Original subtitles

[gentle, pulsing whooshing sounds]

Devon, what are you listening to?

Listen, listen. Can you hear that?

I hear noise.

No, no. There's a pattern in there. It loops over and over again.

I can just barely make it out. Can't you?

No.

There's something in there, I know it.

Uh-huh. Did you run it through the computer?

Um...

Technically, the pattern recognition program says that it's just noise, too.

It came in from the direction of Certus, so it has to be something.

I hate to be the one to break this to you, Devon,

but I think you're imagining things.

-Could you, uh, turn that down, please? -Sure.

[noise fades]

You know, you wouldn't be the first student of mine

whose imagination turned some background radiation

or atmospheric bounce into messages from another world.

And of course, because those students were wasting valuable lab time

and not listening to their professor,

I had to kill them all and bury them in the flower garden.

Mm-hmm.

Did you at least collate that sunspot data I asked you to?

Uh... Uh, yeah.

-It's right there. -Good. Thank you.

Now, uh, go home.

You know, that place that you go to sometimes when you're not here?

Doctor, if I could just have five more minutes--

Good night, Devon.

[sighs]

[rock music playing]

♪ Down by the river ♪

♪ Yeah, it feels like love ♪

Oh, God!

Devon, you weren't supposed to be home till later.

What if dad walked in? You're supposed to be grounded.

He's working late in E.R. all night.

Ugh! Would you please just get dressed?

You could have knocked first, Doogie.

I live here, Vic. I don't knock.

Don't call me Doogie.

[whooshing sounds on tape]

Um, Vic wanted to make sure

you wouldn't tell dad about anything.

Don't worry about it.

Just sorry I thwarted your deflowering.

Walked in on you guys.

Oh. Don't worry about it.

What are you listening to?

Uh... Noise.

Nothing but noise.

I must be losing my mind.

You know, Vic only calls you Doogie as a compliment.

I mean, you were in college when he was--

I know exactly what he means.

I'm going to bed.

'Kay.

[sighs]

Good night.

Yeah. See you in the morning.

[whooshing sounds]

[breathing heavily]

[sighs]

[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.

For years we have searched for the answer to an eternal question.

Are we alone?

As yet, there has been no answer.

Or perhaps the answer is only for those

with the facility to hear it.

Joyce.

Joyce.

Have you been down here all night?

Joyce!

Isn't the music beautiful?

-Music? -You don't hear it?

Oh, it's the most beautiful feeling.

Listen.

What did you take this time?

I'm a doctor. I can tell.

You be honest with me, I won't be angry with you.

Nothing.

[sighs] Joyce...

You gave me your word.

Daddy, nothing.

I fell asleep listening to music.

That's all.

What time is it?

It's just after 8:00.

Oh, late for school.

Got to go.

Dad?

You know...

Your mother was a lot better at this.

I just found Joyce sitting down here

listening to static on the radio.

The noise was so loud, I could hear it through her headphones.

Her pulse was over 100.

Joyce, that's my tape. I want it back.

[car starting]

Joyce!

Damn!

[sighs]

I can't let her Do this to herself again.

[Joyce] Pull over a second.

I want you to hear this.

[Vic] We're going to be late.

[Joyce] Just pull over. I got a surprise for you.

Okay. So what's the surprise?

Close your eyes.

[whooshing sounds]

Oh, man.

Oh, man.

Isn't it beautiful?

God, Joyce. What is this?

It's music.

Perfect music.

People got to hear this.

I know.

That's what the music wants.

[chattering]

Finally.

Doogie, you gotta give me copies of this, man. We got to spread the word.

Give me my tape back, Vic.

Why?

Because it's mine.

Because you don't even know what it is you're listening to.

All right?

Just give me the tape, Joyce.

I don't think he hears it.

Why not? He's the one who found it.

I hear it fine. I just want it back.

Well, you can't have it back. Sorry.

If you could hear the music, Dev, you wouldn't want it back.

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

It's not even music.

I mean, there's an acoustic pattern buried in the signal, but--

[Vic] No, no, no, no.

It's more than that.

[whooshing sounds]

Describe it. What do you hear?

There's a rhythm.

It moves inside you.

I know how it makes me feel, and I know we have to share it.

All right. That's crazy, okay?

Hey!

I said, "No."

I wish you could hear it, Dev. I really do.

[indistinct chatter]

Yeah, so do I.

[Vic] Check out this music.

[Joyce] Can you hear it?

Isn't it incredible?

Devon, don't you have a lecture?

Yeah.

Actually, I was wondering

if I could get a copy of that file

I uploaded into the mainframe last night.

It shouldn't take a minute. 30 seconds tops.

Okay, I'll get it for you.

What do you want?

Uh, it's a wav file. And it should still be in the pattern analysis cue.

[Dr. Swift] Certus.wav, I presume.

[Devon] Yeah, that's it right there.

I know what you're going to say,

but I want to run more tests on it. All right?

There may be something happening here.

Something is happening.

There's massive, totally unprecedented solar activity going on.

And instead of helping me study it,

my brilliant young T.A. is listening for E.T.

I thought you made a tape.

I did.

My little sister took it.

She, uh... She thinks it's music.

Music?

Great.

I'll see you later.

[whooshing sounds]

[contented sighs]

-[contented sighs] -[protesting weakly]

[noise stops]

I told you kids to disperse,

or you can consider yourself suspended.

None of that matters anymore.

We'll just go somewhere else.

[students agree]

[car doors open and close]

[engines starting]

[beeping]

[dial-up connecting]

Moshi moshi, Kelly. It's Dev.

So wonderboy finally calls.

How are you?

I'm fine, but I need your help.

I'm sending an audio file over for you to look at.

Came from a blue dwarf out in Certus.

A wav file from space?

What's it say?

Well, I don't know, actually.

Maybe nothing. But if it does something for you

Let me know, all right?

You'll understand when you hear it.

Whatever you say.

Sayonara, Kel.

[speaks Japanese]

[Dr. Emory] Devon.

[whooshing sounds]

So...

Did you talk to Joyce?

Yeah.

And?

Devon, could you turn that down, please?

Oh, right, yeah.

Sorry.

What is it?

Well, according to her and Vic,

it's the most beautiful music they've ever heard.

Vic?

Uh, the new boyfriend.

The one with the van.

Yeah, anyhow, I came across this by accident,

but this was what Joyce was listening to last night.

It's a radio signal from Certus.

A radio signal?

Yeah. It's not a quasar and it's not encrypted telemetry,

But the subharmonics in here are so complex--

Devon.

No, no. I can almost hear this myself.

So now, go with this.

What if there's a message buried inside this signal

that's somehow affecting Joyce?

No, Dad, I'm serious.

I know you are.

Why don't you just take the car keys and go out for a change?

You know, see some friends.

You think I'm nuts.

No, I don't. I don't.

I think you're worried about your sister

and you're trying to find some answers.

So am I.

But I don't think you'll find them here.

[turns off tape]

[sighs]

[whooshing sounds]

[whooshing sounds]

[contented sighs]

Joyce!

Hey, Joyce--

Sorry. I was just looking for my little sister.

[all sighing]

Joyce! Joyce!

Devon! You came.

We got to get you home.

Wait, you came.

You must be able to hear it.

What's happening to you?

We have to trust it, Devon.

I know that now.

I can feel it.

Can't you see?

No, I can't.

[sighing and moaning]

Hey! Hey! Hey!

[screaming]

What are you doing, man? What is wrong with you?

Hey! Give me this tape.

You wrecked everything.

Don't know what this is doing to them.

Devon!

[screaming]

[operator] 911. May I help you?

Yeah, I've got an emergency.

-[monitor beeping] -[siren wailing in distance]

[Dr. Emory] You're going to be okay, Joyce.

[sighs]

So, how is she?

I don't know.

It could be poisoning.

Her heartbeat's erratic.

There's an unusual amount of heavy metals in her skin and blood.

-Metals? -Could be an isolated virus.

At this point, we have 78 of these cases,

all of them from this rave, or whatever it is they call it.

I alerted the CDC.

-The CDC? -As a precaution.

[Joyce screaming]

Please, anyone!

I can't see. Please help me.

Calm down, honey. We're right here.

Joyce, it's Dev.

Now, you got to be still, okay?

Okay, honey.

Now tilt your head up toward the ceiling, okay?

That's good.

Mm-hmm.

Ophthalmology, stat.

Yeah, Jenkins. Uh... Taylor here.

My daughter is suffering

some kind of corneal occlusion.

I don't know.

Dad.

Her iris is changing.

So you can see here where the iris is reconfigured

and the clear liquid that protects the cornea...

altered chemical composition.

We don't have a clue why this is happening.

Dr. Riddle. This is my son Devon.

Devon, Dr. Riddle from the Center for Disease Control.

Hello, Devon.

So it's a disease then. That's what's happening?

Well, w don't know what it is., Devon.

We've isolated all the victims in a biohazard ward

and we know the transmission is not airborne,

But we need more to go on, which is why it's important

we take blood from the person exposed to the disease

who didn't catch it.

Right. But what's happening to my little sister?

It could be a variant of something called chromaphobe adenoma,

A disorder of the pituitary gland

which affects the melanin in the skin

and promotes the release of endorphins.

Endorphins? So then it acts like a drug?

Thus far, everyone affected is a teenager.

Or they may be suffering from a reaction

to a substance you didn't take.

Did you notice any, witness any drug use?

-No. -Any form of ecstasy or acid?

No...The D.J., he didn't have it.

Well, I'm afraid he's showing early symptoms.

His fingernails have altered. Same iridescent changes.

I'm telling you, Doctor, that's not it.

I don't know how, or why, but this is what's causing it.

They were dancing to it. They couldn't get enough of it.

Have there been outbreaks anywhere else?

No. We can connect everyone--

Because I e-mailed that signal to my friend Kelly in Nagamo, Japan.

If there's been an outbreak there, it proves my theory.

I don't see how sound of any frequency

could have a causal relationship with a disease,

but we can do that.

Great. Thank you.

-In the meantime-- -I want to see my sister.

Now, don't let it scare you.

She's in an oxygen tent.

We've found that it eases their pain.

[woman over p.a.] Dr. Anderson, please come to cardiology.

Dr. Anderson to cardiology.

[ehoing] Help!

[beeping]

Who's there?

I can't see.

It's still a blur.

It's just me, Joyce.

Devon? It hurts so much.

I know.

Where's Vic?

He's here in the hospital.

So are all the kids from the rave.

Why did you take away our music?

I had to, Joyce. Look what it's doing to you.

If I had it, I'd be better, I know it.

Please, Devon.

-Joyce, I can't. -Please.

[sighs]

They're going to find a way to cure you.

Dad's working on it right now, all right?

Mom was like this before she died.

She must have felt like this.

I didn't know she was hurting this much.

Don't talk about that, okay?

It hurts so much.

I know, Joyce.

I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry.

You got to take care of Slash, okay?

He's just a baby.

He needs water every day.

Of course I will. I promise.

You better.

[beeping]

Devon.

Well, there's no sign of the infection.

We don't know why, but you're fine.

Why don't you go home, get some sleep?

Come back tomorrow. I'll watch out for Joyce.

And... Her eyesight is clearing.

[sniffles]

Is she dying?

She's very sick.

[woman over p.a.] Dr. Taylor to pathology, stat.

Dr. Taylor to pathology.

You need some sleep, too, Dad.

Yeah. Well, maybe when this is over, huh?

Now, I'll call you if anything changes.

[TV newsreader] And there's still no word

as to the cause of the disease.

Speculation that it's a Legionnaire's-type virus

has yet to be confirmed by officials from the CDC.

Meanwhile, scientists aboard the space shuttle Columbia

conducted detailed solar measurements of increased sunspot activity,

which is expected to affect weather patterns for the next several years.

[turns off TV]

Sorry, Slash,

But in hamster years, you are a teen.

Trust me, though.

It's all for a good cause.

[whooshing sounds]

Somebody turn that damn noise off.

You Devon Taylor?

Yeah. What's going on?

Have a seat now, son.

Hey, you don't have to frighten him.

After what he's done?

I want all this equipment packed up.

-Everything you can find. -Yes, sir.

What did I do?

Hey, hey, be careful with that.

[Slash squealing]

Dad...

You were right about Nagamo.

There's been an outbreak, it's worse than here.

So what about Kelly?

She's infected, too, but that's all we know.

Nagamo is completely isolated.

And during the night,

the government declared

a national state of emergency here, too.

We're being quarantined to protect

the rest of the country from becoming infected.

They're taking you and everything you've been working on

back to the hospital to help us.

We're going to fight it from there.

What have I done?

It's not your fault, Devon.

I should have listened.

[man] Ladies and gentlemen, this briefing is classified.

Present...

The infection has been limited to this city and Nagamo, Japan,

But given the disease's mode of transmission,

the prospect of containment is unlikely.

This disease stems from a cellular reaction

to certain subharmonics of a series of radio frequencies.

Essentially it's a biological response to a sound.

If we lose containment, the number of people infected could reach

the hundreds of millions within a few days.

Dr. Hamblin, epidemiology.

How difficult can it be

to keep a sound from spreading?

If I may.

The sound or signal is perceived

by those susceptible to the disease as music.

The listener experiences an intense euphoria

which is highly addictive, and this is accompanied

by an equally intense desire to share the experience.

Several such raves have been sprouting up through the city all night

despite our best efforts to impose curfew.

And this signal is coming from space?

The short answer to that is yes.

A number of our observatories have now picked it up.

The signal is repeating,

and is apparently of artificial origin.

[woman] Who's sending it?

We don't know.

The signal composition is highly complex.

It's extremely difficult to interpret.

Doctors, the military believes

this signal is no accident.

It seems very likely an act of war.

[Dr. Swift] we do know that it was generated by a race

far more advanced than we are.

The best people in the world are analyzing it.

And we're currently exploring many possible ways

to reverse the effects.

However, at the present, there is no cure.

Excuse me. Isn't it dangerous to expose yourself to the signal?

Not to adults.

The disease seems to affect young people exclusively,

especially those in their teenage years.

Right. And not just people.

I exposed several different plants and animals to the signal.

Apparently whoever sent it

intended it for a wide spectrum of life forms.

You were the one who picked up the signal in the first place?

Yes.

So why hasn't it affected you?

It has.

[Dr. Riddle] Devon is on the cusp

between his teen years and full adulthood.

That is how he was able to hear something in the signal

Without suffering its effects right away.

Between the ages of 20 and 24,

the disease seems to progress at a much slower rate.

Over the age of 24,

people seem to be completely immune.

So, what you're telling us is that they're trying to hurt our children?

So it would seem.

Ladies and gentlemen, the clock is running.

Let's get to work before this becomes pandemic.

Daddy.

Hi.

How are you feeling?

Have the painkillers helped at all?

Remember when mom said, "No more"?

Yes, I remember.

Joyce, we have something we want to try.

A reverse of the signal.

Daddy, I don't want it to go that far.

Please, I want to know you won't do that to me.

Joyce, it's going to make you better.

It's going to stop whatever the signal is doing to you.

Oh, no. If I had my music,

then everything would be the way it's supposed to be.

You've been infected longer than anyone else

so we want to try this on you first.

It's been tested on animals, and it is gonna hurt,

but we'll do everything we can to control the pain.

You don't understand.

Sweetheart, I know you're frightened.

I'm not going anywhere. I'll be right here.

[shrill, piercing noise]

[screams] No!

B.p. 140 over 90.

-Joyce. -Ouch, it burns.

Stop it!

Start her on Morphine drip, stat.

Please!

B.p. 180 over 120. Pulse is erratic.

Oh, Daddy, please. The music!

Just a little longer.

Don't do this to me.

-[rapid beeping] -Daddy! Daddy!

-[flatlining] -[alarm blaring]

She's arresting.

Code blue. Shut that down.

Devon, out of the way.

Two, three, four, five.

One, two, three, four, five.

One, two, three, four, five.

She's not responding.

We're losing her. Adrenaline.

[whooshing sounds]

-What are you doing? -It's what she needs.

You don't know that. Turn it off.

Dad, trust me. It's what she needs.

[whooshing sounds]

[gasping]

[whooshing sounds]

You see? We can't fight the change.

We just have to let it happen.

Let what happen?

[moans softly]

It's all right now.

You can turn the music off.

Joyce?

It's all right now, Daddy.

The pain?

Gone.

All gone.

I'm ready now.

Ready for what?

I think I know what's happening.

Devon, the entire scientific community

is studying this problem.

We haven't even scratched the surface.

Because they can't hear it like I can.

The more I listen to it, the more beautiful it sounds.

The more I learn to accept it like Joyce.

Devon, look at yourself.

You have to stop listening.

The disease is starting to affect your thinking.

But what if it's not a disease?

Dad, isn't it true that the only ones who've died so far

are the ones we've tried to cure?

-Yes. -Right. You see?

The signal is not meant to harm us, only to change us.

Every living thing.

The more I listen to it, the more I hear that.

I feel it.

But that's the endorphin effect. It's like an opiate.

No, that's just to make the change less painful,

More easy to accept.

Didn't Joyce even say that she was ready?

Right?

Deep down inside, she knew.

Her body knew that it was time to change.

What kind of change?

Look, I bombarded everything on this table

with high levels of ultraviolet radiation,

Enough to kill any normal plant or animal.

The only ones that managed to survive

were the ones that I exposed to the signal.

We're changing.

We're-- We're being changed for a reason.

[Dr. Swift] How far back do you want me to go?

As far as possible.

60 years?

Sure.

[keyboard clacking]

My God, Devon.

What are we looking at?

This is the star that our radio signal came from

as it appears in 1937.

It's a Yellow Dwarf, much like our own Sun.

[Dr. Swift] and this is the star as it appears today.

A Blue Dwarf.

I don't understand.

Their sun changed.

It shifted, rather,

towards the ultraviolet.

And ours is about to do the same thing.

All that increased solar activity, the sunspots.

They were warning signs.

We didn't even see it coming.

But they did.

Because it happened to them.

To survive, they had to adapt, to change.

And they're offering us that same choice.

The music wasn't an act of war.

It's an act of mercy.

[sighs]

They're trying to save us.

And we have received international confirmation of our findings.

Although it's still now barely detectable,

the sun's spectrum has begun

a definite shift to the ultraviolet.

The CDC has made its official recommendation.

Wherever possible, the transformation should be encouraged.

To this end, a hormonal treatment

is already being developed

that should allow everyone over the age of 20

to hear the music as well.

In light of these developments,

the President has issued the following directive effective immediately.

All civil defense installations,

including the emergency broadcast system,

will begin continuous transmission of the alien signal.

We believe that exposure to the signal

is the only way to ensure our survival

in the face of the impending solar shift.

The President has ordered the launching of satellites into orbit

which will broadcast the signal via microwaves

to both unpopulated areas of this country

and to less-developed countries

unable to expose their own populations themselves.

Ladies and gentlemen, for better or worse,

this is a time of momentous change for all the people of the world.

And through this adversity,

we have been given this chance by friends far, far away

to witness the dawn of a new era.

[indistinct chatter]

[Joyce] Devon...

Since the music stopped,

I don't even know who I am.

I bought my prom dress because it matched my hair.

[sighs heavily]

Oh, Daddy.

I must look hideous to you.

Never!

Joyce, before long, I'll be the strange-looking one.

You know, most people have decided to make the change.

Even Dr. Riddle.

You should see her.

She looks very smart.

But you... You will always be

the best-looking girl at the prom.

So why didn't you change, Dad?

Well, I-- I've been thinking about your mother a lot lately,

and I think she would have made the same choice.

What's going to happen to you?

I'll have to stay indoors during the day

for the rest of my life, but I won't be alone.

There are millions of people who decided not to make the change.

Especially my generation.

What's important is the future. Your future.

And besides,

this way your mother will recognize me in Heaven.

[chuckles]

I wish you could have heard the music the way we did.

[sighs] I'll never forget it.

Well, I'll never forget the '60s.

That was music.

Excuse me. It's time to go.

They say the shift is going to happen this afternoon.

Right, well,

Better get you home, Dad.

Guess so.

And for the millions who've chosen to stay behind, including yours truly,

we hope that this new beginning,

year one of the second age of man,

will bring a renewed sense of purpose to our planet.

I've just been told the final shift

will be taking place at any moment now.

We repeat. Those who have not made the change

are warned to stay indoors.

Direct exposure to the new sun will kill within hours.

This is Marcus Gilbert for IBS,

on the verge of the new millennium.

Isn't it beautiful?

Happy new year, sis.

[Control Voice] it is said that music is a universal bridge,

crossing the barriers of culture, age and language.

Perhaps eventually we will learn

that it also spans those of time and space.