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...
His name is Warren Edgar Morely.
For the past 6 months, he has guarded this gate
from 8:00 in the morning until 6:00 at night,
at which time he is replaced
by another just like himself.
These are the last few moments of his life.
Hey, Stu, the kids ain't too friendly on this Block.
Let's not move in.
Name, address, positive identification,
reason for loitering outside of NORCO.
I'm Stuart Peters.
Professor Stuart Peters.
I begin working here tomorrow morning.
We just drove across country,
my brother and I.
We haven't even found a place to live yet,
but the professor here... Heh...
Couldn't wait to get a look at that.
OK.
But look fast.
Nobody's allowed to hang around here.
Hey!
Have you got a cigarette?
Yeah.
Thanks.
I didn't tell!
I didn't say anything!
Please...
Don't!
Don't, please!
I didn't mean to! I...
I didn't!
Miss Gaby Christian?
Uh, you don't know me,
and you probably have a dinner date anyway,
but we have a mutual friend in Kingston, New York,
whose name is of no importance here,
but he suggested that I call you
the moment I arrived in L.A.
Harvey Miller.
He went to school with your brother.
Well, I'm, uh, heh,
I'm not as young as I sound, miss Christian.
Anyway, I think old.
No.
But only because I haven't met the right girl yet.
Ha ha.
I will be most happy to marry you, miss Christian.
If it turns out you're the right girl,
we'll marry in haste.
Ha ha.
Meanwhile, shall we...
Shall we repent in advance over a leisurely dinner?
Right. All right.
8:30 at the Trosdivrick coffee house.
Oh, you'll recognize me, yeah.
I'll be wearing you in my heart.
All right. What did I do now?
Where'd you get these?
Are they mine?
You took 'em out of your pocket
and threw 'em at me.
They're not mine.
Well, think hard.
Ha. OK, I'll think hard.
That guard gave 'em to me.
Read the inside.
"Don't come back. NORCO doomed."
Well, they must have been meant for you, my friend,
since I would rather marry miss Christian
than be caught dead working in a place
like NORCO.
You treat everything like a magazine in a doctor's office.
You know what's worrying me, Stu?
No, Jory. What's worrying you?
Miss Christian. I never told her my name,
and she's having dinner with a man
she's never seen before,
and she didn't remind me to tell her my name.
Listen, uh, you mind if I stay out late?
No.
All night?
Sure.
Some brother's keeper you are.
One of our guards gave you this,
professor Peters?
The one at the main gate.
Miss Celser,
get me the main gate at once, please.
He's not there today.
Never mind, miss Celser.
There's a new guard on duty today.
We have a problem here at NORCO, professor Peters.
As a matter of fact, we are slaves to it.
We accepted your application...
The first in 6 months, incidentally...
Because we believe it will be
one of you new, fresh, young physicists
who will be able to help us with our problem.
I'm very glad you did not take this message seriously.
Well, I didn't say that.
And yet you are here, bright and early, on the job,
doomed or not?
Will you talk to the guard
who was on duty yesterday?
In responding to our interest,
you stated that you are not married
and you have no other dependents.
That's right.
And yet you came west with, uh,
I believe you said, a younger brother?
Well, I didn't plan to have him come along.
As a matter of fact, I thought our separating
would be good for him, but...
Well, he doesn't like being on his own,
so he dropped out of school to stay with me.
How old is he?
20.
I couldn't refuse or make him stay behind.
We have no parents or other relatives.
Is he given to practical joking?
Well, as a matter of fact,
his humor is fairly mature.
Scary notes scribbled on the back
of a book of matches wouldn't be his style,
if that's what you're thinking.
You are to report to professor Linden.
So I hear.
Yes. I arranged it myself.
The professor could use someone
with a fresh approach.
Yes?
Dr. Block is bringing in the new man.
Professor Linden?
Your new collaborator,
professor Stuart Peters.
I hope I'll be able
to help you with your problem.
I have to him that we are slaves
to a problem of grotesque proportions.
No more than that.
Just enough to whet his appetite.
Oh, I see.
Welcome.
Show him about a bit, Stephanie.
Tell him the rules.
Strict rules don't sound so strict
when they come from the lips
of a beautiful woman, hmm?
You'll want a desk.
Shall I call you professor, professor Linden?
Now, will this be all right?
Yes. Fine.
Forgive me, professor Peters.
I've gotten into the habit
of not answering questions.
A victim of automation.
We're all getting used to letting the computers
do our answering for us.
Yes.
Well, shall we get started?
Uh, professor Linden.
Stephanie.
Stephanie,
just what is this grotesque problem?
Well, Dr. Block has a misplaced sense
of word value.
It's not an ordinary problem, but...
But it... it isn't grotesque either, right?
No.
Merely insoluble.
They're the kind I hope to specialize in
when I grow up.
We understood you've already created
quite a stir solving the unsolvable.
Making fools out of foolish lawmakers.
Well, all but one: Nature.
Perhaps because nature doesn't make foolish laws.
Well...
I'll show you around.
Stephanie.
Problem?
We have to find a way to break or change
the conservation of energy law.
Oh?
You don't think we'll succeed?
Well, the law states
that energy can be changed in form,
but it can't either be created or destroyed.
We have to find a way to create it.
It might be easier to destroy it.
No.
We tried. We can't.
We really have to get started now, professor.
Stuart.
Go ahead.
I'll be with you in a moment, Stuart.
Stephanie?
Professor Linden.
Who is it?
A witch.
Let me in.
I think I'm being followed.
Heh heh. Hello.
Hello.
Hey.
Are you mad at me?
What for?
Knocking on your door.
No.
Where have you been all day?
I was asleep...
All day.
Hmm.
You know, I, um, I enjoyed dinner last night,
and I thought I would enjoy it again tonight
if you were with me.
Jory,
what's wrong?
I never sleep during the day.
I never sleep in the daytime.
Did you sneak by the desk just now?
No, I walked by.
The clerk was on the telephone.
And she didn't see you?
Of course not.
Clerks never see witches.
I'm sorry. You're not in the mood
for seductive humor, are you?
That means that just anyone can come to this door.
Gaby, do you know what I think?
Uh-uh.
I think something malevolent is going on here.
"Malevolent." oh, I don't like that word.
When I came back here this morning
after apartment-hunting,
I smelled something sweet,
something deadly sweet,
and I had the feeling
that somebody was here in this room.
But I just had to lie down.
Something deadly sweet.
And I slept until...
Until just a few minutes ago.
And while I was asleep,
somebody cleaned up the room.
The maid.
No, not the maid.
They said the maid didn't get here today.
Your brother?
I don't think he'd come in
without waking me up.
Hmm.
Hey.
I'm sorry.
Heh heh. Why?
Last night, you said I was the first guy in years
who hadn't poured his neuroses all over you.
Here I am, pouring my neuroses all over you.
There's nothing neurotic
about smelling something deadly sweet in the air.
That's just plain spooky.
You're not really neurotic, are you?
The summer I was 8,
I looked out our beach house window
during a storm.
I watched our boat get thrashed against the rocks.
My father was in it. So was my mother.
Stu was away at school, and...
When he came back for the funeral,
he asked me how come I hadn't gone sailing
with mom and dad.
I told him the truth.
I said that I'd done something wrong,
and dad was punishing me.
But I always had the feeling
that Stu meant I should've been in that boat with them.
And I stay with Stu as much as I can.
I even dropped out of school to come out here with him.
The only time that I feel he doesn't mean that
is when I'm with him, and I...
I see him looking at me with that nice smile.
He took a long time.
Some people are long-time dying.
Stephanie?
I'm all right.
Did he seem interested in our problem?
Yes.
You must get over
this repugnance for death, Stephanie.
For you to hate death
is as foolish as for a live person
to hate life.
I know.
You should be grateful to me, Stephanie.
Because of me, you have faced
the most terrifying experience of all
and gotten it over with.
Now you must rise above bitterness
and try to enjoy the life I've given you.
You?
I...
With the help of science, of course.
Professor Linden here.
Dr. Block, I'm sorry to disturb you,
but there's a young man
insisting that his brother works here.
A professor Stuart Peters?
I can't seem to find his name anywhere on the directory.
Oh, I see.
Sure thing. Good-bye.
He just started today
is the reason his name wasn't on the directory.
Well, can I see him?
He went out with a field crew
to inspect some generators north of the valley.
When will he be back?
Well, Dr. Block said in about a week, maybe more.
Well, can I talk to Dr. Block?
You know what you ought to do, son?
You and the lady ought to get back into that car
and scoot on down to L.A. and go dancing.
She's got nice legs.
Girls with nice legs ought to be seen
on a public dance floor.
Come on, Jory.
Now wait, I...
I didn't mean anything improper.
I want to talk to Dr. Block.
Get out. Go on.
I don't want to start anything.
You just ring him
and you tell him that I want to talk to him!
Now you know why a big man
won't take on a little boy.
Don't push me too hard.
I don't like depending on these.
Main gate.
Yes, sir. He went away.
No, sir. No trouble at all.
I told him what you said, and he just left.
Good night, Dr. Block.
Stu, I didn't hear you come in.
How are you, Jory?
Jory, you don't look glad to see me.
Stu, I've been worried.
Taking care of yourself?
I kept thinking you'd call.
It's almost a week now. I thought you'd call.
I was involved in an experiment
at the lab.
You wouldn't understand.
I slept and ate in the lab.
Well, didn't you think I'd be worried?
I told someone to call you.
Didn't anyone call?
No. No messages.
I thought you went up north or something.
Your tub's gonna run over.
Stu?
The, uh, creation of energy.
According to natural law,
it can't be created or destroyed,
only changed in form.
Well, we're trying to break that law.
We need more energy than we can legally
or scientifically get our hands on.
As time goes on,
we'll be needing more and more.
I warned you you wouldn't understand.
This girl Gaby,
she thinks I ought to go back to school.
So do I, Jory.
She's out of her mind about me.
Naturally.
I thought I'd try to enroll
at the university here.
No, Jory. Go back to Kingston.
Why?
Well, it means my job.
Well, how's that, Stu?
One of the conditions. No dependents.
Well, I'm just your kid brother.
I'm not dependent on you.
Aren't you?
Oh, not so's anyone would notice.
Well, I notice.
Do you, Stu?
Look, Jory. You're way past the point
where young boys are required to become young men.
I don't want you to lean on me anymore.
Make your own decisions for a change.
Gee, can't we be friends?
I'm serious, Jory.
Yeah, I know.
Leave today, Jory.
I'm moving to the center anyway.
I've got a girl here, Stu...
There are girls in Kingston.
Well, not this one.
This one knows I'm independently wealthy
and she loves me anyway.
Hey, come to think of it,
I am independently wealthy.
I can live any place I please.
Get out, Jory! Pack up and leave!
What is it, Stu?
I want you to go, that's what it is.
That's all it is!
You're a liar, Stu.
I'm sorry you think that.
I suppose it's easier than facing the truth.
Well, you tell me the truth and I'll face it.
I'm tired of you hanging on to me.
I'm tired of telling you "it's all right"
when you wake out of those nightmares.
I'm tired of pretending I think you're funny
when I know you're just a terrified little boy
with a big broken heart.
It's time you grew up and acted like a man!
Now get out, Jory!
When was the last time I hit you?
You never hit me.
Well, I feel like hitting you now.
Be a real man, Jory,
not a pair of fists.
Stu, what's the matter?
Pack up, Jory!
What's that? never mind!
Aah! Aah!
Stu.
Stu! Stu!
Stu!
Stu.
I wasn't gonna hit him,
but he must've thought I was.
Then he pulled away and he...
And he slipped back.
And he exploded. Something exploded.
I went to the water...
And I pulled him out.
He was dead.
Just like that, he was dead.
And they've taken him away.
I'm, uh, detective Sergeant
Thomas Siroleo, Mr. Peters.
You didn't push him, did you?
No, I didn't push him.
The water in the tub was for you?
Yeah, I was gonna take a bath.
I... what happened to Stu?
The coroner thinks
the mechanism was defective.
And the water shouldn't have caused a short circuit.
What mechanism?
You mean that thing strapped to his chest?
A cardiac pacemaker.
Didn't you know he wore one?
No, I don't even know what it is.
Well, it's a long-term battery
in a control unit that sends electric shocks
rhythmically to the heart muscle,
maintains a beat,
which means normal life for people
who otherwise would be dead.
Well, why would he need that?
His heart was OK.
He never had any heart trouble.
Hasn't he been in the hospital recently?
No!
An operation had to be performed.
The attachment is inserted directly
into the chest cavity.
I'll know more after the autopsy, but...
I'd say he'd been operated on within the last month.
Well, that's impossible.
I've been with him every day, every day.
No.
Except for a week.
When we came out here
about a week ago.
He... didn't come back home to...
The motel, I mean, for about a week.
Where was he?
I don't know. I...
Went up to the, uh, center,
and they said he'd gone on a field trip
up north or something.
He said he ate and slept in the lab.
I...
I don't know. I just keep thinking that...
In a minute I'll wake up and I'll scream.
Can't you talk to him later?
Where was he?
I mean, this center, what is it?
NORCO.
The energy research commission?
Yeah, NORCO.
I'd like to talk to you later, Mr. Peters.
Where did they take Stu?
Jory...
No, no, I hate this!
Somebody dies, somebody you thought
was gonna be there forever,
and they just come into a room and they take him,
and you don't know exactly where they took him.
Now, why can't I go with him?
Where is he going that I can't go with him?
His body will be at the county hospital.
An autopsy will be performed,
and then you can have any mortuary in the city
call for his body.
Please.
I've always found it best, miss.
Nobody appreciates reality
like somebody who's gonna have to face it.
In the morning, Mr. Peters.
We'll help with the disposition
of your brother's body, if you want.
Then I'd like to see you in my office.
About 10:00, all right?
Where's your office?
Police headquarters.
Police headquarters?
Do all beautiful women
react guiltily when they hear
you are from police headquarters?
Only the innocent.
He wants to ask you
about professor Stuart Peters.
I'd heard he was killed.
An accident.
Would you excuse us?
He worked here with you.
Was he your assistant or were you his?
Well, we worked together as equals.
He was past being anyone's assistant.
Was he operated on here?
Yes. Dr. Block performed the surgery.
For a minute there, I thought you were
going to lie to me, Ms. Linden.
Professor Linden.
Why should I have lied?
Suppose it wasn't a heart attack.
Suppose it was some kind of
industrial accident.
Some firms like to avoid involvement
in that sort of thing.
Insurance,
bad public relations, you know.
But it was a heart attack.
Yes.
You say that as though you don't believe it.
Well, the coroner's report was funny, professor.
If a coroner's report can ever be said to be funny.
Stuart Peters had scar tissue
as fresh as tomorrow morning's milk,
so the operation had to have taken place
after he came here.
And no one said it didn't.
Hmm. But he had to undergo
a complete physical
before he left Kingston, New York.
Your own company insisted.
Now I've seen those records, professor.
If he'd been in any better health,
they'd have given him a morning show
on television.
A heart attack just wasn't in the cards
for Stuart Peters.
Well, what do you deduce from all this, Mr. Siroleo?
Shock... or fright...
Properly induced can cause a heart attack.
Well... he was working right beside me
when the attack came.
You suppose I could shock or frighten
anyone to the point of death?
What kind of work?
Would you understand?
Heh. Probably not.
Uh, could I just
look around on my own?
No.
You must be accompanied by someone who...
I'm not a bad security risk.
Well, I personally do not form
or enforce security regulations at NORCO.
I merely obey them.
You need higher permission than mine.
Dr. Block's?
He's director-in-chief.
I guess I'd better talk to him, then.
If you like.
Mr. Siroleo...
Sergeant Siroleo.
We all like our titles, professor.
Ahem. Dr. Block...
Is not in his office right now.
You'll find him in the pit.
The pit?
The energy chamber. We call it the pit.
Are you all right?
Of course. Go on, Sergeant.
You... you look upset.
What's the matter?
What is it?
I just can't.
I can't!
Wait a minute!
What was that detective's name?
Uh, Siroleo.
Is that a Greek name?
I don't know.
He said around 10:00.
Yeah, in the morning.
Ohh.
But first there's a night to get through.
We... could go for a drive.
Get away from me, Gaby.
What, um, what was the name of that friend
of yours, the one that told you to call me
when you got into town?
I don't remember. I made it up.
Did you really see all my television shows?
Yeah, I think so.
What made you call me?
Your legs, your very fine legs.
Someone at NORCO killed my brother, Gaby.
How'd you get my number?
In the phone book.
Can I borrow your car?
I'll drive.
No, you just stay here.
Are you going up there?
Yes.
Get out.
Why did you do that?
Why'd you close the door on me?
Get out quickly.
What in the world is that thing?
What is it? Where did it come from?
He'll kill you.
What made you do that?
Who ordered you to do that?
He'll kill me for doing this.
It's professor Block.
He'll kill me again.
Professor Block ordered you to...
No, he's not gonna...
He won't make you do anything.
Come on. I'll take you out of here.
Get out, don't worry about me.
I have already died once.
Just...
Go.
Go! Go!
Go?
Where?
You have seen it then, Sergeant?
What is it?
Where does it come from?
It is pure energy, Sergeant.
Pure, unadulterated,
un-minimized power.
In the words of the cleaning woman
who unwittingly gave it life,
it crawled out of the woodwork.
You...
Haven't tried to destroy it?
Why would I want to do that,
even if I could?
Are... aren't you frightened of it?
A scientist learns not to be afraid
of things he does not understand.
A few members of my staff
tried to destroy it,
but energy cannot be destroyed.
So, they decided to destroy me.
No, we didn't want to destroy you,
only to protect ourselves.
Simple heart surgery brought them to reason.
One by one I terrified them to death,
and one by one I gave them back their lives.
Lives they own only so long
as I do not...
Cut off the power that makes their heart beat.
You see, I have almost total control
of that energy force in there.
It would eagerly suck the power
out of that pacemaker if I allowed it.
Is he insane?
I wish he were.
The insane are forgivable.
Not insane.
At the worst, obsessed.
Think of it.
A small, lifeless thing,
like a... A black bowl of dust
huddled against the baseboard
in a dustless corner.
What is it?
Where does it come from?
Why does it suddenly live
when it is fed common energy?
Questions like that are very interesting, doctor,
and they deserved to be answered,
but not at the cost of human life.
The wonderful questions...
Are always answered at the cost of human life.
Remember how we wondered about the atom bomb?
Stand clear, Sergeant.
Do you want to go back, Gaby?
Do you?
I don't know.
What I want to do is I want to go up
to that guard and make him let me in.
Punch him in the mouth if I have to.
But I can't decide
if that's what I really want to do.
I can't make decisions, Gaby.
They're hard to make.
Well, Stu's gone.
I'll have to learn how.
I'll wait here. Go ahead.
Don't help me.
I'm sorry.
Ohh!
I didn't want...
Want to do that.
It isn't right...
To kill.
I couldn't leave him.
When...
It first appeared...
He looked at it as a scientist would.
Curious.
Frightened even.
But he was sure...
Heh! We were all sure
it could be controlled,
Studied.
But if our control slipped,
even for a second...
It would kill.
If it was loose...
It would kill...
Mindlessly, indiscriminately.
So we tried
to destroy it.
But he didn't want it destroyed.
He said it was his discovery.
He said it was his,
and he would solve the mystery of it.
Every man...
Wants to solve one mystery...
Before he dies.
He locked it.
He locked it! He locked it!
No!
No! No!
No, I don't know what to suggest.
Tanks?
No. No, you can't destroy it with guns.
It'll consume any form of energy.
What?
As long as we stay in the dark
we're as safe as we can be.
No, she says there's no way we can destroy it.
We have to control it.
Wait a minute.
How?
Get it back in the pit.
How?
The pit has its own generators.
If you cut off all the power
everywhere else,
it'll go back to the pit.
Cut off the power in this area.
Quick. I'll kill as much of it
as I can from in here.
What is it?
What's the matter?
It's... taking...
The power.
It's... under control...
For the moment.
The conservation of energy law,
a principle which states
that energy can be changed in form,
but that it cannot be either created
or destroyed,
and this is true of all energy.
The energy of genius, of madness,
of the heart, of the atom.
And so it must be lived with.
It must be controlled,
channeled for good,
held isolated from evil,
and somehow...
Lived with peaceably.
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...