The Outer Limits (1995) s06e22 Episode Script

1 CONTROL VOICE: Previously on The Outer Limits, ,, Just got word from the clerk, We got a writ of cert, -Cert? -Writ of certiorari, It means the Supreme Court's gonna listen to our appeal, I assume everyone's up to speed on U, S, v, Givens , Ah, tell me something, Haden, do you really believe that this woman has time traveled here from the past? As we sit here today, the future of the two-decade-old anti-technology codes, hangs in the balance, What you see before you, Your Honors, are nothing less than the detonators of the next, and most certainly final, technological holocaust, THERESA: I'd venture into the future, A few days at a time at first, Eventually, I wound up here and my heart broke, This couldn't possibly be 2076, There are no cars, no telephones, no computers, No sign of an electronic age, We haven't lost yet, There's still hope, Of course, Somebody will find an answer, Excuse me, Your Honor, I think there's one more voice that you really should hear from before you can make an intelligent verdict, -Who the hell are you? -I am your conscience, Justice Harbison, but you can call me Ezekiel, It's a bomb, Technically it's not a bomb, it's a cold fusion device, And I strongly advise you to listen to what I have to say, otherwise, otherwise I may just have to set it off, And then you can say goodbye to this courtroom, this city and, uh, what, maybe half the eastern seaboard, CONTROL VOICE: There is nothing wrong with your television, Do not attempt to adjust the picture, We are now controlling the transmission, We control the horizontal and the vertical, We can deluge you with a thousand channels or expand one single image to crystal clarity and beyond, We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive, 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 deepest inner mind to The Outer Limits, Please stand by, CONTROL VOICE: How is the world to survive once technology makes possible the day when one man holds our fate in his hands? Now, I'm sure that all the members of the gallery will spread the word when I tell you that there's a second bomb secreted somewhere out there, It's on a timer, and there's only one person who can disable it, Yours truly, All I have to do is send a little transmission code to the device, and we render it impotent, About as impotent as I'm sure that you're all feeling about now, If anyone tries to intervene, that's it, game over, Now, get out! Everybody out, now! Bailiffs, leave the court, (CLAMORING) What is it you want? You allow interested parties to file briefs either for or against the petitioner in these actions, Friends-of-the-court statements, -What's the term? -Amicus curiae, Ah, that's it! I most humbly submit my amicus curiae, I mean, I hope that doesn't sound too unreasonable, You're threatening us with a fusion device capable of killing millions of people, and you want to know if you sound unreasonable? The court reporter is not writing, Please instruct her to take all of this down, Do as he says, Marie, Thank you very much, How do we know this thing strapped to your body is a bomb at all? Ah, a skeptic, I like that, Jurisprudence, 1A, Never accept a fact without corroborative evidence, Well, if any of you are students of cold fusion, you may remember the young man who invented it back in the turn of the century, His name was Seth Todtman, brilliant young man, Troubled, yes, but brilliant, Now, Seth, (SCOFFS) Seth had the same problem, He had a classroom full of students held hostage with a fusion device ticking away, The problem was that nobody believed him, At least not at first, Nobody wanted to listen to me, but now you're going to, (GUN FIRING) (SCREAMING) Get down! Settle down! Settle down! Every way in and out of this building has a trash can, and every trash can is wired with an explosive device, which I have just armed, You won't get away with this, Seth, Really? Define cold fusion, -What? -I said define cold fusion, Cold fusion is, um, is a release of thermonuclear energies by devices that operate at ordinary room temperatures and pressures, but, but such devices are totally impossible, -We have proof of that, -Really? I made this one all by myself, I did it on my kitchen table, The people who said it was impossible were wrong, and today, I get to prove that, Look out the window! Look out the window! Now, unlike that young man, I have faith in your native intelligence, No, make that, faith in your ability to judge the difference between a credible threat and a bluff, You said you wanted to go on record in this case, Why? Well, ma'am, because I care, I care deeply about the issues, Does that sound corny? No, Well, where do I begin? Ah, perhaps the beginning, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and being rather enamored of his own skills he looked down upon his creation and he deemed that it was good, and it was good, It was damn good, And then he created the beasts and the forests, the dogs and the dark woods, and feeling his oats, he set about to create man, Well, actually man and woman, to be politically correct, although, I don't believe that God was but, hey, it was his ball game, And then, he plunked his creation down in the garden of Eden, for they barely had enough time for a round of croquet and a conversation with the serpent before they found themselves pissing God off, You see, they violated his one admonition, Don't, I say don't, eat from the tree of knowledge, But, Adam and Eve, they weren't buying any of this, and they paid dearly for it, As a matter of fact, we have all paid dearly for it because you see, paradise was off-limits to the newlyweds, It's been off-limits to us ever since, What is my point? My point is, it wasn't the snake in the grass and it wasn't the big, red, juicy, Washington Delicious, and it wasn't our innate perversity that draws us to things that we are told to shun that was the problem, The problem was knowledge! The problem was that we were thrown headlong into the same contradiction that made protoplasmic stew out of 6,8 billion people back in June of 2059, The problem was we thought that we could handle knowledge, You're a Luddite, an anti-technology zealot, I am also living proof of my own argument, All the best intentions of the world can be erased in the blink of an eye at the hand of one mad man, I'm dealing with impulse and capability, Aren't you forgetting that your side won? There was a definite roar of anti-technology sentiment after the new holocaust, A million man chorus that drowned any voices of opposition, and that's how we wound up here, Those 200 years of progress systematically dismantled and place on the garbage heap, So, I would ask you, why do you feel a need to put a nuclear gun to our heads and beat a drum that hasn't stopped pounding for almost 20 years? Excellent question, Brother Clayton, and I think I have an equally artful rejoinder, You see, I have got a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, I've got the sense that we're about to piss on the closest thing to paradise since Hotel Eden, So, all of this is to make sure that Dr, Givens' conviction is upheld? (SCOFFS) Dr, Givens isn't important, I am not important, There isn't a soul in this room who is important, What is important, is that we don't tick God off one more time because as smart as he is, as good as he is, I get the feeling he's just about run out of patience with his rather iffy creation, You were wrong about one thing, Ezekiel, Ah, Dr, Givens, I was waiting for you to chime in, You said this wasn't about me, I said that you weren't important, How about the truth then? -Is that important? -(SCOFFS) The truth is about the only thing that I have left in my kit bag, Doc, Then tell them where you came from, how you got here, and maybe you should tell them that you were rather infatuated with me once, A school boy crush on his mentor, A sentiment alas unrequited, I believe your last words were, "Go to hell," Well, I took your advice, Theresa, and now I'm back, THERESA: May I address the court? I think I may be able to shed some light on what's going on here, I'm glad somebody can, Go ahead, Dr, Givens, "Ezekiel" wasn't always his name, He took it from the prophet, who implored the Jews in Babylonia to return to their godliness and faith, Daniel Faraday is his real name, When I started developing my temporal transporter, I enlisted a number of specialists in various fields, It was a little like the Manhattan Project in the 20th Century, Hmm, An apt analogy I must say, Theresa, Everybody's responsibilities were compartmentalized, No one knew how the parts would be put together but me, Daniel, Ezekiel, was a bio-physicist for a company that had some highly-classified government contracts, I believe there's a shorter job-description, uh, I believe the word, "whore" is what you're looking for, And so the two of you collaborated? No, I think that would be over-stating it, We did share information, yes, but I made a critical breakthrough that the government and Daniel never could, and that's when all hell broke loose, Shall I tell them or would you like to? Oh, no, by all means, go ahead, I always say, why let the facts get in the way of a good story? That's when Daniel became Ezekiel, I had no idea what was going on, And his behavior became erratic, He would go on these rants, rants against the government, against science, against technology, Uh, Dr, Givens, I must confess that I'm confused, You say that that man used your machine to enter our time, but was this with or without you cooperation? There was no cooperation on my part, Daniel and I had a terrible falling out and then he disappeared, First sign that he was surfaced was when there was an experiment that was sabotaged at the government lab where he worked, -The wormhole's expanding! -Shut it down, MAN: Abort! Abort! The override isn't working, (PULSATING) -Power emissions are spiking! -(BEEPING) Shut it down! (ALL SHOUTING) A man called Ezekiel claimed credit for it, but I, I knew who was responsible, Ezekiel was making the world safe for democracy, and damned if he still isn't! And then there was a break-in at my lab, papers were stolen, most of the key documents from my transporter, They belong to me as much as they did her, I was only taking what was mine, I knew there was only a matter of time, -before he developed his own device, -(SCOFFS) "Just a matter of time," I like that, He took a number of trips through time with little or no regard for how he might be affecting history, Ladies and gentlemen, I believe the pot has just called the kettle black, Pot meet kettle, You, uh, don't see the irony here, Oh, I see irony everywhere, It's like X-ray vision, JUSTICE HADEN: Well, here you were, a revolutionary railing against the evils of technology, and you were employing the most sophisticated product of that technology, To what end am I using that technology? That is what you have to ask yourself, Mr, Chief Justice, Sometimes it is necessary to take up the arms of the enemy, to defeat him, You, uh, see technology as enslaving mankind, -Is that a fair statement? -Ha! Not only is it fair, I'd say it is pretty damn prophetic, Look at these things, Polygraphic generator, Re-animation lasers, Artificial intelligence arrays, the new golden calf, Uh, a little bowing and scraping music, please, maestro, If you believe machines are the problem, then I can only assume you place your faith in man's innate goodness, Only when he is not being crushed by the heavy boot of science and government, Only when he has a fighting chance, If that's the case, then I have to ask you, Ezekiel, why do you feel the need to force our hand here? Isn't the highest court of the land, by definition, a place where human judgment reigns supreme, That presumes that you haven't been corrupted, What evidence is there that we have? (LAUGHS) That's funny, Chief Justice, because to answer that question, I'm going to put you on the stand, -You want to interrogate me? -(LAUGHS) Oh, interrogate's such a nasty word, No, I just want to question you, JUSTICE HARBISON: Haden, don't fall into this man's trap, He's already got his finger on a nuclear trigger, don't give him anymore power, And here I thought you were the only cool head in this chamber, Justice Harbison, I stand before you as only a lowly private citizen advocating his point of view, A point of view that I believe you share, I don't believe in using violence to undermine the legitimate authority of this court, Boilerplate! Isn't that what you call it? When you have to plug in standard, legal language when all else fails? You want to question me? I have no problem with that, but I think it's only fair that you give up something in return, Oh, now we're negotiating, are we? Well, I hope you will excuse my coarse language when I ask you, do I look like a gosh darn fool to you? We're just spinning our wheels here, -I put a proposal to you, Ezekiel, -Mmm, Disarm that device, and I will do as you wish, As a sign of goodwill, I will disarm this bomb, Ah, to tell you the truth, it was getting a little uncomfortable for me, anyway, But I will warn you, I hold the transmitter that is capable of setting the one off outside, within a millisecond of my touching any one of these buttons, or we can just let it tick down on the timer till it goes off of its own accord, Now, it's your turn to show me some good will, All I ask is that you answer my questions fairly and honestly, Now, then, what did you do on the war, Mr, Wainwright? I was in the military, Three-star general attached to NATO troops, Then I can assume that you had a hand in the strategizing? Well, it was of very little value, Few skirmishes in Eastern Europe and Pan Africa, The submarine was sunk in the Atlantic, So, you weren't consulted in the possible use of a nuclear arsenal? I was in communication with the Pentagon, yes, Ah, such humility, Haden, The scope of it I heard was, you were personal advisor to the pres, What was your recommendation? That we not give in to nuclear blackmail, Hmm, tough it out, huh? Give us good as you get, bomb them back into the Stone Age, and let God sort it out? (CHUCKLES) That's your characterization, not mine, Sir, Mr, Chief Justice, you were safely ensconced in a bunker two miles below the earth's surface, while four-fifth of the world was reduced to radioactive jelly! You're hardly the one to be sanctimonious! Well, I learned from the best, Why don't you tell him that you traveled through time to other wars, and I don't recall you telling me about any heroic efforts to stop the bloodshed, Well, that was you job, wasn't it, Theresa? GAURD: Hold steady! (PANTING) -MAN: Miriam! Miriam! -GIRL: Mama! Mama! MIRIAM: Please, my daughter, don't make her watch, No, Mama! (GRUNTS) (GUN FIRING) (YELLING) THERESA: You were a tourist in hell, Those were your exact words, Well, I'm making up for it now, aren't I? History will number me among the greatest of all humanitarians, Excuse me, Mr, Chief Justice, We were talking about the Great War, Now, in the aftermath, after all the bloodshed, when the bodies were being counted, what was your job? I was appointed with the president to a taskforce to examine our options, Huh, would that be the task force that recommended the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction? That's correct, And when the mandate task force expanded, to include the consideration of the anti-technology codes, where did you come down on that issue? I was in agreement that they be considered, EZEKIEL: And when the codes were implemented, and when the moratorium on all scientific research was adopted, you were relieved, -I was in support, -Hmm, And that support was unwavering? Shall I repeat the question? I'm sitting in judgment on that question in this court, I think you know that, I think it's inappropriate for me to comment, All right, let's change the subject, Are you familiar with research done by Drs, McCamber and Houghton at the early part of this century? They were two doctors who discovered a way to revive necrotic tissues and organs, -And repair them, -EZEKIEL: Uh-huh, Not just to revive dead tissue, but to revive dead people, Zombie time, isn't that right? It proved to be a flawed technology, Oh, that is quite an understatement, because it did have the ability to restore human life, but not the quality of that life, (ENERGY PULSATING) Autolysis reversed, rebuilding neuron networks, (POWERING UP) -Reflex! -I don't think so, (BEEPING) Hello, Mr, Reynolds, Welcome back, EZEKIEL: You lost your wife, Julie to cancer, 10 years ago, am I right? I don't see that's relevant here, Oh, it's relevant, Mr, Chief Justice, because you went to the scientific underground and tried to illegally bring her back to life, She was my life, Nothing I'd ever achieved meant anything after she was gone, I was inconsolable, A friend told me about these renegades in the underground, They'd actually achieved the promise of Lazarus, And what else could you do? You plucked the apple, I would have given my life to save her, They weren't successful, I take it? She had a few moments of consciousness, She looked terrified, Bewildered, I'll never forget that look, and I'll never forgive myself, Never forgive yourself, your Honor, or never forgive science? There's always been a double standard, hasn't there, Brother Gannon? One set of laws for the privileged and another one for the average joe! PARKHURST: Do you honestly believe that any ruling made under threat, of blackmail, let alone, nuclear annihilation, could have any validity? EZEKIEL: You're making an assumption, Justice, Your assuming that I've threatened to use force if the decision doesn't go my way, And you're saying, you're not? I'm not a fool! I grant you my excesses, my passions, my unorthodox protocol, I did use my threat to, uh, gain access to this court, so that you will hear my testimony, but the final decisions still rest in your hands, untainted by any sort of intimidation, Now whatever you decide, I'll accept, I can't be stupid enough to believe that I can dictate the future, Isn't that exactly what you're doing? No, Theresa, it is exactly what you are trying to do by bringing this poisonous technology into the present, (THERESA LAUGHING) Excuse me, this is just a little more irony than I can take right now, Aren't you the one with the bomb? (SCOFFS) Actually, no, There is no bomb, There never was a bomb, Now surely, you won't me begrudge me this little bit of assurance, No, the only bomb here is the incendiary ignorance that permeates this courtroom, this culture, ignorance that would allow you to sink into the mire once again, Are you telling us that the transmitter that you're holding is not capable of triggering a cold fusion device? Boom! Hmm, You almost seem disappointed, Chief Justice, If what you're saying is true, then you won't mind surrendering it, Well, there are 20 bucks worth of perfectly good electronics in here, but I'm sure that once the court assures itself as to its harmlessness, I'll be justly compensated, Put the device down, You realize the gravity of your actions here today? I absolutely do, Chief Justice, I only wish that I could be as sure that you did, What's that? That's a time travel controller, your honor, She's right, It operates the temporal transporter, If you all foolish enough to return to a world where machines reign over humans, then I will humbly take my leave through that device, -And go where? -Oh! So many destinations! Ancient Greece, Renaissance Italy, anywhere but the future, JUSTICE HARBISON: If we let him go now, what's to prevent him from coming back later on creating the same havoc? If he leaves the controller here there is no way that he can return, What about the damage he could inflict in the past? He could affect the world for generations, Unlike the charade of this appeal, I'm not putting this up to a vote! I say get him the hell out of here, Not quite yet, Justice Woods, I haven't completed my presentation, -What does that mean? -It means, that I have special knowledge too, knowledge of the future of mankind, of the world far ahead of the one visited by Dr, Givens, I want you to be able to make the most informed judgment that you can, Why should we believe you, Ezekiel? Because to not believe me would spell absolute and irreversible doom, Go ahead, You have five minutes of this court's time, Thank you, your Honor, That's all I need, If time travel has taught me anything, is that the future is malleable, It can be shaped by our choices, It's really futures, plural, The number of possibilities is infinite, We can change your actions today, and visit those consequences, 10, 50, 100s of years from now, Not long ago, I went tripping through one of those possibilities, into a future where technology was not outlawed, Deep into the 24th century, about 100 years after we started to colonize other worlds, One civilization that we tried to oust from its home planet, declared war on us! It not only defeated the human invaders but then it came to Earth to finish us off, (SNARLING) (GRUNTING) (BEEPING) This is impossible, They, they have no technology, Oh, God! (EXPLODING) In the end, it was our false sense of superiority, our sheer willfulness, our arrogance, that defeated us, It is our arrogance that will defeat us, (SCOFFS) How did Shakespeare put it? "Screw your courage to the sticking-place and we'll not fail," Well, I guess I agree with old Will, Screw your courage! Theresa, I believe you're familiar with this, It's set, I just need you to flick this switch, You can come with me, you do know that, If they let your conviction stand, you'll face the death penalty, I know that, Are you so confident that you'll be vindicated? No, not at all, (PULSATING) Last chance! Goodbye, Theresa! (SIGHS) Is he really gone? Yes, he's gone, In the light of these remarkable developments I'd like to hear from the two councils, Approach, please, I assume that these proceedings will be declared null and void, Is that your feeling too, Ms, Whitley? I don't know, The question is, has the judicial process been compromised? Well, of course it's been compromised, it's all poison fruit, How can the Justices' fair hearing not be compromised by the presence of a mad man? A mad man who advocated your position, I'd remind you, Mr, Gannon, JUSTICE WOODS: Come on, look, isn't the real question here, not whether we can unring the bell, ah, but whether we can make a fair decision in the wake of all this? JUSTICE HARBISON: What's the alternative? Put the nation on hold? Put the whole damn world on hold, while start over from scratch? And then run the risk of the decision being called double jeopardy? I say, we take a deep breath and make our decision, Mr, Gannon? I, uh, I would like to make some final remarks, before it's decided, JUSTICE HADEN: Ms, Whitley? I'd like some time as well, I'll allow a brief summary from each side, -And the appellant? -Yes, She can speak, To say that technology is a double-edged sword is beyond dispute, But to forgo all of technology's gifts, because we have suffered the consequences of its misuse, may be the greatest miscalculation of our time, Your Honors, I believe, the time for retreat is over, We have to stop burying our heads in the sand, Society must act now, Out of love rather than fear, The same kind of caring and compassion that the Chief Justice himself showed, when he looked to science to rekindle the spark of life, in his beloved wife, It's time to show that same compassion for the future is still unwritten, You all witnessed Dr, Givens' choice to face judgment rather than flee, She acted out of that very love for human kind, and I hope that will guide your ultimate decision, Thank you, Mr, Gannon, your final thoughts? The, uh, state, as respondent in this appeal, has been accused in effect of killing the messenger, As fate would have it today, we heard from another messenger, one with a very different vision of future, and while we all deplore the barbaric way in which this man foisted his testimony upon this august body, ignore only at your peril, at all our peril, what his appearance here signifies, A few computer chips, a mingling of rare elements, a bit of electronic alchemy and lo and behold, our cities are held hostage to the threats of a sociopath, Now, are we really ready to believe that what happened here today won't happen again? It is we who are insane by definition, if we continue to conduct the same experiment, see the same results, yet fail to heed its lessons, Gentlemen, and lady Justices, we have already found a refuge from the plagues, that science and technology have visited upon us, We have found a haven, Are we ready to give up that sanctuary, and tempt fate? I pray that we are not, Dr, Givens? Before you reach your verdict, ask yourselves this, Were human beings put on this earth to witness the wonders of the universe or, (SIGHS) or to become one of them? I believe that our innate goodness and strength are greater than our innate weaknesses, and our innate evil, Are the fears of science reemerging as an uncontrollable monster, legitimate ones? Maybe so, but I'm naive enough to hope that we can overcome whatever obstacles that await us, that we can take control of our destiny, and realize in the best in ourselves, The real miracles are miracles at the outer limits of our imagination are yet to come, (SIGHS) Don't everybody talk at once, What else is there to say? I think we've all staked out our turf, Just so we're clear, can we consider the words of a terrorist who threatened to blow us to kingdom come? Every case we hear we draw upon the body of the law and a lifetime of personal experience, I don't think we can exclude from that experience what we went through today, So, what does a strict constructionist make of all this? We pulled the world back from the brink, once in this generation, I'm not about to push it back in, If I do nothing else in my remaining days on this earth, but negate my good friend Ollie's vote, I will consider it a life worth spent! I will not send that woman to her death, Much less, every child who goes to bed at night praying for a better world, You're all so full of surprises, So surprise us, Tell us you weren't moved by that woman's plea, Oh, I was moved, Sick to the stomach, moved, but you cannot erase the lessons of history with one emotionally charged speech, When I came on this bench, I made one, solemn promise to myself and that was to always put justice first, What the hell good is some abstract notion of justice in the face of everything you've just seen and heard? Now, you know better than to cross rhetorical swords with me, Kendall, (SIGHS) You're gonna have to break the tie after all, Haden, Yes, I know that, So, what do you think, old friend? JUSTICE HADEN: We have invented and created and sought answers to the mysteries of the universe since we first emerged from the cave, Some of those inventions were used to enlighten, Others were used to destroy, A rose, no matter how enticing, has its thorns, How are we to know when the torch we've be handed will be used to light our way through the darkness, or to burn down our homes and cities? The truth is, we can't know, Machines themselves have no intrinsic morality, It's up to society to invest them with a higher purpose, In the opinion of this Justice, the danger of denying our true nature, our natural curiosity, of denying our thirst for unencumbered freedom, is one we can no longer ignore, May we always seek the light, The vote is three to two, in favor to the appellate, Congratulations, Dr, Givens, you are a free woman, (BANGS GAVEL) (GIGGLING) I wish that I could be there in person, but I left behind this holographic message, Consider it a consolation to our defeat, I'm sure that Theresa's persuasiveness and your own gullibility were such, that her cause prevailed, Well, unfortunately that victory will be short lived, Maybe now, the world will heed my warning! (BEEPING) Oh, God, no, What is it? What's happening? Do something, use your machine! I can't! No time! Ahhh! (SCREAMING) (SHOUTING) (EXPLODING) (PERIOD MUSIC PLAYING) (LAUGHING AND SHOUTING) I would like to propose a toast, To the future! (CHEERING) Beware of false gods, false promises, but most of all, beware of me, (CACKLING) NARRATOR: If we fail to be vigilant, we may find that the same miracles which define our greatness as a species,