it's over, hunter.
well, how does it feel to be rich men?
okay! everybody topside! let's get our pants on and get to our posts!
all right, tycoons, let's stop spending our credit and start worrying about the job at hand.
sandy, you want to give us some vision?
sandy, scan the whole sky.
sandy, contact traffic control.
dell, plot our location.
where the hell are we?
this is chaz speaking. sorry, but we are not home. our present location seems to be only halfway to irth. remain at your posts and stand by. that is all.
let's hear it.
computer, this is captain standard. what conditions are you talking about?
a transmission?
play it for us, please.
computer, what language was that?
just hold it, hold it! computer: have you attempted to analyze the transmission?
well, it's finally happened.
sandy, can you home in on that beam?
computer, what's the frequency of the transmission?
dell -- show me that on a screen.
can you get it a little closer?
any rotation?
gravity?
martin, get the others up to the lounge.
except it will take 75 years to get a reply back. don't forget how far we are from the colonies, martin.
you're overruled, martin. gentlemen -- let's go.
dell, i want greater magnification. more surface detail. i want to see what this place looks like.
it's out of focus.
put ship in atmospheric mode.
dell, set a course and bring us in on that beam.
activate lifter quads.
turn on navigation lights.
what's the terrain down there?
is it solid?
then take her down.
what the hell happened?
damn it! how long to fix?
let's take a look outside. turn the screens back on.
kick on the floods.
well, we can't go anywhere in this darkness. how long till dawn?
just settle down. sandy, you get any response yet?
sandy.  how far are we from the source of the transmission?
martin, would you run me an atmospheric?
nontoxic.  but unbreathable. pressure?
good! moisture content?
any microorganisms?
anything else?
well, we won't need pressure suits, but breathing masks are called for. sandy -- can you rig up some kind of portable unit that we can use to follow that transmission to its source?
i heard you. you want to break out the side arms?
i'm sending. do you hear me?
all right. now just remember: keep away from those weapons unless i say otherwise. martin, do you read me?
open the outer door.
which way, sandy?
you lead.
okay, martin. we're on our way.
good. i'm getting you clear too. let's just keep the line open.
can't see more than three meters in any direction out here. we're walking blind, on instruments.
what's wrong?
how far?
martin, uh, we've found it.
it appears to be some sort of spacecraft. we're going to approach it.
there are no signs of life. no lights.  no movement.
we're, uh, approaching the base.
appears to be a door hanging open, the entrance is clogged with debris.
martin, we're going in. i'm going to hold the conversation to a minimum from here on.
who knows?
climbing gear.
no, you'll follow me.
look at this.
something has been scratched here.  into the veneer. see?
keep away from that gun!
just machinery.
 this is the control room.
 some details of the control room.
 this is the skeleton.  another view of the skeleton.  the transmitting device.
 this is a closeup of the triangle we found scrawled on the console in front of the skeleton.
 and that's it.
martin?
but?
jay.  how's it coming on the repairs?
and when will you be ready to do that?
then why the hell are you sitting around here?
alas, poor yorick.
find anything we missed?
still worried?
i've always respected your opinion, martin. if something worries you, it worries me.
well.  it's obviously intentional.  some kind of attempt at communication.  maybe it's a symbol that means something to them.
tell you what, martin. as soon as the engine's fixed --
this is chaz.
what's up?
i'm on my way.
what is it?
what is it, i can't --
this is chaz. all hands topside. now.
doesn't seem much doubt about it, does there?
well, does anyone else agree with martin that we should not explore it?
then the sooner we get moving, the better.
we can't make out any details or features yet.  but it's definitely too regular for a natural formation.
 there's one thing i can say for sure though.
can't tell -- these weather conditions could erode anything, fast.
maybe there is no entrance; the thing may be solid.
you want to try?
can we come up?
can you see anything in the hole?
dell, you want to come down, we can figure out where to go from here.
okay, dell, but just for a preliminary look-around. don't unhook yourself from your cable. and be out in less than ten minutes.
take care.
are you okay in there?
what was that dell, i lost you, do you read me?
what'd he say?
if we don't hear from him soon, i think we better go in after him.
let's go.
here's his line. we can haul him out of there if we have to.
but what can we do? he's out of radio contact.
no, i told him to be out in ten minutes. it's been much longer. let's get him out of there.
the line's slack. christ, do you think the idiot unhooked himself?
there, it caught!
no, it's coming.
no, i can't see far enough. the line's moving, though.
i can see him! here he comes!
get ready to grab him!
look out! there's something on his face!
don't touch him, watch it!
help me -- i'm going to try to get it off.
it won't come -- it's stuck.
how the hell should i know? come on, give me a hand, let's get him out of there!
yeah, we hear you! we're coming back!
can't talk now; broussard's injured. we'll need some help getting him into the ship.
martin, are you there?
we're coming up now, open the outer lock door.
it's some kind of organism, it's attached itself to him. let us in.
you hear me, martin? open the outer door.
we can't leave him out here, open the door.
martin, this is an order! open the door!
you men stay clear, there's a parasite on him.
i don't know but don't touch it. give us a hand here, let's get him up to the autodoc.
help me, come on, let's get him up here.
it wouldn't come.
medical gloves.
it's really on there tight.
stop it, you're tearing his face.
let's let the machine work on him.
ask him.
good.
he went into the pyramid alone. we lost radio contact with him. when we pulled him out, it was on his face. it won't come off, not without injuring him.
let's look inside his head.
you're right.  we can't stand here and do nothing.
somebody give me a scalpel.
i've made an incision.  it's not reacting.  but some kind of yellowish fluid is leaking out of the wound.
hold it, this stuff's smoking!
that stuff's eating right through the metal! it's going to eat through the decks and right out through the hull!
there! look!
there. should be coming through about there.
it's stopped?
we're just plain lucky. that could have gone right through the hull -- taken weeks to patch it.
no, thank god.  just missed him.
it appears to have healed itself.
i don't see how. but let's do what we can for him.
i think we'd better get some intravenous feeding started. god knows what that thing is leaching out of him.
what film?
i personally can't make any sense out of it.
that sounds a little fanciful.
i'll do it. the rest of you continue.
you know, it's fantastic -- the human race has gone this long without ever encountering another advanced life form, and now we run into a veritable zoo.
well, those things out there aren't the same, you know -- the spaceship and the pyramid. they're from different cultures and different races. that ship just landed here -- crashed like we did. the pyramid and the thing from it are indigenous.
maybe it wasn't always dead.
the door was closed. it must still be in here.
no, don't open the door. we don't want it escaping.
maybe we can catch it.
as long as we're careful not to damage it.
shit!
i think it's dead.
look at these suckers -- no wonder we couldn't get it off him.
quick -- it's decomposing -- gimme something to grab it with!
christ! let's get it out of here!
how's broussard?
still unconscious?
can you do anything for him?
good.
i need some coffee.
i'm sorry to say it looks like you were right in the first place, martin. we never should have landed here.
i can't lean on faust any harder -- he's been working non-stop on the engines.
they seem native to the planet. it's got an atmosphere and a dense gravity. it's dead now, but once it must have been fertile.
too primitive. it's a pre- technological construction. that slab was engineered by an iron-age culture at best.
what?
switch on tractor beams.
lock tractor beams.
retract landing struts.
take us up.
switch on lifter quads.
engage artificial gravity.
let's take her into an escape orbit.
just hold us together till we're in space, that's all!
you bet we made it. martin, set course for irth and accelerate us into stardrive.
quit complaining; we're in space.
i think the best thing to do with broussard is to just freeze him as he is. it'll arrest the progress of his disease, and he can get complete medical attention when we get back to the colonies.
that's okay, he can remain in hypersleep until they're ready to treat him.
how do you feel, dell?
don't you remember?
hell, you're in great shape, you've got your sense of humor back!
we're going home. we're in hyperspace.
i think that's a pretty reasonable request.
the commander normally has first publication rights.
oh it's okay. i've had better cag than this, but i've had worse too, if you know what i mean.
what's wrong?
breathe deeply.
we'll have to catch it and eject it from the ship.
we've got about a week left, right?
all right, so that's what we've got. a week. it's plenty of time.
so does anybody have any suggestions?
no, we can't afford to lose that much oxygen. we're going to have to flush it out.
room by room, corridor by corridor.
we'll have to trap it somehow. if we had a really strong piece of net, we could bag it.
good. get on it. but first, i'm issuing a standing order: from this moment forth, every one of us will wear protective garments, including helmets. let's get down to the locker and change.
i thought i'd find you here.
that's the one about the albatross, right?
we came out there, we'll go back. a long time by the clock, but a short time to us.
i can see you're putting your spare time to good use. let me tell you something: you keep staring at hyperspace for long enough, they'll be peeling you off a wall. i've seen it happen.
come on -- let's go above and see how they're coming with the gear.
i hope not.
how do we locate the creature?
these will be very useful. at least we won't have to go digging around in closets with our bare hands. all right, here's the battle plan: we're going to break into two teams and start systematically covering the ship. whoever finds it first, catches it in the net and ejects it from the nearest airlock. clear?
for starters, let's make sure the bridge is safe.
all right -- roby and melkonis will go with faust. hunter and i will make up the second team.
we'll all carry communicators. we want to keep in constant touch.
we've got it up here! it's trapped! get up here fast!
food-storage room!
it started crashing around right after we locked it in.
i guess we open the door and net it.
it looks completely different from the first one -- it's more like a worm with legs.  and tentacles.
don't be an idiot.
once we kill the thing we won't need the food any more -- we can go straight into hypersleep. also, it sounds like that thing is already doing a pretty good job on our supplies; it may be fouling them all.
get those masks on.
go ahead, jay.
shut it off.
what do you think? now we go in.
then let's go and do it.
so it's trapped in between -- now we have to drive it out.
the only other thing i can think of is for somebody to crawl in there and flush it out.
the man would need protection, obviously -- as well as some way to drive the thing before him.
while the rest of us wait down in the cooling unit with the net.
got a better idea?
let's be democratic.
martin, take one.
open it up, cleave.
yeah, we're getting into position.
right now let's keep it closed.
are they close?
let's get moving with this net.
all right, then -- when it gets to the other side of the door, you sing out, then drop the door. okay?
and you and i will bag it, and then we'll take it to the ventral air lock, got it?
yes!
okay, our screens show you as being near to the opening. we'll open it up, then we'll cue you and you can start blasting. that'll drive it right out. you don't have to go any farther.
okay, get ready.
open the vent, sandy.
how did it get so big?
meet us on the bridge. be careful -- it's huge now.
we'd better seal off the lower maintenance level; at least trap it there.
what's that supposed to mean?
that's right -- we can't kill it on the ship, but we can at least keep it at bay -- and maybe drive it into the air lock.
no, i don't want us separated.
all right.  but do not go below decks.
and be right back.
well.  yes.  there's a pattern.  but it's meaningless to me.
that next thing there -- six legs, tentacles -- that's the thing we saw in the food locker.
then that tomb.  must have been some kind of fertility temple.  where they stored their eggs, and maybe held mating rituals.
which presumably means.
what?
we've got six hours left.
does anybody know what happened?
can we get to him?
at least we're rid of the damn monster. it must have been the first thing sucked out of the ship.
i don't buy that. there's still time to destroy it and get ourselves in the freezers.
it's time for drastic remedies.
that kind of remark is pointless. now come on -- i want to hear every suggestion you can come up with, no matter how wild.
let's hear it.
that'll blow the ship up.
but the lifeboat can't accelerate to light speed.
no, it won't work and i just realized why. there's only one hypersleep freezer on the lifeboat. only one of us could survive.
but the idea's good, if we could just turn it around somehow.
if we could just get the creature into the lifeboat, we could launch it into space and blow it up.
we can load the lifeboat up with explosives and trigger them remotely, once the lifeboat is in space.
you can't say that; i think it's a good plan.
right. we've got a lot to accomplish. let's get moving.
i'd suggest the n-13 sticks. they're portable, and they can be radio detonated.
here, carry these.
it's stable; it doesn't hurt to drop it.
now. if we can get it into the boat, we won't have to blow it up -- we can just eject it into space.
you can come up! it's safe!
the ship's gravitational attraction must have drawn him back.
no.  the risk is too great. perhaps after we've destroyed the thing.
along the base of the walls there.
it will be.
well.  now we have to herd that thing up here.
yes, and maybe launch the boat and blow it too.  if the others are injured.
all right, martin, we'll be in touch with you on the communicator.
and you stand aside while we drive it in, then shut the hatch, launch the boat, and --
come on; we haven't much time, air is a factor.
we've got something on the tracker.  got to be it, it's too big for the cat.
let me go first; you stay behind me.
i can't, the acid will pour out!
kill me.
look.
that was melkonis.  it ate hunter.
no.  don't.
no good.  it's eaten too much of me.
kill me.