Original subtitles

(HORNS HONKING)

(TELEPHONE RINGING)

MADGE: George Fallson's office.

CARTER: Madge, hi. It's Carter. Is he there?

Up to your neck in traffic?

Ugh. It's like banging my head against a rock. Is he in?

Just finishing up a call. Let me tell him you're on.

FALLSON: Carter, where are you?

Stuck on the road.

What about that garbage strike?

I told you, I need that story by tomorrow. Now, I expect...

(STATIC)

Hello?

Are you there, Carter?

(STATIC)

Carter, can you hear me?

I'm losing you.

Carter, are you listening? Carter?

MAN: (OVER PHONE) Others still missing.

Located Joseph Krieger.

Krieger is scheduled for removal this afternoon.

There will be no witnesses.

(STATIC)

Oh, my God.

MAN: Hello?

Is someone there?

018111.

0101.

Is someone there?

(TIRES SQUEALING)

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: The search for truth is a noble venture,

but what happens when that search becomes so obsessive

that we no longer find truth,

but instead create it?

FALLSON: You could've been mistaken, Carter,

you were crossed with another car phone, for God's sake.

CARTER: I've already told the cops, I distinctly heard the name Joseph Krieger.

The man is this country's answer to Salman Rushdie.

His name gets thrown about a lot.

I'm telling you, it was a death threat.

Carter.

It's probably some disgruntled book buyer blowing off steam.

He was staring right at me while he was talking.

You should have seen the expression on his face.

Oh, right. The guy with the violet eyes.

Not to mention the Buck Rogers car phone he was using.

I know what I heard!

Look, Carter, I'm sure you heard something.

I'm just saying that I think you should do a little more investigating

before you jump to any conclusions here.

Great.

That means I'm off the garbage strike.

Nice try.

Hell, it was worth a shot.

Dad, look, why don't I just come over later on this week? I'll make you dinner.

MR. JONES: No, no, Carter. I don't want you to come over and put yourself out.

I'm not putting myself out!

If I was putting myself out, I wouldn't have offered, would I?

(UNDER BREATH) God, would you give me a break?

Give you a break?

Are you telling me to give you a break, Carter?

That's right.

Dad, let's just stop.

Let's not do this.

You're the one who brought it up.

ANCHORMAN: In our other major story,

we have details concerning...

MR. JONES: Carter?

ANCHORMAN: Joseph Krieger disappeared from his home earlier today.

MR. JONES: Carter!

I'm calling you back.

ANCHORMAN: The wealthy writer failed to show up at his office,

causing his assistant to contact family members.

Krieger's sister accompanied authorities to the bachelor's estate

to find the door broken in

and no sign of the author.

Police are not commenting further, except to say that

they are not ruling out the possibility of kidnapping.

(INTERCOM BUZZING)

Yeah?

MAN: (ON INTERCOM) Miss Carter Jones?

Speaking.

Police, ma'am.

You called us earlier today about Joseph Krieger.

We'd like to ask you a few questions.

CARTER: "Scheduled for removal."

What does that sound like to you?

Maybe this Krieger's donating furniture to the Salvation Army,

something like that.

Uh, and you, uh, you believe this strange man

was the person you heard on the phone.

You should have seen the way he looked at me.

It's probably some guy you cut off in traffic. You pissed him off.

You know, this kind of thing happens all the time.

Maybe you guys buy the coincidence,

but I have a little bit of trouble with someone disappearing

the same day I overhear them being "scheduled for removal."

This "someone" being the strange man with the gizmo, right?

Um, you have to admit, Miss Jones,

this all does sound pretty, uh,

far-fetched.

You guys aren't gonna do anything, are you?

No, that's not true. We're following every lead. That's why we're here, ma'am,

but you've more than satisfied us.

Thanks very much for your time.

I've satisfied you. Oh, I see.

You thought I was a suspect.

Don't take it the wrong way we have to check everything out.

You understand.

Yeah, I understand. You think I'm nuts.

No, we don't think you're nuts.

What we think is that you had a stressful rush hour commute,

you overheard something you didn't really understand.

I mean, we get these kind of paranoid things all the time.

I am not paranoid!

You should have heard him.

As soon as he knew I was on the phone, he tried to cover up.

It was a death threat.

Okay, well, we're gonna check that out. Thanks for your time.

I am not paranoid.

(CAMERAS CLICKING)

Yeah, can I help you?

Uh, yes.

I was supposed to meet with Joseph Krieger this morning,

but he never showed up.

Then I heard on the radio that he disappeared,

so I thought I'd come on up here, make sure he's okay.

Can you tell me what happened?

We're really not allowed to say, ma'am.

It'd be best if you took it up with the lieutenant himself.

I thought you guys used chalk.

Yeah, well, it isn't ours.

What is that?

Well, we're not sure. Ash remains.

Look, I really can't be discussing this with you.

Hey! What the hell's going on here?

Lieutenant, this woman said she had an appointment with Krieger.

Appointment, my ass.

She's that reporter I was talking to you about earlier.

Oh, the car phone?

Look, as long as I'm here, you might as well fill me in.

What is that?

Never mind.

We issued a statement earlier saying that a full-scale search

is being conducted for Mr. Krieger.

That statement has not changed.

But I need some information. Like, who are those guys?

What's wrong with you? Didn't I just tell you "never mind" ?

I...

This has nothing to do with you.

I'm just trying...

No buts! No buts.

You got two choices, downtown or someplace besides this.

Understand?

We're not playing here, understand?

If you put it that way.

Thanks for dropping by.

(PHONE RINGING)

Yeah?

MAN: (OVER PHONE) Carter Jones?

Do you know who this is?

I recognize the voice.

How did you get this number?

I also have an address.

1830 Meadowlark.

Apartment 606.

This is your address.

Carter Jones,

I know who you are,

I know where you live,

and I know what you heard.

What happened to Joseph Krieger?

Please, do not pursue this.

Is he still alive?

Nothing good will come from this.

You could suffer the same fate.

(LINE DISCONNECTING)

Hello?

Hello?

(SIGHS)

It's a one-column scrap filler.

You don't remember it? Two weeks ago.

I'm lucky if I remember what was above the fold in the Sunday edition.

So this hiker, Patrick McCabe,

gets sick aboard the charter boat Solstice

coming back from Mallard Island,

and then disappears before the paramedics showed up. So what?

So they found ashes on the dock in the shape of a body.

Purple ashes.

Like the ones you saw at Krieger's place?

I want to follow it up.

You're gonna bug me about this till I say yes, aren't you?

What do you think?

CARTER: Uh, Solstice?

Hello?

Hi.

Can I help you?

Yeah. I'm Carter Jones from The Daily Gazette.

I'm looking for the captain of this boat, Collins?

Toby Collins.

Well, if you find him, let me know where he is, will you?

He hasn't been around?

No, he hasn't been into work in almost two weeks,

ever since he got back from Mallard Island.

That was the trip the sick hiker was on.

Oh, so that's what this is about, huh?

Have you tried to call Collins?

Yeah, a few times. I didn't get an answer.

I had to toss his business to a couple other guys.

He ever disappear like this before?

Not that I remember.

Toby's a pretty responsible guy.

It's kind of got me worried, to tell the truth.

When they got back from the trip,

did you see that hiker, McCabe?

I didn't actually see anybody.

Toby radioed for medical assistance on his way in.

By the time I got the paramedics rounded up and got back here,

there was nobody here.

Where are the ashes?

They were right here.

Cops came, ripped up the boards and took it all away.

It was a zoo.

There were some strange guys in white coats,

and they had some kind of thingamajig.

Walked right in, took right over.

Kind of was hoping they'd still be here.

Well, actually, I probably shouldn't have done this,

but it was so strange, I just couldn't resist taking it.

Exactly the same.

The same as what?

These marks I saw at Krieger's.

Joseph Krieger, the writer?

Yeah. He's disappeared. Maybe you heard about it.

No, but this is totally bizarre because

I am pretty damn sure that Joseph Krieger was one of the passengers

on that boat you're asking questions about.

Just like I thought.

This is a copy of the manifest.

Joseph Krieger was definitely on that boat.

Only four passengers.

Well, there's not many people out on Mallard this time of year.

It's kind of isolated.

It's mainly your back-to-nature types head over there.

McCabe, Krieger, and a couple.

Cindy and Earl Palmer.

I don't know them.

I only remember Krieger 'cause I'm a big fan of his books.

Mind if I keep this?

Well, as long as nobody knows where you got it.

Perfect. Thanks.

Something happened out there, didn't it?

Yeah, I just don't know what.

WOMAN: (CRYING) Please, don't hurt us.

No! Please!

MAN: What do you want from us?

WOMAN: What are you doing?

MAN: Don't hurt Cindy! Don't!

No!

(GASPS)

(PANTING)

(SCREAMING)

MAN'S VOICE: I know who you are.

I know where you live.

I know what you heard.

Hey, Carter. What're you doing here on a weekend?

Catching up.

Too bad. You just missed him.

Who?

Some guy stopped by to see you.

Intense looking.

Had these eyes, Liz Taylor-like, you know?

Violet.

Did he leave?

I'm not sure. Might be around here somewhere.

Hey, you all right?

(ELEVATOR DINGING)

MAN: Hold it.

(GASPING)

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

What do you want?

I'm in trouble.

Don't make this any harder for me than it already is.

If I could talk to that charter captain, Collins,

or maybe I should go to the Palmers' house again tomorrow and look around.

I don't know.

What was this, uh,

this thing he killed them with?

A secret weapon.

Maybe the passengers on the boat stumbled onto them using it,

and now they're covering their tracks.

You don't know that.

I don't know what I know, I just,

that I'm probably next on this freak's list.

I can't go anywhere without looking over my shoulder.

He's in my house, he's in my car, he's on my computer.

I just thought I was onto something important.

Now it's all blowing up in my face.

Same old Carter.

What does that mean?

Jumping head-first into things and not accepting the consequences.

This is different.

Not so different.

Dad.

Forget it.

I didn't know they were gonna shut your plant.

What'd you expect them to do when you wrote that story?

Set things right. They were dumping chemicals, for God's sake!

I lost my job!

Well, you could've gotten another one,

instead of sitting around here blaming me,

driving Mom crazy!

That's not true.

Seeing you waste away like that broke her heart.

It's probably what killed her.

Who's blaming who now?

Nobody should blame anyone for anything!

You should take responsibility for yourself!

I got sick. I couldn't work.

You seem to forget that.

I'm sorry you lost your job, Dad!

I'm sorry.

(SOBBING)

Yeah, we're here at the scene.

Hey!

Hey, I wanna talk to you!

Uh, excuse me.

Excuse me, I'm looking for Toby Collins.

Well, that makes two of us.

I'm his sister, Phoebe.

Hi. I'm, uh, Carter Jones,

from The Daily Gazette.

A reporter?

I just want to ask him some questions.

Have you seen him?

No, uh, but I've talked to him, last night.

He called me at home in Portland.

Was he all right?

I don't think so.

He was talking gibberish.

Something about saying goodbye.

It just sounded so final.

Miss Collins, it's very important that I reach him.

That's exactly what that other guy said.

What guy?

The guy who was just here asking for Toby.

He was very odd looking.

CARTER: (OVER RADIO) I appreciate you talking to me.

It's very important that I reach him.

Thank you. Thank you for your time.

Let me know.

Miss Jones?

If you do find him, would you just ask him to give me a call?

I'd really like to see him again.

I will.

Carter.

Where the hell have you been?

Did you tell anyone where you were going? Has anyone followed you?

I followed your directions.

You know the last time I was on a bus?

God, you look awful. Are you all right?

I'm not sleeping.

And not showing up for work.

I've been working on something else.

(SCOFFS) Conspiracies. Death rays.

Murdering innocent people.

Have you flipped? Where'd you dream this stuff up?

By looking into Krieger's disappearance.

You got any way of substantiating any of this?

I'm working on that.

If you ask me, you're working on a nervous breakdown.

Please, I'm telling you the truth.

The cops who visited me yesterday think you're ready for the rubber room.

You see?

Carter...

You can't believe them. You can't even talk to them.

They're involved in this, too.

Who are you gonna believe, them or me?

I can't print this!

Come on, they'll lock me up with you.

The captain saw something. He knows something.

I had a contact trace the phone call he made to his sister.

He's in a motel outside town.

If I can just get to him, everything will fall into place.

Fine, you'll have plenty of time to pursue it.

Are you firing me?

I'm suggesting you take a vacation.

A couple of weeks, just to get your head together.

Then we'll talk,

but not about this!

I'm sorry, Carter. I really am.

Mr. Collins?

COLLINS: Go away!

I need to talk to you, Mr. Collins. Please?

I've been to your boat.

I know about the ashes.

I've seen him.

(UNLOCKING DOOR)

Close the door!

Stay!

Right there.

Don't come any closer.

(GASPING) Put out the light!

Please,

leave while you still can.

I've got to get you some help.

Who are you?

My name is Carter Jones. I'm a journalist.

I've been trying to find out what happened on your boat.

This happened.

That hiker did this to me!

(WHIMPERING) He got ill on board.

He broke out in these blisters.

When we docked, the others ran away,

but I stayed with him.

Then that man showed up.

He had this, this thing.

He used it on McCabe.

Yes, right. He killed the others, too.

I ran to get away from him.

I've been hiding out here ever since.

And then last night, I broke out in these blisters.

Why is this happening to me?

What did McCabe give to me?

I don't know.

I've got to get you to a hospital,

we can call your sister from there.

Phoebe?

You've seen Phoebe?

She wants to see you.

(MEEKLY) No.

It's too late.

Too late for anything like that.

No, it's not.

I'll get the car.

Thank you for finding him.

God, no!

No!

(CRYING IN PAIN)

(PANTING)

Ahhh!

Please, don't scream.

Allow me to explain.

I will not harm you.

You must believe me.

I promise.

Beautiful specimens,

much like those found on Mallard Island.

So you were there.

No, I was receiving reports from our scout,

atmospheric readings, tests on plant life.

But, unknown to us, our scout was carrying a virus.

That's what McCabe had and Collins.

Yes.

McCabe was hiking in the woods, he ran into our scout,

he became exposed.

The virus has a two week incubation period.

While it lies dormant, the victim experiences only occasional stomach pain.

Contagion sets in when the virus manifests itself

with sweats and fever blisters.

The central nervous system breaks down.

Death occurs within 48 hours.

When the virus broke out on the boat,

everyone was infected.

Oh.

That's what you've been doing, preventing an outbreak?

A plague.

One that could destroy all of mankind.

What happened to your scout?

He was sent back immediately,

before he could expose anyone else.

Sent back?

To our home.

Please believe me. We never meant any harm to anyone.

I will be going home myself,

once this virus is contained.

Unfortunately, the virus has not yet been contained.

But I,

I was only with him for a few minutes.

That's why I was asking you to cease your inquiries.

That's why when you persisted, I tried to contact you at the newspaper.

Unfortunately, in another two weeks, you'll suffer the same fate as the others.

No. It can't be.

You must understand the risk you represent

to your entire race.

That's it?

It's over?

You still have some time left, if you care to make use of it.

You won't be contagious for another two weeks.

What if I run?

You won't.

You'll come to realize it is the only choice to make.

I'm terribly sorry.

(CRYING)

Dad, can I come in?

Before you speak, I want to say something.

I got to thinking about the other night.

About what I said.

Let me finish.

It's no secret I've been blaming you

for what happened to me 10 years ago.

All that stuff about not accepting the consequences of your actions.

Look, I'm not very good at this,

but if anybody's to blame here, it's me.

Maybe I could've got mad at the company for being negligent,

but I could've got over that pretty quick.

It was a shock, Daddy.

No.

The only real shock

is that I was willing to lose my daughter over it.

Do you think it's too late to put the past behind us?

(INHALING DEEPLY)

Well, there's no time like the present, Daddy.

I want to grab hold of all the time we've got left,

make the most of it.

(SOFTLY) Daddy...

What's the matter?

Something I said?

No.

It's just that life has a funny way of screwing around with you, that's all.

Hmmm.

Now, what'd you want to talk to me about?

Nothing, Daddy. Nothing important.

Nothing important.

(SIGHING)

You were right.

In the end, this is the only choice.

I wish there were another way.

I'm afraid to die.

Die? You misunderstand.

I've been removing those infected by the virus,

taking them back to my world.

Once there, you will have a full and wonderful life.

On our planet, the virus is harmless.

You will not die.

And,

and is my father at risk now?

If you stay.

CONTROL VOICE: Nothing happens by chance.

Life has a design all its own.

For one person's sacrifice

can be another's salvation.