Them! Page #4

No, sir.

Sergeant, would you mind

if we looked around a little more?

Anything you say, Doctor.

Rather slim pickings for food, Dad.

They'd turn carnivorous

for lack of a habitual diet.

l believe you're right.

What would turn carnivorous?

-My father will tell you.

-When?

-When he's positive.

-Now, look, miss.. ..

Doctor.. ..

lf the ''Doctor'' bothers you,

why don't you call me ''Pat."

l'd like to.

l've got a job to do,

and enough mystery on my hands.. .

...without that old.. ..

l mean, your father complicating things.

He is one of the world's greatest

myrmecologists.

Myrmecologists!

You see, that's what l mean!

Why don't we all talk English?

Then we'd have some understanding.

Pat!

Come here.

lt's the same kind of print. Look at it.

lt's gigantic.

Over 12 centimeters.

That would make the entire--

About two and a half meters in length.

Over 8 feet.

See if there are more.

-This is monstrous.

-So is the murder of five people, Doctor.

The direction of that print

would indicate it came from that way.

Perhaps we should visit the store.

There may be more there now.

Look here, before we do any more visiting,

l want to know exactly what this ''it'' is.

Gentlemen, l understand your impatience.

l know you are concerned with

solving what is essentially a local crime.. .

...but please believe me,

l am not being coy with you.

lf l'm wrong, no harm has been done.

But if l'm correct.. .

...and the mounting evidence

only fortifies my theory.. .

...then something incredible has happened

in this desert.

ln which case, none of us will dare risk

revealing it, because.. .

...none of us can risk a nationwide panic.

A panic?

Get the antennae! Get the antennae!

Get the other antenna!

Get the other antenna!

He's helpless without them!

What is it?

Species appears to be

Camponotus vicinus.

Of the family of Formicidae. An ant.

An ant? l don't believe it.

lt's not possible!

Then this is what got Ed Blackburn,

Gramps Johnson, and the rest?

Yes. A fantastic mutation.

Probably caused by lingering radiation

from the first atomic bomb.

Notice its odor?

Formic acid?

That's why the girl reacted so violently.

The Coroner said that

Gramps was filled with it.

See that? lt's the stinger.

Ants use their mandibles to rend,

tear and hold their victims.. .

...but they kill with that,

by injecting formic acid.

Mr. Johnson was stung to death.

There's no time to lose.

We must find the colony, the nest.

You mean there's more of them?

This was probably just a scout,

foraging for food.

You heard the sound. The stridulation.

lt communicated with others in the colony.

You mean these things send messages?

Of course. All insects have means

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