I must be insane, or else all these people are lunatics.The maid Bessie rationalizes to Michael why she can""t leave her job with Bannister: "That""s why I can""t leave.[In Arthur Clarke""s novel, the mysterious monolithic stone slab is a technological machine belonging to aliens in space, one of hundreds of such monoliths sent to Earth to test, teach and transform he apes into higher-order, intelligent beings.Its provocative screenplay by Richard Brooks and James Poe was adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by Tennessee Williams.Suddenly, as Thomas was about to depart from the quiet park, the woman noticed him, left her partner standing in the meadow, and pursued after him.To get him to talk, two guards dragged Nova into the court, and he pleaded that they not harm her.Albina told Brent: "We never harm anyone, Mr.Brent.You""regoing to harm her." The Negro closed his eyes and controlled Brent, who first kissed Nova, but then turned it into a lethal suffocating kiss, and she fainted to the floor.