Episode 1381

Aired: Monday October 11, 1971

In a replay of Friday's close, Harrison and Quentin confront Barnabas over the truth of Harrison's identity. Barnabas wants to know. Quentin somberly says "Harrison, tell him the rest. He must hear it!" Barnabas, curious, says "What must I hear?" Harrison says "In my time, Collinwood is abandoned. When I first visited it, I discovered why my grandfather and the other survivors had fled." Barnabas asks "Other survivors?" Harrison answers "Yes. Only David, Roger and Quentin survived. In my time, Collinwood remains haunted by a vengeful angry spirit.... one whom is condemned to re-enact, throughout eternity, the murders and destruction they committed years earlier... I saw these ghosts act out their tragic fates over and over.... it was often too horrible to bear." Barnabas says "Sarah was one of those spirits?" Harrison says "Yes." Barnabas frantically asks "And the vengeful angry spirit you mentioned, the one who was the cause of all the murders?" Harrison looks at Quentin, and then at Barnabas, only saying "Yours, Barnabas. Your spirit." Barnabas is aghast.

After the titles, Harrison continues his story. "In my time, I was very close to my grandfather. He spent much of his life researching theories of time. I didn't realize it until I visited him one day that much of his research was in the work of an ancestor of ours...." The scene dissolves to a private library where a calendar reads "June 2045." Aged David Collins (Louis Edmonds, in old makeup) is going through piles of books and papers when Harrison enters. "Grandfather, I brought the books you asked for," he says. David calls him over to sit down. "Listen my boy, " he says, "You've wondered for months about your grandfather and all his crazy books, well it hasn't been for nothing." Harrison asks him what he means, and David says that he has "found the answer" and that "the tragedy of my youth can be altered." Harrison asks how something so long ago can be altered. "You've never spoken too much of what happened to our family back then, Grandfather," Harrison says. David says it was too painful to lose so many people he loved. "All my life I've wondered why he suddenly turned evil again... Barnabas had changed. I knew he had changed. We had a gentleman's agreement before I went to school." Harrison ignores David's babbling and pours him a cup of tea. "Here," Harrison says. "This may settle your nerves a little." David snaps "My nerves need no settling! I have found the answer in here!" Harrison asks what the answer is, and David says "Our ancestor, who lived two centuries ago, discovered a doorway through different times. He left writings on how to manipulate the doorways. If one can manipulate them, one can travel through them." Harrison pours himself some tea and grows curious. "Time travel? Are you saying our ancestor thought time travel was possible and wrote all these books on the subject? What a strange man he must have been." David scoffs "Not so strange as you might think. It's possible. I've been searching through his books all my life for the secret. I've written a summary of his theories here, in my own words. I wish to give them to you." Harrison asks "Why me?" David smiles and says "I'm too old to do what must be done. You must read what I've instructed you, Harrison. You were always my favorite." Harrison thanks David, but again asks him what must be done. "The prevention of the tragedy, my boy. You must use what I've discovered to go back to the year 1971 and stop those murders. The Collins family must be saved!" Harrison looks at David warily, but then starts to read the notebook he's been handed.

Harrison is reading through the notebook and some other books when Quentin arrives. Quentin asks how David is, and Harrison says he's sleeping. Harrison catches Quentin up on the "strange conversation" he's just had, and how "fascinating this material grandfather has been investigating is. Did you know about the Quentin Collins of the 19th century?" Quentin gets a little nervous, but Harrison continues "He was a mad scientist of sorts." says Harrison, and Quentin says "Oh, the early 19th century. Yes?" Harrison continues "He worked with theories of time and theoretical physics. Supposedly he found a doorway of sorts through time. He constructed it as..." Quentin finishes the sentence "...as a staircase?" Harrison says yes, and Quentin asks "Did David discover the secret of that staircase? Is that why he gave you all this?" Harrison answers "Grandfather thinks he has. How do you know about it?" Quentin answers "I know it existed. I know of people who actually traveled on it and managed to change history once." Harrison, growing interested, asks who, when and why and Quentin only answers "A long story from long ago, but I'm sure it's the story that started David's obsessions. "From your grandfather, Quentin? Didn't he save my grandfather from whatever that catastrophe was back in 1971?" Quentin turns away and says "Yes. That's who told me about the staircase." Harrison chuckles "We have too many ancestors named Quentin, it seems." Quentin asks Harrison what David discovered about the staircase, and Harrison answers "Something about a crystal and some other materials in the stairs themselves. I don't quite understand it all yet, but I've only started reading it." David enters the room and says hello to Quentin. Harrison tells David he "almost understands" what the notebooks say, and David answers "There's no mistaking that the crystal is the key. Whomever touches it and concentrates on their destination directs the doorway. That crystal is at Collinwood. I am sure of it!" Harrison says "In Maine? At the old estate?" David says "Yes. In an old laboratory. Quentin, you will need to go with Harrison. You know the layout of Collinwood." Harrison says "Grandfather, please. Quentin's never been to the old estate. He wouldn't know his way around..." David looks at Quentin and says "You will have to tell him. It's time he knew anyway. And he will need to know if he does make it back to 1971." Harrison asks what he is talking about, and David looks at Quentin who asks "Do you think he can really go back in time and stop what happened?" David says yes. Quentin looks at Harrison and says "Then maybe you should know the rest of the truth." Harrison wonders what that is.

The interior of Collinwood is dark and abandoned. There are cobwebs and dust everywhere as we pan across the foyer. The front doors open and Harrison and Quentin enter with flashlights. Quentin tells Harrison to be "very quiet and very careful." He turns to look at the portrait of Barnabas and winces a bit. Harrison looks around and comments "This house was once magnificent, I can tell." Quentin tells him they may not have time to admire it. "If what David said is true, we'll need to go by the servants' quarters and downstairs to the old laboratory," Quentin adds. Harrison looks at Quentin and smiles thoughtfully. "So, you've known David since he was a boy. That must be so odd to watch an entire lifespan like that," he says. Quentin thinks a moment and says "Odd isn't the only word for it." Harrison asks "Did you intend to watch over me my entire life as well?" Quentin smiles and says "Maybe. You've always reminded me of someone I was very close to a long time ago. Second chances are nice, although my condition has caused me to lose a lot of people close to me through the ravages of time." Quentin finishes that statement while looking at Barnabas' portrait. Harrison shines his light on the servant's door and leads Quentin past it. In the laboratory, things aren't much cleaner. The place is covered with dust and is a mess. The desk has some books on it, and the dusty old planks of the staircase are in the corner. "This must be what grandfather was talking about," Harrison says, looking at the desk. Quentin looks at the planks and remarks how they must have been the staircase in question. Harrison takes out a small notebook and reads aloud "The crystal key must be near enough to the remains of the staircase to have activated it involuntarily." Quentin replies that he has no idea what that means. Harrison says "Grandfather felt the staircase was activated by thoughts relayed through a crystal. A crystal somewhere in this laboratory." They start searching, and Harrison begins to unjam the desk drawers. He yanks a large one open and finds a small jewelry box. He blows some dust off of it and places it on the desk. He opens it, and it's empty - except for a small red jewel that shines in the reflection of Quentin's flashlight. "Could that be it?" Quentin asks. Harrison replies "According to grandfather, there's only one way to find out." He places the crystal in his hand and turns towards the planks. "I must concentrate...." Harrison says. Quentin watches him for a moment, and suddenly near the planks, some wind begins to blow. Before Quentin and Harrison's astonished eyes, a vortex begins to open and flash multicolored lights. Harrison is startled and gasps, dropping the jewel to the floor. The vortex vanishes. Quentin and Harrison look at each other before Quentin picks up the jewel and studies it. "David was right," he says. "This is the key."

Harrison is reading in the notebook, thinking aloud "My concentrations seemed to control it, but there must be more to mastering the technique. If one wanted to direct the vortex to certain times and places." Quentin looks over the planks and says "Amazing how this has been laying here all these years...." Harrison is engrossed in the notebook. "Grandfather talks of opening doors to other timestreams as well. Parallel times are opened at the rim of the echo of the vortex, whatever that means. Random thoughts and desires from anyone living at Collinwood may have inadvertently directed the vortex..." As Harrison reads, Quentin suddenly seems to hear something. He turns and starts to follow it. As he starts up the stairs, Harrison asks him where he is going. He gets no answer. Quentin continues up the stairs as Harrison picks up a flashlight and follows him. In the foyer, Quentin walks zombielike up the stairs, and as he gets near the top, the hallway doors open by themselves. Harrison follows, yelling "Quentin!" after him. Quentin stops near the hallway doors and shouts back at Harrison "Turn back! This house will not be yours!" before continuing on. Harrison follows him upstairs. In the hallway, Harrison has lost Quentin. He looks around, shining his flashlight into eerie empty rooms, many of which look suddenly abandoned. There are clothes in closets, pictures on dressers, beds unmade for decades. Harrison hears a noise behind him and follows it down the hall. A door opens before him, and he sees a staircase leading upwards, which he takes. In the attic, Harrison comes up the stairs and confronts a large painting on an easel, with a dust covered cloth covering it. Curious, looks at the bottom of the frame where his light shines on "Quentin Collins, 1897." Harrison's eyes open wide, and trembling, he removes the cloth - he is shocked by what he sees and steps back - the portrait is of a rotted skeleton, with white wiry hair and missing its lower jaw, in Quentin's 1897 suit. Before Harrison can recover from this horrifying sight, Quentin suddenly appears from behind him, deep in a trance and wielding a large knife....