The House at the End of the World

A flashback from Raleigh summarizes the discovery of Moloch. Shelly Framington, an astronaut, was commander of the International Space Station (ISS) when a large unknown object attached itself. It was smooth and white, without seams or damage from space dust; the astronauts on the ISS quickly determined that it was an artificial construct of non-human origin. Framington argued that the object should be brought to earth to be studied, and Ringrock Island was chosen, as it was already a high-security biological lab. The object was kept on the ISS for 20 days and then transported to Earth to be studied. Raleigh’s account comes seven months after that event, and scientists have discovered that the object is hollow, containing something. Raleigh ends with his certainty that the object is a gift from an advanced alien civilization.

Libby continues explaining, in her own words, what happened with the object after this study. The scientists took great precautions in trying to open the artifact; when it opened of its own volition, a worm-like creature of living tissue emerged. The scientists put a rat into the clean room with the creature, and it morphed into something terrifying, combined with the rat, and created the first hybrid. The creature then reformed into the worm and re-entered its shell. The scientists, initially horrified, became excited by the possibilities of this creature. Raleigh wanted to name it Proteus, but the other scientists decided on Moloch—a demon who eats children.

In a flashback journal entry from Raleigh, dated five years and five months before the crisis on Ringrock, he recounts in its entirety a letter from four other scientists demanding to destroy Moloch because of the danger that its escape presents. They argue that they have learned nothing about the organism and that assuming it will help humanity to cure cancer or other diseases is self-deception. They also tear down Raleigh’s theories about Moloch as a biological librarian or artist, calling them “ludicrous.” They theorize that Moloch is in fact a weapon created by an alien civilization and demand that it be destroyed or quarantined far out in space. In his journal, Raleigh responds to this letter by revealing that these four scientists have been fired and threatened with huge legal, financial, and physical consequences if they ever violate their nondisclosure agreements.

Katie begins packing their escape supplies while Libby tells her about how the fusions break down. The theory that Moloch is learning—that eventually it will master life on earth and create a stable fusion—horrifies Katie. While Katie packs her go bag with $250,000 in cash, they hear the creature in the cellar. Libby tells her that it is probably a failed spawn—a mess of cellular soup trying to find a form that may have fused with the grass around Katie’s house. They finish packing and plan to leave using Katie’s outboard motorboat, but before they leave, the house shakes.

Katie thinks about how Moloch could have been handled by scientists and leaders with more prudence and blames them for ruining her Eden. She, Libby, and Michael J. run as the house creaks and shudders around them, a hole eventually developing over the cellar. Katie finds herself longing to see what is in the hole, but Libby grabs her attention and tells her to run. As she pauses on the threshold, she looks back to see a giant worm emerging from the cellar, imprinted with the same human face over and over—a 50-year-old man. Katie closes the door behind her and runs to the boathouse with Libby and the fox, reminding herself that they need to get to the mainland to survive.

In a flashback, Katie sits in a funeral home waiting for Avi’s ashes to be brought to her. On the way home, she is followed by a black vehicle with tinted windows. Later, when she visits the cemetery, a man with binoculars observes her. She thinks that someone is monitoring her phone calls and tells what friends she still has to keep their distance. She believes that someone might try to stage her suicide and stays alert for that but ultimately decides to escape to Jacob’s Ladder.

Back in the present, Katie considers that although she knows her island well, it appears unfamiliar in the stormy dark. They find the boathouse, but a light is on; someone is inside. Katie finds Robert Zenon attaching her missing engine to her boat. She keeps her gun on him and demands that he disarm. He tries to persuade her out of it, but she eventually gets him to drop his pistol on the dock. She forces him to get off the boat so that she, Libby, and the fox can use it to escape.

Holding Zenon at bay with a gun, Katie keeps him talking while Libby prepares the boat for their escape. She asks him what he was doing on the island; he says that he and Rice were sent to follow an escaped fusion from the lab. He claims that they killed it and two of its spawns and then claims to have killed Rice. Since Katie knows that Libby killed Rice, this lie tips her off that Zenon cannot be trusted. Katie wants to kill him but shows pity. They drive away with Rice on the dock, leaving him an unloaded gun. As long as he has more ammunition, it will give him some means of defending himself from whatever else might be on the island.