On the fabulous spawning grounds
of man's ever-increasing knowledge of science and technology,
ancient half-forgotten legends
seemingly have no place, except one
the legend of the Gordian knot.
A knot so intricate and convoluted.
That no man could untie it.
For there are problems so perplexing.
That they're seemingly impossible to solve.
When man ventures to the outer limits.
Of his experience.
There is nothing wrong with your television set.
Do not attempt to adjust the picture.
We are controlling transmission.
For the next hour, we will control all that you see and hear.
You are about to experience the awe and mystery.
Which reaches from the inner mind to...
The outer limits.
I'm sorry, Mrs. Darcy, I can't let you in. Tests are underway.
We're gonna see my daddy land.
Well, I have a pass from Mr. Baldwin.
Thank you.
It'll be so exciting meeting your husband
at the landing field, Mrs. Darcy.
Well, I wish I could've taken Janie.
Oh, she'll have more fun here with the children.
Thanks, Mrs. Anderson.
Bye.
Bye, mommy.
Bye, Janie. Be back soon with daddy.
OK.
That's 2 chocolate and one strawberry, right?
Yes. right.
Now, I'll be back in a few minutes. Behave, now.
Darcy, this is Baldwin.
You're drifting.
Correct 2 degrees right.
Uh, 2 degrees right, baldy.
High chase here, Darcy.
Mach 2.3. Heading 2-9-1.
83,005.
Read you clear, high chase.
Heading uphill at 92,000.
Flight angle good, Jim.
Looking real good from back here, Darcy.
I'm glad you're enjoying the view, high chase.
OK, buddy.
Climbing to 93.
100,000.
Right on profile, Jim.
Mach 4.
Point 8, point 9.
Mach 5. Point one.
Point 2.
Jim, don't forget the vertical.
Got you, baldy.
Mach 5. Point 6. Point 7.
Reaching test velocity, Darcy.
It's green across the board.
Now look, Jim, no heroics.
If she starts to chatter again, don't try to ride it out.
Are you kidding, baldy?
I'm unlimbering my escape target right now.
Reaching mach 6.
OK, Jim.
Start leveling out and let's go with the countdown.
Ready when you are, baldy.
All right, Jim, countdown commencing.
Read you 5 square, baldy.
Minus 30 seconds and counting.
29, 28...
27...
26...
25, 24...
23...
22, 21...
20...
19, 18...
17...
16...
15...
14...
13, 12...
11...
10, 9...
Green across the board.
All go here.
3, 2...
One.
Execute.
Hey!
You guys got an extinguisher?
This thing's liable to blow.
What's the matter with you guys?
You deaf?
Linda!
Linda, darling.
What are you doing here?
Wh-what happened?
I... I...
I saw your plane about to crash and...
Well, I... I remember swerving...
I crawled out of that cockpit
dreaming everything in the world was frozen.
Heh.
Believe me, it's nice to wake up.
Listen, you better take it easy for a minute, honey.
I do feel a little shaky.
Jim, your... your plane...
Isn't that your plane up there?
Uh,
Jim, I... I... I must be seeing things.
Linda...
Linda, I want you to...
Look right over there and tell me what you see.
Where?
Right there.
Coyote chasing a jackrabbit.
How fast are they moving?
They're not moving at all.
Jim, look.
It's my car and I'm in it!
Is this...
Is this some kind of a nightmare?
Or are we dead?
It has to be real. We both see it.
Honey!
Don't look.
It'll be just like the others.
They're not moving.
Well, what is this?
Wh-where are we?
Where are we?
There has to be an answer.
Hey, buddy?
Hey!
This doesn't make sense, Linda.
It isn't happening.
What's happening?
Your plane's up there and...
And you're in it.
No.
My plane's over here and I've crawled out of it.
But it... it can't be.
If... if we're not dead,
I'm having a terrible dream.
But everything's still.
So still.
Honey, please!
Darling, this has got to make sense.
This is not a dream, and we're not dead.
Here, feel.
Look at me! I'm alive!
I'll... I'm...
I know I can't explain it to you now,
but we'll figure it out.
Now, come on.
It's funny.
You and I,
and the wreck,
and your smashed car,
they're not frozen.
But everything else is.
This is Skybird. Skybird, come in.
Will someone please come in?
Is the whole world like this?
Maybe not.
There has to be an explanation.
What's the last thing you remember?
Uh...
Your plane, it...
It was falling.
The last thing I remember...
Was reaching mach 6.
And then suddenly, here.
Do you remember smashing into that Boulder?
Uh.
No, just putting my brakes on.
Huh.
Apparently, we both lost a little piece of time.
You... you mean blacked out?
No.
Let's get over to flight control.
Maybe we can find some answers!
Come on!
It's the same all over.
No, no. It might all be just confined to the base.
Janie!
What about Janie?
Well... well, I brought her here with me.
She wanted to see you land.
Where is she? Where'd you leave her?
In the nursery!
Come on!
She's not in there.
She's got to be.
I left her here.
Janie!
Where could she be?
She must be here somewhere. Come on!
Janie?
Janie!
What's happened to the world?
What's happened?
We don't know, honey, but we will.
There's nothing we can do here.
Maybe I can find the answer at test control. Come on.
The countdown is frozen at plus 3 seconds.
What does that mean?
Well...
I executed the probatory maneuver at zero,
and somehow upset the balance of time.
That's when I must've...
Skidded through into the future.
Jumped ahead somehow into this...
Limbo state.
And that's why everything is frozen to us.
We went through a time barrier.
And that's why we can't make anybody hear us.
But... but, Jim, why am I here?
I... I wasn't up there with you.
So... so, why am I here now?
Hmm.
Maybe...
You know what a sonic boom is, don't you?
Yes, it's a... a loud noise when a plane breaks the sound barrier.
Well, technically, it's an instantaneous shock wave.
Now, suppose, when I broke the time barrier,
there was such a shock wave.
Your car could have been caught in it.
And... and pushed along with it.
Something like that, yes.
From the altitude at which it happened,
it'd take about half a minute...
Well, say 27 seconds to reach the ground.
Jim, please take me out of here.
What's going on, baldy? What's happening?
Jim, I...
I feel faint.
Nothing's moving.
Nothing.
Well, at least we still are, honey.
Get out of here! Hurry!
Let's try that Jeep. Maybe it'll start up.
What was it?
I don't know, but it was afraid of fire, whatever it was.
Ah, it's no use.
What's the matter?
Did that light just go on?
I don't know.
I can swear it...
Jim. what?
Are we dead?
I am going back. where?
To my baby.
I...
I... I... I'm sorry! I...
I... I didn't mean to do that.
I...
I thought I'd be more prepared for
what it was going to be like the next time!
But, oh, Jim...
Look at her.
Janie?
Ja...
I... I know you can't hear me,
but maybe somehow you'll know that I...
I love you, darling.
Now... now, you be a good girl, huh?
And a happy little girl.
Even...
Even if mother isn't...
Ever able to come back to you.
What is it?
Well, she moved.
Are you sure?
I'm positive!
She didn't have her other foot on the pedal before.
Jim.
Jim, if she's moving, then she's alive.
Then that light did blink on.
And that countdown indicator moved from zero to plus 3.
Here we are watching a world moving at extreme slow motion.
But time is moving forward here,
it's catching up with us.
Becoming re-synchronized.
Well... well, what then?
Perhaps we'll move back in normal life.
But why are they moving so slow?
Maybe I could figure it out.
The clock is smashed
in the plane's cockpit, but the one...
In the control center's still operating.
Well, uh, you're not going back in there?
Honey, I've got to.
Not with that thing?
It only tried to frighten us.
It didn't attempt to hurt any of the men in the control center.
I don't think it can.
Well, it tried to kill us, whether you care to believe it or not.
Thank heavens it's afraid of fire.
Looks like we'll have to go back to the car
and pick up some flares.
You go.
I... I don't want to leave Janie.
Honey, there's absolutely nothing you can do for her
by staying here.
Besides, I can't leave you here alone.
Please, honey! I know what I'm saying.
What's the matter now?
I'm not sure.
The truck. It's moving, isn't it?
He left the brake off.
It will run over Janie.
In time, she'll be right in its path.
Do something!
All this is happening in another segment of time.
Behind us.
Beyond our reach.
There's nothing we can do.
Come on.
It's closer.
Yeah. The car is closer, too.
Time's catching up with us. We're standing still, not the world.
Look! They're ducking clear of the crash that's coming.
Honey, get the flares. I wanna check the instruments.
The plane's instruments are frozen at plus 10 seconds
and they haven't moved.
And my watch hasn't moved either.
What about yours?
It stopped.
That all adds up to the fact that time has stopped for us.
The plane is closer, and the car.
And the truck is closer to Janie.
What can we do?
Linda, listen to me.
If that truck is destined to hit Janie before the plane crashes,
or you hit the Boulder, there's nothing we can do about it.
If we can just get back in sync with time before the accident,
then maybe we can stop the truck and save our daughter.
Honey, at flight control I can find out
how many seconds there are left for us now.
We can relate their time to ours.
Their clocks are ticking... ever so slowly, but they are ticking.
Jim, it's too late.
It's too late.
But it's not!
How are you gonna light the flares?
You were right, honey.
This is the only thing between us and that thing.
Come on.
It's red light scramble.
I can hear baldy yelling at me,
"blow your capsule."
Well, believe me, baldy, I tried.
But I was pinned to the seat.
It's moved to plus 8.
Now, I blacked out at zero,
and crash landed at plus 10.
That means 10 seconds elapsed.
In other words,
we jumped into the future at least...
10 seconds.
There are 2 seconds left.
At the rate the world is moving to us...
Those 2 seconds are a long time.
At least 2 hours.
The match.
Come on, hurry up, light it!
No, don't!
You do understand.
You must be able to speak.
Who are you?
What are you?
Stand where you are, or I'll set you on fire.
Stop, or I'll throw it at you!
I... I can't talk with that flame.
Then don't turn around.
Just tell me what it is you're trying to do.
Who are you?
Talk.
I am what you are,
trapped in this limbo world between the present and the future.
I am what you will be...
If you cannot return to normal time
at the instant of re-synchronization
of the time rift you created,
and through which you were catapulted here.
What has happened to you, happened to me.
I didn't get back.
What does happen at the instant time catches up with us?
At that instant, since 2 lives entered here,
there will be space for 2 lives to escape
this time prison.
That is my chance.
I must not miss that chance.
And you wanna take my place?
If you miss your chance to return...
One millionth of a second behind time,
time will pass you by
and leave you where I am now,
in forever now.
Black, motionless, void. No light.
No sun. No stars. No time.
Eternal nothing.
No hunger. No thirst.
Only endless existence.
And the worst of it, you can't die.
So, fellow man,
you challenge me for a wish to take your place?
You, both of you, would feel no different
if you were caught in this black oblivion.
If you are not in your plane,
in your car at the exact instant...
We'll be there.
That will hold him off till we can get out of here.
Janie!
Jim, she'll be killed.
There must be something we can do.
The truck's moving 10 miles an hour.
It'll pick up another 2 or 3 miles.
It'll take about one second for it to reach us here.
One second.
Hell, that's about one hour our time.
And... and Janie will be here in time,
won't she?
Won't she?
All right, Linda. A collision's inevitable.
Well... well, we'll get something
and... and put it in front of the tricycle to stop it.
Or... no.
No, we'll put something in front of the truck
and make it swerve out of the way.
It's no good.
Everything's petrified. Nothing moves.
We can't just let it happen.
I mean, there must be something we can do.
There's always a solution to a problem.
There's always something you can do.
Jim, you always say that.
Yeah. Maybe.
Maybe there's something in the plane I could use.
Yes, there must be!
Yeah, but let's get you back to the car.
You've got to be in it when the world we know catches up with us.
Are you willing to give up your daughter that easy?
Or...
Are you trying to tell me that...
You're willing to give up your own life
and... and save ours.
There's one hour left. Come on.
Trust me.
Please, trust me.
Jim, there must be a way.
I've always had faith in you, and... and so has Janie.
I know you can think of something.
Anything.
That's it.
What is?
The safety belts.
One thing that might help Janie
without our being there.
A knife. I've got to have a knife..
I wish I had more time.
Get in.
What are you gonna do?
I'm going back to the truck.
Well, I'm going with you! No, you're not.
Think of Janie.
It won't do her any good to lose her mother.
Now, you know I'm right.
I've got to know that you're going to get back into time.
And what happens to you?
You're wasting time for the three of us.
Honey, everything is gonna be all right.
I'm sure.
Oh, Jim!
I...
It must work. It's got to work!
It's got to!
Now all we can do is hope, Janie.
Oh, Jim!
It's done.
Whatever you've done, I know it will work!
I think it will.
I love you!
Hey, this thing's liable to blow.
Have you got a fire extinguisher?
Thank heavens, you're alive!
I thought I was having a nightmare.
Jim.
Let's get back to the base.
Now.
Oh, Janie! Oh!
Why are you crying, mommy?
Oh, it's all right now.
Why were you so fired up to hurry back here?
Why did you agree so quickly?
I don't know. Kind of a feeling,
just a premonition.
So did I.
Man is forever solving the most perplexing problems.
As he ventures ever further into the unknown.
But where are the outer limits,
of his ingenuity?
Will he ever encounter a problem,
a Gordian knot, which he cannot ultimately cut?
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...
The outer limits.