man) The most brilliant planet in our solar system is Venus, named for the goddess of love.
lt is closer to Earth than any other planet: Until the last half of the 20th century, it is a planet shrouded in mystery enveloped in a 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.
(cheering) ( man) This was the opportunity, five days after his return from orbiting Venus, for the world to see Colonel Jeff Barton, the man of the hour.
Hardly had he returned to Earth from his brilliantly successful first step in the project when the minds of our leading scientists and statesmen began to explore the next step, namely the ultimate colonisation of Mars.
All of us who behold Jeff Barton are impressed, l 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 hero as he described his voyage.
Now that we've been able to orbit Venus, we're closer to our ultimate goal, Mars, the next stage of Project Vulcan , and none of us will rest until it is completed.
l look forward to resting in one of the houses we'll build on Mars as part of the project.
l want to thank you for your prayers, your good thoughts and your wonderful down -to-earth welcome.
(applause) l think they love you as much as l do.
Oh, it's good to have you back again .
l was getting awful tired of my own cooking.
(sizzling) - All right, l'll get the salad.
- My steaks.
Jeff? Jeff! ( man) 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 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's life as a general, Colonel? - Should be how was life as a colonel, General? - ln two words, way out.
General, who is involved in Project Vulcan ? - Several men , specialists in their fields.
- You'll get their names.
Will Venus definitely not sustain human life? - l can 't answer that.
- lsn 't that why you went? No.
Although Venus is near Earth, it's a mystery, and you can 't take chances when you plan to colonise Mars.
Will you know by the committee hearing next week? - l intend to.
- He won 't if he stays here.
- Are you addressing the committee, General? - General Barton will do that.
He knows more about it.
Project Vulcan is his baby.
- You mean colonising Mars? - Exactly.
- What if they turn you down ? - We might raffle off General Barton .
- Hey, there's the general.
- Hey Well, congratulations, General.
Welcome home.
Come here.
l want to show you something.
There she is, the new space-environment test chamber.
We finished her while you were cavorting in outer space.
What will she do? to 275 above and create a vacuum equivalent to 700,000-feet altitude.
Jeff, l noticed something on your report about vibration .
Did it happen again after orbiting? No.
l'll discuss that with construction .
l'm curious to see what vegetation your cameras picked up.
Did any equipment fail when we lost contact? l'm afraid l wasn 't paying much attention at the time.
- What's the matter? - Chill.
Maybe l'm allergic to planet Earth.
Not until after the committee meeting.
Let's get to work.
See you later, Jeff.
- Coffee break.
- Pour it on .
You mean in , not on .
Your rate of coffee consumption is astounding.
Fuel, sweetie.
l've got a long way to go.
- How long? - All the way till next Tuesday.
- What are you doing? - l've gotta figure out how much coffee to buy.
Let's see, your time of flight is six days .
.
and there are 24 hours in a day and your rate of fuel consumption is about a gallon an hour? Well, that would make total fuel .
.
too much.
Crazy, but l love you anyway.
Hey, watch it.
That's hot! lt's lukewarm to me.
Thanks, honey.
l'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.
- l'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.
- Ann l love you .
l love you more than anything in this world.
More than anything in all those other worlds too? You're the only world l can discover over and over again .
.
every time l come home to you .
.
every time l'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 sure of that? - Uh-huh.
- Think you can ? - Uh-uh.
Go on , get out of here.
b*at it.
Mister 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 .
l am his favourite world.
You'd better remember that.
l am his best world.
What are you doing? - Why are you turning up the heat? - l'm cold.
Why else? l don 't understand.
Why are you cold? lt's roasting in here! Why did you faint the other night? How do l know? Summer flu .
l haven 't got time to worry.
Six days before the hearing.
Hardly time to write notes.
Good night! - Well? - Go on , get dressed.
Your medics check you out, don 't they? - Affirmative.
- Come on , answer in English.
- Yes.
- Why haven 't you seen them about this? Maybe l'm just used to you , Mike.
We're old friends.
- l'm no specialist, Jeff.
- l'm tired.
My brain is too small for the job.
Maybe it's psychosomatic.
Stop trying to be your own doctor! Go to your medics.
Give me something, just for a few days.
- lt's too dangerous.
Go to your own medic.
- l will.
Later.
Hey, hey, hey Jeff, did something happen that you don 't want them to know about? Don 't ask so many questions.
Give me some kind of pill.
- l've got a job to do.
Keep me going.
-Not until we do some blood tests.
-No blood.
-No pill.
All right.
ln the meantime, keep warm and get plenty of rest.
l wouldn 't ask for additional work if l didn 't think it was necessary.
Nothing in your reports indicates faulty soundproofing.
- Give me something to go on .
- Just do it! Are we working together or against each other? l'm sorry.
l didn 't mean that.
l know you're under a strain , Jeff.
lt's hot in here, isn 't it? - That air conditioner working? -No.
Give me some good reason .
l'll tear the capsule apart with my bare hands.
know know - l'll talk to you later.
- Right.
No wonder it isn 't working.
lt's turned off.
(fan) (screams) - Oh! - Wake up, Jeff! Wake up! Wake up! You're all right, Jeff.
You're home now.
Wake up.
Wake up.
- What happened? - You were having a nightmare.
Your hands are as cold as ice.
l'll get some warm milk.
No, no.
Never mind.
- What are you doing? - l'm going to take your temperature.
- Who said? - Mike said.
Open .
All right All right - Better? - Mmm.
t's O K - Right? - Mm-hm.
What does it say? 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? Certainly different from what l'd expect.
- What's the matter? - Short of breath.
These desk jobs.
Whenever l stand up, the altitude gets me.
- Did you talk to the medics about it? - They keep tabs on me.
l just need rest.
- Jeff, Mike called.
- Does he want me to call him back? No.
He wants to see you .
Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock.
Jeff Jeff, what is it? Nothing.
Oh, it's not nothing! l'm not unconscious! l'm not blind! ls it something serious? Ann Honey Remember my first interorbital flight? The dizziness when l came back? And then satellite duty? The effects of that lasted several months.
My body adapts, A nn , to weightlessness, conditions in space, and readapts when l get back to Earth.
This was a much longer flight.
lt'll take a little longer to get over it.
That's all.
Why did you see Mike instead of the space doctors? They take too much time.
l wanted something to give me a lift.
l don 't like it.
You shouldn 't drive yourself like that when you're sick.
lt's just for a few more days.
For what? Some wild scheme? lt would be just a headline to me if l weren 't married to it.
You married a man , not a headline, but a man with certain peculiarities.
As a boy, he'd study how leaves fell.
His head was always up, looking at birds.
He made some wings and jumped off a barn and nearly broke his neck.
That's how much he wanted to be a bird.
So he became a bird.
Started flying higher and higher.
August 6, 1 956.
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.
lt was to lead the way to new worlds, new life now know edge That's the headline, Ann .
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.
sl*ve-driver.
(groans) Venus One to Vulcan Control.
Do you read me? (over radib ) Vulcan Control to Venus One.
Read you loud and clear.
Approaching moon .
Moving to dark side.
Over.
Venus One to Vulcan Control.
Do you read? Over.
Vulcan Control.
Read you loud and clear.
We track you orbiting objective at 40,000 feet.
Confirm.
Over.
Right on the nose.
Dropping down now.
Altimeter reading 30,000 feet and dropping.
Confirm.
Over.
Affirmative.
We track you with 30,000 over Venus and dropping.
- What is your? - (static) - Say again , General? - What happened? Radio failure.
Please go ahead.
We read your external temperature at 440 degrees.
- ls that correct? - Affirmative.
lt's getting pretty dim in here.
l 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 of atmosphere.
( high -pitched drone) (engines whine) No , Jo ff ! No ! Ye u ro too c ose ! (static) Climb out.
Climb! ( hissing) ( high -pitched whine) (screams) - Man , it's jammed solid.
- lf we don 't get in there soon , he's gonna fry.
- l better call the fire department.
- Wait.
l think it's coming.
Give it a yank.
He must have passed out.
Maybe a heart att*ck.
The steam valve! Turn it off! - What happened? - Are you all right? (coughs) l had a steam bath.
l had the temperature up past 1 50 degrees.
lt didn 't bother me.
- lt didn 't bother me a bit.
l didn 't perspire.
- Go on .
My mind wandered.
l had a horrible dream.
- What about? - l don 't remember.
l just know it was horrible.
What's happening to me? Why am l so jittery, weak? l don 't know.
l can tell you 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 l can 't explain .
l'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'd better see your people, Jeff.
They're space medics.
Go right away.
Don 't waste a minute.
Let's go together.
l don 't need you .
l can go myself.
OK, OK.
But promise me one thing: you'll see them right away, right now, and take this with you .
Thanks, Mike.
(Jeff) l realise this is a great sum of money we are asking for.
l also realise that it is your responsibility to the people to determine whether the money we're asking for would be wasted on an impractical dream.
lt will not be wasted .
.
unless you consider knowledge wasteful.
Know edge s pr og ross Without progress, we would still be in some prehistoric darkness, shambling about like animals, struggling only for .
.
struggling only f .
.
for survival .
.
and (Jeff gasps) .
.
and fighting like animals against anything that threatened 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 - (door opening) .
.
test this knowledge.
Many men have d*ed.
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? Oh, good heavens! Jeff, something terrible's happening to your hand! Jeff, come back to me! Come back to me! l'll get the doctor.
l'll call Mike.
Jeff! Jeff! - Oh, Jeff! - (screams) Jeff, Jeff, Jeff Ah (tyres squealing) One moment, General.
Sorry, sir.
My orders are to allow no Give me security, quick! On the double! (Jeff sobs) lt looks like he tried to destroy everything in these files.
Easy now, Jeff.
lt's just a tranquilliser.
lt won 't hurt you .
What is it, Doctor? - l haven 't the slightest idea.
- l must ask you to keep quiet about this.
- Of course.
- Did something happen to his mind? How should l know? The man comes to me, a friend, and says, ''Please, Mike, help me.
Give me a pill.
'' - You should have sent him to us.
- l did.
He said there wasn 't time.
He had to finish a job.
What did you find out? More than l 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.
lt doesn 't fit into any blood type known to exist.
Fantastic! l sent him over to you earlier today.
l even telephoned, but you were all out.
- What will you do to him? - l don 't know.
Start making tests.
- What kind of tests? - l'm not sure.
l 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.
We'll need to start at the beginning.
- What beginning? - l'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 for 8 minutes, 1 2 seconds.
Well, then , talk to him.
Find out.
What do you think? We might try.
He's under heavy sedation now, sh*t 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.
(grunts) 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.
- (groans) ( mouths) Come in , Venus One.
Jeff, what's happening? We do not receive you .
What's happening? (screams) - Jeff Jeff -No! You're home.
You're home now.
Darling, you're home.
Jeff, l was so happy when you came home.
Remember? You said, ''You're my best world.
'' l looked at those things in the sky and l said, ''He loves me more than he loves you .
l'm his favourite world.
'' Oh, Jeff Jeff, come back to me now.
Don 't let them take you away.
Ann Ann - Where are you? - l'm here, darling.
(sighs) Strange .
.
darkness Had to go closer.
Had to.
Then the sounds began .
.
and the thing stared at me through the porthole.
The sound lt's doing something to me! lt's gotten inside me! Ann ! Ann ! Ann l'm so cold.
l'm holding you , darling.
Your hands .
.
feel so good, dearest.
- What now? - The sedative seems effective.
Gentlemen , l've got a problem.
The Appropriations Committee meets tomorrow.
What do l tell them? - ls that all you care about? - l care about him.
But we both care about Project Vulcan .
lt was his baby.
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.
Well, maybe it should be.
Are you saying that Jeff is dead? l know what Project Vulcan meant to him.
l shared it with him.
He wasn 't afraid of the unknown .
He didn 't give up when there was no one to follow him.
He did something.
He tried.
Why aren 't you helping him instead of burying him? 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 transmutation ? We don 't know anything.
You want to experiment with the skin ? OK, but l want to work with the mind.
l'll need blood for a transfusion .
Then we'll put him under sedation in lots of heat.
And you , you should be near him all the time, talking to him, pulling him back from whatever's gotten into his mind.
- Where's the nearest steam bath? - What about the space-environment chamber? Excellent.
Get ready, Ann .
( hissing) ( moans) - Speak.
- l'm here with you , darling.
l'm waiting for you .
Jeff, l'm thinking of something you once told me.
l see you as a boy, Jeff, watching leaves falling, always looking up at the birds.
l wish l could have been with you then , Jeff.
l'd have helped make those wings you flew off the barn with.
l wish l could have picked you up when you fell.
l wish Mike let me go in .
- lt's too hot.
- You couldn 't stand it.
lt's 205 degrees.
- Are we getting anywhere, Doctor? - l haven 't the slightest idea.
- The committee meets in ten hours.
- What about postponement? lndefinite? General, don 't do anything about that postponement yet.
- We owe him every minute until then .
- All right.
lt's midnight.
We have until eight o'clock.
- Ann - (groans) Talk, Ann ! Talk! l heard you dictating your speech.
l heard you dictating your speech, Jeff, and it was wonderful and l was so proud of you .
l 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.
Go on .
l thought, ''This is a man who has made himself part of the history of all people and of all times.
'' ''A man who A boy who learned to fly into the future.
'' ''My husband.
'' My ove (sighs) He hasn 't stirred yet.
- Just normal sleep.
- (doctor) There's not much time left.
Normal, Mike.
What does that mean ? Don 't build yourself up.
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 a while, well - Anybody got any coffee out there? - Hello, my darling husband.
Hello, wife.
Oh, how good you sound.
l heard you , Ann .
l heard every word.
l join with the other members of this committee in giving you our welcome.
- This country has much to be thankful to you for.
- l have much for which to be thankful.
- Don 't you want to hear the speech? - l've heard it.
- Think he'll get the money? - Didn 't you see the way they smiled at him? They love him.
He's so brave and handsome and so right.
Yes, l think they'll give him everything he wants.
Except Doctor .
.
is this the way it will always be, heat for strength and then sedation to hold back this thing for the rest of his life? Who knows, Ann ? Oh my poor Jeff.
( laughter) - What's wrong? - Did you hear them laughing? - Why? - He held up his hands for everybody to see.
He asked if they wondered why he was wearing gloves.
He said there he'd been all these years flying airplanes, spaceships, taking risks, and the first night he's home safe on Earth, he spills a pot of boiling soup on his hands.
( laughter) They listened to every word, General.
They didn 't ask a question .
(sighs) l think we made it.
l think they're going to give us the money.
Every penny we asked for.
l love you so much.
l love you so much.
Say it again , baby.
Again and again and l'll repeat it back to you every time.
But you've got to respect me.
lt's not every husband who can loosen a zillion billion .
- Jeff - What? You you wiped your face.
Perspiration .
ls it warm in here, Jeff? Very warm? - Yes, it is warm, isn 't it? - ( Mike) He's coming around.
He's coming around by himself.
Hello.
Colonel Hunt.
Fast.
This is Yeah, that's right.
l want two private rooms on the fourth floor.
Call the air surgeon general's office.
Tell him l want the top men in pathology, aetiology, toxicology, semiology, dermatology ( man) The eternal 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, no r is ove 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 .