The Outer Limits (1963) s02e16 Episode Script

The Premonition

( man) On the fabulous spawning grounds of man 's ever increasing knowledge of science and technology, ancient half-forgotten legends seemingly have no place.
Except one.
The legend of the Gordian knot, a knot so intricate and convoluted that no man could untie it.
For there are problems so perplexing that they're seemingly impossible to solve when man ventures to the outer limits of his experience.
( man) There is nothing wrong with your television set.
Do not attempt to adjust the picture.
We are controlling transmission .
For the next hour, we will control all you see and hear.
You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to The Outer Limits.
Mrs Darcy, l can 't let you in .
Tests are underway.
We're gonna see my daddy land.
Well, l have a pass from Mr Baldwin .
Thank you .
lt'll be exciting meeting your husband at the landing field.
- l wish l could take Janie.
- She'll have fun here.
- Thanks, Mrs Anderson .
- Bye.
- Bye, Mommy.
- Bye, Janie.
Be back soon with Daddy.
(Janie ) OK.
That's two chocolate and one strawberry, right? l'll be back in a few minutes.
Behave, now.
Darcy, this is Baldwin .
You're drifting.
Correct two degrees right.
Two degrees right, Baldy.
High Chase here, Darcy.
Mach 2.
3.
Heading 291 .
Altitude 83,005.
Read you clear, High Chase.
Heading uphill at 92,000.
Flight angle good, Jim.
- Looking real good from back here, Darcy.
- l'm glad you're enjoying the view, High Chase.
OK, buddy.
( High Chase) Climbing to 93.
Right on profile, Jim.
Mach 4 .
.
point eight, point nine.
Mach 5.
Point one.
Point two.
Jim, don 't forget the vertical.
Got you , Baldy.
Mach 5.
Point six.
Point seven .
( High Chase) Reaching test velocity, Darcy.
lt's green across the board.
Now, look, Jim, no heroics.
lf she starts to chatter, don 't try to ride it out.
Are you kidding, Baldy? l'm unlimbering my escape toggle right now.
Reaching Mach 6.
OK.
Start levelling out and let's go with the countdown .
Ready when you are, Baldy.
All right.
Countdown commencing.
Read you five square, Baldy.
( Baldwin) Minus 30 seconds and counting.
( Baldwin) 1 9.
(over loudspeaker) 1 6.
Ten .
Nine.
Green across the board.
All go here.
Three.
wo One.
Execute.
(tyres screech) Hey! You guys got an extinguisher? This thing's liable to blow.
What's the matter with you? You deaf? (woman moaning) Linda? Linda, darling.
( Linda gasping) What are you doing here? What happened? (stuttering) l saw your plane about to crash and Well, l l remember swerving l crawled out of that cockpit dreaming everything in the world was frozen .
Believe me, it's nice to wake up.
- You better take it easy for a minute, honey.
- l do feel a little shaky.
Jim, your your plane lsn 't that your plane up there? Jim, l l must be seeing things.
Linda Linda, l want you to look over there and tell me what you see.
- Where? - Right there.
Coyote chasing a jackrabbit.
(stuttering) How fast are they moving? They're not moving at all.
Jim, look.
lt's my car and l'm in it! ls this some kind of a nightmare, or - .
.
are we dead? - lt has to be real.
We both see it.
Honey! Don 't look.
lt'll be just like the others.
They're not moving.
What is this? Where are we? - Where are we? - There has to be an answer.
Hey, buddy? Hey! This doesn 't make sense, Linda.
lt isn 't happening.
What's happening? Your plane's up there, and and you're in it.
No! My plane's over here and l've crawled out.
lt it can 't be.
lf if we're not dead, then l'm having a terrible dream.
But everything's still.
So still.
( Linda screams) Linda, please! Darling, this has got to make sense.
This is not a dream and we're not dead.
Here, feel.
Look at me.
l'm alive.
l know l can 't explain it to you now, but .
.
we'll figure it out.
Now , come on.
lt's funny.
You and l and the wreck .
.
and your smashed car .
.
they're not frozen , but everything else is.
This is Skybird.
Skybird.
Come in .
Will someone please come in ? ls the whole world like this? Maybe not.
There has to be an explanation ! What's the last thing you remember? Uh Your plane, it it was falling.
The last thing l remember .
.
was reaching Mach 6.
And then suddenly here.
Do you remember smashing into that boulder? No, just putting my breaks on .
Hmm.
Apparently, we've both lost a little piece of time.
- You you mean blacked out? -No Let's get over to flight control.
Maybe we can find some answers.
Come on ! - lt's the same all over.
-No, no.
lt might all be just confined to the base.
- Janie! - What about Janie? l brought her with me.
She wanted to see you land.
- Where is she? - ln the nursery.
Come on ! - She's not in there.
- She's got to be! l left her here! Janie? - Where could she be? - She must be here somewhere.
Come on ! Janie! Janie? Janie? Janie Janie! What's happened to the world? - What's happened? - We don 't know, honey, but we will.
There's nothing we can do here.
Maybe l can find the answer at test control.
- The countdown is frozen at plus three seconds.
- What does that mean ? Well, l executed the probatory manoeuvre at zero and somehow upset the balance of time.
That's when l must have skidded through into the future.
Jumped ahead somehow into this limbo state.
And that's why everything is frozen to us.
We went through a time barrier.
And that's why we can 't make anybody hear us.
But why am l here? l wasn 't up there with you .
So why am l here now? Maybo Do you know what a sonic boom is? lt's a loud noise when a plane breaks a sound barrier.
Well, technically, it's an instantaneous shock wave.
Now, suppose when l broke the time barrier, there was such a shock wave.
Your car could have been caught in it.
- And and pushed along with it? - Something like that, yes.
From the altitude at which it happened, it'd take about half a minute well, say 27 seconds, to reach the ground.
Jim, please take me out of here.
What's going on , Baldy? Jim, l l feel faint.
-Nothing's moving.
Nothing.
- At least we still are.
(gasps) Get out of here! Hurry! Let's try that jeep.
Maybe it'll start up.
- What was it? - l don 't know, but it was afraid of fire.
Oh, it's no use.
- What's the matter? - Did that light just go on ? - l don 't know.
- l can swear it just - Jim? - What? Are we dead? - l'm going back.
- Where? To my baby! (sobs) l l'm sorry! l l didn 't mean to do that.
l thought l'd be more prepared for what it was going to be like the next time! But, oh, Jim Look at her.
Janie J l know you can 't hear me but maybe somehow you'll know that l .
.
l love you , darling.
Now now, you be a good girl, huh? And a happy little girl.
Even even if Mother isn 't .
.
ever able to come back to you .
- What is it? - Well, she moved! - Are you sure? - l'm positive! She didn 't have her other foot on the pedal before.
Jim Jim, if she's moving, then she's alive.
Then that light did blink on .
And their countdown indicator moved from zero to plus three.
Here we are, watching a world moving in extreme slow motion .
But time is moving forward.
lt's catching up with us.
Becoming resynchronised.
- Well well, what then ? - Perhaps we'll move back in normal life.
- But why are they moving so slow? - Maybe l can figure it out.
The clock is smashed in the plane's cockpit, but the one in the control centre's still operating.
You're not going back in there? - Honey, l've got to.
-Not with that thing? lt only tried to frighten us.
lt didn 't attempt to hurt any of the men in the control centre.
l don 't think it can .
lt tried to kill us, whether you believe it or not.
Thank heavens it's afraid of fire.
( lighter clicks) We'll have to get some flares from the car.
You go.
l don 't want to leave Janie.
Honey, there's absolutely nothing you can do for her by staying here.
Besides, l can 't leave you here alone.
Please, honey.
l know what l'm saying.
What's the matter now? l'm not sure (grunts) - The truck.
lt's moving, isn 't it? - He left the break off.
lt'll run over Janie.
ln time, she'll be right in its path.
Do something! (groans) All this is happening in another segment of time.
Behind us.
Beyond our reach.
There's nothing we can do.
Come on .
- ( Linda) lt's closer.
- Yeah.
The car is closer too.
Time's catching up with us.
We're standing still, not the world.
Look! They're ducking clear of the crash that's coming.
Get the flares.
l'll check the instruments.
The plane's instruments are frozen at plus ten seconds and they haven 't moved.
And my watch hasn 't moved either.
What about yours? - lt's stopped.
- That means time has stopped for us.
The plane is closer, and the car And the truck is closer to Janie.
What can we do? Linda, listen .
lf that truck is destined to hit Janie before the plane crashes or you hit the boulder, there's nothing we can do.
lf we can get back in sync with time before the accident, then maybe we can stop the truck and save our daughter.
At flight control l can find out how many seconds there are left for us.
We can relate their time to ours.
Their clocks are ticking.
Ever so slowly, but they are ticking.
Jim, it's too late.
lt's too late.
But it's not! How are you gonna light the flares? You were right, honey.
This is the only thing between us and that thing.
(sighs) Come on .
lt's red-light scramble.
l can hear Baldy yelling at me, ''Blow your capsule.
'' Well, believe me, Baldy, l tried.
But l was pinned to the seat.
lt's moved to plus eight.
Now, l blacked out at zero and crash-landed at plus ten .
That means ten seconds elapsed.
ln other words, we jumped into the future at least .
.
ten seconds.
There are two seconds left.
At the rate the world is moving to us .
.
those two seconds are a long time.
At least two hours.
Ahh! The match! Come on , hurry up! Light it! No! Don 't! You do understand.
You must be able to speak.
Who are you? What are you? Stand where you are or l'll set you on fire! Stop or l'll throw it at you ! l l can 't talk with that flame.
Then don 't turn around.
Just tell me what it is you're trying to do.
Who are you? Talk! l am what you are.
Trapped in this limbo world between the present and the future.
l am what you will be if you cannot return to normal time at the instant of resynchronisation of the time rift you created and through which you were catapulted here.
What has happened to you happened to me.
l didn 't get back.
What happens at the instant time catches up? At that instant, since two lives entered here, there will be space for two lives to escape this time prison .
That is my chance.
- l must not miss that chance.
- And you want to take my place.
lf you miss your chance to return one millionth of a second behind time, time will pass you by and leave you where l am now.
ln for ever now.
Black, motionless void.
No light.
No sun , no stars.
No time.
Eternal nothing.
No hunger.
No thirst.
Only endless existence.
And the worst of it you can 't die.
So, fellow man , you challenge me for a wish to take your place? You , both of you , would feel no different if you were caught in this black oblivion .
lf you are not in your plane, in your car, at the exact instant We'll be there.
That'll hold him off till we can get outta here.
Oh, Janie! Janie! Jim, she'll be killed.
There must be something we can do.
The truck's moving ten miles an hour.
lt'll pick up another two or three miles.
lt'll take about one second for it to reach us here.
One second.
Well, that's about one hour our time.
And and Janie will be here in time, won 't she? - Won 't she? - All right, Linda.
A collision 's inevitable.
We'll put something in front of the tricycle to stop it.
No.
We'll put something in front of the truck and make it swerve out of the way.
lt's no good.
Everything's petrified.
Nothing moves.
We can 't just let it happen .
l mean , there must be something we can do.
There's always a solution to a problem.
There's always something you can do.
Jim, you always say that.
Yeah maybe! - Maybe there's something in the plane.
- Yes.
There must be! Yeah.
But you've got to be in the car when our world catches up with us.
Are you willing to give up your daughter that easy? Or .
.
are you trying to tell me that you're willing to give up your own life and and save ours? There's one hour left.
Come on .
Trust me.
Please trust me.
(panting) Jim, there must be a way.
l've always had faith in you and so has Janie.
l know you can think of something.
Anything.
That's it.
What is? The safety belts.
One thing that might help Janie without our being there.
A knife.
l've got to have a knife.
(Jim straining) l wish l had more time.
Get in .
- What are you gonna do? - l'm going back.
- l'm going with you .
-No! Think of Janie.
lt won 't do her any good to lose her mother.
You know l'm right.
You've got to get back into time.
- And what happens to you? - You're wasting time for the three of us.
Honey, everything's gonna be all right.
l'm sure.
Oh, Jim l lt must work.
lt's got to work.
lt's got to.
Now a we ca n do s hope, Ja n c - Oh, Jim! - lt's done.
- l know it'll work! - l think it will.
l love you .
(tyres screech) Hey! This thing is liable to blow.
Have you got a fire extinguisher? Thank heavens you're alive! l thought l was having a nightmare.
Jim Let's get back to the base.
Now Oh, Janie! Oh! - Why are you crying, Mommy? - Oh, it's all right now.
Why were you so fired up to hurry back here? - Why did you agree so quickly? - l don 't know.
Kind of a feeling.
Just a premonition .
So did l.
So did l.
( man) Man is forever solving the most perplexing problems as he ventures ever further into the unknown .
But where are the outer limits of his ingenuity? Will he ever encounter a problem, a Gordian knot, which he cannot ultimately cut? 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.

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