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
which reaches from the inner mind to...
In this room, 24 hours a day,
7 days a week,
security personnel at the defense department's
Cypress Hills research center
keep constant watch on its scientists
through O.B.I.T.,
a mysterious electronic device
whose very existence was carefully kept
from the public at large.
And so it would have remained,
but for the facts you are about to witness.
Tell me about Norton.
If his father hadn't been on the board of trustees,
they would have literally tossed him
out of grad school.
Now he's the head of my bio-chemical project.
He doesn't know the difference between
a periodic table and a timetable.
Code I3b4d.
Dr. Anderson.
Derogatory remarks against superior.
12th occurrence.
Sight of image on screen.
Checking resolution, circuitry,
and video self-control.
Senator Orville, Mr. Lomax.
Nice meeting you, Mr. Lomax.
An honor, Senator.
Are the witnesses all assembled?
Yes, sir.
I don't quite understand
the purpose of this investigation.
Well, a murder has been committed.
Well, that's a police matter.
To drag the senate and Washington down here?
Take it easy, Mr. Lomax.
The Senator isn't here to hurt your project.
Oh, I understand your concern, Mr. Lomax,
but you must realize that, well,
since captain Harrison's death, we have received
all kinds of letters concerning
the morale situation at this base.
Now, Cypress Hills is one of our top secret
defense installations.
Now, we know that murders can occur
in soda fountains, uh, paper box factories,
even ladies tea rooms,
as can morale situations.
But when a key center of the defense department
is spotlighted in sordid headlines,
well, the public is justifiably concerned,
and I intend to get to the bottom of it.
But I assure you, Mr. Lomax,
that I will conduct my investigation
as briefly and as cleanly as possible,
in the interest of all concerned.
Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me,
I believe we're delaying the proceedings.
Barbara, not now.
They haven't called you yet to testify.
You may be spared the embarrassment.
But it's important that I go in there...
Witnesses will be making insinuations
about you and your husband
to hear him publicly discredited.
But that's why.
I feel I owe it to cliff.
No.
You don't owe him anything.
Not anymore.
You owe me...
A little self-concern.
Just... just keep on trusting me.
Mr. Clyde Wyatt?
Would you take the stand, please?
Mr. Wyatt, what is your occupation?
Investigator, C.I.D.
And you conducted the inquiry
into captain James Harrison's demise?
Yes, sir.
And the body was found in this room?
Yes.
Where?
Slumped over that machine.
What kind of machine is it?
It's, uh...
It's a computer used
to process security data.
And the victim was operating it at the time?
Yes, he was.
Well, now, you examined the body.
What were your findings?
Well, we know that the cause of death
was strangulation committed
by an unusually strong person.
Unusually strong?
The marks at the throat, sir,
the way the bone was literally crushed
at the base of the skull,
I never saw anything like it.
I see.
In your opinion, Mr. Wyatt,
would you say that a blunt instrument
could have been used?
No. There were no other bruises
beyond finger marks.
How long have you been here
in Cypress Hills, Mr. Wyatt?
About 5 days.
Well, now, would you say that the center
was a reasonably contented, peaceful place?
I was investigating a murder, sir,
so that took all my time.
Well, now, that wasn't very responsive.
Well, I don't know
what you want to know.
Well, let me put it this way.
You wouldn't say that the morale
at Cypress Hills was any lower
than any other installation
with the same sort of personnel?
I'm not competent to say so.
I'm really not.
Thank you, Mr. Wyatt. You may go.
A murder at a defense installation
such as Cypress Hills
cannot be construed
as a random...
If captain Harrison's murder was an act
of private passion
or a crime of personal revenge,
then it becomes necessary to understand exactly
what relation that passion or that revenge had
to the psychological climate of Cypress.
Now the press has seen to it that rumors
of distinct and distressing morale problems of Cypress
have been brought to the attention
of all and sundry.
Well, I cannot,
nor do I wish to,
ignore those rumors.
And in the interest of exploding
or verifying them
or perhaps even compounding them,
I find it necessary
to investigate certain otherwise irreproachable
members of Cypress research.
Call Dr. Philip Fletcher, please.
Do you recognize this letter, doctor?
You will have to reply aloud, doctor.
The stenographer has to hear you.
Oh, yes.
Uh, I wrote it to your office.
I now will regret that I did so.
May I ask why, sir?
Well, I...
I'm not a complaining sort of a person.
I try not to be.
No one threatened you
or reprimanded you for writing to my office?
No.
How long have you been employed by Cypress Hills?
5 years.
And in what capacity?
Research consultant in astrophysics.
It says here that you were...
Awakened by military policeman
and taken out of your quarters
and taken to security headquarters.
Yes.
What prompted that? Do you know, doctor?
I had written some letters.
To who?
No one.
No one?
I mean, I...
I never mailed them.
Oh, please, please,
I don't want to tell you.
I didn't want to tell them, but...
They wouldn't take no for an answer.
They kept after me and after me:
Why did I write those letters?
And then tear them up and burn them?
Why did I write in the dead of night?
With the curtains drawn?
Well, how could anyone ever know
you wrote those letters, doctor?
They know.
They know everything.
They know what you say in your sleep,
in your bathroom.
And everywhere rumors, fears.
Cypress Hills is just like a ghost town.
People whisper in their own houses.
Husbands discuss their wives,
and...
Nobody laughs.
Is there any connection
between these letters you mentioned
and the death of captain Harrison?
They have nothing to do with it.
About these letters, doctor,
I must ask you to explain.
I have a terminal illness.
When it's very painful,
I want to have at my side someone...
Who is close to me.
I wrote those letters
to my son in Philadelphia.
He's a wonderful boy, but...
He's married,
he has 2 children.
To disrupt his life, his home,
to come and hold an old man's hand...
After the pain lets up,
I always destroy those letters.
Thank you, doctor.
You may go.
Call Dr. Clifford Scott.
Uh, Senator...
Yes?
Um...
Dr. Scott is, um, not here.
He was called.
He was, Senator.
He's, uh, unable to attend.
He's unavailable.
Dr. Clifford Scott,
head of the Cypress Hills research center,
is unavailable.
Well, now, I wish you'd tell me why.
He's suffering a physical breakdown.
As acting head of the center,
I'll gladly answer all questions
in the doctor's absence.
Is Mrs. Clifford Scott present?
She's right outside. Perhaps we sh...
One moment.
We had planned
on calling on you later, Mr. Lomax,
but since we've more or less begun...
Would you mind taking the stand?
No, not at all, Senator.
How long have you been at the center, Mr. Lomax?
A little over a year.
Mm-hmm. How would you describe
the morale situation here?
Oh, neither better nor worse
than we anticipated.
Now, that seems to be a discrepancy
between Dr. Fletcher's ghost town testimony
and your statement.
How do you account for that?
Scientists are likely to be
withdrawn, introspective individuals
with a great deal of inner tension.
The center's composed
almost exclusively of such men.
Those words describe almost exactly
my initial reaction to the morale rumors.
And I was, uh, sorely tempted
to credit that reaction.
But a Senator must learn
not to be impulsive.
That is, until he has all the statistics.
Thank you.
That's a sound, uh...
Scientific approach.
I have here the war department's statistical report
on your center.
About your, uh, social problems.
Your functions,
golf tournaments, and, uh...
Barbecues, dances.
All went virtually unattended.
As with any, uh, small group
in confined surroundings,
these social affairs tend to start out
with a great deal of zest and enthusiasm
and then run down.
Well, now, that seems
to be a gross understatement, Mr. Lomax.
The divorce rate went up 400%,
alcoholism became a major problem,
and, uh, there were 3 suicides at the center.
Now, remember,
we're dealing with people
who are hard-driving, fantastic perfectionists
who live on a veritable razor's edge.
Now, about that unfortunate homicide.
Captain Harrison was operating that machine,
a, um...
Data processing computer,
I believe that's what it's called?
That's correct, Senator.
We use it regularly in security procedures.
Well, what is it?
How exactly does it work?
Well, I'm afraid,
Senator, I'm, um...
Not at Liberty to discuss it.
I have here a, uh...
Letter from one of your technicians.
A woman.
Uh, do you mind if I quote?
"There's a bizarre story going the rounds.
"They say the center has a peeping-Tom machine
"that follows you anywhere, anytime,
and sees and hears everything."
The device is top-secret.
I am unable to discuss it.
Colonel Grover, you are the military liaison officer
of this subcommittee.
I don't care how you do it,
but I expect to see that machine
in full operation
first thing tomorrow morning.
Thank you, Mr. Lomax. You may step down.
Oh, Senator?
You must have really put on pressure
to get clearance from the Pentagon.
I didn't think any outsider
would get to see O.B.I.T.
Well, I'm confident that we will continue
to get the cooperation of the defense department.
They realize that the United States senate
has the right and the duty
to get the facts,
all the facts.
Well, Senator...
Are we going to see a demonstration
of the peeping Tom?
Do I understand you correctly?
This machine can pick up people
anywhere, anytime,
through steel or concrete walls?
Well, the, uh, density of the surrounding
has no appreciable effect on reception.
What do you call it?
O-B-I-T.
Or O.B.I.T.
Actually, uh,
those are initials for
outer band individuated teletracer.
How does it work?
Well, you see,
um, every living organism is a transmitter
operating 24 hours a day,
and that, of course,
is true of human beings, too.
Uh, awake or asleep,
active or passive, we are each of us
constantly sending out our particular brain waves,
heart sounds, respiratory rhythms,
and, uh... well, like fingerprints,
no 2 human patterns are, uh, alike.
Well, now, do you mean to tell me
that you can pick up anyone's signal at will?
Yes. It's like, uh...
A push-button radio.
You see, once we have an individual tuned in
and have their particular wavelength,
it's simply a matter of, uh...
Hitting the right buttons and...
Bringing them in.
Who is that?
That's, um, Ed Wilson,
one of the draftsmen at Cypress Hills.
He's in Washington on a particular project.
I knew his wavelength code.
Suppose you didn't?
Well, I could still bring him in
on this location finder.
You see, this dial tells us
where we're picking up our transmission from.
It's like a shortwave receiver
that says London, Moscow,
Washington, Bangkok.
I can turn this dial to a given location
and pick up signals from
the various persons there.
And you can do this anywhere on earth?
Oh, we're limited to a 500-mile radius now,
but we're working to extend that limit.
Wouldn't you say, Mr. Lomax,
that this machine in large part
was responsible for the faltering morale
of the research center?
Well, nobody at the center
was aware of O.B.I.T.'s existence.
Dr. Fletcher was pulled in for questioning
on the basis of the information
you received on this machine.
No doubt others were questioned.
People with nothing to hide
have nothing to fear from O.B.I.T.
Are you that perfect, Mr. Lomax?
Well, I'd hate to have that thing trained on me
when I was cussing out fellow Senators
or the president of the United States
or my former law partner,
to say nothing of my wife.
That will be all, Mr. Lomax.
Oh, just a moment.
Are you the inventor of O.B.I.T.?
Oh, no, Senator.
I was assigned to operate it
and tabulate statistics.
By whom?
Well, the defense department.
Thank you.
Colonel Grover, will you please take the chair?
Colonel Grover, why weren't the American people notified
of the existence of this equipment?
Well, let me say
that the intelligence community
must of necessity employ many secret devices.
And who authorized its acceptance and purchase?
Well, the head of G-2 signed the papers.
But, of course, hundreds of items
cross his desk daily,
and I'm certain he never got a proper picture
of this machine any more than I did.
He merely signed the papers.
Well, now, who wrote the papers
that the head of G-2 merely signed?
We haven't been able to find him.
Who manufactures it?
Heh. A company that's since gone out of business.
Colonel, if this is the old badger game
and if your department
is knowingly concealing information
from the Senatorial investigation...
I assure you, Senator,
we're as much in the dark as you are.
Colonel, I want every available record
on that machine, and I want them quickly!
Is that clear?
That will be all, Colonel.
Call Mrs. Clifford Scott.
Would you take the chair, please, Mrs. Scott?
Mrs. Scott...
How would you describe the morale climate
at Cypress Hills?
Not good.
And, uh, did this condition prevail
when you and your husband first moved out here?
Well, it wasn't until toward the last
that things became almost unbearable.
And would you attribute it to that machine?
I didn't know it existed
until I heard about it this morning.
And who told you about it?
Mr. Lomax.
Your husband never mentioned O.B.I.T. To you?
No. He never spoke of security matters.
But Mr. Lomax did this morning?
Senator,
Mrs. Scott was called as a witness.
She's the wife of the head of Cypress Hills.
I don't see any harm...
Neither do I.
Mrs. Scott, it's in the record
that you had filed for separation
from your husband.
Yes.
But I never pursued it. I...
I began to see that he was ill.
And you never actually separated?
No.
Have you ever visited him at the rest home?
I don't know where he is.
We've hunted everywhere for him, but...
We?
Yes. Mr. Lomax and I.
We've phoned and written
and hounded the army.
Maybe he just doesn't want to see me.
Well, you don't know that for sure.
No, but...
These past months,
before they took him away, he...
Please go on.
Well, he...
He imagined things...
About me.
He accused me of horrible things.
He called me a monster.
And then he began to speak
of seeing real monsters.
And finally one night,
he didn't come home,
and they told me
that he had had a physical breakdown
and that they had taken him somewhere.
I don't know what to believe.
Did you locate Dr. Scott yet?
No, sir.
Why not?
I'd like to take this matter
up with you during recess.
Thank you, Mrs. Scott.
It is not in the best interests
of the government
for Dr. Scott to attend these hearings.
Who said so?
Senator, you have no idea
what you're opening up.
Well, perhaps you might enlighten me.
I'm afraid that's impossible.
Well, are you trying to tell me
that I can't be trusted with secret data
and you can?
It's not a matter of trust.
Well, what is it a matter of?
Senator,
the storm warnings are up back home.
You're facing a very rough election.
Now, I don't think it would help
if you were to be charged
with undermining the security
of your country.
Colonel, I want to see Scott.
Even at such a price?
Yes.
Should you make a moral decision
so abruptly?
Morality makes its own decisions, Colonel.
I want to see Scott,
and I want to see him tonight.
I'm sorry, Senator,
but Dr. Scott doesn't want to see anyone.
Or perhaps it's that
he doesn't want anyone to see him.
Why is he in this place, Colonel?
Well, you heard Mr. Lomax say...
A complete physical breakdown.
Which is his very polite way
of saying that the man is not
in full possession of his senses.
Yes.
Then can a man who is considered irrational
be given the right to decide
as to whether or not the United States senate
can properly conduct investigations?
Well, I cannot conduct this investigation
without all the facts,
and you know this, Colonel.
And Dr. Scott has especially pertinent facts
which I need.
Well, if you wanna take the responsibility
for interrogating a sick man...
Not interrogation, Colonel,
just a few questions.
Dr. Scott?
Colonel Grover again.
Dr. Scott?
Come in.
Dr. Scott, I'm Senator Orville.
I know.
Colonel, the corridor's drafty.
Please close the door.
Do you know why I'm here?
Oh, yes.
Do you know why I'm here?
I know what I've been told.
Don't you believe it?
Doctor, I'm a Senator,
not a psychiatrist.
You're here because you belong here,
or you're being held... I believe the word is
incommunicado.
Either way, it's a direct result
of the conditions at Cypress Hills.
A direct result.
When I told them what I saw,
they got very quiet
and looked at me with great, quiet eyes.
Quiet can tell you so much.
Until they looked at me that way,
I was certain that I had seen
what I had seen.
Dead certain.
What did you see, doctor?
Of course, I hadn't.
It was just that...
My life had become a nightmare,
so naturally I saw the kind of things
that inhabit a nightmare world.
Dr. Scott...
I saw a monster.
When I told them that.
They got very quiet.
Can you describe these...
This monstrous thing you saw?
That's very strange.
You're the first one who's asked me
to describe it.
Did you see it on the O.B.I.T. Screen?
Yes.
Is it my imagination, Senator,
or do you believe me?
I believe you saw something,
something monstrous.
Why?
Because you believe it.
Do I?
I think you do.
Of course, I do.
No one has ever been able to convince me
that I didn't see it.
I wish they could, but they couldn't
yet you stayed here
and pretended to agree with them.
I'm out of it now. I'm away from it.
I just want to forget it.
Doctor, I'd like you to return with us
to Cypress Hills.
I'd like to question you on the stand.
Oh, no.
I need your help, doctor.
Everybody at Cypress Hills needs your help.
Not everybody.
Now, if you're referring to your wife,
you're wrong, doctor.
She needs your help, too.
I'm not referring to my wife.
Someone else there who doesn't want me
to say anything more than I've already said,
who'd be perfectly willing to kill me
rather than let me talk.
Why do you think I'm willing to stay here?
Because I'm safe.
As long as I'm insane, I'm safe.
It's a pretty lousy way to live, isn't it, doctor?
I hope that you believe in nightmares, Senator.
Well, I phoned several times,
but they won't let me talk to him.
They said that Senator Orville
hasn't been at the rest home
and hasn't seen my husband.
Why do you keep asking?
Sometimes I...
I feel that you don't care about me at all
and that you're using me in some odd way.
I'm sorry, Byron, I do know better,
only sometimes I...
All right, Byron.
Will you call me if you hear anything?
I couldn't get anything out of her.
If Orville's found Scott,
he's keeping him out of range.
Something far more worrisome than Scott has come up.
A night watchman at the center,
Armand Younger.
He saw me?
He claims he saw someone
inside the restricted zone of the center.
Never gave it much thought
till he read about the investigation.
He offered to testify.
But if he saw me, I haven't a...
Not your face.
He claims he saw the killer from the back
as he left the murder scene.
He mentioned a peculiar walk
he's certain he could identify.
Where is he now?
He's still in his apartment.
1708 west Holton street, apartment 12.
Have you what you need this time?
I won't be taken by surprise again.
Mr. Younger, it's Senator Orville.
You'll have to sign some documents
before you can appear.
Put that thing down!
Who are you?!
Call Armand Younger.
Uh, Senator...
He isn't here.
Where is he?
We don't know.
You don't know?!
Well, he isn't in his apartment.
He may have gone off on a binge
or run away somewhere, I can't say,
but we're looking for him.
Colonel Grover, will you please
take the stand?
Colonel Grover, I assume you have a record
of the number of O.B.I.T. Machines
in use at the present time.
Yes, an instillation check has revealed
that there are 18 O.B.I.T.s
in use on our military bases,
and we've discovered that these machines
are also being employed
in civilian life.
Well, how is that possible? They're top secret.
I don't know, sir.
Are they used in industry?
Industry, education,
communication networks, all over the country.
It's like a debilitating disease.
Now, surely there... There must be a record
of the total number of machines installed?
There are no records.
None at all?
It's awful. Awful!
I feel responsible. I should've spoken out.
Weren't you in favor of O.B.I.T.?
I was at first,
but I was wrong.
It's the most hideous creation ever conceived.
No one can laugh or joke.
It watches.
It saps the very spirit.
And the worst thing of all is...
I watch it.
I can't not look.
It's like a drug,
a horrible drug. You can't resist it.
It's an addiction.
What Colonel Grover has done is a very brave thing.
Addiction to any form of deadliness is
difficult to admit.
In the past 24 hours, I have learned facts
and seen examples of this debilitating disease
that's been infesting this great country of ours.
And I have been advised to leave it alone,
to drop it.
I have been threatened
with the loss of political support.
But I just happen to believe that the people
who entrusted me with this office
might just like to know all the facts.
Even the ones that no human mind
today can explain.
Call Dr. and Mrs. Scott please.
Mrs. Scott, will you please be seated?
Dr. Scott, would you please take the stand?
Doctor, I don't want to tax your strength,
so if you feel you need a rest,
let me know and we'll hold up proceedings.
How long have you been confined to a rest home?
A month.
And what was the reason for that confinement?
The doctor said that I was suffering
complete exhaustion
precipitated by anxiety.
Now, doctor, during this period of time,
did you ever suffer from a lapse of memory
or incoherence or hallucinations
or any other mental aberrations of this type
that might tend to impair your judgment?
No.
Have you ever suffered
from the conditions I described?
I have not.
Now, doctor, as head
of the Cypress Hill research center,
can you recall your reaction
when O.B.I.T. Was first installed?
I was unalterably opposed to it.
And did you notify
the defense department of this?
Yes.
And what did they do?
Nothing.
I got the view that they thought
that the machine was highly successful
in eliminating undesirable elements.
Who told you this?
Mr. Byron Lomax.
What were your feelings towards Mr. Lomax?
I considered him highly intelligent.
Very perceptive.
Were your relations cordial?
No,
but respectful.
Till I found out what was happening
to the people at the center.
Friends. Colleagues.
I couldn't bear to look at the man.
I hated what he stood for.
Did you continue your efforts
to have O.B.I.T. Removed?
No.
Why not?
Well...
I was having what was becoming
a daily argument with Lomax over O.B.I.T.
He deliberately clicked on a familiar image
in a bathing suit
lying next to a young officer.
It was my wife Barbara.
They were at the beach.
It seemed to me
that she was being overly friendly to this man.
But I realize, now,
she's simply gregarious by nature,
loves laughter and friendship
and perhaps even innocent flirtation,
but at the time I was convinced
that it was more.
Much more.
And you questioned her about it?
Relentlessly.
I made her account to me
for every move that she made.
I made life miserable for her.
I even watched her without her knowing it
on the machine...
Her every gesture and intonation...
And I would throw it up to her at night.
I literally drove her away from me.
Then, it finally happened.
She was driven to someone else.
I could see that she was serious about him,
but I couldn't tell who he was.
I would sit in front of the machine
and tune in her image.
I could see her clear as crystal,
but no matter what I did,
I couldn't pick up his image.
He was the one person on the center
whose image I couldn't pick up on O.B.I.T.
And you never found out who this person was?
I found out.
How?
Well, I discovered who the one person was
on the center who never appeared
on the screen.
And I found out why.
He had seen to it that his wavelength was
outside the operating limits of O.B.I.T.
So, it was impossible for you to bring in
this person's signal?
I finally did, accidentally,
by violating the machine's operating instructions.
The O.B.I.T. Machine was manned 24 hours a day
by security officers.
How were you able to use it
to follow your wife's activities?
I swore captain Harrison to secrecy
and then I told him that I have been given
special instructions to keep certain individuals
under my personal surveillance.
In other words, you lied to him?
I lied to him.
Do you have any idea how
or why captain Harrison was murdered?
He saw something on the machine
he was not supposed to see.
And what was that?
What I saw.
Mr. Lomax...
The machines are everywhere!
Oh, you'll find them all. You're a zealous people!
And you'll make a great show of smashing a few of them,
but for every one you destroy,
hundreds of others will be built.
And they'll demoralize you, break your spirits,
create such rips and tensions
in your society
that no one will be able to repair them!
Oh, you're a savage...
Despairing planet.
And when we come here to live,
you friendless, demoralized flotsam
will fall without even a single shot being fired.
Senator, enjoy the few years left you.
There is no answer.
You're all the same.
Dark, persuasive. You demand...
Insist on knowing every private thought
and hunger of everyone.
Your family's, your neighbor's,
everyone, but yourselves.
Agents of the justice department
are rounding up the machines now,
but these machines,
these inventions of another planet
have been cunningly conceived
to play on our most mortal weakness.
In the last analysis, dear friends,
whether O.B.I.T. lives up to its name or not
will depend on you.
We now return control of your television set
to you until next week at this same time
when the control voice will take you to...