Original subtitles

The most brilliant planet in our solar system is Venus,

named for the goddess of love.

It is closer to earth than any other planet,

28 million miles away.

Until sometime in the last half of the 20th century,

it is still a planet shrouded in mystery,

enveloped in a heavy blanket of clouds and steam.

Because its surface temperature was believed to be.

Several times that of earth's,

it was not thought possible for man to reach Venus and come back,

until one day somebody did it.

This was the opportunity,

5 days after his return from orbiting Venus,

for the world to see col. Jeff Barton,

the man of the hour.

And, of course, hardly had he returned to earth.

From his brilliantly successful.

First step in the overall project,

when the combined minds of our leading scientists and statesmen.

Began to explore the next step,

namely, the ultimate colonization of Mars.

All of us who behold col. Jeff Barton are impressed,

I might say awed, by the outer calm.

And inner courage of this man.

Who will head up and carry out.

What is probably the greatest adventure of all time.

The next day,

they had their opportunity to hear this national hero.

As he described his epoch-making voyage.

Now that we've been able to orbit Venus,

we're a lot closer to our ultimate goal, Mars,

the next stage of project Vulcan.

And none of us is gonna rest very much until it is completed.

In fact, I look forward to a good, long rest

in one of the houses we'll be building

on Mars as part of the project.

I wanna thank you for your...

Prayers, your good thoughts,

and your wonderful down-to-earth welcome.

I think they love you as much as I do.

Oh, it's good to have you back again.

I was getting awful tired of my own cookies.

All right, I'll get the salad.

My steaks.

Jeff? Jeff!

There is nothing wrong with your television set.

Do not attempt to adjust the picture.

We are controlling transmission.

We will control the horizontal.

We will control the vertical.

We can change the focus to a soft blur.

Or sharpen it to crystal clarity.

For the next hour, sit quietly.

And we will control all that you see and hear.

You are about to participate in a great adventure.

You are about to experience the awe and mystery.

That reaches from the inner mind to...

The outer limits.

Not here, Jeff, over there.

Here they are!

How does it feel to be a General, Colonel?

Wrong question. That should be,

"how did it feel to be a Colonel, General?"

I'll sum it up in 2 words: Way out.

Can you tell us, General Barton, who else

is going to be involved in project Vulcan?

Several men, all specialists in their own fields of science.

You'll get a printed list of their names.

Is it definite that Venus will not sustain human life?

I can't answer that yet.

Well, isn't that why you made the trip?

Not entirely. Although Venus is close to earth,

it has always been a mystery to us,

and you can't take chances with mysteries

when you're planning the colonization of Mars.

Will you have the answer in time

for the appropriations committee hearing next week?

I intend to.

He won't if he spends any more time with you, gentlemen.

Are you carrying the ball to the committee?

No, General Barton will do the talking. He knows more about it than anyone else.

Project Vulcan is his baby.

By "project Vulcan," you still mean the colonization of Mars?

Exactly.

What if they turn you down?

Well, we might try to raffle off General Barton.

Hey, there's the General.

Hey!

Well, congratulations, General.

Welcome home.

Come here, I wanna show you something.

Well, there she is, Jeff.

The new space environment test chamber.

We finished her while you were, uh, cavorting around up there in outer space.

What would she do?

315 degrees below zero, Fahrenheit,

to, uh, 275 above.

And create a vacuum equivalent

to 700,000 feet altitude.

Jeff, I noticed something on your report about vibration.

I was wondering if it happened again after orbiting.

No, that's something I wanna talk about with construction.

I'll be curious to see what kind of vegetation.

Your cameras picked up.

Did you notice any equipment failure.

During the 8 minutes we lost contact with you?

I'm afraid I wasn't paying much attention at the time.

Ah, chill.

Maybe I'm allergic to planet earth.

Not until after the committee meeting.

Let's get to work.

See you later.

Coffee break!

Pour it on.

You mean in, not on.

Do you know that your rate of coffee consumption is astounding?

Fuel, sweetie, I've got a long way to go.

How long?

All the way till next Tuesday.

What're you doing?

Well, I'm gonna figure out how much coffee I have to buy.

Let's see,

your time of flight is 6 days,

and there are 24 hours in a day,

and your rate of "fuel consumption"

is about, oh, a gallon an hour.

Well, that would make total fuel...

Too much.

Crazy.

I love you anyway.

Hey, watch it, that's hot.

It's lukewarm to me.

Thanks, honey. Look, I've got a lot of work to do.

Good night. Sleep well.

Jeff!

You gulped that down as if it were iced coffee.

You sound just like my mother.

I'm not your mother.

You've been away from me a long time.

Terribly long.

A lonesome time.

You haven't come home to me yet.

Yeah.

I love you.

I love you more than anything in this world.

More than anything in all those other worlds, too?

You're the only world I can discover over and over again,

every time I come home to you,

every time I'm close to you.

You're the best of all possible worlds.

Did you say you have to go back to work?

Uh-huh.

You're sure of that?

Uh-huh.

You think you can?

Uh-uh.

Mmm.

Come on, get out of here. Beat it.

Mr. Moon,

Mars,

Arcturus,

Saturn, Jupiter,

Neptune,

Venus,

all of you planets and stars, whatever you call yourselves,

did you hear what he said?

Did you hear what my husband said?

He loves me better than you!

I'm his favorite world.

You better remember that.

I'm his best world.

What're you doing?

Why are you turning up the heat?

I'm cold, that's why. Why else would I turn it up?

I don't understand. Why are you so cold?

It's roasting in here.

Why did you faint the other night?

How do I know? Summer flu or something.

I haven't got time to worry about it.

Now get out of here and let me go to work.

6 days before the hearing,

hardly enough time to get my notes together. Good night!

Well?

Go on, get dressed.

Your medics check you out all the time, don't they?

Affirmative.

Come on, answer in English.

Yes.

Why haven't you seen them about this?

Maybe I'm just sort of used to you, Mike.

We're old friends.

I'm no specialist, Jeff.

I'm tired.

Maybe my brain is too small for the big job we have to do.

Maybe it's psychosomatic.

Will you stop trying to be your own doctor?

Go to your medics!

Give me something,

anything, it's just for a few days.

It's too dangerous. Go to your own medics.

I will, later!

Hey, hey, hey.

Jeff, tell me,

did something happen up there that you don't want them to...

Don't ask so many questions.

Just give me a pill,

some kind of pill.

I've got a job to do. Keep me going.

Not until we have some lab work done first.

Blood tests. No blood!

No pill!

All right.

And in the meantime, keep warm and get plenty of rest.

Look, I wouldn't ask for any additional work,

especially at this time, if I didn't think it was necessary.

Nothing in your reports indicates

faulty soundproofing of the capsule.

Give me something to go on!

Just do it!

Are we working with each other or against each other?

Sorry, I didn't mean...

I know you're under a strain, Jeff.

It's hot in here, isn't it?

Isn't that air conditioner working?

No.

Give me some good reason.

I'll tear the capsule apart with my bare hands.

I know. I know.

I'll talk to you later.

All right.

No wonder it isn't working.

It's turned off.

Wake up, Jeff! Wake up!

Wake up! You're all right!

You're all right, Jeff, you're home now.

You're home now, wake up. Wake up.

What happened?

You were having a nightmare.

Your hands are as cold as ice.

I'll get you some warm milk.

No, no, never mind.

What're you doing?

I'm gonna take your temperature.

Who said?

Mike said. Open.

All right.

All right.

Better?

Mmm.

Good.

It's OK.

All right?

Uh-huh.

What's it say?

91 degrees.

These photos don't show me a thing.

Phil,

what kind of vegetation would you expect to find on Venus?

From what little we know, none.

Considering the composition of the surface, could there be a...

A tall, tall, lush growth?

Thin leaves, long and slender,

immensely long...

And waving.

Reaching into the air.

That's certainly different from what I'd expect.

What's the matter?

Uh, short of breath. These desk jobs,

whenever I stand up, the altitude gets me.

Talked to the medics about it?

Oh, they keep tabs on me.

I just need rest.

Jeff, Mike called.

Does he want me to call him back?

No, he wants to see you.

Tomorrow morning at 10:00.

Jeff.

Jeff, what is it?

Nothing.

Oh, it's not nothing!

I'm not unconscious, I'm not blind!

Is it something serious?

Ann.

Honey.

Remember my first inter-orbital flight?

The dizziness when I came back?

And then, satellite duty.

The effects of that lasted several months.

My body adapts, Ann, to... to weightlessness,

conditions in space, and then it has to re-adapt when I get back to earth.

This was a much longer flight.

It'll take me a little longer to get over it, that's all.

Why did you see Mike,

instead of these space doctors?

Oh, they mess around too much. Take too much time.

I wanted something to give me a lift, that's all.

Well, I don't like it.

You shouldn't be driving yourself like that when you're sick.

It's just for a few more days.

For what?

Some wild scheme?

It would be just a headline to me,

if I weren't married to it.

You married a man, not a headline.

But, uh...

A man with certain... Peculiarities.

Even as a boy, he'd spend hours

watching the leaves fall from the trees,

studying how they fell.

His head was always up looking at the birds.

He even made himself a pair of wings

and jumped off the barn. It darned near broke his neck.

That's how much he wanted to be a bird.

So...

He became a bird.

He started flying

higher and higher...

August 6, 1956, remember?

And one day,

he broke through the troposphere,

right into the stratosphere.

And right then,

for the first time,

he understood the purpose of his life.

It was to lead the way to...

To new worlds, new life...

New knowledge.

That's the headline, Anne.

That's project Vulcan.

Just a few more days?

That's all.

And then a long rest.

Mmm.

Promise?

Promise.

Well, go on.

Get back to work.

Slave driver.

Venus one to Vulcan control. Do you read me? Over.

Vulcan control to Venus one, read you loud and clear. Over.

Approaching moon, moving to dark side. Over.

Venus one to Vulcan control. Do you read? Over.

Vulcan control to Venus one, read you loud and clear.

We track your orbiting objective at 40,000 feet.

Confirm. Over.

Right on the nose.

Counting down, now.

Altimeter reading 30,000 feet and dropping. Confirm. Over.

Affirmative.

We track you at 30,000 over Venus and dropping.

What is your external...

Say again, General.

What happened?

Radio failure. Please go ahead.

We read your external temperature.

At 440 degrees. Is that correct?

Affirmative.

It's getting pretty dim in here.

I wish somebody would put on the streetlights.

You're not going much further.

You'll pull out at 20,000 feet.

Repeat, 20,000 feet.

Make certain you're recording carbon dioxide.

And oxygen content in atmosphere.

No, Jeff. No! You're too close!

Climb out now!

Climb out! Climb...

Man, it's damn solid!

Yeah, if we don't get in there soon, he's going to fry.

I'm going to call the fire department.

Wait, maybe it's coming. Come on, pull, let's give it a yank.

Well, I guess he must've passed out before he could turn it down.

Maybe a heart attack, or something.

It's the steam valve. Turn it off!

What happened?

Are you all right?

I've just come from a steam bath.

I had the temperature up past 150 degrees.

Didn't bother me. Didn't bother me a bit.

I didn't even perspire.

Go on.

My mind seemed to wander.

I had a horrible dream.

What about?

I don't remember. I just know it was horrible.

What's happening to me, Mike? Why am I so jittery, so weak?

I don't know.

But I can tell you this:

Your blood count shows there are hardly any white cells left,

and the red corpuscles are distorted. So are the platelets.

The whole chemistry of your body is changing.

Something's happening to you.

Something I can't explain. I've never seen anything like it before.

What about this?

What is it, Mike? Look at it.

Look at it.

Touch it, scrape it, do something! You're a doctor, do something!

You better see your people, Jeff.

Your space medics. I suggest you go to them right away.

Don't waste a minute. Let's go together.

I don't need you for that.

I can go myself.

OK, OK.

You'll see them right away, right now.

And take this with you.

Thanks, Mike.

I realize this is a great sum of money.

That we're asking for.

I also realize

that it your responsibility to the people

to determine whether or not

the money we're asking for will be wasted

on an impractical dream.

It will not be wasted,

unless you consider knowledge wasteful.

Knowledge is progress!

Without progress, we would still be in some prehistoric darkness,

shambling about like animals.

Struggling only for...

Struggling only f...

For survival,

and...

Fighting...

Like animals...

Against anything that threatens our survival.

We cannot put a price

on the knowledge that has moved us this far from the jungle.

Many men have risked their lives to gather and...

And...

Test this knowledge. Many men have died.

They did not...

Evaluate...

Their lives in terms of money.

They spent what they had themselves,

their lives...

Willingly,

eagerly.

Why?

They can't tell you why.

Jeff!

Jeff!

What's happening to you?

Jeff!

Oh, oh, Jeff.

Something terrible's happening to your hand. Oh, Jeff, come back to me.

Come back to me!

Oh, come on!

Jeff!

Oh, Jeff!

One moment, General.

I'm sorry, sir, but my orders are to allow no...

Give me security, quick, on the double!

Looks like he tried to destroy everything in his files.

Easy now, Jeff, easy now. It's just a tranquilizer. It won't hurt you.

What is it, doctor?

I haven't the slightest idea.

I must ask you both to keep absolutely quiet about what happened.

Of course.

Do you suppose something happened to his mind?

How should I know?

The man comes to me, a friend,

and he says, "please, Mike, help me. Give me a pill."

You should've sent him to us.

I did. He wouldn't go.

He said there wasn't enough time.

He had to finish a job first.

What did you find out?

More than I know anything about.

Lab report, blood analysis,

one human being named Jeff Barton.

Only, the test says his blood isn't human.

Nor is it animal, fish or reptile.

It doesn't fit into any blood type known to exist.

Fantastic.

I sent him over to you earlier today.

I even telephoned, but you were all out.

What will you do to him?

I don't know. Start making tests.

What kind of tests?

I'm not sure.

I have nothing to go on, no precedent.

Do you mean you don't know how to stop this thing?

We don't know what it is, Mrs. Barton.

We'll need to start at the beginning.

What beginning?

I'm afraid we don't even know that.

Will you go back to Venus?

Will you do what he did?

We don't know what he did.

He left the prescribed flight pattern, disregarded procedure.

We lost contact with him for 8 minutes, 12 seconds.

Well then, talk to him!

Find out!

What do you think?

We might try.

He's under heavy sedation now,

shot full of barbiturates.

Yes, yes, he... He may answer questions.

Venus one.

Do you read me, Venus one?

This is Vulcan control.

Jeff, come in, Jeff.

This is General Claiborne, Jeff.

We read that you've gone under that cloud cover.

You're not going much further, Jeff.

You'll climb out at 20,000 feet.

Repeat, 20,000 feet.

Come in, Venus one.

Jeff, what's happening?

We do not receive you. What's happening?

Jeff. Jeff, you're home.

You're home. Darling, you're home.

Oh, Jeff, I was so happy when you came home.

Remember? And you said to me, "you're my best world."

I looked up at all those shining things in the sky

and I said, I said, "he loves me more than he loves you."

I am his favorite world."

Oh, Jeff!

Jeff, come back to me now. Don't let them take you away.

Ann...

Ann.

Where are you?

I'm here, darling.

Strange.

Darkness.

Had to go closer, had to.

Then the sounds began,

and the thing stared at me through the porthole.

The sound. It's doing something to me.

It's gotten inside me.

Ann!

Ann!

Ann.

I'm so cold.

I'm holding you, darling.

Your hands...

Feel so good, dearest.

What now?

Well, the sedative seems effective.

Gentlemen, I've got a problem.

The appropriations committee meets tomorrow. What do I tell them?

Is that all you care about?

I care about him,

but we both care about project Vulcan.

It's his baby, his dream. He made you feel it could be done.

That's what the congress needs, confidence.

The feeling that it could be done.

Without him, project Vulcan is dead.

Or maybe it should be.

Are you saying, then, that Jeff is dead?

I know better than you what project Vulcan meant to him.

I shared it with him.

He wasn't as afraid of the unknown as you are.

He didn't give up when he thought

that there was no one that could follow him. He did something.

He went ahead, he tried.

Why aren't you helping him,

instead of burying him?

Doctor, when Jeff came into my office after the steam bath,

his temperature was almost normal.

How do we know the heat didn't cause the skin transmutation?

We don't know anything.

If you want to experiment with the skin, OK,

but I want to work with the mind.

First, I'll need whole blood for a transfusion,

and then we'll have to put him under heavy sedation, and in lots of heat.

And you, you should be near him all the time, talking to him,

pulling him back from whatever it is that's gotten into his mind.

Where's the nearest steam bath?

What about the space environment chamber downstairs?

Excellent.

Get ready, Ann.

Speak.

I'm here with you, darling.

I'm waiting for you.

Jeff, I'm thinking of something you once told me.

I see you as a boy, Jeff, watching the leaves falling,

always looking up at the birds.

I wish I could've been with you then, Jeff.

I would've helped you to make those wings.

That you used to fly off the barn.

It must've been fun.

I wish I could've helped pick you up when you fell down.

I wish...

Mike, let me go in there with him.

It's too hot in there.

You couldn't stand it. It's 205 degrees in there.

Are we getting anywhere, doctor?

I haven't the slightest idea.

The committee meets in exactly 10 hours.

What about the postponement? Indefinite?

General Claiborne, don't do anything about that postponement yet.

We owe him every minute until then.

All right.

It's midnight now. We have until 8:00.

Ann?

Talk, Ann, talk.

I heard you dictating your speech.

I heard you dictating your speech, Jeff,

and it was wonderful.

And I was so proud of you!

And... and I thought, this is no ordinary man, this is a man who had a dream,

and he's making that dream come true.

Don't stop, Ann. Go on, go on.

I thought...

This is a man who has made himself.

A part of the history of all people.

And of all time.

A man who...

A boy who learned to fly into the future.

My husband.

My love.

He hasn't stirred yet.

Just normal sleep.

There's not much time left.

Normal, Mike?

What does that mean?

Don't build yourself up, Ann.

We knew Jeff's body craved heat,

so he's getting what he needed.

After he wakes up, the General may get what he needs,

or he may not.

But Jeff's body can't maintain normal human temperature.

Even now, he's not perspiring.

After he's out of there awhile, well...

Anybody got any coffee out there?

Hello, my darling husband.

Hello, wife.

Oh, how good you sound.

I heard you, Ann.

I heard every word.

I join with the other members of this committee

in giving you our most Sincere welcome.

This country has much for which to be thankful to you.

Well, I have much for which to be thankful to my country.

Don't you want to hear the speech?

I've heard it.

Think he'll get the money?

Well, didn't you see their faces?

The way they smiled at him?

They love him.

He's so brave and handsome, and so right.

Yes, I think they'll give him everything he wants,

except...

Doctor,

is this the way it will always be?

Heat, and more heat for strength, and then,

heavy sedation to hold back this thing?

For the rest of his life?

Who knows, Ann.

Oh! My poor Jeff.

What's wrong?

Did you hear them laughing?

Why?

He held up his... his hands for everybody to see.

He asked them if they were wondering why he was wearing gloves.

He said, there he'd been all these years, flying airplanes, spaceships,

taking all kinds of risks,

and the first night he's home, safe on earth,

he spills a whole pot of boiling hot soup on his hands.

They listened to every word, General.

They didn't ask a question.

I think we made it.

I think they're going to give us the money,

every penny we asked for.

I love you so much.

I love you so much.

Say it again, baby.

Again and again, and I'll repeat it back to you every time.

But you ought to have the proper respect for me,

it's not every husband who can loosen a zillion billion.

Jeff?

What?

You... you wiped your face.

Perspiration.

Is it warm in here, Jeff? Very warm?

Yes, it is warm, isn't it?

He's coming around.

He's coming around by himself.

Hello? Col. Hunt, fast.

Hello, this is... yeah, that's right. Now, look.

I want 2 private rooms on the 4th floor, right away.

Call the air surgeon General's office and tell him I want

the top men in pathology, etiology,

toxicology, semiology...

The eternal, never-ceasing search for knowledge.

Often leads to dark and dangerous places.

Sometimes it demands risks, not only of those who are searching,

but of others who love them.

These, in their own special way,

know that knowledge is never wasted,

nor is love.

We now return control of your television set to you.

Until next week, at the same time,

when the control voice will take you to...

The outer limits.