- Admiral Nelson: Alvarez, are you saying - that man must accept destruction even though it's in his power to avert it?
- Alvarez: It's not for us to judge, Admiral. Freeze!
- Admiral Nelson: Not to judge, maybe, but we can reason. If God ordains that man should die without a fight, then why does he give us the will to live?
- Admiral Nelson: Well, Lee, it's been a long, tough haul from conception to execution, but, my boy, we've done it.
- Capt. Lee Crane: *You've* done it, sir. You know, it bears out what you taught us at Annapolis: that "The wild dreams of today are the practical realities of tomorrow."
- Admiral Nelson: I'm glad you remembered one of my more temperate quotes. Some of our colleagues haven't been quite so diplomatic.
- Lt Cathy Connors: Will they break me, Captain?
- Capt. Lee Crane: Well, they've broken better men for less. How do you explain this undignified behavior?
- Dr. Susan Hiller: Have some hot coffee?
- Lt Cathy Connors: Best prescription you've written today, doctor.
- Capt. Lee Crane: Are they still at it, Cookie?
- Cookie: For more than 24 hours, sir. And they've eaten nothing but coffee and pencils in all that time.
- Admiral Nelson: This planet is impaled on a roasting spit, slowly but inexorably being seared and blistered by the fire in the sky. If the Van Allen Belt continues to burn, the world will burn with it. And no one can doubt that civilization as we know it will disintegrate if the temperature should rise to 175 degrees. Now, in the last five days, the recorded temperature rise has been two degrees every 24 hours. If that rate is maintained - our planet has a life expectancy of about three weeks. Therefore - therefore, if we are to avoid cremation we must act at once.
- Admiral Nelson: The missile will arc along the burning belt. As it detonates, it will seed the flames with an overdose of radiation 'causing the belt to explode outward into space. To simplify it, take a toy balloon. A little too much air, and poof. No balloon. A little too much radiation, and...
- Dr. Zucco: Poof! No world! Insanity! Insanity! This lunatic scheme will destroy us all.
- Capt. Lee Crane: What kind of talk is this anyway?
- Alvarez: I only came to offer comfort.
- Capt. Lee Crane: Comfort? You offer defeatism! May I remind you this is a federal ship and these are federal seamen. By what right do you dare preach of imminent death of meek resignation to the inevitable?
- Alvarez: Captain, I...
- Capt. Lee Crane: Nothing is inevitable except defeat - for those who give up without a fight. I'll remind you to keep your sniveling philosophies to yourself.
- Alvarez: Man must accept what is ordained.
- Dr. Susan Hiller: That's a convenient rationalization, but under the circumstances - there seems to be no alternative.
- Capt. Lee Crane: Sir, may I ask why you blacked out the news?
- Admiral Nelson: A matter of morale, Captain. No news is better than bad news.
- Capt. Lee Crane: I can't agree, sir. This is no time to cut the men off from the world.
- Admiral Nelson: There may be no world at all if we don't start making news instead of listening to it.
- Alvarez: Has man a right to even try to oppose God's will?
- Lt Cathy Connors: Why should God want to destroy us?
- Alvarez: Haven't we tried to destroy ourselves?
- Admiral Nelson: That fire in my cabin was deliberately set.
- Capt. Lee Crane: Begging your pardon, sir. Romano.
- Lt (j.g.) Danny Romano: Fire detail found a cigar burning on the floor, sir.
- Admiral Nelson: Meaning I was smoking in bed?
- Capt. Lee Crane: Apparently, sir.
- Admiral Nelson: Just one thing more. Our world faces its darkest hour but I am convinced that, with God's help, my plan will succeed and the world will survive. That is all.
- TV Announcer: The blazing Van Allen Belt continues to spread a path of death and destruction across the world. The rising heat has touched off raging forest fires in the Ural Mountains of Russia the Black Forest of Germany, and the rich French timberlands.
- TV Announcer: And the news from Paris is just as disastrous. The rising water of the Seine has overrun its banks flooding out thousands of homes in the low-lying areas. From Moscow, scattered reports indicate a severe shortage of water as wells from the Ukraine to the Steppes all dry up. In China and India conditions are chaotic as riots and pestilence sweep the land. Meanwhile, the heat has burned like a giant torch across the face of Africa. Terror stricken herds of wild animals fleeing from the blazing forests to the open plains are dying of thirst around mud-caked water holes. Other reports indicate that steaming water from the melting North and South Poles are being sucked into the air currents spreading weird, freakish fog banks throughout the world. In many areas, dense fog severely hampers vital operations. In this country, the blistering heat continues to blaze a path of destruction across the Midwest grain belt.
- TV Announcer: The fiery sky is now threatening to strike a mortal blow at the heart of the Midwest farm belt. Thousands of acres of vital grain have already shriveled under the intense heat giving rise to fears of famine if the flaming belt continues to rage unchecked.