Blake's 7 (1978) s02e13 Episode Script
Star One
Keldan Control, Keldan Control, this is Nova Queen on primary approach 0 4 0 Request orbital entry clearance Nova Queen, Nova Queen, this is Keldan control Maintain 0 4 0 Orbital entry is clear Keldan Control, this is Nova Queen I have an unidentified trace on 0 4 0 Nova Queen, this is Keldan Control Maintain 0 4 0 and switch to Computer Flight Coordination Switching to CFC, maintaining 0 4 0 That ship is still coming at us Nova Queen, this is Keldan Control The ship is an unmanned ore carrier on Computer Flight Coordination I hope you're sure about that, Keldan; it's still on 0 4 0 Nova Queen, computer control is confirmed No problem You know that and I know that, but does the computer know that? It'll switch vectors any time now Relax I'll relax when it gets that ship off 0 4 0 It will Keldan control, I have 4000 passengers on this ship and that ore carrier is still on 0 4 0 Computerflight coordination doesn't make errors To hell with that! Do something, Keldan That thing is coming straight at us Keldan Control! Nova Queen, switch to manual control, engage emergency boosters and abort 0 4 0 Confirm please! I can see it! My God, it's too late! Nova Queen, Nova Queen, this is Keldan Control, do you copy? Nova Queen! Nova Queen, come in please! Unfortunate You do have a way with words, Supreme Commander I'm sorry, that was unnecessary Everyone on the Nova Queen died instantly of course, but it didn't end there The ship's neutron drive unit broke free, survived the fallthrough the atmosphere It went criticaljust about the time it hit the surface Ground zero was slap in the middle of Keldan City Half the population was killed outright It was a computer malfunction, presumably Yes These things happen, Durkim They're happening fartoo often, Supreme Commander Computer Flight Coordination is breaking down on Are you saying it's a basic design fault? No, that's not what I'm saying Look That's the equatorial zone on Palmero Palmero? Yes, and that is snow you're looking at, Supreme Commander It'll be some time before they re establish themselves as the Federation's main producer of tropicalfruit And this, the plains of Suni Mean temperature has gone up by twenty degrees It hasn't rained anywhere on that planet in sixty days When it does, the effect will be something like this The planet Vilka, where it hasn't stopped raining for sixty days The planet Herom Carthenis Climate control has gone disastrously wrong on allthe frontierworlds And it's spreading? Rapidly Anything else? Isn't that enough? No, it's impossible, Durkim You mean unthinkable, don't you? Look, everything you've just seen has one common denominator Computers Not computers Computer Singular Very singular indeed Our unbeatable control and coordination centre No Servalan, by design or accident, Star One is failing There has to be another explanation There isn't And if you want to keep your job you'llfind it Why won't you face the facts? Because I'm not convinced And even if I were, there would be nothing I could do about it Well, surely underthe circumstances you could get clearance to put a team in Star One is the most secure installation in the Federation I know that Do you know why it's so thoroughly secure? Well, presumably because knowledge of its location is severely restricted No Knowledge of its location is non existent Durkim, no one knows where Star One is No one at all So, if Lurgan's coordinates are correct Star One is somewhere in there Which makes it about the only thing that is At least we'll recognise it when we see it, even if we don't recognise it when we see it, if it's the only thing that's there, if you see what I mean Oh, shut up, Vila I'm just trying to help What do you think, Jenna? It's riskierthan it looks These coordinates are not precise enough And howeverthey built Star One it's not going to be so big that we can't miss it We'll probably have to search It's a long way out, Blake a long way from the edge of the galaxy It's infinity You're asking us to plunge out into infinity Now come on, Cally, that's a slight exaggeration Is it? What, the space between the island galaxies? It's the nearest we'll come to infinity before we die If anything goes wrong out there we won't have a prayer, because nothing and nobody goes out that far I hadn't thought of it like that The Federation went out there We'veonly got Lurgen'swordforthat.
Andwedidn'teven get itfirst hand.
There is onlyLurgen'sword.
Everybodyelsewho knew is eitherdead oramnesiac.
One clue Just one, and we have got it Why are you listening to this drivel, Blake? We can take Star One; let's get on with it Very stirring When did you become a believer? Are you just going to sit there? You have led them by the nose before 'Scuse me, are you going to answer her question? Show me someone who believes in anything and I will show you a fool I meant what I said on Goth, Avon We are not going to use Star One to rule the Federation; we are going to destroy it I never doubted that I never doubted yourfanaticism As far as I am concerned you can destroy whatever you like You can stir up a thousand revolutions; you can wade in blood up to your armpits Oh, and you can lead the rabble to victory, whateverthat might mean Just so long as there is an end to it When Star One is gone it is finished, Blake And I want it finished I want it over and done with I want to be free But you are free now, Avon I want to be free of him I never realised You really do hate me, don't you? When we have dealt with Star One, I willtake you back to Earth and then the Liberator is mine, agreed? Agreed Assuming the others go along with it Why should we? Yes, why should we? It's all a bit high handed if you ask me Liberator is approaching sector nine Navigation computers now require further instructions Well, do we look for Star One? We'llfinish what we set out to do Nothing else is settled Are we fanatics? Does it matter? Many, many people will die without Star One I know Are you sure that what we're going to do is justified? It has to be Don't you see, Cally? If we stop now then allwe have done is senseless killing and destruction Without purpose, without reason We have to win It's the only way I can be sure that I was right That you were right? Course for sector eleven is laid in Detectors on full range All readings are clear Weaponry system on standby Standard by six, Jenna Run course program, standard by six Confirm boundary Confirm Liberator is now crossing the theoretical boundary of the galaxy and is entering intergalactic space Increase speed to standard by twelve There's no doubt in your mind that he was telling the truth? None, Supreme Commander We didn't rush him He was telling the truth all right Very well, interrogate the rest of his team just to make sure, and try not to killthem DOOR OPENS Yes, Durkim, what is it? I find that just a little distracting, Supreme Commander What's allthis about? Time to defend ourselves Against whom? Each other Now what is it you want? Quickly, you're wasting time There's an emergency meeting of the High Council I am aware of that I've been summoned to appear before it You put Headquarters on full security restriction I can't get off this satellite without your direct clearance No "No' you agree with what I'm saying or "no' you refuse my clearance? Both Now get back to yourwork I am stillwaiting for yourtheories as to where Star One may be located That summons is a Presidential Order in Council I have to go Space Command no longer recognises the authority of the President or of the Council I don't think I understand We are the only force capable of handling the present emergency I doubt if even we can do that The President and those members of the Councilwho are unable to accept the realities of the situation are even now being arrested, as are those of our own people whose loyalties may be "divided' At a time like this complete unity is an absolute essential There isn't enough data I can't even guess where Star One is Then I suggest you try harder Or I might think you're part of the plot Plot? Obviously someone is trying to destroy the Federation, now perhaps it's you Why would I want to do that? 'Why' is always the most difficult question At the moment I am more concerned with 'how' Is she involved? You know her? Her name's Lurena, I think Isn't it? Ah, we were acquainted You were more than just acquaintances That's a long time ago She emigrated to one of the frontierworlds She's on Star One She can't be, it's unmanned The systems are automatic A group of scientists and technicians elected to spend the rest of their lives refining, checking and guarding the systems Knowing they could never leave, never come home? That's appalling Inspiring, surely? In the best tradition of selfless devotion to the Federation That's your answerthen Some or all of them have changed their minds No They were all screened and conditioned very carefully by our best psycho manipulation teams None of the group could attempt to damage the systems, identify the location, or contact anyone outside Star One without going obviously insane How can you be certain of that? The head of the psycho manipulation team has just finished, "reassuring' my interrogators So whatever is happening on Star One is happening against herwill There's nothing I can do You get back to work, Durkim She may still have a chance If we can find her in time May I offer you my personal congratulations, and loyalty, Madame President? COMMUNICATOR CHIME - Supreme Commander? What is it? Blake and his crew The strategy programs have all come up blank on the possible courses they took Run them again But, Supreme Commander Run them again I will not be President of a ruined empire What are you doing? What are you doing? Just a routine check, Lurena Is that why you're using a laser probe? I've been watching you, Stott I know Your behaviour has been very suspicious for some time now Forgive me, Lurena, but, well, we've all noticed that you seem to be under some kind of stress There was nothing wrong with that control circuit; I checked it myself an hour ago That's why I was checking it again You think I don't know what I'm doing? I'm afraid that's what we allthink Someone's been tampering with the systems, it can only be you Your conditioning, a reaction to it You're not to blame You're ill, that's all Stay where you are, or I'll kill him We only want to help you, Lurena Please, put down the gun Yes, you'd like that wouldn't you? Stay where you are Do as she says, Parton I see it now, you're all in this together That's impossible; you know that's impossible, look Lurena You're all against me All of you Whispering, plotting behind my back You want to kill me We want to help you Don't move Please, Lurena Get after her Find her before she does any more damage And don't botherto bring her back Just kill her I was right; we should have done it as soon as we knew I didn't realise how far she'd got Now she's running around loose Well at least we know what to expect, anyway And after all, what can she do, alone? She is the last one This way! Anything on the detectors? No Jenna, how long beforewe reach Lurgen's coordinates? Eight minutes If there's anything there it should be showing by now Perhaps Star One doesn't come within detector range untilwe reach the coordinates Our detectors are betterthan anything the Federation have got We should be able to see it by now I think we can There, at the extreme edge of the range What is it? The readings say that it is a star Small, pale and very dense A white dwarf by the look of it You couldn't put a computer complex on that Could you? Hardly Does it have a planetary system? Probably not a system, more likely a single planet A single planet orbiting an isolated, dying star Star One Seems reasonable Have they found her? We've been through allthe control sectors, searched the storage rooms, living quarters Maybe she went out onto the surface? She won't last long if she has, there's nothing out there for her Better send a search party anyway We can't waste any more time on her Do it Shall I call off the search down here? Leave three to continue, send a party out onto the surface, put the rest back to work Don't be insolent Maintenance takes effort If we could revert to ourselves No, not while she's free If she realised, her conditioning might break down completely LOUD CLATTER Zhokov, I'm sorry, I Put the planet on visual Confirmed Looks like yet another garden paradise Surface conditions? The atmosphere is breathable Surface temperatures are low Calculations suggest that they rise above freezing point only during daylight hours at the equator Good It is? You like dead planets with dying suns? I do when I'm looking for a complex underground installation Jenna, program a course to orbit the planet's equator You don't have to explain it to me; I only came forthe ride With surface conditions like that where would you build the main installation? Course program laid in Maximum scan, Cally Look for anything unusual or out of place, sudden temperature variation, anything They're bound to have left some clue as to where they put that installation A doorwould be nice if you could manage it I'll do my best Preferably one marked 'Entrance' Ready on the scan, Jenna Run course program Confirmed Course program running I have been doing some calculations, if this is Star One If it is? First catch your computer, but all right it probably is, and that being the case the choice of location is fascinating I'm glad you're enjoying it The nearest large galaxy to our own is Andromeda So? So, this is the nearest point to Andromeda If anyone could cross intergalactic space in less than a lifetime we are now precisely upon the route that they would take What are you trying to say, Avon? I directed the detectors toward the Andromeda galaxy There are thousands of satellite generators out there, beyond Star One What? Even with the Federation's resources it must have taken them years That must be the biggest antimatter minefield ever put together Minefield, what minefield? Perhaps the intergalactic drive has been developed Question is, by whom? A defence zone to keep mankind in, or something else out Leeth Leeth What is it, Markov? The main entrance is open She must have come out afterwe did She followed us out She can't have got farthen Spread out, all of you Keep searching I don't like explosives, very crude Difficult to reason with a bomb Blake? They won't explode untilthey are primed And if it was faulty? Bit late to complain to the manufacturer Scanners are showing a temperature variation From the pattern it could almost be the door you were talking about I think it was a trick What was? The open door I think she doubled back I don't think she's out here at all No, she wouldn't have been thinking clearly enough forthat I hope you're right, but we're not really sure how they function under heavy stress Come on Stationary orbit is established and confirmed Teleport, Vila Avon? Yes Watch yourselves, Blake's rushing things I get the feeling he's not giving himself time to think Blake is an idealist, Jenna He cannot afford to think Down and safe Defences? They've relied on secrecy, I don't think they've tricked the place out but it won't do any harm to be careful Let's look forthat entrance I thought this place was unmanned More idealists They must have volunteered to be marooned for life Yes, it makes you proud to be human, doesn't it? What are they doing here? Making sure everything works, presumably What now? Follow them One door As requested Well done, Cally It isn't marked 'Entrance' Nobody's perfect FALLING GRAVEL Avon, it's a trap Not a very friendly welcome Shallwe go? I'm sure whoever is in charge would wish to speak with us Vila, teleport Cally and Blake, quickly Right Come on, come on Avon Well? There's no response What's going on, where are they? Inside It must be shielded Do you want to come up? No Avon What is it,Jenna? There's a ship, it's coming in for a surface landing Have they spotted you? I've got the detector shield up What sort of a ship is it? I don't know, it's a new type to me Looks like it's coming down somewhere near you, though Do you want to come up now? No, let's see who else knows about this place Are you going to tell us what's going on down there? Avon Avon! RETROS FIRING Vila, I need you in here to stand by the weaponry system What about the teleport? I'll put Orac on it He's not as quick as we are We'll have to live with that You mean they will Just get on with it Orac, operate the teleport as instructed Oh, very well And check that intergalactic defence zone I want everything you can find out about it, including why it's there You're here, then Apparently I was told you would be alone Obviously you were misinformed Who is this woman? She is my mother May I see your identification? What for? After all, who else knows about this place? I was told you could be difficult You seem to have been told rather a lot about me I was interested I am not unfamiliarwith traitors, but the scale of yourtreachery is unusual And your insistence on carrying out the final act personally must make you unique Your disapprovalwould carry more conviction if you were not going to benefit from my treachery Now when do I get to perform the final act? Which of your hands is artificial? This one Rather good, don't you think? And the eye patch, what happened to that? Hold it, touch that and I'll drop you where you stand Well, now Travis Fancy meeting you here Put the gun down, Avon, it's too late to stop it now Convince me Be polite and I may let you live Be informative and I may let you die You'llwant that after I've shot off an arm and a leg ortwo I thought you were supposed to be the one with brains? Brains but no heart Now talk or scream, Travis, the choice is yours My preliminary examination of the defence zone indicates that it is made up of a network of satellite generators We could have told you that Each of which performs a dual function; namely, to indicate the approach of an intruder and then to destroy that intruder by a powerful anti matter implosion So it's a combined alarm system and minefield Correct If I may continue? He always makes me feel as if I should be taking notes If I may continue? The defence zone is controlled and monitored from the computer complex known as Star One Ahh A cursory examination of the relevant Star One systems indicates that this defence zone is one of a number of such zones located at strategic points on the rim of that section of the galaxy colonised by mankind Then they are expecting an invasion? A hoard of hairy aliens There is no logical reason why aliens should be hairy There is no logical reason why people should be hairy I don't like this Jenna; we could be sitting in the front line I see no cause for alarm From the design and construction patterns it would appear that the defence zones have been built up very gradually over a long period of time My conclusion is that they are merely precautionary rather than a response to some specific threat Well if there's no threat why botherwith precautions? If the resources are available to eliminate even the vaguest threat, it would seem logical to do so I'd agree with that What do you call a vague threat? A contact, sometime in the past, either a communication or a physical contact A physical contact? A scoutship, perhaps A scoutship, perhaps Like that one down on the surface now, perhaps Zen, put the battle computers online Confirmed, battle computers are online Give me maximum available range on the detectors What do you think is going on? Well, they were waiting for Travis, so obviously he's expected to take over Except there's more to it than that Yes, the "final act' Well, whateverthat is we've got a final act of our own to arrange You work yourway through the other control rooms If anyone questions you be arrogant, you're with Travis, and he's about to become Emperor of the galaxy What about you? I'llwait for Stott As long as he thinks I am Travis we'll have no problems Besides I might find even out the rest of it I'm going to set this timerfor one hour Most of the systems have been modified already The chaos and destruction should already be sufficient to ensure that resistance is slight When willyou be ready forthe ultimatum? Ultimatum? Laying out of ourterms forthe restoration of order Policy is not our concern, Travis It is sufficient to serve I hope these people will really do as you tellthem, Travis They will The first one who doesn't will cost you your head Don't move Damn They're all dead Yes, I can see that Did you killthem? No They are trying to kill me They have a novel approach to the job You don't understand In here they're dead, but out there, out there they're still alive, walking about Trying to killyou? Yes Yes Look out GUNFIRE What are they? Unfriendly Which is fortunate, really They'd be difficult to love Come on Nothing There's nothing there I knew we were panicking unnecessarily Alien hordes, I mean to say There they are Where? Where? Just coming into detector range They're too far off to be sure They could be meteors They're ships No, they couldn't be, there's too many of them That's a cloud of meteors Well, come on Jenna, you can see that, admit it That's a cloud of big meteors Very big meteors And it's slowing down They know about the defence zone Jenna, let's run for it Is it nearly complete? As you see Constructing the circuits required to deactivate the defence zone was difficult, but we were able to keep the technicians alive long enough to duplicate their entire brain patterns as well as their physical shape Their physical shape? Why do we still retain it? The woman Lurena has escaped It's just a precaution May I ask you an impertinent question? If you don't mind an impertinent answer I have taken on the shape of your species I use yourwords, and yet I cannot understand you The woman Lurena and the othertechnicians that were here, these I could understand But you Why have you betrayed your own kind? Why have you given us the means to eradicate your species? Eradicate humanity? Virtually Maybe I just don't like crowds LASERON BLAST Travis You are Travis? I am Travis Then who is this? His name is Blake His name WAS Blake GUNFIRE Where's Blake? I left him in here What's that? We seem to have stumbled over an alien invasion Which of these control sections handles the defence zone? I can't tellyou that You must know Now think, woman I can't tellyou because you haven't been cleared by security Well, neither had that She's been conditioned, Avon She wants to tellyou but she can't Come on Your people are welltrained They serve, as do we all How much longer? Each of these keys will close down one sector of the defence zone When I've connected this last one, you can begin My one regret is that they'll never know who really killed them Why are they just sitting there? They're waiting for someone to clearthat defence zone Do you think Blake knows what's happening? Why hasn't he come back yet? What are we supposed to do, Jenna? Give the alarm Terrific idea, who do you suggest we tell? Servalan Oh now, wait a minute I just hope Blake understands why we betrayed him Orac, I want you to punch through a message to the strategy computer in Space Command headquarters I want you to tell it that there's an alien battle fleet estimated at six hundred ships about to enter Federation space Give it these coordinates Tell it that the information comes from Blake on the Liberator Can you do that, Orac? I would remind you that I am not a communicator Your carrier beam is the fastest way to contact Servalan That is not the purpose for which it was developed Do it, you useless bunch of junk You got us into this mess, ""No cause for alarm'' you said, or have you forgotten? I have passed the message, as you requested The Space Command strategy computer is now registering the data It is finished Now you can open the way for ourfleet to enter The final act Information One sector of the defence zone has now been deactivated GUNFIRE GUNFIRE GUNFIRE Avon How bad is he? Bad enough Is he dead, Avon? Is Travis dead? GUNFIRE He is now Are you? I've had better days We must get him back to the ship No, the aliens were closing down the defence zone There must be a fleet out there We must warn the Federation From the ship The charges, Cally We cannot blow this place up Humanity is going to need allthe resources it can get Allthe charges are set, Blake, they'll blow in ten minutes We can't stop them now they're primed, it's too late Well get them out onto the surface In ten minutes? Try, Cally Help her, Avon You Do what you can for him When did this come in? It showed up on the strategy readout All right, Durkim Red One mobilisation You believe it? Allfighting ships to make maximum speed Patch this office into the fleet coordination suite Well, get on with it How many more? Three How long have we got? Two and a half minutes I forgot Try not to move about No, you don't understand There's another explosive charge Look, lie still You'll killyourself They don't know about it I've got to get it out I'll get it Tell me where it is I put it in section four on one of the panels All right Now lie still You'll have to hurry Come on, come on We've got a minute and fifteen seconds That's the last Move EXPLOSION Flagship Galileo reports galactic eighth fleet underway Estimate achieve coordinates in four hours Cruiser Beagle now estimating rendezvous in three hours and seventeen minutes Flotillas fourteen and sixteen confirm four hours and eight minutes But what happens in the meantime? I gave him my word To fight off that fleet until the Federation get here? That is what I promised Why, Avon? Why not? They are underway, they're moving towards the gap in the defence zone Zen, put it on visual Confirmed Well? Zen, battle computers to calculate intercept course and strike ranges Confirmed Put up the radiation flare shield; clearthe neutron blasters forfiring Neutron blasters are cleared forfiring Zen, put up the force wall Confirmed Why didn't you stay in the medical unit? Couldn't you bring yourself to trust me just this once? I thought I might be able to help In that condition? All right I'll go back Can you manage, alone? Yes Avon forwhat it is worth, I have always trusted you, from the very beginning Flotilla seventeen estimates two hours and six minutes Battle cruiser Newton reports coordinates achievable in one hour and seven minutes One minute to strike range We can't hold all of them They can't all come through that gap at once Stand by to fire Avon, this is stupid When did that ever stop us? Fire
Andwedidn'teven get itfirst hand.
There is onlyLurgen'sword.
Everybodyelsewho knew is eitherdead oramnesiac.
One clue Just one, and we have got it Why are you listening to this drivel, Blake? We can take Star One; let's get on with it Very stirring When did you become a believer? Are you just going to sit there? You have led them by the nose before 'Scuse me, are you going to answer her question? Show me someone who believes in anything and I will show you a fool I meant what I said on Goth, Avon We are not going to use Star One to rule the Federation; we are going to destroy it I never doubted that I never doubted yourfanaticism As far as I am concerned you can destroy whatever you like You can stir up a thousand revolutions; you can wade in blood up to your armpits Oh, and you can lead the rabble to victory, whateverthat might mean Just so long as there is an end to it When Star One is gone it is finished, Blake And I want it finished I want it over and done with I want to be free But you are free now, Avon I want to be free of him I never realised You really do hate me, don't you? When we have dealt with Star One, I willtake you back to Earth and then the Liberator is mine, agreed? Agreed Assuming the others go along with it Why should we? Yes, why should we? It's all a bit high handed if you ask me Liberator is approaching sector nine Navigation computers now require further instructions Well, do we look for Star One? We'llfinish what we set out to do Nothing else is settled Are we fanatics? Does it matter? Many, many people will die without Star One I know Are you sure that what we're going to do is justified? It has to be Don't you see, Cally? If we stop now then allwe have done is senseless killing and destruction Without purpose, without reason We have to win It's the only way I can be sure that I was right That you were right? Course for sector eleven is laid in Detectors on full range All readings are clear Weaponry system on standby Standard by six, Jenna Run course program, standard by six Confirm boundary Confirm Liberator is now crossing the theoretical boundary of the galaxy and is entering intergalactic space Increase speed to standard by twelve There's no doubt in your mind that he was telling the truth? None, Supreme Commander We didn't rush him He was telling the truth all right Very well, interrogate the rest of his team just to make sure, and try not to killthem DOOR OPENS Yes, Durkim, what is it? I find that just a little distracting, Supreme Commander What's allthis about? Time to defend ourselves Against whom? Each other Now what is it you want? Quickly, you're wasting time There's an emergency meeting of the High Council I am aware of that I've been summoned to appear before it You put Headquarters on full security restriction I can't get off this satellite without your direct clearance No "No' you agree with what I'm saying or "no' you refuse my clearance? Both Now get back to yourwork I am stillwaiting for yourtheories as to where Star One may be located That summons is a Presidential Order in Council I have to go Space Command no longer recognises the authority of the President or of the Council I don't think I understand We are the only force capable of handling the present emergency I doubt if even we can do that The President and those members of the Councilwho are unable to accept the realities of the situation are even now being arrested, as are those of our own people whose loyalties may be "divided' At a time like this complete unity is an absolute essential There isn't enough data I can't even guess where Star One is Then I suggest you try harder Or I might think you're part of the plot Plot? Obviously someone is trying to destroy the Federation, now perhaps it's you Why would I want to do that? 'Why' is always the most difficult question At the moment I am more concerned with 'how' Is she involved? You know her? Her name's Lurena, I think Isn't it? Ah, we were acquainted You were more than just acquaintances That's a long time ago She emigrated to one of the frontierworlds She's on Star One She can't be, it's unmanned The systems are automatic A group of scientists and technicians elected to spend the rest of their lives refining, checking and guarding the systems Knowing they could never leave, never come home? That's appalling Inspiring, surely? In the best tradition of selfless devotion to the Federation That's your answerthen Some or all of them have changed their minds No They were all screened and conditioned very carefully by our best psycho manipulation teams None of the group could attempt to damage the systems, identify the location, or contact anyone outside Star One without going obviously insane How can you be certain of that? The head of the psycho manipulation team has just finished, "reassuring' my interrogators So whatever is happening on Star One is happening against herwill There's nothing I can do You get back to work, Durkim She may still have a chance If we can find her in time May I offer you my personal congratulations, and loyalty, Madame President? COMMUNICATOR CHIME - Supreme Commander? What is it? Blake and his crew The strategy programs have all come up blank on the possible courses they took Run them again But, Supreme Commander Run them again I will not be President of a ruined empire What are you doing? What are you doing? Just a routine check, Lurena Is that why you're using a laser probe? I've been watching you, Stott I know Your behaviour has been very suspicious for some time now Forgive me, Lurena, but, well, we've all noticed that you seem to be under some kind of stress There was nothing wrong with that control circuit; I checked it myself an hour ago That's why I was checking it again You think I don't know what I'm doing? I'm afraid that's what we allthink Someone's been tampering with the systems, it can only be you Your conditioning, a reaction to it You're not to blame You're ill, that's all Stay where you are, or I'll kill him We only want to help you, Lurena Please, put down the gun Yes, you'd like that wouldn't you? Stay where you are Do as she says, Parton I see it now, you're all in this together That's impossible; you know that's impossible, look Lurena You're all against me All of you Whispering, plotting behind my back You want to kill me We want to help you Don't move Please, Lurena Get after her Find her before she does any more damage And don't botherto bring her back Just kill her I was right; we should have done it as soon as we knew I didn't realise how far she'd got Now she's running around loose Well at least we know what to expect, anyway And after all, what can she do, alone? She is the last one This way! Anything on the detectors? No Jenna, how long beforewe reach Lurgen's coordinates? Eight minutes If there's anything there it should be showing by now Perhaps Star One doesn't come within detector range untilwe reach the coordinates Our detectors are betterthan anything the Federation have got We should be able to see it by now I think we can There, at the extreme edge of the range What is it? The readings say that it is a star Small, pale and very dense A white dwarf by the look of it You couldn't put a computer complex on that Could you? Hardly Does it have a planetary system? Probably not a system, more likely a single planet A single planet orbiting an isolated, dying star Star One Seems reasonable Have they found her? We've been through allthe control sectors, searched the storage rooms, living quarters Maybe she went out onto the surface? She won't last long if she has, there's nothing out there for her Better send a search party anyway We can't waste any more time on her Do it Shall I call off the search down here? Leave three to continue, send a party out onto the surface, put the rest back to work Don't be insolent Maintenance takes effort If we could revert to ourselves No, not while she's free If she realised, her conditioning might break down completely LOUD CLATTER Zhokov, I'm sorry, I Put the planet on visual Confirmed Looks like yet another garden paradise Surface conditions? The atmosphere is breathable Surface temperatures are low Calculations suggest that they rise above freezing point only during daylight hours at the equator Good It is? You like dead planets with dying suns? I do when I'm looking for a complex underground installation Jenna, program a course to orbit the planet's equator You don't have to explain it to me; I only came forthe ride With surface conditions like that where would you build the main installation? Course program laid in Maximum scan, Cally Look for anything unusual or out of place, sudden temperature variation, anything They're bound to have left some clue as to where they put that installation A doorwould be nice if you could manage it I'll do my best Preferably one marked 'Entrance' Ready on the scan, Jenna Run course program Confirmed Course program running I have been doing some calculations, if this is Star One If it is? First catch your computer, but all right it probably is, and that being the case the choice of location is fascinating I'm glad you're enjoying it The nearest large galaxy to our own is Andromeda So? So, this is the nearest point to Andromeda If anyone could cross intergalactic space in less than a lifetime we are now precisely upon the route that they would take What are you trying to say, Avon? I directed the detectors toward the Andromeda galaxy There are thousands of satellite generators out there, beyond Star One What? Even with the Federation's resources it must have taken them years That must be the biggest antimatter minefield ever put together Minefield, what minefield? Perhaps the intergalactic drive has been developed Question is, by whom? A defence zone to keep mankind in, or something else out Leeth Leeth What is it, Markov? The main entrance is open She must have come out afterwe did She followed us out She can't have got farthen Spread out, all of you Keep searching I don't like explosives, very crude Difficult to reason with a bomb Blake? They won't explode untilthey are primed And if it was faulty? Bit late to complain to the manufacturer Scanners are showing a temperature variation From the pattern it could almost be the door you were talking about I think it was a trick What was? The open door I think she doubled back I don't think she's out here at all No, she wouldn't have been thinking clearly enough forthat I hope you're right, but we're not really sure how they function under heavy stress Come on Stationary orbit is established and confirmed Teleport, Vila Avon? Yes Watch yourselves, Blake's rushing things I get the feeling he's not giving himself time to think Blake is an idealist, Jenna He cannot afford to think Down and safe Defences? They've relied on secrecy, I don't think they've tricked the place out but it won't do any harm to be careful Let's look forthat entrance I thought this place was unmanned More idealists They must have volunteered to be marooned for life Yes, it makes you proud to be human, doesn't it? What are they doing here? Making sure everything works, presumably What now? Follow them One door As requested Well done, Cally It isn't marked 'Entrance' Nobody's perfect FALLING GRAVEL Avon, it's a trap Not a very friendly welcome Shallwe go? I'm sure whoever is in charge would wish to speak with us Vila, teleport Cally and Blake, quickly Right Come on, come on Avon Well? There's no response What's going on, where are they? Inside It must be shielded Do you want to come up? No Avon What is it,Jenna? There's a ship, it's coming in for a surface landing Have they spotted you? I've got the detector shield up What sort of a ship is it? I don't know, it's a new type to me Looks like it's coming down somewhere near you, though Do you want to come up now? No, let's see who else knows about this place Are you going to tell us what's going on down there? Avon Avon! RETROS FIRING Vila, I need you in here to stand by the weaponry system What about the teleport? I'll put Orac on it He's not as quick as we are We'll have to live with that You mean they will Just get on with it Orac, operate the teleport as instructed Oh, very well And check that intergalactic defence zone I want everything you can find out about it, including why it's there You're here, then Apparently I was told you would be alone Obviously you were misinformed Who is this woman? She is my mother May I see your identification? What for? After all, who else knows about this place? I was told you could be difficult You seem to have been told rather a lot about me I was interested I am not unfamiliarwith traitors, but the scale of yourtreachery is unusual And your insistence on carrying out the final act personally must make you unique Your disapprovalwould carry more conviction if you were not going to benefit from my treachery Now when do I get to perform the final act? Which of your hands is artificial? This one Rather good, don't you think? And the eye patch, what happened to that? Hold it, touch that and I'll drop you where you stand Well, now Travis Fancy meeting you here Put the gun down, Avon, it's too late to stop it now Convince me Be polite and I may let you live Be informative and I may let you die You'llwant that after I've shot off an arm and a leg ortwo I thought you were supposed to be the one with brains? Brains but no heart Now talk or scream, Travis, the choice is yours My preliminary examination of the defence zone indicates that it is made up of a network of satellite generators We could have told you that Each of which performs a dual function; namely, to indicate the approach of an intruder and then to destroy that intruder by a powerful anti matter implosion So it's a combined alarm system and minefield Correct If I may continue? He always makes me feel as if I should be taking notes If I may continue? The defence zone is controlled and monitored from the computer complex known as Star One Ahh A cursory examination of the relevant Star One systems indicates that this defence zone is one of a number of such zones located at strategic points on the rim of that section of the galaxy colonised by mankind Then they are expecting an invasion? A hoard of hairy aliens There is no logical reason why aliens should be hairy There is no logical reason why people should be hairy I don't like this Jenna; we could be sitting in the front line I see no cause for alarm From the design and construction patterns it would appear that the defence zones have been built up very gradually over a long period of time My conclusion is that they are merely precautionary rather than a response to some specific threat Well if there's no threat why botherwith precautions? If the resources are available to eliminate even the vaguest threat, it would seem logical to do so I'd agree with that What do you call a vague threat? A contact, sometime in the past, either a communication or a physical contact A physical contact? A scoutship, perhaps A scoutship, perhaps Like that one down on the surface now, perhaps Zen, put the battle computers online Confirmed, battle computers are online Give me maximum available range on the detectors What do you think is going on? Well, they were waiting for Travis, so obviously he's expected to take over Except there's more to it than that Yes, the "final act' Well, whateverthat is we've got a final act of our own to arrange You work yourway through the other control rooms If anyone questions you be arrogant, you're with Travis, and he's about to become Emperor of the galaxy What about you? I'llwait for Stott As long as he thinks I am Travis we'll have no problems Besides I might find even out the rest of it I'm going to set this timerfor one hour Most of the systems have been modified already The chaos and destruction should already be sufficient to ensure that resistance is slight When willyou be ready forthe ultimatum? Ultimatum? Laying out of ourterms forthe restoration of order Policy is not our concern, Travis It is sufficient to serve I hope these people will really do as you tellthem, Travis They will The first one who doesn't will cost you your head Don't move Damn They're all dead Yes, I can see that Did you killthem? No They are trying to kill me They have a novel approach to the job You don't understand In here they're dead, but out there, out there they're still alive, walking about Trying to killyou? Yes Yes Look out GUNFIRE What are they? Unfriendly Which is fortunate, really They'd be difficult to love Come on Nothing There's nothing there I knew we were panicking unnecessarily Alien hordes, I mean to say There they are Where? Where? Just coming into detector range They're too far off to be sure They could be meteors They're ships No, they couldn't be, there's too many of them That's a cloud of meteors Well, come on Jenna, you can see that, admit it That's a cloud of big meteors Very big meteors And it's slowing down They know about the defence zone Jenna, let's run for it Is it nearly complete? As you see Constructing the circuits required to deactivate the defence zone was difficult, but we were able to keep the technicians alive long enough to duplicate their entire brain patterns as well as their physical shape Their physical shape? Why do we still retain it? The woman Lurena has escaped It's just a precaution May I ask you an impertinent question? If you don't mind an impertinent answer I have taken on the shape of your species I use yourwords, and yet I cannot understand you The woman Lurena and the othertechnicians that were here, these I could understand But you Why have you betrayed your own kind? Why have you given us the means to eradicate your species? Eradicate humanity? Virtually Maybe I just don't like crowds LASERON BLAST Travis You are Travis? I am Travis Then who is this? His name is Blake His name WAS Blake GUNFIRE Where's Blake? I left him in here What's that? We seem to have stumbled over an alien invasion Which of these control sections handles the defence zone? I can't tellyou that You must know Now think, woman I can't tellyou because you haven't been cleared by security Well, neither had that She's been conditioned, Avon She wants to tellyou but she can't Come on Your people are welltrained They serve, as do we all How much longer? Each of these keys will close down one sector of the defence zone When I've connected this last one, you can begin My one regret is that they'll never know who really killed them Why are they just sitting there? They're waiting for someone to clearthat defence zone Do you think Blake knows what's happening? Why hasn't he come back yet? What are we supposed to do, Jenna? Give the alarm Terrific idea, who do you suggest we tell? Servalan Oh now, wait a minute I just hope Blake understands why we betrayed him Orac, I want you to punch through a message to the strategy computer in Space Command headquarters I want you to tell it that there's an alien battle fleet estimated at six hundred ships about to enter Federation space Give it these coordinates Tell it that the information comes from Blake on the Liberator Can you do that, Orac? I would remind you that I am not a communicator Your carrier beam is the fastest way to contact Servalan That is not the purpose for which it was developed Do it, you useless bunch of junk You got us into this mess, ""No cause for alarm'' you said, or have you forgotten? I have passed the message, as you requested The Space Command strategy computer is now registering the data It is finished Now you can open the way for ourfleet to enter The final act Information One sector of the defence zone has now been deactivated GUNFIRE GUNFIRE GUNFIRE Avon How bad is he? Bad enough Is he dead, Avon? Is Travis dead? GUNFIRE He is now Are you? I've had better days We must get him back to the ship No, the aliens were closing down the defence zone There must be a fleet out there We must warn the Federation From the ship The charges, Cally We cannot blow this place up Humanity is going to need allthe resources it can get Allthe charges are set, Blake, they'll blow in ten minutes We can't stop them now they're primed, it's too late Well get them out onto the surface In ten minutes? Try, Cally Help her, Avon You Do what you can for him When did this come in? It showed up on the strategy readout All right, Durkim Red One mobilisation You believe it? Allfighting ships to make maximum speed Patch this office into the fleet coordination suite Well, get on with it How many more? Three How long have we got? Two and a half minutes I forgot Try not to move about No, you don't understand There's another explosive charge Look, lie still You'll killyourself They don't know about it I've got to get it out I'll get it Tell me where it is I put it in section four on one of the panels All right Now lie still You'll have to hurry Come on, come on We've got a minute and fifteen seconds That's the last Move EXPLOSION Flagship Galileo reports galactic eighth fleet underway Estimate achieve coordinates in four hours Cruiser Beagle now estimating rendezvous in three hours and seventeen minutes Flotillas fourteen and sixteen confirm four hours and eight minutes But what happens in the meantime? I gave him my word To fight off that fleet until the Federation get here? That is what I promised Why, Avon? Why not? They are underway, they're moving towards the gap in the defence zone Zen, put it on visual Confirmed Well? Zen, battle computers to calculate intercept course and strike ranges Confirmed Put up the radiation flare shield; clearthe neutron blasters forfiring Neutron blasters are cleared forfiring Zen, put up the force wall Confirmed Why didn't you stay in the medical unit? Couldn't you bring yourself to trust me just this once? I thought I might be able to help In that condition? All right I'll go back Can you manage, alone? Yes Avon forwhat it is worth, I have always trusted you, from the very beginning Flotilla seventeen estimates two hours and six minutes Battle cruiser Newton reports coordinates achievable in one hour and seven minutes One minute to strike range We can't hold all of them They can't all come through that gap at once Stand by to fire Avon, this is stupid When did that ever stop us? Fire