The Velvet Web

Dear Diary,

After an initial moment of panic, and against my advice, Chesterton pushed through a set of double doors to find Miss Wright. And find her we did! Lounging on a chaise, attended by beautiful young ladies, and eating grapes! It was a veritable Garden of Earthly, well, Marinusian Delights.

Alas, all was not as it seemed. We were under the spell of a powerful mesmerent, which made us see the place as a new Eden. They said their goal here in Morphoton was to grant everyone’s greatest wish. They promised Susan a new dress and myself a laboratory. Chesterton refused to ask for anything, waiting to hear the price. 

Well, as it turns out he was right.

As we slept, one of the attendants, Sabetha, crept in and placed something called a somnar disk on each of our foreheads. They worked in concert with the mesmerent and would solidify the illusions we saw.

Fortunately, Miss Wright’s disk fell off and when she awoke the next morning, she could see through everything. We had been enjoying a fine, hearty breakfast, but when we offered her some she saw it for the gruel it truly was. We offered her orange juice in fine crystal and she saw it for the unwashed mug it was. Susan showed her her new dress and she saw it as rags.

We were under the spell, however, and thought she was made. One of the fellows took her away, told us she was receiving psychiatric care, and we believed her. In truth, they had taken her for execution!

This city, Morphoton, was apparently run by a group of repellent brain-things which claimed to have outgrown their human bodies. As such they used their power to make humans their slaves by controlling their minds. They could not, however, overcome Miss Wright’s convictions and sought to remove her and also to punish young Sabetha, whom Miss Wright discovered to be Arbitan’s long-lost daughter.

Miss Wright convinced Sabetha to help her escape and she did. When she came to collect us, however, she ran into Chesterton, who, under the influence of the mesmerent, brought her to the “brains” who instructed him to kill her.

He must have struggled inside, because Miss Wright was able to overpower him. She broke free and destroyed the jars housing our captors, breaking the spell.

Riots ensued by the former slaves against their once-masters, and I can’t say as I blame them. We retrieved the first key as well as some spare travel dials, which I have learned to program. Arbitan’s daughter has agreed to join us, and I found and convinced another young fellow, Altos, who had been one of Arbitan’s couriers, to join us as well. Altos had been sent in search of the keys even before Sabetha. He and his partner, a fellow named Eprim, had split up, with him coming here to find the first key and Eprim travelling to the city of Millennius to find the fourth key.

I decided to adopt this strategy as well and, while the rest of our group searches for the second key, I shall journey to Millennius. Susan was not fond of the decision, but I explained to her I would be much relieved to know she was safe with the larger group, while I would be quite safe in the well-ordered society of Millennius. And anyway, we’ve got to do what we can to speed this search along.

Based upon the teleplay by Terry Nation, first broadcast on BBC 18th April 1964