The Outer Limits (1963) s01e20 Episode Script

The Bellero Shield

(faint footsteps) ls that it? ls it dead? l am going to bury it.
You must not stop me! lt has a bullet in the base of its skull.
My son didn 't put it there.
Great men are forgiven their murderous wives.
( humming ) ( man ) 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 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.
(intermittent electrical buzzing ) (beeping ) ( man ) There is a passion in the human heart called aspiration .
lt flares with a noble flame and, by its light, man has travelled from the caves of darkness to the darkness of outer space.
But when this passion becomes lust, when its flame is fanned by greed and private hunger, then aspiration becomes ambition .
By which sin , the angels fell.
(woman ) Mrs Dame? - lt holds steady.
- Yes, Father.
Mrs Dame? lt's been a long evening, Richard.
Tell your wife l enjoyed my dinner.
- She'd like to hear that.
- Your favourite year.
Next time, Judith.
Good night, now.
Excuse me.
- l'll see you to the car.
- Yes? - He'd already made a decision .
-Not in your favour? No Somebody c se (fatther) R cha rd ! - l'll be there in a moment! - Passes over his own son ? He isn 't stepping down from the throne.
He's retiring from the presidency of his company.
Blood has nothing to do with it.
He didn 't wait.
lt's always made him uncomfortable turning me down .
Your laser light didn 't impress him? lt isn 't anything original.
l merely found a new use for it.
The Bellero Corporation is not interested in destructive appliances.
- His phrase.
- ls it destructive? Didn 't you know l was interested in your work? lt's recent, isn 't it? lt began with this.
l remember something l heard as a small child.
Someone spoke of the ''Trembling Way''.
A bridge between earth and heaven .
l found it in a mythology book.
Scandinavians call it the Bifrost.
l thought of this as our Bifrost.
The way to what, for me, would be heaven .
Power, far-flung holdings, undiminishable authority.
l thought all you wanted from me was to make some small contribution to mankind.
Not small, Richard.
The things l want for you are not small.
l'm sorry, Judith, but unless my father changes his mind, which he won 't .
.
all l'll be able to give you in large amounts is money.
And love.
Will love keep you , Judith? Will that keep you? Will you return this? We'll open it the next time your father comes to dinner.
Will there be a next time? No.
Bring us two glasses.
Crystal.
Ask Mrs Dame to polish them.
We'll drink to our Trembling Way.
( vibrating hum ) Mrs Dame, does my wife ever confide in you about me? Sometimes when she is dreaming l'm there.
So she dreams aloud.
Has she ever dreamed of leaving me? For what? Leaving you for what? For some other pretender to a more accessible throne.
- Mrs Bellero is loyal.
- Yes, but to whom? - Judith, what is it? - l killed it.
But it wasn 't human .
lt wasn 't a human that l killed.
lt came toward me and l fired.
- ls it still in the lab? - l didn 't look back.
l crawled out.
l crawled, Richard.
We are told that on this planet fear is the spur.
lt was fear that made you think first to destroy me, was it not? The laser beam didn 't destroy you? Does fire quench fire? Who are you? Your weapon could not harm me.
Had l known its charge was of the same stuff as that, l would not have thrown up this shield.
l feel l sense, however, that it would be wiser to remain shielded until l have acquainted myself with all your weapons.
- Ask him who he is.
- (alien ) A traveller.
From where? My world hovers just above the ceiling of your universe.
lt is not a planet.
lt is an amplification of light, some of which radiates from your stars.
How How did you come here? l am more urgently concerned with the question of how l shall survive here if l remove my shield.
Please, please, you may.
Do.
That shield Without it, we could not travel into such unserene universes as this, your meteors and your random radiations.
- l shall go.
-No, don 't! l already see another of your weapons.
Distrust.
Can you explain that we are not all scientists, Richard? ln our world, naivety and mindless courage are reserved for very small children and very dedicated scientists.
The rest of us just struggle along with our distrust of monsters.
- Judith.
- l'm not afraid now.
And l apologise.
You need not.
My husband does not want you to go.
My housekeeper will accept you if l do.
- Do you? - ln my limited fashion , yes.
Will you stay? How were you able to create a solid cylinder of amplified light? The laser? lt is composed of properties almost identical to those which form the atmosphere of my world.
How could you have synthesised compounds whose existence you could not possibly have known ? Explain please.
The laser is the amplification of light.
By stimulated emission of radiation , it irradiates a synthetic ruby crystal, which absorbs energy on a broad band of frequencies.
lt is optical energy and it excites the atoms to a higher energy state.
l called it our Bifrost, our bridge from Earth to heaven , and l was right.
l was right.
Finally.
Totally.
Do you know what that monstrous thing is, Mrs Dame? - Something dead? That won 't die.
-No.
lt isn 't a spectre, Mrs Dame.
lt's real and it's alive .
.
and it's ours.
(doorbell rings) Mrs Bellero does not wish to see you .
l came to see my son .
Kindly tell him l'm here.
l'll wait.
was sent to send yo u away My son w see me Why don 't you go away? lt will be rare wiseness on your part.
How dare you ! No friend or equal could speak to you more advisedly.
- Call my son .
- Go to bed, Mrs Dame.
l couldn 't keep you from marrying my son .
l've done my best to keep him from regretting it.
lt's been a silent war, Judith.
Now l must fire a very loud shot.
The noise will break his heart.
He can have the Bellero Corporation , all of it, forever, if - .
.
he leaves you .
- He doesn 't want it.
He's spent his life trying to be worthy of it.
He wants your love! l want your empire.
l spend every hour developing men and means devoted to the prevention of war.
That is how much l hate war! Yet l am not as sickened or enraged even by war as l am by a single soul like yours.
Your ambition is the most active form of violence l've ever encountered! No more active than your own , just more vibrant.
- l have no ambition , just aspirations.
- You want glory.
- l aspire to it.
- You lust.
Lust is what becomes of an aspiration when it becomes an ambition .
You will give the Bellero Corporation to your son .
No! ln return for the glory he is about to give the Bellero name.
Yes, Father.
Wait and see.
The human you call wife Oh, Judith? Friend, l have not much time and there is much more l would like to be taught.
l'll just be a moment.
Close the door.
My hearing is more sensitive than yours.
l see.
- What? - How you look when you're happy.
This is the first time l've seen you happy.
He cares about everything.
l could stuff all the facts of the world into his brain .
- That's what you've been doing? - He has less than an hour.
- He has to travel before the parallax - You're a generous fool! - You stuff his brain - Lower your voice.
.
.
and he goes home and you're left with nothing but a fantastic tale to tell.
Who'll believe you? - Shall l parade him down ? - Richard.
Your laser made it possible for a form of life to travel from beyond our universe.
- lt's yours.
You own it.
-No.
No life should be owned by another.
Not ownership then , but proof to convince the smirkers.
l didn 't set out to accomplish this.
lt was an accident.
Richard, such accidents have made men kings.
Richard? Richard Don 't lose this mad opportunity.
My father would be believed.
My father lf he tells them, they'll believe him.
Judith, call my father.
Tell him to come here.
He can make it in time.
- Quickly.
- You call him.
He doesn 't hate you .
Hurry.
Less than an hour.
What is it? l'd better use the phone downstairs.
He might resent being exploited.
- He doesn 't know what that means.
- l do.
l learned it on my father's knee.
(whispers) Mrs Bellero.
Once this protected me from a human monster the one l married.
Take it.
You may need the same protection .
Richard will be a minute.
ls there something l can do? How long is a minute? lt passes unnoticed when you're content.
For the needy it can be a string of endless lifetimes.
Why do you want me to remain here? Can you read my mind even through your shield? No.
l cannot read your mind.
l cannot even understand your language.
l analyse your eyes.
ln all the universes, in all the unities beyond the universes, all who have eyes have eyes that speak and all speak the same language.
How can you speak my language? l learn each word just before l speak it.
Your eyes teach me.
My husband tells me you must go in under an hour.
Must you? Don 't.
Please stay.
l want you to stay.
l want you to stay for my husband's sake.
- l see.
- You must see that l wouldn 't harm you .
You can come out of your shield.
And now you will come out of yours? You're extremely perceptive.
Yes, we have our shields, but ours protect only our hearts and souls.
Our flesh is vulnerable to whatever fate and our enemies hurl at us.
-No.
-No? You lack the prime ingredient to manufacture a thing like this.
That's unfortunate.
A man who could give his country a weapon like that lt is not a weapon .
ln a military frame of reference, it would be considered an anti-weapon .
Anti-weapon .
lt's the same thing.
lf every man , woman and child had one, an entire country could be protected against attack.
Every man , woman and child would not need his own .
A single one of these could shield and protect your entire planet.
A single one? The shield's radius can be increased or decreased simply by deepening or lightening the pressure.
But it would do your planet no good unless l or one of my kind were to My father will never come here again .
- Make him.
Beg him to.
Beg him.
- You sent him away.
l'll crawl.
Anything to get him here.
No.
l can 't let you crawl, Judith.
l'll go.
Wait for me, please? l did not lie to him.
l did not promise l would wait.
You won 't wait? lf l miss the moment, l will never be able to leave here.
None of us can miss the moment.
(gunshot - We'll have to dig it a grave later.
- Your husband? He rarely comes down for the wine.
l won 't send him.
l'll dig a hole in the woods.
Tonight we'll bury it.
Nobody's grave has to dug in a hurry.
Do a little at a time so l won 't have to do without you for a day.
(door shuts ) ( Richard) lt's in the laboratory.
( Mr Bellero ) l shall wait here.
l do not wish to go deeper into your house.
- ( Richard) There are draughts here.
- Bring it here and show it to me.
Stay.
(Judith ) Thank you , Father, for coming.
Excuse me.
lt refused to wait.
He said it was not a question of time.
He simply did not want you to profit by him.
- l see.
- l begged him to stay.
l told him he'd not begun to learn all you could have taught him.
l'm glad l didn 't tell Father what l had up here.
He'd think l'd added imbecility to my long list of accomplishments.
Judith We'll tell Father it was a ruse to get him here so you could apologise.
Judith, will you apologise? Wait, Richard l'll talk to him.
- You'll apologise? - He will.
Wait here.
Your father and l will come up together.
(Judith ) Father? He cannot bring it down .
You'll have to go up to the lab.
Father! Your son has invented a way for mankind to protect itself from mankind.
He can give it to the world as a gift from an anonymous donor or he can give it as the new ruler of the Bellero empire.
Which sounds more glorious to you? - ( Richard) My invention ? - ( Mr Bellero ) She called it yours.
Richard, may l have the honour of explaining your shield .
.
the Bellero Shield, to your father? - The Bellero Shield? - He wanted to call it the Bifrost.
l persuaded him to use his own name.
His and yours.
- Fire at me, point-blank.
- Judith! Please.
Great men require great demonstrations, don 't they? Point-blank.
Richard, are you going to let me be tricked? No trick, Father.
Perhaps a bullet won 't convince you .
Give him the laser gun .
- l can 't let you - Mrs Dame! We must show these men what great men they are.
(bullet pings) What is it? Can she hear me? Yes.
Now the laser gun .
The man who invented this could rule the world, or save it if you prefer.
lsn 't that the man you want to succeed you? l gathered up all my self-doubts and l rid myself of them by projecting them onto you .
- l have used you , Richard - Stop it, Father.
.
.
to protect myself and l almost destroyed you .
Forgive me.
Don 't shut me out of your successes.
- l tried to shut you out of mine.
Please - Stop it! He does not forgive easily.
He has your small flaws as well as your great virtues.
- He will forgive me, won 't he? - l'll help him to.
But quickly.
l haven 't too much time.
l did not decide to retire.
l am going to be retired.
By a more final and just decision than l could ever make.
Go to him.
lt is customary to comfort a broken enemy before you discard him.
- Help us.
- Help! Help! Heaven help her.
lt is useless, Mr Bellero.
The monster will not come back.
-Not that way.
- lt came before.
She'll die.
Can she live without air? ls there a perpetual supply in that tomb of hers? He'll come back! Richard Let me go for help.
l can do something but not if l remain here.
lt's hope Don 't say it's hopeless.
All you've ever had is words of hopelessness.
Don 't you ever run out? Do you have a perpetual supply in that tomb of yours? lf there was such a creature it may be roaming the streets.
- lt may be killing and someone should - Sit down , Father, and be quiet! l don 't want anyone to know my wife thieved from a friend from another world.
We must do something for all of us and your wife.
What can we do for my wife, Father? Get help, Richard.
Perhaps she can be reached from the room below if the ceiling were cut away The shield goes down to the foundations.
Down and down to Stay, Father, stay! l'll call for help.
You can listen .
l won 't say anything incriminating.
Can 't l even call for help? Just call? Call? Call whom? The police? The leading scientists of the world? The faith healers? The magicians? Psychiatrists? Munitions experts? Philosophers? Politicians? lmage makers? Funeral directors? Government agencies? Whom do you call when you're trapped in your own tomb? Judith, pick it up.
Try again , please.
Movement and words accomplish nothing and only deplete the oxygen and the soul.
- Once more, please.
- Mrs Dame, tell him it's useless.
No, it isn 't.
He has to be still in our atmosphere.
He couldn 't have left without the shield.
Mrs Dame, tell him to call the police.
- Richard -No.
Why not? The state can 't execute me without getting me out of here.
Maybe that's the solution .
Tell them l'm a murderer and they'll rip me out with their bare hands to keep me from escaping their chamber! ( laughs hysterically) He told me so much about it.
All about it, l thought.
A single one could protect our entire planet.
lts radius is increased by merely deepening the pressure.
An anti-weapon , he called it.
l thought he'd told me everything.
Now, of course, l realise that .
.
he never told me how to remove it.
Nothing we know of in this world will remove it.
Nothing will remove it.
l killed him prematurely.
Mrs Dame and l put him in the cellar.
l wanted proof that he'd been here.
Your father would have wanted proof.
Fathers often demand what strangers don 't even expect.
(faint footsteps) ls that it? ls it dead? l am going to bury it.
You must not stop me.
You have your proof.
The police must not have theirs.
Police? No, of course not.
lt's none of their business.
lt belongs to the world of the prize-givers and my son invented the agency that brought it here.
He'll be splashed across the chapters of the world's most honoured history.
lt has a bullet in the base of its skull.
My son didn 't put it there.
Great men are forgiven their murderous wives.
( humming ) Let me out! Please, let me out! l'm sorry! Oh, please lneed to be forgiven .
Make someone forgive me and let me free.
l can forgive you , but l can 't let you free.
l can .
When she borrowed the thing .
.
she accidentally broke the vein .
My fluid, like your blood The prime ingredient.
(screams) l expected it to kill me .
.
but it looked into my eyes, and l heard myself say, ''Can you help?'' And it said, ''Can l not?'' (sobbing ) Judith lt's gone.
You're free.
Come.
We'll have to tell someone what we've done.
- You said it was gone.
- lt is gone.
No, it's still here.
Nothing will remove it.
lt will always be here.
Nothing will ever remove it.
lt's here.
l know it's here.
l can see it.
l'll always see it.
lt will always be here.
Nothing will ever remove it.
Nothing will ever remove it.
Nothing will ever remove it.
Nothing.
( man ) When this passion called aspiration becomes lust, then aspiration degenerates, becomes vulgar ambition .
By which sin , the angels fell.
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