Original subtitles

[music]

three parts.

First, we have to construct an energy

collector which will gather the energy

from cosmic rays and muons.

Second, we have to build anti-gravity

screens which will operate with the

energy collector.

And when we have completed these two,

[music]

then I will show you how to harness the

full power of the cosmos.

It's somebody new.

Found somebody. My new friend.

He's coming through very strong.

Too strong. It hurts.

Hey, man. Wherever you are, cool it. For

Pete's sake, cool it.

Are you all right?

Yes. Yes, sir.

How many questions have you done?

All of them, sir.

All of them?

You only had to choose five?

Yes. Well, I couldn't decide. They all

looked interesting.

What's your name, boy?

Barkley, sir. Paul Barkley.

This is Albertine, my daughter.

Hello.

And Sulin from Hong Kong.

Hi.

And Mike from Boston.

Boston, Massachusetts. That is.

Hi, Paul.

Hi,

Paul. Stop it.

What is it?

Don't do that, man.

Sorry. I didn't know.

What happened?

It doesn't matter, Daddy. We're okay.

You sure?

Yes. Honestly.

All right.

I'll leave you to get to know each

other. I go and ship out some dinner.

It was you before, wasn't it?

What?

He doesn't know.

Tell me, please.

I can hear you all.

Yes, that's a part of what we have to

tell you.

What is it?

It's called telepathy.

Do you all have it?

Yes. Lots of people do in their own way.

Ours is special. It comes from being in

contact with someone called Chalky.

A funny name.

Yes. You don't know about Chalky, do

you?

No.

But she must have been in contact with

him or he wouldn't be able to do it.

Who is Chalky? Chalky is our friend. She

comes from a distant planet.

Really? What does she look like?

We don't know. Only her mind is here.

But she is teaching us some very

important things.

Like how to talk to each other without

speaking.

No, no, that's not important. That just

happens. But she is teaching us to use

the power of our minds.

What can you do with it then?

this power

a great deal. We can understand things

that no one else can when Chalki is with

us.

We can even move things around without

even touching them. You know,

can you do that? How?

By thinking and for something big, by

joining our minds together. It's called

a gestalt. That's what really matters.

When we join our minds together, the

power becomes incredible. Oh, show me.

Show me. Please,

please.

Sorry, I forgot again.

Okay, never mind.

What should we do for him?

Why don't we clear the floor like we do

for dancing space? Good idea. The coffee

table first.

That's fantastic.

Hold on. We haven't finished yet.

music.

That's great. Really great. [applause]

That was very good. Chalky. Chalky.

Chalky. Is this Chalky?

That is right, Paul. Welcome to our

group.

Thank you.

I am very pleased to have found you.

You have a very rare, a very special

mind.

Do I really?

Yes. Communication with you is very

strong.

Together we shall all be able to do

great things.

930587

486

890

290659.

Okay,

fine. Why do we have to input everything

through the keyboard?

Why not?

It seems very slow.

If we joined our minds together,

couldn't we talk to it direct?

Talk to the computer.

You mean just think the information into

it?

Yes. It's worth a try.

Why not? Okay, you ready?

Who's calculating me?

We're ahead of it.

Steady. It can't keep up.

Wow. We

Oh dear.

Oh boy. I I guess we're just too fast

for it.

Poor computer. We're going to have to

bend it. Maybe we could rebuild it bare.

What do you say?

Of course we can.

You do realize these are all rather

expensive metals and materials, Mr.

Mayor.

Yes, but Chalky seems to regard them as

essentials.

I mean, look here. Osmium. That's one of

the platinum metals. You know,

platinum. My goodness, that costs more

than gold, doesn't it?

Very probably. But apparently osmium is

the only element we have on Earth that's

dense enough to do the job.

And what job would that be exactly?

Well, I can't say. You will have to wait

till the device is ready.

Selenium. That's not quite so bad.

Interesting, though.

Why is that?

Well, in its metallic form, selenium

emits electrons when struck by light.

Does it now?

Well, I suppose that makes sense.

You can obtain everything. You said you

could do it through your department's

workshops.

Oh, certainly. But I must warn you that

at this rate, the money in Albertine's

grant won't last for very long.

What do you make of that?

What is it?

It's a copy of the list of materials

I've asked Doris Wade to get for them.

It's interesting.

You any idea what it's all for?

Not really. No. But I tell you one

thing, they go on spending money at

their present rate and they'll have none

left by the summer.

Makes me so mad. They'll waste.

You've heard they've got yet another

child on this project.

Yes. So I understand.

They get even younger.

You believe this one is only 12?

I'm sure in that case he's even more

brilliant than the rest.

Naturally.

Can you manage it?

Sure. We're nearly through.

The red goes there. That's it. That's

the final connection.

There it is. It's all fixed.

Will it work again now? Better than

ever. Right. Let's get going again.

Should I switch on? I'll just check it

out.

Fine. It all looks say okay. Come on.

Let's go.

What are we going to do next?

We're going to start designing the

cosmic ray collector.

We'll have to decide which shaper is

best.

There's lots of possibilities, you see.

But doesn't Chalky know which is the

best one?

Not for use here on Earth. Our

atmosphere and gravity are all very

different from those on her own planet.

So what works marvelously there might

not be any use at all for us. Uh

we fed all the information in the

computer now for the different types of

collector. And we're going to have to

test them all out

in the computer to start with. Yes. Then

when we've narrowed it down to the most

likely, we'll make actual models and

test those.

All right.

Quite a selection, huh? Which one should

we start with?

The cylindrical one. That looks the most

likely to me. Okay, you're the boss.

There it is. Then what do you think?

It looks good to me.

And to me, your workshop's done a super

job, Professor Wade.

Thank you, Albertine. Let's hope it

works. We We won't know that till we got

the insides in, ma'am.

And how long will that take?

Not long. We can start it right away.

Would you like some coffee, professor,

while we're waiting?

Oh, that will be rather nice. Thank you.

[music]

[music]

Albatine.

Well,

we're ready.

May we see it?

All right. Okay.

Well, here we go then.

This exciting

great moment.

This could be one of the truly great

moments of scientific history.

What exactly is

Nothing is happening.

It's not working.

It doesn't work.

Oh dear.

Paul,

what is it?

You mustn't cry.

It'll all be all right. Honestly,

we'll start again tomorrow on another

design.

We always knew some of them might not

work.

There's no need to be upset.

Stop that.

What is it then?

You can tell me.

[laughter]

Oh, I see. You miss your home and your

mother and father.

I live with my father.

[snorts]

I haven't seen my mother for years.

You still miss your mother? I know.

When my mother left us, went up to

London looking for her.

Did you?

Yes.

I never found her.

I still wonder about her sometimes.

But I do love my dad.

Of course you do. And I'm sure he loves

you.

Don't worry. You can go up to see him if

you want.

Can I?

Of course you can. You're not in prison

here, you know.

[snorts]

I believe I'm on the verge of a major

discovery.

Isn't it a little premature to be saying

things like that, Beatus?

No. No, it's not.

This star, or rather this pair of stars,

is quite different from anything I've

ever encountered before. Just look at

the pattern of the radio emissions here.

Oh, yes. You see how regular they are.

Have you ever seen anything quite like

it?

No, not exactly.

And then these spectra, this is a

logarithmic plot of intensity against

frequency.

Yes.

See what I mean?

The most unusual.

Unusual.

It's unique. I must have the additional

funds to go on investigating it. It's

vital.

Well, I I don't suppose it's going to go

away.

That's hardly the point, is it?

Be patient. You're always in so much of

a hurry.

Yes, I am. I want that money, and I

don't want to have to wait till I'm old

and gray before I get it.

I am doing everything I can for you.

Well, it's not enough, Bernard. It's not

enough.

Finished. You can take these to the

workshops now, Professor.

Well, let's hope this is the one. I was

very disappointed when the last one

didn't work.

We'll just have [music] to wait and see.

There's not much we can do till the

shells are ready anyway.

This won't be right. I just learned.

Hey, you two Paul's ready to leave.

bye everybody.

Bye.

And have a nice time. And don't worry,

everything will be all right. Thanks.

See you next week. Bye. Bye.

Bye.

Oh, has Paul gone?

Yes, dad's driving him to the station.

He's going to the seaside for a couple

of days with his father.

Lucky old him. And what about you, Lot?

We're going to have a little rest while

we're getting these. May

Well, I don't know, ma'am. We still got

a whole lot of things need done.

Should go out and have fun. Take a

picnic out on the river. Why don't you

have you tried your hands at punting

yet? Punting sounds Chinese.

Why is that, ma'am?

Don't you know what a punt is? Shame on

you all.

I do. It's a sort of boat.

You can't possibly stay in Cambridge

without having tried it.

What do I do?

You use the pole to push us along. Stick

it into the water down to the bottom and

push.

That's it.

We

[music]

[music]

[laughter]

This is fun.

Can I have a go, Mike?

In a minute. I'm getting good at this.

Hey, look at me. This is the way to do

it.

Hey, come back. [laughter]

Come back. Let's go. Come on.

Please. Shall we help him or shall we

leave him?

No. Come on. Help, please.

All right, then. We're coming back.

[laughter]

Come in, please. Yeah.

Sit down.

Thank you.

Oh, what can I do for you? I'm afraid

the children are all out at the moment.

Oh, never mind. I'd just like to know

how they're getting on.

Well, they seem to be getting on well,

thank you. They're working very hard.

Anything to show for their work?

Well, it's early days yet, professor.

Oh, I understood. They've already built

something.

Oh, yes, they did. Wasn't successful.

May I see it?

Why?

Oh, I am interested, that's all. As one

of the committee responsible for giving

the grant, you understand?

All right. It's in the lab. This way.

This was the first prototype model.

That's very interesting. What was it

supposed to do? I mean, if it had

worked,

it was meant to collect cosmic rays and

muons. Was it indeed? And uh how exactly

was it meant to do that?

I I'm not certain.

I see. Tell me, supposing it had worked,

what would they have done with the

cosmic rays and muons?

Well, I

How would they have applied them and to

what?

I have no idea.

Chalky hasn't told us that yet.

Chalky,

thank you, Mr. Mayor.

George.

[music]

This one's going to work.

You hear that, Chalky?

Yes, I can hear, Mike. I understand. Hi,

Alre.

Oh, did you have a nice time at the sea?

Oh, it was great. Thanks. We stayed in

the super hotel, Dad and I. And I went

wind surfing.

Could you do it? Wind surfing is very

difficult.

Yes. Yes, I really could. It was

absolutely fantastic.

Hey, is that the new model?

Yes. We're just going to start putting

the inards in. This one's going to work.

How do you know that?

I just know. Come on, let's get on with

it.

Well, you provided the materials. Did

you see it?

Of course.

And the results?

There are no results.

What do you expect?

I expect some sort of positive progress

for the amount of money they've had.

Well, I understood from the beginning

that there were several possible designs

and that they couldn't be sure which was

best until they'd made and tested them

all.

Exactly.

I am not talking about which one is the

best. I'm talking about it not doing

anything. Now, I examined their first

model. I could see no indication of any

scientific principle whatever. You ask

me, they're simply trying to produce

another conjuring trick.

Oh, that's hardly fair on them.

And it's hardly fair on other reputable

scientists who cannot continue with

research of proven academic worth

because these children are given the

funds they need.

I propose we give Mayor and his infants

a deadline to show us something

positive, some proof that the whole

thing is not just some huge wild goose

chase. And if they can't, then we cut

off their funds.

And how long do you propose that we give

them?

One more week. Is that all?

I see.

Thank you, professor. I'll be in touch.

We're almost there. [music]

That's it.

Now what?

Oh, no. Don't say these aren't going to

work either.

Of course they are.

[music]

We've done it.

We've done it.

It worked.

Well done.

Okay,

all of you.

It worked.