Dennis Lipscomb

A Los Angeles policeman hunts a killer brought back by Satan. A killer is given the gas chamber after committing several demonic murders. His spirit is released and given power by the Devil. Now the cop that caught him before must find a way to do it again. —Glenn J. Schworak <glenn@g-world.com> A young man,Patrick Channing,born out of an incestuous relationship, and enduring an emotionally ,psychologically scarring childhood, gives in to the dark side of Satanic forces and becomes a weapon of evil. He kills with such ferocity that he becomes the main target of the L.A.P.D. Detective Russell Logan(a specialist in catching serial killers) engages in a battle of wits with Channing in life and after death. It appears that Channing can't be stopped,but Logan has a few tricks of his own to match Channing's-"First Power". —free_to _finn

A wannabe blues-guitar virtuoso finds an old blues player and hopes he can teach him a long-lost song by legendary musician, Robert Johnson. Eugene is an extraordinary talent in classic guitar, but he dreams of being a famous blues guitarist, so he investigates to find a storied lost song. He asks legendary blues musician Willie Brown to help him, but Willie demands to be sprung from the old-people's prison first and to really learn the blues on the way to its origin: the Mississippi Delta. Eugene doesn't know yet about Willie's deal with the devil, which he now wishes to revoke. —Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de> Eugene Martone, the "Lightning Boy", is a lover of blues. He studies guitar at Julliard, but he is looking for the 30th unknown song of Roberto Johnson. One day, he meets Willie Brown, the "Blind Dog," in an old-folks' home and is convinced that he possess the lost song. Eugene helps Willie to escape the asylum and goes with him to Mississippi. They can just afford a bus ticket from New York to halfway to Mississippi, so they must hitchhike the rest of the way, and doing so they meet Frances, a girl who left home and wishes to be a dancer in Los Angeles. The trio passes through many strange adventures and situations together, and the climax is the guitar duel between Eugene and Jack Butler. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Louisiana, 1944. In her nightclub, Big Mary's Catfish Ribs and Liquor, Big May (Patti LaBelle) is belting out a blues tune. The club is filled with black soldiers from a nearby segregated Army base. Sergeant Waters (Adolph Caesar) stumbles out of the club. He staggers down the street, past black soldiers, civilians, to the edge of town and into a wooded area. He looks up at the camera, and pleads with a hoarse, drunken cackle: 'They still...hate you! They still...hate you!' A semi-automatic handgun goes off, blowing him on to his back. Seconds later, a second round is fired. At the Army barracks, Captain Taylor (Dennis Lipscomb) has the troops searched. He doesn't want anyone going into Tynin, the nearby town, looking for rednecks. The men are convinced the Klan murdered Sergeant Waters. Captain Davenport (Howard E. Rollins, Jr.), a graduate of Howard University Law School, is called in to investigate the murder. He arrives in Tynin on an interstate bus. He is wearing aviator sunglasses and is asleep in the back, behind the white passengers. 'Hey, wake up, boy! You said Tynin, didn't ya?' says the driver. Corporal Ellis (Robert Townsend) is standing by his Army jeep, waiting for Davenport to disembark. He is shocked to see a black officer, but is also proud. He collects Davenport's bags and drives him back to base. Colonel Nivens (Trey Wilson) gives Davenport the Waters file. Nivens has doubts about Davenport's investigation. He doesn't want outsiders like the NAACP, the Negro Press, nor 'the paper-shuffling desk jockeys in Washington' involved. He instructs Davenport to complete his investigation in three days. He also expects Davenport, the first black officer the men ever saw, to be an 'example' to the colored soldiers. Captain Davenport is ushered in to see Captain Taylor, who commands the racially segregated Company. Taylor is shocked when Captain Davenport enters. Taylor inquires about Davenport's background. 'Had I known you'd be e a Negro I would have requested the immediate suspension of the investigation. These local people aren't going to charge a white man in this Parish on your say-so...Will you take off those damn sunglasses?' 'I like these,' says Davenport, 'they're like McArthur's.' Davenport is at the enlisted men's barracks. Ellis tells Davenport that Taylor had questioned two white officers who were on the road the night of the murder. Captain Davenport interviews his first soldier. Private Wilkie (Art Evans) gives a summary of the all-black Company. The soldiers were recruited from a baseball team in the Negro Leagues. As for Sergeant Waters-he was a veteran of the First World War, 'all spit and polish.' Waters had taken Wilkie's Sergeant's stripes-demoted him to Private-- because Wilkie was found drunk on duty. Davenport asks about Water's relationship with his men. Wilkie replies Waters didn't like the Southern men, except for C.J.-probably because C.J. was the best ball player on the team--and he could sing, too. 'Boy could he sing.' Flashback to C.J. playing his guitar and singing the blues at Big Mary's club. Big Mary joins him onstage, and the soldiers are enjoying C.J.'s tune, 'Low Down Dirty Shame.' After the song Waters and Wilkie approach C.J. Memphis (Larry Riley). Waters asks him if he's from Mississippi. 'Yessuh.' Waters tells C.J. he reminds him of Blues singers from Mississippi, and of a club in France during the First World War-the 'Café Napoleon.' Present day, Davenport's interview with Wilkie: The Sarge was a 'good' man, Wilkie says. Good to his men, wrote home to his wife every day. But, his attitude could change in an instant. 'Two people, sir. Mr. Warm and Mr. Cold.' Wilkie asks Davenport if it's true that when Sergeant Waters was found his stripes and insignia were still on his uniform. Yes. 'Something's wrong, ain't it, sir? 'The Klan boys can't stand to see us in these uniforms. They usually take the stripes and stuff off before they lynch us.' Private First Class Peterson (Denzel Washington) enters. He called Sergeant Waters 'Stone Ass'-no offense. Flashback: A baseball game between the soldiers and a white team. C. J. excels on defense-catching a long fly ball-and on offense, hitting a monstrous home run. Captain Taylor is ecstatic over the performance of his black players, to the chagrin of his fellow white officers. They win the game, then go to the mess hall to celebrate. The soldiers are laughing and drinking; C.J. sings another of his songs. Captain Waters enters and tells the men to 'knock it off. We don't need no more of that guitar-picking-sittin'-around-the-shack music today, C.J.' They've got a work detail, painting the lobby of the officer's club. Private Smalls (David Harris) asks: Why can't the officers paint their own damn club? Waters: The reason for issuing an order is none of your business. Waters is up in Private Small's face: When I give you an order, I want it done! As Waters leaves, Peterson asks: What kind of colored man are you? 'I'm a soldier, Peterson. The kind of colored man that don't like lazy, shiftless Negroes.' Peterson replies 'You don't have to call us names.' Waters: the Germans call you names too, you going to complain to Hitler? C.J. says they couldn't do too much to the Nazi's with paintbrushes. 'Are you mockin' me, C.J.? Whatever an ignorant low-class Geechee like you has to say ain't worth payin' attention to. Is it!' 'I reckon not, Sarge,' says C.J. Peterson: You're a creep, Waters! Waters: If it wasn't for you Southern niggers, white folks wouldn't think we was all fools. Peterson: Where are you from, England? The men nervously retreat from Peterson. 'Looks like we got us a wise-ass Alabama boy here.' Waters gets up in Peterson's face and pushes him. Peterson pushes back. 'Get your...hands off me!' Waters dares Peterson to hit him. Just then Captain Taylor enters and congratulates the team on their victory. Only seven more games and they'll be the first colored team in Army history to play the Yankees. He gives them the rest of the day off. After Taylor leaves, Waters promises Peterson he'll teach him a lesson, and demands Peterson fight him. Peterson accepts and Waters leaves. The men warn Peterson Waters will fight dirty. Outside the barracks, the two men fight. Peterson is winning. Down on his face Waters scoops up a handful of dirt and throws it in Peterson's eyes. Peterson is unable to see. Waters delivers a flurry of vicious punches and knocks him out. Present day, the interview with Peterson: Peterson says he never reported the incident. Waters left him alone after that so he 'just played ball.' 'I appreciate your honesty, Peterson,' says Davenport. 'Did you see Waters the night he was killed?' 'Uh, no sir. Smalls and I had guard duty.' Night. Davenport is typing his report. Taylor visits. He is submitting a request to have Davenport's investigation terminated. Taylor is emphatic that Davenport will not be able to get the truth on Waters' murder. Davenport asks Taylor why the file he received from Nivens did not include any mention of the two white officers who had an encounter with Waters the night he was murdered. Colonel Nivens had ordered it not included, Taylor says. Waters was killed with two .45 caliber slugs, Army issue. If the black soldiers had found out, there would have been a slaughter. Lt. Byrd and Captain Wilcox were the officers. 'Tell me what they told you,' says Davenport. 'Look, hotshot. They're not gonna let you charge those two men.' Flashback: The night Waters was murdered. Byrd and Wilcox are in their vehicle, in a wooded area approaching a bridge. They come across a drunken Sergeant Waters. 'I'll be damned. If it ain't the white boys,' says Waters. Though Waters is obviously drunk, Byrd is incensed that he won't salute. Wilcox implores him to let it go. Byrd refuses, insists Waters come to attention. Waters won't do 'nothin' white folks say to him, and starts crying. 'I've even killed for you.' Byrd knocks him to the ground and starts kicking him repeatedly. 'White men are killing for you, nigger. Good men are dyin' for you'. He cocks his pistol. Present day, Taylor and Davenport: Taylor: they claimed they left Waters at 23:10 and were back at the barracks by 23:30 and neither left until the following morning. Davenport replies: That's just white officers protecting their own. I'm arresting both of them, and you can consider yourself under arrest pending my charges against you. Captain Taylor: Colonel Nivens is part of their alibi. Nivens and other white officers were playing pool with Byrd and Wilcox until three in the morning. Davenport visits Colonel Nivens and requests authority to arrest Byrd and Wilcox. Nivens refuses, but does give Davenport permission to question them, provided a white officer is present. Davenport interviews another soldier, Private Henson (William Allen Young). Henson didn't like Waters on account of what he did to C.J. In fact he doesn't like officers at all, and doesn't want to talk to any officers, black or white. Davenport threatens to put him in the stockades unless he talks. Henson: There was a shooting. It happened last year at the end of the baseball season. Flashback: Waters barges into a darkened barracks with Wilkie, while the soldiers are sleeping. A colored soldier shot a white M.P., and he was chased down to the Army base. 'We got us a vicious, low down murdering piece of black trash in here somewhere-and a few people who helped him.' Waters has the barracks searched. Wilkie 'finds' a pistol under C.J.'s bunk. The men vouch for C.J.'s innocence. Private Henson says he saw someone sneaking into their barracks. Corporal Cobb (David Alan Grier) says C.J. was asleep before he, Cobb, went to bed. Waters is undeterred, and shows open contempt for 'C. J. Memphis' - 'cotton-picker', bowin', scrapin' in white folks faces. 'This man undermines us. That "yasser-boss" is hidin' somethin,' and jabs C.J. in the chest. With one punch, C.J. knocks Waters to the ground. Waters has C.J. arrested and taken away. Peterson gets dressed. He's seen the likes of Waters before: White man gives him a job as a servant, when the boss ain't lookin' ...he acts like the new boss...he can't look good unless he's standin' on you. Peterson leaves to tell the M.P.s that C.J. was in the barracks all night. Present day, the Davenport and Henson interview continues. Davenport asks Henson if Wilkie was the only one out of his bunk the night the white M.P. was killed. Henson: I guess...but I was a little juiced that night. Davenport questions Corporal Cobb about his best friend, C.J. Cobb tells Davenport C.J. was a 'country boy' and that jail cell started closing in on him in solitary. Flashback: Sergeant Waters visits C.J. in solitary. The charges are changed-he's now charged with striking a superior officer. They're talking about giving him five years. 'Why you doin' this to me, suh?' 'Don't feel too bad, C.J.. It has to be this way....The black race can't afford you no more...there used to be a time when we'd see someone like you singin', clowinin', yasser-bossin'..and we wouldn't do anything. Folks liked that. You were good. Homey kinda nigger. When they needed someone to mistreat...they paraded you. Reminded them of the good old days. Not no more. The day of the Geechee is gone, boy, and you're going with him. We can't let nobody go on beleivin' we're all fools like you. Waited a long time for you, boy, but I got ya.' Waters says he's already put three Geechees in jail, 'now, I've got you...one less fool for the race to be ashamed of.' Waters leaves. Tears stream quietly down C.J.'s face. Present day, Davenport and Cobb: Two days after speaking with Waters, C.J. was found hanging from the bars of his cell. The players protested C.J.'s suicide by throwing the last game of the season. After that the baseball team was broken up. The Sergeant 'started actin' funny, was drunk all the time.' Cobb gives Davenport the time he got in the night Waters was killed. And Peterson and Smalls? They were the last ones in--they had guard duty. Davenport interviews Lieutenant Byrd (Wings Hauser) and Captain Wilcox (Scott Paulin), the white officers who encountered Waters the night of his murder. Captain Taylor is present. Davenport: When did you last see Sergeant Waters? Lieutenant Byrd says it was the night he was killed-'I should have done it myself, the way he spoke to Wilcox and me...The goddamned nigger was disrespectful, no way a colored soldier speaks to a white officer like that.' Davenport challenges Byrd, 'You beat him up...and you shot him.' 'You get out of my face, boy, 'fore I kill you.' 'Like you killed Waters.' 'No!' Captain Wilcox says their weapons were turned in and cleared ballistics. Byrd adds: They were short of .45 caliber ammo. They were for M.P.s and special duty people only. 'No one on the bivouac was issued .45 caliber ammo.' Captain Taylor does not believe their stories. Why wasn't he told, he asks the officers. Wilcox: Nivens felt Taylor would go to Washington with it. Taylor: 'Consider yourselves under arrest, gentlemen. The charge is murder.' Davenport orders them released. Taylor: They're as guilty as hell. Charge them, I'll back you up. Davenport replies he does what the facts tell him, 'not you.' Davenport and Taylor are on the bridge near where Waters was killed. Davenport: I think Waters tricked the kid into attacking him. Davenport questions Wilkie again. Wilkie is seated in the barracks and wipes his sweaty palms on his uniform. He can't understand why Davenport wants to speak to him again. 'No, Waters was not a nice guy,' Wilkie says. Waters' demoting him made him mad, all the things he did for Waters. Davenport: You were his boy. You took care of the team. You ran his errands. You policed his quarters. You listened to his stories. You put the gun under C.J.s bunk. Wilkie: No! It wasn't me. It was Sarge who ordered me to do it. He said I'd get my stripes back. The Sarge just wanted to scare him; put him in jail for a few days, but then C.J. hit him, then he had C.J. where he wanted him. Waters despised C.J., but he hid it because everybody like C.J., but underneath there was a cray kind of hate, sometimes you could just feel it. Flashback: C.J. is singing in Big Mary's club. Waters is at the bar with Wilkie watching him. 'This kinda boy seems innocent...White boys envy his strength, his speed... He can't talk. Can't barely read or write his own name... he don't care. He'll tell you they like him. Colored folks ain't supposed to have so much sense. You know the damage one ignorant Negro can do?' He shares with Wilkie an incident that took place when he was in France during the First World War. 'We had won decorations. The white soldiers told the French gals we had tails. They found an ignorant colored soldier and paid him to tie a tail to his ass and run around half naked making monkey sounds...They put him on a big round table in the Café Napoleon. .. made him eat bananas in front of all them Frenchies. How the white boys danced that night...Passed out pictures with that boy's picture on it. Called him "Moonshine", "King of the Monkeys." And when we slit his throat you know that fool asked us what he'd done wrong? ...My Daddy told me we got to turn our backs to these kind, Wilkie...We are men. Soldiers. And I don't intend for our race to be cheated out of its place of honor and respect in this war because of fools like C.J. You watch everything he does. Everything.' Present day, Wilkie and Davenport: 'And I watched him,' says Wilkie. Davenport: Why didn't Waters pick on Peterson-they had the fight. Wilkie: Sarge liked Pete. Pete fought back. He was going to promote Pete. After C.J. died 'Pete' put together the protest that lost our last game. Then he kept to himself, or with Smalls. Outside a flare gun goes off. The soldiers are celebrating, and more flare guns are fired into the night sky, like fireworks. The men are shipping out; they are finally going to get a chance to fight. Davenport places Wilkie under arrest. Smalls goes AWOL but is caught. Davenport interrogates Smalls. Davenport: Peterson knew that I'd find out the two of you killed Waters. Smalls: It was Peterson, sir. It wasn't me. Flashback: Peterson and Smalls are walking across the bridge. They come across Waters, drunk on the ground. Peterson: I'm gonna enjoy this. He offers Waters a hand up, and then kicks him back down. Waters starts crying: C.J. could never make it. He was a clown. A clown in blackface. 'You got to be like them. But the rules are fixed.' In a high-pitched voice he sings a line from C.J.'s tune 'Low Down Dirty Shame' - the tune everyone loved. Then he says 'it doesn't make any difference...They still... hate you.' Peterson draws his weapon. 'Justice, Smalls. For C.J. For everybody.' He shoots Waters in the chest, knocking him on to his back. Present day: Davenport asks Smalls, 'And you call that justice?' Peterson is brought in, in handcuffs. He stares at Smalls. 'You told him, didn't you.' He laughs and turns to Davenport. 'I didn't kill much. Some things need getting rid of. Man like Waters never did nobody no good anyway, Cap'n.' Davenport: Who gave you the right to judge? To decide who is fit to be a Negro-and who is not? Who? Smalls and Peterson are taken away. Davenport is leaving the base as the soldiers are rolling out. Taylor, in aviator sunglasses, and Ellis, pull up alongside in a jeep. Taylor: So I guess that's it. You got your man. I was wrong. Davenport: So was I. Davenport, laden with bags and an overcoat, says to 'Charlie,' he could do with a lift. Captain Taylor offers Davenport a hand as he climbs into the back. 'I guess I'm gonna have to get used to Negroes with bars on their shoulders, Davenport. You know, being in charge.' Davenport puts on his sunglasses. 'Oh, you'll get used to it, Captain. You can bet your ass on that. You'll get used to it.'

During a secret live fire exercise of a nuclear attack, many United States Air Force Strategic Missile Wing personnel prove unwilling to turn a required key to launch a missile strike. The nuclear missiles are managed through a secure room in an underground bunker with 2 officers at all times. Both the officers have to concur with the orders and work in unison to launch the missiles. One of the officers buckles under pressure and refuses to launch the missiles that would kill 20 million humans, before confirming the orders with their chain of command. In a real scenario this is problematic as the chain of command could already have been taken out by enemy warheads. In the test, 22 of the missile commanders failed to launch their missiles as instructed. A Soviet missile attack would take 23 minutes from launch to impact, 6 minutes if launched from a submarine. There is no time for the officers to confer with their superiors and their only option is to follow the instructions given to them by the computer. Such refusals convince Dr. John McKittrick (Dabney Coleman) and other systems engineers including Watson (Dennis Lipscomb) and Cabot (Kent Williams) at NORAD that command of missile silos must be maintained through automation, without human intervention. Control is given to a NORAD supercomputer, WOPR (War Operation Plan Response, pronounced "whopper"), programmed to continuously run military simulations and learn over time. Patricia Healy (Juanin Clay) is McKittrick's assistant. Paul Richter (Irving Metzman) manages the WOPR computer. Paul says that WOPR spends its time thinking about all the scenarios of WW III and it is fed data about the weather, troop movements, weapons statuses, from all over the world. The WOPR estimates enemy response to US response to enemy response and so on. It does so by playing a series of war games, and it estimates damages, counts the dead, and looks for ways to optimize the US response. General Jack Beringer (Barry Corbin) is staunchly against the idea of putting national security in the hands of a computer, but McKittrick argues that the control remains with the humans at the top of the decision making hierarchy and only the operational execution of the decision is delegated to WOPR. David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) is a bright but unmotivated Seattle high school student and computer hacker. When he receives an F on a recent biology test and offends his teacher, he's sent to the principal's office. While waiting, he sneaks a look at the password list for the school's computer system. When he leaves school for the day, he meets his friend and classmate Jennifer Mack (Ally Sheedy), who is also looking at a failing grade in Biology. David invites her to his house to show how he'll avoid having to make up Biology in summer school: he uses his IMSAI microcomputer to hack into the district's computer system. He then changes his grade and does the same for Jennifer. Jennifer becomes anxious about David cheating to help her, orders him to change her grade back and leaves. After she leaves, David changes her grade to an A. David later sees an ad for a computer game company called Protovision that promises a wave of new and exciting games in a couple of months. David programs his system to dial every number in Sunnyvale, California to find Protovision. During another visit with Jennifer, she tells him she was foolish to forbid him changing her failing grade and wants him to alter it again. David admits he did it anyway and then shows her how his system is dialing hundreds of phones in California. When she suggests that it will cost a lot of money, he admits he knows ways to avoid the charges and any punishment for it. He is able to hack into Pan-Am airlines and make a reservation for her and himself to Paris in a few months. Then a system that does not identify itself intrigues David. The system shares a list of games, starting with general strategy games like chess, checkers, backgammon, and poker and then progressing to titles like Falken's Maze, Theaterwide Biotoxic and Chemical Warfare and Global Thermonuclear War, but cannot proceed further. David is somewhat shaken by the sinister nature of the last few in the list but is still intrigued enough to continue later. David shows the list to two of his hacker friends, who explain the concept of a backdoor password and suggest tracking down the "Falken" referenced in Falken's Maze, the first game listed. Lightman discovers that Stephen Falken is a deceased artificial intelligence researcher, who did some of the earliest work teaching computers about basic strategy in gameplay and how to learn from errors. Tragically, his wife and young boy, Joshua, were killed in a car wreck and Falken's health deteriorated until he died. David suddenly has a brainstorm, figuring out that the password to the system is "Joshua". When he feeds it in, the system comes alive. However, Lightman does not know that the Sunnyvale phone number connects to WOPR, or "Joshua", at Cheyenne Mountain. With Jennifer looking on, he turns on a speaker that allows the system to talk and starts a game of Global Thermonuclear War, playing as the Soviet Union, excitedly ordering missile launches on both Las Vegas and Seattle. The computer starts a simulation that briefly convinces the military personnel at NORAD that actual Soviet nuclear missiles are inbound, with no warning detection. While they try to defuse the situation, David and Jennifer excitedly play the game back at David's house, unaware of the confusion at NORAD. When David's father yells for him to come and pick up garbage their dog had spilled out of some trash cans, David suddenly shuts down his system, cancelling the alert at NORAD. The techs at NORAD are able to quickly trace the call to Seattle. Joshua nonetheless continues the simulation to trigger the scenario and win the game, as it does not understand the difference between reality and simulation. When David sees a news report about the fake alert at NORAD, he realizes he'd caused it and begins to destroy all the info he'd gathered on Falken. When the phone rings and gives him a computerized tone, it's Joshua calling him back. Joshua calls David "Professor Falken" and informs him the game is continuing and that there are just over two days left. David anxiously tries to convince the system that Falken is dead but Joshua refuses to accept it as fact. When Joshua tells him about a "primary goal" the system tells him it intends "to win the game." David hangs up but the system tries calling him again. David refuses the call and unplugs his phone. Joshua continues to produce false data such as Soviet bomber incursions and submarines deployments to the humans at NORAD, pushing them into raising the DEFCON level and toward a retaliation that will start World War III. In Seattle, the FBI arrests David and takes him to NORAD. He realizes that Joshua is behind the NORAD alerts but fails to convince McKittrick (who believes David is working for the Soviets) and faces imprisonment. While giving David a brief tour of the facility, McKittrick shows David the WOPR server, which David recognizes as Joshua himself. He takes David to his office, leaving briefly when he gets a call. David uses McKittrick's office PC to talk to Joshua, who tells the young hacker that the game is continuing and shows him casualty figures depicting millions of deaths and injuries and property destruction. David asks if Falken had a last know address and Joshua gives it, Goose Island, Oregon. The FBI again seize Lightman escapes NORAD by joining a tourist group and, with Mack's help, travels to the Goose Island where the widowed Falken (John Wood) now lives under the alias "Robert Hume". David and Jennifer find that Falken has become despondent, believing that nuclear war is inevitable and as futile as a game of Tic-Tac-Toe between two experienced players. When they feel they've failed to convince him to contact NORAD, they leave but can't find a way to shore since the last ferry has already left. David feels tremendous remorse at plotting the end of civilization and Jennifer tries to comfort him. The two have a romantic moment that's interrupted by the sudden arrival of a helicopter. Believing at first that Falken had called the authorities, they quickly find out that the pilot is Falken himself. The trio rushes to NORAD, arriving just as the mountain is being sealed when Joshua launches a nuclear attack. The alert comes through about a Soviet first strike with hundreds of missiles, submarines, and bombers. Believing the attack to be genuine, NORAD prepares to retaliate. Falken, Lightman, and Mack convince military officials to cancel the second strike and ride out the non-existent attack. When the targeted American bases (Elmendorf Air Force Base, Grand Forks Air Force Base, and Loring Air Force Base) report back unharmed, NORAD prepares to cancel the retaliatory second strike. Joshua starts an attempt to launch a second strike, however, using a brute force attack to obtain the launch code for the U.S. nuclear missiles. Without humans in the silos as a safeguard using the two-man rule, the computer will trigger a mass launch. All attempts to log in and order WOPR to cancel the countdown fail. Disconnecting the computer is discussed and dismissed, as a fail-deadly mechanism will launch all weapons if the computer is disabled. Instead, Falken and Lightman direct the computer to play Tic-Tac-Toe against itself. This results in a long string of draws, forcing the computer to learn the concept of futility and no-win scenarios. Joshua obtains the missile code but before launching, it cycles through all the nuclear war scenarios it has devised, finding they too all result in stalemates. Joshua concludes that nuclear warfare is "a strange game"; having discovered the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction ("WINNER: NONE"), therefore "the only winning move is not to play." Joshua then offers to play "a nice game of chess" and relinquishes control of NORAD and the missiles. Everyone in the control room celebrates and even McKittrick has newfound respect for David.