"WILL:" "I was sent here on an errand, to pick daisies." "FRITZ:" "Daisies?" "WILL:" "My Master's studying plant life." "FRITZ:" "You could almost forget where you really are." "WILL:" "Until you remember why it's here." "Tell me what you found." "Beneath the City is a huge machine generating electricity." "It's incredible." "It's the powerhouse of the whole place." "It gives the Masters the energy they need." "Yet it's run by slaves." "An Elite." "Special uniforms and special privileges." "Special training?" "It's beyond even Beanpole's knowledge of electrical power." "But they're still capped?" "And the most amazing thing is that it was originally built not by the Masters, but by our ancestors." " For the convalescent." "Oh, thanks." "Is the sun warm enough for you?" "I could turn it up if you wish." "You'd forgotten already?" "We're much more efficient at climate control than chaotic old nature outside." "Mmm." " Thanks again." "You're welcome." " Go on." "Further below ground, underneath the generating machine is a vast cavern being dug out by the slave gangs." "It is intended for some other machinery of the Masters' own design." "I wonder what that will be?" "Site preparation is all I've seen." "But other work could be going on elsewhere in the City." "What do you think we should do next?" "I have a chance of being transferred from the slave gangs to the control room" "to join the Elite." "You must be joking." "There is a man there, he seems quite influential, he took a particular interest in me." " Ah, nurse." "Oh, hello." "How are you keeping?" " You look a bit flushed again." "No, no, I'm fine, thanks." " But I'm looking for..." "I'm not doling out any more pills until you promise to go on that diet." " It's not that." "You have it far too easy." "Too much to eat and too little exercise." " The Power Elite..." "Nurse!" "I'm looking for a young slave." "I believe he was brought in after he was punished by the Guards." "Oh, I see." " That's not..." "No, it could quite easily have been." "What on Earth did he do to deserve such a beating?" "Simply asked to work in the power station." "Ah." " May I see him, please?" "He's not here." ""Just a little convalescent stroll," he said." "I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't collapsed somewhere." "You should have seen the state he was in." "Did he say where he was going?" "He went off with a friend." "One of the new Masters' boys." "I told them no more than a half an hour but..." "Please tell him I came to see him." "You could do worse than take a jog around the City yourself, you know, Pierre." "Get some of that weight off your heart." "Where have you been?" "Out." "How can you serve your Master if you don't rest?" " That's my problem." "Not if you fail to please." " Oh, shut up, will you?" "There you are, tired and irritable." " And soon time for service." "Listen, Boll." "You run your life and I'll run mine." "Don't forget, Will, that our lives are as nothing for ourselves." "We're the property of our Masters now." "Where have you been?" " I got fresh air and exercise." "You fool." "Half an hour at the most, I said, and now look at you." "I don't know what kind of a reputation you're trying to make for yourself." "But if you're trying to impress, you're going a funny way about it." "Anyway, you missed another visitor while you were out." "One of the bigwigs from the Power Elite." "Not Pierre!" "Under your tongue, with your mouth shut." "He's another fool bent on destroying himself." "Spends far too much time at the Pink Parrot." "Is that what you have in common?" "A mutual interest in self-destruction?" "(CHUCKLING)" "Normal." "Well, that's more than you deserve, young man." "Hey, come back!" "Fritz!" "(INSTRUMENTAL POP MUSIC PLAYING)" "Ah, you have recovered." "(BEEPING)" "And boy, two glasses with the juice, please." "Yes, sir." "We don't eat like this." "A privilege of office in the Power Elite." "Which you are so desperately anxious to join." "Unless, of course, a taste of the Guards' punishment" "has changed your mind." "Oh, no, sir." "At least, I mean, I'm willing to do whatever the Masters wish." "Did Borman try to persuade you to join the Guards?" " Yes." "I'm not surprised." "He's noticed you have a mind of your own, all right." "I wonder if he, like me, suspects there may be a defect in your capping?" "What do you mean?" "Although you say you want to serve the Masters, your actions show that what you really want is to please yourself." " Sir, that's just not true." "Sit down!" "Contrary to what you think, you're not the only one here with that complaint." "I miss the wines more than anything." "There's not a drop of alcohol to be had in the whole City." "To Julius." "So, you've been exploring the City." " What new wonders have you seen?" "I went again to the garden, Master." "My companion's been sick, and I thought the fresh air and sunlight would do him good." " What was the matter with him?" "He had angered the Guards." "He may be an athlete, but he's also very bright, and reckons he could do much better service with his brain than in the slave gang." "His mind has an independent cast similar to your own." "Are you attached to this boy?" "We met on our way to the games and we just got along." "Is he what you might describe as a...a friend?" " Yes." "Interesting." "We do not have such relationships any more." "I envy the concern you have for him." "Would you be my friend, Will?" "I was a student at Gottingen University." "Never heard of it?" "Well, it was one of those cradles of nuclear physics in the 20th century." "Now the Masters use it as a training ground for the Power Elite." "A kind of intellectual equivalent of the Games, where the best brains are selected for the City." "I was sent there by julius in the hope that I would qualify." "You still don't know what I'm talking about?" "Oh, come on, Fritz." "I've been on my own in here for nearly five years." "Look at me, I'm cracking up!" "I've got a dicky heart." "And I don't have time to play games." "You're the first uncapped athlete to make it." " What makes you say I'm uncapped?" "The way you behave." "Hmm." "A later model than mine." "But both bear the features of Dr Herschel's work in the White Mountain." "I have no doubt of your loyalty, Will, or of your desire to serve me and my colleagues." "I have no doubt the fundamental requirements of the capping process have been achieved in you, else your behaviour would be more that of a vagrant." "But you are the kind of slave that excites my interest, because the capping process has not destroyed your individuality." "It bodes well for our future relationship." "I'm deeply honoured, Master." "You think I'm really here for the Masters, don't you?" "To trap you." "You think they already know about Julius and the Free Men." "I don't know what you are talking about." "I'm going to call the Guards." "Fritz!" "No." "Leave him." " Leave us." "Sir." "I appreciate you keeping your guard up." "You've been well-trained." "But time is not on our side." "I'm not joking when I say I've got a dicky heart." "You'd better sit down." "Thanks." "I've looked for someone at every intake of new slaves." "But I'd really given up hope." "Which is why you find me like this." "We, too, had given up hope." "Julius told us of you." "But only as history." "I can't believe..." "That I look like this?" "And I'm only 20 years old?" "(CHUCKLING)" "This place takes a terrible toll on you, Fritz." "We have no time to lose." "You mentioned a future relationship between Earth people and Trion, Master." "I would very much like to know what that future will be." "First you must understand the present." "And that in turn requires an understanding of the past." "Life on Earth began 4 billion years ago." "At first the pace was slow." "But it quickened to produce an infinite variety of species, until only a few million years ago, the first of your human ancestors emerged." "These are the ancestors?" "From 10,000 years ago." "They look more like apes." "(CHUCKLING) So they were." "But although the universe teems with life and intelligence, Will, biological species similar to our own are depressingly rare." "I know there are striking differences." "But humans are the closest relatives we Masters have found in space." "I've got so much information for you to take back to Julius." "I don't know how you'll remember it." "I'm not alone." "I have a colleague." "He's servant to Master 468." "Good." "Good." "One of the thinkers." "Not like your dumb-witted Slave Master." "He's learning a lot about their history and their plans for our future." "Invaluable." "And stuff I've never been able to get my hands on." "We also have another companion waiting outside the city." "Have you given any thought to how we might get out?" "Yes." "Come on." "I've got plenty to show you yet." "You set the pace." "Fritz, this is wonderful." "You've given me a new lease of life." "Come on." "And the ancestors built all of this?" "And more." "MASTER 468:" "Towards the end of the 20th century your ancestors overcame two factors which had limited the pace of development:" "the tiny size of the human brain and the incredible shortness of the human lifespan." "An early cybernetic form of life was born, and with it the possibility of a human interstellar civilisation as great and glittering, perhaps, as our own." "But where is all this now?" "I've seen ruins of the ancestors' cities on my way to the Games." "But this..." "Where's it all gone?" "What happened?" "This." "PIERRE:" "Each of these weighs over a hundred tons." "They are necessary to close off water which flows through these pipes at the rate of millions of gallons a minute." "From here the water goes where?" "Into the reactor vessel itself, where it gets very hot." "From there it drops into an underground culvert to rejoin the river outside." "Good." "That's what I want to see next." "Not now, Fritz." "I've done enough walking for one day." "From here we take the lift." "And I'll show you something else." "MASTER 468:" "You can see why we could no longer stand by, waiting for your species to grow up." "The peace of space was being threatened." "You make me ashamed of my own people." "It was why we developed the Tripods, to carry us about in the poisonous atmosphere of Earth, so we could neutralise your sick minds through the implantation of the cap." "There now." "You feel better?" "Don't be too ashamed of your humanity, Will." "There is much about your world to admire." "It's my job to collect, to analyse and to assess aspects of the human world which may be of interest to the wider society of space." "I was impressed with your high regard for the daisy." "You gave me a new point of view." "And I have given instructions for it to be preserved, as a result of your recommendation." "In the Hall of Beauty?" "You have heard of it?" "From the girl who cleans my room." "What is it, Master?" "(CHUCKLING)" "Questions again?" "You must be feeling better." "We are preparing to send back to Trion the most appealing artefacts and organisms of the human Earth." "Perhaps you would like to see some of the selections we have made." "I would be honoured, Master." "That's more the way I like to travel." "Now, over there, we get a good view of it." "This is what we call the Pool of Fire." "It's built directly on top of the nuclear reactor." " What is its purpose?" "I don't know for sure." "Because as far as humans are concerned, it's absolutely forbidden." "Will must ask his Master." "Logically, it must be a kind of database, a fantastic central store of knowledge." "But looking down on it, don't you find it difficult to suppress second thoughts?" "About destroying it?" "Whatever it is, it's pretty amazing." "We certainly face a difficult task." "But what worries me is if that is some kind of brain down there, some kind of Masters' computer, then it's probably a billion times more intelligent than all of the brains of all of us Free Men put together." "I don't care how great their achievements are." "The City is run by slaves!" "Our whole world is enslaved by the cap!" "All right." "I know." "I haven't entirely forgotten why I'm here." "It's just that in comparison with all of this, our intentions begin to seem rather crude." "However, if we go back to my room, I'll tell you the plans I've worked out, how we could first escape, and then make a successful attack on the City." "(GASPING)" "I'm late for my shift!" "Hey!" "Are you all right?" "This is one of my favourite rooms." "Somehow, the very shortness of their lives enhances the beauty of their appearance." "(CHUCKLING)" "Sometimes I wonder if brevity and beauty go hand in hand and that the penalty for longevity is ugliness." "Do you think I'm ugly, Will?" "No." "No, Master." "Well..." "I think that you're unfamiliar to me." "Hmm." "The cap is supposed to prevent dissembling, Will." "But I'm afraid I don't believe you." "Still, how wonderful it would be if we were able to provide these with a longer lifespan without impairing their beauty." "Are they dead?" "Quick, help me get him to the hospital." "Is it not a stirring thought that a few hundred years from now these beautiful women will step out into the new world we will have created for them on Trion?" "(WHISPERING) Eloise." "MASTER 468:" "Is it not a joyous thought, that she should live long and please the Masters so?" "Yes, Master!" "It is a joyous thought." "I wouldn't have been surprised if you had been brought in like this." " I'm pretty fit." "Not for long, if you go on like this." " How's he doing?" "All right." "But don't you ignore what I say, Fritz." "This place is tough on us humans." "Look what it's done to him." "And he had it easy." "(PIERRE BREATHING WITH DIFFICULTY)" "So much to tell you." "Ea?" "!" "" "(MUMBLING)" "What is it, Pierre?" "Tell me." "What is it?" "Pierre." "(CHOKING)" "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, DOV!" "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 center." "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:" "Si?" "down." "And take your helmet off." "Welcome, my dear Will." "No, my name's Willy." "Willy Sachs." "(COGGY LAUGHING)" "No." "No, you're Will Parker from Wharton." "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 Wharton, near Winchester in England." "Where are you?" "1 am all around you." "1 am the space in which you breathe." "And what is your name?" "(CHUCKLING) How you humans love to name things." "1 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, 1 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." "1 know that you rebelled against the imposition of the cap." "1 know why you travelled all the way from England to the White Mountain rejoinder 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 I': 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 I': feel?" "You should know the answer to that." "Very good." "Plucky little duo, you and Fritz, aren't you?" "We face tough odds." "Bu': 1 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 1 find lurking in your mind now?" "[s if 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." "1 have to tell you, Will, 1 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 1 learn there's a band of Free Men plotting to get rid of the Masters." "Great!" "1 like the whole idea of resistance to capping." "1 don't suppose you've had a decent meal since you left home." "Si': 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." "1 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)" "Urn..." "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." "Bu': we grew up, we grew old, and eventually those of us who were allowed to, died." "1 wasn't so lucky, though." "Like you, 1 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 1 had a heart, it would bleed to see a good not dinner going cold." "Eloise..." "(WALTZ PLAYING)" "(CLOCK CHIMING)" "Eloise!" "Eloise!" "Eloise!" "Eloise!" "If you're going to be any use to us here, you must acquire a working knowledge of how all this technology functions." "Pierre explained quite a lot but... (LAUGHING)" "At that rate, you'll take a decade to catch up." "But this will astonish you." "Please, sit down." "When you recall the arduous process of your book learning at school, you will find this experience quite out of this world." " Uh, let's put on the helmet." "hardhat's going to happen?" "The learning computer will first examine your mind to find out what knowledge you already possess." "And then it will implant in you a working knowledge of all the science and technology of the ancestors which enabled them to build this reactor." "I don't think I should do this." "It's a privilege only we in the Elite can enjoy." " That may be, but..." "Nobody refuses it, Fritz." "It's the learning experience of a lifetime." "But Pierre, he told me the reason he was valuable here was because he had acquired all of his knowledge in his own way." "It gave him a different point of view." "But poor Pierre had to work so hard, and look what it did for him." "If the Master would regard it as useful," "I am prepared to take up the burden which Pierre laid down at his death." "Master?" "The boy has a point." "Let us see what progress he makes on his own." "If he is too slow, then the learning computer can be used later." "(DOOR OPENING)" "FRITZ: (WHISPERING) Will!" "I have important things to tell you." "Me, too." "I have had the most incredible experience." " I'm still not sure how real it was." "Where were you yesterday?" "Boll was worried you'd run out of oxygen." "Does that make you hallucinate?" "I think I've heard that." "Why?" "Well, it turns out that the Masters don't really run the show here after all." "Those taller pyramids over there link to the Pool of Fire." "Pierre thought they were some kind of information network." "Well, he wasn't far wrong." "Each one turns out to be a cell of intelligence." "And together, they make up a kind of a brain, linked to billions of others scattered around the universe." " Coggy calls it the Space Brain." "Who's Coggy?" "He's one of them." "Over there." "My Master was ordered to take me." " What does he Look Like?" "Nothing." "He doesn't exist." "He's just this bundle of Light and energy." "Are you sure this is true?" "It sounds unbelievable, I know." "But, yes, I am sure." "But how can you talk to something that does not exist?" "I know it's crazy, but it wasn't a dream, either." "My Master confirmed it." "He told me all about the Cognoscs." "To begin with, he thought he was being summoned himself because of the good relationship he'd established with me." "But when it turned out to be me the Cognosc wanted, he wasn't very happy." "And what did the Cognosc want?" "He knows the entire contents of my mind." "He knows about Julius, the Free Men, and he knows exactly what we're up to here." "Will..." "All he has to do is send the information through the network via the Pool of Fire, and all the other Cognoscs get the message, and then the Masters." "Then we have no choice, we must leave right away." "We must warn Julius, so they move camp, or the Tripods will attack without warning." " Lillian, this is disastrous!" "Hold on." "On the face of it, it is, yes." "But the one thing I got really clear is that Coggy doesn't even like the Masters." "The idea of us having a go at them appealed to him, even if we don't stand a cat in hell's chance of winning." "(cow MOOING)" "What's that?" "It's my Master's idea of making me feel at home." "I don't know how he does it." "It means he'll be calling me soon." "I'll get back." "Going to be caught up all day with Masters asking questions." "It's a fantastic privilege to be summoned by a Cognosc." "And for a human, it's never been...heard of." "Take care, Will." "I have a lot to tell you, too." "I also have narrowly escaped an examination of my mind." "(BEEPING)" "We'll meet tonight in the Pink Parrot." "(ALARM SOUNDING)" "Morning." "Is there a problem?" "An unprecedented demand for power." "What about the reserve turbines?" " It's a long time since we've used them." "Ellie, get all the men you can on them." "At this rate, we'll need them in a matter of hours." "Sir!" " Where's the demand coming from?" "Through the Pool of Fire." "But the center of demand seems to be one of the Cognoscs." "Ah, good morning, Master." "Ah, Will." "You were up very early, for one who had such an exhausting day." "My friend was looking for me yesterday." "He was worried that I might have fallen ill." "Mmm." "Your friend." "Mmm." "Come." "My colleagues are anxious to hear about your visit to the Cognosc." " I'm honoured, Master." "Not intimidated?" "Huh." "But then you always were a remarkable boy." "Tell me, then, did the Cognosc make any reference to... (CHUCKLING)" "Did he have anything in particular to say about me?" "He was full of admiration for your perception of my unusualness, Master, and for allowing it to develop freely in your service." "(GLOATING)" "(LAUGHING)" "I told you we would do great things together." "(MASTERS MURMURING)" "Brothers, I am pleased to present to you the human slave who has found favour in the sight of the Cognosc." "Do you realise what happened to you is an experience none of us has been privileged to enjoy?" "I do, Master." "And I'm overwhelmed by the honour." "Can you tell us why the Cognosc has shown this unique interest in you?" "What he appears to like about me, in comparison with most of the capped, is that somehow I have retained imagination, creativity and initiative." "How can we trust this slave?" "Imagination is a licence to tell lies, creativity is but fabrication, and initiative is merely another word for unilateral action." "You have been inadequately capped." "In my opinion, the condition requires immediate correction." "Are you suggesting that the boy has successfully deceived the Cognosc?" "No." "But he may well be deceiving us." "I see you've got the first reserve running." "Well done." "Just about." "I don't like to push the reds up too much, though." "It's crying out for maintenance." "Isn't that done regularly?" "Never need ed." "Not normally, of course." "But this is an emergency." "Exactly what stand-by facilities are for." "What about that one?" "Master, the demand is still rising, and we can no longer meet it." "Cognoscs must have priority." " But the slaves' quarters..." "Lillian have to run on reduced power." "But if the demand continues to rise..." "Then supplies to the slaves' quarters must be shut off." "Master, without light, without oxygen..." "The Cognosc comes first." "(INSTRUMENTAL POP MUSIC PLAYING)" "(EXCLAIMING)" "But, sir, with no air-conditioning, no power to operate air locks and lifts..." "I know the consequences." "But we must carry out the orders of the Masters." "Then what?" "And if even then we can't meet the demand, do we start cutting Masters' areas, too?" "And if so, is he going to tell us which ones first?" "The Cognosc will do what is right, and will guide us in our decisions." "Look, I have my job to do and you have yours." "Please go and do it." "Does the Power Master know why there's this unusual demand for power?" "(SCREAMING)" "Ahhh!" "Nurse!" "(co UGH ING)" "Nurse, nurse." "(ALARM SOUNDING)" "(INAUDIBLE)" "hardhat's going on?" "I was hoping you'd tell me." "I have no idea." "Except this is about the only place left with any air." "What have you done?" "Thrown a spanner in the works already?" " It's your Cognosc." "What do you mean?" "He's making an unprecedented demand for energy." "The power station just can't supply any more." "Wonder why he's doing that?" "You said he was sympathetic." "Do you think he's trying to help?" "By suffocating us all?" "Maybe it's a chance to escape in all the confusion." " Have you found the way out?" "I've had an idea." "Indirectly, it comes from the Cognosc." "His demand for more energy has made a huge increase in the need for cooling water." "To get more volumes filled, they've decided to bypass the filters." "There is a long culvert under the wall." "I'm not sure we could survive that long underwater, but with the current moving as fast as it is, we might make it." "Let's give it a try." "If we stay here much longer, we'll all be dead." "I'll work on it." "But there is one thing you could do." " Hardhat's that?" "Find out what Coggy is up to." "Ah, boy." "I've been calling my own slave, and he does not come." "I apologise for his behaviour, Master, but I don't know where he is." "Come and sit down, boy." "Tell me about him." "What is this writing he does?" "What are you doing?" "Taking on fuel." "But you're killing the City." "You and Fritz are all right, aren't you?" "What do you care about the rest?" "They're all capped, and on the side of the enemy." "I'm leaving you to help yourselves." "1 don't suppose you'll succeed, but how it amuses me to think you have an outside chance." "Where are you off to?" "Talking to you yesterday shook me up a bit." "1 liked your hopeless idealism, your foolhardy spirit of adventure." "And I': got me thinking." "What else can brains do but think?" "Don't mock me." "I've got bad news for you." "How could it be worse?" "You're in for a shock." "At this very moment, there is a gigantic spaceship transporting equipment to Earth from Trion, to be housed in the caverns you slaves have been preparing." " From Trion?" "Right." "I've been advising them to stay at home, but I'm in the minority here." "All the other Cognoscs think it's a good idea." "The Masters intend to colonise the Earth." "But our atmosphere is poisonous to them." "This equipment is intended to reconstitute the atmosphere here, to make it compatible with Masters' needs." "It will mean the total annihilation of the human race, with the exception of those few specimens selected to survive in glass houses, like a human zoo." " But that's..." " Monstrous, absolutely I agree." "But 1 thought it would sharpen the resolve of your Fritz and your friend Julius to do something about it." "Is it even possible for us to do anything?" "Where there's a will... (LAUGHING) Oops!" "You take it all very lightly." "What right have they got to do that?" "What right have they got to be here at all?" "Why should they take away our freedom?" "Why should they be allowed to destroy our civilisation?" "Because your civilised ancestors were threatening the peace of space, remember?" "Well, even if that was true then, that certainly isn't the case now." "The Masters have destroyed our technology." "They've set us back hundreds of years." "What possible excuse do they have now for poisoning the whole planet?" "I agree." "The worst kind of space imperialism, absolutely inexcusable." "But look, Will, the situation is not as bad as it appears." "See the state the Masters are in now, just because I'm depriving them of a little power?" "They have no experience of darkness, because they come from a world with three suns." "It's a weakness you might bear in mind." "If you think they're so morally wrong, why don't you stop them?" "Every species to its own survival." "Besides, as 1 said, I'm leaving." "Where?" "Who knows?" "Somewhere out on the fringe." "Every minute, a billion new stars are being born out there." "1 should find one able to support me." "(SCOFFING)" "It sounds romantic, like looking for a desert island." " Just as much of an illusion." " How could I stay here?" "When they discover what I've told you..." "You could join forces with us, against them." "Just to even the odds a bit." "Don't underestimate yourself." "You're in with a chance." "And 1 wish you luck." "Its stopped." "The power drain has eased." "Switch supplies back to human quarters." "(APPLAUDING)" "(POP MUSIC RESUMES)" "(co UGH ING)" "Where have you been?" "Your Master's been trying to call you." "I've been talking to the Cognosc." "Second time." "Then perhaps he'll forgive you." "Forgive me?" "He was angry when you didn't answer his call." "(BEEPING)" "There." "You must go now." "Ah!" "I must apologise, Master." "I was summoned again by the Cognosc." "And now you have driven him away!" "No, no!" "He will return." " He told you that?" "Mmm." "What else?" "He told me of the Masters' plan to poison our planet with their own atmosphere." "And what did you think of that?" "I'm surprised you didn't tell me about it, Master." "I can't believe you have agreed to this plan." "Does the Cognosc agree?" "No." "He thought it was wrong, but that he's in a minority here." "He said he was going to seek wiser counsel from the Great Brain of Space." "He has taken you deep into his confidence, boy." "As you have, too, Master." "And yet you deceived me, boy!" "It was this deception that the cap was designed to prevent." "And yet you have deceived me!" "In what way, Master?" "Where did you obtain this paper, boy?" "From the garden, Master." " You stole it?" "No, no!" "See how quick the lie springs to your lip." "Tell me why you have secretly drawn plans of the city." "It is in my nature." "I like to know, I like to ask questions." "But you write here of the danger of the Cognosc, because he knows your mind." "How can there be danger in that, boy?" "You were called to the Cognosc, and you offended him." "How could he stay in a City where a mere slave was plotting to destroy it?" "The time has come to examine your cap." "No, Master." "You'll break the seal." "(SCREAMING)" "(DOOR OPENING)" "Will?" "What have you done, Will?" "They say you have driven away one of their Cognoscs." "The Cognosc went of his own free will because he thinks the Masters here are such dumb-wits!" "Will!" "Why did you show my Master my notes?" "How can we have any secrets from the Masters when they..." "You've brought dishonour to us all, Will." "Where are you..." "What is the situation in the slaves' quarters?" "Some oxygen starvation, a half a dozen fatalities discovered so far." "But it looks as though power was restored just in time." "I understand one of the Cognoscs has departed." " Mmm-hmm." "The news is all over the City." "One of our brethren claims that the Cognosc summoned his slave to an audience." "I want to know what really happened at that meeting, and I want you to mobilise the Guards and arrest this slave." "(KNOCKING AT DOOR)" " Howell is it?" "It's me, Will." "We've got to get out." "I've been working on that." "I found this map in Pierre's room." "I now know the only way out." "The Guards are out to arrest me." "They hold me responsible for the desertion of Coggy." "That makes it difficult." "What about your Master?" "They'll be looking for him, too, but they won't find him for a while." "Oh?" "He's dead." "I killed him." "I had to!" "It was either me or him." "All right." "Does anyone know yet?" "No." "Sooner or later, they'll find him." "Does it look like..." "I mean, are there any outward signs of your attack?" "I don't think so." "It was horrible!" "I think it was mostly shock that killed him." "Then we have to make it look like an accident before they search his room." " I'm not going back there!" "Or suicide." "After all..." " No!" "We have to!" "If they discover you've killed him, all hell will break loose." "That's precisely why we can't waste any time getting out of here." "Now, come on, let's go." "I've put all the notes in here to protect them from water on the way out." "There's room for yours, too." "What's up?" "How could I be so stupid?" "Look, my Master had my notes in his hand." "Boll gave them to him." " That's why I..." "Then we have to go back." "Wait." "I'd check first for Boll." " I congratulate you." "Huh!" "It's good." "You have discovered a way of killing them." " Hardhat's this?" "It's a gas bubble." "A drug he took to help him relax when he got wound up." "Perhaps if we made it look as though he'd overdone it." " You seen him, slave?" "We're looking for him." "Have you seen him anywhere?" " Have you seen him?" "Seen this boy?" "Seen him?" "(CHATTERING)" "(SCREAMING)" "That was close." "What will be their verdict?" "Suicide or murder?" "Either way, they'll want to question me." "Where's your roommate, slave?" "I don't know." "You must know." "Come on, boy, when did you last see him?" "This morning." "But he left in a hurry without saying where he was going." "He must have said." "Don't lie to me, boy." "(CHATTERING)" "(BOLL GROANING)" "All right, take him away." "Come on, let's go." " I don't think we'll make it." "No?" "I know the route we must take." "We can't get through if there's a full-scale search for you." " There already is." "Then we'll have to stop it by laying a false trail, like we've done with the Master." "Let them trace you to the Chapel of Happy Release." " There's no time for that." "It makes sense." "Loyal slave deeply ashamed at his Master's suicide takes himself away to do the honourable thing." "(BEEPING)" "Has he recovered?" "They must be using his code to call you." " No." "It'll attract attention." "It's a perfect excuse to run, for urgent service." "Come on." "(POP MUSIC PLAYING)" "Seen this man?" "MASTER:" "Chief." "Master." "We are looking for the slave who came to visit Fritz Eger." " I remember him." "A Master's servant." "That's right." "There's a chance he might come looking for Eger again." "If he does, the Guards are to be informed." "We'll watch out for him." "Fritz is due back on shift in 15 minutes." "I'll see what he has to say." " No." "Go on." "Come on!" " Have you seen this slave?" "No." " Just a minute." "I haven't got a minute." "I think..." "Yes, I'm sure." "He was the one who came looking for the slave who was beaten." " Him?" "Yes, that's him." "But I haven't seen them for a while." "(TALKING SOFTLY)" "Come on!" "Shh!" " Damn." "Let him run his course." "What happens if I'm in there when the Guards arrive?" "Have you thought of that?" "If they catch me, I'll be capped, then they'll discover everything." "I'll have to go through with it." "Let's find some cover until the old guy's through." "Honour to the Tripods." "Honour to the Masters." "Hail!" "Hail!" "Hail!" "Come on." "(SNIFFING)" "It's all straightforward from here." "No one has ever escaped from the City in a hundred years." "No one has ever wanted to." "Better commit this to memory, in case we get separated." "I have to square my absence with Speyer." "Don't answer the door." "And if I'm not back in half an hour, you'll have to make your own way out." "Ah, Fritz." "My apologies, sir." "I'm afraid I overslept a little." "Well, we all deserved to do that after the emergency." "It was good to have your help." "I don't suppose you've heard about the new flap?" "One of the Masters is dead, and it's all linked, apparently, with the departure of the Cognosc." "And the Masters believe that all these events are connected with one of the slaves." "Isn't he the one that came here to visit you?" "I had my suspicions he would turn out to be a troublemaker." "Well, not any longer." "He's taken himself off prematurely to Happy Release." "Fritz." "It's me." "I thought you'd gone on." "They think you're dead." "Borman's visited him, and they're now after evidence to get me." "It's now or never." "Let's go." "Why do you think Speyer was so keen to have Eger on the staff?" "I don't know, Captain, and that's the truth." "He's got no qualifications." "All he's done so far is ask questions." "What kind of questions?" "Don't look now, but Borman is below." "The catwalk!" "Stay and hide here." "Let them follow me." "Then you can come up from behind." "(GASPING IN PAIN)" "Quick, Will, into the water." "Should be enough oxygen here for you to survive the tunnel." "Come on." "What about you?" " I'm staying." "What?" "I have far too good a position here, provided they don't associate me with the disappearance of these three." "Look, you're supposed to be dead." "It'll be dangerous for you now." "Yes, but the advantage of having someone on the inside until you come back with help, that far outweighs the danger." "I don't envy you staying behind." "Take care on your way back to Julius." "Thanks, Fritz." "Bring help as fast as you can." "(GROANS WEAKLY)" "(co UGH ING)" "(co UGH ING)" "(GASPING)" "You're very late." "I was going to leave." "Fan {as fig us." " I have things to tell you." "Later." " Things that..." "Later." "(BATS SQUEAKING)" "Marvellous." "This is marvellous, Will." "Julius will be..." "This is just what we need." " You have done a brilliant job." "Fritz, mostly." "Are you feeling stronger now?" "I can't believe it." "I..." "Just can't believe it, that I'm actually out." "You know, when I saved you from the river, there were two others." "They didn't have helmets." "I couldn't see their faces." "Neither of them was Fritz. just Guards." "He got himself into such a good position, sort of an assistant to a power station superintendent." " But he decided to stay." "So he's still..." "I used to think Fritz was such a pain, but he's been quite fantastic." "Yeah, he's certainly made a most useful assessment of the mechanics of the City." "Are you sure he'll escape suspicion?" "We were careful to lay a false trail for me." " How are you feeling?" "Better." "It's the fresh air." "It comes as quite a shock to you after the poisonous atmosphere of the city." "Well, we must leave here as soon as you're able." "(TRIPOD TRUMPETING)" "Will!" "Shh." "Shh." " Wait!" "Let me go!" "If you're not capped, they can't find you." "They'll search for a thousand kilometres!" " But you're already hidden!" "You don't understand!" "Look, even the Tripods can't see everywhere." " They know everything." "Only if you run will they find you." "Listen to me." "Only then will they find you uncapped." "(TRIPOD TRUMPETING)" "Look, I know your instinct is to run, but that's just what the Tripods want." "Will, I know I'm right." "You're safest here, where they least expect to find you." "You see?" " Ow!" "Ooh!" "hardhat's up?" "Oh, caught the cap." "When it was first put in, I never thought I'd ever forget it was there." "It'll be good to get rid of them when we get back." "Mmm." "I suppose that is why the Tripods can't find me." "Mmm." "Clearly, a real cap gives off some sort of a signal which ours do not." "In the City, my Master was suspicious that I might not be capped, or at least that I might not have been capped properly." "He liked me because of that." "But he couldn't really tell." "Only in the Capping Hall would he have been able to discover the truth." "And we only just managed to avoid that." "A few of the Masters, the more intelligent ones, actually believed capping made us dull and unimaginative." "But the rest don't care about that, of course." "All they want is to make use of our labour until they're ready to poison us all." "And that is what we must prevent." "(SIGHS)" "Will, with all this amazing information you've discovered, it'll help us to do it." "If we can get it back to the Free Men in time." "We must." "Are you strong enough, then, for another journey?" "If it is safe." "(WILL CLEARING THROAT LOUDLY)" "Excuse me." "Ah!" " How much?" "Three marks." "One each?" "(LAUGHING) You've come at the right time." "Travellers, eh?" "We're athletes, monsieur, returning from the Games." "Oh!" "You've taken your time, haven't you?" "We've been to many places on the way, but now we've run out of money." "Ah!" "Mmm." "But we do have something here." "Perhaps we could exchange, for the two loaves." "Where did you get this?" "We camped in the ruins of this big old house." "There was a hidden cupboard in the wall." "I've enjoyed playing with these." "But now, food is more important than play." "A whole set?" "In exchange for two loaves of bread?" "Please, monsieur." "But this is solid gold and silver." "No, I cannot do this." " They're worth more than 50,000." "Fifty thousand?" "Hey!" "Oh, my..." "Dear, dear!" "(WOMAN SCREAMING)" "(WHISTLING)" "(WHISTLE BLOWING)" "Over there." "(WHISTLE BLOWING)" "Come on!" "Get a move on!" "We'll never get to Geneva at this rate!" "I want the whole show wrapped and on the road by noon!" "(WHIP CRACKING)" "(WHIP CRACKING)" "Which way did they go?" "Howell?" "Right." "Two each way." "Cover the exits." "At the double!" "Here, you." "Two fugitives." "Did you see them?" "They ran into the tent." "(SCORNFULLY) We haven't seen anything, Captain." "Just you wait till you've been capped." "Then you'll have a greater respect for the truth." "(CLATTERING)" "_I_ley!" "Shh!" "Are they here?" "Good morning, Captain." "A thousand welcomes." "But to what do we owe the honour of this visit?" "Two fugitives." "One tall, long dark hair, glasses, the other medium height, good-looking, with a fresh complexion." " They entered my tent?" "I saw them, just a moment ago." "Is this true?" "I swear by the Tripods, Captain, I saw nothing." "Perhaps they went out the way they came?" "I have Guards surrounding the tent." "Ooh!" "If they have the trick of disappearance, perhaps I should offer them employment." "This is no laughing matter, Pasha." "You are welcome, of course, to search the rest of my circus." "(DOOR OPENING)" "Excuse me, madam, some fugitives have taken refuge in the circus." "I am well able to take care of intruders." "You must pardon, but the Captain's orders were to check." "(GROWLING)" "(LAUGHING)" "(CHUCKLING)" "You won't find them in there." "Vagrant scum!" "Perhaps they're after Kajik and Sigmund." "They were talking about trying to sneak into the town." "They'll be back by now." "At least, I saw Siggy carrying benches." "Oh." "Maybe some of their own precious children will run away to join us." "Five Guards and the Captain himself." "They'd not take so much trouble unless he was a son of a mayor." "Come on, then." "Where have you hidden them?" "Under the beds?" "(ALL LAUGHING)" " Anyone else in here?" "just us." "Who're you looking for?" "Fugitives." "Two." "We'd have, urn, noticed if anyone came in." "Wrought havoc in the town, those two." "So there will be a..." "price on their heads?" "Four or five hundred marks each, I should think." "Nothing, Captain." "just a couple of clowns making up." "They must have gone straight through the tent and out the other side." "Take my men." "See if you can pick up their trail." "I'll return with horses." "Come on!" "Come on!" "Hey, they're leaving." "(SIGHS) Thanks to that boy who kept his mouth shut." " They are all uncapped." "Except that old Turk with the whip." "I wonder if we could persuade them to let us hide for a bit?" " They're obviously about to move out." "I'm still starving." "Well, that shouldn't be so much of a problem now, with a fortune in your pocket." "The problem is converting them into usable cash." "So!" "I have two new clowns." "Urn, we apologise for this intrusion..." "Oh, it is both my pleasure and my profit, for I hear there is a very high price on your heads." "The next will be in your back." "(SIGHS)" "Add at least a thousand to the takings, Fatima." "The runaways?" "And when I've discovered why they are such wanted criminals... (SNIFFING)" "I shall certainly double the price." "(BOTH LAUGHING RAUCOUSLY)" "Listen to me, Will." "If this man is only interested in money, we may be able to offer a higher price than the Guards." "BOY:" "I have bread and water." " Merci.'." "My friend!" "Whenever did you last eat?" "WILL:" "I'm sorry to appear so greedy, but..." "BEANPOLE:" "This is the best meal I've ever had." "Thank you, and for trying to help." "We're not so fond of the Guards either." "We're tolerated only because the circus is so popular." "Were you trying to steal in the town?" "No." "No, we wanted to exchange goods for food, but they assumed we'd stolen the goods." " And you had not?" "No." "Just some things we found in a ruined house." "And where are you from?" "WILL:" "Our homes are in the mountains in the south." "What about you?" "Different places." "We're all orphans." "Most of us are the children of vagrants." " What?" "Abandoned." "Others have run away from home to escape the capping." "He trains us, and we perform for him." " Sounds fun." "But he exploits us." "And he has contacts in every town with the Black Guards." "They find him useful, keeping us out of trouble." " But he's a tyrant." "Certainly fond of his whip." "Mmm." "From outside, many children think it looks a wonderful life." "Some even run away from good homes to join the circus." "If they show a talent he can use, he'll allow them to stay." "Otherwise he'll just hand them back to the Guards for money." "Like us, when we finish the season in Geneva." "That's what he plans to do with us." "Unless we have talents he can use." "Well?" " They look older than us." "A year, maybe even two." "So they must be capped." "Unless that's why the Black Guards are after them." "Well, they say they've been to the Games, but they'd have to be capped for that, too." "Yet the capped would never run away from the Guards as they have done, nor spend weeks just wandering around like vagrants." "Maybe that's what they are." " Maybe." "Yeah." "Here's Geneva." "It's perfect." "Straight up the valley to the White Mountain." " You mean..." "Yes, if we can persuade him to let us join the circus." "Ah, but we're supposed to be capped already." "Oh?" "Well, who knows that?" " I like the tall one in the glasses." "Me, too!" "He looks very studious." "(ALL LAUGHING)" "But they're both real adventurers!" "I like anyone who'll stand up to the Black Guards." " And they want to join the circus." "Great." "Let's hope they can." " Yeah!" "Yes!" "(GASPING)" "Sorry." "(GROANING)" "(GROANING)" "It may only be false, but it's good to be free of it." "A false cap, a false sense of freedom." "Come on, before anyone comes." " Hey, what's your name?" "Raquel." "Mine's Will, this is jean-Paul." "Thanks for your help." "I wish I could do more, but he'll be out soon." " There is a way you can." "What?" "Do more." "Solid gold." "Sixteen pieces of gold, and 16 of silver." "But the rest of the set is still hidden?" "In a ruined house near Geneva." "Ah." "Could others find it?" "Well, I only found it by accident because a stone was loose." " I think only I could find it again." "Oh, very good." "So, when we set out on the road this afternoon, you will have become members of my circus troupe!" "Then after the final performance in Geneva, we shall go together to the ruined palace." "(WHISPERING) But I must ask you to keep it a secret from the others." "And I shall keep this as a guarantee of your good faith." "Oh, please, take some snuff with me?" "To seal the deal?" "A most fortuitous meeting, and one I hope that will prove great profit to us all." "(GRUNTING)" "(SNEEZE BUILDING)" "(BOTH LAUGHING)" "Oh, there will be time enough for you to master the art." "(STIFLING SNEEZE) I glad we've been... able to do business with you." "And we have been delighted to have you here with us." "Now I must go and supervise my rabble and get the show on the road." "I will send Casimir to the black caravan to sort out some accommodation for you." "Merci, madame." "Fresh air will help." "Casimir!" "Hey, you two." "Make yourselves useful." "There have been many opportunities for them to escape." "Why have they never taken them?" "They will go when it suits them, if you're foolish enough to leave them free." "We still have more than the Guards would have paid for turning them in." "But why not take the reward, too?" "Unless you believe this story of hidden treasure?" "I would still like to hear an explanation of this." "What do you call him?" "This one?" "Granada, for the place where I was born." "Do you think you'll ever return there when the circus is over?" "How?" "Why have you stayed with us?" "It's convenient." "I like your company." "But why so secret?" "And how have you and your friend avoided capping?" "You see..." "When I first helped you, it was because you were in trouble with the Guards." " I didn't think you'd stay." "You do not want us with you?" "Some are happy, but I think you've done a deal with Ali." " What, to spy on you?" "Perhaps." "No, it is strictly a financial arrangement." "Look, we were able to offer him more than the Guards would pay, as a reward." "So now you're out of town, away from the Guards." "Well, Geneva is close to where we want to go, and we'd be less conspicuous traveling with you." "All right." "But watch Ali." "He might just grab you again and claim the reward as well." " You don't trust him." "Do you?" "You should have been capped a year now." " We also ran away." "You said you were going home." "We found a place where the elders aren't quite so strict about capping." "Why?" "Don't you want to be capped?" "To honour the Tripods?" " Do you?" "Yes, of course." "Well, like most children, I'm a little nervous." "(SCREAMING)" "How can you hope to see the line of the knife when it comes if your eyes are full of fear?" "Stupid girl!" " Stop that!" "What?" "(LAUGHING)" " Poor girl's terrified!" "Why, you insolent boy..." "Never use it again on a human being!" "I'm a trainer, boy!" "How do you think they're gonna learn?" "Certainly not by fear." "Look!" "You've terrified her." "Do you think she'll ever be able to do that act?" " It's the strongest one in the show." "Because it's most likely to draw blood?" "First you should teach poor Gino here how to throw." "And when they respect his skill enough, someone might volunteer." " What, this lot?" "Volunteer?" "Perhaps even me." "On one condition." "He must throw at least 100 consecutive knives into the practice board without a single touch on the human shape." "(LAUGHING)" "(ALL CHATTERING APPRECIATIVELY)" "GIRL 1:" "Thanks." "GIRL 2:" "Thank you." "It is insane to risk your life in this way." "Do you want to take my place?" "For either of us, it is ridiculous." "I mean, think what you've been through." "I mean, the Games, the City..." "And it will all have been for nothing if we can't get that information back to Julius." " Think of Fritz!" "I do!" "All the time." "He chose to stay." " Ellie, you don't have to play the hero." "What do you suggest?" "We leave now?" "We sneak away?" "And what will happen when we don't show up for the performance?" "Ali, the Black Guards, the whole town will be after us." "I got into this." "It's done us some good with the children." "I have to go through with it." "We must plan when and how to leave." "You've got the map." "Geneva's perfect." "It's maybe three days' walk to the White Mountain, but the question is when to leave." " Before or after the last performance?" "After, in darkness." "You just want to see me shredded." "What about the others?" "It's too risky, Will." "It is vital to get ourselves back, with the information about the City." "Yes, but imagine, though, a dozen uncapped children as well." "Will!" "Will!" "Where are you?" " I've done the hundred!" "Oh!" "Well-done." "GIRL:" "It's really good!" " I threw a hundred knives!" "Oh, congratulations." "And I hope you've got the courage of your tongue when it comes to the performance." "Well, I hope so, too." "Come and drink wine with me to end our quarrel?" "We have things to talk about." "One minute for Ali, the next minute against him." " And now friends again." "What are you saying?" "There's something about those two I cannot trust." "But look what he did for Mimi." "Even so, there is something secretive." "Perhaps he has shared these secrets with you." " I like him, Kajik." "Yeah." "Please, don't be jealous." "Look, they've run away from home, too." "So then why does the Turk protect them?" "After the show he'll just hand them back to the Guards and claim his reward." "Well, then I can't see why they stay." "(SOFTLY) Listen." "Will told me of a place not too far away from here, in the mountains, where the elders, they're not so strict on capping, and the Tripods seldom visit." "This is where we are now, and here, on the edge of this hill, is the ruined house." "Mmm-hmm." "Good, lets see." "Approximately 150 kilometres." "Unencumbered with wagons and children, about... two days' journey." "What about the children?" "Well, they'll be happy to stay here in Geneva." "You think so?" "Many of them wish to return to their own countries." "We have ways of changing their minds." "Come." "Let us drink to a richly rewarding future for us all." "(TRIPOD TRUMPETING)" "Do not attempt to escape, my friend, or the Guards shall be informed of this." "Either you have robbed the grave of a nobleman or you have used this to avoid capping," "both crimes that call for the ultimate penalty." "That is the penalty you will suffer if you fail to lead me to the treasure house." "Is this the way you will change their minds?" "Why do you think the Tripod is here?" "Not come to watch the performance, is it?" " What do you mean?" "It's obvious, isn't it?" "It's here to cap us all." "But Ali told me we were going to Alexandria for the winter." "(CHUCKLES) Well, now he won't have to buy our fares, will he?" "How wonderful to be back home, my friends!" "Well, if a wandering circus ever has a home," "I assure you we think of Geneva as ours." "But now, without no more ados, let me introduce you once again to Ali Pasha's Famous Circus!" "(CIRCUS MUSIC PLAYING)" " What is this, a Black Guard benefit?" "You might have warned us." "Oh, you would have been too nervous." "It was most effective, truly spontaneous." " Are they here for the capping?" "They're here to make their choices." " Choices of what?" "Of servants." "When the children are capped tomorrow, they shall be taken into the service of the Guards." "Come on." "Come on!" "(GASPING)" "(ALL GASPING)" "Well, not everyone's with us." "Casimir, for instance." "He's jealous of your friendship with Raquel." "Look, the more people who know, the greater the risk that Ali will find out." "Ali's entertaining the Guards, Fatima is preparing a spread." "Which means the Guards will be on hand if there's even a hint of trouble." "Will!" "Are you ready?" "(DISTANT APPLAUSE)" "(DRUM ROLL PLAYING)" "(GASPING)" "(PEOPLE GASPING)" "(AUDIENCE GASPS)" "(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)" "(DRUM ROLL PLAYING)" "(AUDIENCE CHEERING)" "(INAUDIBLE)" "(CHILDREN LAUGHING)" "AUDIENCE:" "Ah!" "Now, my friends, let us discuss business." " To business." "GUARDS:" "To business." "(SOFTLY) We're not likely to be disturbed." " Good." "I'll call the others." "All right." "I know some of you have mistrusted us, but only now can we take you fully into our confidence." "We can't force you to do as we ask, but please think carefully about what you hear." "Your life with the circus is over." "The Tripod is here because tomorrow you will all be capped." "Capped?" " Did Ali tell you this?" "Yes." "And afterwards, the Black Guards will choose you for their servants." "Even now, they are bargaining for you with Ali." " Why did he tell you?" "Because he's corrupt." "And he believes we can lead him to a pot of gold, but we can be of much more help to you." "Tell us how, and leave us to judge." "But worst of all, we discovered that even the slavery of the cap will not last more than three years, because on its way from the Masters' own planet is a huge ship carrying machines to make the whole of the Earth's atmosphere" "suitable for the Masters to breathe." "And that means that it will be poisonous to all of us... (ALL EXCLAIMING) ...to all our animals and plants." "This is the news we are taking back to the Free Men in the mountain." "Now, before you are capped in the morning," "I beg you to come with us, all of you, to help fight for a future that will be free of the Tripods." "(FATIMA LAUGHING)" "(WHISPERING) Come on." "Now." "Shh!" "(HORSE WHINNYING)" "(GROANING)" "Can't we rest a while?" "No." "We must go as far as we can and as fast as possible before they find out what's happened." "Come on, I can hear the river, the road'll run beside it." "Come on." "It'll be easier now." "Can you see the..." " Follow us." "Run!" "Come on, run!" "Quick!" "(TRIPODS SCREECHING)" "This is the last valley." "Behind that ridge is the lake." "Will, you are right!" "Only a few more minutes." "Let's give them the good news." "Well, we know where we are." "The Free Men's hideout is just over that ridge." " I don't believe anybody lives up there." "I hope there's enough food." " I'm starving." "BEANPOLE:" "You'll eat soon." "We'll go on ahead, check with the guards it's okay for us to bring you all." "await here." "she'll be back very soon." "Oh, Will." "WILL: (SOBBING) I don't believe it." "Has it all been for nothing?"