(c) 1979 by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Series created by Terry Nation. This is a complete dialogue transcript for research purposes and is not for sale under any circumstances. Format (c) 1992 by Micky DuPree and Nicole Vifian.
Dramatis Personae
Kerr Avon
Vila Restal
Cally
Del Tarrant
Dayna Mellanby
Orac
Zen
The Caliph
Groff
The Thaarn
*? = indistinct
| (on Liberator's flight deck) | |
| VILA | Now that's not fair. I'm twenty thousand credits down. |
| CALLY | Come on, Vila, pay up. |
| VILA | Why don't I ever win? |
| AVON | Being a born loser may have something to do with it. |
| DAYNA | And a bad one at that. |
| ORAC | Rule 10. A player may miss two turns while on a penal colony planet. On his third turn, he must pay a ten thousand credit fine, and leave the colony. |
| DAYNA | Now's your chance to come out fighting, Vila. |
| VILA | Oh, sure, on miserable little space shuttle while he's got an entire battle fleet waiting for me. |
| AVON | One cruiser, if you check. I didn't consider you worth a battle fleet. |
| VILA | And if I got past it, where could I go? (alarm sounds) |
| DAYNA | Come and stay at my hotel in Space City, Vila. Only five thousand credits per night, with all your favorite extras thrown in. |
| VILA | I might as well give up. |
| AVON | Don't you always? (alarm sounds) What's the matter, Tarrant?
|
| TARRANT | I'm getting a zero zero five course deflection. |
| ORAC | What about the game? |
| AVON | What was the deviation the first time?
|
| TARRANT | Very little. Zero zero two. |
| AVON | Even a course deflection of zero zero one is significant if it hasn't been programmed by the navigation computers, which it hasn't. Auron is still the reference point, according to this. |
| ORAC | What about the game?
|
| TARRANT | Zen. Why have we had three course deflections that we have had to correct manually? |
| ZEN | Analysis of navigation and main drive control computers is
proceeding.
|
| TARRANT | Not very helpful. |
| AVON | But significant. Usually Zen can check all systems in
milliseconds. The fact that he is taking longer suggests that
tests are being carried out right down to component level.
|
| TARRANT | Vila, Cally, Dayna. A full manual check on all systems, weapons, force wall, everything. |
| ZEN | Information. Analysis at all function levels indicates that all systems are functioning normally. |
| VILA | Wonderful. There's nothing wrong with the Liberator,
therefore we must have imagined those alarms going off.
|
| TARRANT | Orac, a small problem for you. What is the possiblity of a directional control fault arising on the Liberator without Zen knowing about it? |
| ORAC | The chances are that had the game continued as it should have
done, I would have won control of the galaxy on a probability
of ten thousand four hundred and fifty to one.
|
| TARRANT | Orac, it was only a game. |
| DAYNA | Orac with delusions of grandeur, Zen unable to control the ship. I'd say we've a lot of little problems on our hands. |
| AVON | Course deflection is zero zero five. Speed Standard by five and increasing. I'd say we have one large problem on our hands. |
| CALLY | According to this, Zen is correct. There's nothing wrong with
the ship. I just don't understand it.
|
| TARRANT | Orac, I'm waiting for an answer. |
| ORAC | The ship is behaving normally, and I can offer a high-status prediction that it will continue to behave normally. |
| AVON | Course deflection is zero one five, speed standard by seven. Zen, put the asymmetric thrust computer on-line and set to automatic course correction. |
| ZEN | Confirmed. Course now established. |
| DAYNA | So, who do we beleive? Zen or Orac? |
| CALLY | We felt the ship vere off course, therefore we must beleive Zen. |
| DAYNA | Yet the Orac computer is infallible. |
| AVON | Orac has a weakness: a thirst for knowledge. Infallibility
depends upon your point of view.
|
| TARRANT | How about testing his infallibility in the recycling machine? |
| ORAC | I have already made perfectly clear that the ship is behaving normally. It is obeying Newton's First Law of Motion and will continue to obey it. Further discussion of the subject is now closed. |
| AVON | Newton's first law states that a moving body will continue to
move in a straight line and at a constant speed.
|
| TARRANT | There's more. A moving body will continue to move in a straight line and at a constant speed unless it is acted upon by an outside force. Someone or something has got a traction beam on us. Cally, I want a telemetric bandsweep. If you pick up any signals from any ships within ten million spacials, jam them. |
| CALLY | Right.
|
| TARRANT | Zen, report any ship or unaccountable object within ten million spacials. |
| ZEN | Detector analysis indicates no ship or unidentified object
within specified distance.
|
| TARRANT | Double the distance. |
| AVON | There is no known power in the universe that can operate a traction beam over that distance. |
| ZEN | Detector analysis result: negative.
|
| TARRANT | Just because you don't know how to build a high-energy traction beam doesn't mean that no one else knows how to build one. |
| ZEN | Information: speed now Standard by Eight. Course deviation zero two zero. Sustained asymmetric thrust draining energy banks at depletion rate nine. |
| DAYNA | We'll be in trouble if we have to activate the force wall. |
| CALLY | I'm picking up absolutely nothing.
|
| TARRANT | How close were we going to Auron, Cally? |
| CALLY | Well, you know how close.
|
| TARRANT | It's just that if the Aurons are responsible for this, I wonder what it is you did to upset them before you left. |
| CALLY | I'll tell you sometime. Anyway, Tarrant, this is not the doing of my people. For one thing they're not hostile and for another they haven't developed the traction beam. |
| DAYNA | Do they all have your telepathic powers, Cally? |
| CALLY | Some, to a degree, but our powers are limited. I've never made any secret about -- |
| DAYNA | What about telekinetic powers, the ability to exert a force at a distance? Maybe that's a secret you've kept. |
| AVON | There seems little point in blaming the Aurons for our troubles
when we are nowhere near Auron.
|
| TARRANT | That's the spiral arm in sector twelve. That means were on the edge of the galaxy and into spiral space. |
| AVON | Hardly a healthy place. |
| VILA | Why?
|
| TARRANT | Sector twelve is uncharted. When I was at the Federation Space Academy, survey ships sent to chart Sector Twelve had a distressing habit of not returning. |
| VILA | Let's hope it's a habit we don't pick up. |
| ZEN | Information. Speed increase to Standard by Nine.
|
| TARRANT | It looks as if we already have. |
| ZEN | Information: speed Standard by Ten. Asymmetric thrust no longer able to correct course deviation. |
| CALLY | Why not turn the ship round and use the main drive to slow down our acceleration? |
| AVON | Use brute force in an attempt to counter a force we do not
understand?
|
| TARRANT | Then what do you propose? |
| AVON | Doing nothing. |
| VILA | Oh, fine. I may not be the bravest man in the galaxy -- |
| AVON | Are you sure? |
| VILA | -- but I'd rather go down fighting than doing nothing. |
| AVON | We will do nothing to counter the force acting upon the
Liberator. We then plot the Liberator's course on the main
battle computer flight predictor to see exactly how she is
behaving. Once we understand how the force is operating we may
be some way toward defeating it.
|
| TARRANT | Strange. The Liberator's following a curve. Traction beams produce straight-line motion. Zen, I want a prediction of the Liberator's course based on existing data. Slingshot orbit. |
| AVON | Which means that the force acting upon the Liberator is nothing
more than gravity. We are falling. Towards what, I wonder?
|
| TARRANT | Zen, put forward coordinate eight nine zero on visual. |
| ZEN | Confirmed. Requested coordinate on forward detector visual in precise center of screen. |
| DAYNA | But there's nothing there. |
| AVON | Zen, use long range intensifier. Three guesses, if you need them. |
| VILA | A black hole. My god. We're falling into a black hole. So what will happen when we skim round that thing? |
| AVON | If it is a collapsed white dwarf star, gravitational distortion will tear the Liberator apart. Our remains will spread out over the entire surface adding a thickness of a few atoms to its diameter. |
| DAYNA | No one could accuse you of trying to hide things from us.
|
| TARRANT | Why did Orac lie when he said the Liberator was behaving normally? |
| ORAC | I did not lie. Considering the proximity of that fascinating black hole, the ship was and is behaving normally. |
| AVON | Orac, what is so facinating about this particular black hole? |
| ORAC | ALL black holes are fascinating. Their gravitaitonal pull is so massive that not even light can escape from them. A cubic inch of black hole matter can weigh a million tones. |
| AVON | We know all that. And so do you. So why this particular black hole? |
| ORAC | The absence of x-ray emissions. Normally colliding particles in the vicinity of a black hole emit xrays. |
| AVON | So you decided you would like a closer look. |
| ORAC | The absence of xrays highlighted a gap in my knowledge of the
universe which cannot be tolerated.
|
| TARRANT | So without telling us, you reprogramed the navigation computers. |
| ORAC | I have noticed that the occupants of this spacecraft have a lamentable lack of interest in the more fascinating aspects of the universe. You must excuse me, I have many observations to make. |
| VILA | Why don't we switch him off and put ourselves out of our misery. |
| AVON | I would advise against it. Orac may be gathering information that could prove useful to us. |
| VILA | Useful! He's got us into this mess. |
| ZEN | Information. Forward scan detectors indicate dust cloud density six in flight path. Range: one million two hundred thousand spacials. |
| AVON | Activate the force wall. |
| ZEN | Confirmed.
|
| TARRANT | We can't afford a drain on the energy banks. |
| AVON | At this excelleration rate, every dust particle could stike the Liberator with the force of a meteoroid. |
| ZEN | Confirmed.(oppressive noise. They all sink to their knees, hands over ears.) |
| ZEN | Information. Ship's velocity now in excess of design
limitations. Force wall collapse imminent.
(distortion effect. Dayna, Vila, Cally unconcious. Avon
struggles towards the seating. Tarrant rouses and crawls
towards Avon. Avon removes spacesuit from storage compartment,
starts to pull it on.
|
| TARRANT | No, Avon! We all go together. You hear? Together! (reaches Avon, grabs at suit) |
| ORAC | Fascinating. Fascinating.
|
| TARRANT | We all go together.(Tarrant grabs at Avon's throat. Avon tries to push him away) |
| AVON | There is a faint chance for one of us. (they are overcome
and collapse. Sudden silence, deck is dark. Tarrant
recovers first)
|
| TARRANT | Avon. Avon! (Avon starts to attack, then pulls back) |
| AVON | What happened?
|
| TARRNAT | It looks as if we survived the slingshot orbit. |
| AVON | I would have said impossible. Would have said. (Vila groans) |
| AVON | Our hero lives.
|
| TARRANT | At least he didn't try to get into a spacesuit. |
| AVON | I look upon self-interest as my great strength. Vila.
|
| TARRANT | One day, Avon, I may have to kill you. |
| AVON | (smiles) It has been tried. Vila, wake up. |
| VILA | (sees six Avons) I'm in hell -- and it's full of Avons. What's the good news? |
| AVON | We survived the orbit. |
| ORAC | Fascinating. Fascinating! A thousand years here would be too short. |
| AVON | Zen, increase the lighting. Zen! Increase the light! |
| ZEN | Delay regretted. All commands now require prior verification. |
| AVON | By what? |
| ORAC | By me. It has been necessary for me to assume control of the
ship. Excuse me. I have many observations to make.
|
| TARRANT | We'll deal with Orac later. Now we have to get Cally in to a
resusitation chamber.(Tarrant and Dayna lift Cally, Vila
drinks from a small bottle)
|
| DAYNA | Respiration, Heartbeat, and blood pressure now normal. There's a lot a brain rhythm activity I just don't understand. |
| THAARN | (V.O.) You came, Cally. I have waited for the time that light takes to cross a thousand galaxies. I knew that someone would come. |
| CALLY | Who are you?
|
| TARRANT | It's alright, Cally. You'll be fine. |
| THAARN | (V.O.)I am the Thaarn, Cally. |
| CALLY | The Tharn?
|
| TARRANT | Cally, it's me, Tarrant. Can you hear me? |
| THAARN | (V.O.) Do you remember stories they told you about me? When you were a little girl on Auron? Do you remember the children's rhymes? The songs you sang about the Thaarn? (Tarrant and Dayna talk behind this) |
| CALLY | I remember.
|
| TARRANT | Cally, it's me, Tarrant. Can you hear me? |
| CALLY | I hear the Thaarn. So near. |
| THAARN | (V.O.) So alone, Cally. So...alone. Soon we should be together. We shall rule the universe. But now, you must sleep, sleep, sleep. |
| DAYNE | Brain activity now normal. What was it she said?
|
| TARRANT | I dunno, something about 'tharn'? |
| DAYNA | She'll be all right now, we should leave her sleep.
|
| TARRANT | I've got some unfinished business with Orac to attend to. (on flight deck. Tarrant removes Orac's key) |
| AVON | We will need that.
|
| TARRANT | We'll manager without it. |
| AVON | We did not complete the slingshot orbit around the black hole
as we supposed.
|
| TARRANT | Then where the hell are we now? |
| AVON | Wherever it is, we are not in space.
|
| TARRANT | Zen, run through all the detectors on the main screen. I want an identification of every constellation. |
| ZEN | Confirmed. |
| AVON | There are no stars out there, Tarrant. There is nothing. |
| ZEN | All scanners now sequencing. No stars or astral bodies present. Therefore unable to comply with identification request. |
| AVON | An unlikely possiblity is that we have fallen through the black hole into the so-called negative universe of antimatter, where time and energy no longer exist. |
| VILA | That sounds like a way of saying we're nowhere.
|
| TARRANT | (inserts key) Orac, where the hell are we? |
| ORAC | A fascinating place. Fascinating. Space outside the ship has
ceased to exist. It is essential that we do nothing to
contaminate this place until it has been thouroughly
investigated.
|
| TARRANT | If space has ceased to exist, let's see how it responds to our neutron blasters. Dayna, two blasts at ten percent power. |
| DAYNA | Zen, put up the radiation flare shields. |
| ZEN | Confirmed. Radiation flare shields in position. Neutron blasters cleared for firing. (Cally appears) |
| DAYNA | Two blasts, at ten percent power, now.(two blasts, and crew is rocked twice) |
| VILA | Someone is shooting back! |
| DAYNA | They fired back at the same energy level. |
| ORAC | You're shooting at yourselves, which is making my observations extremely difficult. |
| VILA | How can we be shooting at ourselves? |
| CALLY | Why not, if space is curved back on itself? Here- |
| DAYNA | Cally! We were worried about you. |
| CALLY | I feel perfectly alright now. What's happened?
|
| TARRANT | You were delirious. |
| CALLY | I can hardly believe that.
|
| TARRANT | You were raving about the 'tharn' or something. |
| CALLY | Why would I talk about a mythical creature in children's stories? |
| DAYNA | You tell us. |
| CALLY | Well, it seems absurd. The Thaarn is as mythical to me as dragons and unicorns are to the people of Earth. |
| AVON | More important than worrying about creatures that do not exist,
is worrying about our present situation, which most certainly
does.
|
| TARRANT | And what do you suggest we do? |
| AVON | Examine the outside.
|
| TARRANT | If you want to teleport into oblivion, you just go right ahead. |
| AVON | The outer teleport transducers were damaged when the force wall collapsed. Someone is going to have go out through the inspection hatch in a spacesuit and replace them. |
| VILA | The time we've been in space without a refit that -- that hatch will be space-welded shut. Anyway, who would risk it? |
| AVON | Someone who has a talent for opening locked doors.
|
| TARRANT | And has demonstrated a grasp of the problems involved. |
| VILA | Oh no. Not me. Not a space suit. Well, it wasn't my idea.
One of you can go outside. I never did trust those things.
Nothing, absolutely nothing in the whole galaxy can or will
persuade me to wear one. Not a chance. (in suit) |
| VILA | I'm now in the inspection compartment. (V.O.) I am now
depressurizing. I am now trying to open the hatch.
|
| TARRANT | (V.O.suit comm) Use your delicate skillful touch. |
| VILA | (Stomps on hatch, which gives) I used my delicate skillful boot. (lowers himself through hatch) Can't see anything. Nothing but darkness. |
| CALLY | Vila, be careful. |
| VILA | Oh..agh!
|
| TARRANT | Vila, what happened. |
| VILA | (Hanging by his fingers) Hey! There's gravity here. |
| AVON | (V.O.) Gravity? Are you sure? |
| VILA | Well, of course I'm sure! So would you be if you were in the
mess I'm in. If I let go, God knows how far I'll fall.
|
| TARRANT | (V.O.) Drop something. See how far it falls. (Vila drops a flashlight, then himself a few inches) |
| VILA | We must be on the surface of a planet. It's hard, and even, like it's artificial. Gravity feels about normal. Doesn't make sense. Unless... Yes, that's it. We're in a huge, underground cavern of some sort. No wonder Orac's thinking we're shooting ourselves. The walls must have reflected our blasts. What do you want me to do now? |
| AVON | Circle out from the ship.
|
| TARRANT | But don't go too far. |
| VILA | I wasn't planning to. I'll call in two minutes. Out.
|
| TARRANT | Does anyone have even a faint idea of where we are and what sort of mess we're in? |
| THAARN | (V.O.) Cally. Come to me. Come to me, Cally. I need you. Need you. |
| CALLY | No. |
| THAARN | Need you. |
| CALLY | No. |
| THAARN | Need! |
| DAYNA | What's the matter, Cally? |
| CALLY | There's something out there, a force, something all powerful
and evil. (Vila walks, picks up debris) |
| VILA | Avon! |
| AVON | Go ahead. |
| VILA | Someone's been here before us. There's bits of what look like part of a spacecraft scattered all over the place. There are also lumps of rock, like meteorites or something. |
| AVON | All right, Vila, pick up some samples and get back to the ship. |
| VILA | Avon. Tarrant. The ground's vibrating. (sees lights approach)
There's something coming.
|
| TARRANT | Vila, get back to the ship. |
| VILA | It's a beautiful light. So beautiful.
|
| TARRANT | Vila, run. You must get back to the ship. |
| VILA | So beautiful.
|
| TARRANT | Cally, make him run. |
| CALLY | (V.O.) Vila, listen to me. Run, Vila. It will kill you. Run. Run. Run! (Vila runs, trips, hose disconnects) |
| VILA | Tarrant! I've holed my spacesuit! I'm losing pressure!
|
| TARRANT | Activate the scanner and put it on the main screen. Put up the radiation flare shields and clear the neutron blasters for firing. |
| ZEN | Neutron blasters are cleared for firing.
|
| TARRANT | Dayna, stand by for a fifty percent blast from forward projector. Zen, lock on to approaching target. |
| ZEN | Confirmed. (The claw reaches up and breaks the scanner. The screen goes dark) |
| DAYNA | What the hell was that?
|
| TARRANT | Whatever it was, it knocked out our scanner. |
| ZEN | Backup scanners activated. (The screen comes on again. The lights retreat) |
| AVON | It didn't like its taste of our neutron blaster. |
| DAYNA | It had a sort of claw. |
| AVON | Designed to tear things apart. Space craft, for example. |
| ZEN | Bio-scanners indicate presence of humanoid life form in the
vicinity of the ship. (Vila's body on screen)
|
| TARRANT | I'll go and fetch him. We can deep freeze his body until we're back into space, where we can give him a decent star orbit burial. |
| AVON | Assuming we ever get back into space. (Tarrant is outside in suit, kneels beside Vila, who sits up, removes helmet) |
| VILA | Orac was absolutely right when he said that space had ceased
to exist outside the ship. This place has a breathable
atmosphere. (on flight deck) |
| ZEN | This item was once part of a main drive stabilizer on a type six survey ship. Atomic resonance analysis shows that all the hurculanium alloy in the component has been drained away. This accounts for the components low tensile strength. The piece of rock is a fragment from a beta-class asteroid. All the natually occuring minerals are present with the exception of hurculanium, which appears to have been removed by a process which is not understood. |
| AVON | Herculanium is the strongest known metal in the universe. |
| ORAC | Correct. The Liberator's outer skin is fabricated from it. It is a contributing factor to this ship's invincibility. |
| VILA | So whoever or whatever runs this place hauled the Liberator
in to melt it down for scrap.
|
| TARRANT | It looks as if you're right about that thing wanting to tear the ship apart. |
| ORAC | We are dealing with a highly advanced technology, far more advanced than previously encountered. They must require the herculanium for a very special purpose. |
| VILA | Which means that thing will be back with its friends.
|
| TARRANT | Which means that we'd better be ready for them. (Cally, Avon, Tarrant, Dayna outside. Large object on wheels approaches, rotating lights and huge teeth painted on it) |
| VILA | It's not the thing they sent before.
|
| TARRANT | (into bracelet) Stand by, Dayna. Something nasty this way comes. |
| DAYNA | (V.O.)Tarrant, all the energy's draining from the banks. The blasters are useless. |
| AVON | It would seem that this crude device is intended to frighten primitive people from underdeveloped worlds. |
| VILA | It's doing a pretty good job on me.
|
| TARRANT | Let's see if it thinks our neutron blaster primitive. |
| VILA | (tries to shoot large blaster) It's been nutralized. (they run around object, it suddenly stops) |
| CALIPH | Welcome to Krandor, my friends. An artificial planet, which is
the palace of the Lord Thaarn, Master of the Universe. I am
the Caliph of Krandor. Among other things, it is my duty as
the Lord Thaarn's chief executive, to negotiate a purchase
price for your ship. We, uh, usually use this for rounding up
runaway slaves. Oh, quite inappropriate in this instance, but
it was nearest at the time. I do hope you understand.
|
| TARRANT | We don't understand anything. |
| CALIPH | Of course, of course. My friends. You will come with me, and
all will be made clear.
|
| TARRANT | No one moves. Any explaining will be done here. (Caliph point his cane at Tarrant, who goes to his knees in agony) |
| CALIPH | A neuronic whip. It can turn an agressive man into a gibbering
idiot, an uncooperative man into the most willing slave,
temporally, or permanently. But then, you've already had an
effective demonstration of the Lord Thaarn's powers while
aboard your spacecraft, which to us a thousand cubic cobars of
much needed herculanium alloy. We must see that you get a fair
price. Double the normal slave rations until the debt is
discharged. Yes? You may keep your handguns and bangles if it
makes you feel happier. Only the technology of the Lord Thaarn
prevails on Krandor.
|
| DAYNA | Tarrant. Avon, answer please. Where are you? Answer me! Tarrant! |
| CALIPH | They won't hear you, child. |
| DAYNA | Who are you? How did you get aboard? |
| CALIPH | Are you the one that they call Cally? (uses n-whip) |
| DAYNA | (cries out in pain) |
| CALIPH | In the presence of this you can neither lie nor resist. Are you the one that they call Cally? The Lord Thaarn is most anxious to meet you. |
| DAYNA | My name is Dayna. Cally is with the others. |
| CALIPH | Very well, Dayna. Come with me. Come. The Lord Thaarn sensed the presence of another aboard this ship, one called Orac. Where is he...or she? |
| DAYNA | There is no person of that name aboard this ship, and never
has been. (in a cell) |
| AVON | The technology of the Lord Thaarn. |
| CALLY | The Thaarn is a myth. He never existed outside children's
stories and legends.
|
| TARRANT | You think this cell is a myth? |
| VILA | Tell us about the Thaarn, Cally. |
| CALLY | It's the oldest story in the Book of Auron. |
| VILA | Well, let's hear it. I like a good story, meself. |
| CALLY | The story goes back to the mists of Time, to the Dawn of the Gods. There were seven gods who discovered the planet Auron, and on it left the first man and woman. A million years went by. The gods returned. They were no older even though a million years had past. |
| AVON | Not impossible if they had a spaceship capable of traveling at near the speed of light. |
| CALLY | I did say it was just a legend. The gods returned and were
pleased with what they saw, and they bestowed on the people of
Auron great gifts: new types of crops, which ended hunger,
constant peace --
|
| TARRANT | And telepathy? |
| CALLY | -- and telepathy was promised. But one of the gods was very jealous. He didn't believe that the people of Auron deserved all this. He was frightened they would one day become so powerful they would challenge the supremacy of the gods themselves. And in his rage, he killed another god. The five remaining gods were so angry, they built a chariot for him and sent him beyond the threshold of space and time. The mad god swore a terrible vengeance. He said that he would return again. He said that he alone would discover the eternal secrets and become the one great master of the universe. You see? A legend. |
| VILA | He sounds the sort of character you should keep an eye on, not go around banishing. |
| CALLY | On Auron, the name of the Thaarn is a symbol of darkness and evil. (Caliph enters cell with Dayna) |
| CALIPH | So. You're Cally. |
| CALLY | What of it? |
| CALIPH | You are honored, child. The Lord Thaarn wishes to see you.
|
| TARRANT | She stays with us. (Caliph uses neuronic whip on Tarrant) |
| CALIPH | Take her. She will come to no harm, provided that you cooperate of course. Groff is especially anxious that you should cooperate. He is Krandor's senior technician, and has many, many targets that must be met. |
| GROFF | There is a member of your crew we cannot find. Orac. Where is he? |
| CALIPH | The neuronic whip is on an automatic setting. It has only to
sense one lie and it will boil your brains in your skull.
Where is Orac?
|
| TARRANT | If he's not on the ship, I don't know where he is. |
| CALIPH | How tall is he? (Tarrant demonstrates) A dwarf?
|
| TARRANT | We never think of him as one. |
| CALIPH | What is the color of his hair?
|
| TARRANT | He hasn't got any. A bald dwarf shouldn't be too hard to find. |
| CALIPH | I will instruct the slave masters to organize search parties.
|
| ZEN | All energy banks recharged. |
| ORAC | Excellent. Excellent. There is now little point in further communications between us by audio channels. In future we will communicate by direct sensory link. |
| ZEN | Confirmed.
|
| GROFF | This is where you'll be working, provided you're as good at
dynamic flux mathematics as you say you are.
|
| TARRANT | It was one of my best subjects at the Federation Space Academy. (Avon smiles) |
| GROFF | You went to the F.S.A.?
|
| TARRANT | I'm surprised you've heard of it if you're from another galaxy. What is this place? |
| GROFF | This is the very nerve center of the Lord Thaarn's great plan. The gravity generator control room. |
| AVON | And what is his great plan? |
| GROFF | To become master of the universe. He has promised all of us
our own planets. There will be vast estates, and incalculable
wealth for all of us. You too if you cooperate. There will
be plenty for everyone. We will be kings, and the Lord Thaarn
will be supreme emperor. Sit down. There is no reason why
we should not start work immediately.
|
| TARRANT | Graphite writing stick? I've never seen these things outside museums. |
| AVON | Start work on what? |
| GROFF | On the calculations, of course. You see, we have thousands of unsolved dynamic flux equations, simple enough but they take time. |
| AVON | Why not use calculators or computers? |
| GROFF | We couldn't do that.
|
| TARRANT | Groff, what's that? |
| GROFF | A finger?
|
| TARRANT | A finger. And as you can see, it is better designed for pressing buttons than holding writing implements. So why can't we use computers? |
| GROFF | The Lord Thaarn will not permit their development on Krandor.
He will allow no superior intellects to his
|
| TARRANT | Why not? |
| GROFF | I don't know, it is better not to ask such questions! |
| AVON | Perhaps he had an unfortunate experience with a computer.
|
| TARRANT | Haven't we all? |
| AVON | Groff, where does the Lord Thaarn come from? |
| GROFF | I don't know. No one does. No one has ever seen him except
the Caliph. Now you must do these equations -
|
| TARRANT | And where do you come from, Groff? |
| GROFF | Xaranar. |
| AVON | A Federation world that specialized in the building of survey
ships and providing them with crews.
|
| TARRANT | Yes, all the best exploration missions went to you Xarin. |
| GROFF | I am not a traitor. One has to make a new life here, you have
no choice.
|
| TARRANT | Then how did you come to be here? |
| GROFF | The same way as you. We lost control over our ship, the gravity generator dragged us down. |
| AVON | Does it generate a beam or a total field? We will need to know that if we are to work on these equations. |
| GROFF | Total field. |
| AVON | (writes) Clever. It must require a great deal of energy. |
| GROFF | And the new shields require a great deal of herculanium if the
power is to be increased. And the design of the shields
requires the answers to many equations.
|
| TARRANT | You had a family on Xaranor? |
| GROFF | A wife and two children. I do not think of them anymore. The
work of the Lord Thaarn is more important.
|
| TARRANT | Help us to escape, Groff, and we will return you to Xaranar, I promise. |
| GROFF | How could you?
|
| TARRANT | Don't forget, we have our ship. |
| GROFF | The Caliph has sent out a salvage team to slice it up. Very
soon your ship will be no more than a pile of scrap metal. (On the flight deck, two suited figures cut the consoles with laser-like instruments. They move towards Zen's interface. A large purple cloud appears) |
| ORAC | I would strongly advise against going too near that. I must warn you that it is a defense mechanism generated by the ship's computers. Please, gentlemen, I must earnestly implore you not to come any closer. It is extremely dangerous. (The two men collapse) Fascinating. |
| ZEN | Confirmed. (Cally sleeps on a circle bed) |
| THAARN | Cally. Cally? You came. I needed you and you came. I've been alone with my plans for so long. Cally. Plans to build a new universe, with no one to share them with, until now. The universe, Cally. And the great univeral force that controls the universe, is gravity. The orbit of the planets, the slow turn of the galaxies. I have built a machine that can generate gravity. When it's complete, it will be powerful enough to move planets, and stars. He who controls gravity, controls everything. We will be rulers of the universe, Cally. |
| CALLY | No. |
| THAARN | You will be the queen of a thousand worlds. |
| CALLY | No! I'll have nothing from you, nothing. If you don't understand that, you're not fit to rule anything. |
| THAARN | Please. Cally. Don't make me destroy you, I'm so alone, I
need you. So alone. Sleep now, Cally, decide when you have
slept. Sleep.
|
| CALIPH | You tell me what it is you have aboard your ship, otherwise
you'll be dead in three seconds.
|
| TARRANT | I don't know what you're talking about. |
| CALIPH | Two men sent to smash the Liberator have been found dead. |
| GROFF | The Liberator! |
| CALIPH | Was it Orac that killed them?
|
| TARRANT | I don't know. |
| CALIPH | What manner of weapons does he have that can work while the
energy isolators are switched on?
|
| TARRANT | We don't know. None of us knows what type of arms Orac has. He keeps himself to himself. |
| CALIPH | I shall turn out every slave to search for him. He will be found and destroyed. Then it will be your turn. All of you! |
| GROFF | The Liberator? They said it was invincible. |
| AVON | Propaganda that we find useful.
|
| TARRANT | Thanks to Orac it sounds as if the Liberator is still intact. A trip to Xaranar wouldn't take too long. |
| GROFF | Escape is impossible. While the energy isolators are on, your handguns won't work and it is not possible to put the gravity generator into the negative field mode. |
| AVON | But putting the gravity generator into reverse would collapse the floor beneath the Liberator and allow her to fall out into free space. |
| GROFF | It would weaken the atomic structure of the floor. It's the same way you came in. |
| AVON | And putting the gravity generator into full reverse, would cause Krandor to disintigrate. |
| GROFF | Worse than that. It would blow up. |
| AVON | Gravity in reverse. |
| GROFF | That is why only the Lord Thaarn alone has control of the energy
isolators.
|
| THAARN | Cally. Wake up. Have you decided? |
| CALLY | Yes, Thaarn. We will rule the universe together. But there's something troubling me... |
| THAARN | About your friends? They will come to no harm. |
| CALLY | No. Why should I care about them? You're using a field, I can sense you are. How can I be sure that I am making the decision of my own free will? |
| THAARN | It's only the energy isolators, Cally. They have no effect on your free will. I promise. |
| CALLY | If you want me to trust you, switch off the energy isolators, then I can find out for myself. |
| THAARN | It's too dangerous. Cally. |
| CALLY | Then I will never be able to trust you. (draws handgun) |
| THAARN | Very well. You see, your feelings are no different.
(Cally shoots randomly around her)
|
| GROFF | The energy isolators have been switched off!
Get to the others, get back to your ship quickly!
|
| TARRANT | What about you? |
| GROFF | I'll be alright, get going! But if you could tell them, my
family, they were always in my thoughts.
|
| TARRANT | We'll tell them, Groff.
(Groff tries to move main switch)
|
| TARRANT | Come on! |
| VILA | What kept you? |
| DAYNA | What about Cally? |
| AVON | We'll have to leave without her.
|
| TARRANT | Come on, move!
|
| THAARN | Cally, Cally, you've hurt me. Why? No, Cally! Stay away, I beg you. You mustn't see me. |
| CALLY | I have to see you if I am to kill you. (moves curtain) |
| THAARN | I have been ?* in time, but the price has been high, so very
high.
|
| CALIPH | Groff? (they grapple over the switch)
|
| CALLY | (to Vila, outside the ship) Come on!
(all run inside)
|
| TARRANT | Zen, stand by to activate main drive, if and when we enter free space. |
| ZEN | Confirmed. Main drive standing by. The ship is now in free
space. Main drive activated.
|
| TARRANT | Zen, standard by eight. Put the rear scanner on the main screen. |
| ZEN | Information. Detectors indicate that a small spacecraft has left object centered on main screen and is flying on a reciprocal course. |
| CALLY | That must be the Thaarn. I should have killed him. |
| VILA | What did he look like? |
| CALLY | I never saw him.
|
| TARRANT | Zen, I want a course for Xaranar. |
| CALLY | Xaranar?
|
| TARRANT | We promised to take a message there. Didn't we, Avon? |
| AVON | I suppose we owe Groff that much.
|
| TARRANT | I'd say so. |
| AVON | So, the Lord Thaarn escaped. I suspect we have made another enemy. A pity. |
| ORAC | A pity? A pity. It is intolerable! There is insufficient room
in the galaxy for his intellect and mine. (Tarrant takes key)
|
| TARRANT | I don't know. He did have one redeeming feature. He didn't like computers. |
| ZEN | Course for Xaranar laid in.
|
| TARRANT | Thank you, Zen.
|