The Outer Limits (1963–1965): Season 2, Episode 1 - Soldier - full transcript
A soldier from the far future is accidentally teleported back to our present. The psychiatrist assigned to examine the soldier realizes that he has been bred purely as a killing machine, but he believe he can reawaken the warrior's humanity. Meanwhile a second soldier arrives, dedicated to hunting and killing his enemy.
Night comes
too soon on the battlefield.
For some men
it comes permanently,
their eyes never open
to the light of day.
But for this man,
fighting this war,
there is never total darkness.
The spidery beams of light
in the sky.
Are the descendents
of the modern laser beam,
heat rays that sear through
tungsten steel and flesh.
As though
they were cheesecloth.
And this soldier
must go against those weapons.
His name is Quarlo,
and he is a foot soldier,
the ultimate infantryman.
Trained from birth
by the state,
he has never known love,
or closeness,
or warmth.
He is geared for only
one purpose:
To kill the enemy.
And the enemy waits for him.
Find your enemy.
Attack.
Kill.
Attack.
Kill.
Attack.
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.
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...
The outer limits.
He's killed him!
He's killed him!
Kill!
Kill!
Kill!
Kill!
Time is fluid,
the waters of forever close,
and passage
may not be completed.
The present and the future
are, for a moment, united.
And the enemy...
Half today,
half tomorrow...
Is locked between.
Find the enemy.
Find the enemy.
Attack!
Attack!
Attack!
Mr. Tanner?
I'm Tom Kagan.
I was sent over by the local
office of the bureau.
I'm a philologist.
A philologist?
Yes, that's right.
A language expert.
I read your report.
It seems that the man
is talking some
strange sort of dialect.
They decided that I was the
man to unravel it for you.
You've gotta be kidding.
Right?
You're putting me on, huh?
Now, just what does
that mean?
I'll tell you
what that means, friend.
Any moment now, something
is going to be arriving
that is guaranteed
to stand your hair on end.
It took 6 beefy men to put
him into the 2 straitjackets
he's wearing, and they
send down a philologist.
Well, I do know
a little karate.
Oh, say, Kagan,
you're a real knee-slapper.
I guess I didn't make my
report strong enough, huh?
No, I don't think
you did.
What makes him
takeoff like that?
It's the elevator.
You'd better have them
shut it off.
What for?
Sharp sounds
drive him wild.
Apparently, his hearing is on a much
more sensitive threshold than ours.
You know that helmet
you showed me?
It had built-in sound baffles
to deaden outside noises.
So, we'll give him
back the helmet.
No, I wouldn't do that
if I were you.
What harm could it do?
Well, that's the point.
I don't know.
Well...
I'm glad to see
you have some doubts.
Here, want
a stick of gum?
Thanks.
You know,
those scars...
They're radiation burns,
I'd say, but,
then, you can't tell.
That's outside my field.
Radiation, all right.
Medical institute
had him for 5 days.
But it's outside
their field, too.
Whatever caused
those burns,
we haven't seen
anything like it around here.
Oh, he's shouting
something!
Hit that switch.
All right, cut it.
It's the same speech,
over and over.
It's all he ever says.
There is something
familiar about it, but I...
Can't place the idiom.
Well, have you been able to
make anything out of the tapes?
No, random sounds,
mostly.
Anger, frenzy...
A few word groupings
that I can't decide from...
No, taking tapes of his
mumblings doesn't help me.
I've got to go down
in there with him.
Oh, now,
wait just a second,
friend.
Have you lost
your mind?
That's not just some
ordinary psycho down there,
that's the most dangerous piece
of equipment I've ever seen.
He'll take you and tear
along the dotted line.
That man is something that
we have never seen before.
He's from somewhere or...
Somewhen that's completely
outside our knowledge.
He's a walking challenge!
He's a walking bomb!
Do I get the permission?
Not a chance.
Well, can I...
Try to persuade you,
logically?
Uh...
Uh...
Kagan.
Kagan.
You?
Ka-gan.
Kagan.
You?
Oh, come on, man,
confounded...
Ka-
gan.
Kagan.
You?
Name's Quarlo...
Klobrigny.
Prite!
R- m-e-n-t-n-d-o.
Well...
Brother,
you can say that again.
Name's Quarlo Klobrigny.
Prite.
R- m-e-n-t-n-d-o.
Name's Quarlo Klobrigny.
Prite.
R- m-e-n-t-n-d-o.
Name's Quarlo Klobrigny.
Prite.
R- m-e-n-t-n-d-o.
Well?
Well, what?
7 days, and you ask me,
"well, what?"
He's a soldier.
Any more late bulletins?
I spent 3 years
in the rangers, Kagan.
I know a soldier
when I see one.
No, I mean, he is really
a soldier.
There's nothing about him
that's not a soldier.
He's the perfect,
ultimate infantryman.
I don't think he knows
anything else.
What makes you
think that?
You know that gibberish
he's been spelling?
Which is?
It's English.
English?
Aw, c'mon, Kagan.
The guy's obviously
a foreigner of some kind.
That's the wrong word.
Not "foreigner."
Try "alien."
Alien?
From another planet?
Now, wait a minute.
You're rushing me.
The department
wants facts.
They've got men lined up, just
waiting for a crack at him.
Sociologists,
philosophers,
physicists.
They feel you've had him
long enough.
All right,
you tell them
not to press me!
You tell them I'm just
beginning to break through.
But he has to trust me
implicitly first.
Just one slip
and we lose the whole game.
Hey, hey, hey...
Take it easy, Tom.
Well...
I guess I'm just bushed.
It's like trying to
hold on to fog.
One moment you think you've got it,
then the next moment it's gone.
That's a very strange
and peculiar item
we have down there,
but it is not
a stupid one.
OK,
I'll do the best I can to
run interference for you.
Oh, thanks.
I just wish you could
give me something.
All right,
I'll give you something.
Do you want to know
what he's saying
over and over again,
without change?
He's saying, "my name"
"is Quarlo Klobrigny."
"Private."
"R-m-e-n-t-n-d-o."
His name, his rank,
and his serial letters.
Name's Quarlo Klobrigny.
Prite.
R- m-e-n-t-n-d-o.
All right, here.
"Dog."
D- o-g.
"Dog."
C'mon, Quarlo,
you know it.
You know you know it.
"Dog"!
"Dog."
Quarlo, stop playing dumb.
"Dog!" "dog!"
I give up.
Dog is a dog.
Dog, dog, dog, dog,
dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog!
You do know, Quarlo,
don't you?
You know.
You understand everything
I've been saying and doing.
Maybe not in my words,
or yours, but you know.
And still, you won't give me
an inch, will you? Will you?
Who you are,
where you come from.
What do you want,
Quarlo?
You want me to tell you
who I am? Who we are?
How could they have thought
you were a dumb brute?
You're quicker than I'd be
in your place, soldier.
Quarlo. Private.
R- m-e-n-t-n-d-o.
Dog. Dog, dog, dog, dog,
dog, dog, dog!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
Dog, a-Kagan, dog!
Dog, a-Kagan!
Dog, a-Kagan! Dog, a-Kagan!
Dog, a-Kagan!
Paul...
Tom.
This weapon is incredible.
It has no power source.
None at all.
It's inexhaustible.
I could fire it
steadily for a month,
and it's power wouldn't
decrease by one kilowatt.
Look, this is all that's left of a
4- foot square, solid steel bulkhead.
You know,
we took this thing apart,
we disassembled every piece,
and it has only
3 moving parts in it.
We even tried leaving out
a half a dozen pieces,
and it still works.
Now, we don't know how.
We haven't the slightest idea.
Please, Paul.
Now, what's so important?
I broke through
this morning.
I think we talked.
You think you talked?
He's from the future,
Paul.
But how?
Well, he doesn't
really know.
In his time, they fight their
wars with beams of force.
Laser lights. Now, somehow, he
got caught between 2 of them,
and the next
thing he knew...
He was here,
in the present.
No, correction.
He was here, in the past.
His past, our present.
Did he tell you
all this?
Only fragments of it.
I had to
piece it together
and then draw my own
conclusions from most of it.
He was evidently attacking
someone he keeps calling,
"the enemy."
In capital letters.
Then it is English
he's speaking?
No, not really.
Not exactly.
It's... it's what I thought...
It's gutter English,
vastly speeded up,
and filled with
slang of his time.
Well, how did he
get all that out of there?
I wasn't exactly certain that
he was from this planet, so...
See, this is our galaxy,
these stars here.
This is our sun.
Light, up above.
Now, here,
1,2,3.
3rd from the sun,
is the earth.
Here.
Here. The earth.
Here.
Us, this dot.
Now, Quarlo,
which one is yours?
Which star? Which planet?
No, that's...
That's the earth.
I told you.
Which one is yours?
Look...
Earth.
Now...
You. You draw.
No, no. No.
Point.
This is our galaxy.
And yet, it wasn't
exactly our galaxy.
That is, not the way
it is today.
I took that drawing to a friend
of mine at the naval observatory.
It took him hours
to plot it correctly.
Well, what was it?
The position the stars of
our galaxy will be in...
1800 years from now.
Have a...
Have a piece of gum.
Love.
Love.
Good.
Hate.
Hate.
Hate, bad.
Love.
Love.
Why do you peep
me this?
I want you to know.
I want you to understand.
I grasp.
You! You are the drum-dumb.
Send me home aways, now! Don't
you know there's a war on?
I... I can't send you home.
I don't know how.
Nobody knows how.
Your... your home
doesn't exist yet.
Love, hate, love, hate.
Fret it!
You can't forget it.
Fret it!
Think-speak'll
pull me.
I don't understand.
Think-speak!
Think-speak!
C.O.! C.O.! C.O.!
Fret it!
Ah, Quarlo...
Don't never touch me!
Don't never touch me!
Don't never touch me!
Don't touch him!
Ahh.
How does it feel to be
dribbled like a basketball?
It was my fault.
It was literally
the first time
that anybody had ever
touched him in his life.
5 weeks, eh?
And what have you got
to show for it?
Nothing but
a set of staved-in ribs,
and one beautiful
headache
from having your skull
bounced off a wall.
I taught him
to speak our language.
Not so, as I've noticed.
Every 3rd word is gibberish.
It is not gibberish.
It's common usage
from his time.
And did you ever stop
to think... ow!
How valuable even those
clues are in our future?
You tell your
superiors that...
Given enough time,
I'll establish
absolute communication
for them.
Well, that's it.
You do us
both a favor,
try not to let him bounce you
around like a ping-pong ball.
We've gotta requisition tape,
and that's a nuisance.
Tom, we can't let you back
in there with him.
Just look at his eyes,
their hate.
You can see he's born
to be a killer.
Yes, that's the point.
He was born
to be a killer,
he was trained
to be a killer,
and if he hadn't found
his way into our time,
he'd die a killer.
But, Paul...
He doesn't hate.
He doesn't
understand hate,
or love,
or compassion.
And it's not your job
to teach him what they mean.
They want you
to decipher his language!
And I'm not able to do that
under these conditions!
Paul, I... I want
you to release him.
I mean it.
I want you to
release him to me.
I want him to live
in my house, for a time,
under absolutely
normal conditions.
Your house?
Oh, no. Come on.
He hasn't done anything
to justify his being
penned up like a criminal.
The old newsman
only fainted.
Quarlo was simply
defending himself
in a strange situation when
he fired at the police car.
We can't turn him loose,
ready to go off
at any moment.
I tell you,
he can adapt.
He's quick.
He can fit in!
Tom, this is lunacy!
It's no more lunacy than
what they're trying to do.
Now, I warn you,
he'll fight you,
he'll close up
like a clam.
It's not my
decision to make.
I mean, the bureau
is getting static.
A top secret like that is too
hot to leave lying around.
They want him
boxed-in permanently.
Paul,
let me have him,
just for one month.
One more month,
that's all I'm asking.
Now, I'm sure...
He'll show so much
progress during that time
that they'll be
forced to reconsider.
Just one month, Paul.
Please.
What about your family?
How are they
gonna like the idea
of a potential killer
in the same house with them?
Well, I've...
I've already talked
with them.
And?
Well,
Abby isn't sure, but she's
willing to go along,
and both the kids
are fascinated.
I think that soldier is playing
you for a sucker, Tom.
He's a crafty,
dangerous animal,
and he's got you
working for him.
Don't forget,
even in the future,
a captured prisoner of war's
first obligation is to escape.
But you'll do it.
Oh, I'll talk to the chief,
but that's all I guarantee.
Ah, that's good.
Here.
Have a stick of gum?
You're going home
with me now, Quarlo.
I don't peep.
Uh...
Home.
It's... it's a...
It's a place to live.
It's a house...
Uh, a place where
you can rest and...
Nobody will ever
lock you in.
Barracks? C.O.?
No. No barracks,
no commanding officer,
no other troops,
no war...
Nothing but freedom.
I told you
about freedom.
You'll be close
to people, now, Quarlo.
See my wife,
my daughter,
my son, and me.
I don't grasp.
Well, you'll...
You'll... you'll
have to see.
That's the world
out there, Quarlo.
You'll have to
put this on.
Why?
Well, they know
nothing about you.
They want to keep
you secret.
Secret.
You understand?
I peep.
You wouldn't
hurt me, would you?
Like when I touched
you the other time?
You are not enemy.
Yes, but could I
be enemy?
You are not enemy.
Find the enemy.
Find the enemy.
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.
Come on, Quarlo.
Come on in.
Quarlo, this is
my wife, Abby.
Uh, my daughter, Toni,
and Lauren is...
Is...
C.O.,
Quarlo Klobrigny,
prite.
R- m-e-n-t-n-d-o,
reporting.
Cat.
Remember the book?
What did you want
from that cat, Quarlo?
Nothing same.
No, cats are different
where you come from?
Different.
C.O. prowler
think-speak.
I...
I don't understand,
the... the commanding officer
uses cats?
On patrol.
Troopers' cats tied
together by think-speak.
Cats do prowl,
spot the enemy.
Troopers jump.
Oh.
I think what
he means is that
somehow, by some...
Some agency that we
don't even suspect,
wars in the future are
fought with men and animals.
Cats are used
for reconnaissance.
And by telepathy,
they relay their messages.
And... and he thought he could get in
touch with his commanding officer
by talking through
MacBeth.
Yeah. Well,
makes sense, doesn't it?
Just think what a patrol prowler
a silent cat would make.
No, Quarlo,
it isn't that way here.
MacBeth is just a cat.
Nothing's here
like war zone.
Well, we'll try to make things
pleasant for you here, Quarlo.
N- n-no, no.
It's all right, Quarlo.
Why does she touch you?
There is enemy
and not enemy.
Which is she?
Wife.
Uh...
Family unit.
Female C.O.
Uh, mother,
like your mother.
Mother?
My mother?
You do have
a mother, don't you?
Klobrigny...
Creche hatchery 5-5-9.
I am the state.
The state is all.
Yes. Uh...
Lauren,
why don't you show
Quarlo to his room?
Come on.
Creche?
Creche is a day nursery.
It's a foundling
hospital.
He is a product
of artificial birth.
He has no real parents.
He was born and raised
in a hatchery,
just like an egg.
And that about
the state?
"The state is all."
His mother, his father,
everything.
How pathetic.
Tom,
can we help him?
He seems so lost
and confused,
and you said yourself
he's capable of...
Anything.
Abby, I know
we can help him.
But...
Are you sure, Tom?
Toni...
And Lauren upstairs
with him, alone?
I know.
I know it's a...
It's a terrible risk,
but we can help him
and we must.
On the 5th day, conversation
began to improve.
Subject gave information
that his world
is divided into
2 warring camps,
with children raised from
birth on special war islands
devoted to nothing
but training.
The society is rigidly
structured into classes.
Migrant workers
at the lowest level,
and what the subject calls "the
purple," or ruling body, at the top.
Hey, dad.
Yeah?
Can't I tell the kids
about Quarlo?
Listen, young man,
you so much as mention his name
and I will stop your allowance.
Quarlo is strictly
top-secret, understand?
I peep.
Grand.
'Morning, dad.
'Morning, honey.
Quarlo has never
seen one of the purple.
He talks about them as
though they were mystical.
Get out!
I'll do no such thing!
I live here, too, you know, and be-besides,
you're blocking the coffee pot.
Wh-what were
you doing?
Eh...
Drinking water.
Come on,
I saw you.
Eh, uh, you...
You rot food. Waste.
That's just the garbage.
Troopers some nights
need food.
There's no supply.
It's not right.
Rot, waste.
What do you want
from me?
What do I want
from you?
Find the enemy.
Find the enemy.
Find the enemy.
Find the enemy.
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.
Tanner speaking.
Oh, Paul,
I was wondering if...
Now look, Tom, stop
chewing my ear, will ya?
I haven't any control
over what they're doing.
But you didn't
fight them.
I did fight them,
if you must know.
I spent 2 weeks batting my
brains against the wall,
while you were out there
playing a-b-cs with king Kong.
It won't work, Paul.
It's taken almost
constant contact
for him to accept
me as "not enemy."
Now, you throw him in with a bunch of
scholars, and he'll tense up on you.
You've got to...
Got, got, got...
I don't gotta do anything.
But pick up that
big, ugly piece of furniture
and take him where my
bosses tell me to take him.
But, he... he's
at ease, here.
He's under control.
What do you mean he's under control?
You mean, he hasn't run amuck yet.
Ah, wait a minute.
Yeah?
Oh, no.
The car there?
Right away.
He was under
control, right?
Have you checked
under his bed lately?
Well, but...
Uh, what?
The bomb has
finally exploded.
He broke into that gun
shop on Essex Boulevard.
He's armed now,
and that ends
this discussion.
Sgt. Berry, sir. Are you
Mr. Tanner, from the bureau?
Right. What's the story here?
Well, he broke in
through the front window.
We've got 6 cars parked out there,
so he can't escape that way.
He would have to come out through
the alleyway here, then?
Already
tried it, sir.
Went right through that steel
door like it wasn't there.
That's when my men opened fire
and he ducked back inside.
Is he armed now?
Yes, sir.
He's got a big 30-aught-6
Swedish hunting rifle.
From the way he was packing it,
I'm sure he knows how to use it.
OK, we're going to
have to flush him out.
Tear gas, sir?
No, I think
noise will do it.
I'll tell you when,
and you start up the sirens
of all the cars at once.
Then we'll send in a group from front
and rear, and catch him in between.
Right.
Now listen, Paul...
No. Don't even ask. The
answer's no before you start.
You are not empowered
to kill him,
and that's what you're gonna
have to do if you attack him.
I'll get
the authority, then.
Oh, don't be foolish. By the time
you get through to the bureau,
I could have
him out of there.
He trusts me. At least
he'll listen to me.
Listening to you has brought this
all about, Tom. Now, I've had it!
Paul, he doesn't know.
He's in a strange land. He doesn't
know anything except his gun, any gun.
Yeah, and he's got one now.
If only I'd taken him in
when I wanted to.
That's just it.
He's afraid of you.
He's afraid of everybody
except me. To him,
you are "the enemy."
You want to make him a prisoner.
Don't you understand?
All right, Tom.
Good.
One more time,
I'll sit and watch
one more time.
But, whatever happens,
it's all finished tonight.
Quarlo.
It's Kagan.
I wanna talk to you.
Quarlo!
I'm not enemy.
Don't attack.
Quarlo,
why did you do this?
You tell me,
you talk to me.
Trooper needs a gun.
Oh, I see.
Well, now,
will you come
home with me?
Can I take you back?
I'll kill you.
Then they'll have to
kill you, Quarlo.
Troopers die.
Yes, but there's
no need for it.
It is my way,
the only way I know.
Stay away from me!
No, Quarlo.
I'm coming in.
I'll kill you!
Mrs. Kagan?
This is Paul Tanner.
Now, listen carefully.
I haven't time to repeat.
Quarlo broke into
a gun shop tonight,
and Tom managed
to talk him out of the shop,
and they're on their way back to
your house now. But he's armed.
He refused to leave the shop
unless he could keep the gun.
Here? They're coming here?
Now, listen,
they'll be there
in a few minutes.
When they get there,
Tom is going to try and talk
the gun away from Quarlo.
When he does, the moment
Tom gets the gun,
you take the phone
off the hook.
Off the hook?
But I don't...
I've got the line
jammed open.
The moment you take it off the hook,
we'll know that Tom has the gun.
No other calls
can get through.
We're only
2 minutes away.
Any closer and the soldier
might suspect.
We'll move in and grab him the moment
you take the phone off the hook.
I hear a car.
Toni, Lauren,
come here, quick.
Right now.
Lauren, quickly!
Toni!
Come on!
Come on!
Don't risk being seen.
Out the back door, right now!
Right now,
out the back.
Stop!
Abby, kids... what are you doing
up at this time of night?
Tom...
Let them go.
Let them go
in the kitchen. Please?
Don't.
Don't frighten them,
Quarlo.
Mixed peeping.
I don't grasp all
that's happening.
They want to call
the enemy.
Stop. You'll all stop.
Give me the gun,
Quarlo.
Trooper never
gives up a gun.
That's another time
and another place.
You can't do it
that way here.
We're trying
to help you.
We want to keep
them from hurting you.
But first you'll
have to give me that gun.
I'll kill you.
Oh, come on, Quarlo,
don't be drum-dumb.
You know dad
isn't your enemy.
You wouldn't kill him.
I...
I don't...
You... you give me
the gun, Quarlo.
I promise you,
nothing will happen.
I'll put it where you can
get it anytime you want it.
You shouldn't have
run away like that, Quarlo.
It helps them.
Help who?
Oh, some people
that want to have
you moved
to another place.
I was sure I could
have persuaded them
to leave you here,
but now...
Who? What people?
Well, some men who make our
decisions for the rest of us,
because we let them.
C.O.?
Something like that.
They've decided that they
want to ask you questions.
P.O.W.
I peeped
that would happen.
I knew you troops
would jump.
No, it's not a prisoner
of war camp.
Nothing like that.
It's a... it's a...
Liar!
It wasn't my idea! I tried
to keep them from doing it.
But these people...
Where I come from, it's true, it's right.
No 2 ways.
Only us and them,
the enemy.
We know who they are.
They know us.
No, it's better here,
Quarlo.
If you could only understand.
If you could only grasp...
In my world,
we don't grasp
these love-hate
all of them.
We never know,
so we don't want.
You are not enemy,
so I stay here.
The others,
ones who put
hands on me.
You!
C.O.
From the
darkest of all pits,
the soul of man,
come the darkest questions.
Did the soldier finally
come to care.
For those he protected?
Or was it
just his instinct to kill?
Questions from the dark pit,
but no answers,
for answers lie
in the future.
Is it a future in which
men are machines.
Born to kill?
Or is there time for us?
Time.
All the time in the world.
But is that enough?
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.
too soon on the battlefield.
For some men
it comes permanently,
their eyes never open
to the light of day.
But for this man,
fighting this war,
there is never total darkness.
The spidery beams of light
in the sky.
Are the descendents
of the modern laser beam,
heat rays that sear through
tungsten steel and flesh.
As though
they were cheesecloth.
And this soldier
must go against those weapons.
His name is Quarlo,
and he is a foot soldier,
the ultimate infantryman.
Trained from birth
by the state,
he has never known love,
or closeness,
or warmth.
He is geared for only
one purpose:
To kill the enemy.
And the enemy waits for him.
Find your enemy.
Attack.
Kill.
Attack.
Kill.
Attack.
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.
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...
The outer limits.
He's killed him!
He's killed him!
Kill!
Kill!
Kill!
Kill!
Time is fluid,
the waters of forever close,
and passage
may not be completed.
The present and the future
are, for a moment, united.
And the enemy...
Half today,
half tomorrow...
Is locked between.
Find the enemy.
Find the enemy.
Attack!
Attack!
Attack!
Mr. Tanner?
I'm Tom Kagan.
I was sent over by the local
office of the bureau.
I'm a philologist.
A philologist?
Yes, that's right.
A language expert.
I read your report.
It seems that the man
is talking some
strange sort of dialect.
They decided that I was the
man to unravel it for you.
You've gotta be kidding.
Right?
You're putting me on, huh?
Now, just what does
that mean?
I'll tell you
what that means, friend.
Any moment now, something
is going to be arriving
that is guaranteed
to stand your hair on end.
It took 6 beefy men to put
him into the 2 straitjackets
he's wearing, and they
send down a philologist.
Well, I do know
a little karate.
Oh, say, Kagan,
you're a real knee-slapper.
I guess I didn't make my
report strong enough, huh?
No, I don't think
you did.
What makes him
takeoff like that?
It's the elevator.
You'd better have them
shut it off.
What for?
Sharp sounds
drive him wild.
Apparently, his hearing is on a much
more sensitive threshold than ours.
You know that helmet
you showed me?
It had built-in sound baffles
to deaden outside noises.
So, we'll give him
back the helmet.
No, I wouldn't do that
if I were you.
What harm could it do?
Well, that's the point.
I don't know.
Well...
I'm glad to see
you have some doubts.
Here, want
a stick of gum?
Thanks.
You know,
those scars...
They're radiation burns,
I'd say, but,
then, you can't tell.
That's outside my field.
Radiation, all right.
Medical institute
had him for 5 days.
But it's outside
their field, too.
Whatever caused
those burns,
we haven't seen
anything like it around here.
Oh, he's shouting
something!
Hit that switch.
All right, cut it.
It's the same speech,
over and over.
It's all he ever says.
There is something
familiar about it, but I...
Can't place the idiom.
Well, have you been able to
make anything out of the tapes?
No, random sounds,
mostly.
Anger, frenzy...
A few word groupings
that I can't decide from...
No, taking tapes of his
mumblings doesn't help me.
I've got to go down
in there with him.
Oh, now,
wait just a second,
friend.
Have you lost
your mind?
That's not just some
ordinary psycho down there,
that's the most dangerous piece
of equipment I've ever seen.
He'll take you and tear
along the dotted line.
That man is something that
we have never seen before.
He's from somewhere or...
Somewhen that's completely
outside our knowledge.
He's a walking challenge!
He's a walking bomb!
Do I get the permission?
Not a chance.
Well, can I...
Try to persuade you,
logically?
Uh...
Uh...
Kagan.
Kagan.
You?
Ka-gan.
Kagan.
You?
Oh, come on, man,
confounded...
Ka-
gan.
Kagan.
You?
Name's Quarlo...
Klobrigny.
Prite!
R- m-e-n-t-n-d-o.
Well...
Brother,
you can say that again.
Name's Quarlo Klobrigny.
Prite.
R- m-e-n-t-n-d-o.
Name's Quarlo Klobrigny.
Prite.
R- m-e-n-t-n-d-o.
Name's Quarlo Klobrigny.
Prite.
R- m-e-n-t-n-d-o.
Well?
Well, what?
7 days, and you ask me,
"well, what?"
He's a soldier.
Any more late bulletins?
I spent 3 years
in the rangers, Kagan.
I know a soldier
when I see one.
No, I mean, he is really
a soldier.
There's nothing about him
that's not a soldier.
He's the perfect,
ultimate infantryman.
I don't think he knows
anything else.
What makes you
think that?
You know that gibberish
he's been spelling?
Which is?
It's English.
English?
Aw, c'mon, Kagan.
The guy's obviously
a foreigner of some kind.
That's the wrong word.
Not "foreigner."
Try "alien."
Alien?
From another planet?
Now, wait a minute.
You're rushing me.
The department
wants facts.
They've got men lined up, just
waiting for a crack at him.
Sociologists,
philosophers,
physicists.
They feel you've had him
long enough.
All right,
you tell them
not to press me!
You tell them I'm just
beginning to break through.
But he has to trust me
implicitly first.
Just one slip
and we lose the whole game.
Hey, hey, hey...
Take it easy, Tom.
Well...
I guess I'm just bushed.
It's like trying to
hold on to fog.
One moment you think you've got it,
then the next moment it's gone.
That's a very strange
and peculiar item
we have down there,
but it is not
a stupid one.
OK,
I'll do the best I can to
run interference for you.
Oh, thanks.
I just wish you could
give me something.
All right,
I'll give you something.
Do you want to know
what he's saying
over and over again,
without change?
He's saying, "my name"
"is Quarlo Klobrigny."
"Private."
"R-m-e-n-t-n-d-o."
His name, his rank,
and his serial letters.
Name's Quarlo Klobrigny.
Prite.
R- m-e-n-t-n-d-o.
All right, here.
"Dog."
D- o-g.
"Dog."
C'mon, Quarlo,
you know it.
You know you know it.
"Dog"!
"Dog."
Quarlo, stop playing dumb.
"Dog!" "dog!"
I give up.
Dog is a dog.
Dog, dog, dog, dog,
dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog!
You do know, Quarlo,
don't you?
You know.
You understand everything
I've been saying and doing.
Maybe not in my words,
or yours, but you know.
And still, you won't give me
an inch, will you? Will you?
Who you are,
where you come from.
What do you want,
Quarlo?
You want me to tell you
who I am? Who we are?
How could they have thought
you were a dumb brute?
You're quicker than I'd be
in your place, soldier.
Quarlo. Private.
R- m-e-n-t-n-d-o.
Dog. Dog, dog, dog, dog,
dog, dog, dog!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
Dog, a-Kagan, dog!
Dog, a-Kagan!
Dog, a-Kagan! Dog, a-Kagan!
Dog, a-Kagan!
Paul...
Tom.
This weapon is incredible.
It has no power source.
None at all.
It's inexhaustible.
I could fire it
steadily for a month,
and it's power wouldn't
decrease by one kilowatt.
Look, this is all that's left of a
4- foot square, solid steel bulkhead.
You know,
we took this thing apart,
we disassembled every piece,
and it has only
3 moving parts in it.
We even tried leaving out
a half a dozen pieces,
and it still works.
Now, we don't know how.
We haven't the slightest idea.
Please, Paul.
Now, what's so important?
I broke through
this morning.
I think we talked.
You think you talked?
He's from the future,
Paul.
But how?
Well, he doesn't
really know.
In his time, they fight their
wars with beams of force.
Laser lights. Now, somehow, he
got caught between 2 of them,
and the next
thing he knew...
He was here,
in the present.
No, correction.
He was here, in the past.
His past, our present.
Did he tell you
all this?
Only fragments of it.
I had to
piece it together
and then draw my own
conclusions from most of it.
He was evidently attacking
someone he keeps calling,
"the enemy."
In capital letters.
Then it is English
he's speaking?
No, not really.
Not exactly.
It's... it's what I thought...
It's gutter English,
vastly speeded up,
and filled with
slang of his time.
Well, how did he
get all that out of there?
I wasn't exactly certain that
he was from this planet, so...
See, this is our galaxy,
these stars here.
This is our sun.
Light, up above.
Now, here,
1,2,3.
3rd from the sun,
is the earth.
Here.
Here. The earth.
Here.
Us, this dot.
Now, Quarlo,
which one is yours?
Which star? Which planet?
No, that's...
That's the earth.
I told you.
Which one is yours?
Look...
Earth.
Now...
You. You draw.
No, no. No.
Point.
This is our galaxy.
And yet, it wasn't
exactly our galaxy.
That is, not the way
it is today.
I took that drawing to a friend
of mine at the naval observatory.
It took him hours
to plot it correctly.
Well, what was it?
The position the stars of
our galaxy will be in...
1800 years from now.
Have a...
Have a piece of gum.
Love.
Love.
Good.
Hate.
Hate.
Hate, bad.
Love.
Love.
Why do you peep
me this?
I want you to know.
I want you to understand.
I grasp.
You! You are the drum-dumb.
Send me home aways, now! Don't
you know there's a war on?
I... I can't send you home.
I don't know how.
Nobody knows how.
Your... your home
doesn't exist yet.
Love, hate, love, hate.
Fret it!
You can't forget it.
Fret it!
Think-speak'll
pull me.
I don't understand.
Think-speak!
Think-speak!
C.O.! C.O.! C.O.!
Fret it!
Ah, Quarlo...
Don't never touch me!
Don't never touch me!
Don't never touch me!
Don't touch him!
Ahh.
How does it feel to be
dribbled like a basketball?
It was my fault.
It was literally
the first time
that anybody had ever
touched him in his life.
5 weeks, eh?
And what have you got
to show for it?
Nothing but
a set of staved-in ribs,
and one beautiful
headache
from having your skull
bounced off a wall.
I taught him
to speak our language.
Not so, as I've noticed.
Every 3rd word is gibberish.
It is not gibberish.
It's common usage
from his time.
And did you ever stop
to think... ow!
How valuable even those
clues are in our future?
You tell your
superiors that...
Given enough time,
I'll establish
absolute communication
for them.
Well, that's it.
You do us
both a favor,
try not to let him bounce you
around like a ping-pong ball.
We've gotta requisition tape,
and that's a nuisance.
Tom, we can't let you back
in there with him.
Just look at his eyes,
their hate.
You can see he's born
to be a killer.
Yes, that's the point.
He was born
to be a killer,
he was trained
to be a killer,
and if he hadn't found
his way into our time,
he'd die a killer.
But, Paul...
He doesn't hate.
He doesn't
understand hate,
or love,
or compassion.
And it's not your job
to teach him what they mean.
They want you
to decipher his language!
And I'm not able to do that
under these conditions!
Paul, I... I want
you to release him.
I mean it.
I want you to
release him to me.
I want him to live
in my house, for a time,
under absolutely
normal conditions.
Your house?
Oh, no. Come on.
He hasn't done anything
to justify his being
penned up like a criminal.
The old newsman
only fainted.
Quarlo was simply
defending himself
in a strange situation when
he fired at the police car.
We can't turn him loose,
ready to go off
at any moment.
I tell you,
he can adapt.
He's quick.
He can fit in!
Tom, this is lunacy!
It's no more lunacy than
what they're trying to do.
Now, I warn you,
he'll fight you,
he'll close up
like a clam.
It's not my
decision to make.
I mean, the bureau
is getting static.
A top secret like that is too
hot to leave lying around.
They want him
boxed-in permanently.
Paul,
let me have him,
just for one month.
One more month,
that's all I'm asking.
Now, I'm sure...
He'll show so much
progress during that time
that they'll be
forced to reconsider.
Just one month, Paul.
Please.
What about your family?
How are they
gonna like the idea
of a potential killer
in the same house with them?
Well, I've...
I've already talked
with them.
And?
Well,
Abby isn't sure, but she's
willing to go along,
and both the kids
are fascinated.
I think that soldier is playing
you for a sucker, Tom.
He's a crafty,
dangerous animal,
and he's got you
working for him.
Don't forget,
even in the future,
a captured prisoner of war's
first obligation is to escape.
But you'll do it.
Oh, I'll talk to the chief,
but that's all I guarantee.
Ah, that's good.
Here.
Have a stick of gum?
You're going home
with me now, Quarlo.
I don't peep.
Uh...
Home.
It's... it's a...
It's a place to live.
It's a house...
Uh, a place where
you can rest and...
Nobody will ever
lock you in.
Barracks? C.O.?
No. No barracks,
no commanding officer,
no other troops,
no war...
Nothing but freedom.
I told you
about freedom.
You'll be close
to people, now, Quarlo.
See my wife,
my daughter,
my son, and me.
I don't grasp.
Well, you'll...
You'll... you'll
have to see.
That's the world
out there, Quarlo.
You'll have to
put this on.
Why?
Well, they know
nothing about you.
They want to keep
you secret.
Secret.
You understand?
I peep.
You wouldn't
hurt me, would you?
Like when I touched
you the other time?
You are not enemy.
Yes, but could I
be enemy?
You are not enemy.
Find the enemy.
Find the enemy.
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.
Come on, Quarlo.
Come on in.
Quarlo, this is
my wife, Abby.
Uh, my daughter, Toni,
and Lauren is...
Is...
C.O.,
Quarlo Klobrigny,
prite.
R- m-e-n-t-n-d-o,
reporting.
Cat.
Remember the book?
What did you want
from that cat, Quarlo?
Nothing same.
No, cats are different
where you come from?
Different.
C.O. prowler
think-speak.
I...
I don't understand,
the... the commanding officer
uses cats?
On patrol.
Troopers' cats tied
together by think-speak.
Cats do prowl,
spot the enemy.
Troopers jump.
Oh.
I think what
he means is that
somehow, by some...
Some agency that we
don't even suspect,
wars in the future are
fought with men and animals.
Cats are used
for reconnaissance.
And by telepathy,
they relay their messages.
And... and he thought he could get in
touch with his commanding officer
by talking through
MacBeth.
Yeah. Well,
makes sense, doesn't it?
Just think what a patrol prowler
a silent cat would make.
No, Quarlo,
it isn't that way here.
MacBeth is just a cat.
Nothing's here
like war zone.
Well, we'll try to make things
pleasant for you here, Quarlo.
N- n-no, no.
It's all right, Quarlo.
Why does she touch you?
There is enemy
and not enemy.
Which is she?
Wife.
Uh...
Family unit.
Female C.O.
Uh, mother,
like your mother.
Mother?
My mother?
You do have
a mother, don't you?
Klobrigny...
Creche hatchery 5-5-9.
I am the state.
The state is all.
Yes. Uh...
Lauren,
why don't you show
Quarlo to his room?
Come on.
Creche?
Creche is a day nursery.
It's a foundling
hospital.
He is a product
of artificial birth.
He has no real parents.
He was born and raised
in a hatchery,
just like an egg.
And that about
the state?
"The state is all."
His mother, his father,
everything.
How pathetic.
Tom,
can we help him?
He seems so lost
and confused,
and you said yourself
he's capable of...
Anything.
Abby, I know
we can help him.
But...
Are you sure, Tom?
Toni...
And Lauren upstairs
with him, alone?
I know.
I know it's a...
It's a terrible risk,
but we can help him
and we must.
On the 5th day, conversation
began to improve.
Subject gave information
that his world
is divided into
2 warring camps,
with children raised from
birth on special war islands
devoted to nothing
but training.
The society is rigidly
structured into classes.
Migrant workers
at the lowest level,
and what the subject calls "the
purple," or ruling body, at the top.
Hey, dad.
Yeah?
Can't I tell the kids
about Quarlo?
Listen, young man,
you so much as mention his name
and I will stop your allowance.
Quarlo is strictly
top-secret, understand?
I peep.
Grand.
'Morning, dad.
'Morning, honey.
Quarlo has never
seen one of the purple.
He talks about them as
though they were mystical.
Get out!
I'll do no such thing!
I live here, too, you know, and be-besides,
you're blocking the coffee pot.
Wh-what were
you doing?
Eh...
Drinking water.
Come on,
I saw you.
Eh, uh, you...
You rot food. Waste.
That's just the garbage.
Troopers some nights
need food.
There's no supply.
It's not right.
Rot, waste.
What do you want
from me?
What do I want
from you?
Find the enemy.
Find the enemy.
Find the enemy.
Find the enemy.
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.
Tanner speaking.
Oh, Paul,
I was wondering if...
Now look, Tom, stop
chewing my ear, will ya?
I haven't any control
over what they're doing.
But you didn't
fight them.
I did fight them,
if you must know.
I spent 2 weeks batting my
brains against the wall,
while you were out there
playing a-b-cs with king Kong.
It won't work, Paul.
It's taken almost
constant contact
for him to accept
me as "not enemy."
Now, you throw him in with a bunch of
scholars, and he'll tense up on you.
You've got to...
Got, got, got...
I don't gotta do anything.
But pick up that
big, ugly piece of furniture
and take him where my
bosses tell me to take him.
But, he... he's
at ease, here.
He's under control.
What do you mean he's under control?
You mean, he hasn't run amuck yet.
Ah, wait a minute.
Yeah?
Oh, no.
The car there?
Right away.
He was under
control, right?
Have you checked
under his bed lately?
Well, but...
Uh, what?
The bomb has
finally exploded.
He broke into that gun
shop on Essex Boulevard.
He's armed now,
and that ends
this discussion.
Sgt. Berry, sir. Are you
Mr. Tanner, from the bureau?
Right. What's the story here?
Well, he broke in
through the front window.
We've got 6 cars parked out there,
so he can't escape that way.
He would have to come out through
the alleyway here, then?
Already
tried it, sir.
Went right through that steel
door like it wasn't there.
That's when my men opened fire
and he ducked back inside.
Is he armed now?
Yes, sir.
He's got a big 30-aught-6
Swedish hunting rifle.
From the way he was packing it,
I'm sure he knows how to use it.
OK, we're going to
have to flush him out.
Tear gas, sir?
No, I think
noise will do it.
I'll tell you when,
and you start up the sirens
of all the cars at once.
Then we'll send in a group from front
and rear, and catch him in between.
Right.
Now listen, Paul...
No. Don't even ask. The
answer's no before you start.
You are not empowered
to kill him,
and that's what you're gonna
have to do if you attack him.
I'll get
the authority, then.
Oh, don't be foolish. By the time
you get through to the bureau,
I could have
him out of there.
He trusts me. At least
he'll listen to me.
Listening to you has brought this
all about, Tom. Now, I've had it!
Paul, he doesn't know.
He's in a strange land. He doesn't
know anything except his gun, any gun.
Yeah, and he's got one now.
If only I'd taken him in
when I wanted to.
That's just it.
He's afraid of you.
He's afraid of everybody
except me. To him,
you are "the enemy."
You want to make him a prisoner.
Don't you understand?
All right, Tom.
Good.
One more time,
I'll sit and watch
one more time.
But, whatever happens,
it's all finished tonight.
Quarlo.
It's Kagan.
I wanna talk to you.
Quarlo!
I'm not enemy.
Don't attack.
Quarlo,
why did you do this?
You tell me,
you talk to me.
Trooper needs a gun.
Oh, I see.
Well, now,
will you come
home with me?
Can I take you back?
I'll kill you.
Then they'll have to
kill you, Quarlo.
Troopers die.
Yes, but there's
no need for it.
It is my way,
the only way I know.
Stay away from me!
No, Quarlo.
I'm coming in.
I'll kill you!
Mrs. Kagan?
This is Paul Tanner.
Now, listen carefully.
I haven't time to repeat.
Quarlo broke into
a gun shop tonight,
and Tom managed
to talk him out of the shop,
and they're on their way back to
your house now. But he's armed.
He refused to leave the shop
unless he could keep the gun.
Here? They're coming here?
Now, listen,
they'll be there
in a few minutes.
When they get there,
Tom is going to try and talk
the gun away from Quarlo.
When he does, the moment
Tom gets the gun,
you take the phone
off the hook.
Off the hook?
But I don't...
I've got the line
jammed open.
The moment you take it off the hook,
we'll know that Tom has the gun.
No other calls
can get through.
We're only
2 minutes away.
Any closer and the soldier
might suspect.
We'll move in and grab him the moment
you take the phone off the hook.
I hear a car.
Toni, Lauren,
come here, quick.
Right now.
Lauren, quickly!
Toni!
Come on!
Come on!
Don't risk being seen.
Out the back door, right now!
Right now,
out the back.
Stop!
Abby, kids... what are you doing
up at this time of night?
Tom...
Let them go.
Let them go
in the kitchen. Please?
Don't.
Don't frighten them,
Quarlo.
Mixed peeping.
I don't grasp all
that's happening.
They want to call
the enemy.
Stop. You'll all stop.
Give me the gun,
Quarlo.
Trooper never
gives up a gun.
That's another time
and another place.
You can't do it
that way here.
We're trying
to help you.
We want to keep
them from hurting you.
But first you'll
have to give me that gun.
I'll kill you.
Oh, come on, Quarlo,
don't be drum-dumb.
You know dad
isn't your enemy.
You wouldn't kill him.
I...
I don't...
You... you give me
the gun, Quarlo.
I promise you,
nothing will happen.
I'll put it where you can
get it anytime you want it.
You shouldn't have
run away like that, Quarlo.
It helps them.
Help who?
Oh, some people
that want to have
you moved
to another place.
I was sure I could
have persuaded them
to leave you here,
but now...
Who? What people?
Well, some men who make our
decisions for the rest of us,
because we let them.
C.O.?
Something like that.
They've decided that they
want to ask you questions.
P.O.W.
I peeped
that would happen.
I knew you troops
would jump.
No, it's not a prisoner
of war camp.
Nothing like that.
It's a... it's a...
Liar!
It wasn't my idea! I tried
to keep them from doing it.
But these people...
Where I come from, it's true, it's right.
No 2 ways.
Only us and them,
the enemy.
We know who they are.
They know us.
No, it's better here,
Quarlo.
If you could only understand.
If you could only grasp...
In my world,
we don't grasp
these love-hate
all of them.
We never know,
so we don't want.
You are not enemy,
so I stay here.
The others,
ones who put
hands on me.
You!
C.O.
From the
darkest of all pits,
the soul of man,
come the darkest questions.
Did the soldier finally
come to care.
For those he protected?
Or was it
just his instinct to kill?
Questions from the dark pit,
but no answers,
for answers lie
in the future.
Is it a future in which
men are machines.
Born to kill?
Or is there time for us?
Time.
All the time in the world.
But is that enough?
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.