Opening Narration: In the course of centuries, Man has devoured the Earth itself. The Machine Age has dried up the seas of oil. Industry has consumed the heartlands of coal. The Atomic Age has plundered the rare elements-uranium, cobalt, plutonium-leaving behind worthless deposits of lead and ashes. Starvation is at hand. Only here, in the void of space, is there a new source of atomic power. Above us, in the debris of the solar system, in the meteorites and asteroids, are the materials needed to drive the reactors. Yet in their distant, silent orbits, these chunks of matter are beyond the reach of Man, beyond the reach of human hands... but not beyond the reach of human minds. Driving along a country road in an ordinary car is a modest man: Harold J. Finley, quiet and profound...

Harold J. Finley: You want me to stay a worm, don't you? Unimportant, unproductive, classroom worm! Some women take their husband by the hands and say, "Together we'll climb to the stars." Not you... never you.

Dr. Keenan: It's like a cosmic reservoir, there's no limit to the amount that can be filled in to the link gate... Pure power, pure and perfect, controlled by the mind of man... You know... I don't wanna sound pathetic but a... we're close to becoming gods.

Harold J. Finley: The terrible thing is, there's a part of me, there is a piece of my brain, which hates. It's like a dark cloud in my subconscious

Vera Finley: You wouldn't hurt anyone even if you could. You're not a violent man. You've never hated anyone, never.
Harold J. Finley: Not to hurt them, no, Vera. But I have this power. It acts whether I want it to or not.
Vera Finley: No, Harold, you don't have any power. You've always been quiet. You told me yourself you're too mild, you're too weak.
Harold J. Finley: No more, Vera! I could split this ceiling open if I wanted to! I could crash down these walls. I could splinter this whole block into bricks and rubble.
Vera Finley: Harold, you're a little man, a nobody. You don't have any power.

Harold J. Finley: Heaven help me. If I have such power, then I don't want to live.

Closing Narration: Deep beyond the kindest, gentlest soul may lurk violent thoughts, deadly wishes. Someday Man will learn to cope with the monsters of the mind. Then, and only then, when the human mind is truly in control of itself, can we begin to utilize the great and hidden powers of the universe.

The wires used to "levitate" the meteorite when Howard demonstrates his power are painfully obvious.

Dr. Sigmund Hinderman: We all suffer the slings and arrows of an outraged subconscious.

The doctor paraphrases Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act III, Scene I, line 56, from the famous "To Be or "Not to Be" monologue. The full line is, "To be, or not to be? That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles,And, by opposing, end them?"