"( man ) There is nothing wrong with your television set." "Do not attempt to adjust the picture." "We are controlling transmission ." "We will control the horizontal." "We will control the vertical." "We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity." "For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all you see and hear." "You are about to participate in a great adventure." "You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to..." "The Outer Limits." "( man ) Here, in the bright, clustered loneliness of the billion , billion stars, loneliness can be an exciting, voluntary thing, unlike the loneliness man suffers on Earth." "Here, deep in the starry nowhere, a man can be as one with space and time." "Preoccupied, yet not indifferent." "Anxious, and yet at peace." "His name is Joseph Reardon ." "He is, in this present year, 30 years old." "This is the first time he has made this journey alone." "This is Starship One." "Starship One." "Request re-entry pattern ." "(static)" "This is Starship One." "Reardon reporting." "Request re-entry pattern ." "Come in , Project Control." "(static continues)" "Come in , Project Control." "Come in , Project Control." " Where am I?" "What planet is this?" " lt is called Earth." "Earth?" "No, I left Earth eight months ago." "Eight months ago?" "lmpossible." "No one has left or returned to Earth in almost 200 years." "I did." "Eight months ago." "February 3, 1 963." "The year is 21 48." "Well, it couldn 't be." "It must be 1 963. lt must be." "Time and space are indivisible." "In your travels you moved from one to the other." "Something happened, a chill... brightness." " l collapsed inside, as if in a convulsion ." " A time convulsion ." "Which brought you into the future." "Future?" "Well, what could have happened?" "Hydrogen war?" "No." "No , thero was no war." "We are the remaining survivors of the human race." "If you're human , you're a... mutation ." "It couldn 't have happened in only 200 years." "No, no, not a normal evolution ." "It was not normal." "You said there was no war!" "When the concern of man is only in preparation for defence against himself, he is not prepared for the unforeseen ." "An extraterrestrial microbe was developed and corrupted by a renowned biologist for his own ambitious reasons." "We recall his name." "Bertram Cabot Junior." "We have memorised every detail of his life, his various addresses, his ca ros, his joys" "..his friends, his family." "Noelle, they called his mother." "Noelle." "A woman who issued destruction for all future Christmases." "A microbe... destroyed humanity." "There were side effects to the symbiote which Cabot isolated and developed, side effects he did not foresee, which brought about... genetic changes and inhibited our ability to reproduce." "What you see here is essentially the work of one man :" "Bertram Cabot Junior." "Come." "I will show you all that is left of moments, men and places." "Here..." "Here lies the protected history of man ." "The cherished words and pictures of all he has known and loved." "The noble Hamlet." "Anna Karenina putting on her gloves on a snowy evening." "Gatsby in white flannels." "Moby Dick." "And Mark Twain 's whole meandering Mississippi." "Melville." ""Hope proves a man debtless."" " There is no hope here." " There has to be." "There is no future, only the safe and dear upholstered memories." "You said your minds, your psyches were so advanced." "Why couldn 't you find a cure or some way out?" "twas too ato" "The only positive cure was in preventive medicine." "But man was too busy, too busy going to the moon , too busy clubbing his brothers over the head with the atom, to anticipate the parasite that was to suck out his right to immortality." "I can 't believe it's going to come to this. I won 't!" "I can find the time warp again , go back through it." "Back?" "Back through time?" "ca me hero Nobody's pr oved it' s a ono way street I'll go back. I'll tell them what they have to prepare themselves for." "Even if you made it, they'd hardly believe you ." "I'll make them believe me." "They'll think you're a fool, but there is a way." "You can take me with you ." "There's a possibility we couldn 't make it back." "It's better to die than sit and watch the world die." "If you're afraid that I'll frighten them unnecessarily, I have the ability to change my appearance through hypnotic suggestion ." "No." "No." "The one thing we want them to do is see you exactly as you are." "That will make them believe us." "I'm almost positive it happened here." "I established 1 .25 minus 1 6 mils." "Blue wavelength velocity: 300,000 kilometres." "I'll put it on automatic pilot in case I'm right." "Now we hope." "What course might history have taken if Alexander, Napoleon , Hitler had never existed?" "What if Bertram Cabot Junior had never been born ?" " What is it?" " The warp." "What's wrong?" " l'm not going to make it through." " You must." "You must!" " l'm dying!" "No." "No." "What will happen to the world?" "What will I do?" " Go on !" " You must come with me!" " They won 't believe me if you're not with me." " Find Cabot." "Find him." "Kill him if you have to, but..." "Kill Cabot." "Kill Cabot." "Kill Cabot." "(rustling )" "(screams)" "Wait!" "(frog croaks)" "I'm sorry. I didn 't mean to frighten you ." "I didn 't hear you come in ." "I've seen you ." " Somewhere." " Yes, but not in the way I wanted you to." "This is a boarding house, isn 't it?" "Yes. lf you're looking for a room, I think there are a couple of vacancies." "Mrs McCluskey, the landlady, will be here in a minute." " Do you live here?" " Yes." "A lot of students from the university live here." "It's quite beautiful." "I like it. lt's old-fashioned." "It's good to cherish old things." "Beauty is always on the edge of being lost." "Did I hear someone talking about me?" "I thought I heard the expression "old thing"." "I think he was talking about the furniture, Mrs McCluskey." "I'm looking for lodging." "A respectable-looking gentlemen like you wants to plonk himself down in a day nursery?" " l'm sure it's not as bad as all that." "No." "Not if you don 't mind the telephone jabberers and the patter of little feet all night." "There's a great deal of comfort in the sounds of youth." "Then I'm sure you'll enjoy them in stereo." "Come along. I'll show you to a room." "Don 't you have any baggage?" "They will come later." " You sound like an Englishman ." " Yes, I'm from London ." " You're going to be a professor at the school?" " Possibly. I'm an archaeologist." "Archaeology." "No wonder you're interested in old things." " lt's very nice." " lt's ten dollars a week, Professor...?" "Andro." "Professor Andro." "Thank you ." "House rules are on the back of the closet door." "The bathroom is down the hall." "I was told a young man lives here, a student." "Cabot." "Bertram Cabot Junior?" "Oh, yes." "Bert did live here, but that was a year ago." "He's been in the army since November." " ln the army?" " Oh, yes." "He's at some big base up north." "You should have asked Miss Andresen about him." " Miss Andresen ?" "Noelle Andresen ." "The girl downstairs." "She's Bert's girlfriend." "They're going to be married when he comes home this weekend." "Are you an old teacher of his?" "No." "But I do want to talk with him about..." "about his future." "Uncle Sam has him for another year and then he's coming back to do some postgraduate work in biology or something." "I see, but he will be here this weekend?" "With bells on ." "Good, I'll talk with him then ." "Thank you for your kindness." "(sighs)" "( knocking )" "( Noelle ) Mrs McCluskey?" "M rs mec u skey ?" " What happened to her?" " She opened the door, screamed and fainted." " l'd better call a doctor." "No!" "I'm fine. I'm all right." "What made you faint?" "I thought..." "Forgive me. I..." " l feel very foolish." " Please don 't." "Well, it must have been a shadow on the mirror." "It must have been , or you're not what you seem to be, Professor." "Few us are, Mrs McCluskey." "You couldn 't be what I thought I saw." "Nobody co u d" "Well, I brought you some towels." "Excuse me." "When a woman combs her hair, she imitates the motion of the stars." "It's a nervous habit." "Are you disturbed?" "I had a hallucination in the woods this afternoon ." "It was horrible." "Yes, horrible." "My psych professor would consider it part of the secret nature of my dreams." "Some great trial I'm about to face... ..like getting married." "I know." "Mrs McCluskey told me." "His name is Bertram Cabot Junior." "He's all the things I ever dreamed of in a man ." "He doesn 't play at life or dream it." "He lives it, in all its seriousness and pleasure." "Why did you call Bert Junior?" "Iunderstand he'd been given his father's name." "Bert's father's name is Arnold." "No, that can 't be." "But it is." "I'm too early." "I'm too early." " ls something wrong?" " He isn 't born yet." "Who isn 't born yet?" "Bertram Cabot Junior." "Of course he isn 't born yet." "Bert and I won 't be married until this weekend." "You will be his mother." "You will be the mother of Bertram Cabot Junior." "Noelle?" " l'll be down in a minute!" "You are Bertram Cabot?" " Yes." " Are you waiting for Noelle?" "She said she'd be down in a minute." "I often wonder what that quality of mind is that enables a soldier to encounter death with firmness, valour and boldness." "It's like stepping on a rattlesnake." "You learn to bite first so you don 't get bitten ." "May ask yo u a quest on?" "Of course." "To save your own child from destruction , would you press a button destroying all the children of another land?" "Are you asking me as a future father, or as a prospective scientist with a duty towards humanity?" "I wasn 't aware there was any distinction ." "But you do have a very practical and objective mind." "Like father, like son ." "Did you know my father?" "No, I didn 't know your father." "You are going to marry a very lovely and wonderful girl." "I think so." "Do you love her?" "Who are you?" "What does it matter?" " Will you answer my question ?" " Do I love Noelle?" " Do you?" " Yes, I do." "Then you must not marry her!" "Not marry her?" " You'll destroy her." "Maybe it doesn 't matter who you are, but my personal life is none of your business." "To save all the future children of the world, I must prevent one child from being born ." " What are you talking about?" " You must not marry her!" "Everything depends on it." "You must believe that!" " How long have you known Noelle?" "Not long." " Long enough not to want her harmed." " You're that Professor Andro she mentioned." " Well, stay away from her." " l want to help her." "To help you , everyone." "You must believe that!" " Who do you think you're kidding?" " lf you try to marry her, I'll have no choice." "Stay away from her or I won 't have any choice." "Come on ." "We've had our first argument." " Over an outsider." "Noelle, look..." " Do you have to go?" " l've got to go to the school." "I've got to arrange for all my postgrad courses next year." "Next year... we'll be married a year." "Do you still feel you don 't want to wait?" "M rs mec u skey wo u d be devastatod" "She's had the parlour drapes cleaned and the rugs shampooed." "She's always wanted to have a wedding in her parlour." "OK." "I'll try to hurry back." "( Andro ) I followed you ." "know I felt you ." "May s t c ose to yo u ?" " You know, bees sleep." " Do they?" "Like a baby." "When there's an eclipse, almost the whole insect population goes to sleep." "The ones I've seen since I came here seem so sure of themselves." "Tell me who you are." "Noelle..." "I don 't know how to tell you , to make you understand." " You must love me." " Don 't say any more. I have to go." " Listen to me. I can 't let you marry him." " Let me go!" "Together we can save eternity!" "Noelle!" " Go to the house. I'll catch up." " Please..." "Go on ." "Do as I tell you ." " We will be married." "Not if I can help it." "You can 't help it or stop it!" "I have to stop it." "I will try anything to stop it." "I must no longer concern myself with your innocence." "I can think of only one thing:" "the children of the world." "You're out of your mind." "I don 't wanna kill you !" "But I will!" "You and her. I must!" "I must!" "( Piano plays Wagner 's "Wedding March ")" "Dearly beloved, we are gathered together in the sight of God and in the presence of this company to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony." "into this holy estate these two persons come now to be joined." "If there be anyone here who maintains that this man and woman should not be united in holy matrimony, let him speak now or for ever hold his peace." "Bertram Cabot, do you take this woman to be your lawful, wedded wife, to live together in sickness and in health... (screams)" "Noelle!" "Andro!" "Andro!" "Andro!" "Andro!" "Andro." "Go away." "Please go away." " They've hurt you ." "No, I'm all right." "How could you come here?" "I wanted to see you ." "You saw me." "Weren 't you frightened like the others?" "All men have their moments of violence." "In some it passes." "I saw yours pass." "But didn 't you see my face?" "The change?" "The others did, I know. I..." "I lost control." "I didn 't see anything." "Except that you couldn 't bear to have me marry him." "And you tried to stop it." "You didn 't see what I really am?" "Tell me... what you really are." "Ugly." "There's no ugliness in you ." "I know there isn 't." "Not in me, Noelle." "Not in my heart or my soul." "Not in your face, either." "This face?" "This face is a suggestion ." "A mask to cover up a surface as corrupted as the world into which I was born ." "I am that hallucination you saw in the woods, Noelle, the great trial you're about to face." " But it's over, so go back to your wedding." " There isn 't going to be any wedding." "I don 't love him." "I don 't think I ever did." "But you'll still marry him eventually." "I know now that you can 't change things that are meant to be." "I have to leave." "I must go back to where l belong." "Andro." "Andro!" "Take me with you ." " lt's impossible." " Please." "It's you I love." "I don 't know how it happened... ..or why." "And I don 't care." "I only know that I want you ." "I need you ." "I didn 't mean for you to fall in love with me." " Didn 't you mean to kiss me, to touch me?" " l couldn 't help myself." "It must have meant something to you ." "I know it did." "Noelle, I..." "I can 't love you ." "You must not love me." " Why?" " Because we cannot change destiny!" "Noelle, please try to understand." "I can 't." "Look at me." "There are travellers of time, Noelle." "There are people in tomorrow's cities." "Living, breathing strangers, whom you'll never see but who are there just the same." "And instead of the glorious future all men envision , there's only a dark and empty road, leading to misery and mourning." "This is the world from which I came, Noelle." "A world of tomorrow." "A world you will help make." "I wanted to change it." "I tried." "Know w hat had to do ?" "I had to prevent you from bearing a child." "Cabot's child." "Destined to grow up to be the catalyst for the world's end." "The truth is in my eyes." "You've served your purpose." "I'll never have that child." "The world will be different." "No. ln a year, perhaps more, you'll find Bert or he'll find you ." "You'll marry and you'll have that child." "Unless you were to... die now." "Or..." "Or go with you ." "You can change destiny, Andro." "Take me." "Keep me." "Don 't let Bert and I find each other again ." "is it possible, Noelle?" "Could we make another future, a better world?" "I wonder what it's like where we're going." "If it's ugly, I won 't care. I'll be with you ." "It won 't be ugly." "We're changing that." "It'll probably be beautiful." "The future usually is." "( Bertram ) Noelle!" "Noelle!" "Noelle!" "(gunshot" "(gunshot" "Andro?" "What's wrong?" "Noelle, listen ." "We created a future into which I was never born ." "If you'd married him, had his child... my world wo u d bave come" "But we've changed all of that." "It will be all different." "And I was never born ." "Andro!" "Andro..." "Andro!" "Andro..." "( man ) lt is said that if you move a pebble on the beach, you set up a different pattern and everything in the world is changed." "It can also be said that love can change the future, if it is deep enough, true enough and selfless enough." "It can prevent a war, prohibit a plague, keep the whole world whole." "We now return control of your television set to you until next week at this same time when the control voice will take you to... ..The Outer Limits."