"Everything started in the fire, the primordial fire." "The fire from Hell, like in the mouth of the dragon." "Just like in a tale." "But if tales have something to teach us, it's not that the dragon exists but that he can be defeated." "Like in a tale, I'll start with "once upon a time"..." "Once upon a time... a small deep space station, next to a hellhole called Dante." "If someday people study our story, they'll probably say that it began with the arrival of space shuttle no2." "But in fact, everything had been written a long time ago." "A very long time ago." "Since the dawn of times probably." "Welcome to Dante 01." "I hope that your wakening went well." "Join us as soon as you'll be ready." "I am..." "No need, you are Charon, head of the station." "Since you're so well informed, you shouldn't have any trouble finding the control centre." " Hello." " Hello." "So that's the famous nave of the lunatics?" "Is that how you're calling them back at the company?" " You're wrong, they're..." " Criminals, ill persons." "All volunteers to test our treatments." "I know them well, I studied their files before coming." "Who can claim to know men?" " Let's say that it's part of our work." " Do you know each other?" "Who doesn't know our mentor?" "Your work on criminal psychobiology is still the authority at the Neurinos." "My name is Elisa." "Why were you sent to this antechamber of hell?" "I've been sent here to test new treatments on the convicts." "I'll tell you the rules of our little world." "The confinement quarters are on the floors just below us." "Look, the new guy." "He's going to meet his new mates soon." "We can track them all the time with the beacon system." "It's our dear Raspoutine who seems decided to make his move." "Look, that's him there, Raspoutine." "God answered my prayers." "God never abandon his children." "God..." "Could you stop raving for a moment Raspoutine!" "This man, he came to save us." "No one will save us my poor Raspoutine." "Saint Georges will, the dragonslayer." "There's no dragon around here." " And who told you his name?" " God told me." "Look!" "Man with little faith!" "God..." "Wouldn't it be someone from upstairs instead?" "Did you change your name to Judas, Raspoutine?" " Servant of God." " It's better for you." "If you happened to have the bad idea of betraying us, you'd meet your god sooner than expected." "What's your name?" "Not very talkative?" "Good!" "We have enough chatterboxes as it is." "Saint Georges!" "His name is Saint Georges!" "When you have something on your mind..." "All right with Saint Georges." "Attila, did you get the data I asked you for?" "Don't worry baby, I'm working on it." "There's no emergency, right?" "That's enough!" "Don't forget that you're a prisoner." "Stop acting like a small time chief, Charon." "Do you really want me to remove your access to the network?" "You wouldn't do that, you need me way too much!" "If they learned up there that you gave me this gear, you'd get a proper dressing-down!" "I want to know why they sent us a shuttle without warning." "Search the files of this Elisa and keep an eye on the new guy too." "Gentlemen, our newcomer." "The one who's eating so elegantly is Moloch." "Moloch!" "The other one is Lazare." "And what's his name?" "I still haven't heard the sound of his voice." "I'll tell you the basic rules of our little world." "Obey them and we'll leave you alone." "Do you understand?" "Does he hear what I'm saying?" "Do you hear what I'm saying?" "That's where I listen to what they're talking about in the ansafone." " Funny name." " It's the term used by the inmates." "Don't you have a screen to watch their behavior?" "No need to remind you that we're living in an enclosed environment." "We're aware of the slightest creaking, the slightest whisper." "If there was video monitoring, our patients wouldn't confide as they do." "The ansafone is their only space of freedom." "The others call him Bouddha." "Many victims, he said that he killed them out of compassion." "He still has outbursts." "But it's nothing compared to his fits of anger when he arrived." "He's often lying to sleep, meditate as he says." "Don't you want to see the newcomer?" "Fucking answer!" "We don't know much about the new guy who came with you in the shuttle." "He was found covered in blood in a drifting long-distance spaceship." "He was alone on board." " Do you know his identity?" " No." "The black boxes were so fried that we didn't get any information." "Why did you bring him here?" "The Neurinos wants the new treatments to be tested in space." "What new treatments?" "We'll talk about that later if you want." "You see?" "Look at me!" "Look at me!" "It's your card." "You can have 3 meals a day with it." "Don't lose it." "Tell that to Moloch." " 3 meals ain't enough for him." " He'll try to steal your card." "Won't you, honey?" "3 meals a day ain't enough!" "That's enough now!" "Do you want to give them a reason to gas us?" "Sit, Moloch!" "Never keep them out of sight." "This is nothing, just routine." "They calm down quickly when Cesar can intervene." "Did you put him in charge of the group?" "No, the convicts won't accept anything forced on them." "I'd rather have them organize as they see fit, as long as they don't kill each other." "But sometimes we act too late, unfortunately." "Maybe if you applied the protocols to the letter you'd have less casualties." "Life isn't limited to protocols." "I was looking for you everywhere." "So you're the newcomer?" "What's your name?" "I'm Bouddha, what about you?" "Don't you want to answer?" "You're in pain, aren't you?" "You know..." "I know the way to relief." "I can send you to the other side if you want." "Where there's no more pain." "It's always the same thing, Bouddha, everytime!" "As soon as a new guy arrives, he can't think of anything better than chocking him to death." " I only wanted to help him." " Don't be ridiculous!" "The only thing exciting you is to send your fellow man to kingdom come, not to help him." "You're not the one who decides who must die here, is that clear?" "It's clear..." " Is that clear?" " It's clear..." "It's clear Cesar, crystal clear." "Catch him!" "What's going on again?" "Bouddha, he tried to strangle the newcomer." "They're going to settle him this time." " Let's intervene." " Following what procedure?" "A raid." "Anaesthetic gas first, 5 minutes to put them to sleep." "Then we have one hour to take our samples and we bring Bouddha to the treatment room." "It will be useless, he doesn't react well to treatments." "Do you have anything better to suggest?" "Maybe it's a good time to try my new protocols." "What is it about exactly?" "Nanotechnology." "Intelligent programs trying to neutralize chromosomal dysfunctions." "Do you really believe that all you have to do to solve the mysteries of the human brain is to fix pieces of DNA?" "Oh yes, the famous Liberation by the Word." "That's how you're calling your therapy." "What do you prefer?" "To look for new ways with the risk of being wrong or to stay on well-known paths?" "Neither, we're looking for effective and exploitable solutions." "It's really not the time to argue about such things." " We'll try your new treatment." " Without me." "Well..." "CR, BR, that's it, they're sleeping, you can go." " What if the convicts wake up?" " Impossible, it never happened." "They would have to hold their breath for 10 minutes to not inhale the gas." "It's funny, I think it's the first time that I come to this room without Persephone." "Maybe we should give him more anaesthetic, if he wakes up we'll have a hard time handling him." "No need, the straps here are strong." "Good!" " What are you waiting for to put him to sleep?" " Wait!" "Wait, he's calming down!" "We have to wait for the program to act." "Bring him back to his quarters." "It's you?" "Is that you who saved me?" "Why?" "I don't know what they did to me up there... but before you came, my veins were on fire." "Who are you?" "Why do you never speak?" "It doesn't matter, don't worry." "It will come in due time." "Now it's my turn to take care of you." "Come." "How was your experiment?" "As if you didn't know." "I saw Bouddha react very violently to your treatment." "Normal defense reaction." "Once triggered, the program adds corrective sequences to the DNA." "Don't the new sequences conflict with the existing ones?" "That's the risk." "We're still not able to fully predict the genetic reaction on human guinea pigs." "Human guinea pigs?" "It's the deal signed between these lunatics and the Neurinos." "I'm reminding you that they're criminals of the worst kind who only stay alive if they act as guinea pigs." "I don't know why this term is disturbing you." "As a specialist on human behavior, even for a criminal, I'm against the term guinea pig." "What's that?" "Fuck!" "People say that at the gates of Hell, those words are written..." ""You, who are entering this place, lose all hope."" "Yet, it's here, among the outcasts, the reprobates, that the true meaning of my quest appeared." "I, Persephone, who dedicated my life to healing souls, it's in the body of one of my patients that I saw the birth of salvation." "There's a force within Saint Georges that goes way beyond us." "I can't understand it yet, but I know that no one on this station will be spared." " Am I bothering you?" " A little." "I wanted to be sure that everything is fine and that you don't need anything." "Everything's all right, thank you." "Tell me, your first impression of Persephone..." " As I imagined her." " What do you mean?" "She's been here too long, she lacks some objectivity." "Yeah... maybe..." "Neurinos don't trust her anymore, do they?" "When do you plan to leave?" "When I'll have enough useful data." "Why?" "Is my presence bothering you?" "Not at all, on the contrary." "Good bye." "Hey Charon, are you there baby?" "All right, I managed to infiltrate the shuttle computer." "But there's a problem." "Access to the file is highly secured." "Reserved to Neurinos staff only." "So what?" "Don't tell me that you can't bypass this little obstacle." "Well yeah, it's possible, it's possible, but to do that..." " I need your password." " Don't you have it already?" "I'm disappointed." "One would have to be a genius to do something with the password you gave me." "Then let's see if you're a genius." "You don't keep your promises Bouddha." "You never keep your promises." "Do you realize that I can't trust you anymore?" "You're right, I didn't keep my word." "But now I know that it won't happen again." "I'm afraid that's a little too late." "Nobody here wants to die because you're unable to control your emotions." "It was before." " Before what?" " Before he cured me." "Him?" "He cured you?" "You're sick!" "I already told you Cesar, this guy is an angel sent by god." "Cured or not, I've made my decision and I don't want you to start your bullshit all over again." "Gentlemen, take care of him." " It doesn't concern the prophet." " Bouddha has changed, he's cured." "You'd better get the hell out of here!" "Go!" "Chief!" "He has no wound, he's breathing normally." "That's incredible." "Should I take a blood sample?" "He was dying according to the diagrams." "And there, look at his heart rate." "If it's not a miracle..." "Nonsense!" "His wound is superficial, that's all!" "Moloch's wound disappearance coincides with the new guy intervention." "And I'm sure there's a rational explanation to his recovery." "But Cesar, I can't kill the guy who saved my life." "What about you Lazare, what do you think?" "If you ask me to eliminate him, I'll do it, I don't give a fuck about him." "Maybe it's not him who healed you, maybe your wound wasn't so bad after all." "This Saint Georges is spreading unrest among us." "The others already look at him as if he was a messiah." "Do you understand Moloch?" "If we don't do something, they'll eliminate us." "What's happening to you?" "I don't feel so well since the last raid but I'll be fine." "We won't have much time left if we don't stop him now." "The others will want him to be the leader." "They'll strangle us in our sleep for sure to get revenge." "Don't you get it?" "They won't spare us." "If he can cure people, he can also kill them." "Get rid of him quietly." "Here... nobody will disturb you." "I'll go get you a blanket." "Right, I'll stand watch in the corridor." "What's going on?" "It's the first time that I see you give up food." "I don't know." "I feel a little peaky." "Come on, we wasted enough time!" "We've got things to do, come!" "A gift from Cesar." " Where's Persephone?" " Listening room I think." "She really likes to waste her time." "I don't like to see those two together." "Who's there?" "It's you?" "The ansaphone is busy." "It's okay." "We'll wait for our turn." "Why don't we see them?" "We don't see them because they're standing in the dead angle of the cameras." "It's not a good sign." "The..." "The..." "The..." "light..." " Stop, god damn it!" " You're the one saying that?" "Should I remind you that this scumbag tried to kill you recently?" "Cesar didn't ask us to kill this one!" "If I were you boss, I'd release the gas immediately." "What the fuck is this shit?" "Do you really think that your messiah is gonna save you now?" "What are you doing Moloch?" "Let go of me!" "I'm sure that I saw him die in front of us." "He received at least 10 lethal wounds." "He had lost almost all his blood." "You can't deny it this time." "It's a resurrection." "Resurrection or not, I must test some new treatments on this man... and I fully intend to do my task." "How do you explain his miraculous interventions on the others?" "The miraculous part of these interventions has not been proved at all." " You knew it, didn't you?" " Knew what?" "That this man was special." "We wouldn't have brought him here if he was normal." "Stop acting like an idiot." "The company sent him here to isolate him." "He shows incredible characteristics." "Why do you care?" "This is none of your business." "What are you going to do to him?" "Butcher him?" "Until you've solved his mystery?" "Nothing forces you to work for the company." "I'm in charge of psychogenetics here, and I forbid you to experiment on this man." "I have an official letter that gives me priority over you." "I don't care about your letter." "Charon, what do you say?" "We already talked about it, you know what you have to do." "I have no other choice but to remove you from your duties." "The orders are definite." "Don't you understand what we might destroy?" "Not you, not me... but mankind..." "You know, to me, mankind..." "They're going to market his genetic codes et eliminate him." "We must keep him alive at all cost." "Understanding who he is is essential." "We must stop her from changing his metabolism." "I'm sorry, Persephone, there's nothing I can do for you." "She's telling the truth, the Neurinos gave her priority." "We'll leave as soon as the shuttle will be ready." "Everything has been planned." "Come on, get out." "I'm doing it for your own good." "It's a sad path to ask to go down someone else's steps." "What does it mean?" "You didn't see it coming, did you?" "Don't be too hard with Persephone." "I reckon that I don't understand her." "She attaches more importance to the prisoners than to her results." "The strap!" "Let go of her!" "Let go of her!" "Charon, do something." "Be reasonable, I'll open the door." "You can go back to the others." "An emergency, let's go!" "I opened the door, let her go now." "What else could I have done?" "You could have made sure that the straps were secured!" "Wait!" "You said that he was dead, we don't tie the dead here!" " Hello baby!" " Ah, here you are." "I only want to tell you that we're going crash on Dante soon." "And we'll all go to Hell!" "As the damned that we are!" "Are you kidding?" "Don't give me this innocent look Charon, I know what you're up to." "I cracked your files a long time ago!" "Your Elisa, the things she's cooking with her nanotechnology, that's some nice shit!" "I saw that we're all gonna be contaminated from the inside!" "Infected!" "Like common computer softwares!" "Do you know what we do in case of a plague?" "We burn everything!" "I locked everything with your password!" "It's my apocalypse, baby!" "Anybody hear me up there?" "What the fuck are they doing!" "?" " You told me he was dead." " Fuck off!" "What did you do to me?" "I saw... a light..." "What are you talking about?" " We must find a way to get out of here!" " Well, there's one." "Shut down the system and use manual piloting." "The... the light..." " The..." " Where did it come from... this light?" "I don't know, I don't know..." " It means we're all gonna die!" " Calm down Lazare." "Keep your cool." " I don't take orders from you!" " It's not an order, it's an advice." " Things have really changed here." " They sure did!" " And seriously!" " What are you saying?" "You can't help acting like you're the boss, can you?" " What's this alarm?" " The alarm, it's me!" "I'm the one who triggered it!" " You would need some gear for that." " The boss gave me everything I needed." "So I could have a look inside the company files." "He thought he could get me with his lame promises." " Get to the point!" " The point?" "The point?" "Don't be in such a hurry Cesar, we have less than an hour left to live." "And after..." "Boom..." "Boom..." "Listen..." "I programmed the station to crash on Dante!" " You're nuts!" " Yeah, just like all of us." "We're scumbags, aren't we?" "They must not erase our memories, they want..." "The want to defragment us!" "Into the void!" "I knew you were a sick bastard but not that much!" "We're all gonna burn!" "All of us!" "And you, the dragonslayer..." "You won't be able to resurrect us." "I'm dead, you hear!" "Dead!" "Since I arrived in this station!" "I'm dead!" "Get him!" "Why don't we take the shuttle I came here with?" "I remind you that it's only for two persons." "We must go to the manual piloting cabin at all cost, we have less than an hour!" "According to the map there's a trap door on the last gangway." "We'll be able to reboot the system if we can reach it." "It's on the other side, in the convicts quarters?" "Yes..." " Did you find him?" " No, this way!" "Go ahead, shoot!" "Maybe he said that to scare us." "Giving Attila a computer is like giving matches to a pyromaniac." "And they knew it!" "The fools!" "Maybe the time has come to meet those who went to the other side." "I feel like I'm not afraid of death anymore." "Wait, wait!" "There's only one justice, it's god justice." " Look!" "We're still alive." " Well yeah, that's bullshit." "We're about to dive in the magma of this fucking planet and that's all you have to say?" "Faith, god, light?" "For fuck's sake, we're gonna die!" "We'll be dead in a few minutes!" "Do you fucking understand?" "Dead!" " Commit yourself to god." " Fuck god!" "If that's his creation, if we're his creatures, then he should have let us rot in the void." "And him, what the fuck is he doing here with his miracles?" "Sirs, our station has left its geostationary orbit." "Our only chance of survival is to access the control panel under your quarters." "We'll be able to change the trajectory by activating the backup reactors." "I'm asking you to cooperate with us." "Raise your hand if you approve." "Your colleague refused to come with us." " And you, aren't you afraid?" " Afraid?" "We should have opened this door a long time ago and never close it." "I'm Charon, director of this station." "He's the fool who gave the gear to Attila!" "He's the one who put us in this shit!" "That's enough now!" "That's enough!" "Shut the fuck up!" "We came here to fix things." "The control panel is in a blocked up area." " We can get there by the cooling shaft." " Go!" "The trap door is somewhere around here." "Shut up!" "So you intended to escape without telling your friends?" "I never thought I'd ever see a beauty like you again." " You're not..." " No, no, I'm not sleeping, no." "I can hold my breath for over 10 minutes now." " Let go of me, you're hurting me." " You're in no position to give me orders!" " Where did you plan to go like that?" " It's the space shuttle." "It can hold two persons." "You beguiled everybody to be sure to be part of the trip, didn't you?" "You're a cunning little one, aren't you?" "You're just like me." " The trip will last two years, in two years you'll be free." " Two years?" "Two years in here with you?" "It's more than worth it to try, isn't it?" "But I'm warning you, no hanky-panky!" "Come on." "After you, princess." "Wake up." " Who released the gas?" " Don't you know?" "BR!" "Go check the shuttle!" "CR, the trap door!" "Go!" "It's the only way to the cabin, there's no more than 4 meters to cross." "It's way too far." "The cooling system is overheating." "They were together in the shuttle." "Attila must have hacked the commands, the shuttle went directly on Dante." "We will join them soon anyway." " What's on the other side?" " The manual piloting cabin." "A few meters and we could pull the station away from Dante gravity." " Is it complicated?" " Very easy, you only have to enter a code." "You'll never fit in here, it's way too tight." "It's made for someone of my size." "So, what's the code?" "ETNA D10." "Are you aware of the risks?" "My brain isn't boiled yet." "Cesar's sacrifice was probably not innocent." "Because if we all aspire to the light, it belongs to each of us to repel the darkness." "We never knew who he was or where he came from." "But one thing is certain..." "It's in us that Saint Georges found the strength to defeat the dragon." "His destiny could only end here, at the gates of hell, while the path never walked by any living man was opening itself."