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Thomas Jerome Newton lands on earth. He is not from Earth of course,
but rather from a planet called Anthia. Anthians are roughly
humanoid, but with a few differences from us. Anthia sent Newton to
earth to give his population a chance to survive. A long time ago,
Anthia was a lot like Earth, but, after the continual dropping of
nuclear bombs, is just a shadow of it's former self. Newton's plan
starts out with making a few hundred dollars by selling rings to pawn
shops. He then meets up with a lawyer, Mr. Farnsworth. He shows
Farnsworth some patents, and tells him that within 5 years, he would
need to get together at least 500 million dollars. Farnsworth
tentatively tells him that it might be possible. Newton and
Farnsworth start a company together using Newton's advanced inventions.
Bryce, a professor working a mundane job at a university, mainly on
weapons of war, becomes interested in the W.E. Corporation after
watching a movie made by them with amazing color capture technology.
Bryce's interest in the company is fueled on by the discovering of
W.E. Corporation self-developing film and non-gunpowder cap gun caps.
By then, Newton's brilliant inventions have transformed World
Enterprises into a thriving company. Bryce finds out more about W.E.
and it's creator, Thomas Newton. He starts to believe that Newton is
either the smartest man on earth... Or an alien.
Newton is incapacitated for a few weeks do to his frail body. Since
the gravity was lower on Anthia, all actions on earth were a lot
harder to do for him. While he was on an elevator, going up to see a
business partner, the elevator accelerated too quickly, and he was
crushed by the increased strain. He was a mess for a few weeks, only
alive thanks to the medicine form Anthia that he kept in a false
aspirin box. A woman from the elevator, Betty Jo, had taken care of
him while he was having trouble, and he now temporarily boarded with
her till he was well enough to be moved again. When that time came,
he asked her if she would like to join him. She agrees, although
reluctantly at first. Back at his mansion in Kentucky, she becomes
his caretaker, running errands for him and joining him in drinks of
gin, which she got him hooked on.
Bryce is eventually hired to work for W.E. Corporation and is put to
work on a space ship. He notices some thing odd in the plans though.
The all the mathematical computations are in base 12. This brings
back the thought that maybe, Mr. Newton is an alien, for what human
would count in base twelve? Bryce spends more time with Newton and is
constantly coming back with the thought of him being an alien. He
eventually decides to find out and sets up an x-ray camera. When he
takes the developed film back to the lab, he finds the answer. Thomas
Jerome Newton was not of this earth.
Bryce goes with Newton to a convention of scientists and finally asks
him that night. Newton answered his question, telling Bryce of his
travels on Earth and how his people wanted to save the Earth form
nuclear war, and then live on it. Newton than mentioned that Bryce
should already know that because of the x-ray pictures. Bryce was
amazed that Newton knew. Newton than went on to explain that he could
see on higher wavelengths than humans and that he had seen the flash
of the x-rays. They both returned home and when they got there,
Newton's manservant (with a couple of FBI officials) arrested Newton
and took him in for questioning.
He is held there for weeks, constantly being interrogated. The head
of the CIA finally talks to him and lets him know how they found out
about him. Newton than learns that he had been watched since his
first time in Kentucky, where he was selling rings for much less than
they would cost to create. Newton had been wondering why they hadn't
tried to torture him, and the CIA man responded that they would have,
had they not already known that it would drive him crazy if they did.
They had been monitoring his pulse, number of eyelid blinks,
everything they could. Up till then, Newton had been defending
himself by telling them that he was just a freak, and a man who had
spent his entire life in the mountains, But then the head of the CIA
mentioned an aspirin box that Newton had been carrying at first, but
had thrown away in a garbage can.
The CIA guy said that the inscription on the back was just scribbles,
not actual letters, like you would see if you saw one on TV. He then
said that he believed Newton as an alien, and that his people had
seen that box on TV and had made a copy of it. He then provided
further evidence with the recording of Newton's confession to Bryce.
They had been bugging his rooms from the start, and had planted men
in his organization. But, now they let him go. The CIA man then asked
Newton to help them build weapons, but Newton continually declined
saying that he was not a scientist, and that he was chosen for this
mission for his physical strength alone. Newton had asked the CIA man
if he was going to tell everybody about it, but he had just laughed
and said that if he did, no one would believe him. So, he let him go,
ending his holding with the words "You know, you will never have
any privacy. We will be watching you".
He was escorted to the front of the building where some FBI people
started taking some tests. The final test was an x-ray eye test.
Newton tried to explain to the men that if they used that, it would
damage his eyes, for he saw on different wavelengths, but they did
not believe him. So, they went through with the test and blinded
Newton, the final step in showing just how unfriendly the Earth would
have been to his people.
After a number of months, Bryce tracked Newton down to his local bar
hang out. There, Newton sat every day, sipping at his gin and saying
little. Bryce pleaded with him to continue his quest to save the
Earth, but Newton just laughed and said there would be no point. If
he did try to go any further, he would eventually be stopped. The CIA
wouldn't let him launch his ship, and if they did, they would pick it
up on the way back. And if it didn't pick it up then, they would
eventually grab all of his people, and maybe blind them too! Now
Newton continues to go to his bar and drink his gin, and Bryce and
Betty Jo are set up to get married, and the world is ready to do what
Anthia had done so long ago. Destroy itself with it's own blindness.
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