A military officer is insistent on using an atomic bomb to destroy a facility buried in the ice. When he is stopped and imprisoned, he must find another way to achieve his objective.
Opening narration
| "In northern Greenland, the mountains stand like a wall along Victoria Channel, whose straight course marks the line of the great Baffin Fault. Until recently, not even the Eskimos ventured into this arctic waste; but, today, as in other lonely places of the world, the land is dominated by those instruments of detection which stand as a grim reminder of Man's fear of Man. This is Point TABU, a name given this predominantly underground base by a young officer who explained that the letters in TABU stood for 'Total Abandonment of Better Understanding.' Some two hundred men and a few women make this their permanent residence. Their task is to maintain a constant alert against enemy attack, and be prepared to respond to it, devastatingly." |
Plot
At an outpost in Greenland, an officer (Harry Guardino) begins losing his grip on reality after the death of a soldier whom he commanded into an icy crevice. Haunted by the soldier's specter, the officer decides that he must detonate an atomic bomb to obliterate the crevice, and the outpost as well. The post's doctor uses a unique mind probe in an attempt to understand what is driving the officer mad. When an unexpected earthquake causes the probe to malfunction, the minds of the doctor and the officer are switched. This switch enables the insane officer to make plans to detonate the atomic device in the guise of the doctor, while the real doctor is confined to a padded cell.
The real doctor, in the body of the officer, convinces a colleague to help him stop the officer in his own body. They stop him from detonating the bomb and then lure him back to the mind probe device, where the doctor is able to successfully swap their bodies back.
Closing narration
| "A weapon? No, only an instrument: neither good nor evil, until men put it to use. And then, like so many of Man's inventions, it can be used either to save lives or destroy them, to make men sane or to drive them mad, to increase human understanding or to betray it. But, it will be men who make the choice. By itself, the instrument is nothing, until you add the human factor." |
Notes
- The author Kevin J. Anderson later wrote a prose sequel to the episode entitled "Memories on Ice" which was published as part of The Outer Limits: Armageddon Dreams anthology.
- This episode shares its title with the penultimate episode of the revival series: "The Human Factor (2002)". However, they have no connection beyond the title.
- This is the only episode written by David Duncan or directed by Abner Biberman.
Cast
- Gary Merrill as Dr. James Hamilton
- Harry Guardino as Major Roger Brothers
- Sally Kellerman as Ingrid Larkin
- Ivan Dixon as Harold Giles
- Joe De Santis as Bill Campbell
- John Newton as Peterson
- Shirley O'Hara as Dr. Soldini
- James Sikking as Orderly
- Jane Langley as Nurse
- Vic Perrin as the Control Voice (voice)
Crew
- Cinematographer - Conrad Hall