Tremors s01e07 Episode Script

Manny, it's Jim.
You copy? Over.
I copy.
What's up? Over.
I'm over at the IGC.
Wind's kicked up some trouble.
Knocked the radio wave uptake arm off kilter and loosened some connections.
Should I call Cecil? Na, no trouble.
I'm taking care of it.
Should be fine.
Hey, what about the battery? Hold on.
Uh, according to the schedule, it's just about time.
You might as well change it since you're out there.
Roger.
Note that down on the schedule.
Over and out.
Will do.
Does everyone have everyone else's keys just in case we lock ourselves out? Yeah, Jodi, Tyler, and I do.
Accidentally locking myself out of my own bunker isn't even a remote possibility.
I use codes.
Now what does he want? I don't suppose you just stopped by to gas up? Got an assignment for you.
Hey, hey, that's our deal and you know it.
Well, not that I mind the little adventures you send us on, but I wouldn't exactly call it a deal.
Well, I do.
I call it coercion.
You serve your country, your country allows you to live here in peace.
Against its better judgment.
Oh, you don't like it? I'll have a US Marshal out here to evict you before daybreak.
All right.
What is it? Toluca, New Mexico.
Near Alamogordo.
It's surrounded by BLM land.
That's why I'm involved.
Looks like they might have themselves a little Graboid problem.
They might? What's the evidence? Well, uh, some people have, uh, disappeared over the last six months.
Last one went missing two nights ago.
And that's why they believe Graboids are to blame? No, that's what my department thinks.
So what do the Toluca people think? Who cares? Fine.
Fine.
Play your little game.
But without any proof the Graboids are the problem, then I see no need for my services.
All right, all right, all right, all right.
I need your services to prove it's a Graboid problem because the Tolucans think it's a government conspiracy to cover up the disappearances.
You want me to disprove a government conspiracy? Are you sure you're talking to the right Burt Gummer? Look.
Go to Toluca.
Set up your little gizmos, look for Graboids.
Find any, kill them before they turn into those little Shrieker things.
If you don't, leave.
If I uncover a government conspiracy You won't.
You sure don't travel light.
Don't really know what we're actually hunting, do we? Twitchell's so out of the loop sometimes, he could have us walking into anything.
But you're kind of hoping it is a conspiracy, aren't you? Oh, I take no pleasure in being right about such things.
At this point, nothing would satisfy me more than to finally use my Barrett 50 on a real Graboid.
Bought this special for dispatching Graboids.
But because of El Blanco's special status, never had the opportunity to test it under battlefield conditions.
Oh, to see what she's capable of when face-to-face with a worm.
You two wanna be alone for a while? We need to get moving.
Got a long ride ahead of us.
Load your gear.
Let's go.
Got everything I need right here.
Socks, extra T-shirt, underwear.
No toothbrush? I thought I'd borrow yours.
Local watering hole, always a good place to start.
Then why didn't we start here instead of setting up geophones before eating? Without those geophones, we'd be flying blind.
Better to eat later than be eaten sooner.
They're flying blind.
Yet they seem to be eaters, not eatees.
They're geologically fortuitous.
The town's on bedrock.
Graboid-proof.
But the surrounding area is vulnerable.
Grab us a table.
Try not to offend the fortuitous locals.
You have to go again? No, no, you're kidding.
That's ridiculous.
And they told Irene Escaveda she should check every drunk tank in the state before she declared Pablo missing.
Sounds like they knew Pablo.
Red.
Cover-up's bad enough.
Do they have to insult people's intelligence and hurt their feelings, too? That's how they do it.
Spoken like a man who's familiar with the turf.
All too well, sir.
All too well.
Let me get you a menu.
Welcome to Helen's.
I'm Red Landers.
My wife and I own the place.
Burt.
You, uh You must be Helen.
Rosie.
We took over the place after Helen Well, after Helen disappeared.
So you've heard all the official party lines.
What do you folks think happened to your neighbors? Well, if you ask Rosie, she'll tell you it's the alien problem and that the government won't do anything about it.
They don't even want to admit we have an alien problem.
I'm all for someone seeking a better life, but not to the detriment of law-abiding Americans.
Absolutely.
Protection is all we're asking for.
It's all any of us ask of our country.
Protect our borders.
Keep us safe to live our lives as we see fit.
Hear, hear.
If some people wanna visit the mother ship, that's their prerogative.
Absolutely.
The mother ship? But they must be returned safely.
What's happening now is wrong and we're defenseless.
Cecil thinks the mother ship might arrive soon to return our loved ones.
That's just Cecil's grief talking.
The man is in denial.
You're talking about space aliens.
Of course.
Uh, Burt, I gotta talk to you.
Yeah, they think aliens abducted their citizens.
Uh, I know, and this local paper says they're trying to communicate with them, which is what I wanted to talk to you about before You're all nuts.
You said something like that.
Nuts? Remember what I said about offending the locals? Did he just call us loco? No.
No, I said locals No, I think you were right the first time.
I beg your pardon.
That's my wife you're talking about.
Hey, don't get up.
We were just leaving.
No wonder Twitchell was so evasive.
Twitchell? You mean W.
D.
Twitchell, the Department of Interior? Listen up, y'all.
I just saw a report saying the government is sending someone to prove that aliens haven't been taking our neighbors.
And that someone is none other than that Burt Gummer guy.
The Graboid hunter.
There he is.
That's him.
Oh, a government plant.
I beg your pardon! Did you hear what that woman called me? Government plant, my eye.
Okay, I checked us in.
Most of the rooms are being painted so we gotta share a room.
Share a I'm not gonna sleep with you! We're sharing a room, not a bed.
We get our own beds.
Jeez, Burt, what'd I tell you about drawing attention to yourself? We're here to do a job.
We'll do it as fast as we can, then get out.
I even checked us in under pseudonyms.
Mulder and Scully.
You're Scully.
Who? Welcome to the Cecil Carr show.
They're among us.
They're always among us.
Some take us, some infiltrate.
Others, pawns of the government, simply betray us.
That's right, America.
The enemy always lurks in the sheltering shadows.
But today, something truly astounding has occurred.
He's emerged in broad daylight right here in Toluca, my hometown.
He answers to the name Burt Gummer.
And he's trying to convince us that the danger lies beneath us, not above us.
Ignore his poison.
Ignore his poison? You know he's a pawn of the government.
For a local hotel, they got some great showerheads.
Someone I don't even know is slandering me on national radio.
Soon enough, he'll be proved wrong.
They'll all be proved So shut it off.
When he wasn't trashing me, he was giving an ETA on the mother ship.
He's got everyone buying into this crap.
They have a fire evacuation plan.
They also have an alien abduction plan, suggested sounds for communicating with extraterrestrials, and instructions for de-freezing your watch dial.
De-freezing? Well, according to experts, if you have a close encounter like a spaceship landing, time freezes up.
And if you happen to be in your car at the time, your radio gets all staticky and stuff.
Dear God, you're one of them.
If you occasionally watched TV, you would know some of this stuff, too.
Doesn't mean I believe it.
Well, they're a pathetic bunch, those who do believe it.
Can't imagine spending my entire life paranoid over some ridiculous obsession.
You can't.
What? You wear socks to bed? Get out of here, government scum! No, don't! Probably glass on the floor.
Besides, you don't know if they're just trying to draw us out.
Look at this.
What you got there? "Be gone or be dead.
" So you're saying someone threw this rock through your window? Your powers of deduction leave me speechless.
From what I heard, that'd be a first.
Look, Officer, I'm sure you'll eventually come to the same conclusion.
But let me cut to the chase.
Someone threatened our lives here.
Be gone or be dead.
And you saw this person? No, they They drove away before we got a chance to get a good look.
But you saw how angry people were in that restaurant last night.
It could've been any one of them.
Or Cecil Carr.
I heard his show.
The man is certifiable.
Hey! He's the voice of America.
We are damn honored to have a national hero reside here in Toluca.
Since his wife was abducted, he never stopped trying to contact the aliens that took her.
I take it they're not returning his calls.
Okay.
Okay.
It probably wasn't Cecil.
He doesn't even know what we look like.
Look like? Hell, we don't even know who you are.
Edgar, the desk clerk, says no one by the name of Gummer or Reed is registered here.
He thinks one of you is Scully and the other one is Mulder.
Uh, I used pseudonyms.
Oh.
You mean false identities.
The usual tools of government cover-up.
We are not with the government.
We're here to find out if you got Graboids.
Plain and simple.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We heard all about it on Cecil's show.
Now you guys wanna pretend we got a worm problem.
I think you need to show a little more respect for something that could rear up out of the ground and consume you whole.
Do yourself a favor.
Forget about the rock.
Take your obsession with the worm and get out of town.
I'm gonna leave the motor running, Burt.
Maybe we can lure him back to the scene of his last meal.
These people think I'd be part of a government cover-up.
Infuriating.
Maybe they're the ones covering up.
You know, I was thinking.
What if there's actually a killer on the loose? We know aliens aren't to blame.
We haven't seen a Graboid all morning.
Twitchell should've called the FBI, not us.
Might as well call Heston a liberal.
Okay, enough already.
You're upset they think you're a Fed.
I got it.
It's time to let go.
Now, how'd you like it if somebody called you a You know.
Paramilitary paranoid? I'd consider the source before I reacted.
Come on.
We're talking about people who believe in mother ships.
Who cares what they think? You gotta admit, Burt, the intergalactic communicator's kind of cool.
There was an article about it back at Helen's.
It's like this giant tape recorder that can pick up any communications from outer space.
This is real.
These things actually exist with, you know, NASA types.
Did you see the movie Contact? If there's life out there and it wants to leave a message, that's the answering machine.
Sends out radio signals aliens might respond to.
I recognize that sound.
We got ourselves a Graboid at two o'clock.
He's heading our way.
Yeah.
So much for the alien and serial killer theories.
Well, Twitchell wasn't so out of the loop this time.
Time to break out the truck bait.
Here she comes.
Rises for the bait and You and Old Betsy here finally consummate your relationship.
Old Betsy.
Davy Crockett's rifle.
I knew that.
What? What's your problem? There's no picture.
Oh, for Christ Geophones went dead.
I think we just became Graboid bait.
Freeze.
That was cool.
Weird, but cool.
Totally ignored the truck bait.
I've been doing this for years.
Never Never happened before.
Why now? Let's check our lines.
Retrace our steps.
I'll lean out and scoop up my geophones.
Without my geophones, these people are defenseless.
Easy does it.
And here's another one.
Got it! What do you think? Angry jackrabbit with a ball peen hammer? All right, let's go back to the IGC, the last place we encountered the Graboid.
Somebody must've followed us out here and watched us set up.
How did we not see them? That's because there was no one to see, Tyler.
Just like no one threw that rock in our window.
Maybe it was our sharp-witted deputy after all.
What's he doing? Cheating death.
Think we ought to warn him? Even though every fiber of my being tells me to drive away.
Get back in your car and freeze! There's a Graboid on the loose! What? Graboid! Idiots.
Hey, Burt, look.
It's heading towards the IGC.
We gotta save this guy.
Cross in front of it.
Try to get it to follow us.
I've been waiting a long time for this.
Hang on, Burt.
What the It's still headed for him.
Get over there.
Maybe I can get a shot off.
Garcia! Get on top of your car! You guys are pathetic.
Hurry up! Move! Whoa! Whoa! Back it up.
Back it up.
Hurry, Burt, hurry.
Guess little green men ain't Toluca's problem.
Why are you driving Manny's car? Where's Manny? Those are the Feds.
Afraid I've got some bad news.
Your deputy's been killed.
Manny Garcia's dead.
If your deputy hadn't been out in the desert sabotaging my geophones, he might still be alive.
Manny never sabotaged a thing.
But we all heard about your false police report you filed this morning.
No one in this town would threaten you.
Pretty sad to take to trashing your own equipment just to make a point.
Or maybe you wanna blame me for that, too.
Like you blamed me for your broken window.
You tell 'em, Cecil.
Cecil.
Cecil Carr.
I should've known.
The big mouths usually come attached to small minds.
At least I'm no government stooge.
I don't cover up the truth with lies.
You might get the officials to blame those worms for what's happening here, but you won't fool the people of Toluca or my listeners.
Who're you gonna blame for this? Oh, dear God.
What happened to him? A Graboid happened to him, people.
That's the reason folks have been disappearing.
The others were eaten whole.
But in this case, we scared off the Graboid before he could finish his meal.
And you and your pal just happened to be there when this all took place.
How convenient.
Don't you see what they've done? They need evidence of Graboids.
What better way to convince us than to do this? What? We did not kill your friend.
It's all part of the government plot to prove there's no alien menace.
Get your murderous hands out of the way, so we can take Manny to the morgue.
We better give them time to calm down.
If I didn't know you better, I'd swear you were packing to leave.
I've been called a government plant, a pawn, a traitor, a liar, and now, a murderer.
My life's been threatened.
Call me sensitive, but I don't think I'm wanted here.
You aren't wanted anywhere, Burt, but that's never stopped you before.
These people don't need my help.
They need strong prescriptive medicine.
Probably so, but the Burt I know isn't a quitter.
Even if I wanted to keep trying, I don't have the equipment.
No geophones.
And this Graboid wasn't attracted to the remote control truck.
Maybe there's more than one way to skin a worm, Burt.
Remember when we drove around trying to distract it from Garcia? Yeah.
Yeah.
Ignored us.
Because it found vibrations it liked better than ours.
Out in that desert? Gila monsters and rattlers are insufficient enticement for a Graboid.
Maybe.
But the mother of all answering machines is plenty enticing enough.
That pseudo space phone.
AKA, IGC.
Where is that map Twitchell gave me? Here.
Here.
It lists all the places where people were last seen or headed to when they disappeared.
It didn't mean that much to me at first, but now that I know about the IGC Well, everyone was taken in the vicinity of the IGC, which is in the middle of the desert, which is where spaceships always land.
So that's why everybody thought these were alien abductions.
I'm just trying to understand their reasoning.
Not the wisest use of time, my friend.
So we turn off the IGC and it goes after the truck.
You and Old Betsy keep your date with destiny.
Come on.
We've got an intergalactic communicator to unplug.
Come on, Burt.
Focus now.
Deep breaths.
Wait, where you going? Now you've really crossed the line.
How many times is this guy gonna interrupt my meal? Threaten me, call me names, destroy my equipment.
I can let all that slide.
But attack my power wagon? You'll get yourself a war.
Whoa, Patton, take it easy.
It seems to me you fellas have stirred up enough trouble, so why don't you turn around and head out of town? Yeah.
That's what we're gonna do as soon as we turn off your IGC.
What? You can't do that.
The vibrations apparently draw the Graboid in.
You're trying to attract space aliens, but instead you're ringing the dinner bell for a land shark which uses sonar to hunt its prey.
Think about it, Cecil.
Did your wife ever go out there and change the battery, like Tucker did? Or check the readouts? See? Because people go out there on a regular basis to monitor it, the worm has learned it'll find food on a regular basis.
It's It's like a Yellowstone bear that's discovered the garbage dump.
I've heard your radio show, Cecil.
You're a bright guy.
You understand what I'm saying.
Destroy the IGC, destroy your Graboid bait.
And Burt and I can use our experience to destroy the Graboid.
The IGC is this town's lifeblood.
It's our link to the cosmos.
Our best hope of communicating with those who have taken our people.
Chance to get my wife back.
If I was her, I'd stay with the aliens.
Burt! The transparency of your plan is laughable.
Of course, your solution is to destroy it.
It's all part of the government conspiracy.
There is no government conspiracy! These men wanna suppress the truth.
Well, it's never gonna happen.
Not while Cecil Carr is around to shine the beacon of light into the darkness.
And tonight that beacon will shine brighter than ever before.
Isn't anyone here willing to listen to another side? Uh, boys, listen to me.
Just cut your losses and leave.
I mean, if it'll speed things up, you can take the tires off my pickup to replace yours.
Probably got the same bolt pattern.
Come on.
All these folks are just fattening themselves up for the kill.
These things'll never last under the weight of my power wagon.
Ah, they'll make it to Alamogordo.
We can buy the right ones there.
I'll drive till then.
I I know some tricks about squeezing a few more miles out of worn hides when the situation requires.
All right.
You know, I can't believe these space cadets are trying to run us out of town.
They're not running us out of any place.
We have a plan, a gun and a worm to kill.
You'll wanna put these in your ears when I fire this thing.
Where's the IGC? It's gotta be Carr.
He took it so we couldn't.
We don't stop him, that egomaniacal lunatic's gonna get a lot of innocent people killed.
Hey, you guys.
Hey, I've been in here three times and I still haven't had a meal.
I gave you the tires off my truck to get out of town.
If you fellas don't think we're serious about this, you got another thing coming.
Where's Cecil Carr? Probably preparing for his broadcast.
Well, the IGC's missing.
He might've taken it.
So what if he did? It belongs to him.
Where's he live? Like we'd tell you.
Look, if people here don't speak up, someone in your town is gonna die today.
Okay.
Okay.
Guys, you win.
There's no use pretending anymore.
There is a government conspiracy.
And, yes, Burt and I were sent here to cover it up.
The truth is your people were abducted by aliens.
Tyler.
No, Burt.
It's time we came clean.
What you don't know, what we haven't The government haven't been telling you, is that the Graboids are the aliens.
For the love of Pete! For the love of all of these people, Burt.
And I know I speak for you when I say I can no longer abide by the secrecy we've been sworn to.
Not when human lives are at stake.
Am I right, Agent Gummer? Uh, yeah.
Yeah.
But I've never heard of extraterrestrials who look like those worms.
Of course not.
That whole thing about silvery creatures, big heads, little green men, all a part of the scam.
We purposely steered you off course.
We let you believe that the threat came from above, not below.
That's exactly what Cecil says in his radio show.
Yeah, I knew I heard it somewhere.
You see how well it worked? We even had the master himself believing what we wanted him to believe.
But it's all gotten out of hand.
The aliens have started killing the people they're taking.
It's time we fight back.
The IGC can be an invaluable source of counterintelligence, an important weapon that enables us to win the battle.
Please.
You saw Garcia's What was left of Garcia's body.
This has to stop.
You have to let us help you.
Well, if you boys can come clean, I guess we can, too.
Cecil moved the IGC out to Crichton Canyon.
It's an old meteor crater north of here.
That's where he is.
Well, let's get out there.
Well, hold on now.
He's out there with a few others, including Rosie.
Why? To greet the mother ship when it returns.
Cecil says all the people who got abducted are being returned tonight.
He's been receiving messages through the IGC.
Rosie went out to greet them.
Anyone out there is in grave danger.
Burt and I will drive.
Red, show us the way.
Your vehicle will only get us so far.
Once we're at the canyon, then it's all on foot.
On foot? This is a very dangerous situation.
I've got no way of tracking that worm without geophones.
You got more tracking gadgets than NASA.
Isn't there something you can rig up? If I could tap into an infrared satellite, we might be able to get an image of the Graboid when it's near the surface.
Well, that means someone would have to go into my bunker and set up the downlink, then read me the coordinates.
Call Jodi.
She's great with numbers.
I'll have to tell her my security code to get into my house.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Red, let's move out.
I know you're disappointed that Desert Jack's tour has been temporarily suspended.
But, you'll be the first people on your block with all this official gear.
Chang's.
They'll believe you spent a day with El Blanco himself.
Hi, Burt.
Jodi? How about Rosalita instead? That's Burt Gummer himself on the phone.
The time has finally arrived.
Tonight our loved ones are coming home.
It's been tough on all of us.
I know your pain.
Without Millie, life hasn't been the same for me these past few months.
Part of my soul's gone missing.
What if they act strange? There may be a slight adjustment period, but it won't be great.
They're coming back on a mission, to let the world know we're not alone in the cosmos.
To put to rest the government conspiracy once and for all.
I'm sorry, Burt.
If we could use cell phones in the valley, this would be a lot easier.
But we've got no choice, except for me to relay the info from you to Rosalita through the radio.
Oh, wait, hold on.
I got Rosalita.
Roger, Rosalita.
I read you.
Over.
I'm at the front door.
She's at the front door.
Tell her to look for a black button on the bottom right corner.
Push that down and hold.
There's a black button on the lower right hand corner.
Push it down and hold.
Black button's down.
Black button's down.
Now, press these digits on the keypad.
Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Easy.
Press Bravo, Charlie Wait, there are no digits marked with Bravo or Charlie.
There aren't any buttons with Bravo and Charlie.
B as in Bravo, C as in Charlie.
B, C, D, E.
That's the secret code.
So why didn't he just say that in the first place? Red light's blinking like someone's having a heart attack.
She's got a fast blinking light.
Correct.
When it stops blinking, speak into the intercom and say the word "Heather.
" Like his ex-wife's name? Wow.
He really has got it bad, huh? Heather.
Got a buzzing sound.
You can go inside now.
We shall not, we shall not be moved We shall not, we shall not be moved Just like a tree that's standing by the water We shall Okay, okay, just relax.
I'm gonna talk you through this.
You'll do just fine.
Got a worm reading yet? Greenhorn on point.
Touch and go.
We shall not Oh, look.
There's Red! I'm so happy he changed his mind and came out here.
Hi, honey! Let's go.
No, no, not Not yet.
Not till Burt gets a reading on the alien's whereabouts.
Locate the X and Y axes on the satellite grid.
What are they doing here? Oh dear, I don't know.
Red, what's going on? Does the X go horizontal or vertical? Rosalita, how'd I get you direct? Oh, Nancy figured out a high-tech solution.
I'm looking at the monitor, Burt.
Now what do you see? Blinking red light.
Did you say a blinking light? Is it moving? Yup.
That's a Graboid! Where? Which vector is the Graboid on? Victor? Who the hell's Victor? A bearing.
Can you give me a bearing? Um Um, down and to the left, then up a little? A compass bearing! Oh, you mean north and south.
I don't do north and south.
What? She's not good with north and south.
Let's get to that IGC! Rosie.
Cecil.
You gotta unplug the IGC and get out of here.
I knew it, Red.
You were never a true believer.
The Feds brainwash you? Red, how could you? No, no.
The Feds came clean.
The worms are the aliens.
There's no mother ship headed here tonight.
Come on, everyone, back to the IGC.
He's digging his heels in now.
Not even any large rocks to get on top of.
From the east? Are you sure? No, I am not sure.
Oh, wait, Burt.
I got it, I got it.
Okay.
The vector is on 32 degrees north latitude, um, 106 degrees west longitude, on a south Southeast bearing.
There, I got it.
Aren't you proud of me, Burt? Incoming! Three o'clock! Nobody move.
Freeze! I dropped the gun! Get the gun! The gun, Tyler! Hurry up and pick up the gun! The gun! No! Tyler, let go.
Get the gun! Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me! You were right, Burt.
This is one loud gun.
All this time I awaited our maiden voyage together.
And she sailed with you first.
Feds.
You made the wall.
That's about as big a compliment as we pay around here.
Aw, you didn't have to.
Hell, it's the least we could do.
You boys deserve to be up here, with my Millie.
Fine looking woman, Cecil.
You know, since she went missing, I never mourned her.
She meant the world to me.
I missed her terribly.
But I always believed she'd be back.
He thought the space aliens would return her.
Sure.
Sure, like they often do.
Little worse for the wear, but unharmed.
Graboids, different breed of alien.
Ruthless, vengeful.
I understand that now, thanks to you two.
Millie's not coming home.
Now I have to figure out a way to go on without her.
I tell you, Cecil, it's not easy, but, uh, hang in there.
You lost your wife to that underground alien, too? Let's go, Tyler.
Time to move out.
Rosie.
Red.
Yup.
Cecil.
Wait.
Come on my show tonight.
Um, that won't be necessary.
Really.
I wanna thank you on the air.
Uh, it wouldn't be appropriate.
I'm just a government man doing his job for the taxpayers.
Don't say a word.
Now that's the Burt Gummer I know and love.