The Tripods (1984) s02e08 Episode Script
The City of Gold
I've made you an offer which 99% of slaves would jump at, boy.
The privilege of joining the Guard.
Not to be sneezed at, is it? No, sir.
Well, yet it would seem that you have refused it.
I shall be honoured to accept the decision of the Masters.
Hmm, but you want to join the Power Elite.
If it were a question of my own choice, that is what I would prefer to do.
Is that why you killed the chief engineer? Why should I want to kill him? He was the one who spoke on my behalf when I asked to join the Elite.
He was late for his shift in the control room.
Where had you been? He was educating me in the energy systems of the City.
He wanted me to join.
He said they were looking for new blood.
He certainly had a more persuasive tongue than I.
Unless, of course, you were persuading him.
What are you doing? I'm just writing a letter home.
What do you mean? Well, it would be nice to be able to do that, don't you think? But home, it doesn't mean anything now.
We're in service to the Masters.
Don't you ever think about your mother and father? They'd be very proud to know I'm here.
And that they'll never see you again? Or your little sister? Do you think she's stopped asking when you're going to come home to tease her? After all, she's not capped yet, is she? I've never thought of them like that.
Well, I do! And I don't see why we shouldn't be able to send the odd letter home.
Tell them all about it.
I mean, why does it have to be so secret? -But we're with the Masters.
-We are.
But what about the majority of people in here? Being kicked around by Guards all the time.
Most of them hardly get to glimpse the Masters.
How proud do you think their families would be of them? -I don't like to talk -It's true, though, isn't it? -Maybe -If the Masters and the Tripods are all they're cracked up to be, do you think they'd be afraid of the truth? You must be sick, Will.
(BEEPING) Try to put these terrible thoughts from your mind, for your own sake.
For all our sakes.
There.
A bunch of home truths dispatched to the only place that can take them in this City, the rubbish tip.
Does that make you happy? Your mind must be pure and free from evil whilst you offer service to your Master.
The funny thing is, Boll, my Master likes me just the way I am.
Damn it, boy! It won't do you any good to go on maintaining your innocence.
You mean, I'm going to be punished anyway? You'll be sent back to the slave gang, put to work on the rock face until you drop.
What's the point of the interrogation, then, if I'm already condemned? It would please the Slave Master if you confessed.
To what? I have done nothing.
You're lying, boy! And the Slave Master knows that you lie.
And that means that your cap must be defective.
So, unless you confess, you will be taken to the capping hall, where your head will be opened for examination.
If you confess, the Slave Master does have it in his power to forgive you.
Well, if he is convinced that you are sincere, he may find use for you as a member of the Guard.
What do you want? The Power Master has concluded negotiations with the Slave Master.
Fritz Eger is to be transferred to the Power Elite.
Come.
This friendship is an appealing thing.
Yes, I've been fortunate that you chose me.
Would one friend scratch another's back? Ah.
Mmm.
(GRUNTING) That's no good! Bring me a gas bubble, boy.
I'm afraid I didn't please you, Master.
We are from different worlds.
Friendship is also a deeply disturbing thing, is it not? Sometimes it can be quite emotional.
Was the girl in the Hall of Beauty your friend also? Answer me, boy.
This was a different kind of friendship, Master.
What you would call "love"? Master, please! It gives you so much pain.
It hurt seeing Eloise dead.
She is not dead.
Her life is merely suspended.
So you say.
But what chance have I of seeing her alive on Trion? And the thought of her pleasing the Masters there, does that do nothing to assuage your pain? To be truthful, Master, it doesn't help at all.
Would you, if you were able Would you like me to arrange for your life also to be suspended? So you could travel to Trion with her? And in a few hundred years' time, revive with her and resume your lives together? Master, is that really possible? Is it what you really want? Fritz Eger, welcome to your new status.
Thank you, Master.
I expect you to justify the confidence I have placed in you.
It's an honour to serve.
It's rare to be chosen for the Elite from the slave gangs.
People will be very curious about your background.
You mean, my qualifications? And experience.
I have little of either, but I'm anxious to learn.
I am very grateful to you for acting on Pierre's recommendation.
He recognised a kindred spirit.
It's a shame he's no longer here for you to learn from him.
I very much regret that, too.
You have conflicting loyalties, Will.
I'm afraid I do, Master.
But my first loyalty is to you.
But you don't like me as much as the girl.
It's not the same, Master.
You mean, you don't love me as much? As much as your friend, Fritz, then.
Master, you chose me.
I have absolute loyalty to you.
And I honour you and the Masters of the City above any beings I know.
I'm grateful to you for your interest in me and for your overwhelming offer to send me with Eloise.
But I remain absolutely your servant.
Another bubble? Mmm.
(SCREAMING) Are you all right? It was It was pure reflex, instinctive and defensive.
-I was careless.
-No, I should have explained first.
The spot is extremely sensitive.
I'm lucky I could have been badly hurt, even killed by such a blow.
MASTER 468: You will want to know what a Cognosc is.
WILL: Yes, Master.
MASTER 468: The City, Will, is a brain.
At the top of each of these pyramids is a separate cell of intelligence connected with the Pool of Fire at the centre.
Each of these cells is a Cognosc, a being so much more advanced than we Masters, that it has no physical presence at all.
WILL: So, you're not the ultimate authority in this City? MASTER 468: We Masters merely provide the physical environment in which the brain can function.
WILL: But where do the Cognoscs come from? MASTER 468: Some, originally, were Masters like me.
Long ago, they were selected for their superior intelligence.
Their minds were translated away from their physical bodies into the very structure of the universe itself.
In all my years, I've never yet had an audience.
Now, it is to happen.
And all, apparently, because of you.
So, does the Cognosc know everything that's in your mind? Yes.
(CHUCKLING) Perhaps he wants to discuss the daisy with us.
So, will he know everything that's in my mind? He will do very soon.
Through the cap, the Cognosc can know all.
You are the one who is summoned to the presence.
My humble task has been merely to to lead you here.
COGGY: Sit down.
And take your helmet off.
Welcome, my dear Will.
No, my name's Willy.
Willy Sachs.
(COGGYLAUGHING) No.
No, you're Will Parker from Wherton.
I don't know what you're talking about or who you are, but my name is Willy Sachs.
I come from Marienkirchen in the Tyrol.
That is the name you have assumed for the purpose of deceiving the Masters.
-Why should I want to deceive? -But in truth, you are Will Parker of Wherton, near Winchester in England.
Where are you? I am all around you.
I am the space in which you breathe.
And what is your name? (CHUCKLING) How you humans love to name things.
I am, as your Master told you, one of the brains of the City.
You can call me Coggy if you like.
Think of it as a term of endearment.
For it is time you and I had a chat.
How's your friend Beanpole, I wonder? I don't know anyone of that name.
I don't know what you're talking about.
-I'm here to -Or your cousin Henry? Or prickly Fritz, here in the City with you? I do have a friend called Fritz, yes.
Fritz Eger.
We were both champions at the Games.
How do you know about him? It has been a little more difficult for me to know you than most of the slaves because your cap is false.
That intrigued me.
"Why, "I asked myself, "Why should a young lad go to such trouble "when he has only to call on the Tripods to be given the real thing?" I wish you would show your face.
But now, I know all the answers.
I know that you rebelled against the imposition of the cap.
I know why you travelled all the way from England to the White Mountain to join Julius and the Free Men.
You hate the Tripods and all they stand for.
You deceive and despise the Masters.
And your ambition is to destroy every vestige of the Trion occupation of Earth.
Dear Will, I know the entire contents of your mind.
And it amuses me no end.
(LAUGHING) (LAUGHING CONTINUES) (KNOCKING AT DOOR) You're not paying attention to me, Will.
You're thinking about your arrangement to meet Fritz in the Pink Parrot.
Can you really read my mind? How does it feel? You should know the answer to that.
Very good.
Plucky little duo, you and Fritz, aren't you? We face tough odds.
But I admire your resourcefulness.
Look at the way you deceived your Master.
And Fritz.
Clever, the way he worked himself into the Power Elite, wasn't it? Oh.
But what's this I find lurking in your mind now? Is it possible, you wonder, that even now Fritz may be down in the cellar at the City laying the fuse from a magazine of powder kegs which will blast open the bowels of the reactor, cut off the power to all us poor Coggies, and crack the dome of the City to poison all Masters with human air? So allowing our two heroes, bloody but unbowed, to scamper into the freedom of the night air.
(LAUGHING) In all this wonderful universe, Will, I've found nowhere so rich in fantasy as the depths of human desperation.
I have to tell you, Will, I like you.
For a hundred years I've watched slaves troop into the City like lambs to the slaughter and I've had nothing but contempt for them.
Now I learn there's a band of Free Men plotting to get rid of the Masters.
Great! I like the whole idea of resistance to capping.
I don't suppose you've had a decent meal since you left home.
Sit down and tuck in.
Mmm.
Tastes as good as it looks.
Good.
Pour yourself a glass of wine.
And while you're at it, pour me a drop, too.
I have no physical existence any more, just pulses of energy in the great brain of space.
Highly organised, mind you, but sadly lacking in sensuality.
(GULPING) Um My Master says you were originally one of them.
Arrogant amoeba! No, I was born into a civilisation old enough to have bred the Masters in fish farms.
We certainly had longer lives than you.
But we grew up, we grew old, and eventually those of us who were allowed to, died.
I wasn't so lucky, though.
Like you, I was bright and independent.
The talent scouts latched onto me and decided I was a suitable candidate for immortality as a new cell in the Space Brain.
Come on! Oh, if I had a heart, it would bleed to see a good hot dinner going cold.
Eloise (WALTZ PLAYING) (CLOCK CHIMING) Eloise! Eloise! Eloise! Eloise!
The privilege of joining the Guard.
Not to be sneezed at, is it? No, sir.
Well, yet it would seem that you have refused it.
I shall be honoured to accept the decision of the Masters.
Hmm, but you want to join the Power Elite.
If it were a question of my own choice, that is what I would prefer to do.
Is that why you killed the chief engineer? Why should I want to kill him? He was the one who spoke on my behalf when I asked to join the Elite.
He was late for his shift in the control room.
Where had you been? He was educating me in the energy systems of the City.
He wanted me to join.
He said they were looking for new blood.
He certainly had a more persuasive tongue than I.
Unless, of course, you were persuading him.
What are you doing? I'm just writing a letter home.
What do you mean? Well, it would be nice to be able to do that, don't you think? But home, it doesn't mean anything now.
We're in service to the Masters.
Don't you ever think about your mother and father? They'd be very proud to know I'm here.
And that they'll never see you again? Or your little sister? Do you think she's stopped asking when you're going to come home to tease her? After all, she's not capped yet, is she? I've never thought of them like that.
Well, I do! And I don't see why we shouldn't be able to send the odd letter home.
Tell them all about it.
I mean, why does it have to be so secret? -But we're with the Masters.
-We are.
But what about the majority of people in here? Being kicked around by Guards all the time.
Most of them hardly get to glimpse the Masters.
How proud do you think their families would be of them? -I don't like to talk -It's true, though, isn't it? -Maybe -If the Masters and the Tripods are all they're cracked up to be, do you think they'd be afraid of the truth? You must be sick, Will.
(BEEPING) Try to put these terrible thoughts from your mind, for your own sake.
For all our sakes.
There.
A bunch of home truths dispatched to the only place that can take them in this City, the rubbish tip.
Does that make you happy? Your mind must be pure and free from evil whilst you offer service to your Master.
The funny thing is, Boll, my Master likes me just the way I am.
Damn it, boy! It won't do you any good to go on maintaining your innocence.
You mean, I'm going to be punished anyway? You'll be sent back to the slave gang, put to work on the rock face until you drop.
What's the point of the interrogation, then, if I'm already condemned? It would please the Slave Master if you confessed.
To what? I have done nothing.
You're lying, boy! And the Slave Master knows that you lie.
And that means that your cap must be defective.
So, unless you confess, you will be taken to the capping hall, where your head will be opened for examination.
If you confess, the Slave Master does have it in his power to forgive you.
Well, if he is convinced that you are sincere, he may find use for you as a member of the Guard.
What do you want? The Power Master has concluded negotiations with the Slave Master.
Fritz Eger is to be transferred to the Power Elite.
Come.
This friendship is an appealing thing.
Yes, I've been fortunate that you chose me.
Would one friend scratch another's back? Ah.
Mmm.
(GRUNTING) That's no good! Bring me a gas bubble, boy.
I'm afraid I didn't please you, Master.
We are from different worlds.
Friendship is also a deeply disturbing thing, is it not? Sometimes it can be quite emotional.
Was the girl in the Hall of Beauty your friend also? Answer me, boy.
This was a different kind of friendship, Master.
What you would call "love"? Master, please! It gives you so much pain.
It hurt seeing Eloise dead.
She is not dead.
Her life is merely suspended.
So you say.
But what chance have I of seeing her alive on Trion? And the thought of her pleasing the Masters there, does that do nothing to assuage your pain? To be truthful, Master, it doesn't help at all.
Would you, if you were able Would you like me to arrange for your life also to be suspended? So you could travel to Trion with her? And in a few hundred years' time, revive with her and resume your lives together? Master, is that really possible? Is it what you really want? Fritz Eger, welcome to your new status.
Thank you, Master.
I expect you to justify the confidence I have placed in you.
It's an honour to serve.
It's rare to be chosen for the Elite from the slave gangs.
People will be very curious about your background.
You mean, my qualifications? And experience.
I have little of either, but I'm anxious to learn.
I am very grateful to you for acting on Pierre's recommendation.
He recognised a kindred spirit.
It's a shame he's no longer here for you to learn from him.
I very much regret that, too.
You have conflicting loyalties, Will.
I'm afraid I do, Master.
But my first loyalty is to you.
But you don't like me as much as the girl.
It's not the same, Master.
You mean, you don't love me as much? As much as your friend, Fritz, then.
Master, you chose me.
I have absolute loyalty to you.
And I honour you and the Masters of the City above any beings I know.
I'm grateful to you for your interest in me and for your overwhelming offer to send me with Eloise.
But I remain absolutely your servant.
Another bubble? Mmm.
(SCREAMING) Are you all right? It was It was pure reflex, instinctive and defensive.
-I was careless.
-No, I should have explained first.
The spot is extremely sensitive.
I'm lucky I could have been badly hurt, even killed by such a blow.
MASTER 468: You will want to know what a Cognosc is.
WILL: Yes, Master.
MASTER 468: The City, Will, is a brain.
At the top of each of these pyramids is a separate cell of intelligence connected with the Pool of Fire at the centre.
Each of these cells is a Cognosc, a being so much more advanced than we Masters, that it has no physical presence at all.
WILL: So, you're not the ultimate authority in this City? MASTER 468: We Masters merely provide the physical environment in which the brain can function.
WILL: But where do the Cognoscs come from? MASTER 468: Some, originally, were Masters like me.
Long ago, they were selected for their superior intelligence.
Their minds were translated away from their physical bodies into the very structure of the universe itself.
In all my years, I've never yet had an audience.
Now, it is to happen.
And all, apparently, because of you.
So, does the Cognosc know everything that's in your mind? Yes.
(CHUCKLING) Perhaps he wants to discuss the daisy with us.
So, will he know everything that's in my mind? He will do very soon.
Through the cap, the Cognosc can know all.
You are the one who is summoned to the presence.
My humble task has been merely to to lead you here.
COGGY: Sit down.
And take your helmet off.
Welcome, my dear Will.
No, my name's Willy.
Willy Sachs.
(COGGYLAUGHING) No.
No, you're Will Parker from Wherton.
I don't know what you're talking about or who you are, but my name is Willy Sachs.
I come from Marienkirchen in the Tyrol.
That is the name you have assumed for the purpose of deceiving the Masters.
-Why should I want to deceive? -But in truth, you are Will Parker of Wherton, near Winchester in England.
Where are you? I am all around you.
I am the space in which you breathe.
And what is your name? (CHUCKLING) How you humans love to name things.
I am, as your Master told you, one of the brains of the City.
You can call me Coggy if you like.
Think of it as a term of endearment.
For it is time you and I had a chat.
How's your friend Beanpole, I wonder? I don't know anyone of that name.
I don't know what you're talking about.
-I'm here to -Or your cousin Henry? Or prickly Fritz, here in the City with you? I do have a friend called Fritz, yes.
Fritz Eger.
We were both champions at the Games.
How do you know about him? It has been a little more difficult for me to know you than most of the slaves because your cap is false.
That intrigued me.
"Why, "I asked myself, "Why should a young lad go to such trouble "when he has only to call on the Tripods to be given the real thing?" I wish you would show your face.
But now, I know all the answers.
I know that you rebelled against the imposition of the cap.
I know why you travelled all the way from England to the White Mountain to join Julius and the Free Men.
You hate the Tripods and all they stand for.
You deceive and despise the Masters.
And your ambition is to destroy every vestige of the Trion occupation of Earth.
Dear Will, I know the entire contents of your mind.
And it amuses me no end.
(LAUGHING) (LAUGHING CONTINUES) (KNOCKING AT DOOR) You're not paying attention to me, Will.
You're thinking about your arrangement to meet Fritz in the Pink Parrot.
Can you really read my mind? How does it feel? You should know the answer to that.
Very good.
Plucky little duo, you and Fritz, aren't you? We face tough odds.
But I admire your resourcefulness.
Look at the way you deceived your Master.
And Fritz.
Clever, the way he worked himself into the Power Elite, wasn't it? Oh.
But what's this I find lurking in your mind now? Is it possible, you wonder, that even now Fritz may be down in the cellar at the City laying the fuse from a magazine of powder kegs which will blast open the bowels of the reactor, cut off the power to all us poor Coggies, and crack the dome of the City to poison all Masters with human air? So allowing our two heroes, bloody but unbowed, to scamper into the freedom of the night air.
(LAUGHING) In all this wonderful universe, Will, I've found nowhere so rich in fantasy as the depths of human desperation.
I have to tell you, Will, I like you.
For a hundred years I've watched slaves troop into the City like lambs to the slaughter and I've had nothing but contempt for them.
Now I learn there's a band of Free Men plotting to get rid of the Masters.
Great! I like the whole idea of resistance to capping.
I don't suppose you've had a decent meal since you left home.
Sit down and tuck in.
Mmm.
Tastes as good as it looks.
Good.
Pour yourself a glass of wine.
And while you're at it, pour me a drop, too.
I have no physical existence any more, just pulses of energy in the great brain of space.
Highly organised, mind you, but sadly lacking in sensuality.
(GULPING) Um My Master says you were originally one of them.
Arrogant amoeba! No, I was born into a civilisation old enough to have bred the Masters in fish farms.
We certainly had longer lives than you.
But we grew up, we grew old, and eventually those of us who were allowed to, died.
I wasn't so lucky, though.
Like you, I was bright and independent.
The talent scouts latched onto me and decided I was a suitable candidate for immortality as a new cell in the Space Brain.
Come on! Oh, if I had a heart, it would bleed to see a good hot dinner going cold.
Eloise (WALTZ PLAYING) (CLOCK CHIMING) Eloise! Eloise! Eloise! Eloise!