A come Andromeda (1972) s01e04 Episode Script

The radiotelescope at Bouldershaw Fell in England receives a mysterious signal coming from a point in the constellation of Andromeda.
Fleming, a brilliant but rebellious scientist, comes to the stupefying conclusion that someone, millions of light years away, has sent a message in which are contained the plans to build an electronic computer of an unknown type.
It is decided to implement it, even without an understanding of its scope.
Working with the scientists is Judy Adamson who is revealed to be an agent of English counterintelligence.
Her mission is to discover how Bridger, Fleming's friend and collaborator, provides documents and secret data to an international espionage organisation, Intel.
The first victim of this audacious game is the technician Harries, another secret agent, who is found murdered.
Judy herself narrowly escapes an attempt on her life.
The entire team is transferred to the missile base at Thorness, where, with the modern means at the disposal of the military, they realize the construction of the supercomputer.
The new electronic brain immediately demonstrates its exceptional quality, producing a series of chemical formulae, which permit Dr Dawnay, a biologist who has joined the team, to synthesise living cells.
It's the creation of life.
Fleming, horrified and convinced that the machine is nothing but the appendix of a superior intelligence which seeks to dominate the Earth, tries uselessly to stop the experiments.
A close relationship grows between Fleming and Judy, until they discover the proof of Bridger's culpability.
While a military patrol waits to arrest him, Bridger is killed by the assassins of Intel.
Fleming rejects Judy, who he holds responsible for the death of his friend, and decides to leave the project.
Professor Reinhart convinces him to stay.
He, too, is concerned about the computer, that has been behaving like a thinking being, with a will of its own.
Fleming, curious about the computer's two plates, whose function has always been unknown, discovers that they are an instrument of the machine, for communication with the human brain.
Christine, a new assistant of Madeleine Dawnay, is particularly sensitive to this contact.
She becomes attracted as if by hypnosis to the plates.
She touches them, and is electrocuted by a strong electric discharge.
Judy, meanwhile, manages to identify the communications centre of the spies.
The police lay a trap, and a hitman is killed, but the main link in the espionage organisation, Barnett, escapes capture.
It won't any longer be possible to incriminate him, but for the moment the espionage is neutralised.
The supercomputer, while killing Christine, has collected in a moment all the information required for the structure of the human body.
In fact, in the synthesiser, bone and muscle tissues are quickly forming themselves.
While the military are occupied and concerned with the sight of the strange, rapid satellites which circulate in the sky, at Thorness, in the synthesiser, a woman's body is being born, identical to the dead girl, Christine.
A FOR ANDROMEDA THIS STORY UNFOLDS IN ENGLAND, NEXT YEAR PART FOUR We have to kill her.
But don't be absurd.
Am I still a member of the team - yes or no? In a certain sense.
So you'd do well to listen to me.
She might seem like a human being but she isn't one.
She's an extension of the machine.
What's it based on, this theory of yours? On logic.
The agglomerate of living cells was a first attempt.
This creature is a more successful attempt because it's based on much more information.
And now that this miracle has been brought to fruition, you'd like us to kill her.
If you don't do it now, you'll never be able to.
It'll be considered a human creature, they'll say we're assassinating it.
And if we decide not to follow your sensible advice? At least keep the creature far away from the computer.
Listen, Fleming, you are merely tolerated here.
The judgement in this case depends on me, not on you.
We'll do what I think is best.
Don't you understand that the machine has taken a human being and made a copy? It only made mistakes in minor details, hair colour for example.
But in general outline it's done a good job.
You can translate human anatomy into code.
We have human life, created from human beings.
Nature has taken two billion years to do work like that.
We haven't taken eleven months.
It's not a human being that's been created, but an alien creature that resembles a human being.
The brain is what counts.
I could grant that you're right.
In which case it'll be even more interesting.
John! John! I don't understand this behaviour of yours.
It's as if you were afraid.
I am afraid.
But of what? Every time a superior intelligence encounters an inferior one, it destroys it.
The men of the iron age eliminated those of the stone age.
Now, the two of us must establish communication.
I know that you can talk.
I know that soon, very soon, you'll talk, you'll begin to express yourself.
In this way we'll establish our first relationships.
You'll know us, and we'll be able to get to know you.
In the beginning it's not easy for anyone, not even for you.
May I ask you a question? OK.
I want to ask you, are you conscious of yourself, of you yourself, in this place, in this moment, while I talk to you? My name is Madeleine, yours is Andromeda.
Do you accept being called Andromeda? Come.
Sit down.
Andromeda, you were born in a different way from me, but we're similar.
You're formed with a similarity to we humans.
You have a sensibility, a brain, like we have.
Like I have.
So I, you, we have the possibility of meaning the same things.
Do you recognise this resemblance, between you and the creatures of our planet? If you don't want, there's no need for you to answer me for now.
But I must understand whether you recognise this resemblance.
Yes.
This is a great moment for you.
And also for us.
John, do you believe that Andromeda would have kept the memory of Christine? I don't know.
I don't believe it's something that would help them.
To be one like us.
With our memories.
With senses of things they wouldn't have any more.
Judy, that's not Christine.
It's not her, do you understand? No, no, she doesn't have a memory of Christine.
But only the ability to give herself her own human experience.
She's been designed by a machine, not by By God? Or by the natural order that we understand.
What an incredible case of blindness.
They've seen a woman born in a few months.
She came fully formed out of a synthesiser.
And they find all this perfectly normal.
She doesn't talk, they say, as if that were proof of normality.
And that naive Madeleine believes she needs to teach her language.
Hm, she'll speak.
She'll speak, you'll see how she'll speak.
But what the machine has put in her brain we'll never know.
But you watch, you'll see how she's alive, like you or like me.
It's just an appearance.
You want to prevent her from hurting us, I believe you.
But you won't manage, if you don't understand a very simple truth, that even Geers has understood.
Namely? That she's alive.
Are you trying to persuade me that she's got a soul? Good grief! How stupid a scientist can be! Well, I want to be the first to congratulate you.
You are very kind, Mr Minister.
I believe that the lady doctor can be considered the the how can I say it? The midwife.
Oh, no ho ho or maybe yes! I wouldn't know, but nevertheless, many congratulations, Dr Dawnay! As long as no more trouble is coming out.
Always the pessimist, General? Do you consider that a normal birth? She's ripping us off - or the machine's ripping us off - really whatever you prefer.
I think we must occupy ourselves with the girl, not with the supercomputer.
And aren't they the same thing? Between a woman and a computer, to me there's a certain difference I see it.
In normal conditions, me too.
But if this were a robot? But it's not, right doctor? No, I don't believe so.
How long did it take, the? The incubation.
If she's a human being? You wouldn't talk about incubation, heh, heh.
If it were She is, she is.
But the girl is she false? I mean to say She seems quite normal.
Ah, good.
What should I say, to an extragalactic creature? You should consider her one of your lecturers on a visit to the ministry.
Ah, that's fair.
Welcome! I'm glad, very glad to meet you! Doctor Perhaps you know her better than I do.
Better than anyone else, Mr Minister.
But she doesn't reply! I mean, she doesn't talk.
Often she refuses to communicate.
But don't think of it as a disrespectful attitude.
Is she mute, by any chance? No, no, she articulates perfectly.
I'd rather say that in her present condition of life she often feels the need to isolate herself from our world.
Ah, I understand.
Certainly the presence of I'll say it again presence of Has she a name? I call her Andromeda.
Tell me a more appropriate name! John! Yes? My presence in Thorness is becoming ever more complicated.
Why? Read this.
It's on ministry paper.
You read it.
I'm a bit squeamish about certain things.
It says that they're concerned for the creature's security.
Concerned in what sense? That's what I want to know too.
This doesn't clarify.
It only tells me I'm responsible for her safety.
I'd like to know how I can protect her when I never see her.
I don't know where she passes her days, what she does.
They seem jealous of our creature.
They let us see her for a couple of hours a day.
Do you talk to her? When I can.
They keep me far away from her.
Don't take it personally.
She's not your bloody daughter! A bit.
It's as if she were.
She's the daughter of Thorness military base.
Is she intelligent? Infallible.
Never an error, she forgets nothing.
She doesn't have a brain - she has a calculating machine in here.
It's more or less the same thing.
Gentlemen, good day.
We're introducing her to the computer.
What? No! But why not? For the love of god! We know what you think, Dr Fleming.
Then don't let her enter here.
If you have any complaint to make, apply to the minister.
Dr Hunter! Come forward.
This is the control room of the computer.
Do you remember we talked about it? Why should I forget? And this is the input terminal.
The only way to give information to the computer is by typing on the machine here.
It's a primitive system.
Could you communicate directly, in between the terminals? Is that what you want? Yes.
We want to see how it works.
Who's that? Dr Fleming.
It was he who designed the computer.
You must be an intelligent man.
Why do you do that? Do what? Laugh.
Is that what you say? A person laughs when happy and cries when sad.
Sometimes we also laugh when we're sad.
What do you mean, to be happy or sad? They're feelings.
I don't feel them.
No.
You can't.
Why do you have them? You.
Because we are imperfect.
That's the thing.
Is everything working properly, Dr Fleming? The control panel doesn't register anything.
Isn't it in operational mode? No.
Come.
Get in between the two terminals.
Are you sure it'll be neutralised? It neutralises on its own.
It'll all be fine, Andromeda.
It knows me.
We we're communicating.
LONDON INTER-ALLIED DEFENCE COMMAND There are two possibilities, either the operators have gone crazy, or they've blown up the radar.
Thanks.
Maybe the one is the other.
Hm.
Here are the results, stuff to make your flesh creep.
Look.
It's not possible that a body in orbit follows these course deviations.
Quick and illogical.
One series is parabolic, one falls suddenly, one goes straight up and one series of zigzags.
What do you think of it? It's difficult to understand something And it seems like the work of a more advanced technology.
Better than ours, right? Still, the object has been launched into orbit from a base in Central Asia.
Today the alarm went out to all the control stations.
With what orders? Intercept and destroy.
Do you know the first results yet? Yes.
Total fiasco.
I understand.
We need the supercomputer.
Ah, sure, we could come up with something.
If we had full availability of the organisation of Thorness including the girl Including the girl? Certainly, including the girl.
Geers maintains that if we can use the girl in collaboration with the supercomputer, we'll have solved the problem.
THORNESS MISSILE BASE Welcome back, professor! Don't talk too soon.
It's not a very happy occasion, although I'm pleased to see you again.
Do you know the news? The story about the crazy satellites? They want to use Andromeda to help with the computer for Geers' missile research.
When we talked about the power to pull the plug Well, now we can't any more.
Right.
But by now I'm out of it.
Mr Prime Minister, if we link the observatory at Bouldershaw Fell with Thorness base, we can reduce the margin of error to a minimum.
With the help of the supercomputer, on which, in the ultimate analysis, the results will depend.
Certainly! And will this lady of curious origin direct the operation? If you can trust her intentions.
And will she be up to the situation? The wisest thing, it seems to me, would be to explain it to her personally.
Very well.
If you gentlemen agree.
Ask Dr Hunter to accompany her here.
I've never seen her.
Is she monstrous by any chance? No! She's completely normal! And does she have a name too? She's called Andromeda.
Heh, poor thing, what a cumbersome name.
Come, come forward, doctor.
You too, my dear.
Thank you.
I imagine this seems a bit strange to you.
Colonel Geers has informed me.
We know about the missiles in orbit.
We know? You and who? I and the computer.
But how does the computer know that? We exchange information.
It's really what we hoped.
We have need of a new type of missile.
You'll have all the data.
In terms of practical mechanics, on the computer's part.
Dr Fleming will collaborate with you.
We have no need for Dr Fleming.
Doesn't she show signs of tiredness? No.
It appears not to cost any effort.
She takes the codes the collaborators give her, communicates with the computer and comes back with the results.
At least, I hope that they are the results.
They're something more.
Now they tell us what we must do.
How comical you are.
Comical, me? It's a nice little triangular game, isn't it? I watch the girl and you watch me.
Go, go.
There's no need to watch her.
She has plenty of those people around.
Right.
They're all so bloody sure of their own business.
John, you seem more embittered than usual to me.
Not more than usual.
My dose is normal.
You said that the girl would have been hostile.
Instead she's immediately agreed to collaborate with us.
That's the thing that doesn't convince me.
It's really her enthusiasm that looks suspicious to me.
Wait for the results before you judge.
Oh, sure, for the glory of Old England.
What a splendid occasion for those two.
Those two who? Andromeda and Geers or Andromeda and the computer? You know very well who I'm talking about.
They're trying out their relationship.
Their ability to communicate.
If the operation succeeds, they'll come out with awareness of their own strength.
And the military that believe they've found two sweet instruments.
What idiots! Why don't you give up, John? Would you like that? No, I wouldn't like that.
But nor would I like you to stay here eating your heart out.
Look, I understand those people better than you do.
Military, politicians - if the interception succeeds, the girl and the computer will have formed something more than their strength.
Their power.
And then there won't be a place here for you any more.
Where could you imagine me, Judy? In some old Scottish university? John, maybe what there was between us two was a game to you.
Not to me.
I imagine you in a place where it would be possible Here isn't it.
You'd have lost your battle with Andromeda.
But not the one with me.
All right, John, I understand you.
Maybe it's right this way.
I'll try to stay on your side.
Even if it becomes ever more difficult.
FORTY DAYS LATER But what's happening? The operations have begun.
Device number thirty five.
Velocity two thousand six hundred and ninety seven.
Altitude five hundred and ten miles.
It seems to have gone crazy.
Keep calm, Alex, and try not to lose it.
It's off! It's closing in.
The target is moving farther off.
That's not to say that it can make it.
Look out, you're going off the mark, correct the reflector.
Hit! Stupendous! Stupendous!! It's a great success.
Quick! Get me a line to the White House! Operator, get me Downing Street! Yes, the Prime Minister in person, not an under-under-undersecretary! Look sharp! Guys, this little big country that's the thing.
Hey, it's all fine, isn't it? Instead of the stars, we pick up devices of death.
And so? Everything's fine.
Whisky? Mission accomplished? Yes.
Good shot.
Destroying everything that you don't know is profoundly fair.
But it was a killer satellite.
Great! But you read that in the papers, didn't you? It's simple souls like yours that let them keep their power.
Drink, drink.
To the next device disintegrated with the collaboration of our allies up there in Andromeda! John.
Yes.
Nothing.
LONDON PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE The ministry of defence has announced that a missile has been intercepted by a new English rocket, three hundred and seventy seven miles above the British Isles.
The remains of the missile of unknown origin, and the remains of the interceptor missile, disintegrated on re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, but the interception was tracked by radar apparatus, and may, declares the ministry, be checked to the minutest detail.
No new track? Not even one.
Nothing in orbit? Nothing dangerous has overflown this country since the interception.
Good.
Reinhart, therefore, will receive the title of Sir.
And Geers? Ah yes.
The Order of the British Empire.
Ah.
And the computer, its its agent? The girl? To the girl we can give the title of Lady.
No, I meant to say what will become of them? The ministry of science would like to have them.
Can't we keep them? We have a very heavy military programme for them.
Also a very heavy economic programme.
What do you mean, excellency? I mean that if this combination, computer and girl, have given results of this level, other things might well come.
It's natural that they must keep working for defence, but at the same time we must exploit their great industrial potential.
The scientists have given us - and I'm very grateful for it - the most advanced thinking machine in the world.
This will give us the possibility, like we've done, to leap forward in many fields.
About time too.
Hasn't Charlie come yet? Just go, I'll wait for him.
Is he happy with your work? It's best to be absolutely indispensible, isn't it? Please be careful what you say.
Is that a threat? Yes.
Wait a moment.
Perhaps I'm really missing something.
I'm busy now.
You should do something for yourself to have influence over men.
Change hairstyle, for example.
That way they can see how you look.
Very pretty.
Or you could use perfume.
Perfume? Yes, like what Judy wears.
Is it what makes that smell? Not very exotic.
Lavender water, for example.
But nice.
Nice? Nice and nasty, good and bad, there's no rational distinction.
Come here.
Come here! Good or bad? Because you've been built to feel pain.
No, this time I won't hurt you.
Nice or nasty? Nice.
I don't know what was the intention in giving you a human form.
Human beings don't live according to logic.
I've noticed that.
You're all like children, with your missiles.
Don't mix me up in that business.
No.
Not you.
In any case, I mean to save you.
That's all.
Really.
Now that we've seen your power we can sleep better at night.
Who knows how idiotic you think we all are.
No.
Not you.
If I weren't an idiot you wouldn't be here now.
You made a piece of metal fall down from the sky.
Suddenly you're in a position of command.
It's what was wanted.
And what's the next step? Why don't you go? Leave? From Thorness? Yes.
Now.
While you can.
You make me go away.
It could be that I'll be forced to.
Sit down, sit down.
You see, to be aware of a problem doesn't mean you've solved it.
I imagine that you would like some answers.
That's why I'm here.
It's been Fleming who's set himself against Geers.
Against the creature, against the project itself.
Fleming could have his own good reasons.
The best reasons.
You don't need to tell me that we can't give too much weight to these scientists - brilliant, yes, but neurotic, moralistic And if I were to tell you? I would conclude that the supercomputer is already in the hands of the military.
Right.
The interception of the devices is much more important than Project Alpha.
Ah, then, if that's how it is It was perfectly pointless for me to come to disturb you.
But no! Thanks for visiting.
Both of us must act our parts.
Quite.
See you soon! See you soon, Mr Prime Minister, see you soon.
I'll give you something to think about.
What's happening? It seems your friend has flipped his lid.
What have you done to it? He's lost control a bit.
He must have a mental disturbance.
What did you input? I simply gave him a piece of information.
What? This is my formula, inverted.
Negated, I think, yes.
It'll believe that I'm dead.
That's exactly what I wanted.
Why did you do that? He can't make everything go his own way.
I wanted to know what he would think.
What is it? I must tell it I'm alive.
No! I must tell it.
Not yet.
Leave me in peace.
Go away, out of here.
You've put on perfume.
Let me go.
Nice or nasty? Leave me alone, please! Whose side are you on? No.
Don't you like it? And don't you like the perfume, or the feeling of fresh air? Or the hills behind the barbed wire, or the sea? Or the closeness of human beings? They're not important.
Oh, aren't they? The disembodied intelligence you're loyal to hasn't taken it into account, but they're important for life, you'll realise that.
The brain of a man possesses a quality that no computer could ever have.
What? Imagination.
Fantasy.
No.
We know what we want.
You don't.
Don't challenge us.
Now you can still save yourself.
It's likely that I'll have the worst.
Yes.
Why do you warn me? Because I feel something for you.
You talk almost like a human being.
Please, go away John.
Now.
Please.
Do you want me to get punished? Punished? That's lovely! What was that? Your hands! Let me see! How did it happen? Something that didn't work.
Nothing more.
So you don't consult anyone.
You're too intellingent, so intelligent you wreck the machine and almost get the girl killed.
Do you want to hear what happened? I know what happened.
Were you there? Andromeda would have had to cancel what I input into the computer.
But she didn't do it, or not soon enough.
And the machine punished her.
You are labouring under a fantasy.
It punished her with a series of electric shocks.
It knows how to do that now.
It learned on Christine.
Do you have your pass? Pass? Yes, for the computer building.
It's in order.
Certainly.
It's in order.
What does this mean? You cost too much Fleming.
Stop.
No.
I'm staying at the base.
Stay where you like, but your contact with the computer is finished.
How's it going? Well, doctor.
The hands? Look.
Incredible.
Only twenty four hours have passed.
I can't tell you more than Dr Hunter has already told me.
After the incident the computer produced a design for an enzyme that regenerates destroyed cells.
I've seen the results.
On Andromeda's hands there's no more trace of burns.
Not even scars.
Oh, finally! Finally what? Finally results of immediate practical utility.
It's what the government has been waiting for, for some time.
Something that would have a high commercial value.
This enzyme has a high social value.
I refuse to believe that the English government will want to transform an important scientific discovery into a purely commercial matter.
Dr Dawnay, I'm not used to criticising the decisions of the government.
When I receive an order, I execute it.
Fleming.
I've got doubts.
I've started to have doubts.
Splendid! Still, it would seem honest enough to make use of what we have, of what you've given us.
We've all given something.
Still I don't know In the power of that machine there's something of a corrupter.
You see the effect it has on the people here.
And on the government.
Maybe we've both felt it.
Still, everything seems so inoffensive, the production of this enzyme, for instance.
I don't know anything about that.
It's a rather mysterious thing for us too, it regenerates destroyed cells.
It'll have an enormous application, it's the most important finding since antibiotics.
A gift of the gods, in a nutshell.
There's the decision to put it on the market to exploit it commercially, as if it were a perfectly normal thing.
Explain yourself better.
You see, the enzyme that Andromeda experimented with on her burned hands isn't adapted to synthesis on the industrial scale.
The girl has received instructions to develop another procedure, with the help of the computer.
And well, I feel You feel we're giving the machine another marvellous opportunity.
Is that what you feel? In a very obscure way, yes.
Judy? What's this story about the enzyme? Blast it, what kind of secret agent are you? You shouldn't spy on me but on Geers, and maybe the Prime Minister too.
Hurry! If this goes on, how will it all end? A year ago that machine didn't have any power outside his own building.
And even then we were keeping him under control.
Now the whole nation depends on him.
Have you heard? We're going back to being the most powerful in the world.
But who'll be the eminence grise hidden behind this throne? Fleming.
What did you do to the computer? I gave him a false piece of information.
It was a desperate attempt to see up to what point they're bound together, him and the girl.
Do they live in symbiosis? Right.
This machine hasn't been made for our benefit.
Or if it has been, something hasn't worked.
And who can help, if not you? Geers has withdrawn my pass.
Can I do something? You are the only thinking being in there.
Keep your eyes well open.
And don't let anyone know what you think.
Nervous, colonel? Why? The instructions that I've received are vague.
Not those that I've received.
The system to which I belong has no room for personal judgements.
Do you mean conscience? I would say, neither memory nor imagination.
I, however, live among people who don't have either.
I understand.
In the past, something unpleasant took place between us.
But what occurrence can't we blame on human nature? Two hundred generations have been enough to give man control over nature, but not to liberate him from his origins as a disgustingly carnivorous, cannibalistic animal.
Very true.
And it won't be easy for me to justify your presence at Thorness.
You don't have to justify anything.
You only need to communicate that a preliminary agreement for the world exploitation of industrial products patented at Thorness has been signed yesterday in London, between the British government and That's the thing! What should we call your how should I say organisation? Intel.
You can keep calling it Intel.
It's under this name that we're known to your secret services, isn't it? You see, colonel, economic power has this advantage over political power.
It can be represented by an insignificant, impersonal, interchangeable sign.
And do you know why? Because it doesn't draw its force from any mythology.
They don't serve the dreams of men, but their weaknesses.
Their corruptibility.
That's why economic power has this tremendous unifying force, of which you now see the results.
I obey the orders.
And then if these are the orders One moment, colonel.
Shall we celebrate it, at least among ourselves? Seeing as we'll have to work together? This memorable event.
An organisation outside the law which enters the confines of legality.
I said memorable, not unusual.
"All that has happened until now can be interpreted as a difficult phase of a continuous process of historical development.
" It's a message that I received two hours ago from my general staff.
As you see, we too have systematised things.
I could have some technical difficulties we'll need to talk about.
You know, procedure In matters of business, procedure is not important.
We're not curious.
We sell the results.
What are you doing here? Can I speak to you for a minute? I'm too busy.
I have an important question.
Do you know who that man is? Yes, he's called Barnett.
It was to him that Dr Bridger was selling.
The environmental conditions have changed.
You mean that now it's you who's selling them something? Strictly speaking this does not concern you.
What the government needs is a global market and Mr Barnett can procure one.
Yes, but why not the World Health Organisation? We don't take wholesale charity into consideration, but a reasonable market balance.
Let's say instead that you're not interested in knowing who you're shaking hands with.
Listen, miss, this is too much.
Get down immediately! I won't steal any more of your time.
I just want to tell you, that if it's true I'm responsible for security here at the base, communicate to London that I won't go along with this, and nor will Dr Fleming! We know where Doctor Fleming stands.
And now you know where I stand too.
How's it going? We've input all the data.
Soon you'll have the formula.
Is it the formula for the enzyme? Yes.
Thanks, Andromeda.
Alex! No news about tonight? Nothing, professor.
The message from the Andromeda Nebula has really stopped.
Ah.
It's possible that we collected the final part of a long transmission.
If we'd been a bit delayed in the construction of the radiotelescope, we would never have heard it.
Control room here.
It's for you, professor.
Reinhart speaking.
Oh, John! It's Fleming.
Yes? It isn't! Yes, yes, I'll come as soon as possible.
No, right away, professor.
Leave everything immediately.
Madeleine is gravely ill.
We don't know what could have happened.