"Since the first living thing gazed upward through the darkness, Man has seldom been content merely to be born, to endure, and to die.
And sometimes, in the tumbling torrents of space and time, he has brief glimpses of a world he never even dreams..."Dr. James Stone, an absent-minded optic engineer, is a brilliant researcher in a field that few appreciate.
The story begins as policemen investigate the destruction of Dr. Stone's office, the latest in a series of attacks on optometric facilities.
The creature attacks him, smashing his glasses, steals a page from Stone's notebook on which are written the names of patients who have been prescribed the lenses, and quickly vanishes.
Meanwhile, in the excitement of the moment, Stone suddenly seems to notice the love-struck Ms. Dunn for the first time, remarking after putting on a different pair of glasses that something about her "looks different," as she glows with adoration towards him.
Eck is unable to see properly in three-dimensional space, and requires lenses to correct his two-dimensional vision so that he can find the rift.
Eck gives Stone one of his eyes, a translucent triangle shaped object, though he asserts that a lens must be constructed in 24 hours, or he will starve to death, since he cannot assimilate three-dimensional nutrients.
"Paradoxically, Man's endless search for knowledge has often plundered his courage and warped his vision, so that he has faced the unknown with terror rather than awe, and probed the darkness with a scream rather than a light.
Writer William Cox wove a lighthearted comedy treatment around the two dimensional concept called "The Reluctant Monster" (this had no relation to Flatland other than the idea of a 2-D world).