Original subtitles

These are unidentified flying objects.

Are they proof that we are being visited by civilizations from other stars?

Or just what are they?

Tango 1, we have an unknown for you. No ID, no radio response.

It is now bearing from you two-niner zero degrees for 40 miles.

Check arm safe and stand by for target speed and altitude.

Roger, Point Andreas.

Arms safe and standing by.

Yeah, I think it makes sense.

I don't know.

Dan! Seth!

Dan!

Seth! You should have seen what I've just seen. I can't believe it.

You know I worry, Cindy, when you're out this late.

It was a spaceship.

You been at the movies on a weeknight?

No, Dad. At the beach.

Let me tell you.

Tomorrow. It's late, Cindy.

Oh, but Dad, it had funny-looking pipes poking out all over it.

Oh, sis, let me tell it.

Okay, make it fast.

Okay, Dad.

Right after the rain.

It came from around the point, with its lights flashing.

Cindy, you can see a lot of pretty strange things during electrical storms.

No, but Dad, it was real. It stopped right by me, right on the sand.

Oh, it was real, all right. I know it was real.

Hi, Libby. What do we got?

No social life for one thing and no sleep for you for another.

A T-38 has been scheduled the second you're briefed.

Start from the top. California, right?

Right. Possible two sightings. One at sea, conjectural.

One on the beach, firmly reported.

Here's the sector between Point Andreas and Dumas Beach.

An F-106 designated Victor Tango 1 scrambled against an unknown

last positioned 70 miles northwest of Point Andreas radar,

time 0446 Zulu. Two minutes later, at 2048 hours Pacific time,

Victor Tango 1 disappeared after merging with an unidentified

object on the Point Andres radar scope.

No more track on the F-106 after that?

Not a sign. There's some notes on your desk.

The weather up there was horrible. Heavy precipitation, lightning,

a 400-foot ceiling, high surface winds.

Air search rescue underway at 2254 hours.

Roger.

Okay, the second sighting. What do we have on that?

Uh...

A sighting, 70 miles south, 4 minutes and 32 seconds later.

Where precisely?

On the beach at Dumas Bay.

A 14-year-old girl alone claims she saw,

and this is a quote from the sheriff who called in,

a funny-shaped thing landed near her, made some funny noises,

then cranked up and flew away.

Radar reports the unknown was slowed to 100

knots just prior to the merge on the scope.

So if the girl saw the same unknown,

that unknown would have to fly over 800 knots per hour to get to that location.

That's right, but that's not an inconceivable speed, Mach 1.3.

That doesn't mean the two sightings are related at this point.

What do we have on the girl?

Only the sheriff's opinion that Cindy Harper

is an exceptionally bright and honest child.

Okay.

Who do we contact on the coast?

It's Colonel Bourne out of McClellan, now set up at rescue headquarters Vandenberg.

Okay, Sergeant, I'll meet you on the flight line

45. Okay, Captain. See you later. Mm-hmm.

We've been searching for eight hours now, eight solid hours, and nothing,

not even an oil slick, not a piece of wreckage.

All right, Lieutenant, what have we got? Anything

at all? Anything new? Anything good?

I'm afraid not, sir.

Well, what have you covered?

Four complete grids have been searched, sir. Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike.

We have two to go.

India, November. Mm-hmm.

Any repeat?

Yes, sir. Beginning with Kilo.

I agree.

Just make sure that you've got plenty of eyeballs aboard those aircraft.

I don't want one square inch of that ocean overlooked.

Understood, sir.

Uh, what about that young girl up at Dumas Bay?

What's her name again? Cindy Harper, sir.

What does it mean?

Any connection with the missing aircraft? We don't know, sir.

It's all fiction until we look into it.

Many so-called sightings are.

What are you doing about finding out? Are you on

top of it? Yes, sir. We're going there next.

Right now, we'd like to talk to the radar controller.

Lieutenant.

Yes, sir. See that these men get in touch with the radar controller soonest.

Yes, sir.

All right, get at it, but stay in touch.

We want to find that pilot.

Yes, sir.

I understand the radar controller's out at the radar site now.

They were working on the height finder, sir. Thank you.

Morning, Captain, Sergeant.

I thought you might like to read the press coverage first thing.

Air Force jet and pilot vanish in saucer mystery.

Kidnapped by alien beings.

And why is Operation Blue Book covering it up?

You know, that's close to what's here.

Thank you, Sergeant.

First of all, I want you to know I never said anything

about any kidnapping to that reporter.

All I told him was the truth.

That the aircraft and the object seemed to come together and swallow it up.

Hold on a second, Sarge. I want to get this all down exactly as you recall it.

I've got a tape recorder out in the car.

Okay, Sarge.

Sergeant Anderson and I were on duty.

At 2027 hours, I painted an object in the northwest,

and I wasn't able to get an ID because he either

didn't carry a transponder or it was inoperative,

and I wasn't able to raise him on the radio.

Since he was an unknown, we had to scramble Victor Tango 1 out of McClellan.

Point Andreas, this is Victor Tango 1 out of McClellan.

Victor Tango 1, this is Point Andreas Control, go. Point Andreas radar,

Victor Tango 1 heading 270, climbing Angels 33.

Victor, Tango 1, Point Andreas, continue 270.

Stand by for target information.

I hope you've got a hot one for me. This weather is really bad.

Tango 1, we have an unknown for you.

No ID, no radio response.

It is now bearing from you two-niner zero degrees for 40 miles.

Check arm safe and stand by for target speed and altitude.

Roger, Point Andreas.

Arm safe and standing by.

Roger that, Tango 1. Squawk mode 3, code 1040.

Squawking 1040. How about getting me some weather

conditions for the northwest tier, over?

Roger that, Tango 1.

The entire area is generally reporting a 400-foot overcast.

Clouds are layered to 30,000.

Numerous thunderstorms with tops to 45,000.

And you can expect light to heavy precip and moderate to severe turbulence.

There's lightning air-to-air and air-to-ground.

Roger, Andreas. It's really a wonderful night to go flying.

Victor, Tango 1, target ground speed is 380 knots.

Standby tangle one. He's slowing.

He's now down to one niner five knots.

Steer two seven eight degrees.

Target is still slowing.

Sarge, I got a problem with this height finder. I have to go check it out.

Victor Tango 1, I'm in visual conditions at this time on top.

Turning 278 degrees, angels 3-3.

Target range now 30 miles.

Stand by and be advised that we're having a minor problem with height finder.

Roger, Juan Andres. I'll stand by. Have possible radar contact.

Victor Tangle One, do you have a tally-ho on your bogey? Over.

Negative tally-ho. I have a radar contact closing fast.

¶¶

Victor Tangle One, Victor Tangle One, you're starting

to merge on my scope. Advise caution.

I am unable, I repeat, I am unable to distinguish separation. Over.

Come in, Victor Tangle One. Over.

McClellan Control, I have an emergency.

This is Point Andreas. Victor Tango-1 on intercept

mission has disappeared from my scope.

Victor Tango 1, do you read me? Over.

Come in, Victor Tango 1. Over.

Naturally, I got on the box right away. I got the rescue people moving,

but I don't buy this kidnappers from outer space stuff, sir.

But this was weird, what that other object seemed to be doing.

What?

Waiting, sir.

It seemed to be waiting on that F-106.

May I show you something, sir?

Here are some skills from the radar recording camera. It shows exactly what I mean.

I can't disagree with your reading, Sergeant.

Did Anderson witness any of the action from the time you went up

to check the height finder and when the interceptor disappeared?

No, sir.

He didn't come back until a couple of minutes

after I activated McClellan Air Rescue.

And there was no height finder operative?

No, sir.

Thank you, Sergeant.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Sarge.

Cindy, this is Captain Ryan and Sergeant Fitz from the US Air Force. Hello, Cindy.

Hi.

Hello.

I'm gonna turn this tape recorder on while you tell us what happened last night.

That way I won't have to trust my memory.

Why don't you sit over here, Cindy? Now try and think how it all started.

Well, I guess it all happened because I like to go down to the beach during storms.

¶¶

Cindy, could you draw a picture of the spaceship for me?

I can try.

Um, I'm not very good at drawing, but it kind of looked like this.

That's fine, Cindy. That's just fine.

Do you remember what you played on the conch shell?

Sure. It wasn't very complicated.

Do you have your shell here?

Mm-hmm.

Will you play it for us, Cindy?

Gentlemen, I hope you won't have to be seeing Cindy again.

Her mother died two years ago. It's kind of hard to keep Cindy on an even keel.

She's so active.

Anyway, call me first if you do have to come back.

Certainly, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Harper.

Thank you, sir.

Well, that's over.

I was proud of my girl.

But now I want you to concentrate on your schoolwork.

Forget about last night.

But I won't forget, Daddy.

Hmm. Hmm.

Hmm.

It's so obvious we missed it.

A simple Morse code. We've been analyzing chemical codes and radio call letters.

Dot, dot.

I. Dash, dash.

M. Dot, dash.

A dash dot N. Iman.

Iman?

Iman.

Hey, that rings a mighty loud bell.

What?

Ever hear of an astronomer named Laszlo?

Well, sure. What's that have to do with it? Here it is. Now, this, uh,

he took a very wild shot 15 years ago.

I ran into it a year or so ago in one of the Astronomy Society bulletins,

and it was called Project Iman. I-M-A-N.

Let me kind of read this over and get it straight.

Well, come on, give, give. 1,420 megahertz, directed beam, Tau Ceti. Tau Ceti.

Professor Laszlo radio broadcasts Morse code for the letters I-M-A-N

on a frequency of 1420 megahertz directed to the star Tau Ceti,

where there's the barest chance of planets and intelligent life.

What we're fooling around with is the possibility that Cindy,

a girl walking on a beach, received a reply to Laszlo's message?

Could be.

What do you say we get in touch with Laszlo, Captain?

Hmm?

Oh, yeah.

First I have to deal with Cindy's father. Heavy stuff.

Mr. Harper, this is Captain Ben Ryan.

No, we haven't finished our work yet, sir.

As a matter of fact, those dot-dash signals

that Cindy reported may be very important,

and we want to talk to her again.

I think you should know just how important, sir.

Could I send Sergeant Fitz to pick you up?

Thank you, sir. Goodbye.

Now, of these nearby local stars, a couple could have planets that might,

just might, have intelligent beings living there, Mr. Harper.

Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani are their names.

Now, Laszlo figured if we're looking for life on our own planets,

why not look for life on planets of nearby stars?

So he picked Tau Ceti, the G-type star. It's like our own sun.

And he sent out a sample signal.

A clever signal.

In Morse code, the letters I-M-A-N come out

symmetrical and arithmetically progressive.

Dot, dot, I. Dash, dash, M. Dot, dash, A.

Dash, dot, N. Dot, dot, dash, dash, dot, dash, dash, dot.

It's got design.

What made this Lazo think his message would get through or find a listener?

He picked a transmission frequency of 1,420 megahertz.

Now, below 1,000 megahertz is almost impenetrable

space static interference, a galactic noise.

And 10,000 megahertz or more won't penetrate the Earth's atmosphere.

Why is it exactly 1420 ideal?

It's the radiation frequency of neutral atomic hydrogen.

Therefore, offering a frequency of least interference, least noise.

If I follow, then if we listen in that frequency area,

It would appear to be natural that others out there would do the same.

Correct. So if anyone as advanced as we are, or more,

were living on a planetary companion of Tau Ceti,

their radio astronomers would most likely be listening

on the frequency that Laszlo sent his signal.

That's a very exciting possibility.

I'd hoped you'd think so.

How far away is this star? 10.8 light years.

Some 66 trillion miles.

Well, Captain Ryan, doesn't that blow the whole

speculation into a cocked hat? 10 years?

What allows those Morse codes to get there at the speed of light?

Ten years getting back to Earth, 20 years or so round trip, Captain.

As you said, Laszlo broadcast only 15 years ago.

But remember, Cindy said she saw an umbrella antenna on that UFO.

Now suppose that an extraterrestrial spacecraft somewhere between

our solar system and Tau Ceti intercepted Laszlo's transmission.

It's pretty far-fetched, Captain Ryan.

Uh-huh.

But in our business, Mr. Harper, it's a waste of time to pursue the negative.

We grab at straws, any time, any place.

No matter what people say or print.

Is that what you're worried about?

Cindy and the papers?

Of course.

Cindy interviewed by you men?

Laszlo?

Others?

Another thing, how could she possibly know anything

about I-Man, Laszlo, all of it? We don't know.

And we want to find out.

We must.

It's one of those straws, Mr. Harper, and we need your permission.

That's why we've gone through all this with you.

I don't know.

Let me add something else.

We don't know if there's any connection between the two sightings,

Cindy's and whatever the missing pilot was trying to intercept,

but we want to be absolutely sure.

I still want to think about it.

What kind of a man is this Laszlo?

He's a pretty crusty old bird.

Thank you.

Good day, gentlemen. Goodbye, sir. Thank you very much for coming.

Captain Ryan.

Yes, sir.

Of course, sir.

We'll be there at 0800 hours, sir.

Yes, sir.

Goodbye, sir.

Okay, gentlemen.

Due to the passage of time and the exhaustive search,

I've got to conclude that an interceptor man and

machine have disappeared without explanation.

Can you add or subtract anything from that, Captain Ryan?

No, sir.

But the sighting to the south of the event is still under investigation.

Captain, I'm willing to open my mind to anything at this point.

As you know, any scenario, repeat any scenario, is worth examining.

Now...

In view of the fact that a little girl claims to have seen a peculiar

flying object within five minutes of the F-106 disappearance,

perhaps we should consider hostile destruction?

There are other bizarre possibilities.

I don't think so, sir.

And before consideration of a mid-air collision,

you have to take into account the range resolution

capacity of the Point Andreas radar.

I mean, every intercept mission is by definition a collision course,

but it great ranges from the radar, as in this intercept mission.

The Andrius primary scope's limitations would paint a merge,

even though in actuality the fighter and the target

bogey were several hundred yards apart.

Affirmative, but where's this leading?

Well...

We don't know if that pilot ever saw anything by eyeball. Now,

he never reported the lock on, only a radar target.

His last transmission tells us that.

Now, you recall, we never had an altitude readout on that

bogey from Andreas due to the height finder malfunction.

Now, you add in the severe weather,

the heavy precipitation interference with the ground radar at that distance,

and an experienced pilot flying a proven all-weather

weapon system who showed no signs of panic.

Well, sir, it all boils down to a catastrophic mechanical failure.

Mix in a violent ocean, all traces quickly erased.

Yes, sir.

Meanwhile, we keep on looking.

Colonel Bourne.

Yeah, he's here right now. It's for you, Ryan.

Thank you, sir.

Ryan here.

Sam Harper, Captain.

And the reason for my call is that I don't think

Cindy should be made to tell her story again.

Did you ever hear the really final ending to the tale about the boy who cried wolf?

He was never believed again.

Went through his whole life as a notorious liar.

And that could happen to Cindy.

Mr. Harper, the boy in that story was at the mercy of a crowd of village idiots.

Now, I'm a professional who's nursed over 200 people through their stories,

and no one has been hurt.

Now, please, let me bring Professor Laszlo to Cindy's beach this afternoon.

There's no risk, sir. Trust me. All right, Captain.

This afternoon, then.

About three.

Thank you, sir.

Let me tell you what Isaac Newton said once. You know who he was.

He worked out three laws of mechanics that led to his own law of gravitation.

It's just called Newton's law nowadays.

And he was the first man to figure out all the colors

that are hidden in plain old white light.

Ultraviolet to infrared.

And after he did all that, and more,

let me tell you what he said when he was an old man.

He said to myself, I seem to have been like a boy playing on the seashore,

amusing myself, and now and then finding a...

Smoother stone or a prettier shell than ordinary.

Well, the great undiscovered ocean of truth lay all around me.

You see, the point is that even when he was 80, he still felt the way you do now.

I mean, we're all a little frightened when it comes to the unknown. I am.

You are.

You?

Well, sure. Here I am looking into UFOs, and I worry about what I do, my job.

I worry about making a mistake. I worry about misunderstanding what people tell me.

I just...

Tell the truth as I see it.

That's all you have to do today.

Okay, I'll be real cool.

Now, I'm going to be asking you specific questions from time to time, Miss Harper.

And I expect specific answers. No more, no less. Yeah?

Yes, sir.

Begin your story.

Well, when I first saw it, right over there.

Just a bundle of wires and things going on and going off.

Then, when it got opposite where I was standing, it stopped just beyond the waves.

How fast did it fly?

Oh, before it stopped? Oh, very fast.

Then it hovered.

Hovered?

Stood still in the air.

Yes, sir.

And then it stopped flashing its lights and came up on the beach. Describe it.

I don't even think I was breathing.

How big was it?

I thought it was going to reach out and get me.

And it had gadgets and pipes poking out all over it.

And I wanted to touch it to see if it really was real.

You weren't sure it was real, huh?

Oh, well, sure I was sure.

And then it started sparking and spitting.

In a regular pattern, that's important.

Yes, sir.

Over and over.

What was that pattern?

Dit-dit, dah-dah, dit-dah, dah-dit.

Are you sure?

Not dah-dah, dit-dit?

No.

No, just what I told you.

Those specific flashes?

Like a power line when it breaks.

Did it have legs?

Let me think.

Come on, answer me. Did it have legs?

Answer me!

Take it easy, Professor.

All right.

You reported an antenna on that object, yeah?

You mean... I mean an antenna!

Long arms.

A grid-like wire structure.

Well, I... Now, I ask you, did the UFO fly fast?

Did it have legs?

Tell me.

Describe it to me. What was that signal again?

Tell me. I've already told you. Answer me. Tell me.

Stop it. Answer me. Stop it. Stop it.

That's enough.

I know what I saw. And I know what I heard.

And I could care less what you think.

Leave me alone!

Please, Daddy.

Just like old man Newton.

I found a pebble.

And nobody else has to see it for all I care. Because I saw it.

That was a completely insensitive performance, but I do know why you did it.

I couldn't beat down her story, much as I tried, could I?

Well, I found out exactly what I needed to know.

That's why I'm here today, and that's what counts.

Me and that signal. You believe Cindy?

Of course.

What's your conclusion? Well,

it won't be of much use to you because Miss Harper's UFO could have been some fool

who had built an odd helicopter in his garage and went around scaring children.

Or telekinesis combined with auto-hypnosis.

Or my signal to a star has been answered by a spacecraft.