Script for The Harvest of Kairos

by Ben Steed

(c) 1979 by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Series created by Terry Nation. This is a partial dialogue transcript for research purposes and is not for sale under any circumstances. Format (c) 1992 by Micky DuPree.

Transcribed by Micky Dupree & Boris Ammerlaan. Proofread by Jason Gool & Claudia Mastroianni.

Dramatis Personae

Kerr Avon Paul Darrow
Servalan Jacqueline Pearce
Vila Restal Michael Keating
Cally Jan Chappell
Del Tarrant Steven Pacey
Dayna Mellanby Josette Simon
Orac Peter Tuddenham
Zen Peter Tuddenham
Jarvik Andrew Burt
Dastor Frank Gatliff
Shad Anthony Gardner
Guard Charles Jamieson
Carlon Sam Davies

Uncredited:

Labourer Stuart Fell
Leader 1 Christopher Douglas
Leader 2 Hywel David
Leader 3 Christopher Douglas
Interceptor Captain Hywel David
Guard2 Charles Jamieson

	[Liberator flight deck]
DAYNA	Could you get it on visual?
TARRANT	Not a chance. Anyway, it's not an "it", but a "them": there's two of them.
DAYNA	The readings are the same?
TARRANT	Same type of ship. It's our orbit pattern that threw me. Our scanners only see one at a time, and we can't get either on visual because we're in the permanent dark side. Confirm that, Zen.
ZEN	The pattern is mathematically possible but cannot be confirmed without an -- ZEN &: [Together] -- independent point of scan. TARRANT
TARRANT	Okay, Zen, we've read the same manuals. [To Dayna] It's an old Federation manoeuvre. Unimaginative, but so's a punch in the mouth. We don't need either. At least it tells us who sent them.
DAYNA	Servalan.
CALLY	[Into mic] Avon, Vila, respond please. [Static] Nothing.
TARRANT	Keep trying, we're running out of time.
CALLY	[Into mic] Avon, Vila, respond please. I'm sure they can hear us. [Into mic] Avon, there are two hostile spacecraft in close scan range. Request teleport now, please.
TARRANT	And number three is out there somewhere. Dayna, you'd better run a check on energy banks and force wall. Prepare for combat!
DAYNA	We stay and fight?
TARRANT	With those two down there, what else can we do?
CALLY	[Into mic] Avon, this is priority... [Space Command]
SERVALAN	What is Tarrant doing? He can run, or he can attack, but he does neither.
DASTOR	Madam president, if I might make a suggestion...
SERVALAN	[Into mic] Assault Leader One, status check.
LEADER 1	[V.O.] Maintaining contraxial orbit with Leader Two. Report Liberator detector scans operative.
SERVALAN	He knows they're there.
DASTOR	If I might suggest...
SERVALAN	[Into mic] Assault Leader Three, status check.
LEADER 3	[V.O.] Holding eclipse pattern with Leader One. We're sustaining high energy loss.
DASTOR	It's a dangerous manoeuvre...
LEADER 3	[V.O.] Request we attack immediately...
SERVALAN	No, wait.
DASTOR	Madam president!
SERVALAN	He's eclipsed, so Tarrant can't know he's there. But he suspects; he's no fool.
DASTOR	Madam president, I must counsel that you attack now.
SERVALAN	No! No, this time, we get it right.
DASTOR	But if only for the sake of your position, your esteem.
SERVALAN	My _what_?
DASTOR	They're talking below decks, madam. I wouldn't repeat it, but...
SERVALAN	You will repeat it.
DASTOR	Oh, it's all foolishness, of course, but...
SERVALAN	Go on.
DASTOR	They...they say you're afraid of Tarrant. Well, afraid to attack, that is. But of course nobody who knows you would ever...
SERVALAN	Who says so?
DASTOR	Chiefly it's -- one man; a worker from the construction grades.
SERVALAN	[Amused] An artisan?
DASTOR	He says -- he says any fool with three pursuit ships could take the Liberator.
SERVALAN	Oh, he does? And what is the name of this construction worker whose tactical knowledge far surpasses that of my battle-tested veteran starship captains?
DASTOR	They call him Jarvik.
SERVALAN	Jarvik.
INTERC.	[V.O.] Interceptor Leader to Control. Request instructions!
SERVALAN	Hold position, Interceptor Leader, and wait for instructions from Assault Leader One. We will attack when the Liberator breaks out of Alpha Sector. Four should do it nicely. Well, Dastor, I think it's time we had a little strategic counsel. Bring this -- Jarvik to me. [Liberator flight deck]
TARRANT	Zen, I know the third one's out there somewhere. Can't you find it?
ZEN	Sensors report negative scan.
TARRANT	Then the sensors are wrong. Run a maintenance check. No! No, hold that. Give us a parallax scan on the alien craft.
ZEN	Parallax scan shows another alien craft eclipsed at half a million spacials.
CALLY	[In the background, into comm] Avon, Vila, respond, please.
DAYNA	You were right.
TARRANT	Don't sound so surprised.
CALLY	We're getting something from the planet.
AVON	[V.O.] This is Avon. We're ready for teleport. [Dayna walks towards teleport facility]
TARRANT	Zen, how do we get out of here?
ZEN	Spiral orbit zero-zero-one-four, exit: alpha three. [Teleport facility]
VILA	Earth temperatures, you said.
AVON	Stop moaning, Vila.
VILA	But it's freezing down there! If I'd have known, I'd have taken a set of thermals.
DAYNA	Thirty minutes, you were told. If you'd come back when you were told to...
VILA	Next time, someone else can carry his rotten gear, 'cos I've had it! [Flight deck; Vila, Avon and Dayna enter, arguing]
VILA	...and it doesn't help when you're stumbling about in the dark falling over things.
DAYNA	Oh, Vila!
AVON	Quiet!
DAYNA	I volunteered!
ZEN	[At the same time] Parabolic orbit one-eight-one-six, exit: alpha four. Battle computers confirm. No viable alternatives.
CALLY	Did you get what you went down there for?
AVON	Yes.
CALLY	Where is it? [Avon exhibits the rock.] A rock?
AVON	Something like that.
TARRANT	Zen, --
AVON	Just a minute, Tarrant. Zen --
TARRANT	Sorry, Avon, we haven't got time.
AVON	No, but we do have a superior spacecraft. [Puts rock on analiser] Zen, identify that. If you can.
ZEN	The substance is Sopron.
AVON	Sopron? Is that all?
ZEN	No further information is available.
AVON	Analyze it.
TARRANT	Avon, please --
AVON	Just a minute.
ZEN	Sopron is nonorganic, silicon-based, and registers high electronic activity.
AVON	Its function?
ZEN	Its function is that of a capacity-charged brain.
AVON	Thank you, Zen. [To Tarrant] You can carry on now.
TARRANT	Zen, is the Alpha Sector the only safe way out of here?
ZEN	Affirmative.
TARRANT	As I thought. Stand by to break orbit. [Space Command]
INTERC.	[V.O.] Forward sensors report high energy displacement. I think she's moving. [Dastor lets guards with Jarvik enter] Yes, Liberator's breaking orbit. Repeat: Liberator is breaking orbit!
LEADER 1	[V.O.] Assault Leader One to Leader Three. Your eclipse pattern is broken. Leader Three, you are disclosed.
SERVALAN	Hold position, Interceptor Leader. Assault Three, are you sleeping? Acknowledge disclosure.
LEADER 3	[V.O.] Leader Three. Disclosure confirmed.
SERVALAN	Then get in there, fast!
LEADER 1	Assault Leader One. Leader Two now disclosed and in support. Alpha Sector is sealed. Repeat: Alpha Sector is sealed.
SERVALAN	Then the Liberator is yours, Leader One. Audio silence operates. Command Headquarters out. [sees man] Who is this man?
DASTOR	Jarvik, Madam President. You requested...?
SERVALAN	Jarvik? Of course. Jarvik. Jarvik, the construction worker. What was it now? Any fool could take the Liberator with three pursuit ships. Well, the Liberator will soon be diffusing itself throughout the galaxy as so many billion split particles. So, regrettably, we shall never know. Thanks to the folly of your president, who with her aides and her technical advisers, her battle computers and her captains, extravagantly disposed herself to use _four_ pursuit ships. And yet any fool could have done it with three. Perhaps this particular fool will tell her how. [pause] Well? Have you nothing to say to Servalan?
JARVIK	Woman, you're beautiful. [grabs and kisses her]
SERVALAN	Guards! Take this primitive to the punishment cells! Move!
JARVIK	[guards move in, Jarvik laughs disarming them] Guards! [Points gun at Servalan and guards]
SERVALAN	Take him! Will you obey me!?
JARVIK	I didn't come here to brawl with the Security Grades.
LEADER 1	[V.O.] Leader Two, you are deviating. Re-establish alignment.
LEADER 2	[V.O.] Negative, Leader One. Correct bearing on Liberator is being maintained.
SERVALAN	Assault Leaders, you _are_ on open voice.
LEADER 1	[V.O.] Madam president, this is Assault Leader One, reporting the Liberator's approach course is for Delta Sector. Repeat: Delta Sector.
SERVALAN	Don't be a fool. Liberator must exit through Alpha. No other course is logical. The computer projections were unanimous.
JARVIK	[Scornfully] Computer!
SERVALAN	Re-check coordinates. Confirm Liberator is in Alpha.
LEADER 1	[V.O.] Checks negative. Liberator is in Delta.
SERVALAN	But he's an open target in Delta Sector.
LEADER 1	[V.O.] _We're_ in Alpha Sector, Madam President.
SERVALAN	Abort attack. Repeat: abort attack.
JARVIK	You see, madam, Tarrant has computers too.
SERVALAN	Of course he does. And they would have told him the same thing. The only defensible exit was through Alpha.
JARVIK	So he knew exactly where the trap would be. You don't know Tarrant, madam. He's a man. He thinks and acts like a man, not like a machine. That's why he's still alive.
SERVALAN	And you, being a similar man, no doubt, in thought and action, will know exactly where he's heading now?
JARVIK	Oh, yes. Right now he's heading for the Harvest of Kairos. [Liberator flight deck]
CALLY	Kairos?
TARRANT	A bit of piracy, we agreed.
VILA	Yeah, piracy, not lunacy.
DAYNA	You said it was a harvest?
TARRANT	And so it is. Zen, put up Kairos.
ZEN	Kairos. The fourth planet of the star Xymines in the constellation Lypterion.
VILA	Right in the heart of Federation space.
TARRANT	There ISN'T a Federation anymore.
VILA	Tell that to Servalan. They don't take kindly to scrumping on Kairos.
ZEN	The planet has an orbital revolution of fifteen Earth years. The fertile zone is small, and noted for the suborganic growth of Kairopan, a highly prized crystal, which is gathered during the first week following the vernal equinox. This is known as the Harvest of Kairos.
VILA	Just one pocket full. I suppose I could retire to the lakeside of Gardinos and be waited on by those cute, little...
TARRANT	Yes. Well, what you do with your booty is up to you. We've got to get it yet.
CALLY	Zen, why does the harvest last only one week?
ZEN	No information available.
CALLY	Speculate.
ZEN	With the exception of the seven days following the vernal equinox, the environment is hostile to human life. Possible causes number eight hundred and two. One: infractional radiation levels--
TARRANT	Yes, thank you, Zen. We'll manage without the list.
CALLY	What do you think it is?
TARRANT	Your guess is as good as mine. Fact is, nobody who ever stayed after the first week came back to talk about it.
DAYNA	Sounds like fun.
VILA	I'd rather not take any chances.
TARRANT	We're not going to take any chances.
VILA	But you just--
TARRANT	We're going to wait till the kairopan's been harvested, and then we'll hijack the space transporter.
VILA	Ah, now, ah...
CALLY	Well, that sounds reasonable.
TARRANT	I think so. What do you say, Avon?
AVON	Now come along, Orac. First of all you say that this is not alive, and then you say it is more rational than you are.
TARRANT	Avon --
AVON	Wait!
ORAC	I deny that sopron is more rational. Reason is absolute and rationality cannot be divided by comparatives.
AVON	Orac, you are splitting hairs. Tarrant, listen to this.
TARRANT	Avon, we're trying--
AVON	Just a moment. I am about to extract a momentous admission. Orac, this rock, this sopron, does it have a greater capacity for reasoning than you do?
ORAC	The difference is barely measurable.
AVON	But it is greater.
ORAC	By a marginal degree, yes.
AVON	There. [Smiles] Now isn't that something?
TARRANT	Yes, I'm sure it is. Avon, we're trying to get a consensus. If you could just give us your attention for two minutes.
AVON	If it's tactical counsel you want, Tarrant, I suggest you consult Zen. That is what computers are for. Now then, Orac, how can...
DAYNA	Do we attack the space transporter?
TARRANT	Yes. [Space Command]
SERVALAN	[V.O.; looking at monitor showing fields] Tarrant won't attack the fields for the simple reason he can't.
JARVIK	[V.O.; looking at monitor showing fields] Tarrant delights in doing things people think he can't. But no, he won't attack the fields.
SERVALAN	You speak with familiarity, as one who knows him.
JARVIK	Knew him. A few years ago. He served as lieutenant on the Kairopan escort shuttle. It was his first command.
SERVALAN	How could you know that?
JARVIK	I briefed him.
SERVALAN	You?
JARVIK	I was his captain.
SERVALAN	And what crime did you commit?
JARVIK	No crime.
SERVALAN	Don't lie to me, Jarvik. One word and your life is on that screen. [He gestures for her to go ahead. She enters data.] "Jarvik. Formerly of Federation Space Academy, now in HQ construction grades." [Reads.] Why?
JARVIK	Because I'm a human being.
SERVALAN	But is that a reason to --
JARVIK	And so are you. But when was the last time you felt the warmth of the Earth's sun on your naked back? Or lifted your face to the heavens, and laughed with the joy of being alive? How long since you wept at the death of a friend? [Pause.] Doesn't mean a thing to you, does it, Madam President? You've surrounded yourself with machines and weapons, mindless men and heartless mutoids; and when they've done your work, and the machines have done your thinking, what is there left in you that feels?! [Smashes computer screen.]
SERVALAN	[Dastor enters.] What is it?
DASTOR	The Liberator, madam. Tele-sentry stations report an approach course for Lypterion. Tarrant is coming here.
SERVALAN	I know that. When will he arrive?
DASTOR	Twenty-two hours if present speed and course remain constant.
SERVALAN	Keep me informed. And get maintenance to replace _that_. [Indicates screen.]
DASTOR	Right away, madam. [Leaves.]
SERVALAN	The last shuttle is scheduled to leave Kairos at oh eight one five tomorrow, and link up with the transporter five minutes later. The Liberator could be anywhere in the Xymines system by then.
JARVIK	Are you asking me or telling me?
SERVALAN	I'm not looking for impertinence. You say any fool could take the Liberator with three pursuit ships. Could you?
JARVIK	I could take her with one. But as a man, Tarrant is worthy of honour. Three would not insult him.
SERVALAN	Then three you shall have, Mark Tens, the newest, fastest, and most powerful in my fleet. Your rank shall be Acting Major. And now I suggest you go and make ready. But first, there is the question of that degrading and primitive act to which I was subjected in the control room. I should like you to do it again. [Liberator flight deck]
DAYNA	Negative scan.
TARRANT	Weapon systems?
DAYNA	Mobilized.
TARRANT	Energy banks?
CALLY	Fully charged.
TARRANT	Time?
CALLY	Oh seven four five.
TARRANT	Right. Zen, direct vision of Kairos. Locater fix on the transporter.
ZEN	Two two one four. Stationary orbit. Thirty-six degrees. Five - four - steady. [The rock blows up.]
AVON	Sorry.
TARRANT	And the interceptors, Zen?
ZEN	Eight million spacials, stellar orbit, holding.
TARRANT	Activity on Kairos?
ZEN	Affirmative.
TARRANT	So they're still down there. [Kairopan shuttle]
SHAD	Get hold of Command.
DASTOR	[On screen] Command. Yes?
SHAD	It's the harvest, sir. It's been good. Very good.
DASTOR	[On screen] And?
SHAD	Well, we're loaded and ready for lift-off, but, er...
DASTOR	[On screen] Well, hurry up man, what is it you have to say?
SHAD	Well, the cargo exceeds our flight tolerance.
DASTOR	[On screen] Well, what does that mean?
SERVALAN	[On screen] Thank you, Dastor. I'll deal with this. How much excess Kairopan is there, Shad?
SHAD	Weight eighty-four units, madam.
SERVALAN	[On screen] And are all the labourers aboard?
SHAD	No, madam. Do I have your permission to abandon the excess cargo, [Space Command; on screen] or shall I have it destroyed?
SERVALAN	Neither. You will abandon the surplus labourers.
SHAD	[On screen] Yes, madam. [Launch platform]
GUARD	Instructions from the Captain. You are to wait for the next shuttle.
CARLON	But there isn't another.
GUARD	One will be sent for you tomorrow.
CARLON	But today's the last day. He knows that and you know that.
GUARD	Orders are orders. You know that. [Shoots worker climbing over fence]
CARLON	But nobody lives after the last day!
GUARD	Then you'll die, won't you? [Kairopan shuttle]
SHAD	Ignition. Contact. [Launch platform; shuttle leaves without guard]
GUARD	No, wait! Wait! [Liberator flight deck]
ZEN	Sensors report shuttlecraft launch from planet surface.
TARRANT	And the transporter's position?
ZEN	Unchanged.
TARRANT	So, we have five minutes before they link, four while they transfer cargo, less than twelve before they break orbit.
VILA	Bit of a know-all, aren't you? [Tarrant winks and smiles.]
ZEN	Interceptor activity. Forward sensors indicate standard defence formation flanking the transporter.
TARRANT	Identification.
ZEN	No information. Hull structure similar to ex-Federation Hunter-Killer class pursuit ship. Modified fin suggests primitive Time Distort facility.
TARRANT	The new Mark Tens.
VILA	You know about them?
TARRANT	Oh, yes. Dayna, we'll be counterattacking through the force wall. Bring it into maximum deflection.
DAYNA	On interlock?
TARRANT	No, overlap. Ask Cally, she'll put you right.
VILA	Anything I should do?
TARRANT	Yes. Right now, I suggest you hold on to something very tight. Zen, bearing three, standard by eight. [Space Command]
JARVIK	Tarrant's made his move. Sooner than I'd have liked, but never mind. Who commands the transporter?
DASTOR	Well, nobody, sir. It's unmanned and computer controlled.
JARVIK	I see. They still don't trust anyone to bring it back. What about the shuttle?
DASTOR	Sir?
JARVIK	Who controls it?
DASTOR	Captain Shad, sir.
JARVIK	Brotius Shad?
DASTOR	Aye, sir.
JARVIK	Well, that's something. [Pushes button.] Captain Shad, I'm Acting Major Jarvik, under authority to Servalan and in command of the escort fleet.
SHAD	Hello, sir?
JARVIK	Have you guards with you on the shuttle?
SHAD	Yes, sir.
JARVIK	Good. There's something I'd like you to do for me. [Later]
JARVIK	I shall expect both courage and enterprise.
SHAD	You will have both, sir.
SERVALAN	Such old-fashioned concepts, Jarvik. Are they really necessary?
JARVIK	With machines, no. With men, yes.
SERVALAN	So you won't want to hear the computer predictions.
JARVIK	Madam, in ancient times they read the future from the torn out guts of small animals. Two millennia later it was in the remnant leaves of a herb in a drinking cup. Ask me, and I'd say that civilization has learnt a lot to little positive advantage.
SERVALAN	Yes. Well, you'll hear them anyway. Our computer predicts convincing victory with the loss of one pursuit ship. I'd rather not lose any.
JARVIK	In that case: sit down and shut up. [Looks at monitor] He's left his keel exposed. Killer Three, you're in strike range. Fire now! Now! [Liberator is hit; flight deck]
ZEN	Hull sensors report damage to keel section.
TARRANT	The keel section? That's impossible! The force wall... Dayna, --
DAYNA	Yes, I know.
TARRANT	Zen, retreat. Standard by Six, bearing Xymines. [To Dayna] I said: overlap.
DAYNA	I know, but I couldn't find --
TARRANT	Didn't Cally show you?
DAYNA	She wasn't there!
TARRANT	But she was... [sees Cally's empty station] Oh no, I don't believe it. Vila, take over.
VILA	Who, me?
TARRANT	[To Dayna] Stay with him. [Somewhere else on the Liberator]
CALLY	Avon, I can't.
AVON	Concentrate.
CALLY	It's my mother, my father. I don't know.
AVON	Cally, your mother and father are dead. It is an illusion. Tell yourself that this is a rock.
CALLY	But it's not. It's alive.
AVON	Orac, is the rock sopron alive?
ORAC	No.
CALLY	But it's sitting there, thinking. [Boom!]
ORAC	The electrical impulses are powered by a sophisticated technology and the programing does bear a similarity to the mental processes. But this is not "thinking" in the accepted sense.
CALLY	It is. It is, Avon. I don't like it. [Gets up]
AVON	Cally. [Grasps her by the arms]
TARRANT	[Enters] Is this the time or the place? That thing has warped your reason, Avon. It's even warped your notorious instinct for looking after number one. We are in danger, can't you understand that?
AVON	I understand that this ship is the most powerful in the galaxy and that you are the most astute space warfare commander. [Tarrant and Cally exit.] Or so you tell us often enough. [Flight deck; Liberator destroys one pursuit ship]
VILA	We got it, we got it!
DAYNA	Right on the nose! [laughs] [Space Command]
SERVALAN	How did _that_ happen?
JARVIK	They fired through their own force shield.
SERVALAN	Don't be absurd.
JARVIK	You asked, I told you. [Liberator flight deck]
VILA	We got it, we got it!
TARRANT	Yes, I know, only I was saving that trick for when they both attacked at once.
VILA	There's only two left now; no trouble.
ZEN	Sensors report hostile craft bearing zero two zero.
TARRANT	These Mark Tens can move. Visual tracking, Zen. Cally, forcewall back, maximum deflection. Right. Zen, -- [Space Command]
JARVIK	He's rolling her. Hold back, Killer Three, hold back, he'll have you. [Liberator flight deck]
TARRANT	Wait. Wait. Wait, on the turn... Easy now... [Space Command]
JARVIK	Killer One, it's you! [Liberator flight deck]
TARRANT	Fire! [Liberator destroys another pursuit ship]
TARRANT	[Kisses his fingers to the air expressively, like an Italian chef] [Space Command]
JARVIK	All right, Killer Three, stabilise now. There're two ways of doing this...
SERVALAN	Fool! [Into comm] This is Command HQ. All pursuit units in Lypterion, urgent call to Xymines sector. Urgent call to Xymines sector, now. [Breaks contact] They'll never get here in time.
JARVIK	Just as well, we've got one too many as it is.
SERVALAN	No, I'm the fool. Why do I do it? So stupid.
JARVIK	Gently now, Killer Three. Ease your way in. Prepare to launch... [Liberator flight deck]
DAYNA	Plasma bolt launched.
TARRANT	Visual tracking, Zen. Force wall down, Cally.
CALLY	Down?
TARRANT	Yes, down. Starboard roll, Zen. Maximum thrust now. Fire, Dayna, fire! [Liberator destroys the last pursuit ship]
DAYNA	Direct hit. [Crew cheers] Zen, locate the Kairopan transporter. Direct course. Standard by Three. [Space Command]
SERVALAN	There's nothing to stop them now. The cream of my fleet, gone! Destroyed. And all you can do is smile as though you'd achieved something.
JARVIK	I have.
SERVALAN	What?
JARVIK	I made it look convincing.
SERVALAN	Oh, it was convincing all right. It convinced _me_. Three Mark Tens and fifteen years' supply of Kairopan.
JARVIK	You wanted the Liberator? If you're patient, you shall have her.
SERVALAN	And what will you take her with? A Kairopan shuttle? A transporter, perhaps? Or will you use your bare hands?! What are you doing?
JARVIK	[Picks up Servalan and dumps her on a couch] Lie there and keep quiet until I tell you otherwise. [Liberator flight deck]
VILA	'Course I may settle down, you know, have kids. What do you think, Cally?
CALLY	What do I think of what?
VILA	The lakeside of Gardinos. We could go swimming by the light of three moons.
DAYNA	Who could? You and Cally?
VILA	No, me and the kids.
CALLY	[To Vila] But you haven't got any children.
VILA	Not yet, I haven't.
TARRANT	Vila, you're dreaming. Two weeks of that, and you'd be looking for something to break into.
ZEN	Transporter is in visual range.
TARRANT	Put her up then, Zen. [Transporter on screen]
VILA	Feels like we're stealing a purse from a sleeping man. [Space Command]
SERVALAN	They're coming in to dock right under our noses and we're helpless.
JARVIK	Be quiet. Watch. [Kairopan transporter]
TARRANT	[Teleports in] It's all right, there's nothing.
CALLY	[V.O.] Nothing?
TARRANT	Apart from a few million credits worth of Kairopan. I'll let you in. [Opens door]
VILA	Is that it?
TARRANT	What did you expect?
VILA	Doesn't exactly look like a fortune, does it?
TARRANT	You have to spend it wisely then, won't you? Just buy one planet at a time.
VILA	[whispering] Yeah. Well, come on, then. [They start moving the crates.] [Space Command]
JARVIK	[Observing; into mic] When you're ready... [Kairopan transporter]
VILA	[Passing guard] Excuse me.
GUARD2	[To all] Stay EXACTLY where you are, and don't get excited.
TARRANT	Hold it.
GUARD2	Don't make any sudden movements, and get over to that wall. Come on, all of you! Right. Now turn 'round.
AVON	[Just arriving] Down! [They shoot guards]
TARRANT	Thanks.
AVON	They were an obvious possibility, Tarrant.
TARRANT	We'll get this one. Cally, Dayna, go and prepare to disengage. [Space Command]
SERVALAN	[Turns of monitor] You know, you really had me believing in you. [Liberator, near hatch]
TARRANT	Ready to move, Cally. Whenever you like.
CALLY	[V.O.] Disengaging now. [Everybody leaves]
SHAD	[emerges from a crate; looks around] It's clear. Come on! [Space Command]
SERVALAN	Jarvik, I've given the matter consideration, and decided against summary execution.
JARVIK	Very gracious of you.
SERVALAN	Yes. There's a certain, primitive element in my nature that finds you -- that wants to. However, you will stand trial. Guards, take this man away. [Guards move towards Jarvik; Shad teleports in]
JARVIK	Captain Shad.
SHAD	As per your instructions, sir, the Liberator has been taken and now stands off to Command Headquarters. You're invited to inspect, sir.
JARVIK	Thank you, Shad. But as another primitive warrior once said, next to a battle lost, there's nothing half so melancholy as a battle won. I never like gloating over a defeated enemy. Perhaps Madam President ... ?
SERVALAN	Guards, dismiss. Carry on, Captain Shad.
SHAD	[Into bracelet] Liberator, this is Captain Shad. Two to come aboard. Teleport -- now. [Liberator teleport facility]
SERVALAN	Not a disagreeable way to travel. Ah, Cally. How lovely to see you again. [They walk to flight deck] Where are the prisoners?
SHAD	Under guard, madam.
SERVALAN	Bring them here. And _you_ must be Zen.
ZEN	Affirmative.
SERVALAN	So tell me, Zen, how does one operate this craft?
ZEN	One manipulates the controls, and the craft functions accordingly.
SERVALAN	Yes, and I've heard of your impudence. Now perhaps you will tell me _how_ to manipulate the controls.
ZEN	Manual operation is not possible without full pilot training. Automatic navigation and control computers will respond to certain voice patterns. [Guards enter with crew]
TARRANT	But not yours, Servalan.
SERVALAN	Not mine yet, Tarrant. But very shortly. Guard, that woman there. [Indicates Dayna] Yes, that one. Take her away somewhere, and kill her.
DAYNA	He can try. Or he can kill me here. Nobody takes me anywhere.
SERVALAN	Very well. Guard, kill her where she stands.
TARRANT	No, wait. We'll talk about this.
SERVALAN	There's nothing to talk about, Tarrant. I shall kill your crew one by one until you instruct Zen to recognize my voice pattern.
TARRANT	And after that, you'll kill the rest of us.
SERVALAN	Perhaps. Perhaps not. I may consider a plea for mercy when the time comes.
TARRANT	So there's nothing to gain?
SERVALAN	Not a great deal, I must confess. Unless, of course, you want to accept my word.
TARRANT	I'd rather accept the business end of a poisonous snake.
SERVALAN	As I thought. Oh well, I just shall have to watch you break. Carry on, guard.
AVON	All right, Servalan. If he won't, I will.
DAYNA	No, Avon.
SERVALAN	How wise, Avon. You might have been next. Though with your qualities I'd probably have saved you.
AVON	Let's get on with it, shall we? Introduce yourself to Zen.
SERVALAN	I am Servalan, President and Supreme Commander of the Terran Federation.
AVON	Record her voice pattern, Zen. From now on you will respond to her commands -- on this one condition.
SERVALAN	_No_ conditions.
AVON	Sorry, too late. That instruction has to be completed by _me_. Unless, of course, you care to dismantle Zen and reorganize the program. I should warn you, I'm the only person in the galaxy who can put it back together again.
ZEN	Please complete the instruction.
SERVALAN	Wait. I'll make the condition.
AVON	You won't cut much ice with Zen.
SERVALAN	You seem to be neglecting the fact that I have the power of life and death over your friends.
AVON	Then exercise it if you must. But kill me, and you will never control the Liberator.
SERVALAN	Your skin always did come first, didn't it?
AVON	Would you reproach me for that?
ZEN	Please state the condition.
AVON	Zen, you will obey Servalan's instructions, provided that her first commands are that you proceed to a planet with suitable Earth-like conditions, and that the present crew is safely teleported to its surface.
ZEN	Condition acknowledged.
SERVALAN	Thank you, Avon. Zen, you will proceed to a planet with suitable Earth-like conditions.
ZEN	Which planet?
SERVALAN	Oh, the nearest, I think.
ZEN	The nearest planet of that description is Kairos.
SERVALAN	Yes, Zen. I know. [Kairos]
TARRANT	The harvest week ended twelve hours ago. Whatever goes on down here is about to start.
DAYNA	If it hasn't started already.
CALLY	I think we should split up into two groups.
TARRANT	I agree. You come with me, and --
VILA	I'll go with Avon and Dayna.
AVON	Wrong. I'll work out my own salvation. [Space Command]
SERVALAN	However, if, while you were working in the port hull, you'd changed to look out one of the deadlights, you would have seen, waiting for you -- [indicates screen with Liberator] She's yours to command, Jarvik. Under my control, of course. Your reward for taking her.
JARVIK	Servalan -- Servalan, if I had wanted a command, I would have stayed with the Federation fleet. And as for taking orders...
SERVALAN	You really ARE a primitive, aren't you? Come. [Kairopan; field]
DAYNA	What's the matter?
VILA	There's something in my boot. [Takes out crystal] Look at that! It's Kairopan. I've just done my foot in on half a million credits worth of Kairopan. Couldn't have happened when I was down on my luck and looking for the price of a drink, could it?
DAYNA	Only if you were down on your luck in this place.
VILA	You mean I'm not? [Forest]
TARRANT	There's another one here. [We can recognize Carlon] Identical.
CALLY	Do you think you should touch him?
TARRANT	I don't think he'll mind.
CALLY	That's not what I meant.
TARRANT	Whatever did that's got a bit more poke than a viral infection. It's also got a penchant for pockets, d'ya notice that? The same on the last one.
CALLY	Perhaps they carried some kind of weapon there.
TARRANT	Labourers? No.
CALLY	Let's get out of here.
AVON	[V.O.] Tarrant. Vila.
TARRANT	Listen.
AVON	[V.O.] Tarrant. Vila. [Space Command]
SERVALAN	It was still a costly exercise, Jarvik. Those Killer- Hunters are irreplaceable.
JARVIK	The Liberator's worth a hundred pursuit ships.
SERVALAN	Not to mention the pilots. Good pilots. Not easy to train. You lost three.
JARVIK	They were mutoids.
SERVALAN	Mutoids?
JARVIK	I wasn't prepared to see men die on my account. I have this primitive respect for life.
SERVALAN	But, surely, if they're trained fighters in a war...
JARVIK	They weren't. They were bait in a trap. That wasn't a battle, it was a bluff. It was to give Tarrant confidence. Anything less, he'd have been suspicious. He might even have checked the crates.
SERVALAN	Clever. But it doesn't prove a thing.
JARVIK	Like what?
SERVALAN	Oh, that you're a better man than Tarrant.
JARVIK	[Laughs] Why should I want to prove that?
SERVALAN	Because I want you to. It's one thing to sit in a control room a million spacials away from the action. But if you're to be man enough for me, to be co-ruler with Servalan, you must meet Tarrant face to face, man to man.
JARVIK	A tournament?
SERVALAN	Yes, if you like. A primitive tournament, and you will be my champion.
JARVIK	If it amuses you. What must I do?
SERVALAN	You must go to Kairos and get the teleport bracelets from Tarrant and his crew.
JARVIK	You don't think they have enough problems as it is?
SERVALAN	Oh, I'm sure they have. You may take a small party with you to make the numbers equal.
JARVIK	[Laughs] If it's a champion you want, you'll have a worthy one. I'll put down on Kairos -- alone. [Outside hangar; the others arrive]
AVON	What kept you? Tarrant, tell me, what the hell is THAT?
TARRANT	[Inside hangar; V.O.] That is a proto-space-age landing module. Should be in a museum. [Jarvik teleports down] [Landing module]
TARRANT	It's not a space-craft as such. It wasn't designed to go any further than the parent ship, or the command module, as they called it. Now that might have been of some use.
CALLY	What do you think happened to it?
TARRANT	The command module? Probably got tired of waiting.
VILA	You mean when the crew of this one...
TARRANT	...failed to make contact, right.
AVON	But you could get this into orbit?
TARRANT	Well, there wouldn't be any point, and anyway --
AVON	Yes or no?
TARRANT	Well, presumably. Nothing seems to have been da--
AVON	That's all right, then. [Jarvik sees Carlon and avoids creature] [Landing module; Vila snores; Cally sleeps; Avon works; monitor beeps, then stops; Avon strikes it, and it resumes] [Next day; outside hangar]
TARRANT	Where the hell's Avon?
VILA	He's back. I saw him go inside. [Tarrant heads toward the hangar]
VILA	[To Dayna] I won't be a moment. [Landing module]
CALLY	[Entering] Oh, you're back. We were worried about you.
AVON	No need.
TARRANT	[Entering] I've been looking all over for you.
AVON	Well, now you found me.
TARRANT	Didn't you hear me calling?
AVON	I imagine the whole planet heard you.
TARRANT	So where were you?
AVON	While you were asleep, I picked up a faint echo on this; it's very basic equipment, little more than primitive radar.
TARRANT	And what did this echo tell you?
AVON	We have company. Up there ... a large unidentifiable space craft.
CALLY	The command module?
AVON	Possibly. That's something I needed to think about. But it's not easy to think with Vila snoring.
VILA	I don't snore.
TARRANT	But you can't tell if it's the command module?
AVON	Not without looking. So I suggest you start thinking about this antique heap of nuts and bolts and how you're going to get it into orbit.
CALLY	But the ship up there might be hostile.
AVON	Quite. That's something else I needed to think about.
CALLY	And?
AVON	We have -- no armament. Nothing to bargain with. Except... [Holds up sopron rock]
TARRANT	I don't believe it. All the trouble, all the danger, and you're still wasting time with _that_.
AVON	This happens to be the most sophisticated life form that it has ever been my good fortune to come across. Present company NOT excepted.
TARRANT	Life? But it looks like...
AVON	A rock. Yes. Well, when you live on the permanent dark side of a planet, nobody cares too much what you look like.
CALLY	But you said it wasn't alive.
AVON	Orac said that.
VILA	And Orac was wrong?
AVON	Orac is a computer, like Zen. They react to information, that is all.
DAYNA	[Outside] Tarrant! Avon! [Outside]
DAYNA	[Trapped in web] Do something!
VILA	I think she means you. [Tarrant moves toward Dayna]
JARVIK	Tarrant, keep still. Don't provoke it. You, woman. Give it the Kairopan.
DAYNA	What Kairopan? I haven't got any.
JARVIK	You must have touched some. It can smell it on you. Don't tell me you threw it away.
VILA	From my boot, Dayna. You put it in your pocket. [Dayna throws Kairopan to creature, which eats it and crawls away.]
JARVIK	Human greed. That's the only problem with Kairos. Everyone who comes tries to pocket a crystal or two, and even if they lose their nerve and try and dump the stuff it's too late. The smell of it clings. If you've touched Kairopan, those brutes'll come after you. They need it once they hatch out. They use the stuff to make silk. For their little cobwebs.
DAYNA	It will be back, then.
JARVIK	'fraid so.
TARRANT	But Jarvik, I haven't seen you in years. How did you get here? [Sees Jarvik's bracelet]
JARVIK	[Grabs Dayna] Sorry, Tarrant. Not the sort of reunion I'd have asked for.
AVON	What do you want?
JARVIK	The teleport bracelets. That's all.
TARRANT	And you'd hide behind a woman to get them? Time changes people.
JARVIK	[Releases Dayna] Tarrant? Man to man? You can have the advantage. [Throws knife at Tarrant's feet]
TARRANT	[To the others] Wait. Don't move. [They fight, Jarvik wins and holds the knife to Tarrant's throat]
JARVIK	[To Tarrant] The bracelet. [To the others] I still want your bracelets. Oh, come on, be fair. They're of no use to you. Is Tarrant? [They all comply except Dayna.]
DAYNA	If you want mine, you'll have to take it.
JARVIK	[Picking up bracelets] There always has to be one.
TARRANT	Don't bother, Dayna. It's not worth the trouble.
DAYNA	_I_ think it is. [Walks away]
AVON	Tarrant, you've got about two minutes to get that module launched.
TARRANT	What are you talking about?
AVON	I mean it. Vila, get the roof open.
VILA	How?
AVON	You're the expert. Cally, get Dayna. [Jarvik & Dayna fight] [Landing module]
AVON	Once your friend Jarvik teleports that's the last we'll see of the Liberator. A couple of plasma bolts will be the last we'll see of anything.
TARRANT	But there's nothing I can do with this.
AVON	You can get it off the ground! [Outside]
JARVIK	You fight well. But you're still a woman. [They struggle; she tries to strike him in the groin.] If not quite a lady. [Pins Dayna beneath him. Creature approaches. Into bracelet] This is Jarvik. Teleport! Teleport now! [Jarvik and Dayna teleport. Cally runs into hangar] [Liberator teleport facility]
SERVALAN	[To guard] Bring her. [They walk towards flight deck]
SERVALAN	Zen, is the Liberator equipped for planetary assault?
ZEN	Affirmative.
SERVALAN	Good. The zone immediately below us, in a square of fifty surface spacials.
ZEN	Clarify your instructions.
SERVALAN	I want it destroyed, Zen. Completely. [Landing module; Cally enters]
VILA	Where's Dayna?
CALLY	There was one of those creatures, they teleported.
AVON	That's it, then. Tarrant, you have seconds.
TARRANT	Strap yourself in. [Liberator flight deck]
ZEN	Surface bolts have been launched. Impact in thirteen seconds. Countdown: twelve... eleven... ten... nine... eight... seven... six... [Landing module. Everyone vibrating during take-off] [Liberator]
ZEN	Two... one... zero. Surface area obliterated.
SERVALAN	Thank you, Zen. Now, Jarvik, the bracelets. I assume you did bring them all?
JARVIK	Of course.
SERVALAN	There seems to be a body in one of them.
ZEN	Sensors report alien craft, approximate bearing four-nine-zero-three, approaching. [Landing module, in flight]
TARRANT	Zen will have picked us up by now.
AVON	So?
TARRANT	So what do we do before they blow us out of the galaxy?
AVON	We attack.
TARRANT	Attack? We have nothing to attack with.
AVON	Then bluff it. Tell them to surrender.
TARRANT	But they'll know ... the sensors ... try and raise the Liberator, Cally. Open beam frequency. [Avon closes panel]
CALLY	[Complying] Liberator, are you receiving me?
TARRANT	Is that a weapon?
AVON	That? Nononono, it's purely a defensive. An analogue of something that evolves on the permanent dark side of a planet. A highly simplified copy, of course.
TARRANT	Permanent dark -- are you saying you've built --
AVON	I've built an artificial sopron. Yes, that's what I'm saying. [Liberator flight deck. Landing module on screen]
SERVALAN	What is that?
ZEN	Detector scan reveal it to be a high technology space cruiser. [Jarvik laughs] Hardened self-healing Herculanium hull and superstructure, advanced Time Distort facility, speed range to Standard by twelve point two zero three. [Jarvik laughs] Computer assessment of weapons reveals the craft to have an assault capacity marginally greater than that of the Liberator. [Jarvik laughs]
SERVALAN	GREATER? [Landing module]
AVON	Self-defence. Some animals bristle out their fur to frighten their enemies. But that doesn't count for much in the dark.
VILA	So what does Sopron do?
AVON	Sopron is a mirror. A distorting mirror. It reflects a slightly greater image of whatever it is that happens to be scanning it. Zen saw a capacity charged brain, because that is what Zen is. Orac saw a highly sophisticated computer, because that is what Orac is. Cally thought that she saw her parents, but what she actually saw was herself.
TARRANT	And will THAT work?
AVON	Oh yes. The question is, what will Servalan see, and will she be fooled by it? [Liberator flight deck]
ZEN	We have audiovisual contact with the alien craft.
SERVALAN	Put them up, Zen. Tarrant.
TARRANT	[On screen] 'fraid so, Servalan. And you know what we want. You have one minute to hand over the Liberator. Failing that, we shall blast her into nether space.
JARVIK	Hah!
SERVALAN	We have one of your friends aboard.
TARRANT	[On screen] Yes. I'm sorry, Dayna.
JARVIK	Servalan, you can't take this seriously.
SERVALAN	One minute?
TARRANT	[On screen] And we're already counting.
JARVIK	Servalan, it's a bluff. You can see what it is.
SERVALAN	Zen, visual of the alien craft. Explain the conflict.
ZEN	The visual image is at variance with seventy-two scanning devices. Possible explanation is a holographic projection designed to disguise the craft's true appearance.
JARVIK	Servalan, forget your computers. Please! Believe your eyes. Just for once.
SERVALAN	Zen, are there any Federation space craft in teleport range?
ZEN	Affirmative. The Kairopan transporter, bearing one one--
SERVALAN	All right. Prepare to evacuate.
JARVIK	This is madness!
SERVALAN	Captain Shad, kill her.
JARVIK	No, wait. There's no need to -- [stands between Shad and Dayna] Argh.
SERVALAN	Jarvik!
DAYNA	Kill me and who operates the teleport?
SERVALAN	Orac.
DAYNA	Avon has the key. [Space; V.O.'s from Landing module]
VILA	Are you sure you can dock this thing?
TARRANT	I hadn't really considered it.
VILA	What?
TARRANT	I thought we'd be dead by now. [Liberator flight deck]
DAYNA	They've all gone. Except Jarvik. And he's not going anywhere anymore.
TARRANT	A waste. He was a special sort of man.
AVON	Spare us the eulogy. He was a Federation thug.
TARRANT	No. No, that isn't what he was.
AVON	Zen. Servalan's voice pattern: erase it.
ZEN	Confirmed.
TARRANT	Get us out of here. I've had enough of this place.

Script Index

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Kerr Avon	Paul Darrow
Servalan	Jacqueline Pearce
Vila Restal	Michael Keating
Cally	Jan Chappell
Del Tarrant	Steven Pacey
Dayna Mellanby	Josette Simon
Orac	Peter Tuddenham
Zen	Peter Tuddenham
Jarvik	Andrew Burt
Dastor	Frank Gatliff
Shad	Anthony Gardner
Guard	Charles Jamieson
Carlon	Sam Davies

Uncredited:
Labourer	Stuart Fell
Leader 1	Christopher Douglas
Leader 2	Hywel David
Leader 3	Christopher Douglas
Interceptor Captain	Hywel David
Guard2	Charles Jamieson