In late 1945, one-armed John J. Macreedy (Spencer Tracy) gets off a passenger train at the isolated desert hamlet of Black Rock. It is the first time in four years that the train has stopped there. Macreedy is looking for a man named Komoko, but the few residents are inexplicably hostile. The young hotel desk clerk, Pete Wirth (John Ericson), claims he has no vacant rooms. Macreedy is threatened by Hector David (Lee Marvin). Later, Reno Smith (Robert Ryan) informs Macreedy that Komoko, a Japanese-American, was interned during World War II.
Certain that something is wrong, Macreedy sees the local sheriff, Tim Horn (Dean Jagger), but the alcoholic lawman is clearly afraid of Smith and is impotent to help. The veterinarian and undertaker, Doc Velie (Walter Brennan), advises Macreedy to leave town immediately, but also lets slip that Komoko is dead. Pete's sister, Liz (Anne Francis), rents Macreedy a Jeep. He drives to nearby Adobe Flat, where he finds a homestead burned to the ground and wildflowers. On the way back, Coley Trimble (Ernest Borgnine) tries to run him off the road.
When Smith asks, Macreedy reveals he lost his left arm fighting in Italy. Macreedy says the wildflowers at the Komoko place lead him to suspect that a body is buried there. Smith reveals that he is virulently anti-Japanese; he tried to enlist in the Marines the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, but failed the physical.
Macreedy tries to telephone the state police, but Pete refuses to put the call through. Doc Velie admits that something terrible happened four years ago and that Smith has everyone too terrified to speak up. Velie offers Macreedy his hearse to leave town. Hector rips out the distributor cap and spark plug wires. Macreedy goes to Hastings' (Russell Collins) telegraph office and writes a telegram addressed to the state police. At the town diner, Trimble picks a fight with Macreedy, but Macreedy uses martial arts to beat him up. Macreedy tells Smith that he knows Smith killed Komoko and that he was too cowardly to do it alone, so he involved Hector, Pete, and Coley.
When Macreedy goes to the hotel lobby, Smith and his henchmen are already there, as are Doc Velie and Sheriff Horn. Hastings arrives and tries to give Smith a piece of paper, but Macreedy snatches it away and discovers that it is his own unsent telegram. Macreedy and Doc Velie demand that Sheriff Horn do something. When Horn tries, Smith just takes away his sheriff's badge and pins it on Hector. Hector tears up the telegram form.
After Smith and Hector leave, Macreedy reveals that the loss of his arm had left him wallowing in self-pity, but Smith's attempt to kill him has reinvigorated him. Macreedy finally reveals why he is there: Komoko's son died in combat while saving Macreedy's life. Macreedy intended to give his posthumous medal to Komoko. In turn, Macreedy learns that the elder Komoko had leased some farmland from Smith, who was sure there was no water there. Komoko had dug a well and found water. After Smith was turned down for enlistment after Pearl Harbor, he and the other men spent the day drinking, then decided to scare Komoko. The old man barricaded himself inside his home, but the men set the place on fire. When Komoko emerged ablaze, Smith shot him.
Later, Macreedy and Doc Velie devise a plan for Macreedy to escape under the cover of darkness. Hector is standing guard outside the hotel; Pete lures him into the hotel office, where Doc Velie knocks him out. Liz drives Macreedy out of town in her Jeep, but stops in a canyon. Macreedy realizes he has been betrayed. When Smith starts shooting at him, Macreedy hides behind the Jeep. Liz rushes to Smith despite Macreedy's warning. Smith tells her that she has to die along with the rest of his accomplices. He shoots her in the back as she runs away. Macreedy finds a bottle and fills it with gasoline, creating a Molotov cocktail. When Smith climbs down for a better shot, Macreedy lights and throws it, setting Smith on fire.
Macreedy drives into town with the injured Smith and Liz's body. The state police are called in. As Macreedy is leaving, Doc Velie requests Komoko's medal to help Black Rock heal. Macreedy gives it to him just before boarding the train.

Question: Who set up and betrayed Macreedy?


Finn McMissile, a British spy, infiltrates the world's largest untapped oil reserves owned by a group of lemon cars. After being discovered, he flees and fakes his death.
Lightning McQueen, now a 4-time Piston Cup champion, returns home to Radiator Springs to enjoy some quiet time, but when Italian formula race car, Francesco Bernoulli, challenges McQueen to the newly created World Grand Prix, led by its creator Sir Miles Axlerod, he and his best friend Mater — along with Luigi, Guido, Fillmore, and Sarge — depart for Tokyo for the first race of the Grand Prix. Meanwhile, the lemons, who are led by weapons designer Professor Zündapp and an unknown mastermind, secretly plot to secure their oil profits by using an Electromagnetic pulse emitter disguised as a camera (discovered by Finn on the oil platform) to trigger and destabilize the use of Allinol, a fuel that was created by Axlerod and required for racers to use in the Grand Prix. McMissile and his partner Holley Shiftwell attempt to meet with American spy car Rod "Torque" Redline at a World Grand Prix promotional event in Tokyo, to receive information about the mastermind. However, Redline is attacked by Zündapp's henchmen, but not before passing his information to Mater before he is captured, who is then mistaken to be the American contact of Holley and Finn. Before killing Redline, Professor Zündapp finds out that Mater was given the information.
At the first race, three cars are ignited by the camera, and McQueen falls second in the race after Bernoulli, due to Mater accidentally giving him bad racing advice shortly after evading Zündapp's henchmen with help from Holley and Finn. Mater is soon abducted by Finn and boards his plane, where he helps to identify some of the information he was given. After traveling to Paris to get more information from Finn's old friend, they travel to Italy, where the next race is being held. While the race is being held, Mater infiltrates the criminals' meeting, just as the camera is used on a few more cars, causing a multi car pileup, while allowing McQueen to finish first. Due to the criminals plan causing Allinol to be perceived as troublesome, Sir Miles Axlerod removes it as a required fuel for the final race. However, when McQueen decides to continue using it, the criminals plot to kill McQueen in the next race in London, which spooks Mater, causing him to blow his cover and allow him, Finn and Holley, to be abducted.
Taken to the inside of the clock tower of Big Ben clock in London and tied up in it, while the final race is being held, Mater discovers that the camera did not function on McQueen, but quickly learns the criminals are planning to plant a bomb on him in his pits, causing him to break free and escape. Finn and Holley escape later, but realize that the bomb is on Mater's air filter. Mater soon flees on the race course when McQueen (who arrived at the pits) chases after him, while Finn apprehends Professor Zündapp. The other lemons soon arrive and outnumber Finn, Holley, Mater, and McQueen, but they are soon rescued by the arrival of the other Radiator Springs residents. Mater then uses evidence he had seen to reveal that Axlerod is the leader of this plot and placed the bomb on him, whom he soon confronts and forces to deactivate the bomb, before he and the other lemons are taken into custody, foiling the operation.
In the end, Mater receives a honorary knighthood from the queen, while Sarge reveals that he changed McQueen's fuel from Allinol to gasoline, hence why the camera did not work on him. Finn and Holley ask if Mater can join them on another mission, but he turns it down. The final scene ends with the World Grand Prix competitors racing each other at Radiator Springs.

Question: Which race does Francesco Bernoulli challenge Lightning McQueen to?

The World Grand Prix
the World Grand Prix


Amidst a storm, a boat is being piloted across the South China Sea by John Finnegan (Treat Williams). With him are his crewmen Joey "Tooch" Pantucci (Kevin J. O'Connor) and Joey's girlfriend Leila (Una Damon). Finnegan has been hired to transport a group of mercenaries, led by a man named Hanover (Wes Studi), to an undisclosed location in the middle of the ocean. Meanwhile, the luxury cruise ship Argonautica, the brainchild of Simon Canton (Anthony Heald), is undertaking its maiden voyage. Canton and the ship's captain, Atherton (Derrick O'Connor), discover a woman named Trillian (Famke Janssen) attempting to steal from the ship's vault. They lock her in a storeroom as the brig is incomplete. Soon after, a saboteur disables the ship's navigation and communication systems. A large object is then detected on the sonar, rising from beneath and headed towards the ship. It collides with the vessel, bringing it to a violent stop and leaving it dead in the water, while the panicking passengers begin to be attacked by unseen creatures.
Soon afterwards, Finnegan's boat collides with a speedboat shaken loose from the Argonautica, causing severe damage. It is revealed the mercenaries intend to rob the ship's vault and its wealthy passengers, before sinking the vessel with their torpedoes. The majority of the group transfer over to the ship while Leila and mercenary Billy (Clint Curtis) remain on Finnegan's boat to conduct repairs. The others explore the ship, finding only blood and damaged superstructure. They also begin to hear screeches and ominous sounds on the ship. Back on Finnegan's boat, Leila is violently dragged overboard, while Billy also disappears. Finnegan and Joey go to the cruiseliner's engine room to scavenge parts to repair their vessel’s engines, under guard of T-Ray (Trevor Goddard) and Mamooli (Cliff Curtis). Though the creatures kill both mercenaries, Finnegan and Joey escape with the necessary parts. They run into Trillian, who has escaped from the storeroom, and are confronted by the remaining mercenaries, who still intend to break into the ship's vault before leaving. Vivo (Djimon Hounsou) opens the vault, but is axed by Canton, who was hiding inside with Captain Atherton, as well as three passengers who are then machine-gunned by Mulligan (Jason Flemyng).
Canton and Atherton explain that the ship was attacked by unknown creatures that killed everyone else on board; the group soon discovers human skeletons stripped clean of flesh in the bottom of the ship. After questioning, Canton is also found to be responsible for sabotage of the Argonautica; having realised he created an unprofitable vessel, he hired the mercenaries to sink the ship so that he could collect on the insurance; the mercenaries' payment was to be by way of their robbery, while Canton insists the passengers would've been safely evacuated in the lifeboats. The group is suddenly attacked by the creatures, revealed to be giant tentacles, one of which is shot open, revealing a half-digested Billy. Captain Atherton is also killed, and the remaining survivors reluctantly agree to work together to escape. Canton theorises that the tentacles are an extreme evolution of smaller deep-sea worms which strip their prey of body fluids and then eject the carcass.
The group is forced to swim through a flooded section of the ship to reach an exit; Mason (Clifton Powell) is the last in line and is attacked, and he kills himself with a grenade. Once through, Mulligan goes insane and attempts to stand alone against the creatures, giving the others a chance to escape before he too is killed. It soon becomes apparent that the tentacles are herding the survivors to the bow, where they find a "feeding room" full of the passengers’ and crew’s carcasses. The tentacles then break through the hull and flood the lower decks, separating the survivors. Hanover tries to sacrifice Joey to save himself, but Joey escapes and Hanover is himself taken. Canton realises the ship is sinking and plans to abandon the others to their fate.
Finnegan and Joey spot an island in the distance and make it back to Finnegan's boat, but they have lost their engine parts, rendering it useless as a means of escape. They instead set the boat's autopilot to crash into the Argonautica and detonate the mercenaries' torpedoes. Finnegan returns to the ship to find jet skis they can use to reach the island, but is forced instead to rescue Trillian from Canton, who intends to eliminate her as she is a witness to his scheme. Canton escapes moments before the tentacles smash through the deck from below, revealing them to be part of a single giant creature, which attacks Finnegan and Trillian. Barely escaping, they return to Finnegan's boat, where they discover Joey gone amidst evidence of another attack. Finnegan sets the boat's autopilot and leaves the doomed cruiseliner on a jet ski with Trillian. Desperate to escape, Canton jumps aboard Finnegan's boat, but cannot disable the autopilot and dies after its collision with the Argonautica, the explosion destroying the entire ship and killing the creature.
Finnegan and Trillian reach the nearby jungle-filled island where they are reunited with Joey, who survived the ordeal and paddled ashore using Finnegan's surfboard. As the three relax, a loud roar echoes from the forest and something huge crashes toward them through the trees. The camera pans out to reveal multiple active volcanoes within the core of the island, while an exasperated Finnegan mutters, "Now what?"

Question: Who was responsible for sabotaging the Argonautica?


Silvia is engaged to marry Dorante, a man she has never met. She is afraid to marry him without knowing what type of man he is, and he is planning to visit her very soon to formalize the engagement. In order to observe Dorante's true personality during his visit, she asks her father if she can change clothes with her servant, Lisette, so that she can watch him without his knowing her identity. Monsieur Orgon immediately agrees, having coincidentally received a letter from Dorante's father explaining how Dorante planned to disguise himself as his servant in order to achieve the same goal as Silvia. Monsieur Orgon sees this as an opportunity to play the game of love and chance, allowing the two to fall in love in spite of themselves.
Dorante arrives at Monsieur Orgon's house disguised as a servant named Bourguignon, while Arlequin comes dressed as Dorante. However, Silvia and Dorante's refined behavior is evident, in spite of their servant's attire; and Arlequin and Lisette are unable to recognize the difference between true manners and the gross exaggerations they exact while playing their roles as master.
Dorante and Silvia fall in love, but as neither knows the other's true status, they find themselves in a social dilemma, each believing to be a noble in love with a servant. Finally, Dorante relents and reveals his identity to Silvia. Relieved, Silvia nonetheless decides to continue to play the game, hoping that Dorante will go so far as to renounce his fortune in order to marry her (thinking she is a servant).
The play ends with the union of the two couples: Silvia and Dorante, and Lisette and Arlequin.

Question: Who is Monsieur Orgon?


A woman is driving dangerously down a winding road, recklessly passing cars until she comes upon a slow moving Mack truck. As she goes to pass, her car is clipped by a truck going in the opposite direction, then slammed full-force by the Mack, killing her.
Meanwhile, John Quincy Archibald and his wife Denise witness their young son Michael collapse at his baseball game and take Michael to the hospital. After a series of tests at the hospital, John is informed by Dr. Raymond Turner and Rebecca Payne, the hospital administrator, that his son has an enlarged heart and will need a heart transplant to live. The procedure is very expensive: $250,000 (at a minimum), with a down payment of $75,000 (30%) required to get Michael's name on the organ donor list. John tells them he is insured, but after looking through his policy, they tell him that because the company he works for dropped John from full-time to part-time, his health insurance has been changed, and the new policy does not cover the surgery, which leaves John and Denise to raise $75,000 on their own. The family tries to raise the money but are only able to come up with a third of the necessary payment. The hospital tires of waiting and releases Michael; Denise urges John to do something. Unwilling to let his child die, John walks into the hospital ER with a handgun, gathers eleven hostages, and sets demands: his son's name on the recipient list as soon as possible. The hostage negotiator, Lt. Frank Grimes, stands down to let John cool off.
Meanwhile, John and the eleven hostages learn more about each other. They begin to understand John's situation and support him a little as he ensures each of them receive the treatment they came to the emergency room for. One of them, Miriam, is pregnant, and her husband Steve is hoping that their first child is healthy. A young hostage, Julie, has a broken arm, and she and her boyfriend Mitch claim that a car crash caused it. Due to holes in their story, John and another hostage, Lester, conclude the two are lying and that Mitch beat up Julie. After a while, John agrees to release some hostages to have his son's name added to the list an hour afterward. He releases Steve, Miriam, and a hostage named Rosa with her baby.
The Chicago Chief of Police, Gus Monroe, gives a SWAT unit permission to insert a sniper into the building via an air shaft. John is shot but ends up receiving only a minor wound, which is treated right away. After taking the shot, the sniper's leg falls through the ceiling tiles. Outraged, John pulls him out of the air shaft and beats him up. Using the bound SWAT policeman as a human shield, he steps outside to the sight of dozens of policemen pointing weapons at him and a large, supportive crowd. John demands that his son be brought to the emergency room. The police agree to his demand in exchange for the SWAT sniper.
Once his son arrives, John reveals to the hostages his intention to commit suicide so his heart can be used to save his son. He persuades Dr. Turner to perform the operation, and two of his hostages bear witness to a will stating his last request. John says his last goodbyes to Michael and enters the operating room. He loads a single bullet into the gun and pulls the trigger, but the safety is on. As he prepares to end his life a second time, his wife learns about an organ donor (which happens to be the female driver that was killed in the beginning of the movie) who has been flown to the hospital for organ recovery. She runs to the emergency room and stops John from shooting himself, and John allows the hostages to go free. Michael is given the life-saving operation and, after watching the procedure with Denise, John is taken into police custody. Afterwards the entire ordeal becomes subject to a national debate about the quality and accessibility of insurance and healthcare. Three months later at his trial, all of the witnesses speak on his behalf. He is later acquitted of charges of attempted murder and armed criminal action but is found guilty of kidnapping. It is never revealed what his sentence for the crime will be, but his lawyer is overheard and saying that no judge will give him "more than three to five (years)" and that she will try to get it reduced to two.

Question: Who was Michael with when he collapsed?

He was by himself at a baseball game.
John and Denise


After residents of an apartment building complain of a weird smell coming from one of the apartments, the brigade of firemen and police break down the door of the apartment in Paris to find the corpse of Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) lying on a bed, adorned with cut flowers.
The film goes back to several months before the opening scene, and Anne and her husband Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant), both retired piano teachers in their eighties, attend a performance by one of Anne's former pupils, Alexandre. They return home to find that someone has unsuccessfully tried to break in to their apartment. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, Anne silently suffers a stroke. She sits in a catatonic state, not responding to Georges. She comes around as Georges is about to get help, but doesn't remember anything that took place. Georges thinks she was playing a prank on him. Anne is unable to pour herself a drink.
Anne undergoes surgery on a blocked carotid artery, but the surgery goes wrong, leaving her paralyzed on her right side and confined to a wheelchair. She makes Georges promise not to send her back to the hospital or into a nursing home. Georges becomes Anne's dutiful, though slightly irritated, caretaker. One day, Anne tells Georges that she doesn't want to go on living.
Alexandre, her former pupil whose performance they attended, stops by and Anne gets dressed up and carries on a lively conversation during the visit, giving Georges hope that her condition was temporary. However, she soon suffers a second stroke that leaves her demented and incapable of coherent speech. Georges continues to look after Anne, despite the strain it puts on him.
Georges begins employing a nurse three days a week. Their daughter, Eva (Isabelle Huppert), wants her mother to go into care, but Georges says he will not break the promise he made to his wife. He employs a second nurse, but fires her after he discovers she is mistreating his wife.
One day, Georges sits next to Anne's bedside and tells her a story of his childhood, which calms her. As he reaches the story's conclusion, he picks up a pillow and smothers her.
Georges returns home with bundles of flowers in his hands, which he proceeds to wash and cut. He picks out a dress from Anne's wardrobe and writes a long letter. He tapes the bedroom door shut and catches a pigeon which has flown in from the window. In the letter, Georges explains that he has released the pigeon. Georges imagines that Anne is washing dishes in the kitchen and, speechless, he gazes at her as she cleans up and prepares to leave the house. Anne calls for Georges to bring a coat, and he complies, following her out the door.
The film concludes with a continuation of the opening scene, with Eva seated in the living room, after she has wandered around the now-empty home.

Question: What complication arises from Anne's surgery?

She becomes paralyzed on her right side.


The film tells the story of Jackie Robinson and, under the guidance of team executive Branch Rickey, Robinson's signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers to become the first African-American player to break the baseball color barrier. The story focuses mostly on the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers season and somewhat on Robinson's 1946 season with the Montreal Royals, which emphasize his battles with racism.
In 1945, after sportswriter Wendell Smith suggests that Rickey consider Robinson as the black ballplayer Rickey is looking for, Robinson and his team, the Kansas City Monarchs, stop by a gas station. When the attendant refuses Robinson entry to the washroom, Robinson says they will find another station at which to fill up the team bus, and the attendant relents. As Robinson steps out, a scout for the Dodgers sent by Rickey approaches him and invites him to Brooklyn. He is offered a $600 per month contract and a $3,500 signing bonus, which Robinson accepts after being warned by Rickey that he must control his temper if he wants to play. Robinson proposes to his girlfriend, Rachel, by phone and she accepts.
During spring training, Robinson makes it to the franchise farm team in Montreal. After a great season there and spring training in Panama, he advances to the Dodgers. Most of the team soon signs a petition, stating they refuse to play with Robinson, but manager Leo Durocher insists Robinson will play with the main team. When Durocher is suspended for actions in his personal life, leaving the Dodgers without a manager to start the regular season, Burt Shotton agrees to manage the team.
In a game against the Philadelphia Phillies, manager Ben Chapman taunts Robinson, causing him to go back to the dugout and smash his bat out of frustration. With encouragement from Rickey, Robinson then returns to the field and hits a single, steals second base and advances to third on a throwing error, and scores the winning run. When Chapman's behavior toward Robinson generates bad press for the team, the Phillies' owner requires him to pose with Robinson for newspapers and magazine photos.
Later, Robinson's teammate, Pee Wee Reese, comes to understand what kind of pressure Robinson is facing, and makes a public show of solidarity, standing with his arm around Robinson's shoulders before a hostile crowd in Cincinnati, silencing them.
In a game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Enos Slaughter "accidentally" spikes Robinson on the back of the leg with his cleats while running the bases.
Robinson's home run against Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Fritz Ostermueller, who had earlier hit him in the head, helps clinch the National League pennant for the Dodgers, sending them to the World Series, which they would lose to the New York Yankees. A concluding postscript describes how Rickey, Robinson, and many of his teammates went on to have distinguished careers, including inductions into the Baseball Hall of Fame, besides Chapman, who was fired and forbidden to join an MLB team forever due to his racism. The notes also describe the entrance of other African Americans into the Major Leagues, beginning with the season after Robinson's debut.

Question: What question does Robinson ask his girlfriend Rachel on the phone after accepting his new contract?

He asks her to marry him.
He proposes marriage to her.


The story details the descent of a young woman into madness. Her supportive, though misunderstanding husband, John, believes it is in her best interests to go on a rest cure after the birth of their child. The family spends the summer at a colonial mansion that has, in the narrator's words, "something queer about it". She and her husband move into an upstairs room that she assumes was once a nursery, having it serve as their bedroom due to its multitude of windows, which provide the air so needed in her recovery. In addition to the couple, John's sister Jennie is present; she serves as their housekeeper. Like most nurseries at the time the windows are barred, the wallpaper has been torn, and the floor is scratched. The narrator attributes all these to children, as most of the damage is isolated to their reach. Ultimately, though, the reader is left unsure as to the source of the room's damage.
The narrator devotes many journal entries to describing the wallpaper in the room â its "yellow" smell, its "breakneck" pattern, the missing patches, and the way it leaves yellow smears on the skin and clothing of anyone who touches it. She describes how the longer one stays in the bedroom, the more the wallpaper appears to mutate, especially in the moonlight. With no stimulus other than the wallpaper, the pattern and designs become increasingly intriguing to the narrator. She soon begins to see a figure in the design, and eventually comes to believe that a woman is creeping on all fours behind the pattern. Believing she must try to free the woman in the wallpaper, the woman begins to strip the remaining paper off the wall.
On the last day of summer, she locks herself in her room to strip the remains of the wallpaper. When John arrives home, she refuses to unlock the door. When he returns with the key, he finds her creeping around the room, circling the walls and touching the wallpaper. She exclaims, "I've got out at last,...in spite of you and Jane", and her husband faints as she continues to circle the room, stepping over his inert body each time she passes.

Question: Who is misunderstanding?


"Where Love Is, God Is" is a short story about a shoemaker named Martin Avdeitch. The story begins with a background on Martin's life. He was a fine cobbler as he did his work well and never promised to do something that he could not do. He stayed busy with his work in his basement that had only one window. Through this window he could see only the feet of people. He was still able to recognize most people by their shoes as he had worked with most of the shoes at least once. He had a wife, but she died, and all their children had died in their infancy except a three-year-old son.
After he thought about sending him off to live with his sister he decided to care for the child himself. Martin however, was not destined to have a child as his son died a few years later with a fever. In grief, he denied God, wondering how He could allow such a thing to happen to him. One day a missionary visited Martin and Martin told him of his hardships. This missionary told Martin that he should live his life for God and not deny Him because God's will is the ultimate deciding factor and as humans we cannot question that. The missionary's words sank deep into Martin. After this encounter Martin went out and bought a large print Testament.
He began to read the Bible, at first only on holidays, but as he read more and more it became daily. His life became full with peace and joy. After his day of work he would sit down with a lamp and read. One night Martin read a passage about a Pharisee had invited Jesus into his house, and in the house a woman anointed and washed Jesus' feet with her tears. Martin thought of himself as the Pharisee in that story as he was only living for himself. As Martin slept he thought he heard the voice of God telling him that He would visit him the next day.
The next morning Martin skeptically watched out his window for God. While he was searching for God he saw Stepanitch shoveling away snow. Martin invited him in for a warm drink and they talked for a while. Martin told Stepanitch about Jesus' and the Pharisee and Stepanitch was moved to tears. Stepanitch later left and thanked Martin for the food, both for the soul and body.
Martin later saw a young woman outside with a baby not properly dressed for the cold. He invited her in for some food and gave her warmer clothes and money. Martin also told her about Jesus and she thanked him and left. Then he saw a young boy stealing from an older lady. He went outside and settled their argument as he extended love and compassion towards the both of them.
That night while Martin wondered why God had not visited him three figures appeared in his home, the three people he had showed hospitality to that day. They said that when he helped them he was helping God. Martin then realized that God had indeed visited him, and he accepted Him well.
Shoemaker Martin (1997), a children's book by Brigitte Hanhart, is based on this story.

Question: How many living children does Martin have?


The novel has a prologue of several court docket entries in the case of Commonwealth v. Stanley Howell and Robert Basso. The first entry, dated May 31, 1939, indicates that the three defendants in a case of capital murderâRobert Basso, Stanley Howell, and Roy Lemingâhave all been declared indigent and had attorneys appointed for them. A second, dated June 12, indicates that the trial of Basso and Howell has been severed from that of Leming, now defended by an attorney of questionable character.
The defendants and their victim are all "foreignersâthe people from somewhere else." They have been charged with the cold-blooded murder of a drug dealer and addict, Frederick Zollicoffer, whom they had kidnapped for ransom on April 6, and killed afterwards on or about April 17, possibly at the direction of a fourth criminal who died in a fall trying to escape from police in New York City. The F.B.I. had also entered the case and arrested Howell, from whom they had extracted a confession.Unlike many courtoom dramas, The Just and the Unjust is selective in its actual presentation of courtoom events. Not all witnesses are presented, and testimony and arguments are incomplete. However Cozzens displays an ear for what is mundane to the reader's interest and what is germane to characterization, if not to plot. He develops two legal subplots of a sex scandal involving a local high school teacher and a vehicular homicide case involving the son of an influential politician, and weaves their storylines into the ongoing trial, allowing Cozzens to cut away from what are often tedious courtroom procedures.
These legal plot lines are supported by personal complications in Abner Coates' life, as he tries to reason out whether or not he wants to run for district attorney (and beholden to Jesse Gearhart), get married, and how to deal with his infirm father.

Question: In what year was the case of Commonwealth v Stanley Howell and Robert Basso filed?


A 17-year-old Manhattan student, Lisa Cohen, shopping on the Upper West Side, interacts with bus driver Gerald Maretti as she runs alongside his moving bus; he allows himself to become distracted, leading to a fatal accident by missing a red light, in which a pedestrian, Monica Patterson, is hit by the bus and subsequently dies in Lisa's arms. Initially, Lisa reports to the police that the driver had a green traffic signal, but later, out of remorse, changes her story. She confronts Maretti, who first pretends to have forgotten the details of the accident, and then reveals to her in anger that he does remember them, but believes he did nothing wrong, causing Lisa to pursue his firing from the company with passion. In collaboration with Monica's best friend, Emily, and cousin, Abigail, Lisa ultimately becomes involved in a wrongful death lawsuit against the Metropolitan Transit Authority, seeking the dismissal of the driver (who is revealed to have caused two previous accidents), as well as monetary damages, which would be awarded to the victim's next of kin, her cousin. Meanwhile, Lisa's life takes various turns, including a flirtation with her math teacher, Aaron Caije, her decision to lose her virginity to a classmate, Paul Hirsch, and various vehement debates with classmates about politics and terrorism.
Lisa and her actress mother have a rocky relationship, with sporadic fighting and Lisa expressing ambivalence toward her mother's boyfriend Ramon. An after-show dinner, attended by Lisa, her mother, Emily and Ramon, ends with Ramon making a remark perceived as anti-Semitic toward Emily. Ramon dies of a heart attack not long after. Lisa has sex with Caije, then later confronts Caije, telling him, in the presence of another teacher, that she has had an abortion. She expresses doubt about who the father was and mentions that there are two possibilities.
The lawsuit reaches a conclusion, with an award of $350,000, but the MTA refuses to fire Maretti, out of concern that it would inflame a labor dispute. Abigail claims the settlement offer, revealing the monetary settlement to have been her primary motivation; this causes Lisa to become very upset and disillusioned with the outcome of the case.
Lisa and her mother plan to attend an opera that Ramon and she were to see before his death. On the way, Lisa sees Maretti driving the same bus that had killed the pedestrian and there is a brief moment where the two see each other. During the opera performance, Lisa's accumulated emotion from the sequence of events bursts out and she and her mother affectionately reconnect, crying together and holding each other as the opera goes on.

Question: What happens after Lisa has sex with Caije?

She tells him and a teacher that she had an abortion, but is not sure who the father was

she becomes pregnant and has an abortion.


The work recounts the life of Hikaru Genji, or "Shining Genji", the son of an ancient Japanese emperor, known to readers as Emperor Kiritsubo, and a low-ranking but beloved concubine called Lady Kiritsubo. For political reasons, the emperor removes Genji from the line of succession, demoting him to a commoner by giving him the surname Minamoto, and he pursues a career as an imperial officer. The tale concentrates on Genji's romantic life and describes the customs of the aristocratic society of the time.
Genji's mother dies when he is three years old, and the Emperor cannot forget her. The Emperor Kiritsubo then hears of a woman (Lady Fujitsubo), formerly a princess of the preceding emperor, who resembles his deceased concubine, and later she becomes one of his wives. Genji loves her first as a stepmother, but later as a woman, and they fall in love with each other. Genji is frustrated by his forbidden love for the Lady Fujitsubo and is on bad terms with his wife (Aoi no Ue). He engages in a series of unfulfilling love affairs with other women, but in most cases his advances are rebuffed, his lover dies suddenly during the affair, or he becomes bored with his lover.
Genji visits Kitayama, the northern rural hilly area of Kyoto, where he finds a beautiful ten-year-old girl. He is fascinated by this little girl (Murasaki), and discovers that she is a niece of the Lady Fujitsubo. Finally he kidnaps her, brings her to his own palace and educates her to be his ideal lady — that is, like the Lady Fujitsubo. During this time Genji also meets the Lady Fujitsubo secretly, and she bears his son, Reizei. Everyone except the two lovers believes the father of the child is the Emperor Kiritsubo. Later, the boy becomes the Crown Prince and Lady Fujitsubo becomes the Empress, but Genji and Lady Fujitsubo swear to keep their secret.
Genji and his wife, Lady Aoi, reconcile. She gives birth to a son but dies soon after. Genji is sorrowful, but finds consolation in Murasaki, whom he marries. Genji's father, the Emperor Kiritsubo, dies. He is succeeded by his son Suzaku, whose mother (Kokiden), together with Kiritsubo's political enemies, takes power in the court. Then another of Genji's secret love affairs is exposed: Genji and a concubine of the Emperor Suzaku are discovered when they meet in secret. The Emperor Suzaku confides his personal amusement at Genji's exploits with the woman (Oborozukiyo), but is duty-bound to punish his half-brother. He exiles Genji to the town of Suma in rural Harima province (now part of Kobe in Hyōgo Prefecture). There, a prosperous man known as the Akashi Novice (because he is from Akashi in Settsu province) entertains Genji, and Genji has a love affair with Akashi's daughter. She gives birth to Genji's only daughter, who will later become the Empress.
In the capital, the Emperor Suzaku is troubled by dreams of his late father, Kiritsubo, and something begins to affect his eyes. Meanwhile, his mother, Kokiden, grows ill, which weakens her powerful sway over the throne. Thus the Emperor orders Genji pardoned, and he returns to Kyoto. His son by Lady Fujitsubo, Reizei, becomes the emperor. The new Emperor Reizei knows Genji is his real father, and raises Genji's rank to the highest possible.
However, when Genji turns 40 years old, his life begins to decline. His political status does not change, but his love and emotional life are slowly damaged. He marries another wife, the Third Princess (known as Onna san no miya in the Seidensticker version, or Nyōsan in Waley's). Genji's nephew, Kashiwagi, later forces himself on the Third Princess, and she bears Kaoru (who, in a similar situation to that of Reizei, is legally known as the son of Genji). Genji's new marriage changes his relationship with Murasaki, who becomes a nun (bikuni).
Genji's beloved Murasaki dies. In the following chapter, Maboroshi ("Illusion"), Genji contemplates how fleeting life is. Immediately after Maboroshi, there is a chapter entitled Kumogakure ("Vanished into the Clouds"), which is left blank, but implies the death of Genji.
The rest of the work is known as the "Uji Chapters". These chapters follow Kaoru and his best friend, Niou. Niou is an imperial prince, the son of Genji's daughter, the current Empress now that Reizei has abdicated the throne, while Kaoru is known to the world as Genji's son but is in fact fathered by Genji's nephew. The chapters involve Kaoru and Niou's rivalry over several daughters of an imperial prince who lives in Uji, a place some distance away from the capital. The tale ends abruptly, with Kaoru wondering if Niou is hiding the lady the former loves away from him. Kaoru has sometimes been called the first anti-hero in literature.

Question: In the beginning of the story, what type of career does Genji pursue?


To celebrate his upcoming marriage to Tracy Garner, Doug Billings travels to Las Vegas with his best friends Phil Wenneck and Stu Price, and Tracy's brother Alan, in Doug's future father-in-law's vintage Mercedes-Benz. They spend the night at Caesars Palace, where they relax in the room before celebrating with a few drinks on the hotel rooftop. The next morning, Phil, Stu, and Alan awaken to find they have no memory of the previous night, and Doug is nowhere to be found. Stu's tooth is in Alan's pocket, their hotel suite is in a state of complete disarray, a tiger is in their bathroom, a chicken in their living room, and a baby is in the closet, whom they name "Carlos". They find Doug's mattress impaled on a statue outside of their hotel and when they ask for their Mercedes, the valet delivers an LVPD police cruiser.
Using clues to retrace their steps, the trio travel to a hospital where they discover they were drugged with Rohypnol ("roofies"), causing their memory loss, and that they came to the hospital from a chapel. At the chapel, they learn that Stu married a stripper named Jade, despite being in a long-term relationship with his girlfriend Melissa. Outside the chapel, the trio is attacked by gangsters saying they are looking for someone. They flee and visit Jade, discovering that she is the baby's mother, whose real name is Tyler. They are then arrested by the police for stealing the police cruiser. After being told that the Mercedes has been impounded, the trio is released when they unknowingly volunteer to be targets for a taser demonstration. While driving the Mercedes, they discover a naked Chinese man named Leslie Chow in the trunk. Chow jumps out of the trunk, beats the trio up with a crowbar and flees. Alan confesses that he drugged their drinks to ensure they had a good night, believing the drug to be ecstasy.
Returning to their villa, they find the boxer Mike Tyson, who orders the trio to return the tiger to his mansion immediately. Stu drugs the tiger with the remaining Rohypnol, and they drive towards Tyson's home in the Mercedes. However, the tiger awakens and attacks them, clawing Phil on the neck and damaging the car's interior. After pushing the car the rest of the way to the mansion, Tyson shows the trio footage of them at his house to help them locate Doug. While driving, their car is intentionally t-boned by another vehicle. The passengers are revealed to be the gangsters from the chapel, and their boss Chow (the naked man from the trunk). Chow accuses the trio of kidnapping him and stealing $80,000 that was in his purse. As the trio denies this, Chow tells them he has Doug, and threatens to kill him if his money is not returned. Unable to find Chow's $80,000, Alan, with help from Stu and Jade, uses his knowledge of card counting to win $82,400 playing Blackjack.
They meet with Chow and exchange the money, only to find that "Doug" is the black drug dealer, who accidentally sold Alan the Roofies. With the wedding set to occur in 5 hours, Phil calls Tracy and tells her that they cannot find Doug. When "Black Doug" mentions that, "If you take Roofies, you're more likely to end up on the floor than on the roof," Stu realizes where Doug is. The trio travels back to their hotel where they find a delirious and badly sunburned Doug on the roof. Stu, Phil, and Alan moved him there on his mattress the night before as a practical joke, but forgot where they left him. Doug's mattress had been thrown onto the statue by Doug, in an attempt to signal help. Before leaving, Stu makes arrangements to go on a date with Jade the following week. With less than four hours before the wedding and with no flights to L.A. available, the four race home. Along the way, Doug reveals he has possession of Chow's original $80,000. Despite their late arrival, Doug and Tracy are married, the former learns the damaged Mercedes was a wedding gift, and Stu angrily breaks up with Melissa, having grown tired of her controlling attitude. As the reception ends, Alan finds Stu's digital camera containing photos of the events they cannot remember, and the four agree to look at the pictures together before deleting the evidence of their exploits.
All of them, with the exception of Alan, are deeply disturbed by the pictures, which are shown during the credits.

Question: Whare did Stu,Alan and Phil found Doug?

On the roof of the hotel
On the roof of the hotel


In 2273, a Starfleet monitoring station, Epsilon Nine, detects an alien force, hidden in a massive cloud of energy, moving through space towards Earth. The cloud destroys three of the Klingon Empire's new K't'inga-class warships and the monitoring station en route. On Earth, the starship Enterprise is undergoing a major refit; her former commanding officer, James T. Kirk, has been promoted to Admiral and works in San Francisco as Chief of Starfleet Operations. Starfleet dispatches Enterprise to investigate the cloud entity as the ship is the only one in intercept range, requiring her new systems to be tested in transit.
Kirk takes command of the ship citing his experience, angering Captain Willard Decker, who had been overseeing the refit as its new commanding officer. Testing of Enterprise's new systems goes poorly; two officers, including the science officer, are killed by a malfunctioning transporter, and improperly calibrated engines almost destroy the ship. Kirk's unfamiliarity with the new systems of the Enterprise increases the tension between him and first officer Decker. Commander Spock arrives as a replacement science officer, explaining that while on his home world undergoing a ritual to purge all emotion, he felt a consciousness that he believes emanates from the cloud.
Enterprise intercepts the energy cloud and is attacked by an alien vessel within. A probe appears on the bridge, attacks Spock and abducts the navigator, Ilia. She is replaced by a robotic replica, another probe sent by "V'Ger" to study the crew. Decker is distraught over the loss of Ilia, with whom he had a romantic history. He becomes troubled as he attempts to extract information from the doppelg채nger, which has Ilia's memories and feelings buried within. Spock takes a spacewalk to the alien vessel's interior and attempts a telepathic mind meld with it. In doing so, he learns that the vessel is V'Ger itself, a living machine.
At the center of the massive ship, V'Ger is revealed to be Voyager 6, a 20th-century Earth space probe believed lost. The damaged probe was found by an alien race of living machines that interpreted its programming as instructions to learn all that can be learned, and return that information to its creator. The machines upgraded the probe to fulfill its mission, and on its journey the probe gathered so much knowledge that it achieved consciousness. Spock realizes that V'Ger lacks the ability to give itself a focus other than its original mission; having learned what it could on its journey home, it finds its existence empty and without purpose. Before transmitting all its information, V'Ger insists that the Creator come in person to finish the sequence. Realizing that the machine wants to merge with its creator, Decker offers himself to V'Ger; he merges with the Ilia probe and V'Ger, creating a new form of life that disappears into another dimension. With Earth saved, Kirk directs Enterprise out to space for future missions.

Question: Who specifically risks his life, saving Earth from danger?


In 1995, Mount Rose is preparing for its annual beauty pageant. Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst) is an optimistic teenager who signs up to compete in the pageant so she can follow in the footsteps of her idols, Diane Sawyer, and her mother, a former contestant. Amber and her mother, Annette Atkins (Ellen Barkin), live in a small trailer near their friend Loretta (Allison Janney), in stark contrast to fellow contestant Rebecca Leeman (Denise Richards), the daughter of the richest man in town, and her mother, Gladys Leeman (Kirstie Alley), who is the head of the pageant organizing committee and also a former winner. Various business connections between the Leeman Furniture Store and the judges of the pageant cause many to speculate that the contest will be rigged or fixed.
Many odd events occur around town during the run-up to the pageant, including the death of a contestant, the athletic and competitive Tammy Curry, who is killed when her tractor explodes. Amber decides to pull out of the pageant after her mother is injured in an explosion at their mobile home but reconsiders and decides to compete to follow her dreams and make her mother proud. At the dress rehearsal, fellow contestant Jenelle Betz swaps numbers with Amber. When Jenelle walks on stage at the beginning of rehearsal, a stage light falls and hits her in the head, knocking her unconscious and rendering her deaf. Luckily, Jenelle is a master of sign language so she claims that despite dropping out of the pageant, she has never been happier.
At the pageant, Amber's dance costume mysteriously goes missing. Amber blames Becky and the two get into a catty fight. Amber's best friend and fellow contestant Lisa Swenson (Brittany Murphy) tears them apart. After comforting a crying Amber, Lisa drops out of the pageant in order to give her own costume to her. Amber then performs her tap-dance number to a standing ovation, while Rebecca sings a cringe-worthy rendition of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and dances with a life-size Jesus doll on a crucifix, both amusing and horrifying the audience. Amber is named first runner up to Rebecca, however, during the victory parade the next day, Rebecca is riding in an elaborate float made in Mexico and is killed in a freak accident involving gasoline and fire that causes a huge explosion. The grief-stricken Gladys flies into a blind rage and admits to killing Tammy and to being responsible for all the attempts against Amber in the run-up to the pageant, and is immediately arrested. Rebecca's tragic death and Gladys' antics leave Amber as the new pageant winner.
At the State Competition, Amber wins the Minnesota American Teen Princess title by default after all the other contestants fall ill with seafood-related food poisoning, and Amber gets an all-expenses-paid trip to the national Sarah Rose American Teen Princess Pageant. Upon arrival, Amber and the other contestants are devastated to find that the company has been shut down by the IRS for tax evasion, sending all the contestants except for Amber on a rampage, vandalizing and destroying the property.
A few years later, Gladys escapes from prison and is sniping from the top of the Mount Rose supermarket, declaring revenge on Amber. During the six-hour police standoff, a television reporter doing a live report at the scene is hit by a stray bullet. Amber quickly picks up her mic and takes over, impressing the news station with her poise and confidence. The film closes with Amber as co-anchor of the evening news for MinneapolisâSt. Paul television station WAZB-TV, thus living her dream of possibly becoming the next Diane Sawyer.

Question: How does Amber get the pageant title?

Rebecca is killed when the float she is riding on catches fire


Botchan (young master) is the first-person narrator of the novel. He grows up in Tokyo as a reckless and rambunctious youth. In the opening chapter he hurts himself jumping from the second floor of his elementary school, fights the boy next door, and tramples a neighbor's carrot patch by wrestling (sumĹ style) on the straw that covers the seedlings. His parents favor his older brother, who is quiet and studious. Botchan is also not well regarded in the neighborhood, having a reputation as the local roughneck. Kiyo, the family's elderly maidservant, is the only one who finds anything redeeming in Botchan's character.
After Botchan's mother passes away, Kiyo devotes herself fervently to his welfare, treating him from her own allowance with gifts and favors. Botchan initially finds her affection onerous, but over time he grows to appreciate her dedication, and she eventually becomes his mother figure and moral role model.
Six years after his mother's death, as Botchan is finishing middle school, his father falls ill and passes away. His older brother liquidates the family assets and provides Botchan with 600 yen before leaving to start his own career. Botchan uses this money to study physics for three years. On graduating, he accepts a job teaching middle school mathematics in Matsuyama on the island of Shikoku.
Botchan's tenure in Matsuyama turns out to be short (less than two months) but eventful. His arrogance and quick temper immediately lead to clashes with the students and staff. The students retaliate excessively by tracking his every movement in the small town and traumatizing him during his 'night duty' stay in the dormitory.
Mischief by the students turns out to be just the first salvo in a broader web of intrigue and villainy. The school's head teacher (Red Shirt) and English teacher (Uranari) are vying for the hand of the local beauty, and two camps have formed within the middle school staff. Botchan struggles initially to see through the guises and sort out the players. After several missteps, he concludes that Uranari and the head mathematics teacher (Yama Arashi) hold the moral high ground in the conflict. Red Shirt, who presents himself as a refined scholar, turns out to be highly superficial and self-serving.
As the story progresses, Red Shirt schemes to eliminate his rivals. He begins by having Uranari transferred to a remote post on the pretext of furthering his career. Next he uses a contrived street brawl and his newspaper connections to defame both mathematics teachers (Botchan and Yama Arashi) and to force Yama Arashi's resignation.
Botchan and Yama Arashi realize that they cannot beat the system, so they scheme a way to get even. They stake out Red Shirt's known haunt, an inn near the hot springs town, and catch him and his sidekick Nodaiko sneaking home in the morning after overnighting with geisha. With his usual eloquence, Red Shirt points out that they have no direct proof of any wrongdoing. Botchan and Yama Arashi overcome this technicality by pummeling both Red Shirt and Nodaiko into submission on the spot.
After dispensing justice with his fists, Botchan drops a letter of resignation into the mail and immediately heads for the harbor. He returns to Tokyo, finds employment, and establishes a modest household with Kiyo. When Kiyo passes away, he has her respectfully interred in his own family's grave plot.

Question: What does Botchan trample?

A neighbor's carrot patch
The neighbor's carrot patch.


In a world full of immortals and mortals, the Forest of Burzee received an abandoned infant which is found by the nymphs. And Necile who wishes, even though it is against the law, to spare the child and raise it as her own. Ak, the Master Woodsman reluctantly allows Necile to take in the baby and name him Claus.
As he grows older Claus befriends the creatures of the forest and Ak shows him the children of the world who he has sympathy for. When Claus reaches adulthood, he leaves the Forest of Burzee and travels to the country called the Laughing Valley where he builds his own home abd receives a cat called Blinkie where he makes a wooden version of and gives it to a boy lost in a snow storm. The Ryls give him paint that they use to colour flowers so Claus can paint his toys. He later makes a variety of wooden animals who he decides to give to the children who are either rich or poor including Bessie Blithesome and Mayrie.
An evil army called the Awgwas realize the toys are making the children less naughty so they attempt to stop that by kidnapping Claus and dumping him in the jungle, trap him in a blocked cave and steal the toys from the children forcing Claus to seek shelter.
After violating Ak's warning to leave Claus alone, the Awgwas declare war on the immortals. In order for Claus to still make the children gifts, the immortals have no choice but to engage the Awgwas in battle. In the battle against the Awgwas and their allies the Asiatic Dragons, the Black Demons of Patalonia, the Giants of Tartary, and the Goozle-Goblins. The fiery breaths on the Asiatic Dragons were turned on them by the wands of the Fairies causing them to shrivel up and die. Some Giants of Tartary were stabbed in the flesh by the Knooks' spears. The Goozle-Goblins were stabbed in the heart by the Ryls' sticks. The King Awgwa was sliced in half by Ak while the Wood Nymphs turned his subjects into clods of dirt. While it was never mentioned what happened to the Black Demons during the battle, Ak observed the remaining Giants of Tartary retreating back to Tartary.
Soon, two reindeer called Flossie and Glossie who assist Claus to deliver the toys to the children of the world. They also help Claus to figure out how to get into the houses by going down the chimney. Later more reindeer, named Racer, Pacer, Reckless, Speckless, Fearless, Peerless, Ready, Steady and Who, come to assist Claus. The people of the world also make it easier for Claus to deliver presents by hanging the first stockings on the mantle pieces above the fire and start putting up Pine Trees as the first Christmas Trees.
Years pass and Claus grows old and comes to the end of his life so when Ak holds a meeting to decide if they should make Claus immortal they all vote in favour of it. The Immortals come to Claus's house just in time to stop the Angel of Death from taking him away then place the Mantle of Immortality on Claus.
Centuries pass and Claus faces difficulties in delivering presents to the children of the world including the people replacing fireplaces with stoves or houses without chimneys. The Nymphs and Fairies therefore travel with Claus to go through the walls so he can still deliver the gifts. The Centuries pass and the number of children increase which doesn't bother Claus as he claims "The more the merrier!" and continues his career for generations to come.

Question: What country did Claus move to and build his home?


John Crocker has been the friend of the Celebrity, long before he became famous. During a summer retreat at Asquith resort, he runs into the Celebrity, who has taken the identity of another man for anonymity. The Celebrity meets Irene Trevor, the daughter of an Ohio state senator, and asks her to marry him. When a more desirable female, Marian Thorn, arrives at Asquith, the Celebrity leaves her without breaking off the engagement. That goes against the moral fiber of the Celebrity's stories. Both women know his true identity as a famous writer and are familiar with his published works.
Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke and his wife are wealthy and have made a summer retreat of their own named Mohair. The Celebrity leaves Asquith for Mohair to be with Marian Thorn, who is the niece of the Cookes. The slighted Irene Trevor confides in John Crocker that the Celebrity never broke up with her, and that could be used against him later.
Mr. Cooke throws a party and invites the people from Asquith to join them. John Crocker and Miss Trevor reluctantly go. It appears to John Crocker that Miss Thorn and the Celebrity are romantically involved and that he is jealous. Mr. Cooke buys a new yacht, the Maria (named after his wife), and he invites all his guests for a trip to Bear Island.
At Bear Island, a newspaper brought on board the yacht reveals in a story that Charles Wrexell Allan has embezzled $100,000 from the Miles Standish Bicycle Company. That is the same man the Celebrity is impersonating. When the Celebrity asks John Crocker and Miss Trevor to reveal his true identity, they decide to be mischievous and pretend not to know him by any name but Allan.
Another yacht enters Bear Island harbor and a man in an obvious disguise, Mr. Dunn, visits the island. The party believes Mr. Dunn is a detective. Mr. Trevor demands for the Celebrity to be turned over to authorities. The Celebrity is hidden in a cave for the night. The next day, Mr. Dunn is gone. Mr. Cooke insists on taking the Celebrity to Canada.
A police tug boat catches up to the Maria and the Celebrity is hidden in the ballast area. Captain McMain, Chief of the Far Harbor Police, searches the boat but does not find the Celebrity. Mr. Cooke finds a cove to sleep in for the night. In the morning, while rowing passengers back to the Maria, the police return. John Crocker, the Celebrity, Miss Thorn, and Miss Trevor are left behind on shore.
The Celebrity asks Miss Thorn to marry him. She tells Miss Trevor about the proposal. She states that she is still engaged to the Celebrity. Now, John Crocker realizes that the girls where in on a plot to humiliate the Celebrity for going against his own doctrine from his stories. After being humiliated, he leaves the three and escapes into Canada. The police come back and pick up John, Miss Thorn, and Miss Trevor in the police tug that is towing the Maria. During the trip back, Captain McCann says he is still looking for the embezzler, Mr. Allen. Miss Thorn reveals to John Crocker that she has secretly admired him ever since they met. They realize they are going to become romantically involved in the future. When they reach shore, it is revealed that Mr. Dunn, the suspected detective turns out to be Mr. Allen.
The story is wrapped up with the marriage of John Crocker and Irene Thorn. They go to Europe and, at a party, a book the Celebrity wrote is brought up. It is signed by the author. After inspection, Crocker realizes the signature is a fraud. He realizes Mr. Allen is posing as the Celebrity and traveling through Europe on a book signing tour.
Later, during their stay in Paris, the Crockers meet the Celebrity. He has a new girl, has no hard feeling about his summer stay at Asquith and Mohair, has traveled around the World and met Charles Wexell Allen in his travels. He reveals that Mr. Allen thanked him for inadvertently helping him in the embezzlement.

Question: Who is Mr. Allen impersonating at the end of story,?


After first meeting at a summer camp as teenagers, Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher) run into each other a few times as young adults but never keep in touch. Emma becomes a doctor in Los Angeles, Adam a production assistant for a musical television show. Adam's father Alvin (Kevin Kline), the well-known star of a former hit television comedy series, has begun a romance with Adam's ex-girlfriend, Vanessa (Ophelia Lovibond). Adam finds out, gets drunk and calls the women in his phone seeking a hookup. The next morning, he wakes on a sofa wearing nothing but a small towel. It turns out that he texted Emma and then came to the apartment she shares with some other residents—Patrice (Greta Gerwig), Shira (Mindy Kaling), and Guy (Guy Branum). Once there, he took off all his clothes and then passed out. Emma leads Adam to her bedroom to retrieve his missing pants and they end up having sex.
The two have sex again at Adam’s house and before she leaves Adam agrees to her proposal for a casual relationship (as she puts it, using each other for sex and nothing else). Adam warns Emma about falling in love with him, but she dismisses the idea and sets ground rules to keep what they’re doing from becoming too serious. At first things go well, but Adam becomes jealous when Sam (Ben Lawson)—another resident—seeks her attention. Adam brings Emma a gift (a mix CD) and she rebuffs him, saying they should stop for a while and hook up with other people. But after being apart for two weeks Emma returns to Adam and they continue being sex friends only.
Adam's birthday comes along a few months later. He goes out for dinner with Alvin and Vanessa, who announce their plan to have a baby together. Emma berates the other couple while defending Adam. He persuades her to go out together on Valentine's Day. Things fall apart when she becomes too uncomfortable during the date. An angry Emma advises Adam that he should find someone else who won’t hurt him. Adam tells Emma that he loves her—something she's not at all receptive to hearing—they have a fight, ending their arrangement.
Six weeks later, a script Adam wrote is being filmed. He gets a regular writing job on the show with the help of Lucy (Lake Bell), the show's assistant director, who is clearly attracted to Adam. Meanwhile, Emma is depressed over not being with Adam. The situation is compounded and complicated by her younger sister Katie's (Olivia Thirlby) wedding the next day and her widowed mother (Talia Balsam) arriving for the event with a male companion (Brian Dierker) of her own. Emma feels she is being strong for her mom by not letting herself get too close to anyone so she won't become upset by seeing Emma get hurt if a relationship ends poorly. Emma's mom tells her to stop.
When Emma confesses that she can't stop thinking about Adam, Katie insists that she call him to put things right. A nervous Emma phones Adam and tells him that she misses him. He responds that they were never really together. Realizing that she needs to speak with him in person, Emma leaves Santa Barbara where the wedding is taking place and drives to Adam's house. Her plans are ruined – and she has to hide to avoid being seen—when he arrives home with Lucy. Emma assumes Adam has a new girlfriend and tearfully drives away. Vanessa calls Adam before he and Lucy can have sex—Alvin has overdosed on a cough syrup-based drink called "Purple drank". Meeting Adam outside the hospital, Vanessa says that she is ending her relationship with Alvin and leaves for a party. Adam goes in to visit Alvin who surprisingly gives him some tender advice about falling in love.
Shira tells Emma about Adam's dad being admitted to the hospital. As Adam leaves the building he calls Emma and tells her that she must be present if she is going to say that she misses him. Emma gets out of her car as the call ends and Adam is stunned to suddenly find her there. She tells Adam that she is sorry she hurt him and confesses that she really loves and cares about him and they reconcile. After eating breakfast together the next morning—something that never happened before—they arrive in Santa Barbara just before Katie's wedding is starting. As they enter a room and pause Emma asks Adam what will happen next, and with a smile on his lips he silently intertwines her hand with his—for the first time they are holding hands together as a couple.
The end credits show an epilogue in which Alvin and Lucy are in a relationship, and are in a restaurant waiting for Adam to arrive to tell him. Adam’s roommate (Jake Johnson) and Patrice are in a relationship and are shown meeting his two dads. Vanessa had told Adam that old people scare her and she is ridden with anxiety when she is trapped in an elevator full of senior citizens. Adam and Emma are seen kissing in the park. Sam and Shira are in a relationship, but he wants his freedom and isn't pleased when she reveals that she’s already been seeing other men. Katie is having a baby and Emma is the delivering doctor. Guy lures a nervous-looking Sam into a hospital room. At last, Adam and Emma are shown peacefully sleeping together.

Question: What does Emma confess?

That she really loves Adam
she can't stop thinking about Adam


For many years, the protagonist and his uncle, Dr. Elihu Whipple, have nurtured a fascination with an old abandoned house on Benefit Street. Dr. Whipple has made extensive records tracking the mysterious, yet apparently, coincidental sickness and death of many who have lived in the house for over one hundred years. They are also puzzled by the strange weeds growing in the yard, as well as the unexplained foul smell, and whitish phosphorescent fungi growing in the cellar.
After the protagonist discovers a strange, yellowish vapour in the basement, which seems to be coupled with a moldy outline of a huddled human form on the floor, he and his uncle decide to spend the night in the house, investigating the possibility of some supernatural force. They set up both cots and chairs in the cellar, arm themselves with military flamethrowers, and outfit a modified Crookes tube in the hopes of destroying any supernatural presence they might find.
When Dr. Whipple naps, while his nephew keeps watch, he begins tossing and turning, and finally starts babbling in French, until he suddenly awakes. He tells the protagonist he had strange visions of lying in an open pit, inside a house with constantly shifting features, while faces stared down at him. Many of the faces were those of the Harris family, whose members died in the house.
When the protagonist sleeps, he is awakened by a horrific scream. He sees a revolting yellowish "corpse-light" bubbling up from the floor, which stares at him with many eyes before vanishing in a wisp through the chimney. He finds his uncle transformed into a monster with "blackened, decaying features" and dripping claws. He turns on the Crookes tube, but seeing that it has no effect, escapes the house through the cellar door as his uncle's body dissolves, transforming into a multitude of faces of those who died in the house as it melts. The protagonist returns the next day to find his equipment intact, but no body.
The protagonist hatches a plan. He orders a military gas mask, digging tools, and six carboys of sulfuric acid to be delivered to the cellar door of the shunned house. He digs into the earthen floor of the cellar, turning up fungous yellow ooze, and arranges the barrels of acid around the hole in the belief that he will happen upon some kind of monstrous creature. Eventually, he uncovers a soft, blue-white, translucent tube, bent in half and two feet in diameter at its widest point. He frantically climbs out of the neck-deep hole, and dumps in four barrels of acid, realizing that he had found the elbow of a gigantic monster. The protagonist faints after emptying the fourth barrel.
When he awakens, the protagonist empties the two remaining barrels, to no effect, replaces the dirt, and finds that the strange fungus has turned to harmless ash. He mourns his uncle, but is relieved to be sure that the horrible creature is finally dead. The protagonist records that the house has subsequently been rented to another family, and that the house now appears completely normal.

Question: What does his uncle transform into?


Socialite Claire Gregory (Mimi Rogers) attends a party and art show sponsored by one of her oldest friends, Winn Hockings (Mark Moses). Accompanying her is her straitlaced boyfriend, Neil Steinhart (John Rubinstein). In another part of town, there is another party, this one for newly appointed NYPD detective Mike Keegan (Tom Berenger).
Winn is accosted by a former partner, Joey Venza (Andreas Katsulas), who is angry because Winn had not come to him to borrow money for his new art studio. After a short argument, he stabs Winn to death. Claire witnesses the killing as she steps out of the elevator; she screams and is spotted by Venza. He pursues her, but she manages to get back into the elevator just in time.
The police are called in and the new detective Keegan is there. He is a married man, but immediately falls for Claire. Along with fellow cops, he is assigned to protect Claire until she can make a positive ID of Venza (once he is arrested) and testify in court.
Keegan is determined to protect Claire and goes to extremes to do so. Venza makes numerous threats and attempts on her life, nearly succeeding at one point. Keegan and his wife Ellie (Lorraine Bracco) separate over his involvement in the case. He and Claire acknowledge their love but Keegan cannot bring himself to simply abandon his family.
At the end, Venza, who draws out Keegan by taking his son hostage, is shot by Ellie and killed. Claire breaks up with her staid boyfriend and intends to go to Europe to get over Keegan, who returns to his wife and son.

Question: Who is Detective Keegan married to?


After having led numerous military battles against the English during the Hundred Years' War, Joan of Arc is captured near Compiegne and eventually brought to Rouen, Normandy to stand trial for heresy by French clergymen loyal to the English.
On 30 May 1431 Joan is interrogated by the French clerical court. Her judges try to make her say something that will discredit her claim or shake her belief that she has been given a mission by God to drive the English from France, but she remains steadfast. One or two of them, believing that she is indeed a saint, support her. The authorities then resort to deception. A priest reads a false letter to the illiterate prisoner supposedly from King Charles VII of France, telling her to trust in the bearer. When that too fails, Joan is taken to view the torture chamber, but the sight, though it causes her to faint, does not intimidate her.
When she is threatened with burning at the stake, she finally breaks and allows a priest to guide her hand in signing a confession. However, the judge then condemns her to life imprisonment.
As the jailer shaves her head, she realises she has been unfaithful to God. She demands that the judges return and she recants her confession.
As more and more around her begin to recognise her true faith and calling she is permitted a final communion mass. She is then dressed in sack-cloth and taken to the place of execution. She helps the executioner tie her bonds. The crowds gather and the fire is lit. As the flames rise the women weep and a man cries out "you have burned a saint". The troops prepare for a riot. As the flames consume Joan the troops and crowd clash and people are killed. Joan is consumed by the flames but they protect her soul as it rises to heaven.

Question: Where was Joan of Arc captured?

She was captured near Compiegne.
Compiegne.


The film is presented in a nonlinear narrative, jumping between various days within the 500 days of Tom and Summer's relationship. This is a linear summary of the plot.
On January 8, Tom Hansen meets Summer Finn, his boss's new assistant. Tom is trained as an architect but works as a writer at a greeting card company in Los Angeles. Following a karaoke night, Tom's friend and co-worker McKenzie reveals that Tom likes Summer. During the next few months Summer and Tom grow closer, despite Summer's telling him that she does not believe in true love and does not want a boyfriend.
Tom shows Summer his favorite spot in the city, which overlooks a number of buildings he likes, although the view is spoiled by parking lots. After several months of dating, Tom gets into a fight with a man who flirts with Summer, and Tom and Summer have their first argument. On day 290, Summer and Tom end their relationship after they see The Graduate, a film Summer is visibly moved by, but Tom is unaffected by. Tom does not take the breakup well, and his friends call his younger sister, Rachel, to calm him down.
Summer quits her job at the greeting card company. Tom's boss moves him to the consolations department, as his depression is not suitable for happier events. Months later, Summer and Tom attend their co-worker Millie's wedding, where they dance together and Summer catches the bouquet. They sit next to each other on the trip home, and Summer invites Tom to a party at her apartment. He attends the party expecting to rekindle their relationship; instead, he barely gets to talk to Summer and spends most of the night alone drinking, until he spots her wearing an engagement ring. Tom leaves, close to tears. He enters a deep depression, only leaving his apartment for alcohol and junk food. After a few days, he returns to work with a hangover, and after an emotional outburst, quits his job. He rededicates himself to architecture, making a list of firms, assembling a portfolio, and attending interviews.
On day 488, Summer sees Tom at his favorite spot in the city, and they talk. Tom expresses his confusion about her actions. Summer explains that Tom was right that true love exists, and that she discovered someone else she had all the feelings for, which she had never been sure about with Tom. Summer holds Tom's hand. She says she is glad to see he is doing well. As she leaves, Tom tells her he really hopes she is happy.
Twelve days later, on Wednesday, May 23, Tom attends a job interview and meets a beautiful girl who is also applying for the same job. He finds that she shares his favorite spot and dislike for the parking lots. Just before the interview, he makes a date to have coffee with her afterwards. She tells him her name is Autumn.

Question: Where does Tom get moved in the greeting card company?

Tom gets moved to the consolation department instead of greeting cards.


In 2047, a distress signal is received from the Event Horizon, a starship that disappeared during its maiden voyage to Proxima Centauri seven years before. The rescue vessel Lewis and Clark is dispatched on a rescue mission. On board are Captain Miller and his crew â Lieutenant Starck, Pilot Smith, Medical Technician Peters, Engineer Ensign Justin, Trauma Doctor D.J., and Rescue Technician Cooper. They are joined by the Event Horizon's designer, Dr. William Weir. The Doctor briefs the crew, telling them that the Event Horizon was built to test an experimental gravity drive. The drive generates an artificial black hole and uses it to bridge two points in spacetime, reducing travel time over astronomical distances.
Upon boarding the Event Horizon, the crew finds evidence of a massacre. As they search for survivors, the ship's gravity drive automatically activates. Justin is briefly pulled into the resulting portal. As he is pulled out, he is in a catatonic state, terrified by what he saw on the other side. After he attempts suicide, the crew places him in stasis. At the same time, the activation causes a shock wave that damages the Lewis and Clark, forcing the entire crew to board the Event Horizon.
The team begin to experience hallucinations corresponding to their fears and regrets: Miller sees Corrick, a subordinate he was forced to abandon to his death; Peters sees her son with his legs covered in bloody lesions; and Weir sees his late wife, with missing eyes, urging him to join her. They soon discover a video log of the Event Horizon's crew as they went insane and mutilated each other. The video log ends with a shot of the Event Horizon's captain, who has apparently gouged out his own eyes, holding them up to the camera and saying in Latin, "liberate tuteme ex inferis" (lit. "save yourself from hell"). Miller and D.J. deduce that the ship's gravity drive opened a gateway into a dimension outside the known universe. Weir theorizes that this hellish dimension turned the Event Horizon into a sentient being, which torments its occupants and lures them back to hell.
Miller decides to destroy the Event Horizon. Weir, now possessed by the evil presence, uses an explosive device to destroy the Lewis and Clark. The explosion kills Smith and blasts Cooper off into space. Peters is lured to her death by a hallucination of her son. Weir kills D.J. by vivisecting him and corners Starck on the bridge. Miller confronts Weir, who overpowers him and initiates a 10-minute countdown, after which the Event Horizon will return to the other dimension.
Cooper, having used his space suit's oxygen supply to propel himself back to the ship, appears at the bridge window. Without thinking, Weir shoots at him, breaking the window, and is blown out into space by the ensuing decompression. Miller, Starck, and Cooper survive and manage to seal off the ship's bridge. With their own ship destroyed, Miller plans to split the Event Horizon in two and use the forward section of the ship as a lifeboat. He is attacked by manifestations of Corrick and a resurrected Weir. Miller fights them off and detonates the explosives, sacrificing himself.
The gravity drive activates, pulling the ship's rear section into a black hole. Starck and Cooper enter stasis, beside a comatose Justin, and wait to be rescued. Seventy-two days later, the Event Horizon is boarded by a rescue party, who discover the remaining crew still in stasis. A newly awakened Starck sees Weir posing as one of the rescuers, then wakes up screaming and is comforted by Cooper. As Cooper restrains the terrified Starck and one of the rescuers calls for a sedative, the doors ominously close.

Question: What does the video log of the vanished ship show?

That the crew went crazy and killed each other

The crew went insane and mutilated each other.


Betsy Connell (Frances Dee), a Canadian nurse, relates in a voiceover how she once "walked with a zombie."
Betsy is hired to care for the wife of Paul Holland (Tom Conway), a sugar plantation owner on the Caribbean island of Saint Sebastian. Saint Sebastian is inhabited by a small white community and descendants of African slaves. Betsy is told the story of how the Hollands brought slaves to the island, and that the statue of "Ti-Misery" (Saint Sebastian pierced by arrows) in the courtyard is the figurehead from a slave ship.
That night at dinner, Betsy meets Paul's half-brother and employee, Wesley Rand (James Ellison). While getting ready for bed, Betsy hears crying. When she investigates, a woman in a white robe walks towards her, her eyes staring. Betsy screams, waking the rest of the household. Paul takes charge of Jessica Holland, the woman Betsy is to care for. The next morning, Dr. Maxwell tells Betsy that Jessica's spinal cord was irreparably damaged by a serious illness, leaving her totally without the willpower to do anything for herself.
On her day off, Betsy encounters Wesley in town. While he drinks himself into a stupor, a calypso singer (Sir Lancelot) sings about how Jessica was going to run away with Wesley, but Paul would not let them go. Then she was struck down by the fever. Betsy meets Mrs. Rand (Edith Barrett), Paul and Wesley's doctor mother.
That night, at dinner, Paul tries to persuade Wesley to reduce his drinking (at Betsy's suggestion), but he accuses Paul of trying to impress Betsy and of driving Jessica insane in the first place.
Later, Betsy is drawn to the sound of Paul playing the piano. He apologizes for bringing her to the island and admits that he may have been the cause of his wife's condition. Betsy has been falling in love with her moody employer. She determines to make him happy by curing Jessica.
Betsy gets Paul to agree to try a potentially fatal treatment of insulin shock on Jessica, but it has no effect. Housemaid Alma (Theresa Harris) then tells her that a Voodoo priest cured a woman of a similar condition. Betsy takes her patient without permission through cane fields past a crossroads guarded by the towering figure of the eerie Carre-Four (a reference to the loa Maitre Carrefours) to the houmfort (a place where Voodoo worshipers gather).
There, they watch a man (the Sabreur) wield a saber during a ritual. People are given advice through a shack door by a Voodoo priest. Betsy is summoned inside, where she is shocked to find that the priest is none other than Mrs. Rand. Mrs. Rand explains that she uses Voodoo to convince the natives to accept conventional medical practices and tells Betsy that Jessica can never be cured.
Outside, the locals stab Jessica in the arm with the sword as a test. When she does not bleed, they are convinced she is a zombie. Betsy takes her back to the house, but the natives demand that Jessica be returned to them for "ritual tests". Later, Carre-Four approaches the residence, but Mrs. Rand orders him to leave.
Paul suggests that Betsy return to Canada, as he is fearful of demeaning and abusing her as he did Jessica. She is convinced that he is not really like that.
The next day, Doctor Maxwell reports that the unrest has sparked an official inquiry into Jessica's illness. Mrs. Rand shocks everyone by claiming that Jessica is a zombie. Although she had never taken Voodoo seriously, Mrs Rand reveals that when she discovered that Jessica was planning to run away with Wesley and break up her family, she felt herself possessed by a Voodoo god. She then put a curse on Jessica. Paul, Maxwell and Betsy dismiss her story, but Wesley becomes obsessed with freeing Jessica from her zombie state. He asks Betsy if she would consider euthanasia, but she refuses.
Using an effigy of Jessica, the Sabreur takes control of her and draws her to him. Paul and Betsy stop her the first time, but they are not around when he tries again. Wesley opens the gate, letting Jessica out. Then he pulls an arrow out of the statue of Ti-Misery and follows. As the Sabreur stabs the doll with a pin, Wesley thrusts the arrow into Jessica. He then carries her body into the sea, pursued slowly by Carre-Four. Later, the natives discover the bodies of Jessica and Wesley floating in the surf. Paul comforts Betsy.

Question: After developing an attraction to Paul Holland, what diud Betsy do in order to impress him?

She tried to cure Jessica Holland's illness.


A stuffed rabbit sewn from velveteen is given as a Christmas present to a small boy. The boy plays with his other new presents and forgets the velveteen rabbit for a time. These presents are modern and mechanical, and they snub the old-fashioned velveteen rabbit. The wisest and oldest toy in the nursery, the Skin Horse, who was owned by the boy's uncle, tells the rabbit about toys magically becoming Real due to love from children. The rabbit is awed by this idea; however, his chances of achieving this wish are slight.
One night, the boy's Nana gives the rabbit to the boy to sleep with, in place of a lost toy. The rabbit becomes the boy's favourite toy, enjoying picnics with him in the spring; and the boy regards the rabbit as 'REAL'. Time passes, and the rabbit becomes shabbier but happy. He meets some real rabbits in the summer, and they learn that he cannot hop as they do and say that he is not real.
One day, the boy becomes sick with scarlet fever, and the rabbit sits with him as he recovers. The doctor orders that the boy should be taken to the seaside and that his room should be disinfectedâall his books and toys burnt, including the velveteen rabbit. The rabbit is bundled into a sack and left out in the garden overnight, where he sadly reflects on his life with his boy. The toy rabbit cries, a real tear drops onto the ground, and a marvellous flower appears. A fairy steps out of the flower and comforts the velveteen rabbit, introducing herself as the Nursery Magic Fairy. She says that, because he is old and shabby and Real, she will take him away with her and "turn [him] into Real" - to everyone.
The fairy takes the rabbit to the forest, where she meets the other rabbits and gives the velveteen rabbit a kiss. The velveteen rabbit changes into a real rabbit and joins the other rabbits in the forest. The next spring, the rabbit returns to look at the boy, and the boy sees a resemblance to his old velveteen rabbit.

Question: Why is the Velveteen rabbit disgarded in the garden?

The doctor ordered that the contents of the boy's room be disinfected and the toys burned.

to be burned as part of the disinfection process.


This science fiction novel takes place in the year 2203, if we take literally the age of 250 years given for a Korean War identity bracelet that is dated 1953. A rogue planet, populated by strange machines known as Pyramids, has stolen the Earth from the Solar system, taking it off into interstellar space. The moon has been 'ignited' by alien technology to serve as a miniature sun around which both planets orbit. This new sun is rekindled every 5 years, though as the book opens, the rekindling is nearly overdue and there is fear among the populace that it may never happen again.
The global population has crashed to a hundred million, due largely to the radical climate changes that followed the arrival of the alien planet. Most of the surviving humans are 'Citizens,' passive people living lives bound up with elaborate social rituals, various styles of meditation, and carefully prescribed selflessness. This constraining lifestyle frequently causes Citizens to succumb to mental breakdowns and run 'amok,' attacking anyone within reach. Persons who commit this or any other crime face ritual execution.
A small minority of the population who retain their aggressive natures are referred to as 'Wolves.' They are considered to be a direct threat to the rest of society. These Wolves, however, generally see themselves as superior humans and refer to the Citizens as 'Sheep.' This labeling system is somewhat ironic, because the Wolves generally try to trick the Sheep into avoiding their settlements, while any Wolf who is caught by the Sheep is murdered.
The Pyramid aliens' motives are unknown, their only visible presence being a lone Pyramid perched atop a leveled-off Mount Everest and the transparent 'Eyes' which form over individuals who have supposedly attained or approached a state of meditative perfection or 'Nirvana.' Persons who reach this stage of meditation vanish from the world to an unknown destination.The story opens in the town of Wheeling, West Virginia. We first see Roget Germyn, a banker and model Citizen. An Eye forms over him while he is meditating, but he is interrupted and the Eye vanishes. He then returns to a more Earthly concern - whether or not the 'sun' will be regenerated, ending the current period of hunger and cold.
Attention then shifts to Glenn Tropile, who lives among the Citizens, but regards himself as one of the feared Wolves. He has even managed to slowly coach his wife, Gala, toward a more Wolfish outlook. Despite this rebellious attitude, he maintains a genuine interest in meditation.
Glenn Tropile is exposed as a Wolf while stealing bread. He escapes execution and is collected by a community of Wolves living in the town of Princeton. They find he doesn't entirely fit in there either, but hope he may get collected by an 'Eye', giving them a chance to measure this process in detail. This eventually happens and they find, as expected, that his disappearance was facilitated by the Pyramid on Everest. Glenn Tropile has been sent to the Pyramid's planet.
We then learn his fate. To the Pyramids, the human race is nothing more than a useful source of 'Components' for a complex world-machine devoted mostly to feeding these artificial and semi-organic beings. Tropile is suspended in a fluid-filled tank and 'wired in' to the vast computer system. Later, he is linked to seven other humans as a 'Snowflake' - eight minds joined together to facilitate more complex tasks than a single human Component could manage.
In this condition, Tropile wakes, manages to retain his sanity, and wakes the other humans. They eventually merge with one another to form a sophisticated collective mind. The freed Snowflake then spies on the Pyramids, finding that they have been traveling for some two million years, and have collected many species as Components, but seem locked in meaningless rituals surrounding an alien creature at the world's North Pole. They later realize that this is the last survivor of the race that created the Pyramids.
In the meantime, they have modified the collection process of human Components so that it selects persons known to at least one of the eight people composing the Snowflake (which has become almost as ruthless and inhuman as the alien Pyramids). These humans are intended as 'mice,' disrupters of the planet, and later as an army with which to fight the Pyramids. Roget Germyn is one of them, as is Tropile's wife.
Facing a philosophical dead-end, the 'Snowflake' decides to separate its component minds to study the problem. Restored to individual identity, Glenn Tropile becomes horrified at what he has done. However, the majority of the others want to carry on. While they are arguing, one of their number is taken over by the mind of the alien at the North Pole, who warns them that the Pyramids have noticed them and plan to wipe out half the planet to get rid of them.
They initially re-merge their personalities as the Snowflake and expedite their plans. Tropile decides he must physically disconnect himself from the Snowflake and leave to lead the humans. They manage to defeat the Pyramids, but not before the remainder of the Snowflake is also destroyed. The humans free many of the other Components and ship them back to Earth.
Tropile now finds he is a hero of sorts, but does not fit the role (though he never truly fit any role in which he was placed - Sheep, Wolf, or Component). He also sees that there is a need for someone to wire themselves back in to the alien planet's surviving systems, to re-kindle the 'sun' every five years and perhaps return the Earth to its original orbit. He doesn't want to do it alone, but most of the people he knows are either unwilling or unsuitable. On the last page, though, his wife agrees to join him. He expects that there will later be others, that "[t]he ring of fire [will] grow."

Question: How large is the global population?


Michael Strogoff, a 30-year-old native of Omsk, is a courier for Tsar Alexander II of Russia. The Tartar Khan (prince), Feofar Khan, incites a rebellion and separates the Russian Far East from the mainland, severing telegraph lines. Rebels encircle Irkutsk, where the local governor, a brother of the Tsar, is making a last stand. Strogoff is sent to Irkutsk to warn the governor about the traitor Ivan Ogareff, a former colonel, who was once demoted and exiled and now seeks revenge against the imperial family. He intends to destroy Irkutsk by setting fire to the huge oil storage tanks on the banks of the Angara River.
On his way to Irkutsk, Strogoff meets Nadia Fedor, daughter of an exiled political prisoner, Basil Fedor, who has been granted permission to join her father at his exile in Irkutsk, the English war correspondent Harry Blount of the Daily Telegraph and Alcide Jolivet, a Frenchman reporting for his 'cousin Madeleine'. Blount and Jolivet tend to follow the same route as Michael, separating and meeting again all the way through Siberia. He is supposed to travel under a false identity, posing as the pacific merchant Nicolas Korpanoff but he is discovered by the Tartars when he meets his mother in their home city of Omsk.
Michael, his mother and Nadia are eventually taken prisoner by the Tartar forces. Ivan Ogareff alleges that Michael is a spy. After opening the Koran at random, Feofar decides that Michael will be blinded as punishment in the Tartar fashion, with a hot blade. For several chapters the reader is led to believe that Michael was indeed blinded, but it transpires in fact that he was saved from this fate (his tears at his mother evaporated and saved his corneas) and was only pretending.
Eventually, Michael and Nadia escape, and travel to Irkutsk with a friendly peasant. They are delayed by fire and the frozen river. However, they eventually reach Irkutsk, and warn the Tsar's brother in time of Ivan Ogareff. Nadia's father, who has been appointed commander of a suicide battalion, and later pardoned, joins them and Michael and Nadia are married.

Question: Who does Michael meet in Omsk?