No!
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...
Attention.
If you can understand us, please listen.
We are again asking you
to come out and meet with us.
You will not be harmed.
Repeat... you will not be harmed.
Please come out.
The race of man is known for its mutability.
We can change our moods, our faces, our lives
to suit whatever situation confronts us.
Adapt and survive.
Even among the most changeable of living things,
man is quicksilver...
More chameleon-like than the chameleon,
determined to survive
no matter what the cost to others
or to himself.
Don't you ever go to sleep?
Do you?
I tried, but I only have bad dreams.
You want some coffee?
No, thank you.
Well, what idea do you people have now?
Sir, I think it would be most advisable
for you to call off your plan.
Leon, we've been through all that.
It would be a tragic mistake
to start shooting now.
Please.
An intelligence agent preaching ethics
reminds me of Dr. Johnson's line
about the dog walking on his hind legs...
"it isn't done well,
but you're surprised it's done at all."
General, I wish you would listen to me.
Leon, I don't wanna hear it.
Please understand my position.
I'm a soldier, and all I know
is that there are some creatures inside that thing
who are both cunning and brutal.
A dangerous combination, and doubly so
because we don't know to what end
they intend to use their cunning and brutality.
How do you know that
they have any end in mind at all?
They must have.
Not everyone has an ulterior motive.
They didn't come here to picnic...
And the way they destroyed that patrol.
They might have been frightened by them.
It's unfortunate, General,
but you can't declare war
over the loss of a few men's lives.
Not on this Earth. Not anymore.
There's got to be another way!
Is that why you came here at the crack of dawn?
To try to sell me that insane scheme of yours again?
Only an insane scheme
has any chance of working right now.
Do you know what I think?
I think you people joined intelligence
because you haven't gotten over wanting to play games.
Well, I can't afford to play games.
We haven't been able to establish contact with them,
and that leaves me no choice.
At 0700, if we haven't heard from them,
we destruct.
Well, then you better be prepared for an explosion
that will destroy half this state.
What are you talking about?
That spacecraft, or whatever it is,
contains fissionable material...
Maybe fuel, maybe weapons...
But enough to make Hiroshima
look like a bonfire if it's hit.
Where do you get this information?
From the Caltech people.
Here's the report.
Well, that's one nightmare
I didn't have.
Have I your permission to go ahead with my plan?
Oh, it's just too incredible.
Any case, you'd never find anyone
who'd volunteer.
Once he finds out exactly what
the job involves... I mean, exactly...
No man would want to risk his life
in quite that way.
Oh, I have my man.
I've had him all along.
Leave it here. I'm not finished with it yet.
We want to talk.
Talk.
Not here.
Talk here in the company of good Tequila...
And warm music.
Toca, por favor.
I can't fix it.
I'm good with my hands, but not that way.
All I can offer is money.
It's not enough, is it?
You haven't lost your touch, Mace.
No.
Who were they?
Old enemies.
Old enemies never forget.
You don't seem surprised to see me.
Sooner or later, I figured you'd want me again.
You usually do.
This is an unusual mission, Mace.
You want to know what it involves?
Whatever it involves, no one else would do it,
right?
Can you leave now?
Any time.
Want to go pack?
It was spotted from the air about 4 days ago.
We're still not positive what it is,
but we do know that it's inhabited. Watch.
They seemed to sense they were being observed.
Now, they don't show any hostility here,
but later that day, an army patrol
was sent out to investigate.
The men's bodies were found nearby,
all but disintegrated.
Leon... kill that, please.
I just got this report on your volunteer.
I am just a little bit amazed.
General, I was going to talk to you about that.
You intelligence people operate in strange
and devious ways.
You found a derelict for this job.
I've gone along with you so far, but...
General...
I picked the man I thought was best for the mission.
Best? Are you on some kind of scavenger hunt?
Evidently, that report of yours
is not very complete.
Oh, it's complete enough.
He's been living in the wilds of Mexico.
No occupation, no background,
nothing to indicate the slightest shred
of reliability.
General...
The man I brought up here
used to work for us.
He worked for us for quite awhile,
and I can tell you
that he is very reliable,
and I know exactly what he can do.
Unfortunately, his identity
was exposed by one of our links.
He was, in our vocabulary,
compromised.
He could no longer function
as an agent for us.
We're lucky to get him back now.
Is that...
Mace. Lewis Mace.
I'm sorry if I said anything,
but I can't worry about stepped-on toes
at this minute.
I understand.
We have a crisis on our hands.
Chambers has convinced me that this plan of his,
insane as it sounds, has a chance of working.
With Mace, it has.
Do you think he's right?
Do you think it's possible for you to pull off
a masquerade like that?
Masquerade?
You do know what you volunteered for?
No.
It doesn't matter.
It doesn't?
The mission calls for an experienced agent.
There are very few experiences I haven't had.
On the plane, Mr. Chambers promised me
a new experience.
Whatever it is, I'll welcome it.
Leon, the blinds, please.
Whatever it is, Mr. Mace, it's this.
We don't know who those creatures are,
why they're here, or what they want.
We can't try blasting them off the Earth
because our tests show that there's nuclear material
inside that saucer or whatever it is.
And we could be blasting ourselves
off the Earth, also.
Now, there's one choice...
Dangerous, improbable maybe...
And that's to get an agent inside
with a hidden audio camera
and let him try to transmit back
everything he can to our monitors.
And that way, we can make some sort of an evaluation.
Do you want to hear more?
Go on.
Here's the most extraordinary part.
As an agent, you've had to meet the enemy
on his ground, correct?
Yes.
Sometimes it's a foreign country,
so you're given a foreign passport,
a foreign occupation.
In short, a foreign life.
The trick is to blend yourself
into alien surroundings
so you can carry on without being noticed
by the enemy, right?
Usually.
Well, this mission requires you to spy
on those creatures.
But to do it at all,
you'll literally have to become one of them.
Is it possible?
It's possible.
Dr. Tillyard has been working
with the space agency on projects related
to the adapting of man to new environments.
He can change you.
And afterwards, bring you back.
I think I can.
We've learned a great deal
during the last few years about the nature of genes.
And we've been experimenting in the field
of altering their structure to produce new characteristics.
Come on. I'll show you.
Now, this monkey is one of my subjects.
I basically wanted to adapt
a tropical creature with a polar climate.
Note the protective coloring,
something that blends in with snow.
Underneath that coat,
there's a layer of what we call
a lymphoid tissue,
which provides sufficient insulation.
Also, he eats fish now.
Yeah. Wouldn't touch a banana.
Dr. Tillyard can give you a new life.
Beyond that, we can't guarantee anything.
You'll be in enemy territory
and on your own.
That must be clear to you.
Perfectly clear.
If you agree, we've got to get started immediately.
You can imagine the panic
if the public found out about those creatures
before we learned how to deal with them.
I told you I agreed before I came here.
I'm ready to start when you are.
Come this way.
That'll be all for now,
until I make a breakdown of this blood sample.
Put your arm like that.
Try not to be nervous.
You try, also, doctor.
Mace, you're an extraordinary man.
Perhaps the most extraordinary
I've ever known.
I was about to say the same about you.
To have found a way of changing
the human structure...
That's truly remarkable.
Well, maybe, but it's safe.
I don't risk my life.
I have one capacity, Dr. Tillyard.
The capacity to survive.
You've survived against mortals.
And dangerous ones, no doubt.
But these are aliens.
The scales are balanced, then.
We are aliens to them.
I'll survive, Dr. Tillyard.
And once again, their spaceship,
or whatever it is,
is located right here in this canyon.
Now, aside from the bizarre problem
of your identity,
this mission is not terribly different in form
from any other.
You'll be provided with a cover story.
Oh, yes, a cover story.
If they're advanced enough
to have fissionable material,
they might just possibly have
the ability to monitor our broadcasts
and translate our language.
Well, we want them to listen in now.
Because we are going to fill the air with talk
of having spotted another creature in the area.
You. We'll pretend to chase you,
and hope that they'll want to give you refuge.
Once you're with them,
you will tell them that you landed long ago on Earth.
Crash-landed.
You remember nothing of your origin.
What little language you know,
you picked up from humans.
They may not buy it,
but they may think about it long enough
for you to accomplish your mission.
This is a replica of their clothing.
You will have an audio camera
hidden in here.
This will transmit pictures back to our monitor.
We'll see everything you see simultaneously.
You'll also have a buzzer link in here.
If, on the basis of what we view,
we decide that we want
to try to destroy these creatures,
you will be given a signal.
2 short buzzes...
Like that. Got it?
You ready for him?
Ready.
You haven't asked me yet how this transformation
is going to be done.
I thought I'd find out along the way.
It might ease your mind a little
to know something beforehand.
The facts do have a way of dispelling fear.
If you'd like to tell me.
Well, we a scraping of one of those creatures.
We found it under the fingernails
of a soldier on that patrol.
I now have an exact picture
of their gene structure. It's on that tape.
And I intend to reconstruct, by supersonic sound,
that structure in you.
Every cell, every organ of your body
will be changed, except, of course, your brain.
Naturally, your mind and memory must remain intact
if you're to carry out your mission.
Naturally.
Now, you'll be returned to us afterwards
by reversing the process.
Your genes have been formulized, also.
And one tape will erase the other, so to speak.
You mean to say that... All I am,
everything that's me,
is on that spool of tape?
That's right.
Whatever you do, don't lose that, doc.
Now, would it be such a heavy loss?
You know you can still change your mind.
No one will think the less of you.
No, General. I've come this far.
It's not too late.
I don't think you understand me, General.
I'm not interested in becoming a hero...
Nor do I have an overdeveloped sense of duty.
I'm doing this because...
I'm nothing more than an instrument for action.
Mr. Chambers knows that, also.
Between missions, I cease to exist.
I am what I've done...
And that's not always very pretty.
But being ugly is better than being nothing.
I have no one.
I care for no one.
And I'm cared for by no one.
So, all I have...
Is what I can do.
All right, Mace.
Start counting backwards from 100.
100... 99...
98...
97...
96...
95...
94...
93...
91...
89...
Is he gonna fix the guitar?
Not one constructive thing.
What's he talking about?
Build something for a change.
You'll be doing something worthwhile now, Mace.
Will I?
What you're hearing now is Mace's life being rewritten.
How long is this going to take?
Not long now.
The regrouping has begun.
Is he all right?
Let's ask him.
Mace, can you understand me?
Are you laughing?
Mace, what is it?
You do look a little peculiar, man.
This is XY-24.
I've spotted it.
Check coordinates 64-37.
Repeat... it's in the vicinity of coordinates 64-37.
Seems to be heading in the direction
of that ship up there. Over.
This is General Crawford.
Don't let him out of your sight, Captain.
If you can, try to scare him back toward us. Over.
Visibility is good.
I'll do everything I can, General.
I'm sending out units now.
Keep this hot. Stay on it.
Well, he's got his cover story now.
If they'll listen.
There he is now.
It's approaching the ship now.
Mace'll make it if anybody can. He's the best man we've got.
Is that good enough?
Well, his camera's functioning.
And he's still alive.
Why does he keep laughing that way?
I don't know,
but it's as if he knew something that we could never know.
Don't try to struggle.
You're imprisoned in a force field.
Heh heh heh.
It's a good impersonation, Earth man,
but we know who you are.
The way one of your dogs can tell a cat.
You can understand our language.
And the rest about you. Your spur is fear.
Your answer is destruction.
Your people would destroy us, and we have done them no harm.
You killed those men on that patrol.
They tried to kill us.
Well, I'm not here to kill you.
I have no weapons. I couldn't kill one of my kind.
One of my kind...
I... I... I meant that.
You're not one of our kind.
I feel I belong here, that I've been here.
It's useless. The charade is ended.
I think I know what this equipment does.
That's a weapon there.
And that's a sun converter.
You're guessing.
You come from a warm yellow planet.
And you crash-landed here when your converter broke down.
You can't know about us.
I do. It was your genes from the fingernails of a soldier
that transformed me.
I'm part you.
We shall be back.
We wish to decide about you.
I advise you not to try and escape this force field.
You might harm yourself.
He was guessing about all that, wasn't he?
I don't know.
The brain cells shouldn't have been affected,
but... this is the first time we've experimented
on a human being.
Are you suggesting...
General, we may be losing our agent.
Not through death, but through defection.
We've tried to adapt him
to those peculiar surroundings, sir,
but I'm afraid he may be adapting too well.
In trying to combat those creatures,
we may have contributed
one more to their number, sir.
Perhaps our cellular blueprints did produce you.
On our planet, the altering of genes
is well within our knowledge.
And so we've decided.
We will not harm you.
We have no wish to harm anyone.
We wish only to return home safely.
But we must insist that you come along with us.
You want me?
The reason we did not communicate
with any of your people
is because we were instructed not to make contact
with any destructive society
or leave them any trace of ourselves.
Our advanced knowledge must not fall into the hands
of someone who would pervert it
or use it ruthlessly for aggressive purposes.
You are, if only in part,
one of us.
You know what we know now.
And for that reason,
you cannot be left on Earth any more.
Go to another planet?
It will be a new experience for you.
And a rich one.
We do not mistrust each other there.
And we do not live in fear of war.
That's true. And I also know something else now...
You have no atomic weapons up there. Or on this ship.
No, we do not.
But we were able to affect your instruments
so it would appear that way.
It was our only way of thwarting an attack from you.
Will you come with us peacefully?
We leave just as soon as our spaceship is repaired.
My origin is on this planet.
I still belong here.
Do you?
I'm an agent. Was an agent.
I was sent here to accomplish a mission.
I have a life to go back to.
What kind of life?
Is it a better one than the life we offer you?
It's a life I've learned to accept.
Accept...
Or resign yourself to?
Please don't make it necessary for us
to force you.
We want you to want to share our life.
What a trick on Chambers.
Heh heh heh heh.
What a wild joke.
Heh heh heh.
But he'll understand me. He always has.
You'll come?
I want to.
We can use your help in completing our repairs.
Come.
He can't go with them.
He can.
And maybe that's all right.
For Mace, maybe that's all right.
You don't understand.
We have as much to worry about
from them holding something human,
even partly human,
as they do from us holding one of them.
With Mace in their hands,
they'd be in the position of knowing all about us,
all our strengths and our weaknesses.
They'd be in a position to blackmail us
or even conquer us.
Get me red line.
General.
No, Leon. I can't be talked out of it this time.
There are no atomic explosives on that ship.
That's clear now.
Now we can deal with 'em the way we should.
But they may be telling the truth.
They may be just that... A peace-loving people.
There's too much at stake to take that chance.
Mace is in there. You'd be killing him, too.
I'm sorry about that, doctor, I really am.
Mace's life is precious
and it's an awful thing to sacrifice a man,
but we can't trust the unknown
without asking for something far more awful. Hello?
It's General Crawford. Get me Colonel Stevens.
General, wait. Let me try one thing first.
The buzzer. Let me give him the signal.
But he's joined them. What good would it do?
I'm counting on a conditioned reflex.
Mace has never been disloyal in all the years I've known him.
He has always executed his mission,
no matter what the cost.
This may be our last hold on him.
Stand by with your artillery, Colonel.
I'll get back to you. Go ahead.
Mace, you've done things you've hated before.
You've never failed me yet.
No!
Mace... Mace.
Well, we've got our man back.
I'll send some help.
That won't be necessary, General.
No.
You were right.
You see how destructive we Earth people are?
You are right.
Would you still have me come along with you?
It's a long journey to my planet.
It would be better to make it with a friend.
Come.
Mace. Mace. Come back.
This is General Crawford. I order you to come back!
I'm sorry, General, I can't obey.
Mace, listen. They could use you,
get information about us which could prove disastrous to us
if they wanted to exploit or attack us.
No. I'm neither Mace nor one of them.
But I understand them well enough
to know they spoke the truth.
You can't go with him.
I can. I've completed your mission.
I'm going to a warm yellow planet now
where there's no need for a man of brutal action,
where the Chameleon
no longer has to change his coloring to survive.
Red line. Get me red line.
I want Colonel Stevens. Hurry.
Colonel, signal your artillery.
I don't want that ship to...
I don't want that ship to be interfered with.
Did you get that, Colonel? Let it take off.
I want no interference.
No interference.
A man's survival can take many shapes.
And the shape in which a man finds his humanity
is not always a human one.
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...