Thomas Veil is not always sure of the information he receives from the palmtop computer. He's been given single names, street names, addresses, places of business and the names of towns. This time he's been given more than usual--a name and an address. The man's name is John Meyerson and he lives in Rockwater, a small town in Colorado. Tom walks along the side of a highway, his black bag and sleeping bag packed on his back. What has brought him to Colorado is the hope that if he could find John Meyerson he might come one step closer to the truth.
Headlights are reflected by the wet pavement as the amiable pickup truck driver who gives Tom a lift introduces himself as Hank Bower. He asks if Tom has any interest in scrap. Tom replies, "No, not that I know of." Hank laughs and tells him not to knock it until he's tried it. He says there's about 200 bucks worth in the back of the truck; it took only three days to scratch out. He says some weeks are better than others, though. Tom says he knows the feeling and asks if he makes a living off it. Hank explains that he has a repair shop back in town. Fixing cars is his meat and potatoes; scrap's just sort of a passion thing. Tom asks if he knows a man named Meyerson. The smile leaves Bower's face; after a pause he asks what's Tom's business with Meyerson. Tom responds vaguely, "Just personal." Hank says he's afraid Tom's out of luck. When Tom asks why that is, Hank guesses that Tom doesn't know much about what's been going on around there the last couple years.
Hank turns onto a dirt road and stops the pickup near a group of cars and campers parked on the edge of a muddy field. People of all ages talk and warm themselves around blazing campfires. Tom asks what all this is. Hank tells him that folks come for the sightings. He says, "Call'em what you like--close encounters, UFOs, whatever name you got for'em. When it happens, it's a hell of a show." He tells Tom he's welcome to stick around if he wants; Rockwater is about ten miles down the road. "Don't turn right, don't turn left. You'll find it," he says. Tom asks what he meant when he said he was out of luck if he was looking for John Meyerson. Hank tells him that John Meyerson disappeared sixteen months ago; he went out one night for a walk and no one's seen or heard from him again. He adds that it's not the first or last time something like that's happened around here. Tom asks if he's saying that Meyerson just disappeared. Hank says it's like he was erased or something. Tom asks, "And nobody knows what happened to him?" Hank says he didn't say that--the night John Meyerson disappeared was the night they had their second sighting. Tom asks incredulously if Hank is telling him he thinks John Meyerson was abducted by aliens. Hank tells him that it's not what he thinks, it's what everyone thinks. If Tom hangs around here long enough, he'll think so too. Tom asks if there's any chance at all one of these people might give him a lift the rest of the way in to town. Hanks good-naturedly assures him there is, but he'll have to stick around for a few hours, because they're hoping to see a show.
A heavyset man with a gravelly voice holds sway over a group of observers, asking if the human ego is so big, so enormous that we can't accept other life forms. Tom paces by the fire. He impatiently checks his watch and shakes his head as the man says they've had three abductions, multiple sightings--the evidence more than supports the theory; the problem is they're talking about an event that alters the very belief of consciousness itself. The fire suddenly flares up. The signal of a nearby radio is lost in heavy static, truck headlights flash on and off as the vehicle's motor revs. The portly man exclaims, "Oh, boy, oh boy! Hey, Hank, here it comes!" A gas can attached to a pickup rattles against the side of the truck until its cap suddenly explodes outward. The truck's headlights shatter. The crowd rises to its feet. Hank rests his hand on the shoulder of a young boy, his face lit up with wonder as he looks into the sky. A saucer shape rises overhead with beams of light emanating downward. It hovers for an instant, then rapidly angles upward and disappears from sight.
A police car with flashing lights drives past a line of vehicles parked haphazardly along the muddy dirt road. Bud Atkins, the stout man Tom had seen by the campfire, leans on a cane and unsuccessfully waves for the driver to stop. Along the row of cars, spectators photograph and videotape the field. Tom thanks the woman who pours him a cup of coffee from a pot heated on a Coleman stove in the back of a pickup. Bud stands beside the police car and informs Sheriff Wilkes that he missed a great show last night--the ship came in right over their heads and then whooshed out over the hill and over those flats. He asks how they made out in town last night. Wilkes says there was the usual: lots of power hits, a few outages. One of the farms over in Somerville reported a few dead cattle. As they walk towards a darkened circle in the sodden field, Bud says, "You can't tell me you're still skeptical, Will." Wilkes says he's not skeptical about what he can see: burnt circles in the ground, dead cattle and power outages. It's just what causes them he's not so sure about. Bud asks if he has a better explanation. Wilkes says that just because he can't explain something doesn't mean that the answer has to come from somewhere out there. Bud argues that they had a whole thirty good people here who saw it happen. Wilkes says they had a good thirty people here who saw a bunch of lights in the sky and want to believe they know what happened. Bud asserts, "So you're not going to do anything about this?" Wilkes says he's going to do what he always does--make a report on what happened.
As the sheriff walks back to his car he passes Tom, who has thrown his hood over his head after glancing at the overcast sky. Wilkes turns to take a closer look at Tom, then continues on his way, placing a cigar in his mouth. Tom approaches Bud and asks how he's doing. Bud exclaims, "Frustrated!" Tom says he gathers that Bud is the resident expert around here. Bud laughs and says he means the expert in "that sort of thing." Tom tells him he's here because he's looking for a man named John Meyerson. He cuts off Bud's interjections, explaining that Hank gave him the details and told him that Meyerson disappeared about eighteen months ago. He asks if he knows if there was any kind of investigation. Bud forcefully tells him that he's sure there was a pretty thorough investigation, but for the details he would have to ask Sheriff Wilkes. He adds that he can tell Tom this much--they never found anything. His daughter said that he went out about midnight one night to take a walk under the stars. Bud says that it turned out there was more in the sky that night than just stars. He tells Tom it shook up his daughter Helen pretty bad; he's not sure she'll ever be the same again. He asks what Tom's business is with Meyerson and Tom answers that it's personal. He asks if Bud knows where he can find Helen Meyerson. Bud tells him she still lives in the house and asks if he needs a lift into town. Tom says that would be great; he's been stuck out here all night. As they walk towards Bud's van, Hank's metal detector gives a high-pitched squeal. He taps the gauge as the needle rests on 5, then quickly moves towards 0. His eyes open wide as the squealing continues.
The van stops by a mailbox numbered 7655 above the name Meyerson. Tom thanks Bud for the ride and approaches the white frame house surrounded by a picket fence. He knocks on the oval window set into the front door. When no one answers, he picks up his bag and starts to leave. He's startled by a woman's voice behind him demanding, "What are you doing here?" Tom tells the rather severe woman that he wanted to talk to Helen. She asks if he's a friend and he replies that he knew her father. She says Helen's in the kitchen and informs him that she's going out to do the shopping. She orders him to wipe his feet--she just mopped the floor.
The television in the living room plays a black-and-white science fiction movie. An elevator door rises to reveal a robot; the scientist exclaims, "My child! My greatest creation." Tom examines one of the magazines stacked neatly on the coffee table--the top volume is called The Cosmic Collection. A teakettle whistles and then subsides as it is taken off the burner. As Tom passes a telescope in the dining room and glances at the pictures of UFOs on one wall, he can hear the dialogue from the film: "Does it have a mind of its own? ... No. I control his every move. He will do my bidding.". Startled by the sudden appearance of Tom in the kitchen doorway, Helen drops the mug she was preparing to fill from the kettle and it crashes to the floor. Tom apologizes, but she wryly asks if he would think she could make a cup of tea without destroying the house in the process. Tom kneels to help her pick up the broken glass, but she quickly gathers up the pieces. Back on her feet, she looks questioningly at him. Tom says he didn't mean to scare her like that; her housekeeper had told him she was back here. He introduces himself and offers his hand. Keeping the table between them, she what he's doing in her kitchen, if he's selling something. Tom tells her he wanted to talk to her about her father. She says her father's not here and a small, unhappy grimace crosses her face. Tom immediately says he's sorry. As she carries her mug of tea into the living room, she tells him it's OK--she just doesn't like to talk about it very much. She watches riveted as the robot on the TV screen stiffly moves towards the two scientists. Tom asks if the framed photograph on the table is her father. She picks up the mug and nods, completely absorbed in the program. She says she'll tell him that Tom came by. She appears not to notice when Tom thanks her and leaves.
Tom descends a stairway outside the barber shop. After honking to get Tom's attention, Hank stops his pickup truck across the street. He says that he heard Tom went out to see Helen Meyerson. He knows because he was just out there. He says it's amazing that she's even half normal considering the way her father treated her. Tom asks what he means. Hank tells him that the guy was a complete workaholic who never had two words to say to anybody around there. He doesn't think he said more than that to his own daughter. The housekeeper's the one who raised her. Hank says it would have been better if Meyerson disappeared a long time ago; being around but not really being there is the worst thing for a child. When Tom asks if that's what he wanted to talk to him about, Hank laughs and says "Partly." He lowers his voice conspiratorially as he tells Tom he thinks he found something this morning, something that might interest him. He says what he found might just have something to do with what happened to John Meyerson. Tom smiles and says he thought everybody knew what happened to Meyerson. Hanks tells him there's a chance maybe everyone's wrong. Tom asks what he found, but edHanks says it might be better if he showed him. Right now he has to run this scrap over to Morley, but he tells Tom to meet him at 9:00 at the road out by the burnt circle. Tom can see for himself and tell Hank what he thinks. Tom says he has to find a car and asks if there's a place he can rent one around here. Hank tells him to go down to his shop and his cousin George will rent him one for fifteen bucks.
A full moon in the darkness becomes the beam of Hank's flashlight. A low-pitched steady beep is heard as he moves a metal detector over the ground. Suddenly the beeping quickens, accompanied by a high-pitched squeal and heavy static. Hank pulls off his earphones and clenches his hands to his head, crying out in pain. Light arcs and flashes above him, illuminating a rough circle on the ground. He raises his hands defensively as the ring of lights descend upon him. He screams and covers his eyes with his arms as the lights swallow him up.
Two police cars are parked near the burnt circle. Bud can be seen walking with a deputy. Tom tells Sheriff Wilkes that all Hank said is that he thought he'd found something that might be connected to John Meyerson's disappearance. Wilkes asks what Tom's business was with Meyerson. Tom answers once more that it's personal. Wilkes says that a man's disappeared; in his book, that's kind of personal, too. He asks how Tom got tied up with Hank. Tom explains that he met him the night before last during one of the sightings. Wilkes asks tersely if Tom's a buff. Tom asks, "A buff?" Wilkes says, "A UFO freak, whatever." He asks if Tom was here for the show. Tom says he came out here looking for John Meyerson; he just ran into the show. Wilkes says wearily, "Tell me about it." He asks if Hank gave him any specifics on what it was he might have found. Tom replies that he just said he thought it might be better if he showed him. Wilkes asks if Tom is staying in town. When he learns that he has a room, he tells him to hang around for a while; maybe he'll think of a few more questions to ask.
Tom catches up with Bud as he walks across the field and asks if he found anything. Bud says they're getting closer. Tom asks, "Who's that?" and Bud exclaims, "Them!" He says he wouldn't be surprised if they're planning to make some sort of contact with them. Multiple sightings, four abductions in the last two years: he says they're planning something. He doesn't know what it is, but he sure as hell hopes he's here when it happens. Tom tells him that from what he can see, Bud will probably be right at the head of the line. Bud says that's fine with him and launches into a tirade at the police car, asking Wilkes if he can't teach his guys how to measure and how to count; he needs to know exactly how far apart these circles are. Tom spots something in the grass by his foot. He picks up an oval medallion with the letters "AMEC."
Helen works at a table in her backyard, busy with a trowel and a stack of flowerpots. Tom nods at the red flowers at the other end of the table and tells her they're beautiful. He says he hates to bother her again. She switches off the radio, quieting Bud's abrasive voice, and says if it's about her father, she really doesn't want to talk about it anymore. Tom tells her it's about Hank Bower; he told Tom he came by to see her yesterday. She says that's right and that Tom did too; what does it matter? Tom tells her Hank disappeared last night. Her face freezes, then she takes a quick breath and says she doesn't know anything about it. Tom says that Hank asked him to meet him out by the sightings and that he had said he might know something about what happened to her father. Helen agitatedly says she doesn't know what he's talking about--she knows what happened to her father. Tom asks if Hank told her anything when he came to see her yesterday. He shows her the medallion and asks if it means anything to her. Helen asks why he's here. She says she doesn't even know who he is and he comes in here and starts asking all these questions. She asks what's in all this for him. Tom responds, "Maybe getting my life back." He says he knows how painful this is for her; he knows what it feels like to lose somebody that's important to you. He asks if she's ever considered that what happened to her father might not have had anything to do with UFOs or sightings. She asks why she should. Tom suggests that it might have had something to do with human beings, with people who were trying to hurt him. She asks why anyone would want to hurt him and Tom answers he doesn't know. Mastering the tremor in her voice, she deliberately says she really needs to get these bulbs planted before the weather changes; it feels like the rain's coming. She says you have to plant them eight inches deep. Six is too shallow and the first rain will wash away the soil and kill them. Any more than eight and the soil's too packed and the roots won't take. Tom finds it difficult to watch her desperate defense against reality and finally walks away.
As he passes through the dining room on his way to the front door, the housekeeper appears in the kitchen doorway holding a broom. She tells Tom, "Don't take it away from her." When Tom asks "What's that?," she replies "What she needs to believe." Tom asks the housekeeper if she believes that Dr. Meyerson was abducted by aliens. She says it's not important what she believes. She tells him that the girl hasn't had the easiest life. Over the last year, she finally seems to be coming to terms with things. She asks if Tom really wants to take that away from her. Tom starts to answer, then falls silent.
Tom extinguishes his headlights before pulling to a stop outside Hank's Automotive. After finding the garage door locked, he enters through a window. Picking up a flashlight, he walks through the garage to Hank's office where one wall is covered with maps, newspaper articles and pictures cut from magazines. An open map on the table has three sights marked with red Xs, with bold lines drawn to an intersecting point. As Tom examines the map, he hears a sound in the other room. Placing his hand over the top of the flashlight to dim its light to a red glow, he steps back into the garage and quickly shines the light in all directions. He asks, surprised, "What are you doing here?" Helen gets to her feet from her crouch behind an oil drum and tells him she thought he'd be headed here. She asks why he can't just let things be. Tom replies, "Because things aren't right." He doesn't think all these lights in the sky and Hank's disappearance can be explained away with people from another planet. She tells him he's one of those people who can't believe in something unless it's staring him right in the face. Tom asks what she's afraid of finding out and she sullenly declares, "I'm not afraid." Tom asks her to help him then. She mentions the medallion Tom found and he pulls it from his pocket. She tells him she knows where it's from. She takes the flashlight and shines the light on a metal detector on the wall; an oval plate on the device reads "AMEC."
Tom drives in the darkness out to a field. He asks Helen if she's sure this is the place and she says that this is the place Hank had marked on the map. Tom scans the ground with a metal detector, hearing a low-pitched beep as they walk through the muddy field. She asks what these people Tom said might be trying to hurt her father did to him. Tom says it's so hard to explain; they took his life, everything that meant anything to him. He thinks they might have done the same thing to her father. She asks if there's a Helen out there somewhere looking for him. He tells her he'd like to think so--his wife, Alyson--but he can't even be sure of that anymore. She asks why somebody would do that. He tells her that's what he's trying to find out. There is a brief squeal and static from the detector which subsides as he moves it further along the ground. He moves it back and the noises start again. Tom tells Helen that something's buried here. The beeping becomes rapid, the static intense. They both double over gasping, Helen holding her head. They look up as lights flash above them, illuminating a circle around them. With a crackling like thunder, a ring of lights descends towards them, emitting beams which move and cross beneath it. Tom grabs Helen's arm and urges her to "Come on!" as the grass on the edge of the circle bursts into flame. She stands transfixed watching the approaching lights but Tom yells again and runs with her through the dying flames. They turn in time to see a glowing saucer shape suddenly accelerate out of sight. Her face radiant, Helen says, "It was them, Tom. Did you see it? It was them!"
Helen carries a flashlight as she and Tom walk through the yard behind her house. She tells him that her father's a physicist. He spent most of his time at a place called the Weaver Institute, but he had a workshop in the garage. As she unlocks the padlock on the door, she tells him the lights never work here. She hands him a flashlight and when he sees a train set complete with a village, he says he thought she said her father came in here to work. Helen asks what they're supposed to be looking for. He shines his light along the train set and tells her he doesn't know--they came after him for a photograph; he just thought her father's work might have had something to do with what happened to him. He lifts a metal box by a handle on its top. With a whining hum, the two trains move along the track and the windows of the houses light up. He lowers the box and everything abruptly stops. Helen says excitedly that she didn't even know it still worked. Tom lifts the box again, revealing four metal coils arrayed around a central light, then he lowers it. He tells her the question is how. Helen's smile dies as she asks what he means. Tom lets the trains run and reaches down beneath the table. He shows her the end of the power cord and says it's not plugged in. Tom stops the set again by covering the coils and explains that it's somehow generating some kind of current to run the trains, but he's never seen anything like it. Helen has a sudden thought and runs to the doorway. She calls for Tom to come out there for a moment. The house lights flash on and off as Helen raises and lowers the box. Tom says that it's like it's drawing current from the house, but it doesn't make sense--it's not using house current; it's not even plugged in. Helen says it's like the sghtings. Startled, Tom turns and asks, "What?" She tells him that every time there's been a sighting, most of Rockwater had power surges.
Tom sits bored in one of a cluster of cushioned chairs in the antiseptic lobby of the Weaver Institute, listening to a receptionist repeatedly answer the telephone. In his office, Weaver sits with his face half in shadow, toying with a small pyramid on the surface of his desk as he tells Helen he's not sure he understands her questions; why has she taken such an interest in her father's work? Helen responds uncertainly that it's because she thinks it might have had something to do with what happened to him. Weaver asks why she thinks that. Helen answers softly that she doesn't know; she's not sure, but last night she was in his workshop and she saw an experiment he had set up with a train set. Weaver's hand tightens on top of the pyramid and he sits up straight, repeating, "A train?"
Tom shifts impatiently as he waits in the lobby. When the receptionist turns her back to him in order to consult her computer, he gets up from his chair and walks down a hallway of the Institute. At the end of the corridor, two men and a woman carrying briefcases walk briskly along an intersecting corridor; Tom keeps his back to them and watches their reflections in an office window. When he reaches the junction, he cautiously looks around the corner, then follows in that direction. Three men disappear into a meeting room. As Tom approaches, he can hear the muffled sound of an angry voice. Through the blinds on the hall window, Bud can be seen standing at the head of a long conference table, pounding the table and berating the group: "You all sit here looking very complacent! I said the stabilization movement had to be done immediately, not last week!" He waves his cigar and demands if they are going to be able to do what he's asking them to do. He yells that they keep saying "Yes! Yes! Yes! But do they do it?" He pounds the table and says he doesn't see it. Tom leans against the conference room window, shocked at seeing Bud conducting the meeting.
Driving back from the Institute, Tom asks what Helen knows about Bud Atkins; what's his connection to Weaver? She asks what makes him think there's a connection. Tom explains that while she was in with Weaver, he was poking his nose in some kind of a board meeting. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but there was no doubt about the fact that Bud was clearly running the show. Just past an overhead railway trestle, he pulls off onto a side road and parks. He asks what she got from Weaver. She says he just kept reassuring her and telling her that everything would be OK. Tom asks if he said anything about the type of work her father was doing. She tells him that all Weaver said was that all the work they do at the institute is classified. Tom asks by who: the government? She tells him she doesn't know. He asks if there's another way back into town from the Institute and she assures him that this is the only road in or out. Tom says if they're going to get any answers they're just going to have to stay put and wait to follow the answer man.
Tom watches from the trestle as Bud's van approaches on the road. He runs down the embankment to his car and drives after the van. He asks where the road leads and she answers that it leads out towards the flats. Tom realizes that's where they were last night and asks if there's anything else out there. Helen tells him there was a farm over there, but it's been closed up for years. Tom grimly suggests that maybe somebody opened it up again. They watch as Bud drives the van into the only structure remaining on the farm, a plain, gray barn in two sections. Inside the barn, Tom takes a quick look inside the van, which is fitted with living accommodations like a camper. Helen says Bud couldn't have just disappeared. The wall backing on the other section of the barn has a segment constructed of a smooth material completely different from the corrugated walls of the barn. A recessed section has a horizontal slot across it. Tom and Helen stand beside it, trying to figure out what it is, but whirl around at the sound of the barn door closing. The slot widens as opposing panels slide up and down to reveal Bud standing in an elevator. He says with grim amusement, "Well, you've come this far, Helen. I suppose you'll be wanting to see your father."
When the elevator reaches the bottom of its shaft, white-coveralled workers hand them each a headset. Bud tells Tom he's driving the electric cart waiting for them and settles into the front seat beside him. Helen sits in back. As they drive along the gleaming floors of a power plant, Bud speaks into his microphone to be heard over the sound of the enormous generators, saying, "Rather impressive, don't you think?" Tom guesses that it's electromagnetics, but Bud tells him it's years beyond that: balanced magnetic field conduction. He explains that these coils transmit electrical power. There's no need for wires, outlets or cables. Receiving electricity is as easy as placing a television antenna on your roof. Tom says it's not stabile yet--they're still testing. Bud tells him they're getting closer. Tom says, "Except for the fact that right now it draws almost as much power as it transmits. Not to mention the heat problem." Helen asks how he knows all this. Tom reminds her of the power surges when he was running the trains in her father's workshop; that coil was drawing power from the main house. He says that what's happening here is that they're using the sightings as a cover. Every time they fire up a test down here it creates havoc on the surface, so between the power surges and the burns on the ground they had to cook up a way to cover up what they were doing. Bud sarcastically tells him, "You're really a smart fellow, aren't you?" Tom says that's why they had to get rid of Hank; he must have discovered what was going on. He accuses Bud, "You killed him, didn't you?" Bud tells him to pull over behind a curved desk where four men sit alongside one empty chair facing a larger version of the coil in Meyerson's workshop.
Bud calls, "Professor!" Meyerson turns from the panel he was working at. Father and daughter look at each other. Helen tremulously says "Dad?" She runs to him smiling and hugs him, asking if he's all right. He unemotionally tells her he's fine. Helen excitedly says she can't believe she's really seeing him. Meyerson tells Bud he didn't have to bring her here. Bud says he didn't, Tom did; he followed him from the Institute. Meyerson tells Tom she didn't need to get involved in this. Helen asks her father what's going on here. He sharply orders, "Get her out of here!" Bud takes Helen's arm and pushes her from the room, telling her that it's going to be OK; he'll explain everything to her. Tom tells Meyerson, "Nobody did this to you, did they? This is your project." Meyerson says this is his life work. Tom protests, "She's your daughter!" Meyerson coldly tells him she's her mother's daughter; he had nothing to say about it. He crosses his arms and says his child is right here. He speaks into his microphone and orders the disposal unit to be set up; they have two more abductions to arrange. Tom angrily argues that Helen doesn't know anything about any of this; as far as she's concerned, she's been taken on board an alien spaceship and her father's being held hostage against his will. Meyerson stares at him implacably. Tom tells him that using his UFO phenomena to cover up the testing is more effective than he might have imagined. Meyerson's says that's exactly what they planned; being able to spread paranoia and generally disrupt the populace is a very useful tool to have. He says that when people don't understand something, when they're confused or frightened, they tend to grasp for answers. They're usually quite willing to accept the first explanation offered to them no matter how implausible it might seem. Tom reads a pair of signs on the wall behind them: "Danger. High Voltage" and "Metal objects are hazardous in this area." Meyerson declares that when his work is finished, they will dominate. Tom reads on the base of the coil unit: "Extreme caution" and "Balanced magnetic field. No foreign metallic objects within ten feet." Meyerson states that unlike fossil fuels, the earth's sources of magnetism will never be depleted. He says, "Whoever controls that power--" Tom protests that the people he's working for are trying to dominate every aspect of our lives. Meyerson asks, "Why not just give them what they want?" He tells Tom they're offering him a chance most men never get: a happy life in exchange for a meaningless photograph. Tom steps back, stunned. Meyerson orders, "Get him out of here!" A security guard takes Tom's arm and starts to lead him from the room.
Tom suddenly shoves the man backwards against the cart. Meyerson spies the AMEC medallion in his hand and frantically shouts "No!" The medallion sails through the air, rotating end over end, as it arcs upward. Blue current encircles the arms of the coil as the disk penetrates the field between them. Men run to escape the runaway current as sparks fly and long bolts shoot in each direction from the coil structure. Meyerson frantically tries to shut it down from a control panel. Tom follows the workers running from the control room and finds Helen along the row of generators. Pandemonium reigns as men run in all directions, knocked to the floor by blasts of surging power. Tom starts to lead Helen up a stairway, but a bolt of electricity hitting the metal wall explodes into flame ahead of them. A screaming man plummets downwards, spears of electricity running through his body. At the foot of the stairs, Tom hits a button to open a door, activating another siren. Meyerson turns and yells "Helen!" She answers "Dad!" and before Tom can pull her through the door and close it behind them, she sees his arms thrown back as bolts of power from the coil pierce his chest. His body shakes as threads of light shoot out his fingertips.
Scores of workers run out the barn door followed by Tom and Helen. Blue lines of current shoot out the doorway. A massive explosion swallows up the barn as men still try to escape, the inferno fiery and intense. Tom stops running and holds Helen's arms as he steadies her and makes sure she's all right. She asks about her father. Tom tells her he didn't make it out. She steps away and tells Tom he'll be back--he'll be back when they're through with him. She gazes into the distance and says, "Listen. Over there. Do you see it? Oh, it's beautiful. It's so beautiful. Do you see it?" Tom softly tells her he sees it. She looks into the sky and says, "I wonder where they're taking him."
Synopsis © 1996 Marge Brashier
(brashier@tcccom.net)
Do not post this synopsis on other web sites, mail lists, etc.,
without permission.
Used by permission.
February 20, 1996