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Guest Cast:

Martin Davis................Lloyd Bochner 
Kenner......................Edgar Bergen 
Murdock.....................Robert Payne 
Dan Case....................Walter Brook 
Phillip James...............Ed Prentiss 
Anders......................William Sargent 
Director....................Martin Koslock

It just goes and then there's nothing--nothing!--Kowalski

The sumarine Polidor is diving deep, nearly 4000 feet, and the crew seems nervous. The captain radios Nelson, who is monitoring the deep diving experiment; Nelson designed the Polidor, and its key crewmembers came from the Seaview. As the sub approaches 4200 feet, the crew panics and loses control of the ship, which sinks to its crush depth and explodes. Nelson hangs up the radio and turns off the tape recorder.

On the Seaview, Nelson wants to go immediately to discover what happened on the Polidor, asking Chief Jones to notify all crew on shore leave to be on board early the next morning. He asks Crane to speak to a Lt. Handley, but Handley was on the Polidor; Nelson had forgotten. However, Congress wants a report on the incident in the morning, which will delay their departure; Crane says that a few more hours won't make any difference to the men of the Polidor now.

Told that the Polidor incident proves men can't function at great depths, Nelson says that's not true and that if the United States doesn't pursue that line of research, other countries will do so. He can't account for what happened on the Polidor but intends to repeat the experiment using the Seaview; this will be allowed if they take along a clinical psychologist as an observer, who will be authorized to cancel the mission if necessary. Nelson agrees, somewhat reluctantly.

Dr. Kenner, the psychologist, answers his phone and says he will be on the Seaview first thing in the morning. He has been showing a film on the effects of a new fear gas he has developed. He shows the audience a canister of the gas, then cuts short the meeting.

Kenner's assistant, Davis, believes the fear gas should be tested on human subjects, but Kenner does not--he says that fear in humans is more complex than it is in animals, and the gas isn't ready in any case. He locks the gas away in a cabinet. Davis asks if he can accompany Kenner on the Seaview to help with the work, and Kenner agrees, then leaves. Davis jimmies the lock on the cabinet and takes a canister of the fear gas, concealing it in a tape recorder. He makes a phone call and a man in a car answers; Davis tells him that the gas worked on the Polidor and will also work on the Seaview, and that even though he will be breathing the gas himself, his knowledge of its existence will make the fear manageable. The man in the car says Nelson must testify that man cannot function at great depths so that the United States will cancel any future tests, and leave the riches of the sea to "us."

Kenner and Davis board the Seaview and are shown to their quarters. On the way, Davis asks Crane about the ship's air revitalization system, which Crane explains in some detail. Kenner wants psychological profiles of the crew, and Davis asks Crane about this; Crane says the interviews will have to be scheduled around the men's duty schedules as they are shorthanded, having lost crew on the Polidor.

Crane says all personal luggage must be checked for security; Kowalski and Patterson check Davis' and he takes the opportunity to talk to them,plantingt the seeds of fear--asking about friends on the Polidor and so forth. It turns out that Patterson has "the safest job on the ship," working in the compartment where the escape hatch is located, but his chances would still be slim at the depths the ship will be reaching.

The Seaview sets sail; no one has seen Admiral Nelson since they left. When Crane goes to Nelson's quarters to find him, Nelson is listening to the tape of the Polidor's last moments. Crane enters, tells Nelson that they'll arrive in half and hour. The ship is to go to silent running; they don't know what happened to the Polidor, says Nelson, suspecting sabotage. Crane insists that the Seaview is clean.

Davis goes into the air revitalization room, opens the canister of fear gas, and places it in an air vent; the gas starts to escape.

The crewmember watching the depth gauge is nervous and distracted; Crane tells him to pay attention to what he's doing, says he doesn't like this any more than the crewman does.

On the bridge, Nelson shows Davis a magnetometer, used to detect metal--they are near the spot where the Polidor went down. Davis tells him the crew is afraid; Nelson says he is afraid, too--afraid not of death but of failure. Kenner panics, says the ship must be near crush depth, orders them to return to the surface; Nelson says he's irrational and sends him to his quarters. Crane looks worried and tells the men to be very alert. Davis asks Nelson about sending Kenner away; Nelson says Kenner's judgment is impaired. Davis wonders if Nelson's pride is causing him to put the ship in danger.

Finally the magnetometer detects metal; the Polidor may be resting on a ledge. The Seaview experiences some leakage but is in no serious trouble. The metal is about 50 feet out; Nelson orders the ship to go closer, but Crane says they are at crush depth and can't go any further.

Jones tells the crew that they may have found the Polidor. The crew is nervous; then they hear a pounding--could the Polidor's crew still be alive? The crew starts to panic. Crane wants to take the ship up, and Nelson confirms his order--take it up to 3500 feet and hold it there--then goes to his cabin.

Davis tells Crane he must take over command of the Seaview or Nelson's fear of failure will kill everyone on board. Jones brings Crane the damage report, tells him the men can't take another dive like that one. Crane goes to see Nelson, tells him he wants to surface--the men can't hold out, and there is no other explanation for what happened to the Polidor but that they were affected by the depth in the same way the Seaview's crew is. Nelson still insists there must have been sabotage; Crane says there is no evidence of that--Nelson may be willing to die instead of admitting he's wrong but Crane isn't, and neither is the crew! Nelson responds by ordering Crane to continue the search--and if Crane tries to prevent another dive he will have him arrested.

Davis notices that the door to the air revitalization room is open, and enters to see what is going on. Chief Jones says the ship is going to surface--then Crane announces that preparations are to be made for another dive.

Davis goes to Kenner, hoping he will order the ship to surface. Kenner is confused, says he is acting as if he's under the influence of the fear gas; Davis says that's hardly possible; Kenner says yes, and a good thing or we'd all be dead--the fear gas turns into a deadly nerve gas after 8 hours! Davis rushes out leave the room; Kenner, starting to suspect, tries to stop him, but Davis knocks him down and runs to the air revitalization room. He tries to get the gas cylinder out of the air vent but knocks it over and cannot reach it. Panicking, he returns to his quarters and attempts to close off the vents--obviously this won't work. An announcement to dive comes over the intercom, and he races to the bridge.

On the bridge, a crewman is panicking. Nelson sees wreckage through the Seaview's nose camera but it's too late; the ship runs into the wreckage. Davis arrives on the bridge and tells Crane they must surface immediately. Nelson wants to know why, and Davis tells them about the fear gas that is about to turn into nerve gas. Nelson grabs Davis--is that what happened to the Polidor? He orders the air revitalization unit shut down. Because of damage caused by the collision, at present they cannot surface.

Kenner comes to the bridge, says that even with the vents closed there is enough gas on board to kill the crew. Nelson has an idea--if the temperature rises within the ship, the gas should rise to the top. They get out emergency heating units and turn them on. Meanwhile, the Seaview continues to slip down, reaching almost 5000 feet.

Finally, repairs are completed and the Seaview can move; they surface. Nelson, Crane and Kenner stand on the deck, breathing the fresh night air. Kenner says that human fear is even more complicated than he thought.