"You're traveling through another dimension- a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind, a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination." "Your next stop, the twilight zone." "Mr. Chambers?" "Mr. Chambers?" "It is the mealtime." "Kindly state your preference, please." "Mr. Chambers?" "It is the mealtime." "Kindly state your preference." "Please deposit cigarettes in appropriate receptacle." "This is a safety measure." "Why don't you take a flying jump at the moon?" "Kindly repeat request." "Aw, knock it off, leave me alone." "You do not care for food at this time?" "Yes, i do not care for food at this time." "Very well." "Very well... very, very well." "Please conserve water." "What time is it?" "There is no time in space." "This is to say there is no chronology that can be calibrated." "I said what time is it, what time is it on earth?" "Can you tell me that without an exercise in euclidean geometry?" "Now, just tell me what time it is on earth." "On earth it would be 12:00 noon." "12:00 noon, 12:00 noon." "This is the way nightmares begin... or, perhaps, end." "Very simple, direct, unadorned." "Incredible, and yet so terribly real that even while they're happening we live with them and digest them and assimilate them." "And if it's 12:00 noon that's what you preoccupy yourself with." "You don't think about 12:00 noon on the next day or the day after that." "But that's what we should have been thinking about- tomorrow and the day after tomorrow." "We were preoccupied with the hands on a clock when we should have been checking off a calendar." "It was an april day, and it was noon then, too." "And people walked and drove and bought and sold and fretted and laughed." "The world went on much as it had been going on with a tentative tiptoeing alongside a precipice of crisis." "There was berlin to worry about and indochina, and algeria and all the other myriad problems, major and minor that somehow had lost their incisive edge of horror because we were so familiar with them." "And then... and that's when it happened." "That's when we first heard that they had come." "That's when we should have prepared ourselves for any eventuality, but we didn't." "Instead, we milled around like frightened farm animals looking for formulas and father images, while the secretary general of the united nations made the first official announcement of the arrival of creatures from outer space." "They called themselves kanamits and announced over the short wave that on that given afternoon, they would arrive on earth." "At 11:00 this morning, eastern standard time the first of these landings took place in an area just outside of newark, new jersey." "Subsequently, we have had reports of other landings in the soviet union, in norway, the southern coast of france just outside of rio de janeiro and several others." "Speaking on behalf of the united nations, i can only tell you that at this moment it would be premature to assume hostile intent on the part of these..." "these kanamits." "And so, it is the position of the united nations that the world population remain calm, to make no hostile move, to keep in mind that all governments are being apprised of the events as they happen and have the situation well in hand." "What do they look like?" "Yeah, whatdo they look like?" "Please, gentlemen, please... who are they, mr." "Secretary general?" "Can't we get a more specific statement?" "We do not know what they look like." "We only know that several of their craft have landed and that they... what's the secret?" "Why can't we have a statement?" "What's going on?" "What's happening here?" "Please, mr." "Secretary general... it appears... it appears that one of the craft has landed just a few blocks away." "That close?" "Does the defense department know...?" "One of their representatives is on his way to this building." "Fantastic!" "Unbelievable!" "Respectfully submitted for your perusal... a kanamit." "A little over nine feet." "In the neighborhood of 350 pounds." "Unknown." "Motives?" "Therein hangs the tale, for in just a moment we're going to ask you to shake hands, figuratively, with a christopher columbus from another galaxy and another time." "This is the twilight zone." "Ladies and gentlemen of the earth, we greet you in peace and friendship." "We come from a planet far beyond this galaxy, a planet far more developed than earth, but we come as friends." "Although we know your language, our own methods of communication are mental rather than verbal." "Hence, the voice you hear me speaking with is totally mechanical." "Our intentions are honorable." "We desire above all things to help the people of earth to establish embassies here, and, in the near future, to set up reciprocal visits between earth people and kanamits." "Perhaps you watched this initial questioning- most people on earth did on television sets, radios, shortwave." "Surely, some of the questions asked by your representatives must have been identical to a few of your own because as a race, we're unaccustomed to charity." "Brutality is a far more universal language to us than an expression of friendship from outer space." "Would you be willing to be interrogated here and at this time?" "There are u.n. Delegates present from most of the important countries and the television cameras are carrying our meeting throughout the world." "I will be glad to." "Senor valdes of argentina is recognized." "Thank you, mr." "Secretary." "Senor, could you please inform us precisely why have you chosen this planet for your visit?" "It has come to our attention that earth has been plagued by both natural and unnatural catastrophes all of which could easily be acted upon and prevented." "We are here to help you." "Recognizing dr." "Denis leveque, the representative of france." "Monsieur, my government wishes me to ask you the nature of your help." "What forms will it take?" "Indeed, if we should prefer not to avail ourselves of the various aids that you mentioned, your reply would be what?" "We will not force anything on you." "You will take only that which you choose to take." "For example, tomorrow we will demonstrate to all interested parties a new and extremely interesting power source which is atomic in nature and which can supply a form of electric power for entire countries for the cost of a few dollars." "It's extremely economical." "Mr. Gregori, the representative of the soviet union, is recognized." "The soviet people would like to ask the kanamits precisely- i repeat that to him- precisely what are your motives in coming here quite uninvited?" "Are we to assume that there is no ulterior motive beyond this vast humanity you speak of?" "There is nothing ulterior in our motives." "Nothing at all." "You will discover this for yourselves before too long simply by testing the various devices which we will make available to you." "We can show you, for example, how to add a certain very cheap nitrate to the soil and end famine on earth for good and all." "We can demonstrate to you quite practically the principles of the force field in which you may cloak each nation with an invisible wall absolutely impenetrable by bombs, missiles, or anything else." "We ask only that you trust us." "Only that you simply trust us." "That was what we all thought." "It was the age of santa claus." "Only these kriss kringles came without white whiskers and rosy cheeks and twinkling eyes." "They were nine-feet tall enigmas who descended on us like locusts." "But nobody was counting or worrying." "Except perhaps a few professionals whose job it was to second guess." "In a sense, i was one of these- a decoding specialist for the united states government, and this is where i got into the act." "Well, chambers, what have you got?" "A corker of a migraine headache and eye strain." "You can't lick it?" "No, not in eight hours, i can't." "Colonel, it took us almost a year to crack the japanese code- we had an army of men working on that." "But this is a language of people from outer space, probably 500 times as intelligent as we are and a thousand times more complex." "You need more help?" "All donations gratefully accepted." "I showed this to every man on our staff." "I've had a dozen people working on it since late last night." "We've tried pretty much everything- single transposition, double transposition." "We've tried every known method of cryptography there is, and i don't know whether we're even close or a million miles away." "Are you saying it's indecipherable?" "No, we've just got to keep trying, that's all." "Standard, direct, reversed, systematically mixed, keyword mixed, random mixed, reciprocal, conjugate." "Every nature of sequence of letters there is." "I'll tell you something, colonel, this is a tough nut." "This is a real tough nut." "How important is it?" "Hmm, i don't know." "That... that kanamit, or whatever it is he calls himself, walked off and left this book yesterday at the u.n." "The white house feels if we can decipher this book we can find out what they're up to." "Well, obviously, nothing but our good." "He hasn't commented on the loss of this book." "Probably unconcerned." "Why should we be so concerned?" "They've done all right by us so far." "Parlor tricks." "They don't seem like tricks, colonel." "That new nitrate use they demonstrated in argentina this morning- that soil had more vitamins in it six hours later than a drugstore chain." "I know that country." "That's as barren and fruitless as any place on earth." "Well... we might lick this, we might not." "But i got a strange feeling." "What?" "That we're looking a gift horse in the mouth." "I got another funny feeling, too." "And that is?" "That if these kanamits are as helpful as i think they are, you boys will be out of a job." "And probably, so will i." "Am i to assume this is a scientific analysis, mr." "Chambers, or just some kentucky windage?" "Well, i don't know what it is, colonel, beyond an instinctive feeling." "When this earth gets enough to eat and there are no more wars or diseases or famines, this is going to be a garden of eden." "Your optimism is most refreshing, mr." "Chambers, but i suggest you continue your process of deciphering until you can tell us precisely- and i mean precisely- what that book says." "We've licked the title, anyway." "What does it say?" "How much does it tell us?" "Here it is." "Well, that makes the cheese a little more binding, wouldn't you say, colonel?" "I'd call that a reasonably altruistic phrase, do you agree, patty?" "Well, i, uh... well, i want to believe it, but... i don't know what to think." ""To serve man."" "I hope so." "I fervently hope so." "Gentlemen, the purpose of this meeting is to acquaint you with certain tests made over the past week." "At the request of several delegates and with the full consent of our guests, the kanamits, these tests were filmed, cut together into one short film and you can watch them now." "Kindly lower the screen." "These are the standard instruments used to determine the truth of a statement." "Our first object, since the physiology of the kanamits is unknown to us, was to determine whether or not they react to these tests as human beings do." "We will now repeat one of the many experiments made in an effort to discover this fact." "This instrument records the subject's heartbeat." "This one shows the electrical conductivity of the skin in the palm of the hand- a measure of perspiration, which increases under stress." "This one shows the pattern and intensity of the electrical waves emanating from the subject's brain." "Which of these is longer than the other?" "The gray." "I shall repeat the question." "Which of these is longer than the other?" "The black." "How did you get to this planet?" "Walked." "Once again, how did you get to this planet?" "In a spaceship." "Many such experiments were made and my colleagues and myself are satisfied that the mechanisms are effective." "Now, i shall ask our distinguished guest to reply to the question put at the last session by several of the delegates." "Namely, what is the motive of the kanamit people in offering such great gifts to the people of the earth?" "I hope that the people of earth will understand and believe when i tell you that our mission upon this planet is simply this:" "To bring to you the peace and plenty which we ourselves enjoy and which we have in the past brought to other races throughout the galaxy." "When your world has no more hunger, no more war, no more needless suffering, that will be our reward." "And the machine showed no deviation." "According to it, the kanamit was telling the truth." "You and i and the rest of this earth had a ringside seat to the rebirth of every dream man had ever dreamed." "Santa claus came through." "Arid deserts became gardens with the devices the kanamits showed us how to use." "The force field that was to end war did precisely that." "Armies and navies were practically disbanded." "Please check your guest visas." "This is flight number 267 from earth to our planet." "They tell me they have a mean temperature of 76 degrees on their planet, and the sun never goes down." "And there clothing- it's a metallic substance, just beautiful." "Kind of like a spun gold." "My sister wrote me." "She says the day you land, they take you on a conducted tour of all their shops and you can pick out as much of it as you want." "But it's an entire planet." "It's bigger than china." "Besides it's an opportunity to spread peaceful coexistence to an entire galaxy." "Stand aside, please, i have diplomatic visa." "It's just one big holiday when you get there." "They've even got a form of baseball." "Leagues of everything, just like we've got." "And the whole trip, billions of miles, only takes just a few days." "Oh, man, i don't think i'll want to come back once i do get there." "I'm going home, boss." "Need me for anything?" "Need you for anything?" "Like what?" "This isn't exactly what you call a beehive of activity." "Well, this is the new story of man." "Nobody needs to decipher much of anything anymore because there aren't any more codes simply because there aren't any more secret messages." "Odd." "Huh?" "Well, i mean, we're not reading about the hydrogen bomb or war scares or insurrections or anything like that anymore." "Millennium." "Yeah, close to it." "How many of them are around now?" "Anybody ever figure it out?" "A few thousand, i guess." "They've got embassies in every country now." "And for every one of them that comes, a few thousand of us take off in their ships to live with them." "Yeah, that's the odd thing:" "The fantastic ease with which human beings make adjustments." "One day, they watch with bated breath while a single individual orbits the earth in a rinky-dink little cubicle and they think this is the most historic moment that's ever happened in the history of mankind." "And then, one year later, they stand in line waiting to take off in a spaceship to go 100 billion miles off into space and they act and react as if this were a weekend picnic in the country." "Oh, strange and complex sanity of man." "Nothing fazes him." "Are you going?" "Well, as a matter of fact i'm on a ten-year exchange group waiting list." "And what about you, patty?" "I'm on the list, too." "The trouble is, their quotas fill just as soon as they make the announcement of a new trip." "While i'm waiting, i think i'll do the next best thing." "I'm still working on that book." "Deciphering that title has been of no help because their capital letters are different than the other signs they use, just as ours are." "But it's starting to fall into place." "I think i'll get the answer eventually." "Well, i gave up trying a month ago." "This is flight number 914 from earth to our planet." "We will be taking off in three minutes." "Mr. Chambers!" "Mr. Chambers!" "Don't get on that ship!" "The rest of the book, to serve man-it's... it's a cookbook!" "No!" "No!" "No, no, no!" "Hey!" "No!" "You have not eaten enough, mr." "Chambers." "Please, enjoy." "Eat hearty." "Please, mr." "Chambers, eat." "We wouldn't want you to lose weight." "How about you?" "You still on earth or on the ship with me?" "Well, it doesn't make very much difference because sooner or later we'll all of us be on the menu- all of us." "The recollections of one michael chambers with appropriate flashbacks and soliloquy." "Or more simply stated, the evolution of man, the cycle of going from dust to dessert... the metamorphosis from being the ruler of a planet to an ingredient in someone's soup." "It's tonight's bill of fare on the twilight zone." "Rod serling, creator ofthe twilight zone, will tell you about next week's story after this message." "And now, mr." "Serling." "Next week onthe twilight zone contributor charles beaumont provides us with a most charming tale of an old man and some children- an old man who's an exceptional playmate, exceptional because, well, how many old men do you know who can change into monsters?" "Mr. Beaumont's excellent tasting stew is further seasoned by an element of mystery." "It's called "the fugitive."" "We hope to see you next week." "This is james arness." "You know, it's only a short hop fromthe twilight zone to dodge city ingunsmoke." "Saturday nights over most of these stations."