Original subtitles

you

He's not in his trailer sir. Well, we're in blazes is he is almost Oh 700 I'm

sure there must be some explanation general hang that if Austin is near two

minutes. I'm gonna pull the plug Where does he come off keeping us all waiting?

general What's going on here,

where does he think he is

Hiya, Charlie. How's it going? Fine. Beautiful, Steve.

Think I got time for a shave? Oh, I think so.

Hiya, Gus. Hi, Steve.

How's the family?

Just great. How we looking?

Real good.

General?

Mr. Austin.

Yes, sir.

Have you any idea what time it is?

About five to seven.

Excuse me, General.

Hey, Steve.

You got a positive genius for antagonizing the wrong people.

I know. It's a story of my life.

Where have you been?

Oh, I felt like taking a walk.

Walk? Yeah.

You know, Doc, out there...

Just before the sun comes up.

It's just like being up there on the moon again.

Kind of relaxes me.

Right. I'll be right with you. Okay.

Thank you.

Well, unless you've got something, I don't have anything else.

Everything's fine in here.

Okay. Good luck, Steve.

Thank you.

Good luck, Steve.

Have a good day.

B-52 is ready for taxi.

It's hot in here. Let's get this show on the road.

Okay, Cecil, have you got the B-52 in sight?

Negative. Okay, just look to your left.

Wait a minute, you took off on 2-2?

Okay,

just look to your left.

35 to 40 degrees.

Someone's keying their microphone.

Okay, standby for systems. Okay, Steve.

Okay, you're cutting out. Someone is keying their mic.

Let's get off the test frequency. Let's put in another 30 seconds. Nice and

warm.

Roger. And 008, hold this heading.

008, the pieces of two cameras are on.

The winds are okay, Steve.

Westerly at about 10 knots.

Coming on. I'm indicating 004. How does that look?

Looks good, Steve, and all the systems are okay here.

The winds are westerly at 10 knots. Okay. This is NASA 1 calling 10 seconds

now. 10 seconds, roger. Zero, five, four...

This is NASA 1.

You're just a little inside of track, but I'd hold it just like you are.

Looking real good.

There's another pulse. And the pulse looks good here.

Starting my turn.

Oliver?

In the past 18 months...

We have had three projects that cost too many lives, too much money, and are

unnecessarily risky.

That is, risky to the point of threatening uncontrollable international

confrontations.

We ran an analysis on the subject, and as you can see, the conclusions dictate

a somewhat different approach. The use of one single force, especially

equipped, as it were, for such projects.

We estimate the cost to be...

roughly $6 million to establish the facilities, and half a million to a

million dollars a year thereafter to sustain those facilities and maintain

the operation.

That's for one prototype?

Well, we have no need of more than one until we work out the bugs.

Where do you get the raw materials, Oliver?

Are you going to ask for volunteers?

No. No. Accidents happen all the time.

We'll just start with scrap.

We have you at max altitude.

Trim looks good. When you get a chance, come about five degrees left.

Five left.

Feels real good here.

Okay, Steve.

The winds are down to about five or six knots.

Keep it coming left, Steve.

You're on energy, Steve, and you're heading right for the turn point.

Okay.

Got you coming through 17,000 feet now.

Okay, I got a good 18.

Correction, 20,000 feet, I'm sorry.

18 now,

thanks, Bill.

Okay, you're over the turn point now, about 18,000 feet.

Okay, I think my interconnects are riding a little bit high.

Okay, Steve, go ahead and check your SAS gains and your interconnects, and you've

got it from here.

Check your circuit breakers.

Sorry, Mr. Spencer. I didn't know you were here until about three minutes ago.

Is he in a coma? Why? The accident was 36 hours ago. We should be conscious by

now. We're keeping him unconscious.

This is a process called electrosleep. We got it from the Russians.

We generated an electric pulse directly into his skull through those electrodes.

The pulse matches the alpha rhythm, and the body, in effect, resonates with the

impulse. As long as we keep the current going, he'll sleep. He won't feel any

pain. I'd like a report on his condition, please.

This is Mr. Spencer of the Office of Strategic Operations.

Will you brief him on Steve's condition, please?

Well... He lost his right arm in the crash, Mr. Spencer. Both legs

were badly crushed. We had to cut them off. He's blind in one eye.

We're also concerned about injury to the spinal column.

I mean, some of the main nerves are affected.

Well, he may not be able to use his remaining arm.

Um... And so on.

Just keep him alive.

I was told this is where you take your breaks.

I can understand your feelings, Doctor.

Do you?

Yes, he's a very close friend, I understand.

You have a remarkable opportunity, Doctor.

What do you mean? We've been watching your work very closely for some time

now.

You claim that you and your research team can take a man in Steve Austin's

condition, replace...

The arm, both legs, and possibly even the eye, and make him come out even

better, possibly, than he was before. Is that correct?

Theoretically, it could work, yes.

Theoretically.

I am prepared to give you all the money you require to make that happen.

Are you serious?

That could cost millions.

Whatever it takes, we want you to do it.

What's the problem, Doctor?

The problem is that it's all on paper. It should work.

But if it doesn't, what do I tell him?

I haven't the faintest idea.

What would you tell anyone?

Steve Austin isn't anyone.

Of all the men I know, he's the last I'd want to live the way he is now.

Well, then you're his only hope.

If you can't do it...

then nobody can.

One question.

Yes, of course.

Maybe this is none of my business, but what happens... after he's been equipped

with all these new parts?

We have work for him. What kind of work?

Certain jobs where the use of ships, planes...

multiplicity of personnel, would be inappropriate, and where the use of a so

-called normal agent would be ineffective.

And that's where you come in, Doctor.

We feel that an agent, as you propose, who is part machine and part human,

would be the best compromise at this particular time.

He would work alone, of course, and to the extent that he is machinery, he

would be much more durable due to the fact that you could replace the parts

that perhaps might become damaged.

Supposing he doesn't want to do that kind of work?

You don't really know what kind of work we do, Doctor.

Espionage, sabotage, assassination.

Don't make a decision for Mr. Austin based upon hearsay or upon your own

personal prejudice, Doctor.

I know that man.

I'm not altogether unfamiliar with him, Doctor.

I've been through a rather extensive file on him.

I suppose you have a file on me, too.

Certainly. I wouldn't be sitting here talking with you if there weren't one.

Well, Mr. Spencer, you've given me the opportunity of my life.

I can't tell you how grateful I am.

Forgive me if my anxiety is showing.

Yeah, well, I'm sure you'll work it out, Doc.

Oh.

We're transferring Steve Austin to our research center in Colorado.

You'll forgive me if I've taken the liberty of making accommodations for you

and your staff in the same plane we leave within the hour.

Spare ring, 50 milligrams.

Help me strap him down, G.

This will reassure him, unconsciously, anyway. We wouldn't have to do this if

he were totally powerless.

I'm not going to use the spare ring. I prefer the buraldehyde, in case we have

to knock him out of here.

I know it's old-fashioned, but it applies in this instance. It's an

undepressive as far as the respiratory system is concerned.

I don't want you in here when he comes through. I don't want anybody here.

Come on, come on, come on.

Gene.

Gene, thank you.

Steve? Can you hear me?

Steve?

Steve?

I'm gonna tell you, Steve.

I'm gonna tell you everything.

I imagine you're curious as to why I haven't spoken to you since that night.

How long is it now?

Four months.

I didn't have anything to say.

Apparently, in part due to you, I'm going to stay alive.

I may as well begin to deal with it as a fact.

How's it going?

You know, doctor, what this is is impossible.

I mean, a man loses an eye.

Who can make him a new eye to see out of?

And now, look here.

What will it look like when it's in place?

Just like the other eye.

No difference.

And we'll match it perfectly.

I thought we were talking about a glass eye.

Well, they used to think that that was impossible, because the eye normally

rejects any foreign bodies.

But they've done a lot of operations on pilots who've had pieces of broken

windshield in their eyes.

And they've discovered that we make...

Jet plane windshields out of a kind of plastic that I does not project I

Want to show you something Steve This

is your arm

I'm rather proud of it.

There's a manual that goes with it that has 840 pages.

I'll give you a copy.

As

you

can see, it's not finished yet, but I just wanted to give you a sense of the

basic structure.

Look at it, Steve.

There's nothing else like it in the whole world.

Now this is a nuclear-powered electrical generator that runs this motor.

Now this motor provides power for the manipulation of the arm, the hand, and

the fingers.

It's infinitely more powerful than your own arm.

This is your arm, Steve.

It'll be covered with skin that'll match your skin in color.

Texture. The number of hairs on your forearm.

The skin on the fingertips will have your fingerprints on it.

Look at it, Steve.

Steve.

This is not something alien.

This is your arm.

Tell you what we're going to do.

We are going to put you back on the operating table. We're going to connect

this arm to you permanently.

It will take orders from your brain.

It will be alive to do what you want it to do.

Now, Steve, when we're through...

When we're through, you've finished learning how to use this arm in

the same way that a baby has to learn how to grasp, to put down, to pick up.

When all this is done,

you'll be able to hold a woman in your arms.

And in no way will any of her human senses be able to tell her which arm you

were given.

Not by sight, not by touch, not by skin temperature. No way.

And we'll also give you two legs.

And you'll be able to walk up to her, take her by the hand, and if it's what

you want, you'll be able to dance with her.

Everything I told Steve Austin was designed to reassure him that in all

respects, he'd be a normal man again.

What I didn't tell him, because I didn't feel he was ready for it, was the extent

to which he'd be abnormal.

I didn't tell him that if the operation was a success, his physical powers would

be absolutely awesome.

In fact, virtually limitless.

That his new legs would enable him to run at incredible speeds.

That his new arm, with its nuclear power source, would have the strength of a

bulldozer.

That his new eye would not only approximate, but conceivably transcend

normal vision.

In short, what I hadn't told Steve Austin was that if my theories proved

correct, he would be transformed into something that had never before existed.

Cyborg.

A reconstructed man capable of inordinate physical feats.

How did it go?

All right.

Not so all right, not in the tone of your voice.

If he comes to this, I don't know.

I don't know how he's going to react.

We'll take care of his future.

You take care of his present. What you don't understand, Mr. Spencer, is that I

know this boy for a very long time. Do your job.

Dr. Frankenstein, I presume.

Thanks.

Is everything alright?

I'm fine.

Will you sit with me a minute?

I have a choice again.

Two hands, both mine.

Right down to the fingerprints.

Which one do I touch you with?

What will the other one feel?

They have touch circuits built into it.

So that I can feel what I'm touching?

Something like that.

Something like that.

They're not gods, you know.

Tell it to them.

I didn't say you could touch me.

That's it, Steve. Come on, slow.

Okay, hold it now, hold it.

Give him his full weight, see if he can carry it.

Now take your time.

Easy.

Attaboy.

Now come on, slowly.

Push it, push it, come on.

Great, Steve.

That's it. Come on.

Good. Good.

That's it, Steve.

Put your back into it.

Easy coming around.

That's good.

Hold it.

Want some help? No.

The thing is, Doc, why?

Why?

Why what?

Oh, come on. I may walk like a two-year-old, but I'm not that naive.

Now, you all have given me a gift, and I thank you very much.

But now, what is the price tag?

We have given you something back that you've lost, and that is all.

How do you know what I've lost?

We've given you an eye for an eye, haven't we? An arm for an arm? My arm

didn't come packed in a wooden box. What do you want?

I want to know who's paying the freight.

What's the difference?

The difference is when the bill comes due.

What are you so suspicious of?

Look, I was a civilian member of the space program for 12 years. I know how

much things cost.

Now why am I worth a few million dollars? And what do I have to do for

it?

How can I communicate with you when you suspect everything that I say?

When I was up there on the moon, Doc, I was a quarter of a million miles away

from the real world.

I felt a lot closer to it then than I do now.

Thank you.

He's not even breathing hard.

Well, you see, his lungs are used to handling oxygen for the blood supply for

two arms and two legs.

Now they only have to take care of one.

Look.

It's impossible.

Twenty years ago, so was the four-minute mile.

The limits are here, Miss Manners.

Here.

That arm, those links of his will do anything, absolutely anything, as mine

tells them to.

I think he's ready for us now.

I'm not quite sure, Oliver.

I think perhaps a few days off, a little R&R as it were.

Don't you think so, Miss Manners?

Man flying.

We always try to imitate nature.

Do her one better.

Why is that?

I guess because it's there.

Yeah, because it's there.

You know, that's why I wanted to go to the moon.

When I was a kid, it really used to bug me.

No way to reach it. We just couldn't get there from here.

Finally, though.

Oh, yeah.

Always finally.

They gave me a long lifeline.

You remember you asked me about feeling?

Whether or not you could feel or touch anything?

I was there the day they... The day they worked out the built-in vibratory

sensors in the fingertips.

Afterwards, when we got to know you, everything was personal.

That day, you went electro-sleep.

And everything was just technical.

We didn't connect it to anything real or living.

I'm sorry.

It's warm.

It's all right. Nothing broken.

Oh, oh, oh!

Oh, Jeremy.

Oh, thank God.

Thank God.

You'll be all right, ma'am.

I want to thank you.

Oh, Spencer, I'm glad you could come.

How is Malton?

Hot. How is he?

He can't see us. No, the mirror's on his side.

Any change since you called me?

No, he just sits there. He won't let us repair the arm. He won't let us sedate

him.

We've given him food and he won't eat.

He just sits there.

Suicidal? No, he's just fighting us.

Fighting us?

Mm-hmm.

You all right?

I'm fine. I just feel a little cold inside.

I got a report on what happened.

Is that a one-way mirror?

Yes, it is.

Who's watching me?

Rudy Wells.

We have a job for you. I won't take it.

That's too bad. The timing is very bad.

It won't be a long assignment.

A week, ten days at the most.

No.

Well, let me tell you what's involved.

I'm not interested.

It may be more important than your rush to get the hell out of here. I don't owe

the OSO anything.

Oh?

You had 12 years, 12 brilliant years with the space program, one of six

civilians so trained and employed, all courtesy, all compliments of Uncle Sam.

And I paid my obligations, above and beyond the call of duty. There is no end

to obligations.

Look, I will not work for the OSO, period. Why?

Why? Because you had an experience this afternoon that made you feel a little

like, oh, some kind of a Frankenstein monster, eh?

And now you hold the OSO responsible for those feelings simply because we gave

you those two legs and that arm and that eye to see out of?

Is that what you're talking about, eh?

That's what you're feeling?

Well, let's cut through this nonsense. We're pressed for time.

If the OSO were an artillery outfit, we would very simply pick up the telephone

and call a foundry and have a cannon designed and built for us. We are not,

however, an artillery outfit.

We do need a different kind of a weapon. A weapon that is potentially far more

destructive than a cannon. It must be mobile and self-propelled in the field

under any circumstances over any terrain.

It must be able to reprogram itself in the field on the basis of new

information and altered circumstances.

It must have superior strength.

Stability and utter dependability.

Now, those were our specifications.

And I'm the result. You are the result.

One robot.

No, actually, we would have preferred a robot. A robot doesn't have emotional

needs and responses.

You do.

We have you because you are the optimum compromise in the present state of

technology, Mr. Austin.

A cybernetic organism.

Part machine, part human being.

The cyborg.

Yes, we've had to settle for that.

Mr. Austin, we didn't order you into that lifting body you were testing.

We didn't order it crashed.

We merely picked up the pieces and, unlike Humpty Dumpty, put you back

together again.

In some ways, I think even better than before.

Only these feelings of mine wouldn't keep getting in the way, right? Yeah,

something like that.

You know, you're more of a robot than I am.

You should have been me.

Yes, it would have been simpler.

All right, supposing I agree to take your assignment, whatever it is.

How do you know I'll follow through?

I don't.

Unfortunately, I have no guarantees.

But I would have thought that a man of your background, the kind of a life

you've led, would lead you to want to be of further service to your country.

All I want is to be left alone.

One of the most powerful men in Israel has been kidnapped by terrorists.

He is a vital link to any negotiated settlement in the Mideast.

And you want me to spring?

Precisely.

What if I trade places with him?

They'd never accept you.

The terrorists have nothing to gain from peace. Their coming to power depends on

war.

I don't want to kill people. No one's asking you to. Oh, come on. That depends

upon your ingenuity.

All right.

I'm not promising, but I'll listen.

Dr. Wells.

Dr. Wells.

I'm here.

We're going to have to have Mr. Austin repaired and modified.

Would you get things rolling on that, please?

Steve?

We're in a time ban, Doctor.

I'll arrange a briefing for you on transportation.

I'll get Miss Manners in here. I want her replaced.

I don't want a permanent nurse again.

It's too personal.

We better sort this out, Steve.

We're not talking about a nurse assigned to a case.

We're talking about a man and a woman and feelings.

I'm in love with you.

You're going to have to deal with those feelings.

Getting the lady replaced doesn't settle it that easily.

Think it over.

I'll be here waiting when you get back.

Good. Fine.

Well,

Mr. Austin, glad to see you looking so fit.

Thank you.

Shall we get on with the briefing?

This is New Daler.

Desert survival.

And the sheriff.

And Gerald in operational tactics.

Please sit down.

We have a touchy situation, Mr. Austin.

Shall we begin?

Right. Dim the lights, please.

This is Ali Ibn Jabral Hamoud.

He's an Arab who chose to remain in Israel.

Very rich.

Very powerful.

Committed to detente between the Arabs and Israelis.

As you know, he's being held hostage by a group of terrorists.

Why don't the Israelis get him out?

He's an Arab, Mr. Austin.

Should he die in the attempt, the Arab world would blame Israel.

Then, in effect, they're damned if they do and damned if they don't. Exactly.

Would you take over from here, Mr. Geraldton, please?

Yes, thank you.

Saudi Arabia, of course.

Now, this is where they are.

The Arabs call it Arab al-Qali, which translates as the empty quarter.

It's an appropriate description.

There's absolutely no habitation of any sort. A great deal of sand, as you can

see. In fact, quite desert.

This flyby was a calculated risk, but we think it's worth it in order to get

these shots.

Now, that aircraft is the DC-3 that you will use in your escape.

There it is in closer shot.

Now, notice, please, these two half-tracks.

They are manned by .30 caliber machine guns.

And nearby is a reinforced emplacement. There it is.

That has a .50 caliber machine gun.

And it's about 30 yards from this blockhouse where we believe Al-Haghmud

is kept.

That's a distance of about 250 yards from the plane which is on the runway.

But to make it, you will have to put out this tank.

And that's a, that cannon is a 105 millimeter.

Now, as you can see, they have been fully prepared for this.

We cannot storm them, because if we do, they'll simply kill Al-Haghmud straight

away. Lights, please.

The problem, then, is to get him out.

And that, Mr. Austin, is where you come in.

We'll fly you in as close as we can without alerting them, of course, and

drop you by parachute, but you will have some traveling to do. And time is an

important factor here.

A normal man, of course, could not be expected to survive the ordeal. In fact,

there's no guarantee that even you... If we fly you in by airfoil parachute,

you'd have a four-to-one glide ratio.

But then you might pick up 30 or 40 miles in gliding down. What about the

winds?

They're unpredictable.

But 30 or 40 miles is a serious distance.

If he thinks so, I'm for it.

All right, then you'll go in and fly him out safely in the DC-3.

Thank you.

Where's El Hagbutt? Who are you? What are you doing here?

Never mind. I'm here to get him out.

Then your intelligence is a bit dated.

El Hagbutt been dead five weeks. He was shot trying to escape.

Do not move.

You lied.

How did you find out? What's the difference how I found out? I know. And

what I don't know is how you could possibly send a man to his death for no

reason whatsoever.

I had my reason. None that could justify what you've done. None!

Dr. Wells, listen to me carefully.

You're very good at what you do, but you have no idea at all about what I do.

Steve Austin is a risk. He was from the very beginning. Well, why don't you just

let him die? Because he's all I had.

So we spent millions on him, literally rebuilt him from scrap.

But with all of your technology, what I couldn't rebuild into him was attitude.

Oh, yes, we trained him, we taught him, we tested him. But how do you test a man

to find out if he has the need, the will to survive?

Are you telling me for the sake of a test you risk an extraordinary man's

life? Is that what you're telling me? Please, please, Wells, don't be

sentimental. I can always have another cyborg built if this one fails.

But if he should survive...

appears to be doubtful, then I know that I have my man. On the contrary, if he

survives, you've lost your man.

But doesn't your file tell you that he'll hold you in contempt for what

you've done?

I am not concerned about feelings, his, yours, or mine.

Before I risk World War III on a man, I must know beyond a doubt that he is

utterly, totally reliable.

Boy, you guys really play for keeps, don't you?

Yes, well, of course we play for keeps.

Why didn't they kill you, too?

I am Israeli.

They can use me as bait for prisoner trade.

But you, my friend, understand me well.

Atamivine. They will question you.

And if they determine you have no use to them, they will shoot you.

Are you?

Of use to them?

No.

Pity.

Here, take a cut.

Too bad. It's a great trick.

You fly that little number out there?

Yes, why?

I'm going out of here. You coming?

But I, but I, of course. But I must warn you, it is not easy running in broad

daylight dragging a cement wall behind you.

How are you able to do that?

Vitamins.

Now we grab this building. That door's too interesting.

Never mind. Just stay here.

And when the shooting starts, run for the plane. Start it up.

I'll follow.

Thank you.

Gene? I was in the desert, I... I didn't want to die.

I wanted to make it back.

Congratulations, Steve.

Fooled you.

Did you?

Uh-huh.

I made it back.

Well, I was always hoping you would.

Bend down here a minute, Spencer. I want to tell you something.

Yes?

Really?

Well, I haven't been called out since grammar school.

Steve, we're going to put you back into electro-sleep to get you through the

pain. You'll be healing while you sleep.

Okay.

You're the doctor.

Dr. Wells.

Is it possible to keep him asleep indefinitely?

Now, what are you going to do? Keep him under between assignments and wake him

up only when you need him?

Over my dead body?

It was just an idea.

Not a bad one at that.