"(singing ethereal song)" "(trumpet fanfare)" "BROTHER AVERY:" "Yes!" "Oh, yes!" "(trumpet fanfare)" "Oh, yes." "Look up." "Raise your eyes." "Cast off the earthly dirt from your feet." "Lift up your eyes to the everlasting light..." "AUDIENCE:" "Amen!" "...to the source of all understanding, of all wisdom, of faith, of love." "AUDIENCE:" "Amen!" "The light without darkness, life without death." "To the sacred fount of the spirit of man and being." "To the kingdom itself." "To the host." "AUDIENCE:" "Amen!" "The coming host of angels." "AUDIENCE (muted):" "Amen!" "BROTHER AVERY:" "A million strong." "AUDIENCE:" "Amen!" "The host, the heavenly messengers, the radiant messengers who shall relieve all our suffering." "AUDIENCE:" "Amen!" "Oh, my brethren, prepare." "Prepare to receive this host." "AUDIENCE:" "Amen!" "This multitude of saints who love you." "AUDIENCE:" "Amen!" "Prepare for the peace they bring, for they will come." "I have seen this multitude with my own eyes." "They have spoken to me." "AUDIENCE:" "Amen!" "I am chosen." "AUDIENCE:" "Amen!" "I am the call of their trumpet." "I am their prophet." "I bring you proof." "I speak in the name of this heavenly host." "AUDIENCE:" "Amen!" "NARRATOR:" "Starring Roy Thinnes as architect David Vincent." "The invaders... alien beings from a dying planet." "Their destination... the Earth." "Their purpose... to make it their world." "David Vincent has seen them." "For him, it began one lost night on a lonely country road looking for a shortcut that he never found." "It began with a closed, deserted diner and a man too long without sleep to continue his journey." "(eerie whirring)" "It began with the landing of a craft from another galaxy." "(whirring intensifies)" "Now David Vincent knows that the invaders are here, that they've taken human form." "Somehow, he must convince a disbelieving world that the nightmare has already begun." "The guest stars in tonight's story:" "Pat Hingle..." "Zina Bethune..." "Roger Perry." "NARRATOR:" "David Vincent has seen the prophet, a saintly figure who announces the coming of a heavenly host whose skin begins to glow at the climax of each service." "Evidence that Brother Avery is an alien invader and reason for Vincent to contact columnist Bill Shay... (phone ringing) ...of Now magazine." "Hello." "(chuckles)" "Yes, ma'am, it certainly is Bill Shay of Now magazine." "How are you, sweetheart?" "(doorbell buzzes)" "What's on your mind?" "Come in." "All right, all right, put him on." "Come in." "Yeah, Jeff?" "I know, I know." "You don't believe it, I don't believe it." "Nobody who reads it will believe it, but that's what I saw." "No, no, no." "The prophet was glowing, not me." "I'm a man of rare abstinence, as you well know." "Well, here tonight." "Tomorrow, Santa Barbara and the great city Thursday." "By that time, I will be glowing." "Right." "Well, I was thinking of a style slightly ironic." "Okay." "Yeah, and a good, good morning to you." "Yes, sir?" "My name is David Vincent." "I wrote a letter to you some time ago-- no answer." "Vincent..." "Yeah, the bell rings." "You know, there's a line from an old show that stays with me-- Ray Bolger musical," "Charlie's Aunt." "Hmm, yeah. "From Brazil where the nuts come from."" "(chuckling):" "Yeah." "I think I'm going to like you, Mr. Vincent." "Thank you." "I could use it." "What do you call them?" "Um, aliens, is that it?" "Aliens." "Anything you want to call them." "And you've seen them?" "Well, as you said on the phone-- you don't believe it, nobody believes it, but I have seen them." "What do they look like?" "You... or me or anybody else." "They, uh, well, some of them have a mutated fourth finger." "They don't bleed when they're cut." "They don't bleed?" "That's passing strange, isn't it?" "In your slightly ironic style." "(chuckles)" "You want some coffee?" "No, thanks." "When they die, they glow." "Mm-hmm." "They glow with an incandescent light." "Bell ring?" "Uh..." "This man doesn't die." "But they have regenerating tubes." "If they're put into these tubes immediately, two or three minutes before, they do recover." "Recharge the old batteries?" "Right." ""Passing strange."" "(chuckles):" "You said it." "You're standing on the edge of the greatest story a writer could want." "Yeah." "(clears throat)" "Now, what were these aliens..." "Well, you see, you've got me doing it now." "What are these space people of yours doing with the prophet idea?" "Where does that fit?" "Well, you heard the man" ""Prepare for the coming of a million saints."" "You're talking about a mass landing?" "An invasion?" "That's what the man's advertising." "Brother Vincent, you have a serpent's tongue." "You're right." "It is one great story." "Even if there's not a word of truth to it." "But what do I hang it on?" "Can you give me something?" "What if I get pictures of the inside of that van?" "The regenerating tubes." "Pictures?" "Oh-oh, yes, pictures would be just fine." "Dad, you got yourself a deal." "Brother John." "You were right." "David Vincent... he has a fairly comprehensive idea." "BROTHER JOHN:" "I see." "Yes, of course." "Very well." "But we want young people." "That's important to us-- very important." "And I want you to impress that upon your friends." "Why, we could fill this auditorium many times over, but... but we want youth, too." "CLAIR:" "Now, you're the captains, and we're depending upon you." "In a few months, we hope to have a giant youth rally here." "Thank you, girls." "Bless you." "Sister Clair?" "Good morning." "Good morning." "They told me you were the one to see." "My name is Dennis Victor." "Yes, Mr. Victor?" "DAVID:" "Uh, last night, I saw the revelation." "I don't know how to say this." "You were spiritually moved." "Yes." "Bless you, Mr. Victor." "I want to join you." "If you'll just fill out this card." "I imagine you'll want to be with the local chapter." "No, no." "I..." "I'd like to be a member of the organization." "I'd like to go along with you as a working member." "Oh, no, we can't." "Well, we'd be swamped." "Please, Sister, don't shut me out." "Do you know... or have you ever known how desperately someone could need to belong?" "The answer is I... do know." "BROTHER JOHN:" "Sister Clair?" "Good morning." "Brother John, this is Dennis Victor." "How do you do, sir?" "Mr. Victor believes he's had a spiritual call." "Can you tell me about it?" "CLAIR:" "He witnessed the revelation last night." "It was as if..." "I were burning in the same flame along with Brother Avery." "As if he gave me part of his own vision." "Bless you." "Bless you." "We were talking about his perhaps coming with us." "Oh, as an apprentice." "With your approval, of course." "I'm sure we are fortunate that Mr. Victor has been brought to us by his vision." "Let us give thanks that he has been led to our embrace." "Greetings, Brother Dennis." "WOMAN:" "That's him." "Let them in, please." "BROTHER AVERY:" "My children..." "I am come from a sunrise prayer to bless your great valley-- to dedicate your broad fields and bright hills for the coming descent." "Are you as troubled as I am, Brother Dennis?" "I bring you love and in your faith you bring me..." "Haven't you seen something that's caused you to doubt?" "BROTHER AVERY:" "And your faith flows around me..." "Are you testing me, Brother?" "...and keeps away the pain, lifts me, buoys me, sustains me." "I saw it in your face last night-- onstage, when you thought no one was watching you." "Bless you, my children." "BROTHER AVERY:" "Bless you." "You needn't say anything now, only let me show you what I've seen." "The first time was accidental." "I wasn't at all sure what I had seen." "Since then, on every move, I've followed his van." "The night before last, it happened again." "It's... it's just over here." "Is this where you saw the spacecraft?" "BROTHER JOHN:" "Yes." "And saints don't come in spacecraft, do they?" "(car engine starts)" "(two gunshots)" "(glass shattering)" "Thanks, amigo." "Brother Dennis?" "Yes." "This way, please." "(knocking on door)" "Yes?" "Brother Dennis, sir." "Very well." "Brother Dennis." "Yes, sir?" "Have you been with Brother John?" "Yes, I have." "He instructed you in our discipline." "Partly." "We were to continue when he returned." "Has he returned?" "We haven't seen him, sir." "Did Brother John give you an assignment?" "He suggested Sister Clair would see to it." "Well, I daresay she will see to you." "Welcome, Brother." "Call five minutes." "BROTHER AVERY:" "All my dear people," "I look into your beautiful faces and I know I am doubly blessed." "I am given a sacred mission and I am received into your hearts." "I can feel... yes, I can physically experience the stimulus of your..." "love and faith." "It flows up from you into my body." "And I am humbled before the manifestation of this spiritual truth in man." "And in this transport-- this joining together of our beings..." "(door opens)" "You've got to listen to me." "I can explain this." "Just listen to me." "(groans, glass shattering)" "Listen to me!" "(grunts)" "Just hold still a minute!" "No!" "Sister Clair, listen to me!" "No!" "Bleeding." "Well, apparently, I am." "I'm sorry I had to go about this the way I did but under the circumstances, I would have done anything." "I'm an investigator." "With a divine call?" "I don't believe in Brother Avery." "I believe in something else-- something that might hurt you a great deal." "That he's a charlatan?" "Well, I've heard that far too often, and you happen to be wrong." "He's an agent for a foreign power." "Oh, that's absurd." "Is your faith strong enough to help me prove it one way or the other?" "Help me prove it." "(door opens)" "What is it, Sister?" "Has Brother John returned?" "No, Sister." "We've started a search for him." "All the more reason why we should discuss this matter thoroughly before we make up our mind." "I have a great deal to tell you." "I have seen this multitude with my own eyes." "AUDIENCE:" "Amen!" "They... have spoken to me." "AUDIENCE:" "Amen!" "I am chosen!" "REPORTER:" "Hey, Shay!" "Bill Shay!" "I just got a call from my paper." "That guy who's missing, uh...?" "Brother John?" "Yeah." "Well, the police found his car." "They took it downtown." "There's something funny about it." "Do you want to come?" "DAVID:" "Sister?" "Sister." "Have you ever seen the inside of that recovery van?" "Why is it so secretive?" "Why is it kept locked?" "Why is there a special high-voltage power line?" "How can you think that that's a trick?" "I know it's not a trick, but neither is it holy." "That glowing-- that special incandescence-- is something that happens to an alien being just before he dies or reverts unless he's put into a regenerating tube immediately just as they're doing to Brother Avery right now." "I want to see those tubes, and I want to show them to you to prove it." "Alien beings." "Creatures from another planet-- spacemen, if you like." "You're mad." "Sister." "Think of every question you ever had about that recovery van." "I know what you're doing." "You're like all the rest of them." "You've no use for anything divine-- anything of the spirit that can't be proven without... without spaceships or gadgets or tubes." "Help me to prove it." "Help me to get inside that van." "MAN 1:" "Put those flats over in the corner, will ya?" "MAN 2:" "Sure." "MAN 3:" "We're going to need three baby spots down there by the podium." "MAN 4:" "Right." "Go ahead." "MAN 3:" "Okay, but they've got to work..." "Sister?" "I can't let you stay with us." "I haven't decided yet whether I'll tell Brother Avery." "How long have you been with them?" "Not long." "They've given you a lot of responsibility." "I'm a good organizer." "I had good training on my father's political campaigns." "Who's your father?" "Doesn't matter." "We take new identities here." "MAN 1 (outside):" "Hey, Charlie, can you give me a hand with these stands?" "MAN 2:" "What's the matter with you?" "Can't you see I've got my hands full?" "I'm going to tell you something so you understand how wrong you are." "I loved my father very much." "He was everything in the world to me." "And then, unfortunately, I discovered he was nothing like the image I had of him." "Nothing at all." "He was..." "Well, let's just say I was disillusioned." "Along came Brother Avery." "No." "Then along came another man I loved very much, who also turned out a disappointment." "Well, I wanted out." "I wanted as far out as I could get, and I got pretty far." "I had money, I could do as I pleased and find the right set of people to make the trip with." "I went pretty much the whole route:" "LSD, pot." "I'd even started experimenting with something stronger." "MAN 1 (outside):" "Come on!" "Move!" "Get that painter back here!" "Do you have to shout like that?" "!" "Can I get you some coffee?" "One night, we thought it would be fun-- a bunch of us-- to come down and see the prophet." "I know how it happened." "I was about to the point where I was climbing the walls." "And sitting there... seeing Brother Avery... it was a revelation." "I just couldn't take it." "When I came out of it in the hospital room, he was there." "Since then..." "he's given me beauty... and faith... and a reason for living." "All that couldn't be a hoax." "What if it is?" "What if it's a hoax?" "What if he's really putting you on?" "Send you back emptier than you were before." "Isn't that what you're afraid of?" "You still haven't kicked any habit." "You're still hanging in there." "You're using this whole thing as another trip." "(sobbing)" "You just keep right on crying." "Because there's a lot of dirt in this world, baby." "Now, either you dig down and find enough character to face it or you cop out." "It doesn't make sense." "Why is just this seat scorched just around here and nowhere else?" "Let's get back, huh?" "CLAIR:" "That was when you joined the ministry in Norfolk, wasn't it?" "Yes, of course." "I-I thought, well, I..." "I mean, I somehow had the impression you... you once said it was Newport." "No." "All these questions, Sister?" "Places, dates..." "It's just that... every detail in your life has a meaning for me." "I'm sorry." "You need your rest now." "(phone rings)" "Yes?" "BROTHER AVERY:" "Oh, yes." "Yes." "(loud bang)" "Sister Clair?" "My child, my child." "After all your experience with us, did you really think" "I was not blessed with spiritual insight?" "Come in, Sister." "Come in, my child." "Please proceed, Brothers." "You must forgive me, Mr. Shay, but I'm afraid we'll have to postpone the interview." "Yes, sir." "Good night, sir." "Good night." "Would you harm us, child?" "After the love we've offered, would you connive with the enemies of our faith?" "BROTHER AVERY:" "Electro-pulsating hospital units." "To assist cardiac recovery." "Your heart." "Has been considerably weakened, yes." "Something we've tried desperately to keep from the press." "(knocking)" "Yes?" "Gone, sir." "Sister Clair, would you please bring Mr. Victor to see me so that I may reassure him of these mysterious tubes of his?" "You have a rendezvous with him, I suppose?" "Yes, I'm supposed to meet him in his room at the Granada Hotel." "Bring him here." "Use Shay." "And Sister Clair?" "Are the tubes still powered?" "BROTHER JAMES:" "Yes, sir." "Very well." "Sister will have a heart attack." "No." "No!" "No!" "No!" "(knocking)" "Hi." "How did you know where to find me?" "Oh, Sister Clair called and said she couldn't make it." "She didn't have the strength anyway tonight." "She did sound a bit used up." "What have you been doing to our little saint?" "Did you get the film?" "I got it." "Well, hallelujah." "Let's go." "I've got a guy waiting up to process it." "It's not here." "I stashed it." "Well, let's get it." "This guy's costing me 12 bucks an hour." "How would she know you?" "No quick answer?" "No." "Actually, I have no idea." "I'm going to have to be sure." "No blood." "That's passing strange." "Why do you try, David?" "Why do you waste your life?" "Where is she?" "You know you can't win." "Where?" "Regenerating van." "They're waiting for a call from me... to see that I've got the film." "How do I know she's not dead?" "It's easy enough to prove." "You prove it, we'll make a deal." "Splendid." "Move." "Why would you hide the film in the auditorium?" "I went out that way." "I didn't want to carry it." "We're running short of time." "We'll have to be moving out." "I want to see her." "Clair." "I can't tell you how sorry I am." "It's all right." "I've got the film." "I'll make a deal." "I'll give you three minutes." "11:50-- precisely 11:50-- is that clear?" "Hold it." "I said hold it." "Now you're stalling." "We stand right here until you tell me where it is." "How do I trust you?" "What other recourse do you have?" "Clever, Dad." "Very clever." "After him!" "(gunshot)" "No!" "(clanking)" "Proceed." "Move it out of here as quick as you can." "You understand?" "(truck engine starting)" "(knocking)" "Come in." "I thought you were to stay in bed." "Nonsense." "Besides, there's nothing wrong with me that a good paddling wouldn't cure." "No luck?" "No luck." "Well, what did they think?" "That the whole thing was a result of acid stomach?" "I think they'd prefer even that." "David, I'm..." "I'm really terribly sorry." "The consensus of opinion has it that, uh... he was a humbug magician with powers greater than Blackstone." "And the electronic bag of tricks got out of hand and burned him up." "They say they'll know more about it when they find Shay." "Shay?" "But didn't you tell them?" "No." "That kind of statement could get me locked up... permanently." "Well, I'll tell them." "I'll help you." "Sure." "You know, I was told once that, uh, people had to work at things... and face them." "Or cop out." "And what sort of guy would cop out?" "Bless you, Sister Clair." "NARRATOR:" "A man and a woman-- two alone in the world-- to resist a multitude... a mighty host." "Two who will move on their separate ways-- watching, waiting, fighting the invaders from the sky."