Original subtitles

Number 200?

200.

Nothing to show for it.

- Project Star Talk. Yes, sir, he's right here.

Do you wanna speak to him? Right, I'll tell him.

Dr. Shaw wants to see you in his office right away.

That's the second time he's phoned.

- Let him wait.

- Wonder what it is this time.

We finished on time tonight, didn't we?

- But of course we did.

He just can't stand the thought

of our being allotted even half an hour a week on

what he considers to be his own personal telescope.

- Well that's because he thinks we're on a crackpot project.

- That's none of his business,

the foundation gave us a grant for it, didn't they?

And in four years we've shown no results.

- So what? It took centuries to find Pluto.

- Yeah, that's right. But at least they knew

it was out there somewhere, didn't they?

- You'd better go.

Go on.

- All right, but don't expect me

to give him a kiss when I get there.

- Joe!

You need this telescope.

- Dr. Burke, I asked you to come to my office.

- Yes... I was just on my way.

Good evening, sir.

- I'll give you a lift home, Sandy.

- Thanks, Ben.

- Err, what results did you achieve this evening?

- None. But we released the telescope on time.

If that's what you want to know.

I'm glad to hear it.

Expensive equipment can't be allowed

to waste its time on unscientific theorizing.

It has real work to do.

- Dr. Shaw, I'm very busy, so if you-

- Busy? Hardly the word I would've chosen.

Busy implies that one is getting somewhere, doesn't it?

And then of course, you like playing with words, don't you,

Dr. Burke, even the idiotic name

you've given this alleged project of yours, Star Talk.

A ridiculous and sensational title

that can only bring discredit on more reputable undertakings

in the field of radio astronomy.

This is a scientific establishment,

Dr. Burke, not an advertising agency.

- I prefer not to discuss it.

But we're going to discuss it.

Yours is the one project in this establishment

that has shown no results,

never even filed a progress report.

- I don't have to make progress reports to you, Dr. Shaw.

You know perfectly well,

I have a grant in aid from the Holmes Foundation.

I send my results to them.

- What results?

I had a letter this morning from Mr. Holmes

pointing out that during the four years

the foundation has been backing your so-called project.

They've had nothing but negative reports from you.

Nothing has happened

to justify the promises you first gave them,

and they're beginning to wonder if it ever will.

- Dr. Shaw, when I first applied

for help from the foundation,

I made it perfectly clear that listening to radio waves

from the stars in the hope of hearing signals

from people living on other planets

was a project that might have to last for years.

I never said or did anything to suggest that I expected

to start hearing from advanced civilizations immediately.

- Well, that's something at least

you won't look too ridiculous if you lose your grant.

- Loose the grant?

- The foundation has written to ask my advice

as to whether the funds which you are at present wasting

might not be better employed

in some other projects of this observatory.

I think you know what my answer to that must be.

- Dr. Shaw, please,

give us a chance to go on

with what we're doing.

I'm convinced that there must be other intelligent creatures

in the galaxy besides ourselves,

and if we search long enough, we'll find them,

but it won't happen overnight.

- No, but it better happen within the next three months,

and that's as long as I'm prepared to give you. After that,

all this nonsense has got to stop.

I've already written to the foundation

making that recommendation.

Well, any luck?

- I spent two whole days stamping up and down

the corridors of the foundation.

Everybody politely told me the same thing.

They've got to take notice of Dr. Shaw's recommendations.

You better start looking around, Ben.

If we don't get results in three months,

we're all out of a job.

- Yeah, but didn't you tell them...

- Yeah, of course I'd told them,

but these characters only seem to care about things

you can translate into hard cash.

How can I make them understand things that...

things that I don't really understand myself?

Surely that damn satellite must be below the horizon by now,

and around five minutes into our time.

- She's brought you some coffee.

Drink it before it gets cold.

- I'm not asking too much, am I Ben?

Look at this place.

- No. Frankly, your trouble is you don't ask enough.

Take a leaf outta Shaw's book.

Here he's got a telescope worth a million pounds

and he's still not satisfied.

You know something?

I think he'd be doing you a favor

if he kicked you out of this.

- Now this is the sort of work I've dreamed of doing

since I was a kid. I wouldn't be

happy doing anything else.

- Well, I never expected to get anything out of this

except a few new wrinkles on long distance communication.

But I always had the feeling that,

that you really are waiting, every single time we switch on,

for someone up there, around Arcturus, to say,

"Hullo Earth, do you read me?"

- Yeah. Well, in a way I suppose that's true.

- Hello control room?

- Control room. - About time.

What was the hold up?

- I'm sorry Dr. Burke,

but they injected the satellite into too high an orbit,

so it was behind schedule

but we're ready for you now.

- Well, I hope you're gonna make up for lost time

at the end of our stint.

- That won't be possible, Dr. Burke.

Dr. Shaw's reserved the scope after you

and he says it's very important.

Important!

- As if a couple of minutes could make that much difference.

- Hello, Mrs. Jones.

'ello, dear!

I didn't know you was on duty tonight.

- It's our turn for the telescope again.

Have you been to our department already?

You bet I always do me favourites first.

Like to take yours with you?

- Black coffee please.

- I 'ear we maybe gonna lose your Dr. Burke

and Mr. Keller. Two sugars, isn't it?

- Who said so?

All right, Mrs. Jones,

it's no good asking you where you get your gossip from, is it?

- Well, dear,

I always think it pays to keep your ears to the ground

and that way you know what's going on.

Anything to eat, dear? - No thank you.

I suppose I wouldn't have much appetite meself.

Not if my young man was gonna lose his job

through no fault of his own.

Well, mustn't stand here gossiping

or I'll miss me last bus.

So long then!

I 'ope it all comes out right in the air, dae.

- There's not much chance of hearing

from the galaxy tonight, Joe.

- What is the schedule for tonight?

- Well, it's somewhere in the plane of the ecliptic.

I jotted down the RN declination for you, there.

I'd like some more coffee,

think we can nip down to the canteen for a bit?

- Yes, I should think so.

I wanna be on my toes when Old Shaw gets here.

- We're running short of these record forms Joe.

- What's the point in having any more printed?

- Matter of fact, Joe,

I'm not so sure the neutral hydrogen band

is the one where we're most likely to hear an alien signal.

As you well know, most of the universe is made of hydrogen

and punching a signal through all that background clutter...

- Shut up Ben.

Listen.

- I can't hear anything.

- It's gone.

It was very faint.

Wait a minute...

Ben, can you sort it out?

- It's bang on,

it's square on the 21 centimetre band.

It's getting louder.

- Well, it must be coming further

into the field of the scope.

Hello control room.

Hello control room!

Come on!

What are they DOING down there?

- Don't fly off the handle.

- Can't you hear it?

- Of course I can.

Probably picking up a satellite or even a plane.

- No, we're not. That's...

- It's what?

Well, I just don't believe that's anything local,

that's all.

Sandy get me a line to Herstmonceux.

Wherever that's coming from,

I want a visual check of the source area.

- Herstmonceux observatory please.

- Control room.

- This is Dr. Burke, where the devil have you been?

I'm getting unidentified signals on the 21 centimetre band

and I want the orbit plotted immediately and hurry up.

- Right sir.

- Well, at least it's something there.

There's a lot of power behind it too.

It must be a satellite.

- There's a lot of fuss about nothing very much.

- That's odd.

- You've got Herstmonceux yet Sandy?

- Dr. Shanklin, please.

- Joe...

the scope is on sidereal tracking, isn't it?

- Of course.

- Dr. Shanklin? Project Star Talk, snow cloud book.

- It must be picking up a satellite in an early burn orbit.

- What does the register say?

- Well, it says there's nothing

except some spent carrier rockets

and none of them is marked as emitting a signal.

- So it's not a satellite.

- Well then? - Well THIS may be

what we've been listening for for the past four years.

- Joe,

I'm afraid they have nothing free at the moment.

Dr. Shanklin promised he would try

and get a picture with the 60 inch tomorrow

or the next night.

- We don't need Herstmonceux.

You've already asked scope control

to try and plot the orbit.

- Don't you understand?

Listen!

It's repeating.

It's the same series of signals over and over again.

This could be a call for help.

- Help?

- I've heard these signals before.

It was because of these that I took up radio astronomy.

When I was a boy,

I had an uncle who was an archaeologist.

Often he used to take me to some of the sites

where he was in charge of the excavations.

At a particular dig in the south of France,

as well as the usual bones and iron knives,

one of his assistants found a strange black cube.

It was made of a substance he'd never seen before

and no one could for its being there.

The archaeological finds all went to the museum.

But he decided to give me the cube,

because everyone else said it must have got there recently,

by accident.

And though he didn't agree, he had no use for it.

Not long after he gave the cube to me,

I accidentally smashed it.

And all that it contained

was thousands of strange, luminous crystals.

They fascinated me so much that I held one as I fell asleep.

And that night I had a dream

which has haunted me ever since.

I was lost on some alien world.

There seemed to be volcanic activity

and I remember two moons in the sky.

And gradually I became aware of a strange sound,

which I felt was a cry for help.

I knew someone was in terrible danger

and yet I couldn't see them or reach them.

And this was the picture I painted next day

to try to recall what I'd seen.

It doesn't seem much to build a career on, does it?

But, well, there was something so real about that dream

that I, I felt I'd actually been to the planet,

that it was calling to me for help,

and that someday I might be able to help it.

- Yes. Very nice.

Well, I'll just go down to scope control

and see if those boneheads have logged

any decent orbital data for us?

- I didn't really expect anyone to believe me.

- And you claim this signal was received

from somewhere out in space,

how very opportune and convenient.

- Convenient?

- Just when the foundation has given you three months.

- But it's true. You heard the signals yourself.

- I heard a lot of interstellar static,

if that's what you mean.

- They are definite signals from the asteroid belt.

I have some photographs here.

I marked the apparent source with a white arrow.

The computing centre has done for them orbital data

and calculations.

And we're reasonably certain

that the signal was coming from an asteroid

that's been observed before.

It's called Schul's Object.

Here you are,

385C on the asteroid list.

I see Schul's Object has a mean diameter of 20 miles,

which means it couldn't possibly sustain life of any kind.

There wouldn't be enough gravity to retain an atmosphere.

- I haven't any answers.

All I know is that we picked up the signals,

that they came from that asteroid

and that I mean to find out who sent them.

- And how do you propose to do that, may I ask?

- By sending back an answer.

The signals we receive had a pattern.

I intend to use the balance of my current grant

to buy the equipment that would enable us

to use the telescope as a transmitter.

- Has any other observatory picked up this signal?

- No, but that's not really surprising, is it?

Project Star Talk is the only venture of its kind

in the world, which is why it must continue.

- I don't like being told what must be done, Doctor Burke.

- I'm very sorry Dr. Shaw, I didn't mean it that way,

but you said you wanted results.

This seems to me to be the best way to get them.

You yourself said I had three months.

I'm not asking for any more money.

- I should hope not.

And when do you propose to start chattering

with these friends of yours in outer space?

- Well, I hope to begin transmitting algebraic symbols

in two or three days.

- Well, I wish you luck.

I have a feeling you're going to need it.

- Come in.

- Good afternoon. Can I help you?

- I'm looking for Dr. Burke.

He and Mr. Keller have gone out

to get some new equipment, but they'll be back shortly.

- I see. May I take it that you are Ms. Lund?

- Yes.

- Permit me to introduce myself.

My name is Joshua Yellowlees of the Holmes Foundation.

I have been instructed to familiarize myself

with the detailed accounts of this undertaking.

- Why?

- Expenditure increased so enormously

over the past few weeks,

Mr. Holmes wishes to know why.

Shall we look at the books?

- Mr... - Yellowlees.

- We are very busy at the moment, couldn't it wait?

- I have been instructed specifically, Madam,

to waste no time.

May I suggest we begin at once?

- This is it.

Thank you.

- Joe this is Mr. Yellowlees.

He's come to audit the accounts.

Good evening gentlemen.

I take it these purchases were facilitated

by monies advanced by the Holmes Foundation.

- Yes.

- Kindly permit me to peruse the invoices.

- Now look here. Mr. Yellowlees-

- Joe!

- Invoices? - Yeah.

Thank you.

Now...

- And fifty?

Thank heavens. That's all right then.

- You think we'll be ready in time, Joe?

- We'd have been ready two days ago

if it hadn't been for Holmes' watchdog over there.

- Number seven. - Number seven.

Good gracious! 75 pounds?

Why it can't weigh more than a couple of ounces.

- Mr. Yellowlees,

suppose I were to tell you

that this contains a contact made of pure platinum.

That it's been machined to a tolerance

of less than a 10,000th of an inch with real diamonds,

and that for every one that leaves the factory,

they send back 30 for reprocessing.

Well...

diamonds, platinum!

But Dr. Burke, what exactly is it you are doing

that requires such extraordinary items?

- Do you mean to say you honestly don't know?

- Well, since Mr. Holmes, didn't see fit to advise me

and since I know that his time costs approximately

200 pounds a minute,

I didn't think it right to interrupt him by inquiring.

75 pounds, ridiculous!

- We're attempting to signal to people on another world.

We received signals from them the other night

and we're going to try and send a message back to them.

- Send a message! This will cause a sensation!

- If we do it.

- Good gracious!

When is the crucial attempt to be made?

- Tonight between 11 and 12.

And if you succeed,

there will no doubt be reporters

desirous of interviewing those who witnessed the great event?

- Scores of them. - Mmmmm.

- Err, I shall certainly make a point of being present.

- Well, what do you know? The old boy nurses a secret dream.

He wants to get his picture in the papers.

- Well now he's gone, let's get some work done.

- Yep.

- Am I right in thinking that the rather enormous structure

of the radio telescope is being used for the broadcast?

- That's right.

Being so large, it is difficult

to understand why the matter is so delicate.

- That's because of the distance involved.

It takes about 18 minutes

or so for a signal to get from here to there

and about the same amount of time

for a response to come back.

- Does it indeed?

- Now only a tiny fraction,

a few millionths of the power we put

into the broadcast, actually gets there.

- A few millionths? Oho!

Think of the waste.

- Mr. Yellowlees,

the laws of the universe weren't made by an accountant.

- Pity.

- What do you think is going to happen?

- What do you think?

- I daren't guess.

- You know something Joe?

If there is anyone up on that asteroid,

they're gonna get one hell of a surprise.

- Burke here. - This is Dr. Shaw.

I merely wish to impress upon you

the strict necessity of consulting me

before making any announcement about your venture

in the unlikely event you are getting any results.

- I wouldn't worry Dr. Shaw,

nothing would give me greater pleasure

than to ring you at one o'clock in the morning

with proof of my starry eyed dream.

- Telescope ready!

They're lining it up.

- Schul's Object, tracking.

Right? - Right.

Here we go.

'Ere we are then boys,

I bet you thought Auntie forgot you tonight?

- Bless you Mrs. Jones,

I could just about do with some of that. - Now-

- And the signal should be reaching the asteroid

just about now.

- Relax Joe.

They couldn't possibly start signalling back to us

before our signal reached them.

Dr. Burke, I've been thinking over something

Mr. Keller said.

Have you no idea what sort of people they are

you're trying to contact?

- Of course I haven't.

Then they might be monsters?

- As far as I'm concerned,

nothing which can send signals across space is a monster.

- Or they could have tentacles.

- I don't care if they've got two heads.

Alright, Ben, switch off.

Control room, we are discontinuing the transmission.

- Right sir. Project Star Talk bypass.

- Err, Dr. Burke,

In that case, don't you think it dangerous to draw attention to ourselves?

- In what case?

- In case they are monsters.

- Mr. Yellowlees, if these people are hostile,

what's to stop them from attacking us

without taking the trouble of sending us a radio broadcast?

Why not take us by surprise?

- Perhaps they didn't know there were people on Earth,

but now that they do know...

- Evening all, tea up?

- Hello Mrs. Jones,

we were just discussing what sort of people there are

on other planets,

and here you come with a tea and bring us back to Earth.

- People on other planets? I don't believe it.

No, it'd 'ave been in the papers.

My husband 'ad've told me about it.

'Ere, one coffee, black, no sugar, Mr. Keller.

One coffee, white, no sugar, Dr. Burke.

- Thank you Mr. Jones.

- What about you then darling?

- I beg your... Thank you, no.

- Well, what are you all getting up to tonight then?

- We're trying to contact someone in space.

No! When's this 'sposed to be happening?

- Any minute now... if it's going to happen at all.

- Well, I'll never.

You never know what this lot's gonna be getting up to next.

No dear, no. I'm not supposed to, y'see?

Not while I'm like, handling the food on the trolley.

Still I've got a minute or two, haven't I, before me bus..

Thank you very much dear. I will.

- What's a nine letter word, meaning visual aid?

- Telescope. - Telescope.

- Nick!

- Hello?

Hello, control room?

- What the devil are they playing at down there?

Hello control room!

- Power failure. - Here,

who done that?

- Must be the emergency power, it's about time too.

Hello? Hello?

Oooh-err.

You'll have to excuse me.

- Joe!

- HOW?

- It looks as though we've got our answer, hasn't it?

- What's the meaning of this?

Why have I been got out of bed in the small hours?

Why are there no lights on around here?

- Well, sir, if you look out,

Project Star Talk.

- But it's gone.

There's nothing but a great hole there.

There must have been an explosion.

- Dr. Shaw, there was no explosion.

- Of course, there must have been an explosion!

What else could wipe out a building like that?

Why are there no lights on?

What's everybody doing around here?

Something blew every fuse in the observatory, sir.

Including the master fuse for the telescope.

Well, someone's trying to fix it now, but-

- The telescope, has it been damaged?

Well, has it?

- We haven't been to look yet, sir.

- Haven't been to look?

That telescope cost the best part of a million pounds.

Don't you realize that?

Well go and check then. Don't just stand there!

- Sir, something came out of the sky,

picked the building up bodily and, and tore it out of the ground.

- Something. What sort of something?

- A, a space ship.

- Have you been drinking? - No, sir.

- Listen, there was a building there, a big one,

solidly made.

Do you honestly believe

that something could have pulled it outta the ground?

What do you say happened?

- The ship carried it off, sir.

- You HAVE been drinking.

What must have happened is that Burke overloaded

the power supply,

not only blew every fuse within half a mile, but...

poor devils must have been blown to pieces.

Absolutely to pieces.

- That's it. You drink that up, it'll help to calm ya.

- Thank you, Mrs. Jones.

- Dr. Burke, would you please tell us what's 'appenin'?

- Yes indeed. I do feel we are owed an explanation.

- Ben we've gotta figure this thing out rationally.

- Rationally?

I feel about as rational as an ant

that's just been picked up on a shovel.

- Well, that's exactly what must have happened.

Sandy, when you opened the door to go out,

what did you see?

- We were up high in the air, Joe,

rising from the observatory.

- Right? And now we're in space, aren't we?

Now there are lots of things

you'd expect to happen in space.

For one, there's no air,

but we are breathing all right, aren't we?

- Yes.

- And somehow we are being shielded

from the sun's radiation.

- We, we certainly seem to feel all right.

Look.

Anything odd?

- Artificial gravity.

- Dr. Burke? I regret to say I don't quite-

- Now look, you, you've seen pictures

of men in orbit, haven't you?

Well, they're weightless.

They just float around inside their spaceship.

Well, we should be doing the same thing, but we aren't.

So we must be inside a, a force field of some kind,

which is doing things we've hardly even dreamed about.

It gives us normal air, normal temperature, normal gravity.

In other words, we are being taken somewhere

by some highly intelligent creatures.

- For some purpose.

- Joe, we're slowing down.

- You're right.

Now what?

- We've stopped moving.

- They'll be coming for us soon.

- I wonder what they'll look like.

Dear! They won't look like spiders, will they?

Ooh, I do hope they don't look like spiders.

- There's no way of telling

what they may look like, Mrs. Jones.

- Well, we will probably look a lot worse to them

than they do to us.

- Yes, but... - The important thing is

to keep calm.

- Yes.

- Create a good impression, you mean? Yes.

- Yes. - My coat.

- Well, let's have a look.

Dear.

- Don't worry, come, dear.

- We'd better follow it.

Might as well follow it.

- Well go on then, 'fore this thing turns nasty.

I mean, politeness don't cost nothing, do it?

Ooh-err!

Well, whoever lives here,

they don't go in for comfort much, do they?

- Well maybe they don't need it, Mrs. Jones.

- No but in between a kidnapping of people,

they must need somewhere to put their feet up, ya'd think?

- Yeah, if they've got feet.

Our friend outside certainly seems to manage without them,

doesn't he?

I wouldn't fancy spending the night

with one of them things.

Look at all them spiky bits.

D'you think it's alive, Mr. Keller?

- No.

No, I think that it's a machine that thinks and reasons.

Something far in advance of anything we have on Earth,

probably remotely controlled by whoever it is

runs this place.

- I wonder what they feed on up here.

- What time to think about food.

I dunno, I could do with something to eat myself.

- Well your guess is as good as mine.

- I hope it won't explode.

Now dear. It isn't ticking.

I've seen a lot of them things in films.

They always ticks before they explodes.

- Maybe there's something inside.

Careful Joe.

It could be a key, Joe, to open the box.

- Now keys need key holes. There isn't one.

- Let's have a look at it.

It's a magnet, Joe. - A magnetic lock.

What is it, Joe?

- I think it must be food and drink.

Careful love, you dunno know where it's been!

It's delicious, try one.

It's very good.

- Joe, this is a reward.

It set us a puzzle and wanted us to solve it.

Don't you see? It's some kind of intelligence test

to find out if we can reason.

- You know, she might be right Joe.

- You think we passed the test, Sandy?

- You got your lump of sugar, didn't you?

- I think it wants us to move on, Dr. Burke.

- I know it's not very hygienic,

but I can't bear seeing good food go to waste.

- Quite right.

- Ben, come on.

- Coming!

I think he wants us to go this way.

'ere we go again.

- Maybe this is the oral exam.

- Better do as we're told.

- Well, maybe we're gonna meet somebody at last?

- It's all right, Mrs. Jones, don't be afraid.

- I think we're all gonna be murdered in our beds.

- Beds? They don't look like beds to me, Mrs. Jones.

- What do you make of that then?

- It's a kind of vibrator.

Can't you feel it?

- I better try and break it.

These things can do nasty things to the brain

if the pitch gets up into ultrasonics.

- Hey wait!

Could be another test.

Got to try it anyway.

- Picked up that food, didn't you?

- Let me have that Ben. - Give it to me.

- Sandy, that thing's dangerous.

- It's working Joe, it's working.

- Joe...

It never was there. We imagined it.

- The vibrator. Ultrasonic hallucination.

- What are we supposed to make of that then?

- We just passed another test, I think.

The first one could have been

to see whether we were animals or intelligent beings.

This one could have been

to see whether we'd panic at the sight of creatures

different from ourselves.

- Well that figures, but why give us a gun as a reward?

They certainly give some funny prizes away, don't they?

- Perhaps we're going to need it before we're through.

You mean that they've brought us here to do a job for them?

- That looks just like the one you told Sandy and me about,

doesn't it?

- That means your dream was true.

- What's that?

- Well, I have an idea it's what

these people use here instead of books.

Then they need us for something, but what?

They've given us three things.

One, the food. That means survival.

Two, the gun. That means power.

And now this, without which the other two are useless.

Knowledge.

- How does it work?

It probably plugs into some kind of receiver,

something that puts pictures,

words into your mind.

- The question is, what do we do now?

Do we look around for something to plug this into,

or do we wait until our hosts show themselves?

- Perhaps we better follow our mechanical friend.

- Now what? - Why don't we try this way?

- We can't get through that way.

- This is a dead end.

- Well it looks as if this is where they wanted to bring us,

doesn't it?

- Why?

- Well, this looks interesting.

I wonder what sort of data it's reporting.

- I dunno.

- We're being watched all the time Joe,

why do you suppose they're keeping out of sight?

- They're 'ouse proud.

I'll say that for 'em, they're 'ouse proud.

- Well, let's think over what we know

before we start thinking about anything else.

- Do we know anything?

- Yes, a lot. We know a lot.

The air in here tells us something. So does the temperature.

- The people who built this place

come from a world like... Earth, is that what you mean?

- I dunno.

- Obviously they're looking us over to size us up

before they show themselves.

- Any advanced creatures would,

and they must be a very advanced civilization.

We may even be lower creatures by comparison to them.

- Well, in that case, why did they bring us here,

to put us in a zoo maybe?

- Human beings in a zoo! Preposterous.

- I dunno about sharing a cave with you, darling.

- Let's take a look up here.

This is fantastic.

I 'ope whoever runs this place

don't keep us too long.

- Another thing, if they don't give us permission,

how are we going to get home?!

- Ben?

These red dots.

They seem to be getting closer to this green circle thing.

- Yes, but what does it mean?

- I don't know.

Well, they obviously wanted us to see this room.

Now we've seen it.

Well, if they're gonna let us explore, we might as well.

Ben, come on, Sandy, let's have a look.

Doctor Burke, where we going now?

- At last.

- Careful Joe.

- Poor devil.

- He must've been dead for ages.

Then who brought us here?

- Well, I'm beginning to wonder

if there's anyone here at all.

- But that spaceship was sent.

- He's been dead a long time.

Well, they were very much like us.

- Did Dr. Burke say that

he thinks there's no one 'ere but us?

- I'd rather think he did say something like that.

- Whoo, it's a comfort that is.

D'you know that the thought of a great big

six foot hairy spider...

Ooh, it makes me blood run cold. It does!

I mean, even if he only wants to say 'ello,

come inside, "s your father, you know?

- Yes indeed.

- Mr. Keller! - Yes?

Oof!

Sandy?

Sandy!

- Joe!

Ben, where are you?

Please, help me!

- Ben! Where is she?

- I dunno, Joe. I tripped.

I pushed her over. She, she fell on this.

She disappeared.

- Gimme the gun. I'm going after her.

- No Joe. - Gimme the gun!

- Sandy!

Sandy?

Sandy!

Sandy?

- Joe, Sandy! Thank heaven. What happened to you?

What the blazes is this? And how does this thing work?

- It's a, a way of travelling without a spaceship,

between places in the universe that are nearly identical.

I suppose you'd call it a matter transposer.

- And when Sandy fell on it?

- She was transposed to a planet

that was exactly like the one I saw in my dream.

- Except for those savages.

- Savages? Well, how can savages make a thing like this?

- I don't know. But somebody did.

And I found something there

that may explain why we're here.

Come on.

- What is it, Joe? - Where's the cube?

- What?

- That cube we were given as a prize.

- Joe! It might be dangerous.

- In the name of the people of the planet where I was born,

a once proud race now facing defeat

by a vicious and detestable enemy, greetings.

Long ago our people mastered the secrets of the universe

and began to explore the stars,

hoping to find other beings with whom we could communicate.

- What's he doing?

- And enrich our common- - What's going on?

- Knowledge. - I think-

- In every star system- - The cube is telling him

what to do. - After ages of searching,

we did encounter another intelligent race,

but the meeting was not what we had hoped for.

Of the creatures we now call the enemy,

we know almost nothing.

Only that they inhabit frigid worlds

and that they have set out to destroy us,

and any race resembling us.

To protect ourselves, we developed terrible weapons

and built defensive fortresses

like this one in every system,

which might someday be attacked by the enemy.

To send out warning signals

when the enemy ships approach their galaxies.

But the enemy invented a field which attacks the very mind

and reduces intelligent creatures to the level of animals.

Ships like those came to our home planet,

and now it is a world of savages.

We must flee to some part of the galaxy

where perhaps the enemy will not follow us,

and when you come here, we may all be dead.

The ships of the enemy are approaching your galaxy.

This fortress stands between them and your world.

That is why you were called.

You have the weapons here with which to destroy them

and to save your own worlds.

The cubes will tell you how.

Listen to them and do as they say.

Did you understand any of that?

- I think so. It means this place is abandoned.

Everything is automatic, the tests, everything.

- But it also means that Earth is in danger.

The whole human race will be destroyed

or driven into caves like savages, unless we can...

- Unless we stop this enemy first.

Come on.

- But there are hundreds of them, Joe,

we'll never do it. - Got to.

We'll have to work through them systematically

'til we find the information we need.

- There must be some more reading devices

around here somewhere.

- I don't want one of them reading devices on my 'ead,

it's not long since I 'ad a perm!

- This one seems to be giving the same information

as that mark there.

- How's it coming, Ben?

- I think I'm just getting the hang of it now.

- Any luck?

- No.

- Or we don't wait any longer.

- We haven't heard them all yet.

- Doesn't matter.

If they get any closer, they'll be able to blast us

and the Earth.

The cube we want must be somewhere,

but if we can't find it...

- How's that for service?

- Don't just stand there, Ben,

say thank you to the gentleman.

Thank you.

I just hope Dr. Burke knows what 'e's doing,

that's all. - Mrs. Jones,

we should be in considerable difficulties

if he doesn't.

- Ready?

Ben? - Right.

Now.

Right, now.

- Rockets aren't getting anywhere near them!

- The cube says we must turn the fort.

- Right, now.

- Got one! - Then there's nine more.

- Ben. - Right?

Fire!

- Have a lot of near-misses, aren't we?

- Because we're on the edge of our range.

- Okay Joe! - Fire!

- We've done it, we've done it!

- They're evading our rockets!

- What does that do?

- The whole fortress can be driven by its own engines,

and this starts it.

- We've got to get closer.

We must wait until they're within range.

- What was that?

- They've put a beam projector on us.

- Joe, we must hit back!

- All right, now.

- Right. - Fire!

- We've got to do it. We've got to do it.

- Right.

- Fire!

Fire!

- There are only two left now.

- Fire!

- It's still there!

- Right, fire!

- Come on, we've gotta get out of here!

- How? The ship in the space dock is wrecked!

Come on!

- Let's go! - Come on!

- I wanna go home! - Jump in!

Now!

- I changed the transposer plate setting to Earth.

- What a way to get about! Here's me,

well, we never even so much as had a car in the family,

and I've been squirted through space like a BBC broadcast.

- This must be the place. Yes it is.

It's the place where my uncle dug up the cubes.

I'd heard it'd become a tourist attraction.

Joe, look, there's a paper here,

and it's a French newspaper.

- There's a picture of Dr. Shaw.

- Yes!

- "Regretted death of British astronomers.

At the inquest today

into the deaths of the distinguished British astronomers

working on the celebrated project to talk to the stars.

Dr. Henry Shaw..." - 'Ere, just a minute,

inquest? Dead?

'E's got a bloomin' cheek, hasn't he?

- Yeah! - Tryin' to make out we're dead?

- And boy, is he gonna get a surprise!

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

- Hah! Allez, allez!

Yeah, go on off 'ome!

There's no such thing as spaceman, anyway.

- You have been to the excavations?

It is finish, close up, forbidden to tourist!

- You don't seem to understand officer, we are not tourists.

We've just come from another planet.

- Em, give me your passports.

- We haven't got them with us.

- Pas des passeport?

Alors... you are under arrest.

Allez, allez!

- Never did think much of foreign parts.

Come on then.