The Outer Limits (1963–1965): Season 1, Episode 30 - Production and Decay of Strange Particles - full transcript
An accident at a nuclear research facility creates a dimensional doorway in which aliens need to widen to invade our world. A scientist races to discover a way to reverse the damage and close the doorway.
What's wrong?
We gotta get this
under control.
It's unstable.
What is it?
we don't know.
Dr. Marshall
just pulled it
out of
the Cyclotron.
Conig, you'd better
get another divider.
There's 16 inches of lead
in there now.
What's its
atomic weight?
Somewhere over 2-5-6.
It's a freak reaction.
Marshall said some cosmic
particles penetrated the shield.
The gold foil disappeared,
then the Lambda process
set in.
Push in the rod.
Close the gate.
Collins!
The divider began
to give way.
I'm holding the isotope
up over it.
How long can you hold it?
As long as I have to.
Marshall's the only man who
knows what the reaction will be
if those two
come into contact.
The phone's dead.
Maybe this stuff throws off
some electromagnetic field.
He's probably in
the control office.
I'll try
the P.A. system.
Better report this
to emergency.
Find out if we need
any extra shielding.
See about clean-up.
The radiation level
is halfway up the dial.
I'll have emergency here
in 2 minutes.
All right.
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...
In recent years,
nuclear physicists
have discovered a strange world
of sub-atomic particles...
Fragments of atoms smaller than
the imagination can picture,
fragments of materials which
do not obey the laws of gravity,
anti-matter composed
of inside-out material,
shadow-matter
which can penetrate
10 miles of lead shielding.
Hidden deep in the heart
of strange new elements
are secrets beyond
human understanding...
New powers,
new dimensions,
worlds within worlds,
unknown.
Those are
cloud chamber tracks.
This plate's been exposed.
No, that's a cluster.
A cluster?
Of particles?
They pulled against
the magnetic field
into a spot of light,
like Radium salts.
Well, can't we go in
and take a look at it?
They've got it down
at the reactor furnace.
It's intensely
radioactive.
I don't mind telling you
I'm worried
about the work-team
that had to carry it.
Well, how high
was the reading?
Halfway up the scale.
Pollard, these particles
are sub-atomic,
yet they're giving out
visible light
and lethal radiation.
Control office,
control office.
This is Conig.
Dr. Marshall,
there's an emergency
in the furnace reactor.
Stop.
No one goes in there
until the field subsides.
What about Collins?
We'll crack the shield
by remote control
and pull him out.
I'd like to go in there.
But there's no cure
for radiation sickness.
I set the rods.
Take a look
at that counter.
This room has
11 feet of lead
and that needle
is halfway through
to the yellow zone.
Collins seems to be
handling it.
Collins. Collins!
He can't get his arms
out of there alone.
Collins, let go.
You can move
your arms now.
Here, let me take
the isotope.
Pull back!
Collins!
He's taking too long.
Maybe they've found
a way to control it.
Not with that needle rising.
We've got to get
out of here.
But they're
still alive.
It's too late.
We can't leave them.
Pollard,
they're within 5 feet
of enough gamma penetration
to kill 100 men.
We are, too.
Close down the shields!
Tell the emergency
to send in
all the lead blocks
they can find.
Try to put a shield up
in front of these controls.
We'll get one now.
Get your men
out of here!
Let emergency handle it.
I will not send anyone
past the second shield.
We've cut off all currents.
We flooded the cell.
We've built up
20 feet of lead.
Now those readings
are too hot to approach
and still climbing.
If it doesn't stabilize
within the hour,
I'm ordering
total evacuation.
He's afraid
of a chain reaction.
But how can it form
a critical mass
with all the rods
pushed in?
Well, these particles...
Some sort of spontaneous
generation.
It can't be.
There's no physical
process to support it.
Not 3 months ago,
the tech astronomy lab
announced the discovery
of 8 new objects
in outer space.
One of them is more
than 2 billion light years
away from us.
It is shining
in the 13th magnitude.
Quasi-stellar
radio sources.
That's right.
Give them a name.
They radiate, they pulse.
But they're not galaxies
and they're not stars.
They break every rule
in the book.
Yet they're
out there... Burning.
These particles are their
atomic equivalent.
The ultra-large out there,
the ultra small,
boiling up
in our reactor.
Their radioactivity
is greater than
your wildest dreams.
Like a hole
torn in the universe.
Something seeping in.
Well, you didn't show up
at the restaurant,
so we came
to the rescue.
Any Brandy hidden
behind the Nobel prizes?
What's wrong?
Paul, what is it?
We've had an emergency.
Can I help?
No. We've done
all we can.
Is anybody hurt?
A reaction building up
in the central core.
The controls
aren't working.
Can it set off
a chain?
Oh, we will have
to evacuate the area
if it gets critical.
Maybe you'd better go.
I'd like to wait
till you go, too.
Why can't we stay here?
We won't
get in the way.
Besides, we brought you
some sandwiches and coffee,
and if we have to leave,
then we can all go together.
We should know
in a few minutes.
Some Brandy
in the cabinet.
Push this shield
into the control room.
We'll keep piling them up
till we cut down the level.
Dr. Marshall,
can you come right away?
What happened?
Colter's dying.
We carried him
into the corridor.
Did you control
the furnaces?
We shielded it.
But there's more
to it than that.
Pollard,
take Terra with you.
Are you all right?
Not too steady.
Radiation?
Maybe.
I'll stay here
with the women.
You go on.
Colter,
can you hear me?
Ohh...
Did you control
the reaction?
I don't know.
Need more shields.
Tell them
what happened.
Collins...
Collins came at me.
Only it wasn't him.
It was something else...
Inside his suit.
A... blue light,
like... Electric arc.
Delirium?
No, sir. It's true.
Something came at us.
It must have
been Collins.
A... a force.
Like a magnetic field.
You mean... you mean
Collins collapsed
when you
pulled him out?
No.
Something else.
Something
inside the suit.
It... reached for me.
But the light
inside the suit...
Burned my face.
Blinded me.
I c-can't see.
Ohh...
Where is this thing?
On the control
room floor.
Is the shield
in position?
Yes, sir. It cuts off
some of the radiation,
but it's not safe
to go in there.
Can't we move in
another shield?
We can try.
You don't
have to go.
You've taken
a heavy jolt.
I want to get a look
at that thing on the floor.
They're going
into the reactor.
Do they have to?
No.
Can't you stop them?
Pollard.
Pollard,
this is Marshall.
Yes, Marshall.
This is Pollard.
The light went on
in the passage.
Are you going
to enter the reactor?
Yes.
Don't go in there.
We've got to.
It's too hot.
We're taking
a second shield.
Colter's dead.
He's going in.
Paul... Paul, please
don't go in there.
Marshall says
it's not safe.
Something happened.
We've got to go in.
Just for a minute.
Marshall, tell her
I'll be all right.
Paul, you don't
know what's...
Marshall! Something
happened in there.
It's not just radiation.
We'll be out
in less than a minute.
It's Colter's suit.
Be careful.
It's empty.
He came in from
the reactor
like there
was someone in it.
Did Colter hit it?
No. It started
to crumble
when it came
around the shield.
It doesn't make sense.
It's approaching
the critical mass.
Why aren't
they back yet?
I don't know.
The circuits
are solid static.
When that needle
crosses into the red,
I've got to notify
the civil authorities.
Dr. Marshall, we've
got to get out of here.
Where's Pollard?
They've got him.
And Dr. Terra.
Got him?
What are you
talking about?
There's something coming
out of the atomic core.
It seeps into the suits
and takes on a form.
What kind of form?
Human...
But it's made
out of a blue light.
Is it from
the material
that we took out
of the Cyclotron?
Yes, sir.
The furnace
is alive with it,
and it's increasing.
We've got
to get out of here.
I won't go
without Paul!
You've got to go.
No! I won't go!
I won't go!
You can't let her go in there.
You've got to stop her.
I can't go in there!
I don't have
the strength.
Marshall,
you're afraid.
I know
what's in there.
Something from
another dimension.
Something invading
our time-space
continuum.
Laurel...
I did it.
I placed the heavy elements
in the Cyclotron.
Particles from out there.
From quasi-stellar sources.
I bombarded it.
I split a crack
in time and space.
It'll widen and tear.
Gravity will collapse.
Radiation.
Contagion.
It'll burn us!
Burn us!
I'll try
to find her.
Laurel...
We've got to get
out of here.
If what you say
is true,
or even half of it,
this radiation
is going to flare up,
isn't it?
Yes. Yes, it compounds
geometrically.
There's nothing
we can do about it.
Then there is no point
in running.
We... we can't
stay here!
According to you,
there's no place to hide.
All right, then.
Let's stay here, quietly.
I don't want to die!
Nobody wants to die!
But if it's time,
let's meet it with
a little dignity.
Or even better
than that,
let's go down
fighting.
Oh, Marshall, you're
a brilliant man.
Brilliant.
You've got powers.
Powers of the mind.
Use them. Use them.
I... can't think.
I'm no use, Laurel.
No use.
Paul! Paul, where are you?!
Paul! Oh, Paul!
Ohh!
Get out of here!
If you won't
help them, I will.
Laurel.
Laurel.
Come back.
Laurel.
Laurel!
Laurel.
Laurel!
Arndis! Arndis!
Close the door!
Paul's in there!
I'm going in with him!
Arndis!
let me go!
You can't stop me!
Marshall, Marshall,
stop her!
She trying to go
inside! Stop her!
Aah!
Aah! Ohh!
That ought to hold them
in the corridor.
Come on.
Marshall, look.
They've stopped.
It's the shielding.
They're cut off
from their energy source.
What are they?
Particles. They consume
material substance.
Did they
kill Pollard?
And the others.
They could burn
through the suits,
but they take on
the body form.
Like a force field.
Well, is it alive?
No, not the way
we think of life.
But it moved
and walked.
Maybe it is alive.
I don't know.
Maybe it's intelligent.
All I do know
is it's made up
of a crawling cluster
of particles.
If it's alive,
it's like radium crystals,
swarming and growing.
Ohh.
Oh, arndis.
Arndis, you saw
what was in there.
You've got to tell us.
Can you walk,
arndis?
I... I think so.
Here. Try.
I'd better carry her.
Yes.
Here...
Emergency.
This is the Control
Office.
Emergency.
Oh, look
at that counter.
The needle's crossing
into the red.
This is civil authority.
This is the Broadridge
Control Station.
Dr. Marshall speaking.
Radiation levels
are reading off the scale.
We expect
a critical mass
in the space
of a few minutes.
Broadridge, please
confirm red one alert.
That's correct.
Radiation levels indicate
a chain reaction.
Have you
flooded the cells?
Yes. Rods and shields
are in position.
The furnace core
is out of control.
What's the nature
of the buildup?
Nobelium 238,
interacting with
high velocity particles.
What kind of particles?
Unknown field reactions.
Don't bother to give it
to your computer.
It's no known process.
Tell your civil authorities
to start the sirens.
Get people out of the area
or down to their shelters.
Broadridge out.
Let's go.
Slide over, Arndis.
Laurel, you drive.
OK. Are you
all right?
Yes.
Aren't you
coming with us?
Maybe I can
do something.
You can't
stay here.
If it explodes,
you'll be killed.
Take arndis
to the civic shelter.
Marshall, I'm sorry
I said what I did.
No, you were right.
I was afraid. I still am.
But you told me
it's better not to run.
I do have powers...
Powers of the mind.
My work made it happen.
I'm going to stay here
till the very end.
There's nothing you can
do now. It's too late.
Look.
What is it?
Radiation.
The atomic structure
they're building.
You two have got
to get out of here.
Arndis, can you drive?
Can you drive the car?
I... yes, I think I can.
Then get onto
the passage road.
Paul! What about Paul?!
You've got to think
about your children.
You heard the sirens.
They're probably
at the civic shelter.
But Paul...
Paul would want you
to take care
of the children.
Now please...
Laurel,
go with her.
No, no.
I'm staying with you.
I'm not leaving you.
Back of the power shed.
The wall is a shield.
Huh.
Something is delaying
the reaction.
When counters
rise that high,
fission sets in.
Marshall,
the force fields...
Those things
in the suits...
Do they control it?
All my life I've followed
the laws of physics.
Classic laws.
Now everything's
slipping and sliding.
There's no
cause and effect.
Please. Now, Marshall,
your classic laws
are not wrong.
Well, right or wrong,
you made it happen.
Well, I do sense
something.
Pollard used to call it
mathematical intuition.
When you feel the proof
to a problem that is unknown.
Give me that grid paper.
yes.
I was trying to explore
into the heavy elements.
Mm-hmm.
Electron reversals.
That's negative matter.
Mm-hmm.
I can't!
Marshall...
I can't! It won't solve!
Marshall, it's there.
I know it. It's in you.
There is an answer.
Time! I need time!
I... I can't force it!
Don't force. Don't try.
That building
is going to explode.
Thousands of megatons.
Temperature that will
turn metal to plasma.
It will crush us
like that!
Here, Marshall.
Listen to me.
Take my hand,
Marshall. Please.
Mmm.
Collins and Conig were...
Working on an isotope
in the furnace.
Give me those readings.
Berkelium 245.
Fermium 252.
Here.
Cesium 137.
Radioactive isotope.
Data-emitting.
I was working
with nobelium.
Laura, I... I thought
my figures were wrong.
Maybe not.
According to this,
that substance
is far above
critical mass.
It ought to have started
a chain reaction 5 minutes ago.
Why didn't it?
It's being controlled.
Don't ask me how,
but those fields,
they do have some way
of holding it back.
Then they are
some form of life.
Intelligent life,
but like nothing on earth,
nor in the universe
for that matter.
The fission process
is active.
The atoms are
actually splitting.
That's why the plant
is radioactive.
But instead of exploding,
becoming energy,
the splitting process
is like a billion
tiny cracks in the wall.
The particles are emerging.
They're forcing
their way in
from an entirely new dimension.
What are you
going to do?
Reverse the process.
How?
The particles are created
out of fission,
the splitting of nuclei.
If I can set up
a fusion reaction,
compressing atoms inward,
it ought to
seal off the process.
But, Marshall,
you can't go in there.
You will burn up.
There's a radiation suit
in the Cyclotron chamber.
It has reinforced shielding.
Follow me on the circuit.
Marshall...
It's better than running.
Laurel...
Can you hear me?
Laurel?
Yes, Marshall,
I can hear you.
Keep contact
as long as you can.
The static will probably
wipe me out
when I get to the building.
Marshall,
I'll stay with you.
I'm going out.
Marshall...
Marshall,
I want you to know,
I'm with you
with all my soul.
Laurel, I'm going
into the material vaults.
The hydrogen distillate
canisters are down there.
Is there anything
I can do?
Keep talking to me
as long as you can.
Marshall, whatever happens,
we'll be together.
Laurel, they're coming!
Marshall!
Marshall,
I can't hear you!
Marshall!
Laurel...
Help me.
Yes, Marshall.
I can hear you.
Where are you?
Near the car.
I can't move.
Marshall, listen.
I'm coming out.
Hurry.
I set a hydrogen...
thermonuclear component.
Marshall!
Marshall!
Marshall!
Marshall!
Try to start the car!
We're on ground zero!
Hurry!
How wide is ground zero?
Over a mile.
But we
have to find shelter.
Stop at the desert station.
There's a concrete bunker
for observing nuclear shots.
Don't look
directly at it.
It destroys the retina.
Will there be
a shockwave?
More like a windstorm.
There's no telling
the effect of fission
on negative matter.
What about fallout?
I don't think so.
It won't be an explosion,
bursting outwards.
It'll implode,
like a vacuum,
compressing inwards.
If I'm right,
if there is
another dimension involved,
then there may be
time reversal effects.
How long was it timed for?
It's set to go off now.
Look out! The shock!
Laurel, it's over.
Broadridge crushed in.
Particles gone.
We're going to live.
As man explores
the secrets of the universe,
strange and inscrutable powers
await him,
and whether these powers
are to become
forces of destruction
or forces of construction
will ultimately depend
upon simple, but profound,
human qualities...
Inspiration...
Integrity...
courage.
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...
We gotta get this
under control.
It's unstable.
What is it?
we don't know.
Dr. Marshall
just pulled it
out of
the Cyclotron.
Conig, you'd better
get another divider.
There's 16 inches of lead
in there now.
What's its
atomic weight?
Somewhere over 2-5-6.
It's a freak reaction.
Marshall said some cosmic
particles penetrated the shield.
The gold foil disappeared,
then the Lambda process
set in.
Push in the rod.
Close the gate.
Collins!
The divider began
to give way.
I'm holding the isotope
up over it.
How long can you hold it?
As long as I have to.
Marshall's the only man who
knows what the reaction will be
if those two
come into contact.
The phone's dead.
Maybe this stuff throws off
some electromagnetic field.
He's probably in
the control office.
I'll try
the P.A. system.
Better report this
to emergency.
Find out if we need
any extra shielding.
See about clean-up.
The radiation level
is halfway up the dial.
I'll have emergency here
in 2 minutes.
All right.
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...
In recent years,
nuclear physicists
have discovered a strange world
of sub-atomic particles...
Fragments of atoms smaller than
the imagination can picture,
fragments of materials which
do not obey the laws of gravity,
anti-matter composed
of inside-out material,
shadow-matter
which can penetrate
10 miles of lead shielding.
Hidden deep in the heart
of strange new elements
are secrets beyond
human understanding...
New powers,
new dimensions,
worlds within worlds,
unknown.
Those are
cloud chamber tracks.
This plate's been exposed.
No, that's a cluster.
A cluster?
Of particles?
They pulled against
the magnetic field
into a spot of light,
like Radium salts.
Well, can't we go in
and take a look at it?
They've got it down
at the reactor furnace.
It's intensely
radioactive.
I don't mind telling you
I'm worried
about the work-team
that had to carry it.
Well, how high
was the reading?
Halfway up the scale.
Pollard, these particles
are sub-atomic,
yet they're giving out
visible light
and lethal radiation.
Control office,
control office.
This is Conig.
Dr. Marshall,
there's an emergency
in the furnace reactor.
Stop.
No one goes in there
until the field subsides.
What about Collins?
We'll crack the shield
by remote control
and pull him out.
I'd like to go in there.
But there's no cure
for radiation sickness.
I set the rods.
Take a look
at that counter.
This room has
11 feet of lead
and that needle
is halfway through
to the yellow zone.
Collins seems to be
handling it.
Collins. Collins!
He can't get his arms
out of there alone.
Collins, let go.
You can move
your arms now.
Here, let me take
the isotope.
Pull back!
Collins!
He's taking too long.
Maybe they've found
a way to control it.
Not with that needle rising.
We've got to get
out of here.
But they're
still alive.
It's too late.
We can't leave them.
Pollard,
they're within 5 feet
of enough gamma penetration
to kill 100 men.
We are, too.
Close down the shields!
Tell the emergency
to send in
all the lead blocks
they can find.
Try to put a shield up
in front of these controls.
We'll get one now.
Get your men
out of here!
Let emergency handle it.
I will not send anyone
past the second shield.
We've cut off all currents.
We flooded the cell.
We've built up
20 feet of lead.
Now those readings
are too hot to approach
and still climbing.
If it doesn't stabilize
within the hour,
I'm ordering
total evacuation.
He's afraid
of a chain reaction.
But how can it form
a critical mass
with all the rods
pushed in?
Well, these particles...
Some sort of spontaneous
generation.
It can't be.
There's no physical
process to support it.
Not 3 months ago,
the tech astronomy lab
announced the discovery
of 8 new objects
in outer space.
One of them is more
than 2 billion light years
away from us.
It is shining
in the 13th magnitude.
Quasi-stellar
radio sources.
That's right.
Give them a name.
They radiate, they pulse.
But they're not galaxies
and they're not stars.
They break every rule
in the book.
Yet they're
out there... Burning.
These particles are their
atomic equivalent.
The ultra-large out there,
the ultra small,
boiling up
in our reactor.
Their radioactivity
is greater than
your wildest dreams.
Like a hole
torn in the universe.
Something seeping in.
Well, you didn't show up
at the restaurant,
so we came
to the rescue.
Any Brandy hidden
behind the Nobel prizes?
What's wrong?
Paul, what is it?
We've had an emergency.
Can I help?
No. We've done
all we can.
Is anybody hurt?
A reaction building up
in the central core.
The controls
aren't working.
Can it set off
a chain?
Oh, we will have
to evacuate the area
if it gets critical.
Maybe you'd better go.
I'd like to wait
till you go, too.
Why can't we stay here?
We won't
get in the way.
Besides, we brought you
some sandwiches and coffee,
and if we have to leave,
then we can all go together.
We should know
in a few minutes.
Some Brandy
in the cabinet.
Push this shield
into the control room.
We'll keep piling them up
till we cut down the level.
Dr. Marshall,
can you come right away?
What happened?
Colter's dying.
We carried him
into the corridor.
Did you control
the furnaces?
We shielded it.
But there's more
to it than that.
Pollard,
take Terra with you.
Are you all right?
Not too steady.
Radiation?
Maybe.
I'll stay here
with the women.
You go on.
Colter,
can you hear me?
Ohh...
Did you control
the reaction?
I don't know.
Need more shields.
Tell them
what happened.
Collins...
Collins came at me.
Only it wasn't him.
It was something else...
Inside his suit.
A... blue light,
like... Electric arc.
Delirium?
No, sir. It's true.
Something came at us.
It must have
been Collins.
A... a force.
Like a magnetic field.
You mean... you mean
Collins collapsed
when you
pulled him out?
No.
Something else.
Something
inside the suit.
It... reached for me.
But the light
inside the suit...
Burned my face.
Blinded me.
I c-can't see.
Ohh...
Where is this thing?
On the control
room floor.
Is the shield
in position?
Yes, sir. It cuts off
some of the radiation,
but it's not safe
to go in there.
Can't we move in
another shield?
We can try.
You don't
have to go.
You've taken
a heavy jolt.
I want to get a look
at that thing on the floor.
They're going
into the reactor.
Do they have to?
No.
Can't you stop them?
Pollard.
Pollard,
this is Marshall.
Yes, Marshall.
This is Pollard.
The light went on
in the passage.
Are you going
to enter the reactor?
Yes.
Don't go in there.
We've got to.
It's too hot.
We're taking
a second shield.
Colter's dead.
He's going in.
Paul... Paul, please
don't go in there.
Marshall says
it's not safe.
Something happened.
We've got to go in.
Just for a minute.
Marshall, tell her
I'll be all right.
Paul, you don't
know what's...
Marshall! Something
happened in there.
It's not just radiation.
We'll be out
in less than a minute.
It's Colter's suit.
Be careful.
It's empty.
He came in from
the reactor
like there
was someone in it.
Did Colter hit it?
No. It started
to crumble
when it came
around the shield.
It doesn't make sense.
It's approaching
the critical mass.
Why aren't
they back yet?
I don't know.
The circuits
are solid static.
When that needle
crosses into the red,
I've got to notify
the civil authorities.
Dr. Marshall, we've
got to get out of here.
Where's Pollard?
They've got him.
And Dr. Terra.
Got him?
What are you
talking about?
There's something coming
out of the atomic core.
It seeps into the suits
and takes on a form.
What kind of form?
Human...
But it's made
out of a blue light.
Is it from
the material
that we took out
of the Cyclotron?
Yes, sir.
The furnace
is alive with it,
and it's increasing.
We've got
to get out of here.
I won't go
without Paul!
You've got to go.
No! I won't go!
I won't go!
You can't let her go in there.
You've got to stop her.
I can't go in there!
I don't have
the strength.
Marshall,
you're afraid.
I know
what's in there.
Something from
another dimension.
Something invading
our time-space
continuum.
Laurel...
I did it.
I placed the heavy elements
in the Cyclotron.
Particles from out there.
From quasi-stellar sources.
I bombarded it.
I split a crack
in time and space.
It'll widen and tear.
Gravity will collapse.
Radiation.
Contagion.
It'll burn us!
Burn us!
I'll try
to find her.
Laurel...
We've got to get
out of here.
If what you say
is true,
or even half of it,
this radiation
is going to flare up,
isn't it?
Yes. Yes, it compounds
geometrically.
There's nothing
we can do about it.
Then there is no point
in running.
We... we can't
stay here!
According to you,
there's no place to hide.
All right, then.
Let's stay here, quietly.
I don't want to die!
Nobody wants to die!
But if it's time,
let's meet it with
a little dignity.
Or even better
than that,
let's go down
fighting.
Oh, Marshall, you're
a brilliant man.
Brilliant.
You've got powers.
Powers of the mind.
Use them. Use them.
I... can't think.
I'm no use, Laurel.
No use.
Paul! Paul, where are you?!
Paul! Oh, Paul!
Ohh!
Get out of here!
If you won't
help them, I will.
Laurel.
Laurel.
Come back.
Laurel.
Laurel!
Laurel.
Laurel!
Arndis! Arndis!
Close the door!
Paul's in there!
I'm going in with him!
Arndis!
let me go!
You can't stop me!
Marshall, Marshall,
stop her!
She trying to go
inside! Stop her!
Aah!
Aah! Ohh!
That ought to hold them
in the corridor.
Come on.
Marshall, look.
They've stopped.
It's the shielding.
They're cut off
from their energy source.
What are they?
Particles. They consume
material substance.
Did they
kill Pollard?
And the others.
They could burn
through the suits,
but they take on
the body form.
Like a force field.
Well, is it alive?
No, not the way
we think of life.
But it moved
and walked.
Maybe it is alive.
I don't know.
Maybe it's intelligent.
All I do know
is it's made up
of a crawling cluster
of particles.
If it's alive,
it's like radium crystals,
swarming and growing.
Ohh.
Oh, arndis.
Arndis, you saw
what was in there.
You've got to tell us.
Can you walk,
arndis?
I... I think so.
Here. Try.
I'd better carry her.
Yes.
Here...
Emergency.
This is the Control
Office.
Emergency.
Oh, look
at that counter.
The needle's crossing
into the red.
This is civil authority.
This is the Broadridge
Control Station.
Dr. Marshall speaking.
Radiation levels
are reading off the scale.
We expect
a critical mass
in the space
of a few minutes.
Broadridge, please
confirm red one alert.
That's correct.
Radiation levels indicate
a chain reaction.
Have you
flooded the cells?
Yes. Rods and shields
are in position.
The furnace core
is out of control.
What's the nature
of the buildup?
Nobelium 238,
interacting with
high velocity particles.
What kind of particles?
Unknown field reactions.
Don't bother to give it
to your computer.
It's no known process.
Tell your civil authorities
to start the sirens.
Get people out of the area
or down to their shelters.
Broadridge out.
Let's go.
Slide over, Arndis.
Laurel, you drive.
OK. Are you
all right?
Yes.
Aren't you
coming with us?
Maybe I can
do something.
You can't
stay here.
If it explodes,
you'll be killed.
Take arndis
to the civic shelter.
Marshall, I'm sorry
I said what I did.
No, you were right.
I was afraid. I still am.
But you told me
it's better not to run.
I do have powers...
Powers of the mind.
My work made it happen.
I'm going to stay here
till the very end.
There's nothing you can
do now. It's too late.
Look.
What is it?
Radiation.
The atomic structure
they're building.
You two have got
to get out of here.
Arndis, can you drive?
Can you drive the car?
I... yes, I think I can.
Then get onto
the passage road.
Paul! What about Paul?!
You've got to think
about your children.
You heard the sirens.
They're probably
at the civic shelter.
But Paul...
Paul would want you
to take care
of the children.
Now please...
Laurel,
go with her.
No, no.
I'm staying with you.
I'm not leaving you.
Back of the power shed.
The wall is a shield.
Huh.
Something is delaying
the reaction.
When counters
rise that high,
fission sets in.
Marshall,
the force fields...
Those things
in the suits...
Do they control it?
All my life I've followed
the laws of physics.
Classic laws.
Now everything's
slipping and sliding.
There's no
cause and effect.
Please. Now, Marshall,
your classic laws
are not wrong.
Well, right or wrong,
you made it happen.
Well, I do sense
something.
Pollard used to call it
mathematical intuition.
When you feel the proof
to a problem that is unknown.
Give me that grid paper.
yes.
I was trying to explore
into the heavy elements.
Mm-hmm.
Electron reversals.
That's negative matter.
Mm-hmm.
I can't!
Marshall...
I can't! It won't solve!
Marshall, it's there.
I know it. It's in you.
There is an answer.
Time! I need time!
I... I can't force it!
Don't force. Don't try.
That building
is going to explode.
Thousands of megatons.
Temperature that will
turn metal to plasma.
It will crush us
like that!
Here, Marshall.
Listen to me.
Take my hand,
Marshall. Please.
Mmm.
Collins and Conig were...
Working on an isotope
in the furnace.
Give me those readings.
Berkelium 245.
Fermium 252.
Here.
Cesium 137.
Radioactive isotope.
Data-emitting.
I was working
with nobelium.
Laura, I... I thought
my figures were wrong.
Maybe not.
According to this,
that substance
is far above
critical mass.
It ought to have started
a chain reaction 5 minutes ago.
Why didn't it?
It's being controlled.
Don't ask me how,
but those fields,
they do have some way
of holding it back.
Then they are
some form of life.
Intelligent life,
but like nothing on earth,
nor in the universe
for that matter.
The fission process
is active.
The atoms are
actually splitting.
That's why the plant
is radioactive.
But instead of exploding,
becoming energy,
the splitting process
is like a billion
tiny cracks in the wall.
The particles are emerging.
They're forcing
their way in
from an entirely new dimension.
What are you
going to do?
Reverse the process.
How?
The particles are created
out of fission,
the splitting of nuclei.
If I can set up
a fusion reaction,
compressing atoms inward,
it ought to
seal off the process.
But, Marshall,
you can't go in there.
You will burn up.
There's a radiation suit
in the Cyclotron chamber.
It has reinforced shielding.
Follow me on the circuit.
Marshall...
It's better than running.
Laurel...
Can you hear me?
Laurel?
Yes, Marshall,
I can hear you.
Keep contact
as long as you can.
The static will probably
wipe me out
when I get to the building.
Marshall,
I'll stay with you.
I'm going out.
Marshall...
Marshall,
I want you to know,
I'm with you
with all my soul.
Laurel, I'm going
into the material vaults.
The hydrogen distillate
canisters are down there.
Is there anything
I can do?
Keep talking to me
as long as you can.
Marshall, whatever happens,
we'll be together.
Laurel, they're coming!
Marshall!
Marshall,
I can't hear you!
Marshall!
Laurel...
Help me.
Yes, Marshall.
I can hear you.
Where are you?
Near the car.
I can't move.
Marshall, listen.
I'm coming out.
Hurry.
I set a hydrogen...
thermonuclear component.
Marshall!
Marshall!
Marshall!
Marshall!
Try to start the car!
We're on ground zero!
Hurry!
How wide is ground zero?
Over a mile.
But we
have to find shelter.
Stop at the desert station.
There's a concrete bunker
for observing nuclear shots.
Don't look
directly at it.
It destroys the retina.
Will there be
a shockwave?
More like a windstorm.
There's no telling
the effect of fission
on negative matter.
What about fallout?
I don't think so.
It won't be an explosion,
bursting outwards.
It'll implode,
like a vacuum,
compressing inwards.
If I'm right,
if there is
another dimension involved,
then there may be
time reversal effects.
How long was it timed for?
It's set to go off now.
Look out! The shock!
Laurel, it's over.
Broadridge crushed in.
Particles gone.
We're going to live.
As man explores
the secrets of the universe,
strange and inscrutable powers
await him,
and whether these powers
are to become
forces of destruction
or forces of construction
will ultimately depend
upon simple, but profound,
human qualities...
Inspiration...
Integrity...
courage.
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...