"MOSFILM" "Artistic Association of Writers and Cinema Workers" "NATALYA BONDARCHUK" "DONATAS BANIONIS" "YURI YARVET" "VLADISLAV DVORZHETSKY" "NIKOLAI GRINKO" "ANATOLY SOLONITSYN" "in" "SOLARIS" "Based on the science-fiction novel by Stanislaw Lem" "Screenplay by F. GORENSHTEIN, A. TARKOVSKY" "Directed by Andrei TARKOVSKY" "Director of Photography Vadim YUSOV" "Production Designer Mikhail ROMADIN" "Music by Eduard ARTEMYEV" "Sound by Semyon LITVINOV" "Used in the film the chorale-prelude in F minor by J.S. Bach" "SOLARIS Part One" "Chris!" "Come here!" "You're just in time." "He takes a walk every morning for at least an hour." "He has been working too hard, all night sometimes." "This science of solaristics of his!" "He reminds me of a bookkeeper making up his accounts." "We expected you yesterday." "He wanted to run away when he saw me." "Hello!" "How do you do?" "I guess I shouldn't have bothered you today." "How old we have grown!" "I'm only now beginning to realize it." "Everything will depend on his initial report from the station." "Every message we receive is confusing or incomprehensible." "If he confirms for us that the study shouldn't continue, the station can be taken out of Solaris's orbit." "I understand." "You promised to talk to him." "I've brought the film." "Yes, of course." "Would you mind keeping the boy for a few days?" "Anna'll be pleased to have him." "She'll have more free time now." "When does he leave?" "By this time tomorrow, he'll already be gone." "It's very pleasant here." "This house looks like my grand- father's house." "I liked it very much." "And so we built this one just like it." "I don't care much for new things." "Well, I better get going." "I've an awful lot to do." "Don't you want to see this?" "I've already seen it many times." "Twenty-one days after the launch of our expedition, radio biologist Vishnyakov and physicist Fechner went on an exploration mission over the Solaris ocean in an air vehicle." "When they failed to return, we ordered a search." "The fog was too dense, and we had to call the search off." "All of the rescue craft returned to the station except the helicopter piloted by Burton." "He came back only after the dark had set in." "He immediately ran to his quarters, obviously in a state of shock." "It was so unusual for a man who had been flying for 11 years." "He had recovered in a couple of days, but he would never leave the station." "And he refused to approach the window overlooking the ocean." "While under medical care in a clinic he offered to make a statement of great importance, one which he felt could affect the whole future of Project Solaris." "Very well, let's hear his story." "Now is the time to let Burton talk." "The first time I descended below a thousand feet," "I had trouble maintaining altitude, because the wind had come up." "All my efforts were required in operating the ship." "I wasn't watching outside." "As a result, I entered the fog bank." "Was that an ordinary fog?" "It was like nothing I'd ever seen before." "It seemed to be a colloidal substance, a gluey mass." "All the windows were coated." "Because of the fog's resistance I began to lose altitude." "Where I supposed the sun would be, the fog glowed like fire." "Half an hour later, I emerged into a large open space." "The patch was round, about a few hundred meters across." "At that moment I observed great changes in the ocean." "The water became still, and the surface looked transparent." "A sort of yellow mucus started to congeal under it." "When it rose up, it glistened like glass." "Then it began to boil, and a frothy crust appeared on top." "The surface was brown like burned sugar syrup." "This substance solidified into big lumps, giving shape to all sorts of figures." "I was being drawn to the fog bank, so I had to struggle against this force for some time." "When I looked down again," "I saw a sort of garden." "A garden?" "Quiet, please." "I could see vegetation, hedges, acacia trees, narrow paths." "All of this same substance." "And all these trees and plants, did they have leaves?" "Those bushes, acacias?" "They looked like they were made of plastic, but in real-life proportions." "All of a sudden cracks started to appear." "The boiling began again, all was in froth." "You'll be able to see it for yourselves." "Everything I saw will be on the film." "Then I suggest we interrupt the hearing and look at it with our own eyes." "Yes, show us the film." "It's very interesting." " Is that all?" " Yes, that's all there is." "But we don't understand." "Your film is nothing but clouds!" "That must be the fog I was talking about." "I'm as surprised as you are." "All this might be the result of the bio-magnetic current of the Solaris ocean acting on Burton's conscience." "We know these currents to be not only a gigantic cerebral system, but also to be capable of generating thought." "That is a hypothesis that has not been confirmed." "Weren't you ill on that particular day?" "Oh, this next part is pointless." "We'll pick up here." "...I saw something floating." "I thought that it looked like Fechner's space suit." "I kept circling the spot to make sure I wouldn't lose sight of it." "Suddenly I could see the form rise slightly, as if treading the waters." "I could see the man, he wasn't wearing a space suit, and he moved." "You mean it was human?" "Yes, human." "You saw his face?" "Yes." "What man?" "Who was he?" "It was an infant." " Did you recognize it?" " I'd never seen it before." "When I circled nearer, what I saw was monstrous." "What do you mean?" "At first I couldn't make it out, but then it became clear that it was incredibly huge." "It was twelve feet tall." "Its eyes were blue, its hair was dark." "If you're not feeling well, we can recess the hearing." "I will continue." "It was absolutely naked, as if new born." "And it was moist, or rather slippery." "Its skin was glistening." "It rose and fell with the waves, but it was moving by itself." "The whole thing was repugnant." "Wait a minute, there isn't very much more." "...Burton's statements would appear to be the expression of a hallucinatory complex, induced by atmospheric influences of the planet, plus obscure symptoms to which the brain's cortical substance contributed in some measure through the excitation of associated zones." "This report in no way reflects the actual facts." "Or almost in no way." "There's a different opinion offered by Professor Messenger who believes that the information supplied by Burton could be true and needs to be thoroughly studied." "I saw everything I described with my own eyes!" "I would dare to venture another opinion." "We are on the verge of an immense discovery, and it would be unwise to be influenced by the fact that we base our decision upon the observations of an unqualified layman." "Every explorer may well envy this pilot, his presence of mind, his talents of observation." "Moreover, given the recent information, we are bound morally to press forward with our probes." "I can understand how Professor Messenger feels, however let's look back at the long road we've traveled." "For all our work, the Solaris probes are back where we began." "Years of effort have proven useless." "All we know about Solaris reminds me of a mountain of separate facts which we are unable to squeeze into the framework of any conception." "Well, we're even worse off today, as regards the essential." "Solaristics is degenerating." "The essential question is far more serious than just Solaristics." "We're probing the very frontier of human knowledge." "By artificially establishing a knowledge frontier, we limit our concept of the infinity of man's knowledge." "And if our movement is not forward, do we not risk moving backward?" "What do you mean by saying that the information supplied by me is in no way reflects the actual facts?" "I saw all this with my own eyes." "It means that some real phenomena could have triggered your hallucinating." "In windy weather it's very easy to mistake a swinging bush for a living creature." "To say nothing of a strange planet!" "There's nothing offending in it for you." "What action are you going to take in view of Prof. Messenger's opinion?" "Practically none at all." "Our research in this area will be discontinued." "I have a statement to make." "It's not my reputation but the spirit of the expedition that you offend..." "Well, et cetera..." "It's considered to be good manners now to laugh whenever Burton's report is mentioned." "We've known you a long time, but still I know so little about you." "You were very handsome then." "You don't mean that, but thanks anyway." "Well, Chris, what do you think about all this?" "I would like to speak to your son alone." "I hate to look like an idiot before you once more." "I'll wait for you outside by the swing." "He looks ridiculous, your Burton." "Don't say that." "He's obviously ill at ease." "He feels he's intruding on us." "If he decided to come, it's because he considers the matter so important." "I didn't want to see outsiders today any more than you did." "We don't talk to each other often enough." "It's good to hear you say that." "Even on the last day." "The last day..." "When the farewells are overdone, you feel awful afterwards." "Let's meet after dinner." "We need to talk." "And still, why did you invite this Burton fellow today of all days?" "Where are the guests going to sleep?" "Upstairs, I guess." "Well, I'll be down by the swing." " But perhaps..." " Just a second." "The question of where they're going to sleep can wait!" "Listen, Chris..." "What's the matter?" "What is it down there, standing in the garage and looking at me?" "It's just a horse." "I've seen it already." "Come on!" "He's very gentle." "Look how beautiful he is!" "I think that Solaristics is at an impasse as a result of irresponsible fantasizing." "I'm only interested in truth, but you want to convince me of your point of view." "I can't draw conclusions based on "reasons of heart"." "I'm not a poet." "My problem is simple:" "Either end the research, withdrawing the station from orbit and legalizing the crisis in Solaristics, or take extreme measures, like bombarding the ocean with high intensity beams." "No, not that!" "Didn't you want to continue the research at any price?" "And you want to destroy that which we aren't capable of understanding?" "No, I don't advocate knowledge at any price." "Knowledge is only valid when it rests on a foundation of morality." "Man is the only agent who renders science immoral." "Don't forget Hiroshima." "Then don't make science immoral!" "It's strange..." "There's nothing strange about it." "Even you can't be sure that all you had seen weren'tjust hallucinations." "Thank you for your time." "We have nothing more to say to each other." " Is anything the matter?" " I'm leaving." "Leaving?" "He is a bookkeeper, not a scientist." "We're friends, Burton, but you shouldn't say that about him!" "We've known each other for 20 years." "It had to end someday, I guess." "Are you leaving the child?" "Why did you have to offend him?" "You're heartless." "It's dangerous to send your kind to the cosmos." "Everything is far too fragile there!" "The earth somehow manages to put up with men of your sort, though at what cost to humanity!" "Are you jealous of the fact that he will be the one to bury me, not you?" "It'd been established that the Solaris ocean is a peculiar kind of brain." "Later, even a more daring hypothesis was put forward, that is the Ocean is a thinking substance." "For years this hypothesis could not have been substantiated." "This program is about Solaris." "Very few true believers have remained." "First of all, they are those who are connected with the station." "On the station for a 85-strong crew, only three men are still working." "They are astrobiologist Sartorius, cyberneticist Snout" "and physiologist Guibariane who is dealing with the problem..." "I'm calling from the city." "Burton!" "Anna, please, we need to talk." "What I talked to Chris about was not important." "I should have told him about Messenger who had a different opinion at that meeting." "He got very much interested in Fechner who died in Solaris Ocean." "It turned out that Fechner has an orphaned son, he had left his family." "Messenger and I paid a visit to Fechner's widow." "I saw this child with my own eyes." "You never told me about that." " I didn't have a chance." " All right, what about it?" "He looked exactly like the child I'd seen on Solaris." "Except that he wasn't twelve feet tall." "It wouldn't be good for him to think about it before the launch, but he should remember this when he's there." "There's no point in keeping these." "The only ones to be kept are those in my room." "All my research notes, my thesis..." "I wonder why we kept all these?" "Should something happens, I'll find someone to take care of them." "Oh, don't look for the film with the campfire." "I'm taking it with me." "Oh, sure, do that..." " Ready, Kelvin?" " Ready!" "You have nothing to worry about." "Have a good trip." " When is the lift-off?" " You're already under way!" "Station Solaris!" "Can you do something?" "I seem to be losing stability." "Where are you all?" "You've got company!" "Doctor Snout?" "Snout?" "I'm Kelvin, psychologist." "It appears you weren't expecting me." "Did you receive the radiogram?" "Yes, certainly." "Why are you so upset?" "I'm sorry..." "Where is Guibariane?" "And Sartorius?" "Sartorius is in his quarters." "Guibariane is dead." "Dead?" "He committed suicide..." "I knew Guibariane." "It's not like him to..." "He was in a state of profound depression." "Since these mysterious disorders began..." "Maybe you'd better rest, take a bath." "You may take any room." "Come here in an hour." "I'm impatient to meet with Guibariane..." "I mean Sartorius." "I doubt if he'll let you in." "He's up in his laboratory." "Listen, I'm aware that something extraordinary has happened, and perhaps I..." "Doctor Kelvin..." "You see..." "Please, come in an hour." "Go now, and rest." "Now there're only three of us on the station:" "You, me and Sartorius." "You know what we look like from our photographs." "If you see anything out of the ordinary, not me or Sartorius, try not to lose your head." " What would I see?" " That depends on you." " Hallucinations?" " No... but don't forget." " Forget what?" " That we're not on earth." "Why don't we have our talk tonight?" "No, let's make it tomorrow morning!" "A. GUIBARIANE" "HUMAN BEING" "TO C. KELVIN" "Hello, Chris." "I still have a little time left." "There're certain things I must tell you, that I must warn you about." "I suppose you've been told what happened to me." "If not, Snout or Sartorius can tell you the details." "What happened to me, it matters little." "The trouble is that no one can really explain it." "I'm afraid that what's happened to me is only a beginning." "I wouldn't wish it, of course, but it may happen to all of you." "Here, it may happen to anyone, for sure." "But don't think that I've gone mad." "You know me well." "If I have enough time, I'll tell you why I did this." "If it does happen to you, you will know it's not madness." "That's the main thing." "As for continuing our program of research," "I'm of the same opinion as Sartorius." "Bombard the plasma of the ocean by high-powered X-rays." "It's prohibited, but there's no other choice." "We - or rather you - will be drawn in." "It may offer a way to break this deadlock." "It's your only chance to establish contact with this monster." "There's no other solution left." "If you..." "Doctor Sartorius, my name is Kelvin." "I arrived two hours ago." "Look, I'm in a ridiculous situation here." "Either you open up, or I'll break the door!" "All right, I'll open the door, but don't come in." "I'll come out." "My name is Kelvin." "You must have heard of me." "I worked with Guibariane." "Dr. Snout told me about Guibariane..." "I can't believe it." "So, you know the story." "Yes, it's horrible." "I have no details, I only know he's dead." "All of us may die." "But he insisted upon being buried on the earth." "Guibariane wanted to be in the earth, with the worms." "Have you ever heard of Burton?" "Yes, he was on the search party for Fechner." "Fechner died a magnificent death, and Guibariane was a coward." "Please..." "He's dead!" "Why judge him?" "Duty to the truth is the only concern that should count." "You are misguided in your search." "Look..." "This courage you pretend to is only inhumanity." "Go away." "You're obviously overemotional." "You must adapt yourself." "Good health to you." "I saw Sartorius and we spoke." "I don't find him very likable." "He's a very talented scientist." "I'm afraid I don't feel so well." "There's nothing wrong with you, but you won't listen to advice." "Aside from the three of us, is there anyone else on the station?" "Did you see anything?" "What were you warning me against?" "What did you see?" "A human being?" "Was she real?" "Can she be touched or felt, or wounded, hurt?" "When did you see her the last time, today?" "And you, how do I know who you are?" "Shhh..." " Where did she come from?" " Leave me alone!" "You're afraid..." "Don't worry, I'm not going to think you're insane." "Me, insane?" "Oh God, you know so little..." "Madness would be a blessing!" "Snout, listen..." "It's all so absurd." "They don't understand anything." "They're sure that I've gone mad." "Though it's something like insanity, I've got to do this." "I'm afraid that Snout and Sartorius will try to force their way in." "They don't understand what they're doing." "I'm frightened, Chris..." "I can't..." "No one will ever understand..." "Guibariane, open the door!" "Don't be a fool!" "That's us, Snout and Sartorius!" "We want to help you!" "They say they want to help me." "All right, quit knocking." "I'm my own judge." "Have you seen her?" "Try to understand, Chris, I'm not mad." "It has to do with my conscience." "I really hoped you'd get here in time." "How did you..." "It's so good!" "But you can't possibly..." "How did you find out where I was?" "What do you mean "find out"?" "Don't, Chris, that tickles." "Where are my shoes?" "No... they're not there." "Who's this?" "Chris, this is me..." "You know..." "I have a feeling" "as if I've forgotten something." "What's the matter with me?" "Do you love me?" "Why do you have to ask, Hari, as if you didn't know." "I've got to go out." "I won't be long, wait here." " Can't I come with you?" " No." "I'll be back soon." "No!" "Why?" "I don't know..." "I can't..." "You can't what?" "I feel like I've got to be with you..." "all the time, to see you..." "Why are you being so childish?" "I've work to do, Hari." "You're right, I'm acting childish." "As for you, you're as nervous as Snout." " As who?" " As Doctor Snout." "How do you know..." "I've got to go." "If you want, you can come with me." "But you won't be able to get into a suit with your dress on." "Help me, I can't do it by myself." "Why do you keep staring at me?" "SOLARIS Part Two" " Get in." " What about you?" "In a minute." "I have to close the launch door." "Well, are you comfortable?" "Yes, come quickly." "You might at least knock." "I thought I heard you talking to someone." "All the more reason." "So you've had visitors?" "You handle that very cleanly." "Well, you won't die from it." "I hope you used moderation in the beginning." "Narcotics, poisons, barbiturates, eh?" "If you came here to clown, you might as well leave." "You're not going to tell me you haven't tried the rope or hammer?" "I don't suppose you threw an inkwell as Luther did?" "You just locked her in, pressed the button and that's it!" "Next time, you mustn't panic." "Try to launch it from the corridor." " Do you know what it was?" " No." "But we've been able to establish a theory at least." " Who was it?" " She died ten years ago." "You've just seen the materialization of the person you think you knew." " What was her name?" " Hari." "This began after we experimented with X-rays." "We wanted to test the ocean, so we initiated a concentrated surface sweep using high intensity rays." "Yes, but this is..." "You're fortunate." "This woman is only part of your past." "Imagine if you had seen something else, something unknown in your experience, out of the recesses of your soul." "I don't see what you mean..." "Apparently the ocean somehow probed our brain centers, from which it extracted isolated bits of memory." " You think she'll come back?" " She will and she won't." " Hari the second..." " There may be many of her." " Why didn't you warn me?" " You wouldn't have believed me." "I got scared and acted not very..." "Don't berate yourself." "The point is to liquidate the station." "This is my mission." "If I make out the report, will you sign it?" "What if she were the contact we've been waiting for, for so long?" "The night is a blessed time here." "Somehow it reminds me of the earth." "You can also tie strips of paper to the air vents." "At night you'll think you're hearing leaves rustle in the dark." "Guibariane's invention." "Like all strokes of genius, it's so simple." "Sartorius said we were sentimental fools, but he has something like that hidden in his closet." "Try and get some rest." "We'll meet in the library later." "I've prepared a list of books for you." "Snout, is that you?" "Chris, where are you?" "Come here." "It's so dark..." "Come here, don't be afraid!" "The door opens the other way!" "Don't be afraid." "I'll be right back." "When I saw that you weren't there, I was afraid..." "Hi, Chris!" "I can hardly hear you." "What are you doing right now?" "Nothing." "Sartorius wants to see us in the laboratory." "Yes, I'll be right with you." "Chris, what's wrong with me?" "Is it epilepsy?" "This is my wife." "How do you do?" "Hi." "We've been waiting for you." "I couldn't get away sooner." " Are these yours?" " No, they're Snout's." "As far as I'm able to observe, they are structured..." "Let's call them "The Visitors"." "While our structure is atomical, theirs is based on neutrinos." "But any neutrino system would lack stability." "There must be a magnetic field out of Solaris stabilizing them." "You've got an excellent specimen." "She is my wife!" "My congratulations." "I'm delighted." "Take a blood sample from your "wife"." " Why should I?" " You'll see things a lot clearer." "What do you think, Snout?" "I'm fed up with the lot of you!" "I used acid to burn the blood, but it regenerates itself." "Self-regeneration?" "Immortality!" "Faust's problem." "There's no need of absorbent cotton." "Are you qualified to perform an autopsy?" "She's my wife." "Don't you understand?" "It's more humane to experiment on them than on the earth rabbits." "It would be like cutting off my own leg." "Did you feel pain when you broke through the door?" "Pain?" "Of course!" "So if I ever catch you attempting anything on her..." "You're very lucky to have established an emotional contact with them." "It may feel pleasant, but..." " What?" "Are you envious?" " Perhaps." "No, you can't feel any guilt, the guilt is mine." "When you have turned yourself into a hopeless cripple, you can call on us." "We will empty your chamber pot." " Toward whom are you guilty?" " Toward you, among others." "My father shot most of the film." "I shot bits of it." "Do you know..." "I don't even know my own self." "Who am I?" "As soon as I close my eyes I can't recall what my face is like." "Do you know who you are?" "Yes, all humans do." "That woman in the white fur coat, she hated me." "That woman died long ago, before we ever met." "Stop fooling me." "I do remember that I came over for tea, and she told me to leave the house." "So I left at once." "I remember it very well." "What happened after that?" "After that, I went away." "That was the last time we ever saw each other." "Where did you go?" "To another city." " Why?" " I was transferred." "Why didn't you take me with you?" "Because you refused to come." "Yes, I remember that." "Sorry, I thought you were awake." "What's up?" "The rate of regeneration has slowed." "For two or three hours we can be rid of our visitors." "And you've come in the middle of the night to tell me that?" "I'll tell you exactly why I came." "We thought that since the ocean extracts our visitors from us during our sleep, it might be in our interest to communicate to it our waking thoughts." " Yes, but how?" " By X-rays." "Perhaps it will get the message and spare us all these apparitions." "Again your idiotic X-ray theories about the greatness of science?" "We'll modulate the beam with the brain waves of one of us." "One of us means me, of course?" "A transcription of my thoughts?" "What if I want her to die, to disappear?" "Give everything back to that..." "mass ofjelly?" "It's already invaded my soul." "Chris, we're losing time." "Sartorius has another project." "The annihilator." "To destroy only neutrino systems." "Blackmail?" "I convinced him that we should start with the encephalogram." "And one more thing..." "For now, forget all about it." "Tomorrow's my birthday." "You're invited." " You're trying to patch it up?" " Yes, I am." "Not so loud, she's sleeping." "So she knows how to sleep already?" "This is going to end badly." "What do you propose then?" "Nothing." "So you'll come?" "To the library tomorrow?" "We'll set up the table." "At least there are no windows there." "In the meantime let's go and see Sartorius." "She's sleeping." "Suppose that she follows us?" "Try leaving the door unlocked this time." "What door?" "It's just a mirage." "I'll be right back." "Where are you going?" "Forgive me!" "Why aren't you sleeping?" "You don't love me." "Stop it." " We have to talk." " About what?" "I don't know where I came from." "Do you know?" "What are you talking about?" "If you do know, and you can't tell me, for some reason, perhaps one day you will, Chris?" "What are you talking about?" "I don't understand anything." "You won't tell, you're afraid to." "So I'll have to tell you." "I'm not Hari." "Hari is dead..." "She took poison." "And I'm someone else." " Who've you been talking to?" " Sartorius told me." "When?" "Last night?" "It would've been less painful if you'd told me yourself." "Oh, my God!" "What's the difference?" "How did you live all that time?" "Were you in love with someone?" "Did you ever think of me?" "Sometimes, yes, not always." "Whenever I felt unhappy." "I think someone is playing a kind of game with us" "And the more they play, the worse it will be for you." "I wish I knew how to help you." "The girl, the other one, what happened to her?" "We'd quarreled." "Toward the end, we used to quarrel a lot." "I packed my things and left her." "She made me understand..." "She didn't say it in so many words..." "When you've lived with a person long enough, words aren't necessary." "I didn't think it was so serious, but then I remembered that I'd left the laboratory preparations" "in the fridge, having explained to her their effect." "I got scared and wanted to go to her, but then I thought she'd understand that I took her words seriously." "On the third day I did go to her after all." "She was already dead." "There was an injection mark on her arm." "Like this?" "Why do you think she did that?" "I believe she felt that I didn't love her anymore." "But I love you." "Chris!" "I love you so much." "Go to sleep." "I don't know how to sleep." "It seems like sleep, but it's not." "It's like a sleep within a sleep." "It doesn't come from inside me." "It's from far away." "It's still a kind of sleep." "I guess our hero is not going to show up." " Why?" " Perhaps he's having guests." "Oh, everybody's here!" "You're one and a half hour late." "What is that you're reading?" "This is all rubbish!" "Where did I put it..." "Where the devil..." "Here!" "They come at night, but a man needs his nights for sleeping." "That's our problem." "Man has lost the gift of sleep." "You'd better read it." "I'm a bit overexcited." ""Senor, I know only one thing." "When I..." "When I sleep, I know no fear, no hope, no work, no blessing..." "Blessings on him who invented sleep, that balance and weight that equals the shepherd with the king, and the simple with the wise." "Sound sleep has but one defect - it smacks too much of death." "Never before, Sancho, have you pronounced such a gracious speech."" "That's great." "Now perhaps you'll let me inject a few words of my own?" "I propose a toast to Snout, to his courage, and his devotion to duty." "Here's to science, and to Snout!" "To science?" "It's a fraud!" "No one will ever resolve this problem, neither genius, nor idiot!" "We have no ambition to conquer any cosmos." "We just want to extend Earth up to the Cosmos's borders." "We don't want any more worlds." "Only a mirror to see our own in." "We try so hard to make contact, but we're doomed to failure." "We look ridiculous pursuing a goal we fear and that we really don't need." "Man needs man!" "Let's drink to Guibariane." "In memory of a man." "Though what he did, was out of fear." "No, Guibariane was not afraid." "There are worse things than being afraid." "He died because he saw no way out." "He thought that what was happening, was happening only to him." "All that heart-breaking moaning is just second-rate Dostoyevsky." "Who do you think you are to judge us?" "At least I know why I'm here." "Nature created man so that he might gain knowledge." "In his march toward the truth, man is condemned to knowledge." "The rest is of no consequence." "If you will permit me to inquire, what exactly are you doing on Solaris?" "What a question!" "Except for your tryst with your ex, nothing here seems to interest you." "Your time is spent lolling in bed day after day." "Is that how you understand your duty?" "You've lost contact with reality." "If you ask me, you're plain lazy." "Stop it!" " Let's drink to Guibariane." " No, to Man!" "Are you suggesting he was not a man?" "Stop it, Chris!" "We'd better not quarrel." "After all, today is my birthday." "I think Chris is more logical than both of you." "In these inhuman conditions he alone acted human." "While you two pretend that it doesn't concern you, and that your visitors are just an exterior enemy." "But your visitors are part of you, they are your conscience." "I believe Chris loves me," "but perhaps he doesn't really, perhaps he just defends himself." "By me, who is alive, he wants..." "No, that's not the point." "It doesn't matter why a human loves." "No, it isn't Chris, it's you..." "I hate you all!" "Don't interrupt me." "I'm a woman after all!" "Woman?" "You're not even a human being." "Try to understand that, if you're capable of understanding anything!" "Hari doesn't exist!" "She's dead!" "You're only a reproduction, a mechanical repetition of the form!" "A copy from a matrix!" "Yes, perhaps." "But I..." "I'm becoming a human being!" "I can feel just as deeply as any of you." "I can live without Chris already." "I..." "I'm in love with him." "I'm a human being!" "You, why are you so cruel..." "Get up, on your feet!" "My dear man!" "Nothing is more easy." "It's wrong of us to quarrel like this." "We lose our humanity, our dignity as humans." "No, you're very human, but each one in his own way." "That's why you're quarrelling." "I hope I'm not bothering you?" "You're really a good fellow." "Only you look awful!" "Actually, I'm worn out." "Could you help me?" "Doesn't a man who'd give up his life for some silly damned contact, for knowing the truth about it, doesn't he have a right to get drunk once in a while?" "Certainly he has, absolutely." "Tell me, do you believe in our mission?" "I'll stay up a while yet." "It's important we don't sleep." "I'm going to see Faust in his laboratory." "Our Faust, Sartorius, is still seeking his remedy against immortality." "While we..." "Suppose we opened all the windows and yelled down as loud as we could?" "Do you think it would hear?" "Only who shall we call to?" "Maybe we should whip him with birch leaves?" "Or we could even pray to it..." "What's the matter?" "I think I closed the door..." "She's alone there." "Go on." "I feel a lot better." "The station changes its orbit." "At 17 hours there'll be thirty seconds of weightlessness." "So don't forget." "Hari!" "Forgive me, darling, I was lost in my thoughts." "Is anything wrong?" "No." "No, nothing's wrong." "Everything's all right." "She drank liquid oxygen..." "She did it out of desperation." "It is going to get worse." "The more she's with you, the more human she becomes." " What are you going to do?" " Wait until she comes back." "And then what?" "Leave the station?" "Chris, she can live only here, on the station." "What else can I do?" "I love her." "Love whom?" "Her?" "Or the girl on the rocket?" "She will return." "She can return a hundred times over." "Don't convert the scientific problem to an insignificant love story." "I had a foreboding that this would end badly." "You should help her." "It's horrifying, isn't it?" "I'll never get used to these constant resurrections!" "Is it me?" "What?" "What?" "Why?" "Why?" "No..." "I'm not..." "Not her..." "Not Hari..." "And you..." "What if you aren't either..." " Don't talk, Hari." " I'm not Hari!" "Maybe your appearance is supposed to be a torment, maybe the ocean sent you." "But you're more to me than all that science could ever mean!" " Do I look very much like her?" " You may have looked like her." "But now it's you who are real Hari." "Tell me..." "Do I look ugly?" "Can you look at me?" " Do I disgust you?" " No." " You're lying!" " Stop it!" "I must be looking disgusting!" "Don't touch me!" "I love you!" "Hari, what can I do?" "Nothing..." "I won't return to earth." "We'll live here, on the station." "I'm afraid." "The ocean's activity is increasing." "Your encephalogram may be the cause." "Whenever we show pity we empty our souls." "Perhaps that's true." "Suffering makes life seem gray and suspicious." "No, I don't believe that..." "I will not accept that..." "What is not indispensable to life is in some way harmful to it?" "No, that's not true either." "Itjust isn't true!" "Remember Tolstoy's suffering about the impossibility of loving the humankind in general?" "How much time has passed since?" "I can't figure it out..." "Help me." "Let's suppose I love you." "Love is something we can feel, but never explain." "One can only explain the idea." "You love that which you can lose." "Yourself, a woman, your country..." "Until today, humanity, the world, had no way to reach love." "There are so few of us!" "Perhaps the reason we're here, is to understand, for the first time, human beings as a reason to love?" "He's feverish." "How did Guibariane really die?" "You haven't told me." "I'll tell you, but later." "Guibariane did not die out of fear, he died out of shame." "The salvation of humanity is in its shame!" "Mama, I..." "I'm two hours late." "I know." "How was your trip?" "It was just a bit tiring." "It was all right." "It's running slow again." "I'll set it right." "You have lots of time." "I don't know what's the matter with me..." "I have completely forgotten your face." "You don't look well." "Are you happy?" "Happiness is an idea that's obsolete." "I think that's too bad." "I feel so alone now." "Why are you hurting us?" "What have you been waiting for?" "You might have telephoned." "You seem to lead such a strange life." "You're sloppy, you don't take care of yourself." "How did you get into this state?" "What's this?" "Wait, I'll be right back." "Hari..." "How are you?" "You feel better now?" "Where's Hari?" " What is it?" " There is no more Hari." ""Chris, I'm sorry I had to deceive you." "There wasn't any other way." "This is the only solution for us both." "I asked them myself." "It was my decision." "Do not blame anyone for this." "Hari."" "She did it for you." "Snout, listen..." "Calm down, Chris." "How was it?" "The annihilator." "An explosion of light, and a breath of wind." "To think that we quarreled so often those last days." "Snout, why are we being tortured like this?" "We have lost our sense of the Cosmic." "Ancient man had no such problem." "He'd have never asked why..." "You remember the myth of Sisyphus?" "Since we sent your encephalogram, not a single one of the visitors has returned." "Something beyond our understanding is happening to the ocean." "Islands have begun to form on the surface." "First there was one, then others began to appear." "Are you telling me that we were understood?" "Just like that?" "In one stroke?" "At least we can hope now." " How old are you?" " Fifty two." "Have you been here long?" "You must have read my background papers." "After so many years on the station, do you still feel as clearly your link with the life down below?" "I suppose next you'll want to know what life's all about, eh?" "Please, let's not be ironical." "When a man is happy, the meaning of life and other themes of eternity rarely interest him." "These questions should be asked at the end of one's life." "We don't know when our life will end, that's why we're in a hurry." "The happiest people are those who never bother asking those cursed questions." "We question life to seek out some meaning." "Yet to preserve all the simple human truths we need mysteries." "The mystery of happiness, death, love." "You may be right." "But try not to think about it." "To think about it is the same as to know the day of one's death." "Not knowing that date makes us practically immortal." "Well, anyway, my mission is finished." "And what next?" "To return to earth?" "Little by little, everything will come to normal." "I'll find new interests, new acquaintances." "But I won't be able to devote all of myself to them." "And do I have the right to turn down even an imaginary possibility of contact with the ocean, to which my race is trying to stretch a thread of understanding?" "To stay here, among the things we both touched, which still remember our breathing?" "What for?" "Just for the hope of her return?" "But I have no hope." "The only thing left for me is to wait." "Wait for what?" "I don't know..." "A new miracle." "Are you all right now?" "Yes, I feel fine." "In my opinion, it's time for you to return to earth." "Is that your opinion?" "The End"