Toward the Unknown

- You know who that was? - No.

Major Lincoln Bond.

I wonder what he's doin' back here.

I wonder.

Edwards to General Banner, I can see it again.

It looks like the fire is back to the wing.

'Roger, Edwards. I can see it now in my mirror.'

'I'm reducing power to idle position. Stand by.'

General, this Mickey McKee.

I don't see any fire now. Is your warning light still on?

'Affirmative, Mickey, no fire in the mirror now'

'but the warning light's still on.'

'I'm stop-cocking the throttle, and comin' in.'

Okay, we'll be all set for you.

I want crash trucks at both ends of the runway.

Calling Crash Control, we have an F-102 in trouble.

Give us equipment at both ends of the runway.

You got fire again, general. Don't try to land, bail out.

'Relax, Mickey, we'll never locate'

'the cause of the fire that way.'

'If I can't make the runway, I'll land on the dry lake.'

Don't try it, she may get worse. Get out while you can.

'Negative, I'm coming in.'

I'm sorry, Lt. Sweeney, but only the rescue party

is allowed in the crash area.

It's still dangerous, ma'am.

- You too, sir. - Okay, captain.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I see.

Oh, what's his condition now? Hmm, good.

What about the plane, any report come through on it yet?

What do you know, it's Major Bond.

- Welcome back to Edwards. - Thanks, Jerry.

Just visiting.

- What'll you have, sir? - Scotch on the rocks.

Coming up. How is he?

Hospital says he's okay. He'll be back at work tomorrow.

I was afraid this time he'd had it.

Excuse me. Major Bond, meet Major Lee.

Bromo Lee? I've heard about you.

I've heard about you.

I saw the general coming in.

With that much fire, you'd have thought he'd have bailed out.

Looks like you don't know General Banner.

He's allergic to abandoning any aircraft..

...if it's still flying.

Well, it's getting late.

- Goodnight. - 'Night.

Bromo's been making quite a name for himself

with those speed and altitude records.

Oh, I don't know.

Always figure we got other pilots just as good.

But he rates number one with General Banner.

'There's no question about that.'

Tell me..

...the general still doing a lot of tests, like the one tonight?

Are you kiddin'? He flies more than his pilots.

Especially the tough ones.

That's what I hear.

Mickey.

You should know better, Linc, this is no way to do things.

Well, maybe I should've come in through the back door.

The idea is to give a little notice.

Why, we have a band that jumps at any excuse to start playing.

They'd need a better excuse than me.

Sit down, Linc.

Well, since you having made general

obviously, you've been doing something else with your time.

Well, I just had another daughter.

All by yourself?

No, there was some woman around at the time

by the name of Sarah, I think.

I think so too. How is she?

They're all wonderful, Linc.

Well, you didn't come all this way just to find out

that we're loaded with kids at our house.

Mainly, I came all this way to get away from where I was.

Washington? I thought that's the place

where everything happens.

Not any of the things that I know anything about.

You know why I'm here, Mickey.

I want a job test flying.

Yeah, I know.

And I know all the questions you've got to ask

before you can give me any sort of an answer.

First, "Am I alright now?"

Are you?

I'm fine.

All I need is a job that I know I can do.

I know what a spot it's putting you in to ask.

That doesn't bother me.

The only thing that really matters is

are you sure you're alright now?

'Maybe you need a little more time.'

I'm okay.

I don't have to tell you

if it were up to me you'd already be set.

It goes without saying that I'll put in a request for you.

Then it's up to the general.

Banner?

Is he everything they say he is?

He's a real good man, Linc.

What's his attitude going to be about me?

Let's find out. Come on.

Hi, Connie. Any chance of seeing the man for a minute?

Probably. You're ranked pretty high around here, you know.

'Yes?'

Col. McKee would like to see you, general.

- 'Send him in.' - Yes, sir.

See how easy it is when you're ranked pretty high?

'Thanks, Connie.'

Oh, by the way..

I think this is what Sarah means when she says

I'm always putting my foot in my mouth.

Anyway, there's a guy outside I think you used to know.

I used to know lots of guys.

That's what I mean. So, you probably know this one.

Linc.

Hello, Connie.

This is a fine thing to do to a girl.

Well, I didn't know you were here.

- Last time I heard you were-- - I was in dating.

That was quite a while ago, Linc.

Yes, yes it was.

General Banner requested me here about a year ago.

Oh.

You would've known all this if I hadn't started feeling silly

about all those letters I was writing

and never getting any answers.

Yeah, well, it wasn't that exactly, I--

Lots of time can pass before you even know it.

Yeah.

Well, all in all, wouldn't you say I..

...look a lot younger than you've ever seen me look?

I was thinking that but... I couldn't find just the words.

Good Ol' Linc... he can always tell

when a girl's about to go completely to pieces.

I haven't even asked you what you're doing here.

Well, I'm trying to get a job

which no one seems to think I have a chance of getting.

You'll never know until you ask.

Well, it used to be.. knew before I asked.

Well, things have a way of changing.

Don't they just?

Connie, how about having dinner tonight?

I'd like to, but..

I'm afraid I'm going to have to work tonight, Linc.

Well, couldn't you tell him

that a ghost out of your past showed up unexpectedly?

The general is a man who doesn't believe in ghosts.

But if you're going to be around for a few days..

Not if the news is bad.

Well, I better be getting back to my desk.

Oh.

Connie, isn't there something you could do?

I mean about the dinner.

I'm afraid not, Linc.

If I'd had any warning..

...but of course you didn't know I was here.

Goodbye, Linc.

But, general, I wouldn't be asking you to assign Bond if..

Look, he wasn't a collaborator.

Oh, wasn't he?

A confession he made to the Chinese about germ warfare

sounded a lot like collaboration to me.

Alright, so he signed a piece of paper.

But not until he'd held out for 14 months of brainwashing

and gone through..

Hell, who knows what they go through.

But more important than anything..

...before he went to Korea, he was turning into

the most promising pilot I'd ever run across.

He had natural ability and judgment.

And what you need more than anything else right now..

..experience.

What I need more than anything else right now

is pilots I know I can count on under stress.

I'm sorry, Mickey, that doesn't sound like Bond to me.

But who knows how bad the stress got?

Maybe nobody could've taken it any longer.

Maybe.

He tried to kill himself by slashing his wrist, you know.

We turn down good men every week.

How can you ask me to lower that standard for Bond?

Bond met those standards when he came here originally, sir.

There's no use trying to convince me.

It doesn't matter how I feel personally.

What matters is, that I have pilots I know I can count on.

With Bond, I wouldn't know.

That's all there is to it.

Believe me, it's a rotten decision to make.

It looks as though I was giving him a final kick.

It wi be the final kick, sir.

If it is, I'm sorry.

That doesn't change anything.

Well, it looks as if we've won.

Maybe full production on the XF-120.

Great. It's about time too.

I gotta go fly.