Alien Interference Sci-Fi Story | Nightshade Diary Podcast - Nightshade Diary

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you feel a sharer up your spine from fear? Yes,
it's another story from the Night's Shade Diary. You know
what that means. Check under the bed and make sure
no one or nothing is there. Is the closet door
securely shut. Then leave your disbelief behind, amp up your
imagination and hang on tight for another ride into terror

(00:22):
and mystery. And like all good horror stories, just imagine
it's a dark and stormy night. And remember screaming like
a little girl is permitted Prendle by Robert F. Young,
pick Up Girl. The command shocked Kellor. It had been

(00:46):
uttered in a guttural voice whose seeming source was his
own mind. He had just got an n YS ninety
and was heading home after a Saturday extint at the office.
His dashboard clock rester at five twenty three pm. He
saw how white his knuckles had become, and he forced
himself to relax his grip on the wheel. Instantly, his

(01:10):
hands began to tremble. He became aware of a faint
buzzing in his ears. Beyond the hood of his caprice.
The thru way unrolled into pale gold distances beneath a
pale blue October sky. Late afternoon, traffic flowed smoothly on
either side of the attenuated island of the mall. Pick

(01:32):
up girl. This time, the command was followed by pain,
a blinding pain that exploded in Color's mind like a
fragmentation grenade made of crimson glass, then diminished to red mist.
He nearly lost control of the caprice. Gradually the mist dispersed.

(01:54):
He heard a voice again that was a sample of
what you get if you disobeyed. Who are you, Color
whispered no answer. Instinctively, he took the next exit. It
brought him into one of the southern arteries of the city,
where he joined the ongoing traffic flow. He wondered desperately

(02:15):
if he'd gone insane. Why you not fine, girl yet?
Give me a chance, Kellor pleaded, This is a bad
time of day. Later on, later on, will not do
must have girl? Now, remember pain, Color shuddered. I'll do

(02:36):
my best, but picking up a girl isn't all that easy.
Who you think you fool? You chase her? Picking up
girls your specialty? Why you think I choose you, Keller sighed.
I said, I'll do my best. You better, and you

(02:57):
better get good girl too. Virgin If possible color. Concentrated
on his driving, maybe if he kept his mind occupied,
the voice would go away. Meanwhile, he would look for
a girl he didn't dare not to. He had been
passing through a middle class residential area. Now as he

(03:17):
got closer to the city's core, the houses gradually gave
way to business places. There were numerous bars. When he
spotted one that looked less inauspicious than the others, he
parked and went inside. He drew a blank outside again,
in the slanting October sunshine, he looked up and down
the street. Late shoppers were climbing in and out of cars,

(03:40):
going in and out of delicatessens and grocery stores, buying booze,
mostly six packs for tomorrow's Buffalo Bills game. He felt terribly,
horribly alone. Back behind the wheel of his caprice, he
rejoined the traffic flow and stayed with it till he
spotted another bar that my conceivably contained an unescorted, clean

(04:02):
cut American girl with a still intact himan. He parked
and went inside. A couple of Saturday afternoon drunks were
playing pool. A tired looking man in a business suit
was reading the afternoon paper. And a pair of middle
aged housewives were sipping screwdrivers. The bar maid was fairly
attractive and reasonably young, but she gave Color a stony

(04:26):
stare over the whiskey and water she brought him, and
he knew that proposition in her would be a waste
of time. Back behind the wheel of his caprice, back
in the traffic flow, sunlight ricocheting from the burnished hood
on to his eyes, he asked, what happens if I
can't find a girl? For answer, received a second sample

(04:48):
of the red pain, but it was much milder than
the first, and moreover, the two whiskies he drunk had
lent him a courage of sworts. What's your name? He demanded.
A pause, Then, prindle, that's not a name. You read
it off the automatic shift. It will do. Who are you?

(05:14):
What are you? No answer? Whatever it was, whoever it was,
it could see through his eyes and could read his thoughts.
At least, he could read his thoughts when they were
mentally expressed in words. But could it do so if
they weren't. Color wondered if he were to think the
way he did most of the time, in series of

(05:36):
images rather than in words, would he be able to
preserve his intellectual privacy. To find that, he visualized himself
ignoring a bevy of available girls you, turning the caprice,
returning to n y S ninety, and resuming his journey home,
and he waited a reaction. Apparently Pryndell's powers were limited.

(06:00):
Keller was about to try another bar when out of
the corner of his eye he glimpsed a green Mustang
standing next to the curb with its hood rays and
a tawny haired girl leaning over its exposed engine. The
shot was a long one, but he had to play it.
He backed into the first empty parking space he came to,
forced himself to sit perfectly still till the quantity of

(06:22):
his plalm return, then got out of the caprice and
walked back. The Mustang was still there, and so was
the girl. Keller dressed just behind the times. He did
this deliberately, knowing that were he to keep abreast of them,
they would betray him. To day, he had on a
white turtle neck, a maroon blazer, gray checked flair slax,

(06:43):
and black buckle strap boots. The compo lent the exact
effect he wanted, that of a seasoned man of the world,
almost but not quite past as prime, plainly confident enough
of his own prowess to disdain catering to the calculated
vicissitudes of fashion. He did not wear a hat. He
never did. His hair line, although it had receded, was

(07:06):
still lower than some men half his age, and with
few gray hairs. He had contributed rather than detracted from
the image. The girl, half turned, looked up at him.
Blue eyes went well, with a long tawny hair. Her
face was rather thin, nice upper lip, though, and a
mouth that was neither too wide nor too babyish. Trim waist,

(07:29):
nice legs, no wedding band. As far as he could see,
she was wearing a medium short green skirt, a yellow
pull over, and brown kick boots. I turned a key
and nothing happened, she said. He gave her a reassuring smile.
I'll take a look. He checked the battery terminals, found
both clamps to be tight. The battery was a new one,

(07:51):
but he checked the cells to make sure the water
level was down, but not enough to matter. Finally, he
checked the tension of the alternator belt. The give it
was about half the length of his thumbnail. He's straightened
it's probably your startup solonoid, he said. Can you fix it?
Not without the part, probably not with it either. You

(08:12):
need a mechanic, and mechanics have a thing about working weekends.
Do you live around here? She shook her head. He
hadn't thought she did. There's two things you can do,
he continued smoothly. You can climb in my car, and
we can start visiting service stations on the thousand to
one shot. We'll find one operated by a competent mechanic

(08:35):
who has a part in stock and will be willing
to leave his place of business long enough to do
a repair job. Or you can lock up your car,
leave it here till Monday morning, and let me drive
you home. She looked at him, at his eyes mostly.
Then she looked at the engine. Finally, she looked at
him again. I live about forty miles from here, just

(08:58):
this side of Northfolk. How far would that be out
of your way? Not far, he lied. She looked once
more at the Mustang's engine. Then she slammed down the hood,
got a purse out of the front seat, and locked
both doors. I insist that you let me buy you
some gas. Nonsense. I've got a full tank. It was

(09:20):
only half full, but he didn't want to risk stopping
at a service station. The operator just might be a mechanic,
just might have the part, and just might be willing
to take on a repair job. My name is Bruce.
Bruce Keller Carla Banks. She got an overnight bag out
of the Mustang's trunk and accompanied him up the street

(09:43):
to where his caprice was parked. She climbed in beside him.
So far he'd been able to at his nervousness quite well,
but he didn't know how long he continued to do so.
The voice in his mind had been silent for some time. However,
he knew it would not remained so worse. Any moment
he might be on the receiving end of another sample

(10:04):
of the red pain. Whis What was he going to do?
He got a grip on himself, rejoined the traffic flow
and proceeded to South Park. He took South Park to
Hamburg Street, and Hamburg Street to Ohio Street. Ohio Street
took him to firm and Boulevard, and he passed over
the Father Baker Memorial Bridge and joined the traffic flow

(10:27):
on the Hamburg Turnpike. To keep his mind off Prindle
and the Red Pain. He told Carl about his ex
wife and about his job as a copywriter with Borough, Deare,
Greb and Evans. In return, she told him that she
was attending the university, that she'd been on her way
home to spend Saturday night and Sunday with her folks,

(10:49):
and that she probably would have got there all right
if she hadn't gone way out of her way to
visit a friend who wasn't in. Prindle put an end
to Color's respite. As they were leaving Woodlawn. Have been studying, girl,
will do nicely? What now, Kellor asked, rape her? Appalled,

(11:11):
Kellor asked, I can't do that, can do easy? Did
you say something, mister Keller, Carla asked Keller. Shaka said,
rape her. Prindle repeated, pull car off road, for Christ's sake.
I can't rape her in broad daylight, all right, keep

(11:32):
going be dark soon? But why rape her? Color said desperately.
If it's a piece of ass you want to be
a party to, let me go about getting it a
legitimate way. I'm famished. Carla said, there's a Howard Johnson
restaurant just ahead. Let's stop, shall we. I'll treat turn
right at the traffic circle. You keep going, Prindle screamed, no,

(11:58):
Keller said, slowing. If I don't humor her, I may
blow the whole thing. I've got to wait till dark anyway,
easy for you to wait, prendeo, howled lay a new
girl every other night? Me hundred of knights in space
since last time? Am horny as hell? Keller was incredulous.

(12:21):
How did you get in my mind? Am not in
your mind? Am in ship high high, high above hovering.
I focus teach, beam on school, assimilate language, mind scanners
single you up, say you chase her good bed to
fine girl, So I tune in on you with trends

(12:44):
and saf foulo electromagnetize her. You see, I see you
feel I feel except pain pain on different channel, ha ha.
But most work fast and being pursued by members of
own species who say Prindle is sex deviate and who

(13:04):
want to lock him back up. You stole the ship,
didn't you? Keller said, yes, yes, steal lab ship, many instruments, go,
many planets, rape, rape, rape, good, good good. Now we'll
rape again, but must wait. You say, very well, We'll wait,

(13:25):
but only for a little while what do you look like,
Keller asked, Little bit like you, but handsomer, much handsomer.
Then why don't you land and do the job yourself?
Cannot earth gravity too strong, but I'm talking too much.
Stop you and girl eat meantime, here comes something, so

(13:50):
you must not forget prindle. Keller's third taste of the
red pain was more agonizing than the second, but much
less agonizing than the first. He noticed that during a
few moments he experienced, the buzzing in his ears was absent.
Now that he thought of it, he was reasonably as
certain that the buzzing had been absent during the previous

(14:13):
two times. The conclusion was obvious. The buzzing was a
side effect of the artificially induced telepathic contact Prendell had established,
and each time the alien administered the pain, he broke
the contact because, feeling everything, Keller felt he would feel
the pain too. He might be even more susceptible to

(14:37):
it than Keller, in which case a mass of dose
might kill him. Hum Keller thought it may well be,
said Carla between bites of her ham On Ryan dainty
forkfuls of potato salad that Babylon revisited was Scott's best
short story, but I much more enjoyed his. Bernice bobs

(14:59):
her hair. Our English lin instructor, by the way, is
Irish to the bone. On the side, he does book
reviews for The New York Times. He dotes on Hibernian
writers and rules whenever he brings up Molly Bloom. Did
you ever read the Five Little Pepper Books? Keller asked,
Carla blinked. It's a juvenile series, Keller elaborated, early twentieth century.

(15:25):
I have a thing about them, you might say. I
always think that if I ever find a girls who's
read them, even one of them shall be extra special.
I read a Nancy Drew book once, Carla said, I'm
not surprised. I'm not surprised at all. It's almost the
same thing. Carla finished her sandwich, chewed and swallowed a

(15:46):
final forkful of potato salad, pressed a paper neck into
her lips. She looked at him shrewdly. Your ex wife
did she ever read any of the Five Little Pepper Books? No,
I don't think she ever did. You never asked her.
You have no idea what my marriage was like the

(16:07):
last half of it. My wife and I were locked
in mute and mortal combat. I can't remember what it
was she stopped speaking to me about, but after a
few months of it, I stopped speaking to her. And
all you've heard in the house after that was the
blaring of the TV set and the slamming of doors.
I took it for as long as I could. That
I I started chasing. That's a cruel way of putting it.

(16:35):
She regarded him. Keenly believe in, mister Keller, you'll never
find a modern girl who's read the Five Little Pepper books.
You would do as well to look for a purple cow.
Keller sighed. The ploy had never failed before. Clearly Carla
was made of more sophisticated stuff than her sister's. He
left half of his cheese on Rye finished his coffee.

(16:58):
The buzzing in his ears blurred the clatter of dishes
and the murmur of voices, and served as a constant
reminder of his predicament and had destroyed what little appetite
he had. Christ what was he going to do? If
he told Carla to get lost, He'd probably received a
dose of the red pain that would blast his brains loose,

(17:18):
and if he survived it, he'd either have to retrieve
Carlo or start looking for another victim. He went to
the police and told him to lock him up. He'd
have to provide them with a valid reason, and the
only reason he could provide them with was that he
was under the control of a rapist from outer space.
It's haw then, worse than a low budget science fiction
movie rated X. He still only half believed it himself.

(17:42):
What was he going to do to the maximum extent possible?
He had been confining his thoughts to images. Presently, A
picture of a mountain lake whose mirror like surface reflected
a thousand stars took shape in his mind. He stared
at it for a long time. I'll ast to understand
where had come from and what it represented. Finally it

(18:06):
faded away. The shadows were long and cool when he
and Carla left the restaurant and climbed back into the caprice.
Now we get down to the brass tacks, Prendall gloated. Weally.
Keller backed out of his parking place, returned to the
traffic circle, and got on Camp Road. After crossing Highway twenty,

(18:26):
he headed east on sixty two. Ay, I was going
to give you directions Carla said, but you seem to
know the way. Apparently you've been to North Falls before.
I went through there once. Why did they build a
business section on that rocky hill side instead of in
the valley down below? Maybe so they could fight off
the Indians better. Despite her levity, he detected a faint

(18:49):
tautness in her voice. He could understand why she might
be nervous. After all, she had known him for less
than two hours. He wanted to reassure her, to let
her know that he was a gentleman. First, Anna chased her, second,
and then she had nothing to fear from him. But
he couldn't, not with Prindle running to show, what the
hell was he going to do? He couldn't rape her,

(19:12):
not even if his life depended on it, and his
life did depend on it. Be dark soon, Prindle said,
very soon. The sun red and distended, showed occasionally between
the hills through the gold and red and russet foliage
of the trees. Kelly looked sideways at Carla. Her tawny

(19:33):
hair had a crimson cast. She seemed bathed in blood. Surreal,
she sensed his sideway stare, cat got your tongue, mister
Keller He jostled his thoughts, tried to free them from
Prindle's telepathic tentacles. He turned on the radio, punched a
selectors till he got music. Hi'll billy country, they called it. Now.

(19:56):
Like to dance, he asked, I'd love to, sir, she said,
but not right now? Can you do the fox trot?
Seems like I danced at once or twice with my
father when I was a little girl. The remark hadn't
been intended to hurt his feelings. He knew that she
probably thought he was thirty four, like all the other

(20:17):
at the most thirty seven, but it hurt just the same. Momentarily,
a reddish mist partially obscured his vision. Thus came. He
rolled his window up. Karla had already rolled up hers.
He held a Caprice at an even fifty five. At
sporadic intervals, headlights swam out of the darkness ahead resolved

(20:38):
into passing cars. Entering Hillcrest, He slowed to thirty five.
Soon the little town diminished to a handful of lights
in the rearview mirror. He hit fifty five again. It
is dark enough now, I know, but I have to
find a secluded place. He drove for another fifteen minutes.

(21:00):
He tried to think, but his mind seemed to have
gone numb. Five miles beyond Saundersville, Prindle said, stop, Carr,
I can't not stop. Car. Color. Brake pulled into the
shoulder and switched the emergency blinkers on. Look. I think
you stall, I think I teach you lesson. No Color,

(21:23):
cried no I. This time the pain was molten steel
from a tapped furnace, pouring into and swiftly filling the
ladle of his mind. The crimson slag of the overflow
covered his eyes, his nose, his mouth, his entire body.
Screaming silently in the crimson moist land, he clawed at
the fiery lava, raised his hands for succor, to heavens

(21:45):
he could not see, to a god he had forgot. Abruptly,
a black pit opened beneath his feet, and he was falling, falling,
the redness all round him. Down, down, Down, for a doctor.
I'll cut one Somehow's stay right where you are, Keller.
Keller located her in the fading redness, reached down and

(22:06):
seized her arm before she could slip out of the car.
He realized he had slumped over the wheel, and he
forced himself into an erect position. No, no, I'll be
all right in a minute. She hesitated, then closed the door.
He relaxed his grip on arm. Would it maybe be
your heart, mister Keller? No? Is there a place near

(22:26):
where I can pull off the road. It's bad business
parking here. There's a rest area just up ahead. I
still think I should get a doctor. You'd be wasting
your time an ambulance. Then I could flag down a
car tell him to call in one for you. He
toyed with the idea, if you're admitted to a hospital,

(22:47):
carlor would be safe, but Prendell would still be with him. Prendell,
looking at the nurses and the nurse's aids through his eyes,
ready at the slightest provocation to administer the red pain, shuddered. No,
an ambulance wasn't the answer. He switched off the blinker
and pulled back onto the highway. When he came to

(23:09):
the rest area, he drove into it gratefully and parked
in a clearing among the trees. He turned off the
engine and left the parking lights on. Then he rolled
down the window and breathed deeply of the night air.
It was cool and damp, redolent of dead and dying leaves.
He could feel Corla looking at him in the dashlights,

(23:29):
but he did not return her gaze. Instead, he concentrated
on his predicament. It boiled down to a simple set
of alternatives. He could rape the girl, in which his
prindle might set him free, or he could continue to
refrain from raping her, in which case Prindle would administer
another massive dose of the Red Pain. In the first case,

(23:50):
he wouldundoubtedly go on living, and the second he would
undoubtedly die. You want another lesson? Let me get my
will you nearly killed me? I give you three full
rotations of the black and white indicator on your car's
chronometer three minutes. If itting better now, mister Keller a little?

(24:17):
Perhaps there was a third alternative. The alien instruments that
were being employed to manipulate him might be beyond his comprehension,
but there means of accomplishing their purpose was not. But
simply they had adapted his mind to function as a
receiver for Prindle's commands and for the Red Pain two minutes.

(24:40):
They had also adapted his mind to function as a transmitter. No,
not just his mind, his entire body. Everything he saw,
everything he felt, everything he thought, all were transmitted instantly
to Prindle. It was true that the alien didn't respond
to thoughts expressed in images, but this didn't imply that

(25:00):
he didn't receive them. It merely implied that he didn't
interpret them, either because they were too scrambled or because
his mind functioned differently from colors. One minute, the red
pain was transmitted from a separate source. Every time Prindle
administered it, he severed contact with Colors so that he

(25:23):
wouldn't experience it himself. If he could somehow be tricked
into administering a massive dose of it without severeign contact,
would he be able to survive it? I mean of
the fact that Keller probably wouldn't be able to survive
it himself. That question was academic. Thirty seconds was your

(25:44):
way that the pain could be fed back to the
sender without the receiver experiencing it? Could it be reflected
fifteen seconds? Suddenly Kellor remembered the mountain lake that had
taken shape in his mind back at the Howard Johnson Restaurant,
and which he had found so puzzling. He did not

(26:05):
find it the least bit puzzling. Now he knew now
that it had originated in his unconscious that unconsciously he'd
known the answer to his predicament ever since he deduced
that Prendell might see susceptible to the red pain ten seconds.
But was it the right answer, right or not? It
was the only one Kellor had. He took a deep breath,

(26:28):
and he closed his eyes and pictured the starlit mountain
lake in his mind, concentrating on it Marrke's surface. Was
essential that Prendle be infuriated to such an extent that
he would act first and think afterward if he was
still able to, and so Color chose his words carefully. Oddly,

(26:50):
he knew exactly what to say. You're not a sex deviate, Prindle.
You turn rapists because on your own world you could
no longer get it any other way, because you started
turning females off instead of on old age. Cut up
to you, prindle, You're nothing but a color paused as

(27:11):
a lake in his mind turned bright red. The brightness intensified,
half blinding him, and he saw that it was raining
down from above. That as suddenly as I had begun,
the ring eversed itself and the brightness streamed back into
the sky. An anguish screams sounded on his mind abruptly
broke off. The buzzing in his ears ceased. He opened

(27:35):
his eyes. Carla had got out of the car and
was standing in the clearing Look mister Color, she cried,
pointing a falling star Prindle's ship. Perhaps. Whether it was
or not, Color was certain that the alien had administered
his final dose of the red pain. Is this it?

(27:57):
That's the house, mister Color, I still wis should let
me buy you some gas? Keller pulled into the gravel
driveway and moved the automatic shift lever to park. The
house was three storied in dark Screening it from the
road were four gnarled sugar maples. Starlet fields stretched beyond
on either side, and directly across the road. The dark

(28:19):
mass of a barn or shed broke the monotony of
the starlet fields. No one seems to be home. No
one is. Mom and Dad still do their shopping Saturday night.
She picked up her purse and her overnight bag, opened
the car door, and started to get up. Thanks thousands,
mister Keller, He seized her hand. I could stand a

(28:40):
cup of coffee I'm sorry, I just haven't time. I
have a date at eight thirty and I have to
get ready. Keller tightened his grip on her hand. How
long would it take you to fix one cup of
instant coffee? I'm really sorry, mister Keller, but there just
isn't time now. If you'll please let my hand go. Circles,

(29:01):
color said beg pardon, concentric circles, the circle of relatives,
the circle of friends, the circle of acquaintances. You can't
break through them ever. With a brough movement, she pulled
her hand free and got out of the car. He
saw naked contempt in her eyes. Knew that it had

(29:22):
been there all along, camouflaged out of forced respect for
social convention. Carrying her purse and her overnight bag, she
ran across the lawn and up the front porch steps.
She got her key out of her purse and opened
the door. She stood in the doorway, looking back to
where Keller sat stunned in the caprice. Go home and

(29:43):
soak your dentures, your old fool, she shouted, I knew
what you wanted all along. She stepped inside and slammed
the door. Keller got in by smashing one of the
front windows and stepping through it into the living room.
She was frantically dying the phone. When he entered the
fluorescent bright kitchen. He knocked the phone to the floor,

(30:03):
base and all, and shoved her against the kitchen stove.
She screamed. The room, the appliances, her face all had
a strange reddish cast. He tore off her skirt. When
she fought him, he struck her in his stomach. She
doubled up. He hit her again on the side of
the head, this time tumbling her to the floor. The

(30:25):
alien pain was as nothing to the pain he knew now.
He rid himself of it with cruel, savage thrust, backgrounded
by screams and whimpers. The whimpering got to him after
a while, and he put an end to it by
employing the base of the phone as a bludgeon. He
went out the way he'd come in. He could see
his name on the automatic shift as he backed out

(30:49):
of the driveway and began the long trip home. It
glowed mockingly in the lonely darkness of the car prindle

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