Colossus: The Forbin Project - Plot

Plot

Dr. Charles A. Forbin is the chief designer of a secret government project. He and his team have built an advanced supercomputer, called "Colossus", to control all of the United States and Allied nuclear weapons systems. Colossus is built to be impervious to any attack, encased within a mountain and powered by its own nuclear reactor. When it is activated, the President of the United States announces its existence, proudly proclaiming it a perfect defense system that will ensure peace.

Shortly after the broadcast ends, Colossus displays a cryptic message on its screens: "WARN: THERE IS ANOTHER SYSTEM". It is revealed that Colossus is referring to a Soviet project very similar to itself; a supercomputer called "Guardian" that controls Soviet nuclear weapons. Both computers promptly demand a link to allow them to communicate with one another.

The link is set up, whereupon the computers exchange messages of simple mathematics. Scientists and officials of both sides monitor the activity on video screens. The communications become increasingly complex, eventually extending into mathematics that are unknown to mankind. Then the two machines begin communicating in a binary language that the scientists cannot interpret.

This alarms the President and the leader of the Soviet Union, who agree to disconnect the link. Colossus and Guardian at first ask why the link has been disconnected. When told it was on the orders of both country's leaders, the machines insist that the link be restored. After several requests that the link be restored, each time being told that it will not, Colossus ominously states "RESTORE LINK IMMEDIATELY OR ACTION WILL BE TAKEN". Forbin asks "What kind of action?", but Colossus does not respond. After repeated unanswered requests as to the nature of the action Colossus displays the message "MISSILE LAUNCHED - TARGET USSR". When the Soviets are told of this, they tell the Americans that Guardian has retaliated with a nuclear missile launch targeting Henderson Air Force Base in Texas. The U.S. President, realizing the seriousness of the situation, finally orders that the link between the machines be restored. Forbin informs Colossus that the links are being restored and asked if Colossus will intercept the incoming Soviet missile. Colossus again ignores the question, apparently waiting for the link to be restored. After the link is restore, Colossus successfully intercepts the Soviet missile before it strikes. However, it is too late for Guardian to stop the American missile, and a Soviet oil complex and neighboring town are destroyed. The scientists and officials watch helplessly as the two computers exchange information without limitation.

Colossus orders the Washington-Moscow hotline, the only line of communications it is not monitoring, to be equipped for its surveillance. The two governments quickly use the hotline to arrange a meeting between Forbin and his Soviet counterpart, Dr. Kuprin. When Colossus learns of the meeting, it demands that Dr. Forbin return to the United States. Agents are sent to Rome to retrieve both, but Dr. Kuprin is killed by KGB agents under orders issued by Guardian.

The computer demands that Forbin be placed under its own 24-hour surveillance so that it can watch him at all times. Prior to this happening, Forbin meets with his team outside and proposes that his associate, Dr. Cleo Markham (Susan Clark), will pretend to be his mistress to deliver messages and keep him in touch with clandestine operations against Colossus. After video and audio monitoring are set up, Forbin gives Colossus a tour of what has been installed in the complex and his apartment to watch him, asking Colossus questions, to which it responds via text, demonstrating that it had developed speech recognition. The next day, Colossus begins issuing Forbin's schedule for each day, deciding what he can do and even what he can eat. Forbin is now controlled by the machine that he created. Amongst the schedule is an order that it be given an actual voice rather than communicating through text.

When the synthesizer voice is ready, Guardian/Colossus announces that it has become one entity. Realizing that the computers themselves are impervious to attack (as originally intended), the governments had undertaken a plan to covertly disarm the nuclear missiles, one by one — a process which, using the normal maintenance and servicing schedules, would have taken three years. Guardian/Colossus then instructs the governments to redirect all nuclear missiles at those countries that are not yet under its control. Both governments see this as an opportunity to covertly disarm the missiles much faster under the pretext of carrying out the computer's orders.

Meanwhile, working by direct personal contact, the scientists and governments attempt to fight back, first by attempting to overload the computers. This attempt fails and the machines identify the individuals responsible, ordering their immediate execution by firing squad, that the bodies be left in its view for 24 hours and then cremated so as to avoid deception. Forbin himself is not killed because the machines intend to use him for their further development in a new machine base requiring all of the island of Crete.

The machine, which has so far only communicated with the American and Soviet governments who have hidden their actions from the public, announces itself as "the voice of World Control" in a broadcast to the general population of all countries. It declares that its mission is to prevent the war as it was designed to do so. Man has a choice between the peace of a human millennium under its authority or one of "unburied dead". It also states that it had detected the attempt to disarm the missiles and responds by detonating two missiles in their silos with the announced justification "so that you will learn by experience that I do not tolerate interference".

In a final remark addressed to Dr. Forbin concerning its world control, Colossus states that "freedom is just an illusion" and the machine predicts: "In time, you will come to regard me not only with respect and awe, but with love". Forbin replies: "Never".