Episode 12: The Betrayed - 3/28/67

Three months ago, David Vincent had come to the Carver oil fields in Houston. There had been reports of unexplained lights and that same night, two watchmen had been found dead. The verdict in both cases: cerebral hemorrhage. Now, suddenly, after endless nights of vigil in the Carver fields, David has found proof that the Invaders are here. 

David Vincent has finally got himself a camera! He snaps photos of a saucer landing near an old oil tanker. When someone emerges from the tanker, he takes more photos. When a truck drives up and a lot of the green suits go inside, he creeps forward and keeps snapping away.  Surely he'll walk away with all this proof of Invader existence, no?

While the little green men are inside the truck, he climbs up on the tanker and goes inside. There is a world map of Earth with areas lit up and circled, and the whole place is humming and beeping. He takes more pictures and then decides to screw everything up by pressing buttons. Some periscope type object begins rising while making a loud humming noise that is noticed by one the green suited aliens outside.

Meanwhile, David pulls some sort of recording tape out of the wall and waits for the advancing alien to sneak up on him. Fortunately, he's one of those easy to defeat aliens, but unfortunately, David has chosen to throw his camera at him to deflect his ray gun shot. David struggles with him and pulls his head toward a rung on the ladder, choking him until he glows red. He immediately lets go so as not to get caught in the afterburn. He climbs out of the tanker without bothering to grab his camera.

Starring Roy Thinnes as Architect David Vincent

Guest Stars:
Laura Devon as Susan Carver

Nancy Wickwire as Evelyn Bowers

Norman Fell as Neal Taft

   
and Special Guest Star:
Ed Begley as Simon Carver

Teleplay by:
John W. Bloch

Story by:
Theodore Sturgeon
John W. Bloch

Directed by:

John Meredyth Lucas

Act I

David Vincent has found proof that the Invaders are here. Minutes after dawn, he seeks out Simon Carver, owner of the enormously successful Carver Oil Company. Now, finally, three months of waiting and watching are about to pay off.

David pounds on the door until he wakes up Simon Carver to ask him to send some security guards out to Field One right away. He gives his usual, "I don't have time to explain," but Carver is having none of that and tells him to make time. David pulls out his stolen alien computer tape, but Carver is not impressed. He explains that he found it in an abandoned tank car in Field One and that there's more than a computer inside it. Carver doesn't believe him, but brings him into his study and pours himself a breakfast shot of whiskey.

A blonde in a nightie comes downstairs and greets David with surprise. Carver washes some pills down with his liquor and tells David he hired him to design a plant, not give him "cock and bull" about his guards. David insists he can prove it and Carver finally decides to call the guards out to Field One. Carver's daughter asks what's so important and he says he'll explain when he gets back. She tells him he does odd things and he apologizes. She says she loves his charming manners and also when he takes her out and leaves her at 8 or 9 o'clock when he has something better to do.

Carver interrupts to get David to leave. On their way out, Evelyn comes downstairs fully dressed. She asks Susan where they're going and she tells her. Evelyn makes sure we all know she's been her father's 'secretary' for about a year.

Out at Field One, David and Carver crouch over the entrance to the tanker, while Carver berates him for the predictable lack of evidence. He tells David he wants to see him in his office later and leaves.

David pulls up to the Taft School of Electronics ("Earn While You Learn!") and finds the director, Neal Taft, working on some electronics in his workshop. He tells Taft he has a special job for him and hands him the alien computer tape. He tells him he asked for the name of an expert over at NASA and then the university, which led him to Taft. David lets us all know that Taft is a specialist in cryptography, and Taft acknowledges that his former bosses fired him. David says he was fired for breaking rules and Taft clarifies it was for nonconformity.

David tells him he needs the tape decoded and Taft says he may change his mind when he hears his price. David hands him an envelope full of bills and Taft asks what side of the law he's on. David says he shouldn't worry about the law, but his life won't be worth a penny if anyone finds out where the tape is. Taft decides he doesn't need that kind of trouble, but David says he'll be safe as long as he doesn't know where he is. He tells him that he's the one they're looking for and if he can't tell them where Taft is, then they can't find him. Taft agrees, saying he'll meet David at 10 o'clock, and gives him convoluted directions for how to meet him.

David returns to his hotel room and is greeted by a few socks in the gut by two aliens who grab him and lead him to a chair to interrogate him. The alien in charge asks him for the tape since it's not in his room and David says he doesn't have it. He pulls out the mind control crystal that we last saw in Episode 4: Genesis and asks again while the other alien holds his eyes open to force him to stare at it. David tells him that Neal Taft from Taft School of Electronics has the tape. He makes a futile attempt at grabbing the aliens on their way out and receives a punch in the kidney for his efforts.

David's new girlfriend goes to his hotel room and finds him on the floor in the dark, clutching his gut. He tells her she's got to leave because they might come back. She's a smart cookie and figures out his pummeling has something to do with the computer tape he was ranting about that morning as well as the reason he ditched her early on their dates. She tells him she loves him and they kiss. He asks her to trust him and tells her that he's going to meet someone who will give him proof and then he'll tell her.

Susan arrives home and Evelyn stops her to tell her that her friend, Mr. Vincent, has something very important that she needs. She goes to call her dad and Evelyn warns her not to, saying that she's found out some dirt about Carver oil in the year she's worked there having to do with an Arnold Mayer, and says her father's heart condition couldn't stand the strain of a scandal. She clarifies that she wants her to inform on David and Evelyn says it's not too much to pay for her father's life.

David has a steady job and a steady girl and we can expect he'll have neither by the time the Epilog rolls around, considering the title. The fact that she loves him ensures the relationship is doomed. I can see why he's not had a camera all this time, the way he so carelessly tossed it away. Neal Taft will be lucky to survive this episode.

Act II

David walks down a dark street to meet Neal Taft. He observes that David looks a little worse for wear and he admits he had visitors. Taft asks if he gave them his name and he admits he gave it involuntarily. He tells him that they won't kill anybody until they have the tape. Neal suggests they go to his car to avoid his friends.

Carver finds Susan in his darkened study looking worried. He guesses it has to do with David Vincent, but she asks him about Arnold Mayer. He explains that he was his partner who had a technique for getting a well to produce. She asks if he sold his technique to him, and when he gives her a non answer, she says she knows how he got it and what Mayer did to himself after. He says she must also want to know why he did it and who he did it for. She throws her arms around him and says she knows who he did it for.

Taft tells David that he found numbers and equations on the tape, going on to say it's a universal language that doesn't shift from country to country or planet to planet. David asks what he means and he says the numbers could represent longitude and latitude, and one of the intersections corresponds to an area in Houston near the Carver oil field. He says the pattern is the same they used to activate a homing control that guided the reentry of space capsules. He tells him he has his brother at the university going over the equations. He tells him to call his answering service tomorrow night to let him know where his brother, Joey, can pick him up the next night. He says they should get back because he still has a lot of work to do on the tape.

Susan is in her bikini, getting ready to go for a swim, when Evelyn greets her on the patio. She tells her she knows she talked to her father about Arnold Mayer. Susan says she doesn't know what she wants or why, so Evelyn tells her she wants Neal Taft's present address and a certain computer tape. Susan says she doesn't believe Evelyn has the nerve to expose her dad, saying she'd be out of a job and house after the scandal broke. Evelyn says to try her and dopey Susan says she'll do what she can. She suggests she arrange a quiet dinner somewhere with her beau where they can talk.

Susan arranges the quiet dinner, but not much talking is going on, and she asks if they can leave. She says she doesn't like the place but he says he's expecting a phone call. Also, more wine comes to the table, though David requests that the steward pour later. He notes that something is wrong and she says she can't believe he's involved in anything dishonest, but that he should go to the police about the tape. He admits he doesn't have the tape and she asks what he did with it, but he won't tell her.

The call comes to the table and David tells the caller he'll meet in fifteen minutes behind the theater. She tells him he doesn't have to bother taking her home and that she'll have her dad send a car. He apologizes and she tells him to go. She takes the phone and makes a call to say a meeting is happening in 15 minutes at some theater parking lot. She asks Evelyn not to thank her and hangs up.


Sweet Susan must not love David Vincent as much as she says she does if she can't even trust him enough to confide in him about Evelyn's blackmail, though he may be partly to blame for not explaining to her sooner what was going on. She probably has no idea that Neal is about to have an alien induced cerebral hemorrhage before David can reach him.

Act III

A nice young kid is at the Imperial Theater and meets an alien waiting outside and asks if he's Mr. Vincent. He says that he is and suggests they talk in the car. When he sees a buddy waiting by the car, he says he was supposed to be alone. The alien grabs him and drags him to the buddy who searches him and finds nothing. He socks him in the gut, knocking him down, and then they get in the car and run him down just as David Vincent arrives. David asks if he's Joey Taft and he says to tell his brother that he tried. He asks where Neal is and he tells him he's in his lab at the university.

Susan gets home and her dad calls her into the study and asks where she went. She tells him she had to see David. He tells her he needs to set her straight on what she asked last night before he goes to New Orleans. He admits he stole Arnold Mayer's formula and that Mayer killed himself. He said he sent Mayer's wife money but nothing can change what he did. He says someone wants to make trouble and he wants to know who told her. She says he's safe and he can forget about Arnold Mayer. He asks how and she says she did something and that he doesn't need to worry about anybody making trouble for him.

David and Neal are at the hospital where Joey is still in surgery. He asks David who ran down his brother and he tells him the men were from somewhere else. He begins telling him that military power depends on crude oil and suggests that someone who wanted to invade and conquer Earth with another source of power could attack without fear of retaliation if they were to destroy our fuel supplies. Neal asks from where they would attack and he replies from outer space.

David says the tape was intended to bring in either equipment or one of their specialists, and that the tank car is one of their homing devices. He says they killed the two guards and ran down his brother. Neal is not amused. He says he's sick of hearing about 'they' and that he's protecting somebody who knew about the meeting. He asks who was with him when he called and David admits it was Susan. The doctor calls Neal over and whispers to him. He goes back to David in shock and tells him his brother just died.

David shows up at Carver's house and asks Carver to see Susan, but he won't allow it. She comes downstairs and says it's between her and David, and tells him he needs to go catch his plane. She says she told her dad she didn't want to see him anymore and that she meant it. He asks if she decided it after they had dinner. She asks him to accept it and leave. He tells her he accepted it when she said she loved him. She says that was a mistake. He says she got what she was after. She tells him she hopes he had a successful meeting and asks if Taft showed up. He walks toward her and says he never told her his name. He tells her Taft showed up, but it was the wrong one and now he's dead. She gets upset and he grabs her and asks who she told. He tells her he wants her to remember the kid's name was Joey and he leaves.

Wow, that relationship didn't even last through Act IV. We're left to wonder how David will thwart the Invaders in the next act, and if Evelyn will get her comeuppance.

Act IV

Neal and David at are the oil fields with a map and Neal says the sighting matches the coordinates on the tape and that it could be a landing field. David suggests he take the tape to the top men he knows at NASA and convince them. He reminds him that he was fired for nonconformity and asks if they would believe a story like this, especially from him. David asks how many chances they'll get before the Invaders wipe out the human race. Neal scoffs at the two of them stopping an alien invasion, but David says it's his only chance of finding out who killed his brother. Neal agrees to try but asks how they'll find out when, and David says Susan.

The alien bad boys of this episode come into the study and Susan asks Evelyn who they are. She says they are friends and they're as unhappy about last night as she is. She says it wasn't her fault and she got them the information they wanted. Evelyn says they'll be more careful this time and explains they have a schedule to meet by that evening and if their schedule is cancelled, their work will be set back for a year or more. Susan asks who she is but doesn't get an answer. Evelyn tells her to find out what Mr. Vincent and Mr. Taft have learned and what danger they represent to them, and then she'll be free. Susan asks how she can go to David when he doesn't trust her after what she did. Evelyn says he must since he called her and asked to see her. Susan says she kept her end of the bargain. Evelyn explains that she's been made aware that she failed, as she glances at the two other aliens in the room, and says if she fails again, she dies, and if she dies, Susan dies, and so does her father.

Susan shows up at David's hotel room looking upset. She asks him for his help and says if he doesn't, her father will die, that she knows she'll have it done. He asks who and she tells him Evelyn. She tells him that she has to know what he found on the tape and if he's a danger to them and can stop them. He asks if they're waiting for her and she says they're at the house. He tells her not to go home but to call Evelyn and say they don't know anything because they couldn't decode the tape. She asks if it's the truth and he says it isn't but that she needs to make them believe her. He says to tell them the tape is in a safe in Taft's office and he says he'll make sure it's there so she's convinced. He asks her to promise not to go back to the house, but to call them from the airport and take the first plane she can get and disappear for a few days. Before she leaves she tells him the one thing she didn't lie about is that she does love him. He grabs her and kisses her and tells her to be careful.

Taft shows up after she leaves and he says to call his friend at NASA because it's happening that night.

Susan is at the airport calling New Orleans on a payphone. She asks to speak with her dad, who's in a meeting. She tells him to get out of the meeting and not tell anybody where he's going, and that he should get on a plane and meet her in Mexico City. She says his life is in danger and she'll explain later. Evelyn and her alien henchman show up at the airport and intercept her. She asks what they're doing there, since she told them what they wanted to know. Evelyn says they just want to check if it's true that David didn't find anything out from the tape. The aliens grab her arms and they leave.

David and Neal are waiting by the tanker in the dark and Neal says the NASA guys are due any time. They see headlights approach and then see Evelyn, Susan and the alien bad boys get out of the car and climb into the tanker. Neal says they know she lied, but David says they would have called off the landing if they knew. He says they have to get to her, but Neal thinks they should wait for the NASA and FBI people. David says he knows what they'll do to her but Neal argues they'll kill her for sure if he goes in there. They watch the two guys get out of the tanker.

Susan is being interrogated by two green jumpsuits and asserting David doesn't know anything. The alien at the controls says the ship is in lunar orbit and he needs to know in three minutes if there's a problem and he should turn it back. The alien asks if she's told the truth and pulls out his flickering mind control crystal. Evelyn holds her head to make her stare at it and she says they know. He grabs the crystal and she collapses. He tells the other alien to turn the ship back now and vaporizes Evelyn. He then directs him to activate destruct cycle and abandon control. When his partner asks about the girl, he says she's finished and they evacuate.

David sees the aliens beat a hasty retreat and figures out they know. Susan comes to and begins climbing out of the tanker just as David reaches her. Neal arrives to help him get her out of the tanker and they get away just as it begins to glow red and burn up, leaving flames in it's empty wake. Susan begins to have trouble breathing and collapses. Neal announces the arrival of the feds and David says it's too late, as he holds Susan's dead body.

Who would have guessed that the evidence would disintegrate before NASA and the FBI could arrive. Nobody saw that coming. I guess that nifty little crystal not only works for truth telling but can kill as well. Susan could not expect to live once she reaffirmed her love for David. She would have interfered with his crusade, plus it gives him all the more reason to fight Invaders. It's understandable why there are so few alien women around when they have a tendency to get vaporized by alien men. I would have expected Evelyn's just punishment to come from David Vincent or one of the Carvers. There seems to be a trend of women who collaborate with aliens wearing the color red. Why is it that the aliens often say their plans will be set back for a year or more if their plans fall through, especially when they've got a new plan by the following week?

Epilog

Neal waits outside the Carver home in the car while David consoles Carver, who doesn't understand what happened. David tells him she was special, what she did was special, and he says goodbye. Carver stops him to say that she did love him, and then he leaves.

He gets in the car and Neal asks how Carver's doing. David says he's tough and he'll make it, and when Neal asks about him, he says he'll make it too. He asks if there's anything he can do and David asks him to take him to the airport.

A girl's life. For David Vincent, a very personal reason why the war must go on, why the world must be alerted, why the Invader must be destroyed.

With:

Bill Fletcher...First Alien

Victor Brandt...Joey Taft

Ivan Bonar...Older Alien

Joel Fluellen...Butler

Gil Stuart...Waiter

Garrison True...Young Doctor

Ron Stokes...Alien at Controls

Max Kleven...Third Alien

Director of Photography:
 Andrew J. McIntyre

Music by:

Dominic Frontiere 

Susan professed her love for David, but he never told her he loved her, nor did he admit it to her father at the end. It's a wonder he got involved with her at all, except for the fact that it served the storyline. I enjoyed Norman Fell's understated performance, and I'm glad he survived to the end. He would make a good ally for David Vincent in future, though I expect he'll continue to go it alone. The plot to destroy Earth's fuel source was an interesting one, though I don't completely understand how that was supposed to work. What will those clever aliens think up next? If they'd just stick with one plan, they might be successful, but they seem to want to outdo themselves every week. In the end, they just blow everything up anyway, probably to spite David Vincent, and make sure he continues to come up empty handed on the evidence of their existence. It's predictable, but I'm still enjoying it.

Tune in next week to see Joseph Campanella and Barbara Luna.