"(man) The Earth." "Tumbling grain of sand in the darkness of unending space." "Plays host to a strange and awful guest." "Unsought." "Uninvited." "Possessor of fearsome power." "Purveyor of dark deed." "A relentless traveller on the road to its mysterious goal." "That's it, Adam." "Second floor, apartment 17." " Is Minns in there?" " No, but it's his place." "All set?" "Yeah." "Put Hensel on the roof and Dormley on the other building." "A couple of guys across the street, and two men on the corners." "That's about it." "This is Adam Ballard, Assistant Secretary of Science." " (agent) Mr Ballard." " Where's Linett?" "(agent) One flight up." "I want one man covering the stairs, and two of you on the door." "After he gets inside, you're to avoid looking at him." " Nobody's to look directly at him." " Yes, sir." "The whole building's been sealed off." "The block has been sealed off." "The lieutenant is probably the smartest man you will ever come up against." "Brilliant." "He has extraordinary abilities." "He's pleasant, genial, agreeable, unstoppable, and as far as we know, deadly." "Unstoppable until now, that is." "Now we're gonna stop him if we have to kill him." " All right, Granger?" " All right, sir." " Have your men searched this place?" " Yes." " How about this phone?" " We're tapping it." "(Adam sighs)" " What is it?" " I don 't know." " Your hand's shaking." " I'm scared to death." "(man) There is nothing wrong with your television set." "Do not attempt to adjust the picture." "We are controlling transmission." "For the next hour, we will control all you see and hear." "You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to..." "The Outer Limits." " (Adam) You didn 't use your key?" " No." "Did you know the door was unlocked, or that we were in here?" "Both." "This is Ray Harris, Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Security." "How do you do, Mr Harris?" "It must be your men staking me out." "Are they that conspicuous?" "You knew that and walked in anyway?" "You tried to contain me once." "Didn 't work." "Our weapons are pitiful against you, aren 't they?" " I didn 't mean it that way." " I did." "You smile at me and I get a chill." "You smile with a piece of your mind that isn 't yours." "You'll lie, cheat and steal that way if you have to." "You said we can 't contain you." "Well, I believe you." " You can do almost anything you want to do." " No." "Anything I must do, Mr Ballard." "But what is it you must do?" "What do you want with me?" "What laws have I broken?" "You said you didn 't know Hadley or Conover or Renaldo." "You had no interest in them, and no compulsion about them." "Yes, I did." "Within three weeks you sent them bank drafts totalling 400,000 dollars." "That's quite a gift to people you don 't know." " I knew they needed it." " What for?" "To make whatever they had to make?" "Buy whatever they had to buy?" "Or create whatever they had to create?" "The components." "The elements for a spaceship." " What's it for?" " I don 't know." " Does it matter that it may be heinous?" " Yes, it matters." " There's nothing I can do about it." " You can fight it!" "Not any more than you can fight me." " Let's see if I can fight you." "Let's go!" " Where?" " Washington." " What for?" "To study you." "To brainwash you." "To stop this project." "You're mortal, Lieutenant." "If a bullet shatters your heart, you die!" "Yes." "If it does." "This project as you call it, Mr Ballard won 't die." "Minns..." "Don 't turn!" "And don 't look at us." "Harris will fire if you move or try to face us." "If he fires, two guards outside the door have been instructed to break through and fire without asking questions." "I don 't want anyone to get hurt." "Fine, then we'll all go together as planned." "I can 't." "Minns!" "I said I don 't want anyone hurt." "It isn 't that I'd hurt anyone." " I don 't want an accident." " One step, I shoot." "(gunshots)" "Six bullets fired at point-blank range missed." "Took an elevator to the lower level, out through the servants' entrance, to the garage under the building and drove away." " And nobody stopped him." " Not for lack of trying." "My men couldn 't stop him." "They couldn 't touch him, they said." " I don 't understand that." " Neither do we." "The lieutenant ignored them, just as he ignored us." " They fired after him, he drove on." " Fired?" "At what distance?" "Less than 15 feet." "There was no way those bullets could miss Lieutenant Minns." "But they did." "(Adam) This is Lieutenant Phillip J. Minns." "That's his encephalograph." "Sergeant James Conover." "He was flown to Washington last February 13 for surgery, from the same war front." "That's his dual brain wave pattern." "Next, Private First Class Francis Hadley." "February 26." "Same bit." "Everything the same." "April 10." "A month ago." "Private Robert Renaldo." "Those four men are medical miracles." "They had bullets in their brains." "They should have died, and didn 't." "When the bullets were removed, another brain, an intelligence, got in and took over." "And I mean intelligence." "Three of these men developed IQs over 200." "They haven 't done anything illegal, have they?" "If we have to wait for them to do what they're being forced to do, it may be too late." "(Adam) Mr Secretary, I'll be blunt about it." "I think we've been invaded." "This whole world has been invaded." "These four men have been given enormous intellectual resources." "And they have responded with fantastic accomplishments." "Far beyond our greatest scientific conceptions." "I'm not pleading for your time, Mr Branch." "Just reporting." "We've got one small lead." "Minns is up to something in St Louis." "Harris is looking at some notes from his apartment." "We believe that the starship will be assembled in Wichita." "Hello, compadre" "Compadre?" ""Brothers under the skin," no?" "Or is it "freaks under the skull"?" " You're the metallurgist?" " Yeah." "And you?" "Physicist." " How many are we?" " Four." "You, me, Hadley." "This is his place." "He's the biochemist." "And Minns." "Lieutenant Minns." "The financial wizard." "How'd you know that?" "A guy named Adam Ballard looked me up in Tokyo." " He's the assistant to the Secretary of Science." " And he told you?" "Well, I found out from him, anyway." "With the lieutenant, I checked who put 90,000 bucks in the Bank of Tokyo for me." "I saw your stuff outside." "Oh, yeah." "The crates." "What is that thing?" "(whirring)" "See that screwdriver?" "Pick it up." "Throw it at me." "Now go on, toss it to me." "(high - pitched sound)" "Pick it up." "Throw it again, harder." "A force field." "A magnetic force field." "I named it "Renaldo's Barrier"." "You could set off a bomb, it wouldn 't get through." " Where does it end?" " I just set it for around me." " An A-bomb couldn 't get through it, huh?" " Any kind of bomb." "Any kind of bullet, knife or anything." "It's impassable." "Period. (snaps fingers)" "Ask the lieutenant when he gets here." "Isent him a model." "I made it in eight days." "Of course, I used some of the principles of the anti-gravity device." "Isn 't that... marvellous?" "Isn 't that a tremendous achievement?" "Why'd you make it?" "Why?" "Because something told me to and I couldn 't stop myself." "Because somebody needed it." "The lieutenant." "For our project, maybe." "Whatever that is." "To safeguard us." "To anticipate trouble." "To fit it into a jigsaw puzzle that nobody understands." "Have you been doing anything lately, besides working on this project?" "Has Hadley?" "Has Minns?" "We're a bunch of freaks, aren 't we?" "Yeah, I guess we are a bunch of freaks." "And that visitor we got up here..." "that makes us so smart." "Makes us!" "Forces us!" "I hate that." "Oh, I hate to be forced." "I was a private." "I hated PFCs." "Is it the same with you, Conover?" "Despite everything." "Is there something there for you?" "That anti-gravity thing, I made out of nothing." "And this." "It's like having a woman you love..." "It's different with you?" "Huh?" "Hadley's designing the atmosphere." "You created the drive, and I made the parts." "Without knowing why, I made that alloy strong enough to withstand any kind of heat or cold." "I made it lightweight." "Rivetless." "It's a spaceship." "But what for, Renaldo?" "What's the purpose?" "It could be for something terrible, couldn 't it?" " Yeah, I guess it could be." " Yeah, well, that's what it is for me." "That I might be responsible, even if something is forcing me." "I see terrible things, Renaldo." "Isee children who are tortured and retarded." "And..." "I see despair, and rage and fear." "I see grotesque shapes." "Terror." "I'm sorry." "It's pretty fanciful, isn 't it?" "The items are cryptic, but we've made some progress." " That first one, "4th at Eden"..." " An address." "No." "Took us a while to read that one out." "Eden 's not a street or a boulevard." "At least not in the section of St Louis the lieutenant is interested in." " "Eden" is a theatre." " A theatre?" " And "4th"?" " A date." " What kind of date?" " Calendar date." "Like Fourth of July." "And appointment date." "The Fourth of July, say, at Eden Theatre." "Anyway, that's our conclusion." ""Minerva G H-O-S-P"." "Well, that was an easy one." "Obviously a hospital." "We're still checking them out." "Theatre?" "Hospital?" ""At Parkville, after two." Well, that's a school." ""Two" could be time of day." ""John S, 62 Lar."" "A John Subiron lives at 6240 Larchmont Avenue." "That's pretty close to the same neighbourhood." "Any questions?" "Thanks, Ray." "Good job." "Nothing any other interpretive genius couldn 't have done in twice the time." " Your father home?" " No." " Mother?" " No." " Where is she?" " Shopping." " May I come in and wait for her?" " No." "I don 't have a father." "He died." "I'm sorry." " Why can 't I come in and wait for her?" " I'm not allowed to let anybody in." "There she is, anyway." " Mrs Subiron?" " Yes?" "My name's Ballard." "I'd like talk to you about John." "What for?" "Hey, are you the one he calls Lieutenant?" "He's not the lieutenant." "Well, I'm sorry." "I don 't have time to talk now." " Who is the lieutenant?" " Well, that kid's got a great imagination." " Somebody he invented." " Invented, Mrs Subiron?" "Isn 't that a kick?" "I'm too progressive to threaten him with the boogie man," " so he invents one to threaten me with." " Mrs Subiron." "Oh." "I don 't know what you're selling." "You'll have to come back another time." "And there is no lieutenant." "Other than in Johnny's imagination." "Excuse me." "Miss Spenser said Minerva was leaning out of the window looking and talking to him." "But of course that's impossible." " You talked to the man, didn 't you?" " To the lieutenant." "How did you know he was a lieutenant?" " She doesn 't even know what a lieutenant is." " She knew this lieutenant." "Miss Spenser says he wasn 't even wearing a uniform." "You just knew he was there, Minerva?" "Just knew he was on the street outside?" " He didn 't talk to you?" " Not out loud." "But he was there." "He heard me." " What did you say to him?" " I said, "Yes, Lieutenant."" ""I wanna go wherever you go." "I want to."" " Daniel Newton Masters?" " That could be Danny Masters." "Has he been placed in foster homes several times?" "Four times, Mr Minns." "He's with the Lawsons now." "A very nice couple." "Perhaps this will be the charm." "He's a very sensitive boy." " How long has he been with them?" " Well, let's see." "Three weeks now." "Danny's a very nice-looking boy." "I guess that's why he's had so many chances." "It's nice of you to take an interest in one of our older children, Mr Minns." "It isn 't always easy to find homes for our eight-year-olds." "Especially one who's a deaf mute." "Mm." "Well, thank you, Miss Steen." "Perhaps you'd be interested in one of our other children." "No, I'm sorry." "It was Danny Masters." "His fourth home." "It must be terrible when you find out you're not wanted." "Danny?" "Danny Masters?" "Don 't they love you, Danny?" "Are they just like the others?" "I'm a lieutenant, Danny." "Wanna come with me?" " Did you see a ball come by?" " When?" " Just right now." " The lieutenant took it." " Who?" " The lieutenant." "Who's the lieutenant?" " Is this it?" " You think you'd get away with that?" " Lieutenant?" " You know him?" "I never saw him." "He's that made-up friend of that deaf and dumb kid," " who doesn 't come around any more." " That's right." " Where is the boy?" " I don 't know." " Well, what's his name?" "Who is he?" " Who knows?" " At it, aren 't they?" " Yes." " How far have they got?" " They're almost finished." "At least with the shell." "Now they're working on the insides." " Busy, busy." " You too." " You put security on a few places in St Louis." " A few?" "Hospitals, playgrounds, Johnny's house." "Johnny Subiron." "A dozen men on each, around the clock." "That's Hadley." "He's picked up the anti-gravity device." "They've got it all there now." "All except the lieutenant and the kids." "Let's move in on them, Ray." "Let's move in on them right now, with whatever we've got." "(sighs)" "We'll never have a better time." "It could be bloody." "What do they want with children?" " Harris." " Yeah." "Renaldo." "It's OK." "No one's going to get hurt." "Coming along, isn 't it?" "Hadley's here now." "He can mix his gases and rare herbs and put in his air ducts." "What'd you bring, Hadley?" "The anti-gravity drive?" " No more fight in you?" " Given up fighting." "You haven 't even found out why you're building this ship." "Well, I found out, Conover." "You should be proud of such a noble undertaking." " What do you mean?" " Kidnapping." "That's its purpose." "But there's no ransom with these kids." "Their folks can 't buy 'em back." "It's a one-way trip to some horror some alien monster's got planned for 'em." "And you're picking the best." "A little blind girl." "A deaf and dumb boy." "The helpless ones." "All right, knock it off!" " I don 't believe him." " (Adam) Don 't you?" "You mean you haven 't gotten any instructions about it?" "No feelings?" "No messages?" "You have to wait for the lieutenant to break the news?" "If he knows." "Well, maybe he doesn 't." "Maybe there's things you'll never get to know." "Mr Ballard..." "I don 't believe you either." "But if it's true..." "Even if it's true, we can 't do anything about it." "We can 't stop what we're doing." "We can 't help ourselves." "We aren 't aware from one second to the next what we're going to do." "Don 't you understand?" "We can 't stop ourselves." "Stand back." "You don 't have to get hurt." "(Adam) What is it, Renaldo?" "Some kind of force field?" "(snaps fingers) Right." "And it's impregnable." " Lieutenant Minns had one, remember?" " Ray?" "(Renaldo) Even an H-bomb." "Nothing can get in!" "There is no way to stop the project!" "Yes, lieutenant." "Oh, yes, lieutenant." "Hi, lieutenant." "Hi, Minerva." "All right if I call you Minerva?" "Oh, that's fine." "'Cause everybody calls me Minnie." "Just a second." "Who are you?" " Where do you think you're?" " (buzzing)" "Hello." "We'll go out the service way, just to avoid trouble." " Will you see we're not disturbed?" " Yes, sir." " Lieutenant?" " Hm?" "Can I see what you look like?" "Lieutenant, you're crying." " What makes you such a smarty pants?" " But what are you crying for?" "Johnny?" "That means they've got about 200 miles of driving ahead of them." "Set up roadblocks." "Take all precautionary measures." "Get your other men in and surround the factory." " On their way?" " Yeah." "God help us." "Spread out over in there." "No sweat." "Get's you, compadre?" "I've got terrible fears, Renaldo." " Oh, that Ballard?" " No, no." "Before he said anything." "That's what makes it mean something to me." "I saw it all a long time ago." "Desperation, fear..." "The hunger, the children." "Better take it like Hadley." "Right, Hadley?" "No sweat." " Can we change it, Renaldo?" " Nope." "We're ready for that now." "They're almost here." "Lieutenant Minns." "The children." "(car phone ringing)" "Hello, Ballard speaking." "When?" "What's that, about ten miles from here?" "No, Captain, there's no way we can prevent that wagon going right through your roadblocks." "They've gone through five of them this side of St Louis." "It's a force shield." "A barrier." "And it's impenetrable." "It surrounds the car." "Well, keep me informed about their progress." "(car phone ringing)" "Yes, Granger?" "They're here?" "Yes?" "Tell your men to hold their fire." "They're coming in the back way." "(Adam) All there, Lieutenant?" "I see Minerva G. A blind little girl." "And Daniel Masters, the boy who can 't hear or speak." "And Johnny." "Do you always believe the worst, Ballard?" "How can you live in a world without faith?" "What have you promised those kids, Minns?" "A long trip." "A trip in a starship." "It used to be candy, or a ride in a car." ""Your mother's sick." "Get in and I'll drive you home."" " Progress, Ballard." " That's right." "Hypnosis." "The big promise." "The big lie." "And fantastic scientific achievements." "An anti-gravity machine." "A force field." "Conover?" "Renaldo?" "Don 't try anything foolish, Ballard." "There's plenty of room inside." "I'm going to close this entrance panel because the air-conditioning will be on." "And help each other." "Learn to help each other." "(door slams shut)" "(Adam) I hope you rot, Minns!" "All of you!" "I don 't care that you couldn 't stop what you did!" "You could've taken your own lives without harming those helpless little ones!" "When do they go?" "Who of you geniuses goes too?" "What's in store for them?" "Do you know?" "Why'd you pick on those particular ones?" " Why the helpless ones?" " I don 't know why, Ballard." "What's gonna happen to them?" "They're so innocent and so trusting." "What do you want them for?" "What sacrifices?" "For what purpose?" "Now, let them go." "Please let them go!" " I can 't stand it any more." " What do you mean?" "I gotta stop it." "I must try to stop it!" "Even if I've gotta try to stop myself." " You don 't know what you're saying." " He knows what he's saying." "He's been saying it all along." "He is scared." "He's scared to death that what he's doing is evil." " It isn 't evil." " (Adam) Isn 't it?" "The proof is right here." "Right now." "How do you explain away these kids?" "Conover, I give you my word." "No hurt." "No harm." "We've never hurt or harmed anyone." "I beg your pardon." "What does your word mean?" "I had to do some lying, cheating, even stealing to get some roots and herbs I needed." "I had no compunction about it." "Buying this place, the owner tried to renege on the deal." "I would have forced him to kill himself." "Make no mistake." "If he hadn 't signed that bill of sale, he would be dead." "Not that I wanted it." "But this project did." "Does that make it right?" "Minns, do you think what you did was right?" "No doubts in you at all?" "Well, Conover's got doubts." "Maybe "Charlie" up here isn 't the same in each of us?" "He's the same." "Only he doesn 't interfere with our own minds or consciences unless we threaten the project." "That's why this whole conversation is academic." "It's not gonna change anything one way or another." "Of course it isn 't." "Because the Lieutenant is different." "Because he's the guiding spirit behind this whole plot." "It's his doing." "He's the master hand." "If he needs to lie to you, he will." "But Conover, you were saying that the project won 't let you defect." "All right, then, let me." "Renaldo." "This barrier, turn it off." "We'll do the rest." "Turn it off, Renaldo." "Turn it off!" "It's all a cheat, anyway." "(scoffs) "No hurt." "No harm."" "Unless the project is threatened." "What do they want, a sample of humanity?" "Something to experiment with?" "Lieutenant, what happens when it's all over?" "Does "Charlie" go away?" "What are we left with?" "What we had before?" "We'll stop it." "We'll make it wait, anyway." "We'll get the best scientific people on Earth to find an answer." "Turn the knob." "Take away this barrier!" "(Minns) Renaldo!" "No!" "You would try anything now." "You'd say anything." "Wait... a moment." "We've come to a crossroads." "I..." "I must tell you." "As I speak now, the words are forming in my head." "I don 't know." "I really don 't know what I'm about to say, except I have a feeling about it." "That I must repeat the words that come without my knowledge." "All three of you men will go with the children." "Of your own free will." "Think back, Ballard." "This project has been brought to this point without hurt or harm." "Actually, really, no one was hurt or harmed." "And those children in there..." "They're not the helpless, Ballard." "They're the hopeless." "The unloved." "The crippled and blind and despairing." "The ones who all their short lives never had anything." "Never lived like we did." "Never were whole." "Never had dreams." "Never had someone to love." "There's a world far out in space." "Billions and billions of miles away." "A world filled with wonderful things and wonderful beings." "They look much like we do." "They overcame disease and poverty and want and need." "And their life span came to more than 900 years." "That's interesting, isn 't it?" "Remember your Bible?" "And then, not long ago, a blight came to this world." "A terrible blight." "They found themselves suddenly unable to procreate." "They could have no children." "And so in desperation they devised a way to start over again." "With new children." "And they sent out into the void of outer space hundreds and thousands of meteors filled with their own RNA factor, the hereditary factor in the genes and chromosomes, in the hope that somewhere in space, one of their meteors would land on a planet like ours." "A course would follow, much like this course has followed with us." "But no harm was or is intended." "They wanted no one to be hurt." "That's why these children were chosen, Ballard." "The hopeless ones." "The ones who never had anything on this Earth." "Well, they will inherit a bright, new world of wonder and greatness." " Even if I believed you..." " I've never lied to you." "The hopeless ones?" "The crippled?" "Not Johnny Subiron." "There's nothing wrong with him." " You should have asked his mother." " Why?" "Did you see him out playing?" "No?" "He had to stay in the house." "He has a blood disease." "The doctors said less than a year to live." "We can 't let you take away those kids without trying to stop you in every way we can." "Even if what you say is true." "Then, Mr Ballard... go in and get them." "Take them home." "Come on, Ballard." "Mr Harris, too." "You can come through the barrier." "Go on, Mr Ballard." "Is the?" "Is the lieutenant still here?" "Look what my hands look like." "Lieutenant?" "(mouths)" "Look!" "What is it?" "What's happened to them?" "The atmosphere in there..." "It's just like on the planet." "Well, they're whole." "They're healthy and sound." "Johnny, too?" "Well, Ballard?" "How can we say yes?" "It's not up to us." "We can 't." " If you take them out, they'll revert." " Crippled again?" "Blind again?" "(Danny) Lieutenant?" "Lieutenant?" " Is everything all right, Danny?" " Yes." " You go with them, Minns?" " Yes, I go." "Conover?" "Renaldo?" "Hadley?" "(man) The inheritors are on their way." "In a universe of billions of stars, there are places of love and happiness." "On this Earth, in this spot, magic settled for a moment." "Wonder touched a few lives." "And a few odd pieces fell smoothly into the jigsaw of creation." "English SDH"