The Tripods (1984) s02e07 Episode Script

WILL: I was sent here on an errand, to pick daisies.
FRITZ: Daisies? WILL: My Master's studying plant life.
FRITZ: You could almost forget where you really are.
WILL: Until you remember why it's here.
Tell me what you found.
Beneath the City is a huge machine generating electricity.
It's incredible.
It's the powerhouse of the whole place.
It gives the Masters the energy they need.
Yet it's run by slaves.
An Elite.
Special uniforms and special privileges.
Special training? It's beyond even Beanpole's knowledge of electrical power.
But they're still capped? And the most amazing thing is that it was originally built not by the Masters, but by our ancestors.
-For the convalescent.
-Oh, thanks.
Is the sun warm enough for you? I could turn it up if you wish.
You'd forgotten already? We're much more efficient at climate control than chaotic old nature outside.
Mmm.
-Thanks again.
-You're welcome.
-Go on.
-Further below ground, underneath the generating machine is a vast cavern being dug out by the slave gangs.
It is intended for some other machinery of the Masters' own design.
I wonder what that will be? Site preparation is all I've seen.
But other work could be going on elsewhere in the City.
What do you think we should do next? I have a chance of being transferred from the slave gangs to the control room -to join the Elite.
-You must be joking.
There is a man there, he seems quite influential, he took a particular interest in me.
-Ah, nurse.
-Oh, hello.
How are you keeping? -You look a bit flushed again.
-No, no, I'm fine, thanks.
-But I'm looking for -I'm not doling out any more pills until you promise to go on that diet.
-It's not that.
-You have it far too easy.
Too much to eat and too little exercise.
-The Power Elite -Nurse! I'm looking for a young slave.
I believe he was brought in after he was punished by the Guards.
Oh, I see.
-That's not -No, it could quite easily have been.
What on Earth did he do to deserve such a beating? Simply asked to work in the power station.
Ah.
-May I see him, please? -He's not here.
"Just a little convalescent stroll," he said.
I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't collapsed somewhere.
You should have seen the state he was in.
Did he say where he was going? He went off with a friend.
One of the new Masters' boys.
I told them no more than a half an hour but Please tell him I came to see him.
You could do worse than take a jog around the City yourself, you know, Pierre.
Get some of that weight off your heart.
Where have you been? Out.
How can you serve your Master if you don't rest? -That's my problem.
-Not if you fail to please.
-Oh, shut up, will you? -There you are, tired and irritable.
-And soon time for service.
-Listen, Boll.
You run your life and I'll run mine.
Don't forget, Will, that our lives are as nothing for ourselves.
We're the property of our Masters now.
Where have you been? -I got fresh air and exercise.
-You fool.
Half an hour at the most, I said, and now look at you.
I don't know what kind of a reputation you're trying to make for yourself.
But if you're trying to impress, you're going a funny way about it.
Anyway, you missed another visitor while you were out.
One of the bigwigs from the Power Elite.
Not Pierre! Under your tongue, with your mouth shut.
He's another fool bent on destroying himself.
Spends far too much time at the Pink Parrot.
Is that what you have in common? A mutual interest in self-destruction? (CHUCKLING) Normal.
Well, that's more than you deserve, young man.
Hey, come back! Fritz! (INSTRUMENTAL POP MUSIC PLAYING) Ah, you have recovered.
(BEEPING) And boy, two glasses with the juice, please.
Yes, sir.
We don't eat like this.
A privilege of office in the Power Elite.
Which you are so desperately anxious to join.
Unless, of course, a taste of the Guards' punishment -has changed your mind.
-Oh, no, sir.
At least, I mean, I'm willing to do whatever the Masters wish.
Did Borman try to persuade you to join the Guards? -Yes.
-I'm not surprised.
He's noticed you have a mind of your own, all right.
I wonder if he, like me, suspects there may be a defect in your capping? What do you mean? Although you say you want to serve the Masters, your actions show that what you really want is to please yourself.
-Sir, that's just not true.
-Sit down! Contrary to what you think, you're not the only one here with that complaint.
I miss the wines more than anything.
There's not a drop of alcohol to be had in the whole City.
To Julius.
So, you've been exploring the City.
-What new wonders have you seen? -I went again to the garden, Master.
My companion's been sick, and I thought the fresh air and sunlight would do him good.
-What was the matter with him? -He had angered the Guards.
He may be an athlete, but he's also very bright, and reckons he could do much better service with his brain than in the slave gang.
His mind has an independent cast similar to your own.
Are you attached to this boy? We met on our way to the games and we just got along.
Is he what you might describe as aa friend? -Yes.
-Interesting.
We do not have such relationships any more.
I envy the concern you have for him.
Would you be my friend, Will? I was a student at Gottingen University.
Never heard of it? Well, it was one of those cradles of nuclear physics in the 20th century.
Now the Masters use it as a training ground for the Power Elite.
A kind of intellectual equivalent of the Games, where the best brains are selected for the City.
I was sent there by Julius in the hope that I would qualify.
You still don't know what I'm talking about? Oh, come on, Fritz.
I've been on my own in here for nearly five years.
Look at me, I'm cracking up! I've got a dicky heart.
And I don't have time to play games.
You're the first uncapped athlete to make it.
-What makes you say I'm uncapped? -The way you behave.
Hmm.
A later model than mine.
But both bear the features of Dr Herschel's work in the White Mountain.
I have no doubt of your loyalty, Will, or of your desire to serve me and my colleagues.
I have no doubt the fundamental requirements of the capping process have been achieved in you, else your behaviour would be more that of a vagrant.
But you are the kind of slave that excites my interest, because the capping process has not destroyed your individuality.
It bodes well for our future relationship.
I'm deeply honoured, Master.
You think I'm really here for the Masters, don't you? To trap you.
You think they already know about Julius and the Free Men.
I don't know what you are talking about.
I'm going to call the Guards.
Fritz! No.
Leave him.
-Leave us.
-Sir.
I appreciate you keeping your guard up.
You've been well-trained.
But time is not on our side.
I'm not joking when I say I've got a dicky heart.
You'd better sit down.
Thanks.
I've looked for someone at every intake of new slaves.
But I'd really given up hope.
Which is why you find me like this.
We, too, had given up hope.
Julius told us of you.
But only as history.
I can't believe That I look like this? And I'm only 20 years old? (CHUCKLING) This place takes a terrible toll on you, Fritz.
We have no time to lose.
You mentioned a future relationship between Earth people and Trion, Master.
I would very much like to know what that future will be.
First you must understand the present.
And that in turn requires an understanding of the past.
Life on Earth began 4 billion years ago.
At first the pace was slow.
But it quickened to produce an infinite variety of species, until only a few million years ago, the first of your human ancestors emerged.
These are the ancestors? From 10,000 years ago.
They look more like apes.
(CHUCKLING) So they were.
But although the universe teems with life and intelligence, Will, biological species similar to our own are depressingly rare.
I know there are striking differences.
But humans are the closest relatives we Masters have found in space.
I've got so much information for you to take back to Julius.
I don't know how you'll remember it.
I'm not alone.
I have a colleague.
He's servant to Master 468.
Good.
Good.
One of the thinkers.
Not like your dumb-witted Slave Master.
He's learning a lot about their history and their plans for our future.
Invaluable.
And stuff I've never been able to get my hands on.
We also have another companion waiting outside the city.
Have you given any thought to how we might get out? Yes.
Come on.
I've got plenty to show you yet.
You set the pace.
Fritz, this is wonderful.
You've given me a new lease of life.
Come on.
And the ancestors built all of this? And more.
MASTER 468: Towards the end of the 20th century your ancestors overcame two factors which had limited the pace of development: the tiny size of the human brain and the incredible shortness of the human lifespan.
An early cybernetic form of life was born, and with it the possibility of a human interstellar civilisation as great and glittering, perhaps, as our own.
But where is all this now? I've seen ruins of the ancestors' cities on my way to the Games.
But this Where's it all gone? What happened? This.
PIERRE: Each of these weighs over a hundred tons.
They are necessary to close off water which flows through these pipes at the rate of millions of gallons a minute.
From here the water goes where? Into the reactor vessel itself, where it gets very hot.
From there it drops into an underground culvert to rejoin the river outside.
Good.
That's what I want to see next.
Not now, Fritz.
I've done enough walking for one day.
From here we take the lift.
And I'll show you something else.
MASTER 468: You can see why we could no longer stand by, waiting for your species to grow up.
The peace of space was being threatened.
You make me ashamed of my own people.
It was why we developed the Tripods, to carry us about in the poisonous atmosphere of Earth, so we could neutralise your sick minds through the implantation of the cap.
There now.
You feel better? Don't be too ashamed of your humanity, Will.
There is much about your world to admire.
It's my job to collect, to analyse and to assess aspects of the human world which may be of interest to the wider society of space.
I was impressed with your high regard for the daisy.
You gave me a new point of view.
And I have given instructions for it to be preserved, as a result of your recommendation.
In the Hall of Beauty? You have heard of it? From the girl who cleans my room.
What is it, Master? (CHUCKLING) Questions again? You must be feeling better.
We are preparing to send back to Trion the most appealing artefacts and organisms of the human Earth.
Perhaps you would like to see some of the selections we have made.
I would be honoured, Master.
That's more the way I like to travel.
Now, over there, we get a good view of it.
This is what we call the Pool of Fire.
It's built directly on top of the nuclear reactor.
-What is its purpose? -I don't know for sure.
Because as far as humans are concerned, it's absolutely forbidden.
Will must ask his Master.
Logically, it must be a kind of database, a fantastic central store of knowledge.
But looking down on it, don't you find it difficult to suppress second thoughts? About destroying it? Whatever it is, it's pretty amazing.
We certainly face a difficult task.
But what worries me is if that is some kind of brain down there, some kind of Masters' computer, then it's probably a billion times more intelligent than all of the brains of all of us Free Men put together.
I don't care how great their achievements are.
The City is run by slaves! Our whole world is enslaved by the cap! All right.
I know.
I haven't entirely forgotten why I'm here.
It's just that in comparison with all of this, our intentions begin to seem rather crude.
However, if we go back to my room, I'll tell you the plans I've worked out, how we could first escape, and then make a successful attack on the City.
(GASPING) I'm late for my shift! Hey! Are you all right? This is one of my favourite rooms.
Somehow, the very shortness of their lives enhances the beauty of their appearance.
(CHUCKLING) Sometimes I wonder if brevity and beauty go hand in hand and that the penalty for longevity is ugliness.
Do you think I'm ugly, Will? No.
No, Master.
Well I think that you're unfamiliar to me.
Hmm.
The cap is supposed to prevent dissembling, Will.
But I'm afraid I don't believe you.
Still, how wonderful it would be if we were able to provide these with a longer lifespan without impairing their beauty.
Are they dead? Quick, help me get him to the hospital.
Is it not a stirring thought that a few hundred years from now these beautiful women will step out into the new world we will have created for them on Trion? (WHISPERING) Eloise.
MASTER 468: Is it not a joyous thought, that she should live long and please the Masters so? Yes, Master! It is a joyous thought.
I wouldn't have been surprised if you had been brought in like this.
-I'm pretty fit.
-Not for long, if you go on like this.
-How's he doing? -All right.
But don't you ignore what I say, Fritz.
This place is tough on us humans.
Look what it's done to him.
And he had it easy.
(PIERRE BREATHING WITH DIFFICULTY) So much to tell you.
Easy.
(MUMBLING) What is it, Pierre? Tell me.
What is it? Pierre.
(CHOKING)