"Can't you get them under control?" "Stabilize them." "Ann, refine your locator." "I'm doing the best I can, General." "We're getting an interfering impulse." "We've lost 'em." " [ Men Shouting ] - [ Horses Whinnying ]" "I've got Doug and Tony again." "[ Men Screaming ]" "[ Screaming Continues ]" "Let's try this way." "Oriental." "Sure is." "Mongolian." "Those were Mongols back there." "It's been a long time since I've studied Oriental history, Tony, but... if my memory serves me right... this is the emblem of the great Khans." "Genghis Khan?" "[ Shouting ]" "[ Shouting Continues ]" "[ Narrator ] The Time Tunnel." "Enough!" "My men are sometimes hard." "But these are hard times." "I am a prince of the Mongols... and it pains them when strangers fail to honor me." "You're Genghis Khan?" "Genghis Khan is dead." "The whole world knows that." "I am Batu... grandson and rightful heir." "The mantle of Genghis Khan belongs to me." "But I will do with it what he could not do." "I will conquer the world." "Asia, Europe- All will be crushed with my Mongols." "Your friend is of no importance to you now." "You have much to tell us." "Will it come easy or hard?" "The fort and its defenses- Where can we breach its walls?" "I warn you." "Patience is not one of our virtues." "We're travelers." "We- We come from a distant place." "I don't know anything about a fort." "You disappoint me." "You seem like such an intelligent man." "I couldn't help you if I wanted to." "You're European." "You must be with Marco Polo." "Marco Polo?" "I don't know what you're talking about." "We are not known for our gentle touch." "It would be wise of you to tell us all you know." " [ Groans ]" " Again!" "Thirteenth century." "Latter part." "Eastern China... or Mongolia." "Mongolia in the 1 3th century." "Genghis Khan." "The Golden Horde." "The building of the Mongol Empire." "Get a definite time fix." "Let's see exactly who it is we're dealing with." "[ Groaning ]" "Ann!" "I'm sorry." "I just can't stand to watch what they're doing to him." "Ann, if we're ever gonna get them out of there alive... we can't do it without you." "Our impulse is weakening, and we're losing contact." " We've lost 'em." " [ Sighs ]" " It's all my fault." "I was" " It's no one's fault, Ann." "Our initial fix just wasn't strong enough." "I'll reestablish contact." "A great victory, my lord Batu." "A patrol from the fort was riding for the mountain pass." "We caught them and cut them to pieces." " And the European, he was with them?" " Yes." " Good." " But he escaped with a handful of men." " What?" " They're cut off from the fort." "As good as dead." "You fool!" "Now... your information becomes much more valuable." "[ Gasping ] I" " I don't know anything about any fort." "I swear I don't." "You will tell me the secret of its defense... and it will fall before me like everything else will fall before me!" "It is my heritage!" "Genghis Khan's empire should be mine, and it will be mine!" "Why prolong their agony and your own with false heroics?" "The fort has been under siege for months now." "Their position is hopeless." "We both know that." "Tell me." "Tell me the word, so that it may end quickly." "The fort's weak spot." "Tell me the section of the wall that can be bridged!" "I don't" "[ Groaning ]" "Enough!" "You've got the touch of a blacksmith." "Now it'll be hours before he can talk." "Maybe never." "You, stay here." "You, come with me." "Tony." "Tony!" "Make no sound." "You're not Mongol." " Who are you?" " We're travelers." " Travelers?" " Yes, we were captured." "And escaped from Batu's camp?" "Yes, if that's what his name is." "If that has happened, then all things are truly possible." "The Mongols are probably tracking them at this very moment." "Go." "You look at the other trail." "The emperor Kublai Khan has an outpost fort across the plain." "I command there." "I am Marco Polo of Venice." "Why do you look at me so strange?" "Do I seem so odd?" "No." "No, it's just that, uh... your fame has preceded you." "Fame?" "Me?" "Why, yes." "The wonders of the Orient you brought back to Europe." "Why, you're famous the world over." "I have not been back to Europe... since I began traveling through the Orient 1 2 years ago." "Who are you?" "Well, we're just travelers, the same as you." "And how do you know so much about me?" "I was assuming." "I meet a man from Venice in the service of the Kublai Khan... the first European to explore the Orient." "Why, it's only natural for me to assume that... the whole world knows who you are." "[ Chuckles ] You have style." "But your words come too smoothly and too swift to be true." "Well, you're a traveler." "You must know that the truth is sometimes very hard to explain." " And sometimes, even harder to accept." " [ Chuckles ]" "But there is one truth that you can accept, Marco Polo... and that is that we are your friends." "Yes, you do have style... and that's one thing a Venetian can appreciate." "Mongols are coming, following their trail." " Can your friend travel?" " Yes, I'll see to it." "I think not." " It's a pity your journey must end here." " Wait." "You can't leave us here." "You friend cannot travel quickly enough." " Will you leave him?" " No." "I thought not." "Loyalty is a luxury, a luxury I cannot afford at this moment." "Well done." "I didn't appreciate being hung out for bait like that." "Let's not quarrel over a successful maneuver." "There are enough unsuccessful ones to stew over." "Besides, now we have horses for your friend." "We can get him back to the safety of the fort." "Memories of the rack linger." "I am afraid the pain will linger also." "You still haven't told me who you are." "Sarit." "There must be more to it than that." "Sarit doesn't seem to be enough for a girl as beautiful as you." "Well, wait." "Don't go." "I'm still a sick man, you know." "I think you are now well on the road to recovery." "Yeah." " Well, how are you feeling?" " All right." "A little stretched." "Having a nice convalescence." "Yes." "She is very beautiful, isn't she?" "Yeah, very." "You sent for me, my lord Batu?" "Marco Polo and the others are safely back inside the walls of the fort by now." "We did everything we could." "We searched the countryside." "I did not call you here for excuses, Ambahai." "[ Chuckles ] The fort has been too strong for us to take." "But I have found a way to increase our power tenfold." " Princess Sarit." " But, my lord" "With Kublai Khan's daughter in my power, I can force a marriage... make my claim that much more secure." "Then all the Mongol tribesmen will join behind me in a full-scale war... and Genghis Khan's empire will truly be mine!" "But she is safely within the walls of the fort." "And you will bring her here to me." "But, my lord, the walls will be guarded." "Heavily guarded." "We have been trying to breach those walls for months." "There is a time for force and a time for cunning." "I make a very impatient bridegroom." "A thousand campfires and as many Mongols set to breach these walls." "Well, your defenses seem strong enough, and they've held so far." "Yes." "But with a Mongol, it's always something new... something unexpected." "Wait, please." "There is so much I have to tell you." "Gentlemen." "I'd say we could use some privacy." "Wouldn't you?" "Tony, what do you say you forget about this little walk in the moonlight?" "[ Chuckles ] Since when did you start doubling as scoutmaster?" "Look, I know Sarit is a beautiful girl, but stop and think where we are." "We're right in the middle of nowhere, and a thing like this can get out of hand." " Doug, man, you're way off base." " Why don't you face it?" " You're getting involved." "Can't you see the signs?" " So, what of it?" "Am I supposed to stop living because I'm in the 1 3th century?" " Look, I'm not trying to tell you how to live" " Well, then don't." "You're wise in seeing the danger." "They're from different worlds." "Nothing could ever come of it." "Yes." "They certainly are from different worlds." "Marco... would you be shocked to learn that Tony and I are from another world?" "[ Chuckles ] No." "I'm not ridden by superstition like my Venetian colleagues." "I have seen too much... traveled too far." "I mean, from the world of another time- the past or future." """Time." Who knows what time is?" "Even Aristotle was puzzled by its nature." "You are here." "I can touch you." "You're in my time." "And you mean that my friend and Sarit, even though they are from different times... might fall in love?" "Can they not touch each other?" "Well, at least we have the year." " 1 287." " 1 287." "Now, if we could only get exact location coordinates." "Didn't the computers have anything?" "No." "No exact location." "Marco Polo was in the service of Kublai Khan for over a dozen years... service ranging all over China and Mongolia." "It was to have been a secret." "But somehow, Batu learned her true identity." "It is not merely a girl called Sarit who has been taken." " She is the Princess Sarit." " Princess?" "Daughter of Kublai Khan." "I was escorting the princess to Venice to study the ways of Europe." "Our caravans got as far as this fort." "We could get no farther." "A single man might be able to get in and out of Batu's camp just as they got in here." " I'll need Mongol clothes." " For two." "[ Sighs ]" "This was to be your first return trip to Europe?" "Yes." "Carrying goods back that you've gathered here... including a certain black powder." " How did you know that?" " Exploding powder, isn't it?" "No." " But you said this is your first trip." " Yes, it is." "Well, then you must have the powder." "I know you have it." "What if I do?" "Well, I could use that powder to help get Sarit back." " Use it?" "How?" " As a weapon." "The noise and smoke as a diversion." " A weapon?" " Yes." "It might make the difference between saving and losing her." "I'll get you the Mongol clothes... and the black powder." "There's still time for you to head back to the fort, if you want." "I thought we came out here to do a job." "I came out to do it." "I have a personal interest here." "Just how personal?" "It could be that I've found something here that interests me." "It could be that you're just trying to talk yourself into something." "Maybe." "Maybe not." "All I know is, for the first time, I've been thinking... that it wouldn't be the worst thing that ever happened... if I didn't get back to the Time Tunnel." "They must've really stretched you out of shape back there on that torture rack." "I can think of a lot of things worse than spending the rest of my life here." "That's dream talk, Tony." "What you need is something to shake you back into reality." "Now, remember that everything that we're going through- everything that's happening to us here and now- it's all in the past." "Sarit, Marco Polo, Batu" "They're all dead... and they've been dead for 7 00 years." "No, you're wrong, Doug." "Our present is here and now." "It's always been here and now." "You're wrong." "Now, look, Sarit does not exist for us." "Our reality is 1 968." "Our real existence is back in the present of the Time Tunnel Complex." "And what if it's not?" "What's to stop me if I were to make my existence here and now?" "Even then, you and Sarit wouldn't have a chance together." " Why?" " You're from different worlds, different times." "Eventually, all this nonsense would wear out... and you'd realize that you had both settled for a whole lot of nothing." "Can it be that Tony's really falling in love?" "[ Scoffs ] Impossible." "A pretty girl, a dangerous situation." "Just a romantic impulse." "We're losing our fix again." " They're fading." " We've lost them." "You know, I think he really is falling in love." "Get that fix back." "We're gonna try to transfer them." "Maybe we shouldn't." "Well, I mean, if he's" "If he's found someone that he could be happy with" "I mean, you know, really happy with- maybe we don't have any right to take him away." "Now, you must eat first, my princess." "It would not look right for my intended bride... to be all bones pressing on flesh." "I would lose honor amongst my tribesmen." "What would they say..." "if they thought I ate well and you did not?" "Huh?" "One must have honor before it can be lost!" "[ Laughs ] I approve!" "I approve." "You have spirit." "I like it." "A Mongol chieftain's bride-to-be should have spirit." "[ Shouts ] Yes, some spirit." "Some." "Some, but not too much, ah?" "[ Laughing ]" "Ah!" "[ Shouts ]" "[ Laughing ]" "After her!" "Bring her back!" "I knew you would come for me." "I knew, and I was not afraid." "Any objections?" "And if I did have, would it, uh, make any difference?" "No." "This will not be the first time a friendship has been broken over a pretty girl." "No." "But it would be the first time that it was over a girl that neither man could win." " Well?" " We could not catch them." "The princess is back inside the fort." "You blundering fool!" "She is the key to my joining all the tribes of Mongolia... into one unbeatable fighting force!" "I have dreamed too long of regaining all the empire that should be mine... and dreams of conquest do not die so easily." "I have a destiny to fulfill, and it will be done." "I'll have that girl back... and I'll destroy that fort as well." "Go." "Go, and send riders out." "Tell them to gather all Mongol warriors... who will fight with Batu and share in his plunder." "Go!" "The time gradient is coming in stronger now." "There." "We're making contact again." " Mongolian horsemen." " Thousands of them." " Ray, how strong is your fix this time?" " Quite strong." "Strong enough to send some artillery back to that fort?" " Send back cannons?" " Precisely." "Cannons and shells." "No." "You're talking about transporting several tons of equipment, General." "No, the Tunnel could never handle that." "Well,just some mortars." "Enough shells to break up that attack." "A thousand pounds at the most." "I still don't think we could handle it." "Ray, that fort-Tony and Doug don't stand a chance without help." "We're gonna try our best to give it to them." "They've been gathering for hours." "How long do you think before they'll attack?" "Almost anytime now." "And I'd say the advantage is all theirs." "Now, Ray!" "Our time-space coordinates must've been way off." "Without artillery support, they don't stand a chance." "Run everything we have through the computers." "We've got to get an exact fix and try to transfer them to safety." "Yes, sir." "[ Knocking ]" "Batu has an army massing outside." " I can see them from my window." " You can't stay here." "I'll talk to Marco Polo." "There must be some way for you to get out." "It pleases me that you worry." "It gives me pleasure to see that you care." " Did you locate them?" " No." "But in his memoirs, Marco Polo mentions a fort he once commanded... in the Mongolian province of Chahar." "Chahar." "Did you get that, Ray?" "Get the proper coordinates and zero in." "No, wait." "Now, to transfer Doug, yes." "But I still say we have no right to try to take Tony away from there." "Well, if he's found happiness, who are we to take him from it?" "Would he want us to?" "Don't be foolish, Ann." "Tony is one of us." "He's from here and now." "That girl is from the 1 3th century." " Nothing would ever come of it." " Are you two so completely certain of that?" "I was uncertain enough to run a few questions on Sarit through the computers." "The information is sketchy, but there are some things known about her." "She was the only daughter of Kublai Khan... and she married a dark-haired, fair-skinned stranger... from a far, distant place in the year 1 287." " They're all dark-haired." " Yes." "But are any of them fair-skinned?" "Well, nobody's gonna marry anybody unless we get some help back to that fort." "[ Hoofbeats Galloping ]" "It's Batu... under a flag of truce." "Bring him to my quarters." "I greet you, Marco Polo." "In peace?" "Or in war?" "In peace." "It gives me great sadness that so many brave men will die this day." " A sadness matched by my own." " Then let us avoid this bloodshed." "I pledge the safety of every man in this fort... on one condition." "Sarit, you hold a thousand lives in your hand." "No." "We can beat them off." "We'll fight." "Do you take orders from homeless strangers?" "I take orders from Kublai Khan and my conscience." "And does your conscience say that all your men must die when they can all live?" " If you give her up" " You lie!" "You'll try to kill us either way." "Will you swear that no one will be harmed?" " I give you my oath." " Yes, but will you keep it?" "What of the oath you made Genghis Khan... and your father and your brothers?" "You broke them when it pleased you." "You'd break this one too." "You're right, Marco." "His only goal is to conquer Asia and Europe and then the rest of the world." "If you refuse me... everyone within these walls will die." "You are refused!" "So be it." "Ready now." "Shoot!" "Arrows will never stop that charge." "And we can't get any help back to them." "Don't you have a transfer fix yet?" "That was an order, Ann." "I want Tony and Doug transferred out of there... and I want them transferred fast." "Yes, General." "The reading coming up is 1 28.3." "Good." "Exact time-and-location gradients are leveling." "Our fix should start coming in strong." "[ Arrows Flying ]" "[ Screaming ]" "[ Shouting ]" "[ Shouting, Screaming ]" "Hold your arrows!" " That could've been worse." " It will be." "It may look like they're retreating, but they're not." "They're only falling back to regroup their forces." "They'll hit again." "And next time, even harder." "I know." "We can't surrender." "We can't retreat." "That leaves only fighting." "Doug." "Back there in the fight- Thanks for, uh, keeping me alive." "If you save a man's life, you're responsible for him." "You have to help him..." " even if it means telling him things he doesn't wanna hear." " You mean about Sarit?" " Yes." "Can't you understand?" " I've been thinking about the Tunnel." "What I'm talking about has nothing to do with the Tunnel." "It's got everything to do with it." "It's not that I changed my mind or don't know what I want." "But the Tunnel, whether I like it or not, can take me out of here at any time." "That's right." "There's nothing you can do about it." "So, if you really care about Sarit... the only honest thing you can do is to say good-bye." "Yeah." "But what of honor?" "And duty?" "I say give him up." "To serve what honor?" "What duty?" "A duty owed your father." "My father." "He thinks only of his armies and his empire." "And so must you." "The daughter of an emperor cannot follow the dictates of her heart." "Why not?" "Let Kublai Khan look to his sons for help." "They will one day have his throne." "And you- You think you can defy your fate?" "Sarit, listen to me." "You are a princess of Cathay." "You are the only daughter of the Kublai Khan." "You have a destiny to fulfill and a duty to your people." "And none to myself?" "I saw your moment of uncertainty... when Batu offered to spare the fort... if you would give yourself to him." "I was thinking of- of my stranger." "And not at all of the other lives in this fort?" "Of them too." "You see, my dear?" "You cannot escape your fate- to think of those whom fate has made your subjects." "The Kublai Khan needs your marriage to someone else for the good of all his people." "You may waver... but no inner feeling can make you forget... who you are or what you must do." "How can you be so sure..." "when I am not?" "You will do what you must." "You all right?" "We might not be able to hold off another assault." "Marco Polo says there is always hope." "Is there always hope?" "No matter what happens... it still has to be good-bye for us." "Yes, you are right." "It still must be good-bye." "I am the daughter of Kublai Khan... and it was wrong of me to have forgotten that, even for so brief a time." "Neither of us should have forgotten." "But we did... and we had our moment." "We'll never repair that wall in time." "We'll just have to double our men there." "Well, it could be worse." "We lost a section of the north wall." "But we still have enough men to make a defense." "Yes, but for how long?" "There's nothing left to do but stand and fight." "Until we're all killed?" "Batu hasn't left us much of a choice." "What if we try to win?" "What if we try to break the back of their charge before they even reach that wall?" "How?" "By magic?" "Yes, of a sorts." "That black powder that you have in your storeroom." "Well, that's harmless." "It's used for fireworks and parades and festivals." "Until you mix this with it." " What's that?" " This turns that black powder into an explosive... strong enough to blow those Mongols right off their horses." "I need all the water jugs that you can find." " What is it?" " This is nitre." "It was scraped from the cellar walls." "Now, where we come from, it's called by a different name." "Potassium nitrate." "And this'll stop the Mongols?" "Dead in their tracks." "One container, one horse and rider?" "Marco, if this is mixed properly... one container will stop as many as 30 or 40 riders." "Impossible." "When I first saw those firecrackers of black powder..." "I was amused when they crackled and popped." "I smiled at the thought of what entertainment they would give my countrymen." "But one container to kill 40 human beings at one time" "Would you prefer that the Mongols killed us?" "No." "I will help you fill the containers myself." "That's fine." "A good, strong fix." "We'll be able to make a transfer in another few minutes." "General, I said we'll soon be able to make a transfer." "Homemade artillery shells." "They're probably gonna try to explode those containers with makeshift fuses." "That'll never do." "They'll misfire and never explode on target." "If there's one thing I hate, it's to see perfectly good hardware wasted." "We've got to send something back to them." "We've got to!" "General, you saw what happened the last time we tried." "Yes, but we gotta send something lighter this time." "Something under a hundred pounds." "Get me Ordnance." "Ordnance?" "General Kirk here." "I want two boxes of percussion igniters... and I want them here in the Time Tunnel Control on the double." "Are the catapults in place?" "Yes." "One small question." "We've got the launchers and the shells." "Now, uh, how do we detonate them?" "With short-burning fuses and a prayer." "Well, it could work." "It's got to work." "Ready, Ann?" "Transfer." "What's the matter?" "They weighed only half as much as the mortar and shells." "Theoretically, they should transmit." "Ann, what are your readings?" "Power and space-time gradient plus over three." "They should've gone." "Technical, on the double!" "Throw the circuit breaker, but don't lose the fix on Tony and Doug." "[ Kirk ] Hold it on the tower.!" "Don't touch it.!" " Clear?" " Clear." "All right, go ahead." "We're operational again." " Circuits in." " Hurry it up." " Ready." " All right." "Send them." "They must have a fix on us, Tony." "They knew exactly what we needed." "It'll work." "[ Whinnies ]" "Now!" "Keep it up." "[ Horses Whinnying ]" "We're going to finish this day here and now!" "[ Shouting ]" "Now, Ann." "Transfer." "What's the trouble?" "Feedback- a bad one." "They're frozen in time." "If we don't get them moving within a few seconds, they'll be burned to death." " Can you send them back to where they were?" " Well, we can try it." " Reverse" " No!" "Ah, yes.Just as I expected." "Toys." "Mere toys." "Yes." "Simple." "Predictably simple." "[ Chuckles ]" "Such a to-do about a commonplace bit of magic." "Hear me, you travelers in time." "It is I, Merlin, mightiest of all wizards, who commands you." "At a sign from me, you will leave the limbo of time... and appear in this place before me." "Yes." "Welcome, gentlemen." "Welcome... home."