- Herculanium. - TARRANT: So you can't cut it?
- Can't cut it, burn it, blast it. - Can you open it?
- You can or you can't? - Very difficult.
DAYNA: Very necessary.
Unless you feel like living on nuts and berries for the rest of your life.
- Eh? - Food, Vila.
What we've got will last us maybe three weeks if you can't open that door.
We can't get back to Scorpio and without that ship
we're as much prisoners here as we were on Terminal.
(Bleeping)
I'm not sure about this.
I know it's a voice recognition input, but why is it just here?
- Well, can't you bypass it? - No, they're foolproof.
- Perhaps... - And before you say it, they're Avon-proof, too.
I'll look for him anyway.
Orac! Orac!
At the present stage of development, the chances of achieving critical restructure
are less than 1 1%.
Never mind that, Orac, I need teleport now.
Giving due consideration to the probabilities
I must assume that your request is a frivolous one.
What request?
Avon, where are you? What do you want?
DAYNA: Avon, can you hear me?
Avon, can you hear...
Avon?
Well, there's always rodents of one sort or another.
I'm a growing lad, Vila. Rats are not the answer to my diet.
But, Orac, can you get a fix on him?
The locator fixing device was an integral part of his transceiver
- which is no longer operating. - Problem?
Something's happened to Avon and Orac's being difficult.
I am not being difficult, but functioning according to request.
- What happened to the transceiver? - It is no longer functioning.
- Yes, but why? - There is a 72% probability
that it was damaged by a hostile agency.
- What was the last thing he said? - He requested immediate teleportation.
- But the teleport doesn't work. - Precisely.
Orac, give us a fix on Avon's last known position.
Grid 290 by 428.
- Nothing. - There, zoom in on that.
- Right, I'm going to take a look. - Yes, me, too.
- What about me? - There's a door to open, remember?
And there's a lady with a gun wandering about, remember?
Soolin's nowhere on the base, Vila. You're safe.
Hey! If she's out on the surface, maybe she got Avon.
Who is he do you think?
He must have come in on the Scorpio. There's no other way.
- Should we check? - I shall. You follow.
Sir, we have the intruder.
- His equipment and gun. - Oh, bring him in, bring him in.
- Let's see what you've got. - Bring him in.
Well, don't just stand there, woman. Bring meat! Ale!
- You have a fetching way with women. - Who are you to address me like some joker?
- My name is Avon. - I don't care what you call yourself.
I am Gunn Sar, chief of the Hommiks.
I rule by right of challenge,
which means I'm the biggest, toughest meanest son of a Seska on this planet.
- I believe you. - You'd better.
- What's the tally of challenges? - 25 dead and one missing, sir.
Oh, come on, Cato. Don't quibble. Marquin fell backwards off the cliff.
- Yes, sir. - So he's dead.
Like, you can't say someone's missing as such,
not when they've taken a dive into a bottomless gorge.
No, sir.
So, it's 26 dead.
The Council ruled it was 25, sir, and one missing.
25 men lie dead who tried to stand against me.
And one, if he's not still falling, is no more than a greasy spot on the rocks, right?
- Impressive. - GUNN SAR: You killed two men.
If I'd known we were keeping score, I would have brought more ammunition.
- What were you doing on my land? - Your land?
With instruments and tools, speaking devices.
A petroscope.
You know what it is?
What were you looking for?
- Some crystals, nothing of any consequence. - What crystals?
- Dynamon. - Dynamon?
Dynamon? You look like a man.
You smell like a man.
So?
So, what do you want with dynamon?
Orac was right. I'd say there was a hostile agency, wouldn't you?
Avon!
- Shall I hold this out of the way? - Yes, thank you, if you wouldn't mind.
(Exclaiming in pain)
I am sorry, I didn't mean to startle you.
I thought you were a lady gunfighter.
Just a minute, who are you? Where do you come from?
Let me. I am Pella, of the Seska people.
- Does this hurt? - It did. How did you get in?
The secondary hatch was open.
Your hand is badly bruised. Here.
In 10 minutes, the pain and the bruise will be gone.
- Do you think you can open the door? - I can open the lock.
- And can you break the computer code? - No, but Avon can.
- You seem to know a lot about it? - The only way off this planet is through that door.
- Where is Avon? - Outside.
- Are the others looking for him? - Yes, we think he may have had an accident.
- How do you know about the others? - Your friend hasn't had an accident.
- He's in trouble. The Hommiks have taken him. - Hommiks?
- Is that bad? - For Avon, very.
- So, you want dynamon crystals? - Yes.
- They're rare. - So I've been told.
So rare, there aren't any. What there was have all been dug up.
- Right? - I'll take your word for it.
Anyway, they're useless. Expensive baubles for the ladies.
So, why do you want them?
- My computer suggested they might be useful. - Your computer!
Not your books or your mates or your woman or your assistant, but your computer.
You talk to computers? You understand computers?
AVON: Don't you?
Watch what you're doing, you snivelling sack of offal!
So, you want to be number 27?
Don't you mean number 26?
Go! Make preparation.
So there's two tribes, the Hommiks and the Seskas?
- The Seska are not a tribe. - Not too close.
The gap is all connected with the thickness of the door.
So what's the difference between Seskas and Hommiks?
- How do you know how thick it is? - By the stress pattern.
- I don't see anything. - Not without this you won't.
- Oh, I see. And what does that tell you? - The weight of the door.
I know the height, the width, what it's made of, how dense it is.
- And the computer works it out? - Computer? Who needs computers?
- I just have to look at it. - You must be very clever.
That's what I keep telling everyone. They even believed me in CF-1.
- CF-1? - A sort of academy, when I was a boy.
They chose me as technical advisor for the escape.
Escape? From an academy?
- Perhaps academy was the wrong word. - What about this?
- Do you know what it is? - Oh, yes. I just don't know what it's for.
And they didn't teach this in...academy?
There's a switch.
When the door is closed, every 48 hours, Dorian must say a code word to reset the timing.
Is that 48 hours standard time?
Earth standard time. This planet is very like Earth, I think.
- That is why the Seska came here. - And what happens if Dorian
- doesn't reset the switch? - There's a nuclear compression charge.
- Yes, there would be. - The whole base would...
Oh, well. Nuts and berries it is, then.
- Nuts and berries? - Or rodents.
- You speak like a Hommik. - What do you eat, then?
- We have a hydroponic dome. - And the nutrients?
Dorian brings them from Onus Two.
Well, you better start thinking nuts and berries, then.
- Dorian's dead. - Dead?
200 years, but he made it in the end. I didn't think anyone would be sorry.
Least of all me.
This could go at any time, couldn't it?
(Beeping)
I must go.
No, wait, what about this?
Pella...
I'm sorry, Vila, truly, but I must go.
Don't let me stop you.
Pella, quickly, you must hurry. The others are at the main entrance.
- Orac knows more than he's saying. - So what do we do?
- You can't put thumbscrews on a computer. - Oh, he'll answer.
We just have to ask the right questions, that's all.
- Did you see her? - Who?
Pella, a young woman. She was here a moment ago.
- What are you talking about? - We've got to get out of here.
This whole place... There's a nuclear compression charge, we've got to move.
- Vila, take it easy. - It could go at any time!
Let's just take one thing at a time. This young woman...
I am Gunn Sar, slayer of Mavarik. Lord of the Hommiks.
I rule by the strength of my right arm and by my left arm and by the...
- When Gunn Sar dies in combat, the victor is Lord. - ALL: Hurray!
- I've got to say all that. - Tradition.
Well, old Mavarik was 63. He had it coming anyway.
Gunn Sar will live!
- ALL: Gunn Sar will live! - Pick a weapon.
I'll have a neutron blaster.
No neutron blasters.
- In that case I'll have a glove. - A glove?
- A glove. - A glove.
- Get up, Gunn Sar. - Kill him.
(Gunn Sar groaning)
Kill him, Gunn Sar.
Get him, Gunn Sar!
- Come on. - Come on.
(Bleeping)
An ordinary domestic heliofusion rod. You haven't seen one, have you?
Don't! All that underground heat, light, power.
And you never considered where it came from.
Put that thing back where it came from. Use his glove.
The one being held by the Hommiks is called Avon.
Well, does he concern us?
- Our future depends on him. Dorian is dead. - Dead?
- But the Scorpio? - Without Avon, the Scorpio is lost.
Watch him.
I've checked the secondary hatch. Locked, from the inside.
- So she used the main entrance. - We used the main entrance. It was locked.
Besides, if she came in that way, she would have tripped the surveillance alarm.
- Then she's still on the base. - I've checked. There's nobody here.
All right, I'm going mad.
Comes of drinking and talking to myself.
I could be lying of course. Have you considered that?
Vila, we're not accusing you of lying or going mad. We just want to know how she got out.
- If she was here. - And how she got in.
I told you, the secondary hatch was open and she...
It wasn't. I checked them both this morning.
Well, look at this, I dropped the lance body right across it and the bruise...
I can't see any bruise.
No.
Must be brain warp. Think I'll just go off and die somewhere.
- Vila. - What?
- The door. - Which door?
The door to the landing silo, how long before you free the lock?
Oh, that.
I'll need to switch the lance on. Course, we still need Avon.
Have you ever seen a nuclear compression charge go off?
Everything gets sucked in. It's like a mini black hole.
Looks good. From a distance.
- Do you think I should go with him in case... - In case what? He has got brain warp?
- Or a flask of booze. - No, leave him.
That makes a difference, doesn't it?
If you get the chance, Kate, go.
Yes, all right, but I agree with Vila. I think we should get out of here.
Abandon Scorpio when there's every chance we can save her?
Look, we don't know when the place is going up, we could have hours.
- Or even minutes. - Seconds.
If we can get through the door, we can operate the switch manually.
Pretend it's not there, just walk through it?
That's what your Seska friend did with the hatches.
- Perhaps she can show us how it's done. - Tarrant, it's serious.
I'm being serious. Orac!
Is it possible for a living person to pass through a solid, a hatch,
without there being any material disturbance?
- The process is called teleportation. - Oh, well, nothing like stating the obvious.
Could a person just teleport themselves as an act of will?
No, unless directed by an outside agency,
matter transmuted to energy will merely dissipate at random.
Could this have done it without us knowing?
I am exploring the possibility. Without a co-radiating crystal to focus the beam,
the mechanism will operate at.001% efficiency.
Orac, a woman was inside this base and she's not inside it now.
Given that the hatch remained locked from the inside, how would she get out?
The logical alternatives are within the bounds of human reasoning.
I suggest you consider them and leave me in peace to reflect on those matters which are not.
Hey!
No! Let me go. No!
(Screams)
Don't get too comfortable now, we'll be back for you just as soon as the surgery is free.
Avon?
You are Avon, aren't you?
Perhaps I was somewhere else when they introduced us.
- You've been hurt. - Well, you could say that.
However, the nuclear compression charge is set to detonate in precisely
- three hours 24 minutes. - So you've got to get that door open fast.
- How long? - The lance will be through in about an hour.
But there's still the computer code. We still need Avon.
Do we? Orac, can you interpret and break the computer code?
The code sequence is the numerical value of the letters contained in the word "Narcissus".
- No problem. - However, the device has a secondary trip relay.
When the door is opened, the charge will detonate automatically.
Are you telling us there's no way to reach that override switch?
One way. The same way by which a woman passed through a hatch
which was later seen to be locked from the inside.
- How do we find that woman? - The information you require
is on the chronicle discs in the records locker.
Now will you please return me to the control room where I have work to do?
- Can you walk? - Very likely.
But just at the moment I can't think of too many places to go.
There was a girl with me when we were captured. We've got to find her.
She's very young. They're going to operate on her.
- And then on me. - Operate? Why?
So that we will no longer be Seska.
- Seska? - When our spirit is broken, we give them sons.
The daughters are left to die on the hillside.
Sometimes we are able to find them in time.
The Hommiks are regressives.
They reverted to primitive tribalism hundreds of years ago. It's all they know.
Now please, if you care at all, will you help me with this door?
- There's a large bolt on the other side. - The door is open.
But there's something blocking it.
Or should I say someone?
- How do you suppose this happened? - Please, we must hurry.
Have you noticed that they're all women?
So far we haven't seen a single man on these discs.
These are all that's left.
It's as though history stops 20 years ago. This is the last.
- Has Orac scanned them? - Hm. For all the good it does us.
The only person he treats with any respect is Avon.
Interim report concerning the last engagement in the battle for A-XRidge.
At 08539, defence losses numbered 18 dead and 7 taken.
Estimated Hommik losses: 0.
At 0861 1, a nucleic burster was released
in the procreation vault contaminating the Seska seminal stocks.
(Metallic thudding)
Survival threshold has been passed, with Seska strength now numbering 94,
which includes 52 infants.
Maravik, conducting the Hommik deployment from the safety of his A-FHill HQ,
has called for an unconditional surrender.
A rejection is already being drafted, but there is a growing feeling
among the Seska remnant that women, even with the power we have could never...
The Seskas are women. All of them are women.
And presumably the Hommiks were men. Looks like it was a war between the sexes.
- And the men were winning. - What's a nucleic burster?
A radiation flare. Very dirty. Last thing you'd want in a procreation chamber.
TARRANT: Wait a moment.
(Disc rewinding)
...conducting the Hommik deployment from the safety of his A-FHill HQ...
- A-F Hill? A-X Ridge? - That's what the lady said.
Well, then we can trace it back. All we need is the original point of reference.
One of us will have to ask Orac.
I've finished. She'll sleep now.
Nina! Why have you done this?
(Groaning)
Nina, what have they done to you?
- How could you be a part of this? - Pella, never mind. We're too late. Let's go.
I can't leave Nina. Nina, come with us. We can escape.
- And how would I live? - We have food. You don't need the Hommiks.
- Nor do I need Dorian. - Pella, come on!
- Dorian's dead. - Then so are you.
- Gunn Sar feeds me. Why should I leave? - Because you are Seska.
Nina, these people, they're good. We can get off this planet.
I don't want to get off the planet. I don't want to go anywhere.
- Pella! - Now please. I have my duties to attend to.
I feel sorry for you, Nina. You were a Seska...
but more than that you were a great Seska.
And now, I am a woman.
I'll take that.
- It isn't yours. - Nor is it yours. But it doesn't matter whose it is.
- Give it to me. - No.
Then I'm going to have to take it.
I don't want to hurt you, Avon.
Oh, it's good.
- But it's not good enough. - Don't make me do it again.
You must, though. Mustn't you?
Oh, it hurts, Pella. But I will win.
- There's not much left, is there? - Enough.
You see, Pella, it's your strength and however you use it,
a man's will always be greater.
Unfair, perhaps, but biologically unavoidable.
I'm going now, Pella, before your friend Nina calls out the guard.
- Is it done? - Yes, she's sleeping.
- Any problems? - No. Oh, except your prisoners escaped.
- What! - It's all right. They won't go far, I alerted security.
Security.
- The Seska's name is Pella. - So?
- I remember her being born. - Hm.
- She asked me to go with them. - Go where?
- Escape. - So, why didn't you?
- How much further is it? - 15 minutes.
That'll leave us an hour and a half. And I'm tired already.
- You didn't need to come, Vila. - I didn't need to stay.
I get lonely, you know.
Security alert. Intruders at A-F 43. Approach and apprehend.
Interesting.
- How did you find this place? - There had to be a computer room.
- But it's... - Concealed? Yes.
But then I've had a little experience in these things.
Oh, by the way, I shouldn't rely too heavily on your security.
- It has...weaknesses. - Gunn Sar?
Gunn Sar doesn't know. But he doesn't know a lot of things, does he?
- He is our leader. - And a very good one, if a little...
- Stupid? - Well, I didn't like to say it.
He thinks we have scouts posted everywhere and runners.
Impractical. So why do you keep up the illusion?
For the Hommiks. The people.
If they see this, they'll want more. Hydroponic food, machines, neutron blasters.
And you don't have them to give.
- Because your civilisation died a long time ago. - Yes.
- What killed it? - A war.
Everything was lost. Industry, people.
Afterwards, the Council of Survivors decreed that we should start again
from the very beginning.
Wooden tools, flint arrowheads, the wheel.
Ten thousand years' advancement destroyed in a day.
- And this? - Overlooked.
It's self-maintained. Powered by our sun, it will last forever.
This generation, even Gunn Sar, believes it to be some kind of magic
that keeps the chambers light and warm.
- A computer is like some ancient god to them. - What about the Seskas?
The Seskas? Why do you...
Why?
PELLA: Yes, Avon, why?
I didn't.
Your finger was on the trigger. You killed him.
I didn't, Pella.
But you did, didn't you?
Yes, if you say so, Avon, I killed him.
You are nothing more than a Hommik, Avon.
- The guard have brought in some more intruders. - More?
What is this, an invasion?
Can't I have a minute's peace and recreation without intruders bursting in all the time?
Well, don't just stand there. Bring them in, bring them in.
MAN: Bring them in.
- What do you want? - VILA: A second chance?
- We're from... - I don't care where you're from.
I am Gunn Sar, chief of the Hommiks and I'm getting very weary of...
of...
- Nina, where's Cato when I need him? - I'll bring him.
I am Gunn Sar, chief of all the Hommiks, I rule by right of challenge.
- And 26 lie dead... - So I challenge you.
What?
I challenge you. You rule by right of challenge. I challenge that rule.
(Gunn Sar laughing)
Not one of your better ideas, Dayna.
- Do you accept my challenge? - Don't be foolish.
- You're... Well, you're a... - A woman?
Yes. Take a good look.
All right, woman, you just made a very big mistake.
- Nina! - Kate!
But you're so... You've grown up.
I thought you were dead.
- What are you doing here? - I'm the wife of Gunn Sar.
- Wife? But you're a Seska. - No, I'm a woman.
(Bells ringing)
You must go, quickly.
- Soon there will be Hommiks everywhere. - What is that? What's happening?
It's a call to the arena. Someone has just been stupid enough to challenge my husband.
Choose your weapon.
(Gunn Sar laughing)
Go on, Gunn Sar.
Come on, Gunn Sar.
(Cheering)
- Kill her. - Come on, Gunn Sar.
Get her.
Get her, Gunn Sar. Get her!
Come on.
Come on, kill her, Gunn Sar.
(Gunn Sar groaning)
- Kill her, Gunn Sar. - Move, Gunn Sar, move.
- Finish her! - Get her, Gunn Sar.
- I thought you were dead. - I nearly was.
Go on, Gunn Sar.
Kill, Gunn Sar. Get in there, Gunn Sar.
PELLA: The black woman must win. KATE: I know.
Get up, Gunn Sar!
Kill her.
Go on, Gunn Sar. Kill her.
Come on, Gunn Sar.
- Two Seskas and a woman against Gunn Sar? - It is enough.
Now.
Don't make a fuss, Dayna. Just walk and keep on walking.
(Sobbing)
Now the people shall leave this place, Gunn Sar.
We shall seek a new home, far from here.
A new way of life.
Orac, in 16 minutes this base will be destroyed and you with it.
Is there anything logically more important than trying to stop that happening?
Yes. The most logical course of action is to transport me to safety with all due urgency.
- He's grovelling! - We're not going anywhere, Orac,
until you give me straight answers to two questions.
One, how did the Seska woman get out of here?
And two, how does that method enable us to deactivate the nuclear compression charge?
Answers: One, the woman made her exit via the secondary hatch.
It was locked from the inside.
The hatch was unlocked and locked again from the outside by telekinesis.
Telekinesis?
The power to move objects at a distance using only the mind...
Yes, we know what it means.
And yet you fail to see it as the only logical explanation and the means
by which the manual override switch may be operated to cancel
the nuclear compression charge.
Now, will you kindly remove me to a place not closer than 742 metres
from the launch chamber door.
Orac, telekinesis doesn't work, it's a myth.
The human brain doesn't generate enough energy.
The human brain does not need to generate energy.
There is adequate energy elsewhere in the body.
The brain merely directs it,
given the in-grafted co-radiating crystal necessary to focus the beam.
That's a very clever machine.
Pella!
- No need to ask how you got in. - Telekinesis.
KATE: We apologise for startling you, but there isn't much time.
- 13 minutes. - Shall we go?
- Wait. Why should you care? - Does it matter?
We care because the Scorpio is our only contact with civilisation.
Without it, we become like the Hommiks. We need nutrients for our food process.
Now let's just be clear about this. The Scorpio is our ship.
- 12 minutes! - If that charge goes off, it won't be anyone's ship.
In return for nutrients,
we offer what we offered Dorian. Technical assistance.
The Seska are specialists in tele-ergonomics and energy transference.
- What, a teleport system of.003% efficiency? - Tarrant!
It's a matter of time, that's all. The teleport is difficult.
- The Seska have worked on it for generations. - How many Seska are there?
- We are the Seska. - 11 minutes!
- Yes, but what about the others? - There aren't any others.
Last week we were five. This morning, three.
And now we are two.
- 10 and 3/4 minutes! - Let's go.
The lock is free. Nine and a half minutes.
Just do your business with your tele-whatever.
Have you ever seen a nuclear black hole go off? It's like a mini compression charge.
Yes, I know I'm prattling. It's nerves. Nine and a quarter minutes.
- Well, Orac? - "Well"is not a question.
Don't play games. You know what I'm asking.
The answer is yes. With qualifications.
- Then qualify. - The feat of calculation was prodigious.
- The result imperfect. - Degree of imperfection?
Variably low.
You will be required to perform circuit adjustments.
Of course. Where?
- It's safe. - Is that it?
Yes.
- It doesn't feel any different. - Try it.
- You haven't made any mistakes? - No.
Try it.
Numerical Narcissus.
- That's it. - So why hasn't it opened?
I don't know.
AVON: I do.
Avon!
- Narcissus is not the code word. Orac made it up. - Why?
- Because that was my instruction. - You told Orac not to crack the code?
- Why do that? - For much the same reason as Dorian.
I didn't like the idea of Scorpio taking off without me.
- I'm sorry to spoil your plan, Pella. - Be careful, Avon.
I can very easily reset the detonator switch.
- But you can't change the timing. - What is all this about?
- Pella's ambition to take Scorpio. - What makes you think that?
On the inside of the landing silo there's a wheel that can be used
- to crank open this door manually. - Standard safety precaution.
Use the wheel to open the door and the nuclear compression charge won't detonate.
Unfortunately for Pella, her telekinesis was never powerful enough
to turn that wheel and her technical expertise couldn't develop a teleport system.
- Oh, but she is developing... - Quiet, Kate!
No, that's what she told Dorian.
That's why he's been feeding you. Dorian believed her, too.
- What about Orac? - Orac has been a little devious on my instruction.
Ever since I discovered that Dorian's last attempt at a teleport
- was really a tele-ergotron. - What is a tele-ergotron?
The controlled direction of pure energy.
In this case directed by Pella at the wheel inside the landing silo.
You've got a good brain, Avon...so use it. Open the door.
- What are you doing, Pella? - Keep out of this, Kate.
- That ship is mine. - Kill me and you'll never get to it.
Open the door, Avon.
That's an interesting choice of hostage.
The door!
Stop it, Pella!
(Kate screaming)
All right, Orac, where does the crystal go?
There is a cavity immediately behind the forward lens mechanism.
- Will it work? - There is a high probability.
- But you're not prepared to put a figure on it? - No.
- The launch doors are open. - Dayna, surveillance.
Orac, the coordinates might change suddenly.
- It is logical to assume so. - Launch thrusters are running.
Tracking on.
I've got the countdown.
12.
1 1.
10.
- That's Slave. - Nine.
Orac made contact and has overridden the security program.
Slave responds to anyone on the flight deck now.
Four. Three.
Two.
One.
DAYNA: Launched.
- Still tracking, Orac? - Of course.
All right, Orac.
Go.
That always was the easy answer for the man. The Hommik!
If you didn't want the answer, you shouldn't have asked the question.
- AVON: Xenon base, this is Scorpio. - We hear you, Avon.
Everything's under control. Why don't you join me?
How?
- Just tell Orac what you want. - That hasn't done us much good so far.
It's a problem, isn't it? You can have war between races,
war between cultures, war between planets.
But once you have war between the sexes, you eventually run out of people.
SLAVE: It is beyond my humble capacity to offer an opinion, Master.
Oh, that's very good. You may turn out to be my kind of computer after all.
I did notguarantee 100% success.
- Why is it always me? - Seems fairly obvious from where I'm standing.
Vila, are you all right?
VILA: Yes, listen, what do you think about having an extra person around for a while,
to sort of help out and so on?
- What do you think? - I think Soolin just came out of hiding.
Who are you talking about, Vila?
- He's talking about me. - You want to join us, is that it?
Why?
- Why not? Dorian's dead. - You give your allegiance easily.
I don't give my allegiance at all. I sell my skill.