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Oh, man.
What did he say?
A natural heat vortex.
That's what he called it.
And he was right.
See out there?
The cool breezes from the ocean
mixing with the steamin' desert air
make, like, a big
wind collision thing,
and that's what runs the windmills.
You figured that out
by yourself?
Not me.
Jarod.
- [Bird Screeches]
- Did it by watching them.
Without moving a muscle,
they can just
hover in the vortex.
He just sat in this spot
all day.
Just eatin' Pez
and taking in the hawks.
I'm surprised your Dr.
Dolittle
didn't try talking to them.
Well, it wasn'tjust
the birds he was into.
He really dug these.
He'd, like, be throwing dust at 'em
all day, saying he was figuring the
updrafts and
the air currents and stuff.
- Righteous, huh?
- Lovely.
Oh, Jarod.
What are you up to now?
Whoo-hoo.
!
[Laughing]
That was great!
Congratulations.
You just beat the gauntlet.
This is so cool.
Well, Jarod, the audition's over.
You want the job, it's yours.
Want it? I could
stay up here forever.
Hee-hee.
!
[Man Narrating]
Well, Mr.
Matthews, for an ex-fighter jock,
you've done pretty good for yourself.
Well, Yeager sells batteries.
I've got SkyVionics.
A buck's a buck.
The end of the Cold War nearly killed
most of the defense contractors
yet your stock's up, what,
- Eighteen.
- Whoo! Maybe I should buy me a little.
Well, with the Scimitar
chip about to be approved
maybe you should
buy yourself a lot.
- Is that a Draken?
- Yeah.
Uncle Sam's not the only
one with a shrinking purse.
We're testing the Scimitar
in planes from the R.
A.
F.
, the Israelis.
Hell, even the frogs
sent over a Mirage.
- You seen Dixon?
- Yeah.
There's the wild man now.
He's a good pilot,
but punctuality's not his thing.
He'll probably miss
his own funeral.
- You're late.
- Yeah, but what an entrance.
- So, how'd he do?
- Only took him one week to do
three weeks' worth of tests.
- That makes him the new king of the mountain.
- You serious?
He scored 34%.
- Ah, it was no big deal.
- Oh, it is when Dix here only scores 33.
Even so, I want you to
shadow this hotshot.
He'll show you everything you need to know
about the new system.
Then you can teach him how to beat
the gauntlet.
At the end of the week
I'll decide who gets to be my
wingman for the Pentagon test.
No pressure.
So, Jarod, I heard you ran some
flights for the Agency.
- Who was your point man?
- Andrew Sterling.
Original secret agent man.
Yeah, I ran some TR-1 recons over Singapore
for him back in the '80s.
North Korea.
Right.
Well, I can't believe I'm actually flying
for Manhunter Matthews.
He's the second-best pilot
I've ever seen.
And who's the best?
You're looking at him.
- How does it feel up there?
- Ah, smooth.
I can't wait to get this baby back up.
Body by F-16.
Brains by yours truly.
The Scimitar chip makes any plane's onboard
computer work 10 times as fast as the others.
Well, in this game,
speed means life.
Glad to see Tom's finally got himself
some A1 jocks to keep up.
Quality control problems?
- Mr.
Lawson.
- Depends on who you ask.
I'd appreciate the latest
hydraulic specs.
- You're beginning to sound like
a broken record, Lieutenant.
- Quick way to fix that.
Yes, ma'am.
[Lieutenant] Stereographs.
They say there's a picture in there somewhere
but I've never
been able to see one.
A penguin at the Sphinx.
A penguin riding a camel.
A penguin on a Nile barge.
Now that's something
you don't see very often.
I could look at these things
for a week.
Nothing.
Well, it's all in
the ocular muscles.
The key is you focus
on the poster
but you move your primary eyesight
eight degrees to the left.
[Lieutenant]
What did you do? Invent these things?
Mmm.
Not officially.
- Jarod Wright.
- You're Ronald Collins's replacement.
- LieutenantJanice Gant.
- Nice to meet you.
Penguin, huh?
Penguin.
I see you met
Miss Congeniality.
Toughest S.
P.
O.
in the field.
Ah.
So she's
the special projects officer.
Blue-suiters sent her
to keep tabs on us.
Which reminds me.
Clearview Ridge.
Natural heat vortex.
Wind shear up the ***.
You lean on the throttle anywhere near there,
and she'll blow a gasket.
Clearview Ridge.
Thanks for the tip.
[Plane Engine Roaring]
[Young Sydney] Don't tell me what you see,
Jarod.
Tell me what you feel.
Tell me what you feel.
I feel tired.
My legs hurt.
[Young Sydney]
Push with the pain.
Focus.
We need details.
This helmet's too tight.
It's hot.
I don't like this.
Why can't I get a bike
that actually goes somewhere?
Sydney.
Sydney.
[No Audible Dialogue]
[Knocking On Door]
[Jarod]
Just a minute.
- Hello, Mr.
Hollis.
How are you?
- Fine.
Super.
Great.
- Can I help you with something?
- Why do you need a second phone line?
It's for my modem.
I'm uploading something.
Oh.
One of those.
- One of those?
- Sheep.
People who don't mind
giving up their privacy.
- Baa!
- Excuse me?
It's too late.
They know.
- They?
- The black helicopters.
The gray men.
Like those SkyVionics people.
I've been on that place.
Been out there since World War II
doing some very
cockamamy things.
What's in the case?
- Memories.
- Pictures?
Something like that.
Why would you want a computer
if I gave you a perfectly good TV?
See? Universal remote even.
Runs everything but your life.
Yes.
But they could be
watching you through the TV.
No reverse-imaging device.
I inspected it.
I also took the liberty
of programming this to skip channels
with subliminal mind control.
Well, that was very considerate
of you, Mr.
Hollis.
You aren't uploading
filthy pictures, are you?
Well, that depends
on how you define filthy.
[Broots]
It came down the linejust a few minutes ago.
Jarod.
This better be good, Syd.
Mr.
Raines?
How did he find out about him?
Must be the disks from
the digital simulation archive.
Do you think he realizes
what it means?
We're talking aboutJarod.
If he doesn't now,
he soon will.
He is a genius.
You can stretch it
bounce it
and copy newsprint with it
and it comes in its own
plastic egg.
Yeah.
See, the egg is like a symbol
of this stuff's birth, you know?
Its being.
It's notjust putty.
It's whatever
you want it to be.
Oh.
Well, why would they call
something this versatile silly?
Would you buy something
called Versatile Putty?
I don't know.
But I'll buy this.
I'll buy 100.
Cool.
[Bicycle Bell Rings]
Hello.
You must beJarod.
[Mouthing Words]
We'll be very happy
to help you with that.
[Jarod]
The view is better from the inside.
Thought I smelled some smoke.
Everything seems to be A-okay.
Good.
Never figured you
for a pilot.
Well, if it makes you feel any better,
I'm not really a pilot.
Oh, right.
I'm Jimmy Hoffa.
Could have told me.
Man likes to know when he's about to
have his throat ripped out and fed to him.
It didn't seem important.
Important?
Does that look important?
Fleets of these behemoths,
like crazed flying monkeys
terrorizing U.
S.
citizens
from Seattle to Miami.
Terrorizing?
Halcion gas.
C.
I.
A.
created it in 1971.
- 1969.
- I knew it.
You're one of them.
Would you stop, please?
This is a mass hallucinogen.
This is pretty potent.
Well, not anymore.
I cut it with 50% oxygen.
Hell, your dentist
has stronger stuff.
Even so, I caught
an accidental whiff.
Thought I was Eleanor Roosevelt
for the best part of an afternoon.
- Your point being?
- Remember the medfly?
No such thing.
Lock your doors
and bolt your windows, amigo.
The exterminator's coming,
and his name is SkyVionics.
- SkyVionics?
- Merchants of death.
Trust me.
I've been a clown
in that circus
and it's anything but
the Greatest Show on Earth.
[Chattering]
[Country]
[Singing In Spanish]
That's quite a collection.
The only thing we have now to hang up there
is you, the SkyVionic boys
since we don't have
a base anymore.
What's your poison?
- Excuse me?
- What's your drink?
Uh, I was raised on optimized
nutritional supplements:
hearts of palm, wheatgrass,
asparagus mixed with tomato.
*** Mary,
celery garnished.
Uh, could you make it two, please?
I'm expecting company.
Mm-hmm.
What the hell do you think
you were doing up there?
- Practice makes perfect.
- You know what I'm talking about, Wright.
Clearview Ridge.
I was retracing
Ronald Collins's last flight.
Two *** Marys.
I hope this is your poison.
- You knew I'd come after you.
- Toughest S.
P.
O.
in the field.
At least that's what
they tell me.
So, Lieutenant Gant
why is the air force so concerned
with a civilian flier?
You're testing a system that's designed
to protect military pilots.
It's my job to make sure
it's safe.
And I'm up for wingman
on Friday's test.
I don't fly avionics
I'm not familiar with.
It's my job to know
what I'm getting into.
True.
Now, from what I understand,
Collins had plenty of time to eject.
Time, yes.
Ability, no.
His record in the Gulf
says otherwise.
Well, between me and you
and that wall of fame
Collins didn't eject
because he blacked out.
What are you saying?
Put it this way.
His drink of choice was not a *** Mary.
- Is that true?
- You can take my word for it
or steal my report
from the Special Projects Office in D.
C.
Now that would be impossible.
Look, not even his wife fought the allegations,
and they cost her his pension.
Two SkyVionics employees place Collins
right here in this very bar
- the night before the crash.
- Who?
Lawson, for one.
Who else?
Tom Matthews.
[Matthews On Radio]
Nice flying, Jarod.
Bring it on home.
- You weren't kidding when you
said you were a quick study.
- Ah.
Beginner's luck.
We're making a big announcement
after the test.
Scimitar's going commercial.
By the year 2000, that Scimitar chip's
gonna be on every airliner in the country.
I feel safer already.
Well, I just want you to know
I've been talking to corporate types about you.
You're our best flier,
hands down.
- But?
- But I gotta give the test to Dixon on Friday.
I understand.
You don't want a repeat of the last test.
We won't.
This time no test pilot's gonna let me down.
Ron Collins could have
flown circles around you two.
Instead he hit the bottle.
I'm surprised you missed that.
I called him on it the morning of the test.
He said he was fine.
So it wasn't
a mechanical failure.
The residual alcohol
in his blood
caused him to black out
when he pulled too many g's.
Collins was flying a safe plane.
I'm sure he was.
Is your mom home?
Mom!
You were with Ron
in Saudi Arabia?
Your husband he saved my tail
on the third night over Baghdad.
When I heard about
the accident, l
Well, I tried to make my way here
as soon as I could.
I want to tell you
how sorry I am.
Me and a couple of the guys,
we petitioned the C.
N.
O.
's office
about getting Ron a posthumous
Gulf War commendation.
What's wrong, Mom?
Nothin'.
That's great.
That's really great.
Have you had supper yet?
You're saying Jarod
left this for us.
When I tried to save
this picture of Mr.
Raines
it unzipped an executable
that created this program.
And I'll be able to communicate
with him and see him?
Through his encryption,
yes.
I don't want Miss Parker
to find out about this.
Uh, wait wait a minute.
Uh, you want to play political Parcheesi
with the ice queen, you go
[Growls]
You go right ahead, but I'm not dancing
in that minefield.
No way.
[Laughing]
You are afraid of losing your job.
I'm afraid of losing my life.
[Jarod] Hey.
You get hot dogs
and macaroni for dinner every night?
I wish.
It's quite a view, huh?
That's Orion, the hunter.
- And that one's Pegasus.
- The winged horse.
That was Dad's favorite.
I can name
a lot of stars.
Dad and I studied 'em.
We went to see 'em in the desert
the night before he left.
Really?
- Just you and your dad?
- Shh.
Mom never liked it
when we snuck out late.
We never told her.
Hey, Jarod.
Don't forget.
Tomorrow I need you to
play bogey in the Draken.
- Where is it?
- They're prepping in number 27.
- That's two hangars down.
- Thanks.
How many hours you logged
in one of those?
Well, actually,
this'll be my
first.
[Broots]
Looks likeJarod's been busy.
This image was taken last night
by one of our KH-11 satellites.
- That's La Grange.
- Mm-hmm.
- La Grange?
- One of the Centre's private, unmarked airstrips.
- That's somewhere in Virginia, right?
- Right.
It's just outside of D.
C.
This shot's just before 2:00 a.
m.
Nothing up the sleeve, right?
And presto.
- [Mispronouncing] Draken jet.
- Draken.
Oh.
Parked there
for three hours until
- Poof.
- He landed there in the middle
of the night, undetected?
And three hours gives him
perfect time for a visit to D.
C.
Why Washington?
[Gant]
LieutenantJanice Gant reporting.
S.
P.
O.
video record.
Collins/Matthews
dogfight simulation.
[Matthews On Radio]
Scimitar 2, come in.
Do you copy, Hammer?
[Collins] Uh, roger that, Manhunter.
System is hot and working great.
[Matthews]
Let's try that again at Mach 1.
8.
- Throw in a shoulder roll for good measure.
- Come and get me, Manhunter.
[Matthews]
Coming in for the kill.
Say your prayers, Hammer.
[Matthews]
Pull out of the roll, Collins.
Pull out of the roll.
You're headin'down.
Level off.
Level off, Collins.
!
Collins, punch out.
!
Level off, Collins.
You're going down.
Get out of there.
Punch out.
! Punch out.
!
Collins.
! Collins.
!
You couldn't punch out
because Matthews sent you up
in an unsafe plane.
If you don't understand,
we'll just try again.
Okay?
[Mouths Words]
[Mouthing Words]
Very good.
- Listen to me, Doctor.
- [No Audible Dialogue]
Listen to me, Doctor.
The kid asks about
his father again
tell him Daddy
loved him very much
and Daddy died
in a plane crash.
That's not exactly a lie.
Are we clear?
"Are we clear?"
- [Glass Shatters]
- [Man Yelling]
[Hollis Shouting]
- Mr.
Hollis?
- [Hollis] Get me out ofhere.
- Mr.
Hollis.
- [Shouting]
- Mr.
Hollis.
- [Shouting]
It's okay.
It's Jarod.
It's Jarod.
Jarod.
Are you all right?
Nightmare.
[Sighs]
Shouldn't you be
uploading something?
Hiroshima.
This is you.
Greatest Show on Earth.
I was part of something that
should have never happened.
I helped do this.
You couldn't have known.
Ignorance is a poor excuse
for ***.
[TVChannels Switching]
[TVChannels Switching]
[Quietly Imitating Gunfire]
- [Woman On TV] Stop this car.
Stop it or I'll
- [Imitating Continues]
Yeah.
My wife says I'll die with
one of those things in my hand.
Hmm.
- Broke?
- Defective.
Hey, you're
the mechanical ***.
The specs say there's
a failure rate of 0.
4%.
So?
So, I've done my own calculations,
and I've come up with a failure rate of
Sounds like a bad chip.
You're the expert.
- That's a Scimitar chip.
- Mm-hmm.
And when it fails,
whole plane's affected.
Altitude controls
infrared sighting
ejection systems.
Ronald Collins didn't punch out
the night of the crash because he couldn't.
Is that what a man's life
is worth at SkyVionics?
He wasn't at the Tail Fin Bar
drinking the night before the crash.
He was out in the desert.
He was stargazing
with his son.
Why did you lie?
I, uh I warned Matthews
about the chip
but he said the ratio
was acceptable.
"3.
1 is nothing
against the bottom line.
"
Is that why you doctored
the voice recorder?
Yeah.
Matthews wanted to keep
Gant out of the loop.
He said we'd all be raking it in
once he closed the commercial contracts.
[Scoffs]
Jarod.
Put yourself in my shoes.
I already have.
[No Audible Dialogue]
Who is that man?
It's no one, Jarod.
It's no one.
- [Beeps]
- Answer the question, Sydney.
Who is he?
And what does he know about my father?
Sydney, I'm not here.
I'm glad we can
finally talk again.
The plane crash is
"not exactly a lie.
"
What did he mean by that?
I only know him as Mr.
Raines.
But listen, Jarod.
I've been searching here
and I've discovered one thing.
Your father was an aviator.
An aviator who had flown with
- Jarod? Jarod!
- Sydney?
Sydney? Sydney!
Sydney.
Damn.
[Broots]
Well, somebody inside cut us off.
[Miss Parker]
That's right.
Come with me.
Lieutenant Gant,
it's Jarod Wright.
There's something
that you really should see.
Uniforms-R-Us?
I need a rush job.
I thought we had
an understanding.
And now this.
Well, he talked me into it.
He forced me.
He's not that good.
I can make it up to you.
And how do you propose
to do that?
Jarod's transmission used an old ARPA connection
from the early Internet days
when it was still
a Defense Department system.
I've zeroed in
on his location.
- It's a beginning.
- [Coughs]
- Lieutenant.
- Sir.
We should be starting
in about 30 minutes, sir.
Good.
Been waiting six years
for this Scimitar system to impress us.
- Better be now.
- Trust me, sir.
After what I saw last night
it's gonna be
a real eye-opener.
[Matthews]
What do you mean you can't find Dixon?
I'm sorry, sir.
There's no answer at his home.
He's probably on his way.
All right.
You tell control
to confirm that all systems are on line.
- Yes, sir.
- And call Dixon's house again.
[Hissing]
[Phone Ringing]
[Ringing Continues]
[Line Ringing]
Nothing.
[Jarod]
The natives must be getting restless.
You up for a dogfight?
Me? I was born for this moment.
[Matthews On Radio]
All right.
You know the drill.
[Jarod]
Just like we practiced.
Don't break Mach 1.
Don't get fancy.
We'll be open-miked
into the tower, so remember
we're on the air,
and everything's on the line.
I wouldn't have it
any other way.
All right.
Here we go.
Scimitar 2, why don't you
make like a bandit?
Roger that, Manhunter.
[Matthews Over Speaker]
First stop, radar reflection.
Scimitar's advanced avionics
will enable Eagle's R.
W.
R
to initiate lockup twice as fast
as competitive systems.
As he evades,
Scimitar will predict his angle off-tail
and lock on a real missile.
In the air, speed is life,
and Scimitar is speed.
- [Beeping]
- ***.
- You're dead, Eagle.
- I always wondered what that felt like.
- [Matthews] Okay.
- [Jarod] Let's try this again.
Mach 1.
8.
Let's really test the system.
Roger that.
[Beeping]
[Matthews]Jarod, we're off the speaker.
What do you think you're doing?
- You want to look good in front
of the brass, don't ya?
- You follow my lead.
I really couldn't do that.
You see, there's a failure rate
of 3.
1% on any promise I make.
Ronald Collins wasn't so lucky.
Come and get me, Manhunter.
All right, General.
Watch and learn.
Sir.
- What the devil is this all about?
- The truth, General.
[Beeping]
I've lost flight control.
[Matthews]
Eagle, repeat:
I've lost flight control.
[Jarod]
That's because your Scimitar chip has failed.
Just like the one
in Ronald Collins's plane.
Scary, isn't it, Tom?
I can't punch out!
I can't punch out!
I'll tell you how
if you tell me the truth.
What the hell
are you talking about?
Well, then you're gonna suffer
the same fate as Ronald Collins.
Do you copy, Manhunter?
I had to make good
on the quarter!
You killed a good man,
and then you blamed it on him.
I didn't want that to happen!
I'm sorry!
He was a friend of mine.
I didn't want that to happen.
Get me out ofhere.
!
[Jarod]
Enable your infrared sighting.
I.
R.
's on.
Disable your
radar warning receiver.
- Check.
- Pull the eject handle.
It won't work!
It still won't work!
Oops.
I almost forgot.
Cool.
Ladies and gentlemen,
SkyVionics Radio
has reached the end
of another broadcast day.
This is Eagle, signing off.
Let's go.
[Jarod]
Yee-haw.
!
This is so cool.
[General]
Matthews.
The government wants a refund.
Oh.
!
Yes!
Mom! Mom! Come look at this!
Well, I guess it's not easy
living next to a nutcase.
You're not crazy,
Mr.
Hollis.
I believe everything
you've told me.
I'm still not sure about
the Eleanor Roosevelt thing.
There is another piece of information
that I'd like you to keep your eye on.
What's that?
It's in Delaware.
Blue Cove.
A place called the Centre.
Now, that's the only map
you're ever gonna find it on.
It's a dangerous place.
People should be
made aware, if you know what I mean.
Oh, yeah.
This is real ripe.
I'll spread the word.
I'm counting on it.
- Good luck.
- You too.
Uh, Jarod.
I don't know what it is you're after,
but I hope you find it.
[Country]
Miss Parker.
You're Miss Parker.
- That's right.
- Hmm.
- [Sam] What is it?
- Silly Putty.
Do you have a mirror?
"Late pilot cleared of error.
"
Nothing.
[Man] I'm beginning to dread that
the Parker killer instinct wasn't hereditary.
- I'll find him, sir.
- Let me be perfectly clear.
Jarod is not
some minor inconvenience
for you to pad
your Centre expenses with.
I understand, Mr.
Raines.
We're ready for you, sir.
Help yourself.
[Applause]
- [Applause Continues]
- [Cheering]
[Applause Subsides]
[Classical]
[Mews]