A computer programmer must destroy a deadly artificial intelligence and avert a technological singularity.

Opening narration

"When we awaken an intellect within our machines, will we enter a new enlightened age or a much darker one?"

Plot

A woman, Megan, brings her hacker boyfriend, Zach (who had formerly hacked into the Pentagon), into a high-tech company. Programmers there begin dying off as he, only able to see his own small part of the puzzle, tries to figure out what exactly he's programming.

Clues start showing up, including glasses that can see some sort of electrical humanoid enemies (who have been the ones killing programmers). Zach realizes that someone known as "Merlin" is supplying him with clues about a program called "Prometheus", a sentient AI which will try to take over the world once programmers finish building interfaces which will allow it to control every electronic device in the world.

Zach is given a virus that will destroy Prometheus, but is stopped at the last minute by his boss, who created Prometheus. Zach is then attacked by Prometheus and overwhelmed.

In the end, it is revealed that Megan was "Merlin", and Zach betrays her to Prometheus.

Closing narration

"In trying to create machines that think, we should take care that we don’t end up creating a new race that will supplant our own."

Notes

• This episode mentioned the website http://www.fidelisveres.net as part of the storyline. At the time, this domain led to The Outer Limits website on MGM.com.
• This episode aired immediately after the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, but the show was then on hiatus for several months. Many TV shows altered or paused their programming due to hesitation around airing content that could be traumatic or insensitive. It is likely they delayed the remaining episodes due to the heavily war-based premises of "The Human Factor" and "Human Trials"^{[citation needed]}. The remaining episodes of the season, and of the show, aired in January 2002.
• This is the only episode written by Paul Mones.

Cast

• Rob Bruner as Bryce
• Gabrielle Miller as Megan
• Jim Byrnes as Voice of Merlin
• Erica Carroll as Energy Being
• Jonathan Cherry as Andy Wilson
• Allan Gray as Prometheus
• Anthony Harrison as Detective Saunders
• David Lovgren as Evan
• Gus Lynch as Logan
• Kerr Smith as Zach Burnham
• Kevin Conway as the Control Voice (voice)

The Outer Limits (1995)
Season 1	"Sandkings" • "Valerie 23" • "Blood Brothers" • "The Second Soul" • "White Light Fever" • "The Choice" • "Virtual Future" • "Living Hell" • "Corner of the Eye" • "Under the Bed" • "Dark Matters" • "The Conversion" • "Quality of Mercy" • "The New Breed" • "The Voyage Home" • "Caught in the Act" • "The Message" • "I, Robot" • "If These Walls Could Talk" • "Birthright" • "The Voice of Reason"
Season 2	"A Stitch in Time" • "Resurrection" • "Unnatural Selection" • "I Hear You Calling" • "Mind Over Matter" • "Beyond the Veil" • "First Anniversary" • "Straight and Narrow" • "Trial by Fire" • "Worlds Apart" • "The Refuge" • "Inconstant Moon" • "From Within" • "The Heist" • "Afterlife" • "The Deprogrammers" • "Paradise" • "The Light Brigade" • "Falling Star" • "Out of Body" • "Vanishing Act" • "The Sentence"
Season 3	"Bits of Love" • "Second Thoughts" • "Re-generation" • "Last Supper" • "Stream of Consciousness" • "Dark Rain" • "The Camp" • "Heart's Desire" • "Tempests" • "The Awakening" • "New Lease" • "Double Helix" • "Dead Man's Switch" • "Music of the Spheres" • "The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson" • "Bodies of Evidence" • "Feasibility Study" • "A Special Edition"
Season 4	"Criminal Nature" • "The Hunt" • "Hearts and Minds" • "In Another Life" • "In the Zone" • "Relativity Theory" • "Josh" • "Rite of Passage" • "Glyphic" • "Identity Crisis" • "The Vaccine" • "Fear Itself" • "The Joining" • "To Tell the Truth" • "Mary 25" • "Final Exam" • "Lithia" • "Monster" • "Sarcophagus" • "Nightmare" • "Promised Land" • "The Balance of Nature" • "The Origin of Species" • "Phobos Rising" • "Black Box" • "In Our Own Image"
Season 5	"Alien Radio" • "Donor" • "Small Friends" • "The Grell" • "The Other Side" • "Joyride" • "The Human Operators" • "Blank Slate" • "What Will the Neighbors Think?" • "The Shroud" • "Ripper" • "Tribunal" • "Summit" • "Descent" • "The Haven" • "Déjà Vu" • "The Inheritors" • "Essence of Life" • "Stranded" • "Fathers & Sons" • "Starcrossed" • "Better Luck Next Time"
Season 6	"Judgment Day" • "The Gun" • "Skin Deep" • "Manifest Destiny" • "Breaking Point" • "The Beholder" • "Seeds of Destruction" • "Simon Says" • "Stasis" • "Down to Earth" • "The Inner Child" • "Glitch" • "Decompression" • "Abaddon" • "The Grid" • "Revival" • "Gettysburg" • "Something About Harry" • "Zig Zag" • "Nest" • "Final Appeal"
Season 7	"Family Values" • "Patient Zero" • "A New Life" • "The Surrogate" • "The Vessel" • "Mona Lisa" • "Replica" • "Think Like a Dinosaur" • "Alien Shop" • "Worlds Within" • "In the Blood" • "Flower Child" • "Free Spirit" • "Mindreacher" • "Time to Time" • "Abduction" • "Rule of Law" • "Lion's Den" • "The Tipping Point" • "Dark Child" • "The Human Factor" • "Human Trials"