The Outer Limits (1963–1965): Season 1, Episode 22 - Specimen: Unknown - full transcript
Astronauts operating an orbiting space station find a strange and deadly species of plant life.
Gordon, you all right?
Just a little woozy.
The excitement
of going home
you know.
Sure.
You OK?
I feel
a little funny...
Kinda sick
to my stomach.
Put your helmet on.
Major,
have located trouble.
Secondary servo break.
All clear now...
Am returning to cabin.
When you enter
the air lock,
keep your helmet on, Mike.
Something's
happening here.
Gavin and Halpern
have both experienced
sudden weakness
and nausea.
We'll use our own
individual oxygen supply
the rest of the trip.
Less danger
of contamination.
Getting dizzy, Major.
Weaker.
There's no doubt
about it.
This doesn't make much
sense at all, Major.
I worked as close
to Howard's body
on the autopsy table
as Gavin and Halpern
both did.
I don't have
any symptoms at all,
and you...
You were nowhere near
the laboratory table.
You'd better
inform the base.
Yes, sir.
The specimens, Major.
The plants, they're
shooting off spores.
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 that 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...
For centuries
man has looked to the skies
and sought to uncover
the mystery of the universe.
The telescope brought into focus
the craters on the moon
and the canals on Mars.
But it was limited,
and man's insistent hunger
for knowledge and experience
would not be satisfied
until he broke
the massive chains of gravity
and set foot himself on a planet
other than his own.
Project Mercury was
his first venture into space,
a testament to his technical
ingenuity and courage,
a green light
to a hundred other projects
which would take him
still further.
This is project Adonis...
A laboratory
orbiting a thousand miles
above the earth...
A tiny far-flung world
connected
only by radio and memory
and inhabited
by a handful of men
dedicated to removing
the unknown
for future space travelers.
At 10 minutes after 6:00
on January 8th,
Lieutenant Rupert Howard
stumbled upon something
clinging to the wall
of the space lock
that appeared alive.
He called them
"space barnacles"
for temporary identification.
They were not.
Hello. Lieutenant
Howard speaking.
Well, I can't be certain yet,
Major Doweling,
but it's looking
more and more
like some kind
of a dormant spore.
Yeah, probably been
floating around in space
for a million years or so.
Finally found a home.
Well, I should know
more later on.
I've got
one in the Incubator,
and I'm about to make
a slice study on the others.
No, I haven't
named it yet.
Something Greek,
or maybe I'll just
call it "Miss Adonis."
Right.
Right.
Major Benedict.
Please report
to the communications room.
Dr. Willis, you're wanted
in the pharmacist's room.
Dr. Willis, please report
to the pharmacist's room.
Unto almighty God
we commend the soul
of our brother departed,
Rupert Lawrence Howard,
and we commit his body
to the deep...
Deep heavens...
In the sure and certain hope
of the resurrection
to life eternal...
Through our lord
and savior.
May he rest in peace.
Amen.
Air lock
secured, sir.
Ah.
Mike, I found another one
of these mushroom things.
Hmm?
It was on the hatch plate
of the air lock.
That's the third one,
isn't it?
Yeah.
Howard used to call
these things
space barnacles.
It's hard to believe
he's dead.
Mm-hmm.
It sure will
be nice to lie
in some good old-fashioned
earth-type sunlight
after 90 days
of this.
Now, I put the sunlamp
on the other 2 spores.
Exactly the same thing
happened.
They seemed to grow
right in front of me.
It must be
the combination
of the station's synthetic
earth's atmosphere
and the sunlamp.
It makes sense.
Oh, I'm not much
on botany, Major.
Howard's theory was
that they are some sort
of dormant spore, just
probably floating around
in space
for millions of years.
Well, we'll let
the lab boys
try to
figure it out.
They know
all the answers.
Boys, try to get
space project
communications,
will you?
Yes, sir.
Major, I don't want
to press the issue,
but you know
how closely together
Howard and I
have been working
on cosmic radiation
research?
Now, I'd like to be
allowed to stay up here
and finish the work.
The answer is no, Mike.
Emphatically, no.
Look, the human factor boys
have got it all worked out.
3 months up here, 6 below.
What if I can find out
what killed him?
That's problem number 1
for the new crew, not ours.
Major Benedict,
I've got space project
communications.
Colonel McWilliams is on.
Come on. You can say
a few provocative words
to your wife.
This is Major Benedict.
I'd like to talk
to Colonel McWilliams.
Yes, Major.
This is McWilliams.
Colonel,
we buried Lieutenant Howard.
Are you and the men
all right?
Yes, sir, but Doweling
still requests staying on
for another tour of duty
to continue
the Lieutenant's work
on cosmic
radiation exposure.
Uh, put Doweling on.
Hold on.
I think you know
what to say, Janet.
This is
Captain Doweling.
Well, hi. This is
Captain Doweling's wife.
Janet?
How are you?
I'm fine.
Mike,
I've missed you.
Well, I've missed you,
too, Janet, but...
Janet.
You'd better
hurry on down, Mike.
She's been sitting on the edge
of her oscilloscope
for days now.
Put Major Benedict
back on.
Yes, sir.
This is
Major Benedict.
Major,
about Lieutenant Howard.
The Pentagon has asked for
a full report on the matter.
I'm preparing one now,
Colonel.
But you'll have
to fill in
the space marked,
"cause of death."
All right, Major.
Yes, thank you.
See you soon.
Oh, Janet, uh,
would you mind checking out
the recovery support system?
We'll want it operational
to bring them in.
Yes, sir.
Will you stop looking at me
like that, Nathan?
Like what?
Look, I... I had
a decision to make,
and I made it.
All these people here,
they're my responsibility.
As project officer,
I have to consider
the whole picture.
Howard's body had just
as thorough an autopsy
up there as we could
have performed down here.
Lieutenant Halpern's
a fine physician.
You know that.
As I said Mac,
sometimes one man
can miss a small detail.
Team of men
might have learned more.
As chief surgeon
of this project,
my advice was to bring
Howard's body down here.
But what about the
calculated risk involved?
You said it yourself.
As a matter of record,
I said
it might not have been
the cosmic radiation
experiments
that destroyed the hemoglobin
in Howard's blood.
It might have been
some alien virus
floating around up there,
something we know
nothing about.
And you also admitted
that such a virus
could be contagious
and that our bodies
probably have no immunity
built up to fight it.
Could I risk exposing
this whole base
to something
that kills a man
in a matter of a few hours
without warning?
No. Not knowing the cause
of Howard's death,
I just couldn't chance
bringing him back.
All the hemoglobin
in the rabbit's blood
has been destroyed.
Same as Lieutenant Howard.
Everything's aboard
the shuttle craft, Major.
We're ready to push off.
Replacement crew
standing by.
You forgot to put
these spore specimens aboard.
Sorry, Major. I didn't
know they were to go.
I've already secured
the aft cargo compartment.
Well, put them up forward
with us.
Position vector, 3-2-6.
Trajectory curve, 32-0.
Speed, 16,003.
We're indicating yaw,
1.3 degrees.
Check attitude
stabilizer.
1.3 degrees, check.
What is it, Mike?
The attitude stabilizer
seems to be over-correcting.
The automatic attitude
control system is out.
I'm gonna put her
in a safety orbit.
Shuttle craft 1-0-1-0.
Adonis center calling.
Over.
This is
shuttle craft 1-0-1-0.
The attitude stabilization
control system
went out on us.
We're checking it now.
Craft traveling
in safety orbit.
Altitude 900 miles.
Over.
Roger.
Tracking stations alerted.
Notify any variance
in orbit or altitude.
Seems like
one of the servos.
I'm gonna have to
leave the ship
to correct it.
Captain Doweling leaving
ship to make repairs.
Maintaining safety orbit
as previously stated.
Out.
Gordon, you all right?
Just a little woozy.
The excitement
of going home.
You know.
Sure.
You OK?
I feel
a little funny...
Kinda sick
to my stomach.
Put your helmet on.
Major,
have located trouble.
Secondary servo break.
All clear now...
Am returning to cabin.
When you enter
the air lock,
keep your helmet on, Mike.
Something's
happening here.
Gavin and Halpern
have both experienced
sudden weakness
and nausea.
We'll use our own
individual oxygen supply
the rest of the trip.
Less danger
of contamination.
Getting dizzy, Major.
Weaker.
There's no doubt
about it.
This doesn't make much
sense at all, Major.
I worked as close
to Howard's body
on the autopsy table
as Gavin and Halpern
both did.
I don't have
any symptoms at all,
and you...
You were nowhere near
the laboratory table.
You'd better
inform the base.
Yes, sir.
The specimens, Major.
The plants, they're
shooting off spores.
Now they're throwing off
some kind of vapor.
You're right.
The contamination
must be coming from them.
The aft compartment,
isolate them in there!
Every plant, every spore!
I'll inform the base!
This is
shuttle craft 1-0-1-0
calling Adonis.
The situation...
These plants, the gas
they release... poisonous.
Destroys hemoglobin
in the blood.
Gavin almost out,
Halpern already unconscious.
Both turning like Howard
and the rabbit.
I'm beginning
to feel weaker.
What about Doweling?
Doweling was
outside of craft.
Not exposed to gases
as much as we were.
Aft compartment overrun
with the plants.
They fire spores
hundreds at a time.
They grow on anything.
Even penetrate metal
with their stems.
It's... it's
a malignant thing.
Don't let us land.
Contamination...
Destruct us.
Destruct.
Major! Major Benedict!
Come in! Over!
This is
Captain Doweling.
Major Benedict
has passed out,
and I'm beginning to feel
a little woozy myself.
Will maintain this orbit
until ordered to destruct.
Plants.
Alien plant life.
What can they be?
Where do they come from?
How are they capable
of destroying hemoglobin
in the blood?
If Doweling
should pass out
and that shuttle
crashes to earth,
there's no telling
how fast those plants
could take root and multiply
once they feed
from the soil
and are exposed
to sunlight.
Major Benedict
may be right.
Maybe the craft
should be destroyed.
There are 4 men
in that ship.
We have the whole picture
to consider.
That shuttle is loaded
with destruction.
There's
no way of determining
how many people
could be contaminated
by those plants
if they're allowed
to reproduce down here
as they're doing
in that craft.
They're inside
the craft, Mac.
They're contained.
And the gas they release?
Poisonous, the Major said.
How do we contain that?
But those men...
I know.
Don't you think I know?
If we get them back in time,
give them
a blood transfusion,
maybe...
Yeah?
What do you mean
you can't find the General?
Mayberry is 6 feet 4
and weighs 250 pounds.
If intelligence can't locate
a target that size,
the whole country's
in trouble.
Try his club, his barber,
his bathroom, but find him!
And I want a ground-to-air
missile with a warhead
standing in readiness!
Janet...
Please, I want to stay.
I have to know.
Of course.
You've got
as much stake in this
as any of us. More.
McWilliams.
General,
we have a grave situation.
Yes, General.
He, uh...
He dropped it
in my lap.
The decision is mine.
I have 2 choices...
Bring them down
at the Springdale base
in Florida
and risk the lives
of who knows how many people
here on earth...
Or send up a missile,
destruct while they're still
in that safety orbit.
Bring them down,
Mac.
Give us
an opportunity
to research
an alien plant life.
They were found
on the space station, Nathan.
Chances are,
they'll find others.
They can be researched
up there.
Colonel?
There are 4 men
on that craft.
4 men, Janet,
or 4 bodies?
Yes, perhaps.
Perhaps 4 bodies.
But if we brought back
Lieutenant Howard's body,
maybe by now we'd know
how the blood is attacked.
Maybe we'd have
some way to fight it.
Contact the space station.
Advise the replacements
of the danger.
Tell them to keep away
from all strange plant life.
If it's...
If it's too late,
if they've already...
Tell them we're working
on an antidote.
And get a jet ready
to take off for Florida.
I want it in 15 minutes.
Contact Doweling.
Tell your husband we're
bringing that shuttle down.
Mike?
Mike, listen to me.
Mike, please,
you've got to try!
Doweling?
Shuttle craft 1-0-1-0.
Come in, Doweling.
Doweling,
this is Colonel McWilliams.
I read you.
You're holding us up, Mike.
We're ready to take off.
We'll meet you at...
No!
You can't bring us down.
Is it getting worse, Mike?
I think so.
Awfully weak.
What about the others?
I don't know, sir.
Their... their faces
are getting worse.
Mike, I, uh...
I want you to bring
the shuttle down.
Can't.
These plants
destroy you.
Half the compartment's
like... Jungle.
Horrible.
You talk to him, Janet.
I did. I tried.
Well, try again.
Tell him
you're waiting for him.
Mike, can you hear me?
We're all here
waiting for you.
Janet, I...
Mike, I love you.
Please bring
the ship down.
Come home.
Please come home,
Mike.
Please...
I order you to bring
that ship down.
Do you read me,
Captain Doweling?
Can't, sir. The plants.
You bring that ship down,
Captain!
That's an order!
Do you read me?
Yes, sir.
All right,
then listen carefully.
Bypass the base and change
your touchdown location
to sector 4-6-3,
coordinates 83-1-0-5.
Repeat. Over.
Sector 4-6-3,
coordinates 83-1-0-5.
That's correct.
That's the Springdale
missile base in Florida.
You should know
the area.
Come out
of your safety orbit
and proceed to that location
immediately.
Our tracking stations
indicate
you are presently
over South Africa.
Start your descent
immediately.
Contact the Springdale base.
Tell them the shuttle
is coming down in their area.
Notify their radar control.
Don't tell them
anything more than that.
Top secret, absolutely.
Colonel...
May I come along?
Please?
All right.
Shuttle craft 1-0-1-0.
Come in, Doweling.
Over.
This is
shuttle craft 1-0-1-0.
I can read you. Over.
You're coming in
off course, Doweling.
You'll touch down 6 or 7
miles southeast of us.
We're on our way
there now,
and we're alerting
the Springdale rescue team
to meet us there.
Roger.
Stay in the car, Janet.
Their body harnesses
should absorb the shock.
They should be
all right.
Doweling,
this is McWilliams.
Do you read me?
Doweling,
do you read me?!
This is Doweling,
shuttle craft 1-0-1-0.
Are the others still alive?
Halpern is dead.
The Major, Gavin...
Maybe.
Don't know.
Open
the hatch, Mike. Come out.
Hatch lock sprung.
Won't open.
Pry it open!
Hurry it up!
We'll have it open
in a minute.
I told you to stay
in the car, Janet.
Are you all right?
He's OK.
Then get
that hatch open.
Yes, sir.
They... they're
all over the area.
Contact Springdale.
Find out why
they aren't here.
Just get them here,
and quick!
Heaven help us.
They said there's
a 90% probability of rain.
How much faster
will these things spread
if it rains?
Hurry it up, son,
will you?
Get that stretcher here!
The gas came
right from the center
of the flower.
I'll start the transfusion.
Janet, get out
of the car!
Aah!
Watch where
you're walking!
Get in the ambulance!
Get him
into the ambulance.
Give the Colonel
a hand.
Help him
to the ambulance.
Oh!
Let's get
out of here.
Get his helmet off.
Thanks.
Sergeant's
looking better.
I think the transfusions
are gonna do it.
Oh, thank god.
And pray.
No, Janet. We'll
follow in the car,
no, I want to stay
with Mike, please.
It's not a good idea,
Janet.
I don't know what
the contamination potential is.
Well, I don't care.
Mike would want you to.
Janet, I'll see you
at the hospital.
Do what they tell you,
please.
I think he's going to be
all right, Janet...
If we hurry.
Get them
to the base hospital.
Be careful,
but be fast.
Looks like blood.
They're always talking
about life on other planets,
but what kind of life?
Could a plant...
A flower?
Aah!
What about
Lieutenant Halpern's body?
We'll have to leave it for
the decontamination squad.
Don't let it rain.
The is Colonel McWilliams
calling.
It's the storm.
Must have started
somewhere.
This is Jennings, Mac.
What happened
to all the help?
The flamethrowers?
They're on their way.
Why are you
still there, Mac?
Can't get out,
except maybe on foot.
Those plants are
all over the engine.
Is Janet all right?
Yes, she's all right.
Better attempt it on foot.
It might be 30, 40 minutes
before help arrives.
How are the men?
Sergeant's doing real well.
Doweling's coming around
faster than we hoped.
Blood almost normal.
We're going to try it,
Nathan.
Come on.
No!
End of the road.
That whine,
it's coming from them!
The rain...
It's destroying them.
Rain!
Oh!
They're all gone.
A simple thing like rain.
Let's get back
to the car, Janet.
Colonel, where do you think
they came from,
the flowers?
I don't know.
Another planet,
another time.
There are many things
up there...
Evil and hungry...
Awesome and splendid
and gentle things, too.
Merciful things...
Like rain.
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...
Just a little woozy.
The excitement
of going home
you know.
Sure.
You OK?
I feel
a little funny...
Kinda sick
to my stomach.
Put your helmet on.
Major,
have located trouble.
Secondary servo break.
All clear now...
Am returning to cabin.
When you enter
the air lock,
keep your helmet on, Mike.
Something's
happening here.
Gavin and Halpern
have both experienced
sudden weakness
and nausea.
We'll use our own
individual oxygen supply
the rest of the trip.
Less danger
of contamination.
Getting dizzy, Major.
Weaker.
There's no doubt
about it.
This doesn't make much
sense at all, Major.
I worked as close
to Howard's body
on the autopsy table
as Gavin and Halpern
both did.
I don't have
any symptoms at all,
and you...
You were nowhere near
the laboratory table.
You'd better
inform the base.
Yes, sir.
The specimens, Major.
The plants, they're
shooting off spores.
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 that 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...
For centuries
man has looked to the skies
and sought to uncover
the mystery of the universe.
The telescope brought into focus
the craters on the moon
and the canals on Mars.
But it was limited,
and man's insistent hunger
for knowledge and experience
would not be satisfied
until he broke
the massive chains of gravity
and set foot himself on a planet
other than his own.
Project Mercury was
his first venture into space,
a testament to his technical
ingenuity and courage,
a green light
to a hundred other projects
which would take him
still further.
This is project Adonis...
A laboratory
orbiting a thousand miles
above the earth...
A tiny far-flung world
connected
only by radio and memory
and inhabited
by a handful of men
dedicated to removing
the unknown
for future space travelers.
At 10 minutes after 6:00
on January 8th,
Lieutenant Rupert Howard
stumbled upon something
clinging to the wall
of the space lock
that appeared alive.
He called them
"space barnacles"
for temporary identification.
They were not.
Hello. Lieutenant
Howard speaking.
Well, I can't be certain yet,
Major Doweling,
but it's looking
more and more
like some kind
of a dormant spore.
Yeah, probably been
floating around in space
for a million years or so.
Finally found a home.
Well, I should know
more later on.
I've got
one in the Incubator,
and I'm about to make
a slice study on the others.
No, I haven't
named it yet.
Something Greek,
or maybe I'll just
call it "Miss Adonis."
Right.
Right.
Major Benedict.
Please report
to the communications room.
Dr. Willis, you're wanted
in the pharmacist's room.
Dr. Willis, please report
to the pharmacist's room.
Unto almighty God
we commend the soul
of our brother departed,
Rupert Lawrence Howard,
and we commit his body
to the deep...
Deep heavens...
In the sure and certain hope
of the resurrection
to life eternal...
Through our lord
and savior.
May he rest in peace.
Amen.
Air lock
secured, sir.
Ah.
Mike, I found another one
of these mushroom things.
Hmm?
It was on the hatch plate
of the air lock.
That's the third one,
isn't it?
Yeah.
Howard used to call
these things
space barnacles.
It's hard to believe
he's dead.
Mm-hmm.
It sure will
be nice to lie
in some good old-fashioned
earth-type sunlight
after 90 days
of this.
Now, I put the sunlamp
on the other 2 spores.
Exactly the same thing
happened.
They seemed to grow
right in front of me.
It must be
the combination
of the station's synthetic
earth's atmosphere
and the sunlamp.
It makes sense.
Oh, I'm not much
on botany, Major.
Howard's theory was
that they are some sort
of dormant spore, just
probably floating around
in space
for millions of years.
Well, we'll let
the lab boys
try to
figure it out.
They know
all the answers.
Boys, try to get
space project
communications,
will you?
Yes, sir.
Major, I don't want
to press the issue,
but you know
how closely together
Howard and I
have been working
on cosmic radiation
research?
Now, I'd like to be
allowed to stay up here
and finish the work.
The answer is no, Mike.
Emphatically, no.
Look, the human factor boys
have got it all worked out.
3 months up here, 6 below.
What if I can find out
what killed him?
That's problem number 1
for the new crew, not ours.
Major Benedict,
I've got space project
communications.
Colonel McWilliams is on.
Come on. You can say
a few provocative words
to your wife.
This is Major Benedict.
I'd like to talk
to Colonel McWilliams.
Yes, Major.
This is McWilliams.
Colonel,
we buried Lieutenant Howard.
Are you and the men
all right?
Yes, sir, but Doweling
still requests staying on
for another tour of duty
to continue
the Lieutenant's work
on cosmic
radiation exposure.
Uh, put Doweling on.
Hold on.
I think you know
what to say, Janet.
This is
Captain Doweling.
Well, hi. This is
Captain Doweling's wife.
Janet?
How are you?
I'm fine.
Mike,
I've missed you.
Well, I've missed you,
too, Janet, but...
Janet.
You'd better
hurry on down, Mike.
She's been sitting on the edge
of her oscilloscope
for days now.
Put Major Benedict
back on.
Yes, sir.
This is
Major Benedict.
Major,
about Lieutenant Howard.
The Pentagon has asked for
a full report on the matter.
I'm preparing one now,
Colonel.
But you'll have
to fill in
the space marked,
"cause of death."
All right, Major.
Yes, thank you.
See you soon.
Oh, Janet, uh,
would you mind checking out
the recovery support system?
We'll want it operational
to bring them in.
Yes, sir.
Will you stop looking at me
like that, Nathan?
Like what?
Look, I... I had
a decision to make,
and I made it.
All these people here,
they're my responsibility.
As project officer,
I have to consider
the whole picture.
Howard's body had just
as thorough an autopsy
up there as we could
have performed down here.
Lieutenant Halpern's
a fine physician.
You know that.
As I said Mac,
sometimes one man
can miss a small detail.
Team of men
might have learned more.
As chief surgeon
of this project,
my advice was to bring
Howard's body down here.
But what about the
calculated risk involved?
You said it yourself.
As a matter of record,
I said
it might not have been
the cosmic radiation
experiments
that destroyed the hemoglobin
in Howard's blood.
It might have been
some alien virus
floating around up there,
something we know
nothing about.
And you also admitted
that such a virus
could be contagious
and that our bodies
probably have no immunity
built up to fight it.
Could I risk exposing
this whole base
to something
that kills a man
in a matter of a few hours
without warning?
No. Not knowing the cause
of Howard's death,
I just couldn't chance
bringing him back.
All the hemoglobin
in the rabbit's blood
has been destroyed.
Same as Lieutenant Howard.
Everything's aboard
the shuttle craft, Major.
We're ready to push off.
Replacement crew
standing by.
You forgot to put
these spore specimens aboard.
Sorry, Major. I didn't
know they were to go.
I've already secured
the aft cargo compartment.
Well, put them up forward
with us.
Position vector, 3-2-6.
Trajectory curve, 32-0.
Speed, 16,003.
We're indicating yaw,
1.3 degrees.
Check attitude
stabilizer.
1.3 degrees, check.
What is it, Mike?
The attitude stabilizer
seems to be over-correcting.
The automatic attitude
control system is out.
I'm gonna put her
in a safety orbit.
Shuttle craft 1-0-1-0.
Adonis center calling.
Over.
This is
shuttle craft 1-0-1-0.
The attitude stabilization
control system
went out on us.
We're checking it now.
Craft traveling
in safety orbit.
Altitude 900 miles.
Over.
Roger.
Tracking stations alerted.
Notify any variance
in orbit or altitude.
Seems like
one of the servos.
I'm gonna have to
leave the ship
to correct it.
Captain Doweling leaving
ship to make repairs.
Maintaining safety orbit
as previously stated.
Out.
Gordon, you all right?
Just a little woozy.
The excitement
of going home.
You know.
Sure.
You OK?
I feel
a little funny...
Kinda sick
to my stomach.
Put your helmet on.
Major,
have located trouble.
Secondary servo break.
All clear now...
Am returning to cabin.
When you enter
the air lock,
keep your helmet on, Mike.
Something's
happening here.
Gavin and Halpern
have both experienced
sudden weakness
and nausea.
We'll use our own
individual oxygen supply
the rest of the trip.
Less danger
of contamination.
Getting dizzy, Major.
Weaker.
There's no doubt
about it.
This doesn't make much
sense at all, Major.
I worked as close
to Howard's body
on the autopsy table
as Gavin and Halpern
both did.
I don't have
any symptoms at all,
and you...
You were nowhere near
the laboratory table.
You'd better
inform the base.
Yes, sir.
The specimens, Major.
The plants, they're
shooting off spores.
Now they're throwing off
some kind of vapor.
You're right.
The contamination
must be coming from them.
The aft compartment,
isolate them in there!
Every plant, every spore!
I'll inform the base!
This is
shuttle craft 1-0-1-0
calling Adonis.
The situation...
These plants, the gas
they release... poisonous.
Destroys hemoglobin
in the blood.
Gavin almost out,
Halpern already unconscious.
Both turning like Howard
and the rabbit.
I'm beginning
to feel weaker.
What about Doweling?
Doweling was
outside of craft.
Not exposed to gases
as much as we were.
Aft compartment overrun
with the plants.
They fire spores
hundreds at a time.
They grow on anything.
Even penetrate metal
with their stems.
It's... it's
a malignant thing.
Don't let us land.
Contamination...
Destruct us.
Destruct.
Major! Major Benedict!
Come in! Over!
This is
Captain Doweling.
Major Benedict
has passed out,
and I'm beginning to feel
a little woozy myself.
Will maintain this orbit
until ordered to destruct.
Plants.
Alien plant life.
What can they be?
Where do they come from?
How are they capable
of destroying hemoglobin
in the blood?
If Doweling
should pass out
and that shuttle
crashes to earth,
there's no telling
how fast those plants
could take root and multiply
once they feed
from the soil
and are exposed
to sunlight.
Major Benedict
may be right.
Maybe the craft
should be destroyed.
There are 4 men
in that ship.
We have the whole picture
to consider.
That shuttle is loaded
with destruction.
There's
no way of determining
how many people
could be contaminated
by those plants
if they're allowed
to reproduce down here
as they're doing
in that craft.
They're inside
the craft, Mac.
They're contained.
And the gas they release?
Poisonous, the Major said.
How do we contain that?
But those men...
I know.
Don't you think I know?
If we get them back in time,
give them
a blood transfusion,
maybe...
Yeah?
What do you mean
you can't find the General?
Mayberry is 6 feet 4
and weighs 250 pounds.
If intelligence can't locate
a target that size,
the whole country's
in trouble.
Try his club, his barber,
his bathroom, but find him!
And I want a ground-to-air
missile with a warhead
standing in readiness!
Janet...
Please, I want to stay.
I have to know.
Of course.
You've got
as much stake in this
as any of us. More.
McWilliams.
General,
we have a grave situation.
Yes, General.
He, uh...
He dropped it
in my lap.
The decision is mine.
I have 2 choices...
Bring them down
at the Springdale base
in Florida
and risk the lives
of who knows how many people
here on earth...
Or send up a missile,
destruct while they're still
in that safety orbit.
Bring them down,
Mac.
Give us
an opportunity
to research
an alien plant life.
They were found
on the space station, Nathan.
Chances are,
they'll find others.
They can be researched
up there.
Colonel?
There are 4 men
on that craft.
4 men, Janet,
or 4 bodies?
Yes, perhaps.
Perhaps 4 bodies.
But if we brought back
Lieutenant Howard's body,
maybe by now we'd know
how the blood is attacked.
Maybe we'd have
some way to fight it.
Contact the space station.
Advise the replacements
of the danger.
Tell them to keep away
from all strange plant life.
If it's...
If it's too late,
if they've already...
Tell them we're working
on an antidote.
And get a jet ready
to take off for Florida.
I want it in 15 minutes.
Contact Doweling.
Tell your husband we're
bringing that shuttle down.
Mike?
Mike, listen to me.
Mike, please,
you've got to try!
Doweling?
Shuttle craft 1-0-1-0.
Come in, Doweling.
Doweling,
this is Colonel McWilliams.
I read you.
You're holding us up, Mike.
We're ready to take off.
We'll meet you at...
No!
You can't bring us down.
Is it getting worse, Mike?
I think so.
Awfully weak.
What about the others?
I don't know, sir.
Their... their faces
are getting worse.
Mike, I, uh...
I want you to bring
the shuttle down.
Can't.
These plants
destroy you.
Half the compartment's
like... Jungle.
Horrible.
You talk to him, Janet.
I did. I tried.
Well, try again.
Tell him
you're waiting for him.
Mike, can you hear me?
We're all here
waiting for you.
Janet, I...
Mike, I love you.
Please bring
the ship down.
Come home.
Please come home,
Mike.
Please...
I order you to bring
that ship down.
Do you read me,
Captain Doweling?
Can't, sir. The plants.
You bring that ship down,
Captain!
That's an order!
Do you read me?
Yes, sir.
All right,
then listen carefully.
Bypass the base and change
your touchdown location
to sector 4-6-3,
coordinates 83-1-0-5.
Repeat. Over.
Sector 4-6-3,
coordinates 83-1-0-5.
That's correct.
That's the Springdale
missile base in Florida.
You should know
the area.
Come out
of your safety orbit
and proceed to that location
immediately.
Our tracking stations
indicate
you are presently
over South Africa.
Start your descent
immediately.
Contact the Springdale base.
Tell them the shuttle
is coming down in their area.
Notify their radar control.
Don't tell them
anything more than that.
Top secret, absolutely.
Colonel...
May I come along?
Please?
All right.
Shuttle craft 1-0-1-0.
Come in, Doweling.
Over.
This is
shuttle craft 1-0-1-0.
I can read you. Over.
You're coming in
off course, Doweling.
You'll touch down 6 or 7
miles southeast of us.
We're on our way
there now,
and we're alerting
the Springdale rescue team
to meet us there.
Roger.
Stay in the car, Janet.
Their body harnesses
should absorb the shock.
They should be
all right.
Doweling,
this is McWilliams.
Do you read me?
Doweling,
do you read me?!
This is Doweling,
shuttle craft 1-0-1-0.
Are the others still alive?
Halpern is dead.
The Major, Gavin...
Maybe.
Don't know.
Open
the hatch, Mike. Come out.
Hatch lock sprung.
Won't open.
Pry it open!
Hurry it up!
We'll have it open
in a minute.
I told you to stay
in the car, Janet.
Are you all right?
He's OK.
Then get
that hatch open.
Yes, sir.
They... they're
all over the area.
Contact Springdale.
Find out why
they aren't here.
Just get them here,
and quick!
Heaven help us.
They said there's
a 90% probability of rain.
How much faster
will these things spread
if it rains?
Hurry it up, son,
will you?
Get that stretcher here!
The gas came
right from the center
of the flower.
I'll start the transfusion.
Janet, get out
of the car!
Aah!
Watch where
you're walking!
Get in the ambulance!
Get him
into the ambulance.
Give the Colonel
a hand.
Help him
to the ambulance.
Oh!
Let's get
out of here.
Get his helmet off.
Thanks.
Sergeant's
looking better.
I think the transfusions
are gonna do it.
Oh, thank god.
And pray.
No, Janet. We'll
follow in the car,
no, I want to stay
with Mike, please.
It's not a good idea,
Janet.
I don't know what
the contamination potential is.
Well, I don't care.
Mike would want you to.
Janet, I'll see you
at the hospital.
Do what they tell you,
please.
I think he's going to be
all right, Janet...
If we hurry.
Get them
to the base hospital.
Be careful,
but be fast.
Looks like blood.
They're always talking
about life on other planets,
but what kind of life?
Could a plant...
A flower?
Aah!
What about
Lieutenant Halpern's body?
We'll have to leave it for
the decontamination squad.
Don't let it rain.
The is Colonel McWilliams
calling.
It's the storm.
Must have started
somewhere.
This is Jennings, Mac.
What happened
to all the help?
The flamethrowers?
They're on their way.
Why are you
still there, Mac?
Can't get out,
except maybe on foot.
Those plants are
all over the engine.
Is Janet all right?
Yes, she's all right.
Better attempt it on foot.
It might be 30, 40 minutes
before help arrives.
How are the men?
Sergeant's doing real well.
Doweling's coming around
faster than we hoped.
Blood almost normal.
We're going to try it,
Nathan.
Come on.
No!
End of the road.
That whine,
it's coming from them!
The rain...
It's destroying them.
Rain!
Oh!
They're all gone.
A simple thing like rain.
Let's get back
to the car, Janet.
Colonel, where do you think
they came from,
the flowers?
I don't know.
Another planet,
another time.
There are many things
up there...
Evil and hungry...
Awesome and splendid
and gentle things, too.
Merciful things...
Like rain.
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...