A soldier from Earth's post-apocalyptic future appears in the present day.
Opening narration
| "Night comes too soon on the battlefield. For some men it comes permanently; their eyes never open to the light of day. But for this man, fighting this war, there is never total darkness. The spidery beams of light in the sky are the descendants of the modern laser beam — heat rays that sear through tungsten steel and flesh as though they were cheesecloth. And this soldier must go against those weapons. His name is Qarlo, and he is a foot soldier, the ultimate infantryman. Trained from birth by the State, he has never known love, or closeness, or warmth. He is geared for only one purpose: to kill the Enemy. And the Enemy waits for him..." |
Plot
A soldier named Qarlo Clobregnny is born and raised to fight the Enemy, another human army of the 38th century. After receiving remote commands to attack and kill, Qarlo and another soldier close in on each other's positions and charge. Both are struck by lightning at the moment they fire their weapons and are transported back in time to 20th century Earth.
Qarlo finds himself on a typical city street, startled and pointing his weapon at the passersby. People flee and the police move in. Qarlo destroys a police cruiser before the police shoot his helmet off. He is suddenly overwhelmed by the noise of construction nearby and his orders to "kill, kill, kill..." go unheard as the helmet lies on the ground and the police haul him away. Meanwhile, the other soldier temporarily returns to the future but is trapped in a limbo between his time and the past. He continues to receive orders to find the enemy.
Additional narration
| "Time is fluid. The waters of forever close — and passage may not be completed. The present and the future are for a moment united. And the Enemy, half-today, half-tomorrow, is locked between..." |
Plot, continued
Qarlo is taken to a government facility but fights his restraints and rants loudly. A philologist (language expert) named Tom Kagan arrives to decipher Qarlo's strange dialect and communicate with him. Kagan convinces them to allow him into Qarlo's padded cell, considering him a "walking challenge." He offers Qarlo a cigarette to calm him down and then begins to establish communication by saying his name and asking for the soldier's name.
Kagan figures out that Qarlo knows nothing but being a soldier and fighting. He also decides that Qarlo isn't a typical human, but an alien of some kind. He asks for more time to work with the man and establish better communication. Qarlo is initially resistant to cooperation and mocks Kagan's attempts to talk with him, but slowly learns to trust Kagan and is more forthcoming and willing to talk. The facility is also astonished by the technology in Qarlo's gun, and Kagan reveals that he has learned Qarlo is from a future Earth. Qarlo becomes angry when he sees film footage of a soldier and demands to be sent back to his own time. Kagan attempts to calm him down, but Qarlo attacks Kagan after he touches him in his agitated state.
The facility head is hesitant to continue with such a dangerous subject, but Kagan is convinced he can still help Qarlo to rehabilitate and be something other than a soldier. Kagan decides to take Qarlo to his own home to experience normal conditions and adapt. Qarlo realizes that Kagan is not the enemy. In the future, the Enemy soldier rematerializes and uses a tracking device to track Qarlo into the past.
Qarlo meets Kagan's wife and children, but is immediately drawn to their cat. He reveals his commanding officers of the future used cats as telepathic messengers. Qarlo also learns about the concepts of spouses and children, astonishing to him as someone raised from birth without family or siblings. Kagan learns more about Qarlo and his society as they spend time together. His family struggles with this new housemate but they learn how to communicate and teach him about their world. While Qarlo passes time with the Kagans, the Enemy soldier arrives in the past and hunts for Qarlo.
The government plans to move Qarlo to another facility to be studied by scientists but Kagan tells them it wouldn't work. As they talk, the government man learns of an attack by Qarlo after he breaks into a gun shop to find a firearm. Kagan attempts to draw Qarlo out peacefully as Qarlo threatens to kill him. The government man convinces Kagan's wife to help them take down Qarlo after he puts down his gun. Qarlo feels he'll be sent to a prison camp, and just as he pauses to speak to the cat, the Enemy soldier appears and breaks through the wall. Qarlo and the soldier struggle over the soldier's gun until the weapon fires and disintegrates them both.
Closing narration
| "From the darkest of all pits, the soul of Man, come the darkest questions: Did the soldier finally come to care for those he protected? Or was it just his instinct to kill? Questions from the dark pit. But no answers. For answers lie in the future. Is it a future in which men are machines, born to kill, or is there time for us? Time. All the time in the world… but is that enough?" |
Notes
- Author Kevin J. Anderson later wrote a prose sequel for the episode entitled "Prisoner of War", which was published in the anthology The Outer Limits: Armageddon Dreams.
Cast
- Lloyd Nolan as Tom Kagan
- Michael Ansara as Qarlo Clobregnny
- Tim O'Connor as Paul Tanner / The Voice in the Enemy's War Helmet (voice)
- Catherine McLeod as Abby Kagan
- Jill Hill as Toni Kagan
- Allen Jaffe as The Enemy
- Ralph Hart as Loren Kagan
- Marlowe Jensen as Sgt. Berry
- Ted Stanhope as Doctor
- Jamie Forster as News Vendor
- Mavis Neal Palmer as Woman
- Vic Perrin as the Control Voice / The Voice in Qarlo's War Helmet (voice)
Crew
- Cinematographer - Kenneth Peach