Taken

"In ordinary times,

"ordinary boys led ordinary lives filled with ordinary things,

"but these were not ordinary times,

"and Charlie Chestnut was no ordinary boy.

"He was the invited guest of Artemis P. Fonswick.

"All the animals knew Artemis.

"It was hard not to know a squirrel who was four feet tall.

"Artemis lived in the biggest oak tree in the woods.

"Inside the tree was a three-room house

"with a bedroom and a sitting room

"and a pantry with as many nuts as a person,

"or a squirrel, for that matter, would ever want to eat."

"You could only find Artemis' home if you'd been invited,

and now Charlie Chestnut had been invited."

Mum?

Go to sleep, Jesse.

You think Daddy ever thinks about us?

Of course he does, honey.

You think he'll ever come and see me?

You know I love you very much,

and you know Bill loves you, too,

just like you were his own boy.

Was it the war that made Daddy go away?

Kind of, honey.

I don't really remember him.

I just thought maybe

if you could call him on the phone or something

that he could be my invited guest.

Go to sleep.

- Jesse asleep? - Yeah.

Did Charlie go into the woods and find Artemis yet?

We always get to the part where he's about to go.

Love to know what happens when he gets to Artemis' house.

You'll get there.

He's asking about his father again.

He wants to know if Russell can come visit.

What did you tell him?

What can I tell him?

How about you, Kate?

You still miss him?

I'm married to you now, Bill.

That's not what I asked you.

That's what I thought.

Hey.

Hey.

He ran out on us.

You were there, and you didn't go anywhere.

Don't think I don't know that.

When you're a kid. all you ever want

is for the stories your mum reads you to be true.

You think you can crawl inside the world that's in every book

and live in the pictures on every page.

but deep down you know that this isn't something

that could ever happen.

And it's knowing that the magic isn't quite there.

that it's just over the next hill or maybe in the next story.

that makes you feel safe in your bed at night.

You really wouldn't want it to be any other way.

Whoa.

Whoa.

There'll be no more need for weapons that kill men.

Think those Volturans were on the level?

I'm sure they were.

There have never been any people in history

who wouldn't be free of a dictator if they could.

Alpha was sure pleased.

He said he'd supervise their elections.

If all men...

Little green men! Fire your ray gun!

... worship as they wished.

the universe need never know war again.

- (guns buzz) - Aah!

There are times when it seems

like the whole world is afraid...

Captain Video, blast the Martian invader!

They're no use against Zultan!

... when the fear is something you have to live with

day in and day out.

- Use the nails from last year. - I'm trying.

When people get scared. they do a lot of different things.

They fight or they run.

they destroy the thing they're afraid of.

or they put a lot of distance between it and them...

Hey! Watch it!

... make it something you can shoot at with a friction-action gun.

We'll get a tree tonight when I get home, okay?

Okay.

Bye, boys!

And try not to destroy the universe, all right?

Bye!

We took this craft apart more than ten years ago.

More than ten years, and we still have no idea how it ran,

no clue what its power source was

or what the aerodynamics involved were.

In fact, we know less now

than we did when we found the damn thing.

Just chime in if I've left anything out, gentlemen.

Two years ago, some tiny circuit

you thought might do something electrical.

Or was it something that stored information?

The year before, you thought you'd found out

what the thing was made of.

Ten years, gentlemen,

and so far all we have to show for all your hard work

is a way to hold my pants up without a belt.

Sir, we're dealing with technology so far beyond ours,

we can't even find a place to start.

We are in a space race. gentlemen.

Suppose another craft crashed or was brought down over the Soviet Union.

Could you imagine the implications

if the Russians were to master this technology first?

I hardly think that's likely.

Do you have a better explanation for the success of Sputnik?

- Sput-- - Do you?

This is Dr Kreutz.

He's here with Lockheed, working on a technology

for a plane that can fly undetected by radar.

You may have seen the prototype out in the yard.

His is a project that shows some signs of yielding results.

Dr Kreutz has agreed to come to our program

for an indefinite period of time.

Of course, a physicist of such eminence

comes with his own people.

As of today, you gentlemen are reassigned to other duties.

We've been receiving reports of very strange radio signals

coming from our base in Iceland.

Captain Bowen has the details of your transportation for you.

Merry Christmas.

I'm afraid I owe you an apology, Doctor.

Why?

One of the burdens that comes with this assignment--

I report directly to the president.

General Eisenhower is not a patient man.

I've led him to believe that some of your technological advances

were derived from our research.

What advances?

General Eisenhower was particularly impressed

by the Explorer satellites you sent up earlier this year.

I hope when you meet the president,

you won't disabuse him of his impression.

And be reassigned to Iceland a week before Christmas?

Certainly not.

Let me see your little bird.

The interior wasn't damaged in the crash.

It's exactly as it was when we found it.

May l?

It is easy to see what has baffled your researchers

for all these years.

No instrument panels, no monitoring devices.

Nothing.

And yet even now there is a sense of energy here.

We have to limit exposure in here.

There's some sort of field or something.

In about six minutes, your head will start to ache.

Twenty minutes maximum before you have a cerebral hemorrhage.

You will never get this craft off the ground without an engine.

We can't find the engine.

There were five of them.

They died in 1 947.

These are beings

of unimaginable power of mind.

The ability to reach inside a man's mind and give him

the images lurking there-- surely that requires more energy

than what is needed to guide a ship among the stars.

The power of mind-- that is the energy source

your scientists have been unable to find.

What do you suggest we do, Doc,

wait until they crash again?

- That is one option. - What's another one?

Find someone else with unimaginable power of mind.

Oreos and a peanut-butter- and-jelly sandwich.

You're wrong.

My mum promised me a steak sandwich and pie.

How'd you do that, weirdo?

Your mum and dad had a fight last night

about him being drunk.

She used the steak on her eye.

She didn't feel much like making anything fancy.

You're dead, brainier.

Hey, there he is.

Talk to me about my parents again, creep.

Are you hiding in the bushes outside my house?

Tell me where you were, you little weirdo!

Get him!

You're gonna die.

Travis.

Travis, look at me.

Aah! Aah! Aah!

No. No. No...

What did you do, freak?

I'm sorry I was late, hon. I got workin' in that shed.

Lost all track of time.

How was the last day of school?

Everybody excited about the big vacation?

Honey, are you feeling all right?

You don't have a fever.

I made you some fried chicken and brought you a Pepsi.

Here you go.

You can eat it now or you can rest until we get to Amarillo.

I love you, honey,