Original subtitles

Hello?

Uh -huh, I finally caught you.

Oh, hi, babe.

No, no hi, babes, Mr. Wizard.

You're still in that office, hmm? You're still working.

Well, where are you hiding?

You're supposed to come home early, remember? No sidetrack.

I know.

Something came up. There's a report, Ellie.

Oh, Mike.

Don't you think the Institute could survive without one more report?

Darling, we're getting up early tomorrow, remember?

We have reservations at the lake.

I'm sorry, Ellie.

Look, I'm about finished here now. I'll be home in an hour. That be okay?

No SkyTrek?

Not one. I'll see you later.

Mike?

Yeah? It's gonna be a good trip, you know?

We're gonna have a great time.

Mike? Say, you haven't changed your mind, have you?

Now, listen, woman.

Don't you ever doubt my word.

We're going to go on that trip, and we're going to forget this institute.

going to forget everything.

Do you understand?

All right, darling.

Now, I'll see you in a little while.

Still a couple left.

Still a couple.

Bye, Doctor.

Martin, Mike never came home.

Can you please come over?

Well, I called the police.

All they found was the car.

All right, Phil, thanks.

Well?

No fingerprints, no sign of a struggle.

Then where is he?

You don't just abandon a car in the middle of a city and disappear.

Some people do just that, Dr. Geller, for a variety of reasons.

Not one of my people.

Commissioner, I want action on this.

Look, gentlemen.

Brandon is a top man.

A walking encyclopedia of electronics information.

Including the classified kind.

Now, when a man like that is missing... Well, you see, the Institute sells more

than just brains. It sells security.

Without that, I... Well, you understand.

We understand very well, Dr. Geller.

or this would be purely a precinct matter.

If Mike were off on a bender of some kind, all right, that's understandable.

Pressure's at a think tank. I can do that to you sometimes.

If it's... Well, if it's something else, I... It looks bad, Chief. It just

looks very bad.

For the Institute, isn't that what you mean?

Well, I'm thinking of more than the Institute.

Look, Chief, I hope you and your people know what you're doing, because I'm

thinking about the country.

I'm thinking about the country, Dr. Geller.

Now, your friend Michael Brandon, isn't he part of the country?

Mrs. Brandon?

Yes. I'm Chief Ironside. This is Officer Sanger. Oh, yes.

Dr. Geller told me that you would be here. Please, come in.

Thank you so much for coming so quickly. Would you come this way?

This is my husband's study.

I haven't had a chance to get any of my... My husband's papers... Mrs.

do you mind if I poke her out? Oh, no.

Anything you want to look at?

Chief Ironside, I don't know how to say this, but my husband didn't have any

reason to disappear.

There were no problems between you two?

Oh, no.

Well, you know, he was pushing himself pretty hard, and I got on him about it

once in a while, but no, he didn't have any big problems.

Anyway, I fed him too well for him to run off.

Had he been acting in an unusual or different manner lately?

Was there any change in his behavior, his habits?

No. The most unusual thing that we've done in the last ten years was to plan a

vacation.

In fact, we were supposed to leave today.

Mike was, I don't know, feeling a little restless. He was also resigning.

Resigning?

Well, Mike never finished that letter. He wasn't going to resign from the

Institute. From what, then?

Well, you see, Mike's team was assigned to a Defense Department study of a

missile base, and he wanted out of that project.

Why? Well, he said that there were enough missiles on that base to level a

continent, and he didn't want to work with armaments anymore.

My husband was changing. He was growing up.

But he never submitted the request.

He never quit anything in the middle before.

See, that was the reason for this trip.

He needed time to think about it before he made up his mind.

If we could keep this house under surveillance, put a tap on the phone?

Do you think that he could have been kidnapped?

It's one of the possibilities.

Do whatever you have to do.

I love my husband very much, and I want him back.

He's not a habit I intend to break.

All right, Miles, I'll sell you the grain, but I'm not trading in futures. I

want something else. My people have quoted you their top price.

He's talking about the arms, Pac -Mo.

No, no.

Herb, there's a better way to play the game. You let the computer do it. You

don't talk, you don't bargain, you attack with the big brain.

Carol, give him a reading on the 77 crop.

Got it.

Have you got it yet?

Hey. aggravate me out of my skull, Martin. We've been playing this game for

three days. Three days wasted. Curtis, you are talking about some of the top

economists in the country. But they're wearing blinders. They're supposed to be

acting out the next 30 years in world trade, projecting what's going to happen

in the year 2000, but their thinking is 1945.

They are here to think in their own way.

Besides, this isn't your project. Everything is my project.

What do you want solved? Pollution problems?

Population problems?

Ecology? Mass transit?

Wise old Dr. Whitney will tie everything together with a nice, neat bow.

Can you get Michael Brandon inside that package?

Curtis, this is Chief Ironside. He's handling the case from our end, along

Officer Sanger.

Well, I think I can leave the three of you to take care of it.

Look, Curtis, would you just save a little energy for the Hobart Air Base

The furor worries too much.

What about Brandon?

Ah, come to my sanctuary and I will tell all.

Well, some people were pet when they heard Brandon talking about leaving the

Hobart Air Base study. You know, they felt let down, betrayed.

And you?

Well, you work with three people, four, it's all the same.

You don't get any great insights from plotters, you know.

That's what Brandon is, a plotter.

He's earthbound, Ironside, tethered by his own fears.

I mean, for him, science is science.

And for you?

It's the golden hind, or Sir Francis Drake's sword.

An adventure.

Or a challenge, at the very least.

How do you meet your challenge, Dr. Whitney?

What's your place in the team?

And the one who knows everything there is to know about this.

You're in charge of this whole operation?

I've built it.

Oh, come on in. Take a look.

Right this way.

Look inside.

I wasn't very close to Brandon.

Well, he's a co -worker, not a friend.

Was this the change that came over him?

It wasn't sudden, you know. I didn't see it.

How? Started a couple of months ago. He got way down on any kind of military

application of his work.

Then he became guarded, quiet.

Except when he was being upset because all we did here, he said, was work on

ways to destroy people.

Curtis Whitney.

Cole.

Ironside.

Yes, sir.

All right, we'll meet you at the office.

Ed and Fran, I have something.

Well, thank you, Doctor. Whitney, you've been a great help. Yes.

Oh, the coffee.

By the way, this is my own special formula. How'd you like it?

It was an adventure, Doctor.

A challenge.

This is Brandon. This is your main savings account.

Shows a balance of $4 ,000.

Now, this account has $1 ,253.

Oh, well, this one's a rainy day account. We used it for fixing up the

things like that.

Mrs. Brennan, do you recall that savings account?

Oh, $57.

Oh, I thought Mike closed that one out. We used it years ago for tax money when

he was consulting.

Do you remember the last time either of you made a deposit in it? A very long

time ago.

Go on, Fran.

The bank's records show several deposits made in the last month.

Current balance, over $55 ,000.

$55 ,000?

I mean, that's not right. It just couldn't be.

Mrs. Brandon, is there anything you know of that could account for those

deposits?

Nobody could do that much outside work, and Mike wasn't doing any.

Are you sure your husband wasn't trying to earn a little going -away present for

you? Could that be possible?

What do you mean? I don't understand.

Those could be payoffs, Mrs. Brandon.

Oh. We need more information.

But from what we have so far, at best, indications are that your husband may be

a defector.

And at worst?

He may be a spy.

It's down this way, Chief Ironside.

I think you'll find Mike Brandon's room just the way we left it.

We'll be here quite a while, Dr. Geller.

Brandon was very valuable to you.

I'd like to see how valuable he'll be to them.

Most of Mike's notes are in writing.

But he left a great deal of recorded material, too.

Yes.

Tapes made while he worked. Thank you.

Well, would you like me to stay and help?

For the moment, no.

You see, Feinstein, I realize that scientists sometimes sell out from both

sides. But I handpicked Mike Brandon myself.

The Brandon who disappeared seems to be quite a different person from the

Brandon you handpicked, Dr. Geller.

But for him to have changed that much... No way to foresee these things.

I don't think your reputation is in jeopardy.

Well, Chief Ironside, there are some people who consider my devotion to the

Institute unselfish.

I'd hate to be drowning and depend on him to throw me a line. If the rope

belonged to the Institute, he'd probably be afraid to get it wet.

Mark, if the rope belonged to the Institute, it probably would be

treated to save thousands.

All right, then, Chief, what do we do first? Do we read or do we listen?

What we do first doesn't matter as long as we do it all.

You may choose your half of the job.

This belongs to me.

If Mike gets any ideas or inspiration, this is the room that he works in. He

comes down and writes them up, and in the morning he tries to figure out what

all means.

We'll start down here, Mrs. Brandon.

All right. But...

We'd like to look through the entire house.

Well, you can look wherever you want to. Thank you.

If, um... If your husband did defect, he may have left some

indication of his intention, some record.

Sergeant Brown, if my husband wanted to go someplace and not be found, he

wouldn't leave a road map lying around the house. He may not have known that's

what he was doing.

Mrs. Brandon, usually in cases like this, there's a contact.

Someone in particular he saw during the last two months or someone he talked to?

No.

No, I've already told Chief Ironside that there was nothing out of the

Not even a trip recently?

Well, he did take a trip to Washington for a conference.

Was there anyone there who seemed to have especially impressed him? A name

kept coming up?

No, no one.

I mean, no one could impress him as much as you're trying to suggest.

It's just not possible. What about telephone calls?

Did he call anyone with whom he are not familiar?

Mike makes his business calls from the office.

Miss Brandon, I know it's very difficult for you. Look, Sergeant, I understand

that you have to do your job, but I would like you to know that my husband

never betray his country.

He's just not like that.

I'm afraid some of his co -workers feel differently.

Officer Belding, Sergeant Brown, the house is yours. You can look wherever

want to.

But I should warn you that if you're going to play Sherlock Holmes, you're

going to find what you're looking for unless you use a distorted magnifying

glass.

Who?

Who thinks that they know Mike better than I do?

Oh, sure. This is the Eye in the Sky defense project.

It's electronic surveillance.

Top secret?

Let me put it this way.

If you hadn't been clear, there's no way either of you could have even touched

these files.

What's this negative feedback test?

You don't know what that is?

Inverse images.

The canceling out of electronic impulses.

Why wasn't I told about this project?

Yeah, but you're supposed to know about all research going on here.

Thought I did.

It has to do with television.

We were able to make out that much.

Yes.

Why was I kept in the dark about this?

Well, if we can redo some of the experiments, maybe we'll know why.

Carl, would you move the camera a little further right?

We want a completely blank backdrop.

There we go. That's fine.

Ready, Dr. Whitney?

I'll play a game on side beats working.

According to Brandon's tape, you've played this one before.

Yes, but I don't usually like to do things twice. No surprise that that way.

All right, curtain going up. Let's get on with the show, folks.

All right, Mark.

computer program?

It is now.

Mark?

What's happening, Dr. Whitney, exactly?

Well, as the computer receives the impulse that's carrying the ball's

automatically sends out electronic patterns which are the exact opposite.

They cancel out the actual picture of the ball.

It does indeed.

Yeah, Mike Brandon's version of the hidden ball trick. A thing of beauty

the time, something of a joy.

Why wasn't I told about this joy the first time you saw it?

Well, it wasn't really very important to anyone but me.

I wanted to use it to test my computer.

You see, I set out to create the fastest brain in the world. Well, this showed

me I succeeded.

And there's no other practical application.

That's the beauty part, Ironside.

You know, that's what things like Sephora do. A little abstract along with

concrete. Chief?

Yes, Ed?

We found that Brandon's phone bill for last month checked out the numbers. And?

We found several calls Mrs. Brandon knows she didn't make.

One of the numbers is of the Carriage House Hotel, a watering hole for the

Foreign Diplomatic Corps.

What about the other one?

There's a phone out here. I'll get it for you.

Brandon called it almost every day.

His wife doesn't know anybody there. No friends, no associates.

Ellie, I don't like to think the worst about Mike either, but there is this

evidence.

Evidence? What evidence?

Everything that Mike worked for has been destroyed.

No, Ellie.

Nobody can take his achievements from him.

Martin, you have a way of making that sound like a press release.

Oh, dear.

I've written so much of that stuff, I forget about it sometimes.

Martin, I... Mrs. Brandon, how are you?

Not very well, frankly.

I have the Hobart data broken down if you care to see it.

Kurt, I think we've got to look at it tomorrow, don't you?

Fine.

Mrs. Brandon?

Dr. Whitney, I'd like to ask you a question.

Do you think that my husband affected?

Yes, I think he did.

And that's what you told Ironside?

Not in so many words.

You must be glad that he's gone. I really didn't think about it. I've been

busy. Well, it must be very nice not to have him around to cramp your style, to

keep your feet on the ground.

Nobody's been able to do that, my dear.

I do my soaring no matter whose small mind is around.

And you hated those small minds, didn't you?

What you're really asking is if I hated your husband.

I really think this is a... No, Martin, please.

I want to ask Dr. Whitney what he thought of his co -worker, of the man

made most of his ideas work.

Just some of them, Mrs. Brandon, just some of them.

Let's not glorify your husband too much. He was the caterpillar afraid to come

out of his cocoon.

My husband had a conscience.

I didn't hate your husband, Mrs. Brandon. I really didn't think about him

much. If I had, what I would have felt was pity.

I don't know.

You're wrong, Dr. Whitney.

My husband did not defect.

And I'm not going to stop this investigation until all the facts are

Hello? Ellie, this is Mike. Oh, Mike.

to see one another again, Ellie, but I have provided for you.

Forgive me for what must appear an abandonment of you in our country, but

forces of reaction threaten the world.

As Brandon called as soon as the call was over, no one was monitoring the

wiretap that late, but the automatic mechanism picked it up.

That's definitely your husband's voice.

That's Mike. I know his voice anywhere.

Well, we wanted to know what happened to Dr. Brandon.

And now we do.

He wouldn't be the first man to try a stalemate, Mrs. Brandon.

All neatly tied up so we go on to other things. Is that what you mean?

Have to, Bob. We have no choice.

Somebody had to play those tapes on the phone.

Somebody who knew about Mike.

Finding your husband's whereabouts and getting him back, the State Department

will be working on that.

The Sawyer Wholesale Jewelry Vaults are on the fourth floor in this corner here.

According to Captain Larson, the thieves probably entered via a neighboring

rooftop.

Am I boring you, Chief?

What? No, no, go on, Ed. We're supposed to be thinking about some 100 % loyal

cat burglars now. You have my undivided attention, right, Brighton? Right.

Now, the only way to get from one building to the other would be to use a

Grapple marks were found on the cornices of... Oh, it's no good. No good at all.

Chief, I know what you're thinking.

I sat there, I saw her face.

The face of a woman whose husband has left her.

For a cause.

The face of a woman who'd never heard of that cause.

Ed, start the tapes.

Chief, look.

Sure, the tapes should have been edited, but we have listened and listened.

And? And we will listen again.

This is a recording, Ellie.

I made it some time ago when I knew I had to leave.

I've left a bank account with what I hope is enough to see you through.

The intonation he uses.

Would a man speak that formally to his wife if someone was with him breathing

over his shoulder?

But Brandon and his wife were close. Now, why didn't he take her with him?

Why didn't he at least take her into his confidence beforehand?

Maybe he couldn't.

Maybe they wouldn't let him.

Forgive me for what must appear abandonment of you and our country.

It just won't wash, he expresses concern.

but his voice never shows it.

You know, there was something that bothered me, and I just thought it was

silly to bring up.

I don't think there's one place in that tape that Brandon tells Mrs. Brandon he

loves her.

He never uses the word love.

He never uses any word that's not part of business English.

It's as though he were dictating a letter or a report.

Exactly.

All right, let's get the van.

Personnel factors, daily procedures, security.

So all there, Martin.

One missile -based, destruction potential virtually unlimited, broken

its lowest common denominators.

Any weaknesses in the system?

One or two. They can be corrected, though, if they follow my

Yes.

Yes, tell the guard to send him on in.

Wow.

Looks as if Chief Ironside still isn't finished with it.

What does he need?

I don't know.

But I want the Institute open to him, Kurt.

Everybody has to cooperate.

It could have disrupted a lot of work.

That's the only way we're going to clear up this mess.

Come on, Martin.

We'll survive this.

No one can blame you.

Kurt, I hired Brandon on the basis of his credentials.

I don't know. Maybe I should have been more on the lookout.

But frankly, Kurt, I like Mike.

I don't know. Maybe I went too much on instinct.

Don't condemn yourself for that. In any event, the police may not be able to

prove anything.

Yeah, unless he turns up in Russia or China tomorrow.

Well, then let's wait and see.

Look, I'd stick around for the show, except that I have to get back to the

airbase. It's dismantling time, and Colonel McAdams wants us out.

How soon before the recommendations of the team will be ready? Oh, a few of

in two weeks tops.

Believe me, Martin.

The job we do at Hobart Air Base will make them forget all about what

done. I'll yet see you without that perpetual frown.

Yes.

Yes, he can use it.

Absolutely. Let him use whatever he wants.

Do you want me to play it again?

You sure there's no difference in the sound level of the voice?

No measurable one. Not in the volume, not in the tone. Maybe the pickup isn't

sensitive enough.

It's as sensitive as they come.

Maybe what we're looking for just isn't there.

Go.

Let's try a little slower.

Ellie, this is Mike.

I'm alive and I'm healthy.

I am already out of the country in another land.

Where'd that come from?

It was there all along. Just didn't show up till now. That happens with... With

what? Let me make sure.

Just analyze the sound component.

There, see?

What is that?

That's the radio frequency of fluorescent light. There's no sound

record near it. Then look out.

But it's not on every word.

Well, you know what that means.

Yeah, it's splice. Run it down to the next one. It'll start anywhere.

There was no whistle that time.

Both were recorded by Brandon in his office.

But at different times of the day. He had them marked clearly.

The first one was done late at night. The second, during the afternoon.

He'd have his desk light on at night, not during the day. His fluorescent desk

light. And somebody faked the whole phone call.

Put it together out of bits and pieces of my cold notes.

The tape's phony.

What about everything else?

According to the ledger, the last deposit was made September 4th of this

Only I went through the day's deposits, looks every one of them.

No deposit was made.

The phone bill was a fake, too.

According to the phone company's log, the calls made to the Russian trade

mission and the Carriage House Hotel were never made.

But how could that be? I mean, how can those things be faked?

By computer.

The bank's ledger is computerized. So is the telephone company's billing system.

And a computer can be programmed to lie any way you like.

Programmed? By who?

An expert.

These two computers and several others were studied by a group from the Gregory

Institute. The bank's data processing firm couldn't begin to tell me how

flattered they were.

It's not often they're visited by anyone as eminent as Dr. Curtis Whitney.

All this to make it look as if Mike defected.

All this to make it look as if he was still...

I knew Mike didn't defend you.

I wish I could have been wrong.

Whitney.

We have no proof of anything, Commissioner.

We think we know what he did, but we don't know why.

What about that defense project he was working on?

He and Mike worked on those before with no more than the usual friction.

How many do you remember?

Five maybe six bases in the last couple of years being on those bases never

bothered your husband no But there was something about this one

There was something different about Hobart Air Force Base

When we move in, Colonel, we move in.

All that's left to be taken out, sir, is the computer link -up.

I'll be very relieved when that's done. I don't know. I'm going to miss all

those sexy little sack communiqués.

It's a joke, General, but a joke.

These four and this one are ours. Disconnect them and pull them out

side.

I'll need help with the computer.

Sergeant Henry, this is your X -15.

Don't you worry about a thing, Colonel. In a few minutes we'll be out of here

and Hobart Air Base will be at all the loose self again.

It'll be as though civilian hands never touched us.

Until later when you tell us all the things we've been doing wrong.

Colonel?

Captain, would you like to check computer?

We're no longer connected to the Gregory Institute.

Everything's out, Captain Cole.

In that case, Dr.

Whitney, goodbye.

You can button that up, Sergeant.

I will.

You're on the phone. There's a gentleman here who wants to see you. Hello,

Curtis.

Hi.

May I speak with you for a few minutes?

I'm just on my way to a meeting.

It's a pretty busy day. I realize I should have called first. I can wait or

back later.

I would like to see you.

I guess I can put the other meeting off for a while. Let him know when to stand.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

You have a very impressive place here, Curtis.

Dr. Whitney.

I've forgotten how important titles are to some people.

Only in certain companies.

It's a pretty dumb thing to do, Frank.

Mr. Clausen.

And it's not so dumb. Business has been good. I can afford a morning off.

I forgot it's not economics that worries you.

We were wondering how it was going.

Well, can't you wait until I get in touch with you?

Did Sergeant Henry do his part?

Like the good trooper that he is.

Then we are hooked in.

I've made the connection, but I haven't checked it yet. Can you?

It's too soon. Let the people at Hobart slip back into their routine.

I was talking to Kansas City today, to some of our friends there.

They're very excited about what we're doing here, Kurtz.

They want it verified. They want to know.

They'll know when it's time.

I'm sorry if our beliefs are much stronger than yours, Kurtz, but that's

it is.

Oh, come now.

Let's see just how good the great Dr. Whitney really is.

Do me a favor, will you, my man?

You're with me.

I'm not with you. Will you remember that little thing?

And here now, ladies and gentlemen, is where the hoot begins locally to the

brain. How does it sing?

Take it off, folks.

Call in the early lunch.

We're tuned into the base computer now. Then we could actually fire the missiles

any time we wanted to, right from here.

Correct.

That's the communication channel between SAC headquarters and Hobart Air Base.

The missile firing code changes every hour, so we've got a little wait.

See, this is the twelfth time I've listened to these ads, and we will

again. The timing of the methane injection mechanism is critical.

In theory, those engaged in televised communication have always known their

medium's limits.

There are several ways to jam electronic communication.

We're dealing here with the most difficult of all. The manner least

The experiment. The timing.

All right, now... No, keep us in.

Keeping tabs on the base is not the purpose of this.

Let's test the override.

You won't know if you've really done it, Kurt, if you've won, unless you go all

the way.

All right.

The test alert.

The base is sending in a code verification request.

And if that code comes over the next hour, they feed it into their firing

system. And the missiles take off?

Right to their present targets.

All right.

It's up to them now.

Colonel McAdam?

Now comes the tough part.

After the code checks out, they send another request for verification.

And you've got to catch it without before it reaches SAC and send the

verification through yourself.

What are you doing?

Just keep going, Doctor.

A man like you can't quit until he has his final proof.

Better hurry, Dr. Whitney.

Speed is what counts, right?

At first, Dr. Whitney, it didn't compute.

Why did Brandon want out of his study? Why put him out of circulation?

After all, everything was the way it had always been.

But it wasn't. No, you were different.

You and that little hidden ball you asked Brandon to develop. The technique

clean and perfect.

You could block electronic messages of all kinds, not just television.

Let's say a man wants control of the doomsday button.

You tie in your own computer while pretending to do a study of a missile

You send out a firing order.

When the base requests verification from SAC, you intercept it and cancel it out

with your bouncing ball.

There's more to it than that. But I've got the basics.

Actually, I'm much better student than Mr. Clausen here, take my word.

They came to me a while ago, Martin. He and his friends, they had the

organization, the inside men to make it all work. It was a challenge, an

adventure that made everything else pale.

Is that how you sold it to Brandon?

I told Brandon it was good old -fashioned patriotism, my friend.

We could beat the system, I told him, and then we could show them how to

it so that we couldn't beat it again.

Unfortunately, Dr. Brandon did not stay sold.

He started to worry. Well, he didn't like working outside the proper

But even that, he didn't know how to behave like a man.

Do I tell Gellert, don't I?

Is Kurt helping the country or not?

So you stepped in to be sure he didn't make the wrong decision.

We had one of our people follow Dr. Brandon on his way home.

He cut off his car. Dr. Brandon got out to complain.

We just made certain that he never got in again.

You kill him?

Oh, no, not yet.

We had to make sure that our idea would work.

had to be that way, don't you see?

The world has gone to hell. Everyone knows that.

I mean, our friends are our enemies.

Our enemies are friends.

Now, what if our government wouldn't step in, wouldn't use the power it had

it needed to? So you were going to make sure the power was used?

Not were.

It doesn't necessarily have to be were.

What's that?

No!

Why not a first strike?

It's still good.

We can't lose this chance.

Is this what you signed on for, Dr. Whitney?

Armageddon?

It was supposed to be up to me.

I was to pick the time.

I was to be the one to decide.

Keller, Chief Ironside is for you.

Yes? Chief, we got through to SAC.

In time?

If the countdown hadn't been stopped, the best they could have done was

in the air.

New security precautions are being implemented now.

Thank you, Sergeant.

Thank you very much.

All right, Mark.

Doctor.

We had our chance.

Our chance.

As if you'd waited.