Striker, listen and listen good.
You'll be on lunar radio range
any second.
The next transmission
that you receive
will be from Buck Murdock
at Alpha Beta Base.
- Not BUCK Murdock?
- No. Buck MURdock.
Who's Buck Murdock, Ted?
A guy I flew with during the war.
He was with us that day
I led the raid over Macho Grande.
And he's still alive?
Striker, son...
we're all betting on you.
5-1 they all die.
8-5 the women and children make it.
6-4 they lose the crew.
0.5 worp... God help them.
Nobody's ever travelled
at that speed before.
Last spring,
we did Europe in nine days.
Then we went
to Bakersfield and Fresno.
No one goes to Fresno any more.
All communication lines are clear.
Ready to transfer to Buck Murdock
at Alpha Beta. Over.
Gentlemen...
I don't find it easy to talk
at a time like this,
but I got to say something
about that guy up there,
and I can sum it all up
in just one word... courage,
dedication, daring, pride, pluck,
spirit, grit, mettle
and... G-U-T-S. Guts!
Ted Striker's got more guts
in his little finger
than most of us have in our large
intestine, including the colon!
When we're ready, we'd like you
to remove your eyeglasses and shoes
and place your head
between the knees.
Between your own knees, Father.
We've blown the computer.
Elaine, you'd better
check the readout.
We're slowing down.
- Set course change.
- Set.
Compute.
Here goes.
Elaine, we hit 0.5 worp,
and everything seems OK.
We've got gravity control back.
Sorry.
Elaine, you'd better brace yourself.
This is faster than man
has ever travelled before.
In case some of you are wondering,
we are travelling
at half the speed of light.
Some of you might experience
a temporary metabolic change,
but there's nothing to worry about.
Thank you.
- Commander Murdock.
- What is it, Lieutenant?
The Mayflower's in trouble. She's
coming in hotter than a firecracker.
Their computer's down. They've lost
their crew. They're on manual.
- We'd better get to the tower.
- We have no tower.
- No tower?
- Just a bridge, sir.
Why the hell aren't I notified
about these things?
Lieutenant...
How would you handle this?
- We could try ignoring it.
- I see.
Pretend nothing has happened
and hope everything's all right
in the morning.
Just a thought, sir.
I've considered that.
Must be a better angle...
If they've lost their crew,
who's in control of that bucket?
Some guy by the name
of Ted Striker, sir.
Ted Striker.
- Do you know him?
- Never heard of him.
That's not exactly true.
We were like brothers.
We flew together during the war.
We were close, real close, until...
Until, sir?
Until that day over Macho Grande.
Over Macho Grande, sir?
I'll never get over Macho Grande.
Forget it, Lieutenant.
It wasn't a pretty picture.
What have you found?
These red lights keep moving
back and forth.
Aside from that, this thing seems
to have no function whatsoever.
It must have some function.
Why would the government put all
that money into a thing with lights?
Sir, these lights keep blinking
out of sequence.
What should we do about it?
Get them to blink in sequence.
- Rorshack, what do you got?
- What do you make of these?
That's a bird.
That's a horse with a hat on.
I pulled Striker's record. I don't
think you're going to like it.
It's worse than I thought.
They'll hit our atmosphere in three
minutes. How do you want to play it?
I want a 6-foot trench dug around
the base. Fill it with gasoline.
Get women and children
to the shelters.
Contact the Japanese ambassador.
Rorshack, get me a complete file
on everyone who's seen the Sound
Of Music more than four times.
On second thought, kill those orders.
Down scope.
Fate can play a strange
game sometimes, Lieutenant.
Fate, sir?
Striker wipes out his entire squadron
over Macho Grande,
and now those people's lives up there
are in his hands.
I guess irony can be
pretty ironic sometimes.
But it's his ship now.
He's