"20 miles long by five miles wide." " 100 square miles of spaceship." " Signal decoded." "Let's hear it." "'Emergency, emergency, 'this is the commander of the spaceship Daria." "'A major catastrophe has occurred." "'Large areas of our ship are devastated." "'Thousands of our people are dead, hundreds sick and dying." "'We who survive will perish 'without urgent medical and material aid." "'Please help us." "Our life-type 'conforms to 4-5-0-X-2-9-4-H.'" "Kill it." "Let's see it close up." "We're picking up life-signs, Commander." " Maybe it's not too late, Commander." " What do you think, John?" "We'll need a team." "Paul, you'll assess material damage." "Helena, medical." "Victor, scientific." "Alan, put Eagle 1 on the pad for lift-off." "Ann, Sandra, keep all communication systems wide open." "Any response from that ship, relay it to us." "Kano, you take over." "'.." "Hundreds sick and dying." "We who survive will...'" "There is no sign of a way in, Commander." "Alan, there's 50 miles of ship." "Keep trying." "We're being drawn into the ship." "All Eagle's systems are smothered." "See if you can break the hold." "It's no use." "Eagle 1 calling Main Mission." "Eagle 1 calling Main Mission, do you read me?" "Eagle 1..." "Try internal." "See if we can raise any of the people on this ship." "Right." "It's useless." "Well, we're here." "But can we get out again?" " Well?" " It's all right." "Won't need those." "We have breathable atmosphere and a power source somewhere." "What happened to our communications?" "Radiation distortion." "Even our comlocks are affected." "This ship is saturated with atomic radiation." " Radiation?" " Yeah, but it's too weak to harm us." "And..." "Yes, life-signs are confirmed." "There is life somewhere on this ship." "Let's find it." "Well, here goes." "These two corridors should lead to the main areas of the ship." "Victor, you and I will take the one on the right." "Paul, you and Alan will take the left." "Helena, you and Ariel stay here by the Eagle." "If we don't make contact with the Darians, we'll rendezvous here at 1600 hours." "Now, let's see if we can get out of this place." "If there's trouble, let's hope the Darians understand our motives." "Let's go." "We're in for a long walk." "Ship like this, the size of a city, ought to be worth it." "That remains to be seen." " It's getting worse." " Yes." "Let's see how far we can get." "Bill." "Look." " Is it a door?" " I think you're right." "I'll try and move this." " We'll never get through this." " Yeah." "Right, let's go back." "Helena, shouldn't we wait till the others come back?" "We should." "Let's just take a look." "Back." "Are you..." "Can you speak?" "What is it?" "What's the matter?" "Bill!" "Reception committee?" "Lowry!" "Lowry!" "Enough!" "Take them away." "Wait!" "Wait, we came to help!" "Please!" "We came to help." "Please, please!" "Come on, there's no one here." "OK, now you were here when the others came, right?" "What..." "Which way?" "There?" "There?" "Paul, this opening wasn't here before." "No." "Will you show us?" "We need your help." "Please." "We'll protect you." "Are you recovered?" "Why did you attack us?" "We came to help." "You must understand that you're strangers." "We found you on our ship." "We had to know whether you were hostile." "Why the hell didn't you ask?" "We probed your mind and the mind of your friend." "We know all there is to know about you and your people," "Commander Koenig." "Who are you?" "Our people are called Darians." "This was our world, Daria." "I'm Kara, Director of Reconstruction on this ship." "Have you found the rest of my people?" "Your friend Bergman is resting." "We don't know where the others are." "We'll find them, but it may take time." "You must understand, Commander Koenig, that apart from this small area, our ship is a wilderness." " We picked up your signal." " That signal was triggered when all but one of our nuclear reactors exploded." "It's been transmitting ever since." " Ever since when?" " Ever since this disaster occurred, 900 years ago." "Only this part of the ship was shielded." "Out of 50,000 Darians, only 14 of us survived intact." "14?" "Not all died at once, of course." "Thousands survived the explosions." "But they were sick." "Irradiated." "And we came here to help." "We're far beyond the call for help that brought you here." "But your presence here is vital to our survival." "Mutant!" "No, Paul." "Leave him." "Leave him." "He's done what we asked." "He got us here." "Come on." "Help me!" "No!" "Help me!" "Mutant!" " Destroy him!" " Kill him!" "No!" "No!" "No." "Clear!" "Summon the spirits!" "Welcome." "I am Neman, Commander of this ship." " Have you found our people?" " Unfortunately, no." "We'd planned to rendezvous back at our ship." "There's no one there." "It's possible they are looking for you." " Believe me, we are doing our best." " And not succeeding." "Commander, we are few." "And see..." "The ship is large." "All right, I understand." "Please, follow me." "As Commander of the Alpha base on the moon, your people abide by your decision." "Has it occurred to you how similar our situations are?" "This ship, your moon." "Both of us victims of an unfortunate disaster." "We have that in common." "You know this ship was virtually destroyed." "You may recall a ship from Earth history." " You mean the Ark." " Yes." "This ship has a similar function." "To preserve the life and skills of our Darian race." "You see, our planet Daria no longer exists." "Is it not true that your planet Earth may too no longer exist?" "It's possible." "So your community may be all that is left of Earth's civilisation." "That too is possible." "But it's a possibility that you dare not ignore." "Maybe." "But it's also the incentive that spurs our will to survive." "But will you survive?" "You haven't answered me, Koenig." "Neman, we try not to anticipate the future." "Our concerns are with the present." "And for the present, yes, we survive." "But for how long?" "Your moon is lost." "At the mercy of all the random forces of deep space." "In time, your resources will give out, your people start to die." "You will all perish." "We have some way to go before we get to that point." "Commander Koenig, we are coming to the end of a thousand-year voyage." "Our main drive is undamaged." "The ship is programmed to reach our destination - a virgin planet where the Darian civilisation can begin again." "Don't you understand?" "We are offering your people a guarantee of survival." "Join us." "Share in the future on the new world that awaits our arrival." "I know your concern for the rest of your party." "I will personally supervise the search." "In the meantime, please, consider our offer." "Here in this sacred shrine of knowledge, we dedicate this perfect body." "We pledge her in the spirit of true science." "We pledge her in the light of clear knowledge and maintain that she is free of the mutant whom we abhor in all his manifestations." "This we pledge on the sacred book of Neman, maker of man!" "Father of spirits!" "To you, Neman, we, the survivors of Level Seven, offer this body!" "So that's it." "We throw in our lot with them and they let us share their new world." "Victor, it'll take them another hundred years to reach that planet." "A hundred years." "That's a very long time." "We certainly won't be around to see it." "No, but we could open up this ship." "Start families, prepare our people for the future." "It's very tempting, John." "After all, we can't go on as we are indefinitely." "It means abandoning Alpha, pooling our resources, and the question is, are we compatible?" "Can we complete the voyage with the Darians?" "All right, let's test it." "No." "Please, no." "On stun, you might hit her." " Alan!" " Let her go!" "They killed Lowry!" "Alan, look out!" "Paul, help me!" "And..." "Thank you." "I think I've located the airlock mechanism." "We should be able to fix it for controlled entry and exit." " Yeah?" "Good." " What's the matter?" "Er..." "I'm not sure." "We've established that the Darians are as human as we are." "Their food requirements are similar to ours." "These are the components we use to provide our food on Alpha." "They're processed and recycled to make them palatable." "These are the Darian requirements." "You see a different system but same requirements." "But now, look at their components." "No basic proteins, no amino acids... or trace elements." "No enzyme variants." "The Darians can't support life on these." "The Darian computer supplied the list and I checked it." "There are no reserves of those elements anywhere on this ship." " You've checked the recycling plant?" " Yes." "All of those essential elements are present and being constantly renewed." "If the Darians have no reserves on this ship..." "Just a minute." "I said there were no reserves of these elements on this ship." "That's not strictly correct." "There is one source where they could find those elements." "A human source." "Bodies?" "That's it, John." "Living human bodies." "Defiler of truth!" "Killer of spirit." "Enemy of Neman!" "Is it true?" "Does it matter where we get those elements from?" " It matters." " We would have told you." "You're civilised people." "Why?" "To live." "Doesn't it also matter how you live?" "Our experience on this ship has taught us the only truth - survival!" "You can't justify using the bodies of your own people to survive." "Oh, no." "Not our own people." "How could we?" "There are only fourteen true Darians on this ship." " The others." " What others?" "They exist. out there in the radioactive wilderness." "The descendants of the original survivors, left to die." "It was twenty years before we knew they'd survived." "You can't comprehend what we found." "A million years of civilisation wiped clean in one generation." "And what was left were..." "degenerate creatures." "Savage, mutant," " cannibal." " Why didn't you help them?" "They would have overwhelmed us." "But we tried to help them survive." "We taught them the rudiments of science, we gave them a god to believe in." "You gave them a god?" "A god who taught them to preserve only the fittest." "The weak, the sick, the mutant, were..." "Used as human fodder for your recycling plants!" "It only became necessary after our own resources ran out." "Don't you see?" "There were only fourteen of us." "We had to survive!" "You Darians value yourselves very highly." "Do you think we did it so Neman and I and the other Darians could live?" " Well, didn't you?" " No." "There's a greater survival." "Come." "I'll show you what it is." "Spirit, a sign." "Forgive us." "Spirit of knowledge, protect us." "Spirit of Neman, preserve us." "Don't try it!" "Spirit!" "This is no spirit." "Look!" "They have deceived you!" "He's a man!" "He's a man like you!" "He's a man like me!" "Tell them." "Tell them, so help me, or I'll throw you to them!" "No, no please." "Tell them!" " It is true." " Louder!" "It is true." "I am no spirit!" "Let me go." "Right." "You know where the rest of my people are?" " Yes, yes." " You'll take us to them?" "Right." "Now he will take us to the place of the false spirits." "Who will follow?" "Who of you will follow?" "Our mission is to survive this voyage." "Not for ourselves but for this." "A gene bank, that contains the undamaged genetic material of our race." "A double helix." "The same basic genetic material of our species." "Then you'll realise how important it is to us." "We managed to preserve it before radiation irreparably damaged our people." "With it we can build up our race again." "Pure, healthy Darians." "That's why we need you, John Koenig." "You have the resources that we need to complete our voyage and save our race." "You seem to have managed without us." "Not for much longer." "The mutant survivors are dying faster than they can replace themselves." "Once they die, all life on this ship perishes." "And with it a million years of civilisation." "Join us, John Koenig." "Put an end to this terrible thing we've had to do." "It will guarantee our survival and your future." "We do nothing until we find the rest of my people." "Paul!" " Commander!" " Professor." " Where are the others?" " They've got Helena." " She's around here somewhere." " Lowry?" " Lowry's dead." " Carter?" "I don't know." "We got separated back there." "Helena has to be this way." "Hey, you want to run away now you know the truth?" "Well, come on." "Move it." "What is this?" "You listen to me." "We happen to know what you've been doing to those people out there." "Exploiting them, using them." "That's your problem and theirs." "You Darians have one of our people." "A woman." "I want you to take us to her... or we'll tear this place apart." " What the hell have you done to her?" " Wait!" "She's reviving!" "She's not been harmed." "She'll be all right in about twelve hours." " Now what's going on here?" " Transplant surgery." "Ever since the catastrophe, we Darians have had to prolong life." "By artificial means." "You two, stay here." "That's how you prolong life?" "Is there nothing you won't do in the sacred name of survival?" "We can't reproduce ourselves!" "What else could we do?" "That's the future you had in mind for us, wasn't it?" "To keep you Darians alive!" "Was it?" "Was it?" "Yes." "Think of it." "All of you." "Unlimited life." "When the voyage ends, you will still be alive" " and your future assured." " It's not our way." "We'd prefer to take our chances in space." "Do you think we wanted this?" "You must believe me." "Once our race has been established on the new planet, we," "Kara, the rest of the Darians, will gladly die." "Neman!" "The survivors have broken in!" "Hadin, no." " No!" " Neman." "You are not a god." "Stop it!" "Listen to me." "The only chance you have is to help each other and live together." "The gene bank's destroyed." "A million years of civilisation gone." "What future do we have now?" "What future do you have now?" "These people are your future now." "Prepare them to survive in space." "We'll help you." "The rest is up to you." "You're fine now." "'Nice to see your face again, Eagle 1." "What happened?" "'" "Remind me to tell you sometime." "If the same thing happened on Alpha, would you have chosen differently?" "Remind me to tell you sometime."