[Eerie music playing]
(Narrator) You unlock this door with the k e y of ima Gina t/on.
Beyond it is another dimension.
A dimension of sound.
A dimension of sight. A dimension of mind.
You're moving into a land of both shadowand substance,
of things and ideas.
You've just crossed over into the twilight zone.
(Narrator) It ma y be said with a degree of assurance
tha t not everything tha t meets the eye is as itappears.
Case in point: The scene you're wa tch/ng.
This is nota hospital, nota morgue, not a mausoleum,
notan undertaker's parl or of the future.
Wha t it is is the bell y of a spacesh/p.
It is en route to another planetary s ys tem,
an incredible distance from the earth.
This is the crux of our story, a flight into spa ce.
It is also the story of the things thatm/ght happen to human beings
who takea step beyond, unable to ant/c/pa te everything
tha t might a wait them out there.
(Man) I remember things.
It's more than just void, darkness, unconsc/ousness.
The mind does work. There are images, pa tterns,
things to recollect.
It's not just the long, deep sleep
tha t comes when the fear has left.
The cold is felt, the sl/pp/ng a way of feeling is noted and then succumbed to.
The mind functions.
Time is distorted, jumbled, telescoped, accord/oned,
but there is a sense of time even so,
and I remember things. I remember the way it began.
I remember the way it was in the beginning.
[Knocking]
Come in, commander stansfield.
Dr. Bixler.
Please, be comfortable. The figure of speech, commander.
Be comfortable in the sense that there's no need to stand on ceremony.
But there are no seats to sit down on, either.
I've heard much of you, doctor.
And I of you, and that's the reason you're here.
You've been an astronaut for 11 years.
Is that a question, sir?
It's an observa t/on. Should you not ha ve real/zed it,
you've been the object of considerable observation for the past several months.
I've been aware of some, doctor.
When the space agency put me on my project,
they told me to keep in mind the scientific problems,
but also to be aware of the human factor.
You, commander stansfield, are the human factor.
Go on, doctor.
You recognize this, don't you?
Well, this is our solar system. This is the sun
and here is the earth, Jupiter, Venus, pluto, Mars.
And what do we know about our neighbors, commander?
Mars is a vast, scrubby desert
with an unbreathable atmosphere.
Pl uto is poisonous and extremel y cold.
The moon is barren, Jupiter, volcan/c.
In short, commander,
our neighbors offer us only one asset: They're accessible.
They're wi thin rea ch.
Beyond tha t, they offer us nothing.
Scientific, social, economic. Anything.
They're the mount Everest of space.
Once, they offered us challenges.
Where is the next mount Everest, doctor?
That's perhaps the most pertinent question you've ever asked.
This is a planetary system.
To date seen only through the lens of a telescope.
We know nothing of it except that there are six bodies,
one of which we can only assume is the sun.
It's flaming and gaseous,
and it must provide heat and light for these five bodies here.
It's a small system like our own.
The planets run roughly in the same orbital pattern
as we do around our own sun.
Does it have a name?
You may call it stansfield's mount Everest.
That's where I'm going.
When?
In about six months. The ship's being built now.
It's off the drawing board. The keel is being laid.
But it'll take only one man, and that man should be right there
watching every rivet, every bolt,
every item of equipment going in there.
You are that man, commander.
You will be the sole occupant
and you will be its pilot.
Doctor, I...
I like this assignment very much.
That's precisely why you were chosen.
Of course, there will be the usual dangers, the usual unknowns.
In the past, you've had meteor showers to contend with.
You've had the usual calculated risk of mechanical difficulties,
landing difficulties, ejection troubles and the rest of it.
Well, you'll still have those.
Compounded.
We have another factor here.
Another problem.
Distance.
Distance. This system is perhaps 141 light years away from us.
That's a rough estimate, but a good one.
The ship is...
The ship will have interstellar drive
and an antigravity device.
It'll be the fastest man-made object ever conceived,
ever brought to life.
It'll go 70 times faster than the speed of light.
But in terms of the space you must conquer.
It'll be like an ant crawling across the Sahara.
In short, commander,
your trip to these planetary bodies and back to earth
will take approximately 40 years.
(Narrator) Commander Douglas s tansf/el d, as trona ut,
a man about to embark on one of history's longest journeys.
Forty years out into endless space and hopefull y ba ckaga/n.
This is the beginning.
The first step toward man's longest leap into the unknown.
Science has solved the mechanical details,
and now it's up to one human being
to breathe life into blueprints and computers,
to prove once and for all that man can live half a lifetime
in the total void of outer space, 40 years alone in the unknown.
This is earth. Ahead lies a planetary system.
The vast region in between is the twilight zone.
[Slow, steady heartbeat]
(Stansfie/d) Tha t was the beginning,
tha t brief, unemo t/onal, very ma tter-of-fa ct coll oouy
between the scientist and the practitioner.
A small cast of two characters.
And that was the way it should ha ve been.
But I remember,
I very clearl y remember the entrance of character number three.
[Man over loudspeaker] Will commun/ca t/ons team 5-8.
Communications team b-8 report to central control.
Commun/ca t/ons team b-8, central control.
Oh, a friend in need.
Oh, that's my job.
Picking up papers?
I'm the new morale officer. I follow people around who look stricken.
Oh, and do I look stricken?
You looked momentarily nonplussed.
I don't believe we've met. Are you permanently stationed here?
I'm with the space agency. And you're?
Stansfield. Commander, u.S.N.
Oh. You're the one.
I don't know whether I should thank you or report you for insubordination?
I've always wanted to meet you.
Well, I've always wanted to meet you, too.
No, tha t's true. I ha ve esp and I, uh...
A long time ago I woke up one early morning and some inner voice told me
with some intensity that I would meet a girl with a stricken look
who would drop papers in corridors.
And did your esp tell you the name?
Mm, Sandra horn.
Subtle astronaut.
It's been an honor meeting you.
I don't suppose that, uh, the space agency
could do without your services for a couple of hours this evening,
just long enough for dinner.
Well, despite the fact that I am invaluable
and that the whole space program rests on me alone,
I think a two or three-hour-period could be carved out.
I'm in the book, commander. Please, phone.
No, I won't call. I'll pick you up. I'll be there at 8:00.
Arr/vederci, lady from the space agency.
At 8:00, astronaut.
Arr/vederci.
(Dr. Bix/er) You are 31 years old, commander.
When you return from this trip,
the earth will have aged almost half a century.
That's something to contemplate. I'll be over 70 years old.
I will have lived the better part of my life out in space and alone.
You will have lived the better part of it, but you will not have aged.
We intend to try something new, also a risk,
also dec/dedl y Cal cula Ted.
Freezing?
An extension of that, but much more complicated.
It'll be a suspended animation in its purest form.
We've developed a substance
from the lymphoid tissue of hibernating animals,
plus several vitamin absorbents and a collection of drugs.
The earth will have aged, commander, but you will not.
You'll be only a few weeks older when you return.
Hm. Sort of like dying and coming to life again.
After a fashion.
But coming to life again
in the sense that there'll be very few people here
that you will know or who will know you.
Life will have changed, commander.
You'll have to begin living it all over again
as a stranger, as a... well, as an anachronism, if you will.
All right, doctor. When do I begin?
You have begun. As of this moment, you are very much committed, commander.
I'm on the payroll, doctor, and I just checked in.
Something?
A month from now you'll be off to space.
And by the time you come back down again...
You want to talk about that now?
Only for the following absurd reason.
I've known you for exactly three and a half hours.
That's what it's been.
Three and a half hours.
A long dinner
and a short dance.
An d already,
already...
Already what, San dy?
Already...
I feel a sense of... loss.
(Stansfie/d) My life had been space.
It had been missions, projects and expedit/ons.
There had been no time for intrus/ons tha t took the form of a woman's face,
a voice, a short month of a man and a woman drawing together,
becoming a part of one another,
rea ch/ng tenta ti vel y into tha t strange and mys ter/ous pond of I o ve
and then watching the r/pples tha t came from it.
But now/ think of these things.
Now they come to mind, now in the darkness, in the cold, the sol/tude,
the... st/llness,
the I onel iness.
Now there comes a feeling of warmth.
Sandy. Where are you now, Sandy, across the void?
My dear Sandy, through the millions of miles
of cold, empty space.
Through the vastness of a naked desert of skyand stars,
I love you.
I love you, Sandy.
(Man) Minus 2-30.
[Men speaking indistinot/ y over radio]
Small, unofficial gesture
from one of the lesser bureaucrats
of our good, respectable government.
Unofficial
and very much apart from protocol.
But I-I couldn't let you leave, Doug,
not without saying goodbye.
Not without tell you I...
I loved you very much.
And I shall sorely miss you.
And that my life,
whatever there is left of it,
shall be a strangely meaningless,
dull and
empty thing without you to share it.
It's Avery odd thing, Sandy, when I get back,
when I... touch this earth again,
I know the first thought I'll have, I know
the first thing that I'll wanna see,
I know the first
thing that I'll want to touch.
I'll be the
little old lady in the lace shawl.
The one waving the "welcome home" sign.
So, look for me. Will you, Doug?
(Man) Two, one, zero.
One, two, three, four and five.
[Engines rumbling loudly]
(Stansfie/d) I move now, I streakacross the sky,
I Lea ve an earth behind tha t changes beyond my closed eyes.
Froma warm place of Lea ves and trees
to a cold orb hanging ina dark sky
and growing smaller
and smaller and smaller.
And time passes.
It inexorabl y passes.
And I can do nothing about it.
General Walters? Space contact, sir. A craft spiraling in.
All right, let's hear the report.
An expedition called stansfield's mount Everest.
Commanded by Douglas stansfield.
What was the date of departure?
This one's one of the old jobs, sir.
Departure, December 31,1987.
"Old" is putting it mildly.
All right, check it out in your report. Let me know.
This one's one of the pioneers.
Been in spa ce 40 years.
First voice communication we've had.
It's been tracked on radar,
but his communications must have malfunctioned
a few hours after he left the atmosphere.
Now, here's a funny one.
How's that, sir?
Well, there's an insertion from a man named bixler.
He was one of the project people years and years ago as I recall.
He must have been in charge of the stansfield mission.
It says we're to contact
a girl named Sandra horn.
Who?
A miss Sandra horn,
a friend of commander stansfield.
Where would we find her, sir?
An old lady's home?
No, you'll find her in a hibernation room.
You'll find her a young woman of 26 years of age.
I hope you find her alive.
General Walters.
Miss horn.
You're looking very well indeed. You look fine.
Sounds idiotic, doesn't it? But,
what do you say to somebody who's been asleep for 40 years?
I was told commander stansfield...
Yes, his ship landed six hours ago.
I asked to see you.
What about him?
In good health.
Naturally... very tired.
I want to see him. I must see him.
You shall see him in just a moment.
I-I had to speak to you first.
I'll try to make this as brief as possible.
Commander stansfield suffered a communications failure.
It probably occurred within the first 12 hours after his departure.
There was only sporadic contact made
during the entire flight both there and back.
He reached the other solar system?
Yes, he reached it.
He landed, he took off, he returned.
He found no life. But we found that 20 years ago.
That's one of the ironies of progress, miss horn.
Could have saved the trip.
Could have saved him
his anguish.
His anguish being the following:
Unknown to us here on earth,
to my predecessors and to theirs.
Because of the lack of communication,
commander stansfield arbitrarily
removed himself from hibernation
six months after leaving earth.
He did this because...
I know why.
Oh, god help me.
I know why.
Over 40 years, miss horn.
Forty years in the cockpit of a ship.
Forty years.
His loneliness must have been
something brand-new in the human experience.
I wish to heaven he could have returned to you just as he left,
but as it is, he...
Doug.
You remember me, don't you?
Remember you?
I've spent...
I've spent 40 years remembering you, Sandy.
Painting a picture inside my head.
Listening to your voice.
Thinking about your touch.
I've spent
forty years
surviving for you, Sandy.
Oh, Doug.
It can still be that way.
The way you are.
The way I am.
It doesn't make any difference.
Oh, it makes a difference, Sandy.
It's 40 years difference. That's too much difference.
You 're, uh,
still beautiful.
Ver y bea ut/ful.
No, you go away now, Sandy.
Please go, hm?
Stansfield,
you are really quite an incredible man.
It may be the one distinction in my entire life
that I knew you.
That I knewa man who put such a premium on love.
Truly,
truly quite a distinction, stansfield.
(Narrator) Commander Douglas s tansf/el d,
one of the forgotten pioneers of the spaceage.
He's been pushed as/de by the flow of progress and the passage of years
and the feroc/ous tra ves Ty of fa te.
Tonight's tale of the ionosphere and irony
delivered from the twilight zone.
(Male presenter) And now, Mr. Serl/ng.
Next time out on the twilight zone
an unusual little item from the pen of Jerry mcneely
based on a story by Henry slesar and called intriguingly enough,
"the self-improvement of sal vadore Ross." This one poses the question,
"if you don't like what you are, how do you go about changing?"
Don Gordon portrays a man who really goes the route
when it comes to some basic changing and the results are most unexpected.
[Eerie music playing]