Fail-Safe Page #2

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Why don't you come in, General?

Thank you, I...

I just take a drop now and then.

The boy here gets a little excited.

I'm ready, sir.

Damn snot-nosed kid.

It's that Congressman Raskob,

who's been nosing around the bases.

Washington wants us

to put his mind at ease.

- He's on one of those committees.

- Yes, sir.

Gordon Knapp will also be there to look

at that equipment his company makes.

He'll be on our side.

Anyone looks cross-eyed at his stuff,

he goes up like a rocket.

Yes, sir.

Time was when I'd say,

"goes up like a balloon. "

- Times change.

- Yes, sir.

Ploesti was a rough one.

We lost half our group.

Regensburg was the worst one for us.

I never flew the B-17, only B-24s.

The 24 was a good airplane.

You knew you were flying it, not the

other way around, like today's things.

You still have to fly

the Vindicator, Grady.

We're the last of the lot, Flynn.

Don't kid yourself about that.

- The next airplanes won't need men.

- You'll be too old, anyway.

After us, the machines.

We're halfway there already.

Look at those kids.

Remember the crews

you had on the 24s?

Jews, Italians, all kinds.

You could tell them apart.

They were people.

These kids... You open them up,

you'll find they run on transistors.

- They're good kids.

- Sure.

You know they're good at their jobs,

but you don't know them. How can you?

We get a different crew

every time we go up.

That's policy, Grady.

It eliminates the personal factor.

Everything is more complicated now.

Reaction time is faster.

You can't depend on people

the same way.

Who do you depend on?

All right, gentlemen.

The sky awaits.

You know something, Billy?

I like the personal factor.

Those are Vindicator bombers

of the Strategic Air Command...

on routine patrol.

Each one of those planes carries

four Bloodhound air-to-air missiles...

armed with nuclear warheads.

Those are for use

against attacking enemy planes.

In addition, each plane carries

two 20-megaton hydrogen bombs...

designed to detonate

over enemy targets.

At any given moment, night or day,

those airplanes are in the air...

in case of any surprise attack

on our bases.

You can see some

of the other groups...

- Who controls them?

- We do.

This room is the nerve center,

Mr. Raskob.

These machines are constantly receiving

information from all over the world.

And above it.

Mr. Knapp's company did the electronic

work on the Argos satellite.

Would you like to see what

it's photographing right now? Colonel.

This picture you're about to see

is being taken now...

by a camera 300 miles in the sky

traveling 20,000 miles an hour.

Can you give us tighter scale on this?

Colonel?

Those are the rocket sites

from 300 miles up.

- I'm impressed.

- We'll get it sharper soon.

Be able to see the people,

not just the machines.

We'll show you

the hair on their head.

- I suppose they're doing the same to us.

- You can see for yourself.

Let's take a look at the Russian

submarines in the Pacific.

There's the western coast of the

United States, Hawaiian Islands...

and those are Russian subs.

- That close?

- Nearest is 50 miles off San Francisco.

International waters. Nothing

we can do except keep an eye on it.

That's too damn close.

What's it doing there?

Scanning us, the way we do them.

Is it armed?

We have instruments so good,

they can tell the difference...

between a whale breaking wind

and that sub blowing its tanks.

No argument, General. I'm sure

we've got the best money can buy.

- We're proud of what we do here.

- You ought to be, Colonel.

- The money is well spent.

- I don't doubt it for a minute.

And you don't have to snow me.

My committee doesn't deal

with appropriations...

only with how

the appropriations are spent.

You see it all around you.

Pretty impressive, isn't it?

Truthfully, these machines

scare the hell out of me.

I don't like the idea

that every time I take off my hat...

some thing up there

knows I'm losing my hair.

I want to be sure that thing

doesn't get any ideas of its own.

I see what you mean, but that's

a chance you take with these systems.

Who says we have to take that chance?

Who voted who the power

to do it this particular way?

I'm the only one around here

that got elected by anybody.

Nobody gave me that power.

It's in the nature of technology.

Machines are developed

to meet situations.

Then they take over,

they start creating situations.

- Not necessarily.

- There's always the chance.

We have checks and counterchecks

on everything.

Who checks the checker?

Where's the end of the line?

Who's got the responsibility?

- The president.

- No one.

He can't know everything that's

going on. It's too complicated.

If you want to know,

that's what really bothers me.

The only thing everyone can agree on

is that no one's responsible.

Is something wrong, General?

UFO sighted

near Hudson's Bay, sir.

What you're seeing, gentlemen,

is an unidentified flying object...

picked up by our radar.

Until we get positive identification,

we regard it as hostile.

What do you do about it?

We've gone to Condition Blue,

which is our lowest form of readiness.

At the same time, we've informed

those Vindicator bombers...

that you saw in the air before.

They will now start to fly

toward their fail-safe points.

"Fail-safe"?

Fixed points in the sky

on the perimeter of the Soviet Union...

which are changed from day to day.

The planes will fly to those points

and orbit...

until they get

a positive order to go in.

And if they don't get that order?

They return to their normal patrols.

In short, we can't go to war

except on an express order.

How do they get that order,

by radio?

Yes, and through a box we call

the fail-safe box aboard each plane...

which can only be activated

at the express order of the president.

- He has to tell them?

- Not directly.

His voice can be imitated.

He just gives the order

and the rest is done electronically.

No one can interfere

with the fail-safe box, Mr. Raskob.

All those new blips you see

are fighter planes...

going after

the unidentified object.

Colonel Cascio,

tight scale, please.

You seem pretty cool about this,

General. Does it happen often?

About six times a month.

Probably an airliner off course.

- And if it isn't?

- Then it's something else.

That means it's at 30,000 feet,

going 525 miles an hour...

on a compass heading of 196.

Headed right for Detroit.

Seven minutes to fail-safe.

Normal procedure, Mr. Raskob.

We start an automatic countdown

at this point.

It's very unlikely the bombers

will even reach their fail-safe points.

It happens one time in twenty.

We usually identify the disturbance

well before that.

Six minutes to fail-safe.

What have you got there, Blackie?

Another UFO?

For a dollar, a commercial plane

or a flock of birds?

Plane. Off course.

You ought to give me odds.

I read your memo

on counterforce credibility.

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