At the height of the cold war, with superpower threatening superpower with
total destruction by nuclear weapons, a meeting of scientists takes place to
discuss the future of mankind, following another "near miss" involving
a rocket carrying a warhead.
Leading the discussion is Dr. Phillip Gainer. His words to the panel are cold
and immediate. Something must be done to distract the world's governments from
each other before it's too late and the world is destroyed. Gainer points to
history, noting that the only time men have stopped fighting each other, is
when faced with a common fear or enemy, and that this is the answer to their
current dilemma. He postulates that if all mankind is suddenly threatened by an
alien creature from another planet, the nations' governments would stop their
aggressions toward each other and join together as one to fight this common
enemy. His plan is to create that enemy.
A colleague asks what will happen if something goes wrong; that leading
scientists from around the world will instantly want to study this "alien
from another planet". Dr. Gainer insists that the subject that has been
chosen for this ruse is perfect in every way and once changed, will fool
everyone, and then reveals the alien creature from the planet Theta that they
will use as a genetic template for their creature. After the plan is revealed
to the panel, a vote is taken. The names of all the members of the panel are
placed in a container and Dr. Gainer pulls one out. It is the name of Allen
Leighton.
At the research facility of the Advance Biological Studies Group, Dr. Gainer
argues with Leighton about the extreme changes he will be going through.
Leighton says he understands there is no turning back once the transformation
begins but just before Gainer starts with the first injection, Allen's wife
calls for him from the hallway. Leighton tells Dr. Gainer to proceed with the
injection even with his wife still calling from outside the room. He then
leaves the room and sees his wife waiting for him in the outer room.
As they walk along the street, window shopping, Yvette Leighton stops and looks
at maternity clothing, prompting her husband to ask if there is a reason. She
replies "no...not yet". For one of the reasons Leighton agreed to
being the participant in the project was his wife's inability to have children
because of a heart murmur. But after a checkup earlier that day, her doctor has
given her a cleared bill of health to have children, which she says she's ready
to have happen. The news shocks Allen and he asks his wife if something were to
happen to him, how she would raise a child alone. She responds with a kiss
meant to mean that this just isn't going to happen.
In Dr. Gainer's research facility, Leighton begins the transformation process.
After he exits the pressurization chamber, Gainer asks him about the
arrangements Allen must make for his "death". As Leighton rests, the
mutations in his skin begin.
At home, in an intimate moment with his wife, she expresses her feelings of his
upcoming "trip to the moon", which is his cover story of why he will
soon disappear from sight, and eventually "die". Allen, for some
reason, then tells his wife the plan, only in the form of a hypothesis, giving
more information than he should. When Phil comes to pick Allen up to "go
to the airport", Yvette suddenly changes her mind and decides she wants to
accompany them to the airport also. Allen convinces her that she should stay
home, causing a hint of suspicion in his wife.
At a secret manufacturing facility, Dr. Herschel takes Allen through the plan
of launching him into space and then his re-entry back to earth, landing right
in front of the United Nations. He also shows Allen his future spacecraft, made
out of a new material never seen before on Earth to give the illusion that the
craft is from outer space. As Leighton crawls into the cockpit, Gainer tells
him to learn the control panel quickly as they need to return to the lab that
night for more treatments. Allen then begins his training with an assistant.
After another session in the lab, Dr. Gainer asks Allen if he's had any
reactions to the treatments. Leighton remarks that he can only sleep for
periods of twenty minutes before waking in a sweat, and that the mental anguish
of never seeing his wife again was terrible. Gainer reacts strongly, telling
Allen to buck up to the mission, and Leighton tells him to cool off, that he's
fine. Allen also asks if Gainer was ready to notify Yvette of his
"demise". Phil tells him that he had just finished the telegram to
show her since she was coming by the lab today. As Gainer steps out of the
room, Yvette comes around the corner with her arms full of boxes after
shopping, and asks if he had heard anything from Allen. The doctor says yes and
hands her the telegram, explaining that Allen's plane went down somewhere over
the Andes Mountains and hadn't been found. Yvette wonders out loud why she
hadn't heard about it in the news. Gainer said that because it was a top secret
mission, there was no news release, adding that if the plane is ever found that
it would make the news then. Yvette doesn't believe the telegram. She says if
Allen was dead, she'd know it. As she runs from the office, Allen emerges from
the lab, having heard all through the door. He steps over to where his wife
left her shopping boxes, to discover one from the maternity store they had looked
into.
The procedures continue in the lab. As the doctors discuss what their next
options are for the continued restructuring of Allen's body, he becomes faint.
As Dr. Gainer examines him, he asks how Yvette is. Gainer tells him what he
already knows, that she loves Allen very much, to which Leighton asks the
doctor to take care of her for him. The doctors go back to their discussion on
what the next surgical procedure will be when Allen starts to see things in a
strange way and this leads to the beginning of a mental breakdown. Leighton,
with his new super-human strength, starts to brutalize Gainer, knocking him
across the room. As the doctors attempt to tie Allen down, he leaps around the
lab, breaking up most of what he touches, flinging glass shards at the three
researchers. Allen's breakdown continues, causing him to release the real alien
from it's cage as he aims an x-ray machine toward the doctors. Two of the
scientists sneak around the table to distract him as Dr. Gainer goes the other
way to shut down the power to the lab. When Gainer kills the power and finds
the x-ray machine in the dark, Allen is not there. Leighton has moved to the
wall and is now trying to dial out on the phone. The doctors get to Allen just
as Yvette answers the phone. She calls out repeatedly but there is no reply.
Days later, Allen awakes in the lab to Dr. Gainer explaining that he had
suffered a schizophrenic episode and that they had needed to keep him sedated.
As Allen asked if he had hurt anyone, Gainer said to not worry about it as they
had discovered it had been caused by one of the hormonal extracts and had since
been adjusted. Phil then informed him that they were continuing with the
surgery.
Yvette, now fully suspicious after the phone call that something is up, arrives
at the research facility and wants entrance to the lab. When she is stopped,
she demands to see Dr. Gainer, who leaves surgery to tell her that she mustn't
keep coming there. She tells the doctor that she came to get Allen's
possessions and that she has a strange feeling that Allen is there. Gainer
tells her to go home and think about her baby. She instead walks to Allen's
office, which still has his name on the door. She walks into his office,
touching the things on his desk and remembering their love for each other.
The surgery continues as they replace various organs. For a moment, it appears
that Allen has died on the operating table. Yvette feels the death in Allen's
office as she is going through his things. She exits the office just as the
three doctors leave the lab with a shrouded body on a gurney headed for an
elevator.
After a time of recovery, the three doctors gather to talk with Allen for the
first time since the surgery. They affix a voice box to him so that he may
communicate with them. Dr. Gainer asks him many questions about how he is and
what he has been experiencing. Leighton tells of the various physical anomalies
he has experienced and also of an initial deep depression that swept over him.
Dr. Herschel then tells Allen of the arrangements to fly him to a remote island
and launch him under the guise of being a weather satellite. All approvals have
been received and no one else knows of the plan besides those on the panel.
Once in orbit, his craft will be moved to the proper coordinates for re-entry
and arrival in front of the United Nations building, where he is to walk
directly into the General Assembly and deliver the news that many more are
waiting to come behind him. Gainer then implores Allen to only use his laser
weapon in an emergency. Allen then asks if he has any chance of succeeding in
this mission. Gainer responds that many soldiers have gone into battle with
much lower odds and ended in victory. Allen thanks him for that encouragement.
The doctors then place Allen in a coffin in order to safely move him without
being seen.
A few days later, the news of the unknown space craft on it's way to Earth is
all over the news. As the spacecraft descends, it goes off target, causing the
doctors to return to the lab in case Allen shows up there. The space vehicle
lands in a remote area and is seen by three hunters with a dog. The dog takes
off after it but soon returns and runs past the hunters at full speed. As they
proceed toward where the craft landed, an alien hand with a weapon pokes
through the reeds and discharges a beam, destroying the hunters' car. As the
alien walks through the swamp, one of the hunters fires his rifle at him,
hitting him. Yvette is walking downtown and suddenly feels the hit too. She
hails a cab to take her back to the lab. As Allen stumbles through the marsh,
Yvette arrives at the lab, finding the secure door open and walks in. Yvette
examines the operating area of the lab when she hears a bizarre sounding noise
and goes to investigate. She lifts a flap on the cage, only to drop it again
quickly after viewing the small alien creature inside.
Allen, wounded by the hunter, stumbles down the stairs and into the lab,
startling Yvette. As he sees her, he reaches out to embrace her but collapses
because of the wound. The panel of scientists arrive to find Allen on the
floor. He moves his hand to his head in a pattern that Yvette had once used to
describe him and then points to her just before he expires. The realization
hits Yvette that this is Allen and she screams out his name as she attempts to
run to the alien creature on the floor. Dr. Gainer stops her, starting to
explain what their plan was. She said that Allen had told her what the plan was
only she hadn't known what he meant. Dr. Herschel said that it was Allen's
choice when they had chosen the lots. Yvette then remembered what they had
talked about, how a scarecrow could change everything. She then stoops down to
hold Allen one last time as the lab assistants cover his body.
Written by Gadfly on Oct 20, 2019