn't, Bill. Why? Well, he was going to show me his bugs. Oh, you don't want to look at them. A pair of dreadfuls. I find them very interesting. Mr. Martin said he'd take me into his lab today. That's why I delivered your order first. I was anxious to see them. Oh, Mr. Martin was called away suddenly. He got a telegram and had to leave almost at once. But he'll be home tomorrow. Tomorrow I've got to work at the other store, the one on North Street. Well, in a few days then. And the bugs will still be here, Bill. Mrs. Martin, would it be too much trouble if you let me peek at them? I never go into Mr. Martin's laboratory. I won't hurt me. Then just peek. I was kind of looking forward to seeing them and... Oh, it's a hard place to build that laboratory. You wait till Mr. Martin gets home. Sure, Mrs. Martin, if you say so. Well, no, no. You look so glum. What you men see in those revolving creatures, I'll never know. They're scary. They're so big. I feel funny when I look at them. Then Mr. Martin explains about science and stuff, and it's really interesting. Would you like to be a scientist, Bill? I sure would. Well, I suppose I ought to encourage that I won't go through in, but you can peek. You know where the door is. Oh, thanks, Mrs. Martin. Thanks very much. But don't touch anything. I won't. I better put these brushes away. Wasn't he the last time? I don't know. We must get out of here. Let's move in the corner. Interested in your growth, Ray? As dean of science, I want to be certain that this university encourages brilliant young scholars who are experimenting in new fields of research. I understand that. At the same time, I must be satisfied that the research will be of fundamental value. Yes, sir. Now, I suppose you thought for a while. Tell me about your work. Well, I have always been interested in the effective environment on organisms. I know the environmental factors, the universal conditions applicable to all organisms. For example, for air, temperature, humidity, light, and so forth. And then I approach each of these conditions from the point of view of its specific effects on organisms. I discovered that the presence or absence of light gave me the widest variance of reaction. Oh, excuse me. In what way the widest variance? When the effects on physical growth change adaptation, I think. You see, sir, because light is a general term, I broke its definition down into all known rays, infrared, ultraviolet, so forth, and studied reactions of organisms to those rays in every conceivable combination. Now, after two years, I evolved a theory that if certain rays could be combined electronically and concentrated on living organisms for specified periods of time, their growth would be greatly stimulating. And you have constructed such a machine? Yes, I have. The electrodynospectrum, the growth ray machine. What have you accomplished with it so far? I've multiplied the growth of certain insects many times. My present machine is small and homemade, and its power is not too great. But so far, I've increased the size of a fly to that of a pack of cigarettes, the size of a spider to that of my fist. What kind of spider? A tarantula. It's a very dangerous and poisonous insect to work with. While being a tropical spider, it might be more receptive to light. Its size has tripled. Tell me, Mr. Martin, what is the optimum increase in size that you've so far obtained? About eight times with the fly. The size increase varies with the insects. There's a lot of research yet to be done. Yes, so I can see. You will certainly work with the imagination. Think of your having the kind of equipment that will benefit a 20, 50, 100, or even a thousand-fold increase in an insect's size. Imagine an insect large enough to attack and devour a human being. Imagine this university needing lion cages to contain its giant insect. Well, there's no limit to what new things we could learn about all manner of organisms with a growth rate, not just insects. That's right. Mr. Martin, I'd like you to stay on another few hours so that we can talk some more. I'd be very happy to. Perhaps you'd like your phone your wife, but you'll be a bit late. Thank you, sir. You can use the phone in the other office. And Mr. Martin? Yes. When she asks you how everything's going, you tell her that it's going just fine. What do we do? I don't know. Where will Mr. Martin come home? This afternoon, tonight? Maybe not until tomorrow. Oh. Maybe he'll come home. No. No, he'll think I'm out shopping. Oh, this is... Mrs. Martin. Oh, here's the telephone. It scares her. Is George calling home? I doesn't even realize something has happened. Why doesn't he call the neighbors of the police? I think I am the last member of the faculty committee who wants you to see. Oh, sit down, won't you? Oh, thank you, Professor Bradley. Yes, I think I'm going all afternoon for one appointment with the other. And all of us are happy to talk with you. The dean is quite excited about your reception, though. Yes, I'm very pleased about that. Professor Bradley, I hope you won't take me rude at the beginning of our meeting, but I wonder if I might use your phone. Of course. Mr. Martin, is something wrong? No, I don't think so, but I've phoned my wife several times until I was staying on all afternoon and there's been no answer. Oh, I'm sure there's nothing wrong about it. It means Carl, the phone is right there. Thank you. I'll let you eight, four, five, seven, two and reverse the charges, please. Thank you. I'll let it ring a few more times. Please keep trying. I'll call you, sir. Thank you. I can't understand it. It's not like Betty to be away so long. Excuse me, it's not. Face this one night, but the whole room is flooded with sunlight since the shade went up. I mean, this corner behind this chair doesn't give us the protection we need. Why? Martin's too big to get out of here. That's a spider. He's on the rock, under the chair. I'll take off my shoes. There's nothing to hit it with. If it comes, now you take one of them. It's going to fly again. You may hear it too. I don't know. Here it comes. It might be later. Even stay overnight. She may have gone to her mother's. It was a real pleasure finding a young man who cares that much for his wife. I suppose Mrs. Martin feels the same way about you. Oh, Betty's wonderful. I'm sure she is. After all, not many women would approve their husbands inventing machines that make insects larger. You've got a rare wife, Mr. Martin, one who doesn't object to giant insects in the house. That's very interesting. Oh, you mustn't say... No, why? But somehow, yes. I know that you find your association with us a real incentive to carrying on your work with a regrowth rate. I'm sure of that. I'll do my very best to be accredited to the university and to scientific research. Well, my boy, it's time for you to leave. If you want to catch the 610 and be home with your wife, you just get home and you'll find that there's an explanation for why she didn't answer the phone all day. I'm sure you're right. Thank you, Gendine. Thank you very much. I'll reach the window. The window? I think I can make a run for the window once I push the chair aside. But he might attack you. For me? Well, maybe he won't. But he really will. Come on, there's no way. I've been to either of us if he did attack me. I would be eaten alive with more of these all sorts of things. George would know exactly. I had a whole group of clothes ruined last year. Everything. I can bite him. Chair around a little, squeeze by between the chair and the wall and make a dash for the window. Give me my shoes. The spider. We thought we'd die. Besides, you had nothing. You see, darling, the adult moth doesn't eat. It has no mouth. Nothing to attack or kill with. Despite its size, cacophagatapatella, the clothes moth, it's utterly harmless. Could have waited without worrying is that a moth cannot live more than six hours in sunlight. You see, dear, all this horror was unnecessary. The silver rocket had an unseen visitor from space. Be sure to listen to 2000 Plus, Radio's Different Series. 2000 Plus is produced by Dreyer and Winolton Productions Incorporated. In today's cast, Joan Shae portrays Betty, Mary Robinson the Bill, Ralph Bells, George, and Bill Griffiths was the dean. Music composed and played by Muffin K. Sound, Alejo, and George Cunney. Engineer Bob Albrecht, this is Ken Marvin speaking.