Time Travelers

[ Dixieland jazz]

TIME TRAVELERS:

[ March]

[Siren Wailing]

We drove in right behind you, got a

look at her when you were unloading.

What happened? -She

just fainted. That's all.

But when the parade ambulance came by,

I thought I ought to bring her here.

Excuse me, Doctor. My orders were to bring

you directly to Doctor Stafford's office.

All right, Sergeant. You brought

me here. I know where to find him.

The youngsters get so excited

marching in a Mardi Gras.

And of course they never eat

properly so far away from home.

What you think it is, the

flu? -Wait a minute. You said something.

"So far away from home." She's

from New Orleans, isn't she?

Well, I am, but Betty

here is from Oregon.

Our service club

has an honor band.

Two music honors students

from each state of the union.

From each state?

Why? What's wrong?

I'm Dr. Clinton Earnshaw

from the university.

I want you to run a blood

test on her immediately.

Don't be scared, Betty. They're

gonna take good care of you here.

I want you to put her in the X.

B. room. I want him in there too.

And don't forget, fumigate

her clothes. Thank you.

Is it? -Looks like you have

another one, Dr. Stafford.

That's 14 here at Bayou

and six more at St. Mary's.

How many are still alive? -The

last report I gave the governor...

said there was only

a 40% mortality rate.

"Only 40%."

I suppose you don't know how

many are still being diagnosed...

as scarlet fever, or snakebite

or sunstroke? -No way.

Let me tell you something, Doctor. lf l

were public health director of this state-

If you were public health director of this

state, I know, you'd quarantine the city...

and lock up a halfa million

visitors from all over the world.

Well, you can't let them scatter.

Not until we've found some way to

isolate that virus, if it is a virus.

Not until we've found

some way to stop it.

Sure, sure. With a quick and easy cure

for a deadly disease that's so obscure...

it isn't even in the

textbooks anymore.

And all you specialists have been able

to do is to give it a new name, "X. B."

What do you suggest we

name it, panic, hysteria?

Oh, I'm sorry, Clint.

I am too.

Only, why did you have to send a police

sergeant to drag me all the way over here...

just when I have every lab

at the university working.

Clint, Washington called.

They've sent us some

high-powered help, so they claim.

Thank God. Who did they

send? -A fella named Adams.

[Snoring]

Are you there?

Handy little trick, instant sleep.

Particularly when you haven't

had it in the last couple of days.

This is Dr. Clinton

Earnshaw, the pathologist...

who first recognized the

symptoms of our epidemic.

Oh, yes. I know all

about Dr. Earnshaw.

Graduated from medical school

at 23- -I think we can skip that.

Hello, Dr. Adams.

[Chuckles]

I'm no doctor. You can just call

me jeff. I've barely got an M. A.

This may come as a surprise

to you, Mr. Adams...

but we told H. E. W. our biggest need

was for bacteriologists and virologists.

Yeah, well, uh...

I had an athletic scholarship once to this

little cow college, if you can fathom that.

But, uh, never mind that.

We haven? got much time.

Let's go. -I'm not going

anywhere, Mr. Adams.

He just wants your attention

for a few hours, Clint.

I can't even spare minutes, Doctor.

With all due respect,

I doubt very much...

if there's any way at all

that Mr. Adams can help us.

Your problem is X. B., right?

Symptoms similar to "cardinalia,

"woods fever, "scarabus toxicana, "

All thought to be as extinct

as the passenger pigeon.

But now the disease is back again.

So unless you've found a cure

in the last couple of hours-

Well, have you? -No, we haven't.

Hmm. Well, then, let's

do it together maybe, huh?

Come on.

There's a jet waiting

at the airport.

It's a White House jet,

Doctor. Please don't argue.

All right, now that we're alone,

maybe you'll explain all this.

Adams?

- [Snoring]

That is a handy little trick.

[Continues Snoring]

We'll be landing soon.

Two more hours.

That instant sleep

stuff really works.

I learned it during

astronaut training.

What happened, you flunk out?

When I discovered I was too young for

the moon program, and too old for Mars...

I applied for something a

little more exciting, that's all.

Like what? -Well, it's, uh...

a science foundation thing.

Pretty specialized.

Now we only have this one

little research center.

You'll see. -What does all

this have to do with my problem?

With a blossoming epidemic that may

soon threaten this whole country?

Did you ever hear of a

G. P. named Henderson...

Dr. joshua P. Henderson?

-From Illinois.

He's one of the few doctors who ever accurately

described these same symptoms of X. B.

And he's the one who called

it woods fever, right?

He lived over a hundred

years ago, Mr. Adams.

They blamed the dense forest for a

lot of things they had in those days.

I know. But he described

the symptoms of 27 cases.

And he also managed to keep all

but two of those cases alive, right?

That's what other

doctors claimed, yes.

Unfortunately, all of

Dr. Henderson's records...

were burned up in the Chicago

fire in 1871 , so-

Wouldn't it help you to know

what was in those records?

To know how Dr. Henderson

cured those cases of X. B. ?

Of course it would. For your

information, medical historians...

have been digging into that puzzle

for years without any luck at all.

So unless somehow, miraculously...

you have discovered Dr. Henderson's

diaries in the last couple of hours-

Well, have you?

I'm afraid the only personal effect

of Henderson's that was ever found...

was... this gold watch.

It was given to him

by his wife in 1854.

The Chicago Museum loaned it to me.

It has a rather beautiful

inscription on the back.

"To my beloved, my

most beloved husband."

Adams, I'm really not interested in the mementos

of a man who's been dead over a hundred years.

Of course.

But wouldn't you like

to talk to Dr. Henderson?

Ask him a few medical

questions, perhaps?

[ Doorbell Rings ]

Hi, come on in. We're

just about ready for you.

Dr. Earnshaw, Dr. Sanders.

-Helen. Nice to meet you.

How do you do?

He likes degrees. She's got five.

Caltech, Oxford-

-Cut it out jeff.

Would you like some coffee, uh,

Clint, is it? -No, thank you.

I had some on the plane. -Good.

We're on a tight schedule anyway.

I was gonna put a Thermos in here,

but- -That is a thing of beauty.

The boys certainly have

worked fast. -What is that?

Why, it's a medical bag.

Look, everything's Victorian.

The 1870s, exactly as

it should be. Only, uh...

see in here?

It's transistorized. It has

enough power to run for five hours.

A miniaturized centrifuge? -And we thought

you might want to do a blood analysis...

so we put a special

microscope in there too.

Only, for heaven's sakes, don't let

anyone back in Chicago get a look at these.

Back in... Wait a minute.

What's going on here?

When you made that crazy crack about talking to

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