...his convictions have been proven by British Intelligence, your CIA and by me.
Somebody doesn't want us to get to Ice Station Zebra.
- Why? - The job could have been done...
...before you sailed. A civilian dock guard...
Those men have top security clearances.
People with top security clearances are being hung every day.
But if you must have a suspect aboard the ship...
...I give you Captain Anders.
- Is that an accusation? - A nomination.
Why?
He's the only one that none of us know.
He's too perfect. Picked up in transit, dropped out of the skies...
I don't believe it.
Boris, did anyone at the helicopter base know or recognize Captain Anders?
- No, but he had orders. - He had Captain Anders' orders...
...but is he Captain Anders, or is Captain Anders lying dead somewhere?
- I've done the same thing to the other side. - You go along with this?
Please. I do not like Captain Anders, so I disqualify myself.
Captain, when you surface, you can radio to check on his authenticity.
Very well. I'll check on Captain Anders...
...and Mr. Vaslov and you. - I've already vouched for Mr. Vaslov.
- As for me, you can eliminate me. - Why?
You must, by a logical absurdity.
Have you forgotten? I'm in charge of this operation.
Never entered my mind.
Then you'd better look again at your orders.
I haven't labored the point so far because you've been doing all that's been required.
But the primary objective of this mission is to get me to Ice Station Zebra.
Those orders come from chief of naval operations, direct to him from the president.
So before we go any further, I suggest that you get me there.
Put another torpedo up the spout, blow a hole in the ice and get me there!
One of my men is dead.
Three badly hurt, and my ship nearly wiped out.
Now, you take another look at those orders.
I'm in command of this submarine, and I'm not sticking another torpedo up that spout...
...or taking another chance or making another damn move until I know exactly...
...what we're doing and why.
Captain, control. We've hit a lead. We're under thin ice, sir.
Well, that does make the problem academic, doesn't it, captain?
Thin ice.
Three feet.
Two feet.
Three feet.
Thin ice. Three feet.
Two feet.
Three feet.
Thin ice.
- Thin ice. - Take her up.
Three feet.
Two feet.
Bridge, radio. We have contact with Zebra.
Captain has the word.
We have their bearings.
- Did they see our rocket? - No acknowledgment, sir.
Are you in two-way contact?
No, sir. We can't get them to acknowledge our signal.
Can you read him?
Fragments, sir, but he makes no sense. Everything's completely garbled.
He's dying, sir. I mean, his signal's dying.
Gone now.
Nothing.
- Did you get a fix, Tom? - Yes, sir. Two-way fix...
...with the bearing we got before we went under the ice.
- That's just under three miles. - Vaslov, three miles. In this storm?
- We can make it. - Captain, how many men should we take?
Compass is useless up here. We'll need DF radio for direction. We need a doctor.
That's Vaslov, you, me, Zabrinczski with backpack, walkie-talkie and DF.
Dr. Benning. Wassmeyer, with all the medical equipment he can carry.
Mr. Hansen, gather all that arctic gear we put onboard...
...rations, lights, heaters, all of it, and pick one more man.
- Aye, sir. - And the Marines.
Yes. Captain, get your men ready.
Yes, sir.
If he's what he's supposed to be, he goes.
- Lf not, I'd be a fool to keep him onboard. - Splendid.
As you reminded me, Mr. Jones, my orders are get you to Zebra.
We move out in 10 minutes.
Ten degrees left.
Go 10 degrees left, Zabrinczski.
Ten degrees left.
Acknowledge.
He rogered, sir.
Bridge, radio. We're in contact with Zebra party.
It acknowledged course correction.
Bridge, aye, radio.
Help!
I'm caught.
Radio, bridge. Any contact with Zebra?
No contact, sir. No contact.
Zebra, this is Viking calling. Do you read me? Answer.
Come in, Zeb. Answer on voice.
- Can you get them? Can you get Zebra? - No contact, sir.
- Prepare to dive. - Prepare to dive, aye.
Zebra, this is Viking calling. Come in, Zeb. Acknowledge.
Acknowledge. Do you read me, Zeb?
- All the vents under diving alarm. - Aye, sir.
Hatch shut.
- Straight below. - Take her down.
- Open forward group. - Open forward group, aye.
Dive.
- Break out the bow planes. - Break out the bow planes, aye.
All ahead one-third.
Answering all ahead one-third.
- Give me three degrees down, Kentner. - Three degrees down, aye.
Can you smell it?
Burnt rubber.
Post your men, captain.
Move.
Here, my friend. Whiskey.
Here.
Viking, this is Zebra. Come in.
Viking, come in. This is Zebra.
Viking, can you read me?
Viking, this is Zebra. Come in.
You took so long getting here.
- What happened? - Explosion.
Yes. Halliwell.
Halliwell.
- You took your time getting here. - Where is he?
- Halliwell. - Viking. Come in, Viking. This is Zebra.
- It's our hut. - Yes.
Your hut.
There's 17 of you. Where are they?
Where are the others?
Dr. Goodwin.
Do you know Dr. Goodwin?
He saved our lives.
Viking, come in. This is Zebra. Over.
Halliwell.
Christopher Halliwell.
- Burning. - Where is he?
- Burning. - Where?
- Flames. - Dr. Goodwin.
Where is he?
- Viking. Come in. This is Zebra. - Where?
Flames.
Dr. Goodwin.
- Dr... - This is Zebra, Viking. Do you read me?
...Goodwin. - Covered in flames.
McBane.
McBane, old friend.
- Boris. - Yes.
Yes, I'm here.
Tell me, how did the fire start?
Asleep.
You were asleep.
Where is Halliwell? Tell me, where is Halliwell?
Where is Halliwell?
- Halliwell... - Yes.
- He was burned. - Burned. But where is he?
We're the only ones left.
Yes, but where is Halliwell?
Dr. Goodwin tried to help him.
Dr. Goodwin?
Where is Goodwin?
The fire.
Where were you when it started?
The fire.
Where were you?
- Keep trying, Zabrinczski. - Aye, sir.
David...
Didn't work.
Viking. Come in, Viking. This is Zebra.
Viking, this is Zebra.
Come in.
Viking, this is Zebra. Come in, Viking.
Dr. Goodwin.
Halliwell, Denison, Hughes, they are all there.
Did you search them?
They do not have it.
Shot before they were burned.
Exactly.
And Goodwin shot them.
Obvious.
I would say that the...
...good doctor...
...was after something before he died.
Zabrinczski, there's an ice drill in that building over there, the orange one.
- See that flat spot on the ice 1000 feet out? - Yes, sir.
- Punch a hole in it. - Yes, sir.
Meteorological balloon.
Helium...
...to inflate it and...
...line, to run it up for collection.
Was Goodwin your man?
It's not here.
No, he was theirs.
Our man was...
...Halliwell.
That's him.
See if you can find it, Boris.
Now let's see if we can catch ourselves a submarine.
Control, sonar.
I have the transponder.
Bearing 345, relative.
We have the word, sonar.
- Put that line in. - Aye, sir.
- Come right 10 degrees. - Right 10, aye.
What size is the film?
Four-and-a-half-inch reel...
...16 millimeter...
...in an insulated aluminum capsule.
And all of a sudden, you know a whole damn lot about my business.
We don't believe in going on a mission totally blindfolded, Mr. Jones.
The film came out of a camera...
...mounted in a Russian satellite. - Did it belong to Russia?
That's a delicate point. It was our camera. We developed it. It's not bad engineering.
Took three years to develop, round-the-clock work.
Can't be duplicated for two years. Certain British processes in grinding lenses.
It's an incredible piece of machinery.
It's got a focal length of...
It can photograph a packet of cigarettes from 300 miles up in space...
...on a tiny negative capable of infinite enlargement.
You see, your American lads, you came up with a new film emulsion...
...very hush-hush, but 100 times more sensitive...
...than anything previously available.
And the negative is miraculously developed within the satellite itself.
You put our film in your camera and you had a hell of a box Brownie.
No, the Russians had. We lent it to you fellows, and you lost it.
- Lost it? - Hijacked in broad daylight.
Dismantled, smuggled into Havana...
...and then the...
...the Russians put our camera, made by our German scientists...
...and your film, made by your German scientists...
...into their satellite, made by their German scientists.
Thus, up it went, round and round, whizzing over the U.S. seven times a day.
- Photographing missile bases. - Within 48 hours, they had pinup pictures...
...of every missile base in North America.
Every time our camera took a picture, another one was taking a fix on the stars.
So they could just check their coordinates to aim missiles at all of our launching pads.
If they had the film.
The irony is that it's still here...
...at Zebra.
Somewhere.
- And this is not the way to find it. - How did it get here?
- The Russians ran into a little trouble. - That's encouraging.
Initially academic, or so it seemed.
The satellite was orbiting over North America, western Russia and Siberia...
...but that darling little camera went right on...
...taking pictures when it wasn't supposed to.
- Beautiful pictures. - Of Russian installations.
Which makes that piece of film the most dangerous...
...and desirable...
...bit of information in the world.
And then they ran into real trouble. You see, here they are, orbiting like this...
...when they fired the retros for a comedown in Siberia...
...one of the rockets misfired. Instead of slowing the satellite...
...they just swung it into a new orbit from pole to pole.
That's embarrassing for the Russians. Nine-tenths of it...
...was over water and our free world.
None was over the Soviet Union or any sphere of Communist influence.
That's when the lights began to burn in the Kremlin.
Although the orbit had been radically changed, the satellite was not aborted.
They still had sufficient control to bring it down in a reentry. But where?
A pickup in the ocean would involve a whole naval operation. We'd know.
And a land expedition would be even worse.
They should have asked us.
They were hoping we didn't know it existed.
We calculated they had 13 days maximum in which to determine the point of reentry.
Beyond that, the satellite would slow down, reenter of its own accord...
...and burn up in the atmosphere.
- Consider their dilemma. - The Arctic or the Antarctic.
The Antarctic is busy. There are scientific expeditions there...
...from the U.S., Great Britain, Netherlands, Chile...
...France, Australia, New Zealand... - Russia.
And Russia. We sent Vaslov down there to sniff about, just in case...
- And we turned our attention to... - Zebra.
At the North Pole.
The innocent civilian weather station.
Isolated from the world...
...studying the weather and the movement of the ice pack.
Perfect cover for the Russians.
Ten days ago...
...a Dr. R.A. Goodwin appeared and applied for permission...
...to do some research here. A university professor of impeccable qualifications...
...he was immediately accepted and flown up the next day.
- You knew he was their agent? - Ever since he became impeccable.
Now, we knew exactly where they would drop the satellite.
Then three of your men of impeccable qualifications came up the next day.
No. Same day, same flight.
- Goodwin didn't suspect? - What difference does it make?
If he sent for reinforcements, we'd send them too.
He'd escalate, we'd escalate, and soon somebody pushes a button.
We have a very strict code of ethics in our game, captain.
We usually know what cards the other man holds...
...but we always keep our aces up both sleeves.
The Russians positioned their satellite for reentry.
At 4:23 in the morning, three days ago.
And an Arctic storm appeared and obliterated the whole scene.
There you have it. Silence.
No communication for six hours, then garbled calls for help.
Fire, disaster, death.
Calls to both sides.
Here we are.
Then when the storm clears and the wind dies...
...that's when the first Russian planes will arrive.
Planes are standing by on both sides.
The storm is clearing from the west.
- Siberia. - Exactly.
Then Halliwell got to the film first and Goodwin shot him.
If he was first. If Goodwin was first, then Halliwell was killed trying to get it.
In any event, there was a shooting match out in the snow...
...and Goodwin came out of it alive.
- Wounded, but alive. - But he got caught in the fire too.
I believe he started the fire to obliterate the evidence.
Burn down the whole camp. Live on the supplies he'd stacked away.
Yes, he got caught.
When the storm cleared, he'd run the film up on that balloon...
...and a Russian plane would pick it up.
And we'd live under the threat of what was on that film for the rest of our lives.
Whoever went out there in that storm must have had some electronic device.
A homer, to lead him to the capsule. He couldn't have seen it.
Very good, captain.
And dead right.
Both men had such a device.
Well, then, if we find the homer...
...we've found the capsule.
Very good, captain, and dead wrong.
I brought one with me. Same as Halliwell's.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work.
The frequency's been changed.
Or the film isn't here.
It's here, all right.
Pity you mislaid your submarine. We could have used your men.
I want 100 men out here.
Stretchers, stretcher-bearers, lights and cables.
- Aye, sir. - Bridge, radar.
- We have unidentified aircraft on our scope. - Bridge, aye.
Captain, radar has reported unidentified aircraft.
What direction? What speed?
Radar, give me a fix on that aircraft.
From the west, bearing 278.
Speed, 620 knots.
Estimated time of arrival, 17 minutes.
- Well? - Nothing.
Nothing.
Radar reports aircraft now at 117 miles.
Approaching at 620 knots.
Estimated time of arrival, nine minutes.
What about my air support request?
Negative. Our planes can't move. They're completely weathered in.
How's it coming, Martin?
Can you find the frequency to locate the capsule or can't you?
Well, sir, in zones of visible aurora, you get transmissions in the sporadic E layer.
- Like a cloud stratum. - Just tell me when it works.
Yes, sir.
Zebra party, radar reports second flight of aircraft.
Target Bravo. Same speed, same bearing.
Estimated one minute behind first flight.
Aircraft now at 21 miles.
Estimated time of arrival, two minutes.
Aircraft now at 11 miles. Estimated time of arrival, one minute.
Zebra party, radar has picked up subsonic aircraft.
Target Charlie. Same bearing.
Speed, 365 knots. ETA, four minutes.
That'll be the paratroopers.
Don't move, captain.
Put the gun down.
Carefully.
Put the gun down, captain.
Do not reach for the trigger...
...or you'll never touch it.
And don't shout. You will never hear it.
Now step forward, carefully.
Put your hands on the railing in front of you.
Both hands.
Now, keeping both hands on the railing, come down the stairs.
One step at a time.
And I was just beginning to think it was him.
He always thought it was you.
You see, had I been born in England, and he in Russia...
...he would be standing here and I would be lying there.
Yet one takes no pleasure...
...in mutilating one's...
...identical twin.
But you expect me to do it for you?
No.
I expect you to pick up that crowbar...
...and kill me.
Yes. You are in excellent shape.
Three or four good blows should do it. A broken rib, an arm...
You want them to think that I...?
Go to hell.
I undoubtedly will, captain, but not before you.
Now, pick up the crowbar.
If I don't...
...the worst that can happen is that you kill me...
...and you're gonna do that anyway.
So you go ahead and pull that trigger.
You're not going to use me as an excuse.
They say a bull in the ring...
...dies a much better death...
...than a steer in a slaughterhouse.
A bull has a chance.
Do you want to be killed for a bull, captain...
...or a steer?
Now, pick up the crowbar.
At least it is a weapon...
...and who knows? If you strike very quickly...
...you might even take me by surprise.
Pick it up.
Pick it up!
Now hit me.
Hit me!
Dr. Benning!
Jones. Jones shot him.
I found him here.
As I was bending over, the captain, Anders...
...attacked me with the crowbar, and Jones... Jones shot him.
He's dead, sir.
Captain.
Captain. Captain?
The pistol. He found Goodwin's pistol.
This couldn't be that important.
Captain, look.
You found it.
You found it!
Find the capsule, Vaslov.
Walker, you and your men go with him.
Yes, sir.
You see that light?
It is booby-trapped.
Webson, Costigan, Parker, Nichols, stay here. Kohler.
All ship's company, back to the ship, on the double!
All right, move it. Move it.
- You know what to do, Bob. - Aye, sir.
I'm putting the crew back onboard. You handle the ship if you have to go under.
Now, if anything blows, submerge and get out.
Without waiting to get the rest of you aboard?
Without waiting for anything. Chip it out.
- There's two acetylene torches inside. - Get them and get Lt. Mitgang.
Yes, sir.
Captain, we see paratroopers moving towards you.
We can't estimate the number, but it's a large force.
Now, Martin, Zabrinczski, I want your technical opinion...
...the best you can come up with.
Obviously, the device attached to the capsule is explosive.
What I must know is, will it explode if we pick it up?
Sir.
Get it out of there.
Commander Ferraday?
I'm Commander Ferraday.
I'm Colonel Ostrovsky, sir.
I congratulate you and your crew on the success of your rescue mission.
The world will rejoice to hear of it.
I'm here with my men on another mission...
...not so praiseworthy, perhaps, but equally peaceful.
We have come to recover a certain capsule...
...which was taken from an element of a certain satellite...
...which was placed into orbit...
...by the Union of the Soviet Socialistic Republics.
As you know, this capsule is the property of my government...
...and we only wish to obtain that which belongs to us...
...under international law.
Therefore, sir...
...I know you and your men will withdraw...
...and permit us to take possession of what is rightfully ours.
We will do so directly, sir, but first, under international law...
...we will remove the roll of film which was taken from the United States government...
...which was in a camera belonging to the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
When that is done, then, sir, you may have your capsule.
Commander Ferraday...
...this is not the time or place to play with words.
You have undoubtedly discovered by now...
...that the capsule will explode if opened.
I believe your expression is "booby trap. "
Can you open it, Mr. Vaslov?
- I have been briefed. I can try. - Do it.
The instrument you see is an electronic detonator.
It is tuned to an exploding device...
...which is incorporated within the capsule.
The safety is off.
The detonator is armed.
It can now be detonated from where I stand...
...by a very slight pressure of my thumb.
I trust your intelligence, sir...
...not to move the capsule.
But if you should attempt to do so...
...even if you should manage to place it within your submarine...
Well, I leave it to you, sir...
...to decide whether or not your hull could survive the explosion.
Sir...
...you and your men will stand away and release the capsule.
Sir, those of us who are unarmed will withdraw.
The rest of us, sir, will not.
Now I must tell you how wrong you are.
You are faced and flanked by over 100 of my men...
...most of them in excellent positions of concealment...
...and have automatic weapons trained upon you...
...and your vastly inferior force.
I must also tell you, sir...
...although I'm under strict orders to avoid violence if possible...
...my personal nature is a violent one.
I'm experiencing grave difficulties as it is...
...in restraining myself from pressing this button...
...giving my men the command to open fire.
Commander...
...I will give you exactly two minutes...
...to stand away and release the capsule...
...beginning...
...now.
In the container...
...comrade.
Reassemble the capsule, Mr. Vaslov.
Put the container down, Mr. Vaslov, and stand up.
Colonel Ostrovsky...
...I have two civilians here.
I request permission for them to leave the field.
Permission granted.
Away from the submarine.
Enough!
Commander, time is up.
Either you give me the capsule...
...or I order my men to advance to take the capsule...
...and to open fire...
...if one man in your command should fire one shot.
Colonel Ostrovsky.
The responsibility for what will happen now...
...is yours and yours alone.
Take the capsule.
My compliments, commander, on your decision.
Hold your fire!
Give him the film, Mr. Jones.
Give him the film.
Young man, put your gun down.
If you use it now, you will be shot down...
...and there is no need for that.
We have what we came for. The incident is closed.
It will be closed, sir, when we have the film.
Stand back.
You will be dead before I am.
Either way, you know I'll pull the trigger...
...and hold it.
Lieutenant Walker!
Commander Ferraday...
...you may send your medical man to attend to your lieutenant.
Benning.
And you, colonel, can pick up your man.
Commander Ferraday, the capsule has been destroyed.
Our mission is therefore accomplished. At least in part.
Your mission is also accomplished to the same degree.
It is unfortunate that the officer was shot...
...apparently by accident.
Yes.
Further conflict between us would be pointless.
I've given the command to my fighter planes to return to base.
My men and myself will be picked up within the hour.
Then we'll be on our way.
You're a long way from home.
We both are, commander.
Until you meet again.
Yes.
Until we meet again.