Task: Story Composition
Input (English): Fact1: Workers call in army bomb disposal team Believing it to be unexploded bomb, Fact2: Breen has been assigned to join Quatermass 's British Experimental Rocket Group, Fact3: events coincided with disturbances of ground around Hobbs End, Fact4: attempt to open sealed chamber using Borazon drill fails to make progress, Fact5: Sladden is overcome by powerful telekinetic force emanating from alien craft and flees to sanctuary of church
Output (English): Workers building an extension to the London Underground at Hobbs End dig up skeletal remains. Palaeontologist Dr Matthew Roney James Donald is called in and deduces that they are the remnants of a group of fivemillionyearold apemen, more ancient than any previous finds. One of Roneys assistants uncovers part of a metallic object. Believing it to be an unexploded bomb, they call in an army bomb disposal team. Meanwhile, Professor Bernard Quatermass Andrew Keir is dismayed to learn that his plans for the colonisation of the Moon are to be taken over by the military. He gives a cold reception to Colonel Breen Julian Glover, who has been assigned to join Quatermasss British Experimental Rocket Group. When the bomb disposal team call for Breens assistance, Quatermass accompanies him to the site. Breen concludes it is a Vweapon, but Quatermass disagrees. When another skeleton is found in an inner chamber, Quatermass and Roney realise that the object must also be five million years old. Quatermass suspects it is of alien origin, but Roney is certain the apemen are terrestrial. Quatermass becomes intrigued by the name of the area. Barbara Judd Barbara Shelley, Roney’s assistant, recalls that Hob is an old name for the Devil. Working with Barbara, Quatermass finds historical accounts of hauntings and other spectral appearances going back many centuries. They deduce that these events coincided with disturbances of the ground around Hobbs End. An attempt to open a sealed chamber using a Borazon drill fails to make progress. However, a few moments after the drill is stopped, a small hole is seen, though the drill operator, Sladden Duncan Lamont, is certain it was not created by his machine. The hole widens to reveal the corpses of threelegged, insectoid creatures with horned heads. Roney and Judd work to preserve the bodies before they decay. An examination of the creatures physiology suggests they came from the planet Mars. Quatermass and Roney note the similarity between the appearance of the creatures and images of the Devil. Sladden is overcome by a powerful telekinetic force emanating from the alien craft and flees to the sanctuary of a church. Sladden tells Quatermass he saw a vision of hordes of the alien creatures. Quatermass believes this is a race memory. Seeking proof, he returns to Hobbs End, bringing a machine Roney has been working on which taps into the primeval psyche. While trying to replicate the circumstances under which Sladden was affected, he notices that Judd has fallen under its influence. Using Roneys machine, he is able to record her thoughts. Quatermass presents his theory to a government minister Edwin Richfield and other officials. The occupants of the spacecraft came from the dying Mars. Unable to survive on Earth, they chose to preserve some part of their race by creating a colony by proxy by significantly enhancing the intelligence of the primitive homo sapiens. The descendants of these apemen evolved into modern humans, but retain the vestiges of the Martian influence buried in their subconscious. He plays the recording of Judds mind as evidence: it shows hordes of Martians engaged in what he interprets as a racial purge, cleansing the Martian hives of genetic mutations within their race. A disbelieving Breen offers an alternative theory: the alien craft is a Nazi propaganda exercise designed to sow fear of an alien invasion among the populace. The minister rejects Quatermasss theory in favour of Breens and decides to unveil the missile to the press. Disaster strikes at the press event. The craft apparently draws power from the broadcasting equipment, and its influence is magnified. The streets of London erupt into violence as those affected go on a rampage. Breen becomes drawn towards the craft and is killed. Quatermass falls under the alien control as well, but is snapped out of it by Roney, who is unaffected. The two men realise that a small portion of the population are immune. The psychic energy becomes stronger and begins to manifest into psychokinesis, ripping up streets and buildings, and the spectral image of a Martian towers above the city, centred on Hobbs End. Recalling stories about how the Devil could be defeated with iron and water, Roney theorises the Martian energy could be discharged into the earth. Roney climbs to the top of a building crane and swings it into the spectre. The crane bursts into flames as it discharges the energy, killing Roney, but the image disappears.