"Brother Randor!" "Brother Randor!" "Brother Randor!" "No signals from this sphere, curvaceous one." "I say we land." "Land?" "It's only got one tiny island." "Well, it's a green island, and it looks pretty." "But there are no signals." "That means that this planet is completely primitive!" "And in case you haven't noticed, we've been experiencing a pattern." "We come to a planet, we don't know what it's like but we land anyway, because you insist, usually because you think you're gonna meet some, some studly guys!" "Xev - we are an advanced species." "We're supposed to learn from our experiences, and improve our decision making accordingly." "So it's simple - we don't land here." "We wait, until we find a planet that we know has beaches, and girls, and " "But what if this planet could have beaches and girls?" "It won't!" "And you won't meet any guys, and Kai'll stay dead, and I won't fall in love." "790" " I'm getting desperate." "Very, very, desperate." "Xev darling" " I will have a body soon." "I will become your custom robot hunk." "My equipment will far outperform any mere human's!" "790, off!" "Stan - if you agree to land on that planet, then I will agree to experience sex, with you if I don't find any down there." "Really?" "I mean, unlike all those other times?" "I just can't hold out any longer." "Neither can I Xev, neither can I." "It contains men." "What's this?" "Silence!" "Are you apparitions?" "Or are you real?" "I'm real." "What do you want?" "Are you dangerous?" "No, not me pal, not at all." "See, we're just visitors, you know like, checking the place out." "Say, you got any beaches?" "Girls?" "I am Brother Randor." "Welcome to Nook!" "We give thanks to Father Nook, for the bounty he has provided." "We also thank him for the three strange men, that he has sent down to us from the sky." "It is our gift to share our table with them tonight." "What is the purpose of that tool on your arm?" "Its intended purpose is to kill people." "Allow me!" "Will you join us?" "I am dead." "I do not consume food." "If I may modify your statement - we are not three men - we are two men, and one - woman." "Woman?" "What sort of man is that?" "Woman - is a different sort of man from the only type you seem to have here." "These three symbols are unclear to me, Brother Randor." "Worms seem to have destroyed the paper." "Let me write it for you." "And how is it that you can deduce the missing symbols, and he cannot?" "Because the brothers who copy knowledge, cannot read." "But you can." "The brothers who read, do not copy knowledge." "The only knowledge that we need is that of the land, of our Father Nook." "He provides us with life, he sustains us." "All other knowledge leads to unhappiness." "Thank you Brother Randor." "I possess more knowledge than I care to." "I have the memories if the many thousands who were killed by the being who once controlled me." "And what did you do while being controlled by this being?" "I was an assassin." "I killed for him." "Knowledge is a heavy burden." "If used improperly." "We do not use it improperly." "We do not use it at all." "Very little knowledge is required to live our unchanged life of perfect harmony with nature." "Your life does not seem completely natural." "What do you mean?" " Who was your mother?" " Mother?" " Who gave you life?" " Father Nook." "But is not this planet Father Nook?" "Of course!" "Then should not the one who gave you life, the one from who you were born, be a woman?" "I know not of what you speak." "We give thanks to Father Nook." "We give thanks to Father Nookà." "For the bounty he provides." "For the bounty he provides." "We give " "Pay attention brothers!" "We will now assume the prone position." "Life is good here on Nook." "Am I hurting you?" "No, no, that feels, feels quite good." "We eat good food, drink good drink, and live life in perfect harmony with nature." "What more could we want?" "How about some fun, you ever have any fun?" "What do you mean?" "You know, sometimes you get to have a party, you know, get down and dirty, cut loose." "I don't see a whole lot of that happening here." "Oh, we do have fun sometimes we definitely do." "Yeah, like when?" "Everyone is getting excited, because soon there will come the Summer Solstice." "It is very special." "The longest day and shortest night of the year." "Well that sounds really exciting." "It is the Night of No Rules." "All vows are off, from sunset till sunrise." "It is truly the night of brotherly love." "Yeah." "As Brother of Brothers, I am the only one permitted access to the library alone." "Of course, we know of everyday things, like how to grow food, but - we have chosen not to concern ourselves with the past," "because since the Landing the past is the same as the future will be, and always will be so." "Only the Brother of Brothers is permitted access to the tainted secrets contained in these books." "I am the one who must dirty his hands with all the bad knowledge contained in this library." "You don't seem to mind me reading?" "You have told me that you already contain much bad knowledge." "And you do not?" "The Brother of Brothers does not sully his mind with all the bad knowledge contained in this library, unless compelled to do so, by terrible circumstances." "Hi boys!" "What kind of man are you?" "A very different kind." "Brother Stack!" "All of you, to your cells at once!" "There's more where that came from - much, much more!" "I apologise for Brother Stack's behaviour." "This sort of thing will not happen again." "Good, I hope not - we were just getting started." "Brother Randor - time for me to teach, and you to learn." "Me to learn?" "I do not understand." "I am not a brother." "I'm a sister, and there is a difference, which is what I'm trying to teach you right now." "I like this planet." "I like Nook." "You would." "How about you?" "Oh" " I don't know." "It's all right I guess." "Night Xev." "Night night." "Sweet dreams, Kai." "I do not dream." "Then - sleep well." "I do not sleep." "Then - goodnight!" "Thank you." "Goodnight to you too." "I hope that this process is not testing your patience." "This protoblood of yours is a very interesting substance to me." "It is not out of the question that we possess the knowledge to duplicate it." "Would that not be bad knowledge?" "Knowledge of how your protoblood works could be added to our library - of course, it is knowledge that we would preserve, not that we would use." "In a number of my memories, there is an awareness of the planet of the milk fed boys." "Is Nook perhaps that planet?" "I know nothing of other planets." "What goes on in this room is the only knowledge we use from the time before the Landing." "We have a supply of cells of great men, who lived in the time before the Landing." "We grow these cells into new brothers here in this room." "When there is a need, we awaken a new brother to join us." "If we did not use this knowledge we could not continue." "I suspect that before the Landing your ancestors, if I may call them that, possessed quite a bit of knowledge." "Quite a bit of bad knowledge." "We never wear the same costume two years in a row." "Oh yeah?" "Can you read?" "Yeah, of course." "I knew it!" "Are you allowed to read anything you want, where you come from?" "Well, there wasn't much of anything to read on the Cluster, but when I was an Ostral B heretic there was lots of stuff you could read, if you had the time - but I was usually kinda too busy." "I can read too." "And I'm a copying brother." "Copying brothers are not supposed to be able to read." "I know that it is wrong but, I read the pages that I copy." "It took me a long time to read my first word but that day - it was like magic." "Yeah?" "It wasn't long before I could read most words - I don't understand what they all say, but" " Stanley" " I hunger for knowledge." "It infects me like - like a sickness." "We're never given more than one page from any book, so I only learn disconnected bits and pieces, but Stanley " "Yeah?" "I have read some of the pages of the old men of wisdom, and they say " "What?" "They say that the unexamined life is not worth knowing." "You shouldn't fear your feelings, Stanley." "Now I see what you're getting at - but there's just one problem." "See, I'm a man - well, I don't know if that means anything to you, but it happens to be quite important to me." "We're all men here on Nook." "I sense that our presence is making some of the inhabitants of this planet uncomfortable." "They are making me uncomfortable." "Well I'm ready to take off, anytime!" "Just one more night." "Tomorrow night is the Summer Solstice, then I will be yours." "I'll be the rat." "What is this Summer Solstice thing?" "Each year at the Summer Solstice, the many rules that govern the very orderly life here on Nook to not apply from sunset till sunrise." "They wear costumes to keep the rule breaking more anonymous." "I suspect that tomorrow night, you will find Brother Stack dressed as a rodent." "Brother Tregor?" "Is my body not beautiful?" "Well yeah, I suppose, if you're into that sorta thing." "I have read that, before the Landing, men loved each other, and did not always live by the type of rules that now bind you and me." "Let us break the rules tonight, Brother Stanley." "You and I, we do not need to wait for the Summer Solstice." "We will live by our own rules." "Look, Brother Tregor, I appreciate what you're saying and, I'm flattered, in a weird sort of way, but I prefer women." "What is women?" "Well - they're like men, only built different." "They're - rounder, softer, with breasts you can fondle and parts you can fit nicely into, if everything works out " "Xev, Xev is a woman." "See, men are attracted to women, women are attracted to men, it's natural." "I am attracted to you." "Well, I like you too Brother Tregor, but not in the way I can like a woman." "I prefer you over Brother Xev." "I know there's been a lot of whispering about him, and many of the brothers seem to be very excited when Brother Xev is around, but " "I get excited when you are around, Brother Stanley." "I want you to hold me." "I will make you happy." "Do the brothers here ever hold each other?" "Do things that make each other happy?" "Yes, on the Night of No Rules." "Tomorrow night - but I don't care about that." "I want you tonight, Stanley." "Ah ah!" "I can't do this." "Do you like me, Brother Stanley?" "Admit it!" "Admit what is in your heart!" "Look, Brother Tregor, I like you - but that being that there re things that I am prepared to do, and things I'm not!" "Break the rules, Brother Stanley." "I sense that you need someone to be close to you, to comfort you." "Let it be me." "Look, Brother Tregor " "OK, I admit that I have needs that don't get a lot of satisfaction these days." "I mean, you're nice, and as men go you're good looking, and if you were a woman I'd be there right now, sooner than now, in fact." "But - you are a man, and I am a man, and I can't!" "Brother Stanley" " I will wait for you by the front gate." "If you want me" " I'm yours." "If you do not want me " "my life is over." "What difference would it really make?" "What, are you afraid?" "Xev doesn't want ya, there're no females on this planet, I 'm ready to explode!" "" "I think that" " I think" " Ah!" "I think I don't know what to think" "Oh boy." "Oh boy." "Oh boy oh boy." "Brother Tregor?" "Oh boy." "Brother Stanley?" "Is that you?" "Oh boy." "Oh boy!" "Brother Randor!" "There is no weapon." "Maybe it was a bird, with a sharp beak?" "Brother Tregor left his cell last night after the sleep time bell had rung." "I have seen him entering the strangers hallway." "I heard what sounded like a scream of pain." "I opened the shutter, and saw Brother Stanley running away from the gate." "As did I." "And I!" "And I!" "It could have been either Brother Stanley, or Brother Kai." "Perhaps both of them were involved in the event." "Likely all three were involved." "I was just out for some fresh air!" "Murder has been committed." "We must balance the taking of Brother Tregor's life." "What is murder?" "To murder is to intentionally end the life of another man." "Come brothers - it is time for justice." "Hey!" "Stanley Tweedle may not be much of a man, but he wouldn't kill anyone." "Ignore her!" "And Kai wouldn't kill anybody either." "Brother Kai told me that he was an assassin - an assassin, is a man that kills other men - and that he used his brace in order to kill these men." "Come - in order to preserve harmony, we must have justice." "Where is Kai?" "He's still asleep in his cell." "Brother of Brothers - you are behaving in a most unfamiliar way." "A death amongst us has always been a time for contemplation." "And you're using unfamiliar words." "What is a she?" "And what is this justice?" "Can it be just a coincidence that the only murder that we have ever known has happened at a time when we have received visitors to our beloved Nook?" "I didn't kill anyone!" "I would never kill Brother Tregor, I liked him!" "We must cancel the Night of No Rules." "We must focus our attention on what happened to our dear Brother Tregor, so as to prevent it from happening again." "You cannot cancel the Night of No Rules." "That would be a change - and we are sworn never to allow change." "I fear, Brother Randor, you have been exposed to some of the library's most tainted secrets." "Perhaps you should pass the key to a new brother amongst brothers, while you pass some time in meditation" "Brother Deal is correct." "We cannot allow change." "No, we can't" "I shall retire with the elder brothers to contemplate these terrible circumstances." "Thanks." "So Kai's asleep?" "Well, the dead are unpredictable." "Look, Xev" " I'll let you off the hook with our arrangement, if we can just get off this planet right now." "I think, Stan, everything's OK now." "I'll be happy to leave this planet tomorrow." "But I think tonight - you know?" "I have to be - here." "He is asleep." "Kai - wake up!" "To wake up, I would have had to have been asleep." "So - were you asleep?" "No ." "Then what were you doing lying down like that?" "I do not know." "The visitors must be punished." "Brother Randor, to punish is not to live in harmony." "To punish would change the way we live." "We must stop them now." "I fear this night." "This red haired man Xev is sowing confusion and lust amongst our brothers." "He certainly has a most unusual shape." "Even I find myself taking an extra look." "We must stop them tonight before it is too late." "But how can we do something when we never do anything that is not part of our unchanging habit?" "Brother Tregor's murder was not a part of our unchanging habit!" "And this is just the beginning." "These visitors mean the end of our way of life." "I'm concerned about you, Brother Randor." "You are highly agitated." "We have never had visitors since the Landing." "Visitors are change." "These are truly terrible circumstances." "Brothers" " I must use the library." "Coming?" "No." "I don't feel up for it." "I definitely do." "Who wants to play with the cat?" "I do." "I want to play with the cat" "No way, I want to" "I want" "I answered him first, he's mine!" "Get out of here, Rooster!" "I'm the rat." "He wants me - you said do!" "Boys!" "Boys!" "Hot honeyed wine for the Summer Solstice." "The bee brings his favourite nectar." "A wine that will make everything burn brighter, and take the sting out of this damaged life." "I'm the rat!" "I'm the rat!" "Stop this!" "Don't waste your energy fighting!" "Save it for love." "No, it's me you want." "Hmm - two's OK." "You'll both do" "And me?" "I don't mind." "Me too, I'm a rat too!" "I'm first" "Then me?" "No, he's first - and you're first." "And what about me?" "Oh, you're first too." "Me too!" "I know that voice." "Stanley." "You must reverse your action." "It is too late." "That will make no more difference now." "What is done cannot be undone." "The bird has left the cage." "You said you were not supposed to consume the tainted secrets in your library unless compelled by terrible circumstances." "I fear that I have not been able to control my thirst." "The knowledge contained in the library is my weakness - but it is also my strength." "How did you shut me down last night?" "I wanted to be rid of you, and the changes that you brought to Nook." "So when I took a sample of your protoblood I gave you an enzyme, that neutralised you for a few hours." "And you took my brace, and you killed Brother Tregor?" "I thought that I could save us all, by sacrificing one life." "You were also willing to sacrifice Brother Stanley." "It was the foolish plan of a foolish old man." "I should have known it was over the minute that woman landed on Nook." "So, you know what a woman is." "In the terrible time before the Landing, some great men had a vision, of an unchanging paradise, and they created, on our Nook, a world without women." "A planet of perfect harmony and equality, free of the never-ending conflict that naturally goes with the competition of sexual reproduction." "That is over now." "Everything must end sometime, I suppose" "This planet was covered with water." "They created the land we lived on." "And they created the perfect way of life, that we have lived ever since the terrible time before the Landing." "How long ago was that?" "I do not know." "We have no reason to keep records of our unchanging life." "But I do know tonight it is over." "Tonight is the death of our Father Nook." "You seem certain of that." "I am certain of that." "The arrival of that woman Xev has destroyed our harmony to such a point that we can never, never repair it." "A woman setting foot on our beloved Nook, is the event that has created his death." "Brother Stack?" "Brother Stack?" "!" "His heart has failed." "Goodbye Brother Stack." "You were quite a lot." "I'm ready for more!" "It's still love time on Nook!" "We have to hurry, the sun will be up soon." "Yes - we must hurry." "Kai, I finally did it!" "I've experienced physical man love and the pure uncomplicated satisfaction of it, just like 790 programmed me to!" "And I liked it - a lot!" "We must leave this planet." "Why?" "It's not dawn yet." "The party's just starting to get going." "Well like I said, I'm ready to leave anytime." "Stanley, Brother Randor killed Brother Tregor." "The Brother of Brothers misused knowledge contained in the library." "He was able to control my actions for a short time - but that time is now past." "Come!" "But " "Brother Randor believed that their way of life on Nook had been destroyed by our visit." "This being the end of that way of life, he has determined that the planet itself should come to an end." "I don't exactly get that." "He has set in motion an unstoppable process that will cause Nook to destroy itself." "When the sun rises, Nook will explode into atoms." "Now that I get." "I drink" "I drink to womankind." "I drink to those women who once gave us all life, and I drink now to that woman who gives me death." "Bye, bye." "Oh, explosions of joy and good riddance !" "Unbelievable." "Next time." "Next time Xev, listen to me." "No Xev, wondrous woman who I forgive even under this terrible circumstance, next time listen to me!"