"(Helena) 'Moonbase Alpha status report, '1,095 days after leaving Earth's orbit." "'Dr Helena Russell recording." "'A strange and frightening thing is happening." "'Our scanner readings are reacting wildly, 'projecting a weird turbulence of high intensity." "'It is as though a strange presence is among us, taking control.'" "Commander!" " There is something out there." " Let's see it on the big screen." "Maya?" " The turbulence is magnetic." " Punch through it." "I can't." "(Koenig) There's something there." "It's just a faint, but her vital signs are down." "Alan?" " John?" " I'm all right." "Ohh..." "Oh!" "It's like..." "It's like thunder." "Here..." "Turbulence decreasing." "Who are you?" "'I am your creator.'" " Yasko, get that image back." " (Computer beeping)" "I'm sorry." "I can't do any better." "It's all right, you don't have to bow down and adore me." "That's not our style." " You doubt my credentials?" " You haven't presented any." "Oh, I don't blame you." "But all these highly imaginative works of fiction that you call religion have filled you with false gods." "However," "I do assure you that I am what you would call "the genuine article"." "You look like an artist's rendition of it, I'll give you that." "Artists have their insights." "However, let us discuss these matters in a civilised fashion." "Over a meal." "That went out with Nero." "With Messalina, as a matter of fact." "But you are right." "It is a little old-fashioned." "No, thank you." "Pure protein." "Tastes like nectar." "One glassful is food for a month." "Leave it!" "You Earthlings were always the most sceptical of my creations." "It's our way." "You should know that." "Sceptical, cynical me - perhaps that's why I had a soft spot for you." " Some creatures are tame rabbits." " Too bad." "They'd have been on their knees offering up a sacrificial goat." "We're a bit low on sacrificial goats." "However, one thing that does seem to have impressed you is force!" "All right!" " All right, whoever you are..." " I told you who I am." "Magus, your creator." "Whoever you are, what do you want with us?" "What I've always wanted, ever since I first created you - to help you." "How?" "You have been a great disappointment - all those wars, your wilful squandering of the resources of the planet I gave you, your pollution of it." "You said you were going to help us." " I am." " How?" "I am going to give you something that I have never allowed to any other species." "What is that?" "A second chance." "Are you going to return us to Earth?" "To a new Earth, a new Eden, where you can begin again." "New Earth." "John..." "Beautiful, is it not, Commander?" "We have learned to mistrust appearances." "It is a quarter the size of Old Earth and its air, water and vegetable life are identical." "(Maya) What about its sun?" "It has a sun like Old Earth's, and in the same proportion to its size." "Why didn't we see the planet before?" "Because I did not wish it." "You seem amused, Doctor." "It's just that your answer is so exactly what it should be, if you are what you say you are." "The planet is ideal for humankind." "Your wanderings are over." "Excuse me, but humankind does like to have a look around before it calls a place home." "I suggest a team of you visit the planet to see for yourselves." "Maya?" "My readings indicate he's telling the truth." " The planet could support us." " Then we could settle there." "Its data is identical to what I have about Earth." "All right, Magus." "We accept your invitation." "Excellent!" "Then the team should be as follows:" "yourself as leader, since you are the one to make the decisions." "The lovely creature, Maya, must go as scientific officer, naturally, the equally enchanting Dr Russell, as medical officer, and Mr Verdeschi, because whether he knows it or not he is a farmer at heart," "like generations of his family before him." "I'm commander." "If there are teams to be picked, I pick them." "I am commander of a great deal more than this speck of dust." "That is the team." "Either that, or none." "All right, Magus." "Alan, while we're down there, you're in command." "Splendid, then I will transport you to the planet." "No." "We'll go in one of our Eagles." "Typically stubborn, commendably cautious." "An Eagle it shall be." " Tony, check the spacesuits." " That will not be necessary." "Check the suits, Tony." "Yasko, preparing for lift-off." "Have a seat." "Clear to lift off, Eagle Four." " You had to have it your way." " That is one of my privileges." "Yasko..." "Yasko!" "Koenig to Alpha." "Come in, Alpha." "Perhaps my way of transporting you has interfered." "It will come back later." "Shall we disembark?" "Commander Koenig, do you read me?" "Do you read me?" "Commander Koenig!" "Come in, do you read me?" "(Birds chirping)" "Oh, John!" "The air is totally without pollution." "And there don't seem to be any harmful bacteria." "Wow." "You could plant grain here and have lasagne come up!" " Do you like it?" " Well, it seems compatible." "What about animals?" "There are some wild cattle, boar and horses." "Enough to start breeding from." " Water?" " Water is pure and plentiful." "Fruit grows freely, the soya bean grows wild over the whole planet." "It is the Garden of Eden, mark two." "You will be very happy here." "Well, I'd like to make a feasibility study of the entire planet before we decide." "I'd like to bring a task force here." " Nobody else will be coming." " What?" "The decision has been made." "You are my new Adams, my new Eves." "Koenig to Alpha." "Koenig to Alpha." "Come in, Alpha." " There is really no point in that." " We're great triers, we primitives!" "Come in, Alpha!" "Up there is your past." " Your future lies here." " We choose our own future." "I am your Lord and Creator." "You must put your trust in me." "People up there need us." "I shall provide." "They shall not want." "Just a minute." "The Moon itself - what about that?" "The Moon will orbit New Earth, for a time, anyway." "Then I shall send it on its way." " But it's our home!" " This is your home now." "Here you will live and love, and from you will spring the new human species - mankind's second chance." "Now, look..." "Whoever or whatever you are..." "You know who I am." "Do not diminish my respect for you." "(High-pitched buzz)" "You are blessed among men." "For you, this is the first day of creation." "(Yasko) 'This is Moonbase Alpha.'" "Commander Koenig." "Come in, Commander Koenig." "They'll be on that planet." "It's the only place they can be." "We won't find them by sitting on our butts here." "I've been monitoring you for a long time." "I trust we proved interesting subjects?" "Yes." "I've worked out the pair bonding in detail." "The pair bonding?" "!" "Yes, it's important to establish the right mix of genes." " You plan some genetic engineering?" " Precisely." "I decided that you, Helena, shall be Tony's mate and you, Maya, the commander's." " Wait a minute..." " What?" " You've decided?" " Yes." "Don't you think you should have consulted us first?" "It's very bad manners and, besides that, very bad psychology." "And bad biology." "Are we compatible?" "You've a lot to learn about humanity, Santa Claus." "I know all about humanity." "Humanity is mine." " Humanity belongs to no one!" " You are all compatible." "You and the commander will make a fascinating mix." "Psychon and Earth." "Your iron intellect, typical of your species, interbred with the commander's iron will, so typical of his." "Those very qualities might get in your way." "Your monitoring may not be so good." " Maya is very beautiful, but..." " But you would choose Helena." "I am aware of that." "But I'm afraid I cannot sanction it." " We make our own choices!" " Much less often than you think." "As for you, my dear, your natural aristocracy, allied to Mr Verdeschi, a man rooted in the rocks and the earth." "Your offspring will be remarkable!" "Offspring!" "You would say that." "You couldn't just say "children"." " You've forgotten one thing." " What?" "We're not rabbits." "There's something else." "If you don't recognise that, who would?" "Oh, love." "I know all about love." "I invented it." "There is just one rule." "You are not to leave this glade for the moment." " Why?" " Because I do not wish it." "The boundary is defined by that line of rocks." "You may not cross it." "Besides, there will be no need." "Everything to sustain you is here." "Reopen communications with Alpha." " I do not wish it." " But we do wish it!" "My regrets." "And now, I must leave you." "It will be good to have a moon." "We've never had one before." "You will feel quite at home here." "By the way, you'll find its light has all the old romantic qualities." "The Eagle's disappeared." "We couldn't expect him to miss that trick." " Atomic dispersal." "Interesting." " I'm glad you think so." "No, it's still there." "He's exerting his power to disperse its particles." "Like powder dissolving in a liquid." "Hey, do you think that..." "Well, that he could really be what he says he is" " God?" "I mean..." "Jehovah?" "Those are just...names your kind has given to an all-powerful being you think exists, but you don't understand." "So he could be God?" "If he'd come to Earth a few years back a lot of people would have said so." "He's shown God-like powers." "But the way that he's shown them, his methods..." "I don't know." "Two plus two doesn't make four." "Well, let's go see what his food's like." " Eagle One ready for lift-off." " 'Alan, are you sure?" "'" "It's been 24 hours, Yasko." "I'm going after them." "'Clear to lift off.'" "(Engines whining)" "Eagle 1 to Command." "Something's wrong." "I haven't got lift-off." " Well, his food's not poisonous." " Well, that's something." "Ow!" "What the...?" "Try Helena." "John." "Ohh..." "Maya?" "Very ingenious." "Magnetic field cocoons - positive, negative." "He's making sure we do things his way." "He's paired us off." "Yup." "It won't work, Magus!" "Do you hear me?" "(Soft, romantic music)" "Well, here we go." "Little old matchmaker in the sky." "Yes..." "What...?" "Oh..." "I said...yes." "I think I might get some more wood for the fire." "(Music continues)" "I wonder who does his arrangements." "I wonder too." "You know, that's an interesting theory of yours - that God is just a name for... for God." "Comparative universal theology used to be a hobby of mine." "An interesting thing - we managed to find our God, the creator of this universe, to find that he had a God who created a bigger one." "Our universe is just a part of it all." "Hmm." "And another point, about divine power." "If we learned to explain it - I mean, understood its mechanism..." "I mean... would we... regard it... as divine?" "You know we're being manipulated?" "Yes." "We are." "It's just simple brainwashing." "The music, I mean." "That's what it is." "It doesn't mean a thing." "Of course it doesn't." "After all, we... can't fight City Hall forever." "No." "(Roaring)" "(Grunts and screams)" "(Groans)" "(Grunts)" "(Bellows)" "(Roars)" "(Screaming)" "Maya!" "(Grunting and snarling)" "Are you all right?" "Thank you." " Any time." " Good girl, Maya." "The creature went into the cave - left some tracks." "Let's follow them." "You were forbidden!" "Why do you disobey?" "Go back!" "Go back!" "Go back!" "What is it that makes the human species so perverse?" "That was quite a show last night." "What was it you didn't want us to see?" "I forbade you to leave because I knew the dangers." "I did not wish you destroyed before we had begun." "What dangers?" "The apes or those other things?" "Throughout history, your species has been notable for two things - asking interminable questions and injuring itself." "You haven't answered." "You were homeless, I gave you a home." " I gave you hope." " We were never without hope." " What more could you ask for?" " Free will." "Free will!" "It is a phantom, a will o' the wisp." " It exists nowhere in the universe." " We had it before you took it away." "To you, free will is the right to say no." "It is the right to leave here without you acting like something from Job." "It is the right to try." " Are you all right?" " Yeah." "Helena!" "Are you all right?" " Maya." " I'm OK." "We've hit force fields before." "Congratulations." "You're a big, big physicist(!" ")" "What is it you don't want us to see?" "We know there are other beings here." "Eventually, we'll get close to them." "The ban was for your protection." "Last night, did it look as if we needed your protection?" "I know that to erect any barrier in front of the human species is to challenge them to cross it." "However, this is one barrier that will not be crossed." "You can't keep a force field up for ever." "I can." "I can ill afford to, but if you behave like children, you must be treated like them." "Let us not quarrel." "Enjoy yourselves." "What was it you used to say on Old Earth, "Make love, not war"?" " We've got to get out of this zoo!" " Even if we break the force field, anything we try he'll know - like last night." " How did he know about that?" " ESP?" "No." "No, I don't think so." "I scanned him just now." "There's some kind of power source inside him." " An organic source?" " No." "It's an implant, fantastically potent." "I don't know how it works, but it's mechanical." "Mechanical?" "It's a device..." "So his powers are physical, not psychic." "What did he mean, he could "ill afford the energy"?" "His powers are beyond our understanding, but they're not limitless, and he has an awful lot to do." "Like what, for instance?" "Like he can hold this planet together." "Look!" "The Moon is much bigger in relation to this planet, and much closer." "The gravitational pull." "Magus must be countering it or this planet would blow apart." "Yeah." "And he's stopping anyone coming from Alpha, right?" "Right." "We must get out of here - get to those tracks outside, anything to give us a clue as to what's going on." "Yeah." "Wait a minute..." "I wonder..." "Maya...a bird could do it." "An owl, I think, for its eyesight." "Maya..." "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." "Good luck." "Additional boosters in place, Yasko." "'OK, Alan.'" "I'm going up to full power!" "An owl." "I thought you were all extinct down here." "The more I learn, the less I know." "Away you go." " He caught you and let you go?" "!" " Mmm." "Which proves he's not supernatural." "Did you find any tracks?" "The same ones, inside the glade as well." " Where?" " Over there, behind some bushes." "I saw it from the air." "Come on." "These rocks have only just been put here." " Like it was blocked very recently." " We're still in the force field." "This cave might connect with the one outside." "If it does, we can get out of this glade." "Lasers!" "Now!" "Come on, stay close behind." "Which way now?" "(Growling)" "Quiet." "(Growling)" "(Snarling and growling)" "(Hissing)" "Stay here." "Please!" "Shoot!" "What?" "You would be doing what I desire." "Why did you attack us?" "So that you might kill us!" "That is why our kind go and fight the ape-things." " He won't let us die." " Who won't let you die?" "M-Magus." "He is the last of the line of cosmic magicians." "They could perform miracles through physics." " What does he want?" " He wants the secret of creation." "To be able to create life." "We mutants are the result of Magus's attempts to discover that secret!" "We're the...children of other species he's trapped and brought to this planet, the results of his manic probing into our earliest fertilised cells." " He won't even let us die." " Why?" "He still...thinks he may learn something from our...mutilated genes." "Down here is the only place we can get away from him." "He'll never come down here." "Is there a way through the caves leading out of the glade?" "Thank you." "Helena, Maya!" "Deceitful pygmies!" " Is he all right?" " Maya, no." "An immature and irresponsible reaction!" "Last time we met, you were an owl, I believe." "I'm afraid your species' mastery of the molecular trick slipped my mind." "So you take your revenge like a child." "You take me too lightly." "You need a lesson." "This is your Garden Of Eden, is it?" "And those are your Adams and Eves." "You would use us like lab animals." "No, that was not my purpose." "You're a bungler who creates misery!" "My purpose is to create a new species of mankind - strong, resourceful, brilliant, dedicated." "All the qualities you possess between you." "We will work on the mystery of creation." "I realise now I cannot solve it on my own." "Call yourself a creator?" "You're a fraud and a liar." "A mild deception to gain your confidence." " You didn't." " I admire humankind." " It's not mutual." " I have been among you many times." "I was Simon Magus, who offered to buy the Nazarene's powers." "I was Merlin, I was Nostradamus," "I was the magician who contended in magic with Moses." "No doubt." "When the time comes, I will invest you and your offspring with the powers that I possess." " You will help me." " Help you?" " Help you to do that?" "!" " Either you will agree to my terms or I will destroy your companions on the Moon." "Not even you can destroy the Moon." "I can destroy your base." "Your life support." "(Alarms bleeping)" "Repair crew to section eight!" "Repair crew!" "(Yasko) Why?" "Well, maybe to put pressure on John." "Stop!" "You agree to my terms?" "I..." "I agree to talk about it." "You are a realist." "We will discuss it tomorrow." " I think I've got it." " What?" "A way out?" "I don't know." "Let me try it out on you." "He had us whipped - he knew it." "Yet he wouldn't press home his advantage." "Why?" " Because he can't stand the dark." " What?" "He's afraid of the dark?" "Last night he left before dark, he won't go in the caves and what about the effect of the laser?" " He drew strength from it." " Right." "Of course!" "He needs light." "His power comes from light!" "So he's on the other side of the planet, where the sun is shining." "But we saw him last night when we crossed the boundary." "No, that was a projection of himself." "The implant I detected could be a light decelerator." "A what?" "Imagine light travelling at 186,000 miles per second." "For you, I'll try anything!" "You find a way to slow it down as it's coming at you, then you harness the energy." "I didn't think that was possible." "It isn't, for us." "But they managed to solve it." "That's why they're super-beings." "It must be some...small crystal planted somewhere in his brain stem." "The energy would be instantly available then." "And directed simply by thought." "Unlimited personal power." "Must be the nearest thing there is to being God." "How do we fight that?" "Find some way to cut off his source of power - to block out the light." " How?" " By being primitive." "It's last thing he'll expect." " Magus will be here soon." " We've gotta make sure it works." " Got it?" " Yup." "OK." "Hang on." " Got it?" " Got it." " John?" " All right, cover it up." "(Koenig) It's a total blackout." "Black as pitch!" "If this doesn't work, or Magus suspects, it's the end of all of us, and Moonbase Alpha." "I know, Tony." " You have considered?" " Yes, we have considered." "You will cooperate in my work?" "Magus, we don't trust you." "Why should we put ourselves at your mercy?" "I need you." "I cannot do it alone." "This is your guarantee." "All right, Magus." "But these are the conditions." "No experiments on the mutants, not even observations." "Valuable things may still be learned from them!" "Mistakes can be more instructive than successes." "Those are our conditions and that is our ultimatum!" "As always, the arrogance of your species astounds me!" "And the horror of your deeds astonishes us!" "How dare you?" "!" "Primeval imbeciles!" "Without me, the planet will break apart!" "Light!" "Give me light, or we'll all die!" "Koenig to Alpha!" "Come in, Alpha!" "(Wind howling)" "Come in, Alpha!" "Only Magus's power is holding this planet together against the pull of our moon." "Koenig to Alpha!" "Come in, Alpha!" "Koenig to Alpha!" "John!" "John!" "(Yelling)" "The mutants!" "You get aboard the Eagle." "I'll meet you there!" "Go on!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "We'll take you back with us." "No!" "No!" "Thank you, no!" "This is the best thing for us!" "All of you!" "You go!" "Go!" "Go!" "(Yelling)" " Commander!" " Helena!" "Got to get going!" "One chink of light as the Earth broke up and he'd still get away." "That's a real long shot, isn't it?" " Would you like to bet against him?" " Nope."