The Outer Limits (1995) s07e03 Episode Script

A New Life

1 Stop! Wait, I can't, DANIEL: Don't wanna be late for your new life, do you? Let's go, let's go! Hustle! (INDISTINCT CHATTER) -Hey, Tom, -8:00, huh? Beth's boss showed up on our door step, Oh, gosh! She wouldn't take no for an answer, She says I was invaluable to the school, Yeah, more like Beth was the only one who could put up with that pack of wild animals, I mean, she's an invaluable asset to the public school system, Anyway, the principal showed up on our stoop at 7:00 this morning, and she refused to leave, She grabbed onto her leg, Beth dragged her for half a block, -(LAUGHS) -Ow! Just as long as you guys are here, For a second I thought you were gonna back out, You guys got me into this, if you didn't show, ,, Enough with the cold feet already, this is gonna be great, Thomas, trust me, (CHUCKLES) Look, I was just laying in for a winter fog, that's all, You will not need these, Jacob, Right, who needs all this crap, right? Look, I was gonna quit, as soon as I'm through with these, Now, we've discussed this, It's pollution of the body, We want you healthy, we want you strong, Okay, FATHER: Good morning, Daniel, Good morning, Beth, -Good morning, Father, -Are you all ready? Oh, yeah, Oh, we can't wait, And you, Thomas, You don't seem so sure, He's sure, The lord wants you fully committed or not at all, There's no shame in turning back, Just a little old-fashioned religion from The Dead, Father, We'll be making our own music, Are you with us? Yeah! ALL: On a hill Let's find our faith Hallelujah In a place of peace and light Hallelujah So, I'm back to my desk and I started a fire in my waste paper basket, I tossed everything in there, including my jacket, my tie, every card out of my wallet, I even put my driver's license in there, -No way, -Oh, it's true, I was hoping a couple of the other guys from the training floor were gonna join me, just chuck it all, but, er, security came and chucked me instead, That's all right, for the look on Hammonds face it was worth every second of it, -That's great, -Sure was, Jacob, I don't know, man, talk about burning the bridges, We're nothing without our faith, Thomas, Well, maybe for you, but I'm giving this a month, I've kept my apartment, I've kept my car, and if this isn't working out I'm out of here, We're supposed to, ,, Yeah, I know, cut all ties, start a new life, but, look, this sounds interesting, but not if it's some kind of weird cult, -(CHUCKLES) -Well, the Christians were a cult once and so were, ,, I know, I know, come on, you know what I mean, Look, I'm on the bus, okay? Just say I'm not gonna be drinking the Kool-Aid, (BOTH CHUCKLING) All right, I'm giving you a 30-day guarantee, Thomas, But if you're not completely satisfied I will walk you back down this mountain myself, But in the meantime, I'd like you to meet Heather, -Hi, -Heather, I've been wanting you two to meet, -Hi, how are you? Tom, -Good, Soon we shall reach the promised land, The others are ahead of us, You are the last, There is only one thing that needs to be done, CONTROL VOICE: There is nothing wrong with your television, Do not attempt to adjust the picture, We are now controlling the transmission, We control the horizontal and the vertical, We can deluge you with a thousand channels or expand one single image to crystal clarity and beyond, We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive, For the next hour, we will control all that you see and hear, You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the deepest inner mind to The Outer Limits, CONTROL VOICE: Religious devotion can lead people away from temptation and evil, But is the path as clear if that devotion is blind? Daniel! WOMAN: Come quickly, it's Beth, (PANTING) DANIEL: Beth, -Are you, ,, Is everything, ,, -I'm fine, I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner, I was working in the northwest woods, It's all right, Your son decided to come a little earlier than expected, BETH: It's okay, Look at him, he's a little bruiser, (CHUCKLES) Tell me about it, (LAUGHS) -Oh, come on, baby, -(BABY COOING) Yeah, (ALL CHEERING) (ALL EXCLAIMING) He's very, very beautiful, You and Beth must be very proud, Thank you, Father, We are, The first of our new life, We shall call him William, May he be the first of many, many children, for us all, Come here, baby, THOMAS: Oh, he's beautiful, Beth, He's beautiful, BETH: You're gonna have one of your own, -I know, it's hard to believe, isn't it? -DANIEL: Yeah, no kiddin', -Don't listen to him, -He's right, You remember me in San Francisco, Me and fatherhood, come on, I owe you guys a lot, you guys dragged me kicking and screaming from my dot-com life, Not even life, Existence, Kickin' and screaming was right, All right, so the first few months were difficult, Come on, life without Big Macs, The Dead, the 49ers, New infomercials, rush hour, mad cow disease, THOMAS: Yeah, I know, but still it wasn't easy, At least I didn't pull a Jacob, disowning the community, Running off in the night, like a thief, To be consumed by the wild beasts in the forest, Sorry, bad joke, Well, anyway, I can't imagine my life before I found God's blessings, William is truly the start of a new journey for us all, A new generation, One that won't have to deal with the temptations of the old life, (LAUGHTER IN DISTANCE) What is going on out there? Oh, I hope you're up for it, We have prepared quite the celebration, -(LAUGHS) I'll be there, -Nice, -(MUSIC PLAYING) -(INDISTINCT CHATTER) (MEN LAUGHING) -I am so joyous for the both of you, -Thank you, Heather, (SIGHS) I don't remember feeling so tired or so happy, (SCOFFS) What is it? Just hit me that my son is never going to have a hotdog at a baseball game, or watch cartoons or even see a city, Look, ,, I think it will be great for my mom to meet little William, She'd love him, But we chose this life, With all its peace there are some sacrifices, There are many obstacles in our path, Dan, We have to grapple with each one of them in our own way, I want the best for William, Just like you, And he's gonna get the best, And besides, you can always teach him baseball, (BOTH CHUCKLE) -Father, -Daniel, Beth, Can I speak to you for a moment? Of course, You both know how much you mean to me, You have always led the way for the others, Are you truly committed to this new life? Of course, Then there is something that I need you to do for me and for William, Anything, Father, just tell us, I need you to give him to me, -Father? -Only for an hour, I promise you that he shall come to no harm, I need him, ,, For a new ceremony, A ceremony that will welcome in the new generation, Um, ,, It is a ceremony that must be done in private, Only me, our lord, and your son, No one else, We'd be honored, Father, Yes, thank you, Father, I'll bring him back soon, I promise, I trust him, I trust him, You're right, Oh, I know, You, ,, You're right, You're right, You're right, (SIGHS) All right, Where are you going? I'm going to go talk to Thomas, He's on the council, maybe he knows something more about the ceremony, William did very well, He'll be waking up soon, I expect him to be quite hungry, Thank you, Father, Daniel, your love for your son is a wonderful thing, But please don't let it cloud your judgment or your trust and faith in our lord and our new way of life, Thank you, Father, My blessings on you both, (SIGHS) So, ,, God, I was just being stupid, No, you were just being a father, I was being stupid, William, hey, come here, sweetie, Hey, ,, BETH: What's that? What is it? DANIEL: I don't know what it is, DANIEL: He did something to the back of my son's neck, There's a mark there, that wasn't there before Father took him, -Are you sure? -Yes, I mean, I'm almost positive, And you don't think, just possibly, that all of this is a reaction to the stress of the last couple of weeks, -With the birth and the new baby, -No, I mean, um, maybe, All right, Thomas, look, I know, ,, It's more than just the stress, I know that I'm giving William a better life here, But what am I depriving him of? Careful, You're starting to sound like Jacob, "I want my cigarettes, I want my movies, I want my junk food," Do you remember why we came here? Hmm? My friend, you were so stressed out you were throwing up in the bathroom at work, I was sleeping under my damn desk and waiting for an IPO that never came, Not sure that's a life I wanna pass over to my kids, We are happy here, Dan, This is the life that we talked about having when we were in college together, Simple, full of hard work, Happiness, Love of a good woman, Yeah, but actually, I think that was the love of many good women, (BOTH CHUCKLING) We found a new life, man, Through faith and service, And I cannot wait for my child to experience it, One without crime and violence, Built with the strength of our hands and purity of heart, A life of conviction and principle, We are nothing without our faith, Dan, you taught me that, You're right, You're right, I mean, it's just, ,, It's just there's a lot of pressure on you all of a sudden, New baby, new responsibilities, Believe me, I'm thinking the same thing, Heather's right behind you guys, Go home, Sleep on it, We'll talk tomorrow, All right, DANIEL: Father? DANIEL: I know what I saw, we've got to go now, I'm not leaving our home just because you thought you saw a flash of light in the forest, (WILLIAM CRYING) Beth, I love this community as much as you do, I know how much this place means to you, it means the same to me, Do you honestly believe that I would jeopardize all of that unless I was absolutely sure? Okay, (SIGHS) -Here I go, -Wait, I can't, We've been walking all day, I need to rest, Come on, just a little bit further, Come on, I think I see a clearing, We should be heading a road really soon, -(BREATHING HEAVILY) -Come on, There you go, Look, Wait, There, I see a clearing, -(GRUNTS) -Daniel, are you okay? What? (EXCLAIMS) What is it? It's a, ,, (STAMMERS) I don't know, It's some kind of invisible wall, (TWIGS CRACK IN DISTANCE) What's that? -There's something there, -Get behind me, Jacob? (SIGHS) Daniel, Beth, At first I moved around a lot, Tried to stay hidden, Then I found this place, You can walk right by that entrance and miss it, No, it's okay, I don't go out during the day, you know, I'm safe from them right here, DANIEL: Who are they? Don't really know, Looked like Father, but there were others, And I never saw their faces, Then I got scared, real scared, I mean, anybody who could stake out a whole section of woods like that, is not human, Smarts, don't it? I know, I did the same thing, Thought I was home free, flying like a bird, and wham! What do you mean, there's a wall around the entire forest? It's a big circle, all right, 20 square miles or so, I walked it once, I tried to climb under it, I climbed as high in the trees as I could, there's no way out, man, This place is tighter than Alcatraz, How could they block off 20 square miles of forest without anyone outside seeing? I figured, you know, you got tens of thousands of square miles of federal forest, No roads in or out, Who's gonna notice 20 miles? But I don't understand, why trap us? (CHUCKLES) See, We're like a big experiment to them, right, Like a giant Habitrail, and we're their lab rats, When you saw the wall, Jacob, why didn't you come back and tell us what you saw? I thought about it, you know, Almost did, Come back, play the whole mea culpa thingy, I'm sorry, I repent, please forgive this sinner, But then, you know, I realize, Father would never let me live knowing what I know, If you had told the truth, Jacob, we would have believed you, Father would make sure no one would believe me, But you already know that, don't you? Huh? That's why you ran too, Well, now there are three of us, if we all went together we could tell them, No, no, I'm not going back, What, are you just going to live out here for the rest of your life? Yeah, well, it's better than being roasted on a spit as a traitor, huh? BETH: We have to go back and tell everybody, And you have to help us with that, -Can't do it, -Yes, you can, Jacob, We'll be together, It will be our word about what we've all seen, what we all know is the truth now, You can do it, Maybe, you know, I mean, ,, Maybe if we all went back and told them, Thank you, All right, let's go, Daniel, okay, we'll go back, all three of us, but not tonight, I can't, No, no, She's right, man, It's like 10 miles back through those woods, First thing in the morning, Please? First thing, Let me look at this beautiful baby, (SCREAMING) Beth, Beth, I just had a terrible nightmare, Dan, -(WILLIAM CRYING) -Beth! Are you all right? Beth, wake up, Jacob! Jacob! Jacob, what the hell, ,, (BREATHING HEAVILY) Just as I feared, Help them! Help them! Wake up, wake up! Beth! Please, help her, -Jacob! -(WILLIAM CRYING) Easy now, Took quite a hit, (GROANS) I need to tell you, buddy, I think it was pretty stupid, you running off like that, You're lucky Jacob didn't kill you, Where are Beth and William? William's fine, Beth's in your cabin, We brought you here so you both could be more comfortable, -I wanna go see her, -You will, She's been unconscious until about an hour ago, She's still a little out of it, She needs a real doctor, she's got to get to a hospital, Father's administering to her, She'll be okay, No, Thomas, I know you think Jacob attacked us, but he didn't do this, Oh, good, You're up, You gave us quite a scare running off in the middle of the night, Daniel, -Tell him the truth, -Daniel, ,, Jacob didn't attack us, Father did, What? He found us in the middle of the night and he attacked us, He set this whole thing up, Daniel, please, what are you talking, ,, It's all right, Thomas, He's had quite a shock, it's only natural that he's a little confused, No, Father found us and his staff glowed, He tortured Beth and I and then he killed Jacob, you've got to believe me, -Don't touch me, -Okay, Daniel, please calm down, All right, everything's gonna be all right, We'll sort this out, It's all right, Thomas, I need to speak to him alone, No, don't leave me alone with him, Tom, Don't leave me alone, Please, Father, he is pretty upset, Perhaps it will be better if I stay, No, Thomas, he needs my help, Please go, Thomas, ,, Tom, I will be all right, please wait outside, Thomas! (DOOR CLOSES) I can't say that I'm not disappointed in you, Daniel, You and Beth, ,, You were among my very first converts, And now this, (SIGHS) What are you? What did you do to my son? I am the lord's prophet, And your son was blessed with a small gift, Something that would help him thrive and grow and with which we can keep track of him, That's how you found the cave, isn't it? I am your shepherd, you are my flock, I am responsible for your deliverance, You call this deliverance? Trapping and imprisoning us here? Please, Daniel, it's not too late, Come back to us, I know what you are, And as soon as the rest of the village does, we're gonna turn against you, We are his children, And like children, you need to be disciplined, I knew things would go wrong when Jacob ran off in the middle of the night, I knew that it would set a bad example, That it would put ideas in people's heads, And now I'm going to have to set another example, Unfortunately, that's going to be you, Daniel, (GROANS) Thomas, help! Daniel, what are you doing? What the hell are you doing? Have you completely lost your mind? DANIEL: It's a trick, I didn't touch him, He's bleeding, Daniel, I hoped to help him with some counseling, Unfortunately, I can see that is no longer possible, Daniel has broken our first covenant, "Above all to do no harm," For this, he must be judged by the assembly, FATHER: Today is a sad day indeed, And yet like all tragedies, it is a test of our true faith, One of us has strayed away from the path, Our beloved Daniel, FATHER: Where did we fail him? What do we owe him? We owe him our compassion, We owe him our guidance, but we also owe him our discipline, (BREATHING HEAVILY) Beth, Beth, Are you all right? We have done nothing to her, Daniel, On the contrary, it's your actions that have done this to her, You are responsible for this, You did this to her, Tell them, tell them what you are, They know who I am, The question is, who are you, Daniel? You were one of the faithful, one of the believers, what has happened to you? -He is a monster, -(ALL EXCLAIMING) He did this to Beth, he killed Jacob, I saw with my own eyes, you must believe me, You are not making any sense! -I know what I saw, -Calm down! -I'm sorry, -Yes, of course, The day William was born, I saw Father walk into the forest, He disappeared in a flash of light, His staff lit up and he was drawn up into a beam from above, DANIEL: He's tricking us to keep us here, he's trapping us, (STAMMERING) Look, Beth and I, ,, We were walking through the forest and we ran into a force field, an invisible force field that wouldn't let us leave, No, really, he's using our own faiths and beliefs against us, You've got to believe me, He's creating the force field, (ALL LAUGHING) He's not human, he's an alien, He's a monster, No, Beth, you've got to tell them, Please, please, you've got to help me, I don't remember, Daniel, Please, ,, (ALL EXCLAIM) My son, my son, I've got proof, I've got proof! Father took my son and did something unspeakable to him, No! He put something into the back of his neck, No! He did! Please look! It proves that what I'm telling is true, He has been violated, my son has, Please help him! -Look! Look at him! -Enough! Thomas, what do you see? Please, I'm sorry, Daniel, I only see a birthmark, Daniel, ,, We are nothing without our faith, The laws are clear, and you have broken them, You have put all of our lives in jeopardy, I hoped that you would come back to us, That you would rejoin the fold, But sadly, ,, That is not the case, And so I ask to all that are assembled here, What is your will? ALL: Burn him! Burn him! (CHANTING) Burn him! Burn him! No! No! (CHANTING CONTINUES) Surely there is a less harsh punishment to be given to him, ALL: Burn him! Burn him! Daniel, ,, The assembly as spoken, I must give you the harshest punishment there is, Because of your crimes, Daniel, you are to be sacrificed to the lord, You've got to believe me, he's a monster, (SOBBING) (INDISTINCT CHATTER) I need a moment with him, brothers, God, if you'd told me, I'd be here a week ago, ,, I'm still trying to figure it out, What happened? -How did we get here? -I have nothing to say to you, Oh, man, I wanna help you, Dan, I really do, But the way you've been acting it's crazy, -Then killing Jacob, -I did not kill Jacob, Okay, then help me out, What's my alternative? Father is an alien, Do you know how that sounds? Tom, have you ever wondered why we have never seen another human being out here? We're isolated, sure, but so isolated that the stray logger, or crazed militia man, or a hunter never wandered, ,, We're in the middle of nowhere, Dan! So, no, No, it never crossed my mind, Well, what about the bus? -What about it? -How did it get here? It brought us through the forest, Oh, yeah, on that dirt track? Follow that road and I bet you it stops, I bet it peters out into nothing, -That's crazy, -Is it? Do you remember driving in? -Sure, I do, -Do you? Because I don't, I mean, think about it, Do you remember driving up the road into the village? I'll tell you what you remember, you remember falling asleep on the drive up and then being woken up as the bus pulled in the village square, Yeah, that's right, And I'll bet if you asked everyone else in the village they'd have the same memory, So? So, we don't remember the ride, What is that supposed to tell me? That we were brought here against our will, To some completely remote part of the country, Maybe we're not even in America, That we're being imprisoned by some invisible force field wall that the aliens created to do experiments on us, I've heard enough, We're nothing without our faith! Right? What have you put your faith into, Tom? Do you really know? THOMAS: What am I doing out here? Oh, my God, Daniel was right, I'll take him out, Are you sure about all of this, everything you've said? Absolutely, every word, I believe you, We've got to tell everyone now, You saw how well that went yesterday, Father has made us into the perfect unquestioning followers, Gonna get you out of here, Yes, (DOOR OPENS) -Thomas, -Yes, Is there a problem? No, I was just saying goodbye, I'm sure you can appreciate that, Of course, Thomas, where's Beth? Thought it best she not be here, Good, You'll take care of her, On my life, Do you have anything to say before we carry out the lord's will? DANIEL: Yes, Father, Just one more thing, -(GROANS) -(ALL SCREAMING) (GRUNTS) (ALL CLAMORING) MAN: Father, Father, MAN: It's a miracle, (ALL CLAMORING) MAN: It's a miracle, -Which way now? -Keep going this way, I have an idea, -There! -(PANTING) Here, I saw Father come here and disappear, To above, I don't know, maybe to a ship, If I can get to the ship, then maybe I can disconnect the force field, Maybe I can crash the ship and we can get the hell out of here, Yeah, Here, look, -Okay, step back, -What? No, You're taking me with you, you might need my help, Thomas, this is probably a one-way trip, I don't even know if there's a spaceship up there, But if I can get this thing disconnected, I need you to take care of Beth and William, Good luck, (BREATHES HEAVILY) (GRUNTS) Well done! Well done, You, ,, You can't be here, I left you in the village, There are many of us here, Daniel, And we take this form, It's easier that way, Wait, ,, Who are you? What are you? Yes, yes, I know, many questions, I promise you there is an answer, um, an answer, there is an answer, but I think you're going to be a little disappointed by it, We're just merchants, really, We deal in commodities, Metals, minerals, water, And in your case, slaves, Slaves? You see, we've been watching your species for quite a while, and you have many of the qualities that we find desirable, You're hardworking, you're relatively easy to train and you are obedient under certain circumstances, Now, there are these violent and rebellious tendencies, but we feel that we can breed these out of your stock, By the time we reach our destination, we won't even need the charade forest, Destination? Oh, that's right, you still think you're back on Earth, don't you? Well perhaps this will enlighten you, You see, Daniel, you're on a spaceship, Traveling through space, The village, the mountains, 20 miles of forest, it's all one big spaceship, And in about 500 of your Earth years, when we finally reach our destination, we're gonna have about 100,000 willing, obedient, docile, profitable slaves, (BREATHES HEAVILY) No, we'll never follow you, No, of course not, Not if you thought you were being imprisoned, We saw how disastrous it was when your species tried to enslave each other, So, we had to come up with a new ploy, we had to, um, ,, Make you want it, Wait, wait, ,, Give you a new life, A new life through faith and service, In a few generations you'll think that you were born to be slaves, And I am your lord, (VOICE ECHOING) The lord of the manor as it were, No! (GRUNTS) (GROANS) He refused to follow the faith, he shall face the consequences, You must listen to me, he's going to destroy us, please, we're trapped! We have to get out of here, You said it yourself, Thomas, we're nothing without our faith, Please, listen to me, -Listen to me! -(SOBBING) Listen to me, please! Please, don't do this, Please, (CRIES) Oh, God, no, please don't! Please don't do this, No! No! No! -THOMAS: No! -No, don't kill him, -Please! -HEATHER: Don't kill him! (SCREAMS) (COUGHS) A new life through faith and service, ALL: A new life through faith and service, CONTROL VOICE: When you blindly give up your free will to a higher authority, be sure you are not also giving up control
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