( narrator) Through the legends of ancient peoples, Assyrian , Babylonian , Sumerian , Semitic, runs the saga of the eternal man .
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the one who never dies, called by various names in various times, but historically known as Gilgamesh, the man who has never tasted death, the hero who strides through the centuries.
( man) l was born ten days ago.
A full-grown man born ten days ago.
l woke on a street of this city.
l don 't know who l am, where l've been or where l'm going.
Someone wiped my memories clean and they tracked me down and tried to k*ll me.
Why? Who are you? l ran .
l managed to escape them the first time .
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and the hand, my hand told me what to do.
What can l do? Who are they? ( hand) Data insufficient on Question Two, ''Who are they?'' Random collation of possibilities, Question One, ''What can l do?'', n order o f facto rs o f su ccess a ro as fo ows a) Each pursuer wears a gold medallion .
Remove these medallions.
b) The time mirror permits only two travellers at one time, but they are replenishable.
lf possible, destroy the mirror.
c) Stay alive.
Above all, stay alive.
Destiny is in your whole hand.
d) l am incomplete.
l can serve you better if l am complete.
( man) Easier said than done, staying alive.
( narrator) 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 you see and hear.
You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to The Outer Limits.
Please, Mr Trent.
l can 't stand pain .
There's nothing l can tell you .
Why are you trying to k*ll me? This is your last chance, Breech.
Who are you and the others that are with you? - Are you from this time or the future? - We are from the future.
We come from Kyba.
We're the Kyben from another world, from the future of this world.
We've been altered to look human .
lt was necessary to come back to find you .
- Why? - We're at w*r.
- What do you want? What are you after? - Your hand.
Why? - We were told it holds all knowledge.
- What kind of knowledge? We were told we have three fingers, that the whole hand is so important l don 't know.
l know this: you're the last man on the Earth of the future.
You're the last hope of Earth.
Now, you you can send me up, but that's all l know.
lt's the truth.
Explain the gold medallions to me.
The time mirror works safely only one way, coming from the future.
- And when the medallions are pulled off? - They're focusing elements for the mirror.
lt's as if time were a rubber band and you are on one end, stretched tight.
As long as the medallion 's present, the band stays tight.
But when you rip it off, we snap back up to the future.
- l'm wearing one.
That makes me vulnerable? - Yes, you're vulnerable, and we'll get you .
We'll have to get you finally.
lf you k*ll me, another will take my place, and if you k*ll him, another.
And where is this time mirror? The Dixon building downtown .
We took an office.
The time mirror's there.
We ( hand) You come from the Earth The Kyben came from the stars and man had no defence against them.
They conquered Earth in a month, but before they could slaughter the millions of humans left, overnight, without warning, without explanation , every man , woman and child of Earth vanished.
You were the only one left, Mr Trent, with a glass hand the vanished Earthmen had given you to help you .
They called you ''The last hope of humanity.
'' The medallion you stole let you escape into now, the present, today, and now you are among all the men of Earth who are alive today, but the Kyben gained possession of three parts of your hand, the computer that could answer all the questions.
You have to get those three lobes to me, the computer brain , and find out what the alien Kyben really want from you , why you were the only man left alive You must destroy the time mirror to keep them from sending more Kyben through to the present, to close that doorway.
(door creaks) - ls this it? - The Dixon building, once an exclusive office building, it has become the centre of a slum.
Now it houses cut-rate garment offices, passport photographers and the like.
One of the offices is a front for the Kyben and their time mirror.
( man) Welcome, Mr Trent.
l see Breech d*ed a hero, Mr Trent.
He brought you to us.
lnfinitely easier than going to look for you .
Ah, come along, Mr Trent.
We're here, all of us, and we're waiting for you .
You don 't think you can escape us, do you? we conquered your planet in 1 9 days.
What chance do you think you have in the present? We've thrown a force bubble round the building.
lnvisible.
lmpossible to break.
- You're trapped.
- What do you want? You , Mr Trent.
Give yourself up.
Give yourself up and we'll let you live.
What is it you want? What? l want the 70 billion future Earthmen .
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and you know where they are.
- Where are the future people of the Earth? - ln hiding.
You are the key to releasing them.
- Where? Tell me.
- l am unable to answer.
My mechanism is not whole.
(g*nsh*t (screams) l have nothing, nothing here.
Please, mister, don 't k*ll me.
Please.
Don 't k*ll me, mister.
Come on .
Please, don 't k*ll me.
Don 't don 't k*ll me! Please! Please! - Wasn 't on the roof.
- The force bubble is sealed.
We'll find him.
They want to k*ll me.
Shh l didn 't know there was anyone in here.
l have to hide.
Believe me.
l need help.
l need your help.
No.
No, now, listen to me.
Please.
l'm all alone.
lneed your help.
lf you scream, if you let them know where we are Please, trust me .
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and be very, very still.
This is going to sound insane, but it's true, it's real, and you must listen to me.
This is not a human being.
He's from another planet, another solar system.
He wants to k*ll me, he and the others like him.
There's more, but l have to get you to believe me and there's only one way to do it.
Now , watch.
Gone! Where? lt doesn 't matter where, just gone.
Now, do you believe me? l believe you .
- Where did he go? What did you do to him? - He went forward to another time .
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1 ,000 years from now.
The future.
He came from the future, and so do l.
But you said he wasn 't human , that he was some other kind of being.
Another world and another time.
Look, l worked late tonight.
lt's a poor living.
Will you let me go home, please? - You can 't leave the building.
lt's sealed off.
- What do you mean , sealed off? A force bubble.
lt's an invisible barrier.
lt keeps anyone from getting out.
lt's designed to keep me inside but it keeps everyone else in too.
l'm sorry.
- l don 't understand this at all.
- Wait.
They want to k*ll me.
Do you understand that? They've come through time, from the future, to k*ll me.
That's about as much as l understand myself, but l've got to survive, not just for my own sake, but for a larger objective, to They use a time mirror for time travel.
lt's here.
l've got to destroy it.
Now, is there a place to hide? Maybe the basement.
lf they're all through the building Come.
There's another way to get down there.
Move this away from the wall.
lt's been sealed off for years, blocked, so there was only one entrance to the shop.
All right.
Quietly.
(screams) - What are you going to do with him? - What l did with the other one.
After l talk to him.
Do you have to? Do you have to k*ll him? - What would you suggest? - l'm sorry.
lt's just that l can 't stand v*olence.
When it's gone this far, it's more than v*olence.
- What's your name? - Trent.
Trent? - Trent.
- My name is Consuelo Biros.
And you hate v*olence.
lt was because of my husband, Esteban , the E on the door.
- The E on the door? - C & E Biros Ladies Apparel.
Oh.
Yes.
He always hit me.
He had a rotten temper.
That was his answer to everything, hitting me.
But l shouldn 't talk about him that way.
He did the best he could.
Being poor is what made him so rotten .
Please do you have to k*ll him? Do you? l'm prepared to die.
How prepared? Why not give yourself a couple of minutes? We all knew we'd die when we came on this mission .
lt was worth it.
- You can stay alive in this time.
- l don 't care about that.
Helping my race is more important.
- Bargain week on patriots.
- Call it what you like.
l'm not afraid to die.
Really? Then why are you whispering? You Kyben were super-patriots, especially when you bombed Earth from ten miles up.
How does your patriotism sit with burning women and children alive? - That's w*r.
- So's this.
Now let's talk, shall we? You'll never get out alive.
We'll bring more Kyben through the time mirror.
That's my problem.
Right now, you have one of your own .
l want to know who's carrying the other three parts of my brain .
l can tell you .
lt doesn 't matter.
There's only one piece here in this time.
- They're keeping the other two in the future.
- But there is one piece, one finger here now? - And when you go after it, they'll be waiting.
- Arch? He has one and 1 ,000 years from now, Bonn and Durn have the other two.
When we need them, they'll bring them through.
- Trent, let him go.
Let him go! - Stay out of it.
l've found him! l've found him! Up here! l've found him! Come on .
l'm trapped in the building.
There's a woman with me.
We can 't escape.
Tell me, what can l do? Next success quotient only 47% probable.
Tell me, what is it? Let them k*ll you .
(g*nf*re) He's dead.
Very dead.
As soon as we bring Durn and Bonn through the mirror, we shall know where humankind is hiding and put an end to every last one of them.
- Why are we keeping the woman ? - She hasn 't spoken .
-No one knows who she is.
That's why.
- Till we find out.
Bonn and Durn will be coming soon .
When they put that glass frame together, perhaps it'll have a method for us to go back up safely.
l'm so frightened.
Dear Mary .
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please help me.
l'm so frightened.
Will you save me, please? You can save - .
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yourself.
- What? You asked a question .
lt activated my programming.
Can you get a moist cloth? - ls he dead? - Yes, he is dead.
- Do you have the moist cloth? - Yes, l have it.
Listen carefully.
Wring it out.
Not wet, moist.
Apply it lightly to the exact centre of the forehead.
There is a soft spot you will find.
lt will stimulate the gliomus, the brain substance itself.
Then touch it to the frontal sinus between the eyes and then the carotid artery, the thick artery in his neck supplying blood to the brain .
Pulse rate, 1 6.
Blood pressure, 40 over 0.
Pupils dilated.
Motor reflexes erratic.
Respiration , 5 breaths per minute.
Pulse rate, 1 82.
Blood pressure, 300 over 1 50.
Respiration , 36 .
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40, 49.
- Temperature, 1 1 2 degrees.
- 1 1 2 degrees? Remove the cloth quickly.
He is rising too fast.
l was in a dark place.
Someone was calling my name over and over, down a long corridor.
You were dead.
The hand brought you back.
No blood.
No b*llet holes.
l'm alive.
lf it can do that with just one lobe of its brain , what can it do with all the parts? - Fill in my memory? Answer my questions? - l heard them.
They said the other two parts would come through with Durn and Bonn .
Through the mirror.
l've got to find that office.
Now are you complete enough to tell me what to do? Ambiguous.
l can now extrapolate.
- What is extrapolate? - Draw a conclusion from a series of facts.
Can you tell me what they're after? Why have they been sent back to k*ll me? You carry the lives of 70 billion Earthmen .
They want your glass hand.
lt will tell them: a) where the people of Earth are hiding, b) how to return to the future without dying, or c) how to exist in this time safely.
But where? Where are the people of Earth? l will need my second brain lobe to answer.
l have registered an energy drain .
Durn is through the mirror.
Arch! Arch! lt's Durn ! l've got Trent! He's alive! ( Arch) Where are you? Protect yourself.
Protect the second finger.
Durn , answer! Where are you? Durn ! The second finger (tapping sound) ( humming) Oh, no - l'm sorry.
l can 't.
- All right, all right.
Shh.
Come on .
Now , whero a ro my peeple ? The 70 billion people of Earth, where are they hiding? Trent, your people knew they could not defeat the Kyben , but they had a terrible w*apon , a radioactive plague with a half-life of 99 years, but to turn it loose meant death for humans and Kyben .
The plague destroys all intelligent life.
They d*ed? No.
They had to find a way to get off the Earth for 200 years till the plague had dissipated and the Earth was clean once more.
And they did.
They vanished, all of them, overnight.
Where did they go? A device was used to translate every man , woman and child into their primal electrical components.
The population of Earth, 70 billion people, were turned into electrical impulses and they were stored on a strand of gold/copper alloy wire.
A piece of wire? l l cannot believe A wire? Reiterate.
A wire.
ln this time, the time of this woman , they put sounds and odours and pictures on wire.
it is a commonplace means of preserving life.
That still doesn 't explain why they want to k*ll me.
l don 't have this wire.
l carry nothing.
Reiterate.
The wire was entrusted to you .
- But where is it? - l cannot answer.
l am not yet complete.
The third part of your brain .
Do you know where it is? Can you tell me anything further? Reiterate.
You are the last hope of mankind, Trent.
Do not fail.
To save all of man l have to become a k*ller.
Arch! The mirror is tuned.
- Bonn is coming through.
- l'll be right down .
We searched the whole building.
No sign of them or Durn .
l know.
Don 't worry, we'll find them.
How long has it been since you've slept? l don 't know.
Funny.
lnever seem to get tired, but l know l haven 't slept since this thing began .
- l've got to get you out.
- l think there's no place to hide.
- There has to be.
- l think l'm part of your trouble, now that you've brought me into this.
- You can 't be with me.
- But l am.
Consuelo, they're not human .
They'll walk over anything to get to me, destroy anything that's close to me.
Trent l'm going through this on luck! l don 't want you with me if it runs out.
Trent Oh, Trent l think l'm falling in love with you .
(sighs) Not me, Consuelo.
l'm not in love.
know know But l don 't care.
lt doesn 't matter.
lf one of us loves, that's enough.
By tomorrow morning, probably both of us will be dead.
Well, then , there's no time to wait for you to fall in love with me.
lt's safer out there.
No ! Yes They'll never look for us outside the building.
Trust me.
Come on .
Look at me.
Don 't look down .
What are you ? What are you going to do? Try to b*at the devil.
- Which office, Arch? - You got Durn .
You sent him up.
Which office? Or do you get sent up too? Tell me, what's it like? ls it quick, all of a sudden , like a switch-off .
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or is it soft, slow, like jelly? Third floor, PO2, Alvarado Passport Photos.
We'll win , Trent.
ln the end, we'll win .
They're all gone, every last man on Earth.
Just you (footsteps) ( man) Arch! Hey, Arch! Bonn 's going to want you down here.
He'll want to see us all.
Arch! Where are you? (imitates Arch) Be right there.
Just checking the hall.
Go on in .
Hurry.
Bonn is coming through right away.
There's trouble up ahead.
(faint buzzing) l am Budge.
Bonn is right behind me.
l was sent to make sure everything is safe.
- The Kyben are starting to die.
- From what? We don 't know.
lt started after Trent escaped through the mirror.
- lt seems to be some sort of plague.
- The Earthmen ? No.
We can 't find them.
They all vanished in one night.
Our bacteriology tests show it is something not native to Earth.
- You saved your hide by escaping to the past.
- l was sent to protect Bonn and the finger.
We were told to get the glass hand.
lt has the reason for the plague.
( humming) Here comes Bonn .
He's got the third finger.
Grab it as soon as it solidifies in case something goes wrong.
(g*nf*re) ( mouthing) ( Consuelo screams) God forgive me! God forgive me! Oh ls it over? Almost.
- The mirror's gone.
- And the Kyben , are they all dead? All but one.
l'll have to take care of that.
You go on down to the garment shop.
l'll be there.
Go on .
Oh lt's been a nightmare .
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but it's over, it's done.
Yes.
Except for humanity.
The people of Earth are still missing.
The computer's complete now.
l can ask the hand.
Do you have sufficient data now to answer my questions? My segments are complete.
Ask your question .
Where is the wire on which the people of Earth are transcribed? lt is wound around an insulating coil inside your central thorax control solenoid.
lt has been demagnetised and protected from your circuits.
- What circuits? What are you talking about? - Trent, push the three middle fingers together and bend them back as far as they will go.
All of them went onto the wire and the wire went into you .
They programmed you to think you were human with a surgically attached computer for a hand, but you are a robot, Trent.
You are the guardian of the human race.
That's why, when they k*lled me no b*ll*ts, no blood.
Once l had one of the missing lobes to my brain , l could help your machinery repair itself.
( narrator) Like the eternal man of Babylonian legend, like Gilgamesh, one thousand plus two hundred years stretches before Trent without love, without friendship, alone, neither man nor machine, waiting.
Waiting for the day he will free the humans who gave him mobility, movement, but not life.
We return control of your television set to you until next week at this same time when the control voice will take you to .