"I'm not going in there!" "No!" "I'm not going in there!" "No!" "I'm not going in there!" "I'm not going in there!" "I'm not going!" "I'll kill you!" "Get your paws off me, you cretin!" "Damn it." "Who are you?" "Tristan." " Bree Tristan." " Rank and unit." "Sir." "Cadet, second class, Europa Base." " Europa?" " Yes." " Europa's in the defense perimeter." " Yes, it is, sir." "You're telling me you're a fighter pilot." "You flew an Exeter fighter." "No, only a trainer." "I got captured before I ever saw the inside of an Exeter." "How long have you been here?" "It's hard to tell." "But if my cycle is still every 28 days, just over three months." "The second Europa Ray." "I was with my commander in a two-man trainer." "We were practicing a refueling scoop in theJovian atmosphere." "We were hit pulling five G's while climbing out." "The ejection systems fired." " We woke up here." " Alone?" "I was with the commander." " What was his name?" " Hartley." " Where is he now?" " Dead." "He died a few weeks ago." "Or longer." "I don't really know how long." "What's that?" "On your arm." "Show it to me." "Show it to me!" " What is it?" " A skin graft." "Their skin." "Why?" "I think they're trying to change me... into one of them." "There is nothing wrong with your television." "Do not attempt to adjust the picture." "We are now controlling the transmission." "We control the horizontal... and the vertical." "We can deluge you with a thousand channels... or expand one single image to crystal clarity... and beyond." "We can shape your vision... to anything our imagination can conceive." "For the next hour... we will control all that you see and hear." "You are about to experience the awe and mystery... which reaches from the deepest inner mind to..." "The Outer Limits." "Men of war have long known... that warriors must often abandon those verities they defend- peace, human kindness, love- for they hold no meaning to the enemy." "And so, to win, do we become what we despise... and despise what we become." "If you touch them, they stop giving off light for hours." " Can they hear us?" "Are they listening?" " I don't know." "Have they ever done anything to make you think they were?" "Good." "What else can you tell me?" "Do you know what rock we're on?" "You never told me your name, sir." "John." "MajorJohn Skokes, Alpha Wing." "The commander spent hours doing what you're doing." " Was he here with you?" " Until he died." "Until long after he died." "They just left him here... as if I was supposed to do something with the body." "I touched him once to close his eyes... because he kept staring at me." "Finally, they took him away." "Damn things probably eat their dead." "Did he find anything?" "He couldn't move around very well." "Lost part of his legs early on in the war." "That's why he was an instructor." "He said we couldn't be on the alien home world... because they calculated it at over two gravities." "They decided that this moon or asteroid, or whatever it is... was just under one G." "That sounds about right." " That's good." " Is it?" "It means we have a shot at getting out of here." "We're on their home world" " There is no way out, Major." " There's a way." "How?" "They're a hundred times stronger than we are." "These walls are made of a crystal that's as hard as diamond." " There's a way." " They'll torture you like the commander" " Listen to me, Cadet." " I can't watch that." "Listen to me, Cadet!" "I have to get back into the fight because I have to, and that's what I intend to do." " Do you understand?" " He said the same thing." "Well, he was a cripple." "I'm not." "Every day they took him away, every day they brought him back a little less alive." "I'm not going to be able to watch them do the same thing to you." "I'm not!" "You won't have to!" "You listen to me." "We're getting out because if we lose, it's over." "The Earth is gone, Mars is gone, the colony's gone." "They'll just wipe us away, and there won't be anywhere left to go." "I have got to get back into the fight... and from now on, our business is getting out of here." "Is that clear, soldier?" "Yes, sir." "Whatever you say." "Where the hell did they find you?" "I was drafted by the UNDF." "They introduced conscription to everyone over 18 last year." "You didn't know?" "I haven't been back to Earth in a long time." "The war is everything now." "They came to my school and tested all of us." "They decided I had what it took to be a fighter pilot." "They did, did they?" "You're right." "I know." "I told them that they were making a mistake." "They said the test results spoke for themselves." "I was so afraid to fight, I was sick every morning." "Then I thought, if they could take me from a trainer... right from the heart of our own solar system... the war must be over." "No!" "We won that day." "They came right into our own backyard... and for once we got mad enough to make a difference." "As a matter of fact, I personally took out your capital ship!" "Do you hear me out there?" "I must have spaced about a thousand of you ugly bastards!" "What do you think about that, huh?" "That was me!" "I did that!" "There's nobody out there who can hear you." "Doesn't matter." "It's important." "It proved to us that we can win." "It was the first time we hurt them worse than they hurt us... and it felt damn good to know that we could do that." " Did it make a difference?" " Yeah." "It made 'em change their tactics, back off... keep their capital ships to the rear instead of committing them." "We realized that they weren't indestructible." "I gotta tell you, it was time we found that out." "Right at the moment when I'm needed more than ever... when I'm trying to defend a whole shipful of colonists... trying to make their way back to the sol system..." "I lose my main engine." "One flight mechanic makes one stupid mistake calibrating a flow regulator... and I'm out of the damn war!" "What's that?" " They come once a day with food." " You stay back." "No, please, don't!" "This is all they give us." "I'm not that hungry." "You have to keep your strength up." "Took me days to figure out it was supposed to be food." "Took me even longer to try to eat one." "There's an easy way to kill them." "I'll show you." "No, I saw it." "They're nearly tasteless if they're still warm." "I could catch it for you." "I'd rather starve, thanks." "The commander said that." "They waited until he was starving." "They stopped bringing him food... and then they only brought me mine when he was gone." "It just made him so weak." "It wasn't very long until he was begging for mercy." "Now, they understand our language, I think." "They can speak it through a machine." "But not mercy." "I don't think there's a word for it in their language." "Please eat." "I'll either be gone or dead long before anything like that happens to me." "So don't worry." "What?" "This one's taking so fast." "What do you mean, "this one"?" "This is the third graft they've tried." "They said that they're trying to override human DNA with their own." " That's how they're changing me." " Why?" "They said it was an experiment." "It's working this time." " Here." "Let me look at it." " It hurts." "Maybe there's a way we can cut it off or scrape it away or something." " No, don't." " What if they try to change all of us?" " We can't just let them get away with it!" " No, please, don't!" " You close your eyes." "Close your eyes." " No." "Don't!" " Bite down hard!" " Please!" "No!" "No, I'm afraid!" "Please!" "Don't!" "Hold up!" "Hold up!" "Please!" "Please!" "Please!" "So you wanna know how I took out that cruiser of yours?" "I'd used up almost all my fuel diving into Europa's gravity well... and then I pulled out up underneath him." "The cruiser didn't even know I was there until it was too late." "I got off two Mark 9's." "They lit up their fusion flames, and all that did was set off the nukes early." "They exploded about 500 yards from the main engines." "You should've been there." "That cruiser broke up over Europa... and I just sat in my cockpit with no fuel and watched you die, for a change." "And I'm gonna do it again." "Do you hear me?" "I'm not done yet!" "So come on!" " They've started." " What?" " Oh, God." " It's all right now." "It's all right." "It's all right." "They don't use anesthetic." "It's all right now." "It's all right now." "It hurts so much." "I know." "I want you to know something, Bree, and I want you to think about it." "While you were gone, I found something that will get us out of here." "You did?" " It'll just take some time." " I don't have any more time." "You have to be strong." "I don't know how much longer I'll be human." "You'll always be human." "No matter what they do to you, they can't change that ever." "I won't hurt you again." "Please hold me." "You're wrong, you know." "About what?" "They can change us." "They've been changing us ever since the war started." "How?" "You haven't seen it?" "When was the last time you went back to Earth?" "Four years ago." "I flew in the squadron that escorted the U.N. President back to Earth... after he tried to negotiate the surrender of the Epsilon colony... before they wiped it out." "It was the last time that I saw the sun on a blue sky." "It was the last time that I ate meat." "It was the last time that I took a swim." "I miss it." "You wouldn't recognize it anymore." "The Earth has changed so much in the last four years." "War has changed everything." "They've woken up." "They know what they're fighting for." "What are they fighting for?" "There are no more blue skies, just gray." "Acid fog from the munitions factories that never stop now." "It's a police state of rationing and work, fear and hate." "I don't miss it." "It's the beginning of the end." " No." "You're wrong." " You haven't been there!" "Before the war, the Earth still hadn't come together as one world." "We were a hundred different voices arguing in as many languages." "I know they can be beaten, Bree." " I believe that." " You do, don't you?" "Yes." "And on the day of the last battle... they'll be able to stop and look at themselves... and remember exactly who they are and what they are... and that they're still human." "So are we." "Whoever he is, I sure as hell hope he doesn't know anything... about Earth's defensive plans." "Have you ever been tortured?" "No." "Not yet anyway." "I've been trained though." "I know there's nothing they could do that would make me give up my people." "What did they do to you?" "This is the worst thing they could have done to me." "But before, after we were here for a couple of days... they took the commander and I into another room... and made us take off all of our clothes." "I was so ashamed." "They didn't spend much time looking at the commander... but I don't think they've ever seen a woman before because... two others came in- smaller, like we are." "I guess they were females." "And they examined me inside." "And then a voice, a machine voice... asked me if I was a warrior like the man." "I said I was just a cadet, I didn't know anything about the war." "All I knew about the Exeter fighter was what they told me." "It was all I knew, but I told them." "It's all right." "They've captured enough of our fighters to know 'em by heart." "Well, they thought the commander knew more- secrets- because of his rank." "He was trained, too, but I don't think he knew anything." "He was hurt in the first year of the war." "I don't think they tell instructors defense secrets, do they?" "I just wanted it to end." "We were gonna commit suicide, but he was too weak, and I was too afraid." "Don't say that." "What did I tell you?" "That you're going to find a way out of here." "And what else?" "That you're not leaving without me." "Damn right." "Does it hurt?" "No." "Not anymore." "Not like before." "It feels strange though." "I can't see what they've done back there." "Would you?" "I'm sorry." "No, it's all right." "I'm just not used to anyone touching me like that." "You're forgetting how much Earth has changed." "I don't understand." "All the boys over 16 are sent to the defense training program." "The commander was the only man in my squadron, so" " Never?" " Never." "You're the only man who's ever touched me the way you're touching me now." "And you'll be the last, too... because I don't know how much longer I'll be human." "You're shivering." "No." "Please." "Bree, I should get back to work." "Can we just stay like this a little longer?" "Please?" "All right." "If you make it into the air vent, do you really think you'll find a way out?" "Once I cut through those bars, I'll be able to scout every day for a few hours." "If they were listening, they would've stopped me by now, wouldn't they?" "That's their overconfidence." "When I find a way out, I'll be able to cut away on that end just like I'm doing here." "And then?" "And find a weapon." "We know they bleed like we do." "It just takes a hell of a lot more to make 'em do it." "Then we steal a ship." "At least we could kill a few trying, couldn't we?" "That would be enough for you, wouldn't it?" "Just to hurt them." "Let's just say it's the least I'll settle for." "You hate them that much?" "Look what they're doing to you." "How can you ask me that?" "I just don't believe in hating anyone." "Then try... 'cause that's the only emotion that's gonna get us out of this." "Not love?" "I think that's just as important." "More." "It's what makes us different from them." "It's what defines us." "We have to fight for what we are, don't we?" "I guess I just haven't felt anything but hate for a long time." "I haven't felt anything for a long time." "When I was a kid, before the war..." "I imagined love." "At least, I imagined the feeling of being in love... without ever having been." "And I imagined that making love would be the most wonderful feeling." " Is it?" " Yes, it is." "I always thought one day I would know." "One day you will know." "Not if they keep changing me." "I still feel human." "I still have all those feelings." "I just don't have any more time." "Would you hold me again?" "I just want to feel that much... to feel what it's like to have a man's body against mine... while it's still mine." "Bree, I" "Look at me." "Look at me." "It's not fair." "It's not fair." "Look at me." "You know what I'm becoming." "You don't want to touch me." "That's not true." " You're beautiful." " No, I'm not." " Yes, you are." " Not now." "Yes, you are." "Right now." "You are." "Don't you take her!" "Please, don't!" "No!" "Leave him alone!" "Help!" "No!" "Let go!" "Please!" "No!" "Please don't look at me." "They're making me a monster." "Never." "You were gone so long this time." "Are you in pain?" "No." "Not like before." "I think they must have a higher tolerance for pain." "The new skin hardly feels anything." "What's happened to you?" "I ran into something with teeth." " What did that?" " I never saw." "It was in the air vent." " You made it into the air vent?" " Yeah." "And then I got stupid." "First a rat in the maze... and then I lost the crystal I was using to cut the bars." "Acid!" "There's acid down there!" "I'd cut my way into the vent, but without that crystal, I can't cut my way out." "You're hurt." "You're hurt." "John, you should rest." "I found one." "I can find another." "We have to bandage your leg." "You know, it could get infected." "There's no point in doing that unless we get out, Bree." "There's no point in doing anything." " I'm sorry." " That thing in the vent." "I killed it." "It's dead." "I can find a way out if I could just find something else to cut with." "Bree, that's acid." "Get your hand out." "I can touch it." "I have it." "It'll only make us stronger in the long run." "We'll be one race." "Not all that noise that was going on before the war between the countries... between people." "And you won't have to feel hate anymore." " They didn't hit us with the steam." " Let me show you how to do this." " Why didn't they hit us with the steam?" " It doesn't take much pressure." "Like this." "You all right?" "Yeah, I'll be all right." "They just brought our food." "We should have a few hours before they come back for you." "I might be able to cut through a few more bars in that time." "I don't want you to go." "I'm almost through." "If I get done fast enough, I'll be able to come back for you before they do." " Really?" " Really." "I don't want 'em to touch another hair on your head." "I'll come back for you." "I promise." "Help.!" "Help, please.!" " I'm coming." "I'm coming, Bree." " Please!" "Oh, no!" "Bastard!" "They've cut off your hand." "No, don't move." "I didn't think the bleeding was ever going to stop." "I thought I was going to lose you." "You've been unconscious for so long." "Don't." "I'm sorry." "It's not your fault." "I'm gonna break my promise." "We won't be getting out." "I know." "Not now." "We'll have to end it ourselves." "I can do it so you won't feel anything." "Before they come back." "We'll do it now." "Yes." "Bree, I want you to know how I feel about you." "I know." "Close your eyes." "I can't." "Oh, it's all right, John." "I had hope for a while." "You gave me that." "It was a gift." "But that's gone now- hope for us, hope for humanity." "I just don't feel it." "I want it to end now." "Have hope." "Not for us, but for Earth." "We've held back a huge force of our best fighters... on the far side of the sun." "Only a handful of people know about it." "We led them to believe that we were on the brink of collapse." "Thirty days from the day I was captured... they'll strike their home world." "It'll be enough to turn the tide." "So, in the end, we'll have won." "Thank you for telling me, John." "Take me instead!" "Don't change her!" "Please don't change her anymore!" "You don't understand, John." "They're not changing me." "They're changing me back." "In the darkest ofhours, in the greatest ofbattles... we must never forget who or what we are."