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Dr. Brand...................Michael Constantine

I told you I didn't like the look in his eyes.--Chief Jones

The Seaview is at sea. They are informed that MISP 1 is returning to the earth's atmosphere, and are ordered to head for the projected site of impact immediately to recover it. They set the course and proceed at flank speed.

In the observation nose, Dr. Brand is pacing in anticipation, excited to hear that MISP 1 is on its way. When Crane brings in the figures from the Seaview's computer, Nelson points out how far off this landing site is from Brand's original estimate. Brand is too impatient to be concerned with anything but the fact that Man in Space Probe 1, the first round-trip space probe in history, is returning to earth. Nelson wonders what happened to the probe during all the weeks in space when the earth lost contact with it; Brand doesn't know and doesn't seem to care, saying that they will find all that our once the astronaut is aboard.

In the conning tower, Nelson, Crand and Brand watch the sky as the capsule releases its parachute and falls into the sea. Nelson tells Crane to have it loaded directly into the missile room, which the crew does quickly. In the missile room, the crew watches as Brand opens the capsule's hatch. Surprised, Kowalski says "That's not a man, that's a robot!"

In the control room, Crane looks through the periscope. He tells Morton to set a course for Santa Barbara. Morton asks him, off the record, why there's such a hurry. Crane replies that they'll all feel better when they dock--Brand's robot may well be the most important cargo they've ever handled.

Brand is impatient to begin getting information from the robot; Nelson calls the lab and is told that the radiation is still too high, but should be low enough in 15 minutes--still too long to suit Brand! Nelson, amused, tells him he's like an expectant father, and Brand laughs and agrees. The robot has an almost human sensory system which enabled it to pick up a great deal of scientific information while in space--it's understandable that Brand is anxious to get at all that information!

Finally the radiation has dropped to an acceptable level. The robot is bound to a table in the laboratory. Nelson and Brand get to work, beginning to debrief the robot, both anticipating much valuable information--the robot will be able to tell them as much as they could learn by going into space themselves. They activate the machine as Crane enters the room; Brand tells him he's just in time. However, all they get from the robot is feedback. Nelson supposes it's due to the other instruments on the ship, and Brand asks Crane if they could shut down all other electronic equipment for 20 minutes or so. Crane says it depends on their trim, and orders Morton to shut down the equipment and hold the ship steady as long as possible. The lights go down. Nelson notes that the instruments seem to be all wrong. Brand is unable to make contact with the robot at all. Nelson says that doesn't make sense, and Brand continues to work on the brain. All they receive, though, is gibberish. Brand is frustrated--he knows the information is there, but he can't get to it. Morton calls Crane on the intercom; the ship is losing trim. Brand asks for ten more minutes; when Crane says they can't risk it, Nelson tells him to give Brand two minutes, and Brand gives it one more try. Crane orders power returned and course resumed, and leaves. Nelson tells Brand not to blame himself; after all, anything could have happened while the robot was in space. Brand insists that he compensated for any problems that could have occurred. Nelson says that once they get back to NIMR, they'll find a way to get at the information, and Brand asks him to call NIMR now and run their data through the giant computer there.

In the observation nose, Nelson is on the phone to NIMR. Brand instructs them in great detail as to what to do with the data.

Meanwhile, in the laboratory, the robot breaks free of its restraints and rises to its feet. It knocks over a table, rips the door off of its hinges, and goes into the corridor.

In the observation nose, Brand is finishing his conversation with the scientists at NIMR. They have been unable to find any discrepancies. He is starting to give them further instructions when the lights go off. Crane asks Nelson to come to the control room, and he and Brand go up the stairs. Sonar has picked up some sort of reading from inside the ship. Crane says that the instruments have gone wild, and asks Brand if his robot could be causing the problem; Brand doesn't think so, but wonders if the Seaview's troubles could be affecting his experiments. Crane says that none of the ship's equipment is capable of doing so, but Nelson isn't so sure. Crane orders the duty electrician to check out the possibility. Just then, the reactor room notifies them that the atomic pile has shut down for no reason. Crane tells them to switch to auxiliary, then try to track down the trouble. Nelson doesn't understand why all the systems seem to be failing at once, and Crane orders the ship's technicians to check all the ship's systems, telling Morton to surface.

The robot walks down the corridor. In a nearby compartment, a crewman hears its steps and looks up to see it tear the door from its hinges and enter. He backs away slowly. The robot advances. He screams.

The Seaview rocks to and fro. Nelson says that the gyros are out; Crane tells Morton to take over and leaves, followed by Nelson. They find the unconscious crewman slumped over the gyro hatch. Crane tells Jones to stabilize the gyro. Nelson supposes that the hatch must have swung open during the first list and hit the crewman, and orders the stricken man taken to sickbay. Brand rushes into the room, barely noticing the injured crewman being carried out--the robot is gone! Nelson immediately realizes what must have happened, saying that he should have known when the multiple malfunctions began. He and Crane rush from the room.

Crane briefs the crew about the situation, and they form search parties, going out in groups of two to search the entire ship. Nelson tells them to use their weapons if necessary, although he doesn't know what effect they could have on the robot. Brand enters, demanding to know why Nelson and Crane are allowing their crew to shoot at the robot. Nelson replies that the information carried by the robot is invaluable, but will do them little good if they never make it back to port. Brand insists that the robot's programming would never permit it to hurt the crew or damage the ship. Morton calls Crane on the intercom; he has gotten the ship to 85 feet but the controls have jammed, and unless they get them free, they'll start to sink again.

Nelson and Brand are at work in the lab, Brand trying to contact the robot, saying that he knows it is receiving him. Nelson asks if they can locate it, but Brand says that something seems to be scrambling their signal. Nelson wonders if the robot itself might be scrambling the signal, but Brand claims that that would be impossible. Just then a panel explodes. Neither Nelson nor Brand are hurt, but now it really is up to the crew to find the robot.

The crew continues to search. Jones and Kowalski are cautious, since the robot could be anywhere. They slowly open a bulkhead door, and see crewman Benson backing down the hall, followed by the robot. He shoots at the robot, but the bullets bounce back at him, and the robot continues on its way. Kowalski informs Crane, who tells them to seal the corridor and get out, and bring Benson to sickbay.

In the lab, Nelson and Brand examine their equipment, pronouncing it irreparable. Meanwhile, the ship is losing pressure and the temperature is dropping. Nelson leaves the room.

In the control room, Crane and Morton note that the temperature has dropped to 30 degrees F; and the missile room reports a temperature of 23. Crane tells Morton to break out cold-weather gear for the crew, ordering the repair crew to get the air conditioning under control fast. Nelson enters, saying that they are now at 250 feet and dropping--if they don't blow ballast they'll be on the ocean floor in minutes. Morton enters, wearing a parka. Crane asks how the crew is doing with the hand pump; Morton replies that the forward tanks are cleared, and once they clear the main tanks they will have positive buoyancy. Nelson asks Crane to join him and Brand in the lab; maybe between the three of them they can find a way to outthink the robot.

In the lab, Brand cannot get a fix on the robot. Crane comments that the robot's actions seem intentional; Brand replies that that's impossible--he programmed it himself, and he knows what it is and is not capable of. Nelson says that he believes it may have been reprogrammed; Brand, again, insists that that would have been impossible.

Jones and Kowalski go to the air revitalization compartment. The air conditioner is making an unusual amount of noise, and Jones opens the door. Sure enough, the robot is inside. They close the door and get away quickly.

In the laboratory, Nelson is struck by realization--the air revitalizating chamber, of course! Crane says that this is their chance, sending all search parties there and heading there himself. He and his party approach the room, Jones with a gun. Crane tells the men that as soon as the door is opened, they're to hit the machine with everything they've got. Brand asks if there's any chance of taking the robot without destroying it; Nelson says there is not and directs Crane to go ahead. They open the door and find that the robot has torn thru the door and escaped.

In the control room, Brand has put together a device to use in locating the robot. Nelson assigns two men to him, and they tour the ship. Nelson notes that the temperature is down another 10 degrees, but at least they are maintaining their depth, so enginieering must be making some progress on the ballast tankss Soon enough, Patterson reports--the main ballast tank vents are jammed, and they can't hand-pump any more water out. Nelson says they still need more buoyancy. Crane wonders what could be jamming the vents. Brand calls Nelson; the robot is between the inner and outer hulls, by the main ballast tanks. Nelson asks Patterson if they can still flood the tanks; Patterson replies that they can, they just can't empty them. Crane is reluctant to flood the tanks after all the work they've done emptying them; in addition, there are 6000 feet of water under them, and sinking could bring them far below crush depth. Nelson believes that if they flood the tanks, the water might short-circuit the robot. Crane hopes he's right, and gives the order. The robot is showered with water.

In the control room, they watch the depth gauge. They reach 565 feet and hold. Nelson doesn't understand; their ballast tanks are full, they have negative buoyancy--why aren't they sinking? Kowalski calls; hei's in the corridor by the missile room, where smoke is pouring through the air vents. It starts to come through the vents in the control room as well. Morton says it isn't smoke--it's steam! That explains why they haven't sunk--the water in the tanks is being vaporized. The temperature is rising because of it, and is already above normal. The lights go down. Crane tries to call the generator room, but communication is out; they head down there themselves.

Nelson and Crane meet Brand in a corridor; Brand lost contact with the robot and has been unable to reestablish it. Nelson suggests that they go forward to the observation nose; Crane tells them to go on, he'll check the rest of the ship and join them later.

In the observation nose, Crane arrives; the ship is completely blacked out and they are dead in the water. Brand doesn't understand. Nelson asks if a siphisticated machine can't go mad; Brand says certainly, but not his machine. Nelson suggests that the Van Allen belt must have shorted out its controls. Brand doesn't believe it; Nelson says he doesn't either, but it's happening. Brand remember that he didn't lose contact with the robot until the blackout. Nelson realizes then that the robot's source of power is light--without it, the machine cannot function. Now they can trap it; they have the bait, says Nelson, brandishing a flashlight.

Nelson and his party go down the corridors, searching with the flashlight. Soon the robot appears, and Nelson backs away with the light, leading it to a darkened room and ducking out quickly. With no light, the robot soon shuts down. The compartment is sealed and made a secure as possible. Nelson tells Crane to see about getting the Seaview to the surface, and Crane leaves to do so. Nelson turns to Brand, telling him that the robot is too dangerous and must be destroyed. Brand still insists that the information it carries is too valuable to lose; he's sure that he can get it under control if he's only given more time. In any case he refuses to have anything to do with its destruction. Nelson replies that he'll send in an engineering team to hack it to pieces and send it out the torpedo chute. Given that alternative, Brand reconsiders and asks Nelson to let him dismantle it himself after all--maybe he can salvage part of it.

Brand enters the darkened compartment. He starts to open the robot's chest cavity, then changes his mind. He aims the beam of his flashlight at the robot's faceplate, and soon enough it reactivates. He talks to it like a parent, reassuring it that it'll be all right now and do as it was programmed, and telling it to transmit its data now. It rises to its feet, moving threateningly toward Brand.

Soon the robot is moving down the corridor. Nelson and Crane run to the fallen Brand, who says in disbelief that the robot meant to kill him. Nelson has Brand taken to the observation nose. In 40 minutes to an hour the Seaview will surface; he hopes they will make it. The robot makes its way to the mess hall where several crewmembers are talking. The shoot at it, to no effect.

In the observation nose, Brand is recovering from the robot's attack. Nelson says that he was lucky not to be killed by the mindless machine. Brand disagrees that the robot is mindless--it has a brilliant electronic brain, now devoted to killing everyone on board. Nelson thinks that's a strange thing for him to say; Brand explains that he programmed the machine to approximate human reactions, but something happened to it out there in space to change that. Just then, Crane calls Nelson to report what happened to the men in the crew's mess; he says the damage is "like before, only worse." When Nelson asks how much worse, Crane says to take his word for it, it isn't pretty. Brand puts his head in his hands.

Patterson and Kowalski are searching for the robot; Kowalski tells Patterson to go aft, while he goes forward and sees the robot burst through a wall. He heads for the observation nose; once there, he reports that the robot is headed for the missile room and seems to be getting stronger. Crane says there's no telling what damage the creature could do there. Nelson disagrees--this is a stroke of luck. He heads for the missile room, followed by Crane.

Patterson enters the missile room, realizing on hearing the robot approach that he and the other crewmembers there are now trapped. The robot enters; it takes one of the magnetic mines and sticks it to its metal chest. It activates the mine--in 60 seconds, the ship will explode. Nelson and Crane enter. Nelson orders the men to douse their lights, taking his and Crane's lights himself. The robot turns toward him, following him as he backs away. He opens the airlock hatch and throws the lights in; the robot pushes him aside and goes in after them. Quickly, Crane closes the door, and Nelson floods the airlock. The robot floats up, out of the ship, and the mine explodes, rocking the Seaview but not destroying it. Full power returns to the ship, and they are able to surface.

Nelson, Crane and Brand are in the conning tower. Nelson asks Brand what he's going to do now. Brand replies immediately that he'll build another robot, of course, with better insulation. Crane suggests that he might add a prayer. For the robot or for us, asks Brand. Maybe for both, says Nelson.